; the knees of the unpressed trousers were
baggy and beginning to be ragged, and the sole of one shoe flapped as
he walked. He had a three days' growth of beard and no baggage.

When Cap'n Abernethy had delivered himself and walked away, the Rev.
Mr. Calthrop confirmed the story of his own disgrace, speaking in a low
but clear voice, and with a gentle and wistful smile.

"I am one of the most miserable of sinners, Mr. Cleggett," he said. "I
have proved myself to be that most despicable thing, an unworthy
minister. I was tempted and I fell."

The Rev. Mr. Calthrop seemed to find the sort of satisfaction in
confessing his sins to the world that the medieval flagellants found in
scoring themselves with whips; they struck their bodies; he drew forth
his soul and beat it publicly.

Cleggett learned that he had set himself as a punishment and a
mortification the task of obtaining his daily bread by the work of his
hands. It was his intention to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
refusing all assistance except that which he earned by manual labor.
After such a term of years as should satisfy all men (and particularly
his own spiritual sense) of the genuineness of his penitence, he would
apply to his church for reinstatement, and ask for an appointment to
some difficult mission in a wild and savage country. The Rev. Mr.
Calthrop intimated that if he chose to accept rehabilitation on less
arduous terms, he might obtain it; but the poignancy of his own sense
of failure drove him to extremes.

"Are you sure," said Cleggett sternly, "that you are not making a
luxury of this very penitence itself? Are you sure that it would not
be more acceptable to Heaven if you forgave yourself more easily?"

"Alas, yes, I am sure!" said Mr. Calthrop, with a sigh and his calm and
wistful smile. "I know myself too well! I know my own soul. I am
cursed with a fatal magnetism which women find it impossible to resist.
And I am continually tempted to permit it to exert itself. This is the
cross that I bear through life."

"You should marry some good woman," said Cleggett.

"I do not feel that I am worthy," said Mr. Calthrop meekly. "And think
of the pain my wife would experience in seeing me continually tempted
by some woman who believed herself to be my psychic affinity!"

"You are a thought too subtle, Mr. Calthrop," said Cleggett bluntly.
"But I suppose you cannot help that. To each of us his destiny. I am
prepared, until I see so