notice, which is in
its turn soon forgotten, and the "Scandalous Conduck of a Clergyman," as
Mr. Twitt had put it, was soon swept aside in other examples of
"Scandalous Conduck" among all sorts and conditions of men and women,
which, caught up by flying Rumour with her thousand false and blatant
tongues, is the sort of useless and pernicious stuff which chiefly keeps
the modern press alive. Even the fact that the Reverend Mr. Arbroath was
summarily deprived of his living and informed by the Bishop in the usual
way, that his services would no longer be required, created very little
interest. Some months later a small journalistic flourish was heard on
behalf of the discarded gentleman, upon the occasion of his being
"received" into the Church of Rome, with all his sins forgiven,--but so
far as Weircombe was concerned, the story of himself and his "fav'rite"
was soon forgotten, and his very name ceased to be uttered. The little
community resumed its normal habit of cheerful attendance at Church
every Sunday, satisfied to have shown to the ecclesiastical powers that
be, the fact that "'Igh Jinks" in religion would never be tolerated
amongst them; and the life of Weircombe went on in the usual placid way,
divided between work and prayer, and governed by the twin forces of
peace and contentment.

Meantime, the secret spells of Mother Nature were silently at work in
the development and manifestation of the Spring. The advent of April
came like a revelation of divine beauty to the little village nestled in
the "coombe," and garlanded it from summit to base with tangles of
festal flowers. The little cottage gardens and higher orchards were
smothered in the snow of plum and cherry-blossom,--primroses carpeted
the woods which crowned the heights of the hills, and the long dark
spikes of bluebells, ready to bud and blossom, thrust themselves through
the masses of last year's dead leaves, side by side with the uncurling
fronds of the bracken and fern. Thrushes and blackbirds piped with
cheerful persistence among the greening boughs of the old chestnut which
shaded Mary Deane's cottage, and children roaming over the grassy downs
above the sea, brought news of the skylark's song and the cuckoo's call.
Many a time in these lovely, fresh and sunny April days Angus Reay would
persuade Mary away from her lace-mending to take long walks with him
across the downs, or through the woods--and on each occasion when they
started on these rambl