I even, I must confess, sometimes address questions
to important people about their public utterances, and I have an
interesting volume of replies, mostly from secretaries. Then I am
always at work on my Somersetshire genealogies, and that means a
mass of letters. The veriest trifles, of course, they will seem to
a man like yourself; but I fail in mental grasp--I keep hammering
away at details; that is my line; and after all it keeps one alert
and alive. You know my favourite thesis--it is touch with human
nature that I value, and I am brought into contact with many minds.
I don't exaggerate the importance of my work, but I enjoy it; and
after all, that is the point! I daresay it would be more dignified
if I pretended to be a disappointed man," said the Vicar, with a
smile which won Howard's heart, "but I am not--I am a very happy
man, as busy as the fabled bee! I shouldn't relish a change. There
was some question, I may tell you, at one time, of my becoming
Archdeacon, but it was a relief to me when it was settled and when
Bedington was appointed. I woke up in the morning, I remember, the
day after his appointment was announced, and I said to myself--
'Why, it's a relief after all!' I don't mean that I shouldn't have
enjoyed it, but it would have meant giving up some part of my work.
I really have the life I like, and if my dear wife had been spared
to me, I should be the happiest of men; but that was not to be--and
by the way, I must recollect to show you some of her drawings.
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