Insensibly he quickened his pace.
"But I can't go myself, so why can't I send a proxy?"
Clayton asked, smiling. "I've an idea I'd be well represented."
"That's a fine way to look at it, but I can't do it. I've saved
something, not much, but it will do for a year or two. I'm glad
you made the offer, though. It was like you, and - it showed me
the way. I can't let any man, or any group of men, finance my
going."
And he stuck to it. Clayton, having in mind those careful canvasses
of the congregation of Saint Luke's which had every few years
resulted in raising the rector's salary, was surprised and touched.
After all, war was like any other grief. It brought out the best
or the worst in us. It roused or it crushed us.
The rector had been thinking.
"I'm a very fortunate man," he said, suddenly. "They're standing
squarely behind me, at home. It's the women behind the army that
will make it count, Clayton."
Clayton said nothing.
"Which reminds me," went on the rector, "that I find Mrs.
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