d attached himself to poor Grace.
"You have never been in this part of the country before, Miss
Crawley," he said.

"No, sir."

"It is rather pretty just about here, and Guestwick Manor is a fine
place in its way, but we have not so much natural beauty as you have
in Barsetshire. Chaldicote Chase is, I think, as pretty as anything
in England."

"I never saw Chaldicote Chase, sir. It isn't pretty at all at
Hogglestock, where we live."

"Ah, I forgot. No; it is not very pretty at Hogglestock. That's where
the bricks come from."

"Papa is clergyman at Hogglestock."

"Yes, yes; I remember. Your father is a great scholar. I have often
heard of him. I am sorry he should be distressed by this charge they
have made. But it will all come right at the assizes. They always
get at the truth there. I used to be intimate with a clergyman in
Barsetshire of the name of Grantly;"--Grace felt that her ears were
tingling, and that her face was red;--"Archdeacon Grantly. His father
was bishop of the diocese."

"Yes, sir. Archdeacon Grantly lives at Plumstead."

"I was staying once with an old friend of mine, Mr. Thorne of
Ullathorne, who lives close to Plumstead, and saw a good deal of
them. I remember thinking Henry Grantly was a very nice lad. He
married afterwards."

"Yes sir; but his wife is dead now, and he has got a little
girl,--Edith Grantly."

"Is there no other child?"

"No sir; only Edith."

"You know him, then?"

"Yes sir; I know Major Grantly,--and Edith. I never saw Archdeacon
Grantly."

"Then, my dear, you never saw a very famous pillar of the Church.
I remember when people used to talk a great deal about Archdeacon
Grantly; but when his time came to be made a bishop, he was not
sufficiently new-fangled; and so he got passed by. He is much better
off as he is, I should say. Bishops have to work very hard, my dear."

"Do they, sir?"

"So they tell me. And the archdeacon is a wealthy man. So Henry
Grantly has got an only daughter? I hope she is a nice child, for I
remember liking him well."

"She is a very nice child, indeed Mr. Dale. She could not be nicer.
And she is so lovely." Then Mr. Dale looked into his young companion's
face, struck by the sudden animation of her words, and perceived for
the first time that she was very pretty.

After this Grace became accustomed to the strangeness of the faces
round her, and managed to eat her dinner without much perturbation of
spirit. When after dinner th