"Good heavens," was all I could say. And the doctor sailed in with his cohort, all in swallow-tails and white fronts, their hair plastered down or curled, like the fiddlers in an orchestra; and the doctor stooped down and saw my amazement, and whispered:—
"Didn't I tell you we'd surprise you, Father Dan?"
Just then a young lad, dressed like a doll, and with white kid gloves, handed me a perfumed programme.
"I charge a penny all around, but not to you, Father Dan."
I thanked him politely and with reverence.
"Who's that young gentleman?" I whispered.
"Don't you know him?" said Father Letheby, smothering a laugh.
"I never saw him before," I said.
"You cuffed him last Sunday for ringing the bell at the Agnus Dei."