e us learn it as a punishment.
I suppose I could recite it now, although I haven't looked at it for ten
years. We used to chant it in the nursery schoolroom on wet afternoons.
I well remember that the vicar called one day to see us, and the
governess, hearing our voices uplifted in a pious measure, drew him
under the window to listen. This is what he heard--you will see how
admirably it goes! And do not imagine it is wicked: it is merely the
Law, not the Gospel, and we framed our own musical settings, so that we
had no associations with the Prayer Book."

Here Hilda chanted softly, there being no one in the old churchyard:--

"A woman may not marry with her Grandfather. Grandmother's Husband,
Husband's Grandfather.. Father's Brother. Mother's Brother. Father's
Sister's Husband.. Mother's Sister's Husband. Husband's Father's
Brother. Husband's Mother's Brother.. Father. Step-Father. Husband's
Father.. Son. Husband's Son. Daughter's Husband.. Brother. Husband's
Brother. Sister's Husband.. Son's Son. Daughter's Son. Son's Daughter's
Husband.. Daughter's Daughter's Husband. Husband's Son's Son. Husband's
Daughter's Son .. Brother's Son. Sister's Son. Brother's Daughter's
Husband.. Sister's Daughter's Husband. Husband's Brother's Son.
Husband's Sister's Son."

"It seems as if there were nobody left," I said disconsolately, "save
perhaps your Second Cousin's Uncle, or your Enemy's Dearest Friend."

"That's just the effect it has on one," answered Hilda. "We always used
to conclude our chant with the advice:--

"And if there is anybody, after this, in the universe. left to. marry..
marry him as expeditiously. as you. possibly. can.. Because there are
very few husbands omitted from this table of. Kindred and. Affinity..
And it behoveth a maiden to snap them up without any delay. willing or
unwilling. whenever and. wherever found."

"We were also required to learn by heart the form of Prayer with
Thanksgiving to be used Yearly upon the Fifth Day of November for the
happy deliverance of King James I. and the Three Estates of England from
the most traitorous and bloody-intended Massacre by Gunpowder; also the
prayers for Charles the Martyr and the Thanksgiving for having put an
end to the Great Rebellion by the Restitution of the King and Royal
Family after many Years' interruption which unspeakable Mercies were
wonderfully completed upon the 29th of May in the year 1660!"

"1660! We had been forty years in America then," s