at Stanton Corner, a great hunting rendezvous about four miles from
Dillsborough; and not long since Twentyman had threatened to lay
his whip across Stubbings' shoulders if Stubbings ever called him
"Larry" again. Stubbings, who was a little man and rode races, only
laughed at Mr. Twentyman who was six feet high, and told the story
round to all the hunt. Mr. Twentyman was more laughed at than
perhaps he deserved. A man should not have his Christian name used
by every Tom and Dick without his sanction. But the difficulty is
one to which men in the position of Mr. Lawrence Twentyman are
often subject.

Those whom I have named, together with Mr. Mainwaring the rector,
and Mr. Surtees his curate, made up the very sparse aristocracy of
Dillsborough. The Hamptons of Hampton Wick were Ufford men, and
belonged, rather to Norrington than Dillsborough. The Botseys, also
from Norrington, were members of the U.R.U., or Ufford and Rufford
United Hunt Club; but they did not much affect Dillsborough as a
town. Mr. Mainwaring, who has been mentioned, lived in another
brick house behind the church, the old parsonage of St. John's.
There was also a Mrs. Mainwaring, but she was an invalid. Their
family consisted of one son, who was at Brasenose at this time. He
always had a horse during the Christmas vacation, and if rumour did
not belie him, kept two or three up at Oxford. Mr. Surtees, the
curate, lived in lodgings in the town. He was a painstaking,
clever, young man, with aspirations in church matters, which were
always being checked by his rector. Quieta non movere was the motto
by which the rector governed his life, and he certainly was not at
all the man to allow his curate to drive him into activity.

Such, at the time of our story, was the little town of