t had been already settled between her and Sir Peregrine
that Lucius should dine there in order that he might be talked to
respecting his mania for guano, the invitation could not be refused;
but, as for Lady Mason herself, she would much have preferred to
remain at home.

Indeed, her uneasiness on that guano matter had been so outweighed
by worse uneasiness from another source, that she had become, if not
indifferent, at any rate tranquil on the subject. It might be well
that Sir Peregrine should preach his sermon, and well that Lucius
should hear it; but for herself it would, she thought, have been more
comfortable for her to eat her dinner alone. She felt, however, that
she could not do so. Any amount of tedium would be better than the
danger of offering a slight to Sir Peregrine, and therefore she wrote
a pretty little note to say that both of them would be at The Cleeve
at seven.

"Lucius, my dear, I want you to do me a great favour," she said as
she sat by her son in the Hamworth fly.

"A great favour, mother! of course I will do anything for you that I
can."

"It is that you will bear with Sir Peregrine to-night."

"Bear with him! I do not know exactly what you mean. Of course I will
remember that he is an old man, and not answer him as I would one of
my own age."

"I am sure of that, Lucius, because you are a gentleman. As much
forbearance as that a young man, if he be a gentleman, will always
show to an old man. But what I ask is something more than that. Sir
Peregrine has been farming all his life."

"Yes; and see what are the results! He has three or four hundred
acres of uncultivated land on his estate, all of which would grow
wheat."

"I know nothing about that," said Lady Mason.

"Ah, but that's the question. My trade is to be that of a farmer, and
you are sending me to school. Then comes the question, Of what sort
is the schoolmaster?"

"I am not talking about farming now, Lucius."

"But he will talk of it."

"And cannot you listen to him without contradicting him--for my
sake? It is of the greatest consequence to me,--of the very
greatest, Lucius, that I should have the benefit of Sir Peregrine's
friendship."

"If he would quarrel with you because I chanced to disagree with
him about the management of land, his friendship would not be worth
having."

"I do not say that he will do so; but I am sure you can understand
that an old man may be tender on such points. At any rate I ask it