go? I saw the
fear in her face, but I saw more than fear in her eyes, as for a moment
or two she let them rest upon Craig's face. I read her story, and I was
not sorry for either of them. But she was too much a woman to show her
heart easily to the man she loved, and her voice was even and calm as
she answered his question.

'Is this a very large congregation?'

'One of the finest in all the East,' I put in for him. 'It will be a
great thing for Craig.'

Craig was studying her curiously. I think she noticed his eyes upon her,
for she went on even more quietly--

'It will be a great chance for work, and you are able for a larger
sphere, you know, than poor Black Rock affords.'

'Who will take Black Rock?' he asked.

'Let some other fellow have a try at it,' I said. 'Why should you waste
your talents here?'

'Waste?' cried Mrs. Mavor indignantly.

'Well, "bury," if you like it better,' I replied.

'It would not take much of a grave for that funeral,' said Craig,
smiling.

'Oh,' said Mrs. Mavor, 'you will be a great man I know, and perhaps you
ought to go now.'

But he answered coolly: 'There are fifty men wanting that Eastern
charge, and there is only one wanting Black Rock, and I don't think
Black Rock is anxious for a change, so I have determined to stay where I
am yet a while.'

Even my deep disgust and disappointment did not prevent me from seeing
the sudden leap of joy in Mrs. Mavor's eyes, but she, with a great
effort, answered quietly--

'Black Rock will be very glad, and some of us very, very glad.'

Nothing could change his mind. There was no one he knew who could take
his place just now, and why should he quit his work? It annoyed me
considerably to feel he was right. Why is it that the right things are
so frequently unpleasant?

And if I had had any doubt about the matter next Sabbath evening would
have removed it. For the men came about him after the service and let
him feel in their own way how much they approved his decision, though
the self-sacrifice involved did not appeal to them. They were too truly
Western to imagine that any inducements the East could offer could
compensate for his loss of the West. It was only fitting that the West
should have the best, and so the miners took almost as a matter of
course, and certainly as their right, that the best man they knew should
stay with them. But there were those who knew how much of what most men
consider worth while he had given up, an