"Mrs. Eversley?" suggested Aunt Bell.

"Well, the short of it is, she told me her woes and begged me to give my
sanction to her securing a divorce!"

Nancy sat up from her pillows. "Oh--and you _did?_"

"_Nancy!_" It was low, but clear, quick-spoken, stern, and hurt. "You
forget yourself. At least you forget my view and the view of my Church.
Even were I out of the Church, I should still regard marriage as a
sacrament--indissoluble except by death. The very words--'Whom God hath
joined'"--he became almost oratorical in his warmth--"Surely you would
not expect me to use my influence in this parish to undermine the
sanctity of the home--to attack our emblem of Christ's union with His
Church!"

With reproach in his eyes--a reproach that in some way seemed to be
bland and mellow, yet with a hurt droop to his handsome head, he went
from the room. Nancy looked after him, longingly, wonderingly.

"The maddening thing is, Aunt Bell, that sometimes he actually has the
power to make me believe in him. But, oh, doesn't Christ's union with
his Church have some ghastly symbols!"




CHAPTER IX

SINFUL PERVERSENESS OF THE NATURAL WOMAN