"Dear me! did I order two?" asked Eola in some confusion.
"Yes, miss; you asked for a boiled hump of beef and a roast saddle of mutton. The saddle you shall have to-morrow. The hump is for to-night as it has been quite long enough in pickle. That with the fish and entrées will more than satisfy Mr. Alderbury. I don't hold with a daintiness above your station. As William—that was my second—used to say: 'A private can't expect captain's grub, and a captain mustn't look for general's fare, else there'll be proud stomachs.'"
"Have you ever seen a bishop?" asked Eola, feeling vaguely that she must throw off suspicion and show an interest in Mrs. Hulver's conversation.
"Yes, miss, of course I have! Wasn't I confirmed by one? He was tall and solemn and had a thin grey beard. He reminded me somehow—it wasn't his legs—of a picture in my father's big family bible of the goat that was sent out by the Children of Israel into the wilderness."
"The scape-goat that had to bear the sins of the people," said Eola, her eyes wandering through the house to the front verandah where she could see her guest in the distance absorbed in his letters.
"Yes, miss. The bishop was just like the picture. Hadn't he got to bear the sins of his people? and a very serious business it was too. When he confirmed me he gave me clean sheets and started me afresh; he took my sins on him. I shouldn't like to be a bishop considering all he has to bear and wear. The gaiters and the tights would be enough to put one off the job, even though the apron does lend a little decency to the style. As William—that was my third—used to say: 'All are not saints who go to church, or bishops and padres would have an easy time of it.'"
During this speech Eola's attention again wandered. Mr. Alderbury was still busy with his letters. As soon as he had finished reading his correspondence she intended joining him.
"Then that's all for this morning," she said, as Mrs. Hulver came to an end of her dissertation on church dignitaries.
"You haven't ordered the pudding, miss."
She made the announcement in the same manner in which she might have said, "You haven't said your prayers, miss."