The first hop took it to the top of the pew; the second perched it on the shoulder of the stoutest lady.

Duncan and Llewellyn tittered louder, and even Eric could not resist a smile.

But when the lady, feeling some irritation on her shoulder, raised her hand, and the grasshopper took a frightened leap into the centre of the green foliage which enwreathed her bonnet, none of the three could stand it, and they burst into fits of laughter, which they tried in vain to conceal by bending down their heads and cramming their handkerchiefs into their mouths.

Eric, having once given way, enjoyed the joke uncontrollably, and the lady made matters worse by her uneasy attempts to dislodge the unknown intruder, and discover the cause of the tittering, which she could not help hearing.

At last all three began to laugh so violently that several heads were turned in their direction, and Dr.Rowlands' stern eye caught sight of their levity.