It was a very wet morning and the curate had ridden over from Dillsborough on a little pony which the rector kept for him in addition to the L100 per annum paid for his services.

That he should have got over his service quickly was not a matter of surprise,--nor was it wonderful that there should have been no soul-stirring matter in his discourse as he had two sermons to preach every week and to perform single-handed all the other clerical duties of a parish lying four miles distant from his lodgings.

Perhaps had he expected the presence of so distinguished a critic as the Senator from Mickewa he might have done better.

As it was, being nearly wet through and muddy up to his knees, he did not do the work very well.

When Morton and his friends left the church and got into the carriage for their half-mile drive home across the park, Mrs.Morton was the first to speak.