nnounce Mr
Leeson, who had come to talk over the topic of the day with the
Rector--being comfortably obtuse in his perceptions, and quite
disposed to ignore Mrs Morgan's general demeanour towards himself. "I
am sure she has a bad temper," he would say to his confidants in the
parish; "you can see it by the redness in her face: but I never take
any notice when she says rude things to me." The redness was alarming
in Mrs Morgan's face as the unlucky man became visible at the door.
She said audibly, "I knew we should be interrupted!" and got up from
her chair. "As Mr Leeson is here, you will not want me, William," she
added, in her precisest tones. "If anything has happened since you
came in, he will be able to tell you about it; and perhaps I had
better send you your coffee here, for I have a great many things to
do." Mr Morgan gave a little groan in his spirit as his wife went
away. To do him justice, he had a great deal of confidence in her, and
was unconsciously guided by her judgment in many matters. Talking it
over with Mr Leeson was a totally different thing; for whatever might
be said in his defence, there could not be any doubt that the Curate
professed Low-Church principles, and had been known to drink tea with
Mr Beecher, the new minister of Salem Chapel. "Not that I object to Mr
Beecher because he is a Dissenter," Mr Morgan said, "but because, my
dear, you know, it is a totally different class of society." When the
Rector was left alone to discuss parish matters with this doubtful
subordinate, instead of going into the subject with his wife, the good
man felt a pang of disappointment; for though he professed to be
reluctant to shock her, he had been longing all the time to enter into
the story, which was certainly the most exciting which had occurred in
Carlingford since the beginning of his incumbency. Mrs Morgan, for her
part, went up-stairs to the drawing-room with so much indignation
about this personal grievance that she almost forgot her curiosity. Mr
Leeson hung like a cloud over all the advantages of Carlingford; he
put out that new flue in the greenhouse, upon which she was rather
disposed to pique herself, and withered her ferns, which everybody
allowed to be the finest collection within a ten miles' circuit. This
sense of disgust increased upon her as she went into the drawing-room,
where her eye naturally caught that carpet which had been the first
cross of her married life. When she had laid down he