Virginia turned to Rachel. She was trembling and tears were on her face. “Oh, it is so wonderful, I cannot control myself. How terribly beautiful! Can you comprehend it, Rachel?”

“No. But how can we fathom what has come to Raymond within the last twenty-four hours? It does not seem possible. Do you realize, Virginia, that tomorrow, in the church where we promised only a few years ago to follow Jesus, we shall actually see him face-to-face?”

“I cannot believe it. I can hardly wait. And yet, in a way, I dread it. What if all this should be a deception? What if—”

“But why, Virginia? Why should it be impossible? Think what it will mean to Raymond and to the world. For of course we cannot expect him to stay here very long. But I tremble to think what his reception will be in some places.”

“But will he not be welcomed by his disciples, Rachel?”

Rachel spoke with deep feeling. “Oh, surely he will. The church loves him. Is it not glorious, Virginia, to think he has chosen to show himself first of all to his church in Raymond? And how splendid that, on the very Sunday when Mr. Stanton was to be recognized as Mr. Maxwell’s assistant, Jesus should be with us. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Yes,” Virginia answered in a low tone. “It is as it should be.”

Silence fell between the two friends as Rachel moved to the window seat and cuddled the children in her lap. After a while, she spoke again. “What do you think of Mr. Stanton, Virginia?”

“He seems, well, different from most men. Not what I had expected.”

“What had you expected?”

“I hardly know. More of a ministerial type.”

“What exactly is a ministerial type, Virginia?”

Virginia did not answer directly. “He wore a grey suit, a sack coat, and a brown silk tie.”

“Otherwise,” Rachel teased, “he was dressed in perfect taste.” Her manner changed instantly to a deep seriousness. “Did you notice how Jesus was dressed?”

“Like the others, I did not give it a thought.” Rachel, cuddling her children, crooned a little lullaby. Looking down at the happy, sleeping faces, she said, “About bedtime, children.”

But it was so serene there in the old library where Virginia and she had in the past gone over so much together that was so great in their Christian experience, that Rachel lingered and went on to speak again of the wonderful possibilities of tomorrow.

“We shall have to go early to get in. They say everybody will be there.”

“I long for it, and at the same time I fear it,” Virginia said. “I cannot bear the thought of some things that may happen. The vulgar curiosity, the impertinence, the newspaper accounts.”

“But,” Rachel interrupted gently, “Jesus endured things like that when he was here before, and he always silenced his enemies. Do you believe he will fail in our age of the world? The people’s nature is the same now as it was then.”