"Two thousand and two acres out of two thousand nine hundred and ten," said Mr. Puddleham.
"I suppose so. Well, Mr. Puddleham, you need not have interrupted me."
"What I mean to say is this, Mr. Gilmore,--that you should take steps to prevent that young man's return among our people. You should explain to the father that it cannot be allowed. From what I hear, it would be no loss if the whole family left the parish. I am told that one of the daughters is a--prostitute."
"It is too true, my lord," said Mr. Puddleham.
The parson turned round and looked at his colleague, but said nothing. It was one of the principles of his life that he wouldn't quarrel with Mr. Puddleham; and at the present moment he certainly did not wish to waste his anger on so weak an enemy.
"I think that you should look to this, Mr. Gilmore," said the Marquis, completing his harangue.
"I cannot conceive, my lord, what right you have to dictate to me in such a matter," said Mr. Gilmore.
"I have not dictated at all; I have simply expressed my opinion," said the Marquis.
"Now, my lord, will you allow me for a moment?" said Mr. Fenwick. "In the first place, if Sam Brattle could not find a home at the mill,--which I hope he will do for many a long year to come,--he should have one at the Vicarage."
"You might as well hold your tongue, Frank," said Gilmore.
"It is a matter on which I wish to say a word or two, Harry. I have been appealed to as one of God's ministers here, and I acknowledge my responsibility. I never in my life heard any proposition more cruel or inhuman than that made by Lord Trowbridge. This young man is to be turned out because a tenant of his lordship has been murdered! He is to be adjudged to be guilty by us, without any trial, in the absence of all evidence, in opposition to the decision of the magistrates--"
"It is not in opposition to the magistrates, sir," said the Marquis.
"And to be forbidden to return to his own home, simply because Lord Trowbridge thinks him guilty! My lord, his father's house is his own, to entertain whom he may please, as much as is yours. And were I to suggest to you to turn out your daughters, it would be no worse an offence than your suggesting to Mr. Brattle that he should turn out his son."