form. But she copied it in a firm hand, and made it ready for
posting on the morrow.





CHAPTER XIV




'Between Richard Mutimer, bachelor, and Adela Marian Waitham,
spinster, both of this parish'

It was the only announcement of the kind that Mr. Wyvern had to make
this Sunday. To one of his hearers he seemed to utter the names with
excessive emphasis, his deep voice reverberating in the church. The
pews were high; Adela almost cowered in her corner, feeling pierced
with the eyes, with the thoughts too, of the congregation about her.

She had wondered whether the Manor pew would be occupied to-day, but
it was not. When she stood up, her eyes strayed towards it; the red
curtains which concealed the interior were old and faded, the wooden
canopy crowned it with dreary state. In three weeks that would be
her place at service. Sitting there, it would not be hard to keep
her thoughts on mortality.

Would it not have been graceful in him to attend church to-day?
Would she in future worship under the canopy alone?