Then he spoke in tones of reminiscence:
"It was on just such a May evening as this, clear and beautiful only
much cooler, that I sat in this very chair and watched the road as I am
doing now. But on that evening I watched anxiously, divided between
hopes and fears, for the figure that was so long in coming; I was
watching for Jim, the tramp. Jim had promised faithfully, but with some
men promises are made only to be broken. I began to fear that Jim was
one of these. Still I prayed fervently and continued to hope, though the
twilight deepened and brought no sign of my vagrant.
"My meeting with Jim had come about in this way. For some time I had
been playing a game of hide and seek with a certain backsliding member
of my congregation. The hiding was all on his side, the seeking on mine.
Try as I would I could not seem to obtain an interview with him. He was
never at home when I called; so I decided that my only chance of coming
to close quarters with the enemy was to surprise him at his work. That
afternoon I had gone to the quarries and found my man superintending
the gang in charge of the stone-crusher. He certainly was surprised and
not very pleased to see me, and all I could obtain from him after more
than an hour of argument and pleading was a promise that 'he would think
about it.' The 'it' referred to the making of his Easter duty, the time
for which had nearly expired.
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