Hanky was still with
President Gurgoyle and others in the robing-room, N; Yram had already
taken her seat: my father knew her in a moment, though he pretended not
to do so when George pointed her out to him. Their eyes met for a
second; Yram turned hers quickly away, and my father could not see a
trace of recognition in her face. At no time during the whole ceremony
did he catch her looking at him again.
"Why, you stupid man," she said to him later on in the day with a quick,
kindly smile, "I was looking at you all the time. As soon as the
President or Hanky began to talk about you I knew you would stare at him,
and then I could look. As soon as they left off talking about you I knew
you would be looking at me, unless you went to sleep--and as I did not
know which you might be doing, I waited till they began to talk about you
again."
My father had hardly taken note of his surroundings when the choir began
singing, accompanied by a few feeble flutes and lutes, or whatever the
name of the instrument should be, but with no violins, for he knew
nothing of the violin, and had not been able to teach the Erewhonians
anything about it. The voices were all in unison, and the tune they sang
was one which my father had taught Yram to sing; but he could not catch
the words.
As soon as the singing began, a procession, headed by the venerable Dr.
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