"I must refuse," he answered firmly.

She turned pale, and her mouth twitched nervously. He looked into
her white face with a great pity and a feeling of horror swept
his heart. The pathos and the agony of the tragedy filled him with
strange foreboding. In his imagination he could hear the click of
handcuffs on his own wrists and feel the steel of prison bars on
his own hands as he peered through the grating toward the gate of
Death.

But he was firm in his refusal, and she left with words of bitterness
and reproach.

After a long procession of people, sick, and most of them out of
work, he was surprised to see one of his own deacons approach with
a look of dejection.

"Why, Ludlow, what ails you?"

"Sorry to trouble you, Pastor, but I've lost my place. You see,
I'm more than fifty years old, and though I've worked for my firm
twenty years, they laid me off for a younger man. I'm ruined unless
I can get work. I've four people dependent on me. I've come to ask
you to see the Manager of the new department store and get me a
place. I've been there three times, but I can't get to the Manager."

"I'll do it to-day, Deacon. Let me know when you need anything."

After two hours of this work, he left, with Kate Ransom, for his