"All right, sir," Bill acquiesced, as he threw a wink to a man across the aisle and settled back in his seat. "I've got nuthin' more to say."
Dr. Rannage was evidently embarrassed. He mopped his face with his handkerchief, and took another drink of water.
"I think I have explained matters quite fully," he at last continued, "and perhaps my companions here would like to say something. I trust, however, that you will give your new clergyman a fair trial, and do everything in your power to help him."
"What's his name?" Tom Stephens asked. "You have never mentioned that."
"It is Douglas Stanton. He comes from a good old family, so I understand, and his grandfather held an important government position in this province."
Dr. Rannage's companions had very little to say. They were business men, so they said, and unaccustomed to public speaking. Each made an appeal to the people to support the new clergyman, to repair the rectory, and to give more liberally toward the support of the Church in their parish. They were given an attentive hearing, and when they were through, the chairman brought the meeting to a sudden close. Just why he did so Douglas could not understand. Stubbles' manner had greatly changed since his opening remarks and he seemed to be annoyed and irritable.
Douglas was the first to leave the building, and he stood outside in the shadow of the hall hoping to get a word with Stubbles. As the people passed him, he overheard some of their remarks which were by no means complimentary.
"He made a mess of it, he surely did," a man was saying. "What does he know about the country?"
"Nuthin'," his companion replied. "What were them funny things he wore on his legs? I would like to see him out in the——"
Douglas could not hear his closing words. But the comments of others were of a similar nature, and he realised that Dr. Rannage had not smoothed the way for his coming to the parish as rector.