"
"I don't know that he ever did," said Morton.
"Dear, dear, how tipsy he was once driving back to Oxford with me
in a gig. But he has the reputation of being one of the best
landlords in the country now."
"I wonder what it is that gives a man the reputation of being a
good landlord. Is it foxes?" asked the Senator. The rector
acknowledged with a smile that foxes helped. "Or does it mean that
he lets his land below the value? If so, he certainly does more
harm than good, though he may like the popularity which he is rich
enough to buy."
"It means that he does not exact more than his due," said the
rector indiscreetly.
"When I hear a man so highly praised for common honesty I am of
course led to suppose that dishonesty in his particular trade is
the common rule. The body of English landlords must be exorbitant
tyrants when one among them is so highly eulogised for taking no
more than his own." Luckily at that moment dinner was announced,
and the exceptional character of the Duke of Mayfair was allowed to
drop.
Mr. Mainwaring's dinner was very good and his wines were
excellent,--a fact of which Mr. Mainwaring himself was much better
aware than any of his guests. There is a difficulty in the giving
of dinners of which Mr. Mainwaring and some other hosts have become
painfully aware.
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