e
on,' and added that they had no right to any more money than was
necessary for their comfort; anything more than that belonged to the
Lord's poor. Bless my soul, the clergyman comes under that head, to my
mind. Yes, sir, he's willing to live on his wife! I declare, the fellow's
a--a--well, I don't know any word for him!"

There was a chorus of astonishment from the ladies.

"'Christian' would be a pretty good word," said Gifford slowly. "Isn't he
following Christ's example rather more literally than most of us?"

"But to live on his wife!" cried Dr. Howe.

"I don't believe," Gifford responded, smiling, "that that would distress
John Ward at all."

"Apparently not," said the rector significantly.

"He loves her too much," Gifford went on, "to think of himself apart from
her; don't you see? They are one; what difference does it make about the
money?"

"Could you do it?" asked Dr. Howe.

"Well, no," Gifford said, shrugging his shoulders; "but then, I'm not
John Ward."

"Thank Heaven!" said the rector devoutly.

"But it is a mistake, all the same," Gifford went on; "it is
unbusiness-like, to say nothing of being bad for his people to have the
burden of support lifted from them; it pauperizes them spiritually."

After the relief of this outburst against John Ward, Dr. Howe felt the
inevitable irritation at his hearers. "Well, I only mention this," he
said, "because, since he is so strange, it won't do, Gifford, for you to
abet Helen in this ridiculous skepticism of hers. If Ward agreed with
her, it would be all right, but so long as he does not, it will make
trouble between them, and a woman cannot quarrel with an obstinate and
bigoted man with impunity. And you have no business to have doubts
yourself, sir."

The two sisters were much impressed with what the rector said. "I must
really caution Giff," said Miss Deborah to Lois, "not to encourage dear
Helen in thinking about things; it's very unfeminine to think, and
Gifford is so clever, he doesn't stop to remember she's but a woman. And
he is greatly attached to her; dear me, he has never forgotten what might
have been,"--this in almost a whisper.

Both the sisters talked of Dr. Howe's anger as they went home.

"He's right," said Miss Deborah, who had dropped her nephew's arm, so
that she might be more cautious about the mud, and who lifted her skirt
on each side, as though she was about to make a curtsy,--"he's right: a
woman ought to think just as her