Part 55 (2/2)
”Tut! tut! Mr. Macfarren. You do not all become poor in six months.
Your cattle are still here. Your horses have suffered from no plague.”
”Well,” said Mr. Macfarren, ”the people have become alienated.”
”Alienated? From the church?”
”Well, yes. They seem to be satisfied with--to prefer, indeed, the Anglican services.”
”Mr. Macfarren, do you mean to tell me that the Presbyterians of this country prefer any church to their own? I fear they are a different breed from those I have known, and unworthy to represent the church of their fathers.”
”Well, the truth is, Doctor,” said Macfarren, considerably nettled at the Superintendent's manner, ”the people consider that they were not well treated in the supply you sent them.”
”Ah! Now we have it. Well, let us be specific again. Is Mr. Macgregor not a good preacher?”
”No, he is not. He is not such a preacher as many of us have been accustomed to.”
”By the way, Mr. Macfarren, what do your people pay toward this man's salary? Five hundred? Three hundred? We only asked you two hundred, and this you found difficult. And yet you expect a two-thousand-dollar preacher.”
”Well, his preaching was not his only fault,” said Macfarren. ”He was totally unsuited to our people. He was a man of no breeding, no manners, and in this town we need a man--”
”Wait a moment, Mr. Macfarren. You can put up with his preaching?”
”Yes.”
”Did he visit his people?”
”Yes, goodness knows, he did that enough.”
”Was his character good?”
”Oh, certainly.”
”Then I understand you to say that as a preacher he was pa.s.sable, as a pastor and as a man all that could be desired?”
”Oh, yes, certainly. But he was--well, if you have met him you must know what I mean. In short, he was uncouth and boorish in his manners.”
The Superintendent drew himself up, and his voice began to burr in a way that his friends would have recognized as dangerous.
”Boorish, Mr. Macfarren? Let me tell you, sir, that he is a Highland gentleman, the son of a Highland gentlewoman, and boorishness is impossible to him.”
”Well, that may be too strong, Doctor, but you do not understand our society here. We have a large number of people of good family from the old country and from the East, and in order to reach them we require a man who has moved in good society.”
”Well, sir,” said the Superintendent, ”Jesus Christ would not have suited your society here, for He was a man of very humble birth, and moved in very low circles.” And without further word he turned from Macfarren to greet Father Mike, who had entered the store.
”Delighted to see you again, Bishop,” said Father Mike. ”We are always glad to see you even though you are outside the pale.”
”Depends upon which pale you mean, Father Mike,” said the Superintendent, shaking him warmly by the hand.
<script>