fear of Helen." He told himself that young Farquharson was six inches
taller and every way a far "prettier man." Helen was not of this
opinion. No hero is so fascinating to a woman as the man mentally and
spiritually above her, and whom she must love from a distance; and if
Crawford could have known how dangerous were those walks over the
springy heather and through the still pine woods, Mr. Selwyn would
have taken them far more frequently alone than he did.

But Crawford had other things to employ his attention at that time,
and indeed the young English clergyman was far beyond his mental and
spiritual horizon; he could not judge him fairly. So these young
people walked and rode and sailed together, and Selwyn talked like an
apostle of the wrongs that were to be righted and the poor perishing
souls that were to be redeemed. The spiritual warfare in which he was
enlisted had taken possession of him, and he spoke with the martial
enthusiasm of a young soldier buckling on his armor.

Helen and Colin listened in glowing silence, Helen showing her
sympathy by her flushing cheeks and wet eyes, and Colin by the
impatient way in which he struck down with his stick the thistles by
the path side, as if they were the demons of sin and ignorance and
dirt Selwyn was warring against. But after three weeks of this
intercourse Crawford became sensible of some change in the atmosphere
of his home. When Selwyn first arrived, and Crawford learned that he
was a clergyman in orders, he had, out of respect to the office,
delegated to him the conduct of family worship. Gradually Selwyn had
begun to illustrate the gospel text with short, earnest remarks, which
were a revelation of Bible truth to the thoughtful men and women who
heard them.