"... Holy Ghost the Infinite,
Comforter Divine..."
sang the unseen choir. How warm and peaceful the evening was, reflected Selby, puffing at his pipe, one hand caressing the dog's ear. Extraordinarily peaceful, in fact.... He wondered what sort of a man the vicar was, in this tiny backwater of life, and whether he found it dull....
While he wondered, the vicar came down the road and stopped abreast of him.
"Good evening," he said, half hesitating, and came nearer. "Please don't get up.... I don't want to disturb you, but I—they told me this afternoon that a stranger was staying here. I thought I would make myself known to you: I am the rector of this little parish." He smiled and named himself.
Selby responded to the introduction. "Won't you sit down for a few minutes? I was listening to your choir——"
"They are practising—yes: I have just come down from the church and," he hesitated. "I hoped I should find you in—to have the opportunity of making your acquaintance."
"It was most kind of you." Selby wondered if all parsons in this fair country were as attentive to the stranger within their gates. "Most kind," he repeated. "I—I was on a walking tour, and"—he indicated a slipper of his host's that adorned his left foot—"one of my heels began to chafe—only a blister, you know; but I thought I'd take things easy for a day or two....
"Quite so, quite so. An enforced rest is sometimes very pleasant. I remember once, my throat.... However, that was not what I came to see you about. I believe, Mr Selby, er—am I right in supposing that you are in the Navy?"
"Yes." A note of chilliness had crept into Selby's voice. After all, his clerical acquaintance was only an inquisitive old busybody, agog to pry into other people's affairs. "Yes," he repeated, "I'm a Lieutenant," and he named his ship.
The rector made a little deprecatory gesture. "Please don't think I am trying to acquire the materials for gossip; and I am not asking out of inquisitiveness. The good people here told me this afternoon—this is an out-of-the-way place, and strangers, distinguished ones, if I may say so," he made a little inclination of the head, "do not come here very frequently: they mentioned it to me as I was passing on my way to hold a confirmation class...."