But almost all her talk was in another key—­a brisk, direct, idiomatic manner of speech, with an intonation hinting at no section in particular.  It was merely that of the city-dweller as distinguished from the rustic.  She was of about Alice’s height, perhaps a shade taller.  It did not escape the attention of the Wares that she wore clothes of a more stylish cut and a livelier arrangement of hues than any Alice had ever dared own, even in lax-minded Tyre.  The two talked of this in their room on Friday night; and Theron explained that congregations would tolerate things of this sort with a stranger which would be sharply resented in the case of local folk whom they controlled.  It was on this occasion that Alice in turn told Theron she was sure Mrs. Soulsby had false teeth—­a confidence which she immediately regretted as an act of treachery to her sex.

On Saturday afternoon, toward evening, Brother Soulsby arrived, and was guided to the parsonage by his wife, who had gone to the depot to meet him.  They must have talked over the situation pretty thoroughly on the way, for by the time the new-comer had washed his face and hands and put on a clean collar, Sister Soulsby was ready to announce her plan of campaign in detail.

Her husband was a man of small stature and, like herself, of uncertain age.  He had a gentle, if rather dry, clean-shaven face, and wore his dust-colored hair long behind.  His little figure was clad in black clothes of a distinctively clerical fashion, and he had a white neck-cloth neatly tied under his collar.  The Wares noted that he looked clean and amiable rather than intellectually or spiritually powerful, as he took the vacant seat between theirs, and joined them in concentrating attention upon Mrs. Soulsby.

This lady, holding herself erect and alert on the edge of the low, big easy-chair had the air of presiding over a meeting.

“My idea is,” she began, with an easy implication that no one else’s idea was needed, “that your Quarterly Conference, when it meets on Monday, must be adjourned to Tuesday.  We will have the people all out tomorrow morning to love-feast, and announcement can be made there, and at the morning service afterward, that a series of revival meetings are to be begun that same evening.  Mr. Soulsby and I can take charge in the evening, and we’ll see to it that that packs the house—­fills the church to overflowing Monday evening.  Then we’ll quietly turn the meeting into a debt-raising convention, before they know where they are, and we’ll wipe off the best part of the load.  Now, don’t you see,” she turned her eyes full upon Theron as she spoke, “you want to hold your Quarterly Conference after this money’s been raised, not before.”

“I see what you mean,” Mr. Ware responded gravely.  “But—­”

“But what!” Sister Soulsby interjected, with vivacity.

“Well,” said Theron, picking his words, “in the first place, it rests with the Presiding Elder to say whether an adjournment can be made until Tuesday, not with me.”