"It be good of you to come, Sir Reginald, and her ladyship too, but the poor old man be sufferin' something fearful, and all twisted up with the pain in his back and his legs. But he says if only you'll lay your hands on him and say a prayer like as you did before, the pain'll be bound to go." "Then we'll go up to him at once," I said; and Mrs. Parkins straightway preceded us up one of those steep and dark and narrow cottage-staircases which never fail to arouse in me an undying wonder that the poor ever keep their necks intact. I feel sure that guardian angels are as thick on cottage-staircases as they ever were on Jacob's ladder. "Good-morning, Mr. Parkins," said Fay as she entered the pretty and spotlessly clean bedchamber of old Parkins; "we are very sorry the pain is so bad this morning, but Sir Reginald has come to cure it." "Parkins knows better than that," I said as I bent my head to pass through the low doorway, "don't you, Parkins? You know as well as I do that it isn't I who cure the pain, but our Lord working through me." "Ay, ay, Sir Reginald, I knows that well enough, becos you've told me; and you ought to know for sure and certain. But I'd be glad if somebody 'ud help me quick, for the pain's powerful bad this mornin'," and the poor old soul fairly groaned in his agony. Without more ado I knelt beside the bed and laid my hands on the poor, twisted limbs: and as I prayed I was conscious of the Power descending on me, and passing through me to the old man in the bed. Gradually the groans ceased, and the look of anguish passed from the wrinkled face as if it had been wiped off by a sponge, and Parkins fell into the peaceful sleep of a tired child. As I rose from my knees and stood by the sleeping sufferer whom I had been permitted to relieve, a great longing filled my heart for the time when there will no longer be any need for surgeons or physicians or spiritual healers, or for any other channels whereby the Healing Power of Christ is conveyed to sick and suffering humanity--to the time when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and when there shall be no more sickness nor sorrow nor sighing, neither shall there be any more pain, because Christ will be all in all. CHAPTER XII SHAKSPERE AND THE MUSICAL GLASSES One day as we were having luncheon--Blathwayte being one of the party--Annabel remarked: "I am terribly worried with one thing or another." Arthur and I hastened to express our sympathy, and to inquire the cause of her disquietude.