exquisite, but it was controlled by a sense of her responsibility. The
greater the peril, the more complete was her self-command.

To the surprise of everybody Mardon got better. His temperate habits
befriended him in a manner which amazed his more indulgent neighbours,
who were accustomed to hot suppers, and whisky-and-water after them.
Meanwhile I fell into greater difficulties than ever in my ministry. I
wonder now that I was not stopped earlier. I was entirely unorthodox,
through mere powerlessness to believe, and the catalogue of the
articles of faith to which I might be said really to subscribe was very
brief. I could no longer preach any of the dogmas which had always
been preached in the chapel, and I strove to avoid a direct conflict by
taking Scripture characters, amplifying them from the hints in the
Bible, and neglecting what was supernatural. That I was allowed to go
on for so long was mainly due to the isolation of the town and the
ignorance of my hearers. Mardon and his daughter came frequently to
hear me, and this, I believe, finally roused suspicion more than any
doctrine expounded from the pulpit. One Saturday morning there
appeared the following letter in the Sentinel:

"Sin,--Last Sunday evening I happened to stray into a chapel not a
hundred miles from Water Lane. Sir, it was a lovely evening, and


'The glorious stars on high,
Set like jewels in the sky,'


were circling their courses, and, with the moon, irresistibly reminded
me of that blood which was shed for the remission of sins. Sir, with