A discreet tap was heard at the door.
The vicar never presumed to enter his wife's room without knocking; he evidently had something to communicate. He saluted the ladies and commenced his tale at once.
"A dreadful thing has happened. I have just returned from The Warren, where I left the squire in a natural state of violent indignation."
The ladies expressed their curiosity.
The portly vicar continued:
"Oh, there's no secret about it, the country is ringing with it."
Then he read the paragraph in The Sphere, with which the reader is acquainted.
"Then, Mr. Dodd, we may understand that Georgina is the wife of a murderer," said Mrs. Dodd.
"Well, my dear, not exactly that; you see they say he received great provocation, so he was bound to go out with him, I suppose."
"Then my husband, a beneficed clergyman of the Church of England, approves of duelling, and is actually the champion of the—the—the assassin."