“I beg your pardon, Davie. Let us just go on us usual,” she entreated. “Why should you mind?”
And so they did go on. They sung a hymn very well; at least, they sung with a great deal of spirit. There were some clear, sweet voices among the children, and they all seemed to enjoy singing so much it could not be otherwise than agreeable to those who were listening, and Violet did her best. Then David, very reverently, but not very firmly, took Mr Caldwell’s duty upon himself, and offered a few words of prayer; and then the children repeated together the Lord’s Prayer, and after that everything went well enough. David and Violet took their usual places, with their classes round them, and Jem suggested to Mr Philip that he should take Mr Caldwell’s rough-looking boys in hand “and give them a talk.”
“Hear them repeat their verses, and tell them a story. You can do it as well as Mr C. Shall I tell them that you are the new minister?”
“Thank you. I will introduce myself. I ought to be able to say something to these young rascals. I hope they won’t find me out.”
He seemed to get on very well. Jem would have liked to get rid of the three little fellows for whom he was responsible, so as to hear what he was saying. The boys liked it, evidently; at least they listened with great interest; and one would have thought that Mr Philip was quite accustomed to the work, he did it so easily. The boys laughed more than once, and grew eager and a little noisy; but their teacher was perfectly grave and proper, and did not give Jem the shadow of an excuse for wishing to “knock him down.” He congratulated him when it was all over.
“Yes; I flatter myself it was the right man in the right place this time,” said Mr Philip. “You didn’t think I could do as well as old Caldwell, did you.”
Jem shrugged his shoulders.
“Yes, you could do it, once in a way, after a fashion, at any rate.”
But though Jem spoke so coldly to Philip himself, he was enthusiastic in his praises of him when they were giving their mother the history of the afternoon after Frank had gone home.
“He can do anything, I think,” said he. “He was not at a loss for a moment. I believe, if he had been put to it, he could have done the whole business as well as Davie did, and he did it very well.”