n that for plain speaking and
directness was likely to leave an impression. The parishioners of St.
Jude's, Wychwood-on-the-Heath, had their failings, as we all have. The
Rev. Augustus flattered himself that he had not missed out a single one,
and was looking forward with pleasurable anticipation to the sensation
that his remarks, from his "firstly" to his "sixthly and lastly," were
likely to create.

What marred the entire business was the impulsiveness of little Mrs.
Pennycoop. The Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe, informed in his study on the
Wednesday afternoon that Mr. and Mrs. Pennycoop had called, entered the
drawing-room a quarter of an hour later, cold and severe; and, without
offering to shake hands, requested to be informed as shortly as possible
for what purpose he had been disturbed. Mrs. Pennycoop had had her
speech ready to her tongue. It was just what it should have been, and no
more.

It referred casually, without insisting on the point, to the duty
incumbent upon all of us to remember on occasion we were Christians;
that our privilege it was to forgive and forget; that, generally
speaking, there are faults on both sides; that partings should never
take place in anger; in short, that little Mrs. Pennycoop and George,
her husband, as he was waiting to say for himself, were sorry for
everything and anything they may have said or done in the past to hurt
the feelings of the Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe, and would like to shake
hands with him and wish him every happiness for the future. The chilling
attitude of the Rev. Augustus scattered that carefully-rehearsed speech
to the winds. It left Mrs. Pennycoop nothing but to retire in choking
silence, or to fling herself upon the inspiration of the moment and make
up something new. She choose the latter alternative.

At first the words came halting. Her husband, man-like, had deserted
her in her hour of utmost need and was fumbling with the door-knob. The
steely stare with which the Rev. Cracklethorpe regarded her, instead
of chilling her, acted upon her as a spur. It put her on her mettle. He
should listen to her. She would make him understand her kindly feeling
towards him if she had to take him by the shoulders and shake it into
him. At the end of five minutes the Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe,
without knowing it, was looking pleased. At the end of another five Mrs.
Pennycoop stopped, not for want of words, but for want of breath.
The Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe