At that question, the bride's eyes sparkled with a glad light, and she quietly answered, "To the Lord, Clara dear; right into his treasury it went, some three or four months ago. Uncle and aunt and Ronald also knew and approved; indeed, they felt as if I could have done nothing else. I have given myself, you know, Clara, to the Lord for his service and could I withhold the most precious earthly possession I had? No, dear; I was only too glad I had it to give; and Eustace felt the same. How could I hear of the spiritual destitution of the millions of souls in China without desiring to aid them, not only by my life, but also by my means? And so, when Ronald found a trustworthy jeweller, willing to give a full price for the diadem, I sold it, and the money has gone ere this to aid the funds of the Chinese mission."
Clara's eyes filled. "O Nora, I am glad it is so! And Eustace will feel as I do, if he be not blind, that it needs no diadem of gold and rubies to beautify the brow of his bride to-day. But a truce to more talking now. I believe Ronald is waiting impatiently to take you down."
One moment the cousins knelt together in silent prayer, then quietly descended to the drawing-room.
The autumn sun was still brightly shining, when the carriage drove up, after the luncheon was over, to bear off the bride and bridegroom.
There was a mixed feeling of joy and sorrow in the hearts of all, for Nora Ashley was bidding, it might be, a long adieu to the home of her childhood, every spot of which was endeared to her by loving associations. Only that morning she had gone alone to strew some of her bridal flowers on the graves of her mother and of her little cousin Minnie, well knowing that she might never again revisit the spot. And now, even as with tear-dimmed eyes she drove once again through the lovely pass, gorgeous in its autumn dress, she cast around her a look which seemed as if it would stereotype the scene for ever on her memory's eye, to arise clearly in distant lands.
As she passed the hut where the old nurse had lived and died, she pointed it out to her husband; and as she did so, she seemed once more to feel the kind touch of the loving hand as it one day had pushed back her golden brown hair, and to hear the voice which had said, "I'm wonderin', my lambie, what kind o' a crown will sit on that bonnie brow; whether it will be the crown o' a vain world's folly, or the everlastin' one that your mother prayed so earnestly might rest there?"
And Nora knew now which it was; and even in the midst of her bridal happiness, she could look forward with joy to the day when she would take the golden crown put on her head by the Saviour's own hand, and casting it at his feet, give to him all the glory for evermore.
Meantime, the party assembled at the door of Benvourd House to see the young couple drive off, turned slowly indoors; only Mr. and Mrs. Macleod and Ronald lingered a few minutes, to catch sight of the carriage as it wound down the steep road below the pass.
"God's blessing go with them both," said Mr. Macleod. "Long shall we miss our Nora, Ronald; beautifully has she fulfilled her home duties. And now she goes forth to a foreign land to work for the Lord in a distant part of his vineyard. As I told Eustace Ashley, ere parting, he was a happy man to have secured her for a wife; for truly 'the heart of her husband may safely trust in her. Her price is above rubies.'"
"Yes," said Ronald, "it is even so. Our mother's dying prayer has been truly answered as regards Nora; she has obtained that wisdom of which it is written, 'The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold,' for 'the price of it is above rubies.' It can be said of her with truth that 'she stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy,' and also that 'in her tongue is the law of kindness.'"