147
XIV On the Side Porch 160
XV Nickey's Social Ambitions 170
XVI Practical Temperance Reform 186
XVII Notice to Quit 200
XVIII The New Rectory 212
XIX Couleur de Rose 224
XX Muscular Christianity 238
XXI Uninvited Guests 253
XXII Hepsey's Diplomacy 271
XXIII Hepsey Calls a Meeting 283
XXIV Omnium Gatherum 308

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

"You haven't seen anything that looked like a parson,
have you? You can generally spot 'em every time" Frontispiece

"I'm blessed if you 'aint sewin' white buttons on with
black thread. Is anybody dead in the family, or 'aint
you feelin' well this mornin'?" 62

"Nicholas Burke, what in the name of conscience does
all this idiotic performance mean, I'd like to know?" 80

"Oh well, I always believe that two young married
people should start out by themselves, and then if they
get into a family row it won't scandalize the parish" 126

"I 'aint a chicken no more, Mrs. Betty, and I've 'most
forgot how to do a bit of courtin'" 140

"I consider it a shame and a disgrace to the parish to
have our rector in filthy clothes, drawing stone with a
lot of ruffians" 248

"I've got a hunch, Sylvester Bascom, that it'll be you
that'll have the last word, after all" 280

"Hepsey Burke, for all your molasses and the little bit
of vinegar you say you keep by you, 'There are no flies
on you' as Nickey would put it" 308

[Illustration]

CHAPTER I

HEPSEY BURKE

The noisy, loose-jointed train pulled out of the station, leaving
behind it a solitary young man, enveloped in smoke and cinders. In the
middle of the platform stood a little building with a curb roof,
pointed at both ends like a Noah's Ark; and the visitor felt that if
h