Part 2 What Occurred in Glencaid Chapter 2 Becoming Acquainted

They came down perhaps an hour later, hand in hand, and chattering like
old friends. The shades of early evening were already falling across
the valley. Herndon had returned home from his day's work, and had
brought with him the Rev. Howard Wynkoop for supper. Miss Spencer
viewed the young man with approval, and immediately became more than
usually vivacious in recounting the incidents of her long journey,
together with her early impressions of the Western country. Mr.
Wynkoop responded with an interest far from being assumed.

"I have found it all so strange, so unique, Mr. Wynkoop," she
explained. "The country is like a new world to me, and the people do
not seem at all like those of the East. They lead such a wild,
untrammelled life. Everything about seems to exhale the spirit of
romance; don't you find it so?"

He smiled at her enthusiasm, his glance of undisguised admiration on
her face. "I certainly recall some such earlier conception," he
admitted. "Those just arriving from the environment of an older
civilization perceive merely the picturesque elements; but my later
experiences have been decidedly prosaic."

"Why, Mr. Wynkoop! how could they be? Your work is heroic. I cannot
conceive how any minister of the Cross, having within him any of the
old apostolic fervor, can consent to spend his days amid the dreary
commonplaces of those old, dead Eastern churches. You, nobly battling
on the frontier, are the true modern Crusaders, the Knights of the
Grail. Here you are ever in the very forefront of the battle against
sin, associated with the Argonauts, impressing your faith upon the
bold, virile spirits of the age. It is perfectly grand! Why the very
men I meet seem to yield me a broader conception of life and duty; they
are so brave, so modest, so active. Is--is Mr. Moffat a member of your
church?"