tion of those sermons
was proceeding, she might have found more cause for anxiety. Shut up in
his room with some sheets of blank paper before him, the curate sat for
hours together, staring vacantly at the wall before him, and
occasionally giving vent to a loud, strange laugh. The evening of
Saturday passed into night, and still he sat on, looking before him
into the darkness with the same vacant stare, and uttering from time to
time the same wild, hoarse chuckle.

[Illustration: "THE REV. THOMAS TODD WAS STANDING ON HIS HEAD."]

The light of Sunday morning, streaming into the room, fell upon a weird,
dishevelled figure, that still stared fixedly at the wall, and every now
and then muttered strange and wholly unclerical words and phrases. Still
the hours wore on, until the sun rose high in the heavens, and the bells
began to ring for church. Then came a knock at the curate's door. His
landlady, surprised by his neglect of the breakfast hour, had been
positively alarmed when he showed no sign of heeding the approach of
church time. The knock was repeated; and then the clergyman sprang to
his feet and unlocked the door.

"Wait a moment," he cried, with a wild laugh. "_Now_ come in!"

The landlady put her head in at the door, and uttered a shriek of horror
and amazement. The Rev. Thomas Todd was standing on his head in the
middle of the hearthrug.

"God bless us and save us--the poor gentleman's gone clean out of his
wits!"

The curate's only reply was a shrill whoop, followed by an agile leap
into an upright position, and a wild grab at the terrified lady, whose
thirteen stone of solid matronhood he whirled round his head and tossed
across the room as if it had been a feather-weight. Then, hatless and
unkempt, he tore down stairs into the street, and started at a furious
pace in the direction of S. Athanasius.

It was three minutes to eleven, and the last stroke of the clanky
church-bell had just died away in a series of unmusical vibrations. The
townspeople, in all the added importance of Sunday clothes, gathered in
an ever-thickening knot about the gates, greeting one another before
they passed on into the church. At that moment, there floated towards
them on the breeze a sudden, sharp shout that rooted them to the spot in
positive consternation.

[Illustration: "SCATTERED THEM RIGHT AND LEFT."]

"Houp-la! Houp-la! Hey! Hey!! Hey!!!" And in another instant the
unfortunate curate, tearing down the road, had fl