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A Knight of the Nineteenth Century

Chapter 57: THE END
By Edward Payson Roe
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About This Book

The narrative follows a young man raised in a cold household whose tastes lead him into fast living and moral peril. Relatives, including a reforming aunt and an innocent niece, attempt to reclaim him with domestic kindness, but public scandal, an arrest, and imprisonment intensify his inner conflict. Isolated and maligned, he confronts wounded pride, social judgment, and personal temptation; slow moral growth emerges through trial, generous intercessions, and a crisis that forces him to choose between self-interest and sacrificial conduct. The story traces his gradual conversion from waywardness to a mature, service-minded character affirmed by love and courageous deeds.

Years have passed. The agony of the war has long been over. Not only peace but prosperity is once more prevailing throughout the land.

Mr. and Mrs. Arnot reside in their old home, but Mrs. Egbert Haldane is its mistress. Much effort was made to induce Mr. Growther to take up his abode there also, but he would not leave the quaint old kitchen, where he said "the little peaked-faced chap was sittin' beside him all the time."

At last he failed and was about to die. Looking up into Mrs. Arnot's face, he said:

"I don't think a bit better of myself. I'm twisted all out o' shape. But the little chap has taught me how the Good Father will receive me."

The wealthiest people of Hillaton are glad to obtain the services of Dr. Haldane, and to pay for them; they are glad to welcome him to their homes when his busy life permits him to come; but the proudest citizen must wait when Christ, in the person of the poorest and lowliest, sends word to this knightly man, "I am sick or in prison"; "I am naked or hungry."

THE END

End of Project Gutenberg's A Knight of the Nineteenth Century, by E. P. Roe