and the evil passions of hatred and bigotry had so inflamed his
mind, that it was perfectly easy for him to persuade himself that the
statements were true. Indeed, he only followed with the multitude to
do evil in this instance, for not one in a thousand took the trouble
to verify their facts, or even their quotations, when speaking of, or
quoting Raeburn. The libel, to put it briefly, represented Raeburn as a
man who had broken every one of the ten commandments.

Erica read steadily on, though every pulse in her beat at double time.
It was long before she finished it, for a three-fold chorus was going on
in her brain Mr. Pogson's libelous charges; the talk between her father
and Hazeldine, which revealed all too plainly the harm already done
to the cause of Christianity by this one unscrupulous man; and her own
almost despairing cry to the Unseen: "Oh, Father! How is he ever to
learn to know Thee, when such things as these are done in Thy name?"

That little sheet of paper had fallen among them like a thunderbolt.

"I have passed over a great deal," Raeburn was saying when Erica looked
up once more. "But I shall not pass over this! Pogson shall pay dearly
for it! Many thanks, Hazeldine, for bringing me word; I shall take steps
about it at once."

He left the room quickly, and in another minute they heard the street
door close behind him.

"That means an action for libel," said Tom, knitting his brows. "And
goodness only knows what fearful work and worry for the chieftain."

"But good to the cause in the long run," said Hazeldine. "And as for Mr.
Raeburn, he only rises the higher the more they try to crush him. He's
like the bird that rises out of its own ashes the phenix, don't they
call it?"

Erica smiled a little at the comparison, but sadly.

"Don't judge Christianity by this one bad specimen," she said, as she
shook hands with Hazeldine.

"How do Christians judge us, Miss Erica?" he replied, sternly.

"Then be more just than you think they are as generous as you would have
them be."

"It's but a working-day world, miss, and I'm but a working-day man. I
can't set up to be generous to them who treat a man as though he was
the dirt in the street. And if you will excuse me mentioning it, miss,
I could wish that this shameful treatment would show to you what a
delusion it is you've taken up of late."

"Mr. Pogson can hurt me very much, but not so fatally as that," said
Erica, as much to herself as to Hazel