He is an excellent young man, and--"
"Lady Lufton, if I do this, I can only do it in my own way, as best
I may, using such words as God may give me at the time. I hope that
I am harsh to no man; but it is worse than useless, in all cases, to
speak anything but the truth."
"Of course--of course."
"If the ears be too delicate to hear the truth, the mind will be
too perverse to profit by it." And then Mr. Crawley got up to take
his leave. But Lady Lufton insisted that he should go with her to
luncheon. He hummed and ha'd and would fain have refused, but on this
subject she was peremptory. It might be that she was unfit to advise
a clergyman as to his duties, but in a matter of hospitality she
did know what she was about. Mr. Crawley should not leave the house
without refreshment. As to this, she carried her point; and Mr.
Crawley--when the matter before him was cold roast-beef and hot
potatoes, instead of the relative position of a parish priest and his
parishioner--became humble, submissive, and almost timid. Lady Lufton
recommended Madeira instead of sherry, and Mr. Crawley obeyed at
once, and was, indeed, perfectly unconscious of the difference. Then
there was a basket of seakale in the gig for Mrs. Crawley; that he
would have left behind had he dared, but he did not dare.
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