spoiled the effect of it all. It was not the corrupted English falling
from the lips of these people which grated so harshly upon the senses. It
was the spirit of pretence which overshadowed everything--the effort to be
what they were not. Had old Titbottom been there with his magic
spectacles, he would have beheld in Farrington little more than a roll of
bills; in his wife the very essence of pretence and ambition; while the
daughter Eudora and their son Dick would be labelled "exact samples" of
the parents.

Farrington told of the auction in no measured terms. He was annoyed at the
unexpected outcome and did not try to conceal his anger. The inserted
exclamations of the family told their own tale. They were much
disappointed, especially Mrs. Farrington.

"Only think!" she cried, when her husband had ended, "that the parson
above all men should interfere in this matter! Him that's allus talkin'
about lovin' our neighbours as ourselves, standin' a-tween us an' our
natral rights. I hev often told Eudora, heven't I, dear? that we need a
better place than this. Now, that Frenelle homestead is jist what we want,
an' it seemed as if the Lord intended we should hev it, too. It is so
included from all pryin' eyes, an' away from them country people who are
so uncongenial. Their manners are so rough an' they know so little about
proper equity. The parson knows very well that we are city bred, an' that
our descendants hev allus had good blood in their veins, an' that we try
to follow their Example by givin' a tone to the community ever sense we
came from the city. He knows what we are a-tryin' to do, an' yit he'll
serve us in this mean fashion."

"I wonder where he got the spondulicks," broke in her son Richard.