ged at uncertain intervals upstairs. This nuisance, at
least, could be abated. He presently located the shutter and closed
it; then, because its fastening had rusted quite away, sought for a
bit of twine in his pocket and was about to tie it fast when the wind
wrenched it again from his hold. As he thrust a black-coated arm from
the window to secure the unruly disturber of the peace he saw a man
fumbling with the fastening of the parsonage gate. Before he could
reach the foot of the stairs the long unused doorbell jangled
noisily.

He did not recognize the figure which confronted him on the stoop,
when at last he succeeded in undoing the door. The man wore a
raincoat turned up about his chin and the soft brim of a felt hat
dripped water upon its close-buttoned front.

"Good-morning, good-morning, sir!" said the stranger, as if his words
had awaited the opening of the door with scant patience. "You are
the--er--local clergyman, I suppose?"

At uncertain periods Wesley Elliot had been visited by a migratory
_colporteur_, and less frequently by impecunious persons representing
themselves to be fellow warriors on the walls of Zion, temporarily
out of ammunition. In the brief interval during which he convoyed the
stranger from the chilly obscurity of the hall to the dubious comfort
of his study, he endeavored to place his visitor in one of these two
classes, but without success.

"Didn't stop for an umbrella," explained the man, rubbing his hands
before the stove, in which the minister was striving to kindle a
livelier blaze.

Divested of his dripping coat and hat he appeared somewhat stooped
and feeble; he coughed slightly, as he gazed about the room.

"What's the matter here?" he inquired abruptly; "don't they pay you
your salary?"

The minister explained in brief his slight occupancy of the
parsonage; whereat the stranger shook his head:

"That's wrong--all wrong," he pronounced: "A parson should be married
and have children--plenty of them. Last time I was here, couldn't
hear myself speak there was such a racket of children in the hall.
Mother sick upstairs, and the kids sliding down the banisters like
mad. I left the parson a check; poor devil!"

He appeared to fall into a fit of musing, his eyes on the floor.

"I see you're wondering who I am, young man," he said presently.
"Well, we're coming to that, presently. I want some advice; so I
shall merely put the case baldly.... I wanted advice, before; but the