walk
rapidly. Before she knew it, she was well into the Park, and a little
tired. A bench, in the sun and sheltered from the wind, attracted her,
and still in a reverie, she sat down.

Presently she became conscious that she was being addressed. A young man
had seated himself beside her.

"Arnold," she cried. "Why--I'd never know you...."

"Yes," he said placidly. "I have changed, haven't I?"

As he spoke she realised that he no longer wore the clerical collar, and
that he was garbed in a grey suit of distinctly fashionable cut and
colour, instead of the sombre black she had always seen him in before.
Also, to her amazement, she noted that he wore a red tie. Perhaps it was
merely the change of costume, but he seemed years younger than he had
ever seemed before. His face was ruddier, his eyes had more sparkle, his
smile was easier.

"But why--what is the cause--what's happened--what's the meaning of all
this?" she stammered.

"I've moved fast since we last met. As a matter of fact, Judith, you're
looking on a perfect stranger!"

"That's obvious--but why--what--I don't understand."

"In the first place I'm not a clergyman any more--for which there is no
rejoicing: but in the second, I'm not a prig any more--for which there
is...."

"Arnold--you've really left the Church?"

"Or it's left me--the result's the same," he said quite cheerfully.

"But what caused it? I heard you had resigned--everybody talked about
it--but why?"

"I don't suppose you ever saw a 'slide' at Panama?"

She shook her head, wondering.

"Well, first a piece of rock, perhaps no bigger than your fist, slips
out of place. That moves another and another and another, until before
you can whistle twice, a pile of earth that has seemed as fixed as time
is as flat as the back of your hand.

"That's the way it was with me. A few months ago I thought my
convictions were as fixed as the everlasting hills. I looked solid--but
I wasn't. Really, I was made up of very small pieces. Then, when you
poked fun at me, you jarred one of those pieces out of place. That
moved another--and another--and another ... until with a rush, the whole
thing came tumbling about my ears. When the noise was over and the dust
settled, it was up to me to set about putting the pieces together again
as best I could. I don't know what kind of a mess I'd have made of it if
I hadn't had the luck to fall in with Dr. Weis--perhaps you've heard of
him?"

"Only vaguely," admi