happen now, if a crime should be committed, if our
poor brother, clad in the habit of our Order----"

He stopped and crossed himself and lifted His eyes, and said in a
tremulous whisper: "O God, whom have I in heaven but thee? My flesh and
my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion
forever."

John had staggered to his feet like a drunken man. "Father," he said,
"send me away from you. I am not fit to live by your side."

The Father laid both hands on his shoulders. "And shall I lower my flag
to the enemy like that? There is only one way to defeat the devil, and
that is to defy him. No, no, my son, you shall remain with me to the
last."

"Punish me, then. Give me penance. Let me be the lowest of the low and
the meanest of the mean. Only tell me what I am to do and I will do it."

"Go back to the door and resume your duty as doorkeeper."

John looked at the Father with an expression of bewilderment.

"I thought you had done with it, my son, but Heaven knew better. And
promise that when you are there you will pray for our wandering brother,
that he may not be allowed to fulfil the errand on which you sent him
out; pray that he may never find his sister, or anybody who knows her and
can tell him where she is and what has become of her; pray that she may
never cross his path to the last hour of life and the first of death's
sundering; promise to pray for this, my son, night and day, morning and
evening, with all your soul and strength, as you would pray for God's
mercy and your soul's salvation."

John did not answer; he was like a man in a stupor. "Is it possible?" he
said. "Are you sending me back to the door? Can you trust me again?"

The Father stepped to the side of the bed and took the key of the gate
from its place under the shelf. "Take this key with you, too, because for
the future you are to be the keeper of the gate as well."

John had taken the key mechanically, hardly hearing what was being said.

"Is it true, then--have you got faith in me still?"

The Father put both hands on his shoulders again and looked into his
face. "God has faith in you, my child, and who am I that I should
despair?"

When John Storm returned to the door his mind was in a state of
stupefaction. Many hours passed during which he was only partly conscious
of what was taking place about him. Sometimes he was aware that certain
of the brothers had gathered around, with a tingling, electrical
atmosphe