The brothers shook hands very warmly, and in so doing, the contrast between them was very great.  The farmer I have already described.  The clergyman was a remarkable specimen of the ‘dry-as-dust’ species.  Very tall, very thin, with very loose joints, seemingly hung together on wires, and a very prominent nose.  He had acquired the habit of poking his chin and looking on the ground, as if he were always in search for something, which he possibly was, as he never despaired of finding some antiquity or curiosity at any moment.  It must not be augured from his devotion to antiquarian lore that he made a bad clergyman On the contrary, he was always ready at the call of the poorest parishioner, regular in his visits to the sick, charitable in no mean degree, and humble in his deportment to rich and poor.  True, his sermons were somewhat dry, and occasionally too learned for the greater portion of his flock; but he made up for this by the simplicity of his conversation when he talked to them at their own houses.

He seldom was seen without a sort of school-boy satchel at his back, containing a small hammer and other useful tools, which, it was believed, had actually carried his lesson-books years ago.  All the villagers knew his strong-and-weak point, and he rarely appeared amongst them without having various stones and imaginary curiosities presented to him, particularly by the young people.  Many of these stones found their way into his bag, and it was not to be wondered at that he had a somewhat round back, as he frequently carried a load upon it, that a beast of burden would not have rejoiced in.

He and Mrs Jonathan were a remarkable pair; one of those ill-assorted couples that you wonder at.  ‘How in the world did they come together?’ was the usual question, the philosophic reply to which would have been, that theirs was actually one of the ‘Matches made in heaven.’  The gentleman got money to enable him to follow the bent of his genius without anxiety for his daily bread, and therewith a stirring wife to take care of him and his house; the wife got her great desideratum, a husband, and therewith the desideratum of all women, her own way.

But we must return to Netta and the other belligerents.  As nothing more was to be made of her at present, they let her alone, perhaps the wisest thing they could do, and sat down to dinner.  Netta declined eating, and consequently was left to her own reflections.  Mr Prothero inquired anxiously of his wife, when he had cooled a little, whether he had really hurt Netta when he took hold of her arm; to which Mrs Prothero replied with unusual severity, ’No, perhaps it had been better if you had; she wanted some trial or punishment to bring down her proud spirit.’

In the course of the evening, a little before Mr and Mrs Jonathan left Glanyravon to return home, Miss Gwynne came to inquire for the poor Irish girl.  She joined the party in the parlour for a short time, and gave a message from her father to Rowland, to the effect that he was very anxious for another game of chess, and begged him to come and dine at the Park on the morrow.  Of course Rowland was only too happy, and the rest of the party too proud.