to that faith?" He laid the book on the table beside the little chest,
and sat down again. "There is no display, no ornamentation, no attempt
at anything of that kind--it is simplicity, those things serving which
are first at hand--as it seems to me it should be--those who give record
their names and gifts in this book--the little chest to hold the gifts
is open, free to the inspection of all."

"But is that wise?" demurred Thornton. "So large a sum of money as must
accumulate to be left openly about? Would it not be a temptation to some
to steal? Might it not even endanger Miss Vail and the Patriarch
himself--subject them, indeed, to attack?"

"I get your idea," said Madison to himself--while he gazed at Thornton
in pained surprise; "but there'll never be more than the day's catch in
the box at a time, though of course you don't know that. You see, we'll
empty it every night, and start it off fresh every morning, with a
trinket or two put back for bait. I'm glad you mentioned it though, it's
a little detail I mustn't forget to speak to the Flopper about." But
aloud he said, and there was a sort of shocked awe in his voice:
"Steal--_here_! In this sacred place! No man would dare--the most
hardened criminal would draw back. Why do even we who sit here speak as
we have been speaking with hushed and lowered voices?--that very sense
of a presence unseen around us, that hovers over us, is a mightier
safeguard than the strongest bolts and locks, than the steel-barred
vaults of any bank. It would seem indeed to profane our own faith even
to entertain such an idea--to me this place is a solemn shrine, and
there is only purity and faith and stillness here, the dwelling place of
a power as compassionate as it is mighty."

Madison stopped abruptly--and a silence fell. Each seemed busy with