of funds at that Berryhill soup-kitchen, seeing that the great fount
of supplies, the house, namely, of Castle Richmond, would soon have
stopped running altogether. And Mr. Carter was ready to provide
funds to some moderate extent if all his questions were answered
satisfactorily. "There was to be no making of Protestants," he said,
"by giving away of soup purchased with his money." Mr. Townsend
thought that this might have been spared him. "I regret to say,"
replied he, with some touch of sarcasm, "that we have no time for
that now." "And so better," said Mr. Carter, with a sarcasm of a
blunter sort. "So better. Let us not clog our alms with impossible
conditions which will only create falsehood." "Any conditions are out
of the question when one has to feed a whole parish," answered Mr.
Townsend.

And then Mr. Carter would teach them how to boil their yellow meal,
on which subject he had a theory totally opposite to the practice
of the woman employed at the soup-kitchen. "Av we war to hocus it
that, yer riverence," said Mrs. Daly, turning to Mr. Townsend, "the
crathurs couldn't ate a bit of it; it wouldn't bile at all, at all,
not like that."

"Try it, woman," said Mr. Carter, when he had uttered his receipt
oracularly for the third time.

"'Deed an' I won't," said Mrs. Daly, whose presence there was pretty
nearly a labour of love, and who was therefore independent. "It'd be
a sin an' a shame to spile Christian vittels in them times, an' I
won't do it." And then there was some hard work that day; and though
Mr. Townsend kept his temper with his visitor, seeing that he had
much to get and nothing to give, he did not on this occasion learn to
alter his general opinion of his brethren of the English high church.

And then, when they got home, very hungry after their toil, Mr.
Townsend made another apology for the poorness of his table. "I am
almost ashamed," said he, "to ask an English gentleman to sit down to
such a dinner as Mrs. Townsend will put before you."

"And indeed then it isn't much," said Mrs. Townsend; "just a bit of
fish I found going the road."

"My dear madam, anything will suffice," said Mr. Carter, somewhat
pretentiously. And anything would have sufficed. Had they put before
him a mess of that paste of which I have spoken he would have ate it
and said nothing,--ate enough of it at least to sustain him till the
morrow.

But things had not come to so bad a pass as this at
Drumbarrow parsonage; an