"Oh, father, not you--how can you think that? Listen. It is that wicked, abominable old married Boltman. What do you suppose he did? I came in from school, and Doris was at the store. He said I was the loveliest thing he had ever seen, and I said, 'Thanks,' very curtly, for I thought it was downright impudence, that's what I thought. And before I could even dream of such a thing, he put his arms around me and kissed me twice--kissed me--right on the lips. He did." She had spoken in a low voice, but every word fell so clearly, so distinctly, that it was almost as if she had shouted aloud. "Rosalie!" said her father in a hoarse whisper, and Rosalie could see that his hands shook. "He did. He kissed me--twice. Is that all the ministry stands for? And he is married, and has children of his own--and he is in our home, and I--why, I am only a kid." "And can one--man--kill your faith in the sanctity of the ministry--one man, Rosalie?" "There may be some other decent ones besides you--but how can I tell which ones they are? How can anybody tell?" she wailed. "They all come praying, and saying sweet and gentle things--how can you tell which ones are true and which ones--are like Boltman?" "We have always had the wolves inside the fold, dear. And of old, you know, they had their false prophets teaching error." Rosalie drooped her head against his arm, and did not speak. The gentle, so dearly loved voice, seemed to comfort her. "I had hoped--I have tried--to keep my life so clean before you girls that if ever a time should come, like this, when your faith was put to the test, you could look at me and say, 'But there is father.' I have always felt it was a part of fatherhood, to be a living proof before the children of the home. I must have failed you some time." Rosalie clung to him, shaking her head in violent denial. "He ought to be put out of the church," she whispered. "We are human, Rosalie, as well as ministers. And human flesh is not invincible. God is very, very reasonable with us. David betrayed his trust, but God forgave him. Peter denied his Lord, but was restored to favor. I think that God forgives us when we fail Him even yet--even we ministers--if we go to Him for purging." "But, father, if the ministry can't keep a man good--what can?" "Nothing but the spirit of the Lord, working in us, nothing else, Rosalie. And have you lost all confidence in the ministry?" Rosalie squirmed. "Not in you, dearest. Just in the rest of it." "Oh, Rosalie, is your faith so small? People on whom I counted have failed me many times, yet I trust the next one just the same." "You have more trust to begin with than I have. And he looked so--ugly, father--in his eyes. I hate to think that women have to sit in the church and look up to him in the pulpit--God's pulpit, that is sacred."