ignorant creatures instead of praying to Him to be with us in all dangers, and to carry us through all temptations."

It was a very difficult task for Mr Elwyn to explain this clearly to Long John and his wife. They had been brought up in the folly of superstition, and had become so accustomed to the idea of charms and evil-wishing that it was only by long and patient argument that the vicar was able to persuade them to give up secking the advice of Widow Jones.

The sight of the substantial proofs which he had found as to there having been some one concealed in the belfry, staggered John not a little, and even he was forced to confess that he had never heard that sperrits wore blue handkerchiefs. The vicar was obliged to take his leave without having convinced either the sexton or his wife of the sin of trusting more to Widow Jones' practice of the black art than to the Almighty power to protect them.

"Do you pray to God to guard you?" said he, on leaving the cottage.

"Yes, sir, we always say,

"Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed that I lay on;

Four angels round my bed,

Two at my feet and two at my head,'

before we go to sleep, as my mother used to say that that would keep the sperrits off;" said Long John, as he opened the door to let the vicar pass out.

Mr Elwyn shook his head and sighed; such ignorance as this was very hard to deal with, but he did not despair of making this incident of use to both the sexton and his wife.

WE

CHAPTER XI

"TRUTH WILL OUT"

"Sure this is a warning token,

A warning though unspoken"

WHEN Mr Elwyn left Long John's cottage that morning he turned his steps towards the Manor Farm in search of Farmer Baker. The farmer was not in the house, but Anne, who opened the door, told the vicar that she believed missus was in the dairy. She offered to call her, but Mr Elwyn stopped her, and said he would find Mrs. Baker himself.

The dairy at the Manor Farm was a place worth seeing at all times, and a particularly delightful retreat on a hot summer's day.. The cool stone floor, the bright tins containing the pure white milk and rich golden butter looked most inviting, and there, in the midst of all this, Mr Elwyn found Mrs Baker busy rolling

and weighing out pounds of butter to be sent to market.

Her compassion was easily excited when the vicar gave her the history of Long John's sad state of nervous depression.

"I always thought him a bit soft about the head," said she, "but I did not know he was so silly as this, and his wife does him no good, as she is quite as ignorant as he is."

"Yes," said Mr Elwyn, "a man like John Carter ought to have married a woman with a clear head and strong principles to keep. him right, instead of such a weak foolish creature as his wife."

"Bless you, sir," said Mrs Baker, "a good wife could mould a man like John as easily as I can mould this butter I have in my hands, but Jessie Carter was always a poor weak thing; she lived here in our service at one time, but I would not put up with her ways for long; she would say verses over the cream in the churn to get it to turn, and one night when one of the boys was taken ill in the night my husband got up to fetch the doctor, and nearly broke his neck going down stairs, as on each landing she had placed a pair of

shoes, in the form of a cross, to keep off the witches!"

"It is very grievous, Mrs Baker," said the vicar, "and I shall try again to get them both to see how wrong such things are, but at present he really is very ill from the fright, and the first thing we must do is to try and find out the owner of this handkerchief."

So saying, he spread the article in question out upon one of the stone shelves of the dairy. Mrs Baker had not been more interested in the vicar's story than she would have been by any piece of village gossip, but when the handkerchief was spread out a change passed over her countenance.

"It is a common pattern, and therefore it will not be easy to prove to whom it belongs, supposing the owner wishes to conceal his share in the business," said Mr Elwyn; "but I hope that when it is known in the village that poor John is really ill from his fright, the owner will have the honesty to claim it; there is a small square patch in one of the corners, which may be a clue, as my sister suggests. I did not see it myself, but women's eyes are sharper than men's, and she saw it at once."