unusually good effect, when, lo! there beside him stood the subject of
his thoughts. But oh! how changed he was!

Every rag upon him glowed and shimmered with a wondrous lustre, and the
staff he carried blazed with light, while the basket upon his arm
overflowed with the most beautiful blessings.

"I thought," said the new-comer, "that I might risk giving you this
encouragement. It will not make you content to go no farther on _now_.
It will make you long to strive for greater good ahead. You will not
reach it until you have travelled a lifetime; but you will not despair,
for you are being so blessed. I have been permitted to give you a
great gift. It is for that I was begging you that day. See, what a
privilege it is to be able to beg so--"

"Oh, yes," cried Lionel; "you were going to beg me to accept the little
rule, were n't you? And you left it for me when you disappeared, and
it is a beauty, and it is gold, and it does strange, wonderful things
for me, and--and--" In his enthusiasm he drew it from his breast and
held it up, when, lo! it curved about his hand until it formed a
perfect, beautiful circle. From its shining rim shot up points of
radiance, and it was no more a simple little rule, but a golden crown
fit for a king to wear.

Lionel gazed at it in mute wonderment, and the beggar put out his hand
and touched it lovingly.

"When your journey is done you shall wear it, lad," he said; and then
Lionel closed his eyes for very ecstasy, and then--