Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive) THE CURATE IN CHARGE. BY MRS. OLIPHANT. London: MACMILLAN AND CO. 1883. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE PARISH 1 II. THE PREVIOUS HISTORY OF MR. ST. JOHN 12 III. AUNT JANE 30 IV. MISS BROWN 51 V. THE GIRLS AT SCHOOL 68 VI. THE GIRLS AT HOME 89 VII. NEWS 109 VIII. THE NEW RECTOR 134 IX. THE ENEMY 154 X. IN THE PARISH 178 XI. CICELY'S APPEAL 202 XII. THE PARSON'S ROUND 224 XIII. WHAT THE GIRLS COULD DO 247 XIV. HOW TO EXERCISE CHURCH PATRONAGE 272 XV. THE ARTIST AND THE HOUSEKEEPER 290 XVI. REALITY 313 XVII. THE BREAKING UP 330 XVIII. THE CURATE LEAVES BRENTBURN 344 XIX. THE RECTOR'S BEGINNING 364 XX. THE PARISH SCHOOLMISTRESS 387 THE CURATE IN CHARGE CHAPTER I. THE PARISH.