support?"

"They would not vote unconscientiously," was the dry response, "but
they believe that the support which she gives to them and to their
missions is of more importance than that the man they really prefer
should be chosen."

"But what can be done?"

Father Frontford sat leaning back in his chair, his face in shadow, and
the tips of his thin fingers pressed together in his habitual gesture.

"Perhaps nothing," he answered.

His voice had dropped into a soft, silky half-tone, insinuating and
persuasive. Maurice began to have an uneasy feeling as if he were being
hypnotized; yet the words of the other came to him with a quality
strangely soothing and attractive.

"Perhaps," the priest went on after a pause of a second, "perhaps
everything that is necessary."

It seemed to Maurice that there was something significant in the tone
which the words did not reveal. He looked keenly at the shadowed face,
but without being able clearly to make out its expression. He could see
little but the bright eyes holding and dominating his own.

"It is for you to do this work," Father Frontford continued; "and it is
wonderful how Providence brings good out of all things. Here is an
opportunity for you not only to expiate your fault, but to serve the