I've no doubt you've been dreadfully worried about them--papa's
clients, I mean."

"W-well--a little--or, rather, not at all. That is, I should have been
worried if it hadn't been for the conviction that something would look
out for them. Something always does, you know."

The faint smile that seemed to have got frozen on her lips quivered
piteously. "I wish you could have that comfortable feeling about me."

"Oh, I have. That'll be all right. You'll be taken care of from start to
finish. Don't have a qualm of doubt about it. There's a whole host of
ministering spirits--angels some people call them--I don't say I should
myself--but there are legions of mighty influences appointed to wait on
just such brave steps as you're about to take."

"That is, if I take them!"

"Oh, you'll take 'em all right, dearie. You'll not be able to help it
when you see just what they ought to be. In a certain sense they'll take
you. You'll be passed along from point to point as safely as that bit of
jade"--he took the carving from between her fingers and held it up--"as
safely as that bit of jade has been transmitted from the quarries of
Tibet to brighten my old eyes. It's run no end of risks, but the Angel
of Beauty has watched over all its journeys. It's been in every sort of
queer, mysterious place; it's passed through the hands of mandarins,
merchants, and slaves; it's probably stood in palaces and been exposed
in shops; it's certainly come over mountains and down rivers and across
seas; and yet here it is, as perfect as when some sallow-faced dwarf of
a craftsman gave it the last touch of the tool a hundred years ago. And
that's the way it'll be with you, dearie. You may go through some
difficult places, but you'll come out as unscathed as my little
Chinaman. The Street called Straight is often a crooked one; and yet
it's the surest and safest route we can take from point to point."

* * * * *

As, a few minutes later, she hurried homeward, this mystical optimism
was to her something like a rose to a sick man--beautiful to
contemplate, but of little practical application in alleviating pain.
Her mind turned away from it. It turned away, too, from the pillar of
cloud, of which the symbolism began to seem deceptive. Under the stress
of the moment the only vision to which she could attain was that of the
Misses Rodman begging for the pitiful job of teaching Italian in a young
ladies' school. She rememb