from getting in,
with a sluice in the midst of it to let the Cull out. Thus were formed
the low-lying meadows called Cullerne Flat, where the Freemen have a
right to pasture sheep, and where as good-tasting mutton is bred as on
any _pre-sale_ on the other side of the Channel. But the sea has not
given up its rights without a struggle, for with a south-east wind and
spring-tide the waves beat sometimes over the top of the dyke; and
sometimes the Cull forgets its good behaviour, and after heavy rainfalls
inland breaks all bonds, as in the days of yore. Then anyone looking
out from upper windows in Cullerne town would think the little place had
moved back once more to the seaboard; for the meadows are under water,
and the line of the dyke is scarcely broad enough to make a division in
the view, between the inland lake and the open sea beyond.

The main line of the Great Southern Railway passes seven miles to the
north of this derelict port, and converse with the outer world was kept
up for many years by carriers' carts, which journeyed to and fro between
the town and the wayside station of Cullerne Road. But by-and-by
deputations of the Corporation of Cullerne, properly introduced by Sir
Joseph Carew, the talented and widely-respected member for that ancient
borough, persuaded the railway company that better communication was
needed, and a branch-line was made, on which the service was scarcely
less primitive than that of the carriers in the past.

The novelty of the railway had not altogether worn off at the time when
the restorations of the church were entrusted to Messrs. Farquhar and
Farquhar; and the arrival of the trains was still attended by Cullerne
loungers as a daily ceremonial. But the afternoon on which Westray
came, was so very wet that there were no spectators. He had taken a
third-class ticket from London to Cullerne Road to spare his pocket, and
a first-class ticket from the junction to Cullerne to support the
dignity of his firm. But this forethought was wasted, for, except
certain broken-down railway officials, who were drafted to Cullerne as
to an asylum, there were no witnesses of his advent.

He was glad to learn that the enterprise of the Blandamer Arms led that
family and commercial hotel to send an omnibus to meet all trains, and
he availed himself the more willingly of this conveyance because he
found that it would set him down at the very door of the church itself.
So he put himself and