But they heeded him so little that he would turn away contemptuously, disdaining the travesty of the noble game, and dream of a gang of brighter spirits whom he could lead to glory.

Paul had many such dreams wherewith he sought to cheat the realities of existence: but until the Great Happening the dream was not better than the drink: after it came the Vision Splendid.
The wonderful thing happened all because Maisie Shepherd, a slip of a girl of nineteen, staying at St.Luke's Vicarage, spilled a bottle of scent over her frock.
It was the morning of the St.Luke's annual Sunday-school treat.

The waggonette was at the vicarage door.

The vicar and his wife and daughter waited fussily for Maisie, an unpunctual damsel.

The vicar looked at his watch.