The cruel words had leaped
from her lips unbidden. Already she regretted them deeply. She knew
instinctively that the minister had come from a genuine desire to be
helpful. She should have been more kind, but his unfortunate words had
brought to her mind in a flash, the whole hideous picture of the poor
girl's broken life. And the suggestion of such help as the church would
give now, came with such biting irony, that she was almost beside
herself.
The situation was not at all new to Miss Farwell. Her profession placed
her constantly in touch with such ministries. She remembered a
saloonkeeper who had contributed liberally to the funeral expenses of a
child who had been killed by its drunken father. The young woman had
never before spoken, in such cruel anger. Was she growing bitter? She
wondered. All at once her cheeks were wet with scalding tears.
Dan found the Doctor sitting on the porch just as he had left him. Was
it only an hour before?
CHAPTER XVII.
THE TRAGEDY
"Now, for the first time, he was face to face with existing conditions.
Not the theory but the practice confronted him now. Not the traditional,
but the actual. It was, indeed, a tragedy."
Dan went heavily up the path between the roses, while the Doctor observed
him closely. The young minister did not sit down.
"Well?" said the Doctor.
Dan's voice was strained and unnatural. "Will you come over to my room?"
Without a word the old man followed him.
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