I laid our great plan before him. I found him a big man, a man who
thinks big thoughts, and does big things. He told me frankly he was
heartily in favour of it and would do his part the moment we were
ready and other men of wealth would join in the movement. He simply
declares that we must act first."

Van Meter pursed his lips and tried to lift his nose into a sneer.

"May I ask, Doctor, if it is your intention to demand a vote to-night
on this building scheme?"

"It is."

"Then I suggest that we vote first and hear your speech afterward.
Some of us may wish to go before you're done."

Gordon turned red with rage and started to sit down, but, wheeling,
he again faced the chairman and glared at him.

"Pardon my business methods, Doctor," he went on, "but your visions
are rather tiresome. We are old New Yorkers. We know what you are
going to tell us of the dark problem of the city's corruption, the
poverty of the poor, and so on. Every now and then we see such sacred
fires burning in the heart of a country parson called to town. Yet,
in spite of the splendour of these little fizzling pinwheels that
light the cruelty and darkness of metropolitan life for a moment,
New York has managed somehow to jog along."

Gordon's anger melted into a laugh as he watched the Deacon's face
grow purple with fury as he fairly hissed the last sentence of