“Yes, yes! I know,” he responded with impatience. “But to love Aline Cloud is to abandon the Master.”
“Why?” I inquired, all eagerness to learn what he knew of her strange power of evil.
“I cannot explain, because there is a mystery which is impenetrable,” he answered. “I shall resign the living and go abroad. I can no longer remain here.”
“You will again fly from her, as you did when you went and hid yourself in Duddington?” I asked. “I can’t understand the reason of your actions. Why not give me a little more explanation?”
“But I can’t explain, because I have not yet fathomed the truth.”
“Then you only entertain certain suspicions, and will act upon them without obtaining clear grounds. That’s illogical, Jack—very illogical.”
He pondered for a few moments, tugging at his moustache.
“Well, I hadn’t looked at it in that light before, I must confess,” he answered at last. “You think I ought to be entirely satisfied before I act.”
“Yes, rashness should not be one of the characteristics of a man who ministers God’s Word,” I said.
“But the deadly trail of the Serpent is upon everything,” he declared. “I can hope for nothing more. I cannot be hypocritical, neither can I serve two masters. Is it not better for me to resign from the Church at once than to offend before God?”