f-sacrifice. To give up Cosby Lodge and the foxes, to marry a
penniless wife, and to go and live at Pau on six or seven hundred a
year, seemed just now to Major Grantly to be a fine thing, and he did
not intend to abandon this fine thing without receiving a very clear
reason for doing so. "I can't quite understand Thorne," said the
archdeacon. "He used to be so particular about the foxes, and I don't
suppose that a country gentleman will change his ideas because he has
given up hunting himself."

"Mr. Thorne never thought very much of Flurry," said Henry Grantly,
with his mind intent upon Pau and his grievance.

"He might take my word, at any rate," said the archdeacon.

It was a known fact that the archdeacon's solicitude about the
Plumstead covers was wholly on behalf of his son the major. The major
himself knew this thoroughly, and felt that his father's present
special anxiety was intended as a corroboration of the tidings
conveyed in his mother's letter. Every word so uttered was meant
to have reference to his son's future residence in the country.
"Father," he said, turning round shortly, and standing before the
archdeacon in the pathway, "I think you are quite right about the
covers. I feel sure that every gentleman who preserves a fox does
good to the country. I am sorry that I shall not have a closer
interest in the matter myself."

"Why shouldn't you have a closer interest in it?" said the
archdeacon.

"Because I shall be living abroad."

"You got your mother's letter?"

"Yes, I got my mother's letter."

"Did she not tell you that you can stay where you are?"

"Yes, she said so. But, to tell you the truth, sir, I do not like the
risk of living beyond my assured income."

"But if I justify it?"

"I do not wish to complain, sir, but you have made me understand that
you can, and that in certain circumstances you will, at a moment,
withdraw what you give me. Since this was said to me, I have felt
myself to be unsafe in such a house as Cosby Lodge."

The archdeacon did not know how to explain. He had intended that the
real explanation should be given by Mrs. Grantly, and had been anxious
to return to his old relations with his son without any exact terms
on his own part. But his son was, as he thought, awkward, and would
drive him to some speech that was unnecessary. "You need not be
unsafe there at all," he said, half angrily.

"I must be unsafe if I am not sure of my income."

"Your income is n