Begin at once without."
"Very well," said Polly.
There was another break down, and then she seemed fairly grave.
"My dear brethren," she began.
"There's only one of us," I ventured to observe.
"Now, Regie, you mustn't speak. The congregation never speaks to the
clergyman when he's preaching."
"It's such a small congregation," I pleaded.
"Well, then, I won't preach at all, if you go on like that," said
Polly.
But, as I saw that she was getting cross, and as I had no intention of
offending her, I apologized, and begged her to proceed with her
sermon. So she began again accordingly--
"My dear brethren."
But here she paused; and after a few moments of expectation on my
part, and silence on Polly's, she said--
"Is your pew comfortable, Regie dear?"
"Very," said I. "How do you like the pulpit?"
"Very much indeed," said Polly; "but I don't think I can preach
without a cushion. Suppose we talk."
Thus the sermon was abandoned; and as Polly refused to let me try my
luck in the pulpit, she remained at a considerably higher level than I
was. At last I became impatient of this fact, and began to climb
higher.
[Illustration: Polly and Regie in the "Pulpit" and the "Pew".
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