He could not see clearly, when he tried to see. He was no longer filled
with the sublime faith that a beneficent Providence kept watch and ward
over him, and all men. He was in fact now almost of the opinion that
both sparrows and preachers might fall and the Great Intelligence
remain unperturbed. It seemed necessary that a man should do more than
have faith. He must imperatively make some conscious, intelligent effort
on his own behalf. He was especially of this opinion since the Board of
Home Missions had overlooked the matter of forwarding his quarterly
salary on time. The faith that moveth mountains was powerless to conjure
flour and sugar and tea out of those dusky woods and silent
waterways--at least not without a canoe and labor and a certain
requisite medium of exchange.

No, he did not blame Sophie Carr for refusing to allow her judgment to
be fogged with sentiment. He only marvelled that she could do it where
he had failed. He could not blame her--not if his speech and activities
since he came to Lone Moose were the measure of his possible
achievement.

He was taking grim, unsparing stock of himself, of what he had, of what
he had accomplished altogether, by this time. It was not much. It was
not even promising. A theological education, which, compared to the sort
of culture Sam Carr and his daughter had managed to acquire, seemed
rather inadequate and one-sided. They knew more about the principles he
was supposed to teach than he knew himself. And their knowledge extended
to fields where he could not follow. When he compared himself with Tommy
Ashe--well, Tommy was an Oxford man, and although Oxford had not
indelibly stamped him, still it had left its mark.

These people had covered all his ground--and they had gone exploring
further in fields of general knowledge while he sat gazing smugly at
his own reflection in a theological mirror. Upon that score certainly
the count was badly against him.

As for his worldly possessions, when Mr. Thompson sardonically
considered them as a means of supporting a wife he was forced to admit
that the provision would be intolerably meager. His prospects included a
salary that barely sufficed for one. It was apparent, he concluded, that
the Board of Home Missions, like the Army and Navy, calculated its rank
and file to remain in single blessedness and subsist frugally to boot.

As to his late accomplishments in the field of labor, Mr. Thompson
looked out of his cabin do