ame a kind of torture. Was she ill,
perhaps? It could not be that she had deserted her work.

And then he began to examine himself with a morbid introspection. Had
the hope that he should see her occasionally influenced him at all in
his obedience to Father Monies? Had he, in fact, a longing to be in the
streets where she had walked, among the scenes that had witnessed her
beautiful devotion? Had his willingness to take up this work again been
because it brought him nearer to her in spirit?

No, she could not be ill. He heard her spoken of, here and there, in his
calls and ministrations to the sick and dying. Evidently she was going
about her work as usual. Perhaps she was avoiding him. Or perhaps
she did not care, after all, and had lost her respect for him when he
discovered to her his weakness. And he had put himself on a plane so
high above her.

There was no conscious wavering in his purpose. But from much dwelling
upon the thought, from much effort rather to put it away, his desire
only to see her grew stronger day by day. He had no fear. He longed to
test himself. He was sure that he would be impassive, and be all the
stronger for the test. He was more devoted than ever in his Work. He was
more severe with himself, more charitable to others, and he could not
doubt that he was gaining a hold-yes, a real hold-upon the lives of many
about him. The attendance was better at the chapel; more of the penitent
and forlorn came to him for help. And how alone he was! My God, never
even to see her!

In fact, Ruth Leigh was avoiding him. It was partly from a womanly
reserve--called into expression in this form for the first time--and
partly from a wish to spare him pain. She had been under no illusion
from the first about the hopelessness of the attachment. She
comprehended his character so thoroughly that she knew that for him any
fall from his ideal would mean his ruin. He was one of the rare spirits
of faith astray in a skeptical age. For a time she had studied curiously
his efforts to adapt himself to his surroundings. One of these was
joining a Knights of Labor lodge. Another was his approach to the
ethical-culture movement of some of the leaders in the Neighborhood
Guild. Another was his interest in the philanthropic work of agnostics
like herself. She could see that he, burning with zeal to save the souls
of men, and believing that there was no hope for the world except in
the renunciation of the world, instinctive