deacon reddened through his beard, and glanced at Deacon Todd; but the
latter was a kind man, and knew Mrs. Strong, and gazed out of the
window.

"And--and tell you when it was time for meeting. I don't know as you'd
have to look more'n a hundred miles for the very young woman that
would make the right kind of helpmeet for you, but you know best about
that. Anyway, Mr. Lindsay, it is not good for man to be alone, we have
Scripture for that: and it's quite evident that it's particularly bad
for you to be alone, with your--a--your love of nature" (the deacon
caught sight of the lizard, peering disconsolately out of the gilt
celluloid box, and brought his remarks to a hasty conclusion). "And so
we'll be going, Mr. Lindsay, and don't you fret about to-night's
meeting, for we'll make it all right."

Mr. Lindsay bowed them out, with vague thanks, and muttered
expressions of regret. He hardly heard their adieux; the words that
were saying themselves over and over in his head were,--

"You want a wife!"

Did he want a wife? Was that what was the matter with him? Was that
why he went about all day and every day, these last weeks, feeling as
if half of him were asleep? He had always been a strong advocate of
the celibacy of the clergy, as far as his own case went. Nothing, he
had always assured himself, should ever come between him and his work.
A wife would be a perpetual distraction: she would want money, and
amusement, and a thousand things that he never thought about; and she
would interfere with his sermons, and with his collections, and--and
altogether, he would never marry. But now,--

And what was it that happened only the other day, here in the village?
A man and his wife had been quarrelling, to the scandal of the whole
congregation. They were an elderly couple, and when it came to
smashing crockery and emptying pails of water over each other, the
minister felt it his duty to interfere. So he called on the wife,
intending to reason with her first alone, and then, when she was
softened and convinced, to call in the husband and reconcile them, and
perhaps pray with them, since both were "members." But before he had
spoken a dozen of his well-arranged and logical sentences, he was
interrupted by loud and tearful outcries.

The lady never thought it would come to this, no, never! Some thought
she had enough to bear without this, but she knew how to submit to
the will of Providence, and no one should say she struv no