"There, Rose! Our first day!" said Julius, aghast.
"You'd better come to lunch at my rooms," said the young curate,
eagerly. "Do! Mother has brought the jolliest hamper! Game-pie,
and preserved magnum-bonums, and pears off the old jargonelle.--
Come, Lady Rosamond, do.--Come along, Bindon! There's such a dish
of damson-cheese! Do!"
That "_do_," between insinuation and heartiness, was so boyish, that
it was quite irresistible to the lady, who consented eagerly, while
Julius wrote a word or two on a card, which he despatched to the
Hall by the first child he encountered. In a few minutes they
reached the nice clean bay-windowed room over the village shop,
comically like an undergraduate's, in spite of the mother's and
sister's recent touches.
There ensued a resolute quieting of the dogs, and a vigorous
exertion of hospitality, necessitating some striding up and down
stairs, and much shouting to Mrs. Hornblower and her little niece,
who rejoiced in the peculiar name of Dilemma; while Rosamond petted
Tartar upon her lap, and the two elder clergymen, each with an elbow
against the window-frame and a knee on the seat, held council, based
on the Rector's old knowledge of the territory and the curate's
recent observations during his five weeks' sojourn.
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