are turned out of their livings.
There--that's the Act of Uniformity."

"The Act of Non-Conformity, I should say," replied Ralph.

"Well, the Jack Presbyters are not to be allowed within five miles of
a market town--that's the new Five Mile Bill. And they are not to be
made schoolmasters or tutors, or to hold public offices, unless they
take the sacrament of the Church--and that's what the Bishop calls his
Test Act; but he'll scarce get it this many a long year, say I--no,
not he."

The clerk had offered his lucid exposition with the air of one who
could afford to be modestly sensible of the superiority of his
knowledge.

"And when he does get it he'll want an Act more, so far as I can see,"
said Ralph, "and that's a Burial Act--an Act to bury the Presbyters
alive. They'd be full as well buried, I think.".

A shrewd glance from the old man's quick eyes showed that at that
moment he had arrived at one of three conclusions--that Ralph himself
was a Presbyter or a Roundhead, or both.

"Our minister was a Presbyter," he observed aloud, "and when the Act
came in he left his benefice."

But Ralph was not minded to pursue the subject.

The grave was now ready; it had required to be long and wide, but not
deep.

The snow was beginning to fall again.

"Hard work on a morning like this," said the clerk, coughing as he
threw aside his spade. "This is the sort of early morning that makes
an old man like me catch his breath. And I haven't always been parish
clerk and dug graves. I was schoolmaster till Michaelmas."

It was time to commit to the grave the burden which had passed three
long weeks on the back of the mare. Not until this moment did Ralph's
hand once relax its firm grip of Betsy's bridle. Loosing it now, he
applied himself to the straps and ropes that bound the coffin. When
all was made clear, he prepared to lift the body to the ground. It was
large and heavy, and required the hands of Sim and the clerk as well.

By their united efforts the coffin was raised off the horse's back and
lowered. The three men were in the act of doing this, when Betsy,
suddenly freed from the burden which she had carried, pranced aside,
looked startled, plunged through the gate, and made off down the road.

"Let her go," said Ralph, and turned his attention once more to what
now lay on the ground.

Then Angus Ray was lowered into his last home, and the flakes of snow
fell over him like a white and silent pall.

Ralph stoo