"So it would appear; and now there are no lights. That is all."

The priest was dressed, and now pulled on a great oilskin coat.
There are men who seem compact in mind and body, impressing their
fellows with a sense of that restfulness which comes of assured
strength. This little priest was one of these, and the mental
impress that he left upon all who came in contact with him was to
the effect that there is nothing in a human life that need appal, no
sorrow beyond the reach of consolation--no temptation too strong to
be resisted. The children ran after him in the streets, their faces
expectant of a joke. The women in the doorways gave a little sigh
as he passed. A woman will often sigh at the thought of that which
another woman has lost, and this touches a whole gamut of thoughts
which are above the reach of a man's mind.

The priest tied the strings of a sou'wester under his pink chin. He
was little more than a boy after all--or else he was the possessor
of a very young heart.

"Between us we make a whole man--you and I," he said cheerily.
"Perhaps we can do something."

They went out into the night, the priest locking the door and
pausing to hide the key under the mat in the porch. They all keep
the house-door key under the mat at Yport. In the narrow street,
which forms the whole village, running down the valley to the sea,
they met the full force of the gale, and stood for a moment
breathlessly fighting against it. In a lull they pushed on.

"And the tide?" shouted the priest.