So that, in spite of all her persistent church-going, and her love of church performances as an essential part of the busy human spectacle, Mrs.Elsmere had no yearning for a clerical son.

The little accidents of a personal experience had led to wide generalizations, as is the way with us mortals, and the position of the young parson in these days of increased parsonic pretensions was, to Mrs.Elsmere, a position in which there was an inherent risk of absurdity.

She wished her son to impose upon her when it came to his taking any serious step in life.

She asked for nothing better, indeed, than to be able, when the time came, to bow the motherly knee to him in homage, and she felt a little dread lest, in her flat moments, a clerical son might sometimes rouse in her that sharp sense of the ludicrous which is the enemy of all happy illusions.
Still, of course, the Elsmere proposal was one to be seriously considered in its due time and place.

Mrs.Elsmere only reflected that it would certainly be better to Say nothing of it to Robert until he should be at college.