Page:Minnie's Bishop and Other Stories (1915).djvu/15

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must be treated with proper respect. I'll speak to Minnie myself."

"Do. And, Ronald dear, before he comes I think you might lock up that novel you got the other day. I haven't read it, of course, but from what you told me I don't think——"

"There's nothing in the novel half so risqué as the things Minnie frequently says. I hope you'll make her understand "

"I thought you said you'd speak to her."

"I shall, about the smoking. The other warning will come better from you. When does the bishop arrive?"

"He may be here to-morrow," said Mrs. Mendel. "His plans appear to be rather unsettled. He is to drop in on us whenever he finds himself in this neighbourhood. Your mother says we're to have a room ready for him. Be sure to give Mr. Hutchinson a hint not to leave those sporting papers of his lying about. I wouldn't like the bishop to think we read them. They're—well, not very religious, are they, Ronald?"

"If I know anything of Gilbert Hutchinson he'll clear out of this before the bishop arrives. He's not what I call an irreligious man, but I don't think he could stand sitting down to dinner every night with a bishop."

Mr. Hutchinson acted up to his host's expectation. He recollected suddenly that he had an aunt in County Cork, and that it was his duty to pay her