it is not worth while, in the
face of so great a forgiveness, to do anything else but forgive, and it
is a cruel thing, and a wicked thing, to keep at a distance such love
as that."

"No, no," said The Don, "it is not worth while. It is wicked, and it is
folly. I will go back. I will forgive."

XIX

THE REGIONS BEYOND

The visit of the Superintendent to a mission field varied according to
the nature of the field and the character of the work done, between an
inquisitorial process and a triumphal march. Nothing escaped his keen
eye. It needed no questioning on his part to become possessed of almost
all the facts necessary to his full information about the field, the
work, the financial condition, and the general efficiency of the
missionary. One or two points he was sure to make inquiry about. One of
these was the care the missionary had taken of the outlying points. He
had the eye of an explorer, which always rests on the horizon. The
results of his investigations could easily be read in his joy or his
grief, his hope or his disappointment, his genuine pride in his
missionary or his blazing, scorching rebuke. The one consideration with
the Superintendent was the progress of the work. The work first, the
work last, the work always.

The announcement to Shock through his Convener, that the Superintendent
purposed making a visit in the spring, filled him with more or less
anxiety. He remembered only too well his failure at the Fort; he
thought of that postscript in the Superintendent's letter to his
Convener; he knew that even in Loon Lake and in the Pass his church
organization was not anything to boast of; and altogether he considered
that the results he had to show for his year's labour were few and
meagre.

The winter had been long and severe. In the Pass there had been a great
deal of sickness, both among the miners and among the lumbermen. The
terrible sufferings these men had to endure from the cold and exposure,
for which they were all too inadequately prepared, brought not only
physical evils upon them, but reacted in orgies unspeakably degrading.

The hospital was full. Nell had been retained by The Don as nurse, and
although for a time this meant constant humiliation and trial to her,
she bore herself with such gentle humility, and did her work with such
sweet and untiring patience, that the men began to regard her with that
entire respect and courteous consideration that men of their class
nev