"Yet they come to the church socials?"
"Oh yes, indeed. That is another matter; they have no objection to being social."
"Then, what a pity it is that we couldn't have our prayer-meeting social, isn't it?"
Mr. Butler laughed, then grew grave.
"Well, but, Mrs. Morgan, you do not suppose it is possible to make prayer-meetings into places where those who have no love for Christ will like to come?"
"Perhaps not; though more might be done for even that class, I suspect, than is. But some of these young people belong to Christ, do they not?"
He shook his head.
"Very few. I never knew a church with such a large class of indifferent young people in it. Oh, some of them are members, to be sure; but the large majority of those here to-night, the young ones, have no sympathy with the church, except in its socials."
"Then what a doubly important opportunity this church social is," said Louise, with kindling eyes. "This is really almost your only chance with the young people, then, save in calls. How do you manage the work? Or is that too close a question to answer?"
The bright eyes of the young minister dropped before her. He felt, in truth, that the question was too close, though not in the sense that she meant it. He wished, in his truthful heart, that he could just leave her to think that his ways of working were too intermingled to be explained; but whatever faults he may have had, deception was not one of them.