on was almost choked by his
own feelings.

"Come, come, Mr Benson, let us have no more of this morbid way of
talking. The world has decided how such women are to be treated; and,
you may depend upon it, there is so much practical wisdom in the
world that its way of acting is right in the long run, and that no
one can fly in its face with impunity, unless, indeed, they stoop to
deceit and imposition."

"I take my stand with Christ against the world," said Mr Benson,
solemnly, disregarding the covert allusion to himself. "What have the
world's ways ended in? Can we be much worse than we are?"

"Speak for yourself, if you please."

"Is it not time to change some of our ways of thinking and acting? I
declare before God, that if I believe in any one human truth, it is
this--that to every woman who, like Ruth, has sinned, should be given
a chance of self-redemption--and that such a chance should be given
in no supercilious or contemptuous manner, but in the spirit of the
holy Christ."

"Such as getting her into a friend's house under false colours."

"I do not argue on Ruth's case. In that I have acknowledged my error.
I do not argue on any case. I state my firm belief, that it is God's
will that we should not dare to trample any of His creatures down
to the hopeless dust; that it is God's will that the women who have
fallen should be numbered among those who have broken hearts to be
bound up, not cast aside as lost beyond recall. If this be God's
will, as a thing of God it will stand; and He will open a way."

"I should have attached much more importance to all your exhortation
on this point if I could have respected your conduct in other
matters. As it is, when I see a man who has deluded himself into
considering falsehood right, I am disinclined to take his opinion on
subjects connected with morality; and I can no longer regard him as
a fitting exponent of the will of God. You perhaps understand what I
mean, Mr Benson. I can no longer attend your chapel."

If Mr Benson had felt any hope of making Mr Bradshaw's obstinate
mind receive the truth, that he acknowledged and repented of his
connivance at the falsehood by means of which Ruth had been received
into the Bradshaw family, this last sentence prevented his making the
attempt. He simply bowed and took his leave--Mr Bradshaw attending
him to the door with formal ceremony.

He felt acutely the severance of the tie which Mr Bradshaw had just
announced to him. He