e high. He welcomed everybody, and even bantered Mrs.
Callender when she told him she "objected to the hale thing," and said,
"Weel, weel, wait a wee."

The Archdeacon gave the signal and led the way with Lady Robert to the
drawing-room, where Mrs. Macrae, redolent of perfume, was reclining on a
sofa with the "lady poodle" by her side. As soon as the company were
seated the Archdeacon rose and coughed loudly.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "we have no assurance of a blessing
except 'Ask and ye shall receive.' Therefore, before we go further, it is
our duty, as brethren of a common family in Christ, to ask the blessing
of Almighty God on this enterprise."

There was a subdued rustle of drooping hats and bonnets, when suddenly a
thin voice was heard to say, "Mr. Archdeacon, may I inquire first who is
to ask the blessing?"

"I thought of doing so myself," said the Archdeacon with a meek smile.

"In that case, as a Unitarian, I must object to an invocation in which I
do not believe."

There was a half-suppressed titter from the wall at the back, where Lord
Robert Ure was standing with his face screwed up to his eyeglass.

"Well, if the name of our Lord is a stumbling block to our Unitarian,
brother, no doubt the prayer in this instance would be acceptable without
the customary Christian benediction."

"That's just like you," said a large man near the door, with whiskers all
round his face. "You've been trimming all your life, and now you are
going to trim away the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"If our Low-Church brother thinks he can do better----"

But John Storm intervened. He had looked icy cold, though the twitching
of his lower lip showed that he was red hot within.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said in a quavering voice, "I apologize for
bringing you together. I thought if we were in earnest about the union of
Christendom we might at least unite in the real contest with evil. But I
find it is a dream; we have only been trifling with ourselves, and there
is not one of us who wants the union of Christendom, except on the
condition that his rod shall be like Aaron's rod which swallowed up all
the rest. It was a mistake, and I beg your pardon."

"Yes, sir," said the Archdeacon, "it _was_ a mistake; and if you had
taken my advice from the first, and asked the blessing of God through
good High Churchmen alone----"

"God doesn't wait for any asking," said John, now flushing up to the
eyes. "He gives freely