"I like to hear the things I've heard all my life."

"Of course," responded the other, "but you won't get that from our
popular preachers, I can tell you," and he laughed with some sarcasm.

"Is he making converts?"

"Too many, far too many; that's just what I complain of. We shall have a
nice name for relapses here if it goes on like this."

Both men paused.

"You've nothing more to complain of?" asked the Monsignor.

"No--no--" The second "no" was drawn out to its full length. "Of course,
he's unpunctual, and he's often late for dinner. I don't know where he
gets his dinner at all sometimes. And there are always ladies coming to
see him. If there are two in the parlour and another in the dining-room,
and a young man on the stairs, it's for ever Father Molyneux they are
asking for. And, of course, he has too much money given him for the
poor, and we have double the beggars we had last year."

"But," said the other, "you know there's more being said than all that.
There's an unpleasant story, and it's about that I want to ask you.
Well--the same sort of thing as poor Nobbs; you'll remember Nobbs?"

"Remember Nobbs! Why, I was curate with him when I first left the
seminary. Now, there was a preacher, if you like! But it turned his head
completely. Poor, wretched Nobbs! It's a dangerous thing to preach too
well, I'm certain of that."

"Well, it's a danger you and I have been spared," said the Monsignor,
and they both laughed heartily.

Then they got back to the point.

"Well," said the Rector, "there's a lady comes here sometimes who spoke
to me about this the other day. It seems she went to see John Nicholls,
and the poor old blind fellow bit her head off, but she thought she
ought to tell somebody who might put a stop to the talk, and so she came
to me. There's some woman, a very rich Protestant, who gives out openly
that she is waiting till Molyneux announces that he doesn't believe in
the Church, and then they will marry and go to America. Then, another
day Jim Dixon came along, and a friend of his had heard the tale from
some Army man at his Club. It's exactly the way things went on about
Nobbs, you know, beginning with talk like that. Really, if it wasn't for
having seen Nobbs go down hill I shouldn't think anything of it. Young
Molyneux is all straight so far, but so was Nobbs straight at first."

"A priest shouldn't be talked about," said the Monsignor.

"Of course not," said the Rector.

"He has s