"And I was married," broke in Theron, with an eagerness almost vehement,
"when I had only just been ordained! At the worst, YOU had only the
Church fastened upon your back, before you were old enough to know
what you wanted. It is easy enough to make the best of THAT, but it is
different with me."

A marked silence followed this outburst. The Rev. Mr. Ware had never
spoken of his marriage to either of these friends before; and something
in their manner seemed to suggest that they did not find the subject
inviting, now that it had been broached. He himself was filled with a
desire to say more about it. He had never clearly realized before what
a genuine grievance it was. The moisture at the top of his nose merged
itself into tears in the corners of his eyes, as the cruel enormity of
the sacrifice he had made in his youth rose before him. His whole life
had been fettered and darkened by it. He turned his gaze from the swings
toward Celia, to claim the sympathy he knew she would feel for him.

But Celia was otherwise engaged. A young man had come up to her--a tall
and extremely thin young man, soberly dressed, and with a long, gaunt,
hollow-eyed face, the skin of which seemed at once florid and pale. He
had sandy hair and the rough hands of a workman; but he was speaking to
Miss Madden in the confidential tones of an equal.

"I can do nothing at all with him," this newcomer said to her. "He'll
not be said by me. Perhaps he'd listen to you!"

"It's likely I'll go down there!" said Celia. "He may do what he likes
for all me! Take my advice, Michael, and just go your way, and leave
him to himself. There was a time when I would have taken out my eyes
for him, but it was love wasted and thrown away. After the warnings he's