at disappointment, he would talk of nothing but the beauty of
the country, and of the voices of Lablache and Sonntag, or the like,
which he evidently considered the proper subjects for ladies; and it was
not till he had spent the quarter of an hour, fit for a visit of
ceremony, on these topics that he asked Captain Carbonel to allow him a
little conversation with him.

They shut themselves into the captain's little `den,' which was
something between a gun-room and a library, with the rectory books going
round two sides of the room, Edmund's sword, pistols, and spurs hanging
over the mantelpiece, and his guns, shot-belts, powder-horn, and
fishing-rods on hooks on the wall. No noise was heard for more than an
hour, during which Dora fumed, Mary cut off the dead roses, and Sophia
was withheld from peeping.

At last they came out--the horses had been brought to the door--the
President bowed to the ladies, mounted, and rode off, while Edmund came
across the lawn; and they all clustered round him.

"Well," said he, "we have fared better than we expected. Dr Fogram has
long been regretting the state of the parish."

"Why did he do nothing?" broke in Dora.

"I suppose he has much on his hands; and, I am afraid, my poor old uncle
was a hindrance, for he really seemed like a man who had got rid of an
incubus when he found that we were willing to do what we could. Then it
seems that he was disappointed in Ashley Selby. He thought that, being
an inhabitant of the place, the young man would be interested in the
people, and make his sisters useful."

"They!" exclaimed Dora. "They are such fine ladies, who think about
nothing but Almack's, are afraid of the dirt, and of catching all sorts
of disorders at the cottages."

"I can hardly get Dora to be moderately civil to them," said Mary.

"Yes," said Edmund, "parental influence has been strong. The mother
fears for health, the father for his game, and the children have grown
up to think poachers and their families almost beyond the pale of
humanity. It has been too much for this young man, who simply
acquiesced in the way in which he was bred. However, this will come to
an end, for the present holder of the family living has had a paralytic
stroke, and wants him to come and assist. I fully believe that he may
do much better away from home habits, especially under a good
incumbent."

"And what is to happen to us?" inquired Mary.

"Dr Fogram says that he will send us