"Certainly not;—certainly not. I am very busy, and if you will not go away you'll have to be taken away. I wonder whether anybody knows him."
"Mr. Carbury, of Carbury Hall, is my friend."
"Carbury! D—— the Carburys! Did any of the Carburys send you here? A set of beggars! Why don't you do something, Alfred, to get rid of him?"
"You'd better go," said Lord Alfred. "Don't make a rumpus, there's a good fellow;—but just go."
"There shall be no rumpus," said the priest, waxing wrathful. "I asked for you at the door, and was told to come in by your own servants. Have I been uncivil that you should treat me in this fashion?"
"You're in the way," said Lord Alfred.
"It's a piece of gross impertinence," said Melmotte. "Go away."
"Will you not tell me before I go whether I shall pray for you as one whose steps in the right path should be made sure and firm; or as one still in error and in darkness?"
"What the mischief does he mean?" asked Melmotte.
"He wants to know whether you're a papist," said Lord Alfred.