ured some of the women, brightening. "Let's
wait!"

The majority again sat down.

There was a creaking of machinery behind, and some of the young ones
turned their heads. From the interior face of the west wall of the
tower projected a little canopy with a quarter-jack and small bell
beneath it, the automaton being driven by the same clock machinery
that struck the large bell in the tower. Between the tower and the
church was a close screen, the door of which was kept shut during
services, hiding this grotesque clockwork from sight. At present,
however, the door was open, and the egress of the jack, the blows on
the bell, and the mannikin's retreat into the nook again, were
visible to many, and audible throughout the church.

The jack had struck half-past eleven.

"Where's the woman?" whispered some of the spectators.

The young sergeant stood still with the abnormal rigidity of the old
pillars around. He faced the south-east, and was as silent as he was
still.

The silence grew to be a noticeable thing as the minutes went on,
and nobody else appeared, and not a soul moved. The rattle of the
quarter-jack again from its niche, its blows for three-quarters, its
fussy retreat, were almost painfully abrupt, and caused many of the
congregation to start palpably.

"I wonder where the woman is!" a voice whispered again.

There began now that slight shifting of feet, that artificial
coughing among several, which betrays a nervous suspense. At length
there was a titter. But the soldier never moved. There he stood,
his face to the south-east, upright as a column, his cap in his hand.

The clock ticked on. The women threw off their nervousness, and
titters and giggling became more frequent. Then came a dead silence.
Every one was waiting for the end. Some persons may have noticed how
extraordinarily the striking of quarters seems to quicken the flight
of time. It was hardly credible that the jack had not got wrong with
the minutes when the rattle began again, the puppet emerged, and the
four quarters were struck fitfully as before. One could almost be
positive that there was a malicious leer upon the hideous creature's
face, and a mischievous delight in its twitchings. Then followed the
dull and remote resonance of the twelve heavy strokes in the tower
above. The women were impressed, and there was no giggle this time.

The clergyman glided into the vestry, and the clerk vanished. The
sergeant had not