"No! How amusing! Do listen, Madeleine!" cried Fanny, beaming.
"It's all very well for you to laugh," said the chaplain, good humouredly; "but it might be very embarrassing for me, were it not that I can rely on the support of the good dean."
"So Dean Sparre and you get on now. I was under the impression that the relation"
"Yes, at first; only just at first. But I am not ashamed to confess that the fault was on my side. You see, when I first came I took up with some of our so-called Evangelical neighbours; respectable, worthy people, too—I should be sorry to say otherwise—but still, not exactly such—such"
"Comme il faut?" suggested Fanny.
"Well," answered he, smiling, "that was not exactly the expression I was looking for; but still, you understand what I mean."
"Perfectly!" said Fanny, laughing, as she took the cup of chocolate which Madeleine had poured out for her.
"I am sorry to say I took up a false position with regard to the dean, which led to many annoyances until I learnt to know him; then everything smoothed itself down so nicely that, if I may venture to say so, the relations between us became almost that of father and son. He is an extraordinary man," repeated the chaplain several times.
"Yes, is he not?" said Fanny. "I think he is the nicest clergyman I have ever seen; and if one did not understand a word of his sermon, it would still be
