"Agreeable, no doubt, but dull--good curates generally are."

"Dull? not the least; cheerful even to playfulness, and full of
information. He has been so good to me about books; indeed, I have
learned a great deal from him."

"I dare say he is an admirable judge of sermons."

"But Mr. Aubrey is not severe," persisted Evelyn, earnestly; "he is very
fond of Italian literature, for instance; we are reading Tasso together."

"Oh! pity he is old--I think you said he was old. Perhaps there is a
son, the image of the sire?"

"Oh, no," said Evelyn, laughing innocently; "Mr. Aubrey never married."

"And where does the old gentleman live?"

"Come a little this way; there, you can just see the roof of his house,
close by the church."

"I see; it is _tant soit peu triste_ to have the church so near you."

"_Do_ you think so? Ah, but you have not seen it; it is the prettiest
church in the county; and the little burial-ground--so quiet, so shut in;
I feel better every time I pass it. Some places breathe of religion."

"You are poetical, my dear little friend."

Evelyn, who _had_ poetry in her nature, and therefore sometimes it broke