----Mr Gleeson and the minister. They were on a car. The same fellow added:

----A fellow in the higher line told me.

Fleming asked:

----But why did they run away, tell us?

----I know why, Cecil Thunder said. Because they had fecked cash out of the rector's room.

----Who fecked it?

----Kickham's brother. And they all went shares in it.

But that was stealing. How could they have done that?

----A fat lot you know about it, Thunder! Wells said. I know why they scut.

----Tell us why.

----I was told not to, Wells said.

----O, go on, Wells, all said. You might tell us. We won't let it out.

Stephen bent forward his head to hear. Wells looked round to see if anyone was coming. Then he said secretly:

----You know the altar wine they keep in the press in the sacristy?

----Yes.

----Well, they drank that and it was found out who did it by the smell. And that's why they ran away, if you want to know.

And the fellow who had spoken first said:

----Yes, that's what I heard too from the fellow in the higher line.

The fellows were all silent. Stephen stood among them, afraid to speak, listening. A faint sickness of awe made him feel weak. How could they have done that? He thought of the dark silent sacristy. There were dark wooden presses there where the crimped surplices lay quietly folded. It was not the chapel but still you had to speak under your breath. It was a holy place. He remembered the summer evening he had been there to be