As was to be expected, Kitty's first words to O'Day on the following morning related to his meeting with Father Cruse.

"Ye'll not find a better man anywhere," she had said to him, "and there ain't a trouble he can't cure." Felix had smiled at her enthusiasm for her idol and comforted her by saying that it had given him distinct pleasure to meet him, adding: "A big man with a big soul, that priest of yours, Mistress Kitty.

I begin to see now why you and your husband lead such human lives.

Yes--a fine man." But no closer intimacy ensued, nor did he pursue the acquaintance--not even on the following Sunday, when Kitty urged him, almost to importunity, to go and hear the Father say mass.

He was not ready as yet, he said to himself, for friendships among men of his own intellectual caliber.