Mr. Birtwell had partly risen from his chair in making the weak defence to which this was a reply, but now sunk back with an expression that was half bewilderment and half terror on his countenance.

“In Heaven’s name, Mr. Elliott, what does all this mean?” he cried.  “Three lives and a fourth going out, and the responsibility laid at my door!”

“It is much easier to let loose an evil power than to stay its progress,” said Mr. Elliott.  “The near and more apparent effects we may see, rarely the remote and secondary.  But we know that the action of all forces, good or evil, is like that of expanding wave-circles, and reaches far beyond, our sight.  It has done so in this case.  Yes, Mr. Birtwell, three lives, and a fourth now flickering like an expiring candle.

“I would spare you all this if I dared, if I could be conscience-clear,” continued Mr. Elliott.  “But I would be faithless to my duty if I kept silent.  You know the sad case of Mrs. Carlton?”

“You don’t mean to lay that, too, at my door!” exclaimed Mr. Birtwell.

“Not directly; it was one of the secondary effects.  I had a long conversation with Dr. Hillhouse to-day.  His health has failed rapidly for some months past, and he is now much broken down.  You know that he performed the operation which cost Mrs. Carlton her life?  Well, the doctor has never got over the shock of that catastrophe.  It has preyed upon his mind ever since, and is one of the causes of his impaired health.”

“I should call that a weakness,” returned Mr. Birtwell.  “He did his best.  No one is safe from accidents or malign influences.  I never heard that Mr. Carlton blamed him.”

“Ah, these malign influences!” said the clergyman.  “They meet us everywhere and hurt us at every turn, and yet not one of them could reach and affect our lives if some human hand did not set them free and send them forth among men to, hurt and to destroy.  And now let me tell you of the interview I had with Dr. Hillhouse to-day.  He has given his consent, but with this injunction:  we cannot speak of it to others.”

“I will faithfully respect his wishes,” said Mr. Birtwell.

“This morning,” resumed Mr. Elliott, “I received a note from the doctor, asking me to call and see him.  He was much depressed, and said he had long wanted to have a talk with me about something that weighed heavily on his mind.  Let me give you his own words as nearly as I am able to remember them.  After some remarks about personal influence and our social responsibilities, he said: 

“’There is one thing, Mr. Elliott, in which you and I and a great many others I could name have not only been derelict of duty, but serious wrongdoers.  There is an evil in society that more than all others is eating out its life, and you and I have encouraged that evil even by our own example, calling it innocent, and so leading the weak astray and the unwary into temptation.’