For that instant she looked faded and handsome.
This was the origin of the rites more public, yet certainly esoteric, that he at last found himself able to establish.

It took a long time, it took a year, and both the process and the result would have been--for any who knew--a vivid picture of his good faith.

No one did know, in fact--no one but the bland ecclesiastics whose acquaintance he had promptly sought, whose objections he had softly overridden, whose curiosity and sympathy he had artfully charmed, whose assent to his eccentric munificence he had eventually won, and who had asked for concessions in exchange for indulgences.

Stransom had of course at an early stage of his enquiry been referred to the Bishop, and the Bishop had been delightfully human, the Bishop had been almost amused.

Success was within sight, at any rate from the moment the attitude of those whom it concerned became liberal in response to liberality.