pulpit where Dr. Colin was soon to appear,
saw the action. It was contrary to every form in that congregation; it
was a shocking departure from the rule that no one should display sign
of life (except in the covert conveyance of a lozenge under the napkin
to the mouth, or a clearance of the throat), and she put a foot with
pressure upon that of Gilian nearest her. Yet as she did so, no part of
her body seen above the boards of the pew betrayed her movement.

Gilian flushed hotly, drew back his hand quickly, without having touched
the book, and bent a stern gaze upon the stairs by which Dr. Colin would
descend to his battlements.

It was a day of stagnant air, and the church swung with sleepy
influences. The very pews and desks, the pillars of the loft and the
star-crowned canopy of the pulpit, seemed in their dry and mouldy
antiquity to give forth soporific dry accessions to that somnolent
atmosphere, and the sun-rays, slanted over the heads of the worshippers,
showed full of dust. Outside, through the tall windows, could be seen
the beech-trees of the Avenue, and the crows upon them busy at their
domestic affairs. Children in the Square cried to each other, a man's
footsteps passed on the causeway, returned, and stopped below the
window. Everybody knew it was Black Duncan the seaman, of an older
church, and reluctant, yet anxious, to share in some of the Sabbath
exercises.

Gilian, with the back of the pew coming up near his neck, wished
fervently it had been built lower, for he knew how common and
undignified his view from the rear must thus be made. Also he wished
he could have had a secret eye that he might look unashamed in the
direction of his interest He tingled with feeling when he fancied
after a little (indeed, it was no more than fancy) that there was a
perceptible odour of young birch. Again he was remitted to his teens,
sitting transported in the _Jean_, soaring heavenward upon a song by a
bold child with spate-brown hair. He put forward his hand unconsciously
again, and this time he had the Bible on his knee before Miss Mary could
check him.

She looked down with motionless horror at his fingers feverishly
turning over the leaves, and saw that he had the volume upside down.
Her pressure on his foot was delayed by astonishment. What could this
conduct of his mean? He was disturbed about something; or perhaps he was
unwell. And as she saw him still holding the volume upside down on his
knee and continu