“How did you do it?” she asked, simply.  “How?” The very simplicity of the question puzzled him.  “Why, I just gave myself up to his keeping; I resolved to take a new road and follow only where he led.  Miss Shipley was the one who first made me think seriously about this matter; and then I went to the service that evening, and everything that was said and sung, was said and sung right at me.  I was just forced into the belief that I had been a fool, and I wanted to be something else.”

“Miss Shipley!” Ruth said, brought back by that name to the wonderment.  “You are mistaken.  You can not mean Flossy.  She isn’t a Christian at all.  She never so much as thinks of such things.”

“Oh, you are mistaken.”  He said it eagerly and positively.  “On the contrary, she is the most earnest and straightforward little Christian that I ever met in my life.  Why, I never had anything so come to my soul as that little sentence that she said about having found a Friend.’  I know it is the same one.  I have seen her with you since, but not near enough to address.  Her name is Flossy; I heard her called so that day on the boat.”

“Flossy!” Ruth said it again, in a bewildering tone, and rising as she spoke.  “I am going to find her; I want to understand this mystery.  I will give her your message, Mr. Flint, but I think there is a mistake.”  Saying which she bade him a hasty good-afternoon, for the flutter of a scarlet shawl had reached her eyes.  No one but Flossy wore such a wrap as that.  She wanted to see her at once, and she didn’t want Mr. Charlie Flint to be along.  She went forward with rapid steps to meet her, and slipping an arm within hers, they turned and went slowly back over the mossy path.

“Flossy, I want you to tell me something.  I have heard something so strange; I think it is not so, but you can tell me.  I want to know if you think you are a Christian?”

I wonder if Flossy has any idea, even now, how strangely Ruth’s heart beat as she asked that simple question.  It seemed to involve a great deal to her.  She waited for the answer.

There was no hesitation and no indecision about Flossy’s answer.  Her cheeks took a pink tint, but her voice was clear.

“I know I am, Ruth.  I do not even have to speak with hesitancy.  I am so sure that Christ is my Friend, and I grow so much surer of it every day, that I can not doubt it any more than I can doubt that I am walking down this path with you.”

And then, again, Ruth’s astonishment was in part lost in that absorbing question: 

“How did you get to be one?”

“It is a simple little story,” Flossy said.  And then she began at the beginning and told her little bit of experience, fresh in her heart, dating only a few days back, and full to the brim with peace and gladness to her.

“But I don’t see,” Ruth said, perplexed.  “I don’t find out what to do.  I want to be told how to do it, and none of you tell me; you seem to have just resolved about it, and not done anything.  I have gone so far myself.  Such a night as last night was, Flossy!  Oh, you can never imagine it!”