Why are you out?" and he seemed anxious. He said, "You are suffering too much from the 'strange people." How could he mention my hasty words at such a time? and I remembered the unforgiving face that I had touched a fathom deep under the hard ground. "I'm glad I've found you," I said. "Have you the church-key?" He told me that he had. I said, "Come and open it."

I asked, and, in my surprise, put sugar, destined for my coffee, into a glass of water. "Because Abraham Axtell has resigned." "When?" "This very morning." "He will be sexton until you find another, will he not?" "For one week only," he said. I remembered that my pocket held the church-key. I could not send it to him without exciting question.