deliberately chosen. He had exhausted logic and entreaty, without avail. There was left to him but one recourse, and that he was not yet ready to adopt.
One afternoon, in the heart of the city, a half dozen of the vestrymen of Christ Church met, informally, to discuss the situation which, in their judgment, had become acute. All but one of them were in favor of drastic action, let the action take what form it would. That one was Westgate. Again he appeared as a conservative. The others demanded that immediate steps be taken to oust the offending clergyman from his pulpit. Westgate pleaded for delay. He asked for a length of time within which he might, as a friend, approach the rector and urge upon him the advisability, if not the necessity, of a quiet, dignified, unsensational resignation, and relinquishment of his office. Since the night of the Tracy dinner he had abandoned any idea that he might have had that the clergyman would listen to reason or to good advice. His only hope now was that a vacancy in the pulpit might be brought about without a bitter and unseemly conflict. His fellow-vestrymen did not agree with him in his view of the case. They maintained that the Reverend Mr. Farrar was not entitled to so much consideration as Westgate proposed to show him. But they finally yielded, with the explicit understanding that this was to be the last proposal for peace. If it should not be accepted they would at once resort to hostile measures.
Westgate was to see Mr. Farrar at the earliest opportunity, and report the result of his visit. But it was not until two days later that he was able to go forth on his unhappy mission. He found the minister at home. On his face, as he welcomed his visitor, there was no look of apprehension or surprise. He was calm, self-assured, quietly expectant. He appeared to know, by intuition, the purport of the call. Westgate indulged in no prologue, nor did he make any excuses or apologies. In courteous phrases, with
