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!”