uthouse. "I did tell him, as plain
as words could speak, that we couldn't receive them." "But here they
are," said Mrs. Outhouse, "and here they must remain till my brother
comes to England." "It's the most monstrous thing that I ever heard
of in all my life," said Mr. Outhouse. "He ought to be locked
up;--that's what he ought."

It was hard, and it became harder, when a gentleman, whom Mr.
Outhouse certainly did not wish to see, called upon him about the
latter end of September. Mr. Outhouse was sitting alone, in the
gloomy parlour of his parsonage,--for his own study had been given
up to other things, since this great inroad had been made upon his
family;--he was sitting alone on one Saturday morning, preparing for
the duties of the next day, with various manuscript sermons lying on
the table around him, when he was told that a gentleman had called
to see him. Had Mr. Outhouse been an incumbent at the West-end of
London, or had his maid been a West-end servant, in all probability
the gentleman's name would have been demanded; but Mr. Outhouse was a
man who was not very ready in foreseeing and preventing misfortunes,
and the girl who opened the door was not trained to discreet
usages in such matters. As she announced the fact that there was a
gentleman, she pointed to the door, to show that the gentleman was
there; and before Mr. Outhouse had been able to think whether it
would be prudent for him to make some preliminary inquiry, Colonel
Osborne was in the room. Now, as it happened, these two men had never
hitherto met each other, though one was the brother-in-law of Sir
Marmaduke Rowley, and the other had been his very old friend. "My
name, Mr. Outhouse, is Colonel Osborne," said the visitor, coming
forward, with his hand out. The clergyman, of course, took his hand,
and asked him to be seated. "We have known each other's names very
long," continued the Colonel, "though I do not think we have ever yet
had an opportunity of becoming acquainted."

[Illustration: At St. Diddulph's.]

"No," said Mr. Outhouse; "we have never been acquainted, I believe."
He might have added, that he had no desire whatever to make such
acquaintance; and his manner, over which he himself had no control,
did almost say as much. Indeed, this coming to his house of the
suspected lover of his niece appeared to him to be a heavy addition
to his troubles; for, although he was disposed to take his niece's
part against her husband to any p