Читать книгу Minnie's Bishop and Other Stories - G. A. Birmingham - Страница 6

It was that pleasant hour of the day between afternoon tea and the sounding of the gong which gives warning of the approach of dinner-time. Ronald Mendel and his wife sat on the gravel sweep in front of the house.

"Tomorrow," he said, with a sigh of satisfaction, "that bishop goes."

"I think," said Mrs. Mendel, "that he has enjoyed his visit. Your mother is greatly pleased. I had a letter from her this morning in which she said that she'd heard from him and——"

"Nothing could be more outrageous than Minnie's behaviour from start to finish. I've never for a moment felt safe. I've sat, so to speak, on the edge of a volcano."

"She took him off our hands," said Mrs. Mendel. "Be a little grateful, Ronald."

"She ought to be whipped."

"Ronald dear!"

"Well, she ought. Fortunately, I don't believe he understood half she said. Besides, I don't approve of dragging bishops into dangerous places. He came in wet to the waist the day she took him up the river in the punt. She must have upset him."

"He didn't seem to mind."

"No, but I did. I may not be much of a man for going to church, but I think bishops ought to be treated with some respect."

"Still," said Mrs. Mendel, "your mother seems greatly pleased."

"She won't be when she sees him. I don't know how Minnie managed it, but his face is all scratched."

"That happened when she took him out to gather blackberries. It doesn't seem to have been her fault. He said he slipped and rolled down a bank."

"Bishops ought not to be taken near banks of that sort," said Ronald. "And yesterday I found him reading 'On the Edge of a Precipice.' If he tells my mother that he got that book in my house I shall never hear the end of it."

"He won't tell her. He has too much sense."

"He has very little sense—less sense than any bishop I ever heard of. Good Lord! Look at him now!"

The bishop and Minnie emerged from the shrubbery at the far end of the lawn. Their appearance justified an exclamation. Minnie had grasped the bishop's wrists and was towing him towards the house. He was hanging back; but every now and then Minnie, exerting herself her full strength, succeeded in breaking into a trot. The bishop appeared to be a good deal embarrassed. Ronald took his pipe out of his mouth and laid it on the ground beside him.

"Congratulate me at once," said Minnie, breathlessly, "both of you, without an instant's delay. The bishop and I are engaged to be married."

"If this is any kind of a joke," said Ronald, "it strikes me as being in remarkably bad taste."

"It's not a joke," said Minnie. "It's quite true. Isn't it, Harold? Didn't you say your name was Harold?"

"Harold Cyril," said the bishop.

"I shall probably call you Hal after we are married," said Minnie.

"No bishop," said Ronald, "would marry a girl like you, Minnie."

"I assure you," said the bishop, "that if Miss Mendel—I mean to say—Minnie—can only bring herself to—— You know I'm only a missionary bishop."

"That's just it," said Minnie. "You don't understand in the least, Ronald. What the bishop says is that I'll be a help to him in his work. You said that, didn't you, Harold?"

"Yes," said the bishop, bravely.

"You'd be a help!" said Ronald. "Oh, hang it all, Minnie, that's a bit too thick!"

"Not at all," said Minnie. "My manners and general gaiety of disposition are just what are wanted to attract the heathen. Isn't that what you meant, Harold?"

"Not exactly," said the bishop. "What I feel is——"

"Still, I shall attract them. You can't deny that. After all, I attracted you."