proud. And it doesn't become any of us to be proud"--his spirit was
shaking the words out of his faltering flesh--"for we're all miserable
sinners. You needn't order me"--he spoke more glibly now, the flesh and
the spirit seemed in complete agreement--"to come out of the garden like
that. I wish Poppy hadn't gone in." He caught his breath with something
like a sob; but the woman in uniform made no movement, and turned her
eyes to Richard's face as if it were he that must give the order. "I've
got a reason for staying out here. I know mother's not got Jesus. If
she's ashamed of me now that I'm one of Jesus' soldiers, I won't come
in. I'll go and wrestle on my knees for her soul, but I won't hurt her
by coming in. So here I stay till she tells me to come in."

"But she's out," said Richard.

The man in uniform was discomfited. The light went out of his face and
his mouth remained open. He shifted his weight from one foot to the
other and muttered: "Ooh-er, is she?"

"Yes," said Richard pleasantly. "She's gone over to Friar's End, but
she'll be back any time now. I wish you'd come in. I haven't seen you
for years, and I'd like to swap yarns with you about what we've been
doing all the time."

"You'd have the most to tell," answered the other wistfully. "You've
been here, there, and everywhere in foreign parts. And I haven't been
doing nothing at all. Except--" he added, brightening up, "being saved."

"That's your own fault," Richard told him. "I've often wondered why you
didn't try your luck abroad. You'd have been sure to hold your own.
Well, anyway, come in and have some tea. I don't know what mother would
say to me if she came in and found I'd let you stay out in the cold.
She'd be awfully upset."

"Do you think she would?" the man in uniform asked, and seemed to
ponder. He looked up at the grey sky and shivered. "'Tis getting
coldish. And the cloth this uniform is made from isn't the sort that
keeps out cold weather. God knows I don't want to grumble at the uniform
I wear for Jesus' sake, but me having been in the drapery, I can't help
noticing when a thing is cheap." He stared down at his toes for a time,
lifting alternately his heels and pressing them down into the wet
gravel; then raised his head and said nonchalantly: "Well, old man, I
think I will come in after all." But he halted yet again when he got one
foot over the threshold. "Mind you, I'm not coming in just because it's
cold," he began, but Richard