church revenues began, at the same time, to show a marked falling off.
But these things did not greatly disturb the rector. He knew that his first duty was to obey the mandates of the religion in which he believed, and to continue his efforts to reclaim and regenerate the hundreds of hitherto churchless and unwelcome poor who were now turning tired feet toward the portals of Christ Church. Matters of finance must and would adjust themselves to any situation which might result from his efforts in this behalf.
And he had defenders, plenty of them. He had helpers by the score, and companions by the hundred. At least two members of his vestry, Emberly and Hazzard, were outspoken and enthusiastic adherents to his cause. All of his humbler parishioners, new and old, save those few who chanced to be under the domination of men and families of wealth, were with him heartily in his crusade. Class was arrayed against class. To the observant and disinterested onlooker the struggle formed a most illuminating chapter in the record of modern sociological activity.
Among his few supporters in what was considered to be the exclusive social set, Ruth Tracy was by far the most ardent and uncompromising. Here, there, everywhere, she proclaimed the righteousness and justice of the rector's cause. Her faith in him was unbounded, and her faith was fully evidenced by her works. Her mother was scandalized, her father was indifferent, her lover was in despair. To seek to restrain from unwise and unseemly activity a woman who is actuated by religious motives is a delicate and dangerous task, and Westgate was not equal to it. He was ready to cross swords with any legal opponent, to face any legal proposition that might come to his office, to persuade or oppose, to construct or crush, as occasion might demand, but he had no skill or persuasion or power to turn this girl whom he loved aside from the hard path she had
