I was not so
foolish as to resist, for I might have need, before I
was done, of general goodwill; and two pieces of news
fell in which changed my resignation to alacrity. It
appeared, in the first place, that Mr. Norris was from
home "travelling "; in the second, that a visitor had
been before me, and already made the tour of the
Carthew curiosities. I thought I knew who this must
be; I was anxious to learn what he had done and seen,
and fortune so far favoured me that the under-gardener
singled out to be my guide had already performed the
same function for my predecessor.
"Yes, sir," he said, "an American gentleman right
enough. At least, I don't think he was quite a
gentleman, but a very civil person."
The person, it seems, had been civil enough to be
delighted with the Carthew Chillinghams, to perform the
whole pilgrimage with rising admiration, and to have
almost prostrated himself before the shrine of
Donibristle's sire.
"He told me, sir," continued the gratified under-
gardener, "that he had often read of the 'stately 'omes
of England,' but ours was the first he had the chance
to see.
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