d behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see
him: lo, I have told you._

Michael felt an impulse to sob, as he mentally offered the best of
himself to the worship of Christ, for the words of the lesson were
striking on his soul like bells.

_And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted._

"Now you see the other boy has started fidgeting with _his_," complained
the young man.

_And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world._
_Amen._

As the lector's retreating footsteps died away into the choir the words
were burned on Michael's heart, and for the first time he sang the Nunc
Dimittis with a sense of the privilege of personally addressing Almighty
God. When the Creed was chanted Michael uttered his belief passionately,
and while the Third Collect was being read between the exalted candles
of the acolytes he wondered why never before had the words struck him
with all their power against the fears and fevers of the night.

_Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great
mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night, for the
love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ._ _Amen._

The acolytes lowered their candles to extinguish them: then they
darkened the altar while the hymn was being sung, and Michael's friend
gave a sigh of relief.

"Perfectly all right," he whispered.

Michael himself was sorry to see the gradual extinction of the
altar-lights; he had concentrated upon that radiance his new desire of
adoration and a momentary chill fell upon him, as if the fiends without
were gaining strength and fury. All dread and doubt was allayed when,
after the murmured Grace of Our Lord, the congregation and the choir and
the officiant knelt in a silent prayer. The wind still shrieked and
thundered: the gas-jets waved uneasily above the huddled forms of the
worshippers: but over all that incense-clouded gloom lay a spirit of
tranquillity. Michael said the Our Father to himself and allowed his
whole being to expand in a warmth of surrender. The purification of
sincere prayer, voiced more by his attitude of mind than by any spoken
word, made him infinitely at peace with life.

When the choir and clergy had filed out and the sacristan like an old
rook came limping down the aisle to usher the congregation forth into
the dark wind of Bartlemy-tide, Michael's friend said:

"Wait just a minute. I want to speak