But Lord Dungory knew how to charm his tame snakes. For fortune they had
but five thousand pounds each, and, although freedom and a London
lodging were often dreamed of, the flesh-pots of Dungory Castle
continued to be purchased at the price of smiles and civil words
exchanged with Mrs. Barton. Besides, as they grew old and ugly, the
Ladies Cullen had developed an inordinate passion for the conversion of
souls. They had started a school of their own in opposition to the
National school, which was under the direction of the priest, and to
persuade the peasants to read the Bible and to eat bacon on Friday, were
good works that could not be undertaken without funds; and these were
obtained, it was said, by the visits of the Ladies Cullen to Brookfield.

Mrs. Gould declared she could estimate to a fraction the prosperity of
Protestantism in the parish by the bows these ladies exchanged with Mrs.
Barton when their carriages crossed on the roads.

'Here are the saffron buns at last, my dear children;' and Mrs. Barton
pressed them upon her girls, saying that Milord had brought them from
Dungory Castle especially for them. 'Take a bottom piece, Olive, and
Alice, you really must. . . Well, if you won't eat, tell Milord about your
play of King Cophetua and the beggar-maid. Arthur, tell me, how did you
like the play, and how did the nuns like it? To think of my daughter, so
prim and demure, writing a play, and on such a subject.'

'But, mamma, what is there odd in the subject? We all know the old
ballad.'

'Yes, we all know the ballad,' Arthur answered; 'I sing stanzas of it to
the guitar myself.' He began to chant to himself, and Mrs. Barton
listened, her face slanted in the pose of the picture of Lady Hamilton;