h his white plump hands from the servant who
brought in the tea.

"Why is there only one kind of jam? Bring another," he said to the
servant. "I am greatly distressed," he went on, turning to Father
Missael.

Missael earnestly desired to prove his zeal; but, being a man of small
means, he asked to be paid for the expenses of his journey; and being
afraid of the rough people who might be ill-dis-posed towards him,
he also asked the bishop to get him an order from the governor of the
province, so that the local police might help him in case of need. The
bishop complied with his wishes, and Missael got his things ready with
the help of his servant and his cook. They furnished him with a case
full of wine, and a basket with the victuals he might need in going to
such a lonely place. Fully provided with all he wanted, he started for
the village to which he was commissioned. He was pleasantly conscious of
the importance of his mission. All his doubts as to his own faith passed
away, and he was now fully convinced of its reality.

His thoughts, far from being concerned with the real foundation of his
creed--this was accepted as an axiom--were occupied with the arguments
used against the forms of worship.

XX

THE village priest and his wife received Father Missael with great
honours, and the next day after he had arrived the parishioners were
invited to assemble in the church. Missael in a new silk cassock, with
a large cross on his chest, and his long hair carefully combed, ascended
the pulpit; the priest stood at his side, the deacons and the choir at
a little distance behind him, and the side entrances were guarded by the
police. The dissenters also came in their dirty sheepskin coats.

After the service Missael delivered a sermon, admonishing the dissenters
to return to the bosom of their mother, the Church, threatening them
with the torments of hell, and promising full forgiveness to those who
would repent.

The dissenters kept silent at first. Then, being asked questions, they
gave answers. To the question why they dissented, they said that their
chief reason was the fact that the Church worshipped gods made of wood,
which, far from being ordained, were condemned by the Scriptures.

When asked by Missael whether they actually considered the holy ikons to
be mere planks of wood, Chouev answered,--"Just look at the back of any
ikon you choose and you will see what they are made of."

When asked why they turned