The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1917-11-15
CHAPTER VIlI-centlnued.

she had not finished. There were
many things about Saint Jude's that
did not please her. The burial OF old
Hilary Kingston had been one. She
seized on that.
"a non-communicant," she snapped.
"An infidel, an atheistl The daughter
is living alone up there at this min
ute. 1t isn't respectable. It's bad
example to the girls in the village. the
house is full of men all the time"
"That must be a mistake"
"It Is quite true. Servants talk, you |
know. What can you expect? Raised |
out of the church, with no belief, and, |
Of course, no moral instruction"
Ward bent forward over the table.
THAT Is a very serious statement
Mrs. Bryant" His eyes were like
steel. "Of course you are not basing |
it merely on what you hear from serV-
ants?"
Mrs. Bryant flushed, a purplish spot
in the center of each sagging cheek.
II do not gossip with the servants"
she said, shortly. 1T is common talk.
And there are other things. Machines
come and go from the house at queer
hours of the night. The girl spends a
great deal Of money. Where does she
get 1t? Where, for that matter, did old
Hilary Kingston get itT"
Thus challenged, Ward had nothing
to say.
After dinner he left early, but he did
not 60 home. He went up the hill. AS
he strode on, he remembered many
things The girl was without the sheet
anchor of any belief, adrift and alone,
and he had made no attempt to help
her unbellef. Although 1t was after
ten, the house was still lighted down.
stairs, and he went without hesitation
into the garden.
Thus 1t happened that he saw Elinor
In Huff's arms, saw him thrust her viO-
lently from him, and rush away across
the flower-beds, leaving her there
alone.
Ward remained in the shadows. To
save his life he could not have spoken
to Elinor then. Under his constrained
exterior he was in the thrall Of the
fiercest jealousy. This little fair
haired girl, to whom his God was no
God, had taken a powerful hold on
him.
Elinor, who slept little that night,
saw the light in his window until 1t
faded into the dawn.
Elinor went to the early communion
the following day. The church was
dark. There were hardly two dozen
people scattered over the building. She
sat far back and was heavily yelled.
When the congregation knelt, she
knelt. An old woman In the next pew
gave her the prayer book open at the
service. On her knees then went Eli
nor and listened to Wards fine voice
echoing through the empty building.
The morning was warm and the win
dows open. The odor Of burned wood
from the parish house crept in.
Thou shalt not steal," Ward read
from the Decalogue, and the people
said:
Lord have mercy upon us and in
cline our hearts to keep this law"
Thou shalt not steal"
In the palm of her left glove Elinor
had the Bryant pear-shaped pearl.
Ward had not seen her. He went
through the service reverently, with an
impreSsiveness Of voice and bearing
that showed how real 1t was to him
An In htc unina roodinU nYhOrtinU o
commanding, there were tender notes
that caught Elinor's breath in hel
throat.
When the service was over, she rose
from her knees and dropped the Bry
ant pearl into the alms-box by thC
door. The congregation, small ant
scattered, was still kneeling. The
doorway and the alms-box were Ia twi
light.
Drawing down her veil, she wen
quickly out into the sunshine.
At the eleven o'clock service Ware
building.
1T is not my intention to make al
appeal" he said simply. 1.-THE parisl
house was built to fill great need
that need still exists. If our church
to be an element in the daily lives o
the people Of this town, we must hav
meeting place for them. For tn
worship of our God, the church build
ing Is sufficient, but If religion is to 20,
the thing 1t Is to me, the broader reli
gion of universal brotherhood, tn
church building is not enough.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor a
thyself."
Seventy-eight thousand dollars wa
taken up in the collection at Sain
Jude's that morning. Over fifty thor
sand was in checks, the rest was |
cash.
Walter Huff, sitting alone in tn
back Of the church, had watched War
intently through the service.
Unlike Elinor, Huff had been raise
in a Presbyterian household. He ha
come to jeer, to watch with his thief
eyes the offertory piling into the silvC
plates. But the service told on hiI
Somewhere down in his violent your
heart there crept a sense of shame.
was only when he looked at Ward tn,
his eyes hardened.
This man who had come betweG
him and his girl-this white-hande
surpliced, prayer-reading priest, wi
in q dozen words could compel the pc
pie before him to lay fortune at b
- a. aakh -.