let
his mother (who was at i, in the middle of the front row of block E, to
the left of the pulpit) see my father without being so near as to
embarrass him; he could also see and be seen by Hanky, and hear every
word of his sermon; but perhaps his chief reason had been the fact that
they were not far from the side-door at the upper end of the right-hand
aisle, while there was no barrier to interrupt rapid egress should this
prove necessary.

It was now high time that they should sit down, which they accordingly
did. George sat at the end of the bench, and thus had my father on his
left. My father was rather uncomfortable at seeing the young men whom
they had turned out, standing against a column close by, but George said
that this was how it was to be, and there was nothing to be done but to
submit. The young men seemed quite happy, which puzzled my father, who
of course had no idea that their action was preconcerted.

Panky was in the first row of block F, so that my father could not see
his face except sometimes when he turned round. He was sitting on the
Mayor's right hand, while Dr. Downie was on his left; he looked at my
father once or twice in a puzzled way, as though he ought to have known
him, but my father did not think he recognised him. Hanky was still with
President Gurgoyle and others in the robing-room, N; Yram had already
taken her seat: my father knew her in a moment, though he pretended not
to do so when George pointed her out to him. Their eyes met for a
second; Yram turned hers quickly away, and my father could not see a
trace of recognition in her face. At no time during the whole ceremony
did he catch her looking at him again.

"Why, you stupid man," she said to him later on in the day with a quick,
kindly smile, "I was looking at you all the time. As soon as the
President or Hanky began to talk about you I knew you would stare at him,
and then I could look. As soon as they left off talking about you I knew
you would be looking at me, unless you went to sleep--and as I did not
know which you might be doing, I waited till they began to talk about you
again."

My father had hardly taken note of his surroundings when the choir began
singing, accompanied by a few feeble flutes and lutes, or whatever the
name of the instrument should be, but with no violins, for he knew
nothing of the violin, and had not been able to teach the Erewhonians
anything about it. The voices were all in unison, a