“I beg entirely to differ from you, Mrs. Manningtree,” said Phineas. “You have come through much heavy travail to a correct appreciation of the meaning of human love between man and woman, and so you have in you the wisdom of all the ages.”
“Yes, yes,” said Peggy, becoming practical. “But Port Royal?”
“The clue to the labyrinth,” replied Phineas.
CHAPTER XXIV
The Dean of an English cathedral is a personage.
He has power. He can stand with folded arms at its door and forbid entrance to anyone, save, perhaps, the King in person. He can tell not only the Bishop of the Diocese, but the very Archbishop of the Province, to run away and play. Having power and using it benignly and graciously, he can exert its subtler form known as influence. In the course of his distinguished career he is bound to make many queer friends in high places.
“My dear Field-Marshal, could you do me a little favour…?”
“My dear Ambassador, my daughter, etc., etc….”
Deans, discreet, dignified gentlemen, who would not demand the impossible, can generally get what they ask for.