“Oh, sir! oh, sir!” she cried.
“What is the matter, Catherine, a misfortune? Has his Reverence caught measles?” he asked.
THE FIRST THING HE DID WAS TO TAKE UP HIS KNIFE
“Worse than that, sir,” sighed Catherine. “I must tell you everything. The vicar has been so strange lately. Sometimes when he returns from the church and finds a visitor awaiting him, without saying a word he begins to sharpen his knife and then cuts off both his ears. You must be on your guard if he seizes his knife when he comes in.”
“He will not catch me napping,” replied the cousin.
The words were hardly out of his mouth when the priest appeared. The first thing he did was to take up his knife. He was very hungry and wanted his luncheon at once.
“I will be off,” thought the cousin, and he ran like a hare.
“Can you tell me why the wretched man has run away?” the priest asked the servant.