an. He had nothing more to say for the
moment; and then a dread unbroken silence fell upon the little company.
The Rector coloured, faltered, cleared his throat--he had not an idea
how to get into conversation with such unknown entities. He looked hard
at Lucy, with a bold intention of addressing her; but, having the bad
fortune to meet her eye, shrank back, and withdrew the venture. Then the
good man inclined his profile towards Miss Wentworth. His eyes wandered
wildly round the room in search of a suggestion; but, alas! it was a
mere dining-room, very comfortable, but not imaginative. In his dreadful
dilemma he was infinitely relieved by the sound of somebody's voice.

"I trust you will like Carlingford, Mr Proctor," said Miss Wodehouse,
mildly.

"Yes--oh yes; I trust so," answered the confused but grateful man; "that
is, it will depend very much, of course, on the kind of people I find
here."

"Well, we are a little vain. To tell the truth, indeed, we rather pride
ourselves a little on the good society in Carlingford," said his gentle
and charitable interlocutor.

"Ah, yes--ladies?" said the Rector: "hum--that was not what I was
thinking of."

"But, oh, Mr Proctor," cried Lucy, with a sudden access of fun, "you
don't mean to say that you dislike ladies' society, I hope?"

The Rector gave an uneasy half-frightened glance at her. The creature
was dangerous even to a Fellow of All-Souls.

"I may say I know very little about them," said the bewildered
clergyman. As soon as he had said the words he thought they sounded
rude; but how could he help it?--the truth of his speech was
indisputable.

"Come here, and we'll initiate you--come here as often as you can spare
us a little of your time," cried Mr Wodehouse, who had come to a pause
in his operations. "You couldn't have a better chance. They're head
people in Carlingford, though I say it. There's Mary, she's a learned
woman; take you up in a false quantity, sir, a deal sooner than I
should. And Lucy, she's in another line altogether; but there's quantities
of people swear by her. What's the matter, children, eh? I suppose
so--people tell me so. If people tell me so all day long, I'm entitled
to believe it, I presume?"

Lucy answered this by a burst of laughter, not loud but cordial, which
rang sweet and strange upon the Rector's ears. Miss Wodehouse, on the
contrary, looked a little ashamed, blushed a pretty pink old-maidenly
blush, and mildly remonstrated wi