"I'll run through the recitative," he added, "and take your time from
the stick. And mind that OH."

The parson's daughter struck a chord, and then the burly choirmaster
spoke with the voice of melody:

"My heart is disquieted within me. My heart--my heart is disquieted
within me. And the fear of death is fallen--is fallen upon me."

The terrier moaned without, and Jack thought no boy's voice could be
worth listening to after that of the choirmaster. But he was wrong. A
few more notes from the organ, and then, as night-stillness in a wood is
broken by the nightingale, so upon the silence of the church a
boy-alto's voice broke forth in obedience to the choirmaster's uplifted
hand:

"_Then_, I said--I said----"

Jack gasped, but even as he strained his eyes to see what such a singer
could look like, with higher, clearer notes the soprano rose above him
--"Then I sa--a--id," and the duet began:

"Oh that I had wings--O that I had wings like a dove!"

_Soprano_.--"Then would I flee away." _Alto_.--"Then would I
flee away." _Together_.--"And be at rest--flee away and be at
rest."

The clear young voices soared and chased each other among the arches, as
if on the very pinions for which they prayed. Then--swept from their