“I call the attention of the Chairman,” said Eldon Parr, after a certain interval in which no one had ventured to speak, “to the motion before the vestry relating to the discontinuance of Mr. Hodder’s salary.”

It was then that the unexpected happened.  Gordon Atterbury redeemed himself.  His respect for Mr. Waring, he said, made him hesitate to take issue with him.

He could speak for himself and for a number of people in the congregation when he reiterated his opinion that they were honestly shocked at what Mr. Hodder had preached, and that this was his sole motive in requesting Mr. Hodder to resign.  He thought, under the circumstances, that this was a matter which might safely be left with the bishop.  He would not vote to deprive Mr. Hodder of his salary.

The motion was carried by a vote of five to three.  For Eldon Parr well knew that his will needed no reenforcement by argument.  And this much was to be said for him, that after he had entered a battle he never hesitated, never under any circumstances reconsidered the probable effect of his course.

As for the others, those who had supported him, they were cast in a less heroic mould.  Even Francis Ferguson.  As between the devil and the deep sea, he was compelled, with as good a grace as possible, to choose the devil.  He was utterly unable to contemplate the disaster which might ensue if certain financial ties, which were thicker than cables, were snapped.  But his affection for the devil was not increased by thus being led into a charge from which he would willingly have drawn back.  Asa Waring might mean nothing to Eldon Parr, but he meant a great deal to Francis Ferguson, who had by no means forgotten his sensations of satisfaction when Mrs. Waring had made her first call in Park Street on Francis Ferguson’s wife.  He left the room in such a state of absent-mindedness as actually to pass Mr. Parr in the corridor without speaking to him.

The case of Wallis Plimpton was even worse.  He had married the Gores, but he had sought to bind himself with hoops of steel to the Warings.  He had always secretly admired that old Roman quality (which the Goodriches —­their connections—­shared) of holding fast to their course unmindful and rather scornful of influence which swayed their neighbours.  The clan was sufficient unto itself, satisfied with a moderate prosperity and a continually increasing number of descendants.  The name was unstained.  Such are the strange incongruities in the hearts of men, that few realized the extent to which Wallis Plimpton had partaken of the general hero-worship of Phil Goodrich.  He had assiduously cultivated his regard, at times discreetly boasted of it, and yet had never been sure of it.  And now fate, in the form of his master, Eldon Parr had ironically compelled him at one stroke to undo the work of years.  As soon as the meeting broke up, he crossed the room.

“I can’t tell you how much I regret this, Phil,” he said.  “Charlotte has very strong convictions, you know, and so have I. You can understand, I am sure, how certain articles of belief might be necessary to one person, and not to another.”