. No week followed without bringing some new fulfilment of this
foreboding. Now, at the end of two months, he knew well enough that
the hitherto dominant minority was hostile to him and his ministry, and
would do whatever it could against him.

Though Theron at once decided to show fight, and did not at all waver
in that resolve, his courage was in the main of a despondent sort.
Sometimes it would flutter up to the point of confidence, or at
least hopefulness, when he met with substantial men of the church who
obviously liked him, and whom he found himself mentally ranging on his
side, in the struggle which was to come. But more often it was blankly
apparent to him that, the moment flags were flying and drums on the
roll, these amiable fair-weather friends would probably take to their
heels.

Still, such as they were, his sole hope lay in their support. He must
make the best of them. He set himself doggedly to the task of gathering
together all those who were not his enemies into what, when the proper
time came, should be known as the pastor's party. There was plenty of
apostolic warrant for this. If there had not been, Theron felt that the
mere elementary demands of self-defence would have justified his use of
strategy.

The institution of pastoral calling, particularly that inquisitorial
form of it laid down in the Discipline, had never attracted Theron.
He and Alice had gone about among their previous flocks in quite a
haphazard fashion, without thought of system, much less of deliberate
purpose. Theron made lists now, and devoted thought and examination to
the personal tastes and characteristics of the people to be cultivated.
There were some, for example, who would expect him to talk pretty much
as the Discipline ordained--that is, to ask if they had family prayer,
to inquire after their souls, and generally to minister grace to his
hearers--and these in turn subdivided themselves into classes, ranging
from those who would wish nothing else to those who needed only a mild
spiritual flavor. There were others whom he would please much better by
not talking shop at all. Although he could ill afford it, he subscribed
now for a daily paper that he might have a perpetually renewed source of
good conversational topics for these more worldly calls. He also bought
several pounds of candy, pleasing in color, but warranted to be entirely
harmless, and he made a large mysterious mark on the inside of his new
silk hat to rem