"Dear friends," replied Mrs. Hayden, much touched herself, "I am glad, yes, more than glad, that you can speak so of my letters, of which the greatest merit lies in their simple earnestness--." She ceased abruptly, and for a few moments all were silent.... It was a silence too full for words. A door had opened--a morning dawned for each of them. The mysterious future verged into the mighty present. All that was grand and noble and tender filled the measure of their aspirations. The world surely might enter into their joy, for their joy surely entered into the world. Mrs. Hayden broke the silence, saying: "'Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.' Many years have I asked and sought for the kingdom of heaven, but never till now have I found the right knock." CHAPTER XXXVII. Love is the high consummation and fulfillment of all Law. It casts out fear, discord and imperfection. To minister is God-like, Christ-like. * * * * The law of love reaches down, rules, and overcomes adverse laws which are below itself.--_Henry Wood._ Outside, deepening twilight of a midwinter's day: inside, a bright grate fire, soft curtains, beautiful rugs and simple but elegant adornings for mantel and wall in this lovely room of a lovely home. The only occupant is a young woman--young because of the real life of which she so vividly and strongly expresses a consciousness, the only life after all to be expressed, and which, rightly appropriated will and must forever be clothed with the freshness and vigor of youth. The young woman is Grace Hall Carrington. She sits before the glowing embers in an expectant attitude. She is evidently waiting for some one, and as she waits, her mind seems full of pleasant musing. The three years that have passed since we saw her have ripened her character. We can see that. The unrest and longing which pervaded her whole being in the old days are gone. A poise and calmness of spirit have taken their place. Even her attitude as she sits there with the shadows flickering over her, is full of a suggestive alertness that expresses an awakened life. The forces that had slumbered so long in her being are fully alive to their duty and their privilege. Yes, Grace Carrington is awake, and happy as a wife and woman should be. She is thinking even now of the richness of effort and opportunity that have been hers in these last years. She had been particularly fortunate in her marriage. Few women have as much to be thankful for as she has in this respect, but then, she waited to find her true womanhood before she found a husband. Perhaps that had something to do with it. At any rate she is satisfied that she waited. The door bell rings. A moment later she is greeting two visitors. Who but the friends we knew in the old days--Kate Turner and Mrs. Hayden?