er the sermon. He sat on one of the benches
close to the door, and Gwen would hardly have known of his presence
had she not recognized the peculiar way in which he cleared his
throat, which attracted her attention to him.

"Who was that stranger, Robert?" she asked the clerk afterwards.

"Don't know at all, Miss Gwen. I never see him in my life before.
Funny old chap, weren't he? But he put a half-crown in the plate
before he left! We don't get many half-crowns at Skelwick; it's mostly
pennies and threepennybits, with a few sixpences, as I collect."

"Perhaps he just came over from North Ditton for the walk; he seems to
be fond of walking, and perhaps he wanted to see the village by
sunset," said Gwen. "I wish he'd stayed five minutes longer and
spoken to Father. He always likes to welcome strangers who come to the
church."

"And those bean't a-many," returned the clerk as he locked the big
door.

It was a little incident, and seemed quite unimportant at the time.
Gwen dismissed it quickly from her mind, for she had very many other
things to think about just then, things that seemed paramount and far
more interesting and exciting than chance tourists who asked
questions.

But she was to hear of the eccentric old gentleman again.

CHAPTER XVI

First Aid

Gwen's quarrel with Netta was so complete that the two were no longer
on speaking terms. Gwen was very apprehensive lest her former chum
should carry out her old threat and betray the secret of the broken
china, and in the first heat of her anger Netta had been inclined to
do so; on further reflection, however, she decided that the
consequences might be too compromising to herself, and that it would
be safer to preserve silence. She had already scored by fetching Miss
Trent into the schoolroom during Gwen's conversation with Dick, and
the trouble which had ensued was almost enough to satisfy her. Really
Netta had been rather tired of Gwen before this, and she was not sorry
to seize upon an excuse for breaking their friendship. She now took up
hotly with Annie Edwards, and the pair were for the moment
inseparable.

"I believe it's as I thought," said Elspeth Frazer to Charlotte Perry;
"Gwen Gascoyne's quite off with Netta. Now, if she can only get into a
better set she may be a different girl. I want to find out what she's
really like, so I'm going to be nice to her to-morrow when we go the
geological excursion."

"Perhaps we have been rather horri