The
COMING
BY
J. C. SNAITH
AUTHOR OF “THE SAILOR,” “ANNE FEVERSHAM,” ETC.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK 1917
Copyright, 1917, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
[Pg 1]
THE COMING
I
He came to his own and his own knew him not.
The vicar of the parish sat at his study tablepen in hand, a sheet of paper before him. Itwas Saturday morning already and his weeklysermon was not yet begun. On Sundays, at the forenoonservice, it was Mr. Perry-Hennington’s custom toread an old discourse, but in the evening the rigid practiceof nearly forty years required that he should giveto the world a new and original homily.
To a man of the vicar’s mold this was a fairly simplematter. His rustic flock was not in the least critical.To the villagers of Penfold, a hamlet on the bordersof Sussex and Kent, every word of their pastor wasgospel. And in their pastor’s own gravely deliberatewords it was the gospel of Christ Crucified.
There had been a time in the vicar’s life when histask had sat lightly upon him. Given the family livingof Penfold-with-Churley in October, 1879, the Reverend[Pg 2]the Honorable Thomas Perry-Hennington hadnever really had any trouble in the matter until August,1914. And then, all at once, trouble came so heavilyupon a man no longer young, that from about the timeof the retreat from Mons Saturday morning became asymbol of torment. It was then that a dark specterfirst appeared in the vicar’s mind. For thirty-five yearshe had been modestly content with a simple moral obligationin return for a stipend of eight hundred poundsa year. He had never presumed to question the fitnessof a man with an Oxford pass degree for such a relativelyhumble office. A Christian of the old sort, withthe habit of faith, and in his own phrase “without intellectualsmear,” he had always been on terms with God.And though Mr. Perry-Hennington would have beenthe last to claim Him as a tribal deity, in the vicar’sear He undoubtedly spoke with the accent of an Englishpublic school, and used the language of Dr. Puseyand Dr. Westcott. But somehow August, 1914, hadseemed to change everything.
It was now June of the following year and Saturdaymorning had grown into a nightmare for the vicar.Doubt had arisen in the household of faith, a cloud nobigger than a man’s hand, but only a firm will and astout heart had been able to dispel it. Terrible wronghad been done to an easy and pleasant world and God[Pg 3]had seemed to look on. Moreover it had been boldlyclaimed that not only was he a graduate of a foreignuniversity, but that he had justified the ways of Antichrist.
After grave and bitter searchings of heart, Mr.Perry-Hennington h