"'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day.'" "I cannot attempt to thank you," said Agnes in a low voice, putting her hand in her uncle's, "but—" "Don't try to, my dear. Rather would I thank you for having turned my haunted chamber into an armoury of light!" That night as Hugh, the last of the party, crossed the hall on his way to bed, he paused by the marble pillars and looked round. The moon had left the windows of the haunted chamber, and had come round to the front, where it streamed along the pavement, touching the feet of the gaunt knights, and casting fairy shadows from the ferns and palms between which they stood. "'The whole armour of God,'" he murmured softly, "I wonder how long I shall be before I have strength to buckle it all on? But I'm glad there are those words: 'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me!'" * * * * * * "Agnes, the best thing you can do is to come into the haunted room and tell us what you promised," said Hugh one evening soon after the giving out of the armour. "We could not have a better place to sit, and we shall be uninterrupted." "I do not mind, if you all like it best," answered Agnes. "When shall we begin?" "No time like the present," said John, laughing, and taking his sister round the waist; "we will lead the way, Agnes, and face the haunted room altogether, if need be!" The rest soon followed; and before long all were seated by the window, where the first rays of the moon were peeping in, instead of leaving it, as they had been a few days before. "Well, Agnes?" began Alice. "I daresay some of you have thought of your pieces of armour since we had our other talk?" asked Agnes. "I've thought ever so much," said Hugh. "So have I," pursued Agnes, "and I think we had better begin in the order in which we find the list in Ephesians. Who is it who has the coat of Mail—Truth? 'Loins girt about with truth'?" "That is my piece of armour," answered Alice. "What have you to tell us about that, Agnes?" "It seems to me that truth is a sort of strengthening of our minds; as in the East they would gird up their encumbering robes, so as to walk along more bravely in a difficult path. Do you think of it like that, Alice?" "Yes," answered her sister. "I was reading these words on Sunday: 'Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.' I suppose that has something to do with my piece of armour." "Of course it has!" exclaimed Agnes eagerly. "And it is so difficult to combine those two things in the same person—grace and truth. People can be truthful, but they find it very hard to be gracious also; or they are so gracious that they fail to be truthful." "I don't see how you mean," said Hugh.