When Felix had offered Lily a chair, the Reverend Emanuel Creamwell had killed the proffered courtesy with an irritable wave of his hand, which expressed, "You will not presume to sit in my presence." In everything that Felix did he found cause for anger, and he believed that his son was animated by a distinct wish to thwart and oppose him; this very proffered courtesy to one of these persons was another argument in his mind against Felix. Marble in the hands of a sympathetic worker was more capable of tenderness and gentleness than was the face of the Reverend Emanuel Creamwell as he sat in his arm-chair and waited for the intruders to speak. "My name, sir, is Verity," commenced the old man, in a humble and respectful voice. "So I understand," said the Reverend Emanuel Creamwell, in a hard and cold voice. Lily shivered as the harshly-spoken words fell upon her ears. "These are my grandchildren," indicating Lily and Alfred. "A gentleman," thought Felix, as he followed the courteous action of the old man. The Reverend Emanuel Creamwell received the intimation with a scarcely perceptible nod, and a colder chill came upon Lily's sensitive spirit as she raised her eyes to the dark face of the minister. "They are the children of my dead daughter," continued the old man, "who before she died expressed a wish to be buried in the place which had been familiar to her in her younger and happier days." "These details are scarcely necessary, I should say. What are you here for?" The old man's agitation was so great that he was compelled to pause before he answered; but strength seemed to come to him as he looked at the Reverend Emanuel Creamwell's stony face. "The mother of these children is waiting in the churchyard to be buried." "You received my message, I have no doubt." "Some words were spoken to me as coming from you." "Were not they sufficient?" "I could not believe, sir, that the words which were delivered to me came from the lips of a minister of God." A flash of something very like anger lighted up the small eyes of the Reverend Emanuel Creamwell. "And so you come here to revile His minister?" "I come here in all humility, sir," replied the old man. "Do you wish me to repeat the message?" "I wish to know, sir, that I have been mistaken. I cannot believe that what I have been told is true." "It is the evil of the ungodly that they cannot answer straight. Do you wish me to repeat the message?" "Yes, sir." "It is very simple. My intimation was to the effect that I cannot perform any service over the deceased woman." "The prayers for the dead----" exclaimed the old man imploringly. "Are not for her!" said the minister, finishing the sentence sternly.