It was characteristic of Andrew's host that at such a time he could put
himself in the young man's place.

He took his hand and looked him in the face more like a physician than
a mere acquaintance. Then he drew him aside into an empty room.

"Let me be the first to congratulate you," he said; "you are admitted."

Andrew took a long breath, and the president considerately turned away
his head until the young probationer had regained his composure. Then
he proceeded:

"The society only asks from its probationers the faith which it has in
them. They take no oath. We speak in deeds. The Brotherhood do not
recognise the possibility of treachery; but they are prepared to cope
with it if it comes. Better far, Andrew Riach, to be in your grave,
dead and rotten and forgotten, than a traitor to the cause."

The president's voice trembled with solemnity.

He stretched forth his hands, slowly repeating the words, "dead and
rotten and forgotten," until his wandering eyes came to rest on the
young man's neck.

Andrew drew back a step and bowed silently, as he had seen many a
father do at a christening in the kirk at Wheens.

"You will shortly," continued the president, with a return to his
ordinary manner, "hear an address on female suffrage from one of the
noblest women in the land. It will be your part to listen. To-night
you will both hear and see strange things. Say nothing. Evince no
surprise. Some members are irritable. Come!"

Once more he took Andrew by the hand, and led him into the
meeting-room; and still his eyes were fixed on the probationer's neck.
There seemed to be something about it that he liked.

It was not then, with the committee all around him, but long afterwards
at Wheens, that Andrew was struck by the bareness of the chambers.

Without the president's presence they had no character.

The trifles were absent that are to a room what expression is to the
face.

The tenant might have been a medical student who knew that it was not
worth while to unpack his boxes.

The only ornament on the walls was an elaborate sketch by a member,
showing the arrangement of the cellars beneath the premises of the
Young Men's Christian Association.

There were a dozen men in the room, including the president of the
Birmingham branch association and two members who had just returned
from a visit to Edinburgh. These latter had already submitted their
report.

The president introduced Andrew to th