Page:Minnie's Bishop and Other Stories (1915).djvu/16

 a visit while he was in Ireland. Minnie, on the other hand, expressed the greatest delight at the prospect of entertaining a bishop.

"There are one or two things I want you to be careful about," Ronald said to her. "When we have a bishop in the house"

"Don't start lecturing me about the proper way to treat the clergy," said Minnie. "Bessie Langworthy, who is my greatest friend, happens to be married to a canon. I spent last Easter with them and lived for a fortnight in a cathedral close. What I don't know about the habits and tastes of Church dignitaries isn't worth mentioning."

"I suppose he'll want a sitting-room to himself," said Mrs. Mendel. "We shall have to turn your smoking-room into a study, Ronald."

"Sanctum is the proper word," said Minnie. "Bessie Langworthy's husband has a sanctum, not a study."

"I don't see," said Ronald, "how my smoking-room can be turned into a sanctuary without going to enormous expense."

"That remark," said Minnie, "shows how little you know about the clergy. A sanctum is as different as possible from a sanctuary. If you'd ever been inside Bessie Langworthy's husband's sanctum, you'd see the absurdity of what you say."

Mrs. Mendel interposed to save her husband's dignity.

"I hunted about the house this afternoon," she