The Green Forest tribune., 1916-01-14


 duty to perform. Mechanically he had taken his place at the piano, standing straight and tall, and his blue eyes softened as they automat- ically fell on the piece of music she had opened Of course it was their ia vorite. the one in which their voices had scared in the most perfect uni son. Gail glanced up at him as she brushed purely imaginary fleck of dust from the keys. For an instant the brown eyes and the blue ones met He was a tremendously nice fellow, after all. But what was worrying him
 Before we sing l should like to take up grayer matters" he began, feel ing at tremendous disadvantage in the presence of the music. To obviate this, he drew up chair, and sat fac ing her. q have called this evening in the capacit. of your temporary rector"
 Calls eyelids had a tendency to flicker down, but she restrained them. She was adorable when she looked prim that way Her lips were like a rosebud. Rev. Smith Boyd himself thought of the simile, and cast it be- hind him.
 You are most kind" she told him. suppressing the imps and demons which struggled to pop into her eyes.
 T have been greatly disturbed by the length to which your unbelief has apparently gone," the young rector went on. and having plunged into this opening he began to bTeathe more freely. This was familiar ground.
 Gail rested palm on the edge of the bench behind her, and leaned back facing him, supported on one beauti- fully modelled arm. Her face had set seriously now
 However" went on the rector, T do not expect to be able to remove the spiritual errors, which I am com pelled to judge that you have accu- mulated, by any other means than patient logic" he resumed. May I discuss these matters with you?" His voice was grave and serious, and full of earnest sincerity, and the music;ag3- quality alone e,f of stsln t madtffii attractive. active 4.s.ar ss al. sIla l- at him with willful dfeeption. The wicked thought had occurred to he, that it might be her own duty tc broaden his spiritual understanding.
 Thank you" he accepted gravely 'If you will give me an hour or SC each week I shall be very happy"
 T am nearly always at home on Tuesday and Friday evenings" sug- gested Gail. Scarcely anyone calls before eight-thirty, and we have din. her quite early on those evenings. ' She began to be sincerely interested in the project She had never given herself time to quite exactly define her own attitude towards theology as distinct from religion, and she felt that she should do 1t. if for no other reason than to avoid making impul. sive overstatements. Rev. Smith Boyd would help her to look squarely into her own mind and her own soul, for he had very active intelligence, and was, moreover, the most humanly forceful cleric she had ever met Be- sides, they could always finish by singing
 "l shall make arrangements to he over as early as you will permit" de- clared the rector, warmly aglow with the idea. We shall begin with the very beginnings of things, and, step by step develop, 1 hope, logical justification of the vast spiritual reyo. lution which has conquered the world"
 q should like nothing better " unused Gail. and since Rev. Smith Boyd rose and stood behind her and filled his lungs, she turned to the piano and struck a preliminary chord. which she trailed off into a tinkling little run, by way of friendly greeting to the piano.
 We shall begin with the creation, ]" pursued the rector, dwelling, with pleasure, on the idea of a thorough progress through the mazes of relig. ious growth. There were certain vague points which he wanted to clear up for himself
 And wind up with Vedder court :" She had not meant to say that. It just popped into her mind, and popped off the end of her tongue.
 Even that will be taken up in it's due logical sequence" and Rev. Smith Boyd prided himself on having al ready displayed the patience which he had come expressly to exercise.
 Gail was immediately aware that he was exercising patience. He had reproved her, nevertheless. and quite coldly, for having violated the tacit agreement to take up the different phases of their weighty topic only fin their due logical sequence" The rec tor in this emergency, would have found no answer which would stand the test, but Gail had the immense ad- of femininity
 Tt altogether depends at which end we start our sequence" she sweetly reminded. My own impression is that we should begin at Vedder court and work back to the creation Vad