THE COUNTRY SUNDAY. 67 
cheque-book, leaving them to face the spectre of bank- 
Tuptcy. At least once a week’ the elder, out of sheer 
British determination to claim his rights, stepped into 
the chapel rooms with his private key, just to walk 
round. They put another lock which his key did not 
fit, but he heaved the door open with a crowbar, and 
their case must have been feeble indeed when they 
could not even bring an action for trespass against him. 
The historian knoweth not all things, and how this 
schism arose is hidden from view. Very likely, indeed, 
it may have arisen out of the very foundation of the 
chapel itself, such buildings and land being usually held 
in some manner by a body of managers or trustees—a 
sort of committee, in fact—a condition which may easily 
afford opportunities for endless wrangling. In this par-- 
ticular the Established Church has a great advantage, 
the land and building being dedicated ‘for ever,’ so that 
no dispute is possible. Tales there were of some little 
feminine disagreement having arisen between the wives 
of the two men, magnified with the assistance of a 
variety of tabbies, a sort of thing by no means impos- 
sible among two hundred relations. Such affairs often 
spring from a grain of mustard seed, and by-and-by 
involve all the fowls of the air that roost in the branches. 
Idle tales circulated of a discussion among the ministers 
(visitors) which happened one evening over the pipes 
and three-star bottles, when the elder, taking down a 
celebrated volume of sermons, pointed out a passage 
almost word for word identical with what the pastor had 
said in his sermon on the previous Sunday—a curious 
instance of parallel inspiration. Unkind people after- 
wards spread the gloss that the elder had accused the 
minister of plagiarism. Mere fiction, no doubt. After 
a thing has happened people can generally find twenty 
F2 
