an austere look. It was an insult
to the divine powers to assert that they had taken the part of a race
horse. But he turned the point to his own ends. "It's quite wrong to
abuse the noble animal; and that's one reason why I hold that racing is
contrary to the Creator's intentions, quite apart from the evil effect
it has on morals."

"Are all men immoral who race, Mr. Dolman?" John Porter asked.

His question forced Dolman to define his position. Porter always liked
things simplified; racing was either wrong in principle or right. Dolman
found him rather a difficult man to tackle. He had this irritating way
of brushing aside generalization and forcing the speaker to get back to
first principles.

The reverend gentleman proceeded cautiously. "I should hardly care to
go so far as that--to make the rule absolute; a very strong man might
escape contamination, perhaps."

Mrs. Porter sighed audibly. The minister was weakening most lamentably,
giving her husband a loophole to escape.

"I hardly think racing quite so bad as it is generally supposed to be,"
interposed Crane, feeling that Porter was being pilloried somewhat. He
received a reproachful look from Mrs. Porter for his pains.

"I've never seen any good come of it," retorted Dolman. "A Christian man
must feel that he is encouraging gambling if he countenances racing, for
they contend that without betting racing is impossible."

"Everything in life is pretty much of a gamble," Porter drawled, lazily;
"there aren't any such things. The ships that go to sea, the farmer's
crop--everything is more or less a matter of chance. If a man goes
straight he has a fairly easy time with his conscience, no matter what
he's at; but if he doesn't, well, he'd better go hungry."

"A great many very honorable men are racing today," added Crane; "men
who have built up large fortunes through honest dealing, and wouldn't be
racing if they felt that it was either unchristian or dishonorable."

"They can't be Christians if they countenance gambling," asserted the
minister, doggedly.

It occurred to Mortimer that whenever the discussion took broader lines,
Dolman drew it back into the narrow cell of his own convictions.

Porter scratched his head perplexedly. They had been discussing the
moral influence of racing; this seemed more like theology. "It is
certainly unchristian," commented Mrs. Porter, severely. "I haven't seen
much Christian spirit in any business," said Porter, quietl