“How many stayed?” she asked.  Rose was curious.  At the same time she was skeptical of the whole movement in Raymond.

“About a hundred,” replied Felicia gravely.  Mr. Sterling looked surprised.  Felicia was going out of the room, but he called to her:  “Do you really mean to keep the pledge?” he asked.

Felicia colored.  Over her face and neck the warm blood flowed and she answered, “You would not ask such a question, father, if you had been at the meeting.”  She lingered a moment in the room, then asked to be excused from dinner for a while and went up to see her mother.

No one but they two ever knew what that interview between Felicia and her mother was.  It is certain that she must have told her mother something of the spiritual power that had awed every person present in the company of disciples who faced Dr. Bruce in that meeting after the morning service.  It is also certain that Felicia had never before known such an experience, and would never have thought of sharing it with her mother if it had not been for the prayer the evening before.  Another fact is also known of Felicia’s experience at this time.  When she finally joined her father and Rose at the table she seemed unable to tell them much about the meeting.  There was a reluctance to speak of it as one might hesitate to attempt a description of a wonderful sunset to a person who never talked about anything but the weather.

When that Sunday in the Sterling mansion was drawing to a close and the soft, warm lights throughout the dwelling were glowing through the great windows, in a corner of her room, where the light was obscure, Felicia kneeled, and when she raised her face and turned it towards the light, it was the face of a woman who had already defined for herself the greatest issues of earthly life.

That same evening, after the Sunday evening service, Dr. Bruce was talking over the events of the day with his wife.  They were of one heart and mind in the matter, and faced their new future with all the faith and courage of new disciples.  Neither was deceived as to the probable results of the pledge to themselves or to the church.

They had been talking but a little while when the bell rang and Dr. Bruce going to the door exclaimed, as he opened it:  “It is you, Edward!  Come in.”

There came into the hall a commanding figure.  The Bishop was of extraordinary height and breadth of shoulder, but of such good proportions that there was no thought of ungainly or even of unusual size.  The impression the Bishop made on strangers was, first, that of great health, and then of great affection.

He came into the parlor and greeted Mrs. Bruce, who after a few moments was called out of the room, leaving the two men together.  The Bishop sat in a deep, easy chair before the open fire.  There was just enough dampness in the early spring of the year to make an open fire pleasant.

“Calvin, you have taken a very serious step today,” he finally said, lifting his large dark eyes to his old college classmate’s face.  “I heard of it this afternoon.  I could not resist the desire to see you about it tonight.”