After this the King rose up with a radiant smile on his face and after blessing them all, he gave one hand to his friend Mrs. Valiant, and the other to his friend Mrs. Thanksgiving, and led them to the banks of the river, and all the company of their friends went with them. The aloe trees growing along the bank cast their shadow on the river, but their branches were full of little birds singing most melodiously.

Here, then, for a little while they parted company. The King himself stepped down into the river with his two friends and led them across to the other side. The brightness over there so dazzled the eyes of the group on the Mountain of Aloes that they could see nothing very clearly. But it seemed to them that the brightness came from a host of shining figures standing on the farther bank, as though a great company of the inhabitants of that land had come down from the Very High Places to welcome the King’s friends.

They did see, however, that as soon as they entered the river, the mortal bodies of the two women slipped from them as though they were old worn-out garments, and were carried away by the brimming waters, over the great fall down to the Valley of Death far below. They thought also that they caught a glimpse of the two radiant and beautiful beings who had lived in those mortal bodies and who now stepped out free. One, an upright and golden figure, shining as though in polished armor, walked on the side of the King where their friend Mrs. Valiant had been. On his other side was a dazzling white-robed figure radiant with light. Then the brightness swallowed up everything, and their friends knew that the Valley of Humiliation would know those two no more.

As soon as they had passed from sight, the little company on the slopes of the mountain slowly dispersed and went their different ways, but the two daughters of Mrs. Thanksgiving, and her niece Grace and Glory, and her son Fearless Witness stood side by side on the banks of the river a little longer, looking towards the other side where the King had led their loved ones, thinking of those who had gone with him, and of the wonderful things which he had accomplished in their lives. Then they looked at one another, and though there were tears in their eyes, they were smiling with great joy.

“It is good to have the treasure of loved ones over on the other side of the river,” said Praise.

“And we shall go there ourselves in a little while, never to part again,” said Compassionate.