t the girls like his mother, who
is a kind of cousin, as you know. It is not only because he
has failed to take his degree (you know how I hate the
hideous slang in which this fact is generally stated), but
that his father, who is one of the rich persons who abound
in the lower circles of society, is ambitious, and would
like to see him in Parliament, and that sort of thing--a
position which cannot be held creditably without some sort
of education: at least, so I am myself disposed to think.
Therefore, your pleasing duty will be to get him up in a
little history and geography, so that he may not get quite
hopelessly wrong in any of the modern modifications of
territory, for instance; and in so much Horace as may
furnish him with a few stock quotations, in case he should
be called upon, in the absence of any more hopeful
neophyte, to move the Address. He is a great hulking
fellow, not very brilliant, you may suppose, but not so
badly mannered as he might be, considering his parentage. I
don't think he'll give you much trouble in the house; but
he will most probably bore you to death, and in that case
your family ought to have a claim, I should think, for
compensation. Anyhow, come and see him, and us, before you
begin your hard task.

"Very truly yours,
"R. DORSET."

"Anne makes me open my letter to say that Ursula must come
too. We will send a carriage to meet you at the station."

This letter caused considerable excitement in the Parsonage. It was the
first invitation to dinner which Ursula had ever received. The
dinner-parties in Carlingford were little frequented by young ladies.
The male population was not large enough to afford a balance for the
young women of the place, who came together in the evening, and took all
the trouble of putting on their pretty white frocks, only to sit in rows
in the drawing-room, waiting till the old gentlemen came in from the
dining-room, after which everybody went away. There were no young
gentlemen to speak of in Carlingford, so that when any one was bold
enough to attempt a dancing-party, or anything of an equally amusing
description, friends were sent out in all directions, as the beaters are
sent into the woods to bring together the unfortunate birds for a
_battue_, to find men. These circumstances will explain the flutter in
Ursula's innoc