He took
the Squire as he found him, and would have missed the hospitalities
of the Hall--or rather the conversation they implied--if he had been
obliged to forgo them. The Squire on his side had observed with
approval that the Rector was a fair scholar, and a bad beggar. He
could take up quotations from Horace, and he was content with such
parish subscriptions as the Squire had given for twenty years, and
was firmly minded not to increase.
But here also the arrival of Elizabeth had stirred the waters. For
the Rector was actually on his way to try and get a new subscription
out of the Squire; and it was Elizabeth's doing.
'You remember that child of old Leonard the blacksmith?' said the
Rector eagerly; 'a shocking case of bow-legs, one of the worst I
ever saw. But Miss Bremerton's taken endless trouble. And now we've
got an admission for him to the Orthopaedic hospital. But there's a
few pounds to be raised for his maintenance--it will be a question
of months. I was just coming over to see if you would give me a
little,' he wound up, in a tone of apology.
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