He had not noticed this in church.

There he had no opportunity of observing the subtle grace with which she moved, and the half-light left unrevealed the lustrous purity of her complexion, the radiant red and white which only the warm damp of the western seaboard can give or preserve.

Her eyes he had seen even in the church, but now first he realized what unfathomable gentleness and what a wonder of frank innocence were in them.

The Canon looked round the table at his children, and there was a humorous twinkle in his eye when he turned to Hyacinth and quoted: '"Your sons shall grow up as young plants, and your daughters shall be as the polished corners of the temple."' Perhaps nine-tenths of civilized mankind would regard five children as five misfortunes under any circumstances, as quite overwhelming when they have been showered on a man with a very small income, who is obliged to live in a remote corner of Ireland.

Apparently the Canon did not look upon himself as an afflicted man at all.