He had not gone outside Mrs. Jupp's
street door, and yet what had been the result? Mr. Holt had put him in
bodily fear; Mr. and Mrs. Baxter had nearly made a Methodist of him;
Mr. Shaw had undermined his faith in the Resurrection; Miss Snow's
charms had ruined- or would have done so but for an accident- his
moral character. As for Miss Maitland, he had done his best to ruin
hers, and had damaged himself gravely and irretrievably in
consequence. The only lodger who had done him no harm was the
bellows-mender, whom he had not visited.
Other young clergymen, much greater fools in many respects than
he, would not have got into these scrapes. He seemed to have developed
an aptitude for mischief almost from the day of his having been
ordained. He could hardly preach without making some horrid faux
pas. He preached one Sunday morning when the Bishop was at his
Rector's church, and made his sermon turn upon the question what
kind of little cake it was that the widow of Zarephath had intended
making when Elijah found her gathering a few sticks. He demonstrated
that it was a seed cake. The sermon was really very amusing, and
more than once he saw a smile pass over the sea of faces underneath
him.
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