the rector had contrived to put a mighty emphasis on the word. "You
speak of the labour of giving, but if you seek your God and haply find
him you will not rest night or day while you live until you have restored
every dollar possible of that which you have wrongfully taken from
others."

John Hodder rose and raised his arm in effective protest against the
interruption Eldon Parr was about to make. He bore him down.

"I know what you are going to say, Mr. Parr,--that it is not practical.
That word 'practical' is the barrier between you and your God. I tell
you that God can make anything practical. Your conscience, the spirit,
tortures you to-day, but you have not had enough torture, you still think
to escape easily, to keep the sympathy of a world which despises you.
You are afraid to do what God would have you do. You have the
opportunity, through grace, by your example to leave the world better
than you found it, to do a thing of such magnitude as is given to few
men, to confess before all that your life has been blind and wicked.
That is what the Spirit is trying to teach you. But you fear the
ridicule of the other blind men, you have not the faith to believe that
many eyes would be opened by your act. The very shame of such a
confession, you think, is not to be borne."

"Suppose I acknowledge, which I do not, your preposterous charge, how
would you propose to do this thing?"

"It is very simple," said the rector, "so far as the actual method of
procedure goes. You have only to establish a board of men in whom you
have confidence,--a court of claims, so to speak,--to pass upon the
validity of every application, not from a business standpoint alone, but