“You confess, then, that you are the man who fired at me, do you?”

“I don’t confess anything.  What are you talking to me for?  Take me to the lock-up if you’re going to!” the man exclaimed fiercely, turning to the officer.

“Philip!” cried his wife, turning to him with a gesture of appeal, “send them away.  It will do no good to talk to this man.”

Philip raised his hand in a gesture toward the man that made every one in the room feel a little awed.  The officer in speaking of it afterward said:  “I tell you, boys I never felt quite the same, except once, when the old Catholic priest stepped up on the platform with old man Gower time he was hanged at Millville.  Somehow then I felt as if, when the priest raised his hand and began to pray, maybe we might all be glad to have some one pray for us if we get into a tight place.”

Philip spoke directly to the man, whose look fell beneath that of the minister.

“You know well enough that you are the man who shot me Tuesday night.  I know you are the man, for I saw your face very plainly by the light of the street-lamp.  Now, all that I wanted to see you here for before you were taken to jail was to let you know that I do not bear any hatred toward you.  The thing you have done is against the law of God and man.  The injury you have inflicted upon me is very slight compared with that against your own soul.  Oh, my brother man, why should you try to harm me because I denounced your business?  Do you not know in your heart of hearts that the saloon is so evil in its effects that a man who loves his home and his country must speak out against it?  And yet I love you; that is possible because you are human.  Oh, my Father!” Philip continued, changing his appeal to the man, by an almost natural manner, into a petition to the Infinite, “make this soul, dear to thee, to behold thy love for him, and make him see that it is not against me, a mere man, that he has sinned, but against thyself—­against thy purity and holiness and affection.  Oh, my God, thou who didst come in the likeness of sinful man to seek and save that which was lost, stretch out the arms of thy salvation now to this child and save him from himself, from his own disbelief, his hatred of me, or of what I have said.  Thou art all-merciful and all-loving.  We leave all souls of men in the protecting, enfolding embrace of thy boundless compassion and infinite mercy.”

There was a moment of entire quiet in the room, and then Philip said faintly:  “Sarah, I cannot say more.  Only tell the man I bear him no hatred, and commend him to the love of God.”

Mrs. Strong was alarmed at Philip’s appearance.  The scene had been too much for his strength.  She hastily commanded the officer to take his prisoner away, and with the help of her friend cared for the minister, who, after the first faintness, rallied, and then gradually sank into sleep that proved more refreshing than any he had yet enjoyed since the night of the shooting.