here that something
was wrong, but at first I couldn't see it, and after that I wouldn't see
it. That is about what happened, as I look back on it.

"But the farther in I went," Hodder continued, "the more tangled
and bewildered I became. I was hypnotized, I think," he added with
a gesture,--"hypnotized, as a man is who never takes his eyes from a
pattern. I wanted to get at this neighbourhood--Dalton Street--I mean,
and finally I agreed to the establishment of a settlement house over
here, to be paid for largely by Eldon Parr and Francis Ferguson. I
couldn't see the folly of such an undertaking--the supreme irony of it,
until--until it was pointed out to me." He hesitated; the remembrance of
Alison Parr ran through him, a thread of pain. "And even then I tried to
dodge the issue, I tried to make myself believe that good might flow out
of evil; that the Church, which is supposed to be founded on the highest
ideal ever presented to man, might compromise and be practical, that
she might accept money which had been wrung from a trusting public
by extortion, by thinly disguised thievery such as this Consolidated
Tractions Company fraud, and do good with it! And at last I made up my
mind to go away, to-day, to a quiet place where I might be alone, and
reflect, when by a singular circumstance I was brought into contact
with this man, Garvin. I see now, clearly enough, that if I had gone, I
should never have come back."

"And you still intend to go?" Mr. Bentley asked.

Hodder leaned his elbow against the mantel. The lamplight had a curious
effect on Mr. Bentley's face.

"What can I do?" he demanded. The question was not aimed directly at his
host--it was in the nature of a renewed appeal to a tribunal which
had been mute, but with which he now seemed vaguely aware of a
certain contact. "Even supposing I could bring myself to accept the
compromise--now that I see it clearly, that the end justifies the
means--what good could I accomplish? You saw what happened this
afternoon--the man would have driven me out if, it hadn't been for you.
This whole conception of charity is a crime against civilization--I
had to have that pointed out to me, too,--this system of legalized or
semi-legalized robbery and the distribution of largesse to the victims.
The Church is doing wrong, is stultifying herself in encouraging it. She
should set her face rigidly against it, stand for morality and justice
and Christianity in government, not for