“If it were true that you had lost them, Philip, would it not be your own fault?”
“No. I place the blame wholly on this man who has influenced you to my detriment.”
“You misjudge him, Philip, and you misunderstand me. I have not been overpersuaded, and I am not abnormal. If it were true that I have lost my mental balance, and if you wanted to restore it, you have gone about it in quite the wrong way. To attempt to shatter a cause on which my heart is set, and to initiate a movement to discredit and disgrace the bravest and most high-souled and far-seeing man that ever preached the gospel of Christ from any pulpit in this city; that is not the way to quiet my mind, or to retain my confidence and affection.”
She said it with determination, but not in anger, for her eyes were moist and her lip was trembling.
He, man that he was, was not able to hold himself in quite so complete control.
“Listen, Ruth!” he exclaimed. “This man who is now your ideal will some day be shattered into his original elements. Of this I have no doubt. If he will then remake himself on sound principles, there will still be in him vast possibilities for good. As it is, he is a menace to the Church and a destroyer of human happiness. Pardon me, but I cannot look with equanimity on such a situation as faces me to-night.”
“And it is a situation that is not necessary. It is all so very sad because it is so very unnecessary.”
“What do you mean by that, Ruth?”
“I mean that if you would only see these things as I do; they are so perfectly plain; if you would only join me in this work; it is so inspiring; you would be such a help, such a power, a man to be honored and idealized. Oh, Philip! If I have loved you before, I would worship you then!”
She leaned toward him with clasped hands, flushed face, eyes that were burdened with yearning. He went over to her and put his arm about her shoulder as she sat.