AX ACCEPTABLE PRESENT. 159 



earl}^ morning service being conducted by my 

 host the priest, who in his shirt sleeves stood 

 bare-headed beneath the ladder which led to 

 our room, and intoned, I believe, a species of 

 liturgy to a congregation of two at a pace 

 which no clergpnan of the Church of England 

 could hope to rival. His congregation must 

 have known their prayers uncommonly well if 

 they recognised any of them at that railroad 

 speed. 



When the service was over, our host came 

 up to us and brought us a parcel which had 

 arrived for us from our friend Baron Geikm, 

 contaming a present of a bottle of liqueur, 

 some tobacco, and other luxuries. 



After writino- a note of thanks to the 



o 



Baron, we started Platon off with it, and 

 went down to the river to try if we could see 

 any trout rising, as the priest assured us that 

 he frequently caught a nice basket of fish 

 close to the town by a primitive kind of 



