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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2432.txt b/2432.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf72707 --- /dev/null +++ b/2432.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21696 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope + + +******************************************************************* +THIS EBOOK WAS ONE OF PROJECT GUTENBERG'S EARLY FILES PRODUCED AT A +TIME WHEN PROOFING METHODS AND TOOLS WERE NOT WELL DEVELOPED. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + +BARCHESTER TOWERS + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +I Who will be the new Bishop? +II Hiram's Hospital, according to Act of Parliament +III Dr and Mrs Proudie +IV The Bishop's Chaplain +V A Morning Visit +VI War +VII The Dean and Chapter take Counsel +VIII The Ex-Warden rejoices at his probable Return to the Hospital +IX The Stanhope Family +X Mrs Proudie's Reception--Commenced +XI Mrs Proudie's Reception--Concluded +XII Slope versus Harding +XIII The Rubbish Cart +XIV The New Champion +XV The Widow's Suitors +XVI Baby Worship +XVII Who shall be Cock of the Walk? +XVIII The Widow's Persecution +XIX Barchester by Moonlight +XX Mr Arabin +XXI St Ewold's Parsonage +XXII The Thornes of Ullathorne +XXIII Mr Arabin reads himself in at St Ewold's +XXIV Mr Slope manages matters very well at Puddingdale +XXV Fourteen Arguments in favour of Mr Quiverful's Claims +XXVI Mrs Proudie wrestles and gets a Fall +XXVII A Love Scene +XXVIII Mrs Bold is entertained by Dr and Mrs Grantly at Plumstead +XXIX A serious Interview +XXX Another Love Scene +XXXI The Bishop's Library +XXXII A New Candidate for Ecclesiastical Honours +XXXIII Mrs Proudie Victrix +XXXIV Oxford--The Master and Tutor of Lazarus +XXXV Miss Thorne's Fete Champetre +XXXVI Ullathorne Sports--Act I +XXXVII The Signora Neroni, the Countess De Courcy, and + Mrs Proudie meet each other at Ullathorne +XXXVIII The Bishop sits down to Breakfast and the Dean dies +XXXIX The Lookalofts and the Greenacres +XL Ullathorne Sports--Act II +XLI Mrs Bold confides her Sorrow to her Friend Miss Stanhope +XLII Ullathorne Sports--Act III +XLIII Mrs and Mrs Quiverful are made happy. + Mr Slope is encouraged by the Press +XLIV Mrs Bold at Home +XLV The Stanhopes at Home +XLVI Mr Slope's parting Interview with the Signora + +XLVII The Dean Elect +XLVIII Miss Thorne shows her Talent at Match-making +XLIX The Belzebub Colt +L The Archdeacon is satisfied with the State of Affairs +LI Mr Slope's Farewell to the Palace and its Inhabitants +LII The new Dean takes Possession of the Deanery, + and the New Warden of the Hospital +LIII Conclusion + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHO WILL BE THE NEW BISHOP? + +In the latter days of July in the year 185-, a most important +question was for ten days hourly asked in the cathedral city of +Barchester, and answered every hour in various ways--Who was to be +the new Bishop? + +The death of old Dr Grantly, who had for many years filled the +chair with meek authority, took place exactly as the ministry of +Lord - was going to give place to that Lord -. The illness of the +good old man was long and lingering, and it became at last a matter +of intense interest to those concerned whether the new appointment +should be made by a conservative or liberal government. + +Bishop Grantly died as he had lived, peaceably, slowly, without +pain and without excitement. The breath ebbed from him almost +imperceptibly, and for a month before his death, it was a question +whether he was alive or dead. + +A trying time was this for the archdeacon, for whom was designed +the reversion of his father's see by those who then had the giving +away of episcopal thrones. I would not be understood to say that +the prime minister had in so many words promised the bishopric to +Dr Grantly. He was too discreet a man for that. There is a proverb +with reference to the killing of cats, and those who know anything +either of high or low government places, will be well aware that a +promise may be made without positive words, and that an expectant +may be put into the highest state of encouragement, though the +great man on whose breath he hangs may have done no more than +whisper that 'Mr So-and-so is certainly a rising man.' + +Such a whisper had been made, and was known by those who heard it +to signify that the cures of the diocese of Barchester should not +be taken out of the hands of the archdeacon. The then prime +minister was all in all at Oxford, and had lately passed a night at +the house of the master of Lazarus. Now the master of +Lazarus--which is, by the bye, in many respects the most +comfortable, as well as the richest college at Oxford,--was the +archdeacon's most intimate friend and most trusted counsellor. On +the occasion of the prime minister's visit, Dr Grantly was of +course present, and the meeting was very gracious. On the following +morning Dr Gwynne, the master, told the archdeacon that in his +opinion the matter was settled. + +At this time the bishop was quite on his last legs; but the +ministry was also tottering. Dr Grantly returned from Oxford happy +and elated, to resume his place in the palace, and to continue to +perform for the father the last duties of a son; which, to give him +his due, he performed with more tender care than was to be expected +from his usual somewhat worldly manners. + +A month since the physicians had named four weeks as the outside +period during which breath could be supported within the body of +the dying man. At the end of the month the physicians wondered, and +named another fortnight. The old man lived on wine alone, but at +the end of the fortnight he still lived; and the tidings of the +fall of the ministry became more frequent. Sir Lamda Mewnew and Sir +Omicron Pie, the two great London doctors, now came down for the +fifth time, and declared, shaking their learned heads, that another +week of life was impossible; and as they sat down to lunch in the +episcopal dining-room, whispered to the archdeacon their own +private knowledge that the ministry must fall within five days. The +son returned to his father's room, and after administering with his +own hands the sustaining modicum of madeira, sat down by the +bedside to calculate his chances. + +The ministry were to be out within five days: his father was to be +dead within--No, he rejected that view of the subject. The ministry +were to be out, and the diocese might probably be vacant at the +same period. There was much doubt as to the names of the men who +were to succeed to power, and a week must elapse before a Cabinet +was formed. Would not vacancies be filled by the out-going men +during that week? Dr Grantly had a kind of idea that such would be +the case, but did not know; and then he wondered at his own +ignorance of such a question. + +He tried to keep his mind away from the subject, but he could not. +The race was so very close, and the stakes were so very high. He +then looked at the dying man's impassive, placid face. There was no +sign there of death or disease; it was something thinner than of +yore, somewhat grayer, and the deep lines of age more marked; but, +as far as he could judge, life might yet hang there for weeks to +come. Sir Lamda Mewnew and Sir Omicron Pie had thrice been wrong, +and might yet be wrong thrice again. The old bishop slept during +twenty of the twenty-four hours, but during the short periods of +his waking moments, he knew both his son and his dear friend Mr +Harding, the archdeacon's father-in-law, and would thank them +tenderly for their care and love. Now he lay sleeping like a baby, +resting easily on his back, his mouth just open, and his few gray +hairs straggling from beneath his cap; his breath was perfectly +noiseless, and his thin, wan hand, which lay above the coverlid, +never moved. Nothing could be easier than the old man's passage +from this world to the next. + +But by no means easy were the emotions of him who sat there +watching. He knew it must be now or never. He was already over +fifty, and there was little chance that his friends who were now +leaving office would soon return to it. No probable British prime +minister but he who was now in, he who was so soon to be out, would +think of making a bishop of Dr Grantly. Thus he thought long and +sadly, in deep silence, and then gazed at that still living face, +and then at last dared to ask himself whether he really longed for +his father's death. + +The effort was a salutary one, and the question was answered in a +moment. The proud, wishful, worldly man, sank on his knees by the +bedside, and taking the bishop's hand within his own, prayed +eagerly that his sins might be forgiven him. + +His face was still buried in the clothes when the door of the +bed-room opened noiselessly, and Mr Harding entered with a velvet +step. Mr Harding's attendance at that bedside had been nearly as +constant as that of the archdeacon, and his ingress and egress was +as much a matter of course as that of his son-in-law. He was +standing close beside the archdeacon before he was perceived, and +would have also knelt in prayer had he not feared that his doing so +might have caused some sudden start, and have disturbed the dying +man. Dr Grantly, however, instantly perceived him, and rose from +his knees. As he did so Mr Harding took both his hands, and pressed +them warmly. There was more fellowship between them at that moment +than there had ever been before, and it so happened that after +circumstances greatly preserved the feeling. As they stood there +pressing each other's hands, the tears rolled freely down their +cheeks. + +'God bless you, my dears,'--said the bishop with feeble voice as he +woke--'God bless you--may God bless you both, my dear children:' +and so he died. + +There was no loud rattle in the throat, no dreadful struggle, no +palpable sign of death; but the lower jaw fell a little from its +place, and the eyes, which had been so constantly closed in sleep, +now remained fixed and open. Neither Mr Harding nor Dr Grantly knew +that life was gone, though both suspected it. + +'I believe it's all over,' said Mr Harding, still pressing the +other's hands. 'I think--nay, I hope it is.' + +'I will ring the bell,' said the other, speaking all but in a +whisper. 'Mrs Phillips should be here.' + +Mrs Phillips, the nurse, was soon in the room, and immediately, +with practised hand, closed those staring eyes. + +'It's all over, Mrs Phillips?' asked Mr Harding. + +'My lord's no more,' said Mrs Phillips, turning round and +curtseying with a solemn face; 'His lordship's gone more like a +sleeping baby than any that I ever saw.' + +'It's a great relief, archdeacon,' said Mr Harding, 'A great +relief--dear good, excellent old man. Oh that our last moments may +be as innocent and peaceful as his!' + +'Surely,' said Mrs Phillips. 'The Lord be praised for all his +mercies; but, for a meek, mild, gentle-spoken Christian, his +lordship was--' and Mrs Phillips, with unaffected but easy grief, +put up her white apron to her flowing eyes. + +'You cannot but rejoice that it is over,' said Mr Harding, still +counselling his friend. The archdeacon's mind, however, had already +travelled from the death chamber to the closet of the prime +minister. He had brought himself to pray for his father's life, but +now that that life was done, to dally with the fact of the bishop's +death--useless to lose perhaps everything for the pretence of a +foolish sentiment. + +But how was he to act while his father-in-law stood there holding +his hand? How, without appearing unfeeling, was he to forget his +father in the bishop--to overlook what he had lost, and think only +of what he might possibly gain? + +'No; I suppose not,' said he, at last, in answer to Mr Harding. 'We +have all expected it for so long.' + +Mr Harding took him by the arm and led him from the room. 'We will +see him again to-morrow morning,' said he; 'We had better leave the +room now to the woman.' And so they went downstairs. + +It was already evening and nearly dark. It was most important that +the prime minister should know that night that the diocese was +vacant. Everything might depend on it; and so, in answer to Mr +Harding's further consolation, the archdeacon suggested that a +telegraph message should be immediately sent off to London. Mr +Harding who had really been somewhat surprised to find Dr Grantly, +as he thought, so much affected, was rather taken aback; but he +made no objection. He knew that the archdeacon had some hope of +succeeding to his father's place, though he by no means knew how +highly raised that hope had been. + +'Yes,' said Dr Grantly, collecting himself and shaking off his +weakness, 'We must send a message at once; we don't know what might +be the consequences of delay. Will you do it?' + +'I! Oh yes; certainly: I'll do it, only I don't know exactly what +it is you want.' + +Dr Grantly sat down before a writing table, and taking pen and ink, +wrote on a slip of paper as follows:- + + By Electric Telegraph, + For the Earl of -, Downing Street, or elsewhere. + 'The Bishop of Barchester is dead.' + Message sent by the Rev. Septimus Harding. + +'There,' said he. 'Just take that to the telegraph office at the +railway station, and give it as it is; they'll probably make you +copy it on to one of their own slips; that's all you'll have to do: +then you'll have to pay them half-a-crown.' And the archdeacon put +his hand in his pocket and pulled out the necessary sum. + +Mr Harding felt very much like an errand-boy, and also felt that he +was called on to perform his duties as such at rather an unseemly +time; but he said nothing, and took the slip of paper and the +proffered coin. + +'But you've put my name into it, archdeacon.' + +'Yes,' said the other, 'There should be the name of some clergyman, +you know, and what name so proper as that of so old a friend as +yourself? The Earl won't look at the name you may be sure of that; +but my dear Mr Harding, pray don't lose any time.' + +Mr Harding got as far as the library door on his way to the +station, when he suddenly remembered the news with which he was +fraught when he entered to poor bishop's bedroom. He had found the +moment so inopportune for any mundane tidings, that he had +repressed the words which were on his tongue, and immediately +afterwards all recollection of the circumstance was for the time +banished by the scene which had occurred. + +'But, archdeacon,' said, he turning back, 'I forgot to tell +you--the ministry are out.' + +'Out!' ejaculated the archdeacon, in a tone which too plainly +showed the anxiety of his dismay, although under the circumstances +of the moment he endeavoured to control himself: 'Out! Who told you +so?' + +Mr Harding explained that news to this effect had come down by +electric telegraph, and that the tidings had been left at the +palace door by Mr Chadwick. + +The archdeacon sat silent for awhile, meditating, and Mr Harding +stood looking at him. 'Never mind,' said the archdeacon at last; +'Send the message all the same. The news must be sent to some one, +and there is at present no one else in a position to receive it. Do +it at once, my dear friend; you know I would not trouble you, were +I in a state to do it myself. A few minutes' time is of the +greatest importance.' + +Mr Harding went out and sent the message, and it may be as well +that we should follow it to its destination. Within thirty minutes +of its leaving Barchester it reached the Earl of - in his inner +library. What elaborate letters, what eloquent appeals, what +indignant remonstrances, he might there have to frame, at such a +moment, may be conceived, but not described! How he was preparing +his thunder for successful rivals, standing like a British peer +with his back to the sea-coal fire, and his hands in his breeches +pockets,--how his fine eye was lit up with anger, and his forehead +gleamed with patriotism,--how he stamped his foot as he thought of +his heavy associates,--how he all but swore as he remembered how +much too clever one of them had been,--my creative readers may +imagine. But was he so engaged? No; history and truth compel me to +deny it. He was sitting easily in a lounging chair, conning over a +Newmarket list, and by his elbow on the table was lying open an +uncut French novel on which he was engaged. + +He opened the cover in which the message was enclosed, and having +read it, he took his pen and wrote on the back of it-- + + 'For the Earl of -, + With the Earl of -'s compliments,' + +and sent off again on its journey. + +Thus terminated our unfortunate friend's chance of possessing the +glories of a bishopric. + +The names of many divines were given in the papers as that of the +bishop elect. The British Grandmother declared that Dr Gwynne was +to be the man, in compliment to the late ministry. + +This was a heavy blow to Dr Grantly, but he was not doomed to see +himself superseded by his friend. The Anglican Devotee put forward +confidently the claims of a great London preacher of austere +doctrines; and The Eastern Hemisphere, an evening paper supposed to +possess much official knowledge, declared in favour of an eminent +naturalist, a gentleman most completely versed in the knowledge of +rocks and minerals, but supposed by many to hold on religious +subjects no special doctrines whatever. The Jupiter, that daily +paper which, as we all know, is the only true source of infallibly +correct information on all subjects, for a while was silent, but at +last spoke out. The merits of all these candidates were discussed +and somewhat irreverently disposed of, and then The Jupiter +declared that Dr Proudie was to be the man. + +Dr Proudie was the man. Just a month after the demise of the late +bishop, Dr Proudie kissed the Queen's hand as his successor elect. + +We must beg to be allowed to draw a curtain over the sorrows of the +archdeacon as he sat, sombre and sad at heart, in the study of his +parsonage at Plumstead Episcopi. On the day subsequent to the +dispatch of the message he heard that the Earl of - had consented to +undertake the formation of a ministry, and from that moment he knew +that his chance was over. Many will think that he was wicked to +grieve for the loss of episcopal power, wicked to have coveted it, +nay, wicked even to have thought about it, in the way and at the +moment he had done so. + +With such censures, I cannot profess that I completely agree. The +nolo episcopari, though still in use, is so directly at variance +with the tendency of all human aspirations of rising priests in the +Church of England. A lawyer does not sin in seeking to be a judge, +or in compassing his wishes by all honest means. A young diplomat +entertains a fair ambition when he looks forward to be the lord of +a first-rate embassy; and a poor novelist when he attempts to rival +Dickens or rise above Fitzjames, commits no fault, though he may be +foolish. + +Sydney Smith truly said that in these recreant days we cannot +expect to find the majesty of St. Paul beneath the cassock of a +curate. If we look to our clergymen to be more than men, we shall +probably teach ourselves to think that they are less, and can +hardly hope to raise the character of the pastor by denying to him +the right to entertain the aspirations of a man. + +Our archdeacon was worldly--who among us is not so? He was +ambitious--who among us is ashamed to own that 'last infirmity of +noble minds!' He was avaricious, my readers will say. No--it was +not for love of lucre that he wished to be bishop of Barchester. He +was his father's only child, and his father had left him great +wealth. His preferment brought him in nearly three thousand a year. +The bishopric, as cut down by the Ecclesiastical Commission, was +only five. He would be a richer man as archdeacon, than he could be +as a bishop. But he certainly did desire to play first fiddle; he +did desire to sit in full lawn sleeves amongst the peers of the +realm; and he did desire, if the truth must be out, to be called +'My Lord' by the reverend brethren. + +His hopes, however, were they innocent or sinful, were not fated to +be realised; and Dr Proudie was consecrated Bishop of Barchester. + + + +CHAPTER II + +HIRAM'S HOSPITAL ACCORDING TO ACT OF PARLIAMENT + +It is hardly necessary that I should here give to the public any +lengthened biography of Mr Harding, up to the period of the +commencement of this tale. The public cannot have forgotten how ill +that sensitive gentleman bore the attack that was made upon him in +the columns of the Jupiter, with reference to the income which he +received as warden of Hiram's Hospital, in the city of Barchester. +Nor can it be forgotten that a law-suit was instituted against him +on the matter of that charity by Mr John Bold, who afterwards +married his, Mr Harding's, younger and then only unmarried +daughter. Under the pressure of these attacks, Mr Harding had +resigned his wardenship, though strongly recommended to abstain +from doing so, both by his friends and his lawyers. He did, +however, resign it, and betook himself manfully to the duties of +the small parish of St. Cuthbert's, in the city, of which he was +vicar, continuing also to perform those of precentor of the +cathedral, a situation of small emoluments which had hitherto been +supposed to be joined, as a matter of course, to the wardenship of +the hospital above spoken of. + +When he left the hospital from which he had been so ruthlessly +driven, and settled himself down in his own modest manner in the +High Street of Barchester, he had not expected that others would +make more fuss about it than he was inclined to do himself; and the +extent of his hope was, that the movement might have been made in +time to prevent any further paragraphs in the Jupiter. His affairs, +however, were not allowed to subside thus quietly, and people were +quite as much inclined to talk about the disinterested sacrifice he +had made, as they had before been to upbraid him for his cupidity. + +The most remarkable thing that occurred, was the receipt of an +autographed letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which the +primate very warmly praised his conduct, and begged to know what +his intentions were for the future. Mr Harding replied that he +intended to be rector of St. Cuthbert's in Barchester; and so that +matter dropped. Then the newspapers took up his case, the Jupiter +among the rest, and wafted his name in eulogistic strains through +every reading-room in the nation. It was discovered also, that he +was the author of that great musical work, Harding's Church +Music,--and a new edition was spoken of, though, I believe, never +printed. It is, however, certain that the work was introduced into +the Royal Chapel at St James's, and that a long criticism appeared +in the Musical Scrutator, declaring that in no previous work of its +kind had so much research been joined with such exalted musical +ability, and asserting that the name of Harding would henceforward +be known wherever the Arts were cultivated, or Religion valued. + +This was high praise, and I will not deny that Mr Harding was +gratified by such flattery; for if Mr Harding was vain on any +subject, it was on that of music. But here the matter rested. The +second edition, if printed, was never purchased; the copies which +had been introduced into the Royal Chapel disappeared again, and +were laid by in peace, with a load of similar literature. Mr +Towers, of the Jupiter, and his brethren occupied themselves with +other names, and the underlying fame promised to our friend was +clearly intended to be posthumous. + +Mr Harding had spent much of his time with his friend the bishop, +much with his daughter Mrs Bold, now, alas, a widow; and had almost +daily visited the wretched remnants of his former subjects, the few +surviving bedesmen now left at Hiram's Hospital. Six of them were +still living. The number, according to old Hiram's will, should +always have been twelve. But after the abdication of their warden, +the bishop had appointed no successor to him, and it appeared as +though the hospital at Barchester would fall into abeyance, unless +the powers that be should take some steps towards putting it once +more into working order. + +During the past five years the powers that be had not overlooked +Barchester Hospital, and sundry political doctors had taken the +matter in hand. Shortly after Mr Harding's resignation, the Jupiter +had very clearly shown what ought to be done. In about half a +column it had distributed the income, rebuilt the building, put an +end to all bickerings, regenerated kindly feeling, provided for Mr +Harding, and placed the whole thing on a footing which could not +but be satisfactory to the city and Bishop of Barchester, and to +the nation at large. The wisdom of this scheme was testified by the +number of letters which "Common Sense", "Veritas", and "One that +loves fair play," sent to the Jupiter, all expressing admiration +and amplifying on the details given. It is singular enough that no +adverse letter appeared at all, and, therefore, none of course was +written. + +But Cassandra was not believed, and even the wisdom of the Jupiter +sometimes falls on deaf ears. Though other plans did not put +themselves forward in the columns of the Jupiter, reformers of +church charities were not slack to make known in various places +their different nostrums for setting Hiram's Hospital on its feet +again. A learned bishop took occasion, in the Upper House, to +allude to the matter, intimating that he had communicated on the +subject with his right reverend brother of Barchester. The radical +member for Staleybridge had suggested that the funds should be +alienated for the education of the agricultural poor of the +country, and he amused the House by some anecdotes touching the +superstition and habits of the agriculturists in question. A +political pamphleteer had produced a few dozen pages, which he +called 'Who are Hiram's heirs?' intending to give an infallible +rule for the governance of such establishments; and, at last, a +member of the government promised that in the next session a short +bill should be introduced for regulating the affairs of Barchester, +and other kindred concerns. + +The next session came, and, contrary to custom, the bill came also. +Men's minds were then intent on other things. The first +threatenings of a huge war hung heavily over the nation, and the +question as to Hiram's heirs did not appear to interest very many +people either in or out of the House. The bill, however, was read +and reread, and in some undistinguished manner passed through its +eleven stages without appeal or dissent. What would John Hiram have +said in the matter, could he have predicted that some forty-five +gentlemen would take on themselves to make a law altering the whole +purport of the will, without in the least knowing at the moment of +their making it, what it was that they were doing? It is however to +be hoped that the under secretary for the Home Office knew, for to +him had the matter been confided. + +The bill, however, did pass, and at the time at which this history +is supposed to commence, it had been ordained that there should be, +as heretofore, twelve old men in Barchester Hospital, each with +1s 4d a day; that there should also be twelve old women, each with +1s 2d a day; that there should be a matron with a house and L 70 a +year; a steward with L 150 a year, who should have the spiritual +guidance of that appertaining to the male sex. The bishop, dean, +and warden, were, as formerly, to appoint in turn the recipients of +the charity, and the bishop was to appoint the officers. There was +nothing said as to the wardenship being held by the precentor of +the cathedral, nor a word as to Mr Harding's right to the +situation. + +It was not, however, till some months after the death of the old +bishop, and almost immediately consequent on the installation of +his successor, that notice was given that the reform was about to +be carried out. The new law and the new bishop were among the +earliest works of a new ministry, or rather of a ministry who, +having for a while given place to their opponents, had then +returned to power; and the death of Dr Grantly occurred, as we +have seen, exactly at the period of change. + +Poor Eleanor Bold! How well does that widow's cap become her, and +the solemn gravity with which she devotes to her new duties. Poor +Eleanor! + +Poor Eleanor! I cannot say that with me John Bold was ever a +favourite. I never thought him worthy of the wife he had won. But +in her estimation he was most worthy. Hers was one of those +feminine hearts which cling to a husband, not with idolatry, for +worship can admit of no defect in its idol, but with the perfect +tenacity of ivy. As the parasite plant will follow even the defects +of the trunk which it embraces, so did Eleanor cling to and love +the very faults of her husband. + +She had once declared that whatever her father did should in her +eyes be right. She then transferred her allegiance, and became ever +ready to defend the worst failings of her lord and master. + +And John Bold was a man to be loved by a woman; he was himself +affectionate, he was confiding and manly; and that arrogance of +thought, unsustained by first-rate abilities, that attempt at being +better than his neighbours which jarred so painfully on the +feelings of his acquaintances, did not injure him in the estimation +of his wife. + +Could she even have admitted that he had a fault, his early death +would have blotted out the memory of it. She wept as for the loss +of the most perfect treasure with which mortal woman had ever been +endowed; for weeks after he was gone the idea of future happiness +in this world was hateful to her; consolation, as it is called, was +insupportable, and tears and sleep were her only relief. + +But God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. She knew that she had +within her the living source of other cares. She knew that there +was to be created for her another subject of weal or woe, of +unutterable joy or despairing sorrow, as God in his mercy might +vouchsafe to her. At first this did not augment her grief! To be +the mother of a poor infant, orphaned before it was born, brought +forth to the sorrows of an ever desolate hearth, nurtured amidst +tears and wailing, and then turned adrift into the world without +the aid of a father's care! There was at first no joy in this. + +By degrees, however, her heart became anxious for another object, +and, before its birth, the stranger was expected with all the +eagerness of a longing mother. Just eight months after the father's +death a second John Bold was born, and if the worship of one +creature can be innocent in another, let us hope that the adoration +offered over the cradle of the fatherless infant may not be imputed +as sin. + +It will not be worth our while to define the character of the +child, or to point out in how far the faults of the father were +redeemed within that little breast by the virtues of the mother. +The baby, as a baby, was all that was delightful, and I cannot +foresee that it will be necessary for us to inquire into the facts +of his after life. Our present business at Barchester will not +occupy us above a year or two at the furthest, and I will leave it +to some other pen to produce, if necessary, the biography of John +Bold the Younger. + +But, as a baby, this baby was all that could be desired. This fact +no one attempted to deny. 'Is he not delightful?' she would say to +her father, looking into his face from her knees, he lustrous eyes +overflowing with soft tears, her young face encircled by her close +widow's cap and her hands on each side of the cradle in which her +treasure was sleeping. The grandfather would gladly admit that the +treasure was delightful, and the uncle archdeacon himself would +agree, and Mrs Grantly, Eleanor's sister, would re-echo the word +with true sisterly energy; and Mary Bold--but Mary Bold was a +second worshipper at the same shrine. + +The baby was really delightful; he took his food with a will, +struck out his toes merrily whenever his legs were uncovered, and +did not have fits. These are supposed to be the strongest points of +baby perfection, and in all these our baby excelled. + +And in this the widow's deep grief was softened, and a sweet balm +was poured into the wound which she had thought nothing but death +could heal. How much kinder is God to us than we are willing to be +to ourselves! At the loss of every dear face, at the last going of +every well beloved one, we all doom ourselves to an eternity of +sorrow, and look to waste ourselves away in an ever-running +fountain of tears. How seldom does such grief endure! How blessed +is the goodness which forbids it to do so! 'Let me ever remember my +living friends, but forget them as soon as they are dead,' was the +prayer of a wise man who understood the mercy of God. Few perhaps +would have the courage to express such a wish, and yet to do so +would only be to ask for that release from sorrow, which a kind +Creator almost always extends to us. + +I would not, however, have it imagined that Mrs Bold forgot her +husband. She really thought of him with all conjugal love, and +enshrined his memory in the innermost centre of her heart. But yet +she was happy in her baby. It was so sweet to press the living toy +to her breast, and feel that a human being existed who did owe, and +was to owe everything to her; whose daily food was drawn from +herself; whose little wants could all be satisfied by her; whose +infant tongue would make his first effort in calling her by the +sweetest name a woman can hear. And so Eleanor's bosom became +tranquil, and she set about her new duties eagerly and gratefully. + +As regards the concerns of the world, John Bold had left his widow +in prosperous circumstances. He had bequeathed to her all that he +possessed, and that comprised an income much exceeding what she or +her friends thought necessary for her. It amounted to nearly a +thousand a year; and when she reflected on its extent, her dearest +hope was to hand it over, not only unimpaired, but increased, to +her husband's son, to her own darling, to the little man who now +lay sleeping on her knee, happily ignorant of the cares which were +to be accumulated in his behalf. + +When John Bold died, she earnestly implored her father to come and +live with her, but this Mr Harding declined, though for some weeks +he remained with her as a visitor. He could not be prevailed upon +to forego the possession of some small house of his own, and so +remained in the lodgings he had first selected over a chemist's +shop in the High Street at Barchester. + + + +CHAPTER III + +DR AND MRS PROUDIE + +This narrative is supposed to commence immediately after the +installation of Dr Proudie. I will not describe the ceremony, as I +do not precisely understand its nature. I am ignorant whether a +bishop be chaired like a member of parliament, or carried in a gilt +coach like a lord mayor, or sworn in like a justice of the peace, +or introduced like a peer to the upper house, or led between two +brethren like a knight of the garter; but I do know that every +thing was properly done, and that nothing fit or becoming to a +young bishop was omitted on the occasion. + +Dr Proudie was not the man to allow anything to be omitted that +might be becoming to his new dignity. He understood well the value +of forms, and knew that the due observations of rank could not be +maintained unless the exterior trappings belonging to it were held +in proper esteem. He was a man born to move in high circles; at +least so he thought himself and circumstances had certainly +sustained him in this view. He was the nephew of a Irish baron by +his mother's side, and his wife was the niece of a Scottish earl. +He had for years held some clerical office appertaining to courtly +matters, which had enabled him to live in London, and to entrust +his parish to his curate. He had been a preacher to the royal +beefeaters, curator of theological manuscripts in the +Ecclesiastical Courts, chaplain of the Queen's Yeomanry Guard, and +almoner to his Royal Highness the Prince of Rappe-Blankenburg. + +His residence in the metropolis, rendered necessary by the duties +entrusted to him, his high connections, and the peculiar talents +and nature of the man, recommended him to persons in power; and Dr +Proudie became known as a useful and rising clergyman. + +Some few years since, even within the memory of many who are not +yet willing to call themselves old, a liberal clergyman was a +person not frequently to be met. Sydney Smith was such, and was +looked on as a little better than an infidel; a few others also +might be named, but they were 'rarae aves', and were regarded with +doubt and distrust by their brethren. No man was so surely a tory +as a country rector--nowhere were the powers that be so cherished +as at Oxford. + +When, however, Dr Whately was made an archbishop, and Dr Hampden +some years afterwards regius professor, many wise divines saw that +a change was taking place in men's minds, and that more liberal +ideas would henceforward be suitable to the priests as well as to +the laity. Clergymen began to be heard of who had ceased to +anathematise papists on the one hand, or vilify dissenters on the +other. It appeared clear that high church principles, as they are +called, were no longer to be the surest claims to promotion with at +any rate one section of statesmen, and Dr Proudie was one among +those who early in life adapted himself to the views held by the +whigs on most theological and religious subjects. He bore with the +idolatry of Rome, tolerated even the infidelity of Socinianism, and +was hand and glove with the Presbyterian Synods of Scotland and +Ulster. + +Such a man at such a time was found to be useful, and Dr Proudie's +name began to appear in the newspapers. He was made one of a +commission who went over to Ireland to arrange matters preparative +to the working of the national board; he became honorary secretary +to another commission nominated to inquire into the revenues of +cathedral chapters; and had had something to do with both the +regium donum and the Maynooth Grant. + +It must not be on this account be taken as proved that Dr Proudie +was a man of great mental powers, or even of much capacity for +business, for such qualities had not been required in him. In the +arrangement of those church reforms with which he was connected, +the ideas and original conception of the work to be done were +generally furnished by the liberal statesmen of the day, and the +labour of the details was borne by officials of a lower rank. It +was, however, thought expedient that the name of some clergyman +should appear in such matters, and as Dr Proudie had become known +as a tolerating divine, great use of this sort was made of his +name. If he did not do much active good, he never did any harm; he +was amenable to those who were really in authority, and at the +sittings of the various boards to which he belonged maintained a +kind of dignity which had its value. + +He was certainly possessed of sufficient tact to answer the purpose +for which he was required without making himself troublesome; but +it must not therefore be surmised that he doubted his own power, or +failed to believe that he could himself take a high part in high +affairs when his own turn came. His was biding his time, and +patiently looking forward to the days when he himself would sit +authoritative at some board, and talk and direct, and rule the +roost, while lesser stars sat round and obeyed, as he had so well +accustomed himself to do. + +His reward and his time had now come. He was selected for the +vacant bishopric, and on the next vacancy which might occur in any +diocese would take his place in the House of Lords, prepared to +give not a silent vote in all matters concerning the weal of the +church establishment. Toleration was to be the basis on which he +was to fight his battles, and in the honest courage of his heart he +thought no evil would come to him in encountering even such foes as +his brethren of Exeter and Oxford. + +Dr Proudie was an ambitious man, and before he was well consecrated +Bishop of Barchester, he had begun to look up to archepiscopal +splendour, and the glories of Lambeth, or at any rate of +Bishopsthorpe. He was comparatively young, and had, as he fondly +flattered himself, been selected as possessing such gifts, natural +and acquired, as must be sure to recommend him to a yet higher +notice, now that a higher sphere was opened to him. Dr Proudie was, +therefore, quite prepared to take a conspicuous part in all +theological affairs appertaining to these realms; and having such +views, by no means intended to bury himself at Barchester as his +predecessor had done. No: London should still be his ground: a +comfortable mansion in a provincial city might be well enough for +the dead months of the year. Indeed Dr Proudie had always felt it +necessary to his position to retire from London when other great +and fashionable people did so; but London should still be his fixed +residence, and it was in London that he resolved to exercise that +hospitality so peculiarly recommended to all bishops by St Paul. +How otherwise could he keep himself before the world? How else give +the government, in matters theological, the full benefit of his +weight and talents? + +This resolution was no doubt a salutary one as regarded the world +at large, but was not likely to make him popular either with the +clergy or the people of Barchester. Dr Grantly had always lived +there; and in truth it was hard for a bishop to be popular after Dr +Grantly. His income had averaged L 9000 a year; his successor was +to be rigidly limited to L 5000. He had but one child on whom to +spend his money; Dr Proudie had seven or eight. He had been a man +of few personal expenses, and they had been confined to the tastes +of a moderate gentleman; but Dr Proudie had to maintain a position +in fashionable society, and had that to do with comparatively small +means. Dr Grantly had certainly kept his carriages, as became a +bishop; but his carriage, horses, and coachmen, though they did +very well for Barchester, would have been almost ridiculous at +Westminster. Mrs Proudie determined that her husband's equipage +should not shame her, and things on which Mrs Proudie resolved, +were generally accomplished. + +From all this it was likely to result that Dr Proudie would not +spend much money at Barchester; whereas his predecessor had dealt +with the tradesmen of the city in a manner very much to their +satisfaction. The Grantlys, father and son, had spent their money +like gentlemen; but it soon became whispered in Barchester that Dr +Proudie was not unacquainted with those prudent devices by which +the utmost show of wealth is produced from limited means. + +In person Dr Proudie is a good-looking man; spruce and dapper, and +very tidy. He is somewhat below middle height, being about five +feet four; but he makes up for the inches which he wants by the +dignity with which he carries those which he has. It is no fault +of his own if he has not a commanding eye, for he studies hard to +assume it. His features are well formed, though perhaps the +sharpness of his nose may give to his face in the eyes of some +people an air of insignificance. If so, it is greatly redeemed by +his mouth and chin, of which he is justly proud. + +Dr Proudie may well be said to have been a fortunate man, for he +was not born to wealth, and he is now bishop of Barchester; but +nevertheless he has his cares. He has a large family, of whom the +three eldest are daughters, now all grown up and fit for +fashionable life; and he has a wife. It is not my intention to +breathe a word against the character of Mrs Proudie, but still I +cannot think that with all her virtues she adds much to her +husband's happiness. The truth is that in matters domestic she +rules supreme over her titular lord, and rules with a rod of iron. +Nor is this all. Things domestic Dr Proudie might have abandoned to +her, if not voluntarily, yet willingly. But Mrs Proudie is not +satisfied with such home dominion, and stretches her power over all +his movements, and will not even abstain from things spiritual. In +fact, the bishop is henpecked. + +The archdeacon's wife, in her happy home at Plumstead, knows how to +assume the full privileges of her rank, and express her own mind in +becoming tone and place. But Mrs Grantly's sway, if sway she has, +is easy and beneficent. She never shames her husband; before the +world she is a pattern of obedience; her voice is never loud, nor +her looks sharp: doubtless she values power, and has not +unsuccessfully striven to acquire it; but she knows what should be +the limits of woman's rule. + +Not so Mrs Proudie. This lady is habitually authoritative to all, +but to her poor husband she is despotic. Successful as has been his +career in the eyes of the world, it would seem that in the eyes of +his wife he is never right. All hope of defending himself has long +passed from him; indeed he rarely even attempts self-justification; +and is aware that submission produces the nearest approach to peace +which his own house can ever attain. + +Mrs Proudie has not been able to sit at the boards and committees +to which her husband has been called by the state; nor, as he often +reflects, can she make her voice heard in the House of Lords. It +may be that she will refuse to him permission to attend to this +branch of a bishop's duties; it may be that she will insist on his +close attendance to his own closet. He has never whispered a word +on the subject to living ears, but he has already made his fixed +resolve. Should such an attempt be made he will rebel. Dogs have +turned against their masters, and even Neapolitans against their +rulers, when oppression has been too severe. And Dr Proudie feels +within himself that if the cord be drawn too tight, he also can +muster courage and resist. + +The state of vassalage in which our bishop had been kept by his +wife has not tended to exalt his character in the eyes of his +daughters, who assume in addressing their father too much of that +authority which is not properly belonging, at any rate, to them. +They are, on the whole, fine engaging young ladies. They are tall +and robust like their mother, whose high cheek bones, and--we may +say auburn hair, they all inherit. They think somewhat too much of +their grand uncles, who have not hitherto returned the compliment +by thinking much of them. But now that their father is a bishop, it +is probable that family ties will be drawn closer. Considering +their connection with the church, they entertain but few prejudices +against the pleasures of the world; and have certainly not +distressed their parents, as too many English girls have lately +done, by any enthusiastic wish to devote themselves to the +seclusion of a protestant nunnery. Dr Proudie's sons are still at +school. + +One other marked peculiarity in the character of the bishop's wife +must be mentioned. Though not averse to the society and manners of +the world, she is in her own way a religious woman; and the form in +which this tendency shows itself in her is by a strict observance +of the Sabbatarian rule. Dissipation and low dresses during the +week are, under her control, atoned for by three services, an +evening sermon read by herself, and a perfect abstinence from any +cheering employment on Sunday. Unfortunately for those under her +roof to whom the dissipation and low dresses are not extended, her +servants namely and her husband, the compensating strictness of the +Sabbath includes all. Woe betide the recreant housemaid who is +found to have been listening to the honey of a sweetheart in the +Regent's Park, instead of the soul-stirring evening discourse of Mr +Slope. Not only is she sent adrift, but she is so sent with a +character which leaves her little hope of a decent place. Woe +betide the six-foot hero who escorts Mrs Proudie to her pew in red +plush breeches, if he slips away to the neighbouring beer-shop, +instead of falling into the back seat appropriated to his use. Mrs +Proudie has the eyes of Argus for such offenders. Occasional +drunkenness in the week may be overlooked, for six feet on low +wages are hardly to be procured if the morals are always kept at a +high pitch; but not even for the grandeur or economy will Mrs +Proudie forgive a desecration of the Sabbath. + +In such matters, Mrs Proudie allows herself to be often guided by +that eloquent preacher, the Rev. Mr Slope, and as Dr Proudie is +guided by his wife, it necessarily follows that the eminent man we +have named has obtained a good deal of control over Dr Proudie in +matters concerning religion. Mr Slope's only preferment has +hitherto been that of reader and preacher in a London district +church; and on the consecration of his friend the new bishop, he +readily gave this up to undertake the onerous but congenial duties +of domestic chaplain to the bishop. + +Mr Slope, however, on his first introduction must not be brought +before the public at the tail of a chapter. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE BISHOP'S CHAPLAIN + +Of the Rev. Mr Slope's parentage I am not able to say much. I have +heard it asserted that he is lineally descended from that eminent +physician who assisted at the birth of Mr T. Shandy, and that in +early years he added an 'e' to his name, for the sake of euphony, +as other great men have done before him. If this be so, I presumed +he was christened Obadiah, for that is his name, in commemoration +of the conflict in which his ancestor so distinguished himself. All +my researches on the subject have, however, failed in enabling me +to fix the date on which the family changed its religion. + +He had been a sizar at Cambridge, and had there conducted himself +at any rate successfully, for in due process of time he was an MA, +having university pupils under his care. From thence he was +transferred to London, and became preacher at a new district church +built on the confines of Baker Street. He was in this position when +congenial ideas on religious subjects recommended him to Mrs +Proudie, and the intercourse had become close and confidential. + +Having been thus familiarly thrown among the Misses Proudie, it was +more than natural that some softer feeling than friendship should +be engendered. There have been some passages of love between him +and the eldest hope, Olivia; but they have hitherto resulted in no +favourable arrangement. In truth, Mr Slope, having made a +declaration of affection, afterwards withdrew it on finding that +the doctor had no immediate worldly funds with which to endow his +child; and it may easily be conceived that Miss Proudie, after such +an announcement on his part, was not readily disposed to receive +any further show of affection. On the appointment of Dr Proudie to +the bishopric of Barchester, Mr Slope's views were, in truth, +somewhat altered. Bishops, even though they be poor, can provide +for clerical children, and Mr Slope began to regret that he had not +been more disinterested. He no sooner heard the tidings of the +doctor's elevation, than he recommenced his siege, not violently, +indeed, but respectfully, and at a distance. Olivia Proudie, +however, was a girl of spirit: she had the blood of two peers in +her veins, and, better still, she had another lover on her books; +so Mr Slope sighed in vain; and the pair soon found it convenient +to establish a mutual bond of inveterate hatred. + +It may be thought singular that Mrs Proudie's friendship for the +young clergyman should remain firm after such an affair; but, to +tell the truth, she had known nothing of it. Though very fond of Mr +Slope herself, she had never conceived the idea that either of her +daughters would become so, and remembering that their high birth +and social advantages, expected for them matches of a different +sort. Neither the gentleman nor the lady found it necessary to +enlighten her. Olivia's two sisters had each known of the affair, +so had all the servants, so had all the people living in the +adjoining houses on either side; but Mrs Proudie had been kept in +the dark. + +Mr Slope soon comforted himself with the reflection that, as he had +been selected as chaplain to the bishop, it would probably be in +his power to get the good things in the bishop's gift, without +troubling himself with the bishop's daughter; and he found himself +able to endure the pangs of rejected love. As he sat himself down +in the railway carriage, confronting the bishop and Mrs Proudie, as +they started on their first journey to Barchester, he began to form +in his own mind a plan of his future life. He knew well his +patron's strong points, but he knew the weak ones as well. He +understood correctly enough to what attempts the new bishop's high +spirit would soar, and he rightly guessed that public life would +better suit the great man's taste, than the small details of +diocesan duty. + +He, therefore, he, Mr Slope, would in effect be bishop of +Barchester. Such was his resolve; and to give Mr Slope his due, he +had both courage and spirit to bear him out in his resolution. He +knew that he should have a hard battle to fight, for the power and +patronage of the see would be equally coveted by another great +mind--Mrs Proudie would also choose to be bishop of Barchester. Mr +Slope, however, flattered himself that he could outmanoeuvre the +lady. She must live much in London, while he would always be on the +spot. She would necessarily remain ignorant of much while he would +know everything belonging to the diocese. At first, doubtless, he +must flatter and cajole, perhaps yield in some things; but he did +not doubt of ultimate triumph. If all other means failed, he could +join the bishop against the wife, inspire courage into the unhappy +man, lay an axe to the rock of the woman's power, and emancipate +the husband. + +Such were his thoughts as he sat looking at the sleeping pair in +the railway carriage, and Mr Slope is not the man to trouble +himself with such thoughts for nothing. He is possessed of more +than average abilities, and is of good courage. Though he can stoop +to fawn, and stoop low indeed, if need be, he has still within him +the power to assume the tyrant; and with the power he has certainly +the wish. His acquirements are not of the highest order, but such +as they are they are completely under control, and he knows the use +of them. He is gifted with a certain kind of pulpit eloquence, not +likely, indeed, to be persuasive with men, but powerful with the +softer sex. In his sermons he deals greatly in denunciations, +excites the minds of his weaker hearers with a not unpleasant +terror, and leaves an impression on their minds that all mankind +are in a perilous state, and all womankind too, except those who +attend regularly to the evening lectures in Baker Street. His looks +and tones are extremely severe, so much so that one cannot but +fancy that he regards the greater part of the world as being +infinitely too bad for his care. As he walks through the streets, +his very face denotes his horror of the world's wickedness; and +there is always an anathema lurking in the corner of his eye. + +In doctrine, he, like his patron, is tolerant of dissent, if so +strict a mind can be called tolerant of anything. With +Wesleyan-Methodists he has something in common, but his soul +trembles in agony at the iniquities of the Puseyites. His aversion +is carried to things outward as well as inward. His gall rises at a +new church with a high pitched roof; a full-breasted black silk +waistcoat is with him a symbol of Satan; and a profane jest-book +would not, in his view, more foully desecrate the church seat of a +Christian, than a book of prayer printed with red letters, and +ornamented with a cross on the back. Most active clergymen have +their hobby, and Sunday observances are his. Sunday, however, is a +word which never pollutes his mouth--it is always 'the Sabbath'. +The 'desecration of the Sabbath' as he delights to call it, is to +him meat and drink:--he thrives upon that as policemen do on the +general evil habits of the community. It is the loved subject of +all his evening discourses, the source of all his eloquence, the +secret of his power over the female heart. To him, the revelation +of God appears in that one law given for Jewish observance. To him +the mercies of our Saviour speak in vain, to him in vain has been +preached that sermon that fell from the divine lips on the +mountain--'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the +earth'--'Blessed are the merciful, for the they shall obtain +mercy'. To him the New Testament is comparatively of little moment, +for from it can he draw no fresh authority for that dominion which +he loves to exercise over at least a seventh part of man's allotted +time here below. + +Mr Slope is tall, and not ill made. His feet and hands are large, +as has ever been the case, with all his family, but he has a broad +chest and wide shoulders to carry off these excrescences, and on +the whole his figure is good. His countenance, however, is not +specially prepossessing. His hair is lank, and of a dull pale +reddish hue. It is always formed into three straight lumpy masses, +each brushed with admirable precision, and cemented with much +grease; two of them adhere closely to the sides of his face, and +the other lies at right angles above them. He wears no whiskers, +and is always punctiliously shaven. His face is nearly of the same +colour as his hair, though perhaps a little redder: it is not +unlike beef,--beef, however, one would say, of a bad quality. His +forehead is capacious and high, but square and heavy, and +unpleasantly shining. His mouth is large, though his lips are thin +and bloodless; and his big, prominent, pale brown eyes inspire +anything but confidence. His nose, however, is his redeeming +feature: it is pronounced straight and well-formed; though I myself +should have liked it better if it did not possess a somewhat +spongy, porous appearance, as though it had been cleverly formed +out of a red coloured cork. + +I never could endure to shake hands with Mr Slope. A cold, clammy +perspiration always exudes from him, the small drops are ever to be +seen standing on his brow, and his friendly grasp is unpleasant. + +Such is Mr Slope--such is the man who has suddenly fallen into the +midst of Barchester Close, and is destined there to assume the +station which has heretofore been filled by the son of the late +bishop. Think, oh, my meditative reader, what an associate we have +here for those comfortable prebendaries, those gentlemanlike +clerical doctors, those happy well-used, well-fed minor canons, who +have grown into existence at Barchester under the kindly wings of +Bishop Grantly! + +But not as a mere associate for those does Mr Slope travel down to +Barchester with the bishop and his wife. He intends to be, if not +their master, at least the chief among them. He intends to lead, +and to have followers; he intends to hold the purse strings of the +diocese, and draw round him an obedient herd of his poor and hungry +brethren. + +And here we can hardly fail to draw a comparison between the +archdeacon and our new private chaplain; and despite the manifold +faults of the former, one can hardly fail to make it much to his +advantage. + +Both men are eager, much too eager, to support and increase the +power of their order. Both are anxious that the world should be +priest-governed, though they have probably never confessed as much, +even to themselves. Both begrudge any other kind of dominion held +by man over man. Dr Grantly, if he admits the Queen's supremacy in +things spiritual, only admits it as being due to the quasi +priesthood conveyed on the consecrating qualities of her +coronation; and he regards things temporal as being by their nature +subject to those which are spiritual. Mr Slope's ideas of +sacerdotal rule are of a quite different class. He cares nothing, +one way or the other, for the Queen's supremacy; these to his ears +are empty words, meaning nothing. Forms he regards but little, and +such titular expressions of supremacy, consecration, ordination, +and the like, convey of themselves no significance to him. Let him +be supreme who can. The temporal king, judge, or gaoler, can work +but on the body. The spiritual master, if he have the necessary +gifts, and can duly use them, has a wider field of empire. He works +upon the soul. If he can make himself be believed, he can be all +powerful over those who listen. If he is careful to meddle with +none who are too strong in intellect, or too weak in flesh, he may +indeed be supreme. And such was the ambition of Mr Slope. + +Dr Grantly interfered very little with the worldly doings of those +who were in any way subject to him. I do not mean to say that he +omitted to notice misconduct among his clergy, immorality in his +parish, or omissions in his family; but he was not anxious to do so +where the necessity could be avoided. He was not troubled with a +propensity to be curious, and as long as those around him were +tainted with no heretical leaning towards dissent, as long as they +fully and freely admitted the efficacy of Mother Church, he was +willing that that mother should be merciful and affectionate, prone +to indulgence, and unwilling to chastise. He himself enjoyed the +good things of this world, and liked to let it be known that he did +so. He cordially despised any brother rector who thought harm of +dinner-parties, or dreaded the dangers of a moderate claret-jug; +consequently dinner-parties and claret-jugs were common in the +diocese. He liked to give laws and to be obeyed in them implicitly, +but he endeavoured that his ordinances should be within the compass +of the man, and not unpalatable to the gentleman. He had ruled +among his clerical neighbours now for sundry years, and as he had +maintained his power without becoming unpopular, it may be presumed +that he had exercised some wisdom. + +Of Mr Slope's conduct much cannot be said, as his grand career is +yet to commence; but it may be presumed that his tastes will be +very different from those of the archdeacon. He conceives it to be +his duty to know all the private doings and desires of the flock +entrusted to his care. From the poorer classes he exacted and +unconditional obedience to set rules of conduct, and if disobeyed +he has recourse, like his great ancestor, to the fulminations of an +Ernulfus: 'Thou shalt be damned in thy going in and in thy coming +out--in thy eating and thy drinking,' &c &c &c. With the rich, +experience has already taught him a different line of action is +necessary. Men in the upper walks of life do not mind being cursed, +and the women, presuming that it be done in delicate phrase, rather +like it. But he has not, therefore, given up so important a portion +of believing Christians. With the men, indeed, he is generally at +variance; they are hardened sinners, on whom the voice of priestly +charmer often falls in vain; but with the ladies, old and young, +firm and frail, devout and dissipated, he is, as he conceives, all +powerful. He can reprove faults with so much flattery, and utter +censure in so caressing a manner, that the female heart, if it glow +with a spark of low church susceptibility, cannot withstand him. In +many houses he is thus an admired guest: the husbands, for their +wives' sake, are fain to admit him; and when once admitted it is +not easy to shake him off. He has, however, a pawing, greasy way +with him, which does not endear him to those who do not value him +for their souls' sake, and he is not a man to make himself at once +popular in a large circle such as is now likely to surround him at +Barchester. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A MORNING VISIT + +It was known that Dr Proudie would immediately have to reappoint to +the wardenship of the hospital under the act of Parliament to which +allusion has been made; but no one imagined that any choice was +left to him--no one for a moment thought that he could appoint any +other than Mr Harding. Mr Harding himself, when he heard how the +matter had been settled, without troubling himself much on the +subject, considered it as certain that he would go back to his +pleasant house and garden. And though there would be much that was +melancholy, nay, almost heartrending, in such a return, he still +was glad that it was to be so. His daughter might probably be +persuaded to return there with him. She had, indeed, all but +promised to do so, though she still entertained an idea that the +greatest of mortals, that important atom of humanity, that little +god upon earth, Johnny Bold her baby, ought to have a house of his +own over his head. + +Such being the state of Mr Harding's mind in the matter, he did not +feel any peculiar personal interest in the appointment of Dr +Proudie to the bishopric. He, as well as others at Barchester, +regretted that a man should be sent among them who, they were +aware, was not of their way of thinking; but Mr Harding himself was +not a bigoted man on points of church doctrine, and he was quite +prepared to welcome Dr Proudie to Barchester in a graceful and +becoming manner. He had nothing to seek and nothing to fear; he +felt that it behoved him to be on good terms with his bishop, and +he did not anticipate any obstacle that would prevent it. + +In such a frame of mind he proceeded to pay his respects at the +palace the second day after the arrival of the bishop and his +chaplain. But he did not go alone. Dr Grantly proposed to accompany +him, and Mr Harding was not sorry to have a companion, who would +remove from his shoulders the burden of conversation in such an +interview. In the affair of the consecration of Dr Grantly had been +introduced to the bishop, and Mr Harding had also been there. He +had, however, kept himself in the background, and he was now to be +presented to the great man for the first time. + +The archdeacon's feelings were of a much stronger nature. He was +not exactly the man to overlook his own slighted claims, or to +forgive the preference shown to another. Dr Proudie was playing +Venus to his Juno, and he was prepared to wage an internecine war +against the owner of the wished for apple, and all his satellites +private chaplains, and others. + +Nevertheless, it behoved him also to conduct himself towards the +intruder as an old archdeacon should conduct himself to an incoming +bishop; and though he was well aware of all Dr Proudie's abominable +opinions as regarded dissenters, church reform, the hebdomadal +council, and such like; though he disliked the man, and hated the +doctrines, still he was prepared to show respect to the station of +the bishop. So he and Mr Harding called together at the palace. + +His lordship was at home, and the two visitors were shown through +the accustomed hall into the well-known room, where the good old +bishop used to sit. The furniture had been bought at a valuation, +and every chair and table, every bookshelf against the wall, and +every square in the carpet, was as well known to each of them as +their own bedrooms. Nevertheless they at once felt that they were +strangers there. The furniture was for the most part the same, yet +the place had been metamorphosed. A new sofa had been introduced, +and horrid chintz affair, most unprelatical and almost irreligious; +such a sofa as never yet stood in the study of any decent high +church clergyman of the Church of England. The old curtains had +also given away. They had, to be sure, become dingy, and that which +had been originally a rich and goodly ruby had degenerated into a +reddish brown. Mr Harding, however, thought the old reddish brown +much preferable to the gaudy buff-coloured trumpery moreen which +Mrs Proudie had deemed good enough for her husband's own room in +the provincial city of Barchester. + +Our friends found Dr Proudie sitting on the old bishop's chair, +looking very nice in his new apron; they found, too, Mr Slope +standing on the hearthrug, persuasive and eager, just as the +archdeacon used to stand; but on the sofa they also found Mrs +Proudie, an innovation for which a precedent might be in vain be +sought in all the annals of the Barchester bishopric! + +There she was, however, and they could only make the best of her. +The introductions were gone through in much form. The archdeacon +shook hands with the bishop and named Mr Harding, who received such +an amount of greeting as was due from a bishop to a precentor. His +lordship then presented them to his lady wife; the archdeacon +first, with archidiaconal honours, and then the precentor with +diminished parade. After this Mr Slope presented himself. The +bishop, it is true, did mention his name, and so did Mrs Proudie +too, in a louder tone; but Mr Slope took it upon himself the chief +burden of his own introduction. He had great pleasure in making +himself acquainted with Dr Grantly; he had heard much of the +archdeacon's good works in that part of the diocese in which his +duties as archdeacon had been exercised (thus purposely ignoring +the archdeacon's hitherto unlimited dominion over the diocese at +large). He was aware that his lordship depended greatly on the +assistance which Dr Grantly would be able to give him in that +portion of the diocese. He then thrust out his hand, and grasping +that of his new foe, bedewed it unmercifully. Dr Grantly in return +bowed, looked stiff, contracted his eyebrows, and wiped his hand +with his pocket-handkerchief. Nothing abashed, Mr Slope then +noticed the precentor, and descended to the grade of the lower +clergy. He gave him a squeeze of the hand, damp indeed, but +affectionate, and was very glad to make the acquaintance of Mr -; +oh, yes, Mr Harding; he had not exactly caught the name-- +'Precentor in the cathedral' surmised Mr Slope. Mr Harding +confessed that such was the humble sphere of his work. 'Some parish +duties as well,' suggested Mr Slope. Mr Harding acknowledged the +diminutive incumbency of St Cuthbert's. Mr Slope then left him +alone, having condescended sufficiently, and joined the +conversation among the higher powers. + +There were four persons there, each of whom considered himself the +most important personage in the diocese; himself indeed, or +herself, as Mrs Proudie was one of them; and with such a difference +of opinion it was not probable that they would get on pleasantly +together. The bishop himself actually wore the visible apron, and +trusted mainly to that--to that and to his title, both being facts +which could not be overlooked. The archdeacon knew his subject, and +really understood the business of bishoping, which the others did +not; and this was his strong ground. Mrs Proudie had her sex to +back her, and her habit of command, and was nothing daunted by the +high tone of Dr Grantly's face and figure. Mr Slope had only +himself and his own courage and tact to depend on, but he +nevertheless was perfectly self-assured, and did not doubt but that +he should soon get the better of weak men who trusted so much to +externals, as both bishop and archdeacon appeared to do. + +'Do you reside in Barchester, Dr Grantly?' asked the lady with the +sweetest smile. + +Dr Grantly explained that he lived in his own parish of Plumstead +Episcopi, a few miles out of the city. Whereupon the lady hoped +that the distance was not too great for country visiting, as she +would be so glad to make the acquaintance of Mrs Grantly. She would +take the earliest opportunity, after the arrival of her horses at +Barchester; their horses were at present in London; their horses +were not immediately coming down, as the bishop would be obliged in +a few days, to return to town. Dr Grantly was no doubt aware that +the bishop was at present much called upon by the 'University +Improvement Committee': indeed, the Committee could not well +proceed without him, as their final report had now to be drawn up. +The bishop had also to prepare a scheme for the 'Manufacturing +Towns Morning and Evening Sunday School Society', of which he was a +patron, or president, or director, and therefore the horses would +not come down to Barchester at present; but whenever the horses did +come down, she would take the earliest opportunity of calling at +Plumstead Episcopi, providing the distance was not too great for +country visiting. + +The archdeacon made his fifth bow: he had made one at each mention +of the horses; and promised that Mrs Grantly would do herself the +honour of calling at the palace on an early day. Mrs Proudie +declared that she would be delighted: she hadn't liked to ask, not +being quite sure whether Mrs Grantly had horses; besides, the +distance might have been &c, &c. + +Dr Grantly again bowed, but said nothing. He could have bought +every single individual possession of the whole family of the +Proudies, and have restored them as a gift, without much feeling +the loss; and had kept a separate pair of horses for the exclusive +use of his wife since the day of their marriage; whereas Mrs +Proudie had been hitherto jobbed about the streets of London at so +much a month during the season; and at other times had managed to +walk, or hire a smart fly from the livery stables. + +'Are the arrangements with reference to the Sabbath-day schools +generally pretty good in your archdeaconry?' + +'Sabbath-day schools!' repeated the archdeacon with an affectation +of surprise. 'Upon my word, I can't tell; it depends mainly on the +parson's wife and daughters. There is none at Plumstead.' + +This was almost a fib on the part of the Archdeacon, for Mrs +Grantly has a very nice school. To be sure it is not a Sunday +School exclusively, and is not so designated; but that exemplary +lady always attends there an hour before church, and hears the +children say their catechism, and sees that they are clean and tidy +for church, with their hands washed, and their shoes tied; and +Grisel and Florinda, her daughters, carry thither a basket of large +buns, baked on the Saturday afternoon, and distribute them to all +the children not especially under disgrace, which buns are carried +home after church with considerable content, and eaten hot at tea, +being then split and toasted. The children of Plumstead would +indeed open their eyes if they heard their venerated pastor declare +that there were no Sunday schools in the parish. + +Mr Slope merely opened his eyes wider, and slightly shrugged his +shoulders. He was not, however, prepared to give up his darling +project. + +'I fear there is a great deal of Sabbath travelling here,' said he, +'on looking at the 'Bradshaw', I see that there are three trains in +and three trains out every Sabbath. Could nothing be done to induce +the company to withdraw them? Don't you think, Dr Grantly, that a +little energy might diminish the evil?' + +'Not being a director, I really can't say. But if you can withdraw +the passengers, their company, I dare say, will withdraw the +trains,' said the doctor. 'It's merely a question of dividends.' + +'But surely, Dr Grantly,' said the lady, 'surely we should look at +it differently. You and I, for instance, in our position: surely we +should do all that we can to control so grievous a sin. Don't you +think so, Mr Harding?' and she turned to the precentor, who was +sitting mute and unhappy. + +Mr Harding thought that all porters and stokers, guards, breaksmen, +pointsmen ought to have an opportunity of going to church, and he +hoped that they all had. + +'But surely, surely,' continued Mrs Proudie, 'surely that is not +enough. Surely that will not secure such an observance of the +Sabbath as we are taught to conceive is not only expedient by +indispensable; surely--' + +Come what come might, Dr Grantly was not to be forced into a +dissertation on a point of doctrine with Mrs Proudie, nor yet with +Mr Slope; so without much ceremony he turned his back upon the +sofa, and began to hope that Dr Proudie had found the palace +repairs had been such as to meet his wishes. + +'Yes, yes,' said his lordship; upon the whole he thought so--upon +the whole, he didn't know that there was much ground for complaint; +the architect, perhaps, might have--but his double, Mr Slope, who +had sidled over to the bishop's chair, would not allow his lordship +to finish his ambiguous speech. + +'There is one point I would like to mention, Mr Archdeacon. His +lordship asked me to step through the premises, and I see that the +stalls in the second stable are not perfect.' + +'Why--there's standing for a dozen horses,'said the archdeacon. + +'Perhaps so,' said the other; 'indeed, I've no doubt of it; but +visitors, you know, often require so much accommodation. There are +many of the bishop's relatives who always bring their own horses.' + +Dr Grantly promised that due provision for the relatives' horses +should be made, as far at least as the extent of the original +stable building would allow. He would himself communicate with the +architect. + +'And the coach-house, Dr Grantly,' continued Mr Slope; 'there is +really hardly any room for a second carriage in the large +coach-house, and the smaller one, of course, holds only one.' + +'And the gas,' chimed in the lady; 'there is no gas through the +house, none whatever, but in the kitchen and passages. Surely the +palace should have been fitted through with pipes for gas, and hot +water too. There is no hot water laid on anywhere above the ground +floor. Surely there should be the means of getting hot water in the +bed-rooms without having it brought in jugs from the kitchen.' + +The bishop had a decided opinion that there should be pipes for hot +water. Hot water was very essential for the comfort of the palace. +It was, indeed, a requisite in any decent gentleman's house. + +Mr Slope had remarked that the coping on the garden wall was in +many places imperfect. + +Mrs Proudie had discovered a large hole, evidently the work of +rats, in the servants' hall. + +The bishop expressed an utter detestation of rats. There was +nothing, he believed, in this world, that he so much hated as a +rat. + +Mr Slope had, moreover, observed that the locks of the out-houses +were very imperfect: he might specify the coal-cellar, and the +wood-house. + +Mrs Proudie had also seen that those on the doors of the servants' +bedrooms were in an equally bad condition; indeed the locks all +through the house were old-fashioned and unserviceable. + +The bishop thought that a great deal depended on a good lock, and +quite as much on the key. He had observed that the fault very often +lay with the key, especially if the wards were in any way twisted. + +Mr Slope was going on with his catalogue of grievances, when he was +somewhat loudly interrupted by the archdeacon who succeeded in +explaining that the diocesan architect, or rather his foreman, was +the person to be addressed on such subjects; and that he, Dr +Grantly, had inquired as to the comfort of the palace, merely as a +point of compliment. He was very sorry, however, that so many +things had been found amiss: and then he rose from his chair to +escape. + +Mrs Proudie, though she had contrived to lend her assistance in +recapitulating the palatial dilapidations, had not on that account +given up her hold of Mr Harding, nor ceased from her +cross-examination as the iniquity of Sabbatical amusements. Over +and over again had she thrown out her 'surely, surely,' at Mr +Harding's devoted head, and ill had that gentleman been able to +parry the attack. + +He had never before found himself subjected to such a nuisance. +Ladies hitherto, when they had consulted him on religious subjects, +had listened to what he might choose to say with some deference, +and had differed, it they differed, in silence. But Mrs Proudie +interrogated him, and then lectured. 'Neither thou, nor thy son, +nor thy daughter, nor thy man servant, nor thy maid servant,' said +she, impressively, and more than once, as though Mr Harding had +forgotten the words. She shook her finger at him as she quoted the +favourite law, as though menacing him with punishment; and then +called upon him categorically to state whether he did not think +that travelling on the Sabbath was an abomination and a +desecration. + +Mr Harding had never been so hard pressed in his life. He felt that +he ought to rebuke the lady for presuming so to talk to a gentleman +and a clergyman so may years her senior; but he recoiled from the +idea of scolding the bishop's wife, in the bishop's presence, on +his first visit to the palace; moreover, to tell the truth, he was +somewhat afraid of her. She, seeing him sit silent and absorbed, by +no means refrained from the attack. + +'I hope, Mr Harding,' said she, shaking her head slowly and +solemnly, 'I hope you will not leave me to think that you approve +of Sabbath travelling,' and she looked a look of unutterable +meaning into his eyes. + +There was no standing for this, for Mr Slope was now looking at +him, and so was the bishop, and so was the archdeacon, who had +completed his adieux on that side of the room. Mr Harding therefore +got up also, and putting out his hand to Mrs Proudie, said: 'If you +will come to St Cuthbert's some Sunday, I will preach you a sermon +on the subject.' + +And so the archdeacon and the precentor took their departure, +bowing low to the lady, shaking hands with the lord, and escaping +from Mr Slope in the best manner each could. Mr Harding was again +maltreated; but Dr Grantly swore deeply in the bottom of his heart, +that no earthly consideration should ever again induce him to touch +the paw of that impure and filthy animal. + +And now, had I the pen of a might poet, would I sing in epic verse +the noble wrath of the archdeacon. The palace steps descend to a +broad gravel sweep, from whence a small gate opens out into the +street, very near the covered gateway leading to the close. The +road from the palace door turns to the left, through the spacious +gardens, and terminates on the London-road, half a mile from the +cathedral. + +Till they had passed this small gate and entered the close, neither +of them spoke a word; but the precentor clearly saw from his +companion's face that a tornado was to be expected, nor was he +himself inclined to stop it. Though, by nature far less irritable +than the archdeacon, even he was angry: he even--that mild and +courteous man--was inclined to express himself in anything but +courteous terms. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WAR + +'Good heavens!' exclaimed the archdeacon, as he placed his foot on +the gravel walk of the close, and raising his hat with one hand, +passed the other somewhat violently over his now grizzled locks; +smoke issued from the uplifted beaver as it were a cloud of wrath, +and the safety-valve of his anger opened, and emitted a visible +steam, preventing positive explosion and probably apoplexy. 'Good +heavens!'--and the archdeacon looked up to the gray pinnacles of +the cathedral tower, making a mute appeal to that still living +witness which had looked down on the doings of so many bishops of +Barchester. + +'I don't think I shall ever like that Mr Slope,' said Mr Harding. + +'Like him!' roared the archdeacon, standing still for a moment to +give more force to his voice; 'like him!' All the ravens of the +close cawed their assent. The old bells of the tower, in chiming +the hour, echoed the words; and the swallows flying out from their +nests mutely expressed a similar opinion. Like Mr Slope! Why no, it +was not very probable that any Barchester-bred living thing should +like Mr Slope! + +'Nor Mrs Proudie either,' said Mr Harding. + +The archdeacon thereupon forgot himself. I will not follow his +example, nor shock my readers by transcribing the term in which he +expressed his feelings as to the lady who had been named. The +ravens and the last lingering notes of the clock bells were less +scrupulous, and repeated in corresponding echoes the very improper +exclamation. The archdeacon again raised his hat; and another +salutary escape of steam was effected. + +There was a pause, during which the precentor tried to realise the +fact that the wife of the bishop of Barchester had been thus +designated, in the close of the cathedral, by the lips of its own +archdeacon: but he could not do it. + +'The bishop seems a quiet man enough,' suggested Mr Harding, having +acknowledged to himself his own failure. + +'Idiot!' exclaimed the doctor, who for the nonce was not capable of +more than spasmodic attempts at utterance. + +'Well, he did not seem very bright,' said Mr Harding, 'and yet he +has always had the reputation of a clever man. I suppose he's +cautious and not inclined to express himself very freely.' + +The new bishop of Barchester was already so contemptible a creature +in Dr Grantly's eyes, that he could not condescend to discuss his +character. He was a puppet to be played by others; a mere wax doll, +done up in an apron and a shovel hat, to be stuck on a throne or +elsewhere and pulled about by wires as others chose. Dr Grantly did +not choose to let himself down low enough to talk about Dr Proudie; +but he saw that he would have to talk about the other members of +his household, the coadjutor bishops, who had brought his lordship +down, as it were, in a box, and were about to handle the wires as +they willed. This in itself was a terrible vexation to the +archdeacon. Could he have ignored the chaplain, and have fought the +bishop, there would have been, at any rate, nothing degrading in +such a contest. Let the Queen make whom she would bishop of +Barchester; a man, or even an ape, when once a bishop, would be a +respectable adversary, if he would but fight, himself. But what was +such a person as Dr Grantly to do, when such another person as Mr +Slope was put forward as his antagonist? + +If he, our archdeacon, refused to combat, Mr Slope would walk +triumphant over the field, and have the diocese of Barchester under +his heel. + +If, on the other hand, the archdeacon accepted as his enemy the man +whom the new puppet bishop put before him as such, he would have to +talk about Mr Slope, and write about Mr Slope, and in all matters +treat with Mr Slope, as a being standing, in some degree, on ground +similar to his own. He would have to meet Mr Slope; to--Bah! The +idea was sickening. He could not bring himself to have to do with +Mr Slope. + +'He is the most thoroughly bestial creature that ever I set my eyes +upon,' said the archdeacon. + +'Who--the bishop?' + +'Bishop! No--I'm not talking about the bishop. How on earth such a +creature got ordained!--they'll ordain anybody now, I know; but +he's been in the church these ten years; and they used to be a +little careful ten years ago.' + +'Oh! You mean Mr Slope.' + +'Did you ever see any animal less like a gentleman?' + +'I can't say I felt myself much disposed to like him.' + +'Like him!' again shouted the doctor, and the assenting ravens +again cawed an echo; 'of course you don't like him; it's not a +question of liking. But what are we to do with him?' + +'Do with him?' asked Mr Harding. + +'Yes--what are we to do with him? How are we to treat him? There he +is, and there he'll stay. He has put his foot in that palace, and +he will never take it out again till he's driven. How are we to get +rid of him?' + +'I don't suppose he can do us much harm.' + +'Not do harm!--Well I think you'll find yourself of a different +opinion before a month is gone. What would you say now, if he got +himself put into the hospital? Would that be harm?' + +Mr Harding mused awhile, and then said he didn't think the new +bishop would put Mr Slope into the hospital. + +'If he doesn't put him there, he'll put him somewhere else where +he'll be as bad. I tell you that that man, to all intents and +purposes, will be Bishop of Barchester;' and again, Dr Grantly +raised his hat, and rubbed his hand thoughtfully and sadly over his +head. + +'Impudent scoundrel!' he exclaimed after a while. 'To dare to +cross-examine me about Sunday schools in the diocese, and Sunday +travelling too: I never in my life met his equal for sheer +impudence. Why, he must have thought we were two candidates for +ordination.' + +'I declare I thought Mrs Proudie the worst of the two,' said Mr +Harding. + +'When a woman is impertinent one must only put up with it, and keep +out of her way in future; but I am not inclined to put up with Mr +Slope. "Sabbath travelling!"' and the doctor attempted to imitate +the peculiar drawl of the man he so much disliked: '"Sabbath +travelling!" Those are the sort of men who will ruin the Church of +England, and make the profession of clergyman disreputable. It is +not the dissenters or the papists that we should fear, but the set +of canting, low-bred hypocrites who are wriggling their way in +among us; men who have no fixed principle, no standard ideas of +religion or doctrine, but who take up some popular cry, as this +fellow has done about "Sabbath travelling."' + +Dr Grantly did not again repeat the question aloud, but he did so +constantly to himself, 'What were they to do with Mr Slope?' How +was he openly, before the world, to show that he utterly +disapproved of and abhorred such a man? + +Hitherto Barchester had escaped the taint of any extreme rigour of +church doctrine. The clergymen of the city and the neighbourhood, +though very well inclined to promote high-church principles, +privileges, and prerogatives, had never committed themselves to +tendencies, which are somewhat too loosely called Puseyite +practices. They all preached in their black gowns, as their fathers +had done before them; they wore ordinary black cloth waistcoats; +they had not candles on their altars, either lighted or unlighted; +they made no private genuflexions, and were contented to confine +themselves to such ceremonial observances as had been in vogue for +the last hundred years. The services were decently and demurely +read in their parish churches, chanting was confined to the +cathedral, and the science of intoning was unknown. One young man +who had come direct from Oxford as a curate at Plumstead had, after +the lapse of two or three Sundays, made a faint attempt, much to +the bewilderment of the poorer part of the congregation. Dr Grantly +had not been present on the occasion; but Mrs Grantly, who had her +own opinion on the subject, immediately after the service expressed +a hope that the young gentleman had not been taken ill, and offered +to send him all kinds of condiments supposed to be good for a sore +throat. After that there had been no more intoning at Plumstead +Episcopi. + +But now the archdeacon began to meditate on some strong measures of +absolute opposition. Dr Proudie and his crew were of the lowest +possible order of Church of England clergymen, and therefore it +behoved him, Dr Grantly, to be of the very highest. Dr Proudie +would abolish all forms and ceremonies, and therefore Dr Grantly +felt the sudden necessity of multiplying them. Dr Proudie would +consent to deprive the church of all collective authority and rule, +and therefore Dr Grantly would stand up for the full power of +convocation, and the renewal of its ancient privileges. + +It was true that he could not himself intone the service, but he +could pressure the co-operation of any number of gentlemanlike +curates well trained in the mystery of doing so. He would not +willingly alter his own fashion of dress, but he could people +Barchester with young clergymen dressed in the longest frocks, and +the highest breasted silk waistcoats. He certainly was not prepared +to cross himself, or to advocate the real presence; but, without +going this length, there were various observances, by adopting +which he could plainly show his antipathy to such men as Dr Proudie +and Mr Slope. + +All these things passed through his mind as he paced up and down +the close with Mr Harding. War, war, internecine war was in his +heart. He felt that as regarded himself and Mr Slope, one of the +two must be annihilated as far as the city of Barchester was +concerned; and he did not intend to give way until there was not +left to him an inch of ground on which he could stand. He still +flattered himself that he could make Barchester too hot to hold Mr +Slope, and he had no weakness of spirit to prevent his bringing +about such consummation if it were in his power. + +'I suppose Susan must call at the palace,' said Mr Harding. + +'Yes, she shall call there; but it shall be once and once only. I +dare say "the horses" won't find it convenient to come to Plumstead +very soon, and when that once is done the matter may drop.' + +'I don't suppose Eleanor need call. I don't think Eleanor would get +on at all well with Mrs Proudie.' + +'Not the least necessity in life,' replied the archdeacon, not +without the reflection that a ceremony which was necessary for his +wife, might not be at all binding on the widow of John Bold. 'Not +the slightest reason on earth why she should do so, if she doesn't +like it. For myself, I don't think that any decent young woman +should be subjected to the nuisance of being in the same room with +that man.' + +And so the two clergymen parted. Mr Harding going to his daughter's +house, and the archdeacon seeking the seclusion of his brougham. + +The new inhabitants of the palace did not express any higher +opinion of their visitors than their visitors had expressed of +them. Though they did not use quite such strong language as Dr +Grantly had done, they felt as much personal aversion, and were +quite as well aware as he was that there would be a battle to be +fought, and that there was hardly room for Proudieism in Barchester +as long as Grantlyism was predominant. + +Indeed, it may be doubted whether Mr Slope had not already within +his breast a better prepared system of strategy, a more +accurately-defined line of hostile conduct than the archdeacon. Dr +Grantly was going to fight because he found that he hated the man. +Mr Slope had predetermined to hate the man because he foresaw the +necessity of fighting him. When he had first reviewed the carte de +pays, previous to his entry into Barchester, the idea had occurred +to him of conciliating the archdeacon, of cajoling and flattering +him into submission, and of obtaining the upper hand by cunning +instead of courage. A little inquiry, however, sufficed to convince +him that all his cunning would fail to win over such a man as Dr +Grantly to such a mode of action as that to be adopted by Mr Slope; +and then he determined to fall back upon his courage. He at once +saw that open battle against Dr Grantly and all Dr Grantly's +adherents was a necessity of his position, and he deliberately +planned the most expedient method of giving offence. + +Soon after his arrival the bishop had intimated to the dean that, +with the permission of the canon then in residence, his chaplain +would preach in the cathedral on the next Sunday. The canon in +residence happened to be the Honourable and Reverend Dr Vesey +Stanhope, who at this time was very busy on the shores of Lake +Como, adding to that unique collection of butterflies for which he +is so famous. Or, rather, he would have been in residence but for +the butterflies and other such summer-day considerations; and the +vicar-choral, who was to take his place in the pulpit, by no means +objected to having his word done for him by Mr Slope. + +Mr Slope accordingly preached, and if a preacher can have +satisfaction in being listened to, Mr Slope ought to have been +gratified. I have reason to think that he was gratified, and that +he left the pulpit with the conviction that he had done what he +intended to do when he entered it. + +On this occasion the new bishop took his seat for the first time in +the throne allotted to him. New scarlet cushions and drapery had +been prepared, with new gilt binding and new fringe. The old carved +oak-wood of the throne, ascending with its numerous grotesque +pinnacles, half-way up to the rood of the choir, had been washed, +and dusted, and rubbed, and it all looked very smart. Ah! How often +sitting there, in happy early days, on those lowly benches in front +of the altar, have I whiled away the tedium of a sermon considering +how best I might thread my way up amidst those wooden towers, and +climb safely to the topmost pinnacle! + +All Barchester went to hear Mr Slope; either for that or to gaze at +the new bishop. All the best bonnets of the city were there, and +moreover all the best glossy clerical hats. Not a stall but had its +fitting occupant; for though some of the prebendaries might be away +in Italy or elsewhere, their places were filled by brethren, who +flocked into Barchester on the occasion. The dean was there, a +heavy old man, now too old, indeed, to attend frequently in his +place; and so was the archdeacon. So also were the chancellor, the +treasurer, the precentor, sundry canons and minor canons, and every +lay member of the choir, prepared to sing the new bishop in with +due melody and harmonious expression of sacred welcome. + +The service was certainly well performed. Such was always the case +at Barchester, as the musical education of the choir had been good, +and the voices had been carefully selected. The psalms were +beautifully chanted; the Te Deum was magnificently sung; and the +litany was given in a manner, which is still to be found at +Barchester, but, if my taste be correct, is to be found nowhere +else. The litany of Barchester cathedral has long been the special +task to which Mr Harding's skill and voice have been devoted. +Crowded audiences generally make good performers, and though Mr +Harding was not aware of any extraordinary exertion on his part, +yet probably he rather exceeded his usual mark. Others were doing +their best, and it was natural that he should emulate his brethren. +So the service went on, and at last Mr Slope got into the pulpit. + +He chose for his text a verse from the precept addressed by St Paul +to Timothy, as to the conduct necessary in a spiritual pastor and +guide, and it was immediately evident that the good clergy of +Barchester were to have a lesson. + +'Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth +not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.' These were +the words of the text, and with such a subject in such a place, it +may be supposed that such a preacher would be listened to by such +an audience. He was listened to with breathless attention, and not +without considerable surprise. Whatever opinion of Mr Slope might +have been held in Barchester before he commenced, his discourse, +none of his hearers, when it was over, could mistake him for either +a fool or a coward. + +It would not be becoming were I to travesty a sermon, or even +repeat the language of it in the pages of a novel. In endeavouring +to depict the characters of the persons of whom I write, I am to a +certain extent forced to speak of sacred things. I trust, however, +that I shall not be thought to scoff at the pulpit, though some may +imagine that I do not feel the reverence that is due to the cloth. +I may question the infallibility of the teachers, but I hope that I +shall not therefore be accused of doubt as to the thing to be +taught. + +Mr Slope, in commencing his sermon, showed no slight tact in his +ambiguous manner of hinting that, humble as he was himself, he +stood there as the mouthpiece of the illustrious divine who sat +opposite to him; and having presumed so much, he gave forth a very +accurate definition of the conduct which that prelate would rejoice +to see in the clergymen now brought under his jurisdiction. It is +only necessary to say, that the peculiar points insisted on were +exactly those which were most distasteful to the clergy of the +diocese, and most averse to their practices and opinions; and that +all those peculiar habits and privileges which have always been +dear to high-church priests, to that party which is now +scandalously called the high-and-dry church, were ridiculed, +abused, and anathematised. Now, the clergymen of the diocese of +Barchester are all of the high-and-dry church. + +Having thus, according to his own opinion, explained how a +clergyman should show himself approved unto God, as a workman that +needeth not to be ashamed, he went on to explain how the word of +truth should be divided; and here he took a rather narrow view of +the question; and fetched arguments from afar. His object was to +express his abomination of all ceremonious modes of utterance, to +cry down any religious feeling which might be excited, not by the +sense, but by the sound of words, and in fact to insult the +cathedral practices. Had St Paul spoken of rightly pronouncing +instead of rightly dividing the word of truth, this part of his +sermon would have been more to the purpose; but the preacher's +immediate object was to preach Mr Slope's doctrine, and not St +Paul's, and he contrived to give the necessary twist to the text +with some skill. + +He could not exactly say, preaching from a cathedral pulpit, that +chanting should be abandoned in cathedral services. By such an +assertion, he would have overshot his mark and rendered himself +absurd, to the delight of his hearers. He could, however, and did, +allude with heavy denunciations to the practice of intoning in +parish churches, although the practice was not but unknown in the +diocese; and from thence he came round to the undue preponderance, +which he asserted, music over meaning in the beautiful service +which they had just heard. He was aware, he said, that the +practices of our ancestors could not be abandoned at a moment's +notice; the feelings of the aged would be outraged, and the minds +of respectable men would be shocked. There were many, he was aware, +of not sufficient calibre of thought to perceive, of not sufficient +education to know, that a mode of service, which was effective when +outward ceremonies were of more moment than inward feelings, had +become all but barbarous at a time when inward conviction was +everything, when each word of the minister's lips should fall +intelligibly into the listener's heart. Formerly the religion of +the multitude had been an affair of the imagination: now, in these +latter days, it had become necessary that a Christian should have a +reason for his faith--should not only believe, but digest--not only +hear, but understand. The words of our morning service, how +beautiful, how apposite, how intelligible they were, when read with +simple and distinct decorum! But how much of the meaning of the +words was lost when they were produced with all the meretricious +charms of melody! &c &c. + +Here was a sermon to be preached before Mr Archdeacon Grantly, Mr +Precentor Harding, and the rest of them! Before a whole dean and +chapter assembled in their own cathedral! Before men who had grown +old in the exercise of their peculiar services, with a full +conviction of their excellence for all intended purposes! This too +from such a man, a clerical parvenu, a man without a cure, a mere +chaplain, an intruder among them; a fellow raked up, so said Dr +Grantly, from the gutters of Marylebone! They had to sit through +it! None of them, not even Dr Grantly, could close his ears, nor +leave the house of God during the hours of service. They were under +an obligation of listening, and that too, without any immediate +power of reply. + +There is, perhaps, no greater hardship at present inflicted on +mankind in civilised and free countries than the necessity of +listening to sermons. No one but a preaching clergyman has, in +these realms, the power of compelling audiences to sit silent, and +be tormented. No one but a preaching clergyman can revel in +platitudes, truisms, and untruisms, (sic) and yet receive, as his +undisputed privilege, the same respectful demeanour as though words +of impassioned eloquence, or persuasive logic, fell from his lips. +Let a professor of law or physic find his place in a lecture-room, +and there pour forth jejune words and useless empty phrases, and he +will pour them forth to empty benches. Let a barrister attempt to +talk without talking well, and he will talk but seldom. A judge's +charge need be listened to per force by none but the jury, +prisoner, and gaoler (sic). A member of parliament can be coughed +down or counted out. Town-councillors can be tabooed. But no one +can rid himself of the preaching clergyman. He is the bore of the +age, the old man whom we Sindbads cannot shake off, the nightmare +that disturbs our Sunday's rest, the incubus that overloads our +religion and makes God's service distasteful. We are not forced +into church! No: but we desire more than that. We desire not to be +forced to stay away. We desire, nay, we are resolute, to enjoy the +comfort of public worship; but we desire also that we may do so +without an amount of tedium which ordinary human nature cannot +endure with patience; that we may be able to leave the house of God +without that anxious longing for escape, which is the common +consequence of common sermons. + +With what complacency will a young parson deduce false conclusions +from misunderstood texts, and then threaten us with all the +penalties of Hades if we neglect to comply with the injunctions he +has given us! Yes, my too self-confident juvenile friend, I do +believe in those mysteries, which are so common in your mouth; I do +believe in the unadulterated word which you hold there in your +hand; but you must pardon me if, in some things, I doubt your +interpretation. The bible is good, the prayer-book is good, nay, +you yourself would be acceptable, if you would read to me some +portion of those time-honoured discourses which our great divines +have elaborated in the full maturity of their powers. But you must +excuse me, my insufficient young lecturer, if I yawn over your +imperfect sentences, your repeated phrases, your false pathos, your +drawlings (sic) and denouncings (sic), your humming and hawing, +your oh-ing and ah-ing, your black gloves and your white +handkerchief. To me, it all means nothing; and hours are too +precious to be so wasted--if one could only avoid it. + +And here I must make a protest against the pretence, so often put +forward by the working clergy, that they are overburdened by the +multitude of sermons to be preached. We are all too fond of our own +voices, and a preacher is encouraged in the vanity of making his +heard by the privilege of a compelled audience. His sermon is the +pleasant morsel of his life, his delicious moment of +self-exaltation. 'I have preached nine sermons this week, four the +week before. I have preached twenty-three sermons this month. It is +really too much.' 'Too much for the strength of any one.' 'Yes,' he +answered meekly, 'indeed it is; I am beginning to feel it +painfully.' 'Would,' said I, 'you could feel it--would that you +could be made to feel it.' But he never guessed that my heart was +wrung for the poor listeners. + +There was, at any rate, no tedium felt in listening to Mr Slope on +the occasion in question. His subject came too home to his audience +to be dull; and, to tell the truth, Mr Slope had the gift of using +words forcibly. He was heard through his thirty minutes of +eloquence with mute attention and open ears; but with angry eyes, +which glared found form one enraged parson to another, with +wide-spread nostrils from which already burst forth fumes of +indignation, and with many shufflings (sic) of the feet and uneasy +motions of the body, which betokened minds disturbed, and hearts +not at peace with all the world. + +At last the bishop, who, of all the congregation, had been most +surprised, and whose hair almost stood on end with terror, gave the +blessing in a manner not at all equal to that in which he had long +been practising it in his own study, and the congregation was free +to go their way. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE DEAN AND CHAPTER TAKE COUNSEL + +All Barchester was in a tumult. Dr Grantly could hardly get himself +out of the cathedral porch before he exploded in his wrath. The old +dean betook himself silently to his deanery, afraid to speak; and +there sat, half stupefied, pondering many things in vain. Mr +Harding crept forth solitary and unhappy; and, slowly passing +beneath the elms of the close, could scarcely bring himself to +believe that the words which he had heard had proceeded from the +pulpit of the Barchester Cathedral. Was he again to be disturbed? +Was his whole life to be shown up as a useless sham a second time? +would he have to abdicate his precentorship, as he had his +wardenship, and to give up chanting, as he had given up his twelve +old bedesmen? And what if he did! Some other Jupiter, some other Mr +Slope, would come and turn him out of St Cuthbert's. Surely he +could not have been wrong all his life in chanting the litany as he +had done! He began, however, to have doubts. Doubting himself was +Mr Harding's weakness. It is not, however, the usual fault of his +order. + +Yes! All Barchester was in a tumult. It was not only the clergy who +were affected. The laity also had listened to Mr Slope's new +doctrine, all with surprise, some with indignation, and some with a +mixed feeling, in which dislike of the preacher was not so strongly +blended. The old bishop and his chaplain, the dean and his canons +and minor canons, the old choir, and especially Mr Harding who was +at the head of it, had all been popular in Barchester. They had +spent their money and done good; the poor had not been ground down; +the clergy in society had neither been overbearing nor austere; and +the whole repute of the city was due to its ecclesiastical +importance. Yet there were those who had heard Mr Slope with +satisfaction. + +It is so pleasant to receive a fillip of excitement when suffering +from the dull routine of everyday life! The anthems and Te Deums +were in themselves delightful, but they had been heard so often! Mr +Slope was certainly not delightful, but he was new, and, moreover, +clever. They had long thought it slow, so said now may of the +Barchesterians, to go on as they had done in their old humdrum way, +giving ear to none of the religious changes which were moving the +world without. People in advance of the age now had new ideas, and +it was quite time that Barchester should go in advance. Mr Slope +might be right. Sunday certainly had to been strictly kept in +Barchester, except as regarded the cathedral services. Indeed the +two hours between services had long been appropriated to morning +calls and hot luncheons. Then Sunday schools; Sabbath-day schools +Mr Slope had called them. The late bishop had really not thought of +Sunday schools as he should have done. (These people probably did +not reflect that catechisms and collects are quite hard work to the +young mind as book-keeping is to the elderly; and that quite as +little feeling of worship enters into one task as the other.) And +then, as regarded that great question of musical services, there +might be much to be said on Mr Slope's side of the question. It +certainly was the fact, that people went to the cathedral to hear +the music &c &c. + +And so a party absolutely formed itself in Barchester on Mr Slope's +side of the question! This consisted, among the upper classes, +chiefly of ladies. No man--that is, no gentleman--could possibly be +attracted by Mr Slope, or consent to sit at the feet of so +abhorrent a Gamaliel. Ladies are sometimes less nice in their +appreciation of physical disqualification; and, provided that a man +speak to them well, they will listen, though he speak from a mouth +never so deformed and hideous. Wilkes was most fortunate as a +lover; and the damp, sandy-haired, saucer-eyed, red-fisted Mr Slope +was powerful only over the female breast. + +There were, however, one or two of the neighbouring clergy who +thought it not quite safe to neglect the baskets in which for the +nonce were stored the loaves and fishes of the diocese of +Barchester. They, and they only, came to call on Mr Slope after his +performance in the cathedral pulpit. Among them Mr Quiverful, the +rector of Puddingdale, whose wife still continued to present him +from year to year with fresh pledges of her love, and so to +increase his cares and, it is to be hoped, his happiness equally. +Who can wonder that a gentleman, with fourteen living children and +a bare income of L 400 a year, should look after the loaves and +fishes, ever when they are under the thumb of Mr Slope? + +Very soon after the Sunday on which the sermon was preached, the +leading clergy of the neighbourhood held high debate together as to +how Mr Slope should be put down. In the first place he should never +again preach from the pulpit of Barchester cathedral. This was Dr +Grantly's earliest dictum; and they all agreed, providing only that +they had the power to exclude him. Dr Grantly declared that the +power rested with the dean and chapter, observing that no clergyman +out of the chapter had a claim to preach there, saving only the +bishop himself. To this the dean assented, but alleged that +contests on such a subject would be unseemly; to which rejoined a +meagre little doctor, one of the cathedral prebendaries, that the +contest must be all on the side of Mr Slope if every prebendary +were always there ready to take his own place in the pulpit. +Cunning little meagre doctor, whom it suits well to live in his own +cosy house within Barchester close, and who is well content to have +his little fling at Dr Vesey Stanhope and other absentees, whose +Italian villas, or enticing London homes, are more tempting than +cathedral stalls and residences! + +To this answered the burly chancellor, a man rather silent indeed, +but very sensible, that absent prebendaries had their vicars, and +that in such case the vicar's right to the pulpit was the same as +that of the higher order. To which the dean assented, groaning +deeply at these truths. Thereupon, however, the meagre doctor +remarked that they would be in the hands of their minor canons, one +of whom might at any hour betray his trust. Whereon was heard from +the burly chancellor an ejaculation sounding somewhat like 'Pooh, +pooh, pooh!' but it might have been that the worthy man was but +blowing out the heavy breath from his windpipe. Why silence him at +all, suggested Mr Harding. Let them not be ashamed to hear what any +man might have to preach to them, unless he preached false +doctrine; in which case, let the bishop silence him. So spoke our +friend; vainly; for human ends must be attained by human means. But +the dean saw a ray of hope out of those purblind old eyes of his. +Yes, let them tell the bishop how distasteful to them was this Mr +Slope: new bishop just come to his seat could not wish to insult +his clergy while the gloss was yet fresh on his first apron. + +Then up rose Dr Grantly; and, having thus collected the scattered +wisdom of his associates, spoke forth with words of deep authority. +When I say up rose the archdeacon, I speak of the inner man, which +then sprang up to more immediate action, for the doctor had, +bodily, been standing all along with his back to the dean's empty +fire-grate, and the tails of his frock coat supported over his two +arms. His hands were in his breeches pockets. + +'It is quite clear that this man must not be allowed to preach +again in the cathedral. We all see that, except our dear friend +here, the milk of whose nature runs so softly, that he would not +have the heart to refuse the Pope, the loan of his pulpit, if the +Pope would come and ask it. We must not, however, allow the man to +preach again here. It is not because his opinion on church matters +may be different from ours--with that one would not quarrel. It is +because he has purposely insulted us. When he went up into that +pulpit last Sunday, his studied object was to give offence to men +who had grown old in reverence to those things of which he dared to +speak so slightingly. What! To come here a stranger, a young, +unknown, and unfriended stranger, and tell us, in the name of the +bishop, his master, that we are ignorant of our duties, +old-fashioned, and useless! I don't know whether to most admire his +courage or his impudence! And one thing I will tell you: that +sermon originated solely with the man himself. The bishop was no +more a party to it than was the dean here. You all know how grieved +I am to see a bishop in this diocese holding the latitudinarian +ideas by which Dr Proudie has made himself conspicuous. You all +know how greatly I should distrust the opinion of such a man. But +in this matter I hold him to be blameless. I believe Dr Proudie has +lived too long among gentlemen to be guilty, or to instigate +another to be guilty, of so gross an outrage. No! That man uttered +what was untrue when he hinted that he was speaking as the +mouthpiece of the bishop. It suited his ambitious views at once to +throw down the gauntlet to us--here within the walls of our own +loved cathedral--here where we have for so many years exercised our +ministry, without schism and with good repute. Such an attack upon +us, coming from such a quarter, is abominable.' + +'Abominable,' groaned the dean. 'Abominable,' muttered the meagre +doctor. 'Abominable,' re-echoed the chancellor, uttering a sound +from the bottom of his deep chest. 'I really think it was,' said Mr +Harding. + +'Most abominable, and most unjustifiable,' continued the +archdeacon. 'But, Mr Dean, thank God, that pulpit is still our own: +your own, I should say. That pulpit belongs to the dean and chapter +of Barchester Cathedral, and, as yet, Mr Slope is no part of that +chapter. You, Mr Dean, have suggested that we should appeal to the +bishop to abstain from forcing this man on us; but what if the +bishop allow himself to be ruled by his chaplain? In my opinion, +the matter is in our own hands. Mr Slope cannot preach there +without permission asked and obtained, and let that permission be +invariable refused. Let all participation in the ministry of the +cathedral service be refused to him. Then, if the bishop choose to +interfere, we shall know what answer to make to the bishop. My +friend here has suggested that this man may again find his way into +the pulpit by undertaking the duty of some of your minor canons; +but I am sure that we may fully trust to these gentlemen to support +us, when it is known that the dean objects to any such transfer.' + +'Of course you may,' said the chancellor. + +There was much more discussion among the learned conclave, all of +which, of course, ended in obedience to the archdeacon's commands. +They had too long been accustomed to his rule to shake it off so +soon; and in this particular case they had none of them a wish to +abet the man whom he was so anxious to put down. + +Such a meeting as that we have just recorded is not held in such a +city as Barchester unknown and untold of. Not only was the fact of +the meeting talked of in every respectable house, including the +palace, but the very speeches of the dean, the archdeacon, and +chancellor were repeated; not without many additions and imaginary +circumstances, according to the tastes and opinions of the +relaters. + +All, however, agreed in saying that Mr Slope was to be debarred +from opening his mouth in the cathedral of Barchester; many +believed that the vergers were to be ordered to refuse him even the +accommodation of a seat; and some of the most far-going advocates +for strong measures, declared that this sermon was looked upon as +an indictable offence, and that proceedings were to be taken +against him for brawling. + +The party who were inclined to him--the enthusiastically religious +young ladies, and the middle-aged spinsters desirous of a move--of +course took up his defence the more warmly on account of this +attack. If they could not hear Mr Slope in the cathedral, they +would hear him elsewhere; they would leave the dull dean, the dull +old prebendaries, and the scarcely less dull young minor canons, to +preach to each other; they would work slippers and cushions, and +hem bands for Mr Slope, make him a happy martyr, and stick him up +in some new Sion (sic) or Bethesda, and put the cathedral quite out +of fashion. + +Dr and Mrs Proudie at once returned to London. They thought it +expedient not to have to encounter any personal applications from +the dean and chapter respecting the sermon till the violence of the +storm had expended itself; but they left Mr Slope behind them +nothing daunted, and he went about his work zealously, flattering +such as would listen to his flattery, whispering religious twaddle +into the ears of foolish women, ingratiating himself with the very +few clergy who would receive him, visiting the houses of the poor, +inquiring into all people, prying into everything, and searching +with the minutest eye into all palatial dilapidation. He did not, +however, make any immediate attempt to preach again in the +cathedral. + +And so all Barchester was by the ears. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EX-WARDEN REJOICES IN HIS PROBABLE RETURN TO THE HOSPITAL + +Among the ladies in Barchester who have hitherto acknowledged Mr +Slope as their spiritual director, must not be reckoned either the +widow Bold, or her sister-in-law. On the first outbreak of the +wrath of the denizens of the close, none had been more animated +against the intruder than those two ladies. And this was natural. +Who could be so proud of the musical distinction of their own +cathedral as the favourite daughter of the precentor? Who would be +so likely to resent an insult offered to the old choir? And in such +matters Miss Bold and her sister-in-law had but one opinion. + +This wrath, however, has in some degree been mitigated, and I +regret to say that these ladies allowed Mr Slope to be his own +apologist. About a fortnight after the sermon had been preached, +they were both of them not a little surprised by hearing Mr Slope +announced, as the page in buttons opened Mrs Bold's drawing-room +door. Indeed, what living man could, by a mere morning visit, have +surprised them more? Here was the great enemy of all that was good +in Barchester coming into their own drawing-room, and they had not +strong arm, no ready tongue near at hand for their protection. The +widow snatched her baby out of its cradle into her lap, and Mary +Bold stood up ready to die manfully in that baby's behalf, should, +under any circumstances, such a sacrifice be necessary. + +In this manner was Mr Slope received. But when he left, he was +allowed by each lady to take her hand, and to make his adieux as +gentlemen do who have been graciously entertained! Yes; he shook +hands with them, and was curtseyed out courteously, the buttoned +page opening the door, as he would have done for the best canon of +them all. He had touched the baby's little hand and blessed him +with a fervid blessing; he had spoken to the widow of her early +sorrows, and Eleanor's silent tears had not rebuked him; he had +told Mary Bold that her devotion would be rewarded, and Mary Bold +had heard the praise without disgust. And how had he done all this? +How had he so quickly turned aversion into, at any rate, +acquaintance? How had he overcome the enmity with which those +ladies had been ready to receive him, and made his peace with them +so easily? + +My readers will guess from what I have written that I myself do not +like Mr Slope; but I am constrained to admit that he is a man of +parts. He knows how to say a soft word in the proper place; he +knows how to adapt his flattery to the ears of his hearers; he +knows the wiles of the serpent and he uses them. Could Mr Slope +have adapted his manners to men as well as to women, could he ever +have learnt the ways of a gentleman, he might have risen to great +things. + +He commenced his acquaintance with Eleanor by praising her father. +He had, he said, become aware that he had unfortunately offended +the feelings of a man of whom he could not speak too highly; he +would not now allude to a subject which was probably too serious +for drawing-room conversation, but he would say, that it had been +very far from him to utter a word in disparagement of a man, of +whom all the world, at least the clerical world, spoke of so highly +as it did of Mr Harding. And so he went on, unsaying a great deal +of his sermon, expressing his highest admiration for the +precentor's musical talents, eulogising the father and the daughter +and the sister-in-law, speaking in that low silky whisper which he +always had specially prepared for feminine ears, and, ultimately, +gaining his object. When he left, he expressed a hope that he might +again be allowed to call; and though Eleanor gave no verbal assent +to this, she did not express dissent; and so Mr Slope's right to +visit at the widow's house was established. + +The day after this visit Eleanor told her father of it, and +expressed an opinion that Mr Slope was not quite so black as he had +been painted. Mr Harding opened he eyes rather wider than usual +when he heard what had occurred, but he said little; he could not +agree in any praise of Mr Slope, and it was not his practice to say +much evil of any one. He did not, however, like the visit, and +simple-minded as he was, he felt sure that Mr Slope had some deeper +motive than the mere pleasure of making soft speeches to two +ladies. + +Mr Harding, however, had come to see his daughter with other +purpose than that of speaking either good or evil of Mr Slope. He +had come to tell her that the place of warden in Hiram's hospital +was again to be filled up, and that in all probability he would +once more return to his old house and his twelve bedesmen. + +'But,' he said, laughing, 'I shall be greatly shorn of my ancient +glory.' + +'Why so, papa?' + +'This new act of parliament, that is to put us all on our feet +again,' continued he, 'settles my income at four hundred and fifty +pounds per annum.' + +'Four hundred and fifty,' said she, 'instead of eight hundred! +Well; that is rather shabby. But still, papa, you'll have the dear +old house and garden?' + +'My dear,' said he, 'it's worth twice the money;' and as he spoke +he showed a jaunty kind of satisfaction in his tone and manner, and +in the quick, pleasant way in which he paced Eleanor's +drawing-room. 'It's worth twice the money. I shall have the house +and the garden, and a larger income than I can possibly want.' + +'At any rate, you'll have no extravagant daughter to provide for;' +and as she spoke, the young widow put her arm within his, and made +him sit on the sofa beside her; 'at any rate you'll not have that +expense.' + +'No, my dear; and I shall be rather lonely without her; but we +won't think of that now. As regards income I shall have plenty for +all I want. I shall have my old house; and I don't mind owning now +that I have felt sometimes the inconvenience of living in a +lodging. Lodgings are very nice for young men, but at my time of +life there is a want of--I hardly know what to call it, perhaps not +respectability--' + +'Oh, papa! I'm sure there's been nothing like that. Nobody has +thought it; nobody in all Barchester has been more respected than +you have been since you took those rooms in High Street. Nobody! +Not the dean in his deanery, or the archdeacon at Plumstead.' + +'The archdeacon would not be much obliged to you if he heard you,' +said he, smiling somewhat at the exclusive manner in which his +daughter confined her illustration to the church dignitaries of the +chapter of Barchester; 'but at any rate, I shall be glad to get +back to the old house. Since I heard that it was all settled, I +have begun to fancy that I can't be comfortable without my two +sitting-rooms.' + +'Come and stay with me, papa, till it is settled--there's a dear +papa.' + +'Thank ye, Nelly. But no; I won't do that. It would make two +movings. I shall be very glad to get back to my old men again. +Alas! Alas! There have six of them gone in the few last years. Six +out of twelve! And the others I fear have had but a sorry life of +it there. Poor Bunce, poor old Bunce!' + +Bunce was one of the surviving recipients of Hiram's charity; and +old man, now over ninety, who had long been a favourite of Mr +Harding's. + +'How happy old Bunce will be,' said Mrs Bold, clapping her soft +hands softly. 'How happy they all will be to have you back again.' +You may be sure there will soon be friendship among them again when +you are there.' + +'But,' said he, half laughing, 'I am to have new troubles, which +will be terrible to me. There are to be twelve old women, and a +matron. How shall I manage twelve women and a matron!' + +'The matron will manage the women of course.' + +'And who'll manage the matron?' said he. + +'She won't want to be managed. She'll be a great lady herself, I +suppose. But, papa, where will the matron live? She is not to live +in the warden's house with you, is she?' + +'Well, I hope not, my dear.' + +'Oh, papa, I tell you fairly. I won't have a matron for a new +step-mother.' + +'You shan't, my dear; that is if I can help it. But they are going +to build another house for the matron and the women; and I believe +they haven't even fixed yet on the site of the building.' + +'And have they appointed the matron?' said Eleanor. + +'They haven't appointed the warden yet,' replied he. + +'But there's no doubt about that, I suppose,' said his daughter. + +Mr Harding explained that he thought there was no doubt; that the +archdeacon had declared as much, saying that the bishop and his +chaplain between them had not the power to appoint any once else, +even if they had the will to do so, and sufficient impudence to +carry out such a will. The archdeacon was of the opinion, that +though Mr Harding had resigned his wardenship, and had done so +unconditionally, he had done so under circumstances which left the +bishop no choice as to his re-appointment, now that the affair of +the hospital had been settled on a new basis by act of parliament. +Such was the archdeacon's opinion, and his father-in-law received +it without a shadow of doubt. + +Dr Grantly had always been strongly opposed to Mr Harding's +resignation of the place. He had done all in his power to dissuade +him from it. He had considered that Mr Harding was bound to +withstand the popular clamour with which he was attacked for +receiving so large an income as eight hundred a year from such a +charity, and was not even satisfied that his father-in-law's +conduct had not been pusillanimous and undignified. He looked also +on this reduction of the warden's income as a paltry scheme on the +part of government for escaping from a difficulty into which it had +been brought by the public press. Dr Grantly observed that the +government had no more right to dispose of a sum of four hundred +and fifty pounds a year out of the income of Hiram's legacy, than +of nine hundred; whereas, as he said, the bishop, dean and chapter +clearly had a right to settle what sum should be paid. He also +declared that the government had no more right to saddle the +charity with twelve old women than with twelve hundred; and he was, +therefore, very indignant on the matter. He probably forgot when so +talking that government had done nothing of the kind, and had never +assumed any such might or any such right. He made the common +mistake of attributing to the government, which in such matters is +powerless, the doings of parliament, which in such matters is +omnipotent. + +But though he felt that the glory and honour of the situation of +warden of Barchester hospital was indeed curtailed by the new +arrangement; that the whole establishment had to a certain degree +been made vile by the touch of Whig commissioners; that the place +with the lessened income, its old women, and other innovations, was +very different from the hospital of former days; still the +archdeacon was too practical a man of the world to wish that his +father-in-law, who had at present little more than L 200 per annum +for all his wants, should refuse the situation, defiled, +undignified, and commission-ridden as it was. + +Mr Harding had, accordingly, made up his mind that he would return +to his old house at the hospital, and to tell the truth, had +experienced almost a childish pleasure in the idea of doing so. The +diminished income was to him not even the source of momentary +regret. The matron and the old women did rather go against the +grain; but he was able to console himself with the reflection, +that, after all, such an arrangement might be of real service to +the poor of the city. The thought that he must receive his +re-appointment as the gift of the new bishop, and probably through +the hands of Mr Slope, annoyed him a little; but his mind was set +at rest by the assurance of the archdeacon that there would be no +favour in such a presentation. The re-appointment of the old warden +would be regarded by all the world as a matter of course. Mr +Harding, therefore, felt no hesitation in telling his daughter that +they might look upon his return to his old quarters as a settled +matter. + +'And you won't have to ask for it, papa.' + +'Certainly not, my dear. There is no ground on which I could ask +for any favour from the bishop, whom, indeed, I hardly know. Nor +would I ask a favour, that granting of which might possibly be made +a question to be settled by Mr Slope. No,' said he, moved for a +moment by a spirit very unlike his own, 'I certainly shall be very +glad to go back to the hospital; but I should never go there, if it +were necessary that my doing so should be the subject of a request +to Mr Slope.' + +This little outbreak of her father's anger jarred on the present +tone of Eleanor's mind. She had not learnt to like Mr Slope, but +she had learnt to think that he had much respect for her father; +and she would, therefore, willingly use her efforts to induce +something like good feeling between them. + +'Papa,' said she, 'I think you somewhat mistake Mr Slope's +character.' + +'Do I?' said he, placidly. + +'I think you do, papa. I think he intended no personal disrespect +to you when he preached the sermon which made the archdeacon and +the dean so angry.!' + +'I never supposed that he did, my dear. I hope I never inquired +within myself whether he did or no. Such a matter would be unworthy +of any inquiry, and very unworthy of the consideration of the +chapter. But I fear he intended disrespect to the ministration's of +God's services, as conducted in conformity with the rules of the +Church of England.' + +'But might it not be that he thought it his duty to express his +dissent from that which you, and the dean, and all of us here +approve?' + +'It can hardly be the duty of any young man rudely to assail the +religious convictions of his elders of the church. Courtesy should +have kept him silent, even if neither charity nor modesty could do +so.' + +'But Mr Slope would say that on such a subject the commands of his +heavenly Master do not admit of his being silent.' + +'Nor of being courteous, Eleanor?' + +'He did not say that, papa.' + +'Believe me, my child, that Christian ministers are never called on +by God's word to insult the convictions, or even the prejudices, of +their brethren; and that religion is at any rate not less +susceptible to urbane and courteous conduct among men, than any +other study which men take up. I am sorry to say that I cannot +defend Mr Slope's sermon in the cathedral. But come, my dear, put +on your bonnet, and let us walk round the dear old gardens at the +hospital. I have never yet had the heart to go beyond the +court-yard since we left the place. Now I think I can venture to +enter.' + +Eleanor rang the bell, and gave a variety of imperative charges as +to the welfare of the precious baby, whom, all but unwillingly, she +was about to leave for an hour or so, and then sauntered forth with +her father to revisit the old hospital. It had been forbidden ground +to her as well as to him since the day on which they had walked +forth together from its walk. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE STANHOPE FAMILY + +It is now three months since Dr Proudie began his reign, and +changes had already been affected in the diocese which show at +least the energy of an active mind. Among other things, absentee +clergymen have been favoured with hints much too strong to be +overlooked. Poor dear old Bishop Grantly had on this matter been +too lenient, and the archdeacon had never been inclined to be +severe with those who were absent on reputable pretences, and who +provided for their duties in a liberal way. + +Among the greatest of the diocesan sinners in this respect was Dr +Vesey Stanhope. Years had now passed since he had done a day's +duty; and yet there was no reason against his doing duty except a +want of inclination on his own part. He held a prebendal stall in +the diocese; one of the best residences in the close; and the two +large rectories of Crabtree Canonicorum, and Stogpingum. Indeed, he +had the cure of three parishes, for that of Eiderdown was joined to +Stogpingum. He had resided in Italy for twelve years. His first +going there had been attributed to a sore throat; and that sore +throat, though never repeated in any violent manner had stood him +in such stead, that it had enabled him to live in easy idleness +ever since. + +He had now been summoned home,--not indeed, with rough violence, or +by any peremptory command, but by a mandate which he found himself +unable to disregard. Mr Slope had written to him by the bishop's +desire. In the first place, the bishop much wanted the valuable +co-operation of Dr Vesey Stanhope in the diocese; in the next, the +bishop thought it his imperative duty to become personally +acquainted with the most conspicuous of his diocesan clergy; then +the bishop thought it essentially necessary for Dr Stanhope's own +interests, that Dr Stanhope should, at any rate for a time, return +to Barchester; and lastly, it was said that so strong a feeling was +at the present moment evinced by the hierarchs of the church with +reference to the absence of its clerical members, that it behoved +Dr Vesey Stanhope not to allow his name to stand among those which +would probably in a few months be submitted to the councils of the +nation. + +There was something so ambiguously frightful in this last threat +that Dr Stanhope determined to spend two or three summer months at +his residence in Barchester. His rectories were inhabited by his +curates, and he felt himself from disuse to be unfit for parochial +duty; but his prebendal home was kept empty for him, and he thought +it probable that he might be able now and again to preach a +prebendal sermon. He arrived, therefore, with all his family at +Barchester, and he and they must be introduced to my readers. + +The great family characteristic of the Stanhopes might probably be +said to be heartlessness; but the want of feeling was, in most of +them, accompanied by so great an amount of good nature that their +neighbours failed to perceive how indifferent to them was the +happiness and well-being of those around them. The Stanhopes would +visit you in your sickness (provided it were not contagious), would +bring you oranges, French novels, and the last new bit of scandal, +and then hear of your death or your recovery with an equally +indifferent composure. Their conduct to each other was the same as +to the world; they bore and forbore: and there was sometimes, as +will be seen, much necessity for forbearing: but their love among +themselves rarely reached above this. It is astonishing how much +each of the family was able to do, and how much each did, to +prevent the well-being of the other four. + +For there were five in all; the doctor, namely, and Mrs Stanhope, +two daughters, and one son. The doctor, perhaps, was the least +singular and most estimable of them all, and yet such good +qualities as he possessed were all negative. He was a good looking +rather plethoric gentleman of about sixty years of age. His hair +was snow white, very plentiful, and somewhat like wool of the +finest description. His whiskers were large and very white, and +gave to his face the appearance of a benevolent sleepy old lion. +His dress was always unexceptionable. Although he had lived so many +years in Italy it was invariably of a decent clerical hue, but it +never was hyperclerical. He was a man not given to much talking, +but what little he did say was generally well said. His reading +seldom went beyond romances and poetry of the lightest and not +always most moral description. He was thoroughly a bon vivant; an +accomplished judge of wine, though he never drank to excess; and a +most inexorable critic in all affairs touching the kitchen. He had +had much to forgive in his own family, since a family had grown up +around him, and had forgiven everything--except inattention to his +dinner. His weakness in that respect was now fully understood, and +his temper but seldom tried. As Dr Stanhope was a clergyman, it may +be supposed that his religious convictions made up a considerable +part of his character; but this was not so. That he had religious +convictions must be believed; but he rarely obtruded them, even on +his children. This abstinence on his part was not systematic, but +very characteristic of the man. It was not that he had +predetermined never to influence their thoughts; but he was so +habitually idle that his time for doing so had never come till the +opportunity for doing so was gone forever. Whatever conviction the +father may have had, the children were at any rate but indifferent +members of the church from which he drew his income. + +Such was Dr Stanhope. The features of Mrs Stanhope's character were +even less plainly marked than those of her lord. The far niente of +her Italian life had entered into her very soul, and brought her to +regard a state of inactivity as the only earthly good. In manner +and appearance she was exceedingly prepossessing. She had been a +beauty, and even now, at fifty-five, she was a handsome woman. Her +dress was always perfect: she never dressed but once in the day, +and never appeared till between three and four; but when she did +appear, she appeared at her best. Whether the toil rested partly +with her, or wholly with her handmaid, it is not for such a one as +the author to imagine. The structure of her attire was always +elaborate, and yet never over laboured. She was rich in apparel, +but not bedizened with finery; her ornaments were costly, rare, and +such as could not fail to attract notice, but they did not look as +though worn with that purpose. She well knew the great +architectural secret of decorating her constructions, and never +condescended to construct a decoration. But when we have said that +Mrs Stanhope knew how to dress, and used her knowledge daily, we +have said all. Other purpose in life she had none. It was +something, indeed, that she did not interfere with the purposes of +others. In early life she had undergone great trials with reference +to the doctor's dinners; but for the last ten or twelve years her +eldest daughter Charlotte had taken that labour off her hands, and +she had had little to trouble her;--little, that is, till the edict +for this terrible English journey had gone forth; since, then, +indeed, her life had been laborious enough. For such a one, the +toil of being carried from the shores of Como to the city of +Barchester is more than labour enough, let the cares of the +carriers be ever so vigilant. Mrs Stanhope had been obliged to have +every one of her dresses taken in from the effects of the journey. + +Charlotte Stanhope was at this time about thirty-five years old; +and, whatever may have been her faults, she had none of those which +belong particularly to old young ladies. She neither dressed young, +nor talked young, nor indeed looked young. She appeared to be +perfectly content with her time of life, and in no way affected the +grace of youth. She was a fine young woman; and had she been a man, +would have been a very fine young man. All that was done in the +house, and that was not done by servants, was done by her. She gave +the orders, paid the bills, hired and dismissed the domestics, made +the tea, carved the meat, and managed everything in the Stanhope +household. She, and she alone, could ever induce her father to look +into the state of his worldly concerns. She, and she alone, could +in any degree control the absurdities of her sister. She, and she +alone, prevented the whole family from falling into utter disrepute +and beggary. It was by her advice that they now found themselves +very unpleasantly situated in Barchester. + +So far, the character of Charlotte Stanhope is not unprepossessing. +But it remains to be said, that the influence which she had in her +family, though it had been used to a certain extent for their +worldly well-being, had not been used to their real benefit, as it +might have been. She had aided her father in his indifference to +his professional duties, counselling him that his livings were as +much as his individual property as the estates of his elder brother +were the property of that worthy peer. She had for years past +stifled every little rising wish for a return to England which the +doctor had from time to time expressed. She had encouraged her +mother in her idleness in order that she herself might be mistress +and manager of the Stanhope household. She had encouraged and +fostered the follies of her sister, though she was always willing, +and often able, to protect her from their probable result. She had +done her best, and had thoroughly succeeded in spoiling her +brother, and turning him loose upon the world an idle man without a +profession, and without a shilling that he could call his own. + +Miss Stanhope was a clever woman, able to talk on most subjects, +and quite indifferent as to what the subject was. She prided +herself on her freedom from English prejudice, and she might have +added, from feminine delicacy. On religion she was a pure +freethinker, and with much want of true affection, delighted to +throw out her own views before the troubled mind of her father. To +have shaken what remained of his Church of England faith would have +gratified her much; but the idea of his abandoning his preferment +in the church had never once presented itself to her mind. How +could he indeed, when he had no income from any other sources? + +But the two most prominent members of the family still remain to be +described. The second child had been christened Madeline, and had +been a great beauty. We need not say had been, for she was never +more beautiful than at the time of which we write, though her +person for many years had been disfigured by an accident. It is +unnecessary that we should give in detail the early history of +Madeline Stanhope. She had gone to Italy when seventeen years of +age, and had been allowed to make the most of her surpassing beauty +in the saloons of Milan, and among the crowded villas along the +shores of the Lake of Como. She had become famous for adventures in +which her character was just not lost, and had destroyed the hearts +of a dozen cavaliers without once being touched in her own. Blood +had flowed in quarrels about her charms, and she heard of these +encounters with pleasurable excitement. It had been told of her +that on one occasion she had stood by in the disguise of a page, +and had seen her lover fall. + +As is so often the case, she had married the very worst of those +who sought her hand. Why she had chosen Paulo Neroni, a man of no +birth and no property, a mere captain in the pope's guard, one who +had come up to Milan either simply as an adventurer or as a spy, a +man of harsh temper and oily manners, mean in figure, swarthy in +face, and so false in words as to be hourly detected, need not now +be told. When the moment for doing so came, she had probably no +alternative. He, at any rate, had become her husband; and after a +prolonged honeymoon among the lakes, they had gone together to +Rome, the papal captain having vainly endeavoured to induce his +wife to remain behind him. + +Six months afterwards she arrived at her father's house a cripple +and a mother. She had arrived without even notice, with hardly +clothes to cover her, and without one of those many ornaments which +had graced her bridal trousseaux. Her baby was in the arms of a +poor girl from Milan, whom she had taken in exchange for the Roman +maid who had accompanied her thus far, and who had then, as her +mistress said, become homesick and had returned. It was clear that +the lady had determined that there should be no witness to tell +stories of her life in Rome. + +She had fallen, she said, in ascending a ruin and had fatally +injured the sinews of her knee; so fatally, that when she stood she +lost eight inches of her accustomed height; so fatally, that when +she essayed to move, she could only drag herself painfully along, +with protruded hip and extended foot in a manner less graceful than +that of a hunchback. She had consequently made up her mind, once +and for ever, that she would never stand, and never attempt to move +herself. + +Stories were not slow to follow her, averring that she had been +cruelly ill-used by Neroni, and that to his violence had she owed +her accident. Be that as it may, little had been said about her +husband, but that little had made it clearly intelligible to the +family that Signor Neroni was to be seen and heard of no more. +There was no question as to re-admitting the poor ill-used beauty +to her old family rights, no question as to adopting her infant +daughter, beneath the Stanhope roof tree. Though heartless, the +Stanhopes were not selfish. The two were taken in, petted, made +much of, for a time all but adored, and then felt by the two +parents to be great nuisances in the house. But in the house the +lady was, and there she remained, having her own way, though that +way was not very comfortable with the customary usages of an +English clergyman. + +Madame Neroni, though forced to give up all motion in the world, +had no intention whatever of giving up the world itself. The beauty +of her face was uninjured, and that beauty was of a peculiar kind. +Her copious rich brown hair was worn in Grecian bandeaux round her +head, displaying as much as possible of her forehead and cheeks. +Her forehead, though rather low, was very beautiful from its +perfect contour and pearly whiteness. Her eyes were long and large, +and marvellously bright; might I venture to say, bright as +Lucifer's, I should perhaps best express the depth of their +brilliancy. They were dreadful eyes to look at, such as would +absolutely deter any man of quiet mind and easy spirit from +attempting a passage of arms with such foes. There was talent in +them, and the fire of passion and the play of wit, but there was no +love. Cruelty was there instead, and courage, a desire for +masterhood, cunning, and a wish for mischief. And yet, as eyes, +they were very beautiful. The eyelashes were long and perfect, and +the long steady unabashed gaze, with which she would look into the +face of her admirer, fascinated while it frightened him. She was a +basilisk from whom an ardent lover of beauty could make no escape. +Her nose and mouth more so at twenty-eight than they had been at +eighteen. What wonder that with such charms still glowing in her +face, and with such deformity destroying her figure, she should +resolve to be seen, but only to be seen reclining on a sofa. + +Her resolve had not been carried out without difficulty. She had +still frequented the opera at Milan; she had still been seen +occasionally in the saloons of the noblesse; she had caused herself +to be carried in and out from her carriage, and that in such a +manner as in no wise to disturb her charms, disarrange her dress, +or expose her deformities. Her sister always accompanied her and a +maid, a manservant also, and on state occasions, two. It was +impossible that her purpose could have been achieved with less: and +yet, poor as she was, she had achieved her purpose. And then again +the more dissolute Italian youths of Milan frequented the Stanhope +villa and surrounded her couch, not greatly to her father's +satisfaction. Sometimes his spirit would rise, a dark spot would +show itself on his cheek, and he would rebel; but Charlotte would +assuage him with some peculiar triumph of her culinary art, and all +again would be smooth for a while. + +Madeline affected all manner of rich and quaint devices in the +garniture of her room, her person, and her feminine belongings. In +nothing was this more apparent than in the visiting card which she +had prepared for her use. For such an article one would say that +she, in her present state, could have but small need, seeing how +improbable it was that she should make a morning call; but not such +was her own opinion. Her card was surrounded by a deep border of +gilding; on this she had imprinted, in three lines:- + + La Signora Madeline + Vesey Neroni. + - Nata Stanhope. + +And over the name she had a bright gilt coronet, which certainly +looked very magnificent. How she had come to concoct such a name +for herself it would be difficult to explain. Her father had been +christened Vesey, as another man is christened Thomas; and she had +no more right to assume it than would have the daughter of a Mr +Josiah Jones to call herself Mrs Josiah Smith, on marrying a man of +the latter name. The gold coronet was equally out of place, and +perhaps inserted with even less excuse. Paul Neroni had not the +faintest title to call himself a scion of even Italian nobility. +Had the pair met in England Neroni would probably have been a +count; but they had met in Italy, and any such pretence on his part +would have been simply ridiculous. A coronet, however, was a pretty +ornament, and if it could solace a poor cripple to have such on her +card, who could begrudge it to her? + +Of her husband, or of his individual family, she never spoke; but +with her admirers she would often allude in a mysterious way to her +married life and isolated state, and, pointing to her daughter, +would call her the last of the blood of the emperors, thus +referring Neroni's extraction to the old Roman family from which +the worst of the Caesars sprang. + +The 'Signora' was not without talent, and not without a certain +sort of industry; she was an indomitable letter writer, and her +letters were worth the postage: they were full of wit, mischief, +satire, love, latitudinarian philosophy, free religion, and, +sometimes, alas! loose ribaldry. The subject, however, depended +entirely on the recipient, and she was prepared to correspond with +any one, but moral young ladies or stiff old women. She wrote also +a kind of poetry, generally in Italian, and short romances, +generally in French. She read much of a desultory sort of +literature, and as a modern linguist had really made great +proficiency. Such was the lady who had now come to wound the hearts +of the men of Barchester. + +Ethelbert Stanhope was in some respects like his younger sister, +but he was less inestimable as a man than she was as a woman. His +great fault was an entire absence of that principle which should +have induced him, as the son of a man without fortune, to earn his +own bread. Many attempts had been made to get him to do so, but +these had all been frustrated, not so much by idleness on his part, +as by a disinclination to exert himself in any way not to his +taste. He had been educated at Eton, and had been intended for the +Church, but had left Cambridge in disgust after a single term, and +notified to his father his intention to study for the bar. +Preparatory to that, he thought it well that he should attend a +German university, and consequently went to Leipzig. There he +remained two years, and brought away a knowledge of German and a +taste for the fine arts. He still, however, intended himself for +the bar, took chambers, engaged himself to sit at the feet of a +learned pundit, and spent a season in London. He there found that +all his aptitudes inclined him to the life of an artist, and he +determined to live by painting. With this object he retired to +Milan, and had himself rigged out for Rome. As a painter he might +have earned his bread, for he wanted only diligence to excel; but +when at Rome his mind was carried away by other things: he soon +wrote home for money, saying that he had been converted to the +Mother Church, that he was already an acolyte of the Jesuits, and +that he was about to start with others to Palestine on a mission +for converting Jews. He did go to Judea, but being unable to +convert the Jews, was converted by them. He again wrote home, to +say that Moses was the only giver of perfect laws to the world, +that the coming of the true Messiah was at hand, that great things +were doing in Palestine, and that he had met one of the family of +Sidonis, a most remarkable man, who was now on his way to Western +Europe, and whom he had induced to deviate from his route with the +object of calling at the Stanhope villa. Ethelbert then expressed +his hope that his mother and sisters would listen to this wonderful +prophet. His father he knew could not do so from pecuniary +considerations. This Sidonia, however, did not take so strong a +fancy to him as another of that family once did to a young English +nobleman. At least he provided him with no hope of gold as large as +lions; so that the Judaised Ethelbert was again obliged to draw on +the revenues of the Christian Church. + +It is needless to tell how the father swore that he would send no +more money and receive no Jew; nor how Charlotte declared that +Ethelbert could not be left penniless in Jerusalem; and how 'La +Signora Neroni' resolved to have Sidonia at her feet. The money was +sent, and the Jew did come. The Jew did come, but he was not at all +to the taste of 'la Signora'. He was a dirty little old man, and +though he had provided no golden lions, he had, it seems, relieved +young Stanhope's necessities. He positively refused to leave the +villa till he got a bill from the doctor on his London bankers. + +Ethelbert did not long remain a Jew. He soon reappeared at the +villa without prejudices on the subject of his religion, and with a +firm resolve to achieve fame and fortune as a sculptor. He brought +with him some models which he had originated at Rome, and which +really gave much fair promise that his father was induced to go to +further expense in furthering these views. Ethelbert opened an +establishment, or rather took lodgings and workshop, at Carrara, +and there spoilt much marble, and made some few pretty images. +Since that period, now four years ago, he had alternated between +Carrara and the villa, but his sojourns at the workshop became +shorter and shorter, and those at the villa longer and longer. +'Twas no wonder; for Carrara is not a spot in which an Englishman +would like to dwell. + +When the family started for England he had resolved not to be left +behind, and with the assistance of his elder sister had earned his +point against his father's wishes. It was necessary, he said, that +he should come to England for orders. How otherwise was he to bring +his profession to account? + +In personal appearance Ethelbert Stanhope was the most singular of +beings. He was certainly very handsome. He had his sister +Madeline's eyes without their stare, and without their hard cunning +cruel firmness. They were also very much lighter, and of so light +and clear a blue as to make his face remarkable, if nothing else +did so. On entering a room with him, Ethelbert's blue eyes would be +the first thing you would see, and on leaving it almost the last +thing you would forget. His light hair was very long and silky, +coming down over his coat. His beard had been prepared in the holy +land, and was patriarchal. He never shaved, and rarely trimmed it. +It was glossy, soft, clean, and altogether not unprepossessing. It +was such that ladies might desire to reel it off and work it into +their patterns in lieu of floss silk. His complexion was fair and +almost pink, he was small in height, and slender in limb, but +well-made, and his voice was of particular sweetness.manner and +dress he was equally remarkable. He had none of the mauvaise honte +of an Englishman. He required no introduction to make himself +agreeable to any person. He habitually addressed strangers, ladies +as well as men, without any such formality, and in doing so never +seemed to meet with rebuke. His costume cannot be described, +because it was so various; but it was always totally opposed in +every principle of colour and construction to the dress of those +with whom he for the time consorted. + +He was habitually addicted to making love to ladies, and did so +without scruple of conscience, or any idea that such a practice was +amiss. He had no heart to touch himself, and was literally unaware +that humanity was subject to such infliction. He had not thought +much about it; but, had he been asked, would have said, that +ill-treating a lady's heart meant injuring her promotion in the +world. His principles therefore forbade him to pay attention to a +girl, if he thought any man was present whom it might suit her to +marry. In this manner, his good nature frequently interfered with +his amusement; but he had no other motive in abstaining from the +fullest declaration of love to every girl that pleased his eye. + +Bertie Stanhope, as he was generally called, was, however, popular +with both sexes; and with Italians as well as English. His circle +of acquaintance was very large, and embraced people of all sorts. +He had not respect for rank, and no aversion to those below him. He +had lived on familiar terms with English peers, German shopkeepers, +and Roman priests. All people were nearly alike to him. He was +above, or rather below, all prejudices. No virtue could charm him, +no vice shock him. He had about him a natural good manner, which +seemed to qualify him for the highest circles, and yet he was never +out of place in the lowest. He had no principle, no regard for +others, no self-respect, no desire to be other than a drone in a +hive, if only he could, as a drone, get what honey was sufficient +for him. Of honey, in his latter days, it may probably be presaged, +that he will have but short allowance. + +Such was the family of the Stanhopes, who, at this period, suddenly +joined themselves to the ecclesiastical circle of Barchester close. +Any stranger union, it would be impossible perhaps to conceive. And +it was not as though they all fell down into the cathedral +precincts hitherto unknown and untalked of. In such case no +amalgamation would have been at all probable between the new comers +and either the Proudie set or the Grantly set. But such was far +from being the case. The Stanhopes were all known by name in +Barchester, and Barchester was prepared to receive them with open +arms. The doctor was one of the prebendaries, one of her rectors, +one of her pillars of strength; and was, moreover, counted on, as a +sure ally, both by Proudies and Grantlys. + +He himself was the brother of one peer, and his wife was the sister +of another--and both these peers were lords of whiggish tendency, +with whom the new bishop had some sort of alliance. This was +sufficient to give to Mr Slope high hope that he might enlist Dr +Stanhope on his side, before his enemies could out-manoeuvre him. +On the other hand, the old dean had many many years ago, in the +days of the doctor's clerical energies, been instrumental in +assisting him in his views as to preferment; and many many years +ago also, the two doctors, Stanhope and Grantly, had, as young +parsons, been joyous together in the common rooms of Oxford. Dr +Grantly, consequently, did not doubt but that the new comer would +range himself under his banners. + +Little did any of them dream of what ingredients the Stanhope +family was now composed. + + + +CHAPTER X + +MRS PROUDIE'S RECEPTION--COMMENCED + +The bishop and his wife had only spent three or four days in +Barchester on the occasion of their first visit. His lordship had, +as we have seen, taken his seat on his throne; but his demeanour +there, into which it had been his intention to infuse much +hierarchical dignity, had been a good deal disarranged by the +audacity of his chaplain's sermon. He had hardly dared to look his +clergy in the face, and to declare by the severity of his +countenance that in truth he meant all that his factotum was saying +on his behalf; nor yet did he dare throw Mr Slope over, and show to +those around him that he was no party to the sermon, and would +resent it. + +He had accordingly blessed his people in a shambling manner, not at +all to his own satisfaction, and had walked back to his palace with +his mind very doubtful as to what he would say to his chaplain on +the subject. He did not remain long in doubt. He had hardly doffed +his lawn when the partner of all his toils entered his study, and +exclaimed even before she had seated herself-- + +'Bishop, did you ever hear a more sublime, more spirit-moving, more +appropriate discourse than that?' + +'Well, my love; ha-hum-he!' The bishop did not know what to say. + +'I hope, my lord, you don't mean to say you disapprove?' + +There was a look about the lady's eye which did not admit of my +lord's disapproving at that moment. He felt that if he intended to +disapprove, it must be now or never; but he also felt that it could +not be now. It was not in him to say to the wife of his bosom that +Mr Slope's sermon was ill-timed, impertinent and vexatious. + +'No, no,' replied the bishop. 'No, I can't say I disapprove--a very +clever sermon and very well intended, and I dare say will do a +great deal of good.' This last praise was added, seeing that what +he had already said by no means satisfied Mrs Proudie. + +'I hope it will,' said she. 'I am sure it was well deserved. Did +you ever in your life, bishop, hear anything so like play-acting as +the way in which Mr Harding sings the litany? I shall beg Mr Slope +to continue a course of sermons on the subject till all that is +altered. We will have at any rate, in our cathedral, a decent, +godly, modest morning service. There must be no more play-acting +here now;' and so the lady rang for lunch. + +This bishop knew more about cathedrals and deans, and precentors +and church services than his wife did, and also more of the +bishop's powers. But he thought it better at present to let the +subject drop. + +'My dear,' said he, 'I think we must go back to London on Tuesday. +I find that my staying here will be very inconvenient to the +Government.' + +The bishop knew that to this proposal his wife would not object; +and he also felt that by thus retreating from the ground of battle, +the heat of the fight might be got over in his absence. + +'Mr Slope will remain here, of course,' said the lady. + +'Oh, of course,' said the bishop. + +Thus, after less than a week's sojourn in his palace, did the +bishop fly from Barchester; nor did he return to it for two months, +the London season being then over. During that time Mr Slope was +not idle, but he did not again assay to preach in the cathedral. In +answer to Mrs Proudie's letters, advising a course of sermons, he +had pleaded that he would at any rate wish to put off such an +undertaking till she was there to hear them. + +He had employed his time in consolidating a Proudie and Slope +party--or rather a Slope and Proudie party, and he had not employed +his time in vain. He did not meddle with the dean and chapter, +except by giving them little teasing intimations of the bishop's +wishes about this and the bishop's feelings about that, in a manner +which was to them sufficiently annoying, but which they could not +resent. He preached once or twice in a distant church in the +suburbs of the city, but made no allusion to the cathedral service. +He commenced the establishment of the 'Bishop of Barchester's +Sabbath-day Schools,' gave notice of a proposed 'Bishop of +Barchester Young Men's Sabbath Evening Lecture Room,'--and wrote +three or four letters to the manager of the Barchester branch +railway, informing him how anxious the bishop was that the Sunday +trains should be discontinued. + +At the end of two months, however, the bishop and the lady +reappeared; and as a happy harbinger of their return, heralded +their advent by the promise of an evening party on the largest +scale. The tickets of invitation were sent out from London--they +were dated from Bruton Street, and were dispatched by the odious +Sabbath-breaking railway, in a huge brown paper parcel to Mr Slope. +Everybody calling himself a gentleman, or herself a lady, within +the city of Barchester, and a circle of two miles round it, was +included. Tickets were sent to all the diocesan clergy, and also to +many other persons of priestly note, of whose absence the bishop, +or at least the bishop's wife, felt tolerably confident. It was +intended, however, to be a thronged and noticeable affair, and +preparations were made for receiving some hundreds. + +And now there arose considerable agitation among the Grantleyites +whether or not they would attend the bidding. The first feeling +with them all was to send the briefest excuses both for themselves +and their wives and daughters. But by degrees policy prevailed over +passion. The archdeacon perceived that he would be making a false +step if he allowed the cathedral clergy to give the bishop just +ground of umbrage. They all met in conclave and agreed to go. The +old dean would crawl in, if it were but for half an hour. The +chancellor, treasurer, archdeacon, prebendaries, and minor canons +would all go, and would take their wives. Mr Harding was especially +bidden to go, resolving in his heart to keep himself removed from +Mrs Proudie. And Mrs Bold was determined to go, though assured by +her father that there was no necessity for such a sacrifice on her +part. When all Barchester was to be there, neither Eleanor nor Mary +Bold understood why they should stay away. Had they not been +invited separately? And had not a separate little note from the +chaplain couched in the most respectful language, been enclosed +with the huge episcopal card? + +And the Stanhopes would be there, one and all. Even the lethargic +mother would so far bestir herself on such an occasion. They had +only just arrived. The card was at the residence waiting for them. +No one in Barchester had seen them; and what better opportunity +could they have of showing themselves to the Barchester world? Some +few old friends, such as the archdeacon and his wife, had called, +and had found the doctor and his eldest daughter; but the elite of +the family were not yet known. + +The doctor indeed wished in his heart to prevent the signora from +accepting the bishop's invitation; but she herself had fully +determined that she would accept it. If her father was ashamed of +having his daughter carried into a bishop's palace, she had no such +feeling. + +'Indeed, I shall,' she said to her sister who had greatly +endeavoured to dissuade her, by saying that the company would +consist wholly of parsons and parsons' wives. 'Parsons, I suppose, +are much the same as other men, if you strip them of their black +coats; and as to their wives, I dare say they won't trouble me. You +may tell papa I don't mean to be left at home.' + +Papa was told, and felt that he could do nothing but yield. He also +felt that it was useless of him now to be ashamed of his children. +Such as they were, they had become such under his auspices; as he +had made his bed, so he must lie upon it; as he had sown his seed, +so must he reap his corn. He did not indeed utter such reflections +in such language, but such was the gist of his thoughts. It was not +because Madeline was a cripple that he shrank from seeing her made +one of the bishop's guests; but because he knew that she would +practise her accustomed lures, and behave herself in a way that +could not fail of being distasteful to the propriety of +Englishwomen. These things had annoyed but not shocked him in +Italy. There they had shocked no one; but here in Barchester, here +among his fellow parsons, he was ashamed that they should be seen. +Such had been his feelings, but he repressed them. What if his +brother clergymen were shocked! They could not take it from his +preferment because the manners of his married daughter were too +free. + +La Signora Neroni had, at any rate, no fear that she would shock +anybody. Her ambition was to create a sensation, to have parsons at +her feet, seeing that the manhood of Barchester consisted mainly of +parsons, and to send, if possible, every parson's wife home with a +green fit of jealousy. None could be too old for her, and hardly +any too young. None too sanctified, and none too worldly. She was +quite prepared to entrap the bishop himself, and then to turn up +her nose at the bishop's wife. She did not doubt of success, for +she had always succeeded; but one thing was absolutely necessary, +she must secure the entire use of a sofa. + +The card sent to Dr and Mrs Stanhope and family, had been sent in +an envelope, having on the cover Mr Slope's name. The signora soon +learnt that Mrs Proudie was not yet at the palace, and that the +chaplain was managing everything. It was much more in her line to +apply to him than to the lady, and she accordingly wrote to him the +prettiest little billet in the world. In five lines she explained +everything, declared how impossible it was for her not to be +desirous to make the acquaintance of such persons as the bishop of +Barchester and his wife, and she might add also of Mr Slope, +depicted her own grievous state, and concluded by being assured +that Mrs Proudie would forgive her extreme hardihood in petitioning +to be allowed to be carried to a sofa. She then enclosed one of her +beautiful cards. In return she received as polite an answer from Mr +Slope--a sofa should be kept in the large drawing-room, immediately +at the top of the grand stairs, especially for her use. + +And now the day of the party had arrived. The bishop and his wife +came down from town, only on the morning of the eventful day, as +behoved such great people to do; but Mr Slope had toiled day and +night to see that everything should be in right order. There had +been much to do. No company had been seen in the palace since +heaven knows when. New furniture had been required, new pots and +pans, new cups and saucers, new dishes and plates. Mrs Proudie had +first declared that she would condescend to nothing so vulgar as +eating and drinking; but Mr Slope had talked, or rather written her +out of economy!--bishops should be given to hospitality, and +hospitality meant eating and drinking. So the supper was conceded; +the guests, however, were to stand as they consumed it. + +There were four rooms opening into each other on the first floor of +the house, which were denominated the drawing-rooms, the +reception-room, and Mrs Proudie's boudoir. In olden days one of +these had been Bishop Grantly's bed-room, and another his common, +sitting-room and study. The present bishop, however, had been moved +down into a back parlour, and had been given to understand that he +could very well receive his clergy in the dining-room, should they +arrive in too large a flock to be admitted to his small sanctum. He +had been unwilling to yield, but after a short debate had yielded. + +Mrs Proudie's heart beat high as she inspected her suite of rooms. +They were really very magnificent, or at least would be so by +candlelight; and they had nevertheless been got up with commendable +economy. Large rooms when full of people, and full of light look +well, because they are large, and are full, and are light. Small +rooms are those which require costly fittings and rich furniture. +Mrs Proudie knew this, and made the most of it; she had therefore a +huge gas lamp with a dozen burners hanging from each of the +ceilings. + +People were to arrive at ten, supper was to last from twelve to +one, and at half-past one everybody was to be gone. Carriages were +to come in at the gate in the town and depart at the gate outside. +They were desired to take up at a quarter before one. It was +managed excellently, and Mr Slope was invaluable. + +At half-past nine the bishop and his wife and their three daughters +entered the great reception-room, and very grand and very solemn +they were. Mr Slope was down-stairs giving the last orders about +the wine. He well understood that curates and country vicars with +their belongings did not require so generous an article as the +dignitaries of the close. There is a useful gradation in such +things, and Marsala at 20s a dozen did very well for the exterior +supplementary tables in the corner. + +'Bishop,' said the lady, as his lordship sat himself down, 'don't +sit on that sofa, if you please; it is to be kept separate for a +lady.' + +The bishop jumped up and seated himself on a cane-bottomed chair. +'A lady?' he inquired meekly; 'do you mean one particular lady, my +dear?' + +'Yes, bishop, one particular lady,' said his wife, disdaining to +explain. + +'She has got no legs, papa,' said the youngest daughter, tittering. + +'No legs!' said the bishop, opening his eyes. + +'Nonsense, Netta, what stuff you talk,' said Olivia. 'She has got +legs, but she can't use them. She has always to be kept lying down, +and three or four men carry her about everywhere.' + +'Laws, how odd!' said Augusta. 'Always carried about by four men! +I'm quite sure I wouldn't like it. Am I right behind, mama? I feel +as if I was open;' and she turned her back to her anxious parent. + +'Open! To be sure you are,' said she, 'and a yard of petticoat +strings hanging out. I don't know why I pay such high wages to Mrs +Richards, if she can't take the trouble to see whether or no you +are fit to be looked at,' and Mrs Proudie poked the strings here, +and twitched the dress there, and gave her daughter a shove and a +shake, and then pronounced it all right. + +'But,' rejoined the bishop, who was dying with curiosity about the +mysterious lady and her legs, 'who is it that is to have the sofa? +What is her name, Netta?' + +A thundering rap at the front door interrupted the conversation. +Mrs Proudie stood up and shook herself gently, and touched her cap +on each side as she looked in the mirror. Each of the girls stood +on tiptoe, and re-arranged the bows on their bosoms; and Mr Slope +rushed up stairs three steps at a time. + +'But who is it, Netta?' whispered the bishop to his youngest +daughter. + +'La Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni,' whispered back the daughter; +'and mind you don't let any one sit upon the sofa.' + +'La Signora Madeline Vicinironi!' muttered, to himself, the +bewildered prelate. Had he been told that the Begum of Oude was to +be there, or Queen Pomara of the Western Isles, he could not have +been more astonished. La Signora Madeline Vicinironi, who, having +no legs to stand on, had bespoken a sofa in his drawing-room!--who +could she be? He however could now make no further inquiry, as Dr +and Mrs Stanhope were announced. They had been sent on out of the +way a little before the time, in order that the signora might have +plenty of time to get herself conveniently packed into the +carriage. + +The bishop was all smiles for the prebendary's wife, and the +bishop's wife was all smiles for the prebendary. Mr Slope was +presented, and was delighted to make the acquaintance of one of +whom he had heard so much. The doctor bowed very low, and then +looked as though he could not return the compliment as regarded Mr +Slope, of whom, indeed, he had heard nothing. The doctor, in spite +of his long absence, knew an English gentleman when he saw him. + +And then the guests came in shoals; Mr and Mrs Quiverful and their +three grown daughters. Mr and Mrs Chadwick and their three +daughters. The burly chancellor and his wife and clerical son from +Oxford. The meagre little doctor without encumbrance. Mr Harding +with Eleanor and Miss Bold. The dean leaning on a gaunt spinster, +his only child now living with him, a lady very learned in stones, +ferns, plants, and vermin, and who had written a book about petals. +A wonderful woman in her way was Miss Trefoil. Mr Finnie, the +attorney, with his wife, was to be seen, much to the dismay of many +who had never met him in a drawing-room before. The five Barchester +doctors were all there, and old Scalpen, the retired apothecary and +toothdrawer, who was first taught to consider himself as belonging +to the higher orders by the receipt of the bishop's card. Then came +the archdeacon and his wife, with their elder daughter Griselda, a +slim pale retiring girl of seventeen, who kept close to her mother, +and looked out on the world with quiet watchful eyes, one who gave +promise of much beauty when time should have ripened it. + +And so the room became full, and knots were formed, and every new +comer paid his respects to my lord and passed on, not presuming to +occupy too much of the great man's attention. The archdeacon shook +hands very heartily with Dr Stanhope, and Mrs Grantly seated +herself by the doctor's wife. And Mrs Proudie moved about with well +regulated grace, measuring out the quantity of her favours to the +quality of her guests, just as Mr Slope had been doing with the +wine. But the sofa was still empty, and five-and-twenty ladies and +five gentlemen had been courteously warned off it by the mindful +chaplain. + +'Why doesn't she come?' said the bishop to himself. His mind was so +preoccupied with the signora, that he hardly remembered how to +behave himself en bishop. + +At last a carriage dashed up to the hall steps with a very +different manner of approach from that of any other vehicle that +had been there that evening. A perfect commotion took place. The +doctor, who heard it as he was standing in the drawing-room, knew +that his daughter was coming, and retired to the furthest corner, +where he might not see her entrance. Mrs Proudie parked herself up, +feeling that some important piece of business was in hand. The +bishop was instinctively aware, that La Signora Vicinironi was come +at last, and Mr Slope hurried to the hall to give his assistance. + +He was, however, nearly knocked down and trampled on by the cortege +that he encountered on the hall steps. He got himself picked up as +well as he could, and followed the cortege up stairs. The signora +was carried head foremost, her head being the care of her brother +and an Italian man-servant who was accustomed to the work; her feet +were in the care of the lady's maid and the lady's Italian page; +and Charlotte Stanhope followed to see that all was done with due +grace and decorum. In this manner they climbed easily into the +drawing-room, and a broad way through the crowd having been opened, +the signora rested safely on her couch. She had sent a servant +beforehand to learn whether it was a right or a left hand sofa, for +it required that she should dress accordingly, particularly as +regarded her bracelets. + +And very becoming her dress was. It was white velvet, without any +other garniture than rich white lace worked with pearls across her +bosom, and the same round the armlets of her dress. Across her brow +she wore a band of red velvet, on the centre of which shone a +magnificent Cupid in mosaic, the tints of whose wings were of the +most lovely azure, and the colour of his chubby cheeks the clearest +pink. On the one arm which her position required her to expose she +wore three magnificent bracelets, each of different stones. Beneath +her on the sofa, and over the cushion and head of it, was spread a +crimson silk mantle or shawl, which went under her whole body and +concealed her feet. Dressed as she was and looking as she did, so +beautiful and yet so motionless, with the pure brilliancy of her +white dress brought out and strengthened by the colour beneath it, +with that lovely head, and those large bold bright staring eyes, it +was impossible that either man or woman should do other than look +at her. + +Neither man nor woman for some minutes did do other. + +Her bearers too were worthy of note. The three servants were +Italian, and though perhaps not peculiar in their own country, were +very much so in the palace at Barchester. The man, especially +attracted notice, and created a doubt in the mind of some whether +he were a friend or a domestic. The same doubt was felt as to +Ethelbert. The man was attired in a loose-fitting common black +cloth morning coat. He had a jaunty well-pleased clean face, on +which no atom of beard appeared, and he wore round his neck a loose +black silk neckhandkerchief. The bishop assayed to make him a bow, +but the man, who was well-trained, took no notice of him, and +walked out of the room, quite at his ease, followed by the woman +and the boy. + +Ethelbert Stanhope was dressed in light blue from head to foot. He +had on the loosest possible blue coat, cut square like a shooting +coat, and very short. It was lined with silk of azure blue. He had +on a blue satin waistcoat, a blue handkerchief which was fastened +beneath his throat with a coral ring, and very loose blue trousers +which almost concealed his feet. His soft glossy beard was softer +and more glossy than ever. + +The bishop, who had made one mistake, thought that he also was a +servant, and therefore tried to make way for him to pass. But +Ethelbert soon corrected the error. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MRS PROUDIE'S RECEPTION--CONCLUDED + +'Bishop of Barchester, I presume?' said Bertie Stanhope, putting +out his hand, frankly; 'I am delighted to make your acquaintance. +We are in rather close quarters here, a'nt we?' + +In truth they were. They had been crowded up behind the head of the +sofa: the bishop in waiting to receive his guest, and the other in +carrying her; and they now had hardly room to move themselves. + +The bishop gave his hand quickly, and made a little studied bow, +and was delighted to make--. He couldn't go on, for he did not know +whether his friend was a signor, or a count, or a prince. + +'My sister really puts you all to great trouble,' said Bertie. + +'Not at all!' the bishop was delighted to have the opportunity of +welcoming the Signora Vicinironi--so at least he said--and +attempted to force his way round to the front of the sofa. He had, +at any rate, learnt that his strange guests were brother and +sister. The man, he presumed, must be Signor Vicinironi--or count, +or prince, as it might be. It was wonderful what good English he +spoke. There was just a twang of foreign accent, and no more. + +'Do you like Barchester on the whole?' asked Bertie. + +The bishop, looking dignified, said that he did like Barchester. + +'You've not been here very long, I believe,' said Bertie. + +'No--not long,' said the bishop, and tried again to make his way +between the back of the sofa and a heavy rector, who was staring +over it at the grimaces of the signora. + +'You weren't a bishop before, were you?' + +Dr Proudie explained that this was the first diocese he had held. + +'Ah--I thought so,' said Bertie; 'but you are changed about +sometimes, a'nt you?' + +'Translations are occasionally made,' said Dr Proudie; 'but not so +frequently as in former days. + +'They've cut them all down to pretty nearly the same figure, +haven't they?' said Bertie. + +To this the bishop could not bring himself to make any answer, but +again tried to move the rector. + +'But the work, I suppose, is different?' continued Bertie. 'Is +there much to do here at Barchester?' This was said exactly in the +tone that a young Admiralty clerk might use in asking the same +question of a brother acolyte in the Treasury. + +'The work of a bishop of the Church of England,' said Dr Proudie, +with considerable dignity, 'is not easy. The responsibility which +he has to bear is very great indeed.' + +'Is it?' said Bertie, opening wide his wonderful blue eyes. 'Well; +I never was afraid of responsibility. I once thought of being a +bishop myself.' + +'Had thought of being a bishop?' said Dr Proudie, much amazed. + +'That is, a parson--a parson first, you know, and a bishop +afterwards. If I had once begun, I'd have stuck to it. But, on the +whole, I like the Church of Rome the best.' + +The bishop could not discuss the point, so he remained silent. + +'Now, there's my father,' continued Bertie; 'he hasn't stuck to it. +I fancy he didn't like saying the same thing so often. By the bye, +bishop, have you seen my father?' + +The bishop was more amazed than ever. Had he seen his father? 'No,' +he replied; he had not yet had the pleasure; he hoped he might; +and, as he said so, he resolved to bear heavy on that fat, +immoveable rector, if ever he had the power of doing so. + +'He's in the room somewhere,' said Bertie, 'and he'll turn up soon. +By the bye, do you know much about the Jews?' + +At last the bishop saw a way out. 'I beg your pardon,' said he; +'but I'm forced to go round the room.' + +'Well--I believe I'll follow in your wake,' said Bertie. 'Terribly +hot, isn't it?' This he addressed to the fat rector with whom he +had brought himself into the closest contact. 'They've got this +sofa into the worst possible part of the room; suppose we move it. +Take care, Madeline.' + +The sofa had certainly been so placed that those who were behind it +found great difficulty in getting out;--there was but a narrow +gangway, which one person could stop. This was a bad arrangement, +and one which Bertie thought it might be well to improve. + +'Take care, Madeline,' said he; and turning to the fat rector, +added, 'Just help me with a slight push.' + +The rector's weight was resting on the sofa, and unwittingly lent +all its impetus to accelerate and increase the motion which Bertie +intentionally originated. The sofa rushed from its moorings, and +ran half-way into the middle of the room. Mrs Proudie was standing +with Mr Slope in front of the signora, and had been trying to be +condescending and sociable; but she was not in the very best of +tempers; for she found that whenever she spoke to the lady, the +lady replied by speaking to Mr Slope. Mr Slope was a favourite, no +doubt; but Mrs Proudie had no idea of being less thought of than +the chaplain. She was beginning to be stately, stiff, and offended, +when unfortunately the castor of the sofa caught itself in her lace +train, and carried away there is no saying how much of her +garniture. Gathers were heard to go, stitches to crack, plaits to +fly open, flounces were seen to fall, and breadths to expose +themselves;--a long ruin of rent lace disfigured the carpet, and +still clung to the vile wheel on which the sofa moved. + +So, when a granite battery is raised, excellent to the eyes of +warfaring men, is its strength and symmetry admired. It is the work +of years. Its neat embrasures, its finished parapets, its casemated +stories, show all the skill of modern science. But, anon, a small +spark is applied to the treacherous fusee--a cloud of dust arises +to the heavens--and then nothing is to be seen but dirt and dust +and ugly fragments. + +We know what was the wrath of Juno when her beauty was despised. We +know too what storms of passion even celestial minds can yield. As +Juno may have looked at Paris on Mount Ida, so did Mrs Proudie look +on Ethelbert Stanhope when he pushed the leg of the sofa into her +train. + +'Oh, you idiot, Bertie!' said the signora, seeing what had been +done, and what were the consequences. + +'Idiot,' re-echoed Mrs Proudie, as though the word were not half +strong enough to express the required meaning; 'I'll let him know +-;' and then looking round to learn, at a glance, the worst, she +saw that at present it behoved her to collect the scattered debris +of her dress. + +Bertie, when he saw what he had done, rushed over the sofa, and +threw himself on one knee before the offended lady. His object, +doubtless, was to liberate the torn lace from the castor; but he +looked as though he were imploring pardon from a goddess. + +'Unhand it, sir!' said Mrs Proudie. From what scrap of dramatic +poetry she had extracted the word cannot be said; but it must have +rested on her memory, and now seemed opportunely dignified for the +occasion. + +'I'll fly to the looms of the fairies to repair the damage, if +you'll only forgive me,' said Ethelbert, still on his knees. + +'Unhand it, sir!' said Mrs Proudie, with redoubled emphasis, and +all but furious wrath. This allusion to the fairies was a direct +mockery, and intended to turn her into ridicule. So at least it +seemed to her. 'Unhand it, sir!' she almost screamed. + +'It's not me; it's the cursed sofa,' said Bertie, looking +imploringly in her face, and holding both his hands to show that he +was not touching her belongings, but still remaining on his knees. + +Hereupon the signora laughed; not loud, indeed, but yet audibly. +And as the tigress bereft of her young will turn with equal anger +on any within reach, so did Mrs Proudie turn upon her female guest. + +'Madam,' she said--and it is beyond the power of prose to tell of +the fire that flashed from her eyes. + +By this time the bishop, and Mr Slope, and her three daughters were +around her, and had collected together the wide ruins of her +magnificence. The girls fell into circular rank behind their +mother, and thus following her and carrying out the fragments, they +left the reception-rooms in a manner not altogether devoid of +dignity. Mrs Proudie had to retire to re-array herself. + +As soon as the constellation had swept by, Ethelbert rose from his +knees, and turning with mock anger to the fat rector, said: 'After +all it was your doing, sir--not mine. But perhaps you are waiting +for preferment, and so I bore it.' + +Whereupon there was a laugh against the fat rector, in which both +the bishop and the chaplain joined; and thus things got themselves +again into order. + +'Oh, my lord, I am so sorry for this accident,' said the signora, +putting out her hand so as to force the bishop to take it. 'My +brother is so thoughtless. Pray sit down, and let me have the +pleasure of making your acquaintance. Though I am so poor a +creature as to want a sofa, I am not so selfish as to require it +all.' Madeline could always dispose herself so as to make room for +a gentleman, though, as she declared, the crinoline of her lady +friends was much too bulky to be so accommodated. + +'It was solely for the pleasure of meeting you that I have had +myself dragged here,' she continued. 'Of course, with your +occupation, one cannot even hope that you should have time to come +to us, that is, in the way of calling. And at your English +dinner-parties all is so dull and so stately. Do you know, my lord, +that in coming to England my only consolation has been the thought +that I should know you;' and she looked at him with the look of a +she-devil. + +The bishop, however, thought that she looked very like an angel, +and accepting the proffered seat, sat down beside her. He uttered +some platitude as to this deep obligation for the trouble she had +taken, and wondered more and more who she was. + +'Of course you know my sad story?' she continued. + +The bishop didn't know a word of it. He knew, however, or thought +he knew, that she couldn't walk into a room like other people, and +so made the most of that. He put on a look of ineffable distress, +and said that he was aware how God had afflicted her. + +The signora just touched the corner of her eyes with the most +lovely of pocket-handkerchiefs. Yes, she said--she had been very +sorely tried--tried, she thought, beyond the common endurance of +humanity; but while her child was left to her, everything was left. +'Oh! My lord,' she exclaimed, 'you must see the infant--the last +bud of a wondrous tree: you must let a mother hope that you will +lay your holy hands on her innocent head, and consecrate her for +female virtues. May I hope it?' said she, looking into the bishop's +eye, and touching the bishop's arm with her hand. + +The bishop was but a man, and said she might. After all, what was +it but a request that he would confirm her daughter?--a request, +indeed, very unnecessary to make, as he should do so as a matter of +course, if the young lady came forward in the usual way. + +'The blood of Tiberius,' said the signora, in all but a whisper; +'the blood of Tiberius flows in her veins. She is the last of the +Neros!' + +The bishop had heard of the last of the Visigoths, and had floating +in his brain some indistinct idea of the last of the Mohicans, but +to have the last of the Neros thus brought before him for a +blessing was very staggering. Still he liked the lady: she had a +proper way of thinking, and talked with more propriety than her +brother. But who were they? It was now quite clear that that blue +madman with the silky beard was not a Prince Vicinironi. The lady +was married, and was of course one of the Vicinironis by right of +the husband. So the bishop went on learning. + +'When will you see her?' said the signora with a start. + +'See whom?' said the bishop. + +'My child,' said the mother. + +'What is the young lady's age?' asked the bishop. + +'She is just seven,' said the signora. + +'Oh,' said the bishop, shaking his head; 'she is much too +young--very much too young.' + +'But in sunny Italy you know, we do not count by years,' and the +signora gave the bishop one of her very sweetest smiles. + +'But indeed, she is a great deal too young,' persisted the bishop; +'we never confirm before--' + +'But you might speak to her; you might let her hear from your +consecrated lips, that she is not a castaway because she is a +Roman; that she may be a Nero and yet a Christian; that she may owe +her black locks and dark cheeks to the blood of the pagan Caesars, +and yet herself be a child of grace; you will tell her this, won't +you, my friend?' + +The friend said he would, and asked if the child could say her +catechisms. + +'No,' said the signora, 'I would not allow her to learn lessons +such as those in a land ridden by priests, and polluted by the +idolatry of Rome. It is here, here in Barchester, that she must +first be taught to lisp those holy words. Oh, that you could be her +instructor!' + +Now, Dr Proudie certainly liked the lady, but, seeing that he was a +bishop, it was not probable that he was going to instruct a little +girl in the first rudiments of her catechism; so he said he'd send +a teacher. + +'But you will see her yourself, my lord?' + +The bishop said he would, but where should he call. + +'At papa's house,' said the signora, with an air of some little +surprise at the question. + +The bishop actually wanted the courage to ask her who was her papa; +so he was forced at last to leave her without fathoming her +mystery. Mrs Proudie, in her second best, had now returned to the +rooms, and her husband thought it as well that he should not remain +in too close conversation with the lady whom his wife appeared to +hold in such slight esteem. Presently he came across his youngest +daughter. + +'Netta,' said he, 'do you know who is the father of that Signora +Vicinironi?' + +'It isn't Vicinironi, papa,' said Netta; 'but Vesey Neroni, and +she's Dr Stanhope's daughter. But I must go and do the civil to +Griselda Grantly; I declare nobody has spoken a word to the poor +girl this evening. + +Dr Stanhope! Dr Vesey Stanhope! Dr Vesey Stanhope's daughter, of +whose marriage with a dissolute Italian scamp he now remembered to +have heard something! And that impertinent blue cub who had +examined him as to his episcopal bearings was old Stanhope's son, +and the lady who had entreated him to come and teach her child the +catechism was old Stanhope's daughter! The daughter of one of his +own prebendaries! As these things flashed across his mind, he was +nearly as angry as his wife had been. Nevertheless he could not but +own that the mother of the last of the Neros was an agreeable +woman. + +Dr Proudie tripped out into the adjoining room, in which were +congregated a crowd of Grantlyite clergymen, among whom the +archdeacon was standing pre-eminent, while the old dean was sitting +nearly buried in a huge armchair by the fire-place. The bishop was +very anxious to be gracious, and, if possible, to diminish the +bitterness which his chaplain had occasioned. Let Mr Slope do the +fortiter in re, he himself would pour in the suaviter in modo. + +'Pray don't stir, Mr Dean, pray don't stir,' he said, as the old +man essayed to get up; 'I take it as a great kindness, your coming +to such an omnium gatherum as this. But we have hardly got settled +yet, and Mrs Proudie has not been able to see her friends as she +would wish to do. Well, Mr Archdeacon, after all, we have not been +so hard upon you at Oxford.' + +'No,' said the archdeacon; 'you've only drawn our teeth and cut out +our tongues; you've allowed us still to breathe and swallow.' + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed the bishop; 'it's not quite so easy to cut +out the tongue of an Oxford magnate,--and as for teeth,--ha, ha, +ha! Why, in the way we've left the matter, it's very odd if the +heads of colleges don't have their own way quite as fully as when +the hebdomadal board was in all its glory; what do you say, Mr +Dean?' + +'An old man, my lord, never likes changes,' said the dean. + +'You must have been sad bunglers if it is so,' said the archdeacon; +'and indeed, to tell the truth, I think you have bungled it. At any +rate, you must own this; you have not done the half what you +boasted you would do.' + +'Now, as regards your system of professors--' began the chancellor +slowly. He was never destined to get beyond the beginning. + +'Talking of professors,' said a soft clear voice close behind the +chancellor's elbow; 'how much you Englishmen might learn from +Germany; only you are all too proud.' + +The bishop looking round, perceived that abominable young Stanhope +had pursued him. The dean stared at him, as though he was some +unearthly apparition; so also did two or three prebendaries and +minor canons. The archdeacon laughed. + +'The German professors are men of learning,' said Mr Harding, +'but--' + +'German professors!' groaned out the chancellor, as though his +nervous system had received a shock which nothing but a week of +Oxford air would cure. + +'Yes,' continued Ethelbert; not at all understanding why a German +professor should be contemptible in the eyes of an Oxford don. 'Not +but what the name is best earned at Oxford. In Germany the +professors do teach; at Oxford, I believe they only profess to do +so, and sometimes not even that. You'll have those universities of +yours about your ears soon, if you don't consent to take a lesson +from Germany.' + +There was no answering this. Dignified clergymen of sixty years of +age could not condescend to discuss such a matter with a young man +with such clothes and such a beard. + +'Have you got good water out at Plumstead, Mr Archdeacon?' said the +bishop by way of changing the conversation. + +'Pretty good,' said the archdeacon. + +'But by no means so good as his wine, my lord,' said a witty minor +canon. + +'Nor so generally used,' said another; 'that is for inward +application.' + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed the bishop, 'a good cellar of wine is a very +comfortable thing in a house.' + +'Your German professors, sir, prefer beer, I believe,' said the +sarcastic little meagre prebendary. + +'They don't think much of either,' said Ethelbert; 'and that +perhaps accounts for their superiority. Now the Jewish professor -' + +The insult was becoming too deep for the spirit of Oxford to +endure, so the archdeacon walked off one way and the chancellor +another, followed by their disciples, and the bishop and the young +reformer were left together on the hearth-rug. + +'I was a Jew once myself,' said Bertie. + +The bishop was determined not to stand another examination, or be +led on any terms into Palestine; so he again remembered that he had +to do something very particular, and left young Stanhope with the +dean. The dean did not get the worst of it, for Ethelbert gave him +a true account of his remarkable doings in the Holy Land. + +'Oh, Mr Harding,' said the bishop, overtaking the ci-devant warden; +'I wanted to say one word about the hospital. You know, of course, +that it is to be filled up.' + +Mr Harding's heart beat a little, and he said that he had heard so. + +'Of course,' continued the bishop; 'there can be only one man whom +I could wish to see in that situation. I don't know what your own +views may be, Mr Harding--' + +'They are very simply told, my lord,' said the other; 'to take the +place if it be offered me, and to put up with the want of it should +another man get it.' + +The bishop professed himself delighted to hear it; Mr Harding might +be quite sure that no other man would get it. There were some few +circumstances which would in a slight degree change the nature of +the duties. Mr Harding was probably aware of this, and would, +perhaps, not object to discuss the matter with Mr Slope. It was a +subject to which Mr Slope had given a good deal of attention. + +Mr Harding felt, he knew not why, oppressed and annoyed. What could +Mr Slope do to him? He knew that there were to be changes. The +nature of them must be communicated to the warden through somebody, +and through whom so naturally as the bishop's chaplain. 'Twas thus +that he tried to argue himself back to an easy mind, but in vain. + +Mr Slope in the mean time had taken the seat which the bishop had +vacated on the signora's sofa, and remained with that lady till it +was time to marshal the folk to supper. Not with contented eyes had +Mrs Proudie seen this. Had not this woman laughed at her distress, +and had not Mr Slope heard it? Was she not an intriguing Italian +woman, half wife and half not, full of affectation, airs, and +impudence? Was she not horribly bedizened with velvet and pearls, +with velvet and pearls, too, which had been torn off her back? +Above all, did she not pretend to be more beautiful than her +neighbours? To say that Mrs Proudie was jealous would give a wrong +idea of her feelings. She had not the slightest desire that Mr +Slope should be in love with herself. But she desired the incense +of Mr Slope's spiritual and temporal services, and did not choose +that they should be turned out of their course to such an object as +Signora Neroni. She considered also that Mr Slope ought in duty to +hate the signora; and it appeared from his manner that he was very +far from hating her. + +'Come, Mr Slope,' she said, sweeping by, and looking all that she +felt; 'can't you make yourself useful? Do pray take Mrs Grantly +down to supper.' + +Mrs Grantly heard and escaped. The words were hardly out of Mrs +Proudie's mouth, before the intended victim had stuck her hand +through the arm of one of her husband's curates, and saved herself. +What would the archdeacon have said had he seen her walking down +stairs with Mr Slope? + +Mr Slope heard also, but was by no means so obedient as was +expected. Indeed, the period of Mr Slope's obedience to Mrs Proudie +was drawing to a close. He did not wish yet to break with her, nor +to break with her at all, if it could be avoided. But he intended +to be master in that palace, and as she had made the same +resolution, it was not improbable that they might come to blows. + +Before leaving the signora he arranged a little table before her, +and begged to know what he should bring her. She was quite +indifferent, she said--nothing--anything. It was now she felt the +misery of her position, now that she must be left alone. Well, a +little chicken, some ham, and a glass of champagne. + +Mr Slope had to explain, not without blushing for his patron, that +there was no champagne. + +Sherry would do just as well. And then Mr Slope descended with the +learned Miss Trefoil on his arm. Could she tell him, he asked, +whether the ferns of Barsetshire were equal to those of Cumberland? +His strongest worldly passion was for ferns--and before she could +answer him he left her wedged between the door and the sideboard. +It was fifty minutes before she escaped, and even then unfed. + +'You are not leaving us, Mr Slope,' said the watchful lady of the +house, seeing her slave escaping towards the door, with stores of +provisions held high above the heads of the guests. + +Mr Slope explained that the Signora Neroni was in want of her +supper. + +'Pray, Mr Slope, let her brother take it to her,' said Mrs Proudie, +quite out loud. 'It is out of the question that you should be so +employed. Pray, Mr Slope, oblige me; I am sure Mr Stanhope will +wait upon his sister.' + +Ethelbert was most agreeably occupied in the furthest corner of the +room, making himself both useful and agreeable to Mrs Proudie's +youngest daughter. + +'I couldn't get out, madam, if Madeline were starving for her +supper,' said he; 'I'm physically fixed, unless I could fly.' + +The lady's anger was increased by seeing that her daughter had gone +over to the enemy; and when she saw, that in spite of her +remonstrances, in the teeth of her positive orders, Mr Slope went +off to the drawing-room, the cup of her indignation ran over, and +she could not restrain herself. 'Such manners I never saw,' she +said, muttering. 'I cannot, and will not permit it;' and then, +after fussing and fuming for a few minutes, she pushed her way +through the crowd, and followed Mr Slope. + +When she reached the room above, she found it absolutely deserted, +except for the guilty pair. The signora was sitting very +comfortably up for her supper, and Mr Slope was leaning over her +and administering to her wants. They had been discussing the merits +of Sabbath-day schools, and the lady suggested that as she could +not possibly go to the children, she might be indulged in the wish +of her heart by having the children brought to her. + +'And when shall it be, Mr Slope?' said she. + +Mr Slope was saved the necessity of committing himself to a promise +by the entry of Mrs Proudie. She swept close up to the sofa so as +to confront the guilty pair, stared full at them for a moment, and +then said as she passed on to the next room, 'Mr Slope, his +lordship is especially desirous of your attendance below; you will +greatly oblige me if you will join him.' And so she stalked on. + +Mr Slope muttered something in reply, and prepared to go down +stairs. As for the bishop's wanting him, he knew his lady patroness +well enough to take that assertion at what it was worth; but he did +not wish to make himself the hero of a scene, or to become +conspicuous for more gallantry than the occasion required. + +'Is she always like this?' said the signora. + +'Yes--always--madam,' said Mrs Proudie, returning; 'always the +same--always equally adverse to the impropriety of conduct of every +description;' and she stalked back through the room again, +following Mr Slope out of the door. + +The signora couldn't follow her, or she certainly would have done +so. But she laughed loud, and sent the sound of it ringing through +the lobby and down the stairs after Mrs Proudie's feet. Had she +been as active as Grimaldi, she could probably have taken no better +revenge. + +'But she's lame, Mrs Proudie, and cannot move. Somebody must have +waited upon her.' + +'Lame,' said Mrs Proudie; 'I'd lame her if she belonged to me. What +business had she here at all?--such impertinence--such +affectation.' + +In the hall and adjacent rooms all manner of cloaking and shawling +was going on, and the Barchester folk were getting themselves gone. +Mrs Proudie did her best to smirk at each and every one, as they +made their adieux, but she was hardly successful. Her temper had +been tried fearfully. By slow degrees, the guests went. + +'Send back the carriage quick,' said Ethelbert, as Dr and Mrs +Stanhope took their departure. + +The younger Stanhopes were left to the very last, and an +uncomfortable party they made with the bishop's family. They all +went into the dining-room, and then the bishop observing that the +'lady' was alone in the drawing-room, they followed him up. Mrs +Proudie kept Mr Slope and her daughters in close conversation, +resolving that he should not be indulged, nor they polluted. The +bishop, in mortal dread of Bertie and the Jews, tried to converse +with Charlotte Stanhope about the climate of Italy. Bertie and the +signora had not resource but in each other. + +'Did you get your supper at last, Madeline?' said the impudent or +else mischievous young man. + +'Oh, yes,' said Madeline; 'Mr Slope was so very kind to bring it +me. I fear, however, he put himself to more inconvenience than I +wished.' + +Mrs Proudie looked at her, but said nothing. The meaning of her +look might have been translated: 'If ever you find yourself within +these walls again, I'll give you leave to be as impudent and +affected, and as mischievous as you please.' + +At last the carriage returned with the three Italian servants, and +la Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni was carried out, as she had been +carried in. + +The lady of the palace retired to her chamber by no means contented +with the result of her first grand party at Barchester. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SLOPE VERSUS HARDING + +Two or three days after the party, Mr Harding received a note, +begging him to call on Mr Slope, at the palace, at an early hour +the following morning. There was nothing uncivil in the +communication, and yet the tone of it was thoroughly displeasing. +It was as follows: + +"My dear Mr Harding, Will you favour me by calling on me at the +palace to-morrow morning at 9.30am. The bishop wishes me to speak +to you touching the hospital. I hope you will excuse my naming so +early an hour. I do so as my time is greatly occupied. If, however, +it is positively inconvenient to you, I will change it to 10. You +will, perhaps, be kind enough to give me a note in reply. + +"Believe me to be, My dear Mr Harding, +Your assured friend, OBH. SLOPE + +"The Palace, Monday morning, "20th August, 185-" + +Mr Harding neither could nor would believe anything of the sort; +and he thought, moreover, that Mr Slope was rather impertinent to +call himself by such a name. His assured friend, indeed! How many +assured friends generally fall to the lot of a man in this world? +And by what process are they made? And how much of such process had +taken place as yet between Mr Harding and Mr Slope? Mr Harding +could not help asking himself these questions as he read and +re-read the note before him. He answered it, as follows: + +"Dear Sir,--I will call at the palace to-morrow at 9.30 AM as you +desire. + +"Truly yours, S. HARDING" + +And on the following morning, punctually at half-past nine, he +knocked at the palace door, and asked for Mr Slope. + +The bishop had one small room allotted to him on the ground-floor, +and Mr Slope had another. Into this latter Mr Harding was shown, +and asked to sit down. Mr Slope was not yet there. The ex-warden +stood up at the window looking into the garden, and could not help +thinking how very short a time had passed since the whole of that +house had been open to him, as though he had been a child of the +family, born and bred in it. He remembered how the old servants +used to smile as they opened the door to him; how the familiar +butler would say, when he had been absent for a few hours longer +than usual: 'A sight of you, Mr Harding, is good for sore eyes;' +how the fussy housekeeper would swear that he couldn't have dined, +or couldn't have breakfasted, or couldn't have lunched. And then, +above all, he remembered the pleasant gleam of inward satisfaction +which always spread itself over the old bishop's face, whenever his +friend entered his room. + +A tear came into his eyes as he reflected that all this was gone. +What use would the hospital be to him now? He was alone in the +world, and getting old; he would soon, very soon, have to go, and +leave it all, as his dear old friend had gone;--go, and leave the +hospital, and his accustomed place in the cathedral, and his haunts +and pleasures, to younger and perhaps wiser men, in truth, the time for it +had gone by. He felt as though the world were sinking from his +feet; as though this, this was the time for him to turn with +confidence to others. 'What,' said he to himself, 'can a man's +religion be worth, if it does not support him against the natural +melancholy of declining years?' and, as he looked out through his +dimmed eyes into the bright parterres of the bishop's garden, he +felt that he had the support which he wanted. + +Nevertheless, he did not like to be thus kept waiting. If Mr Slope +did not really wish to see him at half-past nine o'clock, why force +him to come away from his lodgings with his breakfast in his +throat? To tell the truth, it was policy on the part of Mr Slope. +Mr Slope had made up his mind that Mr Harding should either accept +the hospital with abject submission, or else refuse it altogether; +and had calculated that he would probably be more quick to do the +latter, if he could be got to enter upon the subject in all +ill-humour. Perhaps Mr Slope was not altogether wrong in his +calculation. + +It was nearly ten when Mr Slope hurried into the room, and, +muttering something about the bishop and diocesan duties, shook Mr +Harding's hand ruthlessly, and begged him to be seated. + +Now the airy superiority which this man assumed, did go against the +grain of Mr Harding; and yet he did not know how to resent it. The +whole tendency of his mind and disposition was opposed to any +contra-assumption of grandeur on his own part, and he hadn't the +worldly spirit or quickness necessary to put down insolent +pretensions by downright and open rebuke, as the archdeacon would +have done. There was nothing for Mr Harding but to submit and he +accordingly did so. + +'About the hospital, Mr Harding,' began Mr Slope, speaking of it as +the head of college at Cambridge might speak of some sizarship +which had to be disposed of. + +Mr Harding crossed one leg over the other, and then one hand over +the other on the top of them, and looked Mr Slope in the face; but +he said nothing. + +'It's to be filled up again,' said Mr Slope. Mr Harding said that +he had understood so. + +'Of course, you know, the income is very much reduced,' continued +Mr Slope. 'The bishop wished to be liberal, and he therefore told +the government that he thought it ought to be put at not less than +L 450. I think on the whole the bishop was right; for though the +service required will not be of a very onerous nature, they will be +more so than they were before. And it is, perhaps, well that the +clergy immediately attached to the cathedral town should be made +comfortable to the extent of the ecclesiastical means at our +disposal will allow. Those are the bishop's ideas, and I must say +mine also.' + +Mr Harding sat rubbing one hand on the other, but said not a word. + +'So much for the income, Mr Harding. The house will, of course, +remain to the warden as before. It should, however, I think be +stipulated that he should paint inside every seven years, and +outside every three years, and be subject to dilapidations, in the +event of vacating either by death or otherwise. But this is a +matter on which the bishop must yet be consulted.' + +Mr Harding still rubbed his hands, and still sat silent, gazing up +into Mr Slope's unprepossessing face. + +'Then, as to duties,' continued he, 'I believe, if I am rightly +informed, there can hardly be said to have been any duties +hitherto,' and he gave a sort of half laugh, as though to pass off +the accusation in the guise of a pleasantry. + +Mr Harding thought of the happy, easy years he had passed in his +old house; of the worn-out, aged men whom he had succoured; of his +good intentions; and of his work, which had certainly been of the +lightest. He thought of those things, doubting for a moment whether +he did or did not deserve the sarcasm. He gave his enemy the +benefit of the doubt, and did not rebuke him. He merely observed, +very tranquilly, and perhaps with too much humility, that the +duties of the situation, such as they were, had, he believed, been +done to the satisfaction of the late bishop. + +Mr Slope again smiled, and this time the smile was intended to +operate against the memory of the late bishop, rather than against +the energy of the ex-warden; and so it was understood by Mr +Harding. The colour rose in his cheeks, and he began to feel very +angry. + +'You should be aware, Mr Harding, that things are a good deal +changed in Barchester,' said Mr Slope. + +Mr Harding said that he was aware of it. 'And not only in +Barchester, Mr Harding, but in the world at large. It is not only +in Barchester that a new man is carrying out new measures and +casting away the useless rubbish of past centuries. The same thing +is going on throughout the country. Work is now required from every +man who receives wages; and they who have superintended the doing +of the work, and the paying of the wages, are bound to see that +this rule is carried out. New men, Mr Harding, are now needed, and +are now forthcoming in the church, as well as in other +professions.' + +All this was wormwood to our old friend. He had never rated very +high his own abilities or activity; but all the feelings of his +heart were with the old clergy, and any antipathies of which his +heart was susceptible, were directed against those new, busy +uncharitable, self-lauding men, of whom Mr Slope was so good an +example. + +'By no means,' said Mr Slope. 'The bishop is very anxious that you +should accept the appointment; but he wishes you should understand +beforehand what will be the required duties. In the first place, a +Sabbath-day school will be attached to the hospital.' + +'What! For the old men?' asked Mr Harding. + +'No, Mr Harding, not for the old men, but for the benefit of the +children of such of the poor of Barchester as it may suit. The +bishop will expect that you shall attend this school, and the +teachers shall be under your inspection and care.' + +Mr Harding slipped his topmost hand off the other, and began to rub +the calf of the leg which was supported. + +'As to the old men,' continued Mr Slope, 'and the old women who are +to form part of the hospital, the bishop is desirous that you shall +have morning and evening service on the premises every Sabbath, and +one week-day service; that you shall preach to them once at least +on Sundays; and that the whole hospital be always collected for +morning and evening prayer. The bishop thinks that this will render +it unnecessary that any separate seats in the cathedral should be +reserved for the hospital inmates.' + +Mr Slope paused, but Mr Harding still said nothing. + +'Indeed, it would be difficult to find seats for the women; and, on +the whole, Mr Harding, I may as well say at once, that for people +of that class the cathedral service does not appear to me to be the +most useful,--even if it be so for any class of people.' + +'We will not discuss that, if you please,' said Mr Harding. + +'I am not desirous of doing so; at least, not at the present +moment. I hope, however, you fully understand the bishop's wishes +about the new establishment of the hospital; and if, as I do not +doubt, I shall receive from you an assurance that you will accord +with his lordship's views, it will give me very great pleasure to +be the bearer from his lordship to you of the presentation of the +appointment.' + +'But if I disagree with his lordship's views?' asked Mr Harding. + +'But I hope you do not,' said Mr Slope. + +'But if I do?' again asked the other. + +'If such unfortunately should be the case, which I can hardly +conceive, I presume your own feelings will dictate to you the +propriety of declining the appointment.' + +'But if I accept the appointment, and yet disagree with the bishop, +what then?' + +This question rather bothered Mr Slope. It was true that he had +talked the matter over with the bishop, and had received a sort of +authority for suggesting to Mr Harding the propriety of a Sunday +school, and certain hospital services; but he had no authority for +saying that those propositions were to be made peremptory +conditions attached to the appointment. The bishop's idea had been +that Mr Harding would of course consent, and that the school would +become, like the rest of those new establishments in the city, +under the control of his wife and his chaplain. Mr Slope's idea had +been more correct. He intended that Mr Harding should refuse the +situation, and that an ally of his own should get it; but he had +not conceived the possibility of Mr Harding openly accepting the +appointment, and as openly rejecting the condition. + +'It is not, I presume, probable,' said he, 'that you will accept +from the hands of the bishop a piece of preferment, with a fixed +predetermination to disacknowledge the duties attached to it.' + +'If I become warden,' said Mr Harding, 'and neglect my duty, the +bishop has means by which he can remedy the grievance.' + +'I hardly expected such an argument from you, or I may say the +suggestion of such a line of conduct,' said Mr Slope, with a great +look of injured virtue. + +'Nor did I expect such a proposition.' + +'I shall be glad at any rate to know what answer I am to make to +his lordship,' said Mr Slope. + +'I will take an early opportunity of seeing his lordship myself,' +said Mr Harding. + +'Such an arrangement,' said Mr Slope, 'will hardly give his +lordship satisfaction. Indeed, it is impossible that the bishop +should himself see every clergyman in the diocese on every subject +of patronage that may arise. The bishop, I believe, did see you on +the matter, and I really cannot see why he should be troubled to do +so again.' + +'Do you know, Mr Slope, how long I have been officiating as a +clergyman in this city?' Mr Slope's wish was now nearly fulfilled. +Mr Harding had become very angry, and it was probable that he might +commit himself. + +'I really do not see what that has to do with the question. You +cannot think that the bishop would be justified in allowing you to +regard as a sinecure a situation that requires an active man, +merely because you have been employed for many years in the +cathedral.' + +'But it might induce the bishop to see me, if I asked him to do so. +I shall consult my friends in this matter, Mr Slope; but I mean to +be guilty of no subterfuge,--you may tell the bishop that as I +altogether disagree with his views about the hospital, I shall +decline the situation if I find that any such conditions are +attached to it as those you have suggested;' and so saying, Mr +Harding took his hat and went his way. + +Mr Slope was contented. He considered himself at liberty to accept +Mr Harding's last speech as an absolute refusal of the appointment. +At least, he so represented it to the bishop and to Mrs Proudie. + +'That is very surprising,' said the bishop. + +'Not at all,' said Mrs Proudie; 'you little know how determined the +whole set of them are to withstand your authority.' + +'But Mr Harding was so anxious for it,' said the bishop. + +'Yes,' said Mr Slope, 'if he can hold it without the slightest +acknowledgement of your lordship's jurisdiction.' + +'That is out of the question,' said the bishop. + +'I should imagine it to be quite so,'said the chaplain. + +'Indeed, I should think so,' said the lady. + +'I really am sorry for it,' said the bishop. + +'I don't know that there is much cause for sorrow,' said the lady. +'Mr Quiverful is a much more deserving man, more in need of it, and +one who will make himself much more useful in the close +neighbourhood of the palace.' + +'I suppose I had better see Quiverful?' said the chaplain. + +'I suppose you had,' said the bishop. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE RUBBISH CART + +Mr Harding was not a happy man as he walked down the palace +pathway, and stepped out into the close. His preferment and +pleasant house were a second time gone from him; but that he could +endure. He had been schooled and insulted by a man young enough to +be his son; but that he could put up with. He could even draw from +the very injuries, which had been inflicted on him, some of that +consolation, which we may believe martyrs always receive from the +injuries of their own sufferings, and which is generally +proportioned in it strength to the extent of cruelty with which +martyrs are treated. He had admitted to his daughter that he wanted +the comfort of his old home, and yet he could have returned to his +lodgings in the High Street, if not with exultation, at least with +satisfaction, had that been all. But the venom of the chaplain's +harangue had worked into his blood, and had sapped the life of his +sweet contentment. + +'New men are carrying out new measures, and are eating away the +useless rubbish of past centuries.' What cruel words these had +been; and how often are they now used with all the heartless +cruelty of a Slope! A man is sufficiently condemned if it can only +be shown that either in politics or religion he does not belong to +some new school established within the last score of years. He may +then regard himself as rubbish and expect to be carted away. A man +is nothing now unless he has within him a full appreciation of the +new era; an ear in which it would seem that neither honesty nor +truth is very desirable, but in which success is the only +touchstone of merit. We must laugh at every thing that is +established. Let the joke be ever so bad, ever so untrue to the +real principles of joking; nevertheless we must laugh--or else +beware the cart. We must talk, think, and live up to the spirit of +the times, and write up to it too, if that cacoethes be upon us, or +else we are nought. New men and now measures, long credit and few +scruples, great success and wonderful ruin, such are now the tastes +of Englishmen who know how to live. Alas, alas! under the +circumstances Mr Harding could not but feel that he was an +Englishman who did not know how to live. This new doctrine of Mr +Slope and the rubbish cart, new at least at Barchester, sadly +disturbed his equanimity. + +'The same thing is going on throughout the whole country!' 'Work is +now required from every man who receives wages!' and had he been +living all his life receiving wages and doing no work? Had he in +truth so lived as to be now in his old age justly reckoned as +rubbish fit only to be hidden away in some huge dust hole? The +school of men to whom he professes to belong, the Grantlys, the +Gwynnes, and the old high set of Oxford divines, are afflicted with +no such self-accusations as these which troubled Mr Harding. They, +as a rule, are as satisfied with the wisdom and propriety of their +own conduct as can be any Mr Slope, or any Dr Proudie, with his +own. But unfortunately for himself, Mr Harding had little of this +self-reliance. When he heard himself designated as rubbish by the +Slopes of the world, he had no other recourse than to make inquiry +within his own bosom as to the truth of the designation. Alas, +alas! the evidence seemed generally to go against him. + +He had professed to himself in the bishop's parlour that in these +coming sources of the sorrow of the age, in these fits of sad +regret from which the latter years of few reflecting men can be +free, religion would suffice to comfort him. Yes, religion could +console him for the loss of any worldly good; but was his religion +of that active sort which would enable him so to repent of misspent +years as to pass those that were left to him in a spirit of hope +for the future? And such repentance itself, is it not a work of +agony and of tears? It is very easy to talk of repentance; but a +man has to walk over hot ploughshares before he can complete it; to +be skinned alive as was St Bartholomew; to be stuck full of arrows +as was St Sebastian; to lie broiling on a gridiron like St Lorenzo! +How if his past life required such repentance as this? had he the +energy to go through with it? + +Mr Harding after leaving the palace, walked slowly for an hour or +so beneath the shady elms of the close, and then betook himself to +his daughter's house. He had at any rate made up his mind that he +would go out to Plumstead to consult Dr Grantly, and that he would +in the first instance tell Eleanor what had occurred. + +And now he was doomed to undergo another misery. Mr Slope had +forestalled him at the widow's house. He had called there on the +preceding afternoon. He could not, he had said, deny himself the +pleasure of telling Mrs Bold that her father was about to return to +the pretty house at Hiram's hospital. He had been instructed by the +bishop to inform Mr Harding that the appointment would now be made +at once. The bishop was of course only too happy to be able to be +the means of restoring to Mr Harding the preferment which he had so +long adorned. And then by degrees Mr Slope had introduced the +subject of the pretty school which he had hoped before long to see +attached to the hospital. He had quite fascinated Mrs Bold by his +description of this picturesque, useful, and charitable appendage, +and she had gone so far as to say that she had no doubt her father +would approve, and that she herself would gladly undertake a class. + +Anyone who had heard the entirely different tone, and seen the +entirely different manner in which Mr Slope had spoken of this +projected institution to the daughter and to the father, would not +have failed to own that Mr Slope was a man of genius. He said +nothing to Mrs Bold about the hospital sermons and services, +nothing about the exclusion of the old men from the cathedral, +nothing about dilapidation and painting, nothing about carting away +the rubbish. Eleanor had said to herself that certainly she did not +like Mr Slope personally, but that he was a very active, zealous, +clergyman, and would no doubt be useful in Barchester. All this +paved the way for much additional misery to Mr Harding. + +Eleanor put on her happiest face as she heard her father on the +stairs, for she thought she had only to congratulate him; but +directly she saw his face, she knew that there was but little +matter for congratulation. She had seen him with the same weary +look of sorrow on one or two occasions before, and remembered it +well. She had seen him when he first read that attack upon himself +in the Jupiter, which had ultimately caused him to resign the +hospital; and she had seen him also when the archdeacon had +persuaded him to remain there against his own sense of propriety +and honour. She knew at a glance that his spirit was in deep +trouble. + +'Oh, papa, what is it?' said she, putting down her boy to crawl +upon the floor. + +'I came to tell you, my dear,' said he, 'that I am going out to +Plumstead: you won't come with me, I suppose?' + +'To Plumstead, papa? Shall you stay there?' + +'I suppose I shall tonight: I must consult the archdeacon about +this weary hospital. Ah me! I wish I had never thought of it +again.' + +'Why, papa, what is the matter?' + +'I've been with Mr Slope, my dear; and he isn't the pleasantest +companion in the world, at least not to me.' Eleanor gave a sort of +half blush; but she was wrong if she imagined that her father in +any way alluded to her acquaintance with Mr Slope. + +'Well, papa.' + +'He wants to turn the hospital into a Sunday school and a preaching +house; and I suppose he will have his way. I do not feel myself +adapted for such an establishment, and therefore, I suppose, I must +refuse the appointment.' + +'What would be the harm of the school, papa?' + +'The want of a proper schoolmaster, my dear.' + +'But that would of course be supplied.' + +'Mr Slope wishes to supply it by making me his schoolmaster. But as +I am hardly fit for such work, I intend to decline.' + +'Oh, papa! Mr Slope doesn't intend that. He was here yesterday, and +what he intends--' + +'He was here yesterday, was he?' asked Mr Harding. + +'Yes, papa.' + +'And talking about the hospital?' + +'He was saying how glad he would be, and the bishop too, to see you +back there again. And then he spoke about the Sunday school; and to +tell the truth I agreed with him; and I thought you would have done +so too. Mr Slope spoke of a school, not inside the hospital, but +just connected with it, of which you would be the patron and +visitor; and I thought you would have liked such a school as that; +and I promised to look after it and to take a class--and it all +seemed so very--. But, oh, papa! I shall be so miserable if I find +that I have done wrong.' + +'Nothing wrong at all, my dear,' said he, gently, very gently +rejecting his daughter's caresses. 'There can be nothing wrong in +your wishing to make yourself useful; indeed, you ought to do so by +all means. Every one must now exert himself who would not choose to +go to the wall.' Poor Mr Harding thus attempted in his misery to +preach the new doctrine to his child. 'Himself or herself, it's all +the same,' he continued, 'you will be quite right, my dear, to do +something of this sort; but--' + +'Well, papa.' + +'I am not quite sure that if I were you I would select Mr Slope for +my guide.' + +'But I have never done so, and never shall.' + +'It would be very wicked of me to speak evil of him, for to tell +the truth I know no evil of him; but I am not quite sure that he is +honest. That he is not gentleman-like in his manners, of that I am +quite sure.' + +'I never thought of taking him for my guide, papa.' + +'As for myself, my dear,' continued he, 'we know the old +proverb--"It's a bad thing teaching an old dog new tricks." I must +decline the Sunday school, and shall therefore probably decline the +hospital also. But I will first see your brother-in-law.' So he +took up his hat, kissed the baby, and withdrew, leaving Eleanor in +as low spirits as himself. + +All this was a great aggravation to his misery. He had so few with +whom to sympathise, that he could not afford to be cut off from the +one whose sympathy was of the most value to him. And yet it seemed +probable that this would be the case. He did not own to himself +that he wished his daughter to hate Mr Slope; yet had she expressed +such a feeling there would have been very little bitterness in the +rebuke he would have given her for so uncharitable a state of mind. +The fact, however, was that she was on friendly terms with Mr +Slope, that she coincided with his views, adhered at once to his +plans, and listened with delight to his teaching. Mr Harding hardly +wished his daughter to hate the man, but he would have preferred +that to her loving him. + +He walked away to the inn to order a fly, went home to put up his +carpet bag, and then started for Plumstead. There was, at any rate, +no danger that the archdeacon would fraternise with Mr Slope; but +then he would recommend internecine war, public appeals, loud +reproaches, and all the paraphernalia of open battle. Now that +alternative was hardly more to Mr Harding's taste than the other. + +When Mr Harding reached the parsonage he found that the archdeacon +was out, and would not be home till dinner-time, so he began his +complaint to his elder daughter. Mrs Grantly entertained quite as +strong an antagonism to Mr Slope as did her husband; she was also +quite as alive to the necessity of combatting the Proudie faction, +of supporting the old church interest of the close, of keeping in +her own set much of the loaves and fishes as duly belonged to it; +and was quite as well prepared as her lord to carry on the battle +without giving or taking quarter. Not that she was a woman prone to +quarrelling, or ill inclined to live at peace with her clerical +neighbours; but she felt, as did the archdeacon, that the presence +of Mr Slope in Barchester was an insult to every one connected with +the late bishop, and that his assumed dominion in the diocese was a +spiritual injury to her husband. Hitherto people had little guessed +how bitter Mrs Grantly could be. She lived on the best of terms +with all the rectors' wives around her. She had been popular with +all the ladies connected with the close. Though much the wealthiest +of the ecclesiastical matrons of the county, she had so managed her +affairs that her carriage and horses had given umbrage to none. She +had never thrown herself among the county grandees so as to excite +the envy of other clergymen's wives. She had never talked too +loudly of earls and countesses, or boasted that she gave her +governess sixty pounds a year, or her cook seventy. Mrs Grantly had +lived the life of a wise, discreet, peace-making woman; and the +people of Barchester were surprised at the amount of military +vigour she displayed as general of the feminine Grantlyite forces. + +Mrs Grantly soon learnt that her sister Eleanor had promised to +assist Mr Slope in the affairs of the hospital; and it was on this +point that her attention soon fixed itself. + +'How can Eleanor endure him?' said she. + +'He is a very crafty man,' said her father, 'and his craft has been +successful in making Eleanor think that he is a meek, charitable, +good clergyman. God forgive me, if I wrong him, but such is not his +true character in my opinion.' + +'His true character, indeed!' said she, with something approaching +scorn for her father's moderation. 'I only hope he won't have craft +enough to make Eleanor forget herself and her position.' + +'Do you mean marry him?' said he, startled out of his usual +demeanour by the abruptness and horror of so dreadful a +proposition. + +'What is there so improbable in it? Of course that would be his own +object if he thought he had any chance of success. Eleanor has a +thousand a year entirely at her own disposal, and what better +fortune could fall to Mr Slope's lot than the transferring of the +disposal of such a fortune to himself?' + +'But you can't think she likes him, Susan?' + +'Why not?' said Susan. 'Why shouldn't she like him? He's just the +sort of man to get on with a woman left as she is, with no one to +look after her.' + +'Look after her!' said the unhappy father; 'don't we look after +her?' + +'Ah, papa, how innocent you are! Of course it was to be expected +that Eleanor should marry again. I should be the last to advise her +against it, if she would only wait the proper time, and then marry +at least a gentleman.' + +'But you don't really mean to say that you suppose Eleanor has ever +thought of marrying Mr Slope? Why, Mr Bold has only been dead a +year.' + +'Eighteen months,' said his daughter. 'But I don't suppose Eleanor +has ever thought about it. It is very probable, though, that he +has, and that he will try and make her do so; and that he will +succeed too, if we don't take care what we are about.' + +This was quite a new phase of the affair to poor Mr Harding. To +have thrust upon him as his son-in-law, as the husband of his +favourite child, the only man in the world whom he really +positively disliked, would be a misfortune which he felt he would +not know how to endure patiently. But then, could there be any +ground for so dreadful a surmise? In all worldly matters he was apt +to look upon the opinion of his eldest daughter, as one generally +sound and trustworthy. In her appreciation of character, of +motives, and the probable conduct both of men and women, she was +usually not far wrong. She had early foreseen the marriage of +Eleanor and John Bold; she had at a glance deciphered the character +of the new bishop and his chaplain; could it possibly be that her +present surmise should ever come forth as true?' + +'But you don't think that she likes him,' said Mr Harding again. + +'Well, papa, I can't say that I think she dislikes him as she ought +to do. Why is he visiting there as a confidential friend, when he +never ought to have been admitted inside the house? Why is it that +she speaks to him of about your welfare and your position, as she +clearly has done? At the bishop's party the other night, I saw her +talking to him for half an hour at the stretch.' + +'I thought Mr Slope seemed to talk to nobody there but that +daughter of Stanhope's,' said Mr Harding, wishing to defend his +child. + +'Oh, Mr Slope is a cleverer man than you think of, papa, and keeps +more than one iron in the fire.' + +To give Eleanor her due, any suspicion as to the slightest +inclination on her part towards Mr Slope was a wrong to her. She +had no more idea of marrying Mr Slope than she had of marrying the +bishop; and the idea that Mr Slope would present himself as a +suitor had never occurred to her. Indeed, to give her her due +again, she had never thought about suitors since her husband's +death. But nevertheless it was true that she had overcome all that +repugnance to the man which was so strongly felt for him by the +rest of the Grantly faction. She had forgiven him his sermon. She +had forgiven him his low church tendencies, his Sabbath schools, +and puritanical observances. She had forgiven his pharisaical +arrogance, and even his greasy face and oily vulgar manners. Having +agreed to overlook such offences as these, why should she not in +time be taught to regard Mr Slope as a suitor? + +And as to him, it must be affirmed that he was hitherto equally +innocent of the crime imputed to him. How it had come to pass that +a man whose eyes were generally widely open to everything had not +perceived that this young widow was rich as well as beautiful, +cannot probably now be explained. But such was the fact. Mr Slope +had ingratiated himself with Mrs Bold, merely as he had done with +other ladies, in order to strengthen his party in the city. He +subsequently attended his error; but it was not till after the +interview with him and Mr Harding. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NEW CAMPAIGN + +The archdeacon did not return to the parsonage till close upon the +hour of dinner, and there was therefore no time to discuss matters +before that important ceremony. He seemed to be in an especial good +humour, and welcomed his father-in-law with a sort of jovial +earnestness that was usual with him when things on which was intent +were going on as he would have them. + +'It's all settled, my dear,' said he to his wife as he washed his +hands in his dressing-room, while she, according to her wont, sat +listening in the bedroom; 'Arabin has agreed to accept the living. +He'll be here next week.' And the archdeacon scrubbed his hands and +rubbed his face with a violent alacrity, which showed that Arabin's +coming was a great point gained. + +'Will he come here to Plumstead?' said the wife. + +'He has promised to stay a month with us,' said the archdeacon, 'so +that he may see what his parish is like. You'll like Arabin very +much. He's a gentleman in every respect, and full of good humour.' + +'He's very queer, isn't he?' asked the wife. + +'Well--he is a little odd in some of his fancies; but there's +nothing about him you won't like. He is as staunch a churchman as +there is at Oxford. I really don't know what we should do without +Arabin. It's a great thing for me to have him so near me; and if +anything can put Slope down, Arabin will do it.' + +The Reverend Francis Arabin was a fellow of Lazarus, the favoured +disciple of the great Dr Gwynne, a high churchman at all points; so +high, indeed, that at one period of his career he had all but +toppled over into the cesspool of Rome; a poet and also a polemical +writer, a great pet in the common rooms at Oxford, an eloquent +clergyman, a droll, odd, humorous, energetic, conscientious man, +and, as the archdeacon had boasted of him, a thorough gentleman. As +he will hereafter be brought more closely to our notice, it is now +only necessary to add, that he had just been presented to the +vicarage of St Ewold by Dr Grantly, in whose gift as archdeacon the +living lay. St Ewold's is a parish lying just without the city of +Barchester. The suburbs of the new town, indeed, are partly within +its precincts, and the pretty church and parsonage are not much +above a mile distant from the city gate. + +St Ewold is not a rich piece of preferment--it is worth some three +or four hundred a year, at most, and has generally been held by a +clergyman attached to the cathedral choir. The archdeacon, however, +felt, when the living on this occasion became vacant, that it +imperatively behoved him to aid the force of his party with some +tower of strength, if any such tower could be got to occupy St +Ewold's. He had discussed the matter with his brethren in +Barchester; not in any weak spirit as the holder of patronage to be +used for his own or his family's benefit, but as one to whom was +committed a trust, on the due administration of which much of the +church's welfare might depend. He had submitted to them the name of +Mr Arabin, as though the choice had rested with them all in +conclave, and they had unanimously admitted that, if Mr Arabin +would accept St Ewold's no better choice could possibly be made. + +If Mr Arabin would accept St Ewold's! There lay the difficulty. Mr +Arabin was a man standing somewhat prominently before the world, +that is, before the Church of England world. He was not a rich man, +it is true, for he held no preferment but his fellowship; but he +was a man not over anxious for riches, not married of course, and +one whose time was greatly taken up in discussing, both in print +and on platforms, the privileges and practices of the church to +which he belonged. As the archdeacon had done battle for its +temporalities, so did Mr Arabin do battle for its spiritualities; +and both had done so conscientiously; that is, not so much each for +his own benefit as for that of others. + +Holding such a position as Mr Arabin did, there was much reason to +doubt whether he would consent to become the parson of St Ewold's, +and Dr Grantly had taken the trouble to go himself to Oxford on the +matter. Dr Gwynne and Dr Grantly together had succeeded in +persuading this eminent divine that duty required him to go +Barchester. There were wheels within wheels in this affair. For +some time past Mr Arabin had been engaged in a tremendous +controversy with no less a person than Mr Slope, respecting the +apostolic succession. These two gentlemen had never seen each +other, but they had been extremely bitter in print. Mr Slope had +endeavoured to strengthen his cause by calling Mr Arabin an owl, +and Mr Arabin had retaliated by hinting that Mr Slope was an +infidel. This battle had been commenced in the columns of the daily +Jupiter, a powerful newspaper, the manager of which was very +friendly to Mr Slope's view of the case. The matter, however, had +become too tedious for the readers of the Jupiter, and a little +note had therefore been appended to one of Mr Slope's most telling +rejoinders, in which it had been stated that no further letters +from the reverend gentlemen could be inserted except as +advertisements. + +Other methods of publication were, however, found less expensive +than advertisements in the Jupiter; and the war went on merrily. Mr +Slope declared that the main part of the consecration of a +clergyman was the self-devotion of the inner man to the duties of +the ministry. Mr Arabin contended that a man was not consecrated at +all, had, indeed, no single attribute of a clergyman, unless he +became so through the imposition of some bishop's hands, who had +become a bishop through the imposition of other hands, and so on in +a direct line to one of the apostles. Each had repeatedly hung the +other on the horns of a dilemma; but neither seemed to a whit the +worse for the hanging; and so the war went on merrily. + +Whether or no the near neighbourhood of the foe may have acted in +any way as an inducement to Mr Arabin to accept the living of St +Ewold, we will not pretend to say; but it had at any rate been +settled in Dr Gwynne's library, at Lazarus, that he would accept +it, and that he would lend his assistance towards driving the enemy +out of Barchester, or, at any rate, silencing him while he remained +there. Mr Arabin intended to keep his rooms at Oxford, and to have +the assistance of a curate at St Ewold; but he promised to give as +much time as possible to the neighbourhood of Barchester, and from +so great a man Dr Grantly was quite satisfied with such a promise. +It was no small part of the satisfaction derivable from such an +arrangement that Dr Proudie would be forced to institute into a +living, immediately under his own nose, the enemy of his favourite +chaplain. + +All through the dinner the archdeacon's good humour shone brightly +in his face. He ate of the good things heartily, he drank wine with +his wife and daughter, he talked pleasantly of his doings at +Oxford, told his father-in-law that he ought to visit Dr Gwynne at +Lazarus, and launched out again in praise of Dr Arabin. + +'Is Mr Arabin married, papa?' asked Griselda. + +'No, my dear; the fellow of a college is never married.' + +'Is he a young man, papa?' + +'About forty, I believe,' said the archdeacon. + +'Oh!' said Griselda. Had her father said eighty, Mr Arabin would +not have appeared to her to be very much older. + +When the two gentlemen were left alone over their wine, Mr Harding +told his tale of woe. But even this, sad as it was, did not much +diminish the archdeacon's good humour, though it greatly added to +his pugnacity. + +'He can't do it,' said Dr Grantly over and over again, as his +father-in-law explained to him the terms on which the new warden of +the hospital was to be appointed; 'he can't do it. What he says is +not worth the trouble of listening to. He can't alter the duties of +the place.' + +'Who can't?' asked the ex-warden. + +'Neither can the bishop nor the chaplain, nor yet the bishop's +wife, who, I take it, has really more to say to such matters than +either of the other two. The whole body corporate of the palace +together have no power to turn the warden of the hospital into a +Sunday schoolmaster.' + +'But the bishop has the power to appoint whom he pleases, and--' + +'I don't know that; I rather think he'll find he has no such power. +Let him try it, and see what the press will say. For once we shall +have the popular cry on our side. But Proudie, ass as he is, knows +the world too well to get such a hornet's nest about his ears.' + +Mr Harding winced at the idea of the press. He had had enough of +that sort of publicity, and was unwilling to be shown up a second +time either as a monster or as a martyr. He gently remarked that he +hoped the newspapers would not get hold of his name again, and then +suggested that perhaps it would be better that he should abandon +his object. 'I am getting old,' said he; 'and after all I doubt +whether I am fit to undertake new duties.' + +'New duties!' said the archdeacon: 'don't I tell you there shall be +no new duties?' + +'Or, perhaps, old duties either,' said Mr Harding; 'I think I will +remain content as I am.' The picture of Mr Slope carting away the +rubbish was still present to his mind. + +The archdeacon drank off his glass of claret, and prepared himself +to be energetic. 'I do hope,' said he, 'that you are not going to +be so weak as to allow such a man as Mr Slope to deter you from +doing what you know is your duty to do. You know that it is your +duty to resume your place at the hospital now that parliament has +so settled the stipend as to remove those difficulties which +induced you to resign it. You cannot deny this; and should your +timidity now prevent you from doing so, your conscience will +hereafter never forgive you;' and as he finished this clause of his +speech, he pushed over the bottle to his companion. + +'Your conscience will never forgive you,' he continued. 'You +resigned the place from conscientious scruples, scruples which I +greatly respected, though I did not share them. All your friends +respected them, and you left your old house as rich in reputation +as you were ruined in fortune. It is now expected that you will +return. Dr Gwynne was saying only the other day--' + +'Dr Gwynne does not reflect how much older a man I am now than when +he last saw me.' + +'Old--nonsense!' said the archdeacon; 'you never thought yourself +old till you listened to the impudent trash of that coxcomb at the +palace.' + +'I shall be sixty-five if I live till November,' said Mr Harding. + +'And seventy-five if you live till November ten years,' said the +archdeacon. 'And you bid fair to be as efficient then as you were +ten years ago. But for heaven's sake let us have no pretence in +this matter. Your plea of old age is only a pretence. But you're +not drinking your wine. It is only a pretence. The fact is, you are +half afraid of this Slope, and would rather subject yourself to +comparative poverty and discomfort, than come to blows with a man +who will trample on you, if you let him.' + +'I certainly don't like coming to blows, if I can help it.' + +'Nor I neither--but sometimes we can't help it. This man's object +is to induce you to refuse the hospital, that he may put some +creature of his own into it; that he may show his power, and insult +us all by insulting you, whose cause and character are so +intimately bound up with that of the chapter. You owe it to us all +to resist him in this, even if you have no solicitude for yourself. +But surely, for your own sake, you will not be so lily-livered as +to fall into this trap which he has baited for you, and let him +take the very bread out of your mouth without a struggle.' + +Mr Harding did not like being called lily-livered, and was rather +inclined to resent it. 'I doubt there is any true courage,' said +he, 'in squabbling for money.' + +'If honest men did not squabble for money, in this world of ours, +the dishonest men would get it all; and I do not see that the cause +of virtue would be much improved. No,--we must use the means which +we have. If we were to carry your argument home, we might give away +every shilling of revenue which the church has; and I presume you +are not prepared to say that the church would be strengthened by +such a sacrifice.' The archdeacon filled his glass and then emptied +it, drinking with much reverence a silent toast to the well-being +and permanent security of those temporalities which were so dear to +his soul. + +'I think all quarrels between a clergyman and his bishop should be +avoided,' said Mr Harding. + +'I think so too; but it is quite as much the duty of the bishop to +look to that as of his inferior. I tell you what, my friend; I'll +see the bishop in this matter, that is, if you will allow me; and +you may be sure I will not compromise you. My opinion is, that all +this trash about Sunday-schools and the sermons has originated +wholly with Slope and Mrs Proudie, and that the bishop knows +nothing about it. The bishop can't very well refuse to see me, and +I'll come upon him when he has neither his wife nor his chaplain by +him. I think you'll find that it will end in his sending you the +appointment without any condition whatever. And as to the seats in +the cathedral, we may safely leave that to Mr Dean. I believe the +fool positively thinks that the bishop could walk away with the +cathedral, if he pleased.' + +And so the matter was arranged between them. Mr Harding had come +expressly for advice, and therefore felt himself bound to take the +advice given him. He had known, moreover, beforehand, that the +archdeacon would not hear of his giving the matter up, and +accordingly though he had in perfect good faith put forward his own +views, he was prepared to yield. + +They therefore went into the drawing-room in good humour with each +other, and the evening passed pleasantly in prophetic discussion on +the future wars of Arabin and Slope. The frogs had the mice would +be nothing to them, nor the angers of Agamemnon and Achilles. How +the archdeacon rubbed his hands, and plumed himself on the success +of his last move. He could not himself descend into the arena with +Slope, but Arabin would have no such scruples. Arabin was exactly +the man for such work, and the only man whom he knew that was fit +for it. + +The archdeacon's good humour and high buoyancy continued till, when +reclining on his pillow, Mrs Grantly commenced to give him her view +of the state of affairs in Barchester. And then certainly he was +startled. The last words he said that night were as follows:-- + +'If she does, by heaven, I'll never speak to her again. She dragged +me into the mire once, but I'll not pollute myself with such filth +as that--' And the archdeacon gave a shudder which shook the whole +room, so violently was he convulsed with the thought which then +agitated his mind. + +Now in this matter, the widow Bold was scandalously ill-treated by +her relatives. She had spoken to the man three or four times, and +had expressed her willingness to teach in a Sunday-school. Such was +the full extent of her sins in the matter of Mr Slope. Poor +Eleanor! But time will show. + +The next morning Mr Harding returned to Barchester, no further word +having been spoken in his hearing respecting Mr Slope's +acquaintance with his younger daughter. But he observed that the +archdeacon at breakfast was less cordial than he had been on the +preceding evening. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE WIDOW'S SUITORS + +Mr Slope lost no time in availing himself of the bishop's +permission to see Mr Quiverful, and it was in his interview with +this worthy pastor that he first learned that Mrs Bold was worth +the wooing. He rode out to Puddingdale to communicate to the embryo +warden the good will of the bishop in his favour, and during the +discussion on the matter, it was unnatural that the pecuniary +resources of Mr Harding and his family should become the subject of +remark. + +Mr Quiverful, with his fourteen children and his four hundred a +year, was a very poor man, and the prospect of this new preferment, +which was to be held together with his living, was very grateful to +him. To what clergyman so circumstanced would not such a prospect +be very grateful? But Mr Quiverful had long been acquainted with Mr +Harding, and had received kindness at his hands, so that his heart +misgave him as he thought of supplanting a friend at the hospital. +Nevertheless, he was extremely civil, cringingly civil, to Mr +Slope; treated him quite as the great man; entreated this great man +to do him the honour to drink a glass of sherry, at which, as it +was very poor Marsala, the now pampered Slope turned up his nose; +and ended by declaring his extreme obligation to the bishop and Mr +Slope, and his great desire to accept the hospital, if--if it were +certainly the case that Mr Harding had refused it. + +What man, as needy as Mr Quiverful, would have been more +disinterested? + +'Mr Harding did positively refuse it,' said Mr Slope, with a +certain air of offended dignity, 'when he heard of the conditions +to which the appointment is now subjected. Of course, you +understand, Mr Quiverful, that the same conditions will be imposed +on yourself.' + +Mr Quiverful cared nothing for the conditions. He would have +undertaken to preach any number of sermons Mr Slope might have +chosen to dictate, and to pass every remaining hour of his Sundays +within the walls of a Sunday school. What sacrifices, or, at any +rate, what promises, would have been too much to make for such an +addition to his income, and for such a house! But his mind still +recurred to Mr Harding. + +'To be sure,' said he; 'Mr Harding's daughter is very rich, and why +should he trouble himself with the hospital?' + +'You mean Mrs Grantly,' said Slope. + +'I meant the widowed daughter,' said the other. 'Mrs Bold has +twelve hundred a year of her own, and I suppose Mr Harding means to +live with her.' + +'Twelve hundred a year of her own!' said Slope, and very shortly +afterwards took his leave, avoiding, as far as it was possible for +him to do, any further allusion to the hospital. Twelve hundred a +year, said he to himself, as he rode slowly home. If it were the +fact that Mrs Bold had twelve hundred a year of her own, what a +fool would he be to oppose her father's return to his old place. +The train of Mr Slope's ideas will probably be plain to all my +readers. Why should he not make the twelve hundred a year his own? +And if he did so, would it not be well for him to have a +father-in-law comfortably provided with the good things of this +world? Would it not, moreover, be much more easy for him to gain +his daughter, if he did all in his power to forward his father's +views? + +These questions presented themselves to him in a very forcible way, +and yet there were many points of doubt. If he resolved to restore +to Mr Harding his former place, he must take the necessary steps +for doing so at once; he must immediately talk over the bishop, +quarrel on the matter with Mrs Proudie whom he knew he could not +talk over, and let Mr Quiverful know that he had been a little too +precipitate as to Mr Harding's positive refusal. That he could +effect all this, he did not doubt; but he did not wish to effect it +for nothing. He did not wish to give way to Mr Harding, and then be +rejected by the daughter. He did not wish to lose one influential +friend before he had gained another. + +And thus he rode home, meditating the many things in his mind. It +occurred to him that Mrs Bold was sister-in-law to the archdeacon; +and that not even for twelve hundred a year would he submit to that +imperious man. A rich wife was a great desideratum to him, but +success in his profession was still greater; there were, moreover, +other rich women who might be willing to become wives; and after +all, this twelve hundred a year might, when inquired into, melt +away into some small sum utterly beneath his notice. Then also he +remembered that Mrs Bold had a son. + +Another circumstance also much influenced him, though it was one +which may almost be said to have influenced him against his will. +The vision of Signora Neroni was perpetually before his eyes. It +would be too much to say that Mr Slope was lost in love, but yet he +thought, and kept continually thinking, that he had never seen so +beautiful a woman. He was a man whose nature was open to such +impulses, and the wiles of the Italianised charmer had been +thoroughly successful in imposing upon his thoughts. We will not +talk of his heart: not that he had no heart, but because his heart +had little to do with his present feelings. His taste had been +pleased, his eyes charmed, and his vanity gratified. He had been +dazzled by a sort of loveliness which he had never before seen, and +had been caught by an easy, free, voluptuous manner which was +perfectly new to him. He had never been so tempted before, and the +temptation was now irresistible. He had not owned to himself that +he cared for this woman more than for others around him; but yet he +thought often of the time when he might see her next, and made, +almost unconsciously, little cunning plans for seeing her +frequently. + +He had called at Dr Stanhope's house the day after the bishop's +party, and then the warmth of his admiration had been fed with +fresh fuel. If the signora had been kind in her manner, and +flattering in her speech when lying upon the bishop's sofa, with +the eyes of so many on her, she had been much more so in her +mother's drawing-room, with no one present but her sister to +repress either her nature or her art. Mr Slope had thus left her +quite bewildered, and could not willingly admit into his brain any +scheme, a part of which would be the necessity of abandoning all +further special relationship with this lady. + +And so he slowly rode along very meditative. + +And here the author must beg it to be remembered that Mr Slope was +not in all things a bad man. His motives, like those of most men, +were mixed; and though his conduct was generally very different +from that which we would wish to praise, it was actuated perhaps as +often as that of the majority of the world by a desire to do his +duty. He believed in the religion which he taught, harsh, +unpalatable, uncharitable as that religion was. He believed those +whom he wished to get under his hoof, the Grantlys and Gwynnes of +the church, to be the enemies of that religion. He believed himself +to be the pillar of strength, destined to do great things; and with +that subtle, selfish, ambiguous sophistry to which the minds of all +men are so subject, he had taught himself to think that in doing +much for the promotion of his own interests he was doing much also +for the promotion of religion. Mr Slope had never been an immoral +man. Indeed, he had resisted temptations to immorality with a +strength of purpose that was creditable to him. He had early in +life devoted himself to works which were not compatible with the +ordinary pleasures of youth, and he had abandoned such pleasures +not without a struggle. It must therefore be conceived that he did +not admit to himself that he warmly admired the beauty of a married +woman without heartfelt stings of conscience; and to pacify that +conscience, he had to teach himself that the nature of his +admiration was innocent. + +And thus he rode along meditative and ill at ease. His conscience +had not a word to say against his choosing the widow and her +fortune. That he looked upon as a godly work rather than otherwise; +as a deed which, if carried through, would redound to his credit as +a Christian. On that side lay no future remorse, no conduct which +he might probably have to forget, no inward stings. If it should +turn out to be really the fact that Mrs Bold had twelve hundred a +year at her own disposal, Mr Slope would rather look upon it as a +duty which he owed his religion to make himself the master of the +wife and the money; as a duty, too, in which some amount of +self-sacrifice would be necessary. He would have to give up his +friendship with the signora, his resistance to Mr Harding, his +antipathy--no, he found on mature self-examination, that he could +not bring himself to give up his antipathy to Dr Grantly. He would +marry the lady as the enemy of her brother-in-law, if such an +arrangement suited her; if not, she must look elsewhere for a +husband. + +It was with such resolve as this that he reached Barchester. He +would at once ascertain what the truth might be as to the lady's +wealth, and having done this, he would be ruled by circumstances in +his conduct respecting the hospital. If he found that he could turn +round and secure the place for Mr Harding without much +self-sacrifice, he would do so; but if not, he would woo the +daughter in opposition to the father. But in no case would he +succumb to the archdeacon. + +He saw his horse taken round to the stable, and immediately went +forth to commence his inquiries. To give Mr Slope his due, he was +not a man who ever let much grass grow under his feet. + +Poor Eleanor! She was doomed to be the intended victim of more +schemes than one. + +About the time that Mr Slope was visiting the vicar of Puddingdale, +a discussion took place respecting her charms and wealth at Dr +Stanhope's house in the close. There had been morning callers +there, and people had told some truth and also some falsehood +respecting the property which John Bold had left behind him. By +degrees the visitors went, and as the doctor went with them, and as +the doctor's wife had not made her appearance, Charlotte Stanhope +and her brother were left together. He was sitting idly at the +table, scrawling caricatures of Barchester notable, then yawning, +then turning over a book or two, and evidently at a loss how kill +some time without much labour. + +'You haven't done much, Bertie, about getting any orders,' said his +sister. + +'Orders!' said he; 'who on earth is there at Barchester to give +some orders? Who among the people here could possibly think it +worth his while to have his head done into marble?' + +'Then you mean to give up your profession,' said she. + +'No, I don't,' said he, going on with some absurd portrait of the +bishop. 'Look at that, Lotte; isn't it the little man all over, +apron and all? I'd go on with my profession at once, as you call +it, if the governor would set me up with a studio in London; but as +to sculpture at Barchester--I suppose half the people here don't +know what a torso means.' + +'The governor will not give you a shilling to start you in London,' +said Lotte. 'Indeed, he can't give you what would be sufficient, +for he has not got it. But you might start yourself very well, if +you pleased.' + +'How the deuce am I to do it?' said he. + +'To tell you the truth, Bertie, you'll never make a penny by any +profession.' + +'That's what I often think myself,' said he, not in the least +offended. 'Some men have a great gift of making money, but they +can't spend it. Others can't put two shillings together, but they +have a great talent for all sorts of outlay. I begin to think that +my genius is wholly in the latter line.' + +'How do you mean to live then?' asked the sister. + +'I suppose I must regard myself as a young raven, and look for +heavenly manna; besides, we have all got something when the +governor goes.' + +'Yes--you'll have enough to supply yourself with gloves and boots; +that is, if the Jews have not got the possession of it all. I +believe they have the most of it already. I wonder, Bertie, at your +indifference; that you, with your talents and personal advantages, +should never try to settle yourself in life. I look forward with +dread to the time when the governor must go. Mother, and Madeline, +and I,--we shall be poor enough, but you will have absolutely +nothing.' + +'Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof,' said Bertie. + +'Will you take my advice?' said the sister. + +'Cela depend,' said the brother. + +'Will you marry a wife with money?' + +'At any rate,' said he, 'I won't marry one without; wives with +money a'nt so easy to get now-a-days; the parsons pick them all +up.' + +'And a parson will pick up the wife I meant for you, if you do not +look quickly about it; the wife I mean is Mrs Bold.' + +'Whew-w-w-w!' whistled Bertie, 'a widow!' + +'She is very beautiful,' said Charlotte. + +'With a son and heir already to my hand,' said Bertie. + +'A baby that will very likely die,' said Charlotte. + +'I don't see that,' said Bertie. 'But however, he may live for +me--I don't wish to kill him; only, it must be owned that a +ready-made family is a drawback.' + +'There is only one after all,' pleaded Charlotte. + +'And that a very little one, as the maid-servant said,' rejoined +Bertie. + +'Beggars mustn't be choosers, Bertie; you can't have everything.' + +'God knows I am not unreasonable,' said he, 'nor yet opinionated; +and if you'll arrange it for me, Lotte, I'll marry the lady. Only +mark this: the money must be sure, and the income at my own +disposal, at any rate for the lady's life.' + +Charlotte was explaining to her brother that he must make love for +himself if he meant to carry on the matter, and was encouraging him +to so, by warm eulogiums on Eleanor's beauty, when the signora was +brought into the drawing-room. When at home, and subject to the +gaze of none but her own family, she allowed herself to be dragged +about by two persons, and her two bearers now deposited her on the +sofa. She was not quite so grand in her apparel as she had been at +the bishop's party, but yet she was dressed with much care, and +though there was a look of care and pain about her eyes, she, was, +even by daylight, extremely beautiful. + +'Well, Madeline; so I'm going to be married,' Bertie began, as soon +as the servants had withdrawn. + +'There's no other foolish thing left, that you haven't done,' said +Madeline, 'and therefore you are quite right to try that.' + +'Oh, you think it's a foolish thing, do you?' said he. 'There's +Lotte advising me to marry by all means. But on such a subject your +opinion ought to be the best; you have experience to guide you.' + +'Yes, I have,' said Madeline, with a sort of harsh sadness in her +tone, which seemed to say--What is it to you if I am sad? I have +never asked your sympathy. + +Bertie was sorry when he saw that she was hurt by what he said, and +he came and squatted on the floor close before her face to make his +peace with her. + +'Come, Mad, I was only joking; you know that. But in sober earnest, +Lotte is advising me to marry. She wants me to marry Mrs Bold. +She's a widow with lots of tin, a fine baby, a beautiful +complexion, and the George and Dragon hotel up in High Street. By +Jove, Lotte, if I marry her, I'll keep the public house +myself--it's just the life that suits me.' + +'What?' said Madeline, 'that vapid swarthy creature in the widow's +cap, who looked as though her clothes had been stuck on her back +with a pitchfork!' The signora never allowed any woman to be +beautiful. + +'Instead of being vapid,' said Lotte, 'I call her a very lovely +woman. She was by far the loveliest woman in the rooms the other +night; that is, excepting you, Madeline.' + +Even the compliment did not soften the asperity of the maimed +beauty. 'Every woman is charming according to Lotte,' she said; 'I +never knew an eye with so little true appreciation. In the first +place, what woman on earth could look well in such a thing as that +she had on her head?' + +'Of course she wears a widow's cap; but she'll put that off when +Bertie marries her.' + +'I don't see any "of course" in it,' said Madeline. 'The death of +twenty husbands should not make me undergo such a penance. It is as +much a relic of paganism as the sacrifice of a Hindu woman at the +burning of her husband's body. If not so bloody, it is quite as +barbarous, and quite as useless.' + +'But you don't blame her for that,' said Bertie. 'She does it +because it's the custom of the country. People would think ill of +her if she didn't do it.' + +'Exactly,' said Madeline. 'She is just one of those English +nonentities who would tie her head up in a bag for three months +every summer, if her mother and her grandmother had tied up their +heads before her. It would never occur to her, to think whether +there was any use in submitting to such a nuisance.' + +'It's very hard, in a country like England, for a young woman to +set herself in opposition to the prejudices of that sort,' said the +prudent Charlotte. + +'What you mean is, that it's very hard for a fool not to be a +fool,' said Madeline. + +Bertie Stanhope had so much knocked about the world from his +earliest years, that he had not retained much respect for the +gravity of English customs; but even to his mind an idea presented +itself, that, perhaps in a wife, true British prejudice would not +in the long run be less agreeable than Anglo-Italian freedom from +restraint. He did not exactly say so, but he expressed the idea in +another way. + +'I fancy,' said he, 'that if I were to die, and then walk, I should +think that my widow looked better in one of those caps than any +other kind of head-dress.' + +'Yes--and you'd fancy also that she could do nothing better than +shut herself up and cry for you, or else burn herself. But she +would think differently. She'd probably wear one of those horrid +she-helmets, because she'd want the courage not to do so; but she'd +wear it with a heart longing for the time when she might be allowed +to throw it off. I hate such shallow false pretences. For my part, +I would let the world say what it pleased, and show no grief if I +felt none;--and perhaps not, if I did.' + +'But wearing a widow's cap won't lessen her fortune,' said +Charlotte. + +'Or increase it,' said Madeline. 'Then why on earth does she do +it?' + +'But Lotte's object is to make her put it off,' said Bertie. + +'If it be true that she has got twelve hundred a year quite at her +own disposal, and she be not utterly vulgar in her manners, I would +advise you to marry her. I dare say she is to be had for the +asking; and as you are not going to marry her for love, it doesn't +much matter whether she is good-looking or not. As to your really +marrying a woman for love, I don't believe you are fool enough for +that.' + +'Oh, Madeline!' cried her sister. + +'And oh, Charlotte!' said the other. + +'You don't mean to say that no man can love a woman unless he is a +fool?' + +'I mean very much the same thing,--that any man who is willing to +sacrifice his interest to get possession of a pretty face is a +fool. Pretty faces are to be had cheaper than that. I hate your +mawkish sentimentality, Lotte. You know as well as I do in what way +husbands and wives generally live together; you know how far the +warmth of conjugal affection can withstand the trial of a bad +dinner, of a rainy day, or of the least privation which poverty +brings with it; you know what freedom a man claims for himself, +what slavery he would exact from his wife if he could! And you know +also how wives generally obey. Marriage means tyranny on one side +and deceit on the other. I say that a man is a fool to sacrifice +his interests for such a bargain. A woman, too generally, has no +other way of living.' + +'But Bertie has no other way of living,' said Charlotte. + +'Then, in God's name, let him marry Mrs Bold,' said Madeline. And +so it was settled between them. + +But let the gentle-hearted reader be under no apprehension +whatsoever. It is not destined that Eleanor shall marry Mr Slope or +Bertie Stanhope. And here, perhaps, it may be allowed to the +novelist to explain his views on a very important point in the art +of telling tales. He ventures to reprobate that system which goes +so far to violate all proper confidence between the author and his +readers, by maintaining nearly to the end of the third volume a +mystery as to the fate of their favourite personage. Nay, more, and +worse than this, is too frequently done. Have not often the +profoundest efforts of genius been used to baffle the aspirations +of the reader, to raise false hopes and false fears, and to give +rise to expectations which are never realised? Are not promises all +but made of delightful horrors, in lieu of which the writer +produces nothing but commonplace realities in his final chapter? +And is there not a species of deceit in this to which the honesty +of the present age should lend no countenance? + +And what can be the worth of that solicitude which a peep into the +third volume can utterly dissipate? What the value of those +literary charms which are absolutely destroyed by their enjoyment? +When we have once learnt what was the picture before which was hung +Mrs Radcliffe's solemn curtain, we feel no further interest about +either the frame or the veil. They are to us, merely a receptacle +for old bones, and inappropriate coffin, which we would wish to +have decently buried out of our sight. + +And then, how grievous a thing it is to have the pleasure of your +novel destroyed by the ill-considered triumph of a previous reader. +'Oh, you needn't be alarmed, for Augusta, of course, she accepts +Gustavus in the end.' 'How very ill-natured you are, Susan,' says +Kitty, with tears in her eyes; 'I don't care a bit about it now.' +Dear Kitty, if you will read my book, you may defy the ill-nature +of your sister. There shall be no secret that she can tell you. +Nay, take the last chapter, if you please--learn from its pages all +the results of our troubled story, and the story shall have lost +none of its interest, if indeed, there be any interest in it to +lose. + +Our doctrine is, that the author and the reader should move along +together in full confidence with each other. Let the personages of +the drama undergo ever so completely a comedy of errors among +themselves, but let the spectator never mistake the Syracusan for +the Ephesian; otherwise he is one of the dupes, and the part of a +dupe is never dignified. + +I would not for the value of this chapter have it believed by a +single reader that my Eleanor could bring herself to marry Mr +Slope, or that she should be sacrificed to a Bertie Stanhope. But +among the good folk of Barchester many believed both the one and +the other. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +BABY WORSHIP + +'Diddle, diddle, diddle, diddle, dum, dum, dum,' said, or sung +Eleanor Bold. + +'Diddle, diddle, diddle, diddle, dum, dum, dum,' continued Mary +Bold, taking up the second part in the concerted piece. + +The only audience at the concert was the baby, who however gave +such vociferous applause, that the performers presuming it to +amount to an encore, commenced again. + +'Diddle, diddle, diddle, diddle, dum, dum, dum: hasn't he got +lovely legs?' said the rapturous mother. + +'H'm, 'm, 'm, 'm, 'm,' simmered Mary, burying her lips in the +little fellow's fat neck, by way of kissing him. + +'H'm, 'm, 'm, 'm, 'm,' simmered the mamma, burying her lips also in +his fat round short legs. 'He's a dawty little bold darling, so he +is; and he has the nicest little pink legs in all the world, so he +has;' and the simmering and the kissing went on over again, and as +though the ladies were very hungry, and determined to eat him. + +'Well, then, he's his own mother's own darling: well, he shall--oh, +oh,--Mary, Mary--did you ever see? What am I to do? My naughty, +naughty, naughty little Johnny.' All these energetic exclamations +were elicited by the delight of the mother in finding that her son +was strong enough and mischievous enough, to pull all her hair out +from under her cap. 'He's been and pulled down all mamma's hair, +and he's the naughtiest, naughtiest, naughtiest little man that +ever, ever, ever, ever, ever--' + +A regular service of baby worship was going on. Mary Bold was +sitting on a low easy chair, with the boy in her lap, and Eleanor +was kneeling before the object of her idolatry. As she tried to +cover up the little fellow's face with her long, glossy, dark brown +locks, and permitted him to pull them hither and thither, as he +would, she looked very beautiful in spite of the widow's cap which +she still wore. There was a quiet, enduring, grateful sweetness +about her face, which grew so strongly upon those who knew her, as +to make the great praise of her beauty which came from her old +friends, appear marvellously exaggerated to those who were only +slightly acquainted with her. Her loveliness was like that of many +landscapes, which require to be often seen to be fully enjoyed. +There was a depth of dark clear brightness in her eyes which was +lost upon a quick observer, a character about her mouth which only +showed itself to those with whom she familiarly conversed, a +glorious form of head the perfect symmetry of which required the +eyes of an artist for its appreciation. She had none of that +dazzling brilliancy, of that voluptuous Rubens beauty, of that +pearly whiteness, and those vermilion tints, which immediately +entranced with the power of a basilisk men who came within reach of +Madeline Neroni. It was all be impossible to resist the signora, +but no one was called upon for any resistance towards Eleanor. You +might begin to talk to her as though she were your sister, and it +would not be till your head was on your pillow, that the truth and +intensity of her beauty would flash upon you; that the sweetness of +her voice would come upon your ear. A sudden half-hour with the +Neroni, was like falling into a pit; an evening spent with Eleanor +like an unexpected ramble in some quiet fields of asphodel. + +'We'll cover him up till there shan't be a morsel of his little +'ittle, 'ittle, 'ittle nose to be seen,' said the mother, +stretching her streaming locks over the infant's face. The child +screamed with delight, and kicked till Mary Bold was hardly able to +hold him. + +At this moment the door opened, and Mr Slope was announced. Up +jumped Eleanor, and with a sudden quick motion of her hands pushed +back her hair over her shoulders. It would have been perhaps better +for her that she had not, for she thus showed more of her confusion +than she would have done had she remained as she was. Mr Slope, +however, immediately recognised the loveliness, and thought to +himself, that irrespective of her fortune, she would be an inmate +that a man might well desire for his house, a partner for his +bosom's care very well qualified to make care lie easy. Eleanor +hurried out of the room to re-adjust her cap, muttering some +unnecessary apology about her baby. And while she was gone, we will +briefly go back and state what had been hitherto the results of Mr +Slope's meditations on his scheme of matrimony. + +His inquiries as to the widow's income had at any rate been so far +successful as to induce him to determine to go on with the +speculation. As regarded Mr Harding, he had also resolved to do +what he could without injury to himself. To Mrs Proudie he +determined not to speak on the matter, at least not at present. His +object was to instigate a little rebellion on the part of the +bishop. He thought that such a state of things would be advisable, +not only in respect to Messrs Harding and Quiverful, but also in +the affairs of the diocese generally. Mr Slope was by no means of +the opinion that Dr Proudie was fit to rule, but he conscientiously +thought it wrong that his brother clergy should be subjected to +petticoat government. He therefore made up his mind to infuse a +little of his spirit into the bishop, sufficient to induce him to +oppose his wife, though not enough to make him altogether +insubordinate. + +He had therefore taken the opportunity of again speaking to his +lordship about the hospital, and had endeavoured to make it appear +that after all it would be unwise to exclude Mr Harding from the +appointment. Mr Slope, however, had a harder task than he had +imagined. Mrs Proudie, anxious to assume to herself as much as +possible of the merit of patronage, had written to Mrs Quiverful, +requesting her to call at the palace; and had then explained to +that matron, with much mystery, condescension, and dignity, the +good that was in store for her and her progeny. Indeed Mrs Proudie +had been so engaged at the very time that Mr Slope had been doing +the same with her husband at Puddingdale Vicarage, and had thus in +a measure committed herself. The thanks, the humility, the +gratitude, the surprise of Mrs Quiverful had been very +overpowering; she had all but embraced the knees of her patroness; +and had promised that the prayers of fourteen unprovided babes (so +Mrs Quiverful had described her own family, the eldest of which was +a stout young woman of three-and-twenty) should be put up to heaven +morning and evening for the munificent friend whom God had sent to +them. Such incense as this was not unpleasing to Mrs Proudie, and +she made the most of it. She offered her general assistance to the +fourteen unprovided babes, if, as she had no doubt, she should find +them worthy; expressed a hope that the eldest of them would be fit +to undertake tuition in her Sabbath schools, and altogether made +herself a very great lady in the estimation of Mrs Quiverful. + +Having done this, she thought it prudent to drop a few words before +the bishop, letting him know that she had acquainted the +Puddingdale family with their good fortune; so that he might +perceive that he stood committed to the appointment. The husband +well understood the rule of his wife, but he did not resent it. He +knew that she was taking the patronage out of his hands; he was +resolved to put an end to her interference, and re-assume his +powers. But then he thought this was not the best time to do it. He +put off the evil hour, as many a man in similar circumstances has +done before him. + +Such having been the case, Mr Slope, naturally encountered a +difficulty in talking over the bishop, a difficulty indeed which he +found could not be overcome except at the cost of a general +outbreak at the palace. A general outbreak at the present moment +might be good policy, but it also might not. It was at any rate not +a step to be lightly taken. He began by whispering to the bishop +that he feared the public opinion would be against him if Mr +Harding did not reappear at the hospital. The bishop answered with +some warmth that Mr Quiverful had been promised the appointment on +Mr Slope's advice. 'Not promised!' said Mr Slope. 'Yes, promised,' +replied the bishop, 'and Mrs Proudie has seen Mrs Quiverful on the +subject.' This was quite unexpected on the part of Mr Slope, but +his presence of mind did not fail him, and he turned the statement +to his own account. + +'Ah, my lord,' said he, 'we shall all be in scrapes if the ladies +interfere.' + +This was too much in unison with his lordship's feelings to be +altogether unpalatable, and yet such an allusion to interference +demanded a rebuke. My lord was somewhat astounded also, though not +altogether made miserable, by finding that there was a point of +difference between his wife and his chaplain. + +'I don't know what you mean by interference,' said the bishop +mildly. 'When Mrs Proudie heard that Mr Quiverful was to be +appointed, it was not unnatural that she should wish to see Mrs +Quiverful about the schools. I really cannot say that I see any +interference.' + +'I only speak, my lord, for your own comfort,' said Slope; 'for +your own comfort and dignity in the diocese. I can have no other +motive. As far as personal feelings go, Mrs Proudie is the best +friend I have. I must always remember that. But still, in my +present position, my first duty is to your lordship.' + +'I am sure of that, Mr Slope, I am quite sure of that;' said the +bishop mollified: 'and I really think that Mr Harding should have +the hospital.' + +'Upon my word, I am inclined to think so. I am quite prepared to +take upon myself the blame of first suggesting Mr Quiverful's name. +But since doing so, I have found that there is so strong a feeling +in the diocese in favour of Mr Harding, that I think your lordship +should give way. I hear also that Mr Harding has modified his +objections he first felt to your lordship's propositions. And as to +what has passed between Mrs Proudie and Mrs Quiverful, the +circumstance may be a little inconvenient, but I really do not +think that that should weigh in a matter of so much moment.' + +And thus the poor bishop was left in a dreadfully undecided state +as to what he should do. His mind, however, slightly inclined +itself to the appointment of Mr Harding, seeing that by such a +step, he should have the assistance of Mr Slope in opposing Mrs +Proudie. + +Such was the state of affairs at the palace, when Mr Slope called +at Mrs Bold's house, and found her playing with her baby. When she +ran out of the room, Mr Slope began praising the weather to Mary +Bold, then he praised the baby and kissed him, and then he praised +the mother, and then he praised Miss Bold herself. Mrs Bold, +however, was not long before she came back. + +'I have to apologise for calling at so very early an hour,' began +Mr Slope, 'but I was really so anxious to speak to you that I hope +you and Miss Bold will excuse me.' + +Eleanor muttered something in which the words 'certainly', and 'of +course', and 'not early at all', were just audible, and then +apologised for her own appearance, declaring with a smile, that her +baby was becoming such a big boy that he was quite unmanageable. + +'He's a great bit naughty boy,' said she to the child; 'and we must +sent him away to a great big rough romping school, where they have +great big rods, and do terrible things to naughty boys who don't do +what their own mammas tell them;' and she then commenced another +course of kissing, being actuated thereto by the terrible idea of +sending her child away which her own imagination had depicted. + +'And where the masters don't have such beautiful long hair to be +dishevelled,' said Mr Slope, taking up the joke and paying a +compliment at the same time. + +Eleanor thought he might as well have left the compliment alone; +but she said nothing and looked nothing, being occupied as she was +with the baby. + +'Let me take him,' said Mary. 'His clothes are nearly off his back +with his romping,' and so saying she left the room with the child. +Miss Bold had heard Mr Slope say he had something pressing to say +to Eleanor, and thinking that she might be de trop, took the +opportunity of getting herself out of the room. + +'Don't be long, Mary,' said Eleanor, as Miss Bold shut the door. + +'I am glad, Mrs Bold, to have the opportunity of having ten +minutes' conversation with you alone,' began Mr Slope. 'Will you +let me openly ask you a plain question?' + +'Certainly,' said she. + +'And I am sure you will give me a plain and open answer.' + +'Either that or none at all,' said she, laughing. + +'My question is this, Mrs Bold; is your father really anxious to +get back to the hospital?' + +'Why do you ask me?' said she. 'Why don't you ask himself?' + +'My dear Mrs Bold, I'll tell you why. There are wheels within +wheels, all of which I would explain to you, only I fear there is +not time. It is essentially necessary that I should have an answer +to this question, otherwise I cannot know how to advance your +father's wishes; and it is quite impossible that I should ask +himself. No one can esteem your father more than I do, but I doubt +if this feeling is reciprocal.' It certainly was not. 'I must be +candid with you as the only means of avoiding ultimate +consequences, which may be most injurious to Mr Harding. I fear +there is a feeling, I will not even call it a prejudice, with +regard to myself in Barchester, which is not in my favour. You +remember the sermon--' + +'Oh! Mr Slope, we need not go back to that,' said Eleanor. + +'For one moment, Mrs Bold. It is not that I may talk of myself, but +because it is so essential that you should understand how matters +stand. That sermon may have been ill-judged,--it was certainly +misunderstood; but I will say nothing about that now; only this, +that it did give rise to a feeling against myself which your father +shares with others. It may be that he has proper cause, but the +result is that he is not inclined to meet me on friendly terms. I +put it to yourself whether you do not know this to be the case.' + +Eleanor made no answer, and Mr Slope, in the eagerness of his +address, edged his chair a little nearer to the widow's seat, +unperceived by her. + +'Such being so,' continued Mr Slope, 'I cannot ask him this +question as I can ask it of you. In spite of my delinquencies since +I came to Barchester you have allowed me to regard you as a +friend.' Eleanor made a little motion with her head which was +hardly confirmatory, but Mr Slope if he noticed it, did not appear +to do so. 'To you I can speak openly, and explain the feelings of +my heart. This your father would not allow. Unfortunately the +bishop has thought it right that this matter of the hospital should +pass through my hands. There have been some details to get up with +which he would not trouble himself, and thus it has come to pass +that I was forced to have an interview with your father on the +matter.' + +'I am aware of that,' said Eleanor. + +'Of course,' said he. 'In that interview Mr Harding left the +impression on my mind that he did not wish to return to the +hospital.' + +'How could that be?' said Eleanor, at last stirred up to forget the +cold propriety of demeanour which she had determined to maintain. + +'My dear Mrs Bold, I give you my word that such was the case,' said +he, again getting a little nearer to her. 'And what is more than +that, before my interview with Mr Harding, certain persons at the +palace, I do not mean the bishop, had told me that such was the +fact. I own, I hardly believed it; I own, I thought that your +father would wish on every account, for conscience' sake, for the +sake of those old men, for old association, and the memory of dear +days gone by, on every account I thought that he would wish to +resume his duties. But I was told that such was not his wish; and +he certainly left me with the impression that I had been told the +truth.' + +'Well!' said Eleanor, now sufficiently roused on the matter. + +'I fear Miss Bold's step,' said Mr Slope, 'would it be asking too +great a favour to beg you to--I know you can manage anything with +Miss Bold.' + +Eleanor did not like the word manage, but still she went out, and +asked Mary to leave them alone for another quarter of an hour. + +'Thank you, Mrs Bold,--I am so very grateful for this confidence. +Well, I left your father with this impression. Indeed, I may say +that he made me understand that he declined the appointment.' + +'Not the appointment,' said Eleanor. 'I am sure he did not decline +the appointment. But he said that he would not agree,--that is, +that he did not like the scheme about the schools, and the +services, and all that. I am quite sure he never said he wished to +refuse the place.' + +'Oh, Mrs Bold!' said Mr Slope, in a manner almost impassioned. 'I +would not, for the world, say to so good a daughter a word against +so good a father. But you must, for his sake, let me show you +exactly how the matter stands at present. Mr Harding was a little +flurried when I told him of the bishop's wishes about the school. I +did so, perhaps, with less caution because you yourself had so +perfectly agreed with me on the same subject. He was a little put +out and spoke warmly. "Tell the bishop," said he, "that I quite +disagree with him,--and shall not return to the hospital as such +conditions are attached to it." What he said was to that effect; +indeed, his words were, if anything, stronger than those. I had no +alternative but to repeat them to his lordship, who said that he +could look on them in no other light than a refusal. He also had +heard the report that your father did not wish for the appointment, +and putting all these things together, he thought he had not choice +but to look for some one else. He has consequently offered the +place to Mr Quiverful.' + +'Offered the place to Mr Quiverful!' repeated Eleanor, her eyes +suffused with tears. 'Then, Mr Slope, there is an end of it.' + +'No, my friend--not so,' said he. 'It is to prevent such being the +end of it that I am now here. I may at any rate presume that I have +got an answer to my question, and that Mr Harding is desirous of +returning.' + +'Desirous of returning--of course he is,' said Eleanor; 'of course +he wishes to have back his house and his income, and his place in +the world; to have back what he gave up with such self-denying +honesty, if he can have them without restraints on his conduct to +what at his age it would be impossible that he should submit. How +can the bishop ask a man of his age to turn schoolmaster to a pack +of children?' + +'Out of the question,' said Mr Slope, laughing slightly; 'of course +no such demand shall be made on your father. I can at any rate +promise you that I will not be the medium of any so absurd a +requisition. We wished your father to preach in the hospital, as +the inmates may naturally be too old to leave it; but even that +shall not be insisted on. We wished also to attach a Sabbath-day +school to the hospital, thinking that such an establishment could +not but be useful under the surveillance of so good a clergyman as +Mr Harding, and also under your own. But, dear Mrs Bold; we won't +talk of those things now. One thing is clear; we mustdo what we can +to annul this rash offer the bishop made to Mr Quiverful. Your +father wouldn't see Quiverful, would he? Quiverful is an honourable +man, and would not, for a moment, stand in your father's way.' + +'What?' said Eleanor; 'ask a man with fourteen children to give up +his preferment! I am quite sure he will do no such thing.' + +'I suppose not,' said Slope; and he again drew near to Mrs Bold, so +that now they were very close to each other. Eleanor did not think +much about it, but instinctively moved away a little. How greatly +would she have increased the distance could he have guessed what +had been said about her at Plumstead! 'I suppose not. But it is out +of the question that Quiverful should supersede your father--quite +out of the question. The bishop has been too rash. An idea occurs +to me, which may, perhaps, with God's blessing, put us right. My +dear Mrs Bold, would you object to seeing the bishop yourself?' + +'Why should not my father see him?' said Eleanor. She had once +before in her life interfered with her father's affairs, and then +not to much advantage. She was older now, and felt that she should +take no step in a matter so vital to him without his consent. + +'Why, to tell the truth,' said Mr Slope, with a look of sorrow, as +though he greatly bewailed the want of charity in his patron, 'the +bishop fancies he has cause of anger against your father. I fear an +interview would lead to further ill will.' + +'Why,' said Eleanor, 'my father is the mildest, the gentlest man +living.' + +'I only know,' said Slope, 'that he has the best of daughters. So +you would not see the bishop? As to getting an interview, I could +manage that for you without the slightest annoyance to yourself.' + +'I could do nothing, Mr Slope, without consulting my father.' + +'Ah!' said he, 'that would be useless; you would then only be your +father's messenger. Does anything occur to yourself? Something must +be done. Your father shall not be ruined by so ridiculous a +misunderstanding.' + +Eleanor said that nothing occurred to her, but that it was very +hard; and the tears came to her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Mr +Slope would have given much to have had the privilege of drying +them; but he had tact enough to know that he had still a great deal +to do before he could even hope for any privilege with Mrs Bold. + +'It cuts me to the heart to see you so grieved,' said he. 'But pray +let me assure you that your father's interests shall not be +sacrificed if it be possible for me to protect them. I will tell +the bishop openly what are the facts. I will explain to him that he +has hardly the right to appoint any other than your father, and +will show him that if he does so he will be guilty of great +injustice--and you, Mrs Bold, you will have the charity at any rate +to believe this of me, that I am truly anxious for your father's +welfare,--for his and for your own.' + +The widow hardly knew what answer to make. She was quite aware that +her father would not be at all thankful to Mr Slope; she had a +strong wish to share her father's feelings; and yet she could not +but acknowledge that Mr Slope was very kind. Her father, who was +generally charitable to all men, who seldom spoke ill of any one, +had warned against Mr Slope, and yet she did not know how to +abstain from thanking him. What interest could he have in the +matter but that which he professed? Nevertheless there was that in +his manner which even she distrusted. She felt, and she did not +know why, that there was something about him which ought to put her +on her guard. + +Mr Slope read all this in her hesitating manner just as plainly as +though she had opened her heart to him. It was the talent of the +man that he could so read the inward feelings of women with whom he +conversed. He knew that Eleanor was doubting him, and that if she +thanked him she would only do so because she could not help it; but +yet this did not make him angry or even annoy him. Rome was not +built in a day. + +'I did not come for thanks,' continued he, seeing her hesitation; +'and do not want them--at any rate before they are merited. But +this I do want, Mrs Bold, that I may make myself friends in this +fold to which it has pleased God to call me as one of the humblest +of his shepherds. If I cannot do so, my task here must indeed be a +sad one. I will at any rate endeavour to deserve them.' + +'I'm sure,' said she, 'you will soon make plenty of friends.' + She felt herself obliged to say something. + +'That will be nothing unless they are such as will sympathise with +my feelings; unless they are such as I can reverence and +admire--and love. If the best and purest turn away from me, I +cannot bring myself to be satisfied with the friendship of the less +estimable. In such case I must live alone.' + +'Oh! I'm sure you will not do that, Mr Slope.' Eleanor meant +nothing, but it suited him to appear that some special allusion had +been intended. + +'Indeed, Mrs Bold, I shall live alone, quite alone as far as the +heart is concerned, if those with whom I yearn to ally myself turn +away from me. But enough of this; I have called you my friend, and +I hope you will not contradict me. I trust the time may come when I +may also call your father so. My God bless you, Mrs Bold, you and +your darling boy. And tell your father from me that what can be +done for his interest shall be done.' + +And so he took his leave, pressing the widow's hand rather more +closely than usual. Circumstances, however, seemed just then to +make this intelligible, and the lady did not feel called on to +resent it. + +'I cannot understand him,' said Eleanor to Mary Bold, a few minutes +afterwards. 'I do not know whether he is a good man or a bad +man--whether he is true or false.' + +'Then give him the benefit of the doubt,' said Mary, 'and believe +the best.' + +'On the whole I think I do,' said Eleanor. 'I think I do believe +that he means well--and if so, it is a shame that we should revile +him, and make him miserable while he is among us. But, oh Mary, I +fear papa will be disappointed in the hospital.' + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WHO SHALL BE COCK OF THE WALK? + +All this time things were going on somewhat uneasily at the palace. +The hint or two which Mr Slope had given was by no means thrown +away upon the bishop. He had a feeling that if he ever meant to +oppose the now almost unendurable despotism of his wife, he must +lose no further time in doing so; that if he even meant to be +himself master in his own diocese, let alone his own house, he +should begin at once. It would have been easier to have done so +from the day of his consecration than now, but easier now than when +Mrs Proudie should have succeeded in thoroughly mastering the +diocesan details. Then the proffered assistance of Mr Slope was a +great thing for him, a most unexpected and invaluable aid. Hitherto +he had looked on the two as allied forces; and had considered that +as allied they were impregnable. He had begun to believe that his +only chance of escape would be by the advancement of Mr Slope to +some distant and rich preferment. But now it seemed that one of his +enemies, certainly the least potent of them, but nevertheless one +very important, was willing to desert his own camp. He walked up +and down his little study, almost thinking that the time had come +when he would be able to appropriate to his own use the big room +upstairs, in which his predecessor had always sat. + +As he resolved these things in his mind a note was brought to him +from Archdeacon Grantly, in which that divine begged his lordship +to do him the honour of seeing him on the morrow--would his +lordship have the kindness to name the hour? Dr Grantly's proposed +visit would have reference to the re-appointment of Mr Harding to +the wardenship of Hiram's hospital. The bishop having read this +note was informed that the archdeacon's servant was waiting for an +answer. + +Here at once a great opportunity offered itself to the bishop of +acting on his own responsibility. He bethought himself of his new +ally, and rang the bell for Mr Slope. It turned out that Mr Slope +was not in the house; and then, greatly daring, the bishop with his +own unassisted spirit wrote a note to the archdeacon saying that he +would see him, and naming the hour for doing so. Having watched +from his study-window that the messenger got safely off the +premises with this despatch, he began to turn over in his mind what +step he should next take. + +To-morrow he would have to declare to the archdeacon either that Mr +Harding should have the appointment, or that he should not have it. +The bishop felt that he could not honestly throw over Mr Quiverful +without informing Mrs Proudie, and he resolved at last to brave the +lioness in her own den and tell her that circumstances were such +that it behoved him to reappoint Mr Harding. He did not feel that +he should at all derogate from his new courage by promising Mrs +Proudie that the very first piece of available preferment at his +disposal should be given to Quiverful to atone for the injury done +to him. If he could mollify the lioness with such a sop, how happy +would he think his first efforts had been? + +Not without many misgivings did he find himself in Mrs Proudie's +boudoir. He had at first thought of sending for her. But it was not +at all impossible that she might choose to take such a message +amiss, and then also it might be some protection to him to have his +daughters present at the interview. He found her sitting with her +account books before her nibbling the end of her pencil evidently +mersed in pecuniary difficulties, and harassed in mind by the +multiplicity of palatial expenses, and the heavy cost of episcopal +grandeur. Her daughters were around her. Olivia was reading a +novel, Augusta was crossing a note to her bosom friend in Baker +Street, and Netta was working diminutive coach wheels for the +bottom of a petticoat. If the bishop could get the better of his +wife in her present mood, he would be a man indeed. He might then +consider victory his own for ever. After all, in such cases the +matter between husband and wife stands much the same as it does +between two boys at the same school, two cocks in the same yard, or +two armies on the same continent. The conqueror once is generally +the conqueror for ever after. The prestige of victory is +everything. + +'Ahem--my dear,' began the bishop, 'if you are disengaged, I wished +to speak to you.' Mrs Proudie put her pencil down carefully at the +point to which she had dotted her figures, marked down in her +memory the sum she had arrived at, and then looked up, sourly +enough, into her helpmate's face. 'If you are busy, another time +will do as well,' continued the bishop, whose courage like Bob +Acres' had oozed out, now that he found himself on the ground of +battle. + +'What is it about, bishop?' asked the lady. + +'Well--it was about those Quiverfuls--but I see you are engaged. +Another time will do just as well for me.' + +'What about the Quiverfuls? It is quite understood I believe, that +they are to come to the hospital. There is to be no doubt about +that, is there?' And as she spoke she kept her pencil sternly and +vigorously fixed on the column of figures before her. + +'Why, my dear, there is a difficulty,' said the bishop. + +'A difficulty!' said Mrs Proudie, 'What difficulty? The place +has been promised to Mr Quiverful, and of course he must have it. +He has made all his arrangements. He has written for a curate for +Puddingdale, he has spoken to the auctioneer about selling his +farm, horses, and cows, and in all respects considers the place as +his own. Of course he must have it.' + +Now, bishop, look well to thyself, and call up all the manhood that +is in thee. Think how much is at stake. If now thou art not true to +thy guns, no Slope can hereafter aid thee. How can he who deserts +his own colours at the final smell of gunpowder expect faith in any +ally. Thou thyself hast sought the battlefield; fight out the +battle manfully now thou art there. Courage, bishop, courage! +Frowns cannot kill, nor can sharp words break any bones. After all +the apron is thine own. She can appoint no wardens, give away no +benefices, nominate no chaplains, an' thou art but true to thyself. +Up, man, and at her with a constant heart. + +Some little monitor within the bishop's breast so addressed him. +But then there was another monitor there which advised him +differently, and as follows. Remember, bishop, she is a woman, and +such a woman is the very mischief. Were it not better for thee to +carry on this war, if it must be waged, from behind thine own table +in thine own study? Does not every cock fight best on is own +dunghill? Thy daughters also are here, the pledges of thy love, the +fruits of thy loins; is it well that they should see thee in the +hour of thy victory over their mother? Nay, is it well that they +should see thee in the possible hour of thy defeat? Besides, hast +thou not chosen thy opportunity with wonderful little skill, indeed +with no touch of sagacity for which thou art famous? Will it not +turn out that thou art wrong in this matter, and thine enemy right; +that thou hast actually pledged thyself in this matter of the +hospital, and that now thou wouldst turn upon thy wife because she +requires from thee but the fulfilment of thy promise? Art thou not +a Christian bishop, and is not thy word to be held sacred whatever +be the result? Return, bishop, to thy sanctum on the lower floor, +and postpone thy combative propensities for some occasion in which +at least thou mayest fight the battle against odds less +tremendously against thee. + +All this passed within the bishop's bosom while Mrs Proudie stall +sat with her fixed pencil, and the figures of her sum still +enduring on the tablets of her memory. 'L4 17s 7d,' she said to +herself. 'Of course Mr Quiverful must have the hospital,' she said +out loud to her lord. + +'Well, my dear, I merely wanted to suggest to you that Mr Slope +seems to think that if Mr Harding be not appointed, public feeling +in the matter would be against us and that the press might perhaps +take it up.' + +'Mr Slope seems to think!' said Mrs Proudie, in a tone of voice +which plainly showed the bishop that he was right in looking for a +breach in that quarter. 'And what has Mr Slope to do with it? I +hope, my lord, you are not going to allow yourself to be governed +by a chaplain.' and now in her eagerness the lady lost her place in +her account. + +'Certainly not, my dear. Nothing I can assure you is less probable. +But still Mr Slope may be useful in finding how the wind blows, and +I really thought that if we could give something good to Mr +Quiverful--' + +'Nonsense,' said Mrs Proudie; 'it would be years before you could +give them anything else that could suit them half as well, and as +for the press and the public, and all that, remember there are two +ways of telling a story. If Mr Harding is fool enough to tell his +tale, we can also tell ours. The place was offered to him, and he +refused it. It has now been given to someone else, and there's an +end of it. At least, I should think so.' + +'Well, my dear, I rather believe you are right;' said the bishop, +and sneaking out of the room, he went down stairs, troubled in his +mind as to how he should receive the archdeacon on the morrow. He +felt himself not very well just at present; and began to consider +that he might, not improbably, be detained in his room the next +morning by an attack of bile. He was, unfortunately, very subject +to bilious annoyances. + +'Mr Slope, indeed! I'll Slope him,' said the indignant matron to +her listening progeny. 'I don't know what has come to Mr Slope. I +believe he thinks he is to be Bishop of Barchester himself, because +I have taken him by the hand, and got your father to make him his +domestic chaplain.' + +'He was always full of impudence,' said Olivia; 'I told you so once +before, mamma.' Olivia, however, had not thought him too impudent +when once before he had proposed to make her Mrs Slope. + +'Well, Olivia, I always thought you liked him,' said Augusta, who +at that moment had some grudge against her sister. 'I always +disliked the man because I think him thoroughly vulgar.' + +'There you're wrong,' said Mrs Proudie; 'he's not vulgar at all; +and what is more, he is a soul-stirring, eloquent preacher; but he +must be taught to know his place if he is to remain in this house.' + +'He has the horridest eyes I ever saw in a man's head,' said Netta; +'and I tell you what, he's terribly greedy; did you see the current +pie he ate yesterday?' + +When Mr Slope got home he soon learnt from the bishop, as much from +his manner as his words, that Mrs Proudie's behests in the matter +of the hospital were to be obeyed. Dr Proudie let fall something as +to 'this occasion only,' and 'keeping all affairs about patronage +exclusively in his own hands.' But he was quite decided about Mr +Harding; and as Mr Slope did not wish to have both the prelate and +the prelatess against him, he did not at present see that he could +do anything but yield. + +He merely remarked that he would of course carry out the bishop's +views, and that he was quite sure that if the bishop trusted to his +own judgment things in the diocese would certainly be well ordered. +Mr Slope knew that if you hit a nail on the head often enough, it +will penetrate at last. + +He was sitting alone in his room on the same evening when a light +knock was made on his door, and before he could answer it the door +was opened, and his patroness appeared. He was all smiles in a +moment, but so was not she also. She took, however, the chair that +was offered to her, and thus began her expostulation :- + +'Mr Slope, I did not at all approve your conduct the other night +with that Italian woman. Any one would have thought that you were +her lover.' + +'Good gracious, my dear madam,' said Mr Slope, with a look of +horror. 'Why, she is a married woman.' + +'That's more than I know,' said Mrs Proudie; 'however she chooses +to pass for such. But married or not married, such attention as you +paid her was improper. I cannot believe that you would wish to give +offence in my drawing-room, Mr Slope; but I owe it to myself and my +daughters to tell you that I disapprove your conduct.' + +Mr Slope opened wide his huge protruding eyes, and stared out of +them with a look of well-dignified surprise. 'Why, Mrs Proudie,' +said he, 'I did but fetch her something to eat when she was +hungry.' + +'And you have called on her since,' continued she, looking at the +culprit with the stern look of a detective policeman in the act of +declaring himself. + +Mr Slope turned over in his mind whether it would be well for him +to tell this termagant at once that he should call on whom he +liked, and do what he liked; but he remembered that his footing in +Barchester was not yet sufficiently firm, and that it would be +better for him to pacify her. + +'I certainly called since at Dr Stanhope's house, and certainly saw +Madame Neroni.' + +'Yes, and you saw her alone,' said the episcopal Argus. + +'Undoubtedly I did,' said Mr Slope, 'but that was because nobody +else happened to be in the room. Surely it was no fault of mine if +the rest of the family were out.' + +'Perhaps not; but I assure you, Mr Slope, you will fall greatly in +my estimation if I find that you allow yourself to be caught by the +lures of that woman. I know women better than you do, Slope, and +you may believe me that that signora, as she calls herself, is not +a fitting companion for a strict evangelical, unmarried young +clergyman.' + +How Mr Slope would have liked to laugh at her, had he dared! But he +did not dare. So he merely said, 'I can assure you, Mrs Proudie, +the lady in question is nothing to me.' + +'Well, I hope not, Mr Slope. But I have considered it my duty to +give you this caution; and now there is another thing I feel myself +called upon to speak about; it is your conduct to the bishop, Mr +Slope.' + +'My conduct to the bishop,' said he, now truly surprised and +ignorant what the lady alluded to. + +'Yes, Mr Slope; your conduct to the bishop. It is by no means what +I would wish to see it.' + +'Has the bishop said anything, Mrs Proudie?' + +'No, the bishop has said nothing. He probably thinks that any +remarks on the matter will come better from me, who first +introduced you to his lordship's notice. The fact is, Mr Slope, you +are a little inclined to take too much upon yourself.' + +An angry spot showed itself upon Mr Slope's cheeks, and it was with +difficulty that he controlled himself. But he did do so, and sat +quite silent while the lady went on. + +'It is the fault of many young men in your position, and therefore +the bishop is not inclined at present to resent it. You will, no +doubt, soon learn what is required from you, and what is not. If +you will take my advice, however, you will be careful not to +obtrude advice upon the bishop in any matter concerning patronage. +If his lordship wants advice, he knows where to look for it.' And +then having added to her counsel a string of platitudes as to what +was desirable and what not desirable in the conduct of a strictly +evangelical, unmarried young clergyman, Mrs Proudie retreated, +leaving the chaplain to his thoughts. + +The upshot of his thoughts was this, that there certainly was not +room in the diocese for the energies of both himself and Mrs +Proudie, and that it behoved him quickly to ascertain whether his +energies or hers would prevail. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE WIDOW'S PERSECUTION + +Early on the following morning, Mr Slope was summoned to the +bishop's dressing-room, and went there fully expecting that he +should find his lordship very indignant, and spirited up by his +wife to repeat the rebuke which she had administered on the +previous day. Mr Slope had resolved that at any rate from him he +would not stand it, and entered the dressing-room in rather a +combative disposition; but he found the bishop in the most placid +and gentle of humours. His lordship complained of being rather +unwell, had a slight headache, and was not quite the thing in his +stomach; but there was nothing the matter with his temper. + +'Oh, Slope,' said he, taking the chaplain's proffered hand. +'Archdeacon Grantly is to call on me this morning, and I really am +not fit to see him. I fear I must trouble you to see him for me;' +and then Dr Proudie proceeded to explain what it was that must be +said to Dr Grantly. He was to be told in fact in the civilest words +in which the tidings could be conveyed, that Mr Harding having +refused the wardenship, the appointment had been offered to Mr +Quiverful and accepted by him. + +Mr Slope again pointed out to his patron that he thought he was +perhaps not quite wise in his decision, and this he did sotto voce. +But even with this precaution it was not safe to say much, and +during the little that he did say, the bishop made a very slight, +but still a very ominous gesture with his thumb towards the door +which opened from his dressing-room to some inner sanctuary. Mr +Slope at once took the hint and said no more; but he perceived that +there was to be confidence between him and his patron, that the +league desired by him was to be made, and that this appointment of +Mr Quiverful was to be the sacrifice offered on the altar of +conjugal obedience. All this Mr Slope read in the slight motion of +the bishop's thumb, and he read it correctly. There was no need of +parchments and seals, of attestations, explanations, and +professions. The bargain was understood between them, and Mr Slope +gave the bishop his hand upon it. The bishop understood the little +extra squeeze, and an intelligible gleam of assent twinkled in his +eye. + +'Pray be civil to the archdeacon, Mr Slope,' said he out loud; 'but +make him quite understand that in this matter Mr Harding has put it +out of my power to oblige him.' + +It would be calumny on Mrs Proudie to suggest that she was sitting +in her bed-room with her ear at the keyhole during this interview. +She had within her a spirit of decorum which prevented her from +descending to such baseness. To put her ear to a key-hole or to +listen at a chink, was a trick for a housemaid. + +Mrs Proudie knew this, and therefore she did not do it; but she +stationed herself as near to the door as she well could, that she +might, if possible, get the advantage which the housemaid would +have had, without descending to the housemaid's artifice. + +It was little, however, that she heard, and that little was only +sufficient to deceive her. She saw nothing of that friendly +pressure, perceived nothing of that concluded bargain; she did not +even dream of the treacherous resolves which those two false men +had made together to upset her in the pride of her station, to dash +the cup from her lip before she had drank of it, to seep away all +her power before she had tasted its sweets! Traitors that they +were; the husband of her bosom, and the outcast whom she had +fostered and brought into the warmth of the world's brightest +fireside! But neither of them had the magnanimity of this woman. +Though two men have thus leagued themselves together against her, +even yet the battle is not lost. + +Mr Slope felt pretty sure that Dr Grantly would decline the honour +of seeing him, and such turned out to be the case. The archdeacon, +when the palace door was opened to him, was greeted by a note. Mr +Slope presented his compliments &c, &c. The bishop was ill in his +room, and very greatly regretted, &c &c. Mr Slope had been charged +with the bishop's views, and if agreeable to the archdeacon, would +do himself the honour &c, &c. The archdeacon, however, was not +agreeable, and having read his note in the hall, crumpled it up in +his hand, and muttering something about sorrow for his lordship's +illness, took his leave, without sending as much as a verbal +message in answer to Mr Slope's note. + +'Ill!' said the archdeacon to himself as he flung himself into his +brougham. 'The man is absolutely a coward. He is afraid to see me. +Ill, indeed!' The archdeacon was never ill himself, and did not +therefore understand that any one else could in truth be prevented +by illness from keeping an appointment. He regarded all such +excuses as subterfuges, and in the present instance he was not far +wrong. + +Dr Grantly desired to be driven to his father-in-law's lodgings in +the High Street, and hearing from the servant that Mr Harding was +at his daughter's, followed him to Mrs Bold's house, and there he +found him. The archdeacon was fuming with rage when he got into the +drawing-room, and had by this time nearly forgotten the +pusillanimity of the bishop in the villainy of the chaplain. + +'Look at that,' said he, throwing Mr Slope's crumpled note to Mr +Harding. 'I am to be told that if I choose I may have the honour of +seeing Mr Slope, and that too, after a positive engagement with the +bishop.' + +'But he says the bishop is ill,' said Mr Harding. + +'Pshaw! You don't mean to say that you are deceived by such an +excuse as that. He was well enough yesterday. Now I tell you what, +I will see the bishop; and I will tell him also very plainly what I +think of his conduct. I will see him, or else Barchester will soon +be too hot to hold him.' + +Eleanor was sitting in the room, but Dr Grantly had hardly noticed +her in his anger. Eleanor now said to him, with the greatest +innocence, 'I wish you had seen Mr Slope, Dr Grantly, because I +think perhaps it might have done good.' + +The archdeacon turned on her with almost brutal wrath. Had she at +once owned that she had accepted Mr Slope for her second husband, +he could hardly have felt more convinced of her belonging body and +soul to the Slope and Proudie party than he now did on hearing her +express such a wish as this. Poor Eleanor! + +'See him,' said the archdeacon, glaring at her; 'and why am I be +called on to lower myself in the world's esteem an my own by coming +in contact with such a man as that? I have hitherto lived among +gentlemen, and do not mean to be dragged into other company by +anybody.' + +Poor Mr Harding knew well what the archdeacon meant, but Eleanor +was as innocent as her own baby. She could not understand how the +archdeacon could consider himself to be dragged into bad company by +condescending to speak to Mr Slope for a few minutes when the +interests of her father might be served by doing so. + +'I was talking for a full hour yesterday with Mr Slope,' said she, +with some little assumption of dignity, 'and I did not find myself +to be lowered by it.' + +'Perhaps not,' said he. 'But if you'll be good enough to allow me, +I shall judge for myself in such matters. And I tell you what, +Eleanor; it will be much better for you if you will allow yourself +to be guided also by the advice of those who are your friends. If +you do not you will be apt to find you have no friends left who can +advise you.' + +Eleanor blushed up to the roots of her hair. But even now she had +not the slightest idea of what was passing in the archdeacon's +mind. No thought of love-making or love-receiving had yet found its +way to her heart since the death of poor John Bold; and if it were +possible that such a thought should spring there, the man must be +far different from Mr Slope that could give it birth. + +Nevertheless Eleanor blushed deeply, for she felt she was charged +with improper conduct, and she did so with the more inward pain +because her father did not instantly rally to her side; that father +for whose sake and love she had submitted to be the receptacle of +Mr Slope's confidence. She had given a detailed account of all that +had passed to her father; and though he had not absolutely agreed +with her about Mr Slope's views touching the hospital, yet he had +said nothing to make her think that she had been wrong in talking +to him. + +She was far too angry to humble herself before her brother- in-law. +Indeed, she had never accustomed herself to be very abject before +him, and they had never been confidential allies. 'I do not in the +least understand what you mean, Dr Grantly,' said she. 'I do not +know that I can accuse myself of doing anything that my friends +should disapprove. Mr Slope called here expressly to ask what +papa's views were about the hospital; and as I believe he called +with friendly intentions I told him.' + +'Friendly intentions!' sneered the archdeacon. + +'I believe you greatly wrong Mr Slope,' continued Eleanor; 'but I +have explained this to papa already; and as you do not seem to +approve of what I say, Dr Grantly, I will with your permission +leave you and papa together,' and so saying she walked out of the +room. + +All this made Mr Harding very unhappy. It was quite clear that the +archdeacon and his wife had made up their minds that Eleanor was +going to marry Mr Slope. Mr Harding could not really bring himself +to think that she would do so, but yet he could not deny that +circumstances made it appear that the man's company was not +disagreeable to her. She was now constantly seeing him, and yet she +received visits from no other unmarried gentleman. She always took +his part when his conduct was canvassed, although she was aware how +personally objectionable he was to her friends. Then, again, Mr +Harding felt that if she should choose to become Mrs Slope, he had +nothing that he could justly against her doing so. She had full +right to please herself, and he, as a father could not say that she +would disgrace herself by marrying a clergyman who stood so well +before the world as Mr Slope did. As for quarrelling with his +daughter on account of such a marriage, and separating himself from +her as the archdeacon had threatened to do, that, with Mr Harding, +would be out of the question. If she should determine to marry this +man, he must get over his aversion as best he could. His Eleanor, +his own old companion in their old happy home, must still be friend +of his bosom, the child of his heart. Let who would cast her off, +he would not. If it were fated, that he should have to sit in his +old age at the same table with a man whom of all men he disliked +the most, he would meet his fate as best he might. Anything to him +would be preferable to the loss of his daughter. + +Such being his feelings, he hardly knew how to take part with +Eleanor against the archdeacon, or with the archdeacon against +Eleanor. It will be said that he should never have suspected her. +Alas! he never should have done so. But Mr Harding was by no means +a perfect character. His indecision, his weakness, his proneness to +be led by others, his want of self-confidence, he was very far from +being perfect. And then it must be remembered that such a marriage +as that which the archdeacon contemplated with disgust, which we +who know Mr Slope so well would regard with equal disgust, did not +appear so monstrous to Mr Harding, because in his charity he did +not hate the chaplain as the archdeacon did, and as we do. + +He was, however, very unhappy when his daughter left the room, and +he had recourse to an old trick of his that was customary to him in +his times of sadness. He began playing some slow tune upon an +imaginary violoncello, drawing one hand slowly backwards and +forwards as though he held a bow in it, and modulating the unreal +chords with the other. + +'She'll marry that man as sure as two and two makes four,' said the +practical archdeacon. + +'I hope not, I hope not,' said the father. 'But if she does, what +can I say to her? I have no right to object to him.' + +'No right!' exclaimed Dr Grantly. + +'No right as her father. He is in my own profession, and for aught +we know a good man.' + +To this the archdeacon would by no means assent. It was not well, +however, to argue the case against Eleanor in her own drawing-room, +and so they both walked forth and discussed the matter in all the +bearings under the elm trees of the close. Mr Harding also +explained to his son-in-law what had been the purport, at any rate +the alleged purport, of Mr Slope's last visit to the widow. He, +however, stated that he could not bring himself to believe that Mr +Slope had any real anxiety such as that he had pretended. 'I cannot +forget his demeanour to myself,' said Mr Harding, 'and it is not +possible that his ideas should have changed so soon.' + +'I see it all,' said the archdeacon. 'The sly tartufe! He thinks to +buy the daughter by providing for the father. He means to show how +powerful he is, how good he is, and how much he is willing to do +for her beaux yeux; yes, I see it all now. But we'll be too many +for him yet, Mr Harding;' he said, turning to his companion with +some gravity, and pressing his hand on the other's arm. 'It would, +perhaps, be better for you to lose the hospital than get it on such +terms.' + +'Lose it!' said Mr Harding; 'why I've lost it already. I don't want +it. I've made up my mind to do without it. I'll withdraw +altogether. I'll just go and write a line to the bishop and tell +him that I withdraw my claim altogether.' + +Nothing would have pleased him better than to be allowed to escape +from the trouble and difficulty in such a manner. But he was now +going too fast for the archdeacon. + +'No--no--no! We'll do no such thing,' said Dr Grantly; 'we'll still +have the hospital. I hardly doubt but that we'll have it. But not +by Mr Slope's assistance. If that be necessary, we'll lose it; but +we'll have it, spite of his teeth, if we can. Arabin will be at +Plumstead to-morrow; you must come over and talk to him.' + +The two now turned into the cathedral library, which was used by +the clergymen of the close as a sort of ecclesiastical club-room, +for writing sermons and sometimes letters; also for reading +theological works, and sometimes magazines and newspapers. The +theological works were not disturbed, perhaps, quite as often as +from the appearance of the building the outside public might have +been led to expect. Here the two allies settled on their course of +action. The archdeacon wrote a letter to the bishop, strongly +worded, but still respectful, in which he put forward his +father-in-law's claim to the appointment, and expressed his own +regret that he had not been able to see his lordship when he +called. Of Mr Slope me made no mention whatsoever. It was then +settled that Mr Harding should go to Plumstead on the following +day; and after considerable discussion on the matter, the +archdeacon proposed to ask Eleanor there also, so as to withdraw +her, if possible, from Mr Slope's attentions. 'A week or two,' said +he, 'may teach her what he is, and while she is there she will be +out of harm's way. Mr Slope won't come there after her.' + +Eleanor was not a little surprised when her brother-in-law came +back and very civilly pressed her to go out to Plumstead with her +father. She instantly perceived that her father had been fighting +her battles for her behind her back. She felt thankful to him, and +for his sake she would not show her resentment to the archdeacon by +refusing his invitation. But she could not, she said, go on the +morrow; she had an invitation to drink tea at the Stanhopes which +she had promised to accept. She would, she added, go with her +father on the next day, if he would wait; or she would follow him. + +'The Stanhopes!' said Dr Grantly; 'I did not know you were so +intimate with them.' + +'I did not know it myself,' said she, 'till Miss Stanhope called +yesterday. However, I like her very much, and I have promised to go +and play chess with some of them.' + +'Have they a party there?' said the archdeacon, still fearful of Mr +Slope. + +'Oh, no,' said Eleanor; 'Miss Stanhope said there was to be nobody +at all. But she had learnt that Mary had left me for a few weeks, +and she had learnt from some one that I play chess, and so she came +over on purpose to ask me to go in.' + +'Well, that's very friendly,' said the ex-warden. 'They certainly +do look more like foreigners than English people, but I dare say +they are none the worse for that.' + +The archdeacon was inclined to look upon the Stanhopes with +favourable eyes, and had nothing to object on the matter. It was +therefore arranged that Mr Harding should postpone his visit to +Plumstead for one day, and then take with him Eleanor, the baby, +and the nurse. + +Mr Slope is certainly becoming of some importance in Barchester. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BARCHESTER BY MOONLIGHT + +There was much cause for grief and occasional perturbation of +spirits in the Stanhope family, but yet they rarely seemed to be +grieved or to be disturbed. It was the peculiar gift of each of +them that each was able to bear his or her own burden without +complaint, and perhaps without sympathy. They habitually looked on +the sunny side of the wall, if there was a gleam on the either side +for them to look at; and, if there was none, they endured the shade +with an indifference which, if not stoical, answered the end at +which the Stoics aimed. Old Stanhope could not but feel that he had +ill-performed his duties as a father and a clergyman; and could +hardly look forward to his own death without grief at the position +in which he would leave his family. His income for many years had +been as high as L 3000 a year, and yet they had among them no other +provision than their mother's fortune of L 10,000. He had not only +spent his income, but was in debt. Yet, with all this, he seldom +showed much outward sign of trouble. + +It was the same with the mother. If she added little to the +pleasures of her children she detracted still less: she neither +grumbled at her lot, nor spoke much of her past or future +sufferings; as long as she had a maid to adjust her dress, and had +those dresses well made, nature with her was satisfied. It was the +same with her children. Charlotte never rebuked her father with the +prospect of their future poverty, nor did it seem to grieve her +that she was becoming an old maid so quickly; her temper was rarely +ruffled, and, if we might judge by her appearance, she was always +happy. The signora was not so sweet-tempered, but she possessed +much enduring courage; she seldom complained--never, indeed, to her +family. Though she had a cause for affliction which would have +utterly broken down the heart of most women as beautiful as she and +as devoid of all religious support, yet, she bore her suffering in +silence, or alluded to it only to elicit the sympathy and stimulate +the admiration of the men with whom she flirted. As to Bertie, one +would have imagined from the sound of his voice and the gleam of +his eye that he had not a sorrow nor a care in the world. Nor had +he. He was incapable of anticipating tomorrow's griefs. The +prospect of future want no more disturbed his appetite than does +that of the butcher's knife disturb the appetite of the sheep. + +Such was the usual tenor of their way; but there were rare +exceptions. Occasionally the father would allow an angry glance to +fall from his eye, and the lion would send forth a low dangerous +roar as though he meditated some deed of blood. Occasionally also +Madame Neroni would become bitter against mankind, more than +usually antagonistic to the world's decencies, and would seem as +though she was about to break from her moorings and allow herself +to be carried forth by the tide of her feelings to utter ruin and +shipwreck. She, however, like the rest of them, had no real +feelings, could feel no true passion. In that was her security. +Before she resolved on any contemplated escapade she would make a +small calculation, and generally summed up that the Stanhope villa +or even Barchester close was better than the world at large. + +They were most irregular in their hours. The father was generally +the earliest in the breakfast-parlour, and Charlotte would soon +follow and give him coffee; but the others breakfasted anywhere +anyhow, and at any time. On the morning after the archdeacon's +futile visit to the palace, Dr Stanhope came down stairs with an +ominously dark look about his eyebrows; his white locks were +rougher than usual, and he breathed thickly and loudly as he took +his seat in his arm-chair. He had open letters in his hand, and +when Charlotte came into the room he was still reading them. She +went up and kissed him as was her wont, but he hardly noticed her +as she did so, and she knew at once that something was the matter. + +'What's the meaning of that?' said he, throwing over the table a +letter with a Milan post-mark. Charlotte was a little frightened as +she took it up, but her mind was relieved when she saw that it was +merely the bill of their Italian milliner. The sum total was +certainly large, but not so large as to create an important row. + +'It's for our clothes, papa, for six months before we came here. +The three of us can't dress for nothing you know.' + +'Nothing, indeed!' said he, looking at the figures, which in +Milanese denominations were certainly monstrous. + +'The man should have sent it to me,' said Charlotte. + +'I wish he had with all my heart--if you would have paid it. I see +enough in it, to know that three quarters of it are for Madeline.' + +'She has little else to amuse her, sir,' said Charlotte with true +good nature. + +'And I suppose he has nothing to amuse him,' said the doctor, +throwing over another letter to his daughter. It was from some +member of the family of Sidonia, and politely requested the father +to pay a small trifle of L 700, being the amount of a bill +discounted in favour of Mr Ethelbert Stanhope, and now overdue for +a period of nine months. + +Charlotte read the letter, slowly folded it up, and put it under +the edge of the tea-tray. + +'I suppose he has nothing to amuse him but discounting bills with +Jews. Does he think I'll pay that?' + +'I am sure he thinks no such thing,' said she. + +'And who does he think will pay it?' + +'As far as honesty goes, I suppose it won't much matter if it is +never paid,' said she. 'I dare say he got very little of it.' + +'I suppose it won't much matter either,' said the father, 'if he +goes to prison and rots there. It seems to me that that's the other +alternative.' + +Dr Stanhope spoke the custom of his youth. But his daughter, though +she lived so long abroad, was much more completely versed in the +ways of the English world. 'If the man arrests him,' said she, 'he +must go through the court.' + +It is thus, thou great family of Sidonia--it is thus that we +Gentiles treat thee, when, in our most extreme need, thou and thine +have aided us with mountains of gold as big as lions--and +occasionally with wine-warrants and orders for dozens of +dressing-cases. + +'What, and become an insolvent?' said the doctor. + +'He's that already,' said Charlotte, wishing always to get over a +difficulty. + +'What a condition,' said the doctor, 'for the son of a clergyman of +the Church of England.' + +'I don't see why clergymen's sons should pay their debts more than +other young men,' said Charlotte. + +'He's had as much from me since he left school as is held +sufficient for the eldest son of many a nobleman,' said the angry +father. + +'Well, sir,' said Charlotte, 'give him another chance.' + +'What!' said the doctor, 'do you mean that I am to pay that Jew?' + +'Oh, no! I wouldn't pay him, he must take his chance; and if the +worst comes to the worst, Bertie must go abroad. But I want you to +be civil to Bertie, and let him remain here as long as we stop. He +has a plan in his head, that may put him on his feet after all.' + +Just at that moment the door opened, and Bertie came in whistling. +The doctor immediately devoted himself to his egg, and allowed +Bertie to whistle himself round to his sister's side without +noticing him. + +Charlotte gave a little sign to him with her eye, first glancing at +her father, and then at the letter, the corner of which peeped out +from under the tea-tray. Bertie saw and understood, and with the +quiet motion of a cat abstracted the letter, and made himself +acquainted with its contents. The doctor, however, had seen him, +deep as he appeared to be mersed in his egg-shell, and said in his +harshest voice, 'Well, sir, do you know that gentleman?' + +'Yes, sir,' said Bertie. 'I have a sort of acquaintance with him, +but none that can justify him in troubling you. If you will allow +me, sir, I will answer this.' + +'At any rate I shan't,' said the father, and then he added, after a +pause, 'Is it true, sir, that you owe the man L 700?' + +'Well,' said Bertie, 'I think I should be inclined to dispute the +amount, if I were in a condition to pay him such of it as I really +do owe him.' + +'Has he your bill for L 700?' said the father, speaking very loudly +and very angrily. + +'Well, I believe he has,' said Bertie; 'but all the money I ever +got from him was L 150.' + +'And what became of the L 550?' + +'Why, sir; the commission was L 100, or so, and I took the remainder +in paving-stones and rocking-horses.' + +'Paving-stones and rocking-horses!' said the doctor, 'where are +they?' + +'Oh, sir, I suppose they are in London somewhere--but I'll inquire +if you wish for them.' + +'He's an idiot,' said the doctor, 'and it's sheer folly to waste +more money on him. Nothing can save him from ruin,' and so saying, +the unhappy father walked out of the room. + +'Would the governor like to see the paving-stones?' + +'I'll tell you what,' said she. 'If you don't take care, you will +find yourself loose upon the world without even a house over your +head: you don't know him as well as I do. He's very angry.' + +Bertie stroked his big beard, sipped his tea, chatted over his +misfortunes in a half comic, half serious tone, and ended by +promising his sister that he would do his very best to make himself +agreeable to the widow Bold. Then Charlotte followed her father to +his own room and softened down his wrath, and persuaded him to say +nothing more about the Jew bill discounter, at any rate for a few +weeks. He even went so far as to say he would pay the L 700, or at +any rate settle the bill, if he saw a certainty of his son's +securing for himself anything like a decent provision in life. +Nothing was said openly between them about poor Eleanor: but the +father and the daughter understood each other. + +They all met together in the drawing-room at nine o'clock, in +perfect good humour with each other; and about that hour Mrs Bold +was announced. She had never been in the house before, though she +had of course called: and now she felt it strange to find herself +there in her usual evening dress, entering the drawing-room of +these strangers in this friendly unceremonious way, as though she +had known them all her life. But in three minutes they made her at +home. Charlotte tripped downstairs and took her bonnet from her, +and Bertie came to relieve her from her shawl, and the signora +smiled on her as she could smile when she chose to be gracious, and +the old doctor shook hands with her in a kind and benedictory +manner that went to her heart at once, and made her feel that he +must be a good man. + +She had not been seated for above five minutes when the door again +opened, and Mr Slope was announced. She felt rather surprised, +because she was told that nobody was to be there, and it was very +evident from the manner of some of them that Mr Slope was +unexpected. But still there was not much in it. In such invitations +a bachelor or two more or less are always spoken of as nobodies, +and there was no reason why Mr Slope should not drink tea at Dr +Stanhope's as well as Eleanor herself. He, however, was very much +surprised and not very much gratified at finding that his own +embryo spouse made one of the party. He had come there to gratify +himself by gazing on Madame Neroni's beauty, and listening to and +returning her flattery: and though he had not owned as much to +himself, he still felt that if he spent the evening as he had +intended to do, he might probably not thereby advance his suit with +Mrs Bold. + +The signora, who had no idea of a rival, received Mr Slope with her +usual marks of distinction. As he took her hand, she made some +confidential communication to him in a low voice, declaring that +she had a plan to communicate to him after tea, and was evidently +prepared to go on with her work of reducing the chaplain to a state +of captivity. Poor Mr Slope was rather beside himself. He thought +that Eleanor could not but have learnt from his demeanour that he +was an admirer of her own, and he had also flattered himself that +the idea was not unacceptable to her. What would she think of him +if he now devoted himself to a married woman? + +But Eleanor was not inclined to be severe in her criticism on him +in that respect, and felt no annoyance of any kind, when she found +herself seated between Bertie and Charlotte Stanhope. She had not +suspicion of Mr Slope's intentions; she had no suspicion even of +the suspicion of other people; but still she felt well pleased not +to have Mr Slope too near to her. + +And she was not ill-pleased to have Bertie Stanhope near her. It +was rarely indeed that he failed to make an agreeable impression on +strangers. With a bishop indeed who thought much of his own dignity +it was possible that he might fail, but hardly with a young lady +and pretty woman. He possessed the tact of becoming instantly +intimate with women without giving rise to any fear of +impertinence. He had about him somewhat of the propensities of a +tame cat. It seemed quite natural that he should be petted, +caressed, and treated with familiar good nature, and that in return +he should purr, and be sleek and graceful, and above all never show +his claws. Like other tame cats, however, he had his claws, and +sometimes, made them dangerous. + +When tea was over Charlotte went to the open window and declared +loudly that the full harvest moon was much too beautiful to be +disregarded, and called them to look at it. To tell the truth, +there was but one there who cared much about the moon's beauty, and +that one was not Charlotte; but she knew how valuable an aid to her +purpose the chaste goddess might become, and could easily create a +little enthusiasm for the purpose of the moment. Eleanor and Bertie +were soon with her. The doctor was now quiet in his arm- chair, and +Mrs Stanhope in hers, both prepared for slumber. + +'Are you a Whewellite or a Brewsterite, or a t'othermanite, Mrs +Bold?' said Charlotte, who knew a little about everything, and had +read about a third of each of the books to which she alluded. + +'Oh!' said Eleanor; 'I have not read any of the books, but I feel +sure that there is one man in the moon at least, if not more.' + +'You don't believe in the pulpy gelatinous matter?' said Bertie. + +'I heard about that,' said Eleanor; 'and I really think it's almost +wicked to talk in such a manner. How can we argue about God's power +in the other stars from the laws which he has given for our role in +this one?' + +'How indeed!' said Bertie. 'Why shouldn't there be a race of +salamanders in Venus? And even if there be nothing but fish in +Jupiter, why shouldn't the fish there be as wide awake as the men +and women here?' + +'That would be saying very little for them,' said Charlotte. 'I am +for Dr Whewell myself; for I do not think that men and woman are +worth being repeated in such countless worlds. There may be souls +in other stars, but I doubt their having any bodies attached to +them. But come, Mrs Bold, let us put our bonnets on and walk round +the close. If we are to discuss sidereal questions, we shall do so +much better under the towers of the cathedral, than stuck in this +narrow window. + +Mrs Bold made no objection, and a party was made to walk out. +Charlotte Stanhope well knew the rule as to three being no company, +and she had therefore to induce her sister to allow Mr Slope to +accompany them. + +'Come, Mr Slope,' she said; 'I'm sure you'll join us. We shall be +in again in quarter of an hour, Madeline.' + +Madeline read in her eye all that she had to say, knew her object, +and as she had to depend on her sister for so many of her +amusements, she felt that she must yield. It was hard to be left +alone while others of her own age walked out to feel the soft +influence of the bright night, but it would be harder still without +the sort of sanction which Charlotte gave to all her flirtations +and intrigues. Charlotte's eye told her that she must give up just +at present for the good of the family, and so Madeline obeyed. + +But Charlotte's eyes said nothing of the sort to Mr Slope. He had +no objection at all to the tete-a-tete with the signora, which the +departure of the other three would allow him, and gently whispered +to her, 'I shall not leave you alone.' + +'Oh, yes,' said she; 'go--pray go, pray go, for my sake. Do not +think that I am so selfish. It is understood that nobody is kept +within for me. You will understand this too when you know me +better. Pray join them, Mr Slope, but when you come in speak to me +for five minutes before you leave us.' + +Mr Slope understood that he was to go, and he therefore joined the +party in the hall. He would have had no objection at all to this +arrangement, if he could have secured Mrs Bold's arm; but this was +of course out of the question. Indeed, his fate was very soon +settled, for no sooner had he reached the hall-door, than Miss +Stanhope put her hand within his arm, and Bertie walked off with +Eleanor just as naturally as though she were already his own +property. + +And so they sauntered forth: first they walked round the close, +according to their avowed intent; then they went under the old +arched gateway below St Cuthbert's little church, and then they +turned behind the grounds of the bishop's palace, and so on till +they came to the bridge just at the edge of the town, from which +passers-by can look down into the gardens of Hiram's hospital; and +her Charlotte and Mr Slope, who were in advance, stopped till the +other two came up to them. Mr Slope knew that the gable-ends and +old brick chimneys which stood up so prettily in the moonlight, +were those of Mr Harding's late abode, and would not have stopped +on such a spot, in such company, if he could have avoided it; but +Miss Stanhope would not take the hint which he tried to give. + +'This is a very pretty place, Mrs Bold,' said Charlotte; 'by far +the prettiest place near Barchester. I wonder your father gave it +up.' + +It was a very pretty place, and now by the deceitful light of the +moon looked twice larger, twice prettier, twice more antiquely +picturesque than it would have done in truth-telling daylight. Who +does not know the air of complex multiplicity and the mysterious +interesting grace which the moon always lends to old gabled +buildings half surrounded, as was the hospital, by fine trees! As +seen from the bridge on the night of which we are speaking, Mr +Harding's late abode did look very lovely; and though Eleanor did +not grieve at her father's having left it, she felt at the moment +an intense wish that he might be allowed to return. + +'He is going to return to it immediately, is he not?' asked Bertie. + +Eleanor made no immediate reply. Much such a question passed +unanswered, without the notice of the questioner; but such was not +now the case. They all remained silent as though expecting her to +reply, and after a moment or two, Charlotte said, 'I believe it is +settled that Mr Harding returns to the hospital, is it not?' + +'I don't think anything about it is settled yet,' said Eleanor. + +'But it must be a matter of course,' said Bertie; 'that is, if your +father wishes it; who else on earth could hold it after what has +occurred?' + +Eleanor quietly made her companion to understand that the matter +was one which she could not discuss in the present company; and +then they passed on; Charlotte said she would go a short way up the +hill out of the town so as to look back on the towers of the +cathedral, and as Eleanor leant upon Bertie's arm for assistance in +the walk, she told him how the matter stood between her father and +the bishop. + +'And, he,' said Bertie, pointing on to Mr Slope, 'what part does he +take in it?' + +Eleanor explained how Mr Slope had at first endeavoured to +tyrannize over her father, but how he had latterly come round, and +done all he could to talk the bishop over in Mr Harding's favour. +'But my father,' said she, 'is hardly inclined to trust him; they +all say he is so arrogant to the old clergyman of the city.' + +'Take my word for it,' said Bertie, 'your father is right. If I am +not very much mistaken, that man is both arrogant and false.' + +They strolled up the top of the hill, and then returned through the +fields by a footpath which leads by a small wooden bridge, or +rather a plank with a rustic rail to it, over the river to the +other side of the cathedral from that at which they had started. +They had thus walked round the bishop's grounds, through which the +river runs, and round the cathedral and adjacent fields, and it was +past eleven before they reached the doctor's door. + +'It is very late,' said Eleanor, 'it will be a shame to disturb +your mother at such an hour.' + +'Oh,' said Charlotte, laughing, 'you won't disturb mamma; I dare +say she is in bed by this time, and Madeline would be furious if +you do not come in and see her. Come, Bertie, take Mrs Bold's +bonnet from her.' + +They went up stairs, and found the signora alone, reading. She +looked somewhat sad and melancholy, but not more so perhaps than +was sufficient to excite additional interest in the bosom of Mr +Slope; and she was soon deep in whispered intercourse with that +happy gentleman, who was allowed to find a resting-place on her +sofa. The signora had a way of whispering that was peculiarly her +own, and was exactly the reverse of that which prevails among great +tragedians. The great tragedian hisses out a positive whisper, made +with bated breath, and produced by inarticulate tongue-formed +sounds, but yet he is audible through the whole house. The signora +however used no hisses, and produced all her words in a clear +silver tone, but they could only be heard by the ear into which +they were poured. + +Charlotte hurried and skurried about the room hither and thither, +doing, or pretending to do many things; and then saying something +about seeing her mother, ran up stairs. Eleanor was then left alone +with Bertie, and she hardly felt and hour fly by her. To give +Bertie his due credit, he could not have played his cards better. +He did not make love to her, nor sigh, nor look languishing; but he +was amusing and familiar, yet respectful; and when he left Eleanor +at her own door at one o'clock, which he did by the bye with the +assistance of the now jealous Slope, she thought he was one of the +most agreeable men, and the Stanhopes decidedly the most agreeable +family, that she had ever met. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MR ARABIN + +The Reverend Francis Arabin, fellow of Lazarus, late professor of +poetry at Oxford, and present vicar of St Ewold, in the diocese of +Barchester, must now be introduced personally to the reader. And as +he will fill a conspicuous place in this volume, it is desirable +that he should be made to stand before the reader's eye by the aid +of such portraiture as the author is able to produce. + +It is to be regretted that no mental method of daguerreotype or +photography has yet been discovered, by which the characters of men +can be reduced to writing and put into grammatical language with an +unerring precision of truthful description. How often does the +novelist feel, ay, and the historian also and the biographer, that +he has conceived within his mind and accurately depicted on the +tablet of his brain the full character and personage of a man, and +that nevertheless, when he flies to pen and ink to perpetuate the +portrait, his words forsake, elude, disappoint, and play the deuce +with him, till at the end of a dozen pages the man described has no +more resemblance to the man conceived than the sign board at the +corner of the street has to the Duke of Cambridge? + +And yet such mechanical descriptive skill would hardly give more +satisfaction to the reader than the skill of the photographer does +to the anxious mother desirous to possess an absolute duplicate of +her beloved child. The likeness is indeed true; but it is a dull, +dead, unfeeling, inauspicious likeness. The face is indeed there, +and those looking at it will know at once whose image it is; but +the owner of the face will not be proud of the resemblance. + +There is no royal road to learning; no short cut to the acquirement +of any art. Let photographers and daguerreotypers do what they +will, and improve as they may with further skill on that which +skill has already done, they will never achieve a portrait of the +human face as we may under the burdens which we so often feel too +heavy for our shoulders; we must either bear them up like men, or +own ourselves too weak for the work we have undertaken. There is no +way of writing well and also of writing easily. + +Labor omnia vincit improbus. Such should be the chosen motto of +every labourer, and it may be that labour, if adequately enduring, +may suffice at last to produce even some not untrue resemblance of +the Rev. Francis Arabin. + +Of his doings in the world, and of the sort of fame which he has +achieved, enough has already been said. It has also been said that +he is forty years of age, and still unmarried. He was the younger +son of a country gentleman of small fortune in the north of +England. At an early age he went to Winchester, and was intended by +his father for New College; but though studious as a boy, he was +not studious within the prescribed limits; and at the age of +eighteen he left school with a character for talent, but without a +scholarship. All that he had obtained, over and above the advantage +of his character, was a gold medal for English verse, and hence was +derived a strong presumption on the part of his friends that he was +destined to add another name to the imperishable list of English +poets. + +From Winchester he went to Oxford, and was entered as a commoner at +Balliol. Here his special career very soon commenced. He utterly +eschewed the society of fast men, gave no wine parties, kept no +horses, rowed no boats, joined no rows, and was the pride of his +college tutor. Such at least was his career till he had taken his +little go; and then he commenced a course of action which, though +not less creditable to himself as a man, was hardly so much to the +taste of his tutor. He became a member of a vigorous debating +society, and rendered himself remarkable there for humorous energy. +Though always in earnest, yet his earnestness was always droll. To +be true in his ideas, unanswerable in his syllogisms, and just in +his aspirations was not enough for him. He had failed, failed in +his own opinion as well as that of others when others came to know +him, if he could not reduce the arguments of his opponents to an +absurdity, and conquer both by wit and reason. To say that his +object was ever to raise a laugh, would be most untrue. He hated +such common and unnecessary evidence of satisfaction on the part of +his hearers. A joke that required to be laughed at was, with him, +not worth uttering. He could appreciate by a keener sense than that +of his ears the success of his wit, and would see in the eyes of +his auditory whether or no he was understood and appreciated. + +He had been a religious lad before he left school. That is, he had +addicted himself to a party of religion, and having done so had +received that benefit which most men do who become partisans in +such a cause. We are much too apt to look at schism in our church +as an unmitigated evil. Moderate schism, if there may be such a +thing, at any rate calls attention to the subject, draws its +supporters who would otherwise have been inattentive to the matter, +and teaches men to think about religion. How great an amount of +good of this description has followed that movement of the Church +of England which commenced with the publication of Froude's +Remains! + +As a boy young Arabin took up the cudgels on the side of the +Tractarians, and at Oxford he sat for a while at the feet of the +great Newman. To this cause he lent all his faculties. For it he +concocted verses, for it he made speeches, for it he scintillated +the brightest sparks of his quiet wit. For it he ate and drank and +dressed, and had his being. In due process of time he took his +degree, and wrote himself B.A., but he did not do so with any +remarkable amount of academical eclat. He had occupied himself too +much with high church matters, and the polemics, politics, and +outward demonstrations usually concurrent with high churchmanship, +to devote himself with sufficient vigour to the acquisition of a +double first. He was not a double first, nor even a first class +man; but he revenged himself on the university by putting first and +double firsts out of fashion for the year, and laughing down a +species of pedantry which at the age of twenty-three leaves no room +in a man's mind for graver subjects than conic sections or Greek +accents. + +Greek accents, however, and conic sections were esteemed +necessaries at Balliol, and there was no admittance there for Mr +Arabin within the list of its fellows. Lazarus, however, the +richest and the most comfortable abode of Oxford dons, opened its +bosom to the young champion of a church militant. Mr Arabin was +ordained, and became a fellow soon after taking his degree, and +shortly after that was chosen professor of poetry. + +And now came the moment of his great danger. After many mental +struggles, and an agony of doubt which may be well surmised, the +great prophet of the Tractarians confessed himself a Roman +Catholic. Mr Newman left the Church of England, and with him +carried many a waverer. He did not carry off Mr Arabin, but the +escape which that gentleman had was a very narrow one. He left +Oxford for a while that he might meditate in complete peace on the +step which appeared for him to be all but unavoidable, and shut +himself up in a little village on the sea-shore of one of our +remotest counties, that he might learn by communing with his own +soul whether or no he could with a safe conscience remain within +the pale of his mother church. + +Things would have gone badly with him there had he been left +entirely to himself. Every thing was against him: all his worldly +interests required him to remain a Protestant; and he looked on his +worldly interests as a legion of foes, to get the better of whom +was a point of extremest honour. In his then state of ecstatic +agony such a conquest would have cost him little; but it cost him +much to get over the idea of choosing the Church of England he +should be open in his own mind to the charge that he had been led +to such a choice by unworthy motives. Then his heart was against +him: he loved with a strong and eager love the man who had hitherto +been his guide, and yearned to follow his footsteps. His tastes +were against him: the ceremonies and pomps of the Church of Rome, +their august feasts and solemn fasts, invited his imagination and +pleased his eye. His flesh was against him: how great an aid would +it be to a poor, weak, wavering man to be constrained to high moral +duties, self-denial, obedience, and chastity by laws which were +certain in their enactments, and not to be broken without loud, +palpable, unmistakable sin! Then his faith was against him: he +required to believe so much; panted so early to give signs of his +belief; deemed it so insufficient to wash himself simply in the +waters of Jordan; that some great deed, such as that of forsaking +everything for a true church, had for him allurements almost past +withstanding. + +Mr Arabin was at this time a very young man, and when he left +Oxford for his far retreat was much too confident in his powers of +fence, and too apt to look down on the ordinary sense of ordinary +people, to expect aid in the battle that he had to fight from any +chance inhabitants on the spot which he had selected. But +Providence was good to him; and there, in that all but desolate +place, on the storm-beat shore of that distant sea, he met one who +gradually changed his mind, quieted his imagination, and taught him +something of a Christian's duty. When Mr Arabin left Oxford, he was +inclined to look upon the rural clergymen of most English parishes +almost with contempt. It was his ambition, should he remain within +the fold of the church, to do somewhat towards redeeming and +rectifying their inferiority, and to assist in infusing energy and +faith into the hearts of Christian ministers, who were, as he +thought, too often satisfied to go through life without much show +of either. + +And yet it was from such a one that Mr Arabin in his extremest need +received that aid which he so much required. It was from a poor +curate of a small Cornish parish that he first learnt to know that +the highest laws for the governance of a Christian's duty must act +from within and not from without; that no man can become a +serviceable servant solely by obedience to written edicts; and that +the safety which he was about to seek within the gates of Rome was +no other than the selfish freedom from personal danger which the +bad soldier attempts to gain who counterfeits illness on the eve of +battle. + +Mr Arabin returned to Oxford a humbler but a better and a happier +man; and from that time forth he put his shoulder to the wheel as a +clergyman of the Church for which he had been educated. The +intercourse of those among whom he familiarly lived kept him +staunch to the principles of that system of the Church to which he +had always belonged. Since his severance from Mr Newman, no one had +had so strong an influence over him as the head of his college. +During the time of his expected apostasy, Dr Gwynne had not felt +much predisposition in favour of the young fellow. Though a High +Churchman himself within moderate limits, Dr Gwynne felt no +sympathy with men who could not satisfy their faiths with the +Thirty-nine Articles. He regarded the enthusiasm of such as Newman +as a state of mind more nearly allied to madness than to religion; +and when he saw it evinced by a very young men, was inclined to +attribute a good deal of it to vanity. Dr Gwynne himself, though a +religious man, was also a thoroughly practical man of the world, +and he regarded with no favourable eye the tenets of any one who +looked on the two things as incompatible. When he found Mr Arabin +was a half Roman, he began to regret all that he done towards +bestowing a fellowship on so unworthy a recipient; and when again +he learnt that Mr Arabin would probably complete his journey to +Rome, he regarded with some satisfaction the fact that in such case +the fellowship would be again vacant. + +When, however, Mr Arabin returned and professed himself a confirmed +Protestant, the master of Lazarus again opened his arms to him, and +gradually he became the pet of the college. For some little time he +was saturnine, silent, and unwilling to take any prominent part in +university broils; but gradually his mind recovered, or rather made +its tone, and he became known as a man always ready at a moment's +notice to take up the cudgels in opposition to anything which +savoured of an evangelical bearing. He was great in sermons, great +on platforms, great at after dinner conversations, and always +pleasant as well as great. He took delight in elections, served on +committees, opposed tooth and nail all projects of university +reform, and talked jovially over his glass of port of the ruin to +be committed by the Whigs. The ordeal through which he had gone, in +resisting the blandishments of the lady of Rome, had certainly done +much towards the strengthening of his character. Although in small +and outward matters he was self-confident enough, nevertheless in +things affecting the inner man he aimed at a humility of spirit +which would never have been attractive to him but for that visit to +the coast of Cornwall. This visit he now repeated every year. + +Such is an interior view of Mr Arabin at the time when he accepted +the living of St Ewold. Exteriorly, he was not a remarkable person. +He was above the middle height, well made, and very active. His +hair which had been jet black, was now tinged with gray, but his +face bore no sign of years. It would perhaps be wrong to say that +he was handsome, but his face was, nevertheless, high for beauty, +and the formation of the forehead too massive and heavy: but his +eyes, nose and mouth were perfect. There was a continual play of +lambent fire about his eyes, which gave promise of either pathos or +humour whenever he essayed to speak, and that promise was rarely +broken. There was a gentle play about his mouth which declared that +his wit never descended to sarcasm, and that there was no +ill-nature in his repartee. + +Mr Arabin was a popular man among women, but more so as a general +than a special favourite. Living as a fellow at Oxford, marriage +with him had been out of the question, and it may be doubted +whether he had ever allowed his heart to be touched. Though +belonging to a Church in which celibacy is not the required lot of +its ministers, he had come to regard himself as one of those +clergymen to whom to be a bachelor is almost a necessity. He had +never looked for parochial duty, and his career at Oxford was +utterly incompatible with such domestic joys as a wife and nursery. +He looked on women, therefore, in the same light that one sees then +regarded by many Romish priests. He liked to have near him that +which was pretty and amusing, but women generally were little more +to him than children. He talked to them without putting out all his +powers, and listened to them without any idea that what he should +hear from them could either actuate his conduct or influence his +opinion. + +Such was Mr Arabin, the new vicar of St Ewold, who is going to stay +with the Grantlys, at Plumstead Episcopi. + +Mr Arabin reached Plumstead the day before Mr Harding and Eleanor, +and the Grantly family were thus enabled to make his acquaintance +and discuss his qualifications before the arrival of the other +guests. Griselda was surprised to find that he looked so young; but +she told Florinda her younger sister, when they had retired for the +night, that he did not talk at all like a young man: and she +decided with the authority that seventeen has over sixteen, that he +was not at all nice, although his eyes were lovely. As usual, +sixteen implicitly acceded to the dictum of seventeen in such a +matter, and said that he certainly was not nice. They then branched +off on the relative merits of other clerical bachelors in the +vicinity, and both determined without any feeling of jealousy +between them that a certain Rev. Augustus Green was by many degrees +the most estimable of the lot. The gentleman in question had +certainly much in his favour, as, having a comfortable allowance +from his father, he could devote the whole proceeds of his curacy +to violet gloves and unexceptionable neck ties. Having thus fixedly +resolved that the new comer had nothing about him to shake the +pre-eminence of the exalted Green, the two girls went to sleep in +each other's arms, contented with themselves and the world. + +Mrs Grantly at first sight came to much the same conclusion about +her husband's favourite as her daughters had done, though, in +seeking to measure his relative value, she did not compare him to +Mr Green; indeed, she made no comparison by name between him and +any one else; but she remarked to her husband that one person's +swans were very often another person's geese, thereby clearly +showing that Mr Arabin had not yet proved his qualifications in +swanhood to her satisfaction. + +'Well, Susan,' said he, rather offended at hearing his friend +spoken of so disrespectfully, 'if you take Mr Arabin for a goose, I +cannot say that I think very highly of your discrimination.' + +'A goose! No of course, he's not a goose. I've no doubt he's a very +clever man. But you're so matter-of-fact, archdeacon, when it suits +your purpose, that one can't trust oneself to any facon de parler. +I've no doubt Mr Arabin is a very valuable man--at Oxford, and that +he'll be a good vicar at St Ewold. All I mean is, that having +passed one evening with him, I don't find him to be absolutely a +paragon. In the first place, if I am not mistaken, he is a little +inclined to be conceited.' + +'Of all the men that I know intimately,' said the archdeacon, +'Arabin is, in my opinion, the most free from any taint of +self-conceit. His fault is that he's too diffident.' + +'Perhaps so,' said the lady; 'only I must own I did not find it out +this evening.' + +Nothing further was said about him. Dr Grantly thought that his +wife was abusing Mr Arabin merely because he had praised him; and +Mrs Grantly knew that it was useless arguing for or against any +person in favour of, or in opposition to whom the archdeacon had +already pronounced a strong opinion. + +In truth they were both right. Mr Arabin was a diffident man in +social intercourse with those whom he did not intimately know; when +placed in situations which it was his business to fill, and +discussing matters with which it was his duty to be conversant, Mr +Arabin was from habit brazed-faced enough. When standing on a +platform in Exeter Hall, no man would be less mazed than he by the +eyes of the crowd before him; for such was the work which his +profession had called on him to perform; but he shrank from a +strong expression of opinion in general society, and his doing so +not uncommonly made it appear that he considered the company not +worth the trouble of his energy. He was averse to dictate when the +place did not seem to him to justify dictation; and as those +subjects on which people wished to hear him speak were such as he +was accustomed to treat with decision, he generally shunned the +traps there were laid to allure him into discussion, and, by doing +so, not unfrequently subjected himself to such charges as those +brought against him by Mrs Grantly. + +Mr Arabin, as he sat at his open window, enjoying the delicious +moonlight and gazing at the gray towers of the church, which stood +almost within the rectory grounds, little dreamed that he was the +subject of so many friendly or unfriendly criticisms. Considering +how much we are all given to discuss the characters of others, and +discuss them often not in the strictest spirit of charity, it is +singular how little we are inclined to think that others can speak +ill-naturedly of us, and how angry and hurt we are when proof +reaches us that they have done so. It is hardly too much to say +that we all of us occasionally speak of our dearest friends in a +manner which those dearest friends would very little like to hear +themselves mentioned; and that we nevertheless expect that our +dearest friends shall invariably speak of us as though they were +blind to all our faults, but keenly alive to every shade of our +virtues. + +It did not occur to Mr Arabin that he was spoken of at all. It +seemed to him, when he compared himself with his host, that he was +a person of so little consequence to any, that he was worth no +one's words or thoughts. He was utterly alone in the world as +regarded domestic ties and those inner familiar relations which are +hardly possible between others than husbands and wives, parents and +children, or brothers and sisters. He had often discussed with +himself the necessity of such bonds for a man's happiness in this +world, and had generally satisfied himself with the answer that +happiness in this world was not a necessity. Herein he deceived +himself, or rather tried to do so. He, like others, yearned for the +enjoyment of whatever he saw enjoyable; and though he attempted, +with the modern stoicism of so many Christians, to make himself +believe that joy and sorrow were matters which here should be held +as perfectly indifferent, those things were not indifferent to him. +He was tired of his Oxford rooms and his college life. He regarded +the wife and children of his friend with something like envy; he +all but coveted the pleasant drawing-room, with its pretty windows +opening on to lawns and flower-beds, the apparel of the comfortable +house, and--above all--the air of home which encompassed all. + +It will be said that no time can have been fitted for such desires +on his part as this, of a living among fields and gardens, of a +house which a wife would grace. It is true there was a difference +between the opulence of Plumstead and the modest economy of St +Ewold; but surely Mr Arabin was not a man to sigh after wealth! Of +all men, his friends would have unanimously declared he was the +last to do so. But how little our friends know us! In his period of +stoical rejection of this world's happiness, he had cast from him +as utter dross all anxiety as to fortune. He had, as it were, +proclaimed himself to be indifferent to promotion, and those who +chiefly admired his talents, and would mainly have exerted to +secure them their deserved reward, had taken him at his word. And +now, if the truth must out, he felt himself +disappointed--disappointed not by them but by himself. The daydream +of his youth was over, and at the age of forty he felt that he was +not fit to work in the spirit of an apostle. He had mistaken +himself, and learned his mistake when it was past remedy. He had +professed himself indifferent to mitres and diaconal residences, to +rich livings and pleasant glebes, and now he had to own to himself +that he was sighing for the good things of other men, on whom in +his pride he had ventured to look down. + +Not for wealth, in its vulgar sense, had he ever sighed; not for +the enjoyment of rich things had he ever longed; but for the +allotted share of worldly bliss, which a wife, and children, and +happy home could give him, for that usual amount of comfort which +he had ventured to reject as unnecessary for him, he did now feel +that he would have been wiser to search. + +He knew that his talents, his position, and his friends would have +won for him promotion, had he put himself in the way of winning it. +Instead of doing so, he had allowed himself an income of some L 300 +a year, should he, by marrying, throw up his fellowship. Such, at +the age of forty, was the worldly result of labour, which the world +had chosen to regard as successful. The world also thought that Mr +Arabin was, in his own estimation, sufficiently paid. Alas! alas! +the world was mistaken; and Mr Arabin was beginning to ascertain +that such was the case. + +And here, may I beg the reader not to be hard in the judgement upon +this man. Is not the state at which he has arrived, the natural +result of efforts to reach that which is not the condition of +humanity? Is not modern stoicism, built though it be on +Christianity, as great an outrage on human nature as was the +stoicism of the ancients? The philosophy of Zeno was built on true +laws, but on true laws misunderstood, and therefore misapplied. It +is the same with our Stoics here, who would teach us that wealth +and worldly comfort and happiness on earth are not worth the +search. Also, for a doctrine which can find no believing pupils and +no true teachers! + +The case of Mr Arabin was the more singular, as he belonged to a +branch of the Church of England well inclined to regard its +temporalities with avowed favour, and had habitually lived with men +who were accustomed to much worldly comfort. But such was his +idiosyncrasy, that these very facts had produced within him, in +early life, a state of mind that was not natural to him. He was +content to be a High Churchman, if he could be so on principles of +his own, and could strike out a course showing a marked difference +from those with whom he consorted. He was ready to be a partisan as +long as he was allowed to have a course of action and of thought +unlike that of his party. His party had indulged him, and he began +to feel that his party was right and himself wrong, but when such a +conviction was too late to be of service to him. He discovered, +when much was discovery was no longer serviceable, that it would +have been worth his while to have worked for the usual pay assigned +to work in this world, and have earned a wife and children, with a +carriage for them to sit in; to have earned a pleasant dining-room, +in which his friends could drink his wine, and the power of walking +up in the high street of his country town, with the knowledge that +all its tradesmen would have gladly welcomed him within their +doors. Other men arrived at those convictions in their start of +life, and so worked up to them. To him they had come when they were +too late to be of use. + +It has been said that Mr Arabin was a man of pleasantry and it may +be thought that such a state of mind as that described, would be +antagonistic to humour. But surely such is not the case. Wit is the +outward mental casing of the man, and has no more to do with the +inner mind of thought and feelings than have the rich brocaded +garments of the priest at the altar with the asceticism of the +anchorite below them, whose skin is tormented with sackcloth, and +whose body is half flayed with rods. Nay, will not such a one often +rejoice more than any other in the rich show of outer apparel? Will +it not be food for his pride to feel that he groans inwardly, while +he shines outwardly? So it is with the mental efforts which men +make. Those which they show forth daily to the world are often the +opposites of the inner workings of the spirit. + +In the archdeacon's drawing-room, Mr Arabin had sparkled with his +usual unaffected brilliancy, but when he retired to his bed-room, +he sat there sad, at his open window, repining within himself that +he also had no wife, no bairns, no soft award of lawn duly mown for +him to be on, no herd of attendant curates, no bowings from the +banker's clerks, no rich rectory. That apostleship that he had +thought of had evaded his grasp, and he was now only vicar of St +Ewold's, with a taste for a mitre. Truly he had fallen between two +stools. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ST EWOLD'S PARSONAGE + +When Mr Harding and Mrs Bold reached the rectory on the following +morning, the archdeacon and his friend were at St Ewold's. They had +gone over that the new vicar might inspect his church, and be +introduced to the squire, and were not expected back before dinner. +Mr Harding rambled out by himself, and strolled, as was his wont at +Plumstead, about the lawn and round the church; and as he did so, +the two sisters naturally fell into conversation about Barchester. + +There was not much sisterly confidence between them. Mrs Grantly +was ten years older than Eleanor, and had been married while +Eleanor was yet a child. They had never, therefore, poured into +each other's ears their hopes and loves; and now that one was a +wife and the other a widow, it was not probable that they would +begin to do so. They lived too much asunder to be able to fall into +that kind of intercourse which makes confidence between sisters +almost a necessity; and, moreover, that which is so easy at +eighteen is often very difficult at twenty-eight. Mrs Grantly knew +this, and did not, therefore, expect confidence from her sister; +and yet she longed to ask her whether in real truth Mr Slope was +agreeable to her. + +It was by no means difficult to turn the conversation to Mr Slope. +That gentleman had become so famous at Barchester, had so much to +do with all clergymen connected with the city, and was so specially +concerned in the affairs of Mr Harding, that it would have been odd +if Mr Harding's daughters had not talked about him. Mrs Grantly was +soon abusing him, which she did with her whole heart; and Mrs Bold +was nearly as eager to defend him. She positively disliked the man, +would have been delighted to learn that he had taken himself off so +that she should never see him again, had indeed almost a fear of +him, and yet she constantly found herself taking his part. The +abuse of other people, and abuse of a nature that she felt to be +unjust, imposed that necessity on her, and at last made Mr Slope's +defence an habitual course of argument with her. + +From Mr Slope the conversation turned to the Stanhopes, and Mrs +Grantly was listening with some interest to Eleanor's account of +the family, when it dropped out that Mr Slope was one of the party. + +'What!' said the lady of the rectory, 'was Mr Slope there too?' + +Eleanor merely replied that such had been the case. + +'Why, Eleanor, he must be very fond of you, I think; he seems to +follow you everywhere.' + +Even this did not open Eleanor's eyes. She merely laughed, and said +that she imagined Mr Slope found other attraction at Dr Stanhope's. +And so they parted. Mrs Grantly felt quite convinced that the +odious match would take place; and Mrs Bold as convinced that that +unfortunate chaplain, disagreeable as he must be allowed to be, was +more sinned against than sinning. + +The archdeacon of course heard before dinner that Eleanor had +remained the day before at Barchester with the view of meeting Mr +Slope, and that she had so met him. He remembered how she had +positively stated that there were to be guests at the Stanhopes, +and he did not hesitate to accuse her of deceit. Moreover, the +fact, or rather the presumed fact, of her being deceitful on such a +matter, spoke but too plainly in evidence against her as to her +imputed crime of receiving Mr Slope as a lover. + +'I am afraid that anything we can do will be too late,' said the +archdeacon. 'I own I am fairly surprised. I never liked your +sister's taste with regard to men; but still I did not give her +credit for--ugh!' + +'And so soon, too,' said Mrs Grantly, who thought more, perhaps, of +her sister's indecorum in having a lover before she had put off her +weeds, than her bad taste in having such a lover as Mr Slope. + +'Well, my dear, I shall be sorry to be harsh, or to do anything +that can hurt your father; but, positively, neither that man nor +his wife shall come within my doors.' + +Mrs Grantly sighed, and then attempted to console herself and her +lord by remarking that, after all, the thing was not accomplished +yet. Now that Eleanor was at Plumstead, much might be done to wean +her from her fatal passion. Poor Eleanor! + +The evening passed off without anything to make it remarkable. Mr +Arabin discussed the parish of St Ewold with the archdeacon, and +Mrs Grantly and Mr Harding, who knew the parsonages of the parish, +joined in. Eleanor also knew them, but spoke little. Mr Arabin did +not apparently take much notice of her, and she was not in a humour +to receive at that time with any special grace any special +favourite of her brother-in-law. Her first idea on reaching her +bedroom was that a much more pleasant family party might be met at +Dr Stanhope's than at the rectory. She began to think that she was +getting tired of clergymen and their respectable humdrum wearisome +mode of living, and that after all, people in the outer world, who +had lived in Italy, London, or elsewhere, need not necessarily be +regarded as atrocious and abominable. The Stanhopes, she had +thought, were a giddy, thoughtless, extravagant set of people; but +she had seen nothing wrong about them, and had, on the other hand, +found that they thoroughly knew how to make their house agreeable. +It was a thousand pities, she thought, that the archdeacon should +not have a little of the same savoir vivre. Mr Arabin, as we have +said, did not apparently take much notice of her; but yet he did +not go to bed without feeling that he had been in company with a +very pretty woman; and as is the case with most bachelors, and some +married men, regarded the prospect of his month's visit at +Plumstead in a pleasanter light, when he learnt that a very pretty +woman was to share it with him. + +Before they all retired it was settled that the whole party should +drive over on the following day to inspect the parsonage at St +Ewold. The three clergymen were to discuss dilapidations, and the +two ladies were to lend their assistance in suggesting such changes +as might be necessary for a bachelor's abode. Accordingly, soon +after breakfast, the carriage was at the door. There was only room +for four inside, and the archdeacon got upon the box. Eleanor found +herself opposite to Mr Arabin, and was, therefore, in a manner +forced into conversation with him. They were soon on comfortable +terms together; and had she thought about it, she would have +thought that, in spite of his black cloth, Mr Arabin would not have +been a bad addition to the Stanhope family party. + +Now that the archdeacon was away, they could all trifle. Mr Harding +began by telling them in the most innocent manner imaginable an old +legend about Mr Arabin's new parish. There was, he said, in days of +yore, an illustrious priestess of St Ewold, famed through the whole +country for curing all manner of diseases. She had a well, as all +priestesses have ever had, which well was extant to this day, and +shared in the minds of many of the people the sanctity which +belonged to the consecrated grounds of the parish church. Mr Arabin +declared that he should look on such tenets on the part of the +parishioners as anything but orthodox. And Mrs Grantly replied +that she so entirely disagreed with him as to think that no parish +was in a proper estate that had not its priestess as well as its +priest. 'The duties are never well done,' said she, 'unless they +are so divided.' + +'I suppose, papa,' said Eleanor, 'that in the oldest times the +priestess bore all the sway herself. Mr Arabin, perhaps, thinks +that such might be too much the case now if a sacred lady were +admitted within the parish.' + +'I think, at any rate,' said he, 'that it is safer to run no such +risk. No priestly pride has ever exceeded that of sacerdotal +females. A very lowly curate, I might, perhaps, essay to rule; but +a curatess would be sure to get the better of me.' + +'There are certainly examples of such accidents happening,' said +Mrs Grantly. 'They do say that there is a priestess at Barchester +who is very imperious in all things touching the altar. Perhaps the +fear of such a fate as that is before your eyes.' + +When they were joined by the archdeacon on the gravel before the +vicarage, they descended again to grave dullness. Not that +Archdeacon Grantly was a dull man; but his frolic humours were of a +cumbrous kind; and his wit, when he was witty, did not generally +extend itself to his auditory. On the present occasion, he was soon +making speeches about wounded roofs and walls, which he declared to +be in want of some surgeon's art. There was not a partition that he +did not tap, nor a block of chimneys that he did not narrowly +examine; all water-pipes, flues, cisterns, and sewers underwent his +examination; and he even descended, in the care of his friend, so +far as to bore sundry boards in the floors with a bradawl. + +Mr Arabin accompanied him through the rooms, trying to look wise in +such domestic matters, and the other three also followed. Mrs +Grantly showed that she herself had not been priestess of a parish +twenty years for nothing, and examined the bells and window panes +in a very knowing way. + +'You will, at any rate, have a beautiful prospect out of your own +window, if this is to be your private sanctum,' said Eleanor. She +was standing at the lattice of a little room up stairs, from which +the view certainly was very lovely. It was from the back of the +vicarage, and there was nothing to interrupt the eye between the +house and the glorious gray pile of the cathedral. The intermediate +ground, however, was beautifully studded with timber. In the +immediate foreground ran the little river which afterwards skirted +the city; and, just to the right of the cathedral the pointed +gables and chimneys of Hiram's Hospital peeped out of the elms +which encompass it. + +'Yes,' said he, joining her. 'I shall have a beautifully complete +view of my adversaries. I shall sit down before the hostile town, +and fire away at them at a very pleasant distance. I shall just be +able to lodge a shot in the hospital, should the enemy ever get +possession of it; and as for the palace, I have it within full +range.' + +'I never saw anything like you clergymen,' said Eleanor; 'you are +always thinking of fighting each other.' + +'Either that,' said he, 'or else supporting each other. The pity is +that we cannot do the one without the other. But are we not here to +fight? Is not ours a church militant? What is all our work but +fighting, and hard fighting, if it be well done?' + +'But not with each other.' + +'That's as it may be. The same complaint which you make of me for +battling with another clergyman of our own church, the Mahometan +would make against me for battling with the error of a priest of +Rome. Yet, surely, you would not be inclined to say that I should +be wrong to do battle with such as him. A pagan, too, with his +multiplicity of gods, would think it equally odd that the Christian +and the Mahometan should disagree.' + +'Ah! But you wage your wars about trifles so bitterly.' + +'Wars about trifles,' said he, 'are always bitter, especially among +neighbours. When the differences are great, and the parties +comparative strangers, men quarrel with courtesy. What combatants +are ever so eager as two brothers?' + +'But do not such contentions bring scandal on the church?' + +'More scandal would fall on the church if there were no such +contentions. We have but one way to avoid them--that of +acknowledging a common head of our church, whose word on all points +of doctrine shall be authoritative. Such a termination of our +difficulties is alluring enough. It has charms which are +irresistible to many, and all but irresistible, I own, to me.' + +'You speak now of the Church of Rome?' said Eleanor. + +'No,' said he, 'not necessarily the Church of Rome; but of a church +with a head. Had it pleased God to vouchsafe to us such a church +our path would have been easy. But easy paths have not been thought +good for us.' He paused and stood silent for a while, thinking of +the time when he had so nearly sacrificed all he had, his powers of +mind, his free agency, the fresh running waters of his mind's +fountain, his very inner self, for an easy path in which no +fighting would be needed; and then he continued: 'What you say is +partly true; our contentions do bring on us some scandal. The outer +world, though it constantly reviles us for our human infirmities, +and throws in our teeth the fact that being clergymen we are still +no more then men, demands of us that we should do our work with +godlike perfection. There is nothing godlike about us: we differ +from each other with the acerbity common to man--we allow +differences on subjects of divine origin to produce among us +antipathies and enmities which are anything but divine. This is all +true. But what would you have in place of it? There is no +infallible head for a church on earth. This dream of believing man +has been tried, and we see in Italy and in Spain what has become of +it. Grant that there are and have been no bickerings within the +pale of the Pope's Church. Such an assumption would be utterly +untrue; but let us grant it, and then let us say which church has +incurred the heaviest scandals.' + +There was a quiet earnestness about Mr Arabin, as he half +acknowledged and half defended himself from the charge brought +against him, which surprised Eleanor. She had been used all her +life to listen to clerical discussion; but the points at issue +between the disputants had so seldom been of more than temporal +significance as to have left on her mind no feeling of reverence +for such subjects. There had always been a hard worldly leaven of +the love either of income or power in the strains that she had +heard; there had been no panting for the truth; no aspirations +after religious purity. It had always been taken for granted by +those around her that they were indubitably right, that there was +no ground for doubt, that the hard uphill work of ascertaining what +the duty of a clergyman should be had been already accomplished in +full; and that what remained for an active militant parson to do, +was to hold his own against all comers. Her father, it is true, was +an exception to this; but then he was so essentially non-militant +in all things, that she classed him in her own mind apart from all +others. She had never argued the matter within herself, or +considered whether this common tone was or was not faulty; but she +was sick of it without knowing that she was so. And now she found +to her surprise and not without a certain pleasurable excitement, +that this new comer among them spoke in a manner very different +from that to which she was accustomed. + +'It is so easy to condemn,' said he, continuing the thread of his +thoughts. 'I know no life that must be so delicious as that of a +writer for newspapers, or a leading member of the opposition--to +thunder forth accusations against men in power; show up the worst +side of every thing that is produced; to pick holes in every coat; +to be indignant, sarcastic, jocose, moral, or supercilious; to damn +with faint praise, or crush with open calumny! What can be so easy +as this when the critic has to be responsible for nothing? You +condemn what I do; but put yourself in my position and do the +reverse, and then see if I cannot condemn you.' + +'Oh! Mr Arabin, I do not condemn you.' + +'Pardon me, you do, Mrs Bold--you as one of the world; you are now +the opposition member; you are now composing your leading article, +and well and bitterly you do it. "Let dogs delight to bark and +bite;" you fitly began with an elegant quotation; "but if we are to +have a church at all, in heaven's name let the pastors who preside +over it keep their hands from each other's throats. Lawyers can +live without befouling each other's names; doctors do not fight +duels. Why is that clergymen alone should indulge themselves in +such unrestrained liberty of abuse against each other?" and so you +go on reviling us for our ungodly quarrels, our sectarian +propensities, and scandalous differences. It will, however, give +you no trouble to write another article next week in which we, or +some of us, shall be twitted with an unseemly apathy in matters of +our vocation. It will not fall on you to reconcile the discrepancy; +your readers will never ask you how the poor parson is to be urgent +in season and out of season, and yet never come in contact with men +who think widely differently from him. You, when you condemn this +foreign treaty, or that official arrangement, will have to incur no +blame for the graver faults of any different measure. It is so easy +to condemn; and so pleasant too; for eulogy charms no listeners as +detraction does.' + +Eleanor only half followed him in his raillery; but she caught his +meaning. 'I know I ought to apologise for presuming to criticise +you,' she said; 'but I was thinking with sorrow of the ill-will +that has lately come among us at Barchester, and I spoke more +freely than I should have done.' + +'Peace on earth and good-will among men, are, like heaven, promises +for the future;' said he, following rather his own thoughts than +hers. 'When that prophecy is accomplished, there will no longer be +any need for clergymen.' + +Here they were interrupted by the archdeacon, whose voice was heard +from the cellar shouting to the vicar. + +'Arabin, Arabin,'--and then turning to his wife, who was apparently +at his elbow--'where is he gone to? This cellar is perfectly +abominable. It would be murder to put a bottle of wine into it till +it has been roofed, walled, and floored. How on earth old +Goodenough ever got on with it, I cannot guess. But then Goodenough +never had a glass of wine that any man could drink.' + +'What is it, archdeacon?' said the vicar, running down stairs, and +leaving Eleanor above to her meditations. + +'This cellar must be roofed, walled, and floored,' repeated the +archdeacon. 'Now mind what I say, and don't let the architect +persuade you that it will do; half of those fellows know nothing +about wine. This place as it is now would be damp and cold in +winter, and hot and muggy in summer. I wouldn't give a straw for +the best wine that ever was minted, after it had lain here a couple +of years.' + +Mr Arabin assented, and promised that the cellar should be +reconstructed according to the archdeacon's receipt. + +'And, Arabin, look here; was such an attempt at a kitchen grate +ever seen?' + +'The grate is really very bad,' said Mrs Grantly; 'I am sure the +priestess won't approve of it, when she is brought here to the +scene of future duties. Really, Mr Arabin, no priestess accustomed +to such an excellent well as that above could put up with such a +grate as this.' + +'If there must be a priestess at St Ewold's at all, Mrs Grantly, I +think we shall leave her to her well, and not call down her divine +wrath on any of the imperfections rising from our human poverty. +However, I own I am amenable to the attractions of a well-cooked +dinner, and the grate shall certainly be changed.' + +By this time the archdeacon had again ascended, and was now in the +dining-room. 'Arabin,' said he, speaking in his usual loud clear +voice, and with that tone of dictation which was so common to him; +'you must positively alter this dining-room, that is, remodel it +altogether; look here, it is just sixteen feet by fifteen; did +anybody ever hear of a dining-room of such proportions?' and the +archdeacon stepped the room long-ways and cross-ways with ponderous +steps, as though a certain amount of ecclesiastical dignity could +be imparted even to such an occupation as that by the manner of +doing it. 'Barely sixteen; you may call it a square.' + +'It would do very well for a round table,' suggested the ex-warden. + +Now there was something peculiarly unorthodox in the archdeacon's +estimation in the idea of a round table. He had always been +accustomed to a goodly board of decent length, comfortably +elongating itself according to the number of guests, nearly black +with perpetual rubbing, and as bright as a mirror. Now round dinner +tables are generally of oak, or else of such new construction as +not to have acquired the peculiar hue which was so pleasing to him. +He connected them with what he called the nasty new fangled method +of leaving cloth on the table, as though to warn people that they +were not to sit long. In his eyes there was something democratic +and parvenu in a round table. He imagined that dissenters and +calico-printers chiefly used them, and perhaps a few literary lions +more conspicuous for their wit than their gentility. He was a +little flurried at the idea of such an article, being introduced +into the diocese by a protege of his own, and at the instigation of +his father-in-law. + +'A round dinner-table,' said he, with some heat, 'is the most +abominable article of furniture that ever was invented. I hope that +Arabin has more taste than to allow such a thing in his house.' + +Poor Mr Harding felt himself completely snubbed, and of course said +nothing further; but Mr Arabin, who had yielded submissively in the +small matters of the cellar and kitchen grate, found himself +obliged to oppose reforms which might be of a nature too expensive +for his pocket. + +'But it seems to me, archdeacon, that I can't very well lengthen +the room without pulling down the wall, and if I pull down the +wall, I must build it up again; then if I throw out a bow on this +side, I must do the same on the other, then if I do it for the +ground floor, I must carry it up to the floor above. That will be +putting a new front to the house, and will cost, I suppose, a +couple of hundred pounds. The ecclesiastical commissioners will +hardly assist me when they hear that my grievance consists in +having a dining-room only sixteen feet long.' + +The archdeacon proceeded to explain that nothing would be easier +than adding six feet to the front of the dining-room, without +touching any other of the house. Such irregularities of +construction in small country houses were, he said, rather graceful +than otherwise, and he offered to pay for the whole thing out of +his own pocket if it cost more than forty pounds. Mr Arabin, +however, was firm, and, although the archdeacon fussed and fumed +about it, would not give way. + +Forty pounds, he said, was a matter of serious moment to him, and +his friends, if under such circumstances they would be good-natured +enough to come to him at all, must put up with the misery of a +square room. He was willing to compromise matters by disclaiming +any intention of having a round table. + +'But,' said Mrs Grantly, 'what if the priestess insists on have +both the rooms enlarged?' + +'The priestess in that case must do it for herself, Mrs Grantly.' + +'I have no doubt she will be well able to do so,' replied the lady; +'to do that and many more wonderful things. I am quite sure that +the priestess of St Ewold, when she does come, won't come +empty-handed.' + +Mr Arabin, however, did not appear well inclined to enter into +speculative expenses on such a chance as this, and therefore, any +material alterations in the house, the cost of which could not +fairly be made to lie at the door either of the ecclesiastical +commission or of the estate of the late incumbent, were tabooed. +With this essential exception, the archdeacon ordered, suggested, +and carried all points before him in a manner very much to his own +satisfaction. A close observer, had there been one there, might +have seen that his wife had been quite as useful in the matter as +himself. No one knew better than Mrs Grantly the appurtenances +necessary to a comfortable house. She did not, however, think it +necessary to lay claim to any of the glory which her lord and +master was so ready to appropriate as his own. + +Having gone through their work effectively, and systematically, the +party returned to Plumstead well satisfied with their expedition. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE THORNES OF ULLATHORNE + +On the following Sunday Mr Arabin was to read himself in at his new +church. It was agreed at the rectory that the archdeacon should go +over with him and assist at the reading-desk, and that Mr Harding +should take the archdeacon's duty at Plumstead Church. Mrs Grantly +had her school and her buns to attend to, and professed that she +could not be spared; but Mrs Bold was to accompany them. It was +further agreed also, that they would lunch at the squire's house, +and return home after the afternoon service. + +Wilfred Thorne, Esq., of Ullathorne, was the squire of St Ewold's; +or rather the squire of Ullathorne; for the domain of the modern +landlord was of wider notoriety than the fame of the ancient saint. +He was a fair specimen of what that race has come to in our days, +which a century ago was, as we are told, fairly represented by +Squire Western. If that representation be a true one, few classes +of men can have made faster strides in improvement. Mr Thorne, +however, was a man possessed of quite a sufficient number of +foibles to lay him open to much ridicule. He was still a bachelor, +being about fifty, and was not a little proud of his person. When +living at home at Ullathorne there was not much room for such +pride, and there therefore he always looked like a gentleman, and +like that which he certainly was, the first man in his parish. But +during the month or six weeks which he annually spent in London, he +tried so hard to look like a great man there also, which he +certainly was not, that he was put down as a fool by many at his +club. He was a man of considerable literary attainment in a certain +way and on certain subjects. His favourite authors were Montaigne +and Burton, and he knew more perhaps than any other man in his own +county, and the next to it, of the English essayists of the two +last centuries. He possessed complete sets of the 'Idler', the +'Spectator,' the 'Tatler,' the 'Guardian,' and the 'Rambler;' and +would discourse by hours together on the superiority of such +publications to anything which has since been produced in our +Edinburghs and Quarterlies. He was a great proficient in all +questions of genealogy, and knew enough of almost every gentleman's +family in England to say of what blood and lineage were descended +all those who had any claim to be considered as possessors of any +such luxuries. For blood and lineage he himself had a must profound +respect. He counted back his own ancestors to some period long +antecedent to the Conquest; and could tell you, if you would listen +to him, how it had come to pass that they, like Cedric the Saxon, +had been permitted to hold their own among the Norman barons. It +was not, according to his showing, on account of any weak +complaisance on the part of his family towards their Norman +neighbours. Some Ealfried of Ullathorne once fortified his own +castle, and held out, not only that, but the then existing +cathedral of Barchester also, against one Godfrey de Burgh, in the +time of King John; and Mr Thorne possessed the whole history of the +siege written on vellum, and illuminated in a most costly manner. +It little signified that no one could read the writing, as, had +that been possible, no one could have understood the language. Mr +Thorne could, however, give you all the particulars in good +English, and had no objection to do so. + +It would be unjust to say that he looked down in men whose families +were of recent date. He did not do so. He frequently consorted with +such, and had chosen many of his friends from among them. But he +looked on them as great millionaires are apt to look on those who +have small incomes; as men who have Sophocles at their fingers' +ends regard those who know nothing of Greek. They might doubtless +be good sort of people, entitled to much praise for virtue, very +admirable for talent, highly respectable in every way; but they +were without the one great good gift. Such was Mr Thorne's way of +thinking on this matter; nothing could atone for the loss of good +blood; nothing could neutralise its good effects. Few indeed were +now possessed of it, but the possession was on that account the +more precious. It was very pleasant to hear Mr Thorne descant on +this matter. Were you in your ignorance to surmise that such a one +was of a good family because the head of his family was a baronet +of an old date, he would open his eyes with a delightful look of +affected surprise, and modestly remind you that baronetcies only +dated from James I. He would gently sigh if you spoke of the blood +of the Fitzgeralds and De Burghs; would hardly allow the claims of +the Howards and Lowthers; and has before now alluded to the Talbots +as a family who had hardly yet achieved the full honours of a +pedigree. + +In speaking once of a wide spread race whose name had received the +honours of three coronets, scions from which sat for various +constituencies, some one of whose members had been in almost every +cabinet formed during this present century, a brilliant race such +as there are few in England, Mr Thorne called them all 'dirt'. He +had not intended any disrespect to these men. He admired them in +many senses, and allowed them their privileges without envy. He had +merely meant to express his feeling that the streams which ran +through their not veins were yet purified by time to that +perfection, had not become so genuine an ichor, as to be worthy of +being called blood in the genealogical sense. + +When Mr Arabin was first introduced to him, Mr Thorne had +immediately suggested that he was one of the Arabins of Uphill +Stanton. Mr Arabin replied that he was a very distant relative of +the family alluded to. To this Mr Thorne surmised that the +relationship could not be very distant. Mr Arabin assured him that +it was so distant that the families knew nothing of each other. Mr +Thorne laughed his gentle laugh at this, and told Mr Arabin that +there was not existing no branch of his family separated from the +parent stock at an earlier date than the reign of Elizabeth; and +that therefore Mr Arabin could not call himself distant. Mr Arabin +himself was quite clearly an Arabin of Uphill Stanton. + +'But,' said the vicar, 'Uphill Stanton has been sold to the De +Greys, and has been in their hands for the last fifty years.' + +'And when it has been there one hundred and fifty, if it unluckily +remain there so long,' said Mr Thorne, 'your descendants will not +be a whit the less entitled to describe themselves as being of the +family of Uphill Stanton. Thank God, no De Grey can buy that--and, +thank God--no Arabin, and no Thorne, can sell it.' + +In politics, Mr Thorne was an unflinching conservative. He looked +on those fifty-three Trojans, who, as Mr Dod tell us, censured free +trade in November 1852, as the only patriots left among the public +men of England. When that terrible crisis of free trade had +arrived, when the repeal of the corn laws was carried by those very +men whom Mr Thorne had hitherto regarded as the only possible +saviours of his country, he was for a time paralysed. His country +was lost; but that was comparatively a small thing. Other countries +had flourished and fallen, and the human race still went on +improving under God's providence. But now all trust in human faith +must for ever be at an end. Not only must ruin come, but it must +come through the apostasy of those who had been regarded as the +truest of true believers. Politics in England, as a pursuit for +gentlemen, must be at an end. Had Mr Thorne been trodden under foot +by a Whig, he could have borne it as a Tory and a martyr; but to be +so utterly thrown over and deceived by those he had so earnestly +supported, so thoroughly trusted, was more than he could endure and +live. He therefore ceased to live as a politician, and refused to +hold any converse with the world at large on the state of the +country. + +Such were Mr Thorne's impressions for the first two or three years +after Sir Robert Peel's apostasy; but by degrees his temper, as did +that of others, cooled down. He began once more to move about, to +frequent the bench and the market, and to be seen at dinners, +shoulder to shoulder with some of those who had so cruelly betrayed +him. It was a necessity for him to live, and that plan of his for +avoiding the world did not answer. He, however, had others around +him, who still maintained the same staunch principles of +protection--men like himself, who were too true to flinch at the +cry of a mob--had their own way of consoling themselves. They were, +and felt themselves to be, the only true depositories left of +certain Eleusinian mysteries, of certain deep and wondrous services +of worship by which alone the gods could be rightly approached. To +them and them only was it now given to know these things, and to +perpetuate them, if that might still be done, by the careful and +secret education of their children. + +We have read how private and peculiar forms of worship have been +carried on from age to age in families, which to the outer world +have apparently adhered to the service of some ordinary church. And +so by degrees it was with Mr Thorne. He learnt at length to listen +calmly while protection was talked of as a thing dead, although he +knew within himself that it was still quick with a mystic life. Nor +was he without a certain pleasure that such knowledge though given +to him should be debarred from the multitude. He became accustomed +to hear, even among country gentlemen, that free trade was after +all not so bad, and to bear this without dispute, although +conscious within himself that everything good in England had gone +with his old palladium. He had within him something of the feeling +of Cato, who gloried that he could kill himself because Romans were +no longer worthy of their name. Mr Thorne had no thought of killing +himself, being a Christian, and still possessing his L 4000 a year; +but the feeling was not on that account the less comfortable. + +Mr Thorne was a sportsman, and had been active though not +outrageous in his sports. Previous to the great downfall of +politics in his country, he had supported the hunt by every means +in his power. He had preserved game till no goose or turkey could +show a tail in the parish of St Ewold's. He had planted gorse +covers with more care than oaks and larches. He had been more +anxious for the comfort of his foxes than of his ewes and lambs. No +meet had been more popular than Ullathorne; no man's stables had +been more liberally open to the horses of distant men than Mr +Thorne's; no man had said more, written more, or done more to keep +the club up. The theory of protection could expand itself so +thoroughly in the practices of the country hunt! But the great ruin +came; when the noble master of the Barchester hounds supported the +recreant minister in the House of Lords, and basely surrendered his +truth, his manhood, his friends, and his honour for the hope of a +garter, then Mr Thorne gave up the hunt. He did not cut his +covers, for that would not have been the act of a gentleman. He did +not kill his foxes, for that according to his light would have been +murder. He did not say that his covers should not be drawn, or his +earths stopped, for that would have been illegal according to the +by-laws prevailing among country gentlemen. But he absented himself +from home on the occasions of every meet at Ullathorne, left the +covers to their fate, and could not be persuaded to take his pink +coat out of the press, or his hunters out of his stable. This +lasted for two years, and then by degrees he came round. He first +appeared at a neighbouring meet on a pony, dressed in his shooting +coat, as though he had trotted in by accident; then he walked up +one morning on foot to see his favourite gorse drawn, and when his +groom brought his mare out by chance, he did not refuse to mount +her. He was next persuaded, by one of the immortal fifty-three, to +bring his hunting materials over to the other side of the county, +and take a fortnight with the hounds there; and so gradually he +returned to his old life. But in hunting as in other things he was +only supported by the inward feeling of mystic superiority to those +with whom he shared the common breath of outer life. + +Mr Thorne did not live in solitude at Ullathorne. He had a sister, +who was ten years older than himself, and who participated in his +prejudices and feelings so strongly, that she was a living +caricature of all his foibles. She would not open a modern +quarterly, did not choose to see a magazine in her drawing-room, +and would not have polluted her fingers with a shred of "The Times" +for any consideration. She spoke of Addison, Swift, and Steele, as +though they were still living, regarded De Foe as the best known +novelist of his country, and thought of Fielding as a young but +meritorious novice in the fields of romance. In poetry, she was +familiar with then names as late as Dryden, and had once been +seduced into reading the "Rape of the Lock"; but she regarded +Spenser as the purest type of her country's literature in this +line. Genealogy was her favourite insanity. Those things which are +the pride of most genealogists were to her contemptible. Arms and +mottoes set her beside herself. Ealfried of Ullathorne had wanted +no motto to assist him in cleaving to the brisket Geoffrey De +Burgh; and Ealfried's great grandfather, the gigantic Ullafrid, had +required no other arms than those which nature gave him to hurl +from the top of his own castle a cousin of the base invading +Norman. To her all modern English names were equally insignificant. +Hengist, Horsa, and such like, had for her the only true savour of +nobility. She was not contented unless she could go beyond the +Saxons; and would certainly have christened her children, had she +had children, by the names of the ancient Britons. In some respects +she was not unlike Scott's Ulrica, and had she been given to +cursing, she would certainly have done so in the names of Mista, +Skogula, and Zernebock. Not having submitted to the embraces of any +polluting Normans, as poor Ulrica had done, and having assisted no +parricide, the milk of human kindness was not curdled in her bosom. +She never cursed, therefore, but blessed rather. This, however, she +did in a strange uncouth Saxon manner, that would have been +unintelligible to any peasants but her own. + +As a politician, Miss Thorne had been so thoroughly disgusted with +public life by base deeds long antecedent to the Corn Law question, +that that had but little moved her. In her estimation her brother +had been a fast young man, hurried away by a too ardent temperament +into democratic tendencies. Now happily he was brought to sounder +views by seeing the iniquity of the world. She had not yet +reconciled herself to the Reform Bill, and still groaned in spirit +over the defalcations of the Duke as touching the Catholic +Emancipation. If asked whom she thought the Queen should take as +her counsellor, she would probably have named Lord Eldon; and when +reminded that that venerable man was no longer present in the flesh +to assist us, she would probably have answered with a sigh that +none now could help us but the dead. + +In religion, Miss Thorne was a pure Druidess. We would not have it +understood by that, that she did actually in these latter days +assist at any human sacrifices, or that she was in fact hostile to +the Church of Christ. She had adopted the Christian religion as a +milder form of the worship of her ancestors, and always appealed to +her doing so as evidence that she had no prejudices against reform, +when it could be shown that reform was salutary. This reform was +the most modern of any to which she had as yet acceded, it being +presumed that British ladies had given up their paint and taken to +some sort of petticoats before the days of St Augustine. That +further feminine step in advance which combines paint and +petticoats together, had not found votary in Miss Thorne. + +But she was a Druidess in this, that she regretted she knew not +what in the usages and practices of her Church. She sometimes +talked and constantly thought of good things gone by, though she +had but the faintest idea of what those good things had been. She +imagined that a purity had existed which was now gone; that a piety +had adorned our pastors and a simple docility our people, for which +it may be feared history gave her but little true warrant. She was +accustomed to speak of Cranmer as though he had been the firmest +and most simple-minded of martyrs, and of Elizabeth as though the +pure Protestant faith of her people had been the one anxiety of her +life. It would have been cruel to undeceive her, had it been +possible; but it would have been impossible to make her believe +that the one was a time-serving priest, willing to go any length to +keep his place, and that the other was in heart a papist, with this +sole proviso, that she should be her own pope. + +And so Miss Thorne went on sighing and regretting, looking back to +the divine right of kings as the ruling axiom of a golden age, and +cherishing, low down in the bottom of her hearts of hearts, a dear +unmentioned wish for the restoration of some exiled Stuart. Who +would deny her the luxury of her sighs, or the sweetness of her +soft regrets! + +In her person and her dress she was perfect, and well she knew her +own perfection. She was a small elegantly made old woman, with a +face from which the glow of her youth had not departed without +leaving some streaks of a roseate hue. She was proud of her colour, +proud of her grey hair which she wore in short crisp curls peering +out all around her face from the dainty white cap. To think of all +the money that she spent in lace used to break the heart of poor +Mrs Quiverful with her seven daughters. She was proud of her teeth, +which were still white and numerous, proud of her bright cheery +eye, proud of her short jaunty step, and very proud of the neat, +precise, small feet with which those steps were taken. She was +proud also, ay, very proud, of the rich brocaded silk in which it +was her custom to ruffle through her drawing-room. + +We know what was the custom of the lady of Branksome-- + "Nine and twenty knights of fame + Hung their shields in Branksome Hall." + +The lady of Ullathorne was not so martial in her habits, but hardly +less costly. She might have boasted that nine-and-twenty silken +shirts might have been produced in her chamber, each fit to stand +alone. The nine-and-twenty shields of the Scottish heroes were less +independent, and hardly more potent to withstand any attack that +might be made on them. Miss Thorne when fully dressed might be said +to have been armed cap-a-pie, and she was always fully dressed, as +far as was ever known to mortal man. + +For all this rich attire Miss Thorne was not indebted to the +generosity of her brother. She had a very comfortable independence +of her own, which she divided among juvenile relatives, the +milliners, and the poor, giving much the largest share to the +latter. It may be imagined, therefore, that with all her little +follies she was not unpopular. All her follies have, we believe, +been told. Her virtues were too numerous to describe, and not +sufficiently interesting to deserve description. + +While we are on the subject of the Thornes, one word must be said +of the house they lived in. It was not a large house, nor a fine +house, nor perhaps to modern ideas a very commodious house; but by +those who love the peculiar colour and peculiar ornaments of +genuine Tudor architecture it was considered a perfect gem. We beg +to own ourselves among the number, and therefore take this +opportunity to express our surprise that so little is known by +English men and women of the beauties of English architecture. The +ruins of the Colosseum, the Campanile at Florence, St Mark's, +Cologne, the Bourse and Notre Dame, are with our tourists as +familiar as household words; but they know nothing of the glories +of Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire. Nay, we much question +whether many noted travellers, many who have pitched their tents +perhaps under Mount Sinai, are not still ignorant that there are +glories in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire. We beg that +they will go and see. + +Mr Thorne's house was called Ullathorne Court, and was properly so +called; for the house itself formed two sides of a quadrangle, +which was completed in the other two sides by a wall about twenty +feet high. This was built of cut stone, rudely cut indeed, and now +much worn, but of a beautiful rich tawny yellow colour, the effect +of that stonecrop of minute growth, which it had taken three +centuries to produce. The top of this wall was ornamented by huge +round stone balls of the same colour as the wall itself. Entrance +into the court was had through a pair of iron gates, so massive +that no one could comfortably open or close them, consequently they +were rarely disturbed. From the gateway two paths led obliquely +across the court; that to the left reaching the hall-door, which +was in the corner made by the angle of the house, and that to the +right leading to the back entrance, which was at the further end of +the longer portion of the building. + +With those who are now adept at contriving house accommodation, it +will militate much against Ullathorne Court, that no carriage could +be brought to the hall-door. If you enter Ullathorne at all, you +must do so, fair reader, on foot, or at least in a bath-chair. No +vehicle drawn by horses ever comes within that iron gate. But this +is nothing to the next horror that will encounter you. On entering +the front door, which you do by no very grand portal, you find +yourself immediately in the dining-room. What--no hall? exclaims my +luxurious friend, accustomed to all the comfortable appurtenances +of modern life. Yes, kind sir; a noble hall, if you will but +observe it; a true old English hall of excellent dimensions for a +country gentleman's family; but, if you please, no dining-parlour. + +But Mr and Miss Thorne were proud of this peculiarity of their +dwelling, though the brother was once all but tempted by his +friends to alter it. They delighted in the knowledge that they, +like Cedric, positively dined in their true hall, even though they +so dined tete-a-tete. But though they had never owned, they had +felt and endeavoured to remedy the discomfort of such an +arrangement. A huge screen partitioned off the front door and a +portion of the hall, and from the angle so screened off a second +door led into a passage, which ran along the larger side of the +house next to the courtyard. Either my reader or I must be a bad +hand at topography, if it be not clear that the great hall forms +the ground-floor of the smaller portion of the mansion, that which +was to your left as you entered the iron gate, and that it occupies +the whole of this wing of the building. It must be equally clear +that it looks out on a trim mown lawn, through three quadrangular +windows with stone mullions, each window divided into a larger +portion at the bottom, and a smaller portion at the top, and each +portion again divided into five by perpendicular stone supporters. +There may be windows which give a better light than such as those, +and it may be, as my utilitarian friend observes, that the giving +of light is the desired object of a window. I will not argue the +point with him. Indeed I cannot. But I shall not the less die in +the assured conviction that no sort of description of window is +capable of imparting half as much happiness to mankind as that +which has been adopted at Ullathorne Court. What--not an oriel? +says Miss Diana de Midellage. No, Miss Diana; not even an oriel, +beautiful as is an oriel window. It has not about it so perfect a +feeling of quiet English homely comfort. Let oriel windows grace a +college, or the half public mansion of a potent peer; but for the +sitting room of quiet country ladies, of ordinary homely folk, +nothing can equal the square mullioned windows of the Tudor +architects. + +The hall was hung round with family female insipidities by Lely, +and unprepossessing male Thornes in red coats by Kneller; each +Thorne having been let into a panel in the wainscoting in the +proper manner. At the further end of the room was a huge +fire-place, which afforded much ground of difference between the +brother and sister. An antiquated grate that would hold about a +hundred weight of coal, had been stuck on the hearth, by Mr +Thorne's father. This hearth had of course been intended for the +consumption of wood fagots, and the iron dogs for the purpose were +still standing, though half buried in the masonry of the grate. +Miss Thorne was very anxious to revert to the dogs. The dear good +old creature was always to revert to anything, and had she been +systematically indulged, would doubtless in time have reflected +that fingers were made before forks, and have reverted accordingly. +But in the affairs of the fire-place, Mr Thorne would not revert. +Country gentlemen around him, all had comfortable grates in their +dining-rooms. He was not exactly the man to have suggested a modern +usage; but he was not so far prejudiced as to banish those which +his father had prepared for his use. Mr Thorne had, indeed, once +suggested that with very little contrivance the front door might +have been so altered, as to open at least into the passage; but on +hearing this, his sister Monica, such was Miss Thorne's name, had +been taken ill, and had remained so for a week. Before she came +down stairs she received a pledge from her brother that the +entrance should never be changed in her lifetime. + +At the end of the hall opposite to the fire-place a door led into +the drawing-room, which was of equal size, and lighted with +precisely similar windows. But yet the aspect of the room was very +different. It was papered, and the ceiling, which in the hall +showed the old rafters, was whitened and finished with a modern +cornice. Miss Thorne's drawing-room, or, as she always called it, +withdrawing-room, was a beautiful apartment. The windows opened on +to the full extent of the lovely trim garden; immediately before +the windows were plots of flowers in stiff, stately, stubborn +little beds, each bed surrounded by a stone coping of its own; +beyond, there was a low parapet wall, on which stood urns and +images, fawns, nymphs, satyrs, and a whole tribe of Pan's +followers; and then again, beyond that, a beautiful lawn sloped +away to a sunk fence, which divided the garden from the park. Mr +Thorne's study was at the end of the drawing-room, and beyond that +were the kitchen and the offices. Doors opened into both Miss +Thorne's withdrawing-room and Mr Thorne's sanctum from the passage +above alluded to; which, as it came to the latter room, widened +itself so as to make space for the huge black oak stairs, which led +to the upper region. + +Such was the interior of Ullathorne Court. But having thus +described it, perhaps somewhat too tediously, we beg to say that it +is not the interior to which we wish to call the English tourist's +attention, though we advise him to lose no legitimate opportunity +of becoming acquainted with it in a friendly manner. It is the +outside of Ullathorne that is so lovely. Let the tourist get +admission at least into the garden, and fling himself on that soft +award just opposite to the exterior angle of the house. He will +there get the double frontage, and enjoy that which is so +lovely--the expanse of architectural beauty without the formal +dullness of one long line. + +It is the colour of Ullathorne that is so remarkable. It is all of +that delicious tawny hue which no stone can give, unless it has on +it the vegetable richness of centuries. Strike the wall with your +hand, and you will think that the stone has on it no covering, but +rub it carefully, and you will find that the colour comes off upon +your finger. No colourist that ever yet worked from a palette has +been able to come up to this rich colouring of years crowding +themselves on years. + +Ullathorne is a high building for a country house, for it possesses +three stories; and in each storey, the windows are of the same sort +as that described, though varying in size, and varying also in +their lines athwart the house. Those of the ground floor are all +uniform in size and position. But those above are irregular both in +size and place, and this irregularity gives a bizarre and not +unpicturesque appearance to the building. Along the top, on every +side, runs a low parapet, which nearly hides the roof, and at the +corners are more figures of fawns and satyrs. + +Such is Ullathorne House. But we must say one word of the approach +to it, which shall include all the description which we mean to +give of the church also. The picturesque old church of St Ewold's +stands immediately opposite to the iron gates which open into the +court, and is all but surrounded by the branches of lime trees, +which form the avenue leading up to the house from both sides. +This avenue is magnificent, but it would lose much of its value in +the eyes of many proprietors, by the fact that the road through it +is not private property. It is a public lane between hedgerows, +with a broad grass margin on each side of the road, from which the +lime trees spring. Ullathorne Court, therefore, does not stand +absolutely surrounded by its own grounds, though Mr Thorne is owner +of all the adjacent land. This, however, is the source of very +little annoyance to him. Men, when they are acquiring property, +think much of such things, but they who live where their ancestors +have lived for years, do not feel the misfortune. It never occurred +to either Mr or Miss Thorne that they were not sufficiently +private, because the world at large might, if it so wished, walk or +drive by their iron gates. That part of the world which availed +itself of the privilege was however very small. + +Such a year or two since were the Thornes of Ullathorne. Such, we +believe, are the inhabitants of many an English country home. May +it be long before their number diminishes. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MR ARABIN READS HIMSELF IN AT ST EWOLD'S + +On the Sunday morning the archdeacon with his sister-in-law and Mr +Arabin drove over to Ullathorne, as had been arranged. On their way +thither the new vicar declared himself to be considerably disturbed +in his mind at the idea of thus facing his parishioners for the +first time. He had, he said, been always subject to mauvaise honte +and an annoying degree of bashfulness, which often unfitted him for +any work of a novel description; and now he felt this so strongly +that he feared he should acquit himself badly in St Ewold's +reading-desk. He knew, he said, that those sharp little eyes of +Miss Thorne would be on to him, and that they would not approve. +All this the archdeacon greatly ridiculed. He himself knew not, and +had never known, what it was to be shy. He could not conceive that +Miss Thorne, surrounded as she would be by the peasants of +Ullathorne, and a few of the poorer inhabitants of the suburbs of +Barchester, could in any way affect the composure of a man well +accustomed to address the learned congregations of St Mary's at +Oxford, and he laughed accordingly at the idea of Mr Arabin's +modesty. + +Thereupon Mr Arabin commenced to subtilise. The change, he said, +from St Mary's to St Ewold's was quite as powerful on the spirits +as would be that from St Ewold's to St Mary's. Would not a peer +who, by chance of fortune, might suddenly be driven to herd among +the navvies be as afraid of the jeers of his companions, as would +any navvy suddenly exalted to a seat among the peers? Whereupon the +archdeacon declared with a loud laugh that he would tell Miss +Thorne that her new minister had likened her to a navvy. Eleanor, +however, pronounced such a conclusion unfair; a comparison might be +very just in its proportions which did not at all assimilate the +things compared. But Mr Arabin went in subtilising, regarding +neither the archdeacon's raillery nor Eleanor's defence. A young +lady, he said, would execute with most perfect self-possession a +difficult piece of music in a room crowded with strangers, who +would not be able to express herself in any intelligible language, +even on any ordinary subject and among her most intimate friends, +if she were required to do so standing on a box somewhat elevated +among them. It was all an affair of education, and he at forty +found it difficult to educate himself now. + +Eleanor dissented on the matter of the box; and averred she could +speak very well about dresses, or babies, or legs of mutton from +any box, provided it were big enough for her to stand upon without +fear, even though all her friends were listening to her. The +archdeacon was sure she would not be able to say a word; but this +proved nothing in favour of Mr Arabin. Mr Arabin said that he would +try the question out with Mrs Bold, and get her on a box some day +when the rectory might be full of visitors. To this Eleanor +assented, making condition that the visitors should be of their own +set, and the archdeacon cogitated in his mind, whether by such a +condition it was intended that Mr Slope should be included, +resolving also that, if so, the trial should certainly never take +place in the rectory drawing-room at Plumstead. + +And so arguing, they drove up to the iron gates of Ullathorne +Court. + +Mr and Miss Thorne were standing ready dressed for church in the +hall, and greeted their clerical visitors with cordiality. The +archdeacon was an old favourite. He was a clergyman of the old +school, and this recommended him to the lady. He had always been an +opponent of free trade as long as free trade was an open question; +and now that it was no longer so, he, being a clergyman, had not +been obliged, like most of his lay Tory companions, to read his +recantation. He could therefore be regarded as a supporter of the +immaculate fifty-three, and was on this account a favourite with Mr +Thorne. The little bell was tinkling, and the rural population were +standing about the lane, leaning on the church stile, and against +the walls of the old court, anxious to get a look at their new +minister as he passed from the house to the rectory. The +archdeacon's servant had already preceded them thither with the +vestments. + +They all went together; and when the ladies passed into the church +the three gentlemen tarried a moment in the lane, that Mr Thorne +might name to the vicar with some kind of one-sided introduction, +the most leading among his parishioners. + +'Here are our churchwardens, Mr Arabin; Farmer Greenacre and Mr +Stiles. Mr Stiles has the mill as you go into Barchester; and very +good churchwardens they are.' + +'Not very severe, I hope,' said Mr Arabin: the two ecclesiastical +officers touched their hats, and each made a leg in the approved +rural fashion, assuring the vicar that they were glad to have the +honour of seeing him, and adding that the weather was very good for +the harvest. Mr Stiles being a man somewhat versed in town life, +had an impression of his own dignity, and did not quite like leaving +his pastor under the erroneous idea that he being a churchwarden +kept the children in order during church time. 'Twas thus he +understood Mr Arabin's allusion to his severity, and hastened to +put matters right by observing that 'Sexton Clodheave looked to the +younguns, and perhaps sometimes there maybe a thought too much +stick going on during sermon.' Mr Arabin's bright eye twinkled as +he caught that of the archdeacon; and he smiled to himself as he +observed how ignorant his officers were of the nature of their +authority, and of the surveillance which it was their duty to keep +even over himself. + +Mr Arabin read the lessons and preached. It was enough to put a man +a little out, let him have been ever so used to pulpit reading, to +see the knowing way in which the farmers cocked their ears, and set +about a mental criticism as to whether their new minister did or +did not fall short of the excellence of him who had lately departed +from them. A mental and silent criticism it was for the existing +moment, but soon to be made public among the elders of St Ewold's +over the green graves of their children and forefathers. The +excellence, however, of poor old Mr Goodenough had not been +wonderful, and there were few there who did not deem that Mr Arabin +did his work sufficiently well, in spite of the slightly nervous +affection which at first impeded him, and which nearly drove the +archdeacon beside himself. + +But the sermon was the thing to try the man. It often surprises us +that very young men can muster courage to preach for the first time +to a strange congregation. Men who are as yet little more than +boys, who have but just left, what indeed we may not call a school, +but a seminary intended for their tuition as scholars, whose +thoughts have been mostly of boating, cricketing, and wine parties, +ascend a rostrum high above the heads of the submissive crowd, not +that they may read God's word to those below, but that they may +preach their own word for the edification of their hearers. It +seems strange to us that they are not stricken dumb by the new and +awful solemnity of their position. How am I, just turned +twenty-three, who have never yet passed then thoughtful days since +the power of thought first came to me, how am I to instruct these +grey beards, who with the weary thinking of so many years have +approached so near the grave? Can I teach them their duty? Can I +explain to them that which I so imperfectly understand, that which +years of study may have made so plain to them? Has my newly acquired +privileges, as one of God's ministers, imparted to me as yet any +fitness for the wonderful work of a preacher? + +It must be supposed that such ideas do occur to young clergymen, +and yet they overcome, apparently with ease, this difficulty which +to us appears to be all but insurmountable. We have never been +subjected in the way of ordination to the power of a bishop's +hands. It may be that there is in them something that sustains the +spirit and banishes the natural modesty of youth. But for ourselves +we must own that the deep affection which Dominie Sampson felt for +his young pupils has not more endeared him to us than the bashful +spirit which sent him mute and inglorious from the pulpit when he +rose there with the futile attempt to preach God's gospel. + +There is a rule in our church which forbids the younger order of +our clergymen to perform a certain portion of the service. The +absolution must be read by a minister in priest's orders. If there +be no such minister present, the congregation can have the benefit +of no absolution but that which each may succeed in administering +to himself. The rule may be a good one, though the necessity for it +hardly comes home to the general understanding. But this +forbearance on the part of youth would be much more appreciated if +it were extended likewise to sermons. The only danger would be that +the congregation would be too anxious to prevent their young +clergymen from advancing themselves to the ranks of the ministry. +Clergymen who could not preach would be such blessings that they +would be bribed to adhere to their incompetence. + +Mr Arabin, however, had not the modesty of youth to impede him, and +he succeeded with his sermon even better than with the lessons. He +took for his text two verses out of the second epistle of St John: +'Whosoever trangresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, +hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ he hath +both the Father and Son. If there come any unto you and bring you +not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him +God speed.' He told them that the house of theirs to which he +alluded was this their church in which he now addressed them for +the first time; that their most welcome and proper manner of +bidding him God speed would be their patient obedience to this +teaching of the gospel; but that he could put forward no claim to +such conduct on their part unless he taught them the great +Christian doctrine of works and faith combined. On this he +enlarged, but not very amply, and after twenty minutes succeeded in +sending his new friends home to their baked mutton and pudding well +pleased with their new minister. + +Then came the lunch at Ullathorne. As soon as they were in the hall +Miss Thorne took Mr Arabin's hand, and assured him that she +received him into her house, into the temple, she said, in which +she worshipped, and bade him God speed with all her heart. Mr +Arabin was touched, and squeezed the spinster's hand without +uttering a word in reply. Then Mr Thorne expressed a hope that Mr +Arabin found the church easy to fill, and Mr Arabin having replied +that he had no doubt he should do so as soon as he had learnt to +pitch his voice to the building, they all sat down to the good +things before them. + +Miss Thorne took special care of Mrs Bold. Eleanor still wore her +widow's weeds, and therefore had about her that air of grave and +sad maternity which is the lot of recent widows. This opened the +soft heart of Miss Thorne, and made her look on her young guest as +though too much could not be done for her. She heaped chicken and +ham upon her plate, and poured out for her a full bumper of port +wine. When Eleanor, who was not sorry to get it, had drunk a little +of it, Miss Thorne at once essayed to fill it again. To this +Eleanor objected, but in vain. Miss Thorne winked and nodded and +whispered, saying that it was the proper thing and must be done, +and that she knew all about it; and so she desired Mrs Bold to +drink it up, and mind any body. + +'It is your duty, you know, to support yourself,' she said into the +ear of the young mother; 'there's more than yourself depending on +it;' and thus she coshered up Eleanor with cold fowl and port wine. +How it is that poor men's wives, who have no cold fowl and port +wine on which to be coshered up, nurse their children without +difficulty, whereas the wives of rich men, who eat and drink +everything that is good, cannot do so, we will for the present +leave to the doctors and mothers to settle between them. + +And then Miss Thorne was great about teeth. Little Johnny Bold had +been troubled for the last few days with his first incipient +masticator, and with that freemasonry which exists between ladies, +Miss Thorne became aware of the fact before Eleanor had half +finished her wing. The old lady prescribed at once a receipt which +had been much in vogue in the young days of her grandmother, and +warned Eleanor with solemn voice against the fallacies of modern +medicine. + +'Take his coral, my dear,' said she, 'and rub it well with +carrot-juice; rub it till the juice dries on it, and then give it +to him to play with--' + +'But he hasn't got a coral,' said Eleanor. + +'Not got a coral!' said Miss Thorne, with almost angry vehemence. +'Not got a coral!--How can you expect that he should cut his teeth? +Have you got Daffy's Elixir?' + +Eleanor explained that she had not. It had not been ordered by Mr +Rerechild, the Barchester doctor whom she employed; and then the +young mother mentioned some shockingly modern succedaneum, which Mr +Rerechild's new lights had taught him to recommend. + +Miss Thorne looked awfully severe. 'Take care, my dear,' said she, +'that the man knows what he is about; take care he doesn't destroy +your little boy. 'But'--and her voice softened into sorrow as she +said it, and spoke more in pity than in anger--'but I don't know +who there is in Barchester now that you can trust. Poor dear old Dr +Bumpwell, indeed--' + +'Why, Miss Thorne, he died when I was a little girl.' + +'Yes, my dear, he did, and an unfortunate day it was for +Barchester. As to those young men that have come up since' (Mr +Rerechild, by the by, was quite as old as Miss Thorne herself), +'one doesn't know where they came from or who they are, or whether +they know anything about their business or not.' + +'I think there are very clever men in Barchester,' said Eleanor. + +'Perhaps there may be; only I don't know them; and it's admitted on +all sides that medical men aren't now what they used to be. They +used to be talented, observing, educated men. But now any +whipper-snapper out of an apothecary's shop can call himself a +doctor. I believe no kind of education is now thought necessary.' + +Eleanor was herself the widow of a medical man, and felt a little +inclined to resent all these hard sayings. But Miss Thorne was so +essentially good-natured that it was impossible to resent anything +she said. She therefore sipped her wine and finished her chicken. + +'At any rate, my dear, don't forget the carrot-juice, and by all +means get him a coral at once. My grandmother Thorne had the best +teeth in the county, and carried them to the grave with her at +eighty. I have heard her say it was all the carrot-juice. She +couldn't bear the Barchester doctors. Even poor Dr Bumpwell didn't +please her.' It clearly never occurred to Miss Thorne that some +fifty years ago Dr Bumpwell was only a rising man, and therefore as +much in need of character in the eyes of the then ladies of +Ullathorne, as the present doctors were in her own. + +The archdeacon made a very good lunch, and talked to his host about +turnip-drillers and new machines for reaping; while the host, +thinking it only polite to attend to a stranger, and fearing that +perhaps he might not care about turnip crops on a Sunday, mooted +all manner of ecclesiastical subjects. + +'I never saw a heavier lot of wheat, Thorne, than you've got there +in the field beyond the copse. I suppose that's guano,' said the +archdeacon. + +'Yes, guano. I get it from Bristol myself. You'll find you often +have a tolerable congregation of Barchester people out here, Mr +Arabin. They are very fond of St Ewold's, particularly of an +afternoon, when the weather is not too hot for a walk.' + +'I am under an obligation to them for staying away today, at any +rate,' said the vicar. 'The congregation can never be too small for +a maiden sermon.' + +'I got a ton and a half at Bradley's in High Street,' said the +archdeacon, 'and it was a complete take in. I don't believe there +was five hundred-weight of guano in it.' + +'That Bradley never has anything good,' said Miss Tborne, who had +just caught the name during her whisperings with Eleanor. 'And such +a nice shop as there used to be in that very house before he came. +Wilfred, don't you remember what good things old Ambleoff used to +have?' + +'There have been three men since Ambleoff's time,' said the +archdeacon, 'and each as bad as the other. But who gets it for you +at Bristol, Thorne?' + +'I ran up myself this year and bought it out of the ship. I am +afraid as the evenings get shorter, Mr Arabin, you'll find the +reading desk too dark. I must send a fellow with an axe and make +him lop off some of those branches.' + +Mr Arabin declared that the morning light at any rate was perfect, +and deprecated any interference with the lime trees. And then they +took a stroll out among the trim parterres, and Mr Arabin explained +to Mrs Bold the difference between a naiad and a dryad, and dilated +on vases and the shapes of urns. Miss Thorne busied herself among +the pansies; and her brother, finding it quite impracticable to +give anything of a peculiarly Sunday tone to the conversation, +abandoned the attempt, and had it out with the archdeacon about the +Bristol guano. + +At three o'clock they again went into church; and now Mr Arabin +read the service and the archdeacon preached. Nearly the same +congregation was present, with some adventurous pedestrians from +the city, who had not thought the heat of the mid-day August sun +too great to deter them. The archdeacon took his text from the +Epistle of Philemon. 'I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I +have begotten in my bonds.' From such a text it may be imagined the +kind of sermon which Dr Grantly preached, and on the whole it was +neither dull, nor bad, nor out of place. + +He told them it had become his duty to look about for a pastor for +them; to supply the place of one who had been long among them; and +that in this manner he regarded as a son him whom he had selected, +as St Paul had regarded the young disciple whom he sent forth. Then +he took a little merit to himself for having studiously provided +the best man he could without reference to patronage or favour; but +he did not say that the best man according to his views was he who +was best able to subdue Mr Slope, and make that gentleman's +situation in Barchester too hot to be comfortable. As to the bonds, +they had consisted in the exceeding struggle which he had made to +get a good clergyman for them. He deprecated any comparison between +himself and St Paul, but said that he was entitled to beseech them +for their good will towards Mr Arabin, in the same manner that the +apostle had besought Philemon and his household with regard to +Onesimus. + +The archdeacon's sermon, text, blessing and all, was concluded +within the half hour. Then they shook hands with their Ullathorne +friends, and returned to Plumstead. 'Twas thus that Mr Arabin read +himself in at St Ewold's. + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + +MR SLOPE'S MANAGES MATTERS VERY CLEVERLY AT PUDDINGDALE + +The next two weeks passed pleasantly enough at Plumstead. The whole +party there assembled seemed to get on well together. Eleanor made +the house agreeable, and the archdeacon and Mrs Grantly seemed to +have forgotten her injury as regarded Mr Slope. Mr Harding had his +violoncello, and played to them while his daughters accompanied +him. Johnny Bold, by the help either of Mr Rerechild or else by +that of his coral and carrot-juice, got through his teething +troubles. There had been gaieties too of all sorts. They had dined +at Ullathorne, and the Thornes had dined at the rectory. Eleanor +had been duly put to stand on her box, and in that position had +found herself quite unable to express her opinion on the merits of +flounces, such having been the subject given to try her elocution. +Mr Arabin had of course been much in his own parish, looking to the +doings at his vicarage, calling on his parishioners, and taking on +himself the duties of his new calling. But still he had been every +evening at Plumstead, and Mrs Grantly was partly willing to agree +with her husband that he was a pleasant inmate in a house. + +They had also been at a dinner party at Dr Stanhope's, of which Mr +Arabin had made one. He also, moth-like, burnt his wings in the +flames of the signora's candle. Mrs Bold, too, had been there, and +had felt somewhat displeased with the taste, want of taste she +called it, shown by Mr Arabin in paying so much attention to Madame +Neroni. It was as infallible that Madeline should displease and +irritate the women, as that she should charm and captivate the men. +The one result followed naturally on the other. It was quite true +that Mr Arabin had been charmed. He thought her a very clever and a +very handsome woman; he thought also that her peculiar afflictions +entitled her to the sympathy of all. He had never, he said, met so +much suffering joined to such perfect beauty and so clear a mind. +'Twas thus he spoke of the signora coming home in the archdeacon's +carriage; and Eleanor by no means liked to hear the praise. It was, +however, exceedingly unjust of her to be angry with Mr Arabin, as +she had herself spent a very pleasant evening with Bertie Stanhope, +who had taken her down to dinner, and had not left her side for one +moment after the gentlemen came out of the dining-room. It was +unfair that she should amuse herself with Bertie and yet begrudge +her new friend his licence of amusing himself with Bertie's sister. +And yet she did so. She was half angry with him in the carriage, +and said something about meretricious manners. Mr Arabin did not +understand the ways of women very well, or else he might have +flattered himself that Eleanor was in love with him. + +But Eleanor was not in love with him. How many shades there are +between love and indifference, and how little the graduated scale +is understood! She had now been nearly three weeks in the same +house with Mr Arabin, and had received much of his attention, and +listened daily to his conversation. He had usually devoted at least +some portion of his evening to her exclusively. At Dr Stanhope's he +had devoted himself exclusively to another. It does not require +that a woman should be in love to be irritated at this; it does not +require that she should even acknowledge to herself that it was +unpleasant to her. Eleanor had no such self-knowledge. She thought +in her own heart it was only on Mr Arabin's account that she +regretted that he could condescend to be amused by the signora. 'I +thought he had more mind,' she said to herself, as she sat watching +her baby's cradle on her return from the party. 'After all, I +believe Mr Stanhope is the pleasanter man of the two.' Alas for the +memory of poor John Bold! Eleanor was not in love with Bertie +Stanhope, nor was she in love with Mr Arabin. But her devotion to +her late husband was fast fading, when she could revolve in her +mind, over the cradle of his infant, the faults and failings of +other aspirants to her favour. + +Will any one blame my heroine for this? Let him or her rather thank +God for all His goodness,--for His mercy endureth for ever. + +Eleanor, in truth, was not in love; neither was Mr Arabin. Neither +indeed was Bertie Stanhope, though he had already found occasion to +say nearly as much as that he was. The widow's cap had prevented +him from making a positive declaration, when otherwise he would +have considered himself entitled to do so on a third or fourth +interview. It was, after all, but a small cap now, and had but +little of the weeping-willow left in its construction. It is +singular how these emblems of grief fade away by unseen gradations. +Each pretends to be the counterpart of the forerunner, and yet the +last little bit of crimped white crape that sits so jauntily on the +back of the head, is as dissimilar to the first huge mountain of +woe which disfigured the face of the weeper, as the state of the +Hindoo is to the jointure of the English dowager. + +But let it be clearly understood that Eleanor was in love with no +one, and that no one was in love with Eleanor. Under these +circumstances her anger against Mr Arabin did not last long, and +before two days were over they were both as good friends as ever. +She could not but like him, for every hour spent in his company was +spent pleasantly. And yet she could not quite like him, for there +was always apparent in his conversation a certain feeling on his +part that he hardly thought it worth his while to be in earnest. It +was almost as though he were playing with a child. She knew well +enough that he was in truth a sober thoughtful man, who in some +matters and on some occasions could endure an agony of earnestness. +And yet to her he was always gently playful. Could she have seen +his brow once clouded she might have learnt to love him. + +So things went on at Plumstead, and on the whole not unpleasantly, +till a huge storm darkened the horizon, and came down upon the +inhabitants of the rectory with all the fury of a water-spout. It +was astonishing how in a few minutes the whole face of the heavens +was changed. The party broke up from breakfast in perfect harmony; +but fierce passions had arisen before the evening, which did not +admit of their sitting at the same board for dinner. To explain +this, it will be necessary to go back a little. + +It will be remembered that the bishop expressed to Mr Slope in his +dressing-room, his determination that Mr Quiverful should be +confirmed in his appointment to the hospital, and that his lordship +requested Mr Slope to communicate this decision to the archdeacon. +It will also be remembered that the archdeacon had indignantly +declined seeing Mr Slope, and had, instead, written a strong letter +to the bishop, in which he all but demanded the situation of warden +for Mr Harding. To this letter the archdeacon received an immediate +formal reply from Mr Slope, in which it was stated, that the bishop +had received and would give his best consideration to the +archdeacon's letter. + +The archdeacon felt himself somewhat checkmated by this reply. What +could he do with a man who would neither see him, nor argue with +him by letter, and who had undoubtedly the power of appointing any +clergyman he pleased? He had consulted with Mr Arabin, who had +suggested the propriety of calling in the aid of the master of +Lazarus. 'If,' said he, 'you and Dr Gwynne formally declare your +intention of waiting upon the bishop, the bishop will not dare to +refuse to see you; and if two such men as you see him together, you +will probably not leave him without carrying your point.' + +The archdeacon did not quite like admitting the necessity of his +being backed by the master of Lazarus before he could obtain +admission into the episcopal palace of Barchester; but still he +felt that the advice was good, and he resolved to take it. He wrote +again to the bishop, expressing a hope that nothing further would +be done in the matter of the hospital, till the consideration +promised by his lordship had been given, and then sent off a warm +appeal to his friend the master, imploring him to come to Plumstead +and assist in driving the bishop into compliance. The master had +rejoined, raising some difficulty, but not declining; and the +archdeacon again pressed his point, insisting on the necessity for +immediate action. Dr Gwynne unfortunately had the gout, and could +therefore name no immediate day, but still agreed to come, if it +should be finally found necessary. So the matter stood, as regarded +the party at Plumstead. + +But Mr Harding had another friend fighting the battle for him, +quite as powerful as the master of Lazarus, and this was Mr Slope. +Though the bishop had so pertinaciously insisted on giving way to +his wife in the matter of the hospital, Mr Slope did not think it +necessary to abandon the object. He had, he thought, daily more and +more reason to imagine that the widow would receive his overtures +favourably, and he could not but feel that Mr Harding at the +hospital, and placed there by his means would be more likely to +receive him as a son-in-law, than Mr Harding growling in opposition +and disappointment under the archdeacon's wing at Plumstead. +Moreover, to give Mr Slope due credit, he was actuated by greater +motives even than these. He wanted a wife, and he wanted money, but +he wanted power more than either. He had fully realised the fact +that he must come to blows with Mrs Proudie. He had no desire to +remain in Barchester as her chaplain. Sooner than do so, he would +risk the loss of his whole connection with the diocese. What! Was +he to feel within him the possession of no ordinary talents; was he +to know himself to be courageous, firm, and, in matters where his +conscience did not interfere, unscrupulous; and yet be contented to +be the working factotum of a woman-prelate? Mr Slope had higher +ideas of his own destiny. Either he or Mrs Proudie must go to the +wall; and now had come the time when he would try which it would +be. + +The bishop had declared that Mr Quiverful should be the new warden. +As Mr Slope went down stairs prepared to see the archdeacon if +necessary, but fully satisfied that no such necessity would arise, +he declared to himself that Mr Harding should be warden. With the +object of carrying this point he rode over to Puddingdale, and had +a further interview with the worthy expectant of clerical good +things. Mr Quiverful was on the whole a worthy man. The impossible +task of bringing up as ladies and gentlemen fourteen children on an +income which was insufficient to give them with decency the common +necessities of life, had had an effect upon him not beneficial +either to his spirit, or his keen sense of honour. Who can boast +that he would have supported such a burden with a different result? +Mr Quiverful was an honest, pain- staking, drudging man; anxious, +indeed, for bread and meat, anxious for means to quiet his butcher +and cover with returning smiles the now sour countenance of the +baker's wife, but anxious also to be right with his own conscience. +He was not careful, as another might be who sat on an easier +worldly seat, to stand well with those around him, to shun a breath +which might sully his name, or a rumour which might affect his +honour. He could not afford such niceties of conduct, such moral +luxuries. It must suffice for him to be ordinarily honest according +the ordinary honesty of the world's ways, and to let men's tongues +wag as they would. + +He had felt that his brother clergymen, men whom he had known for +the last twenty years, looked coldly on him from the first moment +that he had shown himself willing to sit at the feet of Mr Slope; +he had seen that their looks grew colder still, when it became +bruited about that he was to be the bishop's new warden at Hiram's +hospital. This was painful enough; but it was the cross which he +was doomed to bear. He thought of his wife, whose last new silk +dress was six years in wear. He thought of all his young flock, +whom he could hardly take to church with him on Sundays, for there +was not decent shoes and stockings for them all to wear. He thought +of the well-worn sleeves of his own black coat, and of the stern +face of the draper from whom he would fain ask for cloth to make +another, did he not know that the credit would be refused him. Then +he thought of the comfortable house in Barchester, of the +comfortable income, of his boys sent to school, of the girls with +books in their hands instead of darning needles, of his wife's face +again covered with smiles, and of his daily board again covered +with plenty. He thought of all these things; and do thou also, +reader, think of them, and then wonder, if thou canst, that Mr +Slope had appeared to him to possess all those good gifts which +would grace a bishop's chaplain. 'How beautiful upon the mountains +are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.' + +Why, moreover, should the Barchester clergy have looked so coldly +on Mr Quiverful? Had they not all shown that they regarded with +complacency the loaves and fishes of their mother church? Had they +not all, by some hook or crook, done better for themselves than he +had done? They were not burdened as he was burdened. Dr Grantly had +five children, and nearly as many thousands a year on which to feed +them. It was very well for him to turn up his nose at a new bishop +who could do nothing for him, and a chaplain who was beneath his +notice; but it was cruel in a man so circumstanced to set the world +against the father of fourteen children because he was anxious to +obtain for them an honourable support! He, Mr Quiverful, had not +asked for the wardenship; he had not even accepted it till he had +been assured that Mr Harding had refused it. How hard then that he +should be blamed for doing that which not to have done would have +argued a most insane imprudence! + +Thus in this matter of the hospital poor Mr Quiverful had his +trials; and he had also his consolations. On the whole the +consolations were the more vivid of the two. The stern draper heard +of the coming promotion, and the wealth of his warehouse was at Mr +Quiverful's disposal. Coming events cast their shadows before, and +the coming event of Mr Quiverful's transference to Barchester +produced a delicious shadow in the shape of a new outfit for Mrs +Quiverful and her three elder daughters. Such consolations come +home to the heart of a man, and quite home to the heart of a woman. +Whatever the husband might feel, the wife cared nothing for the +frowns of the dean, archdeacon, or prebendary. To her the outsides +and insides of her husband and fourteen children were everything. +In her bosom every other ambition had been swallowed up in that +maternal ambition of seeing them and him and herself duly clad and +properly fed. It had come to that with her that life had now no +other purpose. She recked nothing of the imaginary rights of +others. She had no patience with her husband when he declared to +her that he could not accept the hospital unless he knew that Mr +Harding had refused it. Her husband had no right to be Quixotic at +the expense of fourteen children. The narrow escape of throwing +away his good fortune which her lord had had, almost paralysed her. +Now, indeed, they had received the full promise not only from Mr +Slope, but also from Mrs Proudie. Now, indeed, they might reckon +with safety on their good fortune. But what if it all had been +lost? What if her fourteen bairns had been resteeped to the hips in +poverty by the morbid sentimentality of their father? Mrs Quiverful +was just at present a happy woman, but yet it nearly took her +breath away when she thought of the risk they had run. + +'I don't know what your father means when he talks so much of what +is due to Mr Harding,' she said to her eldest daughter. 'Does he +think that Mr Harding would give him L 450 out of fine feeling? And +what signifies it when he offends, as long as he gets the place? He +does not expect anything better. It passes me to think how your +father can be so soft, while everybody around him is so griping.' + +This, while the rest of the world was accusing Mr Quiverful of +rapacity for promotion and disregard for his honour, the inner +world of his own household was falling foul of him, with equal +vehemence, for his willingness to sacrifice their interest to a +false feeling of sentimental pride. It is astonishing how much +difference the point of view makes in the aspect of all that we +look at! + +Such was the feelings of the different members of the family at +Puddingdale on the occasion of Mr Slope's second visit. Mrs +Quiverful, as soon as she saw his horse coming up the avenue from +the vicarage gate, hastily packed up her huge basket of needlework, +and hurried herself and her daughter out of the room in which she +was sitting with her husband. 'It's Mr Slope,' she said. 'He's come +to settle with you about the hospital. I do hope we shall now be +able to move at once.' And she hastened to bid the maid of all work +to go to the door, so that the welcome great man might not be kept +waiting. + +Mr Slope thus found Mr Quiverful alone. Mrs Quiverful went off to +her kitchen and back settlements with anxious beating heart, almost +dreading that there might be some slip between the cup of her +happiness and the lip of her fruition, but yet comforting herself +with the reflection that after what had taken place, any such slip +could hardly be possible. + +Mr Slope was all smiles as he shook his brother clergyman's hand, +and said that he had ridden over because he thought it right at +once to put Mr Quiverful in possession of the facts of the matter +regarding the wardenship of the hospital. As he spoke, the poor +expectant husband and father saw at a glance that his brilliant +hopes were to be dashed to the ground, and that his visitor was now +there for the purpose of unsaying what on his former visit he had +said. There was something in the tone of the voice, something in +the glance of the eye, which told the tale. Mr Quiverful knew it +all at once. He maintained his self-possession, however, smiled +with a slight unmeaning smile, and merely said that he was obliged +to Mr Slope for the trouble he was taking. + +'It has been a troublesome matter from first to last,' said Mr +Slope; 'and the bishop has hardly known how to act. Between +ourselves--but mind this of course must go no farther, Mr +Quiverful.' + +Mr Quiverful said of course that it should not. 'The truth is, that +poor Mr Harding has hardly known his own mind. You remember our +last conversation, no doubt.' + +Mr Quiverful assured him that he remembered it very well indeed. + +'You will remember that I told you that Mr Harding had refused to +return to the hospital.' + +Mr Quiverful declared that nothing could be more distinct in his +memory. + +'And acting on this refusal I suggested that you should take the +hospital,' continued Mr Slope. + +'I understood you to say that the bishop had authorised you to +offer it to me.' + +'Did I? Did I go so far as that? Well, perhaps it may be, that in +my anxiety on your behalf I did commit myself further than I should +have done. So far as my own memory serves me, I don't think I did +go quite so far as that. But I own I was very anxious that you +should get it; and I may have said more than was quite prudent.' + +'But,' said Mr Quiverful, in his deep anxiety to prove his case, +'my wife received as distinct a promise from Mrs Proudie as one +human being could give to another.' + +Mr Slope smiled, and gently shook his head. He meant that smile for +a pleasant smile, but it was diabolical in the eyes of the man he +was speaking to. 'Mrs Proudie!' he said. 'If we are to go to what +passes between the ladies in these matters, we shall really be in a +nest of troubles from which we shall never extricate ourselves. Mrs +Proudie is a most excellent lady, kind-hearted, charitable, pious, +and in every way estimable. But, my dear Mr Quiverful, the +patronage of the diocese is not in her hands.' + +Mr Quiverful for a moment sat panic-stricken and silent. 'Am I to +understand, then, that I have received no promise?' he said, as +soon as he had sufficiently collected his thoughts. + +'If you will allow me, I will tell you exactly how the matter +rests. You certainly did receive a promise conditional on Mr +Harding's refusal. I am sure you will do me the justice to remember +that you yourself declared that you could accept the appointment on +no other condition than the knowledge that Mr Harding had declined +it.' + +'Yes,' said Mr Quiverful; 'I did say that, certainly.' + +'Well; it now appears that he did not refuse it.' + +'But surely you told me, and repeated it more than once, that he +had done so in your hearing.' + +'So I understood him. But it seems I was in error. But don't for a +moment, Mr Quiverful, suppose that I mean to throw you over. No. +Having held out my hand to a man in your position, with your large +family and pressing claims, I am not now going to draw it back +again. I only want you to act with me fairly and honestly.' + +'Whatever I do, I shall endeavour at any rate to act fairly,' said +the poor man, feeling that he had to fall back for support on the +spirit of martyrdom within him. + +'I am sure you will,' said the other. 'I am sure you have no wish +to obtain possession of an income which belongs by all rights to +another. No man knows better than you do Mr Harding's history, or +can better appreciate his character. Mr Harding is very desirous of +returning to his old position, and the bishop feels that he is at +the present moment somewhat hampered, though of course he is not +bound, by the conversation which took place on the matter between +you and me.' + +'Well,' said Mr Quiverful, dreadfully doubtful as to what his +conduct under such circumstances should be, and fruitlessly +striving to harden his nerves with some of that instinct of +self-preservation which made his wife so bold. + +'The wardenship of this little hospital is not the only thing in +the bishop's gift, Mr Quiverful, nor is it by many degrees the +best. And his lordship is not the man to forget any one whom he has +once marked with approval. If you would allow me to advise you as a +friend--' + +'Indeed I shall be grateful to you,' said the poor vicar of +Puddingdale-- + +'I should advise you to withdraw from any opposition to Mr +Harding's claims. If you persist in your demand, I do not think you +will ultimately succeed. Mr Harding has all but a positive right to +the place. But if you will allow me to inform his lordship that you +decline to stand in Mr Harding's way, I think I may promise +you--though, by the bye, it must not be taken as a formal +promise--that the bishop will not allow you to be a poorer man than +you would have been had you become warden.' + +Mr Quiverful sat in his arm chair silent, gazing at vacancy. What +was he to say? All this that came from Mr Slope was so true. Mr +Harding had a right to the hospital. The bishop had a great many +good things to give away. Both the bishop and Mr Slope would be +excellent friends and terrible enemies to a man in his position. +And then he had no proof of any promise; he could not force the +bishop to appoint him. + +'Well, Mr Quiverful, what do you say about it?' + +'Oh, of course, whatever you think, Mr Slope. It's a great +disappointment, a very great disappointment. I won't deny that I am +a very poor man, Mr Slope.' + +'In the end, Mr Quiverful, you will find that it will have been +better for you.' + +The interview ended in Mr Slope receiving a full renunciation from +Mr Quiverful of any claim he might have to the appointment in +question. It was only given verbally and without witnesses; but +then the original promise was made in the same way. + +Mr Slope assured him that he should not be forgotten, and then rode +back to Barchester, satisfied that he would now be able to mould +the bishop to his wishes. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +FOURTEEN ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF MR QUIVERFUL'S CLAIMS + +We have most of us heard of the terrible anger of a lioness when, +surrounded by her cubs, she guards her prey. Few of us wish to +disturb the mother of a litter of puppies when mouthing a bone in +the midst of her young family. Medea and her children are familiar +to us, and so is the grief of Constance. Mrs Quiverful, when she +first heard from her husband the news which he had to impart, felt +within her bosom all the rage of a lioness, the rapacity of the +hound, the fury of the tragic queen, and the deep despair of a +bereaved mother. + +Doubting, but yet hardly fearing, what might have been the tenor of +Mr Slope's discourse, she rushed back to her husband as soon as the +front door was closed behind the visitor. It was well for Mr Slope +that he had so escaped,--the anger of such a woman, at such a +moment, would have cowed even him. As a general rule, it is highly +desirable that ladies should keep their temper; a woman when she +storms always makes herself ugly, and usually ridiculous also. +There is nothing so odious to man as a virago. Though Theseus loved +an Amazon, he showed his love but roughly; and from the time of +Theseus downward, no man ever wished to have his wife remarkable +rather for forward prowess than retiring gentleness. + +Such may be laid down as a general rule; and few women should allow +themselves to deviate from it, and then only on rare occasions. But +if there be a time when a woman may let her hair to the winds, when +she may loose her arms, and scream out trumpet-tongued to the ears +of men, it is when nature calls out within her not for her own +wants, but for the wants of those whom her womb has borne, whom her +breasts have suckled, for those who look to her for their daily +bread as naturally as man looks to his Creator. + +There was nothing poetic in the nature of Mrs Quiverful. She was +neither a Medea nor a Constance. When angry, she spoke out her +anger in plain words, and in a tone which might have been modulated +with advantage; but she did so, at any rate, without affectation. +Now, without knowing it, she rose to a tragic vein. + +'Well, my dear; we are not to have it.' Such were the words with +which her ears were greeted when she entered the parlour, still hot +from the kitchen fire. And the face of her husband spoke even more +plainly than his words:--"E'en such a man, so faint, so spiritless, +So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone, Drew Priam's curtain in +the dead of night." + +'What!' said she,--and Mrs Siddons could not have put more passion +into a single syllable,--'What! Not have it? Who says so?' And she +sat opposite to her husband, with her elbows on the table, her +hands clasped together, and her coarse, solid, but once handsome +face stretched over it towards him. + +She sat as silent as death while he told his story, and very +dreadful to him her silence was. He told it very lamely and badly, +but still in such a manner that she soon understood the whole of +it. + +'And so you have resigned it?' said she. + +'I have had no opportunity of accepting it,' he replied. 'I had no +witnesses to Mr Slope's offer, even if that offer would bind the +bishop. It was better for me, on the whole, to keep on good terms +with such men than to fight for what I should never get!' + +'Witnesses!' she screamed, rising quickly to her feet, and walking +up and down the room. 'Do clergymen require witnesses to their +words? He made the promise in the bishop's name, and if it is to be +broken I'll know the reason why. Did he not positively say that the +bishop had sent him to offer you the place?' + +'He did, my dear. But that is now nothing to the purpose.' + +'It is everything to the purpose, Mr Quiverful. Witnesses indeed! +And then to talk of your honour being questioned because you wish +to provide for fourteen children. It is everything to the purpose; +and so they shall know, if I scream it into their ears from the +town cross of Barchester.' + +'You forget, Letitia, that the bishop has so many things in his +gift. We must wait a little longer. That is all.' + +'Wait! Shall we feed the children by waiting? Will waiting put +George and Tom, and Sam, out into the world? Will it enable my poor +girls to give up some of their drudgery? Will waiting make Bessy +and Jane fit even to be governesses? Will waiting pay for the +things we got in Barchester last week?' + +'It is all we can do, my dear. The disappointment is as much to me +as to you; and yet, God knows, I feel it more for your sake than my +own.' + +Mrs Quiverful was looking full into her husband's face, and saw a +small hot tear appear on each of those furrowed cheeks. This was +too much for her woman's heart. He also had risen, and was standing +with his back to the empty grate. She rushed towards him, and +seizing him in her arms, sobbed aloud upon his bosom. + +'Yes, you are too good, too soft, too yielding,' she said at last. +'These men, when they want you, they use you like a cat's-paw; and +when they want you no longer, they throw you aside like an old +shoe. This is twice they have treated you so.' + +'In one way this will be for the better,' argued he. 'It will make +the bishop feel that he is bound to do something for me.' + +'At any rate, he shall hear of it,' said the lady, again reverting +to her more angry mood. 'At any rate he shall hear of it, and that +loudly; and so shall she. She little knows Letitia Quiverful, if +she thinks I will sit down quietly with the loss after all that +passed between us at the palace. If there's any feeling within her, +I'll make her ashamed of herself,'--and she paced the room again, +stamping the floor as she went with her fat heavy foot. + +'Good heavens! What a heart she must have within her to treat in +such a way as this the father of fourteen unprovided children!' + +Mr Quiverful proceeded to explain that he didn't think that Mrs +Proudie had anything to do with it. + +'Don't tell me,' said Mrs Quiverful; 'I know more about it than +that. Doesn't all the world know that Mrs Proudie is bishop of +Barchester, and that Mr Slope is merely her creature? Wasn't it she +that made me the promise just as though the thing was in her own +particular gift? I tell you, it was that woman who sent him over +here to-day because, for some reason of her own, she wants to go +back on her word.' + +'My dear, you're wrong--' + +'Now, Q, don't be so soft,' she continued. 'Take my word for it, +the bishop knows no more about it than Jemima does.' Jemima was the +two-year old. 'And if you'll take my advice, you'll lose no time in +going over and seeing him yourself.' + +Soft, however, as Mr Quiverful might be, he would not allow himself +to be talked out of his opinion on this occasion; and proceeded +with much minuteness to explain to his wife the tone in which Mr +Slope had spoken of Mrs Proudie's interference in diocesan matters. +As he did so, a new idea gradually instilled itself into the +matron's head, and a new course of action presented itself to her +judgement. What if, after all, Mrs Proudie knew nothing of this +visit of Mr Slope's? In that case, might it not be possible that +that lady would still be staunch to her in this matter, still stand +her friend, and, perhaps, possibly carry her through in opposition +to Mr Slope? Mrs Quiverful said nothing as this vague hope occurred +to her, but listened with more than ordinary patience to what her +husband had to say. While he was still explaining that in all +probability the world was wrong in its estimation of Mrs Proudie's +power and authority, she had fully made up her mind as to her +course of action. She did not, however, proclaim her intention. She +shook her head continuously, as he continued his narration; and +when he had completed she rose to go, merely observing that it was +cruel, cruel treatment. She then asked if he would mind waiting for +a late dinner instead of dining at their usual hour of three, and, +having received from him a concession on this point, she proceeded +to carry her purpose into execution. + +She determined that she would at once go to the palace; that she +would do so, if possible, before Mrs Proudie could have had an +interview with Mr Slope; and that she would be either submissive, +piteous and pathetic, or indignant violent and exacting, according +to the manner in which she was received. + +She was quite confident in her own power. Strengthened as she was +by the pressing wants of fourteen children, she felt that she could +make her way through legions of episcopal servants, and force +herself, if need be, into the presence of the lady who had so +wronged her. She had no shame about it, no mauvaise honte, no dread +of archdeacons. She would, as she declared to her husband, make her +wail heard in the market-place if she did not get redress and +justice. It might be very well for an unmarried young curate to be +shamefaced in such matters; it might be all right that a smug +rector, really in want of nothing, but still looking for better +preferment, should carry out his affairs decently under the rose. +But Mrs Quiverful, with fourteen children, had given over being +shamefaced, and, in some things, had given over being decent. If it +were intended that she should be ill used in the manner proposed by +Mr Slope, it should not be done under the rose. All the world would +know of it. + +In her present mood, Mrs Quiverful was not over careful about her +attire. She tied her bonnet under her chin, threw her shawl over +her shoulders, armed herself with the old family cotton umbrella, +and started for Barchester. A journey to the palace was not quite +so easy a thing for Mrs Quiverful as for our friend at Plumstead. +Plumstead is nine miles from Barchester, and Puddingdale is but +four. But the archdeacon could order round his brougham, and his +high-trotting fast bay gelding would take him into the city within +the hour. There was no brougham in the coach-house of Puddingdale +Vicarage, no bay horse in the stables. There was no method of +locomotion for its inhabitants but that which nature had assigned +to man. + +Mrs Quiverful was a broad heavy woman, not young, nor given to +walking. In her kitchen, and in the family dormitories, she was +active enough; but her pace and gait were not adapted for the road. +A walk into Barchester and back in the middle of an August day +would be to her a terrible task, if not altogether impracticable. +There was living in the parish about half a mile from the vicarage +on the road to the city, a decent, kindly farmer, well to do as +regards this world, and so far mindful of the next that he attended +his parish church with decent regularity. To him Mrs Quiverful had +before now appealed in some of her more pressing family troubles, +and had not appealed in vain. At his door she now presented +herself, and, having explained to his wife that most urgent +business required her to go at once to Barchester, begged that +Farmer Subsoil would take her thither in his tax-cart. The farmer +did not reject her plan; and, as soon as Prince could be got into +his collar, they started on their journey. + +Mrs Quiverful did not mention the purpose of her business, nor did +the farmer alloy his kindness by any unseemly questions. She merely +begged to be put down at the bridge going into the city, and to be +taken up again at the same place in the course of two hours. The +farmer promised to be punctual to his appointment, and the lady, +supported by her umbrella, took the short cut to the close, and in +a few minutes was at the bishop's door. + +Hitherto she had felt no dread with regard to the coming interview. +She had felt nothing but an indignant longing to pour forth her +claims, and declare her wrongs, if those claims were not fully +admitted. But now the difficulty of her situation touched her a +little. She had been at the palace once before, but then she went +to give grateful thanks. Those who have thanks to return for +favours received find easy admittance to the halls of the great. +Such is not always the case with men, or even women, who have +favours to beg. Still less easy is access for those who demand the +fulfilment of promises already made. + +Mrs Quiverful had not been slow to learn the ways of the world. She +knew all this, and she knew also that her cotton umbrella and all +but ragged shawl would not command respect in the eyes of the +palace servants. If she were too humble, she knew well that she +would never succeed. To overcome by imperious overbearing with such +a shawl as hers upon her shoulders, and such a bonnet on her head, +would have required a personal bearing very superior to that which +nature had endowed her. Of this also Mrs Quiverful was aware. She +must make it known she was the wife of a gentleman and a clergyman, +and must yet condescend to conciliate. + +The poor lady knew but one way to overcome these difficulties at +the very threshold of her enterprise, and to this she resorted. Low +as were the domestic funds at Puddingdale, she still retained +possession of a half-crown, and this she sacrificed to the avarice +of Mrs Proudie's metropolitan sesquipedalian serving-man. She was, +she said, Mrs Quiverful of Puddingdale, the wife of the Rev. Mr +Quiverful. She wished to see Mrs Proudie. It was indeed quite +indispensible that she should see Mrs Proudie. James Fitzplush +looked worse than dubious, did not know whether his lady were out, +or engaged, or in her bed-room; thought it most probable that she +was subject to one of these or to some cause that would make her +invisible; but Mrs Quiverful could sit down in the waiting-room, +while inquiry was being made of Mrs Proudie. + +'Look here, man,' said Mrs Quiverful; 'I must see her;' and she put +her card and half-crown--think of it, my reader, think of it; her +last half-crown--into the man's hand, and sat herself down on a +chair in the waiting-room. + +Whether the bribe carried the day, or whether the bishop's wife +really chose to see the vicar's wife, it boots not now to inquire. +The man returned, and begging Mrs Quiverful to follow him, ushered +her into the presence of the mistress of the diocese. + +Mrs Quiverful at once saw that her patroness was in a smiling +humour. Triumph sat throned upon her brow, and all the joys of +dominion hovered about her curls. Her lord had that morning +contested with her a great point. He had received an invitation to +spend a couple of days with the archbishop. His soul longed for the +gratification. Not a word, however, in his grace's note alluded to +the fact that he was a married man; and, if he went at all, he must +go alone. This necessity would have presented an insurmountable bar +to the visit, or have militated against the pleasure, had he been +able to go without reference to Mrs Proudie. But this he could not +do. He could not order his portmanteau to be packed, and start with +his own man, merely telling the lady of his heart that he would +probably be back on Saturday. There are men--may we not rather say +monsters?--who do such things; and there are wives--may we not +rather say slaves?--who put up with such usage. But Dr and Mrs +Proudie were not among the number. + +The bishop with some beating about the bush, made the lady +understand that he very much wished to go. The lady, without any +beating about the bush, made the bishop understand that she +wouldn't hear of it. It would be useless here to repeat the +arguments that were used on each side, and needless to record the +result. Those who are married will understand very well how the +battle was lost and won; and those who are single will never +understand it till they learn the lesson which experience alone can +give. When Mrs Quiverful was shown into Mrs Proudie's room, that +lady had only returned a few minutes from her lord. But before she +left him she had seen the answer to the archbishop's note written +and sealed. No wonder that her face was wreathed with smiles as she +received Mrs Quiverful. + +She instantly spoke of the subject which was so near the heart of +her visitor. 'Well, Mrs Quiverful,' said she, 'is it decided yet +when you are to move to Barchester?' + +'That woman', as she had an hour or two since been called, became +instantly re-endowed with all the graces that can adorn a bishop's +wife. Mrs Quiverful immediately saw that her business was to be +piteous, and that nothing was to be gained by indignation; nothing, +indeed, unless she could be indignant in company with her +patroness. + +'Oh, Mrs Proudie,' she began, 'I fear we are not to move to +Barchester at all.' + +'Why not?' said the lady sharply, dropping at a moment's notice her +smiles and condescension, and turning with her sharp quick way to +business which she saw at a glance was important. + +And then Mrs Quiverful told her tale. As she progressed in the +history of her wrongs she perceived that the heavier she leant upon +Mr Slope the blacker became Mrs Proudie's brow, but that such +blackness was not injurious to her own cause. When Mr Slope was at +Puddingdale vicarage that morning she had regarded him as the +creature of the lady-bishop; now she perceived that they were +enemies. She admitted her mistake to herself without any pain or +humiliation. She had but one feeling, and that was confined to her +family. She cared little how she twisted and turned among these +new-comers at the bishop's palace as long as she could twist her +husband into the warden's house. She cared not which was her friend +or which was her enemy, if only she could get this preference which +she so sorely wanted. + +She told her tale, and Mrs Proudie listened to it almost in +silence. She told how Mr Slope had cozened her husband into +resigning his claim, and had declared that it was the bishop's will +that none but Mr Harding should be warden. Mrs Proudie's brow +became blacker and blacker. At last she started from her chair, and +begging Mrs Quiverful to sit and wait for her return, marched out +of the room. + +'Oh, Mrs Proudie, it's for fourteen children--for fourteen +children.' Such was the burden that fell on her ear as she closed +the door behind her. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MRS PROUDIE TAKES A FALL + +It was hardly an hour since Mrs Proudie had left her husband's +apartment victorious, and yet so indomitable was her courage that +she now returned thither panting for another combat. She was +greatly angry with what she thought was his duplicity. He had so +clearly given her a promise on this matter of the hospital. He had +been already so absolutely vanquished on that point. Mrs Proudie +began to feel that if every affair was to be thus discussed and +battled about twice and even thrice, the work of the diocese would +be too much even for her. + +Without knocking at the door she walked quickly into her husband's +room and found him seated at his office table, with Mr Slope +opposite to him. Between his fingers was the very note which he had +written to the archbishop in her presence--and it was open! Yes, he +had absolutely violated the seal which had been made sacred by her +approval. They were sitting in deep conclave, and it was too clear +that the purport of the archbishop's invitation had been absolutely +canvassed again, after it had been already debated and decided on +in obedience to her behests! Mr Slope rose from his chair, and +bowed slightly. The two opposing spirits looked each other fully in +the face, and they knew that they were looking each at an enemy. + +'What is this, bishop, about Mr Quiverful?' said she, coming to the +end of the table and standing there. + +Mr Slope did not allow the bishop to answer, but replied himself. +'I have been out to Puddingdale this morning, ma'am, and have seen +Mr Quiverful. Mr Quiverful has abandoned his claim to the hospital, +because he is now aware that Mr Harding is desirous to fill his old +place. Under these circumstances I have strongly advised his +lordship to nominate Mr Harding.' + +'Mr Quiverful has not abandoned anything,' said the lady, with a +very imperious voice. 'His lordship's word has been pledged to him, +and it must be respected.' + +The bishop still remained silent. He was anxiously desirous of +making his old enemy bite the dust beneath his feet. His new ally +had told him that nothing was more easy for him than to do so. The +ally was there now at his elbow to help him, and yet his courage +failed him. It is so hard to conquer when the prestige of the +former victories is all against one. It is so hard for the cock who +has once been beaten out of his yard to resume his courage and +again take a proud place upon a dunghill. + +'Perhaps I ought not to interfere,' said Mr Slope, 'but yet--' + +'Certainly you ought not,' said the infuriated dame. + +'But yet,' continued Mr Slope, not regarding the interruption, 'I +have thought it my imperative duty to recommend to the bishop not +to slight Mr Harding's claims.' + +'Mr Harding should have known his own mind,' said the lady. + +'If Mr Harding be not replaced at the hospital, his lordship will +have to encounter much ill will, not only in the diocese, but in +the world at large. Besides, taking a higher ground, his lordship, +as I understood, feels it to be his duty to gratify, in this +matter, so very worthy a man and so good a clergyman as Mr +Harding.' + +'And what is to become of the Sabbath-day school, and of the Sunday +services in the hospital?' said Mrs Proudie, with something very +nearly approaching to a sneer on her face. + +'I understand that Mr Harding makes no objection to the Sabbath-day +school,' said Mr Slope. 'And as to the hospital services, that +matter will be best discussed after his appointment. If he has any +personal objection, then, I fear, the matter must rest.' + +'You have a very easy conscience in such matters, Mr Slope,' said +she. + +'I should not have an easy conscience,' he rejoined, 'but a +conscience very far from being easy, if anything said or done by me +should lead the bishop to act unadvisedly on this matter. It is +clear that in the interview I had with Mr Harding, I misunderstood +him--' + +'And it is equally clear that you have misunderstood Mr Quiverful,' +said she, not at the top of her wrath. 'What business have you at +all with these interviews? Who desired you to go to Mr Quiverful +this morning? Who commissioned you to manage this affair? Will you +answer me, sir?--who sent you to Mr Quiverful this morning?' + +There was a dead pause in the room. Mr Slope had risen from his +chair, and was standing with his hand on the back of it, looking at +first very solemn and now very black. Mrs Proudie was standing as +she had at first placed herself, at the end of the table, and as +she interrogated her foe she struck her hand upon it with almost +more than feminine vigour. The bishop was sitting in his easy chair +twiddling his thumbs, turning his eyes now to his wife, and now to +his chaplain, as each took up the cudgels. How comfortable it would +be if they could fight it out between them without the necessity of +any interference on his part; fight it out so that one should kill +the other utterly, as far as the diocesan life was concerned, so +that he, the bishop, might know clearly by whom it behoved him to +be led. There would be the comfort of quiet in either case; but if +the bishop had a wish as to which might prove the victor, that wish +was certainly not antagonistic to Mr Slope. + +'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know', is an +old saying, and perhaps a true one; but the bishop had not yet +realised the truth of it. + +'Will you answer me, sir?' she repeated. 'Who instructed you to +call on Mr Quiverful this morning?' There was another pause. 'Do +you intend to answer me, sir?' + +'I think, Mrs Proudie, that under all the circumstances it will be +better for me not to answer such a question,' said Mr Slope. Mr +Slope had many tones in his voice, all duly under his command; +among them was a sanctified low tone, and a sanctified loud tone; +and he now used the former. + +'Did anyone send you, sir?' + +'Mrs Proudie,' said Mr Slope, 'I am quite aware how much I owe to +your kindness. I am aware also what is due by courtesy from a +gentleman to a lady. But there are higher considerations than +either of those, and I hope I shall be forgiven if I now allow +myself to be actuated solely by them. My duty in this matter is to +his lordship, and I can admit of no questioning but from him. He +has approved of what I have done, and you must excuse me if I say, +that having that approval and my own, I want none other.' + +What horrid words were these which greeted the ear of Mrs Proudie? +The matter was indeed too clear. There was premeditated mutiny in +the camp. Not only had ill-conditioned minds become insubordinate +by the fruition of a little power. The bishop had not yet been +twelve months in this chair, and rebellion had already reared her +hideous head within the palace. Anarchy and misrule would quickly +follow, unless she took immediate and strong measures to put down +the conspiracy which she had detected. + +'Mr Slope,' she said, with slow and dignified voice, differing much +from that which she had hitherto used, 'Mr Slope, I will trouble +you, if you please, to leave the apartment. I wish to speak to my +lord alone.' + +Mr Slope also felt that everything depended on the present +interview. Should the bishop now be repetticoated, his thraldom +would be complete and for ever. The present moment was peculiarly +propitious for rebellion. The bishop had clearly committed himself +by breaking the seal of the answer to the archbishop; he had +therefore fear to influence him. Mr Slope had told him that no +consideration ought to induce him to refuse the archbishop's +invitation; he had therefore hoped to influence him. He had +accepted Mr Quiverful's resignation, and therefore dreaded having +to renew that matter with his wife. He had been screwed up to the +pitch of asserting a will of his own, and might possibly be carried +on till by an absolute success he should have been taught how +possible it was to succeed. Now was the moment for victory or rout. +It was now that Mr Slope must make himself master of the diocese, +or else resign his place and begin his search for fortune again. He +saw all this plainly. After what had taken place any compromise +between him and the lady was impossible. Let him once leave the +room at her bidding, and leave the bishop in her hands, and he +might at once pack up his portmanteau and bid adieu to episcopal +honours, Mrs Bold, and the Signora Neroni. + +And yet it was not so easy to keep his ground when he was bidden by +a lady to go; or to continue to make a third in a party between +husband and wife when the wife expressed a wish for a tete-a-tete +with her husband. + +'Mr Slope,' she repeated, 'I wish to be alone with my lord.' + +'His lordship has summoned me on most important diocesan business,' +said Mr Slope, glancing with uneasy eye at Dr Proudie. He felt that +he must trust something to the bishop, and yet that trust was so +woefully misplaced. 'My leaving him at the present moment is, I +fear, impossible.' + +'Do you bandy words with me, you ungrateful man?' said she. 'My +lord, will you do me the favour to beg Mr Slope to leave the room?' + +My lord scratched his head, but for the moment said nothing. This +was as much as Mr Slope expected from him, and was on the whole, +for him, an active exercise of marital rights. + +'My lord,' said the lady, 'is Mr Slope to leave this room, or am +I?' + +Here Mrs Proudie made a false step. She should not have alluded to +the possibility of retreat on her part. She should not have +expressed the idea that her order for Mr Slope's expulsion could be +treated otherwise than by immediate obedience. In answer to such a +question the bishop naturally said in his own mind, that it was +necessary that one should leave the room, perhaps it might be as +well that Mrs Proudie did so. He did say so in his own mind, but +externally he again scratched his head and again twiddled his +thumbs. + +Mrs Proudie was boiling over with wrath. Alas, alas! could she but +have kept her temper as her enemy did, she would have conquered as +she had ever conquered. But divine anger got the better of her, as +it has done of other heroines, and she fell. + +'My lord,' said she, 'am I to be vouchsafed an answer or am I not?' + +At last he broke his deep silence and proclaimed himself a +Slopeite. 'Why, my dear,' said he, 'Mr Slope and I are very busy.' + +That was all. There was nothing more necessary. He had gone to the +battle-field, stood the dust and heat of the day, encountered the +fury of the foe, and won the victory. How easy is success to those +who will only be true to themselves! + +Mr Slope saw at once the full amount of his gain, and turned on the +vanquished lady a look of triumph which she never forgot and never +forgave. Here he was wrong. He should have looked humbly at her, +and with meek entreating eye had deprecated her anger. He should +have said by his glance that he asked pardon for his success, and +that he hoped forgiveness for the stand which he had been forced to +make in the cause of duty. So might he perchance have somewhat +mollified that imperious bosom, and prepared the way for future +terms. But Mr Slope meant to rule without terms. Ah, forgetful, +inexperienced man! Can you cause that little trembling victim to be +divorced from the woman who possesses him? Can you provide that +they shall be separated at bed and board? Is he not flesh of her +flesh and bone of her bone, and must he not so continue? It is very +well now for you to stand your ground, and triumph as she is driven +ignominiously from the room; but can you be present when those +curtains are drawn, when that awful helmet of proof has been tied +beneath the chin, when the small remnants of the bishop's prowess +shall be cowed by the tassel above his head? Can you then intrude +yourself when the wife wishes 'to speak to my lord alone?' + +But for the moment Mr Slope's triumph was complete; for Mrs Proudie +without further parley left the room, and did not forget to shut +the door after her. Then followed a close conference between the +new allies, to which was said much which it astonished Mr Slope to +say and the bishop to hear. And yet the one said it and the other +heard it without ill will. There was no mincing of matters now. The +chaplain plainly told the bishop that the world gave him credit for +being under the governance of his wife; that his credit and +character in the diocese was suffering; that he would surely get +himself into hot water if he allowed Mrs Proudie to interfere in +matters which were not suitable for a woman's powers; and in fact +that he would become contemptible if he did not throw off the yoke +under which he groaned. The bishop at first hummed and hawed, and +affected to deny the truth of what was said. But his denial was by +silence and quickly broke down. He soon admitted by silence his +state of vassalage, and pledged himself with Mr Slope's assistance, +to change his courses. Mr Slope did not make out a bad case for +himself. He explained how it grieved him to run counter to a lady +who had always been his patroness, who had befriended him in so +many ways, who had, in fact, recommended him to the bishop's +notice; but, as he stated, his duty was now imperative; he held a +situation of peculiar confidence, and was immediately and +especially attached to the bishop's person. In such a situation his +conscience required that he should regard solely the bishop's +interests, and therefore he had ventured to speak out. + +The bishop took this for what it was worth, and Mr Slope only +intended that he should do so. It gilded the pill which Mr Slope +had to administer, and which the bishop thought would be less +bitter than that other pill which he had been so long taking. + +'My lord,' had his immediate reward, like a good child. He was +instructed to write and at once did write another note to the +archbishop accepting his grace's invitation. This note Mr Slope, +more prudent than the lady, himself took away and posted with his +own hands. Thus he made sure that this act of self-jurisdiction +should be as nearly as possible a fait accompli. He begged, and +coaxed, and threatened the bishop with a view of making him also +write at once to Mr Harding; but the bishop, though temporarily +emancipated from his wife, was not yet enthralled to Mr Slope. He +said, and probably said truly, that such an offer must be made in +some official form; that he was not yet prepared to sign the form; +and that he should prefer seeing Mr Harding before he did so. Mr +Slope, might, however, beg Mr Harding to call upon him. Not +disappointed with his achievement Mr Slope went his way. He first +posted the precious note which he had in his pocket, and then +pursued other enterprises in which we must follow him in other +chapters. + +Mrs Proudie, having received such satisfaction as was to be derived +from slamming her husband's door, did not at once betake herself to +Mrs Quiverful. Indeed for the first few moments after her repulse +she felt that she could not again see that lady. She would have to +own that she had been beaten, to confess that the diadem had passed +from her brow, and the sceptre from her hand! No, she would send a +message to her with the promise of a letter on the next day or the +day after. Thus resolving, she betook herself to her bed-room; but +here she again changed her mind. The air of that sacred enclosure +restored her courage, and gave her some heart. As Achilles warmed +at the sight of his armour, as Don Quixote's heart grew strong when +he grasped his lance, so did Mrs Proudie look forward to fresh +laurels, as her hey fell on her husband's pillow. She would not +despair. Having so resolved, she descended with dignified mien and +refreshed countenance to Mrs Quiverful. + +This scene in the bishop's study took longer in the acting than in +the telling. We have not, perhaps, had the whole of the +conversation. At any rate Mrs Quiverful was beginning to be very +impatient, and was thinking that farmer Subsoil would be tired of +waiting for her, when Mrs Proudie returned. Oh! Who can tell the +palpitations of that maternal heart, as the suppliant looked into +the face of the great lady to see written there either a promise of +a house, income, comfort, and future competence, or else the doom +of continued and ever increasing poverty. Poor mother! Poor wife! +There was little there to comfort you! + +'Mrs Quiverful,' thus spoke the lady with considerable austerity, +and without sitting down herself. 'I find that your husband has +behaved in this matter in a very weak and foolish manner.' + +Mrs Quiverful immediately rose upon her feet, thinking it +disrespectful to remain sitting while the wife of the bishop stood. +But she was desired to sit down again, and made to do so, so that +Mrs Proudie might stand and preach over her. It is generally +considered an offensive thing for a gentleman to keep his seat +while another is kept standing before him, and we presume the same +law holds with regard to ladies. It often is so felt; but we are +inclined to say that it never produces half the discomfort or half +the feeling of implied inferiority that is shown by a great man who +desires his visitor to be seated while he himself speaks from his +legs. Such a solecism in good breeding, when construed into English +means this: "The accepted rule of courtesy in the world require +that I should offer you a seat; if I did not do so, you would bring +a charge against me in the world of being arrogant and +ill-mannered; I will obey the world; but, nevertheless, I will not +put myself on an equality with you. You may sit down, but I won't +sit with you. Sit, therefore, at my bidding, and I'll stand and +talk to you." + +This was just what Mrs Proudie meant to say; and Mrs Quiverful, +though she was too anxious and too flurried thus to translate the +full meaning of the manoeuvre, did not fail to feel its effect. She +was cowed and uncomfortable, and a second time essayed to rise from +her chair. + +'Pray be seated, Mrs Quiverful, pray keep your seat. Your husband, +I say, has been most weak and most foolish. It is impossible, Mrs +Quiverful, to help people who will not help themselves. I much fear +that I can now do nothing for you in this matter.' + +'Oh! Mrs Proudie--don't say so,' said the poor woman, again jumping +up. + +'Pray be seated, Mrs Quiverful. I much fear that I can do nothing +further for you in this matter. Your husband has, in a most +unaccountable manner, taken upon himself to resign that which I was +empowered to offer him. As a matter of course, the bishop expects +that his clergy shall know their own minds. What he may ultimately +do--what we may finally decide on doing--I cannot say. Knowing the +extent of your family--' + +'Fourteen children, Mrs Proudie, fourteen of them! and hardly +bread--barely bread! It's hard for the children of a clergyman, +it's hard for one who has always done his duty respectably!' Not a +word fell from her about herself; but the tears came running down +her big coarse cheeks, on which the dust of the August road had +left its traces. + +Mrs Proudie has not been portrayed in these pages as an agreeable +or amiable lady. There has been no intention to impress the reader +much in her favour. It is ordained that all novels should have a +male and female angel, and a male and female devil. If it be +considered that this rule is obeyed in these pages, the latter +character must be supposed to have fallen to the lot of Mrs +Proudie. But she was not all devil. There was a heart inside that +stiff-ribbed bodice, though not, perhaps, of large dimensions, and +certainly not easily accessible. Mrs Quiverful, however, did gain +access, and Mrs Proudie proved herself a woman. Whether it was the +fourteen children with their probable bare bread and the possible +bare backs, or the respectability of the father's work, or the +mingled dust and tears on the mother's face, we will not pretend to +say. But Mrs Proudie was touched. + +She did not show it as other women might have done. She did not +give Mrs Quiverful eau-de-Cologne, or order her a glass of wine. +She did not take her to her toilet table, and offer her the use of +brushes and combs, towels and water. She did not say soft little +speeches and coax her kindly with equanimity. Mrs Quiverful, +despite her rough appearance, would have been as amenable to such +little tender cares as any lady in the land. But none such was +forthcoming. Instead of that, Mrs Proudie slapped one hand upon the +other, and declared--not with an oath; for as a lady and a +Sabbatarian and a she-bishop, she could not swear,--but with an +adjuration, that 'she wouldn't have it done.' + +The meaning of this was that she wouldn't have Mr Quiverful's +promised appointment cozened away by the treachery of Mr Slope and +the weakness of her husband. This meaning she very soon explained +to Mrs Quiverful. + +'Why was your husband such a fool,' said she, now dismounted from +her high horse and sitting confidentially down close to her +visitor, 'as to take the bait which that man threw to him? If he +had not been so utterly foolish, nothing could have prevented your +going to the hospital.' + +Poor Mrs Quiverful was ready enough with her own tongue in accusing +her husband to his face of being soft, and perhaps she did not +always speak of him to her children quite so respectfully as she +might have done. But she did not like to hear him abused by others, +and began to vindicate him, and to explain that of course he had +taken Mr Slope to be an emissary of Mrs Proudie herself; that Mr +Slope was thought to be peculiarly her friend; and that, therefore, +Mr Quiverful would have been failing in respect to her had he +assumed to doubt what Mr Slope had said. + +Thus mollified Mrs Proudie again declared that she 'would not have +it done,' and at last sent Mrs Quiverful home with an assurance +that, to the furthest stretch of her power and influence in the +palace, the appointment of Mr Quiverful should be insisted upon. As +she repeated that word 'insisted', she thought of the bishop in his +night-cap, and with compressed lips slightly shook her head. Oh! my +aspiring pastors, divines to whose ears nolo episcopari are the +sweetest of words, which of you would be a bishop on such terms as +these? + +Mrs Quiverful got home in the farmer's cart, not indeed with a +light heart, but satisfied that she had done right in making her +visit. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A LOVE SCENE + +Mr Slope, as we have said, left the palace with a feeling of +considerable triumph. Not that he thought that his difficulties +were over; he did not so deceive himself; but he felt that he had +played his first move well, as well as the pieces on the board +would allow; and that he had nothing with which to reproach +himself. He first of all posted the letter to the archbishop, and +having made that sure he proceeded to push the advantage which he +had gained. Had Mrs Bold been at home, he would have called on her; +but he knew that she was at Plumstead, as he wrote the following +note. It was the beginning of what, he trusted, might be a long and +tender series of epistles. + +'My dear Mrs Bold,--You will understand perfectly that I cannot at +present correspond with your father. I heartily wish that I could, +and hope the day may be not long distant, when mists shall have +cleared away, and we may know each other. But I cannot preclude +myself from the pleasure of sending you these few lines to say that +Mr Q. has to-day, in my presence, resigned any title that he ever +had to the wardenship of the hospital, and that the bishop has +assured me that it is his intention to offer it to your esteemed +father. + +'Will you, with my respectful compliments, ask him, who I believe +is a fellow visitor with you, to call on the bishop either on +Wednesday or Thursday, between ten and one. This is by the bishop's +desire. If you will so far oblige me as to let me have a line +naming either day, and the hour which will suit Mr Harding, I will +take care that the servants shall have orders to show him in +without delay. Perhaps I should say no more,--but still I wish you +could make your father understand that no subject will be mooted +between his lordship and him, which will refer at all to the method +in which he may choose to perform his duty. I for one, am persuaded +that no clergyman could perform it more satisfactorily than he did, +or than he will do again. + +'On a former occasion I was indiscreet and much too impatient, +considering your father's age and my own. I hope he will not now +refuse my apology. I still hope also that with your aid and sweet +pious labours, we may live to attach such a Sabbath school to the +old endowment, as may, by God's grace and furtherance, be a +blessing to the poor of this city. + +'You will see at once that this letter is confidential. The +subject, of course, makes it so. But, equally, of course, it is for +your parent's eye as well as for your own, should you think it +proper to show it to him. + +'I hope my darling little friend Johnny is as strong as ever,-- +dear little fellow. Does he still continue his rude assaults on +those beautiful long silken tresses? + +'I can assure your friends miss you from Barchester sorely; but it +would be cruel to begrudge you your sojourn among flowers and +fields during this truly sultry weather. + +'Pray believe me, my dear Mrs Bold Yours most sincerely, 'OBADIAH +SLOPE. 'Barchester, Friday.' + +Now this letter, taken as a whole, and with the consideration that +Mr Slope wished to assume a great degree of intimacy with Eleanor, +would not have been bad, but for the allusion to the tresses. +Gentlemen do not write to ladies about their tresses, unless they +are on very intimate terms indeed. But Mr Slope could not be +expected to be aware of this. He longed to put a little affection +into his epistle, and yet he thought it injudicious, as the letter +would he knew be shown to Mr Harding. He would have insisted that +the letter should be strictly private and seen by no eyes but +Eleanor's own, had he not felt that such an injunction would have +been disobeyed. He therefore restrained his passion, did not sign +himself 'yours affectionately,' and contented himself instead with +the compliment to the tresses. + +We will now follow his letter. He took it to Mrs Bold's house, and +learning there, from the servant, that things were to be sent out +to Plumstead that afternoon, left it, with many injunctions, in her +hands. + +We will now follow Mr Slope so as to complete the day with him, and +then return to his letter and its momentous fate in the next +chapter. + +There is an old song which gives us some very good advice about +courting:-- + + "It's gude to be off with the auld luve + Before ye be on wi' the new." + +Of the wisdom of this maxim Mr Slope was ignorant, and accordingly, +having written his letter to Mrs Bold, he proceeded to call upon +the Signora Neroni. Indeed it was hard to say which was the old +love and which was the new, Mr Slope having been smitten with both +so nearly at the same time. Perhaps he thought it not amiss to have +two strings to his bow. But two strings to Cupid's bow are always +dangerous to him on whose behalf they are to be used. A man should +remember that between two stools he may fall to the ground. + +But in sooth Mr Slope was pursuing Mrs Bold in obedience to his +better instincts, and the signora in obedience to his worse. Had he +won the widow and worn her, no one could have blamed him. You, O +reader, and I, and Eleanor's other friends would have received the +story of such a winning with much disgust and disappointment; but +we should have been angry with Eleanor, not with Mr Slope. Bishop, +male and female, dean and chapter and diocesan clergy in full +congress, could have found nothing to disapprove of in such an +alliance. Convocation itself, that mysterious and mighty synod, +could in no wise have fallen foul of it. The possession of L 1000 a +year and a beautiful wife would not al all have hurt the voice of +the pulpit character, or lessened the grace and piety of the +exemplary clergyman. + +But not of such a nature were likely to be his dealings with the +Signora Neroni. In the first place he knew that her husband was +living, and therefore he could not woo her honestly. Then again she +had nothing to recommend her to his honest wooing had such been +possible. She was not only portionless, but also from misfortune +unfitted to be chosen as the wife of any man who wanted a useful +mate. Mr Slope was aware that she was a helpless hopeless cripple. + +But Mr Slope could not help himself. He knew that he was wrong in +devoting his time to the back drawing-room in Dr Stanhope's house. +He knew that what took place would if divulged utterly ruin him +with Mrs Bold. He knew that scandal would soon come upon his heels +and spread abroad among the black coats of Barchester some tidings, +some exaggerated tidings, of the sighs which he poured into the +lady's ears. He knew that he was acting against the recognised +principles of his life, against those laws of conduct by which he +hoped to achieve much higher success. But as we have said, he could +not help himself. Passion, for the first time in his life, passion +was too strong for him. + +As for the signora, no such plea can be put forward for her, for in +truth, she cared no more for Mr Slope than she did for twenty +others who had been at her feet before him. She willingly, nay +greedily, accepted his homage. He was the finest fly that +Barchester had hitherto afforded to her web; and the signora was a +powerful spider that made wondrous webs, and could in no way live +without catching flies. Her taste in this respect was abominable, +for she had no use for the victims when caught. She could not eat +them matrimonially as young lady-flies do whose webs are most +frequently of their mother's weaving. Nor could she devour them by +any escapade of a less legitimate description. Her unfortunate +affliction precluded her from all hope of levanting with a lover. +It would be impossible to run away with a lady who required three +servants to move her from a sofa. + +The signora was subdued by no passion. Her time for love was gone. +She had lived out her heart, such heart as she ever had ever had, +in her early years, at an age when Mr Slope was thinking of his +second book of Euclid and his unpaid bill at the buttery hatch. In +age the lady was younger than the gentleman; but in feelings, in +knowledge of the affairs of love, in intrigue, he was immeasurably +her junior. It was necessary to her to have some man at her feet. +It was the one customary excitement of her life. She delighted in +the exercise of power which this gave her; it was now nearly the +only food for her ambition; she would boast to her sister that she +could make a fool of any man, and the sister, as little imbued with +feminine delicacy as herself, good naturedly thought it but fair +that such amusement should be afforded to a poor invalid who was +debarred from the ordinary pleasures of life. + +Mr Slope was madly in love, but hardly knew it. The signora spitted +him, as a boy does a cockchafer on a cork, that she might enjoy the +energetic agony of his gyrations. And she knew very well what she +was doing. + +Mr Slope having added to his person all such adornments as are +possible to a clergyman making a morning visit, such as a clean +neck tie, clean handkerchief, new gloves, and a soupcon of not +necessary scent, called about three o'clock at the doctor's house. +At about this hour the signora was almost always in the back +drawing-room. The mother had not come down. The doctor was out or +in his own room. Bertie was out, and Charlotte at any rate left the +room if any one called whose object was specially with her sister. +Such was her idea of being charitable and sisterly. + +Mr Slope, as was his custom, asked for Mr Stanhope, and was told, +as was the servant's custom, that the signora was in the +drawing-room. Upstairs he accordingly went. He found her, as he +always did, lying on her sofa with a French volume before her, and +a beautiful little inlaid writing case open on her table. At the +moment of his entrance she was in the act of writing. + +'Ah, my friend,' said she, putting out her left hand to him across +the desk, 'I did not expect you to-day and was this very instant +writing to you--' + +Mr Slope, taking the soft fair delicate hand in his, and very soft +and fair and delicate it was, bowed over it his huge red head and +kissed it. It was a sight to see, a deed to record if the author +could fitly do it, a picture to put on canvas. Mr Slope was big, +awkward, cumbrous, and having his heart in his pursuit was ill at +ease. The lady was fair, as we have said, and delicate; every thing +about her was fine and refined; her hand in his looked like a rose +lying among carrots, and when he kissed it he looked as a cow might +do on finding such a flower among her food. She was graceful as a +couchant goddess, and, moreover, as self-possessed as Venus must +have been when courting Adonis. + +Oh, that such grace and such beauty should have condescended to +waste itself on such a pursuit! + +'I was in the act of writing to you,' said she, 'but now my scrawl +may go into the basket;' and she raised the sheet of gilded note +paper from off her desk as though to tear it. + +'Indeed it shall not,' said he, laying the embargo of half a stone +weight of human flesh and blood upon the devoted paper. 'Nothing +that you write for my eyes, signora, shall be so desecrated,' and +he took up the letter, put that also among the carrots and fed on +it, and then proceeded to read it. + +'Gracious me! Mr Slope,' said she. 'I hope you don't mean to say +that you keep all the trash I write to you. Half my time I don't +know what I write, and when I do, I know it is only fit for the +black of the fire. I hope you have not that ugly trick of keeping +letters.' + +'At any rate I don't throw them into a waste-paper basket. If +destruction is their doomed lot, they perish worthily, and are +burnt on a pyre, as Dido was of old.' + +'With a steel pen stuck through them, of course,' said she, 'to +make the simile more complete. Of all the ladies of my acquaintance +I think Lady Dido was the most absurd. Why did she not do as +Cleopatra did? Why did she not take out her ships and insist on +going with him? She could not bear to lose the land she had got by +a swindle; and then she could not bear the loss of her lover. So +she fell between two stools. Mr Slope, whatever you do, never +mingle love and business.' + +Mr Slope blushed up to his eyes, and over his mottled forehead to +the very roots of his hair. He felt sure that the signora knew all +about his intentions with reference to Mrs Bold. His conscience +told him that he was detected. His doom was to be spoken; he was to +be punished for his duplicity, and rejected by the beautiful +creature before him. Poor man. He little dreamt that had all his +intentions with reference to Mrs Bold been known to the signora, it +would only have added zest to that lady's amusement. It was all +very well to have Mr Slope at her feet, to show her power by making +an utter fool of a clergyman, to gratify her own infidelity by thus +proving the little strength which religion had in controlling the +passions even of a religious man; but it would be an increased +gratification if she could be made to understand that she was at +the same time alluring her victim away from another, whose love if +secured would be in every way beneficial and salutary. + +The signora had indeed discovered with the keen instinct of such a +woman, that Mr Slope was bent on matrimony with Mrs Bold, but in +alluding to Dido she had not thought of it. She instantly +perceived, however, from her lover's blushes, what was on his mind, +and was not slow in taking advantage of it. + +She looked at him full in the face, not angrily, nor yet with a +smile, but with an intense and overpowering gaze; and then holding +up her forefinger, and slightly shaking her head she said:- +'Whatever you do, my friend, do not mingle love and business. +Either stick to your treasure and your city of wealth, or else +follow your love like a true man. But never attempt both. If you +do, you'll have to die with a broken heart as did poor Dido. Which +is it to be with you, Mr Slope, love or money?' + +Mr Slope was not so ready with a pathetic answer as he usually was +with touching episodes in his extempore sermons. He felt that he +ought to say something pretty, something also that should remove +the impression on the mind of his lady love. But he was rather put +about how to do it. + +'Love,' said he, 'true overpowering love, must be the strongest +passion a man can feel; it must control every other wish, and put +aside every other pursuit. But with me love will never act in that +way unless it is returned;' and he threw upon the signora a look of +tenderness which was intended to make up for all the deficiencies +of his speech. + +'Take my advice,' said she. 'Never mind love. After all, what is +it? The dream of a few weeks. That is all its joy. The +disappointment of a life is its Nemesis. Who was ever successful in +true love? Success in love argues that the love is false. True love +is always despondent or tragical. Juliet loved. Haidee loved. Dido +loved, and what came of it? Troilus loved and ceased to be a man.' + +'Troilus loved and he was fooled,' said the more manly chaplain. 'A +man may love and yet not be a Troilus. All women are not Cressids.' + +'No; all women are not Cressids. The falsehood is not always on the +woman's side. Imogen was true, but now was she rewarded? Her lord +believed her to be the paramour of the first he who came near her +in his absence. Desdemona was true and was smothered. Ophelia was +true and went mad. There is no happiness in love, except at the end +of an English novel. But in wealth, money, houses, lands, goods and +chattels, in the good things of this world, yes, in them there is +something tangible, something that can be retained and enjoyed.' + +'Oh, no,' said Mr Slope, feeling himself bound to enter some +protest against so very unorthodox a doctrine, 'this world's wealth +will make no one happy.' + +'And what will make you happy--you--you?' said she, raising herself +up, and speaking to him with energy across the table. 'From what +source do you look for happiness? Do not say that you look for +none? I shall not believe you. It is a search in which every human +being spends an existence.' + +'And the search is always in vain,' said Mr Slope. 'We look for +happiness on earth, while we ought to be content to hope for it in +heaven.' + +'Pshaw! you preach a doctrine which you know you don't believe. It +is the way with you all. If you know that there is no earthly +happiness, why do you long to be a bishop or a dean? Why do you +want lands and income?' + +'I have the natural ambition of a man,' said he. + +'Of course you have, and the natural passions; and therefore I say +that you don't believe the doctrine you preach. St Paul was an +enthusiast. He believed so that his ambition and passions did not +war against his creed. So does the Eastern fanatic who passes half +his life erect upon a pillar. As for me, I will believe in no +belief that does not make itself manifest by outward signs. I will +think no preaching sincere that is not recommended by the practice +of the preacher.' + +Mr Slope was startled and horrified, but he felt that he could not +answer. How could he stand up and preach the lessons of his Master, +being there as he was, on the devil's business? He was a true +believer, otherwise this would have been nothing to him. He had +audacity for most things, but he had not audacity to make a +plaything of the Lord's word. All this the signora understood, and +felt much interest as she saw her cockchafer whirl round upon her +pin. + +'Your wit delights in such arguments,' said he, 'but your heart and +your reason do not quite go along with them.' + +'My heart!' said she; 'you quite mistake the principles of my +composition if you imagine that there is such a thing about me.' +After all, there was very little that was false in anything the +signora said. If Mr Slope allowed himself to be deceived it was his +own fault. Nothing could have been more open than her declarations +about herself. + +The little writing table with her desk was still standing before +her, a barrier, as it were, against the enemy. She was sitting as +nearly upright as she ever did, and he had brought a chair close to +the sofa, so that there was only the corner of the table between +him and her. It so happened that as she spoke her hand lay upon the +table, and as Mr Slope answered her he put his hand upon hers. + +'No heart!' said he. 'That is a very heavy charge which you bring +against yourself, and one of which I cannot find you guilty--' + +She withdrew her hand, not quickly and angrily, as though insulted +by his touch, but gently and slowly. + +'You are in no condition to give a verdict on the matter,' said +she, 'as you have not tried me. No; don't say that you intend doing +so, for you know you have no intention of the kind; nor indeed have +I either. As for you, you will take your vows where they will +result in something more substantial than the pursuit of such a +ghostlike, ghastly love as mine--' + +'Your love should be sufficient to satisfy the dream of a monarch,' +said Mr Slope, not quite clear as to the meaning of his words. + +'Say an archbishop, Mr Slope,' said she. Poor fellow! She was very +cruel to him. He went round again upon his cork on this allusion to +his profession. He tried, however, to smile, and gently accused her +of joking on a matter, which was, he said, to him of such vital +moment. + +'Why--what gulls do you men make of us,' she replied. 'How you fool +us to the top of our bent; and of all men you clergymen are the +most fluent of your honeyed caressing words. Now look me in the +face, Mr Slope, boldly and openly.' + +Mr Slope did look at her with a languishing loving eye, and as he +did so, he again put forth his hand to get hold of hers. + +'I told you to look at me boldly, Mr Slope; but confine your +boldness to your eyes.' + +'Oh, Madeline,' he sighed. + +'Well, my name is Madeline,' said she; 'but none except my own +family usually call me so. Now look me in the face, Mr Slope. Am I +to understand that you say you love me?' + +Mr Slope never had said so. If he had come there with any formed +plan at all, his intention was to make love to the lady without +uttering any such declaration. It was, however, quite impossible +that he should now deny his love. He had, therefore, nothing for +it, but to go down on his knees distractedly against the sofa, and +swear that he did love her with a love passing the love of man.' + +The signora received the assurance with very little palpitations or +appearance of surprise. 'And now answer me another question,' said +she; 'when are you to be married to Eleanor Bold?' + +Poor Mr Slope went round and round in mortal agony. In such a +condition as his it was really very hard for him to know what +answer to give. And yet no answer would be his surest condemnation. +He might as well at once plead guilty to the charge brought against +him. + +'And why do you accuse me of such dissimulation?' + +'Dissimulation! I said nothing of dissimulation. I made no charge +against you, and make none. Pray don't defend yourself to me. You +swear that you are devoted to my beauty, and yet you are on the eve +of matrimony with another. I feel this to be rather a compliment. +It is to Mrs Bold that you must defend yourself. That you may find +difficult; unless, indeed, you can keep her in the dark. You +clergymen are cleverer than other men.' + +'Signora, I have told you that I loved you, and now you rail at +me?' + +'Rail at you. God bless the man; what would he have? Come, answer +me this at your leisure,--not without thinking now, but leisurely +and with consideration,--are you not going to be married to Mrs +Bold?' + +'I am not,' said he. And as he said it, he almost hated, with an +exquisite hatred, the woman whom he could not help loving with an +exquisite love. + +'But surely you are a worshipper of hers?' + +'I am not,' said Mr Slope, to whom the word worshipper was +peculiarly distasteful. The signora had conceived that it would be +so. + +'I wonder at that,' said she. 'Do you not admire her? To my eyes +she is the perfection of English beauty. And then she is rich too. +I should have thought she was just the person to attract you. Come, +Mr Slope, let me give you advice on this matter. Marry the charming +widow! She will be a good mother to your children and an excellent +mistress of a clergyman's household.' + +'Oh, signora, how can you be so cruel?' + +'Cruel,' said she, changing the voice of her banter which she had +been using for one which was expressively earnest in its tone; 'is +that cruelty?' + +'How can I love another, while my heart is entirely your own?' + +'If that were cruelty, Mr Slope, what might you say of me if I were +to declare that I returned your passion? What would you think if I +bound you even by a lover's oath to do daily penance at this couch +of mine? What can I give in return for a man's love? Ah, dear +friend, you have not realised the condition of my fate.' + +Mr Slope was not on his knees all this time. After his declaration +of love he had risen from them as quickly as he thought consistent +with the new position which he now filled, and as he stood was +leaning on the back of his chair. This outburst of tenderness on +the Signora's part quite overcame him, and made him feel for the +moment that he could sacrifice everything to be assured of the love +of the beautiful creature before him, maimed, lame, and already +married as she was. + +'And can I not sympathise with your lot?' said he, now seating +himself on her sofa, and pushing away the table with his foot. + +'Sympathy is so near to pity!' said she. 'If you pity me, cripple +as I am, I shall spurn you from me.' + +'Oh, Madeline, I will only love you,' and again he caught her hand +and devoured it with kisses. Now she did not draw from him, but sat +there as he kissed it, looking at him with her great eyes, just as +a great spider would look at a great fly that was quite securely +caught. + +'Suppose Signor Neroni were to come to Barchester,' said she, +'would you make his acquaintance?' + +'Signor Neroni!' said he. + +'Would you introduce him to the bishop, and Mrs Proudie, and the +young ladies?' said she, again having recourse to that horrid +quizzing voice which Mr Slope so particularly hated. + +'Why do you ask me such a question?' said he. + +'Because it is necessary that you should know that there is a +Signor Neroni. I think you had forgotten it.' + +'If I thought that you retained for that wretch one particle of the +love of which he was never worthy, I would die before I would +distract you by telling you what I feel. No! were your husband the +master of your heart, I might perhaps love you; but you should +never know it.' + +'My heart again! How you talk. And you consider then, that if a +husband be not master of his wife's heart, he has not right to her +fealty; if a wife ceases to love, she may cease to be true. Is that +your doctrine on this matter, as a minister of the Church of +England?' + +Mr Slope tried hard within himself to cast off the pollution with +which he felt that he was defiling his soul. He strove to tear +himself away from the noxious siren that had bewitched him. He had +looked for rapturous joy in loving this lovely creature, and he +already found that he met with little but disappointment and +self-rebuke. He had come across the fruits of the Dead Sea, so +sweet and delicious to the eye, so bitter and nauseous to the +taste. He had put the apple to his mouth, and it had turned to +ashes between his teeth. Yet he could not tear himself away. He +knew, he could not but know, that weakness of his religion. But she +half permitted his adoration, and that half permission added such +fuel to his fire that all the fountain of piety could not quench +it. He began to feel savage, irritated, and revengeful. He +meditated some severity of speech, some taunt that should cut her, +as her taunts cut him. He reflected as he stood there for a moment, +silent before her, that if he desired to quell her proud spirit, he +should do so by being prouder even than herself; that if he wished +to have her at his feet suppliant for his love it behoved him to +conquer her by indifference. All this passed through his mind. As +far as dead knowledge went, he knew, or thought he knew, how a +woman should be tamed. But when he essayed to bring his tactics to +bear, he failed like a child. What chance has dead knowledge with +experience in any of the transactions between man and man? What +possible between man and woman? Mr Slope loved furiously, insanely, +and truly; but he had never played the game of love. The signora +did not love at all, but she was up to every move on the board. It +was Philidor pitched against a school-boy. + +And so she continued to insult him, and he continued to bear it. + +'Sacrifice the world for love!' said she, in answer to some renewed +rapid declaration of his passion, 'how often has the same thing +been said, and how invariably with the same falsehood!' + +'Falsehood,' said he. 'Do you say that I am false to you? Do you +say that my love is not real?' + +'False? Of course it is false, false as the father of falsehood--if +indeed falsehoods need a sire and are not self-begotten since the +world began. You are ready to sacrifice the world for love? Come +let us see what you will sacrifice. I care nothing for nuptial +vows. The wretch, I think you were kind enough to call him so, whom +I swore to love and obey, is so base that he can only be thought of +with repulsive disgust. In the council chamber of my heart I have +divorced him. To me that is as good as though aged lords had +gloated for months over the details of his licentious life. I care +nothing for what the world can say. Will you be as frank? Will you +take me to your home as your wife? Will you call me Mrs Slope +before bishop, dean, and prebendaries?' The poor tortured wretch +stood silent, not knowing what to say. 'What! You won't do that. +Tell me then, what part of the world is it that you will sacrifice +for my charms?' + +'Were you free to marry, I would take you to my house to-morrow and +wish no higher privilege.' + +'I am free;' said she, almost starting up in her energy. For though +there was no truth in her pretended regard for her clerical +admirer, there was a mixture of real feeling in the scorn and +satire with which she spoke of love and marriage generally. 'I am +free; free as the winds. Come, will you take me as I am? Have your +wish; sacrifice the world, and prove yourself a true man.' + +Mr Slope should have taken her at her word. She would have drawn +back, and he would have had the full advantage of the offer. But he +did not. Instead of doing so, he stood wrapt in astonishment, +passing his fingers through his lank red hair, and thinking as he +stared upon her animated countenance that her wondrous beauty grew +more and more wonderful as he gazed on it. 'Ha! Ha! Ha!,' she +laughed out loud. 'Come, Mr Slope, don't talk of sacrificing the +world again. People beyond one-and-twenty should never dream of +such a thing. You and I, if we have the dregs of any love left in +us, if we have the remnants of a passion remaining in our hearts, +should husband our resources better. We are not in our premiere +jeunesse. The world is a very nice place. Your world, at any rate, +is so. You have all manner of fat rectories to get, and possible +bishoprics to enjoy. Come, confess; on second thoughts you would +not sacrifice such things for the smiles of a lame lady?' + +It was impossible for him to answer this. In order to be in any way +dignified, he felt that he must be silent. + +'Come,' said she--'don't boody with me: don't be angry because I +speak out some home truths. Alas, the world, as I have found it, +has taught me bitter truths. Come, tell me that I am forgiven. Are +we not to be friends?' and she again put her hand to him. + +He sat himself down on the chair beside her, and took her proffered +hand and leant over her. + +'There,' said she, with her sweetest, softest smile--a smile to +withstand which a man should be cased in triple steel, 'there; seal +your forgiveness on it,' and she raised it towards his face. He +kissed it again and again, and stretched over her as though +desirous of extending the charity of his pardon beyond the hand +that was offered to him. She managed, however, to check his ardour. +For one so easily allured as this poor chaplain, her hand was +surely enough. + +'Oh, Madeline!' said he, 'tell me that you love me--do you--do you +love me?' + +'Hush,' said she. 'There is mother's step. Our tete-a-tete has been +of monstrous length. Now you had better go. But we shall see you +soon again, shall we not?' + +Mr Slope promised that he would call again on the following day. + +'And Mr Slope,' she continued, 'pray answer my note. You have it in +your hand, though, I declare during these two hours you have not +been gracious enough to read it. It is about the Sabbath school and +the children. You know how anxious I am to have them here. I have +been learning the catechism myself, on purpose. You must manage it +for me next week. I will teach them, at any rate, to submit +themselves to their spiritual pastors and masters.' + +Mr Slope said but little on the subject of Sabbath schools, but he +made his adieu, and betook himself home with a sad heart, troubled +mind, and uneasy conscience. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +MRS BOLD IS ENTERTAINED BY DR AND MRS GRANTLY AT PLUMSTEAD + +It will be remembered that Mr Slope, when leaving his billet doux +with Mrs Bold, had been informed that it would be sent out to her +at Plumstead that afternoon. The archdeacon and Mr Harding had in +fact come into town together in the brougham, and it had been +arranged that they should call for Eleanor's parcels as they left +on their way home. Accordingly they did so call, and the maid, as +she handed to the coachman a small basket and large bundle +carefully and neatly packec, gave in at the carriage window Mr +Slope's epistle. The archdeacon, who was sitting next to the +window, took it, and immediately recognised the hand-writing of his +enemy. + +'Who left this?' said he. + +'Mr Slope called with it himself, your reverence,' said the girl; ' +and was very anxious that missus should have it to-day.' + +So the brougham drove off, and the letter was left in the +archdeacon's hand. He looked at it as though he held a basket of +adders. He could not have thought worse of the document had he read +it and discovered it to be licentious and atheistical. He did, +moreover, what so many wise people are accustomed to do in similar +circumstances; he immediately condemned the person to whom the +letter was written, as though she were necessarily a particeps +criminis. + +Poor Mr Harding, though by no means inclined to forward Mr Slope's +intimacy with his daughter, would have given anything to have kept +the letter from his son-in-law. But that was now impossible. There +it was in his hand; and he looked as thoroughly disgusted as though +he were quite sure that it contained all the rhapsodies of a +favoured lover. + +'It's very hard on me,' said he, after a while, 'that this should +go on under my roof.' + +Now here the archdeacon was certainly the most unreasonable. Having +invited his sister-in-law to his house, it was a natural +consequence of that she should receive her letters there. And if Mr +Slope chose to write to her, his letter would, as a matter of +course, be sent after her. Moreover, the very fact of an invitation +to one's house implies confidence on the part of the inviter. He +had shown that he thought Mrs Bold to be a fit person to stay with +him by his making her to do so, and it was most cruel to her that +he should complain of her violating the sanctity of his roof-tree, +when the laches committed were none of her committing. + +Mr Harding felt this; and felt also that when the archdeacon talked +thus about his roof, what he said was most offensive to himself as +Eleanor's father. If Eleanor did receive a letter from Mr Slope, +what was there in that to pollute the purity of Dr Grantly's +household. He was indignant that his daughter should be so judged +and so spoken of; and, he made up his mind that even as Mrs Slope +she must be dearer to him than any other creature on God's earth. +He almost broke out, and said as much; but for the moment he +restrained himself. + +'Here,' said the archdeacon, handing the offensive missile to his +father-in-law; 'I am not going to be the bearer of his love +letters. You are her father, and may do as you think fit with it.' + +By doing as he thought fit with it, the archdeacon certainly meant +that Mr Harding would be justified in opening and reading the +letter, and taking any steps which might in consequence be +necessary. To tell the truth, Dr Grantly did feel rather a stronger +curiosity than was justified by his outraged virtue, to see the +contents of the letter. Of course he could not open it himself, but +he wished to make Mr Harding understand that he, as Eleanor's +father, would be fully justified in doing so. The idea of such a +proceeding never occurred to Mr Harding. His authority over Eleanor +ceased when she became the wife of John Bold. He had not the +slightest wish to pry into her correspondence. He consequently put +the letter into his pocket, and only wished that he had been able +to do so without the archdeacon's knowledge. They both sat silent +during the journey home, and then Dr Grantly said, 'Perhaps Susan +had better give it to her. She can explain to her sister, better +than you or I can do, how deep is the disgrace of such an +acquaintance.' + +'I think you are very hard upon Eleanor,' replied Mr Harding. 'I +will not allow that she has disgraced herself, nor do I think it +likely that she will do so. She has a right to correspond with whom +she pleases, and I shall not take upon myself to blame her because +she gets a letter from Slope.' + +'I suppose,' said Dr Grantly, 'you don't wish her to marry this +man. I suppose you'll admit that she would disgrace herself if she +did so.' + +'I do not wish her to marry him,' said the perplexed father; 'I do +not like him, and do not think he would make a good husband. But if +Eleanor decides to do so, I shall certainly not think that she has +disgraced herself.' + +'Good heavens!' exclaimed Dr Grantly, and threw himself back into +the corner of his brougham. Mr Harding said nothing more, but +commenced playing a dirge, with an imaginary fiddle bow upon an +imaginary violoncello, for which there did not appear to be quite +room enough in the carriage; and he continued the tune, with sundry +variations, till he arrived at the rectory door. + +The archdeacon had been meditating sad things in his mind. Hitherto +he had always looked on his father-in-law as a true partisan, +though he knew him to be a man devoid of all the combative +qualifications for that character. He had felt no fear that Mr +Harding would go over to the enemy, though he had never counted +much on the ex-warden's prowess in breaking the battle ranks. Now, +however, it seemed that Eleanor, with her wiles, had completely +trepanned and bewildered her father, cheated him out of his +judgement, robbed him of the predilections and tastes of life, and +caused him to be tolerant of a man whose arrogance and vulgarity +would, in a few years since, have been unendurable to him. That the +whole thing was as good as arranged between Eleanor and Mr Slope +there was no longer any room to doubt. That Mr Harding knew that +such was the case, even this could hardly be doubted. It was too +manifest that he at any rate suspected it, and was prepared to +sanction it. + +And to tell the truth, such was the case. Mr Harding disliked Mr +Slope as much as it was in his nature to dislike any man. Had his +daughter wished to do her worst to displease him by a second +marriage, she could hardly have succeeded better than by marrying +Mr Slope. But, as he said to himself now very often, what right had +he to condemn her if she did nothing that was really wrong? If she +liked Mr Slope it was her affair. It was indeed miraculous to him, +that a woman with such a mind, so educated, so refined, so nice in +her tastes, should like such a man. Then he asked himself whether +it was possible that she did so. + +Ah, thou weak man; most charitable, most Christian, but weakest of +men! Why couldst thou not have asked herself? Was she not the +daughter of thy loins, the child of thy heart, the most beloved of +thee of all humanity? Had she not proved to thee, by years of +closest affection, her truth and goodness and filial obedience? And +yet, groping in darkness, hearing her name in strains which wounded +thy loving heart, and being unable to defend her as thou shouldst +have done! + +Mr Harding had not believed, did not believe, that his daughter +meant to marry this man; but he feared to commit himself to such an +opinion. If she did do it there would be then no means of retreat. +The wishes of his heart were--First, that there should be no truth +in the archdeacon's surmises; and in this wish he would have fain +trusted entirely, had he dared to do so; Secondly, that the match +might be prevented, if unfortunately, it had been contemplated by +Eleanor; Thirdly, that should she be so infatuated as to marry this +man, he might justify his conduct, and declare that no cause +existed for his separating himself from her. + +He wanted to believe her incapable of such a marriage; he wanted to +show that he so believed of her; but he wanted also to be able to +say hereafter, that she had done nothing amiss, if she could +unfortunately prove herself to be different from what he thought +her to be. + +Nothing but affection could justify such fickleness; but affection +did justify it. There was but little of the Roman about Mr Harding. +He could not sacrifice his Lucretia even though she should be +polluted by the accepted addresses of the clerical Tarquin at the +palace. If Tarquin could be prevented, well and good; but if not, +the father would still open his heart to his daughter, and accept +her as she present herself, Tarquin and all. + +Dr Grantly's mind was of a stronger calibre, and he was by no means +deficient in heart. He loved with an honest genuine love his wife +and children and friends. He loved his father-in-law; and he was +quite prepared to love Eleanor too, if she would be one of his +party, if she would be on his side, if she would regard the Slopes +and the Proudies as the enemies of mankind, and acknowledge and +feel the comfortable merits of the Gwynnes and Arabins. He wished +to be what he called "safe" with all those whom he had admitted to +the penetralia of his house and heart. He could luxuriate in no +society that was deficient in a certain feeling of faithful staunch +high-churchism, which to him was tantamount to freemasonry. He was +not strict in his lines of definition. He endured without +impatience many different shades of Anglo-church conservatism; but +with the Slopes and Proudies he could not go on all fours. + +He was wanting in, moreover, or perhaps it would be more correct to +say, he was not troubled by that womanly tenderness which was so +peculiar to Mr Harding. His feelings towards his friends were, that +while they stuck to him he would stick to them; that he would work +with them shoulder to shoulder; that he would be faithful to the +faithful. He knew nothing of that beautiful love which can be true +to a false friend. + +And thus these two men, each miserable enough in his own way, +returned to Plumstead. + +It was getting late when they arrived there, and the ladies had +already gone up to dress. Nothing more was said as the two parted +in the hall. As Mr Harding passed to his own room, he knocked at +Eleanor's door and handed in the letter. The archdeacon hurried to +his own territory, there to unburden his heart to his faithful +partner. + +What colloquy took place between the marital chamber and the +adjoining dressing-room shall not be detailed. The reader, now +intimate with the persons concerned, can well imagine it. The whole +tenor of it also might be read in Mrs Grantly's brow as she came +down to dinner. + +Eleanor, when she received the letter from her father's hand, had +no idea from whom it came. She had never seen Mr Slope's +handwriting, or if so, had forgotten it; and did not think of him +as she twisted the letter as people do twist letters when they do +not immediately recognise their correspondents either by the +writing or the seal. She was sitting at her glass brushing her +hair, and rising every other minute to play with her boy who was +sprawling on the bed, and who engaged pretty nearly the whole +attention of the maid as well as of the mother. + +At last, sitting before her toilet table, she broke the seal, and +turning over the leaf saw Mr Slope's name. She first felt +surprised, and then annoyed, and then anxious. As she read it she +became interested. She was so delighted to find that all obstacles +to her father's return to the hospital were apparently removed that +she did not observe the fulsome language in which the tidings were +conveyed. She merely perceived that she was commissioned to tell +her father that such was the case, and she did not realise the fact +that such a commission should not have been made, in the first +instance, to her by an unmarried young clergyman. She felt, on the +whole, grateful to Mr Slope, and anxious to get on her dress that +she might run with the news to her father. Then she came to the +allusion to her own pious labours, and she said in her heart that +Mr Slope was an affected ass. Then she went on again and was +offended by her boy being called Mr Slope's darling--he was +nobody's darling but her own; or at any rate not the darling of a +disagreeable stranger like Mr Slope. Lastly she arrived at the +tresses and felt a qualm of disgust. She looked up in the glass, +and there they were before her, long and silken, certainly, and +very beautiful. I will not say but that she knew them to be so, but +she felt angry with them and brushed them roughly and carelessly. +She crumpled the letter with angry violence, and resolved, almost +without thinking of it, that she would not show it to her father. +She would merely tell him the contents of it. She then comforted +herself again with her boy, and her dress fastened, she went down +to dinner. + +As she tripped down the stairs she began to ascertain that there +was some difficulty in her situation. She could not keep from her +father the news about the hospital, nor could she comfortably +confess the letter from Mr Slope before the Grantlys. Her father +had already gone down. She had heard his step upon the lobby. She +resolved therefore to take him aside, and tell him her little bit +of news. Poor girl! She had no idea how severely the unfortunate +letter had already been discussed. + +When she entered the drawing-room the whole party were there, +including Mr Arabin, and the whole party looked glum and sour. The +two girls sat silent and apart as though they were aware that +something was wrong. Even Mr Arabin was solemn and silent. Eleanor +had not seen him since breakfast. He had been the whole day at St +Ewold's, and such having been the case it was natural that he +should tell how matters were going on there. He did nothing of the +kind, however, but remained solemn and silent. They were all solemn +and silent. Eleanor knew in her heart that they had been talking +about her, and her heart misgave her as she thought of Mr Slope and +his letter. At any rate she felt it to be quite impossible to speak +to her father alone while matters were in this state. + +Dinner was soon announced, and Dr Grantly, as was his wont, gave +Eleanor his arm. But he did so as though the doing it were an +outrage on his feelings rendered necessary by sternest necessity. +With quick sympathy Eleanor felt this, and hardly put her fingers +on his coat sleeve. It may be guessed in what way the dinner-hour +was passed. Dr Grantly said a few words to Mr Arabin, Mr Arabin +said a few words to Mrs Grantly, she said a few words to her +father, and he tried to say a few words to Eleanor. She felt that +she had been tried and found guilty of something, though she knew +not what. She longed to say out to them all, 'Well, what is it that +I have done; out with it; and let me know my crime; for heaven's +sake let me hear the worst of it;' but she could not. She could say +nothing, but sat there silent, half feeling that she was guilty, +and trying in vain to pretend even to eat her dinner. + +At last the cloth was drawn, and the ladies were not long following +it. When they were gone the gentlemen were somewhat more sociable +but not much so. They could not of course talk over Eleanor's sins. +The archdeacon had indeed so far betrayed his sister-in-law as to +whisper into Mr Arabin's ear in the study, as they met there before +dinner, a hint of what he feared. He did so with the gravest and +saddest of fears, and Mr Arabin became grave and apparently sad +enough as he heard it. He opened his eyes and his mouth and said in +a sort of whisper, 'Mr Slope!' in the same way as he might have +said, The Cholera!' had his friend told him that that horrid +disease was in his nursery. 'I fear so, I fear so,' said the +archdeacon, and then together they left the room. + +We will not accurately analyse Mr Arabin's feelings on receipt of +such astounding tidings. It will suffice to say that he was +surprised, vexed, sorrowful, and ill at ease. He had not perhaps +thought very much about Eleanor, but he had appreciated her +influence, and had felt that close intimacy with her in a country +house was pleasant to him, and also beneficial. He had spoken +highly of her intelligence to the archdeacon, and had walked about +the shrubberies with her, carrying her boy on his back. When Mr +Arabin had called Johnny his darling, Eleanor was not angry. + +Thus the three men sat over their wine, all thinking of the same +subject, but unable to speak of it to each other. So we will leave +them, and follow the ladies into the drawing-room. + +Mrs Grantly had received a commission from her husband, and had +undertaken it with some unwillingness. He had desired her to speak +gravely to Eleanor, and to tell her that, if she persisted in her +adherence to Mr Slope, she could no longer look for the countenance +of her present friends. Mrs Grantly probably knew her sister better +than the doctor did, and assured him that it would be in vain to +talk to her. The only course likely to be of any service in her +opinion was to keep Eleanor away from Barchester. Perhaps she might +have added, for she had a very keen eye in such things, that there +might be some ground for hope in keeping Eleanor near Mr Arabin. Of +this, however, she said nothing. But the archdeacon would not be +talked over; he spoke much of his conscience, and declared that if +Mrs Grantly would not do it he would. So instigated, the lady +undertook the task, stating, however, her full conviction that her +interference would be worse than useless. And so it proved. + +As soon as they were in the drawing-room Mrs Grantly found some +excuse for sending her girls away, and then began her task. She +knew well that she could exercise but very slight authority over +her sister. Their various modes of life, and the distance between +their residences, had prevented very close confidence. They had +hardly lived together since Eleanor was a child. Eleanor had +moreover, especially in latter years, resented in a quiet sort of +way, the dictatorial authority which the archdeacon seemed to +exercise over her father, and on this account had been unwilling to +allow the archdeacon's wife to exercise authority over herself. + +'You got a letter just before dinner, I believe,' began the eldest +sister. + +Eleanor acknowledged that she had done so, and felt that she turned +red as she acknowledged it. She would have given anything to have +kept her colour, but the more she tried to do so, the more she +signally failed. + +'Was it not from Mr Slope?' + +Eleanor said that the letter was from Mr Slope. + +'Is he a regular correspondent of yours, Eleanor?' + +'Not exactly,' said she, already beginning to feel angry at the +cross-examination. She determined, and why it would be difficult to +say, that nothing would induce her to tell her sister Susan what +was the subject of the letter. Mrs Grantly, she knew, was +instigated by the archdeacon, and she would not plead to any +arraignment made against her by him. + +'But, Eleanor dear, why do you get letters from Mr Slope at all, +knowing, as you do, he is a person so distasteful to papa, and to +the archdeacon, and indeed to all your friends?' + +'In the first place, Susan, I don't get letters from him; and in +the next place, as Mr Slope wrote the one letter which I have got, +and as I only received it, which I could not very well help doing, +as papa handed it to me, I think you had better ask Mr Slope +instead of me.' + +'What was the letter about, Eleanor?' + +'I cannot tell you,' said she, 'because it was confidential. It was +on business respecting a third person.' + +'It was in no way personal to yourself, then?' + +'I won't exactly say that, Susan,' said she, getting more and more +angry at her sister's questions. + +'Well I must say it's rather singular,' said Mrs Grantly, affecting +to laugh, 'that a young lady in your position should receive a +letter from an unmarried gentleman of which she will not tell the +contents, and which she is ashamed to show her sister.' + +'I am not ashamed,' said Eleanor, blazing up; 'I am not ashamed of +anything in the matter; only I do not choose to be cross-examined +as to my letters by any one.' + +'Well, dear,' said the other, 'I cannot tell you that I do not +think that Mr Slope a proper correspondent for you.' + +'If he be ever so improper, how can I help his having written to +me? But you are all prejudiced against him to such an extent, that +that which would be kind and generous in another man is odious and +impudent in him. I hate a religion that teaches one to be so +onesided to one's charity.' + +'I am sorry, Eleanor, that you hate the religion you find here; but +surely you should remember that in such matters the archdeacon must +know more of the world than you do. I don't ask you to respect or +comply with me, although I am, unfortunately, so many years your +senior; but surely, in such a matter as this, you might consent to +be guided by the archdeacon. He is most anxious to be your friend +if you will let him.' + +'In such a matter as what?' said Eleanor very testily. 'Upon my +word I don't know what this is all about.' + +'We all want you to drop Mr Slope.' + +'You all want me to be illiberal as yourselves. That I shall never +be. I see no harm in Mr Slope's acquaintance, and I shall not +insult the man by telling him that I do. He has thought it +necessary to write to me, and I do not want the archdeacon's advice +about the letter. If I did I would ask it.' + +'Then, Eleanor, it is my duty to tell you,' and now she spoke with +a tremendous gravity, 'that the archdeacon thinks that such a +correspondence is disgraceful, and that he cannot allow it to go on +in this house.' + +Eleanor's eyes flashed fire as she answered her sister, jumping up +from her seat as she did so. 'You may tell the archdeacon that +wherever I am I shall receive what letters I please and from whom I +please. And as for the word disgraceful, if Dr Grantly has used it +of me he has been unmanly and inhospitable,' and she walked off to +the door. 'When papa comes from the dining-room I will thank you to +ask him to step up to my bed-room. I will show him Mr Slope's +letter, but I will show it to no one else.' And so saying she +retreated to her baby. + +She had no conception of the crime with which she was charged. The +idea that she could be thought by her friends to regard Mr Slope as +a lover, had never flashed upon her. She conceived that they were +all prejudiced and illiberal in their persecution of him, and +therefore she would not join in the persecution, even though she +greatly disliked the man. + +Eleanor was very angry as she seated herself in a low chair by her +open window at the foot of her child's bed. 'To dare to say that I +have disgraced myself,' she repeated to herself more than once. +'How papa can put up with that man's arrogance! I will certainly +not sit down to dinner in this house again unless he begs my pardon +for that word.' And then a thought struck her that Mr Arabin might +perchance hear of her 'disgraceful' correspondence with Mr Slope, +and she turned crimson with pure vexation. Oh, if she had known the +truth! If she could have conceived that Mr Arabin had been informed +as a fact that she was going to marry Mr Slope! + +She had not been long in her room before her father joined her. As +he left the drawing-room Mrs Grantly took her husband into the +recess of the window, and told him how signally she had failed. + +'I will speak to her myself before I go to bed,' said the +archdeacon. + +'Pray do no such thing,' said she; 'you can do no good and will +only make an unseemly quarrel in the house. You have no idea how +headstrong she can be.' + +The archdeacon declared that as to that he was quite indifferent. +He knew his duty and he would do it. Mr Harding was weak in the +extreme in such matters. He would not have it hereafter on his +conscience that he had not done all that in him lay to prevent so +disgraceful an alliance. It was in vain that Mrs Grantly assured +him that speaking to Eleanor angrily would only hasten such a +crisis, and render it certain if at present there were any doubt. +He was angry, self-willed, and sore. The fact that a lady in his +household had received a letter from Mr Slope had wounded his pride +in the sorest place, and nothing could control him. + +Mr Harding looked worn and woebegone as he entered his daughter's +room. These sorrows worried him sadly. He felt that if they were +continued he must go to the wall in a manner so kindly prophesied +to him by the chaplain. He knocked gently at his daughter's door, +waited till he was distinctly bade to enter, and then appeared as +though he and not she was the suspected criminal. + +Eleanor's arm was soon within his, and she had soon kissed his +forehead and caressed him, not with joyous but with eager love. +'Oh, papa,' she said, 'I do so want to speak to you. They have been +talking about me downstairs to-night; don't you know they have, +papa?' + +Mr Harding confessed with a sort of murmur that the archdeacon had +been speaking of her. + +'I shall hate Dr Grantly soon--' + +'Oh, my dear!' + +'Well; I shall. I cannot help it. He is so uncharitable, so unkind, +so suspicious of everyone that does not worship himself: and then +he is so monstrously arrogant to other people who have a right to +their opinions as well as he has to his own.' + +'He is an earnest, eager man, my dear: but he never means to be +unkind.' + +'He is unkind, papa, most unkind. There, I got that letter from Mr +Slope before dinner. It was you yourself who gave it to me. There; +pray read it. It is all for you. It should have been addressed to +you. You know how they have been talking about it downstairs. You +know how they behaved to me at dinner. And since dinner Susan has +been preaching to me, till I could not remain in the room with her. +Read it, papa; and then say whether that is a letter that need make +Dr Grantly so outrageous.' + +Mr Harding took his arm from his daughter's waist, and slowly read +the letter. She expected to see his countenance lit up with joy as +he learnt that his path back to the hospital was made so smooth; +but she was doomed to disappointment, as had once been the case +before on a somewhat similar occasion. His first feeling was one of +unmitigated disgust that Mr Slope should have chosen to interfere +in his behalf. He had been anxious to get back to the hospital, but +he would have infinitely sooner resigned all pretensions to the +place, than have owned in any manner to Mr Slope's influence in his +favour. Then he thoroughly disliked the tone of Mr Slope's letter; +it was unctuous, false, and unwholesome, like the man. He saw, +which Eleanor had failed to see, that much more had been intended +than was expressed. The appeal to Eleanor's pious labours as +separate from his own grated sadly against his feelings as a +father. And then, when he came to the 'darling boy,' and the +'silken tresses,' he slowly closed and folded the letter in +despair. It was impossible that Mr Slope should so write unless he +had been encouraged. It was impossible that Eleanor should have +received such a letter, and received it without annoyance, unless +she were willing to encourage him. So at least, Mr Harding argued +to himself. + +How hard it is to judge accurately of the feelings of others. Mr +Harding, as he came to close the letter, in his heart condemned his +daughter for indelicacy, and it made him miserable to do so. She +was not responsible for what Mr Slope might write. True. But then +she expressed no disgust at it. She had rather expressed approval +of the letter as a whole. She had given it to him to read, as a +vindication for herself and also for him. The father's spirits sank +within him as he felt that he could not acquit her. + +And yet it was the true feminine delicacy of Eleanor's mind which +brought her on this condemnation. Listen to me, ladies, and I +beseech you to acquit her. She thought of this man, this lover of +whom she was so unconscious, exactly as her father did, exactly as +the Grantlys did. At least she esteemed him personally as they did. +But she believed him to be in the main an honest man, and one truly +inclined to assist her father. She felt herself bound, after what +had passed, to show the letter to Mr Harding. She thought it +necessary that he should know what Mr Slope had to say. But she did +not think it necessary to apologise for, or condemn, or even allude +to the vulgarity of the man's tone, which arose, as does all +vulgarity, from ignorance. It was nauseous to her to have such a +man like Mr Slope commenting on her personal attractions; and she +did not think it necessary to dilate with her father upon what was +nauseous. She never supposed they could disagree on such a subject. +It would have been painful for to point it out, painful to her to +speak strongly against a man of whom, on the whole she was anxious +to think and speak well. In encountering such a man she had +encountered what was disagreeable, as she might do in walking the +streets. But in such encounters she never thought it necessary to +dwell on what disgusted her. + +Mr Harding slowly folded the letter, handed it back to her, kissed +her forehead and bade God bless her. He then crept slowly away to +his own room. + +As soon as he had left the passage another knock was given at +Eleanor's door, and Mrs Grantly's very demure own maid, entering on +tiptoe, wanted to know would Mrs Bold be so kind as to speak to the +archdeacon for two minutes in the archdeacon's study, if not +disagreeable. The archdeacon's compliments, and he wouldn't detain +her two minutes. + +Eleanor thought it was very disagreeable; she was tired and fagged +and sick at heart; her present feelings towards Dr Grantly were +anything but those of affection. She was, however, no coward, and +therefore promised to be in the study in five minutes. So she +arranged her hair, tied on her cap, and went down with a +palpitating heart. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A SERIOUS INTERVIEW + +There are people who delight in serious interviews, especially when +to them appertain the part of offering advice or administering +rebuke, and perhaps the archdeacon was one of these. Yet on this +occasion he did not prepare himself for the coming conversation +with much anticipation of pleasure. Whatever might be his faults he +was not an inhospitable man, and he almost felt that he was sinning +against hospitality in upbraiding Eleanor in his own house. Then, +also he was not quite sure that he would get the best of it. His +wife had told him that he decidedly would not, and he usually gave +credit to what his wife said. He was, however, so convinced of what +he considered to be the impropriety of Eleanor's conduct, and so +assured also of his own duty in trying to check it, that his +conscience would not allow him to take his wife's advice and go to +bed quietly. + +Eleanor's face as she entered the room was not much as to reassure +him. As a rule she was always mild in manner and gentle in conduct; +but there was that in her eye which made it not an easy task to +scold her. In truth she had been little used to scolding. No one +since her childhood had tried it but the archdeacon, and he had +generally failed when he did try it. He had never done so since her +marriage; and now, when he saw her quiet easy step, as she entered +the room, he almost wished he had taken his wife's advice. + +He began by apologising for the trouble he was giving her. She +begged him not to mention it, assured him that walking down the +stairs was no trouble to her at all, and then took a seat and +waited patiently for him to begin his attack. + +'My dear Eleanor,' he said, 'I hope you believe me when I assure +you that you have no sincerer friend than I am.' To this Eleanor +answered nothing, and therefore he proceeded. 'If you had a brother +of your own I should not probably trouble you with what I am going +to say. But as it is I cannot but think that it must be a comfort +to you to know that you have near you one who is as anxious for +your welfare as any brother of your own could be.' + +'I never had a brother,' said she. + +'I know you never had, and it is therefore that I speak to you.' + +'I never had a brother,' she repeated; 'but I have hardly felt the +want. Papa has been to me both father and brother.' + +'Your father is the fondest and most affectionate of men. But--' + +'He is--the fondest and most affectionate of men, and the best of +counsellors. While he lives I can never want advice.' + +This rather put the archdeacon out. He could not exactly contradict +what his sister-in-law said about her father; and yet he did not at +all agree with her. He wanted her to understand that he tendered +his assistance because her father was a soft good-natured +gentleman, not sufficiently knowing in the ways of the world; but +he could not say this to her. So he had to rush into the +subject-matter of his proffered counsel without any acknowledgement +on her part that she could need it, or would be grateful for it. + +'Susan tells me that you received a letter this evening from Mr +Slope.' + +'Yes; papa brought it in the brougham. Did he not tell you?' + +'And Susan says that you objected to let her know what it was +about.' + +'I don't think she asked me. But had she done so I should not have +told her. I don't think it nice to be asked about one's letters. If +one wishes to show them one does so without being asked.' + +'True. Quite so. What you say is quite true. But is not the fact of +your receiving letters from Mr Slope, which you do not wish to show +to your friends, a circumstance which must excite some--some +surprise--some suspicion--' + +'Suspicion!' said she, not speaking above her usual voice, speaking +still in a soft womanly tone, but yet with indignation; 'suspicion! +and who suspects me, and of what?' + +And then there was a pause, for the archdeacon was not quite ready +to explain the ground of his suspicion. 'No, Dr Grantly, I did not +choose to show Mr Slope's letter to Susan. I could not show it to +any one till papa had seen it. If you have any wish to read it now, +you can do so,' and she handed the letter to him over the table. + +This was an amount of compliance which he had not at all expected, +and which rather upset him in his tactics. However, he took the +letter, perused it carefully, and then refolding it, kept it on the +table under his hand. To him it appeared to be in almost every +respect the letter of a declared lover; it seemed to corroborate +his worst suspicions; and the fact of Eleanor's showing it to him +was all but tantamount to a declaration on her part, that it was +her pleasure to receive love-letters from Mr Slope. He almost +entirely overlooked the real subject-matter of the epistle; so +intent was he on the forthcoming courtship and marriage. + +'I'll thank you to give it back, please, Dr Grantly.' + +He took his hand and held it up, but made no immediate overture to +return it. 'And Mr Harding has seen this?' said he. + +'Of course he has,' said she; 'it was written that he might see it. +It refers solely to his business--of course I showed it to him.' + +'And Eleanor, do you think that that is a proper letter for +you--for a person in your condition--to receive from Mr Slope?' + +'Quite a proper letter,' said she, speaking, perhaps, a little out +of obstinacy; probably forgetting at the moment the objectionable +mention of her silken curls. + +'Then, Eleanor, it is my duty to tell you that I wholly differ from +you.' + +'So I suppose,' said she, instigated now by sheer opposition and +determination not to succumb. 'You think Mr Slope is a messenger +direct from Satan. I think he is an industrious, well-meaning +clergyman. It's a pity that we differ as we do. But, as we do +differ, we had probably better not talk about it.' + +Here undoubtedly Eleanor put herself in the wrong. She might +probably have refused to talk to Dr Grantly on the matter in +dispute without any impropriety; but having consented to listen to +him, she had no business to tell him that regarded Mr Slope as an +emissary from the evil one; nor was she justified in praising Mr +Slope, seeing that in her heart of hearts she did not think well of +him. She was, however, wounded in spirit, and very angry and +bitter. She had been subjected to contumely and cross-questioning +and ill-usage through the whole evening. No one, not even Mr +Arabin, not even her father, had been kind to her. All this she +attributed to the prejudice and conceit of the archdeacon, and +therefore she resolved to set no bounds to her antagonism to him. +She would neither give nor take quarter. He had greatly presumed in +daring to question her about her correspondence, and she was +determined to show that she thought so. + +'Eleanor, you are forgetting yourself,' said he, looking very +sternly at her. 'Otherwise you would never tell me that I conceive +any man to be a messenger from Satan.' + +'But you do,' said she. 'Nothing is too bad for him. Give me that +letter, if you please;' and she stretched out her hand and took it +from him. 'He has been doing his best to serve papa, doing more +than any of papa's friends could do; and yet, because he is the +chaplain of a bishop whom you don't like, you speak of him as +though he had no right to the usage of a gentleman.' + +'He has done nothing for your father.' + +'I believe that he has done a great deal; and, as far as I am +concerned, I am grateful to him. I judge people by their acts, and +his, as far as I can see them, are good.' She then paused for a +moment. 'If you have nothing further to say, I shall be obliged by +being permitted to say good night--I am very tired.' + +Dr Grantly had, as he thought, done his best to be gracious to his +sister-in-law. He had endeavoured not to be harsh with her, and had +striven to pluck the sting from his rebuke. But he did not intend +that she should leave him without hearing him. + +'I have something to say, Eleanor; and I fear I must trouble you to +hear it. You profess that it is quite proper that you should +receive from Mr Slope such letters as that you have in your hand. +Susan and I think very differently. You are, of course, your own +mistress, and much as we both must grieve should anything separate +you from us, we have no power to prevent you from taking steps +which may lead to such a separation. If you are so wilful as to +reject the counsel of your friends, you must be allowed to cater +for yourself. Is it worth you while to break away from all those +you have loved--from all who love you--for the sake of Mr Slope?' + +'I don't know what you mean, Dr Grantly; I don't know what you are +talking about. I don't want to break away from anybody.' + +'But you will do so if you connect yourself with Mr Slope. Eleanor, +I must speak out to you. You must choose between your sister and +myself and our friends, and Mr Slope and his friends. I say nothing +of your father, as you may probably understand his feelings better +than I do.' + +'What do you mean, Dr Grantly? What am I to understand? I never +heard such wicked prejudice in my life.' + +'It is no prejudice, Eleanor. I have known the world longer than +you have done. Mr Slope is altogether beneath you. You ought to +know and feel that he is so. Pray--pray think of this before it is +too late.' + +'Too late!' + +'Or if you will not believe me, ask Susan; you cannot think she is +prejudiced against you. Or even consult your father, he is not +prejudiced against you. Ask Mr Arabin--' + +'You haven't spoken to Mr Arabin about this!' said she, jumping up +and standing before him. + +'Eleanor, all the world in and about Barchester will be speaking of +it soon.' + +'But you have spoken to Mr Arabin about me and Mr Slope?' + +'Certainly I have, and he quite agrees with me.' + +'Agree with what?' said she. 'I think you are trying to drive me +mad.' + +'He agrees with me and Susan that it is quite impossible you should +be received at Plumstead as Mrs Slope.' + +Not being favourites with the tragic muse we do not dare to attempt +any description of Eleanor's face when she first heard the name of +Mrs Slope pronounced as that which would or should or might at some +time appertain to herself. The look, such as it was, Dr Grantly did +not soon forget. For a moment or two she could find no words to +express her deep anger and deep disgust; and, indeed, at this +conjuncture, words did not come to her very freely. + +'How dare you be so impertinent?' at last she said; and then +hurried out of the room, without giving the archdeacon the +opportunity of uttering another word. It was with difficulty that +she contained herself till she reached her own room; and then, +locking the door, she threw herself on her bed and sobbed as though +her heart would break. + +But even yet she had no conception of the truth. She had no idea +that her father and sister had for days past conceived in sober +earnest the idea that she was going to marry the man. She did not +even then believe that the archdeacon thought that she would do so. +By some manoeuvre of her brain, she attributed the origin of the +accusation to Mr Arabin, and as she did so her anger against him +was excessive, and the vexation of her spirit almost unendurable. +She could not bring herself to think the charge was made seriously. +It appeared to her most probable that the archdeacon and Mr Arabin +had talked over her objectionable acquaintance with Mr Slope; that +Mr Arabin, in his jeering sarcastic way, had suggested the odious +match as being the severest way of treating with contumely her +acquaintance with his enemy; and that the archdeacon, taking the +idea from him, thought proper to punish her by the allusion. The +whole night she lay awake thinking of what had been said, and this +appeared to be the most probable solution. + +But the reflection that Mr Arabin should have in any way mentioned +her name in connection with that of Mr Slope was overpowering; and +the spiteful ill-nature of the archdeacon, in repeating the charge +to her, made her wish to leave his house almost before the day had +broken. One thing was certain: nothing should make her stay there +beyond the following morning, and nothing should make her sit down +in company with Dr Grantly. When she thought of the man whose name +had been linked with her own, she cried from sheer disgust. It was +only because she would be thus disgusted, thus pained, and shocked +and cut to the quick, that the archdeacon had spoken the horrid +word. He wanted her to make her quarrel with Mr Slope, and +therefore he had outraged her by his abominable vulgarity. She +determined that at any rate he should know that she appreciated it. + +Nor was the archdeacon a bit better satisfied with the result of +his serious interview than was Eleanor. He gathered from it, as +indeed he could hardly fail to do, that she was very angry with +him; but he thought that she was thus angry, not because she was +suspected of an intention to marry Mr Slope, but because such an +intention was imputed to her as a crime. Dr Grantly regarded this +supposed union with disgust; but it never occurred to him that +Eleanor was outraged, because she looked at it exactly in the same +light. + +He returned to his wife vexed and somewhat disconsolate, but, +nevertheless, confirmed in his wrath against his sister-in-law. +'Her whole behaviour,' said he, 'has been most objectionable. She +handed me his love letter to read as though she were proud of it. +And she is proud of it. She is proud of having this slavering, +greedy man at her feet. She will throw herself and John Bold's +money into his lap; she will ruin her boy, disgrace her father and +you, and be a wretched miserable woman.' + +His spouse who was sitting at her toilet table, continued her +avocations, making no answer to all this. She had known that the +archdeacon would gain nothing be interfering; but she was too +charitable to provoke him by saying so while he was in such deep +sorrow. + +'This comes of a man making a will as that of Bold's' he continued. +'Eleanor is no more fitted to be trusted with such an amount of +money in her own hands than is a charity-school girl.' Still Mrs +Grantly made no reply. 'But I have done my duty; I can do nothing +further. I have told her plainly that she cannot be allowed to form +a link of connection between me and that man. From henceforward it +will not be in my power to make her welcome at Plumstead. I cannot +have Mr Slope's love letters coming here. I think you have better +let her understand that as her mind on this subject seems to be +irrevocably fixed, it will be better for all parties that she +should return to Barchester. + +Now Mrs Grantly was angry with Eleanor, nearly as angry as her +husband; but she had no idea of turning her sister out of the +house. She, therefore, at length spoke out, and explained to the +archdeacon in her own mild seducing way, that he was fuming and +fussing and fretting himself very unnecessarily. She declared that +things, if left alone, would arrange themselves much better than he +could arrange them; and at last succeeded in inducing him to go to +bed in a somewhat less inhospitable state of mind. + +On the following morning Eleanor's maid was commissioned to send +word into the dining-room that her mistress was not well enough to +attend prayers, and that she would breakfast in her own room. Here +she was visited by her father and declared to him her intention of +returning immediately to Barchester. He was hardly surprised by the +announcement. All the household seemed to be aware that something +had gone wrong. Every one walked about with subdued feet, and +people's shoes seemed to creak more than usual. There was a look of +conscious intelligence on the faces of the women; and the men +attempted, but in vain, to converse as though nothing were the +matter. All this had weighed heavily on the heart of Mr Harding; +and when Eleanor told him that her immediate return to Barchester +was a necessity, he merely sighed piteously, and said that he would +be ready to accompany her. + +But here she objected strenuously. She had a great wish, she said, +to go alone; a great desire that it might be seen that her father +was not implicated in her quarrel with Dr Grantly. To this at last +he gave way; but not a word passed between them about Mr Slope--not +a word was said, not a question asked as to the serious interview +on the preceding evening. There was, indeed, very little confidence +between them, though neither of them knew why it should be so. +Eleanor once asked him whether he would not call upon the bishop; +but he answered rather tartly that he did not know--he did not +think he should, but he could not say just at present. And so they +parted. Each was miserably anxious for some show of affection, for +some return of confidence, for some sign of the feeling that +usually bound them together. But none was given. The father could +not bring himself to question his daughter about her supposed +lover; and the daughter would not sully her mouth by repeating the +odious word with which Dr Grantly had aroused her wrath. And so +they parted. + +There was some trouble in arranging the method of Eleanor's return. +She begged her father to send for a postchaise; but when Mrs +Grantly heard of this, she objected strongly. If Eleanor would go +away in dudgeon with the archdeacon, why should she let all the +servants and all the neighbourhood know that she had done so? So at +last Eleanor consented to make use of the Plumstead carriage; and +as the archdeacon had gone out immediately after breakfast and was +not to return till dinner-time, she also consented to postpone her +journey till after lunch, and to join the family at that time. As +to the subject of the quarrel not a word was said by any one. The +affair of the carriage was arranged by Mr Harding, who acted as +Mercury between the two ladies; they, when they met, kissed each +other very lovingly, and then sat down each to her crochet work as +though nothing was amiss in all the world. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +ANOTHER LOVE SCENE + +But there was another visitor at the rectory whose feelings in this +unfortunate matter must be somewhat strictly analysed. Mr Arabin +had heard from his friend of the probability of Eleanor's marriage +with Mr Slope with amazement, but not with incredulity. It has been +said that he was not in love with Eleanor, and up to this period +this certainly had been true. But as soon as he heard that she +loved some one else, he began to be very fond of her himself. He +did not make up his mind that he wished to have her for his wife; +he had never thought of her, and did not know how to think of her, +in connection with himself; but he experienced an inward +indefinable feeling of deep regret, a gnawing sorrow, and +unconquerable depression of spirits, and also a species of +self-abasement that he--he Mr Arabin--had not done something to +prevent that other he, that vile he, whom he so thoroughly +despised, from carrying off his sweet prize. + +Whatever man may have reached the age of forty unmarried without +knowing something of such feelings must have been very successful +or else very cold hearted. + +Mr Arabin had never thought of trimming the sails of his bark so +that he might sail as convoy to this rich argosy. He had seen that +Mrs Bold was beautiful, but he had not dreamt of making her beauty +his own. He knew that Mrs Bold was rich, but he had no more idea of +appropriating her wealth than that of Dr Grantly. He had discovered +that Mrs Bold was intelligent, warm-hearted, agreeable, sensible, +all, in fact, that a man could wish his wife to be; but the higher +were her attractions, the greater her claims to consideration, the +less had he imagined that he might possible become the possessor of +them. Such had been his instinct rather than his thoughts, so +humble and so diffident. Now his diffidence was to be rewarded by +his seeing this woman, whose beauty was to his eyes perfect, whose +wealth was such as to have deterred him from thinking of her, whose +widowhood would have silenced him had he not been so deterred, by +his seeing her become the prey of--Obadiah Slope! + +On the morning of Mrs Bold's departure he got on his horse to ride +over to St Ewold's. As he rode he kept muttering to himself a line +from Van Artevelde:- + +How little flattering is woman's love. + +And then he strove to recall his mind and to think of other +affairs, his parish, his college, his creed--but his thoughts would +revert to Mrs Bold and the Flemish chieftain: + + When we think upon it + How little flattering is woman's love, + Given commonly to whosoe'er is nearest + And propped with most advantage. + +It was not that Mrs Bold should marry any one but him; he had not +put himself forward as a suitor; but that she should marry Mr +Slope--and so he repeated over and over again: + +Outward grace Nor inward light is needful--day by day Men wanting +both are mated with the best And loftiest of God's feminine +creation, Whose love takes no distinction but of gender And +ridicules the very name of choice. + +And so he went on troubled much in his mind. + +He had but an uneasy ride of it that morning, and little good did +he do at St Ewold's. + +The necessary alterations in his house were being fast completed, +and he walked through the rooms, and went up and down the stairs +and rambled through the garden; but he could not wake himself to +much interest about them. He stood still at every window to look +out and think upon Mr Slope. At almost every window he had before +stood and chatted with Eleanor. She and Mrs Grantly had been there +continually, and while Mrs Grantly had been giving orders, and +seeing that orders had been complied with, he and Eleanor had +conversed on all things appertaining to a clergyman's profession. +He thought how often he had laid down the law to her, and how +sweetly she had borne with somewhat dictatorial decrees. He +remembered her listening intelligence, her gentle but quick +replies, her interest in all that concerned the church, in all that +concerned him; and then he struck his riding whip against the +window sill, and declared to himself that it was impossible that +Eleanor Bold should marry Mr Slope. + +And yet he did not really believe, as he should have done, that it +was impossible. He should have known her well enough to feel that +it was truly impossible. He should have been aware that Eleanor had +that within her which would surely protect her from such +degradation. But he, like so many others, was deficient in +confidence in woman. He said to himself over and over again that it +was impossible that Eleanor Bold should become Mrs Slope, and yet +he believed that she would do so. And so he rambled about, and +could do and think of nothing. He was thoroughly uncomfortable, +thoroughly ill at ease, cross with himself and every body else, and +feeding in his heart on animosity towards Mr Slope. This was not as +it should be, as he knew and felt; but he could not help himself. +In truth Mr Arabin was now in love with Mrs Bold, though ignorant +of the fact himself. He was in love, and, though forty years old, +was in love without being aware of it. He fumed and fretted, and +did not know what was the matter, as a youth might do at +one-and-twenty. And so having done no good at St Ewold's, he rode +back much earlier than was usual with him, instigated, by some +inward unacknowledged hope that he might see Mrs Bold before she +left. + +Eleanor had not passed a pleasant morning. She was irritated with +every one, and not least with herself. She felt that she had been +hardly used, but she felt also that she had not played her own +cards well. She should have held herself so far above suspicion as +to have received her sister's innuendoes and the archdeacon's +lecture with indifference. She had not done this, but had shown +herself angry and sore, and was now ashamed of her own petulance, +and yet unable to discontinue it. + +The greater part of the morning she had spent alone; but after a +while her father joined her. He had fully made up his mind that, +come what might, nothing should separate him from his youngest +daughter. It was a hard task for him to reconcile himself to the +idea of seeing her at the head of Mr Slope's table; but he got +through it. Mr Slope, as he argued to himself, was a respectable +man and a clergyman; and he, as Eleanor's father, had no right even +to endeavour to prevent her from marrying such a one. He longed to +tell her how he had determined to prefer her to all the world, how +he was prepared to admit that she was not wrong, how thoroughly he +differed from Dr Grantly; but he could not bring himself to mention +Mr Slope's name. There was yet a chance that they were all wrong in +their surmise; and, being thus in doubt, he could not bring himself +to speak openly to her on the subject. + +He was sitting with her in the drawing-room, with his arm round her +waist, saying now and then some little soft words of affection, and +working hard with his imaginary little fiddle-bow, when Mr Arabin +entered the room. He immediately got up, and the two made some +trifle remarks to each other, neither thinking of what he was +saying, and Eleanor kept her seat on the sofa mute and moody. Mr +Arabin was included in the list of those against whom her anger was +excited. He, too, had dared to talk about her acquaintance with Mr +Slope; he, too, had dared to blame her for not making an enemy of +his enemy. She had not intended to see him before her departure, +and was now but little inclined to be gracious. + +There was a feeling through the whole house that something was +wrong. Mr Arabin, when he saw Eleanor, could not succeed in looking +or in speaking as though he knew nothing of all this. He could not +be cheerful and positive and contradictory with her, as was his +wont. He had not been two minutes in the room before he felt that +he had done wrong in return; and the moment he heard her voice, he +thoroughly wished himself back at St Ewold's. Why, indeed, should +he have wished to have aught further to say to the future wife of +Mr Slope? + +'I am sorry to hear that you are too leave so soon,' said he, +striving in vain to use his ordinary voice. In answer to this she +muttered something about the necessity of her being in Barchester, +and betook herself industriously to her crochet work. + +Then there was a little more trite conversation between Mr Arabin +and Mr Harding; trite, and hard, and vapid, and senseless. Neither +of them had anything to say to the other, and yet neither at such a +moment liked to remain silent. At last Mr Harding, taking advantage +of a pause, escaped from the room, and Eleanor and Mr Arabin were +left together. + +'Your going will be a great break-up to our party,' said he. + +She again muttered something which was all but inaudible; but kept +her eyes fixed upon her work. + +'We have had a very pleasant month her,' said he; 'at least I have; +and I am sorry it should be so soon over.' + +'I have already been from home longer than I intended,' she said; +'and it is time that I should return.' + +'Well, pleasant hours and pleasant days must come to an end. It is +a pity that so few of them are pleasant; or perhaps rather--' + +'It is a pity, certainly, that men and women do so much to destroy +the pleasantness of their days,' said she, interrupting him. 'It is +a pity that there should be so little charity abroad.' + +'Charity should begin at home,' said he; and he was proceeding to +explain that he as a clergyman could not be what she would call +charitable at the expense of those principles which he considered +it his duty to teach, when he remembered that it would be worse +than vain to argue on such a matter with the future wife of Mr +Slope. 'But you are just leaving us,' he continued, 'and I will not +weary your last hour with another lecture. As it is, I fear I have +given you too many.' + +'You should practise as well as preach, Mr Arabin?' + +'Undoubtedly I should. So should we all. All of us who presume to +teach are bound to do our utmost towards fulfilling our own +lessons. I thoroughly allow my deficiency in doing so; but I do not +quite know now to what you allude. Have you any special reason for +telling me now that I should practise as well as preach?' + +Eleanor made no answer. She longed to let him know the cause of her +anger, to upbraid him for speaking of her disrespectfully, and then +at last forgive him, and so part friends. She felt that she would +be unhappy to leave him in her present frame of mind; but yet she +could hardly bring herself to speak to him of Mr Slope. And how +could she allude to the innuendo thrown out by the archdeacon, and +thrown out, as she believed, at the instigation of Mr Arabin? She +wanted to make him know that he was wrong, to make him aware that +he had ill-treated her, in order that the sweetness of her +forgiveness might be enhanced. She felt that she liked him too well +to be contented to part with him in displeasure; and yet she could +not get over her deep displeasure without some explanation, some +acknowledgement, on his part, some assurance that he would never +again so sin against her. + +'Why do you tell me that I should practise what I preach?' +continued he. + +'All men should do so.' + +'Certainly. That is as it were understood and acknowledged. But you +do not say so to all men, or to all clergymen. The advice, good as +it is, is not given except in allusion to some special deficiency. +If you will tell me my special deficiency, I will endeavour to +profit by the advice.' + +She paused for a while, and then looking full in his face, she +said, 'You are not bold enough, Mr Arabin, to speak out to me +openly and plainly, and yet you expect me, a woman, to speak openly +to you. Why did you speak calumny of me to Dr Grantly behind my +back?' + +'Calumny!' said he, and his whole face became suffused with blood; +'what calumny? If I have spoken calumny of you, I will beg your +pardon, and his to whom I spoke it, and God's pardon also. But what +calumny have I spoken of you to Dr Grantly?' + +She also blushed deeply. She could not bring herself to ask him +whether he had not spoken of her as another man's wife. 'You know +that best yourself,' said she; 'but I ask you as a man of honour, +if you have not spoken of me as you would not have spoken of your +own sister; or rather I will not ask you,' she continued, finding +that he did not immediately answer her. 'I will not put you to the +necessity of answering such a question. Dr Grantly has told me what +you said.' + +'Dr Grantly certainly asked me for my advice, and I gave it. He +asked me--' + +'I know he did, Mr Arabin. He asked you whether he would be doing +right to receive me at Plumstead, if I continued my acquaintance +with a gentleman who happens to be personally disagreeable to +yourself and to him?' + +'You are mistaken, Mrs Bold. I have no personal knowledge of Mr +Slope; I have never met him in my life.' + +'You are not the less individually hostile to him. It is not for me +to question the propriety of your enmity; but I had a right to +expect that my name should not have been mixed up in your +hostilities. This has been done, and been done by you in a manner +the most injurious and the most distressing to a woman. I must +confess, Mr Arabin, that from you I expected a different sort of +usage.' + +As she spoke she with difficulty restrained her tears; but she did +restrain them. Had she given way and sobbed about, as in such cases +a woman should do, he would have melted at once, implored her +pardon, perhaps knelt at her feet and declared his love. Everything +would have been explained, and Eleanor would have gone back to +Barchester with a contented mind. How easily would she have +forgiven and forgotten the archdeacon's suspicions had she but +heard the whole truth of it from Mr Arabin. But then where would +have been my novel? She did not cry, and Mr Arabin did not melt. + +'You do me an injustice,' said he. 'My advice was asked by Dr +Grantly, and I was obliged to give it.' + +'Dr Grantly has been most officious, most impertinent. I have as +complete a right to form my acquaintance as he has to form his. +What would you have said, had I consulted you as to the propriety +of banishing Dr Grantly from my house because he knows Lord +Tattenham Corner? I am sure Lord Tattenham is quite as +objectionable an acquaintance for a clergyman as Mr Slope is for a +clergyman's daughter.' + +'I do not know Lord Tattenham Corner.' + +'No; but Dr Grantly does. It is nothing to me if he knows all the +young lords on every racecourse in England. I shall not interfere +with him; nor shall he with me.' + +'I am sorry to differ with you, Mrs Bold; but as you have spoken to +me on this matter, and especially as you blame me for what little I +said on the subject, I must tell you that I do differ from you. Dr +Grantly's position as a man in the world gives him a right to +choose his own acquaintances, subject to certain influences. If he +chooses them badly, those influences will be used. If he consorts +with persons unsuitable to him, his bishop will interfere. What the +bishop is to Dr Grantly, Dr Grantly is to you.' + +'I deny it. I utterly deny it,' said Eleanor, jumping from her +seat, and literally flashing before Mr Arabin, as she stood on the +drawing-room floor. He had never seen her so excited, he had never +seen her look so beautiful. + +'I utterly deny it,' said she. 'Dr Grantly has no sort of +jurisdiction over me whatsoever. Do you and he forget that I am not +altogether alone in this world? Do you forget that I have a father? +Dr Grantly, I believe, always has forgotten it.' + +'From you, Mr Arabin,' she continued, 'I would have listened to +advice because I should have expected it to have been given as one +friend may advise another; not as a schoolmaster gives an order to +a pupil. I might have differed from you; on this matter I should +have done so; but had you spoken to me in your usual manner and +with your usual freedom I should not have been angry. But now--was +it manly of you, Mr Arabin, to speak of me in this way--, so +disrespectful--so--? I cannot bring myself to repeat what you said. +You must understand what I feel. Was it just of you to speak of me +in such a way, and to advise my sister's husband to turn me out of +my sister's house because I chose to know a man of whose doctrine +you disapprove?' + +'I have no alternative left to me, Mrs Bold,' said he, standing +with his back to the fire-place, looking down intently at the +carpet pattern and speaking with a slow measured voice, 'but to +tell you plainly what did take place between me and Dr Grantly.' + +'Well,' said she, finding that he paused for a moment. + +'I am afraid that what I may say may pain you.' + +'It cannot well do so more than what you have already done,' said +she. + +'Dr Grantly asked me whether I thought it would be prudent for him +to receive you in his house as the wife of Mr Slope, and I told him +that I thought it would be imprudent. Believing it to be utterly +impossible that Mr Slope and--' + +'Thank you, Mr Arabin, that is sufficient. I do not want to know +your reasons,' said she, speaking with a terribly calm voice. 'I +have shown to this gentleman the common-place civility of a +neighbour; and because I have done so, because I have not indulged +against him in all the rancour and hatred which you and Dr Grantly +consider due to all clergymen who do not agree with yourselves, you +conclude that I am to marry him;--or rather you do not conclude +so--no rational man could really come to such an outrageous +conclusion without better ground;--you have not thought so--but, as +I am in a position in which such an accusation must be peculiarly +painful, it is made in order that I may be terrified into hostility +against this enemy of yours.' + +As she finished speaking, she walked to the drawing-room window, +and stepped out into the garden. Mr Arabin was left in the room, +still occupied in counting the pattern on the carpet. He had, +however, distinctly heard and accurately marked every word that she +had spoken. Was it not clear from what she had said, that the +archdeacon had been wrong in imputing to her any attachment to Mr +Slope? Was it not clear that Eleanor was still free to make another +choice? It may seem strange that he should for a moment have had a +doubt; and yet he did doubt. She had not absolutely denied the +charge; she had not expressly said that it was untrue. Mr Arabin +understood little of the nature of a woman's feelings, or he would +have known how improbable it was that she should make any clearer +declarations than she had done. Few men do understand the nature of +a woman's heart, till years have robbed such understanding of its +value. And it is well that it should be so, or men would triumph +too easily. + +Mr Arabin stood counting the carpet, unhappy, wretchedly unhappy, +at the hard words that had been spoken to him; and yet happy, +exquisitely happy, as he thought that after all the woman whom he +so regarded was not to become the wife of the man whom he so much +disliked. As he stood there he began to be aware that he was +himself in love. Forty years had passed over his head, and as yet +woman's beauty had never given him an uneasy hour. His present hour +was very uneasy. + +Not that he remained there for half or a quarter of that time. In +spite of what Eleanor had said, Mr Arabin was, in truth, a manly +man. Having ascertained that he loved this woman, and having now +reason to believe that she was free to receive his love, at least +if she pleased to do so, he followed her into the garden to make +such wooing as he could. + +He was not long in finding her. She was walking to and fro beneath +the avenue of elms that stood in the archdeacon's grounds, skirting +the churchyard. What had passed between her and Mr Arabin, had not, +alas, tended to lessen the acerbity of her spirit. She was very +angry; more angry with him than with any one. How could he have so +misunderstood her? She had been so intimate with him, had allowed +him such latitude in what he had chosen to say to her, had complied +with his ideas, cherished his views, fostered his precepts, cared +for his comforts, made much of him in every way in which a pretty +woman can make much of an unmarried man without committing herself +or her feelings! She had been doing this, and while she had been +doing it he had regarded her as the affianced wife of another man. + +As she passed along the avenue, every now and then an unbidden tear +would force itself on her cheek, and as she raised her hand to +brush it away, she stamped with her little foot upon the sward with +very spite to think that she had been so treated. + +Mr Arabin was very near to her when she first saw him, that she +turned short round and retraced her steps down the avenue, trying +to rid her cheeks of all trace of the tell-tale tears. It was a +needless endeavour, for Mr Arabin was in a state of mind that +hardly allowed him to observe such trifles. He followed her down +the walk, and overtook her just as she reached the end of it. + +He had not considered how he would address her; he had not thought +what he would say. He had only felt that it was wretchedness to him +to quarrel with her, and that it would be happiness to be allowed +to love her. And that he could not lower himself by asking for her +pardon. He had done no wrong. He had not calumniated her, not +injured her, as she had accused him of doing. He could not confess +sins of which had not been guilty. He could only let the past be +past, and ask her as to her and his hopes for the future. + +'I hope we are not to part as enemies?' said he. + +'There shall be no enmity on my part,' said Eleanor; 'I endeavour +to avoid all enmities. It would be a hollow pretence were I to say +that there can be a true friendship between us after what has just +past. People cannot make their friends of those whom they despise.' + +'And am I despised?' + +'I must have been so before you could have spoken of me as you did. +And I was deceived, cruelly deceived. I believed that you thought +well of me; I believed that you esteemed me.' + +'Thought of you well and esteemed you!' said he. 'In justifying +myself before you, I must use stronger words than those.' He paused +for a moment, and Eleanor's heart beat with painful violence within +her bosom as she waited for him to go on. 'I have esteemed, do +esteem you, as I never esteemed any woman. Think well of you! I +never thought to think so well, so much of any human creature. +Speak calumny of you! Insult you! Wilfully injure you! I wish it +were my privilege to shield you from calumny, insult, and injury. +Calumny! Ah, me. 'Twere almost better that it were so. Better than +to worship with a sinful worship; sinful and vain also.' And then +he walked along beside her, with his hands clasped behind his back, +looking down on the grass beneath his feet, and utterly at a loss +to express his meaning. And Eleanor walked beside him determined at +least to give him no assistance. + +'Ah, me!' he uttered at last, speaking rather to himself than to +her. 'Ah, me! These Plumstead walks were pleasant enough, if one +could have but heart's ease; but without that, the dull dead stones +of Oxford were far preferable; and St Ewold's too; Mrs Bold, I am +beginning to think that I mistook myself when I came hither. A +Romish priest now would have escaped all this. Of, Father of +heaven! How good for us would it be, if thou couldest vouchsafe to +us a certain rule.' + +'And have we not got a certain rule, Mr Arabin?' + +'Yes--yes, surely; "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us +from evil." But what is temptation? what is evil? Is this evil--is +this temptation?' + +Poor Mr Arabin! It would not come out of him, that deep true love +of his. He could not bring himself to utter it in plain language +that would require and demand an answer. He knew not how to say to +the woman at his side, 'Since the fact is that you do not love that +other man, that you are not to be his wife, can you love me, will +you be my wife?' These were the words which were in his heart, but +with all his sighs he could not draw them to his lips. He would +have given anything, everything for power to ask this simple +question; but glib as was his tongue in pulpits and on platforms, +now he could not find a word wherewith to express the plain wish of +his heart. + +And yet Eleanor understood him as thoroughly as though he had +declared his passion with all the elegant fluency of a practised +Lothario. With a woman's instinct she followed every bend of his +mind, as he spoke of the pleasantness of Plumstead and the stones +of Oxford, as he alluded to the safety of the Romish priest and the +hidden perils of temptation. She knew that it all meant love. She +knew that this man at her side, this accomplished scholar, this +practised orator, this great polemical combatant, was striving and +striving in vain to tell her that his heart was no longer his own. + +She knew this, and felt the joy of knowing it; and yet she would +not come to his aid. He had offended her deeply, had treated her +unworthily, the more unworthily seeing that he had learnt to love +her, and Eleanor could not bring herself to abandon her revenge. +She did not ask herself whether or no she would ultimately accept +his love. She did not even acknowledge to herself that she now +perceived it with pleasure. At the present moment it did not touch +her heart; it merely appeased her pride and flattered her vanity. +Mr Arabin had dared to associate her name with that of Mr Slope, +and now her spirit was soothed by finding that he would fain +associate it with his own. And so she walked on beside him inhaling +incense, but giving out no sweetness in return. + +'Answer me this,' said Mr Arabin, stopping suddenly in his walk, +and stepping forward so that he faced his companion. 'Answer me +this question. You do not love Mr Slope? You do not intend to be +his wife?' + +Mr Arabin certainly did not go the right way to win such a woman as +Eleanor Bold. Just as her wrath was evaporating, as it was +disappearing before the true warmth of his untold love, he +re-kindled it by a most useless repetition of his original sin. Had +he known what he was about he should never have mentioned Mr +Slope's name before Eleanor Bold, till he had made her all his own. +Then, and not till then, he might have talked of Mr Slope with as +much triumph as he chose. + +'I shall answer no such question,' said she; 'and what is more, I +must tell you that nothing can justify your asking it. Good +morning!' + +And so saying she stepped proudly across the lawn, and passing +through the drawing-room window joined her father and sister at +lunch in the dining-room. Half an hour afterwards she was in the +carriage, and so she left Plumstead without again seeing Mr Arabin. + +His walk was long and sad among the sombre trees that overshadowed +the churchyard. He left the archdeacon's grounds that he might +escape attention, and sauntered among the green hillocks under +which lay at rest so many of the once loving swains and forgotten +beauties of Plumstead. To his ears Eleanor's last words sounded +like a knell never to be reversed. He could not comprehend that she +might be angry with him, indignant with him, remorseless with him, +and yet love him. He could not make up his mind whether or no Mr +Slope was in truth a favoured rival. If not, why should she not +have answered his question? + +Poor Mr Arabin--untaught, illiterate, boorish, ignorant man! That +at forty years of age you should know so little of the workings of +a woman's heart! + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE BISHOP'S LIBRARY + +And thus the pleasant party of Plumstead was broken up. It had been +a very pleasant party as long as they had all remained in good +humour with one another. Mrs Grantly had felt her house to be gayer +and brighter than it had been for many a long day, and the +archdeacon had been aware that the month had passed pleasantly +without attributing the pleasure to any other special merits than +those of his own hospitality. Within three or four days of +Eleanor's departure, Mr Harding had also returned, and Mr Arabin +had gone to Oxford to spend one week there previous to his settling +at the vicarage of St Ewold's. He had gone laden with many messages +to Dr Gwynne touching the iniquity of the doings in Barchester +palace, and the peril in which it was believed the hospital still +stood in spite of the assurances contained in Mr Slope's +inauspicious letter. + +During Eleanor's drive into Barchester she had not much opportunity +of reflecting on Mr Arabin. She had been constrained to divert her +mind both from his sins and his love by the necessity of conversing +with her sister, and maintaining the appearance of parting with her +on good terms. + +When the carriage reached her own door, and while she was in the +act of giving her last kiss to her sister and nieces, Mary Bold ran +out and exclaimed: + +'Oh! Eleanor,--have you heard?--oh! Mrs Grantly, have you heard +what has happened? The poor dean!' + +'Good heavens,' said Mrs Grantly; 'what--what has happened?' + +'This morning at nine he had a fit of apoplexy, and he has not +spoken since. I very much fear that by this time he is no more.' + +Mrs Grantly had been very intimate with the dean, and was therefore +much shocked. Eleanor had not known him so well; nevertheless she +was sufficiently acquainted with his person and manners to feel +startled and grieved also at the tidings she now received. 'I will +go at once to the deanery,' said Mrs Grantly, 'the archdeacon, I am +sure, will be there. If there is any news to send you I will let +Thomas call before he leaves town.' And so the carriage drove off, +leaving Eleanor and her baby with Mary Bold. + +Mrs Grantly had been quite right. The archdeacon was at the +deanery. He had come into Barchester that morning by himself, not +caring to intrude himself upon Eleanor, and he also immediately on +his arrival had heard of the dean's fit. There was, as we have +before said, a library or reading room connecting the cathedral +with the dean's home. This was generally called the bishop's +library, because a certain bishop of Barchester was supposed to +have added it to the cathedral. It was built immediately over a +portion of the cloisters, and a flight of stairs descended from it +into the room in which the cathedral clergymen put their surplices +on and off. As it also opened directly into the dean's house, it +was the passage through which that dignitary usually went to his +public devotions. Who had or had not the right of entry into it, +might be difficult to say; but the people of Barchester believed +that it belonged to the dean, and the clergymen of Barchester +believed that it belonged to the chapter. + +On the morning in question most of the resident clergymen who +constituted the chapter, and some few others, were here assembled, +and among them as usual the archdeacon towered with high authority. +He had heard of the dean's fit before he was over the bridge which +led into the town, and had at once come to the well known clerical +trysting place. He had been there by eleven o'clock, and had +remained ever since. From time to time the medical men who had been +called in came through from the deanery into the library, uttered +little bulletins, and then returned. There was it appears very +little hope of the old man's rallying, indeed no hope of any thing +like a final recovery. The only question was whether he must die at +once speechless, unconscious, stricken to death by his first heavy +fit; or whether by due aid of medical skill he might not be so far +brought back to this world as to become conscious of his state, and +enabled to address one prayer to his Maker before he was called to +meet Him face to face at the judgement seat. + +Sir Omicron Pie had been sent for from London. That great man had +shown himself a wonderful adept at keeping life still moving within +an old man's heart in the case of good old Bishop Grantly, and it +might be reasonably expected that he would be equally successful +with a dean. In the mean time, Dr Fillgrave and Mr Rerechild were +doing their best; and poor Miss Trefoil sat at the head of her +father's bed, longing, as in such cases daughters do long, to be +allowed to do something to show her love; if it were only to chafe +his feet with her hands, or wait in menial offices on those +autocratic doctors; anything so that now in the time of need she +might be of use. + +The archdeacon alone of the attendant clergy had been admitted for +a moment into the sick man's chamber. He had crept in with creaking +shoes, had said with smothered voice a word of consolation to the +sorrowing daughter, had looked on the distorted face of his old +friend with solemn but yet eager scrutinising eye, as though he +said in his heart, 'and so some day it will probably be with me;' +and then, having whispered an unmeaning word or two to the doctors, +had creaked his way back again into the library. + +'He'll never speak again, I fear,' said the archdeacon as he +noiselessly closed the door, as though the unconscious dying man, +from whom all sense had fled, would have heard in his distant +chamber the spring of the lock which was now so carefully handled. + +'Indeed! Indeed! Is he so bad?' said the meagre little prebendary, +turning over in his own mind all the probable candidates for the +deanery, and wondering whether the archdeacon would think it worth +his while to accept it. 'The fit must have been very violent.' + +'When a man over seventy has a stroke of apoplexy, it seldom comes +very lightly,' said the burly chancellor. + +'He was an excellent, sweet-tempered man,' said one of the vicars +choral. 'Heaven knows how we shall repair his loss.' + +'He was indeed,' said a minor canon; 'and a great blessing to all +those privileged to take a share of the services of our cathedral. +I suppose the government will appoint, Mr Archdeacon. I trust that +we may have no stranger.' + +'We will not talk about his successor,' said the archdeacon, 'while +there is yet hope.' + +'Oh no, of course not,' said the minor canon. 'It would be +extraordinarily indecorous; but--' + +'I know of no man,' said the meagre little prebendary, 'who has +better interest with the present government than Mr Slope.' + +'Mr Slope!' said two or three at once almost sotto voce. 'Mr Slope +dean of Barchester!' + +'Pooh!' exclaimed the burly chancellor. + +'The bishop would do anything for him,' said the little prebendary. + +'And so would Mrs Proudie,' said the vicar choral. + +'Pooh!' said the chancellor. + +The archdeacon had almost turned pale at the idea. What if Mr Slope +should become dean of Barchester? To be sure there was no adequate +ground, indeed no ground at all, for presuming that such a +desecration could even be contemplated. But nevertheless it was on +the cards. Dr Proudie had interest with the government, and the man +carried as it were Dr Proudie in his pocket. How should they all +conduct themselves if Mr Slope were to become dean of Barchester? +The bare idea for a moment struck even Dr Grantly dumb. + +'It would certainly not be very pleasant for us to have Mr Slope in +the deanery,' said the little prebendary, chuckling inwardly at the +evident consternation which his surmise had created. + +'About as pleasant and as probably as having you in the palace,' +said the chancellor. + +'I should think such an appointment highly improbable,' said the +minor canon, 'and, moreover, extremely injudicious. Should not you, +Mr Archdeacon?' + +'I should presume such a thing to be quite out of the question,' +said the archdeacon; 'but at the present moment I am thinking +rather of our poor friend who is lying so near us than of Mr +Slope.' + +'Of course, of course,' said the vicar choral with a very solemn +air; 'of course you are. So are we all. Poor Dr Trefoil; the best +of men but--' + +'It's the most comfortable dean's residence in England,' said a +second prebendary. 'Fifteen acres in the grounds. 'It is better +than many of the bishops' palaces.' + +'And full two thousand a year,' said the meagre doctor. + +'It is cut down to L 1200,' said the chancellor. + +'No,' said the second prebendary. 'It is to be fifteen. A special +case was made.' + +'No such thing,' said the chancellor. + +'You'll find I'm right,' said the prebendary. + +'I'm sure I read it in the report,' said the minor canon. + +'Nonsense,' said the chancellor. 'They couldn't do it. There were +to be no exceptions but London and Durham.' + +'And Canterbury and York,' said the vicar choral, modestly. + +'What say you, Grantly?' said the meagre little doctor. + +'Say about what?' said the archdeacon, who had been looking as +though he were thinking about his friend the dean, but who had in +reality been thinking about Mr Slope. + +'What is the next dean to have, twelve or fifteen?' + +'Twelve,' said the archdeacon authoritatively, thereby putting an +end at once to all doubt and dispute among the subordinates as far +as that subject was concerned. + +'Well I certainly thought it was fifteen,' said the minor canon. + +'Pooh!' said the burly chancellor. At this moment the door opened, +and in came Dr Fillgrave. + +'How is he?' 'Is he conscious?' 'Can he speak?' 'I hope, I trust, +something better, doctor?' said half a dozen voices all at once, +each in a tone of extremest anxiety. It was pleasant to see how +popular the good old dean was among his clergy. + +'No change, gentlemen; not the slightest change--but a telegraphic +message has arrived,--Sir Omicron Pie will be here by the 9.15pm +train. If any man can do anything Sir Omicron will do it. But all +that skill can do has been done.' + +'We are sure of that, Dr Fillgrave,' said the archdeacon; 'we are +quite sure of that. But yet you know--' + +'Oh, quite right,' said the doctor, 'quite right--I should have +done just the same--I advised it at once. I said to Rerechild at +once that with such a life and such a man, Sir Omicron should be +summoned--of course I knew that the expense was nothing--so +distinguished, you know, and so popular. Nevertheless, all that +human skill can do has been done.' + +Just at this period Mrs Grantly's carriage drove into the close, +and the archdeacon went down to confirm the news which she had +heard before. + +By the 9.15pm train Sir Omicron Pie did arrive. And in the course +of the night a sort of consciousness returned to the poor old dean. +Whether this was due to Sir Omicron Pie is a question on which it +may be well not to offer an opinion. Dr Fillgrave was very clear in +his own mind, but Sir Omicron himself is thought to have differed +from that learned doctor. + +At any rate, Sir Omicron expressed an opinion that the dean had yet +some days to live. + +For the eight or ten next days, accordingly, the poor dean remained +in the same state, half conscious and half comatose, and the +attendant clergy began to think that no new appointment would be +necessary for some few months to come. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A NEW CANDIDATE FOR ECCLESIASTICAL HONOURS + +The dean's illness occasioned much mental turmoil in other places +besides the deanery and adjoining library, and the idea which +occurred to the meagre little prebendary about Mr Slope did not +occur to him alone. + +The bishop was sitting listlessly in his study when the news +reached him of the dean's illness. It was brought to him by Mr +Slope, who of course was not the last person in Barchester to hear +it. It was also not slow in finding its way to Mrs Proudie's ears. +It may be presumed that there was not just much friendly +intercourse between these two rival claimants for his lordship's +obedience. Indeed, though living in the same house, they had not +met since the stormy interview between them in the bishop's study +on the preceding day. + +On that occasion, Mrs Proudie had been defeated. That from her +standards was a subject of great sorrow to that militant lady; but +though defeated, she was not overcome. She felt that she might yet +recover her lost ground, that she might yet hurl Mr Slope down to +the dust from which she had picked him, and force her sinning lord +to sue for pardon in sackcloth and ashes. + +On that memorable day, memorable for his mutiny and rebellion +against her high behests, he had carried his way with a high hand, +and had really begun to think it possible that the days of his +slavery were counted. He had begun to hope that he was now about to +enter into a free land, a land delicious with milk which he himself +might quaff, and honey which would not tantalise him by being only +honey to the eye. When Mrs Proudie banged the door, as she left his +room, he felt himself every inch a bishop. To be sure his spirit +had been a little cowed by his chaplain's subsequent lecture; but +on the whole he was highly pleased with himself, and flattered +himself that the worst was over. 'Ce n'est que le premier pas qui +coute', he reflected; and now that his first step had been so +magnanimously taken, all the rest would follow easily. + +He met his wife as a matter of course at dinner, where little or +nothing was said that could ruffle the bishop's happiness. His +daughters and the servants were present and protected him. + +He made one or two trifling remarks on the subject of his projected +visit to the archbishop, in order to show to all concerned that he +intended to have his own way; and the very servants perceiving the +change transferred a little of their reverence from their mistress +to their master. All which the master perceived; and so also did +the mistress. But Mrs Proudie bided her time. + +After dinner he returned to his study where Mr Slope soon found +him, and there they had tea together and planned many things. For +some few minutes the bishop was really happy; but as the clock on +the chimney piece warned him that the stilly hours of night were +drawing on, as he looked at his chamber candlestick and knew that +he must use it, his heart sank within him again. He was as a ghost, +all whose power of wandering free through these upper regions +ceases at cock-crow; or rather he was the opposite of the ghost, +for till cock-crow he must again be a serf. And would that be all? +Could he trust himself to come down to breakfast a free man in the +morning? + +He was nearly an hour later than usual, when he betook himself to +his rest. Rest! What rest? However, he took a couple of glasses of +sherry, and mounted the stairs. Far be it from us to follow him +thither. There are some things which no novelist, no historian, +should attempt; some few scenes in life's drama which even no poet +should dare to paint. Let that which passed between Dr Proudie and +his wife on this night be understood to be among them. + +He came down the following morning a sad and thoughtful man. He was +attenuated in appearance; one might almost say emaciated. I doubt +whether his now grizzled looks had not palpably become more grey +than on the preceding evening. At any rate he had aged materially. +Years do not make a man old gradually and at an even pace. Look +through the world and see if this is not so always, except in those +rare cases in which the human being lives and dies without joys and +without sorrows, like a vegetable. A man shall be possessed of +florid youthful blooming health till it matters not what age. +Thirty--forty--fifty, then comes some nipping frost, some period of +agony, that robs the fibres of the body of their succulence, and +the hale and hearty man is counted among the old. + +He came down and breakfasted alone; Mrs Proudie being indisposed +took her coffee in her bed-room, and her daughters waited upon her +there. He ate his breakfast alone, and then, hardly knowing what he +did, he betook himself to his usual seat in his study. He tried to +solace himself with his coming visit to the archbishop. That effort +of his own free will at any rate remained to him as an enduring +triumph. But somehow, now that he had achieved it, he did not seem +to care so much about it. It was his ambition that had prompted him +to take his place at the arch-episcopal table, and his ambition was +now quite dead within him. + +He was thus seated when Mr Slope made his appearance with +breathless impatience. + +'My lord, the dean is dead.' + +'Good heavens,' exclaimed the bishop, startled out of his apathy by +an announcement so sad and so sudden. + +'He is either dead or now dying. He has had an apoplectic fit, and +I am told that there is not the slightest hope; indeed, I do not +doubt that by this time he is no more.' + +Bells were rung, and servants were immediately sent to inquire. In +the course of the morning, the bishop, leaning on his chaplain's +arm, himself called at the deanery door. Mrs Proudie sent to Miss +Trefoil all manner of offers of assistance. The Miss Proudies sent +also, and there was immense sympathy between the palace and the +deanery. The answer to all inquiries was unvaried. The dean was +just the same; and Sir Omicron Pie was expected there by the 9.15pm +train. + +And then Mr Slope began to meditate, as others also had done, as to +who might possibly be the new dean; and it occurred to him, as it +had also occurred to others, that it might be possible that he +should be the new dean himself. And then the question as to the +twelve hundred, or fifteen hundred, or two thousand, ran in his +mind, as it had run through those of the other clergymen in the +cathedral library. + +Whether it might be two thousand, of fifteen, or twelve hundred, it +would in any case undoubtedly be a great thing for him, if he could +get it. The gratification to his ambition would be greater even +than that of his covetousness. + +How glorious to out-top the archdeacon in his own cathedral city; +to sit above prebendaries and canons, and have the cathedral pulpit +and all the cathedral services altogether at his own disposal! + +But it might be easier to wish for this than to obtain it. Mr +Slope, however, was not without some means of forwarding his views, +and he at any rate did not let the grass grow under his feet. In +the first place he thought--and not vainly--that he could count +upon what assistance the bishop could give him. He immediately +changed his views with regard to his patron; he made up his mind +that if he became dean, he would hand his lordship back to his +wife's vassalage; and he thought it possible that his lordship +might not be sorry to rid himself of one of his mentors. Mr Slope +had also taken some steps towards making his name known to other +men in power. There was a certain chief-commissioner of national +schools who at the present moment was presumed to stand especially +high in the good graces of the government big wigs, and with him Mr +Slope had contrived to establish a sort of epistolary intimacy. He +thought that he might safely apply to Sir Nicholas Fitzhiggin; and +he felt sure that if Sir Nicholas chose to exert himself, the +promise of such a piece of preferment would be had for the asking +for. + +Then he also had the press at his bidding, or flattered himself +that he had so. The daily Jupiter had taken his part in a very +thorough manner in those polemical contests of his with Mr Arabin; +he had on more than one occasion absolutely had an interview with a +gentleman on the staff of the paper, who, if not the editor, was as +good as the editor; and had long been in the habit of writing +telling letters with his initials, and sent to his editorial friend +with private notes signed in his own name. Indeed, he and Mr +Towers--such was the name of the powerful gentleman of the press +with whom he was connected--were generally very amiable with each +other. Mr Slope's little productions were always printed and +occasionally commented upon; and thus, in a small sort of way, he +had become a literary celebrity. This public life had great charms +for him, though it certainly also had its drawbacks. On one +occasion, when speaking in the presence of reporters, he had failed +to uphold and praise and swear by that special line of conduct +which had been upheld and praised and sworn by in the Jupiter, and +then he had been much surprised and at the moment not a little +irritated to find himself lacerated most unmercifully by his old +ally. He was quizzed and bespattered and made a fool of, just as +though, or rather than if, he had been a constant enemy instead of +a constant friend. He had hitherto not learnt that a man who +aspires to be on the staff of the Jupiter must surrender all +individuality. But ultimately this little castigation had broken no +bones between him and his friend Mr Towers. Mr Slope was one of +those who understood the world too well to show himself angry with +such a potentate as the Jupiter. He had kissed the rod that +scourged him, and now thought that he might fairly look for his +reward. He determined that he would at once let Mr Towers know that +he was a candidate for the place which was about to be become +vacant. More than one place of preferment had lately been given +away much in accordance with advice tendered to the government in +the columns of the Jupiter. + +But it was in incumbent on Mr Slope first to secure the bishop. He +specially felt that it behoved him to do this before the visit to +the archbishop was made. It was really quite providential that the +dean should have fallen ill just at the very nick of time. If Dr +Proudie could be instigated to take the matter up warmly, he might +manage a good deal while staying at the archbishop's palace. +Feeling this very strongly Mr Slope determined to sound the bishop +out that very afternoon. He was to start on the following morning +to London, and therefore not a moment could be lost with safety. + +He went into the bishop's study about five o'clock, and found him +still sitting alone. It might have been supposed that he had hardly +moved since the little excitement occasioned by the walk to the +dean's door. He still wore on his face that dull dead look of half +unconscious suffering. He was doing nothing, reading nothing, +thinking of nothing, but simply gazing on vacancy when Mr Slope for +the second time that day entered his room. + +'Well, Slope,' said he, somewhat impatiently; for, to tell the +truth, he was not anxious just at present to have much conversation +with Mr Slope. + +'Your lordship will be sorry to hear that as yet the poor dean has +shown no signs of amendment.' + +'Oh--ah--hasn't he? Poor man! I'm sure I'm very sorry. I suppose +Sir Omicron has not arrived yet?' + +'No; not till the 9.15pm train.' + +'I wonder they didn't have a special. They say Dr Trefoil is very +rich.' + +'Very rich, I believe,' said Mr Slope. 'But the truth is, all the +doctors in London can do no good; no other good than to show that +every possible care has been taken. Poor Dr Trefoil is not long for +this world, my lord.' + +'I suppose not--I suppose not.' + +'Oh no; indeed, his best friends could not wish that he should +outlive such a shock, for his intellect cannot possibly survive +it.' + +'Poor man, poor man!' said the bishop. + +'It will naturally be a matter of much moment to your lordship who +is to succeed him,' said Mr Slope. 'It would be a great thing if +you could secure the appointment for some person of your own way of +thinking on important points. The party hostile to us are very +strong here in Barchester--much too strong.' + +'Yes, yes. If poor Dr Trefoil is to go, it will be a great thing to +get a good man in his place.' + +'It will be everything to your lordship to get a man on whose +co-operation you can reckon. Only think what trouble we might have +if Dr Grantly, or Dr Hyandry, or any of that way of thinking, were +to get it.' + +'It is not very probable that Lord--will give it to any of that +school; why should he?' + +'No. Not probable; certainly not; but it's possible. Great interest +will probably be made. If I might venture to advise your lordship, +I would suggest that you should discuss the matter with his grace +next week. I have no doubt that your wishes, if made known and +backed by his grace, would be paramount with Lord--' + +'Well, I don't know that; Lord - has always been very kind to me, +very kind. But I am unwilling to interfere in such matters unless +asked. And indeed, if asked, I don't know whom, at this moment, I +should recommend.' + +Mr Slope, even Mr Slope, felt at present rather abashed. He hardly +knew how to frame his little request in language sufficiently +modest. He had recognised and acknowledged, to himself the +necessity of shocking the bishop in the first instance by the +temerity of his application, and his difficulty was how best to +remedy that by his adroitness and eloquence. 'I doubted myself,' +said he, 'whether your lordship would have any one immediately in +your eye, and it is on this account that I venture to submit to you +an idea that I have been turning over in my own mind. If poor Dr +Trefoil must go, I really do not see why, with your lordship's +assistance, I should not hold the preferment myself.' + +'You!' exclaimed the bishop, in a manner that Mr Slope could hardly +have considered complimentary. + +The ice was now broken, and Mr Slope became fluent enough. 'I have +been thinking of looking for it. If your lordship will press the +matter on the archbishop, I do not doubt but that I shall succeed. +You see I shall count upon assistance from the public press; my +name is known, I may say, somewhat favourably known to that portion +of the press which is now most influential with the government, and +I have friends also in the government. But, it is from your hands +that I would most willingly receive the benefit. And, which should +ever be the chief consideration in such matters, you must know +better than any other person whatsoever what qualifications I +possess.' + +The bishop sat for a while dumfounded. Mr Slope dean of Barchester! +The idea of such a transformation of character would never have +occurred to his own unaided intellect. At first he went on thinking +why, for what reasons, on what account, Mr Slope should be dean of +Barchester. But by degrees the direction of his thoughts changed, +and he began to think why, for what reasons, on what account, Mr +Slope should not be dean of Barchester. As far as he himself, the +bishop, was concerned, he could well spare the services of his +chaplain. The little idea of using Mr Slope as a counterpoise to +his wife had well nigh evaporated. He had all but acknowledged the +futility of the scheme. If indeed he could have slept in his +chaplain's bed-room instead of his wife's there might have been +something in it. But---. And thus as Mr Slope as speaking, the +bishop began to recognise the idea that that gentleman might become +dean of Barchester without impropriety; not moved, indeed, by Mr +Slope's eloquence, for he did not follow the tenor of his speech; +but led thereto by his own cogitation. + +'I need not say,' continued Mr Slope, 'that it would be my chief +desire to act in all matters connected with cathedral as far as +possible in accordance with your views. I know your lordship so +well (and I hope you know me well enough to have the same +feelings), that I am satisfied that my being in that position would +add materially to your own comfort, and enable you to extend the +sphere of your useful influence. As I said before, it is not +desirable that there should be but one opinion among the +dignitaries in the same diocese. I doubt much whether I would +accept such an appointment in any diocese in which I should be +constrained to differ much from the bishop. In this case there +would be a delightful uniformity of opinion.' + +Mr Slope perfectly well perceived that the bishop did not follow a +word that he said, but nevertheless he went on talking. He knew it +was necessary that Dr Proudie should recover from his surprise, and +he knew also that he must give him the opportunity of appearing to +have been persuaded by argument. So he went on, and produced a +multitude of fitting reasons all tending to show that no one on +earth could make so good a dean of Barchester as himself, that the +government and the public would assuredly coincide in desiring that +he, Mr Slope, should be dean of Barchester; but that for high +considerations of ecclesiastical polity, it would be especially +desirable that this piece of preferment should be so bestowed +through the instrumentality of the bishop of the diocese. + +'But I really don't know what I could do in the matter,' said the +bishop. + +'If you would mention it to the archbishop; if you would tell his +grace that you consider such an appointment very desirable, that +you have it much at heart with a view of putting an end to the +schism in the diocese; if you did this with your usual energy, you +would probably find no difficulty in inducing his grace to promise +that he would mention it to Lord -. Of course you would let the +archbishop know that I am not looking for the preferment solely +through his intervention; that you do not exactly require him to +ask it as a favour; that you expect I shall get it through other +sources, as is indeed the case; but that you are very anxious that +his grace should express his approval of such an arrangement to +Lord--' + +It ended by the bishop promising to do as he was told. Not that he +so promised without a stipulation. 'About that hospital,' he said, +in the middle of the conference. 'I was never so troubled in my +life;' which was about the truth. 'You haven't spoken to Mr Harding +since I saw you?' + +Mr Slope assured his patron that he had not. + +'Ah well then--I think upon the whole it will be better to let Mr +Quiverful have it. It has been half promised to him, and he has a +large family and is very poor. I think on the whole it will be +better to make out the nomination for Mr Quiverful.' + +'But, my lord,' said Mr Slope, still thinking that was bound to +make a fight for his own view on this matter, and remembering that +it still behoved him to maintain his lately acquired supremacy over +Mrs Proudie, lest he should fail in his views regarding the +deanery, 'but, my lord, I am really much afraid--' + +'Remember, Mr Slope, 'I can hold out not sort of hope to you in +this matter of succeeding poor Dr Trefoil. I will certainly speak +to the archbishop, as you wish it, but I cannot think--' + +'Well, my lord,' said Mr Slope, fully understanding the bishop, and +in his turn interrupting him, 'perhaps your lordship is right about +Mr Quiverful. I have no doubt I can easily arrange matters with Mr +Harding, and I will make out the nomination for your signature as +you direct.' + +'Yes, Slope, I think that will be best; and you may be sure that +any little that I can do to forward your views shall be done.' + +And so they parted. + +Mr Slope had now much business to handle. He had to make his daily +visit to the signora. This common prudence should have now induced +him to omit, but he was infatuated; and could not bring himself to +be commonly prudent. He determined therefore that he would drink +tea at the Stanhope's; and he determined also, or thought that he +determined, that having done so he would go thither no more. He had +also to arrange his matters with Mrs Bold. He was of the opinion +that Eleanor would grace the deanery as perfectly as she would the +chaplain's cottage; and he thought, moreover, that Eleanor's +fortune would excellently repair and dilapidations and curtailments +in the dean's stipend which might have been made by that ruthless +ecclesiastical commission. + +Touching Mrs Bold his hopes now soared high. Mr Slope was one of +the numerous multitude of swains who think that all is fair in +love, and he had accordingly not refrained from using the services +of Mrs Bold's own maid. From her he had learnt much of what had +taken place at Plumstead; not exactly with truth, for the 'own +maid' had not been able to divine the exact truth, but with some +sort of similitude to it. He had been told that the archdeacon and +Mrs Grantly and Mr Harding and Mr Arabin had all quarrelled with +'missus' for having received a letter from Mr Slope; that 'missus' +had positively refused to give the letter up; that she had received +from the archdeacon the option of giving up either Mr Slope and his +letter, or the society of Plumstead rectory; and that 'missus' had +declared with much indignation, that 'she didn't care a straw for +the society of Plumstead rectory,' and that she wouldn't give up Mr +Slope for any of them. + +Considering the source from whence this came, it was not quite so +untrue as might have been expected. It showed pretty plainly what +had been the nature of the conversation in the servants' hall; and +coupled as it was with the certainty of Eleanor's sudden return, it +appeared to Mr Slope to be so far worthy of credit as to justify +him in thinking that the fair widow would in all human probability +accept his offer. + +All this work had therefore to be done. It was desirable he thought +that he should make his offer before it was known that Mr Quiverful +was finally appointed to the hospital. In his letter to Eleanor he +had plainly declared that Mr Harding was to have the appointment. +It would be very difficult to explain this away; and were he to +write another letter to Eleanor, telling the truth and throwing the +blame on the bishop, it would naturally injure him in her +estimation. He determined therefore to let that matter disclose +itself as it would, and to lose no time in throwing himself at her +feet. + +Then he had to solicit the assistance of Sir Nicholas Fitzwhiggin +and Mr Towers, and he went directly from the bishop's presence to +compose his letters to those gentlemen. As Mr Slope was esteemed as +an adept at letter writing, they shall be given in full. + +'Palace, Barchester, Sept 185-, '(Private) + +'My dear Sir Nicholas,--I hope that the intercourse which has been +between us will preclude you from regarding my present application +as an intrusion. You cannot I imagine have yet heard that poor dear +old Dr Trefoil has been seized with apoplexy. It is a subject of +profound grief to every one in Barchester, for he has always been +an excellent man--excellent as man and as a clergyman. He is, +however, full of years, and his life could not under any +circumstances have been much longer spared. You may probably have +known him. + +'There is, it appears, no probable chance of his recovery. Sir +Omicron Pie is, I believe, at present with him. At any rate the +medical men here have declared that one or two days more must limit +the tether of his mortal coil. I sincerely trust that his soul may +wing its flight to that haven where it may for ever be at rest and +for ever be happy. + +'The bishop has been speaking to me about the preferment, and he is +anxious that it should be conferred on me. I confess that I can +hardly venture, at my age, to look for such advancement; but I am +so far encouraged by his lordship, that I believe I shall be +induced to do so. His lordship goes to London tomorrow, and is +intent on mentioning the subject to the archbishop. + +'I know well how deservedly great is your weight with the present +government. In any matter touching church preferment you would of +course be listened to. Now that the matter has been put into my +head, I am of course anxious to be successful. If you can assist me +by your good word, you will confer on me one additional favour. + +'I had better add, that Lord - cannot as yet know of this piece of +preferment having fallen in, or rather of the certainty of falling +(for poor dear Dr Trefoil is past hope). Should Lord - first hear +it from you, that might probably bee thought to give you a fair +claim to express your opinion. + +'Of course our grand object is, that we should all be of one +opinion in church matters. This is most desirable at Barchester; it +is this that makes our good bishop so anxious about it. You may +probably think it expedient to point this out to Lord - if it shall +be in your power to oblige me by mentioning the subject to his +lordship. + +'Believe me, my dear Sir Nicholas, 'Your most faithful servant, +OBADIAH SLOPE.' + +His letter to Mr Towers was written in quite a different strain. Mr +Slope conceived that he completely understood the difference in +character and position of the two men whom he addressed. He knew +that for such a man as Sir Nicholas Fitzwhiggin a little flummery +was necessary, and that it might be of the easy everyday +description. Accordingly, his letter to Sir Nicholas was written +currente calamo, with very little trouble. But to such a man as Mr +Towers it was not so easy to write a letter that should be +effective and yet not offensive, that should carry its point +without undue interference. It was not difficult to flatter Dr +Proudie, or Sir Nicholas Fitzwhiggin, but very difficult to flatter +Mr Towers without letting the flattery declare itself. This, +however, had to be done. Moreover, this letter must in appearance +at least, be written without effort, and be fluent, unconstrained, +and demonstrative of no doubt or fear on the part of the writer. +Therefor the epistle to Mr Towers was studied, and recopied, and +elaborated at the cost of so many minutes, that Mr Slope had hardly +time to dress himself and reach Dr Stanhope's that evening. + +When dispatched it ran as follows:- + +'Barchester, Sept 185- (He purposely omitted any allusion to the +'palace', thinking that Mr Towers might not like it. A great man, +he remembered, had been once much condemned for dating a letter +from Windsor Castle.) + +'(Private) + +'My dear Sir,--We were all a good deal shocked here this morning by +hearing that poor old Dean Trefoil had been stricken with apoplexy. +The fit took him about 9am. I am writing now to save the post, and +he is still alive, but past all hope, or possibility, I believe, of +living. Sir Omicron Pie is here, or will be very shortly; but all +that even Sir Omicron can do, is to ratify the sentence of his less +distinguished brethren that nothing can be done. Poor Dr Trefoil's +race on this side of the grave is run. I do not know whether you +knew him. He was a good, quiet, charitable man, of the old school +of course, as any clergyman over seventy years of age must +necessarily be. + +'But I do not write merely with the object of sending you such news +as this: doubtless some one of your Mercuries will have seen and +heard and reported so much; I write, as you usually do yourself, +rather with a view to the future than to the past. + +'Rumour is already rife her as to Dr Trefoil's successor, and among +those named as possible future deans your humble servant is, I +believe, not the least frequently spoken of; in short, I am looking +for the preferment. You may probably know that since Bishop Proudie +came to this diocese, I have exerted myself a good deal; and I may +certainly say not without some success. He and I are nearly always +of the same opinion on points of doctrine as well as church +discipline, and therefore I have had, as his confidential chaplain, +very much in my own hands; but I confess to you that I have a +higher ambition than to remain the chaplain of any bishop. + +'There are no positions in which more energy is now needed than in +those of our deans. The whole of our enormous cathedral +establishments have been allowed to go to sleep,--nay, they are all +but dead and ready for the sepulchre! And yet of what prodigious +moment they might be made, if, as we intend, they were so managed +as to lead the way and show an example for all our parochial +clergy! + +'The bishop here is most anxious for my success; indeed, he goes +to-morrow to press the matter on the archbishop. I believe also I +may count on the support of at least one of the most effective +member of the government. But I confess the support of the Jupiter, +if I be thought worthy of it, would be more gratifying to me than +any other; more gratifying if by it I should be successful; and +more gratifying also, if, although, so supported, I should be +unsuccessful. + +'The time has, in fact, come in which no government can venture to +fill up the high places of the Church in defiance of the public +press. The age of honourable bishops and noble deans has gone by; +and any clergyman however humbly born can now hope for success, if +his industry, talent, and character, be sufficient to call forth +the manifest opinion of the public in his favour. + +'At the present moment we all feel that any counsel given in such +matters by the Jupiter has the greatest weight,--is, indeed, +generally followed; and we feel also--I am speaking of clergymen of +my own age and standing--that it should be so. There can be no +patron less interested than the Jupiter, and none that more +thoroughly understands the wants of the people. + +'I am sure you will not suspect me of asking from you any support +which the paper with which you are connected cannot conscientiously +give me. My object in writing is to let you know that I am a +candidate for the appointment. It is for you to judge whether or no +you can assist my views. I should not, of course, have written to +you on such a matter had I not believed (and I have had good reason +so to believe) that the Jupiter approves of my views on +ecclesiastical polity. + +'The bishop expresses a fear that I may be considered too young for +such a station, my age being thirty-six. I cannot think that at the +present day any hesitation need be felt on such a point. The public +has lost its love for antiquated servants. If a man will ever be +fit to do good work he will be fit at thirty-six years of age. + +'Believe me very faithfully yours, OBADIAH SLOPE + +'T. TOWERS, Esq., 'Middle Temple.' + +Having thus exerted himself, Mr Slope posted his letters, and +passed the remainder of the evening at the feet of his mistress. + +Mr Slope will be accused of deceit in his mode of canvassing. It +will be said that he lied in the application he made to each of his +three patrons. I believe it must be owned that he did so. He could +not hesitate on account of his youth, and yet, be quite assured +that he was not too young. He could not count chiefly on the +bishop's support, and chiefly also on that of the newspaper. He did +not think that the bishop was going to press the matter on the +archbishop. It must be owned that in his canvassing Mr Slope was as +false as he well could be. + +Let it, however, be asked of those who are conversant with such +matters, whether he was more false than men usually are on such +occasions. We English gentlemen hate the name of a lie; but how +often do we find public men who believe each other's words? + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +MRS PROUDIE VICTRIX + +The next week passed over at Barchester with much apparent +tranquillity. The hearts, however, of some of the inhabitants were +not so tranquil as the streets of the city. The poor old dean still +continued to live, just as Sir Omicron had prophesied that he would +do, much to amazement, and some thought, disgust, of Dr Fillgrave. +The bishop still remained away. He had stayed a day or two in town, +and had also remained longer at the archbishop's than he had +intended. Mr Slope had as yet received no line in answer to either +of his letters; but he had learnt the cause of this. Sir Nicholas +was stalking a deer, or attending the Queen, in the Highlands; and +even the indefatigable Mr Towers had stolen an autumn holiday, and +had made one of the yearly tribe who now ascend Mont Blanc. Mr +Slope learnt that he was not expected back till the last day of +September. + +Mrs Bold was thrown much with the Stanhopes, of whom she became +fonder and fonder. If asked, she would have said that Charlotte +Stanhope was her special friend, and so she would have thought. +But, to tell the truth, she liked Bertie nearly as well; she had no +more idea of regarding him as a lover than she would have had of +looking at a big tame dog in such a light. Bertie had become very +intimate with her, and made little speeches to her, and said little +things of sort very different from the speeches and sayings of +other men. But then this was almost always done before his sisters; +and he, with his long silken beard, his light blue eyes and strange +dress, was so unlike other men. She admitted him to a kind of +familiarity which she had never known with any one else, and of +which she by no means understood the danger. She blushed once at +finding that she had called him Bertie, and on the same day only +barely remembered her position in time to check herself from +playing upon him some personal practical joke to which she was +instigated by Charlotte. + +In all this Eleanor was perfectly innocent, and Bertie Stanhope +could hardly be called guilty. But every familiarity into which +Eleanor was entrapped was deliberately planned by his sister. She +knew well how to play her game, and played it without mercy; she +knew, none so well, what was her brother's character, and she would +have handed over to him the young widow, and the young widow's +money, and the money of the widow's child, without remorse. With +her pretended friendship and warm cordiality, she strove to connect +Eleanor so closely with her brother as to make it impossible that +she should go back even if she wished it. But Charlotte Stanhope +knew really nothing of Eleanor's character; did not even understand +that there were such characters. She did not comprehend that a +young and pretty woman could be playful and familiar with a man +such as Bertie Stanhope, and yet have no idea in her head, no +feeling in her heart that she would have been ashamed to own to all +the world. Charlotte Stanhope did not in the least conceive that +her new friend was a woman whom nothing could entrap into an +inconsiderate marriage, whose mind would have revolted from the +slightest impropriety had she been aware that any impropriety +existed. + +Miss Stanhope, however, had tact enough to make herself and her +father's house very agreeable to Mrs Bold. There was with them all +an absence of stiffness and formality which was peculiarly +agreeable to Eleanor after the great dose of clerical arrogance +which she had lately been constrained to take. She played chess +with them, walked with them, and drank tea with them; studied or +pretended to study astronomy; assisted them in writing stories in +rhyme, in turning prose tragedy into comic verse, or comic stories +into would-be tragic poetry. She had no idea before that she had +any such talents. She had not conceived the possibility of her +doing such things as she now did. She found with the Stanshopes new +amusements and employments, new pursuits, which in themselves could +not be wrong, and which were exceedingly alluring. + +Is it not a pity that people who are bright and clever should so +often be exceedingly improper? And that those who are never +improper should so often be dull and heavy? Now Charlotte Stanhope +was always bright, and never heavy: but her propriety was doubtful. + +But during all this time Eleanor by no means forgot Mr Arabin, nor +did she forget Mr Slope. She had parted from Mr Arabin in her +anger. She was still angry at what she regarded as his impertinent +interference; but nevertheless she looked forward to meeting him +again; and also looked forward to forgiving him. The words that Mr +Arabin had uttered still sounded in her ears. She knew that if not +intended for a declaration of love, they did signify that he loved +her; and she felt also that if he ever did make such a declaration, +it might be that she should not receive it unkindly. She was still +angry with him, very angry with him; so angry that she would bit +her lip and stamp her foot as she thought of what he had said and +done. But nevertheless she yearned to let him know that he was +forgiven; all that she required was that he should own that he had +sinned. + +She was to meet him at Ullathorne on the last day of the present +month. Miss Thorne had invited all the country round to a breakfast +on the lawn. There were to be tents and archery, and dancing for +the ladies on the lawn, and for the swains and girls in the +paddock. There were to be fiddlers and fifers, races for the boys, +poles to be climbed, ditches full of water to be jumped over, +horse-collars to be grinned through (this latter amusement was an +addition of the stewards, and not arranged by Miss Thorne in the +original programme), and every game to be played which, in a long +course of reading, Miss Thorne could ascertain to have been played +in the good days of Queen Elizabeth. Everything of more modern +growth was to be tabooed, if possible. On one subject Miss Thorne +was very unhappy. She had been turning in her mind the matter of +the bull-ring, but could not succeed in making anything of it. She +would not for the world have done, or allowed to be done, anything +that was cruel; as to the promoting the torture of a bull for the +amusement of her young neighbours, it need hardly be said that Miss +Thorne would be the last to think of it. And yet, there was +something so charming in the name. A bull-ring, however, without a +bull would only be a memento of the decadence of the times, and she +felt herself constrained to abandon the idea. Quintains, however, +she was determined to have, and had poles and swivels and bags of +flour prepared accordingly. She would no doubt have been anxious +for something small in the way of a tournament; but, as she said to +her brother, that had been tried, and the age had proved itself too +decidedly inferior to its fore-runners to admit of such a pastime. +Mr Thorne did not seem to participate in her regret, feeling +perhaps that a full suit of chain-armour would have added but +little to his own personal comfort. + +This party at Ullathorne had been planned in the first place as a +sort of welcoming to Mr Arabin on his entrance into St Ewold's +parsonage; an intended harvest-home gala for the labourers and +their wives and children had subsequently been amalgamated with it, +and thus it had grown into its present dimensions. All the +Plumstead party had of course been asked, at the time of the +invitation Eleanor had intended to have gone with her sister. Now +her plans were altered, and she was going with the Stanhopes. The +Proudies were also to be there; and as Mr Slope had not been +included in the invitation to the palace, the signora, whose +impudence never deserted her, asked permission of Miss Thorne to +bring him. + +This permission Miss Thorne gave, having no other alternative; but +she did so with a trembling heart, fearing Mr Arabin would be +offended. Immediately on his return she apologised, almost with +tears, so dire an enmity was presumed to rage between the two +gentlemen. But Mr Arabin comforted by an assurance that he should +meet Mr Slope with the greatest pleasure imaginable, and made her +promise that she would introduce them to each other. + +But this triumph of Mr Slope's was not so agreeable to Eleanor, who +since her return to Barchester had done her best to avoid him. She +would not give way to the Plumstead folk when they so ungenerously +accused her of being in love with this odious man; but, +nevertheless, knowing that she was so accused, she was fully alive +to the expediency of keeping out of his way and dropping him by +degrees. She had seen very little of him since her return. Her +servants had been instructed to say to all visitors that she was +out. She could not bring herself to specify Mr Slope particularly, +and in order to order to avoid him she had thus debarred herself +from all her friends. She had excepted Charlotte Stanhope, and, by +degrees, a few others also. Once she had met him at the Stanhope's; +but, as a rule, Mr Slope's visits there had been made in the +morning, and hers in the evening. On that one occasion Charlotte +had managed to preserve her from any annoyance. This was very +good-natured on the part of Charlotte, as Eleanor thought, and also +very sharp-witted, as Eleanor had told her friend nothing of her +reasons for wishing to avoid that gentleman. The fact, however, +was, that Charlotte had learnt from her sister that Mr Slope would +probably put himself forward as a suitor for the widow's hand, and +she was consequently sufficiently alive to the expediency of +guarding Bertie's future wife from any danger in that quarter. + +Nevertheless the Stanhopes were pledged to take Mr Slope with them +to Ullathorne. An arrangement was therefore necessarily made, which +was very disagreeable to Eleanor. Dr Stanhope, with herself, +Charlotte, and Mr Slope, were to go together, and Bertie was to +follow with his sister Madeline. It was clearly visible to +Eleanor's face that this assortment was very disagreeable to her; +and Charlotte, who was much encouraged thereby in her own little +plan, made a thousand apologies. + +'I see you don't like it, dear,' said she, 'but we could not manage +it otherwise. Bertie would give his eyes to go with you, but +Madeline cannot possibly go without him. Nor could we possibly put +Mr Slope and Madeline in the same carriage without anyone else. +They'd both be ruined for ever, you know, and not admitted inside +Ullathorne gates, I should imagine, after such an impropriety.' + +'Of course that wouldn't do,' said Eleanor; 'but couldn't I go in +the carriage with the signora and your brother?' + +'Impossible!' said Charlotte. 'When she is there, there is only +room for two.' The signora, in truth, did not care to do her +travelling in the presence of strangers. + +'Well, then,' said Eleanor, 'you are all so kind, Charlotte, and so +good to me, that I am sure you won't be offended; but I think I +shall not go at all.' + +'Not go at all!--what nonsense!--indeed you shall.' it had been +absolutely determined in family council that Bertie should propose +on that very occasion. + +'Or I can take a fly,' said Eleanor. 'You know that I am not +embarrassed by so many difficulties as you young ladies. I can go +alone.' + +'Nonsense, my dear. Don't think of such a thing; after all it is +only for an hour or so, and to tell the truth, I don't know what it is +you dislike so. I thought you and Mr Slope were great friends. What +is it you dislike?' + +'Oh; nothing particular,' said Eleanor; 'only I thought it would be +a family party.' + +'Of course it would be much nicer, much more snug, if Bertie would +go with us. It is he that is badly treated. I can assure you he is +much more afraid of Mr Slope than you are. But you see Madeline +cannot go without him,--and she, poor creature, goes out so seldom! +I am sure you don't begrudge her this, though her vagary does knock +about our own party a little.' + +Of course Eleanor made a thousand protestations, a uttered a +thousand hopes that Madeline would enjoy herself. And of course she +had to give way, and undertake to go in the carriage with Mr Slope. +In fact, she was driven either to so this, or to explain why she +would not do so. Now she could not bring herself to explain to +Charlotte Stanhope all that had passed at Plumstead. + +But it was to her a sore necessity. She thought of a thousand +little schemes for avoiding it; she would plead illness, and not go +at all; she would persuade Mary Bold to go although not asked, and +then make a necessity of having a carriage of her own to take her +sister-in-law; anything, in fact, she could do rather than be seen +in the same carriage with Mr Slope. However, when the momentous +morning came she had no scheme matured, and then Mr Slope handed +her into Dr Stanhope's carriage, and following her steps, sat +opposite to her. + +The bishop returned on the eve of the Ullathorne party, and was +received at home with radiant smiles by the partner of all his +cares. On his arrival he crept up to his dressing-room with +somewhat of a palpitating heart; he had overstayed his allotted +time by three days, and was not without fear of penalties. Nothing, +however, could be more affectionately cordial than the greeting he +received; the girls came out and kissed him in a manner that was +quite soothing to his spirit; and Mrs Proudie, arms, and almost in +words called him her dear, darling, good, pet, little bishop. All +this was a very pleasant surprise. + +Mrs Proudie had somewhat changed her tactics; not that she had seen +any cause to disapprove of her former line of conduct, but she had +now brought matters to such a point that she calculated that she +might safely do so. She had got the better of Mr Slope, and she now +thought well to show her husband that when allowed to get the +better of everybody, when obeyed by him and permitted to rule over +others, she would take care that he should have his reward. Mr +Slope had not a chance against her; not only could she stun the +poor bishop by her midnight anger, but she could assuage and soothe +him, if she so willed by daily indulgences. She could furnish his +room for him, turn him out as smart a bishop as any on the bench, +give him good dinners, warm fires, and an easy life; all this she +would do if he would but be quietly obedient. But if not--! To +speak sooth, however, his sufferings on that dreadful night had +been as poignant, as to leave him little spirit for further +rebellion. + +As soon as he had dressed himself she returned to his room. 'I hope +you enjoyed yourself at--' said she, seating herself on one side of +the fire while he remained in his arm-chair on the other, stroking +the calves of his legs. It was the first time he had had a fire in +his room since the summer, and it pleased him; for the good bishop +loved to be warm and cosy. Nothing could be more polite than the +archbishop; and Mrs Archbishop had been equally charming. + +Mrs Proudie was delighted to hear it; nothing, she declared, +pleased her so much as to think + + Her bairn respectit like the lave. + +She did not put it precisely in these words, but what she said came +to the same thing; and then, having petted and fondled her little +man sufficiently, she proceeded to business. + +'The poor dean is still alive,' said she. + +'So I hear, so I hear,' said the bishop. 'I'll go to the deanery +directly after breakfast to-morrow.' + +'We are going to this party at Ullathorne to-morrow morning, my +dear; we must be there early, you know,--by twelve o'clock I +suppose.' + +'Oh,--ah!' said the bishop; 'then I'll certainly call the next day. + +'Was much said about it at--?' asked Mrs Proudie. + +'About what?' said the bishop. + +'Filling up the dean's place,' said Mrs Proudie. As she spoke a +spark of the wonted fire returned to her eye, and the bishop felt +himself to be a little less comfortable than before. + +'Filling up the dean's place; that is, if the dean dies?--very +little, my dear. It was mentioned, just mentioned.' + +'And what did you say about it, bishop?' + +'Why I said that I thought that if, that is, should--should the +dean die, that is, I said I thought--' As he went on stammering and +floundering, he saw that his wife's eye was fixed sternly on him. +Why should he encounter such evil for a man whom he loved so +slightly as Mr Slope? Why should he give up his enjoyments and his +ease, and such dignity as might be allowed to him, to fight a +losing battle for a chaplain? The chaplain after all, if +successful, would be as great a tyrant as his wife. Why fight at +all? Why contend? Why be uneasy? From that moment he determined to +fling Mr Slope to the winds, and take the goods the gods provided. + +'I am told,' said Mrs Proudie, speaking very slowly, 'that Mr Slope +is looking to be the new dean.' + +'Yes,--certainly, I believe he is,' said the bishop. + +'And what does the archbishop say about that?' asked Mrs Proudie. + +'Well, my dear, to tell the truth, I promised Mr Slope to speak to +the archbishop. Mr Slope spoke to me about it. It was very arrogant +of him, I must say,--but that is nothing to me.' + +'Arrogant!' said Mrs Proudie; 'it is the most impudent piece of +pretension I ever heard in my life. Mr Slope dean of Barchester, +indeed! And what did you do in the matter, bishop?' + +'Why, my dear, I did speak to the archbishop.' + +'You don't mean to tell me,' said Mrs Proudie, 'that you are going +to make yourself ridiculous by lending your name to such +preposterous attempts as this? Mr Slope dean of Barchester indeed!' +And she tossed her head, and put her arms a-kimbo, with an air of +confident defiance that made her husband quite sure that Mr Slope +never would be Dean of Barchester. In truth, Mrs Proudie was all +but invincible; had she married Petruchio, it may be doubted +whether that arch wife-tamer would have been able to keep her legs +out of those garments which are presumed by men to be peculiarly +unfitted for feminine use. + +'It is preposterous, my dear.' + +'Then why have you endeavoured to assist him?' + +'Why,--my dear, I haven't assisted him--much.' + +'But why have you done it at all? Why have you mixed your name up +in any thing so ridiculous? What was it you did say to the +archbishop?' + +'Why, I did just mention it; I just did say that--that in the event +of the poor dean's death, Mr Slope would--would--' + +'Would what?' + +'I forget how I put it,--would take it if he could get it; +something of that sort. I didn't say much more than that.' + +'You shouldn't have said anything at all. And what did the +archbishop say?' + +'He didn't say anything; he just bowed and rubbed his hands. +Somebody else came up at the moment, and as we were discussing the +new parochial universal school committee, the matter of the new +dean dropped; after that I didn't think it was wise to renew it.' + +'Renew it! I am very sorry you ever mentioned it. What will the +archbishop think of that?' + +'You may be sure, my dear, that the archbishop thought very little +about it.' + +'But why did you think about it, bishop? How could you think of +making such a creature as that Dean of Barchester?--Dean of +Barchester! I suppose he'll be looking for bishoprics some of these +days--a man that hardly knows who his father was; a man that I +found without bread to his mouth, or a coat to his back. Dean of +Barchester indeed! I'll dean him.' + +Mrs Proudie considered herself to be in politics a pure Whig; all +her family belonged to the Whig party. Now among all ranks of +Englishmen and Englishwomen (Mrs Proudie should, I think, be ranked +among the former, on the score of her great strength of mind), no +one is so hostile to lowly born pretenders to high station as the +pure Whig. + +The bishop thought it necessary to exculpate himself. 'Why, my +dear,' said he, 'it appeared to me that you and Mr Slope did not +get on quite as well as you used to do.' + +'Get on!' said Mrs Proudie, moving her foot uneasily on the +hearth-rug, and compressing her lips in a manner that betokened +such danger to the subject of their discourse. + +'I began to find that he was objectionable to you,'--Mrs Proudie's +foot worked on the hearth-rug with great rapidity,--'and that you +would be more comfortable if he was out of the palace,' Mrs Proudie +smiled, as a hyena may probably smile before he begins his +laugh,--'and therefore I thought that if he got this place, and so +ceased to be my chaplain, you might be pleased at such an +arrangement.' + +And then the hyena laughed loud. Pleased at such an arrangement! +pleased at having her enemy converted into a dean with twelve +hundred a year! Medea, when she describes the customs of her native +country (I am quoting from Robson's edition), assures her +astonished auditor that in her land captives, when taken, are +eaten. 'You pardon them!' says Medea. 'We do indeed,' says the mild +Grecian. 'We eat them!' says she of Colchis, with terrible energy. +Mrs Proudie was the Medea of Barchester; she had no idea of not +eating Mr Slope. Pardon him! merely get rid of him! make a dean of +him! It was not so they did with their captives in her country, +among people of her sort! Mr Slope had no such mercy to expect; she +would pick him to the very last bone. + +'Oh, yes, my dear, of course he'll cease to be your chaplain,' said +she. 'After what has passed, that must be a matter of course. I +couldn't for a moment think of living in the same house with such a +man. Besides, he has shown himself quite unfit for such a +situation; making broils and quarrels among the clergy, getting +you, my dear, into scrapes, and taking upon himself as though he +was as good as bishop himself. Of course he'll go. But because he +leaves the palace, that is no reason why he should get into the +deanery.' + +'Oh, of course not!' said the bishop; 'but to save appearances you +know, my dear--' + +'I don't want to save appearances; I want Mr Slope to appear just +what he is--a false, designing, mean, intriguing man. I have my eye +on him; he little knows what I see. He is misconducting himself in +the most disgraceful way with that lame Italian woman. That family +is a disgrace to Barchester, and Mr Slope is a disgrace to +Barchester! If he doesn't look well to it, he'll have his gown +stripped off his back instead of having a dean's hat on his head. +Dean, indeed! The man has gone mad with arrogance. + +The bishop said nothing further to excuse either himself or his +chaplain, and having shown himself passive and docile was again +taken into favour. They soon went to dinner, and he spent the +pleasantest evening he had had in his own house for a long time. +His daughter played and sang to him as he sipped his coffee and +read his newspaper, and Mrs Proudie asked good-natured little +questions about the archbishop; and then he went happily to bed, +and slept as quietly as though Mrs Proudie had been Griselda +herself. While shaving himself in the morning and preparing for the +festivities of Ullathorne, he fully resolved to run no more tilts +against a warrior so fully armed at all points as was Mrs Proudie. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +OXFORD--THE MASTER AND TUTOR OF LAZARUS + +Mr Arabin, as we have said, had but a sad walk of it under the +trees of Plumstead churchyard. He did not appear to any of the +family till dinner time, and then he assumed, as far as their +judgment went, to be quite himself. He had, as was his wont, asked +himself a great many questions, and given himself a great many +answers; and the upshot of this was that he had set himself down +for an ass. He had determined that he was much too old and much to +rusty to commence the manouvres of lovemaking; that he had let the +time slip through his hands which should have been used for such +purposes; and that now he must lie on his bed as he had made it. +Then he asked himself whether in truth he did love this woman; and +he answered himself, not without a long struggle, but at last +honestly, that he certainly did love her. He then asked himself +whether he did not also love her money; and he again answered +himself that he did so. But here he did not answer honestly. It was +and ever had been his weakness to look for impure motives for his +own conduct. No doubt, circumstanced as he was, with a small living +and a fellowship, accustomed as he had been to collegiate luxuries +and expensive comforts, he might have hesitated to marry a +penniless woman had he felt ever so strong a predilection for the +woman herself; no doubt Eleanor's fortune put all such difficulties +out of the question; but it was equally without doubt that his love +for her had crept upon him without the slightest idea on his part +that he could ever benefit his own condition by sharing her wealth. + +When he had stood on the hearth-rug, counting the pattern, and +counting also the future chances of his own life, the remembrances +of Mrs Bold's comfortable income had not certainly damped his first +assured feeling of love for her. And why should it have done so? +Need it have done so with the purest of men? Be that as it may, Mr +Arabin decided against himself; he decided that it had done so in +his case, and that he was not the purest of men. + +He also decided, which was more to his purpose, that Eleanor did +not care a straw for him, and that very probably did not care a +straw for his rival. Then he made up his mind not to think of her +any more, and went on thinking of her till he was almost in a state +to drown himself in the little brook which was at the bottom of the +archdeacon's grounds. + +And ever and again his mind would revert to the Signora Neroni, and +he would make comparisons between her and Eleanor Bold, not always +in favour of the latter. The signora had listened to him, and +flattered him, and believed in him; at least she had told him so. +Mrs Bold had also listened to him, but had never flattered him; had +not always believed in him: and now had broken from him in violent +rage. The signora, too, was the more lovely woman of the two, and +had also the additional attraction of her affliction; for to him it +was an attraction. + +But he never could have loved the Signora Neroni as he felt that he +now loved Eleanor! and so he flung stones into the brook, instead +of flinging in himself, and sat down on its margin as sad a +gentleman as you shall meet in a summer's day. + +He heard the dinner-bell ring from the churchyard, and he knew that +it was time to recover his self possession. He felt that he was +disgracing himself in his own eyes, that he had been idling his +time and neglecting the high duties which he had taken upon himself +to perform. He should have spent the afternoon among the poor at St +Ewold's, instead of wandering about Plumstead, an ancient love-lorn +swain, dejected and sighing, full of imaginary sorrows and +Wertherian grief. He was thoroughly ashamed of himself, and +determined to lose no time in retrieving his character, so damaged +in his own eyes. Thus when he appeared at dinner he was as animated +as ever, and was the author of most of the conversation which +graced the archdeacon's board on that evening. Mr Harding was ill +at ease and sick at heart, and did not care to appear more +comfortable than he really was; what little he did say was said to +his daughter. He thought the archdeacon and Mr Arabin had leagued +together against Eleanor's comfort; and his wish now was to break +away from the pair, and undergo in his Barchester lodgings whatever +Fate had in store for him. He hated the name of the hospital; his +attempt to regain his lost inheritance there had brought upon him +so much suffering. As far as he was concerned, Mr Quiverful was now +welcome to the place. + +And the archdeacon was not very lively. The poor dean's illness was +of course discussed in the first place. Dr Grantly did not mention +Mr Slope's name in connexion with the expected event of Dr +Trefoil's death; he did not wish to say anything about Mr Slope +just at present, nor did he wish to make known his own sad +surmises; but the idea that his enemy might possibly become Dean of +Barchester made him very gloomy. Should such an even take place, +such a dire catastrophe come about, there would be an end to his +life as far as his life was connected with the city of Barchester. +He must give up all his old haunts, all his old habits, and live +quietly as a retired rector at Plumstead. It had been a severe +trial for him to have Dr Proudie in the palace; but with Mr Slope +also in the deanery, he felt that he should be unable to draw his +breath in Barchester close. + +Thus it came to pass that in spite of the sorrow at his heart, Mr +Arabin was apparently the gayest of the party. Both Mr Harding and +Mrs Grantly were in a slight degree angry with him on account of +his want of gloom. To the one it appeared as though he were +triumphing at Eleanor's banishment, and to the other that he was +not affected as he should have been by all the sad circumstances of +the day, Eleanor's obstinacy, Mr Slope's success, and the poor +dean's apoplexy. And so they were all at cross purposes. + +Mr Harding left the room almost together with the ladies, and the +archdeacon opened his heart to Mr Arabin. He still harped upon the +hospital. 'What did that fellow mean,' said he, 'by saying in his +letter to Mrs Bold, that if Mr Harding would call on the bishop it +would be all right? Of course I would not be guided by anything he +might say; but still it may be well that Mr Harding should see the +bishop. It would be foolish to let the thing slip through our +fingers because Mrs Bold is determined to make a fool of herself.' + +Mr Arabin hinted that he was not quite so sure that Mrs Bold would +make a fool of herself. He said that he was not convinced that she +did regard Mr Slope so warmly as she was supposed to do. The +archdeacon questioned and cross-questioned him about this, but +elicited nothing; and at least remained firm in his own conviction +that he was destined, malgre lui, to be the brother-in-law of Mr +Slope. Mr Arabin strongly advised that Mr Harding should take no +step regarding the hospital in connexion with, or in consequence +of, Mr Slope's letter. 'If the bishop really means to confer the +appointment on Mr Harding,' argued Mr Arabin, 'he will take care to +let him have some other intimation than a message conveyed through +a letter to a lady. Were Mr Harding to present himself at the +palace he might merely be playing Mr Slope's game;' and thus it was +settled that nothing should be done till the great Dr Gwynne's +arrival, or at any rate without that potentate's sanction. + +It was droll how these men talked of Mr Harding as though he were a +puppet, and planned their intrigues and small ecclesiastical +manouvres without dreaming of taking him into their confidence. +There was a comfortable house and income in question, and it was +very desirable, and certainly very just, that Mr Harding should +have them; but that, at present, was not the main point; it was +expedient to beat the bishop, and if possible to smash Mr Slope. Mr +Slope had set up, or was supposed to have set up, a rival +candidate. Of all things the most desirable would have been to have +had Mr Quiverful's appointment published to the public, and then +annulled by the clamour of an indignant world, loud in the defence +of Mr Harding's rights. But of such an event the chance was small; +a slight fraction only of the world would be indignant, and that +fraction would be one not accustomed to loud speaking. And then the +preferment had in a sort of way been offered to Mr Harding, and had +in a sort of way been refused by him. + +Mr Slope's wicked, cunning hand had been peculiarly conspicuous in +the way in which this had been brought to pass, and it was the +success of Mr Slope's cunning which was so painfully grating the +feelings of the archdeacon. That which of all things he most +dreaded was that he should be out-generalled by Mr Slope: and just +at present it appeared probable that Mr Slope would turn his flank, +steal a march on him, cut off his provisions, carry his strong town +by a coup de main, and at last beat him thoroughly in a regular +pitched battle. The archdeacon felt that his flank had been turned +when desired to wait on Mr Slope instead of the bishop, that a +march had been stolen when Mr Harding was induced to refuse the +bishop's offer, that his provisions would be cut off when Mr +Quiverful got the hospital, that Eleanor was the strong town doomed +to be taken, and that Mr Slope, as Dean of Barchester, would be +regarded by all the world as the conqueror in that final conflict. + +Dr Gwyinne was the Deus ex machina who was to come down upon the +Barchester stage, and bring about deliverance from these terrible +evils. But how can melodramatic denouments be properly brought +about, how can vice and Mr Slope be punished, and virtue and the +archdeacon be rewarded, while the avenging god is laid up with the +gout? In the mean time evil may be triumphant, and poor innocence, +transfixed to the earth by an arrow from Dr Proudie's quiver, may +be dead upon the ground, not to be resuscitated even by Dr Gwynne. + +Two or three days after Eleanor's departure, Mr Arabin went to +Oxford, and soon found himself closeted with the august head of his +college. It was quite clear that Dr Gwynne was not very sanguine as +to the effects of his journey to Barchester, and not over anxious +to interfere with the bishop. He had had the gout but was very +nearly convalescent, and Mr Arabin at once saw that had the mission +been one of which the master thoroughly approved, he would before +this have been at Plumstead. + +As it was, Dr Gwynne was resolved to visiting his friend, and +willingly promised to return to Barchester with Mr Arabin. He could +not bring himself to believe that there was any probability that Mr +Slope would be made Dean of Barchester. Rumour, he said, had +reached even his ears not at all favourable to that gentleman's +character, and he expressed himself strongly of the opinion that +any such appointment was quite out of the question. At this stage +of the proceedings, the master's right-hand man, Tom Staple, was +called in to assist at the conference. Tom Staple was the Tutor of +Lazarus, and moreover a great man at Oxford. Though universally +known by a species of nomenclature as very undignified. Tom Staple +was one who maintained a high dignity in the University. He was, as +it were, the leader of the Oxford tutors, a body of men who +consider themselves collectively as being by very little, if at +all, second in importance to the heads themselves. It is not always +the case that the master, or warden, or provost, or principal can +hit it off exactly with his tutor. A tutor is by no means +indisposed to have a will of his own. But at Lazarus they were +great friends and firm allies at the time of which we are writing. + +Tom Staple was a hale strong man of about forty-five; short in +stature, swarthy in face, with strong sturdy black hair, and crisp +black beard, of which very little was allowed to show itself in the +shape of whiskers. He always wore a white neckcloth, clean indeed, +but not tied with that scrupulous care which now distinguishes some +of our younger clergy. He was, of course, always clothed in a +seemly suit of solemn black. Mr Staple was a decent cleanly liver, +not over addicted to any sensuality; but nevertheless a somewhat +warmish hue was beginning to adorn his nose, the peculiar effect, +as his friends averred, of a certain pipe of port introduced into +the cellars of Lazarus the very same year in which the tutor +entered in as a freshman. There was also, perhaps with a little +redolence of port wine, as it were the slightest possible twang, in +Mr Staple's voice. + +In these days Tom Staple was not a very happy man; University +reform had long been his bugbear, and now was his bane. It was not +with him as with most others, an affair of politics, respecting +which, when the need existed, he could, for parties' sake or on +behalf of principle, maintain a certain amount of necessary zeal; +it was not with him a subject for dilettante warfare, and courteous +common-place opposition. To him it was life and death. He would +willingly have been a martyr in the cause, had the cause admitted +of martyrdom. + +At the present day, unfortunately, public affairs will allow of no +martyrs, and therefore it is that there is such a deficiency of +zeal. Could gentlemen of L 10,000 a year have died on their own +door-steps in defence of protection, no doubt some half-dozen +glorious old baronets would have so fallen, and the school of +protection would at this day have been crowded with scholars. Who +can fight strenuously in any combat in which there is no danger? +Tom Staple would have willingly been impaled before a Committee of +the House, could he by such self-sacrifice have infused his own +spirit into the component members of the hebdomadal board. + +Tom Staple was one of those who in his heart approved of the credit +system which had of old been in vogue between the students and +tradesmen of the University. He knew and acknowledged to himself +that it was useless in these degenerate days publicly to contend +with the Jupiter on such a subject. The Jupiter had undertaken to +rule the University, and Tom Staple was well aware that the Jupiter +was too powerful for him. But in secret, and among his safe +companions, he would argue that the system of credit was an ordeal +good for young men to undergo. + +The bad men, said he, and the weak and worthless, blunder into +danger and burn their feet; but the good men, they who have any +character, they who have that within them which can reflect credit +in their Alma Mater, they come through scatheless. What merit will +there be to a young man to get through safely, if he guarded and +protected and restrained like a school-boy? By so doing, the period +of the ordeal is only postponed, and the manhood of the man will be +deferred from the age of twenty to that of twenty-four. If you bind +him with leading-strings at college, he will break loose while +eating for the bar in London; bind him there, and he will break +loose afterwards, when he is a married man. The wild oats must be +sown somewhere. 'Twas thus that Tom Staple would argue of young +men; not, indeed, with much consistency, but still with some +practical knowledge of the subject gathered from long experience. + +And now Tom Staple proffered such wisdom as he had for the +assistance of Dr Gwynne and Mr Arabin. + +'Quite out of the question,' said he, arguing that Mr Slope could +not possibly be made the new Dean of Barchester. + +'So I think,' said the master. 'He has no standing, and, if all I +hear be true, very little character.' + +'As to character,' said Tom Staple, 'I don't think much of that. +They rather like loose parsons for deans; a little fast living, or +a dash of infidelity, is no bad recommendation to a cathedral +close. But they couldn't make Mr Slope; the last two deans have +been Cambridge men; you'll not show me an instance of their making +three men running from the same University. We don't get out share, +and never shall, I suppose; but we must at least have one out of +the three.' + +'These sort of rules are all gone out by now,' said Mr Arabin. + +'Everything has gone by, I believe,' said Tom Staple. 'The cigar +has been smoked out, and we are the ashes.' + +'Speak for yourself, Staple,' said the master. + +'I speak for all,' said the tutor stoutly. 'It is coming to that, +that there will be no life left anywhere in the country. No one is +any longer fit to rule himself, or those belonging to him. The +Government is to find us all in everything, and the press is to +find the Government. Nevertheless, Mr Slope won't be Dean of +Barchester.' + +'And who will be the warden of the hospital?' said Mr Arabin. + +'I hear that Mr Quiverful is already appointed,' said Tom Staple. + +'I think not,' said the master. 'And I think, moreover, that Dr +Proudie will not be so short-sighted as to run against such a rock; +Mr Slope should himself have sense enough to prevent it.' + +'But perhaps Mr Slope may have no objection to see his patron on a +rock,' said the suspicious tutor. + +'What could he get by that?' asked Mr Arabin. + +'It is impossible to see the doubles of such a man,' said Mr +Staple. 'It seems quite clear that Bishop Proudie is altogether in +his hands, and it is equally clear that he has been moving heaven +and earth to get this Mr Quiverful into the hospital, although he +must know that such an appointment would be most damaging to the +bishop. It is impossible to understand such a man, and dreadful to +think,' added Mr Staple, sighing deeply, 'that the welfare and +fortunes of good men may depend on his intrigues.' + +Dr Gwynne or Mr Staple were not in the least aware, nor even was Mr +Arabin that this Mr Slope, of whom they were talking, had been +using his utmost efforts to put their own candidate into the +hospital; and that in lieu of being a permanent in the palace, his +own expulsion therefrom had been already decided on by the high +powers of the diocese. + +'I'll tell you what,' said the tutor, 'if this Quiverful is thrust +into the hospital and Dr Trefoil must die, I should not wonder if +the Government were to make Mr Harding Dean of Barchester. They +would feel bound to do something for him after all that was said +when he resigned.' + +Dr Gwynne at the moment made no reply to this suggestion; but it +did not the less impress itself on his mind. If Mr Harding could +not be warden of the hospital, why should he not be Dean of +Barchester? + +And so the conference ended without any very fixed resolution, and +Dr Gwynne and Mr Arabin prepared for their journey to Plumstead on +the morrow. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +MISS THORNE'S FETE CHAMPETRE + +The day of the Ullathorne party arrived, and all the world was +there; or at least so much of the world as had been included in +Miss Thorne's invitation. As we have said, the bishop returned home +on the previous evening, and on the same evening, and by the same +train, came Dr Gwynne and Mr Arabin from Oxford. The archdeacon +with his brougham was in waiting for the Master of Lazarus, so that +there was a goodly show of church dignitaries on the platform of +the railway. + +The Stanhope party was finally arranged in the odious manner +already described, and Eleanor got into the doctor's waiting +carriage full of apprehension and presentiment of further +misfortunes, whereas Mr Slope entered the vehicle elate with +triumph. + +He had received that morning a civil note from Sir Nicholas +Fitzwiggin; not promising much indeed; but then Mr Slope knew, or +fancied that he knew, that it was not etiquette for government +officers to make promises. Though Sir Nicholas promised nothing he +implied a good deal; declared his conviction that Mr Slope would +make an excellent dean, and wished him every kind of success. To be +sure he added that, not being in the cabinet, he was never +consulted on such matters, and that even if he spoke on the subject +his voice would go for nothing. But all this Mr Slope took for the +prudent reserve of official life. To complete his anticipated +triumph, another letter was brought to him just as he was about to +start to Ullathorne. + +Mr Slope also enjoyed the idea of handing Mrs Bold out of Dr +Stanhope's carriage before the multitude at Ullathorne gate, as +much as Eleanor dreaded the same ceremony. He had fully made up his +mind to throw himself and his fortune at the widow's feet, and had +almost determined to select the present propitious morning for +doing so. The signora had of late been less than civil to him. She +had indeed admitted his visits, and listened, at any rate without +anger, to his love; but she had tortured him, and reviled him, +jeered at him and ridiculed him, while she allowed him to call her +the most beautiful of living women, to kiss her hand, and to +proclaim himself with reiterated oaths her adorer, her slave, and +worshipper. + +Miss Thorne was in great perturbation, yet in great glory, on the +morning of this day. Mr Thorne also, though the party was none of +his giving, had much heavy work on his hands. But perhaps the most +overtasked, the most anxious and the most effective of all the +Ullathorne household was Mr Plomacy the steward. This last +personage had, in the time of Mr Thorne's father, when the +Directory held dominion in France, gone over to Paris with letters +in his boot heel for some of the royal party; and such had been his +good luck that he had returned safe. He had then been very young +and was now very old, but the exploit gave him a character for +political enterprise and secret discretion which still availed him +as thoroughly as it had done in its freshest gloss. Mr Plomacy had +been steward of Ullathorne for more than fifty years, and a very +easy life he had had of it. Who could require much absolute work +from a man who had carried safely at his heel that which if +discovered would have cost him his head? Consequently Mr Plomacy +had never worked hard, and of latter years had never worked at all. +He had a taste for timber, and therefore he marked the trees that +were to be cut down; he had a taste for gardening, and would +therefore allow no shrub to be planted or bed to be made without +his express sanction. + +In these matters he was sometimes driven to run counter to his +mistress, but he rarely allowed his mistress to carry the point +against him. + +But on occasions such as the present, Mr Pomney came out strong. He +had the honour of the family at heart; he thoroughly appreciated +the duties of hospitality; and therefore, when gala doings were +going on, always took the management into his own hands and reigned +supreme over master and mistress. + +To give Mr Pomney his due, old as he was, he thoroughly understood +such work as he had in hand, and did it well. + +The order of the day was to be as follows. The quality, as the +upper classes in rural districts are designated by the lower with +so much true discrimination, were to eat a breakfast, and the +non-quality were to eat a dinner. Two marquees had been erected for +these two banquets, that for the quality on the esoteric or garden +side of a certain deep ha-ha; and that for the non-quality on the +exoteric or paddock side of the same. Both were of huge dimensions; +that on the outer side, one may say, on an egregious scale; but Mr +Pomney declared that neither would be sufficient. To remedy this, +an auxiliary banquet was prepared in the dining-room, and a +subsidiary board was to be spread sub dio for the accommodation of +the lower class of yokels on the Ullathorne property. + +No one who has not had a hand in the preparation of such an affair +can understand the manifold difficulties which Miss Thorne +encountered in her project. Had she not been made throughout of the +very finest whalebone, rivetted with the best Yorkshire steel, she +must have sunk under them. Had not Mr Pomney felt how much was +justly expected from a man who at one time carried the destinies of +Europe in his boot, he would have given way; and his mistress, so +deserted, must have perished among her poles and canvass. + +In the first place there was a dreadful line to be drawn. Who was +to dispose themselves within the ha-ha, and who without? To this +the unthinking will give an off-hand answer, as they will to every +ponderous question. Oh, the bishop and such like within the ha-ha; +and Farmer Greenacre and such without. True, my unthinking friend; +but who shall define these such-likes? It is in such definitions +that the whole difficulty of society consists. To seat the bishop +on an arm chair on the lawn and place Farmer Greenacre at the end +of a long table in the paddock is easy enough; but where will you +put Mrs Lookaloft, whose husband, though a tenant on the estate, +hunts in a red coat, whose daughters go to a fashionable seminary +in Barchester, who calls her farm house Rosebank, and who has a +pianoforte in her drawing-room? The Misses Lookaloft, as they call +themselves, won't sit contented among the bumpkins. Mrs Lookaloft +won't squeeze her fine clothes on a bench and talk familiarly about +cream and ducklings to good Mrs Greenacres. And yet Mrs Lookaloft +is not fit companion and never has been the associate of the +Thornes and the Grantlys. And if Mrs Lookaloft be admitted within +the sanctum of fashionable life, if she be allowed with her three +daughters to leap the ha-ha, why not the wives and daughters of +other families also? Mrs Greenacre is at present well contented +with the paddock, but she might cease to be so if she saw Mrs +Lookaloft on the lawn. And thus poor Miss Thorne had a hard time of +it. + +And how was she to divide the guests between the marquee and the +parlour? She had a countess coming, and Honourable John and an +Honourable George, and a whole bevy of Ladies Amelia, Rosina, +Margaretta &c; she had a leash of baronets with their baronesses; +and, as we all know, a bishop. If she put them on the lawn, no one +would go into the parlour; if she put them into the parlour, no one +would go into the tent. She thought of keeping the old people in +the house, and leaving the lawn to the lovers. She might as well +have seated herself at once in a hornet's nest. Mr Pomney knew +better than this. 'Bless your soul, Ma'am,' said he, 'there won't +be no old ladies; not one, barring yourself and old Mrs +Chantantrum.' + +Personally Miss Thorne accepted this distinction in her favour as a +compliment to her good sense; but nevertheless she had no desire to +be closeted on the coming occasion with Mrs Chantantrum. She gave +up all idea of any arbitrary division of her guests, and determined +if possible to put the bishop on the lawn and the countess in the +house, to sprinkle the baronets, and thus divide the attractions. +What to do with the Lookalofts even Mr Plomacy could not decide. +They must take their chance. They had been specially told in the +invitation that all the tenants had been invited; and they might +probably have the good sense to stay away if they objected to mix +with the rest of the tenantry. + +Then Mr Plomacy declared his apprehension that the Honourable Johns +and Honourable Georges would come in a sort of amphibious costume, +half morning half evening, satin neckhandkerchiefs, frock coats, +primrose gloves, and polished boots; and that being so dressed, +they would decline riding at the quintain, or taking part in any of +the athletic games which Miss Thorne had prepared with so much +care. If the Lord Johns and Lord Georges didn't ride at the +quintain, Miss Thorne might be sure that nobody else would. + +'But,' said she in dolorous voice, all but overcome by her cares; +'it was specially signified that there were to be sports.' + +'And so there will be, of course,' said Mr Pomney. 'They'll all be +sporting with the young ladies in the laurel walks. Them's the +sports they care most about now-a-days. If you gets the young men +at the quintain, you'll have all the young women in the pouts.' + +'Can't they look on, as their great grandmothers did before them?' +said Miss Thorne. + +'It seems to me that the ladies ain't contented with looking +now-a-days. Whatever the men do they'll do. If you'll have side +saddles on the nags, and let them go at the quintain too, it'll +answer capital, no doubt.' + +Miss Thorne made no reply. She felt that she had no good ground on +which to defend her sex of the present generation, from the sarcasm +of Mr Pomney. She had once declared, in one of her warmer moments, +'that now-a-days the gentlemen were all women, and the ladies all +men.' She could not alter the debased character of the age. But +such being the case, why should she take on herself to cater for +the amusement of people of such degraded tastes? This question she +asked herself more than once, and she could only answer herself +with a sigh. There was her own brother Wilfred, on whose shoulders +rested the all the ancient honours of Ullathorne House; it was very +doubtful whether even he would consent to 'go at the quintain', as +Mr Pomney not injudiciously expressed it. + +And now the morning arrived. The Ullathorne household was early on +the move. Cooks were cooking in the kitchen long before daylight, +and men were dragging out tables and hammering red baize on to +benches at the earliest dawn. With what dread eagerness did Miss +Thorne look out at the weather as soon as the parting veil of night +permitted her to look at all! In this respect at any rate there was +nothing to grieve her. The glass had been rising for the last three +days, and the morning broke with that dull chill steady grey haze +which in autumn generally presages a clear and dry day. By seven +she was dressed and down. Miss Thorne knew nothing of the modern +luxury of deshabilles. She would as soon have thought of appearing +before her brother without her stockings as without her stays; and +Miss Thorne's stays were no trifle. + +And yet there was nothing for her to do when down. She fidgeted out +to the lawn, and then back into the kitchen. She put on her +high-heeled clogs, and fidgeted out into the paddock. Then she went +into the small home park where the quintain was erected. The pole +and cross-bar and the swivel, and the target and the bag of flour +were all complete. She got up on a carpenter's bench and touched +the target with her hand; it went round with beautiful ease; the +swivel had been oiled to perfection. She almost wished to take old +Plomacy at his word, to go on a side saddle, and have a tilt at it +herself. + +What must a young man be, thought she, who could prefer maundering +among the trees with a wishy-washy school girl to such fun as this? +'Well,' said she aloud to herself, 'one man can take a horse to +water, but a thousand can't make him drink. There it is. If they +haven't the spirit to enjoy it, the fault shan't be mine;' and so +she returned the house. + +At a little after eight her brother came down, and they had a sort +of scrap breakfast in his study. The tea was made without the +customary urn, and they dispensed with the usual rolls and toast. +Eggs were also missing, for every egg in the parish had been +whipped into custards, baked into pies, or boiled into lobster +salad. The allowances of fresh butter was short, and Mr Thorne was +obliged to eat the leg of a fowl without having it devilled in the +manner he loved. + +'I have been looking at the quintain, Wilfred,' said she, 'and it +appears to be quite right.' + +'Oh,--ah; yes;' said he. 'It seemed to be so yesterday when I saw +it.' Mr Thorne was beginning to be rather bored by his sister's +love of sports, and had especially no affection for this quintain +post. + +'I wish you'd just try it after breakfast,' said she. 'You could +have the saddle put on Mark Antony, and the pole is there all +handy. You can take the flour bag off, you know, if you think Mark +Antony won't be quick enough,' added Miss Thorne, seeing that her +brother's countenance was not indicative of complete accordance +with her little proposition. + +Now Mark Antony was a valuable old hunter, excellently suited to Mr +Thorne's usual requirements, steady indeed at his fences, but +extremely sure, very good in deep ground, and safe on the roads. +But he had never yet been ridden at a quintain, and Mr Thorne was +not inclined to put him to the trial, either with or without the +bag of flour. He hummed and hawed, and finally declared that he was +afraid Mark Antony would shy. + +'Then try the cob,' said the indefatigable Miss Thorne. + +'He's in physic,' said Wilfred. + +'There's the Beelzebub colt,' said his sister; 'I know he's in the +stable, because I saw Peter exercising him just now.' + +'My dear Monica, he's so wild that it's as much as I can do to +manage him at all. He'd destroy himself and me too, if I attempted +to ride him at such a rattletrap as that.' + +A rattletrap! The quintain that she had put up with so much anxious +care; the game that she had prepared for the amusement of the +stalwart yeomen of the country; the sport that had been honoured by +the affection of so many of their ancestors! It cut her to the +heart to hear it so denominated by her own brother. There were but +the two of them left together in the world; and it had ever been +one of the rules by which Miss Thorne had regulated her conduct +through life, to say nothing that could provoke her brother. She +had often had to suffer from his indifference to time-honoured +British customs; but she had always suffered in silence. It was +part of her creed that the head of the family should never be +upbraided in his own house; and Miss Thorne had lived up to her +creed. Now, however, she was greatly tried. The colour mounted to +her ancient cheek, and the fire blazed in her still bright eye; but +yet she said nothing. She resolved that at any rate, to him nothing +more should be said about the quintain that day. + +She sipped her tea in silent sorrow, and thought with painful +regret of the glorious days when her great ancestor Ealfried had +successfully held Ullathorne against a Norman invader. There was no +such spirit now left in her family except that small useless spark +which burnt in her own bosom. And she herself, was not she at this +moment intent on entertaining a descendant of those very Normand, a +vain proud countess with a frenchified name, who would only think +that she graced Ullathorne too highly by entering its portals? Was +it likely that an honourable John, the son of the Earl de Courcy, +should ride at a quintain in company with a Saxon yeoman? And why +should she expect her brother to do that which her brother's guests +would decline to do? + +Some dim faint idea of the impracticability of her own views +flitted across her brain. Perhaps it was necessary that races +doomed to live on the same soil should give way to each other, and +adopt each other's pursuits. Perhaps it was impossible that after +more than five centuries of close intercourse, Normans should +remain Normans, and Saxons, Saxons. Perhaps after all her +neighbours were wiser than herself, such ideas did occasionally +present themselves to Miss Thorne's mind, and make her sad enough. +But it never occurred to her that her favourite quintain was but a +modern copy of a Norman knight's amusement, an adaptation of the +noble tourney to the tastes and habits of the Saxon yeomen. Of this +she was ignorant, and it would have been cruelty to instruct her. + +When Mr Thorne saw the tear in her eye, he repented himself of his +contemptuous expression. By him also it was recognised as a binding +law that every whim of his sister was to be respected. He was not +perhaps so firm in his observances to her, as she was in hers to +him. But his intentions were equally good, and whenever he found +that he had forgotten them, it was a matter of grief to him. + +'My dear Monica,' said he, 'I beg your pardon; I don't in the least +mean to speak ill of the game. When I called it a rattletrap, I +merely meant that it was so for a man of my age. You know you +always forget that I an't a young man.' + +'I am quite sure you are not an old man, Wilfred,' said she, +accepting the apology in her heart, and smiling at him with the +tear still on her cheek. + +'If I was five-and-twenty, or thirty,' continued he, 'I should like +nothing better than riding at the quintain all day.' + +'But you are not too old to hunt or to shoot,' said she. 'If you +can jump over a ditch and hedge, I am sure you could turn the +quintain round.' + +'But when I ride over the hedges, my dear--and it isn't very often +I do that--but when I do ride over the hedges there isn't any bag +of flour coming after me. Think how I'd look taking the countess +out to breakfast with the back of my head all covered with meal.' + +Miss Thorne said nothing further. She didn't like the allusion to +the countess. She couldn't be satisfied with the reflection that +the sports of Ullathorne should be interfered with by the personal +attentions necessary for a Lady de Courcy. But she saw that it was +useless for her to push the matter further. It was conceded that Mr +Thorne was to spared the quintain; and Miss Thorne determined to +trust wholly to a youthful knight of hers, an immense favourite, +who, as she often declared, was a pattern to the young men of the +age, and an excellent example of an English yeoman. + +This was Farmer Greenacre's eldest son; who, to tell the truth, had +from his earliest years taken the exact measure of Miss Thorne's +foot. In his boyhood he had never failed to obtain from her, +apples, pocket money, and forgiveness for his numerous trespasses; +and now in his early manhood he got privileges and immunities which +were equally valuable. He was allowed a day or two's shooting in +September; he schooled the squire's horses; got slips of trees out +of the orchard, and roots of flowers out of the garden; and had the +fishing of the little river altogether in his own hands. He had +undertaken to come mounted on a nag of his father's, and show the +way at the quintain post. Whatever young Greenacre did the others +would do after him. The juvenile Lookalofts might stand sure to +venture if Harry Greenacre showed the way. And so Miss Thorne made +up her mind to dispense with the noble Johns and Georges, and +trust, as her ancestors had done before her, to the thews and +sinews of native Ullathorne growth. + +At about nine the lower orders began to congregate in the paddock +and park, under the surveillance of Mr Plomacy and the head +gardener and head groom, who were sworn in as his deputies, and +were to assist him in keeping the peace and promoting the sports. +Many of the younger inhabitants of the neighbourhood, thinking that +they could not have too much of a good thing, had come at a very +early hour, and the road between the house and the church had been +thronged for some time before the gates were thrown open. + +And then another difficulty of huge dimensions arose, a difficulty +which Mr Plomacy had indeed foreseen, and for which he was in some +sort provided. Some of those who wished to share Miss Thorne's +hospitality were not so particular that they should have been as to +the preliminary ceremony of an invitation. They doubtless conceived +that they had been overlooked by accident; and instead of taking +this in dudgeon, as their betters would have done, they +good-naturedly put up with the slight, and showed that they did so +by presenting themselves at the gate in their Sunday best. + +Mr Plomacy, however, well knew who were welcome and who were not. +To some, even though uninvited, he allowed ingress. 'Don't be too +particular, Plomacy,' his mistress had said; 'especially with the +children. If they live anywhere near, let them in.' + +Acting on this hint, Mr Plomacy did let in many an eager urchin, +and a few tidily dressed girls with their swains, who in no way +belonged to the property. But to the denizens of the city he was +inexorable. Many a Barchester apprentice made his appearance there +that day, and urged with piteous supplication that he had been +working all the week in making saddles and boots for the use of +Ullathorne, in compounding doses for the horses, or cutting up +carcasses for the kitchen. No such claim was allowed. Mr Plomacy +knew nothing about the city apprentices; he was to admit the +tenants and labourers on the estate; Miss Thorne wasn't going to +take in the whole city of Barchester; and so on. + +Nevertheless, before the day was half over, all this was found to +be useless. Almost anybody who chose to come made his way into the +park, and the care of the guardians was transferred to the tables +on which the banquet was spread. Even here there was many an +unauthorized claimant for a plate, of whom it was impossible to get +quit without some commotion than the place and food were worth. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +ULLATHORNE SPORTS--ACT I + +The trouble in civilised life of entertaining company, as it is +called too generally without much regard to strict veracity, is so +great that it cannot but be matter of wonder that people are so +fond of attempting it. It is difficult to ascertain what is the +quid pro quo. If they who give such laborious parties, and who +endure such toil and turmoil in the vain hope of giving them +successfully, really enjoyed the parties given by others, the +matter would be understood. A sense of justice would induce men and +women to undergo, in behalf of others, those miseries which others +had undergone on their behalf. But they all profess that going out +is as great a bore as receiving; and to look at them when they are +out, one cannot but believe them. + +Entertain! Who shall have sufficient self-assurance, who shall feel +sufficient confidence in his own powers to dare to boast that he +can entertain his company? A clown can sometimes do so, and +sometimes a dancer in short petticoats and stuffed pink legs; +occasionally, perhaps, a singer. But beyond these, success in this +art of entertaining is not often achieved. Young men and girls +linking themselves kind with kind, pairing like birds in spring, +because nature wills it, they, after a simple fashion, do entertain +each other. Few others even try. + +Ladies, when they open their houses, modestly confessing, it may be +presumed, their own incapacity, mainly trust to wax candles and +upholstery. Gentlemen seem to rely on their white waistcoats. To +these are added, for the delight of the more sensual, champagne and +such good things of the table as fashion allows to be still +considered as comestible. Even in this respect the world is +deteriorating. All the good soups are now tabooed; and at the +houses of one's accustomed friends, small barristers, doctors, +government clerks, and such like, (for we cannot all of us always +live as grandees, surrounded by an Elysium of livery servants), one +gets a cold potato handed to one as a sort of finale to one's slice +of mutton. Alas! for those happy days when one could say to one's +neighbourhood, 'Jones, shall I give you some mashed turnip--may I +trouble you for a little cabbage?' And then the pleasure of +drinking wine with Mrs Jones and Miss Smith; with all the Joneses +and all the Smiths! These latter-day habits are certainly more +economical. + +Miss Thorne, however, boldly attempted to leave the modern beaten +track, and made a positive effort to entertain her guests. Alas! +she did so with but moderate success. They had all their own way of +going, and would not go her way. She piped to them, but they would +not dance. She offered to them good honest household cake, made of +currants and flour and eggs and sweetmeat; but they would feed +themselves on trashy wafers from the shop of the Barchester +pastry-cook, on chalk and gum and adulterated sugar. Poor Miss +Thorne! yours is not the first honest soul that has vainly striven +to recall the glories of happy days gone by! If fashion suggests to +a Lady De Courcy that when invited to a dejeuner at twelve o'clock +she ought to come at three, no eloquence of thine will teach her +the advantage of a nearer approach to punctuality. + +She had fondly thought that when she called on her friends to come +at twelve, and especially begged them to believe that she meant it, +she would be able to see them comfortably seated in their tents at +two. Vain woman--or rather ignorant woman--ignorant of the advances +of that civilization which the world had witnessed while she was +growing old. At twelve she found herself alone, dressed in all the +glory of the newest of her many suits of raiment; with strong shoes +however, and a serviceable bonnet on her head, and a warm rich +shawl on her shoulders. Thus clad she peered out into the tent, +went to the ha-ha, and satisfied herself that at any rate the +youngsters were amusing themselves, spoke a word to Mrs Greenacre +over the ditch, and took one look at the quintain. Three or four +young farmers were turning the machine round and round, and poking +at the bag of flour in a manner not at all intended by the inventor +of the game; but no mounted sportsmen were there. Miss Thorne +looked at her watch. It was only fifteen minutes past twelve, and +it was understood that Harry Greenacre was not to begin till the +half hour. + +Miss Thorne returned to her drawing-room rather quicker than her +wont, fearing that the countess might come and find none to welcome +her. She need not have hurried, for no one was there. At half-past +twelve she peeped into the kitchen; at a quarter to one she was +joined by her brother; and just then the first fashionable arrival +took place. Mrs Clantantram was announced. + +No announcement was necessary, indeed; for the good lady's voice +was heard as she walked across the court-yard to the house scolding +the unfortunate postilion who had driven her from Barchester. At +the moment Miss Thorne could not but be thankful that the other +guests were more fashionable, and were thus spared the fury of Mrs +Clantantram's indignation. + +'Oh, Miss Thorne, look here!' said she, as soon as she found +herself in the drawing-room; 'do look at my roquelaure! It's clean +spoilt, and for ever. I wouldn't but wear it because I know you +wished us all to be grand to-day; and yet I had my misgivings. Oh +dear, oh dear! It was five-and-twenty shillings a yard.' + +The Barchester post horses had misbehaved in some unfortunate +manner just as Mrs Clantantram was getting out of the chaise and +had nearly thrown her under the wheel. + +Mrs Clantantram belonged to other days, and therefore, though she +had but little else to recommend her, Miss Thorne was to a certain +extent fond of her. She sent the roquelaure away to be cleaned, and +lent her one of her best shawls out of her own wardrobe. + +The next comer was Mr Arabin, who was immediately informed of Mrs +Clantantram's misfortune, and of her determination to pay neither +master nor post-boy; although, as she remarked, she intended to get +her lift home before she made known her mind upon that matter. Then +a good deal of rustling was heard in the sort of lobby that was +used for the ladies' outside cloaks; and the door having been +thrown wide open, the servant announced, not in the most confident +of voices, Mrs Lookaloft, and the Miss Lookalofts, and Mr Augustus +Lookaloft. + +Poor man!--we mean the footman. He knew, none better, that Mrs +Lookaloft had no business there, that she was not wanted there, and +would not be welcome. But he had not the courage to tell a stout +lady with a low dress, short sleeves, and satin at eight shillings +a yard, that she had come to the wrong tent; he had not dared to +hint to young ladies with white dancing shoes and long gloves, that +there was a place ready for them in the paddock. And thus Mrs +Lookaloft carried her point, broke through the guards, and made her +way into the citadel. That she would have to pass an uncomfortable +time there, she had surmised before. But nothing now could rob her +of the power of boasting that she had consorted on the lawn with +the squire and Miss Thorne, with a countess, a bishop, and the +country grandees, while Mrs Greenacres and such like were walking +about with the ploughboys in the park. It was a great point gained +by Mrs Lookaloft, and it might be fairly expected that from this +time forward the tradesmen of Barchester would, with undoubting +pens, address her husband and T. Lookaloft, Esquire. + +Mrs Lookaloft's pluck carried her through everything, and she +walked triumphant into the Ullathorne drawing-room; but her +children did feel a little abashed at the sort of reception they +met with. It was not in Miss Thorne's heart to insult her own +guests; but neither was it in her disposition to overlook such +effrontery. + +'Oh, Mrs Lookaloft, is this you,' said she; 'and your daughters and +son? Well, we're very glad to see you; but I'm sorry you've come in +such low dresses, as we are all going out of doors. Could we lend +you anything?' + +'Oh dear no! thank ye, Miss Thorne,' said the mother; 'the girls +and myself are quite used to low dresses, when we're out.' + +'Are you, indeed?' said Miss Thorne shuddering; but the shudder was +not lost on Mrs Lookaloft. + +'And where's Lookaloft,' said the master of the house, coming up to +welcome his tenant's wife. Let the faults of the family be what +they would, he could not but remember that their rent was well +paid; he was therefore not willing to give them a cold shoulder. + +'Such a headache, Mr Thorne!' said Mrs Lookaloft. 'In fact he +couldn't stir, or you may be certain on such a day he would not +have absented himself.' + +'Dear me,' said Miss Thorne. 'If he is so ill, I sure you'd wish to +be with him.' + +'Not at all!' said Mrs Lookaloft. 'Not at all, Miss Thorne. + It is only bilious you know, and when he's that way he can bear +nobody nigh him.' + +The fact however was that Mr Lookaloft, having either more sense or +less courage than his wife, had not chosen to intrude on Miss +Thorne's drawing-room; and as he could not very well have gone +among the plebeians while his wife was with the patricians, he +thought it most expedient to remain at Rosebank. + +Mrs Lookaloft soon found herself on a sofa, and the Miss Lookalofts +on two chairs, while Mr Augustus stood near the door; and here they +remained till in due time they were seated all four together at the +bottom of the dining-room table. + +Then the Grantlys came; the archdeacon and Mrs Grantly and the two +girls, and Dr Gwynne and Mr Harding; and as ill luck would have it, +they were closely followed by Dr Stanhope's carriage. As Eleanor +looked out of the carriage window, she saw her brother-in-law +helping the ladies out, and threw herself back into her seat, +dreading to be discovered. She had had an odious journey. Mr +Slope's civility had been more than ordinarily greasy; and now, +though he had not in fact said anything which she could notice, she +had for the first time entertained a suspicion that he was +intending to make love to her. Was it after all true that she had +been conducting herself in a way that justified the world in +thinking that she liked the man? After all, could it be possible +that the archdeacon and Mr Arabin were right, and that she was +wrong? Charlotte Stanhope had also been watching Mr Slope, and had +come to the conclusion that it behoved her brother to lose no +further time, if he meant to gain the widow. She almost regretted +that it had not been contrived that Bertie should be at Ullathorne +before them. + +Dr Grantly did not see his sister-in-law in company with Mr Slope, +but Mr Arabin did. Mr Arabin came out with Mr Thorne to the front +door to welcome Mrs Grantly, and he remained in the courtyard till +all their party had passed on. Eleanor hung back in the carriage as +long as she well could, but she was nearest to the door, and when +Mr Slope, having alighted, offered her his hand, she had no +alternative but to take it. + +Mr Arabin standing at the open door, while Mrs Grantly was shaking +hands with someone within, saw a clergyman alight from the carriage +whom he at once knew to be Mr Slope, and then she saw this +clergyman hand out Mrs Bold. Having seen so much, Mr Arabin, rather +sick at heart, followed Mrs Grantly into the house. + +Eleanor was, however, spared any further immediate degradation, for +Dr Stanhope gave her his arm across the courtyard, and Mr Slope was +fain to throw away his attention upon Charlotte. + +They had hardly passed into the house, and from the house to the +lawn, when, with a loud rattle and such noise as great men and +great woman are entitled to make in their passage through the +world, the Proudies drove up. It was soon apparent that no every +day comer was at the door. One servant whispered to another that it +was the bishop, and the word soon ran through all the hangers-on +and strange grooms and coachmen about the place. There was quite a +little cortege to see the bishop and his 'lady' walk across the +courtyard, and the good man was pleased to see that the church was +held in such respect in the parish of St Ewold's. + +And now the guests came fast and thick, and the lawn began to be +crowded, and the room to be full. Voices buzzed, silk rustled +against silk, and muslin crumpled against muslin. Miss Thorne +became more happy than she had been, and again bethought her of her +sports. There were targets and bows and arrows prepared at the +further end of the lawn. Here the gardens of the place encroached +with a somewhat wide sweep upon the paddock, and gave ample room +for the doings of the toxophilites. Miss Thorne got together such +daughters of Diana as could bend a bow, and marshalled them to the +targets. There were the Grantly girls and the Proudie girls and the +Chadwick girls, and the two daughters of the burly chancellor, and +Miss Knowle; and with them went Frederick and Augustus Chadwick, +and young Knowle of Knowle park, and Frank Foster of the Elms, and +Mr Vellem Deeds the dashing attorney of the High Street, and the +Rev Mr Green, and the Rev Mr Browne, and the Rev Mr White, all of +whom as in duty bound, attended the steps of the three Miss +Proudies. + +'Did you ever ride at the quintain, Mr Foster?' said Miss Thorne, +as she walked with her party, across the lawn. + +'The quintain?' said young Foster, who considered himself a dab at +horsemanship. 'Is it a sort of gate, Miss Thorne?' + +Miss Thorne had to explain the noble game she spoke of, and Frank +Foster had to own that he never had ridden at the quintain. + +'Would you like to come and see?' said Miss Thorne. 'There'll be +plenty here without you, if you like it.' + +'Well, I don't mind,' said Frank; 'I suppose the ladies can come +too.' + +'Oh, yes,' said Miss Thorne; 'those who like it; I have no doubt +they'll go to see your prowess, if you'll ride, Mr Foster.' + +Mr Foster looked down at a most unexceptionable pair of pantaloons, +which had arrived from London only the day before. They were the +very things, at least he thought so, for a picnic of fete +champetre; but he was not prepared to ride in them. Nor was he more +encouraged than had been Mr Thorne, by the idea of being attacked +from behind by the bag of flour which Miss Thorne had graphically +described to him. + +'Well, I don't know about riding, Miss Thorne,' said he; 'I fear +I'm not quite prepared.' + +Miss Thorne sighed, but said nothing further. She left the +toxophilites to their bows and arrows, and returned towards the +house. But as she passed by the entrance to the small park, she +thought that she might at any rate encourage the yeomen by her +presence, as she could not induced her more fashionable guests to +mix with them in their many amusements. + +Accordingly she once more betook herself to the quintain post. +Here to her great delight she found Harry Greenacre ready mounted, +with his pole in his hand, and a lot of comrades standing round +him, encouraging him to the assault. She stood at a little distance +and nodded to him in token of her good pleasure. + +'Shall I begin, ma'am?' said Henry fingering his long staff in a +rather awkward way, while his horse moved uneasily beneath him, not +accustomed to a rider armed with such a weapon. + +'Yes, yes,' said Miss Thorne, standing triumphant as the queen of +beauty, on an inverted tub which some chance had brought hither +from the farm-yard. + +'Here goes then,' said Harry as he wheeled his horse round to get +the necessary momentum of a sharp gallop. The quintain post stood +right before him, and the square board at which he was to tilt was +fairly in the way. If he hit that duly in the middle, and +maintained his pace as he did so, it was calculated that he would +be carried out of reach of the flour bag, which, suspended at the +other end of the cross-bar on the post, would swing round when the +board was struck. It was also calculated that if the rider did not +maintain his pace, he would get a blow from the flour bag just at +the back of his head, and bear about him the signs of his +awkwardness to the great amusement of the lookers-on. + +Harry Greenacre did not object to being powdered with flour in the +service of his mistress, and therefore gallantly touched his steed +with his spur, having laid his lance in rest to the best of his +ability. But his ability in this respect was not great, and his +appurtenances probably not very good; consequently, he struck his +horse with his pole unintentionally on the side of the head as he +started. The animal swerved and shied, and galloped off wide of the +quintain. Harry well accustomed to manage a horse, but not to do so +with a twelve-foot rod on his arm, lowered his right hand to the +bridle and thus the end of the lance came to the ground, and got +between the legs of the steed. Down came the rider and steed and +staff. Young Greenacre was thrown some six feet over the horse's +head, and poor Miss Thorne almost fell of her tub in a swoon. + +'Oh gracious, he's killed,' shrieked a woman, who was near him when +he fell. + +'The Lord be good to him! his poor mother, his poor mother!' said +another. + +'Well, drat them dangerous plays all the world over,' said an old +crone. + +'He has broke his neck sure enough, if ever man did,' said a +fourth. + +Poor Miss Thorne. She heard all this and yet did not quite swoon. +She made her way through the crowd as best she could, sick herself +almost to death. Oh, his mother--his poor mother! how could she +ever forgive herself. The agony of that moment was terrific. She +could hardly get to the place where the poor lad was lying, as +three or four men in front were about the horse which had risen +with some difficulty; but at last she found herself close to the +young farmer. + +'Has he marked himself? for heaven's sake tell me that; has he +marked his knees?' said Harry, slowly rising and rubbing his left +shoulder with his right hand, and thinking only of his horse's +legs. Miss Thorne soon found that he had not broken his neck, nor +any of his bones, nor been injured in any essential way. But from +that time forth she never instigated any one to ride at the +quintain. + +Eleanor left Dr Stanhope as soon as she could do so civilly, and +went in quest of her father whom she found on the lawn in company +with Mr Arabin. She was not sorry to find them together. She was +anxious to disabuse at any rate her father's mind as to this report +which had got abroad respecting her, and would have been well +pleased to have been able to do the same with regard to Mr Arabin. +She put her own through her father's arm, coming up behind his +back, and then tendered her hand also to the vicar of St Ewold's. + +'And how did you come?' said Mr Harding, when the first greeting +was over. + +'The Stanhopes brought me,' said she; 'their carriage was obliged +to come twice, and has now gone back for the signora.' As she spoke +she caught Mr Arabin's eye, and saw that he was looking pointedly +at her with a severe expression. She understood at once the +accusation contained in his glance. It said as plainly as an eye +could speak, 'Yes, you came with the Stanhopes, but you did so in +order that you might be in company with Mr Slope.' + +'Our party,' said she, still addressing her father, 'consisted of +the Doctor and Charlotte Stanhope, myself, and Mr Slope.' As she +mentioned the last name she felt her father's arm quiver slightly +beneath her touch. At the same moment Mr Arabin turned away from +them, and joining his hands behind his back strolled slowly away by +one of the paths. + +'Papa,' said she, 'it was impossible to help coming in the same +carriage with Mr Slope; it was quite impossible. I had promised to +come with them before I dreamt of his coming, and afterwards I +could not get out of it without explaining and giving rise to talk. +You weren't at home, you know, I couldn't possibly help it.' She +said all this so quickly that by the time her apology was spoken +she was quite out of breath. + +'I don't know why you should have wished to help it, my dear,' said +her father. + +'Yes, papa, you do; you must know, you do know all the things they +said at Plumstead. I am sure you do. You know all the archdeacon +said. How unjust he was, and Mr Arabin too. He's a horrid man, a +horrid, odious man, but--' + +'Who is an odious man, my dear? Mr Arabin?' + +'No; but Mr Slope. You know I mean Mr Slope. He's the most odious +man I ever met in my life, and it was most unfortunate my having to +come here in the same carriage with him. But how could I help it?' + +A great weight began to move itself off Mr Harding's mind. So, +after all, the archdeacon with all his wisdom, and Mrs Grantly with +all her tact, and Mr Arabin with all his talent were in the wrong. +His own child, his Eleanor, the daughter of whom he was so proud +was not to become the wife of Mr Slope. He had been about to give +his sanction to the marriage, so certified had he been of this +fact; and now he learnt that this imputed lover of Eleanor's was at +any rage as much disliked by her as by any one of the family. Mr +Harding, however, was by no means sufficiently a man of the world +to conceal the blunder he had made. He could not pretend that he +had entertained no suspicion; he could not make believe that he had +never joined the archdeacon in his surmises. He was greatly +surprised, and gratified beyond measure, and he could not help +showing that such was the case. + +'My darling girl,' said he, 'I am so delighted, so overjoyed. My +own child; you have taken such a weight off my mind.' + +'But surely, papa, you didn't think--' + +'I didn't know what to think, my dear. The archdeacon told me that +-' + +'The archdeacon!' said Eleanor, her face lighting up with passion. +'A man like the archdeacon might, one would think, be better +employed than in traducing his sister-in-law, and creating +bitterness between a father and his daughter.' + +'He didn't mean to that, Eleanor.' + +'What did he mean then? Why did he interfere with me, and fill your +mind with such falsehood?' + +'Never mind it now, my child; never mind it now. We shall all know +you better now.' + +'Oh, papa, that you should have thought it! that you should have +suspected me!' + +'I don't know what you mean by suspicion, Eleanor. There would be +nothing disgraceful, you know; nothing wrong in such a marriage. +Nothing that could have justified my interfering as your father.' +And Mr Harding would have proceeded in his own defence to make out +that Mr Slope after all was a very good sort of man, and a very +fitting second husband for a young widow, had he not been +interrupted by Eleanor's greater energy. + +'It would be disgraceful,' said she; 'it would be wrong; it would +be abominable. Could I do such a horrid thing, I should expect no +one to speak to me. Ugh--' and she shuddered as she thought of the +matrimonial torch which her friends had been so ready to light on +her behalf. I don't wonder at Dr Grantly; I don't wonder at Susan; +but, oh, papa, I do wonder at you. How could you, how could you +believe it?' Poor Eleanor, as she thought of her father's +defalcation, could resist her tears no longer, and was forced to +cover her face with her handkerchief. + +The place was not very opportune for her grief. They were walking +through the shrubberies, and there were many people near them. Poor +Mr Harding stammered out his excuse as best he could, and Eleanor +with an effort controlled her tears, and returned her handkerchief +to her pocket. She did not find it difficult to forgive her father, +nor could she altogether refuse to join him in the returning gaiety +of spirit to which her present avowal gave rise. It was such a load +off his heart to think that he should not be called on to welcome +Mr Slope as his son-in-law; it was such a relief to him to find +that his daughter's feelings and his own were now, as they ever had +been, in unison. He had been so unhappy for the last six weeks +about this wretched Mr Slope! + +He was so indifferent as to the loss of the hospital, so thankful +for the recovery of his daughter, that, strong as was the ground +for Eleanor's anger, she could not find it in her heart to be long +angry with him. + +'Dear papa,' she said, hanging closely to his arm, 'never suspect +me again: promise me that you never will. Whatever I do, you may be +sure I shall tell you first; you may be sure I shall consult you.' + +And Mr Harding did promise, and owned his sin, and promised again. +And so, while he promised amendment and she uttered forgiveness, +they returned together to the drawing-room windows. + +And what had Eleanor meant when she declared that whatever she did, +she would tell her father first? What was she thinking of doing? + +So ended the first act of the melodrama which Eleanor was called on +to perform this day at Ullathorne. + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE SIGNORA NERONI, THE COUNTESS DE COURCY, AND MRS PROUDIE MEET +EACH OTHER AT ULLATHORNE + +And now there were new arrivals. Just as Eleanor reached the +drawing-room the signora was being wheeled into it. She had been +brought out of the carriage into the dining-room and there placed +on a sofa, and was now in the act of entering the other room, by +the joint aid of her brother and sister, Mr Arabin, and two +servants in livery. She was all in her glory, and looked so +pathetically happy, so full of affliction and grace, was so +beautiful, so pitiable, and so charming, that it was almost +impossible not to be glad she was there. + +Miss Thorne was unaffectedly glad to welcome her. In fact, the +signora was a sort of lion; and though there was no drop of the +Leohunter blood in Miss Thorne's veins, she nevertheless did like +to see attractive people at her house. + +The signora was attractive, and on her first settlement in the +dining-room she had whispered two or three soft feminine words into +Miss Thorne's ear, which, at the moment, had quite touched that +lady's heart. + +'Oh, Miss Thorne; where is Miss Thorne?' she said, as soon as her +attendants had placed her in her position just before one of the +windows, from whence she could see all that was going on upon the +lawn; 'How am I to thank you for permitting a creature like me to +be here? But if you knew the pleasure you give me, I am sure you +would excuse the trouble I bring with me.' And as she spoke she +squeezed the spinster's little hand between her own. + +'We are delighted to see you here,' said Miss Thorne; 'you give us +no trouble at all, and we think it a great favour conferred by you +to come and see us; don't we, Wilfred?' + +'A very great favour indeed,' said Mr Thorne, with a gallant bow, +but of somewhat less cordial welcome than that conceded by his +sister. Mr Thorne had learned perhaps more of the antecedents of +his guest than his sister had done, and not as yet undergone the +power of the signora's charms. + +But while the mother of the last of the Neros was thus in he full +splendour, with crowds of people gazing at her and the elite of the +company standing round her couch, her glory was paled by the +arrival of the Countess De Courcy. Miss Thorne had now been waiting +three hours for the countess, and could not therefore but show very +evident gratification when the arrival at last took place. She and +her brother of course went off to welcome the titled grandee, and +with them, alas, went many of the signora's admirers. + +'Oh, Mr Thorne,' said the countess, while the act of being disrobed +of her fur cloaks, and re-robed in her gauze shawls, 'what dreadful +roads you have; perfectly frightful.' + +It happened that Mr Thorne was way-warden for the district, and not +liking the attack, began to excuse his roads. + +'Oh yes, indeed they are,' said the countess, not minding him in +the least, 'perfectly dreadful; are they not, Margaretta? Why, dear +Miss Thorne, we left Courcy Castle just at eleven; it was only just +past eleven, was it not, John? and--' + +'Just past one, I think you mean,' said the Honourable John, +turning from the group and eyeing the signora through his glass. +The signora gave him back his own, as the saying is, and more with +it; so that the young nobleman was forced to avert his glance, and +drop his glass. + +'I say, Thorne,' whispered he, 'who the deuce is that on the sofa?' + +'Dr Stanhope's daughter,' whispered back Mr Thorne. 'Signora Neroni +she calls herself.' + +'Whew-ew-ew!' whistled the Honourable John. 'The devil she is! I +have heard no end of stories about that filly. You must positively +introduce me, Thorne; you positively must.' + +Mr Thorne who was respectability itself, did not quite like having +a guest about whom the Honourable John De Courcy had heard no end +of stories; but he couldn't help himself. He merely resolved that +before he went to bed he would let his sister know somewhat of the +history of the lady she was so willing to welcome. The innocence of +Miss Thorne, at her time of life, was perfectly charming; but even +innocence may be dangerous. + +'John may say what he likes,' continued the countess, urging her +excuses on Miss Thorne; 'I am sure we were past the castle gate +before twelve, weren't we, Margaretta?' + +'Upon my word, I don't know,' said the Lady Margaretta, 'for I was +half asleep. But I do know that I was called sometime in the middle +of the night, and was dressing myself before daylight.' + +Wise people, when they are in the wrong, always put themselves +right by finding fault with the people against whom they have +sinned. Lady De Courcy was a wise woman; and therefore, having +treated Miss Thorne very badly by staying away till three o'clock, +she assumed the offensive and attacked Mr Thorne's roads. Her +daughter, not less wise, attacked Miss Thorne's early hours. The +art of doing this is among the most precious of those usually +cultivated by persons who know how to live. There is no +withstanding it. Who can go systematically to work, and having done +battle with the primary accusation and settled that, then bring +forward a counter-charge and support that also? Life is not long +enough for such labours. A man in the right relies easily on his +rectitude, and therefore goes about unarmed. His very strength is +his weakness; his very weakness is his strength. The one is never +prepared for combat, the other is always ready. Therefore it is +that in this world the man that is in the wrong almost invariably +conquers the man that is in the right, and invariably despises him. + +A man must be an idiot or else an angel, who, after the age of +forty shall attempt to be just to his neighbours. Many like the +Lady Margaretta have learnt their lesson at a much earlier age. But +this of course depends on the school in which they have been +taught. + +Poor Miss Thorne was altogether overcome. She knew very well that +she had been ill-treated, and yet she found herself making +apologies to Lady De Courcy. To do her ladyship justice, she +received them very graciously, and allowed herself with her train +of daughters to be led towards the lawn. + +There were two windows in the drawing-room wide open for the +countess to pass through; but she saw that there was a woman on the +sofa, at the third window, and that that woman had, as it were, a +following attached to her. Her ladyship therefore determined to +investigate the woman. The De Courcys were hereditarily short +sighted, and had been so for thirty centuries at least. So Lady De +Courcy, who, when she entered the family had adopted the family +habits, did as her son had done before her, and taking her glass to +investigate the Signora Neroni, pressed in among the gentlemen who +surrounded the couch, and bowed slightly to those whom she chose to +honour by her acquaintance. + +In order to get to the window she had to pass close to the front of +the couch, and as she did so she stared hard at the occupant. The +occupant in return stared hard at the countess. The countess who +since her countess-ship commenced had been accustomed to see all +eyes, not royal, ducal, or marquesal, fall down before her own, +paused as she went on, raised her eyebrows, and stared even harder +than before. But she had now to do with one who cared little for +countesses. It was, one may say, impossible for mortal man or woman +to abash Madeline Neroni. She opened her large bright lustrous eyes +wider and wider, till she seemed to be all eyes. + +She gazed up into the lady's face, not as though she did it with an +effort, but as if she delighted in doing it. She used no glass to +assist her effrontery, and needed none. The faintest possible smile +of derision played round her mouth, and her nostrils were slightly +dilated, as if in sure anticipation of her triumph. And it was +sure. The Countess De Courcy, in spite of her thirty centuries and +De Courcy castle, and the fact that Lord De Courcy was grand master +of the ponies to the Prince of Wales, had not a chance with her. + +At first the little circlet of gold wavered in the countess's hand, +then the hand shook, then the circlet fell, the countess's head +tossed itself into the air, and the countess's feet shambled out to +the lawn. She did not however go so fast but what she heard the +signora's voice, asking-- + +'Who on earth is that woman, Mr Slope?' + +'That is Lady De Courcy.' + +'Oh, ah. I might have supposed so. Ha, ha, ha. Well, that's as good +as a play.' + +It was as good as a play to any there who had eyes to observe it, +and wit to comment on what they observed. + +But the Lady De Courcy soon found a congenial spirit on the lawn. +There she encountered Mrs Proudie, and as Mrs Proudie was not only +the wife of a bishop, but was also the cousin of an earl, Lady De +Courcy considered her to be the fittest companion she was likely to +meet in that assemblage. They were accordingly delighted to see +each other. Mrs Proudie by no means despised a countess, and as +this countess lived in the county and within a sort of extensive +visiting distance of Barchester, she was glad to have this +opportunity of ingratiating herself. + +'My dear Lady De Courcy, I am so delighted,' said she, looking as +little grim as it was in her nature to do so. 'I hardly expected to +see you here. It is such a distance, and then you know, such a +crowd.' + +'And such roads, Mrs Proudie! I really wonder how the people ever +get about. But I don't suppose they ever do.' + +'Well, I really don't know; but I suppose not. The Thorne don't, I +know,' said Mrs Proudie. 'Very nice person, Miss Thorne, isn't +she?' + +'Oh, delightful and so queer; I've known her these twenty years. A +great pet of mine is dear Miss Thorne. She is so very strange, you +know. She always makes me think of the Esquimaux and the Indians. +Isn't her dress quite delightful?' + +'Delightful,' said Mrs Proudie; 'I wonder now whether she paints. +Did you ever see such colour?' + +'Oh, of course,' said Lady De Courcy; 'that is, I have no doubt she +does. But, Mrs Proudie, who is that woman on the sofa by the +window? just step this way and you'll see her, there--' and the +countess led her to a spot where she could plainly see the +signora's well-remembered face and figure. + +She did not however do so without being equally well seen by the +signora. 'Look, look,' said that lady to Mr Slope, who was still +standing near to her; 'see the high spiritualities and +temporalities of the land in league together, and all against poor +me. I'll wager my bracelet, Mr Slope against your next sermon, that +they've taken up their position there on purpose to pull me to +pieces. Well, I can't rush to the combat, but I know how to protect +myself if the enemy come near me.' + +But the enemy knew better. They could gain nothing be contact with +the signora Neroni, and they could abuse her as they pleased at a +distance from her on the lawn. + +'She's that horrid Italian woman, Lady De Courcy; you must have +heard of her.' + +'What Italian woman?' said her ladyship, quite alive to the coming +story; 'I don't think I've heard of any Italian woman coming into +the country. She doesn't look Italian either.' + +'Oh, you must have heard of her,' said Mrs Proudie. 'No, she's not +absolutely Italian. She is Dr Stanhope's daughter--Dr Stanhope the +prebendary; and she calls herself the Signora Neroni.' + +'Oh--h--h--h!' exclaimed the countess. + +'I was sure you had heard of her,' continued Mrs Proudie. 'I don't +know anything about her husband. They do say that some man named +Neroni is still alive. I believe she did marry such a man abroad, +but I do not at all know who or what he was.' + +'Ah--h--h--h!' said the countess, shaking her head with much +intelligence, as every additional 'h' fell from her lips. 'I know +all about it now. I have heard George mention her. George knows all +about her. George heard about her in Rome.' + +'She's an abominable woman at any rate,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'Insufferable,' said the countess. + +'She made her way into the palace once, before I knew anything +about her; and I cannot tell you how dreadfully indecent her +conduct was.' + +'Was it?' said the delighted countess. + +'Insufferable,' said the prelatess. + +'But why does she lie on a sofa?' asked the Lady De Courcy. + +'She has only one leg,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'Only one leg!' said the Lady De Courcy, who felt to a certain +degree dissatisfied that the signora was thus incapacitated. 'Was +she born so?' + +'Oh, no,' said Mrs Proudie,--and her ladyship felt somewhat +recomforted by the assurance,--'she had two. But that Signor Neroni +beat her, I believe, till she was obliged to have one amputated. At +any rate she entirely lost the use of it.' + +'Unfortunate creature!' said the countess, who herself knew +something of matrimonial trials. + +'Yes,' said Mrs Proudie; 'one would pity her, in spite of her past +bad conduct, if she knew how to behave herself. But she does not. +She is the most insolent creature I have ever put my eyes on.' + +'Indeed she is,' said Lady De Courcy. + +'And her conduct with men is abominable, that she is not fit to be +admitted into any lady's drawing-room.' + +'Dear me!' said the countess, becoming again excited, happy, and +merciless. + +'You saw that man standing near her,--the clergyman with the red +hair?' + +'Yes, yes.' + +'She has absolutely ruined that man. The bishop, or I should rather +take the blame on myself, for it was I,--I brought him down from +London to Barchester. He is a tolerable preacher, an active young +man, and I therefore introduced him to the bishop. That woman, Lady +De Courcy, has got hold of him, and has so disgraced him, that I am +forced to required that he shall leave the palace; and I doubt very +much whether he won't lose his gown.' + +'Why what an idiot the man must be!' said the countess. + +'You don't know the intriguing villainy of that woman,' said Mrs +Proudie, remembering her own torn flounces. + +'But you say she has only got one leg!' + +'She is as full of mischief as tho' she had ten. Look at her eyes, +Lady De Courcy. Did you ever see such eyes in a decent woman's +head?' + +'Indeed I never did, Mrs Proudie.' + +'And her effrontery, and her voice; I quite pity her poor father, +who is really a good sort of man.' + +'Dr Stanhope, isn't he?' + +'Yes, Dr Stanhope. He is one of our prebendaries,--a good quiet +sort of man himself. But I am surprised that he should let his +daughter conduct herself as he does.' + +'I suppose he can't help it,' said the countess. + +'But a clergyman, you know, Lady De Courcy! He should at any rate +prevent her from exhibiting in public, if he cannot induce her to +behave at home. But he is to be pitied. I believe he has a +desperate life of it with the lot of them. That apish-looking man +there, with the long beard and the loose trousers,--he is the +woman's brother. He is nearly as bad as she is. They are both of +them infidels.' + +'Infidels!' said Lady De Courcy, 'and their father a prebendary!' + +'Yes, and likely to be the new dean too,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'Oh, yes, poor dear Dr Trefoil!' said the countess, who had once in +her life spoken to that gentleman; 'I was so distressed to hear it, +Mrs Proudie. And so Dr Stanhope is to be the new dean! He comes of +an excellent family, and I wish him success in spite of his +daughter. Perhaps, Mrs Proudie, when he is dean, they'll be better +able to see the error of their ways.' + +To this Mrs Proudie said nothing. Her dislike of the Signora Neroni +was too deep to admit of her even hoping that that lady should see +the error of her ways. Mrs Proudie looked on the signora as one of +the lost,--one of those beyond the reach of Christian charity, and +was therefore able to enjoy the luxury of hating her, without the +drawback of wishing her eventually well out of her sins. + +Any further conversation between these congenial souls was +prevented by the advent of Mr Thorne, who came to lead the countess +to the tent. Indeed, he had been desired to do so some ten minutes +since; but he had been delayed in the drawing-room by the signora. +She had contrived to detain him, to bet him near to her sofa, and +at last to make him seat himself on a chair close to her beautiful +arm. The fish took the bait, was hooked, and caught, and landed. +Within that ten minutes he had heard the whole of signora's history +in such strains as she chose to use in telling it. He learnt from +the lady's own lips the whole of that mysterious tale to which the +Honourable George had merely alluded. He discovered that the +beautiful creature lying before him had been more sinned against +than sinning. She had owned to him that she had been weak, +confiding and indifferent to the world's opinion, and that she had +therefore been ill-used, deceived and evil spoken of. She had +spoken to him of her mutilated limb, her youth destroyed in the +fullest bloom, her beauty robbed of its every charm, her life +blighted, her hopes withered; and as she did so, a tear dropped +from her eye to her cheek. She had told him of these things, and +asked for his sympathy. + +What could a good-natured genial Anglo-Saxon Squire Thorne do but +promise to sympathise with her? Mr Thorne did promise to +sympathise; promised also to come and see the last of the Neros, to +hear more of those fearful Roman days, of those light and innocent +but dangerous hours which flitted by so fast on the shores of Como, +and to make himself the confidant of the signora's sorrows. + +We need hardly say that he dropped all idea of warning his sister +against the dangerous lady. He had been mistaken; never so much +mistaken in his life. He had always regarded that Honourable George +as a coarse brutal-minded young man; now he was more convinced than +ever that he was so. It was by such men as the Honourable George +that the reputation of such women as Madeline Neroni were +imperilled and damaged. He would go and see the lady in her own +house; he was fully sure in his own mind of the soundness of his +own judgment; if he found her, as he believed he should do, an +injured well-disposed, warm-hearted woman, he would get his sister +Monica to invite her out to Ullathorne. + +'No,' said she, as at her instance he got up to leave her, and +declared that he himself would attend upon her wants; 'no, no, my +friend; I positively put a veto upon your doing so. What, in your +own house, with an assemblage round you such as there is here! Do +you wish to make every woman hate me and every man stare at me? I +lay a positive order on you not to come near me again to-day. Come +and see me at home. It is only at home that I can talk; it is only +at home that I really can live and enjoy myself. My days of going +out, days such as these, are rare indeed. Come and see me at home, +Mr Thorne, and then I will not bid you to leave me.' + +It is, we believe, common with young men of five and twenty to look +on their seniors--on men of, say, double their own age--as so many +stocks and stones--stocks and stones, that is, in regard to +feminine beauty. There never was a greater mistake. Women, indeed, +generally know better; but on this subject men of one age are +thoroughly ignorant of what is the very nature of mankind of other +ages. No experience of what goes on in the world, no reading of +history, no observation of life, has any effect in teaching the +truth. Men of fifty don't dance mazurkas, being generally too fat +and wheezy; nor do they sit for the hour together on river banks at +their mistresses' feet, being somewhat afraid of rheumatism. But +for real true love, love at first sight, love to devotion, love +that robs a man of his sleep, love that 'will gaze an eagle blind,' +love that 'will hear the lowest sound when the suspicious tread of +theft is stopped,' love that is 'like a Hercules still climbing +trees in the Hesperides,'--we believe this best age is from +forty-five to seventy; up to that, men are generally given to mere +flirting. + +At the present moment Mr Thorne, aetat. fifty, was over head and +ears in love at first sight with the Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni, +nata Stanhope. + +Nevertheless he was sufficiently master of himself to offer his arm +with all propriety to Lady De Courcy, and the countess graciously +permitted herself to be led to the tent. + +Such had been Miss Thorne's orders, as she had succeeded in +inducing the bishop to lead old Lady Knowle to the top of the +dining-room. One of the baronets was sent off in quest of Mrs +Proudie, and found that lady on the lawn not in the best of +humours. Mr Thorne and the countess had left her too abruptly; she +had in vain looked about for an attendant chaplain, or even a stray +curate; they were all drawing long bows with the young ladies at +the bottom of the lawn, or finding places for their graceful +co-toxophilites in some snug corner of the tent. In such position +Mrs Proudie had been wont in earlier days to fall back upon Mr +Slope; but now she could never fall back upon him again. She gave +her head one shake as she thought of her lone position, and that +shake was as good as a week deducted from Mr Slope's longer sojourn +in Barchester. Sir Harkaway Gorse, however, relieved her present +misery, though his doing so by no means mitigated the sinning +chaplain's doom. + +And now the eating and drinking began in earnest. Dr Grantly, to +his great horror, found himself leagued to Mrs Clantantram. Mrs +Clantantram had a great regard for the archdeacon, which was not +cordially returned; and when she, coming up to him, whispered in +his ear, 'Come, archdeacon, I'm sure you won't begrudge an old +friend the favour of your arm,' and then proceeded to tell him the +whole history of her roquelaure, he resolved that he would shake +her off before he was fifteen minutes older. But latterly the +archdeacon had not been successful in his resolutions; and on the +present occasion Mrs Clantantram stuck to him till the banquet was +over. + +Dr Gwynne got a baronet's wife, and Mrs Grantly fell to the lot of +a baronet. Charlotte Stanhope attached herself to Mr Harding in +order to make room for Bertie, who succeeded in sitting down in the +dining-room next to Mrs Bold. To speak sooth, now that he had love +in earnest to make, his heart almost failed him. + +Eleanor had been right glad to avail herself of his arm, seeing +that Mr Slope was hovering nigh her. In striving to avoid that +terrible Charybdis of a Slope she was in great danger of falling +into an unseen Scylla on the other hand, that Scylla being Bertie +Stanhope. Nothing could be more gracious than she was to Bertie. +She almost jumped at his proffered arm. Charlotte perceived this +from a distance, and triumphed in her heart; Bertie felt it, and +was encouraged; Mr Slope saw it, and glowered with jealousy. +Eleanor and Bertie sat down to table in the dining-room; and as she +took her seat at his right hand, she found that Mr Slope was +already in possession of the chair at her own. + +As these things were going on in the dining-room, Mr Arabin was +hanging enraptured and alone over the signora's sofa; and Eleanor +from her seat could look through the open door and see that he was +doing so. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE BISHOP SITS DOWN TO BREAKFAST, AND THE DEAN DIES + +The bishop of Barchester said grace over the well-spread board in +the Ullathorne dining-room; and while he did so the last breath was +flying from the dean of Barchester as he lay in his sick-room in +the deanery. When the bishop of Barchester raised his first glass +of champagne to his lips, the deanship of Barchester was a good +thing in the gift of the prime minister. Before the bishop of +Barchester had left the table, the minister of the day was made +aware of the fact at his country seat in Hampshire, and had already +turned over in his mind the names of five very respectable +aspirants for the preferment. It is at present only necessary to +say that Mr Slope's name was not among the five. + +''Twas merry in the hall when the beards wagged all;' and the +clerical beards wagged merrily in the hall of Ullathorne that day. +It was not till after the last cork had been drawn, the last speech +made, the last nut cracked, that tidings reached and were whispered +about that the poor dean was no more. It was well for the happiness +of the clerical beards that this little delay took place, as +otherwise decency would have forbidden them to wag at all. + +But there was one sad man among them that day. Mr Arabin's beard +did not wag as it should have done. He had come there hoping the +best, striving to think the best about Eleanor; turning over in his +mind all the words he remembered to have fallen from her about Mr +Slope, and trying to gather from them a conviction unfavourable to +his rival. He had not exactly resolved to come that day to some +decisive proof as to the widow's intention; but he had meant, if +possible, to re-cultivate his friendship with Eleanor; and in his +present frame of mind any such re-cultivation must have ended in a +declaration of love. + +He had passed the previous night alone at his new parsonage, and it +was the first night that he had so passed. It had been dull and +sombre enough. Mrs Grantly had been right in saying that a +priestess would be wanting at St Ewold's. He had sat there alone +with his glass before him, and then with his teapot, thinking about +Eleanor Bold. As is usual in such meditations, he did little but +blame her; blame her for liking Mr Slope, and blame her for not +liking him; blame her for her cordiality to himself, and blame her +for her want of cordiality; blame her for being stubborn, +headstrong, and passionate; and yet the more he thought of her the +higher she rose in his affection. If only it should turn out, if +only it could be made to turn out, that she had defended Mr Slope, +not from love, but on principle, all would be right. Such principle +in itself would be admirable, loveable, womanly; he felt that he +could be pleased to allow Mr Slope just so much favour as that. But +if--And then Mr Arabin poked his fire most unnecessarily, spoke +crossly to his new parlour-maid who came in for the tea-things, and +threw himself back in his chair determined to go to sleep. Why had +she been so stiff-necked when asked a plain question? She could not +but have known in what light he regarded her. Why had she not +answered a plain question, and so put an end to his misery? Then, +instead of going to sleep in his arm-chair, Mr Arabin walked about +the room as though he had been possessed. + +On the following morning, when he attended Miss Thorne's behests, +he was still in a somewhat confused state. His first duty had been +to converse with Mrs Clantantram, and that lady had found it +impossible to elicit the slightest sympathy from him on the subject +of hr roquelaure. Miss Thorne had asked him whether Mrs Bold was +coming with the Grantlys; and the two names of Bold and Grantly +together had nearly made him jump from his seat. + +He was in this state of confused uncertainty, hope, and doubt, when +he saw Mr Slope, with his most polished smile, handing Eleanor out +of her carriage. He thought of nothing more. He never considered +whether the carriage belonged to her or to Mr Slope, or to any one +else to whom they might both be mutually obliged without any +concert between themselves. The sight in his present state of mind +was quite enough to upset him and his resolves. It was clear as +noonday. Had he seen her handed into a carriage by Mr Slope at a +church door with a white veil over her head, the truth could not be +more manifest. He went into the house, and, as we have seen, soon +found himself walking with Mr Harding. Shortly afterwards Eleanor +came up; and then he had to leave his companion, and either go +about alone or find another. While in this state he was encountered +by the archdeacon. + +'I wonder,' said Dr Grantly, 'if it be true that Mr Slope and Mrs +Bold come here together. Susan says she is almost sure she saw +their faces in the same carriage as she got out of her own.' + +Mr Arabin had nothing for it but to bear his testimony to the +correctness of Mrs Grantly's eyesight. + +'It is perfectly shameful,' said the archdeacon; 'or I should +rather say, shameless. She was asked her as my guest; and if she be +determined to disgrace herself, she should have feeling enough not +to do so before my immediate friends. I wonder how that man got +himself invited. I wonder whether she had the face to bring him.' + +To this Mr Arabin could answer nothing, nor did he wish to answer +anything. Though he abused Eleanor to himself, he did not choose to +abuse to any one else, nor was he well pleased to hear any one else +speak ill of her. Dr Grantly, however, was very angry, and did not +spare his sister-in-law. Mr Arabin therefore left him as soon as he +could, and wandered back into the house. + +It is impossible to say how the knowledge had been acquired, but +the signora had a sort of instinctive knowledge that Mr Arabin was +an admirer of Mrs Bold. Men hunt foxes by the aid of dogs, and are +aware that they do so by the strong organ of smell with which the +dog is endowed. They do not, however, in the least comprehend how +such a sense can work with such acuteness. The organ by which woman +instinctively, as it were, know and feel how other women are +regarded by men, and how also men are regarded by other women, is +equally strong, and equally incomprehensible. A glance, a word, a +motion, suffices: by some such acute exercise of her feminine +senses the signora was aware that Mr Arabin loved Eleanor Bold; and +therefore, by a further exercise of her peculiar feminine +propensities, it was quite natural for her to entrap Mr Arabin into +her net. + +The work was half done before she came to Ullathorne, and when +could she have a better opportunity of completing it? She had had +almost enough of Mr Slope, though she could not quite resist the +fun of driving a very sanctimonious clergyman to madness by a +desperate and ruinous passion. Mr Thorne had fallen too easily to +give much pleasure in the chase. His position as a man of wealth +might make his alliance of value, but as a lover he was very +second-rate. We may say that she regarded him somewhat as a +sportsman does a pheasant. The bird is so easily shot, that he +would not be worth the shooting were it not for the very +respectable appearance that he makes in a larder. The signora would +not waste much time in shooting Mr Thorne, but still he was worth +bagging for family uses. + +But Mr Arabin was game of another sort. The signora was herself +possessed of quite sufficient intelligence to know that Mr Arabin +was a man more than usually intellectual. She knew also, that as a +clergyman he was of a much higher stamp than Mr Slope, and that as +gentleman he was better educated than Mr Thorne. She would never +have attempted to drive Mr Arabin into ridiculous misery as she did +Mr Slope, nor would she think it possible to dispose of him in ten +minutes as she had done with Mr Thorne. + +Such were her reflections about Mr Arabin. As to Mr Arabin, it +cannot be said that he reflected at all about the signora. + +He knew that she was beautiful, and he felt that she was able to +charm him. He required charming in his present misery, and +therefore he went and stood at the head of her couch. She knew all +about it. Such were her peculiar gifts. + +It was her nature to see that he required charming, and it was her +province to charm him. As the Easter idler swallows his dose of +opium, as the London reprobate swallows his dose of gin, so with +similar desire and for similar reasons did Mr Arabin prepare to +swallow the charms of the Signora Neroni. + +'Why aren't you shooting with bows and arrows, Mr Arabin?' said +she, when they were nearly alone together in the sitting-room; 'or +talking with young ladies in shady bowers, or turning your talents +to account in some way? What was a bachelor like you asked here +for? Don't you mean to earn your cold chicken and champagne? Were I +you, I should be ashamed to be so idle.' + +Mr Arabin murmured some sort of answer. Though he wished to be +charmed, he as hardly yet in a mood to be playful in return. + +'Why, what ails you, Mr Arabin?' said she, 'here you are in your +own parish; Miss Thorne tells me that her party is given expressly +in your honour; and yet you are the only dull man in it. Your +friend Mr Slope was with me a few minutes since, full of life and +spirits' why don't you rival him?' + +It was not difficult for so acute an observer as Madeline Neroni to +see that she had hit the nail on the head and driven the bolt home. +Mr Arabin winced visibly before her attack, and she knew at once +that he was jealous of Mr Slope. + +'But I look on you and Mr Slope as the very antipodes of men,' said +she. 'There is nothing in which you are not each the reverse of the +other, except in belonging to the same profession; and even in that +you are so unlike as perfectly to maintain the rule. He is +gregarious, you are given to solitude. He is active, you are +passive. He works, you think. He likes women, you despise them. He +is fond of position and power, and so are you, but for directly +different reasons. He loves to be praised, you very foolishly abhor +it. He will gain his rewards, which will be an insipid useful wife, +a comfortable income, and a reputation for sanctimony. You will +also gain yours.' + +'Well, and what will they be?' said Mr Arabin, who knew that he was +being flattered, and yet suffered himself to put up with it. 'What +will be my rewards?' + +'The heart of some woman whom you will be too austere to own that +you love, and the respect of some few friends which you will be too +proud to own that you value.' + +'Rich rewards,' said he; 'but of little worth if they are to be so +treated.' + +'Oh, you are not to look for such success as awaits Mr Slope. He is +born to be a successful man. He suggests to himself an object, and +then starts for it with eager intention. Nothing will deter him +from his pursuit. He will have no scruples, no fears, no +hesitation. His desire is to be a bishop with a rising family, the +wife will come first, and in due time the apron. You will see all +this, and then--' + +'Well, and what then?' + +'Then you will begin to wish that you had done the same.' + +Mr Arabin look placidly out at the lawn, and resting his shoulder +on the head of the sofa, rubbed his chin with his hand. It was a +trick he had when he was thinking deeply; and what the signora said +made him think. Was it not all true? Would he not hereafter look +back, if not at Mr Slope, at some others, people not equally gifted +with himself, who had risen in the world while he had lagged +behind, and then wish that he had done the same? + +'Is not such the doom of all speculative men of talent?' said she. +'Do they not all sit rapt as you now are, cutting imaginary silken +cords with their fine edges, while those not so highly tempered +sever the every-day Gordian knots of the world's struggle, and win +wealth and renown? Steel too highly polished, edges too sharp, do +not do for this world's work, Mr Arabin.' + +Who was this woman that thus read the secrets of his heart, and +re-uttered to him the unwelcome bodings of his own soul? He looked +full into her face when she had done speaking, and said, 'Am I one +of those foolish blades, too sharp and too fine to do a useful +day's work?' + +'Why do you let the Slopes of the world out-distance you?' said +she. 'It not the blood in your veins as warm as his? does not your +pulse beat as fast? Has not God made you a man, and intended you to +do a man's work here, ay, and to take a man's wages also?' + +Mr Arabin sat ruminating and rubbing his face, and wondering why +these things were said to him; but he replied nothing. The signora +went on-- + +'The greatest mistake any man ever made is to suppose that the good +things of the world are not worth the winning. And it is a mistake +so opposed to the religion which you preach! Why does God permit +his bishops one after the other to have their five thousands and +ten thousands a year if such wealth be bad and not worth having? +Why are beautiful things given to us, and luxuries and pleasant +enjoyments, if they be not intended to be used? They must be meant +for some one, and what is good for a layman cannot surely be bad +for a clerk. You try to despise these good things, but you only +try; you don't succeed.' + +'Don't I,' said Mr Arabin, still musing, and not knowing what he +said. + +'I ask you the question: do you succeed?' + +Mr Arabin looked at her piteously. It seemed to him as though he +were being interrogated by some inner spirit of his own, to whom he +could not refuse an answer, and to whom he did not dare to give a +false reply. + +'Come, Mr Arabin, confess; do you succeed? Is money so +contemptible? Is worldly power so worthless? Is feminine beauty a +trifle to be so slightly regarded by a wise man?' + +'Feminine beauty!' said he, gazing into her face, as though all the +feminine beauty in the world was concentrated there. 'Why do you +say I do not regard it?' + +'If you look at me like that, Mr Arabin, I shall alter my +opinion--or should do so, were I not of course aware that I have no +beauty of my own worth regarding.' + +The gentleman blushed crimson, but the lady did not blush at all. A +slightly increased colour animated her face, just so much so as to +give her an air of special interest. She expected a compliment from +her admirer, but she was rather grateful than otherwise by finding +that he did not pay it to her. Messrs Slope and Thorne, Messrs +Brown, Jones and Robinson, they all paid her compliments. She was +rather in hopes that she would ultimately succeed in inducing Mr +Arabin to abuse her. + +'But your gaze,' said she, 'is one of wonder, and not of +admiration. You wonder at my audacity in asking you such questions +about yourself.' + +'Well, I do rather,' said he. + +'Nevertheless I expect an answer, Mr Arabin. Why were women made +beautiful if men are not to regard them?' + +'But men do regard them,' he replied. + +'And why not you?' + +'You are begging the question, Madame Neroni.' + +'I am sure that I shall beg nothing, Mr Arabin, which you will not +grant, and I do beg for an answer. Do you not as a rule think women +below your notice as companions? Let us see. There is the widow +Bold looking round at you from her chair this minute. What would +you say to her as a companion for life?' + +Mr Arabin, rising from his position, leaned over the sofa and +looked through the drawing-room door to the place where Eleanor was +seated between Bertie Stanhope and Mr Slope. She at once caught his +glance, and averted her own. She was not pleasantly placed in her +present position. Mr Slope was doing his best to attract her +attention; and she was striving to prevent his doing so by talking +to Mr Stanhope, while her mind was intently fixed on Mr Arabin and +Madame Neroni. Bertie Stanhope endeavoured to take advantage of her +favours, but he was thinking more of the manner in which he would +by-and-by throw himself at her feet, than of amusing her at the +present moment. + +'There,' said the signora. 'She was stretching her beautiful neck +to look at you, and now you have disturbed her. Well I declare, I +believe I am wrong about you; I believe that you do think Mrs Bold +a charming woman. Your looks seem to say so; and by her looks I +should say that she is jealous of me. Come, Mr Arabin, confide in +me, and if it is so, I'll do all in my power to make up the match.' + +It is needless to say that the signora was not very sincere in her +offer. She was never sincere on such subjects. She never expected +others to be so, nor did she expect others to think her so. Such +matters were her playthings, her billiard table, her hounds and +hunters, her waltzes and polkas, her picnics and summer-day +excursions. She had little else to amuse her, and therefore played +at love-making in all its forms. She was now playing at it with Mr +Arabin, and did not at all expect the earnestness and truth of his +answer. + +'All in your power would be nothing,' said he; 'for Mrs Bold is, I +imagine, already engaged to another.' + +'Then you own the impeachment yourself.' + +'You cross-question me rather unfairly,' he replied, 'and I do not +know why I answer you at all. Mrs Bold is a very beautiful woman, +and as intelligent as beautiful. It is impossible to know her +without admiring her.' + +'So you think the widow a very beautiful woman?' + +'Indeed I do.' + +'And one that would grace the parsonage at St Ewold's.' + +'One that would grace any man's house.' + +'And you really have the effrontery to tell me this,' said she; 'to +tell me, who, as you very well know, set up to be a beauty myself, +and who am at this very moment taking such an interest in your +affairs, you really have the effrontery to tell me that Mrs Bold is +the most beautiful woman you know.' + +'I did not say so,' said Mr Arabin; 'you are more beautiful--' + +'Ah, come now, that is something like. I thought you would not be +so unfeeling.' + +'You are more beautiful, perhaps more clever.' + +'Thank you, thank you, Mr Arabin. I knew that you and I should be +friends.' + +'But--' + +'Not a word further. I will not hear a word further. If you talk +till midnight, you cannot improve what you have said.' + +'But Madame Neroni, Mrs Bold--' + +'I will not hear a word about Mrs Bold. Dread thoughts of +strychnine did pass across my brain, but she is welcome to the +second place.' + +'Her place--' + +'I won't hear anything about her or her place. I am satisfied and +that is enough. But, Mr Arabin, I am dying with hunger; beautiful +and clever as I am, you know I cannot go to my food, and yet you do +not bring it to me.' + +This at any rate was so true as to make it unnecessary that Mr +Arabin should not act upon it, and he accordingly went into the +dining-room and supplied the signora's wants. + +'And yourself,' said she. + +'Oh,' said he, 'I am not hungry; I never eat at this hour.' + +'Come, come, Mr Arabin, don't let love interfere with your +appetite. It never does with mine. Give me half a glass more +champagne, and then go to the table. Mrs Bold will do me an injury +if you stay talking to me any longer.' + +Mr Arabin did as he was bid. He took her plate and glass from her, +and going into the dining-room, helped himself to a sandwich from +the crowded table and began munching it in a corner. + +As he was doing so, Miss Thorne, who had hardly sat down for a +moment, came into the room, and seeing him standing, was greatly +distressed. + +'Oh, my dear Mr Arabin,' said she, 'have you never sat down yet? I +am so distressed. You of all men too.' + +Mr Arabin assured her that he had only just come into the room. + +'That is the very reason why you should lose no more time. Come +I'll make room for you. Thank'ee my dear,' she said, seeing that +Mrs Bold was making an attempt to move from her chair, 'but I would +not for the world see you stir, for all the ladies would think it +necessary to follow. But, perhaps, if Mr Stanhope has done--just +for a minute, Mr Stanhope--till I can get another chair.' + +And so Bertie had to rise to make way for his rival. This he did, +as he did everything, with an air of good-humoured pleasantry, +which made it impossible for Mr Arabin to refuse the proffered +seat. + +'His bishopric let another take,' said Bertie; the quotation being +certainly not very appropriate, either for the occasion, or the +person spoken to. 'I have eaten and am satisfied; Mr Arabin, pray +take my chair. I wish for your sake, it really was a bishop's +seat.' + +Mr Arabin did sit down, and as he did so, Mrs Bold got up as though +to follow her neighbour. + +'Pray, pray don't move,' said Miss Thorne, almost forcing Eleanor +back into her chair. 'Mr Stanhope is not going to leave us. He will +stand behind you like a true knight as he is. And now I think of +it, Mr Arabin, let me introduce you to Mr Slope. Mr Slope, Mr +Arabin.' And the two gentlemen bowed stiffly to each other across +the lady they both intended to marry, while the other gentleman who +also intended to marry her stood behind, watching them. + +The two had never met each other before, and the present was +certainly not a good opportunity for much cordial conversation, +even if cordial conversation between them had been possible. As it +was, the whole four who formed the party seemed as though their +tongues were tied. Mr Slope, who was wide awake to what he hoped +was his coming opportunity, was not much concerned in the interest +of the moment. His wish was to see Eleanor move, that he might +pursue her. Bertie was not exactly in the same frame of mind; the +evil of the day was near enough; there was no reason why he should +precipitate it. He had made up his mind to marry Eleanor Bold if he +could, and was resolved to-day to take the first preliminary step +towards doing so. But there was time enough before him. He was not +going to make an offer of marriage over the table-cloth. Having +thus good-naturedly made way for Mr Arabin, he was willing also to +let him talk to the future Mrs Stanhope as long as they remained in +their present position. + +Mr Arabin bowed to Mr Slope, began eating his food, without saying +a word further. He was full of thoughts, and though he ate he did +so unconsciously. + +But poor Eleanor was the most to be pitied. The only friend on whom +she thought she could rely, was Bertie Stanhope, and he, it seemed, +was determined to desert her. Mr Arabin did not attempt to address +her. She said a few words in reply to some remarks from Mr Slope, +and then feeling the situation too much for her, started from her +chair in spite of Miss Thorne, and hurried from the room. Mr Slope +followed her, and young Stanhope lost the occasion. + +Madame Neroni, when she was left alone, could not help pondering +much on the singular interview she had had with this singular man. +Not a word that she had spoken to him had been intended by her to +be received as true, and yet he had answered her in the very spirit +of truth. He had done so, and she had been aware that he had done +so. She had wormed from him his secret; and he, debarred as it +would seem from man's usual privilege of lying, had innocently laid +bare his whole soul to her. He loved Eleanor Bold, but Eleanor was +not in his eyes so beautiful as herself. He would fain have Eleanor +for his wife, but yet he had acknowledged that she was the less +gifted of the two. The man had literally been unable to falsify his +thoughts when questioned, and had been compelled to be true malgre +lui, even when truth must have been disagreeable to him. + +This teacher of men, this Oxford pundit, this double-distilled +quintessence of university perfection, this writer of religious +treatises, this speaker of ecclesiastical speeches, had been like a +little child in her hands; she had turned him inside out, and read +his very heart as she might have done that of a young girl. She +could not but despise him for his facile openness, and yet she +liked him too. It was a novelty to her, a new trait in a man's +character. She felt also that she could never so completely make a +fool of him as she did of the Slopes and the Thornes. She felt that +she could never induce Mr Arabin to make protestations to her that +were not true, or to listen to nonsense that was mere nonsense. + +It was quite clear that Mr Arabin was heartily in love with Mrs +Bold, and the signora, with very unwonted good nature, began to +turn it over in her mind whether she could not do him a good turn. +Of course Bertie was to have the first chance. It was an understood +family arrangement that her brother was, if possible, to marry the +widow Bold. Madeline knew too well the necessities and what was due +to her sister to interfere with so excellent a plan, as long as it +might be feasible. But she had strong suspicion that it was not +feasible. She did not think it likely that Mrs Bold would accept a +man in her brother's position, and she had frequently said so to +Charlotte. She was inclined to believe that Mr Slope had more +chance of success; and with her it would be a labour of love to rob +Mr Slope of his wife. + +And so the signora resolved, should Bertie fail, to do a +good-natured act for once in her life, and give up Mr Arabin to the +woman whom he loved. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +THE LOOKALOFTS AND THE GREENACRES + +On the whole, Miss Thorne's provision for the amusement and feeding +of the outer classes in the exoteric paddock was not unsuccessful. + +Two little drawbacks to the general happiness did take place, but +they were of a temporary nature, and apparent rather than real. The +first was the downfall of young Harry Greenacre, and the other was +the uprise of Mrs Lookaloft and her family. + +As to the quintain, it became more popular among the boys on foot, +than it would ever have been among the men on horseback, even had +young Greenacre been more successful. It was twirled round and +round till it was nearly twisted out of the ground; and the bag of +flour was used with great gusto in powdering the backs and heads of +all who could be coaxed within the vicinity. + +Of course it was reported all throughout the assemblage that Harry +was dead, and there was a pathetic scene between him and his mother +when it was found that he had escaped scatheless from the fall. A +good deal of beer was drunk on the occasion, and the quintain was +'dratted' and 'bothered', and very generally anathematised by all +the mothers who had young sons likely to be placed in similar +jeopardy. But the affair of Mrs Lookaloft was of a more serious +nature. + +'I do tell 'ee plainly,--face to face--she be there in madam's +drawing-room; herself and Gussy, and them two walloping gals, +dressed up to their very eyeses.' This was said by a very positive, +very indignant, and very fat farmer's wife, who was sitting on the +end of a bench leaning on the handle of a huge cotton umbrella. + +'But you didn't zee her, Dame Guffern?' said Mrs Greenacres, whom +this information, joined to the recent peril undergone by her son, +almost overpowered. Mr Greenacres held just as much land as Mr +Lookaloft, paid his rent quite as punctually, and his opinion in +the vestry-room was reckoned to be every whit as good. Mrs +Lookaloft's rise in the world had been wormwood to Mrs Greenacre. +She had not taste herself for the sort of finery which converted +Barleystubb farm into Rosebank, and which had occasionally graced +Mr Lookaloft's letters with the dignity of esquirehood. She had no +wish to convert her own homeland into Violet Villa, or to see her +goodman go about with a new-fangled handle to his name. But it was +a mortal injury to her that Mrs Lookaloft should be successful in +her hunt after such honours. She had abused and ridiculed Mrs +Lookaloft to the extent of her little power. She had pushed against +her going out of church, and had excused herself with all the +easiness of equality. 'Ah, dame, I axes pardon; but you be grown so +mortal stout these time.' She had inquired with apparent cordiality +of Mr Lookaloft after 'the woman that owned him,' and had, as she +thought, been on the whole able to hold her own pretty well against +her aspiring neighbour. Now, however, she found herself distinctly +put into a separate and inferior class. Mrs Lookaloft was asked +into the Ullathorne drawing-room, merely because she called her +house Rosebank, and had talked over her husband into buying pianos +and silk dresses instead of putting his money by to stock farms for +his sons. + +Mrs Greenacre, much as she reverenced Miss Thorne, and highly as +she respected her husband's landlord, could not but look on this as +an act of injustice done to her and hers. Hitherto the Lookalofts +had never been recognised as being of a different class from the +Greenacres. Their pretensions were all self-pretensions, their +finery was all paid for by themselves and not granted to them by +others. The local sovereigns of the vicinity, the district +fountains of honour, had hitherto conferred on them the stamp of no +rank. Hitherto their crinoline petticoats, late hours, and mincing +gait had been a fair subject of Mrs Greenacre's raillery, and this +raillery had been a safety valve for her envy. Now, however, and +from henceforward, the case would be very different. Now the +Lookalofts would boast that their aspirations had been sanctioned +by the gentry of the country; now they would declare with some show +of truth that their claims to peculiar consideration had been +recognised. They had sat as equal guests in the presence of bishops +and baronets; they had been curtseyed to by Miss Thorne on her own +drawing-room carpet; they were about to sit down to table in +company with a live countess! Bab Lookaloft, as she had always been +called by the young Greenacres in the days of their juvenile +equality, might possibly sit next to the Honourable George, and +that wretched Gussy might be permitted to hand a custard to the +Lady Margaretta De Courcy. + +The fruition of these honours, or such of them as fell to the lot +of the envied family, was not such as should have caused much envy. +The attention paid to the Lookalofts by the De Courcys was very +limited, and the amount of society was hardly in itself a +recompense for the dull monotony of their day. But of what they +endured Mrs Greenacre took no account; she thought only of what she +considered they must enjoy, and of the dreadfully exalted tone of +living which would be manifested by the Rosebank family, as the +consequence of their present distinction. + +'But did 'ee zee 'em there, dame, did 'ee zee 'em then with your +own eyes?' asked poor Mrs Greenacre, still hoping that there might +be some ground for doubt. + +'And how could I do that, unless so be I was there myself?' asked +Mrs Guffen. 'I didn't set eyes on none of them this blessed +morning, but I zee'd them as did. You know our John; well, he will +be for keeping company with Betsey Rusk, madam's own maid, you +know. And Betsey isn't one of your common kitchen wenches. So +Betsey, she come out to our John, you know, and she's always vastly +polite to me, is Betsey Rusk, I must say. So before she took so +much as one turn with John, she told me every ha'porth that was +going on up in the house.' + +'Did she now?' said Mrs Greenacre. + +'Indeed she did,' said Mrs Guffern. + +'And she told you them people was up there in the drawing-room?' + +'She told me she zee'd them come in--that they was dressed finer by +half nor any of the family, with all their neckses and buzoms stark +naked as a born babby.' + +'The minxes!' exclaimed Mrs Greenacre, who felt herself more put +about by this than any other mark of aristocratic distinction which +her enemies had assumed. + +'Yes, indeed,' continued Mrs Guffern, 'as naked as you please, +while all the quality was dressed just as you and I be, Mrs +Greenacre.' + +'Drat their impudence' said Mrs Greenacre, from whose well-covered +bosom all milk of human kindness was receding, as far as the family +of the Lookalofts were concerned. + +'So says I,' said Mrs Guffern; 'and so says my good-man Thomas +Guffern, when he hear'd it. "Molly," says he to me, "if ever you +takes to going about o' mornings with yourself all naked in them +ways, I begs you won't come back no more to the old house." So says +I, "Thomas, no more I wull." "But," says he, "drat it, how the +deuce does she manage with her rheumatiz, and she not a rag on +her:"' said Mrs Giffern, laughed loudly as she though of Mrs +Lookalofts's probable sufferings from rheumatic attacks. + +'But to liken herself that way to folk that ha' blood in their +veins,' said Mrs Greenacre. + +'Well, but that warn't all neither that Betsey told. There they all +swelled into madam's drawing-room, like so many turkey cocks, as +much to say, "and who dare say no to us?" and Gregory was thinking +of telling them to come down here, only his heart failed him 'cause +of the grand way they was dressed. So in they went; but madam +looked at them as glum as death.' + +'Well now,' said Mrs Greenacre, greatly relieved, 'so they wasn't +axed different from us all then?' + +'Betsey says that Gregory says that madam wasn't a bit too well +pleased to see them where they was and that, to his believing, they +was expected to come here just like the rest of us.' + +There was great consolation in this. Not that Mrs Greenacre was +altogether satisfied. She felt that justice to herself demanded +that Mrs Lookaloft should not only not be encouraged, but that she +should also be absolutely punished. + +What had been done at that scriptural banquet, of which Mrs +Greenacre so often read the account to her family? Why had not Miss +Thorne boldly gone to the intruder and said: 'Friend, thou hast +come up hither to high places not fitted for thee. Go down lower, +and thou wilt find thy mates.' Let the Lookalofts be treated at the +present moment with ever so cold a shoulder, they would still be +enabled to boast hereafter of their position, their aspirations, +and their honour. + +'Well, with all her grandeur, I do wonder that she be so mean, +continued Mrs Greenacre, unable to dismiss the subject. + 'Did you hear, goodman?' she went on, about to repeat the whole +story to her husband who then came up. 'There's dame Lookaloft and +Bab and Gussy and the lot of 'em all sitting as grand as fivepence +in madam's drawing-room, and they not axed no more nor you nor me. +Did you ever hear tell the like o' that?' + +'Well, and what for shouldn't they?' said Farmer Greenacre. + +'Likening theyselves to the quality, as though they was estated +folk, or the like o' that!' said Mrs Guffern. + +'Well, if they likes it and madam likes it, they's welcome for me,' +said the farmer. 'Now I likes the place better, cause I be more at +home like, and don't have to pay for them fine clothes for the +missus. Every one to his taste, Mrs Guffern, and if neighbour +Lookaloft thinks that he has the best of it, he's welcome.' + +Mrs Greenacre sat down by her husband's side to begin the heavy +work of the banquet, and she did so in some measure of restored +tranquillity, but nevertheless she shook her head at her gossip to +show that in this instance she did not quite approve of her +husband's doctrine. + +'And I'll tell 'ee what, dames,' continued he; 'if so be that we +cannot enjoy the dinner that madam gives us because Mother +Lookaloft is sitting up there on a grand sofa, I think we ought all +to go home. If we greet at that, what'll we do when true sorrow +comes across us? How would you be now, dame, if the boy there had +broke his neck when he got the tumble?' + +Mrs Greenacre was humbled, and said nothing further on the matter. +But let prudent men, such as Mr Greenacre, preach as they will, the +family of the Lookalofts certainly does occasion a good deal of +heart-burning in the world at large. + +It was pleasant to see Mr Plomacy, as leaning on his stout stick he +went about among the rural guests, acting as a sort of head +constable as well as master of the revels. 'Now, young 'un, if you +can't manage to get along without that screeching, you'd better go +to the other side of the twelve-acre field, and take your dinner +with you. Come, girls, what do you stand there for, twirling of +your thumbs? come out, and let the lads see you; you've no need to +be so ashamed of your faces. Hello! there, who are you? how did you +make your way in here?' + +This last disagreeable question was put to a young man of about +twenty-four, who did not, in Mr Plomacy's eye, bear sufficient +vestiges of a rural education and residence. + +'If you please, your worship, Master Barrell the coachman let me in +at the church wicket, 'cause I do be working mostly al'ays for the +family.' + +'Then Master Barrell the coachman may let you out again,' said Mr +Plomacy, not even conciliated by the magisterial dignity which had +been conceded to him. 'What's your name? And what trade are you, +and who do you work for?' + +'I'm Stubbs, your worship, Bob Stubbs; and--and--and--' + +'And what's your trade, Stubbs?' + +'Plaisterer, please your worship.' + +'I'll plaister you and Barrell too; you'll just walk out of this +'ere field as quick as you walked in. We don't want no plaisterers; +when we do, we'll send for 'em. Come, my buck, walk.' + +Stubbs the plasterer was much downcast at the dreadful edict. He +was a sprightly fellow, and had contrived since his egress into the +Ullathorne elysium to attract to himself a forest nymph, to whom he +was whispering a plasterer's usual soft nothings, when he was +encountered by the great Mr Plomacy. It was dreadful to be thus +dissevered from the dryad, and sent howling back to a Barchester +pandemonium just as the nectar and ambrosia were about to descend +on the fields of asphodel. He began to try what prayers would do, +but city prayers were vain against the great rural potentate. Not +only did Mr Plomacy order his exit, but raising his stick to show +the way which led to the gate that had been left in the custody of +that false Cerberus Barrell, proceeded himself to see the edict of +banishment carried out. + +The goddess Mercy, however, the sweetest goddess that ever sat upon +a cloud, and the dearest to poor frail erring man appeared on the +field in the person of Mr Greenacre. Never was interceding goddess +more welcome. + +'Come, man,' said Mr Greenacre, 'never stick at trifles such a day +as this. I know the lad well. Let him bide at my axing. Madam won't +miss what he can eat and drink, I know.' + +Now Mr Plomacy and Mr Greenacre were sworn friends. Mr Plomacy had +at his own disposal as comfortable a room as there was in +Ullathorne House; but he was a bachelor, and alone there; and, +moreover, smoking in the house was not allowed even to Mr Plomacy. +His moments of truest happiness were spent in a huge arm-chair in +the warmest corner of Mrs Greenacre's beautifully clean front +kitchen. 'Twas there that the inner man dissolved itself, and +poured itself out in streams of pleasant chat; 'twas there, and +perhaps there only, that he could unburden himself from the +ceremonies of life without offending the dignity of those above +him, or incurring the familiarity of those below. 'Twas there that +his long pipe was always to be found on the accustomed chimney +board, not only permitted but encouraged. + +Such being the state of the case, it was not to be supposed that Mr +Plomacy could refuse such a favour to Mr Greenacre; but +nevertheless he not grant it without some further show of austere +authority. + +'Eat and drink, Mr Greenacre! No. it's not what he eats and drinks; +but the example such a chap shows, coming in where he's not +invited--a chap of his age too. He too that never did a day's work +about Ullathorne since he was born. Plaisterer! I'll plaister him!' + +'He worked long enough for me, then Mr Plomacy. And a good hand he +is at setting tiles as any in Barchester,' said the other, not +sticking quite to veracity, as indeed mercy never should. 'Come, +come, let him alone to-day, and quarrel with him to-morrow. You +wouldn't shame him before his lass there?' + +'It goes against the grain with me, then,' said Mr Plomacy. 'And +take care, you Stubbs, and behave yourself. If I hear a row, I +shall know where it comes from. I'm up to you Barchester +journeymen; I know what stuff you're made of.' + +And so Stubbs went off happy, pulling at the forelock of his shock +head of hair in honour of the steward's clemency, and giving +another double pull at it in honour of the farmer's kindness. And +as he went he swore within his grateful heart, that if ever Farmer +Greenacre wanted a day's work done for nothing, he was the lad to +do it for him. Which promise it was not probable that he would ever +be called upon to perform. + +But Mr Plomacy was not quite happy in his mind for he thought of +the unjust steward, and began to reflect whether he had not made +for himself friends at the mammon of unrighteousness. This, +however, did not interfere with the manner in which he performed +his duties at the bottom of the long board; nor did Mr Greenacre +perform his the worse at the top on account of the good wishes of +Stubbs the plasterer. Moreover, the guests did not think it +anything amiss when Mr Plomacy, rising to say grace, prayed that +God would make them all truly thankful for the good things which +Madam Thorne in her great liberality had set out before them! + +All this time the quality in the tent on the lawn were getting on +swimmingly; that is, champagne without restrictions can enable +quality fold to swim. Sir Harkaway Gorse proposed the health of +Miss Thorne, and likened her to a blood race-horse, always in +condition, and not to be tired down by any amount of work. Mr +Thorne returned thanks, saying he hoped his sister would always be +found able to run when called upon, and than gave the health and +prosperity of the De Courcy family. His sister was very much +honoured by seeing so many of them at her poor board. They were all +aware that important avocations made the absence of the earl +necessary. As his duty to his prince had called him from his family +hearth he, Mr Thorne, could not venture to regret that he did not +see him at Ullathorne; but nevertheless he would venture to +say--And so Mr Thorne became somewhat gravelled as a country +gentleman in similar circumstances usually do; but he ultimately +sat down, declaring that he had much satisfaction in drinking the +noble earl's health, together with that of the countess, and all +the family of De Courcy castle. + +And then the Honourable George returned thanks. We will not follow +him through the different periods of his somewhat irregular +eloquence. Those immediately in his neighbourhood found it at first +rather difficult to get him to his legs, but much greater +difficulty was soon experience in inducing him to resume his seat. +One of two arrangements should certainly be made in these days: +either let all speech-making on festive occasions be utterly +tabooed and made as it were impossible; or else let those who are +to exercise the privilege be first subjected to a competing +examination before the civil service examining commissioners. As it +is now, the Honourable Georges do but little honour to our +exertions in favour of British education. + +In the dining-room the bishop went through the honours of the day +with much more neatness and propriety. He also drank Miss Thorne's +health, and did it in a manner becoming the bench which he adorned. +The party there, was perhaps a little more dull, a shade less +lively than that in the tent. + +But what was lost in mirth, was fully made up in decorum. + +And so the banquet passed off at the various tables with great +eclat and universal delight. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +ULLATHORNE SPORTS--ACT II + +'That which has made them drunk, has made me bold.' 'Twas thus that +Mr Slope encouraged himself, as he left the dining-room in pursuit +of Eleanor. He had not indeed seen in that room any person really +intoxicated; but there had been a good deal of wine drunk, and Mr +Slope had not hesitated to take his share, in order to screw +himself up to the undertaking which he had in hand. He is not the +first man who has thought it expedient to call in the assistance of +Bacchus on such an occasion. + +Eleanor was out through the window, and on the grass before she +perceived that she was followed. Just at that moment the guests +were nearly all occupied at the tables. Here and there were to be +seen a constant couple or two, who preferred their own sweet +discourse to the jingle of glasses, or the charms of rhetoric which +fell from the mouths of the Honourable George and the bishop of +Barchester; but the grounds were as nearly vacant as Mr Slope could +wish them to be. + +Eleanor saw that she was pursued, and as a deer, when escape is no +longer possible, will turn to bay and attack the hounds, so did she +turn upon Mr Slope. + +'Pray don't let me take you from the room,' said she, speaking with +all the stiffness which she know how to use. 'I have come out to +look for a friend. I must beg of you, Mr Slope, to go back.' + +But Mr Slope would not be thus entreated. He had observed all day +that Mrs Bold was not cordial to him, and this had to a certain +extent oppressed him. But he did not deduce from this any assurance +that his aspirations were in vain. He saw that she was angry with +him. Might she not be so because he had so long tampered with her +feelings,--might it not arise from his having, as he knew to be the +case, caused her name to be bruited about in conjunction with his +own, without having given her the opportunity of confessing to the +world that henceforth their names were to be the one and the same? + +Poor lady! He had within him a certain Christian +conscience-stricken feeling of remorse on this head. It might be +that he had wronged her by his tardiness. He had, however, at the +present moment imbibed too much of Mr Thorne's champagne to have +any inward misgivings. He was right in repeating the boast of Lady +Macbeth: he was not drunk; but he was bold enough for anything. It +was a pity that in such a state he could not have encountered Mrs +Proudie. + +'You must permit me to attend you,' said he; 'I could not think of +allowing you to go alone.' + +'Indeed you must, Mr Slope,' said Eleanor still very stiffly; 'for +it is my special wish to be alone.' + +The time for letting the great secret escape him had already come. +Mr Slope saw that it must be now or never, and he was determined +that it should be now. This was not his first attempt at winning a +fair lady. He had been on his knees, looked unutterable things with +his eyes, and whispered honeyed words before this. Indeed he was +somewhat an adept at these things, and had only to adapt to the +perhaps different taste of Mrs Bold the well-remembered rhapsodies +which had once so much gratified Olivia Proudie. + +'Do not ask me to leave you, Mrs Bold,' said he with an impassioned +look, impassioned and sanctified as well, with that sort of look +which is not uncommon with gentlemen of Mr Slope's school, and +which may perhaps be called the tender-pious. 'Do not ask me to +leave you, till I have spoken a few words with which my heart is +full; which I have come hither purposely to say.' + +Eleanor saw how it was now. She knew directly what it was she was +about to go through, and very miserable the knowledge made her. Of +course she could refuse Mr Slope, and there would be an end of +that, one might say. But there was not an end of it as far as +Eleanor was concerned. The very fact of Mr Slope's making an offer +to her would be a triumph for the archdeacon, and in a great +measure a vindication of Mr Arabin's conduct. The widow could not +bring herself to endure with patience the idea that she had been in +the wrong. + +She had defended Mr Slope, she had declared herself quite justified +in admitting him among her acquaintance, had ridiculed the idea of +his considering himself as more than an acquaintance, and had +resented the archdeacon's caution in her behalf: now it was about +to be proved to her in a manner sufficiently disagreeable that the +archdeacon had been right, and she herself had been entirely wrong. + +'I don't know what you can have to say to me, Mr Slope, that you +could not have said when we were sitting at table just now;' and +she closed her lips, and steadied her eyeballs and looked at him in +a manner that ought to have frozen him. + +But gentlemen are not easily frozen when they are full of +champagne, and it would not at any time have been easy to freeze Mr +Slope. + +'There are things, Mrs Bold, which a man cannot well say before a +crowd; which perhaps he cannot well say at any time; which indeed +he may most fervently desire to get spoken, and which he may yet +find it almost impossible to utter. It is such things as these, +that I now wish to say to you;' and then the tender-pious look was +repeated, with a little more emphasis even than before. + +Eleanor had not found it practicable to stand stock still before +the dining-room window, and there receive his offer in full view of +Miss Thorne's guests. She had therefore in self-defence walked on, +and Mr Slope had gained his object of walking with her. He now +offered her his arm. + +'Thank you, Mr Slope, I am much obliged to you; but for the very +short time that I shall remain with you I shall prefer walking +alone.' + +'And must it be so short?' said he; 'must it be--' + +'Yes,' said Eleanor, interrupting him; 'as short as possible, if +you please, sir.' + +'I had hoped, Mrs Bold--I had hoped--' 'Pray hope nothing, Mr +Slope, as far as I am concerned; pray do not; I do not know, and +need not know what hope you mean. Our acquaintance is very slight, +and will probably remain so. Pray, pray, let that be enough; there +is at any rage no necessity for us to quarrel.' + +Mrs Bold was certainly treating Mr Slope rather cavalierly, and he +felt it so. She was rejecting him before he had offered himself, +and informed him at the same time that he was taking a great deal +too much on himself to be so familiar. She did not even make an +attempt + +>From such a sharp and waspish word as 'no' To pluck the string. + +He was still determined to be very tender and very pious, seeing +that in spite of all Mrs Bold had said to him, he not yet abandoned +hope; but he was inclined to be somewhat angry. The widow was +bearing herself, as he thought, with too high a hand, was speaking +of herself in much too imperious a tone. She had clearly no idea +that an honour was being conferred on her. Mr Slope would be tender +as long as he could, but he began to think, if that failed, it +would not be amiss if he also mounted himself for a while on his +high horse. Mr Slope could undoubtedly be very tender, but he could +be very savage also, and he knew his own abilities. + +'That is cruel,' said he, 'and unchristian too. The worst of us are +all still bidden to hope. What have I done that you should pass on +me so severe a sentence?' and then he paused a moment, during which +the widow walked steadily on with measured step, saying nothing +further. + +'Beautiful woman,' at last he burst forth, 'beautiful woman, you +cannot pretend to be ignorant that I adore you. Yes, Eleanor, yes, +I love you. I love you with the truest affection which man can bear +to woman. Next to my hopes of heaven are my hopes of possessing +you.' (Mr Slope's memory here played him false, or he would not +have omitted the deanery) 'How sweet to walk to heaven with you by +my side, with you for my guide, mutual guides. Say, Eleanor, +dearest Eleanor, shall we walk that sweet path together?' + +Eleanor had no intention of ever walking together with Mr Slope on +any other path than the special one of Miss Thorne's which they now +occupied; but as she had been unable to prevent the expression of +Mr Slope's wishes and aspirations, she resolved to hear him out to +the end, before she answered him. + +'Ah! Eleanor,' he continued, and it seemed to be his idea, that as +he had once found courage to pronounce her Christian name, he could +not utter it often enough. 'Ah! Eleanor, will it not be sweet with +the Lord's assistance, to travel hand in hand through this mortal +valley which his mercies will make pleasant to us, till hereafter +we shall dwell together at the foot of his throne?' And then a more +tenderly pious glance ever beamed from the lover's eyes. 'Ah! +Eleanor--' + +'My name, Mr Slope, is Mrs Bold,' said Eleanor, who, though +determined to hear out the tale of his love, was too much disgusted +by his blasphemy to be able to bear much more of it. + +'Sweetest angel, be not so cold,' said he, and as he said it the +champagne broke forth, and he contrived to pass his arm around her +waist. He did this with considerable cleverness, for up to this +point Eleanor had contrived with tolerable success to keep her +distance from him. They had got into a walk nearly enveloped by +shrubs, and Mr Slope therefore no doubt considered that as they +were now alone it was fitting that he should give her some outward +demonstration of that affection of which he talked so much. It may +perhaps be presumed that the same stamp of measures had been found +to succeed with Olivia Proudie. Be this as it may, it was not +successful with Eleanor Bold. + +She sprang from him as she would have jumped from an adder, but she +did not spring far; not, indeed, beyond arm's length; and then, +quick as thought, she raised her little hand and dealt him a box on +the ear with such right good will, that it sounded among the trees +like a miniature thunder-clap. + +And now it is to be feared that every well-bred reader of these +pages will lay down the book with disgust, feeling that, after all, +the heroine is unworthy of sympathy. She is a hoyden, one will say. +At any rate she is not a lady, another will exclaim. I have +suspected her all through, a third will declare; and she has no +idea of the dignity of a matron; or of the peculiar propriety which +her position demands. At one moment she is romping with young +Stanhope; then she is making eyes at Mr Arabin; anon she comes to +fisty-cuffs with a third lover; and all before she is yet a widow +of two years' standing. + +She cannot altogether be defended; and yet it may be averred that +she is not a hoyden, not given to romping, nor prone to boxing. It +were to be wished devoutly that she had not struck Mr Slope in the +face. In doing so she derogated from her dignity and committed +herself. Had she been educated in Belgravia, had she been brought +up by any sterner mentor than that fond father, had she lived +longer under the rule of a husband, she might, perhaps, have saved +herself from this great fault. As it was, the provocation was too +much for her, the temptation to instant resentment of the insult +too strong. She was too keen in the feeling of independence, a +feeling dangerous for a young woman, but one in which her position +peculiarly tempted her to indulge. And then Mr Slope's face, tinted +with a deeper dye than usual by the wine he had drunk, simpering +and puckering itself with pseudo piety and tender grimaces, seemed +specially to call for such punishment. She had, too, a true +instinct as to the man; he was capable of rebuke in this way and in +no other. To him the blow from her little hand was as much an +insult as a blow from a man would have been to another. It went +directly to his pride. He conceived himself lowered in his dignity, +and personally outraged. He could almost have struck at her again +in his rage. Even the pain was a great annoyance to him, and the +feeling that his clerical character had been wholly disregarded, +sorely vexed him. + +There are such men; men who can endure no taint on their personal +self-respect, even from a woman;--men whose bodies are to +themselves such sacred temples, that a joke against them is +desecration, and a rough touch downright sacrilege. Mr Slope was +such a man; and, therefore, the slap on that face that he got from +Eleanor was, as far as he was concerned, the fittest rebuke which +could have been administered to him. + +But, nevertheless, she should not have raised her hand against the +man. Ladies' hands so soft, so sweet, so delicious to the touch, so +grateful to the eye, so gracious in their gentle doings, were not +made to belabour men's faces. The moment the deed was done, Eleanor +felt that she had sinned against all propriety, and would have +given little worlds to recall the blow. In her first agony of +sorrow she all but begged the man's pardon. Her next impulse, +however, and the one which she obeyed, was to run away. + +'I never, never, will speak another word to you,' she said, gasping +with emotion and the loss of breath, which her exertion and violent +feelings occasioned her, and so saying she put foot to the ground +and ran quickly back along the path to the house. + +But how shall I sing the divine wrath of Mr Slope, or how invoke +the tragic muse to describe the rage which swelled the celestial +bosom of the bishop's chaplain? Such an undertaking by no means +befits the low-heeled buskin of modern fiction. The painter put a +veil over Agamemnon's face when called on to depict the father's +grief at the early doom of his devoted daughter. The god, when he +resolved to punish the rebellions winds, abstained from mouthing +empty threats. The god when he resolved to punish the rebellious +winds, abstained from mouthing empty threats. + +We will not attempt to tell with what mighty surging of the inner +heart Mr Slope swore to revenge himself on the woman who had +disgraced him, nor will we vainly strive to depict the deep agony +of his soul. + +There he is, however, alone on the garden walk, and we must +contrive to bring him out of it. He was not willing to come forth +quite at once. His cheek was stinging with the weight of Eleanor's +fingers, and he fancied that every one who looked at him would be +able to see on his face the traces of what he had endured. He stood +awhile, becoming redder and redder with rage. He stood motionless, +undecided, glaring with his eyes, thinking of the pains and +penalties of Hades, and meditating how he might best devote his +enemy to the infernal gods with all the passion of his accustomed +eloquence. He longed in his heart to be preaching at her. 'Twas +thus that he was ordinarily avenged of sinning mortal men and +women. Could he at once have ascended his Sunday rostrum and +fulminated at her such denunciations as his spirit delighted in, +his bosom would have been greatly eased. + +But how preach to Mr Thorne's laurels, or how preach indeed at all +in such a vanity fair as this now going on at Ullathorne? And then +he began to feel a righteous disgust at the wickedness of the +doings around him. He had been justly chastised for lending, by his +presence, a sanction to such worldly lures. The gaiety of society, +the mirth of banquets, the laughter of the young, and the eating +and drinking of the elders were, for awhile, without excuse in his +sight. What had he now brought down upon himself by sojourning thus +in the tents of the heathen? He had consorted with idolaters round +the altars of Baal; and therefore a sore punishment had come upon +him. He then thought of the Signora Neroni, and his soul within him +was full of sorrow. He had an inkling--a true inkling--that he was +a wicked sinful man; but it led him in no right direction; he could +admit no charity in his heart. He felt debasement coming on him, +and he longed to take it off, to rise up in his stirrup, to mount +to high places and great power, that he might get up into a mighty +pulpit and preach to the world a loud sermon against Mrs Bold. + +There he stood fixed to the gravel for about ten minutes. Fortune +favoured him so far that no prying eyes came to look upon him in +his misery. Then a shudder passed over his whole frame; he +collected himself, and slowly wound his way round to the lawn, +advancing along the path and not returning in the direction which +Eleanor had taken. When he reached the tent he found the bishop +standing there in conversation with the master of Lazarus. His +lordship had come out to air himself afer the exertion of his +speech. + +'This is very pleasant--very pleasant, my lord, is it not?' said Mr +Slope with his most gracious smile, and pointing to the tent; 'very +pleasant. It is delightful to see so many persons enjoying +themselves so thoroughly.' + +Mr Slope thought he might force the bishop to introduce him to Dr +Gwynne. A very great example had declared and practised the wisdom +of being everything to everybody, and Mr Slope was desirous of +following it. His maxim was never to lose a chance. The bishop, +however, at the present moment was not very anxious to increase Mr +Slope's circle of acquaintance among his clerical brethren. He had +his own reasons for dropping any marked allusion to his domestic +chaplain, and he therefore made his shoulder rather cold for the +occasion. + +'Very, very,' said he without turning round, or even deigning to +look at Mr Slope. 'And therefore, Dr Gwynne, I really think that +you will find that the hebdomadal board will exercise as wide and +as general an authority as at the present moment. I, for one, Dr +Gwynne--' + +'Dr Gwynne,' said Mr Slope, raising his hat, and resolving not to +be outwitted by such an insignificant little goose as the bishop of +Barchester. + +The master of Lazarus also raised his hat and bowed very politely +to Mr Slope. There is not a more courteous gentleman in the queen's +dominions than the master of Lazarus. + +'My lord,' said Mr Slope, 'pray do me the honour of introducing me +to Dr Gwynne. The opportunity is too much in my favour to be lost.' + +The bishop had no help for it. 'My chaplain, Dr Gwynne,' said he; +'my present chaplain, Mr Slope.' he certainly made the introduction +as unsatisfactory to the chaplain as possible, and by the use of +the word present, seemed to indicate that Mr Slope might probably +not long enjoy the honour which he now held. But Mr Slope cared +nothing for this. He understood the innuendo, and disregarded it. +It might probably come to pass that he would be in a situation to +resign his chaplaincy before the bishop was in a situation to +dismiss him from it. What need the future dean of Barchester care +for the bishop, or for the bishop's wife? Had not Mr Slope, just as +he was entering Dr Stanhope's carriage, received an important note +from Tom Towers of the Jupiter? Had he not that note this moment in +his pocket? + +So disregarding the bishop, he began to open out a conversation +with the master of Lazarus. + +But suddenly and interruption came, not altogether unwelcome to Mr +Slope. One of the bishop's servants came up to his master's +shoulder with a long, grave face, and whispered into the bishop's +ear. + +'What is it, John?' said the bishop. + +'The dean, my lord; he is dead.' + +Mr Slope had no further desire to converse with the master of +Lazarus, and was very soon on his road back to Barchester. + +Eleanor, as we have said, having declared her intention of never +holding further communication with Mr Slope, ran hurriedly back +towards the house. The thought, however, of what she had done +grieved her greatly, and she could not abstain from bursting into +tears. 'Twas thus she played the second act in that day's +melodrama. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +MRS BOLD CONFIDES HER SORROW TO HER FRIEND MISS STANHOPE + +When Mrs Bold came to the end of the walk and faced the lawn, she +began to bethink herself what she should do. Was she to wait there +till Mr Slope caught her, or was she to go in among the crowd with +tears in her eyes and passion in her face? She might in truth have +stood there long enough without any reasonable fear of further +immediate persecution from Mr Slope; but we are all inclined to +magnify the bugbears which frighten us. In her present state of +dread she did not know of what atrocity he might venture to be +guilty. Had any one told her a week ago that he would have put his +arm around her waist at the party of Miss Thorne's she would have +been utterly incredulous. Had she been informed that he would be +seen on the following Sunday walking down the High Street in a +scarlet coat and top-boots, she would not have thought such a +phenomenon more improbable. + +But this improbable iniquity he had committed; and now there was +nothing she could not believe of him. In the first place it was +quite manifest that he was tipsy; in the next place, it was to be +taken as proved that all his religion was sheer hypocrisy; and +finally the man was utterly shameless. She therefore stood watching +for the sound of his footfall, not without some fear that he might +creep out at her suddenly from among the bushes. + +As she thus stood, she saw Charlotte Stanhope at a little distance +from her walking quickly across the grass. Eleanor's handkerchief +was in her hand, and putting it to her face so as to conceal her +tears, she ran across the lawn and joined her friend. + +'Oh, Charlotte,' she said, almost too much out of breath to speak +very plainly; 'I am so glad I have found you.' + +'Glad you have found me!' said Charlotte, laughing, 'that's a good +joke. Why Bertie and I have been looking for you everywhere. He +swears that you have gone off with Mr Slope, and is now on the +point of hanging himself.' + +'Oh, Charlotte, don't,' said Mrs Bold. + +'Why, my child, what on earth is the matter with you!' said Miss +Stanhope, perceiving that Eleanor's hand trembled on her own arm, +and finding also that her companion was still half choked with +tears. 'Goodness heaven! Something has distressed you. What is it? +What can I do for you?' + +Eleanor answered her only by a sort of spasmodic gurgle in her +throat. She was a good deal upset, as people say, and could not at +the moment collect herself. + +'Come here, this way, Mrs Bold; come this way, and we shall not be +seen. What has happened to vex you so? What can I do for you? Can +Bertie do anything?' + +'On, no, no, no, no,' said Eleanor. 'There is nothing to be done. +Only that horrid man--' + +'What horrid man?' asked Charlotte. + +There are some moments in life in which both men and women feel +themselves called on to make a confidence; in which not to do so +requires a disagreeable resolution and also a disagreeable +suspicion. There are people of both sexes who never make +confidences; who are never tempted by momentary circumstances to +disclose their secrets. But such are generally dull, close, +unimpassioned spirits, 'gloomy gnomes who live in cold dark mines.' +There was nothing of the gnome about Eleanor; and she therefore +resolved to tell Charlotte Stanhope the whole story about Mr Slope. + +'That horrid man; that Mr Slope,' said she, 'did you not see that +he followed me out of the dining-room?' + +'Of course I did and was sorry enough; but I could not help it. I +knew you would be annoyed. But you and Bertie managed it badly +between you.' + +'It was not his fault nor mine either. You know how I dislike the +idea of coming in the carriage with that man.' + +'I am sure I am very sorry if that has led to it.' + +'I don't know what has led to it,' said Eleanor, almost crying +again. 'But it has not been my fault.' + +'But what has he done, my dear?' + +'He's an abominable, horrid, hypocritical man, and it would serve +him right to tell the bishop about it.' + +'Believe me, if you want to do him an injury, you had far better +tell Mrs Proudie. But what did he do, Mrs Bold?' + +'Ugh!' exclaimed Eleanor. + +'Well, I must confess he's not very nice,' said Charlotte Stanhope. + +'Nice!' said Eleanor. 'He is the most fulsome, fawning, abominable +man I ever saw. What business had he to come to me?--I that never +gave him the slightest tittle of encouragement--I that always hated +him, though I did take his part when others ran him down.' + +'That's just where it is, my dear. He has heard that, and therefore +fancied that of course you were in love with him.' + +This was wormwood to Eleanor. It was in fact the very thing which +all her friends had been saying for the last month past; and which +experience now proved to be true. Eleanor resolved within herself +that she would never again take any man's part. The world with all +its villainy, and all its ill-nature, might wag as it like; she +would not again attempt to set crooked things straight. + +'But what did he do, my dear?' said Charlotte, who was really +rather interested in the subject. + +'He--he--he--' + +'Well--come, it can't have been anything so very horrid, for the +man was not tipsy.' + +'Oh, I am sure he was,' said Eleanor. 'I am sure he must have been +tipsy.' + +'Well, I declare I didn't observe it. But what was it, my love?' + +'Why, I believe I can hardly tell you. He talked such horrid stuff +that you never heard the like; about religion, and heaven, and +love--Oh dear,--he is such a nasty man.' + +'I can really imagine the sort of stuff he would talk. Well--and +then?' + +'And then--he took hold of me.' + +'Took hold of you?' + +'Yes--he somehow got close to me, and took hold of me--' + +'By the waist?' + +'Yes,' said Eleanor shuddering. + +'And then--' + +'Then I jumped away from him, and gave him a slap on the face; and +ran away along the path, till I saw you.' + +'Ha, ha, ha!' Charlotte Stanhope laughed heartily at the finale of +the tragedy. It was delightful to her to think that Mr Slope had +had his ears boxed. She did not quite appreciate the feeling which +made her friend so unhappy at the result of the interview. To her +thinking, the matter had ended happily enough as regarded the +widow, who indeed was entitled to some sort of triumph among her +friends. Whereas Mr Slope would be due all those jibes and jeers +which would naturally follow such an affair. His friends would ask +him whether his ears tingled whenever he saw a widow; and he would +be cautioned that beautiful things were made to be looked at, and +not to be touched. + +Such were Charlotte Stanhope's views on such matters; but she did +not at the present moment clearly explain them to Mrs Bold. Her +object was to endear herself to her friend; and therefore, having +had her laugh, she was ready enough to offer sympathy. Could Bertie +do anything? Should Bertie speak to the man, and warn him that in +future he must behave with more decorum? Bertie, indeed, she +declared, would be more angry than any one else when he heard to +what insult Mrs Bold had been subjected. + +'But you won't tell him?' said Mrs Bold with a look of horror. + +'Not if you don't like it,' said Charlotte; 'but considering +everything, I would strongly advise it. If you had a brother, you +know, it would be unnecessary. But it is very right that Mr Slope +should know that you have somebody by you that will, and can +protect you.' + +'But my father is here.' + +'Yes, but it is so disagreeable for clergymen to have to quarrel +with each other; and circumstanced as your father is just at this +moment, it would be very inexpedient that there should be anything +unpleasant between him and Mr Slope. Surely you and Bertie are +intimate enough for you to permit him to take your part.' + +Charlotte Stanhope was very anxious that her brother should at once +on that very day settle matters with his future wife. + +Things had now come to that point between him and his father, and +between him and his creditors, that he must either do so, or leave +Barchester; either do that, or go back to his unwashed associates, +dirty lodgings, and poor living at Carrara. Unless he could provide +himself with an income, he must go to Carrara or to -. His father +the prebendary had not said this in so many words, but had he done +so, he could not have signified it more plainly. + +Such being the state of the case, it was very necessary that no +more time should be lost. Charlotte had seen her brother's apathy, +when he neglected to follow Mrs Bold out of the room, with anger +which she could hardly suppress. It was grievous to think that Mr +Slope should have so distanced him. + +Charlotte felt that she had played her part with sufficient skill. +She had brought them together and induced such a degree of +intimacy, that her brother was really relieved from all trouble and +labour in the matter. And moreover, it was quite plain that Mrs +Bold was very fond of Bertie. And now it was plain enough also that +he had nothing to fear from his rival Mr Slope. + +There was certainly an awkwardness in subjecting Mrs Bold to a +second offer on the same day. It would have been well, perhaps, to +have put the matter off for a week, could a week have been spared. +But circumstances are frequently too peremptory to be arranged as +we would wish to arrange them; and such was the case now. This +being so, could not this affair of Mr Slope's be turned to +advantage? Could it not be made the excuse for bringing Bertie and +Mrs Bold into still closer connection; into such close connection +that they could not fail to throw themselves into each other's +arms? Such was the game which Miss Stanhope now at a moment's +notice resolved to play. + +And very well she played it. In the first place, it was arranged +that Mr Slope should not return in the Stanhope's carriage to +Barchester. It so happened that Mr Slope was already gone, but of +that of course they knew nothing. The signora should be induced to +go first, with only the servants and her sister, and Bertie should +take Mr Slope's place in the second journey. Bertie was to be told +in confidence of the whole affair, and when the carriage was gone +off with the first load, Eleanor was to be left under Bertie's +special protection, so as to insure her from any further aggression +from Mr Slope. While the carriage was getting ready, Bertie was to +seek out that gentleman and make him understand that he must +provide himself with another conveyance back to Barchester. Their +immediate object should be to walk about together in search of +Bertie. Bertie, in short, was to be the Pegasus on whose wings they +were to ride out of their present dilemma. + +There was a warmth of friendship and cordial kindness in all this, +that was very soothing to the widow; but yet, though she gave way +to it, she was hardly reconciled to doing so. It never occurred to +her, that now that she had killed one dragon, another was about to +spring up in her path; she had no remote idea that she would have +to encounter another suitor in her proposed protector, but she +hardly liked the idea of putting herself so much into the hands of +young Stanhope. She felt that if she wanted protection, she should +go to her father. She felt that she should ask him to provide a +carriage for her back to Barchester. Mrs Clantantram she knew would +give her a seat. She knew that she should not throw herself +entirely upon friends whose friendship dated as it were but from +yesterday. But yet she could not say, 'no,' to one who was so +sisterly in her kindness, so eager in her good nature, so +comfortably sympathetic as Charlotte Stanhope. + +They first went into the dining-room, looking for their champion, +and from thence to the drawing-room. Here they found Mr Arabin, +still hanging over the signora's sofa; or, rather, they found him +sitting near her head, as a physician might have sat, had the lady +been his patient. There was no other person in the room. The guests +were some in the tent, some few still in the dining-room, some at +the bows and arrows, but most of them walking with Miss Thorne +through the park, and looking at the games that were going on. + +All that had passed, and was passing between Mr Arabin and the +lady, it is unnecessary to give in detail. She was doing with him +as she did with all others. It was her mission to make fools of +men, and she was pursuing her mission with Mr Arabin. She had +almost got him to own his love for Mrs Bold, and had subsequently +almost induced him to acknowledge a passion for herself. He, poor +man, was hardly aware what he was doing or saying, hardly conscious +whether he was in heaven or hell. So little had he known of female +attractions of that peculiar class which the signora owned, that he +became affected with a temporary delirium, when first subjected to +its power. He lost his head rather than his heart, and toppled +about mentally, reeling in his ideas as a drunken man does on his +legs. She had whispered to him words that really meant nothing, but +which coming from such beautiful lips, and accompanied by such +lustrous glances, seemed to have a mysterious significance, which +he felt though he could not understand. + +In being thus be-sirened, Mr Arabin behaved himself very +differently from Mr Slope. The signora had said truly, that the two +men were the contrasts of each other; that the one was all for +action, the other all for thought. Mr Slope, when this lady laid +upon his senses the overpowering breath of her charms, immediately +attempted to obtain some fruition, to achieve some mighty triumph. +He began by catching at her hand, and progressed by kissing it. He +made vows of love, and asked for vows in return. He promised +everlasting devotion, knelt before her, and swore that had she been +on Mount Ida, Juno would have no cause to hate the offspring of +Venus. But Mr Arabin uttered no oaths, kept his hand mostly in his +trousers pocket, and had no more thought of kissing Madam Neroni +than of kissing the Countess De Courcy. + +As soon as Mr Arabin saw Mrs Bold enter the room, he blushed and +rose from his chair; then he sat down again, and then again got up. +The signora saw the blush at once, and smiled at the poor victim, +but Eleanor was too much confused to see anything. + +'Oh, Madeline,' said Charlotte, 'I want to speak to you +particularly; we must arrange about the carriage, you know,' and +she stooped down to whisper to her sister. Mr Arabin immediately +withdrew to a little distance, and as Charlotte had in fact much to +explain before she could make the new arrangement intelligible, he +had nothing to do but to talk to Mrs Bold. + +'We have had a very pleasant party,' said he, using the tone he +would have used had he declared that the sun was shining very +brightly, or the rain was falling very fast. + +'Very,' said Eleanor, who never in her life had passed a more +unpleasant day. + +'I hope Mr Harding has enjoyed himself.' + +'Oh, yes, very much,' said Eleanor, who had not seen her father +since she parted from him soon after her arrival. + +'He returns to Barchester to-night, I suppose.' + +'Yes, I believe so; that is, I think he is staying at Plumstead.' + +'Oh, staying at Plumstead,' said Mr Arabin. + +'He came from there this morning. I believe he is going back; he +didn't exactly say, however.' + +'I hope Mrs Grantly is quite well.' + +'She seemed to be quite well. She is here; that is, unless she has +gone away.' + +'Oh, yes, to be sure. I was talking to her. Looking very well +indeed.' Then there was a considerable pause: for Charlotte could +not at once make Madeline understand why she was to be sent home in +a hurry without her brother. + +'Are you returning to Plumstead, Mrs Bold?' Mr Arabin merely asked +this by way of making conversation, but he immediately perceived +that he was approaching dangerous ground. + +'No,' said Mrs Bold, very quietly; 'I am going home to Barchester.' + +'Oh, ah, yes. I had forgotten that you had returned.' And then Mr +Arabin, finding it impossible to say anything further, stood silent +till Charlotte had completed her plans, and Mrs Bold stood equally +silent, intently occupied as it appeared in the arrangement of her +rings. + +And yet these two people were thoroughly in love with each other; +and though one was a middle-aged clergyman, and the other a lady at +any rate past the wishy-washy bread-and-butter period of life, they +were as unable to tell their own minds to each other as any Damon +and Phillis, whose united ages would not make up that to which Mr +Arabin had already attained. + +Madeline Neroni consented to her sister's proposal, and then the +two ladies again went off in quest of Bertie Stanhope. + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +ULLATHORNE SPORTS--ACT III + +And now Miss Thorne's guests were beginning to take their +departure, and the amusement of those who remained was becoming +slack. It was getting dark, and ladies in morning costumes were +thinking that if they were to appear by candle-light they ought to +readjust themselves. Some young gentlemen had been heard to talk so +loud that prudent mammas determined to retire judiciously, and the +more discreet of the male sex, whose libation had been moderate, +felt that there was not much more left for them to do. + +Morning parties, as a rule, are failures. People never know how to +get away from them gracefully. A picnic on an island or a mountain +or in a wood may perhaps be permitted. There is no master of the +mountain bound by courtesy to bid you stay while in his heart he is +longing for your departure. But in a private home or in private +grounds a morning party is a bore. One is called on to eat and +drink at unnatural hours. One is obliged to give up the day which +is useful, and is then left without resources for the evening which +is useless. One gets home fagged and desouvre, and yet at an hour +too early for bed. There is not comfortable resource left. Cards in +these genteel days are among the things tabooed, and a rubber of +whist is impracticable. + +All this began now to be felt. Some young people had come with some +amount of hope that they might get up a dance in the evening, and +were unwilling to leave till all such hope was at an end. Others, +fearful of staying longer than was expected, had ordered their +carriages early, and were doing their best to go, solicitous for +their servants and horses. The countess and her noble brood were +among the first to leave, and as regarded the Hon. George, it was +certainly time that he did so. Her ladyship was in a great fret and +fume. Those horrid roads would, she was sure, be the death of her +if unhappily she were caught in them by the dark of night. The +lamps she was assured were good, but no lamp could withstand the +jolting of the roads of East Barsetshire. + +The De Courcy property lay in the western division of the county. + +Mrs Proudie could not stay when the countess was gone. So the +bishop was searched for by the Revs. Messrs. Grey and Green, and +found in one corner of the tent enjoying himself thoroughly in a +disquisition on the hebdomadal board. He obeyed, however, the +behests of the lady without finishing the sentence in which he was +promising to Dr Gwynne that his authority at Oxford should remain +unimpaired; and the episcopal horses turned their noses towards the +palatial stables. Then the Grantlys went. Before they did so Mr +Harding managed to whisper a word into his daughter's ear. Of +course, he said, he would undeceive the Grantlys as to that foolish +rumour about Mr Slope. + +'No, no, no,' said Eleanor; 'pray do not--pray wait till I see you. +You will be home in a day or two, and then I will explain to you +everything.' + +'I shall be home to-morrow,' said he. + +'I am so glad,' said Eleanor. 'You will come and dine with me, and +then we shall be so comfortable.' + +Mr Harding promised. He did not exactly know what there was to be +explained, or why Dr Grantly's mind should not be disabused of the +mistake into which he had fallen; but nevertheless he promised. He +owed some reparation to his daughter, and he thought that he might +best make it by obedience. + +And thus the people were thinning off by degrees, as Charlotte and +Eleanor walked about in quest of Bertie. Their search might have +been long, had they not happened to hear his voice. He was +comfortably ensconced in the ha-ha, with his back to the sloping +side, smoking a cigar, and eagerly engaged in conversation with +some youngster from the further side of the county, whom he had +never met before, who was also smoking under Bertie's pupilage, and +listening with open ears to an account given by his companion of +some of the pastimes of the Eastern clime. + +'Bertie, I am seeking you everywhere,' said Charlotte. 'Come up +here at once.' + +Bertie looked up out of the ha-ha, and saw the two ladies before +him. As there was nothing for him but to obey, he got up and threw +away his cigar. From the first moment of his acquaintance with her +he had liked Eleanor Bold. Had he been left to his own devices, had +she been penniless, and had it then been quite out of the question +that he should marry her, he would most probably have fallen +violently in love with her. But now he could not help regarding her +somewhat as he did the marble workshops at Carrara, as he had done +his easel and palette, as he had done the lawyer's chambers in +London; in fact, as he had invariably regarded everything by which +it had been proposed to obtain the means of living. Eleanor Bold +appeared before him, no longer as a beautiful woman, but as a new +profession called matrimony. It was a profession indeed requiring +but little labour, and one in which an income was insured to him. +But nevertheless he had been as it were goaded on to it; his sister +had talked to him of Eleanor, just as she had talked of busts and +portraits. Bertie did not dislike money, but he hated the very +thought of earning it. He was now called away from his pleasant +cigar to earn it, by offering himself as a husband to Mrs Bold. The +work indeed was made easy enough; for in lieu of his having to seek +the widow, the widow had apparently come to seek him. + +He made some sudden absurd excuse to his auditor, and then throwing +away his cigar, climbed up the wall of the ha-ha and joined the +ladies on the lawn. + +'Come and give Mrs Bold your arm,' said Charlotte, 'while I set you +on a piece of duty which, as a preux chevalier, you must +immediately perform. Your personal danger will, I fear, be +insignificant, as your antagonist is a clergyman.' + +Bertie immediately gave his arm to Eleanor, walking between her and +his sister. He had lived too long abroad to fall into an +Englishman's habit of offering each an arm to two ladies at the +same time; a habit, by the bye, which foreigners regard as an +approach to bigamy, or a sort of incipient Mormonism. + +The little history of Mr Slope's misconduct was then told to Bertie +by his sister, Eleanor's ears tingling the while. And well they +might tingle. If it were necessary to speak of the outrage at all, +why should it be spoken of to such a person as Mr Stanhope, and why +in her own hearing? She knew she was wrong, and was unhappy and +dispirited, and yet she could think of no way to extricate herself, +no way to set herself right. Charlotte spared her as much as she +possibly could, spoke of the whole thing as though Mr Slope had +taken a glass of wine too much, said that of course there would be +nothing more about it, but that steps must be taken to exclude Mr +Slope from the carriage. + +'Mrs Bold need be under no alarm about that,' said Bertie, 'for Mr +Slope has gone this hour past. He told me that business made it +necessary that he should start at once for Barchester.' + +'He is not so tipsy, at any rate, but what he knows his fault,' +said Charlotte. 'Well, my dear, that is one difficulty over. Now +I'll leave you with your true knight, and get Madeline off as +quickly as I can. The carriage is here, I suppose, Bertie?' + +'It has been here for the last hour.' + +'That's well. Good-bye, my dear. Of course you'll come in to tea. I +shall trust you to bring her, Bertie; even by force if necessary.' +And so saying, Charlotte was off across the lawn, leaving her +brother alone with the widow. + +As Miss Stanhope went off, Eleanor bethought herself that, as Mr +Slope had taken his departure, there no longer existed any +necessity for separating Mr Stanhope from his sister Madeline, who +so much needed his aid. It had been arranged that he should remain +so as to preoccupy Mr Slope's place in the carriage, and act as a +social policeman to effect the exclusion of that disagreeable +gentleman. But Mr Slope had effected his own exclusion, and there +as no possible reason now why Bertie should not go with his sister. +At least Eleanor saw none, and she said so much. + +'Oh, let Charlotte have her own way,' said he. 'She has arranged +it, and there will be no end of confusion if we make another +change. Charlotte always arranges everything in our house; and +rules us like a despot.' + +'But the signora?' said Eleanor. + +'Oh, the signora can do very well without me. Indeed, she will have +to do without me,' he added, thinking rather of his studies in +Carrara, than of his Barchester hymeneals. + +'Why, you are not going to leave us?' asked Eleanor. + +It has been said that Bertie Stanhope was a man without principle. +He certainly was so. He had no power of using active mental +exertion to keep himself from doing evil. Evil had no ugliness in +his eyes; virtue no beauty. He was void of any of those feelings +which actuate men to do good. But he was perhaps equally void of +those which actuate men to do evil. He got into debt with utter +recklessness, thinking of nothing as to whether the tradesmen would +ever be paid or not. But he did not invent active schemes of deceit +for the sake of extracting the goods of others. If a man gave him +credit, that was the man's look-out; Bertie Stanhope troubled +himself nothing further. In borrowing money he did the same; he +gave people references to 'his governor', told them that the 'old +chap' had a good income; and agreed to pay sixty per cent for the +accommodation. All this he did without a scruple of conscience; but +then he never contrived active villainy. + +In this affair of his marriage, it had been represented to him as a +matter of duty that he ought to put himself in possession of Mrs +Bold's hand and fortune; and at first he had so regarded it. About +her he had thought but little. It was the customary thing for men +situated as he was to marry for money, and there was no reason why +he should not do what others around him did. And so he consented. +But now he began to see the matter in another light. He was setting +himself down to catch a woman, as a cat sits to catch a mouse. He +was to catch her, and swallow her up, her and her child, and her +houses and land, in order that he might live on her instead of on +his father. There was a cold, calculating, cautious cunning about +this quite at variance with Bertie's character. The prudence of the +measure was quite as antagonistic to his feelings as the iniquity. + +And then, should he be successful, what would be the reward? Having +satisfied his creditors with half of the widow's fortune, he would +be allowed to sit down quietly at Barchester, keeping economical +house with the remainder. His duty would be to rock the cradle of +the late Mr Bold's child, and his highest excitement a demure party +at Plumstead rectory, should it ultimately turn out that the +archdeacon be sufficiently reconciled to receive him. + +There was little in the programme to allure such a man as Bertie +Stanhope. Would not the Carrara workshop, or whatever worldly +career fortune might have in store for him, would not almost +anything be better than this? The lady herself was undoubtedly all +that was desirable; but the most desirable lady becomes nauseous +when she has to be taken as a pill. He was pledged to his sister, +however, and let him quarrel with whom he would, it behoved him not +to quarrel with her. If she were lost to him all would be lost that +he could ever hope to derive henceforward from the paternal +roof-tree. His mother was apparently indifferent to his weal or +woe, to his wants or to his warfare. His father's brow got blacker +and blacker from day to day, as the old man looked at his hopeless +son. And as for Madeline--poor Madeline, whom of all of them he +liked the best,--she had enough to do to shift for herself. No; +come what might, he must cling to his sister and obey her behests, +let them be ever so stern; or at the very least be seen to obey +them. Could not some happy deceit bring him through in this matter, +so that he might save appearances with his sister, and yet not +betray the widow to her ruin? What if he made a confidence of +Eleanor? + +'Twas in this spirit that Bertie Stanhope set about his wooing. + +'But you are not going to leave Barchester?' asked Eleanor. + +'I do not know,' he replied. 'I hardly know yet what I am going to +do. But it is at any rate certain that I must do something.' + +'You mean about your profession?' said she. + +'Yes, about my profession, if you can call it one.' + +'And is it not one?' said Eleanor. 'Were I a man, I know none I +should prefer to it, except painting. And I believe the one is as +much in your power as the other.' + +'Yes, just about equally so,' said Bertie with a little touch of +inward satire directed at himself. He knew in his heart that he +would never make a penny by either. + +'I have often wondered, Mr Stanhope, why you do not exert yourself +more,' said Eleanor, who felt a friendly fondness for the man with +whom she was walking. 'But I know it is very impertinent in me to +say so.' + +'Impertinent!' said he. 'Not so, but much too kind. It is much too +kind in you to take an interest in so idle a scamp.' + +'And make busts of the bishop, dean and chapter? Or perhaps, if I +achieve great success, obtain a commission to put up an elaborate +tombstone over a prebendary's widow, a dead lady with a Grecian +nose, a bandeau, and an intricate lace veil; lying of course on a +marble sofa, from among the legs of which Death will be creeping +out and poking at his victim with a small toasting-fork.' + +Eleanor laughed; but yet she thought that if the surviving +prebendary paid the bill the object of the artist as a professional +man would, in great measure, be obtained. + +'I don't know about the dean and chapter and the prebendary's +widow,' said Eleanor. 'Of course you must take them as they come. +But the fact of your having a great cathedral in which such +ornaments are required, could not but be in your favour.' + +'No real artist could descend to the ornamentation of a cathedral,' +said Bertie, who had his ideas of the high ecstatic ambition of +art, as indeed all artists have, who are not in receipt of a good +income. 'Building should be fitted to grace the sculpture, not the +sculpture to grace the building.' + +'Yes, when the work of art is good enough to merit it. Do you, Mr +Stanhope, do something sufficiently excellent, and we ladies of +Barchester will erect for it a fitting receptacle. Come, what shall +the subject be?' + +'I'll put you in your pony-chair, Mrs Bold, as Dannecker put +Ariadne on her lion. Only you must promise to sit for me.' + +'My ponies are too tame, I fear, and my broad-brimmed straw hat +will not look so well in marble as the lace veil of the +prebendary's wife.' + +'If you will not consent to that, Mrs Bold, I will consent to try +no other subject in Barchester.' + +'You are determined, then, to push your fortune in other lands?' + +'I am determined,' said Bertie, slowly and significantly as he +tried to bring up his mind to a great resolve; 'I am determined in +this matter to be guided wholly by you.' + +'Wholly by me!' said Eleanor, astonished at, and not quite liking +his altered manner. + +'Wholly by you,' said Bertie, dropping his companion's arm, and +standing before her on the path. In their walk they had come +exactly to the spot where Eleanor had been provoked into slapping +Mr Slope's face. Could it be possible that the place was peculiarly +unpropitious to her comfort? Could it be possible that she should +her have to encounter another amorous swain? + +'If you will be guided by me, Mr Stanhope, you will set yourself +down to steady and persevering work, and you will be ruled by your +father as to the place in which it will be most advisable for you +to do so.' + +'Nothing could be more prudent, if only it were practicable. But +now, if you will let me, I will tell you how it is that I will be +guided by you, and why. Will you let me tell you?' + +'I really do not know what you can have to tell.' + +'No--you cannot know. It is impossible that you should. But we have +been very good friends, Mrs Bold, have we not?' + +'Yes, I think we have,' said she, observing in his demeanour an +earnestness very unusual with him. + +'You were kind enough to say just now that you took an interest in +me, and I was perhaps vain enough to believe you.' + +'There is no vanity in that; I do so as your sister's brother,--and +as my own friend also.' + +'Well, I don't deserve that you should feel so kindly towards me,' +said Bertie; 'but upon my word I am very grateful for it,' and he +paused awhile, hardly knowing how to introduce the subject that he +had in hand. + +And it was no wonder that he found it difficult. He had to make +known to his companion the scheme that had been prepared to rob her +of her wealth; he had to tell her that he loved her without +intending to marry her; and he had also to bespeak from her not +only his own pardon, but also that of his sister, and induce Mrs +Bold to protest in her future communication with Charlotte that an +offer had been duly made to her and duly rejected. + +Bertie Stanhope was not prone to be very diffident of his own +conversational powers, but it did seem to him that he was about to +tax them almost too far. He hardly knew where to begin, and he +hardly knew where he should end. + +'I wish to be guided by you,' said he; 'and, indeed, in this +matter, there is no one else who can set me right.' + +'Oh, that must be nonsense,' said she. + +'Well, listen to me now, Mrs Bold; and if you can help it, pray +don't be angry with me.' + +'Angry!' said she. + +'Oh, indeed you will have cause to do so. You know how very much +attached to you my sister Charlotte is.' + +Eleanor acknowledged that she did. + +'Indeed she is; I never knew her to love any one so warmly on so +short an acquaintance. You know also how well she loves me?' + +Eleanor now made no answer, but she felt the blood tingle in her +cheek as she gathered from what he said the probable result of this +double-barrelled love on the part of Miss Stanhope. + +'I am her only brother, Mrs Bold, and it is not to be wondered at +that she should love me. But you do not yet know Charlotte--you do +not know how entirely the well-being of our family hangs on her. +Without her to manage for us, I do not know how we should get on +from day to day. You cannot yet have observed all this.' + +Eleanor had indeed observed a good deal of this; she did not +however now say so, but allowed him to proceed with his story. + +'You cannot therefore be surprised that Charlotte should be most +anxious to do the best for us all. + +Eleanor said that she was not at all surprised. + +'And she has had a very difficult game to play, Mrs Bold--a very +difficult game. Poor Madeline's unfortunate marriage and terrible +accident, my mother's ill-health, my father's absence from England, +and last, and worst perhaps my own roving, idle spirit have almost +been too much for her. You cannot wonder if among all her cares one +of the foremost is to see me settled in the world.' + +Eleanor on this occasion expressed no acquiescence. She certainly +supposed that a formal offer was to be made, and could not but +think that so singular an exordium was never before made by a +gentleman in a similar position. Mr Slope had annoyed her by the +excess of his ardour. It was quiet clear that no such danger was to +be feared from Mr Stanhope. Prudential motives alone actuated him. Not only was he about to +make love because his sister told him, but he also took the +precaution of explaining all this before he began. 'Twas thus, we +may presume, that the matter presented itself to Mrs Bold. + +When he had got so far, Bertie began poling in the gravel with a +little cane which he carried. He still kept moving on, but very +slowly, and his companion moved slowly by his side, not inclined to +assist him in the task the performance of which appeared to be +difficult to him. + +'Knowing how fond she is of yourself, Mrs Bold, cannot you imagine +what scheme should have occurred to her?' + +'I can imagine no better scheme, Mr Stanhope, than the one I +proposed to you just now.' + +'No,' said he, somewhat lack-a-daisically; 'I suppose that would be +the best; but Charlotte thinks another plan might be joined with +it.--She wants me to marry you.' + +A thousand remembrances flashed across Eleanor's mind all in a +moment--how Charlotte had talked about and praised her brother, how +she had continually contrived to throw the two of them together, +how she had encouraged all manner of little intimacies, how she had +with singular cordiality persisted in treating Eleanor as one of +the family. All this had been done to secure her comfortable income +for the benefit of one of the family! + +Such a feeling as this is very bitter when it first impresses +itself on a young mind. To the old such plots and plans, such +matured schemes for obtaining the goods of this world without the +trouble of earning them, such long-headed attempts to convert +'tuum' into 'meum' are the ways of life to which they are +accustomed. 'Tis thus that many live, and it therefore behoves all +those who are well to do in the world be on their guard against +those who are not. With them it is the success that disgusts, not +the attempt. But Eleanor had not yet learnt to look on her money as +a source of danger; she had not begun to regard herself as fair +game to be hunted down by hungry gentlemen. She had enjoyed the +society of the Stanhopes, she had greatly liked the cordiality of +Charlotte, and had been happy in her new friends. Now she saw the +cause of all that kindness, and her mind was opened to a new phase +of human life. + +'Miss Stanhope,' said she haughtily, 'has been contriving for me a +great deal of honour, but she might have saved herself the trouble. +I an not sufficiently ambitious.' + +'Pray don't be angry with her, Mrs Bold,' said he, 'or with me +either.' + +'Certainly not with you, Mr Stanhope,' said she, with considerable +sarcasm in her tone. 'Certainly not with you.' + +'No,--nor with her,' said he imploringly. + +'And why, may I ask you, Mr Stanhope, have you told me this +singular story? For I may presume I may judge by your manner of +telling it, that--that--that you and your sister are not exactly of +one mind on the subject.' + +'No, we are not.' + +'And if so,' said Mrs Bold, who was now really angry with the +unnecessary insult, which she thought had been offered to her, 'and +if so, why has it been worth your while to tell me all this?' + +'I did once think, Mrs Bold--that you--that you--' + +The widow now again became entirely impassive, and would not lend +the slightest assistance to her companion. + +'I did once think that you perhaps might--might have been taught to +regard me as more than a friend.' + +'Never!,' said Mrs Bold, 'never. If I have ever allowed myself to +do anything to encourage such an idea, I have been very much to +blame,--very much to blame, indeed.' + +'You never have,' said Bertie, who really had a good-natured +anxiety to make what he said as little unpleasant as possible. 'You +never have, and I have seen for some time that I had no chance; but +my sister's hopes ran higher. I have not mistaken you, Mrs Bold, +though perhaps she has.' + +'Then why have you said all this to me?' + +'Because I must not anger her.' + +'And will not this anger her? Upon my word, Mr Stanhope, I do not +understand the policy of your family. Oh, how I wish I was at +home!' And as she expressed this wish, she could restrain herself +no longer, but burst out into a flood of tears. + +Poor Bertie was greatly moved. 'You shall have the carriage to +yourself going home,' said he, 'at least you and my father. As for +me I can walk, or for the matter of that it does not much signify +what I do.' He perfectly understood that part of Eleanor's grief +arose from the apparent necessity of going back to Barchester in +the carriage of her second suitor. + +This somewhat mollified her. 'Oh, Mr Stanhope,' said she, 'why +should you have made me so miserable? What will have gained by +telling me all this?' + +He had not even yet explained to her the most difficult part of his +proposition; he had not told her that she was to be a party to the +little deception which he intended to play off upon his sister. +This suggestion had still to be made, and as it was absolutely +necessary, he proceeded to make it. + +We need not follow him through the whole of his statement. At last, +and not without considerable difficulty, he made Eleanor understand +why he had let her into his confidence, seeing that he no longer +intended her the honour of a formal offer. At last he made her +comprehend the part which she was destined to play in this little +family comedy. + +But when she did understand it, she was only more angry with him +than ever: more angry, not only with him, but with Charlotte also. +Her fair name was to bandied about between them in different +senses, and each sense false. She was to played off by the sister +against the father; and then by the brother against the sister. Her +dear friend Charlotte, with all her agreeable sympathy and +affection, was striving to sacrifice her for the Stanhope family +welfare; and Bertie, who, as he now proclaimed himself, was over +head and heels in debt, completed the compliment of owning that he +did not care to have his debts paid at so great a sacrifice to +himself. Then she was asked to conspire together with this +unwilling suitor, for the sake of making the family believe that he +had in obedience to their commands done his best to throw himself +thus away! + +She lifted up her face when she had finished, and looking at him +with much dignity, even through her tears, she said-- + +'I regret to say it, Mr Stanhope; but after what has passed, I +believe that all intercourse between your family and myself had +better cease.' + +'Well, perhaps it had,' said Bertie naively; 'perhaps that will be +better, at any rate for a time; and then Charlotte will think you +are offended at what I have done.' + +'And now I will go back to the house, if you please,' said Eleanor. +'I can find my way by myself, Mr Stanhope: after what has passed,' +she added, 'I would rather go alone.' + +'But I must find the carriage for you, Mrs Bold, and I must tell my +father that you will return with him alone, and I must make some +excuse to him for not going with you; and I must bid the servant +put you down at your own house, for I suppose you will not now +choose to see them again in the close.' + +There was a truth about this, and a perspicuity in making +arrangements for lessening her immediate embarrassment, which had +some effect in softening Eleanor's anger. So she suffered herself +to walk by his side over the now deserted lawn, till they came to +the drawing-room window. There was something about Bertie Stanhope +which gave him in the estimation of every one, a different standing +from that which any other man would occupy under similar +circumstances. Angry as Eleanor was, and great as was her cause for +anger, she was not half as angry with him as she would have been +with any one else. He was apparently so simple, so good- natured, +so unaffected and easy to talk to, that she had already +half-forgiven him before he was at the drawing-room window. When +they arrived there, Dr Stanhope was sitting nearly alone with Mr +and Miss Thorne; one or two other unfortunates were there, who from +one cause or another were still delayed in getting away; but they +were every moment getting fewer in number. + +As soon as he had handed Eleanor over to his father, Bertie started +off to the front gate, in search of the carriage, and there waited +leaning patiently against the front wall, and comfortably smoking a +cigar, till it came up. When he returned to the room, Dr Stanhope +and Eleanor were alone with their hosts. + +'At last, Miss Thorne,' said he cheerily, 'I have come to relieve +you. Mrs Bold and my father are the last roses in the very +delightful summer you have given us, and desirable as Mrs Bold's +society always is, now at least you must be glad to see the last +flowers plucked from the tree.' + +Miss Thorne declared that she was delighted to have Mrs Bold and Dr +Stanhope still with her; and Mr Thorne would have said the same, +had he not been checked by a yawn, which he could not suppress. + +'Father, will you give your arm to Mrs Bold?' said Bertie: and so +the last adieux were made, and the prebendary led out Mrs Bold, +followed by his son. + +'I shall be home soon after you,' said he, as the two got into the +carriage. + +'Are you not coming in the carriage?' said the father. + +'No, no; I have some one to see on the road, and shall walk. John, +mind you drive to Mrs Bold's house first.' + +Eleanor, looking out of the window, saw him with his hat in his +hand, bowing to her with his usual gay smile, as though nothing had +happened to mar the tranquillity of the day. It was many a long +year before she saw him again. Dr Stanhope hardly spoke to her on +her way home: and she was safely deposited by John at her own +hall-door, before the carriage drove into the close. + +And thus our heroine played the last act of that day's melodrama. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +MR AND MRS QUIVERFUL ARE MADE HAPPY. MR SLOPE ENCOURAGED BY THE +PRESS + +Before she started for Ullathorne, Mrs Proudie, careful soul, +caused two letters to be written, one by herself and one by her +lord, to the inhabitants of Puddingdale vicarage, which made happy +the hearth of those within it. + +As soon as the departure of the horses left the bishop's +stable-groom free for other services, that humble denizen of the +diocese started on the bishop's own pony with the two despatches. +We have had so many letters lately that we will spare ourselves +these. That from the bishop was simply a request that Mr Quiverful +would wait upon his lordship the next morning at 11 A.M.; and that +from the lady was as simply a request that Mrs Quiverful would do +the same by her, though it was couched in somewhat longer and more +grandiloquent phraseology. + +It had become a point of conscience with Mrs Proudie to urge the +settlement of this great hospital question. She was resolved that +Mr Quiverful should have it. She was resolved that there should be +no more doubt or delay; no more refusals and resignations, nor more +secret negotiations carried on by Mr Slope on his own account in +opposition to her behests. + +'Bishop,' she said, immediately after breakfast, on the morning of +that eventful day, 'have you signed the appointment yet?' + +'No, my dear, not yet; it is not exactly signed as yet.' + +'Then do it,' said the lady. + +The bishop did it; and a very pleasant day indeed he spent at +Ullathorne. And when he got home he had a glass of hot negus in his +wife's sitting-room, and read the last number of the 'Little +Dorrit' of the day with great inward satisfaction. Oh, husbands, +oh, my marital friends, what great comfort is there to be derived +from a wife well obeyed! + +Much perturbation and flutter, high expectation and renewed hopes, +were occasioned at Puddingdale, by the receipt of those episcopal +dispatches. Mrs Quiverful, whose careful ear caught the sound of +the pony's feet as he trotted up to the vicarage kitchen door, +brought them in hurriedly to her husband. She was at the moment +concocting the Irish stew destined to satisfy the noonday want of +fourteen young birds, let alone the parent couple. She had taken +the letters from the man's hands between the folds of her capacious +apron, so as to save them from the contamination of the stew, and +in this guise she brought them to her husband's desk. + +They at once divided the spoil, each taking that addressed to the +others. 'Quiverful,'said she with impressive voice, 'you are to be +at the palace at eleven to-morrow.' + +'And so are you, my dear,' said he, almost gasping with the +importance of the tidings: and then they exchanged letters. + +'She'd never have sent for me again,' said the lady, 'if it wasn't +all right.' + +'Oh! My dear, don't be too certain,' said the gentleman. 'Only +think if it should be wrong.' + +'She'd never have sent for me, Q., if it wasn't all right,' again +argued the lady. 'She's stiff and hard and proud as pie-crust, but +I think she's right at bottom.' Such was Mrs Quiverful's verdict +about Mrs Proudie, to which in after times she always adhered. +People when they get their income doubled usually think that those +through whose instrumentality this little ceremony is performed are +right at bottom. + +'Oh, Letty!' said Mr Quiverful, rising from his well-worn seat. + +'Oh, Q!' said Mrs Quiverful; and then the two, unmindful of the +kitchen apron, the greasy fingers, and the adherent Irish stew, +threw themselves warmly into each other's arms. + +'For heaven's sake, don't let any one cajole you out of it again,' +said the wife. + +'Let me alone for that,' said the husband, with a look of almost +fierce determination, pressing his fist as he spoke rigidly on his +desk, as though he had Mr Slope's head below his knuckles, and +meant to keep it there. + +'I wonder how soon it will be,' said she. + +'I wonder whether it will be at all,' said he, still doubtful. + +'Well, I won't say too much,' said the lady. 'The cup has slipped +twice before, and it may fall altogether this time; but I'll not +believe it. He'll give you the appointment to-morrow. You'll find +he will.' + +'Heaven send he may,' said Mr Quiverful, solemnly. And who that +considers the weight of the burden on this man's back, will say +that the prayer was an improper one? There were fourteen of +them--fourteen of them living--as Mrs Quiverful had so powerfully +urged in the presence of the bishop's wife. As long as promotion +cometh from any human source, whether north or south, east or west, +will not such a claim as this hold good, in spite of all our +examination tests, detur digniori's and optimist tendencies? It is +fervently to be hoped that it may. Till we can become divine we +must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for change we sink +to something lower. + +And then the pair sitting down lovingly together, talked over all +their difficulties, as they so often did, and all their hopes, as +they so seldom were able to do. + +'You had better call on that man, Q, as you come away from the +palace,' said Mrs Quiverful, pointing to an angry call for money +from the Barchester draper, which the postman had left at the +vicarage that morning. Cormorant that he was, unjust, hungry +cormorant! When rumour first got abroad that the Quiverfuls were to +go to the hospital this fellow with fawning eagerness had pressed +his goods upon the wants of the poor clergyman. He had done so, +feeling that he should be paid from the hospital funds, and +flattering himself that a man with fourteen children, and money +wherewithal to clothe them, could not but be an excellent customer. +As soon as the second rumour reached him, he applied for his money +angrily. + +'And the 'fourteen'--or such of them as were old enough to hope and +discuss their hopes, talked over their golden future. The +tall-grown girls whispered to each other of possible Barchester +parties, of possible allowances for dresses, of a possible +piano--the one they had in the vicarage was so weather-beaten with +storms of years and children as to be no longer worthy of the +name--of the pretty garden, and the pretty house. 'Twas of such +things it most behoved them to whisper. + +And the younger fry, they did not content themselves with whispers, +but shouted to each other of their new playground beneath our dear +ex-warden's well-loved elms, of their future own gardens, of +marbles to be procured in the wished-for city, and of the rumour +which had reached them of a Barchester school. + +'Twas in vain that their cautious mother tried to instil into their +breasts the very feeling she had striven to banish from that of +their father; 'twas in vain that she repeated to the girls that +'there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip'; 'twas in vain she +attempted to make the children believe that they were to live at +Puddingdale all their lives. Hopes mounted high and would not have +themselves quelled. The neighbouring farmers heard this news, and +came in to congratulate them. 'Twas Mrs Quiverful herself who had +kindled the fire, and in the first outbreak of her renewed +expectations she did it so thoroughly, that it was quite past her +power to put it out again. + +Poor matron! Good honest matron! Doing thy duty in the state to +which thou hast been called, heartily if not contentedly; let the +fire burn on--on this occasion the flames will not scorch; they +shall warm thee and thine. 'Tis ordained that the husband of thine, +that Q of thy bosom, shall reign supreme for some years to come +over the bedesmen of Hiram's hospital. + +And the last in all Barchester to mar their hopes, had he heard and +seen all that had passed at Puddingdale that day, would have been +Mr Harding. What wants had he to set in opposition to those of such +a regiment of young ravens? There are fourteen of them living! With +him at any rate, let us say, that the argument would have been +sufficient for the appointment of Mr Quiverful. + +In the morning, Q and his wife kept their appointments with that +punctuality which bespeaks an expectant mind. The friendly farmer's +gig was borrowed, and in that they went, discussing many things by +the way. They had instructed the household to expect them back by +one, and injunctions were given to the eldest pledge to have ready +by that accustomed hour the remainder of the huge stew which the +provident mother had prepared on the previous day. The hands of the +kitchen clock came round to two, three, four, before the farmer's +gig-wheels were agin heard at the vicarage gate. With what +palpitating hearts were the returning wanderers greeted! + +'I suppose, children, 'you all thought we were never coming back +any more?' said the mother, as she slowly let down her solid foot +till it rested on the step of the gig. 'Well, such a day as we've +had!' and then leaning heavily on a big boy's shoulder, she stepped +once more on terra firma. + +There was no need for more than the tone of her voice to tell them +that all was right. The Irish stew might burn itself to cinders +now. + +Then there was such kissing and hugging, such crying and laughing. +Mr Quiverful could not sit still at all, but kept walking from room +to room, then out into the garden, then down the avenue into the +road, and then back again to his wife. She, however, lost no time +so idly. + +'We must go to work at once, girls; and that in earnest. Mrs +Proudie expects us to be in the hospital house on the 15th of +October.' + +Had Mrs Proudie expressed a wish that they should all be there on +the next morning, the girls would have had nothing to say against +it. + +'And when will the pay begin?' asked the eldest boy. + +'To-day, my dear,' said the gratified mother. + +'Oh,--that is jolly,' said the boy. + +'Mrs Proudie insisted on our going down to the house,' continued +the mother; 'and when there I thought I might save a journey by +measuring some of the rooms and windows; so I got a knot of tape +from Bobbins. Bobbins is as civil as you please, now.' + +'I wouldn't thank him,' said Letty the younger. + +'Oh, that's the way of the world, my dear. They all do just the +same. You might just as well be angry with the turkey cock for +gobbling at you. It's the bird's nature.' And as she enunciated to +her bairns the upshot of her practical experience, she pulled from +her pocket the portions of tape which showed the length and breadth +of the various rooms at the hospital house. + +And so we will leave her happy in her toils. + +The Quiverfuls had hardly left the palace, and Mrs Proudie was +still holding forth on the matter to her husband, when another +visitor was announced in, the person of Dr Gwynne. The master of +Lazarus had asked for the bishop, and not for Mrs Proudie, and +therefore, when he was shown into the study, he was surprised +rather than rejoiced to find the lady there. + +But we must go back a little, and it shall be but a little, for a +difficulty begins to make itself manifest in the necessity of +disposing of all our friends in the small remainder of this one +volume. Oh, that Mr Longman would allow me a fourth! It should +transcend the other three as the seventh heaven transcends all the +lower stages of celestial bliss. + +Going home in the carriage that evening from Ullathorne, Dr Gwynne +had not without difficulty brought round his friend the archdeacon +to a line of tactics much less bellicose than that which his own +taste would have preferred. 'It will be unseemly in us to show +ourselves in a bad humour; and moreover we have no power in this +matter, and it will therefore be bad policy to act as though we +had.' 'Twas thus the master of Lazarus argued. 'If,' he continued, +'the bishop is determined to appoint another to the hospital, +threats will not prevent him, and threats should not be lightly +used by an archdeacon to his bishop. If he will place a stranger in +the hospital, we can only leave him to the indignation of others. +It is probable that such a step may not eventually injure your +father-in-law. I will see the bishop, if you will allow +me,--alone.' At this the archdeacon winced visibly; 'yes, alone; +for so I shall be calmer: and then I shall at any rate learn what +he does mean to do in the matter. + +The archdeacon puffed and blew, put up the carriage window and then +put it down again, argued the matter up to his own gate, and at +last gave way. Everybody was against him; his own wife, Mr Harding, +and Dr Gwynne. + +'Pray keep him out of hot water, Dr Gwynne,' Mrs Grantly had said +to her guest. 'My dearest madam, I'll do my best,' the courteous +master had replied. 'Twas thus he did it; and earned for himself +the gratitude of Mrs Grantly. + +And now we may return to the bishop's study. + +Dr Gwynne had certainly not foreseen the difficulty which here +presented itself. He,--together with all the clerical world of +England,--had heard it rumoured about that Mrs Proudie did not +confine herself to her wardrobes, still-rooms, and laundries; but +yet it had never occurred to him that if he called on a bishop at +one o'clock in the day, he could by any possibility find himself +closeted with his wife; or that if he did so, the wife would remain +longer than necessary to make her curtsey. It appeared, however, +as though in the present case Mrs Proudie had no idea of retreating. + +The bishop had been very much pleased with Dr Gwynne on the +preceding day, and of course thought that Dr Gwynne had been very +much pleased with him. He attributed the visit solely to +compliment, and thought it was an extremely gracious and proper +thing for the master of Lazarus to drive over from Plumstead +specially to call at the palace so soon after his arrival in the +country. The fact that they were not on the same side either in +politics or doctrines made the compliment the greater. The bishop, +therefore, was all smiles. And Mrs Proudie, who liked people with +good handles to their names, was also very well disposed to welcome +the master of Lazarus. + +'We had a charming party at Ullathorne, Master, had we not?' said +she. 'I hope Mrs Grantly got home without fatigue.' + +Dr Gwynne said that they had all been a little tired, but were none +the worse this morning. + +'An excellent person, Miss Thorne,' suggested the bishop. + +'An exemplary Christian, I am told,' said Mrs Proudie. + +Dr Gwynne declared that he was very glad to hear it. + +'I have not seen her Sabbath-day schools yet,' continued the lady, +'but I shall make a point of doing so before long.' + +Dr Gwynne merely bowed at this intimation. He had something of Mrs +Proudie and her Sunday schools, both from Dr Grantly and Mr +Harding. + +'By the bye, Master,' continued the lady, 'I wonder whether Mrs +Grantly would like me to drive over and inspect her Sabbath-day +school. I hear that it is most excellently kept.' + +Dr Gwynne really could not say. He had no doubt Mrs Grantly would +be most happy to see Mrs Proudie any day Mrs Proudie would do her +the honour of calling: that was, of course, if Mrs Grantly should +happen to be at home. + +A slight cloud darkened the lady's brow. She saw that her offer was +not taken in good part. This generation of unregenerated vipers was +still perverse, stiffnecked, and hardened in their antiquity. 'The +archdeacon, I know,' said she, 'sets his face against these +institutions.' + +At this Dr Gwynne laughed slightly. It was but a smile. Had he +given his cap for it he could not have helped it. + +Mrs Proudie frowned again. '"Suffer little children, and forbid +them not,"' said she. 'Are we not to remember that, Dr Gwynne? +"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones." Are we +not to remember that, Dr Gwynne?' And at each of these questions +she raised at him a menacing forefinger. + +'Certainly, madam, certainly,' said the master, 'and so does the +archdeacon, I am sure, on week days as well as on Sundays.' + +'On week days you can't take heed not to despise them,' said Mrs +Proudie, 'because they are out in the fields. On week days they +belong to their parents, but on Sundays they ought to belong to the +clergyman.' And the finger was again raised. + +The master began to understand and to share the intense disgust +which the archdeacon always expressed when Mrs Proudie's name was +mentioned. What was he to do with such a woman as this? To take his +hat and go would have been his natural resource; but then he did +not wish to be foiled in his subject. + +'My lord,' said he, 'I wanted to ask you a question on business, if +you would spare me one moment's leisure. I know I must apologise +for so disturbing you; but in truth, I will not detain you five +minutes.' + +'Certainly, Master, certainly,' said the bishop; 'my time is quite +yours--pray make no apology, pray make no apology.' + +'You have a great deal to do just at the present moment, bishop. Do +not forget how extremely busy you are at present,' said Mrs +Proudie, whose spirit was now up; for she was angry with her +visitor. + +'I will not delay his lordship much above a minute,' said the +master of Lazarus, rising from his chair, and expecting that Mrs +Proudie would now go, or else that the bishop would lead the way +into another room. + +But neither event seemed likely to occur, and Dr Gwynne stood for a +moment silent in the middle of the room. + +'Perhaps it's about Hiram's Hospital,' suggested Mrs Proudie. + +Dr Gwynne, lost in astonishment, and not knowing what else on earth +to do, confessed that his business with the bishop was connected +with Hiram's Hospital. + +'His lordship has finally conferred the appointment on Mr Quiverful +this morning,' said the lady. + +Dr Gwynne made a simple reference to the bishop, and finding that +the lady's statement was formally confirmed, he took his leave. +'That comes of the reform bill,' he said to himself as he walked +down the bishop's avenue. 'Well, at any rate the Greek play bishops +were not so bad as that.' + +It has been said that Mr Slope, as he started for Ullathorne, +received a despatch from his friend Mr Towers, which had the effect +of putting him in that high good-humour which subsequent events +somewhat untowardly damped. It ran as follows. Its shortness will +be its sufficient apology: + +My dear Sir,--I wish you every success. I don't know that I can +help you, but if I can I will. 'Yours ever' T.T. '30/9/185-' + +There was more in this than in all Sir Nicholas Fitzwiggin's +flummery; more than in all the bishop's promises, even had they +been ever so sincere; more than in any archbishop's good work, even +had it been possible to obtain it. Tom Towers would do for him what +he could. + +Mr Slope had from his youth upwards been a firm believer in the +public press. He had dabbled in it himself ever since he had taken +his degree, and regarded it as the great arranger and distributor +of all future British terrestrial affairs whatever. He had not yet +arrived at the age, an age which sooner or later comes to most of +us, which dissipates the golden dreams of youth. He delighted in +the idea of wresting power from the hands of his country's +magnates, and placing it in a custody which was at any rate nearer +to his own reach. Sixty thousand broad sheets dispersing themselves +daily among his reading fellow-citizens, formed in his eyes a +better depot for supremacy than a throne at Windsor, a cabinet in +Downing Street, or even an assembly at Westminster. And on this +subject we must not quarrel with Mr Slope, for the feeling is too +general to be met with disrespect. + +Tom Towers was as good, if not better than his promise. On the +following morning the Jupiter, spouting forth public opinion with +sixty thousand loud clarions, did proclaim to the world that Mr +Slope was the fittest man for the vacant post. It was pleasant for +Mr Slope to read the following line in the Barchester news-room, +which he did within thirty minutes after the morning train from +London had reached the city. + +"It is just now five years since we called the attention of our +readers to the quiet city of Barchester. From that day to this, we +have in no way meddled with the affairs of that happy +ecclesiastical community. Since then, an old bishop has died there, +and a young bishop has been installed; but we believe we did not do +more than give some customary record of the interesting event. Nor +are we about to meddle very deeply in the affairs of the diocese. +If any of the chapter feel a qualm of conscience on reading this, +let it be quieted. Above all, let the mind of the new bishop be at +rest. We are now not armed for war, but approach the revered towers +of the old cathedral with an olive-branch in our hands. + +'It will be remembered that at the time alluded to, now five years +past, we had occasion to remark on the state of a charity at +Barchester called Hiram's Hospital. We thought that it was +maladministered, and that the very estimable and reverend gentleman +who held the office of warden was somewhat too highly paid for +duties which were somewhat too easily performed. This +gentleman--and we say it in all sincerity and with no touch of +sarcasm--had never looked on the matter in this light before. We do +not wish to take praise to ourselves whether praise is due or not. +But the consequence of our remark was, that the warden did look +into the matter, and finding on doing so that he himself could come +to no other opinion than that expressed by us, he very creditably +threw up the appointment. The then bishop then as creditably +declined to fill the vacancy till the affair was put on a better +footing. Parliament then took it up; and we have now the +satisfaction of informing our readers that Hiram's Hospital will be +immediately re-opened under new auspices. Heretofore, provision was +made for the maintenance of twelve old men. This will now be +extended to the fair sex, and twelve elderly women if any such can +be found in Barchester, will be added to the establishment. There +will be a matron; there will, it is hoped, be schools attached for +the poorest of the children of the poor, and there will be a +steward. The warden, for there will still be a warden, will receive +an income more in keeping with the extent of the charity than that +heretofore paid. The stipend we believe will be L 450. We may add +that the excellent house which the former warden inhabited will +still be attached to the situation. + +'Barchester hospital cannot perhaps boast a world-wide reputation; +but as we advertised to its state of decadence, we think it right +also to advert to its renaissance. May it go up and prosper. +Whether the salutary reform which has been introduced within its +walls has been carried as far as could have been desired, may be +doubtful. The important question of the school appears to be +somewhat left to the discretion of the new warden. This might have +been made the most important part of the establishment, and the new +warden, whom we trust we shall not offend by the freedom of our +remarks, might have been selected with some view to his fitness as +schoolmaster. But we will not now look a gift horse in the mouth. +May the hospital go on and prosper! The situation of warden has of +course been offered to the gentleman who so honourable vacated it +five years since; but we are given to understand that he has +declined it. Whether the ladies who have been introduced, be in his +estimation too much for his powers of control, whether it be that +the diminished income does not offer to him sufficient temptation +to resume the old place, or that he has in the meantime assumed +other clerical duties, we do not know. We are, however, informed +that he has refused the offer, and that the situation has been +accepted by Mr Quiverful, the vicar of Puddingdale. + +'So much we think is due to Hiram redivivus. But while we are on +the subject of Barchester, we will venture with all respectful +humility to express our opinion on another matter, connected with +the ecclesiastical polity of that ancient city. Dr Trefoil, the +dean, died yesterday. A short record of his death, giving his age, +and the various pieces of preferment which he has at different +times held, will be found in another column in this paper. The only +fault we knew in him was his age, and as that is a crime of which +we may all hope to be guilty, we will not bear heavily on it. May +he rest in peace! But though the great age of an expiring dean +cannot be made matter of reproach, we are not inclined to look on +such a fault as at all pardonable in a dean just brought to the +birth. We do hope the days of sexagenarian appointments are past. +If we want deans, we must want them for some purpose. That purpose +will necessarily be better fulfilled by a man of forty than by a +man of sixty. If we are to pay deans at all, we are to pay them for +some sort of work. That work, be it what it may, will be best +performed by a workman in the prime of life. Dr Trefoil, we see, +was eighty when he died. As we have as yet completed no plan for +positioning superannuated clergymen, we do not wish to get rid of +any existing deans of that age. But we prefer having as few such as +possible. If a man of seventy be now appointed, we beg to point out +to Lord--that he will be past all use in a year or two, if indeed +he is not so at the present moment. His lordship will allow us to +remind him that all men are not evergreens like himself. + +'We hear that Mr Slope's name has been mentioned for this +preferment. Mr Slope is at present chaplain to the bishop. A better +man could hardly be selected. He is a man of talent, young, active, +and conversant with the affairs of the cathedral; he is moreover, +we conscientiously believe, a truly pious clergyman. We know that +his services in the city of Barchester have been highly +appreciated. He is an eloquent preacher and a ripe scholar. Such a +selection as this would go far to raise the confidence of the +public in the present administration of church patronage, and would +teach men to believe that from henceforth the establishment of our +church will not afford easy couches to worn-out clerical +voluptuaries.' + +Standing at a reading-desk in the Barchester news-room, Mr Slope +digested this article with considerable satisfaction. What was +therein said as the hospital was now comparatively matter of +indifference to him. He was certainly glad that he had not +succeeded in restoring to the place the father of that virago who +had so audaciously outraged all decency in his person; and was so +far satisfied. But Mrs Proudie's nominee was appointed, and he was +so far dissatisfied. His mind, however, was now soaring above Mrs +Bold or Mrs Proudie. + +He was sufficiently conversant with the tactics of the Jupiter to +know that the pith of the article would lie in the last paragraph. +The place of honour was given to him, and it was indeed as +honourable as even he could have wished. He was very grateful to +his friend Mr Towers, and with full heart looked forward to the day +when he might entertain him in princely style at his own +full-spread board in the deanery dining-room. + +It had been well for Mr Slope that Dr Trefoil had died in the +autumn. Those caterers for our morning repast, the staff of the +Jupiter, had been sorely put to it for the last month to find a +sufficiency of proper pabulum. Just then there was no talk of a new +American president. No wonderful tragedies had occurred on railway +trains in Georgia, or elsewhere. There was a dearth of broken +banks, and a dead dean with the necessity for a live one was a +godsend. Had Dr Trefoil died in June, Mr Towers would probably not +have known so much about the piety of Mr Slope. + +And here we will leave Mr Slope for a while in his triumph; +explaining, however, that his feelings were not altogether of a +triumphant nature. His rejection by the widow, or rather the method +of his rejection, galled him terribly. For days to come he +positively felt the sting upon his cheek, whenever he thought of +what had been done to him. He could not refrain from calling her by +harsh names, speaking to himself as he walked through the streets +of Barchester. When he said his prayers, he could not bring himself +to forgive her. When he strove to do so, his mind recoiled from the +attempt, and in lieu of forgiving, ran off in a double spirit of +vindictiveness, dwelling on the extent of the injury he had +received. And so his prayers dropped senseless from his lips. + +And then the signora; what would he not have given to be able to +hate her also? As it was, he worshipped the very sofa on which she +was ever lying. And thus it was not all rose colour with Mr Slope, +although his hopes ran high. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +MRS BOLD AT HOME + +Poor Mrs Bold, when she got home from Ullathorne on the evening of +Miss Thorne's party, was very unhappy, and moreover very tired. +Nothing fatigues the body so much as weariness of spirit, and +Eleanor's spirit was indeed weary. + +Dr Stanhope had civilly but not very cordially asked her in to tea, +and her manner of refusal convinced the worthy doctor that he need +not repeat the invitation. He had not exactly made himself a party +to the intrigue which was to convert the late Mr Bold's patrimony +into an income for his hopeful son, but he had been well aware what +was going on. And he was thus well aware also, when he perceived +that Bertie declined accompanying them home in the carriage, that +the affair had gone off. + +Eleanor was very much afraid that Charlotte would have darted out +upon her, as the prebendary got out at his own door, but Bertie +thoughtfully saved her from this, by causing the carriage to go +round by her house. This also Dr Stanhope understood, and allowed +to pass by without remark. + +When she got home, she found Mary Bold in the drawing-room with the +child in her lap. She rushed forward, and, throwing herself on her +knees, kissed the little fellow till she almost frightened him. + +'Oh, Mary, I am so glad you did not go. It was an odious party.' + +Now the question of Mary's going had been one greatly mooted +between them. Mrs Bold, when invited, had been the guest of the +Grantlys, and Miss Thorne, who had chiefly known Eleanor at the +hospital or at Plumstead rectory, had forgotten all about Mary +Bold. Her sister-in-law had implored her to go under her wing, and +had offered to write to Miss Thorne, or to call on her. But Miss +Bold had declined. In fact, Mr Bold had not been very popular with +such people as the Thornes, and his sister would not go among them +unless she were specially asked to do so. + +'Well then,' said Mary cheerfully, 'I have the less to regret.' + +'You have nothing to regret; but oh! Mary, I have--so much--so +much;'--and then she began kissing her boy, whom her caresses had +aroused from his slumbers. When she raised her head, Mary saw that +the tears were running down her cheeks. + +'Good heavens, Eleanor, what is the matter? What has happened to +you?--Eleanor, dearest Eleanor--what is the matter?' and Mary got +up with the boy still in her arms. + +'Give him to me--give him to me,' said the young mother. 'Give him +to me, Mary,'and she almost tore the child out of her sister's +arms. The poor little fellow murmured somewhat at the disturbance, +but nevertheless nestled himself close into his mother's bosom. + +'Here, Mary, take the cloak from me. My own, own darling, darling, +darling jewel. You are not false to me. Everybody else is false; +everybody else is cruel. Mamma will care for nobody, nobody, +nobody, but her own, own, own, little man;' and she again kissed +and pressed the baby, and cried till the tears ran down over the +child's face. + +'Who has been cruel to you, Eleanor?' said Mary. 'I hope I have +not.' + +Now, in this matter, Eleanor had great cause for uneasiness. + +She could not certainly accuse her loving sister-in-law of cruelty; +but she had to do that which was more galling; she had to accuse +herself of an imprudence against which her sister-in-law had warned +her. Miss Bold had never encouraged Eleanor's acquaintance with Mr +Slope, and she had positively discouraged the friendship of the +Stanhopes as far as her usual gentle mode of speaking had +permitted. Eleanor had only laughed at her, however, when she said +that she disapproved of married women who lived apart from their +husbands, and suggested that Charlotte Stanhope never went to +church. Now, however, Eleanor must either hold her tongue, which +was quite impossible, or confess herself to have been utterly +wrong, which was nearly equally so. So she staved off the evil day +by more tears, and consoled herself by inducing little Johnny to +rouse himself sufficiently to return her caresses. + +'He is a darling--as true as gold. What would mamma do without him? +Mamma would lie down and die if she had not her own Johnny Bold to +give her comfort.' This and much more she said of the same kind, +and for a time made no other answer to Mary's inquiries. + +This kind of consolation from the world's deceit is very common. + +Mothers obtain it from their children, and men from their dogs. +Some men even do so from their walking-sticks, which is just as +rational. How is it that we can take joy to ourselves in that we +are not deceived by those who have not attained the art to deceive +us? In a true man, if such can be found, or a true woman, much +consolation may indeed be taken. + +In the caresses of her child, however, Eleanor did receive +consolation; and may ill befall the man who would begrudge it to +her. The evil day, however, was only postponed. She had to tell her +disagreeable tale to Mary, and she had also to tell it to her +father. Must it not, indeed, be told to the whole circle of her +acquaintance before she could be made to stand all right with them? +At the present moment there was no one to whom she could turn for +comfort. She hated Mr Slope; that was a matter of course, in that +feeling she revelled. She hated and despised the Stanhopes; but +that feeling distressed her greatly. She had, as it were, separated +herself from her old friends to throw herself into the arms of this +family; and then how had they intended to use her? She could hardly +reconcile herself to her own father, who had believed ill of her. +Mary Bold had turned Mentor. That she could have forgiven had the +Mentor turned out to be in the wrong; but Mentors in the right are +not to be pardoned. She could not but hate the archdeacon; and now +she hated him even worse than ever, for she must in some sort +humble herself before him. She hated her sister, for she was part +and parcel of the archdeacon. And she would have hated Mr Arabin if +she could. He had pretended to regard her, and yet before her face +he had hung over that Italian woman as though there had been no +beauty in the world but hers--no other woman worth a moment's +attention. And Mr Arabin would have to learn all this about Mr +Slope! She told herself she hated him, and she knew that she was +lying to herself as she did so. She had no consolation but her +baby, and of that she made the most. Mary, though she could not +surmise what it was that had so violently affected her +sister-in-law, saw at once her grief was too great to be kept under +control, and waited patiently till the child should be in his +cradle. + +'You'll have some tea, Eleanor,' she said. + +'Oh, I don't care,' said she; though in fact she must have been +very hungry, for she had eaten nothing at Ullathorne. + +Mary quietly made the tea, and buttered the bread, laid aside the +cloak, and made things look comfortable. + +'He's fast asleep,' said she, 'you're very tired; let me take him +up to bed.' + +But Eleanor would not let her sister touch him. She looked +wistfully at her baby's eyes, saw that they were lost in the +deepest slumber, and then made a sort of couch for him on the sofa. +She was determined that nothing should prevail upon her to let him +out of her sight that night. + +'Come, Nelly,' said Mary, 'don't be cross with me. I at least have +done nothing to offend you.' + +'I an't cross,' said Eleanor. + +'Are you angry then? Surely you can't be angry with me.' + +'No, I an't angry; at least not with you.' + +'If you are not, drink the tea I have made for you. I am sure you +must want it.' + +Eleanor did drink it, and allowed herself to be persuaded. She ate +and drank, and as the inner woman was recruited she felt a little +more charitable towards the world at large. At last she found words +to begin her story, and before she went to bed, she had made a +clean breast of it and told everything--everything, that is, as to +the lovers she had rejected: of Mr Arabin she said not a word. + +'I know I was wrong,' said she, speaking of the blow she had given +to Mr Slope; 'but I didn't know what he might do, and I had to +protect myself.' + +'He richly deserved it,' said Mary. + +'Deserved it!' said Eleanor, whose mind as regarded Mr Slope was +almost bloodthirsty. 'Had I stabbed him with a dagger, he would +have deserved it. But what will they say about it at Plumstead?' + +'I don't think I should tell them,' said Mary. Eleanor began to +think that she would not. + +There could have been no kinder comforter than Mary Bold. There was +not the slightest dash of triumph about her when she heard of the +Stanhope scheme, nor did she allude to her former opinion when +Eleanor called her late friend Charlotte a base, designing woman. +She re-echoed all the abuse that was heaped on Mr Slope's head, and +never hinted that she had said as much before. 'I told you so! I +told you so!' is the croak of a true Job's comforter. But Mary, +when she found her friend lying in her sorrow and scraping herself +with potsherds, forbore to argue and to exult. Eleanor acknowledged +the merit of the forbearance, and at length allowed herself to be +tranquillised. + +On the next day she did not go out of the house. Barchester she +thought would be crowded with Stanhopes and Slopes; perhaps also +with Arabins and Grantlys. Indeed there was hardly any one among +her friends whom she could have met, without some cause of +uneasiness. + +In the course of the afternoon she heard that the dean was dead; +and she also heard that Mr Quiverful had been finally appointed to +the hospital. + +In the evening her father came to her, and then the story, or as +much of it as she could bring herself to tell him, had to be +repeated. He was not in truth much surprised at Mr Slope's +effrontery; but he was obliged to act as though he had been, to +save his daughter's feelings. He was, however, anything but skilful +in his deceit, and she saw through it. + +'I see,' said she, 'that you think it only the common course of +things that Mr Slope should have treated me in this way.' + +She had said nothing to him about the embrace, nor yet of the way +in which it had been met. + +'I do not think it at all strange,' said he, 'that any one should +admire my Eleanor.' + +'It is strange to me,' said she, 'that any man should have so much +audacity, without ever having received the slightest +encouragement.' + +To this Mr Harding answered nothing. With the archdeacon it would +have been the text for a rejoinder, which would not have disgraced +Bildad the Shuhite. + +'But you'll tell the archdeacon,' asked Mr Harding. + +'Tell him what?' said she sharply. + +'Or Susan?' continued Mr Harding. 'You'll tell Susan; you'll let +them know that they wronged you in supposing that this man's +addresses would be agreeable to you.' + +'They may find out their own way,' said she; 'I shall not ever +willingly mention Mr Slope's name to either of them.' + +'But I may.' + +'I have no right to hinder you from doing anything that may be +necessary to your own comfort, but pray do not do it for my sake. +Dr Grantly never thought well of me, and never will. I don't know +now that I an even anxious that he should do so.' + +And then they went to the affair of the hospital. 'But is it true, +papa?' + +'What, my dear,' said he. 'About the dean? Yes, I fear quite true. +Indeed, I know there is no doubt about it.' + +'Poor Miss Trefoil. I am so sorry for her. But I did not mean +that,' said Eleanor. 'But about the hospital, papa? + +'Yes, my dear. I believe it is true that Mr Quiverful is to have +it.' + +'Oh, what a shame!' + +'No, my dear, not at all, not at all a shame: I am sure I hope it +will suit him.' + +'But, papa, you know it is a shame. After all your hopes, all your +expectations to get back your old house, to see it given away in +this way to a perfect stranger!' + +'My dear, the bishop had a right to give it to whom he pleased.' + +'I deny that, papa. He had no such right. It is not as though you +were a candidate for a new piece of preferment. If the bishop has a +grain of justice--' + +'The bishop offered it to me on his terms, and as I did not like +the terms, I refused it. After that, I cannot complain.' + +'Terms! He had not right to make terms.' + +'I don't know about that; but it seems he had the power. But to +tell you the truth, Nelly, I am as well satisfied as it is. When +the affair became the subject of angry discussion, I thoroughly +wished to be rid of it altogether.' + +'But you did want to go back to the old house, papa. You told me so +yourself.' + +'Yes, my child, I did. For a short time I did wish it. And I was +foolish in doing so. I am getting old now; and my chief worldly +wish is for peace and rest. Had I gone back to the hospital, I +should have had the endless contentions with the bishop, +contentions with his chaplain, and contentions with the archdeacon. +I am not up to this now, I am not able to meet such troubles; and +therefore I am not ill-pleased to find myself left to the little +church of St Cuthbert's. I shall never starve,' added he, laughing +'as long as you are here.' + +'But if you will come and live with me, papa?' she said earnestly, +taking him by both his hands. 'If you will do that, if you will +promise that, I will own that you are right.' + +'I will dine with you to-day, at any rate.' + +'No, but live here altogether. Give up that close, odious little +room in High Street.' + +'My dear, it's a very nice little room; and you are really quite +uncivil.' + +'Oh, papa, don't joke. It's not a nice place for you. You say you +are growing old, though I am sure you are not.' + +'Am I not, my dear?' + +'No, papa, not old--not to say old. But you are quite old enough to +feel the want of a decent room to sit in. You know how lonely Mary +and I are here. You know nobody ever sleeps in the big front +bed-room. It is really unkind of you to remain there alone, when +you are so much wanted here.' + +'Thank you, Nelly--thank you. But, my dear--' + +'If you had been living here, papa, with us, as I really think you +ought to have done, considering how lonely we are, there would have +been none of all this dreadful affair about Mr Slope.' + +Mr Harding, however, did not allow himself to be talked over into +giving up his own and only little pied a terre in the High Street. +He promised to come and dine with his daughter, and stay with her, +and visit her, and do everything but absolutely live with her. It +did not suit the peculiar feelings of the man to tell his daughter +that though she had rejected Mr Slope, and been ready to reject Mr +Stanhope, some other more favoured suitor would probably soon +appear; and that on the appearance of such a suitor the big front +bed-room might perhaps be more frequently in requisition than at +present. But doubtless such an idea crossed his mind, and added its +weight to the other reasons which made him decide on still keeping +the close, odious little room in High Street. + +The evening passed over quietly and in comfort. Eleanor was always +happier with her father than with any one else. He had not, +perhaps, any natural taste for baby-worship, but he was always +ready to sacrifice himself, and therefore made an excellent third +in a trio with his daughter and Mary Bold in singing the praises of +the wonderful child. + +They were standing together over their music in the evening, the +baby having again been put to bed upon the sofa, when the servant +brought in a very small note in a beautiful pink envelope. It quite +filled the room with perfume as it lay upon the small salver. Mary +Bold and Mrs Bold were both at the piano, and Mr Harding was +sitting close to them, with the violoncello between his legs; so +that the elegance of the epistle was visible to them all. + +'Please, ma'am, Dr Stanhope's coachman says he is to wait for an +answer,' said the servant. + +Eleanor got very red in the face as she took the note in her hand. +She had never seen the writing before. Charlotte's epistles, to +which she was well accustomed, were of a very different style and +kind. She generally wrote on large note-paper; she twisted up her +letter into the shape and sometimes into the size of cocked hats; +she addressed them in a sprawling manly hand, and not unusually +added a blot or a smudge, as though such were her own peculiar +sign-manual. The address of this note was written in a beautiful +female hand, and the gummed wafer bore on it an impress of a gilt +coronet. Though Eleanor had never seen such a one before, she +guessed that it came from the signora. Such epistles were very +numerously sent out from any house in which the signora might +happen to be dwelling, but they were rarely addressed to ladies. +When the coachman was told by the lady's maid to take the letter to +Mrs Bold, he openly expressed his opinion that there was some +mistake about it. Whereupon the lady's maid boxed the coachman's +ears. Had Mr Slope seen in how meek a spirit the coachman took the +rebuke, he might have learnt a useful lesson, both in philosophy +and religion. + +The note was as follows. It may be taken as a faithful promise that +no further letter whatever shall be transcribed at length in these +pages. + +'My dear Mrs Bold--May I ask you, as a great favour, to call on me +to-morrow? You can say what hour will best suit you; but quite +early, if you can. I need hardly say that if I could call upon you +I should not take this liberty with you. + +'I partly know what occurred the other day, and I promise you that +you shall meet with no annoyance if you will come to me. My brother +leaves us for London to-day; from thence he goes to Italy. + +'It will probably occur to you that I should not thus intrude on +you, unless I had that to say to you which may be of considerable +moment. Pray therefore excuse me, even if you do not grant my +request, and believe me, 'Very sincerely yours, M.VESEY NERONI + +The three of them sat in consultation on this epistle for some ten +or fifteen minutes, and then decided that Eleanor should write a +line saying that she would see the signora the next morning, at +twelve o'clock. + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +THE STANHOPES AT HOME + +We must now return to the Stanhopes, and see how they behaved +themselves on their return from Ullathorne. + +Charlotte, who came back in the first homeward journey with her +sister, waited in palpitating expectation till the carriage drove +up to the door a second time. She did not run down or stand at the +window, or show in any outward manner that she looked for anything +wonderful to occur; but, when she heard the carriage-wheels, she +stood up with erect ears, listening for Eleanor's footfall on the +pavement or the cheery sound of Bertie's voice welcoming her in. +Had she heard either, she would have felt that all was right; but +neither sound was there for her to hear. She heard only her +father's slow step, as he ponderously let himself down from the +carriage, and slowly walked along the hall, till he got into his +own private room on the ground floor. 'Send Miss Stanhope to me,' +he said to the servant. + +'There's something wrong now,' said Madeline, who was lying on her +sofa in the back drawing-room. + +'It's all up with Bertie,' replied Charlotte. 'I know, I know,' she +said to the servant, as he brought up the message. 'Tell my father +I will be with him immediately.' + +'Bertie's wooing gone astray,' said Madeline. 'I knew it would.' + +'It has been his own fault then. She was ready enough. I am quite +sure,' said Charlotte, with that sort of ill-nature which is not +uncommon when one woman speaks of another. + +'What will you say to him now?' By 'him' the signora meant their +father. + +'That will be as I find him. He was ready to pay two hundred pounds +for Bertie, to stave off the worst of his creditors, if this +marriage had gone on. Bertie must now have the money instead, and +go and take his chances.' + +'Where is he now?' + +'Heaven knows! Smoking at the bottom of Mr Thorne's ha-ha, or +philandering with some of those Miss Chadwicks. Nothing will ever +make an impression on him. But he'll be furious if I don't go +down.' + +'No; nothing ever will. But don't be long, Charlotte, for I want my +tea.' + +And so Charlotte went down to her father. There was a very black +cloud on the old man's brow; blacker than his daughter could ever +remember to have seen there. He was sitting in his own arm-chair, +not comfortably over the fire, but in the middle of the room, +waiting till she should come and listen to him. + +'What has become of your brother?' he said, as soon as the door was +shut. + +'I should rather ask you,' said Charlotte. 'I left you both at +Ullathorne, when I came away. What have you done with Mrs Bold?' + +'Mrs Bold! nonsense. The woman has gone home as she ought to do. +And heartily glad I am that she should not be sacrificed to so +heartless a reprobate.' + +'Oh, papa!' + +'A heartless reprobate! Tell me now where he is, and what he is +going to do. I have allowed myself to be fooled between you. +Marriage indeed! Who on earth that has money, or credit, or respect +in the world to lose, would marry him?' + +'It is no use your scolding me, papa. I have done the best I could +for him and you.' + +'And Madeline is nearly as bad,' said the prebendary, who was in +truth, very, very angry. + +'Oh, I suppose we are all bad,' replied Charlotte. + +The old man emitted a huge leonine sigh. If they were all bad, who +had made them so? If they were unprincipled, selfish, and +disreputable, who was to be blamed for the education which had had +so injurious an effect. + +'I know you'll ruin me among you,' said he. + +'Why, papa, what nonsense that is. You are living within your +income this minute, and if there are any new debts, I don't know of +them. I am sure there ought to be none, for we are dull enough +here.' + +'Are those bills of Madeline's paid?' + +'No, they are not. Who was to pay them?' + +'Her husband may pay them.' + +'Her husband! Would you wish me to tell her you say so? Do you wish +to turn her out of your home?' + +'I wish she would know how to behave herself.' + +'Why, what on earth has she done now? Poor Madeline! To-day is only +the second time she has gone out since we came to this vile town.' + +He then sat silent for a time, thinking in what shape he would +declare his resolve. 'Well, papa,' said Charlotte, 'shall I stay +here, or may I go up-stairs and give mamma her tea?' + +'You are in your brother's confidence. Tell me what he is going to +do?' + +'Nothing, that I am aware of.' + +'Nothing--nothing! Nothing but eat and drink, and spend every +shilling of my money he can lay his hands upon. I have made up my +mind, Charlotte. He shall eat and drink no more in this house.' + +'Very well. Then I suppose he must go back to Italy.' + +'He may go where he pleases.' + +'That's easily said, papa; but what does it mean? You can't let him +live--' + +'It means this,' said the doctor, speaking more loudly than was his +wont, and with wrath flashing from his eyes; 'that as sure as God +rules in heaven, I will not maintain him any longer in idleness.' + +'Oh, ruling in heaven!' said Charlotte. 'It is no use talking about +that. You must rule him here on earth; and the question is, how you +can do it. You can't turn him out of the house penniless, to beg +about the street.' + +'He may beg where he likes.' + +'He must go back to Carrara. That is the cheapest place he can live +at, and nobody there will give him credit for above two or three +hundred pauls. But you must let him have the means of going.' + +'As sure as--' + +'Oh papa, don't swear. You know you must do it. You were ready to +pay two hundred pounds for him if the marriage came off. Half that +will start him to Carrara.' + +'What? Give him a hundred pounds!' + +'You know we are all in the dark, papa,' said she, thinking it +expedient to change the conversation. 'For anything we know, he may +be at this moment engaged to Mrs Bold.' + +'Fiddlestick,' said the father, who had seen the way in which Mrs +Bold had got into the carriage, while his son stood apart without +even offering her his hand. + +'Well, then, he must go to Carrara.' said Charlotte. + +Just at this moment the lock of the front door was heard, and +Charlotte's quick care detected her brother's cat-like step in the +hall. She said nothing, feeling that for the present Bertie had +better keep out of her father's way. But Dr Stanhope also heard the +sound of the lock. + +'Who's that?' he demanded. Charlotte made no reply, and he asked +again. 'Who is that that has just come in? Open the door. Who is +it?' + +'I suppose it is Bertie.' + +'Bid him to come here,' said the father. But Bertie, who was close +to the door and heard the call, required no further bidding, but +walked in with a perfectly unconcerned and cheerful air. It was +this peculiar insouciance which angered Dr Stanhope, even more than +his son's extravagance. + +'Well, sir,' said the doctor. + +'And how did you get home, sir, with your fair companion?' said +Bertie. 'I suppose she is not up-stairs, Charlotte?' + +'Bertie,' said Charlotte, 'papa is in no humour for joking. He is +very angry with you.' + +'Angry!' said Bertie, raising his eyebrows, as though he had never +yet given his parent cause for a single moment's uneasiness. + +'Sit down, if you please, sir,' said Dr Stanhope very sternly, but +not now very loudly. 'And I'll trouble you to sit down, too, +Charlotte. Your mother can wait for her tea a few minutes.' + +Charlotte sat down on the chair nearest the door, in somewhat of a +perverse sort of manner; as much as though she would say--Well, +here I am; you shan't say I don't do as I am bid; but I'll be +whipped if I give way to you. And she was determined not to give +way. She too was angry with Bertie; but she was not the less ready +on that account to defend him from his father. Bertie also sat +down. He drew his chair close to the library table, upon which he +put his elbow, and then resting his face comfortably on one hand, +he began drawing little pictures on a sheet of paper with the +other. Before the scene was over had had completed admirable +figures of Miss Thorne, Mrs Proudie, and Lady De Courcy, and began +a family piece to comprise the whole set of Lookalofts. + +'Would it suit you, sir,' said the father, 'to give me some idea as +to what your present intentions are?--what way of living you +propose to yourself?' + +'I'll do anything you suggest, sir,' said Bertie. + +'No, I shall suggest nothing further. My time for suggesting has +gone by. I have only one order to give, and that is, that you leave +my house.' + +'To-night?' said Bertie; and the simple tone of the question left +the doctor without any adequately dignified method of reply. + +'Papa does not quite mean to-night,' said Charlotte, 'at least I +suppose not.' + +'To-morrow perhaps,' suggested Bertie. + +'Yes sir, to-morrow,' said the doctor. 'You shall leave this to-morrow.' + +'Very well, sir. Will the 4.30 P.M. train be soon enough?' said +Bertie, as he asked, put the finishing touch to Miss Thorne's +high-heeled boots. + +'You may go how and when and where you please, so that you leave my +house to-morrow. You have disgraced me, sir; you have disgraced +yourself, and me, and your sisters.' + +'I am glad at least sir, that I have not disgraced my mother,' said +Bertie. + +Charlotte could hardly keep her countenance; but the doctor's brow +grew still blacker than ever. Bertie was executing his chef d'ouvre +in the delineation of Mrs Proudie's nose and mouth. + +'You are a heartless reprobate, sir; a heartless, thankless, +good-for-nothing reprobate. I have done with you. You are my +son--that I cannot help; but you shall have no more part or parcel +in me as my child, nor I in you as your father.' + +'Oh, papa, papa! You must not, shall not say so,' said Charlotte. + +'I will say so, and do say so,' said the father, rising from his +chair. 'And now leave the room, sir.' + +'Stop, stop,' said Charlotte; 'why don't you speak, Bertie? Why +don't you look up and speak? It is your manner that makes him so +angry.' + +'He is perfectly indifferent to all decency, to all propriety,' +said the doctor; and then he shouted out, 'Leave the room, sir! Do +you hear what I say?' + +'Papa, papa, I will not let you part so. I know you will be sorry +for it.' And then she added, getting up and whispering into his +ear. 'Is he only to blame? Think of that. We have made our own bed, +and, such as it is, we must lie on it. It is no use for us to +quarrel among ourselves,' and as she finished her whisper, Bertie +finished off the countess's bustle, which was so well done that it +absolutely seemed to be swaying to and fro on the paper with its +usual lateral motion. + +'My father is angry at the present time,' said Bertie, looking up +for a moment from his sketches, 'because I am not going to marry +Mrs Bold. What can I say on the matter? It is true that I am not +going to marry her. In the first place--' + +'That is not true, sir,' said Dr Stanhope; 'but I will not argue +with you.' + +'You were angry just this moment because I would not speak,' said +Bertie, going on with a young Lookaloft. + +'Give over drawing,' said Charlotte, going up to him and taking the +paper from under his hand. The caricature, however, she preserved, +and showed them afterwards to the friends of the Thornes, the +Proudies, and De Courcys. Bertie, deprived of his occupation, threw +himself back in his chair and waited further orders. + +'I think it will certainly be for the best that Bertie should leave +this at once, perhaps to-morrow,' said Charlotte; 'but pray, papa, +let us arrange some scheme together.' + +'If he will leave to-morrow, I will give him L 10, and he shall be +paid L 5 a month by the banker at Carrara as long as he stays +permanently in that place.' + +'Well, sir! it won't be long,' said Bertie; 'for I shall be starved +to death in about three months.' + +'He must have marble to work with,' said Charlotte. + +'I have plenty there in the studio to last me three months,' said +Bertie. 'It will be no use attempting anything large in so limited +a time; unless I do my own tombstone.' + +Terms, however, were ultimately come to, somewhat more liberal than +those proposed, and the doctor was induced to shake hands with his +son, and bid him good-night. Dr Stanhope would not go up to tea, +but had it brought to him in his study by his daughter. + +But Bertie went up-stairs and spent a pleasant evening. He finished +the Lookalofts, greatly to the delight of his sisters, though the +manner of portraying their decollete dresses was not the most +refined. Finding how matters were going, he by degrees allowed it +to escape from him that he had not pressed his suit upon the widow +in a very urgent way. + +'I suppose, in point of fact, you never proposed at all?' said +Charlotte. + +'Oh, she understood that she might have me if she wished,' said he. + +'And she didn't wish,' said the signora. + +'You have thrown me over in the most shameful manner,' said +Charlotte. 'I suppose you told her all about my little plan?' + +'Well, it came out somehow; at least the most of it.' + +'There's an end of that alliance,' said Charlotte; 'but it doesn't +matter much. I suppose we shall all be back in Como soon.' + +'I am sure I hope so,' said the signora; 'I'm sick of the sight of +black coats. If that Mr Slope comes here any more, he'll be the +death of me.' + +'You've been the ruin of him, I think,' said Charlotte. + +'And as for a second black-coated lover of mine, I am going to make +a present to him of another lady with most singular +disinterestedness.' + +The next day, true to his promise, Bertie packed up and went of by +the 4.30 P.M. train, with L 20 in his pocket, bound for the marble +quarries of Carrara. And so he disappears from our scene. + +At twelve o'clock on the day following that on which Bertie went, +Mrs Bold, true also to her word, knocked at Dr Stanhope's door with +a timid hand and palpitating heart. She was at once shown up to the +back drawing-room, the folding doors of which were closed, so that +in visiting the signora, Eleanor was not necessarily thrown into +any communication with those in the front room. As she went up the +stairs, she none of the family, and was so far saved much of the +annoyance which she had dreaded. + +'This is very kind of you, Mrs Bold; very kind, after what has +happened,' said the lady on the sofa with her sweetest smile. + +'You wrote in such a strain that I could not but come to you.' + +'I did, I did; I wanted to force you to see me.' + +'Well, signora; I am here.' + +'How cold you are to me. But I suppose I must put up with that. I +know you think you have reason to be displeased with us all. Poor +Bertie! if you knew all, you would not be angry with him.' + +'I am not angry with your brother--not in the least. But I hope you +did not send for me to talk about him.' + +'If you are angry with Charlotte, that is worse; for you have no +warmer friend in all Barchester. But I did not send for you to talk +about this--pray bring your chair nearer, Mrs Bold, so that I may +look at you. It is so unnatural to see you keeping so far off from +me.' + +Eleanor did as she was bid, and brought her chair closer to the +sofa. + +'And now, Mrs Bold, I am going to tell you something which you may +think indelicate; but yet I know that I am right in doing so.' + +Hereupon Mrs Bold said nothing, but felt inclined to shake in her +chair. The signora, she knew, was not very particular, and that +which to her appeared to be indelicate might to Mrs Bold appear to +be extremely indecent. + +'I believe you know Mr Arabin?' + +Mrs Bold would have given the world not to blush, but her blood was +not at her own command. She did blush up to her forehead, and the +signora, who had made her sit in a special light in order that she +might watch her, saw that she did so. + +'Yes--I am acquainted with him. That is, slightly. He is an +intimate friend of Dr Grantly, and Dr Grantly is my +brother-in-law.' + +'Well; if you know Mr Arabin, I am sure you must like him. I know +and like him much. Everybody that knows him must like him.' + +Mrs Bold felt it quite impossible to say anything in reply to this. +Her blood was rushing about her body she knew not how or why. She +felt as though she were swinging in her chair; and she knew that +she was not only red in the face, but also almost suffocated with +heat. However, she sat still and said nothing. + +'How stiff you are with me, Mrs Bold,' said the signora; 'and I the +while am doing for you all that one woman can do to serve another.' + +A kind of thought came over the widow's mind that perhaps the +signora's friendship was real; and that at any rate it could not +hurt her; and another kind of thought, a glimmering of a thought, +came to her also,--that Mr Arabin was to precious to be lost. She +despised the signora; but might she not stoop to conquer? It should +be but the smallest fraction of a stoop! + +'I don't want to be stiff,' she said, 'but your questions are so +very singular.' + +'Well, then, I will ask you one more singular still,' said Madeline +Neroni, raising herself on her elbow and turning her own face full +upon her companion's. 'Do you love him, love him with all your +heart and soul, with all the love your bosom can feel? For I can +tell you that he loves you, worships you, thinks of you and nothing +else, is now thinking of you as he attempts to write his sermon for +next Sunday's preaching. What would I not give to be loved in such +a way by such a man, that is, if I were an object for any man to +love!' + +Mrs Bold got up from her seat and stood speechless before the woman +who was now addressing her in this impassioned way. When the +signora thus alluded to herself, the widow's heart was softened, +and she put her own hand, as though caressingly, on that of her +companion which was resting on the table. The signora grasped it +and went on speaking. + +'What I tell you is God's own truth; and it is for you to use it as +may be best for your own happiness. But you must not betray me. He +knows nothing of this. He knows nothing of my knowing his inmost +heart. He is simple as a child in these matters. He told me his +secret in a thousand ways because he could not dissemble; but he +does not dream that has told it. You know it now, and I advise you +to use it.' + +Eleanor returned the pressure of the other's hand with an +infinitesimal soupcon of a squeeze. + +'And remember,' said the signora, 'he is not like other men. + You must not expect him to come to you with vows and oaths and +pretty presents, to kneel at your feet, and kiss your shoe-strings. +If you want that, there are plenty to do it; but he won't be one of +them.' Eleanor's bosom nearly burst with a sigh; but Madeline, not +heeding her, went on. 'With him, yea will stand for yea, and nay +for nay. Though his heart should break for it, the woman who shall +reject him once, will have rejected him once and for all. Remember +that. And now, Mrs Bold, I will not keep you, for you are +flattered. I partly guess what use you will make of what I have +said to you. If ever you are a happy wife in that man's house, we +shall be far away; but I shall expect you to write me one line to +say that you have forgiven the sins of the family.' + +Eleanor half whispered that she would, and then without uttering +another word, crept out of the room, and down the stairs, opened +the front door for herself without hearing or seeing any one, and +found herself in the close. + +It would be difficult to analyse Eleanor's feelings as she walked +home. She was nearly stupefied by the things that had been said to +her. She felt sore that her heart should have been so searched and +riddled by a comparative stranger, by a woman whom she had never +liked and never could like. She was mortified that the man whom she +owned to herself that she loved should have concealed his love from +her and shown it to another. There was much to vex her proud +spirit. But there was, nevertheless, an under-stratum of joy in all +this which buoyed her up wondrously. She tried if she could +disbelieve what Madame Neroni had said to her; but she found that +she could not. It was true; it must be true. She could not, would +not, did not doubt it. + +On one point she fully resolved to follow the advice given her. If +it should ever please Mr Arabin to put such a question to her as +suggested, her 'yea' should be 'yea'. Would not all her miseries be +at an end, if she could talk of them to him openly, with her hand +resting on his shoulder? + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +MR SLOPE'S PARTING INTERVIEW WITH THE SIGNORA + +On the following day the signora was in her pride. She was dressed +in her brightest of morning dresses, and had quite a levee round +her couch. It was a beautifully bright October afternoon; all the +gentlemen of the neighbourhood were in Barchester, and those who +had the entry of Dr Stanhope's house were in the signora's back +drawing-room. Charlotte and Mrs Stanhope were in the front room, +and such of the lady's squires as could not for the moment get near +the centre of attraction had to waste their fragrance on the mother +and sister. + +The first who came and the last to leave was Mr Arabin. This was +the second visit he had paid to Madame Neroni since he had met her +at Ullathorne. He came he knew not why, to talk about he knew not +what. But, in truth, the feelings which now troubled him were new +to him, and he could not analyse them. It may seem strange that he +should thus come dangling about Madame Neroni because he was in +love with Mrs Bold; but it was nevertheless the fact; and though he +could not understand why he did so, Madame Neroni understood it +well enough. + +She had been gentle and kind to him, and had encouraged his +staying. Therefore he stayed on. She pressed his hand when he first +greeted her; and whispered to him little nothings. And then her +eye, brilliant and bright, now mirthful, now melancholy, and +invincible in either way! What man with warm feelings, blood +unchilled, and a heat not guarded by a triple steel of experience +could have withstood those eyes! The lady, it is true, intended to +do no mortal injury; she merely chose to inhale a slight breath of +incense before she handed the casket over to another. Whether Mrs +Bold would willingly have spared even so much is another question. + +And then came Mr Slope. All the world now knew that Mr Slope was a +candidate for the deanery, and that he was generally considered to +be the favourite. Mr Slope, therefore, walked rather largely upon +the earth. He gave to himself a portly air, such as might become a +dean, spoke but little to other clergymen, and shunned the bishop +as much as possible. How the meagre little prebendary, and the +burly chancellor, and all the minor canons and vicars choral, ay, +and all the choristers too, cowered and shook and walked about with +long faces when they read or heard of that article of the Jupiter. +Now were coming the days when nothing would avail to keep the +impure spirit from the cathedral pulpit. That pulpit would indeed +be his own. Precentors, vicars, and choristers might hang up their +harps on the willows. Ichabod! Ichabod! The glory of their house +was departing from them. + +Mr Slope, great as he was with embryo grandeur, still came to see +the signora. Indeed, he could not keep himself away. He dreamed of +that soft hand which had kissed so often, and of the imperial brow +which his lips had once pressed, and he then dreamed also of +further favours. + +And Mr Thorne was there also. It was the first visit he had ever +paid to the signora, and he made it not without due preparation. Mr +Thorne was a gentleman usually precise in his dress, and prone to +make the most of himself in an unpretending way. The grey hairs in +his whiskers were eliminated perhaps once a month; those on his +head were softened by a mixture which we will not call a dye; it +was only a wash. His tailor lived in St James's Street, and his +bootmaker at the corner of that street and Piccadilly. He was +particular in the article of gloves, and the getting up of his +shirts was a matter not lightly thought of in the Ullathorne +laundry. On the occasion of the present visit he had rather +overdone his usual efforts, and caused some little uneasiness to +his sister, who had not hitherto received very cordially the +proposition for a lengthened visit from the signora at Ullathorne. + +There were others also there--young men about the city who had not +much to do, and who were induced by the lady's charms to neglect +that little; but all gave way to Mr Thorne, who was somewhat of a +grand signor, as a country gentleman always is in a provincial +city. + +'Oh, Mr Thorne, this is so kind of you!' said the signora. 'You +promised to come; but I really did not expect it. I thought you +country gentlemen never kept your pledges.' + +'Oh, yea, sometimes,' said Mr Thorne, looking rather sheepish, and +making salutations a little too much in the style of the last +century. + +'You deceive none but your consti-stit-stit; what do you call the +people that carry you about in chairs and pelt you with eggs and +apples when they make you a member of parliament?' + +'One another also, sometimes, signora,' said Mr Slope, with a +deanish sort of smirk on his face. 'Country gentlemen do deceive +one another sometimes, don't they, Mr Thorne?' + +Mr Thorne gave him a look which undressed him completely for the +moment; but he soon remembered his high hopes, and recovering +himself quickly, sustained his probable coming dignity by a laugh +at Mr Thorne's expense. + +'I never deceive a lady, at any rate,' said Mr Thorne; 'especially +when the gratification of my own wishes is so strong an inducement +to keep me true, as it now is.' + +Mr Thorne went on thus awhile, with antediluvian grimaces and +compliments which he had picked up from Sir Charles Grandison, and +the signora at every grimace and at every bow smiled a little smile +and bowed a little bow. Mr Thorne, however, was kept standing at +the foot of the couch, for the new dean sat in the seat of honour +near the table. Mr Arabin the while was standing with his back to +the fire, his coat tails under his arms, gazing at her with all his +eyes--not quite in vain, for every now and again a glance came up +at him, bright as a meteor out of heaven. + +'Oh, Mr Thorne, you promised to let me introduce my little girl to +you. Can you spare a moment?--will you see her now?' + +Mr Thorne assured her that he could, and would see the young lady +with the greatest pleasure in life. 'Mr Slope, might I trouble you +to ring the bell?' said she; and when Mr Slope got up she looked at +Mr Thorne and pointed to the chair. Mr Thorne, however, was much +too slow to understand her, and Mr Slope would have recovered his +seat had not the signora, who never chose to be unsuccessful, +somewhat summarily ordered him out of it. + +'Oh, Mr Slope, I must ask you to let Mr Thorne sit here just for a +moment or two. I am sure you will pardon me. We can take a liberty +with you this week. Next week, you know, when you move into the +dean's house, we shall all be afraid of you.' + +Mr Slope, with an air of much indifference, rose from his seat, +and, walking into the next room, became greatly interested in Mrs +Stanhope's worsted work. + +And then the child was brought in. She was a little girl, about +eight years of age, like her mother, only that her enormous eyes +were black, and her hair quite jet. Her complexion too was very +dark, and bespoke her foreign blood. She was dressed in the most +outlandish and extravagant way in which clothes could be put on a +child's back. She had great bracelets on her naked little arms, a +crimson fillet braided with gold round her head, and scarlet shoes +with high heels. Her dress was all flounces, and stuck out from +her as though the object were to make it lie off horizontally from +her little hips. It did not nearly cover her knees; but this was +atoned for by a loose pair of drawers which seemed made throughout +of lace; then she had on pink silk stockings. It was thus that the +last of the Neros was habitually dressed at the hour when visitors +were wont to call. + +'Julia, my love,' said the mother,--Julia was ever a favourite name +with the ladies of the family, 'Julia, my love, come here. I was +telling you about the beautiful party poor mamma went to. This is +Mr Thorne; will you give him a kiss, dearest?' + +Julia put up her face to be kissed, as she did to all her mother's +visitors; and then Mr Thorne found that he had got her, and, which +was much more terrible to him, all her finery, into his arms. The +lace and starch crumpled against his waistcoat and trousers, the +greasy black curls hung upon his cheek, and one of the bracelet +clasps scratched his ear. He did not at all know how to hold her. +However, he had on other occasions been compelled to fondle little +nieces and nephews, and now set about the task in the mode he always +used. + +'Diddle, diddle, diddle, diddle,' said he, putting the child on one +knee, and working away with it as though he were turning a +knife-grinder's wheel with his foot. + +'Mamma, mamma,' said Julia, crossly. 'I don't want to be diddle +diddled. Let me go, you naughty old man, you.' + +Poor Mr Thorne put the child down quietly on the ground, and drew +back his chair; Mr Slope, who had returned to the pole star that +attracted him, laughed aloud; Mr Arabin winced and shut his eyes; +and the signora pretended not to hear her daughter. + +'Go to Aunt Charlotte, lovey,' said the mamma, 'and ask her it if +is not time for you to go out.' + +But little Julia, though she had not exactly liked the nature of Mr +Thorne's attention, was accustomed to be played with by gentlemen, +and did not relish the idea of being sent so soon to her aunt. + +'Julia, go when I tell you, my dear.' But Julia still went pouting +about the room. 'Charlotte, do come and take her,' said the +signora. 'She must go out; and the days get so short now.' And thus +ended the much-talked of interview between Mr Thorne and the last +of the Neros. + +Mr Thorne recovered from the child's crossness sooner than from Mr +Slope's laughter. He could put up with being called an old man by +an infant, but he did not like to be laughed at by the bishop's +chaplain, even though that chaplain was about to become a dean. He +said nothing, but he showed plainly enough that he was angry. + +The signora was ready enough to avenge him. 'Mr Slope,' said she, +'I hear that you are triumphing on all sides.' + +'How so,' said he smiling. He did not dislike being talked to about +the deanery, though, of course, he strongly denied the imputation. + +'You carry the day both in love and war.' Mr Slope hereupon did not +look quite so satisfied as he had done. + +'Mr Arabin,' continued the signora, 'don't you think Mr Slope is a +very lucky man?' + +'Not more than he deserves, I am sure,' said Mr Arabin. + +'Only think, Mr Thorne, he is to be our new dean; of course we all +know that.' + +'Indeed, signora,' said Mr Slope, 'we all know nothing about it. I +can assure you I myself--' + +'He is to be the new dean--there is no manner of doubt of it, Mr +Thorne.' + +'Hum,' said Mr Thorne. + +'Passing over the heads of old men like my father and Archdeacon +Grantly--' + +'Oh--oh!' said Mr Slope. + +'The archdeacon would not accept it,' said Mr Arabin; whereupon Mr +Slope smiled abominably, and said, as plainly as a look could +speak, that the grapes were sour. + +'Going over all our heads,' continued the signora; 'for, of course, +I consider myself one of the chapter.' + +'If I am ever dean,' said Mr Slope--'that is, were I ever to become +so, I should glory in such a canoness.' + +'Oh, Mr Slope, stop; I haven't half done. There is another canoness +for you to glory in. Mr Slope is not only to have the deanery, but +a wife to put in it.' + +Mr Slope again looked disconcerted. + +'A wife with a large fortune, too. It never rains but it pours, +does it Mr Thorne?' + +'No, never,' said Mr Thorne, who did not quite relish talking about +Mr Slope and his affairs. + +'When will it be, Mr Slope?' + +'When will what be?' said he. + +'Oh! we know when the affair of the dean will be: a week will +settle that. The new hat, I have no doubt, has already been +ordered. But when will the marriage come off?' + +'Do you mean mine or Mr Arabin's,' said he, striving to be +facetious. + +'Well, just then I meant yours, though perhaps, after all, Mr +Arabin's may be first. But we know nothing of him. He is too close +for any of us. Now all is open and above board with you; which, by +the bye, Mr Arabin, I beg to tell you I like much the best. He who +runs can read that Mr Slope is a favoured lover. Come, Mr Slope, +when is the widow to be made Mrs Dean?' + +To Mr Arabin this badinage was peculiarly painful; and yet he could +not tear himself away and leave it. He believed, still believed +with that sort of belief which the fear of a thing engenders, that +Mrs Bold would probably become the wife of Mr Slope. Of Mr Slope's +little adventure in the garden he knew nothing. For aught he knew, +Mr Slope might have had an adventure of quite a different +character. He might have thrown himself at the widow's feet, been +accepted, and then returned to town a jolly, thriving wooer. The +signora's jokes were bitter enough to Mr Slope, but they were quite +as bitter to Mr Arabin. He still stood leaning against the +fire-place, fumbling with his hands in his trouser's pockets. + +'Come, come, Mr Slope, don't be so bashful,' continued the signora. +'We all know that you proposed to the lady the other day at +Ullathorne. Tell us with what words she accepted you. Was it with a +simple "yes", or with two "no, no's", which makes an affirmative? +or did silence give consent: or did she speak out with that spirit +which so well becomes a widow, and say openly, "By my troth, sir, +you shall make me Mrs Slope as soon as it is your pleasure to do +so"?' + +Mr Slope had seldom in his life felt himself less at his case. +There sat Mr Thorne, laughing silently. There stood his old +antagonist, Mr Arabin, gazing at him with all his eyes. There round +the door between the two rooms were clustered a little group of +people, including Miss Stanhope and the Rev. Messrs. Gray and +Green, all listening to his discomfiture. He knew that it depended +solely on his own wit whether or no he could throw the joke back +upon the lady. He knew that it stood him to do so if he possibly +could; but he said not a word. ''Tis conscience that makes cowards +of us all.' He felt on his cheek the sharp points of Eleanor's +fingers, and did not know who might have seen the blow, who might +have told the tale to this pestilent woman who took such delight in +jeering him. He stood there, therefore, red as a carbuncle and mute +as a fish; grinning just sufficiently to show his teeth; an object +of pity. + +But the signora had no pity; she knew nothing of mercy. Her present +object was to put Mr Slope down, and she was determined to do it +thoroughly, now that she had him in her power. + +'What, Mr Slope, no answer? Why it can't possibly be that this +woman has been fool enough to refuse you? She surely can't be +looking out after a bishop. But I see how it is, Mr Slope. Widows +are proverbially cautious. You should have let her alone till the +new hat was on your head; till you could show her the key of the +deanery.' + +'Signora,' said he at last, trying to speak in a tone of dignified +reproach, 'you really permit yourself to talk on such solemn +subjects in a very improper way.' + +'Solemn subjects--what solemn subjects? Surely a dean's hat is not +such a solemn subject.' + +'I have no aspirations such as those you impute to me. Perhaps you +will drop the subject.' + +'Oh, certainly, Mr Slope; but one word first. Go to her again with +the prime minister's letter in your pocket. I'll wager my shawl to +your shovel she does not refuse you then.' + +'I must say, signora, that I think you are speaking of the lady in +a very unjustifiable manner.' + +'And one other piece of advice, Mr Slope; I'll only offer you one +other;' and then she commenced singing-- + +'It's gude to be merry and wise, Mr Slope, It's gude to be honest +and true; It's gude to be off with the old love, Mr Slope, Before +you are on with the new-- + +'Ha, ha, ha!' + +And the signora, throwing herself back on her sofa, laughed +merrily. She little recked how those who heard her would, in their +own imagination, fill up the little history of Mr Slope's first +love. She little cared that some among them might attribute to her +the honour of his earlier admiration. She was tired of Mr Slope and +wanted to get rid of him; she had ground for anger with him, and +she chose to be revenged. + +How Mr Slope got out of that room he never himself knew. He did +succeed ultimately, and probably with some assistance, in getting +him his had and escaping into the air. At last his love for the +signora was cured. Whenever he again thought of her in his dreams, +it was not as of an angel with azure wings. He connected her rather +with fire and brimstone, and though he could still believe her to +be a spirit, he banished her entirely out of heaven, and found a +place for her among the infernal gods. When he weighed in the +balance, as he not seldom did, the two women to whom he had +attached himself in Barchester, the pre-eminent place in his soul's +hatred was usually allotted to the signora. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +THE DEAN ELECT + +During the entire next week Barchester was ignorant who was to be +its new dean on Sunday morning. Mr Slope was decidedly the +favourite; but he did not show himself in the cathedral, and then +he sank a point or two in the betting. On Monday, he got a scolding +from the bishop in the hearing of the servants, and down he went +till nobody would have him at any price; but on Tuesday he received +a letter, in an official cover, marked private, by which he fully +recovered his place in the public favour. On Wednesday, he was said +to be ill, and that did not look well; but on Thursday morning he +went down to the railway station, with a very jaunty air; and when +it was ascertained that he had taken a first-class ticket for +London, there was no longer any room for doubt on the matter. + +While matters were in this state of ferment at Barchester, there +was not much mental comfort at Plumstead. Our friend the archdeacon +had many grounds for inward grief. He was much displeased at the +result of Dr Gwynne's diplomatic mission to the palace, and did not +even scruple to say to his wife that had he gone himself he would +have managed the affair much better. His wife did not agree with +him, but that did not mend the matter. + +Mr Quiverful's appointment to the hospital was, however, a fait +accompli, and Mr Harding's acquiescence in that appointment was not +less so. Nothing would induce Mr Harding to make a public appeal +against the bishop; and the Master of Lazarus quite approved of his +not doing so. + +'I don't know what has come to the Master,' said the archdeacon +over and over again. 'He used to be ready enough to stand up for +his order.' + +'My dear archdeacon,' Mrs Grantly would say in reply, 'what is the +use of always fighting? I really think the Master is right.' The +Master, however, had taken steps of his own, of which neither the +archdeacon nor his wife knew anything. + +'Then Mr Slope's successes were henbane to Dr Grantly; and Mrs +Bold's improprieties were as bad. What would be all the world to +Archdeacon Grantly if Mr Slope should become the Dean of Barchester +and marry his wife's sister! He talked of it, and talked of it till +he was nearly ill. Mrs Grantly almost wished that the marriage was +done and over, so that she might hear no more about it. + +And there was yet another ground of misery which cut him to the +quick, nearly as closely as either of the two others. That paragon +of a clergyman, whom he had bestowed upon St Ewold's, that college +friend of whom he had boasted so loudly, that ecclesiastical knight +before whose lance Mr Slope was to fall and bite the dust, that +worthy bulwark of the church as it should be, that honoured +representative of Oxford's best spirit, was--so at least his wife +had told him half a dozen times--misconducting himself! + +Nothing had been seen of Mr Arabin at Plumstead for the last week, +but a good deal had, unfortunately, been heard of him. + As soon as Mrs Grantly had found herself alone with the +archdeacon, on the evening of the Ullathorne party, she had +expressed herself very forcibly as to Mr Arabin's conduct on that +occasion. He had, she declared, looked and acted and talked very +unlike a decent parish clergyman. At first the archdeacon had +laughed at this, and assured her that she need not trouble herself; +that Mr Arabin would be found to be quite safe. But by degrees he +began to find out that his wife's eyes had been sharper than his +own. Other people coupled the signora's name with that of Mr +Arabin. The meagre little prebendary who lived in the close, told +him to a nicety how often Mr Arabin had visited at Dr Stanhope's, +and how long he had remained on the occasion of each visit. He had +asked after Mr Arabin at the cathedral library, and an officious +little vicar choral had offered to go and see whether he could be +found at Dr Stanhope's. Rumour, when she has contrived to sound the +first note on her trumpet, soon makes a loud peal audible enough. +It was too clear that Mr Arabin had succumbed to the Italian woman, +and that the archdeacon's credit would suffer fearfully if +something were not done to rescue the brand from the burning. +Besides, to give the archdeacon his due, he was really attached to +Mr Arabin, and grieved greatly at his backsliding. + +They were sitting talking over their sorrows, in the drawing-room +before dinner on that day after Mr Slope's departure for London; +and on this occasion Mrs Grantly spoke her mind freely. She had +opinions of her own about parish clergymen, and now thought it +right to give vent to them. + +'It you would have been led by me, archdeacon, you would never have +put a bachelor into St Ewold's.' + +'But, my dear, you don't mean to say that all bachelor clergymen +misbehave themselves.' + +'I don't know that clergymen are so much better than other men,' +said Mrs Grantly. 'It's all very well with a curate whom you have +under your own eye, and whom you can get rid of if he persists in +improprieties.' + +'But Mr Arabin was a fellow, and couldn't have had a wife.' + +'Then I would have found some one who could.' + +'But, my dear, are fellows never to get livings?' + +'Yes, to be sure they are, when they got engaged. I never would put +a young man into a living unless he were married, or engaged to be +married. Now here is Mr Arabin. The whole responsibility lies upon +you.' + +'There is not at this moment a clergyman in all Oxford more +respected for morals and conduct than Arabin.' + +'Oh, Oxford!' said the lady, with a sneer. 'What men choose to do +at Oxford, nobody ever hears of. A man may do very well at Oxford +who would bring disgrace on a parish; and, to tell you the truth, +it seems to me that Mr Arabin is just such a man.' + +The archdeacon groaned deeply, but he had no further answer to +make. + +'You really must speak to him, archdeacon. Only think what the +Thornes will say if they hear that their parish clergyman spends +his whole time philandering with this woman.' + +The archdeacon groaned again. He was a courageous man, and knew +well enough how to rebuke the younger clergymen of the diocese when +necessary. But there was that about Mr Arabin which made the doctor +feel that it would be very difficult to rebuke him with good +effect. + +'You can advise him to find a wife for himself, and he will +understand well enough what that means,' said Mrs Grantly. + +The archdeacon had nothing for it but groaning. There was Mr Slope; +he was going to be made dean; he was going to take a wife; he was +bout to achieve respectability and wealth; and excellent family +mansion, and a family carriage; he would soon be among the +comfortable elite of the ecclesiastical world of Barchester; +whereas his own protege, the true scion of the true church, by whom +he had sworn, would still be a poor vicar, and that with a very +indifferent character for moral conduct! It might be all very well +recommending Mr Arabin to marry, but how would Mr Arabin when +married support a wife? + +Things were ordering themselves thus at Plumstead drawing-room when +Dr and Mrs Grantly were disturbed in their sweet discourse by the +quick rattle of a carriage and a pair of horses on the gravel +sweep. The sound was not that of visitors, whose private carriages +are generally brought up to country-house doors with demure +propriety, but belonged rather to some person or persons who were +in a hurry to reach the house, and had not intention of immediately +leaving it. Guests invited to stay a week, and who were conscious +of arriving after the first dinner bell, would probably approach in +such a manner. So might arrive an attorney with the news of a +granduncle's death, or a son from college with all the fresh +honours of a double first. No one would have had himself driven to +the door of a country house in such a manner who had the slightest +doubt of his own right to force an entry. + +'Who is it?' said Mrs Grantly, looking at her husband. + +'Who on earth can it be?' said the archdeacon to his wife. He then +quietly got up and stood with the drawing-room door open in his +hand. 'Why, it is your father!' + +It was indeed Mr Harding, and Mr Harding alone. He had come by +himself in a post-chaise with a couple of horses from Barchester, +arriving almost after dark, and evidently full of news. His visits +had usually been made in the quietest manner; he had rarely +presumed to come without notice, and had always been driven up in a +modest old green fly, with one horse, that hardly made itself heard +as it crawled up to the hall door. + +'Good gracious, Warden, is it you?' said the archdeacon, forgetting +in his surprise the events of the last few years. 'But come in; +nothing is the matter, I hope?' + +'We are very glad you are come, papa,' said his daughter. 'I'll go +and get your room ready at once.' + +'I an't warden, archdeacon,' said Mr Harding. 'Mr Quiverful is +warden.' + +Oh, I know, I know,' said the archdeacon, petulantly. 'I forgot all +about it at the moment. Is anything the matter?' + +'Don't go at the moment, Susan,' said Mr Harding; 'I have something +to tell you.' + +'The dinner bell will ring in five minutes,' said she. + +'Will it?' said Mr Harding. 'Then, perhaps I had better wait.' he +was big with news which he had come to tell, but which he knew +could not be told without much discussion. He had hurried away to +Plumstead as fast as two horses could bring him, and now, finding +himself there, he was willing to accept the reprieve which dinner +would give him. + +'If you have anything of moment to tell us, said the archdeacon, +'pray let us hear it at once. Has Eleanor gone off?' + +'No, she has not,' said Mr Harding, with a look of great +disclosure. + +'Has Slope been made dean?' + +'No, he has not; but--' + +'But what?' said the archdeacon, who was becoming very impatient. + +'They have--' + +'They have what?' said the archdeacon. + +'They have offered it to me,' said Mr Harding, with a modesty which +almost prevented his speaking. + +'Good heavens!' said the archdeacon, and sank back exhausted in an +easy-chair. + +'My dear, dear, father,' said Mrs Grantly, and threw her arms +around his neck. + +'So I thought I had better come out and consult with you at once,' +said Mr Harding. + +'Consult!' shouted the archdeacon. 'But, my dear Harding, I +congratulate you with my whole heart--with my whole heart. I do +indeed. I never heard anything in my life that gave me so much +pleasure;' and he got hold of both his father-in-law's hands, and +shook them as though he were going to shake them off, and walked +round and round the room, twirling a copy of the Jupiter over his +head, to show his extreme exultation. + +'But--' began Mr Harding. + +'But me no buts,' said the archdeacon. 'I never was so happy in my +life. It was just the proper thing to do. Upon my honour, I'll +never say another word against Lord--the longest day I have to +live.' + +'That's Dr Gwynne's doing, you may be sure,' said Mrs Grantly, who +greatly liked the master of Lazarus, he being an orderly married +man with a large family. + +'I suppose it is,' said the archdeacon. + +'Oh, papa, I am so truly delighted,' said Mrs Grantly, getting up +and kissing her father. + +'But, my dear,' said Mr Harding. It was all in vain that he strove +to speak; nobody would listen to him. + +'Well, Mr Dean,' said the archdeacon, triumphing; 'the deanery +gardens will be some consolation for the hospital elms. Well, poor +Quiverful! I won't begrudge him his good fortune any longer.' + +No, indeed,' said Mrs Grantly. 'Poor woman, she has fourteen +children. I am sure I am very glad they have got it.' + +'So am I,' said Mr Harding. + +'I would give twenty pounds,' said the archdeacon, 'to see how Mr +Slope will look when he hears it.' The idea of Mr Slope's +discomfiture formed no small part of the archdeacon's pleasure. + +At last Mr Harding was allowed to go up-stairs and wash his hands, +having, in fact, said very little of all that he had come out to +Plumstead on purpose to say. Nor could anything more be said till +the servants were gone after dinner. The joy of Dr Grantly was so +uncontrollable that he could not refrain from calling his +father-in-law Mr Dean before the men; and therefore, it was soon +matter for discussion in the lower regions how Mr Harding, instead +of his daughter's future husband, was to be the new dean, and +various were the opinions on the matter. The cook and butler, who +were advanced in years, thought that it was just as it should be; +but the footman and lady's maid, who were younger, thought it was a +great shame that Mr Slope should lose his chance. + +'He's a mean chap all the same,' said the footman; 'and it an't +along of him that I says so. But I always did admire the missus's +sister; and she'd well become the situation.' + +While these were the ideas down-stairs, a very great difference of +opinion existed above. As soon as the cloth was drawn and the wine +on the table, Mr Harding made for himself the opportunity of +speaking. It was, however, with much troubling that he said-- + +'It's very kind of Lord--very kind, and I feel it deeply, most +deeply. I am, I must confess, gratified by the offer--' + +'I should think so,' said the archdeacon. + +'But, all the same, I am afraid that I can't accept it.' + +The decanter almost fell from the archdeacon's had upon the table; +and the start he made was so great as to make his wife jump from +her chair. Not accept the deanship! If it really ended in this, +there would be no longer any doubt that his father-in-law was +demented. The question now was whether a clergyman with low rank, +and preferment amounting to less than 200 pounds a year, should +accept high rank, 1200 pounds a year, and one of the most desirable +positions which his profession had to afford! + +'What!' said the archdeacon, gasping for breath, and staring at his +guest as though the violence of his emotion had almost thrown him +into a fit. + +'What!' + +'I do not find myself fit for new duties,' urged Mr Harding. + +'New duties! what duties?' said the archdeacon, with unintended +sarcasm. + +'Oh, papa,' said Mrs Grantly, 'nothing can be easier that what a +dean has to do. Surely you are more active than Dr Trefoil.' + +'He won't have half as much to do as at present,' said Dr Grantly. + +'Did you see what the Jupiter said the other day about young men?' + +'Yes; and I saw that the Jupiter said all that it could to induce +the appointment of Mr Slope. Perhaps you would wish to see Mr Slope +made dean.' + +Mr Harding made no reply to this rebuke, though he felt it +strongly. He had not come over to Plumstead to have further +contention with his son-in-law about Mr Slope, so he allowed it to +pass by. + +'I know I cannot make you understand my feeling,' he said, 'for we +have been cast in different moulds. I may wish that I had your +spirit and energy and power of combatting; but I have not. Every +day that is added to my life increases my wish for peace and rest.' + +'And where on earth can a man have peace and rest if not in a +deanery?' said the archdeacon. + +'People will say I am too old for it.' + +'Good heavens! What people? What need you care for any people?' + +'But I think myself I am too old for any new place.' + +'Dear papa,' said Mrs Grantly, 'men ten years older than you have +been appointed to new situations day after day.' + +'My dear,' said he, 'it is impossible that I should make you +understand my feelings, nor do I pretend to any great virtue in the +matter. The truth is, I want the force of character which might +enable me to stand against the spirit of the times. The call on all +sides now is for young men, and I have not the nerve to put myself +in opposition to the demand. Were the Jupiter, when it hears of my +appointment, to write article after article, setting forth my +incompetency, I am sure it would cost me my reason. I ought to be +able to bear with such things, you will say. Well, my dear, I own +that I ought. But I feel my weakness and I know that I can't. And, +to tell you the truth, I know no more than a child what the dean +has to do.' + +'Pshaw!' exclaimed the archdeacon. + +'Don't be angry with me, archdeacon; don't let us quarrel about it, +Susan. If you knew how keenly I feel the necessity of having to +disoblige you in this matter, you would not be angry with me.' + +This was a dreadful blow to Dr Grantly. Nothing could possibly have +suited him better than having Mr Harding in the deanery. Though he +had never looked down on Mr Harding on account of his great +poverty, he did fully recognise the satisfaction of having those +belonging to him in comfortable positions. It would be much more +suitable that Mr Harding should be dean of Barchester than vicar of +St Cuthbert's and precentor to boot. And then the great +discomfiture of that arch enemy of all that was respectable in +Barchester, of that new low church clerical parvenu that had fallen +amongst them, that alone would be worth more, almost than the +situation itself. It was frightful to think that such unhoped for +good fortune should be marred by the absurd crotchets and +unwholesome hallucinations by which Mr Harding allowed himself to +be led astray. To have the cup so near his lips and then to lose +the drinking of it, was more than Dr Grantly could endure. + +And yet it appears as though he would have to endure it. In vain he +threatened and in vain he coaxed. Mr Harding did not indeed speak +with perfect decision of refusing the proffered glory, but he would +not speak with anything like decision of accepting it. When pressed +again and again, he would again and again allege that he was wholly +unfitted to new duties. It was in vain that the archdeacon tried to +insinuate, though he could not plainly declare, that there were no +new duties to perform. It was in vain he hinted that in all cases +of difficulty he, the archdeacon, was willing and able to guide a +weak-minded dean. Mr Harding seemed to have a foolish idea, not +only that there were new duties to do, and that no one should +accept the place who was not himself prepared to do them. + +The conference ended in an understanding that Mr Harding should at +once acknowledge the letter he had received from the minister's +private secretary, and should beg that he might be allowed two days +to make up his mind; and that during those two days the matter +should be considered. + +On the following morning the archdeacon was to drive Mr Harding +back to Barchester. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +MISS THORNE SHOWS HER TALENT FOR MATCH-MAKING + +On Mr Harding's return to Barchester from Plumstead, which was +effected by him in due course in company with the archdeacon, some +tidings of a surprising nature met him. He was, during the journey, +subjected to such a weight of unanswerable argument, all of which +went to prove that it was his bounden duty not to interfere with +the paternal government that was so anxious to make him a dean, +that when he arrived at the chemist's door in High Street, he +barely knew which way to turn himself in the matter. But, perplexed +as he was, he was doomed to further perplexity. He found a note +there from his daughter, begging him to most urgently to come to +her immediately. But we must again go back a little in our story. + +Miss Thorne had not been slow to hear the rumours respecting Mr +Arabin, which had so much disturbed the happiness of Mrs Grantly. +And she, also, was unhappy to think that her parish clergyman +should be accused of worshipping a strange goddess. She, also, was +of opinion, that rectors and vicars should all be married, and with +that good-natured energy which was characteristic of her, she put +her wits to work to find a fitting match for Mr Arabin. Mrs +Grantly, in this difficulty, could think of no better remedy than a +lecture from the archdeacon. Miss Thorne thought that a young lady, +marriageable, and with a dowry, might be of more efficacy. In +looking through the catalogue of her unmarried friends, who might +possibly be in want of a husband, and might also be fit for such a +promotion as a country parsonage affords, she could think of no one +more eligible than Mrs Bold; and, consequently, losing no time, she +went into Barchester on the day of Mr Slope's discomfiture, the +same day that her brother, had had his interesting interview with +the last of the Neros, and invited Mrs Bold to bring her nurse and +baby to Ullathorne and make a protracted visit. + +Miss Thorne suggested a month or two, intending to use her +influence afterwards in prolonging it so as to last out the winter, +in order that Mr Arabin might have an opportunity of becoming +fairly intimate with his intended bride. 'We'll have Mr Arabin +too,' said Miss Thorne to herself; 'and before the spring they'll +know each other; and in twelve or eighteen months' time, if all +goes well, Mrs Bold will be domiciled at St Ewold's'; and then the +kind-hearted lady gave herself some not undeserved praise for her +matching genius. + +Eleanor was taken a little by surprise, but the matter ended in her +promising to go to Ullathorne, for at any rate a week or two; and +on the day previous to that on which her father drove out to +Plumstead, she had had herself driven out to Ullathorne. + +Miss Thorne would not perplex her with her embryo lord on that same +evening, thinking that she would allow her a few hours to make +herself at home; but on the following morning Mr Arabin arrived. +'And now,' said Miss Thorne to herself,' I must contrive to throw +them in each other's way.' That same day, after dinner, Eleanor, +with an assumed air of dignity which she could no maintain, with +tears that she could not suppress, with a flutter which she could +not conquer, and a joy which she could not hide, told Miss Thorne +that she was engaged to marry Mr Arabin, and that it behoved her to +get back home to Barchester as quick as she could. + +To say simply that Miss Thorne was rejoiced at the success of the +schemed, would give a very faint idea of her feelings on the +occasion. My readers may probably have dreamt before now that they +have had before them some terrible long walk to accomplish, some +journey of twenty or thirty miles, an amount of labour frightful to +anticipate, and that immediately on starting they have ingeniously +found some accommodating short cut which have brought them without +fatigue to their work's end in five minutes. Miss Thorne's waking +feelings were somewhat of the same nature. My readers may perhaps +have had to do with children, and may on some occasion have +promised to their young charges some great gratification intended +to come off, perhaps at the end of the winter, or at the beginning +of summer. The impatient juveniles, however, will not wait, and +clamorously demand their treat before they go to bed. Miss Thorne +had a sort of feeling that an inexperienced gunner, who has ill +calculated the length of the train that he has laid. The gunpowder +exploded much too soon and poor Miss Thorne felt that she was blown +up by the strength of her own petard. + +Miss Thorne had had lovers of her own, but they had been gentlemen +of old-fashioned and deliberate habits. Miss Thorne's heart also +had not always been hard, though she was still a virgin spinster; +but it had never yielded in this way at the first assault. She had +intended to bring together a middle-aged studious clergyman, and a +discreet matron who might possibly be induced to marry again; and +in doing she had thrown fire among tinder. Well, it was all as it +should be, but she did feel perhaps a little put out by the +precipitancy of her own success; and perhaps a little vexed at the +readiness of Mrs Bold to be wooed. + +She said, however, nothing about it to any one, and ascribed it all +to the altered manners of the new age. Their mothers and +grandmothers were perhaps a little more deliberate; but, it was +admitted on all sides that things were conducted very differently +now that in former times. For aught Miss Thorne knew of the matter, +a couple of hours might be quite sufficient under the new regime to +complete that for which she in her ignorance had allotted twelve +months. + +But we must not pass over the wooing so cavalierly. It has been +told, with perhaps tedious accuracy, how Eleanor disposed of two of +her lovers at Ullathorne; and it must also be told with equal +accuracy, and if possible with less tedium, how she encountered Mr +Arabin. + +It cannot be denied that when Eleanor accepted Miss Thorne's +invitation, she remembered that Ullathorne was in the parish of St +Ewold's. Since her interview with the signora she had done little +else than think about Mr Arabin, and the appeal that had been made +to her. She could not bring herself to believe or try to bring +herself to believe, that what she had been told was untrue. Think +of it how she would, she could not but accept it as a fact that Mr +Arabin was fond of her; and then when she went further, and asked +herself the question, she could not but accept it as a fact also +that she was fond of him. If it were destined for her to be the +partner of his hopes and sorrows, to whom she could she look for +friendship so properly as to Miss Thorne? This invitation was like +an ordained step towards the fulfilment of her destiny, and when +she also heard that Mr Arabin was expected to be at Ullathorne on +the following day, it seemed as though all the world was conspiring +in her favour. Well, did she not deserve it? In that affair of Mr +Slope, had not all the world conspired against her? + +She could not, however, make herself easy and at home. When in the +evening after dinner Miss Thorne expatiated on the excellence of Mr +Arabin's qualities, she hinted that any little rumour which might +be ill-naturedly spread abroad concerning him really meant nothing, +Mrs Bold found herself unable to answer. When Miss Thorne went a +little further and declared that she did not know a prettier +vicarage-house in the country than St Ewold's, Mrs Bold remembering +the projected bow-window and the projected priestess still held her +tongue; though her ears tingled with the conviction that all the +world would know that she was in love with Mr Arabin. Well; what +could that matter if they could only meet and tell each other what +each now longed to tell? + +And they did meet. Mr Arabin came early in the day, and found the +two ladies together at work in the drawing-room. Miss Thorne, who +had she known all the truth would have vanished into air at once, +had no conception that her immediate absence would be a blessing, +and remained chatting with them till luncheon-time. Mr Arabin could +talk about nothing but the Signora Neroni's beauty, would discuss +no people but the Stanhopes. This was very distressing to Eleanor, +and not very satisfactory to Miss Thorne. But yet there was +evidence of innocence in his open avowal of admiration. + +And then they had lunch, and then Mr Arabin went out on parish +duty; and Eleanor and Miss Thorne were left to take a walk +together. + +'Do you think the Signora Neroni is so lovely as people say?' +Eleanor asked as they were coming home. + +'She is very beautiful certainly, very beautiful,' Miss Thorne +answered; 'but I do not know that any one considers her lovely. She +is a woman all men would like to look at; but few I imagine would +be glad to take her to their hearths, even were she unmarried and +not afflicted as she is.' + +There was some comfort in this. Eleanor made the most of it till +she got back to the house. She was then left alone in the +drawing-room, and just as it was getting dark Mr Arabin came in. + +It was a beautiful afternoon in the beginning of October, and +Eleanor was sitting in the window to get the advantage of the last +daylight for her novel. There was a fire in the comfortable room, +but the weather was not cold enough to make it attractive; and as +she could see the sun set from where she sat, she was not very +attentive to her book. + +Mr Arabin when he entered stood awhile with his back to the fire in +his usual way, merely uttering a few commonplace remarks about the +beauty of the weather, while he plucked up courage for the more +interesting converse. It cannot probably be said that he had +resolved then and there to make an offer to Eleanor. Men we believe +seldom make such resolve. Mr Slope and Mr Stanhope had done so, it +is true; but gentlemen generally propose without any absolutely +defined determination as to their doing so. Such was now the case +with Mr Arabin. + +'It is a lovely sunset,' said Eleanor, answering him on the +dreadfully trite subject which he had chosen. + +Mr Arabin could not see the sunset from the hearth-rug, as he had +to go close to her. + +'Very lovely,' said he, standing modestly so far away from her s to +avoid touching the flounces of her dress. Then it appeared that he +had nothing further to say; so after gazing for a moment in silence +at the brightness of the setting sun, he returned to the fire. + +Eleanor found that it was quite impossible for herself to commence +a conversation. In the first place she could find nothing to say; +words, which were generally plenty enough with her, would not come +to her relief. And, moreover, do what she could, she could hardly +prevent herself from crying. + +'Do you like Ullathorne?' said Mr Arabin, speaking from the safely +distant position which he had assumed on the hearth-rug. + +'Yes, indeed, very much!' + +'I don't mean Mr and Miss Thorne. I know you like them; but the +style of the house. There is something about old-fashioned +mansions, built as this is, and old-fashioned gardens, that to me +is especially delightful.' + +'I like everything old-fashioned,' said Eleanor; 'old-fashioned +things are so much the honestest.' + +'I don't know about that,' said Mr Arabin, gently laughing. 'That +is an opinion on which very much may be said on either side. It is +strange how widely the world is divided on a subject which so +nearly concerns us all, and which is so close beneath our eyes. +Some think that we are quickly progressing towards perfection, +while others imagine that virtue is disappearing from the earth.' + +'And you, Mr Arabin, what do you think?' said Eleanor. She felt +somewhat surprised at the tone which this conversation was taking, +and yet she was quite relieved at his saying something which +enabled herself to speak without showing any emotion. + +'What do I think, Mrs Bold?' and then he rumbled his money with his +hand in his trousers pockets, and looked and spoke very little like +a thriving lover. 'It is the bane of my life that on important +subjects I acquire no fixed opinion. I think, and think, and go on +thinking; and yet my thoughts are running over in different +directions. I hardly know whether or no we do lead more confidently +than our fathers did on those high hopes to which we profess to +aspire.' + +'I think the world grows more worldly every day,' said Eleanor. + +'That is because you see more of it than when you were younger. But +we should hardly judge by what we see,--we see so very very +little.' There was then a pause for a while, during which Mr Arabin +continued to turn over his shillings and half-crowns. 'If we +believe in Scripture, we can hardly think that mankind in general +will now be allowed to retrograde.' + +Eleanor, whose mind was certainly engaged otherwise than on the +general state of mankind, made no answer to this. She felt +thoroughly dissatisfied with herself. She could not force her +thoughts away from the topic on which the signora had spoken to her +in so strange a way, and yet she knew that she could not converse +with Mr Arabin in an unrestrained natural tone till she did so. She +was most anxious not to show to him any special emotion, and yet +she felt that if he looked at her he would at once see that she was +not at ease. + +But he did not look at her. Instead of doing so, he left the +fire-place and began walking up and down the room. Eleanor took up +her book resolutely; but she could not read, for there was a tear +in her eye, and do what she would it fell on her cheek. When Mr +Arabin's back was turned to her she wiped it away; but another was +soon coming down her face in its place. They would come; not a +deluge of tears that would have betrayed her at once, but one by +one, single monitors. Mr Arabin did not observe her closely, and +they passed unseen. + +Mr Arabin, thus passing up and down the room, took four of five +turns before he spoke another word, and Eleanor sat equally silent +with her face bent over her book. She was afraid that her tears +would get the better of her, and was preparing for an escape from +the room, when Mr Arabin in his walk stood opposite to her. He did +not come close up, but stood exactly on the spot to which his +course brought him, and then, with his hands under his coat tails, +thus made a confession. + +'Mrs Bold,' said he, 'I owe you retribution for a great offence of +which I have been guilty towards you.' Eleanor's heart beat so that +she could not trust herself to say that he had never been guilty of +any offence. So Mr Arabin then went on. + +'I have thought much of it since, and I am now aware that I was +wholly unwarranted in putting to you a question which I once asked +you. It was indelicate on my part, and perhaps unmanly. No intimacy +which may exist between myself and your connection, Dr Grantly, +could justify it. Nor could the acquaintance which existed between +ourselves.' The word acquaintance struck cold on Eleanor's heart. +Was this to her doom after all? 'I therefore think it right to beg +your pardon in a humble spirit, and I now do so.' + +What was Eleanor to say to this? She could not say much, because +she was crying, and yet she must say something. She was most +anxious to say that something graciously, kindly, and yet not in +such a manner as to betray herself. She had never felt herself so +much at a loss for words. + +'Indeed I took no offence, Mr Arabin.' + +'Oh, but you did! And had you not done so, you would not have been +yourself. You were as right to be offended, as I was wrong to so +offend you. I have not forgiven myself, but I hope to hear that you +forgive me.' + +She was now past speaking calmly, though she still continued to +hide her tears, and Mr Arabin, after pausing a moment in vain for +her reply, was walking off towards the door. She felt that she +could not allow him to go unanswered without grievously sinning +against all charity; so, rising from her seat, she gently touched +his arm and said: 'Oh, Mr Arabin, do not go till I speak to you! I +do forgive you. You know that I forgive you.' + +He took the hand that had so gently touched his arm, and then gazed +into her face as if he would peruse there, as though written in a +book, the whole future destiny of his life; and as he did so, there +was a sober and seriousness in his own countenance, which Eleanor +found herself unable to sustain. She could only look down upon the +carpet, let her tears trickle as they would, and leave her hand +within his. + +It was but for a minute that they stood so, but the duration of +that minute was sufficient to make it ever memorable to both. +Eleanor was sure now that she was loved. No words, be their +eloquence what it might, could be more impressive than that eager, +melancholy gaze. + +Why did he look into her eyes? Why did he not speak to her? + Could it be that he looked for her to make the first sign? + +And he, though he knew little of women, even he knew that he was +loved. He had only to ask and it would be all his own, that +inexpressible loveliness, those ever speaking but yet now mute +eyes, that feminine brightness and eager loving spirit which had so +attracted him since first he had encountered it at St Ewold's. It +might, must all be his own now. On no other supposition was it +possible that she should allow her hand to remain thus clasped +within his own. He had only to ask. Ah! but that was the +difficulty. Did a minute suffice for all this? Nay, perhaps it +might be more than a minute. + +'Mrs Bold--' at last he said, and then stopped himself. + +If he could not speak, how was she to do so? He had called her by +her name, the same name that any merest stranger would have used! +She withdrew her hand from his, and moved as though to return to +her seat. 'Eleanor!' he then said, in his softest tone, as though +the courage were still afraid of giving offence, by the freedom +which he took. She looked slowly, gently, almost piteously up into +his face. There was at any rate no anger there to deter him. + +'Eleanor!' he again exclaimed; and in a moment he had her clasped +to his bosom. How this was done, whether the doing was with him, or +her, whether she had flown thither conquered by the tenderness of +his voice, or he with a violence not likely to give offence had +drawn her to his breast, neither of them knew; nor can I declare. +There was now that sympathy between them which hardly admitted of +individual motion. They were one and the same,--one flesh,--one +spirit,--one life. + +'Eleanor, my own Eleanor, my own, my wife!' She ventured to look at +him through her tears, and he, bowing his face down over hers, +pressed his lips upon her brow; his virgin lips, which since a +beard first grew upon his chin, had never yet tasted the luxury of +a woman's cheek. + +She had been told that her yea must be yea, or her nay, nay; but +she was called on for neither the one nor the other. She told Miss +Thorne that she was engaged to Mr Arabin, but no such words had +passed between them, no promises had been asked or given. + +'Oh, let me go,' said she; 'let me go now. I am too happy to +remain,--let me go, that I may be alone.' He did not try to hinder +her; he did not repeat his kiss; he did not press another on her +lips. He might have done so, had he been so minded. She was now all +his own. He took his arm from round her waist, his arm that was +trembling with a new delight, and let her go. She fled like a roe +to her own chamber, and then, having turned the bolt, she enjoyed +the full luxury of her love. She idolised, almost worshipped this +man who had so meekly begged her pardon. And he was now her own. +Oh, how she wept and cried and laughed, as the hopes and fears and +miseries of the last few weeks passed in remembrance through her +mind. + +Mr Slope! That any one should have dared to think that she who had +been chosen by him could possibly have mated herself with Mr Slope! +That they should have dared to tell him, also, and subject her +bright happiness to such a needless risk! And then she smiled with +joy as she thought of all the comforts that she could give him; not +that he cared for comforts, but that it would be so delicious for +her to give. + +She got up and rang for her maid that she might tell her little boy +of his new father; and in her own way she did tell him. She desired +her maid to leave her, in order that she might be alone with her +child; and there, while he lay sprawling on the bed, she poured +forth the praises, so unmeaning to him, of the man she had selected +to guard his infancy. + +She could not be happy, however, till she had made Mr Arabin take +the child to himself, and thus, as it were, adopt him as his own. +The moment the idea struck her she took the baby in her arms, and, +opening her door, ran quickly down to the drawing-room. She at once +found, by the step still pacing on the floor, that he was there; +and a glance within the room told her that he was alone. She +hesitated a moment, and then hurried in with her precious charge. + +Mr Arabin met her in the middle of the room. 'There,' said she, +breathless with her haste; 'there, take him--take him and love +him.' + +Mr Arabin took the little fellow from her, and kissing him again +and again, prayed God to bless him. 'He shall be all as my own-- +all as my own,' said he. Eleanor, as she stooped to take back her +child, kissed the hand that held him, and then rushed back with her +treasure to her chamber. + +It was then that Mr Harding's younger daughter was won for the +second time. At dinner neither she nor Mr Arabin were very bright, +but their silence occasioned no remark. In the drawing-room, as we +have before said, she told Miss Thorne what had occurred. The next +morning she returned to Barchester, and Mr Arabin went over with +his budget of news to the archdeacon. As Dr Grantly was not there, +he could only satisfy himself by telling Mrs Grantly how that he +intended himself the honour of becoming her brother-in-law. In the +ecstasy of her joy at hearing such tidings, Mrs Grantly vouchsafed +him a warmer welcome than any he had yet received from Eleanor. + +'Good heavens!' she exclaimed--it was the general exclamation of +the rectory. 'Poor Eleanor! Dear Eleanor. What monstrous injustice +has been done her!--Well, it shall all be made up now.' And then +she thought of the signora. 'What lies people tell,' she said to +herself. + +But people in this matter had told no lies at all. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +THE BEELZEBUB COLT + +When Miss Thorne left the dining-room, Eleanor had formed no +intention of revealing to her what had occurred; but when she was +seated beside her hostess on the sofa the secret dropped from her +almost unawares. Eleanor was but a bad hypocrite, and she found +herself quite unable to continue talking about Mr Arabin, as though +he was a stranger, while her heart was full of him. When Miss +Thorne, pursuing her own scheme with discreet zeal, asked the young +widow whether, in her opinion, it would not be a good thing for Mr +Arabin to get married, she had nothing for it but to confess the +truth. 'I suppose it would,' said Eleanor, rather sheepishly. +Whereupon Miss Thorne amplified on the idea. 'Oh, Miss Thorne,' +said Eleanor, 'he is going to be married. I am engaged to him.' + +Now Miss Thorne knew very well that there had been no such +engagement when she had been walking with Mrs Bold in the morning. +She had also heard enough to be tolerably sure that there had been +no preliminaries to such an engagement. She was, therefore, as we +have before described, taken a little by surprise. But, +nevertheless, she embraced her guest, and cordially congratulated +her. + +Eleanor had no opportunity of speaking another word to Mr Arabin +that evening, except such words as all the world might hear; and +these, as may be supposed, were few enough. Miss Thorne did her +best to leave them in privacy; but Mr Thorne, who knew nothing of +what had occurred, and another guest, a friend of his, entirely +interfered with her good intentions. So poor Eleanor had to go to +bed without one sign of affection. Her state, nevertheless, was +not to be pitied. + +The next morning she was up early. It was probable, she thought, +that by going down a little before the usual hour of breakfast, she +might find Mr Arabin alone in the dining-room. Might it not be that +she would calculate that an interview would thus be possible? Thus +thinking, Eleanor was dressed a full hour before the time fixed at +the Ullathorne household for morning prayers. She did not at once +go down. She was afraid to seem to be too anxious to meet her +lover; though, heaven knows, her anxiety was intense enough. She +therefore sat herself down at her window, and repeatedly looking at +her watch, nursed her child till she thought she might venture +forth. + +When she found herself at the dining-room door, she stood a moment, +hesitating to turn the handle; but when she heard Mr Thorne's voice +inside she hesitated no longer. Her object was defeated, and she +might now go in as soon as she liked without the slightest +imputation on her delicacy. Mr Thorne and Mr Arabin were standing +on the hearth-rug, discussing the merits of the Beelzebub colt; or +rather, Mr Thorne was discussing, and Mr Arabin was listening. That +interesting animal had rubbed the stump of his tail against the +wall of his stable, and occasioned much uneasiness to the +Ullathorne master of the horse. Had Eleanor but waited another +minute, Mr Thorne would have been in the stable. + +Mr Thorne, when he saw his lady guest, repressed his anxiety. The +Beelzebub colt must do without him. And so the three stood, saying +little or nothing to each other, till at last the master of the +house, finding that he could no longer bear the present state of +suspense respecting his favourite young steed, made an elaborate +apology to Mrs Bold, and escaped. As he shut the door behind him, +Eleanor almost wished that he had remained. It was not that she was +afraid of Mr Arabin, but she hardly yet knew how to address him. + +He, however, soon relieved her from her embarrassment. He came up +to her, and taking bother her hands in his, he said, 'So, Eleanor, +you and I are to be man and wife. Is it so?' + +She looked up into his face, and her lips formed themselves into a +single syllable. She uttered no sound, but he could read the +affirmative plainly in her face. + +'It is a great trust,' said he, 'a very great trust.' + +'It is--it is,' said Eleanor, not exactly taking what he had said +in the sense that he had meant. 'It is a very great trust, and I +will do my utmost to deserve it.' + +'And I also will do my utmost to deserve it,' said Mr Arabin very +solemnly. And then, winding his arm round her waist, he stood there +gazing at the fire, and she with her head leaning in his shoulder, +stood by him, well satisfied with her position. They neither of +them spoke, or found any want of speaking. All that was needful for +them to say had been said. The yea, yea, had been spoken by Eleanor +in her own way--and that way had been perfectly satisfactory to Mr +Arabin. + +And now it remained to them each to enjoy the assurance of the +other's love. And how great that luxury is! How far it surpasses +any other pleasure which God has allowed to his creatures! And to a +woman's heart how doubly delightful! + +When the ivy has found its tower, when the delicate creeper has +found its strong wall, we know how the parasite plants grow and +prosper. They were not created to stretch forth their branches +alone, and endure without protection the summer's sun and the +winter's storm. Alone they but spread themselves on the ground, and +cower unseen in the dingy shade. But when they have found their +firm supporters, how wonderful is their beauty; how all pervading +and victorious! + +What is the turret without its ivy, or the high garden wall without +the jasmine which gives it its beauty and fragrance? The hedge +without the honeysuckle is but a hedge. + +There is s feeling still half existing, but now half conquered by +the force of human nature, that a woman should be ashamed of her +love till the husband's right to her compels her to acknowledge it. +We would fain preach a different doctrine. A woman should glory in +her love; but on that account let her take the more care that it be +such as to justify her glory. + +Eleanor did glory in hers, and she felt, and had cause to feel, +that it deserved to be held as glorious. She could have stood there +for hours with his arm around her, had fate and Mr Thorne permitted +it. Each moment she crept nearer to his bosom, and felt more and +more certain that there was her home. What now to her was the +archdeacon's arrogance, her sister's coldness, or her dear father's +weakness? What need she care for the duplicity of such friends as +Charlotte Stanhope? She had found the strong shield that should +guard her from all wrongs, the trusty pilot that should +henceforward guide her through the shoals and rocks. She would give +up the heavy burden of her independence, and once more assume the +position of a woman, and the duties of a trusting and loving wife. + +And he, too, stood there fully satisfied with his place. They were +both looking intently on the fire, as though they could read there +their future fate, till at last Eleanor turned her face towards +his. 'How sad you are,' she said, smiling; and indeed his face was, +if not sad, at least serious. 'How sad you are, love!' + +'Sad,' said he, looking down at her; 'no, certainly not sad.' Her +sweet loving eyes were turned towards him, and she smiled softly as +he answered her. The temptation was too strong even for the demure +propriety of Mr Arabin, and, bending over her, he pressed his lips +to hers. + +Immediately after this, Mr Thorne appeared, and they were both +delighted to hear that the tail of the Beelzebub colt was not +materially injured. + +It had been Mr Harding's intention to hurry over to Ullathorne as +soon as possible after his return to Barchester, in order to secure +the support of his daughter in his meditated revolt against the +archdeacon as touching the deanery; but he was spared the +additional journey by hearing that Mrs Bold had returned +unexpectedly home. As soon as he had read her note he started off, +and found her waiting for him in her own house. + +How much each of them had to tell the other, and how certain each +was that the story which he or she had to tell would astonish the +other! + +'My dear, I am so anxious to see you,' said Mr Harding, kissing his +daughter. + +'Oh, papa, I have so much to tell you!' said the daughter, +returning his embrace. + +'My dear, they have offered me the deanery!' said Mr Harding, +anticipating by the suddenness of the revelation the tidings which +Eleanor had to give him. + +'Oh, papa,' said she, forgetting her own love and happiness in her +joy at the surprising news; 'oh, papa, can it be possible? Dear, +papa, how thoroughly, thoroughly happy that makes me!' + +'But, my dear, I think it best to refuse it.' + +'Oh, papa!' + +'I am sure you will agree with me, Eleanor, when I explain it to +you. You know, my dear how old I am. If I live, I--' + +'But, papa, I must tell you about myself.' + +'Well, my dear.' + +'I do wonder how you will take it.' + +'Take what?' + +'If you don't rejoice at it, if it doesn't make you happy, if you +don't encourage me, I shall break my heart.' + +'If that be the case, Nelly, I certainly will encourage you.' + +'But I fear you won't. I do so fear you won't. And yet you can't +but think I am the most fortunate woman living on God's earth.' + +'Are you, dearest? Then I certainly will rejoice with you. Come, +Nelly, come to me, and tell me what it is.' + +'I am going--' + +He led her to the sofa, and seating himself beside her, with both +her hands in his. 'You are going to be married, Nelly. + Is not that it?' + +'Yes,' she said, faintly. 'That is if you will approve;' and then +she blushed as she remembered the promise which she had so lately +volunteered to him, and which she had so utterly forgotten in +making her engagement with Mr Arabin. + +Mr Harding thought for a moment who the man could be whom he was to +be called upon to welcome as his son-in-law. A week since he would +have had no doubt whom to name. In that case he would have been +prepared to give his sanction, although he would have done so with +a heavy heart. Now he knew that at any rate it would not be Mr +Slope, though he was perfectly at a loss to guess who could +possibly have filled his place. For a moment he thought that the +man might be Bertie Stanhope, and his very soul sank within him. + +'Well, Nelly?' + +'Oh, papa, promise me that, for my sake, you will love him.' + +'Come, Nelly, come; tell me who it is.' + +'But you will love him, papa?' + +'Dearest, I must love any one that you love.' Then she turned he +face to his, and whispered into his ear the name of Mr Arabin. + +No man that she could have named could have more surprised or more +delighted him. Had he looked round the world for a son-in-law to +his taste, he could have selected no one whom he would have +preferred to Mr Arabin. He was a clergyman; he held a living in the +neighbourhood; he was of a set to which all Mr Harding's own +partialities most closely adhered; he was the great friend of Dr +Grantly; and he was, moreover, a man of whom Mr Harding knew +nothing but what he approved. Nevertheless his surprise was so +great as to prevent the immediate expression of his joy. He had +never thought of Mr Arabin in connection with his daughter; he had +never imagined that they had any feeling in common. He had feared +that his daughter had been made hostile to clergymen of Mr Arabin's +stamp by her intolerance of the archdeacon's pretensions. Had he +been put to wish, he might have wished for Mr Arabin for a +son-in-law; but had he been put to guess, the name would never have +occurred to him. + +'Mr Arabin!' he exclaimed; 'impossible!' + +'Oh, papa, for heaven's sake don't say anything against him! + If you do love me, don't say anything against him. Oh, papa, it's +done, and mustn't be undone--oh, papa!' + +Fickle Eleanor! Where was the promise that she would make no choice +for herself without her father's approval? She had chosen, and now +demanded his acquiescence. 'Oh, papa, isn't he good? isn't he +noble? isn't he religious, high-minded, everything that a good man +possibly can be?' and she clung to her father, beseeching him for +his consent. + +'My Nelly, my child, my own daughter! He is; he is noble and good +and high-minded; he is all that a woman can love and admire. He +shall be my son, my own son. He shall be as close to my heart as +you are. My Nelly, my child, my happy, happy child!' + +We need not pursue the interview any further. By degrees they +returned to the subject of the new promotion. Eleanor tried to +prove to him, as the Grantlys had done, that his age could be no +bar to his being a very excellent dean; but those arguments had now +even less weight than before. He said little or nothing, but sat +meditative. Every now and then he would kiss his daughter, and say, +'yes,' or 'no,' or 'very true,' or 'well, my dear, I can't quite +agree with you there,' but he could not be got to enter sharply +into the question of 'to be or not to be' dean of Barchester. Of +her and her happiness, of Mr Arabin and his virtues, he would talk +as much as Eleanor desired; and, to tell the truth, that was not a +little; but about the deanery he would now say nothing further. He +had got a new idea into his head--Why should not Mr Arabin be the +new dean? + + + +CHAPTER L + +THE ARCHDEACON IS SATISFIED WITH THE STATE OF AFFAIRS + +The archdeacon, in his journey into Barchester, had been assured by +Mr Harding that all their prognostications about Mr Slope and +Eleanor were groundless. Mr Harding, however, had found it very +difficult to shake his son-in-law's faith in his own acuteness. The +matter had, to Dr Grantly, been so plainly corroborated by such +patent evidence, borne out by such endless circumstances, that he +at first refused to take as true the positive statement which Mr +Harding made to him of Eleanor's own disavowal of the impeachment. +But at last he yielded in a qualified way. He brought himself to +admit that he would at the present regard his past convictions as a +mistake; but in doing this he so guarded himself, that if, at any +future time, Eleanor should come forth to the world as Mrs Slope, +he might still be able to say: 'There, I told you so. Remember what +you said and what I said; and remember also for coming years, that +I was right in this matter--as in all others.' + +He carried, however, his concession so far as to bring himself to +undertake to call at Eleanor's house, and he did call accordingly, +while the father and the daughter were yet in the middle of their +conference. Mr Harding had had so much to hear and to say that he +had forgotten to advertise Eleanor of the honour that awaited her, +and she heard her brother-in-law's voice in the hall, while she +quite unprepared to see him. + +'There's the archdeacon,' she said, springing up. + +'Yes, my dear. He told me to tell you that he would come to see +you; but, to tell the truth, I had forgotten all about it.' + +Eleanor fled away, regardless of all her father's entreaties. She +could not now, in the first hours of her joy, bring herself to bear +all the archdeacon's retractions, apologies, and congratulations. +He would have so much to say, and would be so tedious in saying it; +consequently, the archdeacon, when he was shown into the +drawing-room, found on one there but Mr Harding.' + +'You must excuse Eleanor,' said Mr Harding. + +'Is anything the matter?' asked the doctor, who at once anticipated +that the whole truth about Mr Slope had at last come out. + +'Well, something is the matter. I wonder whether you will be much +surprised?' + +The archdeacon saw by his father-in-law's manner that after all he +had nothing to tell him about Mr Slope. 'No,' said he, 'certainly +not--nothing will ever surprise me again.' Very many men nowadays, +besides the archdeacon, adopt or affect to adopt the nil admirari +doctrine; but nevertheless, to judge from their appearance, they +are just as subject to sudden emotions as their grandfathers and +grandmothers were before them. + +'What do you think Mr Arabin has done?' + +'Mr Arabin! It's nothing about that daughter of Stanhope's, I +hope?' + +'No, not that woman,' said Mr Harding, enjoying his joke in his +sleeve. + +'Not that woman! Is he going to do anything about any woman? Why +can't you speak out if yo have anything to say? There is nothing I +hate so much as these sort of mysteries.' + +'There shall be no mystery with you, archdeacon; though, of course, +it must go no further at present.' + +'Well.' + +'Except Susan. You must promise me you'll tell no one else?' + +'Nonsense!' exclaimed the archdeacon, who was becoming angry in his +suspense. 'You can't have any secret about Mr Arabin.' + +'Only this--that he and Eleanor are engaged.' + +It was quite clear to see by the archdeacon's face, that he did not +believe a word of it. 'Mr Arabin! It's impossible!' + +'Eleanor, at any rate, has just told me so.' + +'It's impossible,' repeated the archdeacon. + +'Well, I can't say I think it is impossible. It certainly took me +by surprise; but that does not make it impossible.' + +'She must be mistaken.' + +Mr Harding assured him that there was no mistake; that he would +find, on returning home, that Mr Arabin had been at Plumstead with +the express object of making to same declaration, that even Miss +Thorne knew all about it; and that, in fact, the thing was as +clearly settled as any such arrangement between a lady and a +gentleman could be. + +'Good heavens!' said the archdeacon, walking up and down Eleanor's +drawing-room. 'Good heavens! Good heavens!' + +Now, these exclamations certainly betokened faith. Mr Harding +properly gathered from it that, at last, Dr Grantly did believe the +fact. The first utterances clearly evinced a certain amount of +distaste at the information he had received; the second, simply +indicated surprise; and the tone of the third, Mr Harding fancied +that he could catch a certain gleam of satisfaction. + +The archdeacon had truly expressed the workings of his mind. + He could not but be disgusted to find how utterly astray he had +been in all his anticipations. Had he only been lucky enough to +have suggested the marriage himself when he first brought Mr Arabin +into the country, his character for judgment and wisdom would have +received an addition which would have classed him at any rate next +to Solomon. And why had he not done so? Might he not have foreseen +that Mr Arabin would want a wife in the parsonage? He had foreseen +that Eleanor would want a husband; but should he not also have +perceived that Mr Arabin was a man much more likely to attract her +than Mr Slope? The archdeacon found that he had been at fault, and +of course could not immediately get over his discomfiture. + +Then his surprise was intense. How sly the pair of young turtle +doves had been with him. How egregiously they had hoaxed him. He +had preached at Eleanor against her fancied attachment to Mr Slope, +at the very time she was in love with his own protege, Mr Arabin; +and had absolutely taken that same Mr Arabin into his confidence +with reference to the dread of Mr Slope's alliance. It was very +natural that the archdeacons should feel surprise. + +But there was also great ground for satisfaction. Looking at the +match by itself, it was the very thing to help the doctor out of +his difficulties. In the first place, the assurance that he should +never have Mr Slope for his brother-in-law was in itself a great +comfort. Then Mr Arabin was, of all men, one with whom it would +best suit him to be utterly connected. But the crowning comfort was +the blow that this marriage would give to Mr Slope. He had now +certainly lost his wife; rumour was beginning to whisper that he +might possibly lose his position in the palace; and if Mr Harding +would only be true, the great danger of all would be surmounted. In +such case it might be expected that Mr Slope would own himself +vanquished, and take himself altogether away from Barchester. + And so the archdeacon would again be able to breath the pure air. + +'Well, well,' said he. 'Good heavens! Good heavens!' and the tone +of the fifth exclamation made Mr Harding fully aware that content +was reigning in the archdeacon's bosom. + +And then slowly, gradually, and craftily, Mr Harding propounded his +own new scheme. Why should not Mr Arabin be the new dean? + +Slowly, gradually, thoughtfully, Dr Grantly fell into his +father-in-law's views. Much as he liked Mr Arabin, sincere as he +was in his admiration for that gentleman's ecclesiastical +abilities, he would not have sanctioned a measure which would have +robbed his father-in-law of his fairly-earned promotion, were it at +all practicable to induce his father-in-law to accept the promotion +which he had earned. But the archdeacon had, on a former occasion, +received proof of the obstinacy with which Mr Harding could adhere +to his own views in opposition to the advice of all his friends. He +knew tolerably well that nothing would induce the meek, mild man +before him to take the high place offered to him, if he thought it +wrong to do so. Knowing this, he also said to himself more than +once; 'Why should not Mr Arabin be dean of Barchester?' it was at +last arranged between them that they would together start to London +by the earliest train on the following morning, making a little +detour to Oxford on their journey. Dr Gwynne's counsels, they +imagined, might perhaps be of assistance to them. + +These matters settled, the archdeacon hurried off, that he might +return to Plumstead and prepare for his journey. The day was +extremely fine, and he came into the city in an open gig. As he was +driving up the High Street he encountered Mr Slope at a crossing. +Had he not pulled up rather sharply, he would have run over him. +The two had never spoken to each other since they had met on a +memorable occasion in the bishop's study. They did not speak now; +but they looked at each other full in the face, and Mr Slope's +countenance was as impudent, as triumphant, as defiant as ever. Had +Dr Grantly not known to the contrary, he would have imagined that +his enemy had won the deanship, the wife, and all the rich honours, +for which he had been striving. As it was he had lost everything +that he had in the world, and had just received his conge from the +bishop. + +In leaving the town the archdeacon drove by the well-remembered +entrance of Hiram's hospital. There, at the gate, was a large, +untidy, farmer's wagon, laden with untidy-looking furniture; and +there, inspecting the arrival, was good Mrs Quiverful--not dressed +in her Sunday best--not very clean in her apparel--not graceful as +to her bonnet and shawl; or, indeed, with many feminine charms as +to her whole appearance. She was busy at domestic work in her new +house, and had just ventured out, expecting to see no one on the +arrival of the family chattels. The archdeacon was down upon her +before she knew where she was. + +Her acquaintance with Dr Grantly or his family were very slight +indeed. The archdeacon, as a matter of course, knew every clergyman +in the archdeaconry; it may almost be said the diocese, and had +some acquaintance, more or less intimate, with their wives and +families. With Mr Quiverful he had been concerned on various +matters of business; but of Mrs Q. he had seen very little. Now, +however, he was in too gracious a mood to pass her by unnoticed. +The Quiverfuls, one and all, had looked for the bitterest hostility +from Dr Grantly; they knew his anxiety for Mr Harding should return +to his old home at the hospital, and they did not know that a new +home had been offered to him at the deanery. Mrs Quiverful was +therefore not a little surprised and not a little rejoiced also, at +the tone at which she was addressed. + +'How do you do, Mrs Quiverful?--how do you do?' said he, stretching +his left hand out of the gig, as he spoke to her. + 'I am very glad to see you employed in so pleasant and useful a +manner; very glad indeed.' + +Mrs Quiverful thanked him, and shook hands with him, and looked +into his face suspiciously. She was not sure whether the +congratulations and kindness were or were not ironical. + +'Pray tell Mr Quiverful from me,' he continued, 'that I am rejoiced +at his appointment. It is a comfortable place, Mrs Quiverful, and a +comfortable house, and I am very glad to see you in it. Good-bye, +good-bye.' And he drove on, leaving the lady well-pleased and +astonished at his good nature. On the whole things were going well +with the archdeacon, and he could afford to be charitable to Mrs +Quiverful. He looked forth from his gig smilingly on all the world, +and forgave every one in Barchester their sins, excepting only Mrs +Proudie and Mr Slope. Had he seen the bishop, he would have felt +inclined to pat even him kindly on the head. + +He determined to go home by St Ewold's. This would take him some +three miles out of his way; but he felt that he could not leave +Plumstead comfortably without saying one word of good fellowship to +Mr Arabin. When he reached the parsonage the vicar was still out; +but, from what he had heard, he did not doubt but that he would +meet him on the road between their two houses. He was right in +this, for about halfway home, at a narrow turn, he came upon Mr +Arabin, who was on horseback. + +'Well, well, well, well,' said the archdeacon loudly, joyously, and +with supreme good humour; 'well, well, well, well; so, after all, +we have no further cause to fear Mr Slope.' + +'I hear from Mrs Grantly that they have offered the deanery to Mr +Harding,' said the other. + +'Mr Slope has lost more than the deanery, I find,' and then the +archdeacon laughed jocosely. 'Come, come, Arabin, you have kept +your secret well enough. I know all about it now.' + +'I have had no secret, archdeacon,'said the other with a quiet +smile. 'None at all--not for a day. It was only yesterday that I +knew my own good fortune, and to-day I went over to Plumstead to +ask your approval. From what Mrs Grantly has said to me, I am led +to hope that I shall have it.' + +'With all my heart, with all my heart,' said the archdeacon +cordially, holding his friend by the hand. 'It's just as I would +have it. She is an excellent young woman; she will not come to you +empty-handed; and I think she will make you a good wife. If she +does her duty by you as her sister does by me, you'll be a happy +man; that's all I can say.' And as he finished speaking, a tear +might have been observed in each of the doctor's eyes.' + +Mr Arabin warmly returned the archdeacon's grasp, but he said +little. His heart was too full for speaking, and he could not +express the gratitude which he felt. Dr Grantly understood him as +well as though he had spoken for an hour. + +'And mind, Arabin,' said he, 'no one but myself shall tie the knot. +We'll get Eleanor out to Plumstead, and it shall come off there. +I'll make Susan stir herself, and we'll do it in style. I must be +off to London to-morrow on special business. Harding goes with me. +But I'll be back before your bride has got her wedding-dress +ready.' And so they parted. + +On his journey home the archdeacon occupied his mind with +preparations for the marriage festivities. He made a great resolve +that he would atone to Eleanor for all the injury he had done her +by the munificence of his future treatment. He would show her what +was the difference in his eyes between a Slope and an Arabin. On +one other thing also he decided with a firm mind: if the affair of +the dean should not be settled in Mr Arabin's favour, nothing +should prevent him putting a new front and bow-window to the +dining-room at St Ewold's parsonage. + +'So we're sold after all, Sue,' said he to his wife, accosting her +with a kiss as soon as he entered his house. He did not call his +wife Sue above twice or thrice in a year, and these occasions were +great high days. + +'Eleanor has had more sense then we gave her credit for,' said Mrs +Grantly. + +And there was great content in Plumstead rectory that evening; and +Mrs Grantly promised her husband that she would now open her heart, +and take Mr Arabin into it. Hitherto she had declined to do so. + + + +CHAPTER LI + +MR SLOPE BIDS FAREWELL TO THE PALACE AND ITS INHABITANTS + +We must now take leave of Mr Slope, and of the bishop, and of Mrs +Proudie. These leave-takings in novels are as disagreeable as they +are in real life; not so sad, indeed, for they want the reality of +sadness; but quite as perplexing, and generally less satisfactory. +What novelist, what Fielding, what Scott, what George Sand, or Sue, +or Duncan, can impart an interest to the last chapter of his +fictitious history? Promises of two children and superhuman +happiness are of no avail, nor assurance of extreme respectability +carried to an age far exceeding that usually allotted to mortals. +The sorrows of our heroes and heroines, they are you delight, oh +public! their sorrows, or their sins, or their absurdities; not +their virtues, good sense, and consequent rewards. When we begin to +tint our final pages with couleur de rose, as in accordance with +fixed rule we must do, we altogether extinguish our own powers of +pleasing. When we become dull we offend your intellect; and we must +become dull or we should offend your taste. A late writer, wishing +to sustain his interest to the last page, hung his hear at the end +of the third volume. The consequence was, that no one should read +his novel. And who can apportion out and dovetail his incidents, +dialogues, characters, and descriptive morsels, so as to fit them +all exactly into 439 pages, without either compressing them +unnaturally, or extending them artificially at the end of his +labour? Do I not myself know that I am at this moment in want of a +dozen pages, and that I am sick with cudgelling my brains to find +them? And then when everything is done, the kindest-hearted critic +of them all invariably twit us with the incompetency and lameness +of our conclusion. We have either become idle and neglected it, or +tedious and over-laboured it. It is insipid or unnatural, +over-strained or imbecile. It means nothing, or attempts too much. +The last scene of all, as all last scenes we fear must be: + +'Is second childishness, and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, +sans taste, sans everything.' + +I can only say that if some critic, who thoroughly knows his work, +and has laboured on it till experience has made him perfect, will +write the last fifty pages of a novel in the way they should be +written. I, for one, will in future do my best to copy the example. +Guided by my own lights only, I despair of success. + +For the last week or ten days, Mr Slope had seen nothing of Mrs +Proudie, and very little of the bishop. He still lived in the +palace, and still went through his usual routine work; but the +confidential doings of the diocese had passed into other hands. He +had seen this clearly, and marked it well; but it had not much +disturbed him. He had indulged in other hopes till the bishop's +affairs had become dull to him, and he was moreover aware that, as +regarded the diocese, Mrs Proudie had checkmated him. It has been +explained, in the beginning of these pages, how three or four were +contending together as to who, in fact, should be bishop of +Barchester. + Each of them had now admitted to himself (or boasted to herself) +that Mrs Proudie was victorious in the struggle. They had gone +through a competitive examination of considerable severity, and she +had come forth the winner, facile princeps. Mr Slope had, for a +moment, run her hard, but it was only for a moment. It had become, +as it were, acknowledged that Hiram's hospital should be the +testing point between them, and now Mr Quiverful was already in the +hospital, the proof of Mrs Proudie's skill and courage. + +All this did not break Mr Slope's spirit, because he had other +hopes. But, alas, at last there came to him a note from his friend +Sir Nicholas, informing him that the deanship was disposed of. Let +us give Mr Slope his due. He did not lie prostrate, under this +blow, or give himself to vain lamentations; he did not henceforward +despair of life, and call upon gods above and gods below to carry +him off. He sat himself down in his chair, counted out what monies +he had in hand, for present purposes, and what others were coming +to him, bethought himself as to the best sphere for his future +exertions, and at once wrote off a letter to a rich sugar- +refiner's wife in Baker Street, who, as he well knew, was much +given to the entertainment and encouragement of serious young +evangelical clergymen. He was again, he said, 'upon the world, +having found the air of a cathedral town, and the very nature of +cathedral services, uncongenial to his spirit'; and then he sat +awhile, making firm resolves as to his manner of parting from the +bishop, and also as to his future conduct. + + 'At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue, + To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new.' + +Having received a formal command to wait upon the bishop, he rose +and proceeded to obey it. He rang the bell and desired the servant +to inform his master that if it suited his lordship, he, Mr Slope, +was ready to wait upon him. The servant, who well understood that +Mr Slope was no longer in the ascendant, brought back a message, +saying that, 'his lordship desired that Mr Slope would attend him +immediately in his study.' Mr Slope waited about ten minutes more +to prove his independence, and then went into the bishop's room. + There, as had expected, he found Mrs Proudie, together with her +husband. + +'Hum, ha--Mr Slope, please take a chair,' said the gentleman +bishop. + +'Pray be seated, Mr Slope,' said the lady bishop. + +'Thank ye, thank ye,'said Mr Slope, and walking round to the fire, +he threw himself into one of the arm-chairs that graced the +hearth-rug. + +'Mr Slope,' said the bishop, 'it has become necessary that I should +speak to you definitively on a matter that has for some time been +pressing itself on my attention.' + +'May I ask whether the subject is in any way connected with +myself?' said Mr Slope. + +'It is so--certainly,--yes, it certainly is connected with +yourself, Mr Slope.' + +'Then, my lord, if I may be allowed to express a wish, I would +prefer that no discussion on the subject should take place between +us in the presence of a third party.' + +'Don't alarm yourself, Mr Slope,' said Mrs Proudie, 'no discussion +is at all necessary. The bishop merely intends to express his own +wishes.' + +'I merely intend, Mr Slope, to express my own wishes--no discussion +will be at all necessary,' said the bishop, reiterating his wife's +words. + +'That is more, my lord, than we any of us can be sure of,' said Mr +Slope; 'I cannot, however, force Mrs Proudie to leave the room; nor +can I refuse to remain here, if it be your lordship's wish that I +should do so.' + +'It is certainly his lordship's wish,'said Mrs Proudie. + +'Mr Slope,' began the bishop, in a solemn, serious voice, 'it +grieves me to have to find fault. It grieves me much to find fault +with a clergyman; but especially so with a clergyman in your +position.' + +'Why, what have I done amiss, my lord?' demanded Mr Slope, loudly. + +'What have you done amiss, Mr Slope?' said Mrs Proudie, standing +erect before the culprit, and raising that terrible forefinger. 'Do +you dare to ask the bishop what you have done amiss? does not your +conscience--' + +'Mrs Proudie, pray let it be understood, once for all, that I will +have no words with you.' + +'Ah, sire, but you will have words,' said she; 'you must have +words. Why have you had so may words with that Signora Neroni? Why +have you disgraced yourself, you a clergyman, by constantly +consorting with such a woman as that--with a married woman--with +one altogether unfit for a clergyman's society?' + +'At any rate, I was introduced to her in your drawing-room,' +returned Mr Slope. + +'And shamefully you behave there,' said Mrs Proudie, 'most +shamefully. I was wrong to allow you to remain in the house a day +after what I then saw. I should have insisted on your instant +dismissal.' + +'I have yet to learn, Mrs Proudie, that you have the power to +insist either on my going from hence or on my staying here.' + +'What!' said the lady; 'I am not to have the privilege of saying +who shall and who shall not frequent my own drawing-room! I am not +to save my servants and dependents from having their morals +corrupted by improper conduct! I am not to save my own daughters +from impurity! I will let you see, Mr Slope, whether I have the +power or whether I have not. You will have the goodness to +understand that you no longer fill any situation about the bishop; +and as your room will be immediately wanted in the palace for +another chaplain, I must ask you to provide yourself with +apartments as soon as may be convenient to you.' + +'My lord,' said Mr Slope, appealing to the bishop, and so turning +his back completely on the lady, 'will you permit me to ask that I +may have from your own lips and decision that you may have come to +on this matter?' + +'Certainly, Mr Slope, certainly,' said the bishop; 'that is but +reasonable. Well, my decision is that you had better look for some +other preferment. For the situation which you have lately held I do +not think you are well suited.' + +'And what, my lord, has been my fault?' + +'That Signora Neroni is one fault,' said Mrs Proudie; 'and a very +abominable fault she is; very abominable, and very disgraceful. +Fie, Mr Slope, fie! You an evangelical clergyman indeed!' + +'My lord, I desire to know for what fault I am turned out of your +lordship's house.' + +'You hear what Mrs Proudie says,' said the bishop. + +'When I publish the history of this transaction, my lord, as I +decidedly shall do in my own vindication, I presume you will not +wish me to state that you have discarded me at your wife's bidding +--because she has objected to my being acquainted with another +lady, the daughter of one of the prebendaries of the chapter?' + +'You may publish as you please, sir,' said Mrs Proudie. 'But you +will not be insane enough to publish any of your doings in +Barchester. Do you think I have not heard of your kneelings at that +creature's feet--that is if she has any feet--and of your constant +slobbering over her hand? I advise you to beware, Mr Slope, of what +you do and say. Clergymen have been unfrocked for less than what +you have been guilty of.' + +'My lord, if this goes on I shall be obliged to indict this woman-- +Mrs Proudie I mean--for defamation of character.' + +'I think, Mr Slope, you had better now retire,' said the bishop. 'I +will enclose to you a cheque for any balance that may be due to +you; and, under the present circumstances, it will of course be +better for all parties that you should leave the palace at the +earliest possible moment.' + +'If, however, you wish to remain in this neighbourhood,' said Mrs +Proudie, 'and will solemnly pledge yourself never again to see that +woman, and will promise also to be more circumspect in your +conduct, the bishop will mention your name to Mr Quiverful, who now +wants a curate at Puddingdale. + The house is, I imagine, quite sufficient for your requirements: +and there will moreover by a stipend of fifty pounds a year.' + +'May God forgive you, madam, for the manner in which you have +treated me,' said Mr Slope, looking at her with a very heavenly +look; 'and remember this, madam, that you yourself may still have a +fall;' and he looked at her with a very worldly look. 'As to the +bishop, I pity him!' And so saying, Mr Slope left the room. Thus +ended the intimacy of the Bishop of Barchester with his +confidential chaplain. + +Mrs Proudie was right in this; namely, that Mr Slope was not insane +enough to publish to the world any of his doings in Barchester. He +did not trouble his friend Mr Towers with any written statement of +the iniquity of Mrs Proudie, or the imbecility of her husband. He +was aware that it would be wise in him to drop for the future all +allusions to his doings in the cathedral city. Soon after the +interview just recorded, he left Barchester, shaking the dust off +his feet as he entered the railway carriage; and he gave no longing +lingering look after the cathedral towers, as the train hurried him +quickly out of their sight. + +It is well known that the family of the Slopes never starve; they +always fall on their feet like cats, and let them fall where they +will, they live on the fat of the land. Our Mr Slope did so. On his +return to town he found that the sugar-refiner had died, and that +the widow was inconsolable; or, in other words, in want of +consolation. Mr Slope consoled her, and soon found himself settled +with much comfort in the house in Baker Street. He possessed +himself, also before long, of a church in the vicinity of the New +Road, and become known to fame as one of the most eloquent +preachers and pious clergymen in that part of the metropolis. There +let us leave him. + +Of the bishop and his wife very little further need be said. From +that time forth nothing material occurred to interrupt the even +course of their domestic harmony. Very speedily, a further vacancy +on the bench of bishops gave Dr Proudie the seat in the House of +Lords, which he at first so anxiously longed for. But by this time, +he had become a wiser man. He did certainly take his seat, and +occasionally registered a vote in favour of Government view on +ecclesiastical matters. + +But he had thoroughly learnt that his proper sphere of action lay +in close contiguity with Mrs Proudie's wardrobe. He never again +aspired to disobey, or seemed even to wish for autocratic diocesan +authority. If ever he thought of freedom, he did so, as men think +of the millennium, as of a good time which may be coming, but which +nobody expects to come in their day. Mrs Proudie might be said +still to bloom, and was, at any rate, strong; and the bishop had no +reason to apprehend that he would be speedily visited with the +sorrows of a widower's life. + +He is still bishop of Barchester. He has so graced that throne, +that the Government has been adverse to translate him, even to +higher duties. There may he remain, under safe pupilage, till the +new-fangled manners of the age have discovered him to be +superannuated, and bestowed on him a pension. As for Mrs Proudie, +our prayers for her are that she may live for ever. + + + +CHAPTER LII + +THE NEW DEAN TAKES POSSESSION OF THE DEANERY AND THE NEW WARDEN OF +THE HOSPITAL + +Mr Harding and the archdeacon together made their way to Oxford, +and there, by dint of cunning argument, they induced the Master of +Lazarus also to ask himself this momentous question: 'Why should +not Mr Arabin be Dean of Barchester?' He of course, for a while +tried his hand at persuading Mr Harding that he was foolish, +over-scrupulous, self-willed, and weak-minded; but he tried in +vain. If Mr Harding would not give way to Dr Grantly, it was not +likely that he would give way to Dr Gwynne; more especially now +that so admirable a scheme as that of inducting Mr Arabin into the +deanery had been set on foot. When the master found that his +eloquence was vain, and heard also that Mr Arabin was about to +become Mr Harding's son-in-law, he confessed that he also would, +under such circumstances, be glad to see his old friend and +protege, the fellow of his college, placed in the comfortable +position that was going a-begging. + +'It might be the means, you know, Master, of keeping Mr Slope out,' +said the archdeacon with grave caution. + +'He has no more chance of it,' said the master, 'that our college +chaplain. I know about it than that.' + +Mrs Grantly had been right in her surmise. It was the Master of +Lazarus who had been instrumental in representing in high places +the claims of Mr Harding had from the Government; and he now +consented to use his best endeavours towards getting the offer +transferred to Mr Arabin. The three of them went on to London +together, and there they remained a week, to the great disgust of +Mrs Grantly, and most probably also of Mrs Gwynne. The minister was +out of town in one direction, and his private secretary in another. +The clerks who remained could do nothing in such a matter as this, +and all was difficulty and confusion. The two doctors seemed to +have plenty to do; they bustled here and they bustled there, and +complained at their club in the evenings that they had been driven +off their legs; but Mr Harding had no occupation. Once or twice he +suggested that he might perhaps return to Barchester. His request, +however, was peremptorily refused, and had nothing for it but to +while away his time in Westminster Abbey. + +At length an answer from the great man came. The Master of Lazarus +had made his proposition through the Bishop of Belgravia. Now the +bishop, tough but newly gifted with his diocesan honours, was a man +of much weight in the clerico-political world. He was, if not as +pious, at any rate as wise as St Paul, and had been with so much +effect all things to all men, that though he was great among the +dons of Oxford, he had been selected for the most favourite seat on +the bench by a Whig Prime Minister. To him Dr Gwynne had made known +his wishes and his arguments, and the bishop had made them known to +the Marquis of Kensington Gore. The marquis, who was Lord High +Steward of the Pantry Board, and who by most men was supposed to +hold the highest office out of the cabinet, trafficked much in +affairs of this kind. He not only suggested the arrangement to the +minister over a cup of coffee, standing on a drawing-room rug in +Windsor Castle, but he also favourably mentioned Mr Arabin's name +in the ear of a distinguished person. + +And so the matter was arranged. The answer of the great man came, +and Mr Arabin was made Dean of Barchester. The three clergymen who +had come up to town on this important mission dined together with +great glee on the day on which the news reached them. In a silent +manner, they toasted Mr Arabin with full bumpers of claret. The +satisfaction of all of them was supreme. The Master of Lazarus had +been successful in his attempt, and success is dear to us all. The +archdeacon had trampled upon Mr Slope, and had lifted to high +honours the young clergyman whom he had induced to quit the +retirement and comfort of the university. So at least the +archdeacon thought; though, to speak sooth, not he, but +circumstances had trampled on Mr Slope. But the satisfaction of Mr +Harding was, of all perhaps, the most complete. He laid aside his +usual melancholy manner, and brought forth little quiet jokes from +the utmost mirth of his heart; he poked fun at the archdeacon about +Mr Slope's marriage, and quizzed him for his improper love for Mrs +Proudie. On the following day they all returned to Barchester. + +It was arranged that Mr Arabin should know nothing of what had been +done till he received the minister's letter from the hands of his +embryo father-in-law. In order that no time be lost, a message had +been sent to him by the preceding night's post, begging him to be +at the deanery at the hour that the train from London arrived. +There was nothing in this which surprised Mr Arabin. It had somehow +got about through all bah that Mr Harding was the new dean, and all +Barchester was prepared to welcome him with pealing bells and full +hearts. Mr Slope had certainly had a party; there had certainly +been those in Barchester who were prepared to congratulate him on +his promotion with assumed sincerity, but even his own party were +not broken-hearted by his failure. The inhabitants of the city, +even the high-souled ecstatic young ladies of thirty-five, had +begun to comprehend that their welfare and the welfare of the +place, was connected in some mysterious manner with the daily +chants of the bi-weekly anthems. The expenditure of the palace had +not added greatly to the popularity of the bishop's side of the +question; and, on the whole, there was a strong reaction. When it +became known to all the world that Mr Harding was to be the new +dean, all the world rejoiced heartily. + +Mr Arabin, as we have said, was not surprised at the summons which +called him to the deanery. He had not as yet seen Mr Harding since +Eleanor had accepted him, nor had he seen him since he had learnt +of his future father-in-law's preferment. There was nothing more +natural, more necessary, than that they should meet each other at +the earliest possible moment. + +Mr Arabin was waiting at the deanery parlour when Mr Harding and Dr +Grantly were driven up from the station. + +There was some excitement in the bosoms of them all, as they met +and shook hands; but far too much to enable either of them to begin +his story and tell it in a proper equable style of narrative. Mr +Harding was some minutes quite dumbfounded, and Mr Arabin could +only talk in short, spasmodic sentences about his love and good +fortune. He slipped in, as best he could, some sort of +congratulation about the deanship, and then went on with his hopes +and fears--hopes that he might be received as a son, and fears that +he hardly deserved such good fortune. Then he went back to the +dean; it was the most thoroughly satisfactory appointment, he said, +of which he had ever heard. + +'But! But! But--' said Mr Harding; and then failing to get any +further, he looked imploringly at the archdeacon. + +'The truth is, Arabin,' said the doctor, 'that, after all you are +not destined to be the son-in-law to a dean. Nor am I either: more's +the pity.' + +Mr Arabin looked to him for explanation. 'Is not Mr Harding to be +the new dean?' + +'It appears not,' said the archdeacon. Mr Arabin's face fell a +little, and he looked from one to the other. It was plainly to be +seen from them both that there was no cause for unhappiness in the +matter, at least not of an unhappiness to them; but there was as +yet no clarification of the mystery. + +'Think how old I am,' said Mr Harding imploringly. + +'Fiddlestick!' said the archdeacon. + +'That's all very well, but it won't make a young man of me,' said +Mr Harding. + +'And who is to be the dean?' asked Mr Arabin. + +'Yes, that is the question,' said the archdeacon. 'Come, Mr +Precentor, since you obstinately refuse to be anything else, let us +know who is to be the man. He has got the nomination in his +pocket.' + +With eyes brim full of tears, Mr Harding pulled out the letter and +handed it to his future son-in-law. He tried to make a little +speech, but failed altogether. Having given up the document, he +turned round to the wall, feigning to blow his nose, and then sat +himself down on the old dean's dingy horse-hair sofa. And here we +find it necessary to bring our account of the interview to an end. + +Nor can we pretend to describe the rapture with which Mr Harding +was received by his daughter. She wept with grief and with joy; +with grief that her father should, in his old age, still be without +that rank and worldly position, which, according to her ideas, he +had so well earned; and with joy that he, her darling father, +should have bestowed on that other dear one the good things of +which he himself would not open his hand to take possession. And +her, Mr Harding again showed his weakness. In the melee of the +exposal of their loves and reciprocal affection, he found himself +unable to resist the entreaties of all parties that his lodgings in +the High Street should be given up. Eleanor would not live in the +deanery, she said, unless her father lived there also. Mr Arabin +would not be dean, unless Mr Harding would be co-dean with him. The +archdeacon declared that his father-in-law should not have his own +way in everything, and Mrs Grantly carried him off to Plumstead, +that he might remain there till Mr and Mrs Arabin were in a state +to receive him at their own mansion. + +Pressed by such arguments as these, what could a weak man do but +yield? + +But there was yet another task which it behoved Mr Harding to do +before he could allow himself to be at rest. Little has been said +in these pages of the state of those remaining old men who had +lived under his sway at the hospital. But not on this account must +it be presumed that he had forgotten them, or that in their state +of anarchy and in their want of government he had omitted to visit +them. He visited them constantly, and had latterly given them to +understand that they would soon be required to subscribe their +adherence to a new master. There were now but five of them, one of +them not having been but quite lately carried to his rest--but five +of the full number, which had hitherto been twelve, and which was +now to be raised to twenty-four, including women. Of these old +Bunce, who for many years, had been the favourite of the late +warden, was one; and Abel Handy, who had been the humble means from +driving that warden from his home, was another. + +Mr Harding now resolved that he himself would introduce the new +warden to the hospital. He felt that many circumstances might +conspire to make the men receive Mr Quiverful with aversion and +disrespect; he felt also that Mr Quiverful might himself feel some +qualms of conscience if he entered the hospital with an idea that +he did so in hostility to his predecessor. Mr Harding therefore +determined to walk in, arm in arm, with Mr Quiverful, and to ask +from these men their respectful obedience to their new master. + +On returning to Barchester, he found that Mr Quiverful had not yet +slept in the hospital house, or entered on his new duties. He +accordingly made known to that gentleman his wishes, and his +proposition was not rejected. + +It was a bright clear morning, though in November, that Mr Harding +and Mr Quiverful, arm in arm, walked through the hospital gate. It +was one trait in our old friend's character that he did nothing +with parade. He omitted, even in the more important doings of his +life, that sort of parade by which most of us deem it necessary to +grace our important doings. We have housewarmings, christenings, +and gala days; we keep, if not our own birthdays, those of our +children; we are apt to fuss ourselves, if called upon to change +our residences, and have, almost all of us, our little state +occasions. Mr Harding, had no state occasions. When he left his old +house, he went forth from it with the same quiet composure as +though he were merely taking his daily walk; and now that he +re-entered it with another warden under his wing, he did so with +the same quiet step and calm demeanour. He was a little less +upright than he had been five years, nay, it was nearly six years +ago; he walked perhaps a little slower; his footfall was perhaps a +thought less firm; otherwise one might have same that he was merely +returning with a friend under his arm. + +This friendliness was everything to Mr Quiverful. To him, even in +his poverty, the thought that he was supplanting a brother +clergyman so kind and courteous as Mr Harding, had been very +bitter. Under his circumstances it had been impossible for him to +refuse the proffered boon; he could not reject the bread that was +offered to his children, or refuse to ease the heavy burden that +had so long oppressed that poor wife of his; nevertheless, it had +been very grievous to him to think that in going to the hospital he +might encounter the ill will of his brethren in the diocese. All +this Mr Harding had fully comprehended. It was for such feelings as +these, for the nice comprehension of such motives, that his heart +and intellect were peculiarly fitted. In most matters of worldly +import the archdeacon set down his father-in-law as little better +than a fool. And perhaps he was right. But in some other matters, +equally important if they be rightly judged, Mr Harding, had he +been so minded, might with as much propriety have set down his +son-in-law for a fool. Few men, however, are constituted as was Mr +Harding. He had that nice appreciation of the feelings of others +which belongs of right exclusively to women. + +Arm in arm they walked into the inner quadrangle of the building, +and there the five old men met them. Mr Harding shook hands with +them all, and then Mr Quiverful did the same. With Bunce Mr Harding +shook hands twice, and Mr Quiverful was about to repeat the +ceremony but the old man gave him no encouragement. + +'I am very glad to know that at last you have a new warden,' said +Mr Harding in a very cheery voice. + +'We be very old for any change,' said one of them; 'but we do +suppose it be all for the best.' + +'Certainly--certainly, it is for the best,' said Mr Harding. 'You +will again have a clergyman of your own church under the same roof +with you, and a very excellent clergyman you will have. It is a +great satisfaction to me to know that so good a man is coming to +take care of you, and that it is no stranger, but a friend of my +own, who will allow me from time to time to come in and see you.' + +'We be thankful to your reverence,' said another of them. + +'I need not tell you, my good friends,' said Mr Quiverful, 'how +extremely grateful I am to Mr Harding for his kindness to me,--I +must say his uncalled for, his unexpected kindness.' + +'He be always very kind,' said a third. + +'What I can do to fill the void which he left here, I will do. For +your sake and my own I will do so, and especially for his sake. But +to you who have known him, I can never be the same well-loved +friend and father that he has been.' + +'No, no, sir,' said old Bunce, who hitherto had held his peace; 'no +one can be that. Not if the new bishop sent a hangel to us from +heaven. We doesn't doubt you'll do your best, sir, but you'll not +be like the old master; not to us old ones.' + +'Fie, Bunce, fie! how dare you talk in that way!' said Mr Harding; +but as he scolded the old man he still held him by his arm, and +pressed it with warm affection. + +There was no getting any enthusiasm in the matter. How could five +old men tottering away to their final resting-place be enthusiastic +on the reception of a stranger? What could Mr Quiverful be to them, +or they to Mr Quiverful? Had Mr Harding indeed come back to them, +some last flicker of joyous light might have shone forth on their +aged cheeks; but it was in vain to bid them rejoice because Mr +Quiverful was about to move his fourteen children from Puddingdale +into the hospital house. In reality they did no doubt receive +advantage, spiritual as well as corporal; but this they could +neither anticipate nor acknowledge. + +It was a dull affair enough, this introduction of Mr Quiverful; but +still it had its effect. The good which Mr Harding intended did not +fall to the ground. All the Barchester world, including the five +old bedesmen, treated Mr Quiverful with the more respect, because +Mr Harding had thus walked in arm in arm with him, on his first +entrance to his duties. + +And here in their new abode we will leave Mr and Mrs Quiverful and +their fourteen children. May they enjoy the good things which +Providence has at length given to them! + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +CONCLUSION + +The end of a novel, like the end of a children's dinner-party, must +be made up of sweetmeats and sugar-plums. There is now nothing else +to be told but the gala doings of Mr Arabin's marriage, nothing +more to be described than the wedding dresses, no further dialogue +to be recorded than that which took place between the archdeacon +who married them, and Mr Arabin and Eleanor who were married. 'Wilt +thou have this woman to thy wedded wife?' and 'Wilt thou have this +man to thy wedded husband, to live together according to God's +ordinance?' Mr Arabin and Eleanor each answered, 'I will'. We have +no doubt that they will keep their promises; the more especially as +the Signora Neroni had left Barchester before the ceremony was +performed. + +Mrs Bold had been somewhat more than two years a widow before she +was married to her second husband, and little Johnnie was then able +with due assistance to walk on his own legs into the drawing-room +to receive the salutations of the assembled guests. Mr Harding gave +away the bride, the archdeacon performed the service, and the two +Miss Grantlys, who were joined in their labours by other young +ladies of the neighbourhood, performed the duties of bridesmaids +with equal diligence and grace. Mrs Grantly superintended the +breakfast and bouquets and Mary Bold distributed the cards and +cake. The archdeacon's three sons had also come home for the +occasion. The eldest was great with learning, being regarded by all +who knew him as a certain future double first. The second, however, +bore the palm on this occasion, being resplendent in his new +uniform. The third was just entering the university, and was +probably the proudest of the three. + +But the most remarkable feature in the whole occasion was the +excessive liberality of the archdeacon. He literally made presents +to everybody. As Mr Arabin had already moved out of the parsonage +of St Ewold's, that scheme of elongating the dining-room was of +course abandoned; but he would have refurnished the whole deanery +had he been allowed. He sent down a magnificent piano by Erard, +gave Mr Arabin a cob which any dean in the land might have been +proud to bestride, and made a special present to Eleanor of a new +pony chair that had gained a prize in the Exhibition. Nor did he +even stay his hand here; he bought a set of cameos for his wife, +and a sapphire bracelet for Miss Bold; showered pearls and +workboxes on is daughters, and to each of his sons he presented a +cheque for 20 pounds. On Mr Harding he bestowed a magnificent +violoncello with all the new-fashioned arrangements and expensive +additions, which, on account of these novelties, that gentleman +could never use with satisfaction to his audience or pleasure to +himself. + +Those who knew the archdeacon well, perfectly understood the cause +of his extravagance. 'Twas thus that he sang his song of triumph +over Mr Slope. This was his paean, his hymn of thanksgiving, his +loud oration. He had girded himself with his sword, and gone forth +to the war; now he was returning from the field laden with the +spoils of the foe. The cob, the cameos, the violoncello and the +pianoforte, were all as it were trophies reft from the tent of his +now conquered enemy. + +The Arabins after their marriage went abroad for a couple of +months, according the custom in such matters now duly established, +and then commenced their deanery life under good auspices. And +nothing can be more pleasant than the present arrangement of +ecclesiastical affairs in Barchester. The titular bishop never +interfered, and Mrs Proudie not often. Her sphere is more extended, +more noble, and more suited to her ambition than that of a +cathedral city. As long as she can do what she pleases with the +diocese, she is willing to leave the dean and chapter to +themselves. Mr Slope tried his hand at subverting the +old-established customs of the close, and from his failure she has +learnt experience. The burly chancellor and the meagre little +prebendary are not teased by any application respecting Sabbath-day +schools, the dean is left to his own dominions, and the intercourse +between Mrs Proudie and Mrs Arabin is confined to a yearly dinner +by each to the other. At these dinners Dr Grantly will not take a +part; but he never fails to ask for and receive a full account of +all that Mrs Proudie does or says. + +His ecclesiastical authority has been greatly shorn since the palmy +days in which he reigned supreme as mayor of the palace to his +father, but nevertheless such authority as is now left to him he +can enjoy without interference. He can walk down High Street of +Barchester without feeling that those who see him are comparing his +claims with those of Mr Slope. The intercourse between Plumstead +and the deanery is of the most constant and familiar description. +Since Eleanor has been married to a clergyman, and especially to a +dignitary of the church, Mrs Grantly has found many more points of +sympathy with her sister; and on a coming occasion, which is much +looked forward to by all parties, she intends to spend a month or +two at the deanery. She never thought of spending a month in +Barchester when little Johnny Bold was born! + +The two sisters do not quite agree on matters of church doctrine, +though their differences are of the most amicable description. Mr +Arabin's church is two degrees higher than that of Mrs Grantly. +This may seem strange to those who will remember that Eleanor was +once accused of partiality to Mr Slope; but it is no less the fact. +She likes her husband's silken vest, she likes his adherence to the +rubric, she specially likes the eloquent philosophy of his sermons, +and she likes the red letters in her own prayer-book. It must not +be presumed that she has a taste for candles, or that she is at all +astray about the real presence; but she has an inkling that way. +She sent a handsome subscription towards certain very heavy legal +expenses which have lately been incurred in Bath, her name of +course not appearing; she assumes a smile of gentle ridicule when +the Archbishop of Canterbury is named, and she has put up a +memorial window in the cathedral. + +Mrs Grantly, who belongs to the high and dry church, the high +church as it was some fifty years since, before tracts were written +and young clergymen took upon themselves the highly meritorious +duty of cleaning churches, rather laughs at her sister. She shrugs +her shoulders, and tells Miss Thorne that she supposes Eleanor will +have an oratory in the deanery before she has done. But she is not +on that account a whit displeased. A few high church vagaries do +not, she thinks, sit amiss on the shoulders of a young dean's wife. +It shows at any rate that her heart is in the subject; and it shows +moreover that she is removed, wide as the poles asunder, from the +cesspool of abomination in which it was once suspected that she +would wallow and grovel. Anathema maranatha! Let anything be held +as blessed, so that that be well cursed. Welcome kneelings and +bowings, welcome matins and complines, welcome bell, book, and +candle, so that Mr Slope's dirty surplices and ceremonial Sabbaths +be held in due execration! + +If it be essentially and absolutely necessary to choose between the +two, we are inclined to agree with Mrs Grantly that the bell, book, +and candle are the lesser evil of the two. Let it however be +understood that no such necessity is admitted in these pages. + +Dr Arabin (we suppose he must have become a doctor when he became a +dean) is more moderate and less outspoken on doctrinal points than +his wife, as indeed in his station it behoves him to be. He is a +studious, thoughtful, hard-working man. He lives constantly at the +deanery and preaches nearly every Sunday. His time is spent in +sifting and editing old ecclesiastical literature and in producing +the same articles new. At Oxford he is generally regarded as the +most promising clerical ornament of the age. He and his wife live +together in perfect mutual confidence. There is but one secret in +her bosom which he has not shared. He has never yet learned how Mr +Slope had his ears boxed. + +The Stanhopes soon found that Mr Slope's power need no longer +operate to keep them from the delight of their Italian villa. +Before Eleanor's marriage they had all migrated back to the shores +of Como. They had not been resettled long before the signora +received from Mrs Arabin a very pretty though very short epistle, +in which she was informed of the fate of the writer. This letter +was answered by another, bright, charming, and witty, as the +signora's always were; and so ended the friendship between Eleanor +and the Stanhopes. + +One word of Mr Harding, and we have done. + +He is still Precentor of Barchester, and still pastor of the little +church of St Cuthbert's. In spite of what he has so often said +himself, he is not even yet an old man. He does such duties as fall +to his lot well and conscientiously, and is thankful that he has +never been tempted to assume others for which he might be less +fitted. + +The Author now leaves him in the hands of his readers; not as a +hero, not as a man to be admired and talked of, not as a man who +should be toasted at public dinners and spoken of with conventional +absurdity as a perfect divine, but as a good man without guile, +believing humbly in the religion which he strives to teach, and +guided by the precepts which he has striven to learn + +THE END + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Barchester Towers by Anthony +Trollope diff --git a/2432.zip b/2432.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c34ce5 --- /dev/null +++ b/2432.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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