You see we have met with reverses and--" "Reverses," echoed the clerical visitor, with difficulty keeping his seat.

This was the very thing he had come to find out and here it was actually thrown at him.

He congratulated himself on his cleverness in having inspired so much confidence and thought with glee of his triumph when he returned with the full story to the Lady Trustees.

Simulating, therefore, the deepest sympathy he tried to draw his hostess out: "Dear me, how sad! You met with reverses." Turning to his sister, who was sitting in her corner like a petrified mummy, he added: "Jane, do you hear?
How inexpressibly sad! They have met with reverses!" He paused, hoping that Mrs.Rossmore would go on to explain just what their reverses had been, but she was silent.

As a gentle hint he said softly: "Did I interrupt you, Madam ?" "Not at all, I did not speak," she answered.
Thus baffled, he turned the whites of his eyes up to the ceiling and said: "When reverses come we naturally look for spiritual consolation.
My dear Mrs.Rossmore, in the name of the Unified All Souls Baptismal Presbytery I offer you that consolation." Mrs.Rossmore looked helplessly from one to the other embarrassed as to what to say.