half veal or half lamb, and all the malt liquor direct from the breweries, not filtered through the retail trade. The bread, too, is made of pure flour, without any of your lightening messes. That’s why the living there is so wholesome.’
‘But you'll miss it all very much when you leave.’
‘No doubt, but meanwhile we get a good foundation. And perhaps the good example will spread, and people will not be so ready as they are to swallow trash without inquiry.’
‘To turn to a widely different topic,’ said Sir Richard, ‘what’s the meaning of the Pope and his satellites coming to London?’
But Lesbia was not to be drawn out upon that subject by the old squire. She merely replied,—
‘Really, I can tell you no more about that than you can tell me. Their quarrel with the Countess Pisa-Vitri having led to their expulsion, I suppose they find London the likeliest warm corner.’
‘Except one, perhaps,’ added the M.F.H., grinning, as he moved off to another group.
