He should never have
been put in as elder--it was a mistake and we shall live to rue it,
believe me! I have heard that he has said that if the girls continue to
'mess up the pulpit with weeds' that he will not go to church."
"The church got on very well before old Whiskers-on-the-moon came to the
Glen and it is my opinion it will get on without him after he is gone,"
said Susan.
"Who in the world ever gave him that ridiculous nickname?" asked Mrs.
Blythe.
"Why, the Lowbridge boys have called him that ever since I can remember,
Mrs. Dr. dear--I suppose because his face is so round and red, with
that fringe of sandy whisker about it. It does not do for anyone to call
him that in his hearing, though, and that you may tie to. But worse than
his whiskers, Mrs. Dr. dear, he is a very unreasonable man and has a
great many queer ideas. He is an elder now and they say he is very
religious; but I can well remember the time, Mrs. Dr. dear, twenty years
ago, when he was caught pasturing his cow in the Lowbridge graveyard.
Yes, indeed, I have not forgotten that, and I always think of it when he
is praying in meeting. Well, that is all the notes and there is not much
else in the paper of any importance. I never take much interest in
foreign parts. Who is this Archduke man who has been murdered?"
"What does it matter to us?" asked Miss Cornelia, unaware of the hideous
answer to her question which destiny was even then preparing.
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