hand still in air, to listen. That well-worn phrase arrested his
attention, and gave itself a new meaning. He was bound to those people,
it was true, but he could never again harbor the delusion that the tie
between them was blessed. There was vaguely present in his mind the
consciousness that other ties were loosening as well. Be that as it
might, one thing was certain. He had passed definitely beyond pretending
to himself that there was anything spiritually in common between him and
the Methodist Church of Octavius. The necessity of his keeping up the
pretence with others rose on the instant like a looming shadow before
his mental vision. He turned away from it, and bent his brain to think
of something else.

The noise of Alice opening the front door came as a pleasant digression.
A second later it became clear from the sound of voices that she had
brought some one back with her, and Theron hastily stretched himself out
again in the armchair, with his head back in the pillow, and his feet
on the other chair. He had come mighty near forgetting that he was an
invalid, and he protected himself the further now by assuming an air of
lassitude verging upon prostration.

"Yes; there's a light burning. It's all right," he heard Alice say. She
entered the room, and Theron's head was too bad to permit him to turn
it, and see who her companion was.

"Theron dear," Alice began, "I knew you'd be glad to see HER, even if
you were out of sorts; and I persuaded her just to run in for a minute.
Let me introduce you to Sister Soulsby. Sister Soulsby--my husband."

The Rev. Mr. Ware sat upright with an energetic start, and fastened upon
the stranger a look which conveyed anything but the satisfaction his
wife had been so sure about. It was at the first blush an undisguised
scowl, and only some fleeting memory of that reflection about needing
now to dissemble, prevented him from still frowning as he rose to his
feet, and perfunctorily held out his hand.

"Delighted, I'm sure," he mumbled. Then, looking up, he discovered that
Sister Soulsby knew he was not delighted, and that she seemed not to
mind in the least.

"As your good lady said, I just ran in for a moment," she remarked,
shaking his limp hand with a brisk, business-like grasp, and dropping
it. "I hate bothering sick people, but as we're to be thrown together
a good deal this next week or so, I thought I'd like to lose no time in
saying 'howdy.' I won't keep you up now. Your