“He has taken me into his service, old and dreary as I am, and has spoken so comfortingly to poor Gloomy and myself that we really feel like new people beginning life all over again. He tells me that this beautiful shawl is called ‘the garment of praise,’ and he gave one almost exactly like it to Gloomy and told us that he would give us ‘beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness’ (Isa. 61:3). And of course, when I had this beautiful, glittering thing over my shoulders, Valiant dear, it made my dreary old grey dress look just too awful for words. That is why, as you see, I have discarded my widow’s weeds altogether, and am wearing one of the light, pretty dresses which I thought I had laid aside for ever. I am still a little self-conscious, I fear,” added she with a rather shamefaced laugh, “but I shall get used to it presently, I hope, and know how to wear it more naturally and gracefully, to the glory of the one who gave it to me.”

She paused for a moment as though she could hardly go on speaking, and then she put out her hand and laid it tremblingly on her friend’s arm. “It was you who brought him to the cottage, Valiant,” said she softly, “and I don’t know how to begin to thank you. All these years you have been so patient with me and so faithful, putting up with all my miserable selfishness and ungraciousness. If it were not for you, Valiant, none of this would have happened.”

Mrs. Valiant sat there in the sun-filled porch holding Dismal’s hand in both of her own, beaming like the sun itself, and quite unashamedly allowing the tears of joy to trickle down her cheeks. But speech was never her strong point; she always expressed herself much more fluently through bustling, loving activity, and when at last she could find her voice, all she said was: “Dismal, my dear, this is the happiest day of my life. I’ll just slip into the kitchen and put the kettle on the fire—it’s nearly boiling—and we’ll have a good cup of tea together. You wait here in the porch, and while the kettle is boiling I am going across to the other cottage to call Mercy to come join us.”