ch no gale of wind could
blow away. "Whether he be wrong or right--and I won't say but what I
might have done it better--none but a fool like you would dare to set
his squeak up against Admirable Lord Nelson."

CHAPTER IV

AND HER FAITHFUL CHAPLAIN

"I am not a man of the world, but a man of the Word," said Parson
Twemlow, the Rector of Springhaven; "and I shall not feel that I have
done my duty unless I stir him up to-morrow. His valor and glory are
nothing to me, nor even his value to the country. He does his duty, and
I shall do mine. It is useless to talk to me, Maria; I never shall have
such a chance again."

"Well, dear, you know best," replied Mrs. Twemlow; "and duty is always
the highest and best and most sacred consideration. But you surely
should remember, for Eliza's sake, that we never shall dine at the Hall
again."

"I don't care a snap for their dinners, or the chance of Eliza catching
some young officer; and very few come while this peace goes on. I won't
shirk my duty for any of that."

"Nothing would ever make you shirk your duty, Joshua. And I hope that
you know me too well to suppose that I ever would dream of suggesting
it. But I do want to see you a Canon, and I know that he begins to have
influence in the Church, and therefore the Church is not at all the
place to allude to his private affairs in. And, after all, what do we
know about them? It does seem so low to be led away by gossip."

"Maria," said the Rector, severely sorry, "I must beg you to leave me
to my conscience. I shall not refer to his private affairs. I shall put
leading truths in a general way, and let him make the home application."

"Put the cap on if it fits. Very well: you will injure yourself, and do
no one any good. Lord Nelson won't know it; he is too simple-minded.
But Admiral Darling will never forgive us for insulting him while he is
staying at the Hall."

"Maria! Well, I have long given up all attempts at reasoning with
you. If I see a man walking into a furnace, do I insult him by saying
beware?"

"As I am beyond all reason, Joshua, it is far above me to understand
that. But if you escape insulting him, what you do is far worse, and
quite unlike a gentleman. You heap a whole pile of insults upon your own
brother clergymen."

"I do not at all understand you, Maria: you fly off in such a way from
one thing to another!"

"Not at all. Anybody who is not above paying attention must understand
me. When he