TEXT A "The landscape seen from
our windows is certainly charming," said Annabel; "those cherry orchards and
green meadows, and the river winding along the valley, and the church tower
peeping out among the elms, they all make a most effective picture. There’s
something dreadfully sleepy and languorous about it, though; stagnation seems to
be the dominant note. Nothing ever happens here; seedtime and harvest, an
occasional outbreak of measles or a mildly destructive thunderstorm, and a
little election excitement about once in five years, that is all that we have to
modify the monotony of our existence. Rather dreadful, isn’t it"
"On the contrary," said Matilda, "I find it soothing and restful; but
then, you see, I’ve lived in countries where things do happen, ever so ninny at
a time, when you’re not ready for them happening all at once." "That, of course,
makes a difference," said Annabel. "I have never forgotten,"
said Matilda, "the occasion when the Bishop of Bequar paid us an unexpected
visit; he was on his way to lay the foundation stone of a mission-house or
something of the sort." "I thought that out there you were always prepared for
emergency guests turning up," said Annabel. "I was quite
prepared for half a dozen Bishops," said Matilda, "but it was rather
disconcerting to find out after a little conversation that this particular One
was a distant cousin of mine, belonging to a branch of the family that had
quarreled bitterly and offensively with our branch about a Crown Derby dessert
service; they got it, and we ought to have got it, in some legacy, or else we
got it and they thought they ought to have it, I forget which; anyhow, I know
they behaved disgracefully." "It was rather trying, lint you
could have left your husband to do most of the entertaining." "My husband was
fifty miles up-country, talking sense, or what he imagined to be sense, to a
village community that fancied one of their leading men was a
were-tiger." "A what tiger" "A were-tiger; you’ve heard of
were-wolves, haven’t you, a mixture of wolf and human being and demon Well, in
those parts they have were-tigers, or think they have, and I must say that in
this case, so far as sworn and uncontested evidence went, they had every ground
for thinking so. However, as we gave up witchcraft prosecutions about three
hundred years ago, we don’t like to have other people keeping on our discarded
practices; it doesn’t seem respectful to our mental and moral
position," "I hope you weren’t unkind to the Bishop," said
Annabel. "Well, of course he was my guest, so I had to be outwardly polite to
him, but he was tactless enough to rake up the incidents of the old quarrel, and
to try to make out that there was something to be said for the way his side of
the family had behaved; even if there was, which I don’t for a moment admit, my
house was not the place in which to say it. I didn’t argue the matter, but I
gave my cook a holiday to go and visit his aged parents some ninety miles away.
The emergency cook was not a specialist in curries, in fact, I don’t think
cooking in any shape or form could have been one of his strong points. I believe
he originally came to us in the guise of a gardener, but as we never pretended
to have anything that could be considered a garden he was utilised as assistant
goatherd, in which capacity, I understand, he gave every satisfaction. When the
Bishop heard that I had sent away the cook on a special and unnecessary holiday
he saw the inwardness of the manoeuvre, and from that moment we were scarcely on
speaking terms. If you have ever had a Bishop with whom you were not on speaking
terms staying in your house, you will appreciate the situation."
Annabel confessed that her life-story had never included such a disturbing
experience. When the Bishop of Bequar called on Matilda, she felt quite ______.