Ormsby. What would be the kind of questions you would discuss? Controversial or ministerial?' Shelton. 'What do you mean, Ormsby, by ministerial questions?'

Ormsby. 'Well, perhaps it is not a very wellchosen word. But I refer to the questions which so continually crop up in the working of a parish—such as the administration of temporal relief, shortening the services, adding or withdrawing any musical portion, and such like.'

De Lorne. All very important no doubt, but from the nature of the case necessarily dependent upon a variety of local circumstances. The questions I had in my mind were those concerning which good mer differ from one another with something almost like bitterness; but who, if they would only consent to meet and hear what each had to say in the spirit of love and forbearance, would respect each other's differences, even if they were as far as ever from agreement.'

Lady Shelton. Much of this miserable controversy would be reduced, I am quite sure, if such a plan were adopted-and I do hope, Mr. Stevens, that you will give my scheme a trial. We have been old friends much too long for me to apologise for venturing to make such a suggestion; but, were it otherwise, my excuse would be the benefit which I am persuaded you would confer upon all of us by its adoption.'

After some further discussion, the Vicar consented

to give the plan a trial, and it was arranged that the first meeting should be held at the Vicarage on the following Saturday afternoon-the subject agreed upon for consideration being-The Real Presence of our Lord's Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.'

CHAPTER II.

THE REAL PRESENCE.

THE Vicarage at Hartham was one of the early results of the great revival in ecclesiastical or quasi-ecclesiastical architecture which has come into vogue during this nineteenth century in England.

The old house was pulled down, and the present erected, about the year 1839; and its chief characteristic, externally, was the introduction of a series of narrow lancet-shaped windows where you least expected to find them and where they seemed to be of the least possible use; and internally, the presence of smoke in whatever room a fire at any time happened to be lighted. But, notwithstanding these defects, the Vicarage was, on the whole, a decidedly picturesque object, and borrowed much from, while it did not neglect to pay back something to, the situation which it occupied.

It stood on the side of a hill which protected it from the north-east, and was environed by slopes covered with soft velvet-like plots of grass, bedecked with flowering shrubs, rhododendron, weigelia, azalea, arbutus, laurustinus, syringa, etc., and enriched with curiously formed beds, replete with fragrant flowers and manycoloured blooms. From the front of the house one overlooked a vast extent of undulating country,

stretching far away to the distant downs, interspersed with many a pretty village and modest-looking hamlet; while at the base of the hill, the old-fashioned town of Hartham was discovered-the abbey-like church, the gabled houses, narrow streets, and quaint market-place imparting an almost Continental appearance to the whole scene.

It was a glorious day in the middle of August, that Saturday after the dinner-party at the Manor. The sun shone brightly, and almost fiercely, but the heat was tempered by a pleasant breeze, carried from the distant sea, rendered the more grateful from being laden with the perfume of the sweet flowers which were so abundant in the Vicarage garden.

When all our friends, whom we met at the De Lornes', together with Clarkson, the curate of S. Aëlred's, and Parfitt, of Hartham, had arrived, the Vicar suggested an adjournment to a building erected at the back of the house, which partook of the character of half summer-house-with its thatched roof and rustic porch and windows—and half school-room ; one of those useful tenements where mothers' meetings, choir practices, and parish conclaves can so conveniently be held: the want of which so many a parish priest has reason to deplore. The room, notwithstanding its rustic windows, was very light and cheerful, and a degree of brightness was shed around by the many cheap-coloured prints which were hanging against the walls, and by the illuminated scrolls with which the room was decorated.

When they had all taken their places at the long table in the centre of the room, the Vicar began by saying:

'I confess that it is with many misgivings that I approach the subject we have agreed to discuss this afternoon. It is one of such deep solemnity, and concerning which so much controversy has arisen, that I feel the responsibility of entering upon it, even among such friends as we are, to be greater than I can easily bear. Taking this then into consideration, let us in a few simple words ask God's guidance, and also pray that His Holy Spirit may keep far from us all acrimony in debate, so that the issue may lead us to try and love Him better, and serve Him more diligently to our lives' end.' Having said this, the Vicar gave utterance to a few plain words embodying the purpose of his last remarks, followed, after a pause, by the Lord's Prayer, in which all joined aloud, and then, upon rising from their knees, the Vicar began as follows:

'I need not dwell upon the occasion when our dear Lord instituted the Blessed Sacrament, but will simply draw your attention to the words which He used when He brake the Bread, and blessed the Wine -or rather wine mingled with water. In so doing He said, "This is My Body "—" This is My Blood of the New Testament." Observe, He did not speak of Bread and Wine generally, but of the particular Bread which He then brake, and the particular Wine which He then blessed. He did not say this is the memorial