Half the village was there already, and presently the preacher walked to her station.
To Ruperta's surprise, she was a lady, richly dressed, tall and handsome, but with features rather too commanding. She had a glove on her left hand, and a little Bible in her right hand, which was large, but white, and finely formed.
She delivered a short prayer, and opened her text:
“Walk honestly; not in strife and envying.”
Just as the text was given out, Ruperta's maid pinched her, and the young lady, looking up, saw her father coming to see what was the matter. Maid was for hiding, but Ruperta made a wry face, blushed, and stood her ground. “How can he scold me, when he comes himself?” she whispered.
During the sermon, of which, short as it was, I can only afford to give the outline, in crept Compton Bassett, and got within three or four of Ruperta.
Finally Sir Charles Bassett came up, in accordance with his promise to Angelo.
The perfect preacher deals in generalities, but strikes them home with a few personalities.
Most clerical preachers deal only in generalities, and that is ineffective, especially to uncultivated minds.
Mrs. Marsh, as might be expected from her sex, went a little too much the other way.