The Semi-weekly leader., 1907-01-12
The Temptation Of Father Gray
By CLARENCE [. GILBERT


ing at her with unseeing eyes.
God help me, tore up the note"
weEt on the girl. wringing her hands,
and told Nellie that Henry went
away in anger because she was not
ready, saying that he wouldn't wait
around for any girl--especially when
there were SO many girls sitting
around waiting for a fellow to take
'em riding
"Merciful haeven! no, you didn't do
that?" cried the priest, with some
thing very like passion in his voice.
Il did, l did," replied the girl, sink
ing on her knees and covering her
face with her hands. 'And that is
not the worst of it. He went away
and she heard from him no more.
Probably he was heart-broken at Mel.
lies supposed heartlessness.
Yes" murmured the priest, sadly.
he was heart-broken."
Il haven't thought so much about
him." went on the girl, although at
times l have thought what a brutal
wrong 1 did him.
Yes, murmured the priest, "a
brutal wrong"
But you see have seen Nellie all
the time went on the girl, land as I
grew older l realized what 1 had done
to her She never smiled after that
in the old happy way. At first she
was very angry and soon after he
went away she married Claude Belk-
nap. 1 felt from the first that I had
done very wicked thing"
"A very wicked thing" echoed the
priest, almost under his breath.
But it was not until a year ago,
when l went home from boarding
school, that I awoke to a full realiza-
tion of what l had DONE" continued
the girl. Then, being woman my
self, l learned that Nellie did not love
her husband and never had loved him,
and that she still loved Henry as she
always had, and that she considered
her married life a proclamation. Oh,
father! l will never forget the hope
less voice in which she said to me:
Mary, Mary, never marry for any
reason but honest love. l have never
loved Claude, and the days are full of
remorse and the nights full of tor
meltt. If | were not sure that he
my lover--was unworthy of my love
and that he basely deserted me, I be-
lieVe l should go mad And this,
father, almost on the eve of my own
sria 70 xry6o T
ly and who loves me. So you see I I'M
derstood fully.
Il did not know what to do," she
went on, creeping forward and laying
her hands appealingly on the priests
knee. Il would have told her and en-
dured her contempt and hatred, but
feared that it would make her more
unhappy, as she said it would if she
knew that her lover was true to her.
And then l thought of Henry and
what he must have suffered and the
false position he occupied in her
heart and mind-and l have nearly
gone mad. Tell me, oh! tell me what
to do. Give me some heavy penance.
Only show me how l can undo what
l have done. l cannot marry and be
happy with this sin against two Low.
ing hearts on my conscience"
The priest sat very still with closed
eyes for very long time, while the
girl watched him with staring, fear.
full eyes. Little did she dream, how
ever, the struggle going on back of
those closed eyes and that peaceful
face. Little did she dream of the tu-
multi surging in the heart beneath
that priestly robe. Finally he opened
his eyes, took both her hands in his,
which trembled trifie in spite of his
most desperate efforts, and said to her
in a voice steady, gentle and full of
paternal kindness:
Daughter, you can do nothing.
You have acted wisely in not telling
your sister. It would lead only to
misery-perhaps sin. Your penance
is that you must ever bear the burden
of your guilty secret. I would that
could absolve you from it, but even
a priest cannot wipe out memory and
conscience. Depart and be as happy
as you can, and try to atone for the
two lives you have ruined by making
all with whom you come in contact as
happy as possible-and pray always
and increasingly for forgiveness for
yourself, and also that your sister
may find strength to bear her burden
yes, and that the man whom you
wronged also may find strength to
bear his"
The girl arose and went from the
room sobbing like child.
When the door closed the priest
sank to his knees, and great sobs
shook him as he prayed, as he never
prayed before, for strength to bear
his new trial and temptation. And his
long years of self-discipline and self
control stood him in good stead in
driving back from his heart and mind
the face of rosy-cheeked girl which
persisted in returning again and
again. Finally he arose-the battle
won, and no one in the vast congre-
cation he addressed half hour later
would dream that the calm, grave
priest who told of Christ's great love
and forgiveness, had within the hour
been buffeted by the fiercest passions
and nearly swept from his anchorage.
Verify, he who controlleth himself
is greater than he who taketh a CITY.
Copyright, 1906, by Daily Story Pub. Coz