cruel to tie a maid for life to one who might only be forty years in
age, but was as seventy in his pilgrimage, and had fallen into unlovely
habits."

Then the Rabbi turned on Carmichael his gentle eyes, that were shining
with tears.

"It will be otherwise with you, and so let it be. May I live to see
you rejoicing with the wife of your youth!"

So it came to pass that it was to this unlikely man Carmichael told his
love for Kate Carnegie and what like Kate was, and he was amazed at the
understanding of the Rabbi, as well as his sympathy and toleration.

"A maid of spirit--and that is an excellent thing; and any excess will
be tamed by life. Only see to it that ye agree in that which lieth
beneath all churches and maketh souls one in God. May He prosper you
in your wooing as He did the patriarch Jacob, and far more abundantly!"

Very early in the morning Carmichael awoke, and being tempted by the
sunrise, arose and went downstairs. As he came near the study door he
heard a voice in prayer, and knew that the Rabbi had been all night in
intercession.

"Thou hast denied me wife and child; deny me not Thyself. . . . A
stranger Thou hast made me among men; refuse me not a place in the
City. . . . Deal graciously with this lad who has been to me as a son
in the Gospel. . . . He has not despised an old man; put not his heart
to confusion. . . ."