with an intention to be more agreeable. Alfred sat down by her work-table,
directed his conversation to her, and soon talked, or rather induced her to
talk herself into fine humour. Presently she retired to dress for dinner,
and "hoped Mr. Alfred Percy had no intention of running away--_she_ had a
well-aired bed to offer him."

The dean, though he cordially hated his lady, was glad, for his own sake,
to be relieved from her fits of crossness; and was pleased by Alfred's
paying attention to her, as this was a sort of respect to himself, and what
he seldom met with from those young men who had been his companions before
his marriage--they usually treated his lady with a neglect or ridicule
which reflected certainly upon her husband.

Alfred never yet had touched upon his business, and Buckhurst began to
think this was merely a friendly visit. Upon Alfred's observing some
alteration which had been lately made in the room in which they were
sitting, the dean took him to see other improvements in the house; in
pointing out these, and all the conveniences and elegancies about the
parsonage, Buckhurst totally forgot the _dilapidation suit_; and every
thing he showed and said tended unawares to prove that the house was in
the most perfect repair and best condition possible. Gradually, whatever
solemnity and beneficed pomp there had at first appeared in the dean's
manner, wore off, or was laid aside; and, except his being somewhat more
corpulent and rubicund than in early years, he appeared like the original
Buckhurst. His gaiety of heart, indeed, was gone, but some sparkles of his
former spirits remained.

"Here," said he, showing Alfred into his study, "here, as our good friend
Mr. _Blank_ said, when he showed us his study, '_Here_ is _where_ I read
all day long--quite snug--and nobody's a bit the wiser for it.'"