affections. But the sword of the spirit must keep the
tempter away. There is the Judas in all of us, and he will betray us with
a kiss if he can."

John Storm's breast was heaving. He could scarcely conceal his agitation;
but the Father had risen to go.

"It is eight o'clock, and I must be back to Compline," he said. And then
he laughed and added: "We never ride in cabs; but I must needs walk
across the park to-night, for I have given away all my money."

At that the smile of an angel came into his old face, and lie said, with
a sweet simplicity:

"I love the park. Every morning the children play there, and then it is
the holy Catholic Church to me, and I like to walk in it and to lay my
hands on the heads of the little ones, and to ask a blessing for them,
and to empty my-self. This morning as I was coming here I met a little
boy carrying a bundle. 'And what is _your_ name, my little man?' I said,
and he told me what it was. 'And how old are you?' I asked. 'Twelve
years,' he answered. 'And what have you got in your bundle?' 'Father's
dinner, sir,' he said. 'And what is your father, my son?' 'A carpenter,'
said the boy. And I thought if I had been living in Palestine nineteen
hundred years ago I might have met another little Boy carrying the dinner
of his father, who was also a carpenter, in a little bundle which Mary
had made up for him. So I felt in my pocket, and all I had was my fare
home again, and I gave it to the little man as a thank-offering to God
that he had suffered me to meet a sweet boy of twelve whose father was a
carpenter."

John Storm's eyes were dim with tears.

"Good-bye, Brother Paul, and God send you back to us soon!--Good-bye to
you, dear friend; and when the world deals harshly with you come to us
for a few days in Retreat, that in the silence of your soul you may
forget its vanities and vexations and fix your thoughts above."

John Storm could not resist the impulse--he dropped to his knees at the
Father's feet.

"Bless me also, Father, as you blessed the carpenter's boy."

The Father raised two fingers of his right hand and said:

"God bless you, my son, and be with you and strengthen you, and when he
smiles on you may the frown of man affect you not!--Father in heaven,
look down on this fiery soul and succour him! Help him to cast off every
anchor that holds him to the world, and make him as a voice crying in the
wilderness, 'Come out of her, my people, saith our God.'"

When John