blaze has soon burned
out. But what does it matter? At its ardent flame a thousand other
torches have been ignited; and the lands that sat so long in darkness
have welcomed the coming of a wondrous light!

VIII

MICHAEL TREVANION'S TEXT

I

Michael Trevanion misunderstood Paul: that was the trouble. Michael, so
Mark Rutherford tells us, was a Puritan of the Puritans, silent, stern,
unbending. Between his wife and himself no sympathy existed. They had
two children--a boy and a girl. The girl was in every way her mother's
child: the boy was the image of his father. Michael made a companion of
his son; took him into his own workshop; and promised himself that, come
what might, Robert should grow up to walk in his father's footsteps. All
went well until Robert Trevanion met Susan Shipton. Susan was one of the
beauties of that Cornish village. She had--what were not common in
Cornwall--light flaxen hair, blue eyes, and a rosy face, somewhat
inclined to be plump. The Shiptons lay completely outside Michael's
circle. They were mere formalists in religion, fond of pleasure; and
Susan especially was much given to gaiety. She went to picnics and
dances; rowed herself about the bay with her friends; and sauntered
round the town with her father and mother on Sunday afternoons. She was
fond of bathing, too, and was a good swimmer. Michael hardly knew how to
put his objection in words, but he nevertheless had a horror of women
who could swim. It seemed to him an ungodly accomplishment. He did not
believe for a moment that Paul would have sanctioned it. That settled it
for Michael. For Michael had unbounded faith in the judgment of Paul;
and the tragedy of his life lay in the fact that, on one important
occasion, he misunderstood his oracle.

One summer's morning, Robert saved Susan from drowning. She had
forgotten the swirl of water caused by the rush of the river into the
bay, and had swum into the danger zone. In three minutes Robert was at
her side, had gripped her by the bathing dress at the back of her neck,
and had brought her into safer water. From that moment the two were
often together; and, one afternoon, Michael came suddenly upon them and
guessed their secret. It nearly broke his heart. In Robert's attachment
to Susan he saw--or thought he saw--the end of all his hopes. 'He
remembered what his own married life had been; he always trusted that
Robert would have a wife who would be a help to him, and he felt s