We overtook them going home, and Wilcox explained how much they liked the music.

'Glad to see you,' I said.

'Glad to see you for any reason,'" Mr Murchison's eye twinkled.

"But they had a great deal to say about 'the music.'" It was not an effusive form of felicitation; the minister would have liked it less if it had been, felt less justified, perhaps, in remembering about the range on that particular morning.

As it was, he was able to take it with perfect dignity and good humour, and to enjoy the point against the Wilcoxes with that laugh of his that did everybody good to hear; so hearty it was, so rich in the grain of the voice, so full of the zest and flavour of the joke.