“Oh, it’s only a ‘spell,’” she retorted one day, when Katherine laughingly commented upon her conchological, geological, ichthyological “research.”  “It has got to have its ‘run,’ like some other beliefs that aren’t so good; then I’ll get over it, I suppose, settle down and behave like people who are already seasoned.  If I could only be as successful in a genealogical way there’d be nothing left to wish for,” she concluded with a wistful sigh.

“Are you still brooding over that, Jennie?” gravely inquired Katherine.

“Not exactly ‘brooding,’ dearie.  I guess it’s just a kind of hankering, though mortal mind does set up a howl, now and then, in spite of me, and says ‘don’t you wish you knew.’”

Katherine laughed softly at the characteristic phraseology, but bent a very tender look upon the girl.

“Well, you do know that you are God’s child,” she said, gently.

“Yes; and I know it now, in a way that I never did before I knew you; and I’m sure no other ‘stray waif’ ever had quite so much to be thankful for as I have.”

They all loved the girl, and she was the life of the house, although she had toned down considerably during the last year; for she was always bright and cheery, keeping everybody in a ripple with her quaint sayings and contagious mirth.

At the same time she made herself helpful, in many ways, was ever thoughtful for others, and, withal, so affectionate that everyone was the happier for her presence in the house.

So the time drew on apace for the convening of Mrs. Minturn’s “class,” the date of which had been set for the twentieth of July.

It was to be a full class, this year, and a convenient room had been secured in the “Back Bay district,” in Boston, many of her prospective students being desirous of spending their vacation in that city to enjoy the privileges and services of “The Mother Church.”

Prof.  Seabrook took rooms for himself and family near by—­this was his “plan,” that they all three have class instruction together—­ for such an arrangement would be more convenient for them than to try to go back and forth, each day, and also give them more time for study.

It was an earnest and intelligent company that gathered in the appointed place on Monday, July twentieth, all eager to be fed with the Bread of Life.  There were two clergymen, one physician, two lawyers, several teachers, business men and women, and others from humbler walks of life.  Miss Reynolds had come on to “review”; Jennie and Sadie were also among the number.

Intense interest and the closest attention were manifested throughout the course, and Mrs. Minturn afterwards remarked that the class, as a whole, was one of the brightest and most receptive that she had ever taught.

The sixth lesson was a particularly impressive one, during which every occupant of that sacred room became so conscious of the power and presence of Truth and Love, that the place almost seemed to them a “mount of transfiguration,” as it were, where the Christ was revealed to them as never before.