'He would escape, of course,' said the rector. 'He would get a little money, and after such an experience, would probably become a good friend to fox-hunting.'
'And quite a respectable man!' The rector did not guarantee this, but seemed to think that there would, at any rate, be promise of improved conduct. 'The place ought to be too hot to hold him!' exclaimed the Senator indignantly. The rector seemed to think it possible that he might find it uncomfortable at first, in which case he would sell the land at a good price to Lord Rufford, and every one concerned would have been benefited by the transaction,--except Scrobby, for whom no one would feel any pity.
The two gentlemen then promised to come and dine with the rector on the following day. He feared, he said, that he could not make up a party, as there was, he declared, nobody in Dillsborough. 'I never knew such a place,' said the rector. 'Except old Nupper, who is there? Masters is a very decent fellow himself, but he has got out of that kind of thing;--and you can't ask a man without asking his wife. As for clergymen, I'm sick of dining with my own cloth and discussing the troubles of sermons. There never was such a place as Dillsborough!' Then he whispered a word to the squire. Was the squire unwilling to meet his cousin, Reginald Morton? Things were said, and people never knew what was true and what was false. Then John Morton declared that he would be very happy to meet his cousin.
MR. MAINWARING'S LITTLE DINNER
THE company at the rector's house consisted of the Senator, the two Mortons, Mr. Surtees the curate, and old Doctor Nupper. Mrs. Mainwaring was not well enough to appear, and the rector therefore was able to indulge him elf in what he called a bachelor party. As a rule, he disliked clergymen, but at the last had been driven to invite his curate because he thought six a better
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