Spotts smiled assent, but was evidently bewildered, and seizing the first opportunity that offered, asked Cecil in a low voice if his father took him for a dentist or a mason.
"For a dentist or a mason?" queried Banborough. "I don't understand."
"Well, anyway, he said something about looking after his old dog's teeth and attending to his tiles."
Cecil exploded in a burst of laughter, saying:
"That's only the architectural jargon, man. You must play the game."
"Oh, I see," said the actor. "It's about his ramshackle old church. Well, I'll do my best--" But his assurances were cut short by the flow of his Lordship's conversation.
"As I was saying, Mr. Spotts," he continued, "I should be much interested to hear your American views on the subject of a clerestory."
"Sure," replied the actor, plunging recklessly. "I always believe in having four clear stories at least, and in New York and Chicago we run 'em up as high as--" But here a premonitory kick from Cecil brought his speech to an abrupt termination.
"Most astonishing," commented his Lordship. "I've never heard of more than one."
"Oh, our Western churches are chock-full of new wrinkles."
"Of new--what? I don't understand. Another cup' of tea for you, Mrs. Mackintosh? Certainly. We must pursue this subject at leisure, Mr. Spotts."
The party now turned their attention to the repast, and the Bishop proceeded to devote himself to Mrs. Mackintosh.
"I'm afraid," he said, when he had seen her sufficiently fortified with tea containing a due allowance of sugar, and supplemented by a plateful of cake which he had ordered to be brought as a practical substitute for the scriptural calf--"I'm afraid you will find our simple life at Blanford very dull."
"Dear sakes, no!" said that lady, hitching her chair up closer to the Bishop for a confidential chat--an action on her part which elicited a flashing glance of disapproval from Miss Matilda.
"I've heard all about you," she went on, "from your son Cecil. You don't mind if I call him Cecil, do you? for I'm almost old enough to be his mother. Well, as I was saying, when he told me about the cathedral and the beeches and the rooks and you, all being here, hundreds of years old--"
"Excuse me, madam," said his Lordship, "I'm hardly as aged as that."
