he other woman's were tired, almost haggard--yet understanding.

"Mr. Hodder was right--a thousand times right, my dear," she said.

Alison could only stare at her, and the crimson in the bright spots of
her cheeks spread over her face. Why had Mrs. Constable supposed that
she would care to hear the sermon praised? But a second glance put her
in possession of the extraordinary fact that Mrs. Constable herself was
profoundly moved.

"I knew he would change," she went on, "I have seen for some time that
he was too big a man not to change. But I had no conception that he
would have such power, and such courage, as he has shown this morning.
It is not only that he dared to tell us what we were--smaller men might
have done that, and it is comparatively easy to denounce. But he has
the vision to construct, he is a seer himself--he has really made me see
what Christianity is. And as long as I live I shall never forget those
closing sentences."

"And now?" asked Alison. "And now what will happen?"

Mrs. Constable changed colour. Her tact, on which she prided herself,
had deserted her in a moment of unlooked-for emotion.

"Oh, I know that my father and the others will try to put him out--but
can they?" Alison asked.

It was Mrs. Constable's turn to stare. The head she suddenly and
impulsively put forth trembled on Alison's wrist.

"I don't know, Alison--I'm afraid they can. It is too terrible to think
about.... And they can't--they won't believe that many changes are
coming, that this is but one of many signs... Do come and see me."

Alison left her, marvelling at the passage between them, and that, of
all persons in the congregation of St. John's, the lightning should have
struck Mrs. Constable...

Turning to the right on Burton Street, she soon found herself walking
rapidly westward through deserted streets lined by factories and
warehouses, and silent in the Sabbath calm.... She thought of Hodder,
she would have liked to go to him in that hour....

In Park Street, luncheon was half over, and Nelson Langmaid was at
the table with her father. The lawyer glanced at her curiously as she
entered the room, and his usual word of banter, she thought, was rather
lame. The two went on, for some time, discussing a railroad suit in
Texas. And Alison, as she hurried through her meal, leaving the dishes
almost untouched, scarcely heard them. Once, in her reverie, her
thoughts reverted to another Sunday when Hodder had sat, an h