But she knew that her heart beat in unison with the heart of the Virgin Mother in Bethlehem's starlit stable.
She had seen, in one revealing ray of eternal light, the true vocation of her womanhood.
And again the organ pealed forth triumphant chords; while the voices of the distant choir carolled:
"Hark, the herald angels sing,
Glory to the new-born King."
[CHAPTER XXXIX]
HOME, BY ANOTHER WAY
Each Feast of Epiphany, Mr. Goldsworthy makes a point of asking David to preach the Epiphany sermon in Brambledene Church.
The offertory, on these occasions, is always devoted to the work of the Church of the Holy Star, in Ugonduma. The offertory is always the largest in the whole year; but that may possibly be accounted for by the fact that Diana invariably puts a sovereign into the plate. David smiles as he sees it lying on the vestry table. It calls up many memories. He knows it was dropped into the plate by the hand which has given thousands to the work in Central Africa. He wears on his watch-chain, the golden coin which, on that Christmas-eve so long ago, was Diana's first offering to his work in Ugonduma.
When David mounts the pulpit stairs, and appears behind the red velvet cushion, he looks down upon his wife, sitting in the corner near the stout whitewashed pillar, its shape accentuated, as is the annual custom, by heavy wreathings of evergreens.