er happens. Remember, it will be for
the last time."

Little Mrs. Pennycoop's intention was kind and Christianlike. The Rev.
Augustus Cracklethorpe would be quitting Wychwood-on-the-Heath the
following Monday, never to set foot--so the Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe
himself and every single member of his congregation hoped sincerely--in
the neighbourhood again. Hitherto no pains had been taken on either side
to disguise the mutual joy with which the parting was looked forward
to. The Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe, M.A., might possibly have been
of service to his Church in, say, some East-end parish of unsavoury
reputation, some mission station far advanced amid the hordes of
heathendom. There his inborn instinct of antagonism to everybody and
everything surrounding him, his unconquerable disregard for other
people's views and feelings, his inspired conviction that everybody but
himself was bound to be always wrong about everything, combined with
determination to act and speak fearlessly in such belief, might have
found their uses. In picturesque little Wychwood-on-the-Heath, among the
Kentish hills, retreat beloved of the retired tradesman, the spinster
of moderate means, the reformed Bohemian developing latent instincts
towards respectability, these qualities made only for scandal and
disunion.

For the past two years the Rev. Cracklethorpe's parishioners, assisted
by such other of the inhabitants of Wychwood-on-the-Heath as had
happened to come into personal contact with the reverend gentleman,
had sought to impress upon him, by hints and innuendoes difficult to
misunderstand, their cordial and daily-increasing dislike of him, both
as a parson and a man. Matters had come to a head by the determination
officially announced to him that, failing other alternatives, a
deputation of his leading parishioners would wait upon his bishop. This
it was that had brought it home to the Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe that,
as the spiritual guide and comforter of Wychwood-on-the Heath, he had
proved a failure. The Rev. Augustus had sought and secured the care of
other souls. The following Sunday morning he had arranged to preach his
farewell sermon, and the occasion promised to be a success from every
point of view. Churchgoers who had not visited St. Jude's for months
had promised themselves the luxury of feeling they were listening to
the Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe for the last time. The Rev. Augustus
Cracklethorpe had prepared a sermo