“We have our treasure in earthen vessels,” said Mr. Morgan, somewhat sternly, from where he stood, under shelter of the heavy gallery. Mr. Wentworth was shortsighted, like most people nowadays. He put up his glass hastily, and then hurried forward, perhaps just a little abashed. When he had made his salutations, however, he returned undismayed to the charge.
“It’s a great pity you have not something better to work upon,” said the dauntless Curate; “but it is difficult to conceive what can be done with such an unhallowed type of construction. I was just saying to Folgate—”
“There is a great deal of cant abroad on this subject,” said Mr. Morgan, interrupting the young oracle. “I like good architecture, but I don’t relish attributing moral qualities to bricks and mortar. The hallowing influence ought to be within. Mr. Folgate, we were going to call at your office. Have you thought of the little suggestions I ventured to make? Oh, the drawings are here. Mr. Wentworth does not approve of them, I suppose?” said the Rector, turning sternly round upon the unlucky Curate of St. Roque’s.
“I can only say I sympathise with you profoundly,” said young Wentworth, with great seriousness. “Such a terrible church must be a great trial. I wish I had any advice worth offering; but it is my hour for a short service down at the canal, and I can’t keep my poor bargees waiting. Good morning. I hope you’ll come and give us your countenance, Mrs. Morgan. There’s no end of want and trouble at Wharfside.”
“Is Mr. Wentworth aware, I wonder, that Wharfside is in the parish of Carlingford?” said the Rector, with involuntary severity, as the young priest withdrew calmly to go to his “duty.” Mr. Folgate, who supposed himself to be addressed, smiled, and said, “Oh yes, of course,” and unfolded his drawings, to which the clerical pair before him lent a disturbed attention. They were both in a high state of indignation by this time. It seemed indispensable that something should be done to bring to his senses an intruder so perfectly composed and at his ease.
II
Meanwhile Mr. Wentworth, without much thought of his sins, went down George Street, meaning to turn off at the first narrow turning which led down behind the shops and traffic, behind the comfort and beauty of the little town, to that inevitable land of shadow which always dogs the sunshine. Carlingford proper knew little about it, except that it increased the poor-rates, and now and then produced a fever. The minister of Salem Chapel was in a state of complete ignorance on the subject. The late Rector had been equally uninformed. Mr. Bury, who was Evangelical, had the credit of disinterring the buried creatures there about thirty years ago. It was an office to be expected of that much-preaching man; but what was a great deal more extraordinary, was to find that the only people now in Carlingford who knew anything about Wharfside, except overseers of the poor and guardians of the public peace, were the Perpetual Curate of St. Roque’s—who had nothing particular to do with it, and who was regarded by many sober-minded persons with suspicion as a dilettante Anglican, given over to floral ornaments and ecclesiastical upholstery—and some half-dozen people of the very élite of society, principally ladies residing in Grange Lane.
Mr. Wentworth came to a hesitating pause at the head of the turning which would have led him to Wharfside. He looked at his watch and saw there was half an hour to spare. He gave a wistful lingering look down the long line of garden-walls, pausing upon one point where the blossomed boughs of an apple-tree overlooked that enclosure.
There was quite time to call and ask if the Miss Wodehouses were going down to the service this afternoon; but was it duty? or, indeed, putting that question aside, was it quite right to compound matters with his own heart’s desire and the work he was engaged in, in this undeniable fashion? The young priest crossed the street very slowly, swinging his cane and knitting his brows as he debated the question. If it had been one of the bargemen bringing his sweetheart, walking with her along the side of the canal to which Spring and sweet Easter coming on, and Love, perhaps, always helpful of illusions, might convey a certain greenness and sentiment of nature—and echoing her soft responses to the afternoon prayers—perhaps the Curate might have felt that such devotion was not entirely pure and simple. But somehow, before he was aware of it, his slow footstep had crossed the line, and he found himself in Grange Lane, bending his steps towards Mr. Wodehouse’s door. For one thing, to be sure, the Canticles in the evening service could always be sung when Lucy’s sweet clear voice was there to lead the uncertain melody; and it was good to see her singing the “Magnificat” with that serious sweet face, “full of grace,” like Mary’s own. Thinking of that, Mr. Wentworth made his way without any further hesitation to the green door over which hung the apple-blossoms, totally untroubled in his mind as to what the reverend pair were thinking whom he had left behind him in the ugly church; and unconscious that his impromptu chapel at Wharfside, with its little carved reading-desk, and the table behind, contrived so as to look suspiciously like an altar, was a thorn in anybody’s side. Had his mind been in a fit condition at that moment to cogitate trouble, his thoughts would have travelled in a totally different direction, but in the meantime
