The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-04-10
CHAPTER ".

In these later days of earnestness
one seldom meets in real life-never, 1
think, in fiction-a clergyman so stoical-
ly Indifferent to all parties and to all
party opinions as was Mr.. Follett.
Very early in life he had married,
and lost his wife in less than a year;
and, never having had any womanly
presence in his house since, all his hab-
its and ways of thought were those of
a lonely, unloved man. He was neither
morose nor unkindly-only Indifferent
to whatever affairs of other people
were not actually thrust upon him;
and good deal taken up in the farm
ing of his own glebe-and in his own
garden-and in his own books.
If he had attained to all he hoped
for when he was lad. would he, at
eight-and-thirty, rise, and walk, and
dine, and go to sleep again, with any
very greater zest than he did now, as
the lonely curate of souls in Chester
ford St.. Mary? This, if it had been
put into words, would have pretty just
ly summed up the semi-consolatory,
had brought himself to think of his
own moral state and of his life.
But the world in general saw in the
Vicar of Chesterford an excellent, quiet
parson, of no particular views, char
liable to his poor, on terms of good
will with his richer neighbors-all that
a country clergyman ought to be. Es-
pecially did single ladies of certain
age-inaSmuch as he was a widower,
and possessed of a fair competency
give Mr.. Follett the palm over all his
fellows, whether Wears or curates, in
the neighborhood
And of all this band of virgin con-
fessors Miss Lynch was the head and
chief. Long ago, when she first came
to Chesterford, Mr. Follett had been
sensible that this elderly woman perse-
c:ited him, and had striven to avoid
her; but his constitution was too cS-
sentially aveIse to trouble for him to
sustain any Very heightened conflict OH
such a point: and for many years now
he had received all Miss Lynchs at.
tentiOnS without q struggle. They
wearied him, certainly; but would it
not have wearied him vast deal more
to resist? And if he was obliged to
see much of Jane Grands governeSs,
was he not also obliged to see much of
Jane Grand herself? Not shade of
sentiment which men of his age oc-
casionaIly feel for very young girls,
and can loye-not the ramotest ap-
proach to personal admiration. even to
paternal tenderneSs-had ever yet en-
tered into his feeling for her. Indeed,
If l had not just a horror of using an
affected term, ! would say that (up to
the time when Clifford began to fall
in love with Jane Grand) Mr.. Folletts
regard for her was simply and purely
an aesthetic one; her fresh and graceful
youth miniStering to his innate sense
Of refinement as fine painting or eX-
quisite music might have done. could
such gifts have miraculOusly come to
him in his unlOvely and prOSaic life
among the Devonshire marshes.
However this may have been, Miss
Lynch. with the one instinct that re-
mains true even to the most foolish Of
women-A1iss Lynch had early seen the
superior hold she maintained over the
vicar through little James agency; and,
seeing, had improved her position to
the uttermOSt.
Mr. Follett was the only person to
whom she felt it her duty to contide the
rast history Of her charge. In James
childhood. MIR. foI,ett must direct her
education: as she grew older. would it
be asking too much of Mr.. Follett to go