Only an Incident | Page 8

the Joppites. He lived so near that it was the most natural thing
in the world for him to stop for a moment's chat, as every one else did,

either inside or outside of the window as he went by; and as he was
always sure of meeting others, call when he would, it certainly never
could have been asserted of him that he went there only to see Phebe.
Indeed, he often scarcely spoke with her at all when he so dropped in,
and yet out of these frequent and informal meetings an intimacy had
sprung up between them such as Phebe at least had never known before.
She submitted herself to him docilely, reading his books patiently even
when they bored her unutterably, as not seldom happened, and
endeavoring to form her opinion straitly upon his on all intellectual
questions, recognizing her own fallibility with a humility that at once
touched and charmed him. Real humility is rare enough the world over,
but nowhere is it less conspicuously apparent than among the
flourishing virtues of Joppa; and it was not long before this fact was
discovered by Denham Halloway, who, with all his gayety and
light-heartedness, was a keen and discriminating observer of character.
He was one of those interesting people whom all other people interest;
one of those who derive their peculiar charm more from what they find
in you than from what they show you of themselves, though one might
be ashamed to confess the truth so baldly. These are the people who,
without any especial gift of either mind or person, wheedle your secrets
out of you before you know it, possessing all your trust and your liking
before they have given any real evidence of deserving your confidence,
and yet, somehow or other, though rarely either great or talented, or
even heroically good, never for one moment abusing it. Such characters
are not at all unusual, yet are generally accounted so; one of their chief
qualities, according to their friends, being that they are so unlike
everybody else. But Phebe certainly had never met any one at all like
Mr. Halloway, and she was soon of the settled conviction that she
should never meet any one quite like him again. He was true to his
promise to help her; (he never made a promise that he did not honestly
try to keep;) and he applied himself to the by no means thankless task
with the good-humored directness and energy that characterized all his
actions. There was quite a number of young girls in his parish, more
proportionately than in the others. Bell Masters and Amy Duckworth
had long been hovering on its borders, and the advent of so young and
prepossessing a rector had instantly removed their last scruples as to
infant baptism, and settled forever their doubts as to the apostolic

succession. They had come in at once. It was even whispered that
Maria Upjohn had in an incautious moment confessed that she
preferred the litany to Mr. Webb's spontaneous effusions, and had been
summarily sat upon by her mother, whose Bible contained an eleventh
commandment curiously omitted from the twentieth chapter of Exodus
in other versions, and reading: "Thou shalt not become an Episcopalian,
and if possible, thou shalt not be born one." Then there were Nellie
Atterbury, and Janet Mudge, and Polly and Mattie Dexter; there
certainly was no lack of active young teachers for the Sunday-school,
and Phebe was well content to remain passively aside, as of old. But, as
Mrs. Lane remarked, there were no drones allowed in Mr. Halloway's
hive, and before long Phebe found herself insensibly drawn in to be one
of the workers too, with any amount of business growing upon her
hands, and herself, under this new and wise guidance, becoming more
and more capable for it every day.
"A new broom sweeps clean," remarked Mrs. Upjohn, contemptuously,
as she heard of the stir and life in St. Joseph's heretofore-dull little
parish. "For my part, I would rather have Mr. White back--if he weren't
dead. He was a good, sensible old man, who knew his place, and was
contented to let his Church simmer in the background, where it belongs.
He didn't go flaunting his white gown in people's faces every Saint's
day he could trump up, let alone the Wednesday and Friday services.
Who's Mr. Halloway? What does anybody know about him beyond that
the Bishop recommended him, as if a Bishop must know what's what
better than other people, forsooth! Don't tell me!" said Mrs. Upjohn, in
unutterable scorn. "He's a new broom, and he's raising a big dust, and I
would liefer have Mr. White back and let the dust lie,--that's all!"
But the Joppites were far from sharing Mrs. Upjohn's sentiments. Mr.
Halloway