certainly not the bishop's
chaplain. Though the Canon and the Dean did not go altogether on all
fours in reference to clerical affairs generally they were both agreed
on this point. But the Chaplain, who knew the condition of affairs as
well as they did, thought the law a bad law, and was determined to
abolish it. "It certainly would be very pleasant, Mr. Holdenough, if we
could have such a meeting within the confines of the Close. I don't
mean to-day, and I don't mean to-morrow; but we might think of it. The
bishop, who has the greatest love for the cathedral services, is very
much of that mind."

"I do not know that I care very much for any out-of-door gatherings,"
said the Canon.

"But why out of doors?" asked the Chaplain.

"Whatever meeting there is to be in the Close, will, I hope, be held in
the deanery," said the Dean; "but of all meetings, I must say that I
like meetings such as this, the best. Germain, will you pass the
bottle?" When they were alone together he always called his son-in-law,
George; but in company he dropped the more familiar name.

Mr. De Baron, Mrs. Houghton's father, liked his joke. "Sporting men,"
he said, "always go to a meet, and clerical men to a meeting. What's
the difference?"

"A good deal, if it is in the colour of the coat," said the Dean.

"The one is always under cover," said the Canon. "The other, I believe,
is generally held out of doors."

"There is, I fancy, a considerable resemblance in the energy of those
who are brought together," said the Chaplain.

"But clergymen ain't allowed to hunt, are they?" said Mr. Houghton,
who, as usual, was a little in the dark as to the subject under
consideration.

"What's to prevent them?" asked the Canon, who had never been out
hunting in his life, and who certainly would have advised a young
clergyman to abstain from the sport. But in asking the question, he was
enabled to strike a sidelong blow at the objectionable chaplain, by
seeming to question the bishop's authority.

"Their own conscience, I should hope," said the Chaplain, solemnly,
thereby parrying the blow successfully.

"I am very glad, then," said Mr. Houghton, "that I didn't go into the
Church." To be thought a real hunting man was the great object of Mr.
Houghton's ambition.

"I am afraid you would hardly have suited us, Houghton," said the Dean.
"Come, shall we go up to the ladies?"

In the drawing-room, after a little while, Lord George found himself
seated