And then she told her story, as much of it as could be told; of the horror and the thick darkness that had enveloped her she could only hint.

What an eager flash there was in Flossy’s bright eyes as she listened.

“When you said that!” she began, eagerly, as Ruth paused.  “When you said, ‘I will do it.’  What then?  Did you feel just as you did before?”

“No,” Ruth said, “not at all.  The night had gone by that time.  As I looked about me I realized that it was daylight, and I fancied that my feelings were the result of a highly excited state of nerves.  But the resolve was not to be accounted for in any such way.  I meant that.  The horror, though, of which I had been telling you was quite gone.  It was as if there had been a fearful storm, with the constant roll of thunder, and suddenly a calm.  I hadn’t the least feeling of fear or dread, and I haven’t had all day; but to-night I may have the very same experience.”

“No, you will not,” Flossy said, her voice aglow with feeling and with joy.  “Oh, Ruthie, Ruthie!  There is no night!  You have got beyond it.  I tell you, you have come into God’s light!  And isn’t it blessed?  You are a Christian now.”

“But,” protested Ruth, utterly bewildered, “I do not understand you, and I don’t think you understand yourself.  In what way am I different from what I was yesterday?  How can I be lost in God’s sight one moment and accepted the next?”

“Easily; oh, so easily!  Don’t you see?  Why, if I had been coaxing you for a year to give me something, and you had steadily refused, but if suddenly you had said to me, ’Yes.  I will; I have changed my mind; I will give it to you,’ wouldn’t there be a difference?  Wouldn’t I know that I was to have it?  And couldn’t I thank you then, and tell you how glad I was, just the same as though I had it in my hand?  It is a poor little illustration, Ruthie, but it is true that God has been calling you all your life, and if you have all the time been saying ‘No,’ up to that moment when you said solemnly, meaning it with all your heart, ’I will,’ I tell you it makes a difference.”

I can not describe to you how strangely all this sounded to Ruthie.  Up to this moment she had not realized in the least that the Lord was asking her simply for a decision, and that having solemnly given it, the work, so far as she was concerned, was done, and the new relations instantly commenced.  She thought it over—­that sudden calming of heart—­that sense of resolve—­of determination, so strong, and yet so quiet.  She remembered what a strange day it had been.  How she had tried to keep before her mind the horror of the night, and had not been able.