"You were not there, then?"

"Don't ask me. Really, I'm ashamed; after my promise to grandfather, too!
But Wednesday doesn't count anyway, does it? You'll preach on Sunday--and
then!"

His feeling of relief was followed by a sense of deeper humiliation.
Glory had not even troubled herself to remember. Evidently he was nothing
to her, nothing; while she----

He walked home through St. James's Park, and under the tall trees the
peaceful silence of the night came down on him. The sharp clack of the
streets was deadened to a low hum as of the sea afar off. Across the
gardens he could see the clock in the tower of Westminster, and hear the
great bell strike the quarters. London! How little and selfish all
personal thoughts were in the contemplation of the mighty city! He had
been thinking only of himself and his own little doings. It was all so
small and pitiful!

"Did my shame at my failure in the pulpit proceed solely from fear of
losing the service of God, or did it proceed from wounded ambition, from
pride, from thoughts of Glory----"

But the peaceful stars were over him. It was a majestic night.




VII.