'Then we would expect you to make a statement in a sermon, or in any way you chose, that you'd cast your sins from you, that you would never speak or write to this woman again, and that you were at peace with the Lord.' 'And then?' 'Then, sir'--Mr. James rose--'we should onst again be proud to take our minister by the 'and, knowing it was but the deceitfulness of youth that got the better of you, and the wickedness of an 'ooman.' Feeling that this was hardly enough to tempt Edward, the man with the crafty eyes said: 'And if in the Lord's wisdom He sees fit to take her, then, sir, you can choose a wife from among us.' (He was thinking of his daughter.) He said no more. Edward was speaking. His voice was low, but not a man ever forgot a word he said. 'Filthy little beasts!' he said, but without acrimony, simply in weariness. 'I should like to shoot you; but you rule the world--little pot-bellied gods. There is no other God. Your last suggestion (he looked at them with a smile of so peculiar a quality and such strange eyes that the old beeman afterwards said "It took you in the stomach") was worthy of you. It's not enough that unselfish love can't save. It's not enough (his face quivered horribly) that love is allowed to torture the loved one; but you must come with your foul minds and eyes to "view the corpse." And you know nothing--nothing.' 'We know the facts,' said James. 'Facts! What are facts? I could flog you naked through the fields, James, for your stupidity alone.' There was a general smile, James being a corpulent man. He shrank. Then his feelings found relief in spite. 'If you don't dismiss the female, I'll appeal to the Presbytery,' he said, painfully pulling himself together. 'What for?' 'Notice for you.' 'No need. We're going. What d'you suppose I should do here? There's no Lord's Day and no Lord's house, for there's no Lord. For goodness' sake, turn the chapel into a cowhouse!' They blinked. Their minds did not take in his meaning, which was like the upper wind that blows coldly from mountain to mountain and does not touch the plain. They busied themselves with what they could grasp. 'If you take that woman with you, you'll be accurst,' said James. 'I suppose,' he went on, and his tone was, as he afterwards said to his wife with complacency, 'very nasty'--'I suppose you dunno what they're all saying, and what I've come to believe, in this shocking meeting, to be God's truth?' 'I don't know or care.' 'They're saying you've made a tidy bit.' 'What d'you mean?' James hesitated. Filthy thoughts were all very well, but it was awkward to get them into righteous words. 'Well, dear me! they're saying as there was an arrangement betwixt you and 'im--on the gel's account--(the old beeman tried to hush him)--and as cheques signed "John Reddin" went to your bank. Dear me!'