f the church--a woman who had carried her head
high, and was so much given to wearing more finery than her neighbors
that the few friends she had were always ready to say ill-natured things
of her. The young woman was ready enough to embrace matrimony at any
moment; but the attentions she received from the reverend gentleman
caused great distress among a number of other young women of his church.
It was agreed among them that the reverend gentleman was neither
fascinating nor handsome, but he had mind, and was smart. Smart was the
thing a man most needed in a New England village.

I have said before that the mother of this damsel carried a high head,
as well in as out of the church. She seemed also to have more rights
than ordinary females, and would give herself a great deal of
unnecessary trouble in asserting them, so much so that many of her less
strong-handed sisters regarded her with fear. The gentleman's attentions
had not progressed far when it was evident to all attentive observers
that there must soon be a split in the female division of his church.
Indeed, the quarrel in the female division of the church of the great
progressive ideas was waged with great fierceness, and had such a number
of nice little scandals mixed up in it as to make it quite interesting
to people of a contemplative turn of mind.

Every meddlesome old woman in the church must put her finger in the
reverend gentleman's love pie, and would speak her mind plainly enough,
especially if she had daughters of her own. To use the poor man's own
language, he found himself spiked on all sides; and all for love, a
thing which has brought no end of mischief on the world. In short, from
being an idol he found himself between fires that threatened to consume
him, so fiercely did they burn.

The gentleman's position was indeed becoming perilous, when an
unforeseen circumstance afforded him the means of relief. There arrived
in Nyack late one Saturday night, a man of tall, slender figure, dressed
in a suit of plain black, and having the appearance of a young clergyman
just from the country. He put up at Titus Bright's inn, gave out that he
was from Dogtown, Massachusetts, and after partaking of supper, enquired
of the landlord where he could find the Reverend, so to speak, Warren
Holbrook. There was something serious in the man's manner, like one who
had been grievously wronged. Being told where he could find the object
of his search, he paced the room