eeling candidates at Confirmation. Or so, at least, Lady Locke thought
with a pleasant fancifulness that she kept entirely to herself. The
bells chimed on monotonously; and now and then, as they walked, they
caught sight of neatly-dressed rustics in front of them, strolling
mildly to the church, tricked out in all the black bravery of
broadcloth, or decked in sprigged muslins and chip hats.

Mrs. Windsor was quite delighted.

"Is not this novel?" she exclaimed, setting her white veil straight, and
spreading a huge parasol to the sun. "I feel so righteous. It is
pleasant to feel righteous, isn't it? So much pleasanter than to be
good. I hope Mr. Smith will not preach a long sermon; but he looks
rather like a man who would. People who have nothing to say always do
preach long sermons, don't they? They keep hoping they will have
something to say presently, I suppose."

"And they hope out loud," said Madame Valtesi. "People who hope out loud
are very trying. I know so many. Dear me, how dusty it is! I feel as if
I were drowning. Are we nearly there?"

"Yes," said Mrs. Windsor; "there is the common--that is the common where
Mr. Smith has checked the rowdyism. I wish he had not broken up all the
idle comers before we came. I should so like to have met one."

"Mr. Smith has decidedly been premature," Amarinth said gravely.
"Clergymen often are. They take away our sins before we have had time to
sit down with them. There go the school children, I suppose. They look
intensely clean. So many people look intensely clean, and nothing else.
That is all one can say about them. Half the men I know have absolutely
no other characteristic. Their only talent is that they know how to
wash. Perhaps that is why men of genius so seldom wash. They are afraid
of being mistaken for men of talent. What will happen when we come into
church. Will everybody stand up?"

"I hope you will all sit down to hear my anthem," Lord Reggie said
rather nervously. "It will be much better. Please, do! Lady Locke, will
you promise to sit down? People attend so much more closely when they
are sitting. If they stand up they always look about and think all the
time about sitting down."

"Just as when people are asking you to stay they are always wondering if
you will go," said Madame Valtesi, casting a vicious glance at Tommy,
who was delightedly stirring up the dust.

"I will sit down certainly," said Lady Locke, "if you wish it; but I
could listen equall