“And ask Carton too,” said Mr. Belton, and went away to write letters.
“Will you dine with us to meet Miss Sparling,” said Mrs. Belton.
“I’d like to,” said Mr. Carton. “That woman interests me. She is the perfect female don and yet there’s a something. Did I tell you that Oriel discovered by chance that old Canon Horbury whom he knew in his young days was her grandfather? That sort of thing always tells.”
Mrs. Belton, who had naturally never heard of Canon Horbury, said how very interesting that was. And we must here state that Miss Sparling at once went up in her estimation. It may be snobbishness to think the better of a person because your Vicar has known her grandfather who was a Canon; but it lies deep at the roots of social life, and there is good reason for it.
“And yet,” contin
