“Have you some tea, Kate?” he asked. “I have been making a long round of calls, and it is a little exhausting.”
“I have some, but it is not fit to drink,” I answered, striking the gong. “Mary shall make some fresh. It will only take a minute or two.”
My father acquiesced silently. He was fastidious in small things, and I knew better than to offer him cold tea. He drew up a basket-chair to us and sat down with a little sigh of relief.
“You have commenced your work here early,” Lady Naselton remarked. “Do you think that you are going to like these parts?”
“The country is delightful,” my father answered readily. “As to the work—well, I scarcely know. Rural existence is such a change after the nervous life of a great city.”
“You had a large parish at Belchester, had you not?” Lady Naselton asked.
“A very large one,” he answered. “I am fond of work. I have always been used to large parishes.”
And two curates, I reflected silently. Lady Naselton was looking sympathetic.
“You will find plenty to do here, I believe,” she remarked. “The schools are in a most backward condition. My husband says that unless there is a great change in them very soon we shall be having the School Board.”
“We must try and prevent that,” my father said, gravely. “Of course I have to remember that I am only curate-in-charge here, but still I shall do what I can. My youngest daughter Alice is a great assistance to me in such matters. By the by, where is Alice?” he added, turning to me.