Middletown transcript., 1897-08-21


do you think I have no eyesp Write tc
your people and tell them"-
'sI have no people," answered the
preacher, and his face was very stern.
JEFF tilted his chair, waiting. Il
came at last. The preacher caught bis
eye, and hesitated for moment.
ST told you lie, them" he said.
"Go on.''
"They threw me over. My father is
clergyman. was to have gone into
the Church. I wanted to-you don It
know how much But could not
accept everything they told me. l
suppose was unorthodox"--
He stopped. jeff nodded mute en-
c0uragement.
"They rejected me-" said the
preacher, slowly.
"Becauss you were honest. Yes.
And this was"
"The only other way"
"You are priest, all the same, "said
JEFF, through his teeth.
The preacher stood up.
"Without due authority" he an
swered, as he held out his hand.
"Authority," said the little doctor.
waspishly, sis not always given to the
right man-nor by the right man."
But the preacher went away silently.
He was not one of those who speak
evil of authorizes.
~
Il was month or two later, and
London was in the grip of black. bitter
frost. In a doorway in one of the
slums, behind the Sslamander Music
Hall, JEFF, haggard and anxious, stood
looking at the preacher with some-
thing like despair in his face.
ppm stone broke" he said, sand the
girl must have nourishment or she'll
die. There's no time to apply co any
one. Good God what are we to do 2"
He stamped desperately on the floor,
aud then remembered his patient and
stopped. The preacher did not stamp.
'I'll get you some money!" he said.
81 think I can. Yes"-he shivered q
little in the cold draught-"I'm sure /
can."
''In an hour ?''
''Within an hour. I'll go now."
"You're brick,'' said jeff, as he
turned on his heel. Then the profess
sional element iu him asserted itself.
"Have something to eat before you
come out into this cold again, mind"
he commanded.
The preacher nodded, and went
away with a dreary smile on his face.
Perhaps there was hidden irony in
the situation which he alone could per-
ceive, for he smiled more than once as
he hurried through thS darkening
streets to the house where he had har-
borage. Once, as he passed lighted
church where the choir was practising
for the morrow aid his eyes fell on the
notice-board the smile very nearly
became a laugh. Yet there was noth-
ing laughable in sight. The notice.
board merely bore the sufficiently sober
information that the Rev. John Alling-
ham Taylor would preach next day in
that church.
The preacher hurried on, and climbed
to his rooms with white face and
fluttering breath. Arrived there, he
sat down on broken chair and painted.
The room was almost as bare as those
cells wherein the hermits dwelt of old.
All the little personal possessions which
had adorned it once had vanished in
that dreadful winter. All the little
money which had been paid to the
preacher by the family which had
discarded him was gone. The only
two things which remained were a
large and handsomely bound Bible,
ying on the foot of the bed, and a
little ivory crucifix hanging against the
bare wall. The preachers eye fell on
these and he sighed. Then he got up
resolulely. took down the crucifix, and
opened the Bible. On the fly leaf was
an inscription. He tore the page care
fully out and slipped it into the breast
pocket of bis thin coat. Then he took
up the Bible and crucifix and went out.
Notan hour later, JEFF, in wretched
attic, bent over a shrunken figure and
forced brandy between its lips. At the
further end of the room two children
small, starved, wolfish-eyed-sat over
the remnants of meal like wild beats
over a bone. Presently the little
doctor gave muttered exclamation of
relief. The children glanced up, and
then returned ravenously to their food.
Their mothers eyes opened for q mo-
ment upon Jeff's face, and she whis-
pered word Of thanks. And well she
might, for he had dragged her out of
the jaws of death
Meanwhile the preacher plodded
wearily back again to the shelter of the
four bare walls he called home. He
did not hurry this time. Very slowly
he climbed the creaking stairs, and
almost staggered into the room. 1t
was growing dark, and the cold was
intense. The preacher sat down, and
his eyes involuntariIy sought the nail
where the little cruciix had hung. In
voluntarily, too, bis hand drew out the
page which be had torn from the Bible.
He bent over it and read the inscrip-
tion-was it the twilight which made
theiletters dance and sway ? 1t
was very cold, and the darkness seemed
to come closer every moment. Perhaps
it was only his weakness that made it
seem so dark aud freezing. He thought
n T = a