Volume I Part 4 (1/2)

”I am almost ashamed, sir,” said she, as they turned towards the house, ”to have asked you to see such humble objects as these to which we attach value, for my brother tells me you are a great traveller; but it is just possible you have met in your journeys others who, like us, lived so much out of the world that they fancied they had the prettiest spot in it for their own.”

”You must not ask me what I think of all I have seen: here, Miss Lendrick, till my enthusiasm calms down;” and his look of admiration, so palpably addressed to herself, sent a flush to her cheek. ”A man's belongings are his history,” said Sir Brook, quickly turning the conversation into an easier channel: ”show me his study, his stable, his garden; let me see his hat, his cane, the volume he thrusts into his pocket, and I 'll make you an indifferent good guess about his daily doings.”

”Tell me of papa's. Come here, Tom,” cried she, as the two young men came towards her, ”and listen to a bit of divination.”

”Nay, I never promised a lecture. I offered a confidence,” said he, in a half whisper; but she went on: ”Sir Brook says that he reads people pretty much as Cuvier p.r.o.nounced on a mastodon, by some small minute detail that pertained to them. Here's Tom's cigar-case,” said she, taking it from his pocket; ”what do you infer from that, sir?”

”That he smokes the most execrable tobacco.”

”But can you say why?” asked Tom, with a sly twinkle of his eye.

”Probably for the same reason I do myself,” said Sir Brook, producing a very cheap cigar.

”Oh, that's a veritable Cuban compared to one of mine,” cried Tom; ”and by way of making my future life miserable, here has been Mr. Trafford filling my pocket with real havannahs, giving me a taste for luxuries I ought never to have known of.”

”Know everything, sir, go everywhere, see all that the world can show you; the wider a man's experiences the larger his nature and the more open his heart,” said Foss-brooke, boldly.

”I like the theory,” said Trafford to Miss Lendrick; ”do you?”

”Sir Brook never meant it for women, I fancy,” said she, in a low tone; but the old man overheard her, and said: ”You are right. The guide ought to know every part of the mountain; the traveller need only know the path.”

”Here comes a guide who is satisfied with very short excursions,” cried Tom, laughing; ”this is our parson, Dr. Mills.”

The little, mellow-looking, well-cared-for person who now joined them was a perfect type of old-bachelorhood, in its aspect of not unpleasant selfishness. Everything about him was neat, orderly, and appropriate; and though you saw at a glance it was all for himself and his own enjoyment it was provided, his good manners and courtesy were ever ready to extend its benefits to others; and a certain genial look he wore, and a manner that nature had gifted him with, did him right good service in life, and made him pa.s.s for ”an excellent fellow, though not much of a parson.”

He was of use now, if only that by his presence Lucy felt more at ease, not to say that his violoncello, which always remained at the Nest, made a pleasant accompaniment when she played, and that he sang with much taste some of those lyrics which arc as much linked to Ireland by poetry as by music.

”I wish he was our chaplain,--by Jove I do!” whispered Trafford to Lendrick; ”he's the jolliest fellow of his cloth I have ever met.”

”And such a cook,” muttered the other.

”A cook!”

”Ay, a cook. I 'll make him ask us to dinner, and you 'll tell me if you ever ate fish as he gives it, or tasted macaroni as dressed by him. I have a salmon for you, doctor, a ten-pound fish. I wish it were bigger!

but it is in splendid order.”

”Did you set it?” asked the parson, eagerly.

”What does he mean by set it?” whispered Trafford.

”Setting means plunging it in very hot water soon after killing it, to preserve and harden the 'curd.' Yes; and I took your hint about the arbutus leaves, too, doctor. I covered it all up with them.”

”You are a teachable youth, and shall be rewarded. Come and eat him to-morrow. Dare I hope that these gentlemen are disengaged, and will honor my poor parsonage? Will you favor me with your company at five o'clock, sir?”

Sir Brook bowed, and accepted the invitation with pleasure.

”And you, sir?”

”Only too happy,” said Trafford.

”Lucy, my dear, you must be one of us.”