Lance was in the drawing-room when the ladies came in after dinner, shaking out their plumes and relating their experiences. Angela had talked hunting with a young farmer whom she wanted to allure into the choir, though Cherry doubted whether Clement would like to have him there. Cherry had given Mr. Hodnet an account of the Caergwent wedding, in which Penbeacon had had so much share, and had received a lament over Mr. Harewood's absence that winter. 'He was a gentleman that was strong in the pulpit.'
'That's his tincture of Irish eloquence, and the go that he has in him!' said Angela.
'I believe the poor people do prefer his preaching to Clement's,' said Wilmet.
'On the variety principle, I believe,' said Cherry.
'Of which they never get enough,' said Angela.
'After all,' said Cherry, 'inherent poetry does tell more than one guesses upon an audience.'
'Ah, ha!' said Lance; 'I've got a novelty in that line for you.'
'From Will? You don't mean that you've been revelling in the second post?'
'Ay! Some one fetched it from Ewmouth, just as your knives and forks began to clatter. I was just thinking what notes predominated, when in came this budget from San Remo. It is satisfactory to hear that while my Lord and my Lady think it the dullest place in the world, our two lovers find it simply delicious.'
'Is that the subject of the poem?'