'I really don't know,' said Mr. Rabbit.
'Then what do you mean by saying she was like my Glory?' asked Rebow angrily.
'I—I only suggested that there was a faint similarity in the circumstances, you know. King Ahasuerus made a great feast—as you have done.'
'Was there boiled mutton at it?' asked Grout.
'I really cannot say. It is not recorded.'
'Give me boiled mutton, a little underdone, and I ask for nothing more,' said Goppin.
'And,' went on the curate, 'he naturally wished his wife to be present. He wanted her to come down to be seen of his lords and princes.'
'Go on! Damn your sneezing. Put it off till you're preaching, and then no one will care,' said Rebow.
'But,' pursued the parson, when he had wiped his nose and eyes, and recovered breath after the fit, 'Queen Vashti refused to come down.'
'Well, what did the husband say to that?' asked Elijah.