In spite of himself, the financier drew back before this unexpected blast, the very intensity of which had struck a chill of terror in his inmost being.  He had been taken off his guard,—­for he had supposed the day long past—­if it had ever existed—­when a spiritual rebuke would upset him; the day long past when a minister could pronounce one with any force.  That the Church should ever again presume to take herself seriously had never occurred to him.  And yet—­the man had denounced him in a moment of depression, of nervous irritation and exasperation against a government which had begun to interfere with the sacred liberty of its citizens, against political agitators who had spurred that government on.  The world was mad.  No element, it seemed, was now content to remain in its proper place.  His voice, as he answered, shook with rage,—­all the greater because the undaunted sternness by which it was confronted seemed to reduce it to futility.

“Take care!” he cried, “take care!  You, nor any other man, clergyman or no clergyman, have any right to be the judge of my conduct.”

“On the contrary,” said Holder, “if your conduct affects the welfare, the progress, the reputation of the church of which I am rector, I have the right.  And I intend to exercise it.  It becomes my duty, however painful, to tell you, as a member of the Church, wherein you have wronged the Church and wronged yourself.”

He didn’t raise his tone, and there was in it more of sorrow than of indignation.  The banker turned an ashen gray . .  A moment elapsed before he spoke, a transforming moment.  He suddenly became ice.

“Very well,” he said.  “I can’t pretend to account for these astounding views you have acquired—­and I am using a mild term.  Let me say this:  (he leaned forward a little, across the desk) I demand that you be specific.  I am a busy man, I have little time to waste, I have certain matters—­before me which must be attended to to-night.  I warn you that I will not listen any longer to vague accusations.”

It was Holder’s turn to marvel.  Did Eldon Purr, after all; have no sense of guilt?  Instantaneously, automatically, his own anger rose.

“You may be sure, Mr. Parr, that I should not be here unless I were prepared to be specific.  And what I am going to say to you I have reserved for your ear alone, in the hope that you will take it to heart, while it is not yet too late, said amend your life accordingly.”

Eldon Parr shifted slightly.  His look became inscrutable, was riveted on the rector.

“I shall call your attention first to a man of whom you have probably never heard.  He is dead now—­he threw himself into the river this summer, with a curse on his lips—­I am afraid—­a curse against you.  A few years ago he lived happily with his wife and child in a little house on the Grade Suburban, and he had several thousand dollars as a result of careful saving and systematic self-denial.