"How queer he acts!" thought Father Humphrey. "I thought him a very calm man. What is it about the World's End?" he asked.
"Oh, it is the name of an old tavern that I have found here. I had some great-uncles that used to have a farm and forge near an inn of that name. That was very long ago, before I was born. Old names seem to me like voices of the past."
He put his spectacles to his eyes and held the book again up to the light.
He presently said: "Luke Fuller—that is an old English name; there was such a one who was ousted for nonconformity in the days of the Conventicles."
He turned round and lifted his face and stood still, like a statue.
Was he going mad? Poor old Father Humphrey began to look toward the door to see if there were clear way of escape for him should the strange man become violent.
Presently he said:
"Earls—Barton," and lifted his brows.
Then he said:
"Mears—Ashby," and lifted his brows higher.