feet--being, as he conceived, afraid of no men, while other men are very
much afraid of them. He was glad enough to shake Jones by the hand, when
he found that Jones was an editor. But Jones, though he had the face and
forehead of a clever man, was very quiet, and seemed almost submissive
to his sister and brother-in-law.

The dinner was plain, but good, and Harry after a while became happy and
satisfied, although he had come to the house with something almost like
a resolution to find fault. Men, and women also, do frequently go about
in such a mood, having unconscionably from some small circumstance,
prejudged their acquaintances, and made up their mind that their
acquaintances should be condemned. Influenced in this way, Harry had not
intended to pass a pleasant evening, and would have stood aloof and been
cold, had it been possible to him; but he found that it was not
possible; and after a little while he was friendly and joyous, and the
dinner went off very well. There was some wild fowl, and he was
agreeably surprised as he watched the mental anxiety and gastronomic
skill with which Burton went through the process of preparing the gravy,
with lemon and pepper, having in the room a little silver pot, and an
apparatus of fire for the occasion. He would as soon have expected the
Archbishop of Canterbury himself to go through such an operation in the
dining-room at Lambeth as the hard-working man of business whom he had
known in the chambers of the Adelphi.

"Does he always do that, Mrs. Burton?" Harry asked.

"Always," said Burton, "when I get the materials. One doesn't bother
oneself about a cold leg of mutton, you know, which is my usual dinner
when we are alone. The children have it hot in the middle of the day."