have?"

"Yes."

"What was his reply?"

"That he is innocent of the personality laid to his charge."

"Did you mention my name?"

"I did."

"Well?"

"He had not even heard of you as a member of the church here."

"I can hardly credit that, after what he said."

"You will, at least, give him the chance of vindication. He is now at
my house, and has expressed a wish to see you."

"I don't know that any good will grow out of seeing him," said Mr.
Grant, who felt but little inclined to meet the preacher.

"I'm sorry to hear you say that, Mr. Grant. You have made a complaint
against Mr. C--, and when he wishes to confer with you on the subject,
you decline, under the assumption that no good can arise from it. This
is not right; and I hope you will think better of it."

"Perhaps it isn't right; but so it is. At present, I do not wish to see
him. I may feel differently to-morrow."

"Shall we call upon-you in the morning?"

"If you please to do so."

"Very well."

And the two official members departed.

No sooner were they gone, than Mr. Grant put or his hat and left his
shop. He went direct to the store of Mr. Harrison.

"You are just the man I was thinking about," said the latter, as the
jeweller entered. "What is all this trouble about you and Mr. C--? I
hear some rumour of it at every turn."

"That is just what I have come to see you about."

"Very well; what can I do in the matter? Mr. C--, you allege, has held
you up in the congregation to public odium?"

"I do."

"In what way?"

"Strange that you should ask the question."

"Why so? What have I to do with it?"

"A great deal," said Grant, his brows falling as he spoke.

"I must plead innocence until shown my guilt. So far, I have not even
been able to learn in what the allusion to yourself consisted."

"_You_ have not?"

"No."

Grant stood, tightly compressing his lips, for some moments. He then
said:

"You remember that affair of the gold ring?"

"Very well."

"You mentioned this to C--."

"No. Nor to a living soul since the occurrence of the fact."

"What?"

"Nothing on that subject has ever passed my lips. I believed that you
saw and repented of your error, and in honour and in conscience
refrained from even the remotest allusion to the subject."

"How, then, did Mr. C-- become cognisant of the fact?"

"If cognisant all, it was from another source than the one you
supposed."

"I never mentioned it. You were the only