"Oh! I'll pin a note to the tree, so if he comes here it will explain our absence; but I will be back before the service is ended; and I fancy he will not leave the church till then. You are quite sure you have no objections to leaving him behind you, Miss Gurney?" he asked.
"Oh, no! But are you quite sure you can get us a nice place to stay? I suppose you know the place around here very well," she added.
"Yes, indeed; I have spent my life on the Island, Miss Gurney, and I know my fellow Islanders pretty well. I will leave you quite comfortable, never fear."
They were soon driving along at a rapid pace, and Dexie hoped that the scene in the church had passed from Elsie's mind, till her question to Mr. Holbrook proved the contrary. "Do tell us, Mr. Holbrook, what is it makes those people act so? Is it the talk of the minister that does it? I'm sure I could only hear a word now and then, though his lips kept moving even when the noise was the worst."
"That is a hard question to answer, Miss Gurney," was the reply. "Some say it is the Heavenly Spirit working within them; others think the spirit is not of a heavenly origin; others, again, say they are getting relief from the bondage of sin."
"Well, if that is the way they show their relief, I think it would be better to stay in bondage," said Dexie. "I wonder if it can be the same craze that used to affect the colored people down South. Grandma's people kept slaves, and I have heard of such actions amongst them, but if I ever heard the explanation of them I have completely forgotten it. Still one would hardly think that a superstitious negro craze would affect the clear-headed Scotch people in the same manner. It is a mystery to me how they live through it."
Mr. Holbrook laid back his head and laughed.
"But they are human, like other people, Mr. Holbrook," she urged; "and how is it that they do not hurt themselves? There was a man with a shock of red hair, sitting near the chimney, who took the 'jerks.' I daresay you noticed him. Now, unless his head is made of something different than ours, it must be smashed in on one side, for he struck the chimney with such rapidity and force that it sounded quite sickening from where we sat. Really, I should not have been surprised had he fallen dead to the floor."
"I daresay he never felt it," said Mr. Holbrook, smiling. "I do not believe that any of them know what they are about when they take the 'jerks,' or else some of the women are very careless of appearances."
"Oh! well, don't let us talk about them any more," said Elsie. "Papa often says that everyone has a right to his own belief, and these people seem to believe something, and they really must believe it without merely saying so, as so many of us do, or else they could not act out their belief in such a dreadful manner; but whatever their belief is, it must be awful!"