"
"There never was such a pleasant gentleman, nor such a kind-hearted one,
I do believe," said Widow Shanks, as she came in with bright eyes. "What
are they Carnes to the Darlings, after all? As different as night and
day."
But the Admiral's next visit was not quite so pleasant; for when he got
back into the village road, expecting a nice walk to his luncheon and
his pipe, a man running furiously almost knocked him down, and had no
time to beg his pardon. The runner's hat was off his head, and his
hair blowing out, but luckily for itself his tongue was not between his
teeth.
"Has the devil got hold of you at last, Jem Prater?" the Admiral asked,
not profanely; for he had seen a good deal of mankind, and believed in
diabolical possession.
"For Parson! for Parson!" cried Jem, starting off again as hard as he
could go. "Butter Cheeseman hath hanged his self in his own scales. And
nobody is any good but Parson."
Admiral Darling was much disturbed. "What will the world come to? I
never knew such times," he exclaimed to himself, with some solemnity;
and then set off, as fast as his overridden state permitted, for the
house of Mr. Cheeseman. Passing through the shop, which had nobody in
it, he was led by the sound of voices into a little room beyond it--the
room in which Mr. Cheeseman had first received Caryl Carne. Here
he beheld an extraordinary scene, of which he often had to dream
thereafter.
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