"On my honour, I will address you only as what you are, and know
yourself to be. But what are these faculties, so strangely beyond
my friend Templeton's reach? He used to be distinguished at college
for a very clear head, and a very kind heart, and the nicest sense
of honour which I ever saw in living man; and I have not heard that
they have failed him since he became Templeton of Templeton. And as
for his Churchmanship, were not the county papers ringing last month
with the accounts of the beautiful new church which he had built,
and the stained glass which he brought from Belgium, and the marble
font which he brought from Italy; and how he had even given for an
altar-piece his own pet Luini, the gem of Templeton House?"

"Effeminate picture!" he said. "It was part and parcel of the idea-
"

Before I could ask him what he meant, he looked up suddenly at me,
with deep sadness on his usually nonchalant face.

"Well, my dear fellow, I suppose I must tell you all, as I have told
you so much without your shaking the dust off your feet against me,
and consulting Bradshaw for the earliest train to Shrewsbury. You
knew my dear mother?"

"I did. The best of women."

"The best of women, and the best of mothers. But, if you recollect,
she was a great Low-Church saint."

"Why 'but'? How does that derogate in any wise from her
excellence?"