from him and shoved it on to a high shelf.

"Ye can get screws at the village, ye know," he said, still indignantly,
as if some fault had appertained to Saul.

Then, endeavouring to calm an ill-temper which he felt to be wholly
unreasonable, he crossed his arms and sat down on a chair by the wall.
His sitting in that room at all perhaps betokened something of the same
sensation which in Saul produced those glances before and behind,
indicating that he did not like to turn his back upon any object of awe.
In Bates this motive, if it existed, was probably unconscious or
short-lived; but while he still sat there Saul spoke, with a short,
silly laugh which was by way of preface.

"Don't you think, now, Mr. Bates, it 'ud be better to have a prayer, or
a hymn, or something of that sort? We'd go to bed easier."

To look at the man it would not have been easy to attribute any just
notion of the claims of religion to him. He looked as if all his
motions, except those of physical strength, were vapid and paltry.
Still, this was what he said, and Bates replied stiffly:

"I've no objections."

Then, as if assuming proper position for the ceremony that was to ease
his mind, the big lumberman sat down. The girl also sat down.

Bates, wiry, intelligent Scot that he was, sat, his arms crossed and his
broad jaw firmly set, regarding them both with contempt in his mind.
What did they either of them know about the religion they seemed at this