ng else that you have touched
you have adorned. This will follow suit."

"Thank you, sir," he said. "It will be a glorious day for the children."

"By the way," I said, as he was going, "was Duff at the sermon?"

"He was, poor fellow; and I am afraid he got a wigging from the bishop.
At least they were walking up and down there near the sacristy for at
least half an hour before dinner. You know Duff is an awfully clever
fellow. He has written some articles in the leading English magazines,
in which, curiously enough, he quite agrees with Professor Sayce, the
eminent Assyriologist, who has tried to disprove the theories about the
Pentateuch originated by Graf and Wellhausen--"

"My dear fellow, this is not a conference. Spare my old nerves all that
nonsense. The Bible is God's own Word--that is enough for me. But what
about Duff?"

"Well, at table, the bishop was specially and expressly kind to him, and
drew him out about all these matters, and made him shine; and you know
how well Duff can talk--"

"I wouldn't doubt the bishop," I said; "he always does the kind and the
right thing."

"By the way, I forgot a moment ago to say that Duff met me this morning
at the station, and said, I am sure with perfect sincerity: 'Letheby, I
must congratulate you. You taught me a sharp lesson the other day; you
taught me a gentler lesson last evening. Pray for me that I may keep
farther away from human will-o'-the-wisps, and nearer the Eternal Light
than I have been.' I shook his hand warmly. _Sedes sapientiae, ora pro
nobis_."

"Amen!" I said humbly.

"I've asked him over to dine on the day our fishing-boat will be
launched," said Father Letheby, after a pause. "Some of the brethren are
coming; and you'll come, sir? Duff is very anxious to meet you."

"Of course," I replied. "I never refuse so delightful an invitation. But
why should Duff be anxious to meet me?"

"I really don't know, except that you are, as you know yourself, sir, a
celebrity. He thinks a great deal of you."

"Probably a great deal more than I am disposed to think of myself. Did
he say so?"

"Oh, dear, yes! He said: 'I must make the acquaintance of that pastor of
yours, Letheby, he's an _immortal genius_!'"

"An immortal genius! Well, you must know, my innocent young man, that
that expression is susceptible of a double interpretation--it may mean
an immortal fame like William Shakespeare's, or an immortal fame like
Jack Falstaff's; it may mean a Cerv