I have it still." He held up the cornelian heart.

"It guided my steps to my dearest lady, Miss Winwood, in whose beloved service I lived so long.

It has brought me to the feet of my Fairy Princess.

But now the fairy-tale is over.

I begin where the fairy-tales end"-- he laughed into his Sophie's eyes--"I begin in the certain promise of living happy ever afterwards." In this supreme hour of his destiny there spoke the old, essential Paul, the believer in the Vision Splendid.