assiduous: the vicar was of the deferential breed, agreed with
Lady Marney on the importance of infant schools, but recalled
his opinion when Lord Marney expressed his imperious hope that
no infant schools would ever be found in his neighbourhood.
Sir Vavasour was more than middle aged, comely, very
gentlemanlike, but with an air occasionally of absence which
hardly agreed with his frank and somewhat hearty idiosyncracy;
his clear brow, florid complexion, and blue eye. But Lord
Marney talked a good deal, though chiefly dogmatical or
argumentative. It was rather difficult for him to find a
sufficient stock of opposition, but he laid in wait and seized
every opening with wonderful alacrity. Even Captain Grouse
could not escape him; if driven to extremity Lord Marney would
even question his principles on fly-making. Captain Grouse
gave up, but not too soon; he was well aware that his noble
friend's passion for controversy was equal to his love of
conquest. As for Lady Marney, it was evident that with no
inconsiderable talents, and with an intelligence richly
cultivated, the controversial genius of her husband had
completely cowed her conversational charms. She never
advanced a proposition that he did not immediately bristle up,
and she could only evade the encounter by a graceful
submission. As for the vicar, a frequent guest, he would fain
have taken refuge in silence, but the earl, especially when
alone, would what he called "draw him out," and the game once
unearthed, with so skilled a pack there was but little fear of
a bad run. When all were reduced to silence, Lord Marney
relinquishing controversy, assumed the positive. He eulogized
the new poor law, which he declared would be the salvation of
the country, provided it was "carried out" in the spirit in