He caught the words, the sentences at last—broken cries for mankind, indescribable yearning for redemption, matchless eloquence lifted up in the most intimate companionship with the Eternal Presence. And then, after a deep stillness, he heard his own name spoken in appeal.

What! What was that! Jesus was praying for him! Interceding with the Divine Love to touch his heart and transform his purposes and set his face towards his Father.

And at that, something in Jasper Carter’s proud, cold, selfish, cynical soul broke like an obstruction that had blocked the entrance of some beseeching influence that he had for long years shut out of his nature. Throwing himself down on the flagstone, he cried out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Instantly the voice ceased. The figure rose from the shadows at the end of the terrace and advanced to where Jasper Carter lay. It leaned over and touched him, oh so tenderly, so graciously.

And Jasper Carter struggled up to his knees, seized Jesus’s hand, and carried it to his lips, the first time in all his life that he had ever shown any man such a sign of allegiance.

He felt himself lifted to his feet, and the grasp of Jesus’s hand was like nothing he had ever felt. Yet even in the pale light that suffused the terrace, he noted how humanly weary he looked after his night’s vigil. But the smile on his lips was the smile of divine victory over Carter’s redemption.

Together they stood a few moments while Jesus spoke to him, moments that would be imperishable in Jasper Carter’s memory. Then together they went down the steps, setting their faces toward the city, the arm of Jesus about his shoulder and on his own forgiven spirit the dawn of a new morn beginning to arise, a morn that would from this time forth be to him the very birthday of his eternal life.

Three days later, Mr. Maxwell went into the reporter’s room at the Gazette office to see Barnes about some important notices. Since Barnes’s conversion, he had joined the First Church and was one of Mr. Maxwell’s most enthusiastic and loyal members. Maxwell rejoiced in Barnes’s intelligent understanding of the church’s life, and found a growing pleasure in his acquaintance.

“When do you expect Mr. Carter back?” Mr. Maxwell asked after the business with Barnes was finished.

“I don’t know. He has been gone nearly two weeks now. I had a brief note from him saying he had left New York and was going to Washington. Hale, the city editor, is in charge here, you know. He was in a few minutes ago and says the Gazette is going to the dogs with Carter away so much. He hasn’t had a line from him since he left.”