“But are you not afraid you will lose it?” asked Faith, a little shyly.  “You know you always had grave doubts as to the financial results of your father’s undertaking.”

“Well, what if I do?” asked the young man, smiling back at her.  “Others have done as much, and I can but follow in their footsteps, and then reformation to be acceptable should not be half-hearted.”

There was a light in his eyes that was not to be mistaken.  As Faith beheld it she uttered a cry of joy and held out both hands toward him impulsively.

Young Denton gathered both her hands into one of his own, while his other rested lightly upon her shoulder.

“And after I have proven myself worthy may I claim my reward?” he whispered.  “May I ask my good angel to share her labors with me and so crown her noble life with the seal of forgiveness?”

“I have nothing to forgive,” whispered Faith, blushing deeply.  “If Christ has forgiven there is nothing further.”

“And you will marry me, Faith, if I prove worthy?” he murmured.  “For, oh, I love you, sweetheart, and I cannot live without you!”

“I will marry you—­yes,” was the girl’s low answer, “if at the end of a year you are still in the faith—­still carrying the light to the darkest places.”

There was just one kiss to seal the compact, but that kiss was a benediction, a holy consummation.

* * * * *

Meanwhile Mr. Denton was still sitting in his chair, although the big building was empty of all but its watchman.

His head was bowed down upon his bosom, as the year just passed spread panorama-like before his vision.

What had he accomplished of his Master’s work?  He breathed a sigh that it had been so little.

He had tried to put justice in the place of its opposite, to install sweet liberty in the place of oppression.  In his dealings with his fellow men he had been fair and equitable, even leaning toward mercy when opportunity offered.

In fact, he had incorporated the Spirit of Righteousness into the Temple of Mammon and molded worldly affairs after the principles of divine teaching.

And what to him had been the results?  He smiled with grateful satisfaction as he briefly reviewed them.

There was a trifling shortage as compared with the accounts of previous years, so trifling that it astonished him when he reflected upon the amounts which he had paid his two partners.  Beyond this the business of the store had been good and his books showed new accounts recently opened with wealthy persons, which assured him beyond doubt that they indorsed his methods.

Further than this, there were offers of capital from a dozen different sources.  The sincere Christians of the city could not have expressed more tangibly their ardent desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with the merchant who had resolved to deal according to his conscience.