On these occasions it generally occurred that the squire and the vicar fell into conversation about classical and literary subjects while the two ladies talked of the little incidents of Billingsfield life, of Tom Judd's wife and of Joe Staines, the choir boy, who was losing his voice, and of similar topics of interest in the very small world in which they lived.
The present evening had not been at all a remarkable one so far as the talk was concerned.

The drenching rain, the tendency of the fire to smoke, the general wetness and condensed depravity of the atmosphere had affected the spirits of the little party.

They were not gay, and they broke up early.

It was not nine o'clock when all had gone, and Mrs.
Goddard and little Eleanor were left alone by the side of their drawing-room fire.

The child sat upon a footstool and leaned her head against her mother's knee.