Have they told you about the new organ?
We're quite full of it at our house."
"No," said Peake, "they haven't."
"What!" she cried reproachfully. "You haven't told him, Enoch--nor you,
Nan?"
"Upon my word it never entered my head," said Mrs Peake.
"Well, Uncle Peake," Mrs Lovatt began, "we're going to have a new organ
for the Conference."
"Not before it's wanted," said Peake. "I do like a bit of good music at
service, and Best himself couldn't make anything of that old wheezer
we've got now."
"Is that the reason we see you so seldom at chapel?" Mrs Lovatt asked
tartly.
"I was there last Sunday morning."
"And before that, Uncle Peake?" She smiled sweetly on him.
Peake was one of the worldlings who, in a religious sense, existed
precariously on the fringe of the Methodist Society. He rented a pew,
and he was never remiss in despatching his wife and daughter to occupy
it. He imagined that his belief in the faith of his fathers was
unshaken, but any reference to souls and salvation made him exceedingly
restless and uncomfortable. He could not conceive himself crowned and
harping in Paradise, and yet he vaguely surmised that in the last result
he would arrive at that place and state, wafted thither by the prayers
of his womenkind.
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