nodding her head, and smiling at him with roguish,
comprehending eyes. "Yes, that's the way we're
built. We spend our lives doing that sort of
thing."

"I don't know that you would precisely grasp
my meaning," said the young minister, with a
polite effort in his words to mask the untoward
side of the suggestion. "It is a matter of con-
science with me; and I am pained and shocked
at myself."

Sister Soulsby drummed for an absent moment
with her thin, nervous fingers on the desk-top.
"I guess maybe you'd better go and lie down
again," she said gently. "You're a sick man,
still, and it's no good your worrying your head just
now with things of this sort. You'll see them dif-
ferently when you're quite yourself again."

"No, no," pleaded Theron. "Do let us have
our talk out! I'm all right. My mind is clear as
a bell. Truly, I've really counted on this talk
with you."

"But there's something else to talk about, isn't
there, besides -- besides your conscience?" she
asked. Her eyes bent upon him a kindly pressure
as she spoke, which took all possible harshness from
her meaning.

Theron answered the glance rather than her
words. "I know that you are my friend," he said
simply.

Sister Soulsby straightened herself, and looked

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