Dean Drone. It had been arranged, you know, that the rector should
not attend the lunches, so as to let the whole thing come as a
surprise; so that all he knew about it was just scraps of information
about the crowds at the lunch and how they cheered and all that.
Once, I believe, he caught sight of the Newspacket with a two-inch
headline: A QUARTER OF A MILLION, but he wouldn't let himself read
further because it would have spoilt the surprise.

I saw Mullins, as I say, go up the street on his way to Dean Drone's.
It was middle April and there was ragged snow on the streets, and the
nights were dark still, and cold. I saw Mullins grit his teeth as he
walked, and I know that he held in his coat pocket his own cheque for
the hundred, with the condition taken off it, and he said that there
were so many skunks in Mariposa that a man might as well be in the
Head Office in the city.

The Dean came out to the little gate in the dark,--you could see the
lamplight behind him from the open door of the rectory,--and he shook
hands with Mullins and they went in together.



SIX

The Beacon on the Hill

Mullins said afterward that it was ever so much easier than he
thought it would have been. The Dean, he said, was so quiet. Of
course if Mr. Drone had started to swear at Mullins, or tried to
strike him, it would have been much harder. But as it was he was so