ith a crazy man? You are tired, and it is
time to put out the lights and go to bed. Get him out of the house now
as soon as you can."

The stranger raised his head and went on talking just as if he had not
broken off abruptly.

"Other reasons. In your sermon you tell the people they ought to live
less luxuriously. You point them to the situation in this town, where
thousands of men are out of work. You call attention to the great
poverty and distress all over the world, and you say the times demand
that people live far simpler, less extravagant lives. And yet here you
live yourself like a prince. Like a prince," he repeated, after a
peculiar gesture, which seemed to include not only what was in the room
but all that was in the house.

Philip glanced at his wife as people do when they suspect a third person
being out of his mind, and saw that her expression was very much like
his own feeling, although not exactly. Then they both glanced around the
room.

It certainly did look luxurious, even if not princely. The parsonage was
an old mansion which had once belonged to a wealthy but eccentric sea
captain. He had built to please himself, something after the colonial
fashion; and large square rooms, generous fireplaces with quaint
mantels, and tiling, and hardwood floors gave the house an appearance of
solid comfort that approached luxury. The church in Milton had purchased
the property from the heirs, who had become involved in ruinous
speculation and parted with the house for a sum little representing its
real worth. It had been changed a little, and modernized, although the
old fireplaces still remained; and one spare room, an annex to the house
proper, had been added recently. There was an air of decided comfort
bordering on luxury in the different pieces of furniture and the whole
appearance of the room.

"You understand," said Philip, as his glance traveled back to his
visitor, "that this house is not mine. It belongs to my church. It is
the parsonage, and I am simply living in it as the minister."

"Yes, I understand. You, a minister, are living in this princely house
while other people have not where to lay their heads."

Again Philip felt the same temptation to anger steal into him, and again
he checked himself at the thought: "The man is certainly insane. The
whole thing is simply absurd. I will get rid of him. And yet----"

He could not shake off a strange and powerful impression which the
stranger's wor