discarded practices; it doesn't seem respectful to our mental and moral
position."

"I hope you weren't unkind to the Bishop," said Annabel.

"Well, of course he was my guest, so I had to be outwardly polite to him,
but he was tactless enough to rake up the incidents of the old quarrel,
and to try to make out that there was something to be said for the way
his side of the family had behaved; even if there was, which I don't for
a moment admit, my house was not the place in which to say it. I didn't
argue the matter, but I gave my cook a holiday to go and visit his aged
parents some ninety miles away. The emergency cook was not a specialist
in curries, in fact, I don't think cooking in any shape or form could
have been one of his strong points. I believe he originally came to us
in the guise of a gardener, but as we never pretended to have anything
that could be considered a garden he was utilised as assistant goat-herd,
in which capacity, I understand, he gave every satisfaction. When the
Bishop heard that I had sent away the cook on a special and unnecessary
holiday he saw the inwardness of the manoeuvre, and from that moment we
were scarcely on speaking terms. If you have ever had a Bishop with whom
you were not on speaking terms staying in your house, you will appreciate
the situation."

Annabel confessed that her life-story had never included such a
disturbing experience.

"Then," continued Matilda, "to make matters more complicated, the
Gwadlipichee overflowed its banks, a thing it did every now and then when
the rains were unduly prolonged, and the lower part of the house and all
the out-buildings were submerged. We managed to get the ponies loose in