d by the fear of breaking with her people, when in the spring
of that year the local press announced the coming to Cedar Mountain of
the Rev. James Hartigan. And on the day after her meeting with him and
their unexpected adventure with the runaway, the parson's wife gave a
tea to introduce the young man to the congregation.

Jim's eyes met hers the moment she entered Jebb's parlour. His greeting
was a joyous one and Belle felt the colour mount in her cheeks as
Hartigan drew her aside to talk. There was something very stimulating
about him, she found--a thrill in his voice, his eyes, and his presence
that she had never experienced with Lowe.

A little later, Lowe himself arrived. Belle, as she turned to greet him,
got an unpleasant shock to note the contrast between the frank, boyish
face of the curly-haired giant and the thin features and restless eyes
of the man she had promised to marry. Her conscience smote her for
disloyalty; but in her heart she was not satisfied. Vague, unspoken,
half-realized criticisms of past months rose to fill her with disquiet.
A cumulative unhappiness in her association with Lowe took possession of
her. And, as she watched with a little thrill the meeting between Jack
and the Preacher, she read plainly on the face of her fiance the
disapproval that even his practised art could not conceal. For her, the
meeting was portentous; it marked a turning-point; and as she thought of
it later she took a slightly guilty pleasure in the fact that without a
clash of words there was at once a clash of personalities, and that the
Preacher had dominated the scene.

CHAPTER XIII

Preacher Jim's First Sermon

The Sunday on which Jim first appeared in the pulpit will long be
remembered in Cedar Mountain. The "grapevine telegraph" had been working
hard so that all the world of that region had heard of the new preacher,
and curiosity to see him was responsible, more than anything else, for a
church filled with critical folk.

The sight of all the riot and wickedness about the Black Hills, the mad
striving after sudden gold, and the total lack of real joy in its use
after getting it, suggested to Jim a sermon founded on the proverb:
"Better is a dinner of herbs and contentment therewith, etc...." But,
for once in his life, Hartigan was a little abashed by the situation
and, reciting the verses from memory, he managed to get them mixed and
rendered them thus: "Better is a stalled ox and contentment