A few months before, a cousin of her father's had died in Boston, where he was the preacher of a most exclusive and fashionable church.

He had endeared himself to his congregation by preaching one Easter Sunday a sermon called "The Badge of Birth." In it he proceeded to show from the Scriptures themselves how baseless was the common theory that Jesus was of lowly origin.

"The common people heard Him gladly," cried the Rev.
Eliot Wilmot, "because they instinctively felt His superiority of birth, felt the dominance of His lineage.

In His veins flowed the blood of the royal house of Israel, the blood of the first anointed kings of Almighty God." And from this interesting premise the Reverend Wilmot deduced the divine intent that the "best blood" should have superior rights--leadership, respect, deference.

So dear was he to his flock that they made him rich in this world's goods as well as in love and honor.
The Wilmots of Saint X had had lively expectations from his estate.