“He is an absentee, then?”
“To be sure he is, and so is every man of them now, barrin' an odd one. The country's deserted, and although business is lookin' up a little—take your time, Susanna, we needn't be in sich a hurry now—although, as I said, business is lookin' up a little, still it's nothing to what it was when the gentry lived at home wid us.”
“Who is agent to this Lord Cumber, pray?”
“A blessed boy, by all accounts, but that's all I'll say about him—I know him too well to make him my enemy.”
“Why, is he not popular—is he not liked by the tenantry?”
“Oh, Lord, to be sure—they doat upon him; and, indeed, no wondher, he's so kind and indulgent to the poor. To tell you the truth, he's a great blessin' to the country.”
“That, to be sure, is very satisfactory—and, pray, if I may take the liberty, who is his law agent, or has he one?”
“Why, another blessed—hem—a very pious devout man, named Mr. Solomon M'Slime, an attorney—but, indeed, an attorney that almost shames the Bible itself, he's so religious. Isn't he, Susanna?”
“He hath good gifts; if he doth not abuse them.”
“Religion is certainly the best principle in life, if sincerely felt, and not prostituted and made a mask of.”