Reading between the lines the rector could see that Mrs. Tracy's purpose in giving the invitation was to reassure Mrs. Farrar as to her social standing, notwithstanding her husband's heresies. And, reading still farther between the lines, he believed that Ruth had in mind his own encouragement in the course he was pursuing. He had not seen her since the night of the vestry meeting, but word had come to him that she was loyally supporting him in his interpretation of true religion, and in his idea of the mission of the Church. And why should she not support him? He had fully expected it of her. She was alert, intelligent, conscientious, in complete accord with that spirit of the times which made for progress. Somewhere she had imbibed ideas of social justice that did not fit in harmoniously with the practical if unstudied programme of her mother. Mrs. Tracy declared that she had imbided them at Bryn Mawr, from which institution she had been graduated with high honors in the recent past. But Mr. Tracy intimated that they were due to a tendency that she had inherited from certain of her paternal ancestors who had been distinguished members of the proletariat of their day. Be that as it may, her advocacy of a reformation in the social order was open and well known, not only to her intimates but to all of her friends. Philip Westgate was the only one of them who refused to take her seriously. To him her reformatory activity was only a manifestation of an exuberance of youth and conscience which would soon exhaust itself in the face of unrewarded tasks. She was too charming as a woman to remain long as a reformer.
Mr. Farrar had guessed, with reasonable accuracy, the respective purposes which Mrs. Tracy and her daughter had in mind in sending out their dinner invitations. It was true that Mrs. Tracy, sympathizing deeply with the rector's wife, desired to show her some attention of sufficient moment to indicate to her that
