It had been unfortunate for him that there had been such silence observed on the subject of his correspondence and acquaintance with Penelope. Scarcely any one but the parties concerned knew anything of the matter. Mr Kipperson suspected it, and the Smatterton family had been informed of it by Mr Darnley, because the reverend gentleman thought it but respectful to let them into the secret. As for Sir George Aimwell, he scarcely knew or thought of anything, except administering justice and killing birds. The Reverend Charles Pringle, rector of Smatterton, was also quite unaware of the existence of any correspondence between Robert Darnley and Penelope Primrose. No wonder then that, under the present awkward circumstances, and with the false account which Zephaniah, the critic, had brought from London, there should be in the hearing of Robert Darnley much conversation by no means agreeable to his feelings, or soothing to his mind. When the party began to assemble they began also to talk: but at the first their talk was very desultory and common-place. The worthy baronet was congratulated by Mr Kipperson on having caught a poacher, and was condoled with by the same gentleman on having lost almost his whole brood of pheasants. It is astonishing that any one can be so simple as not to see that pheasants were obviously created to be shot by gentlemen and noblemen only, or their gamekeepers. There was also much talk about horses and dogs, and the poor-rates, and Mr Malthus, and parish settlements, and the agricultural interest.