d Mr.
Archibald, but with a respectful glance at the others, as if he would not
ignore any one of them.

"Certainly," said Mrs. Archibald. "Sit down and tell us about yourself."

The stranger seated himself with alacrity a little back from the circle,
and nearer to the young men than to the Archibald party.

CHAPTER VIII

THE BISHOP'S TALE

The stranger placed his broad-brimmed hat on the ground beside him,
exposing a large round head somewhat bald in front, but not from age, and
the rest of it covered with close-cut brown hair. His black clothes fitted
him very closely, their extreme tightness suggesting that they had
shrunken in the course of wearing, or that he had grown much plumper since
he had come into possession of them; and their general worn and dull
appearance gave considerable distance to the period of their first
possession. But there was nothing worn or dull about the countenance of
the man, upon which was an expression of mellow geniality which would have
been suitably consequent upon a good dinner with plenty of wine. But his
only beverage had been coffee, and in his clear bright eye there was no
trace of any exhilaration, except that caused by the action of a hearty
meal upon a good digestion and an optimistic disposition.

"I am very glad," he said, looking about him at the company, and then
glancing with a friendly air towards the two guides, who stood a little
back of Mr. Archibald, "to have this opportunity to explain my appearance
here. In the first place, I must tell you that I am a bishop whose diocese
has been inundated, and who consequently has been obliged to leave it."

"Oh!" exclaimed Mr. Archibald; and Margery looked at Mr. Clyde, with the
remark:

"There! You see I was very near to it."

"I presume this statement will require some explanation," continued the
man in black, "and I will make it presently. I am going to be exceedingly
frank and open in all that I say to you, and as frankness and openness are
so extremely rare in this world, it may be that I shall obtain favor in
your eyes from the fact of my possessing those unusual qualities.
Originally I was a teacher, and for a year or two I had a very good
country school; but my employment at last became so repugnant to me that I
could no longer endure it, and this repugnance was due entirely to my
intense dislike for children."

"That is not at all to your credit," observed Mrs. Archibald; "and I do
not see how you bec