“Let us sing the national hymn, ‘My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty,’” he cried, his voice still throbbing with emotion. “And while we sing the ushers will pass the subscription cards that you may join with us in our enterprise.”
He dismissed the crowd with the Benediction, and the whole mass lingered, discussing with flushed faces the extraordinary scene they had witnessed and speculating on its outcome. It was evident his action and speech had produced a moral earthquake in the church.
The older and more conservative members slipped out one by one and went home dazed.
The younger and more sensitive crowded about Gordon in hundreds, wrung his hand and pledged their support. For half an hour he could not move, so dense was this struggling mass around him.
He did not see Kate among them. He knew the scene had cut too deeply into her life for such poor expression. The ushers at last handed him a bundle of subscription cards and he hurried to his study to read their verdict.
CHAPTER XI — AN ANSWER TO PRAYER
When Gordon reached his study and locked the door, he turned the bundle of cards over nervously, afraid to look at them.
He untied the package, read the first, and ran rapidly through the pile. The total subscriptions reached only twenty thousand dollars. He had asked for a million.