The Red Miriok Part 13

So he had heard Choi-So tell the story, and though he had hotly protested against his accompanying them as poleman, all the time vigorously declaring to himself that he would never give up the _miriok_, yet the seeds of better things had taken root in his heart, were even then beginning to push their tender shoots upward. And how Helen's deep interest, her kindness to him, her evident concern, above all, the sweet, earnest words she had spoken--how these had brought just the nourishment to make the seed grow! The hand that no harsh force of compulsion could ever have made give up the idol to which it clung had brought it tremblingly to the feet of love, won by its all-conquering power.

They turned back from the old temple above Yo-Ju after thoroughly exploring it. They also spent a day in Yo-Ju, where Mr. Kit-ze fortunately found a poleman whom he knew and in whom he had confidence.

They stopped at Mr. Ko's long enough to pick up Mr. Chefoo, whom they found well on the road to recovery, and to leave with their old friend some remembrances brought from Yo-Ju.

What a joy it was to Helen, on the homeward journey, to watch Mr. Kit-ze coming more and more into the light.

It was one afternoon, just as they were pa.s.sing along beneath the beautifully verdured bluffs that indicate the nearness of the mountain range which encircles Seoul, that Dorothy, slipping her arm with warm pressure about Helen's waist, laid a book across Helen's knee with a pa.s.sage marked.

After a moment, Helen looked up, her eyes suffused with tears, for this is what she had read:

Perchance in heaven, some day, to me Some blessed saint will come and say: "All hail, beloved, but for thee My soul to death had fallen a prey"; Then oh, what rapture in the thought One soul to glory to have brought.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The End

FOOTNOTES:

[3] A wooden collar worn by Korean offenders against the law.