He helped himself to another glass of sherry, and seated himself in the great easy chair formerly approved of the dean, long promoted.

But what are easy chairs to uneasy men?
Dinner, however, was at hand, and that would make a diversion in favor of less disquieting thought.
Mrs.Ramshorn, also, was uncomfortable--too much so to be relieved by taking off her bonnet.

She felt, with no little soreness, that the rector was not with her in her depreciation of Wingfold.

She did her best to play the hostess, but the rector, while enjoying his dinner despite discomfort in the inward parts, was in a mood of silence altogether new both to himself and his companions.

Mrs.Bevis, however, talked away in a soft, continuous murmur.