Hence, I never could chat with Min, as I had done at the decorations; and, naturally, I felt very much aggrieved thereanent.
What made it additionally provoking to me was, that Horner had contrived to get introduced to Mrs Clyde almost as soon as she had settled in the place, before I had returned from Paris; and there was Mr Mawley the curate, too, exercising the privilege of his cloth by continually frequenting her house.

He drove me to desperation by going in and out, apparently just as the fancy suited him, as if he were a tame cat about the place.
His conduct was perfectly odious--that is, to any right-thinking person.
Curates and cousins are, I consider, two of the greatest obstacles to an innocent layman's intimacy with the diviner portion of creation; and, in these days of reform and disestablishment, of hereditary and other conservative grievances, something ought to be done to abolish the persons in question, or at least handicap them so that other deserving young men might have a fair chance in the race for beauty's smile and Hymen's chain.

They have an enormous advantage, at present, over outside men-folk.

Girls like to have a sort of good-natured lap-dog about them, to play with occasionally and run their errands, "do this" and "that" for the asking--like Cornelius the centurion's obedient servant--and make himself generally useful, without looking for any ulterior reward on account of services rendered.

You see, cousins and curates are regarded as "harmless"-- "detrimentals with the chill off," so to speak.