the curious chest of dark
wood with iron hasps.

"She ran under the car deliberate!" cried Bill. "I yelled to her, but
she looked at me and ran straight on!"

He was white in spite of his weather-beaten skin.

"I guess you wasn't drunk last night after all, John," said he.

"You--you are sure the kid is--is there?" gasped John.

"Not so damned sure!" said Bill.

But a few minutes later it was taken away in a patrol wagon, and with it
the little box with iron hasps.

THE ROOM OF THE EVIL THOUGHT

THEY called it the room of the Evil Thought. It was really the
pleasantest room in the house, and when the place had been used as the
rectory, was the minister's study. It looked out on a mournful clump
of larches, such as may often be seen in the old-fashioned yards in
Michigan, and these threw a tender gloom over the apartment.

There was a wide fireplace in the room, and it had been the young
minister's habit to sit there hours and hours, staring ahead of him at
the fire, and smoking moodily. The replenishing of the fire and of his
pipe, it was said, would afford him occupation all the day long, and
that was how it came about that his parochial duties were neglected so
that, little by little, the people became dissatisfied with him, though
he was an eloquent young man, who could send his congregation away drunk
on his influence. However, the calmer pulsed among his parish began to
whisper that it was indeed the influence of the young minister and not
that of the Holy Ghost which they felt, and it was finally decided
that neither animal magnetism nor hypnotism were good substitutes for
religion. And so they let him go.

The new rector moved into a smart brick house on the other side of the
church, and gave receptions and dinner parties, and was punctilious
about making his calls. The people therefore liked him very much--so
much that they raised the debt on the church and bought a chime of
bells, in their enthusiasm. Every one was lighter of heart than under
the ministration of the previous rector. A burden appeared to be lifted
from the community. True, there were a few who confessed the new man
did not give them the food for thought which the old one had done, but,
then, the former rector had made them uncomfortable! He had not only
made them conscious of the sins of which they were already guilty, but
also of those for which they had the latent capacity. A strange and
fatal man, whom women loved to their