Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/188

172 “Well, Rev. Mr. Weeks, the Rector of St. Michael’s, did run away to Nova Scotia, and some of the leading members were unpopular Tories. The church itself was closed during the war and for some years after. When the Declaration of Independence was declared, the townspeople rushed in and pulled down the arms of King George from over the chancel, and rang the bell until it  cracked.”

“How foolish! To treat a church in that way!” said Brenda.

“At any rate, they made themselves understood,” responded Julia. The girls now turned from St. Michael’s, and while Amy took back the key, they all walked on  slowly until she overtook them.

“I wonder where Fritz is,” Brenda ventured to ask, as she drew near.

“Oh, he is probably half way home now. He can ride pretty well, and he ’ll try to see what he or his bicycle  can do.”

“It’s a wonder that he has never had a bicycle before.”

“It’s a wonder to me that he has one now. His uncle is so afraid that something will happen to him while his  father is away, that he never would consent to his having  one.”

“Perhaps his father has written' about it; if Fritz is like any other boys I know, my brothers, for example,” said  Nora, “he would n’t rest content with his uncle’s refusal. It may be that his father himself has sent this to him.”

“Talking of bicycles,” cried Brenda, who had been