'When we get into the church,' he continued, 'you give a look left of
the chancel, close by the door where the shelf is with the
poor-loaves. You'll see a painted winder there which that 'Umpage got
put up to his aunt--that's his ostentation, that is. I don't believe
he ever _had_ an aunt; but I don't wish to judge him. Only you look at
that window, and tell me how it strikes you afterwards. He's got the
artist to do him as the Good Samaritan there! I call it
scandalous!--there's no mistake about it; the 'air's not the same
colour, and the Eastern robes hide it a bit; but he's there for all
that. I don't relish seeing 'Umpage figurin' away in painted glass and
a great gaudy turban every time I look up, he's quite aggravating
enough in his pew. If I chose to go to the expense, _I_ could put up a
winder too, and 'ave myself done.'
'As a saint?' suggested Mark.
'Never you mind. If I liked to be a saint on glass I could, I
suppose--I'm a churchwarden, and there's no reason why 'Umpage should
'ave all the painted winders to himself; but I shouldn't care to make
myself so conspicuous. 'Umpage, now, he likes that sort of thing.'
This brought them to the church, a perpendicular building with a
decidedly 'Early English' smell in it, and Uncle Solomon led the way
to his pew, stopping to nudge Mark as they passed the memorial to his
enemy's meretricious aunt; he nudged him again presently, after he had
retired behind the ecclesiastical hat and emerged again to deal out
some very large prayer and hymn books as if they were cards.
'That's him--that's 'Umpage,' he said in a loud whisper.
Mark looked up in time to see an old gentleman advance to the door of
the pew in front of them--a formidable-looking old gentleman, with a
sallow face, long iron-grey locks, full grey eyes, a hook-nose, and
prominent teeth under a yellowish-grey moustache and beard.
He felt a sudden shame, for behind Mr. Humpage came a pretty child
with long floating light hair, with a staid fresh-faced woman in grey,
and last a girl of about nineteen or twenty, who seemed to have caught
the very audible whisper, for she glanced in its direction as she
passed in with the slightest possible gleam of amused surprise in her
eyes and a lifting of her delicate eyebrows.
A loud intoned 'Amen' came from the vestry just then, the organ played
a voluntary, and the vicar and curate marched in at the end of a
procession of little surpliced country boys, whose boots made a very
undevotional clatter over the brasses and flagstones.
As a Low Churchman Mr. Lightowler protested against this processional
pomp by a loud snort, which expression of opinion he repeated at any
tendency to genuflexion on the part of the clergyman during the
service, until the little girl turned round and gazed at him with
large concerned eyes, as if she thought he must be either very devout
or extremely unwell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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