"Oh, very well; if it _is_ four, I will say nothing. I _was_ going to send Alexander Mann over to the study to find out--supposing it to be three only--if there might not be some mistake." At this all the other ladies looked reproachfully at Miss Greer. She murmured, "But your fine powers of remembrance, dear Miss Corinna, are _far_ better than mine." Miss Corinna accepted this; and sent Alexander Mann on his errand. Ferdinand Kenneway, in the dusk of the back row, smiled to himself, thinly; but as nature had made him thin, especially about the cheeks, he was not able to smile in a richer way. During the organ-boy's absence the choir rested. The voices of the ladies were, in fact, a little husky. "No, it's all right; that's the hymn he meaned," said Alexander Mann, returning. "An' I ast him if he weern't coming over ter-night, an' he says, 'Oh yes!' says he, an' he get up. Old Senator Ashley's theer, an' _he_ get up too. So I reckon the parson's comin', ladies." And Alexander smiled cheerfully on the row of bonnets as he went across to his box beside the organ. But Miss Corinna stopped him on the way. "What could have possessed you to ask questions of your rector in that inquisitive manner, Alexander Mann?" she said, surveying him. "It was a piece of great impertinence. What are his intentions or his non-intentions to you, pray?" "Well, Miss Corinna, it's orful late, an' I've blowed an' blowed till I'm clean blowed out. An' I knewed that as long as the parson stayed on over theer, you'd all--" "All what?" demanded Miss Corinna, severely. But Alexander, frightened by her tone, retreated to his box. "Never mind him, dear Miss Corinna," said little Miss Tappen, from behind; "he's but a poor motherless orphan." "Perhaps he is, and perhaps he is _not_" said Miss Corinna. "But in any case he must finish his sentence: propriety requires it. Speak up, then, Alexander Mann." "I'll stand by you, Sandy," said Mr. Phipps, humorously. "You said," pursued Miss Corinna, addressing the box, since Alexander was now well hidden within it--"you said that as long as the rector remained in his study, you knew--" "I knewed you'd all hang on here," said Alexander, shrilly, driven to desperation, but safely invisible within his wooden retreat. "Does he mean anything by this?" asked Miss Corinna, turning to the soprani. "I am sure we have not remained a moment beyond our usual time," said Miss Greer, with dignity. "I ask you, does he _mean_ anything?" repeated Miss Corinna, sternly. "Oh, dear Miss Corinna, I am sure he has no meaning at all--none whatever. He never has," said good-natured little Miss Tappen, from her piled chant-books. "And he weeds flower-beds _so_ well!"