He thought how such a girl would have disgusted him a few short weeks ago, but he did not feel disgusted now.

He could not.

He did not know what he felt.

He wondered, as he looked, if she were one of "the multitude," and then the fragment of a text slipped through his brain: "The Friend of publicans and sinners." "_The_ Friend": the little adjective struck him as never before.

Had they ever had another?
He frowned to himself at the thought, and could not help wondering vaguely what his Vicar or the Canon would have done in Travalini's.