Murray Bradshaw was very curious to find out how it was that he had become the victim of such a rudimentary miss as Susan Posey.

Could she be an heiress in disguise?
Why no, of course not; had not he made all proper inquiries about that when Susan came to town?
A small inheritance from an aunt or uncle, or some such relative, enough to make her a desirable party in the eyes of certain villagers perhaps, but nothing to allure a man like this, whose face and figure as marketable possessions were worth say a hundred thousand in the girl's own right, as Mr.Bradshaw put it roughly, with another hundred thousand if his talent is what some say, and if his connection is a desirable one, a fancy price,--anything he would fetch.

Of course not.

Must have got caught when he was a child.
Why the diavolo didn't he break it off, then?
There was no fault to find with the modest entertainment at the Parsonage.

A splendid banquet in a great house is an admirable thing, provided always its getting up did not cost the entertainer an inward conflict, nor its recollection a twinge of economical regret, nor its bills a cramp of anxiety.