ot to the house
I met Mrs. Tomley, the Rector's wife, at the door, and she said, rather
pointedly I thought, that she and her husband were looking after the
case, and though grateful for the kind assistance you had rendered, felt
that they need not trouble us any more, as the patient was a parishioner
of theirs."

"Did they?" said Thomas with a frown. "Considering all things--well, let
it be."

Dorcas was quite content to do so, for she was aware that her husband's
good-heartedness was apt to be interpreted as poaching by some who
should have known better, and that in fact the ground was dangerous.

"I have something to tell you," she began nervously, "about an
arrangement I have made for this afternoon."

Mr. Bull, who was drinking a tumbler of water--he was a teetotaller
and non-smoker, and one of his grievances was that his wife found it
desirable to take a little wine for the Pauline reason--set it down and
said:

"Never mind your afternoon arrangements, my dear; they are generally
of a sort that can be altered, for _I_ have something to tell _you_,
something very important. My call has come."

"Your call, dear. What call? I did not know that you expected
anyone--and, by the way----"

She got no further, for her husband interrupted.

"Do not be ridiculous, Dorcas. I said call--not caller, and I use the
word in its higher sense."

"Oh! I understand, forgive me for being so stupid. Have they made you a
bishop?"

"A bishop----"

"I mean a dean, or an archdeacon, or something!" she went on confusedly.

"No, Dorcas, they have not. I could scarcely expect promotion as yet,
though it is true that I thought--but never mind, others no doubt have
better claims and longer service. I have, however, been honoured with a
most responsible duty."

"Indeed, dear. What duty?"

"I have been nominated priest-in-charge of the Sisa Station."

"O-oh! and where is that? Is it anywhere near Durban, or perhaps
Maritzburg?"

"I don't exactly know at present, though I understand that it is
about six days' trek from Eshowe in Zululand, but over the border in
Portuguese territory. Indeed, I am not sure that one can trek all the
way, at least when the rivers are in flood. Then it is necessary to
cross one of them in a basket slung upon a rope, or if the river is not
too full, in a punt. At this season the basket is most used."

"Great Heavens, Thomas! do you propose to put me and Tabbie in a basket,
like St. Paul, and did