isten with reverence and humility to precepts that were accompanied with
so impressive an exterior. The stillness of expectation pervaded the
church, when the pew opener led the way to the same interesting father and
son whose entrance had interrupted the guests the preceding day, at the
rectory. Every eye was turned on the emaciated parent, bending into the
grave, and, as it were, kept from it by the supporting tenderness of his
child. Hastily throwing open the door of her own pew, Mrs. Ives buried
her face in her handkerchief; and her husband had proceeded far in the
morning service before she raised it again to the view of the
congregation. In the voice of the rector, there was an unusual softness
and tremor that his people attributed to the feelings of a father about to
witness the first efforts of an only child, but which in reality were
owing to another and a deeper cause.

Prayers were ended, and the younger Ives ascended the pulpit. For a moment
he paused; when, casting an anxious glance to the pew of the baronet, he
commenced his sermon. He had chosen for his discourse the necessity of
placing our dependence on divine grace. After having learnedly, but in the
most unaffected manner, displayed the necessity of this dependence, as
derived from revelation, he proceeded to paint the hope, the resignation,
the felicity of a Christian's death-bed. Warmed by the subject, his
animation soon lent a heightened interest to his language; and at a moment
when all around him were entranced by the eloquence of the youthful
divine, a sudden and deep-drawn sigh drew every eye to the rector's pew.
The younger stranger sat motionless as a statue, holding in his arms the
lifeless body of his parent, who had fallen that moment a corpse by his
side. All was now confusion: the almost insensible young man was relieved
from his burden; and, led by the rector, they left the church. The
congregation dispersed in silence, or assembled in little groups, to
converse on the awful event they had witnessed. None knew the deceased; he
was the rector's friend, and to his residence the body was removed. The
young man was evidently his child; but here all information ended. They
had arrived in a private chaise, but with post horses, and without
attendants. Their arrival at the parsonage was detailed by the Jarvis
ladies with a few exaggerations that gave additional interest to the whole
event, and which, by creating an impression with some whom gent