ppose that that is his doing,--and to upset us all when we are quiet
and happy. He's paying such high wages, they say, to the men he has
set at work over the drainage of some of his cottages, that I expect
all our men will be asking us to raise theirs."

"I wonder which of them is right?" said May, returning to the subject
of the schools.

"Mr. Curzon, of course; he's a clergyman, my dear!"

"Then you will go to the meeting to-night."

"You must be crazed, May, to think of such a thing. I go to a school
meeting! If there is one type of woman I dislike more than another,
it's the one to be found on platforms."

"I had not thought of you on a platform exactly. It only occurred to
me that you would give Mr. Curzon your moral support, as your
sympathies go with him. You carry weight, you see," which was true in
more senses than one.

Mrs. Webster put the most favourable interpretation upon the phrase.

"Of course, if you really think it my duty, May," she said, softening
visibly, "and would come with me----"

"Oh, I intend going anyhow," interposed May, carelessly.

"It's such a new departure for you to take a prominent part in parish
things," exclaimed Mrs. Webster.

"Oh, parish has nothing to do with it! I'm going as a disinterested
spectator to see the two earnest ones fight it out."

"My dear!" remonstrated her mother in a shocked tone.

"If I have a bias it's in favour of the rector. I don't pretend to
understand the merits of voluntary versus board schools; but, as you
say, a clergyman is always right--most probably Mr. Curzon's is the
better cause, and most certainly he is the better man."

"Dear, dear; and we shall have to dine at seven, and keep as we are, I
suppose?" with a glance at the stately folds of her brocade dress.

"Yes; we won't treat a school meeting like a theatre," said May,
laughing. "Will it be considered unduly flippant on my part to go in
this muslin? or ought I to wear black, as at a funeral?"

"It cannot signify in the least; a change of dress would not alter your
flippant mind," replied her mother, with unusual smartness. "Dear Mr.
Curzon has really convinced me that it is a most important subject, so
I don't mind making a sacrifice for once in a way."

"By dining an hour earlier than usual and not changing your dress! All
right, mother; I'll order the carriage for ten minutes to eight. We
may as well be punctual."

The back benches of the schoolroom were crowded