RED AND BLACK [Illustration: “‘_So here’s to Dr. Redfield Pepper Burns, bearer of a heavier cross than I have ever borne, and winner of one more shining...._’”] RED AND BLACK By GRACE S. RICHMOND Author of “_Mrs. Red Pepper_,” “_Red Pepper Burns_,” “_Red Pepper’s Patients_,” “_Twenty-Fourth of June_,” _Etc._ [Illustration] WITH FRONTISPIECE BY FRANCES ROGERS A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Published by arrangement with Doubleday, Page & Company COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY TO “MY BEST FRIENDS” CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. ACROSS THE SPACE 3 II. HEADLINES 17 III. NO ANAESTHETIC 31 IV. NOBODY TO SAY A PRAYER 48 V. PLAIN AS A PIKESTAFF 63 VI. HIGH LIGHTS 80 VII. RATHER A BIG THING 99 VIII. SPENDTHRIFTS 117 IX. “BURN, FIRE, BURN!” 134 X. A SHIFTING OF HONOURS 153 XI. A LONG APRIL NIGHT 174 XII. EVERYBODY PLOTS 192 XIII. A GREAT GASH 212 XIV. SOMETHING TO REMEMBER 233 XV. QUICKSILVER IN A TUBE 255 XVI. THE ALTAR OF HIS PURPOSE 276 XVII. NO OTHER WAY 291 XVIII. AT FOUR IN THE MORNING 307 XIX. A SCARLET FEATHER 328 XX. A HAPPY WARRIOR 341 XXI. A PEAL OF BELLS 354 XXII. IN HIS NAME 370 XXIII. THE TOWN WAS EMPTY BEFORE 376 RED AND BLACK RED AND BLACK CHAPTER I ACROSS THE SPACE Their first sight of each other--Red and Black--was across the space which stretches between pulpit and pew. It’s sometimes a wide space, and impassable; again, it’s not far, and the lines of communication are always open. In this case, neither of them knew, as yet, just what the distance was. Black--Robert McPherson Black--if you want his full name, had been a bit nervous in the vestry where he put on his gown. He had been preaching only five years, and that in a Southern country parish, when a visiting committee of impressive looking men had come to listen to him--had come again--and once more--and then had startled him with a call to the big suburban town and the fine old, ivy-grown church generally known as the “Stone Church.” “But, gentlemen,” he had said, swinging about quickly in his study chair when Mr. Lockhart, the chairman of the committee, had asked him if he would consider a call--“I’m--I’m--why, I’m not good enough for you!”