“Just as I am, without one plea,
     But that Thy blood was shed for me,
     And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
     O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

Gray hardly said a word.  He stretched out his hand with a gesture of invitation.  And down the two aisles of the tent, broken, sinful creatures, men and women, stumbled towards the platform.  One woman out of the street was near the organ.  Virginia caught the look of her face, and for the first time in the life of the rich girl the thought of what Jesus was to the sinful woman came with a suddenness and power that was like nothing but a new birth.  Virginia left the organ, went to her, looked into her face and caught her hands in her own.  The other girl trembled, then fell on her knees sobbing, with her head down upon the back of the rude bench in front of her, still clinging to Virginia.  And Virginia, after a moment’s hesitation, kneeled down by her and the two heads were bowed close together.

But when the people had crowded in a double row all about the platform, most of them kneeling and crying, a man in evening dress, different from the others, pushed through the seats and came and kneeled down by the side of the drunken man who had disturbed the meeting when Maxwell spoke.  He kneeled within a few feet of Rachel Winslow, who was still singing softly.  And as she turned for a moment and looked in his direction, she was amazed to see the face of Rollin Page!  For a moment her voice faltered.  Then she went on: 

    “Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
     Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,
     Because Thy promise I believe,
     O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

Chapter Ten

“If any man serve me, let him follow me.”

It was nearly midnight before the services at the Rectangle closed.  Gray stayed up long into Sunday morning, praying and talking with a little group of converts who in the great experiences of their new life, clung to the evangelist with a personal helplessness that made it as impossible for him to leave them as if they had been depending upon him to save them from physical death.  Among these converts was Rollin Page.

Virginia and her uncle had gone home about eleven o’clock, and Rachel and Jasper Chase had gone with them as far as the avenue where Virginia lived.  Dr. West had walked on a little way with them to his own home, and Rachel and Jasper had then gone on together to her mother’s.

That was a little after eleven.  It was now striking midnight, and Jasper Chase sat in his room staring at the papers on his desk and going over the last half hour with painful persistence.

He had told Rachel Winslow of his love for her, and she had not given him her love in return.  It would be difficult to know what was most powerful in the impulse that had moved him to speak to her tonight.  He had yielded to his feelings without any special thought of results to himself, because he had felt so certain that Rachel would respond to his love.  He tried to recall the impression she made on him when he first spoke to her.