"Have you heard the news?" he called out. "They have caught Burke Williams. He was hiding in a barn up in Freetown."
The little company of church people stood still. The minister looked grave.
"That is not all," said the man. "I just came by Judge Vernon's. His son died a few minutes ago."
The Rev. Howard Douglass turned to the people around him.
"Let us go back into the church and pray," he said.
They turned and entered the building. The sexton had begun to put out the lights. They kneeled in the rear of the church and prayed for the living. And over the city of Merton, in the thought of Howard Douglass as he kneeled there, the Spirit was brooding, yearning that men might listen to the words of eternal life, and turn from their sins and be redeemed.