Anthony Trollope: Barchester Towers

23. CHAPTER XXIII: MR ARABIN READS HIMSELF IN AT ST EWOLD'S (continued)

'Yes, guano. I get it from Bristol myself. You'll find you often have a tolerable congregation of Barchester people out here, Mr Arabin. They are very fond of St Ewold's, particularly of an afternoon, when the weather is not too hot for a walk.'

'I am under an obligation to them for staying away today, at any rate,' said the vicar. 'The congregation can never be too small for a maiden sermon.'

'I got a ton and a half at Bradley's in High Street,' said the archdeacon, 'and it was a complete take in. I don't believe there was five hundred-weight of guano in it.'

'That Bradley never has anything good,' said Miss Tborne, who had just caught the name during her whisperings with Eleanor. 'And such a nice shop as there used to be in that very house before he came. Wilfred, don't you remember what good things old Ambleoff used to have?'

'There have been three men since Ambleoff's time,' said the archdeacon, 'and each as bad as the other. But who gets it for you at Bristol, Thorne?'

'I ran up myself this year and bought it out of the ship. I am afraid as the evenings get shorter, Mr Arabin, you'll find the reading desk too dark. I must send a fellow with an axe and make him lop off some of those branches.'

Mr Arabin declared that the morning light at any rate was perfect, and deprecated any interference with the lime trees. And then they took a stroll out among the trim parterres, and Mr Arabin explained to Mrs Bold the difference between a naiad and a dryad, and dilated on vases and the shapes of urns. Miss Thorne busied herself among the pansies; and her brother, finding it quite impracticable to give anything of a peculiarly Sunday tone to the conversation, abandoned the attempt, and had it out with the archdeacon about the Bristol guano.