en--I don't know that I should."

"He doesn't strike you as a man of power?"

"In the pulpit?"

"And out of it--especially out of it?"

"He may have been. But--perhaps he has lost in power. Dispersion, you
know, does not make for strength."

Suddenly the curate became very pale.

"Dispersion--you say!" he almost stammered.

As if to cover some emotion, he looked at Malling's plate, and added:

"Have some more? You won't? Then--"

He got up and rang the bell. Ellen reappeared, cleared away, and put the
stewed fruit and custard on the table.

"Bring the coffee in ten minutes, Ellen. I won't ring."

"Very well, sir."

"Dispersion," said Chichester to Malling in a firmer voice, as Ellen
disappeared.

"Concentration makes for strength. Mr. Harding seems to me mentally--what
shall I say?--rather torn in pieces, as if preyed upon by some anxiety.
Now, if you'll allow me to be personal, I should say that you have
greatly gained in strength and power since I knew you two years ago."

"You--you observe a difference?" asked Chichester, apparently in great
perturbation.

"A striking difference."

"And--and would you say I looked a happier, as well as a--a stronger
man?"

"I couldn't with truth say that."

"Very few of us are happy," said Chichester, with trembling lips. "Poor
miserable sinners as we are! And we clergymen, who set up to direct
others--" he broke off.

He seemed greatly, strangely, moved.

"You must forgive me. I have had a very hard day's work!" he murmured.
"The coffee will do me good. Let us sit in the armchairs, and Ellen can
clear away. I wish I had two sitting-rooms."

He rang to make Ellen hurry. Till she came Malling talked about Italian
pictures and looked at the curate's books. When she had cleared away,
left the coffee, and finally departed, he sat down with an air of
satisfaction. Chichester did not smoke, but begged Malling to light
up, and gave him a cigar.

"Coffee always does one good," he said. "It acts directly on the heart,
and seems to strengthen the whole body. I have had a trying day."

"You look tired," said Malling.

The fact was that Chichester had never recovered the color he had so
suddenly lost when they were discussing Mr. Harding.

"It's no wonder if I do," rejoined Chichester, in a voice that sounded
hopeless.

He drank some coffee, seemed to make a strong effort to recover himself,
and, with more energy, said:

"I asked you here because I wanted to