“And they don’t always improve much in manners by going abroad,” said Vernon, quietly.
The other remained silent for a moment, peering at him in the darkness. Then he spoke again, more courteously than before.
“You take me for a Yorkshireman, then?”
“Yes; I can hear the Yorkshire burr through some accent you have picked up since.”
“Well, you’re a smart chap for a parson,” said the other, approvingly. “You’ll excuse my frankness; but I’m a plain man, and I dare say my manners are none the more polished for fifteen years spent among cattle-drovers. They’re not the sort of company to make one fit for Buckingham Palace.”
“I suppose not,” said Vernon. “And you have said good-bye to them, and come back to settle down in your native county?”
“For a little while—a year, or maybe two,” answered the stranger with great deliberateness. “I haven’t come over here to sit still and twiddle my thumbs for the rest of my life.”
“Why, there’s plenty of work to be done here in the old country.”
“Yes, it’s work brings me over here, and hard work too, by what I hear,” said the other, looking penetratingly at the clergyman through shrewd, half-shut eyes.
He gave the impression of being able to see in the dark as well as any owl, and Vernon felt that he himself was still being subjected to the same keen inspection which had been begun by the light of the match. He, on his side, could see enough of the stranger’s appearance to feel curiously interested in him. This abrupt and somewhat uncouth person was a man whose age was difficult to guess. That he was still in the vigor and prime of life was evident, but it was not so certain whether the rugged furrows in his face, and a certain deliberateness of speech and action, were signs of approaching middle age, or the result of heavy responsibilities and hard work begun early in life. The lower part of his face was covered and much concealed by a short beard of a fashion long grown obsolete in England; he was dressed with that sort of solid respectability which disregards expense and also the fashion of the moment, while a huge gold watch chain, to which was attached a bunch of heavy and handsome seals, gave the final touch to a get-up which was nothing if not confidence-inspiring. The man looked both shrewd and honest, particularly the former; Vernon felt every moment more and more eagerly interested as to the reason of his presence in the village.