, and it filled
his heart with a sudden stress of longing. It made him remember the
pretty parlor in which Mary had received him four years before, and he
opened her letter with a tremor in his hands. It was dated the Christmas
day of the year of his visit; it was more than three years belated, but
he read it as if it were written the day before, and it moved him quite
as powerfully.

"MY DEAR FRIEND: The impulse to write to you has grown
stronger day by day since you left. Your wonderful life and
your words appealed to my imagination with such power that I
have been unable to put them out of my mind. Without
intending to do so you have filled me with a great desire to
see the West which is able to make you forget your family and
friends and calls you on long journeys. I have sung for you
every Sunday as I promised to do. Your friend Jack called to
see me last night and we had a long talk about you. He is to
write you also and gave me your probable address. You said
you were not a good writer but I wish you would let me know
where you are and what you are doing, for I feel a deep
interest in you, although I can not make myself believe that
you are not the Harold Excell I saw in Rock River. In reality
you are not he, any more than I am the little prig who sang
those songs to save your soul! However, I was not so bad as
I seemed even then, for I wanted you to admire my voice.

"I hope this Christmas day finds you in a warm and sheltered
place. It would be a great comfort to me if I could know you
were not cold and hungry. Jack brought me a beautiful
present--a set of George Eliot. I ought not to have accepted
it but he seemed so sure it would please me I had not the
heart to refuse. I would send something to you only I can't
feel sure of reaching you, and neither does Jack.

"It may be of interest to you to know that Mr. King the
pastor, in whose church I sang, has resigned his pastorate to
go abroad for a year. His successor is a man with a family--I
don't see how he will manage to live on the salary. Mr. King
had independent means and was a bachelor."

Right there the youth stopped. Something told him that he had reached
the heart of the woman's message. King had resigned to go abroad. Why?
The tone of the letter was studiedly cold. Why? There were a few more
lines to say that Jack was coming in t