; so he was forced to do it all for himself; so
he went forward gallantly, first reading a set of Scripture sentences
while the officers collected first for the poor-box, and then, as it was
one of the offering-days, collected again the dues for the curate. It
was largely upon these, in such poor parishes as was this, that the
minister depended and his wife.

Then he went on to pray for the whole estate of Christ's Church militant
here on earth, especially for God's "servant, Elizabeth our Queen, that
under her we may be godly and quietly governed"; then came the
exhortation, urging any who might think himself to be "a blasphemer of
God, an hinderer or slanderer of His Word ... or to be in malice or
envy," to bewail his sins, and "not to come to this holy table, lest
after the taking of that holy sacrament, the devil enter into him, as he
entered into Judas, and fill him full of all iniquities."

So forward with the rest. He read the Comfortable Words; the English
equivalent for Sursum Corda with the Easter Preface; then another
prayer; and finally rehearsed the story of the Institution of the Most
Holy Sacrament, though without any blessing of the bread and wine, at
least by any action, since none such was ordered in the new Prayer-Book.
Then he immediately received the bread and wine himself, and stood up
again, holding the silver plate in his hand for an instant, before
proceeding to the squire's seat to give him the communion. Meantime, so
great was the expectation and interest that it was not until the
minister had moved from the table that the first communicants began to
come up to the two white-hung benches, left empty till now, next to the
table.

* * * * *

Then those who still watched, and who spread the tale about afterwards,
saw that the squire did not move from his seat to kneel down. He had put
off his hat again after the homily, and had so sat ever since; and now
that the minister came to him, still there he sat.

Now such a manner of receiving was not unknown; yet it was the sign of a
Puritan; and, so far from the folk expecting such behaviour in their
squire, they had looked rather for Popish gestures, knockings on the
breast, signs of the cross.

For a moment the minister stood before the seat, as if doubtful what to
do. He held the plate in his left hand and a fragment of bread in his
fingers. Then, as he began the words he had to say, one thing at least
the peopl