CHAPTER XI

A ROMANTIC EPISODE

When the rector of Christ Church learned from Ruth Tracy that the Widow Bradley was willing to see him, he found an early opportunity to call on her. She received him courteously, and listened intently to all that he said, but he found her even more reticent than she had been on the occasion of his first visit. She was, however, interested in his crusade for social justice in the Church and asked him many questions concerning it. At the conclusion of his visit she freely offered to him any assistance which she was capable of giving in the carrying on of his fight. The subject of personal religion was barely touched upon. The rector was too wise to force that matter upon her attention prematurely. But, thereafter, the Reverend Mr. Farrar had no more devoted adherent in the entire city than Mary Bradley, unless indeed it might have been Ruth Tracy herself. When Miss Tracy was informed of the widow's attitude toward the conflict in the parish, she came again to see her and took counsel with her concerning the efforts that might be made among the residents of Factory Hill to awaken and further an interest in Christ Church and in the cause of its rector. Mrs. Bradley again promised her assistance and she gave it. She gave it so freely and so effectively that both Miss Tracy and the rector came soon to look upon her as one of their most valued and faithful advisers and helpers. But members of the socialistic body by which she was employed complained that her office in the Potter Building was becoming a headquarters for religious