I do n't want you by and by to be slyly slipping in the thin end of any professional wedges . You 'll waste your time if you do . Come as man to man and you 'll be welcome , for I like you -- and it 's few men I like . But do n't try to talk religion to me . '' `` I never talk religion , '' said Alan emphatically . `` I try to live it . I 'll not come to your house as a self-appointed missionary , sir , but I shall certainly act and speak at all times as my conscience and my reverence for my vocation demands . If I respect your beliefs , whatever they may be , I shall expect you to respect mine , Captain Oliver . '' `` Oh , I wo n't insult your God , '' said the Captain with a faint sneer . Alan went home in a tumult of contending feelings . He did not altogether like Captain Anthony -- that was very clear to him , and yet there was something about the man that attracted him . Intellectually he was a worthy foeman , and Alan had often longed for such since coming to Rexton . He missed the keen , stimulating debates of his college days and , now there seemed a chance of renewing them , he was eager to grasp it . And Lynde -- how beautiful she was ! What though she shared -- as was not unlikely -- in her father 's lack of belief ? She could not be essentially irreligious -- that were impossible in a true woman . Might not this be his opportunity to help her -- to lead her into dearer light ? Alan Douglas was a sincere man , with himself as well as with others , yet there are some motives that lie , in their first inception , too deep even for the probe of self-analysis . He had not as yet the faintest suspicion as to the real source of his interest in Lynde Oliver -- in his sudden forceful desire to be of use and service to her -- to rescue her from spiritual peril as he had that day rescued her from bodily danger . She must have a lonely , unsatisfying life , he thought .
It is my duty XXXXX help her if I can .
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