y of Professor Mansfield whose
introduction of Brenton would have been the _Open, Sesame_ to any
sanctum in America. Most of all, though, it came from Brenton himself,
from the young rector's manifest enthusiasm for all that went under the
name of chemistry, an enthusiasm based, as Professor Opdyke made prompt
discovery, upon no mere smattering of knowledge.

Bit by bit, then, the professor lowered the guard he had built up
before his holy places, relaxed the vigilance of his watch upon them
lest they should be invaded by the careless feet of those that did not
comprehend. Scott Brenton did comprehend. To him, experimenting was an
act of reverence, not a deed of idle curiosity. The world-laws were, to
him, full of purpose, albeit only half revealed; and blessed was he who
should assist in the revealing.

Brenton, listening, talking in his turn, sometimes questioning,
sometimes uttering a trenchant bit of argument, felt the old impulses
stirring within him, felt the old love of science renewing its hold
upon his heart and brain. Not that he regretted his holy calling; at
least, not yet. It was a goodly privilege to be allowed to set forth to
all men the modern, elastic gospel of good will coupled with a bowing
acquaintance with the sciences. Much might be done, that way, he told
himself, while steadily he disregarded the voices whispering in his
ears that he was offering his parishioners a set of pretty painted toys
instead of the rugged, vital facts of universal law. Still, the toys
were prettier and vastly more refined than were the old-time goblins of
his mother's day, the goblins marched to and fro persistently by half a
score of Parson Wheelers in their time. Those were monstrosities,
palpably of human creation and yet in the likeness of no mortal thing.
The toys he offered to his people were at least shaped and coloured
into dainty imitation of existing facts. So far as he helped on the
substitution, he was a benefactor to all mankind. And yet, it would
have been good to bare his hands and arms, and with them grasp and
wrestle with the naked facts, elusive facts, despite their ruggedness.
Nevertheless, he bravely smothered his desires. He even, and to
himself, professed to ignore the way they multiplied, after an
afternoon in the society of Professor Opdyke. However, ignore them as
he would and did, they burnt within him with an increasing fierceness,
burnt away, indeed, some of the scaffolding upon which his syst