an?"

Katherine moved forward. Her voice quavered, partly from joy, partly
from pity for the anguished figure upon the floor.

"It means you are cleared, father! This will explain." And she gave
him Doctor Sherman's confession.

The old man read it, then passed a bewildered hand across his face.

"I--I don't understand this!"

"I'll explain it later," said Katherine.

"Is--is this true?" It was to the young minister that Doctor West
spoke.

"Yes. And more. I can't ask you to forgive me!" sobbed Doctor Sherman.
"It's beyond forgiveness! But I want to thank you for saving Elsie. At
least you'll let me thank you for that!"

"What I have done here has been only my duty as a physician," said
Doctor West gently. "As for the other matter"--he looked the paper
through, still with bewilderment--"as for that, I'm afraid I am not
the chief sufferer," he said slowly, gently. "I have been under a
cloud, it is true, and I won't deny that it has hurt. But I am an old
man, and it doesn't matter much. You are young, just beginning life.
Of us two you are the one most to be pitied."

"Don't pity me--please!" cried the minister. "I don't deserve it!"

"I'm sorry--so sorry!" Doctor West shook his head. Apparently he had
forgotten the significance of this confession to himself. "I have
always loved Elsie, and I have always admired you and been proud of
you. So if my forgiveness means anything to you, why I forgive you
with all my heart!"

A choking sound came from the bowed figure, but no words. His
embracing arms fell away from Doctor West. He knelt there limply, his
head bowed upon his bosom. There was a moment of breathless silence.
In the background Miss Sherman stood looking on, white, tense,
dry-eyed.

Doctor Sherman turned slowly, fearfully, toward the bed.

"But, Elsie," he whispered in a dry, lost voice. "It's all bad--but
that's the worst of all. When she knows, she never can forgive me!"

Katherine laid a hand upon his shoulder.

"If you think that, then you don't know Elsie. She will be pained, but
she loves you with all her soul; she would forgive you anything so
long as you loved her, and she would follow you through every misery
to the ends of the world."

"Do you think so?" he breathed; and then he crept to the bed and
buried his face upon it.

Katherine looked down upon him for a moment. Then her own concerns
began flooding back upon her. She realized that she had not yet won
the fight. She had only g