now.

"Haven't you done yet?" whispered the new-comer, pausing behind his
chair.

"Coming in a minute or two," he said.

The figure passed on; presently a door banged like muffled thunder
somewhere beyond the sacristy, and simultaneously he heard a pair of
boots going down the aisle behind.

He got up instantly, and with long, silent steps made his way down the
aisle also. The figure wheeled the corner and disappeared; he himself
ran on tip-toe and was in time to see him turning away from the
holy-water basin by the door. But he came so quickly after him that the
door was still vibrating as he put his hand upon it. He came out more
cautiously through the little entrance, and stood on the steps in time
to see the young man moving off, not five yards away, in the direction
of Victoria Street. But here something stopped him.

Coming straight up the pavement outside the Art and Book Company depot
was a newsboy at the trot, yelling something as he came, with a poster
flapping from one arm and a bundle of papers under the other. The priest
could not catch what he said, but he saw the young man suddenly stop and
then turn off sharply towards the boy, and he saw him, after fumbling in
his pocket, produce a halfpenny and a paper pass into his hands.

There then he stood, motionless on the pavement, the sheet spread before
him flapping a little in the gusty night wind.

"Paper, sir!" yelled the boy, pausing in the road. "'Orrible--"

The priest nodded; but he was not thinking much about the paper, and
produced his halfpenny. The paper was put into his hand, but he paid no
attention to it. He was still watching the motionless figure on the
pavement. About three minutes passed. Then the young man suddenly and
dexterously folded the paper, folded it again and slipped it into his
pocket. Then he set off walking and a moment later had vanished round
the corner into Victoria Street.

* * * * *

The priest thought no more of the paper as he went back through the
Cathedral, wondering again over what he had seen....

But the common-room was empty when he got to it, and presently he spread
the paper before him on the table and leaned over it to see what the
excitement was about. There was no doubt as to what the news was--there
were headlines occupying nearly a third of a column; but it appeared to
him unimportant as general news: he had never heard of the people
before. It seemed that a wealthy