he room, and took their seats on the last bench. The
Quaker maidens who caught sight of Pepeeta were visibly excited and
began to preen themselves as turtle doves might have done if a bird of
paradise had suddenly flashed among them. One of them happened to be
seated next her. She was dressed in quiet drabs and grays. Her face and
person were pervaded and adorned by simplicity, meekness, devotion; and
the contrast between the two was so striking as to render them both
self-conscious and uneasy in each other's presence.

The visitors did not know at all what to expect in this unfamiliar
place, but could not have been astonished or awed by anything else half
so much as by the inexplicable silence which prevailed. If the whole
assemblage had been dancing or turning somersaults, they would not have
been surprised, but the few moments in which they thus sat looking
stupidly at the people and then at each other seemed to them like a
small eternity. Pepeeta's sensitive nature could ill endure such a
strain, and she became nervous.

"Take me away," she imploringly whispered to the doctor, who sat by her
side, ignorant of the custom which separated the sexes.

He tried to encourage her in a few half-suppressed words, took her
trembling hand in his great paw, pressed it reassuringly, winked
humorously, and then looked about him with a sardonic grin.

To Pepeeta's relief, the silence was at last broken by an old man who
rose from his seat, reverently folded his hands, lifted his face to
heaven, closed his eyes and began to speak. She had never until this
moment listened to a prayer, and this address to an invisible Being
wrought in her already agitated mind a confused and exciting effect; but
the prayer was long, and gave her time to recover her self-control. The
silence which followed its close was less painful because less strange
than the other, and she permitted herself to glance about the room and
to wonder what would happen next. Her curiosity was soon satisfied.
David Corson, the young mystic, rose to his feet. He was dressed with
exquisite neatness in that simple garb which lends to a noble person a
peculiar and serious dignity. Standing for a moment before he began his
address, he looked over the audience with the self-possession of an
accomplished orator. The attention of every person in the room was at
once arrested. They all recalled their wandering or preoccupied
thoughts, lifted their bowed heads and fixed their e