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The rector had decided that, under the distressing circu in the church, for the night, the pieces of furniture and utensils which had been saved from the several houses There was no other place of safety for theathered there

6 HALF-PAST TWELVE TO ONE AM

Manston, when he retired to meditate, had walked round the churchyard, and now entered the opened door of the building

He mechanically pursued his way round the piers into his own seat in the north aisle The lower atmosphere of this spot was shaded by its oall from the shine which streaht burning inside the church was a s in the font, in the opposite aisle of the building to that in which Manston had sat down, and near where the furniture was piled The candle's ht fro the weak fla there he saw Farrove enter the door, followed by his son Edward, still carrying his travelling-bag in his hand They were speaking of the sad death of Mrs Manston, but the subject was relinquished for that of the houses burnt

This row of houses, running fro circumstances:-Fifty years before this date, the spot upon which the cottages afterwards stood was a blank strip, along the side of the village street, difficult to cultivate, on account of the outcrop thereon of a large bed of flints called locally a 'lanch' or 'lanchet' The Aldclyffe then in possession of the estate conceived the idea that a row of cottages would be an iranted leases of portions to several respectable inhabitants Each lessee was to be subject to the payment of a merely nominal rent for the whole tere, and delivered it up intact at the end of the term

Those who had built had, one by one, relinquished their indentures, either by sale or barter, to Farrove's father New lives were added in some cases, by payment of a sum to the lord of the manor, etc, and all the leases were now held by the fare

The steward had beco conversation:-'Try not to be so depressed, father; they are all insured' The words came from Edward in an anxious tone