re--all the ideas, in
short, that creep into the mind when reason is only exercising its lowest
activity through the eye.

By chance or by fate, another young man who attended Mellstock Church on
that Christmas morning had towards the end of the service the same
instinctive perception of an interesting presence, in the shape of the
same bright maiden, though his emotion reached a far less developed
stage. And there was this difference, too, that the person in question
was surprised at his condition, and sedulously endeavoured to reduce
himself to his normal state of mind. He was the young vicar, Mr.
Maybold.

The music on Christmas mornings was frequently below the standard of
church-performances at other times. The boys were sleepy from the heavy
exertions of the night; the men were slightly wearied; and now, in
addition to these constant reasons, there was a dampness in the
atmosphere that still further aggravated the evil. Their strings, from
the recent long exposure to the night air, rose whole semitones, and
snapped with a loud twang at the most silent moment; which necessitated
more retiring than ever to the back of the gallery, and made the gallery
throats quite husky with the quantity of coughing and hemming required
for tuning in. The vicar looked cross.

When the singing was in progress there was suddenly discovered to be a
strong and shrill reinforcement from some point, ultimately found to be
the school-girls' aisle. At every attempt it grew bolder and more
distinct. At the third time of singing, these intrusive feminine voices
were as mighty as those of the regular singers; in fact, the flood of
sound from this quarter assumed such an individuality, that it had a
time, a key, almost a tune of its own, surging upwards when the gallery
plunged downwards, and the reverse.

Now this had never happened before within the memory of man. The girls,
like the rest of the congregation, had always been humble and respectful
followers of the gallery; singing at sixes and sevens if without gallery
leaders; never interfering with the ordinances of these practised
artists--having no will, union, power, or proclivity except it was given
them from the established choir enthroned above them.

A good deal of desperation became noticeable in the gallery throats and
strings, which continued throughout the musical portion of the service.
Directly the fiddles were laid down, Mr. Penny's spectacles put in their
sheath