`` Best let 'em alone , I say , '' said Wherrison . `` They 're mad at us now and doing this to pay us out . But they 'll cool down later on and we 'll have the social all right . '' `` But if they do n't , '' said Andrew McKittrick gloomily , `` who is going to pay for that carpet ? '' This was an unpleasant question . The others shirked it . `` I was always opposed to this action of the session , '' said Alec Craig . `` It would n't have hurt to have let the woman speak . 'T is n't as if it was a regular sermon . '' `` The session knew best , '' said Andrew sharply . `` And the minister -- you 're not going to set your opinion up against his , are you , Craig ? '' `` Did n't know they taught such reverence for ministers in Danbridge , '' retorted Craig with a laugh . `` Best let 'em alone , as Wherrison says , '' said Abner Keech . `` Do n't see what else we can do , '' said John Wilson shortly . * * * * * On Sunday morning the men were conscious of a bare , deserted appearance in the church . Mr. Sinclair perceived it himself . After some inward wondering he concluded that it was because there were no flowers anywhere . The table before the pulpit was bare . On the organ a vase held a sorry , faded bouquet left over from the previous week . The floor was ' unswept .
Dust lay thickly on the XXXXX Bible , the choir chairs , and the pew backs .
carpet church men minister opinion organ pulpit question sermon session