All three begged my pardon afterwards.Ididn't grant it--I blessed them!""Did they beg Mr.Ladew's pardon?"
"Ah, Joe!" she reproached him."He isn't a prig.And he's had to fight some things that you of all men ought to understand.He's only been here a few months, but he told me that Judge Pike has been against him from the start.It seems that Mr.Ladew is too liberal in his views.And he told me that if it were not for Judge Pike's losing influence in the church on account of the Beaver Beach story, the Judge would probably have been able to force him to resign; but now he will stay.""He wishes to stay, doesn't he?""Very much, I think.And, Joe," she continued, thoughtfully, "I want you to do something for me.
I want you to go to church with me next Sunday.""To hear Mr.Ladew?""Yes.I wouldn't ask except for that."
"Very well," he consented, with averted eyes.
"I'll go."
Her face was radiant with the smile she gave him."It will make me very happy," she said.
He bent his head and fumbled over some papers he had taken from his pocket."Will you listen to these memoranda? We have a great deal to go over before eight o'clock."Judge Pike stood for a long while where Joe had left him, staring out at the street, apparently.
Really he saw nothing.Undoubtedly an image of blurring foliage, cast-iron, cement, and turf, with sunshine smeared over all, flickered upon the retinas of his eyes; but the brain did not accept the picture from the optic nerve.Martin Pike was busy with other visions.Joe Louden had followed him back to his hidden deeds and had read them aloud to him as Gabriel would read them on Judgment-day.Perhaps THIS was the Judgment-day.