n
eyes. He put out towards, and withdrew, a groping hand from Mrs Lawford.

'Is it,' came a voice from somewhere, 'is it a great change, sir? I
thought perhaps I may have exaggerated--candle-light, you know.'

Mr Bethany remained still and silent, striving to entertain one thought
at a time. His lips moved as if he were talking to himself. And again
it was Lawford's faltering voice that broke the silence. 'You see,'
he said, 'I have never... no fit, or anything of that kind before. I
remember on Tuesday... oh yes, quite well. I did feel seedy, very. And
we talked, didn't we?--Harvest Festival, Mrs Wine's flowers, the new
offertory-bags, and all that. For God's sake, Vicar, it is not as bad
as--as they make out?'

Mr Bethany woke with a start. He leaned forward, and stretched out a
long black wrinkled sleeve, just managing to reach far enough to tap
Lawford's knee. 'Don't worry, don't worry,' he said soothingly. 'We
believe, we believe.'

It was, none the less, a sheer act of faith. He took off his spectacles
and took out his handkerchief. 'What we must do, eh, my dear,' he half
turned to Mrs Lawford, 'what we must do is to consult, yes, consult
together. And later--we must have advice--medical advice; unless, as
I very much suspect, it is merely a little quite temporary physical
aberration. Science, I am told, is making great strides, experimenting,
groping after things which no sane man has ever dreamed of
before--without being burned alive for it. What's in a name? Nerves,
especially, Lawford.'

Mrs Lawford sat perfectly still, absorbedly listening, turning her face
first this way, then that, to each speaker in turn. 'That is what
I thought,' she said, and cast one fleeting glance across at the
fireplace, 'but--'

The little old gentleman turned sharply with half-blind eyes, and lips
tight shut. 'I think,' he said, with a hind of austere humour, 'I think,
do you know, I see no "but."' He paused as if to catch the echo and
added, 'It's our only course.' He continued to polish round and round
his glasses. Mrs Lawford rather magnificently rose.

'Perhaps if I were to leave you together awhile? I shall not be far
off. It is,' she explained, as if into a huge vacuum, 'it is a terrible
visitation.' She moved gravely round the table and very softly and
firmly closed the door after her.

Lawford took a deep breath. 'Of course.' he said, 'you realise my
wife does not believe me. She thinks,' he explained naively, as