vation in a distant corner was frustrated by Honor on her way in,
who whispered her commands that he was to occupy the seat reserved for
him as the sole tenor available.

Tommy, on the other hand, put in attendance with laudable docility,
claiming a place beside Honor; and all through the sermon occupied
himself with the marriage service, till a gloved hand recovered
possession of the prayer-book and a pair of brown eyes reproved him
gravely.

"You paid no attention whatever to the service," she afterwards remarked
scathingly.

"It is just what I did, right through," he returned meekly. "It's the
only service that interests me."

"It was irrelevant matter!"

"Which made me miss the benefit I might have derived from the seed
falling on prepared soil. Alas! see what you are responsible for!"

"I? I take no responsibility for you. And was the soil really prepared
this time?" she teased.

"It was torn by the plough of eagerness and harrowed with anxiety lest I
should be late and lose my place beside you," he returned feelingly.

Outside on the gravelled path, Mrs. Bright was informed by Mrs.
Ironsides that she had counted sixty women in "Church," and only sixteen
men, twelve of whom were married. "Scandalous!--I call it. And this is a
country, where, in the midst of life one is in death!"

On their way home, Meredith and Joyce, with the parson in the car, came
upon the doctor taking a "constitutional" in the moonlight and insisted
on carrying him off to pot-luck.

Tommy attached himself to the Brights and received a similar invitation,
while Jack was annexed by Mrs. Fox whose husband was at home and "would
be charmed."

The invitation was given openly and Jack had no hesitation in accepting
it, curious to know how the elusive Barrington Fox would appear on
closer acquaintance.

They walked together across the railway lines and past unkempt hedges of
Duranta in full bloom towards the group of residences reserved for
officials of the Railway, each within its own garden and bounded by
barbed wire as a protection against stray cattle.

The Traffic Superintendent's house was built on a more generous scale
than the others, though uniformly of red brick picked out with buff.
Shallow arches supported the concrete roof, and the verandah in front
was gay with ornamental pot-plants and palms of luxuriant growth. Many
doors opened upon it, and through them could be seen a lamplit and
graceful interior, veiled by misty