"Do you mean blankets and coal?" asked the Bishop's wife, "or do you mean Chamber music and lectures on literature?"
Mr. Leadbetter raised himself in his chair. "Ah! Chamber music!" he said, with a gleam of satisfaction behind his spectacles. "If only we could manage some Chamber music!"
"Not a bit of use," said the Bishop's wife. "A nigger minstrel entertainment would go down much better."
"Caroline wants to teach the children Morris dancing and all that sort of thing," said Grafton. "They have it in the village where my brother-in-law lives, and everybody enjoys it immensely."
Caroline leaned forward. "Anything which will make us all happy together," she said. "There are a lot of things which can be done that we should all like doing, and that would go of themselves if they were once started."
Grafton looked at her fondly. "I believe they would all do anything for her, already," he said, "but she doesn't want them to feel that she is patronising them. She wants to play with them just as she has played with her friends in London. That's it, isn't it, Cara?"
"Yes, it's to make us friends," she said.
"I think that healthy amusement is a very good thing for people in a country parish," said the Bishop's wife, "but you must have somebody to lead. Is that what you want your new Vicar to do? If so I should think he would be quite willing to do it. I have never found the clergy unwilling to lead in anything."
"I should say the same about the wives of the clergy," said the Bishop, with another twinkle in his eye, "I think we must find a married Vicar for Abington."