Katherine smiled into the yearning dark eyes.

“Our growth, Jennie, depends upon our own right thinking and living, upon the faithfulness with which we study, assimilate and demonstrate Truth,” she said; then added:  “Right environment is very desirable, but when we lean upon that instead of on God, or Principle, we are not ‘working out our own salvation,’ which everyone must do.  You know what happened to the five foolish virgins who leaned, or tried to lean, upon their neighbors for oil to fill their lamps.”

“Yes; and it’s like copying some one else’s problems and shirking your own daily work.  When the exams come you’re not ‘in it’; you just have to ‘go way back and sit down,’” and the roguish dimples played in her cheeks as the slang phrases slipped glibly from her tongue.  “All the same,” she continued, “it is a help to have others about you doing good work.  Somehow it inspires you to hustle for yourself—­that is, if you honestly want to be the real thing and not a sham.”

The latter part of February Mrs. Minturn, having been called to the western part of the State on business, stopped at Hilton on her way back, to spend the Sabbath and make “my girls” a little visit.

That visit was like an oasis to Prof.  Seabrook, or, as he afterwards expressed it, “it shone in his memory like a pure, lustrous pearl set in jet.”

Saturday afternoon was spent with Katherine and Jennie, doing a little needful shopping and visiting some places of interest in the city.  Saturday evening, a party, including the Seabrooks, Sadie, Miss Reynolds and Dr. Stanley, was made up to go to hear Madam Melba, who was to sing in “Faust,” and a rich treat it proved for them all.

Sunday morning found them all, except the principal and his wife, at the service in the hall on Grove Street, and which was now far too small to comfortably accommodate the people who were flocking to it; while Sunday evening, at Mrs. Seabrook’s invitation, saw our friends gathered in her spacious parlor to listen to a little talk on Christian Science from Mrs. Minturn.

“I see you each have your book,” she began, glancing around the circle, “and I think we cannot do better than to look into the tenets of our faith—­you will find them on page 497.  There is much more than at first appears in those few brief paragraphs, and I hope no one will let a point go by, if it seems perplexing, without trying to get at the heart of it.  Don’t fear to interrupt me with questions, for they will show me your trend of thought.”

Then, one by one, she took up the sections, which were freely and thoughtfully discussed.  Prof.  Seabrook, however, was the chief interlocutor of the evening and plied the patient woman with queries both practical and profound.

She met him logically on every one, and by the time they had come to the end of the fifth paragraph much of the perplexity had vanished from the man’s face and a look of peace was enthroned in its place, while not one in the room ever forgot that hour, which was so fraught with helpfulness and intense interest to them all.