arge, searching gray
eyes on the young man, 'tell me, did you really love your mother?'

It would have been, one would suppose, the easiest thing in the world
for the glib-tongued Hiram to reply to such an interrogatory; but there
was something awful in that gaze--not severe, nor stern, nor
condemnatory, but awful in its earnest, truthful, not to be escaped
penetration.

He hesitated, he stammered, he changed color. Still those eyes regarded
him--still Hiram continued to hesitate, and stammer, till some sort of
response came out, by piecemeal, incoherently.

Meantime the Doctor had recovered from his revery.

'You have been very unhappy?' he asked, in a dry tone.

'Oh yes, very.'

'What have you to say about your relations with Miss Tenant?'

'He has heard all about it,' thought Hiram, 'and I must do the best I
can.' 'Why, sir, in my present afflicted state, how could I form so
important a tie as that of matrimony? So it was thought best by Mrs.
Tenant that the engagement should be considered at an end, at least for
the present. This was her own suggestion, I assure you.'

'Look you, Meeker,' said Dr. Chellis, endeavoring to restrain his anger,
'I have heard the other side of this story, and had you not called on
me, I should have sent for you. I cannot permit such a course as you are
charged with to go without the action of the church.'

'By what right does the church undertake to supervise my domestic
affairs?' retorted Hiram, now fully roused, and at bay.

'The church will always take official notice of misconduct on the part
of any of its members.'

'With what am I charged?' demanded Hiram, defiantly.

'With violation of the most sacred of promises, with prevarication,
dissimulation, and moral fraud.'

'Since it is determined to prejudge me, I shall ask for a letter of
dismission, and worship elsewhere.'

'I cannot grant you a letter while you are under charges.'

'And do you call it fair to persecute, in this way, at the instigation
of a proud aristocrat (he had already learned this slang sophistry), a
young man, who is almost a stranger among you?'

'Meeker,' said the Doctor, once more relaxing into a meditative tone,
'Meeker, you have asked for my advice and spiritual direction: Answer
me, answer me truly; have you really no idea, at least to some extent,
what sort of person you are?'

'Dr. Chellis, I will no longer sit here to be insulted by you, sir. I
have borne quite too much already. I w