come to Church?" he asked.

She raised her calm blue eyes and regarded him steadfastly.

"I don't like the way you conduct the service, sir, and I don't take you
altogether for a Christian."

"What!" And he stared at her so furiously that his little pig eyes grew
almost large for the moment--"You don't take me--_me_--for a Christian?"

"No, sir,--not altogether. You are too hard and too proud. You are not
careful of us poor folk, and you don't seem to mind whether you hurt our
feelings or not. We're only very humble simple people here in Weircombe,
but we're not accustomed to being ordered about as if we were children,
or as if our parson was a Romish priest wanting to get us all under his
thumb. We believe in God with all our hearts and souls, and we love the
dear gentle Saviour who came to show us how to live and how to die,--but
we like to pray as we've always been accustomed to pray, just without
any show, as our Lord taught us to do, not using any 'vain
repetitions.'"

Helmsley, who was bending some stiff osiers in his hands, paused to
listen. Arbroath stared gloomily at the noble, thoughtful face on which
there was just now an inspired expression of honesty and truth which
almost shamed him.

"I think," went on Mary, speaking very gently and modestly--"that if we
read the New Testament, we shall find that our Lord expressly forbade
all shows and ceremonies,--and that He very much disliked them. Indeed,
if we strictly obeyed all His orders, we should never be seen praying in
public at all! Of course it is pleasant and human for people to meet
together in some place and worship God--but I think such a meeting
should be quite without any ostentation--and that all our prayers should
be as simple as possible. Pray excuse me if I speak too boldly--but that
is the spirit and feeling of most of the Weircombe folk, and they are
really very good, honest people."

The Reverend Mr. Arbroath stood inert and silent for about two minutes,
his eyes still fixed upon her,--then, without a word, he turned on his
heel and left the cottage. And from that day he did his best to sow
small seeds of scandal against her,--scattering half-implied
innuendoes,--faint breathings of disparagement, coarse jests as to her
"old maid" condition, and other mean and petty calumnies, which,
however, were all so much wasted breath on his part, as the Weircombe
villagers were as indifferent to his attempted mischief as Mary herself.
Even with th