"I? Good Heavens! I pay a parson to read me the English Church services!
Well, I don't wish to inflict my religious opinions upon any one, Tyson;
but I may as well tell you that they don't run at all in the direction of
parsons. And Mrs. Melrose--why I told you she was a Catholic--a Roman
Catholic. What does she want with a church? But a parson's wife might
have been useful. By the way, I thought I saw a nice-looking girl when we
arrived, who has since disappeared."

"That was Thyrza Smart, sir--the daughter of Smart, the farmer."

"Excellent! Mrs. Melrose shall make friends with her."

"And of course, sir, both Pengarth and Keswick are within a drive."

"Oh, that's no good," said Melrose, easily. "We shall have no carriage."

The agent stared. "No carriage? I am afraid in that case you will find it
very difficult getting about. There are no flys anywhere near that you
can hire."

"What do we want with them?" Melrose lit another cigarette. "I may have a
horse--possibly. And of course there's the light cart I told you to get.
We can't trust these things"--he pointed to the packages in the
room--"to irresponsible people."

"The cart, sir, has been constantly at work. But--it won't exactly suit
Mrs. Melrose." Tyson smiled discreetly.

"Oh! leave that to me--leave that to me!" said Melrose with an answering
good humour. "Stable and carriage expenses are the deuce. There never was