he never was able
entirely to shake off.

"No, no, my young friend," said the Rector with a smile of forbearance
for so mistaken an idea, "do not alarm yourself about these arches.
`Mr Rector,' said Sir George to me the very first time we were here
together, `you have been at Cullerne forty years; have you ever observed
any signs of movement in the tower?' `Sir George,' I said, `will you
wait for your fees until my tower tumbles down?' Ha, ha, ha! He saw
the joke, and we never heard anything more about the tower. Sir George
has, no doubt, given you all proper instructions; but as I had the
privilege of personally showing him the church, you must forgive me if I
ask you to step into the south transept for a moment, while I point out
to you what Sir George considered the most pressing matter."

They moved into the transept, but the doctor managed to buttonhole
Westray for a moment _en route_.

"You will be bored to death," he said, "with this man's ignorance and
conceit. Don't pay the least attention to him, but there _is_ one thing
I want to take the first opportunity of pressing on you. Whatever is
done or not done, however limited the funds may be, let us at least have
a sanitary floor. You must have all these stones up, and put a foot or
two of concrete under them. Can anything be more monstrous than that
the dead should be allowed to poison the living? There must be hundreds
of burials close under the floor, and look at the pools of water
standing about. Can anything, I say, be more insanitary?"

They were in the south transept, and the Rector had duly pointed out the
dilapidations of the roof, which, in truth, wanted but little showing.

"Some call this the Blandamer aisle," he said, "from a noble family of
that name who have for many years been buried here."

"_Their_ vaults are, no doubt, in a most insanitary condition,"
interpolated the doctor.

"These Blandamers ought to restore the whole place," the organist said
bitterly. "They would, if they had any sense of decency. They are as
rich as Croesus, and would miss pounds less than most people would miss
pennies. Not that I believe in any of this sanitary talk--things have
gone on well enough as they are; and if you go digging up the floors you
will only dig up pestilences. Keep the fabric together, make the roofs
water-tight, and spend a hundred or two on the organ. That is all we
want, and these Blandamers would do it, if they weren't curmu