"But—"
"'But,' Mrs. Bowles, is a word that cools many a warm impulse, stifles many a kindly thought, puts a dead stop to many a brotherly deed. Nobody would ever love his neighbour as himself if he listened to all the Buts that could be said on the other side of the question."
CHAPTER XV.
KENELM now bent his way towards the parsonage, but just as he neared its glebe-lands he met a gentleman whose dress was so evidently clerical that he stopped and said,—
"Have I the honour to address Mr. Lethbridge?"
"That is my name," said the clergyman, smiling pleasantly. "Anything
I can do for you?"
"Yes, a great deal, if you will let me talk to you about a few of your parishioners."
"My parishioners! I beg your pardon, but you are quite a stranger to me, and, I should think, to the parish."
"To the parish,—no, I am quite at home in it; and I honestly believe that it has never known a more officious busybody, thrusting himself into its most private affairs."
Mr. Lethbridge stared, and, after a short pause, said, "I have heard of a young man who has been staying at Mr. Saunderson's, and is indeed at this moment the talk of the village. You are—"