Later at prayer meeting his thoughts were far from the subject under
discussion. His own public petition was so faltering and uncertain that
Elder Jordan watched him suspiciously.
It would be interesting to know just how much the interest of the man in
the woman colored and strengthened the purpose of the preacher to win
this soul so antagonistic to his church.
The next day, Dan was putting the finishing touches to his sermon on
"The Christian Ministry" when his landlady interrupted him with the news
of the attempted suicide in Old Town. Upon hearing that the girl had at
one time been a member of his congregation, he went at once to learn
more of the particulars from Dr. Oldham. He found his old friend who
had returned from Old Town a half hour before, sitting in his big chair
on the front porch gazing at the cast-iron monument across the way. To
the young man's questions the Doctor returned only monosyllables or
grunts and growls that might mean anything or nothing at all. Plainly
the Doctor did not wish to talk. His face was dark and forbidding, and
under his scowling brows, his eyes--when Dan caught a glimpse of
them--were hard and fierce. The young man had never seen his friend in
such a mood and he could not understand.
Dan did not know that the kind-hearted old physician had just learned
from his wife that the girl with the bad reputation had called at the
house to see him a few hours before she had made the attempt to end her
life, and that she had been sent away by the careful Martha with the
excuse that the doctor was too busy to see her.
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