His wife opened the door for him in silence.

“Who was that woman, Frank?” she asked at length, her long, dark lashes blinking rapidly.

“What woman, Ruth?”

“The beauty I saw glide softly into your study.”

Gordon smiled as he sank into a chair in the library.

“Miss Kate Ransom, a stranger I never met before.”

“You seem a magnet for strange women, and your church their Mecca.”

“Yes, and strange men. God knows New York, with its dead and deserted churches, needs such a Mecca.”

“You promised to call, of course?”

“Certainly; it’s my business. The Church needs every friend and every dollar to be had on Manhattan Island.”