rgive, Father Oliver; but this criticism
surprised me, for you have known Miss Nora Glynn longer than I have, and
it seems strange that you should have forgotten already her
steadfastness. Nothing that I could have said would have availed, and it
seems to me that you were mistaken in asking me to urge Miss Glynn to
decline the chance of improving her circumstances. I could not compel
Miss Glynn even if I had wished to compel her. But we have discussed
that question; let it pass.'

'All the same,' Father Oliver interjected, 'if one sees a woman going
into danger, surely one may warn her. A word of warning dropped casually
is sometimes effective.'

'But it is fatal to insist,' Father O'Grady remarked; 'and one should
not try to bar the way--that is my experience at least.'

'Well, your experiences are longer than mine, Father O'Grady, I submit.
The mistake I made will certainly not be repeated. But since hearing
from you I've heard from Miss Glynn, and the remarks she makes in her
letters about Mr. Poole's literary work, unless indeed he be a Catholic,
alarm me.'

'Biblical criticism is not a Catholic characteristic,' Father O'Grady
answered. 'So Miss Glynn has written to you?'

'Yes, but nothing definite about Mr. Poole's work--nothing definite. Do
you know anything, Father O'Grady, about this man's writing? What is his
reputation in the literary world?'

'I've heard a great deal about him,' Father O'Grady answered. 'I've made
inquiries and have read some of Mr. Poole's books, and have seen them
reviewed in the newspapers; I've heard his opinions discussed, and his
opinions are anti-Christian, inasmuch as he denies the divinity of our
Lord.'

'Could anybody be more anti-Christian than that?' Father Oliver asked.

'Yes, very much more,' Father O'Grady replied. 'There have always been
people, and their number is increasing, who say that Christianity is not
only untruthful but, what is worse, a great evil, having set men one
against the other, creating wars innumerable. Millions have owed their
deaths to tortures they have received because they differed regarding
some trifling passage in Scripture. There can be no doubt of that, but
it is equally true that Christianity has enabled many more millions to
live as much from a practical point of view as from a spiritual. If
Christianity had not been a necessity it would not have triumphed;' and
Father O'Grady continued to speak of Mr. Poole's historical accounts of
the