He _was_ such a gentlemanly fellow!" The rector took his departure, and made a series of calls upon those he judged the most influential of the congregation.

He did not think to ask for what they were influential, or why he should go to them rather than the people of the alms-house.

What he heard embarrassed him not a little.

His friends spoke highly of Wingfold, his enemies otherwise: the character of his friends his judge did not attempt to weigh with that of his enemies, neither did he attempt to discover why these were his enemies and those his friends.

No more did he make the observation, that, while his enemies differed in the things they said against him, his friends agreed in those they said for him; the fact being, that those who did as he roused their conscience to see they ought, more or less understood the man and his aims; while those who would not submit to the authority he brought to bear upon them, and yet tried to measure and explain him after the standards of their own being and endeavors, failed ludicrously.