A Modern Idyll | Page 8

ministry and more arduous duties. The
very munificence of the remuneration which you offer leads me to
doubt my own fitness for so high a post. You must bear with me a little,
and grant me a few days for reflection. The 'call,' as you know, must be
answered from within, from the depths of my soul, before I can be
certain that it comes from Above, and this Divine assurance has not yet
been vouchsafed to me.
"I was born and brought up here in Missouri, where I am now labouring,
not without--to Jesus be the praise!--some small measure of success. I
have many ties here, and many dear friends and fellow-workers in
Christ's vineyard from whom I could not part without great pain. But I
will prayerfully consider your request. I shall seek for guidance where
alone it is to be found, at the foot of the Great White Throne, and
within a week or so at most I hope to be able to answer you with the
full and joyous certitude of the Divine blessing.
"In the meantime, believe that I thank you deeply, dear Brethren, for
your goodness to me, and that I shall pray in Jesus' Name that the
blessing of the Holy Ghost may be with you abundantly now and for

evermore.
"Your loving Servant in Christ,
"John P. Letgood."
He liked this letter so much that he read it over a great many times. It
committed him to nothing; it was dignified and yet sufficiently grateful,
and the large-hearted piety which appeared to inform it pleased him
even more than the alliteration of the words "born and brought up." He
had at first written "born and reared;" but in spite of the fear lest
"brought up" should strike the simple Deacons of the Second Baptist
Church in Chicago as unfamiliar and far-fetched, he could not resist the
assonance. After directing the letter he went upstairs to bed, and his
prayers that night were more earnest than they had been of
late--perhaps because he avoided the dangerous topic. The exercise of
his talent as a letter-writer having put him on good terms with himself,
he slept soundly.
When he awoke in the morning his mood had changed. The day was
cloudy; a thunderstorm was brewing, and had somehow affected his
temper. As soon as he opened his eyes he was aware of the fact that
Mrs. Hooper had not written to him, even on Tuesday morning, when
she must have been free, for the Deacon always went early to his
dry-goods store. The consciousness of this neglect irritated him beyond
measure. He tried, therefore, to think of Chicago and the persons who
frequented the Second Baptist Church. Perhaps, he argued, they were as
much ahead of the people in Kansas City as Mrs. Hooper was superior
to any woman he had previously known. But on this way of thought he
could not go far. The houses in Chicago were no doubt much finer, the
furniture more elegant; the living, too, was perhaps better, though he
could not imagine how that could be; there might even be cleverer and
handsomer women there than Mrs. Hooper; but certainly no one lived
in Chicago or anywhere else in the world who could tempt and bewitch
him as she did. She was formed to his taste, made to his desire. As he
recalled her, now laughing at him; now admiring him; to-day teasing
him with coldness, to-morrow encouraging him, he realized with
exasperation that her contradictions constituted her charm. He

acknowledged reluctantly that her odd turns of speech tickled his
intellect just as her lithe grace of movement excited his senses. But the
number and strength of the ties that bound him to her made his anger
keener. Where could she hope to find such love as his? She ought to
write to him. Why didn't she? How could he come to a decision before
he knew whether she loved him or not? In any case he would show her
that he was a man. He would not try to see her until she had
written--not under any circumstances.
After dinner and mail time his thoughts ran in another channel. In
reality she was not anything so wonderful. Most men, he knew, did not
think her more than pretty; "pretty Mrs. Hooper" was what she was
usually called--nothing more. No one ever dreamed of saying she was
beautiful or fascinating. No; she was pretty, and that was all. He was
the only person in Kansas City or perhaps in the world to whom she
was altogether and perfectly desirable. She had no reason to be so
conceited or to presume on her power over him. If she were the wonder
she thought herself she would surely have married some one