“And she said, ‘YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU will never be able to do anything!’

“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, stand by me; do not crush me. For me in this matter there is no path but one on which light shines.’

“And she said, ‘You are very unkind; you don’t care what the people say about us!’ and she wept bitterly, and went out of the room. But as soon as the door was shut, she dried her tears; and she said to herself, ‘Now he will never dare to preach such a sermon again. He dares never oppose me when once I have set down my foot.’

“And the man spoke to no one, and went out alone in the veld. All the afternoon he walked up and down among the sand and low bushes; and I walked there beside him.

“And when the evening came, he went back to his chapel. Many were absent, but the elders sat in their places, and his wife also was there. And the light shone on the empty benches. And when the time came he opened the old book of the Jews; and he turned the leaves and read:—‘If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, ‘Behold we knew it not!’ Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth he not know it?’

“And he said, ‘This morning we considered the evils this land is suffering under at the hands of men whose aim is the attainment of wealth and power. Tonight we shall look at our own share in the matter. I think we shall realise that with us, and not with the men we have lifted up on high, lies the condemnation.’ Then his wife rose and went out, and others followed her; and the little man’s voice rolled among the empty benches; but he spoke on.

“And when the service was over he went out. No elder came to the porch to greet him; but as he stood there one, he saw not whom, slipped a leaflet into his hand. He held it up, and read in the lamplight what was written on it in pencil. He crushed it up in his hand, as a man crushes that which has run a poisonous sting into him; then he dropped it on the earth as a man drops that he would forget. A fine drizzly rain was falling, and he walked up the street with his arms folded behind him, and his head bent. The people walked up the other side; and it seemed to him he was alone. But I walked behind him.”

“And then,” asked Peter, seeing that the stranger was silent, “what happened to him after that?”

“That was only last Sunday,” said the stranger.

There was silence again for some seconds.