"Maria! Well, I have long given up all attempts at reasoning with
you. If I see a man walking into a furnace, do I insult him by saying
beware?"

"As I am beyond all reason, Joshua, it is far above me to understand
that. But if you escape insulting him, what you do is far worse, and
quite unlike a gentleman. You heap a whole pile of insults upon your own
brother clergymen."

"I do not at all understand you, Maria: you fly off in such a way from
one thing to another!"

"Not at all. Anybody who is not above paying attention must understand
me. When he is at Merton he goes to church, and his Rector is bound to
look after him. When he is at sea, he has his Chaplain, who preaches
whenever the weather permits, and dare not neglect his duties. But the
strongest point of all is this--his very own father and brother are
clergymen, and bound to do their best for him. All these you insult,
and in so many words condemn for neglecting their duty, because you are
unable to resist the pleasure of a stray shot at a celebrated man when
he comes down here for hospitality."

"My dear, you have put the matter in a new light," said the Rev. Joshua
Twemlow; "I would be the last man in the world to cast a slur upon any
brother clergyman. But it is a sad denial to me, because I had put it so
neatly, and a line of Latin at the end of it."

"Never mind, dear. That will do for some one else who deserves it, and
has got no influence. And if you could only put instead of it one of