"That's enough for Aunt
Freddy! But, hang it all, so am I! She ought to see how suitable it
is! I'd like to lay on Father Greer to talk to her!"
There is no need to attempt to record in detail the comments of the
wider circle of Larry's acquaintances, but it may be said that his
friends of all ranks had one point in common, a sincere admiration for
Dr. Mangan. Bill Kirby, who had supported him politically, now fell
away from him. Judith had not refrained from admitting him to the
secret which she had extracted from her younger sister, and Bill's
references to young Mr. Coppinger and to Doctor, Mrs., and Miss
Mangan, would have been very helpful to those ladies, of whom there
were many, who took the matter to heart.
The unpopularity of the engagement was considerably aggravated by the
extreme magnificence of the furs, presented by the bridegroom elect to
his _fiancee_, and worn by her at a meet of the hounds, which she
attended in her father's motor.
It might have been some consolation to the neighbourhood had it known
that those grey furs had been of the nature of a peace-offering, after
a rather acute difference of opinion on that point of settling down at
Coppinger's Court as opposed to going abroad. Larry had shelved it for
the present, and had, as he told himself, made good by the dint of the
furs. That had come out all right, but now, Larry, mounted on Joker,
and led in chains at Tishy's motor-wheel, found that among his former
allies of the hunt things were not as they once had been, and was not
pleased.
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