“I dislike being personal, but you have forced it upon me.  I dislike to refer to what I have already done in the matter of charities, but I hinted to you awhile ago of a project I have conceived and almost perfected of gifts on a much larger scale than I have ever attempted.”  The financier stared at him meaningly.  “And I had you in mind as one of the three men whom I should consult, whom I should associate with myself in the matter.  We cannot change human nature, but we can better conditions by wise giving.  I do not refer now to the settle ment house, which I am ready to help make and maintain as the best in the country, but I have in mind a system to be carried out with the consent and aid of the municipal government, of play-grounds, baths, parks, places of recreation, and hospitals, for the benefit of the people, which will put our city in the very forefront of progress.  And I believe, as a practical man, I can convince you that the betterment which you and I so earnestly desire can be brought about in no other way.  Agitation can only result in anarchy and misery for all.”

Hodder’s wrath, as he rose from his chair, was of the sort that appears incredibly to add to the physical stature,—­the bewildering spiritual wrath which is rare indeed, and carries all before it.

“Don’t tempt me, Mr. Parr!” he said.  “Now that I know the truth, I tell you frankly I would face poverty and persecution rather than consent to your offer.  And I warn you once more not to flatter yourself that existence ends here, that you will, not be called to answer for every wrong act you have committed in accumulating your fortune, that what you call business is an affair of which God takes no account.  What I say may seem foolishness to you, but I tell you, in the words of that Foolishness, that it will not profit you to gain the whole world and lose your own soul.  You remind me that the Church in old time accepted gifts from the spoils of war, and I will add of rapine and murder.  And the Church to-day, to repeat your own parallel, grows rich with money wrongfully got.  Legally?  Ah, yes, legally, perhaps.  But that will not avail you.  And the kind of church you speak of—­to which I, to my shame, once consented—­Our Lord repudiates.  It is none of his.  I warn you, Mr. Parr, in his Name, first to make your peace with your brothers before you presume to lay another gift on the altar.”

During this withering condemnation of himself Eldon Parr sat motionless, his face grown livid, an expression on it that continued to haunt Hodder long afterwards.  An expression, indeed, which made the banker almost unrecognizable.

“Go,” he whispered, his hand trembling visibly as he pointed towards the door.  “Go—­I have had enough of this.”