I.THE RADIANT ROBE,[9]
II.THE CHURCH WHICH GREW OUT OF ONE BRICK,[28]
III.THE PUGREE WITH A BORDER OF GOLD,[58]
IV.THE PINK CHADDAR,[76]
V.THE STORY OF THREE JEWELS,[91]
VI.JEWELS FOUND,[112]
VII.THE BROKEN FENCE,[133]
VIII.SHINING IN THE DARK,[150]
IX.THE PAPER PARABLE,[165]
X.THE OLDEST LANGUAGE UPON EARTH,[170]
XI.STORIES ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS:—
1. The Broken Bridge,[175]
2. The Burning Hut,[179]
3. The Marks on the Sand,[182]
4. The Beautiful Garden,[185]
5. The Blind Mother,[189]
6. A Dangerous Village,[192]
7. The Beautiful Pardah,[196]
8. The Bearer’s Dream,[201]
9. The Cracked Scent-Bottle,[204]
10. The Fall, the Cheetah, and the Cup,[208]

A WREATH OF INDIAN STORIES.

I.
The Radiant Robe.

Fagir, the government clerk, sat in his house, when the work of the day was over. He had partaken of his evening meal; he had smoked his hookah;[1] his bodily frame was at ease, but his mind was working with many thoughts. His wife was beside him—Kasiti, the gentle and obedient. Kasiti had long ago embraced the gospel and become a Christian in heart, but many months had passed before her husband had suffered her to be baptized. He had chidden her, and she had not answered again; he had been harsh, and she had been loving. Kasiti[2] had made her faith appear beautiful by her life, and her patience had at length won the victory. Fagir had not only consented to his wife’s baptism, but he had read her Bible; he had searched its pages diligently, comparing the Old Testament with the New. And now Fagir’s intellect was convinced of the truth of Christianity; light dawned upon his soul, but it was as light without warmth. Fagir believed in Christ as the Messiah, but refused still to receive Him as a Sacrifice for sin.

“Such a sacrifice is not needed; at least, for those who walk uprightly and in the fear of God,” said Fagir to Kasiti, who was seated at his feet, with a Bible on her knees. “It would be mockery for such as I am to repeat what the Christians are taught to say—‘God be merciful to me, a sinner.’ I, at least, am no sinner, but a just and upright man, even judged by the laws contained in that Bible. I can hold my head erect before God and man; for I serve God with fasting and prayer, and man have I never wronged, but have bestowed large alms on the poor.”

It was not for Kasiti to reply; she read to herself in silence; but the thought of her heart was, “Had not Christ died for sinners, there would have been no heaven for me.”