esk and in a different tone, said, "Philip,
you know I believe in you, don't you?"

"Yes," said Philip simply; "I am sure you do. I am impulsive and
impractical, but heart and soul, and body and mind, I simply want to do
the will of God. Is it not so?"

"I know it is," she said, "and if you go to Milton it will be because
you want to do His will more than to please yourself."

"Yes. Then shall I answer the letter to-night?"

"Yes, if you have decided, with my help, of course."

"Of course, you foolish creature, you know I could not settle it without
you. And as for the biscuits--"

"As for the biscuits," said the minister's wife, "they will be settled
without me, too, if I don't go down and see to them." She hurried
downstairs and Philip Strong, with a smile and a sigh, took up his pen
and wrote replies to the two calls he had received, refusing the call to
Elmdale and accepting the one to Milton. And so the strange story of a
great-hearted man really began.

When he had finished writing these two letters, he wrote another, which
throws so much light on his character and his purpose in going to
Milton, that we will insert that in this story, as being necessary to
its full understanding. This is the letter:--

MY DEAR ALFRED:--Two years ago, when we left the Seminary, you remember
we promised each other, in case either of us left his present parish, he
would let the other know at once. I did not suppose, when I came, that I
should leave so soon, but I have just written a letter which means the
beginning of a new life to me. The Calvary Church in Milton has given me
a call, and I have accepted it. Two months ago my church here
practically went out of existence, through a union with the other church
on the street. The history of that movement is too long for me to relate
here, but since it took place I have been preaching as a supply, pending
the final settlement of affairs, and so I was at liberty to accept a
call elsewhere. I must confess the call from Milton was a surprise to
me. I have never been there (you know I do not believe in candidating
for a place), and so I suppose their church committee came up here to
listen to me. Two years ago nothing would have induced me to go to
Milton. Today it seems perfectly clear that the Lord says to me "Go."
You know my natural inclination is toward a quiet, scholarly pastorate.
Well, Milton is, as you know, a noisy, dirty, manufacturing town, full
of working men, cursed