“Foolish, you think! He need not speak, so far as I’m concerned,” declared Mr. Fox, refusing the proffered chair. “I know his whole miserable story. I knew his parents. I take back my request. You doubtless would not tell the truth. What I wish my daughter to know, I shall tell her in the privacy of our own home.”
Elizabeth looked as if she could not trust her own ears for what she had just heard from her father’s lips.
“Mr. Fox, Elizabeth shall know my story 342 now, and from my own lips. I have absolutely nothing to hide or be ashamed of. My father and mother were honest people. If it be a crime to be poor, then, they were guilty beyond redemption. They came to this country from Australia when I was little more than an infant. My father took ill and died shortly after our arrival. Mother said his death was the result of confining work he had done in Australia. I can remember my mother quite well, but she died before I was five. I was taken into a neighboring family, almost as poor as mine had been. As I grew up I worked hard, and saved every penny. My mother had left me one heritage that was priceless, a craving for knowledge. The people who brought me up sacrificed to help me along till I reached high school. I worked my way up through four hard years, into college, and then on into the seminary.
“That is about all there is to my uninteresting history. I came here as a candidate for this church. For the first time in my whole life I was beginning to taste real happiness. But no sooner had I taken my first 343 breath of independence than I saw I must fight to hold the ground I had gained. I gloried in the opportunity. I was glad that I could do for your town what no other minister had been able to do. I took special delight in getting hold of those lads and men at the Inn. Hicks and his crowd didn’t trouble me one bit, or even alter one plan I had for the members of the club. I didn’t even grow discouraged when the opposition came from you, for I kept hoping that you’d see your mistake and come over to my aid. But time went on, and you did not. I sought reasons for your injustice. I concluded at last that you had discovered my love for your daughter, and that you did not consider my family connections to be sufficiently strong to permit any such union. I did all in my power to argue myself out of that love. But I soon discovered that a man cannot argue a cyclone out of his heart any more than he can argue one out of God’s sky.
“If there is no other reason for your actions, sir, than my love for Elizabeth your opposition may as well be withdrawn right 344 here and now. Otherwise, I shall marry Elizabeth against your will.”
“It seems to me, young man, that you are quite sure of yourself about something you can’t do. I admire your nerve,”––the Elder was pulling out each word with violent tugs at the side-whiskers,––“but we’ll see, sir, who holds the trumps.”
“You mean that you offer me no other alternative than to fight this through to a finish?” asked the minister.
“I offer you no alternative whatsoever. I command you to remain away from my daughter.”
“And I refuse to obey any such order unless you give some just and adequate reason.”
“I shall give you reason enough. Why did you stop with that little bit of family history where you did?”