that she was not to be won threw him into the mental attitude of the
chase.

"Are the fascinations of your Mr. Mullen confined to the pulpit?" he
inquired after a moment, "or does he wear them for the benefit of the
heterodox when he walks abroad?"

"Oh, he's not my Mr. Mullen, sir," she hastened to explain though her
words trailed off into a sound that was suspiciously like a sigh.

"Molly Merryweather's Mr. Mullen, then?"

"I don't think he cares for Molly--not in that way."

"Are you quite as sure that Molly doesn't care for him in that way?"

"She couldn't or she wouldn't be so cruel. Then she never goes to
lectures or Bible classes or mission societies. She is the only girl in
the congregation who never makes him anything to wear. Don't you think,"
she asked anxiously, "that if she really cared about him she would have
done some of these things?"

"From my observation of ladies and clergymen," replied Gay seriously, "I
should think that she would most likely have done all of them."

She appeared relieved, he thought, by the warmth of his protestation.
Actually Mr. Mullen had contributed a decided piquancy to the episode.

"I'm afraid, Blossom," he said after a moment, "that I am beginning
to be a little jealous of the Reverend Mullen. By the way, what is the