eleven o'clock
The Miss Minetts had a lady with them -- a plump , short little person , dressed with attempted fashion , whose back struck Damaris as quaintly familiar , she catching a glimpse of it in passing . Most surprising of all , William Jennifer headed a contingent from the Island , crowding the men 's free seats to right and left of the west door . An expectancy , moreover , seemed to animate the throng . Then she remembered , the new curate , Reginald Sawyer , had informed her and Miss Felicia two evenings ago when he had called and been bidden to stay to tea , that he would preach for the first time at the eleven o'clock service . So far he had only occupied the pulpit on Sunday afternoons , when a country congregation is liable to be both scanty and somnolent . To-day he would prove himself before the heads of tribes , before the notables . And Damaris wished him well , esteeming him a worthy young man , if somewhat provincial and superfluously pompous .