im. But he
made up his mind that, if Mr. Linton was anxious that his wife should be
remonstrated with, he, George Holland, would decline to accept the duty
of remonstrating with her. He was wise enough to know that he did not
know very much about womankind; but he knew too much to suppose that
there is any more thankless employment than remonstrating with an
extremely pretty woman on any subject, but particularly on the subject
of a very distinguished man to whom she considers herself bound by ties
of the truest friendship.

But then there came upon him with the force of a great shock the
recollection of what Phyllis had said to him on this very point:

"_If Ella Linton were wicked, you should be held responsible for it in
the sight of God_."

Those were her words, and those words cut asunder the last strand of
whatever tie there had been between him and Phyllis.

His duty as a clergyman intrusted with the care of the souls of the
people, he had neglected that, she declared with startling vehemence. He
had been actuated by vanity in publishing his book--his article in the
_Zeit Geist Review_--she had said so; but there she had been wrong.
He felt that she had done him a great injustice in that particular
statement, and he tried to make his sense of this injustice take the
place of the uneasy feeling of which he was conscious, when he thought
over her other words. He knew that he was not actuated by vanity in
adopting the bold course that was represented by his writings. He
honestly believed that his efforts were calculated to work a great
reform in the Church. If not in the Church, outside it.

But his duty in regard to the souls of the people----Oh! it was the
merest sophistry to assume that such responsibility on the part of a
clergyman is susceptible of being particularized. It should, he felt,
be touched upon, if at all, in a very general way. Did that young woman
expect that he should preach a sermon to suit the special case of
every individual soul intrusted (according to her absurd theory) to his
keeping?

The idea was preposterous; it could not be seriously considered for a
moment. She had allowed herself to be carried away by her affection for
her friend to make accusations against him, in which even she herself
would not persist in her quieter moments.

He found it quite easy to prove that Phyllis had been in the wrong and
that he was in the right; but this fact did not prevent an intermittent
recurre