uietly. "If you sit beside the beggar
who perished at your gates, what will you say to him if he should refer
to matters such as these?"

"Sit beside a beggar!" cried the King, in high disdain.

"You forget it will be in heaven," said the man, gently.

"In heaven, of course, I shall be a king as I am here!"

"Oh, will you?" said the man: "I was not aware of that. I saw kings
there performing the lowliest of services. And I saw many in hell: the
majority of them were there." And therewith the man sighed heavily, as
he mused.

The King turned his back on him: and they thrust him out at the gates.

* * * * *

The Archbishop was reading a novel by the fire.

"Your work, then, is ended, is it?" asked the man.

"Oh no! not by any means ended, I hope. I attended a drawing-room
meeting at Lady Clack's yesterday," said the Archbishop, smiling
benignantly on his questioner, "and this morning I have sanctioned
proceedings against a vicar who for some time has been wavering
heretically in his opinions. I think we can effectually silence him at
last. Oh yes, I am extremely busy, I can assure you."

"There are no souls, then, to be saved?" said the man. "No lives to be
reformed: and no mourners to be comforted? This side of your duties you
have completed and closed?"

The Archbishop looked at him with extreme hauteur. "My dear sir, I leave
these matters to my subordinates. I am here as an administrator, not as
a minister."

"And you always choose the men best fitted to be ministers?"

"Of course. At any rate, I hope so," quoth the Archbishop.

"That young curate who has so successfully played the evangelist in
Gorseshire--he will have one of your earliest nominations, then, no
doubt?"

"Indeed, he will not! He has offended me deeply. Would you believe it?
he wrote an article on me in one of the reviews, and he actually had the
audacity, sir, to criticize me unfavourably! I will see that the man
remains exactly where he is!"

"And when you by-and-by make your report to your Master, will you
explain to Him your methods and your aims in this way? If so, do you
think He will be satisfied with you? Your methods and His are at
variance, surely? In heaven there are neither archbishops nor bishops,
as such. If they pass the gates at all, it is merely as men who have
done their duty. Do you think you will pass the gates on that score,
your Grace?"

The Archbishop rang the bell sharply and a