“The young woman bent down and kissed him, and then she allowed me to help her to my cot.  When I had attended to the young man, and he had regained strength enough to stand upon his feet, she was asleep.  The man went to her, and dropped upon his knees beside the cot.  Tenderly he drew back the heavy masses of hair from about her face and shoulders.  For several minutes he remained with his face pressed close against hers; then he rose, and faced me.  The woman—­his wife—­knew nothing of what passed between us during the next half-hour.  During that half-hour gentlemen, I received my first confession.  The young man was of my faith.  He was my first penitent.”

It was growing colder in the coach, and Father Charles stopped to draw his thin black coat closer to him.  Forsythe relighted his cigar for the third time.  The transient passenger gave a sudden start as a gust of wind beat against the window like a threatening hand.

“A rough stool was my confessional, gentlemen,” resumed Father Charles.  “He told me the story, kneeling at my feet—­a story that will live with me as long as I live, always reminding me that the little things of life may be the greatest things, that by sending a storm to hold up a coach the Supreme Arbiter may change the map of the world.  It is not a long story.  It is not even an unusual story.

“He had come into the North about a year before, and had built for himself and his wife a little home at a pleasant river spot ten miles distant from my cabin.  Their love was of the kind we do not often see, and they were as happy as the birds that lived about them in the wilderness.  They had taken a timber claim.  A few months more, and a new life was to come into their little home; and the knowledge of this made the girl an angel of beauty and joy.  Their nearest neighbor was another man, several miles distant.  The two men became friends, and the other came over to see them frequently.  It was the old, old story.  The neighbor fell in love with the young settler’s wife.

“As you shall see, this other man was a beast.  On the day preceding the night of the terrible storm, the woman’s husband set out for the settlement to bring back supplies.  Hardly had he gone, when the beast came to the cabin.  He found himself alone with the woman.

“A mile from his cabin, the husband stopped to light his pipe.  See, gentlemen, how the Supreme Arbiter played His hand.  The man attempted to unscrew the stem, and the stem broke.  In the wilderness you must smoke.  Smoke is your company.  It is voice and companionship to you.  There were other pipes at the settlement, ten miles away; but there was also another pipe at the cabin, one mile away.  So the husband turned back.  He came up quietly to his door, thinking that he would surprise his wife.  He heard voices—­a man’s voice, a woman’s cries.  He opened the door, and in the excitement of what was happening within neither the man nor the woman saw nor heard him.  They were struggling.  The woman was in the man’s arms, her hair torn down, her small hands beating him in the face, her breath coming in low, terrified cries.  Even as the husband stood there for the fraction of a second, taking in the terrible scene, the other man caught the woman’s face to him, and kissed her.  And then—­it happened.