willing to sin and be punished provided Israel might live.  It was lawful then to tell a lie or perpetrate any evil deed in order to protect his child.  Something suddenly crossed his mind; what it was we shall see later on.  And yet the thought was too awful.  He could not endure to sin, not only against his Creator, but against his boy.  Perhaps God might pardon him after centuries of suffering; and yet He could not.  The gates of hell having once closed upon him, there could be no escape.  He struggled in agony, until at last he determined that, first of all, he would speak to Robert, although he knew it would be useless.  He would conquer the strange dread he had of remonstrance, and then, if that failed, he would—­do anything.

On the Sabbath following, as they came out of the meeting-house in the evening, Michael proposed to Robert that they should walk down to the shore.  It was a very unusual proposal, for walking on the Sabbath, save to and from the means of grace, was almost a crime, and Robert assented, not without some curiosity and even alarm.  The two went together in silence till they came to the deserted shore.  The sun had set behind the point on their right, and far away in the distance could he seen the beneficent interrupted ray of the revolving light.  Father and son walked side by side.

“Robert,” said Michael at last, “I have long wished to speak to you.  God knows I would not do it if He did not command me, but I cannot help it.  I fear you have engaged yourself with a young woman who is not one of His children.”

“Who told you she was not, father?”

“Who told me?  Why, Robert, it is notorious.  Who told me?  Is she not known to belong to the world? does she ever appear before the Lord?”

“Do you think then, father, that because she does not come to our chapel she cannot be saved?”

“No, you know I do not.  The Lord has His followers doubtless in other communions besides our own, but the Shiptons are not His.”

“You mean, I suppose, that they do not believe exactly what we believe, and that they go to church?”

“No, no; I mean that she has not found Him, and that she is of the world—­of the world!  O Robert, Robert! think what you are doing—­that you will mate yourself with one who is not elect, that you may have children who will he the children of wrath.  You don’t know what I have gone through for you.  I have wrestled and prayed before I could bring myself to do my duty and talk with you, and even now I cannot speak.  What is it which chokes me?  O Robert, Robert!”

But Robert, usually docile and tender, was hard and obdurate.  The image of Susan rose before his eyes with her head on his shoulder, and he thought to himself that it was necessary at once to make matters quite plain and stop all further trespass on his prerogative.  So it is, and so it ever has been.  For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and cleave to his wife.  There comes a time when the father and mother find that they must withdraw; but it is the order of the world, and has to be accepted, like sickness or death.