le from Chaldicotes gate,
although the horses were in a lather of steam; and they had only just
entered the village when the church bells ceased to be heard.

"Come, you are in time, after all," said Harold Smith. "Better time
than I was last night." Robarts could not explain to him that the
entry of a clergyman into church, of a clergyman who is going to
assist in the service, should not be made at the last minute, that it
should be staid and decorous, and not done in scrambling haste, with
running feet and scant breath.

"I suppose we'll stop here, sir," said the postilion, as he pulled up
his horses short at the church-door, in the midst of the people who
were congregated together ready for the service. But Mark had not
anticipated being so late, and said at first that it was necessary
that he should go on to the house; then, when the horses had again
begun to move, he remembered that he could send for his gown, and
as he got out of the carriage he gave his orders accordingly. And
now the other two carriages were there, and so there was a noise
and confusion at the door--very unseemly, as Mark felt it; and the
gentlemen spoke in loud voices, and Mrs. Harold Smith declared that
she had no Prayer-Book, and was much too tired to go in at present;
she would go home and rest herself, she said. And two other ladies
of the party did so also, leaving Miss Dunstable to go alone;--for
which, however, she did not care one button. And then one of the
party, who had a nasty habit of swearing, cursed at something as
he walked in close to Mark's elbow; and so they made their way up
the church as the Absolution was being read, and Mark Robarts felt
thoroughly ashamed of himself. If his rising in the world brought
him in contact with such things as these, would it not be better for
him that he should do without rising? His sermon went off without
any special notice. Mrs. Harold Smith was not there, much to his
satisfaction; and the others who were did not seem to pay any special
attention to it. The subject had lost its novelty, except with the
ordinary church congregation, the farmers and labourers of the
parish; and the "quality" in the squire's great pew were content
to show their sympathy by a moderate subscription. Miss Dunstable,
however, gave a ten-pound note, which swelled up the sum total to a
respectable amount--for such a place as Chaldicotes.

"And now I hope I may never hear another word about New Guinea," said
Mr. S