Has not your spiritual father taught you that
much, Tina?'
'I--I must find out about that,' said Clement thoughtfully; 'but, at
any rate, the Lent Confirmations are coming on in London, and if I
were to speak to the Vicar, I have no doubt he would gladly prepare
you.'
'Nor I,' answered Edgar.
'Then shall I?' eagerly asked Clement.
'Not at present, thank you.'
Clement stood blank and open mouthed, and Fulbert laughed, secure
that the joke, whatever it might be, was against him.
'Of course,' burst out Lance, 'Edgar does not want you to speak for
him, Clem; he has got a tongue of his own, and a clergyman too, I
suppose.'
Clement proceeded to a disquisition, topographical and censorial,
upon the parish and district to which Edgar might be relegated, and
finally exclaimed, 'Yes, he is not much amiss. He has some notions.
He dines with us sometimes. You can go to him, Edgar, and I'll get
the Vicar to speak to him.'
'Thank you, I had rather be excused.'
'You cannot miss another Confirmation.'
'I can't say I am fond of pledges, especially when no one can tell
how much or how little they mean.
Whether this were in earnest, or a mere thrust in return for
Clement's pertinacity, was undecided, for Wilmet came in, looking so
sad and depressed that the brothers felt rebuked for the tone in
which they had been speaking.
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