left of them; Greek, and of the best period."

The Senior Tutor lit a fresh pipe, and by the flare of the match I
saw his eyes twinkling.

"Praxiteles," he jerked out, between the puffs, "and in the age of
Kneller! But proceed, my friend."

"And do you wait, my scoffer!" The Vicar borrowed the box of
matches, lit the candle--which held a steady flame in the still
evening air--opened the book, and laid it on his knee while he
adjusted his spectacles. "The story is here, entered on a separate
leaf of the Register and signed by Vicar Hichens' own hand.
With your leave--for it is brief--I am going to read it through to
you. The entry is headed:"

'_Concerning a group of Statuary now in the S. aisle of Lezardew
Parish Church: set there by me in witness of God's Providence in
operation, as of the corruption of man's heart, and for a warning to
sinners to amend their ways_.

'In the year 1694, being the first of my vicariate, there lived in
this Parish as hind to the farmer of Vellancoose a young man
exceeding comely and tall of stature, of whom (when I came to ask)
the people could tell me only that his name was Luke, and that as a
child he had been cast ashore from a foreign ship; they said, a
Portugal ship. [But the Portugals have swart complexions and are
less than ordinary tall, whereas this youth was light-coloured and
only brown by sunburn.] Nor could he tell me anything when I
questioned him concerning his haveage; which I did upon report that
he was courting my housemaiden Grace Pascoe, an honest good girl,
whom I was loth to see waste herself upon an unworthy husband.
Upon inquiry I could not discover this Luke to be any way unworthy,
saving that he was a nameless man and a foreigner and a backward
church-goer. He told me with much simplicity that he could not
remember to have had any parents; that Farmer Lowry had brought him
up from the time he was shipwrecked and ever treated him kindly; and
that, as for church-going, he had thought little about it, but would
amend in this matter if it would give me pleasure. Which I thought a
strange answer. When I went on to hint at his inclination for Grace
Pascoe, he confused me by asking, with a look very straight and
good-natured, if the girl had ever spoken to me on the matter; to
which I was forced to answer that she had not. So he smiled, and I
could not further press him.

'Yet in my mind they would have made a good match; for the girl too
was passing