the knots and wrinkles showed
signs of dispersing. A slow twisting of the features took place, which
might have been looked upon as promising a smile in due course of time.
These young fellows wanted to hear him talk, and "tak' off th' Par-son."
His occupation was not entirely gone, after all. It was specially
soothing to his vanity to feel that his greatest importance lay in
his own powers, and not altogether in more corruptible and uncertain
attractions. He condescended to help himself to a pipe-full of a
friend's tobacco.

"Let's hear," cried a third member of the company. "Gi' us th' tale owt
an' owt, owd lad. Tha'rt th' one to do it graidely."

Sammy applied a lucifer to the fragrant weed, and sucked at his pipe
deliberately.

"It's noan so much of a tale," he said, with an air of disparagement
and indifference. "Yo' chaps mak' so much out o' nowt. Th' Parson's well
enow i' his way, but," in naive self-satisfaction, "I mun say he's a
foo', an' th' biggest foo' fur his size I ivver had th' pleasure o'
seein'."

They knew the right chord was touched. A laugh went round, but there was
no other interruption and Sammy proceeded.

"Whatten yo' lads think as th' first thing he says to me wur?" puffing
vigorously. "Why, he cooms in an' sets hissen down, an' he swells hissen
out loike a frog i' trouble, an' ses he, 'My friend, I hope you cling
to th' rock o' ages.' An' ses I, 'No I dunnot nowt o' th' soart, an'
be dom'd to yo'. 'It wur na hos_pit_ible,'" with a momentary touch of
deprecation,--"An' I dunnot say as it wur hospitible, but I wor na i'
th' mood to be hospitible just at th' toime. It tuk him back too, but he
gettin round after a bit, an' he tacklet me agen, an' we had it back'ard
and for'ard betwixt us for a good haaf hour. He said it wur Providence,
an' I said, happen it wur, an' happen it wurn't. I wur na so friendly
and familiar wi' th' Lord as he seemed to be, so I could na tell foak
aw he meant, and aw he did na mean. Sithee here, lads," making a fist
of his knotty old hand and laying it upon the table, "that theer's what
stirs me up wi' th' parson kind. They're allus settin down to explain
what th' Lordamoigty's up to, as if he wur a confidential friend o'
theirs as they wur bound to back up i' some road; an' they mun drag him
in endways or sideways i' their talk whether or not, an' they wun-not be
content to leave him to work fur hissen. Seems to me if I wur a disciple
as they ca' it, I should be a