"I have no doubt Dodd could exchange and become one of the wise men of the East, if he tried," said Haggard maliciously. "Ah, dear Mr. Haggard, my husband was never formed for missionary work. Ever since my girlhood I have tried to rouse his enthusiasm, but in vain. I don't believe he has any enthusiasm," and here the voice of the Reverend John Dodd was heard in an unctuous whisper addressing Colonel Spurbox in commendation of the dish in front of him, to which he helped himself copiously for the second time. "I'm quite certain, my dear sir, that there is no more successful way of accommodating the freshly-killed partridge than in a _salmi_. I say this advisedly, and after many years' experience. I speak feelingly, colonel. Till the fourth you can't do better than stick to _salmi_; I always do." "There's no want of enthusiasm in that, anyhow, Dodd," said Spunyarn with a smile, while the two young men laughed aloud. "Ah," sighed the vicaress in a stage whisper, "forgive his little weakness; he _will_ hanker after the flesh-pots--the flesh-pots of Egypt." "Be exact, my dear, be exact," cried the vicar; "it was quail, probably roast quail, though that is a succulent dish, that is referred to; certainly not _salmi_ of partridges." "Don't trifle, John," cried Mrs. Dodd. "I don't, my dear; I assure you that I am seriously, profitably and pleasantly employed. Good gracious me, is there anything one need be ashamed of in the admiration of art? And what art can be higher than the culinary art, which must have been necessarily one of the earliest, if not the very earliest of all? Some people are born without an ear for music; I am one of those unfortunates myself, but to make up for it I have been blessed by heaven with an appreciative palate. Would you have me neglect my advantage, would you wish me to bury my one talent in a napkin? Certainly not, Mrs. Dodd. Art I appreciate, especially high art, and I'll trouble you for a little more of the _salmi_, Dr. Wolff." "And how are things going on in the parish, Mr. Dodd?" said Georgie. "Are the Dissenters as active as ever?" "No, my dear madam; just now the Church is far more popular." "Thanks to organization, thanks to organization," burst in the vicar's wife impetuously. "Our curates' wives are admirable organizers. You remember the Misses Sleek, Mr. Haggard?" "That I do; uncommonly good-looking girls they were too." "Well, Mr. Haggard, it was the last thing that I should have expected, but they both went into the Church." "You mean that they married my curates, my dear," interrupted the vicar.