Then Sarah told all about Steve, and Jonathan spoke of the last Christmas-eve, and of what peace and prosperity had followed the good deed done on it. And they sat so long that the chapel-keeper looked in disapprovingly several times, but at last went home happy with a sovereign in his pocket, and so much gratitude to Jonathan in his heart than he fully resolved not to tell his wife what he suspected, a resolution that, it is needless to say, he broke within an hour.
The next morning there was the usual Christmas service in the chapel, and, after it, Jonathan and his uncle, Jonas Shuttleworth, Ben Holden and his wife, and the preacher's wife and Sarah Benson, came quietly up to the communion rails. The movement was absolutely unexpected, but there was a profound interest and curiosity, and no one in the congregation moved until Jonathan, radiant with joy, turned to them with his wife upon his arm.
Then they crowded round him with their good wishes and their congratulations, and so, amid the smiles and blessings of all who knew them, he put Sarah into his carriage and drove her away to his home, the happiest man in England that Christmas-day.
