ran from one to another, and yelped when some one attempted to chasten him.
At length the box splashed into place, scraping shrilly against projecting pebbles, and the assembly drew near to assist or watch the lowering of the white cheese-cloth box. Katie was reviving for another paroxysm.
With a shock Louise discovered that they were preparing to put the cover in place without a sign of a religious ceremony.
"Is there no one here to take charge of the service?" she inquired.
The man with the shovel replied for the others. "You see, Mrs. Eveley, Mr. Boots is away from the Valley. We couldn't get a parson from Witney. We thought perhaps somebody would offer to say a prayer like."
To herself she was saying that not even her father could let poor Billy be buried so casually.
"Let me take charge," she offered, with only the vaguest notion of what she was going to do.
Mrs. Dixon took her place beside Katie, and Louise proceeded to the head of the grave, making on her breast the sign her mother had secretly taught her.
"My dear friends," she commenced. "We poor human beings have so little use for our souls that we turn them over to pastors and priests for safe keeping, till some emergency such as the present. In French there is a proverb which says: it is better to
