[I. THE TALES WHICH WERE TOLD]

CHAPTER
I.[THE INTERRUPTED DINNER.]
II.[THE WOMAN AND THE COATS.]
III.[THE WORDS OF THE PREACHER.]
IV.[THE CHILDREN'S MOTHER.]
V.[THE OPERATION.]
VI.[THE BLACKLEG.]
VII.[IN PICCADILLY.]
VIII.[THE ONLY ONE THAT WAS LEFT.]
IX.[THE FIRST DISCIPLE.]
X.[THE DEPUTATION.]
XI.[THE SECOND DISCIPLE.]

[II. THE TUMULT WHICH AROSE]

XII.[THE CHARCOAL-BURNER.]
XIII.[A TRIUMPHAL ENTRY.]
XIV.[THE WORDS OF THE WISE.]
XV.[THE SUPPLICANT.]
XVI.[IN THE MORNING.]
XVII.[THE MIRACLE OF HEALING.]
XVIII.[THE YOUNG MAN.]

[III. THE PASSION OF THE PEOPLE]

XIX.[THE HUNT AND THE HOME.]
XX.[THEY THAT WOULD ASK WITH A THREAT.]
XXI.[THE ASKING.]
XXII.[A SEMINARY PRIEST.]
XXIII.[AND THE CHILD.]

I

[The Tales which were Told]

A Second Coming

CHAPTER I

[THE INTERRUPTED DINNER]

He stood at the corner of the table with his hat and overcoat on, just as he had rushed into the room.

'Christ has come again!'

The servants were serving the entrees. Their breeding failed them. They stopped to stare at Chisholm. The guests stared too, those at the end leaning over the board to see him better. He looked like a man newly startled out of dreaming, blinking at the lights and glittering table array. His hat was a little on one side of his head. He was hot and short of breath, as if he had been running. They regarded him as a little bewildered, while he, on his part, looked back at them as if they were the creatures of a dream.

'Christ has come again!'