Back through the doorway came the clear, gentle, and yet challenging voice of the Shepherd saying: “With men it is impossible. But with God all things are possible.” Then there was the sound of retreating footsteps and the closing of a door.

Outside in the village street Mrs. Valiant caught sight of the Shepherd as he left the inn, and she hurried toward him eagerly. “Oh!” she exclaimed, “There you are! Please, please come with me. Ever since she slammed the door in your face this morning poor Mrs. Dismal has been like a demented creature. She is afraid you will never go near her again—that she has lost all hope of having your help, and that after such a rebuff you will certainly leave her to her misery. Oh, please come now—at once!”

He strode along at her side down the quiet street, and they entered the miserable, weed-filled garden round the cottage of Mrs. Dismal Forebodings. Then the Shepherd lifted his hand and knocked at the closed door. It opened slightly, and the white, miserable face of Mrs. Dismal peeped forth furtively. When she saw the Shepherd she seemed to shrink back as though expecting a blow. He waited without speaking, simply looking at her, and at last Mrs. Dismal Forebodings, trembling from head to foot, pulled open the door a little wider and the Shepherd stepped inside.

Having seen what happened, Mrs. Valiant, motherly, cheerful Mrs. Valiant, turned and literally ran back down the village street as though she had suddenly gone mad. She rushed in through the door of the inn and up the back stairs, and without even pausing to knock, she burst into the attic where Gloomy and Spiteful were working together on the great basket of mending. They looked up in astonishment as the door flew open and Mrs. Valiant stood before them, laughing and crying and panting for breath.

“Your mother,” she gasped, and for a moment could say no more. Then in a burst of joy and tears together she brought out her glorious news. “Your mother,” she said, “has just taken the Shepherd into her cottage!”

Chapter 6 Mountain of Spikenard (Peace) The Atonement Made by Love

CHAPTER 6
Mountain of Spikenard
PEACE: The Atonement Made by Love

The next of the nine Mountains of Spices to which the King led Grace and Glory was the Mountain of Spikenard, or Peace. On the slopes of this mountain grew a special variety of shrub requiring a high altitude far above the mists and clouds which so often shrouded the lower slopes of the mountains. The King’s spikenard could be produced nowhere else in the world, but it grew in wonderful abundance up there on the High Places.