heir place
was a seriousness that was almost sullen, a conversational reserve that
was almost hostile.

But he was not wholly sorry that he found her so. He had come on a
mission of business, and he was rather glad that her attitude seemed to
preclude anything savouring of the personal. He still felt somewhat
sensitive at the recollection of the circumstances of their last
meeting. He broached his topic quickly.

"I've brought the plans," he said briskly, "and some sketches. They are
wonderful, I think. McKee has spent a lot of time on them. It won't be a
Westminster, of course, but there will be nothing in this part of the
country to compare with it."

He spread the prints out before her with a curious mixture of pride and
enthusiasm and complacency; pride in this long-cherished darling of his
heart, a St. Viateur's which should rival the most splendid temples of
the old world; enthusiasm for the co-operation accorded by architects
and designers; complacency for the magnitude of his own achievement. He
was not aggressively self-satisfied: but he was far from insensible to
the fact that he was extraordinarily young to be the rector of as rich
and powerful a congregation as that of St. Viateur's. And a chance
remark, overheard one day in the University Club, spoken by his bishop
to one of his vestrymen, sounded not unreasonably in his ears--"He will
go far--young Imrie."

But he was disappointed at Judith's reception. She fingered the drawings
listlessly, and admired them without enthusiasm. His own eagerness
cooled before her unexpressed indifference. He had come fired with his
dream. Before her it paled and died to grey ashes. Its beauty faded,
leaving only a question and dull pain. It was very dear to him. It
represented achievement, success, glory--and all three won in the
service of man and to the greater honour and glory of God: but Judith
was dearer still. For her not to rejoice with him was to take all joy
out of it. He sat wounded and silent, unable to go on, almost not
caring.

"It will cost ... a great deal...." she said, more meditatively than
interrogatively. He nodded, wondering at her tone.

"Do you think it's the best way to spend that much money?" she shot at
him suddenly, her brows knitted. It surprised him, but he answered
promptly:

"I know of none better."

She stared at him and through him for a moment. Then her mood seemed to
change. She laughed metallically, and reaching lazily toward a