The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-07

dertake to do your best to get my lease
renewed, and ] will give you this en-
velope. with what's inside. And / will
give YOU my promise never to breathe
a word that the bishop ever so much as
came near my place. As for Miss Par
kins, 7 know she won't speak unless
she's forced She's a religious girl; she
thinks a lot of the bishop. and she's too
much shocked at the whole affair.
never saw girl SO upset. NOW, Whlch
is il to be?'
The dean still hesitated-with suf-
ficient cause.
What term of renewal would you re-
quire?''
'The last lease was for ninety-nine
years. and 1 want this lease TO be for
ninety-nine."
''Ninety-nine years. Mr.. Boulter?"
Mr.. Roulter did not get a promise OF
renewal for ninety-nine years, or any
thing like H. but he did get "a bit of
writing" With that 'bit of writing
i'm a secure division of his plethora
pocketbook he went away. The dean
was left to his reflections. The leather
bag he held in one hand. the envelope
which the landlord of The Rose and
Crown had given him he held I'm the
other Putting down the bag he tore
the envelope into halves, then INTO
quarters. and crossing the room he
dropped the fragments in the fire, which
burned brightly in the CRATE.
Terrible, terribler' This he said as
he watched the pieces of paper being
consumed by the flames. Then he seemed
TO endeavOr to pull himself together.
We'll ] shall have to tell them. ! must
give reasons for the thing which l have
done. The tale will have to travel 50
far. but'-the dean pressed his lips to-
gether: few mems cOuntenances were
capable of assuming q severer aspect
than Dean Pettifer'S-"I Will make II
my especial business to see that 1t goes
h
tate before returning to the apartment.
in which his colleagues were awaiting
him. u must say that I never thought
il of him. l have been always conscious
that in his latitudinarianism there was
a certain element 81 danger. But l never
dreamed that he was capable of such
a thing as this-no. never
1t was with a distinctly unsatisfactory
look upon his face that he made his re-
appearance in the little impromptu meet
Ing The cTiminatoTy leather bag he
carried i'm his left hand. II is not impos-
sble that those who were present be-
came Immediately conscious that with
the dean, since they had seen him last,
all things had not gone well. The buzz
of conversation. which had been audlble
as ne opened the door. ceased upon his
entrance as though something in his
bearing acted as a damper.
The somewhat awkward silence was
broken by Canon Gorse.
We'll. was Boulter troublesome
The dean laid the bag in front of him
upon the table.
He was" The dean carefully wiped
his glasses. There was a suggestion of
curious expectation in the eyes which
were fixed upon him. Their owners al
ready perceived that there some
thing in the air. Was ii possible that
the landlord Of 1.-THE Rose and Crown
had behaved in the manner which. in
the estimation of some persons. is
natural characteristic OF individuals of
his class. and had been guilty of actual
violence in the sacred precincts OF the
deaneTy2 He was troublesome in n
sense for which on this occasion. L will
simply say that l was unprepared; and
to such a degree that l have given him
what amounts 90 a virtual undertaking
that his lease shall be renewed.
This was evidently not the sort of
thing for which his listeners had been
waiting-one could see it by their faces.
Some of them changed color, and some
of their jaws dropped open. Canon
Gorse stared at the speaker, as If he
found it difficult to believe that his own
ears We're capable of fulfilling their nor
NAL functions.
.'Pettifer impossibler' Perceiving that
the word might seem too strong, ne
amended it. THAT is to say, how do
you mean"
The dean leaned over the table. His
attitude, indeed his whole manner, sug-
geSted severity tempered by sorrow.
Before 1 say anything further l wish
70 have an understanding with all of
YOU that not one word of what l am
about TO utter will be breathed by any
one Of you to any creature liVing-and
by that ] mean neither 10 your wives,
nor 20 your daughters, nor to any mem
Der Of your households-that il Will DE
received as though it came TO you under
the seal of the confessional. There was
silence. If any one feels himself, for
any cause whatever. unable to give such
a pledge, then | must respectfully ask
that person at once 10 withdraw"
No one did withdraw. No one said
either ave OF nay SO it may be sup
posed that the pledge which the dean
required was unanimously given. That
the dean understood that TO be the case
was evident. He held up the little leath-
er bag in front Of him as If it were
some dreadful thing.
This bag is the bishop's-our beloved
bishops bag. l know il. Of my own
knowledge, TO be the bag which he had
with him in The cathedral yesterday
the sermon which the bishop preached
and which we all rejoiced to hear. This
bag has just been brought to me by the
Landlord of The Rose and Crown 1t
was left. unintenionally left on his
premises by a person who, at the close
of yesterday afternoons service, went
out of the deans door of the cathedral
into one of Air. Boulter's private bars
and there and then consumed a bottle
OF port wine
The dean ceased. There again was 81
lenoe-there well might be. The dean
again went ON:
a son Of Mr. Boulter's is engaged on
one OF those scuTTilous journals which
are called society papers. Mr. Boulter
proposed TO send this story up to his
son to print on the understanding that
the matter shall be confined TO his own
breast, l have deemed it wisdom to give
him. as ] have said, what virtually
amounts to an undertaking that his
lease shall be renewed. That Is all 1
have to say. You Will feel with me
that il is too much. May 1 ask you not
to speak Of this matter even among
yourselves. but, as / shall do. to do your
best TO blot it from your minds? Let
us, if we can, forget that this thing has
ever been. And now, with your permits
sion. | will wish you all good-day."
They went like a flock Of sheep, al
though there was almost a suspicion Of
pathos i'm the manner of the parting
When they were gone the dean set him
self To perform a task OF the exceeding
delicacy of which, 10 say the least he
was fully conscious. He was not a man
10 palter with what he deemed his duty
He was certainly no. a man to shrink
from doing a thing merely because the
thing was Gisagreeable. Therefore,
scarcely had the last of his colleagues
turned his back on the deanery than he
put the little leather bag into a larger
bag. and. with that larger bag grasped
firmly in his hand, he strobe off TO the