For three years he had worked hard somewhere in the slums; then this living had fallen to him.

He had taken it, and from that day forward his record was very much of a blank.

The parish was small and well ordered; there was little to do in it, and the Salvation Army had seized upon and reclaimed two of the three confirmed drunkards it could boast.
His guest's saying echoed in his brain like the catch of a tune--"that _you_ might lead that life and attain that death." Supposing that he were bidden so to do now, this very night, would he indeed "think differently"?
He had become a priest to serve his Maker.

How would it be were that Maker to command that he should serve Him in this extreme and heroic fashion?
Would he flinch from the steel, or would he meet it as the martyrs met it of old?
Physically he was little suited to such an enterprise, for in appearance he was slight and pale, and in constitution delicate.

Also, there was another reason against the thing.