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I HAD been near a week at Brympton before I saw my master. Word came / that he was arriving one afternoon, and a change passed over the whole / household. It was plain that nobody loved him below stairs. Mrs. / Blinder took uncommon care with the dinner that night, but she snapped / at the kitchen-maid in a way quite unusual with her; and Mr. Wace, the / butler, a serious, slow-spoken man, went about his duties as if he'd / been getting ready for a funeral. He was a great Bible-reader, Mr. Wace / was, and had a beautiful assortment of texts at his command; but that / day he used such dreadful language that I was about to leave the table, / when he assured me it was all out of Isaiah; and I noticed that / whenever the master came Mr. Wace took to the prophets.
About seven, Agnes called me to my mistress's room; and there I found / Mr. Brympton. He was standing on the hearth; a big fair bull-necked / man, with a red face and little bad-tempered blue eyes: the kind of man / a young simpleton might have thought handsome, and would have been like / to pay dear for thinking it.