"Oh, Mary, don't talk such nonsense," said Fanny. "Got to like! People
shouldn't get to like people unless there's some reason for it."

"What on earth did he intend to live on?" demanded the Rector.

"Edward had nothing to live on, when you first allowed him to come
here," said Mary.

"But Edward had prospects, and Saul, as far as I know, has none. He had
given no one the slightest notice. If the man in the moon had come to
Fanny I don't suppose she would have been more surprised."

"Not half so much, papa."

Then it was that Mrs. Clavering had declared that she was not
surprised--that she had suspected it, and had almost made Fanny angry by
saying so. When Harry came hack two days afterward, the family news was
imparted to him, and he immediately ranged himself on his father's side.
"Upon my word I think that he ought to be forbidden the house," said
Harry. "He has forgotten himself in making such a proposition."

"That's nonsense, Harry," said his mother. "If he can be comfortable
coming here, there can be no reason why he should be uncomfortable. It
would be an injustice to him to ask him to go, and a great trouble to
your father to find another curate that would suit him so well." There
could be no doubt whatever as to the latter proposition, and therefore
it was quietly argued that Mr. Saul's fault, if there had been a fault,
should be condoned. On the next day he came to the rectory, and they
were all astonished at the ease with which he bore himself. It was not