The vicar coughed behind his hand. "I was in hope that your own good sense would have spared me the necessity of any further explanation," he said, a little stiffly. "If you are not aware, I can only say you ought to be, that although your trial on Saturday last resulted in your acquittal--a fact on which I have not failed to congratulate you most heartily--a very antagonistic feeling towards you still exists in certain quarters. There are not wanting those who say that, although the jury by their verdict avouched your innocence, certain suspicious circumstances connected with the affair have not yet been cleared up; and, in short, they choose to exercise the right of private opinion, and--and to assume--But, really, is there any need for me to pursue this painful topic any further?" "None whatever, Mr. Edislow," answered John, with grave dignity. "If such a feeling as you speak of exists--though it seems hard to believe it of one's fellow-townsmen--why, then, sir, I quite agree with you that my position as organist at St. Mary's is no longer tenable, and I will at once place my formal resignation in your hands." "Ah! Brancker, it is a sad thing to say, but we live in a most uncharitable world. I shall be sorry to lose your services, but, all things considered, I fail to see how you could have come to any other decision." CHAPTER XVIII. A REVELATION. The Vicar's statement that there was a certain section of the good people of Ashdown who, notwithstanding the result of the trial, still regarded John Brancker with the eye of suspicion, was a great shock to the latter; and yet, human nature being what it is, it could hardly have been otherwise. From the day of John's committal to prison on the capital charge, the question of his guilt or innocence had been a burning subject of discussion--not merely among the frequenters of bar-parlors and tap-rooms, but at dinner-parties and tea-gatherings--through the gradually ascending scale of social life till the highest rank of county society were reached, where it was kept in reserve by judicious hostesses as a topic which could always be depended on to give a fillip to the conversation whenever it seemed in danger of languishing. Like all burning questions, it was not discussed without acrimony and vehemence. Those who avowed themselves firm believers in the prisoner's innocence were confronted by others who were just as positive with regard to his guilt, although these latter were probably far from wishing to see their belief worked out to its logical conclusion. Then, again, there was another class; that which is never satisfied unless it can back up its opinion with a wager. Thus it naturally came to pass that when the trial resulted in John's acquittal, all those who had professed themselves believers in his guilt, as well as that other section who were out of pocket through having wagered the wrong way, felt themselves more or less