Then shall I answer the letter to-night ?" "Yes, if you have decided, with my help, of course." "Of course, you foolish creature, you know I could not settle it without you.

And as for the biscuits--" "As for the biscuits," said the minister's wife, "they will be settled without me, too, if I don't go down and see to them." She hurried downstairs and Philip Strong, with a smile and a sigh, took up his pen and wrote replies to the two calls he had received, refusing the call to Elmdale and accepting the one to Milton.

And so the strange story of a great-hearted man really began.
When he had finished writing these two letters, he wrote another, which throws so much light on his character and his purpose in going to Milton, that we will insert that in this story, as being necessary to its full understanding.

This is the letter:-- MY DEAR ALFRED:--Two years ago, when we left the Seminary, you remember we promised each other, in case either of us left his present parish, he would let the other know at once.

I did not suppose, when I came, that I should leave so soon, but I have just written a letter which means the beginning of a new life to me.