The congregation was always small, and perhaps the three
most enthusiastic members were Dick, Elsie, and the Corporal. For the
Corporal had inherited a violoncello, or as it was always called in the
village, a bass viol, from his father, and played it in the little
gallery along with the two violins, flageolet and bassoon that formed
the rest of the band. The notes that he could play were few, though
sufficient for the humble needs of the church, but the children had no
doubt that he was the finest performer in the world, and watched
anxiously for the minute when he should begin sawing away at the
strings, and the choir should break (very much through their noses)
into the anthem, "I will arise, I will arise and goo tu my va-ther,"
with which the service always began.
The old parson, though he did attempt to fulfil Lady Eleanor's wishes
in his sermon, only succeeded in being duller and longer than usual,
and neither Dick nor Elsie could understand what he was talking about.
Moreover they had been much distracted by a printed handbill which they
had seen on the church door, headed in large letters by the word
"Deserted," with the description of a deserter named Henry Bale from
the Royal Marines, set forth in the usual terms--"Height five feet four
inches, fair hair, grey eyes; when last seen was dressed in his
regimentals," and so on.
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