and the whirlwind must
be reaped. Out of this evil good shall come. Shall not the Judge of all
the earth do right?' These were his last words to me then. As his life
ebbed out, he wrote a letter which I have brought hither to one"--he
turned to David--"whom he loved. At the last he took off his hat, and
lay with it in his hands, and died.... I am a Muslim, but the God of
pity, of justice, and of right is my God; and in His name be it said
that was a crime of Sheitan the accursed."

In a low voice the chairman put the resolution. The Earl of Eglington
voted in its favour.

Walking the hills homeward with Ebn Ezra Bey, Luke, Faith, and John
Fairley, David kept saying over to himself the words of Benn Claridge:
"I have called thee so often of late. Good morrow! Good morrow! Good
morrow! Can you not hear me call?"

CHAPTER V. THE WIDER WAY

Some months later the following letter came to David Claridge in Cairo
from Faith Claridge in Hamley:

David, I write thee from the village and the land of the people
which thou didst once love so well. Does thee love them still?
They gave thee sour bread to eat ere thy going, but yet thee didst
grind the flour for the baking. Thee didst frighten all who knew
thee with thy doings that mad midsummer time. The tavern, the
theatre, the cross-roads, and the cockpit--was ever such a day!

Now, Davy, I must tell of a strange thing. But first, a moment.
Thee remembers the man Kimber smitten by thee at the public-house on
that day? What think thee has happened? He followed to London the
lass kissed by thee, and besought her to return and marry him. This
she refused at first with anger; but afterwards she said that, if in
three years he was of the same mind, and stayed sober and hard-
working meanwhile, she would give him an answer, she would consider.
Her head was high. She has become maid to a lady of degree, who has
well befriended her.

How do I know these things? Even from Jasper Kimber, who, on his
return from London, was taken to his bed with fever. Because of the
hard blows dealt him by thee, I went to make amends. He welcomed
me, and soon opened his whole mind. That mind has generous moments,
David, for he took to being thankful for thy knocks.

Now for the strange thing I hinted. After visiting Jasper Kimber at
Heddington, as I came back over the hill by the path we all took
that day after the Meeting--