e day was fine, and although the shade was not perfect, and the
midges were troublesome, the dinner went off very nicely. It was
beautiful to see how well Mrs Greenow remembered herself about the
grace, seeing that the clergyman was there. She was just in time, and
would have been very angry with herself, and have thought herself
awkward, had she forgotten it. Mr Cheesacre sat on her right hand,
and the clergyman on her left, and she hardly spoke a word to
Bellfield. Her sweetest smiles were all given to Cheesacre. She was
specially anxious to keep her neighbour, the parson, in good-humour,
and therefore illuminated him once in every five minutes with a
passing ray, but the full splendour of her light was poured out upon
Cheesacre, as it never had before been poured. How she did flatter
him, and with what a capacious gullet did he swallow her flatteries!
Oileymead was the only paradise she had ever seen. "Ah, me; when I
think of it sometimes,--but never mind." A moment came to him when he
thought that even yet he might win the race, and send Bellfield away
howling into outer darkness. A moment came to him, and the widow saw
the moment well. "I know I have done for the best," said she, "and
therefore I shall never regret it; at any rate, it's done now."

"Not done yet," said he plaintively.

"Yes; done, and done, and done. Besides, a man in your position in
the county should always marry a wife younger than yourself,--a good
deal younger." Cheesacre did not understand the argument, but he
liked the allusion to his position in the county, and he perceived
that it was too late for any changes in the present arrangements. But
he was happy; and all that feeling of animosity to Alice had vanished
from his breast. Poor Alice! she, at any rate, was innocent. With so
much of her own to fill her mind, she had been but little able to
take her share in the Greenow festivities; and we may safely say,
that if Mr Cheesacre's supremacy was on any occasion attacked, it was
not attacked by her. His supremacy on this occasion was paramount,
and during the dinner, and after the dinner, he was allowed to
give his orders to Bellfield in a manner that must have gratified
him much. "You must have another glass of champagne with me, my
friend," said Mrs Greenow; and Mr Cheesacre drank the other glass of
champagne. It was not the second nor the third that he had taken.

After dinner they started off for a ramble through the fields, and
Mrs Gr