oo, was flawless; his sermons long
and fiery; he was always ready to perform those supernumerary
duties--weddings, baptisms, and burials--which yielded him what revenue
he had, now that his income from the living was mortgaged up to the
hilt. Their loyalty held as the loyalty of people will when some great
institution of which they are members is endangered.

Gossip said that things were in a dreadful way at the Rectory; the
external prosperity of that red-brick building surrounded by laurels
which did not flower, heightened ironically the conditions within. The
old lady, his mother, eighty years of age, was reported never to leave
her bed this winter, because they had no coal. She lay there, with her
three birds flying about dirtying the room, for neither she nor her son
would ever let a cage-door be shut--deplorable state of things! The one
servant was supposed never to be paid. The tradesmen would no longer
leave goods because they could not get their money. Most of the
furniture had been sold; and the dust made you sneeze 'fit to bust
yourself like.'

With a little basket on his arm, the rector collected for his household
three times a week, pursuing a kind of method, always in the apparent
belief that he would pay on Monday, and observing the Sabbath as a day
of rest. His mind seemed ever to cherish the faith that his shares were
on the point of recovery; his spirit never to lose belief in his divine
right to be supported. It was extremely difficult to refuse him; the
postman had twice seen him standing on the railway line that ran past
just below the village, 'with 'is 'at off, as if he was in two
minds-like.' This vision of him close to the shining metals had
powerfully impressed many good souls who loved to make flesh creep. They
would say, 'I wouldn' never be surprised if something 'appened to 'im
one of these days!' Others, less romantic, shook their heads, insisting
that 'he wouldn' never do nothin' while his old mother lived.' Others
again, more devout, maintained that 'he wouldn' never go against the
Scriptures, settin' an example like that!'

II

The Petty Sessions court that morning resembled Church on the occasion
of a wedding; for the villagers of Trover had put on their black clothes
and grouped themselves according to their religious faiths--'Church' in
the right, 'Chapel' in the left-hand aisle. They presented all that rich
variety of type and monotony of costume which the remoter country still