“It is very simple,” said the rector, “so far as the actual method of procedure goes.  You have only to establish a board of men in whom you have confidence,—­a court of claims, so to speak,—­to pass upon the validity of every application, not from a business standpoint alone, but from one of a broad justice and equity.  And not only that.  I should have it an important part of the duties of this board to discover for themselves other claimants who may not, for various reasons, come forward.  In the case of the Consolidated Tractions, for instances there are doubtless many men like Garvin who invested their savings largely on the strength of your name.  You cannot bring him back to life, restore him to his family as he was before you embittered him, but it would be a comparatively easy matter to return to his widow, with compound interest, the sum which he invested.”

“For the sake of argument,” said Eldon Parr, “what would you do with the innumerable impostors who would overwhelm such a board with claims that they had bought and sold stock at a loss?  And that is only one case I could mention.”

“Would it be so dreadful a thing,” asked Hodder, “To run the risk of making a few mistakes?  It would not be business, you say.  If you had the desire to do this, you would dismiss such an obsession from your brain, you would prefer to err on the aide of justice and mercy.  And no matter how able your board, in making restitution you could at best expect to mend only a fraction of the wrongs you have done.”

“I shall waive, for the moment, my contention that the Consolidated Tractions Company, had it succeeded, would greatly have benefited the city.  Even if it had been the iniquitous, piratical transaction you suggest, why should I assume the responsibility for all who were concerned in it?”

“If the grace were given you to do this, that question would answer itself,” the rector replied.  “The awful sense of responsibility, which you now lack, would overwhelm you.”

“You have made me out a rascal and a charlatan,” said Eldon Parr, “and I have listened’ patiently in my desire to be fair, to learn from your own lips whether there were anything in the extraordinary philosophy you have taken up, and which you are pleased to call Christianity.  If you will permit me to be as frank as you have been, it appears to me as sheer nonsense and folly, and if it were put into practice the world would be reduced at once to chaos and anarchy.”

“There is no danger, I am sorry to say, of its being put into practice at once,” said Hodder, smiting sadly.