The bishop, in a sonorous voice but with weak reason, argued that horse racing, although to be deplored, was not necessarily wrong. Mr. Conyers respectfully submitted that it had proved very wrong in his personal experience, and that he was striving to prevail against what was obviously and palpably an evil to the community, and he could not think it reasonable to suppose that the obvious evil to the men of the county was balanced by the possible good to the horse. The bishop “hemmed” and “ha’d” and beat about the bush. Then Conyers was induced, by some foolish impulse, to impart to the bishop the doubts he had laboured under. The bishop, who accepted all he was taught without investigation, strongly recommended Mr. Conyers to do the same. Mr. Conyers’s mind was unfortunately so constituted that he couldn’t do it. On the whole, the bishop never had a more uncomfortable visit in his life, and was sincerely glad when Mrs. Shapleigh’s carriage hove in sight. Mrs. Shapleigh was not insensible to the honour of entertaining a bishop, and even confided to Mr. Shapleigh a wish that the bishop, who was a widower of two years’ standing, might take a fancy to Sylvia, who was only thirty years his junior. The bishop preached the following Sunday at church, and Bulstrode went to hear him, and took so much snuff during the sermon that the bishop sneezed seventeen times without any intermission. The bishop, however, had heard of Bulstrode’s great learning, and of Skelton and all the glories of Deerchase, and he gently insinuated to Mrs. Shapleigh that he would like to meet them. So Mrs. Shapleigh at once sent a darky tearing across the bridge with an invitation for the next day. The bishop spent his time at Belfield, when he was neither eating nor sleeping, sitting in a capacious chair in the drawing-room, and listening very gravely to Mrs. Shapleigh’s prattle. Sylvia spent most of her time out in the boat with Lewis, in order to get rid of the bishop, who bored her to death. Lewis told this to Bulstrode, who repeated it to Skelton. Skelton laughed quietly. That spirited young woman was not likely to fancy a person after the bishop’s pattern. Nevertheless, both of these prodigies--Skelton and Bulstrode--as Mrs. Shapleigh considered them, accepted her invitation to dinner, and so did Conyers, whose pleasure in going to Belfield was that Sylvia comforted and understood him. Bulstrode was disgusted because Conyers came to dine at Belfield that day. He had meant to wallop the bishop, figuratively speaking, but respect for Conyers would restrain him.