believed it, but many were in a mood to pretend that they did.

"I never believed in this thing," said a tall, dark-faced,
solemn-featured man, speaking in a voice loud enough to interest the
crowd in front "This sensation business I don't believe in. What do we
want of the president here! Who cares to see him? I don't like it; I
believe it is all wrong, turning a religious meeting upside down for a
sensation, and I told them so."

Our friend Marion, you will remember, was gifted with a clear voice and
a saucy tongue.

"If he doesn't like it," she said, quickly, "and doesn't want to see the
president, why do you suppose he has kept one of the best chairs for
four mortal hours? Don't you think that is selfish?"

Which sentence caused ripples of laughter all about them, and quenched
the solemn-visaged man.

But it was growing serious, this waiting. It was a great army of people
to be kept at rest, and though they had been quiet and decorous enough
thus far, it was not to be presumed that they were all people governed
by nice shades of propriety. Would the disappointment break forth into
any disagreeable demonstrations? Dr. Vincent had done what he could; he
had appeared promptly on the arrival of dispatches, and given the
latest news that the telegraph and the telescope would send. But what
can any mortal man do who has arranged for people to come who do not
come, except wait for them with what patience he can command.

At this ominous moment he appeared before them again. Not a notice this