—GEORGE CRABBE PERHAPS GERALD WOULD have given up any idea of pursuing Tiffin had not his parents given him a lecture before he went down to dinner. Mrs. Parkes had sustained a call from Peter Bond. Peter had politely called to ask if everything was to their pleasure but had then gone on to tell Mrs. Parkes about the unexpected arrival of Miss Moon and her aunt. “Such a charming lady,” he had said, “but cursed with a socially ambitious father who is nothing more than a farmer and the rough type of fellow who would drive any socially presentable man who even looked at his daughter to the altar with threats of breach of promise.” Mrs. Parkes considered herself shrewd enough to recognize a warning when she heard it. She repeated to her husband what Mr. Bond had said and Gerald had been summoned. They were devoted parents but often worried about what they considered to be a wild and heedless streak in their son. “Have you been pursuing that farmer’s daughter, Miss Moon?” asked Colonel Parkes bluntly.
