about my own wretched experiences.
He was Southern born and bred--which accounted for the old negro
serving man--and Springville was his first parish north of the Ohio
River. He was enthusiastic over his work, and he seemed to forget
completely who and what I was as he talked of it.

Later, when we had come again to the sitting-room with its cheerful
fire, we talked of books, finding common ground in the field of
autobiography and travel. Whitley's reading in this field had been
much wider than mine, and his knowledge of far countries and the men
who wrote about them was a revelation to such a dabbler as I had been.
Book after book was taken from the shelves and dipped into, and before
I realized it the evening--so different from any I had enjoyed for
months and years--had slipped away and the little clock on the mantel
was chiming the half-hour after eight. It was time for me to efface
myself, and I said so--a bit unsteadily, perhaps, for the pleasant
evening had been as the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

"No," said Whitley, quite definitely. "You are not going to-night. I
have a spare bed upstairs and I want you to stay--as my guest. Beyond
that, you are not going to leave Springville merely because Mr. Haddon
has seen fit to deny you your little meed of justice and a fair show."

"It's no use," I said. "The story is out, and it will follow me
wherever I go--doubtless with Mr. Haddon's help. You'd best let me go
while the going is easy."

"No," he Insisted. "You are a part of my work--one of my reasons for
existence. Christianity means something, Weyburn, and I am here to
define its meaning in specific cases. There is a little legacy of
common justice due you, and I shall take it upon myself to see that you
get it. As for Zadoc Haddon, you needn't worry about him. I am
ashamed to say that he is a member of my own church, but that doesn't
prevent him from being a wolf in sheep's clothing. I have told him so
to his face, and he has tried to get me ousted--without success, so
far."

I saw difficulties and more difficulties for this generous young fellow
who was so ready to champion my cause, and it seemed only decent to
spare him if I could. But at the end of my protest he summed the
situation up in a single sentence:

"What you say about me is all beside the mark; somebody has got to give
you the chance you are needing, and the fight may just as well be made
here in Springville as anyw