behind him dressed also in a very
singular manner. The priest and the boy went through with a great
variety of performances before the altar, none of which Rollo could at
all understand. From time to time the boy would ring a little bell, and
the organ and the choir of singers in the lofty gallery would begin to
play and sing; and then, after a short time, the music would cease, and
the priest and the boy would go on with their performances as before.

Presently Rollo heard a sound of marching along the paved floor, and
looking into the choir whence the sounds proceeded, he saw a procession
formed of boys, with a priest, bearing some glittering sacred utensils
of silver in his hands, at the head of them. The boys were all dressed
alike. The dress consisted of a long crimson robe with a white frock
over it, which came down below the waist, and a crimson cape over the
frock, which covered the shoulders. Thus they were red above and below,
and white in the middle.

One of these boys had a censer in his hands, and another had a little
bell; and as they came along you could see the censer swinging in the
air, and the volumes of fragrant smoke rising from it, and you could
hear the tinkling of the little bell. The priest advanced to the altar
before which the audience were sitting, and there, while the censer was
waving and the smoke was ascending, he performed various ceremonies
which Rollo could not at all understand, but which seemed to interest
the congregation very much, for they bowed continually, and crossed
themselves, and seemed impressed with a very deep solemnity.

Presently, when the ceremony was completed, the procession returned into
the choir, the priest at the head of it, just as it came.

When the procession had passed away, Mr. George made a sign for Rollo to
follow him, and then walked along out through the gate where the woman
was sitting with the holy water. She held out the brush to Mr. George
and Rollo as they passed, but they did not take it.

"What ridiculous mummeries!" said Rollo, in a low tone, as soon as they
had got out of the hearing of the congregation.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "they seem so to us; but I have a certain
respect for all those ceremonies, since they are meant to be the worship
of God."

"I thought it was the worship of images," said Rollo. "Did not you see
the images?"

"Yes," said Mr. George, "I saw them; and perhaps we can make it out that
those rites are, in reality, t