idle dog; he has some very good points,
and his father is a little hard upon him."

"Where is he going?" said Mrs. Garth, rather coldly.

"He means to try again for his degree, and he is going up to study
before term. I have advised him to do that. I don't urge him to enter
the Church--on the contrary. But if he will go and work so as to pass,
that will be some guarantee that he has energy and a will; and he is
quite at sea; he doesn't know what else to do. So far he will please
his father, and I have promised in the mean time to try and reconcile
Vincy to his son's adopting some other line of life. Fred says frankly
he is not fit for a clergyman, and I would do anything I could to
hinder a man from the fatal step of choosing the wrong profession. He
quoted to me what you said, Miss Garth--do you remember it?" (Mr.
Farebrother used to say "Mary" instead of "Miss Garth," but it was part
of his delicacy to treat her with the more deference because, according
to Mrs. Vincy's phrase, she worked for her bread.)

Mary felt uncomfortable, but, determined to take the matter lightly,
answered at once, "I have said so many impertinent things to Fred--we
are such old playfellows."

"You said, according to him, that he would be one of those ridiculous
clergymen who help to make the whole clergy ridiculous. Really, that
was so cutting that I felt a little cut myself."

Caleb laughed. "She gets her tongue from you, Susan," he said, with
some enjoyment.

"Not its flippancy, father," said Mary, quickly, fearing that her
mother would be displeased. "It is rather too bad of Fred to repeat my
flippant speeches to Mr. Farebrother."

"It was certainly a hasty speech, my dear," said Mrs. Garth, with whom
speaking evil of dignities was a high misdemeanor. "We should not
value our Vicar the less because there was a ridiculous curate in the
next parish."

"There's something in what she says, though," said Caleb, not disposed
to have Mary's sharpness undervalued. "A bad workman of any sort makes
his fellows mistrusted. Things hang together," he added, looking on
the floor and moving his feet uneasily with a sense that words were
scantier than thoughts.

"Clearly," said the Vicar, amused. "By being contemptible we set men's
minds, to the tune of contempt. I certainly agree with Miss Garth's
view of the matter, whether I am condemned by it or not. But as to
Fred Vincy, it is only fair he should be excused a little: old