he mind of a tempter."

Ineffable assurance and good will shone in his face, and Connor cursed
him silently.

"I, leaving the valley, might be lost in the torrent. And neither the
world nor I should profit. But if I stay here, at least one soul is
saved to God."

"Your own?" muttered Connor. But he managed to smile above his rage.
"And after you," he concluded, "what of the horses, David?"

"My sons shall have them."

"And if you have no sons?"

"Before my death I shall kill all of the horses. They are not meant for
other men than the sons of David."

The gambler drew off his hat and raised his face to the sky, asking
mutely if Heaven would permit this crime.

"Yet," said David, "I forgive you."

"You forgive me?" echoed Connor through his teeth.

"Yes, for the fire of the temptation has burned out. Let us forget the
world beyond the mountains."

"What is your proof that you are right in staying here?"

"The voice of God."

"You have spoken to Him, perhaps?"

The irony passed harmless by the raised head of David.

"I have spoken to Him," he asserted calmly.

"I see," nodded the gambler. "You keep Him in that room, no doubt?"

"It is true. His spirit is in the Room of Silence."

"You've seen His face?"

A numbness fell on the mind of Connor as he saw his hopes destroyed by
the demon of bigotry.

"Only His voice has come to me," said David.

"It speaks to you?"

"Yes."

Connor stared in actual alarm, for this was insanity.

"The four," said David, "spoke to Him always in that room. He is there.
And when Matthew died he gave me this assurance--that while the walls of
this house stood together God would not desert me or fail to come to me
in that room until I love another thing more than I love God."

"And how, David, do you hear the voice? For while you were there I was
in the patio, close by, and yet I heard no whisper of a sound from the
room."

"I shall tell you. When I entered the Room of Silence just now your
words had set me on fire. My mind was hot with desire of power over
other men. I forgot the palace you built for me with your promises. And
then I knew that it had been a temptation to sin from which the voice
was freeing me.

"Could a human voice have spoken more clearly than that voice spoke to
my heart? Anxiously I called before my eyes the image of Benjamin to ask
for His judgment, but your face remained an unclouded vision and was not
dimmed by the will of the Lord as He