COLLECTION OF BRITISH AUTHORS TAUCHNITZ EDITION. VOL. 1091. SALEM CHAPEL BY MRS. OLIPHANT. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. TAUCHNITZ EDITION. By the same Author, THE LAST OF THE MORTIMERS 2 vols. MARGARET MAITLAND 1 vol. AGNES 2 vols. MADONNA MARY 2 vols. THE MINISTER'S WIFE 2 vols. THE RECTOR AND THE DOCTOR'S FAMILY 1 vol. Chronicles of Carlingford SALEM CHAPEL BY MRS. OLIPHANT. _COPYRIGHT EDITION._ IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LEIPZIG BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ 1870. _The Right of Translation is reserved._ SALEM CHAPEL. CHAPTER I. Towards the west end of Grove Street, in Carlingford, on the shabby side of the street, stood a red brick building, presenting a pinched gable terminated by a curious little belfry, not intended for any bell, and looking not unlike a handle to lift up the edifice by to the public observation. This was Salem Chapel, the only Dissenting place of worship in Carlingford. It stood in a narrow strip of ground, just as the little houses which flanked it on either side stood in their gardens, except that the enclosure of the chapel was flowerless and sombre, and showed at the farther end a few sparsely-scattered tombstones--unmeaning slabs, such as the English mourner loves to inscribe his sorrow on. On either side of this little tabernacle were the humble houses--little detached boxes, each two storeys high, each fronted by a little flower-plot--clean, respectable, meagre, little habitations, which contributed most largely to the ranks of the congregation in the Chapel. The big houses opposite, which turned their backs and staircase windows to the street, took little notice of the humble Dissenting community. Twice in the winter, perhaps, the Miss Hemmings, mild evangelical women, on whom the late rector--the Low-Church rector, who reigned before the brief and exceptional incumbency of the Rev. Mr. Proctor--had bestowed much of his confidence, would cross the street, when other profitable occupations failed them, to hear a special sermon on a Sunday evening. But the Miss Hemmings were the only representatives of anything which could, by the utmost stretch, be called Society, who ever patronised the Dissenting interest in the town of Carlingford. Nobody from Grange Lane had ever