The pew rents ran up, however, and the contributions of a Sunday increased nearly double.

Indeed, the Chapmans felt that they were now on the road to fortune, and Mrs.Chapman's ambition increased accordingly.
All great enterprises, however, are liable to sudden checks, and misfortune too often comes when one least expects it.

And so it was with the Reverend Warren Holbrook, the man of the great progressive ideas.

He was discovered paying what ladies of strict propriety regard as more than ordinary attentions to a fair young damsel, the daughter of one of the most active members of the church--a woman who had carried her head high, and was so much given to wearing more finery than her neighbors that the few friends she had were always ready to say ill-natured things of her.

The young woman was ready enough to embrace matrimony at any moment; but the attentions she received from the reverend gentleman caused great distress among a number of other young women of his church.
It was agreed among them that the reverend gentleman was neither fascinating nor handsome, but he had mind, and was smart.