Perhaps it was because he caught me up in a
way I did not like. I had quoted Shakespeare for lack of something
better to fill up a sentence- and had said that one touch of nature
made the whole world kin. "Ah," said Pryer, in a bold, brazen way
which displeased me, "but one touch of the unnatural makes it more
kindred still," and he gave me a look as though he thought me an old
bore and did not care two straws whether I was shocked or not.
Naturally enough, after this I did not like him.
This, however, is anticipating, for it was not till Ernest had
been three or four months in London that I happened to meet his fellow
curate, and I must deal here rather with the effect he produced upon
my godson than upon myself. Besides being what was generally
considered good-looking, he was faultless in his get-up, and
altogether the kind of man whom Ernest was sure to be afraid of and
yet be taken in by. The style of his dress was very High Church, and
his acquaintances were exclusively of the extreme High Church party,
but he kept his views a good deal in the background in his rector's
presence, and that gentleman, though he looked askance on some of
Pryer's friends, had no such ground of complaint against him as to
make him sever the connection.
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