“It is a weak man who blames his failures on the strength of others,” said the Visitor.

“I haven’t failed yet!” said Thrower. “You told me I had until the boy was fourteen—“

“No. I told you I had until the boy was fourteen. You only have him as long as he lives here.”

“I’ve heard nothing about the Millers moving. They just got their millstone in place, they’re going to start grinding in the spring, they wouldn’t leave without—“

The Visitor stood up from the altar. “Let me put a case to you, Reverend Thrower. Purely hypothetical. Let us suppose you were in the same room with the worst enemy of all that I stand for. Let us suppose that he were ill, and lay helpless in his bed. If he recovered, he would be removed from your reach, and would thus go on to destroy all that you and I love in this world. But if he died, our great cause would be safe. Now suppose that someone put a knife into your hand, and begged you to perform a delicate surgery upon the boy. And suppose that if you were to slip, just the tiniest bit, your knife could cut a great artery. And suppose that if you simply delayed, his lifeblood would flow out so quickly that in moments he would die. In that case, Reverend Thrower, what would be your duty?”

Thrower was aghast. All his life he had prepared to teach, persuade, exhort, expound. Never to perform a bloody-handed act like the one the Visitor suggested. “I’m not suited for such things,” he said.

“Are you suited for the kingdom of God?” asked the Visitor.

“But the Lord said Thou shalt not kill.”

“Oh? Is that what he said to Joshua, when he sent him into the promised land? Is that what he said to Saul, when he sent him against the Amalekites?”

Thrower thought of those dark passages in the Old Testament, and trembled with fear at the thought of taking part in such things himself.

But the Visitor did not relent. “The high priest Samuel commanded King Saul to kill all the Amalekites, every man and woman, every child. But Saul hadn’t the stomach for it. He saved the king of the Amalekites and brought him back alive. For that crime of disobedience, what did the Lord do?”

“Chose David to be king in his place,” murmured Thrower.

The Visitor stood close to Thrower, his eyes wounding him with their fire. “And then Samuel, the high priest, the gentle servant of God, what did he do?”

“He called for Agag the king of the Amalekites to be brought before him.”

The Visitor would not relent. “And what did Samuel do?”

“Killed him,” whispered Thrower.

“What does the scripture say that he did!” roared the Visitor. The walls of the meetinghouse shook, the glass of the windows rattled.