son should.

'At last, late in the day, the hunting came to an end by the fox running
into a' old woman's cottage, under her table, and up the clock-case. The
pa'son and clerk were among the first in at the death, their faces
a-staring in at the old woman's winder, and the clock striking as he'd
never been heard to strik' before. Then came the question of finding
their way home.

'Neither the pa'son nor the clerk knowed how they were going to do this,
for their beasts were wellnigh tired down to the ground. But they
started back-along as well as they could, though they were so done up
that they could only drag along at a' amble, and not much of that at a
time.

'"We shall never, never get there!" groaned Mr. Toogood, quite bowed
down.

'"Never!" groans the clerk. "'Tis a judgment upon us for our
iniquities!"

'"I fear it is," murmurs the pa'son.

'Well, 'twas quite dark afore they entered the pa'sonage gate, having
crept into the parish as quiet as if they'd stole a hammer, little
wishing their congregation to know what they'd been up to all day long.
And as they were so dog-tired, and so anxious about the horses, never
once did they think of the unmarried couple. As soon as ever the horses
had been stabled and fed, and the pa'son and clerk had had a bit and a
sup theirselves, they went to bed.

'Next morning when Pa'son Toogood was at breakfast, thinking of the
glorious sport he'd had the day before, the clerk came in a hurry to the
door and asked to see him.

'"It has just come into my mind, sir, that we've forgot all about the
couple that we was to have married yesterday!"

'The half-chawed victuals dropped from the pa'son's mouth as if he'd been
shot. "Bless my soul," says he, "so we have! How very awkward!"

'"It is, sir; very. Perhaps we've ruined the 'ooman!"

'"Ah--to be sure--I remember! She ought to have been married before."

'"If anything has happened to her up in that there tower, and no doctor
or nuss--"

('Ah--poor thing!' sighed the women.)

'"--'twill be a quarter-sessions matter for us, not to speak of the
disgrace to the Church!"

'"Good God, clerk, don't drive me wild!" says the pa'son. "Why the hell
didn't I marry 'em, drunk or sober!" (Pa'sons used to cuss in them days
like plain honest men.) "Have you been to the church to see what
happened to them, or inquired in the village?"

'"Not I, sir! It only came into my head a moment ago, and I always like
to be second