This
gentleman was a man of weight in the neighbourhood, having considerable
private means, but without preferment. In the summer he would often help
his brother clergymen, and it was through his being willing to take the
duty at Battersby for a few Sundays that Theobald had been able to get
away for so long. On his return, however, he found that the whole psalms
were being chanted as well as the Glorias. The influential clergyman,
Christina, and Charlotte took the bull by the horns as soon as Theobald
returned, and laughed it all off; and the clergyman laughed and bounced,
and Christina laughed and coaxed, and Charlotte uttered unexceptionable
sentiments, and the thing was done now, and could not be undone, and it
was no use grieving over spilt milk; so henceforth the psalms were to be
chanted, but Theobald grisled over it in his heart, and he did not like
it.
During this same absence what had Mrs Goodhew and old Miss Wright taken
to doing but turning towards the east while repeating the Belief?
Theobald disliked this even worse than chanting. When he said something
about it in a timid way at dinner after service, Charlotte said, "Really,
papa dear, you _must_ take to calling it the 'Creed' and not the
'Belief'"; and Theobald winced impatiently and snorted meek defiance, but
the spirit of her aunts Jane and Eliza was strong in Charlotte, and the
thing was too small to fight about, and he turned it off with a laugh.
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