She had felt that in the small festivities of the Billingsfield Christmas season she was called upon to do her share with the rest and, being a simple woman, she took her part simply, and did not dignify the entertainment of her four friends by calling it a dinner.

The occasion was none the less hospitable, for she gave both time and thought to her preparations.

Especially she had considered the question of precedence; it was doubtful, she thought, whether the squire or the vicar should sit upon her right hand.

The squire, as being lord of the manor, represented the powers temporal, the vicar on the other hand represented the church, which on ordinary occasions takes precedence of the lay faculty.

She had at last privately consulted Mr.Juxon, in whom she had the greatest confidence, asking him frankly which she should do, and Mr.
Juxon had unhesitatingly yielded the post of honour to the vicar, adding to enforce his opinion the very plausible argument that if he, the squire, took Mrs.Goddard in to tea, the vicar would have to give his arm either to little Nellie or to his own wife.