She suddenly flamed: "I know them. They are the greatest robbers on earth. They grind the face of the Poor until one wonders that the earth does not open and swallow them up quick. They are the thieves who ought to be in jail instead of such criminals as even that poor wretch, Talman, as great a criminal as he is. Why, they robbed his poor wife of every stick of furniture she had on earth, under guise of a loan, and turned her out in the snow with her crippled child. She was afraid to apply to any one for redress, and they knew it. And if it had not been for John Marvel, they would have starved or have frozen to death." "For John Marvel and you," I interjected. "No--only him. What I did was nothing--less than nothing. He found them, with that wonderful sixth sense of his. It is his heart. And he gets no credit for anything--even from you. Oh! sometimes I cannot bear it. I would like to go to him once and just tell him what I truly think of him." "Why don't you, then?" "Because--I cannot. But if I were you, I would. He would not--want me to do it! But some day I am going to Dr. Capon and tell him--tell him the truth." She turned, facing me, and stood with clenched hands, uplifted face, and flashing eyes--breasting the wind which, at the moment, blew her skirts behind her, and as she poured forth her challenge, she appeared to me almost like some animate statue of victory. "Do you know--I think Mr. Marvel and Mr. Wolffert are almost the most Christian men I ever saw; and their life is the strongest argument in favor of Christianity, I ever knew." "Why, Wolffert is a Jew--he is not a Christian at all." "He is--I only wish I were half as good a one," she said. "I do not care what he calls himself, he is. Why, think of him beside Doctor--beside some of those who set up to be burning and shining lights!" "Well, I will agree to that." In fact, I agreed with everything she had said, though I confess to a pang of jealousy at such unstinted praise, as just as I thought it. And I began in my selfishness to wish I were more like either of her two models. As we stood in the waning light--for we were almost standing, we moved so slowly--my resolution took form. It was not a propitious place for what I suddenly resolved to do. It was certainly not a romantic spot. For it was in the centre, the very heart, of a mean shopping district, a region of small shops and poor houses, and the autumn wind had risen with an edge on it and laden with dust, which made the thinly clad poor quicken their steps as they passed along and try to shrink closer within their threadbare raiment. The lights which were beginning to appear only added to the appearance of squalor about us. But like the soft Gallius I cared for none of these things. I saw only the girl beside me, whose awakened soul seemed to me even more beautiful than her beautiful frame. And so far as I was concerned, we might have been in Paradise or in a desert.