"Bang!" went the clouds together again like a clap of thunder. The idea of Wolffert being in love with her! I could tolerate the thought of John Marvel being so, but Wolffert was such a handsome fellow, so clever and attractive, and so full of enthusiasm. It would never do. Why, she might easily enough imagine herself in love with him. I suddenly wondered if Wolffert was not the cause of her interest in settlement work. "Wolffert is very fond of her--I found him hanging around the door as we came out," I hazarded. "Oh! yes, they are great friends. He is an inspiration to her, she says--and Wolffert thinks she is an angel--as she is. Why, if you knew the things she does and makes others do!" If John Marvel had known with what a red-hot iron he was searing my heart, he would have desisted; but good, blind soul, he was on his hobby and he went on at full speed, telling me what good deeds she had performed--how she had fetched him to the city; and how she had built up his church for him--had started and run his school for the waifs--coming over from her beautiful home in all weathers to make up the fire herself and have the place warm and comfortable for the little ones--how she looked after the sick--organized charities for them and spent her money in their behalf. "They call her the angel of the lost children," he said, "and well they may." "Who does?" I asked suspiciously, recalling the title. "Wolffert, I suppose?" "Why, all my people--I think Wolffert first christened her so and they have taken it up." "Confound Wolffert!" I thought. "Wolffert's in love with her," I said. "Wolffert--in love with her! Why!" I saw that I had suggested the idea for the first time--but it had found a lodgment in his mind. "Oh! no, he is not," he declared, but rather arguing than asserting it. "They are only great friends--they work together and have many things in common--Wolffert will never marry--he is wedded to his ideal." "And her name is Eleanor Leigh--only he is not wedded to her yet." And I added in my heart, "He will never be if I can beat him." "Yes--certainly, in a way--as she is mine," said John, still thinking. "And you are too!" I said. "I? In love with--?" He did not mention her name. It may have been that he felt it too sacred. But he gave a sort of gasp. "The glow-worm may worship the star, but it is at a long distance, and it knows that it can never reach it." I hope it may be forgiven to lovers not to have been frank with their rivals. His humility touched me. I wanted to tell John that I thought he might stand a chance, but I was not unselfish enough, as he would have been in my place. All I was brave enough to do was to say, "John, you are far above the glow-worm; you give far more light than you know, and the star knows and appreciates it." XXIII MRS. ARGAND