"We find the mortal 'tangled up,' as you express it, because he has set himself up as an independent ent.i.ty and claims this ent.i.ty can be governed by evil instead of good--with lies instead of truth, with sickness instead of health."

"You emphasize the word 'mortal'; so you make a distinction between a man and a mortal?"

"Yes; the mortal is the counterfeit of the real man, like a bogus dollar bill, with no gold or princ.i.p.al to back it. He arrogantly a.s.sumes that he has a will of his own, and this will is subordinate to no other unless he chooses to make it so. But we find that he reasons falsely when we see how he becomes the slave of all sorts of evil that ultimates in sickness and death,"

explained Dr. Stanley.

"Humph! Then, according to your logic, the Ned Willard whom you know is simply a mortal, physical manifestation of will power, catering to his own appet.i.tes and desires, and so becoming their bond servant, and there is no true image and likeness of G.o.d, or real man about him," was the young man's half-quizzical rejoinder.

"Granted," he went on, more seriously, "I think I am beginning to see him as he is and has appeared to others. But now comes the question, 'How is this same Ned Willard going to get rid of the undesirable mortal and find the man?' It looks a hopeless task to me."

"You are using the scalpel very freely upon yourself, my boy,"

said Phillip Stanley, in his friendliest tone. "But let us see if there isn't a different kind of blade that will serve us better.

If you were cruelly bound with thongs, and some friend should pa.s.s you a keen-edged knife, you would not sit hopelessly looking at your bonds and still continue to bemoan your bondage; you would instantly begin to sever the thongs and so regain your liberty. In Christian Science we find the 'sword of Truth' with which we begin to cut away, one by one, the bonds of mortal falsities, habits, appet.i.tes and belief in evil until, eventually, we shall find our freedom and true manhood."

"That sounds very promising, as you put it, though the how of it seems rather vague. But, by all that's honest, I would like to get at the secret of it," and the young man turned a frank, earnest face to his companion as he concluded.

"This will reveal it. Will you read it if I leave it with you?"

and Dr. Stanley drew forth a pocket edition of "Science and Health" and laid it upon his knee.

Willard opened it and glanced at the t.i.tle-page.

"Thank you; I shall be glad to look it through," he replied.

"You will need a Bible to go with it," said his companion, lifting his eyes to a bookcase near him.

"You'll not find one there," his patient observed, with a short laugh. "Bibles and I have had nothing in common this many a year.

However, there are plenty about the house."

Dr. Stanley shortly after took his leave and went away to visit other hungry ones, a reverent joy in his heart and on his lips the paean of David, "Who is so great a G.o.d as our G.o.d?"

A few weeks later Edwin Willard walked briskly into his office, his handsome face all aglow with health, a new hope and purpose shining in his eyes.

"I'm off, Stanley!" he said, in cheery, eager tones as he laid his friend's "little book" on his desk. "I've just slipped in to return this and bid you au revoir."

"Off!" repeated Phillip Stanley, in surprise. "Where to? what for?"

"I'm going to Washington, as private secretary to the Hon.----, United States Senator from Pennsylvania. He was a cla.s.smate of my father's at Yale, and asked the governor, the other day, if he could suggest some one for the position," Willard explained. "It's very sudden, but it's great luck, though this"--touching the book he had just laid down--"teaches there's no such thing as luck. The salary won't permit me to keep up a spread-eagle style at present"--with a light-hearted laugh--"but I have a promise of more later on, and it may be the stepping-stone to something better; and, Stanley, I'm bent on going higher, in more ways than one," he concluded, in a confidential tone.

"Ned, I am more glad than I can tell you, and my best wishes go with you," heartily returned his friend. "Wouldn't you like to take the book along as a souvenir?" he asked, pushing it towards him.

"Thanks, I've just bought one for myself, and I don't need any souvenirs to remind me of you; for, Stanley, all I am and all I hope to be I owe to you, or--I suppose you would prefer me to say- -to G.o.d, through you. But if I am to catch that fast express I must skip. I'll write to you, though, when I am settled."

The two men clasped hands and looked deep into each other's eyes for a moment; then the younger turned abruptly away and left the room, the elder gravely watching the manly form as it sped, with alert and vigorous steps, down the street.

"G.o.d bless the boy!" he said, in a low tone; "he has 'got at the secret of it' at last, and his life henceforth will be crowned with joy and peace."

CHAPTER XXIII.

MRS. MINTURN VISITS HILTON.

Everything moved along harmoniously with Katherine in school. Of course, there was work to be done and it required diligence, patience and perseverance to accomplish her daily tasks. But there is always satisfaction in overcoming difficulties, for such conquest never fails to strengthen and uplift.

Between Sadie and herself there existed the tenderest relations.

Every day seemed to draw them closer to each other, for divine Love was now the mutually acknowledged bond between them. The girl had provided herself with the necessary books and was doing more than "looking towards the Light"--she was really trying to walk in it. She was also striving to "do her best" during this, her last year at school, as she had avowed she would, and was reaping her reward by finding that she was daily gaining in mental strength and capacity.

Jennie also was making good progress. She did not love fun and frolic one whit less, but she now sought it in legitimate hours and ways, and never allowed herself to "kick over the traces," or, in other words, to break rules, and so jeopardize her record, although, as she once confessed, with the old mischievous sparkle in her eyes, "the apples of Sodom did look very alluring sometimes."

So the Christmas vacation found them, and Katherine and Jennie went "home" to New York City, where every day was filled with delightful experiences, Mr. and Mrs. Minturn having spared nothing to make these holidays the brightest of the year, especially for their protegee whose pleasures had been so limited.

There was nothing to mar their enjoyment during the two "heavenly"

weeks. They were like a pair of happy children, and not the least of their pleasure consisted in helping Mrs. Minturn distribute her yearly reminders among those of whom One said, "The poor ye always have with you." And when, on Christmas morning, at breakfast, the packages beside the various plates were inspected, there were bright faces and loving smiles, and in one case almost a rain of tears, in view of the numerous and lovely mementoes for which the recipient was wholly unprepared. But it was only a "sunshower,"

and when Mr. Minturn, with a quizzical look, told her to "take care, for she was losing some of her pearls," she laughingly wiped the glittering drops away and retorted:

"I wish they were real pearls, and I would heap them upon you all."

When it was all over and the two girls were rolling swiftly on their way back to school, Jennie, her face radiant with delightful memories, informed Katherine that she had "never had such an out and out jolly time in all her life before."

"It is like a diamond to me," she said, "for it will glisten and sparkle in my mind as long as I remember anything about this life.

But, best of all," she continued, earnestly, "has been the Science part of it; those lovely services and meetings! and your mother's talks! Oh! Katherine, if I could be with her all the time I know I should grow to be a good Scientist!"

Katherine smiled into the yearning dark eyes.

"Our growth, Jennie, depends upon our own right thinking and living, upon the faithfulness with which we study, a.s.similate and demonstrate Truth," she said; then added: "Right environment is very desirable, but when we lean upon that instead of on G.o.d, or Principle, we are not 'working out our own salvation,' which everyone must do. You know what happened to the five foolish virgins who leaned, or tried to lean, upon their neighbors for oil to fill their lamps."

"Yes; and it's like copying some one else's problems and shirking your own daily work. When the exams come you're not 'in it'; you just have to 'go way back and sit down,'" and the roguish dimples played in her cheeks as the slang phrases slipped glibly from her tongue. "All the same," she continued, "it is a help to have others about you doing good work. Somehow it inspires you to hustle for yourself--that is, if you honestly want to be the real thing and not a sham."

The latter part of February Mrs. Minturn, having been called to the western part of the State on business, stopped at Hilton on her way back, to spend the Sabbath and make "my girls" a little visit.

That visit was like an oasis to Prof. Seabrook, or, as he afterwards expressed it, "it shone in his memory like a pure, l.u.s.trous pearl set in jet."

Sat.u.r.day afternoon was spent with Katherine and Jennie, doing a little needful shopping and visiting some places of interest in the city. Sat.u.r.day evening, a party, including the Seabrooks, Sadie, Miss Reynolds and Dr. Stanley, was made up to go to hear Madam Melba, who was to sing in "Faust," and a rich treat it proved for them all.

Sunday morning found them all, except the princ.i.p.al and his wife, at the service in the hall on Grove Street, and which was now far too small to comfortably accommodate the people who were flocking to it; while Sunday evening, at Mrs. Seabrook's invitation, saw our friends gathered in her s.p.a.cious parlor to listen to a little talk on Christian Science from Mrs. Minturn.

"I see you each have your book," she began, glancing around the circle, "and I think we cannot do better than to look into the tenets of our faith--you will find them on page 497. There is much more than at first appears in those few brief paragraphs, and I hope no one will let a point go by, if it seems perplexing, without trying to get at the heart of it. Don't fear to interrupt me with questions, for they will show me your trend of thought."

Then, one by one, she took up the sections, which were freely and thoughtfully discussed. Prof. Seabrook, however, was the chief interlocutor of the evening and plied the patient woman with queries both practical and profound.

She met him logically on every one, and by the time they had come to the end of the fifth paragraph much of the perplexity had vanished from the man's face and a look of peace was enthroned in its place, while not one in the room ever forgot that hour, which was so fraught with helpfulness and intense interest to them all.

"Mrs. Minturn," he gravely observed, as she paused for a moment, "when one begins to understand something of what Christian Science really is, one finds himself suddenly shorn of his former intellectual arrogance and ecclesiastical intolerance, while he stands abashed and is amazed that he had never seen these things before."

"That is because, in our previous study of the Scriptures, we were governed by human opinions, doctrines and creeds, instead of by the spiritual law of interpretation, which always brings the proof of its supremacy."

"But it makes one wish one hadn't been quite so pert in flaunting one's feathers before finer birds," drawled Sadie, as she shot a peculiar glance at Katherine, "like a turkey we had at home once that had never seen a peac.o.c.k's plumage until after he had done a good deal of strutting around, with his own self-sufficient appendage spread out to its widest extent. He collapsed, though, when he saw that blaze of glory."