have a wonderful nurse for him, some one
Doctor Keltridge recommended."

Again Reed caught at the chance for a digression.

"Doctor Keltridge is a wonderful man," he remarked, a little bit
maliciously.

Too late, he realized his blunder, for without delay, Katharine seized
the opportunity to snap back to her former position.

"Yes, after his fashion. It is only rather sad to see so broad an
intellect buried under the masses of old-time tradition. He gives a
strychnine tonic when we others would merely pour ourselves into the
gap, and fight disease with mind."

Opdyke's brown eyes became inscrutable.

"But do you think that mind can do the business, Mrs. Brenton?" he
inquired.

"Yes, if we apply it in all earnestness. Of course, one must first
believe; then the rest of it is easy."

"But," Opdyke's eyes were still inscrutable, although his accent was
that of the eager student; "do you think that one's mind always matches
up to the size of the disease? I should suppose that, just now and
then, they might not fit."

"Dear Mr. Opdyke, there is always the Universal Mind on whom we are
allowed to call, in time of need," Katharine assured him, with an
unction that made Opdyke long to pitch her, head first, starch and all,
through the open window just behind her. No wonder Brenton looked about
all in, if this was the sort of domestic table talk dished up for him!

There was a short pause, broken only by the faint crackling of starchy
petticoats. Then Katharine unclasped her hands, straightened her hat,
and clasped her hands anew, this time slightly above the region of the
belt.

"Mr. Opdyke," she said gravely then; "something within me, here, urges
me to give you the message."

"The--?" Reed inquired politely.

"The message of our faith. When I came in, it was my only idea to drop
in on you and cheer you up a bit; but now--"

During her impressive pause, Opdyke reflected that it was plain the
woman was lying flagrantly, that she had come to see him with fell
purpose. He loathed that purpose absolutely; he resented it most
keenly. None the less, the one course open to him was to submit as
little ungraciously as he was able. No moral force would be able to
dislodge his guest; and Ramsdell could not well be summoned, to pluck
forth the rector's lady and escort her, willy-nilly, to the outer door.

But Katharine's pause had ended.

"But now I feel that it would be wrong for me to neglect the chance to
sow my l