"'I've seen that disputed, sir,' said Sandy; 'an' I think, after a' wi' some success. A man of great parts an' genius is surely a nobler creature than a'.'
"'I'm grieved, Sandy, to find your moral perceptions so weak,' here interrupted Mr Darsy. 'Don't you see, or rather will you not see, that——'
"'I really canna see, sir,' interrupted Sandy, in his turn 'that——'
"'Well, but let me explain myself,' again interrupted Mr Darsy; and, having at length obtained this permission, he went on to expound the disputed text, after his own views of its bearings.
"Sandy replied; Mr Darsy rejoined; and a hot dispute, of a good half-hour's continuance, ensued between master and man, on the moral points involved in the quotation; such disputes, by the way, being a frequent occurrence between them; for, although they agreed most cordially on the general merits of Pope, there were many minute points—some as to the meaning of passages; others as to their morality—on which they differed, as on the present occasion, and on which they spoke for hours on end.
"To return to the instance just now under notice: they were thus engaged—that is, settling the moral bearing of the quotation above given—and so earnest in their employment, as to be totally oblivious of everything else—and, amongst the rest, Willie Craig and his horses—when Miss Darsy came running into the garden, just as her brother had begun a new section of his defence of Pope, with—
"'Pope, sir—I say Pope distinctly means——'
"'Gracious heaven, Mr Darsy!' exclaimed Miss Sarah, 'are you at that odious Pope again? Have you forgotten that there has been a man with two horses waiting on you for this half-hour past? It is too bad—too bad, Mr Darsy.'
"'I acknowledge it, my dear—I acknowledge it,' replied the benevolent and good-natured Popite, smiling kindly on his sister; 'but I am sure the honest man will forgive me when I tell him the cause.'
"'Will he?' said his sister. 'I should rather think he will consider it an aggravation of the offence.'