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diff --git a/old/lacob11.txt b/old/lacob11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9443913 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lacob11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,35720 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Last Chronicle of Barset, by Anthony Trollope +#9 in our series by Anthony Trollope + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!**** + + +Title: The Last Chronicle of Barset + +Author: Anthony Trollope + +Release Date: January, 2002 [Etext #3045] +[This file was last updated on March 12, 2002] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET *** + + + + +This etext was prepared by KENNETH DAVID COOPER <cooper.kd@bigpond.com> + + + + +The Last Chronicle of Barset +by +Anthony Trollope + + + +CONTENTS + +I How Did He Get It? +II By Heavens, He Had Better Not! +III The Archdeacon's Threat +IV The Clergyman's House at Hogglestock +V What the World Thought about it +VI Grace Crawley +VII Miss Prettyman's Private Room +VIII Mr Crawley is Taken to Silverbridge +IX Grace Crawley Goes to Allington +X Dinner at Framley Court +XI The Bishop Sends his Inhibition +XII Mr Crawley Seeks for Sympathy +XIII The Bishop's Angel +XIV Major Grantly Consults a Friend +XV Up in London +XVI Down in Allington +XVII Mr Crawley is Summoned to Barchester +XVIII The Bishop of Barchester is Crushed +XIX Where Did it Come From? +XX What Mr Walker Thought about it +XXI Mr Robarts on his Embassy +XXII Major Grantly at Home +XXIII Miss Lily Dale's Resolution +XXIV Mrs Dobbs Broughton's Dinner-Party +XXV Miss Madalina Demolines +XXVI The Picture +XXVII A Hero at Home +XXVIII Showing How Major Grantly took a Walk +XXIX Miss Lily Dale's Logic +XXX Showing what Major Grantly did after his Walk +XXXI Showing how Major Grantly Returned to Guestwick +XXXII Mr Toogood +XXXIII The Plumstead Foxes +XXXIV Mrs Proudie Sends for her Lawyer +XXXV Lily Dale writes Two Words in her Book +XXXVI Grace Crawley Returns Home +XXXVII Hook Court +XXXVIII Jael +XXXIX A New Flirtation +XL Mr Toogood's Ideas about Society +XLI Grace Crawley at Home +XLII Mr Toogood Travels Professionally +XLIII Mr Crosbie Goes to the City +XLIV 'I Suppose I Must Let You Have It' +XLV Lily Dale Goes to London +XLVI The Bayswater Romance +XLVII Dr Tempest at the Palace +XLVIII The Softness of Sir Raffle Buffle +XLIX Near the Close +L Lady Lufton's Proposition +LI Mrs Dobbs Broughton Piles her Fagots +LII Why don't you have an 'It' for Yourself? +LIII Rotten Row +LIV The Clerical Commission +LV Framley Parsonage +LVI The Archdeacon Goes to Framley +LVII A Double Pledge +LVIII The Cross-grainedness of Men +LIX A Lady Presents her Compliments to Miss L.D. +LX The End of Jael and Sisera +LXI 'It's Dogged as Does It' +LXII Mr Crawley's Letter to the Dean +LXIII Two Vistors to Hogglestock +LXIV The Tragedy in Hook Court +LXV Miss Van Siever makes her Choice +LXVI Requiescat in Pace +LXVII In Memoriam +LXVIII The Obstinacy of Mr Crawley +LXIX Mr Crawley's Last Appearance in his own Pulpit +LXX Mrs Arabin is Caught +LXXI Mr Toogood at Silverbridge +LXXII There is Comfort at Plumstead +LXXIV The Crawleys are Informed +LXXV Madalina's Heart is Bleeding +LXXVI I Think he is Light of Heart +LXXVII The Shattered Tree +LXXVIII The Arabins Return to Barchester +LXXIX Mr Crawley Speaks of his Coat +LXXX Miss Demolines Desires to Become a Finger-post +LXXXI Barchester Cloisters +LXXXII The Last Scene at Hogglestock +LXXXIII Mr Crawley is Conquered +LXXXIV Conclusion + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HOW DID HE GET IT? + +'I can never bring myself to believe it, John,' said Mary Walker the +pretty daughter of Mr George Walker, attorney of Silverbridge. Walker +and Winthrop was the name of the firm, and they were respectable people, +who did all the solicitors' business that had to be done in that part of +Barsetshire on behalf of the Crown, were employed on the local business +of the Duke of Omnium, who is great in those parts, and altogether held +their heads up high, as provincial lawyers often do. They--the +Walkers--lived in a great brick house in the middle of the town, gave +dinners, to which the county gentlemen not unfrequently condescended to +come, and in a mild way led the fashion in Silverbridge. 'I can never +bring myself to believe it, John,' said Miss Walker. + +'You'll have to bring yourself to believe it,' said John, without taking +his eyes from his book. + +'A clergyman--and such a clergyman too!' + +'I don't see that that has anything to do with it.' And as he now +spoke, John did take his eyes of his book. 'Why should not a clergyman +turn thief as well as anybody else? You girls always seem to forget that +clergymen are only men after all.' + +'Their conduct is likely to be better than that of other men, I think.' + +'I deny it utterly,' said John Walker. 'I'll undertake to say that at +this moment there are more clergymen in debt in Barsetshire than there +are either lawyers or doctors. This man has always been in debt. Since +he has been in the county I don't think he has ever been able to show +his face in the High Street of Silverbridge.' + +'John, that is saying more than you have a right to say,' said Mrs +Walker. + +'Why, mother, this very cheque was given to a butcher who had threatened +a few days before to post bills all about the county, giving an account +of the debt that was due to him, if the money was not paid at once.' + +'More shame for Mr Fletcher,' said Mary. 'He has made a fortune as +butcher in Silverbridge.' + +'What has that to do with it? Of course a man likes to have his money. +He had written three times to the bishop, and he had sent a man over to +Hogglestock to get his little bill settled six days running. You see he +got it at last. Of course, a tradesman must look for his money.' + +'Mamma, do you think that Mr Crawley stole the cheque?' Mary, as she +asked the question, came and stood over her mother, looking at her with +anxious eyes. + +'I would rather give no opinion, dear.' + +'But you must think something when everybody is talking about it, +mamma.' + +'Of course my mother thinks he did,' said John, going back to his book. +'It is impossible that she should think otherwise.' + +'That is not fair, John,' said Mrs Walker; 'and I won't have you +fabricate thoughts for me, or put the expression of them into my mouth. +The whole affair is very painful, and as your father is engaged in the +inquiry, I think that the less said about the matter in this house the +better. I am sure that that would be your father's feeling.' + +'I do not see that at all,' said John. 'Mr Crawley is not more than any +other man just because he's a clergyman. I hate all that kind of +clap-trap. There are a lot of people here in Silverbridge who think the +matter shouldn't be followed up, just because the man is in a position +which makes the crime more criminal in him than it would be in another.' + +'But I feel sure that Mr Crawley has committed no crime at all,' said +Mary. + +'My dear,' said Mrs Walker, 'I have just said that I would rather you +would not talk about it. Papa will be in directly.' + +'I won't, mamma, only--' + +'Only! yes; just only!' said John. 'She'd go on till dinner if anyone +would stay to hear her.' + +'You've said twice as much as I have, John.' But John had left the room +before his sister's words could reach him. + +'You know, mamma, it is quite impossible not to help thinking of it,' +said Mary. + +'I daresay it is, my dear.' + +'And when one knows the people it does make it so dreadful.' + +'But do you know them? I never spoke to Mr Crawley in my life, and I do +not think I ever saw her.' + +'I knew Grace very well--when she used to come first to Miss Prettyman's +school.' + +'Poor girl. I pity her.' + +'Pity her! Pity is no word for it, mamma. My heart bleeds for them. +And yet I do not believe for a moment that he stole the cheque. How can +it be possible? For though he may have been in debt because they have +been so very, very, poor, yet we all know that he has been an excellent +clergyman. When the Robartses were dining here last, I heard Mrs Robarts +say that for piety and devotion to his duties she had hardly ever seen +anyone equal to him. And the Robartses know more of them than anybody.' + +'They say that the dean is his great friend.' + +'What a pity it is that the Arabins should be away just now when he is +in such trouble.' And in this way the mother and daughter went on +discussing the question of the clergyman's guilt in spite of Mrs +Walker's expressed desire that nothing more might be said about it. But +Mrs Walker, like many other mothers, was apt to be more free in converse +with her daughter than she was with her son. While they were thus +talking the father came in from his office, and then the subject was +dropped. He was a man between fifty and sixty years of age, with grey +hair, rather short, and somewhat corpulent, but still gifted with that +amount of personal comeliness which comfortable position and the respect +of others will generally seem to give. A man rarely carries himself +meanly whom the world holds in high esteem. + +'I am very tired, my dear,' said Mr Walker. + +'You look tired. Come and sit down for a few minutes before you dress. +Mary, get your father's slippers.' Mary instantly ran to the door. + +'Thanks, my darling,' said the father. And then he whispered to his +wife, as soon as Mary was out of hearing. 'I fear the unfortunate man is +guilty. I fear he is! I fear he is!' + +'Oh, heavens! what will become of them?' + +'What indeed? She has been with me today.' + +'Has she? And what could you say to her?' + +'I told her at first that I could not see her, and begged her not to +speak to me about it. I tried to make her understand that she should go +to someone else. But it was of no use.' + +'And how did it end?' + +'I asked her to go in to you, but she declined. She said you could do +nothing for her.' + +'And does she think her husband guilty?' + +'No, indeed. She think him guilty! Nothing on earth--or from heaven +either, as I take it, would make her suppose it to be possible. She came +simply to tell me how good he was.' + +'I love her for that,' said Mrs Walker. + +'So did I. But what is the good of loving her? Thank you, dearest. +I'll get your slippers for you some day, perhaps.' + +The whole county was astir with this matter of this alleged guilt of the +Reverend Mr Crawley--the whole county almost as keenly as the family of +Mr Walker, of Silverbridge. The crime laid to his charge was the theft +of a cheque for twenty pounds, which he was said to have stolen out of a +pocket-book left or dropped in his house, and to have passed as money +into the hands of one Fletcher, a butcher of Silverbridge, to whom he +was indebted. Mr Crawley was in those days the perpetual curate of +Hogglestock, a pariah in the northern extremity of East Barsetshire; a +man known by all who knew anything of him to be very poor--an unhappy, +moody, disappointed man, upon whom the troubles of the world always +seemed to come with a double weight. But he had ever been respected as a +clergyman, since his old friend Mr Arabin, the dean of Barchester, had +given him the small incumbency which he now held. Though moody, unhappy, +and disappointed, he was a hard-working, conscientious pastor, among the +poor people with whom his lot was cast; for in the parish of Hogglestock +there resided only a few farmers higher in degree than field labourers, +brickmakers, and such like. Mr Crawley had now passed some ten years of +his life at Hogglestock; and during those years he had worked very hard +to do his duty, struggling to teach the people around him perhaps too +much of the mystery, but something of the comfort, of religion. That he +had became popular in his parish cannot be said of him. He was not a man +to make himself popular in any position. I have said that he was moody +and disappointed. He was even worse than this; he was morose, sometimes +almost to insanity. There had been days in which even his wife had found +it impossible to deal with him otherwise than as with an acknowledged +lunatic. And this was known among the farmers, who talked about their +clergyman among themselves as though he were a madman. But among the +very poor, among the brickmakers of Hoggle End--a lawless, drunken, +terribly rough lot of humanity--he was held in high respect; for they +knew that he lived hardly, as they lived; that he worked hard, as they +worked; and that the outside world was hard to him, as it was to them; +and there had been an apparent sincerity of godliness about the man, and +a manifest struggle to do his duty in spite of the world's ill-usage, +which had won its way even with the rough; so that Mr Crawley's name had +stood high with many in the parish, in spite of the unfortunate +peculiarity of his disposition. This was the man who was now accused of +stealing a cheque for twenty pounds. + +But before the circumstances of the alleged theft are stated, a word or +two must be said as to Mr Crawley's family. It is declared that a good +wife is a crown to her husband, but Mrs Crawley has been much more than +a crown to him. As had regarded all the inner life of the man--all that +portion of his life which had not been passed in the pulpit or in +pastoral teaching--she had been crown, throne, and sceptre all in one. +That she had endured with him and on his behalf the miseries of poverty, +and the troubles of a life which had known no smiles, is perhaps not to +be alleged as much to her honour. She had joined herself to him for +better or worse, and it was her manifest duty to bear such things; wives +always have to bear them, knowing when they marry that they must take +their chance. Mr Crawley might have been a bishop, and Mrs Crawley, when +she married him, perhaps thought it probable that such would be his +fortune. Instead of that he was now, just as he was approaching his +fiftieth year, a perpetual curate, with an income of one hundred and +thirty pounds per annum--and a family. That had been Mrs Crawley's luck +in life, and of course she bore it. But she had also done much more than +this. She had striven hard to be contented, or, rather, to appear to be +contented, when he had been most wretched and most moody. She had +struggled to conceal from him her own conviction to his half-insanity, +treating him at the same time with the respect due to an honoured father +of a family, and with the careful measured indulgence fit for a sick and +wayward child. In all the terrible troubles of their life her courage +had been higher than his. The metal of which she was made had been +tempered to a steel which was very rare and fine, but the rareness and +fineness of which he had failed to appreciate. He had often told her +that she was without pride, because she was stooped to receive from +others on his behalf and on behalf of their children, things which were +needful, but which she could not buy. He had told her that she was a +beggar, and that it was better to starve than to beg. She had borne the +rebuke without a word in reply, and had then begged again for him, and +had endured the starvation herself. Nothing in their poverty had, for +years past, been a shame to her; but every accident of their poverty was +still, and ever had been, a living disgrace to him. + +They had had many children, and three were still alive. Of the eldest, +Grace Crawley, we shall hear much in the coming story. She was at this +time nineteen years old, and there were those who said, that in spite of +her poverty, her shabby outward apparel, and a certain thin, unfledged, +unrounded form of person, a want of fulness in the lines of her figure, +she was the prettiest girl in that part of the world. She was living now +at a school in Silverbridge, where for the last year she had been a +teacher; and there were many in Silverbridge who declared that very +bright prospects were opening to her--that young Major Grantly of Crosby +Lodge, who, though a widower with a young child, was the cynosure of all +female eyes in and around Silverbridge, had found beauty in her thin +face, and that Grace Crawley's fortune was made in the teeth, as it +were, of the prevailing ill-fortune of the family. Bob Crawley, who was +two years younger, was now at Malbro' School, from whence it was +intended that he should proceed to Cambridge, and be educated there at +the expense of his godfather Dean Arabin. In this also the world saw a +stroke of good luck. But then nothing was lucky to Mr Crawley. Bob, +indeed, who had done well at school, might do well at Cambridge--might +achieve great things there. But Mr Crawley would almost have preferred +that the boy should work in the fields, than that he should be educated +in a manner so manifestly eleemosynary. And then his clothes! How was he +to be provided with clothes fit either for school or for college? But +the dean and Mrs Crawley between them managed this, leaving Mr Crawley +very much in the dark, as Mrs Crawley was in the habit of leaving him. +Then there was a younger daughter, Jane, still at home, who passed her +life between her mother's work-table and her father's Greek, mending +linen, and learning to scan iambics--for Mr Crawley in his early days +had been a ripe scholar. + +And now there had come upon them all this terribly crushing disaster. +That poor Mr Crawley had gradually got himself into a mess of debt at +Silverbridge, from which he had been quite unable to extricate himself, +was generally known by all the world both of Silverbridge and +Hogglestock. To a great many it was known that Dean Arabin had paid +money for him, very much contrary to his own consent, and that he had +quarrelled, or attempted to quarrel, with the dean in consequence--had +so attempted, although the money had in part passed through his own +hands. There had been one creditor, Fletcher, the butcher at +Silverbridge, who had of late been specially hard upon poor Crawley. +This man, who had not been without good nature in his dealings, had +heard stories of the dean's good-will and such like, and had loudly +expressed his opinion that the perpetual curate of Hogglestock would +show a higher pride in allowing himself to be indebted to a rich brother +clergyman, than in remaining under the thrall of a butcher. And thus a +rumour had grown up. And then the butcher had written repeated letters to +the bishop--to bishop Proudie of Barchester, who had first caused his +chaplain to answer them, and had told Mr Crawley somewhat roundly what +was his opinion of a clergyman who ate meat and did not pay for it. But +nothing that bishop could say or do enabled Mr Crawley to pay the +butcher. It was very grievous to such a man as Mr Crawley to receive +these letters from such a man as Bishop Proudie; but the letters came, +and made festering wounds, but then there was an end of them. And at +last there had come forth from the butcher's shop a threat that if the +money were not paid by a certain date, printed bills would be posted +about the country. All who heard of this in Silverbridge were very angry +with Mr Fletcher, for no one there had ever known a tradesman to take +such a step before; but Fletcher swore that he would persevere, and +defended himself by showing that six or seven months since, in the +spring of the year, Mr Crawley had been paying money in Silverbridge, +but had paid none to him--to him who had been not only his earliest, but +his most enduring creditor. 'He got money from the dean in March,' said +Mr Fletcher to Mr Walker 'and he paid twelve pounds ten to Green, and +seventeen pounds to Grobury the baker.' It was that seventeen pounds to +Grobury, the baker, for flour, which made the butcher fixedly determined +to smite the poor clergyman hip and thigh. 'And he paid money to Hall +and to Mrs Holt, and to a deal more; but he never came near my shop. If +he had even shown himself, I would not have so much about it.' And then +a day before the day named, Mrs Crawley had come into Silverbridge, and +had paid the butcher twenty pounds in four five-pound notes. So far +Fletcher the butcher had been successful. + +Some six weeks after this, inquiry began to be made as to a certain +cheque for twenty pounds drawn by Lord Lufton on his bankers in London, +which cheque had been lost in the early spring by Mr Soames, Lord +Lufton's man of business in Barsetshire, together with a pocket-book in +which it had been folded. This pocket-book Soames had believed himself +to have left it at Mr Crawley's house, and had gone so far, even at the +time of the loss, as to express his absolute conviction that he had so +left it. He was in the habit of paying a rentcharge to Mr Crawley on +behalf of Lord Lufton, amounting to twenty pounds four shillings, every +half-year. Lord Lufton held the large tithes of Hogglestock, and paid +annually a sum of forty pounds eight shillings to the incumbent. This +amount was, as a rule, remitted punctually by Mr Soames through the +post. On the occasion now spoken of, he had had some reason to visit +Hogglestock, and had paid the money personally to Mr Crawley. Of so much +there is no doubt. But he had paid it by a cheque drawn by himself on +his own bankers at Barchester, and that cheque had been cashed in the +ordinary way on the next morning. On returning to his own house in +Barchester he had missed his pocket-book, and had written to Mr Crawley +to make inquiry. There had been no money in it, beyond the cheque drawn +by Lord Lufton for twenty pounds. Mr Crawley had answered this letter by +another, saying that no pocket-book had been found in his house. All +this had happened in March. + +In October, Mrs Crawley paid twenty pounds to Fletcher, the butcher, and +in November Lord Lufton's cheque was traced back through the Barchester +bank to Mr Crawley's hands. A brickmaker of Hoggle End, much favoured by +Mr Crawley, had asked for change over the counter of this Barchester +bank--not, as will be understood, the bank on which the cheque was +drawn--and had received it. The accommodation had been refused to the +man at first, but when he presented the cheque the second day, bearing +Mr Crawley' name on the back of it, together with a note from Mr Crawley +himself, the money had been given for it; and the identical notes so +paid had been given to Fletcher, the butcher on the next day by Mrs +Crawley. When inquiry was made, Mr Crawley stated that the cheque had +been paid to him by Mr Soames, on behalf of the rentcharge due to him by +Lord Lufton. But the error of this statement was at once made manifest. +There was the cheque, signed by Mr Soames himself, for the exact +amount--twenty pounds four shillings. As he himself declared, he had +never in his life paid money on behalf of Lord Lufton by a cheque drawn +on his lordship. The cheque given by Lord Lufton, and which had been +lost, had been a private matter between them. His lordship had simply +wanted change in his pocket, and his agent had given it to him. Mr +Crawley was speedily shown to be altogether wrong in the statement made +to account for the possession of the cheque. + +Then he became very moody and would say nothing further. But his wife, +who had known nothing of his first statement when made, came forward and +declared that she believed the cheque for twenty pounds to be part of a +present given by Dean Arabin to her husband in April last. There had +been, she said, great heart-burnings about this gift, and she hardly +dared to speak to her husband on the subject. An execution had been +threatened in the house by Grobury, the baker, of which the dean had +heard. Then there had been some scenes at the deanery between her +husband and the dean and Mrs Arabin, as to which she had subsequently +heard much from Mrs Arabin. Mrs Arabin had told her that money had been +given--and at last taken. Indeed, so much had been very apparent, as +bills had been paid to the amount of at least fifty pounds. When the +threat made by the butcher had reached her husband's ears, the effect +upon him had been very grievous. All this was the story told by Mrs +Crawley to Mr Walker, the lawyer, when he was pushing his inquiries. +She, poor woman, at any rate told all she knew. Her husband had told her +one morning, when the butcher's threat was weighing heavily on his mind, +speaking to her in such a humour that she found it impossible to cross- +question him, that he had still money left, though it was money which he +had hoped that he would not be driven to use; and he had given her four +five pound notes and had told her to go to Silverbridge and satisfy the +man who was so eager for his money. She had done so, and had felt no +doubt that the money so forthcoming had been given by the dean. That was +the story told by Mrs Crawley. + +But how could she explain her husband's statements as to the cheque, +which had been shown to be altogether false? All this passed between Mr +Walker and Mrs Crawley, and the lawyer was very gentle with her. In the +first stages of the inquiry he had simply desired to learn the truth, +and place the clergyman above suspicion. Latterly, being bound as he was +to follow up officially, he would not have seen Mrs Crawley, had he been +able to escape that lady's importunity. 'Mr Walker,' she had said, at +last, 'you do not know my husband. No one knows him but I. It is hard to +have to tell you all of our troubles.' 'If I can lessen them, trust me +that I will do so,' said the lawyer. 'No one, I think, can lessen them +in this world,' said the lady. 'The truth is, sir, that my husband often +knows not what he says. When he declared that the money had been paid to +him by Mr Soames, most certainly he thought so. There are times when in +his misery he knows not what he says--when he forgets everything.' + +Up to this period Mr Walker had not suspected Mr Crawley of anything +dishonest, nor did he suspect him as yet. The poor man had probably +received the money from the dean, and had told the lie about it, not +choosing to own that he had taken the money from his rich friend, and +thinking that there would be no further inquiry. He had been very +foolish, and that would be the end of it. Mr Soames was by no means so +good-natured in his belief. 'How should my pocket-book have got into +Dean Arabin's hands?' said Mr Soames, almost triumphantly. 'And then I +felt sure at the time that I had left it at Crawley's house!' + +Mr Walker wrote a letter to the dean, who at that moment was in +Florence, on his way to Rome, from whence he was going on to the Holy +Land. There came back a letter from Mr Arabin, saying that on the 17th +March he had given to Mr Crawley a sum of fifty pounds and that the +payment had been made in five Bank of England notes of ten pounds each, +which had been handed to his friend in the library at the deanery. The +letter was very short, and, may, perhaps, be described as having been +almost curt. Mr Walker, in his anxiety to do the best he could for Mr +Crawley, had simply asked a question as to the nature of the transaction +between the two gentlemen, saying that no doubt the dean's answer would +clear up a little mystery which existed at present respecting a cheque +for twenty pounds. The dean in answer simply stated the fact as it had +been given above; but he wrote to Mr Crawley begging to know what was in +truth this new difficulty, and offering any assistance in his power. He +explained all the circumstances of the money, as he remembered them. The +sum advanced had certainly consisted of fifty pounds, and there had +certainly been five Bank of England notes. He had put the notes into an +envelope, which he had not closed, but had addressed to Mr Crawley, and +had placed this envelope in his friend's hands. He went on to say that +Mrs Arabin would have written, but she was in Paris with her son. Mrs +Arabin was to remain in Paris during his absence in the Holy Land, and +meet him in Italy on his return. As she was so much nearer at hand, the +dean expressed a hope that Mrs Crawley would apply to her if there was +any trouble. + +The letter to Mr Walker was conclusive as to the dean's money. Mr +Crawley had not received Lord Lufton's cheque from the dean. Then whence +had he received it? The poor wife was left by the lawyer to obtain +further information from her husband. Ah, who can tell how terrible were +the scenes between that poor pair of wretches, as the wife endeavoured +to learn the truth from her miserable, half-maddened husband! That her +husband had been honest throughout, she had not any shadow of doubt. She +did not doubt that to her at least he endeavoured to tell the truth, as +far as his poor racked imperfect memory would allow him to remember what +was true and what was not true. The upshot of it all was that the +husband declared that he still believed that the money had come to him +from the dean. He had kept it by him, not wishing to use it if he could +help it. He had forgotten it--so he said at times--having understood +from Arabin that he was to have fifty pounds, and having received more. +If it had not come to him from the dean, then it had been sent to him by +the Prince of Evil for his utter undoing; and there were times in which +he seemed to think that such had been the manner in which the fatal +cheque had reached him. In all that he said he was terribly confused, +contradictory, unintelligible--speaking almost as a madman might +speak--ending always in declaring that the cruelty of the world had been +too much for him, that the waters were meeting over his head, and +praying to God's mercy to remove him from this world. It need hardly be +said that his poor wife in these days had a burden on her shoulders that +was more than enough to crush any woman. + +She at last acknowledged to Mr Walker that she could not account for the +twenty pounds. She herself would write again to the dean about it, but +she hardly hoped for any further assistance there. 'The dean's answer +was plain,' said Mr Walker. 'He says that he gave Mr Crawley five +ten-pound notes, and those five notes we have traced to Mr Crawley's +hands.' Then Mrs Crawley could say nothing further beyond making +protestations of her husband's innocence. + + + +CHAPTER II + +BY HEAVENS, HE HAD BETTER NOT! + +I must ask the reader to make acquaintance with Major Grantly of Cosby +Lodge, before he is introduced to the family of Mr Crawley, at their +parsonage at Hogglestock. It has been said that Major Grantly had thrown +a favourable eye on Grace Crawley--by which report occasion was given to +all men and women in those parts to hint that the Crawleys, with all +their piety and humility, were very cunning, and that one of the +Grantlys was--to say the least of it--very soft, admitted as it was +throughout the county of Barsetshire, that there was no family therein +more widely awake to the affairs generally of this world and the next +combined, than the family of which Archdeacon Grantly was the respected +head and patriarch. Mrs Walker, the most good-natured woman in +Silverbridge, had acknowledged to her daughter that she could not +understand it--that she could not see anything at all in Grace Crawley. +Mr Walker had shrugged his shoulders and expressed a confident belief +that Major Grantly had not a shilling of his own beyond his half-pay and +his late wife's fortune, which was only six thousand pounds. Others, who +were ill-natured, had declared that Grace Crawley was little better than +a beggar, and that she could not possibly have acquired the manners of a +gentlewoman. Fletcher the butcher had wondered whether the major would +pay his future father-in-law's debts; and Dr Tempest, the old Rector of +Silverbridge, whose four daughters were all as yet unmarried, had turned +up his old nose, and had hinted that half-pay majors did not get caught +in marriage so easily as that. + +Such and such like had been the expressions of the opinions of men and +women in Silverbridge. But the matter had been discussed further afield +than at Silverbridge, and had been allowed to intrude itself as a most +unwelcome subject into the family conclave of the archdeacon's rectory. +To those who have not as yet learned the fact from the public character +and well-appreciated reputation of the man, let it be known that +Archdeacon Grantly was at this time, as he had been for many years +previously, Archdeacon of Barchester and Rector of Plumstead Episcopi. A +rich and prosperous man he had even been--though he also had had his +sore troubles, as we all have--his having arisen chiefly from want of +that higher ecclesiastical promotion which his soul had coveted, and for +which the whole tenor of his life had especially fitted him. Now, in his +green old age, he had ceased to covet, but had not ceased to repine. He +had ceased to covet aught for himself, but still coveted much for his +children; and for him such a marriage as this which was now suggested +for his son, was encompassed almost with the bitterness of death. 'I +think it would kill me,' he said to his wife; 'by heavens, I think it +would be my death!' + +A daughter of the archdeacon had made a splendid matrimonial +alliance--so splendid that its history was at the time known to all the +aristocracy of the county, and had not been altogether forgotten by any +of those who keep themselves well instructed in the details of the +peerage. Griselda Grantly had married Lord Dumbello, the eldest don of +the Marquis of Hartletop--than whom no English nobleman was more +puissant, if broad acres, many castles, high title, and stars and +ribbons are any sign of puissance--and she was now, herself, Marchioness +of Hartletop, with a little Lord Dumbello of her own. The daughter's +visits to the parsonage of her father were of necessity rare, such +necessity having come from her own altered sphere of life. A Marchioness +of Hartletop has special duties which will hardly permit her to devote +herself frequently to the humdrum society of a clerical mother and +father. That it would be so, father and mother had understood when they +sent the fortunate girl forth to a higher world. But, now and again, +since her august marriage, she had laid her coroneted head upon one of +the old rectory pillows for a night or so, and, on such occasions all +the Plumsteadians had been loud in praise of her condescension. Now it +happened that when this second and more aggravated blast of the evil +wind reached the rectory--the renewed waft as to Major Grantly's +infatuation regarding Miss Grace Crawley, which, on its renewal, seemed +to bring with it something of a confirmation--it chanced, I say, that at +that moment Griselda, Marchioness of Hartletop, was gracing the paternal +mansion. + +I am not quite sure that the mother would have been equally quick to ask +her daughter's advice, had she been left in the matter entirely to her +own propensities. Mrs Grantly had ever loved her daughter dearly, and +had been very proud of that great success in life which Griselda had +achieved; but in late years, the child had become, as a woman, separate +from the mother, and there had arisen not unnaturally, a break of that +close confidence which in early years had existed between them. +Griselda, Marchioness of Hartletop, was more than ever the daughter of +the archdeacon, even though he might never see her. Nothing could rob +him of the honour of such a progeny--nothing, even though there had been +an actual estrangement between them. But it was not so with Mrs Grantly. +Griselda had done very well, and Mrs Grantly had rejoiced; but she had +lost her child. Now the major, who had done well also, though in a much +lesser degree, was still her child, moving in the same sphere of life +with her, still dependent in a great degree upon his father's bounty, a +neighbour in the county, a frequent visitor at the parsonage, and a +visitor who could be received without any of that trouble that attended +the unfrequent comings of Griselda, the Marchioness, to the home of her +youth. And for this reason Mrs Grantly, terribly put out as she was at +the idea of a marriage between her son and one standing so poorly in the +world's esteem as Grace Crawley, would not have brought forward the +matter before her daughter, had she been left to her own desires. A +marchioness in one's family is a tower of strength, no doubt; but there +are counsellors so strong that we do not wish to trust them, lest in the +trusting we ourselves be overwhelmed by their strength. Now Mrs Grantly +was by no means willing to throw her influence into the hands of her +titled daughter. + +But the titled daughter was consulted and gave her advice. On the +occasion of the present visit to Plumstead she had consented to lay her +head for two nights on the parsonage pillows, and on the second evening +her brother the major was to come over from Cosby Lodge to meet her. +Before his coming the affair of Grace Crawley was discussed. + +'It would break my heart, Griselda,'said the archdeacon, piteously--'and +your mother's.' + +'There is nothing against the girl's character,' said Mrs Grantly, 'and +the father and mother are gentlefolk by birth; but such a marriage for +Henry would be unseemly.' + +'To make it worse, there is a terrible story about him,' said the +archdeacon. + +'I don't suppose there is much in that,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'I can't say. There is no knowing. They told me today in Barchester +that Soames is pressing a case against him.' + +'Who is Soames, papa?' asked the marchioness. + +'He is Lord Lufton's man of business, my dear.' + +'Oh, Lord Lufton's man of business!' There was something of a sneer in +the tone of the lady's voice as she mentioned Lord Lufton's name. + +'I am told,' continued the archdeacon, 'that Soames declares the cheque +was taken from a pocket-book which he left by accident in Crawley's +house.' + +'You don't mean to say, archdeacon, that you think that Mr Crawley--a +clergyman--stole it!' said Mrs Grantly. + +'I don't say anything of the kind, my dear. But supposing Mr Crawley to +be as honest as the sun, you wouldn't wish Henry to marry his daughter.' + +'Certainly not,' said the mother. 'It would be an unfitting marriage. +The poor girl has no advantages.' + +'He is not able to pay the baker's bill. I always though Arabin was +very wrong to place such a man in such a parish as Hogglestock. Of +course the family could not live there.' The Arabin here spoken of was +Dr Arabin, dean of Barchester. The dean and archdeacon had married +sisters, and there was much intimacy between the families. + +'After all it is only rumour, as yet,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'Fothergill told me only yesterday, that he sees her almost every day,' +said the father. 'What are we to do, Griselda? You know how headstrong +Henry is.' The marchioness sat quite still; looking at the fire, and +made no immediate answer to this address. + +'There is nothing for it but that you should tell him what you think,' +said the mother. + +'If his sister were to speak to him, it might do much,' said the +archdeacon. To this Mrs Grantly said nothing; but Mrs Grantly's daughter +understood very well that her mother's confidence in her was not equal +to her father's. Lady Hartletop said nothing, but still sat, with +impassive face, and eyes fixed upon the fire. 'I think that if you were +to speak to him, Griselda, and tell him that he would disgrace his +family, he would be ashamed to go on with such a marriage,' said the +father. 'He would feel, connected as he is with Lord Hartletop--' + +'I don't think he would feel anything about that,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'I daresay not,' said Lady Hartletop. + +'I am sure he ought to feel it,' said the father. They were all silent, +and sat looking at the fire. + +'I suppose, papa, you allow Henry an income,' said Lady Hartletop, after +a while. + +'Indeed I do--eight hundred a year.' + +'Then I think I should tell him that that must depend upon his conduct. +Mamma, if you won't mind ringing the bell, I will send for Cecile, and +go upstairs and dress.' Then the marchioness went upstairs to dress, and +in about an hour the major arrived in his dogcart. He was also allowed +to go upstairs to dress before anything was said to him about his great +offence. + +'Griselda is right,' said the archdeacon, speaking to his wife out of +his dressing-room. 'She is always right. I never knew a young woman with +more sense than Griselda.' + +'But you do not mean to say that in any event you would stop Henry's +income?' Mrs Grantly was also dressing and made reply out of her +bedroom. + +'Upon my word, I don't know. As a father I would do anything to prevent +such a marriage as that.' + +'But if he did marry her in spite of the threat? And he would if he had +once said so.' + +'Is a father's word, then, to go for nothing; and a father who allows +his son eight hundred a year? If he told the girl that he would be +ruined she couldn't hold him to it.' + +'My dear, they'd know as well as I do, that you would give way after +three months.' + +'But why should I give way? Good heavens--' + +'Of course you'd give way, and of course we should have the young woman +here, and of course we should make the best of it.' + +The idea of having Grace Crawley as a daughter at the Plumstead Rectory +was too much for the archdeacon, and he resented it by additional +vehemence to the tone of his voice, and a nearer personal approach to +the wife of his bosom. All unaccoutred as he was, he stood in the +doorway between the two rooms, and thence fulminated at his wife his +assurances that he would never allow himself to be immersed in such a +depth of humility as that she had suggested. 'I can tell you this, then, +that if ever she comes here, I shall take care to be away. I will never +receive her here. You can do as you please.' + +'That is just what I cannot do. If I could do as I pleased, I would put +a stop to it at once.' + +'It seems to me that you want to encourage him. A child about sixteen +years of age!' + +'I am told she is nineteen.' + +'What does it matter if she's fifty-nine? Think of what her bringing up +has been. Think what it would be to have all the Crawleys in our house +for ever, and all their debts, and all their disgrace!' + +'I do not know that they have ever been disgraced.' + +'You'll see. The whole county has heard of the affair of this twenty +pounds. Look at that dear girl upstairs, who has been such a comfort to +us. Do you think it would be fit that she and her husband should meet +such a one as Grace Crawley at our table?' + +'I don't think it would do them a bit of harm,' said Mrs Grantly. 'But +there would be no chance of that, seeing that Griselda's husband never +comes to us.' + +'He was here the year before last.' + +'And I never was so tired of a man in my life.' + +'Then you prefer the Crawleys, I suppose. This is what you get from +Eleanor's teaching.' Eleanor was the dean's wife, and Mrs Grantly's +younger sister. 'It has always been a sorrow to me that I ever brought +Arabin into the diocese.' + +'I never asked you to bring him, archdeacon. But nobody was so glad as +you when he proposed to Eleanor.' + +'Well, the long and the short of it is this, I shall tell Henry tonight +that if he makes a fool of himself with this girl, he must not look to +me any longer for an income. He has about six thousand a year of his +own, and if he chooses to throw himself away, he had better go and live +in the south of France, or in Canada, or where he pleases. He shan't +come here.' + +'I hope he won't marry the girl, with all my heart,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'He had better not. By heavens, he had better not!' + +'But if he does, you'll be the first to forgive him.' + +On hearing this the archdeacon slammed the door, and retired to his own +washing apparatus. At the present moment he was very angry with his +wife, but then he was so accustomed to such anger, and was so well aware +that it in truth meant nothing, that it did not make him unhappy. The +archdeacon and Mrs Grantly had now been man and wife for more than +quarter of a century and had never in truth quarrelled. He had the most +profound respect for her judgment, and the most implicit reliance on her +conduct. She had never yet offended him, or caused him to repent the +hour in which he had made her Mrs Grantly. But she had come to +understand that she might use a woman's privilege with her tongue; and +she used it--not altogether to his comfort. On the present occasion he +was the more annoyed because he felt that she might be right. 'It would +be a positive disgrace, and I never would see him again,' he said to +himself. And yet as he said it, he knew that he would not have the +strength of character to carry him through a prolonged quarrel with his +son. 'I never would see her--never, never!' he said to himself. 'And +then such an opening as he might have in his sister's house!' + +Major Grantly had been a successful man in life--with the one exception +of having lost the mother of his child within a twelve-month of his +marriage and within a few hours of that child's birth. He had served in +India as a very young man, and had been decorated with the Victoria +Cross. Then he had married a lady with some money, and had left the +active service of the army, with the concurring advice of his own family +and that of his wife. He had taken a small place in his father's county, +but the wife for whose comfort he had taken it had died before she was +permitted to see it. Nevertheless he had gone to reside there, hunting a +good deal and farming a little, making himself popular in the district, +and keeping up the good name of Grantly in a successful way, +till--alas!,--it had seemed good to him to throw those favouring eyes on +poor Grace Crawley. His wife had now been dead just two years, and he +was still under thirty, no one could deny it would be right that he +should marry again. No one did deny it. His father had hinted that he +ought to do so, and had generously whispered that if some little +increase to the major's present income were needed, he might possibly be +able to do something. 'What is the good of keeping it?' the archdeacon +had said in a liberal after-dinner warmth; 'I only want it for your +brother and yourself.' The brother was a clergyman. + +And the major's mother had strongly advised him to marry again without +loss of time. 'My dear Henry,' she had said, 'you'll never be younger, +and youth does go for something. As for dear little Edith, being a girl, +she is almost no impediment. Do you know those two girls at +Chaldicotes?' + +'What, Mrs Thorne's nieces?' + +'No; they are not her nieces but her cousins. Emily Dunstable is very +handsome;--and as for money--!' + +'But what about birth, mother?' + +'One can't have everything, my dear.' + +'As far as I am concerned, I should like to have everything or nothing,' +the major said, laughing. Now for him to think of Grace Crawley after +that--of Grace Crawley who had no money, and no particular birth, and +not even beauty herself--so at least Mrs Grantly said--who had not even +enjoyed the ordinary education of a lady, was too bad. Nothing had been +wanting to Emily Dunstable's education, and it was calculated that she +would have at least twenty thousand pounds on the day of her marriage. + +The disappointment of the mother would be the more sore because she had +gone to work upon her little scheme with reference to Miss Emily +Dunstable, and had at first, as she thought, seen her way to success--to +success in spite of the disparaging words her son had spoken to her. Mrs +Thorne's house at Chaldicotes--or Dr Thorne's house as it should, +perhaps, be more commonly called, for Dr Thorne was the husband of Mrs +Thorne--was in these days the pleasantest house in Barsetshire. No one +saw so much company as the Thornes, or spent so much money in so +pleasant a way. The great county families, the Pallisers and the De +Courcys, the Luftons and the Greshams, were no doubt grander, and some +of them were perhaps richer than the Chaldicote Thornes--as they were +called to distinguish them from the Thornes of Ullathorne; but none of +these people were so pleasant in their ways, so free in their +hospitality, or so easy in their modes of living, as the doctor and his +wife. When first Chaldicotes, a very old country seat, had by the +chances of war fallen into their hands and been newly furnished, and +newly decorated, and newly gardened, and newly greenhoused and +hot-watered by them, many of the county people had turned up their noses +at them. Dear old Lady Lufton had done so, and had been greatly +grieved--saying nothing, however, of her grief, when her son and +daughter-in-law had broken away from her, and submitted themselves to +the blandishments of the doctor's wife. And the Grantlys had stood +aloof, partly influenced, no doubt, by their dear and intimate old +friend Miss Monica Thorne of Ullathorne, a lady of the very old school, +who, though good as gold and kind as charity, could not endure that an +interloping Mrs Thorne, who never had a grandfather, should come to +honour and glory in the county, simply because of her riches. Miss +Monica Thorne stood out, but Mrs Grantly gave way, and having once found +that Dr Thorne, and Mrs Thorne, and Emily Dunstable, and Chaldicote +House together, were very charming. And the major had been once there +with her, and had made himself very pleasant, and there certainly had +been some little passage of incipient love between him and Miss +Dunstable, as to which Mrs Thorne, who managed everything, seemed to be +well pleased. This had been after the first mention made by Mrs Grantly +to her son of Emily Dunstable's name, but before she had heard any +faintest whispers of his fancy for Grace Crawley; and she had therefore +been justified in hoping--almost in expecting, that Emily Dunstable +would be her daughter-in-law, and was therefore the more aggrieved when +this terrible Crawley peril first opened itself before her eyes. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ARCHDEACON'S THREAT + +The dinner-party at the rectory comprised none but the Grantly family. +The marchioness had written to say that she preferred to have it so. The +father had suggested that the Thornes of Ullathorne, very old friends, +might be asked, and the Greshams of Boxall Hill, and had even promised +to endeavour to get old Lady Lufton over to the rectory, Lady Lufton +having in former years been Griselda's warm friend. But Lady Hartletop +had preferred to see her dear mother and father in privacy. Her brother +Henry she would be glad to meet, and hoped to make some arrangement with +him for a short visit to Hartlebury, her husband's place in +Shropshire--as to which latter hint, it may, however, be at once said +that nothing further was spoken after the Crawley alliance had been +suggested. And there had been a very sore point mooted by the daughter +in a request made to her father that she might not be called upon to +meet her grandfather, her mother's father. Mr Harding, a clergyman of +Barchester, who was now stricken in years.--'Papa would not have come,' +said Mrs Grantly, 'but I think, I do think--' Then she stopped herself. + +'Your father has odd ways sometimes, my dear. You know how fond I am of +having him here myself.' + +'It does not signify,' said Mrs Grantly. 'Do not let us say anything +more about it. Of course we cannot have everything. I am told the child +does her duty in her sphere of life, and I suppose we ought to be +contented.' Then Mrs Grantly went up to her own room, and there she +cried. Nothing was said to the major on the unpleasant subject of the +Crawleys before dinner. He met his sister in the drawing-room, and was +allowed to kiss her noble cheek. 'I hope Edith is well, Henry,' said the +sister. 'Quite well; and little Dumbello is the same, I hope?' 'Thank +you, yes; quite well.' The major never made inquiries after the august +family, or would allow it to appear that he was conscious of being shone +upon by the wife of a marquis. Any adulation which Griselda received of +that kind came from her father, and therefore, unconsciously she had +learned to think that her father was more better bred than the other +members of her family, and more fitted by nature to move in that sacred +circle to which she herself had been exalted. We need not dwell upon the +dinner, which was but a dull affair. Mrs Grantly strove to carry on the +family party exactly as it would have been carried on had her daughter +married the son of some neighbouring squire; but she herself was +conscious of the struggle, and the fact of there being a struggle +produced failure. The rector's servants treated the daughter of the +house with special awe, and the marchioness herself moved, and spoke, +and ate, and drank with a cold magnificence, which I think had become a +second nature with her, but which was not on that account the less +oppressive. Even the archdeacon, who enjoyed something in that which was +so disagreeable to his wife, felt a relief when he was left alone after +dinner with his son. He felt relieved as his son got up to open the door +for his mother and sister, but was aware at the same time that he had +before him a most difficult and possibly a most disastrous task. His +dear son Henry was not a man to be talked smoothly out of, or into, any +propriety. He had a will of his own, and having hitherto been a +successful man, who in youth had fallen into few youthful troubles--who +had never justified his father in using stern parental authority--was +not now inclined to bend his neck. 'Henry,' said the archdeacon, 'what +are you drinking? That's '34 port, but it's not just what it should be. +Shall I send for another bottle?' + +'It will do for me, sir. I shall only take a glass.' + +'I shall drink two or three glasses of claret. But you young fellows +have become so desperately temperate.' + +'We take our wine at dinner, sir.' + +'By-the-by, how well Griselda is looking.' + +'Yes, she is. It's always easy for women to look well when they're +rich.' How would Grace Crawley look, then, who was poor as poverty +itself, and who would remain poor, if his son was fool enough to marry +her? That was the train of thought which ran through the archdeacon's +mind. 'I do not think much of riches,' said he, 'but it is always well +that a gentleman's wife or a gentleman's daughter should have a +sufficiency to maintain her position in life.' + +'You may say the same, sir, of everybody's wife and everybody's +daughter.' + +'You know what I mean, Henry.' + +'I am not quite sure that I do, sir.' + +'Perhaps I had better speak out at once. A rumour has reached your +mother and me, which we don't believe for a moment, but which, +nevertheless, makes us unhappy even as a report. They say that there is +a young woman living in Silverbridge to whom you are becoming attached.' + +'Is there any reason why I should not become attached to a young woman +in Silverbridge?--though I hope any young woman to whom I may become +attached will be worthy at any rate of being called a young lady.' + +'I hope so, Henry; I hope so. I do hope so.' + +The archdeacon looked across at his son's face, and his heart sank +within him. His son's voice and his son's eyes seemed to tell him two +things. They seemed to tell him, firstly, that the rumour about Grace +Crawley was true; and, secondly, that the major was resolved not to be +talked out of his folly. 'But you are not engaged to anyone, are you?' +said the archdeacon. The son did not at first make any answer, and then +the father repeated the question. 'Considering our mutual positions, +Henry, I think you ought to tell me if you are engaged.' + +'I am not engaged. Had I become so, I should have taken the first +opportunity of telling you or my mother.' + +'Thank God. Now, my dear boy, I can speak out more plainly. The young +woman whose name I have heard is daughter to that Mr Crawley who is +perpetual curate at Hogglestock. I knew that there could be nothing in +it.' + +'But there is something in it, sir.' + +'What is there in it? Do not keep me in suspense, Henry. What is it +you mean?' + +'It is rather hard to be cross-questioned in this way on such a subject. +When you express yourself as thankful that there is nothing in the +rumour, I am forced to stop you, as otherwise it is possible that +hereafter you may say that I have deceived you.' + +'But you don't mean to marry her?' + +'I certainly do not pledge myself not to do so.' + +'Do you mean to tell me, Henry, that you are in love with Miss Crawley?' +Then there was another pause, during which the archdeacon sat looking +for an answer; but the major never said a word. 'Am I to suppose that +you intend to lower yourself by marrying a young woman who cannot +possibly have enjoyed any of the advantages of a lady's education? I say +nothing of the imprudence of the thing; nothing of her own want of +fortune; nothing of your having to maintain a whole family steeped in +poverty; nothing of the debts and character of the father, upon whom, as +I understand, at this moment there rests a grave suspicion +of--of--of--what I'm afraid I must call downright theft.' + +'Downright theft, certainly, if he were guilty.' + +'I say nothing of that; but looking at the young woman herself--' + +'She is simply the best educated girl whom it has ever been my lot to +meet.' + +'Henry, I have a right to expect that you will be honest with me.' + +'I am honest with you.' + +'Do you mean to ask this girl to marry you?' + +'I do not think that you have any right to ask me that question, sir.' + +'I have a right at any rate to tell you this, that if you so far +disgrace yourself and me, I shall consider myself bound to withdraw from +you all the sanction which would be conveyed by my--my--continued +assistance.' + +'Do you intend me to understand that you will stop my income?' + +'Certainly I should.' + +'Then, sir, I think you would behave to me most cruelly. You advised me +to give up my profession.' + +'Not in order that you might marry Grace Crawley.' + +'I claim the privilege of a man of my age to do as I please in such a +matter as marriage. Miss Crawley is a lady. Her father is a clergyman, +as is mine. Her father's oldest friend is my uncle. There is nothing on +earth against her except her poverty. I do not think I ever heard of +such cruelty on a father's part.' + +'Very well, Henry.' + +'I have endeavoured to do my duty by you, sir, always; and by my mother. +You can treat me in this way, if you please, but it will not have any +effect on my conduct. You can stop my allowance tomorrow, if you like +it. I had not yet made up my mind to make an offer to Miss Crawley, but +I shall do so tomorrow morning.' + +This was very bad indeed, and the archdeacon was extremely unhappy. He +was by no means at heart a cruel man. He loved his children dearly. If +this disagreeable marriage were to take place, he would doubtless do +exactly as his wife had predicted. He would not stop his son's income +for a single quarter; and, though he went on telling himself that he +would stop it, he knew in his own heart that any such severity was +beyond his power. He was a generous man in money matters--having a +dislike for poverty which was not generous--and for his own sake could +not have endured to see a son of his in want. But he was terribly +anxious to exercise the power which the use of the threat might give +him. 'Henry,' he said, 'you are treating me badly, very badly. My +anxiety has always been for the welfare of my children. Do you think +that Miss Crawley would be a fitting sister-in-law for that dear girl +upstairs?' + +'Certainly I do, or for any other dear girl in the world; excepting that +Griselda, who is not clever, would hardly be able to appreciate Miss +Crawley, who is clever.' + +'Griselda not clever! Good heavens!' Then there was another pause, and +as the major said nothing, the father continued his entreaties. 'Pray, +pray think of what my wishes are, and your mother's. You are not +committed as yet. Pray think of us while there is time. I would rather +double your income, if I saw you marry anyone that we could name here.' + +'I have enough as it is, if I may only be allowed to know that it will +not be capriciously withdrawn.' The archdeacon filled his glass +unconsciously, and sipped his wine, while he thought what further he +might say. Perhaps it might be better that he should say nothing further +at the moment. The major, however, was indiscreet, and pushed the +question. 'May I understand, sir, that you threat is withdrawn, and that +my income is secure?' + +'What, if you marry this girl?' + +'Yes sir; will my income be continued to me if I marry Miss Crawley?' + +'No, it will not.' Then the father got up hastily, pushed the decanter +back angrily from his hand, and without saying another word walked away +into the drawing-room. That evening at the rectory was gloomy. The +archdeacon now and again said a word or two to his daughter, and his +daughter answered him in monosyllables. The major sat apart moodily, and +spoke to no one. Mrs Grantly, understanding well what had passed, knew +that nothing could be done at the present moment to restore family +comfort; so she sat by the fire and knitted. Exactly at ten they all +went to bed. + +'Dear Henry,' said the mother to her son the next morning; 'think much +of yourself and of your child, and of us, before you take any great step +in your life.' + +'I will, mother,' said he. Then he went out and put on his wrapper, and +got into his dog-cart, and drove himself to Silverbridge. He had not +spoken to his father since they were in the dining-room on the previous +evening. When he started, the marchioness had not yet come downstairs; +but at eleven she breakfasted, and at twelve she also was taken away. +Poor Mrs Grantly had not had much comfort from her children's visits. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CLERGYMAN'S HOUSE AT HOGGLESTOCK + +Mrs Crawley had walked from Hogglestock to Silverbridge on the occasion +of her visit to Mr Walker, the attorney, and had been kindly sent back +by that gentleman in his wife's little open carriage. The tidings which +she brought home with her to her husband were very grievous. The +magistrates would sit on the next Thursday--it was then Friday--and Mr +Crawley had better appear before them to answer the charge made by Mr +Soames. He would be served with a summons, which he would obey of his +own accord. There had been many points very closely discussed between +Walker and Mrs Crawley, as to which there had been great difficulty in +the choice of words which should be tender enough to convey to her the +very facts as they stood. Would Mr Crawley come, or must a policeman be +sent to fetch him? The magistrate had already issued a warrant for his +apprehension. Such in truth was the fact, but they had agreed with Mr +Walker, that as there was no reasonable ground for anticipating any +attempt at escape on the part of the reverend gentleman, the lawyer +might use what gentle means he could for ensuring the clergyman's +attendance. Could Mrs Crawley undertake to say that he would appear? Mrs +Crawley did undertake either that her husband should appear on the +Thursday, or else that she would send over in the early part of the week +and declare her inability to ensure his appearance. In that case it was +understood the policeman must come. Then Mr Walker had suggested that Mr +Crawley had better employ a lawyer. Upon this Mrs Crawley had looked +beseechingly up into Mr Walker's face, and had asked him to undertake +the duty. He was of course obliged to explain that he was already +employed on the other side. Mr Soames had secured his services, and +though he was willing to do all in his power to mitigate the sufferings +of the family, he could not abandon the duty he had undertaken. He named +another attorney, however, and then sent the poor woman home in his +wife's carriage. 'I fear that unfortunate man is guilty. I fear he is,' +Mr Walker had said to his wife within ten minutes of the departure of +the visitor. + +Mrs Crawley would not allow herself to be driven up to the garden gate +before her own house, but had left the carriage some three hundred yards +off down the road and from thence she walked home. It was now quite +dark. It was nearly six in the evening on a wet December night, and +although cloaks and shawls had been supplied to her, she was wet and +cold when she reached her home. But at such a moment, anxious as she was +to prevent the additional evil which would come to them from illness to +herself she could not pass through to her room till she had spoken to +her husband. He was sitting in the one sitting-room on the left side of +the passage as the house was entered, and with him was their daughter +Jane, a girl now nearly sixteen years of age. There was no light in the +room, and hardly more than a spark of fire showed in the grate. The +father was sitting on one side of the hearth, in an old arm-chair, and +there he had sat for the last hour without speaking. His daughter had +been in and out of the room, and had endeavoured to gain his attention +now and again by a word, but he had never answered her, and had not even +noticed her presence. At the moment when Mrs Crawley's step was heard +upon the gravel which led to the door, Jane was kneeling before the fire +with a hand upon her father's arm. She had tried to get her hand into +his, but he had either been unaware of the attempt, or rejected it. + +'Here is mamma, at last,' said Jane, rising to her feet as her mother +entered the house. + +'Are you all in the dark,' said Mrs Crawley, striving to speak in a +voice that should not sound sorrowful. + +'Yes, mamma; we are in the dark. Papa is here. Oh, mamma, how wet you +are!' + +'Yes, dear. It is raining. Get a light out of the kitchen, Jane, and I +will go upstairs in two minutes.' Then when Jane was gone, the wife made +her way in the dark over to her husband's side, and spoke a word to him. +'Josiah,' she said, 'will you not speak to me?' + +'What should I speak about? Where have you been?' + +'I have been to Silverbridge. I have been to Mr Walker. He, at any +rate, is very kind' + +'I don't want his kindness. I want no man's kindness. Mr Walker is the +attorney, I believe. Kind indeed!' + +'I mean considerate. Josiah, let us do the best we can in this trouble. +We have had others as heavy before.' + +'But none to crush me as this will crush me. Well; what am I to do? Am +I to go to prison--tonight?' At this moment his daughter returned with a +candle, and the mother could not make her answer at once. It was a +wretched, poverty-stricken room. By degrees the carpet had disappeared, +which had been laid down some nine or ten years since, when they had +first come to Hogglestock, and which even then had not been new. Now +nothing but a poor fragment of it remained in front of the fire-place. +In the middle of the room there was a table which had once been large; +but one flap of it was gone altogether, and the other flap sloped +grievously towards the floor, the weakness of old age having fallen into +its legs. There were two or three smaller tables about, but they stood +propped against walls, thence obtaining a security which their own +strength would not give them. At the further end of the room there was +an ancient piece of furniture, which was always called 'papa's +secretary', at which Mr Crawley customarily sat and wrote his sermons, +and did all work that was done by him within the house. The man who had +made it, some time in the last century, had intended it to be a locked +guardian for domestic documents, and the receptacle for all that was +most private in the house of some paterfamilias. But beneath the hands +of Mr Crawley it always stood open; and with the exception of the small +space at which he wrote, was covered with dog's-eared books, from +nearly all of which the covers had disappeared. + +There were there two odd volumes of Euripides, a Greek Testament, an +Odyssey, a duodecimo Pindar, and a miniature Anacreon. There was half a +Horace--the two first books of the Odes at the beginning and the De Arte +Poetica at the end having disappeared. There was a little bit of a +volume of Cicero, and there were Caesar's 'Commentaries' in two volumes, +so stoutly bound that they had defied the combined ill-usage of time and +the Crawley family. All these were piled upon the secretary, with many +others--odd volumes of sermons and the like; but the Greek and Latin lay +at the top, and showed signs of frequent use. There was one arm-chair in +the room--a Windsor chair, as such used to be called, made soft by an +old cushion in the back, in which Mr Crawley sat when both he and his +wife were in the room, and Mrs Crawley when he was absent. And there was +an old horsehair sofa--now almost denuded of its horsehair--but that, +like the tables required the assistance of a friendly wall. Then there +was a half a dozen of other chairs--all of different sorts--and they +completed the furniture of the room. It was not such a room as one would +wish to see inhabited by an beneficed clergyman of the Church of +England; but they who know what money will do and what it will not, will +understand how easily a man with a family, and with a hundred and thirty +pounds a year, may be brought to the need of inhabiting such a chamber. +When it is remembered that three pounds of meat a day, at ninepence a +pound, will cost over forty pounds a year, there need be no difficulty +in understanding that it may be so. Bread for such a family must cost at +least twenty-five pounds. Clothes for five persons of whom one must at +any rate wear the raiment of a gentleman, can hardly be found for less +than ten pounds a year a head. Then there remains fifteen pounds for +tea, sugar, beer, wages, education, amusements and the like. In such +circumstances a gentleman can hardly pay much for the renewal of +furniture! + +Mrs Crawley could not answer her husband's question before her daughter, +and was therefore obliged to make another excuse for again sending her +out of the room. 'Jane, dear,' she said, 'bring my things down to the +kitchen and I will change them by the fire. I will be there in two +minutes, when I have had a word with your papa.' The girl went +immediately and then Mrs Crawley answered her husband's question. 'No, +my dear; there is no question of you going to prison.' + +'But there will be.' + +'I have undertaken that you shall attend before the magistrates at +Silverbridge in Thursday next, at twelve o'clock. You will do that?' + +'Do it! You mean, I suppose, to say that I must go there. Is anybody +to come and fetch me?' + +'Nobody will come. Only you must promise that you will be there. I have +promised for you. You will go; will you not?' She stood leaning over +him, half embracing him, waiting for an answer; but for a while he gave +none. 'You will tell me that you will do what I have undertaken for you, +Josiah?' + +'I think I would rather that they fetched me. I think that I will not +go myself.' + +'And have policemen come for you in the parish! Mr Walker has promised +that he will send over his phaeton. He sent me home in it today.' + +'I want nobody's phaeton. If I go I will walk. If it were ten times +the distance, and though I had not a shoe left to my feet I would walk. +If I go there at all, of my own accord, I will walk there.' + +'But you will go?' + +'What do I care for the parish? What matters who sees me now? I cannot +be degraded as worse than I am. Everybody knows it.' + +'There is no disgrace without guilt,' said his wife. + +'Everybody thinks me guilty. I see it in their eyes. The children know +of it, and I hear whispers in the school. "Mr Crawley has taken some +money." I heard the girl say it myself.' + +'What matters what the girl says?' + +'And yet you would have me go in a fine carriage to Silverbridge, as +though to a wedding. If I am wanted let them take me as they would +another. I shall be here for them--unless I am dead.' + +At this moment Jane appeared, pressing her mother to take off her wet +clothes, and Mrs Crawley went with her daughter to the kitchen. The one +red-armed young girl who was their only servant was sent away, and then +the mother and the child discussed how best they might prevail on the +head of the family. 'But, mamma, it must come right; must it not?' + +'I trust it will; I think it will. But I cannot see my way as yet.' + +'Papa cannot have done anything wrong.' + +'No, my dear; he has done nothing wrong. He has made great mistakes, it +is hard to make people understand that he has not intentionally spoken +untruths. He is ever thinking of other things, about the school, and his +sermons, and he does not remember.' + +'And about how poor we are, mamma.' + +'He has much to occupy his mind, and he forgets things which dwell in +the memory of other people. He said that he had got this money from Mr +Soames, and of course he thought it was so.' + +'And where did he get it, mamma?' + +'Ah--I wish I knew. I should have said that I had seen every shilling +that came into the house; but I know nothing of this cheque--whence it +came.' + +'But will not papa tell you?' + +'He would tell me if he knew. He thinks it came from the dean.' + +'And are you sure that it did not?' + +'Yes; quite sure; as sure as I can be of anything. The dean told me he +would give him fifty pounds, and the fifty pounds came. I had them in my +own hands. And he was written to say that it was so.' + +'But couldn't it be part of the fifty pounds?' + +'No, dear, no.' + +'Then where did papa get it? Perhaps he picked it up and has +forgotten?' + +To this Mrs Crawley made no reply. The idea that the cheque had been +found by her husband--had been picked up as Jane had said--had occurred +also to Jane's mother. Mr Soames was confident that he had dropped the +pocket-book at the parsonage. Mrs Crawley had always disliked Mr Soames, +thinking him to be hard, cruel and vulgar. She would not have hesitated +to believe him guilty of a falsehood, or even of direct dishonesty, if +by so believing she could in her own mind have found the means of +reconciling her husband's possession of the cheque with absolute truth +on his part. But she could not do so. Even though Soames had, with +devilish premeditated malice, slipped the cheque into her husband's +pocket, his having done so would not account for her husband's having +used the cheque when he found it there. She was driven to make excuses +for him which, valid as they might be with herself, could not be valid +with others. He had said that Soames had paid the cheque to him. That +was clearly a mistake. He had said that the cheque had been given to him +by the dean. That was clearly another mistake. She knew, or thought she +knew, that he, being such as he was, might make blunders such as these, +and yet be true. She believed that such statements might be blunders and +not falsehoods--so convinced was she that her husband's mind would not +act at all times as do the minds of other men. But having such a +conviction she was driven to believe also that almost anything might be +possible. Soames may have been right, or he might have dropped, not the +book, but the cheque. She had no difficulty in presuming Soames to be +wrong in any detail, if by so supposing she could make the exculpation +of her husband easier to herself. If villainy on the part of Soames was +needful to her theory, Soames would become to her a villain at once--of +the blackest die. Might it not be possible that the cheque having thus +fallen into her husband's hands, he had come, after a while, to think +that it had been sent to him by his friend, the dean? And if it were so, +would it be possible to make others so believe? That there was some +mistake which would be easily explained were her husband's mind lucid at +all points, but which she could not explain because of the darkness of +his mind, she was thoroughly convinced. But were she herself to put +forward such a defence on her husband's part, she would in doing so be +driven to say that he was a lunatic--that he was incapable of managing +the affairs of himself or his family. It seemed to her that she would be +compelled to have him proved to be either a thief or a madman. And yet +she knew that he was neither. That he was not a thief was as clear to +her as the sun at noonday. Could she have lain on this man's bosom for +twenty years, and not yet have learned the secrets of the heart beneath? +The whole mind of the man was, as she told herself, within her grasp. He +might have taken the twenty pounds; he might have taken it and spent it, +though it was not his own; but yet he was no thief. Nor was he a madman. +No man more sane in preaching the gospel of his Lord, in making +intelligible to the ignorant the promises of his Saviour, ever got into +a parish pulpit, or taught in a parish school. The intellect of the man +was as clear as running water in all things not appertaining to his +daily life, and its difficulties. He could be logical with a +vengeance--so logical as to cause infinite trouble to his wife, who, +with all her good sense, was not logical. And he had Greek at his +fingers' ends--as his daughter very well knew. And even to this day he +would sometimes recite to them English poetry, lines after lines, +stanzas upon stanzas, in a sweet low melancholy voice, on long winter +evenings when occasionally the burden of his troubles would be lighter +to him than was usual. Books in Latin and in French he read with as much +ease as in English, and took delight in such as came to him, when he +would condescend to accept such loans from the deanery. And there was at +times a lightness of heart about the man. In the course of the last +winter he had translated into Greek irregular verse the very noble +ballad of Lord Bateman, maintaining the rhythm and the rhyme, and had +repeated it with uncouth glee till his daughter knew it all by heart. +And when there had come to him a five-pound note from some admiring +magazine editor as the price of the same--still through the dean's +hands--he had brightened up his heart and had thought for an hour or two +that even yet the world would smile upon him. His wife knew well that he +was not mad; but yet she knew that there were dark moments with him, in +which his mind was so much astray that he could not justly be called to +account as to what he might remember and what he might forget. How would +it be possible to explain all this to a judge and jury, so that they +might neither say that he was dishonest, nor yet that he was mad? + +'Perhaps he picked it up, and had forgotten,' her daughter said to her. +Perhaps it was so, but she might not as yet admit as much even to her +child. + +'It is a mystery, dear, as yet, which, with God's aid, will be +unravelled. Of one thing we at least may be sure; that your papa has not +wilfully done anything wrong.' + +'Of course we are sure of that, mamma.' + +Mrs Crawley had many troubles during the next four or five days, of +which the worst, perhaps, had reference to the services of the Sunday +which intervened between the day of her visit to Silverbridge and the +sitting of the magistrates. On the Saturday it was necessary that he +should prepare his sermons, of which he preached two every Sunday, +though his congregation consisted only of farmers, brickmakers, and +agricultural labourers, who would willingly have dispensed with the +second. Mrs Crawley proposed to send over to Mr Robarts, a neighbouring +clergyman, for the loan of a curate. Mr Robarts was a warm friend to the +Crawleys, and in such an emergency would probably have come himself; but +Mr Crawley would not hear of it. The discussion took place early on the +Saturday morning, before it was as yet daylight, for the poor woman was +thinking day and night of her husband's troubles, and it had this good +effect, that immediately after breakfast he seated himself at his desk, +and worked at his task as though he had forgotten all else in the world. + +And on the Sunday morning he went into his school before the hour of the +church service, as had been his wont, and taught there as though +everything with him was as usual. Some of the children were absent, +having heard of their teacher's tribulation, and having been told +probably that he would remit his work; and for these absent ones he sent +in great anger. The poor bairns came creeping in, for he was a man who +by his manners had been able to secure their obedience in spite of his +poverty. And he preached to the people of his parish on that Sunday, as +he had always preached; eagerly, clearly, and with an eloquence fitted +for the hearts of such an audience. No one would have guessed from his +tones and gestures and appearance on that occasion, that there was aught +wrong with him--unless there had been some observer keen enough to +perceive that the greater care which he used, and the special eagerness +of his words, denoted a special frame of mind. + +After that, after those church services were over, he sank again and +never roused himself till the dreaded day had come. + + + +CHAPTER V + +WHAT THE WORLD THOUGHT OF IT + +Opinion at Silverbridge, at Barchester, and throughout the county, was +very much divided as to the guilt or innocence of Mr Crawley. Up to the +time of Mrs Crawley's visit to Silverbridge, the affair had not been +much discussed. To give Mr Soames his due he had be no means been +anxious to press the matter against the clergyman; but he had been +forced to go on with it. While the first cheque was missing, Lord Lufton +had sent him a second cheque for the money, and the loss had thus fallen +upon his lordship. The cheque had of course been traced, and inquiry had +of course been made as to Mr Crawley's possession of it. When that +gentleman declared that he had received it from Mr Soames, Mr Soames had +been forced to contradict and to resent such assertion. When Mr Crawley +had afterwards said that the money had come to him from the dean, and +when the dean had shown that this was also untrue, Mr Soames, confident +as he was that he had dropped the pocket-book at Mr Crawley's house, +could not but continue the investigation. He had done so with as much +silence as the nature of the work admitted. But by the day of the +magistrate's meeting at Silverbridge, the subject had become common +through the county, and men's minds were much divided. + +All Hogglestock believed their parson to be innocent; but then all +Hogglestock believed him to be mad. At Silverbridge the tradesmen with +whom he had dealt, and to whom he had owed, and still owed, money, all +declared him to be innocent. They knew something of the man personally, +and could not believe him to be a thief. All the ladies at Silverbridge, +too, were sure of his innocence. It was to them impossible that such a +man should have stolen twenty pounds. 'My dear,' said the eldest Miss +Prettyman to poor Grace Crawley, 'in England, where the laws are good, +no gentleman is ever made out to be guilty when he is innocent; and your +papa, of course, is innocent. Therefore you should not trouble +yourself.' 'It will break papa's heart,' Grace had said, and she did +trouble herself. But the gentlemen in Silverbridge were made of sterner +stuff, and believed the man to be guilty, clergyman and gentleman though +he was. Mr Walker, who among the lights in Silverbridge was the leading +light, would not speak a word upon the subject to anybody; and then +everybody, who was anybody, knew that Mr Walker was convinced of the +man's guilt. Had Mr Walker believed him to be innocent, his tongue would +have been ready enough. John Walker, who was in the habit of laughing at +his father's good nature, had no doubt upon the subject. Mr Winthrop, Mr +Walker's partner, shook his head. People did not think much of Mr +Winthrop, excepting certain unmarried ladies; for Mr Winthrop was a +bachelor, and had plenty of money. People did not think much of Mr +Winthrop; but still on this subject he might know something, and when he +shook his head he manifestly intended to indicate guilt. And Dr Tempest, +the rector of Silverbridge, did not hesitate to declare his belief in +the guilt of the incumbent of Hogglestock. No man reverences a +clergyman, as a clergyman, so slightly as a brother clergyman. To Dr +Tempest it appeared to be neither very strange nor very terrible that Mr +Crawley should have stolen twenty pounds. 'What is a man to do,' he +said, 'when he sees his children starving? He should not have married on +such a preferment as that.' Mr Crawley had married, however, long before +he got the living at Hogglestock. + +There were two Lady Luftons--mother-in-law and daughter-in-law--who at +this time were living together at Framley Hall, Lord Lufton's seat in +the county of Barset, and there were both thoroughly convinced of Mr +Crawley's innocence. The elder lady had lived much among clergymen, and +could hardly, I think, by any means have been brought to believe in the +guilt of any man who had taken upon himself the orders of the Church of +England. She had also known Mr Crawley personally for some years, and +was one of those who could not admit to herself that anyone was vile who +had been near to herself. She believed intensely in the wickedness of +the outside world, of the world which was far away from herself, and of +which she never saw anything; but they who were near to her, and who had +even become dear to her, or who even had been respected by her, were +made, as it were, saints in her imagination. They were brought into the +inner circle, and could hardly be expelled. She was an old woman who +thought all evil of those she did not know, and all good of those whom +she did know; and as she did know Mr Crawley, she was quite sure that he +had not stolen Mr Soames's twenty pounds. She did know Mr Soames also; +and thus there was a mystery for the unravelling of which she was very +anxious. And the young Lady Lufton was equally sure, and perhaps with +better reason for such certainty. + +She had, in truth, known more of Mr Crawley personally, than anyone in +the county, unless it was the dean. The younger Lady Lufton, the present +Lord Lufton's wife, had sojourned at one time in Mr Crawley's house, +amidst the Crawley poverty, living as they lived, and nursing Mrs +Crawley through an illness which had wellnigh been fatal to her; and the +younger Lady Lufton believed in Mr Crawley--as Mr Crawley believed in +her. + +'It is quite impossible, my dear,' the old woman said to her +daughter-in-law. + +'Quite impossible, my lady.' The dowager was always called 'my lady', +both by her daughter and her son's wife, except when in the presence of +their children, when she was addressed as 'grandmamma'. 'Think how well +I knew him. It's no use talking of evidence. No evidence would make me +believe it.' + +'Nor me; and I think it a great shame that such a report should be +spread about.' + +'I suppose Mr Soames could not help himself?' said the younger lady, who +was not herself very fond of Mr Soames. + +'Ludovic says that he has only done what he was obliged to do.' The +Ludovic spoken of was Lord Lufton. + +This took place in the morning, but in the evening the affair was again +discussed at Framley Hall. Indeed, for some days, there was hardly any +other subject held to be worthy of discussion in the county. Mr Robarts, +the clergyman of the parish and the brother of the younger Lady Lufton, +was dining at the hall with his wife, and the three ladies had together +expressed their perfect conviction of the falseness of the accusation. +But when Lord Lufton and Mr Robarts were together after the ladies had +left them, there was much less certainty of this expressed. 'By Jove,' +said Lord Lufton,' 'I don't know what to think of it. I wish with all my +heart that Soames had said nothing about it, and that the cheque had +passed without remark.' + +'That was impossible. When the banker sent to Soames, he was obliged to +take the matter up.' + +'Of course he was. But I'm sorry that it was so. For the life of me, I +can't conceive how the cheque got into Crawley's hands.' + +'I imagine it had been lying in the house, and that Crawley had come to +think that it was his own.' + +'But, my dear Mark,' said Lord Lufton, 'excuse me if I say that that's +nonsense. What do we do when a poor man has come to think that another +man's property is his own? We send him to prison for making the +mistake.' + +'I hope they won't sent Crawley to prison.' + +'I hope so too; but what is a jury to do?' + +'You think it will go to a jury, then?' + +'I do,' said Lord Lufton. 'I don't see how the magistrates can save +themselves from committing him. It is one of those cases in which +everyone concerned would wish to drop it if it were only possible. But +it is not possible. On the evidence, as one sees it at present, one is +bound to say that it is a case for the jury.' + +'I believe that he is mad,' said the brother parson. + +'He always was, as far as I could learn,' said the lord. 'I never knew +him myself. You do, I think?' + +'Oh yes, I know him.' and the vicar of Framley became silent and +thoughtful as the memory of a certain interview between himself and Mr +Crawley came back into his mind. At that time the waters had nearly +closed over his head and Mr Crawley had given him some assistance. When +the gentlemen had again found the ladies, they kept their own doubts to +themselves; for at Framley Hall, as at present tenanted, female voices +and female influences predominated over those which came from the other +sex. + +At Barchester, the cathedral city of the county in which the Crawleys +lived, opinion was violently against Mr Crawley. In the city Mrs +Proudie, the wife of the bishop, was the leader of opinion in general, +and she was very strong in her belief of the man's guilt. She had known +much of clergymen all her life, as it behoved a bishop's wife to do, and +she had none of that mingled weakness and ignorance which taught so many +ladies in Barchester to suppose that an ordained clergyman could not +become a thief. She hated old Lady Lufton with all her heart, and old +Lady Lufton hated her as warmly. Mrs Proudie would say frequently that +Lady Lufton was a conceited old idiot, and Lady Lufton would declare as +frequently that Mrs Proudie was a vulgar virago. It was known at the +palace in Barchester that kindness had been shown to the Crawleys by the +family at Framley Hall, and this alone would have been sufficient to +make Mrs Proudie believe that Mr Crawley could be guilty of any crime. +And as Mrs Proudie believed, so did the bishop believe. 'It is a +terrible disgrace to the diocese,' said the bishop, shaking his head, +and patting his apron as he sat by his study fire. + +'Fiddlestick!' said Mrs Proudie. + +'But, my dear--a beneficed clergyman.' + +'You must get rid of him; that's all. You must be firm whether he be +acquitted or convicted.' + +'But if he's acquitted, I cannot get rid of him, my dear.' + +'Yes, you can, if you are firm. And you must be firm. Is it not true +that he has been disgracefully involved in debt ever since he has been +there; that you have been pestered by letters from unfortunate tradesmen +who cannot get their money from him?' + +'That is true, my dear, certainly.' + +'And is that kind of thing to go on? He cannot come to the palace as +all clergymen should do, because he has got no clothes to come in. I saw +him once about the lanes, and I never set my eyes on such an object in +all my life! I would not believe that the man was a clergyman till John +told me. He is a disgrace to the diocese, and he must be got rid of. I +feel sure of his guilt, and I hope he will be convicted. One is bound to +hope that a guilty man should be convicted. But if he escapes +conviction, you must sequestrate the living because of the debts. The +income is enough to get an excellent curate. It would just do for +Thumble.' To all of which the bishop made no reply, but simply nodded +his head and patted his apron. He knew that he could not do exactly what +his wife required of him; but if it should so turn out that poor Crawley +was found to be guilty, then the matter would be comparatively easy. + +'It should be an example to us, that we should look to our own steps, my +dear,' said the bishop. + +'That's all very well,' said Mrs Proudie, 'but it has become your duty, +and mine too, to look upon the steps of other people; and that duty we +must do.' + +'Of course, my dear, of course.' That was the tone in which the +question of Mr Crawley's alleged guilt was discussed at the palace. + +We have already heard what was said on the subject at the house of +Archdeacon Grantly. As the days passed by, and as other tidings came in, +confirmatory of those which had before reached him, the archdeacon felt +himself unable not to believe in the man's guilt. And the fear which he +entertained as to his son's intended marriage with Grace Crawley, tended +to increase the strength of that belief. Dr Grantly had been a very +successful man in the world, and on all ordinary occasions had been able +to show that bold front with which success endows a man. But he still +had his moments of weakness, and feared greatly lest anything of +misfortune should touch him and mar the comely roundness of his +prosperity. He was very wealthy. The wife of his bosom had been to him +all that a wife should be. His reputation in the clerical world stood +very high. His two sons had hitherto done well in the world, not only as +regarded their happiness, but as to marriage also, and as to social +standing. But how great would be the fall if his son should at last +marry the daughter of a convicted thief! How would the Proudies rejoice +over him--the Proudies who had been crushed to the ground by the success +of the Hartletop alliance; and how would the low-church curates, who +swarmed in Barsetshire, gather together and scream in delight over his +dismay! 'But why should we say that he is guilty?' said Mrs Grantly. + +'It hardly matters as far as we are concerned, whether they find him +guilty or not,' said the archdeacon; 'if Henry marries that girl my +heart will be broken.' + +But perhaps to no one except the Crawleys themselves had the matter +caused so much terrible anxiety as to the archdeacon's son. He had told +his father that he had made an offer of marriage to Grace Crawley, and +he had told the truth. But there are perhaps few men who make such +offers in direct terms without having already said and done that which +makes such offers simply necessary as the final closing of an accepted +bargain. It was so at any rate between Major Grantly and Miss Crawley, +and Major Grantly acknowledged to himself that it was so. He +acknowledged also to himself that as regarded Grace herself he had no +wish to go back from his implied intentions. Nothing that either his +father or mother might say would shake him in that. But could it be his +duty to bind himself to the family of a convicted thief? Could it be +right that he should disgrace his father and his mother and his sister +and his one child by such a connexion? He had a man's heart, and the +poverty of the Crawleys caused him no solicitude. But he shrank from the +contamination of a prison. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GRACE CRAWLEY + +It has already been said that Grace Crawley was at this time living with +the two Miss Prettymans, who kept a girls' school at Silverbridge. Two +more benignant ladies than the Miss Prettymans never presided over such +an establishment. The younger was fat, and fresh, and fair, and seemed +to be always running over with the milk of human kindness. The other was +very thin and very small, and somewhat afflicted with bad health--was +weak, too, in the eyes, and subject to racking headaches, so that it was +considered generally that she was unable to take much active part in the +education of the pupils. But it was considered as generally that she did +all the thinking, that she knew more than any other woman in +Barsetshire, and that all the Prettyman schemes for education emanated +from her mind. It was said, too, by those who knew them best, that her +sister's good-nature was as nothing to hers; that she was the most +charitable, the most loving, and the most conscientious of +school-mistresses. This was Miss Annabella Prettyman, the elder; and +perhaps it may be inferred that some portion of her great character for +virtue may have been due to the fact that nobody ever saw her out of her +own house. She could not even go to church, because the open air brought +on neuralgia. She was therefore perhaps taken to be magnificent, partly +because she was unknown. Miss Anne Prettyman, the younger, went about +frequently to tea-parties--would go, indeed, to any party to which she +might be invited; and was known to have a pleasant taste for poundcake +and sweetmeats. Being seen so much in the outer world, she became +common, and her character did not stand so high as did that of her +sister. Some people were ill-natured enough to say that she wanted to +marry Mr Winthrop; but of what maiden lady that goes out in the world +are not such stories told? And all such stories in Silverbridge were +told with special reference to Mr Winthrop. + +Miss Crawley, at present, lived with the Miss Prettymans, and assisted +them in the school. This arrangement had been going on for the last +twelve months, since the time in which Grace would have left the school +in the natural course of things. There had been no bargain made, and no +intention that Grace should stay. She had been invited to fill the place +of an absent superintendent, first, for one month, then for another, and +then for two more months; and when the assistant came back, the Miss +Prettymans thought there were reasons why Grace should be asked to +remain a little longer. But they took great care to let the fashionable +world of Silverbridge know that Grace Crawley was a visitor with them, +and not a teacher. 'We pay her no salary, or anything of that kind,' +said Miss Ann Prettyman; a statement, however, which was by no means +true, for during those last four months the regular stipend had been +paid to her; and twice since then, Miss Annabella Prettyman, who managed +all the money matters, had called Grace into her little room, and had +made a little speech, and had put a little bit of paper into her hand. +'I know I ought not to take it,' Grace had said to her friend Anne. 'If +I was not here, there would be no one in my place.' 'Nonsense, my dear,' +Anne Prettyman had said; 'it is the greatest comfort to us in the world. +And you should make yourself nice, you know, for his sake. All the +gentlemen like it.' Then Grace had been very angry, and had sworn that +she would give the money back again. Nevertheless, I think she did make +herself as nice as she knew how to do. And from all this it may be seen +that the Miss Prettymans had hitherto quite approved of Major Grantly's +attentions. + +But when this terrible affair came on about the cheque which had been +lost and found and traced to Mr Crawley's hands, Miss Anne Prettyman +said nothing further to Grace Crawley about Major Grantly. It was not +that she thought that Mr Crawley was guilty, but she knew enough of the +world to be aware that suspicion of such guilt might compel such a man +as Major Grantly to change his mind. 'If he had only popped,' Anne said +to her sister,' it would have been all right. He would never have gone +back from his word.' 'My dear,' said Annabella, 'I wish you would not +talk about popping. It is a terrible word.' 'I shouldn't, to anyone +except you,' said Anne. + +There had come to Silverbridge some few months since, on a visit to Mrs +Walker, a young lady from Allington, in the neighbouring county, between +whom and Grace Crawley there had grown up from circumstances a warm +friendship. Grace had a cousin in London--a clerk high up and +well-to-do in a public office, a nephew of her mother's--and this cousin +was, and for years had been, violently smitten in love for this young +lady. But the young lady's tale had been sad, and though she +acknowledged feelings of the most affectionate friendship for the +cousin, she could not bring herself to acknowledge more. Grace Crawley +had met the young lady at Silverbridge, and words had been spoken about +the cousin; and though the young lady from Allington was some years +older than Grace, there had grown up to be a friendship, and, as is not +uncommon between young ladies, there had been an agreement that they +would correspond. The name of the lady was Miss Lily Dale, and the name +of the well-to-do cousin was Mr John Eames. + +At the present moment Miss Dale was at home with her mother at +Allington, and Grace Crawley in her terrible sorrow wrote to her friend, +pouring out her whole heart. As Grace's letter and Miss Dale's answer +will assist us in our story, I will venture to give them both. + +'SILVERBRIDGE,--December, 186- + +'DEAREST LILY, +'I hardly know how to tell you what has +happened, it is so very terrible. But perhaps you +will have heard it already, as everybody is talking +about it here. It has got into the newspapers, and +therefore it cannot be kept secret. Not that I should +keep anything from you; only this is so very dreadful +that I hardly know how to write it. Somebody says--a +Mr Soames, I believe it is--that papa has taken some +money that does not belong to him, and he is to be +brought before the magistrates and tried. Of course +papa has done nothing wrong. I do think he would be +the last man in the world to take a penny that did not +belong to him. You know how poor he is; what a life +he has had! But I think he would almost sooner see +mamma starving;--I am sure he would rather be starved +himself, then even borrow a shilling which he could +not pay. To suppose that he would take money' + +(she had tried to write the word 'steal' but she could not bring +her pen to form the letters) + +'is monstrous. But, somehow, the circumstances have +been made to look bad against him, and they say that +he must come over here to the magistrates. I often +think that of all men in the world papa is the most +unfortunate. Everything seems to go against him, and +yet he is so good! Poor mamma has been over here, and +she is distracted. I never saw her so wretched +before. She has been to your friend Mr Walker, and +came to me afterwards for a minute. Mr Walker has got +something to do with it, though mamma says she thinks +he is quite friendly to papa. I wonder whether you +could find out, through Mr Walker, what he thinks +about it. Of course, mamma knows that papa has done +nothing wrong; but she says that the whole thing is so +mysterious, and that she does not know how to account +for the money. Papa, you know, is not like other +people. He forgets things; and is always thinking, +thinking, thinking of his great misfortunes. Poor +papa! My heart bleeds so when I remember all his +sorrows, that I hate myself for thinking about myself. + +'When mamma left me--and it was then I first +knew that papa would really have to be tried--I +went to Miss Annabella, and told her that I would go +home. She asked me why, and I said I would not +disgrace her house by staying in it. She got up and +took me in her arms, and there came a tear out of both +her dear old eyes, and she said that if anything evil +came to papa--which she would not believe, as she +knew him to be a good man--there should be a home in +her house not only for me, but for mamma and Jane. +Isn't she a wonderful woman? When I think of her, I +sometimes think that she must be an angel already. +Then she became very serious--for just before, +through her tears she had tried to smile--and she +told me to remember that all people could not be like +her, who had nobody to look to but herself and her +sister; and that at present I must task myself not to +think of that which I had been thinking of before. +She did not mention anybody's name, but of course I +understood very well what she meant; and I suppose she +is right. I said nothing in answer to her, for I +could not speak. She was holding my hand, and I took +hers up and kissed it, to show her, if I could, that I +knew that she was right; but I could not have spoken +about it for all the world. It was not ten days since +that she herself, with all her prudence, told me that +she thought I ought to make up my mind what answer I +would give him. And then I did not say anything; but +of course she knew. And after that Miss Anne spoke +quite freely about it, so that I had to beg her to be +silent even before the girls. You know how imprudent +she is. But it is all over now. Of course Miss +Annabella is right. He has got a great many people to +think of; his father and mother, and his darling +little Edith, whom he brought here twice, and left her +with us once for two days, so that she got to know me +quite well; and I took such a love for her, that I +could not bear to part with her. But I think +sometimes that all our family are born to be +unfortunate, and then I tell myself that I will never +hope for anything again. + +'Pray write to me soon. I feel as though +nothing on earth could comfort me, and yet I shall +like to have your letter. Dear, dear Lily, I am not +even yet so wretched but what I shall rejoice to be +told good news of you. If it only could be as John +wishes it! And why should it not? It seems to me +that nobody has a right or a reason to by unhappy +except us. Good-bye, dearest Lily. +'Your affectionate friend, +'GRACE CRAWLEY' + +'P.S.--I think I have made up my mind that I will go +back to Hogglestock at once if the magistrates decide +against papa. I think I should be doing the school +harm if I were to stay here.' + +The answer to this letter did not reach Miss Crawley till after the +magistrate's hearing on the Thursday, but it will be better for our +story that it should be given here than postponed until the result of +that meeting shall have been told. Miss Dale's answer was as follows:- + +'ALLINGTON,--December, 186- +'DEAR GRACE, +'Your letter has made me very unhappy. If it +can at all comfort you to know that mamma and I +sympathise with you altogether, in that you may at any +rate be sure. But in such troubles nothing will give +comfort. They must be borne, till the fire of +misfortune burns itself out. + +'I had heard about the affair a day or two +before I got your note. Our clergyman, Mr Boyce, told +us of it. Of course we all know that the charge must +be altogether unfounded, and mamma says that the truth +will be sure to show itself at last. But that +conviction does not cure the evil, and I can well +understand that your father should suffer grievously; +and I pity your mother quite as much as I do him. + +'As for Major Grantly, if he be such a man as I +took him to be from the little I saw of him, all this +would make no difference to him. I am sure that it +ought to make none. Whether it should not make a +difference in you is another question. I think it +should; and I think your answer to him should be that +you could not even consider any such proposition while +your father was in so great trouble. I am so much +older than you, and seem to have so much experience, +that I do not scruple, as you will see, to come down +upon you with all the weight of my wisdom. + +'About that other subject I had rather say +nothing. I have known your cousin all my life almost; +and I regard no one more kindly than I do him. When I +think of my friends, he is always the one of the +dearest. But when one thinks of going beyond +friendship, even if one tries to do so, there are so +many barriers! + +'Your affectionate friend, +'LILY DALE + +'Mamma bids me say that she would be delighted +to have you here whenever it might suit you to come; +and I add to this message my entreaty that you will +come at once. You say that you think you ought to +leave Miss Prettyman's for a while. I can well +understand your feeling; but as your sister is with +your mother, surely you had better come to us--I mean +quite at once. I will not scruple to tell you what +mamma says, because I know your good sense. She says +that as the interest of the school may possibly be +concerned, and as you have no regular engagement, she +thinks you ought to leave Silverbridge; but she says +that it will be better that you come to us than that +you should go home. If you went home, people might +say that had left in some sort of disgrace. Come to +us, and when all this is put right, then you go back +to Silverbridge; and then, if a certain person speaks +again, you can make a different answer. Mamma quite +understands that you are to come; so you have only to +ask your own mamma, and come at once.' + +This letter, the reader will understand, did not reach Grace Crawley +till after the all-important Thursday; but before that day had come +round, Grace had told Miss Prettyman--had told both the Miss +Prettymans--that she was resolved to leave them. She had done this +without consulting her mother, driven to it by various motives. She knew +her father's conduct was being discussed by the girls at school, and +that things were said of him which it could not but be for the +disadvantage of Miss Prettyman that anyone should say of a teacher in +the establishment. She felt, too, that she could not hold up her head in +Silverbridge in these days, as it would become her to do if she retained +her position. She did struggle gallantly, and succeeded much more nearly +than she was herself aware. She was all but able to carry herself as +though no terrible accusation was being made against her father. Of the +struggle, however, she was not herself the less conscious, and she told +herself that on that account also she must go. And then she must go +because of Major Grantly. Whether he was minded to come and speak to her +that one other needed word, or whether he was not so minded, it would be +better that she should be away from Silverbridge. If he spoke it she +could only answer him by the negative; she should leave herself the +power of thinking that his silence had been caused by her absence, and +not by his coldness or indifference. + +She asked, therefore, for an interview with Miss Prettyman, and was +shown into the elder sister's room, at eleven o'clock on the Tuesday +morning. The elder Miss Prettyman never came into the school herself +till twelve, but was in the habit of having interviews with the young +ladies--which were sometimes very awful in their nature--for the two +previous hours. During these interviews an immense amount of business +was done, and the fortunes in life of some girls were said to have been +made or marred; as when, for instance, Miss Crimpton had been advised to +stay at home with her uncle in England, instead of going out with her +sisters to India, both of which sisters were married within three months +of their landing in Bombay. The way in which she gave her counsel on +such occasions was very efficacious. No one knew better than Miss +Prettyman that a cock can crow most effectively in his own farmyard, and +therefore all crowing intended to be effective was done by her within +the shrine of her own peculiar room. + +'Well, my dear, what is it?' she said to Grace. 'Sit in the arm-chair, +my dear, and we can then talk comfortably.' The teachers, when they were +closeted with Miss Prettyman, were always asked to sit in the arm-chair, +whereas a small, straight-backed, uneasy chair was kept for the use of +the young ladies. And there was, too, a stool of repentance, out against +the wall, very uncomfortable indeed for young ladies who had not behaved +themselves so prettily as young ladies generally do. + +Grace seated herself, and then began her speech very quickly. 'Miss +Prettyman,' she said, 'I have made up my mind that I will go home, if +you please.' + +'And why should you go home, Grace? Did I not tell you that you should +have a home here?' Miss Prettyman had weak eyes, and was very small, and +had never possessed any claim to be called good-looking. And she +assumed nothing of the majestical awe from any adornment or studied +amplification of the outward woman by means of impressive trappings. The +possessor of an unobservant eye might have called her a mean-looking, +little old woman. And certainly there would have been nothing awful in +her to anyone who came across her otherwise than as a lady having +authority in her own school. But within her own precincts, she did know +how to surround herself with a dignity which all felt who approached her +there. Grace Crawley, as she heard the simple question which Miss +Prettyman had asked, unconsciously acknowledged the strength of the +woman's manner. She already stood rebuked for having proposed a plan so +ungracious, so unnecessary, and so unwise. + +'I think I ought to be with mamma at present,' said Grace. + +'You mother has her sister with her.' + +'Yes, Miss Prettyman, Jane is there.' + +'If there is no other reason, I cannot think that that can be held to be +a reason now. Of course your mother would like to have you always; +unless you should be married--but then there are reasons why this should +not be so.' + +'Of course there are.' + +'I do not think--that is, if I know all that there is to be known--I do +not think, I say, that there can be any good ground for your leaving us +now--just now.' + +Then Grace sat silent for a moment, gathering her courage, and +collecting her words; and after that she spoke. 'It is because of papa, +and because of this charge--' + +'But, Grace--' + +'I know what you are going to say, Miss Prettyman;--that is, I think I +know.' + +'If you hear me, you may be sure that you know.' + +'But I want you to hear me for one moment first. I beg your pardon, +Miss Prettyman; I do indeed, but I want to say this before you go on. I +must go home, and I know I ought. We are all disgraced, and I won't stop +here to disgrace the school. I know papa has done nothing wrong; but +nevertheless we are disgraced. The police are to bring him in here on +Thursday, and everybody in Silverbridge will know it. It cannot be right +that I should be here teaching in the school, while it is all going +on;--and I won't. And, Miss Prettyman, I couldn't do it, indeed I +couldn't. I can't bring myself to think of anything I am doing. Indeed I +can't; and then, Miss Prettyman, there are other reasons.' By the time +that she had proceeded thus far, Grace Crawley's words were nearly +choked by her tears. + +'And what are the other reasons, Grace?' + +'I don't know,' said Grace, struggling to speak through her tears. + +'But I know,' said Miss Prettyman. 'I know them all. I know all your +reasons, and I tell you that in my opinion you ought to remain where you +are, and not go away. The very reasons which to you are reasons for your +going, to me are reasons for your remaining here.' + +'I can't remain. I am determined to go. I don't mind you and Miss +Anne, but I can't bear to have the girls looking at me--and the +servants.' + +Then Miss Prettyman paused awhile, thinking of what words of wisdom +would be most appropriate in the present conjuncture. But words of +wisdom did not seem to come easily to her, having for the moment been +banished by a tenderness of heart. 'Come here, my love,' she said at +last. 'Come here, Grace.' Slowly Grace got up from her seat and came +round, and stood by Miss Prettyman's elbow. Miss Prettyman pushed her +chair a little back, and pushed herself a little forward, and stretching +out one hand, placed her arm round Grace's waist, and with the other +took hold of Grace's hand, and thus drew her down and kissed the girl's +forehead and lips. And then Grace found herself kneeling at her friend's +feet. 'Grace,' she said, 'do you not know that I love you? Do you not +know that I love you dearly?' In answer to this Grace kissed the +withered hand she held in hers, while the warm tears trickled upon Miss +Prettyman's knuckles. 'I love you as though you were my own,' exclaimed +the schoolmistress; 'and will you not trust me, that I know what is best +for you?' + +'I must go home,' said Grace. + +'Of course you shall, if you think it right at last; but let us talk of +it. No one in the house, you know, has the slightest suspicion that your +father has done anything that is in the least dishonourable.' + +'I know that you have not.' + +'No, nor has Anne.' Miss Prettyman said this as though no one in that +house beyond herself and her sister had a right to have any opinion on +any subject. + +'I know that,' said Grace. + +'Well, my dear. If we think so--' + +'But the servant, Miss Prettyman?' + +'If any servant in this house says a word to offend you, I'll--I'll--' + +'They don't say anything, Miss Prettyman, but they look. Indeed, I'd +better go home. Indeed I had!' + +'Do not you think your mother has cares enough upon her, and burden +enough, without another mouth to feed, and another head to shelter? You +haven't thought of that, Grace.' + +'Yes, I have.' + +'And for the work, whilst you are not quite well you shall not be +troubled with teaching. I have some old papers that want copying and +settlings, and you shall sit here and do that just for an employment. +Anne knows that I've long wanted to have it done, and I'll tell her that +you have kindly promised to do it for me.' + +'No; no; no,' said Grace; 'I must go home.' She was still kneeling at +Miss Prettyman's knee, and still holding Miss Prettyman's hand. And +then, at that moment, there came a tap on the door, gentle but yet not +humble, a tap which acknowledged, on the part of the tapper, the +supremacy in that room of the lady who was sitting there, but which +still claimed admittance almost as a right. The tap was well known by +both of them to be the tap of Miss Anne. Grace immediately jumped up, +and Miss Prettyman settled herself in her chair with a motion which +almost seemed to indicate some feeling of shame as to her late position. + +'I suppose I may come in?' said Miss Anne, opening the door and +inserting her head. + +'Yes, you may come in--if you have anything to say,' said Miss +Prettyman, with an air which seemed to be intended to assert her +supremacy. But, in truth, she was simply collecting the wisdom and +dignity which had been somewhat dissipated by her tenderness. + +'I did not know that Grace Crawley was here,' said Miss Anne. + +'Grace Crawley is here,' said Miss Prettyman. + +'What is the matter, Grace?' said Miss Anne, seeing her tears. + +'Never mind now,' said Miss Prettyman. + +'Poor dear, I'm sure I'm sorry as though she were my own sister,' said +Anne. 'But, Annabella, I want to speak to you especially.' + +'To me, in private?' + +'Yes, to you; in private, if Grace won't mind?' + +Then Grace prepared to go. But as she was going, Miss Anne, upon whose +brow a heavy burden of thought was lying, stopped her suddenly. 'Grace, +my dear,' she said, 'go upstairs to your room, will you?--not across the +hall to the school.' + +'And why shouldn't she go to the school?' said Miss Prettyman. + +Miss Anne paused for a moment, and then answered--unwillingly, as though +driven to make a reply which she knew to be indiscreet. 'Because there +is somebody in the hall.' + +'Go to your room, dear,' said Miss Prettyman. And Grace went to her +room, never turning an eye down towards the hall. 'Who is it?' said Miss +Prettyman. + +'Major Grantly is here, asking to see you,' said Miss Anne. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MISS PRETTYMAN'S PRIVATE ROOM + +Major Grantly, when threatened by his father with pecuniary punishment, +should he demean himself by such a marriage as that he had proposed to +himself, had declared that he would offer his hand to Miss Crawley on +the next morning. This, however, he had not done. He had not done it, +partly because he did not quite believe his father's threat, and partly +because he felt that that threat was almost justified--for the present +moment--by the circumstances in which Grace Crawley's father had placed +himself. + +Henry Grantly acknowledged, as he drove himself home on the morning +after his dinner at the rectory, that in this matter of his marriage he +did owe much to his family. Should he marry at all, he owed it to them +to marry a lady. And Grace Crawley--so he told himself--was a lady. And +he owed it to them to bring among them as his wife a woman who should +not disgrace him or them by her education, manners, or even by her +personal appearance. In all these respects Grace Crawley was, in his +judgment, quite as good as they had a right to expect her to be, and in +some respects a great deal superior to that type of womanhood with which +they had been most generally conversant. 'If everybody had her due, my +sister isn't fit to hold a candle to her,' he said to himself. It must +be acknowledged, therefore, that he was really in love with Grace +Crawley; and he declared to himself over and over again, that his family +had no right to demand that he should marry a woman with money. The +archdeacon's son by no means despised money. How could he, having come +forth as a bird fledged from such a nest as the rectory at Plumstead +Episcopi? Before he had been brought by his better nature and true +judgment to see that Grace Crawley was the greater woman of the two, he +had nearly submitted himself to the twenty thousand pounds of Miss Emily +Dunstable--to that, and her good-humour and rosy freshness combined. But +he regarded himself as the well-to-do son of a very rich father. His +only child was amply provided for; and he felt that, as regarded money, +he had a right to do as he pleased. He felt this with double strength +after his father's threat. + +But he had no right to make a marriage by which his family would be +disgraced. Whether he was right or wrong in supposing that he would +disgrace his family were he to marry the daughter of a convicted thief, +it is hardly necessary to discuss here. He told himself that it would be +so--telling himself also that, by the stern laws of the world, the son +and the daughter must pay for the offence of the father and mother. Even +among the poor, who would willingly marry the child of a man who had +been hanged? But he carried the argument beyond this, thinking much of +the matter, and endeavouring to think of it not only justly but +generously. If the accusation against Crawley were false--if the man +were being injured by an unjust charge--even if he, Grantly, could make +himself think that the girl's father had not stolen the money, then he +would dare everything and go on. I do not know that his argument was +good, or that his mind was logical on the matter. He ought to have felt +that his own judgment as to the man's guilt was less likely to be +correct than that of those whose duty it was and would be to form and to +express a judgment on the matter; and as to Grace herself, she was +equally innocent whether her father were guilty or not guilty. If he +were to be debarred from asking for her hand by his feelings for her +father and mother, he should hardly have trusted to his own skill in +ascertaining the real truth as to the alleged theft. But he was not +logical, and thus, meaning to be generous, he became unjust. + +He found that among those in Silverbridge whom he presumed to be best +informed on such matters, there was a growing opinion that Mr Crawley +had stolen the money. He was intimate with all the Walkers, and was able +to find out that Mrs Walker knew that her husband believed in the +clergyman's guilt. He was by no means alone in his willingness to accept +Mr Walker's opinion as the true opinion. Silverbridge, generally, was +endeavouring to dress itself in Mr Walker's glass, and to believe as Mr +Walker believed. The ladies of Silverbridge, including the Miss +Prettymans, were aware that Mr Walker had been very kind both to Mr and +Mrs Crawley, and argued from this that Mr Walker must think the man +innocent. But Henry Grantly, who did not dare to ask a direct question +of the solicitor, went cunningly to work, and closeted himself with Mrs +Walker--with Mrs Walker, who knew well of the good fortune that was +hovering over Grace's head and was so nearly settling itself on her +shoulders. She would have given a finger to be able to whitewash Mr +Crawley in the major's estimation. Nor must it be supposed that she told +the major in plain words that her husband had convinced himself of the +man's guilt. In plain words no question was asked between them, and in +plain words no opinion was expressed. But there was the look of sorrow +in the woman's eye, there was the absence of reference to her husband's +assurance that the man was innocent, there was the air of settled grief +which told of her own conviction; and the major left her, convinced that +Mrs Walker believed Mr Crawley to be guilty. + +Then he went to Barchester; not open-mouthed with inquiry, but rather +with open ears, and it seemed to him that all men in Barchester were of +one mind. There was a county-club in Barchester, and at this county-club +nine men out of ten were talking about Mr Crawley. It was by no means +necessary that a man should ask questions on the subject. Opinion was +expressed so freely that no such asking was required; and opinion in +Barchester--at any rate in the county-club--seemed now to be all of one +mind. There had been every disposition at first to believe Mr Crawley to +be innocent. He had been believed to be innocent even after he had said +wrongly that the cheque had been paid to him by Mr Soames; but he had +since stated that he had received it from Dean Arabin, and that +statement was also shown to be false. A man who has a cheque changed on +his own behalf is bound at least to show where he got the cheque. Mr +Crawley had not only failed to do this, but had given two false excuses. +Henry Grantly, as he drove home to Silverbridge on the Sunday afternoon, +summed up all the evidence in his own mind, and brought in a verdict of +Guilty against the father of the girl whom he loved. + +On the following morning he walked into Silverbridge and called at Miss +Prettyman's house. As he went along his heart was warmer towards Grace +than it had ever been before. He had told himself that he was now bound +to abstain, for his father's sake, from doing that which he had told his +father he certainly would do. But he knew also, that he had said that +which, though it did not bind him to Miss Crawley, gave her a right to +expect that he would so bind himself. And Miss Prettyman could not but +be aware of what his intention had been, and could not but expect that +he should not be explicit. Had he been a wise man altogether, he would +probably have abstained from saying anything at the present moment--a +wise man, that is, in the ways and feelings of the world in such +matters. But, as there are men who will allow themselves all imaginable +latitude in their treatment of women, believing that the world will +condone any amount of fault of that nature, so there are other men, and +a class of men which on the whole is the more numerous of the two, who +are tremblingly alive to the danger of censure on this head--and to the +danger of censure not only from others but from themselves also. Major +Grantly had done that which made him think it imperative upon him to do +something further, and do that something at once. + +Therefore he started off on the Monday morning after breakfast and +walked into Silverbridge, and as he walked he built various castles in +the air. Why should he not marry Grace--if she would have him--and take +her away beyond the reach of her father's calamity? Why should he not +throw over his own people altogether, money, position, society, and all, +and give himself up to love? Were he to do so, men might say that he was +foolish, but no one could hint that he was dishonourable. His spirit was +high enough to teach him to think that such conduct on his part would +have in it something of magnificence; but, yet, such was not his +purpose. In going to Miss Prettyman it was his intention to apologise +for not doing this magnificent thing. His mind was quite made up. +Nevertheless he built castles in the air. + +It so happened that he encountered the younger Miss Prettyman in the +hall. It would not at all have suited him to reveal to her the purport +of his visit, or ask her to assist his suit or receive his apologies. +Miss Anne Prettyman was too common a personage in the Silverbridge world +to be fit for such employment. Miss Anne Prettyman was, indeed, herself +submissive to him, and treated him with the courtesy which is due to a +superior being. He therefore simply asked her whether he could be +allowed to see her sister. + +'Surely, Major Grantly;--that is, I think so. It is a little early, but +I think she can receive you.' + +'It is early, I know; but as I want to say a word or two on business--' + +'Oh, on business. I am sure she will see you on business; she will only +be too proud. If you will be kind enough to step in here for two +minutes.' Then Miss Anne, having deposited the major in the little +parlour, ran upstairs with her message to her sister. 'Of course it's +about Grace Crawley' she said to herself as she went. 'It can't be about +anything else. I wonder what he's going to say. If he's going to pop, +and the father in all this trouble, he's the finest fellow that ever +trod.' Such were her thoughts as she tapped at the door and announced in +the presence of Grace that there was somebody in the hall. + +'It's Major Grantly,' whispered Anne, as soon as Grace had shut the door +behind her. + +'So I suppose by your telling her not to go into the hall. What has he +come to say?' + +'How on earth can I tell you that, Annabella? But I suppose he can have +only one thing to say after all that has come and gone. He can only have +come with one object.' + +'He wouldn't have come to me for that. He would have asked to see +herself.' + +'She never goes out now, and he can't see her.' + +'Or he would have gone to them over at Hogglestock,' said Miss +Prettyman. 'But of course he must come up now he is here. Would you mind +telling him? Of shall I ring the bell?' + +'I'll tell him. We need not make more fuss than necessary, with the +servants, you know. I suppose I'd better not come back with him?' + +There was a tone of supplication in the younger sister's voice as she +made the last suggestion, which ought to have melted the heart of the +elder; but it was unavailing. 'As he has asked to see me, I think you +had better not,' said Annabella. Miss Anne Prettyman bore her cross +meekly, offered no argument on the subject, and returning to the little +parlour where she had left the major, brought him upstairs, and ushered +him into her sister's room without even entering it again, herself. + +Major Grantly was as intimately acquainted with Miss Anne Prettyman as a +man under thirty may well be with a lady nearer fifty than forty, who is +not specially connected with him by any family tie; but of Miss +Prettyman he knew personally very much less. Miss Prettyman, as has +before been said, did not go out, and was therefore not common to the +eyes of the Silverbridgians. She did occasionally see her friends in her +own house, and Grace Crawley's lover, as the major had come to be +called, had been there on more than one occasion; but of real personal +intimacy between them there had hitherto existed none. He might have +spoken, perhaps a dozen words to her in his life. He had now more than a +dozen to speak to her, but he hardly knew how to commence them. + +She had got up and curtseyed, and had then taken his hand and asked him +to sit down. 'My sister tells me that you want to see me,' she said in +her softest, mildest voice. + +'I do, Miss Prettyman. I want to speak to you about a matter that +troubles me very much--very much indeed.' + +'Anything that I can do, Major Grantly--' + +'Thank you, yes. I know that you are very good, or I should not have +ventured to come and see you. Indeed I shouldn't trouble you now, of +course, if it was only about myself. I know very well what a great +friend you are to Miss Crawley.' + +'Yes, I am. We love Grace dearly here.' + +'So do I,' said the major bluntly; 'I love her dearly, too.' Then he +paused, as though he thought that Miss Prettyman ought to take up the +speech. But Miss Prettyman seemed to think quite differently, and he was +obliged to go on. 'I don't know whether you have ever heard about it or +noticed it, or--or--or--' He felt that he was very awkward, and he +blushed. Major as he was, he blushed as he sat before the woman, trying +to tell his story, but not knowing how to tell it. 'The truth is, Miss +Prettyman, I have done all but ask her to be my wife, and now has come +this terrible affair about her father.' + +'It is a terrible affair, Major Grantly; very terrible.' + +'By Jove, you may say that!' + +'Of course, Mr Crawley is as innocent in the matter as you or I are.' + +'You think so, Miss Prettyman?' + +'Think so! I feel sure of it. What; a clergyman of the Church of +England, a pious, hard-working country gentleman, whom we have known +among us by his good works for years, suddenly turn thief, and pilfer a +few pounds! It is not possible, Major Grantly. And the father of such a +daughter, too! It is not possible. It may do for men of business to +think so, lawyers and such like, who are obliged to think in accordance +with the evidence, as they call it; but to my mind the idea is +monstrous. I don't know how he got it, and I don't care; but I'm quite +sure he did not steal it. Whoever heard of anybody becoming so base as +that all at once?' + +The major was startled by her eloquence, and by the indignant tone of +voice in which it was expressed. It seemed to tell him that she would +give him no sympathy in that which he had come to say to her, and to +upbraid him already in that he was not prepared to do the magnificent +thing of which he had thought when he had been building his castles in +the air. Why should he not do the magnificent thing? Miss Prettyman's +eloquence was so strong that it half convinced him that the Barchester +Club and Mr Walker had come to a wrong conclusion after all. + +'And how does Miss Crawley bear it?' he asked, desirous of postponing +for a while any declaration of his own purpose. + +'She is very unhappy, of course. Not that she thinks evil of her +father.' + +'Of course she does not think him guilty.' + +'Nobody thinks him so in this house, Major Grantly,' said the little +woman, very imperiously. 'But Grace is, naturally enough, very +sad;--very sad indeed. I do not think I can ask you to see her today.' + +'I was not thinking of it,' said the major. + +'Poor, dear girl! It is a great trial for her. Do you wish me to give +her any message, Major Grantly?' + +The moment had now come in which he must say that which he had come to +say. The little woman waited for an answer, and as he was there, within +her power as it were, he must speak. I fear that what he said will not +be approved by any strong-minded person. I fear that our lover will +henceforth be considered by such a one as being a weak, wishy-washy man, +who had hardly any mind of his own to speak of--that he was a man of no +account, as the poor people say. 'Miss Prettyman, what message ought I +to give her?' + +'Nay, Major Grantly, how can I tell you that? How can I put words into +your mouth?' + +'It isn't the words,' he said; 'but the feelings.' + +'And how can I tell the feelings in your heart?' + +'Oh, as for that, I know what my feelings are. I do love her with all +my heart;--I do, indeed. A fortnight ago I was only thinking whether she +would accept me, and whether she would mind having Edith to take care +of.' + +'She is very fond of Edith--very fond indeed.' + +'Is she?' said the major, more distracted than ever. Why should he not +do the magnificent thing after all? 'But it is a great charge for a girl +when she marries.' + +'It is a great charge--a very great charge. It is for you to think +whether you should entrust so great a charge to one so young.' + +'I have no fear about that at all.' + +'Nor should I have any--as you ask me. We have known Grace well, +thoroughly, and are quite sure that she will do her duty in that state +of life to which it may please God to call her.' + +The major was aware when this was said to him that he had not come to +Miss Prettyman for a character of the girl he loved; and yet he was not +angry at receiving it. He was neither angry, nor even indifferent. He +accepted the character most gratefully, though he felt that he was being +led away from his purpose. He consoled himself for this however, by +remembering that the path which Miss Prettyman was now leading him, led +to the magnificent, and to those pleasant castles in the air which he +had been building as he walked into Silverbridge. 'I am quite sure that +she is all that you say,' he replied. 'Indeed I had made up my mind +about that long ago.' + +'And what can I do for you, Major Grantly?' + +'You think that I ought not to see her?' + +'I will ask her, if you please. I have such trust in her judgment that +I should leave her altogether to her own discretion.' + +The magnificent thing must be done, and the major made up his mind +accordingly. Something of regret came over his spirit as he thought of a +father-in-law disgraced and degraded, and of his own father +broken-hearted. But now there was hardly any alternative left to him. +And was it not the manly thing for him to do? He had loved the girl +before this trouble had come upon her, and was he not bound to accept +the burden which his love had brought with it? 'I will see her,' he +said, 'at once, if you will let me, and ask her to be my wife. But I +must see her alone.' + +Then Miss Prettyman paused. Hitherto, she had undoubtedly been playing +her fish cautiously, or rather her young friend's fish--perhaps I may +say cunningly. She had descended to artifice on behalf of the girl whom +she loved, admired, and pitied. She had seen some way into the man's +mind, and had been partly aware of his purpose--of his infirmity of +purpose, of his double purpose. She had perceived that a word from her +might help Grace's chance, and had led the man on till he had committed +himself, at any rate to her. In doing this she had been actuated by +friendship rather than by abstract principle. But now, when the moment +had come in which she must decide upon some action, she paused. Was it +right, for the sake of either of them, that an offer of marriage should +be made at such a moment as this? It might be very well, in regard to +some future time, that the major should have so committed himself. She +saw something of the man's spirit, and believed that, having gone so +far--having so far told his love, he would return to his love hereafter, +let the result of the Crawley trial be what it might. But--but, this +could be no proper time for love-making. Though Grace loved the man, as +Miss Prettyman knew well, though Grace loved the child, having allowed +herself to long to call it her own, though such a marriage could be the +making of Grace's fortune as those who loved her could hardly have hoped +that it should ever have been made, she would certainly refuse the man, +if he were to propose to her now. She would refuse him, and then the man +would be free;--free to change his mind if he saw fit. Considering all +these things, craftily in the exercise of her friendship, too cunningly, +I fear, to satisfy the claims of a high morality, she resolved that the +major had better not see Miss Crawley at the present moment. Miss +Prettyman paused before she replied, and, when she did speak, Major +Grantly had risen from his chair and was standing with his back to the +fire. 'Major Grantly,' she said, 'you shall see if you please, and if +she pleases; but I doubt whether her answer at such a moment as this +would be that which you would wish to receive.' + +'You think she would refuse me?' + +'I do not think she would accept you now. She would feel--I am sure she +would feel, that these hours of her father's sorrow are not hours in +which love should be either offered or accepted. You shall, however, see +her if you please.' + +The major allowed himself a moment for thought; and as he thought he +sighed. Grace Crawley had become more beautiful in his eyes than ever, +was endowed by these words from Miss Prettyman with new charms and +brighter virtues than he had seen before. Let come what might he would +ask her to be his wife on some future day; if he did not ask her now. +For the present, perhaps, he had better be guided by Miss Prettyman. +'Then I will not see her,' he said. + +'I think that would be the wiser course.' + +'Of course you knew before this that I--loved her?' + +'I thought so, Major Grantly.' + +'And that I intended to ask her to be my wife?' + +'Well; since you put the question to me so plainly, I must confess that +as Grace's friend I should not quite have let things go on as they have +gone--though I am not at all disposed to interfere with any girl whom I +believe to be pure and good as I know her to be--but still I should +hardly have been justified in letting things go on as they have gone, if +I had not believed that such was your purpose.' + +'I wanted to set myself right with you, Miss Prettyman.' + +'You are right with me--quite right'; and she got up and gave him her +hand. 'You are a fine, noble-hearted gentleman, and I hope that our +Grace may live to be your happy wife, and the mother of your darling +child, and the mother of other children. I do not see how a woman could +have a happier lot in life.' + +'And will you give Grace my love?' + +'I will tell her at any rate that you have been here, and that you have +inquired after her with the greatest kindness. She will understand what +that means without any word of love.' + +'Can I do anything for her--or her father; I mean in the way of money? +I don't mind mentioning it to you, Miss Prettyman.' + +'I will tell her that you are ready to do it, if anything can be done. +For myself I feel no doubt that the mystery will be cleared up at last; +and then, if you will come here, we shall be so glad to see you.--I +shall at least.' + +Then the major went, and Miss Prettyman herself actually descended with +him into the hall, and bade him farewell most affectionately before her +sister and two of the maids who came out to open the door. Miss Anne +Prettyman, when she saw the great friendship with which the major was +dismissed, could not contain herself, but asked most impudent questions, +in a whisper indeed, but in such a whisper that any sharp-eared +maid-servant could hear and understand them. 'Is it settled,' she asked +when her sister had ascended only the first flight of stairs;--'has he +popped?' The look with which her elder sister punished and dismayed the +younger, I would not have borne for twenty pounds. She simply looked, +and said nothing, but passed on. When she had regained her room she rang +the bell, and desired to ask the servant to ask Miss Crawley to be good +enough to step to her. Poor Miss Anne retired discomforted into the +solitude of one of the lower rooms, and sat for some minutes all alone, +recovering from the shock of her sister's anger. 'At any rate, he hasn't +popped,' she said to herself, as she made her way back to the school. + +After that Miss Prettyman and Miss Crawley were closeted together for +about an hour. What passed between them need not be repeated here word +for word; but it may be understood that Miss Prettyman said no more than +she ought to have said, and that Grace understood all that she ought to +have understood. + +'No man ever behaved with more considerate friendship, or more like a +gentleman,' said Miss Prettyman. + +'I am sure he is very good, and I am so glad he did not ask to see me,' +said Grace. Then Grace went away, and Miss Prettyman sat awhile in +thought, considering what she had done, not without some stings of +conscience. + +Major Grantly as he walked home was not altogether satisfied with +himself, though he gave himself credit for some diplomacy which I do not +think he deserved. He felt that Miss Prettyman and the world in general, +should the world in general ever hear anything about it, would give him +credit for having behaved well; and that he had obtained this credit +without committing himself to the necessity of marrying the daughter of +a thief, should things turn out badly in regard to the father. But--and +this but robbed him of all the pleasure which comes from real +success--but he had not treated Grace Crawley with the perfect +generosity which love owes, and he was in some degree ashamed of +himself. He felt, however, that he might probably have Grace, should he +choose to ask for her when this trouble should have passed by. 'And I +will,' he said to himself, as he entered the gate of his own paddock, +and saw his child in her perambulator before the nurse. 'And I will ask +her, sooner or later, let things go as they may.' Then he took the +perambulator under his own charge for half-an-hour, to the satisfaction +of the nurse, of the child, and of himself. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MR CRAWLEY IS TAKEN TO SILVERBRIDGE + +It had become necessary on the Monday morning that Mrs Crawley should +obtain from her husband an undertaking that he should present himself +before the magistrates at Silverbridge on the Thursday. She had been +made to understand that the magistrates were sinning against the strict +rule of law in not issuing a warrant at once for Mr Crawley's +apprehension; and they were so sinning at the instance of Mr Walker--at +whose instance they would have committed almost any sin practicable by a +board of English magistrates, so great was their faith in him; and she +knew that she was bound to answer her engagement. She had also another +task to perform--that, namely, of persuading him to employ an attorney +for his defence; and she was prepared with the name of an attorney, one +Mr Mason, also of Silverbridge, who had been recommended to her by Mr +Walker. But when she came to the performance of these two tasks on the +Monday morning, she found that she was unable to accomplish either of +them. Mr Crawley first declared that he would have nothing to do with +any attorney. As to that he seemed to have made up his mind beforehand, +and she saw at once that she had no hope of shaking him. But when she +found that he was equally obstinate in the other matter, and that he +declared that he would not go before the magistrates unless he were made +to do so--unless the policeman came and fetched him, then she almost +sank beneath the burden of her troubles, and for a while was disposed to +let things go as they would. How could she strive to bear a load that +was so manifestly too heavy for her shoulders? + +On the Sunday the poor man had exerted himself to get through his Sunday +duties, and he had succeeded. He had succeeded so well that his wife had +thought that things might yet come right with him, that he would +remember, before it was too late, the true history of that unhappy piece +of paper, and that he was rising above that half madness which for +months past had afflicted him. + +On the Sunday evening, when he was tired with his work, she thought it +best to say nothing to him about the magistrates and the business of +Thursday. But on Monday morning she commenced her task, feeling that she +owed it to Mr Walker to lose no more time. He was very decided in his +manners and made her to understand that he would employ no lawyer on his +own behalf. 'Why should I want a lawyer? I have done nothing wrong,' he +said. Then she tried to make him understand that many who may have done +nothing wrong require a lawyer's aid. 'And who is to pay him?' he asked. +To this she replied, unfortunately, that there would be no need of +thinking of that at once. 'And I am to get further into debt!' he said. +'I am to put myself right before the world by incurring debts which I +know I can never pay? When it has been a question of food for the +children I have been weak, but I will not be weak in such a matter as +this. I will have no lawyer.' She did not regard this denial on his part +as very material, though she would fain have followed Mr Walker's advice +had she been able; but when, later in the day, he declared that the +police should fetch him, then her spirits gave way. Early in the morning +he had seemed to assent to the expedient of going into Silverbridge on +the Thursday, and it was not till after he had worked himself into a +rage about the proposed attorney, that he utterly refused to make the +journey. During the whole day, however, his state was such as almost to +break his wife' heart. He would do nothing. He would not go to the +school, nor even stir beyond the house-door. He would not open a book. +He would not eat, nor would he even sit at table or say the accustomed +grace when the scanty midday meal was placed upon the table. 'Nothing is +blessed to me,' he said, when his wife pressed him to say the word for +their child's sake. 'Shall I say that I thank God when my heart is +thankless? Shall I serve my child by a lie?' Then for hours he sat in +the same position, in the old arm-chair, hanging over the fire +speechless, sleepless, thinking ever, as she well knew, of the injustice +of the world. She hardly dared to speak to him, so great was the +bitterness of his words when she was goaded to reply. At last, late in +the evening, feeling that it would be her duty to send to Mr Walker +early on the following morning, she laid her hand gently on his shoulder +and asked him for his promise. 'I may tell Mr Walker that you will be +there on Thursday?' + +'No,' he said, shouting at her. 'No. I will have no such message +sent.' She started back, trembling. Not that she was accustomed to +tremble at his ways, or to show that she feared him in his paroxysms, +but that his voice had been louder than she had before known it. 'I will +hold no intercourse with them at Silverbridge in this matter. Do you +hear me, Mary?' + +'I hear you, Josiah; but I must keep my word to Mr Walker. I promised +that I would send to him.' + +'Tell him, then, that I will not stir a foot out of this house on +Thursday of my own accord. On Thursday I shall be here; and here I will +remain all day--unless they take me by force.' + +'But Josiah--' + +'Will you obey me, or shall I walk into Silverbridge myself and tell the +man that I will not come to him.' Then he arose from his chair and +stretched forth his hand to his hat as though he were going forth +immediately, on his way to Silverbridge. The night was now pitch dark, +and the rain was falling, and abroad he would encounter all the severity +of the pitiless winter. Still it might have been better that he should +have gone. The exercise and the fresh air, even the wet and the mud, +would have served to bring back his mind to reason. But his wife thought +of the misery of the journey, of his scanty clothing, of his worn boots, +of the need there was to preserve the raiment which he wore; and she +remembered that he was fasting--that he had eaten nothing since the +morning, and that he was not fit to be alone. She stopped him, +therefore, before he could reach the door. + +'Your bidding shall be done,' she said--'of course.' + +'Tell them, then, that they must seek me if they want me.' + +'But, Josiah, think of the parish--of the people who respect you--for +their sakes let it not be said that you were taken away by policemen.' + +'Was St Paul not bound in prison? Did he think of what the people might +see?' + +'If it were necessary, I would encourage you to bear it without a +murmur.' + +'It is necessary, whether you murmur, or do not murmur. Murmur indeed! +Why does not your voice ascend to heaven with one loud wail against the +cruelty of man?' Then he went forth from the room into an empty chamber +on the other side of the passage; and his wife, when she followed him +there after a few minutes, found him on his knees, with his forehead +against the floor, and with his hands clutching at the scanty hairs of +his head. Often before had she seen him so, on the same spot, half +grovelling, half prostrate in prayer, reviling in his agony all things +around him--nay, nearly all things above him--and yet striving to +reconcile himself to his Creator by the humiliation of his confession. + +It might be better for him now, if only he could bring himself to some +softness of heart. Softly she closed the door, and placing the candle on +the mantle-shelf, softly she knelt beside him, and softly touched his +hand with hers. He did not stir nor utter a single word, but seemed to +clutch at his thin locks more violently than before. Then she kneeling +there, aloud, but with a low voice, with her thin hands clasped, uttered +a prayer in which she asked her God to remove from her husband the +bitterness of that hour. He listened till she had finished, and then +rose slowly to his feet. 'It is in vain,' said he, 'it is all in vain. +It is all in vain.' Then he returned back to the parlour, and seating +himself again in the arm-chair, remained there without speaking till +past midnight. At last, when she told him that she herself was very +cold, and reminded him that for the last hour there had been no fire, +still speechless, he went up with her to their bed. + +Early on the following morning she contrived to let him know that she +was about to send a neighbour's son over with a note to Mr Walker, +fearing to urge him further to change his mind; but hoping that he might +express his purpose of doing so when he heard that the letter was to be +sent; but he took no notice whatever of her words. At this moment he was +reading Greek with his daughter, or rather rebuking her because she +could not be induced to read her Greek. + +'Oh, papa,' the poor girl said, 'don't scold me now. I am so unhappy +because of all of this.' + +'And am I not unhappy?' he said, as he closed the book. 'My God, what +have I done against thee, that my lines should be cast in such terrible +places?' + +The letter was sent to Mr Walker. 'He knows himself to be innocent,' +said the poor wife, writing what best excuse she how to make, 'and +thinks that he should take no step himself in such a matter. He will not +employ a lawyer, and he says that he should prefer that he be sent for, +if the law requires his presence at Silverbridge on Thursday.' All this +she wrote, as though she felt that she ought to employ a high tone in +defending her husband's purpose; but she broke down altogether in a few +words of the postscript. 'Indeed, indeed I have done what I could!' Mr +Walker understood it all, both the high tone and the subsequent fall. + +On the Thursday morning, at about ten o'clock, a fly stopped at the gate +at Hogglestock Parsonage, and out of it came two men. One was dressed in +ordinary black clothes, and seemed from his bearing to be a respectable +man of the middle class of life. He was, however, the superintendent of +police for the Silverbridge district. The other man was a policeman, +pure and simple, with the helmet-looking hat which has lately become +common, and all the ordinary half-military and wholly disagreeable +outward adjuncts of the profession. 'Wilkins,' said the superintendent, +'likely enough I shall want you, for they tell me the gent is uncommon +strange. But if I don't call you when I come out, just open the door +like a servant and mount up on the box when we're in. And don't speak +nor say nothing.' then the senior policeman entered the house. + +He found Mrs Crawley sitting in the parlour with her bonnet and shawl +on, and Mr Crawley in the arm-chair, leaning over the fire. 'I suppose +we had better go with you,' said Mrs Crawley directly the door was +opened; for of course she had seen the arrival of the fly from the +window. + +'The gentleman had better come with us if he'll be so kind,' said +Thompson. 'I've brought a carriage for him.' + +'But I may go with him?' said the wife, with frightened voice. 'I may +accompany my husband. He is not well, sir, and wants assistance.' + +Thompson thought about it for a moment before he spoke. There was room +in the fly for only two, or if for three, still he knew his place better +than to thrust himself inside together with his prisoner and his +prisoner's wife. He had been specially asked by Mr Walker to be very +civil. Only one could sit on the box with the driver, and if the request +was conceded the poor policeman must walk back. The walk, however would +not kill the policeman. 'All right, ma'am,' said Thompson;--'that is, if +the gentleman will just pass his word not to get out till I ask him.' + +'He will not! He will not!' said Mrs Crawley. + +'I will pass my word for nothing,' said Mr Crawley. + +Upon hearing this, Thompson assumed a very long face, and shook his head +as he turned his eyes first towards the husband and then towards the +wife, and shrugged his shoulders, and compressing his lips, blew out his +breath, as though in this way he might blow off some of the mingled +sorrow and indignation with which the gentleman's words afflicted him. + +Mrs Crawley rose and came close to him. 'You may take my word for it he +will not stir. You may indeed. He thinks it incumbent on him not to give +any undertaking himself, because he feels himself so harshly used.' + +'I don't know about harshness,' said Thompson, brindling up. 'A close +carriage brought and--' + +'I will walk. If I am to go, I will walk,' shouted Mr Crawley. + +'I did not allude to you--or to Mr Walker,' said the poor wife. 'I know +you have been most kind. I meant the harshness of the circumstances. Of +course he is innocent, and you must feel for him.' + +'Yes, I feel for him, and for you too, ma'am.' + +'That is all I meant. He knows his own innocence, and therefore he is +unwilling to give way in anything.' + +'Of course he knows hisself, that's certain. But he'd better come in +the carriage, if only because of the dirt and slush.' + +'He will go in the carriage; and I will go with him. There will be room +for you there, sir.' + +Thompson looked up at the rain, and told himself that it was very cold. +Then he remembered Mr Walker's injunction, and bethought himself that +Mrs Crawley, in spite of her poverty, was a lady. He conceived even +unconsciously the idea that something was due to her because of her +poverty. 'I'll go with the driver,' said he, 'but he'll only give +hisself a deal of trouble if he tries to get out.' + +'He won't; he won't,' said Mrs Crawley. 'And I thank you with all my +heart.' + +'Come along, then,' said Thompson. + +She went up to her husband, hat in hand, and looking round to see that +she was not watched put the hat on his head, and then lifted him as it +were from the chair. He did not refuse to be led, and allowed her to +throw round his shoulders the old cloak which was hanging in the +passage, and then he passed out, and was the first to seat himself in +the Silverbridge fly. His wife followed him, and did not hear the +blandishments with which Thompson instructed his myrmidon to follow +through the mud on foot. Slowly they made their way through the lanes, +and it was nearly twelve when the fly was driven through the yard of the +"George and Vulture" at Silverbridge. + +Silverbridge, though it was blessed with a mayor and corporation, and +was blessed also with a Member of Parliament all to itself, was not +blessed with a courthouse. The magistrates were therefore compelled to +sit in the big room at the "George and Vulture" in which the county +balls were celebrated, and the meeting of the West Barsetshire +freemasons was held. That part of the country was, no doubt, very much +ashamed of its backwardness in this respect, but as yet nothing had been +done to remedy the evil. Thompson and his fly were therefore driven into +the yard of the inn, and Mr and Mrs Crawley were ushered by him up into +a little bed-chamber close adjoining to the big room in which the +magistrates were already assembled. 'There's a bit of a fire here,' said +Thompson, 'and you can make yourselves a little warm.' He himself was +shivering with the cold. 'When the gents is ready in there, I'll just +come and fetch you.' + +'I may go in with him?' said Mrs Crawley. + +'I'll have a chair for you at the end of the table, just nigh to him,' +said Thompson. 'You can slip into it and say nothing to nobody.' Then he +left them and went away to the magistrates. + +Mr Crawley had not spoken a word since he had entered the vehicle. Nor +had she said much to him, but had sat with him holding his hand in hers. +Now he spoke to her--'Where is it that we are?' he asked. + +'At Silverbridge, dearest.' + +'But what is this chamber? And why are we here?' + +'We are to wait here till the magistrates are ready. They are in the +next room.' + +'But this is the Inn?' + +'Yes dear, it is the Inn.' + +'And I see crowds of people about.' There were crowds of people about. +There had been men in the yard, and others standing about on the stairs, +and the public room was full of men who were curious to see the +clergyman who had stolen twenty pounds, and to hear what would be the +result of the case before the magistrates. He must be committed; so, at +least said everybody; but then there would be the question of bail. +Would the magistrates let him out on bail, and who would be the +bailsmen? 'Why are the people here?' said Mr Crawley. + +'I suppose it is a custom when the magistrates are sitting,' said his +wife. + +'They have come to see the degradation of a clergyman,' said he;--'and +they will not be disappointed.' + +'Nothing can degrade but guilt,' said his wife. + +'Yes--misfortune can degrade, and poverty. A man is degraded when the +cares of the world press so heavily upon him that he cannot rouse +himself. They have come to look at me as though I were a hunted beast.' + +'It is but their custom always on such days.' + +'They have not always had a clergyman before them as a criminal.' Then +he was silent for a while, while she was chafing his cold hands. 'Would +that I were dead, before they brought me to this! Would that I were +dead!' + +'Is it not right, dear, that we should bear all that He sends us?' + +'Would that I were dead!' he repeated. 'The load is too heavy for me to +bear, and I would that I were dead.' + +The time seemed very long before Thompson returned and asked them to +accompany him into the big room. When he did so, Mr Crawley grasped hold +of the chair as though he had resolved that he would not go. + +But his wife whispered a word to him, and he obeyed her. 'He will +follow me,' she said to the policeman. And in that way they went from +the smaller room into the large one. Thompson went first; Mrs Crawley +with her veil down came next; and the wretched man followed his wife, +with his eyes fixed upon the ground and his hands clasped together upon +his breast. He could at first have seen nothing, and could hardly have +known where he was when they placed him in a chair. She, with better +courage, contrived to look round through her veil, and saw that there +was a long board or table covered with green cloth, and that six or +seven gentlemen were sitting at one end of it, while there seemed to be +a crowd standing along the sides and about the room. Her husband was +seated at the other end of the table, near the corner, and round the +corner--so that she might be close to him--her chair had been placed. On +the other side of him there was another chair, now empty, intended for +any professional gentleman whom he might choose to employ. + +There were five magistrates sitting there. Lord Lufton, from Framley, +was in the chair;--a handsome man, still young, who was very popular in +the county. The cheque which had been cashed had borne his signature, +and he had consequently expressed his intention of not sitting on the +board; but Mr Walker, desirous of having him there, had overruled him, +showing that the loss was not his loss. The cheque, if stolen, had not +been stolen from him. He was not the prosecutor. 'No, by Jove,' said +Lord Lufton, 'if I could quash the whole thing, I would do so at once!' + +'You can't do that, my lord, but you may help us at the board,' said Mr +Walker. + +Then there was the Hon George De Courcy, Lord De Courcy's brother, from +Castle Courcy. Lord De Courcy did not live in the county, but his +brother did so, and endeavoured to maintain the glory of the family by +the discretion of his conduct. He was not, perhaps, among the wisest of +men, but he did very well as a county magistrate, holding his tongue, +keeping his eyes open, and, on such occasions as this, obeying Mr Walker +in all things. Dr Tempest was also there, the rector of the parish, he +being both magistrate and clergyman. There were many in Silverbridge who +declared that Dr Tempest would have done far better to stay away when a +brother clergyman was thus to be brought before the bench; but it had +been long since Dr Tempest had cared what was said about him in +Silverbridge. He had become accustomed to the life he led as to like to +be disliked, and to be enamoured of unpopularity. So when Mr Walker had +ventured to suggest to him that, perhaps, he might not choose to be +there, he had laughed Mr Walker to scorn. 'Of course I shall be there,' +he said. 'I am interested in the case--very much interested. Of course I +shall be there.' And had not Lord Lufton been present he would have made +himself more conspicuous by taking the chair. Mr Fothergill was the +fourth. Mr Fothergill was man of business to the Duke of Omnium, who was +the great owner of property in and around Silverbridge, and he was the +most active magistrate in that part of the county. He was a sharp man, +and not at all likely to have any predisposition in favour of a +clergyman. The fifth was Dr Thorne of Chaldicotes, a gentleman whose +name has been already mentioned in these pages. He had been for many +years a medical man practising in a little village in the further end of +the county; but it had come to be his fate, late in life, to marry a +great heiress, with whose money the ancient house and domain of +Chaldicotes had been purchased from the Sowerbys. Since then Dr Thorne +had done his duty well as a country gentleman--not, however, without +some little want of smoothness between him and the duke's people. + +Chaldicotes lay next to the duke's territory, and the duke had wished to +buy Chaldicotes. When Chaldicotes slipped through the duke's fingers and +went into the hands of Dr Thorne--or of Dr Thorne's wife--the duke had +been very angry with Mr Fothergill. Hence it had come to pass that there +had not always been smoothness between the duke's people and the +Chaldicotes people. It was now rumoured that Dr Thorne intended to stand +for the county on the next vacancy, and that did not tend to make things +smoother. On the right hand of Lord Lufton sat Lord George and Mr +Fothergill, and beyond Mr Fothergill sat Mr Walker, and beyond Mr Walker +sat Mr Walker's clerk. On the left hand of the chairman were Dr Tempest +and Dr Thorne, and a little lower down was Mr Zachary Winthrop, who held +the situation of clerk to the magistrates. Many people in Silverbridge +said that this was all wrong, as Mr Winthrop was partner with Mr Walker, +who was always employed before the magistrates if there was any +employment going for an attorney. For this, however, Mr Walker cared +very little. He had so much of his own way in Silverbridge, that he was +supposed to care nothing for anybody. + +There were many other gentlemen in the room, and some who knew Mr +Crawley with more or less intimacy. He, however, took notice of no one, +and when one friend, who had really known him well, came up behind and +spoke to him gently leaning over his chair the poor man barely +recognised his friend. + +'I'm sure your husband won't forget me,' said Mr Robarts, the clergyman +at Framley, as he gave his hand to that lady across the back of Mr +Crawley's chair. + +'No, Mr Robarts, he does not forget you. But you must excuse him if at +this moment he is not quite himself. It is a trying situation for a +clergyman.' + +'I can understand all that; but I'll tell you why I have come. I +suppose this inquiry will finish the whole affair, and clear up whatever +may be the difficulty. But should it not be so, it may be just possible, +Mrs Crawley, that something may be said about bail. I don't understand +much about it, and I daresay you do not either; but if there should be +anything of that sort, let Mr Crawley name me. A brother clergyman will +be best, and I'll have some other gentleman with me.' Then he left +without waiting for an answer. + +At the same time there was a conversation going on between Mr Walker and +another attorney standing behind him, Mr Mason. 'I'll go to him,' said +Walker, 'and try to arrange it.' So Mr Walker seated himself in the +empty chair beside Mr Crawley, and endeavoured to explain to the +wretched man, that he would do well to allow Mr Mason to assist him. Mr +Crawley seemed to listen to all that was said, and then turned to the +speaker sharply: 'I will have no one to assist me,' he said so loudly +that everyone in the room heard the words. 'I am innocent. Why should I +want assistance? Nor have I the money to pay for it.' Mr Mason made a +quick movement forward, intending to explain that that consideration +need offer no impediment, but was stopped by further speech by Mr +Crawley. 'I will have no one to help me,' said he, standing upright, and +for the first time removing his hat from his head. 'Go on, and do what +it is you have to do.' After than he did not sit down till the +proceedings were nearly over, though he was invited more than once by +Lord Lufton to do so. + +We need not go through all the evidence that was brought to bear upon +the question. It was proved that money for the cheque was paid to Mr +Crawley's messenger, and that this money was given to Mr Crawley. When +there occurred some little delay in the chain of evidence necessary to +show that Mr Crawley had signed and sent the cheque and got the money, +he became impatient. 'Why do you trouble the man?' he said. 'I had the +cheque, and I sent him; I got the money. Has anyone denied it, that you +would strive to drive a poor man like that beyond his wits?' Then Mr +Soames and the manager of the bank showed what inquiry had been made as +soon as the cheque came back from the London bank; how at first they had +both thought that Mr Crawley could of course explain the matter and how +he explained it by a statement which was manifestly untrue. Then there +was evidence to prove that the cheque could not have been paid to him by +Mr Soames, and as this was given, Mr Crawley shook his head and again +became impatient. 'I erred in that,' he exclaimed. 'Of course I erred. +In my haste I thought it was so, and in my haste I said so. I am not +good at reckoning money and remembering sums; but I say that I had been +wrong when my error was shown to me, and I acknowledged at once that I +had been wrong.' + +Up to this point he had behaved not only with so much spirit, but with +so much reason, that his wife began to hope that the importance of the +occasion had brought back the clearness of his mind, and that he would, +even now, be able to place himself right as the inquiry went on. Then it +was explained that Mr Crawley had stated that the cheque had been given +to him by Dean Arabin, as soon as it was shown that it could not have +been given to him by Mr Soames. In reference to this, Mr Walker was +obliged to explain that application had been made to the dean, who was +abroad, and that the dean had stated that he had given fifty pounds to +his friend. Mr Walker explained also that the very notes of which this +fifty pounds had consisted had been traced back to Mr Crawley, and that +they had no connexion with the cheque or with the money which had been +given for the cheque at the bank. + +Mr Soames stated that he had lost the cheque with a pocket-book; that he +had certainly lost it on the day on which he had called on Mr Crawley at +Hogglestock; and that he missed his pocket-book on his journey back from +Hogglestock to Barchester. At the moment of missing it he remembered +that he had taken the book out from his pocket in Mr Crawley's room, +and, at that moment, he had not doubted that he had left it in Mr +Crawley's house. He had written and sent to Mr Crawley to inquire, but +had been assured that nothing had been found. There had been no other +property of value in the pocket-book--nothing but a few visiting-cards +and a memorandum, and he had therefore stopped the cheque at the London +bank, and thought no more about it. + +Mr Crawley was then asked to explain in what way he came possessed of +the cheque. The question was first put by Lord Lufton; but it soon fell +into Mr Walker's hands, who certainly asked it with all the kindness +with which such an inquiry could be made. Could Mr Crawley at all +remember by what means that bit of paper had come into his possession, +or how long he had had it? He answered the last question first. 'It had +been with me for months.' And why had he kept it. He looked round the +room sternly, almost savagely, he answered, fixing his eyes for a moment +upon almost every face around him as he did so. Then he spoke. 'I was +driven by shame to keep it--and then by shame to use it.' That his +statement was true, no one in the room doubted it. + +And then the other question was pressed upon him; and he lifted up his +hands, and raised his voice, and swore by the Saviour in whom he +trusted, and he knew not from whence the money had come to him. Why then +had he said that it had come from the dean? He had thought so. The dean +had given him money, covered up, in an enclosure, 'so that the touch of +the coin might not add to my disgrace in taking alms,' said the wretched +man, thus speaking openly and freely in his agony of the shame which he +had striven so persistently to hide. He had not seen the dean's monies +as they had been given, and he had thought that the cheque had been with +them. Beyond that he could tell them nothing. + +Then there was a conference between the magistrates and Mr Walker, in +which Mr Walker submitted that the magistrates had no alternative but to +commit the gentleman. To this Lord Lufton demurred, and with him Dr +Thorne. + +'I believe, as I am sitting here,' said Lord Lufton, 'that he has told +the truth, and that he does not know any more than I do from whence the +cheque came.' + +'I am quite sure he does not,' said Dr Thorne. + +Lord George remarked that it was the 'queerest thing he had ever come +across.' Dr Tempest merely shook his head. Mr Fothergill pointed out +that even supposing the gentleman's statement to be true, it by no means +went towards establishing the gentleman's innocence. The cheque had been +traced to the gentleman's hands, and the gentleman was bound to show how +it had come into his possession. Even supposing that the gentleman had +found the cheque in his house, which was likely enough, he was not +thereby justified in changing it; and applying the proceeds to his own +purposes. Mr Walker told them that Mr Fothergill was right, and that the +only excuse to be made for Mr Crawley was that he was out of his senses. + +'I don't see it,' said Lord Lufton. 'I might have a lot of paper money +on me, and not know from Adam where I got it.' + +'But you would have to show where you got it, my lord, when inquiry was +made,' said Mr Fothergill. + +Lord Lufton, who was not particularly fond of Mr Fothergill, and was +very unwilling to be instructed by him in any of the duties of a +magistrate, turned his back at once upon the duke's agent; but within +three minutes afterwards he had submitted to the same instructions from +Mr Walker. + +Mr Crawley had again seated himself, and during this period of the +affair was leaning over the table with his face buried on his arms. Mrs +Crawley sat by his side, utterly impotent as to any assistance, just +touching him with her hand, and waiting behind her veil till she should +be made to understand what was the decision of the magistrates. This was +at last communicated to her--and to him--in a whisper by Mr Walker. Mr +Crawley must understand that he was committed to take his trial at +Barchester, at the next assizes, which would be held in April, but that +bail would be taken;--in his own bail in five hundred pounds, and that +of two others in two hundred and fifty pounds each. And Mr Walker +explained further that he and the bailsmen were ready, and that the +bail-bond was prepared. The bailsmen were to be the Rev Mr Robarts and +Major Grantly. In five minutes the bond was signed and Mr Crawley was at +liberty to go away a free man--till the Barchester Assizes should come +around in April. + +Of all that was going on at this time Mr Crawley knew little or nothing, +and Mrs Crawley did not know much. She did say a word of thanks to Mr +Robarts, and begged that the same might be said to--the other gentleman. +If she had heard the Major's name she did not remember it. Then they +were led out back into the bedroom, where Mrs Walker was found, anxious +to do something, if she only knew what, to comfort the wretched husband +and the wretched wife. But what comfort or consolation could there be +within their reach? There was tea made for them, and sandwiches cut from +the Inn larder. And there was sherry in the Inn decanter. But no such +comfort as that was possible for either of them. + +They were taken home again in the fly, returning without the escort of +Mr Thompson, and as they went home some few words were spoken by Mrs +Crawley. 'Josiah,' she said, 'there will be a way out of this, even yet, +if you will only hold up your head and trust.' + +'There is a way out of it,' he said. 'There is a way. There is but one +way.' When he had spoken she said no more, but resolved that her eye +should never be off him, no--not for a moment. Then, when she had gotten +him once more into that front parlour, she threw her arms around him and +kissed him. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +GRACE CRAWLEY GOES TO ALLINGTON + +The tidings of what had been done by the magistrates at their petty +sessions was communicated the same night to Grace Crawley by Miss +Prettyman. Miss Anne Prettyman had heard the news within five minutes of +the execution of the bail-bond, and had rushed to her sister with +information as to the event. 'They have found him guilty; they have, +indeed. They have convicted him--or whatever it is, because he couldn't +say where he got it.' 'You do not mean that they have sent him to +prison?' 'No;--not to prison; not as yet, that is. I don't understand it +altogether; but he's to be tried again in the assizes. In the meantime +he's to be out on bail. Major Grantly is to be the bail--and Mr Robarts. +That, I think, was very nice of him.' It was undoubtedly the fact that +Miss Anne Prettyman had received an accession of pleasurable emotion +when she learned that Mr Crawley had not been sent away scatheless, but +had been condemned, as it were, to public trial at the assizes. And yet +she would have done anything in her power to save Grace Crawley, or even +to save her father. And it must be explained that Miss Anne Prettyman +was supposed to be specially efficient in teaching Roman history to her +pupils, although she was so manifestly ignorant of the course of the law +in the country in which she lived. 'Committed him,' said Miss Prettyman, +correcting her sister with scorn. 'They have not convicted him. Had they +convicted him there would be no question of bail.' 'I don't know how +that all is, Annabella, but at any rate Major Grantly is to be the +bailsman, and there is to be another trial at Barchester.' 'There cannot +be more than one trial in a criminal case,' said Miss Prettyman, 'unless +the jury should disagree, or something of that kind. I suppose he has +been committed and the trial will take place at the assizes.' +'Exactly--that's just it.' Had Lord Lufton appeared as lictor and had +Thompson carried the fasces, Miss Anne would have known more about it. + +The sad tidings were not told to Grace till the evening. Mrs Crawley, +when the inquiry was over before the magistrates, would fain have had +herself driven to the Miss Prettyman's school, that she might see her +daughter; but she felt that to be impossible while her husband was in +her charge. The father would of course have gone to his child, had the +visit been suggested to him; but that would have caused another terrible +scene; and the mother, considering it all in her mind, thought it better +to abstain. Miss Prettyman did her best to make poor Grace think that +the affair had so far gone favourably--did her best, that is, without +saying anything which her conscience told her to be false. 'It is to be +settled at the assizes in April,' she said. + +'In the meantime what will become of papa?' + +'Your papa will be at home, just as usual. He must have someone to +advise him. I daresay it would have been all over now if he would have +employed an attorney.' + +'But it seems so hard that an attorney should be wanted.' + +'My dear Grace, things in this world are hard.' + +'But they are always harder for poor papa and mamma than for anybody +else.' In answer to this Miss Prettyman made some remarks intended to be +wise and kind at the same time. Grace, whose eyes were laden with tears, +made no immediate reply to this, but reverted to her former statement +that she must go home. 'I cannot remain, Miss Prettyman, I am so +unhappy.' + +'Will you be more happy at home?' + +'I can bear it better there.' + +The poor girl soon learned from the intended consolations of those +around her, from the ill-considered kindness of the pupils, and from +words which fell from the servants, that her father had in fact been +judged to be guilty, as far as judgment had as yet gone. 'They do say, +miss, it's only because he hadn't a lawyer,' said the house-keeper. And +if men so kind as Lord Lufton and Mr Walker had made him out to be +guilty, what could be expected from a stern judge down from London, who +would know nothing about her poor father and his peculiarities, and from +twelve jurymen who would be shopkeepers out of Barchester. It would kill +her father, and then it would kill her mother; and after that it would +kill her also. And there was no money in the house at home. She knew it +well. She had been paid three pounds a month for her services at the +school, and the money for the last two months had been sent to her +mother. Yet, badly as she wanted anything that she might be able to +earn, she knew that she could not go on teaching. It had come to be +acknowledged by both the Miss Prettymans that any teaching on her part +at the present was impossible. She would go home and perish with the +rest of them. There was no room left for hope to her, or to any of her +family. They had accused her father of being a common thief--her father +whom she knew to be so nobly honest, her father whom she believed to be +among the most devoted of God's servants. He was accused of a paltry +theft, and the magistrates and lawyers and policemen among them had +decided that the accusation was true! How could she look the girls in +the face after that, or attempt to hold her own among the teachers! + +On the next morning there came a letter from Miss Lily Dale, and with +that in her hand she again went to Miss Prettyman. She must go home, she +said. She must at any rate go to her mother. Could Miss Prettyman be +kind enough to send her home. 'I haven't sixpence to pay for anything,' +she said, bursting into tears; 'and I haven't a right to ask for it.' +Then the statements which Miss Prettyman made in her eagerness to cover +this latter misfortune were decidedly false. There was so much money +owing to Grace, she said; money for this, money for that, money for +anything or nothing! Ten pounds would hardly clear the account. 'Nobody +owes me anything; but if you'll lend me five shillings!' said Grace, in +her agony. Miss Prettyman, as she made her way through this difficulty, +thought of Major Grantly and his love. It would have been of no use, she +knew. Had she brought them together on that Monday, Grace would have +said nothing to him. Indeed such a meeting at such a time would have +been improper. But, regarding Major Grantly, as she did, in the light of +a millionaire--for the wealth of the Archdeacon was notorious--she +could not but think it a pity that poor Grace should be begging for five +shillings. 'You need not at any rate trouble yourself about money, +Grace,' said Miss Prettyman. 'What is a pound or two more or less +between you and me? It is almost unkind of you to think about it. Is +that letter in your hand anything for me to see, my dear?' Then Grace +explained that she did not wish to show Miss Dale's letter, but that +Miss Dale had asked her to go to Allington. 'And you will go,' said Miss +Prettyman. 'It will be the best thing for you, and the best thing for +your mother.' + +It was at last decided that Grace should go to her friend at Allington, +and to Allington she went. She returned home for a day or two, and was +persuaded by her mother to accept the invitation that had been given +her. At Hogglestock, while she was there, new troubles came up, of which +something will shortly be told; but they were troubles in which Grace +could give no assistance to her mother, and which, indeed, though they +were in truth troubles, as will be seen, were so far beneficent that +they stirred her father up to a certain action which was in itself +salutary. 'I think it will be better that you should be away, dearest,' +said her mother, who now, for the first time, heard plainly what poor +Grace had to tell about Major Grantly;--Grace having, heretofore, barely +spoken, in most ambiguous words, of Major Grantly as a gentleman whom +she had met at Framley, and whom she had described as being 'very nice'. + +In old days, long ago, Lucy Robarts, the present Lady Lufton, sister of +the Rev Mark Robarts, the parson of Framley, had sojourned for a while +under Mrs Crawley's roof at Hogglestock. Peculiar circumstances, which +need not, perhaps, be told here, had given occasion for the visit. She +had then resolved--for her future destiny been known to her before she +had left Mrs Crawley's house--that she would in coming days do much to +befriend the family of her friend; but the doing of much had been very +difficult. And the doing of anything had come to be very difficult +through a certain indiscretion on Lord Lufton's part. Lord Lufton had +offered assistance, pecuniary assistance to Mr Crawley, which Mr Crawley +had rejected with outspoken anger. What was Lord Lufton to him that his +lordship should dare to come to him with his paltry money in his hand? +But after a while, Lady Lufton, exercising some cunning in the operation +of her friendship, had persuaded her sister-in-law at the Framley +parsonage to have Grace Crawley over there as a visitor--and there she +had been during the summer holidays previous to the commencement of our +story. And there, at Framley, she had become acquainted with Major +Grantly, who was staying with Lord Lufton at Framley Court. She had then +said something to her mother about Major Grantly, something ambiguous, +something about his being 'very nice', and the mother had thought how +great was the pity that her daughter, who was 'nice' too in her +estimation, should have had so few of those adjuncts to assist her which +come from full pockets. She had thought no more about it then; but now +she felt herself constrained to think more. 'I don't quite understand +why he should have come to Miss Prettyman on Monday,' said Grace, +'because he hardly knows her at all.' + +'I suppose it was on business,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'No, mamma, it was not on business.' + +'How can you tell, dear?' + +'Because Miss Prettyman said it was--to ask after me. Oh, mamma, I must +tell you. I know he did like me.' + +'Did he ever say so to you, dearest?' + +'Yes, mamma.' + +'And what did you tell him?' + +'I told him nothing, mamma.' + +'And did he ask to see you on Monday?' + +'No, mamma; I don't think he did. I think he understood it all too +well, for I could not have spoken to him then.' + +Mrs Crawley pursued her cross-examination no further, but made up her +mind that it would be better that her girl should be away from her +wretched home during this period of her life. If it were written in the +book of fate that one of her children should be exempted from the series +of misfortunes which seemed to fall, on after another, almost as a +matter of course, upon her husband, upon her, and upon her family; if so +great a good fortune were in store for her Grace as such a marriage as +this which seemed to be so nearly offered to her, it might probably be +well that Grace should be as little at home as possible. Mrs Crawley had +heard nothing but good of Major Grantly; but she knew that the Grantlys +were proud rich people--who lived with their heads high up in the +county--and it could hardly be that a son of the archdeacon would like +to take his bride direct from Hogglestock parsonage. + +It was settled that Grace should go to Allington as soon as a letter +could be received from Miss Dale in return to Grace's note, and on the +third morning after her arrival at home she started. None but they who +have themselves been poor gentry--gentry so poor as not to know how to +raise a shilling--can understand the peculiar bitterness of the trials +which such poverty produces. The poverty of the normal poor does not +approach it; or, rather, the pangs arising from such poverty are +altogether of a different sort. To be hungry and have no food, to be +cold and have no fuel, to be threatened with distraint for one's few +chairs and tables, and with the loss of the roof over one's head--all +these miseries, which, if they do not positively reach, are so +frequently near to reaching the normal poor, are, no doubt, the severest +of the trials to which humanity is subjected. They threaten life--or, if +not life, then liberty--reducing the abject one to a choice between +captivity or starvation. By hook or crook, the poor gentleman or poor +lady--let the one or the other be so poor--does not often come to the +last extremity of the workhouse. There are such cases, but they are +exceptional. Mrs Crawley, through all her sufferings, had never yet +found her cupboard to be absolutely bare, or the bread-pan to be +actually empty. But there are pangs to which, at the time, starvation +itself would seem to be preferable. The angry eyes of the unpaid +tradesman, savage with anger which one knows to be justifiable; the +taunt of the poor servant who wants her wages; the gradual +relinquishment of habits which the soft nurture of earlier, kinder years +had made second nature; the wan cheeks of the wife whose malady demands +wine; the rags of the husband whose outward occupations demand decency; +the neglected children, who are learning not be the children of +gentlefolk; and, worse than all, the alms and doles of half-generous +friends, the waning pride, the pride that will not wane, the growing +doubt whether it be not better to bow the head, and acknowledge to all +the world that nothing of the pride of station is left--that the hand is +open to receive and ready to touch the cap, that the fall from the upper +to the lower level has been accomplished--these are the pangs of poverty +which drive the Crawleys of the world to the frequent entertaining of +that idea of the bare bodkin. It was settled that Grace should go to +Allington;--but how about her clothes? And then, whence was to come the +money for the journey? + +'I don't think they'll mind about my being shabby at Allington. They +live very quietly there.' + +'But you say that Miss Dale is so very nice in all her ways.' + +'Lily is very nice, mamma; but I shan't mind her so much as her mother, +because she knows it all. I have told her everything.' + +'But you have given me all your money, dearest.' + +'Miss Prettyman told me I was to come to her,' said Grace, who had +already taken some from the schoolmistress, which at once had gone into +mother's pocket, and into household purposes. 'She said I should be sure +to go to Allington, and that of course I should go to her, as I must +pass through Silverbridge.' + +'I hope papa will not ask about it,' said Mrs Crawley. Luckily papa did +not ask about it, being at the moment occupied much with other thoughts +and other troubles, and Grace was allowed to return by Silverbridge, and +to take what was needed from Miss Prettyman. Who can tell of the mending +and patching, of the very wearing midnight hours of needlework which +were accomplished before the poor girl went, so that she might not reach +her friend's house in actual rags? And when the world was ended, what +was there to show for it? I do not think that the idea of the bare +bodkin, as regarded herself, ever flitted across Miss Crawley's +brain--she being one of those who are very strong to endure; but it must +have occurred to her very often that the repose of the grave is sweet, +and that there cometh after death a levelling and making even of things, +which would at last cure all her evils. + +Grace no doubt looked forward to a levelling and making even of +things--or perhaps to something more prosperous than that, which should +come to her relief on this side of the grave. She could not but have +high hopes in regard to her future destiny. Although, as has been said, +she understood no more than she ought to have understood from Miss +Prettyman's account of the conversation with Major Grantly, still, +innocent as she was, she had understood much. She knew that the man +loved her, and she knew also that she loved the man. She thoroughly +comprehended that the present could be to her no time for listening to +speeches of love, or for giving kind answers; but still I think that she +did look for relief on this side of the grave. + +'Tut, tut,' said Miss Prettyman, as Grace in vain tried to conceal her +tears up in the private sanctum. 'You ought to know me by this time, and +to have learned that I can understand things.' The tears had flown in +return not only for the five gold sovereigns which Miss Prettyman had +pressed into her hand, but on account of the prettiest, soft, grey +merino frock that ever charmed a girl's eye. 'I should like to know how +many girls I have given dresses to, when they have been going out +visiting. Law, my dear; they take them, many of them, from us old maids, +almost as if we were only paying our debts in giving them.' And then +Miss Anne gave her a cloth cloak, very warm, with pretty buttons and +gimp trimmings--just such a cloak as any girl might like to wear who +thought that she would be seen out walking with her Major Grantly on a +Christmas morning. Grace Crawley did not expect to be seen out walking +by her Major Grantly, but nevertheless she liked the cloak. By the power +of her practical will, and by her true sympathy, the elder Miss +Prettyman had for a while conquered the annoyance, which on Grace's +part, was attached to the receiving of gifts, by the consciousness of +her poverty; and when Miss Anne, with some pride in the tone of her +voice, expressed a hope that Grace would think the cloak pretty, Grace +put her arms pleasantly round her friend's neck, and declared that it +was very pretty--the prettiest cloak in all the world! + +Grace was met at the Guestwick railway station by her friend Lily Dale, +and was driven over to Allington in a pony carriage belonging to Lily's +uncle, the squire of the parish. I think she will be excused in having +put on her new cloak, not so much because of the cold as with a view of +making the best of herself before Mrs Dale. And yet she knew Mrs Dale +would know all the circumstances of her poverty, and was very glad that +it should be so. 'I am so glad that you have come, my dear,' said Lily. +'It will be such a comfort.' + +'I am sure you are very good,' said Grace. + +'And mamma is so glad. From the moment that we both talked ourselves +into eagerness about it--while I was writing my letter, you know, we +resolved that it must be so.' + +'I'm afraid I shall be a great trouble to Mrs Dale.' + +'A trouble to mamma! Indeed you will not. You shall be a trouble to no +one but me. I will have all the trouble myself, and the labour I delight +in shall be physic to my pain.' + +Grace Crawley could not during the journey be at home and at ease even +with her friend Lily. She was going to a strange house under strange +circumstances. Her father had not indeed been tried and found guilty of +theft, but the charge of theft had been made against him, and the +magistrates before whom it had been made had thought the charge was +true. Grace knew all the newspapers had told the story, and was of +course aware that Mrs Dale would have heard it. Her own mind was full of +it, and though she dreaded to speak of it, yet she could not be silent. +Miss Dale, who understood much of this, endeavoured to talk her friend +into easiness; but she feared to begin upon the one subject, and before +the drive was over they were, both of them, too cold for much +conversation. 'There's mamma,' said Miss Dale as they drove up, turning +out of the street of the village to the door of Mrs Dale's house. 'She +always knows by instinct, when I am coming. You must understand now that +you are among us, that mamma and I are not mother and daughter, but two +loving old ladies living together in peace and harmony. We do have our +quarrels--whether the chicken shall be roast or boiled, but never +anything beyond that. Mamma, here is Grace, starved to death; and she +says if you don't give her some tea she will go back at once.' + +'I will give her some tea,' said Mrs Dale. + +'And I am worse than she is, because I've been driving. It's all up +with Bertram and Mr Green for the next week at least. It is freezing as +hard as it can freeze, and they might as well try to hunt in Lapland as +here.' + +'They'll console themselves with skating,' said Mrs Dale. + +'Have you ever observed, Grace,' said Miss Dale,' how much amusement +gentlemen require, and how imperative it is that some other game should +be provided when one game fails?' + +'Not particularly,' said Grace. + +'Oh, but it is so. Now, with women, it is supposed that they can amuse +themselves or live without amusement. Once or twice in a year, perhaps +something is done for them. There is an arrow-shooting party, or a +ball, or a picnic. But the catering for men's sport is never ending, and +is always paramount to everything else. And yet the pet game of the day +never goes off properly. In partridge time, the partridges are wild, and +won't come to be killed. In hunting time the foxes won't run straight +--the wretches. They show no spirit, and will take to ground to save +their brushes. Then comes a nipping frost, and skating is proclaimed; +but the ice is always rough, and the woodcocks have deserted the +country. And as for salmon--when the summer comes round I do really +believe that they suffer a great deal about the salmon. I'm sure they +never catch any. So they go back to their clubs and their cards, and +their billiards, and abuse their cooks and blackball their friends. +That's about it, mamma; is it not?' + +'You know more about it than I do, my dear.' + +'Because I have to listen to Bertram, as you never will do. We've got +such a Mr Green down here, Grace. He's such a duck of a man--such +top-boots and all the rest of it. And yet they whisper to me that he +doesn't always ride to hounds. And to see him play billiards is +beautiful, only he can never make a stroke. I hope you play billiards, +Grace, because uncle Christopher has just had a new table put up.' + +'I never saw a billiard-table yet,' said Grace. + +'Then Mr Green shall teach you. He'll do anything that you ask him. If +you don't approve the colour of the ball, he'll go to London to get you +another one. Only you must be very careful about saying that you like +anything before him, as he'll be sure to have it for you the next day. +Mamma happened to say that she wanted a four-penny postage stamp, and he +walked off to Guestwick to get it for her instantly, although it was +lunch-time.' + +'He did nothing of the kind, Lily,' said her mother. 'He was going to +Guestwick, and was very good-natured, and brought me back a +postage-stamp that I wanted.' + +'Of course he's good-natured, I know that. And there's my cousin +Bertram. He's Captain Dale, you know. But he prefers to be called Mr +Dale, because he has left the army, and has set up as junior squire of +the parish. Uncle Christopher is the real squire; only Bertram does all +the work. And now you know all about us. I'm afraid you'll find us dull +enough--unless you can take a fancy to Mr Green.' + +'Does Mr Green live here?' + +'No; he does not live here. I never heard of his living anywhere. He +was something once, but I don't know what; and I don't think he's +anything now in particular. But he's Bertram's friend, and like most +men, as one sees them, he never has much to do. Does Major Grantly ever +go forth to fight his country's battles?' This last question she asked +in a low whisper, so that the words did not reach her mother. Grace +blushed up to her eyes, however, as she answered--'I think Major Grantly +has left the army.' + +'We shall get round her in a day or two, mamma,' said Lily Dale to her +mother that night. 'I'm sure it will be the best thing to force her out +of her troubles.' + +'I would not use too much force on her, dear.' + +'Things are better when they are talked about. I'm sure they are. And +it will be good to make her accustomed to speak of Major Grantly. From +what Mary Walker tells me, he certainly means it. And if so, she should +be ready for it when it comes.' + +'Do not make her ready for what may never come.' + +'No, mamma; but she is at present such a child that she knows nothing of +her powers. She should be made to understand that it is possible that +even a Major Grantly may think himself fortunate in being allowed to +love her.' + +'I should leave that to Nature, if I were you,' said Mrs Dale. + + + +CHAPTER X + +DINNER AT FRAMLEY COURT + +Lord Lufton, as he drove home to Framley after the meeting of the +magistrates at Silverbridge, discussed the matter with his +brother-in-law, Mark Robarts, the clergyman. Lord Lufton was driving a +dog-cart, and went along the road at the rate of twelve miles an hour. +'I'll tell you what it is, Mark,' he said, 'that man is innocent; but if +he won't employ lawyers at his trial, the jury will find him guilty.' + +'I don't know what to think about it,' said the clergyman. + +'Were you in the room when he protested so vehemently that he did not +know where he got the money?' + +'I was in the room all the time.' + +'And you did not believe him when he said that?' + +'Yes, I think I did.' + +'Anybody must have believed him--except old Tempest, who never believes +anybody, and Fothergill, who always suspects everybody. The truth is, +that he found the cheque and put it by, and did not remember anything +about it.' + +'But, Lufton, surely that would amount to stealing it?' + +'Yes, if it wasn't that he is such a poor, cracked, crazy creature, with +his mind all abroad. I think Soames did drop his book in his house. I'm +sure Soames would not say so unless he was quite confident. Somebody has +picked it up, and in some way the cheque has got into Crawley's hand. +Then he has locked it up and forgotten all about it; and when that +butcher threatened him, he has put his hand upon it, and he thought, or +believed, that it had come from Soames or the dean or from heaven, if +you will. When a man is so crazy as that, you can't judge of him as you +do of others.' + +'But a jury must judge him as it would of others.' + +'And therefore there should be a lawyer to tell the jury what to do. +They should have somebody up out of the parish to show that he is beside +himself half the time. His wife would be the best person, only it would +be hard lines on her.' + +'Very hard. And after all he would only escape by being shown to be +mad.' + +'And he is mad.' + +'Mrs Proudie would come upon him in such a case as that, and sequester +his living.' + +'And what will Mrs Proudie do when he's a convicted thief? Simply +unfrock him, and take away his living altogether. Nothing on earth +should induce me to find him guilty if I were on a jury.' + +'But you have committed him.' + +'Yes--I've been one, at least, in doing so. I simply did that which +Walker told us we must do. A magistrate is not left to himself as a +juryman is. I'd eat the biggest pair of boots in Barchester before I +found him guilty. I say, Mark, you must talk it over with the women, and +see what can be done for them. Lucy tells me that they're so poor, that +if they have bread to eat, it's as much as they have.' + +On this evening Archdeacon Grantly and his wife dined and slept at +Framley Court, there having been a very long family friendship between +old Lady Lufton and the Grantlys, and Dr Thorne with his wife, from +Chaldicotes, also dined at Framley. There was also there another +clergyman from Barchester, one Mr Champion, one of the prebends of the +cathedral. There were only three now who had houses in the city since +the retrenchments of the ecclesiastical commission had come into full +force. And this Mr Champion was dear to the Dowager Lady Lufton, because +he carried on worthily the clerical war against the bishop which had +raged in Barchester ever since Dr Proudie had come there--which war old +Lady Lufton, good and pious and charitable as she was, considered that +she was bound to keep up, even to the knife, till Dr Proudie and all his +satellites should have been banished into the outer darkness. As the +light of the Proudies still shone brightly, it was probable that poor +old Lady Lufton might die before her battle was accomplished. She often +said that it would be so, but when so saying, always expressed a wish +that is might be carried on after her death. 'I shall never, never rest +in my grave,' she had once said to the archdeacon, 'while that woman +sits in your father's palace.' For the archdeacon's father had been +Bishop of Barchester before Dr Proudie. What mode of getting rid of the +bishop or his wife Lady Lufton proposed to herself, I am unable to say; +but I think she lived in hopes that in some way it might be done. If +only the bishop could have been found to have stolen a cheque for twenty +pounds instead of poor Mr Crawley, Lady Lufton would, I think, have been +satisfied. + +In the course of these battles Framley Court would sometimes assume a +clerical aspect--having a prevailing hue, as it were, of black coats, +which was not altogether to the taste of Lord Lufton, and as to which he +would make complaint to his wife, and to Mark Robarts, himself a +clergyman. 'There's more of this than I can stand,' he'd say to the +latter. 'There's deuced more of it than you like yourself, I know.' + +'It's not for me to like or dislike. It's a great thing having your +mother in the parish.' + +'That's all very well; and of course she'll do as she likes. She may +ask whom she pleases here, and I shan't interfere. It's the same as +though it was her own house. But I shall take Lucy to Lufton.' Now Lord +Lufton had been building his house at Lufton for the last seven years +and it was not yet finished--or nearly finished, if all that his wife +had said were true. And if they could have their way, it never would be +finished. And so, in order that Lord Lufton might not actually be driven +away by the turmoils of ecclesiastical contest, the younger Lady Lufton +would endeavour to moderate both the wrath and the zeal of the elder +one, and would struggle against the coming clergymen. On this day, +however, three sat at the board at Framley, and Lady Lufton, in her +justification to her son, swore that the invitation had been given by +her daughter-in-law. 'You know, my dear,' the dowager said to Lord +Lufton, 'something must be done for these poor Crawleys; and as the dean +is away, Lucy wants to speak to the archdeacon about them.' + +'And the archdeacon could not subscribe his ten-pound note without +having Champion to back him?' + +'My dear Ludovic, you do put it in such a way.' + +'Never mind, mother. I've no special dislike for Champion, only as you +are not paid five thousand pound a year for your trouble, it is rather +hard that you should have to do all the work of opposition bishop in the +diocese.' + +It was felt by them all--including Lord Lufton himself, who became so +interested in the matter as to forgive the black coats before the +evening was over--that this matter of Mr Crawley's committal was very +serious, and demanded the full energies of their party. It was known to +them all that the feeling at the palace was inimical to Mr Crawley. +'That she-Beelzebub hates him for his poverty, and because Arabin +brought him into the diocese,' said the archdeacon, permitting himself +to use very strong language in his allusion to the bishop's wife. It +must be recorded on his behalf that he used the phrase in the presence +only of the gentlemen of the party. I think he might have whispered the +word in the ear of his confidential friend old Lady Lufton, and perhaps +have given no offence; but he would not have ventured to use such words +aloud in the presence of ladies. + +'You forget, archdeacon,' said Dr Thorne, laughing, 'that the +she-Beelzebub is my wife's particular friend.' + +'Not a bit of it,' said the archdeacon. 'Your wife knows better than +that. You tell her what I call her, and if she complains of the name +I'll unsay it.' It may therefore be supposed that Dr Thorne, and Mrs +Thorne, and the archdeacon, knew each other intimately, and understood +each other's feelings on these matters. + +It was quite true that the palace party was inimical to Mr Crawley. Mr +Crawley undoubtedly was poor, and had not been so submissive to +episcopal authority as it behoves any clergyman to be whose loaves and +fishes are scanty. He had raised his back more than once against orders +emanating from the palace in a manner that had made the hairs on the +head of the bishop's wife to stand almost on end, and had taken as much +upon himself as though his living had been worth twelve hundred a year. +Mrs Proudie, almost as energetic in her language as the archdeacon, had +called him a beggarly perpetual curate. 'We must have perpetual curates, +my dear,' the bishop had said. 'They should know their places then. But +what can you expect of a creature from the deanery? All that ought to be +altered. The dean should have no patronage in the diocese. No dean +should have any patronage. It is an abuse from the beginning to the end. +Dean Arabin, if he had any conscience, would be doing the duty at +Hogglestock himself.' How the bishop strove to teach his wife, with the +mildest words, what really ought to be a dean's duty, and how the wife +rejoined by teaching her husband, not in the mildest words, what ought +to be a bishop's duty, we will not further inquire here. The fact that +such dialogues took place at the palace is recorded simply to show that +the palatial feeling in Barchester ran counter to Mr Crawley. + +And this was cause enough, if no other cause existed, for partiality to +Mr Crawley at Framley Court. But, as has been partly explained, there +existed, if possible, even stronger ground than this for adherence to +the Crawley cause. The younger Lady Lufton had known the Crawleys +intimately, and the elder Lady Lufton had reckoned them among the +neighbouring clerical families of her acquaintance. Both these ladies +were therefore staunch in their defence of Mr Crawley. The archdeacon +himself had his own reasons--reasons which at present he kept altogether +within his own bosom--for wishing that Mr Crawley had never entered the +diocese. Whether the perpetual curate should or should not be declared a +thief, it would terrible to him to have to call the child of that +perpetual curate his daughter-in-law. But not the less on this occasion +was he true to his order, true to his side of the diocese, true to his +hatred of the palace. + +'I don't believe it for a moment,' he said, as he took his place on the +rug before the fire in the drawing-room when the gentlemen came in from +their wine. The ladies understood at once what it was that he couldn't +believe. Mr Crawley had for the moment so usurped the county that nobody +thought of talking of anything else. + +'How is it then,' said Mrs Thorne, 'that Lord Lufton, and my husband, +and the other wiseacres at Silverbridge, have committed him for trial?' + +'Because we are told to do so by the lawyer,' said Dr Thorne. + +'Ladies will never understand that magistrates must act in accordance +with the law,' said Lord Lufton. + +'But you all say he's not guilty,' said Mrs Robarts. + +'The fact is, that the magistrate cannot try the question,' said the +archdeacon; 'they only hear primary evidence. In this case I don't +believe Crawley would ever have been committed if he had employed an +attorney, instead of speaking for himself.' + +'Why didn't somebody make him have an attorney?' said Lady Lufton. + +'I don't think any attorney in the world could have spoken for him +better than he spoke for himself,' said Dr Thorne. + +'And yet you committed him,' said his wife. 'What can we do for him? +Can't we pay the bail and send him off to America?' + +'A jury will never find him guilty,' said Lord Lufton. + +'And what is the truth of it?' asked the younger Lady Lufton. + +Then the whole matter was discussed again, and it was settled among them +all that Mr Crawley had undoubtedly appropriated the cheque through +temporary obliquity of judgment--obliquity of judgment and forgetfulness +as to the source from whence the cheque had come to him. 'He has picked +it up about the house, and then has thought that it was his own,' said +Lord Lufton. Had they come to the conclusion that such an appropriation +of money had been made by one of the clergy of the palace, by one of the +Proudieian party, they would doubtless have been very loud and very +bitter as to the iniquity of the offender. They would have said as much +as to the weakness of the bishop and the wickedness of the bishop's +wife, and would have declared the appropriator to have been as very a +thief as ever picked a pocket or opened a bill;--but they were unanimous +in their acquittal of Mr Crawley. It had not been his intention, they +said, to be a thief, and a man should be judged only by his intention. +It must now be their object to induce a Barchester jury to look at the +matter in the same light. + +'When they come to understand how the land lies,' said the archdeacon, +'they will be all right. There's not a tradesman in the city who does +not hate that woman as though she were--' + +'Archdeacon,' said his wife, cautioning him to repress his energy. + +'Their bills are all paid by this new chaplain they've got, and he is +made to claim discount on every leg of mutton,' said the archdeacon. +Arguing from which fact--or from which assertion, he came to the +conclusion that no Barchester jury would find Mr Crawley guilty. + +But it was agreed on all sides that it would not be well to trust to the +unassisted friendship of the Barchester tradesmen. Mr Crawley must be +provided with legal assistance, and this must be furnished to him +whether he should be willing or unwilling to receive it. That there +would be a difficulty was acknowledged. Mr Crawley was known to be a man +not easy of persuasion, with a will of his own, with a great energy of +obstinacy on points which he chose to take as being of importance to his +calling, or to his own professional status. He had pleaded his own cause +before the magistrates, and it might be that he would insist on doing +the same thing before the judge. At last Mr Robarts, the clergyman from +Framley, was deputed from the knot of Crawleian advocates assembled at +Lady Lufton's drawing-room, to undertake the duty of seeing Mr Crawley, +and of explaining to him that his proper defence was regarded as a +matter appertaining to the clergy and gentry generally of that part of +the country, and that for the sake of the clergy and gentry the defence +must of course be properly conducted. In such circumstances the expense +of the defence would of course be borne by the clergy and gentry +concerned. It was thought that Mr Robarts could put the matter to Mr +Crawley with such a mixture of the strength of manly friendship and the +softness of clerical persuasion, as to overcome the recognised +difficulties of the task. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BISHOP SENDS HIS INHIBITION + +Tidings of Mr Crawley's fate reached the palace at Barchester on the +afternoon of the day on which the magistrates had committed him. All +such tidings travel very quickly, conveyed by imperceptible wires, and +distributed by indefatigable message boys whom Rumour seems to supply +for the purpose. Barchester is twenty miles from Silverbridge by road, +and more than forty by railway. I doubt whether anyone was commissioned +to send the news along the actual telegraph, and yet Mrs Proudie knew it +before four o'clock. But she did not know it quite accurately. 'Bishop,' +she said, standing at her husband's study door. 'They have committed +that man to gaol. There was no help for them unless they had foresworn +themselves.' + +'Not foresworn themselves, my dear,' said the bishop, striving, as was +usual with him, by some meek and ineffectual word to teach his wife that +she was occasionally led by her energy into error. He never persisted in +the lessons when he found, as was usual, that they were taken amiss. + +'I say foresworn themselves!' said Mrs Proudie; 'and now what do you +mean to do? This is Thursday, and of course the man must not be allowed +to desecrate the church of Hogglestock by performing the Sunday +services.' + +'If he has been committed, my dear, and is in prison--' + +'I said nothing about prison, bishop.' + +'Gaol, my dear.' + +'I said they committed him to gaol. So my informant tells me. But of +course all Plumstead and Framley set will move heaven and earth to get +him out, so that he may be there as a disgrace to the diocese. I wonder +how the dean will feel when he hears of it! I do indeed. For the dean, +though he is an idle, useless man, with no church principles, and no +real piety, still he has a conscience. I think he has a conscience.' + +'I'm sure he has, my dear.' + +'Well;--let us hope so. And if he has a conscience, what must be his +feelings when he hears that this creature whom he has brought into the +diocese has been committed to gaol along with common felons.' + +'Not with felons, my dear; at least, I should think not.' + +'I say with common felons! A downright robbery of twenty pounds, just +as though he had broken into the bank! And so he did, with sly artifice, +which is worse in such hands than a crowbar. And now what are we to do? +Here is Thursday, and something must be done before Sunday for the souls +of those poor benighted creatures at Hogglestock.' Mrs Proudie was ready +for the battle, and was even now sniffing the blood far off. 'I believe +it's a hundred and thirty pounds a year,' she said, before the bishop +had collected his thought sufficiently for a reply. + +'I think we must find out, first of all, whether he is really to be shut +up in prison,' said the bishop. + +'And suppose he is not to be shut up. Suppose they have been weak, or +untrue to their duty--and from what we know of the magistrates of +Barsetshire, there is too much reason to suppose they will have been so; +suppose they have let him out, is he to go about like a roaring +lion--among the souls of the people?' + +The bishop shook in his shoes. When Mrs Proudie began to talk of the +souls of the people he always shook in his shoes. She had an eloquent +way of raising her voice over the word souls that was qualified to make +any ordinary man shake in his shoes. The bishop was a conscientious man, +and well knew that poor Mr Crawley, even, would not roar at Hogglestock +to the injury of any man's soul. He was aware that this poor clergyman +had done his duty laboriously and efficiently, and he was also aware +that though he might have been committed by the magistrates, and then +let out upon bail, he should not be regarded now, in these days before +trial, as a convicted thief. But to explain all this to Mrs Proudie was +beyond his power. He knew well that she would not hear a word in +mitigation of Mr Crawley's presumed offence. Mr Crawley belonged to the +other party, and Mrs Proudie was a thorough-going partisan. I know a +man--an excellent fellow, who, being himself a strong politician, +constantly expressed a belief that all politicians opposed to him are +thieves, child-murderers, parricides, lovers of incest, demons upon +earth. He is a strong partisan, but not, I think, so strong as Mrs +Proudie. He says that he believes all evil of his opponents; but she +really believed the evil. The archdeacon had called Mrs Proudie a she- +Beelzebub; but that was a simple ebullition of mortal hatred. He +believed her to be simply a vulgar, interfering, brazen-faced virago. +Mrs Proudie in truth believed that the archdeacon was an actual emanation +from Satan, sent to these parts to devour souls--as she would call +it--and that she herself was an emanation of another sort, sent from +another source expressly to Barchester, to prevent such devouring, as +far as it might be prevented by a mortal agency. The bishop knew it +all--understood it all. He regarded the archdeacon as a clergyman +belonging to a party opposed to his party, and he disliked the man. He +knew that from his first coming into the diocese he had been encountered +with enmity by the archdeacon and the archdeacon's friends. If left to +himself he could feel and to a certain extent could resent such enmity. +But he had no faith in his wife's doctrine of emanations. He had not +faith in many things which she believed religiously;--and yet what could +he do? If he attempted to explain, she would stop him before he had got +through the first half of his first sentence. + +'If he is out on bail--' commenced the bishop. + +'Of course he will be out on bail.' + +'Then I think he should feel--' + +'Feel! Such men never feel! What feeling can one expect from a +convicted thief?' + +'Not convicted yet, my dear,' said the bishop. + +'A convicted thief,' repeated Mrs Proudie; and she vociferated the words +in such a tone that the bishop resolved that he would for the future let +the word convicted pass without notice. After all she was only using the +phrase in a peculiar sense given to it by herself. + +'It won't be proper, certainly, that he should do the services,' +suggested the bishop. + +'Proper! It would be a scandal to the whole diocese. How could he +raise his head as he pronounced the eighth commandment? That must be at +least prevented.' + +The bishop, who was seated, fretted himself in his chair, moving about +with little movements. He knew that there was a misery coming upon him; +and, as far as he could see, it might become a great misery--a huge +blistering sore upon him. When miseries came to him, as they did not +unfrequently, he would unconsciously endeavour to fathom them and weigh +them, and then, with some gallantry, resolve to bear them, if he could +find that their depth and weight were not too great for his powers of +endurance. He would let the cold wind whistle by him, putting up the +collar of his coat, and would be patient under the winter weather +without complaint. And he would be patient under the sun, knowing well +that tranquillity is best for those who have to bear tropical heat. But +when the storm threatened to knock him off his legs, when the earth +beneath him became too hot for his poor tender feet--what could he do +then? There had been with him such periods of misery, during which he +had wailed inwardly and had confessed to himself that the wife of his +bosom was too much for him. Now the storm seemed to be coming very +roughly. It would be demanded of him that he should exercise certain +episcopal authority which he knew did not belong to him. Now, episcopal +authority admits of being stretched or contracted according to the +character of the bishop who uses it. It is not always easy for a bishop +himself to know what he may do, and what he may not do. He may certainly +give advice to any clergyman in his diocese, and he may give it in such +form that it will have in it something of authority. Such advice coming +from a dominant bishop to a clergyman with a submissive mind, has in it +very much of authority. But Bishop Proudie knew that Mr Crawley was not +a clergyman with a submissive mind, and he feared that he himself, as +regarded from Mr Crawley's point of view, was not a dominant bishop. And +yet he could only act by advice. 'I will write to him,' said the bishop +'and will explain to him that as he is circumstanced he should not +appear in the reading-desk.' + +'Of course he must not appear in the reading-desk. That scandal must at +any rate be inhibited.' Now the bishop did not at all like the use of +the word inhibited, understanding well that Mrs Proudie intended it to +be understood as implying some episcopal command against which there +should be no appeal;--but he let it pass. + +'I will write to him, dear, tonight.' + +'And Mr Thumble can go over with the letter first thing in the morning.' + +'Will not the post be better?' + +'No, bishop; certainly not.' + +'He would get it sooner, if I write tonight, dear.' + +'In either case he will get it tomorrow morning. An hour or two will +not signify, and if Mr Thumble takes it himself we shall know how it is +received. It will be well that Thumble should be there in person as he +will want to look for lodgings in the parish.' + +'But, my dear--' + +'Well, bishop?' + +'About lodgings? I hardly think Mr Thumble, if we decide that Mr +Thumble should undertake the duty--' + +'We have decided that Mr Thumble should undertake the duty. That is +decided.' + +'But I do not think he should trouble himself to look for lodgings at +Hogglestock. He can go over on the Sundays.' + +'And who is to do the parish work? Would you have that man, a convicted +thief, to look after the schools, and visit the sick, and perhaps attend +the dying?' + +'There will be a great difficulty; there will indeed,' said the bishop, +becoming very unhappy, and feeling that he was driven by circumstances +either assert his own knowledge or teach his wife something of the law +with reference to his position as a bishop. 'Who is to pay Mr Thumble?' + +'The income of the parish must be sequestrated, and he must be paid out +of that. Of course he must have the income while he does the work.' + +'But, my dear, I cannot sequestrate the man's income.' + +'I don't believe it, bishop. If the bishop cannot sequestrate, who can? +But you are always timid in exercising the authority put into your hands +for wise purposes. Not sequestrate the income of a man who has been +proved to be a thief! You leave that to us, and we will manage it.' The +'us' named comprised Mrs Proudie and the bishop's managing chaplain. + +Then the bishop was left alone for an hour to write the letter which Mr +Thumble was to carry over to Mr Crawley--and after a while he did write +it. Before he commenced the task, however, he sat for some moments in +his arm-chair close by the fire-side, asking himself whether it might +not be possible for him to overcome his enemy in this matter. How would +it go with him suppose he were to leave the letter unwritten, and send +in a message by his chaplain to Mrs Proudie, saying that as Mr Crawley +was out on bail, the parish might be left for the present without +episcopal interference? She could not make him interfere. She could not +force him to write the letter. So, at least, he said to himself. But as +he said it, he almost thought that she could do these things. In the +last thirty years, or more, she had ever contrived by some power latent +in her to have her will effected. But what would happen if now, even +now, he were to rebel? That he would personally become very +uncomfortable, he was well aware, but he thought he could bear that. The +food would become bad--mere ashes, between his teeth, the daily modicum +of wine would lose its flavour, the chimneys would all smoke, the wind +would come from the east, and the servants would not answer the bell. +Little miseries of that kind would crowd upon him. He had arrived at a +time in life in which such miseries make such men very miserable; but +yet he thought that he could endure them. And what other wretchedness +would come to him? She would scold him--frightfully, loudly, +scornfully, and worse than all, continually. But of this he had so much +habitually, that anything added might be borne also;--if only he could +be sure that the scoldings should go on in private, that the world of +the palace should not be allowed to hear the revilings to which he would +be subjected. But to be scolded publicly was the great evil which he +dreaded beyond all evils. He was well aware that the palace would know +his misfortune, that it was known, and freely discussed by all, from the +examining chaplain down to the palace boot-boy;--nay, that it was known +to all the diocese; but yet he could smile upon those around him, and +look as though he held his own like other men--unless when open violence +was displayed. But when that voice was heard aloud along the corridors +of the palace, and when he was summoned imperiously by the woman, +calling for the bishop, so that all Barchester heard it, and when he was +compelled to creep forth from his study, at the sound of that summons, +with distressed face, and shaking hands, and short hurrying steps--a +being to be pitied even by a deacon--not venturing to assume an air of +masterdom should he chance to meet a housemaid on the stairs--then, at +such moments as that, he would feel that any submission was better than +the misery which he suffered. And he well knew that should he now rebel, +the whole house would be in a turmoil. He would be bishoped here, +bishoped there, before the eyes of all palatial men and women, till life +would be a burden to him. So he got up from his seat over the fire, and +went to his desk and wrote the letter. The letter was as follows:-- + +THE PALACE, BARCHESTER,--December, 186-' + +'REVEREND SIR,-- + +(he left out the dear, because he knew that if he inserted it he +would be compelled to write the letter over again). + +'I have heard today with the greatest trouble of +spirit, that you have been taken before a bench of +magistrates assembled at Silverbridge, having +previously been arrested by the police in your +parsonage house at Hogglestock, and that the +magistrates of Silverbridge have committed you to take +your trial at the next assizes at Barchester, on a +charge of theft. + +'Far be it from me to prejudge the case. You +will understand, reverend sir, that I express no +opinion whatever as to your guilt or innocence in this +matter. If you have been guilty, may the Lord give you +grace to repent of your great sin and to make such +amends as may come from immediate acknowledgement and +confession, if you are innocent, may He protect you, +and make your innocence shine before all men. In +either case may the Lord be with you and keep your +feet from further stumbling. + +'But I write to you now as your bishop, to +explain to you that, circumstanced as you are, you +cannot with decency perform the church services of +your parish. I have that confidence in you that I +doubt not that you will agree with me in this, and +will be grateful to me for relieving you from the +immediate perplexities of your position. I have, +therefore, appointed Rev Caleb Thumble to perform the +duties of incumbent of Hogglestock till such time as a +jury shall have decided upon your case at Barchester; +and in order that you may at once become acquainted +with Mr Thumble, as will be most convenient that you +should do, I will commission him to deliver this +letter into your hand personally tomorrow, trusting +that you will receive him with that brotherly spirit +in which he is sent on this painful mission. + +'Touching the remuneration to which Mr Thumble +will become entitled for his temporary ministration in +the parish of Hogglestock, I do not at present lay +down any strict injunction. He must, at any rate, be +paid at a rate not less than that ordinarily afforded +for a curate. + +'I will once again express my fervent hope that +the Lord may bring you to see the true state of your +own soul, and that He may fill you with the grace of +repentance, so that the bitter waves of the present +hour may not pass over your head and destroy you. + +'I have the honour to be, +Reverend Sir, +'Your faithful servant in Christ, +'T. BARNUM' + +(Baronum Castrum having been the old Roman name from which the modern +Barchester is derived, the bishops of the diocese have always signed +themselves Barnum.) + +The bishop had hardly finished his letter when Mrs Proudie returned to +the study, followed by the Rev Caleb Thumble. Mr Thumble was a little +man, about forty years of age, who had a wife and children living in +Barchester, and who existed on such chance clerical crumbs as might fall +from the table of the bishop's patronage. People in Barchester said that +Mrs Thumble was a cousin of Mrs Proudie's; but as Mrs Proudie stoutly +denied the connexion, it may be supposed that the people of Barchester +were wrong. And, had Mr Thumble's wife in truth been a cousin, Mrs +Proudie would surely have provided for him during the many years in +which the diocese had been in her hands. No such provision had been +made, and Mr Thumble, who had not been living in the diocese for three +years, had received nothing else from the bishop than such chance +employment as this which he was about to undertake at Hogglestock. He was +a humble, mild-voiced man, when within the palace precincts, and had so +far succeeded in making his way among his brethren in the cathedral city +as to be employed not unfrequently for absent minor canons in chanting +the week-day services, being remunerated for his work at the rate of +about two shillings and sixpence a service. + +The bishop handed the letter to his wife, observing in an off-hand kind +of way that she might as well see what he said. 'Of course I shall read +it,' said Mrs Proudie. And the bishop winced, visibly, because Mr +Thumble was present. 'Quite right,' said Mrs Proudie, 'quite right to +let him know that you knew he had been arrested--actually arrested by +the police.' + +'I thought it proper to mention that, because of the scandal,' said the +bishop. + +'Oh, it has been terrible in the city,' said Mr Thumble. + +'Never mind, Mr Thumble,' said Mrs Proudie. 'Never mind that at +present.' Then she continued to read the letter. 'What's this? +Confession! That must come out, bishop. It will never do that you should +recommend confession to anybody, under any circumstances.' + +'But, my dea--' + +'It must come out, bishop.' + +'My lord has not meant auricular confession,' suggested Mr Thumble. Then +Mrs Proudie turned around and looked at Mr Thumble, and Mr Thumble +nearly sank amidst the tables and chairs. 'I beg your pardon, Mrs +Proudie,' he said, 'I didn't mean to intrude.' + +'The word must come out, bishop,' repeated Mrs Proudie. 'There should +be no stumbling blocks prepared for feet that are only too ready to +fall.' And the word did come out. + +'Now, Mr Thumble,' said the lady, as she gave the letter to her +satellite, 'the bishop and I wish you to be at Hogglestock early +tomorrow. You should be there not later than ten, certainly.' Then she +paused until Mr Thumble had given the required promise. 'And we request +that you will be very firm in the mission which is confided to you, a +mission which, as of course, you see, is of a very delicate and +important nature. You must be firm.' + +'I will endeavour,' said Mr Thumble. + +'The bishop and I both feel that this most unfortunate man must not +under any circumstances be allowed to perform the services of the Church +while this charge is hanging over him--a charge as to the truth of which +no sane man can entertain a doubt.' + +'I'm afraid not, Mrs Proudie,' said Mr Thumble. + +'The bishop and I therefore are most anxious that you should make Mr +Crawley understand at once--at once,' and the lady, as she spoke, lifted +up her hand with an eloquent violence which had its effect on Mr +Thumble, 'that he is inhibited,'--the bishop shook in his +shoes--'inhibited from the performance of any of his sacred duties.' +Thereupon, Mr Thumble promised obedience and went his way. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MR CRAWLEY SEEKS FOR SYMPATHY + +Matters went very badly indeed in the parsonage at Hogglestock. On the +Friday morning, the morning of the day after his committal, Mr Crawley +got up very early, long before the daylight, and dressing himself in the +dark, groped his way downstairs. His wife having vainly striven to +persuade him to remain where he was, followed him into the cold room +below with a lighted candle. She found him standing with his hat on and +with his old cloak, as though he were prepared to go out. 'Why do you do +this?' she said. 'You will make yourself ill with the cold and the night +air; and then you, and I too, will be worse than we now are.' + +'We cannot be worse. You cannot be worse, and for me it does not +signify. Let it pass.' + +'I will not let you pass, Josiah. Be a man and bear it. Ask God for +strength, instead of seeking it in an over-indulgence of your own +sorrow.' + +'Indulgence!' + +'Yes, love;--indulgence. It is indulgence. You will allow your mind to +dwell on nothing for a moment but your own wrongs.' + +'What else have I that I can think of? Is not all the world against +me?' + +'Am I against you?' + +'Sometimes I think you are. When you accuse me of self-indulgence you +are against me--me, who for myself have desired nothing but to be +allowed to do my duty, and to have bread enough to keep me alive, and +clothes to make me decent.' + +'Is it not self-indulgence, this giving way to grief? Who would know so +well as you how to teach the lesson of endurance to others? Come, love. +Lay down your hat. It cannot be fitting that you should go out into the +wet and cold of the raw morning.' + +For a moment he hesitated, but as she raised her hand to take his cloak +from him he drew back from her, and would not permit it. 'I shall find +those up whom I want to see,' he said. 'I must visit my flock, and I +dare not go through the parish by daylight lest they hoot after me as a +thief.' + +'Not one in Hogglestock would say a word to insult you.' + +'Would they not? The very children in the school whisper at me. Let me +pass, I say. It has not yet come to that, that I should be stopped in my +egress and ingress. They have--bailed me; and while their bail lasts, I +may go where I will.' + +'Oh, Josiah, what words to me! Have I ever stopped your liberty? Would +I not give my life to secure it?' + +'Let me go, then, now. I tell you that I have business in hand.' + +'But I will go with you. I well be ready in an instant.' + +'You go! Why should you go? Are there not the children for you to +mind?' + +'There is only Jane.' + +'Stay with her, then. Why should you go about the parish?' She still +held him by the cloak, and looked anxiously up into his face. 'Woman,' +he said, raising his voice, 'what is that you dread? I command you to +tell me what it is you fear?' He had now taken hold of her by the +shoulder, slightly thrusting her from him, so that he might see her +face, by the dim light of the single candle. 'Speak, I say. What is it +that you think I shall do?' + +'Dearest, I know that you will be better at home, better with me, than +you can be on such a morning as this out in the cold damp air.' + +'And is that all?' He looked hard at her, while she returned his gaze +with beseeching loving eyes. 'It there nothing behind, that you will not +tell me?' + +She paused for a moment before she replied. She had never lied to him. +She could not lie to him. 'I wish you knew my heart towards you,' she +said, 'with all and everything in it.' + +'I know your heart well, but I want to know your mind. Why would you +persuade me not to go out among my poor?' + +'Because it will be bad for you to be out alone in the dark lanes, in +the mud and wet, thinking of your sorrow. You will brood over it till +you will lose your senses through the intensity of your grief. You will +stand out in the cold air, forgetful of everything around you, till your +limbs will be numbed, and your blood chilled--' + +'And then--?' + +'Oh, Josiah, do not hold me like that, and look at me so angrily.' + +'And even then I will bear my burden till the Lord in His mercy shall +see fit to relieve me. Even then I will endure, though a bare bodkin or +leaf of hemlock would put an end to it. Let me pass on; you need fear +nothing.' + +She did let him pass without another word, and he went out of the house, +shutting the door after him noiselessly, and closing the wicket gate of +the garden. For a while she sat herself down on the nearest chair, and +tried to make up her mind how she might best treat him in his present +state of mind. As regarded the present morning her heart was at ease. +She new that he would do now nothing of that which she had apprehended. +She could trust him not to be false in his word to her, though she could +not before have trusted him not to commit so much heavier a sin. If he +would really employ himself from morning till night among the poor, he +would be better so--his trouble would be easier of endurance--than with +any other employment which he could adopt. What she most dreaded was +that he should sit idle over the fire and do nothing. When he was so +seated she could read his mind, as though it was open to her as a book. +She had been quite right when she had accused him of over-indulgence in +his grief. He did give way to it till it became a luxury to him--a +luxury which she would not have had the heart to deny him, had she not +felt it to be of all luxuries the most pernicious. During these long +hours, in which he would sit speechless, doing nothing, he was telling +himself from minute to minute that of all God's creatures, he was the +most heavily afflicted, and was revelling in the sense of the injustice +done to him. He was recalling all the facts of life, his education, +which had been costly, and, as regarded knowledge, successful; his +vocation to the Church, when in his youth he had determined to devote +himself to the service of his Saviour, disregarding promotion or the +favour of men; the short, sweet days of his early love, in which he had +devoted himself again--thinking nothing of self, but everything of her; +his diligent working, in which he had ever done his very utmost for the +parish in which he was placed, and always his best for the poorest; the +success of other men who had been his compeers, and, as he too often +told himself, intellectually his inferiors; then of his children, who +had been carried off from his love to the churchyard--over whose graves +he himself had stood, reading out the pathetic words of the funeral +service with unswerving voice and a bleeding heart; and then of his +children still living, who loved their mother so much better than they +loved him. And he would recall the circumstances of their poverty--how +he had been driven to accept alms, to fly from creditors, to hide +himself, to see his chairs and tables seized before the eyes of those +over whom he had been set as their spiritual pastor. And in it all, I +think, there was nothing so bitter to the man as the derogation from the +spiritual grandeur of his position as priest among men, which came as +one necessary result from his poverty. St Paul could go forth without +money in his purse or shoes on his feet or two suits to his back, and +his poverty never stood in the way of his preaching, or hindered the +veneration of the faithful. St Paul, indeed, was called upon to bear +stripes, was flung into prison, encountered terrible dangers. But Mr +Crawley--so he told himself--could have encountered all that without +flinching. The stripes and scorn of the unfaithful would have been +nothing to him, if only the faithful would have believed in him, poor as +he was, as they would have believed in him had he been rich! Even they +whom he had most loved and treated him almost with derision, because he +was now different from them. Dean Arabin had laughed at him because he +had persisted in walking ten miles through the mud instead of being +conveyed in the dean's carriage; and yet, after that, he had been driven +to accept the dean's charity! No one respected him. No one! His very +wife thought that he was a lunatic. And now he had been publicly branded +as a thief; and in all likelihood would end his days in a gaol! Such +were always his thoughts as he sat idle, silent, moody, over the fire; +and his wife knew well their currents. It would certainly be better that +he should drive himself to some employment, if any employment could be +found possible for him. + +When she had been alone for a few minutes, Mrs Crawley got up from her +chair, and going into the kitchen, lighted the fire there, and put the +kettle over it, and began to prepare such breakfast for her husband as +the means in the house afforded. Then she called the sleeping +servant-girl, who was little more than a child, and went into her own +girl's room, and then she got into bed with her daughter. + +'I have been up with your papa, dear, and I am cold.' + +'Oh, mamma, poor mamma! Why is papa up so early?' + +'He has gone out to visit some of the brickmakers, before they go to +their work. It is better for him to be employed.' + +'But, mamma, it is pitch dark.' + +'Yes, dear, it is still dark. Sleep again for a while, and I will sleep +too. I think Grace will be here tonight, and then there will be no room +for me here.' + +Mr Crawley went forth and made his way with rapid steps to a portion of +this parish nearly two miles from his house, through which was carried a +canal, affording water communication in some intricate way both to +London and Bristol. And on the brink of this canal there had sprung up a +colony of brickmakers, the nature of the earth in those parts combining +with the canal to make brickmaking a suitable trade. The workmen there +assembled were not, for the most part, native-born Hogglestockians, or +folk descended from Hogglestockian parents. They had come thither from +unknown regions, as labourers of that class do come when they are +needed. Some young men from that and neighbouring parishes had joined +themselves to the colony, allured by wages, and disregarding the menaces +of the neighbouring farmers; but they were all in appearance and manners +nearer akin to the race of navvies than to ordinary rural labourers. +They had a bad name in the country; but it may be that their name was +worse than their deserts. The farmers hated them, and consequently they +hated the farmers. They had a beershop, and a grocer's shop, and a +huxter's shop for their own accommodation, and were consequently +vilified by the small old-established tradesmen around them. They got +drunk occasionally, but I doubt whether they drank more than did the +farmers themselves on market-day. They fought among themselves +sometimes, but they forgave each other freely, and seemed to have no +objection to black eyes. I fear that they were not always good to their +wives, nor were their wives always good to them; but it should be +remembered that among the poor, especially when they live in clusters, +such misfortunes cannot be hidden as they may amidst the decent +belongings of more wealthy people. That they worked very hard was +certain; and it was certain also that very few of their number ever came +upon the poor rates. What became of the old brickmakers no one knew. Who +ever sees a worn-out navvy? + +Mr Crawley, ever since first coming into Hogglestock, had been very busy +among these brickmakers, and by no means without success. Indeed the +farmers had quarrelled with him because the brickmakers had so crowded +the parish church, as to leave but scant room for decent people. 'Doo +they folk pay tithes? That's what I want'un to tell me?' argued one +farmer--not altogether unnaturally, believing as he did that Mr Crawley +was paid by tithes out of his own pocket. But Mr Crawley had done his +best to make the brickmaker welcome at the church, scandalising the +farmers by causing them to sit or stand in any portion of the church +which was hitherto unappropriated. He had been constant in his personal +visits to them, and had felt himself to more a St Paul with them than +with any other of his neighbours around him. + +It was a cold morning, but the rain of the preceding evening had given +way to frost, and the air, though sharp, was dry. The ground under the +feet was crisp, having felt the wind and frost, and was no longer +clogged with mud. In his present state of mind the walk was good for our +poor pastor, and exhilarated him; but still, as he went, he thought +always of his injuries. His own wife believed that he was about to +commit suicide, and for so believing he was very angry with her; and +yet, as he well knew, the idea of making away with himself had flitted +through his own mind a dozen times. Not from his own wife could he get +real sympathy. He would see what he could do with a certain brickmaker +of his acquaintance. + +'Are you here, Dan?' he said, knocking at the door of a cottage which +stood alone, close to the towing path of the canal, and close also to a +forlorn corner of the muddy, watery, ugly, disordered brick-field. It +was now just past six o'clock, and the men would be rising, as in +midwinter they commenced their work at seven. The cottage was an +unalluring, straight brick-built tenement, seeming as though intended +to be one of a row which had never progressed beyond Number One. A voice +answered from the interior, inquiring who was the visitor, to which Mr +Crawley replied by giving his name. Then the key was turned in the lock, +and Dan Morris, the brickmaker, appeared with a candle in his hand. He +had been engaged in lighting the fire, with a view to his own breakfast. +'Where is your wife, Dan?' asked Mr Crawley. The man answered by +pointing with a short poker, which he held in his hand, to the bed, +which was half-screened from the room by a ragged curtain, which hung +from the ceiling half-way down to the floor. 'And are the Darvels here?' +asked Mr Crawley. Then Morris, again using the poker, pointed upwards, +showing that the Darvels were still in their allotted abode upstairs. + +'You're early out, Muster Crawley,' said Morris, and then he went on +with his fire. 'Drat the sticks, if they bean't as wet as the old 'un +hisself. Get up, old woman, and do you do it, for I can't. They wun't +kindle for me, nohow.' But the old woman, having well noted the presence +of Mr Crawley, thought it better to remain where she was. + +Mr Crawley sat himself down by the obstinate fire, and began to arrange +the sticks. 'Dan, Dan,' said a voice from the bed, 'sure you wouldn't +let his reverence trouble himself with the fire.' + +'How be I to keep him from it, if he chooses? I didn't ax him.' Then +Morris stood by and watched, and after a while Mr Crawley succeeded in +his attempt. + +'How could it burn when you had not given the small spark a current of +air to help it?' said Mr Crawley. + +'In course not,' said the woman, 'but he be such stupid.' + +The husband said no word in acknowledgement of this compliment, nor did +he thank Mr Crawley for what he had done, nor appear as though he +intended to take any notice of him. He was going on with his work when +Mr Crawley again interrupted him. + +'How did you get back from Silverbridge yesterday, Dan?' + +'Footed it--all the blessed way.' + +'It's only eight miles.' + +'And I footed it there, and that's sixteen. And I paid one-and- +sixpence for beer and grub;--s'help me I did.' + +'Dan!' said a voice from the bed, rebuking him for the impropriety of +his language. + +'Well; I beg pardon, but I did. And they guv'me two bob;--just two +plain shillings by--' + +'Dan!' + +'And I'd 've arned three-and-six here at brickmaking easy; that's what I +wuld. How's a poor man to live that way? They'll not cotch me at +Barchester 'Sizes at that price; they may be sure of that. Look +there--that's what I've got for my day.' And he put his hand into his +breeches-pocket and fetched out a sixpence. 'How's a man to fill his +belly out of that. Damnation!' + +'Dan!' + +'Well, what did I say? Hold your jaw, will you, and not be halloaing at +me that way? I know what I am saying of, and what I'm a doing of.' + +'I wish they'd given you something more with all my heart,' said +Crawley. + +'We knows that,' cried the woman from the bed. 'We is sure of that, +your reverence.' + +'Sixpence!' said the man, scornfully. 'If they'd have guv' me nothing +at all but the run of my teeth at the public-house, I'd 've taken it +better. But sixpence!' + +Then there was a pause. 'And what have they given to me?' said Mr +Crawley, when the man's ill-humour about his sixpence had so far +subsided as to allow of his busying himself again about the premises. + +'Yes, indeed;--yes, indeed,' said the woman. 'Yes, yes, we feel that; +we do indeed, Mr Crawley.' + +'I tell you what, sir; for another sixpence I'd have sworn you'd never +guv' me the paper at all; and so I will now, if it bean't too +late;--sixpence or no sixpence. What do I care? D--- them.' + +'Dan!' + +'And why shouldn't I? They hain't got brains enough among them to winny +the truth from the lies--not among the lot of 'em. I'll swear afore the +judge that you didn't give it me at all, if that'll do any good.' + +'Man, do you think I would have you perjure yourself, even if that would +do me a service? And do you think any man was ever served by a lie?' + +'Faix, among them chaps it don't do to tell them too much of the truth. +Look at that!' And he brought out the sixpence again from his +breeches-pocket. 'And look at your reverence. Only that they've let you +out for a while, they've been nigh as hard on you as though you were one +of us.' + +'If they think that I stole it, they have been right,' said Mr Crawley. + +'It's been along of that chap Soames,' said the woman. 'The lord +would've paid the money out of his own pocket and never said not a +word.' + +'If they think that I've been a thief, they've done right,' repeated Mr +Crawley. 'But how can they think so? How can they think so? Have I lived +like a thief among them?' + +'For the matter o' that, if a man ain't paid for his work by them as his +employers, he must pay hisself. Them's my notions. Look at that!' +Whereupon he again pulled out the sixpence, and held it forth in the +palm of his hand. + +'You believe, then,' said Mr Crawley, speaking very slowly, 'that I did +steal the money. Speak out, Dan; I shall not be angry. As you go you are +an honest men, and I want to know what such of you think about it.' + +'He don't think nothing of the kind,' said the woman, almost getting out +of bed in her energy. 'If he' thought the like o' that in his head, I'd +read 'un such a lesson he'd never think again the longest day he had to +live.' + +'Speak out, Dan,' said the clergyman, not attending to the woman. 'You +can understand that no good can come of lie.' Dan Morris scratched his +head. 'Speak out, man, when I tell you,' said Crawley. + +'Drat it all,' said Dan, 'where's the use of so much jaw about it?' + +'Say you know his reverence is as innocent as the babe as isn't born,' +said the woman. + +'No; I won't--say anything of the kind,' said Dan. + +'Speak out the truth,' said Crawley. + +'They do say, among 'em,' said Dan, 'that you picked it up, and then got +woolgathering in your head till you didn't rightly know where it come +from.' Then he paused. 'And after a bit you guv' it me to get the money. +Didn't you, now?' + +'I did.' + +'And they do say if a poor man had done it, it'd be stealing, for +sartin.' + +'And I'm a poor man--the poorest in all Hogglestock; and, therefore, of +course, it is stealing. Of course I am a thief. Yes; of course I am a +thief. When the world believe the worst of the poor?' Having so spoken, +Mr Crawley rose from his chair and hurried out of the cottage, waiting +for no further reply from Dan Morris or his wife. And as he made his way +slowly home, not going there by the direct road, but by a long circuit, +he told himself there could be no sympathy for him anywhere. Even Dan +Morris, the brickmaker, thought that he was a thief. + +'And am I a thief?' he said to himself, standing in the middle of the +road, with his hands up to his forehead. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BISHOP'S ANGEL + +It was nearly nine before Mr Crawley got back to his house, and found +his wife and daughter waiting breakfast for him. 'I should not wonder if +Grace were over here today,' said Mrs Crawley. 'She'd better remain +where she is,' said he. After this the meal passed almost without a +word. When it was over, Jane, at a sign from her mother, went up to her +father and asked him whether she should read with him. 'Not now,' he +said, 'not just now. I must rest my brain before it will be fit for any +work.' Then he got into the chair over the fire, and his wife began to +fear that he would remain there all day. + +But the day was not far advanced, when there came a visitor who +disturbed him, and by disturbing him did him a real service. Just at ten +there arrived at the little gate before the house a man on a pony, whom +Jane espied, standing there by the pony's head and looking about for +someone to relieve him of the charge of the steed. This was Mr Thumble, +who had ridden over to Hogglestock on a poor spavined brute belonging to +the bishop's stable, and which had once been the bishop's cob. Now it +was the vehicle by which Mrs Proudie's episcopal messages were sent +backwards and forwards through a twelve-miles ride round Barchester; and +so many were the lady's requirements, that the poor animal by no means +ate the hay of idleness. Mr Thumble had suggested to Mrs Proudie, after +their interview with the bishop and the giving up of the letter to the +clerical messenger's charge, that before hiring a gig from the Dragon of +Wantley, he should be glad to know--looking as he always did to 'Mary +Anne and the children'--whence the price of the gig was to be returned +to him. Mrs Proudie had frowned at him--not with all the austerity of +frowning which she could use when really angered, but simply with a +frown which gave her some little time for thought, and would enable her +to continue to rebuke if, after thinking, she should find that rebuke +was needed. But mature consideration showed her that Mr Thumble's +caution was not without reason. Were the bishop energetic--or even the +bishop's managing chaplain as energetic as he should be, Mr Crawley +might, as Mrs Proudie felt assured, be made in some way to pay for a +conveyance for Mr Thumble. But the energy was lacking, and the price of +the gig, if the gig were ordered, would certainly fall ultimately on the +bishop's shoulders. This was very sad. Mrs Proudie had often grieved +over the necessary expenditure of episcopal surveillance, and had been +heard to declare her opinion that a liberal allowance for secret service +should be made in every diocese. What better could the Ecclesiastical +Commission do with all those rich revenues which they had stolen from +the bishops? But there was no such liberal allowance at present, and +therefore, Mrs Proudie, after having frowned at Mr Thumble for some +seconds, desired him to take the grey cob. Now, Mr Thumble had ridden +the grey cob before, and would have much preferred a gig. But even the +grey cob was better than a gig at his own cost. + +'Mamma, there's a man at the gate waiting to come in,' said Jane. 'I +think he's a clergyman.' + +Mr Crawley immediately raised his head, though he did not at once leave +his chair. Mrs Crawley went to the window, and recognised the reverend +visitor. 'My dear, it is that Mr Thumble, who is so much with the +bishop.' + +'What does Mr Thumble want with me.' + +'Nay, my dear; he will tell you that himself.' But Mrs Crawley, though +she answered him with a voice intended to be cheerful, greatly feared +the coming messenger from the palace. She perceived at once that the +bishop was about to interfere with her husband in consequence of that +which the magistrates had done yesterday. + +'Mamma, he doesn't know what to do with his pony,' said Jane. + +'Tell him to tie it to the rail,' said Mr Crawley. 'If he has expected +to find menials here, as he has them at the palace, he will be wrong. If +he wants to come in here, let him tie the beast to the rail.' So Jane +went out and sent a message to Mr Thumble by the girl, and Mr Thumble +did tie the pony to the rail, and followed the girl into the house. Jane +in the meantime had retired out by the back door to the school but Mrs +Crawley kept her ground. She kept her ground although she believed that +her husband would have preferred to have the field to himself. As Mr +Thumble did not at once enter the room, Mr Crawley stalked to the door, +and stood with it open in his hand. Though he knew Mr Thumble's person, +he was not acquainted with him, and therefore simply bowed to the +visitor, bowing more than once or twice with a cold courtesy, which did +not put Mr Thumble altogether at his ease. 'My name is Mr Thumble,' said +the visitor--'the Reverend Caleb Thumble,' and he held the bishop's +letter in his hand. Mr Crawley seemed to take no notice of the letter, +but motioned Mr Thumble with his hand into the room. + +'I suppose you have come from Barchester this morning?' said Mrs +Crawley. + +'Yes, madam--from the palace.' Mr Thumble, though a humble man in +positions in which he felt humility would become him--a humble man to +his betters, as he himself would have expressed it--had still about him +something of that pride which naturally belonged to those clergymen who +were closely attached to the palace at Barchester. Had he been sent on a +message to Plumstead--could any such message from Barchester palace +have been possible--he would have been properly humble in his demeanour +to the archdeacon, or to Mrs Grantly had he been admitted to the august +presence of that lady; but he was aware that humility would not become +him on this present mission; he had been expressly ordered to be firm by +Mrs Proudie, and firm he meant to be; and therefore, in communicating to +Mrs Crawley the fact that he had come from the palace, he did load the +tone of his voice with something of the dignity which Mr Crawley might +perhaps be excused for regarding as arrogance. + +'And what does the "palace" want with me?' said Mr Crawley. Mrs Crawley +knew at once there was to be a battle. Nay, the battle had begun. Nor +was she altogether sorry; for though she could not trust her husband to +sit alone all day in his arm-chair over the fire, she could trust him to +carry on a disputation with any other clergyman on any subject whatever. +'What does the palace want with me?' And as Mr Crawley asked the +question he stood erect, and looked Mr Thumble full in the face. Mr +Thumble called to mind the fact, that Mr Crawley was a very poor man +indeed--so poor that he owed money all round the country to butchers and +bakers, and the other fact that he, Mr Thumble himself, did not owe any +money to anyone, his wife luckily having a little income of her own; +and, strengthened by these remembrances, he endeavoured to bear Mr +Crawley's attack with gallantry. + +'Of course, Mr Crawley, you are aware that this unfortunate affair at +Silverbridge--' + +'I am not prepared to discuss the unfortunate affair at Silverbridge +with a stranger. If you are the bearer of any message to me from the +Bishop of Barchester, perhaps you will deliver it.' + +'I have brought a letter,' said Mr Thumble. Then Mr Crawley stretched +out his hand without a word, and taking the letter with him to the +window, read it very slowly. When he had made himself master of its +contents, he refolded the letter, placed it again in the envelope, and +returned to the spot where Mr Thumble was standing. 'I will answer the +bishop's letter,' he said; 'I will answer it of course, as it is fitting +that I should do so. Shall I ask you to wait for my reply, or shall I +send it by course of post?' + +'I think, Mr Crawley, as the bishop wishes me to undertake the duty--' + +'You will not undertake the duty, Mr Thumble. You need not trouble +yourself, for I shall not surrender my pulpit to you.' + +'But the bishop--' + +'I care nothing for the bishop in this matter.' So much he spoke in +anger, and then he corrected himself. 'I crave the bishop's pardon, and +yours as his messenger, if in the heat occasioned by my strong feelings +I have said aught which may savour of irreverence towards his lordship's +office. I respect his lordship's high position as bishop of this +diocese, and I bow to his commands in all things lawful. But I must not +bow to him in things unlawful, nor must I abandon my duty before God at +his bidding, unless his bidding be given in accordance with the canons +of the Church and the laws of the land. It will be my duty, on the +coming Sunday, to lead the prayers of my people in the church of my +parish, and to preach to them from my pulpit; and that my duty, with +God's assistance, I will perform. Nor will I allow any clergyman to +interfere with me in the performance of those sacred offices--no, not +though the bishop himself should be present with the object of enforcing +his illegal command.' Mr Crawley spoke these words without hesitation, +even with eloquence, standing upright, and with something of a noble +anger gleaming over his poor wan face; and, I think, that while speaking +them, he was happier than he had been for many a long day. + +Mr Thumble listened to him patiently, standing with one foot a little in +advance of the other, with one hand folded over the other, with his head +rather on one side, and with his eyes fixed on the corner where the wall +and ceiling joined each other. He had been told to be firm, and he was +considering how he might best display firmness. He thought that he +remembered some story of two parsons fighting for one pulpit, and he +thought also that he should not himself like to incur the scandal of +such a proceeding in the diocese. As to the law in the matter he knew +nothing himself; but he presumed that a bishop would probably know the +letter better than a perpetual curate. That Mrs Proudie was intemperate +and imperious, he was aware. Had the message come from her alone, he +might have felt that even for her sake he had better give way. But as +the despotic arrogance of the lady in this case had been backed by the +timid presence and hesitating words of her lord, Mr Thumble thought that +he must have the law on his side. 'I think you will find, Mr Crawley,' +said he, 'that the bishop's inhibition is strictly legal.' He had picked +up the powerful word from Mrs Proudie and flattered himself that it +might be of use to him in carrying his purpose. + +'It is illegal,' said Mr Crawley, speaking somewhat louder than before, +'and will be absolutely futile. As you pleaded to me that you yourself +and your personal convenience were concerned in this matter, I have made +known my intentions to you, which otherwise I should have made known +only to the bishop. If you please, we will discuss the matter no +further.' + +'Am I to understand, Mr Crawley, that you refuse to obey the bishop?' + +'The bishop has written to me, sire, and I will make known my intention +to the bishop by a written answer. As you have been the bearer of the +bishop's letter to me, I am bound to ask whether I shall be indebted to +you for carrying back my reply, or whether I shall send it by course of +post?' Mr Thumble considered for a moment, and then made up his mind +that he had better wait, and carry back the epistle. This was Friday, +and the letter could not be delivered by post till the Saturday morning. +Mrs Proudie might be angry with him if he should be the cause of loss of +time. He did not, however, at all like waiting, having perceived that Mr +Crawley, though with language courteously worded, had spoken of him as a +mere messenger. + +'I think,' he said, 'that I may, perhaps, best further the object which +we must all have in view, that namely of providing properly for the +Sunday services in the church of Hogglestock, by taking your reply +personally to the bishop.' + +'That provision is my care and need trouble no one else,' said Mr +Crawley, in a loud voice. Then, before seating himself at his old desk, +he stood awhile, pondering with his back turned to his visitor. 'I have +to ask your pardon, sir,' said he, looking round for a moment, 'because +by the reason of the extreme poverty of this house, my wife is unable to +offer you any hospitality which is especially due from one clergyman to +another.' + +'Oh, don't mention it,' said Mr Thumble. + +'If you will allow me, sir, I would prefer that it should be mentioned.' +Then he seated himself, and commenced his letter. + +Mr Thumble felt himself to be awkwardly placed. Had there been no third +person in the room he could have sat down in Mr Crawley's arm-chair, and +waited patiently till the letter should be finished. But Mrs Crawley was +there, and of course he was bound to speak to her. In what strain should +he do so? Even he, as little as he was given to indulge in sentiment, +had been touched by the man's appeal to his own poverty, and he felt, +moreover, that Mrs Crawley must have been deeply moved by her husband's +position with reference to the bishop's order. It was quite out of the +question that he should speak of that, as Mr Crawley would, he was well +aware, would immediately turn upon him. At last he thought of a subject, +and spoke with a voice intended to be pleasant. 'That was the +school-house I passed, probably, as I came here?' Mrs Crawley told him +that it was the school-house. 'Ah, yes, I thought so. Have you a +certified teacher there?' Mrs Crawley explained that no Government aid +had ever reached Hogglestock. Besides themselves, they had only a young +woman whom they themselves had instructed. + +'Ah, that is a pity,' said Mr Thumble. + +'I--I am the certified teacher,' said Mr Crawley, turning round upon him +from his chair. + +'Oh, ah, yes,' said Mr Thumble; and after that Mr Thumble asked no more +questions about the Hogglestock school. Soon afterwards Mrs Crawley left +the room, seeing the difficulty under which Mr Thumble was labouring, +and feeling sure that her presence would not now be necessary. Mr +Crawley's letter was written quickly, though every now and then he would +sit for a moment with his pen poised in the air, searching his memory +for a word. But the words came to him easily, and before an hour was +over he had handed his letter to Mr Thumble. The letter was as +follows:-- + +'THE PARSONAGE, HOGGLESTOCK, December, 186- + +'RIGHT REVEREND LORD, + +'I have received the letter of yesterday's date +which your lordship has done me the honour of sending +by the hands of the Reverend Mr Thumble, and I avail +myself of that gentleman's kindness to return to you +an answer by the same means, moved this to use his +patience chiefly by the consideration that in this way +my reply to your lordship's injunctions may be in your +hands with less delay than would attend the course of +the mail-post. + +'It is with deep regret that I feel myself +constrained to inform your lordship that I cannot obey +the command which you have laid upon me with reference +to the services of my church in this parish. I cannot +permit Mr Thumble, or any other delegate from your +lordship, to usurp my place in the pulpit. I would +not have you think, if I can possibly dispel such +thoughts from your mind, that I disregard your high +office, or that I am deficient in that respectful +obedience to the bishop set over me, which is due to +the authority of the Crown as the head of the church +in these realms; but in this, as in all questions of +obedience, he who is required to obey must examine the +extent of the authority exercised by him who demands +obedience. Your lordship might possibly call upon me, +using your voice as bishop of the diocese, to abandon +altogether the freehold rights which are now mine in +this perpetual curacy. The judge of assize, before +whom I shall soon stand for my trial, might command me +to retire to prison without a verdict given by a jury. +The magistrates who committed me so lately as +yesterday, upon whose decision in that respect your +lordship has taken action against me so quickly, might +have equally strained their authority. But in no +case, in this land, is he that is subject bound to +obey, further than where the law gives authority and +exacts obedience. It is not in the power of the Crown +itself to inhibit me from the performance of my +ordinary duties in this parish by any such missive as +that sent to me by your lordship. If your lordship +think right to stop my mouth as a clergyman in your +diocese, you must proceed to do so in an +ecclesiastical court in accordance with the laws, and +will succeed in your object, or fail, in accordance +with the evidences as to the ministerial fitness or +unfitness, which may be produced respecting me before +the proper tribunal. + +'I will allow that much attention is due from a +clergyman to pastoral advice given to him by his +bishop. On that head I must first express to your +lordship my full understanding that your letter has +not been intended to convey advice, but an order;--an +inhibition, as your messenger, the Reverend Mr +Thumble, has expressed it. There might be a case +certainly in which I should submit myself to counsel, +though I should resist command. No counsel, however, +has been given--except indeed that I should receive +your messenger in a proper spirit, which I hope I have +done. No other advice has been given me, and +therefore there is now no such case as that I have +imagined. But in this matter, my lord, I could not +have accepted advice from a living man, no, not though +the hands of the apostles themselves had made him +bishop who tendered it to me, and had set him over me +for my guidance. I am in a terrible strait. Trouble, +and sorrow, and danger are upon me and mine. It may +well be, as your lordship says, that the bitter waters +of the present hour may pass over my head and destroy +me. I thank your lordship for telling me whither I am +to look for assistance. Truly I know not whether +there is any to be found for me on earth. But the +deeper my troubles, the greater my sorrow, the more +pressing any danger, the stronger is my need that I +should carry myself in these days with that outward +respect of self which will teach those around me to +know that, let who will condemn me, I have not +condemned myself. Were I to abandon my pulpit, unless +forced to do so by legal means, I should in doing so +be putting a plea of guilty against myself upon the +record. This, my lord, I will not do. + +'I have the honour to be, my lord, + +'Your lordship's most obedient servant, +'JOSIAH CRAWLEY' + +When he had finished writing his letter he read it over slowly, and then +handed it to Mr Thumble. The act of writing, and the current of the +thoughts through his brain, and the feeling that in every word written +he was getting the better of the bishop--all this joined to a certain +manly delight in warfare against authority, lighted up the man's face +and gave to his eyes an expression which had been long wanting to them. +His wife at that moment came into the room and he looked at her with an +air of triumph as he handed the letter to Mr Thumble. 'If you will give +that to his lordship with an assurance of my duty to his lordship in all +things proper, I will thank you kindly, craving your pardon for the +great delay to which you have been subjected.' + +'As to the delay, it is nothing,' said Mr Thumble. + +'It has been much; but you as a clergyman will feel that it has been +incumbent upon me to speak my mind fully.' + +'Oh, yes; of course.' Mr Crawley was standing up, as also was Mrs +Crawley. It was evident to Mr Thumble that they both expected that he +should go. But he had been especially enjoined to be firm, and he +doubted whether hitherto he had been firm enough. As far as this +morning's work had as yet gone, it seemed to him that Mr Crawley had had +the play to himself, and that he, Mr Thumble, had not had his innings. +He, from the palace, had been, as it were, cowed by this man, who had +been forced to plead his own poverty. It was certainly incumbent upon +him, before he went, to speak up, not only for the bishop, but for +himself also. 'Mr Crawley,' he said, 'hitherto I have listened to you +patiently.' + +'Nay,' said Mr Crawley, smiling, 'you have indeed been patient, and I +thank you; but my words have been written, not spoken.' + +'You have told me that you intend to disobey the bishop's inhibition.' + +'I have told the bishop so, certainly.' + +'May I ask you now to listen to me for a few minutes?' + +Mr Crawley, still smiling, still having in his eyes the unwonted triumph +which had lighted them up, paused a moment, and then answered him. +'Reverend sir, you must excuse me if I say no--not on this subject.' + +'You will not let me speak?' + +'No; not on this matter, which is very private to me. What should you +think if I went into your house and inquired of you as to those things +which were particularly near to you?' + +'But the bishop sent me.' + +'Though ten bishops sent me--a council of archbishops if you will!' Mr +Thumble started back, appalled by the energy of the words used to him. +'Shall a man have nothing of his own;--no sorrow in his heart, no care +in his family, no thought in his breast so private and special to him, +but that, if he happen to be a clergyman, the bishop may touch it with +his thumb?' + +'I am not the bishop's thumb,' said Mr Thumble, drawing himself up. + +'I intended not to hint anything personally objectionable to yourself. +I will regard you as one of the angels of the church.' Mr Thumble, when +he heard this, began to be sure that Mr Crawley was mad; he knew of no +angels that could ride about the Barsetshire lanes on grey ponies. 'And +as much as I respect you; but I cannot discuss with you the matter of +the bishop's message.' + +'Oh, very well. I will tell his lordship.' + +'I will pray you to do so.' + +'And his lordship, should he so decide, will arm me with such power on +my next coming as will enable me to carry out his lordship's wishes.' + +'His lordship will abide by the law, as will you also.' In speaking +these last words he stood with the door in his hand, and Mr Thumble, not +knowing how to increase or even maintain his firmness, thought it best +to pass out, and mount his grey pony and ride away. + +'The poor man thought that you were laughing at him when you called him +an angel of the church,' said Mrs Crawley, coming up to him and smiling +on him. + +'Had I told him he was simply a messenger, he would have taken it +worse;--poor fool! When they have rid themselves of me they may put him +here, in my church; but not yet--not yet. Where is Jane? Tell her that I +am ready to commence the Seven against Thebes with her.' Then Jane was +immediately sent for out of the school, and the Seven against Thebes was +commenced with great energy. Often during the next hour and a half Mrs +Crawley from the kitchen would hear him reading out, or rather saying by +rote, with sonorous rolling voice, great passages from some chorus, and +she was very thankful to the bishop, who had sent over to them a message +and messenger which had been so salutary in their effect upon her +husband. 'In truth an angel of the church,' she said to herself as she +chopped up the onions for the mutton-broth; and ever afterwards she +regarded Mr Thumble as an 'angel'. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MAJOR GRANTLY CONSULTS A FRIEND + +Grace Crawley passed through Silverbridge on her way to Allington on the +Monday, and on the Tuesday morning Major Grantly received a very short +note from Miss Prettyman, telling him that she had done so. 'Dear +Sir,--I think you will be very glad to learn that our friend Miss +Crawley went from us yesterday on a visit to her friend, Miss Dale, at +Allington.--Yours truly, Annabella Prettyman.' The note said no more +than that. Major Grantly was glad to get it, obtaining from it the +satisfaction which a man always feels when he is presumed to be +concerned in the affairs of the lady with whom he is in love. And he +regarded Miss Prettyman with favourable eyes as a discreet and friendly +woman. Nevertheless, he was not altogether happy. The very fact that +Miss Prettyman should write to him on such a subject made him feel that +he was bound to Grace Crawley. He knew enough of himself to be sure that +he could not give her up without making himself miserable. And yet, as +regarded her father, things were going from bad to worse. Everybody now +said that the evidence was so strong against Mr Crawley as to leave +hardly any doubt of his guilt. Even the ladies in Silverbridge were +beginning to give up his cause, acknowledging that the money could not +have come rightfully into his hands, and excusing him on the plea of +partial insanity. 'He has picked it up and put it by for months, and +then thought that it was his own . . .' The ladies at Silverbridge could +find nothing better to say for him than that; and when young Mr Walker +remarked that such little mistakes were the customary causes of men +being taken to prison, the ladies of Silverbridge did not know how to +answer him. It had come to be their opinion that Mr Crawley was affected +with a partial lunacy, which ought to be forgiven in one to whom the +world had been so cruel; and when young Mr Walker endeavoured to explain +to them that a man must be sane altogether or mad altogether, and that +Mr Crawley must, if sane, be locked up as a thief, and if mad, locked up +as a madman, they sighed, and were convinced that until the world should +have been improved by a new infusion of romance, and a stronger feeling +of justice, Mr John Walker was right. + +And the result of this general opinion made its way to Major Grantly, +and made its way, also, to the archdeacon at Plumstead. As to the major, +in giving him his due, it must be explained that the more certain he +became of the father's guilt, the more certain also he became of the +daughter's merits. It was very hard. The whole thing was cruelly hard. +It was cruelly hard upon him that he should be brought into this +trouble, and be forced to take upon himself the armour of a +knight-errant for the redress of the wrong on the part of the young +lady. But when alone in his house, or with his child, he declared to +himself that he would do so. It might well be that he could not live in +Barsetshire after he had married Mr Crawley's daughter. He had inherited +from his father enough of that longing for ascendancy among those around +him to make him feel that in such circumstances he would be wretched. +But he would be made more wretched by the self-knowledge that he had +behaved badly to the girl he loved; and the world beyond Barsetshire was +open to him. He would take her with him to Canada, to New Zealand, or to +some other far-away country, and there begin his life again. Should his +father choose to punish him for so doing by disinheriting him, they +would be poor enough; but, in his present frame of mind, the major was +able to regard such poverty as honourable and not altogether +disagreeable. + +He had been out shooting all day at Chaldicotes, with Dr Thorne and a +party who were staying in the house there, and had been talking about Mr +Crawley, first with one man and then with another. Lord Lufton had been +there, and young Gresham from Greshambury, and Mr Robarts, the +clergyman, and news had come among them of the attempt made by the +bishop to stop Mr Crawley from preaching. Mr Robarts had been of the +opinion that Mr Crawley should have given way; and Lord Lufton, who +shared his mother's intense dislike of everything that came from the +palace, had sworn that he was right to resist. The sympathy of the whole +party had been with Mr Crawley; but they had all agreed that he had +stolen the money. + +'I fear he'll have to give way to the bishop at last,' Lord Lufton had +said. + +'And what on earth will become of his children,' said the doctor. 'Think +of the fate of that pretty girl; for she is a very pretty girl. It will +be the ruin of her. No man will allow himself to fall in love with her +when her father shall have been found guilty of stealing a cheque for +twenty pounds.' + +'We must do something for the whole family,' said the lord. 'I say, +Thorne, you haven't half the game here that there used to be in poor +old Sowerby's time.' + +'Haven't I?' said the doctor. 'You see, Sowerby had been at it all his +days, and never did anything else. I only began late in life.' + +The major had intended to stay and dine at Chaldicotes, but when he +heard what was said about Grace, his heart became sad, and he made some +excuse as to the child, and returned home. Dr Thorne had declared that +no man could allow himself to fall in love with her. But what if a man +had fallen in love with her beforehand? What if a man had not only +fallen in love, but spoken of his love? Had he been alone with the +doctor, he would, I think, have told him the whole of his trouble; for +in all the county there was no man whom he would sooner have trusted +with his secret. This Dr Thorne was known far and wide for his soft +heart, his open hand, and his well-sustained indifference to the world's +opinions on most of those social matters with which the world meddles; +and therefore the words which he had spoken had more weight with Major +Grantly than they would have had from other lips. As he drove home he +almost made up his mind that he would consult Dr Thorne upon the matter. +There were many younger men with whom he was very intimate--Frank +Gresham, for instance, and Lord Lufton himself; but this was an affair +which he hardly knew who to discuss with a young man. To Dr Thorne he +thought that he could bring himself to tell the whole story. + +In the evening there came to him a message from Plumstead, with a letter +from his father and some present for the child. He knew at once that the +present had been thus sent as an excuse for the letter. His father might +have written by the post, or course; but that would have given to his +letter a certain air and tone which he had not wished it to bear. After +some message from the major's mother, and some allusion to Edith, the +archdeacon struck off upon the matter that was near his heart. + +'I fear it is all up with that unfortunate man at Hogglestock,' he said. +'From what I hear of the evidence which came out before the magistrates, +there can, I think, be no doubt as to his guilt. Have you heard that the +bishop sent over on the following day to stop him from preaching? He did +so, and sent again on the Sunday. But Crawley would not give way, and so +far I respect the man; for, as a matter of course, whatever the bishop +did, or attempted to do, he would do with an extreme bad taste, probably +with gross ignorance as to his own duty and as to the duty of the man +under him. I am told that on the first day Crawley turned out of his +house the messenger sent to him--some stray clergyman whom Mrs Proudie +keeps in the house; and that on Sunday the stairs to the reading-desk +and pulpit were occupied by a lot of brickmakers, among whom the parson +from Barchester did not venture to attempt to make his way, although he +was fortified by the presence of one of the cathedral vergers and by one +of the palace footmen. As for the rest, I have no doubt it is all true. +I pity Crawley from my heart. Poor, unfortunate man! The general opinion +seems to be that he is not in truth responsible for what he does. As for +his victory over the bishop, nothing on earth could be better. + +'Your mother particularly wishes you to come over to us before the end +of the week, and to bring Edith. Your grandfather will be here, and he +is becoming so infirm that he will never come to us for another +Christmas. Of course you will stay for the new year.' + +Though the letter was full of Mr Crawley and his affairs there was not a +word about Grace. This, however, was quite natural. Major Grantly +perfectly well understood his father's anxiety to carry his point +without seeming to allude to the disagreeable subject. 'My father is +very clever,' he said to himself, 'very clever. But he isn't so clever +but one can see how clever he is.' + +On the next day he went into Silverbridge, intending to call on Miss +Prettyman; nor was he called upon to do so, as he never got as far as +that lady's house. While walking up the High Street he saw Mrs Thorne in +her carriage, and, as a matter of course, he stopped to speak to her. He +knew Mrs Thorne quite as intimately as he did her husband, and liked her +quite as well. 'Major Grantly,' she said, speaking out loud to him, half +across the street; 'I was very angry with you yesterday. Why did you not +come up to dinner? We had a room ready for you and everything.' + +'I was not quite well, Mrs Thorne.' + +'Fiddlestick. Don't tell me of not being well. There was Emily +breaking her heart about you.' + +'I'm sure, Miss Dunstable--' + +'To tell you the truth, I think she'll get over it. It won't be mortal +with her. But do tell me, Major Grantly, what are we to think about this +poor Mr Crawley? It was so good of you to be one of his bailsmen.' + +'He would have found twenty in Silverbridge, if he had wanted them.' + +'And do you hear that he has defied the bishop? I do so like him for +that. Not but what poor Mrs Proudie is the dearest friend I have in the +world, and I'm always fighting a battle with old Lady Lufton on her +behalf. But one likes to see one's friends worsted sometimes.' + +'I don't quite understand what did happen at Hogglestock on the Sunday,' +said the major. + +'Some say he had the bishop's chaplain put under the pump. I don't +believe that; but there is no doubt that when the poor fellow tried to +get into the pulpit, they took him and carried him neck and heels out of +the church. But, tell me, Major Grantly, what is to become of the +family?' + +'Heaven knows!' + +'Is it not sad? And that eldest girl is so nice! They tell me that she +is perfect--not only in beauty, but in manners and accomplishments. +Everybody says that she talks Greek just as well as she does English, +and that she understands philosophy from the top to the bottom.' + +'At any rate, she is so good and so lovely that one cannot but pity +her.' + +'You know her, Major Grantly? By-the-by, of course you do, as you were +staying with her at Framley.' + +'Yes, I know her.' + +'What is to become of her? I'm going your way. You might as well get +into the carriage, and I'll drive you home. If he is sent to prison--and +they say he must be sent to prison--what is to become of them?' Then +Major Grantly did get into the carriage, and, before he got out again, +he had told Mrs Thorne the whole story of his love. + +She listened to him with the closest attention; only interrupting him +now and then with little words, intended to signify her approval. He, as +he told his tale, did not look her in the face, but sat with his eyes +fixed upon her muff. 'And now,' he said, glancing up at her almost for +the first time as he finished his speech, 'and now, Mrs Thorne, what am +I to do?' + +'Marry her, of course,' said she, raising her hand aloft and bringing it +down heavily upon is knee as she gave her decisive reply. + +'H--sh--h,' he exclaimed, looking back in dismay towards the servants. + +'Oh, they never hear anything up there. They're thinking about the last +pot of porter they had, or the next they're to get. Deary me, I am so +glad! Of course you'll marry her.' + +'You forget my father.' + +'No, I don't. What has a father to do with it? You're old enough to +please yourself without asking your father. Besides, Lord bless me, the +archdeacon isn't the man to bear malice. He'll storm and threaten and +stop the supplies for a month or so. Then he'll double them, and take +your wife to his bosom, and kiss her, and bless her, and all that kind +of thing. We all know what parental wrath means in such cases as this.' + +'But my sister--' + +'As for your sister, don't talk to me about her. I don't care two +straws about your sister. You must excuse me, Major Grantly, but Lady +Hartletop is really too big for my powers of vision.' + +'And Edith--of course, Mrs Thorne, I can't be blind to the fact that in +many ways such a marriage would be injurious to her. No man wishes to be +connected with a convicted thief.' + +'No, Major Grantly; but a man does wish to marry the girl that he loves. +At least, I suppose so. And what man was ever able to give a more +touching proof of his affection than you can to now? If I were you, I'd +be at Allington before twelve o'clock tomorrow--I would indeed. What +does it matter about the trumpery cheque? Everybody knows it was a +mistake if he did take it. And surely you would not punish her for +that?' + +'No--no; but I don't suppose she'd think it a punishment.' + +'You go and ask her then. And I'll tell you what. If she hasn't a +house of her own to be married from, she shall be married from +Chaldicotes. We'll have such a breakfast! And I'll make as much of her +as if she were the daughter of my old friend, the bishop himself--I will +indeed.' + +This was Mrs Thorne's advice. Before it was completed, Major Grantly +had been carried half way to Chaldicotes. When he left his impetuous +friend he was too prudent to make any promise, but he declared that what +she had said should have much weight with him. + +'You won't mention it to anybody,' said the Major. + +'Certainly not, without your leave,' said Mrs Thorne. 'Don't you know +I'm the soul of honour?' + + + +CHAPTER XV + +UP IN LONDON + +Some kind and attentive reader may perhaps remember that Miss Grace +Crawley, in a letter written by her to her friend Miss Lily Dale, said a +word or two of a certain John. 'If it can only be as John wishes it!' +And the same reader, if there be one so kind and attentive, may also +remember that Miss Lily Dale had declared, in reply, that 'about that +other subject she would rather say nothing,'--and then she added, 'When +one thinks of going beyond friendship--even if one tries to do so--there +are so many barriers!' From which words the kind and attentive reader, +if such a reader be in such matters intelligent as well as kind and +attentive, may have learned a great deal in reference to Miss Lily Dale. + +We will now pay a visit to the John in question--a certain Mr John +Eames, living in London, a bachelor, as the intelligent reader will +certainly have discovered, and cousin to Miss Grace Crawley. Mr John +Eames at the time of our story was a young man, some seven or eight and +twenty years of age, living in London, where he was supposed by his +friends in the country to have made his mark, and to be something a +little out of the common way. But I do not know that he was very much +out of the common way, except in the fact that he had some few thousand +pounds left him by an old nobleman with great affection, and who had +died some two years since. Before this, John Eames had not been a very +poor man, as he filled the comfortable official position of the private +secretary to the Chief Commissioner of the Income-Tax Board, and drew a +salary of three hundred and fifty pounds a year from the resources of +the country; but when, in addition to this source of official wealth, he +became known as the undoubted possessor of a hundred and twenty-eight +shares in one of the most prosperous joint-stock banks in the +metropolis, which property had been left to him free of legacy duty by +the lamented nobleman above named, then Mr John Eames rose very high +indeed as a young man in the estimation of those who knew him, and was +supposed to be something a good deal out of the common way. His mother, +who lived in the country, was obedient to his slightest word, never +venturing to impose upon him any sign of parental authority; and to his +sister, Mary Eames, who lived with her mother, he was almost a god on +earth. To sisters who have nothing of their own--not even some special +god for their own individual worship--generous, affectionate, unmarried +brothers, with sufficient incomes, are gods upon earth. + +And even up in London Mr John Eames was somebody. He was so especially +at his office; although, indeed, it was remembered by many a man how raw +a lad he had been when he first came there, not so very many years ago; +and how they had laughed at him and played him tricks; and how he had +customarily been known to be without a shilling for the last week before +pay-day, during which period he would borrow sixpence here and a +shilling there with energy, from men who now felt themselves to be +honoured when he smiled upon them. Little stories of his former days +would often be told of him behind his back; but they were not told with +ill-nature, because he was very constant in referring to the same +matters himself. And it was acknowledged by everyone at the office, that +neither the friendship of the nobleman, nor that fact of the private +secretaryship, nor the acquisition of his wealth, had made him proud to +his old companions or forgetful of old friendships. To the young men, +lads who had lately been appointed, he was perhaps a little cold; but +then it was only reasonable to conceive that such a one as Mr John Eames +was now could not be expected to make an intimate acquaintance with +every new clerk that might be brought into the office. Since competitive +examinations had come into vogue, there was no knowing who might be +introduced; and it was understood generally through the +establishment--and I may almost say by the civil service at large, so +wide was his fame--that Mr Eames was very averse to the whole theory of +competition. The 'Devil take the hindmost' scheme he called it; and +would then go on to explain that hindmost candidates were often the best +gentlemen, and that, in this way, the Devil got the pick of the flock. +And he was respected the more for this because it was known that on this +subject he had fought some hard battles with the commissioner. The chief +commissioner was a great believer in competition, wrote papers about it, +which he read aloud to various bodies of the civil service--not at all +to their delight--which he got to be printed here and there, and which +he sent by post all over the kingdom. More that once this chief +commissioner had told his private secretary that they must part company, +unless the private secretary could see fit to alter his view, or could, +at least, keep his views to himself. But the private secretary would do +neither; and, nevertheless, there he was, still private secretary. 'It's +because Johnny has got money,' said one of the young clerks, who was +discussing this singular state of things with his brethren at the +office. 'When a chap has got money, he may do what he likes. Johnny has +got lots of money, you know.' The young clerk in question was by no +means on intimate terms with Mr Eames, but there had grown up in the +office a way of calling him Johnny behind his back, which had probably +come down from the early days of his scrapes and poverty. + +Now the entire life of Mr John Eames was pervaded by a great secret; and +although he never, in those days, alluded to the subject in conversation +with any man belonging to the office, yet the secret was known by them +all. It had been historical for the last four or five years, and was now +regarded as a thing of course. Mr John Eames was in love, and his love +was not happy. He was in love, and had long been in love, and the lady +of his love was not kind to him. The little history had grown to be very +touching and pathetic, having received, no doubt some embellishments +from the imaginations of the gentlemen of the Income-Tax Office. It was +said of him that he had been in love from his early boyhood, that at +sixteen he had been engaged, under the sanction of the nobleman now +deceased and of the young lady's parents, that contracts of betrothal +had been drawn up, and things done very unusual in private families in +these days, and that then there had come a stranger into the +neighbourhood just as the young lady was beginning to reflect whether +she had a heart of her own or not, and that she had thrown her parents, +and the noble lord, and the contract, and poor Johnny Eames to the +winds, and had--Here the story took different directions, as told by +different men. Some said the lady had gone off with the stranger and +that there had been a clandestine marriage, which afterwards turned out +to be no marriage at all; others, that the stranger suddenly took +himself off, and was no more seen by the young lady; others that he +owned at last to having another wife--and so on. The stranger was very +well known to be one Mr Crosbie, belonging to another public office; and +there were circumstances in his life, only half known, which gave rise +to these various rumours. But there was one thing certain, one point as +to which no clerk in the Income-Tax Office had a doubt, one fact which +had conduced much to the high position which Mr John Eames now held in +the estimation of his brother clerks--he had given this Mr Crosbie such +a thrashing that no man had ever received such treatment before and +lived through it. Wonderful stories were told about that thrashing, so +that it was believed, even by the least enthusiastic in such matters, +that the poor victim had only dragged on a crippled existence since the +encounter. 'For nine weeks he never said a word or ate a mouthful,' said +one young clerk to a younger clerk who was just entering the office; +'and even now he can't speak above a whisper, and has to take all his +food in pap.' It will be seen, therefore, that Mr John Eames had about +him much of the heroic. + +That he was still in love, and in love with the same lady, was known to +everyone in the office. When it was declared of him that in the way of +amatory expressions he had never in his life opened his mouth to another +woman, there were those in the office who knew that to be an +exaggeration. Mr Cradell, for instance, who in his early years had been +very intimate with John Eames, and who still kept up the old +friendship--although, being a domestic man, with wife and six young +children, and living on a small income, he did not go out much among his +friends--could have told a very different story; for Mrs Cradell herself +had, in the days before Cradell had made good his claim upon her, been +not unadmired by Cradell's fellow-clerk. But the constancy of Mr Eames's +present love was doubted by none who knew him. It was not that he went +about with his stockings ungartered, or any of the old acknowledged +signs of unrequited affection. In his manner he was rather jovial than +otherwise, and seemed to live a happy, somewhat luxurious life, well +contented with himself and the world around him. But still he had this +passion within his bosom, and I am inclined to think that he was a +little proud of his own constancy. + +It might be presumed that when Miss Dale wrote to her friend Grace +Crawley about going beyond friendship, pleading that there were so many +'barriers', she had probably seen her way over most of them. But this +was not so; nor did John Eames himself at all believe that he had given +the whole thing up as a bad job, because it was the law of his life that +the thing never should be abandoned as long as hope was possible. Unless +Miss Dale should become the wife of somebody else, he would always +regard himself as affianced to her. He had so declared to Miss Dale +herself and to Miss Dale's mother, and to all the Dale people who had +ever been interested in the matter. And there was an old lady living in +Miss Dale's neighbourhood, the sister of the lord who had left Johnny +Eames the bank shares, who always fought his battles for him, and kept a +close look-out, fully resolved that Johnny Eames should be rewarded at +last. This old lady was connected with the Dales by family ties, and +therefore had the means of close observation. She was in constant +correspondence with John Eames, and never failed to acquaint him when +any of the barriers were, in her judgment, giving way. The nature of +some of the barriers may possibly be made intelligible to my readers by +the following letter from Lady Julia De Guest to her young friend:- + +'GUESTWICK COTTAGE, December, 186- +'MY DEAR JOHN, + +'I am much obliged to you for going to Jones's. +I send stamps for two shillings and fourpence, which +is what I owe to you. It used only to be two +shillings and twopence, but they say everything has +got to be dearer now, and I suppose pills as well as +other things. Only think of Pritchard coming to me, +and saying she wanted her wages raised, after living +with me for twenty years! I was very angry, and +scolded her roundly; but as she acknowledged, she had +been wrong, and cried and begged my pardon, I did give +her two guineas a year more. + +'I saw dear Lily just for a moment on Sunday, +and upon my word I think she grows prettier every +year. She had a young friend with her--a Miss +Crawley--who, I believe, is the cousin I have heard +you speak of. What is this sad story about her +father, the clergyman! Mind you tell me about it. + +'It is quite true what I told you about the De +Courcys. Old Lady De Courcy is in London, and Mr +Crosbie is going to law with her about his wife's +money. He has been at it in one way or the other ever +since poor Lady Alexandrina died. I wish she had +lived, with all my heart. For though I feel sure that +our Lily will never willingly see him again, yet the +tidings of her death disturbed her, and set her +thinking of things that were fading from her mind. I +rated her soundly, not mentioning your name, however; +but she only kissed me, and told me in her quiet +drolling way that I didn't mean a word of what I said. + +'You can come here whenever you please after the +tenth of January. But if you come early January you +must go to your mother first, and come to me for the +last week of your holiday. Go to Blackie's in Regent +Street, and bring me down all the colours in wool I +ordered. I said you would call. And tell them at +Dolland's the last spectacles don't suit at all, and I +won't keep them, they had better send me down, by you, +one or two more pairs to try. And you had better see +Smithers and Smith, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, No 57-- +but you have been there before--and beg them to let +me know how my poor dear brother's matters are to be +settled at last. As far as I can see I shall be dead +before I shall know what income I have to spend. As +to my cousins at the manor, I never see them; and as +to talking to them about business, I should not dream +of it. She hasn't come to me since she first called, +and she may be quite sure I shan't go to her till she +does. Indeed I think we shall like each other apart +quite as much as we should together. So let me know +when you're coming, and pray don't forget to call at +Blackie's; nor yet at Dolland's, which is much more +important than the wool, because my eyes are getting +so weak. But what I want you specially to remember is +about Smithers and Smith. How is a woman to live if +she doesn't know how much she has got to spend? +'Believe me to be, my dear John, +'Your most sincere friend, +'JULIA DE GUEST.' + +Lady Julia always directed her letters for her young friend to his +office, and there he received the one now given to the reader. When he +had read it he made a memorandum as to the commissions, and then threw +himself back in his arm-chair to think over the tidings communicated to +him. All the facts stated he had known before; that Lady De Courcy was +in London, and that her son-in-law Mr Crosbie, whose wife--Lady +Alexandrina--had died some twelve months since at Baden Baden, was at +variance with her respecting money which he supposed to be due to him. +But there was that Lady Julia's letter that was wormwood to him. Lily +Dale was again thinking of this man, whom she had loved in the old days, +and who had treated her with monstrous perfidy! It was all very well for +Lady Julia to be sure that Lily Dale would never desire to see Mr +Crosbie again; but John Eames was by no means equally certain that it +would be so. 'The tidings of her death disturbed her'! said Johnny, +repeating certain words out of the old lady's letter. 'I know they +disturbed me. I wish she could have lived for ever. If he ever ventures +to show himself within ten miles of Allington, I'll see if I cannot do +better than I did the last time I met him!' Then there came a knock at +the door, and the private secretary, finding himself to be somewhat +annoyed by the disturbance at such a moment, bade the intruder enter in +an angry voice. 'Oh, it's you, Cradell, is it? What can I do for you?' +Mr Cradell, who now entered, and who, as before said, was an old ally of +John Eames, was a clerk of longer standing in the department than his +friend. In age he looked much older, and he had left with him none of +that appearance of the gloss of youth which will stick for many years to +men who are fortunate in their world affairs. Indeed it may be said that +Mr Cradell was almost shabby in outward appearance, and his brow seemed +to be laden with care, and his eyes were dull and heavy. + +'I thought I'd just come in and ask you how you are,' said Cradell. + +'I'm pretty well, thank you; and how are you?' + +'Oh, I'm pretty well--in health, that is. You see one has so many +things to think of when one has a large family. Upon my word, Johnny, I +think you've been lucky to keep out of it.' + +'I have kept out of it, at any rate; haven't I?' + +'Of course; living with you as much as I used to, I know the whole story +of what kept you single.' + +'Don't mind about that, Cradell; what is it you want?' + +'I mustn't let you suppose, Johnny, that I'm grumbling about my lot. +Nobody knows better than you do what a trump I got in my wife.' + +'Of course you did;--an excellent woman.' + +'And if I cut you out a little there, I'm sure you never felt malice +against me for that.' + +'Never for a moment, old fellow.' + +'We all have our luck, you know.' + +'Your luck has been a wife and family. My luck has been to be a +bachelor.' + +'You may say a family,' said Cradell. 'I'm sure that Amelia does the +best she can; but we a desperately pushed sometimes--desperately +pushed. I never had it so bad, Johnny, as I am now.' + +'So you said last time.' + +'Did I? I don't remember it. I didn't think I was so bad then. But, +Johnny, if you can let me have one more fiver now I have made +arrangements with Amelia how I'm to pay you off by thirty shillings a +month--as I get my salary. Indeed I have. Ask her else.' + +'I'll be shot if I do.' + +'Don't say that, Johnny.' + +'It's no good your Johnnying me, for I won't be Johnnyed out of another +shilling. It comes too often, and there's no reason why I should do it. +And what's more, I can't afford it. I've people of my own to help.' + +'But oh, Johnny, we all know how comfortable you are. And I'm sure no +one rejoiced as I did when the money was left to you. If it had been +myself I could hardly have thought more of it. Upon my solemn word and +honour if you'll let me have it this time, it shall be the last.' + +'Upon my word and honour then, I won't. There must be an end to +everything.' + +Although Mr Cradell would probably, if pressed, have admitted the truth +of this last assertion, he did not seem to think that the end had as yet +come to his friend's benevolence. It certainly had not come to his own +importunity. 'Don't say that, Johnny; pray don't.' + +'But I do say it.' + +'When I told Amelia yesterday evening that I didn't like to got to you +again, because of course a man has feelings, she told me to mention her +name. "I'm sure he'd do it for my sake,"' she said. + +'I don't believe she said anything of the kind.' + +'Upon my word she did. You ask her.' + +'And if she did, she oughtn't to have said it.' + +'Oh, Johnny, don't speak in that way of her. She's my wife, and you +know what your own feelings were once. But look here--we are in that +state at home at this moment, that I must get money somewhere before I +go home. I must, indeed. If you'll let me have three pounds this once, +I'll never ask you again. I'll give you a written promise if you like, +and I'll pledge myself to pay it back by thirty shillings a time out of +the next two months' salary. I will, indeed.' And then Mr Cradell began +to cry. But when Johnny at last took out his cheque-book and wrote a +cheque for three pounds, Mr Cradell's eyes glistened with joy. 'Upon my +word I am so much obliged to you! You are the best fellow that ever +lived. And Amelia will say the same when she hears of it.' + +'I don't believe she'll say anything of the kind, Cradell. If I +remember anything of her, she has a stouter heart than that.' Cradell +admitted that his wife had a stouter heart than himself, and then made +his way back to his own part of the office. + +This little interruption to the current of Mr Eames's thoughts was, I +think, good for the service, as immediately on his friend's departure he +went to his work; whereas, had not he been called away from his +reflections about Miss Dale, he would have sat thinking about her +affairs probably for the rest of the morning. As it was, he really did +write a dozen notes in answer to as many private letters addressed to +his chief, Sir Raffle Buffle, in all of which he made excellently-worded +false excuses for the non-performance of various requests made to Sir +Raffle by the writers. 'He's about the best hand at it that I know,' +said Sir Raffle, one day, to the secretary; 'otherwise you may be sure I +shouldn't keep him here.' 'I will allow that he's clever,' said the +secretary. 'It isn't cleverness, so much as tact. It's what I call tact. +I hadn't been long in the service before I mastered it myself; and now +that I've been at the trouble to teach him I don't want to have the +trouble to teach another. But upon my word he must mind his p's and q's; +upon my word, he must; and you had better tell him so.' 'The fact is, Mr +Kissing,' said the private secretary the next day to the secretary--Mr +Kissing was at that time secretary to the board of commissioners for the +receipt of income tax--'the fact is, Mr Kissing, Sir Raffle should never +attempt to write a letter himself. He doesn't know how to do it. He +always says twice too much, and yet not half enough. I wish you'd tell +him so. He won't believe me.' From which it will be seen Mr Eames was +proud of his special accomplishment, but did not feel any gratitude to +the master who assumed to himself the glory of having taught him. On the +present occasion John Eames wrote all his letters before he thought +again of Lily Dale, and was able to write them without interruption, as +the chairman was absent for the day at the Treasury--or perhaps at his +club. Then, when he had finished, he rang his bell, and ordered some +sherry and soda-water, and stretched himself before the fire--as though +his exertions in the public service had been very great--and seated +himself comfortably in his arm-chair, and lit a cigar, and again took +out Lady Julia's letter. + +As regarded the cigar, it may be said that both Sir Raffle and Mr +Kissing had given orders that on no account should cigars be lit within +the precincts of the Income-Tax Office. Mr Eames had taken upon himself +to understand that such orders did not apply to a private secretary, and +was well aware that Sir Raffle knew his habit. To Mr Kissing, I regret +to say, he put himself in opposition whenever and wherever opposition +was possible; so that men in the office said that one of the two must go +at last. 'But Johnny can do anything, you know, because he has got +money.' That was too frequently the opinion finally expressed among the +men. + +So John Eames sat down, and drank his soda-water, and smoked his cigar, +and read his letter; or, rather, simply that paragraph of the letter +which referred to Miss Dale. 'The tidings of her death have disturbed +her, and set her thinking again of things that were fading from her +mind.' He understood it all. And yet how could it possibly be so? How +could it be that she should not despise a man--despise him if she did +not hate him--who had behaved as this man had behaved to her? It was now +four years since this Crosbie had been engaged to Miss Dale, and had +jilted her so heartlessly as to incur the disgust of every man in London +who had heard the story. He had married an earl's daughter, who had left +him within a few months of their marriage, and now Mr Crosbie's noble +wife was dead. The wife was dead, and simply because the man was free +again, he, John Eames, was to be told that Miss Dale's mind was +'disturbed', and that her thoughts were going back to things which had +faded from her memory, and which should have been long since banished +altogether from such holy ground. + +If Lily Dale were now to marry Mr Crosbie, anything so perversely cruel +as the fate of John Eames would never have yet been told in romance. +That was his own idea on the matter as he sat smoking his cigar. I have +said that he was proud of his constancy, and yet, in some sort, he was +also ashamed of it. He acknowledged the fact of his love, and believed +himself to have out-Jacobed Jacob; but he felt that it was hard for a +man who had risen in the world as he had done to be made a plaything of +by a foolish passion. It was not four years ago--that affair of +Crosbie--and Miss Dale should have accepted him long since. Half-a-dozen +times he had made up his mind to be very stern with her; and he had +written somewhat sternly--but the first moment that he saw her he was +conquered again. 'And now that brute will reappear and everything will +be wrong again,' he said to himself. If the brute did reappear, +something should happen of which the world would hear the tidings. So he +lit another cigar, and began to think what that something should be. + +As he did so he heard a loud noise, as of harsh, rattling winds in the +next room, and he knew that Sir Raffle had come back from the Treasury. +There was a creaking of boots, and a knocking of chairs, and a ringing +of bells, and then a loud angry voice--a voice that was very harsh, and +on this occasion very angry. Why had not his twelve o'clock letters been +sent up to him to the West End? Why not? Mr Eames knew all about it. Why +did Mr Eames know all about it? Why had not Mr Eames not sent them up? +Where was Mr Eames? Let Mr Eames be sent to him. All which Mr Eames +heard standing with the cigar in his mouth and his back to the fire. +'Somebody has been bullying old Buffle, I suppose. After all he as been +up at the Treasure today,' said Eames to himself. But he did not stir +till the messenger had been to him, nor even then at once. 'All right, +Rafferty,' he said; 'I'll go just now.' Then he took half-a-dozen more +whiffs from the cigar, threw the remainder into the fire, and opened the +door which communicated between his room and Sir Raffle's. + +The great man was standing with two unopened epistles in his hand. +'Eames,' said he, 'here are letters--' Then he stopped himself, and +began upon another subject. 'Did I not give express orders that I would +have no smoking in the office?' + +'I think Mr Kissing said something about it.' + +'Mr Kissing! It was not Mr Kissing at all. It was I. I gave the order +myself.' + +'You'll find it began with Mr Kissing.' + +'It did not begin with Mr Kissing; it began and ended with me. What are +you going to do, sir?' John Eames stepped towards the bell, and his hand +was already on the bell-pull. + +'I was going to ring for the papers, sir.' + +'And who told you to ring for the papers? I don't want the papers. The +papers won't show anything. I suppose my word may be taken without the +papers. Since you are so fond of Mr Kissing--' + +'I'm not fond of Mr Kissing at all.' + +'You'll have to go back to him, and let somebody come here who will not +be too independent to obey my orders. Here are two most important +letters that have been lying here all day, instead of being sent up to +me at the Treasury.' + +'Of course they have been lying there. I thought you went to the club.' + +'I told you that I should go to the Treasury. I have been there all +morning with the chancellor'--when Sir Raffle spoke officially of the +chancellor he was not supposed to mean the Lord Chancellor--'and here I +find letters which I particularly wanted lying upon my desk now. I must +put an end to this kind of thing. I must, indeed. If you like the outer +office better say so at once, and you can go.' + +'I'll think about it, Sir Raffle.' + +'Think about it! What do you mean by thinking about it? But I can't +talk about that now. I'm very busy, and shall be here till past seven. I +suppose you can stay?' + +'All night, if you wish it, sir.' + +'Very well. That will do for the present--I wouldn't have had these +letters delayed for twenty pounds.' + +'I don't suppose it would have mattered one straw if both of them +remained unopened till next week.' This last little speech, however, was +not made aloud to Sir Raffle, but by Johnny to himself in the solitude +of his own room. + +Very soon after that he went away, Sir Raffle having discovered that one +of the letters in question required immediate return to the West End. +'I've changed my mind about staying. I shan't stay now. I should have +done if these letters had reached me as they ought.' + +'Then I suppose I can go?' + +'You can do as you like about that,' said Sir Raffle. + +Eames did do as he liked, and went home, or to his club; and as he went +he resolved that he would put an end, and at once, to the present +trouble of his life. Lily Dale should accept him or reject him; and, +taking either the one or other alternative, she should hear a bit of his +mind plainly spoken. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DOWN AT ALLINGTON + +It was Christmas-time down at Allington, and at three o'clock on +Christmas Eve, just as the darkness of the early winter evening was +coming on, Lily Dale and Grace Crawley were seated together, one above +the other, on the steps leading up to the pulpit at Allington Church. +They had been working all day at the decorations of the church, and they +were now looking round them at the result of their handiwork. To an eye +unused to the gloom the place would have been nearly dark; but they +could see every corner turned by the ivy sprigs, and every line on which +the holly-leaves were shining. And the greeneries of the winter had not +been stuck up in the old-fashioned, idle way, a bough just fastened up +here and a twig inserted there; but everything had been done with some +meaning, with some thought towards the original architecture of the +building. The Gothic lines had been followed, and all the lower arches +which it had been possible to reach with an ordinary ladder had been +turned as truly with the laurel cuttings as they had been turned +originally with the stone. + +'I wouldn't tie another twig,' said the elder girl, 'for all the +Christmas puddings that was ever boiled.' + +'It's lucky then that there isn't another twig to tie.' + +'I don't know about that. I see a score of places where the work has +been scamped. This is the sixth time I have done the church, and I don't +think I'll ever do it again. When we first began it, Bell and I, you +know--before Bell was married--Mrs Boyce, and the Boycian establishment +generally, used to come and help. Or rather we used to help her. Now she +hardly ever looks after it at all.' + +'She is older, I suppose.' + +'She's a little older, and a deal idler. How idle people do get! Look +at him. Since he has had a curate he hardly ever stirs round the parish. +And he is getting so fat that--H--sh! Here she is herself--come to give +her judgment upon us.' Then a stout lady, the wife of the vicar, walked +slowly up the aisle. 'Well, girls,' she said, 'you have worked hard, and +I am sure Mr Boyce will be very much obliged to you.' + +'Mr Boyce, indeed!' said Lily Dale. 'We shall expect the whole parish +to rise from their seats and thank us. Why didn't Jane and Betsy come +and help us?' + +'They were so tired when they came in from the coal club. Besides, they +don't care for this kind of thing--not as you do.' + +'Jane is utilitarian to the backbone, I know,' said Lily, 'and Betsy +doesn't like getting up ladders.' + +'As for ladders,' said Mrs Boyce, defending her daughter, 'I am not +quite sure that Betsy isn't right. You don't mean to say that you did +all those capitals yourself?' + +'Every twig, with Hopkins to hold the ladder and cut the sticks; and as +Hopkins is just a hundred and one years old, we could have done it +pretty nearly as well alone.' + +'I do not think that,' said Grace. + +'He has been grumbling all the time,' said Lily, 'and swears he never +will have the laurels robbed again. Five or six years ago he used to +declare that death would certainly save him from the pain of such +another desecration before next Christmas; but he has given up that +foolish notion now, and talks as though he meant to protect the +Allington shrubs at any rate to the end of this century.' + +'I am sure we gave our share from the parsonage,' said Mrs Boyce, who +never understood a joke. + +'All the best came from the parsonage, as of course they ought,' said +Lily. 'But Hopkins had to make up the deficiency. And as my uncle told +him to take the haycart for them instead of the hand-barrow, he is +broken-hearted.' + +'I am sure he was very good-natured,' said Grace. + +'Nevertheless he is broken-hearted; and I am very good-natured too, and +I am broken-backed. Who is going to preach tomorrow morning, Mrs Boyce?' + +'Mr Swanton will preach in the morning.' + +'Tell him not to be too long because of the children's pudding. Tell Mr +Boyce if he is long, we won't any of us come next Sunday.' + +'My dear, how can you say such wicked things! I shall not tell him +anything of the kind.' + +'That's not wicked, Mrs Boyce. If I were to say I had eaten so much +lunch that I didn't want any dinner, you'd understand that. If Mr +Swanton will preach for three-quarters of an hour--' + +'He only preached for three-quarters of an hour once, Lily.' + +'He has been over the half-hour every Sunday since he has been here. +His average is over forty minutes, and I say it's a shame.' + +'It is not a shame at all, Lily,' said Mrs Boyce, becoming very serious. + +'Look at my uncle; he doesn't like to go to sleep, and he has to suffer +a purgatory in keeping himself awake.' + +'If your uncle is heavy now, how can Mr Swanton help it? If Mr Dale's +mind were on the subject he would not sleep.' + +'Come, Mrs Boyce; there's somebody else asleep sometimes besides my +uncle. When Mr Boyce puts up his finger and just touches his nose, I +know as well as possible why he does it.' + +'Lily Dale, you have no business to say so. It is not true. I don't +know how you can bring yourself to talk in that way of your own +clergyman. If I were to tell your mamma, she would be shocked.' + +'You won't be so ill-natured, Mrs Boyce--after all that I've done for +the church.' + +'If you think more about the clergymen, Lily, and less about the +church,' said Mrs Boyce very sententiously, 'more about the matter and +less about the manner, more of the reality and less of the form, I think +you would find that your religion would go further with you. Miss +Crawley is the daughter of a clergyman, and I am sure she will agree +with me.' + +'If she agrees with anybody in scolding me I'll quarrel with her.' + +'I didn't mean to scold you, Lily.' + +'I don't mind it from you, Mrs Boyce. Indeed, I rather like it. It is a +sort of pastoral visitation; and as Mr Boyce never scolds me himself I +take it from him by attorney.' Then there was silence for a minute or +two, during which Mrs Boyce was endeavouring to discover whether Miss +Dale was laughing at her or not. As she was not quite certain, she +thought at last she would let the suspected fault pass unobserved. +'Don't wait for us, Mrs Boyce,' said Lily. 'We must remain till Hopkins +has sent Gregory to sweep the church out and take away the rubbish. +We'll see that the key is left at Mrs Giles's.' + +'Thank you, my dear. Then I may as well go. I thought I'd come in and +see that it was all right. I'm sure Mr Boyce will be very much obliged +to you and Miss Crawley. Good-night, my dear.' + +'Good-night, Mrs Boyce; and be sure you don't let Mr Swanton be long +tomorrow.' To this parting shot Mrs Boyce made no rejoinder; but she +hurried out of the church somewhat the quicker for it, and closed the +door after her with something of a slam. + +Of all persons clergymen are the most irreverent in the handling of +things supposed to be sacred, and next to them clergyman's wives, and +after them those other ladies, old or young, who take upon themselves +semi-clerical duties. And it is natural that it should be so; for is it +not said that familiarity does breed contempt? When a parson takes his +lay friend over his church on a week day, how much less of the spirit of +genuflexion and head-uncovering the clergyman will display to the +layman! The parson pulls about the woodwork and knocks about the +stonework, as though it were mere wood and stone; and talks aloud in the +aisle, and treats even the reading-desk as a common thing; whereas the +visitor whispers gently, and carries himself as though even in looking +at a church he was bound to regard himself as performing some service +that was half divine. Now Lily Dale and Grace Crawley were both +accustomed to churches, and had been so long at work in this church for +the last two days, that the building had lost to them much of its +sacredness, and they were almost as irreverent as though they were two +curates. + +'I am so glad she has gone,' said Lily. 'We shall have to stop here for +the next hour, as Gregory won't know what to take away and what to +leave. I was so afraid she was going to stop and see us off the +premises.' + +'I don't know why you should dislike her.' + +'I don't dislike her. I like her very well,' said Lily Dale. 'But don't +you feel that there are people whom one knows very intimately, who are +really friends--for whom if they were dying one would grieve, whom if +they were in misfortune one would go far to help, but with whom for all +that one can have no sympathy. And yet they are so near to one that they +know all the events of one's life, and are justified by unquestioned +friendship in talking about things which should never be mentioned +except where sympathy exists.' + +'Yes; I understand that.' + +'Everybody understands it who has been unhappy. That woman sometimes +says things to me that make me wish--wish that they'd make him bishop of +Patagonia. And yet does it all in friendship, and mamma says that she is +quite right.' + +'I liked her for standing up for her husband.' + +'But he does go to sleep--and then he scratches his nose to show that +he's awake. I shouldn't have said it, only she is always hinting at +uncle Christopher. Uncle Christopher certainly does go to sleep when Mr +Boyce preaches, and he hasn't studied any scientific little movement +during his slumbers to make the people believe that he's all alive. I +gave him a hint one day, and he got angry with me!' + +'I shouldn't have thought he could have been angry with you. It seems +to me from what you say that you may do whatever you please with him.' + +'He is very good to me. If you knew it all--if you could understand how +good he has been! I'll try and tell you one day. It is not what he has +done that makes me love him so--but what he has thoroughly understood, +and what, so understanding, he has not done, and what he has not said. +It is a case of sympathy. If ever there was a gentleman uncle +Christopher is one. And I used to dislike him so, at one time!' + +'And why?' + +'Chiefly because he would make me wear brown frocks when I wanted to +have them pink or green. And he kept me for six months from having them +long, and up to this day he scolds me if there is half an inch on the +ground for him to tread upon.' + +'I shouldn't mind that if I were you.' + +'I don't--not now. But it used to be serious when I was a young girl. +And we thought, Bell and I, that he was cross to mamma. He and mamma +didn't agree at first, you know, as they do now. It is quite true that +he did dislike mamma when we first came.' + +'I can't think how anybody could ever dislike Mrs Dale.' + +'But he did. And then he wanted to make up a marriage between Bell and +my cousin Bernard. But neither of them cared a bit for each other, and +then he used to scold them--and then--and then--and then--Oh, he was so +good to me! Here's Gregory at last. Gregory, we've been waiting this +hour and a half.' + +'It ain't ten minutes since Hopkins let me come with the barrows, miss.' + +'Then Hopkins is a traitor. Never mind. You'd better begin now--up +there at the steps. It'll be quite dark in a few minutes. Here's Mrs +Giles with her broom. Come, Mrs Giles; we shall have to pass the night +here if you don't make haste. Are you cold, Grace?' + +'No; I'm not cold. I'm thinking what they are doing now in the church +at Hogglestock.' + +'The Hogglestock church is not pretty, like this?' + +'Oh, no. It is a very plain brick building, with something like a +pigeon-house for a belfry. And the pulpit is over the reading-desk, and +the reading-desk over the clerk, so that papa, when he preaches, is +nearly up to the ceiling. And the whole place is divided into pews, in +which the farmers hide themselves when they come to church.' + +'So that nobody can see whether they go to sleep or not. Oh, Mrs Giles, +you mustn't pull that down. That's what we have been putting up all +day.' + +'But it be in the way, miss; so that minister can't budge in or out o' +the door.' + +'Never mind. Then he must stay one side or the other. That would be +too much after all our trouble!' And Miss Dale hurried across the +chancel to save some pretty arching boughs, which, in the judgment of +Mrs Giles, encroached too much on the vestry door. 'As if it signified +which side he was,' she said in a whisper to Grace. + +'I don't suppose they'll have anything in the church at home.' + +'Somebody will stick up a wreath or two, I daresay.' + +'Nobody will. There never is anybody at Hogglestock to stick up wreaths +or do anything for the prettiness of life. And now there will be less +than ever. How can mamma look after holly-leaves in her present state? +And yet she will miss them, too. Poor mamma sees very little that is +pretty; but she has not forgotten how pleasant pretty things are.' + +'I wish I knew your mother, Grace.' + +'I think it would be impossible for anyone to know mamma now--for +anyone who had not known her before. She never makes even a new +acquaintance. She seems to think that there's nothing left for her in +the world but to try to keep papa out of his misery. And she does not +succeed in that. Poor papa!' + +'Is he unhappy about this wicked situation?' + +'Yes; he is very unhappy. But, Lily, I don't know about its being +wicked.' + +'But you know it's untrue.' + +'Of course I know that papa did not mean to take anything that was not +his own. But, you see, nobody knows where it came from; and nobody +except mamma and Jane and I understand how very absent papa can be. I'm +sure he doesn't know the least in the world how he came by it himself, +or he would tell mamma. Do you know, Lily, I think I have been wrong to +come away.' + +'Don't say that, dear. Remember how anxious Mrs Crawley was that you +should come.' + +'But I cannot bear to be comfortable here while they are so wretched at +home. It seems such a mockery. Every time I find myself smiling at what +you say to me, I think I must be the most heartless creature in the +world.' + +'Is it so very bad with them, Grace?' + +'Indeed it is bad. I don't think you can imagine what mamma has to go +through. She has to cook all that is eaten in the house, and then, very +often, there is no money in the house to buy anything. If you were to +see the clothes she wears, even that would make your heart bleed. I who +have been used to being poor all my life--even I, when I am at home, am +dismayed by what she has to endure.' + +'What can we do for her, Grace?' + +'You can do nothing, Lily. But when things are like that at home, you +can understand what I feel in being here.' + +Mrs Giles and Gregory had now completed their task, or had so nearly +done so as to make Miss Dale think that she might safely leave the +church. 'We will go in now,' she said; 'for it is dark and cold, and +what I call creepy. Do you ever fancy that perhaps you will see a ghost +some day?' + +'I don't think I shall ever see a ghost; but all the same I should be +half afraid to be here alone in the dark.' + +'I am often here alone in the dark, but I am beginning to think I shall +never see a ghost now. I am losing all my romance, and getting to be an +old woman. Do you know, Grace, I do so hate myself for being such an old +maid.' + +'But who says you're an old maid, Lily?' + +'I see it in people's eyes, and hear it in their voices. And they all +talk to me as if I were steady, and altogether removed from anything +like fun and frolic. It seems to be admitted that if a girl does not +want to fall in love, she ought not to care for any other fun in the +world. If anybody made out a list of the old ladies in these parts, +they'd put down Lady Julia, and mamma, and Mrs Boyce, and me, and old +Mrs Hearne. The very children have an awful respect for me, and give +over playing directly they see me. Well, mamma, we've done at last, and +I have had such a scolding from Mrs Boyce.' + +'I daresay you deserved it, my dear.' + +'No, I did not, mamma. Ask Grace if I did.' + +'Was she not saucy to Mrs Boyce, Miss Crawley?' + +'She said Mr Boyce scratches his nose in church,' said Grace. + +'So he does; and goes to sleep, too.' + +'If you told Mrs Boyce that, Lily, I think she was quite right to scold +you.' + +Such was Miss Lily Dale, with whom Grace Crawley was staying;--Lily +Dale with whom Mr John Eames, of the Income-tax Office, had been so long +and so steadily in love, that he was regarded among his fellow-clerks as +a miracle of constancy--who had, herself, in former days been so +unfortunate in love as to have been regarded among her friends in the +country as the most ill-used of women. As John Eames had been able to be +comfortable in life--that is to say, not utterly a wretch--in spite of +his love, so had she managed to hold up her head, and live as other +young women live, in spite of her fortune. But as it may be said also +that his constancy was true constancy, although he knew how to enjoy the +good things of the world, so also had her misfortune been a true +misfortune, although she had been able to bear it without much outer +show of shipwreck. For a few days--for a week or two, when the blow +first struck her, she had been knocked down, and the friends who were +nearest to her had thought that she would never again stand erect upon +her feet. But she had been very strong, stout at heart, of a fixed +purpose, and capable of resistance against oppression. Even her own +mother had been astonished, and sometimes almost dismayed, by the +strength of her will. Her mother knew well how it was with her now; but +they who saw her frequently, and who did not know her as her mother knew +her--the Mrs Boyce's of her acquaintance--whispered among themselves +that Lily Dale was not so soft of heart as people used to think. + +On the next day, Christmas Day, as the reader will remember, Grace +Crawley was taken up to dine at the big house with the old squire. Mrs +Dale's eldest daughter, with her husband, Dr Crofts, was to be there; +and also Lily's old friend, who was also especially the old friend of +Johnny Eames, Lady Julia De Guest. Grace had endeavoured to be excused +from the party, pleading many pleas. But the upshot of all her pleas was +this--that while her father's position was so painful she ought not to +go out anywhere. In answer to this, Lily Dale, corroborated by her +mother, assured her that for her father's sake she ought not to exhibit +any such feeling; that in doing so, she would seem to express a doubt as +to her father's innocence. Then she allowed herself to be persuaded, +telling her friend, however, that she knew the day would be very +miserable to her. 'It will be very humdrum, if you please,' said Lily. +'Nothing can be more humdrum than Christmas at the Great House. +Nevertheless, you must go.' + +Coming out of the church, Grace was introduced to the old squire. He was +a thin, old man, with grey hair, and the smallest possible grey +whiskers, with a dry, solemn face; not carrying in his outward gait much +of the customary jollity for Christmas. He took his hat off to Grace, +and said some word to her as to hoping to have the pleasure of seeing +her at dinner. It sounded very cold to her, and she became at once +afraid of him. 'I wish I was not going,' she said to Lily, again. 'I +know he thinks I ought not to go. I shall be so thankful if you will but +let me stay.' + +'Don't be foolish, Grace. It all comes from your not knowing him, or +understanding him. And how should you understand him? I give you my word +that I would tell you if I did not know that he wishes you to go.' + +She had to go. 'Of course I haven't a dress fit. How should I?' she +said to Lily. 'How wrong it is of me to put myself up in such a thing as +this.' + +'Your dress is beautiful, child. We are none of us going in evening +dresses. Pray believe me that I will not make you do wrong. If you won't +trust me, can't you trust mamma?' + +Of course she went. When the three ladies entered the drawing-room of +the Great House, they found that Lady Julia had arrived just before +them. Lady Julia immediately took hold of Lily, and had her apart, +having a word or two to say about the clerk at the Income-tax Office. I +am not sure but what the dear old woman sometimes said a few more words +than were expedient, with a view to the object which she had so closely +at heart. 'John is to be with us the first week in February,' she said. +'I suppose you'll see him before that, as he'll probably be with his +mother a few days before he comes to me.'' + +'I daresay we shall see him quite in time, Lady Julia,' said Lily. + +'Now, Lily, don't be ill-natured.' + +'I'm the most good-natured young woman alive, Lady Julia; and as for +Johnny, he is always as welcome at the Small House as violets in March. +Mamma purrs about him when he comes, asking all manner of flattering +questions as though he were a cabinet minister at least, and I always +admire some little knickknack that he has got, a new ring, or a stud, or +a button. There isn't another man in all the world whose buttons I'd +look at.' + +'It isn't his buttons, Lily.' + +'Ah, that's just it. I can go as far as his buttons. But, come, Lady +Julia, this is Christmas-time, and Christmas should be a holiday.' + +In the meantime Mrs Dale was occupied with her married daughter and her +son-in-law, and the squire had attached himself to poor Grace. 'You have +never been in this part of the country before, Miss Crawley,' he said. + +'No, sir.' + +'It is rather pretty just about here, and Guestwick Manor is a fine +place in its way, but we have not so much natural beauty as you have in +Barsetshire. Chaldicote Chase is, I think, as pretty as anything in +England.' + +'I never saw Chaldicote Chase, sir. It isn't pretty at all at +Hogglestock, where we live.' + +'Ah, I forgot. No; it is not very pretty at Hogglestock. That's where +the bricks come from.' + +'Papa is clergyman at Hogglestock.' + +'Yes, yes; I remember. Your father is a great scholar. I have often +heard of him. I am sorry he should be distressed by this charge they +have made. But it will all come right in the assizes. They always get at +the truth there. I used to be intimate with a clergyman in Barsetshire +of the name of Grantly'--Grace felt that her ears were tingling, and +that her face was red--'Archdeacon Grantly. His father was bishop of the +diocese.' + +'Yes, sir. Archdeacon Grantly lives at Plumstead.' + +'I was staying once with an old friend of mine, Mr Thorne of Ullathorne, +who lives close to Plumstead, and saw a good deal of them. I remember +thinking Henry Grantly was a very nice lad. He married afterwards.' + +'Yes sir; but his wife is dead now, and he has got a little girl--Edith +Grantly.' + +'Is there no other child?' + +'No sir; only Edith.' + +'You know him, then?' + +'Yes sir; I know Major Grantly--and Edith. I never saw Archdeacon +Grantly.' + +'Then, my dear, you never saw a very famous pillar of the Church. I +remember when people used to talk a great deal about Archdeacon Grantly; +but when his time came to be made a bishop, he was not sufficiently +new-fangled; and so he got passed by. He is much better off as he is, I +should say. Bishops have to work very hard, my dear.' + +'Do they, sir?' + +'So they tell me. And the archdeacon is a wealthy man. So Henry +Grantly has got an only daughter? I hope she is a nice child, for I +remember liking him well.' + +'She is a very nice child, indeed Mr Dale. She could not be nicer. And +she is so lovely.' Then Mr Dale looked into his young companion's face, +struck by the sudden animation of her words, and perceived for the first +time that she was very pretty. + +After this Grace became accustomed to the strangeness of the faces round +her, and managed to eat her dinner without much perturbation of spirit. +When after dinner the squire proposed to her that they should drink the +health of her papa and mamma, she was almost reduced to tears, and yet +she liked him for doing it. It was terrible to her to have them +mentioned, knowing as she did that everyone who mentioned them must be +aware of their misery--for the misfortune of her father had become +notorious in the country; but it was almost terrible to her that no +allusion should be made to them; for then she would be driven to think +that her father was regarded as a man whom the world could not afford to +mention. 'Papa and mamma,' she just murmured, raising her glass to her +lips. 'Grace, dear,' said Lily from across the table, 'here's papa and +mamma, and the young man at Malborough who is carrying everything before +him.' 'Yes; and we won't forget the young man at Malborough,' said the +squire. Grace felt this to be good-natured, because her brother at +Malborough was the one bright spot in her family--and she was comforted. + +'And we will drink the health of my friend, John Eames,' said Lady +Julia. + +'John Eames's health,' said the squire, in a low voice. + +'Johnny's health,' said Mrs Dale; but Mrs Dale's voice was not very +brisk. + +'John's health,' said Dr Crofts and Mrs Crofts, in a breath. + +'Here's the health of John Eames,' said Lily; and her voice was the +clearest and boldest of them all. But she made up her mind that if Lady +Julia could not be induced to spare her for the future, she and Lady +Julia must quarrel. 'No one can understand,' she said to her mother that +evening, 'how dreadful it is--this being constantly told before one's +family and friends that one ought to marry a certain young man.' + +'She didn't say that, my dear.' + +'I should much prefer that she should, then I could get up on my legs +and answer her off the reel.' Of course everybody there understood what +she meant--including old John Bates, who stood at the sideboard and +coolly drank the toast himself. + +'He always does that to all the family toasts on Christmas Day. Your +uncle likes it.' + +'That wasn't a family toast, and John Bates had no right to drink it.' + +After dinner they all played cards--a round game--and the squire put in +the stakes. 'Now, Grace,' said Lily, 'you are the visitor and you must +win, or else Uncle Christopher won't be happy. He always likes a young +lady visitor to win.' + +'But I never played a game of cards in my life.' + +'Go and sit next to him, and he'll teach you. Uncle Christopher, won't +you teach Grace Crawley? She never saw a Pope Joan board in her life +before.' + +'Come here, my dear, and sit next to me. Dear, dear, dear; fancy Henry +Grantly having a little girl. What a handsome lad he was. And it seems +only yesterday.' If it was so that Lily had said a word to her uncle +about Grace and the major, the old squire had become on a sudden very +sly. Be that as it may, Grace Crawley thought he was a pleasant old man; +and though, while talking to him about Edith, she persisted in not +learning to play Pope Joan, so that he could not contrive that she +should win, nevertheless the squire took to her very kindly, and told +her to come up with Lily and see him sometimes while she was staying at +the Small House. The squire in speaking of his sister-in-law's cottage +always called it the Small House. + +'Only think of winning,' said Lady Julia, drawing together her wealth. +'Well, I'm sure I want it bad enough, for I don't at all know whether +I've got any income of my own. It's all John Eames's fault, my dear, for +he won't go and make those people settle it in Lincoln's Inn Fields.' +Poor Lily, who was standing on the hearth-rug, touched her mother's +arms. She knew Johnny's name was lugged in with reference to Lady +Julia's money altogether for her benefit. 'I wonder whether she had a +Johnny of her own,' she said to her mother, 'and if so, whether she +liked it when her friends sent the town-crier round to talk about him.' + +'She means to be good-natured,' said Mrs Dale. + +'Of course she does. But it is such a pity when people won't +understand.' + +'My uncle didn't bite you after all, Grace,' said Lily to her friend as +they were going home at night, by the pathway which led from the garden +of one house to the garden of the other. + +'I like Mr Dale very much,' said Grace. 'He was very kind to me.' + +'There is some queer-looking animal of whom they say that he is better +than he looks, and I always think of that saying when I think of my +uncle.' + +'For shame, Lily,' said her mother. 'Your uncle, for his age, is as +good looking a man as I know. And he always looks like just what he +is--an English gentleman.' + +'I didn't mean to say a word against his dear old face and figure, +mamma; but his heart and mind, and general disposition, as they come out +in experience and days of trial, are so much better than the samples of +them which he puts out on the counter for men and women to judge by. He +wears well, and he washes well--if you know what I mean, Grace.' + +'Yes; I think I know what you mean.' + +'The Apollos of the world--I don't mean in outward looks, mamma--but +the Apollos in heart, the men--and the women too--who are so full of +feeling, so soft-natured, so kind, who never say a cross word, who never +get out of bed on the wrong side in the morning--it so often turns out +that they won't wash.' + +Such was the expression of Miss Dale's experience. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +MR CRAWLEY IS SUMMONED TO BARCHESTER + +The scene which occurred in Hogglestock church on the Sunday after Mr +Thumble's first visit to the parish had not been described with accuracy +either by the archdeacon in his letter to his son, or by Mrs Thorne. +There had been no footman from the palace in attendance on Mr Thumble, +nor had there been a battle with the brickmakers; neither had Mr Thumble +been put under the pump. But Mr Thumble had gone over, taking his gown +and surplice with him, on the Sunday morning, and had intimated to Mr +Crawley his intention of performing the service. Mr Crawley, in answer +to this, had assured Mr Thumble that he would not be allowed to open his +mouth in the church; and Mr Thumble, not seeing his way to any further +successful action, had contented himself with attending the services in +his surplice, making thereby a silent protest that he, and not Mr +Crawley, ought to have been in the reading-desk and the pulpit. + +When Mr Trumble reported himself and his failure to the palace, he +strove hard to avoid seeing Mrs Proudie, but not successfully. He knew +something of the palace habits, and did manage to reach the bishop alone +on the Sunday evening, justifying himself to his lordship for such an +interview by the remarkable circumstances of the case and the importance +of his late mission. Mrs Proudie always went to church on Sunday +evenings, making a point of hearing three services and three sermons +every Sunday of her life. On week-days she seldom heard any, having an +idea that week-day services were an invention of the High Church enemy, +and that they should therefore be vehemently discouraged. Services on +saints' days she regarded as rank papacy, and had been known to accuse a +clergyman's wife to her face, of idolatry because the poor lady had +dated a letter, St John's Eve. Mr Thumble, on this Sunday evening, was +successful in finding the bishop at home, and alone, but he was not +lucky enough to get away before Mrs Proudie returned. The bishop, +perhaps, thought that the story of the failure had better reach his +wife's ears from Mr Thumble's lips than from his own. + +'Well, Mr Thumble?' said Mrs Proudie, walking into the study, armed in +her full Sunday-evening winter panoply, in which she had just descended +from her carriage. The church which Mrs Proudie attended in the evening +was nearly half a mile from the palace, and the coachman and groom never +got a holiday on Sunday night. She was gorgeous in a dark brown silk +dress of awful stiffness and terrible dimensions; and on her shoulders +she wore a short cloak of velvet and fur, very handsome withal, but so +swelling in its proportions on all sides as necessarily to create more +of dismay than of admiration in the mind of any ordinary man. And her +bonnet was a monstrous helmet with the beaver up, displaying the awful +face of the warrior, always ready for combat, and careless to guard +itself from attack. The large contorted bows which she bore were as a +grisly crest upon her casque, beautiful doubtless, but majestic and +fear-compelling. In her hand she carried her armour all complete, a +prayer-book, a Bible, and a book of hymns. These the footman had brought +for her to the study door, but she had thought it fit to enter her +husband's room with them in her own custody. + +'Well, Mr Thumble!' she said. + +Mr Thumble did not answer at once, thinking, probably, that the bishop +might choose to explain the circumstances. But neither did the bishop +say anything. + +'Well, Mr Thumble?' she said again; and then she stood looking at the +man who had failed so disastrously. + +'I have explained to the bishop,' said he. 'Mr Crawley has been +contumacious--very contumacious indeed.' + +'But you preached at Hogglestock?' + +'No, indeed, Mrs Proudie. Nor would it have been possible, unless I had +the police to assist me.' + +'Then you should have had the police. I never heard of anything so +mismanaged in all my life--never in all my life.' And she put her books +down on the study table, and turned herself round from Mr Thumble +towards the bishop. 'If things go on like this, my lord,' she said, +'your authority in the diocese will very soon be worth nothing at all.' +It was not often that Mrs Proudie called her husband my lord, but when +she did so, it was a sign that terrible times had come;--times so +terrible that the bishop would know that he must either fight or fly. He +would almost endure anything rather than descend into the arena for the +purpose of doing battle with his wife, but occasions would come now and +again when even the alternatives of flight were hardly left to him. + +'But, my dear--' began the bishop. + +'Am I to understand that this man has professed himself to be altogether +indifferent to the bishop's prohibition?' said Mrs Proudie, interrupting +her husband and addressing Mr Thumble. + +'Quite so. He seemed to think that the bishop had no lawful power in +the matter at all,' said Mr Thumble. + +'Do you hear that, my lord?' said Mrs Proudie. + +'Nor have I any,' said the bishop, almost weeping as he spoke. + +'No authority in your own diocese!' + +'None to silence a man merely by my own judgment. I thought, and still +think, that it was for this gentleman's own interest, as well as for the +credit of the Church, that some provision should be made for his duties +during the present--present--difficulties.' + +'Difficulties indeed! Everybody knows that the man has been a thief.' + +'No, my dear; I do not know it.' + +'You never know anything, bishop.' + +'I mean to say I do not know it officially. Of course, I have heard the +sad story; and though I hope it may not be--' + +'There is no doubt about its truth. All the world knows it. He has +stolen twenty pounds, and yet he is to be allowed to desecrate the +Church, and imperil the souls of the people!' The bishop got up from his +chair and began to walk backwards and forwards through the room with +short quick steps. 'It only wants five days to Christmas Day,' continued +Mrs Proudie, 'and something must be done at once. I say nothing as to +the propriety or impropriety of his being out on bail, as it is no +affair of ours. When I heard that he had been bailed by a beneficed +clergyman of this diocese, of course I knew where to look for the man +who would act with so much impropriety. Of course I was not surprised, +when I found that that person belonged to Framley. But, as I have said +before, that is no business of ours. I hope, Mr Thumble, that the bishop +will never be found interfering with the ordinary laws of the land. I am +very sure that he will never do so by my advice. But when there comes a +question of inhibiting a clergyman who has committed himself as that +clergyman unfortunately has done, then I say that that clergyman ought +to be inhibited.' The bishop walked up and down the room throughout the +whole of this speech, but gradually his steps became quicker, and his +turns became shorter. 'And now here is Christmas Day upon us, and what +is to be done?' With these words Mrs Proudie finished her speech. + +'Mr Thumble,' said the bishop, 'perhaps you had better now retire. I am +very sorry that you should have had so thankless and so disagreeable a +task.' + +'Why should Mr Thumble retire?' asked Mrs Proudie. + +'I think it better,' said the bishop. 'Mr Thumble, good-night.' Then Mr +Thumble did retire, and Mrs Proudie stood forth in her full panoply of +armour, silent and awful, with her helmet erect, and vouchsafed no +recognition whatever of the parting salutation which Mr Thumble greeted +her. 'My dear, the truth is, you do not understand the matter,' said the +bishop, as soon as the door was closed. 'You do not know how limited is +my power.' + +'Bishop, I understand it a great deal better than some people; and I +understand also what is due to myself and the manner in which I ought to +be treated by you in the presence of the subordinate clergy of the +diocese. I shall not, however, remain here to be insulted in the +presence or absence of anyone.' Then the conquered amazon collected +together her weapons which she had laid upon the table, and took her +departure with majestic step, and not without the clang of arms. The +bishop, when he was left alone, enjoyed for a few moments the triumph of +victory. + +But then he was left so very much alone! When he looked round about him +upon his solitude after the departure of his wife, and remembered that +he should not see her again till he should encounter on ground that was +all her own, he regretted his own success, and was tempted to follow her +and to apologise. He was unable to do anything alone. He would not even +know how to get his tea, as the very servants would ask questions, if he +were to do so unaccustomed a thing as to order it to be brought up to +him in his solitude. They would tell him that Mrs Proudie was having tea +in her little sitting-room upstairs, or else that the things were laid +in the drawing-room. He did wander forth to the latter apartment, hoping +that he might find his wife there; but the drawing-room was dark and +deserted, and so he wandered back again. It was a grand thing certainly +to have triumphed over his wife, and there was a crumb of comfort in the +thought that he had vindicated himself before Mr Thumble; but the +general result was not comforting, and he knew from old how short-lived +his triumph would be. + +But wretched as he was during that evening he did employ himself with +some energy. After much thought he resolved that he would again write to +Mr Crawley, and summon him to appear at the palace. In doing this he +would at any rate be doing something. There would be action. And though +Mr Crawley would, as he thought, decline to obey the order, something +would be gained even by that disobedience. So he wrote his +summons--sitting very fortless and all alone on that Sunday +evening--dating his letter, however, for the following day:-- + +'PALACE, December 20, 186- +'REVEREND SIR, + +'I have just heard from Mr Thumble that you have +declined to accede to the advice which I thought it my +duty to tender to you as the bishop who has been set +over you by the Church, and that you yesterday +insisted on what you believed to be your right, to +administer the services of the parish church of +Hogglestock. This has occasioned me the deepest +regret. It is, I think, unavailing that I should further +write to you my mind upon the subject, as I possess +such strong evidence that my written word will not be +respected by you. I have therefore no alternative now +but to invite you to come to me here; and this I do, +hoping that I may induce you to listen to the +authority which I cannot but suppose you acknowledge +to be vested in the office which I hold. + +'I shall be glad to see you tomorrow, Tuesday, +as near the hour of two as you can make it convenient +to yourself to be here, and I will take care to order +that refreshment will be provided for yourself and +your horse.--I am, Reverend Sir, &c, &c, &c. + +'THOS. BARNUM' + +'My dear,' he said, when he did again encounter his wife that night, 'I +have written to Mr Crawley, and I thought I might as well bring up the +copy of my letter.' + +'I wash my hands of the whole affair,' said Mrs Proudie--'of the whole +affair.' + +'But you will look at the letter?' + +'Certainly not. Why should I look at the letter? My word goes for +nothing. I have done what I could, but in vain. Now let us see how you +manage it yourself.' + +The bishop did not pass a comfortable night; but in the morning his wife +did read the letter, and after that things went a little smoother with +him. She was pleased to say that, considering all things; seeing, as she +could not help seeing, that the matter had been dreadfully mismanaged, +and that great weakness had been displayed;--seeing that these faults +had already been committed, perhaps no better step could now be taken +than that proposed in the letter. + +'I suppose he will not come,' said the bishop. + +'I think he will,' said Mrs Proudie, 'and I trust that we may be able to +convince him that obedience will be the best course. He will be more +humble-minded here than at Hogglestock.' In saying this the lady showed +some knowledge of the general nature of clergymen and of the world at +large. She understood how much louder a cock can crow in his own +farmyard than elsewhere, and knew that episcopal authority, backed by +all the solemn awe of palatial grandeur, goes much further than it will +do when sent under the folds of an ordinary envelope. But though she +understood ordinary human nature, it may be that she did not understand +Mr Crawley's nature. + +But she was at any rate right in her idea as to Mr Crawley's immediate +reply. The palace groom who rode over to Hogglestock returned with an +immediate answer. + +'MY LORD'--said Mr Crawley, + +'I will obey your lordship's summons, and, +unless impediments should arise, I will wait upon your +lordship at the hour you name tomorrow. I will not +trespass on your hospitality. For myself, I rarely +break bread in any house but my own; and as to the +horse, I have none--I have the honour to by, My lord, +&c, &c, + +JOSIAH CRAWLEY' + +'Of course I shall go,' he had said to his wife as soon as he had time +to read the letter, and make known to her the contents. 'I shall go if +it be possible for me to get there. I think that I am bound to comply +with the bishop's wishes in so much as that.' + +'But how will you get there, Josiah?' + +'I will walk--with the Lord's aid.' + +Now Hogglestock was fifteen miles from Barchester, and Mr Crawley was, +as his wife well knew, by no means fitted in his present state for great +physical exertion. But from the tone in which he had replied to her, she +well knew that it would not avail for her to remonstrate at the moment. +He had walked more than thirty miles in a day since he had been living +at Hogglestock, and she did not doubt but that it might be possible for +him to do it again. Any scheme, which she might be able to devise for +saving him from so terrible a journey in the middle of winter, must be +pondered over silently, and brought to bear, if not slyly, at least +deftly, and without discussion. She made no reply therefore when he +declared on the following day he would walk to Barchester and back--with +the Lord's aid; nor did she see, or ask to see the note which he sent to +the bishop. When the messenger was gone, Mr Crawley was all alert, +looking forward with evident glee to his encounter with the +bishop--snorting like a racehorse at the expected triumph of the coming +struggle. And he read much Greek with Jane on that afternoon, pouring +into her young ears, almost with joyous rapture, his appreciation of the +glory and the pathos and the humanity also, of the awful tragedy of the +story of Oedipus. His very soul was on fire at the idea of clutching the +weak bishop in his hand, and crushing him with his strong grasp. + +In the afternoon Mrs Crawley slipped out to a neighbouring farmer's +wife, and returned in an hour's time with a little story which she did +not tell with any appearance of satisfaction. She had learned well what +were the little tricks necessary to the carrying of such a matter as she +now had in hand. Mr Mangle, the farmer, as it happened, was going +tomorrow morning in his tax-cart as far as Framley Mill, and would be +delighted if Mr Crawley would take a seat. He must remain at Framley the +best part of the afternoon, and hoped that Mr Crawley would take a seat +back again. Now Framley Mill was only a half mile off the direct road to +Barchester, and was almost half way from Hogglestock parsonage to the +city. This would, at any rate, bring the walk within a practicable +distance. Mr Crawley was instantly placed upon his guard, like an animal +that sees the bait and suspects the trap. Had he been told that farmer +Mangle was going all the way to Barchester, nothing would have induced +him to get into the cart. He would have felt sure that farmer Mangle had +been persuaded to pity him in his poverty and his strait, and he would +sooner have started to walk to London than have put a foot upon the step +of the cart. But this lift half way did look to him as if it were really +fortuitous. His wife could hardly have been cunning enough to persuade +the farmer to go to Framley, conscious that the trap would have been +suspected had the bait been more full. But I fear--I fear the dear good +woman had been thus cunning--had understood how far the trap might be +baited, and had thus succeeded in catching her prey. + +On the following morning he consented to get into farmer Mangle's cart, +and was driven as far as Framley Mill. 'I wouldn't think nowt, your +reverence, of running you over to Barchester--that I wouldn't. The powny +is so mortal good.,' said farmer Mangle in his foolish good-nature. + +'And how about your business here?' said Mr Crawley. The farmer +scratched his head, remembering Mrs Crawley's injunctions, and awkwardly +acknowledged that to be sure his own business with the miller was very +pressing. Then Mr Crawley descended, terribly suspicious, and went on +his journey. + +'Anyways, your reverence will call for me coming back?' said the farmer +Mangle. But Mr Crawley would make no promise. He bade the farmer not +wait for him. If they chanced to meet together on the road he might get +up again. If the man really had business at Framley, how could he have +offered to go on to Barchester? Were they deceiving him? The wife of his +bosom had deceived him in such matters before now. But his trouble in +this respect was soon dissipated by the pride of his anticipated triumph +over the bishop. He took great glory from the thought that he would go +before the bishop with dirty boots--with boots necessarily dirty--with +rusty pantaloons, that he would be hot and mud-stained with his walk, +hungry, and an object to be wondered at by all who should see him, +because the misfortunes which had been unworthily heaped upon his head; +whereas the bishop would be sleek and clean and well-fed--pretty with +all the prettinesses that are becoming to a bishop's outward man. And +he, Mr Crawley, would be humble, whereas the bishop would be proud. And +the bishop would be in his own armchair--the cock in his own farmyard, +while he, Mr Crawley, would be seated afar off, in the cold extremity of +the room, with nothing of outward circumstances to assist him--a man +called thither to undergo censure. And yet he would take the bishop in +his grasp and crush him--crush him--crush him! As he thought of this he +walked quickly through the mud, and put out his long arm and his great +hand, far before him into the air, and there and then, he crushed the +bishop in his imagination. Yes, indeed! He thought it very doubtful +whether the bishop would ever send for him a second time. And as this +passed through his mind, he forgot his wife's cunning, and farmer +Mangle's sin, and for the moment he was happy. + +As he turned a corner round by Lord Lufton's park paling, who should he +meet but his old friend Mr Robarts, the parson of Framley--the parson +who had committed the sin of being bail for him--the sin, that is, +according to Mrs Proudie's view of the matter. He was walking with his +hand still stretched out--still crushing the bishop, when Mr Robarts was +close upon him. + +'What, Crawley! upon my word I am very glad to see you; you are coming +to me, of course?' + +'Thank you, Mr Robarts; no, not today. The bishop has summoned me to +his presence, and I am on my road to Barchester.' + +'But how are you going?' + +'I shall walk. + +'Walk to Barchester. Impossible!' + +'I hope not quite impossible, Mr Robarts. I trust I shall get as far +before two o'clock; but to do so I must be on my road.' Then he showed +signs of a desire to go upon his way without further parley. + +'But, Crawley, do let me send you over. There is the horse and gig +doing nothing.' + +'Thank you, Mr Robarts; no. I should prefer to walk today.' + +'And you have walked from Hogglestock?' + +'No;--not so. A neighbour coming hither, who happened to have business +at your mill--he brought me so far in his cart. The walk home will be +nothing--nothing. I shall enjoy it. Good morning, Mr Robarts.' + +But Mr Robarts thought of the dirty road and of the bishop's presence, +and of his own ideas of what would be becoming for a clergyman--and +persevered. 'You will find the lanes so very muddy; and our bishop, you +know, is apt to notice such things. Do be persuaded.' + +'Notice what things?' demanded Mr Crawley, in an indignant tone. + +'He, or perhaps she rather, will say how dirty your shoes were when you +came to the palace.' + +'If he, or she, can find nothing unclean about me but my shoes, let them +say their worst. I shall be very indifferent. I have long ceased, Mr +Robarts, to care much what any man or woman may say about my shoes. Good +morning.' Then he stalked on, clutching and crushing in his hand the +bishop, and the bishop's wife, and the whole diocese--and all the Church +of England. Dirty shoes, indeed! Whose was the fault that there were in +the church so many feet soiled by unmerited poverty, and so many hands +soiled by undeserved wealth? If the bishop did not like his shoes, let +the bishop dare tell him so! So he walked on through the thick of the +mud, by no means picking his way. + +He walked fast, and he found himself in the close half an hour before +the time named by the bishop. But on no account would he have rung the +palace bell one minute before two o'clock. So he walked up and down +under the towers of the cathedral, and cooled himself, and looked up at +the pleasant plate-glass in the windows of the house of his friend the +dean, and told himself how, in their college days, he and the dean had +been quite equal--quite equal, except by the voices of all qualified +judges in the university, he, Mr Crawley, had been acknowledged the +riper scholar. And now the Mr Arabin of those days was Dean of +Barchester--travelling abroad luxuriously at the moment for his delight, +while he, Crawley, was perpetual curate at Hogglestock, and had now +walked into Barchester at the command of the bishop, because he was +suspected of having stolen twenty pounds! When he had fully imbued his +mind with the injustice of all this, his time was up, and he walked +boldly to the bishop's gate, and boldly rang the bishop's bell. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE BISHOP OF BARCHESTER IS CRUSHED + +Who inquires why it is that a little greased flour rubbed in among the +hair on a footman's head--just one dab here and another there--gives +such a tone of high life to the family? And seeing that the thing is so +easily done, why do not more people attempt it? The tax on hair powder +is but thirteen shillings a year. It may, indeed, be that the slightest +dab in the world justifies the wearer in demanding hot meat three times +a day, and wine at any rate on Sundays. I think, however, that a +bishop's wife may enjoy the privilege without such heavy attendant +expense; otherwise the man who opened the bishop's door to Mr Crawley +would hardly have been so ornamental. + +The man asked for a card. 'My name is Mr Crawley,' said our friend. +'The bishop desired me to come to him at this hour. Will you be pleased +to tell him that I am here.' The man again asked for a card. 'I am not +bound to carry with me my name printed on a ticket,' said Mr Crawley. +'If you cannot remember it, give me a pencil and paper, and I will write +it.' The servant, somewhat awed by the stranger's manner, brought pen +and paper, and Mr Crawley wrote his name:-- + +'THE REV JOSHUA CRAWLEY, M.A., +Perpetual Curate of Hogglestock' + +He was then ushered into a waiting-room, but, to his disappointment, was +not kept there waiting long. Within three minutes he was ushered into +the bishop's study, and into the presence of the two great luminaries of +the diocese. He was at first somewhat disconcerted by finding Mrs +Proudie in the room. In the imaginary conversation with the bishop which +he had been preparing on the road, he had conceived that the bishop +would be attended by a chaplain, and he had suited his words to the +joint discomfiture of the bishop and of the lower clergyman;--but now +the line of his battle must be altered. This was no doubt an injury, but +he trusted to his courage and readiness to enable him to surmount it. He +had left his hat behind him in the waiting room, but he kept his old +short cloak still upon his shoulders; and when he entered the bishop's +room his hands and arms were hid beneath it. There was something lowly +in this constrained gait. It showed at least that he had no idea of +being asked to shake hands with the august persons he might meet. And +his head was somewhat bowed, though his great, bald, broad forehead +showed itself so prominent, that neither the bishop nor Mrs Proudie +could drop it from their sight during the whole interview. He was a man +who when seen could hardly be forgotten. The deep angry remonstrant +eyes, the shaggy eyebrows, telling tales of frequent anger--of anger +frequent but generally silent--the repressed indignation of the habitual +frown, the long nose and large powerful mouth, the deep furrows on the +cheek, and the general look of thought and suffering, all combined to +make the appearance of the man remarkable, and to describe to the +beholders at once his true character. No one ever on seeing Mr Crawley +took him to be a happy man, or a weak man, or an ignorant man, or a wise +man. + +'You are very punctual, Mr Crawley,' said the bishop. Mr Crawley simply +bowed his head, still keeping his hands beneath his cloak. 'Will you not +take a chair nearer to the fire?' Mr Crawley had not seated himself, but +had placed himself in front of a chair at the extreme end of the +room--resolved that he would not use it unless he were duly asked. + +'Thank you, my lord,' he said. 'I am warm with walking, and if you +please, will avoid the fire.' + +'You have not walked, Mr Crawley?' + +'Yes, my lord; I have been walking.' + +'Not from Hogglestock!' + +Now this was a matter which Mr Crawley certainly did not mean to discuss +with the bishop. It might be well for the bishop to demand his presence +in the palace, but it could be no part of the bishop's duty to inquire +how he got there. 'That, my lord, is a matter of no moment,' said he. 'I +am glad at any rate that I have been enable to obey your lordship's +order in coming hither on this morning.' + +Hitherto Mrs Proudie had not said a word. She stood back in the room, +near the fire--more backward a good deal than she was accustomed to do +when clergymen made their ordinary visits. On such occasions she would +come forward and shake hands with them graciously--graciously, even if +proudly; but she had felt that she must do nothing of that kind now; +there must be no shaking hands with a man who had stolen a cheque for +twenty pounds! It might probably be necessary to keep Mr Crawley at a +distance, and therefore she had remained in the background. But Mr +Crawley seemed disposed to keep himself in the background, and therefore +she could speak. 'I hope your wife and children are well, Mr Crawley' +she said. + +'Thank you, madam, my children are quite well, and Mrs Crawley suffers +no special ailment at present.' + +'That is much to be thankful for, Mr Crawley.' Whether he were or were +not thankful for such mercies as these was no business of the bishop or +of the bishop's wife. That was between him and his God. So he would not +even bow to this civility, but sat with his head erect, and with a great +frown on his heavy brow. + +Then the bishop rose from his chair to speak, intending to take up a +position on the rug. But as he did so Mr Crawley, who had also seated +himself on an intimation that he was expected to sit down, rose also, +and the bishop found that he would thus lose his expected vantage. 'Will +you not be seated, Mr Crawley?' said the bishop. Mr Crawley smiled, but +stood his ground. Then the bishop returned to his arm-chair, and Mr +Crawley also sat down again. 'Mr Crawley,' began the bishop, 'this +matter which the other day came before the magistrates at Silverbridge +has been a most unfortunate affair. It has given me, I can assure you, +the most sincere pain.' + +Mr Crawley had made up his mind how far the bishop should be allowed to +go without a rebuke. He had told himself that it would only be natural, +and would not be unbecoming, that the bishop should allude to a meeting +of the magistrates and to the alleged theft, and that therefore such +allusions should be endured with patient humility. And, moreover, the +more rope he gave the bishop, the more likely the bishop would be to +entangle himself. It certainly was Mr Crawley's wish that the bishop +should entangle himself. He, therefore, replied, very meekly. 'It has +been most unfortunate, my lord.' + +'I have felt for Mrs Crawley very deeply,' said Mrs Proudie. Mr Crawley +now made up his mind that as long as it was possible he would ignore the +presence of Mrs Proudie altogether; and, therefore, he made no sign that +he had heard the latter remark. + +'It has been most unfortunate,' continued the bishop. 'I have never +before had a clergyman in my diocese placed in so distressing a +position.' + +'That is a matter of opinion, my lord,' said Mr Crawley, who at that +moment thought of a crisis that had come in the life of another +clergyman in the diocese of Barchester, and the circumstances of which +he had by chance become acquainted. + +'Exactly,' said the bishop. 'And I am expressing my opinion.' Mr +Crawley, who understood fighting, did not think the time had yet come +for striking a blow, so he simply bowed again. 'A most unfortunate +position, Mr Crawley,' continued the bishop. 'Far be it from me to +express an opinion on the matter, which will have to come before a jury +of your countrymen. It is enough for me to know that the magistrates +assembled at Silverbridge, gentlemen to whom no doubt you must be known, +as most of them live in your neighbourhood, have heard evidence upon the +subject--' + +'Most convincing evidence,' said Mrs Proudie, interrupting her husband. +Mr Crawley's black brow became a little blacker as he heard the word, +but he still ignored the woman. He not only did not speak, but did not +turn his eyes upon her. + +'They have heard the evidence on the subject,' continued the bishop, +'and they have thought it proper to refer the decision as to your +innocence or your guilt to a jury of your countrymen.' + +'And they were right,' said Mr Crawley. + +'Very possibly. I don't deny it. Probably,' said the bishop, whose +eloquence was somewhat disturbed by Mr Crawley's ready acquiescence. + +'Of course they were right,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'At any rate it is so,' said the bishop. 'You are in a position of a +man amenable to the criminal laws of the land.' + +'There are no criminal laws, my lord,' said Mr Crawley; 'but to such +laws as there are we are all amenable--your lordship and I alike.' + +'But you are so in a very particular way. I do not wish to remind you +what might be your condition now, but for the interposition of private +friends.' + +'I should be in the condition of a man not guilty before the law; +--guiltless as far as the law goes--but kept in durance, nor for the +faults of his own, but because otherwise, by reason of laches in the +police, his presence at the assizes might not be ensured. In such a +position a man's reputation is made to hang for a while on the trust +which some friends or neighbours may have in it. I do not say the test +is a good one.' + +'You would have been put in prison, Mr Crawley, because the magistrates +were of the opinion that you had taken Mr Soames's cheque,' said Mrs +Proudie. On this occasion he did look at her. He turned one glance upon +her from under his eyebrows, but he did not speak. + +'With all that I have nothing to do,' said the bishop. + +'Nothing whatever, my lord,' said Mr Crawley. + +'But, bishop, I think you have,' said Mrs Proudie. 'The judgment formed +by the magistrates as to the conduct of one of your clergymen makes it +imperative upon you to act in the matter.' + +'Yes, my dear, yes; I am coming to that. What Mrs Proudie says is +perfectly true. I have been constrained most unwillingly to take action +in the matter. It is undoubtedly the fact that you must at the next +assizes surrender yourself at the court-house yonder, to be tried for +this offence against the laws.' + +'That is true. If I be alive, and have strength sufficient, I shall be +there.' + +'You must be there,' said Mrs Proudie. 'The police will look to that, +Mr Crawley.' She was becoming very angry in that the man would not +answer her a word. On this occasion he did not even look at her. + +'Yes; you will be there,' said the bishop. 'Now that is, to say the +least of it, an unseemly position for a beneficed clergyman.' + +'You said before, my lord, that it was an unfortunate position, and the +word, methinks, was better chosen.' + +'It is very unseemly, very unseemly indeed,' said Mrs Proudie; 'nothing +could possibly be more unseemly. The bishop might very properly have +used a much stronger word.' + +'Under these circumstances,' continued the bishop, 'looking to the +welfare of your parish, to the welfare of the diocese, and allow me to +say, Mr Crawley, to the welfare of yourself also--' + +'And especially the souls of the people,' said Mrs Proudie. + +The bishop shook his head. It is hard to be impressively eloquent when +one is interrupted at every best turning period, even by a supporting +voice. 'Yes;--and looking of course to the religious interests of your +people, Mr Crawley, I came to the conclusion that it would be expedient +that you should cease your ministrations for a while.' The bishop +paused, and Mr Crawley bowed his head. 'I, therefore, sent over to you a +gentleman with whom I am well acquainted, Mr Thumble, with a letter from +myself, in which I endeavoured to impress upon you, without the use of +any severe language, what my convictions were.' + +'Severe words are often the best mercy,' said Mrs Proudie. Mr Crawley +had raised his hand, with his finger out, preparatory to answering the +bishop. But as Mrs Proudie had spoken he dropped his finger and was +silent. + +'Mr Thumble brought me back your written reply,' continued the bishop, +'by which I was grieved to find that you were not willing to submit +yourself to my counsel in the matter.' + +'I was most unwilling, my lord. Submission to authority is at times +a duty;--and at times opposition to authority is a duty also.' + +'Opposition to just authority cannot be a duty, Mr Crawley.' + +'Opposition to usurped authority is an imperative duty,' said Mr +Crawley. + +'And who is to be the judge?' demanded Mrs Proudie. Then there was +silence for a while; when, as Mr Crawley made no reply, the lady +repeated her question. 'Will you be pleased to answer my question, sir? +Who, in such case, is to be the judge?' But Mr Crawley did not please to +answer the question. 'The man is obstinate,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'I had better proceed,' said the bishop. 'Mr Thumble brought me back +your reply, which grieved me greatly.' + +'It was contumacious and indecent,' said Mrs Proudie. + +The bishop again shook his head and looked so utterly miserable that a +smile came across Mr Crawley's face. After all, others beside himself +had their troubles and trials. Mrs Proudie saw and understood the smile, +and became more angry than ever. She drew her chair close to the table, +and began to fidget with her fingers among the papers. She had never +before encountered a clergyman so contumacious, so indecent, so +unreverend--so upsetting. She had had to deal with men difficult to +manage--the archdeacon for instance; but the archdeacon had never been +so impertinent to her as this man. She had quarrelled once openly with a +chaplain of her husband's, a clergyman whom she herself had introduced +to her husband, and who had treated her very badly;--but not so badly, +not with such unscrupulous violence, as she was now encountering from +this ill-clothed beggarly man, this perpetual curate, with his dirty +broken boots, this already half-convicted thief! Such was her idea of +Mr Crawley's conduct to her, while she was fingering the papers--simply +because Mr Crawley would not speak to her. + +'I forget where I was,' said the bishop. 'Oh, Mr Thumble came back, and +I received your letter;--of course I received it. And I was surprised to +learn from that, that in spite of what had occurred at Silverbridge, you +were still anxious to continue the usual Sunday ministrations in your +church.' + +'I was determined that I would do my duty at Hogglestock, as long as I +might be left there to do it,' said Mr Crawley. + +'Duty!' said Mrs Proudie. + +'Just a moment, my dear,' said the bishop. 'When Sunday came, I had no +alternative but to send Mr Thumble over again to Hogglestock. It +occurred to us--to me and to Mrs Proudie--' + +'I will tell Mr Crawley just now what has occurred to me,' said Mrs +Proudie. + +'Yes;--just so. And I am sure that he will take it in good part. It +occurred to me, Mr Crawley, that your first letter might have been +written in haste.' + +'It was written in haste, my lord; your messenger was waiting.' + +'Yes;--just so. Well; so I sent him again, hoping that he might be +accepted as a messenger of peace. It was a most disagreeable mission for +any gentleman, Mr Crawley.' + +'Most disagreeable, my lord.' + +'And you refused him permission to obey the instructions which I had +given him. You would not let him read from your desk, or preach from +your pulpit.' + +'Had I been Mr Thumble,' said Mrs Proudie, 'I would have read from that +desk and I would have preached from that pulpit.' + +Mr Crawley waited for a moment, thinking that the bishop might perhaps +speak again; but as he did not, but sat expectant as though he had +finished his discourse, and now expected a reply, Mr Crawley got up from +his seat and drew near the table. 'My lord,' he began, 'it has all been +just as you said. I did answer your first letter in haste.' + +'The more shame for you,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'And therefore, for aught I know, my letter to your lordship may be so +worded as to need some apology.' + +'Of course it needs an apology,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'But of the matter of it, my lord, no apology can be made, nor is any +needed. I did refuse your messenger permission to perform the services +of my church, and if you send twenty more, I shall refuse them all--till +the time may come when it will be your lordship's duty, in accordance +with the laws of the Church--as borne out and backed by the laws of the +land, to provide during my contstrained absence for the spiritual wants +of those poor people at Hogglestock.' + +'Poor people, indeed,' said Mrs Proudie. 'Poor wretches!' + +'And, my lord, it may well be, that it shall soon be your lordship's +duty to take due and legal steps for depriving me of my benefice at +Hogglestock;--nay, probably, for silencing me altogether as to the +exercise of my sacred profession!' + +'Of course it will, sir. Your gown will be taken from you,' said Mrs +Proudie. The bishop was looking with all his eyes on the great forehead +and great eyebrows of the man, and was so fascinated by the power that +was exercised over him by the other man's strength that he hardly now +noticed his wife. + +'It may well be so, continued Mr Crawley. 'The circumstances are strong +against me; and, though your lordship may have altogether misunderstood +the nature of the duty performed by the magistrates in sending my case +for trial--although, as it seems to me, you have come to conclusions +in this matter in ignorance of the very theory of our laws--' + +'Sir!' said Mrs Proudie. + +'Yet I can foresee the probability that a jury will may discover me to +have been guilty of theft.' + +'Of course the jury will do,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'Should such a verdict be given, then, my lord, your interference will +be legal, proper, and necessary. And you will find that, even if it be +within my power to oppose obstacles to your lordship's authority, I will +oppose no such obstacle. There is, I believe, no appeal in criminal +cases.' + +'None at all,' said Mrs Proudie. 'There is no appeal against your +bishop. You should have learned that before.' + +'But till that time shall come, my lord, I shall hold my own at +Hogglestock as you hold your own here at Barchester. Nor have you any +more power to turn me out of my pulpit by your mere voice, than I have +to turn you out of your throne by mine. If you doubt me, my lord, your +lordship's ecclesiastical court is open to you. Try it there.' + +'You defy us, then?' said Mrs Proudie. + +'My lord, I grant your authority as bishop is great, but even a bishop +can only act as the laws allows him.' + +'God forbid that I should do more,' said the bishop. + +'Sir, you will find that your wicked threats will fall back upon your +own head,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'Peace, woman,' Mr Crawley said, addressing her at last. The bishop +jumped out of his chair at hearing the wife of his bosom called a woman. +But he jumped rather in admiration than in anger. He had already begun +to perceive that Mr Crawley was a man who had better be left to take +care of the souls at Hogglestock, at any rate till the trial should come +on. + +'Woman!' said Mrs Proudie, rising to her feet as though she really +intended some personal encounter. + +'Madam,' said Mr Crawley, 'you should not interfere in these matters. +You simply debase you husband's high office. The distaff is more fitted +for you. My lord, good morning.' And before either of them could speak +again, he was out of the room, and through the hall, and beyond the +gate, and standing beneath the towers of the cathedral. Yes, he had, he +thought, in truth crushed the bishop. He had succeeded in crumpling the +bishop up within the clutch of his fist. + +He started in spirit of triumph to walk back on his road towards +Hogglestock. He did not think of the long distance before him for the +first hour of his journey. He had had his victory, and the remembrance +of that braced his nerves and gave elasticity to his sinews, and he went +stalking along to road with rapid strides, muttering to himself from +time to time as he went along some word about Mrs Proudie and her +distaff. Mr Thumble would not, he thought, come to him again--not, at +any rate, till the assizes were drawing near. And he had resolved what +he would do then. When the day of his trial was near, he would himself +write to the bishop, and beg that provision might be made for his +church, in the event of the verdict going against him. His friend, Dean +Arabin, was to be home before that time, and the idea had occurred to +him of asking the dean to see to this; but now the other would be the +more independent course, and the better. And there was a matter as to +which he was not altogether well pleased with the dean, although he was +so conscious of his own peculiarities as to know that he could hardly +trust himself for a judgment. But, at any rate, he would apply to the +bishop--to the bishop whom he had just left prostrate in his palace-- +when the time of his trial should be close at hand. + +Full of such thoughts as these he went along almost gaily, nor felt the +fatigue of the road till he had covered the first five miles out of +Barchester. It was nearly four o'clock, and the thick gloom of the +winter evening was making itself felt. And then he began to be fatigued. +He had not as yet eaten since he had left his home in the morning, and +he now pulled a crust out of his pocket and leaned against a gate as he +crunched it. There were still ten miles before him, and he knew that +such an addition to the work he had already done would task him very +severely. Farmer Mangle had told him that he would not leave Framley +Mill by that time. But he had said that he would not return to Framley +Mill, and he remembered his suspicion that his wife and the farmer +between them had cozened him. No; he would persevere and walk--walk +though he should drop upon the road. He was now nearer fifty then forty +years of age, and hardships as well as time had told upon him. He knew +that the last four miles in the dark would be very sad with him. But +still he persevered, endeavouring, as he went, to cherish himself with +the remembrance of his triumph. + +He passed the turning going down to Framley with courage, but when he +came to the further turning, by which the cart would return from Framley +to the Hogglestock road, he looked wistfully down the road for farmer +Mangle. But farmer Mangle was still at the Mill, waiting in expectation +that Mr Crawley might come to him. But the poor traveller paused here +barely for a minute, and then went on, stumbling through the mud, +striking his ill-covered feet against the rough stones in the dark, +sweating in his weakness, almost tottering at times, and calculating +whether his remaining strength would serve to carry him home. He had +almost forgotten the bishop and his wife before at last he grasped the +wicket gate leading to his own door. + +'Oh, mamma, here is papa!' + +'But where is the cart? I did not hear the wheels,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'Oh, mamma, I think papa is ill.' Then the wife took her drooping +husband by both arms and strove to look him in the face. 'He has walked +all the way, and he is ill,' said Jane. + +'No, my dear, I am very tired, but not ill. Let me sit down, and give +me some bread and tea, and I shall recover myself.' Then Mrs Crawley, +from some secret hoard, got him a small modicum of spirits, and gave him +meat and tea, and he was docile; and, obeying her behests, allowed +himself to be taken to his bed. + +'I do not think the bishop will send for me again,' he said, as she +tucked the clothes around him. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WHERE DID IT COME FROM? + +When Christmas morning came no emissary from the bishop appeared at +Hogglestock to interfere with the ordinary performance of the day's +services. 'I think we need fear no further disturbance,' Mr Crawley said +to his wife--and there was no further disturbance. + +On the day after his walk from Framley to Barchester, and from +Barchester back to Hogglestock, Mr Crawley had risen not much the worse +for his labour, and had gradually given to his wife a full account of +what had taken place. 'A poor weak man,' he said, speaking of the +bishop. 'A poor weak creature, and much to be pitied.' + +'I have always heard that she is a violent woman.' + +'Very violent, and very ignorant; and most intrusive withal.' + +'And you did not answer her a word?' + +'At last my forbearance with her broke down, and I bade her mind her +distaff.' + +'What;--really? Did you say those words to her?' + +'Nay; as for the exact words I cannot remember them. I was thinking +more of the word which it might be fitting that I should answer the +bishop. But I certainly told her that she had better mind her distaff.' + +'And how did she behave then?' + +'I did not wait to see. The bishop had spoken, and I had replied; and +why should I tarry to behold the woman's violence? I had told him that +he was wrong in law, and that I at least would not submit to usurped +authority. There was nothing to keep me longer, and so I went without +much ceremony of leave-taking. There had been little ceremony of +greeting on their part, and there was less in the making of adieux on +mine. They had told me that I was a thief--' + +'No, Josiah--surely not so? They did not use that very word?' + +'I say they did;--they did use that very word. But stop. I am wrong. +I wrong his lordship, and I crave pardon for having done so. If my +memory serve me, no expression so harsh escaped from the bishop's mouth. +He gave me, indeed, to understand more than once that the action taken +by the magistrates was tantamount to a conviction, and that I must be +guilty because they had decided that there was evidence sufficient to +justify a trial. But all that arose from my lord's ignorance of the +administration of the laws of his country. He was very +ignorant--puzzle-pated, as you may call it--led by the nose by his wife, +weak as water, timid and vacillating. But he did not wish, I think, to +be insolent. It was Mrs Proudie who told me to my face that I was +a--thief.' + +'May she be punished for the cruel word!' said Mrs Crawley. 'May the +remembrance that she has spoken it come, some day, heavily upon her +heart.' + +'"Vengeance is mine. I will repay," saith the Lord,' answered Mr +Crawley. 'We may safely leave all that alone, and rid our minds of such +wishes, if it be possible. It is well, I think, that violent offences, +when committed, should be met by instant rebuke. To turn the other cheek +instantly to the smiter can hardly be suitable in these days, when the +hands of so many are raised to strike. But the return blow should be +given only while the smart remains. She hurt me then; but what is to me +now, that she called me a thief to my face? Do I not know that, all the +country round, men and woman are calling me the same behind my back?' + +'No, Josiah, you do not know that. They say the thing is very +strange--so strange that it requires a trial; but no one thinks you have +taken that which was not your own.' + +'I think I did. I myself think I took that which was not my own. My +poor head suffers so;--so many grievous thoughts distract me, that I am +like a child, and know not what I do.' As he spoke thus he put both +hands up to his head, leaning forward as though in anxious thought--as +though he were striving to bring his mind to bear with accuracy on past +events. 'It could not have been mine, and yet--' Then he sat silent, and +made no effort to continue his speech. + +'And yet?'--said his wife, encouraging him to proceed. If she could +only learn the real truth, she thought that she might perhaps yet save +him, with assistance from their friends. + +'When I said that I had gotten it from that man I must have been mad.' + +'From which man, love?' + +'From the man Soames--he who accuses me. And yet, as the Lord hears me, +I thought so then. The truth is, that there are times when I am +not--sane. I am not a thief--not before God; but I am--mad at times.' +These last words were spoken very slowly, in a whisper--without any +excitement--indeed with a composure which was horrible to witness. And +what he said was the more terrible because she was so well convinced of +the truth of his words. Of course he was no thief. She wanted no one to +tell her that. As he himself had expressed it, he was no thief before +God, however the money might have come into his possession. That there +were times when his reason, once so fine and clear, could not act, could +not be trusted to guide him right, as she had gradually come to know +with fear and trembling. But he himself had never before hinted his own +consciousness of this calamity. Indeed he had been so unwilling to speak +of himself and his own state, that she had been unable even to ask him a +question about the money--lest he should suspect that she suspected him. +Now he was speaking--but speaking with such heartrending sadness that +she could hardly urge him to go on. + +'You have sometimes been ill, Josiah, as any of us may be,' she said, +'and that has been the cause.' + +'There are different kinds of sickness. There is sickness of the body, +and sickness of the heart, and sickness of the spirit;--and then there +is sickness of the mind, the worst of all.' + +'With you, Josiah, it has chiefly been the first.' + +'With me, Mary, it has been all of them--every one! My spirit is +broken, my mind has not been able to keep its even tenor amidst the +ruins. But I will strive. I will strive. I will strive still. And if God +helps me, I will prevail.' Then he took up his hat and cloak, and went +forth among the lanes; and on this occasion his wife was glad that he +should go alone. + +This occurred a day or two before Christmas, and Mrs Crawley during +those days said nothing more to her husband on the subject which he had +so unexpectedly discussed. She asked him no questions about the money, +or as to the possibility of his exercising his memory, nor did she +counsel him to plead that the false excuses given by him for the +possession of the cheque had been occasioned by the sad slip to which +sorrow had in those days subjected his memory and his intellect. But the +matter had always been on her mind. Might it not be her paramount duty +to do something of this at the present moment? Might it not be that his +acquittal or conviction would depend on what she might now learn from +him? It was clear to her that he was brighter in spirit since his +encounter with the Proudies than he had ever been since the accusation +had been first made against him. And she knew well that his present mood +would not be of long continuance. He would fall again into his moody +silent ways, and then the chance of learning aught from him would be +past, and perhaps, for ever. + +He performed the Christmas services with nothing of special despondency +in his tone or manner, and his wife thought that she had never heard him +give the sacrament with more impressive dignity. After the service he +stood awhile at the churchyard gate, and exchanged a word of courtesy as +to the season with such of the families of the farmers as had stayed for +the Lord's Supper. + +'I waited at Framley for your reverence till arter six--so I did,' said +farmer Mangle. + +'I kept the road, and walked the whole way,' said Mr Crawley, 'I think I +told you that I should not return to the mill. But I am not the less +obliged by your great kindness.' + +'Say nowt o' that,' said the farmer. 'No doubt I had business at the +mill--lots to do at the mill.' Nor did he think the fib he was telling +was at all incompatible with the Holy Sacrament in which he had just +taken part. + +The Christmas dinner at the parsonage was not a repast that did much +honour to the season, but it was a better dinner than the inhabitants of +that house usually had on the board before them. There was roast pork +and mince-pies, and a bottle of wine. As Mrs Crawley with her own hand +put the meat upon the table, and then, as was her custom in their house, +proceeded to cut it up, she looked at husband's face to see whether he +was scrutinising the food with painful eye. It was better that she +should tell the truth at once than that she should be made to tell it, +in answer to a question. Everything on the table, except the bread and +potatoes, had come in a basket from Framley Court. Pork had been sent +instead of beef, because people in the country, when they kill their +pigs, do sometimes give each other pork--but do not exchange joints of +beef, when they slay their oxen. All this was understood by Mrs Crawley, +but she almost wished that beef had been sent, because beef would have +attracted less attention. He said, however, nothing to the meat; but +when his wife proposed to him that he should eat a mince-pie he resented +it. 'The bare food,' said he, 'is bitter enough, coming as it does; but +that would choke me.' She did not press it, but ate one herself, as +otherwise her girl would have been forced also to refuse the dainty. + +That evening, as soon as Jane was in bed, she resolved to ask him some +further questions. 'You will have a lawyer, Josiah--will you not?' + +'Why should I have a lawyer?' + +'Because he will know what questions to ask, and how questions on the +other side should be answered.' + +'I have no questions to ask, and there is only one way in which +questions should be answered. I have no money to pay a lawyer.' + +'But, Josiah, in such a case as this, where your honour, and our very +life depend upon it--' + +'Depend on what?' + +'On your acquittal.' + +'I shall not be acquitted. It is as well to look it in the face at +once. Lawyer or no lawyer, they will say that I took the money. Were I +upon the jury, trying the case myself, knowing all that I know +now,'--and as he said this he struck forth with his hands into the +air--'I think that I should say so myself. A lawyer will do no good. It +is here. It is here.' And again he put his hands up to his head. + +So far she had been successful. At this moment it had in truth been her +object to induce him to speak of his own memory, and not of the aid that +a lawyer might give. The proposition of the lawyer had been brought in +to introduce the subject. + +'But, Josiah--' + +'Well?' + +It was very hard for her to speak. She could not bear to torment him by +any allusion to his own deficiencies. She could not endure to make him +think that she suspected him of any frailty either in intellect or +thought. Wifelike, she desired to worship him, and that he should know +that she worshipped him. But if a word might save him! 'Josiah, where +did it come from?' + +'Yes,' said he; 'yes; that is the question. Where did it come +from?'--and he turned sharp upon her, looking at her with all the power +of his eyes. 'It is because I cannot tell you where it came from that I +ought to be--either in Bedlam, as a madman, or in the county gaol as a +thief.' The words were so dreadful to her that she could not utter at +the moment another syllable. 'How is a man--to think himself--fit--for a +man's work, when he cannot answer his wife such a plain question as +that?' Then he paused again. 'They should take me to Bedlam at once--at +once--at once. That would not disgrace the children as the gaol will +do.' + +Mrs Crawley could ask no further questions on that evening. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +WHAT MR WALKER THOUGHT ABOUT IT + +It had been suggested to Mr Robarts, that parson at Framley, that he +should endeavour to induce his old acquaintance, Mr Crawley, to employ a +lawyer to defend him at his trial, and Mr Robarts had not forgotten the +commission which he had undertaken. But there were difficulties in the +matter of which he was well aware. In the first place Mr Crawley was a +man whom it had not at any time been easy to advise on matters private +to himself; and in the next place, this was a matter on which it was +very hard to speak to the man implicated, let him be who he would. Mr +Robarts had come round to the generally accepted idea that Mr Crawley +had obtained possession of the cheque illegally--acquitting his friend +in his own mind of theft, simply by supposing that he was wool-gathering +when the cheque came in his way. But in speaking to Mr Crawley, it would +be necessary--so he thought--to pretend a conviction that Mr Crawley was +as innocent in fact as in intention. + +He had almost made up his mind to dash at the subject when he met Mr +Crawley walking through Framley to Barchester, but he had abstained +chiefly because Mr Crawley had been too quick for him, and had got away. +After that he resolved that it would be almost useless for him to go to +work unless he should be provided with a lawyer ready and willing to +undertake the task; and as he was not so provided at present, he made up +his mind that he would go into Silverbridge, and see Mr Walker, the +attorney there. Mr Walker always advised everybody in those parts about +everything, and would be sure to know what would be the proper thing to +be done in this case. So Mr Robarts got into his gig, and drove himself +into Silverbridge, passing very close to Mr Crawley's house on his road. +He drove at once to Mr Walker's office, and on arriving there found that +the attorney was not at that moment within. But Mr Winthrop was within. +Would Mr Robarts see Mr Winthrop? Now, seeing Mr Winthrop was a very +different thing from seeing Mr Walker, although the two gentlemen were +partners. But still Mr Robarts said that he would see Mr Winthrop. +Perhaps Mr Walker might return while he was there. + +'Is there anything I can do for you, Mr Robarts?' asked Mr Winthrop. Mr +Robarts said that he had wished to see Mr Walker about that poor fellow +Crawley. 'Ah, yes; very said case! So much sadder being a clergyman, Mr +Robarts. We are really quite sorry for him;--we are indeed. We wouldn't +have touched the case ourselves if we could have helped ourselves. We +wouldn't indeed. But we are obliged to take all that business here. At +any rate he'll get nothing but fair usage from us.' + +'I am sure of that. You don't know whether he has employed any lawyer +as yet to defend him?' + +'I can't say. We don't know, you know. I should say he had--probably +some Barchester attorney. Borleys and Bonstock in Barchester are very +good people--very good people indeed;--for that sort of business I mean, +Mr Robarts. I don't suppose they have much county property in their +hands.' + +Mr Robarts knew that Mr Winthrop was a fool, and that he could get no +useful advice from him. So he suggested that he would take his gig down +to the inn, and call back again before long. 'You'll find that Mr Walker +knows no more than I do about it,' said Mr Winthrop, 'but of course +he'll be glad to see you if he happens to come in.' So Mr Robarts went +to the inn, put up his horse, and then, as he sauntered back up the +street, met Mr Walker coming out of the private door of his house. + +'I've been at home all the morning,' he said; 'but I've had a stiff job +of work on hand, and told them to say in the office that I was not in. +Seen Winthrop, have you? I don't suppose he did know that I was here. +The clerks often know more than the partners. About Mr Crawley, is it? +Come into my dining-room, Mr Robarts, where we shall be alone. Yes;--it +is a bad case; a very bad case. The pity is that anybody should have +said anything about it. Lord bless me, if I'd been Soames I'd have let +him have the twenty pounds. Lord Lufton would never have allowed Soames +to lose it.' + +'But Soames wanted to find out the truth.' + +'Yes;--that was just it. Soames couldn't bear to think that he should +be left in the dark, and then, when the poor man said that Soames had +paid the cheque to him in the way of business--it was not odd that +Soames's back should have been up, was it? But, Mr Robarts, I should +have thought a deal about it before I should have brought such a man as +Mr Crawley before a bench of magistrates on that charge.' + +'But between me and you, Mr Walker, did he steal the money?' + +'Well, Mr Robarts, you know how I'm placed.' + +'Mr Crawley is my friend, and of course I want to assist him. I was +under a great obligation to Mr Crawley once, and I wish to befriend him, +whether he took the money or not. But I could act so much better if I +felt sure one way or the other.' + +'If you ask me, I think he did take it.' + +'What!--he stole it?' + +'I think he knew it was not his own when he took it. You see I don't +think he meant to use it when he took it. He perhaps had some queer idea +that Soames had been hard on him, or his lordship, and that the money +was fairly his due. Then he kept the cheque by him till he was +absolutely badgered out of his life by the butcher up the street there. +That was about the long and the short of it, Mr Robarts.' + +'I suppose so. And now what had we better do?' + +'Well; if you ask me--He is in very bad health, isn't he?' + +'No; I should say not. He walked to Barchester and back the other day.' + +'Did he? But he's very queer, isn't he?' + +'Very odd-mannered indeed.' + +'And does and says all manner of odd things?' + +'I think you'd find the bishop would say so after that interview.' + +'Well; if it would do any good, you might have the bishop examined.' + +'Examined for what, Mr Walker?' + +'If you could show, you know, that Crawley has got a bee in his bonnet; +that the mens sana is not there, in short;--I think you might manage to +have the trial postponed.' + +'But then somebody must take charge of his living.' + +'You parsons could manage that among you;--you and the dean and the +archdeacon. The archdeacon has always got half-a-dozen curates about +somewhere. And then--after the assizes, Mr Crawley might come to his +senses; and I think--mind you it's only an idea--but I think the +committal might be quashed. It would have been temporary insanity, and, +though mind I don't give my word for it, I think he might go on and keep +his living. I think so, Mr Robarts.' + +'That has never occurred to me.' + +'No;--I daresay not. You see the difficulty is this. He's so +stiff-necked--will do nothing himself. Well, that will do for one proof +of temporary insanity. The real truth is, Mr Robarts, he is as mad as a +hatter.' + +'Upon my word I've often thought so.' + +'And you wouldn't mind saying so in evidence--would you? Well, you see, +there is no helping such a man in any other way. He won't even employ a +lawyer to defend him.' + +'That was what I had come to you about.' + +'I'm told he won't. Now a man must be mad who won't employ a lawyer +when he wants one. You see, the point we should gain would be this--if +we tried to get him through as being a little touched in the upper +storey--whatever we could do for him, we could do against his own will. +The more he opposed us the stronger our case would be. He would swear he +was not mad at all, and we should say that that was the greatest sign of +his madness. But when I say we, of course I mean you. I must not appear +in it.' + +'I wish you could, Mr Walker.' + +'Of course I can't; but that won't make any difference.' + +'I suppose he must see a lawyer?' + +'Yes, he must have a lawyer;--or rather, his friends must.' + +'And who would employ him, ostensibly?' + +'Ah;--there's the difficulty. His wife wouldn't do it, I suppose? She +couldn't do him a better turn.' + +'He would never forgive her. And she would never consent against him.' + +'Could you interfere?' + +'If necessary, I will;--but I hardly know him well enough.' + +'Has he no father or mother, or uncles or aunts? He must have somebody +belonging to him,' said Mr Walker. + +Then it occurred to Mr Robarts that Dean Arabin would be the proper +person to interfere. Dean Arabin and Mr Crawley had been intimate +friends in early life, and Dean Arabin knew more of him than did any +man, at least in these parts. All this Mr Robarts explained to Mr +Walker, and Mr Walker agreed with him that the services of Dean Arabin +should if possible be obtained. Mr Robarts would at once write to Dean +Arabin and explain at length all the circumstances of the case. 'The +worst of it is, he will hardly be home in time,' said Mr Walker. +'Perhaps he would come a little sooner if you were to press it?' + +'But we could act in his name in his absence, I suppose?--of course with +his authority?' + +'I wish he could be here a month before the assizes, Mr Robarts. It +would be better.' + +'And in the meantime shall I say anything to Mr Crawley, myself, about +employing a lawyer?' + +'I think I would. If he turns upon you, as like he may, and abuses you, +that will help us in one way. If he should consent, and perhaps he may, +that would help us in the other way. I'm told he's been over and upset +the whole coach of the palace.' + +'I shouldn't think the bishop got much of him,' said the parson. + +'I don't like Crawley the less for speaking his mind free to the +bishop,' said the lawyer, laughing. 'And he'll speak it free to you too, +Mr Robarts.' + +'He won't break any of my bones. Tell me, Mr Walker, what lawyer shall +I name to him?' + +'You can't have a better man than Mr Mason, up the street there.' + +'Winthrop proposed Borleys at Barchester.' + +'No, no, no. Borleys and Bonstock are capital people to push a fellow +through on a charge of horse-stealing, or to squeeze a man for a little +money; but they are not the people for Mr Crawley in such a case as +this. Mason is the better man; and then Mason and I know each other.' In +saying which Mr Walker winked. + +There was then a discussion between them whether Mr Robarts should go at +once to Mr Mason; but it was decided at last that he should see Mr +Crawley and also write to the dean before his did so. The dean might +wish to employ his own lawyer, and if so the double expense should be +avoided. 'Always remember, Mr Robarts, that when you go into an +attorney's office door, you will have to pay for it, first or last. In +here, you see, the dingy old mahogany, bare as it is, makes you safe. Or +else it's the salt-cellar, which will not allow itself to be polluted +by six-and-eightpenny considerations. But there is the other kind of +tax to be paid. You must go up and see Mrs Walker, or you won't get her +help in the matter.' + +Mr Walker returned to his work, either to some private den within his +house, or to his office, and Mr Robarts was taken upstairs to the +drawing-room. There he found Mrs Walker and her daughter, and Miss Anne +Prettyman, who had just looked in, full of the story of Mr Crawley's +walk to Barchester. Mr Thumble had seen one of Dr Tempest's curates, and +had told the whole story--he, Mr Thumble, having heard Mrs Proudie's +version of what had occurred, and having, of course, drawn his own +deductions from her premises. And it seemed that Mr Crawley had been +watched as he passed through the close out of Barchester. A minor canon +had seen him, and had declared that he was going at the rate of a hunt, +swinging his arms on high and speaking very loud, though--as the minor +canon said with regret--the words were hardly audible. But there had +been no doubt as to the man. Mr Crawley's old hat, and short rusty +cloak, and dirty boots, had been duly observed and chronicled by the +minor canon; and Mr Thumble had been enabled to put together a not +altogether false picture of what had occurred. As soon as the greetings +between Mr Robarts and the ladies had been made, Miss Anne Prettyman +broke out again, just where she had left off when Mr Robarts came in. +'They say that Mrs Proudie declared that she will have him sent to +Botany Bay!' + +'Luckily Mrs Proudie won't have much to do in the matter,' said Miss +Walker, who ranged herself, as to church matters, in the ranks +altogether opposed to those commanded by Mrs Proudie. + +'She will have nothing to do with it, my dear,' said Mrs Walker; 'and I +daresay Mrs Proudie was not foolish enough to say anything of the kind.' + +'Mamma, she would be foolish enough to say anything. Would she not Mr +Robarts?' + +'You forget, Miss Walker, that Mrs Proudie is in authority over me.' + +'So she is, for the matter of that,' said the young lady; 'but I know +very well what you all think of her, and say of her too, at Framley. +Your friend, Lady Lufton, loves her dearly. I wish I could have been +behind a curtain in the palace, to hear what Mr Crawley said to her.' + +'Mr Smilie declares,' said Miss Prettyman, 'that the bishop has been ill +ever since. Mr Smilie went over to his mother's at Barchester for +Christmas, and took part of the cathedral duty, and we had Mr Spooner +over here in his place. So Mr Smilie of course heard all about it. Only +fancy, poor Mr Crawley walking all the way from Hogglestock to +Barchester and back;--and I am told he hardly had a shoe to his foot! Is +it not a shame, Mr Robarts?' + +'I don't think it was quite as bad as you say, Miss Prettyman; but, upon +the whole, I do think it is a shame. But what can we do?' + +'I suppose there are tithes at Hogglestock? Why are they not given up +to the church, as they ought to be?' + +'My dear, Miss Prettyman, that is a very long subject, and I am afraid +it cannot be settled in time to relieve our poor friend from his +distress.' Then Mr Robarts escaped from the ladies in Mr Walker's house, +who, as it seemed to him, were touching upon dangerous ground, and went +back to the yard of the George Inn for his gig--the George and Vulture +it was properly called, and was the house in which the magistrates had +sat when they committed Mr Crawley for trial. + +'Footed it every inch of the way, blowed if he didn't,' the ostler was +saying to a gentleman's groom, whom Mr Robarts recognised to be the +servant of his friend Major Grantly; and Mr Robarts knew that they also +were talking about Mr Crawley. Everybody in the county was talking about +Mr Crawley. At home, at Framley, there was no other subject of +discourse. Lady Lufton, the dowager, was full of it, being firmly +convinced that Mr Crawley was innocent, because the bishop was supposed +to regard him as guilty. There had been a family conclave held at +Framley Court over that basket of provisions which had been sent for the +Christmas cheer of the Hogglestock parsonage, each of the three ladies, +the two Lady Luftons and Mrs Robarts, having special views of their own. +How the pork had been substituted for the beef by old Lady Lufton, young +Lady Lufton thinking that after all the beef might be dangerous, and how +a small turkey had been rashly suggested by Mrs Robarts, and how certain +small articles had been inserted in the bottom of the basket which Mrs +Crawley had never shown to her husband, need not here be told at length. +But Mr Robarts, as he heard the two grooms talking about Mr Crawley, +began to feel that Mr Crawley had achieved at least celebrity. + +The groom touched his hat as Mr Robarts walked up. 'Has the major +returned home yet?' Mr Robarts asked. The groom said that his master was +still at Plumstead, and that he was to go over to fetch the major and +Miss Edith in a day or two. Then Mr Robarts got into his gig, and as he +drove out of the yard he heard the words of the men as they returned to +the same subject. 'Footed it all the way,' said one. 'And yet he's a +gen'leman, too,' said the other. Mr Robarts thought of this as he drove +on, intending to call at Hogglestock on that very day on his way home. +It was undoubtedly the fact that Mr Crawley was recognised to be a +gentleman by all who knew him, high or low, rich or poor, by those who +thought well of him and by those who thought ill. These grooms, who had +been telling each other that this parson, who was to be tried as a +thief, had been constrained to walk from Hogglestock to Barchester and +back, because he could not afford to travel any other way, and that his +boots were cracked and his clothes ragged, had still known him to be a +gentleman! Nobody doubted it; not even they who thought he had stolen +the money. Mr Robarts himself was certain of it, and told himself that +he knew it by the evidences which his own education made clear to him. +But how was it that the grooms knew it? For my part I think that there +are no better judges of the article than the grooms. + +Thinking of all which he had heard, Mr Robarts found himself at Mr +Crawley's gate at Hogglestock. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MR ROBARTS ON HIS EMBASSY + +Mr Robarts was not altogether easy in his mind as he approached Mr +Crawley's house. He was aware that the task before him was a very +difficult one, and he had not confidence in himself--that he was exactly +the man fitted for the performance of such a task. He was a little +afraid of Mr Crawley, acknowledging tacitly to himself that the man had +a power of ascendancy with which he would hardly be able to cope +successfully. In old days he had once been rebuked by Mr Crawley, and +had been cowed by the rebuke; and though there was no touch of rancour +in his heart on this account, no slightest remaining venom--but rather +increased respect and friendship--still he was unable to overcome his +remembrance of the scene in which the perpetual curate of Hogglestock +had undoubtedly the mastery of him. So, when two dogs have fought and +one has conquered, the conquered dog will always show an unconscious +submission to the conqueror. + +He hailed a boy on the road as he drew near to the house, knowing that +he would find no one at the parsonage to hold his horse for him, and was +thus able without delay to walk through the garden and knock at the +door. 'Papa was not at home,' Jane said. 'Papa was at the school. But +papa could certainly be summoned.' She herself would run across to the +school if Mr Robarts would come in. So Mr Robarts entered, and found Mrs +Crawley in the sitting-room. Mr Crawley would be in directly, she said. +And then, hurrying on to the subject with confused haste, in order that +a word or two might be spoken before her husband came back, she +expressed her thanks and his for the good things which had been sent to +them at Christmas-tide. + +'It's old Lady Lufton's doings,' said Mr Robarts, trying to laugh the +matter over. + +'I knew that it came from Framley, Mr Robarts, and I know how good you +all are there. I have not written to thank Lady Lufton. I thought it +better not to write. Your sister will understand why, if no one else +does. But you will tell them from me, I am sure, that it was, as they +intended, a comfort to us. Your sister knows too much of us for me to +suppose that our great poverty can be a secret from her. And, as far as +I am concerned, I do not much care who knows it.' + +'There is no disgrace in not being rich,' said Mr Robarts. + +'No; and the feeling of disgrace which does attach itself to being so +poor as we are is deadened by the actual suffering which such poverty +brings with it. At least it has become so with me. I am not ashamed to +say that I am very grateful for what you all have done for us at +Framley. But you must not say anything to him about it.' + +'Of course I will not, Mrs Crawley.' + +'His spirit is higher than mine, I think, and he suffers more from the +natural disinclination which we all have from receiving alms. Are you +going to speak to him about the affair--the cheque, Mr Robarts?' + +'I am going to ask him to put his case into some lawyer's hands.' + +'Oh! I wish he would!' + +'And will he not?' + +'It is very kind of you, your coming to ask him, but--' + +'Has he so strong an objection?' + +'He will tell you that he has no money to pay a lawyer.' + +'But, surely, if he were convinced that it was absolutely necessary for +the vindication of his innocence, he would submit to charge himself with +an expense so necessary, not only for himself, but for his family?' + +'He will say it ought not to be necessary. You know, Mr Robarts, that +in some respects he is not like other men. You will not let what I say +of him set you against him?' + +'Indeed, no.' + +'It is most kind of you to make the attempt. He will be here directly, +and when he comes I will leave you together.' + +While she was yet speaking his step was heard along the gravel-path, +and he hurried into the room with quick steps. 'I crave your pardon, Mr +Robarts,' he said, 'that I should keep you waiting.' now Mr Robarts had +not been there ten minutes, and any such asking of pardon was hardly +necessary. And, even in his own house, Mr Crawley affected a mock +humility, as though, either through his own debasement, or because of +the superior station of the other clergyman, he were not entitled to put +himself on an equal footing with his visitor. He would not have shaken +hands with Mr Robarts--intending to indicate that he did not presume to +do so while the present accusation was hanging over him--had not the +action been forced upon him. And then there was something of a protest +in his manner, as though remonstrating against a thing that was +unbecoming to him. Mr Robarts, without analysing it, understood it all, +and knew that behind the humility there was a crushing pride--a pride +which, in all probability, would rise up and crush him before he could +get himself out of the room again. It was, perhaps, after all, a +question whether the man was not served rightly by the extremities to +which he was reduced. There was something radically wrong within him, +which had put him into antagonism with all the world, and which produced +these never-dying grievances. There were many clergymen in the country +with incomes as small as that which had fallen to the lot of Mr Crawley, +but they managed to get on without displaying their sores as Mr Crawley +displayed his. They did not wear their old rusty cloaks with all that +ostentatious bitterness of poverty which seemed to belong to that +garment when displayed on Mr Crawley's shoulders. Such, for a moment, +were Mr Robarts' thoughts, and he almost repented himself of his present +mission. But then he thought of Mrs Crawley, and remembering that her +sufferings were at any rate undeserved, determined that he would +persevere. + +Mrs Crawley disappeared almost as soon as her husband appeared, and Mr +Robarts found himself standing in front of his friend, who remained +fixed to the spot, with his hands folded over each other and his neck +bent slightly forward, in token also of humility. 'I regret,' he said, +'that your horse should be left there, exposed to the inclemency of the +weather; but--' + +'The horse won't mind it a bit,' said Mr Robarts. 'A parson's horse is +like a butcher's, and knows he mustn't be particular about waiting in +the cold.' + +'I never have had one myself,' said Mr Crawley. Now Mr Robarts had had +more horses than one before now, and had been thought by some to have +incurred greater expense than was befitting in his stable comforts. The +subject, therefore, was a sore one, and he was worried a little. 'I just +wanted to say a few words to you, Crawley,' he said, 'and if I am not +occupying too much of your time--' + +'My time is altogether at your disposal. Will you be seated?' + +Then Mr Robarts sat down, and, swinging his hat between his legs, +bethought himself how he should begin his work. 'We had the archdeacon +over at Framley the other day,' he said. 'Of course you know the +archdeacon?' + +'I never had the advantage of any acquaintance with Dr Grantly. Of +course I know him well by name, and also personally--that is, by sight.' + +'And by character?' + +'Nay; I can hardly so much as that. But I am aware that his name stands +high with many of his order.' + +'Exactly; that is what I mean. You know that his judgment is thought +more of in clerical matters than that of any other clergyman in the +county.' + +'By a certain party, Mr Robarts.' + +'Well, yes. They don't think much of him, I suppose, in the palace. But +that won't lower him in your estimation.' + +'I by no means derogate from Dr Grantly's high position in his own +archdeaconry--to which, as you are aware, I am not attached--nor to +criticise his conduct in any respect. It would therefore be unbecoming +in me to do so. But I cannot accept it as a point in a clergyman's +favour, that he should be opposed to his bishop.' + +Now this was too much for Mr Robarts. After all that he had heard of +the visit paid by Mr Crawley to the palace--of the venom displayed by +Mrs Proudie on that occasion, and of the absolute want of subordination +to episcopal authority which Mr Crawley himself was supposed to have +shown--Mr Robarts did feel it hard that his friend the archdeacon should +be snubbed in this way because he was deficient in reverence for his +bishop! 'I thought, Crawley,' he said, 'that you yourself were inclined +to dispute orders coming to you from the palace. That world at least +says as much concerning you.' + +'What the world says of me I have learned to disregard very much, Mr +Robarts. But I hope that I shall never disobey the authority of the +Church when properly and legally exercised.' + +'I hope with all my heart you never will; not I either. And the +archdeacon, who knows, to the breadth of a hair, what a bishop ought to +do and what he ought not, and what he may do and what he may not, will, +I should say, be the last man in England to sin in that way.' + +'Very probably. I am far from contradicting you there. Pray +understand, Mr Robarts, that I bring no accusation against the +archdeacon. Why should I?' + +'I didn't mean to discuss him at all.' + +'Nor did I, Mr Robarts.' + +'I only mentioned his name, because, as I said, he was over with us the +other day at Framley, and we were all talking about your affair.' + +'My affair!' said Mr Crawley. And then came a frown upon his brow, and +a gleam of fire into his eyes, which effectually banished that look of +humility which he had assumed. 'And may I ask why the archdeacon was +discussing--my affair?' + +'Simply from the kindness which he bears to you.' + +'I am grateful for the archdeacon's kindness, as a man is bound to be +for any kindness, whether displayed wisely or unwisely. But it seems to +me that my affair, as you call it, Mr Robarts, is of that nature that +they who wish well to me will better further their wishes by silence +than by any discussion.' + +'Then I cannot agree with you.' Mr Crawley shrugged his shoulders, +opened his hands a little and then closed them, and bowed his head. He +could not have declared more clearly by any words that he differed +altogether from Mr Robarts, and that as the subject was one so +peculiarly his own he had a right to expect that his opinion should be +allowed to prevail against that of any other person. 'If you come to +that, you know, how is anybody's tongue to be stopped?' + +'That vain tongues cannot be stopped, I am well aware. I do not expect +that people's tongues should be stopped. I am not saying what men will +do, but what good wishes should dictate.' + +'Well, perhaps you'll hear me out for a minute.' Mr Crawley again bowed +his head. 'Whether we were wise or unwise, we were discussing this +affair.' + +'Whether I stole Mr Soames's money?' + +'No; nobody supposed for a moment you had stolen it.' + +'I cannot understand how they can suppose anything else, knowing, as +they do, that the magistrates have committed me for the theft. This took +place at Framley, you say, and probably in Lord Lufton's presence.' + +'Exactly.' + +'And Lord Lufton was chairman at the sitting of the magistrates at which +I was committed. How can it be that he should think otherwise?' + +'I am sure that he has not an idea that you were guilty. Nor yet has Dr +Thorne, who was also one of the magistrates. I don't suppose one of them +then thought so.' + +'Then their action, to say the least of it, was very strange.' + +'It was all because you had nobody to manage it for you. I thoroughly +believe that if you had placed the matter in the hands of a good lawyer, +you would never have heard a word more about it. That seems to be the +opinion of everybody I speak to on the subject.' + +'Then in this country a man is to be punished or not, according to +ability to fee a lawyer!' + +'I am not talking about punishment.' + +'And presuming an innocent man to have the ability and not the will to +do so, he is to be punished, to be ruined root and branch, self and +family, character and pocket, simply because, knowing his own innocence, +he does not choose to depend on the mercenary skill of a man whose trade +he abhors for the establishment of that which should be clear as sun at +noonday! You say I am innocent, and yet you tell me I am to be condemned +as a guilty man, have my gown taken from me, be torn from my wife and +children, be disgraced before the eyes of all men, and made a byword and +a thing horrible to be mentioned, because I will not fee an attorney to +fee another man to come and lie on my behalf, to browbeat witnesses, to +make false appeals, and perhaps shed false tears in defending me. You +have come to me asking me to do this, if I understand you, telling me +that the archdeacon would so advise me.' + +'That is my object.' Mr Crawley, as he had spoken, had in his +vehemence, risen from his seat, and Mr Robarts was also standing. + +'Then tell the archdeacon,' said Mr Crawley, 'that I will have none of +his advice. I will have no one there paid by me to obstruct the course +of justice or to hoodwink a jury. I have been in the courts of law, and +know what is the work for which these gentlemen are hired. I will have +none of it, and I will thank you to tell the archdeacon so, with my +respectful acknowledgements of his consideration and condescension. I +say nothing as to my own innocence, or my own guilt. But I do say that +if I am dragged before that tribunal, an innocent man, and am falsely +declared to be guilty, because I lack money to bribe a lawyer to speak +for me, then the laws of this country deserve but little of that +reverence which we are accustomed to pay them. And if I be guilty--' + +'Nobody supposes you to be guilty.' + +'And if I be guilty,' continued Mr Crawley, altogether ignoring the +interruption, except by the repetition of his words, and a slight +raising of his voice, 'I will not add to my guilt by hiring anyone to +prove a falsehood or to disprove a truth.' + +'I'm sorry that you should say so, Mr Crawley.' + +'I speak according to what light I have, Mr Robarts; and if I have been +over-warm with you--and I am conscious that I have been at fault in that +direction--I must pray you to remember that I am somewhat hardly tried. +My sorrows and troubles are so great that they rise against me and +disturb me, and drive me on--whither I would not be driven.' + +'But, my friend, is not that just the reason why you should trust in +this matter to someone who can be more calm than yourself?' + +'I cannot trust to anyone--in a matter of conscience. To do as you +would have me is to me wrong. Shall I do wrong because I am unhappy?' + +'You should cease to think it wrong when so advised by persons you can +trust.' + +'I can trust no one with my own conscience;--not even the archdeacon, +great as he is.' + +'The archdeacon has meant only well by you.' + +'I will presume so. I will believe so. I do think so. Tell the +archdeacon from me that I humbly thank him;--that in a matter of church +question, I might probably submit my judgment to his; even though he +might have no authority over me, knowing as I do that in such matters +his experience has been great. Tell him also, that though I would fain +that this unfortunate affair might burden the tongue of none of my +neighbours--at least till I shall have stood before the judge to receive +the verdict of the jury, and, if needful, his lordship's sentence--still +I am convinced that in what he has spoken, as also in what he has done, +he has not yielded to the idleness of gossip, but has exercised his +judgment with intended kindness.' + +'He has certainly intended to do you a service; and as for its not being +talked about, that is out of the question.' + +'And for yourself, Mr Robarts, whom I have ever regarded as a friend +since circumstances brought me into your neighbourhood--for you, whose +sister I love tenderly in memory of past kindness, though now she is +removed so far above my sphere, as to make it unfit I should call her my +friend--' + +'She does not think so at all.' + +'For yourself, as I was saying, pray believe me that though from the +roughness of my manner, being now unused to social intercourse, I seem +to be ungracious and forbidding, I am grateful and mindful, and that in +the tablets of my heart I have written you down as one in whom I could +trust--were it given to me to trust in men and women.' Then he turned +round with his face to the wall and his back to his visitor, and so +remained till Mr Robarts had left him. 'At any rate, I wish you well +through your trouble,' said Robarts; and as he spoke he found that his +own words were nearly choked by a sob that was rising in this throat. + +He went away without another word, and got out to his gig without seeing +Mrs Crawley. During one period of the interview he had been very angry +with the man--so angry as to make him almost declare to himself that he +would take no more trouble on his behalf. Then he had been brought to +acknowledge that Mr Walker was right, and that Crawley was certainly +mad. He was so mad, so far removed from the dominion of sound sense, +that no jury could say that he was guilty and that he ought to be +punished for his guilt. And, as he so resolved, he could not but ask +himself the question, whether the charge of the parish ought to be left +in the hands of such a man? But, at last, just before he went, these +feelings and these convictions gave way to pity, and he remembered +simply the troubles which seemed to have been heaped on the head of this +poor victim to misfortune. As he drove home he resolved that there was +nothing left for him to do, but to write to the dean. It was known by +all who knew them both, that the dean and Mr Crawley had lived together +on the closest intimacy at college, and that the friendship had been +maintained through life;--though, from the peculiarity of Mr Crawley's +character, the two had not been much together of late years. Seeing how +things were going now, and hearing how pitiful was the plight in which +Mr Crawley was placed, the dean would, no doubt, feel it to be his duty +to hasten his return to England. He was believed to be at this moment in +Jerusalem, and it would be long before a letter could reach him; but +there still wanted three months to the assizes, and his return might be +probably effected before the end of February. + +'I was never so distressed in my life,' Mark Robarts said to his wife. + +'And you think you have done no good?' + +'Only this, that I have convinced myself that the poor man is to +responsible for what he does, and that for her sake as well as for his +own, some person should be enabled to interfere for his protection.' +Then he told Mrs Robarts what Mr Walker had said; also the message which +Mr Crawley had sent to the archdeacon. But they both agreed that that +message need not be sent any further. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +MAJOR GRANTLY AT HOME + +Mrs Thorne had spoken very plainly in the advice which she had given to +Major Grantly. That had been Mrs Thorne's advice; and though Major +Grantly had no idea of making the journey so rapidly as the lady had +proposed, still he thought that he would make it before long, and follow +the advice in spirit if not to the letter. Mrs Thorne had asked him if +it was fair that the girl should be punished because of the father's +fault; and the idea had been sweet to him that the infliction or +non-infliction of such punishment should be in his hands. 'You go and +ask her,' Mrs Thorne had said. Well;--he would go and ask her. If it +should turn out at last that he had married the daughter of a thief, and +that he was disinherited for doing so--an arrangement of circumstances +which had to teach himself to regard as very probable--he would not love +Grace the less on that account, or allow himself for one moment to +repent what he had done. As he thought of all this he became somewhat in +love with a small income, and imagined to himself what honours would be +done to him by the Mrs Thornes of the county, when they should come to +know in what way he had sacrificed himself to his love. Yes;--they would +go and live in Pau. He thought Pau would do. He would have enough income +for that;--and Edith would get lessons cheaply, and would learn to talk +French fluently. He certainly would do it. He would go down to +Allington, and ask Grace to be his wife; and bid her to understand that +if she loved him she could not be justified in refusing him by the +circumstances of her father's position. + +But he must go to Plumstead before he could go to Allington. He was +engaged to spend Christmas there, and must go now at once. There was not +time for the journey to Allington before he was due at Plumstead. And, +moreover, though he could not bring himself to resolve that he would +tell his father what he was going to do;--'It would seem as though I +were asking his leave!' he said to himself;--he thought he would make a +clean breast of it to his mother. It made him sad to think that he +should cut the rope which fastened his own boat among the other boats in +the home harbour at Plumstead, and that he should go out all alone into +strange waters--turned adrift altogether, as it were, from the Grantly +fleet. If he could only get the promise of his mother's sympathy for +Grace it would be something. He understood--no one better than he--the +tendency of all his family to an uprising in the world, which tendency +was almost as strong in his mother as his father. And he had been by no +means without a similar ambition himself, though with him the ambition +had been only fitful, not enduring. He had a brother, a clergyman, a +busy, stirring, eloquent London preacher, who got churches built, and +was heard of far and wide as a rising man, who had married a certain +Lady Anne, the daughter of an earl, and who was already mentioned as a +candidate for high places. How his sister was the wife of a marquis, and +a leader in the fashionable world, the reader already knows. The +archdeacon himself was a rich man, so powerful that he could afford to +look down upon a bishop; and Mrs Grantly, though there was left about +her something of an old softness of nature, a touch of the former life +which had been hers before the stream of her days had run to gold, yet +she, too, had taken kindly to wealth and high standing, and was by no +means one of those who construe literally that passage of scripture +which tells of the camel and the needle's eye. Our Henry Grantly, our +major, knew himself to be his mother's favourite child--knew himself to +have become so since something of a coolness had grown up between her +and her daughter. The augustness of the daughter had done much to +reproduce the old freshness of which I spoke of in the mother's heart, +and had specially endeared to her the son, who, of all her children, was +the least subject to the family's failing. The clergyman, Charles +Grantly--he who had married the Lady Anne--was his father's darling in +these days. The old archdeacon would go up to London and be quite happy +in his son's house. He met there the men whom he loved to meet, and +heard the talk which he loved to hear. It was very fine, having the +Marquis of Hartletop for his son-in-law, but he had never cared to be +much at Lady Hartletop's house. Indeed, the archdeacon cared to be in no +house in which those around him were supposed to be bigger than himself. +Such was the little family fleet from which Henry Grantly was now +proposing to sail alone with his little boat--taking Grace Crawley with +him at the helm. 'My father is a just man at the bottom,' he said to +himself, 'and though he may not forgive me, he will not punish Edith.' + +But there was still left one of the family--not a Grantly, indeed, but +one so nearly allied to them as to have his boat moored in the same +harbour--who, as the major well knew, would thoroughly sympathise with +him. This was old Mr Harding, his mother's father--the father of his +mother and of his aunt Mrs Arabin--whose home was now at the deanery. He +was also to be at Plumstead during this Christmas, and he at any rate +would give a ready assent to such a marriage as that which the major was +proposing to himself. But then poor old Mr Harding had been thoroughly +deficient in that ambition which had served to aggrandize the family +into which his daughter had married. He was a poor old man who, in spite +of good friends--for the late bishop of the diocese had been his dearest +friend--had never risen high in his profession, and had fallen even from +the moderate altitude which he had attained. But he was a man whom all +loved who knew him; and it was much to the credit of his son-in-law the +archdeacon, that, with all his tendencies to love rising suns, he had +ever been true to Mr Harding. + +Major Grantly took his daughter with him, and on his arrival at +Plumstead she of course was the first object of attention. Mrs Grantly +declared that she had grown immensely. The archdeacon complimented her +red cheeks, and said that Cosby Lodge was as healthy a place as any in +the county, while Mr Harding, Edith's great-grandfather, drew slowly +from his pocket sundry treasures with which he had come prepared for the +delight of the little girl. Charles Grantly and Lady Anne had no +children, and the heir of all the Hartletops was too august to have been +trusted to the embraces of her mother's grandfather. Edith, therefore, +was all that he had in that generation, and of Edith he was prepared to +be as indulgent as he had been, in their time, of his grandchildren, the +Grantlys, and still was of his grandchildren the Arabins, and before +that of his own daughters. 'She's more like Eleanor than anyone else,' +said the old man in a plaintive tone. Now Eleanor was Mrs Arabin, the +dean's wife, and was at this time--if I were to say over forty I do not +think I should be uncharitable. No one else saw the special likeness, +but no one else remembered, as Mr Harding did, what Eleanor had been +when she was three years old. + +'Aunt Nelly is in France,' said the child. + +'Yes, my darling, aunt Nelly is in France, and I wish she were at home. +Aunt Nelly has been away a long time.' + +'I suppose she'll stay till the dean picks her up on his way home?' + +'So she says in her letters. I heard from her yesterday, and I brought +the letter, as I thought you'd like to see it.' Mrs Grantly took the +letter and read it, while her father still played with the child. The +archdeacon and the major were standing together on the rug discussing +the shooting at Chaldicotes, as to which the archdeacon had a strong +opinion. 'I'm quite sure that a man with a place like that does more +good by preserving than by leaving it alone. The better head of game he +has the richer the county will be generally. It is just the same with +pheasants as it is with sheep and bullocks. A pheasant doesn't cost more +than he's worth any more than a barn-door fowl. Besides, a man who +preserves is always respected by the poachers, and the man who doesn't +is not.' + +'There's something in that, sir, certainly,' said the major. + +'More than you think for, perhaps. Look at poor Sowerby, who went on +there for years without a shilling. How he was respected, because he +lived as the people around him expected a gentleman to live. Thorne will +have a bad time of it, if he tries to change things.' + +'Only think,' exclaimed Mrs Grantly, 'when Eleanor wrote she had not +heard of that affair of poor Mr Crawley's.' + +'Does she say anything about him?' asked the major. + +'I'll read what it says. "I see in Galignani that a clergyman in +Barsetshire has been committed for theft. Pray tell me who it is. Not +the bishop, I hope, for the credit of the diocese?"' + +'I wish it were,' said the archdeacon + +'For shame, my dear,' said his wife. + +'No shame at all. If we are to have a thief among us, I'd sooner find +him in a bad man than a good one. Besides, we should have a change at +the palace, which would be a great thing.' + +'But is it not odd that Eleanor should have heard nothing of it?' said +Mrs Grantly. + +'It's odd that you should not have mentioned it yourself.' + +'I did not, certainly; nor you, papa, I suppose?' + +Mr Harding acknowledged that he had not spoken of it, and then they +calculated that perhaps she might not have received any letter from her +husband since the news had reached him. 'Besides, why should he have +mentioned it?' said the major. 'He only knows as yet of the inquiry +about the cheque, and can have heard nothing of what was done by the +magistrates.' + +'Still it seems odd that Eleanor should not have known of it, seeing +that we have been talking of nothing else for the last week.' + +For two days the major said not a word of Grace Crawley to anyone. +Nothing could be more courteous and complaisant than was his father's +conduct to him. Anything that he wanted for Edith was to be done. For +himself there was no trouble which would not be taken. His hunting, and +his shooting, and his fishing seemed to have become matters of paramount +consideration to his father. And then the archdeacon became very +confidential about money matters--not offering anything to his son, +which, as he well knew, would be seen through as palpable bribery and +corruption--but telling him of this little scheme and of that, of one +investment and of another;--how he contemplated buying a small property +here, and spending a few thousands on building there. 'Of course it is +all for you and your brother,' said the archdeacon, with that benevolent +sadness which is used habitually by fathers on such occasions; 'and I +like you to know what it is I am doing. I told Charles about the London +property the last time I was up,' said the archdeacon, 'and there shall +be no difference between him and you, if all goes well.' This was very +good-natured on the archdeacon's part, and was not strictly necessary, +as Charles was the eldest son; but the major understood it perfectly. +'There shall be an elysium opened to you, if only you will not do that +terrible thing of which you spoke when last you were here.' The +archdeacon uttered no such words as these, and did not even allude to +Grace Crawley; but the words were as good as spoken, and had they been +spoken ever so plainly the major could not have understood them more +clearly. He was quite awake to the loveliness of the elysium before him. +He had had his moment of anxiety, whether his father would or would not +make an elder son of his brother Charles. The whole thing was now put +before him plainly. Give up Grace Crawley, and you shall share alike +with your brother. Disgrace yourself by marrying her, and you brother +shall have everything. There was the choice, and it was till open to him +to take which side he pleased. Were he never to go near Grace Crawley +again no one would blame him, unless it were Miss Prettyman or Mrs +Thorne. 'Fill your glass, Henry,' said the archdeacon. 'You'd better, I +tell you, for there is no more of it left.' Then the major filled his +glass and sipped the wine, and swore to himself that he would go down to +Allington at once. What! Did his father think to bribe him by giving him +'20 port? He would certainly go down to Allington, and he would tell his +mother tomorrow morning, or certainly on the next day, what he was going +to do. 'Pity it should all be gone; isn't it, sir?' said the archdeacon +to his father-in-law. 'It has lasted my time,' said Mr Harding, 'and I'm +very much obliged to it. Dear, dear; how well I remember your father +giving the order for it! There were two pipes, and somebody said it was +a heady wine. "If the prebendaries and rectors can't drink it," said +your father, "the curates will."' + +'Curates indeed!' said the archdeacon. 'It's too good for a bishop, +unless it is of the right sort.' + +'Your father used to say those things, but with him the poorer the guest +the better the cheer. When he had a few clergymen round him, how he +loved to make them happy!' + +'Never talked shop to them--did he?' said the archdeacon. + +'Not after dinner, at any rate. Goodness gracious, when one thinks of +it! Do you remember how we used to play cards?' + +'Every night regularly;--threepenny points, and sixpence on the rubber,' +said the archdeacon. + +'Dear, dear! How things are changed! And I remember when the clergymen +did more of the dancing in Barchester than all the other young men in +the city put together.' + +'And a good set they were;--gentlemen every one of them. It's well that +some of them don't dance now;--that is, for the girl's sake.' + +'I sometimes sit and wonder,' said Mr Harding, 'whether your father's +spirit ever comes back to the old house and sees the changes--and if so +whether he approves of them.' + +'Approves them!' said the archdeacon. + +'Well;--yes. I think he would, upon the whole. I'm sure of this: he +would not disapprove, because the new ways are changed from his ways. He +never thought himself infallible. And do you know, my dear, I am not +sure that it isn't all for the best. I sometimes think that some of us +were very idle when we were young. I was, I know.' + +'I worked hard enough,' said the archdeacon. + +'Ah, yes; you. But most of us took it very easily. Dear, dear! When I +think of it, and see how hard they work now, and remember what pleasant +times we used to have--I don't feel sometimes quite sure.' + +'I believe the work was done a great deal better than it is now,' said +the archdeacon. 'There wasn't so much fuss, but there was more reality. +And men were men, and clergymen were gentlemen.' + +'Yes;--they were gentlemen.' + +'Such a creature as that old woman at the palace couldn't have held his +head up among us. That's what has come from Reform. A reformed House of +Commons makes Lord Brock Prime Minister, and then your Prime Minister +makes Dr Proudie a bishop! Well;--it will last my time, I suppose.' + +'It has lasted mine--like the wine,' said Mr Harding. + +'There's one glass more, and you shall have it, sir.' Then Mr Harding +drank the last of the 1820 port, and they went into the drawing-room. + +On the next morning after breakfast the major went out for a walk by +himself. His father had suggested to him that he should go over to shoot +at Framley, and had offered him the use of everything the archdeacon +possessed in the way of horses, dogs, guns and carriages. But the major +would have none of these things. He would go out and walk by himself. +'He's not thinking of her; is he?' said the archdeacon to his wife, in a +whisper. 'I don't know. I think he is,' said Mrs Grantly. 'It will be so +much better for Charles, if he does,' said the archdeacon grimly; and +the look of his face as he spoke was by no means pleasant. 'You will do +nothing unjust, archdeacon,' said his wife. 'I will do as I like with my +own,' said he. And then he also went out and took a walk by himself. + +That evening after dinner, there was no 1820 port, and no recollection +of old days. They were rather dull, the three of them, as they sat +together--and dullness is always more endurable than sadness. Old Mr +Harding went to sleep and the archdeacon was cross. 'Henry,' he said, +'you haven't said a word to throw to a dog.' 'I've got rather a headache +this evening, sir,' said the major. The archdeacon drank two glasses of +wine, one after another, quickly. Then he woke his father-in-law gently, +and went off. 'Is there anything the matter?' asked the old man. +'Nothing particular. My father seems a little cross.' 'Ah! I've been to +sleep, and I oughtn't. It's my fault. We'll go in and smooth him down.' +But the archdeacon wouldn't be smoothed down on that occasion. He would +let his son see the difference between a father pleased, and a father +displeased--or rather between a father pleasant, and a father +unpleasant. 'He hasn't said anything to you, has he?' said the +archdeacon that night to his wife. 'Not a word;--as yet.' 'If he does it +without the courage to tell us, I shall think him a cur,' said the +archdeacon. 'But he did tell you,' said Mrs Grantly, standing up for her +favourite son; 'and, for the matter of that, he has courage enough for +anything. If he does it, I shall always say that he has been driven to +it by your threats.' + +'That's sheer nonsense,' said the archdeacon. + +'It's not nonsense at all,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'Then I suppose I was to hold my tongue and say nothing?' said the +archdeacon; and as he spoke he banged the door between his dressing-room +and Mrs Grantly's bedroom. + +On the first day of the new year Major Grantly spoke his mind to his +mother. The archdeacon had gone into Barchester, having in vain +attempted to induce his son to go with him. Mr Harding was in the +library reading a little and sleeping a little, and dreaming of old days +and old friends, and perhaps sometimes, of the old wine. Mrs Grantly was +alone in a small sitting-room which she frequented upstairs, when +suddenly her son entered the room. 'Mother,' he said, 'I think it better +to tell you that I am going to Allington.' + +'To Allington, Henry?' She knew very well who was at Allington, and +what must be the business which would take him there. + +'Yes, mother. Miss Crawley is there, and there are circumstances which +make it incumbent on me to see her without delay.' + +'What circumstances, Henry?' + +'As I intend to ask her to be my wife, I think it best to do so now. I +owe it to her and to myself that she should not think I am deterred by +her father's position.' + +'But would it not be reasonable that you should be deterred by her +father's position?' + +'No, I think not. I think it would be dishonest as well as ungenerous. +I cannot bring myself to brook such delay. Of course I am alive to the +misfortune which has fallen upon her--upon her and me, too, should she +ever become my wife. But it is one of those burdens which a man should +have shoulders broad enough to bear.' + +'Quite so, if she were your wife, or even if you were engaged to her. +Then honour would require it of you, as well as affection. As it is, +your honour does not require it, and I think you should hesitate, for +all our sakes, and especially for Edith's.' + +'It will do Edith no harm; and, mother, if you alone were concerned, I +think you would feel that it would not hurt you.' + +'I was not thinking of myself, Henry.' + +'As for my father, the very threats which he has made make me conscious +that I have only to measure the price. He has told me that he will stop +my allowance.' + +'But that may not be the worst. Think how you are situated. You are +the younger son of a man who will be held to be justified in making an +elder son, if he thinks fit to do so.' + +'I can only hope that he will be fair to Edith. If you will tell him +that from me, it is all that I wish you to do.' + +'But you will see him yourself?' + +'No, mother; not till I have been to Allington. Then I will see him +again or not, just as he pleases. I shall stop at Guestwick, and will +write to you a line from thence. If my father decides on doing anything, +let me know at once, as it will be necessary that I should get rid of +the lease of my house.' + +'Oh, Henry!' + +'I have thought a great deal about it, mother, and I believe I am right. +Whether I am right or wrong, I shall do it. I will not ask you now for +any promise or pledge; but should Miss Crawley become my wife, I hope +that you at least will not refuse to see her as your daughter.' Having +so spoken, he kissed his mother, and was about to leave the room; but +she held him by his arm, and he saw that her eyes were full of tears. +'Dearest mother, if I grieve you I am sorry indeed.' + +'Not me, not me, not me,' she said. + +'For my father, I cannot help it. Had he not threatened me I should +have told him also. As he has done so, you must tell him. But give him +my kindest love.' + +'Oh, Henry; you will be ruined. You will, indeed. Can you not wait? +Remember how headstrong your father is, and how good;--and how he loves +you! Think of all he that he has done for you. When did he refuse you +anything?' + +'He has been good to me, but in this I cannot obey him. He should not +ask me.' + +'You are wrong. You are indeed. He has a right to expect that you will +not bring disgrace upon the family.' + +'Nor will I;--except such disgrace as shall attend upon poverty. +Good-bye, mother. I wish you could have said one kind word to me.' + +'Have I not said a kind word?' + +'Not as yet, mother.' + +'I would not for the world speak unkindly to you. If it were not for +your father I would bid you bring whom you pleased home to me as your +wife; and I would be as a mother to her. And if this girl should become +your wife--' + +'It shall not be my fault if she does not.' + +'I will try to love her--some day.' + +Then the major went, leaving Edith at the rectory, as requested by his +mother. His own dog-cart and servant were at Plumstead, and he drove +himself home to Cosby Lodge. + +When the archdeacon returned the news was told to him at once. 'Henry +has gone to Allington to propose to Miss Crawley,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'Gone--without speaking to me!' + +'He left his love, and said that it was useless remaining, as he knew he +should only offend you.' + +'He has made his bed, and he must lie upon it,' said the archdeacon. +And then there was not another word said about Grace Crawley on that +occasion. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MISS LILY DALE'S RESOLUTION + +The ladies at the Small House at Allington breakfasted always at nine--a +liberal nine; and the postman whose duty it was to deliver letters in +that village at half-past eight, being also liberal in his ideas as to +time, always arrived punctually in the middle of breakfast, so that Mrs +Dale expected her letters, and Lily hers, just before the second cup of +tea, as though the letters formed a part of the morning meal. Jane, the +maidservant, always brought them in, and handed them to Mrs Dale--for +Lily had in these days come to preside at the breakfast table; and then +there would be an examination of the outsides before the envelopes were +violated, and as each party knew pretty well the circumstances of the +correspondence of the other, there would be some guessing as to what +this or that epistle might contain; and after that a reading out loud of +passages, and not unfrequently the entire letter. But now, at the time +of which I am speaking, Grace Crawley was at the Small House, and +therefore the common practice was somewhat in abeyance. + +On one of the first days of the new year Jane brought in the letters as +usual, and handed them to Mrs Dale. Lily was at the time occupied with +the teapot, but still she saw the letters, and had not her hands so full +as to be debarred from the expression of her usual anxiety. 'Mamma, I'm +sure I see two there for me,' she said. 'Only one for you, Lily,' said +Mrs Dale. Lily instantly knew from the tone of the voice that some +letter had come, which by the very aspect of the handwriting had +disturbing her mother. 'There is one for you, my dear,' said Mrs Dale, +throwing a letter across the table to Grace. 'And one for you, Lily, +from Bell. The others are for me.' 'And whom are you yours from, mamma?' +asked Lily. 'One is from Mrs Jones; and the other, I think, is a letter +on business.' Then Lily said nothing further, but she observed that her +mother only opened one of her letters at the breakfast-table. Lily was +very patient;--not by nature, I think, but by exercise and practice. She +had, once in her life, been too much in a hurry; and having then burned +herself grievously, she now feared the fire. She did not therefore +follow her mother after breakfast, but sat with Grace over the fire, +hemming diligently at certain articles of clothing which were intended +for use in the Hogglestock parsonage. The two girls were making a set of +new shirts for Mr Crawley. 'But I know he will ask where they come +from,' said Grace; 'and then mamma will be scolded.' 'But I hope he'll +wear them,' said Lily. 'Sooner of later he will,' said Grace; 'because +mamma manages generally to have her way at last.' Then they went on for +an hour or so, talking about the home affairs at Hogglestock. But during +the whole time Lily's mind was intent upon her mother's letter. + +Nothing was said about it at lunch, and nothing when they walked out +after lunch, for Lily was very patient. But during the walk Mrs Dale +became aware that her daughter was uneasy. These two watched each other +unconsciously with a closeness which hardly allowed a glance of the eye, +certainly not a tone of the voice, to pass unobserved. To Mrs Dale it +was everything in the world that her daughter should be, if not happy at +heart, at least tranquil; and to Lily, who knew that her mother was +always thinking of her, and of her alone, her mother was the only human +divinity now worthy of adoration. But nothing was said about the letter +during the walk. + +When they came home it was nearly dusk, and it was their habit to sit up +for a while without candles, talking, till the evening had in truth set +in and the unmistakable and enforced idleness of remaining without +candles was apparent. During this time, Lily, demanding patience of +herself all the while, was thinking what she would do, or rather what +she would say, about the letter. That nothing would be done or said in +the presence of Grace Crawley was a matter of course, nor would she do +or say anything to get rid of Grace. She would be very patient; but she +would, at last, ask her mother about the letter. + +And then, as luck would have it, Grace Crawley got up and left the room. +Lily still waited for a few minutes, and, in order that her patience +might be thoroughly exercised, she said a word or two about her sister +Bell; how the eldest child's whooping-cough was nearly well, and how +the baby was doing wonderful things with its first tooth. But as Mrs +Dale had already seen Bell's letter, all this was not intensely +interesting. At last Lily came to the point and asked her question. +'Mamma, from whom was that other letter which you got this morning?' + +Our story will perhaps be best told by communicating the letter to the +reader before it was discussed with Lily. The letter was as follows:- + +'GENERAL COMMITTEE OFFICE,--January, 186-' + +I should have said that Mrs Dale had not opened the letter till she had +found herself in the solitude of her own bedroom; and that then, before +doing so, she had examined the handwriting with anxious eyes. When she +first received it she thought she knew the writer, but was not sure. +Then she had glanced at the impression over the fastening, and had known +at once from whom the letter had come. It was from Mr Crosbie, the man +who had brought so much trouble into her house, who had jilted her +daughter; the only man in the world whom she had a right to regard as a +positive enemy to herself. She had no doubt about it, as she tore the +envelope open; and yet, when the address given made her quite sure, a +new feeling of shivering came upon her, and she asked herself whether it +might not be better that she should send his letter back to him without +reading it. But she read it. + +'MADAM,' the letter began-- +'You will be very much surprised to hear from +me, and I am quite aware that I am not entitled to the +ordinary courtesy of an acknowledgement from you, +should you be pleased to throw my letter on some side +as unworthy of your notice. But I cannot refrain from +addressing you, and must leave it to you to reply or +not, as you may think fit. + +'I will only refer to that episode of my life +with which you are acquainted, for the sake of +acknowledging my great fault and of assuring you that +I did not go unpunished. It would be useless for me +now to attempt to explain to you the circumstances +which led me into that difficulty which ended in so +great a blunder; but I will ask you to believe that my +folly was greater than my sin. + +'But I will come to my point at once. You are, +no doubt, aware that I married the daughter of Lord De +Courcy, and that I was separated from my wife a few +weeks after our unfortunate marriage. It is now +something over twelve months since she died at Baden- +Baden in her mother's house. I never saw her since +the day we first parted. I have not a word to say +against her. The fault was mine in marrying a woman +whom I did not love and had never loved. When I +married Lady Alexandrina I loved, not her, but your +daughter. + +'I believe I may venture to say to you that your +daughter once loved me. From the day on which I last +wrote to you that terrible letter which told you of my +fate, I have never mentioned the name of Lily Dale to +human ears. It has been too sacred for my mouth--too +sacred for the intercourse of any friendship with +which I have been blessed. I now use it for the first +time to you, in order that I may ask whether it be +possible that her old love should ever live again. +Mine has lived always--has never faded for an hour, +making me miserable during the last years that have +passed since I saw her, but capable of making me very +happy, if I may be allowed to see her again. + +'You will understand my purpose now as well as +though I were to write pages. I have no scheme formed +in my head for seeing your daughter again. How can I +dare to form a scheme, when I am aware that the chance +of success must be so strong against me? But if you +will tell me that there can be a gleam of hope, I will +obey any commands that you can put upon me in any way +that you may point out. I am free again--and she is +free. I love her with all my heart, and seem to long +for nothing in the world but that she should become my +wife. Whether any of her old love may still abide +with her, you will know. If it do, it may even yet +prompt her to forgive one, who, in spite of falseness +of conduct, has yet been true to her in heart. + +'I have the honour to be, Madam, +'Your most obedient servant, + +ADOLPHUS CROSBIE.' + +This was the letter which Mrs Dale had received, and as to which she had +not as yet said a word to Lily, or even made up her mind whether she +would say a word or not. Dearly as the mother and daughter loved each +other, thorough as was the confidence between them, yet the name of +Adolphus Crosbie had not been mentioned between them oftener, perhaps, +than half-a-dozen times since the blow had been struck. Mrs Dale knew +that their feelings about the man were altogether different. She, +herself, not only condemned him for what he had done, believing it to be +impossible that any shadow of excuse could be urged for his offence, +thinking that the fault had shown the man to be mean beyond +redemption--but she had allowed herself actually to hate him. He had in +one sense murdered her daughter, and she believed that she could never +forgive him. But, Lily, as her mother well knew, had forgiven this man +altogether, had made excuses for him which cleansed his sin of all its +blackness in her own eyes, and was to this day anxious as ever for his +welfare and his happiness. Mrs Dale feared that Lily did in truth love +him still. If it was so, was she not bound to show her this letter? Lily +was old enough to judge for herself--old enough, and wise enough too. +Mrs Dale told herself half-a-score of times that morning that she could +not be justified in keeping the letter from her daughter. + +But yet much she wished that the letter had never been written, and +would have given very much to be able to put it out of the way without +injustice to Lily. To her thinking it would be impossible that Lily +should be happy marrying such a man. Such a marriage now would be, as +Mrs Dale thought, a degradation to her daughter. A terrible injury had +been done to her; but such reparation as this would, in Mrs Dale's eyes, +only make the injury deeper. And yet Lily loved the man; and, loving +him, how could she resist the temptation of his offer? 'Mamma, from whom +was that letter which you got this morning? Lily asked. For a few +moments Mrs Dale remained silent. 'Mamma,' continued Lily, 'I think I +know whom it was from. If you tell me to ask nothing further, of course +I will not.' + +'No, Lily; I cannot tell you that.' + +'Then, mamma, out with it at once. What is the use of shivering on the +brink?' + +'It was from Mr Crosbie.' + +'I knew it. I cannot tell you why, but I knew it. And now, mamma;--am +I to read it?' + +'You shall do as you please, Lily.' + +'Then I please to read it.' + +'Listen to me a moment first. For myself, I wish that the letter had +never been written. It tells badly for the man, as I think of it. I +cannot understand how any man could have brought himself to address +either you or me, after having acted as he acted.' + +'But, mamma, we differ about all that, you know.' + +'Now he has written, and there is the letter--if you choose to read it.' + +Lily had it in her hand, but she still sat motionless, holding it. 'You +think, mamma, I ought not to read it?' + +'You must judge for yourself, dearest.' + +'And if I do not read it, what shall you do, mamma?' + +'I shall do nothing;--or, perhaps, I should in such a case acknowledge +it, and tell him that we have nothing more to say to him.' + +'That should be very stern.' + +'He has done that which makes some sternness necessary.' + +Then Lily was again silent, and still she sat motionless, with the +letter in her hand. 'Mamma,' she said at last, 'if you tell me not to +read it, I will give it back to you unread. If you bid me exercise my +own judgment, I shall take it upstairs and read it.' + +'You must exercise your own judgment,' said Mrs Dale. Then Lily got up +from her chair and walked slowly out of the room, and went to her +mother's chamber. The thoughts which passed through Mrs Dale's mind +while her daughter was reading the letter were very sad. She could find +no comfort anywhere. Lily, she had told herself, would surely give way +to this man's renewed expressions of affection, and she, Mrs Dale +herself, would be called upon to give her child to a man whom she could +neither love nor respect;--who, for aught she knew, she could never +cease to hate. And she could not bring herself to believe that Lily +could be happy with such a man. As for her own life, desolate as it +would be--she cared little for that. Mothers know that their daughters +will leave them. Even widowed mothers, mothers with but one child +left--such a one as was this mother---are aware that they will be left +alone, and they can bring themselves to welcome the sacrifice of +themselves with something of satisfaction. Mrs Dale and Lily had, +indeed, of late become bound together especially, so that the mother had +been justified in regarding the link which joined them as being firmer +than that by which most daughters are bound to their mothers;--but in +all that she would have found no regret. Even now, in these very days, +she was hoping that Lily might yet be brought to give herself to John +Eames. But she could not, after all that was come and gone, be happy in +thinking that Lily should be given to Adolphus Crosbie. + +When Mrs Dale went upstairs to her own room before dinner Lily was not +there; nor were they alone together again that evening except for a +moment, when Lily, as usual, went into her mother's room when she was +undressing. But neither of them then said a word about the letter. Lily +during dinner and throughout the evening had borne herself well, giving +no sign of special emotion, keeping to herself entirely her own thoughts +about the proposition made to her. And afterwards she had progressed +diligently with the fabrication of Mr Crawley's shirts, as though she +had no such letter in her pocket. And yet there was not a moment in +which she was not thinking of it. To Grace, just before she went to bed, +she did say one word. 'I wonder whether it can ever come to a person to +be so placed that there can be no doing right, let what will be +done;--that, do or not do, as you may, it must be wrong?' + +'I hope you are not in such a condition,' said Grace. + +'I am something near it,' said Lily, 'but perhaps if I look long enough +I shall see the light.' + +'I hope that it will be a happy light at last,' said Grace, who thought +that Lily was referring only to John Eames. + +At noon on the next day Lily had still said nothing to her mother about +the letter; and then what she said was very little. 'When must you +answer Mr Crosbie, mamma?' + +'When, my dear?' + +'I mean how long may you take? It need not be today.' + +'No;--certainly not today.' + +'Then I will talk it over with you tomorrow. It wants some +thinking;--does it not, mamma?' + +'It would not want much with me, Lily.' + +'But then, mamma, you are not I. Believing as I believe, feeling as I +feel, it wants some thinking. That's what I mean.' + +'I wish I could help you, my dear.' + +'You shall help me--tomorrow.' The morrow came and Lily was still very +patient; but she had prepared herself, and had prepared the time also, +so that in the hour of the gloaming she was alone with her mother, and +sure that she might remain alone with her for an hour or so. 'Mamma, sit +there,' she said; 'I will sit down here, and then I can lean against you +and be comfortable. You can bear as much of me as that--can't you, +mamma?' Then Mrs Dale put her arm over Lily's shoulder, and embraced her +daughter. 'And now, mamma, we will talk about this wonderful letter.' + +'I do not know, dear, that I have anything to say about it.' + +'But you must have something to say about it, mamma. You must bring +yourself to have something to say--to have a great deal to say.' + +'You know what I think as well as though I talked for a week.' + +'That won't do, mamma. Come, you must not be hard with me.' + +'Hard, Lily!' + +'I don't mean that you will hurt me, or not give me any food--or that +you will not go on caring about me more than anything else in the whole +world ten times over--' And Lily as she spoke, tightened the embrace of +her mother's arm round her neck. I'm not afraid you'll be hard in that +way. But you must soften your heart so as to be able to mention his name +and talk about him, and tell me what I ought to do. You must see with my +eyes, and hear with my ears, and feel with my heart;--and then, when I +know that you have done that, I must judge with your judgment.' + +'I wish you to use your own.' + +'Yes;--because you won't see with my eyes and hear with my ears. That's +what I call being hard. Though you should feed me with blood from your +breast, I should call you a hard pelican, unless you could give me also +the sympathy which I demand from you. You see, mamma, we have never +allowed ourselves to speak of this man.' + +'What need has there been, dearest?' + +'Only because we have been thinking of him. Out of the full heart the +mouth speaketh;--that is, the mouth does so, when the full heart is +allowed to have its own comfortably.' + +'There are things which should be forgotten.' + +'Forgotten, mamma?' + +'The memory of which should not be fostered by much talking.' + +'I have never blamed you, mamma; never, even in my heart. I have known +how good and gracious and sweet you have been. But I have often accused +myself of cowardice because I have not allowed his name to cross my lips +either to you or to Bell. To talk of forgetting such an accident as that +is a farce. And as for fostering the memory of it--! Do you think that I +have ever spent a night from that time to this without thinking of him? +Do you imagine that I have ever crossed our own lawn, or gone down +through the garden-path there, without thinking of the times when he and +I walked there together? There needs no fostering for such memories as +those. They are weeds which will go rank and strong though nothing be +done to foster them. There is the earth and the rain, and that is enough +for them. You cannot kill them if you would, and they certainly will not +die because you are careful not to hoe and rake the ground. + +'Lily, you forget how short the time has been as yet.' + +'I have thought it very long; but the truth is, mamma, that this +non-fostering of memories, as you call it, has not been the real cause +of our silence. We have not spoken of Mr Crosbie because we have not +thought alike about him. Had you spoken you would have spoken with +anger, and I could not endure to hear him abused. That has been it.' + +'Partly so, Lily.' + +'Now you must talk of him, and you must not abuse him. We must talk of +him, because something must be done about his letter. Even it be left +unanswered, it cannot be so left without discussion. And yet you must +say no evil of him.' + +'Am I to think he behaved well?' + +'No, mamma; you are not to think that; but you are to look upon his +fault as a fault that has been forgiven.' + +'It cannot be forgiven, dear.' + +'But, mamma, when you go to heaven--' + +'My dear!' + +'But you will go to heaven, mamma, and why should I not speak of it? +You will go to heaven, and yet I suppose you have been very wicked, +because we are all very wicked. But you won't be told of your wickedness +there. You won't be hated there, because you were this or that when you +were here.' + +'I hope not, Lily; but isn't your argument almost profane?' + +'No; I don't think so. We ask to be forgiven just as we forgive. That +is the way in which we hope to be forgiven, and therefore it is the way +in which we ought to forgive. When you say that prayer at night, mamma, +do you ever ask yourself whether you have forgiven him?' + +'I forgive him as far as humanity can forgive. I would do him no +injury.' + +'But if you and I are forgiven only after that fashion we shall never +get to heaven.' Lily paused for some further answer from her mother, but +as Mrs Dale was silent she allowed that portion of the subject to pass +as completed. 'And now, mamma, what answer do you think we ought to send +to his letter?' + +'My dear, how am I to say? You know I have said already that if I could +act on my own judgment, I would send none.' + +'But that was said in the bitterness of gall.' + +'Come, Lily, say what you think yourself. We shall get on better when +you have brought yourself to speak. Do you think that you wish to see +him again?' + +'I don't know, mamma. Upon the whole, I think not.' + +'Then in heaven's name, let me write and tell him so.' + +'Stop a moment, mamma. There are two persons here to be considered--or +rather, three.' + +'I would not have you think of me in such a question.' + +'I know you would not; but never mind, and let me go on. The three of +us are concerned, at any rate; you, he, and I. I am thinking of him now. +We have all suffered, but I do believe that hitherto he has had the +worst of it.' + +'And who had deserved the worst?' + +'Mamma, how can you go back in that way? We have agreed that that +should be regarded as done and gone. He has been very unhappy, and now +we see what remedy he proposes to himself for his misery. Do I flatter +myself if I allow myself to look at it in that way?' + +'Perhaps he thinks he is offering a remedy for your misery.' + +As this was said, Lily turned round slowly and looked up into her +mother's face. 'Mamma,' she said, 'that is very cruel. I did not think +you could be so cruel. How can you, who believe him to be so selfish, +think that?' + +'It is very hard to judge of men's motives. I have never supposed him +to be so black that he would not wish to make atonement for the evil he +has done.' + +'If I thought that there certainly could be no answer.' + +'Who can look into a man's heart and judge all the sources of his +actions? There are mixed feelings there, no doubt. Remorse for what he +has done; regret for what he has lost;--something, perhaps, of the +purity of love.' + +'Yes, something--I hope something--for his sake.' + +'But when a horse kicks and bites, you know his nature and do not go +near him. When a man has cheated you once, you think he will cheat you +again, and you do not deal with him. You do not look to gather grapes +from thistles, after you have found that they are thistles.' + +'I still go for the roses though I have often torn my hand with thorns +in looking for them.' + +'But you do not pluck those that have become cankered in the blowing.' + +'Because he was once at fault, will he be cankered always?' + +'I would not trust him.' + +'Now, mamma, see how different we are; or, rather, how different it is +when one judges for oneself or another. If it were simply myself, and my +own future fate in life, I would trust him with it all tomorrow, without +a word. I should go to him as a gambler goes to the gaming-table, +knowing that I lose everything, I could hardly be poorer than I was +before. But I should have a better hope than the gambler is justified in +having. That, however, is not my difficulty. And when I think of him I +can see a prospect for success for the gambler. I think so well of +myself that, loving him, as I do;--yes, mamma, do not be uneasy;--loving +him as I do, I believe I could be a comfort to him. I think that he +might be better with me than without me. That is, he would be so, if he +could teach himself to look back upon the past as I can do, and to judge +of me as I can judge of him.' + +'He has nothing, at least, for which to condemn you.' + +'But he would have, were I to marry him now. He would condemn me +because I had forgiven him. He would condemn me because I had borne what +he had done to me, and had still loved him--loved him through it all. He +would feel and know the weakness--and there is weakness. I have been +weak in not being able to rid myself of him altogether. He would +recognise this after a while, and would despise me for it. But he would +not see what there is of devotion to him in my being able to bear the +taunts of the world in going back to him, and to your taunts, and my own +taunts. I should have to bear his also--not spoken aloud, but to be seen +in his face and heard in his voice--and that I could not endure. If he +despised me, and he would, that would make us both unhappy. Therefore, +mamma, tell him not to come; tell him that he can never come; but, if it +be possible, tell him tenderly.' Then she got up and walked away, as +though she were going out of the room, but her mother had caught her +before the door was opened. + +'Lily,' she said, 'if you think you can be happy with him, he shall +come.' + +'No, mamma, no. I have been looking for the light ever since I read his +letter, and I think I see it. And now, mamma, I will make a clean breast +of it. From the moment in which I heard that that poor woman was dead, I +have been in a state of flutter. It has been weak of me, and silly, and +contemptible. But I could not help it. I kept on asking myself whether +he would ever think of me now. Well; he has answered the question; and +has so done it that he has forced upon me the necessity of a resolution. +I have resolved, and I believe that I shall be the better for it.' + +The letter which Mrs Dale wrote to Mr Crosbie was as follows:- + +'Mrs Dale presents her compliments to Mr Crosbie, and begs to assure him +that it will not now be possible that he should renew the relations +which were broken off three years ago, between him and Mrs Dale's +family.' It was very short, certainly, and it did not by any means +satisfy Mrs Dale. But she did not know how to say more without saying +too much. The object of her letter was to save him the trouble of a +futile perseverance, and them from the annoyance of persecution; and +this she wished to do without mentioning her daughter's name. And she +was determined that no word should escape her in which there was any +touch of severity, any hint of an accusation. So much she owed to Lily +in return for all that Lily was prepared to abandon. 'There is my note,' +she said at last, offering it to her daughter. 'I did not mean to see +it,' said Lily, 'and, mamma, I will not read it now. Let it go. I know +you have been good and have not scolded him.' 'I have not scolded him, +certainly,' said Mrs Dale. And then the letter was sent. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MRS DOBBS BROUGHTON'S DINNER-PARTY + +Mr John Eames of the Income-Tax Office, had in three days risen so high +in that world that people in the west-end of town, and very respectable +people too--people living in South Kensington, in neighbourhoods not far +from Belgravia, and in very handsome houses round Bayswater--were glad +to ask him out to dinner. Money had been left to him by an earl, and +rumour had of course magnified that money. He was a private secretary, +which is in itself a great advance on being a mere clerk. And he had +become the particular intimate friend of an artist who had pushed +himself into high fashion during the last year or two--one Conway +Dalrymple, whom the rich English world was beginning to pet and pelt +with gilt sugar-plums, and who seemed to take very kindly to petting and +gilt sugar-plums. I don't know whether the friendship of Conway +Dalrymple had not done as much to secure John Eames his position at the +Bayswater dinner-tables, as had either the private secretaryship, or the +earl's money; and yet, when they had first known each other, now only two +or three years ago, Conway Dalrymple had been the poorer man of the two. +Some chance had brought them together, and they had lived in the same +room for nearly two years. This arrangement had been broken up, and the +Conway Dalrymple of these days had a studio of his own, somewhere near +Kensington Palace, where he painted portraits of young countesses, and +in which he had even painted a young duchess. It was the peculiar merit +of his pictures--so at least said the art-loving world--that though the +likeness was always good, the stiffness of the modern portrait was never +there. There was also ever some story told in Dalrymple's pictures over +and above the story of the portraiture. This countess was drawn as a +fairy with wings, that countess as a goddess with a helmet. The thing +took for a time, and Conway Dalrymple was picking up his gilt +sugar-plums with considerable rapidity. + +On a certain day he and John Eames were to dine out together at a +certain house in that Bayswater district. It was a large mansion, if not +made of stone yet looking very stony, with thirty windows at least, all +of them with cut-stone frames, requiring, let me say, at least four +thousand a year for its maintenance. And its owner, Dobbs Broughton, a +man very well known both in the City and over the grass in +Northamptonshire, was supposed to have a good deal more than four +thousand a year. Mrs Dobbs Broughton, a very beautiful woman, who +certainly was not yet thirty-five, let her worst enemies say what they +might, had been painted by Conway Dalrymple as a Grace. There were, of +course, three Graces in the picture, but each Grace was Mrs Dobbs +Broughton repeated. We all know how Graces stand sometimes; two Graces +looking one way, and one the other. In this picture, Mrs Dobbs Broughton +as centre Grace looked you full in the face. For this pretty toy Mr +Conway Dalrymple had picked up a gilt sugar-plum to the tune of six +hundred pounds, and had, moreover, won the heart of both Mr and Mrs +Dobbs Broughton. 'Upon my word, Johnny,' Dalrymple had said to his +friend, 'he's a deuced good fellow, has really a good glass of +claret--which is getting rarer and rarer every day--and will mount you +for a day, whenever you please, down Market Harboro'. Come and dine with +them.' Johnny Eames condescended, and did go and dine with Mr Dobbs +Broughton. I wonder whether he remembered, when Conway Dalrymple was +talking of the rarity of good claret, how much beer the young painter +used to drink when they were out together in the country, as they used +to do occasionally, three years ago; and how the painter had then been +used to complain that bitter cost threepence a glass, instead of +twopence, which had hitherto been the recognised price of the article. +In those days the sugar-plums had not been gilt, and had been much +rarer. + +Johnny Eames and his friend went together to the house of Mr Dobbs +Broughton. As Dalrymple lived close to the Broughtons, Eames picked him +up in a cab. 'Filthy things, these cabs are,' said Dalrymple, as he got +into the hansom. + +'I don't know about that,' said Johnny. 'They're pretty good, I think.' + +'Foul things,' said Conway. 'Don't you feel what a draught comes in +here because the glass is cracked. I'd have one of my own, only I should +never know what to do with it.' + +'The greatest nuisance on earth, I should think,' said Johnny. + +'If you could always have it standing ready round the corner,' said the +artist, 'it would be delightful. But one would want half-a-dozen horses, +and two or three men for that.' + +'I think the stands are the best,' said Johnny. + +They were a little late--a little later than they should have been had +they considered that Eames was to be introduced to his new +acquaintances. But he had already lived long enough before the world to +be quite at his ease in such circumstances, and he entered Mrs +Broughton's drawing-room with his pleasantest smile upon his face. But +as he entered he saw a sight which made him look serious in spite of his +efforts to the contrary. Mr Adolphus Crosbie, secretary to the Board at +the General Committee Office, was standing on the rug before the fire. + +'Who will be there?' Eames had asked of his friend, when the suggestion +to go and dine with Dobbs Broughton had been made to him. + +'Impossible to say,' Conway had replied. 'A certain horrible fellow by +the name of Musselbro, will almost certainly be there. He always is when +they have anything of a swell dinner-party. He is a sort of partner of +Broughton's in the City. He wears a lot of chains, and has elaborate +whiskers, and an elaborate waistcoat, which is worse; and he doesn't +wash his hands as often as he ought to do.' + +'An objectionable party, rather, I should say,' said Eames. + +'Well, yes; Musselbro is objectionable. He's very good-humoured you +know, and good-looking in a sort of way, and goes everywhere; that is +among people of this sort. Of course he's not hand-and-glove with Lord +Derby; and I wish he could be made to wash his hands. They haven't any +other standing dish, and you may meet anybody. They always have a Member +of Parliament; they generally manage to catch a Baronet; and I have met +a Peer there. On that august occasion Musselbro was absent.' + +So instructed, Eames, on entering that room, looked round at once for Mr +Musselbro. 'If I don't see the whiskers and chain,' he had said, I shall +know there's a Peer.' Mr Musselbro was in the room, but Eames had +descried Mr Crosbie long before he had seen Mr Musselbro. + +There was no reason for confusion on his part in meeting Crosbie. They +had both loved Lily Dale. Crosbie might have been successful, but for +his own fault. Eames had on one occasion been thrown into contact with +him, and on that occasion had quarrelled with him and had beaten him, +giving him a black eye, and in this way obtained some mastery over him. +There was no reason why he should be ashamed of meeting Crosbie; and +yet, when he saw him, the blood mounted all over his face, and he forgot +to make any further search for Mr Musselbro. + +'I am so much obliged to Mr Dalrymple for bringing you,' said Mrs Dobbs +Broughton very sweetly, 'only he ought to have come sooner. Naughty man! +I know it was his fault. Will you take Miss Demolines down? Miss +Demolines--Mr Eames.' + +Mr Dobbs Broughton was somewhat sulky and had not welcomed our hero very +cordially. He was beginning to think that Conway gave himself airs and +did not sufficiently understand that a man who had horses at Market +Harboro' and '41 Lafitte was at any rate as good as a painter who was +pelted with gilt sugar-plums for painting countesses. But he was a man +whose ill-humour never lasted long, and he was soon pressing his wine on +Johnny Eames as though he loved him dearly. + +But there was a few minutes before they went down to dinner, and Johnny +Eames, as he endeavoured to find something to say to Miss +Demolines--which was difficult, as he did not in the least know Miss +Demolines' line of conversation--was aware that his efforts were impeded +by thoughts of Mr Crosbie. The man looked older than when he had last +seen him--so much older that Eames was astonished. He was bald, or +becoming bald; and his whiskers were grey, or were becoming grey, and he +was much fatter. Johnny Eames, who was always thinking of Lily Dale, +could not now keep himself from thinking of Adolphus Crosbie. He saw at +a glance that the man was in mourning, though there was nothing but his +shirt-studs by which to tell it; and he knew that he was in mourning for +his wife. 'I wish she might have lived for ever,' Johnny said to +himself. + +He had not yet been definitely called upon by the entrance of the +servant to offer his arm to Miss Demolines, when Crosbie walked across +to him from the rug and addressed him. + +'Mr Eames,' said he, 'it is some time since we met.' And he offered his +hand to Johnny. + +'Yes, it is' said Johnny, accepting the proffered salutation. 'I don't +know exactly how long, but ever so long.' + +'I am very glad to have the opportunity of shaking hands with you,' said +Crosbie; and then he retired, as it had become his duty to wait with his +arm ready for Mrs Dobbs Broughton. Having married an earl's daughter he +was selected for that honour. There was a barrister in the room, and Mrs +Dobbs Broughton ought to have known better. As she professed to be +guided in such matters by the rules laid down by the recognised +authorities, she ought to have been aware that a man takes no rank from +his wife. But she was entitled I think to merciful consideration for her +error. A woman situated as was Mrs Dobbs Broughton cannot altogether +ignore these terrible rules. She cannot let her guests draw lots for +precedence. She must select someone for the honour of her arm. And +amidst the intricacies of rank how is it possible for woman to learn and +to remember everything? If Providence would only send Mrs Dobbs +Broughton a Peer for every dinner-party, the thing would go more easily; +but what woman will tell me, off-hand, which should go out of a room +first; a C.B., and Admiral of the Blue, the Dean of Barchester, or the +Dean of Arches? Who is to know who was everybody's father? How am I to +remember that young Thompson's progenitor was made a baronet and not a +knight when he was Lord Mayor? Perhaps Mrs Dobbs Broughton ought to have +known that Mr Crosbie could have gained nothing by his wife's rank, and +the barrister may be considered to have been not immoderately severe +when he simply spoke of her afterwards as the silliest and most ignorant +old woman he had ever met in his life. Eames with the lovely Miss +Demolines on his arm was the last to move before the hostess. Mr Dobbs +Broughton had led the way energetically with old Lady Demolines. There +was no doubt about Lady Demolines--as his wife had told him, because her +title marked her. Her husband had been a physician in Paris, and had +been knighted in consequence of some benefit supposed to have been done +to some French scion of royalty--when such scions in France were royal +and not imperial. Lady Demolines' rank was not much certainly; but it +served to mark her, and was beneficial. + +As he went downstairs Eames was still thinking of his meeting with +Crosbie, and had as yet hardly said a word to his neighbour, and his +neighbour had not said a word to him. Now Johnny understood dinners +quite well enough to know that in a party of twelve, among whom six are +ladies, everything depends of your next neighbour, and generally on the +next neighbour who specially belongs to you; and as he took his seat he +was a little alarmed as to his prospect for the next two hours. On his +other hand sat Mrs Ponsonby, the barrister's wife, and he did not much +like the look of Mrs Ponsonby. She was fat, heavy, and good-looking; +with a broad space between her eyes, and light smooth hair;--a youthful +British matron every inch of her, of whom any barrister with a young +family of children might be proud. Now Miss Demolines, though she was +hardly to be called beautiful, was at any rate remarkable. She had +large, dark, well-shaped eyes, and very dark hair, which she wore +tangled about in an extraordinary manner, and she had an expressive +face--a face made expressive by the owner's will. Such power of +expression is often attained by dint of labour--though it never reaches +to the expression of anything in particular. She was almost sufficiently +good-looking to be justified in considering herself a beauty. + +But Miss Demolines, though she had said nothing as yet, knew her game +very well. A lady cannot begin conversation to any good purpose in the +drawing-room, when she is seated and the man is standing;--nor can she +know then how the table may subsequently arrange itself. Powder may be +wasted, and often is wasted, and the spirit rebels against the necessity +of commencing a second enterprise. But Miss Demolines, when she found +herself seated, and perceived that on the other side of her was Mr +Ponsonby, a married man, commenced her enterprise at once, and our +friend John Eames was immediately aware that he would have no difficulty +as to conversation. + +'Don't you like winter dinner-parties?' began Miss Demolines. This was +said just as Johnny was taking his seat, and he had time to declare that +he liked dinner-parties at all periods of the year if the dinner was +good and the people pleasant before the host had muttered something +which was intended to be understood to be a grace. 'But I mean specially +the winter,' continued Miss Demolines. 'I don't think daylight should +ever be admitted at a dinner-table; and though you may shut out the +daylight, you can't shut out the heat. And then there are always so many +other things to go to in May and June and July. Dinners should be +stopped by Act of Parliament for those three months. I don't care what +people do afterwards, because we always fly away on the first of +August.' + +'That is good-natured on your part.' + +'I'm sure what I say would be for the good of society;--but at this time +of the year a dinner is warm and comfortable.' + +'Very comfortable, I think.' + +'And people get to know each other';--in saying which Miss Demolines +looked very pleasantly into Johnny's face. + +'There is a great deal in that,' said he. 'I wonder whether you and I +will get to know each other.' + +'Of course we shall;--that is, if I'm worth knowing.' + +'There can be no doubt about that, I should say.' + +'Time alone can tell. But, Mr Eames, I see that Mr Crosbie is a friend +of yours.' + +'Hardly a friend.' + +'I know very well that men are friends when they step up and shake hands +with each other. It is the same when women kiss.' + +'When I see women kiss, I always think there is deep hatred at the +bottom of it.' + +'And there may be deep hatred between you and Mr Crosbie for anything I +know to the contrary,' said Miss Demolines. + +'The very deepest,' said Johnny, pretending to look grave. + +'Ah; then I know he is your bosom friend, and that you will tell him +anything I say. What a strange history that was of his marriage.' + +'So I have heard;--but he is not quite bosom friend enough with me to +have told me all the particulars. I know that his wife is dead.' + +'Dead; oh, yes; she has been dead these two years I should say.' + +'Not so long as that, I should think.' + +'Well--perhaps not. But it's ever so long ago;--quite long enough for +him to be married again. Did you know her?' + +'I never saw her in my life.' + +'I knew her--not well indeed; but I am intimate with her sister, Lady +Amelia Gazebee, and I have met her there. None of that family have +married what you may call well. And now, Mr Eames, pray look at the menu +and tell me what I am to eat. Arrange for me a little dinner of my own, +out of the great bill of fare provided. I always expect some gentleman +to do that for me. Mr Crosbie, you know, only lived with his wife for +one month.' + +'So I've been told.' + +'And a terrible month they had of it. I used to hear of it. He doesn't +look that sort of man, does he?' + +'Well;--no. I don't think he does. But what sort of man do you mean?' + +'Why, such a regular Bluebeard! Of course you know how he treated +another girl before he married Lady Alexandrina. She died of it--with a +broken heart; absolutely died; and there he is, indifferent as +possible;--and would treat me in the same way tomorrow if I would let +him.' + +Johnny Eames, finding it impossible to talk to Miss Demolines about Lily +Dale, took up the card of the dinner and went to work in earnest, +recommending his neighbour what to eat and what to pass by. 'But you +have skipped the pate?' said she, with energy. + +'Allow me to ask you to choose mine for me instead. You are much more +fit to do it.' And she did choose his dinner for him. + +They were sitting at a round table, and in order that the ladies and +gentlemen should alternate themselves properly, Mr Musselboro was +opposite to the host. Next to him on his right was old Mrs Van Siever, +the widow of a Dutch merchant, who was very rich. She was a ghastly +thing to look at, as well from the quantity as from the nature of the +wiggeries she wore. She had not only a false front, but long false +curls, as to which it cannot be conceived that she would suppose that +anyone would be ignorant as to their falseness. She was very thin, too, +and very small, and putting aside her wiggeries, you would think her to +be all eyes. She was a ghastly old woman to the sight, and not +altogether pleasant in her mode of talking. She seemed to know Mr +Musselboro very well, for she called him by his name without any prefix. +He had, indeed, begun life as a clerk in her husband's office. + +'Why doesn't What's-his-name have real silver forks?' she said to him. +Now Mrs What's-his-name--Mrs Dobbs Broughton we will call her--was +sitting on the other side of Mr Musselboro, between him and Mr Crosbie; +and, so placed, Mr Musselboro found it rather hard to answer the +question, more especially as he was probably aware that other questions +would follow. + +'What's the use?' said Mr Musselboro. 'Everybody has these plated +things now. What's the use of a lot of capital lying dead?' + +'Everybody doesn't. I don't. You know as well as I do, Musselboro, +that the appearance of the thing goes for a great deal. Capital isn't +lying dead as long as people know that you've got it.' + +Before answering this Mr Musselboro was driven to reflect that Mrs Dobbs +Broughton would probably hear his reply. 'You won't find that there is +any doubt on that head in the City as to Broughton,' he said. + +'I shan't ask in the City, and if I did, I should not believe what +people told me. I think there are sillier folks in the City than +anywhere else. What did he give for that picture upstairs which the +young man painted?' + +'What, Mrs Dobbs Broughton's portrait?' + +'You don't call that a portrait, do you? I mean the one with the three +naked women?' Mr Musselboro glanced around with one eye, and felt sure +that Mrs Dobbs Broughton had heard the question. But the old woman was +determined to have an answer. 'How much did he give for it, Musselboro?' + +'Six hundred pounds, I believe,' said Mr Musselboro, looking straight +before him as he answered, and pretending to treat the subject with +perfect indifference. + +'Did he indeed, now? Six hundred pounds! And yet he hasn't got silver +spoons. How things are changed! Tell me, Musselboro, who was that young +man who came in with the painter?' + +Mr Musselboro turned round and asked Mrs Dobbs Broughton. 'A Mr John +Eames, Mrs Van Siever,' said Mrs Dobbs Broughton, whispering across the +front of Mr Musselboro. 'He is private secretary to Lord--Lord--Lord I +forget who. Some one of the Ministers, I know. And he had a great +fortune left him the other day by Lord--Lord--Lord somebody else.' + +'All among the lords, I see,' said Mrs Van Siever. Then Mrs Dobbs +Broughton drew herself back, remembering some little attack which had +been made on her by Mrs Van Siever when she herself had had the real +lord to dine with her. + +There was a Miss Van Siever there also, sitting between Crosbie and +Conway Dalrymple. Conway Dalrymple had been specially brought there to +sit next to Miss Van Siever. 'There's no knowing how much she'll have,' +said Mrs Dobbs Broughton, in the warmth of their friendship. 'But it's +all real. It is, indeed. The mother is awfully rich.' + +'But she's awful in another way, too,' said Dalrymple. + +'Indeed she is, Conway.' Mrs Dobbs Broughton had got into a way of +calling her young friend by his Christian name. 'All the world calls him +Conway,' she had said to her husband once when her husband had caught +her doing so. 'She is awful. Her husband made the business in the City, +when things were very different from what they are now, and I can't help +having her. She has transactions of business with Dobbs. But there's no +mistake about the money.' + +'She needn't leave it to her daughter, I suppose?' + +'But why shouldn't she? She has nobody else. You might offer to paint +her, you know. She'd make an excellent picture. So much character. You +come and see her.' + +Conway Dalrymple had expressed his willingness to meet Miss Van Siever, +saying something, however, as to his present position being one which +did not admit of any matrimonial speculation. Then Mrs Dobbs Broughton +had told him, with much seriousness, that he was altogether wrong, and +that were he to forget himself, or commit himself, or misbehave himself, +there must be an end to their pleasant intimacy. In answer to which, Mr +Dalrymple had said that his Grace was surely of all Graces the least +gracious. And now he had come to meet Miss Van Siever, and was now +seated next to her at table. + +Miss Van Siever, who at this time had perhaps reached her twenty-fifth +year, was certainly a handsome young woman. She was fair and large, +bearing no likeness whatever to her mother. Her features were regular, +and her full, clear eyes had a brilliance of their own, looking at you +always steadfastly and boldly, though very seldom pleasantly. Her mouth +would have been beautiful had it not been too strong for feminine +beauty. Her teeth were perfect--too perfect--looking like miniature +walls of carved ivory. She knew the fault of this perfection, and showed +her teeth as little as she could. Her nose and chin were finely +chiselled, and her head stood well upon her shoulders. But there was +something hard about it all which repelled you. Dalrymple, when he saw +her, recoiled from her, not outwardly, but inwardly. Yes, she was +handsome, as may be horse or a tiger; but there was about her nothing of +feminine softness. He could not bring himself to think of taking Clara +Van Siever as the model that was to sit before him for the rest of his +life. He certainly could make a picture of her, as had been suggested by +his friend, Mrs Broughton, but it must be as Judith with the dissevered +head, or as Jael using her hammer over the temple of Sisera. Yes--he +thought she would do as Jael; and if Mrs Van Siever would throw him a +sugar-plum--for he would want the sugar-plum, seeing that any other +result was out of the question--the thing might be done. Such was the +idea of Mr Conway Dalrymple respecting Miss Van Siever--before he led +her down to dinner. + +At first he found it hard to talk to her. She answered him, and not +with monosyllables. But she answered him without sympathy, or apparent +pleasure in talking. Now the young artist was in the habit of being +flattered by ladies, and expected to have his small talk made very easy +for him. He liked to give himself little airs, and was not generally +disposed to labour very hard at the task of making himself agreeable. + +'Were you ever painted yet?' he asked after they had both been sitting +silent for two or three minutes. + +'Was I ever--painted? In what way?' + +'I don't mean rouged, or enamelled, or got up by Madame Rachel; but have +you ever had your portrait taken?' + +'I have been photographed of course.' + +'That's why I asked you if you had been painted--so as to make some +little distinction between the two. I am a painter by profession, and do +portraits.' + +'So Mrs Broughton told me.' + +'I am not asking for a job, you know.' + +'I am quite sure of that.' + +'But I should have thought you would have been sure to have sat to +somebody.' + +'I never did. I never thought of doing so. One does those things at +the instigation of one's intimate friends--fathers, mothers, uncles, and +aunts and the like.' + +'Or husbands, perhaps--or lovers?' + +'Well, yes; my intimate friend is my mother, and she would never dream +of such a thing. She hates pictures.' + +'Hates pictures!' + +'And especially portraits. And I'm afraid, Mr Dalrymple, she hates +artists.' + +'Good heavens; how cruel! I suppose there is some story attached to it. +There has been some fatal likeness--some terrible picture--something in +her early days.' + +'Nothing of the kind, Mr Dalrymple. It is merely the fact that her +sympathies are with ugly things, rather than with pretty things. I think +she loves the mahogany dinner-table better than anything else in the +house; and she likes to have everything dark, and plain, and solid.' + +'And good?' + +'Good of its kind, certainly.' + +'If everyone was like your mother, how would the artist live?' + +'There would be none.' + +'And the world, you think, would be none the poorer?' + +'I did not speak for myself. I think the world would be very much the +poorer. I am very fond of ancient masters, though I do not suppose that +I understand them.' + +'They are easier understood than the modern, I can tell you. Perhaps you +don't care for modern pictures?' + +'Not in comparison, certainly. If that is uncivil, you have brought it +on yourself. But I do not in truth mean anything derogatory to the +painters of the day. When their pictures are old, they--that is the good +ones among them--will be nice also.' + +'Pictures are like wine, and want age, you think?' + +'Yes, and statues too, and buildings above all things. The colours of +new paintings are so glaring, and the faces are so bright and +self-conscious, that they look to me when I go to the exhibition like +coloured prints in a child's new picture-book. It is the same thing with +buildings. One sees all the points, and nothing is left to the +imagination.' + +'I find I have come across a real critic.' + +'I hope so, at any rate, I am not a sham one' and Miss Van Siever as she +said this looked very savage. + +'I shouldn't take you to be sham in anything.' + +'Ah, that would be saying a great deal for myself. Who can undertake to +say that he is not a sham in anything?' + +As she said this the ladies were getting up. So Miss Van Siever also +got up, and left Mr Conway Dalrymple to consider whether he could say or +could think of himself that he was not a sham in anything. As regarded +Miss Clara Van Siever, he began to think that he could not object to +paint her portrait, even though there might be no sugar-plum. He would +certainly do it as Jael; and he would, if he dared, insert dimly in the +background some idea of the face of the mother, half-appearing, +half-vanishing, as the spirit of the sacrifice. He was composing the +picture, while Mr Dobbs Broughton was arranging himself and his bottles. + +'Musselboro,' he said, 'I'll come up between you and Crosbie. Mr Eames, +though I run away from you, the claret shall remain; or, rather, it +shall flow backwards and forwards as rapidly as you will.' + +'I'll keep it moving,' said Johnny. + +'Do; there's a good fellow. It's a nice glass of wine isn't it? Old +Ramsby, who keeps as good a stock of stuff as any wine-merchant in +London, gave me a hint, three or four years ago, that he'd a lot of tidy +Bordeaux. It's '41, you know. He had ninety dozen, and I took it all.' + +'What was the figure, Broughton?' said Crosbie, asking the question +which he knew was expected. + +'Well, I only gave one hundred and four for it then; it's worth a +hundred and twenty now. I wouldn't sell a bottle of it for any money. +Come, Dalrymple, pass it round; but fill your glass first.' + +'Thank you, no; I don't like it. I'll drink sherry.' + +'Don't like it!' said Dobbs Broughton. + +'It's strange, isn't it? But I don't.' + +'I thought you particularly told me to drink his claret?' said Johnny to +his friend afterwards. + +'So I did,' said Conway; 'and wonderfully good wine it is. But I make +it a rule never to eat or drink anything in a man's house when he +praises himself and tells me the price of it.' + +'And I make it a rule never to cut the nose off my own face,' said +Johnny. + +Before he went, Johnny Eames had been specially invited to call on Lady +Demolines, and had said that he would do so. 'We live in Porchester +Gardens,' said Miss Demolines. 'Upon my word, I believe that the farther +London stretches in that direction, the farther mamma will go. She +thinks the air so much better. I know it's a long way.' + +'Distance is nothing to me,' said Johnny; 'I can always set off over +night. + +Conway Dalrymple did not get invited to call on Mrs Van Siever, but +before he left the house he did say a word or two more to his friend Mrs +Broughton as to Clara Van Siever. 'She is a fine young woman,' he said; +'she is indeed.' + +'You have found it out, have you?' + +'Yes; I have found it out. I do not doubt that some day she'll murder +her husband or her mother, or startle the world by some newly-invented +crime; but that only makes her the more interesting.' + +'And when you add to that all the old woman's money,' said Mrs Dobbs +Broughton, 'you think that she might do?' + +'For a picture, certainly. I'm speaking of her simply as a model. Could +we not manage it? Get her once here, without her mother knowing it, or +Broughton, or anyone. I've got the subject--Jael and Sisera, you know. +I should like to put Musselboro in as Sisera, with the nail half driven +in.' Mrs Dobbs Broughton declared that the scheme was a great deal too +wicked for her participation, but at last she promised to think of it. + +'You might as well come up and have a cigar,' Dalrymple said, as he and +his friend left Mrs Broughton's house. Johnny said that he would go up +and have a cigar or two. 'And now tell me what you think of Mrs Dobbs +Broughton and her set,' said Conway. + +'Well; I'll tell you what I think of them. I think they stink of money, +as people say; but I'm not sure that they've got any all the same.' + +'I should suppose he makes a large income.' + +'Very likely, and perhaps spends more than he makes. A good deal of it +looked to me like make-believe. There's no doubt about the claret, but +the champagne was execrable. A man is a criminal to have such stuff +handed round to his guests. And there isn't the ring of real gold about +the house.' + +'I hate the ring of gold, as you call it,' said the artist. + +'So do I--I hate it like poison; but if it is there, I like it to be +true. There is a sort of persons going now--and one meets them out here +and there every day in one's life--who are downright Brummagem as such +at the very first moment. My honoured lord and master, Sir Raffle, is +one such. There is no mistaking him. Clap him down upon the counter, and +he rings dull and untrue at once. Pardon me, my dear Conway, if I say +the same of your excellent friend Mr Dobbs Broughton.' + +'I think you go a little too far, but I don't deny it. What you mean +is, that he's not a gentleman.' + +'I mean a great deal more than that. Bless you, when you come to talk +of a gentleman, who is to define the word? How do I know whether or no +I'm a gentleman myself? When I used to be in Burton Crescent, I was +hardly a gentlemen then--sitting at the same table with Mrs Roper and +the Lupexes;--do you remember them, and the lovely Amelia?' + +'I suppose you were a gentleman, then, as well as now?' + +'You, if you had been painting duchesses then, with a studio in +Kensington Gardens, would have said so, if you had happened to come +across me. I can't define a gentleman, even in my own mind;--but I can +define a man with whom I think I can live pleasantly.' + +'And poor Dobbs doesn't come within the line?' + +'N-o, not quite; a very nice fellow, I'm quite sure, and I'm very much +obliged to you for taking me there.' + +'I never will take you to any house again. And what did you think of +the wife?' + +'That's a horse of another colour altogether. A pretty woman with such +a fine figure as hers has got a right to be anything she pleases. I see +you are a great favourite.' + +'No, I'm not;--not especially. I do like her. She wants to make up a +match between me and that Miss Van Siever. Miss Van is to have gold by +the ingot, and jewels by the bushel, and a hatful of back shares, and a +whole mine in Cornwall, for her fortune.' + +'And is very handsome into the bargain.' + +'Yes; she's handsome.' + +'So is her mother,' said Johnny. 'If you take the daughter, I'll take +the mother, and see if I can't do you out of a mine or two. Good-night, +old fellow. I'm only joking about old Dobbs. I'll go and dine there +again tomorrow, if you like it.' + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +MISS MADELINE DEMOLINES + +'I don't think you care two straws about her,' Conway Dalrymple said to +his friend John Eames, two days after the dinner-party at Mrs Dobbs +Broughton's. The painter was at work in his studio, and the private +secretary from the Income-Tax Office, who was no doubt engaged on some +special mission to the West End on the part of Sir Raffle Buffle, was +sitting in a lounging-chair and smoking a cigar. + +'Because I don't go about with my stockings cross-gartered, and do that +kind of business?' + +'Well, yes; because you don't do that kind of business, more or less.' + +'It isn't in my line, my dear fellow. I know what you mean, very well. +I daresay, artistically speaking--' + +'Don't be an ass, Johnny.' + +'Well then, poetically, or romantically, if you like that better--I +daresay that poetically or romantically I am deficient. I eat my dinner +very well, and I don't suppose I ought to do that; and, if you'll +believe me, I find myself laughing sometimes.' + +'I never knew a man who laughed so much. You're always laughing.' + +'And that, you think, is a bad sign?' + +'I don't believe you really care about her. I think you are aware that +you have got a love-affair on hand, and that you hang on to it rather +persistently, having in some way come to a resolution that you would be +persistent. But there isn't much heart in it. I daresay there was once.' + +'And that is your opinion?' + +'You are just like some of those men who for years past have been going +to write a book on some new subject. The intention has been sincere at +first, and it never altogether dies away. But the would-be author, +though he still talks of his work, knows that it will never be executed, +and is very patient under his disappointment. All enthusiasm about the +thing is gone, but he is still known as the man who is going to do it +some day. You are the man who means to marry Miss Dale in five, ten, or +twenty years' time.' + +'Now, Conway, all that is thoroughly unfair. The would-be author talks +of his would-be book to everybody. I have never talked of Miss Dale to +anyone but you, and one or two very old family friends. And from year to +year, and from month to month, I have done all that has been in my power +to win her. I don't think I shall ever succeed, and yet I am as +determined about it as I was when I first began it--or rather much more +so. If I do not marry Lily, I shall never marry at all, and if anybody +were to tell me tomorrow that she had made up her mind to have me, I +should well nigh go mad for joy. But I am not going to give up all my +life for love. Indeed the less I can bring myself to give up for it, the +better I shall think of myself. Now I'll go away and call on old Lady +Demolines.' + +'And flirt with her daughter.' + +'Yes;--flirt with her daughter, if I get the opportunity. Why shouldn't +I flirt with her daughter?' + +'Why not, if you like it?' + +'I don't like it--not particularly, that is; because the young lady is +not very pretty, nor yet very graceful, not yet very wise.' + +'She is pretty after a fashion,' said the artist, 'and if not wise, she +is at any rate clever.' + +'Nevertheless, I do not like her,' said John Eames. + +'Then why do you go there?' + +'One has to be civil to people though they are neither pretty nor wise. +I don't mean to insinuate that Miss Demolines is particularly bad, or +indeed that she is worse than young ladies in general. I only abused her +because there was an insinuation in what you said, that I was going to +amuse myself with Miss Demolines in the absence of Miss Dale. The one +thing has nothing to do with the other thing. Nothing that I shall say +to Miss Demolines will at all militate against my loyalty to Lily.' + +'All right, old fellow;--I didn't mean to put you on your purgation. I +want you to look at that sketch. Do you know for whom it is intended?' +Johnny took up a scrap of paper, and having scrutinised it for a minute +or two declared that he had not the slightest idea who was represented. +'You know the subject--the story that is intended to be told?' said +Dalrymple. + +'Upon my word, I don't. There's some old fellow seems to be catching it +over the head; but it's all so confused, I can't make much of it. The +woman seems to be uncommon angry.' + +'Do you ever read your Bible?' + +'Ah dear! not as often as I ought to do. Al, I see; it's Sisera. I +never could quite believe that story. Jael might have killed Captain +Sisera in his sleep--for which, by-the-by, she ought to have been hung, +and she might possibly have done it with a hammer and a nail. But she +could not have driven it through, and staked him to the ground.' + +'I've warrant enough for putting it into a picture, at any rate. My Jael +there is intended for Miss Van Siever.' + +'Miss Van Siever! Well, it is like her. Has she sat for it?' + +'Oh dear, no; not yet. I mean to get her to do so. There's a strength +about her, which would make her sit the part admirably. And I fancy she +would like to be driving a nail into a fellow's head. I think I shall +take Musselboro for a Sisera.' + +'You're not in earnest?' + +'He would just do for it. But of course I shan't ask him to sit, as my +Jael would not like it. She would not consent to operate on so base a +subject. So you really are going to Guestwick?' + +'Yes; I start tomorrow. Good-bye, old fellow. I'll come and sit for +Sisera if you'll let me;--only Miss Van Jael shall have a blunted nail, +if you please.' + +Then Johnny left the artist's room and walked from Kensington to Lady +Demoline's house. As he went he partly accused himself and partly +excused himself in that matter of his love for Lily Dale. There were +moments of his life in which he felt that he would willingly die for +her--that life was not worth having without her--in which he went about +inwardly reproaching fortune for having treated him so cruelly. Why +should she not be his? He half believed that she loved him. She had +almost told him so. She could not surely still love that other man who +had treated her with such vile falsehood? As he considered the question +in all its bearings he assured himself over and over again that there +would be now no fear of that rival;--and yet he had such fears, and +hated Crosbie almost as much as ever. It was a thousand pities, +certainly, that the man should have been made free by the death of his +wife. But it could hardly be that he should seek to see Lily again, or +that Lily, if so sought, should even listen to him. But yet there he +was, free once more--an odious being, whom Johnny was determined to +sacrifice to his vengeance, if cause for such sacrifice should occur. +And thus thinking of the real truth of his love, he endeavoured to +excuse himself to himself from that charge of vagueness and laxness +which his friend Conway Dalrymple had brought against him. And then +again he accused himself of the same sin. If he had been positively in +earnest, with downright manly earnestness, would he have allowed the +thing to drag itself with a weak uncertain life, as it had done for the +last two or three years? Lily Dale had been a dream to him in his +boyhood; and he had made a reality of his dream as soon as he had become +a man. But before he had been able, as a man, to tell his love to the +girl whom he had loved as a child, another man had intervened, and his +prize had been taken from him. Then the wretched victor had thrown his +treasure away, and he, John Eames, had been content to stoop to pick it +up--was content to do so now. But there was something which he felt to +be unmanly in the constant stooping. Dalrymple had told him that he was +like a man who is ever writing a book and yet never writes it. He would +do his very best to make Lily his own. But if he failed now, he would +have done with it. It seemed to him to be below his dignity as a man to +be always coveting a thing which he could not obtain. + +Johnny was informed by the boy in buttons, who opened the door for him +at Lady Demolines', that the ladies were at home, and he was shown up +into the drawing-room. Here he was allowed full ten minutes to explore +the knick-knacks on the table, and open the photograph book, and examine +the furniture, before Miss Demolines made her appearance. When she did +come, her hair was tangled more marvellously even than when he saw at +the dinner-party, and her eyes were darker, and her cheeks thinner. 'I'm +afraid mamma won't be able to come down,' said Miss Demolines. 'She will +be so sorry but she is not quite well today. The wind is in the east, +she says, and when she says the wind is in the east she always refuses +to be well.' + +'Then I should tell her it is in the west.' + +'But it is in the east.' + +'Ah, there I can't help you, Miss Demolines. I never know which is +east, and which is west; and if I did, I shouldn't know from which point +the wind blew.' + +'At any rate mamma can't come downstairs, and you must excuse her. What +a very nice woman Mrs Dobbs Broughton is.' Johnny acknowledged that Mrs +Dobbs Broughton was charming. 'And Mr Broughton is so good-natured!' +Johnny again assented. 'I like him of all things,' said Miss Demolines. +'So do I,' said Johnny;--'I never liked anybody so much in my life. I +suppose one is bound to say that kind of thing.' 'Oh, you ill-natured +man,' said Miss Demollines. 'I suppose you think that poor Mr Broughton +is a little--just a little--you know what I mean.' + +'Not exactly,' said Johnny. + +'Yes, you do; you know very well what I mean. And of course he is. How +can he help it?' + +'Poor fellow--no. I don't suppose he can help it, or he would; +--wouldn't he?' + +'Of course Mr Broughton had not the advantage of birth or much early +education. All his friends know that, and make allowance accordingly. +When she married him, she was aware of his deficiency, and made up her +mind to put up with it.' + +'It was very kind of her; don't you think so?' + +'I knew Maria Clutterbuck for years before she was married. Of course +she was very much my senior, but, nevertheless, we were friends. I think +I was hardly more than twelve years old when I first began to correspond +with Maria. She was then past twenty. So you see, Mr Eames, I make no +secret of my age.' + +'Why should you?' + +'But never mind that. Everybody knows that Maria Clutterbuck was very +much admired. Of course I'm not going to tell you or any other gentleman +all her history.' + +'I was in hopes you were.' + +'Then certainly your hopes will be frustrated, Mr Eames. But +undoubtedly when she told us that she was going to take Dobbs Broughton, +we were a little disappointed. Maria Clutterbuck had been used to a +better kind of life. You understand what I mean, Mr Eames?' + +'Oh, exactly;--and yet it's not a bad kind of life, either.' + +'No, no; that is true. It has its attractions. She keeps her carriage, +sees a good deal of company, has an excellent house, and goes abroad for +six weeks every year. But you know, Mr Eames, there is, perhaps, a +little uncertainty about it.' + +'Life is always uncertain, Miss Demolines.' + +'You're quizzing now, I know. But don't you feel now, really, that City +money is always very chancy? It comes and goes so quick.' + +'As regards the going, I think that's the same with all money,' said +Johnny. + +'Not with land, or the funds. Mamma has every shilling laid out in a +first-class mortgage on land at four per cent. that does make one feel +so secure! The land can't run away.' + +'But you think poor Broughton's money may?' + +'It's all speculation, you know. I don't believe she minds it; I don't +indeed. She lives that kind of fevered life now that she likes +excitement. Of course we all know that Mr Dobbs Broughton is not what we +can call an educated gentleman. His manners are against him, and he is +very ignorant. Even dear Maria would admit that.' + +'One would perhaps let that pass without asking her opinion at all.' + +'She has acknowledged it to me, twenty times. But he is very +good-natured, and lets her do pretty nearly anything that she likes. I +only hope she won't trespass on his good-nature. I do, indeed.' + +'You mean, spend too much money?' + +'No; I didn't mean that exactly. Of course she ought to be moderate, +and I hope she is. To that kind of fevered existence profuse expenditure +is perhaps necessary. But I was thinking of something else. I fear she +is a little giddy.' + +'Dear me! I should have thought she was too--too--too--' + +'You mean too old for anything of that kind. Maria Broughton must be +thirty-three if she's a day.' + +'That would make you just twenty-five,' said Johnny, feeling perfectly +sure as he said so that the lady whom he was addressing was at any rate +past thirty! + +'Never mind my age, Mr Eames; whether I am twenty-five, or a hundred and +five, has nothing to do with poor Maria Clutterbuck. But now I'll tell +you why I mention all this to you. You must have seen how foolish she is +about your friend Mr Dalrymple?' + +'Upon my word, I haven't.' + +'Nonsense, Mr Eames; you have. If she were your wife, would you like +her to call a man Conway? Of course you would not. I don't mean to say +that there's anything in it. I know Maria's principles too well to +suspect that. It's merely because she's flighty and fevered.' + +'That fevered existence accounts for it all,' said Johnny. + +'No doubt it does,' said Miss Demolines, with a nod of her head, which +was intended to show that she was willing to give her friend the full +benefit of any excuse which could be offered for her. 'But don't you +think you could do something, Mr Eames?' + +'I do something?' + +'Yes, you. You and Mr Dalrymple are such friends! If you were just to +point out to him you know--' + +'Point out what? Tell him that he oughtn't to be called Conway? +Because, after all, I suppose that's the worst of it. If you mean to say +that Dalrymple is in love with Mrs Broughton, you never made a greater +mistake in your life.' + +'Oh, no; not in love. That would be terrible, you know.' And Miss +Demolines shook her head sadly. 'But there may be so much mischief done +without anything of that kind! Thoughtlessness, you know, Mr Eames--pure +thoughtlessness! Think of what I have said, and if you can speak a word +to your friend, do. And now I want to ask you something else. I'm so +glad you are come, because circumstances have seemed to make it +necessary that you and I should know each other. We may be of so much +use if we put our heads together.' Johnny bowed when he heard this, but +made no immediate reply. 'Have you heard anything about a certain +picture that is being planned?' Johnny did not wish to answer this +question, but Miss Demolines paused so long, and looked so earnestly +into his face, that he found himself forced to say something. + +'What picture?' + +'A certain picture that is--, or, perhaps, that is not to be, painted by +Mr Dalrymple?' + +'I hear so much about Dalrymple's pictures! You don't mean the portrait +of Lady Glencora Palliser? That is nearly finished, and will be in the +Exhibition this year.' + +'I don't mean that at all. I mean a picture that has not yet been +begun.' + +'A portrait, I suppose?' + +'As to that I cannot quite say. It is at any rate to be a likeness. I +am sure you have heard of it. Come, Mr Eames, it would be better that we +should be candid with each other. You remember Miss Van Siever, of +course?' + +'I remember that she dined at the Broughtons.' + +'And you have heard of Jael, I suppose, and Sisera?' + +'Yes; in a general way--in the Bible.' + +'And now will you tell me whether you have not heard the names of Jael +and Miss Van Siever coupled together? I see you know all about it.' + +'I have heard of it certainly.' + +'Of course you have. So have I, as you perceive. Now, Mr Eames,'--and +Miss Demoline's voice became tremulously eager as she addressed him--'it +is your duty, and it is my duty, to take care that that picture will +never be painted.' + +'But why should it not be painted?' + +'You don't know Miss Van Siever, yet.' + +'Not in the least.' + +'Nor Mrs Van Siever.' + +'I never spoke a word to her.' + +'I do. I know them both--well.' There was something almost grandly +tragic in Miss Demoline's voice as she thus spoke. 'Yes, Mr Eames, I +know them well. If that scheme be continued, it will work terrible +mischief. You and I must prevent it.' + +'But I don't see what harm it will do.' + +'Think of Conway Dalrymple passing so many hours in Maria's sitting-room +upstairs! The picture is to be painted there, you know.' + +'But Miss Van Siever will be present. Won't that make it all right? +What is there wrong about Miss Van Siever?' + +'I won't deny that Clara Van Siever has a certain beauty of her own. To +me she is certainly the most unattractive woman that I ever came near. +She is simply repulsive!' Hereupon Miss Demolines held up her hand as +though she were banishing Miss Van Siever for ever from her sight, and +shuddered slightly. 'Men think her handsome, and she is handsome. But +she is false, covetous, malicious, cruel, and dishonest.' + +'What a fiend in petticoats!' + +'You may say that, Mr Eames. And then her mother! Her mother is not so +bad. Her mother is different. But the mother is an odious woman, too. It +was an evil day for Maria Clutterbuck when she first saw either the +mother or the daughter. I tell you that in confidence.' + +'But what can I do?' said Johnny, who began to be shattered and almost +interested by the eagerness of the woman. + +'I'll tell you what you can do. Don't let your friend go to Mr +Broughton's house to paint the picture. If he does do it, there will be +mischief come of it. Of course you can prevent him.' + +'I should not think of trying to prevent him unless I knew why.' + +'She's a nasty proud minx, and it would set her up ever so high--to +think that she was being painted by Mr Dalrymple! But that isn't the +reason. Maria would get into terrible trouble about it, there would be +no end of mischief. I must not tell you more now, and if you do not +believe me, I cannot help it. Surely, Mr Eames, my word may be taken as +going for something? And when I ask you to help me in this, I do expect +that you will not refuse me.' By this time Miss Demolines was sitting +close to him, and had more than once put her hand upon his arm in the +energy of her eloquence. Then as he remembered that he had never seen +Miss Demolines till the other day, of Miss Van Siever, or even Mrs Dobbs +Broughton, he bethought himself that it was all very droll. Nevertheless +he had no objection to Miss Demolines putting her hand upon his arm. + +'I never like to interfere in anything that does not seem to be my own +business,' said Johnny. + +'Is not your friend's business your own business? What does friendship +mean if it not so? And when I tell you that it is my business, mine of +right, does that go for nothing with you? I thought I might depend upon +you, Mr Eames; I did indeed.' Then again she put her hand upon his arm, +and as he looked into her eyes he began to think that after all she was +good-looking in a certain way. At any rate she had fine eyes, and there +was something picturesque about the entanglement of her hair. 'Think of +it, and then come back and talk to me again,' said Miss Demolines. + +'But I am going out of town tomorrow.' + +'For how long?' + +'For ten days.' + +'Nothing can be done during that time. Clara Van Siever is going away +in a day, and will not be back for three weeks. I happen to know that; +so we have plenty of time for working. It would be very desirable that +she should never even hear of it; but that cannot be hoped, as Maria has +such a tongue! Couldn't you see Mr Dalrymple tonight?' + +'Well, no; I don't think I could.' + +'Mind, at least, that you come to me as soon as ever you return.' + +Before he got out of the house, which he did after a most affectionate +farewell, Johnny felt himself compelled to promise that he would come to +Miss Demolines again as soon as he got back to town; and as the door was +closed behind him by the boy in buttons, he made up his mind that he +certainly would call as soon as he returned to London. 'It's as good as +a play,' he said to himself. Not that he cared in the least for Miss +Demolines, or that he would take any steps with the intention of +preventing the painting of the picture. Miss Demolines had some battle +to fight, and he would leave her to fight it with her own weapons. If +his friend chose to paint a picture of Jael, and take Miss Van Siever as +a model, it was no business of his. Nevertheless he would certainly go +and see Miss Demolines again, because, as he said, she was as good as a +play. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE PICTURE + +On that same afternoon Conway Dalrymple rolled up his sketch of Jael and +Sisera, put it into his pocket, dressed himself with some considerable +care, putting on a velvet coat which he was in the habit of wearing out +of doors when he did not intend to wander beyond Kensington Gardens, and +the neighbourhood and which was supposed to become him well, yellow +gloves, and a certain Spanish hat of which he was fond, and slowly +sauntered across to the house of his friend Mrs Dobbs Broughton. When +the door was opened to him he did not ask if the lady were at home, but +muttering some word to the servant, made his way through the hall, +upstairs, to a certain small sitting-room looking to the north which was +much used by the mistress of the house. It was quite clear that Conway +Dalrymple had arranged his visit beforehand, and that he was expected. +He opened the door without knocking, and, though the servant had +followed him, he entered without being announced. 'I'm afraid I'm late,' +he said, as he gave his hand to Mrs Broughton; 'but for the life I could +not get away sooner.' + +'You are quite in time,' said the lady, 'for any good that you are +likely to do.' + +'What does that mean?' + +'It means this, my friend, that you had better give the idea up. I have +been thinking of it all day, and I do not approve of it.' + +'What nonsense!' + +'Of course you will say so, Conway. I have observed of late that +whatever I say to you is called nonsense. I suppose it is the new +fashion that gentlemen should so express themselves, but I am not quite +sure that I like it.' + +'You know what I mean. I am very anxious about this picture, and I +shall be much disappointed if it cannot be done now. It was you put it +into my head first.' + +'I regret it very much, I can assure you; but it will not be generous in +you to urge that against me.' + +'But why shouldn't it succeed?' + +'There are many reasons--some personal to myself.' + +'I do not know what they can be. You hinted at something which I only +took as having been said in joke.' + +'If you mean about Miss Van Siever and yourself, I was quite in earnest, +Conway. I do not think you could do better, and I should be glad to see +it of all things. Nothing would please me more than to bring Miss Van +Siever and you together.' + +'And nothing would please me less.' + +'But why so?' + +'Because--because--I can do nothing but tell you the truth, carina; it +is because my heart is not free to present itself at Miss Van Siever's +feet.' + +'It ought to be so, Conway, and you must make it free. It will be well +that you should be married, and well for others besides yourself. I tell +you so as your friend, you have no truer friend. Sit where you are, if +you please. You can say anything you have to say without stalking about +the room.' + +'I was not going to stalk--as you call it.' + +'You will be safer and quieter while you are sitting. I heard a knock +at the door, and I do not doubt that it will be Clara. She said she +would be here.' + +'And you have told her about the picture?' + +'Yes; I have told her. She said that it would be impossible, and that +her mother would not allow it. Here she is.' Then Miss Van Siever was +shown into the room, and Dalrymple perceived that she was a girl the +peculiarity of whose complexion bore daylight better even than +candlelight. There was something in her countenance which seemed to +declare that she could bear any light to which it might be subjected, +without flinching from it. And her bonnet, which was very plain, and her +simple brown morning gown, suited her well. She was one who required +none of the circumstances of studied dress to carry off aught in her own +appearance. She could look her best when other women look their worst, +and could dare to be seen at all times. Dalrymple, with an artist's eye, +saw this at once, and immediately confessed to himself that there was +something great about her. He could not deny her beauty. But there was +ever present to him that look of hardness which had struck him when he +first saw her. He could not but fancy that though at times she might be +playful, and allow the fur of her coat to be stroked with +good-humour--she would be a dangerous plaything, using her claws +unpleasantly when the good-humour should have passed away. But not the +less was she beautiful, and--beyond that and better than that, for his +purpose--she was picturesque. + +'Clara,' said Mrs Broughton, 'here is this mad painter, and he says that +he will have you on his canvas either with your will or without it.' + +'Even if he could do that, I am sure he would not,' said Miss Van +Siever. + +'To prove to you that I can, I think I need only show you the sketch,' +said Dalrymple, taking the drawing out of his pocket. 'As regards the +face, I know it so well by heart already, that I feel certain I could +produce a likeness without even a sitting. What do you think of it, Mrs +Broughton?' + +'It is clever,' said she, looking at it with all the enthusiasm which +women are able to throw into their eyes on such occasions; 'very clever. +The subject would just suit her. I have never doubted that.' + +'Eames says that it is confused,' said the artist. + +'I don't see that at all,' said Mrs Broughton. + +'Of course a sketch must be rough. This one has been rubbed about and +altered--but I think there is something in it.' + +'An immense deal,' said Mrs Broughton. 'Don't you think so, Clara?' + +'I am not a judge.' + +'But you can see the woman's fixed purpose; and her stealthiness as +well;--and the man sleeps like a log. What is that dim outline?' + +'Nothing in particular,' said Dalrymple. But the dim outline was +intended to represent Mrs Van Siever. + +'It is very good--unquestionably good,' said Mrs Dobbs Broughton. 'I do +not for a moment doubt that you will make a great picture of it. It is +just the subject for you, Conway; so much imagination, and yet such a +scope for portraiture. It would be full of action, and yet such perfect +repose. And the lights and shadows would be exactly in your line. I can +see at a glance how you would manage the light in the tent, and bring it +down just on the nail. And then the pose of the woman would be so good, +so much strength, and yet such grace! You should have the bowl he drank +the milk out of, so as to tell the whole story. No painter living tells +a story so well as you do, Conway.' Conway Dalrymple knew that the woman +was talking nonsense to him, and yet he liked it, and liked her for +talking it. + +'But Mr Dalrymple can paint his Sisera without making me Jael,' said +Miss Van Siever. + +'Of course he can,' said Mrs Broughton. + +'But I never will,' said the artist. 'I conceived the subject as +connected with you, and I will never disjoin the two ideas.' + +'I think it no compliment, I can assure you,' said Miss Van Siever. + +'And none was intended. But you may observe that artists in all ages +have sought for higher types of models in painting women who have been +violent or criminal, than have sufficed for them in their portraitures +of gentleness and virtue. Look at all the Judiths and the Lucretias, and +the Charlotte Cordays; how much finer the women are than the Madonnas +and the Saint Cecilias.' + +'After that, Clara, you need not scruple to be a Jael,' said Mrs +Broughton. + +'But I do scruple--very much; so strongly that I know I never shall do +it. In the first place I don't know why Mr Dalrymple wants it.' + +'Want it!' said Conway. 'I want to paint a striking picture.' + +'But you can do that without putting me into it.' + +'No;--not this picture. And why should you object? It is the commonest +thing in the world for ladies to sit to artists in that manner.' + +'People would know it.' + +'Nobody would know it, so that you need care about it. What would it +matter if everybody knew it? We are not proposing anything +improper;--are we, Mrs Broughton?' + +'She shall not be pressed if she does not like it,' said Mrs Broughton. +'You know I told you before Clara came in, that I was afraid it could +not be done.' + +'And I don't like it,' said Miss Van Siever, with some little hesitation +in her voice. + +'I don't see anything improper in it, if you mean that,' said Mrs +Broughton. + +'But, mamma!' + +'Well yes; that is the difficulty, no doubt. The only question is, +whether your mother is not so very singular, as to make it impossible +that you should comply with her in everything.' + +'I am afraid that I do not comply with her in very much,' said Miss Van +Siever in her gentlest voice. + +'Oh, Clara!' + +'You drive me to say so, otherwise I should be a hypocrite. Of course I +ought not to have said it before Mr Dalrymple.' + +'You and Mr Dalrymple will understand all about that, I daresay, before +the picture is finished,' said Mrs Broughton. + +It did not take much persuasion on the part of Conway Dalrymple to get +the consent of the younger lady to be painted, or of the elder to allow +the sitting to go on in her room. When the question of easels and other +apparatus came to be considered, Mrs Broughton was rather flustered, and +again declared with energy that the whole thing must fall to the ground; +but a few more words from the painter restored her, and at last the +arrangements were made. As Mrs Dobbs Broughton's dear friend, Madalina +Demolines had said, Mrs Dobbs Broughton liked a fevered existence. 'What +will Dobbs Broughton say?' she exclaimed more than once. And it was +decided at last that Dobbs should know nothing about it as long as it +could be kept from him. 'Of course he shall be told at last,' said his +wife. 'I wouldn't keep anything from the dear fellow for all the world. +But if he knew it at first it would be sure to get through Musselboro to +your mother.' + +'I certainly shall beg that Mr Broughton may not be taken into +confidence if Mr Musselboro is to follow,' said Clara. 'And it must be +understood that I must cease to sit immediately, whatever may be the +inconvenience, should mamma speak to me about it.' + +This stipulation was made and conceded, and then Miss Van Siever went +away, leaving the artist with Mrs Dobbs Broughton. 'And now, if you +please, Conway, you had better go too,' said the lady, as soon as there +had been time for Miss Van Siever to get downstairs and out of the +hall-door. + +'Of course you are in a hurry to get rid of me.' + +'Yes, I am.' + +'A little while ago I improperly said that some suggestion of yours was +nonsense and you rebuked me for my blunt incivility. Might not I rebuke +you now with equal justice?' + +'Do so, if you will;--but leave me. I tell you, Conway, that in these +matters you must either be guided by me, or you and I must cease to see +each other. It does not do that you should remain here with me longer +than the time usually allowed for a morning call. Clara has come and +gone, and you also must go. I am sorry to disturb you, for you seem to +be so very comfortable in that chair.' + +'I am comfortable--and I can look at you. Come;--there can be no harm +in saying that, if I say nothing else. Well;--there, now I am gone.' +Whereupon he got up from his arm-chair. + +'But you are not gone while you stand there.' + +'And you would really wish me to marry this girl?' + +'I do--if you can love her.' + +'And what about her love?' + +'You must win it, of course. She is to be won, like any other woman. +The fruit won't fall into your mouth merely because you open your lips. +You must climb the tree.' + +'Still climbing trees in the Hesperides,' said Conway. 'Love does that, +you know; but it is hard to climb the trees without the love. It seems +to me that I have done my climbing--have clomb as high as I knew how, +and that the boughs are breaking with me, and that I am likely to get a +fall. Do you understand me?' + +'I would rather not understand you.' + +'That is no answer to my question. Do you understand that at this +moment I am getting a fall which will break every bone in my skin and +put any other climbing out of the question as far as I am concerned? Do +you understand that?' + +'No; I do not,' said Mrs Broughton, in a tremulous voice. + +'Then I'll go and make love at once to Clara Van Siever. There's enough +of pluck left in me to ask her to marry me, and I suppose I could manage +to go through the ceremony if she accepted me.' + +'But I want you to love her,' said Mrs Dobbs Broughton. + +'I daresay I should love her well enough after a bit;--that is, if she +didn't break my head or comb my hair. I suppose there will be no +objection to my saying that you sent me when I ask her?' + +'Conway, you will of course not mention my name to her. I have +suggested to you a marriage which I think would tend to make you happy, +and would give you a stability in life which you want. It is perhaps +better that I should be explicit at once. As an unmarried man I cannot +continue to know you. You have said words of late which have driven me +to this conclusion. I have thought about it much--too much perhaps, and +I know that I am right. Miss Van Siever has beauty and wealth and +intellect, and I think that she would appreciate the love of such a man +as you are. Now go.' And Mrs Dobbs Broughton, standing upright, pointed +to the door. Conway Dalrymple slowly took his Spanish hat from of the +marble slab on which he had laid it, and left the room without saying a +word. The interview had been quite long enough, and there was nothing +else which he knew how to say with effect. + +Croquet is a pretty game out of doors, and chess is delightful in a +drawing-room. Battledore and shuttlecock and hunt-the-slipper have also +their attractions. Proverbs are good, and cross questions with crooked +answers may be made very amusing. But none of these games are equal to +the game of love-making--providing that the players can be quite sure +that there shall be no heart in the matter. Any touch of heart not only +destroys the pleasure of the game, but makes the player awkward and +incapable and robs him of his skill. And thus it is that there are many +people who cannot play the game at all. A deficiency of some needed +internal physical strength prevents the owners of the heart from keeping +a proper control over its valves, and thus emotion sets in, and the +pulses are accelerated, and feeling supervenes. For such a one to +attempt the game of love-making, is as though your friend with the gout +should insist on playing croquet. A sense of the ridiculous, if nothing +else, should in either case deter the afflicted one from the attempt. +There was no such absurdity with our friend Mrs Dobbs Broughton and +Conway Dalrymple. Their valves and pulses were all right. They could +play the game without the slightest danger of any inconvenient +result;--of any inconvenient result, that is, as regarded their own +feelings. Blind people cannot see and stupid people cannot +understand--and it might be that Mr Dobbs Broughton, being both blind +and stupid in such matters, might perceive something of the playing of +the game and not know that it was only a game of skill. + +When I say that as regarded these two lovers there was nothing of love +between them, and that the game was therefore so far innocent, I would +not be understood as asserting that these people had no hearts in their +bosoms. Mrs Dobbs Broughton probably loved her husband in a sensible, +humdrum way, feeling him to be a bore, knowing him to be vulgar, aware +that he often took a good deal more wine than was good for him, and that +he was almost as uneducated as a hog. Yet she loved him, and showed her +love by taking care that he should have things for dinner which he liked +to eat. But in this alone there were to be found none of the charms of a +fevered existence, and therefore, Mrs Dobbs Broughton, requiring those +charms for her comfort, played her little game with Conway Dalrymple. +And as regarded the artist himself let no reader presume him to have +been heartless because he flirted with Mrs Dobbs Broughton. Doubtless he +will marry some day, and will have a large family for which he will work +hard, and will make a good husband to some stout lady who will be +careful in looking after his linen. But on the present occasion he fell +into some slight trouble in spite of the innocence of his game. As he +quitted his friend's room he heard the hall-door slammed heavily; then +there was a quick step on the stairs, and on the landing-place above the +first flight he met the master of the house, somewhat flurried, as it +seemed, and not looking comfortable, either as regarded his person or +his temper. 'By George, he's been drinking!' Conway said to himself, +after the first glance. Now it certainly was the case that Dobbs +Broughton would sometimes drink at improper hours. + +'What the devil are you doing here?' said Dobbs Broughton to his friend +the artist. 'You're always here. You're here a doosed sight more than I +like.' Husbands when they have been drinking are very apt to make +mistakes as to the purport of the game. + +'Why Dobbs,' said the painter, 'there's something wrong with you.' + +'No, there ain't. There's nothing wrong; and if there was, what's that +to you? I shan't ask you to pay anything for me, I suppose?' + +'Well;--I hope not.' + +'I won't have you here, and let that be an end of it. It's all very +well when I choose to have a few friends to dinner, but my wife can do +very well without your fal-lalling here all day. Will you remember that, +if you please?' + +Conway Dalrymple, knowing that he had better not argue any question with +a drunken man, took himself out of the house, shrugging his shoulders as +he thought of the misery of which his poor dear playfellow would now be +called on to endure. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A HERO AT HOME + +On the morning after his visit to Miss Demolines, John Eames found +himself at the Paddington Station asking for a ticket for Guestwick, and +as he picked up his change another gentleman also demanded a ticket for +the same place. Had Guestwick been as Liverpool or Manchester, Eames +would have thought nothing about it. It is a matter of course that men +should always be going from London to Liverpool and Manchester; but it +seemed odd to him that two men should want first-class tickets for so +small a place as Guestwick at the same moment. And when, afterwards, he +was placed by the guard in the same carriage with this other traveller, +he could not but feel some little curiosity. The man was four or five +years Johnny's senior, a good-looking fellow, with a pleasant face, and +the outward appurtenances of a gentleman. The intelligent reader will no +doubt be aware that the stranger was Major Grantly; but the intelligent +reader has in this respect had much advantage over John Eames, who up to +this time had never even heard of his cousin Grace Crawley's lover. 'I +think you were asking for a ticket to Guestwick,' said Johnny; +--whereupon the major owned that such was the case. 'I lived in +Guestwick for the greater part of my life,' said Johnny, 'and it's the +dullest, dearest little town in all England.' 'I never was there +before,' said the major, 'and indeed I can hardly say I am going there +now. I shall only pass through it.' Then he got out his newspaper, and +Johnny also got his out, and for a time there was no conversation +between them. John remembered how holy was the errand upon which he was +intent, and gathered his thoughts together, resolving that having so +great a matter on his mind he would think about nothing else and speak +about nothing at all. He was going down to Allington to ask Lily Dale +for the last time whether she would be his wife; to ascertain whether he +was to be successful or unsuccessful in the one great wish of his life; +and, as such was the case with him--as he had in hand a thing so vital, +it could be nothing to him whether the chance companion of his voyage +was an agreeable or disagreeable person. He himself, in any of the +ordinary circumstances of life, was prone enough to talk with anyone he +might meet. He could have travelled for twelve hours together with an +old lady, and could listen to her or make her listen to him without +half-an-hour's interruption. But this journey was made on no ordinary +occasion, and it behoved him to think of Lily. Therefore, after the +first little almost necessary effort at civility, he fell back into +gloomy silence. He was going to do his best to win Lily Dale, and this +doing of his best would require all his thoughts and all his energy. + +And probably Major Grantly's mind was bent in the same direction. He, +too, had this work before him, and could not look upon his work as a +thing that which he was intent upon obtaining. He knew--he almost +knew--that he had won the heart of the girl whom he was seeking. There +had been that between him and her which justified him in supposing that +he was dear to her, although no expression of affection had ever passed +from her lips to his ears. Men may know all that they require to know on +that subject without any plainly spoken words. Grace Crawley had spoken +no word, and yet he had known--at any rate had not doubted, that he +could have the place in her heart of which he desired to be the master. +She would never surrender herself altogether till she had taught herself +to be sure of him to whom she gave herself. But she had listened to him +with silence that had not rebuked him, and he had told himself that he +might venture, without fear of that rebuke as to which the minds of some +men are sensitive to a degree which other men cannot even understand. +But for all this Major Grantly could not be altogether happy as to his +mission; he would ask Grace Crawley to be his wife; but he would be +ruined by his own success. And the remembrance that he would be severed +from his own family by the thing that he was doing, was very bitter to +him. In generosity he might be silent about this to Grace, but who can +endure to be silent on such a subject to the woman who is to be his +wife? And then it would not be possible for him to abstain from some +explanation. He was now following her down to Allington, a step which he +certainly would not have taken but the misfortune which had befallen her +father, and he must explain to her in some sort of way why he did so. He +must say to her--if not in so many words, still almost as plainly as +words could speak--I am here now to ask you to be my wife, because you +specially require the protection and countenance of the man who loves +you, in the present circumstances of your father's affairs. He knew that +he was doing right;--perhaps had some idea that he was doing nobly; but +this very appreciation of his own good qualities made the task before +the more difficult. + +Major Grantly had The Times, and John Eames had The Daily News, and they +exchanged papers. One had the last Saturday, and the other the last +Spectator, and they exchanged these also. Both had The Pall Mall Gazette, +of which enterprising periodical they gradually came to discuss the +merits and demerits, thus falling into conversation at last, in spite of +the weight of the mission on which each of them was intent. Then, at +last, when they were within half-an-hour of the end of their journey, +Major Grantly asked his companion what was the best inn at Guestwick. He +had at first been minded to go on to Allington at once--to go on to +Allington and get his work done, and then return home or remain there, +or find the nearest inn with a decent bed, as circumstances might direct +him. But on reconsideration, as he drew nearer to the scene of his +future operations, he thought that it might be well for him to remain +that night at Guestwick. He did not quite know how far Allington was +from Guestwick, but he did know that it was still mid-winter, and that +the days were short. 'The Magpie' was the best inn, Johnny said. Having +lived at Guestwick all his life, and having a mother living there now, +he had never himself put up at 'The Magpie' but he believed it to a good +country inn. They kept post-horses there, he knew. He did not tell the +stranger that his late old friend Lord De Guest, and his present old +friend Lady Julia, always hired post-horses from 'The Magpie', but he +grounded his ready assertion on the remembrance of that fact. 'I think I +shall stay there tonight,' said the major. 'You'll find it pretty +comfortable, I don't doubt,' said Johnny. 'Though, indeed, it always +seems to me that a man alone at an inn has a very bad time of it. +Reading is all very well, but one gets tired of it at last. And then I +hate horse-hair chairs.' 'It isn't very delightful,' said the major, +'but beggars mustn't be choosers.' Then there was a pause, after which +the major spoke again. 'You don't happen to know which way Allington +lies?' + +'Allington!' said Johnny. + +'Yes, Allington. Is there not a village called Allington?' + +'There is a village called Allington, certainly. It lies over there.' +And Johnny pointed with his finger through the window. 'As you do not +know the country you can see nothing, but I can see the Allington trees +at this moment.' + +'I suppose there is no inn at Allington?' + +'There's a public-house, with a very nice bedroom. It is called the +"Red Lion". Mrs Forrard keeps it. I would quite as soon stay there as at +"The Magpie". Only if they don't expect you, they wouldn't have much for +dinner.' + +'Then you know the village of Allington?' + +'Yes, I know the village of Allington very well. I have friends living +there. Indeed, I may say I know everybody living in Allington.' + +'Do you know Mrs Dale?' + +'Mrs Dale,' said Johnny. 'Yes, I know Mrs Dale. I have known Mrs Dale +pretty nearly all my life.' Who could this man be who was gong down to +see Mrs Dale--Mrs Dale, and consequently, Lily Dale? He thought that he +knew Mrs Dale so well, that she could have no visitor of whom he would +not be entitled to have some knowledge. But Major Grantly had nothing +more to say at the moment about Mrs Dale. He had never seen Mrs Dale in +his life, and was now going to her house, not to see her, but a friend +of hers. He found that he could not very well explain this to a +stranger, and therefore at the moment he said nothing further. But +Johnny would not allow the subject to be dropped. 'Have you known Mrs +Dale long?' he asked. + +'I have not the pleasure of knowing her at all,' said the major. + +'I thought, perhaps, by your asking after her--' + +'I intend to call upon her, that is all. I suppose they will have an +omnibus here from "The Magpie"?' Eames said that there no doubt would be +an omnibus from 'The Magpie', and then they were at their journey's end. + +For the present we will follow John Eames, who went at once to his +mother's house. It was his intention to remain there for two or three +days, and then go over to the house, or rather to the cottage, of his +great ally Lady Julia, which lay just beyond Guestwick Manor, and +somewhat nearer to Allington than to the town of Guestwick. He had made +up his mind that he would not himself go over to Allington till he +could do so from Guestwick Cottage, as it was called, feeling that, +under certain untoward circumstances--should untoward circumstances +arise--Lady Julia's sympathy might be more endurable than that of his +mother. But he would take care that it should be known at Allington that +he was in the neighbourhood. He understood the necessary strategy of his +campaign too well to suppose that he could startle Lily into acceptance. + +With his own mother and sister, John Eames was in these days quite a +hero. He was a hero with them now, because in his early boyish days +there had been so little about him that was heroic. Then there had been +a doubt whether he would ever earn his daily bread, and he had been a +very heavy burden on the slight family resources in the matter of +jackets and trousers. The pride taken in Johnny had not been great, +though the love felt for him had been warm. But gradually things had +changed, and John Eames had become hero in his mother's eyes. A chance +circumstance had endeared him to Earl De Guest, and from that moment +things had gone well with him. The earl had given him a watch and had +left him a fortune, and Sir Raffle Buffle had made him his private +secretary. In the old days, when Johnny's love for Lily Dale was first +discussed by his mother and sister, they had thought it impossible that +Lily should ever bring herself to regard with affection so humble a +suitor;--for the Dales have ever held their heads up in the world. But +now there is no misgiving on that score with Mrs Eames and her daughter. +Their wonder that Lily Dale should be such a fool as to decline the love +of such a man. So Johnny was received with respect due to a hero, as +well as with the affection belonging to a son;--by which I mean it to be +inferred that Mrs Eames had got a little bit of fish for dinner as well +as a leg of mutton. + +'A man came down in the train with me who says he is going over to +Allington,' said Johnny. 'I wonder who he can be. He is staying at "The +Magpie".' + +'A friend of Captain Dale's probably,' said Mary. Captain Dale was the +squire's nephew and his heir. + +'But this man was not going to the squire's. He was going to the Small +House.' + +'Is he going to stay there?' + +'I suppose not, as he asked about the inn.' Then, Johnny reflected that +he might possibly be a friend of Crosbie's, and became melancholy in +consequence. Crosbie might have thought it expedient to send an +ambassador down to prepare the ground for him before he should venture +again upon the scene himself. If it were so, would it not be well that +he, John Eames, should get over to Lily as soon as possible, and not +wait till he should be staying with Lady Julia? + +It was at any rate incumbent upon him to call upon Lady Julia the next +morning, because of his commission. The Berlin wool might remain in his +portmanteau till his portmanteau should go with him to the cottage; but +he would take the spectacles at once, and he must explain to Lady Julia +what the lawyers had told him about the income. So he hired a +saddle-horse from 'The Magpie' and started after breakfast on the +morning after his arrival. In his unheroic days he would have walked--as +he had done, scores of times, over the whole distance from Guestwick to +Allington. But now, in these grander days, he thought about his boots +and the mud, and the formal appearance of the thing. 'Ah dear,' he said +to himself, as the nag walked slowly out of the town, 'it used to be +better with the old days. I hardly hoped that she would ever accept me, +but at least she had never refused me. And then that brute had not as +yet made his way down to Allington!' + +He did not go very fast. After leaving the town he trotted on for a +mile or so. But when he got to the palings of Guestwick Manor he let the +animal walk again, and his mind ran back over the incidents of his life +which were connected with the place. He remembered a certain long ramble +which he had taken in those days woods after Lily had refused him. That +had been subsequent to the Crosbie episode in his life, and Johnny had +been led to hope by certain of his friends--especially by Lord De Guest +and his sister--that he might then be successful. But he had been +unsuccessful, and had passed the bitterest hour of his life wandering +about in those woods. Since that he had been unsuccessful again and +again; but the bitterness of failure had not been so strong with him as +on that first occasion. He would try again now, and if he failed, he +would fail for the last time. As he was thinking of all this, a gig +overtook him on the road, and on looking round he saw that the occupant +of the gig was the man who had travelled with him on the previous day in +the train. Major Grantly was alone in the gig, and as he recognised John +Eames he stopped his horse. 'Are you going to Allington?' he asked. John +Eames, with something of scorn in his voice, replied that he had no +intention of going to Allington on that day. He still thought that this +man might be an emissary from Crosbie, and therefore resolved that but +scant courtesy was due to him. 'I am on my way there now,' said Grantly, +'and am going to the house of your friend. May I tell her that I +travelled with you yesterday?' + +'Yes, sir,' said Johnny. 'You may tell her that you came down with John +Eames.' + +'And are you John Eames?' asked the major. + +'If you have no objection,' said Johnny. 'But I can hardly suppose that +you have heard of my name before?' + +'It is familiar to me because I have the pleasure of knowing a cousin of +yours, Grace Crawley.' + +'My cousin is at present staying at Allington with Mrs Dale,' said +Johnny. + +'Just so,' said the major, who now began to reflect that he had been +indiscreet in mentioning Grace Crawley's name. No doubt everyone +connected with the family, all the Crawleys, all the Dales, and all the +Eames's, would soon know the business which had brought him down to +Allngton; but he need not have taken the trouble of beginning the story +himself. John Eames, in truth, had never heard of Major Grantly's name, +and was quite unaware of the fortune which awaited his cousin. Even +after what he had now been told, he still suspected the stranger of +being an emissary from his enemy; but the major, not giving him credit +for his ignorance, was annoyed with himself for having told so much of +his own history. 'I will tell the ladies that I had the pleasure of +meeting you,' he said; 'that is, if I am lucky enough to see them.' And +then he drove on. + +'I know I should hate that fellow if I were to meet him anywhere again,' +said Johnny to himself as he rode on. 'When I take an aversion to a +fellow at first sight, I always stick to it. It's instinct, I suppose.' +And he was still giving himself credit for the strength of his instincts +when he reached Lady Julia's cottage. He rode at once into the +stable-yard, with the privilege of an accustomed friend of the house, +and having given up his horse, entered the cottage by the back door. 'Is +my lady at home, Jemima?' he said to the maid. + +'Yes, Mr John; she is in the drawing-room, and friends of yours are with +her.' Then he was announced, and found himself in the presence of Lady +Julia, Lily Dale, and Grace Crawley. + +He was very warmly received. Lady Julia really loved him dearly, and +would have done anything in her power to bring about a match between him +and Lily. Grace was his cousin, and though she had not seen him often, +she was prepared to love him dearly as Lily's lover. And Lily--Lily +loved him dearly too--if only she could have brought herself to love him +as he wished to be loved! To all of them Johnny Eames was something of a +hero. At any rate in the eyes of all of them he possessed those virtues +which seemed to them to justify them in petting him and making much of +him. + +'I am so glad you've come--that is, if you've brought my spectacles,' +said Lady Julia. + +'My pockets are crammed with spectacles,' said Johnny. + +'And when are you coming to me?' + +'I was thinking of Tuesday.' + +'No; don't come till Wednesday. But I mean Monday. No; Monday won't +do. Come on Tuesday--early, and drive me out. And now tell us the news.' + +Johnny swore that there was no news. He made a brave attempt to be gay +and easy before Lily; but he failed, and he knew that he failed--and he +knew that she knew that he failed. 'Mamma will be so glad to see you,' +said Lily. 'I suppose you haven't seen Bell yet?' + +'I only got to Guestwick yesterday afternoon,' said he. + +'And it will be so nice our having Grace at the Small House;--won't it? +Uncle Christopher has quite taken a passion for Grace--so that I am +hardly anybody now in the Allington world.' + +'By-the-by,' said Johnny, 'I came down here with a friend of yours, +Grace.' + +'A friend of mine?' said Grace. + +'So he says, and he is at Allington at this moment. He passed me in the +gig down here.' + +'And what was his name?' Lily asked. + +'I have not the remotest idea,' said Johnny. 'He is a man about my own +age, very good-looking, and apparently very well able to take care of +himself. He is short-sighted, and holds a glass in one eye when he looks +out of a carriage window. That's all I know about him. + +Grace Crawley's face had become suffused with blushes at the first +mention of the friend and the gig; but then Grace blushed very easily. +Lily knew all about it at once;--at once divined who must be the friend +in the gig, and was almost beside herself with joy. Lady Julia, who had +heard no more of the major than had Johnny, was still clever enough to +perceive that the friend must be a particular friend--for she had +noticed Miss Crawley's blushes. And Grace herself had no doubt as to the +man. The picture of her lover, with the glass in his eye as he looked +out of the window, had been too perfect to admit of a doubt. In her +distress she put out her hand and took hold of Lily's dress. + +'And you say he is at Allington now?' said Lily. + +'I have no doubt he is at the Small House at this moment,' said Johnny. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +SHOWING HOW MAJOR GRANTLY TOOK A WALK + +Major Grantly drove his gig into the yard of the 'Red Lion' at +Allington, and from thence walked away at once to Mrs Dale's house. When +he reached the village he had hardly made up his mind as the way in +which he would begin his attack; but now, as he went down the street, he +resolved that he would first ask for Mrs Dale. Most probably he would +find himself in the presence of Mrs Dale and her daughter, and of Grace +also, at his first entrance; and if so, his position would be awkward +enough. He almost regretted now that he had not written to Mrs Dale, and +asked for an interview. His task would be very difficult if he should +find all the ladies together. But he was strong enough in the feeling +that when his purpose was told it would meet the approval at any rate of +Mrs Dale; and he walked boldly on, and bravely knocked at the door of +the Small House, as he had already learned that Mrs Dale's residence was +called by the neighbourhood. Nobody was at home, the servant said; and +then, when the visitor began to make further inquiry, the girl explained +that the two young ladies had walked as far as Guestwick Cottage, and +that Mrs Dale was at this moment at the Great House with the squire. She +had gone across soon after the young ladies had started. The maid, +however, was interrupted before she had finished telling all this to the +major, by finding her mistress behind her in the passage. Mrs Dale had +returned, and had entered the house from the lawn. + +'I am here now, Jane,' said Mrs Dale, 'if the gentleman wishes to see +me.' + +Then the major announced himself. 'My name is Major Grantly,' said he; +and he was blundering on with some words about his own intrusion, when +Mrs Dale begged him to follow her into the drawing-room. He had muttered +something to the effect that Mrs Dale would not know who he was; but Mrs +Dale knew all about him, and had heard the whole of Grace's story from +Lily. She and Lily had often discussed the question whether, under +existing circumstances, Major Grantly should feel himself bound to offer +his hand to Grace, and the mother and daughter had differed somewhat on +the matter. Mrs Dale had held that he was not so bound, urging that the +unfortunate position in which Mr Crawley was placed was so calamitous to +all connected with him, as to justify any man, not absolutely engaged, +in abandoning the thoughts of such a marriage. Mrs Dale had spoken of +Major Grantly's father and mother and brother and sister, and had +declared her opinion that they were entitled to consideration. But Lily +had opposed this idea very stoutly, asserting that in an affair of love +a man should think neither of father or brother of mother or sister. 'If +he is worth anything,' Lily had said, 'he will come to her now--in her +trouble; and will tell her that she at least has got a friend who will +be true to her. If he does that, then I shall think that there is +something of the poetry and nobleness of love left.' In answer to this +Mrs Dale had replied that women had no right to expect from men such +self-denying nobility as that. 'I don't expect it, mamma,' said Lily. +'And I am sure that Grace does not. Indeed I am quite sure that Grace +does not expect even to see him ever again. She never says so, but I +know that she has made up her mind about it. Still I think he ought to +come.' 'It can hardly be that a man is bound to do a thing, the doing of +which, as you confess, would be almost more than noble,' said Mrs Dale. +And so the matter had been discussed between them. But now, as it seemed +to Mrs Dale, the man had come to do the noble thing. At any rate he was +there in her drawing-room, and before either of them had sat down he had +contrived to mention Grace. 'You may not probably have heard my name,' +he said,' but I am acquainted with your friend, Grace Crawley.' + +'I know your name very well, Major Grantly. My brother-in-law who lives +down yonder, Mr Dale, knows your father very well--or he did some years +ago. And I have heard him say that he remembers you.' + +'I recollect. He used to be staying at Ullathorne. But that is a long +time ago. Is he at home now?' + +'Mr Dale is almost always at home. He very rarely goes away, and I am +sure would be glad to see you.' + +Then there was a little pause in the conversation. They had managed to +seat themselves, and Mrs Dale had said enough to put her visitor fairly +at his ease. If he had anything special to say to her, he must say +it--any request or proposition to make as to Grace Crawley, he must make +it. And he did make it at once. 'My object in coming to Allington,' he +said, 'was to see Miss Crawley.' + +'She and my daughter have taken a long walk to call on a friend, and I +am afraid they will stay for lunch; but they will certainly be home +between three and four, if that is not too long for you to remain at +Allington.' + +'Oh, dear, no,' said he. 'It will not hurt me to wait.' + +'It certainly will not hurt me, Major Grantly. Perhaps you will lunch +with me?' + +'I'll tell you what, Mrs Dale; if you'll permit me, I'll explain to you +why I have come here. Indeed, I have intended to do so all through, and +I can only ask you to keep my secret, if after all it should require to +be kept.' + +'I will certainly keep any secret that you may ask me to keep,' said Mrs +Dale, taking off her bonnet. + +'I hope there may be no need of one,' said Major Grantly. 'The truth +is, Mrs Dale, that I have known Grace Crawley for some time--nearly for +two years now, and--I may as well speak it out at once--I have made up +my mind to ask her to be my wife. That is why I am here.' Considering +the nature of the statement, which must have been embarrassing, I think +that it was made with fluency and simplicity. + +'Of course, Major Grantly, you know that I have no authority with our +young friend,' said Mrs Dale. 'I mean that she is not connected with us +by family ties. She has a father and mother, living, as I believe, in +the same county as yourself.' + +'I know that, Mrs Dale.' + +'And you may, perhaps, understand that, as Miss Crawley is now staying +with me, I owe it in a measure to her friends to ask you whether they +are aware of your intention.' + +'They are not aware of it.' + +'I know that at the present moment they are in great trouble.' + +Mrs Dale was going on, but she was interrupted by Major Grantly. 'That +is just it,' he said. 'There are circumstances at present which make it +almost impossible that I should go to Mr Crawley and ask his permission +to address his daughter. I do not know whether you have heard the whole +story?' + +'As much, I believe, as Grace could tell me.' + +'He is, I believe, in such a state of mental distress as to be hardly +capable of giving me a considerate answer. And I should not know how to +speak to him, or how not to speak to him, about this unfortunate affair. +But, Mrs Dale, you will, I think, perceive that the same circumstances +make it imperative upon me to be explicit to Miss Crawley. I think I am +the last man to boast of a woman's regard, but I had learned to think +that I was not indifferent to Grace. If that be so, what must she think +of me if I stay away from her now?' + +'She understands too well the weight of the misfortune which has fallen +upon her father, to suppose that anyone not connected with her can be +bound to share it.' + +'That is just it. She will think that I am silent for that reason. I +have determined that that shall not keep me silent, and, therefore, I +have come here. I may, perhaps, be able to bring comfort to her in her +trouble. As regards my worldly position--though, indeed, it will not be +very good--as hers is not good either, you will not think yourself bound +to forbid me to see her on that head.' + +'Certainly not. I need hardly say that I fully understand that, as +regards money, you are offering everything where you can get nothing.' + +'And you understand my feeling?' + +'Indeed I do--and appreciate the great nobility of your love for Grace. +You shall see her here, if you wish it--and today, if you choose to +wait.' Major Grantly said that he would wait and would see Grace on that +afternoon. Mrs Dale again suggested that he should lunch with her, but +this he declined. She then proposed that he should go across and call +upon the squire, and thus consume his time. But to this he also +objected. He was not exactly in humour, he said, to renew so old and so +slight an acquaintance at that time. Mr Dale would probably have +forgotten him, and would be sure to ask what had brought him to +Allington. He would go and take a walk, he said, and come again at +exactly half-past three. Mrs Dale again expressed her certainty that the +young ladies would be back by that time, and Major Grantly left the +house. + +Mrs Dale when she was left alone could not but compare the good fortune +that was awaiting Grace, with the evil fortune which had fallen on her +own child. Here was a man who was at all points a gentleman. Such, at +least, was the character which Mrs Dale at once conceded to him. And +Grace had chanced to come across this man, and to please his eye, and +satisfy his taste, and be loved by him. And the result of that chance +would be that Grace would have everything given to her that the world +has to give worth acceptance. She would have a companion for her life +whom she could trust, admire, love, and of whom she could be infinitely +proud. Mrs Dale was not at all aware whether Major Grantly might have +five hundred a year to spend, or five thousand--or what sum intermediate +between the two--nor did she give much of her thoughts at the moment to +that side of the subject. She knew without thinking of it--or fancied +that she knew, that there were means sufficient for comfortable living. +It was solely the nature and character of the man that was in her mind, +and the sufficiency that was to be found in them for a wife's happiness. +But her daughter, her Lily, had come across a man who was a scoundrel, +and, as the consequence of that meeting, all her life was marred! Could +any credit be given to Grace for her success, or any blame attached to +Lily for her failure. Surely not the latter! How was her girl to have +guarded herself from a love so unfortunate, or have avoided the rock on +which her vessel had been shipwrecked? Then many bitter thoughts passed +through Mrs Dale's mind, and she almost envied Grace Crawley her lover. +Lily was contented to remain as she was, but Lily's mother could not +bring herself to be satisfied that her child should fill a lower place +in the world than other girls. It had ever been her idea--an ideal +probably never absolutely uttered even to herself, but not the less +practically conceived--that it is the business of a woman to be married. +That her Lily should have been won and not worn, had been, and would be, +a trouble to her for ever. + +Major Grantly went back to the inn and saw his horse fed, and smoked a +cigar, and then, finding that it was still only just one o'clock, he +started off for a walk. He was careful not to go out of Allington by +the road he had entered it, as he had no wish to encounter Grace and her +friend on their return to the village; so he crossed a little brook +which runs at the bottom of the hill on which the chief street of +Allington is built, and turned into a field-path to the left as soon as +he had got beyond the houses. Not knowing the geography of the place he +did not understand that by taking that path he was making his way back +to the squire's house; but it was so; and after sauntering on for about +a mile and crossing back again over the stream, of which he took no +notice, he found himself leaning across a gate, and looking into a +paddock on the other side of which was the high wall of a gentleman's +garden. To avoid this he went on a little farther and found himself on a +farm road, and before he could retrace his steps so as not to be seen, +he met a gentleman whom he presumed to be the owner of the house. It was +the squire surveying his home farm, as was his daily custom; but Major +Grantly had not perceived that the house must of necessity be Allington +House, having been aware that he had passed the entrance to the place, +as he entered the village on the other side. 'I'm afraid I'm intruding,' +he said, lifting his hat. 'I came up the path yonder, not knowing that +it would lead me so close to a gentleman's house.' + +'There's a right of way through the fields on to the Guestwick road,' +said the squire, 'and therefore you are not trespassing in any sense; +but we are not particular about such things down here, and you would be +very welcome if there were no right of way. If you are a stranger, +perhaps you would like to see the outside of the old house. People think +it picturesque.' + +Then Major Grantly became aware that this must be the squire, and he was +annoyed with himself for his own awkwardness in having thus come upon +the house. He would have wished to keep himself altogether unseen if it +had been possible--and especially unseen by this old gentleman, to whom, +now that he had met him, he was almost bound to introduce himself. But +he was not absolutely bound to do so, and he determined that he would +still keep his peace. Even if the squire should afterwards hear of his +having been there, what would it matter? But to proclaim himself at the +present moment would be disagreeable to him. He permitted the squire, +however, to lead him to the front of the house, and in a few moments was +standing on the terrace hearing an account of the architecture of the +mansion. + +You can see the date still in the brickwork of one of the chimneys--that +is, if your eyes are very good you can see it--1617. It was completed +in that year, and very little has been done to it since. We think the +chimneys are pretty.' + +'They are very pretty,' said the major. 'Indeed, the house altogether +is as graceful as it can be.' + +'Those trees are old too,' said the squire, pointing to two cedars which +stood at the side of the house. 'They say they are older than the house +but I don't feel sure of it. There was a mansion here before, very +nearly, though not quite, on the same spot.' + +'Your own ancestors were living here before that, I suppose?' said +Grantly, meaning to be civil. + +'Well, yes; two or three hundred years before it, I suppose. If you +don't mind coming down to the churchyard, you'll get an excellent view +of the house;--by far the best there is. By-the-by, would you like to +step in and take a glass of wine?' + +'I'm very much obliged,' said the major, 'but indeed I'd rather not.' +Then he followed the squire down to the churchyard, and was shown the +church as well as the view of the house, and the vicarage, and a view +over to Allington woods from the vicarage gate, of which the squire was +very fond, and in this way he was taken back on to the Guestwick side of +the village, and even down on the road by which he had entered it, +without in the least knowing where he was. He looked at his watch, and +saw that it was past two. 'I'm very much obliged to you, sir,' he said +again taking off his hat to the squire, 'and if I shall not be +intruding, I'll make my way back to the village.' + +'What village?' + +'To Allington,' said Grantly. + +'This is Allington,' said the squire; and as he spoke, Lily Dale and +Grace Crawley turned the corner from the Guestwick road and came close +upon them. 'Well, girls, I did not expect to see you,' said the squire; +'your mamma told me you wouldn't be back till it was nearly dark, Lily.' + +'We have come back earlier than we intended,' said Lily. She of course +had seen the stranger with her uncle, and knowing the ways of the squire +in such matters had expected to be introduced to him. But the reader +will be aware that no introduction was possible. It never occurred to +Lily that this man could be Major Grantly of whom she and Grace had been +talking during the whole length of the walk home. But Grace and her +lover had of course known each other at once, and Grantly, though he was +abashed and almost dismayed by the meeting, of course came forward and +gave his hand to his friend. Grace in taking it did not utter a word. + +'Perhaps I ought to have introduced myself to you as Major Grantly,' +said he, turning to the squire. + +'Major Grantly! Dear me! I had no idea that you were expected in these +parts.' + +'I have come without being expected.' + +'You are very welcome, I'm sure. I hope your father is well? I used to +know him some years ago, and I daresay he has not forgotten me.' Then, +while the girls stood by in silence, and while Grantly was endeavouring +to escape, the squire invited him very warmly to send his portmanteau up +to the house. 'We'll have the ladies up from the house below, and make +it as little dull for you as possible.' But this would not have suited +Grantly--at any rate would not suit him till he should know what answer +he was to have. He excused himself therefore, pleading a positive +necessity to be at Guestwick that evening, and then, explaining that he +had already seen Mrs Dale, he expressed his intention of going back to +the Small House in company with the ladies, if they would allow him. The +squire, who did not yet quite understand it all, bade him a formal +adieu, and Lily led the way home down behind the churchyard wall and +through the bottom of the gardens belonging to the Great House. She of +course knew now who the stranger was, and did all in her power to +relieve Grace of her embarrassment. Grace had hitherto not spoken a +single word since she had seen her lover, nor did she say a word to him +in their walk to the house. And, in truth, he was not much more +communicative than Grace. Lily did all the talking, and with wonderful +female skill contrived to have some words ready for use till they all +found themselves together in Mrs Dale's drawing-room. 'I have caught a +major, mamma, and landed him,' said Lily laughing, 'but I'm afraid, from +what I hear, that you had caught him first.' + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +MISS LILY DALE'S LOGIC + +Lady Julia De Guest always lunched at one exactly, and it was not much +past twelve when John Eames made his appearance at the cottage. He was +of course told to stay, and of course said that he would stay. It had +been his purpose to lunch with Lady Julia; but then he had not expected +to find Lily Dale at the cottage. Lily herself would have been quite at +her ease, protected by Lady Julia, and somewhat protected also by her +own powers of fence, had it not been that Grace was there also. But +Grace Crawley, from the moment that she had heard the description of the +gentleman who looked out of the window with his glass in his eye, had by +no means been at her ease. Lily saw at once that she could not be +brought to join in any conversation, and both John and Lady Julia, in +their ignorance of the matter in hand, made matters worse. + +'So that was Major Grantly,' said John. 'I have heard of him before, I +think. He is a son of the old archdeacon, is he not?' + +'I don't know about old archdeacon,' said Lady Julia. 'The archdeacon +is the son of the old bishop, whom I remember very well. And it is not +so very long since the bishop died, either.' + +'I wonder what he is doing at Allington,' said John. + +'I think he knows my uncle,' said Lily. + +'But he's going to call on your mother, he said.' Then Johnny +remembered that the major had said something as to knowing Miss Crawley, +and for the moment he was silent. + +'I remember when they talked of making the son a bishop also,' said Lady +Julia. + +'What;--the same man who is now a major?' said Johnny. + +'No, you goose. He is not the son of; he is the grandson. They were +going to make the archdeacon a bishop, and I remember hearing that he +was terribly disappointed. He is getting to be an old man now, I +suppose; and yet, dear me, how well I remember his father.' + +'He didn't look like a bishop's son,' said Johnny. + +'How does a bishop's son look,' Lily asked. + +'I suppose he ought to have some sort of clerical tinge about him; but +this fellow had nothing of that kind.' + +'But then this fellow, as you call him,' said Lily, 'is only the son of +an archdeacon.' + +'That accounts for it, I suppose,' said Johnny. + +But during all this time, Grace did not say a word, and Lily perceived +it. Then she bethought herself as to what she had better do. Grace, she +knew, could not be comfortable where she was. Nor, indeed, was it +probable that Grace would be very comfortable in returning home. There +could not be much ease for Grace till the coming meeting between her and +Major Grantly should be over. But it would be better that Grace should +go back to Allington at once; and better also, perhaps, for Major +Grantly that it should be so. 'Lady Julia,' she said, 'I don't think +we'll mind stopping for lunch today.' + +'Nonsense, my dear; you promised.' + +'I think we must break our promise; I do indeed. You mustn't be angry +with us.' And Lily looked at Lady Julia, as though there were something +which Lady Julia ought to understand, which she, Lily, could not quite +explain. I fear that Lily was false, and intended her old friend to +believe that she was running away because John Eames had come there. + +'But you will be famished,' said Lady Julia. + +'We shall live through it,' said Lily. + +'It is out of the question that I should let you walk all the way here +from Allington and all the way back without taking something.' + +'We shall just be home in time for lunch if we go now,' said Lily. 'Will +not that be the best, Grace?' + +Grace hardly knew what would be best. She only knew that Major Grantly +was at Allington, and that he had come thither to see her. The idea of +hurrying back after him was unpleasant to her, and yet she was so +flurried that she felt thankful to Lily for taking her away from the +cottage. The matter was compromised at last. They remained for +half-an-hour, and ate some biscuits and pretended to drink a glass of +wine, and then they started. John Eames, who in truth believed that Lily +Dale was running away from him, was by no means well pleased, and when +the girls were gone, did not make himself so agreeable to his old friend +as he should have done. 'What a fool I am to come here at all,' he said, +throwing himself into an arm-chair as soon as the front door was closed. + +'That's very civil to me, John!' + +'You know what I mean, Lady Julia. I am a fool to come near her, until +I can do so without thinking more of her than I do of any other girl in +the country.' + +'I don't think you have anything to complain of as yet,' said Lady +Julia, who had in some sort perceived that Lily's retreat had been on +Grace's account, and not on her own. 'It seems to me that Lily was very +glad to see you, and when I told her that you were coming to stay here, +and would be near them for some days, she seemed to be quite +pleased;--she did indeed.' + +'Then why did she run away the moment I came in?' said Johnny. + +'I think it was something you said about the man who has gone to +Allington.' + +'What difference can the man make to her? The truth is, I despise +myself;--I do indeed, Lady Julia. Only think of my meeting Crosbie at +dinner the other day, and his having the impertinence to come up and +shake hands with me.' + +'I suppose he didn't say anything about what happened at the Paddington +Station?' + +'No; he didn't speak about that. I wish I knew whether she cares for +him still. If I thought she did, I would never speak another word to +her--I mean about myself. Of course I am not going to quarrel with them. +I am not such a fool as that.' Then Lady Julia tried to comfort him, and +succeeded so far that he was induced to eat the mince veal that had been +intended for the comfort and support of the two young ladies who had run +away. + +'Do you think it is he?' were the first words which Grace said when they +were fairly on their way back together. + +'I should think it must be. What other man can there be, of that sort, +who would be likely to come to Allington to see you?' + +'His coming is not likely. I cannot understand that he should come. He +let me leave Silverbridge without seeing me--and I thought that he was +quite right.' + +'And I think he is quite right to come here. I am very glad he has +come. It shows that he has really something like a heart inside him. Had +he not come, or sent, or written, or taken some step before the trial +comes on, to make you know that he was thinking of you, I should have +said that he was as hard--as hard as any other man I had ever heard of. +Men are so hard! But I don't think he is, now. I am beginning to regard +him as the one chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, and to fancy that +you ought to go down on your knees before him, and kiss his highness's +shoebuckle. In judging of men one's mind vacillates so quickly between +the scorn which is due to a false man and the worship which is due to a +true man.' Then she was silent for a moment, but Grace said nothing, and +Lily continued, 'I tell you fairly, Grace, that I shall expect very much +from you now.' + +'Much in what way, Lily?' + +'In the way of worship. I shall not be content that you should merely +love him. If he has come here, as he must have done, to say that the +moment of the world's reproach is the moment he has chosen to ask you to +be his wife, I think that you will owe him more than love.' + +'I shall owe him more than love, and I will pay him more than love,' +said Grace. There was something in the tone of her voice as she spoke +which made Lily stop her and look up into her face. There was a smile +there which Lily had never seen before, and which gave a beauty to her +which was wonderful to Lily's eyes. Surely this lover of Grace's must +have seen a smile like that, and therefore had loved her and was giving +such wonderful proof of his love. 'Yes,' continued Grace, standing and +looking at her friend, 'you may stare at me, Lily, but you may be sure +that I will do for Major Grantly all the good that I can do for him.' + +'Never mind what I mean. You are very imperious in managing your own +affairs, and you must let me be so equally in mine.' + +'But I tell you everything.' + +'Do you suppose that if--if--if in real truth it can possibly be the +case that Major Grantly shall have come here to offer me his hand when +we all ground down in the dust as we are, do you think that I will let +him sacrifice himself? Would you?' + +'Certainly. Why not? There will be no sacrifice. He will be asking +for that which he wishes to get; and you will be bound to give it to +him.' + +'If he wants it, where is his nobility? If it be as you say, he will +have shown himself noble, and his nobility will have consisted in this, +that he has been willing to take that which he does not want, in order +that he may succour the one whom he loves. I also will succour one whom +I love, as best I know how.' Then she walked on quickly before her +friend, and Lily stood for a moment thinking before she followed her. +They were now on a field-path, by which they were enabled to escape the +road back to Allington for the greater part of the distance, and Grace +had reached a stile, and had clambered over it before Lily had caught +her. + +'You must not go away by yourself,' said Lily. + +'I don't wish to go away by myself.' + +'I want you to stop a moment and listen to me. I am sure you are wrong +in this--wrong for both your sakes. You believe that he loves you?' + +'I thought he did once; and if he has come here to see me, I suppose he +does still.' + +'If that be the case, and you also love him--' + +'I do. I make no mystery about that to you. I do love him with all my +heart. I love him today, now that I believe him to be here, and that I +suppose I shall see him, perhaps this very afternoon. And I loved him +yesterday, when I thought that I should never see him again. I do love +him. I do. I love him so well that I will never do him an injury.' + +'That being so, if he makes you an offer you are bound to accept it. I +do not think that you have an alternative.' + +'I have an alternative, and I shall use it. Why don't you take my +cousin John?' + +'Because I like somebody else better. If you have got as good a reason, +I won't say another word to you.' + +'And why don't you take that other person?' + +'Because I cannot trust his love; that is why. It is not very kind of +you, opening my sores afresh, when I am trying to heal yours.' + +'Oh, Lily, I am unkind--unkind to you, who have been so generous to me?' + +'I'll forgive you all that and a deal more if you will only listen to me +and try to take my advice. Because this major of yours does a generous +thing, which is for the good of you both--the infinite good of both of +you--you are to emulate his generosity by doing a thing which will be +for the good of neither of you. That is about it. Yes, it is, Grace. You +cannot doubt that he has been meaning this for some time past; and of +course, if he looks upon you as his own--and I daresay, if the whole +truth is to be told, he does--' + +'But I am not his own.' + +'Yes you are, in one sense; you have just said so with a great deal of +energy. And if it is so--let me see, where was I?' + +'Oh, Lily, you need not mind where you were.' + +'But I do mind, and I hate to be interrupted in my arguments. Yes, just +that. If he saw his cow sick, he'd try to doctor the cow in her +sickness. He sees that you are sick, and of course he comes to your +relief.' + +'I am not Major Grantly's cow.' + +'Yes, you are.' + +'Nor his dog, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his, +except--except, Lily, the dearest friend that he has on the face of the +earth. He cannot have a friend that will go no further for him than I +will. He will never know how far I will go to serve him. You don't know +his people. Nor do I know them. But I know what they are. His sister is +married to a marquis.' + +'What has that to do with it?' said Lily, sharply. 'If she were married +to an archduke, what difference would that make?' + +'And they are proud people--all of them--and rich; and they live with +high persons in the world.' + +'I didn't care though they lived with the royal family, and had the +Prince of Wales for their bosom friend. It only shows how much better he +is than they are.' + +'But think of what my family is--how we are situated. When my father +was simply poor I did not care about it, because he has been born and +bred a gentleman. But now he is disgraced. Yes, Lily, he is. I am bound +to say so, at any rate to myself, when I am thinking of Major Grantly; +and I will not carry that disgrace into a family which would feel it so +keenly as they would do.' Lily, however, went on with her arguments, and +was still arguing when they turned the corner of the lane, and came upon +Lily's uncle and the major himself. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +SHOWING WHAT MAJOR GRANTLY DID AFTER HIS WALK + +In going down from the church to the Small House Lily Dale had all the +conversation to herself. During some portion of the way the path was +only broad enough for two persons, and here Major Grantly walked by Lily's +side, while Grace followed them. Then they found their way into the +house, and Lily made her little speech to her mother about catching the +major. 'Yes, my dear, I have seen Major Grantly before,' said Mrs Dale. +'I suppose he has met you on the road. But I did not expect that any of +you would have returned so soon.' Some little explanation followed as to +the squire, and as to Major Grantly's walk, and after that the great +thing was to leave the two lovers alone. 'You will dine here, of course, +Major Grantly,' Mrs Dale said. But this he declined. He had learned, he +said, that there was a night-train up to London, and he thought that he +would return to town by that. He had intended, when he left London to +get back there as soon as possible. Then Mrs Dale, having hesitated for +two or three seconds, got up and left the room, and Lily followed. 'It +seems very odd and abrupt,' said Mrs Dale to her daughter, 'but I +suppose it is best.' 'Of course, it is best, mamma. Do as one would be +done by--that's the only rule. It will be much better for her that she +should have it over.' + +Grace was seated on a sofa, and Major Grantly got up from his chair, and +came and stood opposite to her. 'Grace,' he said, 'I hope you are not +angry with me for coming down to see you here.' + +'No, I am not angry,' she said. + +'I have thought a great deal about it, and your friend, Miss Prettyman, +knew that I was coming. She quite approves of my coming.' + +'She has written to me, but did not tell me of it,' said Grace, not +knowing what other answer to make. + +'No--she could not have done that. She had no authority. I only +mention her name because it will have weight with you, and because I +have not done that which, under the circumstances, perhaps, I should +have been bound to do. I have not seen your father.' + +'Poor papa,' said Grace. + +'I have felt that at the present moment I could not do so with any +success. It has not come of any want of respect either for him or for +you. Of course, Grace, you know why I am here.' He paused, and then, +remembering that he had no right to expect an answer to such a question, +he continued, 'I have come here, dearest Grace, to ask you to be my +wife, and to be a mother to Edith. I know that you love Edith.' + +'I do indeed.' + +'And I have hoped sometimes--though I suppose I ought not to say so--but +I have hoped and almost thought sometimes, that you have been willing +to--love me, too. It is better to tell the truth simply, is it not?' + +'I suppose so,' said Grace. + +'And therefore, and because I love you dearly myself, I have come to ask +you to be my wife.' Saying which he opened out his hand, and held it to +her. But she did not take it. 'There is my hand, Grace. If your heart is +as I would have it you can give me yours, and I shall want nothing else +to make me happy.' But still she made no motion towards granting him his +request. 'If I have been too sudden,' he said, 'you must forgive me for +that. I have been sudden and abrupt, but as things are, no other way has +been open to me. Can you not bring yourself to give me some answer, +Grace?' His hand had now fallen again to his side, but he was still +standing before her. + +She had said no word to him as yet, except that one in which she had +acknowledged her love for his child, and had expressed no surprise, even +in her countenance, at his proposal. And yet the idea that he should do +such a thing, since the idea that he certainly would do it had become +clear to her, had filled her with a world of surprise. No girl ever lived +with any beauty belonging to her who had a smaller knowledge of her own +possession than Grace Crawley. Nor had she the slightest pride in her +own acquirements. That she had been taught in many things more than had +been taught to other girls, had come of her poverty and of the +desolation of her home. She had learned to read Greek and Italian +because there had been nothing else for her to do in that sad house. +And, subsequently, accuracy of knowledge had been necessary for the +earning of her bread. I think that Grace had at times been weak enough +to envy the idleness and almost envy the ignorance of other girls. Her +figure was light, perfect in symmetry, full of grace at all points; but +she had thought nothing of her figure, remembering only the poverty of +her dress, but remembering also with a brave resolution that she would +never be ashamed of it. And as her acquaintance with Major Grantly had +begun and had grown, and as she had learned to feel unconsciously that +his company was pleasanter to her than that of any other person she +knew, she had still told herself that anything like love must be out of +the question. But then words had been spoken, and there had been glances +in his eye, and a tone in his voice, and a touch upon his fingers, of +which she could not altogether refuse to accept the meaning. And others +had spoken of it, the two Miss Prettymans and her friend Lily. Yet she +would not admit to herself that it could be so, and she would not allow +herself to confess to herself that she loved him. Then had come the last +killing misery to which her father had been subjected. He had been +accused of stealing money, and had been committed to be tried for the +theft. From that moment, at any rate, any hope, if there had been a +hope, must be crushed. But she swore to herself bravely that there had +been no such hope. And she assured herself also that nothing had passed +which had entitled her to expect anything beyond ordinary friendship +from the man of whom she certainly had thought much. Even if those +touches and those tones and those glances had meant anything, all such +meaning must be annihilated by this disgrace which had come upon her. +She might know that her father was innocent; but the world thought +differently, and she, her brothers and sister, and her mother and her +poor father, must bend to the world's opinion. If those dangerous joys +had meant anything, they must be taken as meaning nothing more. + +Thus she had argued with herself, and, fortified by such self- +teachings, she had come down to Allington. Since she had been with her +friends there had come upon her from day to day a clear conviction that +her arguments had been undoubtedly true--a clear conviction which had +been very cold to her heart in spite of all her courage. She had +expected nothing, hoped for nothing, and yet when nothing came she was +sad. She thought of one special half-hour in which he had said almost +all that he might have said--more than he ought to have said;--of a +moment during which her hand had remained in his; of a certain pressure +with which he had put her shawl upon her shoulders. If he had only +written to her one word to tell her that he believed her father was +innocent! But no; she had no right to expect anything from him. And then +Lily had ceased to talk of him, and she did expect nothing. Now he was +there before her, asking her to come to him and be his wife. Yes; she +would kiss his shoebuckles, only that the kissing of his shoebuckles +would bring upon him that injury which he should never suffer from her +hands! He had been generous, and her self-pride was satisfied. But her +other pride was touched, and she also would be generous. 'Can you not +bring yourself to give me some answer?' he had said to her. Of course +she must give him an answer, but how would she give it? + +'You are very kind,' she said. + +'I would be more than kind.' + +'So you are. Kind is a cold word when used to such a friend at such a +time.' + +'I would be everything on earth to you that a man can be to a woman.' + +'I know I ought to thank you if I knew how. My heart is full of thanks; +it is indeed.' + +'And is there no room for love there?' + +'There is no room for love in our house, Major Grantly. You have not +seen papa.' + +'No; but if you wish, I will do so at once.' + +'It would to do no good;--none. I only asked you because you can hardly +know how sad is our state at home.' + +'But I cannot see that that need deter you, if you can love me.' + +'Can you not? If you saw him, and the house, and my mother, you would +not say so. In the Bible it is said of some season that it is not a time +for marrying, or giving in marriage. And so it is with us.' + +'I am not pressing you as to a day. I only ask you to say that you will +be engaged to me--so that I may tell my own people, and let it be +known.' + +'I understand all that. I know how good you are. But, Major Grantly, +you must understand me also when I assure you that it cannot be so.' + +'Do you mean to refuse me altogether?' + +'Yes; altogether.' + +'And why?' + +'Must I answer that question? Ought I to be made to answer it? But I +will tell you fairly, without touching on anything else, that I feel +that we are all disgraced, and that I will not take that disgrace into +another family.' + +'Grace, do you love me?' + +'I love no one now--that is, as you mean. I can love no one. I have no +room for any feeling except for my father and mother, and for us all. I +should not be here now but that I save my mother the bread that I should +eat at home.' + +'Is it as bad as that?' + +'Yes, it is as bad as that. It is much worse than that, if you knew it +all. You cannot conceive how low we have fallen. And now they tell me +that my father will be found guilty, and will be sent to prison. Putting +ourselves out of the question, what would you think of a girl who could +engage herself to any man under such circumstances? What would you think +of a girl who would allow herself to be in love in such a position? Had +I been ten times engaged to you, I would have broken it off.' And then +she got up to leave him. + +But he stopped her, holding her by the arm. 'What you have said will +make me say what I certainly should have said without it. I declare that +we are engaged.' + +'No, we are not,' said Grace. + +'You have told me that you loved me.' + +'I never told you so.' + +'There are other ways of speaking than the voice; and I will boast to +you, though to no one else, that you have told me so. I believe you love +me. I shall hold myself engaged to you, and I shall think you false if I +hear that you listen to another man. Now, good-bye, Grace;--my own +Grace.' + +'No, I am not your own,' she said, through her tears. + +'You are my own, my very own. God bless you, dear, dear, dearest Grace. +You shall hear from me in a day or two, and shall see me as soon as this +horrid trial is over.' Then he took her in his arms before she could +escape from him, and kissed her forehead and her lips, while she +struggled in his arms. After that he left the room and the house as +quickly as he could, and was seen no more of the Dales upon that +occasion. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +SHOWING HOW MAJOR GRANTLY RETURNED TO GUESTWICK + +Grace, when she was left alone, threw herself upon the sofa, and hid her +face in her hands. She was weeping almost hysterically, and had been +utterly dismayed and frightened by her lover's impetuosity. Things had +gone after a fashion which her imagination had not painted to her as +possible. Surely she had the power to refuse the man if she pleased. And +yet she felt as she lay there weeping that she did in truth belong to +him as part of his goods, and that her generosity had been foiled. She +had especially resolved that she would not confess any love to him. She +had made no such confession. She had guarded herself against doing so +with all the care which she knew how to use. But he assumed the fact, +and she had been unable to deny it. Could she have lied to him, and +sworn that she did not love him? Could she have so perjured herself, +even in support of her generosity? Yes, she would have done so--so she +told herself--if a moment had been given to her for thought. She ought +to have done so, and she blamed herself for being so little prepared for +the occasion. The lie would be useless now. Indeed, she would have no +opportunity for telling it; for of course she would not answer--would +not even read his letter. Though he might know that she loved him, yet +she would not be his wife. He had forced her secret from her, but he +could not force her to marry him. She did love him, but he should never +be disgraced by her love. + +After a while she was able to think of his conduct, and she believed +that she ought to be very angry with him. He had taken her roughly in +his arms, and had insulted her. He had forced a kiss from her. She had +felt his arms warm and close and strong about her, and had not known +whether she was in paradise or in purgatory. She was very angry with +him. She would send back his letter to him without reading it--without +opening it, if that might be possible. He had done that to her which +nothing could justify. But yet--yet--yet how dearly she loved him! Was +he not the prince of men? He had behaved badly, of course; but had any +man ever behaved so badly before in so divine a way? Was it not a +thousand pities that she should be driven to deny anything to a lover +who so richly deserved everything that could be given to him? He had +kissed her hand as he let her go, and now, not knowing what she did, she +kissed the spot on which she had felt his lips. His arm had been round +her waist, and the old frock which she wore should be kept by her for +ever, because it had been so graced. + +What was she now to say to Lily and Lily's mother? Of one thing there +was no doubt. She would never tell them of her lover's wicked audacity. +That was a secret never to be imparted to any ears. She would keep her +resentment to herself, and not ask the protection of any vicarious +wrath. He could never so sin again, that was certain; and she would keep +all her knowledge and memory of the sin for her own purposes. But how +could it be that such a man as that, one so good though so sinful, so +glorious though so great a trespasser, should have come to such a girl +as her and have asked for her love? Then she thought of her father's +poverty and the misery of her own condition, and declared to herself +that it was very wonderful. + +Lily was the first to enter the room, and she, before she did so, +learned from the servant that Major Grantly had left the house. 'I heard +the door, miss, and then I saw the top of his hat out of the pantry +window.' Armed with this certain information, Lily entered the +drawing-room, and found Grace in the act of rising from the sofa. + +'Am I disturbing you,' said Lily. + +'No; not at all. I am glad you have come. Kiss me, and be good to me.' +And she twined her arms about Lily and embraced her. + +'Am I not always good to you, you simpleton? Has he been good?' + +'I don't know what you mean?' + +'And have you been good to him?' + +'As good as I knew how, Lily.' + +'And where is he?' + +'He has gone away. I shall never see him any more, Lily.' + +Then she hid her face upon her friend's shoulder and broke forth again +into hysterical tears. + +'But tell me, Grace, what he said;--that is, if you mean to tell me!' + +'I will tell you everything;--that is, everything I can.' And Grace +blushed as she thought of the one secret which she certainly would not +tell. + +'Has he--has he done what I said he would do? Come, speak out boldly. +Has he asked you to be his wife?' + +'Yes,' said Grace, barely whispering the word. + +'And you have accepted him?' + +'No, Lily, I have not. Indeed, I have not. I did not know how to +speak, because I was surprised;--and he, of course, could say what he +liked. But I told him as well as I could, that I would not marry him.' + +'And why;--did you tell him why?' + +'Yes; because of papa!' + +'Then, if he is the man I take him to be, that answer will go for +nothing. Of course he knew all that before he came here. He did not +think you were an heiress with forty thousand pounds. If he is in +earnest, that will go for nothing. And I think he is in earnest.' + +'And so was I in earnest.' + +'Well, Grace;--we shall see.' + +'I suppose I may have a will of my own, Lily.' + +'Do not be sure of that. Women are not allowed to have wills of their +own on all occasions. Some man comes in a girl's way, and she gets to be +fond of him, just because he does come in her way. Well; when that has +taken place, she has no alternative but to be taken if he chooses to +take her; or to be left, if he chooses to leave her.' + +'Lily, don't say that.' + +'But I do say it. A man may assure himself that he will find for +himself a wife who shall be learned, or beautiful, or six feet high, if +he wishes it, or who has red hair, or red eyes, or red cheeks--just what +he pleases; and he may go about till he finds it, as you can go about +and match your worsteds. You are a fool if you buy a colour you don't +want. But we can never match our worsteds for that other piece of work, +but are obliged to take any colour that comes--and, therefore, it is +that we make such a jumble of it! Here's mamma. We must not be +philosophical before her. Mamma, Major Grantly has--skedaddled.' + +'Oh, Lily, what a word!' + +'But, oh, mamma, what a thing! Fancy his going away and not saying a +word to anybody!' + +'If he had anything to say to Grace, I suppose he said it.' + +'He asked her to marry him, of course. We none of us had any doubt +about that. He swore to her that she and none but she should be his +wife--and all that kind of thing. But he seems to have done it in the +most prosaic way;--and now he has gone away without saying a word to any +of us. I shall never speak to him again--unless Grace asks me.' + +'Grace, my dear, may I congratulate you?' said Mrs Dale. + +Grace did not answer, as Lily was too quick for her. 'Oh, she has +refused him, of course. But, Major Grantly is a man of too much sense to +expect that he should succeed the first time. Let me see; this is the +fourteenth. These clocks run fourteen days, and therefore, you may +expect him again about the twenty-eighth. For myself, I think you are +giving him an immense deal of unnecessary trouble, and that if he left +you in the lurch it would only serve you right; but you have the world +with you, I'm told. A girl is supposed to tell a man two fibs before she +may tell him one truth.' + +'I told him no fib, Lily. I told him that I would not marry him and I +will not.' + +'But why not, dear Grace?' said Mrs Dale. + +'Because the people say that papa is a thief!' Having said this, Grace +walked slowly out of the room, and neither Mrs Dale nor Lily attempted +to follow her. + +'She's as good as gold,' said Lily, when the door was closed. + +'And he;--what of him?' + +'I think he is good too; but she has told me nothing yet of what he has +said to her. He must be good, or he would not have come down here after +her. But I don't wonder at his coming, because she is so beautiful! Once +or twice as we were walking back today, I thought her face was the most +lovely that I had ever seen. And did you see her just now, as she spoke +of her father?' + +'Oh, yes;--I saw her.' + +'Think what she will be in two or three years' time, when she becomes +a woman. She talks French, and Italian, and Hebrew for anything that I +know; and she is perfectly beautiful. I never saw a more lovely +figure;--and she has spirit enough for a goddess. I don't think that +Major Grantly is such a fool after all.' + +'I never took him for a fool.' + +'I have no doubt all his own people do;--or they will, when they hear of +it. But, mamma, she will grow to be big enough to walk atop all the Lady +Hartletops in England. It will all come right at last.' + +'You think it will?' + +'Oh, yes. Why should it not? If he is worth having, it will;--and I +think he is worth having. He must wait till this horrid trial is over. +It is clear to me that Grace thinks her father will be convicted.' + +'But he cannot have taken the money.' + +'I think he took it, and I think it wasn't his. But I don't think he +stole it. I don't know whether you can understand the difference.' + +'I am afraid a jury won't understand it.' + +'A jury of men will not. I wish they could put you and me on it, mamma. +I would take my best boots and eat them down to the heels, for Grace's +sake, and for Major Grantly's. What a good-looking man he is!' + +'Yes, he is.' + +'And so like a gentleman! I'll tell you what, mamma; we won't say +anything to her about him for the present. Her heart will be so full she +will be driven to talk, and we can comfort her better in that way.' The +mother and daughter agreed to act upon these tactics and nothing more +was said to Grace about her lover on that evening. + +Major Grantly walked from Mrs Dale's house to the inn and ordered his +gig, and drove himself out of Allington, almost without remembering +where he was or whither he was going. He was thinking solely of what had +just occurred, and of what, on his part, should follow as the result of +that meeting. Half at least of the noble deeds done in this world are +due to emulation, rather than to the native nobility of the actors. A +young man leads a forlorn hope because another young man has offered to +do so. Jones in the hunting-field rides at an impracticable fence +because he is told Smith took it three years ago. And Walker puts his +name down for ten guineas at a charitable dinner when he hears +Thompson's read out for five. And in this case the generosity and +self-denial shown by Grace warmed and cherished similar virtues within +her lover's breast. Some few weeks ago Major Grantly had been in doubt +as to what his duty required of him in reference to Grace Crawley; but +he had no doubt whatsoever now. In the fervour of his admiration he +would have gone straight to the archdeacon, had it been possible, and +have told him what he had done and what he intended to do. Nothing now +should stop him;--no consideration, that is, either as regarded money or +position. He had pledged himself solemnly, and he was very glad that he +had pledged himself. He would write to Grace and explain to her that he +trusted altogether in her father's honour and innocence, but that no +consideration as to that ought to influence either him or her in any +way. If, independently of her father, she could bring herself to come to +him and be his wife, she was bound to do so now, let the position of her +father be what it might. And thus, as he drove his gig back towards +Guestwick, he composed a very pretty letter to the lady of his love. + +And as he went, at the corner of the lane which led from the main road +up to Guestwick cottage, he again came upon John Eames, who was also +returning to Guestwick. There had been a few words spoken between Lady +Julia and Johnny respecting Major Grantly after the girls had left the +cottage, and Johnny had been persuaded that the strange visitor to +Allington could have no connexion with his arch-enemy. 'And why has he +gone to Allington,' John demanded, somewhat sternly, of his hostess. + +'Well; if you ask me, I think he has gone there to see your cousin, +Grace Crawley.' + +'He told me that he knew Grace,' said John, looking as though he were +conscious of his own ingenuity in putting two and two together very +cleverly. + +'Your cousin Grace is a very pretty girl,' said Lady Julia. + +'It's a long time since I've seen her,' said Johnny. + +'Why, you saw her just this last minute,' said Lady Julia. + +'I didn't look at her,' said Johnny. Therefore, when he again met Major +Grantly, having continued to put two and two together with great +ingenuity, he felt quite sure that the man had nothing to do with the +arch-enemy, and he determined to be gracious. 'Did you find them at home +at Allington,' he said, raising his hat. + +'How do you do again?' said the major. 'Yes, I found your friend Mrs +Dale at home.' + +'But not her daughter, or my cousin? They were up there;--where I've +come from. But, perhaps, they had got back before you left.' + +'I saw them both. They found me on the road with Mr Dale.' + +'What--the squire? Then you have seen everybody.' + +'Everybody I wished to see at Allington.' + +'But you wouldn't stay at the "Red Lion"?' + +'Well, no. I remembered that I wanted to get back to London; and as I +had seen my friends, I thought I might as well hurry away.' + +'You knew Mrs Dale before, then?' + +'No, I didn't. I never saw her in my life before. But I knew the old +squire when I was a boy. However, I should have said friend. I went to +see one friend, and I saw her.' + +John Eames perceived that his companion put a strong emphasis on the +word 'her', as though he were determined to declare boldly that he had +gone to Allington solely to see Grace Crawley. He had not the slightest +objection to recognising in Major Grantly a suitor for his cousin's +hand. He could only reflect what an unusually fortunate girl Grace must +be if such a thing could be true. Of those poor Crawleys he had only +heard from time to time that their misfortunes were as numerous as the +sands on the sea-shore, and as unsusceptible of any fixed and permanent +arrangement. But, as regarded Grace, there would be a very permanent +arrangement. Tidings had reached him that Grace was a great scholar, but +he had never heard much of her beauty. It must probably be the case that +Major Grantly was fond of Greek. There was, he reminded himself, no +accounting for tastes; but as nothing could be more respectable than +such an alliance, he thought that it would become him to be civil to the +major. + +'I hope you found her quite well. I had barely time to speak to her +myself.' + +'Yes, she was very well. This is a sad thing about her father.' + +'Very sad,' said Johnny. Perhaps the major had heard about the +accusation for the first time today, and was going to find an escape on +that plea. If such was the case, it would not be so well to be +particularly civil. + +'I believe Mr Crawley is a cousin of yours?' said the major. + +'His wife is my mother's first-cousin. Their mothers were sisters.' + +'She is an excellent woman.' + +'I believe so. I don't know much about them myself--that is, +personally. Of course I have heard of this charge that has been made +against him. It seems to me to be a great shame.' + +'Well, I can't exactly say that it is a shame. I do not know that there +has been anything done with a feeling of persecution or of cruelty. It +is a great mystery, and we must have it cleared up if we can.' + +'I don't suppose he can have been guilty,' said John. + +'Certainly not in the ordinary sense of the word. I heard all the +evidence against him.' + +'Oh, you did?' + +'Yes,' said the major. 'I live near them in Barsetshire, and I am one +of his bailsmen.' + +'Then you are an old friend, I suppose?' + +'Not exactly that; but circumstances made me very much interested about +them. I fancy that the cheque was left in his house by accident, and +that it got into his hands he didn't know how, and that when he used it +he thought it was his.' + +'That's queer,' said Johnny. + +'He is very odd, you know.' + +'But it's a kind of oddity that they don't like at assizes.' + +'The great cruelty is,' said the major, 'that whatever may be the +result, the punishment will fall so heavily upon his wife and daughters. +I think the whole county ought to come forward and take them by the +hand. Well, good-bye. I'll drive on, as I'm a little in a hurry.' + +'Good-bye,' said Johnny. 'I'm very glad to have had the pleasure of +meeting you.' 'He's a good sort of fellow after all,' he said to himself +when the gig had passed on. 'He wouldn't have talked in that way if he +meant to hang back.' + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +MR TOOGOOD + +Mr Crawley had declared to Mr Robarts, that he would summon no legal aid +to his assistance at the coming trial. The reader may, perhaps, remember +the impetuosity with which he rejected the advice on this subject which +was conveyed to him by Mr Robarts with all the authority of Archdeacon +Grantly's name. 'Tell the archdeacon,' he had said, 'that I will have +none of his advice.' And then Mr Robarts had left him, fully convinced +that any further interference on his part could be of no avail. +Nevertheless, the words which had then been spoken were not without +effect. This coming trial was ever present to Mr Crawley's mind, and +though, when driven to discuss the subject, he would speak of it with +high spirit, as he had done both to the bishop and to Mr Robarts, yet in +his long hours of privacy, or when alone with his wife, his spirit was +anything but high. 'It will kill me,' he would say to her. 'I shall get +salvation thus. Death will relieve me, and I shall never be called upon +to stand before those cruel eager eyes.' Then she would try to say words +of comfort, sometimes soothing him, as though he were a child, and at +others bidding him to be a man, and remember that as a man he should +have sufficient endurance to bear the eyes of any crowd that might be +there to look at him. + +'I think I will go up to London,' he said to her one evening, very soon +after the day of Mr Robarts's visit. + +'Go up to London, Josiah!' Mr Crawley had not been up to London once +since they had been settled at Hogglestock, and this sudden resolution +on his part frightened his wife. 'Go up to London, dearest! And why?' + +'I will tell you why. They all say that I should speak to some man of +the law whom I may trust about this coming trial. I trust no one in +these parts. Not, mark you, that I say that they are untrustworthy. God +forbid that I should so speak or even so think of men whom I know not. +But the matter has become common in men's mouths at Barchester and at +Silverbridge, that I cannot endure to go among them and to talk of it. I +will go up to London, and I will see your cousin, Mr John Toogood, of +Gray's Inn.' Now in this scheme there was an amount of everyday prudence +which startled Mrs Crawley almost as much as did the prospect of the +difficulties to be overcome if the journey were to be made. Her husband +in the first place, had never once seen Mr John Toogood; and in days +very long back, when he and she were making their first gallant +struggle--for in those days it had been gallant--down in their Cornish +curacy, he had reprobated certain Toogood civilities--professional +civilities--which had been proffered, perhaps, with too plain an +intimation that on the score of relationship the professional work +should be done without payment. The Mr Toogood of those days, who had +been Mrs Crawley's uncle, and the father of Mrs Eames and grandfather or +our friend Johnny Eames, had been much angered by some correspondence +which had grown up between him and Mr Crawley, and from that day there +had been a cessation of all intercourse between the families. Since +those days that Toogood had been gathered to the ancient Toogoods of +old, and the son reigned on the family throne in Raymond Buildings. The +present Toogood was therefore first cousin to Mrs Crawley. But there had +been no intimacy between them. Mrs Crawley had not seen her cousin since +her marriage--as indeed she had seen none of her relations, having been +estranged from them by the singular bearing of her husband. She knew +that her cousin stood high in his profession, the firm of Toogood and +Crump--Crump and Toogood it should have been properly called in these +days--having always held its head up high above all dirty work; and she +felt that her husband could look for advice from no better source. But +how would such a one as he manage to tell his story to a stranger? Nay, +how would he find his way alone into the lawyer's room, to tell his +story at all--so strange was he to the world? And then the expense! 'If +you do not wish me to apply to your cousin, say so, and there shall be +an end of it,' said Mr Crawley in an angry tone. + +'Of course I would wish it. I believe him to be an excellent man, and a +good lawyer.' + +'Then why should I not go to his chambers? In forma pauperis I must go +to him, and must tell him so. I cannot pay him for the labour of his +counsel, nor for such minutes of his time as I shall use.' + +'Oh, Josiah, you need not speak of that.' + +'But I must speak of it. Can I go to a professional man; who keeps as +it were his shop open for those who may think fit to come, and purchase +of him, and take of his goods, and afterwards, when the goods have been +used, tell him that I have not the price in my hand? I will not do that, +Mary. You think that I am mad, that I know not what I do. Yes--I see it +in your eyes; and you are sometimes partly right. But I am not so mad +but that I know what is honest. I will tell your cousin that I am sore +straitened, and brought down into the very dust by misfortune. And I +will beseech him, for what of ancient feeling of family he may bear to +you, to listen to me for a while. And I will be very short, and, if need +be, will bide his time patiently, and perhaps he may say a word to me +that may be of use.' + +There was certainly very much in this to provoke Mrs Crawley. It was +not only that she knew well that her cousin would give ample and +immediate attention, and lend himself thoroughly to the matter without +any idea of payment--but that she could not quite believe that her +husband's humility was true humility. She strove to believe it, but she +knew that she failed. After all it was only a feeling on her part. There +was no argument within herself about it. An unpleasant taste came across +the palate of her mind, as such a savour will sometimes, from some +unexpected source, come across the palate of the mouth. Well; she could +only gulp at it, and swallow it and excuse it. Among the salad that comes +from your garden a bitter leaf will now and then make its way into your +salad-bowl. Alas, there were so many bitter leaves ever making their way +into her bowl! 'What I mean is, Josiah, that no long explanation will be +needed. I think from what I remember of him, that he would do for us +anything that he could do.' + +'Then I will go to the man, and will humble myself before him. Even +that, hard as it is to me, may be a duty that I owe.' Mr Crawley as he +said this was remembering the fact that he was a clergyman of the Church +of England, and that he had a rank of his own in the country, which, did +he ever do such a thing as go out for dinner in company, would establish +for him a certain right of precedence; whereas this attorney, of whom he +was speaking, was, so to say, nobody in the eyes of the world. + +'There need be no humbling, Josiah, other than that which is due from a +man to man in all circumstances. But never mind; we will not talk about +that. If it seems good to you, go to Mr Toogood. I think that it is +good. May I write to him and say that you will go?' + +'I will write to him myself.' + +Then the wife paused before she asked the next question--paused for some +minute or two, and than asked it with anxious doubt--'And may I go with +you, Josiah?' + +'Why should two go when one can do the work?' he answered sharply. 'Have +we money so much to command?' + +'Indeed, no.' + +'You should go and do it all, for you are wiser in these things than I +am, were it not that I may not dare to show--that I submit myself to my +wife.' + +'Nay, my dear!' + +'But it is ay, my dear. It is so. This is a thing such as men do; not +such as women do, unless they be forlorn and unaided of men. I know that +I am weak where you are strong; that I am crazed where you are +clear-witted.' + +'I meant not that, Josiah. It was of your health that I thought.' + +'Nevertheless it is as I say; but, for all that, it may not be that you +should do my work. There are those watching me who would say, "Lo! He +confesses himself incapable." And then someone would whisper something +of a madhouse. Mary, I fear that worse than a prison.' + +'May God in His mercy forbid such cruelty!' + +'But I must look to it, my dear. Do you think that that woman, who sits +at Barchester in high places, disgracing herself and that puny +ecclesiastical lord who is her husband--do you think that she would not +immure me if she could? She is a she-wolf--only less reasonable than +the dumb brute as she sharpens her teeth in malice coming from anger, +and not in malice coming from hunger as do the outer wolves of the +forest. I tell you, Mary, that if she had a colourable ground for her +action, she would swear tomorrow that I am mad.' + +'You shall go alone to London.' + +'Yes, I will go alone. They shall not say that I cannot yet do my own +work as a man should do. I stood up before him, the puny man who is +called a bishop, and before her who makes herself great by his +littleness, and I scorned them both to their faces. Though the shoes +which I had on were broken, as I myself could not but see when I stood, +yet I was greater than they were with all their purple and fine linen.' + +'But, Josiah, my cousin will not be harsh to you.' + +'Well--and if he be not?' + +'Ill-usage you can bear; and violent ill-usage, such as that which Mrs +Proudie allowed herself to exhibit, you can repay with interest; but +kindness seems to be too heavy a burden for you.' + +'I will struggle. I will endeavour. I will speak but little, and, if +possible, I will listen much. Now, my dear, I will write to this man, +and you shall give me the address that is proper for him.' Then he wrote +the letter, not accepting a word in the way of dictation from his wife, +but 'craving great kindness of a short interview, for which he ventured +to become a solicitor, urged thereto by his wife's assurance that one +with whom he was connected by family ties would do as much as this for +the possible preservation of the honour of the family.' In answer to +this Mr Toogood wrote back as follows:--'Dear Mr Crawley, I will be at +my office all Thursday morning next from ten to two, and will take care +that you shan't be kept waiting for me above ten minutes. You parsons +never like waiting. But hadn't you better come and breakfast with me and +Maria at nine? Then we'd have a talk as we walked to the office. Yours +always, THOMAS TOOGOOD.' And the letter was dated from the attorney's +private house in Tavistock Square. + +'I am sure he means to be kind,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'Doubtless he means to be kind. But kindness is rough;--I will not say +unmannerly, as the word would be harsh. I have never even seen the lady +whom he calls Maria.' + +'She is his wife!' + +'So I would venture to suppose; but she is unknown to me. I will write +again, and thank him, and say that I will be with him at ten to the +moment.' + +There were still many things to be settled before the journey could be +made. Mr Crawley, in his first plan, proposed that he should go up by +night mail train, travelling in the third class, having walked over to +Silverbridge to meet it; that he should then walk about London from 5am +to 10am, and afterwards come down by an afternoon train to which a third +class was also attached. But at last his wife persuaded him that such a +task as that, performed in the middle of winter, would be enough to kill +any man, and that, if attempted, it would certainly kill him; and he +consented at last to sleep the night in town--being specially moved +thereto by discovering that he could, in conformity with this scheme, +get in and out of the train at a station considerably nearer to him than +Silverbridge, and that he could get a return-ticket at a third-class +fare. The whole journey, he found, could be done for a pound, allowing +him seven shillings for his night's expenses in London; and out of the +resources of the family there were produced two sovereigns, so that in +the event of accident he would not utterly be a castaway from want of +funds. + +So he started on his journey after an early dinner, almost hopeful +through the new excitement of a journey to London, and his wife walked +with him nearly as far as the station. 'Do not reject my cousin's +kindness,' were the last words she spoke. + +'For his professional kindness, if he will extend it to me, I will be +most thankful,' he replied. She did not dare to say more; nor had she +dared to write privately to her cousin, asking for any special help, +lest by doing so she should seem to impugn the sufficiency and stability +of her husband's judgment. He got up to town late at night, and having +made inquiry of one of the porters, he hired a bed for himself in the +neighbourhood of the railway station. Here he had a cup of tea and a +morsel of bread-and-butter, and in the morning he breakfasted again on +the same fare. 'No I have no luggage,' he had said to the girl at the +public-house, who had asked him as to his travelling gear. 'If luggage +be needed as a certificate of respectability, I will pass on elsewhere,' +said he. The girl stared, and assured him that she did not doubt his +respectability. 'I am a clergyman of the Church of England,' he had +said, 'but my circumstances prevent me from seeking a more expensive +lodging.' They did their best to make him comfortable, and, I think, +almost disappointed him in not heaping further misfortunes on his head. + +He was in Raymond's Buildings at half-past nine, and for half an hour +walked up and down the umbrageous pavement--it used to be umbrageous, +but perhaps the trees have gone now--before the doors of the various +chambers. He could hear the clock strike from Gray's Inn; and the moment +that it had struck he was turning in, but was encountered in the passage +by Mr Toogood, who was equally punctual with himself. Strange stories +about Mr Crawley had reached Mr Toogood's household, and that Maria, the +mention of whose Christian name had been so offensive to the clergyman, +had begged her husband not to be a moment late. Poor Mr Toogood, who on +ordinary days did perhaps take a few minutes' grace, was thus hurried +away almost with his breakfast in his throat, and, as we have seen, just +saved himself. 'Perhaps, sir, you are Mr Crawley?' he said, in a +good-humoured, cheery voice. He was a good-humoured, cheery-looking man, +about fifty years of age, with grizzled hair and sunburnt face, and +large whiskers. Nobody would have taken him to be a partner in any of +those great houses of which we have read in history--the Quirk, Gammon +and Snaps of the profession, or the Dodson and Foggs, who are immortal. + +'That is my name, sir,' said Mr Crawley, taking off his hat and bowing +low, 'and I am here by appointment to meet Mr Toogood, the solicitor, +whose name I see affixed upon the door-post.' + +'I am Mr Toogood, the solicitor, and I hope to see you quite well, Mr +Crawley.' Then the attorney shook hands with the clergyman and preceded +him upstairs to the front room on the first floor. 'Here we are, Mr +Crawley, and pray take a chair. I wish you could have made it convenient +to come and see us at home. We are rather long, as my wife says--long in +family, she means, and therefore are not very well off for spare beds--' + +'Oh, sir.' + +'I've twelve of 'em living, Mr Crawley--from eighteen years, the +eldest--a girl, down to eighteen months the youngest--a boy, and they go +in and out, boy and girl, boy and girl, like the cogs of a wheel. They +ain't such far away distant cousins from your own young ones--only +first, once, as we call it.' + +'I am aware that there is a family tie, or I should not have ventured to +trouble you.' + +'Blood is thicker than water, isn't it? I often say that. I heard of +one of your girls only yesterday. She is staying somewhere down in the +country, not far from where my sister lives--Mrs Eames, the widow of +poor John Eames, who never did any good in this world. I daresay you've +heard of her?' + +'The name is familiar to me, Mr Toogood.' + +'Of course it is. I've a nephew down there just now, and he saw your +girl the other day;--very highly spoke of her too. Let me see;--how many +do you have?' + +'Three living, Mr Toogood.' + +'I've just four times three;--that's the difference. But I comfort +myself with the text about the quiver you know; and I tell them that +when they've eat up all the butter, they'll have to take their bread +dry.' + +'I trust the young people take your teaching in the proper spirit.' + +'I don't know much about spirit. There's spirit enough. My second +girl, Lucy, told me that if I came here today without tickets for the +pantomime I shouldn't have any dinner allowed me. That's the way they +treat me. But we understand each other at home. We're all pretty good +friends there, thank God. And there isn't a sick chick among the +boiling.' + +'You have many mercies for which you should indeed be thankful,' said Mr +Crawley, gravely. + +'Yes, yes, yes; that's true. I think of that sometimes, though perhaps +not so much as I ought to do. But the best way to be thankful is to use +the goods the gods provide you. "The lovely Thais sits beside you. Take +the goods the gods provide you." I often say that to my wife, till the +children have got calling her Thais. The children have it pretty much +their own way with us, Mr Crawley.' + +By this time Mr Crawley was almost beside himself, and was altogether at +a loss how to bring in the matter on which he wished to speak. He had +expected to find a man who in the hurry of London business might perhaps +just manage to spare him five minutes--who would grapple instantly with +the subject that was to be discussed between them, would speak to him +half-a-dozen hard words of wisdom, and would then dismiss him and turn +on the instant to other matters of important business;--but here was an +easy familiar fellow, who seemed to have nothing on earth to do, and who +at this first meeting had taken advantage of a distant family connexion +to tell him everything about the affairs of his own household. And then +how peculiar were the domestic affairs which he told! What was Mr +Crawley to say to a man who had taught his own children to call their +mother Thais? Of Thais Mr Crawley did know something, and he forgot to +remember that perhaps Mr Toogood knew less. He felt it, however, to be +very difficult to submit the details of his case to a gentleman who +talked in such a strain about his own wife and children. + +But something must be done. Mr Crawley, in his present frame of mind, +could not sit and talk about Thais all day. 'Sir,' he said, 'the picture +of your home is very pleasant, and I presume that plenty abounds there.' + +'Well, you know, pretty toll-loll for that. With twelve of 'em, Mr +Crawley, I needn't tell you they are not all going to have castles and +parks of their own, unless they can get 'em off their own bats. But I +pay upwards of a hundred a year each for my eldest three boys' +schooling, and I've been paying eighty for the girls. Put that together +and see what it comes to. Educate, educate, educate; that's my word.' + +'No better word can be spoken, sir.' + +'I don't think there's a girl in Tavistock Square that can beat +Polly--she's the eldest, called after her mother, you know--that can +beat her at the piano. And Lucy has read Lord Byron and Tom Moore all +through, every word of 'em. By Jove, I believe she knows most of Tom +Moore by heart. And the young uns a coming on just as well.' + +'Perhaps, sir, as your time is, no doubt, precious--' + +'We'll tackle to? Very well; so be it. Now, Mr Crawley, let me hear +what it is I can do for you.' Of a sudden, as Mr Toogood spoke these +last words, the whole tone of his voice seemed to change, and even the +position of his body became so much altered as to indicate a different +kind of man. 'You just tell your story in your own way, and I won't +interrupt you till you've done. That's always the best.' + +'I must first crave your attention to an unfortunate preliminary,' said +Mr Crawley. + +'And what is that?' + +'I come before you in forma pauperis.' Here Mr Crawley paused and stood +up before the attorney with his hands crossed one upon the other, +bending low, as though calling attention to the poorness of his raiment. +'I know that I have no justification for my conduct. I have nothing of +reason to offer why I should trespass upon your time. I am a poor man, +and cannot pay you for your services.' + +'Oh, bother!' said Mr Toogood, jumping from his chair. + +'I do not know whether your charity will grant me that which I ask--' + +'Don't let us have any more of this,' said the attorney. 'We none of us +like that kind of thing at all. If I can be of any service to you, +you're as welcome as flowers in May; and as for billing my first-cousin, +which your wife is, I should as soon think of sending an account to my +own.' + +'But, Mr Toogood--' + +'Do you go on now with your story; I'll put the rest all right.' + +'I was bound to be explicit, Mr Toogood.' + +'Very well; now you have been explicit with a vengeance, and you may +heave ahead. Let's hear the story, and if I can help you I will. When +I've said that, you may be sure I mean it. I've heard something of it +before; but let me hear it all from you.' + +Then Mr Crawley began and told his story. Mr Toogood was actually true +to his promise and let the narrator go on with his narrative without +interruption. When Mr Crawley came to his own statement that the cheque +had been paid to him by Mr Soames, and went on to say that that +statement had been false--'I told him that, but I told him so wrongly,' +and then paused, thinking that the lawyer would ask some question, Mr +Toogood simply said, 'Go on; go on. I'll come back to all that when +you've done.' And he merely nodded his head when Mr Crawley spoke of his +second statement, that the money had come from the dean. 'We had been +bound together by close ties of early familiarity,' said Mr Crawley, +'and in former years our estates in life were the same. But he has +prospered and I have failed. And when creditors were importunate, I +consented to accept relief in money which had previously been often +offered. And I must acknowledge, Mr Toogood, while saying this, that I +have known--have known with heartfelt agony--that at former times my +wife has taken that from my friend Mr Arabin, with hand half-hidden from +me, which I have refused. Whether it be better to eat--the bread of +charity--or not to eat bread at all, I, for myself, have no doubt,' he +said; 'but when the want strikes one's wife and children, and the +charity strikes only oneself, then there is a doubt.' When he spoke +thus, Mr Toogood got up, and thrusting his hands in his waistcoat +pockets walked about the room, exclaiming, 'By George, by George, by +George!' But he still let the man go on with his story, and heard him +out at last to the end. + +'And they committed you for trial at the next Barchester assizes?' said +the lawyer. + +'They did.' + +'And you employed no lawyer before the magistrates?' + +'None;--I refused to employ anyone.' + +'You were wrong there, Mr Crawley. I must be allowed to say that you +were wrong there.' + +'I may possibly have been so from your point of view, Mr Toogood; but +permit me to explain. I--' + +'It's no good explaining now. Of course you must employ a lawyer for +your defence--an attorney who will put the case into the hands of +counsel.' + +'But that I cannot do, Mr Toogood.' + +'You must do it. If you don't do it, your friends should do it for you. +If you don't do it, everybody will say you're mad. There isn't a single +solicitor you could find within a half a mile of you at this moment who +wouldn't give you the same advice--not a single man, either, who had +got a head on his shoulders worth a trump.' + +When Mr Crawley was told that madness would be laid at his charge if he +did not do as he was bid, his face became very black, and assumed +something of that look of determined obstinacy which it had worn when he +was standing in the presence of the bishop and Mrs Proudie. 'It may be +so,' he said. 'It may be as you say, Mr Toogood. But these neighbours of +yours, as to whose collected wisdom you speak with so much certainty, +would hardly recommend me to indulge in a luxury for which I have no +means of paying.' + +'Who thinks about paying under such circumstances as these?' + +'I do, Mr Toogood.' + +'The wretched costermonger that comes to grief has a barrister in a wig +and gown to give him his chance of escape.' + +'But I am not a costermonger, Mr Toogood--though more wretched perhaps +than any costermonger now in existence. It is my lot to have to endure +the sufferings of poverty, and at the same time not be exempt from those +feelings of honour to which poverty is seldom subject. I cannot afford +to call in legal assistance for which I cannot pay--and I will not do +it.' + +'I'll carry the case through for you. It certainly is not just my line +of business--but I'll see it carried through for you.' + +'Out of your own pocket?' + +'Never mind; when I say I'll do a thing, I'll do it.' + +'No, Mr Toogood; this thing you can not do. But do not suppose I am the +less grateful.' + +'What is it that I can do then? Why do you come to me if you won't take +my advice?' + +After this the conversation went on for a considerable time without +touching on any point which need be brought palpably before the reader's +eye. The attorney continued to beg the clergyman to have his case +managed in the usual way, and went so far as to tell him that he would +be ill-treating his wife and family if he continued to be obstinate. But +the clergyman was not shaken from his resolve, and was at last able to +ask Mr Toogood what he had better do--how he had better attempt to +defend himself--on the understanding that no legal aid was to be +employed. When this question was at last asked in such a way as to +demand an answer, Mr Toogood sat for a moment or two in silence. He felt +that an answer was not only demanded, but almost enforced; and yet there +might be much difficulty in giving it. + +'Mr Toogood,' said Mr Crawley, seeing the attorney's hesitation, 'I +declare to you before God, that my only object will be to enable the +jury to know about this sad matter all that I know myself. If I could +open my breast to them I should be satisfied. But then a prisoner can +say nothing; and what he does so is ever accounted false.' + +'That is why you should have legal assistance.' + +'We had already come to a conclusion on that matter, as I thought,' said +Mr Crawley. + +Mr Toogood paused for a another moment or two, and then dashed at his +answer; or rather, dashed at a counter question. 'Mr Crawley, where did +you get the cheque? You must pardon me, you know; or, if you wish it, I +will not press the question. But so much hangs on that, you know.' + +'Everything would hang on it--if I only knew.' + +'You mean that you forget?' + +'Absolutely; totally. I wish, Mr Toogood, I could explain to you the +toilsome perseverance with which I have cudgelled my poor brains, +endeavouring to extract from them some scintilla of memory that would +aid me.' + +'Could you have picked it up at the house?' + +'No;--no; that I did not do. Dull as I am, I know so much. It was mine +of right, from whatever source it came to me. I know myself as no one +else can know me, in spite of the wise man's motto. Had I picked up a +cheque in my house, or on the road, I should not have slept till I had +taken steps to restore it to the seeming owner. So much I can say. But, +otherwise, I am in such matter so shandy-pated, that I can trust myself +to be sure of nothing. I thought;--I certainly thought--' + +'You thought what?' + +'I thought that it had been given to me by my friend the dean. I +remember well that I was in his library at Barchester, and I was +somewhat provoked in spirit. There were lying on the floor hundreds of +volumes, all glittering with gold, and reeking with new leather from +binders. He asked me to look at his toys. Why should I look at them? +There was a time, but the other day it seemed, when he had been glad to +borrow from me such treasures as I had. And it seemed to me that he was +heartless in showing me these things. Well; I need not trouble you with +all that.' + +'Go on;--go on. Let me hear it all, and I shall learn something.' + +'I know now how vain, how vile I was. I always know afterwards how low +the spirit has grovelled. I had gone to him then because I had resolved +to humble myself, and, for my wife's sake, to ask my friend--for money. +With words which were very awkward--which no doubt were ungracious--I +had asked him, and he had bid me follow him from his hall into his +library. There he left me awhile, and on returning told me with a smile +that he had sent for money--and, if I can remember, the sum he named was +fifty pounds.' + +'But it has turned out, as you say, that you have paid fifty pounds with +his money--besides the cheque.' + +'That is true;--that is quite true. There is no doubt of that. But as I +was saying--then he fell to talking about the books, and I was angered. +I was very sore in my heart. From the moment in which the words of +beggary had passed from my lips, I had repented. And he had laughed and +had taken it gaily. I turned upon him and told him that I had changed my +mind. I was grateful, but I would not have his money. And so I prepared +to go. But he argued with me, and would not let me go--telling me of my +wife and of my children, and while he argued there came a knock on the +door, and something was handed in, and I knew that it was the hand of +his wife.' + +'It was the money, I suppose?' + +'Yes, Mr Toogood; it was the money. And I became the more uneasy, +because she herself is rich. I liked it the less because it seemed to +come from her hand. But I took it. What could I do when he reminded me +that I could not keep my parish unless certain sums were paid? He gave +me a little parcel in a cover, and I took it--and left him sorrowing. I +had never before come quite to that;--though, indeed, it had in fact +been often so before. What was the difference whether the alms were +given into my hands or into my wife's?' + +'You are too touchy about it all, Mr Crawley.' + +'Of course I am. Do you try it, and see whether you will be touchy. You +have worked hard at your profession, I daresay.' + +'Well, yes; pretty well. To tell the truth, I have worked hard. By +George, yes! It's not so bad now as it used to be.' + +'But you have always earned your bread; bread for yourself, and bread +for your wife and little ones. You can buy tickets for the play.' + +'I couldn't always buy tickets, mind you.' + +'I have worked as hard, and yet I cannot get bread. I am older than +you, and I cannot earn my bare bread. Look at my clothes. If you had to +go and beg from Mr Crump, would you not be touchy?' + +'As it happens, Crump isn't so well off as I am.' + +'Never mind. But I took it, and went home, and for two days I did not +look at it. And then there came an illness upon me, and I know not what +passed. But two men who had been hard on me came to the house when I was +out, and my wife was in a terrible state; and I gave her the money, and +she went into Silverbridge and paid them.' + +'And this cheque was with what you gave her?' + +'No; I gave her money in notes--just fifty pounds. When I gave it her, +I thought I gave it all; and yet afterwards I thought I remembered that +in my illness I had found the cheque with the dean's money. But it was +not so.' + +'You are sure of that?' + +'He has said that he put fives notes of ten pounds each into the cover, +and such notes I certainly gave to my wife.' + +'Where then did you get the cheque?' Mr Crawley again paused before he +answered. 'Surely, if you will exert your mind, you will remember,' said +the lawyer. 'Where did you get the cheque?' + +'I do not know.' + +Mr Toogood threw himself back in his chair, took his knee up into his +lap to nurse it, and began to think of it. He sat thinking of it for +some minutes without a word--perhaps for five minutes, though the time +seemed to be much longer to Mr Crawley, who was, however, determined +that he would not interrupt him. And Mr Toogood's thoughts were at +variance with Mr Toogood's former words. Perhaps, after all, this scheme +of Mr Crawley's--or rather the mode of defence on which he had resolved +without any scheme--might be the best of which the case admitted. It +might be well that he should go into court without a lawyer. 'He has +convinced me of his innocence,' Mr Toogood said to himself, 'and why +should he not convince a jury? He has convinced me, not because I am +specially soft, or because I love the man--for as to that I dislike him +rather than otherwise;--but because there is either real truth in his +words, or else so well-feigned a show a truth that no jury can tell the +difference. I think it is true. By George, I think he did get the twenty +pounds honestly, and that he does not this moment know where he got it. +He may have put his finger into my eye; but, if so, why not also into +the eyes of a jury?' Then he released his leg, and spoke something of +his thoughts aloud. 'It's a sad story,' he said; 'a very sad story.' + +'Well, yes, it's sad enough. If you could see my house, you'd say so.' + +'I haven't a doubt but what you're as innocent as I am.' Mr Toogood, as +he said this, felt a little tinge of conscience. He did believe Mr +Crawley to be innocent, but he was not so sure of it as his words would +seem to imply. Nevertheless he repeated the words again--'as innocent as +I am.' + +'I don't know,' said Mr Crawley. 'I don't know. I think I am; but I +don't know.' + +'I believe you are. But you see the case is a very distressing one. A +jury has a right to say that the man in possession of a cheque for +twenty pounds should account for his possession of it. If I understand +the story aright, Mr Soames will be able to prove that he brought the +cheque into your house, and, as far as he knows, never took it out +again.' + +'I suppose so; all the same, if he brought it in, then did he take it +out again.' + +'I am saying what he will prove--or, in other words, what he will state +upon oath. You can't contradict him. You can't get into the box to do +it--even if that would be of any avail; and I am glad that you cannot, +as it would be of no avail. And you can put no one else into the box who +can do so.' + +'No; no.' + +'That is to say, we think you cannot do so. People can do so many +things that they don't think they can do; and can't do so many things +that they think that they can do! When will the dean be home?' + +'I don't know.' + +'Before the trial?' + +'I don't know. I have no idea.' + +'It's almost a toss-up whether he'd do more harm or good if he were +there.' + +'I wish he might be there if he has anything to say, whether it might be +for harm or good.' + +'And Mrs Arabin;--she is with him?' + +'They tell me she is not. She is in Europe. He is in Palestine.' + +'In Palestine, is he?' + +'So they tell me. A dean can go where he likes. He has no cure of +souls to stand in the way of his pleasures.' + +'He hasn't--hasn't he? I wish I were a dean; that is, if I were not a +lawyer. Might I write a line to the dean--and to Mrs Dean if it seemed +fit? You wouldn't mind that? As you have come to see your cousin at +last--and very glad I am that you have--you must leave him a little +discretion. I won't say anything I oughtn't to say.' Mr Crawley opposed +this scheme for some time, but at last consented to the proposition. +'And I'll tell you what, Mr Crawley; I am very fond of cathedrals, I am +indeed; and I have long wanted to see Barchester. There's a very fine +what-you-may-call-em; isn't there? Well; I'll just run down at the +assizes. We have nothing to do in London when the judges are in the +country--of course.' Mr Toogood looked into Mr Crawley's eyes as he said +this, to see if his iniquity were detected, but the perpetual curate was +altogether innocent in these matters. 'Yes; I'll just run down for a +mouthful of fresh air. Of course I shan't open my mouth in court. But I +might say one word to the dean, if he's there;--and one word to Mr +Soames. Who is conducting the prosecution?' Mr Crawley said that Mr +Walker was doing so. 'Walker, Walker, Walker? oh--yes; Walker and +Winthrop, isn't it? A decent sort of man, I suppose?' + +'I have heard nothing to his discredit, Mr Toogood.' + +'And that's saying a great deal for a lawyer. Well, Mr Crawley, if +nothing else comes out between this and that--nothing, that is, that +shall clear your memory about that unfortunate bit of paper, you must +simply tell your story to the jury as you've told it to me. I don't +think any twelve men in England would convict you;--I don't indeed.' + +'You think they would not?' + +'Of course I've only heard one side, Mr Crawley.' + +'No--no--no, that is true.' + +'But judging as well as I can judge from one side, I don't think a jury +can convict you. At any rate, I'll see you at Barchester, and I'll write +a line or two before the trial just to find out anything that can be +found out. And you're sure you won't come and take a bit of mutton with +us in the Square? The girls would be delighted to see you, and so would +Maria.' Mr Crawley said that he was quite sure he could not do that, and +then having tendered reiterated thanks to his new friend in words which +were touching in spite of their old-fashioned gravity, he took his +leave, and walked back again to the public-house at Paddington. + +He returned home to Hogglestock on the same afternoon, reaching that +place at nine in the evening. During the whole of the day after leaving +Raymond's Buildings he was thinking of the lawyer, and of the words +which the lawyer had spoken. Although he had been disposed to quarrel +with Mr Toogood on many points, although he had been more than once +disgusted by the attorney's bad taste, shocked by his low morality, and +almost insulted by his easy familiarity, still, when the interview was +over, he liked the attorney. When first Mr Toogood had begun to talk, he +regretted very much that he had subjected himself to the necessity of +discussing his private affairs with such a windbag of a man; but when he +left the chamber he trusted Mr Toogood altogether, and was very glad +that he had sought his aid. He was tired and exhausted when he reached +home, as he had eaten nothing but a biscuit or two since his breakfast; +but his wife got him food and tea, and then asked him as to his success. +'Was my cousin kind to you?' + +'Very kind--more than kind--perhaps somewhat too pressing in his +kindness. But I find no fault. God forbid that I should. He is, I think, +a good man, and certainly has been good to me.' + +'And what is to be done?' + +'He will write to the dean.' + +'I am glad of that.' + +'And he will be at Barchester.' + +'Thank God for that.' + +'But not as my lawyer.' + +'Nevertheless, I thank God that someone will be there who will know how +to give you assistance and advice.' + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE PLUMSTEAD FOXES + +The letters had been brought into the breakfast-parlour at Plumstead +Rectory one morning, and the archdeacon had inspected them all, and then +thrown over to his wife her share of the spoil--as was the custom of +the house. As to most of Mrs Grantly's letters, he never made any +further inquiry. To letters from her sister, the dean's wife, he was +profoundly indifferent, and rarely made any inquiry as to those which +were directed in writing with which he was not familiar. But there were +others as to which, as Mrs Grantly knew, he would be sure to ask her +questions if she did not show them. No note ever reached her from Lady +Harteltop as to which he was not curious, and yet Lady Hartletop's notes +very seldom contained much that was of interest. Now, on this morning, +there came a letter which, as a matter of course, Mrs Grantly read at +breakfast, and which, she knew, would not be allowed to disappear +without inquiry. Nor, indeed, did she wish to keep the letter from her +husband. It was too important to be so treated. But she would have been +glad to gain time to think in what spirit she would discuss the contents +of the letter--if only such time might be allowed to her. But the +archdeacon would allow her no time. 'What does Henry say, my dear?' he +asked, before the breakfast things had been taken away. + +'What does he say? Well, he says--I'll give you his letter to read +by-and-by.' + +'And why not now?' + +'I thought I'd read it again myself, first.' + +'But if you have read it, I suppose you know what's in it?' + +'Not very clearly, as yet. However, there it is.' She knew very well +that when she had once been asked for it, no peace would be allowed her +till he had seen it. And, alas! there was not much probability of peace +in the house for some time after he had seen it. + +The archdeacon read the three or first lines in silence--and then burst +out. 'He has, has he? Then, by heavens--' + +'Stop, dearest; stop,' said his wife, rising from her chair and coming +over to him; 'do not say words which you will surely repent.' + +'I will say words which shall make him repent. He shall never have from +me a son's portion.' + +'Do not make threats in anger. Do not! You know that it is wrong. If +he has offended you, say nothing about it--even to yourself---as to +threatened punishments, till you can judge of the offence in cool +blood.' + +'I am cool,' said the archdeacon. + +'No, my dear; no; you are angry. And you have not even read his letter +through.' + +'I will read his letter.' + +'You will see that the marriage is not imminent. It may be that even +yet it will never take place. The young lady has refused him.' + +'Psha!' + +'You will see that she has done so. He tells us so himself. And she +has behaved very properly.' + +'Why has she refused him?' + +'There can be no doubt about the reason. She feels that, with this +charge hanging over her father, she is not in a position to become the +wife of any gentleman. You cannot but respect her for that.' + +The archdeacon finished his son's letter, uttering sundry interjections +and ejaculations as he did so. + +'Of course; I knew it. I understood it all,' he said at last. 'I've +nothing to do with the girl. I don't care whether she be good or bad.' + +'Oh, my dear!' + +'I care not at all--with reference to my own concerns. Of course I +would wish that the daughter of a neighbouring clergyman--that the +daughter of any neighbour--that the daughter of anyone +whatsoever--should be good rather than bad. But as regards Henry and me, +and our mutual relation, her goodness can make no difference. Let her be +another Grizel, and still such a marriage must estrange him from me, and +me from him.' + +'But she has refused him.' + +'Yes; and what does he say?--that he has told her that he will not +accept her refusal. Of course we know what it all means. The girl I am +not judging. The girl I will not judge. But my own son, to whom I have +ever done a father's duty with a father's affectionate indulgence--him I +will judge. I have warned him, and he declares himself to be careless of +my warning. I shall take no notice of this letter. I shall neither write +to him about it or speak to him about it. But I charge you to write to +him and tell him that if he does this thing he shall not have a child's +portion from me. It is not that I will shorten that which would have +been his; but he shall have--nothing!' Then, having spoken these words +with a solemnity which for the moment silenced his wife, he got up and +left the room. He left the room and closed the door, but, before he had +gone half the length of the hall towards his own study, he returned and +addressed his wife again. 'You understand my instructions, I hope?' + +'What instructions?' + +'That you write to Henry and tell him what I say.' + +'I will speak again to you about it by-and-by.' + +'I will speak no more about it--not a word more. Let there be not a +word more said, but oblige me by doing as I ask you.' + +Then he was again about to leave the room, but she stopped him. 'Wait a +moment, my dear.' + +'Why should I wait?' + +'That you may listen to me. Surely you will do that, when I ask you. I +will write to Henry, of course, if you bid me; and I will give him your +message, whatever it may be; but not today, my dear.' + +'Why not today?' + +'Because the sun shall go down on your wrath before I become its +messenger. If you choose to write that yourself, I cannot help it. I +cannot hinder you. If I am to write to him on your behalf I will take my +instructions from you tomorrow morning. When tomorrow morning comes you +will not be angry with me because of the delay.' + +The archdeacon was by no means satisfied; but he knew his wife too well, +and himself too well, and the world too well, to insist on the immediate +gratification of his passion. Over his bosom's mistress he did exercise +a certain marital control--which was, for instance, quite sufficiently +fixed to enable him to look down with thorough contempt on such a one a +Bishop Proudie; but he was not a despot who could exact a passive +obedience to every fantasy. His wife would not have written the letter +for him on that day, and he knew very well that she would not do so. He +knew also that she was right;--and yet he regretted his want of power. +His anger at the present moment was very hot--so hot that he wished to +wreak it. He knew that it would cool before the morrow;--and, no doubt, +knew also theoretically, that it would be most fitting that it should be +cool. But not the less was it a matter of regret to him that so much +good hot anger should be wasted, and that he could not have his will of +his disobedient son while it lasted. He might, no doubt, have written +himself, but to have done so would not have suited him. Even in his +anger he could not have written to his son without using the ordinary +terms of affection, and in his anger he could not bring himself to use +those terms. 'You will find that I shall be of the same mind +tomorrow--exactly,' he said to his wife. 'I have resolved about it long +since; and it is not likely that I shall change in a day.' Then he went +out, about his parish, intending to continue to think of his son's +iniquity, so that he might keep his anger hot--red hot. Then he +remembered that the evening would come, and that he would say his +prayers; and he shook his head in regret--in a regret of which he was +only half conscious, though it was very keen, and which he did not +attempt to analyse--as he reflected that his rage would hardly be able +to survive that ordeal. How common with us it is to repine that the +devil is not stronger over us than he is. + +The archdeacon, who was a very wealthy man, had purchased a property at +Plumstead, contiguous to the glebe-land, and had thus come to exercise +in the parish the double duty of rector and squire. And of this estate +in Barsetshire, which extended beyond the confines of Plumstead into the +neighbouring parish of Stogpingum--Stoke Pinguium would have been the +proper name had not the barbarous Saxon tongues clipped it of its proper +proportions--he had always intended that his son Charles should enjoy +the inheritance. There was other property, both in land and in money, +for his elder son, and other again for the maintenance of his wife, for +the archdeacon's father had been for many years Bishop of Barchester, +and such a bishopric as that of Barchester had been in those days worth +money. Of his intention in this respect he had never spoken in plain +language to either of his sons; but the major had for the last year or +two enjoyed the shooting of the Barsetshire covers, giving what orders +he pleased about the game; and the father had encouraged him to take +something like the management of the property into his hands. There +might have been some fifteen hundred acres of it altogether, and the +archdeacon had rejoiced over it with his wife scores of times, saying +that there was many a squire in the county whose elder son would never +find himself so well placed as would his own younger son. Now there was +a string of narrow woods called Plumstead Coppices which ran from a +point near the church right across the parish, dividing the archdeacon's +land from the Ullathorne estate, and these coppices, or belts of +woodland, belonged to the archdeacon. On the morning of which we are +speaking, the archdeacon mounted on his cob, still thinking of his son's +iniquity and of his own fixed resolve to punish him as he had said that +he would punish him, opened with his whip a woodland gate, from which a +green muddy lane led through the trees up to the house of the +gamekeeper. The man's wife was ill, and in his ordinary way of business +the archdeacon was about to call and ask after her health. At the door +of the cottage he found the man, who was woodman as well as gamekeeper, +and was responsible for fences and faggots, as well as for the foxes and +pheasants' eggs. + +'How's Martha, Flurry?' said the archdeacon. + +'Thanking your reverence, she be a deal improved since the mistress was +here--last Tuesday it was, I think.' + +'I'm glad of that. It was only rheumatism, I suppose?' + +'Just a tich of fever with it, your reverence, the doctor said,' + +'Tell her I was asking after it. I won't mind getting down today, as I +am rather busy. She has had what she wanted from the house?' + +'The mistress has been very good in that way. She always is, God bless +her!' + +'Good-day to you, Flurry. I'll ask Mr Sims to come and read to her a +bit this afternoon, or tomorrow morning.' The archdeacon kept two +curates, and Mr Sims was one of them.' + +'She'll take it very kindly, your reverence. But while you are here, +sir, there's just a word I'd like to say. I didn't happen to catch Mr +Henry when he was here the other day.' + +'Never mind Mr Henry--what is it you have to say?' + +'I do think, I do indeed, sire, that Mr Thorne's man ain't dealing +fairly along of the foxes. I wouldn't say a word about it, only that Mr +Henry is so particular.' + +'What about the foxes? What is he doing with the foxes?' + +'Well, sire, he's a trapping on 'em. He is, indeed, your reverence. I +wouldn't speak if I warn't well nigh mortal sure.' + +Now the archdeacon had never been a hunting man, though in his early +days many a clergyman had been in the habit of hunting without losing +his clerical character by doing so; but he had lived all his life among +gentlemen in a hunting county, and had his own very strong ideas about +the trapping of foxes. Foxes first, and pheasants afterwards, had always +been the rule with him as to any land of which he himself had the +management. And no man understood better than he did how to deal with +keepers as to this matter of fox-preserving, or knew better that keepers +will in truth obey not the words of their employers, but their +sympathies. 'Wish them to have foxes, and pay them, and they will have +them.' Mr Sowerby of Chaldicotes used to say, and he in his day was +reckoned to be the best preserver of foxes in Barsetshire. 'Tell them to +have them, and don't wish it, and pay them well, and you won't have a +fox to interfere with your game. I don't care what a man says to me, I +can read it all like a book when I see his covers drawn.' That was what +poor Mr Sowerby of Chaldicotes used to say, and the archdeacon had heard +him say it a score of time, and had learned the lesson. But now his +heart was not with the foxes--and especially not with the foxes on +behalf of his son Henry. 'I can't have any meddling with Mr Thorne,' he +said; 'I can't; and I won't.' + +'But I don't suppose it can be Mr Thorne's order, your reverence; and Mr +Henry is so particular.' + +'Of course it isn't Mr Thorne's order. Mr Thorne has been a hunting man +all his life.' + +'But he have guv' up now, your reverence. He ain't hunted these two +years.' + +'I'm sure he wouldn't have the foxes trapped.' + +'Not if he knowed it, he wouldn't, your reverence. A gentleman of the +likes of him, who's been a hunting over fifty year, wouldn't do the +likes of that; but the foxes is trapped, and Mr Henry'll be a putting it +on me if I don't speak out. They is Plumstead foxes, too; and a vixen +was trapped just across the field yonder, in Goshall Springs, no later +than yesterday morning.' Flurry was now thoroughly in earnest; and, +indeed, the trapping of a vixen in February is a serious thing. + +'Goshall Springs don't belong to me,' said the archdeacon. + +'No, your reverence; they're on the Ullathorne property. But a word +from your reverence would do it. Mr Henry thinks more of the foxes than +anything. The last word he told me was that it would break his heart if +he saw the coppices drawn blank.' + +'Then he must break his heart.' The words were pronounced, but the +archdeacon had so much command over himself as to speak them in such a +voice that the man should not hear them. But it was incumbent on him to +say something that the man should hear. 'I will have no meddling in the +matter, Flurry. Whether there are foxes or whether there are not, is a +matter of no great moment. I will not have a word said to annoy Mr +Thorne.' Then he rode away, back through the wood and out on to the +road, and the horse walked with him leisurely on, whither the archdeacon +hardly knew--for he was thinking, thinking, thinking. 'Well;--if that +ain't the darn'dest thing that ever was,' said Flurry; 'but I'll tell +the squire about Thorne's man--darned if I don't.' now, 'the squire' was +young Squire Gresham, the master of the East Barsetshire hounds. + +But the archdeacon went on thinking, thinking, thinking. He could have +heard nothing of his son to stir him more in his favour than this strong +evidence of his partiality for foxes. I do not mean it to be understood +that the archdeacon regarded foxes as better than active charity, of a +contented mind, or a meek spirit, or than self-denying temperance. No +doubt all these virtues did hold in his mind their proper places, +altogether beyond contamination of foxes. But he had prided himself on +thinking that his son should be a country gentleman, and probably +nothing doubting as to the major's active charity and other virtues, was +delighted to receive evidence of those tastes which he had ever wished +to encourage in his son's character. Or rather, such evidence would have +delighted him at any other time than the present. Now it only added more +gall to his cup. 'Why should he teach himself to care for such things, +when he has not the spirit to enjoy them,' said the archdeacon to +himself. 'He is a fool--a fool. A man that has been married once, to go +crazy after a little girl, that has hardly a dress to her back, and who +never was in a drawing-room in her life! Charles is the eldest, and he +shall be the eldest. It will be better to keep it together. It is the way +in which the country has become what it is.' He was out nearly all day, +and did not see his wife till dinner-time. Her father, Mr Harding, was +still with them, but had breakfasted in his own room. Not a word, +therefore, was said about Henry Grantly between the father and mother on +that evening. + +Mrs Grantly was determined that, unless provoked, she would say nothing +to him till the following morning. He should sleep upon his wrath before +she spoke to him again. And he was equally unwilling to recur to the +subject. Had she permitted, the next morning would have passed away, and +no word would have been spoken. But this would not have suited her. She +had his orders to write, and she had undertaken to obey these +orders--with the delay of one day. Were she not to write at all--or in +writing to send no message from the father, there would be cause for +further anger. And yet this, I think, was what the archdeacon wished. + +'Archdeacon,' she said, 'I shall write to Henry today.' + +'Very well.' + +'And what am I to say from you?' + +'I told you yesterday what are my intentions.' + +'I am not asking about that now. We hope there will be years and years +to come, in which you may change them, and shape them as you will. What +shall I tell him now from you?' + +'I have nothing to say to him--nothing; not a word. He knows what he +has to expect from me, for I have told him. He is acting with his eyes +open, and so am I. If he married Miss Crawley, he must live on his own +means. I told him that so plainly, that he can want no further +intimation.' Then Mrs Grantly knew that she was absolved from the burden +of yesterday's message, and she plumed herself on the prudence of her +conduct. On the same morning the archdeacon wrote the following note:-- + +'DEAR THORNE,-- +'My man tells me that foxes have been trapped on +Darvell's farm, just outside the coppices. I know +nothing of it myself, but I am sure you'll look to it. + +'Yours always, +'T. GRANTLY.' + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +MRS PROUDIE SENDS FOR HER LAWYER + +There was great dismay in Barchester Palace after the visit paid to the +bishop and Mrs Proudie by that terrible clerical offender, Mr Crawley. +It will be remembered, perhaps, how he had defied the bishop with spoken +words, and how he had defied the bishop's wife by speaking words to her. +For the moment, no doubt, Mr Crawley had the best of it. Mrs Proudie +acknowledged to herself that this was the case; but as she was a woman +who had never yet succumbed to an enemy, who had never--if on such an +occasion I may be allowed to use a schoolboy's slang--taken a licking +from anyone, it was not likely that Mr Crawley would be allowed to enjoy +his triumph in peace. It would be odd if all the weight of the palace +would not be able to silence a wretch of a perpetual curate who had +already been committed to take his trial for thieving;--and Mrs Proudie +was determined that all the weight of the palace should be used. As for +the bishop, though he was not as angry as his wife, he was quite +unhappy, and therefore quite as hostile to Mr Crawley; and was fully +conscious that there could be no peace for him now until Mr Crawley +should be crushed. If only the assizes would come at once, and get him +condemned out of the way, what a blessed thing it would be! But +unluckily it still wanted three months to the assizes, and during those +three months Mr Crawley would be at large and subject only to the +episcopal authority. During that time he could not be silenced by the +arm of the civil law. His wife was not long in expressing her opinion +after Mr Crawley had left the palace. 'You must proceed against him in +the Court of Arches--and that at once,' said Mrs Proudie. 'You can do +that, of course? I know that it will be expensive. Of course it will be +expensive. I suppose it may cost us some three hundred pounds; but duty +is duty, my lord, and in such a case as this your duty as a bishop is +paramount.' + +The poor bishop knew that it was useless to explain to her the various +mistakes which she made--which she was ever making--as to the extent of +his powers and the modes of procedure which were open to him. When he +would do so she would only rail at him for being lukewarm in his office, +poor in spirit, and afraid of dealing roundly with those below him. On +the present occasion he did say a word, but she would not even hear him +to the end. 'Don't tell me about rural deans, as if I didn't know. The +rural dean has nothing to do with such a case. The man has been +committed for trial. Send for Mr Chadwick at once, and let steps be +taken before you are an hour older.' + +'But, my dear, Mr Chadwick can do nothing.' + +'Then I will see Mr Chadwick.' And in her anger she did sit down and +write a note to Mr Chadwick, begging him to come over to her at the +palace. + +Mr Chadwick was a lawyer, living in Barchester, who earned his bread +from ecclesiastical business. His father, and his uncle, and his +grandfather and granduncles, had all been concerned in the affairs of +the diocese of Barchester. His uncle had been bailiff to the episcopal +estates, or steward as he had been called, in Bishop Grantly's time, and +still contrived to draw his income in some shape from the property of +the see. The nephew had also been the legal assistant of the bishop in +his latter days, and had been continued in that position by Bishop +Proudie, not from love, but from expediency. Mr John Chadwick was one of +those gentlemen, two or three of whom are to be seen in connexion with +every see--who seem to be hybrids--half-lay, half-cleric. They dress +like clergymen, and affect that mixture of clerical solemnity and +clerical waggishness which is generally to be found among minor canons +and vicars choral of a cathedral. They live, or at least have their +offices, half in the Close and half out of it--dwelling as it were just +on the borders of holy orders. They always wear white neck-handkerchiefs +and black gloves; and would be altogether clerical in their appearance, +were it not that as regards the outward man they impinge somewhat on the +characteristics of the undertaker. They savour of the church but the +savour is of the church's exterior. Any stranger thrown into chance +contact with one of them would, from instinct, begin to talk about +things ecclesiastical without any reference to things theological or +things religious. They are always most worthy men, much respected in the +society of the Close, and I never heard of one of them whose wife was +not comfortable or whose children were left without provision. + +Such a one was Mr John Chadwick, and as it was a portion of his duties +to accompany the bishop to consecrations and ordinations, he knew Dr +Proudie very well. Having been brought up, as it were, under the very +wing of Bishop Grantly, it could not well be that he should love Bishop +Grantly's successor. The old bishop and the new bishop had been so +different that no man could like, or even esteem, them both. But Mr +Chadwick was a prudent man, who knew well the source from which he +earned his bread, and he had never quarrelled with Bishop Proudie. He +knew Mrs Proudie also--of necessity--and when I say of him that he had +hitherto avoided any open quarrel with her, it will I think be allowed +that he was a man of prudence and sagacity. + +But he had sometimes been sorely tried, and he felt when he got her note +that he was now about to encounter a very sore trial. He muttered +something which might have been taken for an oath, were it not that the +outwards signs of the man gave warranty that no oath could proceed from +such a one. Then he wrote a short note presenting his compliments to Mrs +Proudie, and saying that he would call at the palace at eleven o'clock +on the following morning. + +But, in the meantime, Mrs Proudie, who could not be silent on the +subject for a moment, did learn something of the truth from her husband. +The information did not come to her in the way of instruction, but was +teased out of the unfortunate man. 'I know that you can proceed against +him in the Court of Arches, under the "Church Discipline Act",' she +said. + +'No, my dear; no,' said the bishop, shaking his head in his misery. + +'Or in the Consistorial Court. It's all the same thing.' + +'There must be an inquiry first--by his brother clergy. There must +indeed. It's the only way of proceeding.' + +'But there has been an inquiry, and he has been committed.' + +'That doesn't signify, my dear. That's the Civil Law.' + +'And if the Civil Law condemns him, and locks him up in prison--as it +most certainly will do?' + +'But it hasn't done so yet, my dear. I really think that as it has gone +so far, it will be best to leave it as it is till he has taken his +trial.' + +'What! Leave him there after what has occurred this morning in this +palace?' The palace with Mrs Proudie was always a palace, and never a +house. 'No; no; ten thousand times no. Are you not aware that he +insulted you, and grossly, most grossly insulted me? Since I first came +to this palace;--never, never. And we know the man to be a thief;--we +absolutely know it. Think, my lord, of the souls of his people!' + +'Oh, dear; oh, dear; oh, dear,' said the bishop. + +'Why do you fret yourself in that way?' + +'Because you will get me into trouble. I tell you the only thing to be +done is to issue a commission with the rural dean at the head of it.' + +'Then issue a commission.' + +'And they will take three months.' + +'Why should they take three months? Why should they take more than +three days--or three hours? It is all plain sailing.' + +'More shame for them who make it so.' + +'But it is so. If I were to take legal proceedings against him, it +would cost--oh dear--more than a thousand pounds, I should say.' + +'If it costs two, you must do it,' Mrs Proudie's anger was still very +hot, or she would not have spoken of an unremunerative outlay of money +in such language as that. + +In this manner she did not come to understand, before the arrival of Mr +Chadwick, that her husband could take no legal steps towards silencing +Mr Crawley until a commission of clergymen had been appointed to inquire +into the matter, and that the commission should be headed by the rural +dean within the limits of whose rural deanery the parish of Hogglestock +was situated, or by some beneficed parochial clergyman of repute in the +neighbourhood. Now the rural dean was Dr Tempest of Silverbridge--who +had held that position before the coming of Dr Proudie to the diocese; +and there had grown up in the bosom of Mrs Proudie a strong feeling that +undue mercy had been shown to Mr Crawley by the magistrates of +Silverbridge, of whom Dr Tempest had been one. 'These magistrates had +taken bail for his appearance at the assizes, instead of committing him +to prison at once--as they were bound to do, when such an offence as +that had been committed by a clergyman. But, no;--even though there was +a clergymen among them, they had thought nothing of the souls of the +poor people!' In such language, Mrs Proudie had spoken of the affair at +Silverbridge, and having once committed herself to such an opinion, of +course she thought that Dr Tempest would go through fire and water and +would omit no stretch of what little judicial power might be committed +to his hands--with the view of opposing his bishop, and maintaining the +culprit in is position. 'In such a case as this, can not you name an +acting rural dean yourself? Dr Tempest, you know, is very old.' 'No, my +dear; no; I cannot.' 'You can ask Mr Chadwick, at any rate, and then you +could name Mr Thumble.' 'But Mr Thumble doesn't even hold a living in +the diocese. Oh, dear; oh, dear; oh, dear!' And so the matter rested +till Mr Chadwick came. + +Mrs Proudie had no doubt intended to have Mr Chadwick all to herself--at +any rate so as to encounter him in the first instance. But having been +at length convinced that the inquiry by the rural dean was really +necessary as a preliminary, and having also slept upon the question of +expenditure, she gave direction that the lawyer should be shown into the +bishop's study, and she took care to be absent at the moment of his +arrival. Of course she did not intend that Mr Chadwick should leave the +palace without having heard what she had to say, but she thought that it +would be well that he should be made to conceive that though the summons +had been written by her, it had really been intended on the part of the +bishop. 'Mr Chadwick will be with you at eleven, bishop,' she said, as +she got up from the breakfast-table, at which she left his lordship with +two of his daughters and with a married son-in-law, a clergyman who was +staying in the house. 'Very well, my dear,' said the bishop, with a +smile--for he was anxious not to betray any vexation at his wife's +interference before his daughters or the Rev Mr Tickler. But he +understood it all. Mr Chadwick had been sent for with reference to Mr +Crawley, and he was driven--absolutely driven, to propose to his lawyer +that this commission of inquiry should be issued. + +Punctually at eleven Mr Chadwick came, wearing a very long face as he +entered the palace door--for he felt that he would in all probability be +now compelled to quarrel with Mrs Proudie. Much he could bear, but there +was a limit to his endurance. She had never absolutely sent for him +before, though she had often interfered with him. 'I shall have to tell +her a bit of my mind,' he said, as he stepped across the Close, habited +in his best suit of black, with most exact white cravat, and yet looking +not quite like a clergyman--with some touch of the undertaker in his +gait. When he found that he was shown into the bishop's room, and that +the bishop was there--the bishop only--his mind was relieved. It would +have been better that the bishop should have written himself, or that +the chaplain should have written in his lordship's name; that, however, +was a trifle. + +But the bishop did not know what to say to him. If he intended to +direct an inquiry to be made by the rural dean, it would be by no means +becoming that he should consult Mr Chadwick as to doing so. It might be +well, or if not well at any rate not improper, that he should make +application to Dr Tempest through Mr Chadwick; but in that case he must +give the order at once, and he still wished to avoid it if it were +possible. Since he had been in the diocese no case so grave as this had +been pushed upon him. The intervention of the rural dean in an ordinary +way he had used--had been made to use--more than once, by his wife. A +vicar had been absent a little too long from one parish, and there had +been rumours about brandy-and-water in another. Once he had been very +nearly in deep water because Mrs Proudie had taken it in dudgeon that a +certain young rector, who had been left a widower, had a pretty +governess for his children; and there had been that case, sadly +notorious in the diocese at the time, of our excellent friend Mr Robarts +of Framley, when the bailiffs were in the house because he couldn't pay +his debts--or rather, the debts of his friend for whom he had signed +bills. But in all these cases some good fortune had intervened, and he +had been saved from the terrible necessity of any ulterior process. But +now--now he was being driven beyond himself, and all to no purpose. If +Mrs Proudie would only wait three months the civil law would do it all +for him. But here was Mr Chadwick in the room, and he knew that it would +be useless for him to attempt to talk to Mr Chadwich about other +matters, and so dismiss him. The wife of his bosom would be down upon +them before Chadwick could be out of the room. + +'H-m-ha. How d'ye do, Mr Chadwick--won't you sit down?' Mr Chadwick +thanked his lordship, and sat down. 'It's very cold, isn't it, Mr +Chadwick?' + +'A hard frost, my lord, but a beautiful day.' + +'Won't you come near the fire?' The bishop knew that Mrs Proudie was on +the road, and had an eye to the proper strategical position of his +forces. Mrs Proudie would certainly take up her position in a certain +chair from whence the light enabled her to rake her husband thoroughly. +What advantage she might have from this he could not prevent;--but he +could so place Mr Chadwick, that the lawyer should be more than within +reach of his eye than that of his wife. So the bishop pointed to an +arm-chair opposite to himself and near the fire, and Mr Chadwick seated +himself accordingly. + +'This is a very sad affair about Mr Crawley,' said the bishop. + +'Very said indeed,' said the lawyer. 'I never pitied a man so much in +my life, my lord.' + +This was not exactly the line which the bishop was desirous of taking. +'Of course he is to be pitied;--of course he is. But from all I hear, Mr +Chadwick, I am afraid--I am afraid we must not acquit him.' + +'As to that, my lord, he has to stand his trial, of course.' + +'But, you see, Mr Chadwick, regarding him as a beneficed clergyman--with +a cure of souls--the question is whether I should be justified in +leaving him where he is till his trial shall come on.' + +'Of course your lordship knows best about that, but--' + +'I know there is a difficulty. I know that. But I am inclined to think +that in the interests of the parish I am bound to issue a commission of +inquiry.' + +'I believer your lordship has attempted to silence him, and that he has +refused to comply.' + +'I thought it better for everybody's sake--especially for his own, that +he should for a while be relieved from his duties; but he is an +obstinate man, a very obstinate man. I made the attempt with all +consideration for his feelings.' + +'He is hard put to it, my lord. I know the man and his pride. The dean +has spoken of him to me more than once, and nobody knows him so well as +the dean. If I might venture to offer an opinion--' + +'Good morning, Mr Chadwick,' said Mrs Proudie, coming into the room and +taking her accustomed seat. 'No thank you, no; I will stay away from the +fire, if you please. His lordship has spoken to you no doubt about this +unfortunate wretched man.' + +'We are speaking of him now, my dear.' + +'Something must of course be done to put a stop to the crying disgrace +of having such a man preaching from a pulpit in this diocese. When I +think of the souls of the people in that poor village, my hair literally +stands on end. And then he is disobedient!' + +'That is the worst of it,' said the bishop. 'It would have been so much +better for himself if he would have allowed me to provide quietly for +the services till the trial be over.' + +'I could have told you that, my lord, that he would not do that, from +what I knew of him,' said Mr Chadwick. + +'But he must do it,' said Mrs Proudie. 'He must be made to do it.' + +'His lordship will find it difficult,' said Mr Chadwick. + +'I can issue a commission, you know, to the rural dean,' said the bishop +mildly. + +'Yes, you can do that. And Dr Tempest in two months' time will have +named his assessors--' + +'Dr Tempest must not name them; the bishop must name them,' said Mrs +Proudie. + +'It is customary to leave that to the rural dean,' said Mr Chadwick. +'The bishop no doubt can object to anyone named.' + +'And can specially select any clergyman he pleases from the +archdeaconry,' said the bishop. 'I have known it done.' + +'The rural dean in such a case has probably been an old man, and not +active,' said the lawyer. + +'And Dr Tempest is a very old man,' said Mrs Proudie, 'and in such a +matter not at all trustworthy. He was one of the magistrates who took +bail.' + +'His lordship could hardly set him aside,' said the lawyer. 'At any +rate I would not recommend him to try. I think you might suggest a +commission of five, and propose two of the number yourself. I do not +think that in such a case Dr Tempest would raise any question.' + +At last it was settled in this way. Mr Chadwick was to prepare a letter +to Dr Tempest, for the bishop's signature, in which the doctor should be +requested, as the rural dean to whom Mr Crawley was subject, to hold a +commission of five to inquire into Mr Crawley's conduct. The letter was +to explain to Dr Tempest that the bishop, moved by his solicitude for +the souls of the people of Hogglestock, had endeavoured, 'in a friendly +way,' to induce Mr Crawley to desist from his ministrations; but that +having failed through Mr Crawley's obstinacy, he had no alternative but +to proceed in this way. 'You had better say that his lordship, as bishop +of the diocese, can take no heed of the coming trial,' said Mrs Proudie. +'I think his lordship had better say nothing at all about the trial,' +said Mr Chadwick. 'I think it will be best,' said the bishop. + +'But if they report against him,' said Mr Chadwick, 'you can only then +proceed in the ecclesiastical court--at your own expense.' + +'He'll hardly be so obstinate as that,' said the bishop. + +'I'm afraid you don't know him, my lord,' said the lawyer. The bishop, +thinking of the scene which had taken place in that very room only +yesterday, felt that he did know Mr Crawley, and felt also that the hope +which he had just expressed was one in which he himself put no trust. +But something might turn up; and it was devoutly to be hoped that Dr +Tempest would take a long time over his inquiry. The assizes might come +on as soon as it was terminated, or very shortly afterwards; and then +everything might be well. 'You won't find Dr Tempest very ready at it,' +said Mr Chadwick. The bishop in his heart was comforted by the words. +'But he must be made to be ready to do his duty,' said Mrs Proudie, +imperiously. Mr Chadwick shrugged his shoulders, then got up, spoke his +farewell little speeches, and left the palace. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +LILY DALE WRITES TWO WORDS IN HER BOOK + +John Eames saw nothing more of Lily Dale till he packed up his +portmanteau, left his mother's house, and went to stay for a few days +with his old friend Lady Julia; and this did not happen till he had been +above a week at Guestwick. Mrs Dale repeatedly said that it was odd that +Johnny Eames did not come to see them; and Grace, speaking of him to +Lily, asked why he did not come. Lily, in her funny way, declared that +he would come soon enough. But even while she was joking there was +something of half-expressed consciousness in her words--as though she +felt it to be foolish to speak of his coming as she might of that of any +other young man, before people who knew her whole story. 'He'll come +quick enough. He knows, and I know, that his coming will do no good. Of +course I shall be glad to see him. Why shouldn't I be glad to see him? +I've known him and liked him all my life. I liked him when there did not +seem to be much about him to like, and now that he is clever, and +agreeable, and good-looking--which he never was as a lad--why shouldn't +I go on liking him? He's more like a brother to me than anybody else +I've got. James,'--James was her brother-in-law, Dr Crofts--'thinks of +nothing but his patients and his babies, and my cousin Bernard is much +too grand a person for me to take the liberty of loving him. I shall be +very glad to see Johnny Eames.' From all which Mrs Dale was led to +believe that Johnny's case was still hopeless. And how should it not be +hopeless? Had not Lily confessed within the last week or two that she +still loved Adolphus Crosbie? + +Mrs Eames also, and Mary, were surprised that John did not go over to +Allington. 'You haven't seen Mrs Dale yet, or the squire?' + +'I shall see them when I am at the cottage.' + +'Yes;--no doubt. But it seems strange that you should be here so long +without going to them.' + +'There's time enough,' said he. 'I shall have nothing else to do when +I'm at the cottage.' Then, when Mary had spoken to him again in private, +expressing a hope that there was 'nothing wrong', he had been very angry +with his sister. 'What do you mean by wrong? What rubbish you girls +talk! And you never have any delicacy of feeling to make you silent.' + +'Oh, John, don't say such hard things as that of me!' + +'But I do say them. You'll make me swear among you some day that I will +never see Lily Dale again. As it is, I wish I never had seen her--simple +because I am so dunned about it.' In all of which I think that Johnny +was manifestly wrong. When the humour was on him he was fond enough of +talking about Lily Dale. Had he not taught her to do so, I doubt whether +his sister would ever have mentioned Lily's name to him. 'I did not mean +to dun you, John,' said Mary, meekly. + +But at last he went to Lady Julia's, and was no sooner there than he was +ready to start for Allington. When Lady Julia spoke to him about Lily, +he did not venture to snub her. Indeed, of all his friends, Lady Julia +was the one whom on this subject he allowed himself the most +unrestricted confidence. He came over one day, just before dinner, and +declared his intention of walking over to Allington immediately after +breakfast on the following morning. 'It's the last time, Lady Julia,' he +said. + +'So you say, Johnny.' + +'And so I mean it! What's the good of a man flittering away his life? +What's the good of wishing for what you can't get?' + +'Jacob was not in such a hurry when he wished for Rachel.' + +'That was all very well for an old patriarch who had seven or eight +hundred years to live.' + +'My dear John, you forget your Bible. Jacob did not live half as long +as that.' + +'He lived long enough, and slowly enough, to be able to wait fourteen +years;--and then he had something to comfort him in the meantime. And +after all, Lady Julia, it's more than seven years since I first thought +Lily was the prettiest girl I ever saw.' + +'How old are you now?' 'Twenty-seven--and she's twenty-four.' + +'You've time enough yet, if you'll only be patient.' + +'I'll be patient for tomorrow, Lady Julia, but never again. Not that I +mean to quarrel with her. I'm not such a fool as to quarrel with a girl +because she can't like me. I know how it all is. If that scoundrel had +not come across my path just when he did--in that very nick of time, all +might have been right betwixt her and me. I couldn't have offered to +marry her before, when I hadn't as much income as would have found her +bread-and-butter. And then, just as better times came to me, he stepped +in! I wonder whether it will be expected of me that I should forgive +him?' + +'As far as that goes, you have no right to be angry with him.' + +'But I am--all the same.' + +'And so was I--but not for stepping in, as you call it.' + +'You and I are different, Lady Julia. I was angry with him for stepping +in; but I couldn't show it. Then he stepped out, and I did manage to +show it. And now I shouldn't wonder if he doesn't step in again. After +all, why should he have such a power? It was simply the nick of time +which gave it to him.' That John Eames should be able to find some +consolation in this consideration is devoutly to be hoped by us all. + +There was nothing said about Lily Dale the next morning at breakfast. +Lady Julia observed that John was dressed a little more neatly than +usual;--though the change was not such as to have called for her special +observation, had she not known the business on which he was intent. + +'You have nothing to send to the Dales?' he said, as he got up from the +table. + +'Nothing but my love, Johnny.' + +'No worsted embroidery work--or a pot of special jam for the squire?' + +'No, sir, nothing; though I should like to make you carry a pair of +panniers, if I could.' + +'They would become me well,' said Johnny, 'for I am going on an ass's +errand.' Then, without waiting for the word of affection which was on +the old woman's lips, he got himself out of the room, and started on his +journey. + +The walk was only three miles and the weather was dry and frosty, and he +had come to the turn leading up to the church and the squire's house +almost before he remembered that he was near Allington. Here he paused +for a moment to think. If he continued his way down by the 'Red Lion' +and through Allington Street, he must knock at Mrs Dale's door, and ask +for admission by means of the servant--as would be done by any ordinary +visitor. But he could make his way on to the lawn by going up beyond the +wall of the churchyard and through the squire's garden. He knew the path +well--very well; and he thought that he might take so much liberty as +that, both with the squire and with Mrs Dale, although his visits to +Allington were not so frequent now as they used to be in the days of his +boyhood. He did not wish to be admitted by the servant, and therefore he +went through the gardens. Luckily he did not see the squire, who would +have detained him, and he escaped from Hopkins, the old gardener, with +little more than a word. 'I'm going down to see the ladies, Hopkins; I +suppose I shall find them?' And then, while Hopkins was arranging his +spade so that he might lean upon it for a little chat, Johnny was gone +and had made his way into the other garden. He had thought it possible +that he might meet Lily out among the walks by herself and such a +meeting as this would have suited him better than any other. And as he +crossed the little bridge which separated the gardens he thought of more +than one such meeting--of one especial occasion on which he had first +ventured to tell her in plain words that he loved her. But before that +day Crosbie had come there, and at the moment in which he was speaking +of his love she regarded Crosbie as an angel of light upon the earth. +What hope could there have been for him then? What use was there in +telling such a tale of love at that time? When he told it, he knew +Crosbie had been before him. He knew that Crosbie was at that moment the +angel of light. But as he had never before been able to speak of his +love, so was he then unable not to speak of it. He had spoken, and of +course had been simply rebuked. Since that day Crosbie had ceased to be +an angel of light, and he, John Eames, had spoken often. But he had +spoken in vain, and now he would speak once again. + +He went through the garden and over the lawn belonging to the Small +House and saw no one. He forgot, I think, that ladies do not come out to +pick roses when the ground is frozen, and that croquet is not often in +progress with the hoar-frost on the grass. So he walked up to the little +terrace before the drawing-room, and looking in saw Mrs Dale, and Lily, +and Grace at their morning work. Lily was drawing, and Mrs Dale was +writing, and Grace had her needle in her hand. As it happened, no one at +first perceived him, and he had time to feel that after all he would +have managed it better if he had been announced in the usual way. As, +however, it was now necessary that he should announce himself, he +knocked at the window, and they all immediately looked up and saw him. +'It's my cousin John,' said Grace. 'Oh, Johnny, how are you at last?' +said Mrs Dale. But it was Lily who, without speaking, opened the window +for him, who was the first to give him her hand, and who led him through +into the room. + +'It's a great shame my coming in this way,' said John, 'and letting all +the cold air in upon you.' + +'We shall survive it,' said Mrs Dale. 'I suppose you have just come +down from my brother-in-law?' + +'No; I have not seen the squire as yet. I will do so before I go back, +of course. But it seemed such a commonplace sort of thing to go round by +the village.' + +'We are very glad to see you, by whatever way you came;--are we not, +mamma?' said Lily. + +'I'm not so sure of that. We were only saying yesterday that as you had +been in the country a fortnight without coming to us, we did not think +we would be at home when you did come.' + +'But I have caught you, you see,' said Johnny. + +And so they went on, chatting of old times and of mutual friends very +comfortably for full an hour. And there was some serious conversation +about Grace's father and his affairs, and John declared his opinion that +Mr Crawley should go to his uncle, Thomas Toogood, not at all knowing +that at that time Mr Crawley himself had come to the same opinion. And +John gave them an elaborate description of Sir Raffle Buffle, standing +up with his back to the fire with his hat on his head, and speaking with +a loud harsh voice, to show them the way in which he declared that that +gentleman received his inferiors; and then bowing and scraping and +rubbing his hands together and simpering with would-be +softness--declared that after that fashion Sir Raffle received his +superiors. And they were very merry--so that no one would have thought +that Johnny was a despondent lover, now bent on throwing the dice for +his last stake; or that Lily was aware that she was in the presence of +one lover, and that she was like to fall on the ground between two +stools--having two lovers, neither of whom could serve her turn. + +'How can you consent to serve him if he's such a man as that?' said +Lily, speaking of Sir Raffle. + +'I do not serve him. I serve the Queen--or rather the public. I don't +take his wages, and he does not play his tricks with me. He knows that +he can't. He has tried it, and failed. And he only keeps me where I am +because I've had some money left me. He thinks it fine to have a private +secretary with a fortune. I know that he tells people all manner of lies +about it, making it out to be five times as much as it is. Dear old +Huffle Snuffle. He is such an ass; and yet he's had wit enough to get to +the top of the tree, and to keep himself there. He began the world +without a penny. Now he has got a handle to his name, and he'll live in +clover all his life. It's very odd, isn't it, Mrs Dale?' + +'I suppose he does his work?' + +'When men get so high as that, there's no knowing whether they work or +whether they don't. There isn't much left for them to do, as far as I +can see. They have to look beautiful, and frighten the young ones.' + +'And does Sir Raffle look beautiful?' Lily asked. + +'After a fashion he does. There is something imposing about such a man +till you're used to it, and can see through it. Of course it's all +padding. There are men who work, no doubt. But among the bigwigs, and +bishops and cabinet ministers, I fancy that the looking beautiful is the +chief part of it. Dear me, you don't mean to say it's luncheon time?' + +But it was luncheon time, and not only had he not as yet said a word of +all that which he had come to say, but had not as yet made any move +towards getting it said. How was he to arrange that Lily should be left +alone with him? Lady Julia had said that she should not expect him back +till dinner-time, and he had answered her lackadaisically, 'I don't +suppose I shall be there above ten minutes. The minutes will say all +I've got to say, and do all I've got to do. And then I suppose I shall +go and cut names about bridges--eh, Lady Julia?' Lady Julia understood +the words; for once, upon a former occasion, she had found him cutting +Lily's name on the rail of a wooden bridge in her brother's grounds. But +he had now been a couple of hours at the Small House, and had not said a +word of that which he had come to say. + +'Are you going to walk out with us after lunch?' said Lily. + +'He will have had walking enough,' said Mrs Dale. + +'We'll convoy him part of the way,' said Lily. + +'I'm not going yet,' said Johnny, 'unless you turn me out.' + +'But we must have our walk before it is dark,' said Lily. + +'You might go up with him to your uncle,' said Mrs Dale. 'Indeed, I +promised to go up there myself, and so did you, Grace, to see the +microscope. I heard Mr Dale give orders that one of those long-legged +reptiles should be caught on purpose for your inspection.' + +Mrs Dale's little scheme for bringing the two together was very +transparent, but it was not the less wise on that account. Schemes will +often be successful, let them be ever so transparent. Little intrigues +become necessary, not to conquer unwilling people, but people who are +willing enough, who, nevertheless, cannot give way except under the +machinations of an intrigue. + +'I don't think I mind looking at the long-legged creature, today,' said +Johnny. + +'I must go of course,' said Grace. + +Lily said nothing at the moment, either about the long-legged creature +or the walk. That which must be, must be. She knew well why John Eames +had come there. She knew that the visits to his mother and to Lady Julia +would never have been made, but that he might have this interview. And +he had a right to demand, at any rate, as much as that. That which must +be, must be. And therefore when both Mrs Dale and Grace stoutly +maintained their purpose of going up to the squire, Lily neither +attempted to persuade John to accompany them nor said that she would do +so herself. + +'I will convoy you home myself,' she said, 'and Grace, when she has done +with the beetle, shall come and meet me. Won't you, Grace?' + +'Certainly.' + +'We are not helpless young ladies in these parts, nor yet timorous,' +continued Lily. 'We can walk about without being afraid of ghosts, +robbers, wild bulls, young men, or gypsies. Come the field path, Grace. +I will go as far as the big oak with him, and then I shall turn back, +and I shall come in by the stile opposite the church gate, and through +the garden. So you can't miss me.' + +'I daresay he'll come back with you,' said Grace. + +'No, he won't. He will do nothing of the kind. He'll have to go on and +open Lady Julia's bottle of port wine for his own drinking.' + +All this was very good on Lily's part, and very good also on the part of +Mrs Dale; and John was of course very much obliged to them. But there +was a lack of romance in it all, which did not seem to him to argue well +as to his success. He did not think much about it, but he felt that Lily +would not have been so ready to arrange their walk had she intended to +yield to his entreaty. No doubt in these latter days plain good sense +had become the prevailing mark of her character--perhaps, as Johnny +thought, a little too strongly prevailing; but even with all her plain +good sense and determination to dispense with the absurdities of romance +in the affairs of her life, she would not have proposed herself as his +companion for a walk across the fields merely that she might have an +opportunity of accepting his hand. He did not say all this to himself, +but he instinctively felt that it was so. And he felt also that it +should have been his duty to arrange the walk, or the proper opportunity +for the scene that was to come. She had done it instead--she and her +mother between them, thereby forcing upon him a painful conviction that +he himself had not been equal to the occasion. 'I always make a mull of +it,' he said to himself, when the girls went up to get their hats. + +They went down together through the garden, and parted where the paths +led away, one to the great house and the other towards the church. 'I'll +certainly come and call upon the squire before I go back to London,' +said Johnny. + +We'll tell him so,' said Mrs Dale. 'He would be sure to hear that you +had been with us, even if we said nothing about it.' + +'Of course he would,' said Lily; 'Hopkins has seen him.' Then they +separated, and Lily and John Eames were together. + +Hardly a word was said, perhaps not a word, till they had crossed the +road and got into the field opposite to the church. And in this first +field there was more than one path, and the children of the village were +often there, and it had about it something of a public nature. John +Eames felt that it was by no means a fitting field to say that which he +had to say. In crossing it, therefore, he merely remarked that the day +was very fine for walking. Then he added one special word, 'And it is so +good of you, Lily, to come with me.' + +'I am very glad to come with you. I would do more than that, John, to +show how glad I am to see you.' Then they had come to the second little +gate, and beyond that the fields were really fields, and there were +stiles instead of wicket-gates, and the business of the day must be +begun. + +'Lily, whenever I come here you say that you are glad to see me?' + +'And so I am--very glad. Only you would take it as meaning what it does +not mean, I would tell you, that of all my friends living away from the +reach of my daily life, you are the one whose coming is ever the most +pleasant to me.' + +'Oh, Lily!' + +'It was, I think, only yesterday that I was telling Grace that you are +more like a brother to me than anyone else. I wish it might be so. I +wish we might swear to be brother and sister. I'd do more for you then +than walk across the fields with you to Guestwick Cottage. Your +prosperity would then be the thing in the world for which I should be +most anxious. And if you should marry--' + +'It can never be like that between us,' said Johnny. + +'Can it not? I think it can. Perhaps not this year, or next year; +perhaps not in the next five years. But I make myself happy with +thinking that it may be so some day. I shall wait for it patiently, very +patiently, even though you should rebuff me again and again--as you have +done now.' + +'I have not rebuffed you.' + +'Not maliciously, or injuriously, or offensively. I will be very +patient and take little rebuffs without complaining. This is the worst +of it all. When Grace and I are together we can never manage it without +tearing ourselves all to pieces. It is much nicer to have you to help +me.' + +'Let me help you always,' he said, keeping her hands in his after he had +aided her to jump from the stile to the ground. + +'Yes, as my brother.' + +'That is nonsense, Lily.' + +'Is it nonsense? Nonsense is a hard word.' + +'It is nonsense as coming from you to me. Lily, I sometimes think that +I am persecuting you, writing to you, coming after you, as I am doing +now--telling the same whining story--asking, asking, and asking for that +which you say you will never give me. And then I feel ashamed of myself, +and swear that I will do it no more.' + +'Do not be ashamed of yourself; but yet do it no more.' + +'And then,' he continued, without minding her words, 'at other times I +feel that it must be my own fault; that if I only persevered with +sufficient energy, I must be successful. At such times I swear I will +never give it up.' + +'Oh, John, if you could only know how little worthy of such pursuit it +is.' + +'Leave me to be the judge of that, dear. When a man has taken a month, +or perhaps only a week, or perhaps not more than half-an-hour, to make +up his mind, it may be very well to tell him that he doesn't know what +he is about. I've been in the office now for over seven years, and the +first day I went I put an oath into a book that I would come back and +get you for my wife when I had got enough to live upon.' + +'Did you, John?' + +'Yes. I can show it to you. I used to come and hover about the place +in the old days, before I went up to London, when I was such a fool that +I couldn't speak to you if I met you. I am speaking of a time long +before--before that man came down here.' + +'Do not speak of him, John.' + +'I must speak of him. A man isn't to hold his tongue when everything he +has in the world is at stake. I suppose he loved you after a fashion, +once.' + +'Pray, pray, do not speak ill of him, John.' + +'I am not going to abuse him. You can judge of him by his deeds. I +cannot say anything worse of him than what they say. I suppose he loved +you; but he certainly did not love you as I have done. I have at any +rate been true to you. Yes, Lily, I have been true to you. I am true to +you. He did not know what he was about. I do. I am justified in saying +that I do. I want you to be my wife. It is no use your talking about it +as though I only half wanted it.' + +'I did not say that.' + +'Is not a man to have any reward? Of course if you had married him +there would have been an end of it. He had come in between me and my +happiness, and I must have borne it, as other men bear such sorrows. But +you have not married him; and, of course, I cannot but feel that I may +yet have a chance. Lily, answer me this. Do you believe that I love +you?' But she did not answer him. 'You can at any rate tell me that. Do +you think that I am in earnest?' + +'Yes, I think you are in earnest.' + +'And do you believe that I love you with all my heart and all my +strength and all my soul?' + +'Oh, John!' + +'But do you?' + +'I think you love me.' + +'Think! What am I to say or to do to make you understand that my only +idea of happiness is the idea that sooner or later I may get you to be +my wife? Lily, will you say that it shall be so? Speak, Lily. There is +no one that will not be glad. Your uncle will consent--has consented. +Your mother wishes it. Bell wishes it. My mother wishes it. Lady Julia +wishes it. You would be doing what everybody around you wants you to do. +And why should you not do it? It isn't that you dislike me. You wouldn't +talk about being my sister, if you had not some sort of regard for me.' + +'I have a regard for you.' + +'Then why will you not be my wife? Oh, Lily, say the word now, here, at +once. Say the word, and you'll make me the happiest fellow in all +England.' As he spoke he took her by both arms, and held her fast. She +did not struggle to get away from him, but stood quite still, looking +into his face, while the first sparkle of a salt tear formed itself in +each eye. 'Lily, one little word will do it--half a word, a nod, a +smile. Just touch my arm with your hand and I will take it for a yes.' I +think that she almost tried to touch him; that the word was in her +throat, and that she almost strove to speak it. But there was no +syllable spoken, and her fingers did not loose themselves to fall upon +his sleeve. 'Lily, Lily, what can I say to you?' + +'I wish I could,' she whispered;--but the whisper was so hoarse that he +hardly recognized the voice. + +'And why can you not? What is there to hinder you? There is nothing to +hinder you, Lily.' + +'Yes, John; there is that which must hinder me.' + +'And what is it?' + +'I will tell you. You are so good and so true, and so excellent--such +a dear, dear friend, that I will tell you everything, so that you may +read my heart. I will tell you as I tell mamma--you and her and no one +else;--for you are the choice friend of my heart. I cannot be your wife +because of the love I bear for another man.' + +'And that man is he--he who came here?' + +'Of course it is he. I think, Johnny, you and I are alike in this, that +when we have loved, we cannot bring ourselves to change. You will not +change, though it would be so much better you should do so.' + +'No; I will never change.' + +'Nor can I. When I sleep I dream of him. When I am alone I cannot +banish him from my thoughts. I cannot define what it is to love him. I +want nothing from him--nothing, nothing. But I move about through my +little world thinking of him, and I shall do so till the end. I used to +feel proud of my love, though it made me so wretched that I thought it +would kill me. I am not proud of it any longer. It is a foolish +poor-spirited weakness--as though my heart has been only half formed in +the making. Do you be stronger, John. A man should be stronger than a +woman.' + +'I have none of that sort of strength.' + +'Nor have I. What can we do but pity each other, and swear that we will +be friends--dear friends. There is the oak-tree and I have got to turn +back. We have said everything that we can say--unless you will tell me +that you will be my brother.' + +'No; I will not tell you that.' + +'Good-bye, then, Johnny.' + +He paused, holding her by the hand and thinking of another question +which he longed to put to her--considering whether he would ask her that +question or not. He hardly knew whether he were entitled to ask +it;--whether or no the asking of it would be ungenerous. She had said +that she would tell him everything--as she had told everything to her +mother. 'Of course,' he said, 'I have no right to expect to know +anything of your future intentions.' + +'You may know them all--as far as I know them myself. I have said that +you should read my heart.' + +'If this man, whose name I cannot bear to mention, should come again--' + +'If he were to come again he would come in vain, John.' She did not say +that he had come again. She could tell her own secret, but not that of +another person. + +'You would not marry him, now that he is free?' + +She stood and thought for a while before she answered him. 'No, I +should not marry him now. I think not.' Then she paused again. 'Nay, I +am sure I would not. After what has passed, I could not trust myself to +do it. There is my hand on it. I will not.' + +'No, Lily, I do not want that.' + +'But I insist. I will not marry Mr Crosbie. But you must not +misunderstand me, John. There;--all that is over for me now. All those +dreams about love, and marriage, and of a house of my own, and +children--and a cross husband, and a wedding-ring growing always tighter +as I grow fat and older. I have dreamed of such things as other girls +do--more perhaps than other girls, more than I should have done. And now +I accept the thing as finished. You wrote something in your book, you +dear John--something that could not be made to come true. Dear John, I +wish for your sake it was otherwise. I will go home and I will write in +my book, this very day, Lily Dale, Old Maid. If ever I make that false, +do you come and ask me for the page.' + +'Let it remain there till I am allowed to tear it for you.' + +'I will write it, and it shall never be torn out. You I cannot marry. +Him I will not marry. You may believe me, Johnny, when I say there can +never be a third.' + +'And is that to be the end of it?' + +'Yes;--that is to be the end of it. Not the end of our friendship. Old +maids have friends.' + +'It shall not be the end of it. There shall be no end of it with me.' + +'But, John--' + +'Do not suppose that I will trouble you again--at any rate not for a +while. In five years perhaps--' + +'Now, Johnny, you are laughing at me. And of course it is the best way. +If there is not Grace, and she has caught me before I have turned back. +Good-bye, dear John. God bless you. I think you the finest fellow in the +world. I do, and do does mamma. Remember always that there is a temple +at Allington in which your worship is never forgotten.' Then she pressed +his hand and turned away from him to meet Grace Crawley. John did not +stop to speak a word to his cousin, but pursued his way alone. + +'That cousin of yours,' said Lily, 'is simply the dearest, +warmest-hearted, finest creature that ever was seen in the shape of a +man.' + +'Have you told him that you think him so?' said Grace. + +'Indeed, I have,' said Lily. + +'But have you told this finest, warmest, dearest creature that he shall +be rewarded with the prize he covets?' + +'No, Grace. I have told him nothing of the kind. I think he +understands it all now. If he does not, it is not for the want of my +telling him. I don't suppose any lady was ever more open-spoken to a +gentleman that I have been to him.' + +'And why have you sent him away disappointed? You know you love him.' + +'You see, my dear,' said Lily, 'you allow yourself, for the sake of your +argument, to use a word in a double sense, and you attempt to confound +me by doing so. But I am a great deal too clever for you, and have +thought too much about it, to be taken in in that way. I certainly love +your cousin John; and so do I love Mr Boyce, the vicar.' + +'You love Johnny much better than you do Mr Boyce.' + +'True; very much better; but it is of the same sort of love. However, it +is a great deal too deep for you to understand. You're too young, and I +shan't try to explain it. But the long and the short of it is--I am not +going to marry your cousin.' + +'I wish you were,' said Grace, 'with all my heart.' + +John Eames as he returned to the cottage was by no means able to fall +back upon those resolutions as to his future life, which he had formed +for himself and communicated to his friend Dalrymple, and which he had +intended to bring at once into force in the event of his being rejected +by Lily Dale. 'I will cleanse my mind of it altogether,' he had said, +'and though I may not forget her, I will live as though she were +forgotten. If she declines my proposal again, I will accept her word as +final. I will not go about the world any longer as a stricken deer--to +be pitied or else bullied by the rest of the herd.' On his way down to +Guestwick he had sworn twenty times that it should be so. He would make +one more effort, and then he would give it up. But now, after his +interview with Lily, he was as little disposed to give it up as ever. + +He sat upon a gate in a paddock through which there was a back entrance +into Lady Julia's garden, and there swore a thousand oaths that he would +never give her up. He was, at any rate, sure that she would never become +the wife of anyone else. He was equally sure that he would never become +the husband of any other wife. He could trust her. Yes; he was sure of +that. But could he trust himself? Communing with himself, he told +himself that after all he was but a poor creature. Circumstances had +been very good to him, but he had done nothing for himself. He was vain, +and foolish, and unsteady. So he told himself while sitting upon the +gate. But he had, at any rate, been constant to Lily, and constant he +would remain. + +He would never more mention her name to anyone--unless it were to Lady +Julia tonight. To Dalrymple he would not open his mouth about her, but +would plainly ask his friend to be silent on that subject if her name +should be mentioned by him. But morning and evening he would pray for +her, and in his prayers he would always think of her as his wife. He +would never speak to another girl without remembering that he was bound +to Lily. He would go nowhere into society without recalling to mind the +fact that he was bound by the chains of a solemn engagement. If he knew +himself he would be constant to Lily. + +And then he considered in what manner it would be best and most becoming +that he should still prosecute his endeavour and repeat his offer. He +thought that he would write to her every year, on the same day of the +year, year after year, it might be for the next twenty years. And his +letters would be very simple. Sitting there on the gate he planned the +wording of his letters;--of his first letter, and of his second, and of +his third. They should be very like to each other--should hardly be more +than a repetition of the same words. 'If now you are ready for me, then +Lily, am I, as ever, still ready for you.' And then, 'if now' again and +again, 'if now;--and still 'if now'. When his hair should be grey, and +the wrinkles on his cheeks--ay, though they should be on hers, he would +still continue to tell her from year to year that he was ready to take +her. Surely some day that 'if now' would prevail. And should it never +prevail, the merit of his constancy should be its own reward. + +Such letters as those she would surely keep. Then he looked forward, +down into the valley of coming years, and fancied her as she might sit +reading them in the twilight of some long evening--letters which had +been written all in vain. He thought that he could look forward with +some satisfaction towards the close of his own career, in having been +the hero of such a love-story. At any rate, if such a story were to be +his story, the melancholy attached to it should arise from no fault of +his own. He would still press her to be his wife. And then as he +remembered that he was only twenty-seven and that she was twenty-four, +he began to marvel at the feeling of grey old age which had come upon +him, and tried to make himself believe that he would have her yet before +the bloom was off her cheeks. + +He went into the cottage and made his way at once into the room in which +Lady Julia was sitting. She did not speak at first, but looked anxiously +about his face. And he did not speak, but turned to a table near the +window and took up a book--though the room was too dark for him to see +to read the words. 'John,' at last said Lady Julia. + +'Well, my lady?' + +'Have you nothing to tell me, John?' + +'Nothing on earth--except the same old story, which has now become a +matter of course.' + +'But, John, will you not tell me what she said?' + +'Lady Julia, she has said no; simply no. It is a very easy word to say, +and she has said it so often that it seems to come from her quite +naturally.' Then he got a candle and sat down over the fire with a +volume of a novel. It was not yet past five, and Lady Julia did not go +upstairs to dress till six, and therefore there was an hour during which +they were together. John had at first been rather grand to his old +friend, and very uncommunicative. But before the dressing-bell had rung +he had been coaxed into a confidential strain and had told everything. +'I suppose it is wrong and selfish,' he said. 'I suppose I am a dog in a +manger. But I do own that there is a consolation to me in the assurance +that she will never be the wife of that scoundrel.' + +'I could never forgive her if she were to marry him now,' said Lady +Julia. + +'I could never forgive him. But she has said that she will not, and I +know that she will not forswear herself. I shall go on with it, Lady +Julia. I have made up my mind to that. I suppose it will never come to +anything, but I shall stick to it. I can live an old bachelor as well as +another man. At any rate I shall stick to it.' Then the good silly old +woman comforted him and applauded him as though he were a hero among +men, and did reward him, as Lily had predicted, by one of those now rare +bottles of super-excellent port which had come to her from her brother's +cellar. + +John Eames stayed out his time at the cottage, and went over more than +once again to Allington, and called on the squire, on one occasion +dining with him and meeting the three ladies from the Small House; and +he walked with the girls, comporting himself like any ordinary man. But +he was not again alone with Lily Dale, nor did he learn whether she had +in truth written those two words in her book. But the reader may be know +that she did write them there on the evening of the day on which the +promise was made. 'Lilian Dale--Old Maid'. + +And when John's holiday was over, he returned to his duties at the elbow +of Sir Raffle Buffle. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +GRACE CRAWLEY RETURNS HOME + +About this time Grace Crawley received two letters, the first of them +reaching her while John Eames was still at the cottage, and the other +immediately after his return to London. They both help to tell our +story, and our reader shall, therefore, read them if he so please--or, +rather, he shall read the first and as much of the second as is +necessary for him. Grace's answer to the first letter he shall see also. +Her answer to the second will be told in a very few words. The first was +from Major Grantly, and the task of answering that was by no means easy +for Grace. + +'COSBY LODGE,--February, 186- + +'DEAREST GRACE, + +'I told you when I parted from you, that I should write to you, +and I think it best to do so at once, in order that you may +fully understand me. Spoken words are soon forgotten,'--'I +shall never forget his words,' Grace had said to herself as she +read this;--'and are not always as plain as they might be. Dear +Grace, I suppose I ought not to say so, but I fancied when I +parted from you at Allington, that I had succeeded in making +myself dear to you. I believe you to be so true in spirit, that +you were unable to conceal from me the fact that you love me. I +shall believe that it is so, till I am deliberately and +solemnly assured by yourself that it is not so;--and I conjure +you to think what is due both to yourself and to myself, before +you allow yourself to think of making such an assurance unless +it be strictly true. + +'I have already told my friends that I have asked you to be my +wife. I tell you this, in order that you may know how little +effect your answer to me has had towards inducing me to give +you up. What you said about your father and your family has no +weight with me, and ought ultimately to have none with you. +This business of your father's great misfortune--so great, that +probably, had we not known each other before it happened, it +might have prevented our becoming intimate when we chanced to +meet. But we had met before it happened, and before it happened +I had determined to ask you to be my wife. What should I have +to think of myself if I allowed my heart to be altered by such +a cause as that? + +'I have only further to say that I love you better than anyone +in the world, and that it is my best hope that you will be my +wife. I will not press you further till this affair of your +father's has been settled; but when that is over, I shall look +for my reward without reference to its result. Not that I doubt +the result if there be anything like justice in England; but +that your debt to me, if you owe me any debt, will be +altogether irrespective of that. If, as I suppose, you will +remain at Allington for some time longer, I shall not see you +till after the trial is over. As soon as that is done, I will +come to you wherever you are. In the meantime I shall look for +an answer to this; and if it be true that you love me, dear, +dear Grace, pray have the courage to tell me so.--Most +affectionately your own, + +'HENRY GRANTLY' + +When the letter was given to Grace across the breakfast-table, both Mrs +Dale and Lily suspected that it came from Major Grantly, but not a word +was spoken about it. When Grace with hesitating hand broke the envelope, +neither of her friends looked at her. Lily had a letter of her own, and +Mrs Dale opened the newspaper. But still it was impossible not to +perceive that her face became red with blushes, and then they knew that +the letter must be from Major Grantly. Grace herself could not read it, +though her eye ran down over the two pages catching a word here and +there. She had looked at the name at once, and had seen the manner of +his signature. 'Most affectionately your own'! What was she to say to +him? Twice, thrice, as she sat at the breakfast-table she turned the +page of the letter, and at each turning she read the signature. And she +read the beginning, 'Dearest Grace'. More than that she did not really +read till she had got the letter away with her into the seclusion of her +own room. + +Not a word was said about the letter at breakfast. Poor Grace went on +eating or pretending to eat, but could not bring herself to utter a +word. Mrs Dale and Lily spoke of various matters, which were quite +indifferent to them; but even with them the conversation was so +difficult that Grace felt it to be forced, and was conscious that they +were thinking about her and her lover. As soon as she could make an +excuse she left the room, and hurrying upstairs took the letter from her +pocket and read it in earnest. + +'That was from Major Grantly, mamma,' said Lily. + +'I daresay it was, my dear.' + +'And what had we better do; or what had we better say?' + +'Nothing--I should say. Let him fight his own battle. If we interfere, +we may probably only make her more stubborn in clinging to her old +idea.' + +'I think she will cling to it.' + +'For a time she will, I daresay. And it will be the best that she +should. He himself will respect her for it afterwards.' Thus it was +agreed between them that they should say nothing to Grace about the +letter unless Grace should first speak to them. + +Grace read her letter over and over again. It was the first love-letter +she had ever had;--the first letter she had ever received from any man +except her father and brother--the first, almost, that had ever been +written to her by any other than her own special friends. The words of +it were very strange to her ear. He had told her when he left her that +he would write to her, and therefore she had looked forward to the event +which had now come; but she had thought that it would be much more +distant--and she had tried to make herself believe that when it did +come it would be very different from this letter which she now +possessed. 'He will tell me that he has altered his mind. He ought to do +so. It is not proper that he should still think of me when we are in +such disgrace.' But now the letter had come, and she acknowledged the +truth of his saying that written words were clearer in their expression +than those simply spoken. 'Not that I could ever forget a syllable that +he said.' Yet, as she held the letter in her hand she felt that it was a +possession. It was a thing at which she could look in coming years, when +he and she might be far apart--a thing at which she could look with +pride in remembering that he had thought her worthy of it. + +Neither on that day nor on the next did she think of her answer, nor on +the third or fourth day with any steady thinking. She knew that an +answer would have to be written, and she felt that the sooner it was +written the easier might be the writing; but she felt also that it +should not be written too quickly. A week should first elapse, she +thought, and therefore a week was allowed to elapse, and then the day +for writing her answer came. She had spoken no word about it either to +Mrs Dale or to Lily. She had longed to do so, but had feared. Even +though she should speak to Lily she could not be led by Lily's advice. +Her letter, whatever it might be, must be her own letter. She would +admit of no dictation. She must say her own say, let her say it ever so +badly. As to the manner of saying it, Lily's aid would have been +invaluable; but she feared that she could not secure that aid without +compromising her own power of action--her own individuality; and +therefore she said no word about the letter either to Lily or to Lily's +mother. + +On a certain morning she fixed herself at her desk to write her letter. +She had known that the task would be difficult, but she had little known +how difficult it would be. On that day of her first attempt she did not +get it written at all. Now was she to begin? He had called her 'Dearest +Grace'; and this mode of beginning seemed as easy as it was sweet. 'It +is very easy for a gentleman,' she said to herself, 'because he may say +just what he pleases.' She wrote the words 'Dearest Henry,' on a scrap +of paper, and immediately tore it into fragments as though she was +ashamed of having written them. She knew that she would not dare to send +away a letter beginning with such words. She would not even have dared +to let such words in her own handwriting remain within the recesses of +her own little desk. 'Dear Major Grantly,' she began at length. It +seemed to her to be very ugly, but after much consideration she believed +it to be correct. On the second day the letter was written as follows:-- + +'ALLINGTON, Thursday +'MY DEAR MAJOR GRANTLY, + +'I do not know how I ought to answer your kind letter, but I +must tell you that I am very much flattered by your great +goodness to me. I cannot understand why you should think so +much of me, but I suppose it is because you have felt for my +misfortunes. I will not say anything about what might have +happened, if it had not been for papa's sorrow and disgrace; +and as far as I can help it, I will not think of it; but I am +sure that I ought not to think about loving anyone, that is, in +the way you mean, while we are in such trouble at home. I +should not dare to meet any of your great friends, knowing that +I had brought nothing with me but disgrace. And I should feel +that I was doing an injury to dear Edith, which would be worse +to me than anything. + +'Pray believe me that I am quite in earnest about this. I know +that a gentleman ought not to marry any girl to do himself and +his family an injury by it; and I know that if I were to make +such a marriage I should be unhappy ever afterwards, even +though I loved the man ever so dearly, with all my heart.' +These last words she had underscored at first, but the doing so +had been the unconscious expression of her own affection, and +had been done with no desire on her part to convey that +expression to him. But on reading the words she discovered +their latent meaning, and wrote it all again. + +'Therefore I know that it will be best that I should wish you +good-bye, and I do so, thanking you again and again for your +goodness to me,--believe me to be, Yours very sincerely, + +'GRACE CRAWLEY' + +The letter when it was written was hateful to her; but she had tried her +hand at it again and again, and had found that she could do nothing +better. There was much in his letter that she had not attempted to +answer. He had implored her to tell him whether or no she did in truth +love him. Of course she loved him. He knew that well enough. Why should +she answer any such question? There was a way of answering it indeed +which might serve her turn--or rather serve his, of which she was +thinking more than of her own. She might say that she did not love him. +It would be a lie, and he would know it would be a lie. But still it +might serve the turn. She did not like the idea of writing such a lie as +that, but nevertheless she considered the matter. It would be very +wicked; but still, if it would serve the turn, might it not be well to +write it? But at last she reflected that, after all, the doing of the +thing was in her own hands. She could refuse to marry this man without +burdening her conscience with any lie about it. It only required that +she should be firm. She abstained, therefore, from the falsehood, and +left her lover's question unanswered. So she put up her letter and +directed it, and carried it herself to the village post-office. + +On the day after this she got a second letter, and that she showed +immediately to Mrs Dale. It was from her mother, and was written to tell +that her father was seriously ill. 'He went up to London to see a lawyer +about this weary work of the trial,' said Mrs Crawley. 'The fatigue was +very great, and on the next day he was so weak that he could not leave +his bed. Dr Turner, who has been very kind, says that we need not +frighten ourselves, but he thinks it must be some time before he can +leave the house. He has a low fever on him, and wants nourishment. His +mind has wandered once or twice, and he has asked for you, and I think +it will be best, love, that you should come home. I know you will not +mind it when I say that I think he would like to have you here. Dr +Turner says that the illness is chiefly owing to his not having proper +food.' + +Of course she would go home. 'Dear Mrs Dale,' she said; 'I must go +home. Can you send me to the station?' Then Mrs Dale read the letter. Of +course they would send her. Would she go on that day, or on the next? +Might it not be better to write first, and say that she was going? But +Grace would go at once. 'I know it will be a comfort to mamma; and I +know that he is worse than mamma says.' Of course there was no more to +be said, and she was despatched to the station. Before she went Mrs Dale +asked after her purse. 'If there is any trouble about money--for your +journey, or anything, you will not scruple to come to me as an old +friend.' But Grace assured her that there was no trouble about +money--for her journey. Then Lily took her aside and produced two clean +new five-pound notes. 'Grace, dear, you won't be ill-natured. You know I +have a little fortune of my own. You know I can give them without +missing them.' Grace threw herself into her friend's arms and wept, but +would have none of her money. 'Buy a present from me to your +mother--whom I love though I do not know her.' 'I will give her your +love,' Grace said, 'but nothing else.' And then she went. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +HOOK COURT + +Mr Dobbs Broughton and Mr Musselboro were sitting together on a certain +morning at their office in the City, discussing the affairs of their +joint business. The City office was a very poor place indeed, in +comparison with the fine house which Mr Dobbs occupied at the West End; +but then City offices are poor places, and there are certain City +occupations which seem to enjoy the greater credit the poorer are the +material circumstances by which they are surrounded. Turning out of a +lane which turns out of Lombard Street, there is a desolate, +forlorn-looking, dark alley, which is called Hook Court. The entrance to +this alley is beneath the first-floor of one of the houses in the lane, +and in passing under this covered way the visitor to the place finds +himself in a small paved square court, at the two further corners of +which there are two open doors; for in Hook Court there are only two +houses. There is No 1 Hook Court, and No 2 Hook Court. The entire +premises indicated by No 1 are occupied by a firm of wine and spirit +merchants, in connexion with whose trade one side and two angles of the +court are always lumbered with crates, hampers, and wooden cases. And +nearly in the middle of the court, though somewhat more to the +wine-merchant's side than to the other, there is always gaping open a +trap-door, leading down to the vaults below; and over the trap there is +a great board with a bright advertisement in very large letters:-- + + BURTON AND BANGLES + + HIMALAYA WINES + + 22s 6d per dozen + +And this notice is so bright and so large, and the trap-door is so +conspicuous in the court, that no visitor, even to No 2, ever afterwards +can quite divest his memory of those names, Burton and Bangles, Himalaya +wines. It may therefore be acknowledged that Burton and Bangles have +achieved their object in putting up the notice. The house No 2, small as +it seems to be, standing in the jamb of a corner, is divided among +different occupiers, whose names are painted in small letters upon the +very dirty posts of the doorway. Nothing can be more remarkable than the +contrast between Burton and Bangles and these other City gentlemen in +the method taken by them in declaring their presence to visitors in the +court. The names of Dobbs Broughton and of A. Musselboro--the Christian +name of Mr Musselboro was Augustus--were on one of those dirty posts, +not joined together by any visible 'and', so as to declare boldly that +they were partners; but in close vicinity--showing at least that the two +gentlemen would be found in apartments very near to each other. And on +the first-floor of this house Dobbs Broughton and his friend did occupy +three rooms--or rather two rooms and a closet--between them. The larger +and front room was tenanted by an old clerk, who sat within a rail in +one corner of it. And there was a broad, short counter, which jutted out +from the wall into the middle of the room, intended for the use of such +of the public as might come to transact miscellaneous business with +Dobbs Broughton or Augustus Musselboro. But anyone accustomed to the +look of offices might have seen with half an eye that very little +business was ever done on that counter. Behind this large room was a +smaller one, belonging to Dobbs Broughton, in the furnishing and +arrangement of which some regard was paid to comfort. The room was +carpeted, and there was a sofa in it, though a very old one, and two +arm-chairs and a mahogany office-table, and a cellaret, which was +generally well supplied with wine which Dobbs Broughton did not get out +of the vaults of his neighbours, Burton and Bangles. Behind this again, +but with a separate entrance from the passage, was the closet; and this +closet was specially devoted to the use of Mr Musselboro. Closet as it +was--or cupboard as it might have almost been called--it contained a +table and two chairs; and it had a window of its own, which opened out +upon a blank wall which was distant from it not above four feet. As the +house to which this wall belonged was four storeys high, it would +sometimes happen that Mr Musselboro's cupboard was rather dark. But this +mattered the less as in these days Mr Musselboro seldom used it. Mr +Musselboro, who was very constant at his place of business--much more +constant than his friend Dobbs Broughton,--was generally to be found in +his friend's room. Only on some special occasions, on which it was +thought expedient that the commercial world should be made to understand +that Mr Augustus Musselboro had an individual existence of his own, did +that gentleman really seat himself in the dark closet. Mr Dobbs +Broughton, had he been asked what was his trade, would have said that he +was a stockbroker; and he would have answered truly, for he was a +stockbroker. A man may be a stockbroker though he never sells any stock; +as he may be a barrister though has not practiced at the bar. I do not +say that Mr Broughton never sold any stocks; but the buying and selling +of stock for other people was certainly not his chief business. And had +Mr Musselboro been asked what was his trade, he would have probably +given an evasive answer. At any rate in the City, and among people who +understood City matters, he would not have said that he was a +stockbroker. Both Mr Broughton and Mr Musselboro bought and sold a good +deal, but it was chiefly on account. The shares which were bought and +sold very generally did not pass from hand to hand; but the difference +in the price of the shares did do so. And then they had another little +business between them. They lent money on interest. And in this business +there was a third partner, whose name did not appear on the dirty +door-post. That third partner was Mrs Van Siever, the mother of Clara +Van Siever whom Mr Conway Dalrymple intended to portray as Jael driving +a nail into Sisera's head. + +On a certain morning Mr Broughton and Mr Musselboro were sitting +together in the office which has been described. They were in Mr +Broughton's room, and occupied each arm-chair on the different sides of +the fire. Mr Musselboro was sitting close to the table, on which a +ledger was open before him, and he had a pen and ink before him, as +though he had been at work. Dobbs Broughton had a small betting-book in +his hand, and was seated with his feet up against the side of the +fire-place. Both men wore their hats, and the aspect of the room was not +the aspect of a place of business. They had been silent for some minutes +when Broughton took his cigar-case out of his pocket, and nibbled off +the end of a cigar, preparatory to lighting it. + +'You had better not smoke here this morning, Dobbs,' said Musselboro. + +'Why shouldn't I smoke in my own room?' + +'Because she'll be here just now.' + +'What do I care? If you think I'm going to be afraid of Mother Van, +you're mistaken. Let come what may, I'm not going to live under her +thumb.' So he lighted his cigar. + +'All right,' said Musselboro, and he took up his pen and went to work at +his book. + +'What is she coming her for this morning,' asked Broughton. + +'To look after her money. What should she come for?' + +'She gets her interest. I don't suppose there's better paid money in +the City.' + +'She hasn't got what was coming to her at Christmas yet.' + +'And this is February. What would she have? She had better put her +dirty money into the three per cents, if she is frightened at having to +wait a week or two.' + +'Can she have it today?' + +'What, the whole of it? Of course she can't. You know that as well as +I do. She can have four hundred pounds, if she wants it. But seeing all +she gets out of the concern, she has no right to press for it in that +way. She is the----old usurer I ever came across in my life.' + +'Of course she likes her money.' + +'Likes her money! By George she does; her own and anybody else's that +she can get hold of. For a downright leech, recommend me always to a +woman. When a woman does go in for it, she is much more thorough than +any man.' Then Broughton turned over the little pages of his book, and +Musselboro pondered over the big pages of his book, and there was +silence for a quarter of an hour. + +'There's something about nine hundred and fifteen pounds due to her,' +said Musselboro. + +'I daresay there is.' + +'It would be a very good thing to let her have it if you've got it. The +whole of it this morning, I mean.' + +'If! Yes, if!' said Broughton. + +'I know there's more than that at the bank.' + +'And I'm to draw out every shilling that there is! I'll see Mother Van +---- further first. She can have 500 pounds if she likes it--and the +rest in a fortnight. Or she can have my note-of-hand for it all at +fourteen days.' + +'She won't like that at all,' said Musselboro. + +'Then she must lump it. I'm not going to bother myself about her. I've +pretty nearly as much money in it as she has, and we're in a boat +together. If she comes here bothering, you'd better tell her so.' + +'You'll see her yourself?' + +'Not unless she comes within the next ten minutes. I must go down to +the court. I said I'd be there by twelve. I've got somebody I want to +see.' + +'I'd stay if I were you.' + +'Why should I stay for her? If she thinks that I'm going to make myself +her clerk, she's mistaken. It may be all very well for you, Mussy, but +it won't do for me. I'm not dependent on her, and I don't want to marry +her daughter.' + +'It will simply end in her demanding to have her money back again.' + +'And how will she get it?' said Dobbs Broughton. 'I haven't a doubt in +life but she'd take it tomorrow if she could put her hands upon it. And +then, after a bit, when she began to find that she didn't like four per +cent, she'd bring it back again. But nobody can do business after such a +fashion as that. For the last three years she's drawn close upon two +thousand a year for less than eighteen thousand pounds. When a woman +wants to do that, she can't have her money in her pocket every Monday +morning.' + +'But you've done better than that yourself, Dobbs.' + +'Of course I have. And who has made the connexions; and who has done +the work? I suppose she doesn't think that I'm to have all the sweat and +that she is to have all the profit?' + +'If you talk of work, Dobbs, it is I that have done the most of it.' +This Mr Musselboro said in a very serious voice, and with a look of much +reproach. + +'And you've been paid for what you've done. Come, Mussy, you'd better +not turn against me. You'll never get your change out of that. Even if +you marry the daughter, that won't give you the mother's money. She'll +stick to every shilling of it till she dies; and she'd take it with her +then, if she knew how.' Having said this, he got up from his chair, put +his little book into his pocket, and walked out of the office. He pushed +his way across the court, which was more than ordinarily crowded with +the implements of Burton and Bangles' trade, and as he passed under the +covered way he encountered at the entrance an old woman getting out of a +cab. The old woman was, of course, Mother Van, as her partner, Mr Dobbs +Broughton irreverently called her. 'Mrs Van Siever, how d'ye do? Let me +give you a hand. Fare from South Kensington? I always give the fellow +three shillings.' + +'You don't mean to tell me it's six miles!' And she tendered a florin +to the man. + +'Can't take that, ma'am,' said the cabman. + +'Can't take it! But you must take it. Broughton, just get a policeman, +will you?' Dobbs Broughton satisfied the driver out of his own pocket, +and the cab was driven away. 'What did you give him?' said Mrs Van +Siever. + +'Just another sixpence. There never is a policeman anywhere about +here.' + +'It'll be out of your own pocket, then,' said Mrs Van. 'But you're not +going away?' + +'I must be at Capel Court by half-past twelve;--I must, indeed. If it +wasn't real business, I'd stay.' + +'I told Musselboro, I should be here.' + +'He's up there, and he knows all about the business just as well as I +do. When I found that I couldn't stay for you, I went through the +account with him, and it's all settled. Good morning. I'll see you at +the West End in a day or two.' Then he made his way out into Lombard +Street, and Mrs Van Siever picked her steps across the yard, and mounted +the stairs, and made her way into the room in which Mr Musselboro was +sitting. + +'Somebody's been smoking, Gus,' she said, almost as soon as she had +entered the room. + +'That's nothing new here,' he replied, as he got up from his chair. + +'There's no good being done when men sit and smoke over their work. Is +it you, or he, or both of you?' + +'Well--it was Broughton was smoking just now. I don't smoke of a +morning myself.' + +'What made him get up and run away when I came?' + +'How can I tell, Mrs Van Siever,' said Musselboro, laughing. 'If he did +run away when you came, I suppose it was because he didn't want to see +you.' + +'And why shouldn't he want to see me? Gus, I expect the truth from you. +How are things going on here?' To this question Mr Musselboro made no +immediate answer; but tilted himself back in his chair and took his hat +off, and put his thumbs into the arm-holes of his waistcoat, and looked +his patroness full in the face. 'Gus,' she said again, 'I do expect the +truth from you. How are things going on here?' + +'There'd be a good business--if he'd only keep things together.' + +'But he's idle. Isn't he idle?' + +'Confoundedly idle,' said Musselboro. + +'And he drinks;--don't he drink in the day?' + +'Like the mischief--some days. But that isn't the worst of it.' + +'And what is the worst of it?' + +'Newmarket;--that's the rock he's going to pieces on.' + +'You don't mean to say he takes the money out of the business for that?' +And Mrs Van Siever's face, as she asked the question, expressed almost a +tragic horror. 'If I thought that I wouldn't give him an hour's mercy.' + +'When a man bets he doesn't well know what money he uses. I can't say +that he takes money that is not his own. Situated as I am, I don't know +what is his own and what isn't. If your money was in my name I could +keep a hand on it;--but as it is not I can do nothing. I can see that +what is put out is put out fairly well; and when I think of it, Mrs Van +Siever, it is quite wonderful that we've lost so little. It has been +next to nothing. That has been my doing--and that's about all I can do.' + +'You must know whether he has used my money for his own purposes or +not.' + +'If you ask me, I think he has,' said Mr Musselboro. + +'Then I'll go into it, and I'll find it out, and if it is so, as sure as +my name's Van Siever, I'll sew him up.' Having uttered which terrible +threat, the old woman drew a chair to the table and seated herself +fairly down, as though she were determined to go through all the books +of the office before she quitted that room. Mrs Van Siever in her +present habiliments was not a thing so terrible to look at as she had +been in her wiggeries at Mrs Dobbs Broughton's dinner-table. Her curls +were laid aside altogether, and she wore simply a front beneath her +close bonnet--and a very old front, too, which was not loudly offensive +because it told no lies. Her eyes were as bright, and her little wizen +face was as sharp as ever; but the wizen face and the bright eyes were +not so much amiss as seen together with the old dark brown silk dress +which she now wore, as they had been with the wiggeries and the evening +finery. Even now, in her morning costume, in her work-a-day business +dress, as we may call it, she looked to be very old--so old that nobody +could guess her age. People attempting to guess would say that she must +be at least over eighty. And yet she was wiry, and strong, and nimble. +It was not because she was feeble that she was thought to be old. They +who so judged of her were led to their opinion by the extreme thinness +of her face, and by the brightness of her eyes, joined to the depth of +the hollows in which they lay, and the red margin by which they were +surrounded. It was not really the fact that Mrs Van Siever was so very +aged, for she had still some years to live before she would reach +eighty, but that she was such a weird old woman, so small, so ghastly, +and so ugly! 'I'll sew him up, if he's robbing me,' she said. 'I will +indeed!' And she stretched out her hand to grab at the ledger which +Musselboro had been using. + +'You won't understand anything from that,' said he, pushing the book +over to her. + +'You can explain it to me.' + +'That's all straight sailing, that is.' + +'And where does he keep the figures that aren't straight sailing? That's +the book I want to see.' + +'There is no such book.' + +'Look here, Gus--if I find you deceiving me I'll throw you overboard as +sure as I'm a living woman. I will indeed. I'll have no mercy. I've +stuck to you, and made a man of you, and I expect you to stick to me.' + +'Not much of a man,' said Musselboro, with a touch of scorn in his +voice. + +'You've never had a shilling yet but what I gave you.' + +'Yes; I have. I've had what I've worked for--and worked confounded hard +too.' + +'Look here, Musselboro; if you're going to throw me over, just tell me +so, and let us begin fair.' + +'I'm not going to throw you over. I've always been on the square with +you. Why don't you trust me out and out, and then I could do a deal +better for you. You ask me now about your money. I don't know about your +money, Mrs Van Siever. How am I to know anything about your money, Mrs +Van Seiver? You don't give me any power of keeping a hand upon Dobbs +Broughton. I suppose you have security from Dobbs Broughton, but I don't +know what security you have, Mrs Van Siever. He owes you now 915 pounds +16s 2d on last year's account!' + +'Why doesn't he give me a cheque for the money?' + +'He says he can't spare it. You may have 500 pounds, and the rest when +he can give it to you. Or he'll give you his note-of-hand at fourteen +days on the whole.' + +'Bother the note-of-hand. Why should I take his note-of-hand?' + +'Do as you like, Mrs Van Siever.' + +'It's the interest on my own money. Why don't he give it me? I suppose +he has had it.' + +'You must ask him that, Mrs Van Siever. You're in partnership with him, +and he can tell you. Nobody knows anything about it. If you were in +partnership with me, then of course I could tell you. But you're not. +You've never trusted me, Mrs Van Siever.' + +The lady remained there closeted with Mr Musselboro for an hour after +that, and did, I think, at length learn something more as to the details +of her partner's business than her faithful servant Mr Musselboro had at +first found himself able to give to her. And at last they came to +friendly and confidential terms, in the midst of which the personal +welfare of Mr Dobbs Broughton was, I fear, somewhat forgotten. Not that +Mr Musselboro palpably and plainly threw his friend overboard. He took +his friend's part--alleging excuses for him, and pleading some facts. +'Of course, you know, a man like that is fond of pleasure, Mrs Van +Siever. He's been at it more or less all his life. I don't suppose he +ever missed a Derby or an Oaks, or the cup at Ascot, or the Goodwood in +his life.' 'He'll have to miss them before long, I'm thinking,' said Mrs +Van Siever. 'And as to not cashing up, you must remember, Mrs Van +Siever, that ten per cent won't come in quite as regularly as four or +five. When you go for high interest, there must be hitches here and +there. There must, indeed, Mrs Van Siever.' 'I know all about it,' said +Mrs Van Siever. 'If he gave it to me as soon as he got it himself, I +shouldn't complain. Never mind. He's only got to give me my little bit +of money out of the business, and then he and I will be all square. You +come and see Clara this evening, Gus.' + +Then Mr Musselboro put Mrs Van Siever into another cab, and went out +upon the 'Change--hanging about the Bank, and standing in Threadneedle +Street, talking to other men just like himself. When he saw Dobbs +Broughton he told that gentleman that Mrs Van Siever had been in her +tantrums, but that he had managed to pacify her before she left Hook +Court. 'I'm to take the cheque for the five hundred tonight,' he said. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +JAEL + +On the first of March, Conway Dalrymple's easel was put up in Mrs Dobbs +Broughton's boudoir upstairs, the canvas was placed upon it on which the +outlines of Jael and Sisera had been already drawn, and Mrs Broughton +and Clara Van Siever and Conway Dalrymple were assembled with the view +of steady art-work. But before we see how they began their work +together, we will go back for a moment to John Eames on his return to +his London lodgings. The first thing every man does when he returns home +after an absence, is to look for his letters, and John Eames looked at +his. There were not very many. There was a note marked immediate from +Sir Raffle Buffle, in which Sir R had scrawled in four lines a +notification that he should be driven to an extremity of inconvenience +if Eames were not at his post at half-past nine on the following +morning. 'I think I see myself there at that hour,' said John. There was +a notification of a house dinner, which he was asked to join, at his +club, and a card for an evening gathering at Lady Glencora +Palliser's--procured for him by his friend Conway--and an invitation for +dinner at the house of his uncle Mr Toogood; and there was a scented +note in the handwriting of a lady, which he did not recognise. 'My +dearest, dearest friend, M D M,' he said, as he opened the note and +looked at the signature. Then he read the letter from Miss Demolines. + +'MY DEAR MR EAMES, +'Pray come to me at once. I know that you are to be back +tomorrow. Do not lose an hour if you can help it. I shall +be at home at half-past five. I fear what you know of has begun. +But it certainly shall not go on. In one way or another it +must be prevented. I won't say another word till I see you, +but pray come at once--Yours always, + +'Thursday.' +M D M' + +'Poor mother isn't very well, so you had better ask for me.' + +'Beautiful!' said Johnny, as he read the note. 'There's nothing I like +so much as a mystery--especially if it's about nothing. I wonder why she +is so desperately anxious that the picture should not be painted. I'd +ask Dalrymple, only I should spoil the mystery.' Then he sat himself +down, and began to think of Lily. There could be no treason to Lily in +his amusing himself with the freaks of such a woman as Miss Demolines. + +At eleven o'clock on the morning of the first of March--the day +following that on which Miss Demolines had written her note--the easel +was put up and the canvas was placed on it in Mrs Broughton's room. Mrs +Broughton and Clara were both there, and when they had seen the outlines +as far as it had been drawn, they proceeded to make arrangements for +their future operations. The period of work was to begin always at +eleven, and was to be continued for an hour and a half or for two hours +on the days on which they met. I fear that there was a little improper +scheming in this against the two persons whom the ladies were bound to +obey. Mr Dobbs Broughton invariably left his house after ten in the +morning. It would sometimes happen, though not frequently, that he +returned home early in the day--at four perhaps, or even before that; +and should he chance to do so while the picture was going on, he would +catch them at their work if the work were postponed till after luncheon. +And then again Mrs Van Siever would often go out in the morning, and +when she did so, would always go without her daughter. On such occasion +she went into the City, or to other resorts of business, at which, in +some manner quite unintelligible to her daughter, she looked after her +money. But when she did not go out in the morning, she did go out in the +afternoon, and she would then require her daughter's company. There was +some place to which she always went of a Friday morning, and at which +she stayed for two or three hours. Friday therefore was a fitting day on +which to begin the work at Mrs Broughton's house. All this was explained +between the three conspirators. Mrs Dobbs Broughton declared that if she +entertained the slightest idea that her husband would object to the +painting of the picture in her room, nothing on earth would induce her +to lend her countenance to it; but yet it might be well not to tell him +just at first, perhaps not till the sittings were over--perhaps not till +the picture was finished; as otherwise, tidings of the picture might get +round to ears which were not intended to hear it. 'Poor dear Dobbs is so +careless with a secret.' Miss Van Siever explained her motives in a +different way. 'I know mamma would not let me do it if she knew it; and +therefore I shall not tell her.' 'My dear Clara,' said Mrs Broughton +with a smile 'you are so outspoken!' 'And why not?' said Miss Van +Siever. 'I am old enough to judge for myself. If mamma does not want me +to be deceived, she ought not to treat me as a child. Of course she'll +find it out sooner or later; but I don't care about that.' Conway +Dalrymple said nothing as the two ladies were thus excusing themselves. +'How delightful it must be not to have a master,' said Mrs Broughton, +addressing him. 'But then a man has to work for his own bread,' said he. +'I suppose it comes about equal in the long run.' + +Very little drawing or painting was done on that day. In the first +place it was necessary that the question of costume should be settled, +and both Mrs Broughton and the artist had much to say on that subject. +It was considered proper that Jael should be dressed as a Jewess, and +there came to be much question how Jewesses dressed themselves in those +very early days. Mrs Broughton had prepared her jewels and raiment of +many colours, but the painter declared that the wife of Heber the Kenite +would have no jewels. But when Mrs Broughton discovered from her Bible +that Heber had been connected by family ties with Moses, she was more +than ever sure that Heber's wife would have much in her tent of the +spoilings of the Egyptians. And when Clara Van Siever suggested that at +any rate she would not have worn them in a time of confusion when +soldiers were loose, flying about the country, Mrs Broughton was quite +confident that she would have put them on before she invited the captain +of the enemy's host into her tent. The artist at last took the matter +into his own hand, by declaring that Miss Van Siever would sit the +subject much better without jewels, and therefore all Mrs Broughton's +gewgaws were put back into their boxes. And then on four different times +the two ladies had to retire into Mrs Broughton's room in order that +Jael might be arrayed in various costumes--and in each costume she had +to kneel down, taking the hammer in her hand, and holding the pointed +stick which had been prepared to do duty as the nail, upon the forehead +of the dummy Sisera. At last it was decided that her raiment should be +altogether white, and that she should wear, twisted round her head and +falling over her shoulder, a Roman silk scarf of various colours. 'Where +Jael could have gotten it I don't know,' said Clara. 'You may be sure that +there were lots of such things among the Egyptians,' said Mrs Broughton, +'and that Moses brought away all the best for his own family.' + +'And who is to be Sisera?' asked Mrs Broughton in one of the pauses in +their work.' + +'I'm thinking of asking my friend John Eames to sit.' + +'Of course we cannot sit together,' said Miss Van Siever. + +'There's no reason why you should,' said Dalrymple. 'I can do the +second figure in my own room.' Then there was a bargain made that Sisera +should not be a portrait. 'It would never do,' said Mrs Broughton, +shaking her head very gravely. + +Though there was really very little done to the picture on that day, the +work was commenced; and Mrs Broughton, who had at first objected +strongly to the idea, and who had said twenty times that it was quite +out of the question that it should be done her house, became very eager +in her delight about it. Nobody should know anything of the picture till +it should be exhibited. That would be best. And it should be the picture +of the year! She was a little heart-broken when Dalrymple assured her +that it could not possible be finished for exhibition in that May; but +she came to again when he declared that he meant to put out all his +strength upon it. 'There will be five or six months' work in it,' he +said. 'Will there, indeed? And how much work was there in "The Graces"?' +'The Graces', as will perhaps be remembered, was the triple portrait of +Mrs Dobbs Broughton herself. This question the artist did not answer +with absolute accuracy, but contented himself with declaring that with +such a model as Mrs Broughton the picture had been comparatively easy, + +Mrs Broughton, having no doubt that ultimate object of which she had +spoken to her friend Conway steadily in view, took occasion before the +sitting was over to leave the room, so that the artist might have an +opportunity of speaking a word in private to his model--if he had any +such word to speak. And Mrs Broughton, as she did this, felt that she +was doing her duty as a wife, a friend, and a Christian. She was doing +her duty as a wife, because she was giving the clearest proof in the +world--the clearest at any rate to herself--that the intimacy between +herself and her friend Conway had in it nothing that was improper. And +she was doing her duty as a friend, because Clara Van Siever, with her +large expectations, would be an eligible wife. And she was doing her +duty as a Christian, because the whole thing was intended to be moral. +Miss Demolines had declared that her friend Maria Clutterbuck--as Miss +Demolines delighted to call Mrs Broughton, in memory of dear old +innocent days--had high principles; and the reader will see that she was +justified in her declaration. 'It will be better so,' said Mrs +Broughton, as she sat upon her bed and wiped a tear from the corner of +her eye. 'Yes; it will be better so. There is a pang. Of course there's +a pang. But it will be better so.' Acting upon this high principle, she +allowed Conway Dalrymple five minutes to say what he had to say to Clara +Van Siever. Then she allowed herself to indulge in some very savage +feelings in reference to her husband--accusing her husband in her +thoughts of great cruelty--nay, of brutality, because of certain sharp +words that he had said as to Conway Dalrymple. 'But of course he can't +understand,' said Mrs Broughton to herself. 'How is it to be expected +that he should understand?' + +But she allowed her friend on this occasion only five minutes, thinking +probably that so much time might suffice. A woman, when she is jealous, +is apt to attribute to other woman with whom her jealousy is concerned, +both weakness and timidity, and to the man both audacity and strength. A +woman who has herself taken perhaps twelve months in the winning, will +think that another woman is to be won in five minutes. It is not to be +supposed that Mrs Dobbs Broughton had ever been won by anyone except Mr +Dobbs Broughton. At least, let it not be supposed that she had ever +acknowledged a spark of love for Conway Dalymple. But nevertheless there +was enough of jealousy in her present mood to make her think poorly of +Miss Van Siever's capacity for standing a siege against the artist's +eloquence. Otherwise, having left the two together with the object which +she had acknowledged to herself, she would hardly have returned to them +after so short an interval. + +'I hope you won't dislike the trouble of all this?' said Dalrymple to +his model, as soon as Mrs Broughton was gone. + +'I cannot say that I like it very much,' said Miss Van Siever. + +'I'm afraid it will be a bore;--but I hope you'll go through with it.' + +'I shall if I am not prevented,' said Miss Van Siever. 'When I've said +that I'll do a thing, I like to do it.' + +There was a pause in the conversation which took up a considerable +portion of the five minutes. Miss Van Siever was not holding her nail +during those moments, but was sitting in a commonplace way on her chair, +while Dalrymple was scraping his palette. 'I wonder what it was that +first induced you to sit?' said he. + +'Oh, I don't know. I took a fancy for it.' + +'I'm very glad you did take the fancy. You'll make an excellent model. +If you won't mind posing again for a few minutes--I will not weary you +today. Your right arm a little more forward.' + +'But I should tumble down.' + +'Not if you lean well on the nail.' + +'But that would have woken Sisera before she had struck a blow.' + +'Never mind. Let us try it.' Then Mrs Broughton returned, with that +pleasant feeling in her bosom of having done her duty as a wife, friend, +and a Christian. 'Mrs Broughton,' continued the painter, 'just steady +Miss Van Siever's shoulder with your hand; and now bring the arm and the +elbow a little more forward.' + +'But Jael did not have a friend to help her in that way,' said Miss Van +Siever. + +At the end of an hour and a half the two ladies retired, and Jael +disrobed herself, and Miss Van Siever put on her customary raiment. It +was agreed among them that they had commenced their work auspiciously, +and that they would meet again on the following Monday. The artist +begged to be allowed an hour to go on with his work in Mrs Broughton's +room, and thus the hour was conceded to him. It was understood that he +could not take the canvas backwards and forwards with him to his own +house, and he pointed out that no progress whatever could be made, +unless he were occasionally allowed some such grace as this. Mrs +Broughton doubted and hesitated, made difficulties, and lifted up her +hands in despair. 'It is easy for you to say, Why not? but I know very +well why not?' But at last she gave way. 'Honi soit qui mal y pense,' +she said; 'that must be my protection.' So she followed Miss Van Siever +downstairs, leaving Mr Dalrymple in possession of her boudoir. 'I shall +give you just one hour,' she said, 'and then I shall come and turn you +out.' So she went down, and, as Miss Van Siever would not stay to lunch +with her, she ate her lunch by herself, sending a glass of sherry and a +biscuit up to the poor painter at his work. + +Exactly at the end of the hour she returned to him. 'Now, Conway, you +must go,' she said. + +'But why in such a hurry?' + +'Because I say that it must be so. When I say so, pray let that be +sufficient.' But still Dalrymple went on painting. + +'Conway,' she said, 'how can you treat me with such disdain?' + +'Disdain, Mrs Broughton!' + +'Yes, disdain. Have I not begged you to understand that I cannot allow +you to remain here, and yet you pay no attention to my wishes.' + +'I have done now'; and he began to put his brushes and paints together. +'I suppose all these things may remain here?' + +'Yes; they may remain. They must do so, of course. There; if you will +put the easel in the corner, with the canvas behind it, they will not be +seen if he should chance to come into the room.' + +'He would not be angry, I suppose, if he should see them?' + +'There is no knowing. Men are so unreasonable. All men are, I think. +All those are whom I have had the fortune to know. Women generally say +that men are selfish. I do not complain so much that they are selfish as +that they are thoughtless. They are headstrong and do not look forward +to results. Now you--I do not think you would willingly do me an +injury?' + +'I do not think I would.' + +'I am sure you would not;--but yet you would forget to save me from +one.' + +'What injury?' + +'Oh, never mind. I am not thinking of anything in particular. From +myself, for instance. But we will not talk about that. That way madness +lies. Tell me, Conway;--what do you think of Clara Van Siever?' + +'She is very handsome, certainly.' + +'And clever?' + +'Decidedly clever. I should think she has a temper of her own.' + +'What woman is there worth a straw that has not? If Clara Van Siever +were ill-used, she would resent it. I do not doubt that for a moment. I +should not like to be the man who would do it.' + +'Nor I, either,' said Conway. + +'But there is plenty of feminine softness in that character, if she were +treated with love and kindness. Conway, if you will take my advice you +will ask Clara Van Siever to be your wife. But perhaps you have +already.' + +'Who; I?' + +'Yes; you.' + +'I have not done it yet, certainly, Mrs Broughton.' + +'And why should you not do it?' + +'There are two or three reasons;--but perhaps none of any great +importance. Do you know of none, Mrs Broughton?' + +'I know of none,' said Mrs Broughton in a very serious--in almost a +tragic tone;--'of none that should weigh for a moment. As far as I am +concerned, nothing would give me more pleasure.' + +'That is so kind of you!' + +'I mean to be kind. I do, indeed, Conway. I know it will be better for +you that you should be settled--very much better. And it will be better +for me. I do not mind admitting that;--though in saying so I trust +greatly to your generosity to interpret my words properly.' + +'I shall not flatter myself, if you mean that.' + +'There is no question of flattery, Conway. The question is simply of +truth and prudence. Do you not know that it would be better for yourself +that you should be married?' + +'Not unless a certain gentleman were to die first,' said Conway +Dalrymple, as he deposited the last of his painting paraphernalia in the +recess which had been prepared for them by Mrs Broughton. + +'Conway, how can you speak in that wicked, wicked way?' + +'I can assure that I do not wish the gentleman in question the slightest +harm in the world. If his welfare depended on me, he should be safe as +the Bank of England.' + +'And you will not take my advice?' + +'What advice?' + +'About Clara?' + +'Mrs Broughton, matrimony is a very important thing.' + +'Indeed, it is;--oh, who can say how important! There was a time, +Conway, when I thought that you had given your heart to Madelina +Demolines.' + +'Heaven forbid!' + +'And I grieved, because I thought that she was not worthy of you.' + +'There was never anything in that, Mrs Broughton.' + +'She thought that there was. At any rate, she said so. I know that for +certain. She told me so herself. But let that pass. Clara Van Siever is +in every respect very different from Madalina. Clara, I think, is worthy +of you. And Conway--of course it is not for me to dictate to you; but +this I must tell you--' + +'What must you tell me?' + +'I will tell you nothing more. If you cannot understand what I have +said, you must be more dull of comprehension than I believe you to be. +Now go. Why are you not gone this half-hour?' + +'How could I go while you were giving me all this good advice?' + +'I have not asked you to stay. Go now, at any rate. And, remember, +Conway, if this picture is to go on, I will not have you remaining here +after the work is done. Will you remember that?' And she held him by the +hand while he declared that he would remember it. + +Mrs Dobbs Broughton was no more in love with Conway Dalrymple than she +was in love with King Charles on horseback at Charing Cross. And, over +and beyond the protection which came to her in the course of nature from +impassioned feelings in this special phase of her life--and indeed, if I +may say, in every phase of her life--it must be acknowledged on her +behalf that she did enjoy that protection which comes from what we call +principle--though the principle was not perhaps very high of its kind. +Madalina Demolines had been right when she talked of her friend Maria's +principles. Dobbs Broughton had been so far lucky in that jump in the +dark which he had made in taking a wife to himself, that he had not fallen +upon a really vicious woman, or upon a woman of strong feeling. It had +come to be the lot of Mrs Dobbs Broughton to have six hours' work every +day of her life, I think that the work would have been done badly, but +that it would have kept her free from all danger. As it was she had +nothing to do. She had no child. She was not given to much reading. She +could not sit with a needle in her hand all day. She had no aptitude for +May meetings, or the excitement of charitable good works. Life with her +was very dull, and she found no amusement within her reach so easy and +so pleasant as the amusement of pretending to be in love. If all that +she did and all that she said could only have been taken for its worth +and for nothing more, by the different persons concerned, there was very +little in it to flatter Mr Dalrymple or to give cause for tribulation to +Mr Broughton. She probably cared but little for either of them. She was +one of those women to whom it is not given by nature to care very much +for anybody. But, of the two, she certainly cared the most for Mr Dobbs +Broughton--because Mr Dobbs Broughton belonged to her. As to leaving Mr +Dobbs Broughton's house, and putting herself into the hands of another +man--no Imogen of a wife was ever less likely to take step so wicked, so +dangerous, and so generally disagreeable to all the parties concerned. + +But Conway Dalrymple--though now and again he had got a side glance at +her true character with a clear-seeing eye--did allow himself to be +flattered and deceived. He knew that she was foolish and ignorant, and +that she often talked wonderful nonsense. He knew also that she was +continually contradicting herself--as when she would strenuously beg him +to leave her, while she would continue to talk to him in a strain that +prevented the possibility of his going. But, nevertheless, he was +flattered, and he did believe that she loved him. As to his love for +her--he knew very well that it amounted to nothing. Now and again, +perhaps, twice a week, if he saw her as often, he would say something +which would imply a declaration of affection. He felt that as much as +that was expected from him, and that he ought not to hope to get off +cheaper. And now that this little play was going on about Miss Van +Siever, he did think that Mrs Dobbs Broughton was doing her very best to +overcome an unfortunate attachment. It is so gratifying to a young man's +feelings to suppose that another man's wife has conceived an unfortunate +attachment for him! Conway Dalrymple ought not to have been fooled by +such a woman; but I fear that he was fooled by her. + +As he returned home today from Mrs Broughton's house to his own lodgings +he rambled out for a while into Kensington Gardens, and thought of his +position seriously. 'I don't see why I should not marry her,' he said to +himself, thinking of course of Miss Van Siever. 'If Maria is not in +earnest it is not my fault. And it would be my wish that she should be +in earnest. If I suppose her to be so, and take her at her word, she can +have no right to quarrel with me. Poor Maria! At any rate it will be +better for her, for no good can come of this kind of thing. And, by +heavens, with a woman like that, of strong feelings, one never knows +what may happen.' And then he thought of the condition he would be in, +if he were to find her some fine day in his own rooms, and if she were +to tell him that she could not go home again, and that she meant to +remain with him! + +In the meantime Mrs Dobbs Broughton has gone down into her own +drawing-room, had tucked herself up on the sofa, and had fallen fast +asleep. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +A NEW FLIRTATION + +John Eames sat at his office on the day after his return to London, and +answered the various letters which he had found waiting for him at his +lodgings on the previous evening. To Miss Demolines he had already +written from his club, a single line, which he considered to be +appropriate to the mysterious necessities of the occasion. 'I will be +with you at a quarter to six tomorrow.--J E. Just returned.' There was +not another word; and as he scrawled it at one of the club tables while +two or three other men were talking to him, he felt rather proud of his +correspondence. 'It was capital fun,' he said; 'and after all'--the +'all' on this occasion being Lily Dale, and the sadness of his +disappointment at Allington--'after all, let a fellow be ever so down in +the mouth, a little amusement should do him good.' And he reflected +further that the more a fellow be 'down in the mouth', the more good the +amusement would do him. He sent off his note, therefore, with some +little inward rejoicing--and a word of two also of spoken rejoicing. +'What fun women are sometimes,' he said to one of his friends--a friend +with whom he was very intimate, calling him always Fred, and slapping +his back, but whom he never by any chance saw out of his club. + +'What up to now, Johnny? Some good fortune?' + +'Good fortune, no. I never saw good fortune of that kind. But I've got +hold of a young woman--or rather a young woman has got hold of me, who +insists on having mystery with me. In the mystery itself there is not +the slightest interest. But the mysteriousness of it is charming. I have +just written to her three words to settle an appointment for tomorrow. +We don't sign our names lest the Postmaster General should find out +about it.' + +'Is she pretty?' + +'Well;--she isn't ugly. She has just enough of good looks to make the +sort of thing pass off pleasantly. A mystery with a downright ugly young +woman would be unpleasant.' + +After this fashion the note from Miss Demolines had been received, and +answered at once, but the other letters remained in his pocket till he +reached his office on the following morning. Sir Raffle had begged him +to be there at half-past nine. This he had sworn he would not do; but he +did seat himself in his room at ten minutes before ten, finding of +course the whole building untenanted at that early hour--that unearthly +hour, as Johnny called it himself. 'I shouldn't wonder if he really is +here this morning,' Johnny said, as he entered the building, 'just that +he may have the opportunity of jumping on me.' But Sir Raffle was not +there, and then Johnny began to abuse Sir Raffle. 'If I ever come here +early to meet him again, because he says he means to be here himself, I +hope I may be--blessed.' On that especial morning it was twelve before +Sir Raffle made his appearance, and Johnny avenged himself--I regret to +have to tell it--by a fib. That Sir Raffle fibbed first, was no valid +excuse whatever for Eames. + +'I've been at it ever since six o'clock,' said Sir Raffle. + +'At what?' said John. + +'Work, to be sure;--and very hard work too. I believe the Chancellor of +the Exchequer thinks that he can call upon me to any extent that he +pleases;--just any extent that he pleases. He doesn't give me credit for +a desire to have a single hour to myself.' + +'What would he do, Sir Raffle, if you were to get ill, or wear yourself +out?' + +'He knows I'm not one of the wearing-out sort of men. You got my note +last night?' + +'Yes; I got your note.' + +'I'm sorry that I troubled you; but I couldn't help it. I didn't expect +to get a box full of papers at eleven o'clock last night.' + +'You didn't put me out, Sir Raffle; I happened to have business of my +own which prevented the possibility of my being here early.' + +This was the way in which John Eames avenged himself. Sir Raffle turned +his face upon his private secretary, and his face was very black. Johnny +bore the gaze without dropping an eyelid. 'I'm not going to stand it, +and he may as well know that at once,' Johnny said to one of his friends +in the office afterwards. 'If he ever wants anything really done, I'll +do it;--though it should take me twelve hours at a stretch. But I'm not +going to pretend to believe all the lies he tells me about the +Chancellor of the Exchequer. If that is to be part of the private +secretary's business, he had better get somebody else.' But now Sir +Raffle was very angry, and his countenance was full of wrath as he +looked down upon his subordinate minister. 'If I had come here, Mr +Eames, and had found you absent, I should have been very much annoyed, +very much annoyed indeed, after having written as I did.' + +'You would have found me absent at the hour you named. As I wasn't +there then, I think it's only fair to say so.' + +'I'm afraid you begrudge your time to the service, Mr Eames.' + +'I do begrudge it when the service doesn't want it.' + +'At your age, Mr Eames, that's not for you to judge. If I had acted in +that way when I was young I should never have filled the position I now +hold. I always remembered in those days that as I was the hand and not +the head, I was bound to hold myself in readiness whether work might be +required of me or not.' + +'If I'm wanted as hand now, Sir Raffle, I'm ready.' + +'That's all very well;--but why were you not here at the hour I named?' + +'Well, Sir Raffle, I cannot say that the Chancellor of the Exchequer +detained me;--but there was business. As I've been here for the last two +hours, I am happy to think that in this instance the public service will +not have suffered by my disobedience.' + +Sir Raffle was still standing with his hat on, and with his back to the +fire, and his countenance was full of wrath. It was on his tongue to +tell Johnny that he had better return to his former work in the outer +office. He greatly wanted the comfort of a private secretary who would +believe in him--or at least pretend to believe in him. There are men +who, though they have not sense enough to be true, have nevertheless +sense enough to know that they cannot expect to be really believed in by +those who are near enough to them to know them. Sir Raffle Buffle was +such a one. He would have greatly delighted in the services of someone +who would trust him implicitly--of some young man who would really +believe all that he said of himself and of the Chancellor of the +Exchequer; but he was wise enough to perceive that no such young man was +to be had; or that any such man--could such a one be found--would be +absolutely useless for any purposes of work. He knew himself to be a +liar whom nobody trusted. And he knew himself also to be a bully--though +he could not think so low of himself as to believe that he was a bully +whom nobody feared. A private secretary was at the least bound to +pretend to believe in him. There is a decency in such things, and that +decency John Eames did not observe. He thought that he must get rid of +John Eames, in spite of certain attractions which belonged to Johnny's +appearance and general manners, and social standing, and reputed wealth. +But it would not be wise to punish a man on the spot for breaking an +appointment which he himself had not kept, and therefore he would wait +for another opportunity. 'You had better go to your own room now,' he +said. 'I am engaged on a matter connected with the Treasury, in which I +will not ask for your assistance.' He knew that Eames would not believe +a word as to what he said about the Treasury--not even some very +trifling base of truth which did exist; but the boast gave him an +opportunity of putting an end to the interview after his own fashion. +Then John Eames went to his own room and answered the letters which he +had in his pocket. + +To the club dinner he would not go. 'What's the use of paying two +guineas for a dinner with fellows you see every day of your life?' he +said. To Lady Glencora's he would go, and he wrote a line to his friend +Dalrymple proposing that they should go together. And he would dine with +his cousin Toogood in Tavistock Square. 'One meets the queerest people +in the world there,' he said; 'but Tommy Toogood is such a good fellow +himself!' After that he had his lunch. Then he read the paper, and +before he went away he wrote a dozen or two of private notes, presenting +Sir Raffle's compliments right and left, and giving in no one note a +single word of information that could be of any use to any person. +Having thus earned his salary by half-past four o'clock he got into a +hansom cab and had himself driven to Porchester Terrace. Miss Demolines +was at home, of course, and he soon found himself closeted with that +interesting young woman. + +'I thought you never would have come.' These were the first words she +spoke. + +'My dear Miss Demolines, you must not forget that I have my bread to +earn.' + +'Fiddlesticks!--Bread! As if I didn't know that you can get away from +your office when you choose.' + +'But, indeed, I cannot.' + +'What is there to prevent you, Mr Eames?' + +'I'm not tied up like a dog, certainly; but who do you suppose will do +my work if I do not do it myself? It is a fact, though the world does +not believe it, that men in public offices have something to do.' + +'Now you are laughing at me, I know; but you are welcome, if you like +it. It's the way of the world just at present that ladies should submit +to that sort of thing from gentlemen.' + +'What sort of thing, Miss Demolines?' + +'Chaff, as you call it. Courtesy is out of fashion, and gallantry has +come to signify quite a different kind of thing from what it used to +do.' + +'The Sir Charles Grandison business is done and gone. That's what you +mean, I suppose? Don't you think we should find it very heavy if we +tried to get it back again?' + +'I'm not going to ask you to be a Sir Charles Grandison, Mr Eames. But +never mind all that now. Do you know that that girl has absolutely had +her first sitting for the picture?' + +'Has she, indeed?' + +'She has. You may take my word for it. I know it as a fact. What a +fool that young man is!' + +'Which young man?' + +'Which young man! Conway Dalrymple to be sure. Artists are always +weak. Of all men in the world they are the most subject to flattery from +women; and we all know that Conway Dalrymple is very vain.' + +'Upon my word I didn't know it,' said Johnny. + +'Yes, you do. You must know it. When a man goes about in a purple +velvet coat of course he is vain.' + +'I certainly cannot defend a purple velvet coat.' + +'That is what he wore when this girl sat to him this morning.' + +'This morning was it?' + +'Yes, this morning. They little think that they can do nothing without +my knowing it. He was there for nearly four hours, and she was dressed +up in a white robe as Jael, with a turban on her head. Jael indeed! I +call it very improper, and I am quite astonished that Maria Clutterbuck +should have lent herself to such a piece of work. That Maria was never +very wise, of course we all know; but I thought that she had principle +enough to have kept her from this kind of thing.' + +'It's her fevered existence,' said Johnny. + +'That's just it. She must have excitement. It is like dram-drinking. +And then, you know, they are always living in the crater of a volcano.' + +'Who are living in the crater of a volcano?' + +'The Dobbs Broughtons are. Of course they are. There is no saying what +day a smash may come. They City people get so used to it that they enjoy +it. The risk is everything to them.' + +'They like to have a little certainty behind the risk, I fancy.' + +'I'm afraid there is very little that's certain with Dobbs Broughton. +But about this picture, Mr Eames. I look to you to assist me there. It +must be put a stop to. As to that I am determined. It must be--put +a--stop to.' And as Miss Demolines repeated these last words with a +tremendous emphasis she leant with both her elbows on a little table +that stood between her and her visitor, and looked with all her eyes +into his face. 'I do hope that you agree with me in that,' said she. + +'Upon my word I do not see the harm of the picture,' said he. + +'You do not?' + +'Indeed no. Why should not Dalrymple paint Miss Van Siever as well as +any other lady? It is his special business to paint ladies.' + +'Look here, Mr Eames--' And now Miss Demolines, as she spoke drew her own +seat closer to that of her companion and pushed away the little table. +'Do you suppose that Conway Dalrymple, in the usual way of his business, +paints pictures of young ladies of which their mothers know nothing? Do +you suppose that he paints them in ladies' rooms without their husbands' +knowledge? And in the common way of his business does he not expect to +be paid for his pictures?' + +'But what is all that to you and me, Miss Demolines?' + +'Is the welfare of your friend nothing to you? Would you like to see +him become the victim of the artifice of such a girl as Clara Van +Siever?' + +'Upon my word I think he is very well able to take care of himself.' + +'And would you wish to see that poor creature's domestic hearth ruined +and broken up?' + +'Which poor creature?' + +'Dobbs Broughton, to be sure.' + +'I can't pretend that I care very much for Dobbs Broughton,' said John +Eames; 'and you see I know so little about his domestic hearth.' + +'Oh, Mr Eames!' + +'Besides, her principles will pull her through. You told me yourself +that Mrs Dobbs Broughton had high principles.' + +'God forbid that I should say a word against Maria Clutterbuck,' said +Miss Demolines fervently. 'Maria Clutterbuck was my early friend, and +though words have been spoken which never should have been spoken, and +though things have been done which never should have been dreamed of, +still I will not desert Maria Clutterbuck in her hour of need. No, +never!' + +'I'm sure you're what one may call a trump to your friends, Miss +Demolines.' + +'I have endeavoured to be so, and always shall. You will find me +so;--that is if you and I ever become intimate enough to feel that sort +of friendship.' + +'There is nothing on earth I should like better,' said Johnny. As soon +as these words were out of his mouth, he felt ashamed of himself. He +knew that he did not in truth desire the friendship of Miss Demolines, +and that any friendship with such a one would mean something different +from friendship--something that would be an injury to Lily Dale. A week +had hardly passed since he had sworn a life's constancy to Lily +Dale--had sworn it, not to her only, but to himself; and now he was +giving way to a flirtation with this woman, not because he liked it +himself, but because he was too weak to keep out of it.' + +'If that is true--' said Miss Demolines. + +'Oh, yes; it is quite true,' said Johnny. + +'Then you must earn my friendship by doing what I ask of you. That +picture must not be painted. You must tell Conway Dalrymple as his +friend that he must cease to carry on such an intrigue in another man's +house.' + +'You would hardly call painting a picture an intrigue; would you?' + +'Certainly I would when it's kept a secret from the husband by the +wife--and from the mother by the daughter. If it cannot be stopped in +any other way, I must tell Mrs Van Siever;--I must, indeed. I have such +an abhorrence of the old woman, that I could not bring myself to speak +to her--but I should write to her. That's what I should do.' + +'But what's the reason? You might as tell me the real reason.' Had Miss +Demolines been christened Mary, or Fanny, or Jane, I think that John +Eames would now have called her by either of those names; but Madalina +was such a mouthful that he could not bring himself to use it at once. +He had heard that among her intimates she was called Maddy. He had an +idea that he had heard Dalrymple in old times talk of her as Maddy +Mullins, and just at this moment the idea was not pleasant to him; at +any rate he could not call her Maddy as yet. 'How am I to help you,' he +said, 'unless I know all about it?' + +'I hate that girl like poison!' said Miss Demolines, confidentially, +drawing herself very near to Johnny as she spoke. + +'But what has she done?' + +'What has she done? I can't tell you what she has done. I could not +demean myself by repeating it. Of course we all know what she wants. She +wants to catch Conway Dalrymple. That's as plain as anything can be. Not +that I care about that.' + +'Of course not,' said Johnny. + +'Not in the least. It's nothing to me. I have known Conway Dalrymple, +no doubt, for a year or two, and I should be sorry to see a young man +who has his good points sacrificed in that sort of way. But it is mere +acquaintance between Mr Dalrymple and me, and of course I cannot +interfere.' + +'She'll have a lot of money, you know.' + +'He thinks so; does he? I suppose that is what Maria has told him. Oh, +Mr Eames, you don't know the meanness of women; you don't indeed. Men +are so much more noble.' + +'Are they, do you think?' + +'Than some women. I see women doing things that really disgust me; I do +indeed;--things that I wouldn't do myself, were it ever so;--striving to +catch men in every possible way, and for such purposes! I wouldn't have +believed it of Maria Clutterbuck. I wouldn't indeed. However I will +never say a word against her, because she has been my friend. Nothing +shall ever induce me.' + +John Eames before he left Porchester Terrace, had at last succeeded in +calling his fair friend Madalina, and had promised that he would +endeavour to open the artist's eyes to the folly of painting his picture +in Broughton's house without Broughton's knowledge. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +MR TOOGOOD'S IDEAS ABOUT SOCIETY + +A day or two after the interview which was described in the last chapter +John Eames dined with his uncle Mr Thomas Toogood, in Tavistock Square. +He was in the habit of doing this about once a month, and was a great +favourite both with his cousins and with their mother. Mr Toogood did +not give dinner-parties; always begging those whom he asked to enjoy his +hospitality, to take pot luck, and telling young men whom he could treat +with familiarity--such as his nephew--that if they wanted to be regaled +a la Russe they must not come to Number 75 Tavistock Square. 'A leg of +mutton and trimmings; that will be about the outside of it,' he would +say; but he would add in a whisper--'and a glass of port such as you +don't get every day of your life.' Polly and Lucy Toogood were pretty +girls, and merry withal, and certain young men were well contented to +accept the attorney's invitation--whether attracted by the promised leg +of mutton, or the port wine, or the young ladies, I will not attempt to +say. But it had so happened that one young man, a clerk from John +Eames's office, had partaken so often of the put luck and port wine that +Polly Toogood had conquered him by her charms, and he was now a slave, +waiting an appropriate time for matrimonial sacrifice. William Summerkin +was the young man's name; and as it was known that Mr Summerkin was to +inherit a fortune amounting to three hundred pounds from his maiden +aunt, it was considered that Polly Toogood was not doing amiss. 'I'll +give you three hundred pounds, my boy, just to put a few sheets on the +beds,' said Toogood the father, 'and when the old birds are both dead +she'll have a thousand pounds out of the nest. That's the extent of +Polly's fortune;--so now you know.' Summerkin was, however, quite +contented to have his own money settled on his darling Polly, and the +whole thing was looked at with pleasant and propitious eyes by the +Toogood connexion. + +When John Eames entered the drawing-room Summerkin and Polly were +already there. Summerkin blushed up to his eyes, of course, but Polly +sat as demurely as though she had been accustomed to having lovers all +her life. 'Mamma will be down almost immediately, John,' said Polly as +soon as the first greetings were over, 'and papa has come in, I know.' + +'Summerkin,' said Johnny, 'I'm afraid you left the office before four +o'clock.' + +'No, I did not,' said Summerkin. 'I deny it.' + +'Polly,' said her cousin, 'you should keep him in better order. He will +certainly come to grief if he goes on like this. I suppose you could do +without him for half an hour.' + +'I don't want him I assure you,' said Polly. + +'I have only been here just five minutes,' said Summerkin, 'and I came +because Mrs Toogood asked me to do a commission.' + +'That's civil to you, Polly,' said John. + +'It's quite as civil as I wish him to be,' said Polly. 'And as for you, +John, everybody knows that you're a goose, and that you always were a +goose. Isn't he always doing foolish things at the office, William?' But +as John Eames was rather a great man at the Income-Tax Office, Summerkin +could not fall into his sweetheart's joke on this subject, finding it +easier and perhaps safer to twiddle the bodkins of Polly's work-basket. +Then Toogood and Mrs Toogood entered the room together, and the lovers +were able to be alone again during the general greetings with which +Johnny was welcomed. + +'You don't know the Silverbridge people--do you?' asked Mr Toogood. +Eames said that he did not. He had been at Silverbridge more than once, +but did not know very much of the Silverbridgians. 'Because Walker is +coming here to dine here. Walker is the leading man in Silverbridge.' + +'And what is Walker;--besides being the leading man in Silverbridge?' + +'He's a lawyer. Walker and Winthrop. Everybody knows Walker in +Barsetshire. I've been down at Barchester since I saw you.' + +'Have you indeed?' said Johnny. + +'And I'll tell you what I've been about. You know Mr Crawley; don't +you?' + +'The Hogglestock clergyman that has come to grief? I don't know him +personally. He's a sort of cousin by marriage, you know.' + +'Of course he is,' said Toogood. 'His wife is my first-cousin, and your +mother's first cousin. He came here to me the other day;--or rather to +the shop. I had never seen the man before in my life, and a very queer +fellow he is too. He came to me about this trouble of his, and of course +I must do what I can for him. I got myself introduced to Walker, who has +the management of the prosecution, and I asked him to come and dine +tonight.' + +'And what sort of fellow did you find Crawley, Uncle Tom?' + +'Such a queer fish;--so unlike anybody else in the world.' + +'But I suppose he did take the money,' said Johnny. + +'I don't know what to say about it. I don't indeed. If he took it he +didn't mean to steal it. I'm as sure that man didn't mean to steal +twenty pounds as I ever could be of anything. Perhaps I shall get +something about it out of Walker after dinner.' Then Mr Walker entered +the room. 'This is very kind of you, Mr Walker; very indeed. I take it +quite as a compliment, your coming in in this sort of way. It's just pot +luck, you know, and nothing else.' Mr Walker of course assured his host +that he was delighted. 'Just a leg of mutton and a bottle of old port, +Mr Walker,' continued Toogood. 'We never get beyond that in the way of +dinner-giving; do, we, Maria?' + +But Maria was at this moment descanting on the good luck of the family +to her nephew--and on one special piece of good luck which had just +occurred. Mr Summerkin's maiden aunt had declared her intention of +giving up the fortune to the young people at once. She had enough to +live upon, she said, and would therefore make two lovers happy. 'And +they're to be married on the first day of May,' said Lucy--that Lucy of +whom her father had boasted to Mr Crawley that she knew Byron by +heart--'and won't that be jolly? Mamma is going out to look for a house +for them tomorrow. Fancy Polly with a house of her own! Won't it be +stunning? I wish you were going to be married too, Johnny.' + +'Don't be a fool, Lucy.' + +'Of course I know that you are in love. I hope you are not going to +give over being in love, Johnny, because it is such fun.' + +'Wait till you've caught yourself, my girl.' + +'I don't mean to be caught till some great swell comes this way. And as +great swells never do come to Tavistock Square, I shan't have a chance. +I'll tell you what I would like; I'd like to have a Corsair--or else a +Giaour;--I think a Giaour would be nicest. Only a Giaour wouldn't be a +Giaour here, you know. Fancy a lover "who thundering comes on blackest +steed, With slackened bit and hoof of speed." Were not those days to +live in! But all that is over now, you know, and young people take +houses in Woburn Place, instead of being locked up, or drowned, or +married to a hideous monster behind a veil. I suppose it's better as it +is, for some reasons.' + +'I think it must be more jolly, as you call it, Lucy.' + +'I'm not quite sure. I know I'd go back and be Medora, if I could. +Mamma is always telling Polly that she must be careful about William's +dinner. But Conrad didn't care for his dinner. "Light toil! to cull and +dress my frugal fare! See, I have plucked the fruit that promised +best."' + +'And how often do you think Conrad got drunk?' + +'I don't think he got drunk at all. There is no reason why he should +any more than William. Come along, and take me down to dinner. After +all, papa's leg of mutton is better than Medora's apples, when one is as +hungry as I am.' + +The leg of mutton on this occasion consisted of soup, fish, and a bit of +roast beef, and a couple of boiled fowls. 'If I had only two children +instead of twelve,' Mr Walker,' said the host, 'I'd give you a dinner a +la Russe.' + +'I don't begrudge Mrs Toogood a single arrow in her quiver on that +score,' said Mr Walker. + +'People are getting to be so luxurious that one can't live up to them at +all,' said Mrs Toogood. 'We dined out here with some newcomers in the +square only last week. We had asked them before, and they came quite in +a quiet way--just like this; and when we got there we found they'd four +kinds of ices after dinner!' + +'And not a morsel of food on the table fit to eat,' said Toogood. 'I +never was so poisoned in my life. As for soup--it was just the washings +of the pastrycook's kettle next door.' + +'And how is one to live with such people, Mr Walker?' continued Mrs +Toogood. 'Of course we can't ask them back again. We can't give them +four kinds of ices.' + +'But would that be necessary? Perhaps they haven't got twelve +children.' + +'They haven't got any at all,' said Toogood, triumphing; 'not a chick +belonging to them. But you see one must do as other people do. I hate +anything grand. I wouldn't want more than this for myself, if bank-notes +were as plenty as curl-papers.' + +'Nobody has any curl-papers now, papa,' said Lucy. + +'But I can't bear to be outdone,' said Mr Toogood. 'I think it's very +unpleasant--people living in that sort of way. It's all very well +telling me that I needn't live so too;--and of course I don't. I can't +afford to have four men in from the confectioner's dressed a sight +better than myself, at ten shillings a head. I can't afford it, and I +don't do it. But the worst of it is that I suffer because other people +do it. It stands to reason that I must either be driven along with the +crowd, or else be left behind. Now, I don't like either. And what's the +end of it? Why I'm half carried away and half left behind.' + +'Upon my word, papa, I don't think you're carried away at all, said +Lucy. + +'Yes, I am; and I'm ashamed of myself. Mr Walker, I don't dare to ask +you to drink a glass of wine with me in my own house--that's what I +don't--because it's the proper thing for you to wait till somebody +brings it to you, and then drink it by yourself. There is no knowing +whether I mightn't offend you.' And Mr Toogood as he spoke grasped the +decanter at his elbow. Mr Walker grasped another at his elbow, and the +two attorneys took their glass of wine together. + +'A very queer case this is of my cousin Crawley's,' said Toogood to +Walker, when the ladies had left the dining-room. + +'A most distressing case. I never knew anything so much talked of in +our part of the country.' + +'He can't have been a popular man, I should say.' + +'No; not popular--not in the ordinary way;--anything but that. Nobody +knew him personally before this matter came up.' + +'But a good clergyman, probably? I'm interested in the case, of course +as his wife is my first-cousin. You will understand, however, that I +know nothing of him. My father tried to be civil to him once, but +Crawley wouldn't have it at all. We all thought he was mad then. I +suppose he has done his duty in his parish?' + +'He has quarrelled with the bishop, you know,--out and out.' + +'Has he, indeed? But I'm not sure that I think very much about bishops, +Walker.' + +'That depends very much on the particular bishop. Some people say ours +isn't all that a bishop ought to be, while others are very fond of him.' + +'And Mr Crawley belongs to the former set, that's all?' said Mr Toogood. + +'No, Mr Toogood; that isn't all. The worst of your cousin is that he +has an aptitude to quarrel with everybody. He is one of those men who +always think themselves to be ill-used. Now our dean, Dr Arabin, has +been his very old friend--and as far as I can learn, a very good friend; +but it seems that Mr Crawley has done his best to quarrel with him too.' + +'He spoke of the dean in the highest terms to me.' + +'He may do that--and yet quarrel with him. He'd quarrel with his own +right hand, if he nothing else to quarrel with. That makes the +difficulty, you see. He'll take nobody's advice. He thinks we're all +against him.' + +'I suppose the world has been heavy on him, Mr Walker?' + +'The world has been very heavy on him,' said John Eames, who had now +been left free to join the conversation, Mr Summerkin having gone away +to his lady-love. 'You must not judge him as you do other men.' + +'That is just it,' said Mr Walker. 'And to what result will that bring +us?' + +'That we ought to stretch a point in his favour,' said Toogood. + +'But why?' asked the attorney from Silverbridge. 'What do we mean when +we say that one man isn't to be trusted as another? We simply imply that +he is not what we call responsible.' + +'And I don't think Mr Crawley is responsible,' said Johnny. + +'Then how can he be fit to have charge of a parish?' said Mr Walker. +'You see where the difficulty is. How it embarrasses one all round. The +amount of evidence as to the cheque is, I think, sufficient to get a +verdict in an ordinary case, and the Crown has no alternative but so to +treat it. Then his friends come forward--and from sympathy with his +sufferings, I desire to be ranked among the number--and say, 'Ah, but +you should spare this man, because he is not responsible.' Were he one +who filled no position requiring special responsibility, that might be +very well. His friends might undertake to look after him, and the +prosecution might perhaps be smothered. But Mr Crawley holds a living, +and if he escape he will be triumphant--especially triumphant over the +bishop. Now, if he has really taken this money, and if his only excuse +be that he did not know when he took it whether he was stealing or +whether he was not--for the sake of justice that ought not to be +allowed.' + +'You think he certainly did steal the money?' said Johnny. + +'You have heard the evidence, no doubt?' said Mr Walker. + +'I don't feel quite sure about it, yet,' said Mr Toogood. + +'Quite sure of what?' said Mr Walker. + +'That the cheque got dropped in his house.' + +'It was at any rate traced to his hands.' + +'I have no doubt about that,' said Toogood. + +'And he can't account for it,' said Walker. + +'A man isn't bound to show where he got his money,' said Johnny. +'Suppose that sovereign is marked,' and Johnny produced a coin from his +pocket, 'and I don't know but what it is; and suppose it is proved to +have belonged to someone who lost it, and then to be traced to my own +hands--how am I to say where I got it? If I were asked I should simply +decline to answer.' + +'But a cheque is not a sovereign, Mr Eames,' said Walker. 'It is +presumed that a man can account for the possession of a cheque. It may +be that a man should have a cheque in his possession and not be able to +account for it, and should yet be open to no grave suspicion. In such a +case a jury has to judge. Here is the fact: that Mr Crawley has the +cheque, and brings it in to use some considerable time after it is +drawn; and the additional fact that the drawer of the cheque had lost +it, as he thought, in Mr Crawley's house, and had looked for it there, +soon after it was drawn, and long before it was paid. A jury must judge; +but, as a lawyer, I should say that the burden of disproof lies with Mr +Crawley.' + +'Did you find out anything, Mr Walker,' said Toogood, 'about the man who +drove Mr Soames that day?' + +'No--nothing.' + +'The trap was from "The Dragon" at Barchester, I think?' + +'Yes--from "The Dragon of Wantly".' + +'A respectable sort of house?' + +'Pretty well for that, I believe. I've heard that the people are poor,' +said Walker. + +'Somebody told me that they'd had a queer lot about the house, and that +three or four of them left just then. I think I heard that two or three +men from the place went to New Zealand together. It just came out in +conversation while I was in the inn-yard.' + +'I have never heard anything of it,' said Walker. + +'I don't say that it can help us.' + +'I don't see that it can,' said Walker. + +After that there was a pause, and Mr Toogood pushed about the old port, +and made some very stinging remark as to the claret-drinking +propensities of the age. 'Gladstone claret the most of it is, I fancy,' +said Mr Toogood. 'I find that port wine which my father bought in the +wood five-and-twenty years ago is good enough for me.' Mr Walker said +that it was quite good enough for him, almost too good, and that he +thought that he had had enough of it. The host threatened another +bottle, and was up to draw the cork--rather to the satisfaction of John +Eames, who liked his uncle's port--but Mr Walker stopped him. 'Not a +drop more for me,' he said. 'You are quite sure?' 'Quite sure.' And Mr +Walker moved towards the door. + +'It's a great pity, Mr Walker,' said Toogood, going back to that old +subject, 'that the dean and his wife should be away.' + +'I understand that they both will be home before the trial,' said Mr +Walker. + +'Yes--but you know how very important it is to learn beforehand exactly +what your witnesses can prove and what they can't prove. And moreover, +though neither the dean nor his wife might perhaps be able to tell us +anything themselves, they might help to put us on the proper scent. I +think I'll send somebody after them. I think I will.' + +'It would be a heavy expense, Mr Toogood.' + +'Yes,' said Toogood mournfully, thinking of his twelve children; 'it +would be a heavy expense. But I never like to stick at a thing when it +ought to be done. I think I shall send a fellow after them.' + +'I'll go,' said Johnny. + +'How can you go?' + +'I'll make old Snuffle give me leave.' + +'But will that lessen the expense?' said Mr Walker. + +'Well, yes, I think it will,' said John, modestly. + +'My nephew is a rich man, Mr Walker,' said Mr Toogood. + +'That alters the case,' said Mr Walker. And thus, before they left the +dining-room, it was settled that John Eames should be taught his lesson +and should seek both Mrs Arabin and Dr Arabin on their travels. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +GRACE CRAWLEY AT HOME + +On the morning after his return from London, Mr Crawley showed symptoms +of great fatigue, and his wife implored him to remain in bed. But this +he would not do. He would get up, and go out down to the brickfields. He +has specially bound himself, he said, to see that the duties of the +parish should not suffer by being left in his hands. The bishop had +endeavoured to place them in other hands, but he had persisted in +retaining them. As had done so he could allow no weariness of his own to +interfere--and especially no weariness induced by labours undertaken on +his own behalf. The day in the week had come round on which it was his +wont to visit the brickmakers, and he would visit them. So he dragged +himself out of his bed and went forth amidst the cold storm of a harsh +wet March morning. His wife well knew when she heard his first word on +that morning that one of those terrible moods had come upon him which +made her doubt whether she ought to allow him to go anywhere alone. +Latterly there had been some improvement in his mental health. Since the +day of his encounter with the bishop and Mrs Proudie, though he had been +as stubborn as ever, he had been less apparently unhappy, less depressed +in spirits. And the journey to London had done him good. His wife had +congratulated herself on finding him able to set about his work like +another man, and he himself had experienced a renewal, if not of hope, +at any rate, of courage, which had given him a comfort which he had +recognised. His common-sense had not been very striking in his interview +with Mr Toogood, but yet he had talked more rationally then and had +given a better account of the matter in hand than could have been +expected from him for some weeks previously. But now the labour was +over, a reaction had come upon him, and he went away from his house +having hardly spoken a word to his wife after the speech which he made +about his duty to his parish. + +I think that at this time nobody saw clearly the working of his +mind--not even his wife, who studied it very closely, who gave him +credit for all his high qualities, and who had gradually learned to +acknowledge to herself that she must distrust his judgment in many +things. She knew that he was good, and yet weak, that he was afflicted +by false pride and supported by true pride, that his intellect was still +very bright, yet so dismally obscured on many sides as almost to justify +people in saying that he was mad. She knew that he was almost a saint, +and yet almost a castaway through vanity and hatred of those above him. +But she did not know that he knew all this of himself also. She did not +comprehend that he should be hourly telling himself that people were +calling him mad and were so calling him with truth. It did not occur to +her that he could see her insight into him. She doubted as to the way in +which he had got the cheque--never imagining, however, that he had +wilfully stolen it--thinking that his mind had been so much astray as to +admit of his finding it and using it without wilful guilt--thinking +also, alas, that a man who could so act was hardly fit for such duties +as those which were entrusted to him. But she did not dream that this +was precisely his own idea of his own state and of his own position; +--that he was always inquiring of himself whether he was not mad; +whether, if mad, he was not bound to lay down his office; that he was +ever taxing himself with improper hostility to the bishop--never +forgetting for a moment his wrath against the bishop and the bishop's +wife, still comforting himself to go to the palace and there humbly to +relinquish his clerical authority. Such a course of action he was +proposing to himself, but not with any realised idea that he would so +act. He was as a man who walks along a river's bank thinking of suicide, +calculating now best he might kill himself--whether the river does not +offer an opportunity too good to be neglected, telling himself that the +water is pleasant and cool, and that his ears would soon be deaf to the +harsh noises of the world--but yet knowing, or thinking that he knows, +that he never will kill himself. So it was with Mr Crawley. Though his +imagination pictured to himself the whole scene--how he would humble +himself to the ground as he acknowledged his unfitness, how he would +endure the small-voiced triumph of the little bishop, how, from the +abjectness of his own humility, even from the ground on which he would +be crouching, he would rebuke the loud-mouthed triumph of the bishop's +wife; though there was no touch wanting to the picture which he thus +drew--he did not really propose to himself to commit this professional +suicide. His wife, too, had considered whether it might be in truth +becoming that he should give up his clerical duties, at any rate for a +while; but she had never thought that the idea was present to his mind +also. + +Mr Toogood had told him that people would say that he was mad; and Mr +Toogood had looked at him, when he declared for the second time that he +had no knowledge whence the cheque had come to him, as though his words +were to be regarded as the words of some sick child; 'Mad!' he said to +himself, as he walked home from the station that night. 'Well; yes; and +what if I am mad? When I think of all that I have endured my wonder is +that I should not have been mad sooner.' And then he prayed--yes, +prayed, that in his madness the Devil might not be too strong for him, +and that he might be preserved from some terrible sin of murder or +violence. What, if the idea should come to him in his madness that it +would be well for him to slay his wife and his children? Only that was +wanting to make him of all men the most unfortunate. + +He went down among the brickmakers on the following morning, leaving the +house almost without a morsel of food, and he remained at Hoggle End for +the greater part of the day. There were sick persons there with whom he +prayed, and then he sat talking with rough men while they ate their +dinners, and he read passages from the Bible to women while they washed +their husband's clothes. And for a while he sat with a little girl in +his lap teaching the child her alphabet. If it were possible for him he +would do his duty. He would spare himself in nothing, though he might +suffer even to fainting. And on this occasion he did suffer--almost to +fainting, for as he returned home in the afternoon he was forced to lean +from time to time against the banks on the road-side, while the cold +sweat of weakness trickled down his face, in order that he might recover +strength to go on a few yards. But he would persevere. If God would but +leave to him mind enough for his work, he would go on. No personal +suffering should deter him. He told himself that there had been men in +the world whose sufferings were sharper even than his own. Of what sort +had been the life of the man who had stood for years at the top of a +pillar? But then the man on the pillar had been honoured by all around +him. And thus, though he had thought of the man on the pillar to +encourage himself be remembering how lamentable had been that man's +sufferings, he came to reflect that after all his own sufferings were +perhaps keener than those of the man on the pillar. + +When he reached home, he was very ill. There was no doubt about it +then. He staggered to his arm-chair, and stared at his wife first, and +then smiled at her with his ghastly smile. He trembled all over, and +when food was brought to him he could not eat it. Early on the next +morning the doctor was by his bedside, and before that evening came he +was delirious. He had been at intervals in this state for nearly two +days, when Mrs Crawley wrote to Grace, and though she had restrained +herself telling everything, she had written with sufficient strength to +bring Grace at once to her father's bedside. + +He was not so ill when Grace arrived home but that he knew her, and he +seemed to received some comfort from her coming. Before she had been in +the house an hour she was reading Greek to him, and there was no +wandering in his mind as to the due emphasis to be given to the plaints +of the injured heroines, or as to the proper meaning of the choruses. +And as he lay with his head half buried in the pillows, he shouted out +long passages, lines from tragic plays by the score, and for a while +seemed to have all the enjoyment of a dear old pleasure placed newly +within his reach. But he tired of this after a while, and then, having +looked round to see that his wife was not in the room, he began to talk +of himself. + +'So you have been to Allington, my dear?' + +'Yes, papa.' + +'Is it a pretty place?' + +'Yes, papa;--very pretty.' + +'And they were good to you?' + +'Yes, papa;--very good.' + +'Had they heard anything there about--me; of this trial that is to come +on?' + +'Yes, papa; they had heard of it.' + +'And what did they say? You need not think that you will shock me by +telling me. They cannot say worse there than people have said here or +think worse.' + +'They don't think at all badly of you at Allington, papa.' + +'But they must think badly of me if the magistrates are right.' + +'They suppose that there has been a mistake;--as we all think.' + +'They do not try men at the assizes for mistakes.' + +'That you have been mistaken, I mean;--and the magistrates mistaken.' + +'But cannot have been mistaken, Grace.' + +'I don't know how to explain myself, papa; but we all know that it is +very sad, and are quite sure that you have never meant for one moment to +do anything that is wrong.' + +'But people when they are--you know what I mean, Grace; when they are +not themselves--do things that are wrong without meaning it.' Then he +paused, while she remained standing by him with her hand on the back of +his. She was looking at his face, which had been turned towards her +while they were reading together, but which now was so far moved that +she knew that his eyes could not be fixed upon hers. 'Of course if the +bishop orders it, it shall be so,' he said. 'It is quite enough for me +that he is a bishop.' + +'What has the bishop ordered, papa?' + +'Nothing at all. It is she who does it. He has given me no opinion +about it. Of course not. He has none to give. It is the woman. You go +and tell her from me that in such a matter I will not obey the word of +any woman living. Go at once, when I tell you.' + +Then she knew that her father's mind was wandering, and she knelt down +by the bedside, still holding his hand. + +'Grace,' he said. + +'Yes, papa, I am here.' + +'Why do you not do what I tell you?' And he sat upright in his bed. 'I +suppose you are afraid of the woman.' + +'I should be afraid of her, dear papa.' + +'I was not afraid of her. When she spoke to me, I would have nothing to +say to her;--not a word;--not a word.' As he said this, he waved his +hands about. 'But as for him--if it must be, it must. I know I am not +fit for it. Of course I am not. Who is? But what has he ever done that +he should be dean? I beat him at everything; almost at everything. He +got the Newdigate, and that was about all. Upon my word I think that was +all.' + +'But Dr Arabin loves you truly, dear papa.' + +'Love me! psha! Does he ever come here to tea, as he used to do? No! +I remember buttering toast for him down on my knees before the fire, +because he liked it--and keeping all the cream for him. He should have +my heart's blood if he wanted it. But now;--look at his books, Grace. +It's the outside of them he cares for. They are all gilt, but I doubt if +he ever reads. As for her--I will not allow any woman to tell me my +duty. No;--but my Maker; not even your mother, who is the best of +women. And as for her, with her little husband dangling at her apron- +strings, as a call-whistle to be blown into when she pleases--that she +should dare to teach me my duty! No! The men in the jury-box may decide +how they will. If they can believe a plain story, let them! If not--let +them do as they please. I am ready to bear it all.' + +'Dear papa, you are tired. Will you not try to sleep?' + +'Tell Mrs Proudie what I say; and as for Arabin's money, I took it. I +know I took it. What would you have me do? Shall I--see them--all +starve?' Then he fell back upon his bed and did sleep. + +The next day he was better, and insisted upon getting out of bed, and on +sitting in his old arm-chair over the fire. And the Greek books were +again had out; and Grace, not at all unwillingly, was put through her +facings. 'If you don't take care, my dear,' he said, 'Jane will beat you +yet. She understands the force of the verbs better than you do.' + +'I am very glad that she is doing so well, papa. I am sure I shall not +begrudge her her superiority.' + +'Ah, but you should begrudge it her!' Jane was sitting by at the time, +and the two sisters were holding each other by the hand. 'Always to be +the best;--always to be in advance of others. That should be your +motto.' + +'But we can't both be best, papa,' said Jane. + +'You can both strive to be best. But Grace has the better voice. I +remember when I knew the whole of the "Antigone" by heart. You girls +should see which can learn it first.' + +'It would take such a long time,' said Jane. + +'You are wrong, and what can you do better with your leisure hours? Fie, +Jane! I did not expect it from you. When I was learning it I had eight +or nine pupils, and read an hour a day with each of them. But I think +that nobody works now as they used to work then. Where is your mamma? +Tell her I think I could get out as far as Mrs Cox's, if she would help +me dress.' Soon after this he was in bed again, and his head was +wandering; but still they knew that he was better than he had been. + +'You are more of a comfort to your papa than I can be,' said Mrs Crawley +to her eldest daughter that night as they sat together, when everybody +else was in bed. + +'Do not say that, mamma. Papa does not think so.' + +'I cannot read Greek plays to him as you can do. I can only nurse him +in his illness and endeavour to do my duty. Do you know, Grace, that it +I am beginning to fear that he half doubts me?' + +'Oh, mamma!' + +'That he half doubts me, and is half afraid of me. He does not think as +he used to do, that I am altogether, heart and soul, on his side. I can +see it in his eyes as he watches me. He thinks that I am tired of +him--tired of his sufferings, tired of his poverty, tired of the evil +which men say of him. I am not sure but what he thinks that I suspect +him.' + +'Of what, mamma?' + +'Of general unfitness for the work he has to do. The feeling is not +strong as yet, but I fear that he will teach himself to think that he +has an enemy at his hearth--not a friend. It will be the saddest mistake +he ever made.' + +'He told me today that you were the best of women. Those were his very +words.' + +'Were they, my dear? I am glad at least that he should say so to you. +He has been better since you came;--a great deal better. For one day I +was frightened; but I am very sorry now that I sent for you.' + +'I am so glad, mamma; so very glad.' + +'You were happy there--and comfortable. And if they were glad to have +you, why should I have brought you away?' + +'But I was not happy;--even though they were very good to me. How could +I be happy there when I was thinking of you and papa and Jane here at +home? Whatever there is here, I would sooner share it with you than be +anywhere else--while this trouble lasts.' + +'My darling!--it is a great comfort to see you again.' + +'Only that I knew that one less in the house would be a saving to you I +should not have gone. When there is unhappiness, people should stay +together;--shouldn't they, mamma?' They were sitting quite close to each +other, on an old sofa in a small upstairs room, from which a door opened +into the larger chamber in which Mr Crawley was lying. It had been +arranged between them that on this night Mrs Crawley should remain with +her husband, and that Grace should go to bed. It was now past one +o'clock, but she was still there, clinging to her mother's side, with +her mother's arm drawn round her. 'Mamma,' she said, when they had both +been silent for some ten minutes. 'I have got something to tell you.' + +'Tonight?' + +'Yes, mamma; tonight, if you will let me.' + +'But you promised that you would go to bed. You were up all last +night.' + +'I am not sleepy, mamma.' + +'Of course you shall tell me what you please, dearest. Is it a secret? +Is it something I am not to repeat?' + +'You must say how that ought to be, mamma. I shall not tell it to +anyone else.' + +'Well, dear?' + +'Sit comfortably, mamma;--there; like that, and let me have your hand. +It's a terrible story to have to tell.' + +'A terrible story, Grace?' + +'I mean that you must not draw away from me. I shall want to feel that +you are quite close to me. Mamma, while I was at Allington, Major +Grantly came there?' + +'Did he, my dear?' + +'Yes, mamma.' + +'Did he know them before?' + +'No, mamma; not at the Small House. But he came there--to see me. He +asked me--to be his wife. Don't move, mamma.' + +'My darling child! I won't move, dearest. Well; and what did you say +to him? God bless him, at any rate. May God bless him, because he has +seen with a true eye, and felt with a noble instinct. It is something, +Grace, to have been wooed by such a man at such a time.' + +'Mamma, it did make me feel proud; it did.' + +'You had known him well before--of course? I knew that you and he were +friends, Grace.' + +'Yes, we were friends. I always liked him. I used not to know what to +think about him. Miss Anne Prettyman told me that it would be so; and +once before I had thought so myself.' + +'And had you made up your mind what to say to him?' + +'Yes, I did then. But I did not say it.' + +'Did not say what you had made up your mind to say?' + +'That was before all this happened to papa.' + +'I understand you, dearest.' + +'When Miss Anne Prettyman told me that I should be ready with my answer, +and when I saw that Miss Prettyman herself used to let him come to the +house and seemed to wish that I should see him when he came, and when he +once was--so very gentle and kind, and when he said that he wanted me to +love Edith--Oh, mamma!' + +'Yes, darling, I know. Of course you loved him.' + +'Yes, mamma. And I do love him. How could one not love him?' + +'I love him--for loving you.' + +'But, mamma, one is bound not to do a harm to anyone that one loves. So +when he came to Allington I told him that I could not be his wife.' + +'Did you, my dear?' + +'Yes; I did. Was I not right? Ought I to go to him to bring a disgrace +upon all the family, just because he is so good that he asks me? Shall I +injure him because he wants to do me a service?' + +'If he loves you, Grace, the service he will require will be your love +in return.' + +'That is all very well, mamma--in books; but I do not believe it in +reality. Being in love is very nice, and in poetry they make it out to +be everything. But I do not think I should make Major Grantly happy if +when I became his wife his own father and mother would not see him. I +know I should be so wretched, myself, that I could not live.' + +'But would it be so?' + +'Yes;--I think it would. And the archdeacon is very rich, and can leave +all his money away from Major Grantly if he pleases. Think what I should +feel if I were the cause of Edith losing her fortune!' + +'But why do you suppose these terrible things?' + +'I have a reason for supposing them. This must be a secret. Miss Anne +Prettyman wrote to me.' + +'I wish Miss Anne Prettyman's hand had been in the fire.' + +'No, mamma; no, she was right. Would not I have wished, do you think, +to have learned all the truth about the matter before I answered him? +Besides, it made no difference. I could have made no other answer while +papa is under such a terrible ban. It is no time for us to think of +being in love. We have got to love each other. Isn't it so, mamma?' The +mother did not answer in words, but slipping down on her knees before +her child threw her arms found her girl's body in a close embrace. 'Dear +mamma; dearest mamma; this is what I wanted;--that you should love me.' + +'Love you, my angel!' + +'And trust me;--and that we should understand each other, and stand +close by each other. We can do so much to comfort one another;--but we +cannot comfort other people.' + +'He must know that best himself, Grace;--but what did he say more to +you?' + +'I don't think he said anything more.' + +'He just left you then?' + +'He said one thing more.' + +'And what was that?' + +'He said--but he had no right to say it.' + +'What was it, dear?' + +'That he knew that I loved him, and that therefore--But, mamma, do not +think of that. I will never be his wife--never, in opposition to his +family.' + +'But he did not take your answer?' + +'He must take it, mamma. He shall take it. If he can be stubborn, so +can I. If he knows how to think of me more than himself, I can think of +him and Edith more than of myself. That is not quite all, mamma. Then he +wrote to me. There is his letter.' + +Mrs Crawley read the letter. 'I suppose you answered it?' + +'Yes, I answered it. It was very bad, my letter. I should think after +all that he will never want to have anything more to say to me. I tried +for two days, but I could not write a nice letter.' + +'But what did you say?' + +'I don't in the least remember. It does not in the least signify now, +but it was such a bad letter.' + +'I daresay it was very nice.' + +'It was terribly stiff, and all about a gentleman.' + +'All about a gentleman! What do you mean, my dear?' + +'Gentleman is such a frightful word to have to use to a gentleman; but I +did not know what else to say. Mamma, if you please, we won't talk about +it;--not about the letter, I mean. As for him, I'll talk about him for +ever if you like it. I don't mean to be a bit broken-hearted.' + +'It seems to me that he is a gentleman.' + +'Yes, mamma, that he is; and it is that which makes me so proud. When I +think of it, I can hardly hold myself. But now I've told you everything, +and I'll go away, and go to bed.' + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +MR TOOGOOD TRAVELS PROFESSIONALLY + +Mr Toogood paid another visit to Barsetshire, in order that he might get +a little further information which he thought would be necessary before +despatching his nephew upon the traces of Dean Arabin and his wife. He +went down to Barchester after his work was over by an evening train, and +put himself up at 'The Dragon of Wantly', intending to have the whole of +the next day for his work. Mr Walker had asked him to come and take a +return potluck dinner with Mrs Walker at Silverbridge; and this he had +said that he would do. After having 'rummaged about for tidings' in +Barchester, as he called it, he would take the train for Silverbridge, +and would get back to town in time for business on the third day. 'One +day won't be much, you know,' he said to his partner, as he made half an +apology for absenting himself on business which was not to be in any +degree remunerative. 'That sort of thing is very well when one does it +without any expense' said Crump. 'So it is,' said Toogood; 'and the +expense won't make it any worse.' He had made up his mind, and it was +not probable that anything Mr Crump might say would deter him. + +He saw John Eames before he started. 'You'll be ready this day week, +will you?' John Eames promised that he would. 'It will cost you some +forty pounds, I should say. By George--if you have to go on to +Jerusalem, it will cost you more.' In answer to this, Johnny pleaded +that it would be as good as any other tour to him. He would see the +world. 'I'll tell you what,' said Toogood; 'I'll pay half. Only you +mustn't tell Crump. And it will be quite as well not to tell Maria.' But +Johnny would hear nothing of this scheme. He would pay the entire cost +of his own journey. He had lots of money, he said, and would like +nothing better. 'Then I'll run down,' said Toogood, 'and rummage up what +tidings I can. As for writing to the dean, what's the good of writing to +a man when you don't know where he is? Business letters always lie at +hotels for two months, and then come back with double postage. From all +I can hear, you'll stumble on her before you find him. If we do nothing +else but bring him back, it will be a great thing to have the support of +such a friend in the court. A Barchester jury won't like to find a man +guilty who is hand-and-glove with the dean.' + +Mr Toogood reached the 'Dragon' about eleven o'clock, and allowed the +boots to give him a pair of slippers and a candlestick. But he would not +go to bed just at that moment. He would go into the coffee-room first, +and have a glass of hot brandy-and-water. So the hot brandy-and-water +was brought to him, and a cigar, and as he smoked and drank he conversed +with the waiter. The man was a waiter of the ancient class, a +grey-haired waiter, with seedy clothes, and a dirty towel under his arm; +not a dapper waiter, with black shiny hair, and dressed like a guest for +a dinner-party. There are two distinct classes of waiters, and as far +as I have been able to perceive, the special status of the waiter in +question cannot be decided by observation of the class of waiter to +which he belongs. In such a town as Barchester you may find the old +waiter with the dirty towel in the head inn, or in the second-class inn, +and so you may the dapper waiter. Or you may find both in each and not +know which is senior waiter and which junior waiter. But for service I +always prefer the old waiter with the dirty towel, and I find it more +easy to satisfy him in the matter of sixpence when my relations with the +inn come to an end. + +'Have you been here long, John,' said Mr Toogood. + +'A goodish many years, sir.' + +'So I thought, by the look of you. One can see that you belong in a way +to the place. You do a good deal of business here, I suppose, at this +time of the year?' + +'Well, sir, pretty fair. The house ain't what it used to be sir.' + +'Times are bad at Barchester--are they?' + +'I don't know much about the times. It's the people is worse than the +times, I think. They used to like to have a little bit of dinner now and +again at a hotel;--and a drop of something to drink after it.' + +'And don't they like it now?' + +'I think they like it well enough, but they don't do it. I suppose it's +their wives as don't let 'em come out and enjoy themselves. There used +to be the Goose and Glee club;--that was once a month. They've gone and +clean done away with themselves--that club has. There's old Bumpter in +the High Street--he's the last of the old Geese. They died off, you see, +and when Mr Biddle died they wouldn't choose another president. A club +for having dinner, sir, ain't nothing without a president.' + +'I suppose not.' + +'And there's the Freemasons. They must meet, you know, sir, in course, +because of the dooties. But if you'll believe me, sir, they don't so +much as wet their whistles. They don't indeed. It always used to be a +supper, and that was once a month. Now they pays a rent for the use of +the room! Who is to get a living out of that, sir?--not in the way of a +waiter, that is.' + +'If that's the way things are going on I suppose the servants leave +their places pretty often?' + +'I don't know about that, sir. A man may do a deal worse than "The +Dragon of Wantly". Them as goes away to better themselves, often worses +themselves, as I call it. I've seen a good deal of that.' + +'And you stick to the old shop?' + +'Yes, sir; I've been here fifteen years, I think it is. There's a many +goes away, as doesn't go out of their heads, you know, sir.' + +'They get the sack, you mean?' + +'There's words between them and master--or more likely, missus. That's +where it is. Servants is so foolish. I often tell 'em how wrong folks +are to say that soft words butter no parsnips, and hard words break no +bones.' + +'I think you've lost some of the old hands here since this time last +year, John?' + +'You knows the house then, sir?' + +'Well;--I've been here before.' + +'There was four of them sent, I think, it's just about twelve months +back, sir.' + +'There was a man in the yard I used to know, and last time I was down +here, I found that he was gone.' + +'There was one of 'em out of the yard, and two out of the house. Master +and them had got to very high words. There was poor Scuttle, who had +been post-boy at "The Compass" before he came here.' + +'He went away to New Zealand, didn't he?' + +'B'leve he did, sir; or to some foreign parts. And Anne, as was +under-chambermaid here; she went with him, fool as she was. They got +themselves married and went off, and he was well nigh as old as me. But +seems he'd saved a little money, and that goes a long way with any +girl.' + +'Was he the man who drove Mr Soames that day the cheque was lost?' Mr +Toogood asked this question perhaps a little too abruptly. At any rate +he obtained no answer to it. The waiter said he knew nothing about Mr +Soames, or the cheque, and the lawyer, suspecting that the waiter was +suspecting him, finished his brandy-and-water and went to bed. + +Early on the following morning he observed that he was specially +regarded by a shabby-looking man, dressed in black, but in a black suit +that was very old, with a red nose, whom he had seen in the hotel on the +preceding day; and he learned that this man was a cousin of the +landlord--one Dan Stringer--who acted as a clerk in the hotel bar. He +took an opportunity also of saying a word to Mr Stringer the +landlord--whom he found to be a somewhat forlorn and gouty individual, +seated on cushions in a little parlour behind the door. After breakfast +he went out, and having twice walked round the Cathedral close and +inspected the front of the palace and looked up at the windows of the +prebendaries' houses, he knocked at the door of the deanery. The dean +and Mrs Arabin were on the Continent he was told. Then he asked for Mr +Harding, having learned that Mr Harding was Mrs Arabin's father, and +that he lived at the deanery. Mr Harding was at home, but was not very +well, the servant said. Mr Toogood, however, persevered, sending up his +card, and saying that he wished to have a few minutes' conversation with +Mr Harding on very particular business. He wrote a word upon his card +before giving it to the servant--'about Mr Crawley'. In a few minutes he +was shown into the library, and had hardly time, while looking at the +shelves, to remember what Mr Crawley had said of his anger at the +beautiful buildings, before an old man, very thin and very pale, +shuffled into the room. He stooped a good deal, and his black clothes +were very loose about his shrunken limbs. He was not decrepit, nor did +he seem to be one who had advanced to extreme old age; but yet he +shuffled rather than walked, hardly raising his feet from the ground. Mr +Toogood, as he came forward to meet him, thought that he had never seen +a sweeter face. There was very much of melancholy in it, of that soft +sadness of age which seems to acknowledge, and in some sort to regret, +the waning oil of life; but the regret to be read in such faces has in +it nothing of the bitterness of grief; there is no repining that the end +has come, but simply a touch of sorrow that so much that is dear must be +left behind. Mr Harding shook hands with his visitor, and invited him to +sit down, and then seated himself, folding his hands together over his +knees, and he said a few words in a very low voice as to the absence of +his daughter and the dean. + +'I hope you will excuse my troubling you,' said Mr Toogood. + +'It is no trouble at all--if I could be of any use. I don't know +whether it is proper, but may I ask whether you call as--as--as a +friend of Mr Crawley's?' + +'Altogether as a friend, Mr Harding.' + +'I'm glad of that; though of course I am well aware that the gentlemen +engaged on the prosecution must do their duty. Still--I don't +know--somehow I would rather not hear of them speak of this poor +gentleman before the trial.' + +'You know Mr Crawley then?' + +'Very slightly--very slightly indeed. He is a gentleman not much given +to social habits, and has been but seldom here. But he is an old friend +whom my son-in-law loves dearly.' + +'I'm glad to hear you say that, Mr Harding. Perhaps before I go any +further, I ought to tell you that Mrs Crawley and I are first-cousins.' + +'Oh, indeed. Then you are a friend.' + +'I never saw him in my life till a few days ago. He is very queer, you +know--very queer indeed. I'm a lawyer, Mr Harding, practising in +London;--an attorney, that is. At each separate announcement Mr Harding +bowed, and when Toogood named his special branch of his profession Mr +Harding bowed lower than before, as though desirous of showing that he +had great respect for attorneys. 'And of course I'm anxious if only out +of respect for the family, that my wife's cousin should pull through +this little difficulty, if possible.' + +'And for the sake of the poor man himself too, and for his wife and +children;--and for the sake of the cloth.' + +'Exactly; taking it all together it's such a pity, you know. I think, +Mr Harding, he can hardly have intended to steal the money.' + +'I'm sure he did not.' + +'It's very hard to be sure of anybody, Mr Harding--very hard.' + +'I feel quite sure he did not. He has been a most pious, hardworking +clergyman. I cannot bring myself to think that he is guilty. What does +the Latin proverb say? "No one of a sudden becomes most base".' + +'But the temptation, Mr Harding, was very strong. He was awfully +badgered about his debts. That butcher at Silverbridge was playing the +mischief with him.' + +'All the butchers in Barsetshire could not make an honest man steal +money, and I think that Mr Crawley is an honest man. You'll excuse me +for being a little hot about one of my own order.' + +'Why, he's my cousin--or rather, my wife's. But the fact is, Mr +Harding, we must get hold of the dean as soon as possible; and I'm going +to send an gentleman after him.' + +'To send a gentleman after him?' said Mr Harding, almost in dismay. + +'Yes, I think that will be best.' + +'I'm afraid he'll have to go a long way, Mr Toogood.' + +'The dean, I'm told, is in Jerusalem.' + +'I'm afraid he is--or on his journey there. He's to be there for the +Easter week, and Sunday week will be Easter Sunday. But why should the +gentleman want to go to Jerusalem after the dean?' + +Then Mr Toogood explained as well as he was able that the dean might +have something to say on the subject which would serve Mr Crawley's +defence. 'We shouldn't leave any stone unturned,' said Mr Toogood. 'As +far as I can judge, Crawley still thinks--or half thinks--that he got +the cheque from your son-in-law.' Mr Harding shook his head sorrowfully. +'I'm not saying he did, you know,' continued Mr Toogood. 'I can't see +myself how it is possible;--but still, we ought not to leave any stone +unturned. And Mrs Arabin--can you tell me at all where we shall find +her?' + +'Has she anything to do with it, Mr Toogood?' + +'I can't quite say that she has, but it's just possible. As I said +before, Mr Harding, we mustn't leave a stone unturned. They're not +expected here till the end of April?' + +'About the twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth, I think.' + +'And the assizes are the twenty-eighth. The judges come into the city +on that day. It will be too late too wait till then. We must have our +defence ready, you know. Can you say where my friend will find Mrs +Arabin?' + +Mr Harding began nursing his knee, patting and being very tender to it, +as he sat mediating with his head on one side--meditating not so much as +to the nature of his answer as to that of the question. Could it be +necessary that any emissary from a lawyer's office should be sent after +his daughter? He did not like the idea of his Eleanor being disturbed by +questions as to a theft. Though she had been twice married and had a son +who was now nearly a man, still she was his Eleanor. But if it was +necessary on Mr Crawley's behalf, of course it must be done. 'Her last +address was at Paris, sir; but I think she gone on to Florence. She has +friends there, and she purposes to meet the dean at Venice on his +return.' Then Mr Harding turned to the table and wrote on a card his +daughter's address. + +'I suppose Mrs Arabin must have heard of this affair?' Said Mr Toogood. + +'She had not done so when she last wrote. I mentioned it to her the +other day, before I knew that she had left Paris. If my letters and her +sister's letters have been sent on to her, she must know by now.' + +Then Mr Toogood got up to take his leave. 'You will excuse me for +troubling you, I hope, Mr Harding.' + +'Oh, sir, pray do not mention that. It is no trouble, if one could be +of any service.' + +'One can always try to be of service. In these affairs so much is to be +done by rummaging about, as I always call it. There have been many +theatrical managers, you know, Mr Harding, who have usually made up the +pieces according to the dresses they have happened to have in their +wardrobes.' + +'Have there, indeed, now? I never should have thought of that.' + +'And we lawyers have to do the same thing.' + +'Not with your clothes, Mr Toogood?' + +'Not exactly with our clothes;--but with our information.' + +'I do not quite understand you, Mr Toogood.' + +'In preparing a defence we have to rummage about and get up what we can. +If we can't find anything that suits us exactly, we are obliged to use +what we do find as well as we can. I remember, when I was a young man, +an ostler was to be tried for stealing some oats in the Borough; and he +did steal them too, and sold them at a rag-shop regularly. The evidence +against was as plain as a pikestaff. All I could find out was that on a +certain day a horse had trod on a fellow's foot. So we put it to the +jury whether the man could walk as far as the rag-shop with a bag of +oats when he was dead lame;--and we got him off.' + +'Did you, though,' said Mr Harding. + +'Yes, we did.' + +'And he was guilty?' + +'He had been regularly at it for months.' + +'Dear, dear, dear! Wouldn't it have been better to have had him +punished for the fault--gently; so as to warn him of the consequences of +such doings?' + +'Our business was to get him off--and we got him off. It's my business +to get my cousin's husband off, if I can, and we must do it by hook or +by crook. It's a very difficult piece of work, because he won't let us +employ a barrister. However, I shall have one in the court and say +nothing to him about it at all. Good-bye, Mr Harding. As you say, it +would be thousand pities that a clergyman should be convicted of a +theft;--and one so well connected too.' + +Mr Harding, when he was left alone, began to turn the matter over in his +mind and to reflect whether the thousand pities of which Mr Toogood had +spoken appertained to the conviction of the criminal, or the doing of +the crime. 'If he did steal the money I suppose he ought to be punished, +let him be ever so much a clergyman,' said Mr Harding to himself. But +yet--how terrible it would be! Of clergymen convicted of fraud in London +he had often heard; but nothing of the kind had ever disgraced the +diocese to which he belonged since he had known it. He could not teach +himself to hope that Mr Crawley should be acquitted if Mr Crawley were +guilty;--but he could teach himself to believe that Mr Crawley was +innocent. Something of a doubt had crept across his mind as he talked to +the lawyer. Mr Toogood, though Mrs Crawley was his cousin, seemed to +believe that the money had been stolen; and Mr Toogood as a lawyer ought +to understand such matters better than an old secluded clergyman in +Barchester. But, nevertheless, Mr Toogood might be wrong; and Mr Harding +succeeded in satisfying himself at last that he could not be doing harm +in thinking Mr Toogood was wrong. When he had made up his mind on this +matter he sat down and wrote the following letter, which he addressed to +his daughter at the post-office in Florence:- + +'DEANERY--, March, 186- +'DEAREST NELLY, +'When I wrote on Tuesday I told you about poor Mr Crawley, +that he was a clergyman in Barsetshire of whose misfortune +you read an account in Galignani's Messenger--and I think +Susan must have written about it also, because everybody +here is talking of nothing else, and because, of course, we +know how strong a regard the dean has for Mr Crawley. But +since that something has occurred which makes me write to +you again--at once. A gentleman has just been here, and has +indeed only this moment left me, who tells me that he is an +attorney in London, and that he is nearly related to Mrs +Crawley. He seems to be a very good-natured man, and I +daresay he understands his business as a lawyer. His name is +Toogood, and he has come down as he says to get evidence to +help the poor gentleman on his trial. I cannot understand +how this should be necessary, because it seems to me that +the evidence should all be wanted on the other side. I +cannot for a moment suppose that a clergyman and a gentleman +such as Mr Crawley should have stolen money, and if he is +innocent I cannot understand why all this trouble should be +necessary to prevent a jury from finding him guilty. + +'Mr Toogood came here because he wanted to see the dean--and +you also. He did not explain, as far as I can remember, why +he wanted to see you; but he said it would be necessary, and +that he was going to send off a messenger to find you first, +and the dean afterwards. It has something to do with the +money which was given to Mr Crawley last year, and which, if +I remember right, was your present. But of course Mr Toogood +could not have known anything about that. However, I gave +him the address--poste restante, Florence--and I daresay +that somebody will make you out before long, if you are +still stopping in Florence. I did not like letting him go +without telling you about it, as I thought that a lawyer's +coming to you would startle you. + +'The bairns are quite well, as I told you in my other +letter, and Miss Jones says that little Elly is as good as +gold. They are with me every morning and evening, and behave +little darling angels, as they are. Posy is my own little +jewel always. You may be quite sure I do nothing to spoil +them.--God bless you, dearest Nelly, Your most affectionate +father, +'SEPTIMUS HARDING' + +After this he wrote another letter to his other daughter, Mrs Grantly, +telling her also of Mr Toogood's visit; and then he spent the remainder +of the day thinking over the gravity of the occurrence. How terrible it +would be if a beneficed clergyman in the diocese should really be found +guilty of theft by a jury from the city! And then he had always heard so +high a character of this man from his son-in-law. No--it was impossible +to believe that Mr Crawley had in truth stolen a cheque for twenty +pounds! + +Mr Toogood could get no further information in Barchester, and went on +to Silverbridge early in the afternoon. He was half disposed to go by +Hogglestock and look up his cousin, whom he had never seen, and his +cousin's husband, upon whose business he was now intent; but on +reflection he feared that he might do more harm than good. He had quite +appreciated the fact that Mr Crawley was not like other men. 'The man's +not above half-saved,' he had said to his wife--meaning thereby to +insinuate that the poor clergyman was not in full possession of his +wits. And, to tell the truth of Mr Toogood, he was a little afraid of +his relative. There was something in Mr Crawley's manner, in spite of +his declared poverty, and in spite also of his extreme humility, which +seemed to announce that he expected to be obeyed when he spoke on any +point with authority. Mr Toogood had not forgotten the tone in which Mr +Crawley had said to him, 'Sir, this is a thing you cannot do.' And he +thought that, upon the whole, he had better not go to Hogglestock on +this occasion. + +When at Silverbridge, he began at once to 'rummage about'. His chief +rummaging was to be done at Mr Walker's table; but before dinner he had +time to call upon the magistrate's clerk, and ask a few questions as to +the proceedings at the sitting from which Mr Crawley was committed. He +found a very taciturn old man, who was nearly as difficult to deal with +in any rummaging process as a porcupine. But, nevertheless, at last he +reached a state of conversation which was not absolutely hostile. Mr +Toogood pleaded that he was the poor man's cousin--pleaded that, as the +family lawyer, he was naturally the poor man's protector at such a time +as the present--pleaded also that as the poor man was so very poor, no +one else could come forward on his behalf--and in this way somewhat +softened the hard sharpness of the old porcupine's quills. But after all +this, there was very little to be learned from the old porcupine. 'There +was not a magistrate on the bench,' he said, 'who had any doubt that the +evidence was sufficient to justify them in sending the case to the +assizes. They had all regretted,'--and the porcupine said in his softest +moment--'that the gentleman had come there without a legal adviser.' +'Ah, that's been the mischief of it all!' said Mr Toogood, dashing his +hand against the porcupine's mahogany table. 'But the facts are so +strong, Mr Toogood!' 'Nobody there to soften 'em down, you know,' said +Mr Toogood, shaking his head. Very little more than this was learned +from the porcupine; and then Mr Toogood went away, and prepared for Mr +Walker's dinner. + +Mr Walker had invited Dr Tempest and Miss Anne Prettyman and Major +Grantly to meet Mr Toogood, and had explained, in a manner intended to +be half earnest and half jocose, that though Mr Toogood was an attorney, +like himself, and was at this moment engaged in a noble way on behalf of +his cousin's husband, without any idea of receiving back even the money +which he would be out of pocket, still he wasn't quite--not quite, you +know--'not quite so much of a gentleman as I am'--Mr Walker would have +said, had he spoken out freely that which he insinuated. But he +contented himself with the emphasis he put upon the 'not quite', which +expressed his meaning fully. And Mr Walker was correct in his opinion of +Mr Toogood. As regards the two attorneys I will not venture to say that +either of them was not a 'perfect gentleman'. A perfect gentleman is a +thing which I cannot define. But undoubtedly Mr Walker was a bigger man +in his way than was Mr Toogood in his, and did habitually consort in the +county of Barsetshire with men of higher standing than those with whom +Mr Toogood associated in London. + +It seemed to be understood that Mr Crawley was to be the general subject +of conversation, and no one attempted to talk about anything else. +Indeed, at this time, very little else was talked about in that part of +the county;--not only because of the interest naturally attaching to the +question of the suspected guilt of a parish clergyman, but because much +had become lately known of Mr Crawley's character, and because it was +known also that an internecine feud had arisen between him and the +bishop. It had undoubtedly become the general opinion that Mr Crawley +had picked up and had used a cheque which was not his own;--that he had, +in fact, stolen it; but there was, in spite of that belief, a general +wish that he might be acquitted and left in his living. And when the +tidings of Mr Crawley's victory over the bishop at the palace had become +bruited about, popular sympathy went with the victor. The theft was, as +it were, condoned, and people made excuses which were not always +rational, but which were founded on the instincts of true humanity. And +now the tidings of another stage in the battle, as fought against Mr +Crawley by the bishop, had gone forth through the county, and men had +heard that the rural dean was to be instructed to make inquiries which +should be preliminary to proceedings against Mr Crawley in an +ecclesiastical court. Dr Tempest, who was now about to meet Mr Toogood +at Mr Walker's, was the rural dean to whom Mr Crawley would have to +submit himself in any such inquiry; but Dr Tempest had not as yet +received from the bishop any official order on the subject. + +'We are so delighted to think that you have taken up your cousin's +case,' said Mrs Walker to Mr Toogood in almost a whisper. + +'He is not just my cousin, himself,' said Mr Toogood, 'but of course +it's all the same thing. And as to taking up his case, you see, my dear +madam, he won't let me take it up.' + +'I thought you had. I thought you were down here about it.' + +'Only on the sly, Mrs Walker. He has such queer ideas that he will not +allow a lawyer to be properly employed; and you can't conceive how hard +that makes it. Do you know him, Mrs Walker?' + +'We know his daughter Grace.' And then Mrs Walker whispered something +further, which we may presume to have been in intimation that the +gentleman opposite--Major Grantly--was supposed by some people to be +very fond of Miss Grace Crawley. + +'Quite a child, isn't she?' said Toogood, whose own daughter, now about +to be married, was three or four years older than Grace. + +'She's beyond being a child, I think. Of course she is young.' + +'But I suppose this affair will knock all that on the head,' said the +lawyer. + +'I do not know how that may be; but they do say he is very much attached +to her. The major is a man of family, and of course it would be very +disagreeable if Mr Crawley were found guilty.' + +'Very disagreeable indeed; but, upon my word, Mrs Walker, I don't know +what to say about it.' + +'You think it will go against him, Mr Toogood?' Mr Toogood shook his +head, and seeing this, Mrs Walker sighed deeply. + +'I can only say that I have nothing from the bishop as yet,' said Dr +Tempest, after the ladies had left the room. 'Of course, if he thinks +well to order it, the inquiry will be made.' + +'But how long would it take?' asked Mr Walker. + +'Three months, I should think--or perhaps more. Of course Crawley would +do all that he could to delay us, and I am not at all sure that we +should be in any great hurry ourselves.' + +'Who are "we", doctor?' said Mr Walker. + +'I cannot make such an inquiry by myself, you know. I suppose the +bishop would ask me to select two or three other clergymen to act with +me. That's the usual way of doing it. But you may be quite sure of this, +Walker; the assizes will be over, and the jury have found their verdict +long before we have settled our preliminaries.' + +'And what will the be the good of your going on after that?' + +'Only this good:--if the unfortunate man be convicted--' + +'Which he won't' said Toogood, who thought it expedient to put on a +bolder front in talking of the matter to the rural dean, than he had +assumed in his whispered conversation with Mrs Walker. + +'I hope not, with all my heart,' said the doctor. 'But, perhaps, for +the sake of the argument, the supposition may be allowed to pass.' + +'Certainly, sir,' said Mr Toogood. 'For the sake of the argument, it +may pass.' + +'If he be convicted, then, I suppose, there will be an end of the +question. He would be sentenced for not less, I should say, than twelve +months; and after that--' + +'And would be as good a parson of Hogglestock when he came out of prison +as when he went in,' said Mr Walker. 'The conviction and judgment in a +civil court would not touch his temporality.' + +'Certainly not,' said Mr Toogood. + +'Of course not,' said the doctor. 'We all know that; and in the event +of Mr Crawley coming back to his parish it would be open to the bishop +to raise the question as to his fitness for the duties.' + +'Why shouldn't he be as fit as anyone else?' said Mr Toogood. + +'Simply because he would have been found guilty to be a thief,' said the +doctor. 'You must excuse me, Mr Toogood, but it's only for the sake of +the argument.' + +'I don't see what that has to do with it,' said Mr Toogood. 'He would +have undergone his penalty.' + +'It is preferable that a man who preaches from a pulpit should not have +undergone such a penalty,' said the doctor. 'But, in practice, under +such circumstances--which we none of us anticipate, Mr Toogood--the +living should no doubt be vacated. Mr Crawley would probably hardly wish +to come back. The jury will do their work before we can do ours--will do +it on much better base than any we can have; and, when they have done +it, the thing ought to be finished. If the jury acquit him, the bishop +cannot proceed any further. If he be found guilty, I think that the +resignation of the living must follow.' + +'It is all spite, then, on the bishop's part?' said the major. + +'Not at all,' said the doctor. 'The poor man is weak; that is all. He +is driven to persecute because he cannot escape persecution himself. But +it may really be a question whether his present proceeding is not right. +If I were a bishop I should wait till the trial was over; that is all.' + +From this and from much more that was said during the evening on the +same subject, Mr Toogood gradually learned the position which Mr Crawley +and the question of Mr Crawley's guilt really held in the county, and he +returned to town resolved to go on with the case. + +'I'll have a barrister down express, and I'll defend him in his own +teeth,' he said to his wife. 'There'll be a scene in court, I daresay, +and the man will call upon his own counsel to hold his tongue and shut +up his brief; and, as far as I can see, counsel in such a case would +have no alternative. But there would come an explanation--how Crawley +was too honourable to employ a man whom he could not pay, and there +would be a romance, and it would all go down with the jury. One wants +sympathy in such a case as that--not evidence.' + +'And how much will it cost, Tom?' said Maria, dolefully. + +'Only a trifle. We won't think of that yet. There's John Eames is +going all the way to Jerusalem, out of his pocket.' + +'But Johnny hasn't got twelve children, Tom.' + +'One doesn't have a cousin in trouble every day,' said Toogood. 'And +then you see there's something very pretty in this case. It's quite a +pleasure getting it up.' + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +MR CROSBIE GOES INTO THE CITY + +'I've known the City now for more than ten years, Mr Crosbie, and I +never knew money to be so tight as it is at the moment. The best +commercial bills going can't be done under nine, and any other kind of +paper can't so much as get itself looked at.' Thus spoke Mr Musselboro. +He was seated in Dobbs Broughton's arm-chair in Dobbs Broughton's room +in Hook Court, on the hind legs of which he was balancing himself +comfortably; and he was communicating his experience in City matters to +our old friend Adolphus Crosbie--of whom we may surmise that he would +not have been there, at that moment, in Hook Court, if things had been +going well with him. It was now past eleven o'clock, and he should have +been at his office at the West End. His position in his office was no +doubt high enough to place him beyond the reach of any special inquiry +as to such absences; but it is generally felt that when the Crosbies of +the West End have calls into the City about noon, things in the world +are not going well with them. The man who goes into the City to look for +money is generally one who does not know where to get the money when he +wants it. Mr Musselboro on this occasion kept his hat on his head, and +there was something in the way in which he balanced his chair which was +in itself an offence to Mr Crosbie's personal dignity. It was hardly as +yet two months since Mr Dobbs Broughton had assured him in that very +room that there need not be the slightest anxiety about his bill. Of +course it could be renewed--the commission being duly paid. As Mr Dobbs +Broughton explained on that occasion, that was his business. There was +nothing he liked so much as renewing bills for such customers as Mr +Crosbie; and he was very candid at that meeting, explaining how he did +this branch of his business, raising money on his own credit at four or +five per cent., and lending it on his own judgment at eight or nine. Mr +Crosbie did not feel himself then called upon to exclaim that what he +was called upon to pay was about twelve, perfectly understanding the +comfort and grace of euphony; but he had turned it over in his mind, +considering whether twelve per cent. was not more than ought to be +mulcted for the accommodation he wanted. Now, at the moment, he would +have been glad to get it from Mr Musselboro, without further words, for +twenty. + +Things had much changed with Adolphus Crosbie when he was driven to make +morning visits to such a one as Mr Musselboro with the view of having a +bill renewed for two hundred and fifty pounds. In his early life he had +always had the merit of being a careful man as to money. In some other +respects he had gone astray very foolishly--as has been partly explained +in our earlier chapters; but up to the date of his marriage with Lady +Alexandrina De Courcy he had never had dealings in Hook Court or in any +such locality. Money troubles had then come upon him. Lady Alexandrina, +being the daughter of a countess, had high ideas; and when, very shortly +after his marriage, he had submitted to a separation from his noble +wife, he had found himself and his income to be tied up inextricably in +the hands of Mr Mortimer Gazebee, a lawyer who had married one of his +wife's sisters. It was not that Mr Gazebee was dishonest; nor did +Crosbie suspect him of dishonesty; but the lawyer was so wedded to the +interest of the noble family with which he was connected, that he worked +for them all as an inferior spider might be supposed to work, which, +from the infirmity of its nature, was compelled by instincts to be +catching flies for superior spiders. Mr Mortimer Gazebee had in this way +entangled Mr Crosbie in his web on behalf of those noble spiders, the De +Courcys, and our poor friend, in his endeavour to fight his way through +the web, had fallen into the hands of the Hook Court firm of Mrs Van +Siever, Dobbs Broughton, and Musselboro. + +'Mr Broughton told me when I was last here,' said Crosbie, 'that there +would be no difficulty about it.' + +'And it was renewed then; wasn't it?' + +'Of course it was--for two months. But he was speaking of a +continuation of renewal.' + +'I'm afraid we can't do it, Mr Crosbie. I'm afraid we can't, indeed. +Money is so awful tight.' + +'Of course I must pay what you choose to charge me.' + +'It isn't that, Mr Crosbie. The bill is out for collection, and must be +collected. In times like these we must draw ourselves in a little, you +know. Two hundred and fifty pounds isn't a great deal of money, you will +say; but every little helps, you know; and, besides, of course we go +upon a system. Business is business, and must not be made pleasure of. I +should have a great deal of pleasure in doing this for you, but it can't +be done in the way of business.' + +'When will Broughton be here?' + +'He may be in at any time--I can't say when. I suppose he's down at the +court now.' + +'What court?' + +'Capel Court.' + +'I suppose I can see him there?' said Crosbie. + +'If you catch him you can see him, of course. But what good will that +do you, Mr Crosbie? I tell you we can't do it for you. If Broughton was +here at this moment, it couldn't make the slightest difference.' + +Now Mr Crosbie had an idea that Mr Musselboro, though he sat in Dobbs +Broughton's seat and kept on his hat, and balanced his chair on two +legs, was in truth nothing more than a clerk. He did not quite +understand the manner in which the affairs of the establishment were +worked, though he had been informed that Mrs Van Siever was one of the +partners. That Dobbs Broughton was the managing man, who really did the +business, he was convinced; and he did not therefore like to be answered +peremptorily by such a one as Musselboro. 'I should wish to see Mr +Broughton,' he said. + +'You can call again--or you can go down to the court if you like it. +But you may take this as an answer from me that the bill can't be +renewed by us.' At this moment the door of the room was opened and Dobbs +Broughton himself came into it. His face was not at all pleasant, and +anyone might have seen with half an eye that the money-market was a +great deal tighter than he liked it to be. 'Here is Mr Crosbie +here--about his bill,' said Musselboro. + +'Mr Crosbie must take up his bill; that's all,' said Dobbs Broughton. + +'But it doesn't suit me to take it up,' said Crosbie. + +'Then you must take it up without suiting you,' said Dobbs Broughton. + +It might have been seen, I said, with half an eye, that Mr Broughton did +not like the state of the money-market; and it might also be seen with +the other half that he had been endeavouring to mitigate the bitterness +of his dislike by alcoholic aid. Musselboro at once perceived that his +patron and partner was half drunk, and Crosbie was aware that he had +been drinking. But, nevertheless, it was necessary that something more +should be said. The bill would be due tomorrow--was payable at Crosbie's +bankers; and, as Mr Crosbie too well knew, there were no funds there for +that purpose. And there were other purposes, very needful, for which Mr +Crosbie's funds were at the present moment unfortunately by no means +sufficient. He stood for a few moments thinking what he would +do;--whether he would leave the drunken man and his office and let the +bill take its chance or whether he would make one more effort for an +arrangement. He did not for a moment believe that Broughton himself was +subject to any pecuniary difficulty. Broughton lived in a big house, as +rich men live, and had a name for commercial success. It never occurred +to Crosbie that it was a matter of great moment to Dobbs Broughton +himself that the bill should be taken up. Crosbie still thought that +Musselboro was his special enemy, and that Broughton had joined +Musselboro in his hostility simply because he was too drunk to know +better. 'You might, at any rate, answer me civilly, Mr Broughton,' he +said. + +'I know nothing of civility with things as they are at present,' said +Broughton. 'Civil by----! There's nothing so civil as paying money when +you owe it. Musselboro, reach me down the decanter and some glasses. +Perhaps Mr Crosbie will wet his whistle.' + +'He don't want any wine--nor you either,' said Musselboro. + +'What's up now?' said Broughton, staggering across the room towards a +cupboard, in which it was his custom to keep a provision of that comfort +which he needed at the present moment. 'I suppose I may stand a glass of +wine to a fellow in my own room, if I like it.' + +'I will take no wine, thank you,' said Crosbie. + +'Then you can to do the other thing. When I ask a gentleman to take a +glass of wine, there is no compulsion. But about the bill there is +compulsion. Do you understand that? You may drink, or let it alone; but +pay you must. Why, Mussy, what d'ye think?--there's Carter, Ricketts +and Carter;--I'm blessed if Carter just now didn't beg for two months, +as though two months would be all the world to him, and that for a +trumpery five hundred pounds. I never saw money like it is now; never.' +To this appeal, Musselboro made no reply, not caring, perhaps, at the +present moment to sustain his partner. He still balanced himself in his +chair, and still kept his hat on his head. Even Mr Crosbie began to +perceive that Mr Musselboro's genius was in the ascendant in Hook Court. + +'I can hardly believe,' said Crosbie, 'that things can be so bad that I +cannot have a bill for two hundred and fifty pounds renewed when I am +willing to pay for the accommodation. I have not done much in the way of +bills, but I never had one dishonoured yet.' + +'Don't let this be the first,' said Dobbs Broughton. + +'Not if I can prevent it,' said Crosbie. 'But to tell you the truth, Mr +Broughton, my bill will be dishonoured unless I can have it renewed. If +it does not suit you to do it, I suppose you can recommend me to someone +who can make it convenient.' + +'Why don't you go to your bankers?' said Musselboro. + +'I never did ask my bankers for anything of the kind.' + +'Then you should try what your credit with them is worth,' said +Broughton. 'It isn't worth much here, as you can perceive, Mr Crosbie.' + +Crosbie, when he heard this, became very angry; and Musselboro, +perceiving this, got out of his chair, so that he might be in readiness +to prevent any violence, if violence were attempted. 'It really is no +good your staying here,' he said. 'You see that Broughton has been +drinking. There is no knowing what he may say or do.' + +'You be blowed,' said Broughton, who had taken the arm-chair as soon as +Musselboro had left it. + +'But you may believe me in the way of business,' continued Musselboro, +'when I tell you that it really does not suit us to renew the bill. +We're pressed ourselves, and we must press others.' + +'And who will do it for me?' said Crosbie, almost in despair. + +'There are Burton and Bangles there, the wine-merchants down in the +yard; perhaps they may accommodate you. It's all in their line; but I'm +told they charge uncommon dear.' + +'I don't know Messrs Burton and Bangles,' said Crosbie. + +'That needn't stand in your way. You tell them where you come from, and +they'll make inquiry. If they think it's about right, they'll give you +the money; and if they don't, they won't.' + +Mr Crosbie then left the office without exchanging another word with +Dobbs Broughton, and went down into Hook Court. As he descended the +stairs he turned over in his mind the propriety of going to Messrs +Burton and Bangles with the view of relieving himself from his present +difficulty. He knew that it was ruinous. Dealing even with such men as +Dobbs Broughton and Musselboro, whom he presumed to milder in their +greed than Burton and Bangles, were, all of them, steps on the road to +ruin. But what was he to do? If his bill were dishonoured, the fact +would certainly become known at his office, and he might even ultimately +be arrested. In the doorway at the bottom of the stairs he stood for +some moments, looking over at Burton and Bangles', and he did not at all +like the aspect of the establishment. Inside the office he could see a +man standing with a cigar in his mouth, very resplendent in his new +hat--with a hat remarkable for the bold upward curve of its rim, and +this man was copiously decorated with a chain and seals hanging about +widely over his waistcoat. He was leaning with his back against the +counter and was talking to someone on the other side of it. There was +something in the man's look and manner which was utterly repulsive to +Crosbie. He was more vulgar to the eye even than Musselboro, and his +voice, which Crosbie could hear as he stood in the other doorway, was +almost as detestable as that of Dobbs Broughton in his drunkenness. +Crosbie did not doubt that this was either Burton or Bangles, and that +the man standing inside was either Bangles or Burton. He could not bring +himself to accost these men and tell them of his necessities, and +propose to them that they should relieve him. In spite of what +Musselboro had just said to him, he could not believe it possible that +he should succeed, were he to do so without some introduction. So he +left Hook Court and went out into the lane, hearing as he went the loud +voice of the man with the turned-up hat and the chain. + +But what was he to do? At the outset of his pecuniary troubles, when he +first found it necessary to litigate some question with the De Courcy +people, and withstand the web which Mortimer Gazebee wove so +assiduously, his own attorney had introduced him to Dobbs Broughton, and +the assistance which he had needed had come to him, at any rate, without +trouble. He did not especially like Mr Broughton; and when Mr Broughton +first invited him to come and eat a little bit of dinner, he had told +himself with painful remorse that in his early days he had been +accustomed to eat his little bits of dinner with people of a different +kind. But there had been nothing really painful in this. Since his +marriage with a daughter of the De Courcys--by which marriage he had +intended to climb the highest pinnacle of social eating and drinking--he +had gradually found himself to be falling in the scale of such matters, +and could bring himself to dine with Dobbs Broughton without any violent +pain. But now he had fallen so low that Dobbs Broughton had insulted +him, and he was in such distress that he did not know where to turn for +ten pounds. Mr Gazebee had beaten him at litigation, and his own lawyer +had advised him that it would be foolish to try the matter further. In +his marriage with the noble daughter of the De Courcys he had allowed +the framers of the De Courcy settlement to tie him up in such a way that +now, even when chance had done so much for him in freeing him from his +wife, he was still bound to the De Courcy faction. Money had been paid +away--on his behalf, as alleged by Mr Gazebee--like running water; money +for furniture, money for the lease of a house, money when he had been +separated from his wife, money while she was still living abroad. It had +seemed to him that he had been made to pay for the entire support of the +female moiety of the De Courcy family which had settled itself at +Baden-Baden, from the day, and in some respects from before the day, on +which his wife had joined that moiety. He had done all in his power to +struggle against these payments, but every such struggle had only cost +him more money. Mr Gazebee had written to him the most civil notes; but +every note seemed to cost him money--every word of each note seemed to +find its way into some bill. His wife had died and her body had been +brought back, with all the pomp befitting the body of an earl's +daughter, that it might be laid with the De Courcy dust--at his expense. +The embalming of her dear remains had cost a wondrous sum, and was a +terrible blow upon him. All these items were showered upon him by Mr +Gazebee with the most courteously worded demands for settlement as soon +as convenient. And then, when he applied that Lady Alexandrina's small +fortune should be made over to him--according to a certain agreement +under which he had made over all his possessions to his wife, should she +have survived him--Mr Gazebee expressed a mild opinion that he was wrong +in his law, and blandly recommended an amicable lawsuit. The amicable +lawsuit carried on. His own lawyer seemed to throw him over. Mr Gazebee +was successful in everything. No money came to him. Money was demanded +from him on old scores and on new scores--and all that he received to +console him for what he had lost was a mourning ring with his wife's +hair--for which, with sundry other mourning rings, he had to pay--and an +introduction to Mr Dobbs Broughton. To Mr Dobbs Broughton he owed five +hundred pounds; and as regarded a bill for the one-half of that sum +which was due tomorrow, Mr Dobbs Broughton had refused to grant him +renewal for a single month! + +I know no more uncomfortable walking than that which falls to the lot of +men who go into the City to look for money, and who find none. Of all +the lost steps trodden by men, surely the steps lost after that fashion +are the most melancholy. It is not only that they are so vain, but that +they are accompanied by so killing a sense of shame! To wait about in +dingy rooms, which look on to bare walls, and are approached through +some Hook Court; or to keep appointments at a low coffee-house, to which +trystings the money-lender will not trouble himself to come unless it +pleases him; to be civil, almost suppliant, to a cunning knave whom the +borrower loathes; to be refused thrice, and then cheated with his eyes +open on the fourth attempt; to submit himself to vulgarity of the +foulest kind, and to have to seem to like it; to be badgered, reviled, +and at last accused of want of honesty by the most fraudulent of +mankind; and at the same time to be clearly conscious of the ruin that +is coming--this is the fate of him who goes into the City to find +money, not knowing where it is to be found! + +Crosbie went along the lane into Lombard Street, and then he stood still +for a moment to think. Though he knew a good deal of affairs in general, +he did not quite know what would happen to him of his bill should be +dishonoured. That somebody would bring it to him noted, and require him +instantly to put his hand into his pocket and bring out the amount of +the bill, plus the amount of certain expenses, he thought that he did +know. And he knew that were he in trade he would become a bankrupt; and +he was well aware that such an occurrence would prove him to be +insolvent. But he did not know what his creditors would immediately have +the power of doing. That the fact of the bill having been dishonoured +would reach the Board under which he served--and, therefore, also the +fact that he had had recourse to such bill transactions--this alone was +enough to fill him with dismay. In early life he had carried his head so +high, he had been so much more than a mere Government clerk, that the +idea of the coming disgrace almost killed him. Would it not be well that +he should put an end to himself, and thus escape? What was there in the +world now for which it was worth his while to live? Lily, whom he had +once gained, and by that gain had placed himself high in all hopes of +happiness and riches--whom he had thrown away from him, and who had +again seemed to be almost within his reach--Lily had so refused him that +he knew not how to approach her with a further prayer. And, had she not +refused him, how could he have told her of his load of debt? As he stood +at the corner where the lane runs in Lombard Street, he came for a while +to think almost more of Lily than of his rejected bill. Then, as he +thought of both his misfortunes together, he asked himself whether a +pistol would not conveniently put an end to them together. + +At that moment a loud harsh voice greeted his ear. 'Hallo, Crosbie, +what brings you so far east? One does not often see you in the City.' It +was the voice of Sir Raffle Buffle, which in former days had been very +odious to Crosbie's ears;--for Sir Raffle Buffle had once been the +presiding genius of the office to which Crosbie still belonged. + +'No, indeed, not very often,' said Crosbie, smiling. Who can tell who +has not felt it, the pain that goes with the forcing of such smiles? But +Sir Raffle was not an acutely observant person, and did not see that +anything was wrong. + +'I suppose you're doing a little business?' said Sir Raffle. 'If a man +has kept a trifle of money by him, this certainly is the time for +turning it. You have always been wide awake about such things.' + +'No, indeed,' said Crosbie. If he could only make up his mind that he +would shoot himself, would it not be a pleasant thing to inflict some +condign punishment on this odious man before he left the world? But +Crosbie knew that he was not going to shoot himself, and he knew also +that he had no power of inflicting condign punishment on Sir Raffle +Buffle. He could only hate the man, and curse him inwardly. + +'Ah, ha!' said Sir Raffle. 'You wouldn't be here unless you knew where +a good thing is to be picked up. But I must be off. I'm on the Rocky +Mountain Canal Company Directory. I'm not above taking my two guineas a +day. Good-bye, my boy. Remember me to old Optimist.' And so Sir Raffle +passed on, leaving Crosbie still standing at the corner of the lane. + +What was he to do? This interruption had at least seemed to drive Lily +from his mind, and to send his ideas back to the consideration of his +pecuniary difficulties. He thought of his own bank, a West-End +establishment at which he was personally known to many of the clerks, +and where he had been heretofore treated, with great consideration. But +of late his balances had been very low, and more than once he had been +reminded that he had overdrawn his account. He knew well that the +distinguished firm of Bounce, Bounce, and Bounce would not cash a bill +for him or lend him money without security. He did not even dare to ask +them to do so. + +On a sudden he jumped into a cab, and was driven back to his office. A +thought had come upon him. He would throw himself upon the kindness of a +friend there. Hitherto he had contrived to hold his head high above the +clerks below him, so high before the Commissioners who were above him, +that none there suspected him to be a man in difficulty. It not seldom +happens that a man's character stands too high for his interest--so high +that it cannot be maintained, and so high that any fall will be +dangerous. And so it was with Crosbie and his character at the General +Committed Office. The man to whom he was now thinking of applying as his +friend was a certain Mr Butterwell, who had been his predecessor in the +secretary's chair, and who now filled the less onerous but more +dignified position of a Commissioner. Mr Crosbie had somewhat despised +Mr Butterwell, and had of late years not been averse to showing that +he did so. He had snubbed Mr Butterwell, and Mr Butterwell, driven to +his wits' ends, had tried a fall or two with him. In all these struggles +Crosbie had had the best of it, and Butterwell had gone to the wall. +Nevertheless, for the sake of official decency, and from certain wise +remembrances of the sources of official comfort and official discomfort, +Mr Butterwall had always maintained a show of outward friendship with +the secretary. They smiled and were gracious, called each other +Butterwell and Crosbie, and abstained from all cat-and-dog absurdities. +Nevertheless, it was the frequently expressed opinion of every clerk in +the office that Mr Butterwell hated Mr Crosbie like poison. This was the +man to whom Crosbie suddenly made up his mind that he would have +recourse. + +As he was driven back to the office he resolved that he would make a +plunge at once at the difficulty. He knew that Butterwell was fairly +rich, and he knew also that he was good-natured--with that sort of +sleepy good-nature which is not active for philanthropic purposes, but +which dislikes to incur the pain of refusing. And then Mr Butterwell was +nervous, and if the thing was managed well, he might be cheated out of +an assent, before time had been given him in which to pluck up courage +for refusing. But Crosbie doubted his own courage also--fearing that if +he gave himself time for hesitation he would hesitate, and that, +hesitating, he would feel the terrible disgrace of the thing and not do +it. So, without going to his own desk, or ridding himself of his hat, he +went at once to Butterwell's room. When he opened the door, he found Mr +Butterwell alone, reading The Times. 'Butterwell,' said he, beginning to +speak before he had even closed the door, 'I have come to you in great +distress. I wonder whether you can help me; I want you to lend me five +hundred pounds? It must be for not less than three months.' + +Mr Butterwell dropped the paper from his hands, and stared at the +secretary over his spectacles. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +'I SUPPOSE I MUST LET YOU HAVE IT' + +Crosbie had been preparing the exact words with which he assailed Mr +Butterwell for the last quarter of an hour, before they were uttered. +There is always a difficulty in the choice, not only of the words with +which money should be borrowed, but of the fashion after which they +should be spoken. There is the slow deliberate manner, in using which +the borrower attempts to carry the wished-for lender along with him by +force of argument, and to prove that the desire to borrow shows no +imprudence on his own part, and that a tendency to lend will show none +on the part of the intended lender. It may be said that this mode fails +oftener than any other. There is the piteous manner--the plea for +commiseration. 'My dear fellow, unless you will see me through now, upon +my word I shall be very badly off.' And this manner may be divided again +into two. There is the plea piteous with a lie, and the plea piteous +with a truth. 'You shall have it again in two months as sure as the sun +rises.' That is generally the plea piteous with a lie. Or it may be as +follows; 'It is only fair to say that I don't quite know when I can pay +it back.' This is the plea piteous with a truth, and upon the whole I +think that this is generally the most successful mode of borrowing. And +there is the assured demand--which betokens a close intimacy. 'Old +fellow, can you let me have thirty pounds? No? Just put your name, then, +on the back of this, and I'll get it done in the City.' The worst of +that manner is, that the bill so often does not get itself done in the +City. Then there is the sudden attack--that being the manner to which +Crosbie had recourse in the present instance. That there are other modes +of borrowing by means of which youth becomes indebted to age, and love +to respect, and ignorance to experience, is a matter of course. It will +be understood that I am here speaking only of borrowing and lending +between the Butterwells and Crosbies of the world. 'I have come to you +in great distress,' said Crosbie. 'I wonder whether you can help me. I +want you to lend me five hundred pounds.' Mr Butterwell, when he heard +the words, dropped the paper which he was reading from his hand, and +stared at Crosbie over his spectacles. + +'Yes it is--a very large sum. Half that is what I want at once; but I +shall want the other half in a month.' + +'I thought that you were always so much above the world in money +matters. Gracious me;--nothing that I have heard for a long time has +astonished me more. I don't know why, but I always thought you had your +things so very snug.' + +Crosbie was aware that he had made one very great step towards success. +The idea had been presented to Mr Butterwell's mind, and had not been +instantly rejected as a scandalously iniquitous idea, as an idea to +which no reception could be given for a moment. Crosbie had not been +treated as the needy knife-grinder, and had ground to stand upon while +he urged his request. 'I have been so pressed since my marriage,' he +said, 'that it has been impossible for me to keep things straight.' + +'But Lady Alexandrina--' + +'Yes, of course; I know. I do not like to trouble you with my private +affairs;--there is nothing, I think, so bad as washing one's dirty linen +in public;--but the truth is, that I am only now free from the rapacity +of the De Courcys. You would hardly believe me if I told you what I've +had to pay. What do you think of two hundred and forty-five pounds for +bringing her body over here, and burying it at De Courcy?' + +'I'd have left it where it was.' + +'And so would I. You don't suppose I ordered it to be done. Poor dear +thing. If it could do her any good, God knows I would not begrudge it. +We had a bad time of it when we were together, but I would have spared +nothing for her, alive or dead, that was reasonable. But to make me pay +for bringing the body over here, when I never had a shilling with her! +By George, it was too bad. And that oaf John De Courcy--I had to pay his +travelling bill too.' + +'He didn't come to be buried;--did he?' + +'It's too disgusting to talk of, Butterwell; it is indeed. And when I +asked for her money that was settled upon me--it was only two thousand +pounds--they made me go to law, and it seems there was no two thousand +pounds to settle. If I like, I can have another lawsuit with the +sisters, when the mother is dead. Oh, Butterwell, I have made such a +fool of myself. I have come to shipwreck! Oh, Butterwell, if you could +but know it all.' + +'Are you free from the De Courcys now?' + +'I owe Gazebee, the man who married the other woman, over a thousand +pounds. But I pay that off at two hundred a year, and he has a policy on +my life.' + +'What do you owe that for?' + +'Don't ask me. Not that I mind telling you;--furniture, and the lease +of a house, and his bill for the marriage settlement, d-- him.' + +'God bless me. They seem to have been very hard upon you.' + +'A man doesn't marry an earl's daughter for nothing, Butterwell. And +then to think what I lost! It can't be helped now, you know. As a man +makes his bed he must lie on it. I am sometimes so mad with myself when +I think over it all--that I should like to blow my brains out.' + +'You must not talk that way, Crosbie. I hate to hear a man talk like +that.' + +'I don't mean that I shall. I'm too much of a coward, I fancy.' A man +who desires to soften another man's heart should always abuse himself. +In softening a woman's heart, he should abuse her. 'But life has been so +bitter with me for the last three years! I haven't had an hour of +comfort;--not an hour. I don't know why I should trouble you with all +this Butterwell. Oh--about the money; yes; that's just how I stand. I +owed Gazebee something over a thousand pounds which is arranged as I +have told you. Then there were debts, due by my wife--at least some of +them were, I suppose--and that horrid, ghastly funeral--and debts, I +don't doubt, due by the cursed old countess. At any rate, to get myself +clear, I raised something over four hundred pounds, and now I owe five +which must be paid, part tomorrow, and the remainder this day month.' + +'And you've no security?' + +'Not a rag, not a shred, not a line, not an acre. There's my salary, +and after paying Gazebee what comes due to him, I can manage to let you +have the money within twelve months--that is, if you can lend it to me. +I can just do that and live; and if you will assist me with the money, I +will do so. That's what I've brought myself to by my own folly.' + +'Five hundred pounds is such a large sum of money.' + +'Indeed it is.' + +'And without any security!' + +'I know, Butterwell, that I've no right to ask for it. I feel that. Of +course I should pay you what interest you please.' + +'Money's about seven now,' said Butterwell. + +'I've not the slightest objection to seven per cent.,' said Crosbie. + +'But that's on security,' said Butterwell. + +'You can name your own terms,' said Crosbie. + +Mr Butterwell got out of his chair, and walked about the room with his +hands in his pockets. He was thinking at the moment of what Mrs +Butterwell would say to him. 'Will an answer do tomorrow morning?' he +said. 'I would much rather have it today,' said Crosbie. Then Mr +Butterwell took another turn about the room. 'I suppose I must let you +have it.' + +'Butterwell,' said Crosbie, 'I'm eternally obliged to you. It's hardly +too much to say that you have saved me from ruin.' + +'Of course I was joking about interest,' said Butterwell. 'Five per +cent. is the proper thing. You'd better let me have a little +acknowledgement. I'll give you the first half tomorrow.' + +They were genuine tears which filled Crosbie's eyes, as he seized hold +of the senior's hands. 'Butterwell,' he said, 'what am I to say to you?' + +'Nothing at all--nothing at all.' + +'Your kindness makes me feel that I ought not to have come to you.' + +'Oh, nonsense. By-the-by, would you mind telling Thompson to bring +those papers to me which I gave him yesterday? I promised Optimist I +would read them before three, and it's past two now.' So saying he sat +himself down at his table, and Crosbie felt that he was bound to leave +the room. + +Mr Butterwell, when he was left alone, did not read the papers which +Thompson brought him; but said, instead, thinking of his five hundred +pounds. 'Just put them down,' he said to Thompson. So the papers were +put down, and there they lay all that day and all the next. Then +Thompson took them away again, and it is to be hoped that somebody read +them. Five hundred pounds! It was a large sum of money, and Crosbie was +a man for whom Mr Butterwell in truth felt no very strong affection. 'Of +course he must have it now,' he said to himself. 'But where should I be +if anything should happen to him?' And then he remembered that Mrs +Butterwell especially disliked Mr Crosbie--disliked him because she knew +that he snubbed her husband. 'But it's hard to refuse, when one man has +known another for more than ten years.' Then he comforted himself +somewhat with the reflection, that Crosbie would no doubt make himself +more pleasant for the future than he had done lately, and with a second +reflection, that Crosbie's life was a good life--and with a third, as to +his own great goodness, in assisting a brother officer. Nevertheless, as +he sat looking out of the omnibus window, on his journey home to Putney, +he was not altogether comfortable in his mind. Mrs Butterwell was a very +prudent woman. + +But Crosbie was very comfortable in his mind on that afternoon. He had +hardly dared to hope for success, but he had been successful. He had not +even thought of Butterwell as a possible fountain of supply, till his +mind had been brought back to the affairs of the office, by the voice of +Sir Raffle Buffle at the corner of the street. The idea that his bill +would be dishonoured, and that tidings of his insolvency would be +conveyed to the Commissioners at his Board, had been dreadful to him. +The way in which he had been treated by Musselboro and Dobbs Broughton +had made him hate City men, and what he supposed to be City ways. Now +there had come to him a relief which suddenly made everything feel +light. He could almost think of Mr Mortimer Gazebee without disgust. +Perhaps after all there might be some happiness yet in store for him. +Might it not be possible that Lily would yet accept him in spite of the +chilling letter--the freezing letter which he had received from Lily's +mother? Of one thing he was quite certain. If ever he had the +opportunity of pleading his own cause with her, he certainly would tell +her everything respecting his money difficulties. + +In that last resolve I think we may say that he was right. If Lily +would ever listen to him again at all, she certainly would not be +deterred from marrying him by his own story of his debts. + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +LILY DALE GOES TO LONDON + +One morning towards the end of March the squire rapped at the window of +the drawing-room of the Small House in which Mrs Dale and Lily were +sitting. He had a letter in his hand, and both Lily and her mother knew +that he had come down to speak about the contents of the letter. It was +always a sign of good-humour on the squire's part, this rapping at the +window. When it became necessary to him in his gloomy moods to see his +sister-in-law, he would write a note to her, and she would go across to +him at the Great House. At other times, if, as Lily would say, he was +just then neither sweet nor bitter, he would go round to the front door +and knock, and be admitted after the manner of ordinary people; but when +he was minded to make himself thoroughly pleasant he would come and rap +at the drawing-room window, as he was doing now. + +'I'll let you in, uncle; wait a moment,' said Lily, as she unbolted the +window which opened out upon the lawn. 'It's dreadfully cold, so come in +as fast as you can.' + +'It's not cold at all,' said the squire. 'It's more like spring than +any morning we've had yet. I've been sitting without a fire.' + +'You won't catch us without one for the next two months; will he, mamma? +You have got a letter, uncle. Is it for us to see?' + +'Well--yes; I've brought it down to show you. Mary, what do you think +is going to happen?' + +A terrible idea occurred to Mrs Dale at that moment, but she was much +too wise to give it expression. Could it be possible that the squire +was going to make a fool of himself and get married? 'I am very bad +at guessing,' said Mrs Dale. 'You had better tell us.' + +'Bernard is going to be married,' said Lily. + +'How did you know?' said the squire. + +'I didn't know. I only guessed.' + +'Then you've guessed right,' said the squire, a little annoyed at having +his news thus taken out of his mouth. + +'I am so glad,' said Mrs Dale; 'and I know from your manner that you +like the match.' + +'Well--yes. I don't know the young lady, but I think that upon the +whole I do like it. It's quite time, you know, that he got married.' + +'He's not thirty yet,' said Mrs Dale. + +'He will be in a month or two.' + +'And who is it, uncle?' + +'Well;--as you're so good at guessing, I suppose you can guess that?' + +'It's not that Miss Partridge he used to talk about?' + +'No; it's not Miss Partridge--I'm glad to say. I don't believe that the +Partridges have a shilling among them.' + +'Then I suppose it's an heiress,' said Mrs Dale. + +'No; not an heiress; but she will have some money of her own. And she +had connexions in Barsetshire, which makes it pleasant.' + +'Connexions in Barsetshire! Who can it be?' said Lily. + +'Her name is Emily Dunstable,' said the squire, 'and she is the niece of +Miss Dunstable who married Dr Thorne and who lives at Chaldicotes.' + +'She was the woman who had millions upon millions,' said Lily, 'and all +got by selling ointment.' + +'Never mind how it was got,' said the squire angrily. 'Miss Dunstable +married most respectably, and has always made a most excellent use of +her money.' + +'And will Bernard's wife have all her fortune?' asked Lily. + +'She will have twenty thousand pounds the day she marries, and I suppose +that will be all.' + +'And quite enough, too,' said Mrs Dale. + +'It seems that old Mr Dunstable, as he was called, who, as Lily says, +sold the ointment, quarrelled with his son or with his son's widow, and +left nothing either to her or to her child. The mother is dead, and the +aunt, Dr Thorne's wife, has always provided for the child. That's how it +is, and Bernard is going to marry her. They are to be married at +Chaldicotes in May.' + +'I am delighted to hear it,' said Mrs Dale. + +'I've known Dr Thorne for the last forty years;' and the squire now +spoke in a low melancholy tone. 'I've written to him to say that the +young people shall have the old place up there to themselves if they +like it.' + +'What! And turn you out?' said Mrs Dale. + +'That would not matter,' said the squire. + +'You'd have to come and live with us,' said Lily, taking him by the +hand. + +'It doesn't matter much now where I live,' said the squire. + +'Bernard would never consent to that,' said Mrs Dale. + +'I wonder whether she will ask me to be a bridesmaid?' said Lily. +'They say that Chaldicotes is such a pretty place, and I should see +all the Barsetshire people that I've been hearing about from Grace. Poor +Grace! I know that the Grantlys and the Thornes are very intimate. Fancy +Bernard having twenty thousand pounds from the making of ointment!' + +'What does it matter where it comes from?' said the squire, half in +anger. + +'Not in the least; only it sounds so odd. I do hope she's a nice girl.' + +Then the squire produced a photograph of Emily Dunstable which his +nephew had sent to him, and they all pronounced her to be very pretty, +very much like a lady, and to be very good-humoured. The squire was +evidently pleased with the match, and therefore the ladies were pleased +also. Bernard Dale was the heir to the estate, and his marriage was of +course a matter of moment; and as on such properties as that of +Allington money is always wanted, the squire may be forgiven for the +great importance which he attached to the young lady's fortune. 'Bernard +could hardly have married prudently without any money,' he said--'unless +he had chosen to wait till I am gone.' + +'And then he would have been too old to marry at all,' said Lily. + +But the squire's budget of news had not yet been emptied. He told them +soon afterwards that he himself had been summoned up to London. Bernard +had written to him, begging him to come and see the young lady; and the +family lawyer had written also, saying that his presence in town would +be very desirable. 'It is very troublesome, of course; but I shall go,' +said the squire. 'It will do you all the good in the world,' said Mrs +Dale; 'and of course you ought to know her personally before the +marriage.' And then the squire made a clean breast of it and declared +his full purpose. 'I was thinking that, perhaps, Lily would not object +to go up to London with me.' + +'Oh, uncle Christopher, I should so like it,' said Lily. + +'If your mamma does not object.' + +'Mamma never objects to anything. I should like to see her objecting to +that!' And Lily shook her head at her mother. + +'Bernard says that Miss Dunstable particularly wants to see you.' + +'Does she, indeed? And I particularly want to see Miss Dunstable. How +nice! Mamma, I don't think I've ever been in London since I wore short +frocks. Do you remember taking us to the pantomime? Only think how many +years ago that is. I'm quite sure it's time that Bernard should get +married. Uncle, I hope you're prepared to take me to the play.' + +'We must see about that.' + +'And the opera, and Madame Tussaud, and the Horticultural Gardens, and +the new conjuror who makes a woman lie upon nothing. The idea of my +going to London! And then I suppose I shall be one of the bridesmaids. I +declare a new vista of life is opening out to me! Mamma, you mustn't be +dull while I'm away. It won't be very long, I suppose, uncle?' + +'About a month, probably,' said the squire. + +'Oh, mamma; what will you do?' + +'Never mind me, Lily.' + +'You must get Bell and the children to come. But I cannot imagine +living away from home a month. I was never away from home a month in my +life.' + +And Lily did go up to town with her uncle, two days only after having +been allowed to her for her preparations. There was very much for to +think of in such a journey. It was not only that she would see Emily +Dunstable who was to be her cousin's wife, and that she would go to the +play and visit the new conjurer's entertainment, but that she would be +in the same city both with Adolphus Crosbie and with John Eames. Not +having personal experience of the wideness of London, and of the +wilderness which it is--of the distance which is set there between +persons who are not purposely brought together--it seemed to her fancy +as though for this month of her absence from home she would be brought +into close contiguity with both her lovers. She had hitherto felt +herself to be at any rate safe in her fortress at Allington. When +Crosbie had written to her mother, making a renewed offer which had been +rejected, Lily had felt that she certainly need not see him unless it +pleased her to do so. He could hardly force himself upon her at +Allington. And as to John Eames, though he would, of course, be welcome +at Allington as often as he pleased to show himself, still there was a +security in the place. She was so much at home there that she could +always be the mistress of the occasion. She knew that she could talk to +him at Allington as though from ground higher than that on which he +stood himself; but she felt that this would hardly be the case if she +should chance to meet him in London. Crosbie probably would not come in +her way. Crosbie, she thought--and she blushed for the man she loved, as +the idea came across her mind--would be afraid of meeting her uncle. But +John Eames would certainly find her; and she was led by the experience +of latter days to image that John would never cross her path without +renewing his attempts. + +But she said no word of this, even to her mother. She was contented to +confine her outspoken expectations to Emily Dunstable, and the play, and +the conjurer. 'The chances are ten to one against my liking her, mamma,' +she said. + +'I don't see that, my dear.' + +'I feel to be too old to think that I shall ever like any more new +people. Three years ago I should have been quite sure that I should love +a new cousin. It would have been like having a new dress. But I've come +to think that an old dress is the most comfortable, and an old cousin +certainly the best.' + +The squire had taken for them a gloomy lodging in Sackville Street. +Lodgings in London are always gloomy. Gloomy colours wear better than +bright ones for curtains and carpets, and the keepers of lodgings in +London seem to think that a certain dinginess of appearance is +respectable. I never saw a London lodging in which any attempt at +cheerfulness had been made, and I do not think that any such attempt, if +made, would pay. The lodging-seeker would be frightened and dismayed, +and would unconsciously be led to fancy that something was wrong. Ideas +of burglars and improper persons would present themselves. This is so +certainly the case that I doubt whether any well-conditioned +lodging-house matron could be induced to show rooms that were prettily +draped or pleasantly coloured. The big drawing-room and two large +bedrooms which the squire took were all that was proper, and were as +brown, and as gloomy, and as ill-suited for the comforts of ordinary +life as though they had been prepared for two prisoners. But Lily was +not so ignorant as to expect cheerful lodgings in London, and was +satisfied. 'And what are we to do now?' said Lily, as soon as they found +themselves settled. It was still March, and whatever may have been the +nature of the weather at Allington, it was very cold in London. They +reached Sackville Street about five in the evening, and an hour was +taken up in unpacking their trunks and making themselves as comfortable +as their circumstances allowed. 'And now what are we to do now?' said +Lily. + +'I told them to have dinner for us at half-past six.' + +'And what after that? Won't Bernard come to us tonight? I expected him +to be standing on the door-steps waiting for us with his bride in his +hand.' + +'I don't suppose Bernard will be here tonight,' said the squire. 'He did +not say that he would, and as for Miss Dunstable, I promised to take you +to her aunt's house tomorrow.' + +'But I wanted to see her tonight. Well;--of course bridesmaids must +wait upon brides. And ladies with twenty thousand pounds can't be +expected to run about like common people. As for Bernard--but Bernard +never was in a hurry.' Then they dined, and when the squire had very +nearly fallen asleep over a bottle of port wine which had been sent in +for him from some neighbouring public-house, Lily began to feel that it +was very dull. And she looked round the room, and she though that it was +very ugly. And she calculated that thirty evenings so spent would seem +to be very long. And she reflected that the hours were probably going +much more quickly with Emily Dunstable, who, no doubt, at this moment +had Bernard Dale by her side. And then she told herself that the hours +were not tedious with her at home, while sitting with her mother, with +all her daily occupations within her reach. But in so telling herself +she took herself to task, inquiring of herself whether such an assurance +was altogether true. Were not the hours sometimes tedious even at home? +And in this way her mind wandered off to thoughts upon life in general, +and she repeated to herself over and over again the two words which she +had told John Eames that she would write in her journal. The reader will +remember those two words--Old Maid. And she had written them in her +book, making each letter a capital, and round them she had drawn a +scroll, ornamented after her own fashion, and she had added the date in +quaintly formed figures--for in such matters Lily had some little skill +and a dash of fun to direct it; and she had inscribed below it an +Italian motto:--'Who goes softly, goes safely'; and above her work of +art she had put a heading--As arranged fate for L.D.' Now she thought of +all this, and reflected whether Emily Dunstable was in truth very happy. +Presently the tears came into her eyes, and she got up and went to the +window, as though she were afraid that her uncle might wake and see +them. And as she looked out on the blank street, she muttered a word or +two--'Dear mother! Dearest mother!' Then the door was opened, and her +cousin Bernard announced himself. She had not heard his knock at the +door as she had been thinking of the two words in her book. + +'What; Bernard!--ah, yes, of course,' said the squire, rubbing his eyes +as he strove to wake himself. 'I wasn't sure you would come, but I'm +delighted to see you. I wish you joy with all my heart--with all my +heart.' + +'Of course, I should come,' said Bernard. 'Dear Lily, this is so good +of you. Emily is so delighted.' Then Lily spoke her congratulations +warmly, and there was no trace of a tear in her eyes, and she was +thoroughly happy as she sat by her cousin's side, and listened to his +raptures about Emily Dunstable. 'And you will be so fond of her aunt,' +he said. + +'But is she not awfully rich?' said Lily. + +'Frightfully rich,' said Bernard; 'but really you would hardly find it +out if nobody told you. Of course she lives in a big house, and has a +heap of servants; but she can't help that.' + +'I hate a heap of servants,' said Lily. + +Then there came another knock at the door, and who should enter the room +but John Eames. Lily for a moment was taken aback, but it was only for a +moment. She had been thinking so much of him that his presence disturbed +her for an instant. 'He probably will not know that I am here,' she had +said to herself; but she had not yet been three hours in London, and he +was already with her! At first he hardly spoke to her, addressing +himself to the squire. 'Lady Julia told me you were to be here, and as I +start for the Continent early tomorrow morning, I thought you would let +me come and see you before I went.' + +'I'm always glad to see you, John,' said the squire--'very glad. And so +you are going abroad, are you?' + +Then Johnny congratulated his old acquaintance, Bernard Dale, as to his +coming marriage, and explained to them how Lady Julia in one of her +letters had told him all about it, and had even given him the number in +Sackville Street. 'I suppose she learned it from you, Lily,' said the +squire. 'Yes uncle, she did.' And then there came questions as to John's +projected journey to the Continent, and he explained that he was going +on law-business, on behalf of Mr Crawley, to catch the dean and Mrs +Arabin, if it might be possible. 'You see, sir, Mr Toogood, who is Mr +Crawley's cousin, and also his lawyer, is my cousin too; and that's why +I'm going.' And still there had been hardly a word spoken between him +and Lily. + +'But you're not a lawyer, John; are you?' said the squire. + +'No. I'm not a lawyer myself.' + +'Nor a lawyer's clerk?' + +'Certainly not a lawyer's clerk,' said John, laughing. + +'Then why should you go?' asked Bernard Dale. + +Then Johnny had to explain, and in doing so he became very eloquent as +to the hardships of Mr Crawley's case. 'You see, sir, nobody can +possibly believe that such a man as that stole twenty pounds.' + +'I do not for one,' said Lily. + +'God forbid that I should say he did,' said the squire. + +'I'm quite sure he didn't,' said Johnny, warming to his subject. 'It +couldn't be that such a man as that should become a thief all at once. +It's not human nature, sir; is it?' + +'It's very hard to know what human nature is,' said the squire. + +'It's the general opinion down in Barsetshire that he did steal it,' +said Bernard. 'Dr Thorne was one of the magistrates who committed him, +and I know he thinks so.' + +'I don't blame the magistrates in the least,' said Johnny. + +'That's kind of you,' said the squire. + +'Of course you'll laugh at me, sir; but you'll see that we shall come +out right. There's some mystery in it of which we haven't got at the +bottom as yet; and if there is anybody that can help us it is the dean.' + +'If the dean knows anything, why has he not written and told what he +knows?' said the squire. + +'That's what I can't say. The dean has not had an opportunity of +writing since he heard--even if he has yet heard--that Mr Crawley is to +be tried. And then he and Mrs Arabin are not together. It's a long +story, and I will not trouble you with it all; but at any rate I'm going +off tomorrow. Lily, can I do anything for you in Florence?' + +'In Florence?' said Lily; 'and are you really going to Florence? How I +envy you.' + +'And who pays your expenses,' said the squire. + +'Well;--as to my expenses, they are to be paid by a person who won't +raise any unpleasant questions about the amount.' + +'I don't know what you mean,' said the squire. + +'He means himself,' said Lily. + +'I'm going to have a trip for my own fun,' said Johnny, 'and I shall +pick up evidence on the road, as I'm going--that's all.' + +Then Lily began to take an active part in the conversation, and a great +deal was said about Mr Crawley, and about Grace, and Lily declared that +she would be very anxious to hear any news which John Eames might be +able to send. 'You know, John, how fond we are of your cousin Grace, at +Allington? Are we not, uncle?' + +'Yes, indeed,' said the squire. 'I thought her a very nice girl.' + +'If you should be able to learn anything that may be of use, John, how +happy you will be.' + +'Yes, I shall,' said John. + +'And I think it's so good of you to go, John. But it is just like you. +You were always generous.' Soon after that he got up and went. It was +very clear to him that he would have no moment in which to say a word +alone to Lily; and if he could find such a moment, what good would such +a word do him? It was as yet but a few weeks since she had positively +refused him. And he too remembered very well those two words which she +had told him she would write in her book. As he had been coming to the +house he had told himself that his coming would be--could be of no use. +And yet he was disappointed with the result of his visit, although she +had spoken to him so sweetly. + +'I suppose you'll be gone when I get back,' he said. + +'We shall be here a month,' said the squire. + +'I shall be back long before that, I hope,' said Johnny. 'Good-bye, +sir. Good-bye, Dale. Good-bye, Lily.' And he put out his hand to her. + +'Good-bye, John.' And then she added, almost in a whisper. 'I think +you are very, very right to go.' How could he fail after that to hope as +he walked home that she might still relent. And she also thought much of +him, but her thoughts of him made her cling more firmly than ever to +those two words. She could not bring herself to marry him; but, at +least, she would not break his heart by becoming the wife of anyone +else. Soon after this Bernard Dale went also. I am not sure that he had +been well pleased at seeing John Eames become suddenly the hero of the +hour. When a young man is going to perform so important an act as +marriage he is apt to think that he ought to be the hero of the hour +himself--at any rate among his own family. + +Early on the next morning Lily was taken by her uncle to call upon Mrs +Thorne, and to see Emily Dunstable. Bernard was to meet them there, but +it had been arranged that they should reach the house first. 'There is +nothing so absurd as these introductions,' Bernard had said. 'You go and +look at her, and when you've had time to look at her, then I'll come!' +So the squire and Lily went off to look at Emily Dunstable. + +'You don't mean to say that she lives in that house?' said Lily, when +the cab was stopped before an enormous mansion in one of the most +fashionable of the London squares. + +'I believe she does,' said the squire. + +'I never shall be able to speak to anybody living in such a house as +that,' said Lily. 'A duke couldn't have anything grander.' + +'Mrs Thorne is richer than half the dukes,' said the squire. Then the +door was opened by a porter, and Lily found herself within the hall. +Everything was very great, and very magnificent, and, as she thought, +very uncomfortable. Presently she heard a loud jovial voice on the +stairs. 'Mr Dale, I'm delighted to see you. And this is your niece Lily. +Come up, my dear. There is a young woman upstairs dying to embrace you. +Never mind the umbrella. Put it down anywhere. I want to have a look at +you, because Bernard swears that you're so pretty.' This was Mrs Thorne, +once Miss Dunstable, the richest woman in England, and the aunt of +Bernard's bride. The reader may perhaps remember the advice which she +once gave to Major Grantly, and her enthusiasm on that occasion. 'There +she is, Mr Dale; what do you think of her?' said Mrs Thorne as she +opened the door of a small sitting-room wedged in between two large +saloons, in which Emily Dunstable was sitting. + +'Aunt Martha, how can you be so ridiculous?' said the young lady. + +'I suppose it is ridiculous to ask the question to which one really +wants to have an answer,' said Mrs Thorne. 'But Mr Dale has, in truth, +come to inspect you, and to form an opinion; and, in honest truth, I +shall be very anxious to know what he thinks--though, of course, he +won't tell me.' + +The old man took the girl in his arms, and kissed her on both cheeks. +'I have no doubt you will find out what I think,' he said, 'though I +should never tell you.' + +'I generally do find out what people think,' she said. 'And so you're +Lily Dale?' + +'Yes, I'm Lily Dale.' + +'I have so often heard of you, particularly of late; for you must know +that a certain Major Grantly is a friend of mine. We must take care that +that affair comes off all right, must we not?' + +'I hope it will.' Then Lily turned to Emily Dunstable, and, taking her +hand, went up and sat beside her, while Mrs Thorne and the squire talked +of the coming marriage. 'How long have you been engaged?' said Lily. + +'Really engaged about three weeks. I think it is not more than three +weeks ago.' + +'How very discreet Bernard has been. He never said a word about it +while it was going on.' + +'Men never do tell, I suppose,' said Emily Dunstable. + +'Of course you love him dearly?' said Lily, not knowing what else to +say. + +'Of course I do.' + +'And so do we. You know he's almost a brother to us; that is, to me and +my sister. We never had a brother of our own.' And so the morning was +passed till Lily was told by her uncle to come away, and was told also +by Mrs Thorne that she was to dine with them in the square on that day. +'You must not be surprised that my husband is not here,' she said. 'He's +a very odd sort of man, and he never comes to London if he can help it.' + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE BAYSWATER ROMANCE + +Eames had by no means done his work for that evening when he left Mr +Dale and Lily at their lodgings. He had other business in hand to which +he had promised to give attention, and another person to see who would +welcome his coming quite as warmly, though by no means as pleasantly, as +Lily Dale. It was then just nine o'clock, and as he had told Miss +Demolines--Madalina we may as well call her now--that he would be in +Porchester Terrace by nine at the latest, it was incumbent on him to +make haste. He got into a cab, and bid the cabman drive hard, and +lighting a cigar, began to inquire of himself over and over again +whether it was well for him to hurry away from the presence of Lily Dale +to that of Madalina Demolines. He felt that he was half-ashamed of what +he was doing. Though he declared to himself over and over again that he +never had said a word, and never intended to say a word, to Madalina, +which all the world might not hear, yet he knew that he was doing amiss. +He was doing amiss, and half repented it, and he was half proud of it. +He was most anxious to be able to give himself credit for his constancy +to Lily Dale; to be able to feel that he was steadfast in his passion; +and yet he liked the idea of amusing himself with his Bayswater romance, +as he would call it, and was not without something of conceit as he +thought of the progress he had made in it. 'Love is one thing and +amusement is another,' he said to himself as he puffed the cigar smoke +out of his mouth; and in his heart he was proud of his own capacity for +enjoyment. He thought it a fine thing, although at the same moment he +knew it to be an evil thing--this hurrying away from the young lady whom +he really loved to another as to whom he thought it very likely that he +should be called upon to pretend to love her. And he sang a little song +as he went, 'If she be not fair to me, what care I how fair she be.' +That was intended to apply to Lily, and was used as an excuse for his +fickleness in going to Miss Demolines. And he was perhaps, too, a little +conceited as to his mission to the Continent. Lily had told him that he +was very glad that he was going; that she thought him very right to go. +The words had been very pleasant to his ears, and Lily had never looked +prettier in his eyes than when she had spoken them. Johnny, therefore, +was rather proud of himself as he sat in the cab smoking his cigar. He +had, moreover, beaten his old enemy Sir Raffle Buffle in another +contest, and he felt that the world was smiling on him;--that the world +was smiling on him in spite of his cruel fate in the matter of his real +lovesuit. + +There was a mystery about the Bayswater romance which was not without +its allurement, and a portion of the mystery was connected with +Madalina's mother. Lady Demolines was very rarely seen, and John Eames +could not quite understand what was the manner of life of that +unfortunate lady. Her daughter usually spoke of her with affectionate +regret as being unable to appear on that particular occasion on account +of some passing malady. She was suffering from a nervous headache, or +was afflicted with bronchitis, or had been touched with rheumatism, so +that she was seldom on the scene when Johnny was passing his time at +Porchester Terrace. And yet he heard of her dining out, and going to +plays and operas; and when he did chance to see her, he found that she +was a sprightly old woman enough. I will not venture to say that he much +regretted the absence of Lady Demolines, or that he was keenly alive to +the impropriety of being left alone with the gentle Madalina; but the +customary absence of the elder lady was an incident in the romance which +did not fail to strike him. + +Madalina was alone when he was shown upon into the drawing-room on the +evening of which we are speaking. + +'Mr Eames,' she said, 'will you kindly look at that watch which is lying +on the table.' She looked full at him with her great eyes wide open, and +the tone of her voice was intended to show him that she was aggrieved. + +'Yes, I see it,' said John, looking down on Miss Demolines' little gold +Geneva watch, with which he had already made sufficient acquaintance to +know that it was worth nothing. 'Shall I give it you?' + +'No, Mr Eames; let it remain there, that it may remind me, if it does +not remind you, by how long a time you have broken your word.' + +'Upon my word I couldn't help it;--upon my honour I couldn't.' + +'Upon your honour, Mr Eames?' + +'I was obliged to go and see a friend who has just come to town from my +part of the country.' + +'That is the friend, I suppose, of whom I have heard from Maria.' It is +to be feared that Conway Dalrymple had not been so guarded as he should +have been in some of his conversations with Mrs Dobbs Broughton, and +that a word or two had escaped from him as to the love of John Eames for +Lily Dale. + +'I don't know what you may have heard,' said Johnny, 'but I was obliged +to see these people before I left town. There is going to be a marriage +and all that sort of thing.' + +'Who is going to be married?' + +'One Captain Dale is going to be married to Miss Dunstable.' + +'Oh! And as to one Miss Lily Dale--is she to be married to anybody?' + +'Not that I have heard of,' said Johnny. + +'She is not going to be the wife of one Mr John Eames?' + +He did not wish to talk to Miss Demolines about Lily Dale. He did not +choose to disown the imputation, or to acknowledge its truth. + +'Silence gives consent,' she said. 'If it be so, I congratulate you. I +have no doubt she is the most charming young woman. It is about seven +years, I believe, since that little affair with Mr Crosbie, and +therefore that, I suppose, may be considered as forgotten.' + +'It is only three years,' said Johnny, angrily. 'Besides, I don't know +what that has to do with it.' + +'You need not be ashamed,' said Madalina. 'I have heard how well you +behaved on that occasion. You were quite the preux chevalier; and if any +gentleman ever deserved well of a lady you deserved well of her. I +wonder how Mr Crosbie felt when he met you the other day at Maria's. I +had not heard anything about it then, or I should have been much more +interested in watching your meeting.' + +'I really can't say how he felt.' + +'I daresay not; but I saw him shake hands with you. And so Lily Dale +has come to town.' + +'Yes--Miss Dale is here with her uncle.' + +'And you are going away tomorrow?' + +'Yes--and I am going away tomorrow.' + +After that there was a pause in the conversation. Eames was sick of it, +and was very anxious to change the conversation. Miss Demolines was +sitting in the shadow, away from the light, with her face half hidden by +her hands. At last she jumped up, and came round and stood opposite to +him. 'I charge you to tell me truly, John Eames,' she said, 'whether +Miss Lilian Dale is engaged to you as your future wife?' He looked up in +to her face, but made no immediate answer. Then she repeated her demand. +'I ask you whether you are engaged to marry Miss Lilian Dale, and I +expect a reply.' + +'What makes you ask me such a question as that?' + +'What makes me ask you? Do you deny my right to feel so much interest +in you as to desire to know whether you are about to married? Of course +you can decline to tell me if you choose.' + +'And if I were to decline?' + +'I should know then that it was true, and I should think you were a +coward.' + +'I don't see any cowardice in the matter. One does not talk about that +kind of thing to everybody.' + +'Upon my word, Mr Eames, you are complimentary;--indeed you are. To +everybody! I am everybody--am I? That is your idea of--friendship! You +may be sure that after that I shall ask no further questions.' + +'I didn't mean it the way you have taken it, Madalina.' + +'In what way did you mean it, sir? Everybody! Mr Eames, you must +excuse me if I say that I am not well enough this evening to bear the +company of--everybody. I think you had better leave me. I think that you +had better go.' + +'Are you angry with me?' + +'Yes, I am--very angry. Because I have condescended to feel an interest +in your welfare, and have asked you a question which I thought that our +intimacy justified, you tell me that that is a kind of thing that you +will not talk about to--everybody. I beg you to understand that I will +not be your everybody. Mr Eames, there is the door.' + +Things had now become very serious. Hitherto Johnny had been seated +comfortably in the corner of a sofa, and had not found himself bound to +move, though Miss Demolines was standing before him. But now it was +absolutely necessary that he should do something. He must either go, or +else he must make entreaty to be allowed to remain. Would it not be +expedient that he should take the lady at her word and escape? She was +still pointing to the door, and the way was open to him. If he were to +walk out now of course he would never return, and there would be the end +of the Bayswater romance. If he remained it might be that the romance +would become troublesome. He got up from his seat, and had almost +resolved that he would go. Had she not somewhat relaxed the majesty of +her anger as he rose, had the fire of her eye not been somewhat quenched +and the lines of her mouth softened, I think that he would have gone. +The romance would have been over, and he would have felt it had come to +an inglorious end; but it would have been well for him that he should +have gone. Though the fire was somewhat quenched and the lines were +somewhat softened, she was still pointing at the door. + +'Do you mean it?' he said. + +'I do mean it--certainly.' + +'And this is to be the end of everything?' + +'I do not know what you mean by everything. It is a very little +everything to you, I should say. I do not quite understand your +everything and your everybody.' + +'I will go if you wish me to go of course.' + +'I do wish it.' + +'But before I go, you must permit me to excuse myself. I did not intend +to offend you. I merely meant--' + +'You merely meant! Give me an honest answer to a downright question. +Are you engaged to Miss Lilian Dale?' + +'No;--I am not.' + +'Upon your honour?' + +'Do you think that I would tell you a falsehood about it? What I meant +was that it is a kind of thing that one doesn't like talking about, +merely because stories are bandied about. People are so fond of saying +that this man is engaged to that woman, and of making up tales; and it +seems so foolish to contradict such things.' + +'But you know that you used to be very fond of her.' + +He had taken up his hat when he had risen from the sofa, and was still +standing with it ready in his hand. He was even now half-minded to +escape; and the name of Lily Dale in Miss Demoline's mouth was so +distasteful to him that he would have done so--he would have gone in +sheer disgust, had she not stood in his way, so that he could not escape +without moving her, or going round behind the sofa. She did not stir to +make way for him, and it may be that she understood that he was her +prisoner, in spite of her late command to him to go. It may be, also, +that she understood his vexation and the cause of it, and that she saw +the expediency of leaving Lily Dale alone for the present. At any rate, +she pressed him no more upon the matter. 'Are we to be friends again?' +she said. + +'I hope so,' said Johnny. + +'There is my hand, then.' So Johnny took her hand and pressed it, and +held it for a little while--just long enough to seem to give a meaning +to the action. 'You will get to understand me some day,' she said, 'and +will learn that I do not like to be reckoned among the everybodies by +those for whom I really--really--really have a regard. When I am angry, +I am angry.' + +'You were very angry just now, when you showed me the way to the door.' + +'And I meant it too--for the minute. Only think--supposing you had +gone! We should never have seen each other again;--never, never! What a +change one word may make!' + +'One word often does make a change.' + +'Does it not? Just a little "yes" or "no". A "no" is said when a "yes" +is meant, and then there comes no second chance, and what a change that +may be from bright hopes to desolation! Or, worse again, a "yes" is said +when a "no" should be said--when the speaker knows that it should be +"no". What a difference that "no" makes! When one thinks of it, one +wonders that a woman should ever say anything but "no".' + +'They never did say anything else to me,' said Johnny. + +'I don't believe it. I daresay the truth is, you never asked anybody.' + +'Did anybody ever ask you?' + +'What would you give to know? But I will tell you frankly;--yes. And +once--once I thought that my answer would not have been a "no".' + +'But you changed your mind?' + +'When the moment came I could not bring myself to say the word that +should rob me of my liberty for ever. I had said "no" to him often +enough before--poor fellow; and on this occasion, he told me that he had +asked me for the last time. "I shall not give myself another chance," he +said, "for I shall be on board ship within a week." I merely bade him +good-bye. It was the only answer I gave him. He understood me, and since +that day his foot has not pressed his native soil.' + +'And was it all because you are so fond of your liberty?' said Johnny. + +'Perhaps--I did not--love him,' said Miss Demolines, thoughtfully. She +was now again seated in her chair, and John Eames had gone back to his +corner of the sofa. 'If I had really loved him, I suppose it would have +been otherwise. He was a gallant fellow, and had two thousand a year of +his own, in India stock and other securities.' + +'Dear me! And he has not married yet?' + +'He wrote me a word to say that he would never marry till I was +married--but that on the day that he should hear of my wedding, he would +go to the first single woman near him and propose. It was a droll thing +to say; was it not?' + +'The single woman ought to feel herself flattered.' + +'He would find plenty to accept him. Besides being so well off he was a +very handsome fellow, and is connected with people of title. He had +everything to recommend him.' + +'And yet you refused him?' + +'Yes. You think I was foolish;--do you not?' + +'I don't think you were foolish if you didn't care for him.' + +'It was my destiny, I suppose; I daresay I was wrong. Other girls marry +without violent love, and do very well afterwards. Look at Maria +Clutterbuck.' + +The name of Maria Clutterbuck had become odious to John Eames. As long +as Miss Demolines would continue to talk about herself he could listen +with some amount of gratification. Conversation on that subject was the +natural progress of the Bayswater romance. And if Madalina would only +call her friend by her present name, he had no strong objection to an +occasional mention of the lady; but the combined names of Maria +Clutterbuck had come to be absolutely distasteful to him. He did not +believe in the Maria Clutterbuck friendship--either in its past or +present existence, as described by Madalina. Indeed, he did not put +strong faith in anything that Madalina said to him. In the handsome +gentleman with two thousand a year, he did not believe at all. But the +handsome gentleman had only been mentioned once in the course of his +acquaintance with Miss Demolines, whereas Maria Clutterbuck had come up +so often! 'Upon my word I must wish you good-bye,' he said. 'It is going +for eleven o'clock, and I have to start tomorrow at seven.' + +'What difference does that make?' + +'A fellow wants to get a little sleep, you know.' + +'Go, then;--go and get your sleep. What a sleepy-head generation it +is.' Johnny longed to ask whether the last generation was less +sleepy-headed, and whether the gentleman with two thousand a year sat up +talking all night before he pressed his foot for the last time on his +native soil; but he did not dare. As he said to himself afterwards, 'It +would not do to bring the Bayswater romance too suddenly to +termination!' 'But before you go,' she continued, 'I must say the word +to you about that picture. Did you speak to Mr Dalrymple?' + +'I did not. I have been so busy with different things that I have not +seen him.' + +'And now you are going?' + +'Well--to tell the truth, I think I shall see him tonight, in spite of +my being so sleepy-headed. I wrote him a line that I would look in and +smoke a cigar with him if he chanced to be at home!' + +'And that is why you want to go. A gentleman cannot live without his +cigar now.' + +'It is especially at your bidding that I am going to see him.' + +'Go then--and make your friend understand that if he continues this +picture of his, he will bring himself to great trouble, and will +probably ruin the woman for whom he professes, I presume, to feel +something like friendship. You may tell him that Mrs Van Siever has +already heard of it.' + +'Who told her?' demanded Johnny. + +'Never mind. You need not look at me like that. It was not I. Do you +suppose that secrets can be kept when so many people know them? Every +servant in Maria's house knows all about it.' + +'As for that, I don't suppose Mrs Broughton makes any great secret of +it.' + +'Do you think she has told Mr Broughton? I am sure she has not. I may +say that I know she has not. Maria Clutterbuck is infatuated. There is +no other excuse to be made for her.' + +'Good-bye,' said Johnny, hurriedly. + +'And you are really going?' + +'Well--yes. I suppose so.' + +'Go then. I have nothing more to say to you.' + +'I shall come and call directly I return,' said Johnny. + +'You may do as you please about that, sir.' + +'Do you mean that you won't be glad to see me again?' + +'I am not going to flatter you, Mr Eames. Mamma will be well by that +time, I hope, and I do not mind telling you that you are a favourite +with her.' Johnny thought that this was particularly kind, as he had +seen so very little of the old lady. 'If you choose to call upon her,' +said Madalina, 'of course she will be glad to see you.' + +'But I was speaking of yourself, you know?' and Johnny permitted himself +for a moment to look tenderly at her. + +'Then from myself pray understand that I will say nothing to flatter +your self-love.' + +'I thought you would be kinder just when I was going away.' + +'I think I have been quite kind enough. As you observed yourself just +now, it is nearly eleven o'clock, and I must ask you to go away. Bon +voyage, and a happy return to you.' + +'And you will be glad to see me when I am back? Tell that you will be +glad to see me.' + +'I will tell you nothing of the kind. Mr Eames, if you do, I will be +very angry with you.' And then he went. + +On his way back to his own lodgings he did call on Conway Dalrymple, and +in spite of his need for early rising, sat smoking with the artist for +an hour. 'If you don't take care, young man,' said his friend, 'you will +find yourself in a scrape with your Madalina.' + +'What sort of scrape?' + +'As you walk away from Porchester Terrace some fine day, you will have +to congratulate yourself on having made a successful overture towards +matrimony.' + +'You don't think I am such a fool as that comes to?' + +'Other men as wise as you have done the same sought of thing. Miss +Demolines is very clever, and I daresay you find it amusing.' + +'It isn't so much that she's clever, and I can hardly say that it is +amusing. One gets awfully tired of it, you know. But a fellow must have +something to do, and that is as good as anything else.' + +'I suppose you have not heard that one young man levanted last year to +save himself from a breach of promise case?' + +'I wonder whether he had any money in Indian securities?' + +'What makes you ask that?' + +'Nothing in particular.' + +'Whatever little he chose to save, and I think that I heard that he went +to Canada. His name was Shorter; and they say that, on the eve of his +going, Madalina sent him word that she had no objection to the colonies, +and that, under the pressing emergency of his expatriation, she was +willing to become Mrs Shorter with more expedition than usually attends +fashionable weddings. Shorter, however, escaped, and has never been seen +back again.' + +Eames declared that he did not believe a word of it. Nevertheless, as he +walked home he came to the conclusion that if Mr Shorter must have been +the handsome gentleman with Indian securities, to whom 'no' had been +said once too often. + +While sitting with Conway Dalrymple, he had forgotten to say a word +about Jael and Sisera. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +DR TEMPEST AT THE PALACE. + +Intimation had been sent from the palace to Dr Tempest of Silverbridge +of the bishop's intention that a commission should be held by him, as +rural dean, with other neighbouring clergymen, as assessors with him, +that inquiry might be made on the part of the Church into the question +of Mr Crawley's guilt. It must be understood that by this time the +opinion had become very general that Mr Crawley had been guilty--that he +had found the cheque in his house, and that he had, after holding it for +many months, succumbed to temptation, and applied it to his own +purposes. But various excuses were made for him by those who so +believed. In the first place it was felt by all who really knew anything +of the man's character, that the very fact of his committing such a +crime proved him to be hardly responsible for his actions. He must have +known, had not all judgment in such matters been taken from him, that +the cheque would certainly be traced back to his hands. No attempt had +been made in the disposing of it to dispose of it in such a way that the +trace should be obliterated. He had simply given it to a neighbour with +a direction to have it cashed, and had written his own name on the back +of it. And therefore, though there could be no doubt as to the theft in +the mind of those who supposed that he had found the cheque in his own +house, yet the guilt of the theft seemed to be almost annihilated by the +folly of the thief. And then his poverty, and his struggles, and the +sufferings of his wife, were remembered; and stories were told from +mouth to mouth of his industry in his profession, of his great zeal +among the brickmakers of Hoggle End, of acts of charity done by him +which startled the people of the district into admiration:--how he had +worked with his own hands for the sick poor to whom he could not give +relief in money, turning a woman's mangle for a couple of hours, and +carrying a boy's load along the lanes. Dr Tempest and others declared +that he had derogated from the dignity of his position as an English +parish clergyman by such acts; but, nevertheless, the stories of these +deeds acted strongly on the minds of both men and women, creating an +admiration for Mr Crawley which was much stronger than the condemnation +of his guilt. + +Even Mrs Walker and her daughter, and the Miss Prettymans, had so far +given way that they had ceased to asseverate their belief in Mr +Crawley's innocence. They contented themselves with simply expressing a +hope that he would be acquitted by a jury, and that when he should be so +acquitted the thing might be allowed to rest. If he had sinned, no doubt +he had repented. And then there were serious debates whether he might +not have stolen the money without much sin, being mad or +half-mad--touched with madness when he took it; and whether he might +not, in spite of such temporary touch of madness, be well fitted for his +parish duties. Sorrow had afflicted him grievously; but that sorrow, +though it had incapacitated him for the management of his own affairs, +had not rendered him unfit for the ministration of his parish. Such were +the arguments now used in his favour by the women around him; and the +men were not keen to contradict them. The wish that he should be +acquitted and allowed to remain in his parsonage was very general. + +When therefore it became known that the bishop had decided to put on +foot another investigation, with the view of bringing Mr Crawley's +conduct under ecclesiastical condemnation, almost everybody accused the +bishop of persecution. The world of the diocese declared that Mrs +Proudie was at work, and that the bishop himself was no better than a +puppet. It was in vain that certain clear headed men among the clergy, +of whom Dr Tempest himself was one, pointed out that the bishop after +all might perhaps be right;--that if Mr Crawley were guilty, and if he +should be found to have been so by a jury, it might be absolutely +necessary that an ecclesiastical court should take some cognizance of +the crime beyond that of taken by the civil law. 'The jury,' said Dr +Tempest, discussing the case with Mr Robarts and other clerical +neighbours--'the jury may probably find him guilty and recommend to him +mercy. The judge will have heard his character, and will have been made +acquainted with the manner of his life, and will deal as lightly with +the case as the law will allow him. For aught I know he may be +imprisoned for a month. I wish it might be for no more than a day--or an +hour. But when he comes out from his month's imprisonment--how then? +Surely it should be a case for ecclesiastical inquiry, whether a +clergyman who has committed a theft should be allowed to go into his +pulpit directly he comes out of prison?' But the answer to this was that +Mr Crawley had always been a good clergyman, was a good clergyman at +this moment, and would be a good clergyman when he did come out of +prison. + +But Dr Tempest, though he had argued in this way, was by no means eager +for the commencement of the commission over which he was to be called +upon to preside. In spite of such arguments as the above, which came +from the man's head when his head was brought to bear on the matter, +there was a thorough desire within his heart to oppose the bishop. He +had no strong sympathy with Mr Crawley, as had others. He would have had +Mr Crawley silenced without regret, presuming Mr Crawley to be guilty. +But he had a much stronger feeling with regard to the bishop. Had there +been any question of silencing the bishop--could it have been possible +to take steps in that direction--he would have been very active. It may +therefore be understood that in spite of his defence of the bishop's +present proceedings as to the commission, he was anxious that the bishop +should fail, and anxious to put impediments in the bishop's way, should +it appear to him that he could do so with justice. Dr Tempest was well +known among his parishioners to be hard and unsympathetic, some said +unfeeling also, and cruel; but it was admitted by those who disliked him +the most that he was both practical and just, and that he cared for the +welfare of many, though he was rarely touched by the misery of one. Such +was the man who was rector of Silverbridge and rural dean in the +district, and who was now called upon by the bishop to assist him in +making further inquiry as to this wretched cheque for twenty pounds. + +Once at this period Archdeacon Grantly and Dr Tempest met each other and +discussed the question of Mr Crawley's guilt. Both these men were +inimical to the present bishop of the diocese, and both had perhaps +respected the old bishop beyond all other men. But they were different +in this, that the archdeacon hated Dr Proudie as a partisan--whereas Dr +Tempest opposed the bishop on certain principles which he endeavoured to +make clear, at any rate to himself. 'Wrong!' said the archdeacon, +speaking of the bishop's intention of issuing a commission--'of course +he's wrong. How could anything right come from him or from her? I should +be sorry to have to do his bidding.' + +'I think you are a little hard upon Bishop Proudie,' said Dr Tempest. + +'One cannot be hard upon him,' said the archdeacon. 'He is so +scandalously weak, and she is so radically vicious, that they cannot but +be wrong together. The very fact that such a man should be a bishop +among us is to me terribly strong evidence of evil days coming.' + +'You are more impulsive than I am,' said Dr Tempest. 'In this case I am +sorry for the poor man, who is, I am sure, honest in the main. But I +believe that in such a case your father would have done just what the +present bishop is doing;--that he could have done nothing else; and as I +think that Dr Proudie is right I shall do all that I can to assist him +in the commission.' + +The bishop's secretary had written to Dr Tempest, telling him of the +bishop's purpose; and now, in one of the last days in March, the bishop +himself wrote to Dr Tempest, asking him to come over to the palace. The +letter was worded most courteously, and expressed very feelingly the +great regret which the writer felt at being obliged to take these +proceedings against a clergyman in his diocese. Bishop Proudie knew how +to write such a letter. By the writing of such letters, and by the +making of speeches in the same strain, he had become Bishop of +Barchester. Now, in this letter, he begged Dr Tempest to come over to +him, saying how delighted Mrs Proudie would be to see him at the palace. +Then he went on to explain the great difficulty which he felt, and great +sorrow also, in dealing with this matter of Mr Crawley. He looked, +therefore, confidently for Dr Tempest's assistance. Thinking to do the +best for Mr Crawley, and anxious to enable Mr Crawley to remain in quiet +retirement till the trial should be over, he had sent a clergyman over +to Hogglestock, who would have relieved Mr Crawley from the burden of +the church-services;--but Mr Crawley would have none of this relief. Mr +Crawley had been obstinate and overbearing, and had persisted in +claiming his right to his own pulpit. Therefore was the bishop obliged +to interfere legally, and therefore was he under the necessity of asking +Dr Tempest to assist him. Would Dr Tempest come over on the Monday, and +stay till Wednesday? + +The letter was a very good letter, and Dr Tempest was obliged to do as +he was asked. He so far modified the bishop's proposition that he +reduced the sojourn at the palace by one night. He wrote to say that he +would have the pleasure of dining with the bishop and Mrs Proudie on the +Monday, but would return home on the Tuesday, as soon as the business in +hand would permit him. 'I shall get on very well with him,' he said to +his wife, before he started; 'but I am afraid of the woman. If she +interferes there will be a row.' 'Then, my dear,' said his wife, 'there +will be a row, for I am told that she always interferes.' On reaching +the palace half-an-hour before dinner-time, Dr Tempest found that other +guests were expected, and on descending to the great yellow +drawing-room, which was used only on state occasions, he encountered Mrs +Proudie, and two of her daughters arrayed in full panoply of female +armour. She received him with her sweetest smiles, and if there had been +any former enmity between Silverbridge and the palace, it was now all +forgotten. She regretted greatly that Mrs Tempest had not accompanied +the doctor;--for Mrs Tempest also had been invited. But Mrs Tempest was +not quite as well as she might have been, the doctor had said, and very +rarely slept away from home. And then the bishop came in and greeted his +guest with his pleasantest good humour. It was quite a sorrow to him +that Silverbridge was so distant, and that he saw so little of Dr +Tempest; but he hoped that that might be somewhat mended now, and that +leisure might be found for social delights;--to all which Dr Tempest +said but little, bowing to the bishop at each separate expression of his +lordship's kindness. + +There were guests there that evening who did not often sit at the +bishop's table. The archdeacon and Mrs Grantly had been summoned from +Plumstead, and had obeyed the summons. Great as was the enmity between +the bishop and the archdeacon, it had never quite taken the form of open +palpable hostility. Each, therefore, asked the other to dinner perhaps +once every year; and each went to the other, perhaps, once in two years. +And Dr Thorne from Chaldicotes was there but without his wife, who in +these days was up in London. Mrs Proudie always expressed a warm +friendship for Mrs Thorne, and on this occasion loudly regretted her +absence. 'You must tell her, Dr Thorne, how exceedingly much we miss +her.' Dr Thorne, who was accustomed to hear his wife speak of her dear +friend Mrs Proudie with almost unmeasured ridicule, promised that he +would do so. 'We are sorry the Lufton's couldn't come to us,' said Mrs +Proudie--not alluding to the dowager, of whom it was well known that no +earthly inducement would have sufficed to make her put her foot within +Mrs Proudie's room--'but one of the children is ill, and she couldn't +leave him.' But the Greshams were there from Boxall Hill, and the +Thornes from Ullathorne, and, with the exception of a single chaplain, +who pretended to carve, Dr Tempest and the archdeacon were the only +clerical guests at the table. From all which Dr Temple knew that the +bishop was anxious to treat him with special consideration on the +present occasion. + +The dinner was rather long and ponderous, and occasionally, most dull. +The archdeacon talked a good deal, but a bystander with an acute ear +might have understood from the tone of his voice that he was not talking +as he would have talked among friends. Mrs Proudie felt this, and +understood it, and was angry. She could never find herself in the +presence of the archdeacon without becoming angry. Her accurate ear +would always appreciate the defiance of episcopal authority, as now +existing in Barchester, which was concealed, or only half concealed, by +all the archdeacon's words. But the bishop was not so keen, nor so +easily roused, to wrath; and though the presence of the enemy did to a +certain degree cow him, he strove to fight against the feeling with +renewed good-humour. + +'You have improved so upon the old days,' said the archdeacon, speaking +of some small matter with reference to the cathedral, 'that one hardly +knows the old place.' + +'I hope we have not fallen off,' said the bishop, with a smile. + +'We have improved, Dr Grantly,' said Mrs Proudie, with great emphasis on +her words. 'What you say is true. We have improved.' + +'Not a doubt about that,' said the archdeacon. Then Mrs Grantly +interposed, strove to change the subject, and threw oil upon the waters. + +'Talking of improvements,' said Mrs Grantly, 'what an excellent row of +houses they have built at the bottom of High Street. 'I wonder who is to +live in them?' + +'I remember when that was the very worst part of town,' said Dr Thorne. + +'And now they're asking seventy pounds apiece for houses which did not +cost above six hundred each to build,' said Mr Thorne of Ullathorne, +with that seeming dislike of modern success which is evinced by most of +the elders of the world. + +'And who is to live in them,' asked Mrs Grantly. + +'Two have them have been already taken by clergymen,' said the bishop, +in a tone of triumph. + +'Yes,' said the archdeacon, 'and the houses in the Close which used to +be the residences of the prebendaries have been leased out to +tallow-chandlers and retired brewers. That comes of the working of the +Ecclesiastical Commission.' + +'And why not?' demanded Mrs Proudie. + +'Why not, indeed, if you like to have tallow-chandlers next door to +you?' said the archdeacon. 'In the old days, we would sooner have had +our brethren near to us.' + +'There is nothing, Dr Grantly, so objectionable in a cathedral town as a +lot of idle clergymen,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'It is beginning to be a question to me,' said the archdeacon, 'whether +there is any use in clergymen at all for the present generation.' + +'Dr Grantly, those cannot be your real sentiments,' said Mrs Proudie. +Then Mrs Grantly, working hard in her vocation as a peacemaker, changed +the conversation again and began to talk of the American war. But even +that was made a matter of discord on church matters--the archdeacon +professing an opinion that the Southerners were Christian gentlemen, and +the Northerners idle snobs; whereas Mrs Proudie had an idea that the +Gospel was preached with genuine zeal in the Northern States. And at +each such outbreak the poor bishop would laugh uneasily, and say a word +or two to which no one paid much attention. And so the dinner went on, +not always in the most pleasant manner for those who preferred continued +good-humour to the occasional excitement of a half-suppressed battle. + +Not a word was said about Mr Crawley. When Mrs Proudie and the ladies +left the dining-room, the bishop strove to get up a little lay +conversation. He spoke to Mr Thorne about his game, and to Dr Thorne +about his timber, and even to Mr Gresham about his hounds. 'It is not so +very many years, Mr Gresham,' said he, 'since the Bishop of Barchester +was expected to keep hounds himself,' and the bishop laughed at his own +joke. + +'Your lordship shall have them back at the palace next season,' said +young Frank Gresham, 'if you will promise to do the county justice.' + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed the bishop. 'What do you say, Mr Tozer?' Mr Tozer +was the chaplain on duty. + +'I have not least objection in the world, my lord,' said Mr Tozer, 'to +act as second whip.' + +'I'm afraid you'll find them an expensive adjunct to the episcopate,' +said the archdeacon. And then the joke was over; for there had been a +rumour, now for some years prevalent in Barchester, that Bishop Proudie +was not liberal in his expenditure. As Mr Thorne said afterwards to his +cousin the doctor, the archdeacon might have spared that sneer. 'The +archdeacon will never spare the man who sits in his father's seat,' said +the doctor. 'The pity of it is that men who are so thoroughly different +in all their sympathies should ever be brought into contact.' 'Dear, +dear,' said the archdeacon, as he stood afterwards on the rug before the +drawing-room fire, 'how many of rubbers of whist I have seen played in +this room.' 'I sincerely hope that you will never see another played +here,' said Mrs Proudie. 'I'm quite sure that I shall not,' said the +archdeacon. For this last sally his wife scolded him bitterly on the way +home. 'You know very well,' she said, 'that the times are changed, and +that if you were Bishop of Barchester yourself, you would not have whist +played in the palace.' 'I only know,' said he, 'that when we had the +whist we had the true religion along with it, and some good sense and +good feeling also.' 'You cannot be right to sneer at others for doing +what you would do yourself,' said his wife. Then the archdeacon threw +himself sulkily into the corner of his carriage, and nothing more was +said between him and his wife about the bishop's dinner-party. + +Not a word was spoken that night about Mr Crawley; and when that +obnoxious guest from Plumstead was gone, Mrs Proudie resumed her +good-humour towards Dr Tempest. So intent was she on conciliating him +that she refrained even from abusing the archdeacon, whom she knew to +have been intimate for very many years with the rector of Silverbridge. +In her accustomed moods she would have broken forth in loud anger, +caring nothing for old friendships; but at present she was thoughtful of +the morrow, and desirous that Dr Tempest should, if possible, meet her +in a friendly humour when the great discussion as to Hogglestock should +be opened between them. But Dr Tempest understood her bearing, and as he +pulled on his nightcap made certain resolutions of his own as to the +morrow's proceedings. 'I don't suppose she will dare to interfere,' he +had said to his wife; 'but if she does I shall certainly tell the bishop +that I cannot speak on the subject in her presence.' + +At breakfast on the following morning there was no one present but the +bishop, Mrs Proudie, and Dr Tempest. Very little was said at the meal. +Mr Crawley's name was not mentioned, but there seemed to be a general +feeling among them that there was a task hanging over them which +prevented any general conversation. The eggs were eaten and the coffee +was drunk, but the eggs and the coffee disappeared almost in silence. +When these ceremonies had been altogether completed, and it was clearly +necessary that something further should be done, the bishop spoke: 'Dr +Tempest,' he said, 'perhaps you will join me in my study at eleven. We +can then say a few words to each other about the unfortunate matter on +which I shall have to trouble you.' Dr Tempest said he would be punctual +to his appointment, and then the bishop withdrew, muttering something as +to the necessity of looking at his letters. Dr Tempest took a newspaper +in his hand, which had been brought in by a servant, but Mrs Proudie did +not allow him to read it. 'Dr Tempest,' she said, 'this is a matter of +most vital importance. I am quite sure that you feel that it is so.' + +'What matter, madam?' said the doctor. + +'This terrible affair of Mr Crawley's. If something is not done the +whole diocese will be disgraced.' Then she turned for an answer, but +receiving none she was obliged to continue. 'Of the poor man's guilt +there can, I fear, be no doubt.' Then there was another pause, but still +the doctor made no answer. 'And if he be guilty,' said Mrs Proudie, +resolving that she would ask a question that must bring forth some +reply, 'can any experienced clergyman think that he can be fit to preach +from the pulpit of a parish church? I am sure that you must agree with +me, Dr Tempest? Consider the souls of the people!' + +'Mrs Proudie,' said he, 'I think that we had better not discuss the +matter.' + +'Not discuss it?' + +'I think that we had better not do so. If I understand the bishop +aright, he wishes it that I should take some step in the matter.' + +'Of course he does.' + +'And therefore I must decline to make it a matter of common +conversation.' + +'Common conversation, Dr Tempest! I should be the last person in the +world to make it a matter of common conversation. I regard this as by no +means a common conversation. God forbid that it should be a common +conversation. I am speaking very seriously with reference to the +interests of the Church, which I think will be endangered by having +among her active servants a man who has been guilty of so base a crime +as theft. Think of it, Dr Tempest. Theft! Stealing money! Appropriating +to his own use a cheque for twenty pounds which did not belong to him! +And then telling such terrible falsehoods about it! Can anything be +worse, anything more scandalous, anything more dangerous? Indeed, Dr +Tempest, I do not regard this as any common conversation.' The whole of +this speech was not made at once, fluently, or without a break. From +stop to stop Mrs Proudie paused, waiting for her companion's words; but +as he would not speak she was obliged to continue. 'I am sure that you +cannot but agree with me, Dr Tempest?' she said. + +'I am quite sure I will not discuss it with you,' said the doctor, very +brusquely. + +'And why not? Are you not here to discuss it?' + +'Not with you, Mrs Proudie. You must excuse me for saying so, but I am +not here to discuss any such matter with you. Were I to do so, I should +be guilty of a very great impropriety.' + +'All these things are in common between me and the bishop,' said Mrs +Proudie, with an air that was intended to be dignified, but which +nevertheless displayed her rising anger. + +'As to that I know nothing, but they cannot be in common between you and +me. It grieves me much that I should have to speak to you in such a +strain, but my duty allows me no alternative. I think, if you will +permit me, I will take a turn round the garden before I keep my +appointment with his lordship.' And so saying he escaped from the lady +without hearing her further remonstrance. + +It still wanted an hour to the time named by the bishop, and Dr Tempest +used it in preparing for his withdrawal from the palace as soon as his +interview with the bishop should be over. After what had passed he +thought he would be justified in taking his departure without bidding +adieu formally to Mrs Proudie. He would say a word or two, explaining +his haste, to the bishop; and then, if he could get out of the house at +once, it might be that he would never see Mrs Proudie again. He was +rather proud of his success in their late battle, but he felt that, +having been so completely victorious, it would be foolish in him to risk +his laurels in the chance of another encounter. He would say not a word +of what had happened to the bishop, and he thought it probable that +neither would Mrs Proudie speak of it--at any rate till after he was +gone. Generals who are beaten out of the field are not quick to talk of +their own repulses. He, indeed, had not beaten Mrs Proudie out of the +field. He had, in fact, himself run away. But he had left his foe +silenced; and with such a foe, and in such a contest, that was +everything. He put up his portmanteau, therefore, and prepared for his +final retreat. Then he rang his bell and desired the servant to show him +to the bishop's study. The servant did so, and when he entered the room +the first thing he saw was Mrs Proudie sitting in an arm-chair near the +window. The bishop was also in the room, sitting with his arms upon the +writing-table, and his head upon his hands. It was very evident that Mrs +Proudie did not consider herself to have been beaten and that she was +prepared for another battle. 'Will you sit down, Dr Tempest?' she said, +motioning him with her hand to a chair opposite to that occupied by the +bishop. Dr Tempest sat down. He felt that at the moment he had nothing +else to do, and that he must restrain any remonstrance that he might +make till Mr Crawley's name should be mentioned. He was almost lost in +admiration of the woman. He had left her, as he thought, utterly +vanquished and prostrated by his determined but uncourteous usage of +her; and here she was, present again on the field of battle as though +she had never been wounded. He could see that there had been words +between her and the bishop, and that she had carried a point on which +the bishop had been very anxious to have his own way. He could perceive +at once that the bishop had begged her to absent herself and was greatly +chagrined that he should not have prevailed with her. There she was--and +as Dr Tempest was resolved that he would neither give advice nor receive +instructions respecting Mr Crawley in her presence, he could only draw +upon his courage and his strategy for the coming warfare. For a few +moments no one said a word. The bishop felt that if Dr Tempest would +only begin, the work on hand might be got through, even in his wife's +presence. Mrs Proudie was aware that her husband should begin. If he +would do so, and if Dr Tempest would listen and then reply, she might +gradually make her way into the conversation; and if her words were once +accepted then she could say all that she desired to say; then she could +play her part and become somebody in the episcopal work. When once she +should have been allowed liberty of speech, the enemy would be powerless +to stop her. But all this Dr Tempest understood quite as well as she +understood it, and had they waited till night he would not have been the +first to mention Mr Crawley's name. + +The bishop sighed aloud. The sigh might be taken as expressing grief +over the sin of an erring brother whose conduct they were then to +discuss, and was not amiss. But when the sigh with its attendant murmurs +had passed away it was necessary that some initiative step should be +taken. 'Dr Tempest,' said the bishop, 'what are we to do about this poor +stiff-necked gentleman?' Still Dr Tempest did not speak. 'There is no +clergyman in the diocese,' continued the bishop, 'in whose prudence and +wisdom I have more confidence than in yours. And I know, too, that you +are by no means disposed to severity where severe measures are not +necessary. What ought we to do? If he has been guilty, he should not +surely return to his pulpit after the expiration of such punishment as +the law of this country may award him.' + +Dr Tempest looked at Mrs Proudie, thinking that she might perhaps say a +word now; but Mrs Proudie knew her part better and was silent. Angry as +she was, she contrived to hold her peace. Let the debate once begin and +she would be able to creep into it, and then to lead it--and so she +would hold her own. But she had met a foe as wary as herself. 'My lord,' +said the doctor, 'it will perhaps be well that you should communicate +your wishes to me in writing. If it be possible for me to comply with +them I will do so.' + +'Yes;--exactly; no doubt;--but I thought that perhaps we might better +understand each other if we had a few words of quiet conversation upon +the subject. I believe you know the steps that I have--' + +But here the bishop was interrupted. Dr Tempest rose from his chair, +and advancing to the table put both hands upon it. 'My lord,' he said, +'I feel myself compelled to say that which I would very much rather +leave unsaid, were it possible. I feel the difficulty, and I may say +delicacy, of my position; but I should be untrue to my conscience and to +my feeling of what is right in such matters, if I were take any part on +a discussion on this matter in the presence of--a lady.' + +'Dr Tempest, what is your objection?' said Mrs Proudie, rising from her +chair, and coming also to the table, so that from thence she might +confront her opponent; and as she stood opposite to Dr Tempest she also +put both her hands upon the table. + +'My dear, perhaps you will leave us for a few moments,' said the bishop. +Poor bishop! Poor weak bishop! As the words came from his mouth he knew +that they would be spoken in vain, and that if so, it would have been +better for him to have left them unspoken. + +'Why should I be dismissed from your room without a reason?' said Mrs +Proudie. 'Cannot Dr Tempest understand that a wife may share her +husband's counsels--as she must share his troubles? If he cannot, I pity +him very much as to his own household.' + +'Dr Tempest,' said the bishop, 'Mrs Proudie takes the greatest possible +interest in everything concerning the diocese.' + +'I am sure, my lord,' said the doctor, 'that you will see how unseemly +it would be that I should interfere in any way between you and Mrs +Proudie. I certainly will not do so. I can only say again that if you +will communicate with me your wishes in writing, I will attend to +them--if it be possible.' + +'You mean to be stubborn,' said Mrs Proudie, whose prudence was +beginning to give way under the great provocation to which her temper +was being subjected. + +'Yes, madam; if it is to be called stubbornness, I must be stubborn. My +lord, Mrs Proudie spoke to me on this subject in the breakfast-room +after you had left it, and I then ventured to explain to her that in +accordance with such light as I have on the matter, I could not discuss +it in her presence. I greatly grieve that I failed to make myself +understood by her--as, otherwise, this unpleasantness might have been +spared.' + +'I understood you very well, Dr Tempest, and I think you to be a most +unreasonable man. Indeed, I might use a much harsher word.' + +'You may use any word you please, Mrs Proudie,' said the doctor. + +'My dear, I really think you had better leave us for a few minutes,' +said the bishop. + +'No, my lord--no,' said Mrs Proudie, turning round upon her husband. +'Not so. It would be most unbecoming that I should be turned out of a +room in this palace by an uncourteous word from a parish clergyman. It +would be unseemly. If Dr Tempest forgets his duty, I will not forget +mine. There are other clergymen in the diocese besides Dr Tempest who +can undertake the very easy task of this commission. As for his having +been appointed rural dean I don't know how many years ago, it is matter +of no consequence whatever. In such a preliminary inquiry any three +clergymen will suffice. It need not be done by the rural dean at all.' + +'My dear!' + +'I will not be turned out of this room by Dr Tempest;--and that is +enough.' + +'My lord,' said the doctor, 'you had better write to me as I proposed to +you just now.' + +'His lordship will not write. His lordship will do nothing of the +kind,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'My dear!' said the bishop, driven in his perplexity beyond all +carefulness of reticence. 'My dear, I do wish you wouldn't--I do indeed. +If you would only go away!' + +'I will not go away, my lord,' said Mrs Proudie. + +'But I will,' said Dr Tempest, feeling true compassion for the +unfortunate man whom he saw writhing in agony before him. 'It will +manifestly be for the best that I should retire. My lord, I wish you +good morning. Mrs Proudie, good morning.' And so he left the room. + +'A most stubborn and a most ungentlemanlike man,' said Mrs Proudie, as +soon as the door was closed behind the retreating rural dean. 'I do not +think that in the whole course of my life I ever met with anyone so +insubordinate and so ill-mannered. He is worse than the archdeacon.' As +she uttered these words she paced about the room. The bishop said +nothing; and when she herself had been silent for a few minutes she +turned upon him. 'Bishop,' she said, 'I hope that you agree with me. I +expect that will agree with me in a matter that is so of much moment to +my comfort, and I may say to my position generally in the diocese. +Bishop, why do you not speak?' + +'You have behaved in such a way that I do not know that I shall ever +speak again,' said the bishop. + +'What is that you say?' + +'I say that I do not know how I shall ever speak again. You have +disgraced me.' + +'Disgraced you! I disgrace you! It is you that disgrace yourself by +saying such words.' + +'Very well. Let it be so. Perhaps you will go away now and leave me to +myself. I have got a bad headache, and I can't talk any more. Oh dear, +oh dear, what will he think of it?' + +'And you mean to tell me that I have been wrong?' + +'Yes, you have been wrong--very wrong. Why didn't you go away when I +asked you? You are always being wrong. I wish I had never come to +Barchester. In any other position I should not have felt it so much. As +it is I do not know how I can ever show my face again.' + +'Not have felt what so much, Mr Proudie?' said the wife, going back in +the excitement of her anger to the nomenclature of old days. 'And this +is to be my return for all my care in your behalf! Allow me to tell you, +sir, that in any position in which you may be placed I know what is due +to you, and that your dignity will never lose anything in my hands. I +wish that you were as well able to take care of it yourself.' Then she +stalked out of the room, and left the poor man alone. + +Bishop Proudie sat alone in his study throughout the whole day. Once or +twice in the course of the morning his chaplain came to him on some +matter of business, and was answered with a smile--the peculiar +softness of which the chaplain did not fail to attribute the right +cause. For it was soon known throughout the household that there had +been a quarrel. Could he quite have made up his mind to do so--could he +have resolved that it would be altogether better to quarrel with his +wife--the bishop would have appealed to the chaplain, and have asked at +any rate for sympathy. But even yet he could not bring himself to +confess his misery, and to own himself to another to be the wretch that +he was. Then during the long hours of the day he sat thinking of it all. +How happy could he be if it were only possible for him to go away, and +become even a curate in a parish, without his wife! Would there ever +come to him a time of freedom? Would she ever die? He was older than +she, and of course he would die first. Would it not be a fine thing if +he could die at once, and thus escape from his misery. + +What could he do, even supposing himself strong enough to fight the +battle? He could not lock her up. He could not even very well lock her +out of his room. She was his wife, and must have the run of the house. +He could not altogether debar her from the society of the diocesan +clergymen. He had, on this very morning, taken strong measures with her. +More than once or twice he had desired her to leave the room. What was +there to be done with a woman who would not obey her husband--who would +not even leave him to the performance of his own work? What a blessed +thing it would be if a bishop could go away from his home to his work +every day like a clerk in a public office--as a stone-mason does! But +there was no such escape for him. He could not go away. And how was he +to meet her again on this very day? + +And then for hours he thought of Dr Tempest and Mr Crawley, considering +what he had better do to repair the shipwreck of the morning. At last he +resolved that he would write to the doctor; and before he had again seen +his wife, he did write his letter, and he sent it off. In this letter he +made no direct illusion to the occurrence of the morning, but wrote as +though there had not been any fixed intention of a personal discussion +between them. 'I think it will be better that there should be a +commission,' he said, 'and I would suggest that you should have four +other clergymen with you. Perhaps you will select two yourself out of +your rural deanery; and, if you do not object, I will name as the other +two Mr Thumble and Mr Quiver, who are both resident in the city.' As he +wrote these two names he felt ashamed of himself, knowing that he had +chosen the two men as being special friends of his wife, and feeling +that he should have been brave enough to throw aside all considerations +of his wife's favour--especially at this moment, in which he was +putting on his armour to do battle against her. 'It is not probable,' he +continued to say in his letter, 'that you will be able to make your +report until after the trial of this unfortunate gentleman shall have +taken place, and a verdict shall have been given. Should he be +acquitted, that, I imagine, should end the matter. There can be no +reason why we should attempt to go beyond the verdict of a jury. But +should he be found guilty, I think we ought to be ready with such steps +as it will be becoming for us to take at the expiration of any sentence +which may be pronounced. It will be, at any rate, expedient that in such +a case the matter should be brought before an ecclesiastical court.' he +knew well as he wrote this, that he was proposing something much milder +than the course intended by his wife when she had instigated him to take +proceedings in the matter; but he did not much regard that now. Though +he had been weak enough to name certain clergymen as assessors with the +rural dean, because he thought that by doing so he would to a certain +degree conciliate his wife--though he had been so far a coward, yet he +was resolved that he would not sacrifice to her his own judgment and his +own conscience in his manner of proceeding. He kept no copy of his +letter, so that he might be unable to show her his very words when she +should ask to see them. Of course he would tell her what he had done; +but in telling her he would keep to himself what he had said as to the +result of an acquittal in a civil court. She need not yet be told that +he had promised to take such a verdict as sufficing also for an +ecclesiastical acquittal. In this spirit his letter was written and sent +off before he again saw his wife. + +He did not meet her till they came together in the drawing-room before +dinner. In explaining the whole truth as to circumstances as they +existed at the palace at the moment, it must be acknowledged that Mrs +Proudie herself, great as was her courage, and wide as were the +resources which she possessed within herself, was somewhat appalled by +the position of affairs. I fear that it may now be too late for me to +excite much sympathy in the mind of any reader on behalf of Mrs Proudie. +I shall never be able to make her popular. But she had virtues, and +their existence now made her unhappy. She did regard the dignity of her +husband, and she felt at the present moment that she had almost +compromised it. She did also regard the welfare of the clergymen around +her, thinking of course in a general way that certain of them who agreed +with her were the clergymen whose welfare should be studied, and that +certain of them who disagreed with her were the clergymen whose welfare +should be postponed. But now an idea made its way into her bosom that +she was not perhaps doing the best for the welfare of the diocese +generally. What if it should come to pass that all the clergymen of the +diocese should refuse to open their mouths in her presence on +ecclesiastical subjects, as Dr Tempest had done? This special day was +not one on which she was well contented with herself, though by no means +on that account was her anger mitigated against the offending rural +dean. + +During dinner she struggled to say a word or two to her husband, as +though there had been no quarrel between them. With him the matter had +gone so deep that he could not answer her in the same spirit. There were +sundry members of the family present--daughters, and a son-in-law, and +a daughter's friend who was staying with them; but even in the hope of +appearing to be serene before them he could not struggle through his +deep despondence. He was very silent, and to his wife's words he +answered hardly anything. He was courteous and gentle with them all, but +he spoke as little as was possible, and during the evening he sat alone, +with his head leaning on his hand--not pretending even to read. He was +aware that it was too late to make even an attempt to conceal his misery +and his disgrace from his own family. + +His wife came to him that night in his dressing-room in a spirit of +feminine softness that was very unusual with her. 'My dear,' said she, +'let us forget what occurred this morning. If there has been anger, we +are bound as Christians to forget it.' She stood over him as she spoke, +and put her hand upon his shoulder almost caressingly. + +'When a man's heart is broken, he cannot forget it,' was his reply. She +still stood by him, and still kept her hand upon him: but she could +think of no other words of comfort to say. 'I will go to bed,' he said. +'It is the best place for me.' Then she left him, and he went to bed. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +THE SOFTNESS OF SIR RAFFLE BUFFLE + +We have seen that John Eames was prepared to start on his journey in +search of the Arabins, and have seen him after he had taken farewell of +his office and of his master there, previous to his departure; but that +matter of his departure had not been arranged altogether with comfort as +far as his official interests were concerned. He had been perhaps a +little abrupt in his mode of informing Sir Raffle Buffle, that there was +a pressing cause for his official absence, and Sir Raffle had replied to +him that no private pressure could be allowed to interfere with his +public duties. 'I must go, Sir Raffle, at any rate,' Johnny had said; +'it is a matter affecting my family and must not be neglected.' 'If you +intend to go without leave,' said Sir Raffle, 'I presume you will first +put your resignation into the hands of Mr Kissing.' Now Mr Kissing was +the secretary to the Board. This had been serious undoubtedly. John +Eames was not specially anxious to keep his present position as private +secretary to Sir Raffle, but he certainly had no desire to give up his +profession altogether. He said nothing more to the great man on that +occasion, but before he left the office he wrote a private note to the +chairman expressing the extreme importance of the business, and begging +that he might be given leave of absence. On the next morning he received +it back with a very few words written across it. 'It can't be done,' +were the few words which Sir Raffle Buffle had written across the note +from his private secretary. Here was a difficulty which Johnny had not +anticipated, and which seemed to be insuperable. Sir Raffle would not +have answered him in that strain if he had not been very much in +earnest. + +'I should send him a medical certificate,' said Cordell, his friend of +old. + +'Nonsense,' said Eames. + +'I don't see that it is nonsense at all. They can't get over a medical +certificate from a respectable man; and everybody has got something the +matter with him of some kind.' + +'I should go and let him do his worst,' said Fisher, who was another +clerk. 'It wouldn't be more than putting you down a place or two. As to +losing your present berth you don't mind that, and they would never +think of dismissing you.' + +'But I do mind being put down a place or two,' said Johnny, who could +not forget that were he so put down his friend Fisher would gain the +step which he would lose. + +'I should give him a barrel of oysters, and talk to him about the +Chancellor of the Exchequer,' said Fit Howard, who had been private +secretary before Eames, and might therefore be supposed to know the man. + +'That might have done very well if I had not asked him, and been refused +first,' said John Eames. 'I'll tell what I'll do. I'll write a long +letter on a sheet of foolscap paper, with a regular margin, so that it +must come before the Board, and perhaps that will frighten him.' + +When he mentioned his difficulty on that evening to Mr Toogood, the +lawyer begged him to give up his journey. 'It will only be sending a +clerk, and it won't cost so very much after all,' said Toogood. But +Johnny's pride could not allow him to give way. 'I'm not going to be +done about it,' said he. 'I'm not going to resign, but I will go even +though he may dismiss me. I don't think it will come to that, but if it +does it must.' His uncle begged him not to think of such an alternative; +but this discussion took place after dinner, and away from the office, +and Eames would not submit to bow his neck to authority. 'If it comes to +that,' said he, 'a fellow might as well be a slave at once. And what is +the use of a fellow having a little money if it does not make him +independent? You may be sure of one thing, I shall go;' and that on the +day fixed. + +On the next morning John Eames was very silent when he went into Sir +Raffle's room at the office. There was now only this day and another +before that fixed for his departure, and it was of course very necessary +that matters should be arranged. But he said nothing to Sir Raffle +during the morning. The great man himself was condescending and +endeavouring to be kind. He knew that his stern refusal had greatly +irritated his private secretary, and was anxious to show that, though in +the cause of public duty he was obliged to be stern, he was quite +willing to forget his sternness when the necessity for it had passed +away. On this morning, therefore, he was very cheery. But in the +afternoon, when most of the men had left the office, Johnny appeared +before the chairman for the last time that day with a very long face. He +was dressed in black, and had changed his ordinary morning coat for a +frock, which gave him an appearance altogether unlike that which was +customary to him. And he spoke almost in a whisper, very slowly; and +when Sir Raffle joked--and Sir Raffle often would joke--he not only did +not laugh, but he absolutely sighed. 'Is there anything the matter with +you, Eames?' asked Sir Raffle. + +'I am in great trouble,' said John Eames. + +'And what is your trouble?' + +'It is essential for the honour of one of my family that I should be at +Florence by this day week. I cannot make up my mind what I ought to do. +I do not wish to lose my position in the public service, to which, as +you know, I am warmly attached; but I cannot submit to see the honour of +my family sacrificed!' + +'Eames,' said Sir Raffle, 'that must be nonsense;--that must be +nonsense. There can be no reason why you should always expect to have +your own way in everything.' + +'Of course if I go without leave I shall be dismissed.' + +'Of course you will. It is out of the question that a young man should +take the bit between his teeth in that way.' + +'As for taking the bit between his teeth, Sir Raffle, I do not think +that any man was ever more obedient, perhaps I should say more +submissive, than I have been. But there must be a limit to everything.' + +'What do you mean by that, Mr Eames?' said Sir Raffle, turning in anger +upon his private secretary. But Johnny disregarded his anger. Johnny, +indeed, had made up his mind that Sir Raffle should be very angry. 'What +do you mean, Mr Eames, by saying that there must be a limit? I know +nothing about limits. One would suppose you intended to make an +accusation against me.' + +'So I do. I think, Sir Raffle, that you are treating me with great +cruelty. I have explained to you my family circumstances--' + +'You have explained nothing, Mr Eames.' + +'Yes, I have, Sir Raffle. I have explained to you that matters relating +to one of my family, which materially affect the honour of a certain one +of its members, demand that I should go at once to Florence. You tell me +that if I go I shall be dismissed.' + +'Of course you must not go without leave. I never heard of such a thing +in my life.' And Sir Raffle lifted his hands towards heaven, almost in +dismay. + +'So I have drawn up a short statement of the circumstances, which I hope +may be read at the Board when the question of my dismissal comes before +it.' + +'You mean to go, then?' + +'Yes, Sir Raffle; I must go. The honour of a certain branch of my +family demands that I should do so. As I have for some time been so +especially under you, I thought it would be proper to show you what I +have said before I send my letter in, and therefore I have brought it +with me. Here it is.' And Johnny handed to Sir Raffle an official +document of large dimensions. + +Sir Raffle began to be uncomfortable. He had acquired a character for +tyranny in the public service of which he was aware, though he thought +that he knew well that he had never deserved it. Some official +big-wig--perhaps that Chancellor of the Exchequer of whom he was so +fond--had on one occasion hinted to him that a little softness of usage +would be compatible with the prejudices of the age. Softness was +impossible to Sir Raffle; but his temper was sufficiently under his +control to enable him to encounter the rebuke, and to pull himself up +from time to time when he found himself tempted to speak loud and to +take things with a high hand. He knew that a clerk should not be +dismissed for leaving his office, who could show that his absence had +been caused by some matter really affecting the interest of his family; +and that were he to drive Eames to go on this occasion without leave, +Eames would simply be called in to state what was the matter of moment +which had taken him away. Probably he had stated that matter of moment +in this very document which Sir Raffle was holding in his hand. But Sir +Raffle was not willing to be conquered by the document. If it was +necessary that he should give way, he would much prefer to give way--out +of his own good-nature, let us say--without looking at the document at +all. 'I must, under the circumstances, decline to read this,' he said, +'unless it should come before me officially,' and he handed back the +paper. + +'I thought it best to let you see it if you pleased,' said John Eames. +Then he turned round as though he were going to leave the room; but +suddenly he turned back again. 'I don't like to leave you, Sir Raffle, +without saying good-bye. I do not suppose we shall meet again. Of course +you must do your duty, and I do not wish you to think that I have any +personal ill-will against you.' So saying, he put out his hand to Sir +Raffle as though to take a final farewell. Sir Raffle looked at him in +amazement. He was dressed, as has been said, in black, and did not look +like the John Eames of every day to whom Sir Raffle was accustomed. + +'I don't understand this at all,' said Sir Raffle. + +'I was afraid that it was only too plain,' said John Eames. + +'And you must go?' + +'Oh, yes;--that is certain. I have pledged myself to go.' + +'Of course I don't know anything of this matter that is so important to +your family.' + +'No; you do not,' said Johnny. + +'Can't you explain it to me, then? so that I may have some reason--if +there is any reason.' + +Then John told the story of Mr Crawley--a considerable portion of the +story; and in his telling of it, I think it probable that he put more +weight upon the necessity of his mission to Italy than it could have +fairly been made to bear. In the course of the narration Sir Raffle did +once contrive to suggest that a lawyer going to Florence might do the +business at any rate as well as John Eames. But Johnny denied this. 'No, +Sir Raffle, it is impossible; quite impossible,' he said. 'If you saw +the lawyer who is acting in the matter, Mr Toogood, who is also my +uncle, he would tell you the same.' Sir Raffle had already heard +something of the story of Mr Crawley, and was now willing to accept the +sad tragedy of that case as an excuse for his private secretary's +somewhat insubordinate conduct. 'Under the circumstances, Eames, I +suppose you must go; but I think you should have told me all about it +before.' + +'I did not like to trouble you, Sir Raffle, with private business.' + +'It is always best to tell the whole of the story,' said Sir Raffle. +Johnny being quite content with the upshot of the negotiations accepted +this gentle rebuke in silence and withdrew. On the next day he appeared +again at the office in his ordinary costume, and an idea crossed Sir +Raffle's brain that he had been partly 'done' by the affectation of a +costume. 'I'll be even with him some day,' said Sir Raffle to himself. + +'I've got my leave, boys,' said Eames when he went out into the room in +which his three friends sat. + +'No!' said Cradell. + +'But I have,' said Johnny. + +'You don't mean that old Huffle Scuffle has given it out of his own +head?' Said Fisher. + +'Indeed he has,' said Johnny; 'and bade God bless me into the bargain.' + +'And you didn't give him the oysters?' said Fit Howard. + +'Not a shell,' said Johnny. + +'I'm blessed if you don't beat cock-fighting,' said Cradell, lost in +admiration at his friend's adroitness. + +We know how John passed his evening after that. He went first to see +Lily Dale at her uncle's lodgings in Sackville Street, from thence he +was taken to the presence of the charming Madalina in Porchester +Terrace, and then wound up the night with his friend Conway Dalrymple. +When he got to his bed he felt himself to have been triumphant, but in +spite of his triumph he was ashamed of himself. Why had he left Lily to +go to Madalina? As he thought of this he quoted to himself against +himself Hamlet's often-quoted appeal of the two portraits. How could he +not despise himself in that he could find any pleasure in Madalina, +having a Lily Dale to fill his thoughts? 'But she is not fair to me,' he +said to himself--thinking thus to comfort himself. But he did not +comfort himself. + +On the next morning early his uncle, Mr Toogood met him at the Dover +Railway Station. 'Upon my word, Johnny, you're a clever fellow,' said +he. 'I never thought you would make it all right with Sir Raffle.' + +'As right as a trivet, uncle. There are some people, if you can only +get to learn the length of their feet, you can always fit them with +shoes afterwards.' + +'You'll go direct to Florence, Johnny?' + +'Yes, I think so. From what we have heard, Mrs Arabin must be either +there or at Venice, and I don't suppose I could learn from anyone at +Paris at which town she is staying at this moment.' + +'Her address is Florence:--poste restante, Florence. You will be sure +to find out at any of the hotels where she is staying, or where she has +been staying.' + +'But when I have found her, I don't suppose she can tell me anything,' +said Johnny. + +'Who can tell? She may or she may not. My belief is that the money was +her present altogether and not his. It seems that they don't mix their +moneys. He has always some scruple about it because of her son by a +former marriage, and they always have different accounts at their +bankers'. I found that out when I was at Barchester.' + +'But Crawley was his friend.' + +'Yes, Crawley was his friend; but I don't know that fifty-pound notes +have always been so plentiful with him. Deans' incomes ain't what they +were, you know.' + +'I don't know anything about that,' said Johnny. + +'Well; they are not. And he has nothing of his own, as far as I can +learn. It would be just the thing for her to do--to give money to his +friend. At any rate she will tell you whether it was or not.' + +'And then I will go on to Jerusalem, after him.' + +'Should you find it necessary. He will probably be on his way back, and +she will know where you can hit him on the road. You must make him +understand that it is essential that he should be here some little time +before the trial. You can understand, Johnny;--and as he spoke Mr +Toogood lowered his voice to a whisper, though they were walking +together on the platform of the railway station, and could not possibly +have been overheard by anyone. 'You can understand that it may be +necessary to prove that he is not exactly compos mentis, and if so it +will be essential that he should have some influential friend near him. +Otherwise that bishop will trample him into dust.' If Mr Toogood could +have seen the bishop at this time and have read the troubles of the poor +man's heart, he would hardly have spoken of him as being so terrible a +tyrant. + +'I understand all that,' said Johnny. + +'I hope the dean is a good fellow.' + +'They tell me he is a very good fellow.' + +'I never did see much in bishops or deans as yet,' said Johnny, 'and I +should feel rather awe-struck travelling with one.' + +'I should fancy that a dean is very much like anybody else.' + +'But the man's hat would cow me.' + +'I daresay you'll find him walking about Jerusalem with a wide-awake +on, and a big stick in his hand, probably smoking a cigar. Deans +contrive to get out of their armour sometimes, as the knights of old +used to. Bishops, I fancy, find it more difficult. Well--good-bye, old +fellow. I'm very much obliged to you for going--I am, indeed. I don't +doubt but what we shall pull through, somehow.' + +Then Mr Toogood went home to breakfast, and from his own house he +proceeded to his office. When he had been there an hour or two, there +came to him a messenger from the Income-Tax Office, with an official +note addressed to himself by Sir Raffle Buffle--a note which looked to +be very official. Sir Raffle Buffle presented his compliments to Mr +Toogood, and could Mr Toogood favour Sir R B with the present address of +Mr John Eames. 'Old fox,' said Mr Toogood--'but then such a stupid old +fox! As if it was likely that I should have poached on Johnny if +anything was wrong.' So Mr Toogood sent his compliments to Sir Raffle +Buffle, and begged to inform Sir R B that Mr John Eames was away on very +particular family business, which would take him in the first instance +to Florence;--but that from Florence he would probably have to go onto +Jerusalem without the loss of an hour. 'Stupid old fool!' said Mr +Toogood, as he sent off his reply by the messenger. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +NEAR THE CLOSE + +I wonder whether anyone will read these pages who has never known +anything of the bitterness of a family quarrel? If so, I shall have a +reader very fortunate, or else very cold-blooded. It would be wrong to +say that love produces quarrels; but love does produce those intimate +relations of which quarrelling is too often one of the consequences--one +of the consequences which frequently seem to be so natural, and +sometimes seem to be unavoidable. One brother rebukes the other--and +what brothers ever lived together between whom there is no such +rebuking?--then some warm word is misunderstood and hotter words follow +and there is a quarrel. The husband tyrannizes, knowing that it is his +duty to direct, and the wife disobeys, or only partially obeys, thinking +that a little independence will become her--and so there is a quarrel. +The father, anxious only for his son's good, looks into that son's +future with other eyes than those of his son himself--and so there is a +quarrel. They come very easily these quarrels, but the quittance from +them is sometimes terribly difficult. Much of thought is necessary +before the angry man can remember that he too in part may have been +wrong; and any attempt at such thinking is almost beyond the power of +him who is carefully nursing his wrath, let it cool! But the nursing of +such quarrelling kills all happiness. The very man who is nursing his +wrath lest it cool--his wrath against one whom he loves perhaps the best +of all whom it has been given to him to love--is himself wretched as +long as it lasts. His anger poisons every pleasure of his life. He is +sullen at his meals, and cannot understand his book as he turns the +pages. His work, let it be what it may, is ill done. He is full of his +quarrel--nursing it. He is telling himself how much he has loved that +wicked one, and that now that wicked one is repaying him simply with +wickedness! And yet the wicked one is at that very moment dearer to him +than ever. If that wicked one would only be forgiven how sweet would be +the world again! And yet he nurses his wrath. + +So it was in these days with Archdeacon Grantly. He was very angry with +his son. It is hardly too much to say that in every moment of his life, +whether waking or sleeping, he was thinking of the injury his son was +doing him. He had almost come to forget the fact that his anger had been +first roused by the feeling that his son was about to do himself an +injury--to cut his own throat. Various other considerations had now +added themselves to that, and filled not only his mind but his daily +conversation with his wife. How terrible would be the disgrace to Lord +Hartletop, how incurable the injury to Griselda, the marchioness, should +the brother-in-law of the one, and the brother of the other, marry the +daughter of a convicted thief! Of himself he would say nothing. So he +declared constantly, though of himself he did say a great deal. Of +himself he would say nothing, though of course such a marriage would +ruin him in the county. 'My dear,' said his wife, 'that is nonsense. +That is really nonsense. I feel sure there is not a single person in the +county who would think of the marriage in such a light.' Then the +archdeacon would have quarrelled with his wife, too, had she not been +too wise to admit such a quarrel. Mrs Grantly was very wise and knew +that it took two persons to make a quarrel. He told her over and over +again that she was in league with her son--that she was encouraging her +son to marry Grace Crawley. 'I believe that in your heart you wish it,' +he once said to her. 'No, my dear, I do not wish it. I do not think it a +becoming marriage. But if he does marry her, I should wish to receive +his wife in my house and certainly would not quarrel with him.' 'I will +never receive her,' the archdeacon had replied; 'and as for him, I can +only say that in such a case I will make no provision for his family.' + +It will be remembered that the archdeacon had on a former occasion +instructed his wife to write to their son and tell him of his father's +determination. Mrs Grantly had so manoeuvred that a little time had been +gained, and that those instructions had not been insisted upon in all +their bitterness. Since that time Major Grantly had renewed his +assurance that he would marry Grace Crawley if Grace Crawley would +accept him--writing on this occasion direct to his father--and had asked +his father whether, in such a case, he was to look forward to be +disinherited. 'It is essential that I should know,' the major had said, +'because in such a case I must take immediate measures for leaving this +place.' His father had sent back his letter, writing a few words at the +bottom of it. 'If you do as you propose above, you must expect nothing +from me.' The words were written in large round handwriting, very +hurriedly, and the son when he received them perfectly understood the +mood of his father's mind when he wrote them. + +Then there came tidings, addressed on this occasion to Mrs Grantly, that +Cosby Lodge was to be given up. Lady-day had come, and the notice +necessarily to be given at that period, was so given. 'I know this will +grieve you,' Major Grantly had said, 'but my father has driven me to +it.' This, in itself, was a cause of great sorrow, both to the +archdeacon and to Mrs Grantly, as there were circumstances connected +with Cosby Lodge which made them think that it was a very desirable +residence for their son. 'I shall sell everything about the place and go +abroad at once,' he said in a subsequent letter. 'My present idea is +that, I shall settle myself at Pau, as my income will suffice for me to +live there, and education for Edith will be cheap. At any rate I will +not continue to live in England. I could never be happy here in +circumstance so altered. Of course I should not have left my profession, +unless I had understood from my father that the income arising from it +would not be necessary to me. I do not, however, mean to complain, but +simply to tell you that I shall go.' There were many letters between the +mother and son in those days. + +'I shall stay till after the trial,' he said. 'If she will then go with +me, well and good; but whether she will or not, I shall not remain +here.' All this seemed to Mrs Grantly to be peculiarly unfortunate, for +had he not resolved to go, things might even yet have righted +themselves. From what she could now understand of the character of Miss +Crawley, whom she did not know personally, she thought it probable that +Grace, in the event of her father being found guilty by the jury, would +absolutely and persistently refuse the offer made to her. She would be +too good, as Mrs Grantly put it to herself, to bring misery and disgrace +into another family. But should Mr Crawley be acquitted, and should the +marriage then take place, the archdeacon himself might probably be got +to forgive it. In either case there would be no necessity for breaking +up the house at Cosby Lodge. But her dear son Henry, her best beloved, +was obstinate and stiff-necked and would take no advice. 'He is even +worse than his father,' she said, in her short-lived anger, to her own +father to whom alone at this time she could unburden her griefs, seeking +consolation and encouragement. + +It was her habit to go over to the deanery at any rate twice a week at +this time, and on the occasion of one of the visits so made, she +expressed very strongly her distress at the family quarrel which had +come among them. The old man took his grandson's part through and +through. 'I do not at all see why he should not marry the young lady if +he likes her. As for money, there ought to be enough without his having +to look for a wife with a fortune.' + +'It is not a question of money, papa.' + +'And as to rank,' continued Mr Harding, 'Henry will not at any rate be +going lower than his father did when he married you;--not so low +indeed, for at that time I was only a minor canon, and Mr Crawley is in +possession of a benefice.' + +'Papa, all this is nonsense. It is indeed.' + +'Very likely, my dear.' + +'It is not because Mr Crawley is only perpetual curate of Hogglestock +that the archdeacon objects to the marriage. It has nothing to do with +that at all. At the present moment he is in disgrace.' + +'Under a cloud, my dear. Let us pray that it may only be a passing +cloud.' + +'All the world thinks that he is guilty. And then he is such a man;--so +singular, so unlike anybody else! You know, papa, that I don't think +very much of money, merely as money.' + +'I hope not, my dear. Money is worth thinking of, but it is not worth +very much thought.' + +'But it does give advantages, and the absence of advantages must be very +much felt in the education of a girl. You would hardly wish Henry to +marry a young woman who, from the want of money, had not been brought up +among ladies. It is not Miss Crawley's fault, but such has been her lot. +We cannot ignore these deficiencies, papa.' + +'Certainly not, my dear.' + +'You would not, for instance, wish that Henry should marry a +kitchen-maid.' + +'But is Miss Crawley a kitchen-maid, Susan?' + +'I don't quite say that.' + +'I am told that she has been educated infinitely more than most of the +young ladies in the neighbourhood,' said Mr Harding. + +'You know what I mean, papa. But the fact is, that it is impossible to +deal with men. They will never be reasonable. A marriage such as this +would be injurious to Henry; but it will not be ruinous; and as to +disinheriting him for it, that would be downright wicked.' + +'I think so,' said Mr Harding. + +'But the archdeacon will look at it as though it would destroy Henry and +Edith together, while you speak of it as though it were the best thing +in the world.' + +'If the young people love each other, I think it would be the best thing +in the world,' said Mr Harding. + +'But, papa, you cannot but think that his father's wish should go for +something,' said Mrs Grantly, who, desirous as she was on the one side +to support her son, could not bear that her husband should, on the other +side, be declared to be altogether in the wrong. + +'I do not know, my dear,' said Mr Harding; 'but I do think that if the +two young people are fond of each other, and if there is anything for +them to live upon, it cannot be right to keep them apart. You know, my +dear, she is the daughter of a gentleman.' Mrs Grantly upon this left +her father almost brusquely, without speaking another word on the +subject; for though she was opposed to the vehement anger of her +husband, she could not endure the proposition now made by her father. + +Mr Harding was at this time living all alone in the deanery. For some +few years the deanery had been his home, and as his youngest daughter +was the dean's wife, there could no more comfortable resting-place for +the evening of his life. During the last month or two the days had gone +tediously long with him; for he had had the large house all to himself, +and he was a man who did not love solitude. It is hard to conceive that +the old, whose thoughts have been all thought out, should ever love to +live alone. Solitude is surely for the young, who have time before them +for the execution of schemes, and who can, therefore, take delight in +thinking. In these days the poor old man would wander about the rooms, +shambling from one chamber to another, and would feel ashamed when the +servants met him ever on the move. He would make little apologies for +his uneasiness, which they would accept graciously, understanding, after +a fashion, why it was that he was uneasy. 'He ain't got nothing to do,' +said the housemaid to the cook 'and as for reading, they say that some +of the young ones can read all day sometimes, and all night too; but +bless you, when you're nigh eighty, reading don't go for much.' The +housemaid was right as to Mr Harding's reading. He was not one who had +read so much in his earlier days as to enable him to make reading go far +with him now that he was near eighty. So he wandered about the room, and +sat here for a few minutes, and there for a few minutes, and though he +did not sleep much, he made the hours of the night as many as possible. +Every morning he shambled across from the deanery to the cathedral, and +attended the morning service, sitting in the stall which he had occupied +for fifty years. The distance was very short, not exceeding, indeed a +hundred yards from a side-door in the deanery to another side-door into +the cathedral; but short as it was there had come to be a question +whether he should be allowed to go alone. It had been feared that he +might fall on his passage and hurt himself; for there was a step here, +and a step there, and the light was not very good in the purlieus of the +old cathedral. A word or two had been said once, and the offer of an arm +to help him had been made; but he had rejected the offered +assistance--softly, indeed, but still firmly--and every day he tottered +off by himself hardly lifting his feet as he went, and aiding himself on +his journey by a hand upon the wall when he thought that nobody was +looking at him. But many did see him, and they who knew him--ladies +generally of the city--would offer him a hand. Nobody was milder in his +dislikings than Mr Harding; but there were ladies in Barchester upon +whose arm he would always decline to lean, bowing courteously as he did +so, and saying a word or two of constrained civility. There were others +whom he would allow to accompany him home to the door of the deanery, +with whom he delighted to linger and chat if the morning was warm, and +to whom he would tell little stories of his own doings in the cathedral +services in the old days, when Bishop Grantly had ruled the diocese. +Never a word did he say against Bishop Proudie, or against Bishop +Proudie's wife; but the many words which he did say in praise of Bishop +Grantly--who, by his showing, was surely one of the best of churchmen +who ever walked through this vale of sorrow--were as eloquent in +dispraise of the existing prelate as could ever have been any more +clearly-pointed phrases. This daily visit to the cathedral, where he +would say his prayers as he had said them for so many years, and listen +to the organ, of which he knew all the power and every blemish as though +he himself had made the stops and fixed the pipes, was the chief +occupation of his life. It was a pity that it could not have been made +to cover a larger portion of his day. + +It was sometimes sad enough to watch him as he sat alone. He would have +a book near him, and for a while would keep it in his hands. It would +generally be some volume of good old standard theology with which he had +been, or supposed himself to have been, conversant from his youth. But +the book would soon be laid aside, and gradually he would move himself +away from it, and he would stand about the room, looking now out of a +window from which he would fancy that he could not be seen, or gazing up +at some print which he had known for years; and then he would sit down +for a while in one chair, and for a while in another, while his mind was +wandering back into the old days, thinking of old troubles and +remembering old joys. And he had a habit, when he was sure that he that +he was not watched, of creeping up to a great black wooden case, which +always stood in one corner of the sitting-room which he occupied in the +deanery. Mr Harding, when he was younger, had been a performer on the +violoncello, and in this case there was still the instrument from which +he had been wont to extract the sounds which he had so dearly loved. Now +in these latter days he never made any attempt to play. Soon after he +had come to the deanery there had fallen upon him an illness, and after +that he had never again asked for his bow. They who were around him--his +daughter chiefly and her husband--had given the matter much thought, +arguing with themselves whether or no it would be better to invite him +to resume the task he so loved; for of all the works of his life this +playing on the violoncello had been the sweetest to him; but even before +that illness his hand had greatly failed him, and the dean and Mrs +Arabin had agreed that it would be better to let the matter pass without +a word. He had never asked to be allowed to play. He had expressed no +regrets. When he himself would propose that his daughter should 'give +them a little music'--and he would make such a proposition on every +evening that was suitable--he would never say a word of those former +performances at which he himself had taken a part. But it had become +known to Mrs Arabin, through the servants, that he had once dragged the +instrument forth from its case when he thought the house to be nearly +deserted; and a wail of sounds had been heard, very low, very +short-lived, recurring now and again at fitful intervals. He had at +those times attempted to play, as though with a muffled bow--so that +none should know of his vanity and folly. Then there had been further +consultations at the deanery, and it had been again agreed that it would +be best to say nothing to him of his music. + +In these latter days of which I am now speaking he would never draw the +instrument out of its case. Indeed he was aware that it was too heavy +for him to handle without assistance. But he would pass his fingers +among the broad strings, and ever and anon would produce from one of +them a low, melancholy, almost unearthly sound. And then he would pause, +never daring to produce such notes in succession--one close upon the +other. And these last sad moans of the old fiddle were now known through +the household. They were the ghosts of the melody of days long past. He +imagined that his visits to the box were unsuspected--that none knew of +the folly of his old fingers which could not keep themselves from +touching the wires; but the voice of the old violoncello had been +recognised by the servants and by his daughter, and when that low wail +was heard through the house--like the last dying note of a dirge--they +would all know that Mr Harding was visiting his ancient friend. + +When the dean and Mrs Arabin had first talked of going abroad for a long +visit, it had been understood that Mr Harding should pass the period of +their absence with his other daughter at Plumstead; but when the time +came he begged Mrs Arabin to be allowed to remain in his old rooms. 'Of +course I shall go backwards and forwards,' he had said. 'There is +nothing I like so much as a change now and then.' The result had been +that he had gone once to Plumstead during the dean's absence. When he +had thus remonstrated, begging go be allowed to remain in Barchester, +Mrs Arabin had declared her intention of giving up her tour. In telling +her father of this she had not said that her altered purpose had arisen +from her disinclination to leave him alone; but he had perceived that it +was so, and had then consented to be taken over to Plumstead. There was +nothing, he said, which he would like so much as going over to Plumstead +for four or five months. It had ended in his having his own way +altogether. The Arabins had gone upon their tour, and he was left in +possession of the deanery. 'I should not like to die out of Barchester,' +he said to himself in excuse to himself for his disinclination to +sojourn long under the archdeacon's roof. But, in truth, the archdeacon, +who loved him well and who, after a fashion, had always been good to +him--who had always spoken of the connexion which had bound the two +families together as the great blessing of his life--was too rough in +his greetings for the old man. Mr Harding had ever mixed something of +fear with his warm affection for his elder son-in-law, and now in these +closing hours of his life he could not avoid a certain amount of +shrinking from that loud voice--a certain inaptitude to be quite at ease +in that commanding presence. The dean, his second son-in-law, had been a +modern friend in comparison with the archdeacon; but the dean was more +gentle with him; and then the dean's wife had ever been the dearest to +him of human beings. It may be a doubt whether one of the dean's +children was not now almost more dear, and whether in these days he did +not have more free communication with that little girl than with any +other human being. Her name was Susan, but he had always called her +Posy, having himself invented for her that soubriquet. When it had been +proposed to him to pass the winter and spring at Plumstead, the +suggestion had been made alluring by a promise that Posy also should be +taken to Mrs Grantly's house. But he, as we have seen, remained at the +deanery, and Posy had remained with him. + +Posy was now five years old, and could talk well, and had her own ideas +of things. Posy's eyes--hers, and no others besides her own--were +allowed to see the inhabitant of the big black case; and now that the +deanery was so nearly deserted, Posy's fingers had touched the strings +and had produced an infantine moan. 'Grandpa, let me do it again.' +Twang! It was not, however, in truth, a twang, but a sound as of a +prolonged dull, almost deadly, hum-m-m-m-m! On this occasion the moan +was not entirely infantine--Posy's fingers having been something too +strong--and the case was closed and locked, and grandpa shook his head. + +'But Mrs Baxter won't be angry,' said Posy. Mrs Baxter was the +housekeeper in the deanery, and had Mr Harding under her especial +charge. + +'No, my darling; Mrs Baxter will not be angry, but we mustn't disturb +the house.' + +'No,' said Posy, with much of important awe in her tone; 'we mustn't +disturb the house; must we, grandpa?' And so she gave in her adhesion to +the closing of the case. But Posy could play cat's-cradle, and as +cat's-cradle did not disturb the house at all, there was a good deal of +cat's-cradle played in those days. Posy's fingers were so soft and +pretty, so small and deft, that the dear old man delighted in taking the +strings from them, and in having them taken from his own by those tender +little digits. + +On the afternoon after the conversation respecting Grace Crawley which +is recorded in the early part of this chapter, a messenger from +Barchester went over to Plumstead, and part of his mission consisted of +a note from Mrs Baxter to Mrs Grantly, beginning 'Honoured Madam,' and +informing Mrs Grantly, among other things, that her 'respected papa', as +Mrs Baxter called him, was not quite so well as usual; not that Mrs +Baxter thought that there was much the matter. Mr Harding had been to +the cathedral service, as was usual with him, but had come home leaning +on a lady's arm, who had thought it well to stay with him at the door +till it had been opened for him. After that 'Miss Posy' had found him +asleep, and had been unable--or if not unable, unwilling, to wake him. +'Miss Posy' had come down to Mrs Baxter somewhat in a fright, and hence +this letter had been written. Mrs Baxter thought that there was nothing +'to fright' Mrs Grantly, and she wasn't sure that she should have +written at all only that Dick was bound to go over to Plumstead with the +wool; but as Dick was going, Mrs Baxter thought it proper to send her +duty, and to say that to her humble way of thinking perhaps it might be +best that Mr Harding shouldn't go alone to the cathedral in the morning. +'If the dear reverend gentleman was to get a tumble, ma'am,' said the +letter, 'it would be awkward.' Then Mrs Grantly remembered that she had +left her father almost without a greeting in the previous day, and she +resolved that she would go over very early on the following morning--so +early that she would be at the deanery before her father should have +gone to the cathedral. + +'He ought to have come over here. And not stayed there by himself,' +said the archdeacon, when his wife told him of her intention. + +'It is too late to think of that now, my dear; and one can understand, I +think, that he should not like leaving the cathedral as long as he can +attend it. The truth is that he does not like being out of Barchester.' + +'He would be much better here,' said the archdeacon. 'Of course you can +have the carriage and go over. We can breakfast at eight; and if you can +bring him back with you, do. I should tell him that he ought to come.' +Mrs Grantly made no answer to this, knowing very well that she could not +bring herself to go beyond the gentlest persuasion with her father, and +on the next morning she was at the deanery by ten o'clock. Half-past ten +was the hour at which the service began. Mrs Baxter contrived to meet +her before she saw her father, and begged her not to let it be known +that any special tidings of Mr Harding's failing strength had been sent +from the deanery to Plumstead. 'And how is my father?' asked Mrs +Grantly. 'Well, then, ma'am,' said Baxter, 'in one sense he's finely. He +took a morsel of early lamb to his dinner yesterday, and relished it +ever so well--only he gave Miss Posy the best part of it. And then he +sat with Miss Posy quite happy for an hour or so. And then he slept in +his chair; and you know, ma'am, we never wake him. And after that old +Skulpit toddled up from the hospital'--this was Hiram's Hospital of +which establishment, in the city of Barchester, Mr Harding had once been +the warden and kind master, as has been told in former chronicles of the +city--'and your papa has said, ma'am, you know, that he is always to see +any of the old men when they come up. And Skulpit is sly, and no better +than he should be, and got money from your father, ma'am, I know. And +then he had just a drop of tea, and after that I took him a glass of +port wine with my own hands. And it touched me, ma'am, so it did, when +he said, "Oh, Mrs Baxter, how good you are; you know well what I like." +And then he went to bed. I listened hard--not from idle curiosity, +ma'am, as you, who know me, will believe, but just because it's becoming +to know what he's about, as there might be an accident, you know, +ma'am.' 'You are very good, Mrs Baxter, very good.' 'Thank ye, ma'am, +for saying so. And so I listened hard; but he didn't go to his music, +poor gentleman; and I think he had a quiet night. He doesn't sleep much +at nights, poor gentleman, but he's very quiet; leastwise he was last +night.' This was the bulletin which Mrs Baxter gave Mrs Grantly on that +morning before Mrs Grantly saw her father. + +She found him preparing himself for his visit to the cathedral. Some +year or two--but no more--before the date of which we are speaking, he +had still taken some small part in the service; and while he had done so +he had of course worn his surplice. Living so close to the cathedral--so +close that he could almost walk out of the house into the transept--he +had kept his surplice in his own room, and had gone down in his +vestment. It had been a bitter day to him when he had first found +himself constrained to abandon the white garment which he loved. He had +encountered some failure in the performance of the slight clerical task +allotted to him, and the dean had tenderly advised him to desist. He did +not utter one word of remonstrance. 'It will perhaps be better,' the +dean had said. 'Yes--it will be better,' Mr Harding had replied. 'Few +have had accorded to them the high privilege of serving their Master in +His house for so many years--though few more humbly, or with lower +gifts.' But on the following morning, and for nearly a week afterwards, +he had been unable to face the minor canon and the vergers, and the old +women who knew him so well, in his ordinary black garments. At last he +went down with the dean, and occupied a stall close to the dean's seat +--far away from that which he had sat for so many years--and in this +seat he had said his prayers ever since that day. And now his surplices +were washed and ironed and folded and put away; but there were moments +in which he would stealthily visit them, as he also stealthily visited +his friend in the black wooden case. This was very melancholy, and the +sadness of it was felt by all those who lived with him; but he never +alluded himself to any of those bereavements which age had brought him. +Whatever might be his regrets, he kept them ever within his own breast. + +Posy was with him when Mrs Grantly went up into his room, holding for +him his hat and stick while he was engaged in brushing a suspicion of +dust from his black gaiters. 'Grandpapa, here is aunt Susan,' said Posy. +The old man looked up with something--with some slightest sign of that +habitual fear which was always aroused within his bosom by visitations +from Plumstead. Had Mrs Arabin thoroughly understood the difference in +her father's feeling toward herself and toward her sister, I think she +would hardly have gone forth upon any tour while he remained with her in +the deanery. It is very hard sometimes to know how intensely we are +loved, and of what value our presence is to those who love us! Mrs +Grantly saw the look--did not analyse it, did not quite understand +it--but felt, as she had often felt before, that it was not altogether +laden with welcome. But all this had nothing to do with the duty on +which she had come; nor did it, in the slightest degree, militate +against her own affection. 'Papa,' she said, kissing him, 'you are +surprised to see me so early?' + +'Well, my dear, yes;--but very glad all the same. I hope everybody is +well at Plumstead?' + +'Everybody, thank you, papa.' + +'That is well. Posy and I are getting ready for church. Are we not, +Posy?' + +'Grandpapa is getting ready. Mrs Baxter won't let me go.' + +'No, my dear, no--not yet, Posy. When Posy is a great girl she can go +to the cathedral every day. Only then, perhaps, Posy won't want to go.' + +'I thought that, perhaps, papa, you would sit with me a little while +this morning, instead of going to morning prayers.' + +'Certainly, my dear--certainly. Only I do not like not going;--for who +can say how often I may be able to go again? There is so little time +left, Susan--so very little left.' + +After that she did not have the heart to ask him to stay, and therefore +she went with him. As they passed down the stairs and out of the doors +she was astonished to find how weak were his footsteps--how powerless he +was against the slightest misadventure. On this very day he would have +tripped at the upward step at the cathedral door had she not been with +him. 'Oh, papa,' she said 'indeed, indeed, you should not come here +alone.' Then he apologised for his little stumble with many words and +much shame, assuring her that anybody might trip on an occasion. It was +purely an accident; and though it was a comfort to have had her arm, he +was sure that he would have recovered himself even had he been alone. He +always, he said, kept quite close to the wall, so that there might be no +mistake--no possibility of an accident. All this he said volubly, but +with confused words, in the covered stone passage leading into the +transept. And, as he thus spoke, Mrs Grantly made up her mind that her +father should never again go to the cathedral alone. He never did go +again to the cathedral--alone. + +When they returned to the deanery, Mr Harding was fluttered, weary, and +unwell. When his daughter left him for a few minutes he told Mrs Baxter +in confidence of the story of his accident, and his great grief that his +daughter should have seen it. 'Laws amercy, sir, it was a blessing she +was with you,' said Mrs Baxter; 'it was, indeed, Mr Harding.' Then Mr +Harding had been angry, and spoke almost crossly to Mrs Baxter; but, +before she left the room, he found an opportunity of begging her +pardon--not in a set speech to that effect, but by a little word of +gentle kindness, which she had understood perfectly. 'Papa,' said Mrs +Grantly to him as soon as she ha succeeded in getting both Posy and Mrs +Baxter out of the room--against the doing of which, Mr Harding had +manoeuvred with all his little impotent skill--'Papa, you must promise +that you will not go to the cathedral again alone, till Eleanor comes +home.' When he heard the sentence he looked at her with blank misery in +his eyes. He made not attempt at remonstrance. He begged for no respite. +The word had gone forth, and he knew that it must be obeyed. Though he +would have hidden the signs of his weakness had he been able, he would +not condescend to plead that he was strong. 'If you think it wrong, my +dear, I will not go alone,' he said. 'Papa, I do; indeed I do. Dear +papa, I would not hurt you by saying it if I did not know that I am +right.' He was sitting with his hand upon the table, and, as she spoke +to him, she put her hand upon his, caressing it. 'My dear,' he said, +'you are always right.' + +She left him again for a while, having some business out in the city, +and he was alone in his room for an hour. What was there left to him now +in the world? Old as he was, and in some things almost childish, +nevertheless, he thought of this keenly, and some half-realised +remembrance of the 'lean and slippered pantaloon' flitted across his +mind, causing him a pang. What was there left to him now in the world? +Posy and cat's-cradle! Then, in the midst of his regrets, as he sat with +his back bent in his old easy-chair, with one arm over the shoulder of +the chair, and the other hanging loose by his side, on a sudden there +came across his face a smile as sweet as every brightened the face of +man or woman. He had been able to tell himself that he had no ground for +complaint--great ground rather for rejoicing and gratitude. Had not the +world and all in it been good to him; had he not children who loved him, +who had done him honour, who had been to him always a crown of glory, +never a mark for reproach; had not his lines fallen to him in very +pleasant places; was it not his happy fate to go and leave it all amidst +the good words and kind loving cares of devoted friends? Whose latter +days had ever been more blessed than his? And for the future--? It was +as he thought of this that the smile came across his face--as though it +were already the face of an angel. And then he muttered to himself a +word or two. 'Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace. Lord, +now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.' + +When Mrs Grantly returned she found him in jocund spirits. And yet she +perceived that he was so weak that when he left his chair he could +barely get across the room without assistance. Mrs Baxter, indeed, had +not sent to her too soon, and it was well that the prohibition had come +in time to prevent some terrible accident. 'Papa,' she said, 'I think +you had better go with me to Plumstead. The carriage is here, and I can +take you home so comfortably.' But he would not allow himself to be +taken on this occasion to Plumstead. He smiled and thanked her, and put +his hand into hers, and repeated his promise that he would not leave the +house on any occasion without assistance, and declared himself specially +thankful to her for coming to him on that special morning;--but he would +not be taken to Plumstead. 'When summer comes,' he said, 'then, if you +will have me for a few days!' + +He meant no deceit, and yet he had told himself within the last hour +that he should never see another summer. He could not tell even his +daughter that after such a life as this, after more than fifty years +spent in the ministration of his darling cathedral, it specially behoved +him to die--as he had lived--at Barchester. He could not say this to his +eldest daughter; but had his Eleanor been at home, he could have said it +to her. He thought he might yet live to see his Eleanor once again. If +this could be given to him he would ask for nothing more. + +On the afternoon of the next day, Mrs Baxter wrote another letter, in +which she told Mrs Grantly that her father had declared, at his usual +hour of rising that morning, that he was not going to the cathedral, he +would, he thought, lie in bed a little longer. And then he had been in +bed the whole day. 'And perhaps, honoured madam, looking at all things, +it's best as he should,' said Mrs Baxter. + + + +CHAPTER L + +LADY LUFTON'S PROPOSITION + +It was now known throughout Barchester that a commission was to be held +by the bishop's orders, at which inquiry would be made--that is, +ecclesiastical inquiry--as to the guilt imputed to Mr Crawley in the +matter of Mr Soames's cheque. Sundry rumours had gone abroad as to +quarrels which had taken place on the subject among certain clergymen +high in office; but these were simply rumours, and nothing was in truth +known. There was no more discreet clergyman in the diocese than Dr +Tempest, and not a word had escaped from him as to the stormy nature of +that meeting in the bishop's palace, at which he had attended with the +bishop--and at which Mrs Proudie had attended also. When it is said +that the fact of this coming commission was known to all Barsetshire, +allusion is of course made to that portion of the inhabitants of +Barsetshire to which clerical matters were dear;--and as such matters +were specially dear to the inhabitants of the parish of Framley, the +commission was discussed very eagerly in that parish, and was specially +discussed by the Dowager Lady Lufton. + +And there was a double interest attached to the commission in the parish +of Framley by the fact that Mr Robarts, the vicar, had been invited by +Dr Tempest to be one of the clergymen who were to assist in making the +inquiry. 'I also to propose to ask Mr Oriel of Greshambury to join us,' +said Dr Tempest. 'The bishop wishes to appoint the other two, and has +already named Mr Thumble and Mr Quiverful, who are both residents in the +city. Perhaps his lordship may be right in thinking it better that the +matter should not be left altogether in the hands of clergymen who hold +livings in the diocese. You are no doubt aware that neither Mr Thumble +nor Mr Quiverful do hold any benefice.' Mr Robarts felt--as everybody +else did feel who knew anything of the matter--that Bishop Proudie was +singularly ignorant of his knowledge of men, and that he showed his +ignorance on this special occasion. 'If he intended to name two such men +he should at any rate have named three,' said Dr Thorne. 'Mr Thumble and +Mr Quiverful will simply be outvoted on the first day, and after that +will give in their adhesion to the majority.' 'Mr Thumble indeed!' Lady +Lufton had said, with much scorn in her voice. To her thinking, it was +absurd in the highest degree that such men as Dr Tempest and her Mr +Robarts should be asked to meet Mr Thumble and Mr Quiverful on a matter +of ecclesiastical business. Outvoted! Of course whey would be outvoted. +Of course they would be so paralysed by fear at finding themselves in +the presence of real gentlemen, that they would hardly be able to vote +at all. Old Lady Lufton did not in fact utter words so harsh as these; +but thoughts as harsh passed through her mind. The reader therefore will +understand that much interest was felt in the subject at Framley Court, +where Lady Lufton lived with her son and daughter-in-law. + +'They tell me,' said Lady Lufton, 'that both the archdeacon and Dr +Tempest think it is right that a commission should be held. If so, I +have no doubt that it is right.' + +'Mark says that the bishop could hardly do anything else,' rejoined Mrs +Robarts. + +'I daresay not, my dear. I suppose the bishop has somebody near him +to tell him what he may do and what he may not do. It would be +terrible to think of, if it were not so. But yet, when I hear that he +has named such men as Mr Thumble and Mr Quiverful, I cannot but feel +that the whole diocese is disgraced.' + +'Oh, Lady Lufton, that is such a strong word,' said Mrs Robarts. + +'It may be strong, but it is not the less true,' said Lady Lufton. + +And from talking on the subject of the Crawleys, Lady Lufton soon +advanced, first to a desire for some action, and than to acting. 'I +think, my dear, I will go over and see Mrs Crawley,' said Lady Lufton, +the elder to Lady Lufton the younger. Lady Lufton the younger had +nothing to urge against this; but she did not offer to accompany the +elder Lady. I attempted to explain in the earlier part of this story +that there still existed a certain understanding between Mrs Crawley and +Lord Lufton's wife, and that kindnesses had occasionally passed from +Framley Court to Hogglestock Parsonage; but on this occasion, Lady +Lufton--the Lucy Robarts that had once passed certain days of her life +with the Crawleys at Hogglestock--did not choose to accompany her +mother-in-law; and therefore Mrs Robarts was invited to do so. 'I think +it may comfort her to know that she has our sympathy,' the elder woman +said to the younger as they made their journey together. + +When the carriage stopped before the little wicker-gate, from whence a +path led through a ragged garden from the road to Mr Crawley's house, +Lady Lufton hardly knew how to proceed. The servant came to the door of +the carriage, and asked for her orders. 'H--m--m, ha, yes; I think I'll +send in my card;--and say that I hope Mrs Crawley will be able to see +me. Won't that be best; eh, Fanny?' Fanny, otherwise Mrs Robarts, said +that she thought that would be best; and the card and message were +carried in. + +It was happily the case that Mr Crawley was not at home. Mr Crawley was +away at Hoggle End, reading to the brickmakers, or turning the mangles +of their wives, or teaching them theology, or politics, or history, +after his fashion. In these days he spent, perhaps, the happiest hours +of his life down at Hoggle End. I say that his absence was a happy +chance, because, had he been at home, he would certainly have said +something, or done something, to offend Lady Lufton. He would either +have refused to see her, or when seeing her he would have bade her hold +her peace and not interfere with matters which did not concern her, +or--more probable still--he would have sat still and sullen, and have +spoken not at all. But he was away and Mrs Crawley sent out word by the +servant that she would be most proud to see her ladyship, if her +ladyship would be pleased to alight. Her ladyship did alight, and walked +into the parsonage, followed by Mrs Robarts. + +Grace was with her mother. Indeed Jane had been there also when the +message was brought in, but she fled into the back regions, overcome by +shame as to her frock. Grace, I think, would have fled too, had she not +been bound in honour to support her mother. Lady Lufton, as she entered, +was very gracious, struggling with all the power of her womanhood so to +carry herself that there should be no outwardly visible sign of her rank +or her wealth--but not altogether succeeding. Mrs Robarts, on her first +entrance, said only a word or two of greeting to Mrs Crawley, and kissed +Grace, whom she had known intimately in early years. 'Lady Lufton,' said +Mrs Crawley, 'I am afraid this is a very poor place for you to come to; +but you have known that of old, and therefore I need hardly apologise.' + +'Sometimes I like poor places best,' said Lady Lufton. Then there was a +pause, after which Lady Lufton addressed herself to Grace, seeking some +subject for immediate conversation. 'You have been down in Allington, my +dear, have you not?' Grace, in a whisper, said that she had. 'Staying +with the Dales, I believe? I know the Dales well by name, and I have +always heard that they are charming people.' + +'I like them very much,' said Grace. And then there was another pause. + +'I hope your husband is pretty well, Mrs Crawley?' said Lady Lufton. + +'He is pretty well--not quite strong. I daresay you know, Lady Lufton, +that he has things to vex him?' Mrs Crawley felt that it was the need of +the moment that the only possible subject of conversation in that house +should be introduced; and therefore she brought it in at once, not +loving the subject, but being strongly conscious of the necessity. Lady +Lufton meant to be good-natured, and therefore Mrs Crawley would do all +in her power to make Lady Lufton's mission easy to her. + +'Indeed yes,' said her ladyship; 'we do know that.' + +'We feel so much for you and Mr Crawley,' said Mrs Robarts; 'and are so +sure that your sufferings are unmerited.' This was not discreet on the +part of Mrs Robarts, as she was the wife of one of the clergymen who had +been selected to form the commission of inquiry; and so Lady Lufton told +her on the way home. + +'You are very kind,' said Mrs Crawley. 'We must only bear it with such +fortitude as God will give us. We are told that He tempers the wind to +the shorn lamb.' + +'And so He does my dear,' said her ladyship very solemnly. 'So He does. +Surely you have felt that it is so?' + +'I struggle not to complain,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'I know that you struggle bravely. I hear of you, and I admire you for +it, and I love you.' It was still the old lady who was speaking and now +she had at last been roused out of her difficulty as to words, and had +risen from her chair, and was standing before Mrs Crawley. 'It is +because you do not complain, because you are so great and so good, +because your character is so high, and your spirit so firm, that I could +not resist the temptation of coming to you. Mrs Crawley, if you will let +me be your friend, I shall be proud of your friendship.' + +'Your ladyship is too good,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'Do not talk to me after that fashion,' said Lady Lufton. 'If you do I +shall be disappointed, and feel myself thrown back. You know what I +mean.' She paused for an answer; but Mrs Crawley had no answer to make. +She simply shook her head, not knowing why she did so. But we may know. +We can understand that she had felt that the friendship offered to her +by Lady Lufton was an impossibility. She had decided within her own +breast that it was so, though she did not know that she had come to such +decision. 'I wish you to take me at my word, Mrs Crawley,' continued +Lady Lufton. 'What can we do for you? We know that you are distressed.' + +'Yes--we are distressed.' + +'And we know how cruel circumstances have been to you. Will you not +forgive me for being plain?' + +'I have nothing to forgive,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'Lady Lufton means,' said Mrs Robarts, 'that in asking you to talk +openly of your affairs, she wishes you to remember that--I think you +know what I mean,' said Mrs Robarts, knowing very well herself what she +did mean, but not knowing at all how to express herself. + +'Lady Lufton is very kind,' said Mrs Crawley, 'and so are you, Mrs +Robarts. I know how good you both are, and for how much it behoves me to +be grateful.' These words were very cold, and the voice in which they +were spoken were very cold. They made Lady Lufton feel that it was +beyond her power to proceed with the work of her mission in its intended +spirit. It is ever so much easier to proffer kindness graciously than to +receive it with grace. Lady Lufton had intended to say, 'Let us be women +together;--women bound by humanity, and not separated by rank, and let +us open our hearts freely. Let us see how we may be of comfort to each +other.' And could she have succeeded in this, she would have spread out +her little plans of succour with so loving a hand that she would have +conquered the woman before her. But the suffering spirit cannot descend +from its dignity of reticence. It has a nobility of its own, made sacred +by many tears, by the flowing of streams of blood from unseen wounds, +which cannot descend from its dais to receive pity and kindness. A +consciousness of undeserved woe produces a grandeur of its own, with +which the high-souled sufferer will not easily part. Baskets full of +eggs, pounds of eleemosynary butter, quarters of given pork, even +second-hand clothing from the wardrobe of some richer sister--even +money, unsophisticated money, she could accept. She had learned how that +it was her portion of her allotted misery to take such things--for the +sake of her children and her husband--and to be thankful for them. She +did take them and was thankful; and in the taking she submitted herself +to the rod of cruel circumstances; but she could not even yet bring +herself to accept spoken pity from a stranger, and to kiss the speaker. + +'Can we not do something to help you?' said Mrs Robarts. She would not +have spoken but she perceived that Lady Lufton had completed her appeal, +and that Mrs Crawley did not seem prepared to answer it. + +'You have done so much to help us,' said Mrs Crawley. 'The things you +have sent us have been very serviceable.' + +'But we mean something more than that,' said Lady Lufton. + +'I do not know what there is more,' said Mrs Crawley. 'A bit to eat and +something to wear;--that seems to be all that we have to care for now.' + +'But we were afraid that this coming trial must cause you much anxiety.' + +'Of course it causes anxiety;--but what can we do? It must be so. It +cannot be put off or avoided. We have made up our minds to it now, and +almost wish that it would come quicker. If it were once over, I think +that he would be better whatever the result might be.' + +Then there was another lull in the conversation, and Lady Lufton began +to be afraid that her visit would be a failure. She thought that perhaps +she might get on better if Grace were not in the room, and she turned +over in her mind various schemes for sending her away. And perhaps her +task would be easier if Mrs Robarts also could be banished for a time. +'Fanny, my dear,' she said at last, boldly, 'I know you have a little +plan to arrange with Miss Crawley. Perhaps you will be more likely to be +successful if you can take a turn with her alone.' There was not much +subtlety in her ladyship's scheme; but it answered the proposed purpose, +and the two elder ladies were soon left face to face, so that Lady +Lufton had a fair pretext for making another attempt. 'Dear Mrs +Crawley,' she said, 'I do so long to say a word to you, but I fear that +I may be thought to interfere.' + +'Oh, no, Lady Lufton; I have no feeling of that kind.' + +'I have asked your daughter and Mrs Robarts to go out because I can +speak to you more easily alone. I wish I could teach you to trust me.' + +'I do trust you.' + +'As a friend, I mean;--as a real friend. If it should be the case, Mrs +Crawley, that a jury should give a verdict against your husband--what +will you do then? Perhaps I should not suppose that it is possible.' + +'Of course we know that it is possible,' said Mrs Crawley. Her voice +was stern, and there was in it a tone almost of offence. As she spoke +she did not look at her visitor, but sat with her face averted and her +arms akimbo on the table. + +'Yes;--it is possible,' said Lady Lufton. 'I suppose there is not one +in the county who does not truly wish it may not be so. But it is right +to be prepared for all alternatives. In such case have you thought what +you will do?' + +'I do not know what they would do to him,' said she. + +'I suppose that for some time he would be--' + +'Put in prison,' said Mrs Crawley, speaking very quickly, bringing out +the words with a sharp eagerness that was quite unusual to her. 'They +will send him to gaol. Is it not so, Lady Lufton?' + +'I suppose it would be so; not for long I should hope; but I presume +that such would be the sentence for some short period.' + +'And I might not go with him?' + +'No, that would be impossible.' + +'And the house, and the living; would they let him have them again when +he came out?' + +'Ah; that I cannot say. That will depend much, probably, in what these +clergymen will report. I hope he will not put himself in opposition to +them.' + +'I do not know. I cannot say. It is probable that he may do so. It is +not easy for a man so injured as he has been, and one at the same time +so great in intelligence, to submit himself gently to such inquiries. +When ill is being done to himself or others he is very prone to oppose +it.' + +'But these gentlemen do not wish to do him ill, Mrs Crawley.' + +'I cannot say. I do not know. When I think of it I see that there is +nothing but ruin on every side. What is the use of talking of it? Do not +be angry, Lady Lufton, if I say that it is of no use.' + +'But I desire to be of use--of real use. If it should be the case, Mrs +Crawley, that your husband should be--detained at Barchester--' + +'You mean imprisoned, Lady Lufton.' + +'Yes, I mean imprisoned. If it should be so, then do you bring yourself +and your children--all of them--over to Framley, and I will find a home +for you while he is lost to you.' + +'Oh, Lady Lufton, I could not do that.' + +'Yes, you can. You have not heard me yet. It would not be a comfort to +you in such a home as that to sit at table with people who are partly +strangers to you. But there is a cottage nearly adjoining to the house, +which you shall have all to yourself. The bailiff lived in it once, and +others have lived in it who belong to the place; but it is empty now and +it shall be made comfortable.' The tears were now running down Mrs +Crawley's face, so that she could not answer a word. 'Of course it is my +son's property, and not mine, but he has commissioned me to say that it +is most heartily at your service. He begs that in such a case you will +occupy it. And I beg the same. And your old friend Lucy has desired me +also to ask you in her name.' + +'Lady Lufton, I could not do that,' said Mrs Crawley through her tears. + +'You must think better of it, my dear. I do not scruple to advise you, +because I am older than you, and have experience of the world.' This, I +think, taken in the ordinary sense of the words, was a boast on the part +of Lady Lufton, for which but little true pretence existed. Lady +Lufton's experience of the world at large was not perhaps extensive. +Nevertheless she knew what one women might offer to another, and what +one woman might receive from another. 'You would be better over with me, +my dear, than you could be elsewhere. You will not misunderstand me if I +say that, under such circumstances, it would do your husband good that +you and your children should be under our protection during his period +of temporary seclusion. We stand well in the county. Perhaps I ought not +to say so, but I do not know how otherwise to explain myself; and when +it is known, by the bishop and others, that you have come to us during +that sad time, it will be understood that we think well of Mr Crawley, +in spite of anything a jury may say of him. Do you see that, my dear? +And we do think well of him. I have known of your husband for many +years, though I have not personally had the pleasure of much +acquaintance with him. He was over at Framley once at my request, and I +had great occasion to respect him. I do respect him; and I shall feel +grateful to him if he will allow you to put yourself and your children +under my wing, as being an old woman, should this misfortune fall upon +him. We hope that it will not fall upon him; but it is always well to be +provided for the worst.' + +In this way Lady Lufton at last made her speech and opened out the +proposal with which she had come laden to Hogglestock. While she was +speaking Mrs Crawley's shoulder was still turned to her; but the speaker +could see that the quick tears were pouring themselves down the cheeks +of the woman whom she addressed. There was a downright honesty of +thorough-going well-wishing charity about the proposition which overcame +Mrs Crawley altogether. She did not feel for a moment that it would be +possible for her to go to Framley in such circumstances as those which +had been suggested. As she thought of it all at the present moment, it +seemed to her that her only appropriate home during the terrible period +which was coming upon her, would be under the walls of the prison in +which her husband would be incarcerated. But she fully appreciated the +kindness which had suggested a measure, which, if carried into +execution, would make the outside world feel that her husband was +respected in the county, despite the degradation to which he was +subjected. She felt all this, but her heart was too full to speak. + +'Say that it shall be so, my dear,' continued Lady Lufton. 'Just give +me one nod of assent, and the cottage shall be ready for you should it +so chance that you should require it.' + +But Mrs Crawley did not give the nod of assent. With her face still +averted, while the tears were still running down her cheeks, she +muttered but a word or two. 'I could not do that, Lady Lufton; I could +not do that.' + +'You know at any rate what my wishes are, and as you become calmer you +will think of it. There is quite time enough, and I am speaking of an +alternative which may never happen. My dear friend Mrs Robarts, who is +now with your daughter, wishes Miss Crawley to go over to Framley +Parsonage while this inquiry among the clergymen is going on. They all +say it is the most ridiculous thing in the world--this inquiry. But the +bishop you know is so silly! We all think that if Miss Crawley would go +for a week or so to Framley Parsonage, that it will show how happy we +all are to receive her. It should be while Mr Robarts is employed in his +part of the work. What do you say, Mrs Crawley? We at Framley are all +clearly of the opinion that it will be best that it should be known that +the people in the county uphold your husband. Miss Crawley would be +back, you know, before the trial comes on. I hope you will let her come, +Mrs Crawley?' + +But even to this proposition Mrs Crawley could give no assent, though +she expressed no direct dissent. As regarded her own feelings, she would +much preferred to have been left to live through her misery alone; but +she could not but appreciate the kindness which endeavoured to throw +over and hers in their trouble the aegis of first-rate county +respectability. She was saved from the necessity of giving a direct +answer to this suggestion by the return of Mrs Robarts and Grace +herself. The door was opened slowly, and they crept into the room as +though they were aware that their presence would be hardly welcomed. + +'Is the carriage there, Fanny?' said Lady Lufton. 'It is almost time +for us to think of returning home.' + +Mrs Robarts said that the carriage was standing within twenty yards of +the door. + +'Then I think we will make a start,' said Lady Lufton. 'Have you +succeeded in persuading Miss Crawley to come over to Framley in April?' + +Mrs Robarts made no answer to this, but looked at Grace; and Grace +looked down upon the ground. + +'I have spoken to Mrs Crawley,' said Lady Lufton, 'and they will think +of it.' Then the two ladies took their leave, and walked out to their +carriage. + +'What does she say about your plan?' Mrs Robarts asked. + +'She is too broken-hearted to say anything.' Lady Lufton answered. +'Should it happen that he is convicted, we must come over and take her. +She will have no power to resist us in anything.' + + + +CHAPTER LI + +MRS DOBBS BROUGHTON PILES HER FAGGOTS + +The picture still progressed up in Mrs Dobbs Broughton's room, and the +secret was still kept, or supposed to be kept. Miss Van Siever was, at +any rate, certain that her mother had heard nothing of it, and Mrs +Broughton reported from day to day that her husband had not as yet +interfered. Nevertheless there was in these days a great gloom upon the +Dobbs Broughton household, so much so that Conway Dalrymple had more +than once suggested to Mrs Broughton that the work should be +discontinued. But the mistress of the house would not consent to this. +In answer to these offers, she was wont to declare in somewhat +mysterious language, that any misery coming upon herself was a matter of +moment to nobody--hardly even to herself, as she was quite prepared to +encounter moral and social death without delay, if not an absolute +physical demise; as to which latter alternative, she seemed to think +that even that might not be so far distant as some people chose to +believe. What was the cause of the gloom over the house neither Conway +Dalrymple nor Miss Van Siever understood, and to speak the truth Mrs +Broughton did not quite understand the cause herself. She knew well +enough, no doubt, that her husband came home always sullen, and +sometimes tipsy, and that things were not going well in the City. She +had never understood much about the City, being satisfied with an +assurance that had come to her in the early days from her friends, that +there was a mine of wealth in Hook Court, from whence would always come +for her use, house and furniture, a carriage and some horses, dresses +and jewels, which latter, if not quite real, should be manufactured with +the best sham substitute known. Soon after her brilliant marriage with +Mr Dobbs Broughton, she had discovered that the carriage and horses, and +the sham jewels, did not lift her so completely into a terrestrial +paradise as she had taught herself to expect that they would do. Her +brilliant drawing-room, with Dobbs Broughton for a companion, was not an +elysium. But though she had found out early in her married life that +something was still wanting to her, she had by no means confessed to +herself that the carriage and horses and sham jewels were bad, and it +can hardly be said that she had repented. She had endeavoured to patch +up matters with a little romance, and then had fallen upon Conway +Dalrymple--meaning no harm. Indeed, love with her, as it never could +have meant much good, was not likely to mean much harm. That somebody +should pretend to love her, to which pretence she might reply by a +pretence of friendship--this was the little excitement which she craved, +and by which she had once flattered herself that something of an elysium +might yet be created for her. Mr Dobbs Broughton had unreasonably +expressed a dislike to this innocent amusement--very unreasonably, +knowing, as he ought to have known, that he himself did so very little +towards providing the necessary elysium by any qualities of his own. For +a few weeks this interference from her husband had enhanced the +amusement, giving an additional excitement to the game. She felt herself +to be woman misunderstood and ill-used; and to some women there is +nothing so charming as a little mild ill-usage, which does not interfere +with their creature comforts, with their clothes, or their carriage, or +their sham jewels; but suffices to afford them the indulgence of a +grievance. Of late, however, Mr Dobbs Broughton had become a little too +rough in his language, and things had gone uncomfortably. She suspected +that Conway Dalrymple was not the only cause of all this. She had an +idea that Mr Musselboro and Mrs Van Siever had it in their power to make +themselves unpleasant, and that they were exercising this power. Of his +business in the City her husband never spoke to her, nor she to him. Her +own fortune had been very small, some couple of thousand pounds or so, +and she conceived that she had no pretext on which she could, unasked, +interrogate him about his money. She had no knowledge that marriage of +itself had given her the right to such interference; and had such +knowledge been hers she would have had no desire to interfere. She hoped +that the carriage and sham jewels would be continued to her; but she did +not know how to frame any question on the subject. Touching the other +difficulty--the Conway Dalrymple difficulty--she had her ideas. The +tenderness of her friendship had been trodden upon by and outraged by +the rough foot of an overbearing husband, and she was ill-used. She +would obey. It was becoming to her as a wife that she should submit. She +would give up Conway Dalrymple, and would induce him--in spite of his +violent attachment to herself--to take a wife. She herself would choose +a wife for him. She herself would, with suicidal hands, destroy the love +of her own life, since an overbearing, brutal husband demanded that it +should be destroyed. She would sacrifice her own feelings, and do all in +her power to bring Conway Dalrymple and Clara Van Siever together. If, +after that, some poet did not immortalise her friendship in Byronic +verse, she certainly would not get her due. Perhaps Conway Dalrymple +would himself become a poet in order that this might be done properly. +For it must be understood that, though she expected Conway Dalrymple to +marry, she expected also that he should be Byronically wretched after +his marriage on account of his love for herself. + +But there was certainly something wrong over and beyond the Dalrymple +difficulty. The servants were not as civil as they used to be, and her +husband, when she suggested to him a little dinner-party, snubbed her +most unmercifully. The giving of dinner-parties had been his glory, and +she had made the suggestion simply with the view of pleasing him. 'If +the world were going round, the wrong way, a woman would still want a +party,' he had said, sneering at her. 'It was of you I was thinking, +Dobbs,' she replied; 'not of myself. I care little for such gatherings.' +After that she retired to her own room with a romantic tear in each eye, +and told herself that, had chance thrown Conway Dalrymple into her way +before she had seen Dobbs Broughton, she would have been the happiest +woman in the world. She sat for a while looking into vacancy, and +thinking that it would be very nice to break her heart. How should she +set about it? Should she take to her bed and grow thin? She would begin +by eating no dinner for ever so may days altogether. At lunch her +husband was never present, and therefore the broken heart could be +displayed at dinner without much positive suffering. In the meantime she +would implore Conway Dalrymple to get himself married with as little +delay as possible, and she would lay upon him her positive order to +restrain himself from any word of affection addressed to herself. She, +at any rate, would be pure, high-minded, and self-sacrificing--although +romantic and poetic also, as was her nature. + +The picture was progressing, and so also, as it had come about, was the +love-affair between the artist and his model. Conway Dalrymple had begun +to think that he might, after all, do worse than make Clara Van Siever +his wife. Clara Van Siever was handsome, and undoubtedly clever, and +Clara Van Siever's mother was certainly rich. And, in addition to this, +the young lady herself began to like the man into whose society she was +thrown. The affair seemed to flourish, and Mrs Dobbs Broughton should +have been delighted. She told Clara, with a very serious air, that she +was delighted, bidding Clara, at the same time, to be very cautious, as +men were so fickle, and as Conway Dalrymple, though the best fellow in +the world, was not, perhaps, altogether free from that common vice of +men. Indeed, it might have been surmised, from a word or two which Mrs +Broughton allowed to escape, that she considered poor Conway to be more +than ordinarily afflicted in that way. Miss Van Siever at first only +pouted, and said that there was nothing in it. 'There is something in +it, my dear, certainly,' said Mrs Dobbs Broughton; 'and there can be no +earthly reason why there should not be a great deal in it.' 'There is +nothing in it,' said Miss Van Siever, impetuously; 'and if you will +continue to speak of Mr Dalrymple in that way, I must give up the +picture.' 'As for that,' said Mrs Broughton, 'I conceive that we are +both of us bound to the young man now, seeing that he has given so much +time to the work.' 'I am not bound to him at all,' said Miss Van Siever. + +Mrs Broughton also told Conway Dalrymple that she was delighted--oh, so +much delighted! He had obtained permission to come in one morning before +the time of sitting, so that he might work at his canvas independently +of his model. As was his custom, he made his own way upstairs and +commenced his work alone--having been expressly told by Mrs Broughton +that she would not come to him till she brought Clara with her. But she +did go up to the room in which the artist was painting, without waiting +for Miss Van Siever. Indeed, she was at this time so anxious as the +future welfare of her two young friends that she could not restrain +herself from speaking either to the one of to the other, whenever any +opportunity for such speech came round. To have left Conway Dalrymple at +work upstairs without going to him was impossible to her. So she went, +and then took the opportunity of expressing to her friend her ideas as +to his past and future conduct. + +'Yes, it is very good; very good, indeed,' she said, standing before the +easel, and looking at the half-completed work. 'I do not know that you +ever did anything better.' + +'I never can tell myself till a picture is finished whether it is going +to be good or not,' said Dalrymple, thinking really of his picture and +of nothing else. + +'I am sure this will be good,' she said, 'and I suppose it is because +you have thrown so much heart into it. It is not mere industry that will +produce good work, nor yet skill, nor even genius; more than this is +required. The heart of the artist must be thrust with all its gushing +tides into the performance.' By this time he knew all the tones of her +voice and their various meanings, and immediately became aware that at +the present moment she was intent upon something beyond the picture. She +was preparing for a little scene, and was going to give him some advice. +He understood it all, but as he was really desirous of working at his +canvas, and was rather averse to having a scene at the moment, he made a +little attempt to disconcert her. 'It is the heart that gives success,' +she said, he was considering how he might best put an extinguisher upon +her romance for the occasion. + +'Not at all, Mrs Broughton; success depends on elbow-grease.' + +'On what, Conway?' + +'On elbow-grease--hard work, that is--and I must work hard now if I mean +to take advantage of today's sitting. The truth is, I don't give enough +hours work to it.' And he leaned upon his stick, and daubed away briskly +at the background, and then stood for a moment looking at his canvas +with his head a little on one side, as though he could not withdraw his +attention for a moment from the thing he was doing. + +'You mean to say, Conway, that you would rather that I should not speak +to you.' + +'Oh, no, Mrs Broughton, I did not mean that at all.' + +'I won't interrupt you at your work. What I have to say is perhaps of +no great moment. Indeed, words between you and me never can have much +importance now. Can they, Conway?' + +'I don't see that at all,' said he, working away at his brush. + +'Do you not? I do. They should never amount to more--they can never +amount to more than the common ordinary courtesies of life; what I call +the greetings and good-byeings of conversation.' She said this in a low, +melancholy tone of voice, not intending to be in any degree jocose. 'How +seldom is it that conversation between ordinary friends goes beyond +that.' + +'Don't you think it does?' said Conway, stepping back and taking another +look at the picture. 'I find myself talking to all manner of people +about all manner of things.' + +'You are different from me. I cannot talk to all manner of people.' + +'Politics, you know, and art, and a little scandal, and the wars, with a +dozen other things, make talking easy enough, I think. I grant you this, +that it is very often a great bore. Hardly a day passes that I don't +wish to cut out somebody's tongue.' + +'Do you wish to cut out my tongue, Conway?' + +He began to perceive that she was determined to talk about herself, and +that there was no remedy. He dreaded it, not because he did not like the +woman, but from a conviction that she was going to make some comparison +between her and Clara Van Siever. In his ordinary humour he liked a +little pretence at romance, and was rather good at that sort of +love-making which in truth means anything but love. But just now he was +really thinking of matrimony, and had on this very morning acknowledged +to himself that he had become sufficiently attached to Clara Van Siever +to justify him in asking her to be his wife. In his present mood he was +not anxious for one of those tilts with blunted swords and half-severed +lances in the list of Cupid of which Mrs Dobbs Broughton was so fond. +Nevertheless, if she insisted that he should now descend into the arena +and go through the paraphernalia of a mock tournament, he must obey her. +It is the hardship of men that when called upon by women for romance, +they are bound to be romantic, whether the opportunity serves them or +not. A man must produce romance, or at least submit to it, when duly +summoned, even though he should have a sore throat or a headache. He is +a brute if he decline such an encounter--and feels that, should he so +decline persistently, he will ever after be treated as a brute. There +are many Potiphar's wives who never dream of any mischief, and Josephs +who are very anxious to escape, though they are asked to return only +whisper for whisper. Mrs Dobbs Broughton had asked him whether he wished +that her tongue should be cut out, and he had of course replied that her +words had always been a joy to him--never a trouble. It occurred to him +as he made his little speech that it would only have served her right if +he had answered her in quite another strain; but she was a woman, and +was young and pretty, and was entitled to flattery. 'They have always +been a joy to me,' he said, repeating his last words as he strove to +continue his work. + +'A deadly joy,' she replied, not quite knowing what she herself meant. +'A deadly joy, Conway. I wish with all my heart that we had never known +each other.' + +'I do not. I will never wish away the happiness of my life, even should +it be followed by misery.' + +'You are a man, and if trouble comes upon you, you can bear it on your +shoulders. A woman suffers more, just because another's shoulders may +have to bear the burden.' + +'When she has got a husband, you mean.' + +'Yes--when she has a husband.' + +'It's the same with a man when he has a wife.' Hitherto the +conversation had had so much of milk-and-water in its composition that +Dalrymple found himself able to keep it up and go on with his background +at the same time. If she could only be kept in the same dim cloud of +sentiment, if the hot rays of the sun of romance could be kept from +breaking through the mist till Miss Van Siever should come, it might +still be well. He had known her to wander about within the clouds for an +hour together, without being able to find her way into the light. 'It's +all the same with a man when he has got a wife,' he said. 'Of course one +has to suffer for two, when one, so to say, is two.' + +'And what happens when one has to suffer for three?' she asked. + +'You mean when a woman has children?' + +'I mean nothing of the kind, Conway; and you must know that I do not, +unless your feelings are indeed blunted. But worldly success has, I +suppose, blunted them.' + +'I rather fancy not,' he said. 'I think they are pretty nearly as sharp +as ever.' + +'I know mine are. Oh, how I wish I could rid myself of them! But it +cannot be done. Age will not blunt them--I am sure of that,' said Mrs +Broughton. 'I wish it could.' + +He had determined not to talk about herself if the subject could be in +any way avoided; but now he felt that he was driven up into a +corner;--now he was forced to speak to her of her own personality. 'You +have no experience yet as to that. How can you say what age will do?' + +'Age does not go by years,' said Mrs Dobbs Broughton. 'We all know +that. "His hair was grey, but not with years." Look here, Conway,' and +she moved back her tresses from off her temples to show him that there +were grey hairs behind. He did not see them; and had they been very +visible she might not perhaps have been so ready to exhibit them. 'No +one can say that length of years has blanched them. I have no secrets +from you about my age. One should not be grey before one has reached +thirty.' + +'I did not see a changed hair.' + +''Twas the fault of your eyes, then, for there are plenty of them. And +what is it that has made them grey?' + +'They say hot rooms will do it.' + +'Hot rooms! No, Conway, it does not come from heated atmosphere. It +comes from a cold heart, a chilled heart, a frozen heart, a heart that +is all ice.' She was getting out of the cloud into the heat now, and he +could only hope that Miss Van Siever would come soon. 'The world is +beginning with you, Conway, and you are as old as I am. It is ending +with me, and yet I am as young as you are. But I do not know why I talk +of this. It is simply folly--utter folly. I had not meant to speak of +myself; but I did wish to say a few words to you of your own future. I +suppose I may still speak to you as a friend?' + +'I hope you will always do that.' + +'Nay--I will make no such promise. That I will always have a friend's +feeling for you, a friend's interest in your welfare, a friend's triumph +in your success--that I will promise. But friendly words, Conway, are +sometimes misunderstood.' + +'Never by me,' said he. + +'No, not by you--certainly not by you. I did not mean that. I did not +expect that you should misinterpret them.' Then she laughed +hysterically--a little low, gurgling, hysterical laugh; and after that +she wiped her eyes, and then she smiled, and then she put her hand very +gently upon his shoulder. 'Thank God, Conway, we are quite safe +there--are we not?' + +He had made a blunder, and it was necessary that he should correct it. +His watch was lying in the trough of his easel, and he looked at it and +wondered why Miss Van Siever was not there. He had tripped, and he must +make a little struggle and recover his step. 'As I said before, it shall +never be misunderstood by me. I have never been vain enough to suppose +for a moment that there was any other feeling--not for a moment. You +women can be so careful, while we men are always off our guard! A man +loves because he cannot help it; but a woman has been careful, and +answers him--with friendship. Perhaps I am wrong to say that I never +thought of winning anything more; but I never think of winning more +now.' Why the mischief didn't Miss Van Siever come! In another five +minutes, despite himself, he would be on his knees, making a mock +declaration, and she would be pouring forth the vial of her mock wrath, +or giving him mock counsel as to the restraint of his passion. He had +gone through it all before, and was tired of it; but for his life he did +not know how to help himself. + +'Conway,' said she, gravely, 'how dare you address me in such language.' + +'Of course it is very wrong, I know that.' + +'I'm not speaking of myself now. I have learned to think so little of +myself, as even to be indifferent to the feeling of injury you are doing +me. My life is a blank, and I almost think that nothing can hurt me +further. I have not heart left enough to break; no, not enough to be +broken. It is not of myself that I am thinking, when I ask you how do +you dare to address my in such language. Do you not know that it is an +injury to another?' + +'To what other?' asked Conway Dalrymple, whose mind was becoming rather +confused, and who was not quite sure whether the other one was Mr Dobbs +Broughton, or somebody else. + +'To that poor girl who is coming here now, who is devoted to you, and to +whom, I do not doubt, you have uttered words which ought to have made it +impossible to speak to me as you spoke not a moment since.' + +Things were becoming very grave and difficult. They would have been +very grave, indeed, had not some god saved him by sending Miss Van +Siever to his rescue at this moment. He was beginning to think what he +would say in answer to the accusation now made, when his eager ear +caught the sound of her step upon the stairs; and before the pause in +conversation which the circumstances admitted had given place to the +necessity for further speech, Miss Van Siever had knocked at the door +and had entered the room. He was rejoiced, and I think that Mrs +Broughton did not regret the interference. It is always well that these +little dangerous scenes should be brought to sudden ends. The last +details of such romances, if drawn out to their natural conclusions, are +apt to be uncomfortable, if not dull. She did not want him to go down on +his knees, knowing that the getting up again is always awkward. + +'Clara, I began to think you were never coming,' said Mrs Broughton, +with her sweetest smile. + +'I began to think so myself also,' said Clara. 'And I believe this must +be the last sitting, or, at any rate, the last but one.' + +'Is anything the matter at home?' said Mrs Broughton, clasping her hands +together. + +'Nothing very much; mamma asked me a question or two this morning, and I +said I was coming here. Had she asked me why, I should have told her.' + +'But what did she ask? What did she say?' + +'She does not always make herself very intelligible. She complains +without telling you what she complains of. But she muttered something +about artists which was not complimentary, and I suppose therefore she +has a suspicion. She stayed ever so late this morning, and we left the +house together. She will ask some direct question tonight, or before +long, and then there will be an end of it.' + +'Let us make the best of our time, then,' said Dalrymple; and the +sitting was arranged; Miss Van Siever went down on her knees with her +hammer in her hand, and the work began. Mrs Broughton had twisted a +turban round Clara's head, as she always did on these occasions, and +assisted to arrange the drapery. She used to tell herself as she did so, +that she was like Isaac, piling the fagots for her own sacrifice. Only +Isaac had piled them in ignorance, and she piled them conscious of the +sacrificial flames. And Isaac had been saved; whereas it was impossible +that the catching of any ram in any thicket would save her. But, +nevertheless, she arranged the drapery with all her skill, piling the +fagots ever so high for her own pyre. In the meantime Conway Dalrymple +painted away, thinking more of his picture than he did of one woman or +of the other. + +After a while when Mrs Broughton had piled the fagots as high as she +could pile them, she got up from her seat and prepared to leave the +room. Much of the piling consisted, of course, in her own absence during +a portion of these sittings. 'Conway,' she said, as she went, 'if this +is to be the last sitting, or the last but one, you should make the most +of it.' Then she threw upon him a very peculiar glance over the head of +the kneeling Jael, and withdrew. Jael, who in those moments would be +thinking more of the fatigue of her position than anything else, did not +at all take home to herself the peculiar meaning of her friend's words. +Conway Dalrymple understood them thoroughly, and thought that he might +as well take the advice given to him. He had made up his mind to propose +to Miss Van Siever, and why should he not do so now? He went on with his +brush for a couple of minutes without saying a word, working as well as +he could work, and then resolved that he would at once begin the other +task. 'Miss Van Siever,' he said, 'I am afraid you are tired?' + +'Not more than usually tired. It is fatiguing to be slaying Sisera by +the hour together. I do get to hate this block.' The block was the dummy +by which the form of Sisera was supposed to be typified. + +'Another sitting will about finish it,' said he, 'so that you need not +positively distress yourself now. Will you rest yourself for a minute or +two?' He had already perceived that the attitude in which Clara was +posed before him was not one in which an offer of marriage could be +received and replied to with advantage. + +'Thank you, I am not tired yet,' said Clara, not changing the fixed +glance of national wrath with which she regarded her wooden Sisera as +she held her hammer on high. + +'But I am. There; we will rest for a moment.' Dalrymple was aware that +Mrs Dobbs Broughton, though she was very assiduous in piling her fagots, +never piled them for long together. If he did not make haste she would +be back upon them before he could get his word spoken. When he put down +his brush, and got up from his chair, and stretched out his arm as a man +does when he ceases for a moment from his work, Clara of course got up +also, and seated herself. She was used to her turban and her drapery, +and therefore thought of it not at all; and he also was used to it, +seeing her in it two or three times a week; but now that he intended to +accomplish a special purpose, the turban and drapery seemed to be in the +way. 'I do so hope you will like the picture,' he said, as he was +thinking of this. + +'I don't think I shall. But you will understand that it is natural that +a girl should not like herself in such a portraiture as that.' + +'I don't know why. I can understand that you specially should not like +the picture; but I think that most women in London in your place would +at any rate say that they did.' + +'Are you angry with me?' + +'What; for telling the truth? No, indeed.' He was standing opposite to +his easel, looking at the canvas, shifting his head about so as to +change the lights, and observing critically this blemish and that; and +yet he was all the while thinking how he had best carry out his purpose. +'It will have been a prosperous picture to me,' he said at last, 'if it +leads to the success of which I am ambitious.' + +'I am told that all you do is successful now--merely because you do it. +That is the worst of success.' + +'What is the worst of success?' + +'That when won by merit it leads to further success, for the gaining of +which no merit is necessary.' + +'It may be so in my case. If it is not, I shall have a very poor +chance. Clara, I think you must know that I am not talking about my +pictures.' + +'I thought you were.' + +'Indeed I am not. As for success in my profession, far as I am from +thinking I merit it, I feel tolerably certain that I shall obtain it.' + +'You have obtained it.' + +'I am in the way of doing so. Perhaps one out of ten struggling artists +is successful, and for him the profession is very charming. It is +certainly a sad feeling that there is so much of chance in the +distribution of the prizes. It is a lottery. But one cannot complain of +that when one has drawn the prize.' Dalrymple was not a man without +self-possession, nor was he readily abashed, but he found it easier to +talk of his possession than to make his offer. The turban was his +difficulty. He had told himself over and over again within the last five +minutes, that he would have long since said what he had to say had it +not been for that turban. He had been painting all his life from living +models--from women dressed up in this or that costume, to suit the +necessities of his picture--but he had never made love to any of them. +They had been simply models to him, and now he found that there was a +difficulty. 'Of that prize,' he said, 'I have made myself tolerably +sure; but as to the other prize, I do not know. I wonder whether I am to +have that.' Of course Miss Van Siever understood well what was the prize +of which he was speaking; and as she was a young woman with a will and +purpose of her own, no doubt she was ready prepared with an answer. But +it was necessary that the question should be put to her in properly +distinct terms. Conway Dalrymple certainly had not put his question in +properly distinct terms at present. She did not choose to make any +answer to his last words; and therefore simply suggested that as time +was pressing he had better get on with his work. 'I am quite ready now,' +said she. + +'Stop half a moment. How much more you are thinking of the picture than +I am! I do not care twopence for the picture. I will slit the canvas +from top to bottom without a groan--without a single inner groan--if you +will let me.' + +'For heaven's sake, do nothing of the kind! Why should you?' + +'Just to show you that it is not for the sake of the picture that I come +here. Clara--' Then the door was opened, and Isaac appeared, nature +could pile no more. Conway Dalrymple, who had made his way almost up to +Clara's seat, turned round sharply towards his easel, in anger, at +having been disturbed. He should have been more grateful for all that +his Isaac had done for him, and have recognised the fact that the fault +had been with himself. Mrs Broughton had been twelve minutes out of the +room. She had counted them to be fifteen--having no doubt made a mistake +as to three--and had told herself that with such a one as Conway +Dalrymple, with so much of the work ready done to his hand for him, +fifteen minutes should have been amply sufficient. When we reflect what +her own thoughts must have been during the interval--what it is to have +to pile up such fagots as those, how she was, as it were, giving away a +fresh morsel of her own heart during each minute that she allowed Clara +and Conway Dalrymple to remain together, it cannot surprise us that her +eyes should have become dizzy, and that she should not have counted the +minutes with accurate correctness. Dalrymple turned to his picture +angrily, but Miss Van Siever kept her seat and did not show the +slightest emotion. + +'My friends,' said Mrs Broughton, 'this will not do. This is not +working; this is not sitting.' + +'Mr Dalrymple had been explaining to me the precarious nature of an +artist's profession,' said Clara. + +'It is not precarious with him,' said Mrs Dobbs Broughton, +sententiously. + +'Not in a general way, perhaps; but to prove the truth of his words he +was going to treat Jael worse than Jael treats Sisera.' + +'I was going to slit the picture from the top to the bottom.' + +'And why?' said Mrs Broughton, putting her hands to heaven in tragic +horror. + +'Just to show Miss Van Siever how little I care about it.' + +'And how little you care about her, too,' said Mrs Broughton. + +'She might take that as she like.' After this there was another genuine +sitting, and the real work went on as though there had been no episode. +Jael fixed her face, and held her hammer as though her mind and heart +were solely bent on seeming to be slaying Sisera. Dalrymple turned his +eyes from the canvas to the model, and from the model to the canvas, +working with his hand all the while, as though that last pathetic +'Clara' had never been uttered; and Mrs Dobbs Broughton reclined on a +sofa, looking at them and thinking of her own singularly romantic +position, till her mind was filled with a poetic frenzy. In one moment +she resolved that she would hate Clara as a woman was never hated by +woman; and then there were daggers, and poison-cups, and strangling +cords in her eye. In the next she was as firmly determined that she +would love Mrs Conway Dalrymple as woman was never loved by woman; and +then she saw herself kneeling by a cradle, and tenderly nursing a baby, +of which Conway was to be the father and Clara the mother. And so she +went to sleep. + +For some time Dalrymple did not observe this; but at last there was a +little sound--even the ill-nature of Miss Demolines could hardly have +called it a snore--and he became aware that for practical purposes he +and Miss Van Siever were again alone together. 'Clara,' he said in a +whisper. Mrs Broughton instantly aroused herself from her slumbers, and +rubbed her eyes. 'Dear, dear, dear,' she said, 'I declare it's past one. +I'm afraid I must turn you both out. One more sitting, I suppose, will +finish it, Conway?' + +'Yes, one more,' said he. It was always understood that he and Clara +should not leave the house together, and therefore he remained painting +when she left the room. 'And now, Conway,' said Mrs Broughton, 'I +suppose that all is over?' + +'I don't know what you mean by being all over.' + +'No--of course not. You look at it in another light, no doubt. +Everything is beginning for you. But you must pardon me, for my heart is +distracted--distracted--distracted!' Then she sat down upon the floor, +and burst into tears. What was he to do? He thought that the woman +should either give him up altogether, or not give him up. All this fuss +about it was irrational! He would not have made love to Clara Van Siever +in her room if she had not told him to do so! + +'Maria,' he said, in a very grave voice, 'any sacrifice that is required +on my part on your behalf I am ready to make.' + +'No sir; the sacrifices shall all be made by me. It is the part of a +woman to be ever sacrificial!' Poor Mrs Dobbs Broughton! 'You shall give +up nothing. The world is at your feet, and you shall have +everything--youth, beauty, wealth, station, love--love; friendship +also, if you will accept it from one so poor, so broken, so secluded as +I shall be.' At each of the last words there had been a desperate sob; +and as she was still crouching in the middle of the room, looking up +into Dalrymple's face while he stood over her, the scene was one which +had much in it that transcended the doings of everyday life, much that +would be ever memorable, and much, I have no doubt, that was thoroughly +enjoyed by the principal actor. As for Conway Dalrymple, he was so +second-rate a personage in the whole thing, that it mattered little +whether he enjoyed it or not. I don't think he did enjoy it. 'And now, +Conway,' she said, 'I will give you some advice. And when in after-days +you shall remember this interview, and reflect how that advice was given +you--with what solemnity.'--here she clasped both her hands +together--'I think that you will follow it. Clara Van Siever will now +become your wife.' + +'I do not know that at all,' said Dalrymple. + +'Clara Van Siever will now become your wife,' repeated Mrs Broughton in +a louder voice, impatient of opposition. 'Love her. Cleave to her. Make +her flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone. But rule her! Yes, rule +her! Let her be your second self, but not your first self. Rule her! +Love her. Cleave to her. Do not leave her alone, to feed on her own +thoughts as I have done--as I have been forced to do. Now go. No, +Conway, not a word; I will not hear a word. You must go, or I must.' +Then she rose quickly from her lowly attitude, and prepared herself for +a dart to the door. It was better by far that he should go, and so he +went. + +An American when he has spent a pleasant day will tell you that he has +had a 'good time'. I think that Mrs Dobbs Broughton, if she had ever +spoken the truth of that day's employment would have acknowledged that +she had had a 'good time'. I think that she enjoyed her morning's work. +But as for Conway Dalrymple, I doubt whether he did enjoy his morning's +work. 'A man may have too much of this sort of thing, and then he +becomes very sick of his cake.' Such was the nature of his thoughts as +he returned to his own abode. + + + +CHAPTER LII + +WHY DON'T YOU HAVE AN 'IT' FOR YOURSELF? + +Of course it came to pass that Lily Dale and Emily Dunstable were soon +very intimate, and that they saw each other every day. Indeed, before +long they would have been living together in the same house had it not +been that the squire had felt reluctant to abandon the independence of +his own lodgings. When Mrs Thorne had pressed her invitation for the +second, and then for the third time, asking them both to come to her +large house, he had begged his niece to go and leave him alone. 'You +need not regard me,' he had said, speaking not with the whining voice of +complaint, but with that thin tinge of melancholy which was usual to +him. 'I am so much alone down in Allington, that you need not mind +leaving me.' but Lily would not go on those terms, and therefore they +still lived together in the lodgings. Nevertheless Lily was every day at +Mrs Thorne's house, and thus a great intimacy grew up between the girls. +Emily Dunstable had neither brother nor sister, and Lily's nearest male +relative in her own degree was now Miss Dunstable's betrothed husband. +It was natural therefore that they should at any rate try to like each +other. It afterwards came to pass that Lily did go to Mrs Thorne's +house, and she stayed there for a while; but when that occurred the +squire had gone back to Allington. + +Among other generous kindnesses Mrs Thorne insisted that Bernard should +hire a horse for his cousin Lily. Emily Dunstable rode daily, and of +course Captain Dale rode with her;--and now Lily joined the party. +Almost before she knew what was being done she found herself provided +with hat and habit and horse and whip. It was a way with Mrs Thorne that +they who came within the influence of her immediate sphere should be +made to feel that the comforts and luxuries arising from her wealth +belonged to a common stock, and were the joint property of them all. +Things were not offered and taken and talked about, but they made their +appearance, and were used as a matter of course. If you go to stay at a +gentleman's house you understand that, as a matter of course, you will +be provided with meat and drink. Some hosts furnish you also with +cigars. A small number give you stabling and forage for you horse; and a +very select few mount you on hunting days, and send you out with a groom +and a second horse. Mrs Thorne went beyond all others in this +open-handed hospitality. She had enormous wealth at her command, and had +but few of those all-absorbing drains upon her wealth which in this +country make so many rich men poor. She had no family property--no place +to keep up in which she did not live. She had no retainers to be +maintained because they were retainers. She had neither sons nor +daughters. Consequently she was able to be lavish in her generosity; and +as her heart was very lavish, she would have given her friends gold to +eat had gold been good for eating. Indeed there was no measure in her +giving--unless when the idea came upon her that the recipient of her +favours was trading on them. Then she could hold her hand very stoutly. + +Lily Dale had not liked the idea of being fitted out thus expensively. +A box at the opera was all very well, as it was not procured especially +for her. And tickets for other theatres did not seem to come unnaturally +for a night or two. But her spirit had militated against the hat and the +habit and the horse. The whip was a little present from Emily Dunstable, +and that of course was accepted with a good grace. Then there came the +horse--as though from the heavens; there seemed to be ten horses, +twenty horses, if anybody needed them. All these things seemed to flow +naturally into Mrs Thorne's establishment, like air through the windows. +It was very pleasant, but Lily hesitated when she was told that a habit +was to be given to her. 'My dear old aunt insists,' said Emily +Dunstable. 'Nobody ever thinks of refusing anything from her. If you +only knew what some people will take, and some people will even ask, who +have nothing to do with her at all!' 'But I have nothing to do with +her--in that way I mean,' said Lily. 'Oh, yes, you have,' said Emily. +'You and Bernard are as good as brother and sister, and Bernard and I +are as good as man and wife, and my aunt and I are as good as mother and +daughter. So you see, in a sort of way you are a child of the house.' So +Lily accepted the habit; but made a stand at the hat, and paid for that +out of her own pocket. When the squire had seen Lily on horseback he +asked her questions about it. 'It was a hired horse, I suppose?' he +said. 'I think it came direct from heaven,' said Lily. 'What do you +mean, Lily?' said the squire angrily. 'I mean that when people are so +rich and good-natured as Mrs Thorne it is not good inquiring where +things come from. All that I know is that the horses come out of Potts' +livery-stable. They talk of Potts as if he were a good-natured man who +provides horses for the world without troubling anybody.' Then the +squire spoke to Bernard about it, saying that he would insist on +defraying his niece's expenses. But Bernard swore that he should give +his uncle no assistance. 'I would not speak to her about such a thing +for all the world,' said Bernard. 'Then I shall,' said the squire. + +In those days Lily thought much of Johnny Eames--gave to him perhaps +more of that thought which leads to love than she had ever given him +before. She still heard the Crawley question discussed every day. Mrs +Thorne, as we all know, was at this time a Barsetshire personage, and +was of course interested in Barsetshire subjects; and she was specially +anxious in the matter, having strong hopes with reference to the +marriage of Major Grantly and Grace, and strong hopes also that Grace's +father might escape the fangs of justice. The Crawley case was +constantly in Lily's ears, and as constantly she heard high praise +awarded to Johnny for his kindness in going after the Arabins. 'He must +be a fine young fellow,' said Mrs Thorne, 'and we'll have him down at +Chaldicotes some day. Old Lord De Guest found him out and made a friend +of him, and old Lord De Guest was no fool.' Lilly was not altogether +free from a suspicion that Mrs Thorne knew the story of Johnny's love +and was trying to serve Johnny--as other people had tried to do, very +ineffectually. When this suspicion came upon her she would shut her +heart against her lover's praises, and swear that she would stand by +those two letters which she had written in her book at home. But the +suspicion would not always be there, and there did come upon her a +conviction that her lover was more esteemed among men and women than she +had been accustomed to believe. Her cousin, Bernard Dale, who certainly +was regarded in the world as somebody, spoke of him as an equal; where +in former days Bernard had always regarded Johnny Eames as standing low +in the world's regards. Then Lily, when alone, would remember a certain +comparison which she once made between Adolphus Crosbie and John Eames, +when neither of the men had as yet pleaded their cause to her, and which +had been very much in favour of the former. She had then declared that +Johnny was a 'mere clerk'. She had a higher opinion of him now--a much +higher opinion, even though he could never be more to her than a friend. + +In these days Lily's new ally, Emily Dunstable, seemed to Lily to be so +happy! There was in Emily a complete realisation of that idea of +ante-nuptial blessedness, of which Lily had often thought so much. +Whatever Emily did she did for Bernard; and, to give Captain Dale his +due, he received all the sweets which were showered upon him with +becoming signs of gratitude. I suppose it is always the case at such +times that the girl has the best of it, and on this occasion Emily +Dunstable certainly made the most of her happiness. 'I do envy you,' +Lily said one day. The acknowledgement seemed to have been extorted from +her involuntarily. She did not laugh as she spoke, or follow up what she +had said with other words intended to take away the joke of what she had +uttered--had it been a joke; but she sat silent, looking at the girl who +was rearranging flowers which Bernard had brought to her. + +'I can't give him up to you, you know,' said Emily. + +'I don't envy you him, but "it",' said Lily. + +'Then go and get an "it" for yourself. Why don't you have an "it" for +yourself? You can have an "it" tomorrow, if you like--or two or three, +if all that I hear is true.' + +'No I can't,' said Lily. 'Things have gone wrong with me. Don't ask me +anything more about it. Pray don't. I shan't speak of it if you do.' + +'Of course I will not if you tell me I must not.' + +'I do tell you so. I have been a fool to say anything about it. +However, I have got over my envy now, and am ready to go out with your +aunt. Here she is.' + +'Things have gone wrong with me.' She repeated the same words to +herself over and over again. With all the efforts which she had made she +could not quite reconcile herself to the two letters which she had +written in the book. This coming up to London, and riding in the Park, +and going to the theatres, seemed to unsettle her. At home she had +schooled herself down into quiescence, and made herself think that she +believed that she was satisfied with the prospects of her life. But now +she was all astray again, doubting about herself, hankering after +something over and beyond that which seemed to be allotted to her--but, +nevertheless, assuring herself that she never would accept of anything +else. + +I must not, if I can help it, let the reader suppose that she was +softening her heart to John Eames because John Eames was spoken well of +in the world. But with all of us, in the opinion which we form of those +around us, we take unconsciously the opinion of others. A woman is +handsome because the world says so. Music is charming to us because it +charms others. We drink our wines with other men's palates, and look at +our pictures with other men's eyes. When Lily heard John Eames praised +by all around her, it could not be but that she should praise him +too--not out loud, as others did, but in the silence of her heart. And +then his constancy to her had been so perfect! If that other one had +never come! If it could be that she might begin again, and that she +might be spared that episode in her life which had brought him and her +together! + +'When is Mr Eames going to be back?' Mrs Thorne said at dinner one day. +On this occasion the squire was dining at Mrs Thorne's house; and there +were three or four others there--among them a Mr Harold Smith, who was +in Parliament, and his wife, and John Eames's especial friend, Sir +Raffle Buffle. The question was addressed to the squire, but the squire +was slow to answer, and it was taken up by Sir Raffle Buffle. + +'He'll be back on the 15th,' said the knight, 'unless he means to play +truant. I hope he won't do that, as his absence has been a terrible +inconvenience to me.' Then Sir Raffle explained that John Eames was his +private secretary, and that Johnny's journey to the Continent had been +made with, and could not have been made without, his sanction. 'When I +came to hear of the story, of course I told him that he must go. +"Eames," I said, "take the advice of a man who knows the world. +Circumstanced as you are, your are bound to go." And he went.' + +'Upon my word that was very good-natured of you,' said Mrs Thorne. + +'I never keep a fellow to his desk who has really go important business +elsewhere,' said Sir Raffle. 'The country, I say, can afford to do as +much as that for her servants. But then I like to know that the business +is business. One doesn't choose to be humbugged.' + +'I daresay you are humbugged, as you call it, very often,' said Harold +Smith. + +'Perhaps so; perhaps I am; perhaps that is the opinion which they have +of me at the Treasury. But you were hardly long enough there, Smith, to +have learned much about it, I should say.' + +'I don't suppose I should have known much about it, as you call it, if I +had stayed till Doomsday.' + +'I daresay not; I daresay not. Men who begin as late as you did never +know what official life really means. Now I've been at it all my life, +and I think I do understand it.' + +'It's not a profession I should like unless where it's joined with +politics,' said Harold Smith. + +'But then it's apt to be so short,' said Sir Raffle Buffle. Now it had +once happened in the life of Mr Harold Smith that he had been in a +Ministry, but, unfortunately, that Ministry had gone out almost within a +week of the time of Mr Smith's adhesion. Sir Raffle and Mr Smith had +known each other for many years, and were accustomed to make civil +little speeches to each other in society. + +'I'd sooner be a horse in a mill than have to go to an office every +day,' said Mrs Smith, coming to her husband's assistance. 'You, Sir +Raffle, have kept yourself fresh and pleasant through it all; but who +besides you ever did?' + +'I hope I am fresh,' said Sir Raffle; 'and as for pleasantness, I will +leave that for you to determine.' + +'There can be but one opinion,' said Mrs Thorne. + +The conversation had strayed away from John Eames, and Lily was +disappointed. It was a pleasure to her when people talked of him in her +hearing, and as a question or two had been asked about him, making him +the hero of the moment, it seemed to her that he was being robbed of his +due when the little amenities between Mr and Mrs Harold Smith and Sir +Raffle Buffle banished his name from the circle. Nothing more, however, +was said of him at dinner, and I fear that he would have been altogether +forgotten throughout the evening, had not Lily Dale referred--not to +him, which she could not possibly have been induced to do--but to the +subject of his journey. 'I wonder whether poor Mr Crawley will be found +guilty?' She said to Sir Raffle upon in the drawing-room. + +'I am afraid he will; I am afraid he will,' said Sir Raffle; 'and I +fear, my dear Miss Dale, that I must go further than that. I fear I must +express an opinion that he is guilty.' + +'Nothing will ever make me think so,' said Lily. + +'Ladies are always tender-hearted,' said Sir Raffle, 'and especially +young ladies--and pretty young ladies. I do not wonder that such should +be your opinion. But you see, Miss Dale, a man of business has to look +at these things in a business light. What I want to know is, where did +he get that cheque? He is bound to be explicit in answering that before +anybody can acquit him.' + +'That is just what Mr Eames has gone abroad to learn.' + +'It is very well for Eames to go abroad--though, upon my word, I don't +know whether I should not have given him different advice if I had known +how much I was to be tormented by his absence. The thing couldn't have +happened at a more unfortunate time;--the Ministry going out and +everything. But, as I was saying, it is all very well for him to do what +he can. He is related to them, and is bound to save the honour of his +relations if it be possible. I like him for going. I always liked him. +As I said to my friend De Guest, "That young man will make his way." And +I rather fancy that the chance word which I spoke then to my valued old +friend was not thrown away in Eames's favour. But, my dear Miss Dale, +where did Mr Crawley get that cheque? That's what I want to know. If you +can tell me that, then I can tell you whether or no he will be +acquitted.' + +Lily did not feel a strong prepossession in favour of Sir Raffle, in +spite of his praise of John Eames. The harsh voice of the man annoyed +her, and his egotism offended her. When, much later in the evening, his +character came on for discussion between herself and Mrs Thorne and +Emily Dunstable, she had not a word to say in his favour. But still she +had been pleased to meet him, because he was the man with whom Johnny's +life was most specially concerned. I think that a portion of her dislike +to him arose from the fact that in continuing the conversation he did +not revert to his private secretary, but preferred to regale her with +stories of his own doings in wonderful cases which had partaken of +interest similar to that which now attached itself to Mr Crawley's case. +He had known a man who had stolen a hundred pounds, and had never been +found out; and another man who had been arrested for stealing +two-and-sixpence which was found afterwards sticking to a bit of butter +at the bottom of a plate. Mrs Thorne had heard all this, and had +answered him, 'Dear me, Sir Raffle,' she had said, 'what a great many +thieves you have had amongst your acquaintance!' This had rather +disconcerted him, and then there had been no more talking about Mr +Crawley. + +It had been arranged on this morning that Mr Dale should return to +Allington and leave Lily with Mrs Thorne. Some special need of his +presence at home, real or assumed, had arisen, and he had declared that +he must shorten his stay in London by about half the intended period. +The need would not have been so pressing, probably, had he not felt that +Lily would be more comfortable with Mrs Thorne than in his lodgings in +Sackville Street. Lily had at first declared that she would return with +him, but everybody had protested against this. Emily Dunstable had +protested against it very stoutly; Mrs Dale herself had protested +against it by letter; and Mrs Thorne's protest had been quite imperious +in its nature. 'Indeed,' my dear, you'll do nothing of the kind. I'm +sure your mother wouldn't wish it. I look upon it as quite essential +that you and Emily should learn to know each other.' 'But we do know +each other; don't we, Emily?' said Lily. 'Not quite well yet,' said +Emily. Then Lily had laughed, and so the matter was settled. And now, on +this present occasion, Mr Dale was at Mrs Thorne's house for the last +time. His conscience had been perplexed about Lily's horse, and if +anything was to be said it must be said now. The subject was very +disagreeable to him, and he was angry with Bernard because Bernard had +declined to manage it for him after his own fashion. But he had told +himself so often that anything was better than a pecuniary obligation, +that he was determined to speak his mind to Mrs Thorne, and to beg her +to allow him to have his way. So he waited till the Harold Smiths were +gone, and Sir Raffle Buffle, and then, when Lily was apart with +Emily--for Bernard Dale had left them--he found himself at last alone +with Mrs Thorne. + +'I can't be too much obliged to you,' he said, 'for your kindness to my +girl.' + +'Oh, laws, that's nothing,' said Mrs Thorne. 'We look on her as one of +us now.' + +'I'm sure she is grateful--very grateful; and so am I. She and Bernard +have been brought up so much together that it is very desirable that she +should not be unknown to Bernard's wife.' + +'Exactly--that's just what I mean. Blood's thicker than water; isn't +it? Emily's child, if she has one, will be Lily's cousin.' + +'Her first-cousin once removed,' said the squire, who was accurate in +these matters. Then he drew himself up in his seat and compressed his +lips together, and prepared himself for his task. It was very +disagreeable. Nothing, he thought, could be more disagreeable. 'I have a +little thing to speak about,' he said at last, 'which I hope will not +offend you.' + +'About Lily?' + +'Yes; about Lily.' + +'I'm not very easily offended, and I don't know how I could possibly be +offended about her.' + +'I'm an old-fashioned man, Mrs Thorne, and don't know much about the +ways of the world. I have always been down in the country, and maybe I +have prejudices. You won't refuse to humour one of them, I hope?' + +'You're beginning to frighten me, Mr Dale; what is it?' + +'About Lily's horse.' + +'Lily's horse! What about her horse? I hope he's not vicious?' + +'She is riding every day with your niece,' said the squire, thinking it +best to stick to his own point. + +'It will do her all the good in the world,' said Mrs Thorne. + +'Very likely. I don't doubt it. I do not in the least disapprove her +riding. But--' + +'But what, Mr Dale?' + +'I should be much obliged if I might be allowed to pay the livery-stable +keeper's bill.' + +'Oh, laws a'mercy.' + +'I daresay it may sound odd, but as I have a fancy about it, I'm sure +you'll gratify me.' + +'Of course I will. I'll remember it. I'll make it all right with +Bernard. Bernard and I have no end of accounts--or shall have before +long--and we'll make an item of it. Then you can arrange with Bernard +afterwards.' + +Mr Dale as he got up to go away felt that he was beaten, but he did not +know how to carry the battle any further on that occasion. He could not +take out his purse and put down the cost of the horse on the table. 'I +will then speak to my nephew about it,' he said, very gravely, as he +went away. And he did speak to his nephew about it, and even wrote to +him more than once. But it was all to no purpose. Mr Potts could not be +induced to give a separate bill, and--so said Bernard--swore at last +that he would furnish no account to anybody for horses that went to Mrs +Thorne's door except to Mrs Thorne herself. + +That night Lily took leave of her uncle and remained at Mrs Thorne's +house. As things were now arranged she would, no doubt, be in London +when John Eames returned. If he should find her in town--and she told +herself that is she was in town he certainly would find her--he would, +doubtless, repeat to her the offer he had so often made before. She +never ventured to tell herself that she doubted as to the answer to be +made to him. The two letters were written in the book, and must remain +there. But she felt that she would have had more courage for persistency +down at Allington than she would be able to summon to her assistance up +in London. She knew she would be weak, should she be found by him alone +in Mrs Thorne's drawing-room. It would be better for her to make some +excuse and go home. She was resolved that she would not become his wife. +She could not extricate herself from the dominion of a feeling which she +believed to be love for another man. She had given a solemn promise both +to her mother and to John Eames that she would not marry that other man; +but in doing so she had made a solemn promise to herself that she would +not marry John Eames. She had sworn it and would keep her oath. And yet +she regretted it! In writing home to her mother the next day, she told +Mrs Dale that all the world was speaking well of John Eames--that John +had won for himself a reputation of his own, and was known far and wide +to be a noble fellow. She could not keep herself from praising John +Eames, though she knew that such praise might, and would, be used +against her at some future time. 'Though I cannot love him I will give +him his due,' she said to herself. + +'I wish you would make up your mind to have an "it" for yourself,' Emily +Dunstable said to her again that night; 'a nice "it", so that I could +make a friend, perhaps a brother, of him.' + +'I shall never have an "it" if I live to be a hundred,' said Lily Dale. + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +ROTTEN ROW + +Lily had heard nothing as to the difficulty about her horse, and could +therefore enjoy her exercise without the drawback of feeling that her +uncle was subject to an annoyance. She was in the habit of going out +every day with Bernard and Emily Dunstable, and their party was +generally joined by others who would meet them at Mrs Thorne's house. +For Mrs Thorne was a very hospitable woman, and there were many who +liked well enough to go to her house. Late in the afternoon there would +be a great congregation of horses before the door--sometimes as many as +a dozen; and then the cavalcade would go off into the Park, and there it +would become scattered. As neither Bernard nor Miss Dunstable were +unconscionable lovers, Lily in these scatterings did not often find her +self neglected or lost. Her cousin would generally remain with her, and +as in those days she had no 'it' of her own she was well pleased that he +should do so. + +But it so happened that on a certain afternoon she found herself riding +in Rotten Row alone with a certain stout gentleman whom she constantly +met at Mrs Thorne's house. His name was Onesiphorus Dunn, and he was +actually called Siph by his intimate friends. It had seemed to Lily that +everybody was an intimate friend of Mr Dunn's, and she was in daily fear +lest she should make a mistake and call him Siph herself. Had she done +so it would not have mattered in the least. Mr Dunn, had he observed it +at all, would neither have been flattered or angry. A great many young +ladies about London did call him Siph, and to him it was quite natural +that they should do so. He was an Irishman, living on the best of +everything in the world, with apparently no fortune of his own, and +certainly never earning anything. Everybody liked him, and it was +admitted on all sides that there was no safer friend in the world, +either for young ladies or young men, than Mr Onesiphorus Dunn. He did +not borrow money, and he did not encroach. He did like being asked out +to dinner, and he did think that they to whom he gave the light of his +countenance in town owed him the return of a week's run in the country. +He neither shot, nor hunted, nor fished, nor read, and yet he was never +in the way in any house. He did play billiards, and whist, and +croquet--very badly. He was a good judge of wine, and would occasionally +condescend to look after the bottling of it on behalf of some very +intimate friend. He was a great friend of Mrs Thorne's, with whom he +always spent ten days in the autumn at Chaldicotes. + +Bernard and Emily were not insatiable lovers, but, nevertheless, Mrs +Thorne had thought it proper to provide a fourth in the riding-parties, +and had put Mr Dunn on this duty. 'Don't bother yourself about it, +Siph,' she had said; 'only if those lovers should go off philandering +out of sight, our little country lassie might find herself to be nowhere +in the Park.' Siph had promised to make himself useful, and had done so. +There had generally been so large a number in their party that the work +imposed on Mr Dunn had been very light. Lily had never found out that he +had been especially consigned to her as her own cavalier, but had seen +quite enough of him to be aware that he was a pleasant companion. To +her, thinking, as she ever was thinking, about Johnny Eames, Siph was +much more agreeable than might have been a younger man who would have +endeavoured to make her think about himself. + +Thus when she found herself riding alone in Rotten Row with Siph Dunn, +she was neither disconcerted nor displeased. He had been talking to her +about Lord De Guest, whom he had known--for Siph knew everybody--and +Lily had begun to wonder whether he knew John Eames. She was making up +her mind that she would say something about the Crawley matter--not +intending of course to mention John Eames's name--when suddenly her +tongue was paralysed and she could not speak. At that moment they were +standing near a corner, where a turning path made an angle in the iron +rails, Mr Dunn having proposed that they should wait there for a few +minutes before they returned home, as it was probable that Bernard and +Miss Dunstable might come up. They had been there for some five or ten +minutes, and Lily had asked her first question about the +Crawleys--inquiring of Mr Dunn whether he had heard of a terrible +accusation which had been made against a clergyman in Barsetshire--when +on a sudden her tongue was paralysed. As they were standing, Lily's +horse was turned towards the diverging path, whereas Mr Dun was looking +the other way, towards Achilles and Apsley house. Mr Dunn was nearer the +railings, but though they were thus looking different ways they were so +placed that each could see the face of the other. Then, on a sudden, +coming slowly towards her along the diverging path and leaning on the +arm of another man, she saw--Adolphus Crosbie. + +She had never seen him since a day on which she had parted from him with +many kisses--with warm, pressing, eager kisses--of which she had been +nowhat ashamed. He had then been to her almost as her husband. She had +trusted him entirely, and had thrown herself into his arms with full +reliance. There is often much of reticence on the part of a woman +towards a man to whom she is engaged, something also of shamefacedness +occasionally. There exists a shadow of doubt, at least of that +hesitation which shows that in spite of vows the woman knows that a +change may come, and that provision for such possible steps backward +should always be within her reach. But Lily had cast all such caution to +the winds. She had given herself to the man entirely, and had determined +that she would sink or swim, stand or fall, live or die, by him and by +his truth. He had been as false as hell. She had been in his arms, +clinging to him, kissing him, swearing that her only pleasure in the +world was to be with him--with him, her treasure, her promised husband; +and within a month, a week, he had been false to her. There had come +upon her crushing tidings, and she had for days wondered at herself that +they had not killed her. But she had lived, and had forgiven him, which +had been answered as the reader knows. But she had never seen him since +the day on which she had parted from him at Allington, without a doubt +as to his faith. Now he was before her, walking on the footpath, almost +within reach of her whip. + +He did not recognise her, but as he passed on he did recognise Mr +Onesiphorus Dunn, and stopped to speak to him. Or it might have been +that Crosbie's friend Fowler Pratt stopped with this special object--for +Siph Dunn was an intimate friend of Fowler Pratt's. Crosbie and Siph +were also acquainted, but in those days Crosbie did not care much for +stopping his friends in the Park or elsewhere. He had become moody and +discontented, and was generally seen going about the world alone. On +this special occasion he was having a little special conversation about +money with his very old friend Fowler Pratt. + +'What, Siph, is this you? You're always on horseback now,' said Fowler +Pratt. + +'Well, yes; I have gone in a good deal for cavalry work this last month. +I've been lucky enough to have a young lady to ride with me.' This he +said in a whisper, which the distance of Lily justified. 'How d'ye do, +Crosbie? One doesn't often see you on horseback or on foot either.' + +'I've something to do besides going to look or to be looked at,' said +Crosbie. Then he raised his eyes and saw Lily's side-face, and +recognised her. Had he seen her before he had been stopped on his way I +think he would have passed on, endeavouring to escape observation. But +as it was, his feet had been arrested before he knew of her close +vicinity, and now it would seen that he was afraid of her, and was +flying from her, were he at once to walk off, leaving his friend behind +him. And he knew that she had seen him, and had recognised him, and was +now suffering from his presence. He could not but perceive that it was +so from the fixedness of her face, and from the constrained manner in +which she gazed before her. His friend Fowler Pratt had never seen Miss +Dale, though he knew very much of her history. Siph Dunn knew nothing of +the history of Crosbie and his love, and was unaware that he and Lily +had ever seen each other. There was thus no help near her to extricate +her from her difficulty. + +'When a man has any work to do in the world,' said Siph, 'he always +boasts of it to his acquaintance, and curses his luck to himself. I have +nothing to do and can go about to see and be seen;--and I must own that +I like it.' + +Crosbie was still looking at Lily. He could not help himself. He could +not take his eyes from off her. He could see that she was as pretty as +ever, that she was but very little altered. She was, in truth, somewhat +stouter than in the old days, but of that he took no special notice. +Should he speak to her? Should he try to catch her eye, and then raise +his hat? Should he go up to her horse's head boldly, and ask her to let +bygones be bygones? He had an idea that of all courses which he could +pursue that was the one which she would approve the best--which would be +most efficacious for him, if with her anything from him might have any +efficacy. But he could not do it. He did not know what words he might +best use. Would it become him humbly to sue to her for pardon? Or should +he strive to express his unaltered love by some tone of his voice? Or +should he simply ask her after her health? He made one step towards her, +and he saw that the face became more rigid and more fixed than before, +and then he desisted. He told himself that he was simply hateful to her. +He thought that he could perceive that there was no tenderness mixed +with her unabated anger. + +At this moment Bernard Dale and Emily came close upon him, and Bernard +saw him at once. It was through Bernard that Lily and Crosbie had come +to know each other. He and Bernard Dale had been fast friends in old +times, and had, of course, been bitter enemies since the day of +Crosbie's treachery. They had never spoken since, though they had often +seen each other, and Dale was not at all disposed to speak to him now. +The moment that he recognised Crosbie he looked across to his cousin. +For an instant, an idea flashed across him that he was there by her +permission--with her assent; but it required no second glance to show +him that this was not the case. 'Dunn,' he said, 'I think we will ride +on,' and he put his horse into a trot. Siph, whose ear was very +accurate, and who knew that something was wrong, trotted on with him, +and Lily, of course, was not left behind. 'Is there anything the +matter?' said Emily to her lover. + +'Nothing specially the matter,' he replied; 'but you were standing in +company with the greatest blackguard that every lived, and I thought we +had better change our ground.' + +'Bernard!' said Lily, flashing on him with all the fire which her eyes +could command. Then she remembered that she could not reprimand him for +the offence of such abuse in such a company; so she reined in her horse +and fell a-weeping. + +Siph Dunn, with his wicked cleverness, knew the whole story at once, +remembering that he had once heard something of Crosbie having behaved +very ill to someone before he married Lady Alexandra De Courcy. He +stopped his horse also, falling a little behind Lily, so that he might +not be supposed to have seen her tears, and began to hum a tune. Emily +also, though not wickedly clever, understood something of it. 'If +Bernard says anything to make you angry, I will scold him,' she said. +Then the two girls rode on together in front, while Bernard fell back +with Siph Dunn. + +'Pratt,' said Crosbie, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder as soon +as the party had ridden out of hearing, 'do you see that girl there in +the dark blue habit?' + +'What, the one nearest to the path?' + +'Yes; the one nearest to the path. That is Lily Dale.' + +'Lily Dale!' said Fowler Pratt. + +'Yes, that is Lily Dale.' + +'Did you speak to her?' Pratt asked. + +'No; she gave me no chance. She was there but a moment. But it was +herself. It seems so odd to me that I should have been thus so near her +again.' If there was any man to whom Crosbie could have spoken freely +about Lily Dale it was this man, Fowler Pratt. Pratt was the oldest +friend he had in the world, and it had happened that when he first woke +to the misery that he had prepared for himself in throwing over Lily and +betrothing himself to his late wife, Pratt had been the first person to +whom he had communicated his sorrow. Not that he had ever been really +open in his communications. It was not given to such men as Crosbie to +speak openly of themselves to their friends. Nor, indeed, was Fowler +Pratt one who was fond of listening to such tales. He had no such tales +to tell of himself, and he thought that men and women should go through +the world quietly, not subjecting themselves or their acquaintances to +anxieties and emotions from peculiar conduct. But he was conscientious, +and courageous also as well as prudent, and he had dared to tell Crosbie +that he was behaving very badly. He had spoken his mind plainly, and had +then given all the assistance in his power. + +He paused a moment before he replied, weighing, like a prudent man, the +force of the words he was about to utter. 'It is much better as it is,' +he said. 'It is much better that you should be strangers for the +future.' + +'I do not see that at all,' said Crosbie. They were both leaning on the +rails, and so they remained for the next twenty minutes. 'I do not see +that at all.' + +'I feel sure of it. What could come of any renewed intercourse--even +if she would allow it?' + +'I might make her my wife.' + +'And do you think that you would be happy with her, or she with you, +after what has passed?' + +'I do think so.' + +'I do not. It might be possible that she could bring herself to marry +you. Women delight to forgive injuries. They like the excitement of +generosity. But she could never forget that you had a former wife, or +the circumstances under which you were married. And as for yourself, you +would regret it after the first month. How could you ever speak to her +of your love without speaking also of your shame? If a man does marry he +should at least be able to hold up his head before his wife.' + +This was very severe, but Crosbie showed no anger. 'I think I should do +so,' he said--'after a while.' + +'And then, about money? Of course you would have to tell her +everything.' + +'Everything--of course.' + +'It is like enough that she might not regard that--except that she would +feel that if you could not afford to marry her when you were +unembarrassed, you can hardly afford to do so when you are over your +head and ears in debt.' + +'She has money now.' + +'After all that has come and gone you would hardly seek Lily Dale +because you want to marry a fortune.' + +'You are too hard on me, Pratt. You know that my only reason for +seeking her is that I love her.' + +'I do not mean to be hard. But I have a very strong opinion that the +quarrels of lovers, when they are of so very serious a nature, are a bad +basis for the renewal of love. Come, let us go and dress for dinner. I +am going to dine with Mrs Thorne, the millionaire, who married a country +doctor, and who used to be called Miss Dunstable.' + +'I never dine out anywhere now,' said Crosbie. And then they walked out +of the Park together. Neither of them, of course, knew that Lily Dale +was staying at the house at which Fowler was going to dine. + +Lily, as she rode home, did not speak a word. She would have given +worlds to be able to talk, but she could not even make a beginning. She +heard Bernard and Siph Dunn chatting behind her, had hoped they would +continue to do so till she was safe within the house. They all used her +well, for no one tried to draw her into conversation. Once Emily said to +her, 'Shall we trot a little, Lily?' And then they moved on quickly, and +the misery was soon over. As soon as she was upstairs in the house she +got Emily by herself, and explained all the mystery in a word or two. 'I +fear I have made a fool of myself. That was the man to whom I was once +engaged.' 'What, Mr Crosbie?' said Emily, who had heard the whole story +from Bernard. 'Yes, Mr Crosbie; pray do not say a word of it to +anybody--not even to your aunt. I am better now, but I was such a fool. +No, dear; I won't go into the drawing-room. I'll go upstairs, and come +down ready for dinner.' + +When she was alone she sat down in her habit and declared to herself +that she certainly would never become the wife of Mr Crosbie. I do not +know why she should make such a declaration. She had promised her mother +and John Eames that she would not do so, and that promise would +certainly have bound her without any further resolutions on her part. +But, to tell the truth, the vision of the man had disenchanted her. When +last she had seen him he had been as it were a god to her; and though, +since that day, his conduct to her had been as ungodlike as it well +might be, still the memory of the outward signs of his divinity had +remained with her. It is difficult to explain how it had come to pass +that the glimpse which she had had of him should have altered so much +within her mind;--why she should so suddenly have come to regard him in +an altered light. It was not simply that he looked to be older, and +because his face was careworn. It was not only that he had lost that +look of an Apollo which Lily had once in her mirth attributed to him. I +think it was chiefly that she herself was older, and could no longer see +a god in such a man. She had never regarded John Eames as being gifted +with divinity, and had therefore always been making comparisons to his +discredit. Any such comparison now would tend quite the other way. +Nevertheless she would adhere to the two letters in her book. Since she +had seen Mr Crosbie she was altogether out of love with the prospect of +matrimony. + +She was in the room when Mr Pratt was announced, and she at once +recognised him as the man who had been with Crosbie. And when, some +minutes afterwards, Siph Dunn came into the room, she could see that in +their greeting allusion was made to the scene in the Park. But still it +was probable that this man would not recognise her, and, if he did so, +what would it matter? There were twenty people to sit down to dinner, +and the chances were that she would not be called upon to exchange a +word with Mr Pratt. She had now recovered herself, and could speak +freely to her friend Siph, and when Siph came and stood near her she +thanked him graciously for his escort in the Park. 'If it wasn't for +you, Mr Dunn, I really think I should not get any riding at all. Bernard +and Miss Dunstable have only one thing to think about, and certainly I +am not the one thing.' She thought it probable that if she could keep +Siph close to her, Mrs Thorne, who always managed things herself, might +apportion her out to be led to dinner by her good-natured friend. But +the fates were averse. The time had now come, and Lily was waiting her +turn. 'Mr Fowler Pratt, let me introduce to Miss Lily Dale,' said Mrs +Thorne. Lily could perceive that Mr Pratt was startled. The sign he gave +was the least possible sign in the world; but still it sufficed for Lily +to perceive it. She put her hand upon his arm, and walked down with him +to the dining-room without giving him the slightest cause to suppose +that she knew who he was. + +'I think I saw you in the park riding?' he said. + +'Yes, I was there; we go nearly every day.' + +'I never ride; I was walking.' + +'It seems to me that the people who don't go there to walk, but to stand +still,' said Lily. 'I cannot understand how so many people can bear to +loiter about in that way--leaning on the rails and doing nothing.' + +'It is about as good as riding, and costs less money. That is all that +can be said for it. Do you live chiefly in town?' + +'Oh, dear no; I live altogether in the country. I'm only up here +because a cousin is going to be married.' + +'Captain Dale, you mean--to Miss Dunstable?' said Fowler Pratt. + +'When they have been joined together in holy matrimony, I shall go down +to the country, and never, I suppose, come up to London again.' + +'You do not like London?' + +'Not as a residence, I think,' said Lily. 'But of course one's likings +and dislikings on such a matter depend on circumstances. I live with my +mother, and all my relatives live near us. Of course I like the country +best, because they are there.' + +'Young ladies so often have a different way of looking at this subject. +I shouldn't wonder if Miss Dunstable's views about it were altogether of +another sort. Young ladies generally expect to be taken away from their +father and mothers, and uncles and aunts.' + +'But you see I expect to be left with mine,' said Lily. After that she +turned as much away from Mr Fowler Pratt as she could, having taken an +aversion to him. What business had he to talk to her about being taken +away from uncles and aunts? She had seen him with Mr Crosbie, and it +might be possible that they were intimate friends. It might be that Mr +Pratt was asking questions in Mr Crosbie's interests. Let that be as it +might, she would answer no more questions from him further than ordinary +good breeding should require of her. + +'She is a nice girl, certainly,' said Fowler Pratt to himself, as he +walked home, 'and I have no doubt would make a good, ordinary, everyday +wife. But she is not such a paragon that a man should condescend to +grovel in the dirt for her.' + +That night Lily told Emily Dunstable the whole of Mr Crosbie's history +as far as she knew it, and also explained her new aversion to Mr Fowler +Pratt. 'They are very great friends,' said Emily. 'Bernard has told me +so; and you may be sure that Mr Pratt knew the whole history before he +came here. I am so sorry that my aunt asked him.' + +'It does not signify in the least,' said Lily. 'Even if I were to meet +Mr Crosbie I don't think I should make such a fool of myself again. As +it is, I can only hope that he did not see it.' + +'I am sure he did not.' + +Then there was a pause, during which Lily sat with her face resting on +both her hands. 'It is wonderful how much he has altered,' she said at +last. + +'Think how much he has suffered.' + +'I suppose I am altered as much, only I do not see it myself.' + +'I don't know what you were, but I don't think you can have changed +much. You no doubt have suffered too, but not as he has done.' + +'Oh, as for that, I have done very well. I think I'll go to bed now. +The riding makes me so sleepy.' + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +THE CLERICAL COMMISSION + +It was at last arranged that the five clergymen selected should meet at +Dr Tempest's house at Silverbridge to make inquiry and report to the +bishop whether the circumstances connected with the cheque for twenty +pounds were of such a nature as to make it incumbent on him to institute +proceedings against Mr Crawley in the Court of Arches. Dr Tempest had +acted upon the letter which he had received from the bishop, exactly as +though there had been no meeting at the palace, no quarrel to the death +between him and Mrs Proudie. He was a prudent man, gifted with the great +power of holding his tongue, and had not spoken a word, even to his +wife, of what had occurred. After such a victory our old friend the +archdeacon would have blown his own trumpet loudly among his friends. +Plumstead would have heard of it instantly, and the paean would have +been sung out in the neighbouring parishes of Eiderdown, Stogpingum, and +St Ewolds. The High Street of Barchester would have known of it, and the +very bedesmen in Hiram's Hospital would have told among themselves the +terrible discomfiture of the bishop and his lady. But Dr Tempest spoke +no word of it to anybody. He wrote letters to the two clergymen named by +the bishop, and himself selected two others out of his own rural +deanery, and suggested to them all a day at which a preliminary meeting +should be held at his own house. The two who were invited by him were Mr +Oriel, the rector of Greshamsbury, and Mr Robarts, the vicar of Framley. +They all assented to the proposition, and on the day named assembled +themselves at Silverbridge. + +It was now April, and the judges were to come into Barchester before the +end of the month. What then could be the use of this ecclesiastical +inquiry exactly at the same time? Men and women declared that it was a +double prosecution, and that a double prosecution for the same offence +was a course of action opposed to the feelings and the traditions of the +country. Miss Anne Prettyman went so far as to say that it was +unconstitutional, and Mary Walker declared that no human being except +Mrs Proudie would ever have been guilty of such cruelty. 'Don't tell me +about the bishop, John,' she said, 'the bishop is a cypher.' 'You may be +sure Dr Tempest would not have a hand in it if it were not right,' said +John Walker. 'My dear Mr John,' said Miss Anne Prettyman, 'Dr Tempest is +as hard as a bar of iron, and always was. But I am surprised that Mr +Robarts should take a part in it.' + +In the meantime, at the palace, Mrs Proudie had been reduced to learn +what was going on from Mr Thumble. The bishop had never spoke a word to +her respecting Mr Crawley since that terrible day on which Dr Tempest +had witnessed his imbecility--having absolutely declined to answer when +his wife had mentioned the subject. 'You won't speak to me about it, my +dear?' she had said to him, when he had thus declined, remonstrating +more in sorrow than in anger. 'No; I won't,' the bishop had replied; +'there has been a great deal too much talking about it. It has broken my +heart already, I know.' These were very bad days in the palace. Mrs +Proudie affected to be satisfied with what was being done. She talked to +Mr Thumble about Mr Crawley and the cheque, as though everything were +arranged quite to her satisfaction--as though everything, indeed, had +been arranged by herself. But everybody about the house could see that +the manner of the woman was altogether altered. She was milder than +usual with the servants and was almost too gentle in her usage of her +husband. It seemed as though something had happened to frighten her and +break her spirit, and it was whispered about through the palace that she +was afraid that the bishop was dying. As for him, he hardly left his own +sitting-room in these days, except when he joined the family at +breakfast and at dinner. And in his study he did little or nothing. He +would smile when his chaplain went to him, and give some trifling verbal +directions; but for days he scarcely ever took a pen in his hands, and +though he took up many books he read hardly a page. How often he told +his wife in those days that he was broken-hearted, no one but his wife +ever knew. + +'What has happened that you should speak like that?' she said to him +once. 'What has broken your heart?' + +'You,' he replied. 'You; you have done it.' + +'Oh, Tom,' she said, going back into the memory of very far distant days +in her nomenclature, 'how can you speak to me so cruelly as that! That +it should come to that between you and me after all!' + +'Why did you not go away and leave me that day when I told you?' + +'Did you ever know a woman who liked to be turned out of a room in her +own house?' said Mrs Proudie. When Mrs Proudie had condescended so far +as this, it must be admitted that in those days there was a great deal +of trouble in the palace. + +Mr Thumble, on the day before he went to Silverbridge, asked for an +audience with the bishop in order that he might receive instructions. He +had been strictly desired to do this by Mrs Proudie, and had not dared +to disobey her injunctions--thinking, however, himself, that his doing +so was inexpedient. 'I have got nothing to say to you about it; not a +word,' said the bishop crossly. 'I thought that perhaps you might like +to see me before I started,' pleaded Mr Thumble very humbly. 'I don't +want to see you at all,' said the bishop; 'you are going there to +exercise your own judgment--if you have got any; and you ought not to +come to me.' After that Mr Thumble began to think that Mrs Proudie was +right, and that the bishop was near dissolution. + +Mr Thumble and Mr Quiverful went over to Silverbridge together in a gig, +hired from the Dragon of Wantly--as to the cost of which there arose +among them a not unnatural apprehension which amounted to dismay. 'I +don't mind it so much for once,' said Mr Quiverful, 'but if many such +meetings are necessary, I for one can't afford it, and I won't do it. A +man with my family can't allow himself to be money out of pocket in that +way.' 'It is hard,' said Mr Thumble. 'She ought to pay it herself, out +of her own pocket,' said Mr Quiverful. He had had many concerns with the +palace when Mrs Proudie was in the full swing of her dominion, and had +not as yet begun to suspect that there might possibly be change. + +Mr Oriel and Mr Robarts were already sitting with Dr Tempest when the +other two clergymen were shown into the room. When the first greetings +were over luncheon was announced, and while they were eating not a word +was said about Mr Crawley. The ladies of the family were not present, +and the five clergymen sat round the table alone. It would have been +difficult to have got together five gentlemen less likely to act with +one mind and spirit;--and perhaps it was all the better for Mr Crawley +that it should be so. Dr Tempest himself was a man peculiarly capable of +exercising the function of a judge in the matter, had he sat alone as a +judge; but he was one who would be almost sure to differ from others who +sat as equal assessors with him. Mr Oriel was a gentleman at all points; +but he was very shy, very reticent, and altogether uninstructed in the +ordinary daily intercourse of man with man. Anyone knowing him might +have predicted of him that he would be sure on such an occasion as this +to be found floundering in a sea of doubts. Mr Quiverful was the father +of a large family, whose life had been devoted to fighting a cruel world +on behalf of his wife and children. That fight he had fought bravely; +but it had left him no energy for any other business. Mr Thumble was a +poor creature--so poor a creature that, in spite of a small restless +ambition to be doing something, he was almost cowed by the hard lines of +Dr Tempest's brow. The Rev. Mr Robarts was a man of the world, and a +clever fellow, and did not stand in awe of anybody--unless it might be, +in a very moderate degree, of his patrons the Luftons, whom he was bound +to respect; but his cleverness was not of the cleverness needed by a +judge. He was essentially a partisan, and would be sure to vote against +the bishop in such a matter as this now before him. There was a palace +faction in the diocese, and an anti-palace faction. Mr Thumble and Mr +Quiverful belonged to one, and Mr Oriel and Mr Robarts to the other. Mr +Thumble was too weak to stick to his faction against the strength of +such a man as Dr Tempest. Mr Quiverful would be too indifferent to do +so--unless his interest was concerned. Mr Oriel would be too +conscientious to regard his own side on such an occasion as this. But +Mark Robarts would be sure to support his friends and oppose his +enemies, let the case be what it might. 'Now, gentlemen, if you please, +we will go into the other room,' said Dr Tempest. They went into the +other room, and there they found five chairs arranged for them round the +table. Not a word had as yet been said about Mr Crawley, and no one of +the four strangers knew whether Mr Crawley was to appear before them on +that day or not. + +'Gentlemen,' said Dr Tempest, seating himself at once in an armchair +placed at the middle of the table, 'I think it will be well to explain +to you at first what, as I regard the matter, is the extent of the work +which we are called upon to perform. It is of its nature very +disagreeable. It cannot but be so, be it ever so limited. Here is a +brother clergyman and a gentleman, living among us, and doing his duty, +as we are told, in a most exemplary manner; and suddenly we hear that he +is accused of theft. The matter is brought before the magistrates, of +whom I myself was one, and he was committed for trial. There is +therefore prima facie evidence of his guilt. But I do not think that we +need to go into the question of his guilt at all.' When he said this, +the other four all looked up at him in astonishment. 'I thought that we +had been summoned here for that purpose,' said Mr Robarts. 'Not at all, +as I take it,' said the doctor. 'Were we to commence any such inquiry, +the jury would have given their verdict before we could come to any +conclusion; and it would be impossible for us to oppose that verdict +whether it declares this unfortunate gentleman to be innocent or to be +guilty. If the jury shall say that he is innocent, there is an end of +the matter altogether. He would go back to his parish amidst the +sympathy and congratulations of his friends. That is what we all should +wish.' + +'Of course it is,' said Mr Robarts. They all declared that was their +desire, as a matter of course; and Mr Thumble said it louder than anyone +else. + +'But if he is found guilty, then will come that difficulty to the +bishop, in which we are bound to give him any assistance within our +power.' + +'Of course we are,' said Mr Thumble, who, having heard his own voice +once, and having liked the sound, thought that he might creep into a +little importance by using it on any occasion that opened itself for +him. + +'If you will allow me, sir, I will venture to state my views shortly as +I can,' said Dr Tempest. 'That may perhaps be the most expedient course +for us all in the end.' + +'Oh, certainly,' said Mr Thumble. 'I didn't mean to interrupt.' + +'In the case of his being found guilty,' continued the doctor, 'there +will arise the question whether the punishment awarded to him by the +judge should suffice for ecclesiastical purposes. Suppose, for instance, +that he should be imprisoned for two months, should he be allowed to +return to his living at the expiration of that term?' + +'I think he ought,' said Mr Robarts:--'considering all things.' + +'I don't see why he shouldn't,' said Mr Quiverful. + +Mr Oriel sat listening patiently, and Mr Thumble looked up to the +doctor, expecting to hear some opinion expressed by him with which he +might coincide. + +'There certainly are reasons why he should not,' said Dr Tempest; +'though I by no means say that those reasons are conclusive in the +present case. In the first place, a man who has stolen money can hardly +be a fitting person to teach others not to steal.' + +'You must look to the circumstances,' said Robarts. + +'Yes, that is true; but just bear with me for a moment. It cannot, at +any rate, be thought that a clergyman should come out of prison and go +to his living without any notice from his bishop, simply because he has +already been punished by the common law. If this were so, a clergyman +might be fined ten days running for being drunk in the street--five +shillings each time--and at the end of that time might set his bishop +at defiance. When a clergyman has shown himself to be utterly unfit for +clerical duties, he must not be held to be protected from ecclesiastical +censure or from deprivation by the action of the common law.' + +'But Mr Crawley has not shown himself to be unfit,' said Robarts. + +'That is begging the question, Robarts,' said the doctor. + +'Just so,' said Mr Thumble. Then Mr Robarts gave a look at Mr Thumble, +and Mr Thumble retired into his shoes. + +'That is the question as to which we are called upon to advise the +bishop,' continued Dr Tempest. 'And I must say that I think the bishop +is right. If he were to allow the matter to pass by without notice--that +is to say, in the event of Mr Crawley being pronounced guilty by a +jury--he would, I think, neglect in his duty. Now I have been informed +that the bishop has recommended Mr Crawley to desist from his duties +till the trial be over, and that Mr Crawley has declined to take the +bishop's advice.' + +'That is true,' said Mr Thumble. 'He altogether disregarded the +bishop.' + +'I think he was quite right,' said Mr Robarts. + +'A bishop in almost all cases is entitled to the obedience of his +clergy,' said Mr Oriel. + +'I must say I agree with you, sir,' said Mr Thumble. + +'Be that as it may,' continued the doctor, 'the bishop feels that it may +be his duty to oppose the return of Mr Crawley to his pulpit, and that +he can oppose it in no other way than by proceeding against Mr Crawley +under the Clerical Offences Act. I propose, therefore, that we should +invite Mr Crawley to attend here--' + +'Mr Crawley is not coming here today, then?' said Mr Robarts. + +'I thought it useless to ask for his attendance until we had settled on +our own course of action,' said Dr Tempest. 'If we are all agreed, I +will beg him to come here on this day week, when we will meet again. And +we will then ask him whether he will submit himself to the bishop's +decision, in the event of the jury finding him guilty. If he should +decline to do so, we can only then form our opinion as to what will be +the bishop's duty by reference to the facts as they are elicited at the +trial. If Mr Crawley should choose to make to us any statement as to his +own case, of course we shall be willing to receive it. That is my idea +of what had better be done; and now, if any gentleman has any other +proposition to make, of course we shall be pleased to hear him.' Dr +Tempest, as he said this, looked round upon his companions, as though +his pleasure, under the circumstances suggested by himself, would be +very doubtful. + +'I don't suppose we can do anything better,' said Mr Robarts. 'I think +it a pity, however, that any steps should have been taken by the bishop +before the trial.' + +'The bishop has been placed in a very delicate position,' said Mr +Thumble, pleading for his patron. + +'I don't know the meaning of the word "delicate",' said Robarts. 'I +think his duty was very clear, to avoid interference whilst the matter +is, so to say, before the judge.' + +'Nobody has anything else to propose?' said Dr Tempest. 'Then I will +write to Mr Crawley and you, gentlemen, will perhaps do me the honour of +meeting me here at one o'clock this day week.' Then the meeting was +over, and the four clergymen having shaken hands with Dr Tempest in the +hall, all promised that they would return on that day week. So far, Dr +Tempest had carried his point exactly as he might have done had the four +gentlemen been represented by the chairs on which they sat. + +'I shan't come again all the same, unless I know where I'm to get my +expenses,' said Mr Quiverful, as he got into the gig. + +'I shall come,' said Mr Thumble, 'because I think it a duty. Of course +it is a hardship.' Mr Thumble liked the idea of being joined with such +men as Dr Tempest, and Mr Oriel, and Mr Robarts, and would any day have +paid the expense of a gig from Barchester to Silverbridge out of his own +pocket, for the sake of sitting with such benchfellows on any clerical +inquiry. + +'One's first duty is to one's own wife and family,' said Mr Quiverful. + +'Well, yes; in a way, of course, that is quite true, Mr Quiverful; and +when we know how very inadequate are the incomes of the working clergy, +we cannot but feel ourselves to be, if I may so say, put upon, when we +have to defray the expenses incidental to special duties out of our own +pockets. I think, you know--I don't mind saying this to you--that the +palace should have provided us with a chaise and pair.' This was +ungrateful on the part of Mr Thumble, who had been permitted to ride +miles upon miles to various outlying clerical duties upon the bishop's +worn-out cob. 'You see,' continued Mr Thumble, 'you and I go specially +to represent the palace, and the palace ought to remember that. I think +there ought to have been a chaise and pair; I do indeed.' + +'I don't care much what the conveyance is,' said Mr Quiverful; 'but I +certainly shall pay nothing more out of my own pocket;--certainly I +shall not.' + +'The result will be that the palace will be thrown over if they don't +take care,' said Mr Thumble. 'Tempest, however, seems to be pretty +steady. Tempest, I think, is steady. You see he is getting tired of +parish work, and would like to go into the close. That's what he is +looking out for. Did you ever see such a fellow as that Robarts--just +look at him;--quite indecent, wasn't he? He thinks he can have his own +way in everything just because his sister is married to a lord. I do +hate to see all that meanness.' + +Mark Robarts and Caleb Oriel left Silverbridge in another gig by the +same road, and soon passed their brethren, as Mr Robarts was in the +habit of driving a large, quick-stepping horse. The last remarks were +being made as the dust from the vicar of Framley's wheels saluted the +faces of the two slower clergymen. Mr Oriel had promised to dine and +sleep at Framley, and therefore returned in Mr Robarts's gig. + +'Quite unnecessary, all this fuss; don't you think so?' said Mr Robarts. + +'I am not quite sure,' said Mr Oriel. 'I can understand that the bishop +may have found a difficulty.' + +'The bishop indeed! The bishop doesn't care two straws about it. It's +Mrs Proudie! She has put her finger on the poor man's neck because he +has not put his neck beneath her feet; and now she thinks she can crush +him--as she would crush you or me, if it were in her power. That's about +the long and the short of the bishop's solicitude.' + +'You are very hard on him,' said Mr Oriel. + +'I know him;--and am not all hard on him. She is hard upon him if you +like. Tempest is fair. He is very fair, and as long as no one meddles +with him he won't do amiss. I can't hold my tongue always, but I often +know that it is better that I should.' + +Dr Tempest said not a word to anyone on the subject, not even in his own +defence. And yet he was sorely tempted. On the very day of the meeting +he dined at Mr Walker's in Silverbridge, and there submitted to be +talked to by all the ladies and most of the gentlemen present, without +saying a word in his own defence. And yet a word or two would have been +so easy and so conclusive. + +'Oh, Dr Tempest,' said Mary Walker, 'I am so sorry that you have joined +the bishop.' + +'Are you, my dear?' said he. 'It is generally thought well that a +parish clergyman should agree with his bishop.' + +'But you know, Mr Tempest, that you don't agree with your bishop +generally.' + +'Then it is the more fortunate that I shall be able to agree with him on +this occasion.' + +Major Grantly was present at the dinner, and ventured to ask the doctor +in the course of the evening what he thought would be done. 'I should +not venture to ask such a question, Dr Tempest,' he said, 'unless I had +the strongest possible reason to justify my anxiety.' + +'I don't know that I can tell you anything, Major Grantly,' said the +doctor. 'We did not even see Mr Crawley today. But the real truth is +that he must stand or fall as the jury shall find him guilty or not +guilty. It would be the same in any profession. Could a captain in the +army hold up his head in his regiment after he had been tried and found +guilty of stealing twenty pounds?' + +'I don't think he could,' said the major. + +'Neither can a clergyman,' said the doctor. 'The bishop can neither +make him nor mar him. It is the jury that must do it.' + + + +CHAPTER LV + +FRAMLEY PARSONAGE + +At this time Grace Crawley was at Framley Parsonage. Old Lady Lufton's +strategy had been quite intelligible, but some people said that in point +of etiquette and judgment and moral conduct, it was indefensible. Her +vicar, Mr Robarts, had been selected to be one of the clergymen who was +to sit in ecclesiastical judgment upon Mr Crawley, and while he was so +sitting Mr Crawley's daughter was staying in Mr Robarts's house as +visitor with his wife. It might be that there was no harm in this. Lady +Lufton, when the apparent impropriety was pointed out to her by no less +a person than Archdeacon Grantly, ridiculed the idea. 'My dear +archdeacon,' Lady Lufton had said, 'we all know the bishop to be such a +fool and the bishop's wife to be such a knave, that we cannot allow +ourselves to be governed in this matter by ordinary rules. Do you not +think that it is expedient to show how utterly we disregard his judgment +and her malice?' The archdeacon had hesitated much before he spoke to +Lady Lufton, whether he should address himself to her or to Mr +Robarts--or indeed to Mrs Robarts. But he had become aware that the +proposition as to the visit had originated with Lady Lufton, and he had +therefore decided on speaking to her. He had not condescended to say a +word as to his son, nor would he so condescend. Nor could he go from +Lady Lufton to Mr Robarts, having once failed with her ladyship. Indeed, +in giving him his due, we must acknowledge that his disapprobation of +Lady Lufton's strategy arose rather from his true conviction as to its +impropriety, than from any fear lest this attention paid to Miss Crawley +should tend to bring about her marriage with his son. By this time he +hated the very name of Crawley. He hated it the more because in hating +it he had to put himself for the time on the same side with Mrs Proudie. +But for all that he would not condescend to any unworthy mode of +fighting. He thought it wrong that the young lady should be invited to +Framley Parsonage at this moment, and he said so to the person who had, +as he thought, in truth, given the invitation; but he would not allow +his own personal motives to induce him to carry on the argument with +Lady Lufton. 'The bishop is a fool,' he said, 'and the bishop's wife is +a knave. Nevertheless I would not have had the young lady over to +Framley at this moment. If, however, you think it right and Robarts +thinks it right, there is an end of it.' + +'Upon my word we do,' said Lady Lufton. + +I am induced to think that Mr Robarts was not quite confident of the +expediency of what he was doing by the way in which he mentioned to Mr +Oriel the fact of Miss Crawley's presence at the parsonage as he drove +that gentleman home in his gig. They had been talking about Mr Crawley +when he suddenly turned himself round, so that he could look at his +companion, and said, 'Miss Crawley is staying with us at the parsonage +at the present moment.' + +'What! Mr Crawley's daughter?' said Mr Oriel, showing plainly by his +voice that the tidings had much surprised him. + +'Yes; Mr Crawley's daughter.' + +'Oh, indeed. I did not know that you were on those terms with the +family.' + +'We have known them for the last seven or eight years,' said Mark; 'and +though I should be giving a false notion if I were to say that I myself +have known them intimately--for Crawley is a man whom it is quite +impossible to know intimately--yet the womankind at Framley have known +them. My sister stayed with them over at Hogglestock for some time.' + +'What; Lady Lufton?' + +'Yes; my sister Lucy. It was just before her marriage. There was a lot +of trouble, and the Crawleys were all ill, and she went to nurse them. +And then the old lady took them up, and altogether there came to be a +sort of feeling that they were to be regarded as friends. They are +always in trouble, and now in this special trouble the women between +them have thought it best to have the girl over at Framley. Of course I +had a kind of feeling about this commission; but as I knew that it would +make no difference with me I did not think it necessary to put my veto +upon the visit.' Mr Oriel said nothing further, but Mark Robarts was +aware that Mr Oriel did not quite approve of the visit. + +That morning old Lady Lufton herself had come across to the parsonage +with the express view of bidding all the party to come across to the +hall to dine. 'You can tell Mr Oriel, Fanny, with Lucy's compliments, +how delighted she will be to see him.' Old Lady Lufton always spoke of +her daughter-in-law as the mistress of the house. 'If you think he is +particular, you know, we will send a note across.' Mrs Robarts said that +she supposed Mr Oriel would not be particular, but, looking at Grace, +made some faint excuse. 'You must come, my dear,' said Lady Lufton. +'Lucy wishes it particularly.' Mrs Robarts did not know how to say that +she would not come; and so the matter stood--when Mrs Robarts was called +upon to leave the room for a moment, and Lady Lufton and Grace were left +alone. + +'Dear Lady Lufton,' said Grace, getting up suddenly from her chair; +'will you do me a favour--a great favour?' She spoke with an energy +which quite surprised the old lady, and caused her almost to start from +her seat. + +'I don't like making promises,' said Lady Lufton; 'but anything I can do +with propriety, I will.' + +'You can do this. Pray let me stay here today. You don't understand +how I feel about going out while papa is in this way. I know how kind +and how good you all are; and when dear Mrs Robarts asked me here, and +mamma said that I had better come, I could not refuse. But indeed, +indeed I had rather not go out to a dinner-party.' + +'It is not a party, my dear girl,' said Lady Lufton, with the kindest +voice which she knew how to assume. 'And you must remember that my +daughter-in-law regards you as so very old a friend! You remember, of +course, when she was staying at Hogglestock?' + +'Indeed I do. I remember it well.' + +'And therefore you should not regard it as going out. There will be +nobody there but ourselves and the people from this house.' + +'But it will be going out, Lady Lufton; and I do hope you will let me +stay here. You cannot think how I feel it. Of course I cannot go without +something like dressing--and--and--. In poor papa's state I feel that I +ought not to do anything that looks like gaiety. I ought never to forget +it;--not for a moment.' + +There was a tear in Lady Lufton's eye as she said--'My dear, you shan't +come. You and Fanny shall stop and dine here by yourselves. The +gentlemen shall come.' + +'Do let Mrs Robarts go, please,' said Grace. + +'I won't do anything of the kind,' said Lady Lufton. Then, when Mrs +Robarts returned to the room, her ladyship explained it all in two +words. 'Whilst you have been away, my dear, Grace has begged off, and +therefore we have decided that Mr Oriel and Mr Robarts shall come +without you.' + +'I am so sorry, Mrs Robarts,' said Grace. + +'Pooh, pooh,' said Lady Lufton. 'Fanny and I have known each other +quite long enough not to stand on any compliments--haven't we, my dear? +I must get home now, as all the morning has gone by. Fanny, my dear, I +want to speak to you.' Then she expressed her opinion of Grace Crawley +as she walked across the parsonage garden with Mrs Robarts. 'She is a +very nice girl, and a very good girl I am sure; and she shows excellent +feeling. Whatever happens we must take care of her. And, Fanny, have you +observed how handsome she is?' + +'We think her very pretty.' + +'She is more than pretty when she has a little fire in her eyes. She is +downright handsome--or will be when she fills out a little. I tell you +what, my dear; she'll make havoc with somebody yet; you see if she +doesn't. Bye-bye. Tell the two gentlemen to be up by seven punctually.' +And then Lady Lufton went home. + +Grace so contrived that Mr Oriel came and went without seeing her. There +was a separate nursery breakfast at the parsonage, and by special +permission Grace was allowed to have her tea and bread-and--butter on +the next morning with the children. 'I thought you told me Miss Crawley +was here,' said Mr Oriel, as the two clergymen stood waiting for the gig +that was to take the visitor away to Barchester. + +'So she is,' said Robarts; 'but she likes to hide herself, because of +her father's trouble. You can't blame her.' + +'No, indeed,' said Mr Oriel. + +'Poor girl. If you knew her you would not only pity her, but like her.' + +'Is she--what you call--?' + +'You mean, is she a lady?' + +'Of course she is by birth, and all that,' said Mr Oriel, apologising +for his inquiry. + +'I don't think there is another girl in the county so well educated,' +said Mr Robarts. + +'Indeed! I had no idea of that.' + +'And we think her a great beauty. As for manners, I never saw a girl +with a prettier way of her own.' + +'Dear me,' said Mr Oriel. 'I wish she had come down to breakfast.' + +It will have been perceived that old Lady Lufton had heard nothing of +Major Grantly's offence; that she had no knowledge that Grace had +already made havoc, as she had called it--had, in truth, made very sad +havoc, at Plumstead. She did not, therefore, think much about it when +her own son told her upon her return home from the parsonage on that +afternoon that Major Grantly had come over from Cosby Lodge, and that he +was going to dine and sleep at Framley Court. Some slight idea of +thankfulness came across her mind that she had not betrayed Grace +Crawley into a meeting with a stranger. 'I asked him to come some day +before we went to town,' said his lordship; 'and I am glad he has come +today, as two clergymen to one's self are, at any rate, one too many.' +So Major Grantly dined and slept at the Court. + +But Mrs Robarts was in a great flurry when she was told of this by her +husband on his return from the dinner. Mrs Crawley had found an +opportunity of telling the story of Major Grantly's love to Mrs Robarts +before she had sent her daughter to Framley, knowing that the families +were intimate, and thinking it right that there should be some +precaution. + +'I wonder whether he will come up here,' Mrs Robarts had said. + +'Probably not,' said the vicar. 'He said he was going home early.' + +'I hope he will not come--for Grace's sake,' said Mrs Robarts. She +hesitated whether she should tell her husband. She always did tell him +everything. But on this occasion she thought she had no right to do so, +and she kept the secret. 'Don't do anything to bring him up, dear.' + +'You needn't be afraid. He won't come,' said the vicar. On the +following morning, as soon as Mr Oriel was gone, Mr Robarts went +out--about his parish he would probably have called it; but in +half-an-hour he might have been seen strolling about the Court +stable-yard with Lord Lufton. 'Where is Grantly?' asked the vicar. 'I +don't know where he is,' said his lordship. 'He has sloped off +somewhere.' The major had sloped off to the parsonage, well knowing in +what nest his dove was lying hid; and he and the vicar had passed each +other. The major had gone out the front gate, and the vicar had gone in +at the stable entrance. + +The two clergymen had hardly taken their departure when Major Grantly +knocked at the parsonage door. He had come so early that Mrs Robarts had +taken no precautions--even had there been any precautions which she +would have thought it right to take. Grace was in the act of coming down +the stairs, not having heard the knock at the door, and thus she found +her lover in the hall. He had asked, of course, for Mrs Robarts, and +thus they two entered the drawing-room together. They had not had time +to speak when the servant opened the drawing-room door to announce the +visitor. There had been no word spoken between Mrs Robarts and Grace +about Major Grantly, but the mother had told the daughter of what she +had said to Mrs Robarts. + +'Grace,' said the major, 'I am so glad I found you!' Then he turned to +Mrs Robarts with his open hand. 'You won't take it uncivil of me if I +say that my visit is not entirely to yourself? I think I may take upon +myself to say that I and Miss Crawley are old friends. May I not?' + +Grace could not answer a word. 'Mrs Crawley told me that you had known +her at Silverbridge,' said Mrs Robarts, driven to say something, but +feeling that she was blundering. + +'I came over to Framley yesterday because I heard that she was here. Am +I wrong to come up here to see her?' + +'I think that she must answer that for herself, Major Grantly.' + +'Am I wrong, Grace?' Grace thought that he was the finest gentleman and +the noblest lover that had ever shown his devotion to a woman, and was +stirred by a mighty resolve that if it ever should be in her power to +reward him after any fashion, she would pour out the reward with a very +full hand indeed. But what was she to say on the present moment? 'Am I +wrong, Grace?' he said, repeating his question with so much emphasis, +that she was positively driven to answer it. + +'I do not think you are wrong at all. How can I say you are wrong when +you are so good? If I could be your servant I would serve you. But I can +be nothing to you, because of papa's disgrace. Dear Mrs Robarts, I +cannot stay. You must answer him for me.' And having thus made her +speech she escaped from the room. + +It may suffice to say further now that the major did not see Grace again +during his visit to Framley. + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +THE ARCHDEACON GOES TO FRAMLEY + +By some of these unseen telegraphic wires which carry news about the +country and make no charge for the conveyance, Archdeacon Grantly heard +that his son the major was at Framley. Now in that itself there would +have been nothing singular. There had been for years much intimacy +between the Lufton family and the Grantly family--so much that an +alliance between the two houses had once been planned, the elders having +considered it expedient that the young lord should marry that Griselda +who had since mounted higher in the world even than the elders had then +projected for her. There had come no such alliance; but the intimacy had +not ceased, and there was nothing in itself surprising in the fact that +Major Grantly should be staying at Framley Court. But the archdeacon, +when he heard the news, bethought him at once of Grace Crawley. Could it +be possible that his old friend Lady Lufton--Lady Lufton whom he had +known and trusted all his life, whom he had ever regarded as a pillar of +the Church in Barsetshire--should be now untrue to him in a matter so +closely affecting his interests? Men when they are worried by fears and +teased by adverse circumstances become suspicious of those on whom +suspicion should never rest. It was hardly possible, the archdeacon +thought, that Lady Lufton should treat him so unworthily--but the +circumstances were strong against his friend. Lady Lufton had induced +Miss Crawley to go to Framley, much against his advice, at a time when +such a visit seemed to him to be very improper; and it now appeared that +his son was to be there at the same time--a fact of which Lady Lufton +had made no mention to him whatever. Why had not Lady Lufton told him +that Henry Grantly was coming to Framley Court? The reader, whose +interest in the matter will be less keen than was the archdeacon's, will +know very well why Lady Lufton had said nothing about the major's visit. +The reader will remember that Lady Lufton, when she saw the archdeacon, +was as ignorant as to the intended visit as was the archdeacon himself. +But the archdeacon was uneasy, troubled, and suspicious;--and he +suspected his old friend unworthily. + +He spoke to his wife about it within a very few hours of the arrival of +the tidings by those invisible wires. He had already told her that Miss +Crawley was to go to Framley parsonage, and that he thought that Mrs +Robarts was wrong to receive her at such a time. 'It is only intended +for good-nature,' Mrs Grantly had said. 'It is misplaced good-nature at +the present moment,' the archdeacon had replied. Mrs Grantly had not +thought it worth her while to undertake at the moment any strong defence +of the Framley people. She knew well how odious was the name of Crawley +in her husband's ears, and she felt that the less that was said at the +present about the Crawleys the better for the peace of the rectory at +Plumstead. She had therefore allowed the expression of his disapproval +to pass unchallenged. But now he came upon her with a more bitter +grievance and she was obliged to argue the matter with him. + +'What do you think?' said he: 'Henry is at Framley.' + +'He can hardly be staying there,' said Mrs Grantly, 'because I know that +he is so very busy at home.' The business at home of which the major's +mother was speaking was his projected moving from Cosby Lodge, a subject +which was also very odious to the archdeacon. He did not wish his son to +move from Cosby Lodge. He could not endure the idea that his son should +be known throughout the county to be giving up a residence because he +could not afford to keep it. The archdeacon could have afforded to keep +up two Cosby Lodges for his son, and would have been well pleased to do +so, if only his son would not misbehave against him so shamefully! He +could not bear that his son should be punished openly, before the eyes +of all Barsetshire. Indeed he did not wish that his son should be +punished at all. He simply desired that his son should recognise his +father's power to inflict punishment. It would be henbane to Archdeacon +Grantly to have a poor son--a son living at Pau--among +Frenchmen!--because he could not afford to live in England. Why had the +archdeacon been careful of his money, adding house to house and field to +field? He himself was contented--so he told himself--to die as he had +lived in a country parsonage, working with the collar round his neck up +to the day of his death, if God would allow him to do so. He was +ambitious of no grandeur for himself. So he would tell himself--being +partly oblivious of certain episodes in his own life. All his wealth had +been got together for his children. He desired that his sons should be +fitting brothers for their august sister. And now the son who was +nearest to him, whom he was bent upon making a squire in his own county, +wanted to marry the daughter of a man who had stolen twenty pounds, and +when objection was made to so discreditable a connexion, replied by +packing up all his things and saying that he would go and live--at Pau! +The archdeacon therefore did not like to hear of his son being very busy +at home. + +'I don't know whether he is busy or not,' said the archdeacon, 'but I +tell you he is staying at Framley.' + +'From whom have you heard it?' + +'What matter does that make if it is so? I heard it from Flurry.' + +'Flurry may have been mistaken,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'It is not at all likely. Those people always know about such things. +He heard it from the Framley people. I don't doubt but it's true, and I +think that it's a great shame.' + +'A great shame that Henry should be at Framley! He has been there two +or three times every year since he has lived in the county.' + +'It is a great shame that he should be had over there just at the time +when that girl is there also. It is impossible to believe that such a +thing is an accident.' + +'But, archdeacon, you do not mean to say that you think that Lady Lufton +has arranged it?' + +'I don't know who arranged it. Somebody has arranged it. If it is +Robarts, that is almost worse. One could forgive a woman in such a +matter better than one could a man.' + +'Psha!' Mrs Grantly's temper was never bitter, but at this moment it +was not sweetened by her husband's very uncivil reference to her sex. +'The whole idea is nonsense, and you should get it out of your head.' + +'Am I to get it out of my head that Henry wants to make this girl his +wife, and that the two are at this moment at Framley together?' In this +the archdeacon was wrong as to his facts. Major Grantly had left Framley +on the previous day, having stayed there only one night. 'It is coming +to that that one can trust no one--no one--literally no one.' Mrs +Grantly perfectly understood that the archdeacon, in the agony of the +moment, intended to exclude even herself from his confidence by that 'no +one'; but to this she was indifferent, understanding accurately when his +words should be accepted as expressing his thoughts, and when they +should be supposed to express only his anger. + +'The probability is that no one at Lufton knew anything about Henry's +partiality for Miss Crawley,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'I tell you I think they are both at Framley together.' + +'And I tell you that if they are, which I doubt, they are there simply +by accident. Besides, what does it matter? If they choose to marry each +other, you and I cannot prevent them. They don't want any assistance +from Lady Lufton, or anybody else. They have simply got to make up their +own minds, and then no one can hinder them.' + +'And, therefore, you would wish to see them brought together?' + +'I say nothing about it, archdeacon; but I do say that we must take +these things as they come. What can we do? Henry may go and stay with +Lady Lufton if he pleases. You and I cannot prevent him.' + +After this the archdeacon walked away, and would not argue the matter +any further with his wife at the moment. He knew very well that he could +not get the better of her, and was apt at such moments to think that she +took an unfair advantage of him by keeping her temper. But he could not +get out of his head the idea that perhaps on this very day things were +being arranged between his son and Grace Crawley at Framley; and he +resolved that he himself would go over and see what might be done. He +would, at any rate, tell all his trouble to Lady Lufton, and beg his old +friend to assist him. He could not think that such a one as he had +always known Lady Lufton to be would approve of a marriage between Henry +Grantly and Grace Crawley. At any rate, he would learn the truth. He had +once been told that Grace Crawley had herself refused to marry his son, +feeling that she would do wrong to inflict so great an injury upon any +gentleman. He had not believed in so great a virtue. He could not +believe it now--now, when he heard that Miss Crawley and his son were +staying together in the same parish. Somebody must be doing him an +injury. It could hardly be chance. But his presence at Framley might +even yet have a good effect, and he would at least learn the truth. So +he had himself driven to Barchester, and from Barchester he took +post-horses to Framley. + +As he came near to the village, he grew to be somewhat ashamed of +himself, or, at least, nervous as to the mode in which he would proceed. +The driver, turning round to him, had suggested that he supposed he was +to drive to 'My Lady's'. This injustice to Lord Lufton, to whom the +house belonged, and with whom his mother lived as a guest, was very +common in the county; for old Lady Lufton had lived at Framley Court +through her son's long minority, and had kept the house there till his +marriage; and even since his marriage she had been recognised as its +presiding genius. It certainly was not the fault of old Lady Lufton, as +she always spoke of everything as belonging either to her son or +daughter-in-law. The archdeacon had been in doubt whether he would go to +the Court or the parsonage. Could he have done exactly as he wished, he +would have left the chaise and walked to the parsonage, so as to reach +it without the noise and fuss incidental to a postillion's arrival. But +that was impossible. He could not drop into Framley as though he had +come from the clouds, and, therefore, he told the man to do as he had +suggested. 'To my lady's?' said the postillion. The archdeacon assented, +and the man, with loud cracks of his whip, and with a spasmodic gallop +along the short avenue, took the archdeacon up to the door of Lord +Lufton's house. He asked for Lord Lufton first, putting on his +pleasantest smile, so that the servant should not suspect the purpose, +of which he was somewhat ashamed. Was Lord Lufton at home? Lord Lufton +was not at home. Lord Lufton had gone up to London that morning, +intending to return the day after tomorrow; but both my ladies were at +home. So the archdeacon was shown into the room where both my ladies +were sitting--and with them he found Mrs Robarts. Anyone who had become +acquainted with the habits of the Framley ladies would have known that +this might very probably be the case. The archdeacon himself was as well +aware as anyone of the modes of life at Framley. The lord's wife was the +parson's sister, and the parson's wife had from her infancy been the +petted friend of the old lady. Of course they all lived very much +together. Of course Mrs Robarts was as much at home in the drawing-room +of Framley Court as she was in her own drawing-room at the parsonage. +Nevertheless, the archdeacon thought himself to be hardly used when he +found Mrs Robarts was at the house. + +'My dear archdeacon, who ever expected to see you?' said old Lady +Lufton. Then the two younger women greeted him. And they all smiled on +him pleasantly, and seemed overjoyed to see him. He was, in truth, a +great favourite at Framley, and each of the three was glad to welcome +him. They believed in the archdeacon at Framley, and felt for him that +sort of love which ladies in the country do feel for their elderly male +friends. There was not one of the three who would not have taken much +trouble to get anything for the archdeacon which they had thought the +archdeacon would like. Even old Lady Lufton remembered what was his +favourite soup, and always took care that he should have it when he +dined at the Court. Young Lady Lufton would bring his tea to him as he +sat in his chair. He was petted in the house, was allowed to poke the +fire if he pleased, and called the servants by their names as though he +were at home. He was compelled, therefore, to smile and to seem pleased; +and it was not till after he had eaten his lunch, and had declared that +he must return home to dinner, that the dowager gave him an opportunity +of having the private conversation which he desired. + +'Can I have a few minutes' talk with you?' he said to her, whispering +into her ear as they left the drawing-room together. So she led the way +into her own sitting-room, telling him, as she asked him to be seated, +that she supposed that something special must have brought him over to +Framley. 'I should have asked you to come up here, even if you had not +spoken.' + +'Then perhaps you know what has brought me over?' said the archdeacon. + +'Not in the least,' said Lady Lufton. 'I have not an idea. But I did +not flatter myself that you would come so far on a morning call to see +us three ladies. I hope you did not want to see Ludovic, because he will +not be back till tomorrow.' + +'I wanted to see you, Lady Lufton.' + +'That is lucky, as here I am. You may be pretty sure to find me here +any day in the year.' + +After this there was a little pause. The archdeacon hardly knew how to +begin his story. In the first place he was in doubt whether Lady Lufton +had ever heard of the preposterous match which his son had proposed to +himself to make. In his anger at Plumstead he had felt sure that she +knew all about it, and that she was assisting his son. But this belief +had dwindled as his anger had dwindled; and as the chaise had entered +the parish of Framley he had told himself that it was quite impossible +that she should know anything about it. Her manner had certainly been +altogether in her favour since he had been in her house. There had been +nothing of the consciousness of guilt in her demeanour. But, +nevertheless, there was the coincidence! How had it come to pass that +Grace Crawley and his son should be at Framley together? It might, +indeed, be just possible that Flurry might have been wrong, and that his +son had not been there at all. + +'I suppose Miss Crawley is at the parsonage?' he said at last. + +'Oh, yes; she is still there, and will remain there I should think for +the next ten days.' + +'Oh; I did not know,' said the archdeacon very coldly. + +It seemed to Lady Lufton, who was as innocent as an unborn babe in the +matter of the projected marriage, that her old friend was in a mind to +persecute the Crawleys. He had on a former occasion taken upon himself +to advise that Grace Crawley should not be entertained at Framley, and +now it seemed that he had come all the way from Plumstead to say +something further in the same strain. Lady Lufton, if had anything +further to say of that kind, would listen to him as a matter of course. +She would listen to him and reply to him without temper. But she did not +approve of it. She told herself silently that she did not approve of +persecution or of interference. She therefore drew herself up, and +pursed her mouth, and put on something of that look of severity which +she could assume very visibly, if it so pleased her. + +'Yes; she is still there, and I think her visit will do her a great deal +of good,' said Lady Lufton. + +'When we talk of doing good to people,' said the archdeacon, 'we often +make terrible mistakes. It so often happens that we don't know when we +are doing good and when we are doing harm.' + +'That is true, of course, Dr Grantly, and must be so necessarily, as our +wisdom here below is so very limited. But I should think--as far as I +can see, that is,--that the kindness which my friend Mrs Robarts is +showing to this young lady must be beneficial. You know, archdeacon, I +explained to you before that I could not quite agree with you in what +you said as to leaving these people alone till after the trial. I +thought that help was necessary to them at once.' + +The archdeacon sighed deeply. He ought to have been somewhat renovated +in spirit by the tone in which Lady Lufton spoke to him, as it conveyed +to him almost an absolute conviction that his first suspicion was +incorrect. But any comfort which might have come to him from this source +was marred by the feeling that he must announce his own disgrace. At any +rate, he must do so, unless he were contented to go back to Plumstead +without having learned anything by his journey. He changed the tone of +his voice, however, and asked a question--as it might be altogether on a +different subject. 'I heard yesterday,' he said, 'that Henry was over +here.' + +'He was here yesterday. He came the evening before, and dined and slept +here, and went home yesterday morning.' + +'Was Miss Crawley with you that evening?' + +'Miss Crawley? No; she would not come. She thinks it best not to go +out while her father is in his present unfortunate position; and she is +right.' + +'She is quite right in that,' said the archdeacon; and then he paused +again. He thought that it would be best for him to make a clean breast +of it, and to trust Lady Lufton's sympathy. 'Did Henry go up to the +parsonage?' he asked. + +But still Lady Lufton did not suspect the truth. 'I think he did,' she +replied, with an air of surprise. 'I think I heard that he went up there +to call on Mrs Robarts after breakfast.' + +'No, Lady Lufton, he did not go up there to call on Mrs Robarts. He went +up there because he is making a fool of himself about that Miss Crawley. +That is the truth. Now you understand it all. I hope that Mrs Robarts +does not know it. I do hope for her own sake that Mrs Robarts does not +know it.' + +The archdeacon certainly had no longer any doubt as to Lady Lufton's +innocence when he looked at her face as she heard these tidings. She had +predicted that Grace Crawley would 'make havoc', and could not, +therefore, be altogether surprised at the idea that some gentleman +should have fallen in love with her; but she had never suspected that +the havoc might be made so early in her days, or on so great a quarry. +'You don't mean to tell me that Henry Grantly is in love with Grace +Crawley?' she replied. + +'I mean to say that he says he is.' + +'Dear, dear, dear! I'm sure, archdeacon, that you will believe me when +I say that I knew nothing about it.' + +'I am quite sure of that,' said the archdeacon dolefully. + +'Or I certainly should not have been glad to see him here. But the +house, you know, is not mine, Dr Grantly. I could have done nothing if I +had known of it. But only to think--; well, to be sure. She has lost no +time, at any rate.' + +Now this was not at all the light in which the archdeacon wished that +the matter should be regarded. He had been desirous that Lady Lufton +should be horror-stricken by the tidings, but it seemed to him that she +regarded the iniquity as a good joke. What did it matter how young or +how old the girl might be? She came of poor people--of people who had no +friends--of disgraced people; and Lady Lufton ought to feel that such a +marriage would be a terrible crime. 'I need hardly tell you, Lady +Lufton,' said the archdeacon, 'that I shall set my face against it as +far as it is in my power to do so.' + +'If they both be resolved I suppose you can hardly prevent it.' + +'Of course I cannot prevent it. Of course I cannot prevent it. If he +will break my heart and his mother's--and his sister's--of course I +cannot prevent it. If he will ruin himself he must have his own way.' + +'Ruin himself, Dr Grantly!' + +'They will have enough to live upon--somewhere in Spain or France.' The +scorn expressed in the archdeacon's voice as he spoke of Pau as being +somewhere in Spain or France' should have been heard to be understood. +'No doubt they will have enough to live upon.' + +'Do you mean to say that it will make a difference as to your own +property, Dr Grantly?' + +'Certainly it will, Lady Lufton. I told Henry when I first heard of the +thing--before he had definitely made any offer to the girl--that I +should withdraw from him altogether the allowance that I now make him, +if he married her. And I told him also that if he persisted in his folly +I should think it my duty to alter my will.' + +'I am sorry for that, Dr Grantly.' + +'Sorry! And am I not sorry? Sorrow is no sufficient word. I am +broken-hearted. Lady Lufton, it is killing me. It is indeed. I love him; +I love him;--I love him as you have loved your son. But what is the use? +What can he be to me when he shall have married the daughter of such a +man as that?' + +Lady Lufton sat for a while silent, thinking of a certain episode in her +own life. There had been a time when her son was desirous of making a +marriage which she had thought would break her heart. She had for a time +moved heaven and earth--as far as she knew how to move them--to prevent +the marriage. But at last she had yielded--not from lack of power, for +the circumstances had been such that at the moment of yielding she had +still the power in her hand of staying the marriage--but she had yielded +because she had perceived that her son was in earnest. She had yielded, +and had kissed the dust; but from the moment in which her lips had so +touched the ground, they had taken great joy in the daughter in whom her +son had brought into the house. Since that she had learned to think that +young people might perhaps be right, and that old people might perhaps +be wrong. This trouble of her friend the archdeacon's was very like her +own trouble. 'And he is engaged to her now?' she said, when those +thoughts had passed through her mind. + +'Yes;--that is, no. I am not sure. I do not know how to make myself +sure.' + +'I am sure Major Grantly will tell you all the truth as it exists.' + +'Yes; he'll tell me the truth--as far as he knows it. I do not see that +there is much anxiety to spare me in that matter. He is desirous rather +of making me understand that I have no power of saving him from his own +folly. Of course I have no power of saving him.' + +'But is he engaged to her?' + +'He says that she has refused him. But of course that means nothing.' + +Again the archdeacon's position was very like Lady Lufton's position, as +it had existed before her son's marriage. In that case also the young +lady, who was now Lady Lufton's own daughter and dearest friend, had +refused the lover who proposed to her, although the marriage was so much +to her advantage--loving him too, the while, with her whole heart, as it +was natural to suppose that Grace Crawley might so love her lover. The +more she thought of the similarity of the stories, the stronger were her +sympathies on the side of poor Grace. Nevertheless, she would comfort +her old friend if she knew how; and of course she could not but admit to +herself that the match was one which must be a cause of real sorrow to +him. 'I don't know why her refusal should mean nothing,' said Lady +Lufton. + +'Of course a girl refuses at first--a girl, I mean, in such +circumstances as hers. She can't but feel that more is offered to her +than she ought to take, and that she is bound to go through the ceremony +of declining. But my anger is not with her, Lady Lufton.' + +'I do not see how it can be.' + +'No; it is not with her. If she becomes his wife I trust that I may +never see her.' + +'Oh, Dr Grantly!' + +'I do; I do. How can it be otherwise with me? But I shall have no +quarrel with her. With him I must quarrel.' + +'I do not see why,' said Lady Lufton. + +'You do not? Does he not set me at defiance?' + +'At his age surely a son has a right to marry as he pleases.' + +'If he took her out of the streets, then it would be the same?' said the +archdeacon with bitter anger. + +'No;--for such a one would herself be bad.' + +'Or if she were the daughter of a huckster out of the city?' + +'No again;--or in that case her want of education would probably unfit +her for your society.' + +'Her father's disgrace, then, should be a matter of indifference to me, +Lady Lufton?' + +'I did not say so. In the first place, her father is not disgraced--not +as yet; and we do not know whether he may ever be disgraced. You will +hardly be disposed to say that persecution from the palace disgraces a +clergyman in Barsetshire.' + +'All the same, I believe that the man was guilty,' said the archdeacon. + +'Wait and see, my friend, before you condemn him altogether. But, be +that as it may, I acknowledge that the marriage is one which must +naturally be distasteful to you.' + +'Oh, Lady Lufton! If you only knew! If you only knew!' + +'I do know; and I feel for you. But I think that your son has a right +to expect that you should not show the same repugnance to such a +marriage as this as you would have had a right to show had he suggested +to himself a wife as those at which you had just now hinted. Of course +you can advise him, and make him understand your feelings; but I cannot +think you will be justified in quarrelling with him, or in changing your +views towards him with regards money, seeing that Miss Crawley is an +educated lady, who has done nothing to forfeit your respect.' A heavy +cloud came upon the archdeacons's brow as he heard these words, but he +did not make any immediate answer. 'Of course, my friend,' continued +Lady Lufton, 'I should not have ventured to say so much to you, had you +not come to me, as it were, for my opinion.' + +'I came here because I thought Henry was here,' said the archdeacon. + +'If I have said too much, I beg your pardon.' + +'No; you have not said too much. It is not that. You and I are such +old friends that either may say almost anything to the other.' + +'Yes;--just so. And therefore I have ventured to speak my mind,' said +Lady Lufton. + +'Of course;--and I am obliged to you. But, Lady Lufton, you do not +understand yet how this hits me. Everything in life that I have done, I +have done for my children. I am wealthy, but I have not used my wealth +for myself, because I have desired that they should be able to hold +their heads high in the world. All my ambition has been for them, and +all the pleasure which I have anticipated for myself in my old age is +that which I have hoped to receive from their credit. As for Henry, he +might have had anything he wanted from me in the way of money. He +expressed a wish, a few months since, to go into Parliament, and I +promised to help him as far as ever I could go. I have kept up the game +altogether for him. He, the younger son of a working parish parson, has +had everything that could be given to the eldest son of a country +gentleman--more than is given to the eldest son of many a peer. I have +hoped that he would marry again, but I have never cared that he should +marry for money. I have been willing to do anything for him myself. But, +Lady Lufton, a father does feel that he should have some return for all +this. No one can imagine that Henry ever supposed that a bride from that +wretched place at Hogglestock could be welcomed among us. He knew that +he would break our hearts, and he did not care for it. That is what I +feel. Of course he has the power to do as he likes;--and of course I +have the power to do as I like also with what is my own.' + +Lady Lufton was a very good woman, devoted to her duties, affectionate +and just to those about her, truly religious, and charitable from her +nature; but I doubt whether the thorough worldliness of the archdeacon's +appeal struck her as it will strike the reader. People are so much more +worldly in practice than they are in theory, so much keener after their +own gratification in detail than they are in the abstract, that the +narrative of many an adventure would shock us, though the same adventure +would not shock us in the action. One girl tells another how she has +changed her mind in love; and the friend sympathises with the friend, +and perhaps applauds. Had the story been told in print, the friend who +had listened with equanimity would have read of such vacillation with +indignation. She who vacillated herself would have hated her own +performance when brought before her judgment as a matter in which she +had no personal interest. Very fine things are written every day about +honesty and truth, and men read them with a sort of external conviction +that a man, if he be anything of a man at all, is of course honest and +true. But when the internal convictions are brought out between two or +three who are personally interested together--between two or three who +feel that their little gathering is, so to say, 'tiled'--those internal +convictions differ very much from the external convictions. This man, in +his confidences, asserts broadly that he does not mean to be thrown +over, and that man has a project for throwing over somebody else; and +the intention of each is that scruples are not to stand in the way of +his success. The 'Ruat coelum, fiat justitia' was said, no doubt, from +an outside balcony to a crowd, and the speaker knew that he was talking +buncombe. The 'Rem, si possis recte, si non quocunque modo' was +whispered into the ear in a club smoking-room, and the whisperer +intended that his words should prevail. + +Lady Lufton had often heard her friend the archdeacon preach, and she +knew well the high tone which he could take as the necessity of trusting +our hopes for the future for all our true happiness; and yet she +sympathised with him when he told her that he was broken-hearted because +his son would take a step which might possibly interfere with his +worldly prosperity. Had the archdeacon been preaching about matrimony, +he would have recommended young men, in taking wives to themselves, +especially to look for young women who feared the Lord. But in talking +about his own son's wife, no word as to her eligibility or non- +eligibility in this respect escaped his lips. Had he talked on the +subject till nightfall no such word would have been spoken. Had any +friend of his own, man or woman, in discussing such a matter with him +and asking his advice upon it, alluded to the fear of the Lord, the +allusion would have been distasteful to him and would have smacked to +his palate of hypocrisy. Lady Lufton, who understood as well as any +woman what it is to be 'tiled' with a friend, took all this in good +part. The archdeacon had spoken out of his heart what was in his heart. +One of his children had married a marquis. Another might probably become +a bishop--perhaps an archbishop. The third might be a county +squire--high among the county squires. But he could only so become by +walking warily;--and now he was bent on marrying the penniless daughter +of an impoverished half-mad country curate, who was about to be tried +for stealing twenty pounds! Lady Lufton, in spite of all her arguments, +could not refuse her sympathy to her old friend. + +'After all, from what you say, I suppose they are not engaged.' + +'I do not know,' said the archdeacon. 'I cannot tell!' + +'And what do you wish me to do?' + +'Oh--nothing. I came over, as I said before, because I thought he was +here. I think it right, before he has absolutely committed himself, to +take every means in my power to make him understand that I shall +withdraw from him all pecuniary assistance--now and for the future.' + +'My friend, that threat seems to me to be so terrible.' + +'It is the only power I have left to me.' + +'But you, who are so affectionate by nature, would never adhere to it.' + +'I will try. I will try my best to be firm. I will at once put +everything beyond my control after my death.' The archdeacon, as he +uttered these terrible words--words which were awful to Lady Lufton's +ears--resolved that he would endeavour to nurse his own wrath; but, at +the same time, almost hated himself for his own pusillanimity, because +he feared that his wrath would die away before he should have availed +himself of its heat. + +'I would do nothing rash of that kind,' said Lady Lufton. 'Your object +is to prevent the marriage--not to punish him for it when once he has +made it.' + +'He is not to have his own way in everything, Lady Lufton.' + +'But you should first try to prevent it.' + +'What can I do to prevent it?' + +Lady Lufton paused a couple of minutes before she replied. She had a +scheme in her head, but it seemed to her to savour of cruelty. And yet +at present it was her chief duty to assist her old friend, if any +assistance could be given. There could hardly be a doubt that such a +marriage as this, of which they were speaking, was in itself an evil. In +her case, the case of her son, there had been no question of a trial, of +money stolen, of aught that was in truth disgraceful. 'I think if I were +you, Dr Grantly,' she said, 'that I would see the young lady while I was +here.' + +'See her myself?' said the archdeacon. The idea of seeing Grace Crawley +himself had, up to this moment, never entered his head. + +'I think I would do so.' + +'I think I will,' said the archdeacon, after a pause. Then he got up +from his chair. 'If I am to do it, I had better do it at once.' + +'Be gentle with her, my friend.' The archdeacon paused again. He +certainly had entertained the idea of encountering Miss Crawley with +severity rather than gentleness. Lady Lufton rose from her seat, and +coming up to him, took one of his hands between her own two. 'Be gentle +to her,' she said. 'You have owned that she has done nothing wrong.' The +archdeacon bowed his head in token of assent and left the room. + +Poor Grace Crawley. + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +A DOUBLE PLEDGE + +The archdeacon, as he walked across from the Court to the parsonage, was +very thoughtful and his steps were very slow. The idea of seeing Miss +Crawley herself had been suggested to him suddenly, and he had to +determine how he could bear himself towards her, and what he would say +to her. Lady Lufton had beseeched him to be gentle with her. Was the +mission one in which gentleness would be possible? Must it not be his +object to make this young lady understand that she could not be right in +desiring to come into his family and share in all his good things when +she had no good things of her own--nothing but evil things to bring with +her? And how could this be properly explained to the young lady in +gentle terms? Must he not be round with her, and give her to understand +in plain words--the plainest which he could use--that she would not get +his good things, though she would most certainly impose the burden of +all her evil things on the man whom she was proposing to herself as a +husband. He remembered very well as he went, that he had been told that +Miss Crawley had herself refused the offer, feeling herself to be unfit +for the honour tendered to her; but he suspected the sincerity of such a +refusal. Calculating in his own mind the unreasonably great advantages +which would be conferred on such a young lady as Miss Crawley by a +marriage with his son, he declared to himself that any girl must be very +wicked indeed who should expect, or even accept, so much more than was +her due;--but nevertheless he could not bring himself to believe that +any girl, when so tempted, would, in sincerity, decline to commit this +great wickedness. If he was to do any good by seeing Miss Crawley, must +it not consist in a proper explanation to her of the selfishness, +abomination, and altogether damnable blackness of such wickedness as +this on the part of a young woman in her circumstances? 'Heaven and +earth!' he must say, 'here are you, without a penny in your pocket, with +hardly decent raiment on your back, with a thief for your father, and +you think that you are to come and share all the wealth that the +Grantlys have amassed, that you are to have a husband with broad acres, +a big house, and game preserves, and become one of a family whose name +has never been touched by a single accusation--no, not a suspicion? +No;--injustice such as that shall never be done betwixt you and me. You +may wring my heart, and you may ruin my son; but the broad acres and the +big house, and the game preserves, and the rest of it, shall never be +your reward for doing do.' How was all that to be told effectively to a +young woman in gentle words? And then how was a man in the archdeacon's +position to be desirous of gentle words--gentle words which would not be +efficient--when he knew well in his heart of hearts that he had nothing +but threats on which to depend. He had no more power of disinheriting +his own son for such an offence as that contemplated than he had of +blowing out his own brains, and he knew that it was so. He was a man +incapable of such persistency of wrath against one whom he loved. He was +neither cruel enough nor strong enough to do such a thing. He could only +threaten to do it, and make what best use he might have of threats, +whilst threats might be of avail. In spite of all that he had said to +his wife, to Lady Lufton, and to himself, he knew very well that if his +son did sin in this way he, the father, would forgive the sin of the +son. + +In going across from the front gate of the Court to the parsonage there +was a place where three roads met, and on this spot there stood a +finger-post. Round this finger-post there was now pasted a placard, +which at once arrested the archdeacon's eye:--'Cosby Lodge--Sale of +furniture--Growing crops to be sold on the grounds. Three hunters. A +brown gelding warranted for saddle or harness!'--The archdeacon himself +had given the brown gelding to his son, as a great treasure.--'Three +Alderney cows, two cow-calves, a low phaeton, a gig, two ricks of hay.' +In this fashion were proclaimed in odious details all those comfortable +additions to a gentleman's house in the country, with which the +archdeacon was so well acquainted. Only last November he had recommended +his son to buy a certain clod-crusher, and the clod-crusher had of +course been bought. The bright blue paint upon it had as yet not given +way to the stains of ordinary farmyard muck and mire;--and here was the +clod-crusher advertised for sale! The archdeacon did not want his son to +leave Cosby Lodge. He knew well enough that his son need not leave Cosby +Lodge. Why had the foolish fellow been in such a hurry with his hideous +ill-conditioned advertisements? Gentle! How was he in such +circumstances to be gentle? He raised his umbrella and poked angrily at +the disgusting notice. The iron ferrule caught the paper at a chink in +the post, and tore it from the top to the bottom. But what was the use? +A horrid ugly bill lying torn in such a spot would attract only more +attention than one fixed to a post. He could not condescend, however, to +give it further attention, but passed on to the parsonage. Gentle +indeed! + +Nevertheless Archdeacon Grantly was a gentleman, and never yet had dealt +more harshly with any woman than we have sometimes seen him to do with +his wife--when he would say to her an angry word or two with a good deal +of marital authority. His wife, who knew well what his angry words were +worth, never even suggested to herself that she had the cause for +complaint on that head. Had she known that the archdeacon was about to +undertake such a mission as this which he had now in hand, she would not +have warned him to be gentle. She, indeed, would have strongly advised +him not to undertake the mission, cautioning him that the young lady +would probably get the better of him. + +'Grace, my dear,' said Mrs Robarts, coming up into the nursery in which +Miss Crawley was sitting with the children, 'come out here a moment, +will you?' Then Grace left the children and went out into the passage. +'My dear, there is a gentleman in the drawing-room who asks to see +you.' + +'A gentleman, Mrs Robarts! What gentleman?' But Grace, though she +asked the questions, conceived that the gentleman must be Henry Grantly. +Her mind did not suggest to her the possibility of any other gentleman +coming to see her. + +'You must not be surprised, or allow yourself to be frightened.' + +'Oh, Mrs Robarts, who is it?' + +'It is Major Grantly's father.' + +'The archdeacon?' + +'Yes, dear; Archdeacon Grantly. He is in the drawing-room.' + +'Must I see him, Mrs Robarts?' + +'Well, Grace--I think you must. I hardly know how you can refuse. He is +an intimate friend of everybody here at Framley.' + +'What will he say to me?' + +'Nay; that I cannot tell. I suppose you know--' + +'He has come, no doubt, to bid me having nothing to say to his son. He +need not have troubled himself. But he may say what he likes. I am no +coward, and I will go to him.' + +'Stop a moment, Grace. Come into my room for an instant. The children +have pulled your hair about.' But Grace, though she followed Mrs Robarts +into the bedroom, would have nothing done to her hair. She was too proud +for that--and we may say, also, too little confident in any good which +such resources might effect on her behalf. 'Never mind about that,' she +said. 'What am I to say to him?' Mrs Robarts paused before she replied, +feeling that the matter was one which required some deliberation. 'Tell +me what I must say to him?' said Grace, repeating her question. + +'I hardly know what your own feelings are, my dear.' + +'Yes, you do. You do know. If I had all the world to give, I would +give it all to Major Grantly.' + +'Tell him that, then.' + +'No, I will not tell him that. Never mind about my frock, Mrs Robarts. +I do not care for that. I will tell him that I love his son and his +granddaughter too well to injure them. I will tell him nothing else. I +might as well go now.' Mrs Robarts, as she looked at Grace, was +astonished at the serenity of her face. And yet when her hand was in the +drawing-room door Grace hesitated, looked back, and trembled. Mrs +Robarts blew a kiss to her from the stairs; and then the door was +opened, and the girl found herself in the presence of the archdeacon. He +was standing on the rug, with his back to the fire, and his heavy +ecclesiastical hat was placed on the middle of the round table. The hat +caught Grace's eyes at the moment of her entrance, and she felt that all +the thunders of the Church were contained within it. And then the +archdeacon himself was so big and so clerical, and so imposing. Her +father's aspect was severe, but the severity of her father's face was +essentially different from that expressed by the archdeacon. Whatever +impression came from her father came from the man himself. There was no +outward adornment there; there was, so to say, no wig about Mr Crawley. +Now the archdeacon was not exactly adorned; but he was so thoroughly +imbued with high clerical belongings and sacerdotal fitnesses as to +appear always as a walking, sitting, or standing impersonation of +parsondom. To poor Grace, as she entered the room, he appeared to be a +personation of parsondom in its severest aspect. + +'Miss Crawley, I believe?' said he. + +'Yes, sir,' said she, curtseying ever so slightly, as she stood before +him at some considerable distance. + +His first idea was that his son must be indeed a fool if he was going to +give up Cosby Lodge and all Barsetshire, and retire to Pau, for so +slight and unattractive a creature as he now saw before him. But this +idea stayed with him only for a moment. As he continued to gaze at her +during the interview he came to perceive that there was very much more +than he had perceived at the first glance, and that his son, after all, +had had eyes to see, though perhaps not a heart to understand. + +'Will you take a chair?' he said. Then Grace sat down, still at a +distance from the archdeacon, and he kept his place upon the rug. He +felt that there would be a difficulty in making her feel the full force +of his eloquence all across the room; and yet he did not know how to +bring himself nearer to her. She became suddenly very important in his +eyes, and he was to some extent afraid of her. She was so slight, so +meek, so young; and yet there was about her something so beautifully +feminine--and, withal, so like a lady--that he felt instinctively that +he could not attack her with harsh words. Had her lips been full, and +her colour high, and had her eyes rolled, had she put forth against him +any of that ordinary artillery with which youthful feminine batteries +are charged, he would have been ready to rush to combat. But this girl, +about whom his son had gone mad, sat there as passively as though she +were conscious of the possession of no artillery. There was not a single +gun fired from beneath her eyelids. He knew not why, but he respected +his son now more than he had respected him for the last two +months;--more, perhaps, than he had ever respected him before. He was an +eager as ever against the marriage;--but in thinking of his son in what +he said and did after these few moments of the interview, he ceased to +think of him with contempt. The creature before him was a woman who grew +in his opinion till he began to feel that she was in truth fit to be the +wife of his son--if only she were not a pauper, and the daughter of a +mad curate, and alas! too probably, of a thief. Though his feeling +towards the girl had changed, his duty to himself, his family, and his +son, was the same as ever, and therefore he began his task. + +'Perhaps you had not expected to see me?' he said. + +'No, indeed, sir.' + +'Nor had I intended when I came over her to call on my old friend, Lady +Lufton, to come up to this house. But as I knew that you were here, Miss +Crawley, I thought that upon the whole it would be better that I should +see you.' Then he paused as though he expected that Grace would say +something; but Grace had nothing to say. 'Of course you must understand, +Miss Crawley, that I should not venture to speak to you on this subject +unless I myself were very closely interested in it.' He had not yet said +what was the subject, and it was not probable that Grace should give him +any assistance by affecting to understand this without direct +explanation from him. She sat quite motionless, and did not even aid him +by showing by her altered colour that she understood his purpose. 'My +son has told me,' said he, 'that he has professed an attachment for you, +Miss Crawley.' + +Then there was another pause, and Grace felt that she was compelled to +say something. 'Major Grantly has been very good to me,' she said, and +then she hated herself for having uttered words which were so tame and +unwomanly in their spirit. Of course her lover's father would despise +her for having so spoken. After all it did not much signify. If he would +only despise her and go away, it would perhaps be for the best. + +'I do not know about being good,' said the archdeacon. 'I think he is +good. I think he means to be good.' + +'I am sure he is good,' said Grace warmly. + +'You know he has a daughter, Miss Crawley?' + +'Oh, yes; I know Edith well.' + +'Of course his first duty is to her. Is it not? and he owes much to +his family. Do you not feel that?' + +'Of course I feel it, sir.' The poor girl had always heard Dr Grantly +spoken of as the archdeacon, but she did not in the least know what she +ought to call him. + +'Now, Miss Crawley, pray listen to me; I will speak to you very openly. +I must speak to you openly, because it is my duty on my son's +behalf--but I will endeavour to speak to you kindly also. Of yourself I +have heard nothing but what is favourable, and there is no reason as yet +why I should not respect and esteem you.' Grace told herself that she +would do nothing which ought to forfeit his respect and esteem, but that +she did not care two straws whether his respect and esteem were bestowed +on her or not. She was striving after something very different from +that. 'If my son were to marry you, he would greatly injure himself, and +would very greatly injure his child.' Again he paused. He had told her +to listen, and she was resolved that she would listen--unless he would +say something which might make a word from her necessary at the moment. +'I do not know whether there does at present exist any engagement +between you.' + +'There is no engagement, sir.' + +'I am glad of that--very glad of it. I do not know whether you are +aware that my son is dependent upon me for the greater part of his +income. It is so, and as I am so circumstanced with my son, of course, I +feel the closest possible concern in his future prospects.' The +archdeacon did not know how to explain clearly why the fact of his +making his son an annual allowance should give him a warmer interest in +his son's affairs than he might have had had the major been altogether +independent of him; but he trusted that Grace would understand this by +her own natural lights. 'Now, Miss Crawley, of course I cannot wish to +say a word that will hurt your feelings. But there are reasons--' + +'I know,' said she, interrupting him. 'Papa is accused of stealing +money. He did not steal it, but people think he did. And then we are so +very poor.' + +'You do understand me then--and I feel grateful; I do indeed.' + +'I don't think our being poor ought to signify a bit,' said Grace. 'Papa +is a gentleman, and a clergyman, and mamma is a lady.' + +'But, my dear--' + +'I know I ought not to be your son's wife as long as people think that +papa stole the money. If he had stolen it, I ought never to be Major +Grantly's wife--or anybody else's. I know that very well. And as for +Edith--I would sooner die than do anything that would be bad to her.' + +The archdeacon had now left the rug, and advanced till he was almost +close to the chair on which Grace was sitting. 'My dear,' he said,' what +you say does you very much honour--very much honour indeed.' Now that he +was close to her, he could look into her eyes, and he could see the +exact form of her features, and could understand--could not help +understanding--the character of her countenance. It was a noble face, +having in it nothing that was poor, nothing that was mean, nothing that +was shapeless. It was a face that promised infinite beauty, with a +promise that was on the very verge of fulfilment. There was a play about +her mouth as she spoke and a curl in her nostrils as the eager words +came from her, which almost made the selfish father give way. Why had +they not told him that she was such a one as this? Why had not Henry +himself spoken of the speciality of her beauty? No man in England knew +better than the archdeacon the difference between beauty of one kind and +beauty of another kind in a woman's face--the one beauty, which comes +from health and youth and animal spirits, and which belongs to the +miller's daughter, and the other beauty, which shows itself in fine +lines and a noble spirit--the beauty which comes from breeding. 'What +you say does you very much honour indeed,' said the archdeacon. + +'I should not mind at all about being poor,' said Grace. + +'No; no; no,' said the archdeacon. + +'Poor as we are--and no clergyman, I think, was ever so poor--I should +have done as your son asked me at once, if it had been only +that--because I love him.' + +'If you love him you will not wish to injure him.' + +'I will not injure him. Sir, there is my promise.' And now as she +spoke she rose from her chair, and standing close to the archdeacon, +laid her hand very lightly on the sleeve of his coat. 'There is my +promise. As long as people say that papa stole the money, I will never +marry your son. There.' + +The archdeacon was still looking down at her, and feeling the slight +touch of her fingers, raised his arm a little as though to welcome the +pressure. He looked into her eyes, which were turned eagerly towards +his, and when doing so was quite sure that the promise would be kept. It +would have been a sacrilege--he felt that it would have been a +sacrilege--to doubt such a promise. He almost relented. His soft heart, +which was never very well under his own control, gave way so far that he +was nearly moved to tell her that, on his son's behalf, he acquitted her +of the promise. What could any man's son do better than have such a +woman for his wife? It would have been of no avail had he made her such +offer. The pledge she had given had not been wrung from her by his +influence, nor could his influence have availed aught with her towards +the alteration of her purpose. It was not the archdeacon who had taught +her that it would not be her duty to take disgrace into the house of the +man she loved. As he looked down upon her face two tears formed +themselves in his eyes, and gradually trickled down his old nose. 'My +dear,' he said, 'if this cloud passes away from you, you shall come to +us and be our daughter.' And thus he also pledged himself. There was a +dash of generosity about the man, in spite of his selfishness, which +always made him desirous of giving largely to those who gave largely to +him. He would fain that his gifts should be bigger, if it were possible. +He longed at this moment to tell her that the dirty cheque should go for +nothing. He would have done it, I think, but that it was impossible for +him to speak in her presence of that which moved her so greatly. + +He had contrived that her hand should fall from his arm into his grasp, +and now for a moment he held it. 'You are a good girl,' he said--'a +dear, dear, good girl. When this cloud has passed away, you shall come +to us and be our daughter.' + +'But it will never pass away,' said Grace. + +'Let us hope that it may. Let us hope that it may.' Then he stooped +over and kissed her, and leaving the room, got out into the hall and +thence into the garden, and so away, without saying a word of adieu to +Mrs Robarts. + +As he walked across to the Court, whither he was obliged to go, because +of his chaise, he was lost in surprise at what had occurred. He had gone +to the parsonage hating the girl, and despising his son. Now, as he +retraced his steps, his feelings were altogether changed. He admired the +girl--and as for his son, even his anger was for the moment altogether +gone. He would write to his son at once and implore him to stop the +sale. He would tell his son all that had occurred, or rather would make +Mrs Grantly do so. In respect to his son he was quite safe. He thought +at that moment that he was safe. There would be no use in hurling +further threats at him. If Crawley was found guilty of stealing the +money, there was the girl's promise. If he were acquitted there was his +own pledge. He remembered perfectly well that the girl had said more +than this--that she had not confined her assurance to the verdict of the +jury, that she had protested that she would not accept Major Grantly's +hand as long as people thought that her father had stolen the cheque; +but the archdeacon felt that it would be ignoble to hold her closely to +her words. The event, according to his ideas of the compact, was to +depend on the verdict of the jury. If the jury should find Mr Crawley +not guilty, all objection on his part to the marriage was to be +withdrawn. And he would keep his word! In such case it should be +withdrawn. + +When he came to the rags of the auctioneer's bill, which he had before +torn down with his umbrella, he stopped a moment to consider he would +act at once. In the first place he would tell his son that his threats +were withdrawn, and would ask him to remain at Cosby Lodge. He would +write the letter as he passed through Barchester, on his way home, so +that his son might receive it on the following morning; and he would +refer the major to his mother for a full explanation of the +circumstances. Those odious bills must be removed from every barn-door +and wall in the county. At the present moment his anger against his son +was chiefly directed against his ill-judged haste in having put up those +ill-omened bills. Then he paused to consider what must be his wish as to +the verdict of the jury. He had pledged himself to abide by the verdict, +and he could not but have a wish on the subject. Could he desire in his +heart that Mr Crawley should be found guilty? He stood still for a +moment thinking of this, and then he walked on, shaking his head. If it +might be possible he would have no wish on the subject whatsoever. + +'Well!' said Lady Lufton, stopping him in the passage--'have you seen +her?' + +'Yes; I have seen her.' + +'Well?' + +'She is a good girl--a very good girl. I am in a great hurry, and +hardly know how to tell you more now.' + +'You say that she is a good girl.' + +'I say that she is a very good girl. An angel could not have behaved +better. I will tell you some day, Lady Lufton, but I can hardly tell you +now.' + +When the archdeacon was gone old Lady Lufton confided to young Lady +Lufton her very strong opinion that many months would not be gone before +Grace Crawley would be the mistress of Cosby Lodge. 'It will be a great +promotion,' said the old lady, with a little toss of her head. When +Grace was interrogated afterwards by Mrs Robarts as to what had passed +between her and the archdeacon she had very little to say as to the +interview. 'No he did not scold me,' she replied to an inquiry from her +friend. 'There is no engagement,' said Grace. 'But I suppose you +acknowledged, my dear, that a future engagement is quite possible?' 'I +told him, Mrs Robarts,' Grace answered, after hesitating for a moment, +'that I would never marry his son as long as papa was suspected by any +one in the world of being a thief. And I will keep my word.' but she +said nothing to Mrs Robarts of the pledge which the archdeacon had made +to her. + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +THE CROSS-GRAINEDNESS OF MEN + +By the time that the archdeacon reached Plumstead his enthusiasm in +favour of Grace Crawley had somewhat cooled itself; and the language +which from time to time he prepared for conveying his impressions to his +wife, became less fervid as he approached his home. There was his +pledge, and by that he would abide;--and so much he would make both his +wife and son understand. But any idea which he might have entertained +for a moment of extending the promise he had given and relaxing that +given to him was gone before he saw his own chimneys. Indeed, I fear he +had by that time begun to feel that the only salvation now open to him +must come from the jury's verdict. If the jury should declare Mr Crawley +to be guilty, then--; he would not say even to himself that in such case +all would be right, but he did feel that much as he might regret the +fate of the poor Crawleys, and of the girl whom in his warmth he had +declared to be almost an angel, nevertheless to him personally such a +verdict would bring consolatory comfort. + +'I have seen Miss Crawley,' he said to his wife, as soon as he had +closed the door of his study, before he had been two minutes out of the +chaise. He had determined that he would dash at the subject at once, and +he thus carried his resolution into effect. + +'You have seen Grace Crawley?' + +'Yes; I went up to the parsonage and called upon her. Lady Lufton +advised me to do so.' + +'And Henry?' + +'Oh, Henry has gone. He was only there one night. I suppose he saw +her, but I am not sure.' + +'Would not Miss Crawley tell you?' + +'I forgot to ask her.' Mrs Grantly, at hearing this, expressed her +surprise by opening wide her eyes. He had gone all the way over to +Framley on purpose to look after his son, and learn what were his +doings, and when there he had forgotten to ask the person who could have +given him better information than anyone else! 'But it does not +signify,' continued the archdeacon; 'she said enough to me to make that +of no importance.' + +'And what did she say?' + +'She said that she would never consent to marry Henry as long as there +was any suspicion abroad as to her father's guilt.' + +'And you believe her promise?' + +'Certainly I do; I do not doubt that in the least. I put implicit +confidence in her. And I have promised her that if her father is +acquitted--I will withdraw my opposition.' + +'No!' + +'But I have. And you would have done the same had you been there.' + +'I doubt that, my dear. I am not so impulsive as you are.' + +'You could not have helped yourself. You would have felt yourself +obliged to be equally generous with her. She came up to me and she put +her hand upon me--' 'Psha!' said Mrs Grantly. 'But she did, my dear, and +then she said, "I promise you that I will not become your son's wife +while people think papa stole this money." What else could I do?' + +'And is she pretty?' + +'Very pretty; very beautiful.' + +'And like a lady?' + +'Quite like a lady. There is no mistake about that.' + +'And she behaved well?' + +'Admirably,' said the archdeacon, who was in measure compelled to +justify the generosity into which he had been betrayed by his feelings. + +'Then she is a paragon,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'I don't know what you may call a paragon, my dear. I say that she is a +lady, and that she is extremely good-looking, and that she behaved very +well. I cannot say less in her favour. I am sure you would not say less +yourself, if you had been present.' + +'She must be a wonderful young woman.' + +'I don't know anything about her being wonderful.' + +'She must be wonderful when she has succeeded both with the son and with +the father.' + +'I wish you had been there instead of me,' said the archdeacon angrily. +Mrs Grantly very probably wished so also, feeling that in that case a +more serene mode of business would have been adopted. How keenly +susceptible the archdeacon still was to the influences of feminine +charms, no one knew better than Mrs Grantly, and whenever she became +aware that he had been in this way seduced from the wisdom of his cooler +judgment she always felt something akin to indignation against the +seducer. As for her husband, she probably told herself at such moments +that he was an old goose. 'If you had been there, and Henry with you, +you would have made a great deal worse job of it than I have done,' said +the archdeacon. + +'I don't say you have made a bad job of it, my dear,' said Mrs Grantly. +'But it's past eight, and you must be terribly in want of your dinner. +Had you not better go and dress?' + +In the evening the plan of future campaign was arranged between them. +The archdeacon would not write to his son at all. In passing through +Barchester he had abandoned his idea of despatching a note from the +hotel, feeling that such a note as would be required was not easily +written in a hurry. Mrs Grantly would now write to her son, telling him +that circumstances had changed, that it would be altogether unnecessary +for him to sell his furniture, and begging him to come over and see his +father without a day's delay. She wrote her letter that night, and read +to the archdeacon all that she had written--with the exception of the +postscript:--'You may be quite sure that there will be no unpleasantness +with your father.' That was the postscript which was not communicated to +the archdeacon. + +On the third day after that Henry Grantly did come over to Plumstead. +His mother in her letter to him had not explained how it had come to +pass that the sale of the furniture would be unnecessary. His father had +given him to understand distinctly that his income would be withdrawn +from him unless he would express his intention of giving up Miss +Crawley; and it had been admitted among them all that Cosby Lodge must +be abandoned if this were done. He certainly would not give up Grace +Crawley. Sooner than that, he would give up every stick in his +possession, and go an live in New Zealand if it were necessary. Not only +had Grace's conduct to him made him thus firm, but the natural bent of +his own disposition had tended that way also. His father had attempted +to dictate to him, and sooner than submit to that he would sell the coat +off his back. Had his father confined his opposition to advice, and had +Miss Crawley been less firm in her view of her duty, the major might +have been less firm also. But things had so gone that he was determined +to be fixed as granite. If others would not be moved from their +resolves, neither would he. Such being the state of his mind, he could +not understand why he was thus summoned to Plumstead. He had already +written over to Pau about his house, and it was well that he should, at +any rate, see his mother before he started. He was willing, therefore, +to go to Plumstead, but he took no steps as to the withdrawal of those +auctioneer's bills to which the archdeacon so strongly objected. When he +drove into the rectory yard, his father was standing there before him. +'Henry,' he said, 'I am very glad to see you. I am very much obliged to +you for coming.' Then Henry got out of his cart and shook hands with his +father, and the archdeacon began to talk about the weather. 'Your mother +has gone into Barchester to see your grandfather,' said the archdeacon. +'If you are not tired, we might as well take a walk. I want to go up as +far as Flurry's cottage.' The major of course declared that he was not +at all tired, and that he should be delighted of all things to go up and +see old Flurry, and thus they started. Young Grantly had not even been +into the house before he left the yard with his father. Of course, he +was thinking of the coming sale at Cosby Lodge, and of his future life +at Pau, and of his injured position in the world. There would be no +longer any occasion for him to be solicitous as to the Plumstead foxes. +Of course these things were in his mind; but he could not begin to speak +of them till his father did so. 'I'm afraid your grandfather is not very +strong,' said the archdeacon, shaking his head. 'I fear he won't be with +us very long.' + +'Is it so bad as that?' + +'Well, you know, he is an old man, Henry; and he was always somewhat old +for his age. He will be eighty, if he lives two years longer, I think. +But he'll never reach eighty;--never. You must go and see him before you +go back home; you must indeed.' The major, of course, promised that he +would see his grandfather, and the archdeacon told his son how nearly +the old man had fallen in the passage between the cathedral and the +deanery. In this way they had nearly made their way up to the +gamekeeper's cottage without a word of reference to any subject that +touched upon the matter of which each of them was of course thinking. +Whether the major intended to remain at home or to live at Pau, the +subject of Mr Harding's health was a natural topic for conversation +between him and his father; but when his father stopped suddenly, and +began to tell him how a fox had been trapped on Darvell's farm--'and of +course it was a Plumstead fox--there can be no doubt that Flurry is +right about that';--when the archdeacon spoke of this iniquity with much +warmth, and told his son how he had at once written off to Mr Thorne of +Ullathorne, and how Mr Thorne had declared that he didn't believe a word +of it, and how Flurry had produced the pad of the fox, with the marks of +the trap on the skin--then the son began to feel that the ground was +becoming very warm, and that he could not go on much longer without +rushing into details about Grace Crawley. 'I've no more doubt that it +was one of our foxes than that I stand here,' said the archdeacon. + +'It doesn't matter where the fox was bred. It shouldn't have been +trapped,' said the major. + +'Of course not,' said the archdeacon, indignantly. I wonder whether he +would have been so keen had a Romanist priest come into his parish and +turned one of his Protestants into a Papist? + +Then Flurry came up, and produced the identical pad out of his pocket. +'I don't suppose it was intended,' said the major, looking at the +interesting relic with scrutinising eyes. 'I suppose it was caught in a +rabbit-trap, eh, Flurry?' + +'I don't see what right a man has with traps at all, when gentlemen is +particular about their foxes,' said Flurry. 'Of course they'd call it +rabbits.' + +'I never liked that man on Darvell's farm,' said the archdeacon. + +'Nor I either,' said Flurry. 'No farmer ought to be on that land who +don't have a horse of his own. And if I war Squire Thorne, I wouldn't +have no farmer there who didn't keep no horse. When a farmer has a horse +of his own, and follies the hounds, there ain't no rabbit-traps;--never. +How does that come about, Mr Henry? Rabbits! I know very well what +rabbits is!' + +Mr Henry shook his head, and turned away, and the archdeacon followed +him. There was an hypocrisy about this pretended care for the foxes +which displeased the major. He could not, of course, tell his father +that the foxes were no longer anything to him; but yet he must make it +understood that such was his conviction. His mother had written to him, +saying that the sale of the furniture need not take place. It might be +all very well for his mother to say that, or for his father; but after +what had taken place, he could consent to remain in England on no other +understanding than that his income should be made permanent to him. Such +permanence must not be any longer dependent on his father's caprice. In +these days he had come to be somewhat in love with poverty and Pau, and +had been feeding on the luxury of his grievance. There, perhaps, nothing +so pleasant as the preparation for self-sacrifice. To give up Cosby +Lodge and the foxes, to marry a penniless wife, and to go and live at +Pau on six or seven hundred a year, seemed just now to Major Grantly to +be a fine thing, and he did not intend to abandon this fine thing +without receiving a very clear reason for doing so. 'I can't quite +understand Thorne,' said the archdeacon. 'He used to be so particular +about these foxes, and I don't suppose that a country gentleman will +change his ideas because he has given up hunting himself.' + +'Mr Thorne never thought very much of Flurry,' said Henry Grantly, with +his mind intent upon Pau and his grievance. + +'He might take my word, at any rate,' said the archdeacon. + +It was a known fact that the archdeacon's solicitude about the Plumstead +covers was wholly on behalf of his son the major. The major himself knew +this thoroughly, and felt that his father's present special anxiety was +intended as a corroboration of the tidings conveyed in his mother's +letter. Every word so uttered was meant to have reference to his son's +future residence in the country. 'Father,' he said, turning round +shortly, and standing before the archdeacon in the pathway, 'I think you +are quite right about the covers. I feel sure that every gentleman who +preserves a fox does good to the country. I am sorry that I shall not +have a closer interest in the matter myself.' + +'Why shouldn't you have a closer interest in it?' said the archdeacon. + +'Because I shall be living abroad.' + +'You got your mother's letter?' + +'Yes, I got my mother's letter.' + +'Did she not tell you that you can stay where you are?' + +'Yes, she said so. But, to tell you the truth, sir, I do not like the +risk of living beyond my assured income.' + +'But if I justify it?' + +'I do not wish to complain, sir, but you have made me understand that +you can, and that in certain circumstances, you will, at a moment, +withdraw what you give me. Since this was said to me, I have felt myself +to be unsafe in such a house as Cosby Lodge.' + +The archdeacon did not know how to explain. He had intended that the +real explanation should be given by Mrs Grantly, and had been anxious to +return to his old relations with his son without any exact terms on his +own part. But his son was, as he thought, awkward, and would drive him +to some speech that was unnecessary. 'You need not be unsafe there at +all,' he said, half angrily. + +'I must be unsafe if I am not sure of my income.' + +'Your income is not in any danger. But you had better speak to your +mother about it. For myself, I think I may say that I have never yet +behaved to any of you with any harshness. A son should, at any rate, not +be offended because a father thinks that he is entitled to some +consideration for what he does.' + +'There are some points on which a son cannot give way even to his +father, sir.' + +'You had better speak to your mother, Henry. She will explain to you +what has taken place. Look at that plantation. You don't remember it, +but every tree there was planted since you were born. I bought that farm +from old Mr Thorne, when he was purchasing St Ewold's Downs, and it was +the first bit of land I ever had of my own.' + +'That is not in Plumstead, I think?' + +'No: this is Plumstead, where we stand, but that's in Eiderdown. The +parishes run in and out here. I never bought any other land as cheap as +I bought that.' + +'And did old Thorne make a good purchase at St Ewold's?' + +'Yes, I fancy he did. It gave him the whole of the parish, which was a +great thing. It is astonishing how land has risen in value since that, +and yet rents are not so very much higher. They who buy land now can't +have above two-and-a-half for their money.' + +'I wonder people are so fond of land,' said the major. + +'It is a comfortable feeling to know that you stand on your own ground. +Land is about the only thing that can't fly away. And then, you see, +land gives so much more than the rent. It gives position and influence +and political power, to say nothing about the game. We'll go back now. I +daresay your mother will be at home by this time.' + +The archdeacon was striving to teach a great lesson to his son when he +thus spoke of the pleasure which a man feels when he stands upon his own +ground. He was bidding his son to understand how great was the position +of an heir to a landed property, and how small the position of a man +depending on what Dr Grantly himself would have called a scratch +income--an income made up of a few odds and ends, a share or two in this +company and a share or two in that, a slight venture in foreign stocks, +a small mortgage and such-like convenient but uninfluential driblets. A +man, no doubt, may live at Pau and enjoy life after a fashion while +reading Galignani and looking at the mountains. But--as it seemed to the +archdeacon--when there was a choice between this kind of thing, and +fox-covers at Plumstead, and a seat among the magistrates of +Barsetshire, and an establishment full of horses, beeves, swine, +carriages, and hayricks, a man brought up as his son had been brought up +ought not to be very long in choosing. It never entered into the +archdeacon's mind that he was tempting his son; but Henry Grantly felt +that he was having the good things of the world shown to him, and that +he was being told that they should be his--for a consideration. + +The major, in his present mood, looked at the matter from his own point +of view, and determined that the consideration was too high. He was +pledged not to give up Grace Crawley, and he would not yield on that +point, though he might be tempted by all the fox-covers in Barsetshire. +At this moment he did not know how far his father was prepared to yield, +or how far it was expected that he should yield himself. He was told +that he had to speak to his mother. He would speak to his mother, but, +in the meantime, he could not bring himself to make a comfortable answer +to his father's eloquent praise of landed property. He could not allow +himself to be enthusiastic on the matter till he knew what was expected +of him if he chose to submit to be made a British squire. At present +Galignani and the mountains had their charms for him. There was, +therefore, but little conversation between the father and the son as the +walked back to the rectory. + +Late that night the major heard the whole story from his mother. +Gradually, and as though unintentionally, Mrs Grantly told him all she +knew of the archdeacon's visit to Framley. Mrs Grantly was quite as +anxious as was her husband to keep her son at home, and therefore she +omitted in her story those little sneers against Grace which she herself +had been tempted to make by the archdeacon's fervour in the girl's +favour. The major said as little as was possible while he was being told +of his father's adventure, and expressed neither anger nor satisfaction +till he had been made thoroughly to understand that Grace had pledged +herself not to marry him as long as any suspicion should rest upon her +father's name. + +'Your father is quite satisfied with her,' said Mrs Grantly. 'He thinks +that she is behaving very well.' + +'My father had no right to exact such a pledge.' + +'But she made it of her own accord. She was the first to speak about Mr +Crawley's supposed guilt. Your father never mentioned it.' + +'He must have led to it; and I think that he had no right to do so. He +had no right to go to her at all.' + +'Now don't be foolish, Henry.' + +'I don't see that I am foolish.' + +'Yes, you are. A man is foolish if he won't take what he wants without +asking exactly how he is to come by it. That your father should be +anxious is the most natural thing in the world. You know how high he has +always held his own head, and how much he thinks about the characters +and the position of clergymen. It is not surprising that he should +dislike the idea of such a marriage.' + +'Grace Crawley would disgrace no family,' said the lover. + +'That's all very well for you to say, and I'll take your word that it is +so;--that is as far as the young lady goes herself. And there's your +father almost as much in love with her as you are. I don't know what you +would have?' + +'I would be left alone.' + +'But what harm has been done you? From what you yourself have told me, +I know that Miss Crawley has said the same thing to you that she has +said to your father. You can't but admire her for the feeling.' + +'I admire her for everything.' + +'Very well. We don't say anything against that.' + +'And I don't mean to give her up.' + +'Very well again. Let us hope that Mr Crawley will be acquitted, and +then all will be right. Your father never goes back on his promise. He +is always better than his word. You'll find that if Mr Crawley is +acquitted, or if he escapes in any way, your father will only be happy +for an excuse to make much of the young lady. You should not be hard on +him, Henry. Don't you see that it is his one great desire to keep you +near him. The sight of those odious bills nearly broke his heart.' + +'Then why did he threaten me?' + +'Henry, you are obstinate.' + +'I am not obstinate, mother.' + +'Yes, you are. You remember nothing, and you forget nothing. You expect +everything to be made smooth for you, and will do nothing towards making +things smooth for anybody else. You ought to promise to give up the +sale. If the worst came to the worst, your father would not let you +suffer in pocket for yielding to him so much.' + +'If the worst comes to the worst, I wish to take nothing from my +father.' + +'You won't put off the sale, then?' + +The son paused a moment before he answered his mother, thinking over all +the circumstances of his position. 'I cannot do so as long as I am +subject to my father's threat,' he said at last. 'What took place +between my father and Miss Crawley can go for nothing with me. He has +told me that his allowance to me is to be withdrawn. Let him tell me +that he has reconsidered the matter.' + +'But he has not withdrawn it. The last quarter was paid to your account +only the other day. He does not mean to withdraw it.' + +'Let him tell me so; let him tell me that my power of living at Cosby +Lodge does not depend on my marriage--that my income will be continued +to me whether I marry or no, and I'll arrange matters with the +auctioneer tomorrow. You can't suppose that I should prefer to live in +France.' + +'Henry, you are too hard on your father.' + +'I think, mother, he has been too hard on me.' + +'It is you who are to blame now. I tell you plainly that that is my +opinion. If evil comes of it, it will be your own fault.' + +'If evil comes of it, I must bear it.' + +'A son ought to give up something to his father;--especially to a father +as indulgent as yours.' + +But it was of no use. And Mrs Grantly when she went to bed could only +lament in her own mind over what, in discussing the matter afterwards +with her sister, she called the cross-grainedness of men. 'They are as +alike each other as two peas,' she said, 'and though each of them wished +to be generous, neither of them would condescend to be just.' Early on +the following morning there was, no doubt, much said on the subject +between the archdeacon and his wife before they met their son at +breakfast; but neither at breakfast nor afterwards was there a word said +between the father and the son that had the slightest reference to the +subject in dispute between them. The archdeacon made no more speeches in +favour of land, nor did he revert to the foxes. He was very civil to his +son;--too civil by half, as Mrs Grantly continued to say to herself. And +then the major drove himself away in his cart, going through Barchester, +so that he might see his grandfather. When he wished his father +good-bye, the archdeacon shook hands with him, and said something about +the chance of rain. Had he not better take the big umbrella? The major +thanked him courteously, and said that he did not think it would rain. +Then he was gone. 'Upon his own head be it,' said the archdeacon when +his son's step was heard in the passage to the backyard. Then Mrs +Grantly got up quietly and followed her son. She found him settling +himself in his dog-cart, while the servant who was to accompany him was +still at the horse's head. She went up close to him, and, standing by +the wheel of the gig, whispered a word or two into his ear. 'If you love +me, Henry, you will postpone the sale. Do it for my sake.' There came +across his face a look of great pain, but he answered her not a word. + +The archdeacon was walking about the room striking one hand open with +the other closed, clearly in a tumult of anger, when his wife returned +to him. 'I have done all that I can,' he said--'all that I can; more, +indeed, than was becoming of me. Upon his own head be it. Upon his own +head be it.' + +'What is it you fear?' she asked. + +'I fear nothing. But if he chooses to sell his things at Cosby Lodge he +must abide the consequences. They shall not be replaced with my money.' + +'What will it matter if he does sell them?' + +'Matter! Do you think there is a single person in the county who will +not know that his doing is a sign that he has quarrelled with me?' + +'But he has not quarrelled with you.' + +'I can tell you, then, that in that case, I shall have quarrelled with +him! I have not been a hard father, but there are some things which a +man cannot bear. Of course you take his part.' + +'I am taking no part. I only want peace between you.' + +'Peace!--yes; peace indeed. I am to yield in everything. I am to be +nobody. Look here;--as sure as ever an auctioneer's hammer is raised at +Cosby Lodge, I will alter the settlement of the property. Every acre +shall go to Charles. There is my word for it.' The poor woman had +nothing more to say at that moment. She thought that at the present +conjuncture her husband was less in the wrong than her son, but she +could not tell him so lest she should strengthen him in his wrath. + +Henry Grantly found his grandfather in bed, with Posy seated on the bed +beside him. 'My father told me that you were not quite well, and I +thought I had better look in,' said the major. + +'Thank you, my dear;--it is very good of you. There is not much the +matter with me, but I am not quite so strong as I was once.' And the old +man smiled as he held his grandson's hand. + +'And how is cousin Posy?' said the major. + +'Posy is quite well;--isn't she, my darling?' said the old man. + +'Grandpa doesn't go to the cathedral now,' said Posy; 'so I come in to +talk to him. Don't I, grandpa?' + +'And to play cat's-cradle;--only we have not had any cat's-cradle this +morning, because it is cold for grandpa to sit up in bed,' said Posy. + +When the major had been there about twenty minutes he was preparing to +take his leave--but Mr Harding, bidding Posy go out of the room, told +his grandson that he had a word to say to him. 'I don't like to +interfere, Henry,' he said, 'but I am afraid things are not quite smooth +at Plumstead.' + +'There is nothing wrong between me and my mother,' said the major. + +'God forbid that there should be; but, my dear boy, don't let there be +anything wrong between you and your father. He is a good man, and the +time will come when you will be proud of his memory.' + +'I am proud of him now.' + +'Then be gentle with him--and submit yourself. I am an old man +now--very fast going away from all those I love here. But I am happy in +leaving my children because they have ever been gentle with me and kind. +If I am permitted to remember them whither I am going, my thoughts of +them all will be pleasant. Should it not be much to them that they have +made by death-bed happy?' + +The major could not but tell himself that Mr Harding had been a man easy +to please, easy to satisfy, and, in that respect, very different from +his father. But of course he said nothing of this. 'I will do my best,' +he replied. + +'Do, my boy. Honour thy father--that thy days may be long in the land.' + +It seemed to the major as he drove away from Barchester that everybody +was against him; and yet he was sure that he himself was right. He could +not give up Grace Crawley; and unless he were to do so he could not live +at Cosby Lodge. + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +A LADY PRESENTS HER COMPLIMENTS TO MISS L.D. + +One morning while Lily Dale was staying with Mrs Thorne in London, there +was brought up to her room, as she was dressing for dinner, a letter +which the postman had just left for her. The address was written in a +feminine hand, and Lily was at once aware that she did not know the +writing. The angles were very acute, and the lines were very straight, +and the vowels looked to be cruel and false, with their sharp points and +their open eyes. Lily at once knew that it was the performance of a +woman who had been taught to write at school, and not at home, and she +became prejudiced against the writer before she opened the letter. When +she had opened the letter and read it, her feelings towards the writer +were not of a kindly nature. It was as follows:- + +'A lady presents her compliments to Miss L D and earnestly implores Miss +L D to give her answer to the following question: Is Miss L D engaged to +marry Mr J E? The lady in question pledges herself not to interfere with +Miss L D in any way, should the answer be in the affirmative. The lady +earnestly requests that a reply to this question may be sent to M D +Post-office 455 Edgware Road. In order that L D may not doubt that M D +had an interest in J E, M D encloses the last note she received from him +before he started for the Continent.' Then there was a scrap, which Lily +well knew to be in the handwriting of John Eames, and the scrap was as +follows:--'Dearest M--punctually at 8.30. Ever and always your +unalterable J E. Lily, as she read this, did not comprehend that John's +note to M D had been in itself a joke. + +Lily Dale had heard of anonymous letters before, but had never received +one, or even received one. Now that she had one in her hand, it seemed +to her that there could be nothing more abominable than the writing of +such a letter. She let it drop from her as though the receiving, and +opening, and reading it had been a stain to her. As it lay on the ground +at her feet, she trod upon it. Of what sort could a woman be who wrote +such a letter as that? Answer it! Of course she would not answer it. It +never occurred to her for a moment that it could become her to answer +it. Had she been at home with her mother, she would have called her +mother to her, and Mrs Dale would have taken it from the ground, and +have read it, and then destroyed it. As it was, she must pick it up +herself. She did so, and declared to herself that there should be an end +to it. It might be right that somebody should see it, and therefore she +would show it to Emily Dunstable; after that it should be destroyed. + +Of course the letter could have no effect upon her. So she told +herself. But it did have a very strong effect, and probably the exact +effect which the writer had intended that it should have. J E was, of +course, John Eames. There was no doubt about that. What a fool the +writer must have been to talk of L D in the letter, when the outside +cover was plainly addressed to Lily Dale! But there are some people for +whom the pretended mystery of initial letters has a charm, and who love +the darkness of anonymous letters. As Lily thought of this, she stamped +on the letter again. Who was the M D to whom she was required to send an +answer--with whom John Eames corresponded in the most affectionate +terms? She had resolved not even to ask a question about M D, and yet +she could not divert her mind from the inquiry. It was, at any rate, a +fact that there must be some woman designated by the letters--some woman +who had, at any rate, chosen to call herself M D. and John Eames had +called her M. There must, at any rate, be such a woman. This female, be +she who she might, had thought it worth her while to make this inquiry +about John Eames, and had manifestly learned something of Lily's own +history. And the woman had pledged herself not to interfere with John +Eames, if L D would only condescend to say that she was engaged to him! +As Lily thought of the proposition, she trod upon the letter for the +third time. Then she picked it up, and having no place of custody under +lock and key ready to her hand she put it in her pocket. + +At night, before she went to bed, she showed the letter to Emily +Dunstable. 'Is it not surprising that any woman could bring herself to +write such a letter?' said Lily. + +But Miss Dunstable hardly saw it in the same light. 'If anybody were to +write me such a letter about Bernard,' said she, 'I should show to him +as a good joke.' + +'That would be very different. You and Bernard, of course, understand +each other.' + +'And so will you and Mr Eames--some day, I hope.' + +'Never more than we do now, dear. The thing that annoys me is that such +a woman as that should have even heard my name at all.' + +'As long as people have got ears and tongues, people will hear other +people's names.' + +Lily paused a moment, and then spoke again, asking another question. 'I +suppose this woman does know him? She must know him, because he has +written to her.' + +'She knows something about him, no doubt, and has some reasons for +wishing that you will quarrel with him. If I were you, I should take +care not to gratify her. As for Mr Eames's note, it is a joke.' + +'It is nothing to me,' said Lily. + +'I suppose,' continued Emily, 'that most gentlemen become acquainted +with some people that they would not wish all their friends to know that +they knew. They go about so much more than we do, and meet people of all +sorts.' + +'No gentleman should become intimately acquainted with a woman who could +write such a letter as that,' said Lily. And as she spoke she remembered +a certain episode in John Eames's early life, which had reached her from +a source which she had not doubted, and which had given her pain and +offended her. She had believed that John Eames had in that case behaved +very cruelly to a young woman, and had thought that her offence had come +simply from that feeling. 'But of course it is nothing to me,' she said. +'Mr Eames can choose his friends as he likes. I only wish that my name +might not be mentioned to them.' + +'It is not from him that she has heard it.' + +'Perhaps not. As I said before, of course, it does not signify; only +there is something very disagreeable about the whole thing. The idea is +so hateful! Of course this woman means me to understand that she +considers herself to have a claim upon Mr Eames, and that I stand in her +way.' + +'And why should you not stand in her way?' + +'I will stand in nobody's way. Mr Eames has a right to give his hand to +anyone that he pleases. I, at any rate, can have no cause of offence +against him. The only thing is that I do wish that my name could be left +alone.' Lily, when she was in her own room again, did destroy the +letter; but before she did so she read it again, and it became so +indelibly impressed on her memory that she could not forget even the +words of it. The lady who wrote had pledged herself, under certain +conditions, 'not to interfere with Miss L D.' 'Interfere with me!' Lily +said to herself; 'nobody has power to do so.' As she turned it over in +her mind, her heart became hard against John Eames. No woman would have +troubled herself to write such a letter without some cause for the +writing. That the writer was vulgar, false, unfeminine, Lily thought +that she could perceive from the letter itself; but no doubt the woman +knew John Eames had some interest in the question of his marriage, and +was entitled to some answer to her question--only was not entitled to +such answer from Lily Dale. + +For some weeks past now, up to the hour at which the anonymous letter +had reached her hands, Lily's heart had been growing soft and still +softer towards John Eames; and now again it had become hardened. I think +that the appearance of Adolphus Crosbie in the Park, that momentary +vision of the real man by which the divinity of the imaginary Apollo had +been dashed to the ground, had done a service to the cause of her other +lover; of the lover who had never been a god, but who of late years had +at any rate grown into the full dimension of a man. Unfortunately for +the latter, he had commenced his love-making when he was but little more +than a boy. Lily, as she had thought of the two together, in the days of +her solitude, after she had been deserted by Crosbie, had ever pictured +to herself the lover whom she had preferred as having something godlike +in his favour, as being far the superior in wit, in manner, in +acquirement, and in personal advantage. There had been good-nature and +true hearty love on the side of the other man; but circumstances had +seemed to show that his good-nature was equal to all, and that he was +able to share even his hearty love among two or three. A man of such a +character, known by a girl from his boyhood as John Eames had been known +by Lily Dale, was likely to find more favour as a friend than as a +lover. So it had been between John Eames and Lily. While the untrue +memory of what Crosbie was, or ever had been, was present to her, she +could hardly bring herself to accept in her mind the idea of a lover who +was less noble in his manhood than the false picture which that untrue +memory was ever painting for her. Then had come before her eyes the +actual man; and though he had been seen but for a moment, the false +image had been broken into shivers. Lily had discovered that she had +been deceived, and that her forgiveness had been asked, not by a god, +but by an ordinary human being. As regarded the ungodlike man himself, +this could make no difference. Having thought upon the matter deeply, +she had resolved that she would not marry Mr Crosbie, and had pledged +herself to that effect to friends who never could have brought +themselves to feel affection for him, even had she married him. But the +shattering of the false image might have done John Eames a good turn. +Lily knew that she had at any rate full permission from all her friends +to throw in her lot with his--if she could persuade herself to do so. +Mother, uncle, sister, brother-in-law, cousin--and now this new +cousin's bride that was to be--together with Lady Julia and a whole +crowd of Allington and Guestwick friends, were in favour of such a +marriage. There had been nothing against it but the fact that the other +man had been dearer to her; and that other fact that poor Johnny lacked +something--something of earnestness, something of manliness, something +of that Phoebus divinity with which Crosbie had contrived to invest his +own image. But, as I have said above, John had gradually grown, if not +into divinity, at least into manliness; and the shattering of the false +image had done him yeoman's service. Now had come this accursed letter, +and Lily, despite herself, despite her better judgment, could not sweep +it away from her mind and make the letter as nothing to her. M D had +promised not to interfere with her! There was no room for such +interference, no possibility that such interference should take place. +She hoped earnestly--so she told herself--that her old friend John Eames +might have nothing to do with a woman so impudent and vulgar as must be +this M D; but except as regarded old friendship, M D and John Eames, +apart or together, could be as nothing to her. Therefore, I say that the +letter had had the effect which the writer of it had desired. + +All London was new to Lily Dale, and Mrs Thorne was very anxious to show +her everything that could be seen. She was to return to Allington before +the flowers of May would have come, and the crowd and the glare and the +fashion and the art of the Academy's great exhibition must therefore +remain unknown to her; but she was taken to see many pictures, and among +others she was taken to see the pictures belonging to a certain nobleman +who, with that munificence which is so amply enjoyed and so little +recognised in England, keeps open house for the world to see the +treasures which the wealth of his family had collected. The necessary +order was procured, and on a certain brilliant April afternoon, Mrs +Thorne and her party found themselves in this nobleman's drawing-room. +Lily was with her, of course, and Emily Dunstable was there, and Bernard +Dale, and Mrs Thorne's dear friend Mrs Harold Smith, and Mrs Thorne's +constant and useful attendant, Siph Dunn. They had nearly completed +their delightful but wearying task of gazing at pictures, and Mrs Harold +Smith had declared that she would not look at another painting till the +exhibition was open; three of the ladies were seated in the +drawing-room, and Siph Dunn was standing before them, lecturing about +art as though he had been brought up on the ancient masters; Emily and +Bernard were lingering behind, and the others were simply delaying their +departure till the truant lovers should have caught them. At this moment +two gentlemen entered the room from the gallery, and the two gentlemen +were Fowler Pratt and Adolphus Crosbie. + +All the party except Mrs Thorne knew Crosbie personally, and all of them +except Mrs Harold Smith knew something of the story of what had occurred +between Crosbie and Lily. Siph Dunn had learned it all since the meeting +in the park, having nearly learned it all from what he had seen with +there with his eyes. But Mrs Thorne, who knew Lily's story, did not know +Crosbie's appearance. But there was his friend Fowler Pratt, who, as +will be remembered, had dined with her but the other day; and she, with +that outspoken and somewhat loud impulse which was natural to her, +addressed him at once across the room, calling him by name. Had she not +done so, the two men might probably have escaped through the room, in +which case they would have met Bernard Dale and Emily Dunstable in the +doorway. Fowler Pratt would have endeavoured so to escape, and to carry +Crosbie with him, as he was quite alive to the experience of saving Lily +from such a meeting. But, as things turned out, escape from Mrs Thorne +was impossible. + +'There's Fowler Pratt,' she had said when they first entered, quite loud +enough for Fowler Pratt to hear her. 'Mr Pratt, come here. How d'ye do? +You dined with me last Tuesday, and you've never been to call.' + +'I never recognise that obligation till after the middle of May,' said +Mr Pratt, shaking hands with Mrs Thorne and Mrs Smith, and bowing to +Miss Dale. + +'I don't see the justice of that at all,' said Mrs Thorne. 'It seems to +me that a good dinner is much entitled to a morsel of pasteboard in +April as at any other time. You won't have another till you have +called--unless you're specially wanted.' + +Crosbie would have gone on, but that in his attempt to do so he passed +close by the chair on which Mrs Harold Smith was sitting, and that he +was accosted by her. 'Mr Crosbie,' she said, 'I haven't seen you for an +age. Has it come to pass that you have buried yourself entirely?' He did +not know how to extricate himself so as to move on at once. He paused, +and hesitated, and then stopped, and made an attempt to talk to Mrs +Smith as though he were at his ease. The attempt was anything but +successful; but having once stopped, he did not know how to put himself +in motion again, so that he might escape. At this moment Bernard Dale +and Emily Dunstable came up and joined the group; but neither of them +had discovered who Crosbie was till they were close upon him. + +Lily was seated between Mrs Thorne and Mrs Smith, and Siph Dunn had been +standing immediately opposite to them. Fowler Pratt, who had been drawn +into the circle against his will, was now standing close to Dunn, almost +between him and Lily--and Crosbie was standing within two yards of Lily, +on the other side of Dunn. Emily and Bernard had gone behind Pratt and +Crosbie to Mrs Thorne's side before they had recognised the two +men;--and in this way Lily was completely surrounded. Mrs Thorne, who in +spite of her eager, impetuous ways, was as thoughtful of others as any +woman could be, as soon as she heard Crosbie's name understood it all, +and knew that it would be well that she should withdraw Lily from her +plight. Crosbie, in his attempt to talk to Mrs Smith, had smiled and +simpered, and had then felt that to smile and simper before Lily Dale, +with a pretended indifference to her presence, was false on his part, +and would seem to be mean. He would have avoided Lily for both their +sakes, had it been possible; but it was no longer possible, and he could +not keep his eyes from her face. Hardly knowing what he did, he bowed to +her, lifted his hat, and uttered some word of greeting. + +Lily, from the moment that she had perceived his presence, had looked +straight before her, with something of fierceness in her eyes. Both +Pratt and Siph Dunn had observed her narrowly. It had seemed as though +Crosbie had been altogether outside the ken of her eyes, or the notice +of her ears, and yet she had seen every motion of his body, and had +heard every word which had fallen from his lips. Now, when he saluted +her, she turned her face full upon him, and bowed to him. Then she rose +from her seat, and made her way, between Siph Dunn and Pratt, out of the +circle. The blood had mounted to her face and suffused it all, and her +whole manner was such that it could escape the observation of none who +stood there. Even Mrs Harold Smith had seen it, and had read the story. +As soon as she was on her feet, Bernard had dropped Emily's hand, and +offered his arm to his cousin. 'Lily,' he had said out loud, 'you had +better let me take you away. It is a misfortune that you have been +subjected to the insult of such a greeting.' Bernard and Crosbie had +been early friends, and Bernard had been the unfortunate means of +bringing Crosbie and Lily together. Up to this day, Bernard had never +had his revenge for the ill-treatment which his cousin had received. +Some morsel of that revenge came to him now. Lily almost hated her +cousin for what he said; but she took his arm, and walked with him from +the room. It must be acknowledged in excuse for Bernard Dale, and as an +apology for the apparent indiscretion of his words, that all the +circumstances of the meeting had become apparent to everyone there. The +misfortune of the encounter had become too plain to admit of its being +hidden under any of the ordinary veils of society. Crosbie's salutation +had been made before the eyes of them all, and in the midst of absolute +silence, and Lily had risen with so queen-like a demeanour, and had +moved with so stately a step, that it was impossible that anyone +concerned should pretend to ignore the facts of the scene that had +occurred. Crosbie was still standing close to Mrs Harold Smith, Mrs +Thorne had risen from her seat, and the words which Bernard Dale had +uttered were still sounding in the ears of them all. 'Shall I see after +the carriage?' said Siph Dunn. 'Do,' said Mrs Thorne; 'or, stay a +moment; the carriage will of course be there, and we will go together. +Good-morning, Mr Pratt. I expect that, at any rate, you will send me +your card by post.' Then they all passed on, and Crosbie and Fowler +Pratt were left among the pictures. + +'I think you will agree with me now that you had better give her up,' +said Fowler Pratt. + +'I will never give her up,' said Crosbie, 'till I hear that she has +married someone else.' + +'You may take my word for it, that she will never marry you after what +has just occurred.' + +'Very likely not; but still the attempt, even the idea of the attempt +will be a comfort to me. I shall be endeavouring to do that which I +ought to have done.' + +'What you have got to think of, I should suppose, is her comfort--not +your own.' + +Crosbie stood for a while silent, looking at a portrait which was hung +just within the doorway of a smaller room into which they had passed, as +though his attention were entirely rivetted by the picture. But he was +thinking of the picture not at all, and did not even know what kind of +painting was on the canvas before him. + +'Pratt,' he said at last, 'you are always hard to me.' + +'I will say nothing more to you on the subject, if you wish me to be +silent.' + +'I do wish you to be silent about that.' + +'That shall be enough,' said Pratt. + +'You do not quite understand me. You do not know how thoroughly I have +repented of the evil that I have done, or how far I would go to make +retribution, if retribution were possible.' + +Fowler Pratt having been told to hold his tongue as regarded that +subject, made no reply to this, and began to talk about the pictures. + +Lily, leaning on her cousin's arm, was out in the courtyard in front of +the house before Mrs Thorne and Siph Dunn. It was but for a minute, but +still there was a minute in which Bernard felt that he ought to say a +word to her. + +'I hope you are not angry with me, Lily, for having spoken.' + +'I wish, of course, that you had not spoken; but I am not angry. I have +no right to be angry. I made the misfortune for myself. Do not say +anything more about it, dear Bernard;--that is all.' + +They had walked to the picture-gallery; but, by agreement, two carriages +had come to take them away--Mrs Thorne's and Mrs Harold Smith's. Mrs +Thorne easily managed to send Emily Dunstable and Bernard away with her +friend, and to tell Siph Dunn that he must manage for himself. In this +way it was contrived that no one but Mrs Thorne should be with Lily +Dale. + +'My dear,' said Mrs Thorne, 'it seemed to me that you were a little put +out, and so I thought it best to send them all away.' + +'It was very kind.' + +'He ought to have passed on and not to have stood an instant when he saw +you,' said Mrs Thorne, with indignation. 'There are moments when it is a +man's duty simply to vanish, to melt into the air, or to sink into the +ground--in which he is bound to overcome the difficulties of such sudden +self-removal, or must ever after be accounted poor and mean.' + +'I did not want him to vanish;--if only he had not spoken to me.' + +'He should have vanished. A man is sometimes bound in honour to do so, +even when he himself has done nothing wrong;--when the sin has been all +with the woman. Her femininity has still a right to expect that so much +shall be done in its behalf. But when the sin has been all his own, as +it was in this case--and such damning sin too--' + +'Pray do not go on, Mrs Thorne.' + +'He ought to go out and hang himself simply for having allowed himself +to be seen. I thought Bernard behaved very well, and I shall tell him +so.' + +'I wish you could manage to forget it all, and say no word more about +it.' + +'I won't trouble you with it, my dear; I will promise you that. But, +Lily, I can hardly understand you. This man who must have been and must +ever be a brute--' + +'Mrs Thorne, you promised me this instant that you would not talk of +him.' + +'After this I will not; but you must let me have my way now for one +moment. I have so often longed to speak to you, but have not done so +from fear of offending you. Now the matter has come up by chance, and it +was impossible that what has occurred should pass by without a word. I +cannot conceive why the memory of that bad man should be allowed to +destroy your whole life.' + +'My life is not destroyed. My life is anything but destroyed. It is a +very happy life.' + +'But, my dear, if all that I hear is true, there is a most estimable +young man whom everybody likes, and particularly all your own family, +and whom you like very much yourself; and you will have nothing to say +to him, though his constancy is like the constancy of an old +Paladin--and all because of this wretch who just now came in your way.' + +'Mrs Thorne, it is impossible to explain it all.' + +'I do not want you to explain it all. Of course I would not ask any +young woman to marry any man whom she did not love. Such marriages are +abominable to me. But I think that a young woman ought to get married if +the thing fairly comes in her way, and if her friends approve, and if +she is fond of the man who is fond of her. It may be that some memory of +what has gone before is allowed to stand in your way, and that it should +not be so allowed. It sometimes happens that a horrid morbid sentiment +will destroy a life. Excuse me, then, Lily, if I say too much to you in +my hope that you may not suffer after this fashion.' + +'I know how kind you are, Mrs Thorne.' + +'Here we are at home, and perhaps you would like to go in. I have some +calls which I must make.' Then the conversation was ended, and Lily was +alone. + +As if she had not thought of it all before! As if here was anything new +in this counsel which Mrs Thorne had given her! She had received the +same advice from her mother, from her sister, from her uncle, and from +Lady Julia, till she was sick of it. How had it come to pass that +matters which with others are so private, should with her have become +the public property of so large a circle? Any other girl would receive +advice on such a subject from her mother alone, and there the secret +would rest. But her secret had been published, as it were, by the +town-crier in the High Street! Everybody knew that she had been jilted +by Adolphus Crosbie, and that it was intended that she should be +consoled by John Eames. And people seemed to think that they had a right +to rebuke her if she expressed an unwillingness to carry out this +intention which the public had so kindly arranged for her. + +Morbid sentiment! Why should she be accused of morbid sentiment because +she was unable to transfer her affections to a man who had been fixed on +as her future husband by the large circle of acquaintances who had +interested themselves in her affairs? There was nothing morbid in either +her desires or her regrets. So she assured herself, with something very +like anger at the accusation made against her. She had been contented, +and was contented, to live at home as her mother had lived, asking for +no excitement beyond that given by the daily routine of her duties. +There could be nothing morbid in that. She would go back to Allington as +soon as might be, and have done with this London life, which only made +her wretched. This seeing of Crosbie had been terrible to her. She did +not tell herself that his image had been shattered. Her idea was that +all her misery had come from the untowardness of the meeting. But there +was the fact that she had seen the man and heard his voice, and that the +seeing him and hearing him had made her miserable. She certainly desired +that it might never be her lot either to see him or to hear him again. + +And as for John Eames--in those bitter moments of her reflection she +almost wished the same in regard to him. If he would only cease to be +her lover, he might be very well; but he was not very well to her as +long as his pretensions were dinned into her ear by everybody who knew +her. And then she told herself that John would have a better chance if +he had been content to plead for himself. In this, I think, she was hard +upon her lover. He had pleaded for himself as well as he knew how, and +as often as the occasion had been given to him. It had hardly been his +fault that his case had been taken in hand by other advocates. He had +given no commission to Mrs Thorne to plead for him. + +Poor Johnny. He had stood in much better favour before that lady had +presented her compliments to Miss L D. It was that odious letter, and +the thoughts which it had forced upon Lily's mind, which were now most +inimical to his interests. Whether Lily loved him or not, she did not +love him well enough to be jealous of him. Had nay such letter reached +her respecting Crosbie in the happy days of her young love, she would +have simply have laughed at it. It would have been nothing to her. But +now she was sore and unhappy, and any trifle was powerful enough to +irritate her. 'Is Miss L D engaged to marry Mr J E?' 'No,' said Lily, +out loud. 'Lily Dale is not engaged to marry John Eames, and never will +be so engaged.' She was almost tempted to sit down and write the +required answer to Miss M D. Though the letter had been destroyed, she +well remembered the number of the post-office in the Edgware Road. Poor +John Eames. + +That evening she told Emily Dunstable that she thought she would like to +return to Allington before the day that had been appointed for her. 'But +why,' said Emily, 'should you be worse than your word?' + +'I daresay it will seem silly, but the fact is I am homesick. I'm not +accustomed to be away from mama for so long.' + +'I hope it is not what occurred today at the picture-gallery.' + +'I won't deny that it is that in part.' + +'That was a strange accident, you know, that might never occur again.' + +'It has occurred twice already, Emily.' + +'I don't call the affair in the park anything. Anybody may see anybody +else in the Park, of course. He was not brought near you that he could +annoy you there. You ought certainly to wait till Mr Eames has come back +from Italy.' + +Then Lily decided that she must and would go back to Allington on the +next Monday, and she actually did write a letter to her mother that +night to say that such was her intention. But on the morrow her heart +was less sore, and the letter was not sent. + + + +CHAPTER LX + +THE END OF JAEL AND SISERA + +There was to be one more sitting for the picture, as the reader will +remember, and the day for that sitting had arrived. Conway Dalrymple had +in the meantime called at Mrs Van Siever's house, hoping that he might +be able to see Clara, and make his offer there. But he had failed in his +attempt to reach her. He had found it impossible to say all that he had +to say in the painting-room during the very short intervals which Mrs +Broughton left to him. A man should be allowed to be alone more than +fifteen minutes with a young lady on the occasion in which he offers her +his hand and his heart; but hitherto he had never had more than fifteen +minutes at his command; and then there had been the turban! He had also +in the meantime called in Mrs Broughton with the intention of explaining +to her that if she really intended to favour his views in respect to +Miss Van Siever, she ought to give him a little more liberty for +expressing himself. Mrs Broughton found it necessary during this meeting +to talk almost exclusively about herself and her own affairs. 'Conway,' +she had said, directly she saw him, 'I am so glad you have come. I think +I should have gone mad if I had not seen someone who cares for me.' This +was early in the morning, not much after eleven, and Mrs Broughton, +hearing first his knock at the door, and then his voice, had met him in +the hall and taken him into the dining-room. + +'Is anything the matter?' he asked. + +'Oh, Conway!' + +'What is it? Has anything gone wrong with Dobbs?' + +'Everything has gone wrong with him. He is ruined.' + +'Heaven and earth! What do you mean?' + +'Simply what I say. But you must not speak a word of it. I do not know +it from himself.' + +'How do you know it?' + +'Wait a moment. Sit down there, will you?--and I will sit by you. No, +Conway; do not take my hand. It is not right. There;--so. Yesterday Mrs +Van Siever was here. I need not tell you all that she said to me, even +if I could. She was very harsh and cruel, saying all manner of things +about Dobbs. How can I help it, if he drinks? I have not encouraged him. +And as for expensive living, I have been as ignorant as a child. I have +never asked for anything. When we were married somebody told me how much +we should have to spend. It was either two thousand, or three thousand, +or four thousand, or something like that. You know, Conway, how ignorant +I am about money;--that I am like a child. Is it not true?' She waited +for an answer and Dalrymple was obliged to acknowledge that it was true. +And yet he had known the times in which his dear friend had been very +sharp in her memory with reference to a few pounds. 'And now she says +that Dobbs owes her money which he cannot pay her, and that everything +must be sold. She says that Musselboro must have the business, and Dobbs +must shift for himself elsewhere.' + +'Do you believe that she has the power to decide that things shall go +this way or that--as she pleases?' + +'How am I to know? She says so, and she says it is because he drinks. +He does drink. That at least is true; but how can I help it? Oh, Conway, +what am I to do? Dobbs did not come home at all last night, but sent for +his things--saying that he must stay in the City. What am I to do if +they come and take the house, and sell the furniture, and turn me out +into the street?' Then the poor creature began to cry in earnest, and +Dalrymple had to console her as best he might. 'How I wish I had known +you first,' she said. To this Dalrymple was able to make no direct +answer. He was wise enough to know that a direct answer might possible +lead him into terrible trouble. He was by no means anxious to find +himself 'protecting' Mrs Dobbs Broughton from the ruin which her husband +had brought upon her. + +Before he left her she had told him a long story, partly of matters of +which he had known something before, and partly made up of that which +she had heard from the old woman. It was settled, Mrs Broughton said, +that Mr Musselboro was to marry Clara Van Siever. But it appeared, as +far as Dalrymple could learn, that this was a settlement made simply +between Mrs Van Siever and Musselboro. Clara, as he thought, was not a +girl likely to fall into such a settlement without having an opinion of +her own. Musselboro was to have the business, and Dobbs Broughton was to +be 'sold up' and then look for employment in the City. From her husband +the wife had not heard a word on the matter, and the above story was +simply what had been told to Mrs Broughton by Mrs Van Siever. 'For +myself it seems that there can be but one fate,' said Mrs Broughton. +Dalrymple, in his tenderest voice, asked what that one fate must be. +'Never mind,' said Mrs Broughton. 'There are some things which one +cannot tell even to such a friend as you.' He was sitting near her and +had all but got his arm behind her waist. He was, however, able to be +prudent. 'Maria,' he said, getting up on his feet, 'if it should really +come about that you should want anything, you will send to me. You will +promise me that, at any rate?' She rubbed a tear from her eye and said +that she did not know. 'There are moments in which a man must speak +plainly,' said Conway Dalrymple;--'in which it would be unmanly not to +do so, however prosaic it may seem. I need hardly tell you that my purse +shall be yours if you want it.' But just at that moment she did not want +his purse, nor must it be supposed that she wanted to run away with him +and to leave her husband to fight the battle with Mrs Van Siever. The +truth was that she did not know what she wanted, over and beyond an +assurance from Conway Dalrymple that she was the most ill-used, the most +interesting, and the most beautiful woman ever heard of, either in +history or romance. Had he proposed to her to pack up a bundle and go +off with him in a cab to the London Chatham, and Dover railway station, +I do not for a moment think that she would have packed up her bundle. +She would have received intense gratification from the offer--so much so +that she would have been almost consoled for her husband's ruin; but she +would have scolded her lover, and would have explained to him the great +iniquity of which he was guilty. It was clear to him that at this +present time he could not make any special terms with her as to Clara +Van Siever. At such a moment as this he could hardly ask her to keep out +of the way, in order that he might have his opportunity. But when he +suggested that probably it might be better, in the present emergency, to +give up the idea of any further sitting in her room, and proposed to +send for his canvas, colour-box, and easel, she told him that, as far as +she was concerned, he was welcome to have that one other sitting for +which they had all bargained. 'You had better come tomorrow, as we had +agreed,' she said; 'and unless I shall have been turned out into the +street by the creditors, you may have the room as you did before. And +you must remember, Conway, that though Mrs Van Siever says that +Musselboro is to have Clara, it doesn't follow that Clara should give +way.' When we consider everything, we must acknowledge that this was, at +any rate, good-natured. Then there was a tender parting, with many +tears, and Conway Dalrymple escaped from the house. + +He did not for a moment doubt the truth of the story which Mrs Broughton +had told, as far, at least, as it referred to the ruin of Dobbs +Broughton. He had heard something of this before, and for some weeks had +expected that a crash was coming. Broughton's rise had been very sudden, +and Dalrymple had never regarded his friend as firmly placed in the +commercial world. Dobbs was one of those men who seem born to surprise +the world by a spurt of prosperity, and might, perhaps, have a second +spurt, or even a third, could he have kept himself from drinking in the +morning. But Dalrymple, though he was hardly astonished by the story, as +it regarded Broughton, was put out by that part of it which had +reference to Musselboro. He had known that Musselboro had been +introduced to Broughton by Mrs Van Siever, but, nevertheless, he had +regarded the man as being nor more than Broughton's clerk. And now he +was told that Musselboro was to marry Clara Van Siever, and have all Mrs +Van Siever's money. He resolved, at last, that he would run his risk +about the money, and take Clara either with or without it, if she would +have him. And as for that difficulty in asking her, if Mrs Broughton +would give him no opportunity of putting the question behind her back, +he would put it before her face. He had not much leisure for +consideration on these points, as the next day was the day for the last +sitting. + +On the following morning he found Miss Van Siever already seated in Mrs +Broughton's room when he reached it. And at the moment Mrs Broughton was +not there. As he took Clara's hand he could not prevent himself from +asking her whether she had heard anything? 'Heard what?' asked Clara. +'Then you have not,' said he. 'Never mind now, as Mrs Broughton is +here.' Then Mrs Broughton had entered the room. She seemed to be quite +cheerful, but Dalrymple perfectly understood, from a special glance +which she gave to him, that he was to perceive that her cheerfulness was +assumed for Clara's benefit. Mrs Broughton was showing how great a +heroine she could be on behalf of her friends. 'Now, my dear,' she said, +'do remember that this is the last day. It may be very well, Conway, +and, of course, you know best; but as far as I can see, you have not +made half as much progress as you ought to have done.' 'We shall do +excellently well,' said Dalrymple. 'So much the better,' said Mrs +Broughton; 'and now, Clara, I'll place you.' And so Clara was placed on +her knees, with the turban on her head. + +Dalrymple began his work assiduously, knowing that Mrs Broughton would +not leave the room for some minutes. It was certain that she would +remain for a quarter of an hour, and it might be as well that he should +really use that time on the picture. The peculiar position in which he +was placed probably made his word difficult to him. There was something +perplexing in the necessity which bound him to look upon the young lady +before him both as Jael and as the future Mrs Conway Dalrymple, knowing +as he did that she was at present simply Clara Van Siever. A double +personification was not difficult to him. He had encountered it with +every model that had sat to him, and with every young lady he had +attempted to win--if he had ever made such an attempt with one before. +But the triple character joined to the necessity of the double work, was +distressing to him. 'The hand a little further back, if you don't mind,' +he said, 'and the wrist more turned towards me. That is just it. Lean a +little more over him. There--that will do exactly.' If Mrs Broughton did +not go very quickly, he must begin to address his model on a totally +different subject, even while she was in the act of slaying Sisera. + +'Have you made up your mind who is to be Sisera?' asked Mrs Broughton. + +'Not in the least,' said Clara, speaking without moving her face +--almost without moving her lips. + +'That will be excellent,' said Mrs Broughton. She was still quite +cheerful, and really laughed as she spoke. 'Shall you like the idea, +Clara, of striking the nail right through his head?' + +'Oh, yes; as well as his head's as another's. I shall seem to be having +my revenge for all the trouble he has given me.' + +There was a slight pause, and then Dalrymple spoke. 'You have had that +already, in striking me right through the heart.' + +'What a very pretty speech! Was it not, my dear?' said Mrs Broughton. +And then Mrs Broughton laughed. There was something slightly hysterical +in her laugh which grated on Dalrymple's ears--something which seemed +to tell him that at the present moment his dear friend was not going to +assist him honestly in his effort. + +'Only that I should put him out, I would get up and make a curtsey,' +said Clara. No young lady could ever talk of making a curtsey for such a +speech if she supposed it to have been made in earnestness. And Clara, +no doubt, understood that a man might make a hundred such speeches in +the presence of a third person without any danger that they would be +taken as meaning anything. All this Dalrymple knew, and began to think +that he had better put down his palette and brush, and do the work which +he had before him in the most prosaic language that he could use. He +could, at any rate, succeed in making Clara acknowledge his intention in +this way. He waited still for a minute or two, and it seemed to him that +Mrs Broughton had no intention of piling her fagots on the present +occasion. It might be that the remembrance of her husband's ruin +prevented her from sacrificing herself in the other direction also. + +'I am not very good at pretty speeches, but I am good at telling the +truth,' said Dalrymple. + +'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed Mrs Broughton, still with a touch of hysterical +action in her throat. 'Upon my word, Conway, you know how to praise +yourself.' + +'He dispraises himself most unnecessarily in denying the prettiness of +his language,' said Clara. As she spoke she hardly moved her lips, and +Dalrymple went on painting from the model. It was clear that Miss Van +Siever understood that the painting, and not the pretty speeches, was +the important business on hand. + +Mrs Broughton had now tucked her feet up on the sofa, and was gazing at +the artist as he stood at his work. Dalrymple, remembering how he had +offered her his purse--an offer which, in the existing crisis of her +affairs, might mean a great deal--felt that she was ill-natured. Had +she intended to do him a good turn, she would have gone now; but there +she lay, with her feet tucked up, clearly proposing to be present +through the whole of the morning's sitting. His anger against her added +something to his spirit, and made him determine that he would carry out +his purpose. Suddenly, therefore, he prepared himself for action. + +He was in the habit of working with a Turkish cap on his head, and with +a short apron tied round him. There was something picturesque about the +cap, which might not have been incongruous with love-making. It is easy +to suppose that Juan wore a Turkish cap when he sat with Haidee in +Lambro's island. But we may be quite sure that he did not wear an apron. +Now Dalrymple had thought of all this, and had made up his mind to work +today without his apron; but when arranging his easel and his brushes, +he had put it on from the force of habit, and was now disgusted with +himself as he remembered it. He put down his brush, divested his thumb +of his palette, then took off his cap, and after that untied the apron. + +'Conway, what are you going to do?' said Mrs Broughton. + +'I am going to ask Clara Van Siever to be my wife,' said Dalrymple. At +that moment the door was opened, and Mrs Van Siever entered the room. + +Clara had not risen from her kneeling posture when Dalrymple began to +put off his trappings. She had not seen what he was doing as plainly as +Mrs Broughton had done, having her attention naturally drawn towards he +Sisera; and, besides this, she understood that she was to remain as she +was placed till orders to move were given to her. Dalrymple would +occasionally step aside from his easel to look at her in some altered +light, and such occasions she would simply hold her hammer somewhat more +tightly than before. When, therefore, Mrs Van Siever entered the room +Clara was still slaying Sisera, in spite of the artist's speech. the +speech, indeed, and her mother both seemed to come to her at the same +time. The old woman stood for a moment holding the open door in her +hand. 'You fool!' she said, 'what are you doing there, dressed up in +that way like a guy?' Then Clara got up from her feet and stood before +her mother in Jael's dress and Jael's turban. Dalrymple thought that the +dress and turban did not become her badly. Mrs Van Siever apparently +thought otherwise. 'Will you have the goodness to tell me, miss, why you +are dressed up after that Mad Bess of Bedlam fashion?' + +The reader will no doubt bear in mind that Clara had other words of +which to think besides those which were addressed to her by her mother. +Dalrymple had asked her to be his wife in the plainest language, and she +thought that the very plainness of the language became him well. The +very taking off of his apron, almost as he said the words, though to +himself the action had been so distressing as almost to overcome his +purpose, had in it something to her of direct simple determination which +pleased her. When he had spoken of having a nail driven by her right +through his heart, she had not been in the least gratified; by the +taking off of the apron, and the putting down of the palette, and the +downright way in which he had called her Clara Van Siever--attempting +to be neither sentimental with Clara, nor polite with Miss Van +Siever--did please her. She had often said to herself that she would +never give a plain answer to a man who did not ask her a plain +question;--to a man who, in asking this question, did not say plainly to +her, 'Clara Van Siever, will you become Mrs Jones?'--or Mrs Smith, or +Mrs Tomkins, as the case might be. Now Conway Dalrymple had asked her to +become Mrs Dalrymple very much after this fashion. In spite of the +apparition of her mother, all this had passed through her mind. Not the +less, however, was she obliged to answer her mother, before she could +give any reply to the other questioner. In the meantime Mrs Dobbs +Broughton had untucked her feet. + +'Mamma,' said Clara, 'who ever expected to see you here?' + +'I daresay nobody did,' said Mrs Van Siever; 'but here I am, +nevertheless.' + +'Madam,' said Mrs Dobbs Broughton, 'you might at any rate have gone +through the ceremony of having yourself announced by the servant.' + +'Madam,' said the old woman attempting to mimic the tone of the other, +'I thought that on such a very particular occasion as this I might be +allowed to announce myself. You tomfool, you why don't you take that +turban off?' Then Clara, with slow and graceful motion, unwound the +turban. If Dalrymple really meant what he had said and would stick to +it, she need not mind being called a tomfool by her mother. + +'Conway, I am afraid that our last sitting is disturbed,' said Mrs +Broughton, with her little laugh. + +'Conway's last sitting is certainly disturbed,' said Mrs Van Siever, and +then she mimicked the laugh. 'And you'll all be disturbed--I can tell +you that. What an ass you must be to go on with this kind of thing, +after what I said to you yesterday! Do you know that he got beastly +drunk in the City last night, and that he is drunk now, while you are +going on with your tomfooleries?' Upon hearing this Mrs Dobbs Broughton +fainted in Dalrymple's arms. + +Hitherto the artist had not said a word, and had hardly known what part +in it would best become him to play. If he intended to marry Clara--and +he certainly did intend to marry her if she would have him--it might be +as well not to quarrel with Mrs Van Siever. At any rate there was +nothing in Mrs Van Siever's intrusion, disagreeable that it was, which +need make him take up his sword to do battle with her. But now, as he +held Mrs Broughton in his arms, and as the horrid words which the old +woman had spoken rung in his ears, he could not refrain himself form +uttering reproach. 'You ought not to have told her in this way, before +other people, even if it be true,' said Conway. + +'Leave me to be my own judge of what I ought to do, if you please, sir. +If she had any feeling at all, what I told her yesterday would have kept +her from all this. But some people have no feeling, and will go on being +tomfools though the house is on fire.' As these words were spoken, Mrs +Broughton fainted more persistently than ever--so that Dalrymple was +convinced that whether she felt or not, at any rate she heard. He had +now dragged her across the room, and laid her upon the sofa, and Clara +had come to her assistance. 'I daresay you think me very hard because I +speak plainly, but there are things much harder than plain speaking. How +much do you expect to be paid, sir, for this picture of my girl?' + +'I do not expect to be paid for it at all,' said Dalrymple. + +'And who is it to belong to?' + +'It belongs to me at present.' + +'Then, sir, it mustn't belong to you any longer. It won't do for you to +have a picture of my girl to hang up in your painting-room for all your +friends to come and make their jokes about, nor yet to make a show of it +in any of your exhibitions. My daughter has been a fool, and I can't +help it. If you'll tell me what's the cost, I'll pay you; then I'll have +the picture home, and I'll treat it as it deserves.' + +Dalrymple thought for a moment about his picture and about Mrs Van +Siever. What had he better do? He wanted to behave well, and he felt +that the old woman had something of justice on her side. 'Madam,' he +said, 'I will not sell this picture; but it shall be destroyed, if you +wish it.' + +'I certainly do wish it, but I won't trust you. If it's not sent to my +house at once you'll hear from me through my lawyers.' + +Then Dalrymple deliberately opened his penknife and slit the canvas +across, through the middle of the picture each way. Clara, as she saw +him do it, felt that in truth that she loved him. 'There, Mrs Van +Siever,' he said; 'now you can take the bits home with you in your +basket if you wish it.' At this moment, as the rent canvas fell and +fluttered upon the stretcher, there came a loud voice of lamentation +from the sofa, a groan of despair and a shriek of wrath. 'Very fine +indeed,' said Mrs Van Siever. 'When ladies faint they always ought to +have their eyes about them. I see that Mrs Broughton understands that.' + +'Take her away, Conway--for God's sake take her away,' said Mrs +Broughton. + +'I shall take myself away very shortly,' said Mrs Van Siever, 'so you +needn't trouble Mr Conway about that. Not but that I thought the +gentleman's name was something else.' + +'My name is Conway Dalrymple,' said the artist. + +'Then I suppose you must be her brother, or her cousin, or something.' + +'Take her away,' screamed Mrs Dobbs Broughton. + +'Wait a moment, madam. As you've chopped up your handiwork there, Mr +Conway Dalrymple, and as I suppose my daughter has been more to blame +than anybody else--' + +'She has not been to blame at all,' said Dalrymple. + +'That's my affair and not yours,' said Mrs Van Siever, very sharply. +'But as you've been at all this trouble, and have now chopped it up, I +don't mind paying you for your time and paints; only I shall be glad to +know how much it will come to?' + +'There will be nothing to pay, Mrs Van Siever.' + +'How long has he been at it, Clara?' + +'Mamma, indeed you had better not say anything about paying him.' + +'I shall say whatever I please, miss. Will ten pounds do it, sir?' + +'If you choose to buy the picture, the price will be seven hundred and +fifty,' said Dalrymple with a smile, pointing to the fragments. + +'Seven hundred and fifty pounds?' said the old woman. + +'But I strongly advise you not to make the purchase,' said Dalrymple. + +'Seven hundred and fifty pounds! I certainly shall not give you seven +hundred and fifty pounds.' + +'I certainly think you could invest your money better, Mrs Van Siever. +But if the thing is to be sold at all, that is my price. I've thought +that there was some justice in your demand that it should be +destroyed--and therefore I have destroyed it.' + +Mrs Van Siever had been standing on the same spot ever since she had +entered the room, and now she turned round to leave the room. + +'If you have any demand to make, I beg that you will send it in your +account for work done to Mr Musselboro. He is my man of business. Clara, +are you ready to come home? The cab is waiting at the door--at sixpence +the quarter of an hour, if you will be pleased to remember.' + +'Mrs Broughton,' said Clara, thoughtful of her raiment, and remembering +that it might not be well that she should return home, even in a cab, +dressed as Jael, 'if you will allow me, I will go into your room for a +minute or two.' + +'Certainly, Clara,' said Mrs Broughton, preparing to accompany her. + +'But before you go, Mrs Broughton,' said Mrs Van Siever, 'it may be as +well that I should tell you that my daughter is going to become the wife +of Mr Musselboro. It may simplify matters that you should know this.' +And Mrs Van Siever, as she spoke, looked hard at Conway Dalrymple. + +'Mamma!' exclaimed Clara. + +'My dear,' said Mrs Van Siever, 'you had better change your dress and +come away with me.' + +'Not till I have protested against what you have said, mamma.' + +'You had better leave your protesting alone, I can tell you.' + +'Mrs Broughton,' said Clara, 'I must beg you to understand that mamma +has not the slightest right in the world to tell you what she just now +said about me. Nothing on earth would induce me to become the wife of Mr +Broughton's partner.' + +There was something which made Clara unwilling even to name the man whom +her mother had publicly proposed as her future husband. + +'He isn't Mr Broughton's partner,' said Mrs Van Siever. 'Mr Broughton +has not got a partner. Mr Musselboro is the head of the firm. And as to +your marrying him, of course, I can't make you.' + +'No, mamma, you cannot.' + +'Mrs Broughton understands that, no doubt;--and so, probably, does Mr +Dalrymple. I can only tell them what are my ideas. If you choose to +marry the sweep at the crossing, I can't help it. Only I don't see what +good you would do the sweep, when he would have to sweep for himself and +you too. At any rate, I suppose you mean to go home with me now?' Then +Mrs Broughton and Clara left the room, and Mrs Van Siever was left with +Conway Dalrymple. 'Mr Dalrymple,' said Mrs Van Siever, 'do not deceive +yourself. What I told you just now will certainly come to pass.' + +'It seems to me that that must depend on the young lady,' said +Dalrymple. + +'I'll tell you what certainly will not depend on the young lady,' said +Mrs Van Siever, 'and that is whether the man who marries her will have +more with her than the clothes she stands up in. You will understand +that argument, I suppose?' + +'I'm not quite sure that I do,' said Dalrymple. + +'Then you'd better try to understand it. Good-morning, sir. I'm sorry +you've had to slit your picture.' Then she curtseyed low, and walked out +on to the landing-place. 'Clara,' she cried, 'I'm waiting for +you--sixpence a quarter of an hour--remember that.' In a minute or two +Clara came out to her, and then Mrs Van Siever and Miss Van Siever took +their departure. + +'Oh, Conway, what am I to do? What am I to do?' said Mrs Dobbs +Broughton. Dalrymple stood perplexed for a few minutes, and could not +tell her what she was to do. She was in such a position that it was very +hard to tell her what she was to do. 'Do you believe, Conway, that he is +really ruined?' + +'What am I to say? How am I to know?' + +'I see that you believe it,' said the wretched woman. + +'I cannot but believe that there is something of truth in what this +woman says. Why else should she come here with such a story?' Then there +was a pause, during which Mrs Broughton was burying her face on the arm +of the sofa. 'I'll tell you what I'll do,' continued he. 'I'll go into +the City and make inquiry. It can hardly be but what I shall learn the +truth there.' + +Then there was another pause, at the end of which Mrs Broughton got up +from the sofa. + +'Tell me,' said she:--'what do you mean about that girl?' + +'You heard me ask her to be my wife?' + +'I did! I did!' + +'Is it not what you intended?' + +'Do not ask me. My mind is bewildered. My brain is on fire! Oh, +Conway!' + +'Shall I go into the City as I proposed?' said Dalrymple, who felt that +he might at any rate improve the position of circumstances by leaving +the house. + +'Yes;--yes; go into the City! Go anywhere. Go. But stay! Oh, +Conway!' There was a sudden change in her voice as she spoke. +'Hark--there he is, as sure as life.' Then Conway listened, and heard a +footstep on the stairs, as to which he had then but little doubt that it +was the footstep of Dobbs Broughton. 'O heavens! He is tipsy!' exclaimed +Mrs Broughton; 'and what shall we do?' Then Dalrymple took her hand and +pressed it; and left the room, so that he might meet the husband on the +stairs. In the one moment that he had for reflection he thought it was +better that there should be no concealment. + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +'IT'S DOGGED AS DOES IT' + +In accordance with the resolution to which the clerical commission had +come on the first day of their sitting, Dr Tempest wrote the following +letter to Mr Crawley:- + +'RECTORY, SILVERBRIDGE, April, 9, 186- +'DEAR SIR, + +'I have been given to understand that you have been informed +that the Bishop of Barchester has appointed a commission of +clergymen of the diocese to make inquiry respecting certain +accusations which, to the great regret of us all, have been +made against you, in respect of a cheque for twenty pounds +which was passed by you to a tradesman of the town. The +clergymen appointed to form this commission are Mr Oriel, +the rector of Greshamsbury, Mr Robarts, the vicar of +Framley, Mr Quiverful, the warden of Hiram's Hospital at +Barchester, and Mr Thumble, a clergyman established in that +city, and myself. We held our first meeting on last Monday, +and I now write to you in compliance with a resolution to +which we came. Before taking any other steps we thought it +best to ask you to attend us here on next Monday, at two +o'clock, and I beg that you will accept this letter as an +invitation to that effect. + +'We are, of course, aware that you are about to stand your +trial at the next assizes for the offence in question. I beg +you to understand that I do not express any opinion as to +your guilt. But I think it right to point out to you that in +the event of a jury finding an adverse verdict, the bishop +will be placed in great difficulty unless he were fortified +with the opinion of a commission formed from your fellow +clerical labourers in the diocese. Should such adverse +verdict unfortunately be given, the bishop would hardly be +justified in allowing a clergyman placed as you then would +be placed, to return to his cure after the expiration of +such punishment as the judge might award, without a further +decision from an ecclesiastical court. This decision he +could only obtain by proceeding against you under the Act in +reference to clerical offences, which empowers him as bishop +of the diocese to bring you before the Court of +Arches--unless you would think well to submit yourself +entirely to his judgment. You will, I think, understand what +I mean. The judge at assizes might find it his duty to +imprison a clergyman for a month--regarding tat clergyman +simply as he would regard any other person found guilty by a +jury and thus made subject to his judgment--and might do +this for an offence which the ecclesiastical judge would +find himself obliged to visit with the severer sentence of +prolonged suspension, or even with deprivation. + +'We are, however, clearly of the opinion that should the +jury find themselves able to acquit you, no further action +whatsoever should be taken. In such case we think that the +bishop may regard your innocence to be fully established, +and in such case we shall recommend his lordship to look +upon the matter as altogether at an end. I can assure you +that in such case I shall so regard it myself. + +'You will perceive that, as a consequence of this +resolution, to which we have already come, we are not minded +to take any inquiries ourselves into the circumstances of +your alleged guilt, till the verdict of the jury shall be +given. But should you be convicted, we must in that case +advise the bishop to take the proceedings to which I have +alluded, or to abstain from taking them. We wish to ask you +whether, now that our opinion has been conveyed to you, you +will be willing to submit the bishop's decision, in the +event of an adverse verdict being given by the jury; and we +think that it will be better for us all that you should meet +us here at the hour I have named on Monday next, the +fifteenth instant. It is not our intention to make any +report to the bishop until the trial shall be over.--I have +the honour to be, my dear sir, your obedient servant, + +'MORTIMER TEMPEST +'The Rev. Josiah Crawley, +'Hogglestock.' + +In the same envelope Dr Tempest sent a short private note, in which he +said that he should be very happy to see Mr Crawley at half-past one on +the Monday named, that luncheon would be ready at that hour, and that, +as Mr Crawley's attendance was required on public grounds, he would take +care that a carriage was provided for the day. + +Mr Crawley received this letter in his wife's presence, and read it in +silence. Mrs Crawley saw that he paid close attention to it, and was +sure--she felt that she was sure--that it referred in some way to the +terrible subject of the cheque for twenty pounds. Indeed, everything +that came into the house, almost every word spoken there, and every +thought that came into the breast of any of the family, had more or less +reference to the coming trial. How could it be otherwise? There was ruin +coming on them all--ruin and complete disgrace coming on father, mother, +and children! To have been accused itself was very bad; but now it +seemed to be the opinion of everyone that the verdict must be against +the man. Mrs Crawley herself, who was perfectly sure of her husband's +innocence before God, believed that the jury would find him guilty--and +believed also that he had become possessed of the money in some manner +that would have been dishonest, had he not been so different from other +people as to be entitled to be considered innocent where another man +would have been plainly guilty. She was full of the cheque for twenty +pounds, and of its results. When, therefore, he had read the letter +through a second time, and even then had spoken no word about it, of +course she could not refrain from questioning him. 'My love,' she said, +'what is the letter?' + +'It is on business,' he answered. + +She was silent for a moment before she spoke again. 'May I not know the +business?' + +'No,' said he; 'not at present.' + +'Is it from the bishop?' + +'Have I not answered you? Have I not given you to understand that, for +a while at least, I would prefer to keep the contents of this epistle to +myself?' Then he looked at her very sternly, and afterwards turned his +eyes upon the fireplace and gazed at the fire, as though he were +striving to read there something of his future fate. She did not much +regard the severity of his speech. That, too, like the taking of the +cheque itself, was to be forgiven him, because he was different from +other men. His black mood had come upon him, cutting his teeth. Let the +poor wayward sufferer be ever so petulant, the mother simply pities and +loves him, and is never angry. 'I beg your pardon, Josiah,' she said, +'but I thought it would comfort you to speak to me about it.' + +'It will not comfort me,' he said. 'Nothing comforts me. Nothing can +comfort me. Jane, give me my hat and my stick.' His daughter brought to +him his hat and stick, and without another word he went out and left +them. + +As a matter of course he turned his steps towards Hoggle End. When he +desired to be long absent from the house, he always went among the +brickmakers. His wife, as she stood at the window and watched the +direction in which he went, knew that he might be away for hours. The +only friends out of his own family with whom he ever spoke freely were +some of those rough parishioners. But he was not thinking of the +brickmakers when he started. He was simply desirous of reading again Dr +Tempest's letter, and of considering it, in some spot where no eye could +see him. He walked away with long steps, regarding nothing--neither the +ruts in the dirty lane, nor the young primroses which were fast showing +themselves on the banks, nor the gathering clouds which might have told +him of the coming rain. He went on for a couple of miles, till he had +nearly reached the outskirts of the colony of Hoggle End, and then he +sat himself down upon a gate. He had not been there a minute before a +few slow drops began to fall, but he was altogether too much wrapped up +in his thoughts to regard the rain. What answer should he make to this +letter from the man from Silverbridge? + +The position of his own mind in reference to his own guilt or his own +innocence was very singular. It was simply the truth that he did not +know how the cheque had come to him. He did know that he had blundered +about it most egregiously, especially when he had averred that this +cheque for twenty pounds had been identical with a cheque for another +sum which had been given to him by Mr Soames. He had blundered since, in +saying that the dean had given it to him. There could be no doubt as to +this, for the dean had denied that he had done so. And he had come to +think it very possible that he had indeed picked the cheque up, and had +afterwards used it, having deposited it by some strange accident--not +knowing then what he was doing, or what was the nature of the bit of +paper in his hand--with the notes which he had accepted from the dean +with so much reluctance, and with such an agony of spirit. In all these +thoughts of his own doings, and his own position, he almost admitted to +himself his own insanity, his inability to manage his own affairs with +that degree of rational sequence which is taken for granted as belonging +to a man when he is made subject to criminal laws. As he puzzled his +brain in his efforts to create a memory as to the cheque, and succeeded +in bringing to his mind a recollection that he had once known something +about the cheque--that the cheque had at one time been the subject of a +thought and a resolution--he admitted to himself that in accordance with +all law and all reason he must be regarded as a thief. He had taken and +used and spent that which he ought to have known was not his own--which +he would have known not to be his own but for some terrible incapacity +with which God had inflicted him. What then must be the result? His mind +was clear enough about this. If the jury should see everything and know +everything--as he would wish that they should do; and if the bishop's +commission, and the bishop himself, and the Court of Arches with its +judge, could see and know everything; and if so seeing and so knowing +they could act with clear honesty and perfect wisdom--what would they +do? They would declare of him that he was not a thief, only because he +was so muddy-minded, so addle-pated as not to know the difference +between meum and tuum! There could be no other end to it, let all the +lawyers and all the clergymen in England put their wits to it. Thought +he knew himself to be muddy-minded and addle-pated, he could see that. +And could anyone say of such a man that he was fit to be the +acting-clergyman of a parish--to have freehold possession in a parish as +curer of men's souls! The bishop was in the right of it, let him be ten +times as mean a fellow as he was. + +And yet as he sat there on the gate, while the rain came down heavily +upon him, even when admitting the justice of the bishop, and the truth +of the verdict which the jury would no doubt give, and the propriety of +the action which that cold, reasonable, prosperous man at Silverbridge +would take, he pitied himself with a tenderness of commiseration which +knew no bounds. As for those belonging to him, his wife and children, +his pity for them was of a different kind. He would have suffered any +increase of suffering, could he by such agony have released them. Dearly +as he loved them, he would have severed himself from them, had it been +possible. Terrible thoughts as to their fate had come into his mind in +the worst moments of his moodiness--thoughts which he had sufficient +strength and manliness to put away from him with a strong hand, lest +they should drive him to crime indeed; and these had come from the great +pity he had felt for them. But the commiseration which he had felt for +himself had been different from this, and had mostly visited him at +times when that other pity was for the moment in abeyance. What though +he had taken the cheque, and spent the money though it was not his? He +might be guilty before the law, but he was not guilty before God. There +had never been a thought of theft in his mind, or a desire to steal in +his heart. He knew that well enough. No jury could make him guilty of +theft before God. And what though this mixture of guilt and innocence +had come from madness--from madness which these courts must recognise if +they chose to find him innocent of the crime? In spite of his +aberrations of intellect, if there were any such, his ministrations in +his parish were good. Had he not preached fervently and well--preaching +the true gospel? Had he not been very diligent among his people, +striving with all his might to lessen the ignorance of the ignorant, and +to gild with godliness the learning of the instructed? Had he not been +patient, enduring, instant, and in all things amenable to the laws and +regulations laid down by the Church for his guidance in his duties as a +parish clergyman? Who could point out in what he had been astray, or +where he had gone amiss? But for the work which he had done with so much +zeal the Church which he served had paid him so miserable a pittance +that, though life and soul had been kept together, the reason, or a +fragment of the reason, had at moments escaped from his keeping in the +scramble. Hence it was that this terrible calamity had fallen upon him! +Who had been tried as he had been tried, and had gone through such fire +with less loss of intellectual power than he had done? He was still a +scholar, though no brother scholar ever came near him, and would make +Greek iambics as he walked through the lanes. His memory was stored with +poetry, though no book ever came into his hands, except those shorn and +tattered volumes which lay upon his table. Old problems in trigonometry +were the pleasing relaxations of his mind, and complications of figures +were a delight to him. There was not one of those prosperous clergymen +around him, and who scorned him, whom he could not have instructed in +Hebrew. It was always a gratification to him to remember that his old +friend the dean was weak in his Hebrew. He, with these acquirements, +with these fitnesses, had been thrust down to the ground--to the very +granite--and because in that harsh heartless thrusting his intellect had +for moments wavered as to common things, cleaving still to all its +grander, nobler possessions, he was now to be rent in pieces and +scattered to the winds, as being altogether vile, worthless, and worse +than worthless. It was thus that he thought of himself, pitying himself, +as he sat upon the gate, while the rain fell ruthlessly on his +shoulders. + +He pitied himself with a commiseration that was sickly in spite of its +truth. It was the fault of the man that he was imbued too strongly with +self-consciousness. He could do a great thing or two. He could keep up +his courage in positions which would wash all the courage out of most +men. He could tell the truth though truth should ruin him. He could +sacrifice all that he had to duty. He could do justice though the heaven +should fall. But he could not forget to pay tribute to himself for the +greatness of his own actions; nor, when accepting with an effort of +meekness the small payment made by the world to him, in return for his +great works, could he forget the great payments made to others for small +work. It was not sufficient for him to remember that he knew Hebrew, but +he must remember also that the dean did not. + +Nevertheless, as he sat there under the rain, he made up his mind with a +clearness that certainly had in it nothing of that muddiness of mind of +which he had often accused himself. Indeed, the intellect of this man +was essentially clear. It was simply that his memory that would play him +tricks--his memory as to things which at the moment were not important +to him. The fact that the dean had given him money was very important, +and he remembered it well. But the amount of the money, and its form, at +a moment in which he had flattered himself that he might have strength +to leave it unused, had not been important to him. Now, he resolved that +he would go to Dr Tempest, and that he would tell Dr Tempest that there +was not occasion for any further inquiry. He would submit to the bishop, +let the bishop's decision be what it might. Things were different since +the day on which he had refused Mr Thumble admission to his pulpit. At +that time people believed him to be innocent, and he so believed of +himself. Now, people believed him to be guilty, and it could not be +right that a man held in such slight esteem could exercise the functions +of a parish priest, let his own opinion of himself be what it might. He +would submit himself, and go anywhere--to the galleys or the workhouse, +if they wished it. As for his wife and children, they would, he said to +himself, be better without him than with him. The world would never be +so hard to a woman or to children as it had been to him. + +He was sitting saturated with rain--saturated also with thinking--and +quite unobservant of anything around him, when he was accosted by an old +man from Hoggle End, with whom he was well acquainted. 'Thee be wat, +Master Crawley,' said the old man. + +'Wet!' said Crawley, recalled suddenly back to the realities of life. +'Well--yes. I am wet. That's because it's raining.' + +'Thee be teeming o'wat. Hadn't thee better go home?' + +'And are you not wet also,' said Mr Crawley, looking at the old man, who +had been at work in the brickfield, and who was soaked with mire, and +from whom there seemed to come a steam of muddy mist. + +'Is it me, yer reverence? I'm wat of course. The loikes of us is +always wat--that is barring the insides of us. It comes to us natural to +have the rheumatics. How is one of us to help hisself against having on +'em? But there ain't no call for the loikes of you to have the +rheumatics.' + +'My friend,' said Crawley, who was now standing on the road--and as he +spoke he put out his arm and took the brickmaker by the hand, 'there is +a worse complaint than rheumatism--there is, indeed.' + +'There's what they calls the collerer,' said Giles Hoggett, looking up +into Crawley's face. 'That ain't a-got hold of yer?' + +'Ay, and worse than the cholera. A man is killed all over when he is +struck with pride--and yet he lives.' + +'Maybe that's bad enough too,' said Giles, with his hand still held by +the other. + +'It is bad enough,' said Crawley, striking his breast with his left +hand. 'It is bad enough.' + +'Tell 'ee what, Master Crawley;--and yer reverence mustn't think as I +means to be preaching; there ain't nowt a man can't bear if he'll only +be dogged. You to whome, Master Crawley, and think o' that, and maybe +it'll do ye a good yet. It's dogged as does it. It ain't thinking about +it.' Then Giles Hoggett withdrew his hand from the clergyman's, and +walked away towards his home at Hoggle End. Mr Crawley also turned away +homewards, and as he made his way through the lanes, he repeated to +himself Giles Hoggett's words. 'It's dogged as does it. It's not +thinking about it.' + +He did not say a word to his wife on that afternoon about Dr Tempest; +and she was so much taken up with his outward condition when he +returned, as almost to have forgotten the letter. He allowed himself, +but barely allowed himself, to be made dry, and then for the remainder +of the day applied himself to learn the lesson which Hoggett had +endeavoured to teach him. But the learning of it was not easy, and +hardly became more easy when he had worked the problem out in his own +mind, and discovered that the brickmaker's doggedness simply meant +self-abnegation--that a man should force himself to endure anything that +might be sent upon him, not only without outward grumbling, but also +without grumbling inwardly. + +Early on the next morning, he told his wife that he was going into +Silverbridge. 'It is that letter--the letter which I got yesterday that +calls me,' he said. And then he handed her the letter as to which he had +refused to speak to her on the preceding day. + +'But this speaks of your going next Monday, Josiah,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'I find it more suitable that I should go today,' said he. 'Some duty I +do owe in this matter, both to the bishop, and to Dr Tempest, who, after +a fashion is, as regards my present business, the bishop's +representative. But I do not perceive that I owe it as a duty to either +to obey implicitly their injunctions, and I will not submit myself to +the cross-questioning of the man Thumble. As I am purposed at present I +shall express my willingness to give up the parish.' + +'Give up the parish altogether?' + +'Yes, altogether.' As he spoke he clasped both his hands together, and +having held them for a moment on high, allowed them to fall thus clasped +before him. 'I cannot give it up in part; I cannot abandon the duties +and reserve the honorarium. Nor would I if I could.' + +'I did not mean that, Josiah. But pray think of it before you speak.' + +'I have thought of it, and I will think of it. Farewell, my dear.' +Then he came up to her and kissed her, and started on his journey on +foot to Silverbridge. + +It was about noon when he reached Silverbridge, and he was told that +Doctor Tempest was at home. The servant asked him for a card. 'I have no +card,' said Mr Crawley, 'but I will write my name for your behoof if +your master's hospitality will allow me paper and pencil.' The name was +written, and as Crawley waited in the drawing-room he spent his time in +hating Dr Tempest because the door had been opened by a man-servant +dressed in black. Had the man been in livery he would have hated Dr +Tempest all the same. And he would have hated him a little had the door +been opened by a smart maid. + +'Your letter came to hand yesterday morning, Dr Tempest,' said Mr +Crawley, still standing, though the doctor had pointed to a chair for +him after shaking hands with him; 'and having given yesterday to the +consideration of it, with what judgment I have been able to exercise, I +have felt it to be incumbent upon me to wait upon you without further +delay, as by doing so I may perhaps assist your views and save labour to +those gentlemen who are joined with you in this commission of which you +have spoken. To some of them it may possibly be troublesome that they +should be brought here on next Monday. + +Dr Tempest had been looking at him during this speech, and could see by +his shoes and trousers that he had walked from Hogglestock to +Silverbridge. 'Mr Crawley, will you not sit down?' said he, and then he +rang his bell. Mr Crawley sat down, not on the chair indicated, but on +the further removed and at the other side of the table. When the servant +came--the objectionable butler in black clothes that were so much +smarter than Mr Crawley's own--his master's orders were communicated +without any audible word, and the man returned with a decanter and +wine-glasses. + +'After your walk, Mr Crawley,' said Dr Tempest, getting up from his seat +to pour out wine. + +'None, I thank you.' + +'Pray let me persuade you. I know the length of the miles so well.' + +'I will take none if you please, sir,' said Mr Crawley. + +'Now, Mr Crawley,' said Dr Tempest, 'do let me speak to you as a friend. +You have walked eight miles, and are going to talk to me on a subject +which is of vital importance to yourself. I won't discuss it unless +you'll take a glass of wine and a biscuit.' + +'Dr Tempest!' + +'I'm quite in earnest. I won't. If you do as I ask, you shall talk to +me till dinner-time, if you like. There. Now you may begin.' + +Mr Crawley did eat the biscuit and did drink the wine, and as he did so, +he acknowledged to himself that Dr Tempest was right. He felt that the +wine had made him stronger to speak. 'I hardly know why you have +preferred today to next Monday,' said Dr Tempest; 'but if anything can +be done by your presence here today, your time shall not be thrown +away.' + +'I have preferred today to Monday,' said Crawley, 'partly because I +would sooner talk to one man than to five.' + +'There is something in that, certainly,' said Dr Tempest. + +'And as I have made up my mind as to the course of action which it is my +duty to take in the matter to which your letter of the ninth of this +month refers, there can be no reason why I should postpone the +declaration of my purpose. Dr Tempest, I have determined to resign my +preferment at Hogglestock, and shall today write to the Dean of +Barchester, who is the patron, acquainting him of my purpose.' + +'You mean in the event--in the event--' + +'I mean, sir, to do this without reference to any event that is future. +The bishop, Dr Tempest, when I shall have been proved to be a thief, +shall have no trouble either in causing my suspension or my deprivation. +The name and fame of a parish clergyman should be unstained. Mine have +become foul with infamy. I will not wait to be deprived by any court, by +any bishop, or by any commission. I will bow my head to that public +opinion which has reached me, and I will deprive myself.' + +He had got up from his chair, and was standing as he pronounced the +final sentence against himself. Dr Tempest still remained seated in his +chair, looking at him, and for a few moments there was silence. 'You +must not do that, Mr Crawley,' said Dr Tempest, at last. + +'But I shall do it.' + +'Then the dean must not take your resignation. Speaking to you frankly, +I tell you that there is no prevailing opinion as to the verdict which +the jury may give.' + +'My decision has nothing to do with the jury's verdict. My decision--' + +'Stop a moment, Mr Crawley. It is possible that you might say that +which should not be said.' + +'There is nothing to be said--nothing which I could say, which I would +not say at the Town Cross if it were possible. As to this money, I do +not know whether I stole it or whether I did not.' + +'That is just what I have thought.' + +'It is so.' + +'Then you did not steal it. There can be no doubt about that.' + +'Thank you, Dr Tempest. I thank you heartily for saying so much. But, +sir, you are not the jury. Nor, if you were, could you whitewash me from +the infamy which has been cast upon me. Against the opinion expressed at +the beginning of these proceedings by the bishop of this diocese--or +rather against that expressed by his wife--I did venture to make a +stand. Neither the opinion which came from the palace, nor the vehicle +by which it was expressed, commanded my respect. Since that, others have +spoken to whom I feel myself bound to yield--yourself not the least +among them, Dr Tempest--and to them I shall yield. You may tell the +Bishop of Barchester, that I shall at once resign the perpetual curacy +of Hogglestock into the hands of the Dean of Barchester, by whom I was +appointed.' + +'No, Mr Crawley; I shall not do that. I cannot control you, but +thinking you to be wrong, I shall not make that communication to the +bishop.' + +'Then I shall do it myself.' + +'And your wife, Mr Crawley, and your children?' + +At that moment Mr Crawley called to mind the advice of his friend Giles +Hoggett. 'It'd dogged as does it.' He certainly wanted something very +strong to sustain him in this difficulty. He found that this reference +to his wife and children required him to be dogged in a very marked +manner. 'I can only trust that the wind may be tempered to them,' he +said. 'They will, indeed, be shorn lambs.' + +Dr Tempest got up from his chair, and took a couple of turns about the +room before he spoke again. 'Man,' he said, addressing Mr Crawley with +all his energy, 'if you do this thing, you will then at least be very +wicked. If the jury find a verdict in your favour you are safe, and the +chances are that the verdict will be in your favour.' + +'I care nothing now for the verdict,' said Mr Crawley. + +'And you will turn your wife into the poorhouse for an idea!' + +'It's dogged as does it,' said Mr Crawley to himself. 'I have thought +of that,' he said aloud. 'That my wife is dear to me, and that my +children are dear, I will not deny. She was softly nurtured, Dr Tempest, +and came from a house in which want was never known. Since she has +shared my board she has had some experience of that nature. That I +should have brought her to all this is very terrible to me--so terrible, +that I often wonder how it is that I live. But, sir, you will agree with +me, that my duty as a clergyman is above everything. I do not dare, even +for their sake, to remain in the parish. Good morning, Dr Tempest.' Dr +Tempest, finding that he could not prevail with him, bade him adieu, +feeling that any service to the Crawleys within in his power might be +best done by intercession with the bishop and with the dean. + +Then Mr Crawley walked back to Hogglestock, repeating to himself Giles +Hoggett's words, 'It's dogged as does it.' + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +MR CRAWLEY'S LETTER TO THE DEAN + +Mr Crawley, when he got home after his walk to Silverbridge, denied that +he was at all tired. 'The man at Silverbridge, whom I went to see +administered refreshment to me;--nay, he administered it with salutary +violence,' he said, affecting even to laugh. 'And I am bound to speak +well of him on behalf of mercies over and beyond that exhibited by the +persistent tender of some wine. That I should find him judicious I had +expected. What little I have known of him taught me so to think of him. +But I found with him also a softness of heart for which I had not +looked.' + +'And you will not give up the living, Josiah?' + +'Most certainly I will. A duty, when it is clear before a man, should +never be made less so by any tenderness in others.' He was still +thinking of Giles Hoggett. 'It's dogged as does it.' The poor woman +could not answer him. She knew well that it was vain to argue with him. +She could only hope that in the event of his being acquitted at the +trial, the dean, whose friendship she did not doubt, might re-endow him +with the small benefice which was their only source of bread. + +On the following morning there came by post a short note from Dr +Tempest. 'My dear Mr Crawley,' the note ran, 'I implore you, +if there be yet time, to do nothing rashly. And even though +you should have written to the bishop or to the dean, your +letters need have no effect, if you will allow me to make +them inoperative. Permit me to say that I am a man much +older than you, and one who has mixed much both with +clergymen and with the world at large. I tell you with +absolute confidence, that it is not your duty in your +present position to give up your living. Should your conduct +ever be called in question on this matter you will be at +perfect liberty to say that you were guided by my advice. +You should take no step till after the trial. Then, if the +verdict be against you, you should submit to the bishop's +judgment. If the verdict be in your favour, the bishop's +interference will be over.' + +'And you must remember that if it is not your duty as a +clergyman to give up your living, you can have no right, +seeing that you have a wife and family, to throw it away as +an indulgence to your pride. Consult any other friend you +please--Mr Robarts, or the dean himself. I am quite sure +that any friend who knows many of the circumstances as I +know will advise you to hold the living, at any rate till +after the trial. You can refer any such friend to +me.--Believe me, to be yours very truly, +MORTIMER TEMPEST' + +Mr Crawley walked about again with this letter in his pocket, but on +this occasion he did not go in the direction of Hoggle End. From Hoggle +End he could hardly hope to pick up further lessons of wisdom. What +could any Giles Hoggett say to him beyond what he had said to him +already? If he were to read the doctor's letter to Hoggett, and to +succeed in making Hoggett understand it, Hoggett could only caution him +to be dogged. But it seemed to him that Hoggett and his new friend at +Silverbridge did not agree in their doctrines, and it might be well that +he should endeavour to find out which of them had most of justice on his +side. He was quite sure that Hoggett would advise him to adhere to his +project of giving up the living--if only Hoggett could me made to +understand the circumstances. + +'He had written, but had not as yet sent away his letter to the dean. + +His letter to the bishop would be but a note, and he had postponed the +writing of that till the other should be copied and made complete. + +He had sat up late into the night composing and altering his letter to +his old friend, and now that the composition was finished he was loth to +throw it away. Early in this morning, before the postman had brought to +him Dr Tempest's urgent remonstrance, he had shown to his wife the draft +of his letter to the dean. 'I cannot say that it is not true,' she had +said. + +'It is certainly true.' + +'But I wish, my dear, you would not send it. Why should you take any +step till the trial be over?' + +'I shall assuredly send it,' he had replied. 'If you will peruse it +again, you will see that the epistle would be futile were it kept till I +shall have been proved to be a thief.' + +'Oh, Josiah, such words kill me.' + +'They are not pleasant, but it will be well that you should become used +to them. As for the letter, I have taken some trouble to express myself +with perspicuity, and I trust that I may have succeeded.' At that time +Hoggett was altogether in the ascendant; but now, as he started on his +walk, his mind was somewhat perturbed by the contrary advice of one, who +after all, might be as wise as Hoggett. There would be nothing dogged in +the conduct recommended to him by Dr Tempest. Were he to follow the +doctor's advice, he would be trimming his sails, so as to catch any +slant of a breeze that might be favourable to him. There could be no +doggedness in a character that would submit to such trimming. + +The postman came to Hogglestock but once a day, so that he could not +despatch his letter till the next morning--unless, indeed, he chose to +send it a distance of four miles to the nearest post-office. As there +was nothing to justify this, there was another night for the copying of +his letter--should he at last determine to send it. He had sworn to his +wife that it should go. He had taken much trouble with it. He believed +in Hoggett. But, nevertheless, this incumbency of Hogglestock was his +all in the world. It might be that he could still hold it, and have +bread at least for his wife to eat. Dr Tempest had told him that he +would be probably acquitted. Dr Tempest knew as much of all the +circumstances as he did himself, and had told him that he was not +guilty. After all, Dr Tempest knew more about it that Hoggett knew. + +If he resigned the living, what would become of him--of him--of him and +his wife? Whither would they first go when they turned their back upon +the door inside which there had at any rate been shelter for them for so +many years? He calculated everything that he had, and found that at the +end of April, even when he should have received his rent-charge, there +would not be five pounds in hand among them. As for his furniture, he +still owed enough to make it impossible that he should get anything out +of that. And these thoughts all had reference to his position if he +should be acquitted. What would become of his wife if he should be +convicted? And as for himself, whither would he go when he came out of +prison? + +He had completely realised the idea that Hoggett's counsel was opposed +to that given to him by Dr Tempest; but then it might certainly be the +case that Hoggett had not known all the facts. A man should, no doubt, +be dogged when the evils of life are insuperable; but need he be so when +the evils can be overcome? Would not Hoggett himself undergo any +treatment which he believed to be specific for rheumatism? Yes; Hoggett +would undergo any treatment that was not in itself opposed to his duty. +The best treatment for rheumatism might be to stay away from the brick- +field on a rainy day; but if so, there would be no money to keep the pot +boiling, and Hoggett would certainly go to the brick-field, rheumatism +and all, as long as his limbs would carry him there. Yes; he would send +his letter. It was his duty, and he would do it. Men looked askance at +him, and pointed at him as a thief. He would send the letter, in spite +of Dr Tempest. Let justice be done, though the heaven may fall. + +He had heard of Lady Lufton's to his wife. The offers of the Lady +Luftons of the world had been sorely distressing to his spirit, since it +had first come to pass that such offers had reached him in consequence +of his poverty. But now there was something almost of relief to him in +the thought that the Lady Luftons would, after some fashion, save his +wife and children from starvation--would save his wife from the +poorhouse, and enable his children to have a start in the world. For one +of his children a brilliant marriage might be provided--if only he +himself were out of the way. How could he take himself out of the way? +It had been whispered to him that he might be imprisoned for two +months--or for two years. Would it not be a grand thing if the judge +would condemn him to be imprisoned for life? Was thee ever a man whose +existence was so purposeless, so useless, so deleterious, as his own? +And yet he knew Hebrew well, whereas the dean knew but very little +Hebrew. He could make Greek iambics, and doubted whether the bishop knew +the difference between an iambus and a trochee. He could disport himself +with trigonometry, feeling confident that Dr Tempest had forgotten his +way over the asses' bridge. He knew 'Lycidas' by heart; and as for +Thumble, he felt quite sure that Thumble was incompetent of +understanding a single allusion in that divine poem. Nevertheless, +though all his wealth of acquirement was his, it would be better for +himself, better for those who belonged to him, better for the world at +large, that he should be put an end to. A sentence of penal servitude +for life, without any trial, would be of all things the most desirable. +Then there would be ample room for the practice of the virtue that +Hoggett had taught him. + +When he returned home the Hoggethan doctrine prevailed, and he prepared +to copy his letter. But before he commenced his task, he sat down with +his youngest daughter, and read--or made her read to him--a passage of a +Greek poem, in which are described the troubles and agonies of a blind +giant. No giant would have been more powerful--only that he was blind, +and could not see to avenge himself on those who had injured him. 'The +same story is always coming up,' he said, stopping the girl in her +reading. 'We have it in various versions, because it is true to life. + +"Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him +Eyeless in Gaza, at the mill with slaves." + +It is the same story. Great power reduced to impotence, great glory to +misery, by the hand of Fate--Necessity, as the Greeks called her; to +goddess that will not be shunned. At the mill with slaves! People, when +they read it, do not appreciate the horror of the picture. Go on my +dear. It may be a question whether Polyphemus had mind enough to suffer; +but, from the description of his power, I should think he had. "At the +mill with slaves!" Can any picture be more dreadful than that? Go on, my +dear. Of course you remember Milton's Samson Agonistes. Agonistes +indeed!' His wife was sitting stitching at the other side of the room; +but she heard his words--heard and understood them; and before Jane +could again get herself into the swing of the Greek verse, she was over +at her husband's side, with her arms round his neck. 'My love!' she +said. 'My love!' + +He turned to her, and smiled as he spoke to her. 'These are old +thoughts with me. Polyphemus and Belisarius, and Samson and Milton, have +always been pets of mine. The mind of the strong blind creature must be +sensible of the injury that he has been done to him! The impotency, +combined with the strength, or rather the impotency with the misery of +former strength and former aspirations, is so essentially tragic!' + +She looked into his eyes as he spoke, and there was something of the +flash of old days, when the world was young to them, and when he would +tell her of his hopes, and repeat to her long passages of poetry, and +would criticise for her advantage the works of the old writers. 'Thank +God,' she said, 'that you are not blind. It may yet be all right with +you.' + +'Yes--it may be,' he said. + +'And you shall not be at the mill with slaves.' + +'Or, at any rate, not eyeless in Gaza, if the Lord is good to me. Come, +Jane, we will go on.' Then he took up the passage himself, and read it +on with clear, sonorous voice, every now and then explaining some +passage or expressing his own ideas upon it, as though he were really +happy with his poetry. + +It was late in the evening before he got out his small stock of best +letter-paper, and sat down to work at his letter. He first addressed +himself to the bishop; and what he wrote down to the bishop was as +follows:- + +'HOGGLESTOCK PARSONAGE, April 11, 186- + +'MY LORD BISHOP, + +'I have been in communication with Dr Tempest, of +Silverbridge, from whom I have learned that your lordship +has been pleased to appoint a commission of inquiry--of +which commission he is the chairman--with reference to the +proceedings which it may be necessary that you should take, +as bishop of the diocese, after my forthcoming trial at the +approaching Barchester assizes. My lord, I think it right to +inform you, partly with a view to the comfort of the +gentlemen named on that commission, and partly with the +purport of giving you the information which I think that a +bishop should possess in regard to the clerical affairs of +his own diocese, that I have by this post resigned my +preferment at Hogglestock into the hands of the Dean of +Barchester, by whom it was given to me. In these +circumstances, it will, I suppose, be unnecessary for you to +continue the commission which you have set in force; but as +to that, your lordship will, of course, be the only +judge.--I have the honour to be, my Lord Bishop, your most +obedient and very humble servant, + +'JOSIAH CRAWLEY +Perpetual Curate of Hogglestock +'The Right Reverend +'The Bishop of Barchester, +'&c, &c, &c +The Palace, Barchester' + +But the letter which was of real importance--which was intended to say +something--was that to the dean, and that also shall be given to the +reader. Mr Crawley had been for a while in doubt how he should address +his old friend in commencing this letter, understanding that its tone +throughout must be, in a great degree, be mad conformable with its first +words. He would fain, in his pride, have begun 'Sir'. The question was +between that and 'My dear Arabin'. It had once between them always been +'Dear Frank,' and Dear Joe'' but the occasions for 'Dear Frank' and +'Dear Joe' between them had long been past. Crawley would have been very +angry had he now been called Joe by the dean, and would have bitten his +tongue out before he would have called the dean Frank. His better +nature, however, now prevailed, and he began his letter, and completed +it as follows:- + +'MY DEAR ARABIN, + +'Circumstances, of which you have probably heard something, +compel me to write to you, as I fear, at some length. I am +sorry that the trouble of such a letter should be forced +upon you during your holidays';--Mr Crawley, as he wrote +this, did not forget to remind himself that he never had any +holidays;--'but I think you will admit, if you will bear +with me to the end, that I have no alternative. + +'I have been accused of stealing a cheque for twenty pounds, +which cheque was drawn by Lord Lufton on his London bankers, +and was lost out of his pocket by Mr Soames, his lordship's +agent, and was so lost, as Mr Soames states--but with an +absolute assertion--during a visit which he made to my +parsonage here at Hogglestock. Of the fact that I paid the +cheque to a tradesman in Silverbridge there is no doubt. +When questioned about it, I first gave an answer which was +so manifestly incorrect that it has seemed odd to me that I +should not have had credit for a mistake from those who must +have seen that detection was so evident. The blunder was +undoubtedly stupid, and it now bears heavily on me. I then, +as I have learned, made another error--of which I am aware +that you have been informed. I said that the cheque had come +from you, and in saying so, I thought that it had formed a +portion of that alms which your open-handed benevolence +bestowed upon me when I attended on you, not long before +your departure, in your library. I have striven to remember +the facts. It may be--nay, it probably is the case--that +such struggles to catch some accurate glimpse of bygone +things do not trouble you. You mind is, no doubt, clearer +and stronger than mine, having been kept to its proper tune +by greater and fitter work. With me, memory is all but gone, +and the power of thinking is on the wane! I struggled to +remember, and I thought that the cheque had been in an +envelope which you handed to me--and I said so. I have since +learned, from tidings received, as I am told, direct from +yourself, that I was wrong in the second statement as I had +been in the first. The double blunder has, of course, been +very heavy on me. + +'I was taken before the magistrates at Silverbridge, and was +by them committed to stand my trial at the assizes to be +holden in Barchester on the twenty-eighth of this month. +Without doubt, the magistrates had not alternative but to +commit me, and I am indebted to them that they have allowed +me my present liberty upon bail. That my sufferings in all +this should have been grievous, you will understand. But on +that head I shall not touch, were it not that I am bound to +explain to you that my troubles with reference to this +parish of Hogglestock, to which I was appointed by you, have +not been the slightest of those sufferings. I felt at first, +believing then that the world around me would think it +unlikely that such a one as I had wilfully stolen a sum of +money, that it was my duty to maintain myself in my church. +I did so maintain myself against an attack made upon me by +the bishop, who sent over to Hogglestock one Mr Thumble, a +gentleman doubtless in holy orders, though I know nothing +and can learn nothing of the place of his cure, to +dispossess me of my pulpit and to remove me from my +ministrations among my people. To Mr Thumble I turned a deaf +ear, and would not let him so much as open his mouth inside +the porch of my church. Up to this time I myself have read +the services, and have preached to the people, and have +continued, as best I could, my visits to the poor and my +labours in the school, though I know--no one knows as +well--how unfitted I am for such work by the grief which has +fallen upon me. + +'Then the bishop sent for me, and I thought it becoming on +my part to go to him. I presented myself to his lordship at +his palace, and was minded to be much governed in my conduct +by what he might say to me, remembering that I am bound to +respect the office, even though I may not approve of the +man; and I humbled myself before his lordship, waiting +patiently for any directions which he in his discretion +might think it proper to bestow on me. But there arose up +between us that very pestilent woman, his wife--to his +dismay, seemingly, as much as to mine--and she would let +there place for no speech but her own. If there be aught +clear to me in ecclesiastical matters, it is this--that no +authority can be delegated to a female. The special laws of +this and of some other countries do allow that women shall +sit upon the temporal thrones of the earth, but on the +lowest step of the throne of the Church no woman has been +allowed to sit as bearing authority, the romantic tale of +the woman Pope notwithstanding. Thereupon, I left the palace +in wrath, feeling myself aggrieved that a woman should have +attempted to dictate to me, and finding it hopeless to get a +clear instruction from his lordship--the woman taking up the +word whenever I put a question to my lord the bishop. +Nothing, therefore, came of that interview but fruitless +labour to myself, and anger, of which I have since been +ashamed. + +'Since that time I have continued in my parish--working, not +without zeal, though, in truth, almost without hope--and +learning even from day to day that the opinion of men around +me have declared me to be guilty of the crime imputed to me. +And now the bishop has issued a commission as preparatory to +proceedings against me under the Act for the punishment for +clerical offences. In doing this, I cannot say that the +bishop has been ill-advised, even though the advice may have +come from that evil-tongued lady, his wife. And I hold that +a woman may be called upon for advice, with most salutary +effect, in affairs as to which any show of female authority +should be equally false and pernicious. With me it has ever +been so, and I have had a counsellor by me as wise as she +has been devoted.' It must be noticed that in the draft copy +of his letter which Mr Crawley gave to his wife to read this +last sentence was not inserted. Intending that she should +read his letter, he omitted it till he made the fair copy. +'Over this commission his lordship has appointed Dr Tempest +of Silverbridge to preside, and with him I have been in +communication. I trust that the labours of the gentlemen of +whom it is composed may be brought to a speedy close; and, +having regard to their trouble, I have informed Dr Tempest +that I should write this letter to you with the intent and +assured purpose of resigning the perpetual curacy of +Hogglestock in your hands. + +'You will be good enough, therefore, to understand that I do +so resign the living, and that I shall continue to +administer the services of the Church only till some +clergyman, certified to me as coming from you or from the +bishop, may present himself in the parish, and shall declare +himself prepared to undertake the cure. Should it be so that +Mr Thumble be sent hither again, I will sit under him, +endeavouring to catch improvement from his teaching, and +striving to overcome the contempt which I felt for him when +he before visited this parish. I annex beneath my signature +a copy of the letter which I have written to the bishop on +this subject. + +'And now it behoves me, as the guardianship of the souls of +those was placed in my hands by you, to explain to you as +shortly as may be possible the reasons which had induced me +to abandon my work. One or two whose judgment I do not +discredit--and I am allowed to name Dr Tempest of +Silverbridge as one--have suggested to me that I should take +no step till after my trial. They think that I should have +regard to the chance of the verdict, so that the preferment +may still be mine should I be acquitted; and they say, that +should I be acquitted, the bishop's action against me must +of necessity cease. That they are right in these facts I do +not doubt; but in giving such advice they look only to the +facts, having no regard to the conscience. I do not blame +them. I should give such advice myself, knowing that a +friend may give counsel as to outer things, but that a man +must satisfy his inner conscience by his own perceptions of +what is right and what is wrong. + +'I find myself to be ill-spoken of, to be regarded with hard +eyes by those around me, my people thinking that I have +stolen this money. Two farmers in this parish, have, as I am +aware, expressed opinions that no jury could acquit me +honestly, and neither of these men have appeared in my +church since the expression of that opinion. I doubt whether +they have gone to other churches; and if not they have been +deterred from all public worship by my presence. If this be +so, how can I with a clear conscience remain among these +men? Shall I take from their hands wages for those +administrations, which their deliberately formed opinions +will not allow them to accept from my hands?' And yet, +though he thus pleaded against himself, he knew that the two +men of whom he was speaking were thick-headed dolts who were +always tipsy in Saturday nights, and who came to church +perhaps once in three weeks. + +'Your kind heart will doubtless prompt you to tell me that +no clergyman could be safe in his parish if he were to allow +the opinion of chance parishioners to prevail against him; +and you would probably lay down for my guidance the grand +old doctrine "Nil conscire sibi; nulla pallescere culpa." +Presuming that you may do so, I will acknowledge such +guidance to be good. If my mind were clear in this matter, I +would not budge an inch for any farmer--no, nor for any +bishop, further than he might by law compel me! But my mind +is not clear. I do grow pale, and my hairs stands on end +with horror, as I confess to myself that I do not know +whether I stole this money or no! Such is the fact. In all +sincerity I tell you that I know not whether I be guilty or +innocent. It may be that I picked up the cheque from the +floor of my room, and afterwards took it out and used it, +not knowing whence it had come to me. If it be so, I stole +it, and am guilty before the laws of my country. If it be +so, I am not fit to administer the Lord's sacraments to +these people. When the cup was last in my hand and I was +blessing them, I felt that I was not fit, and I almost +dropped the chalice. That God will know my weakness and +pardon me the perplexity of my mind--that is between Him and +His creature. + +'As I read my letter over to myself I feel how weak are my +words, and how inefficient to explain to you the exact +position in which I stand; but they will suffice to convince +you that I am assuredly purposed to resign this parish of +Hogglestock, and that it is therefore incumbent on you, as +patron of the living, to nominate my successor to the +benefice. I have only further to ask your pardon for this +long letter, and to thank you again for the many and great +marks of friendship which you have conferred on me. Alas, +could you have foreseen in those old days how barren of all +good would have been the life of him you then esteemed, you +might perhaps have escaped the disgrace of being called the +friend of one whom no one now regards with esteem.-- +Nevertheless, I may still say that I am, with all affection, +yours truly, +'JOSIAH CRAWLEY' + +The last paragraph of the letter was also added, since his wife had read +it. When he had first composed the letter, he had been somewhat proud of +his words, thinking that he had clearly told his story. But, when +sitting alone at his desk, he read it again, filling his mind as he went +on with ideas which he would fain have expressed to his old friend, were +it not that he feared to indulge himself with too many words, he began +to tell himself that his story was anything but well told. There was no +expression there of the Hoggethan doctrine. In answer to such a letter +as that the dean might well say, 'Think again of it. Try yet to save +yourself. Never mind the two farmers, or Mr Thumble, or the bishop. +Stick to the ship while there is a plank above the water.' Whereas it +had been his desire to use words that should make the dean clearly +understand that the thing was decided. He had failed--as he had failed +in everything throughout his life; but nevertheless the letter must go. +Were he to begin again he would not do it better. So he added to what he +had written a copy of his note to the bishop, and the letter was +fastened and sent. + +Mrs Crawley might probably have been more instant in her efforts to stop +the letter, had she not felt that it would not decide everything. In the +first place it was improbable that the letter might not reach the dean +till after his return home--and Mrs Crawley had long since made up her +mind that she would see the dean as soon as possible after his return. +She had heard from Lady Lufton that it was not doubted in Barchester +that he would be back at any rate before the judges came into the city. +And then, in the next place, was it probable that the dean would act +upon such a letter by filling up the vacancy, even if he did get it? She +trusted in the dean, and knew that he would help them, if any help were +possible. Should the verdict go against her husband, then indeed it +might be that no help would be possible. In such case she thought that +the bishop with his commission might prevail. But she still believed +that the verdict would be favourable, if not with an assured belief, +still with a hope that was sufficient to stand in lieu of a belief. No +single man, let alone no twelve men, could think that her husband had +intended to appropriate the money dishonestly. That he had taken it +improperly--without real possession--she herself believed; but he had +not taken it as a thief, and could not merit a thief's punishment. After +two days he got a reply from the bishop's chaplain, in which the +chaplain expressed the bishop's commendation of Mr Crawley's present +conduct. 'Mr Thumble shall proceed from hence to Hogglestock on next +Sunday,' said the chaplain, 'and shall relieve you for the present from +the burden of your duties. As to the future status of the parish, it +will perhaps be best that nothing shall be done till the dean returns +--or perhaps till the assizes shall be over. This is the bishop's +opinion.' It need hardly be explained that the promised visit of Mr +Thumble to Hogglestock was gall and wormwood to Mr Crawley. He had told +the dean that should Mr Thumble come, he would endeavour to learn +something even from him. But it may be doubted whether Mr Crawley in his +present mood could learn anything useful from Mr Thumble. Giles Hoggett +was a much more effective teacher. + +'I will endure even that,' he said to his wife, as she handed to him +back the letter from the bishop's chaplain. + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +TWO VISITORS TO HOGGLESTOCK + +The cross-grainedness of men is so great that things will often be +forced to go wrong, even when they have the strongest possible natural +tendency of their own to go right. It was now in these affairs between +the archdeacon and his son. The original difficulty was solved by the +good feeling of the young lady--by that and by the real kindness of the +archdeacon's nature. They had come to terms which were satisfactory to +both of them, and those terms admitted of perfect reconciliation between +the father and his son. Whether the major did marry the lady or whether +he did not, his allowance was to be continued to him, the archdeacon +being perfectly willing to trust himself in the matter to the pledge +which had received from Miss Crawley. All that he had required from his +son was simply this--that he should pull down the bills advertising the +sale of his effects. Was any desire more rational? The sale had been +advertised for a day just one week in advance of the assizes, and the +time must have been selected--so thought the archdeacon--with a +malicious intention. Why, at any rate, should the things be sold before +anyone knew whether the father of the young lady was or was not to be +regarded as a thief? And why should the things be sold at all, when the +archdeacon had tacitly withdrawn his threats--when he had given his son +to understand that the allowance would still be paid quarterly with the +customary archidiaconal regularity, and that no alteration was intended +in those settlements under which the Plumstead foxes would, in the +ripeness of time, become the property of the major himself. It was thus +that the archdeacon looked at it, and as he did so, he thought that his +son was the most cross-grained of men. + +But the major had his own way of looking at the matter. He had, he +flattered himself, dealt very fairly with his father. When he had first +made up his mind to make Miss Crawley his wife, he had told his father +of his intention. The archdeacon declared that, if he did so, such and +such results would follow--results which, as was apparent to everyone, +would make it indispensable that the major should leave Cosby Lodge. The +major had never complained. So he told himself. He had simply said to +his father--'I shall do as I have said. You can do as you have said. +Therefore, I shall prepare to leave Cosby Lodge.' He had so prepared; +and as a part of that preparation, the auctioneer's bills had been stuck +up on the posts and walls. Then the archdeacon had gone to work +surreptitiously with the lady--the reader will understand that we are +still following the workings of the major's mind--and having succeeded +in obtaining a pledge which he had been wrong to demand, came forward +very graciously to withdraw his threats. He withdrew his threats because +he had succeeded in his object by other means. The major knew nothing of +the kiss that had been given, of the two tears that had trickled down +his father's nose, of the generous epithets which the archdeacon had +applied to Grace. He did not guess how nearly his father had yielded +altogether beneath the pressure of Grace's charms--how willing he was to +yield altogether at the first decent opportunity. His father had +obtained a pledge from Grace that she would not marry in certain +circumstances--as to which circumstances the major was strongly resolved +that they should form no bar to his marriage--and then came forward with +his eager demand that the sale should be stopped! The major could not +submit to so much indignity. He had resolved that his father should have +nothing to do with his marriage one way or the other. He would not +accept anything from his father on the understanding that his father had +any such right. His father had asserted such right with threats, and he, +the major, taking such threats as meaning something, had seen that he +must leave Cosby Lodge. Let his father come forward, and say that they +meant nothing that he abandoned all right to any interference as to his +son's marriage, and that the son--would dutifully consent to accept his +father's bounty! They were both cross-grained, as Mrs Grantly declared; +but I think that the major was the most cross-grained of the two. + +Something of the truth made its way to Henry Grantly's mind as he drove +home from Barchester after seeing his grandfather. It was not that he +began to think that his father was right, but that he almost perceived +that it might be becoming to him to forgive some fault in his father. He +had been implored to honour his father, and he was willing to do so, +understanding that such honour must, to a certain degree, imply +obedience--if it could be done at no more than a moderate expense of his +feelings. The threatened auctioneer was the cause of offence to his +father, and he might see whether it would not be possible to have the +sale postponed. There would, of course, be a pecuniary loss, and that in +his diminished circumstances--might be inconvenient. But so much he +thought himself bound to endure on his father's behalf. At any rate, he +would consult the auctioneer at Silverbridge. + +But he would not make any pause in the measures which he had proposed to +himself as likely to be conducive to his marriage. As for Grace's +pledge, such pledges from young ladies never went for anything. It was +out of the question that she should be sacrificed, even though his +father had taken the money. And, moreover, the very gist of the major's +generosity was to consist in his marrying her whether her father were +guilty or innocent. He understood that perfectly, and understood also +that it was his duty to make his purpose in this respect known to +Grace's family. He determined, therefore, that he would go over to +Hogglestock, and see Mr Crawley before he saw the auctioneer. + +Hitherto Major Grantly had never spoken to Mr Crawley. It may be +remembered that the major was at the present moment one of the bailsmen +for the due appearance of Mr Crawley before the judge, and that he had +been present when the magistrates sat at the inn in Silverbridge. He +therefore knew the man's presence, but except on that occasion he had +never even seen his intended future father-in-law. From that moment when +he had first allowed himself to think of Grace, he had desired, yet +almost feared, to make acquaintance with the father; but had been +debarred from doing so by the peculiar position in which Mr Crawley was +placed. He had felt that it would be impossible to speak to the father +of his affection for the daughter without any allusion to the coming +trial; and he did not know how such allusion could be made. Thinking of +this, he had at different times almost resolved not to call at +Hogglestock till the trial might be over. Then he would go there, let +the result of the trial have been what it might. But it had now become +necessary for him to go on at once. His father had precipitated matters +by his appeal to Grace. He would appeal to Grace's father, and reach +Grace through his influence. + +He drove over to Hogglestock, feeling himself to be anything but +comfortable as he came near to the house. And when he did reach the spot +he was somewhat disconcerted to find that another visitor was in the +house before him. He presumed this to be the case, because there stood a +little pony horse--an animal which did not recommend itself to his +instructed eye--attached by its rein to the palings. It was a poor +humble-looking beast, whose knees had very lately become acquainted with +the hard and sharp stones of a newly-mended highway. The blood was even +now red upon the wounds. + +'He'll never be much good again,' said the major to his servant. + +'That he won't, sir,' said the man. 'But I don't think he's been very +much good for some time back.' + +'I shouldn't like to have to ride him into Silverbridge,' said the +major, descending from the gig, and instructing his servant to move the +horse and gig about as long as he might remain within the house. Then he +walked across the little garden and knocked at the door. The door was +immediately opened, and in the passage he found Mr Crawley and another +clergyman whom the reader will recognise as Mr Thumble. Mr Thumble had +come over to make arrangements as to the Sunday services and the +parochial work, and had been very urgent in impressing on Mr Crawley +that the duties were to be left entirely to himself. Hence had come some +bitter words, in which Mr Crawley, though no doubt he said the sharper +things of the two, had not been able to vanquish his enemy so completely +as he had done of former occasions. + +'There must be no interference, my dear sir--not whatever, if you +please,' Mr Thumble had said. + +'There shall be none of which the bishop shall have reason to complain,' +Mr Crawley had replied. + +'There must be none at all, Mr Crawley, if you please. It is only on +that understanding that I have consented to take the parish temporarily +into my hands. Mrs Crawley, I hope that there may be no mistake about +the schools. It must be exactly as though I were residing on the spot.' + +'Sir,' said Mr Crawley, very irate at this appeal to his wife, and +speaking in a loud voice, 'do you misdoubt my word; or do you think that +if I were minded to be false to you, that I should be corrected in my +falsehood by the firmer faith of my wife?' + +'I meant nothing about falsehood, Mr Crawley.' + +'Having resigned the benefice for certain reasons of my own, with which +I shall not trouble you, and acknowledging as I do--and have done in +writing under my hand to the bishop--the propriety of his lordship's +interference in providing for the services of the parish till any +successor shall have been instituted, I shall, with what feelings of +regret, I need not say, leave you to the performance of your temporary +duties.' + +'That is all that I require, Mr Crawley.' + +'But it is wholly unnecessary that you should instruct me in mine.' + +'The bishop especially desires--' began Mr Thumble. But Mr Crawley +interrupted him instantly. + +'If the bishop has directed you to give me such instructions, the bishop +is much in error. I will submit to receive none from him through you, +sir. If you please, sir, let there be an end of it'; and Mr Crawley +waved his hand. I hope the reader will conceive the tone of Mr Crawley's +voice, and will appreciate the aspect of his face, and will see the +motion of his hand, as he spoke these latter words. Mr Thumble felt the +power of the man so sensibly that he was unable to carry on the contest. +Thought Mr Crawley was now but a broken reed, and was beneath his feet, +yet Mr Thumble acknowledged to himself that he could not hold his own in +debate with this broken reed. But the words had been spoken, and the +tone of the voice had died away, and the fire in the eyes had burned +itself out before the moment of the major's arrival. Mr Thumble was now +returning to his horse, and having enjoyed--if he did enjoy--his little +triumph about the parish, was becoming unhappy at the future dangers +that awaited him. Perhaps he was the more unhappy because it had been +proposed to him by the authorities at the palace that he should +repeatedly ride on the same animal from Barchester to Hogglestock and +back. Mr Crawley was in the act of replying to his lamentations on this +subject with his hand on the latch, when the major arrived--'I regret to +say, sir that I cannot assist you by supplying any other steed.' Then +the major had knocked, and Mr Crawley had at once opened the door. + +'You probably do not remember me, Mr Crawley?' said the major. 'I am +Major Grantly.' Mrs Crawley, who heard these words inside the room, +sprang up from her chair, and could hardly resist the temptation to rush +into the passage. She too had barely seen Major Grantly; and now the +only bright gleam which appeared on her horizon depended on his +constancy under circumstances which would have justified his +inconstancy. But had he meant to be inconstant, surely he would never +have come to Hogglestock!' + +'I remember you well, sir,' said Mr Crawley. 'I am under no common +obligation to you. You are at present one of my bailsmen.' + +'There's nothing in that,' said the major. + +Mr Thumble had caught the name of Grantly, took off his hat, which he +had put on his head. He had not been particular in keeping off his hat +before Mr Crawley. But he knew well that Archdeacon Grantly was a big +man in the diocese; and though the Grantlys and the Proudies were +opposed to each other, still it might be well to take off his hat before +anyone who had to do with the big ones of the diocese. 'I hope your +respected father is well, sir?' said Mr Thumble. + +'Pretty well, I thank you.' The major stood close up against the wall +of the passage, so as to allow room for Mr Thumble to pass out. His +business was one on which he could hardly begin to speak until the +visitor had gone. Mr Crawley was standing with the door wide open in his +hand. He also was anxious to be rid of Mr Thumble--and was perhaps not +so solicitous as a brother clergyman should have touching the future +fate of Mr Thumble in the matter of the bishop's old cob. + +'Really, I don't know what to do as to getting upon him again,' said Mr +Thumble. + +'If you will allow him to progress slowly,' said Mr Crawley, 'he will +probably travel with greater safety.' + +'I don't know what you call slow, Mr Crawley. I was ever so much over +two hours coming here from Barchester. He stumbled almost at every +step.' + +'Did he fall while you were on him?' asked the major. + +'Indeed he did, sir. You never saw such a thing, Major Grantly. Look +here.' Then Mr Thumble, turning round, showed that the rear portion of +his clothes had not escaped without injury. + +'It was well that he was not going fast, or you would have come on to +your head,' said Grantly. + +'It was a mercy,' said Thumble. 'But, sir, as it was, I came to the +ground with much violence. It was on Spigglewick Hill, where the road is +covered with loose stones. I see, sir, you have a gig and horse here, +with a servant. Perhaps, as the circumstances are so very peculiar--' +Then Mr Thumble stopped, and looked up into the major's face with +imploring eyes. But the major had no tenderness for such sufferings. +'I'm sorry to say that I am going quite the other way,' he said. 'I am +returning to Silverbridge.' + +Mr Thumble hesitated, and then made a renewed request. 'If you would +not mind taking me to Silverbridge, I could get home from thence by +railway; and perhaps you would allow your servant to take the horse to +Barchester.' + +Major Grantly was for a moment dumbfounded. 'The request is most +unreasonable, sir.' said Mr Crawley. + +'That is as Major Grantly pleases to look at it,' said Mr Thumble. + +'I am sorry to say that it is quite out of my power,' said the major. + +'You can surely walk, leading the beast, if you fear to mount him,' said +Mr Crawley. + +'I shall do as I please about that,' said Mr Thumble. 'And, Mr Crawley, +if you will have the kindness to leave things in the parish just as they +are--just as they are, I will be obliged to you. It is the bishop's wish +that you should touch nothing.' Mr Thumble was by this time on the step, +and Mr Crawley instantly slammed the door. 'The gentleman is a clergyman +from Barchester,' said Mr Crawley, modestly folding his hands upon his +breast, 'whom the bishop has sent over here to take upon himself +temporarily the services of the church, and it appears, the duties also +of the parish. I refrain from animadverting upon his lordship's choice.' + +'And you are leaving Hogglestock?' + +'When I have found a shelter for my wife and children I shall do so; +nay, peradventure, I must do so before any such shelter can be found. I +shall proceed in that matter as I am bid. I am one who can regard myself +as no longer possessing the privilege of free action in anything. But +while I have a room at your service, permit me to ask you to enter it.' +Then Mr Crawley motioned him in with his hand, and Major Grantly found +himself in the presence of Mrs Crawley and her younger daughter. + +He looked at them both for a moment, and could trace much of the lines +of that face which he loved so well. But the troubles of life had almost +robbed the elder lady of her beauty; and with the younger, the awkward +thinness of the last years of feminine childhood had not yet given place +to the fulfilment of feminine grace. But the likeness in each was quite +enough to make him feel that he ought to be at home in that room. He +thought that he could love the woman as his mother, and the girl as his +sister. He found it very difficult to begin any conversation in their +presence, and yet it seemed to be his duty to begin. Mr Crawley had +marshalled him into the room, and having done so, stood aside near the +door. Mrs Crawley had received him very graciously, and having done so, +seemed to be ashamed of her own hospitality. Poor Jane had shrunk back +into a distant corner, near the open standing desk at which she was +accustomed to read Greek to her father, and, of course, could not be +expected to speak. If Major Grantly could have found himself alone with +any one of the three--nay, if he could have been there with any two, he +could have opened his budget at once; but, before all the family, he +felt the difficulty of his situation. 'Mrs Crawley,' said he, 'I have +been most anxious to make your acquaintance, and I trust you will excuse +the liberty I have taken in calling.' + +'I feel grateful to you, as I am sure does also my husband.' So much +she said, and then felt angry with herself for saying so much. Was she +not expressing the strong hope that he might stand fast by her child, +whereby the whole Crawley family would gain so much--and the Grantly +family lose much, in the same proportion? + +'Sir,' said Mr Crawley, 'I owe you thanks, still unexpressed, in that +you came forward together with Mr Robarts of Framley, to satisfy the not +unnatural requisition of the magistrates before whom I was called upon +to appear in the early winter. I know not why anyone should have +ventured into such jeopardy on my account.' + +'There was no jeopardy, Mr Crawley. Anyone in the county would have +done it.' + +'I know not that; nor can I see that there was no jeopardy. I trust +that I may assure you that there is no danger;--none, I mean, to you. +The danger to myself and those belonging to me, is, alas, very urgent. +The facts of my position are pressing close upon me. Methinks I suffer +more from the visit of the gentleman who has just departed from me than +anything that has yet happened to me. And yet he is right;--he is +altogether right.' + +'No, papa; he is not,' said Jane, from her standing ground near the +upright desk. + +'My dear,' said her father, 'you should be silent on such a subject. It +is a matter hard to be understood in all its bearings--even by those +who are most conversant with them. But as this we need not trouble Major +Grantly.' + +After that there was silence among them, and for a while it seemed as +though there could be no approach to the subject on which Grantly had +come hither to express himself. Mrs Crawley, in her despair, said +something about the weather; and the major, trying to draw near the +special subject, became bold enough to remark 'that he had the pleasure +of seeing Miss Crawley at Framley.' 'Mrs Robarts has been very kind,' +said Mrs Crawley, 'very kind indeed. You can understand, Major Grantly, +that this must be a very sad house for a young person.' 'I don't think +it is at all sad,' said Jane, still standing in the corner by the +upright desk. + +Then Major Grantly rose from his seat and walked across to the girl and +shook her hand. 'You are so like your sister,' said he. 'Your sister is +a great friend of mine. She has often spoken to me of you. I hope we +shall be friends some day.' But Jane could make no answer to this, +though she had been able to vindicate the general character of the house +while she was left in the corner by herself. 'I wonder whether you would +be angry with me,' continued the major, 'if I told you I wanted to speak +a word to your father and mother alone?' To this Jane made no reply, but +was out of the room almost before the words had reached the ears of her +father and mother. Though she was only sixteen, and had as yet read +nothing but Latin and Greek--unless we are to count the twelve books of +Euclid and Wood's Algebra, and sundry smaller exercises of the same +description--she understood, as well as anyone present, the reason why +her absence was required. + +As she closed the door the major paused for a moment, expecting, or +perhaps hoping, that the father or the mother would say a word. But +neither of them had a word to say. They sat silent, and as though +conscience-stricken. Here was a rich man, of whom they had heard that he +might probably wish to wed their daughter. It was manifest enough to +both of them that no man could marry into their family without +subjecting himself to a heavy portion of that reproach and disgrace +which was attached to them. But how was it possible that they should not +care more for their daughter--for their own flesh and blood, than for +the incidental welfare of this rich man? As regarded the man himself +they had heard everything that was good. Such a marriage was like the +opening of a paradise to their child. 'Nil conscire sibi,' said the +father to himself, as he buckled on his armour for the fight. + +When he had waited for a moment or two, he began. 'Mrs Crawley,' he +said, addressing himself to the mother, 'I do not quite know how far you +may be aware that I--that I have for some time been--been acquainted +with your eldest daughter.' + +'I have heard from her that she is acquainted with you,' said Mrs +Crawley, almost panting with anxiety. + +'I may as well make a clean breast of it at once,' said the major, +smiling, 'and say outright that I have come here to request your +permission and her father's to ask her to be my wife.' Then he was +silent, and for a few moments neither Mr nor Mrs Crawley replied to him. +She looked at her husband, and he gazed at the fire, and the smile died +away from the major's face, as he watched the solemnity of them both. +There was something almost forbidding in the peculiar gravity of Mr +Crawley's countenance when, as at present, something operated within him +to cause him to express dissent from any proposition that was made to +him. 'I do not know how far this may be altogether new to you, Mrs +Crawley,' said the major, waiting for a reply. + +'It is not new to me,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'May I hope, then, that you will not disapprove?' + +'Sir,' said Mr Crawley, 'I am so placed by the untoward circumstances of +my life that I can hardly claim to exercise over my own daughter that +authority which should belong to a parent.' + +'My dear, do not say that,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'But I do say it. Within three weeks of this time I may be a prisoner, +subject to the criminal laws of my country. At this moment I am without +power of earning bread for myself, or for my wife, or for my children. +Major Grantly, you have even now seen the departure of the gentleman who +has been sent here to take my place in this parish. I am, as it were, an +outlaw here, and entitled neither to obedience nor respect from those +who under other circumstances would be bound to give both.' + +'Major Grantly,' said the poor woman, 'no husband or father in the +county is more closely obeyed or more thoroughly respected and loved.' + +'I am sure of it,' said the major. + +'All this, however, matters nothing,' said Mr Crawley, 'and all speech +on such homely matters would amount to an impertinence before you, sir, +were it not that you have hinted at the purpose of connecting yourself +at some future time with this unfortunate family.' + +'I meant to be plain-spoken, Mr Crawley.' + +'I did not mean to insinuate, sir, that there was aught of reticence in +your words, so contrived that you might fall back on the vagueness of +your expression for protection, should you hereafter see fit to change +your purpose. I should have wronged you much by such a suggestion. I +rather was minded to make known to you that I--or, I should rather say, +we,' and Mr Crawley pointed to his wife--'shall not accept your +plainness of speech as betokening aught beyond a conceived idea in +furtherance of which you have thought it expedient to make certain +inquiries.' + +'I don't quite follow you,' said the major. 'But what I want you to do +is to give me your consent to visit your daughter; and I want Mrs +Crawley to write to Grace and tell her that it's all right.' Mrs Crawley +was quite sure that it was all right, and was ready to sit down and +write the letter that moment, if her husband would permit her to do so. + +'I am sorry that I have not been explicit,' said Mr Crawley, 'but I will +endeavour to make myself more plainly intelligible. My daughter, sir, is +so circumstanced in reference to her father, that I, as her father and a +gentleman, cannot encourage any man to make a tender to her of his +hand.' + +'But I have made up my mind about all that.' + +'And I, sir, have made up mine. I dare not tell my girl that I think +she will do well to place her hand in yours. A lady, when she does that, +should feel at least that her hand is clean.' + +'It is the cleanest and the sweetest and fairest hand in Barsetshire,' +said the major. Mrs Crawley could not restrain herself, but running up +to him, took his hand in hers and kissed it. + +'There is unfortunately a stain, which is vicarial,' began Mr Crawley, +sustaining up to that point his voice with Roman fortitude--with a +fortitude which would have been Roman had it not at that moment broken +down under the pressure of human feeling. He could keep it up no longer, +but continued his speech with broken sobs, and with a voice altogether +changed in its tone--rapid now, whereas it had before been +slow--natural, whereas it had hitherto been affected--human, whereas it +had hitherto been Roman. 'Major Grantly,' he said. 'I am sore beset; but +what can I say to you? My darling is as pure as the light of day--only +that she is soiled with my impurity. She is fit to grace the house of +the best gentleman in England, had I not made her unfit.' + +'She shall grace mine,' said the major. 'By God she shall!--tomorrow, +if she'll have me.' Mrs Crawley, who was standing beside him, again +raised his hand and kissed it. + +'It may not be so. As I began by saying--or rather strove to say, for I +have been overtaken by weakness, and cannot speak my mind--I cannot +claim authority over my child as would another man. How can I exercise +authority from between a prison's bars?' + +'She would obey your slightest wish,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'I could express no wish,' said he. 'But I know my girl, and I am sure +that she will not consent to take infamy with her into the house of the +man who loves her.' + +'There will be no infamy,' said the major. 'Infamy! I tell you that I +shall be proud of the connexion.' + +'You, sir, are generous in your prosperity. We will strive to be at +least just in our adversity. My wife and children are to be +pitied--because of the husband and father.' + +'No!' said Mrs Crawley. 'I will not hear that said, without denying +it.' + +'But they must take their lot as it has been given to them,' continued +he. 'Such a position in life as that which you have proposed to bestow +upon my child would be to her, as regards human affairs, great +elevation. And from what I have heard--I may be permitted to add also +from what I now know from personal experience--such a marriage would be +laden with fair promise and future happiness. But if you ask my mind, I +think that my child is not free to make it. You, sir, have many +relatives, who are not in love, as you are, all of whom would be +affected by the stain of my disgrace. No one should go to your house as +your second wife who cannot feel that she will serve your child. My +daughter would feel that she was bringing injury upon the babe. I cannot +bid her do this--and I will not. Nor do I believe that she would do so +if I bid her.' Then he turned his chair round, and sat with his face to +the wall, wiping away the tears with a tattered handkerchief. + +Mrs Crawley led the major to the further window, and there stood looking +up into his face. It need hardly be said that they also were crying. +Whose eyes could have been dry after such a scene--upon hearing such +words? 'You had better go,' said Mrs Crawley. 'I know him so well. You +had better go.' + +'Mrs Crawley,' he said whispering to her, 'if I ever desert her, may all +that I love desert me! But will you help me?' + +'You would want no help, were it not for this trouble.' + +'But you will help me?' + +Then she paused for a moment, 'I can do nothing,' she said, 'but what he +bids me.' + +'You will trust me, at any rate,' said the major. + +'I do trust you,' she replied. Then he went without saying a word +further to Mr Crawley. As soon as he was gone, the wife went over to her +husband, and put her arm gently round his neck as he was sitting. For a +while the husband took no notice of his wife's caress, but sat +motionless, with his face turned to the wall. Then she spoke to him a +word or two, telling him that their visitor was gone. 'My child!' he +said. 'My poor child!, my darling! She has found grace in this man's +sight; but even of that has her father robbed her! The Lord has visited +upon the children the sins of the father, and will do so to the third +and fourth generation.' + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +TRAGEDY AT HOOK COURT + +Conway Dalrymple had hurried out of the room in Mrs Broughton's house in +which he had been painting Jael and Sisera, thinking that it would be +better to meet an angry and perhaps tipsy husband on the stairs, than it +would be either to wait for him till he should make his way into his +wife's room, or to hide away from him with the view of escaping +altogether from so disagreeable an encounter. He had no fear of the man. +He did not think that there would be any violence--nor, as regarded +himself, did he much care if there was to be violence. But he felt that +he was bound, as far as it might be possible, to screen the poor woman +from the ill effects of her husband's temper and condition. He was, +therefore, prepared to stop Broughton on the stairs, and to use some +force in arresting him on his way, should he find the man to be really +intoxicated. But he had not descended above a stair or two before he was +aware that the man below him, whose step had been heard, was not +intoxicated, and that he was not Dobbs Broughton. It was Mr Musselboro. + +'It is you, is it?' said Conway. 'I thought it was Broughton.' then he +looked into the man's face and saw that he was ashy pale. All that +appearance of low-bred jauntiness which used to belong to him seemed to +have been washed out of him. His hair had forgotten to curl, his gloves +had been thrown aside, and even his trinkets were out of sight. 'What +has happened,' said Conway. 'What is the matter? Something is wrong.' +Then it occurred to him that Musselboro had been sent to the house to +tell the wife of the husband's ruin. + +'The servant told me that I should find you upstairs,' said Musselboro. + +'Yes; I have a painting here. For some time past I have been doing a +picture of Miss Van Siever. Mrs Van Siever has been here today.' Conway +thought that this information would produce some strong effect on +Clara's proposed husband; but he did not seem to regard the matter of +the picture nor the mention of Miss Van Siever's name. + +'She knows nothing of it?' said he. 'She doesn't know yet?' + +'Know what?' said Conway. 'She knows that her husband has lost money.' + +'Dobbs has--destroyed himself.' + +'What!' + +'Blew his brains out this morning just inside the entrance at Hook +Court. The horror of drink was on him, and he stood just in the pathway +and shot himself. Bangles was standing at the top of their vaults and +saw him do it. I don't think Bangles will ever be a man again. Oh lord! +I shall never get over it myself. The body was there when I went in.' +Then Musselboro sank back against the wall of the staircase, and stared +at Dalrymple as though he still saw before him the terrible sight of +which he had just spoken. + +Dalrymple seated himself on the stairs and strove to bring his mind to +bear on the tale which he had just heard. What was he to do, and how was +that poor woman upstairs to be informed? 'You came here intending to +tell her,' he said in a whisper. He feared every moment that Mrs +Broughton would appear on the stairs, and learn from a word or two what +had happened without any hint to prepare her for the catastrophe. + +'I thought you would be here. I knew you were doing the picture. He +knew it. He'd a letter to say so--one of those anonymous ones.' + +'But that didn't influence him?' + +'I don't think it was that,' said Musselboro. 'He meant to have had it +out with her; but it wasn't that as brought this about. Perhaps you +didn't know that he was clean ruined?' + +'She had told me.' + +'Then she knew it?' + +'Oh, yes; she knew that. Mrs Van Siever had told her. Poor creature! +How are we to break this to her?' + +'You and she are very thick,' said Musselboro. 'I suppose you'll do it +best.' By this time they were in the drawing-room, and the door was +closed. Dalrymple had put his hand on the other man's arm, and had led +him downstairs, out of reach of hearing from the room above. 'You'll +tell her--won't you?' said Musselboro. Then Dalrymple tried to think +what loving female friend there was who would break the news to the +unfortunate woman. He knew of the Van Sievers, and he knew of the +Demolines, and he almost knew that there was no other woman within reach +whom he was entitled to regard as closely connected with Mrs Broughton. +He was well aware that the anonymous letter of which Musselboro had just +spoken had come from Miss Demolines, and he could not go there for +sympathy and assistance. Nor could he apply to Mrs Van Siever after with +had passed this morning. To Clara Van Siever he would have applied, but +that it was impossible he should reach Clara except through her mother. +'I suppose I had better go to her,' he said, after a while. And then he +went, leaving Musselboro in the drawing-room. 'I'm so bad with it,' said +Musselboro, 'that I really don't know how I shall ever go up that court +again.' + +Conway Dalrymple made his way up the stairs with very slow steps, and as +he did so he could not but think seriously of the nature of his +friendship with this woman, and could not but condemn himself heartily +for the folly and iniquity of his own conduct. Scores of times he had +professed his love to her with half-expressed words, intended to mean +nothing, as he said to himself when he tried to excuse himself, but +enough to turn her head, even if they did not reach her heart. Now, this +woman was a widow, and it came to be his duty to tell her that she was +so. What if she should claim from him now the love which he had so often +proffered to her! It was not that he feared that she would claim +anything from him at this moment--neither now, nor tomorrow, nor the +next day--but the agony of the present meeting would produce others in +which there would be some tenderness mixed with the agony; and so from +one meeting to another the thing would progress. But in this danger +before him, it was not of himself that he was thinking, but of her. How +could he assist her at such a time without doing her more injury than +benefit? And, if he did not assist her, who would do so? He knew her to +be heartless; but even heartless people have hearts which can be touched +and almost broken by certain sorrows. Her heart would not be broken by +her husband's death, but it would become very sore if she were utterly +neglected. He was now at the door, with his hand on the lock, and was +wondering why she should remain so long within without making herself +heard. Then he opened it, and found her seated in a lounge-chair, with +her back to the door, and he could see that she had a volume of a novel +in her hand. He understood it all. She was pretending to be indifferent +to her husband's return. He walked up to her, thinking that she would +recognise his step; but she made no sign of turning towards him. He saw +the motion of her hair over the back of the chair as she affected to +make herself luxuriously comfortable. She was striving to let her +husband see that she cared nothing for him, or for his condition, or for +his jealousy, if he were jealous--or even of his ruin. 'Mrs Broughton,' +he said, when he was close to her. Then she jumped up quickly, and +turned round facing him. 'Where is Dobbs?' she said. 'Where is Dobbs?' + +'He is not here.' + +'He is in the house, for I heard him. Why have you come back?' + +Dalrymple's eye fell on the tattered canvas, and he thought of the +doings of the past month. He thought of the picture of the three Graces, +which was hanging in the room below, and he thoroughly wished that he +had never been introduced to the Broughton establishment. How was he to +get through his present difficulty? 'No,' said he, 'Broughton did not +come. It was Mr Musselboro whose steps you heard below.' + +'What is he here for? What is he doing here? Where is Dobbs? Conway, +there is something the matter. Has he gone off?' + +'Yes;--he has gone off.' + +'The coward!' + +'No; he was not a coward;--not in that way.' + +The use of the past tense, unintentional as it had been, told the story +to the woman at once. 'He is dead,' she said. Then he took both her +hands in his and looked into her face, without speaking a word. And she +gazed at him with fixed eyes, and rigid mouth, while the quick coming +breath just moved the curl of her nostrils. It occurred to him at that +moment that he had never before seen her so wholly unaffected, and had +never before observed that she was so totally deficient in all the +elements of real beauty. She was the first to speak again. 'Conway,' she +said, 'tell me all. Why do you not speak to me?' + +'There is nothing further to tell,' he said. + +Then she dropped her hands and walked away from him to the window--and +stood there looking out upon the stuccoed turret of a huge house that +stood opposite. As she did so she was employing herself in counting the +windows. Her mind was paralysed by the blow, and she knew not how to +make any exertion with it for any purpose. Everything was changed with +her--and was changed in such a way that she could make no guess as to +her future mode of life. She was suddenly a widow, a pauper, and utterly +desolate--while the only person in the whole world that she really +liked was standing close to her. But in the midst of it all she counted +the windows of the house opposite. Had it been possible for her she +would have put her mind altogether to sleep. + +He let her stand for a few minutes and then joined her at the window. +'My friend,' he said, 'what shall I do for you?' + +'Do?' she said. 'What do you mean by--doing?' + +'Come and sit down and let me talk to you,' he replied. Then he led her +to the sofa, and as she seated herself I doubt whether she had not +almost forgotten that her husband was dead. + +'What a pity it was to cut it up,' she said, pointing to the rags of +Jael and Sisera. + +'Never mind the picture now. Dreadful as it is, you must allow yourself +to think of him for a few minutes.' + +'Think of what! Oh, God! Yes. Conway, you must tell me what to do. +Was everything gone? It isn't about myself. I don't mind about myself. I +wish it was me instead of him. I do. I do.' + +'No wishing is of any avail.' + +'But, Conway, how did it happen? Do you think it is true? That man +would say anything to gain his object. Is he here now?' + +'I believe he is here still.' + +'I won't see him. Remember that. Nothing on earth can make me see +him.' + +'It may be necessary, but I do not think it will be;--at any rate, not +yet.' + +'I will never see him. I believe that he has murdered my husband. I do. +I feel sure of it. Now I think of it I am quite sure of it. And he will +murder you too;--about that girl. He will. I tell you I know the man.' +Dalrymple simply shook his head, smiling sadly. 'Very well! You will +see. But, Conway, how do you know that it is true? Do you believe it +yourself?' + +'I do believe it.' + +'And how did it happen?' + +'He could not bear the ruin that he had brought upon himself and you.' + +'Then;--then--' She went no further in her speech; but Dalrymple +assented by a slight motion of his head, and she had been informed +sufficiently that her husband had perished by his own hand. 'What am I +to do?' she said. 'Oh, Conway, you must tell me. Was there ever so +miserable a woman! Was it--poison?' + +He got up and walked quickly across the room and back again to the place +where she was sitting. 'Never mind about that now. You shall know all +that in time. Do not ask me any questions about that. If I were you I +think I would go to bed. You will be better there than up, and this +shock will make you sleep.' + +'No,' she said. 'I will not go to bed. How should I know that that man +would not come and kill me? I believe he murdered Dobbs;--I do. You are +not going to leave me, Conway?' + +'I think I had better, for a while. There are things which should be +done. Shall I send one of the women for you?' + +'There is not one of them that cares for me in the least. Oh, Conway, +do not go; not yet. I will not be left alone in the house with him. You +will be very cruel if you go and leave me now--when you have so often +said that you--that you--that you were my friend.' And now, at last, she +began to weep. + +'I think it will be best,' he said, 'that I should go to Mrs Van Siever. +If I can manage it, I will get Clara to come to you.' + +'I do not want her,' said Mrs Broughton. 'She is a heartless cold +creature, and I do not want to have her near me. My poor husband was +ruined among them;--yes, ruined among them. It has all been done that +she may marry that horrid man and live here in this house. I have known +ever so long that he has not been safe among them.' + +'You need fear nothing from Clara,' said Dalrymple, with some touch of +anger in his voice. + +'Of course you will say so. I can understand that very well. And it is +natural that you should wish to be with her. Pray go.' + +Then he sat beside her, and took her hand, and endeavoured to speak to +her so seriously, that she herself might become serious, and if it might +be possible, in some degree contemplative. He told her how necessary it +was that she should have some woman near her in her trouble, and +explained to her that as far as he knew her female friends, there would +be no one who would be so considerate with her as Clara Van Siever. She +at one time mentioned the name of Miss Demolines; but Dalrymple +altogether opposed the notion of sending for that lady--expressing his +opinion that the amiable Madalina had done all in her power to create +quarrels between Mrs Broughton and her husband and between Dobbs +Broughton and Mrs Van Siever. And he spoke his opinion very fully about +Miss Demolines. 'And yet you liked her once,' said Mrs Broughton. 'I +never liked her,' said Dalrymple with energy. 'But all that matters +nothing now. Of course you can send for her if you please; but I do not +think her trustworthy, and I will not willingly come in contact with +her.' Then Mrs Broughton gave him to understand that of course she must +give way, but that in giving way she felt herself to be submitting to +ill-usage which is the ordinary lot of women, and to which she, among +women, had been specially subjected. She did not exactly say as much, +fearing that if she did he would leave her altogether; but that was the +gist of he plaints and wails, and final acquiescence. + +'And are you going?' she said, catching hold of his arm. + +'I will employ myself altogether and only about your affairs, till I see +you again.' + +'But I want you to stay.' + +'It would be madness. Look here;--lie down till Clara comes or till I +return. Do not go beyond this room and your own. If she cannot come this +evening I will return. Good-bye now. I will see the servants as I go +out, and tell them what ought to be told.' + +'Oh, Conway,' she said, clutching hold of him again. 'I know that you +despise me.' + +'I do not despise you, and I will be as good a friend to you as I can. +God bless you.' Then he went, and as he descended the stairs he could +not refrain from telling himself that he did in truth despise her. + +His first object was to find Musselboro, and to dismiss that gentleman +from the house. For though he himself did not attribute to Mrs Van +Siever's favourite any of those terrible crimes and potentialities for +crime with which Mrs Dobbs Broughton had invested him, still he thought +it reasonable that the poor woman upstairs should not be subjected to +the necessity of either seeing him or hearing him. But Musselboro had +gone, and Dalrymple could not learn from the head woman-servant whom he +saw, whether before going he had told to anyone in the house the tale of +the catastrophe which had happened in the City. Servants are wonderful +actors, looking often as though they knew nothing when they knew +everything--as though they understood nothing, when they understood all. +Dalrymple made known all that was necessary, and the discreet upper +servant listened to the tale, with the proper amount of awe and horror +and commiseration. 'Shot hisself in the City;--laws! You'll excuse me, +sir, but we all know'd as master was coming to no good.' But she +promised to do her best with her mistress--and kept her promise. It is +seldom that servants are not good in such straits as that. + +From Mrs Broughton's house Dalrymple went directly to Mrs Van Siever's, +and learned that Musselboro had been there about half an hour before, +and had then gone off in a cab with Mrs Van Siever. It was now nearly +four o'clock in the afternoon, and no one in the house knew when Mrs Van +Siever would be back. Miss Van Siever was out, and had been out when Mr +Musselboro had called, but was expected every minute. Conway therefore +said that he would call again, and on returning found Clara alone. She +had not then heard a word of the fate of Dobbs Broughton. Of course she +would go at once to Mrs Broughton, and if necessary stay with her during +the night. She wrote a line at once to her mother, saying where she was, +and went across to Mrs Broughton leaning on Dalrymple's arm. 'Be good to +her,' said Conway, as he left her at the door. 'I will,' said Clara. 'I +will be as kind as nature will allow me.' 'And remember,' said Conway, +whispering into her ear as he pressed her hand at leaving her, 'that you +are the all the world to me.' It was perhaps not a proper time for an +expression of love, but Clara Van Siever forgave the impropriety. + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +MISS VAN SIEVER MAKES HER CHOICE + +Clara Van Siever did stay all night with Mrs Broughton. In the course +of the evening she received a note from her mother, in which she was +told to come home to breakfast. 'You can go back to her afterwards,' +said Mrs Van Siever; 'and I will see her myself in the course of the +day, if she will let me.' The note was written on a scrap of paper, and +had neither beginning nor end; but this was after the manner of Mrs Van +Siever, and Clara was not in the least hurt or surprised. 'My mother +will come to see you after breakfast,' said Clara, as she was taking her +leave. + +'Oh, goodness! And what shall I say to her?' + +'You will have to say very little. She will speak to you.' + +'I suppose everything belongs to her now,' said Mrs Broughton. + +'I know nothing about that. I never do know anything of mamma's money +matters.' + +'Of course she'll turn me out. I do not mind a bit about that--only I +hope she'll let me have some mourning.' Then she made Clara promise that +she would return as soon as possible, having in Clara's presence +overcome all that feeling of dislike which she had expressed to Conway +Dalrymple. Mrs Broughton was generally affectionate to those who were +near her. Had Musselboro forced himself into her presence, she would +have become quite confidential with him before he left her. + +'Mr Musselboro will be here directly,' said Mrs Van Siever, as she was +starting for Mrs Broughton's house. 'You had better tell him to come to +me up here; or, stop--perhaps you had better keep him here till I come +back. Tell him to be sure and wait for me.' + +'Very well, mamma. I suppose he can wait below?' + +'Why should he wait below?,' said Mrs Van Siever, very angrily. + +Clara had made the uncourteous proposition to her mother with the +express intention of making it understood that she would have nothing to +say to him. 'He can come upstairs if he likes,' said Clara; 'and I will +go up to my room.' + +'If you fight shy of him, miss, you may remember this--that you will +fight shy of me at the same time.' + +'I am sorry for that, mamma, for I shall certainly fight shy of Mr +Musselboro.' + +'You can do as you please. I can't force you, and I shan't try. But I +can make your life a burden to you--and I will. What's the matter with +the man that he isn't good enough for you? He's as good as any of your +own people ever was. I hate your new-fangled airs--with pictures +painted on the sly, and all the rest of it. I hate such ways. See what +they have brought that wretched man to, and the poor fool his wife. If +you go and marry that painter, some of these days you'll be very much +like what she is. Only I doubt whether he has got the courage enough to +blow his brains out.' With these comfortable words, the old woman took +herself off, leaving Clara to entertain her lover as best she might +choose. + +Mr Musselboro was not long in coming, and, in accordance with Mrs Van +Siever's implied directions to her daughter, was shown up into the +drawing-room. Clara gave him her mother's message in a very few words. +'I was expressly told, sir, to ask you to stop, if it is not +inconvenient, as she very much wants to see you.' Mr Musselboro declared +that of course he would stop. He was only too happy to have the +opportunity of remaining in such delightful society. As Clara answered +nothing to this, he went on to say that he hoped that the melancholy +occasion of Mrs Van Siever's visit to Mrs Broughton might make a long +absence necessary--he did not, indeed, care how long it might be. He had +recovered now from that paleness, and that want of gloves and jewellery +which had befallen him on the previous day immediately after the sight +he had seen in the City. Clara made no answer to the last speech, but, +putting some things together in her work-basket, prepared to leave the +room. 'I hope you are not going to leave me?' he said, in a voice that +was intended to convey much of love, and something of melancholy. + +'I am so shocked by what has happened, Mr Musselboro, that I am +altogether unfit for conversation. I was with poor Mrs Broughton last +night, and I shall return to her when mamma comes home.' + +'It is sad, certainly; but what was there to be expected? If you'd only +seen how he used to go on.' To this Clara made no answer. 'Don't go +yet,' said he; 'there is something that I want to say to you. There is, +indeed.' + +Clara Van Siever was a young person whose presence of mind rarely +deserted her. It occurred to her now that she must undergo on some +occasion the nuisance of a direct offer from him, and that she could +have no better opportunity of answering him after her own fashion than +the present. Her mother was absent, and the field was her own. And, +moreover, it was a point in her favour that the tragedy which had so +lately occurred, and to which she had just now alluded, would give her a +fair excuse for additional severity. At such a moment no man could, she +told herself, be justified in making an offer of his love, and therefore +she might rebuke him with the less remorse. I wonder whether the last +words which Conway Dalrymple had spoken to her stung her conscience as +she thought of this! She had now reached the door, and was standing +close to it. As Mr Musselboro did not at once, begin, she encouraged +him. 'If you have anything special to tell me, I will hear you,' she +said. + +'Miss Clara,' he began, rising from his chair, and coming into the +middle of the room. 'I think you know what my wishes are.' Then he put +his hand upon his heart. 'And your respected mother is the same way of +thinking. It's that that emboldens me to be so sudden. Not but what my +heart has been yours and yours only all along, before the old lady so +much as mentioned it.' Clara would give him no assistance, not even the +aid of a negative, but stood there quite passive, with her hand on the +door. 'Since I first had the pleasure of seeing you I have always said +to myself, "Augustus Musselboro, that is the woman for you, if you can +only win her." But there was so much against me--wasn't there?' She +would not even take advantage of this by assuring him that there +certainly always had been much against him, but allowed him to go on +till he should run out all the length of his tether. 'I mean, of course, +in the way of money,' he continued. 'I hadn't much that I could call my +own when your respected mother first allowed me to become acquainted +with you. But it's different now; and I think I may say that I'm all +right in that respect. Poor Broughton's going this way will make it a +deal smoother to me; and I may say that I and your mamma will be all in +all to each other now about money.' Then he stopped. + +'I don't quite understand what you mean by all this,' said Clara. + +'I mean that there isn't a more devoted fellow in all London than what I +am to you.' Then he was about to go down on one knee, but it occurred to +him that it would not be convenient to kneel to a lady who would stand +quite close to the door. 'One and one, if they're put together well, +will often make more than two. And so they shall with us,' said +Musselboro, who began to feel that it might be expedient to throw a +little spirit into his words. + +'If you have done,' said Clara, 'you may as well hear from me for a +minute. And I hope you will have the sense to understand that I really +mean what I say.' + +'I hope you will remember what are your mamma's wishes.' + +'Mamma's wishes have no influence whatsoever with me in such matters as +this. Mamma's arrangements with you are for her own convenience, and I +am not party to them. I do not know anything about mamma's money, and I +do not want to know. But under no possible circumstances will I consent +to become your wife. Nothing that mamma could say or do would induce me +even to think of it. I hope you will be man enough to take this for an +answer, and say nothing more about it.' + +'But, Miss Clara--' + +'It's no good your Miss Claraing me, sir. What I have said to you may +be sure I mean. Good-morning, sir.' Then she opened the door, and left +him. + +'By Jove, she is a Tartar,' said Musselboro to himself, when he was +alone. 'They're both Tartars, but the younger is the worse.' Then he +began to speculate whether Fortune was not doing the best for him in so +arranging that he might have use of the Tartar-mother's money without +binding himself to endure for life the Tartar qualities of the daughter. + +It had been understood that Clara was to wait at home till her mother +should return before she again went to Mrs Broughton. At about eleven +Mrs Van Siever came in, and her daughter intercepted her at the +dining-room door before she made her way upstairs to Mr Musselboro. 'How +is she, mamma?' said Clara with something of hypocrisy in her assumed +interest for Mrs Broughton. + +'She is an idiot!' said Mrs Van Siever. + +'She has had a terrible misfortune!' + +'That is no reason why she should be an idiot; and she is heartless too. +She never cared a bit for him--not a bit.' + +'He was a man whom it was impossible to care for much. I will go to her +now, mamma.' + +'Where is Musselboro?' + +'He is upstairs.' + +'Well?' + +'Mamma, that is quite out of the question. Quite. I would not marry +him to save myself from starving.' + +'You do not know what starving is yet, my dear. Tell me the truth at +once. Are you engaged to that painter?' Clara paused a moment before she +answered, not hesitating as to the expediency of telling her mother any +truth on the matter in question, but doubting what the truth might +really be. Could she say that she was engaged to Mr Dalrymple, or could +she say that she was not? 'If you tell me a lie, miss, I'll have you put +out at once.' + +'I certainly shall not tell you a lie. Mr Dalrymple has asked me to be +his wife, and I have made him no answer. If he asks me again I shall +accept him.' + +'Then I order you not to leave this house,' said Mrs Van Siever. + +'Surely I may go to Mrs Broughton?' + +'I order you not to leave this house,' said Mrs Van Siever again--and +thereupon she stalked out of the dining-room and went upstairs. Clara +had been standing with her bonnet on, ready dressed to go out, and the +mother made no attempt to send the daughter up to her room. That she did +not expect to be obeyed in her order may be inferred from the first +words which she spoke to Mr Musselboro. 'She has gone off to that man +now. You are not good, Musselboro, at this kind of work.' + +'You see, Mrs Van, he had the start of me so much. And then being at +the West End, and all that, gives a man such a standing with a girl.' + +'Bother!' said Mrs Van Siever, as he quick ear caught the sound of the +closing hall-door. Clara had stood a minute or two to consider, and then +had resolved that she would disobey her mother. She tried to excuse her +own conduct to her own satisfaction as she went. 'There are some +things,' she said, 'which even a daughter cannot hear from her mother. +If she chooses to close the door against me, she must do so.' + +She found Mrs Broughton still in bed, and could not but agree with her +mother that the woman was both silly and heartless. + +'Your mother says that everything must be sold up,' said Mrs Broughton. + +'At any rate you would hardly choose to remain here,' said Clara. + +'But I hope she will let me have my own things. A great many of them +are altogether my own. I know there's a law that a woman may have her +own things, even though her husband has--done what poor Dobbs did. And I +think she was hard upon me about the mourning. They never do mind giving +credit for such things as that, and though there is a bill due to Mrs +Morell now, she has had a deal of Dobbs's money.' Clara promised her +that she would have mourning to her heart's content. 'I will see to that +myself,' she said. + +Presently there was a knock at the door, and the discreet head-servant +beckoned Clara out of the room. 'You are not going away,' said Mrs +Broughton. Clara promised her that she would not go without coming back +again. 'He will be here soon, I suppose, and perhaps you had better see +him; though, for the matter of that, perhaps you had better not, because +he is so much cut up about poor Dobbs.' The servant had come to tell +Clara that the 'he' in question was at the present moment waiting for +her below stairs. + +The first words which passed between Dalrymple and Clara had reference +to the widow. He told her what he had learned in the City--that +Broughton's property had never been great, and that his personal +liabilities at the time of his death were supposed to be small. But he +had fallen lately altogether into the hands of Musselboro, who, though +penniless himself in the way of capital, was backed by the money of Mrs +Van Siever. There was not doubt that Broughton had destroyed himself in +the manner told by Musselboro, but the opinion in the City was that he +had done so rather through the effects of drink than because of his +losses. As to the widow, Dalrymple thought that Mrs Van Siever, or +nominally, perhaps, Musselboro, might be induced to settle an annuity on +her, or she would give up everything quietly. 'Doubt whether your mother +is not responsible for everything that Broughton owed when he died--for +everything, that is, in the way of business; and if so, Mrs Broughton +will certainly have a claim on the estate.' It occurred to Dalrymple +once or twice that he was talking to Clara about Mrs Van Siever as +though he and Clara were more closely bound together than were Clara and +her mother; but Clara seemed to take this in good part, and was as +solicitous as was he himself in the manner of Mrs Broughton's interest. + +Then the discreet head-servant knocked and told them that Mrs Broughton +was very anxious to see Mr Dalrymple, but that Miss Van Siever was on no +account to go away. She was up, and in her dressing-gown, and had gone +into the sitting-room. 'I will come directly,' said Dalrymple, and the +discreet head-servant retired. + +'Clara,' said Conway, 'I do not know when I may have another chance of +asking for an answer to my question. You heard my question?' + +'Yes, I heard it.' + +'And will you answer it?' + +'If you wish it, I will.' + +'Of course I wish it. You understand what I said upon the door-step +yesterday?' + +'I don't think much of that; men say those things so often. What you +said before was serious, I suppose?' + +'Serious! Heavens! Do you think that I am joking?' + +'Mamma wants me to marry Mr Musselboro.' + +'He is a vulgar brute. It would be impossible.' + +'It is impossible; but mamma is very obstinate. I have no fortune of my +own--not a shilling. She told me today that she would turn me out into +the street. She forbade me to come here, thinking I should meet you; but +I came, because I had promised Mrs Broughton. I am sure that she will +never give me one shilling.' + +Dalrymple paused for a moment. It was certainly true that he had +regarded Clara Van Siever as an heiress, and had at first been attracted +to her because he thought it expedient to marry an heiress. But there +had since come something beyond that, and there was perhaps less of +regret than most men would have felt as he gave up his golden hopes. He +took her into his arms and kissed her, and called her his own. 'Now we +understand each other,' he said. + +'If you wish it to be so.' + +'I do wish it.' + +'And I shall tell my mother today that I am engaged to you--unless she +refuses to see me. Go to Mrs Broughton now. I feel that we are almost +cruel to be thinking of ourselves in this house at such a time.' Upon +this Dalrymple went, and Clara Van Siever was left to her reflections. +She had never before had a lover. She had never had even a friend whom +she loved and trusted. Her life had been passed at school till she was +nearly twenty, and since then had been vainly endeavouring to +accommodate herself into the absolute power of a man who was nearly a +strange to her! But she did love him, as she had never loved anyone +else;--and then, on the other side, there was Mr Musselboro! + +Dalrymple went upstairs for an hour, and Clara did not see him again +before he left the house. It was clear to her, from Mrs Broughton's +first words, that Conway had told her what had passed. 'Of course I +shall never seen anything more of either of you now?' said Mrs +Broughton. + +'I should say that probably you will see a great deal of us both.' + +'There are some people,' said Mrs Broughton, 'who can do well for their +friends, but can never do well for themselves. I am one of them. I saw +at once how great a thing it would be for both of you to bring you two +together--especially for you, Clara; and therefore I did it. I may say +that I never had it out of my mind for months past. Poor Dobbs +misunderstood what I was doing. God knows how far that may have brought +about what has happened.' + +'Oh, Mrs Broughton!' + +'Of course he could not be blind to one thing;--nor was I. I mention it +now because it is right, but I shall never, never allude to again. Of +course he saw, and I saw, that Conway--was attached to me. Poor Conway +meant no harm. I was aware of that. But there was the terrible fact. I +knew at once that the only cure for him was a marriage with some girl he +could respect. Admiring you as I do, I immediately resolved on bringing +you to together. My dear, I have been successful, and I heartily trust +that you may be happier than Maria Broughton.' + +Miss Van Siever knew the woman, understood all the facts, and pitying +the condition of the wretched creature, bore all this without a word of +rebuke. She scorned to put out her strength against one who was in truth +so weak. + + + +CHAPTER LXVI + +REQUIESCAT IN PACE + +Things were gloomy at the palace. It has already been said that for may +days after Dr Tempest's visit to Barchester the intercourse between the +bishop and Mrs Proudie had not been of a pleasant nature. He had become +so silent, so sullen, and so solitary in his ways, that even her courage +had been almost cowed, and for a while she had condescended to use +gentler methods, with the hope that she might thus bring her lord round +to his usual state of active submission; or perhaps, if we strive to do +her full justice, we may say of her that her effort was made +conscientiously, with the idea of inducing him to do his duty with +proper activity. For she was a woman not without a conscience, and by no +means indifferent to the real service which her husband, as bishop of +the diocese, was bound to render to the affairs of the Church around +her. Of her own struggles after personal dominion she was herself +unconscious; and no doubt they gave her, when recognised and +acknowledged by herself, many stabs to her inner self, of which no +single being in the world knew anything. And now, as after a while she +failed in producing any amelioration in the bishop's mood, her temper +also gave way, and things were becoming very gloomy and unpleasant. + +The bishop and his wife were at present alone in the palace. Their +married daughter and her husband had left them, and the unmarried +daughter was also away. How far the bishop's mood may have produced this +solitude in the vast house I will not say. Probably Mrs Proudie's state +of mind may have prevented her from having other guests in the place of +those who had gone. She felt herself to be almost disgraced in the eyes +of all those around her by her husband's long absence from the common +rooms of the house and by his dogged silence at meals. It was better, +she thought, that they two should be alone in the palace. + +Her own efforts to bring him back to something like life, to some +activity of mind if not body, were made constantly; and when she failed, +as she did fail day after day, she would go slowly to her own room, and +lock her door, and look back in solitude at all the days of her life. +She had agonies in these minutes of which no one near her knew anything. +She would seize with her arm the part of the bed near which she would +stand, and hold by it, grasping it, as though she were afraid to fall; +and then, when it was at the worst with her, she would go to her +closet--a closet that no eyes ever saw unlocked but her own--and fill +for herself and swallow some draught and then she would sit down with +the Bible before her, and read it sedulously. She spent hours every day +with her Bible before her, repeating to herself whole chapters, which +she knew almost by heart. + +It cannot be said that she was a bad woman, though she had in her time +done an indescribable amount of evil. She had endeavoured to do good, +failing partly by ignorance and partly from the effects of an unbridled, +ambitious temper. And now, even amidst her keenest sufferings, her +ambition was by no means dead. She still longed to rule the diocese by +means of her husband, but was made to pause and hesitate by the unwonted +mood that had fallen upon him. Before this, on more than one occasion, +and on one very memorable occasion, he had endeavoured to combat her. He +had fought with her, striving to put her down. He had failed, and given +up the hope of any escape fro himself in that direction. On those +occasions her courage had never quailed for a moment. While he openly +struggled to be master, she could openly struggle to be mistress--and +could enjoy the struggle. But nothing like this had ever come upon him +before. + +She had yielded to it for many days, striving to coax him by little +softnesses of which she herself had been ashamed as she practised them. +They had served her nothing, and at last she determined that something +else must be done. If only for his sake, to keep some life in him, +something else must be done. Were he to continue as he was now, he must +give up the diocese, or, at any rate, declare himself too ill to keep up +the working of it in his own hands. How she hated Mr Crawley for all the +sorrow that he had brought upon her and her house! + +And it was still the affair of Mr Crawley which urged her on to further +action. When the bishop received Mr Crawley's letter he said nothing of +it to her; but he handed it over to his chaplain. The chaplain, fearing +to act upon it himself, handed it to Mr Thumble, who he knew to be one +of the bishop's commission, and Mr Thumble, equally fearing +responsibility in the present state of affairs at the palace, found +himself obliged to consult Mrs Proudie. Mrs Proudie had no doubt as to +what should be done. The man had abdicated his living, and of course +some provision must be made for the services. She would again make an +attempt upon her husband, and therefore she went into his room holding +Mr Crawley's letter in her hand. + +'My dear,' she said, 'here is Mr Crawley's letter. I suppose you have +read it.' + +'Yes,' said the bishop; 'I have read it.' + +'And what will you do about it? Something must be done.' + +'I don't know,' said he. He did not even look at her as he spoke. He +had not turned his eyes upon her since she had entered the room. + +'But, bishop, it is a letter that requires to be acted upon at once. We +cannot doubt that the man is doing right at last. He is submitting +himself where his submission is due; but his submission will be of no +avail unless you take some action upon his letter. Do you not think that +Mr Thumble had better go over?' + +'No, I don't. I think Mr Thumble had better stay where he is,' said the +irritated bishop. + +'What, then, would you wish to be done?' + +'Never mind,' said he. + +'But, bishop, that is nonsense,' said Mrs Proudie, adding something of +severity to the tone of her voice. + +'No, it isn't nonsense,' said he. Still he did not look at her, nor had +he done so for a moment since she had entered the room. Mrs Proudie +could not bear this, and her anger became stronger within her breast, +she told herself that she would be wrong to bear it. She had tried what +gentleness would do, and she had failed. It was now imperatively +necessary that she should resort to sterner measures. She must make him +understand that he must give her authority to send Mr Thumble to +Hogglestock. + +'Why do you not turn round and speak to me properly?' she said. + +'I do not want to speak to you at all,' the bishop answered. + +This was very bad;--almost anything would be better than this. He was +sitting now over the fire, with his elbows on his knees, and his face +buried in his hands. She had gone round the room so as to face him, and +was now standing almost over him, but still she could not see his +countenance. 'This will not do at all,' she said. 'My dear, do you know +that you are forgetting yourself altogether?' + +'I wish I could forget myself.' + +'That might be all very well if you were in a position in which you owed +no service to anyone; or, rather, it would not be well then, but the +evil would not be so manifest. You cannot do your duty in the diocese if +you continue to sit there doing nothing, with your head upon your hands. +Why do you not rally, and get to your work like a man?' + +'I wish you would go away and leave me,' he said. + +'No, bishop. I will not go away and leave you. You have brought +yourself into such a condition that it is my duty as your wife to stay +by you; and if you neglect your duty, I will not neglect mine.' + +'It was you that brought me to it.' + +'No sir, that is not true. I did not bring you to it.' + +'It is the truth.' And now he got up and looked at her. For a moment +he stood upon his legs, and then sat down again with his face turned +towards her. 'It is the truth. You have brought on me such disgrace that +I cannot hold up my head. You have ruined me. I wish I were dead; and it +is all through you that I am driven to wish it.' + +Of all that she had suffered in her life this was the worst. She +clasped both her hands to her side as she listened to him, and for a +minute or two she made no reply. When he ceased from speaking he again +put his elbows in his knees and again buried his face in his hands. What +had she better do, or how was it expedient that she should treat him? At +this crisis the whole thing was so important to her that she would have +postponed her own ambition and would have curbed her temper had she +thought that by doing so she might in any degree have benefited him. But +it seemed to her that she could not rouse him by conciliation. Neither +could she leave him as he was. Something must be done. 'Bishop,' she +said, 'the words that you speak are very sinful, very sinful.' + +'You have made them sinful,' he said. + +'I will not hear that from you. I will not indeed. I have endeavoured +to do my duty by you, and I do not deserve it. I am endeavouring to do +my duty now, and you must know that it would ill become me to remain +quiescent while you are in such a state. The world around you is +observing you, and knows that you are not doing your work. All I want of +you is that you should arouse yourself, and go to your work.' + +'I could do my work very well,' he said, 'if you were not here.' + +'I suppose, then, you wish that I were dead?' said Mrs Proudie. To this +he made no reply, nor did he stir himself. How could flesh and blood +bear this--female flesh and blood--Mrs Proudie's flesh and blood? Now, +at last, her temper once more got the better of her judgment, probably +much to her immediate satisfaction, and she spoke out. 'I'll tell you +what it is, my lord, if you are imbecile, I must be active. It is very +sad that I should have to assume your authority--' + +'I will not allow you to assume my authority.' + +'I must do so, or else must obtain a medical certificate as to your +incapacity, and beg that some neighbouring bishop may administer the +diocese. Things shall not go on as they are now. I, at any rate, will do +my duty. I shall tell Mr Thumble that he must go over to Hogglestock, +and arrange for the duties of the parish.' + +'I desire that you will do no such thing,' said the bishop, now again +looking up at her. + +'You may be sure that I shall,' said Mrs Proudie, and then she left the +room. + +He did not even yet suppose that she would go about his this work at +once. The condition of his mind was in truth bad, and was becoming +worse, probably, from day to day; but still he did make his calculations +about things, and now reflected that it would be sufficient if he spoke +to his chaplain tomorrow about Mr Crawley's letter. Since the terrible +scene that Dr Tempest had witnessed, he had never been able to make up +his mind that some great step was necessary. There were moments in which +he thought that he would resign his bishopric. For such resignation, +without acknowledged incompetence on the score of infirmity, the +precedents were very few; but even if there were no precedents, it would +be better to do that then to remain where he was. Of course there would +be disgrace. But then it would be disgrace from which he could hide +himself. Now there was equal disgrace; and he could not hide himself. +And then such a measure as that would bring punishment where punishment +was due. It would bring his wife to the ground--her who had brought him +to the ground. The suffering should not be all his own. When she found +that her income, and her palace, and her position were all gone, then +perhaps she might repent the evil that she had done him. Now, when he +was left alone, his mind went back to this, and he did not think of +taking immediate measures--measures on that very day--to prevent the +action of Mr Thumble. + +But Mrs Proudie did take immediate steps. Mr Thumble was at this moment +in the palace waiting for instructions. It was he who had brought Mr +Crawley's letter to Mrs Proudie, and she now returned to him with that +letter in her hand. The reader will know what was the result. Mr Thumble +was sent off to Hogglestock at once on the bishop's old cob, and--as +will be remembered, fell into trouble on the road. Late in the +afternoon, he entered the palace yard having led the cob by the bridle +the whole way home from Hogglestock. + +Some hour or two before Mr Thumble's return Mrs Proudie returned to her +husband, thinking it better to let him know what she had done. She +resolved to be very firm with him, but at the same time she determined +not to use harsh language if it could be avoided. 'My dear,' she said, +'I have arranged with Mr Thumble.' She found him on this occasion +sitting at his desk with papers before him, with a pen in his hand; and +she could see at a glance that nothing had been written on the paper. +What would she have thought had she known that when he placed the sheet +before him he was proposing to consult the archbishop as to the +propriety of his resignation! He had not, however, progressed so far as +to write even the date of his letter. + +'You have done what?' said he, throwing down his pen. + +'I have arranged with Mr Thumble as to going out to Hogglestock,' she +said firmly. 'Indeed he has gone already.' Then the bishop jumped up +from his seat, and rang the bell with violence. 'What are you going to +do?' said Mrs Proudie. + +'I am going to depart from here,' he said. 'I will not stay here to be +the mark of scorn for all men's fingers. I will resign the diocese.' + +'You cannot do that,' said his wife. + +'I can try, at any rate,' said he. Then the servant entered. 'John,' +said he, addressing the man, 'let Mr Thumble know the moment he returns +to the palace I wish to see him here. Perhaps he may not come to the +palace. In that case let word be sent to his house.' + +Mrs Proudie allowed the man to go before she addressed her husband +again. 'What do you mean to say to Mr Thumble when you see him?' + +'That is nothing to you.' + +She came up to him and put her hand upon his shoulder, and spoke to him +very gently. 'Tom,' she said, 'is that the way in which you speak to +your wife?' + +'Yes, it is. You have driven me to it. Why have you taken upon +yourself to send that man to Hogglestock?' + +'Because it was right to do so. I came to you for instructions, and you +would give none.' + +'I should have given what instructions I pleased in proper time. Thumble +shall not go to Hogglestock next Sunday.' + +'Who shall go, then?' + +'Never mind. Nobody. It does not matter to you. If you will leave me +now I shall be obliged to you. There will be an end of all this very +soon--very soon.' + +Mrs Proudie stood for a while thinking what she would say; but she left +the room without uttering another word. As she looked at him a hundred +different thoughts came into her mind. She had loved him dearly, and she +loved him still; but she knew now--at this moment felt absolutely +sure--that by him she was hated! In spite of all her roughness and +temper, Mrs Proudie was in this like other women--that she would fain +have been loved had it been possible. She had always meant to serve him. +She was conscious of that; conscious also in a way that, although she +had been industrious, although she had been faithful, although she was +clever, yet she had failed. At the bottom of her heart she knew that she +had been a bad wife. And yet she had meant to be a pattern wife! She had +meant to be a good Christian; but she had so exercised her Christianity +that not a soul in the world loved her, or would endure her presence if +it could be avoided! She had sufficient insight to the minds and +feelings of those around her to be aware of this. And now her husband +had told her that her tyranny to him was so overbearing that he must +throw up his great position, and retire to an obscurity that would be +exceptionally disgraceful to them both, because he could no longer +endure the public disgrace which her conduct brought upon him in his +high place before the world! Her heart was too full for speech; and she +left him, very quietly closing the door behind her. + +She was preparing to go up to her chamber, with her hand on the +banisters and with her foot upon the stairs, when she saw the servant +who had answered the bishop's bell. 'John,' she said, 'when Mr Thumble +comes to the palace, let me see him before he goes to my lord.' + +'Yes, ma'am,' said John, who well understood the nature of those +quarrels between his master and his mistress. But the commands of the +mistress were still paramount among the servants, and John proceeded on +his mission with the view of accomplishing Mrs Proudie's behests. Then +Mrs Proudie went upstairs to her chamber, and locked her door. + +Mr Thumble returned to Barchester that day, leading the broken-down +cob; and a dreadful walk he had. He was not good at walking, and before +he came near Barchester had come to entertain a violent hatred for the +beast that he was leading. The leading of a horse that is tired, or in +pain, or even stiff in his limbs, is not pleasant work. The brute will +not accommodate his paces to the man, and will contrive to make his head +very heavy on the bridle. And he will not walk on the part of the road +which the man intends for him, but will lean against the man, and will +make himself altogether disagreeable. It may be understood, therefore, +that Mr Thumble was not in a good humour when he entered the palace +yard. Nor was altogether quiet in his mind as to the injury which he had +done to the animal. 'It was the brute's fault,' said Mr Thumble. 'It +comes generally of not knowing how to ride 'em,' said the groom. For Mr +Thumble, though he often had a horse out of the episcopal stables, was +not ready with his shillings to the man who waited upon him with the +steed. + +He had not, however, come to any satisfactory understanding respecting +the broken knees when the footman from the palace told him that he was +wanted. It was in vain that Mr Thumble pleaded that he was nearly dead +with fatigue, that he had walked all the way from Hogglestock and must +go home to change his clothes. John was peremptory with him, insisting +that he must wait first upon Mrs Proudie and then wait upon the bishop. +Mr Thumble might perhaps have turned a deaf ear to the latter command, +but the former was one which he felt himself bound to obey. So he +entered the palace, rather cross, very much soiled as to his outer man; +and in this condition went up a certain small staircase which was +familiar to him, to a small parlour which adjoined Mrs Proudie's room, +and there awaited the arrival of the lady. That he should be required to +wait some quarter of an hour was not surprising to him; but when half an +hour was gone, and he remembered himself of his own wife at home, and of +the dinner which he had not yet eaten, he ventured to ring the bell. Mrs +Proudie's own maid, Mrs Draper by name, came to him and said that she +had knocked twice at Mrs Proudie's door and would knock again. Two +minutes after that she returned, running into the room with her arms +extended, and exclaiming, 'Oh heavens, sir; mistress is dead!' Mr +Thumble, hardly knowing what he was about, followed the woman into the +bedroom, and there he found himself standing awe-struck before the +corpse of her who had so lately been the presiding spirit of the palace. + +The body was still resting on its legs, leaning against the end of the +side of the bed, while one of the arms was close clasped round the +bed-post. The mouth was rigidly close, but the eyes were open as thought +staring at him. Nevertheless there could be no doubt from the first +glance that the woman was dead. He went up close to it, but did not dare +to touch it. There was no one there as yet but he and Mrs Draper;--no +one else knew what had happened. + +'It's her heart,' said Mrs Draper. + +'Did she suffer from heart complaint?' he asked. + +'We suspected it, sir, though nobody knew it. She was very shy of +talking about herself.' + +'We must send for the doctor at once,' said Mr Thumble. 'We had better +touch nothing till he is here.' Then they retreated and the door was +locked. + +In ten minutes everybody in the house knew it except the bishop; and in +twenty minutes the nearest apothecary with his assistant were in the +room, and the body had been properly laid upon the bed. Even then the +husband had not been told--did not know either his relief or his loss. +It was now past seven, which was the usual hour for dinner at the +palace, and it was probable that he would come out of his room among the +servants, if he were not summoned. When it was proposed to Mr Thumble +that he should go in and tell him, he positively declined, saying that +the sight which he had just seen and the exertions of the day together, +had so unnerved him, that he had not physical strength for the task. The +apothecary, who had been summoned in a hurry, had escaped, probably +being equally unwilling to be the bearer of such a communication. The +duty therefore fell to Mrs Draper, and under the pressing instance of +the other servants she descended to her master's room. Had it not been +that the hour of dinner had come, so that the bishop could not have been +left much longer to himself, the evil time would have been still +postponed. + +She went very slowly along the passage, and was just going to pause ere +she reached the room when the door was opened and the bishop stood close +before her. It was easy to be seen that he was cross. His hands and face +were unwashed and his face was haggard. In these days he would not even +go through the ceremony of dressing himself before dinner. 'Mrs Draper,' +he said, 'why don't they tell me that dinner is ready? Are they going to +give me any dinner?' She stood a moment without answering him, while the +tears streamed down her face. 'What is the matter?' said he. 'Has your +mistress sent you here?' + +'Oh laws!' said Mrs Draper--and she put out her hands to support him if +such support should be necessary. + +'What is the matter?' he demanded angrily. + +'Oh, my lord--bear it like a Christian. Mistress isn't no more.' He +leaned back against the door-post and she took hold of him by the arms. +'It was the heart, my lord. Dr Filgrave hisself has not been yet; but +that's what it was.' The bishop did not say a word, but walked back to +his chair before the fire. + + + +CHAPTER LXVII + +IN MEMORIAM + +The bishop when he had heard of the tidings of his wife's death walked +back to his seat over the fire, and Mrs Draper, the housekeeper came and +stood over him without speaking. Thus she stood for ten minutes looking +down at him and listening. But there was no sound; not a word, nor a +moan, nor a sob. It was as though he also were dead, but that a slight +irregular movement of his fingers on the top of his bald head, told her +that his mind and body were still active. 'My lord,' she said at last, +'would you wish to see the doctor when he comes?' She spoke very low and +he did not answer her. Then, after another minute of silence, she asked +the same question again. + +'What doctor?' he said. + +'Dr Filgrave. We sent for him. Perhaps he is here now. Shall I go and +see, my lord?' Mrs Draper found that her position there was weary and +she wished to escape. Anything on his behalf requiring trouble or work +she would have done willingly; but she could not stand there for ever, +watching the motion of his fingers. + +'I suppose I must see him,' said the bishop. Mrs Draper took this as an +order for her departure, and crept silently out of the room, closing the +door behind her with the long protracted elaborate click which is always +produced by an attempt at silence on such occasions. He did not care for +noise or for silence. Had she slammed the door he would not have +regarded it. A wonderful silence had come upon him which for the time +almost crushed him. He would never hear that well-known voice again! + +He was free now. Even in his misery--for he was very miserable--he +could not refrain from telling himself that. No once could now press +uncalled-for into his study, contradict him in the presence of those +before whom he was bound to be authoritative, and rob him of all his +dignity. There was no one else of whom he was afraid. She had at least +kept him out of the hands of other tyrants. He was now his own master, +and there was the feeling--I may not call it of relief, for as yet +there was more of pain in it than of satisfaction--a feeling as though +he had escaped from an old trouble at a terrible cost of which he could +not as yet calculate the amount. He knew that he might now give up all +idea of writing to the archbishop. + +She had in some ways, and at certain periods of his life, been very good +to him. She had kept his money for him and made things go straight, when +they had been poor. His interests had always been her interests. Without +her he would never have been a bishop. So, at least, he told himself +now, and so told himself probably with truth. She had been very careful +of his children. She had never been idle. She had never been fond of +pleasure. She had neglected no acknowledged duty. He did not doubt that +she was now on her way to heaven. He took his hands from his head, and +clasping them together, said a little prayer. It may be doubted whether +he quite knew for what he was praying. The idea of giving up her soul, +now that she was dead, would have scandalised him. He certainly was not +praying for his own soul. I think that he was praying that God might +save him from being glad that his wife was dead. + +But she was dead--and, as it were, in a moment! He had not stirred out +of that room since she had been there with him. Then there had been +angry words between them--perhaps more determined enmity on his part +than ever had existed; and they had parted for the last time with bitter +animosity. But he told himself that he had certainly been right in what +he had done then. He thought he had been right then. And so his mind +went back to the Crawley and Thumble question, and he tried to alleviate +the misery which the last interview with his wife now created by +assuring himself that he at least been justified in what he had done. + +But yet his thoughts were very tender to her. Nothing reopens the +springs of love so fully as absence, and no absence so thoroughly as +that which must needs be endless. We want that which we have not; and +especially that which we never can have. She had told him in the very +last moments of her presence with him that he was wishing she were dead, +and he had made no reply. At the moment he had felt, with savage anger, +that such was his wish. Her words had now come to pass, and he was a +widower--and he assured himself that he would give all that he possessed +in the world to bring her back again. + +Yes, he was a widower, and he might do as he pleased. The tyrant was +gone, and he was free. The tyrant was gone, and the tyranny had +doubtless been very oppressive. Who had suffered as he had done? But in +thus being left without his tyrant he was wretchedly desolate. Might it +not be that the tyranny had been good for him?--that the Lord had known +best what wife was fit for him? Then he thought of a story which he had +read--and had well marked as he was reading--of some man who had been +terribly afflicted by his wife, whose wife had starved him and beaten +him and reviled him; and yet this man had been able to thank God for +having mortified him in the flesh. Might it not be that the +mortification which he himself had doubtless suffered in his flesh had +been intended for his welfare, and had been very good for him? But if +this were so, it might be that the mortification was now removed because +the Lord knew that his servant had been sufficiently mortified. He had +not been starved or beaten, but the mortification had been certainly +severe. Then there came these words--into his mind, not into his +mouth--'The Lord sent the thorn, and the Lord has taken it away. Blessed +be the Lord.' After that he was very angry with himself, and tried to +pray that he might be forgiven. While he was so striving there came a +low knock at the door, and Mrs Draper again entered the room. + +'Dr Filgrave, my lord, was not at home,' said Mrs Draper; 'but he will +be sent the moment when he arrives.' + +'Very well, Mrs Draper.' + +'But, my lord, will you not come out to dinner? A little soup, or a +morsel of something to eat, and a glass of wine, will enable your +lordship to bear it better.' He allowed Mrs Draper to persuade him, and +followed her into the dining-room. 'Do not go, Mrs Draper,' he said; 'I +would rather that you should stay with me.' So Mrs Draper stayed with +him, and administered to his wants. He was desirous of being seen by as +few eyes as possible in these first moments of his freedom. + +He saw Dr Filgrave twice, both before and after the doctor had been +upstairs. There was no doubt, Dr Filgrave said, that it was as Mrs +Draper had surmised. The poor lady was suffering, and had for years been +suffering, from heart-complaint. To her husband she had never said a +word on the subject. To Mrs Draper a word had been said now and again--a +word when some moment of fear would come, when some sharp stroke of +agony would tell of danger. But Mrs Draper had kept the secret of her +mistress, and none of the family had known that there was aught to be +feared. Dr Filgrave, indeed, did tell the bishop that he had dreaded all +along exactly that which had happened. He had said the same to Mr +Rerechild, the surgeon, when they two had had a consultation at the +palace on the occasion of a somewhat alarming birth of a grandchild. But +he mixed up this information with so much medical Latin, and was so +pompous over it, and the bishop was so anxious to be rid of him, that +his words did not have much effect. What did it all matter? The thorn +was gone, and the wife was dead, and the widower must balance his gain +and the loss as best he might. + +He slept well but when he woke in the morning the dreariness of his +loneliness was very strong on him. He must do something, and must see +somebody, but he felt that he did not know how to bear himself in his +new position. He must send of course for his chaplain, and tell his +chaplain to open all letters and to answer them for a week. Then he +remembered how many of his letters in days of yore had been opened and +answered by the helpmate, who had just gone from him. Since Dr Tempest's +visit he had insisted that the palace letter-bag should always be +brought in the first instance to him--and this had been done, greatly to +the annoyance of his wife. In order that it might be done the bishop had +been up every morning an hour before the usual time; and everybody in +the household had known why it was so. He thought of this now as the bag +was brought to him on the first morning of his freedom. He could have it +where he pleased now--either in his bedroom or left for him untouched on +the breakfast-table till he should go to it. 'Blessed be the name of the +Lord,' he said as he thought of all this; but he did not stop to analyse +what he was saying. On this morning he would not enjoy his liberty, but +desired that the letter-bag might be taken to Mr Snapper, the chaplain. + +The news of Mrs Proudie's death had spread all over Barchester on the +evening of its occurrence, and had been received with that feeling of +distant awe which is always accompanied by some degree of pleasurable +sensation. There was no one in Barchester to lament a mother, or a +sister, or a friend who was really loved. There were those, doubtless, +who regretted the woman's death--and even some who regretted it without +any feeling of personal damage done to themselves. There had come to be +around Mrs Proudie a party who thought as she thought on church matters, +and such people had lost their head, and thereby their strength. And she +had been staunch to her own party, preferring bad tea from a low-church +grocer, to good tea from a grocer who went to the ritualistic church or +to no church at all. And it is due to her to say that she did not forget +those who were true to her--looking after them mindfully where looking +after might be profitable, and fighting their battles where fighting +might be more serviceable. I do not think that the appetite for +breakfast of any man or woman in Barchester was disturbed by the news of +Mrs Proudie's death, but there were some who felt that a trouble had +fallen on them. + +Tidings of the catastrophe reached Hiram's Hospital on the evening of +its occurrence--Hiram's Hospital, where dwelt Mr and Mrs Quiverful with +all their children. Now Mrs Quiverful owed a debt of gratitude to Mrs +Proudie, having been placed in her present comfortable home by that +lady's patronage. Mrs Quiverful perhaps understood the character of the +deceased woman, and expressed her opinion respecting it, as graphically +did anyone in Barchester. There was the natural surprise felt at the +Warden's Lodge in the Hospital when the tidings were first received +there, and the Quiverful family was at first too full of dismay, +regrets, and surmises to be able to give themselves impartially to +criticism. But on the following morning, conversation at the +breakfast-table naturally referring to the great loss which the bishop +had sustained, Mrs Quiverful thus pronounced her opinion of her friend's +character: 'You'll find that he'll feel it, Q.,' she said to her +husband, in answer to some sarcastic remark made by him as to the +removal of the thorn. 'He'll feel it, though she was almost too many for +him while she was alive.' + +'I daresay he'll feel it at first,' said Quiverful; 'but I think he'll +be more comfortable than he has been.' + +'Of course he'll feel it, and go on feeling it till he dies, if he's the +man I take him to be. You're not to think that there has been no love +because there used to be some words, that he'll find himself the happier +he can do more things as he pleases. She was a great help to him, and he +must have known that she was, in spite of the sharpness of her tongue. +No doubt her tongue was sharp. No doubt she was upsetting. And she could +make herself a fool too in her struggles to have everything her own way. +But, Q., there were worse women than Mrs Proudie. She was never one of +your idle ones, and I'm quite sure that no man or woman ever heard her +say a word against her husband behind his back.' + +'All the same, she gave him a terribly bad life of it, if all is true +that we hear.' + +'There are men who must have what you call a terribly bad life of it, +whatever way it goes with them. The bishop is weak, and he wants +somebody near to him to be strong. She was strong--perhaps too strong; +but he had his advantage of it. After all I don't know that his life has +been so terribly bad. I daresay he's had everything very comfortable +about him. And a man ought to be grateful for that, though very few men +ever are.' + +Mr Quiverful's predecessor at the Hospital, old Mr Harding, whose +halcyon days in Barchester had been passed before the coming of the +Proudies, was in bed playing cat's-cradle with Posy seated on the +counterpane, when tidings of Mrs Proudie's death were brought to him by +Mrs Baxter. 'Oh, sir,' said Mrs Baxter, seating herself on a chair by +the bed-side. Mr Harding liked Mrs Baxter to sit down, because he was +almost sure on such occasions to have the advantage of a prolonged +conversation. + +'What is it, Mrs Baxter?' + +'Oh, sir!' + +'Is anything the matter?' And the old man attempted to raise himself in +his bed. + +'You mustn't frighten grandpa,' said Posy. + +'No, my dear; and there isn't nothing to frighten him. There isn't +indeed, Mr Harding. They're all well at Plumstead, and when I heard from +the missus at Venice, everything was going on well.' + +'But what is it, Mrs Baxter?' + +'God forgive all her sins--Mrs Proudie ain't no more.' Now there had +been a terrible feud between the palace and the deanery for years, in +carrying on which the persons of the opposed households were wont to +express themselves with eager animosity. Mrs Baxter and Mrs Draper never +dared speak to each other. The two coachmen each longed for an +opportunity to take the other before the magistrate for some breach of +the law of the road in driving. The footmen abused each other, and the +grooms occasionally fought. The masters and mistresses contented +themselves with simple hatred. Therefore it was not surprising that Mrs +Baxter in speaking of the death of Mrs Proudie, should remember first +her sins. + +'Mrs Proudie dead!' said the old man. + +'Indeed, she is, Mr Harding,' said Mrs Baxter, putting both her hands +together piously. 'We're just as grass, ain't we, sir! An dust and clay +and flowers of the field?' Whether Mrs Proudie had most partaken of the +clayey nature or of the flowery nature, Mrs Baxter did not stop to +consider. + +'Mrs Proudie dead!' with a solemnity that was all her own. 'Then she +won't scold the poor bishop any more.' + +'No, my dear; she won't scold anybody any more; and it will be a +blessing for some, I must say. Everybody is always so considerate in +this house, Miss Posy, that we none of us know nothing about what that +is.' + +'Dead!' said Mr Harding again. 'I think, if you please, Mrs Baxter, you +shall leave me for little time, and take Miss Posy with you.' He had +been in the city of Barchester some fifty years, and here was one who +might have been his daughter, who had come there scarcely ten years +since, and who had now gone before him! He had never loved Mrs Proudie. +Perhaps he had come as near to disliking Mrs Proudie as he had ever come +to disliking any person. Mrs Proudie had wounded him in every part that +was most sensitive. It would be long to tell, nor need it be told now, +how she had ridiculed his cathedral work, how she had made nothing of +him, how she had despised him, always manifesting her contempt plainly. +He had been even driven to rebuke her, and it had perhaps been the only +personal rebuke which he had ever uttered in Barchester. But now she was +gone; and he thought of her simply as an active pious woman, who had +been taken away from her word before her time. And for the bishop, no +idea ever entered Mr Harding's mind as to the removal of a thorn. The +man had lost his life's companion at that time of life when such a +companion is most needed; and Mr Harding grieved for him with sincerity. + +The news went out to Plumstead Episcopi by the postman, and happened to +reach the archdeacon as he was talking to his rector at the little gate +leading into the churchyard. 'Mrs Proudie is dead!' he almost shouted, +as the postman notified the fact to him. 'Impossible!' + +'It be so for zartain, yer reverence,' said the postman, who was proud +of his news. + +'Heavens!' ejaculated the archdeacon, and then hurried in to his wife. +'My dear,' he said--and as he spoke he could hardly deliver himself of +the words, so eager was he to speak them--'who do you think is dead? +Gracious heavens! Mrs Proudie is dead!' Mrs Grantly dropped from her +hand the teaspoonful of tea that was just going into the pot, and +repeated her husband's last words. 'Mrs Proudie dead?' There was a +pause, during which they looked into each other's faces. 'My dear, I +don't believe it,' said Mrs Grantly. + +But she did believe it very shortly. There were no prayers at Plumstead +rectory that morning. The archdeacon immediately went out into the +village, and soon obtained sufficient evidence of the truth of that +which the postman had told him. Then he rushed back to his wife. 'It's +true,' he said. 'It's quite true. She's dead. There's no doubt about +that. She's dead. It was last night about seven. That was when they +found her, at least, and she may have died about an hour before. +Filgrave says not more than an hour.' + +'And how did she die?' + +'Heart-complaint. She was standing up, taking hold of the bedstead, and +so they found her.' Then there was a pause, during which the archdeacon +sat down to his breakfast. 'I wonder how he felt when he heard it?' + +'Of course he was terribly shocked.' + +'I've no doubt he was shocked. Any man would be shocked. But when you +come to think of it, what a relief!' + +'How can you speak of it in that way?' said Mrs Grantly. + +'How am I to speak of it in any other way?' said the archdeacon. 'Of +course I shouldn't go and say it out in the street.' + +'I don't think you ought to say it anywhere,' said Mrs Grantly. 'The +poor man no doubt feels about his wife in the same way that anybody else +would.' + +'And of any other poor man has got such a wife as she was, you may be +quite sure that he would be glad to get rid of her. I don't say that he +wished her to die, or that he would have done anything to contrive her +death--' + +'Gracious, archdeacon; do pray hold your tongue.' + +'But it stands to reason that her going will be a great relief to him. +What has she done for him? She has made him contemptible to everybody in +the diocese by her interference, and his life has been a burden to him +through her violence.' + +'Is that the way you carry out your proverb De mortuis?' asked Mrs +Grantly. + +'The proverb of De mortuis is founded on humbug. Humbug out of doors is +necessary. It would not do for you and me to go into the High Street +just now and say what we think about Mrs Proudie; but I don't suppose +that kind of thing need to be kept up in here--so uncomfortable that I +cannot believe that anyone will regret her. Dear me! Only to think that +she has gone! You may as well give me my tea.' + +I do not think that Mrs Grantly's opinion differed much from that +expressed by her husband, or that she was, in truth, the least offended +by the archdeacon's plain speech. But it must be remembered that there +was probably no house in the diocese in which Mrs Proudie had been so +thoroughly hated as she had been at the Plumstead rectory. There had +been hatred in the deanery; but the hatred at the deanery had been mild +in comparison with the hatred at Plumstead. The archdeacon was a sound +friend; but he was also a sound enemy. From the very arrival of the +Proudies at Barchester, Mrs Proudie had thrown down her gauntlet to him, +and he had not been slow in picking it up. The war had been internecine, +and each had given the other terrible wounds. It had been understood +that there should be no quarter, and there had been none. His enemy was +now dead, and the archdeacon could not bring himself to adopt before his +wife the namby-pamby everyday decency of speaking well of one of whom he +had ever thought ill, or expressing regret when no regret could be felt. +'May all her sins be forgiven her,' said Mrs Grantly. 'Amen,' said the +archdeacon. There was something in the tone of his Amen which thoroughly +implied that it was uttered only on the understanding that her departure +from the existing world was to be regarded as an unmitigated good, and +that she should, at any rate, never come back again to Barchester. + +When Lady Lufton heard the tidings, she was not so bold in speaking of +it as was her friend the archdeacon. 'Mrs Proudie dead!,' she said to +her daughter-in-law. This was some hours after the news had reached the +house, and when the fact of the poor lady's death had been fully +recognised. 'What will he do without her?' + +'The same as other men do,' said the young Lady Lufton. + +'But, my dear, he is not the same as other men. He is not at all like +other men. No doubt she was a virago, a woman who could not control her +temper for a moment! No doubt she had led him a terrible life! I have +often pitied him with all my heart. But, nevertheless, she was useful to +him. I suppose she was useful to him. I can hardly believe that Mrs +Proudie is dead. Had he gone, it would have seemed so much more natural. +Poor woman. I daresay she had her good points.' The reader will be +pleased to remember that the Luftons had ever been strong partisans on +the side of the Grantlys. + +The news made its way even to Hogglestock on the same day. Mrs Crawley, +when she heard it, went out after her husband, who was in the school. +'Dead!' he said in answer to her whisper. 'Do you tell me that the woman +is dead?' Then Mrs Crawley explained that the tidings were credible. +'May God forgive her all her sins,' said Mrs Crawley. 'She was a violent +woman, certainly, and I think that she misunderstood her duties; but I +do not say that she was a bad woman. I am inclined to think that she was +earnest in her endeavours to do good.' It never occurred to Mr Crawley +that he and his affair, had, in truth, been the cause of her death. + +It was thus that she was spoken of for a few days; and the men and women +ceased to speak much of her, and began to talk of the bishop instead. A +month had not passed before it was surmised that a man so long +accustomed to the comforts of married life would marry again; and even +then one lady connected with low-church clergymen in and around the +city was named as a probable successor to the great lady who was gone. +For myself I am inclined to think that the bishop will for the future be +content to lean upon his chaplain. + +The monument that was put up to our friend's memory in one of the aisles +of the choir of the cathedral was supposed to be designed and executed +in good taste. There was a broken column, and on the column simply the +words 'My beloved wife!' Then there was a slab by the column, bearing +Mrs Proudie's name, with the date of her life and death. Beneath this +was the common inscription:- + +'Requiescat in pace.' + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII + +THE OBSTINACY OF MR CRAWLEY + +Dr Tempest, when he heard the news, sent immediately to Mr Robarts, +begging him to come over to Silverbridge. But this message was not +occasioned solely by the death of Mrs Proudie. Dr Tempest had also heard +that Mr Crawley had submitted himself to the bishop, that instant +advantage--and, as Dr Tempest thought,--unfair advantage--had been taken +of Mr Crawley's submission, and that the pernicious Mr Thumble had been +at once sent over to Hogglestock. Had these palace doings with reference +to Mr Crawley been unaccompanied by the catastrophe which had happened, +the doctor, much as he might have regretted them, would probably have +felt that there was nothing to be done. He could not in such case have +prevented Mr Thumble's journey to Hogglestock on the next Sunday, and +certainly he could not have softened the heart of the presiding genius +at the palace. But things were very different now. The presiding genius +was gone. Everybody at the palace would be for a while weak and +vacillating. Thumble would be then thoroughly cowed; and it might at any +rate be possible to make some movement in Mr Crawley's favour. Dr +Tempest, therefore, sent for Mr Robarts. + +'I'm giving you a great deal of trouble, Robarts,' said the doctor; 'but +then you are so much younger than I am, and I've an idea that you would +do more for this poor man than anyone else in the diocese.' Mr Robarts +of course declared that he did not begrudge his trouble, and that he +would do anything in his power for the poor man. 'I think that you +should see him again, and that you should then see Thumble also. I don't +know whether you can condescend to be civil to Thumble. I could not.' + +'I am not quite sure that incivility would not be more efficacious.' + +'Very likely. There are men who are deaf as adders to courtesy, but who +are compelled to obedience at once by ill-usage. Very likely Thumble is +one of them; but of that you will be the best judge yourself. I would +see Crawley first, and get his consent.' + +'That's the difficulty.' + +'Then I should go without his consent, and I would see Thumble and the +bishop's chaplain Snapper. I think you might manage just at this moment, +when they will all be abashed and perplexed by this woman's death, to +arrange that simply nothing shall be done. The great thing will be that +Crawley should go on with the duty till the assizes. If it should happen +that he goes into Barchester and is acquitted, and comes back again, the +whole thing will be over, and there will be no further interference in +the parish. If I were you, I think I would try it.' Mr Robarts said that +he would try it. 'I daresay Mr Crawley will be a little stiff-necked +with you.' + +'He will be very stiff-necked with me,' said Mr Robarts. + +'But I can hardly think that he will throw away the only means he has of +supporting his wife and children, when he finds that there can be no +occasion for his doing so. I do not suppose that any person wishes him +to throw up his work now that the poor woman has gone.' + +Mr Crawley had been almost in good spirits since the last visit which Mr +Thumble had made him. It seemed as though the loss of everything in the +world was in some way satisfactory to him. He had now given up his +living by his own doing, and had after a fashion acknowledged his guilt +by this act. He had proclaimed to all around him that he did not think +himself to be any longer fit to perform the sacred functions of his +office. He spoke of his trial as though a verdict against him must be +the result. He knew that in going into prison he would leave his wife +and children dependent on the charity of their friends--on charity which +they must condescend to accept, though he could not condescend to ask +it. And yet he was able to carry himself now with a greater show of +fortitude than had been within his power when the extent of his calamity +was more doubtful. I must not ask the reader to suppose that he was +cheerful. To have been cheerful under such circumstances would have been +inhuman. But he carried his head on high, and walked firmly, and gave +his orders with a clear voice. His wife, who was necessarily more +despondent than ever, wondered at him--but wondered in silence. It +certainly seemed as though the very extremity of ill-fortune was good +for him. And he was very diligent with his school, passing the greater +part of the morning with his children. Mr Thumble had told him that he +would come on Sunday, and that he would then take charge of the parish. +Up to the coming of Mr Thumble he would do everything in the parish that +could be done by a clergyman with a clear spirit and a free heart. Mr +Thumble should not find that spiritual weeds had grown rank in the +parish because of his misfortunes. + +Mrs Proudie had died on the Tuesday--that having been the day of Mr +Thumble's visit to Hogglestock--and Mr Robarts had gone over to +Silverbridge, in answer to Dr Tempest's invitation, on the Thursday. He +had not, therefore, the command of much time, it being the express +object to prevent the appearance of Mr Thumble at Hogglestock on the +next Sunday. He had gone to Silverbridge by railway, and had, therefore, +been obliged to postpone his visit to Mr Crawley till the next day; but +early on the Friday morning he rode over to Hogglestock. That he did not +arrive there with a broken-kneed horse, the reader may be quite sure. In +all matters of that sort, Mr Robarts was ever above reproach. He rode a +good horse, and drove a neat gig, and was always well-dressed. On this +account Mr Crawley, though he really liked Mr Robarts, and was thankful +to him for many kindnesses, could never bear his presence with perfect +equanimity. Robarts was no scholar, was not a great preacher, had +obtained no celebrity as a churchman--had, in fact, done nothing to +merit great reward; and yet everything had been given to him with an +abundant hand. Within the last twelvemonth his wife had inherited Mr +Crawley did not care to know how many thousand pounds. And yet Mr +Robarts had won all that he possessed by being a clergyman. Was it +possible that Mr Crawley should regard such a man with equanimity? +Robarts rode over with a groom behind him--really taking the groom +because he knew that Mr Crawley would have no one to hold his horse for +him--and the groom was the source of great offence. He come upon Mr +Crawley standing at the school door, and stopping at once, jumped off +his nag. There was something in the way in which he sprang out of the +saddle and threw the reins to the man, which was not clerical to Mr +Crawley's eyes. No man could be so quick in the matter of a horse who +spent as many hours with the poor and with the children as should be +spent by a parish clergyman. It might be probable that Mr Robarts had +never stolen twenty pounds--might never be accused of so disgraceful a +crime--but, nevertheless, Mr Crawley had his own ideas, and made his own +comparisons. + +'Crawley' said Robarts, 'I am so glad to find you at home.' + +'I am generally to be found in the parish,' said the perpetual curate of +Hogglestock. + +'I know you are,' said Robarts, who knew the man well, and cared nothing +for his friend's peculiarities when he felt his own withers to be +unwrung. 'But you might have been down at Hoggle End with the +brickmakers, and then, I would have had to go after you.' + +'I should have grieved--' began Crawley; but Robarts interrupted him at +once. + +'Let us go for a walk, and I'll leave the man with the horses. I've +something special to say to you, and I can say it better out here than +in the house. Grace is quite well, and sends her love. She is growing to +look so beautiful!' + +'I hope she may grow in grace with God,' said Mr Crawley. + +'She is as good a girl as ever I knew. By-the-bye, you had Henry +Grantly over here the other day?' + +'Major Grantly, whom I cannot name without expressing my esteem for him, +did do us the honour of calling upon us not very long since. If it be +with reference to him that you have taken this trouble--' + +'No, no; not at all. I'll allow him and the ladies to fight out that +battle. I've not the least doubt in the world how that will go. When I'm +told that she made a complete conquest of the archdeacon, there cannot +be any doubt about that.' + +'A conquest of the archdeacon!' + +But Mr Robarts did not wish to have to explain anything further about +the archdeacon. 'Were you not terribly shocked, Crawley,' he asked, +'when you heard of the death of Mrs Proudie?' + +'It was sudden and very awful,' said Mr Crawley. 'Such deaths are +always shocking. Not more so, perhaps, as regards the wife of a bishop., +than with any other woman.' + +'Only we happen to know her.' + +'No doubt the finite and meagre nature of our feelings does prevent us +from extending our sympathies to those whom we have not seen in the +flesh. It should not be so, and would not with one who had nurtured his +heart with the proper care. And we are prone to permit an evil worse +than that to canker our regards and to foster and to mar our +solicitudes. Those who are in high station strike us more by their joys +and sorrows than do the poor and lowly. Were some young duke's wife, +wedded but the other day, to die, all England would put on a show of +mourning--nay, would feel some true gleam of pity; but nobody cares for +the widowed brickmaker seated with his starving infant on his cold +hearth.' + +'Of course we hear more of the big people,' said Robarts. + +'Ay; and think more of them. But do not suppose, sir, that I complain +of this man or that woman because his sympathies, or hers, runs out of +that course which my reason tells me they should hold. The man with whom +it would not be so would simply be a god among men. It is in his +perfection as a man that we recognise the divinity of Christ. It is in +the imperfection of men that we recognise our necessity for a Christ. +Yes, sir, the death of the poor lady at Barchester was very sudden. I +hope that my lord bears with becoming fortitude the heavy misfortune. +They say that he was a man much beholden to his wife--prone to lean upon +her in his goings out and comings in. For such a man such a loss is more +dreadful than for another.' + +'They say she led him a terrible life, you know.' + +'I am not prone, sir, to believe much of what I hear about the +domesticities of other men, knowing how little any other man can know of +my own. And I have, methinks, observed a proneness in the world to +ridicule that dependence on a woman which every married man should +acknowledge in regard to the wife of his bosom, if he cant trust her as +well as love her. When I hear jocose proverbs spoken as to men such as +that in this house the grey mare is the better horse, or that in that +house the wife wears that garment which is supposed to denote virile +command, knowing that the joke is easy, and that meekness in a man is +more truly noble than the habit of stern authority, I do not allow them +to go far with me in influencing my judgment.' + +So spoke Mr Crawley, who never permitted the slightest interference with +his own word in his own family, and who had himself been a witness of +one of those scenes between the bishop and his wife in which the poor +bishop had been so cruelly misused. But to Mr Crawley the thing which he +himself had seen under such circumstances was as sacred as though it had +come to him under the seal of confession. In speaking of the bishop and +Mrs Proudie--nay, as far as was possible in thinking of them--he was +bound to speak and to think as though he had not witnessed that scene in +the palace study. + +'I don't suppose that there is much doubt as to her real character,' +said Robarts. 'But you and I need not discuss that.' + +'By no means. Such discussion would be both useless and unseemly.' + +'And just at present there is something else that I specially want to +say to you. Indeed, I went to Silverbridge on the same subject +yesterday, and have come here expressly to have a little conversation +with you.' + +'If it be about affairs of mine, Mr Robarts, I am indeed troubled in +spirit that so great labour should have fallen upon you.' + +'Never mind my labour. Indeed your saying that is a nuisance to me, +because I hoped that by this time you would have understood that I +regard you as a friend, and that I think nothing any trouble that I do +for a friend. You position just now is so peculiar that it requires a +great deal of care.' + +'No care can be of any avail to me.' + +'There I disagree with you. You must excuse me, but I do; and so does +Dr Tempest. We think that you have been a little too much in a hurry +since he communicated to you the result of our first meeting.' + +'As how, sir?' + +'It is, perhaps, hardly worth while for us to go into the whole +question; but that man, Thumble, must not come here on next Sunday.' + +'I cannot say, Mr Robarts, that the Reverend Mr Thumble has recommended +himself to me strongly either by his outward symbols of manhood or by +such manifestation of inward mental gifts as I have succeeded in +obtaining. But my knowledge of him has been so slight, and has been +acquired in a manner so likely to bias me prejudicially against him, +that I am inclined to think my opinion should go for nothing. It is, +however, the fact that the bishop has nominated him to do this duty; and +that, as I have myself simply notified my decision to be relieved from +the care of the parish, on account of certain unfitness of my own, I am +the last man who should interfere with the bishop in the choice of my +temporary successor. + +'It was her choice, not his.' + +'Excuse me, Mr Robarts, but I cannot allow that assertion to pass +unquestioned. I must say that I have adequate cause for believing that +he came here by his lordship's authority.' + +'No doubt he did. Will you just listen to me for a moment? Ever since +this unfortunate affair of the cheque became known, Mrs Proudie has been +anxious to get you out of the parish. She was a violent woman, and chose +to take this matter up violently. Pray hear me out before you interrupt +me. There would have been no commission at all but for her.' + +'The commission is right and proper and just,' said Mr Crawley, who +could not keep himself silent. + +'Very well. Let it be so. But Mr Thumble's coming over here is not +proper or right; and you may be sure the bishop does not wish it.' + +'Let him send any other clergyman whom he may think more fitting,' said +Mr Crawley. + +'But we do not want him to send anybody.' + +'Somebody must be sent, Mr Robarts.' + +'No, not so. Let me go over and see Thumble and Snapper--Snapper, you +know, is the domestic chaplain; and all that you need do is to go on +with your services on Sunday. If necessary, I will see the bishop. I +think you may be sure that I can manage it. If not, I will come back to +you.' Mr Robarts paused for an answer, but it seemed for a while that +all Mr Crawley's impatient desire to speak was over. He walked on +silently along the lane by his visitor's side, and when, after some five +or six minutes, Robarts stood still in the road, Mr Crawley even then +said nothing. 'It cannot be but that you should be anxious to keep the +income of the parish for your wife and children,' said Mark Robarts. + +'Of course, I am anxious for my wife and children,' Crawley answered. + +'Then let me do as I say. Why should you throw away a chance, even if +it be a bad one? But here the chance is all in your favour. Let me +manage it for you at Barchester.' + +'Of course I am anxious for my wife and children,' said Crawley, +repeating his words; 'how anxious, I fancy no man can conceive who has +not been hear enough to absolute want to know how terrible is its +approach when it threatens those who are weak and who are very dear! +But, Mr Robarts, you spoke just now of the chance of the thing--the +chance of your arranging on my behalf that I should for a while longer +be left in the enjoyment of the freehold of my parish. It seemeth to me +that there should be no chance on such a subject; that in the adjustment +of so momentous a matter there should be a consideration of right and +wrong, and no consideration of aught beside. I have been growing to +feel, for some weeks past, that circumstances--whether through my fault +or not is an outside question as to which I will not further delay you +by offering even an opinion--that unfortunate circumstances have made me +unfit to remain here as guardian of the souls of the people of this +parish. Then there came to me the letter from Dr Tempest--for which I am +greatly beholden to him--strengthening me altogether in this view. What +could I do then, Mr Robarts? Could I allow myself to think of my wife +and my children when such a question as that was before me for self- +discussion?' + +'I would--certainly,' said Robarts. + +'No sir! Excuse the bluntness of my contradiction, but I feel assured +that in such emergency you would look solely to duty--as by God's help I +will endeavour to do. Mr Robarts, there are many of us who in many +things are much worse than we believe ourselves to be. But in other +matters, and perhaps of larger moment, we can rise to ideas of duty as +the need for such ideas comes to us. I say not this at all as praising +myself. I speak of men as I believe that they will be found to be;--of +yourself, of myself, and of others who strive to live with clean hands +and a clear conscience. I do not for a moment think that you would +retain your benefice at Framley if there had come upon you, after much +thought, an assured conviction that you could not retain it without +grievous injury to the souls of others and grievous sin to your own. +Wife and children, dear as they are to you and to me--as dear to me as +to you--fade from the sight when the time comes for judgment on such a +matter as that!' They were standing quite still now, facing each other, +and Crawley, as he spoke with a low voice, looked straight into his +friend's eyes, and kept his hand firmly fixed on his friend's arm. + +'I cannot interfere further,' said Robarts. + +'No--you cannot interfere further.' Robarts, when he told the story of +the interview to his wife that evening, declared that he had never heard +a voice so plaintively touching as was the voice of Mr Crawley when he +uttered those last words. + +They turned back to the servant and the house almost without a word, and +Robarts mounted without offering to see Mrs Crawley. Nor did Mr Crawley +ask him to do so. It was better now that Robarts should go. 'May God +send you through all your troubles,' said Mr Robarts. + +'Mr Robarts, I thank you warmly for your friendship,' said Mr Crawley. +And then they parted. In about half an hour Mr Crawley returned to the +house. 'Now for Pindar, Jane,' he said, seating himself at his old desk. + + + +CHAPTER LXIX + +MR CRAWLEY'S LAST APPEARANCE IN HIS OWN PULPIT + +No word or message from Mr Crawley reached Barchester throughout the +week, and on the Sunday morning Mr Thumble was under a positive +engagement to go out to Hogglestock, and to perform the services of the +church. Dr Tempest had been quite right in saying that Mr Thumble would +be awed by the death of his patroness. Such was altogether the case, and +he was very anxious to escape from the task he had undertaken at her +instance, if it were possible. In the first place, he had never been a +favourite with the bishop himself, and had now, therefore, nothing to +expect in the diocese. The crusts and bits of loaves and the morsels of +broken fishes which had come his way had all come from the bounty of Mrs +Proudie. And then, as regarded this special Hogglestock job, how was he +to get paid for it? Whence, indeed, was he to seek repayment for the +actual money which he would be out of pocket in finding his way to +Hogglestock and back again? But he could not get to speak to the bishop, +nor could he induce anyone who had access to his lordship to touch upon +the subject. Mr Snapper avoided him as much as possible; and Mr Snapper, +when he was caught and interrogated, declared that he regarded the +matter as settled. Nothing could be in worse taste, Mr Snapper thought, +than to undo, immediately after the poor lady's death, work in the +diocese which had been arranged and done by her. Mr Snapper expressed +his opinion that Mr Thumble was bound to go to Hogglestock; and, when Mr +Thumble declared petulantly the he would not stir a step out of +Barchester, Mr Snapper protested that Mr Thumble would have to answer +for it in this world and in the next if there was no services at +Hogglestock on that Sunday. On the Saturday evening Mr Thumble made a +desperate attempt to see the bishop, but was told by Mrs Draper that the +bishop had positively declined to see him. The bishop himself probably +felt unwilling to interfere with his wife's doings so soon after her +death! So Mr Thumble, with a heavy heart, went across to the 'Dragon of +Wantly', and ordered a gig, resolving that the bill should be sent to +the palace. He was not going to trust himself again on the bishop's cob! + +Up to Saturday evening Mr Crawley did the work of the parish, and on the +Saturday evening he made an address to his parishioners from his pulpit. +He had given notice among the brickmakers and labourers that he wished +to say a few words to them in the schoolroom; but the farmers also heard +of this and came with their wives and daughters, and all the brickmakers +came and most of the labourers were there, so that there was no room for +them in the schoolhouse. The congregation was much larger than was +customary even in the church. 'They will come,' he said to his wife, 'to +hear a ruined man declare his own ruin, but they will not come to hear +the word of God.' When it was found that the persons assembled were too +many for the school-room, the meeting was adjourned to the church, and +Mr Crawley was forced to get into his pulpit. He said a short prayer, +and then he began his story. + +His story as he told it then shall not be repeated now, as the same +story has been told too often already in these pages. Surely it was a +singular story for a parish clergyman to tell himself in so solemn a +manner. That he had applied the cheque to his own purposes, and was +unable to account for its possession of it, was certain. He did not know +when or how he had got it. Speaking to them then in God's house he told +them that. He was to be tried by a jury, and all he could do was to tell +the jury the same. He would not expect the jury to believe him. The jury +would, of course, believe only that which was proved to them. But he did +expect his old friends at Hogglestock, who had known him so long, to +take his word as true. That there was no sufficient excuse for his +conduct, even in his own sight, this, his voluntary resignation of his +parish, was, he said, sufficient evidence. Then he explained to them, as +clearly as he was able, what the bishop had done, what the commission +had done, and what he had done himself. That he spoke no word of Mrs +Proudie to that audience need hardly be mentioned here. 'And now, +dearest friends, I leave you,' he said, with that weighty solemnity +which was so peculiar to the man, and which he was able to make +singularly impressive even on such a congregation as that of +Hogglestock, 'and I trust that the heavy burden but pleasing burden of +the charge which I have had over you may fall into hands better fitted +than mine have been for such work. I have always known my own unfitness, +by reason of the worldly cares with which I have been laden. Poverty +makes the spirit poor, and the hands weak, and the heart sore--and too +often makes the conscience dull. May the latter never be the case with +any of you.' Then he uttered another short prayer, and, stepping down +from the pulpit, walked out of the church, with his weeping wife hanging +on his arm, and his daughter following them, almost dissolved in tears. +He never again entered that church as the pastor of the congregation. + +There was an old lame man from Hoggle End leaning on his stick near the +door as Mr Crawley went out, and with him was his old lame wife. 'He'll +pull through yet,' said the old man to his wife; 'you'll see else. He'll +pull through because he's so dogged. It's dogged as does it.' + +On that night the position of the members of Mr Crawley's household +seemed to have changed. There was something almost of elation in his +mode of speaking, and he said soft loving words, striving to comfort his +wife. She, on the other hand, could say nothing to comfort him. She had +been averse to the step he was taking, but had been unable to press her +objection in opposition to his great argument as to duty. Since he had +spoken to her in that strain which he had used with Robarts, she also +had felt that she must be silent. But she could not even feign to feel +the pride which comes from the performance of a duty. 'What will he do +when he comes out?' she said to her daughter. The coming out spoken of +her was the coming out of prison. It was natural enough that she should +feel no elation. + +The breakfast on Sunday morning was to her, perhaps, the saddest scene +of her life. They sat down, the three together, at the usual hour--nine +o'clock--but the morning had not been passed as was customary on +Sundays. It had been Mr Crawley's practice to go into the school from +eight to nine; but on this Sunday he felt, as he told his wife, that his +presence would be an intrusion there. But he requested Jane to go and +perform her usual task. 'If Mr Thumble should come,' he said to her, 'be +submissive to him in all things.' Then he stood at his door, watching to +see at what hour Mr Thumble would reach the school. But Mr Thumble did +not attend the school on that morning. 'And yet he was very express to +me in his desire that I would not meddle with the duties,' said Mr +Crawley to his wife as he stood at the door--'unnecessarily urgent, as I +may say I thought at the time.' If Mrs Crawley could have spoken out her +thoughts about Mr Thumble at that moment, her words would, I think have +surprised her husband. + +At breakfast there was hardly a word spoken. Mr Crawley took his crust +and ate it mournfully--almost ostentatiously. Jane tried and failed, and +tried to hide her failure, failing in that also. Mrs Crawley made no +attempt. She sat behind her teapot, with her hands clasped and her eyes +fixed. It was as though some last day had come upon her--this, the first +Sunday of her husband's degradation. + +'Mary,' he said to her, 'why do you not eat?' + +'I cannot,' she replied, speaking not in a whisper, but in words which +would hardly get themselves articulated. 'I cannot. Do not ask me.' + +'For the honour of the lord, you will want the strength which bread can +give you,' he said, intimating to her that he wished her to attend the +service. + +'Do not ask me to be there, Josiah. I cannot. It is too much for me.' + +'Nay, I will not press it,' he said. 'I can go alone.' He uttered no +word expressive of a wish that his daughter should attend the church; +but when the moment came, Jane accompanied him. 'What shall I do, +mamma?' she said, 'if I find that I cannot bear it?' 'Try to bear it,' +the mother said. 'Try for his sake. You are stronger than I am.' + +The tinkle of the church bell was heard at the usual time, and Mr +Crawley, hat in hand, stood ready to go forth. He had heard nothing of +Mr Thumble, but had made up his mind that Mr Thumble would not trouble +him. He had taken the precaution to request his churchwarden to be early +at the church, so that Mr Thumble might encounter no difficulty. The +church was very near to the house, and any vehicle arriving might have +been heard had Mr Crawley watched closely. But no one had cared to watch +Mr Thumble's arrival at the church. He did not doubt that Mr Thumble +would be at the church. With reference to the school, he had had some +doubt. + +But just as he was about to start he heard the clatter of a gig. Up came +Mr Thumble to the door of the parsonage, and having come down from his +gig was about to enter the house as though it were his own. Mr Crawley +greeted him in the pathway, raising his hat from his head, and +expressing a wish that Mr Thumble might not feel himself fatigued with +his drive. 'I will not ask you into my poor house,' he said, standing in +the middle of the pathway; 'for that my wife is ill.' + +'Nothing catching, I hope?' said Mr Thumble. + +'Her malady is of the spirit rather than of the flesh,' said Mr Crawley. +'Shall we go to the church?' + +'Certainly--by all means. How about the surplice?' + +'You will find, I trust, that the churchwarden has everything in +readiness. I have notified him expressly your coming, with the purport +that it may be so.' + +'You'll take part in the service, I suppose?' said Mr Thumble. + +'No part--no part whatever,' said Mr Crawley, standing still for a +moment as he spoke, and showing plainly by the tone of his voice how +dismayed he was, how indignant he had been made, by so indecent a +proposition. Was he giving up his pulpit to a stranger for any reason +less cogent than one which made it absolutely imperative of him to be +silent in that church which had so long been his own? + +'Just as you please,' said Mr Thumble. 'Only it's rather hard lines to +have to do it all myself after coming all the way from Barchester this +morning.' To this Mr Crawley condescended to make no reply whatever. + +In the porch of the church, which was the only entrance, Mr Crawley +introduced Mr Thumble to the churchwarden, simply by a wave of the hand, +and then passed on with his daughter to a seat which opened upon the +aisle. Jane was going on to that which she had hitherto always occupied +with her mother in the little chancel; but Mr Crawley would not allow +this. Neither to him nor to any of his family was there attached any +longer the privilege of using the chancel of the church of Hogglestock. + +Mr Thumble scrambled into the reading-desk some ten minutes after the +proper time, and went through the morning service under, what must be +admitted to be, serious difficulties. There were the eyes of Mr Crawley +fixed upon him throughout the work, and a feeling pervaded him that +everybody there regarded him as an intruder. At first this was so strong +upon him that Mr Crawley pitied him, and would have encouraged him had +it been possible. But as the work progressed, and as custom and the +sound of his own voice emboldened him, there came to the man some +touches of the arrogance which so generally accompanies cowardice, and +Mr Crawley's acute ear detected the moment when it was so. An observer +might have seen that the motion of his hands was altered as they were +lifted in prayer. Though he was praying, even in prayer he could not +forget the man who was occupying the desk. + +Then came the sermon, preached very often before, lasting exactly +half-an-hour, and then Mr Thumble's work was done. Itinerant clergymen, +who preach now here and now there, as it had been the lot of Mr Thumble +to do, have at any rate this relief--that they can preach their sermons +often. From the communion-table Mr Thumble had stated that, in the +present peculiar circumstances of the parish, there would be no second +service at Hogglestock for the present; and this was all he said or did +peculiar to the occasion. The moment of the service was over and he got +into his gig, and was driven back to Barchester. + +'Mamma,' said Jane, as they sat at dinner, 'such a sermon I am sure was +never heard in Hogglestock before. Indeed, you can hardly call it a +sermon. It was downright nonsense.' + +'My dear,' said Mr Crawley energetically, 'keep your criticisms for +matters that are profane; then, though they be childish and silly, they +may at least be innocent. Be critical of Eurypides, if you must be +critical.' But when Jane kissed her father after dinner, she, knowing +his humour well, felt assured that her remarks had not been taken +altogether in ill part. + +Mr Thumble was neither seen nor heard of again in the parish during the +entire week. + + + +CHAPTER LXX + +MRS ARABIN IS CAUGHT + +One morning about the middle of April Mr Toogood received a telegram +from Venice which caused him instantly to leave his business in Bedford +Row and take the first train for Silverbridge. 'It seems to me that this +job will be a deal of time and very little money,' said his partner to +him, when Toogood on the spur of the moment was making arrangements for +his sudden departure and uncertain period of absence. 'That's about it,' +said Toogood. 'A deal of time, some expense, and no returns. It is not +the kind of business a man can live upon, is it?' The partner growled, +and Toogood went. But we must go with Mr Toogood down to Silverbridge, +and as we cannot make the journey in this chapter, we will just indicate +his departure and then go back to John Eames, who, as will be +remembered, was just starting for Florence when we last saw him. + +Our dear old friend Johnny had been rather proud of himself as he +started from London. He had gotten an absolute victory over Sir Raffle +Buffle, and that alone was gratifying to his feelings. He liked the +excitement of a journey, and especially a journey to Italy; and the +importance of the cause of his journey was satisfactory to him. But +above all things he was delighted at having found that Lily Dale was +pleased at his going. He had seen clearly that she was much pleased, and +that she had made something of a hero of him because of his alacrity in +the cause of his cousin. He had partially understood--and had understood +in a dim sort of way--that his want of favour in Lily's eyes had come +from some deficiency of his own in this respect. She had not found him +to be a hero. She had known him first as a boy, with boyish belongings +around him, and she had seen him from time to time as he became a man, +almost with too much intimacy for the creation of that love with which +he wished to fill her heart. His rival had come before her eyes for the +first time with all the glories of Pall Mall heroism about him, and Lily +in her weakness had been conquered by them. Since that she had learned +how weak she had been--how silly, how childish, she would say to herself +when she allowed her memory to go back to the details of her own story; +but not the less on that account did she feel the want of something +heroic in a man before she could teach herself to look upon him as more +worthy of her regard than other men. She had still unconsciously hoped +in regard to Crosbie, but now that hope had been dispelled as +unconsciously, by simply by his appearance. There had been moments in +which John Eames had almost risen to the necessary point--had almost +made good his footing on the top of some moderate, but still sufficient +mountain. But there had still be a succession of little tumbles +--unfortunately slips for which he himself should not always have been +held responsible; and he had never quite stood upright on his pinnacle, +visible to Lily's eyes as being really excelsior. Of all this John Eames +himself had an inkling which had often made him uncomfortable. What the +mischief was it she wanted of him; and what was he to do? The days for +plucking glory from the nettle danger were clean gone by. He was well +dressed. He knew a good many of the right sort of people. He was not in +debt. He had saved an old nobleman's life once upon a time, and had been +a good deal talked about on that score. He had even thrashed the man who +had ill-treated her. His constancy had been as the constancy of Jacob! +What was it that she wanted of him? But in a certain way he did know +what was wanted; and now, as he started for Florence, intending to stop +nowhere till he reached that city, he hoped that by this chivalrous +journey he might even yet achieve the thing necessary. + +But on reaching Paris he heard tidings of Mrs Arabin which induced him +to change his plans and make for Venice instead of for Florence. A +banker at Paris, who whom he had brought a letter, told him that Mrs +Arabin would now be found at Venice. This did not perplex him at all. It +would have been delightful to have seen Florence--but was more +delightful still to see Venice. His journey was the same as far as +Turin; but from Turin he proceeded through Milan to Venice, instead of +going to Bologna to Florence. He had fortunately come armed with an +Austrian passport--as was necessary in those bygone days of Venice's +thraldom. He was almost proud of himself, as though he had done +something great, when he tumbled in to his inn at Venice, without having +been in bed since he left London. + +But he was barely allowed to swim in a gondola, for on reaching Venice +he found that Mrs Arabin had gone back to Florence. He had been directed +to the hotel which Mrs Arabin had used, and was there told that she had +started the day before. She had received some letter, from her husband +as the landlord thought, and had done so. That was all the landlord +knew. Johnny was vexed, but became a little prouder than before as he +felt it to be his duty to go on to Florence before he went to bed. There +would be another night in a railway carriage, but he would live through +it. There was just time to have a tub, and a breakfast, to swim in a +gondola, to look at the outside of the Doge's palace, and to walk up and +down the piazza before he started again. It was hard work, but I think +he would have been pleased had he heard that Mrs Arabin had retreated +from Florence to Rome. Had such been the case, he would have folded his +cloak around him, and have gone on--regardless of brigands--thinking of +Lily, and wondering whether anybody else had ever done so much before +without going to bed. As it was, he found that Mrs Arabin was at the +hotel in Florence--still in bed, as he had arrived early in the morning. +So he had another tub, another breakfast, and sent up his card--'Mr John +Eames'--and across the top of it he wrote, 'has come from England about +Mr Crawley.' Then he threw himself on a sofa in the hotel reading-room, +and went fast to sleep. + +John had found an opportunity of talking to a young lady in the +breakfast-room, and had told her of his deeds. 'I only left London on +Tuesday night, and I have come here taking Venice on the road.' + +'Then you have travelled fast,' said the young lady. + +'I haven't seen a bed, of course,' said John. + +The young lady immediately afterwards told her father. 'I suppose he +must be one of the Foreign Office messengers,' said the young lady. + +'Anything but that,' said the gentleman. 'People never talk about their +own trades. He's probably a clerk with a fortnight's leave of absence, +seeing how many towns he can do in the time. It's the usual way of +travelling nowadays. When I was young and there were no railways, I +remember going from Paris to Vienna without sleeping.' Luckily for his +present happiness, John did not hear this. + +He was still fast asleep when a servant came to him from Mrs Arabin to +say that she would see him at once. 'Yes, yes; I'm quite ready to go +on,' said Johnny, jumping up, and thinking of the journey to Rome. But +there was no journey to Rome before him. Mrs Arabin was almost in the +next room, and there he found her. + +The reader will understand that they had never met before, and hitherto +knew nothing of each other. Mrs Arabin had never heard the name of John +Eames till John's card was put into her hands, and would not have known +of his business with her had he not written those few words upon it. +'You have come about Mr Crawley?' she said to him eagerly. 'I have heard +from my father that somebody was coming.' + +'Yes, Mrs Arabin; as hard as I could travel. I had expected to find you +at Venice.' + +'Have you been to Venice?' + +'I have just arrived from Venice. They told me at Paris I should find +you here. However, that does not matter, as I have found you here. I +wonder whether you can help us?' + +'Do you know Mr Crawley? Are you a friend of his?' + +'I never saw him in my life; but he married my cousin.' + +'I gave him the cheque, you know,' said Mrs Arabin. + +'What!' exclaimed Eames, literally almost knocked backwards by the +easiness of the words which contained a solution for so terrible a +difficulty. The Crawley case had assumed such magnitude, and the +troubles of the Crawley family had been so terrible, that it seemed to +him to be almost sacrilegious that words so simply uttered should +suffice to cure everything. He had hardly hoped--had at least barely +hoped--that Mrs Arabin might be able to suggest something which would +put them all on a track towards the discovery of the truth. But he found +that she had the clue in her hand, and that the clue was one which +required no further delicacy of investigation. There would be nothing +more to unravel; no journey to Jerusalem would be necessary! + +'Yes,' said Mrs Arabin, 'I gave it to him. They have been writing to my +husband about it, and never wrote to me; and till I received a letter +about it from my father, and another from my sister, at Venice the day +before yesterday, I knew nothing of the particulars of Mr Crawley's +trouble.' + +'Had you not heard that he had been taken before the magistrates?' + +'No; not so much even as that. I had seen in "Galignani" something +about a clergyman, but I did not know what clergyman; and I heard that +there was something wrong about Mr Crawley's money, but there has always +been something wrong about money with poor Mr Crawley; and as I knew +that my husband had been written to also, I did not interfere, further +than to ask the particulars. My letters have followed me about, and I +only heard at Venice, just before I came here, what was the nature of +the case.' + +'And did you do anything?' + +'I telegraphed at once to Mr Toogood, who I understand is acting as Mr +Crawley's solicitor. My sister sent me his address.' + +'He is my uncle.' + +'I telegraphed to him, telling him that I had given Mr Crawley the +cheque, and then I wrote to Archdeacon Grantly giving him the whole +history. I was obliged to come here before I could return home, but I +intended to start this evening.' + +'And what is the whole history?' asked John Eames. + +The history of the gift of the cheque was very simple. It has been told +how Mr Crawley in his dire distress had called upon his old friend at +the deanery asking for pecuniary assistance. This he had done with so +much reluctance that his spirit had given way while he was waiting in +the dean's library, and he had wished to depart without accepting what +the dean was quite willing to bestow upon him. From this cause it had +come to pass there had been no time for explanatory words, even between +the dean and his wife--from whose private funds had in truth come the +money which had been given to Mr Crawley. For the private wealth of the +family belonged to Mrs Arabin, and not to the dean; and was left +entirely in Mrs Arabin's hands, to be disposed of as she might please. +Previously to Mr Crawley's arrival at the deanery this matter had been +discussed between the dean and his wife, and it had been agreed between +them that a sum of fifty pounds should be given. It should be given by +Mrs Arabin, but it was thought that the gift would come with more +comfort to the recipient from the hands of his old friend than from +those of his wife. There had been much discussion between them as to the +mode in which this might be done with the least offence to the man's +feelings--for they knew Mr Crawley and his peculiarities well. At last +it was agreed that the notes should be put into an envelope, which +envelope the dean should have ready with him. But when the moment came +the dean did not have the envelope ready, and was obliged to leave the +room to seek his wife. And Mrs Arabin explained to John Eames that even +she had not had it ready, and had been forced to go to her own desk to +fetch it. Then, at the last moment, with the desire of increasing the +good to be done to people who were so terribly in want, she put the +cheque for twenty pounds, which was in her possession as money of her +own, along with the notes, and in this way the cheque had been given by +the dean to Mr Crawley. 'I shall never forgive myself for not telling +the dean,' she said. 'Had I done that all this trouble would have been +saved.' + +'But where did you get the cheque?' Eames asked with natural curiosity. + +'Exactly,' said Mrs Arabin. 'I have got to show now that I did not +steal it--have I not? Mr Soames will indict me now. And, indeed, I have +had some trouble to refresh my memory as to all the particulars, for you +see it is more than a year past.' But Mrs Arabin's mind was clearer on +such matters than Mr Crawley's, and she was able to explain that she had +taken the cheque as part of the rent due to her from the landlord of +'The Dragon of Wantly', which inn was her property, having been the +property of her first husband. For some years past there had been a +difficulty about the rent, things not having gone at 'The Dragon of +Wantly' as smoothly as they had used to go. At once time the money had +been paid half-yearly by the landlord's cheque on the bank of +Barchester. For the last year-and-a-half this had not been done, and the +money had come into Mrs Arabin's hands at irregular periods and in +irregular sums. There was at this moment rent due for twelve months, and +Mrs Arabin expressed her doubt whether she would get it on her return to +Barchester. On the occasion to which she was now alluding, the money had +been paid into her own hands, in the deanery breakfast-parlour, by a man +she knew very well--not the landlord himself, but one bearing the +landlord's name, whom she believed to the landlord's brother, or at +least his cousin. The man in question was named Daniel Stringer, and he +had been employed in 'The Dragon of Wantly', as a sort of clerk or +managing man, as long as she had known it. The rent had been paid to her +by Daniel Stringer quite as often as by Daniel's brother or cousin, John +Stringer, who was, in truth, the landlord of the hotel. When questioned +by John respecting the persons employed at the inn, she said that she +did believe that there had been rumours of something wrong. The house +had been in the hands of the Stringers for many years--before the +property had been purchased by her husband's father--and therefore had +been an unwillingness to remove them; but gradually, so she said, there +had come upon her and her husband a feeling that the house must be put +into other hands. 'Yes, I said a good deal about it. I asked why a +cheque of Mr Soames's was brought to me, instead of being taken to the +bank for money; and Stringer explained to me that they were not very +fond of going to the bank, as they owed money there, but that I could +pay it into my account. Only I kept my account at the other bank.' + +'You might have paid it in there?' said Johnny. + +'I suppose I might, but I didn't. I gave it to poor Mr Crawley +instead--like a fool, as I know now that I was. And so I have brought +all this trouble on him and on her; and now I must rush home, without +waiting for the dean, as fast as the trains will carry me.' + +Eames offered to accompany her, and this offer was accepted. 'It is +hard upon you, though,' she said; 'you will see nothing of Florence. +Three hours in Venice, and six in Florence, and no hours at all anywhere +else, will be a hard fate to you on your first trip to Italy.' But +Johnny said 'Exelsior' to himself once more, and thought of Lily Dale, +who was still in London, hoping that she might hear of his exertions; +and he felt, perhaps, also, that it would be pleasant to return with a +dean's wife, and never hesitated. Nor would it do, he thought, for him +to be absent in the excitement caused by the news of Mr Crawley's +innocence and injuries. 'I don't care a bit about that,' he said. 'Of +course, I should like to see Florence, and, of course, I should like to +go to bed; but I will live in hopes that I may do both some day.' And so +there grew to be a friendship between him and Mrs Arabin even before +they started. + +He had driven through Florence; he saw the Venus de' Medici, and he saw +the Seggolia; he looked up from the side of the Duomo to the top of the +Campanile, and he walked round the back of the cathedral itself; he +tried to inspect the doors of the Baptistry, and declared that the +'David' was very fine. Then he went back to the hotel, dined with Mrs +Arabin, and started for England. + +The dean was to have joined his wife at Venice, and then they were to +have returned together, coming round by Florence. Mrs Arabin had not, +therefore, taken her things away from Florence when she left it, and had +been obliged to return to pick them up on her journey homewards. He--the +dean--had been delayed in his Eastern travels. Neither Syria or +Constantinople had got themselves done as quickly as he had expected, +and he had, consequently, twice written to his wife, begging her to +pardon the transgression of his absence for even yet a few days longer. +'Everything, therefore,' as Mrs Arabin said, 'has conspired to +perpetuate this mystery, which a word from me would have solved. I owe +more to Mr Crawley than I can ever pay him.' + +'He will be very well paid, I think,' said John, 'when he hears the +truth. If you could see the inside of his mind at this moment, I'm sure +you'd find that he thinks he stole the cheque.' + +'He cannot think that, Mr Eames. Besides, at this moment I hope he has +heard the truth.' + +'That may be, but he did think so. I do believe that he had not the +slightest notion where he got it; and, which is more, not a single +person in the whole county had a notion. People thought that he had +picked it up, and used it in his despair. And the bishop has been so +hard upon him.' + +'Oh, Mr Eames, that is the worst of all.' + +'So I am told. The bishop has a wife, I believe.' + +'Yes, he has a wife, certainly,' said Mrs Arabin. + +'And people say that she is not very good-natured.' + +'There are some of us at Barchester who do not love her very dearly. I +cannot say that she is one of my own especial friends.' + +'I believe she has been very hard on Mr Crawley,' said John Eames. + +'I should not be in the least surprised,' said Mrs Arabin. + +Then they reached Turin, and there, taking up 'Galignani's Messenger' in +the reading-room of Trompetta's Hotel, John Eames saw that Mrs Proudie +was dead. 'Look at that,' said he, taking the paragraph to Mrs Arabin; +'Mrs Proudie is dead!' 'Mrs Proudie dead!' she exclaimed. 'Poor woman! +Then there will be peace at Barchester!' 'I never knew her very +intimately,' she afterwards said to her companion, 'and I do not know +that I have a right to say that she ever did me an injury. But I +remember well her first coming into Barchester. My sister's +father-in-law, the late bishop, was just dead. He was a mild, kind, dear +old man, whom my father loved beyond all the world, except his own +children. You may suppose we were all a little sad. I was not specially +connected with the cathedral then, except through my father'--and Mrs +Arabin, as she told all this, remembered that in the days of which she +was speaking she was a young mourning widow--'but I think I can never +forget the sort of harsh-toned paean of low-church trumpets with which +that poor woman made her entry into the city. She might have been more +lenient, as we had never sinned by being very high. She might, at any +rate, have been more gentle with us at first. I think we had never +attempted much beyond decency, good-will and comfort. Our comfort she +utterly destroyed. Good-will was not to her taste. And as for decency, +when I remember some things, I must say that when the comfort and +good-will went, the decency went along with them. And now she is dead! I +wonder how the bishop will get on without her.' + +'Like a house in fire, I should think,' said Johnny. + +'Fie, Mr Eames; you shouldn't speak in such a way on such a subject.' + +Mrs Arabin and Johnny became fast friends as they journeyed home. There +was a sweetness in his character which endeared him readily to women; +though, as we have seen, there was a want of something to make one woman +cling to him. He could be soft and pleasant-mannered. He was fond of +making himself useful, and was a perfect master of all those little +caressing modes of behaviour in which the caress is quite impalpable, +and of which most women know the value and appreciate the comfort. By +the time that they had reached Paris John had told the whole story of +Lily Dale and Crosbie, and Mrs Arabin had promised to assist him, if any +assistance might be in her power. + +'Of course I have heard of Lily Dale,' she said, 'because we know the De +Courcys.' Then she turned away her face, almost blushing, as she +remembered the first time that she had seen that Lady Alexandrina De +Courcy whom Mr Crosbie had married. It had been at Mr Thorne's house at +Ullathorne, and on that day she had done a thing which she had never +since remembered without blushing. But it was an old story now, and a +story of which her companion knew nothing--of which he never could know +anything. That day at Ullathorne Mrs Arabin, the wife of the Dean of +Barchester, than whom there was no more discreet clerical matron in the +diocese, had--boxed a clergyman's ears! + +'Yes,' said John, speaking of Crosbie, 'he was a wise fellow; he knew +what he was about; he married an earl's daughter.' + +'And now I remember hearing that somebody gave him a terrible beating. +Perhaps it was you?' + +'It wasn't terrible at all,' said Johnny. + +'Then it was you?' + +'Oh, yes; it was I.' + +'Then it was you who saved poor old Lord De Guest from the bull?' + +'Go on, Mrs Arabin. There is no end to the grand things I've done.' + +'You're quite a hero of romance.' + +He bit his lip as he told himself that he was not enough of a hero. 'I +don't know about that,' said Johnny. 'I think what a man ought to do in +these days is to seem not to care what he eats and drinks, and to have +his linen very well got up. Then he'll be a hero.' But that was hard +upon Lily. + +'Is that what Miss Dale requires?' said Mrs Arabin. + +'I was not thinking about her particularly,' said Johnny, lying. + +They slept a night at Paris, as they had done also at Turin--Mrs Arabin +not finding herself able to accomplish such marvels in the way of +travelling as her companion had achieved--and then arrived in London in +the evening. She was taken to a certain quiet clerical hotel at the top +of Suffolk Street, much patronised by bishops and deans of the better +sort, expecting to find a message there from her husband. And there was +the message--just arrived. The dean had reached Florence three days +after her departure; and as he would do the journey home in twenty-four +hours less than she had taken, he would be there, at the hotel, on the +day after tomorrow. 'I suppose I may wait for him, Mr Eames?' said Mrs +Arabin. + +'I will see Mr Toogood tonight, and I will call here tomorrow, whether I +see him or not. At what hour will you be in?' + +'Don't trouble yourself to do that. You must take care of Sir Raffle +Buffle, you know.' + +'I shan't go near Sir Raffle Buffle tomorrow, nor yet the next day. You +mustn't suppose that I am afraid of Sir Raffle Buffle.' + +'You are only afraid of Lily Dale.' From all which it may be seen that +Mrs Arabin and John Eames had become very intimate on their way home. + +It was then arranged that he should call on Mr Toogood that same night +or early next morning, and that he should come to the hotel at twelve +o'clock on the next day. Going along one of the passages he passed two +gentlemen in shovel hats, with very black new coats and knee-breeches; +and Johnny could not but hear a few words which one clerical gentleman +said to the other. 'She was a woman of great energy, of wonderful +spirit, but a firebrand, my lord--a complete firebrand!' Then Johnny +knew that the Dean of A was talking to the Bishop of B about the late +Mrs Proudie. + + + +CHAPTER LXXI + +MR TOOGOOD AT SILVERBRIDGE + +We will now go back to Mr Toogood as he started for Silverbridge, on the +receipt of Mrs Arabin's telegram from Venice. 'I gave cheque to Mr +Crawley. It was part of a sum of money. Will write to Archdeacon Grantly +today, and return home at once.' That was the telegram which Mr Toogood +received at his office, and on receiving which he resolved that he must +start to Barchester immediately. 'It isn't certainly what you would call +a paying business,' he said to his partner, who continued to grumble; +'but it must be done all the same. If it don't get into the ledger in +one way it will in another.' So Mr Toogood started for Silverbridge, +having sent to his house in Tavistock Square for a small bag, a clean +shirt, and a toothbrush. And as he went down to the railway-carriage, +before he went to sleep, he turned it all over in his mind. 'Poor devil! +I wonder whether any man suffered so much before. And as for that +woman--it's ten thousand pities that she should have died before she +heard it. Talk of heart-complaint!; she'd have had a touch of heart- +complaint if she had known this!' Then, as he was speculating how Mrs +Arabin could have come possessed of the cheque he went to sleep. + +He made up his mind that the first person to be seen was Mr Walker, and +after that he would, if possible, go to Archdeacon Grantly. He was at +first minded to go at once to Hogglestock; but when he remembered how +very strange Mr Crawley was in all his ways, and told himself +professionally that telegrams were but bad sources of evidence on which +to depend for details, he thought that it would be safer if he were +first to see Mr Walker. There would be very little delay. In a day or +two the archdeacon would receive his letter, and in a day or two after +that Mrs Arabin would probably be at home. + +It was late in the evening before Mr Toogood reached the house of the +Silverbridge solicitor, having the telegram carefully folded in his +pocket; and he was shown into the dining-room while the servant took his +name up to Mr Walker. The clerks were gone, and the office was closed; +and persons coming on business at such times--as they often did come to +that house--were always shown into the parlour. 'I don't know whether +master can see you tonight,' said the girl; 'but if he can, he'll come +down.' + +When the card was brought up to Mr Walker he was sitting alone with his +wife. 'It's Toogood,' said he; 'poor Crawley's cousin.' + +'I wonder whether he has found anything out,' said Mrs Walker. 'May he +not come up here?' Then Mr Toogood was summoned into the drawing-room, +to the maid's astonishment; for Mr Toogood had made no toilet sacrifices +to the goddess of grace who presides over evening society in provincial +towns--and presented himself with the telegram in his hand. 'We have +found out all about poor Crawley's cheque,' he said, before the +maid-servant had closed the door. 'Look at that,' and he handed the +telegram to Mr Walker. The poor girl was obliged to go, though she would +have given one her ears to know the exact contents of that bit of paper. + +'Walker, what is it?' said his wife, before Walker had had time to make +the contents of the document his own. + +'He got it from Mrs Arabin,' said Toogood. + +'No!' said Mrs Walker. 'I thought that was it all along.' + +'It's a pity you didn't say so before,' said Mr Walker. + +'So I did; but a lawyer thinks that nobody can ever seen anything but +himself;--begging your pardon, Mr Toogood, but I forgot you were one of +us. But, Walker, do read it.' Then the telegram was read; 'I gave the +cheque to Mr Crawley. It was part of a sum of money'--with the rest of +it. 'I knew it would come out,' said Mrs Walker. 'I was quite sure of +it.' + +'But why the mischief didn't he say so?' said Walker. + +'He did say he got it from the dean,' said Toogood. + +'But he didn't get it from the dean; and the dean clearly knew nothing +about it.' + +'I'll tell you what it is,' said Mrs Walker; 'it has been some private +transaction between Mr Crawley and Mrs Arabin, which the dean knew +nothing about; and so he wouldn't tell. I must say I honour him.' + +'I don't think it has been that,' said Walker. 'Had he known all +through that it had come from Mrs Arabin, he would never have said that +Mr Soames gave it to him, and then that the dean gave it to him.' + +'The truth has been that he has known nothing about it,' said Toogood; +'and we shall have to tell him.' + +At that moment Mary Walker came into the room, and Mrs Walker could not +constrain herself. 'Mary, Mr Crawley is all right. He didn't steal the +cheque. Mrs Arabin gave it to him.' + +'Who says so? How do you know? Oh, dear; I am so happy, if it's true.' +Then she saw Mr Toogood and curtseyed. + +'It is quite true, my dear,' said Mr Walker. 'Mr Toogood has had a +message by the wires from Mrs Arabin at Venice. She is coming home at +once, and no doubt everything will be put right. In the meantime, it may +be a question whether we should not hold our tongues. Mr Crawley +himself, I suppose, knows nothing of it yet?' + +'Not a word,' said Toogood. + +'Papa, I must tell Miss Prettyman,' said Mary. + +'I should think that probably all Silverbridge knows it by this time,' +said Mrs Walker, 'because Jane was in the room when the announcement was +made. You may be sure that every servant in the house has been told.' +Mary Walker, not waiting for any further command from her father, +hurried out of the room to convey the secret to her special circle of +friends. + +It was known throughout Silverbridge that night, and indeed it made so +much commotion that it kept many people for an hour out of their beds. +Ladies who were not in the habit of going out late at night without the +fly from the 'George and Vulture', tied their heads up in their +handkerchiefs, and hurried up and down the street to tell each other +that the great secret had been discovered, and that in truth Mr Crawley +had not stolen the cheque. The solution of the mystery was not known to +all--was known on that night only to the very select portion of the +aristocracy of Silverbridge to whom it was communicated by Mary Walker +or Miss Anne Prettyman. For Mary Walker, when earnestly entreated by +Jane, the parlour-maid, to tell her something more of the great news, +had so far respected her father's caution as to say not a word about Mrs +Arabin. 'Is it true, Miss Mary, that he didn't steal it?' Jane asked +imploringly. 'It is true. He did not steal it.' 'And who did, Miss Mary? +Indeed I won't tell anybody.' 'Nobody. But don't ask any more questions, +for I won't answer them. Get me my hat at once, for I want to go up to +Miss Prettyman's.' Then Jane got Miss Walker's hat, and immediately +afterwards scampered into the kitchen with the news. 'Oh, law, cook, +it's all come out! Mr Crawley's as innocent as the unborn babe. The +gentleman upstairs what's just come, and was here once before--for I +know'd him immediate--I heard him say so. And master said so too.' + +'Did master say so his own self?' asked the cook. + +'Indeed he did; and Miss Mary told me the same this moment.' + +'If master said so, then there ain't a doubt as they'll find him +innocent. And who took'd, Jane?' + +'Miss Mary says as nobody didn't steal it.' + +'That's nonsense, Jane. It stands to reason as somebody had it as +hadn't ought to have had it. But I'm glad as anything as how the poor +reverend gent'll come off;--I am. They tells me it's weeks sometimes +before a bit of butcher's meat finds its way into his house.' Then the +groom and the housemaid and the cook, one after another, took occasion +to slip out of the back-door, and poor Jane, who had really been the +owner of the news, was left to answer the bell. + +Miss Walker found the two Miss Prettymans sitting together over their +accounts in the elder Miss Prettyman's private room. And she could see +at once by signs which were not unfamiliar to her that Miss Anne +Prettyman was being scolded. It often happened that Miss Anne Prettyman +was scolded, especially when the accounts were brought out upon the +table. 'Sister, they are illegible,' Mary Walker heard, as the servant +opened the door for her. + +'I don't think it's quite so bad as that,' said Miss Anne, unable to +restrain her defence. Then, as Mary entered the room, Miss Prettyman the +elder laid her hands down on certain books and papers as though to hide +them from profane eyes. + +'I am glad to see you, Mary,' said Miss Prettyman gravely. + +'I've brought such a piece of news,' said Mary. 'I knew you'd be glad +to hear it, so I ventured to disturb you.' + +'Is it good news?' said Anne Prettyman. + +'Very good news. Mr Crawley is innocent.' + +Both the ladies sprang on to their legs. Even Miss Prettyman herself +jumped up on to her legs. 'No!' said Anne. 'Your father has discovered +it?' said Miss Prettyman. + +'Not exactly that. Mr Toogood has come down from London to tell him. +Mr Toogood, you know, is Mr Crawley's cousin; and he is a lawyer, like +papa.' It may be observed that ladies belonging to the families of +solicitors always talk about lawyers, and never about attorneys or +barristers. + +'And does Mr Toogood say that Mr Crawley is innocent?' asked Miss +Prettyman. + +'He has heard it by a message from Mrs Arabin. But you mustn't mention +this. You won't, please, because papa asked me not. I told him that I +should tell you.' Then, for the first time, the frown passed away +entirely from Miss Prettyman's face, and the papers and account books +were pushed aside, as being of no moment. Mary continued her story +almost in a whisper. 'It was Mrs Arabin who sent the cheque to Mr +Crawley. She says so herself. So that makes Mr Crawley quite innocent. I +am so glad.' + +'But isn't it odd he didn't say so?' said Miss Prettyman. + +'Nevertheless, it's true.' said Mary. + +'Perhaps he forgot,' said Anne Prettyman. + +'Men don't forget such things as that,' said the elder sister. + +'I really do think that Mr Crawley could forget anything,' said the +younger sister. + +'You may be sure it's true,' said Mary Walker, 'because papa said so.' + +'If he said so, it must be true,' said Miss Prettyman; 'and I am +rejoiced. I really am rejoiced. Poor man! Poor ill-used man! And nobody +has ever believed that he has really been guilty, even though they may +have thought that he spent the money without any proper right to it. And +now he will get off. But, dear me, Mary, Mr Smithe told me yesterday +that he had already given up his living, and that Mr Spooner, the minor +canon, was trying to get it from the dean. But that was because Mr +Spooner and Mrs Proudie had quarrelled; and as Mrs Proudie is gone, Mr +Spooner very likely won't want to move now.' + +'They'll never go and put anybody in Hogglestock, Annabella, over Mr +Crawley's head,' said Anne. + +'I didn't say that they would. Surely I may be allowed to repeat what I +hear, like another person, without being snapped up.' + +'I didn't mean to snap you up, Annabella.' + +'You're always snapping me up. But if this is true, I cannot say how +glad I am. My poor Grace! Now, I suppose, there will be no difficulty, +and Grace will become a great lady.' Then they discussed very minutely +the chances of Grace Crawley's promotion. + +John Walker, Mr Winthrop, and several others of the chosen spirits of +Silverbridge, were playing whist at a provincial club, which had +established itself in the town, when the news was brought to them. +Though Mr Winthrop was the partner of the great Walker, and though John +Walker was the great man's son, I fear that the news reached their ears +in but an underhand sort of way. As for the great man himself, he never +went near the club, preferring his slippers and tea at home. The +Walkerian groom, rushing up the street to the 'George and Vulture', +paused a moment to tell his tidings to the club porter; from the club +porter it was whispered respectfully to the Silverbridge apothecary, +who, by special grace, was a member of the club--and was by him repeated +with much cautious solemnity over the card-table. 'Who told you that, +Balsam?' said John Walker, throwing down his cards. + +'I've just heard it,' said Balsam. + +'I don't believe it,' said John. + +'I shouldn't wonder if it's true,' said Winthrop. 'I always said that +something would turn up.' + +'Will you bet three to one he is not found guilty?' said John Walker. + +'Done,' said Winthrop; 'in pounds.' That morning the odds in the club +against the event had been only two to one. But as the matter was +discussed, the men in the club began to believe the tidings, and before +he went home, John Walker would have been glad to hedge his bet on any +terms. After he had spoken to his father, he gave his money up for lost. + +But Mr Walker--the great Walker--had more to do that night before his +son came home from the club. He and Mr Toogood agreed that it would be +right that they should see Dr Tempest at once, and they went over +together to the rectory. It was past ten at this time, and they found +the doctor almost in the act of putting out the candles for the night. +'I could not but come to you, doctor,' said Mr Walker, 'with the news +that my friend has brought. Mrs Arabin gave the cheque to Crawley. Here +is a telegram from her saying so.' And the telegram was handed to the +doctor. + +He stood perfectly silent for a few minutes, reading it over and over +again. 'I see it all,' he said, when he spoke at last. 'I see it all +now; and I must own I was never before so much puzzled in my life.' + +'I own I can't see why she should have given him Mr Soames's cheque,' +said Mr Walker. + +'I can't say where she got it, and I own I don't much care,' said Dr +Tempest. 'But I don't doubt but what she gave him without telling the +dean, and that Crawley thought it came from the dean. I'm very glad. I +am, indeed, very glad. I do not know that I ever pitied a man so much in +my life as I have pitied Mr Crawley.' + +'It must have been a hard case when it has moved him,' said Mr Walker to +Toogood as they left the clergyman's house; and then the Silverbridge +attorney saw the attorney from London home to the inn. + +It was the general opinion at Silverbridge that the news from Venice +ought to be communicated to the Crawleys by Major Grantly. Mary Walker +had expressed this opinion very strongly, and her mother had agreed with +her. Miss Prettyman also felt that poetical justice, or, at least, the +romance of justice, demanded this; and, as she told her sister Anne +after Mary Walker left her, she was of the opinion that such an +arrangement might tend to make things safe. 'I do think he is an honest +man and a fine fellow,' said Miss Prettyman; 'but, my dear, you know +what the proverb says, "There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip".' Miss +Prettyman thought than anything which might be done to prevent a slip +ought to be done. The idea that the pleasant task of taking the news out +to Hogglestock ought to be confided to Major Grantly was very general; +but then Mr Walker was of the opinion that the news ought not to be +taken to Hogglestock at all till something more certain than the +telegram had reached them. Early on the following morning the two +lawyers should go over at once to Barchester, and that the Silverbridge +lawyer should see Major Grantly. Mr Toogood was still of the opinion +that with due diligence something might yet be learned as to the cheque +by inquiry among the denizens of 'The Dragon of Wantly'; and his opinion +to this effect was stronger than ever when he learned from Mr Walker +that the 'Dragon of Wantly' belonged to Mrs Arabin. + +Mr Walker, after breakfast, had himself driven up in his open carriage +to Cosby Lodge, and, as he entered the gates, observed that the +auctioneer's bills as to the sale had been pulled down. The Mr Walkers +of the world know everything, and our Mr Walker had quite understood +that the major was leaving Cosby Lodge because of some misunderstanding +with his father. The exact nature of the misunderstanding he did not +know, even though he was Mr Walker, but had little doubt that it +referred in some to Grace Crawley. It the archdeacon's objection to +Grace arose from the imputation against the father, that objection would +now be removed, but the abolition of the posters could not as yet have +been owing to any such cause as that. Mr Walker found the major at the +gate of the farmyard attached to Cosby Lodge, and perceived that at that +very moment he was engaged in superintending the abolition of sundry +other auctioneer's bills from sundry posts. 'What is all this about?' +said Mr Walker, greeting the major. 'Is there to be no sale after all?' + +'It has been postponed,' said the major. + +'Postponed for good, I hope? Bill to be read again this day six +months!' said Mr Walker. + +'I rather think not. But circumstances have induced me to have to put +it off.' + +Mr Walker had got out of the carriage, and had taken Major Grantly +aside. 'Just come a little further,' he said; 'I've something special to +tell you. News reached me last night which will clear Mr Crawley +altogether. We know now where he got the cheque.' + +'You don't tell me so!' + +'Yes, I do. And though the news had reached us in such a way that we +cannot act upon it till it's confirmed, I do not in the least doubt it.' + +'And how did he get it?' + +'You cannot guess?' + +'Not in the least,' said the major; 'unless, after all, Soames gave it +to him.' + +'Soames did not give it to him, but Mrs Arabin did.' + +'Mrs Arabin?' + +'Yes, Mrs Arabin.' + +'Not the dean?' + +'No, not the dean. What we know is this, that your aunt has telegraphed +to Crawley's cousin, Toogood, to say that she gave Crawley the cheque, +and that she has written to your father about it at length. We do not +like to tell Crawley till that letter has been received. It is so easy, +you know, to misunderstand a telegram, and the wrong copying of a word +may make such a mistake!' + +'When was it received?' + +'Toogood received it in London only yesterday morning. Your father will +not get his letter, as I calculate, till the day after tomorrow. But, +perhaps, you had better go over to see him, and prepare him for it. +Toogood has gone to Barchester this morning.' To this proposition +Grantly made no immediate answer. He could not but remember the terms on +which he had left his father; and though he had, most unwillingly, +pulled down the auctioneer's bills, in compliance with his mother's last +prayer to him--and, indeed, had angrily told the auctioneer to send him +his bill when the auctioneer had demurred to these proceedings-- +nevertheless he was hardly prepared to discuss the matter of Mr Crawley +with his father in pleasant words--in words which should be full of +rejoicing. It was a great thing for him, Henry Grantly, that Mr Crawley +should be innocent, and he did rejoice; but he had intended his father +to understand that he meant to persevere, whether Mr Crawley were +innocent or guilty, and thus he would now lose an opportunity for +establishing his obstinacy--an opportunity which had not been without a +charm for him. He must console himself as best he might with the +returning prospect of assured prosperity, and with his renewed hopes as +to the Plumstead foxes! 'We think, major, that when the time comes you +ought to be the bearer of the news to Hogglestock,' said Mr Walker. Then +the major did undertake to convey the news to Hogglestock, but he made +no promise as to going over to Plumstead. + + + +CHAPTER LXXII + +MR TOOGOOD AT 'THE DRAGON OF WANTLY' + +In accordance with his arrangement with Mr Walker, Mr Toogood went over +to Barchester early in the morning and put himself up at 'The Dragon of +Wantly'. He now knew the following facts: that Mr Soames, when he lost +the cheque, had had with him one of the servants from that inn--that the +man who had been with Mr Soames had gone to New Zealand--that the cheque +had found its way into the hands of Mrs Arabin, and that Mrs Arabin was +the owner of the inn in question. So much he believed to be within his +knowledge, and if his knowledge should prove to be correct, his work +would be done as far as Mr Crawley was concerned. If Mr Crawley had not +stolen the cheque, and if that could be proved, it would be a question +of no great moment to Mr Toogood who had stolen it. But he was a +sportsman in his own line who liked to account for his own fox. As he +was down at Barchester, he thought that he might as well learn how the +cheque had got into Mrs Arabin's hands. No doubt that for her own +possession of it she would be able to account on her return. But it +might be well that he should be prepared with any small circumstantial +details which he might be able to pick up at the inn. + +He reached Barchester before breakfast, and in ordering his tea and +toast, reminded the old waiter with the dirty towel of his former +acquaintance with him. 'I remember you, sir,' said the old waiter. 'I +remember you very well. You was asking questions about the cheque which +Mr Soames lost before Christmas.' Mr Toogood certainly had asked one +question on the subject. He had inquired whether a certain man who had +gone to New Zealand had been the post-boy who accompanied Mr Soames when +the cheque was lost; and the waiter had professed to know nothing about +Mr Soames or the cheque. He now perceived at once that the gist of the +question had remained in the old man's mind, and that he was recognised +as being in some way connected with the lost money. + +'Did I? Ah, yes; I think I did. And I think you told me that he was +the man?' + +'No, sir; I never told you that.' + +'Then you told me he wasn't.' + +'Nor I didn't tell you that neither,' said the waiter angrily. + +'Then what the devil did you tell me?' To this further question the +waiter sulkily declined to give any answer, and soon afterwards left the +room. Toogood, as soon as he had done his breakfast, rang the bell, and +the same man appeared. 'Will you tell Mr Stringer that I should be glad +to see him if he's disengaged,' said Mr Toogood. 'I know he's bad with +the gout, and therefore if he'll allow me, I'll go to him instead of his +coming to me.' Mr Stringer was the landlord of the inn. The waiter +hesitated a moment, and then declared that to the best of his belief his +master was not down. He would go and see. Toogood, however, would not +wait for that; but rising quickly and passing the waiter, crossed the +hall from the coffee-room, and entered what was called the bar. The bar +was a small room connected with the hall by a large open window, at +which orders for rooms were given and cash was paid, and glasses of beer +were consumed--and a good deal of miscellaneous conversation was carried +on. The barmaid was here at the window, and there was also, in the +corner of the room, a man at a desk with a red nose. Toogood knew that +the man at the desk with the red nose was Mr Stringer's clerk. So much +he had learned in his former rummaging about the inn. And he also +remembered at this moment that he had observed the man with the red nose +standing under a narrow archway in the close as he was coming out of the +deanery, on the occasion of his visit to Mr Harding. It had not occurred +to him then that the man with the red nose was watching him, but it did +occur to him now that the man with the red nose had been there, under +the arch, with the express purpose of watching him on that occasion. Mr +Toogood passed quickly through the bar into the inner parlour, in which +was sitting Mr Stringer, the landlord, propped among his cushions. +Toogood, as he entered the hotel, had seen Mr Stringer so placed, +through the two doors, which at that moment had both happened to be +open. He knew therefore that his old friend the waiter had not been +quite true to him in suggesting that his master was not as yet down. As +Toogood cast a glance of his eye on the man with the red nose, he told +himself the old story of the apparition under the archway. + +'Mr Stringer,' said Mr Toogood to the landlord, 'I hope I'm not +intruding.' + +'Oh dear, no sir,' said the forlorn man. 'Nobody ever intrudes coming +in here. I'm always happy to see gentlemen--only, mostly, I'm so bad +with the gout.' + +'Have you got a sharp touch of it now, Mr Stringer?' + +'Not just today, sir. I've been a little easier since Saturday. The +worst of this burst is over. But Lord bless you, sir, it don't leave +me--not for a single fortnight at a time, now; it don't. And it ain't +what I drink, nor it ain't what I eat.' + +'Constitutional, I suppose?' said Toogood. + +'Look here, sir'; and Stringer showed his visitor the chalk stones in +all his knuckles. 'They say I'm a mass of chalk. I sometimes think +they'll break me up to mark the scores behind my own door with.' And Mr +Stringer laughed at his own wit. + +Mr Toogood laughed too. He laughed loud and cheerily. And then he +asked a sudden question, keeping his eye as he did so upon a little +square open window which communicated between the landlord's private +room and the bar. Through this small aperture he could see as he stood a +portion of the hat worn by the man with the red nose. Since he had been +in the room with the landlord, the man with the red nose had moved his +head twice, on each occasion drawing himself closer into his corner; but +Mr Toogood, by moving also, had still contrived to keep a morsel of that +hat in sight. He laughed cheerily at the landlord's joke, and then he +asked a sudden question--looking at the morsel of that hat as he did so. +'Mr Stringer,' said he, 'how do you pay your rent, and to whom do you +pay it?' There was immediately a jerk in the hat, and then it +disappeared. Toogood, stepping to the open door, saw that the red-nosed +clerk had taken his hat off and was very busy at his accounts. + +'How do I pay my rent?' said Mr Stringer, the landlord. 'Well, sir, +since this cursed gout has been so bad, it's hard enough to pay it at +all sometimes. You ain't here to look for it, sir, are you?' + +'Not I,' said Toogood. 'It was only a chance question.' He felt that +he had nothing more to do with Mr Stringer, the landlord. Mr Stringer, +the landlord, knew nothing about Mr Soames's cheque. 'What's the name of +your clerk?' said he. + +'The name of my clerk?' said Mr Stringer. 'Why do you want to know the +name of my clerk?' + +'Does he ever pay the rent for you?' + +'Well, yes; he does, at times. He pays it into the bank for the lady as +owns this house. Is there any reason for you asking these questions, +sir. It isn't usual, you know, for a stranger, sir.' + +Toogood the whole of this time was standing with his eye upon the +red-nosed man, and the red-nosed man could not move. The red-nosed man +heard all the questions and the landlord's answers, and could not even +pretend that he did not hear them. 'I am my cousin's clerk,' said he, +putting on his hat, and coming up to Mr Toogood with a swagger. 'My name +is Dan Stringer, and I'm Mr John Stringer's cousin. I've lived with Mr +John Stringer for twelve year and more, and I'm a'most as well known in +Barchester as himself. Have you anything to say to me, sir?' + +'Well, yes; I have,' said Toogood. + +'I believe you're the one of them attorneys from London?' said Mr Dan +Stringer. + +'That's true. I am an attorney from London.' + +'I hope there's nothing wrong?' said the gouty man, trying to get off +his chair, but not succeeding. 'If there is anything wronger than usual, +Dan, do tell me. Is there anything wrong, sir?' and the landlord +appealed piteously to Mr Toogood. + +'Never you mind, John,' said Dan. 'You keep yourself quiet, and don't +answer none of his questions. He's one of them low sort, he is. I know +him. I knowed him for what he is directly I saw him. Ferreting +about--that's his game; to see if there's anything to be got.' + +'But what is he ferreting for?' said Mr John Stringer. + +'I'm ferreting for Mr Soames's cheque for twenty pounds,' said Mr +Toogood. + +'That's the cheque the parson stole,' said Dan Stringer. 'He's to be +tried for it at the 'sizes.' + +'You've heard about Mr Soames and his cheque, and about Mr Crawley, I +daresay?' said Mr Toogood. + +'I've heard a deal about them,' said the landlord. + +'And so, I daresay, have you?' said Toogood, turning to Dan Stringer. +But Dan Stringer did not seem inclined to carry on the conversation any +further. When he was hardly pressed, he declared that he just had heard +that there was some parson in trouble about a sum of money; but that he +knew no more about it than that. He didn't know whether it was a cheque +or a note that the parson had taken, and had never been sufficiently +interested in the matter to make any inquiry. + +'But you've just said that Mr Soames's cheque was the cheque the parson +stole,' said the astonished landlord, turning with open eyes, upon his +cousin. + +'You be blowed,' said Dan Stringer, the clerk, to Mr John Stringer, the +landlord; and then walked out of the room back to the bar. + +'I understand nothing about it--nothing at all,' said the gouty man. + +'I understand nearly all about it,' said Mr Toogood, following the +red-nosed clerk. There was no necessity that he should trouble the +landlord any further. He left the room, and went through the bar, and as +he passed out along the hall, he found Dan Stringer with his hat on +talking to the waiter. The waiter immediately pulled himself up, and +adjusted his dirty napkin under his arm, after the fashion of waiters, +and showed that he intended to be civil to the customers of the house. +But he of the red nose cocked his hat, and looked with insolence at Mr +Toogood, and defied him. 'There's nothing I do hate so much as them +low-bred Old Bailey attorneys,' said Mr Dan Stringer to the waiter, in a +voice intended to reach Mr Toogood's ears. Then Mr Toogood told himself +that Dan Stringer was not the thief himself, and that it might be very +difficult to prove that Dan had even been the receiver of stolen goods. +He had, however, no doubt in his own mind but that such was the case. + +He first went to the police office, and there explained his business. +Nobody at the police office pretended to forget Mr Soames's cheque, or +Mr Crawley's position. The constable went so far as to swear that there +wasn't a man, woman, or child in all Barchester who was not talking of +Mr Crawley at that present moment. Then Mr Toogood went with the +constable to the private house of the mayor, and had a little +conversation with the mayor. 'Not guilty!' said the mayor, with +incredulity, when he first heard the news about Crawley. But when he +heard Mr Toogood's story, or as much of it as it was necessary that he +should hear, he yielded reluctantly. 'Dear, dear!' he said. 'I'd have +bet anything 'twas he who stole it.' And after that he mayor was quite +sad. Only let us think what a comfortable excitement it would create +throughout England if it was surmised that an archbishop had forged a +deed; and how England would lose when it was discovered that the +archbishop was innocent! As the archbishop and his forgery would be to +England, so was Mr Crawley and the cheque for twenty pounds to +Barchester and its mayor. Nevertheless, the mayor promised his +assistance to Mr Toogood. + +Mr Toogood, still neglecting his red-nosed friend, went next to the +deanery, hoping that he might again see Mr Harding. Mr Harding was, he +was told, too ill to be seen. Mr Harding, Mrs Baxter said, could never +be seen now by strangers, nor yet by friends, unless they were very old +friends. 'There's been a deal of change since you were here last, sire. +I remember you coming, sir. You were talking to Mr Harding about the +poor clergyman as is to be tried.' He did not stop to tell Mrs Baxter +the whole story of Mr Crawley's innocence; but having learned that a +message had been received to say that Mrs Arabin would be home on the +next Tuesday--this being Friday--he took his leave of Mrs Baxter. His +next visit was to Mr Soames, who lived three miles out in the country. + +He found it very difficult to convince Mr Soames. Mr Soames was more +staunch in his belief of Mr Crawley's guilt than anyone whom Toogood had +yet encountered. 'I never took the cheque out of his house,' said Mr +Soames. 'But you have not stated that on oath,' said Mr Toogood. 'No,' +rejoined the other; 'and I never will. I can't swear to it; but yet I'm +sure of it.' He acknowledged that he had been driven by a man named +Scuttle, and that Scuttle might have picked up the cheque, if it had +been dropped in the gig. But the cheque had not been dropped in the gig. +The cheque had been dropped in Mr Crawley's house. 'Why did he say then +that I paid it to him?' said Mr Soames, when Mr Toogood spoke +confidently of Mr Crawley's innocence. 'Ah, why indeed?' answered +Toogood. 'If he had not been fool enough to do that, we should have been +saved all this trouble. All the same, he did not steal your money, Mr +Soames; and Jem Scuttle did steal it. Unfortunately, Jem Scuttle is in +New Zealand by this time.' 'Of course, it is possible,' said Mr Soames, +as he bowed Mr Toogood out. Mr Soames did not like Mr Toogood. + +That evening a gentleman with a red nose asked at the Barchester station +for a second-class ticket for London by the up night-mail train. He was +well-known at the station, and the station-master made some little +inquiry. 'All the way to London tonight, Mr Stringer?' he said. + +'Yes--all the way,' said the red-nosed man sulkily. + +'I don't think you'd better go up to London tonight, Mr Stringer,' said +a tall man, stepping out of the door of the booking-office. 'I think +you'd better come back with me to Barchester. I do indeed.' There was +some little argument on the occasion; but the stranger, who was a +detective policeman, carried his point, and Mr Dan Stringer did return +to Barchester. + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII + +THERE IS COMFORT AT PLUMSTEAD + +Henry Grantly had written the following short letter to Mrs Grantly when +he had made up his mind to pull down the auctioneer's bills. 'DEAR +MOTHER--I have postponed the sale, not liking to refuse you anything. As +far as I can see, I shall be forced to leave Cosby Lodge, as I certainly +shall do all I can to make Grace Crawley my wife. I say this that there +may be no misunderstanding with my father. The auctioneer has promised +to have the bills removed.--Your affectionate son, HENRY GRANTLY' + +This had been written by the major on the Friday before Mr Walker had +brought up to him the tidings of Mr Toogood and Mrs Arabin's solution of +the Crawley difficulty; but it did not reach Plumstead till the +following morning. Mrs Grantly immediately took the glad news about the +sale to her husband--not of course showing him the letter, being far too +wise for that, and giving him credit for being too wise to ask for it. +'Henry has arranged with the auctioneer,' she said joyfully; 'and the +bills have been all pulled down.' + +'How do you know?' + +'I've just heard from him. He has told me so. Come, my dear, let me +have the pleasure of hearing you say that things shall be pleasant again +between you and him. He has yielded.' + +'I don't see much yielding in it.' + +'He has done what you wanted. What more can he do?' + +'I want him to come over here, and take an interest in things, and not +treat me as though I were a nobody.' Within an hour of this the major +had arrived at Plumstead, laden with the story of Mrs Arabin and the +cheque, and of Mr Crawley's innocence--laden not only with such tidings +as he had received from Mr Walker, but also with further details, which +had received from Mr Toogood. For he had come through Barchester, and +had seen Mr Toogood on his way. This was on the Saturday morning, and he +had breakfasted with Mr Toogood at 'The Dragon of Wantly'. Mr Toogood +had told him of his suspicions--how the red-nosed man had been stopped +and had been summoned as a witness for Mr Crawley's trial--and how he +was now under surveillance of the police. Grantly had not cared very +much about the red-nosed man, confining his present solicitude to the +question whether Grace Crawley's father would certainly be shown to have +been innocent of the theft. 'There's not a doubt about it, major,' said +Mr Toogood; 'no a doubt on earth. But we'd better be a little quiet till +your aunt comes home--just a little quiet.' In spite of his desire for +quiescence Mr Toogood consented to a revelation being at once made to +the archdeacon and Mrs Grantly. 'And I'll tell you what, major; as soon +as ever Mrs Arabin is here, and has given us her own word to act on, you +and I will go over to Hogglestock and astonish them. I should like to go +myself, because, you see, Mrs Crawley is my cousin, and we have taken a +little trouble about this matter.' To this the major assented; but he +altogether declined to assist in Mr Toogood's speculations respecting +the unfortunate Dan Stringer. It was agreed between them that for the +present no visit should be made to the palace, as it was thought that Mr +Thumble had better be allowed to go to Hogglestock duties on the next +Sunday. As matters went, however, Mr Thumble did not do so. He had paid +his last visit to Hogglestock. + +It may be as well to explain here that the unfortunate Mr Snapper was +constrained to go out to Hogglestock on the Sunday which was now +approaching--which fell out as follows. It might be all very well for Mr +Toogood to arrange that he would not tell this person or that person of +the news which he had brought down from London; but as he had told the +police at Barchester, of course the tale found its way to the palace. Mr +Thumble heard it, and having come by this time thoroughly to hate +Hogglestock and all that belonged to it, he pleaded to Mr Snapper that +this report offered ample reason why he need not again visit that +detested parish. Mr Snapper did not see it in the same light. 'You may +be sure Mr Crawley will not get into the pulpit after his resignation, +Mr Thumble.' + +'His resignation means nothing,' said Thumble. + +'It means a great deal,' said Snapper; 'and the duties must be provided +for.' + +'I won't provide for them,' said Thumble; 'and so you may tell the +bishop.' In these days Mr Thumble was very angry with the bishop, for +the bishop had not yet seen him since the death of Mrs Proudie. + +Mr Snapper had no alternative but to go to the bishop. The bishop in +these days was very mild to those whom he saw, given but to few words, +and a little astray--as though he had had one of his limbs cut off--as +Mr Snapper expressed it to Mrs Snapper. 'I shouldn't wonder if he felt +as though all his limbs were cut off,' said Mrs Snapper; 'you must give +him time, and he'll come round by-and-by.' I am inclined to think that +Mrs Snapper's opinion of the bishop's feelings and condition was +correct. In his difficulty respecting Hogglestock and Mr Thumble, Mr +Snapper went to the bishop, and spoke perhaps a little too harshly of Mr +Thumble. + +'I think, upon the whole, Snapper, that you had better go yourself,' +said the bishop. + +'Do you think so, my lord?' said Snapper. 'It will be inconvenient.' + +'Everything is inconvenient; but you'd better go. And look here, +Snapper, if I were you, I wouldn't say anything out at Hogglestock about +the cheque. We don't know what it may come to yet.' Mr Snapper, with a +heavy heart, left his patron, not at all liking the task that was before +him. But his wife encouraged him to be obedient. He was the owner of a +one-horse carriage, and the work was not, therefore, so hard to him as +it would have been and had been to poor Mr Thumble. And, moreover, his +wife promised to go with him. Mr Snapper and Mrs Snapper did go over to +Hogglestock, and the duty was done. Mrs Snapper spoke a word or two to +Mrs Crawley, and Mr Snapper spoke a word or two to Mr Crawley; but not a +word was said about the news as to Mr Soames's cheque, which was now +almost current in Barchester. Indeed, no whisper about it had as yet +reached Hogglestock. + +'One word with you, reverend sir,' said Mr Crawley to the chaplain, as +the latter was coming out of the church, 'as to the parish work, sir, +during the week--I should be glad if you would favour me with your +opinion.' + +'About what Mr Crawley?' + +'Whether you think that I may be allowed, without scandal, to visit the +sick--and to give instruction in the school.' + +'Surely--surely, Mr Crawley. Why not?' + +'Mr Thumble gave me to understand that the bishop was very urgent that I +should interfere in no way in the ministrations of the parish. Twice he +did enjoin on me that I should not interfere--unnecessarily, as it +seemed to me.' + +'Quite unnecessary,' said Mr Snapper. 'And the bishop will be obliged +to you, Mr Crawley, if you'll just see that things go on all straight.' + +'I wish it were possible to know with accuracy what his idea of +straightness is,' said Mr Crawley to his wife. 'It may be that things +are straight to him when they are buried as it were out of sight, and +put away without trouble. I hope it be not so with the bishop.' When he +went into his school and remembered--as he did remember through every +minute of his teaching--that he was to receive no portion of the poor +stipend which was allotted for the clerical duties of the parish, he +told himself that there was gross injustice in the way in which things +were being made straight at Hogglestock. + +But we must go back to the major and the archdeacon at Plumstead--in +which comfortable parish things were generally made straight more easily +than at Hogglestock. Henry Grantly went over from Barchester to +Plumstead in a gig from the 'The Dragon', and made his way at once into +his father's study. The archdeacon was seated there with sundry +manuscripts before him, and with one half-finished manuscript--as was +his wont on every Saturday morning. 'Hallo, Harry,' he said. 'I didn't +expect you in the least.' It was barely an hour since he had told Mrs +Grantly that his complaint against his son was that he wouldn't come and +make himself comfortable at the rectory. + +'Father,' said he, giving the archdeacon his hand, 'you have heard +nothing yet about Mr Crawley?' + +'No,' said the archdeacon, jumping up; 'nothing new;--what is it?' Many +ideas about Mr Crawley at that moment flitted across the archdeacon's +mind. Could it be that the unfortunate man had committed suicide, +overcome by his troubles? + +'It has all come out. He got the cheque from my aunt.' + +'From your aunt Eleanor?' + +'Yes; from my aunt Eleanor. She has telegraphed over from Venice to say +that she gave the identical cheque to Crawley. That is all we know at +present--except that she has written an account of the matter to you, +and that she will be here herself as quick as she can come.' + +'Who got the message, Henry?' + +'Crawley's lawyer--a fellow named Toogood, a cousin of his wife's--a +very decent fellow,' added the major, remembering how necessary it was +that he should reconcile his father to all the Crawley belongings. 'He's +to be over here on Monday, and then will arrange what is to be done.' + +'Done in what way, Henry?' + +'There's a great deal to be done yet. Crawley does not know himself at +this moment how the cheque got into his hands. He must be told and +something must be settled about the living. They've taken the living +away from him among them. And then the indictment must be quashed, or +something of that kind done. Toogood has got hold of the scoundrel at +Barchester who really stole the cheque from Soames;--or thinks he has. +It's that Dan Stringer.' + +'He's got hold of a regular scamp, then. I never knew any good of Dan +Stringer,' said the archdeacon. + +Then Mrs Grantly was told, and the whole story was repeated again, with +many expressions of commiseration in reference to all the Crawleys. The +archdeacon did not join in these at first, being rather shy on that +head. It was very hard for him to have to speak to his son about the +Crawleys as though they were people in all respects estimable and +well-conducted, and satisfactory. Mrs Grantly understood this so well, +that every now and then she said some half-laughing word respecting Mr +Crawley's peculiarities, feeling that in this way she might ease her +husband's difficulties. 'He must be the oddest man that ever lived,' +said Mrs Grantly, 'not to have known where he got the cheque.' The +archdeacon shook his head, and rubbed his hands as he walked about the +room. 'I suppose too much learning has upset him,' said the archdeacon. +'They say he's not very good at talking English, but put him in Greek +and he never stops.' + +The archdeacon was perfectly aware that he had to admit Mr Crawley to +his goodwill, and that as for Grace Crawley--it was essentially +necessary that she should be admitted to his heart of hearts. He had +promised as much. It must be acknowledged that Archdeacon Grantly always +kept his promises, and especially such promises as these. And indeed it +was the nature of the man that when he had been angry with those he +loved, he should be unhappy till he had found some escape from his +anger. He could not endure to have to own to himself that he had been +wrong, but he could be content with a very incomplete recognition of his +having been in the right. The posters had been pulled down and Mr +Crawley, as he was now told, had not stolen the cheque. That was +sufficient. If his son would only drink a glass or two of wine with him +comfortably, and talk dutifully about the Plumstead foxes, all should be +held to be right, and Grace Crawley should be received with lavish +paternal embraces. The archdeacon had kissed Grace once, and he felt +that he could do so again without an unpleasant strain upon his +feelings. + +'Say something to your father about the property after dinner,' said Mrs +Grantly to her son when they were alone together. + +'About what property?' + +'About this property, or any property; you know what I mean;--something +to show that you are interested about his affairs. He is doing the best +he can to make things right.' After dinner, over the claret, Mr Thorne's +terrible sin in reference to the trapping of foxes was accordingly again +brought up, and the archdeacon became beautifully irate, and expressed +his animosity--which he did not in the least feel--against an old +friend with an energy which would have delighted his wife, if she could +have heard him. 'I shall tell Thorne my mind, certainly. He and I are +very old friends; we have known each other all our lives; but I cannot +put up with this kind of thing--and I will not. It's all because he's +afraid of his own gamekeeper.' And yet the archdeacon had never ridden +after a fox in his life, and never meant to do so; nor had in truth been +always so very anxious that foxes should be found in his covers. That +fox which had been so fortunately trapped just outside the Plumstead +property afforded a most pleasant escape for the steam of his anger. +When he began to talk to his wife about Mr Thorne's wicked gamekeeper, +she was so sure that all was right, that she said a word of her extreme +desire to see Grace Crawley. + +'If he's to marry her, we might as well have her over here,' said the +archdeacon. + +'That's just what I was thinking,' said Mrs Grantly. And thus things at +the rectory got themselves arranged. + +On the Sunday morning the expected letter from Venice came to hand, and +was read on that morning very anxiously, not only by Mrs Grantly and the +major, but by the archdeacon also, in spite of the sanctity of the day. +Indeed the archdeacon had been very stoutly anti-sabbatarial when the +question of stopping the Sunday post to Plumstead had been mooted in the +village, giving those who on that occasion were the special friends of +the postman to understand that he considered them to be numbskulls, and +little better than idiots. The postman, finding the parson to be against +him, had seen that there was no chance for him, and had allowed the +matter to drop. Mrs Arabin's letter was long and eager, and full of +repetitions, but it did explain clearly to him the exact manner in which +the cheque had found its way into Mr Crawley's hand. 'Francis came up to +me,' she said in her letter--Francis being her husband, the dean--'and +asked me for the money, which I had promised to make up in a packet. The +packet was not ready, and he would not wait, declaring that Mr Crawley +was in such a flurry that he did not like to leave him. I was therefore +to bring it down to the door. I went to my desk, and thinking that I +could spare the twenty pounds as well as the fifty, I put the cheque +into the envelope, together with the notes, and handed the packet to +Francis at the door. I think I told Francis afterwards that I put +seventy pounds into the envelope, instead of fifty, but of this I will +not be sure. At any rate Mr Crawley got Mr Soames's cheque from me.' +These last words she underscored, and then went on to explain how the +cheque had been paid to her a short time before by Dan Stringer. + +'Then Toogood was right about the fellow,' said the archdeacon. + +'I hope they'll hang him,' said Mrs Grantly. 'He must have known all +the time what dreadful misery he was bringing upon this unfortunate +family.' + +'I don't suppose Dan Stringer cared much about that,' said the major. + +'Not a straw,' said the archdeacon, and then all hurried off to church; +and the archdeacon preached the sermon in the fabrication of which he +had been interrupted by his son, and which therefore barely enabled him +to turn a quarter of an hour from the giving out of his text. It was his +constant practice to preach for a full twenty minutes. + +As Barchester lay on the direct road from Plumstead to Hogglestock, it +was thought well that word should be sent to Mr Toogood, desiring him +not to come out to Plumstead on the Monday morning. Major Grantly +proposed to call for him at the 'Dragon', and to take him from thence to +Hogglestock. 'You had better take your mother's horses all through,' +said the archdeacon. The distance was very nearly twenty miles, and it +was felt by both the mother and the son, that the archdeacon must be in +a good humour when he made such a proposition as that. It was not often +that the rectory carriage-horses were allowed to make long journeys. A +run into Barchester and back, which was altogether under ten miles, was +generally the extent of their work. 'I meant to have posted from +Barchester,' said the major. 'You may as well take the horses through,' +said the archdeacon. 'Your mother will not want them. And I suppose you +might as well bring your friend Toogood back to dinner. We'll give him a +bed.' + +'He must be a good sort of man,' said Mrs Grantly; 'for I suppose he has +done this all for love?' + +'Yes; and spent a lot of money out of his own pocket too!' said the +major enthusiastically. 'And the joke of it is, that he has been +defending Crawley in Crawley's teeth. Mr Crawley had refused to employ +counsel; but Toogood had made up his mind to have a barrister, on +purpose that there might be a fuss about it in court. He thought that it +would tell with the jury in Crawley's favour.' + +'Bring him here, and we'll hear all about that from himself,' said the +archdeacon. The major, before he started, told his mother that he should +call at Framley Parsonage on his way back; but he said nothing on this +subject to his father. + +'I'll write to her in a day or two,' said Mrs Grantly, 'and we'll have +things settled pleasantly.' + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV + +THE CRAWLEYS ARE INFORMED + +Major Grantly made an early start, knowing that he had a long day's work +before him. He had written over-night to Mr Toogood, naming the hour at +which he would reach 'The Dragon', and was there punctual to the moment. +When the attorney came out and got into the open carriage, while the +groom held the steps for him, it was plain to see that the respect in +which he was held at 'The Dragon' was greatly increased. It was already +known that he was going to Plumstead that night, and it was partly +understood that he was engaged with the Grantly and Arabin faction in +defending Mr Crawley the clergyman against the Proudie faction. Dan +Stringer, who was still at the inn, as he saw his enemy get into the +Plumstead carriage, felt himself to be one of the palace party, and felt +that if Mrs Proudie had only lived till after the assizes all this heavy +trouble would not have befallen him. The waiter with the dirty napkin +stood at the door and bowed, thinking perhaps that as the Proudie party +was going down in Barchester, it might be as well to be civil to Mr +Toogood. The days of the Stringers were probably drawing to a close at +the 'The Dragon of Wantly', and there was no knowing who might be the +new landlord. + +Henry Grantly and the lawyer found very little to say to each other on +their long way out to Hogglestock. They were thinking, probably, much of +the coming interview, and hardly knew how to express their thoughts to +each other. 'I will not take the carriage up to the house,' said the +major, as there were entering the parish of Hogglestock; 'particularly +as the man must feed the horses.' So they got out of a farmhouse about +half a mile from the church, where the offence of the carriage and the +livery-servant would be well out of Mr Crawley's sight, and from thence +walked towards the parsonage. The church, and the school close to it, +lay on their way, and as they passed by the school door they heard +voices within. 'I'll bet twopence he's there,' said Toogood. 'They tell +me he's always either in one shop or the other. I'll slip in and bring +him out.' Mr Toogood had assumed a comfortable air, as though the day's +work was to be good pastime, and even made occasional attempts at +drollery. He had had his jokes about Dan Stringer, and had attempted to +describe the absurdities of Mr Crawley's visit to Bedford Row. All this +would have angered the major, had he not seen that it was assumed to +cover something below of which Mr Toogood was a little ashamed, but of +which, as the major thought, Mr Toogood had no cause to be ashamed. +When, therefore, Toogood proposed to go into the school and bring Mr +Crawley out, as though the telling of their story would be the easiest +thing in the world, the major did not stop him. Indeed he had no plan of +his own ready. His mind was too intent on the tragedy which had +occurred, and which was now to be brought to a close, to enable him to +form any plan as to the best way of getting up the last scene. So Mr +Toogood, with quick and easy steps, entered the school, leaving the +major still standing in the road. Mr Crawley was in the school--as also +was Jane Crawley. 'So here you are,' said Toogood. 'That's fortunate. I +hope I find you pretty well?' + +'If I am not mistaken in the identity, my wife's relative, Mr Toogood?' +said Mr Crawley, stepping down from his humble desk. + +'Just so, my friend,' said Toogood, with his hand extended, 'just so; +and there's another gentleman outside who wants to have a word with you. +Perhaps you won't mind stepping out. These are the young +Hogglestockians; are they?' + +The young Hogglestockians stared at him, and so did Jane. Jane, who had +before heard of him, did not like him at first sight, seeing that her +father was clearly displeased by the tone of the visitor's address. Mr +Crawley was displeased. There was a familiarity about Mr Toogood which +made him sore, as having been exhibited before his pupils. 'If you will +be pleased to step out, sir, I will follow you,' he said, waving his +hand towards the door. 'Jane, my dear, if you will remain with the +children I will return to you presently. Bobby Studge has failed in +saying his Belief. You had better set him on again from the beginning. +Now, Mr Toogood.' And again he waved his hand towards the door. + +'So that's my young cousin, is it?' said Toogood, stretching over and +just managing to touch Jane's fingers--of which act of touching Jane was +very chary. Then he went forth, and Mr Crawley followed him. There was +the major standing in the road and Toogood was anxious to be the first +to communicate the good news. It was the only reward he had proposed to +himself for the money he had expended and the time he had lost and the +trouble he had taken. 'It's all right, old fellow,' he said, clapping +his hand on Mr Crawley's shoulder. 'We've got the right sow by the ear +at last. We know all about it.' Mr Crawley could hardly remember the +time when he had been called an old fellow last, and now he did not like +it; nor, in the confusion of his mind, could he understand the allusion +to the right sow. He supposed that Toogood had come to him about his +trial, but it did not occur to him that the lawyer might be bringing him +news which might make the trial altogether unnecessary. 'If my eyes are +not mistaken, there is my friend, Major Grantly,' said Mr Crawley. + +'There he is, as large as life,' said Toogood. 'But stop a moment +before you go to him, and give me your hand. I must have the first shake +of it.' Hereupon Crawley extended his hand. 'That's right. And now let +me tell you we know all about the cheque--Soames's cheque. We know where +you got it. We know who stole it. We know how it came to the person who +gave it to you. It's all very well talking, but when you're in trouble +always go to a lawyer.' + +By this time Mr Crawley was looking full into Mr Toogood's face, and +seeing that his cousin's eyes were streaming with tears began to get +some insight into the man's character, and also some very dim insight +into the facts which the man intended to communicate to himself. 'I do +not as yet fully understand you, sir,' he said, 'being perhaps in such +matters somewhat dull of intellect, but it seemeth to me that you are +the messenger of glad tidings, whose feet are beautiful upon the +mountains.' + +'Beautiful!' said Toogood. 'By George, I should think they are +beautiful! Don't you hear me tell you that we have found out all about +the cheque, and that you're as right as a trivet?' They were still on +the little causeway leading from the school up the road, and Henry +Grantly was waiting for them at the small wicket-gate. 'Mr Crawley,' +said the major, 'I congratulate you with all my heart. I could not but +accompany my friend, Mr Toogood, when he brought you this good news.' + +'I do not even yet altogether comprehend what has been told to me,' said +Crawley, now standing out on the road between the other two men. 'I am +doubtless dull--very dull. May I beg some clearer word of explanation +before I ask you to go with me to my wife?' + +'The cheque was given to you by my aunt Eleanor.' + +'Your aunt Eleanor!' said Crawley, now altogether in the clouds. Who was +the major's aunt Eleanor? Though he had, no doubt, at different times +heard all the circumstances of the connection, he had never realised the +fact that his daughter's lover was the nephew of his old friend Arabin. + +'Yes; by my aunt, Mrs Arabin.' + +'She put it into the envelope with the notes,' said Toogood--'slipped +it in without saying a word to anyone. I never heard of a woman doing +such a thing in my life before. If she had died, or if we hadn't caught +her, where should we all have been? Not but what I think I should have +run Dan Stringer to ground too, and worked it out of him.' + +'Then, after all, it was given to me by the dean?' said Crawley. + +'It was in the envelope, but the dean did not know it,' said the major. + +'Gentlemen,' said Mr Crawley. 'I was sure of it. I knew it. Weak as my +mind may be--and at times it is very weak--I was certain that I could +not have erred in such a matter. The more I struggled with my memory the +more fixed with me became the fact--which I had forgotten but for a +moment--that the document had formed a part of that small packet handed +to me by the dean. But look you, sirs--bear with me yet for a moment. I +said that it was so, and the dean denied it.' + +'The dean did not know it, man,' said Toogood, almost in a passion. + +'Bear with me yet awhile. So far have I been misdoubting the dean--whom +I have long known to be in all things a true and honest gentleman--that +I postponed the elaborated result of my own memory to his word. And I +felt myself the more constrained to do this, because in a moment of +forgetfulness, I had allowed myself to make a false +statement--unwittingly false, indeed, nonetheless very false, +unpardonably false. I had declared without thinking, that the money had +come to me from the hands of Mr Soames, thereby seeming to cast a +reflection upon that gentleman. When I had been guilty of so great a +blunder, of so gross a violation of that ordinary care which should +govern all words between man and man, especially when any question of +money may be in doubt--how could I expect that anyone should accept my +statement when contravened by that made by the dean? Gentlemen, I did +not believe my own memory. Though all the little circumstances of that +envelope, with its rich but perilous freightage, came back upon me from +time to time with an exactness that has appeared to me to be almost +marvellous, yet I have told myself that it was not so! Gentlemen, if you +please, we will go into the house; my wife is there, and should not +longer be left in suspense.' They passed on in silence for a few steps, +till Crawley spoke again. 'Perhaps you will allow me the privilege to be +alone with her for one minute--but for a minute. Her thanks shall not be +delayed, where thanks are so richly due.' + +'Of course,' said Toogood, wiping his eyes with a large red bandana +handkerchief. 'By all means. We'll take a little walk. Come, along, +major.' The major had turned his face away, and he also was weeping. 'By +George! I never heard such a thing in all my life,' said Toogood. 'I +wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I wouldn't indeed. If I +were to tell that up in London, nobody would believe me.' + +'I call that man a hero,' said Grantly. + +'I don't know about being a hero. I never quite knew what makes a hero, +if it isn't having three or four girls dying in love for you at once. +But to find a man who was going to let everything in the world go +against him, because he believed another fellow better than himself! +There's many a chap thinks another man is wool-gathering; but this man +has thought he was wool-gathering himself! It's not natural; and the +world wouldn't go on if there many like that. He's beckoning us, and we +had better go in.' + +Mr Toogood went first, and the major followed him. When they entered +the front door at the end of the passage, and on entering the room to +the left they found Mr Crawley alone. 'She has fled, as though from an +enemy,' he said, with a little attempt at a laugh; 'but I will pursue +her, and bring her back.' + +'No, Mr Crawley, no,' said the lawyer. 'She's a little upset, and all +that kind of thing. We know what women are. Let her alone.' + +'Nay, Mr Toogood; but then she would be angered with herself afterwards, +and would lack the comfort of having spoken a word of gratitude. Pardon +me, Major Grantly; but I would not have you leave us till she has seen +you. It is as her cousin says. She is somewhat over-excited. But still, +it will be the best that she should see you. Gentlemen, you will excuse +me.' + +Then he went out to fetch his wife, and while he was away not a word was +spoken. The major looked out of one window and Mr Toogood out of the +other, and they waited patiently till they heard the coming steps of the +husband and wife. When the door was opened, Mr Crawley appeared, leading +his wife by the hand. 'My dear,' he said, 'you know Major Grantly. This +is your cousin, Mr Toogood. It is well that you know him too, and +remember his great kindness to us.' But Mrs Crawley could not speak. She +could only sink on the sofa, and hide her face, while she strove in vain +to repress her sobs. She had been very strong through all her husband's +troubles--very strong in bearing for him what he could not bear for +himself, and in fighting on his behalf battles in which he was +altogether unable to couch a lance; but the endurance of so many +troubles and the great overwhelming sorrow at last had so nearly +overpowered her, that she could not sustain the shock of this turn in +their fortunes. 'She was never like this, sirs, when ill news came to +us,' said Mr Crawley, standing somewhat apart from her. + +The major sat himself by her side, and put his hand upon hers, and +whispered some word to her about her daughter. Upon this she threw her +arms around him, and kissed his face, and then his hands, and then +looked up into his face through her tears. She murmured some few words, +or attempted to do so. I doubt whether the major understood their +meaning, but he knew very well what was in her heart. + +'And now I think we might as well be moving,' said Mr Toogood. 'I'll see +about having the indictment quashed. I'll arrange all that with Walker. +It may be necessary that you should go into Barchester the first day the +judges sit; and if so, I'll come and fetch you. You may be sure I won't +leave the place till it's all square.' + +As they were going, Grantly--speaking now altogether with indifference +to Toogood's presence--asked Mr Crawley's leave to be the bearer of +these tidings to his daughter. + +'She can hear it in no tones that can be more grateful to her,' said Mr +Crawley. + +'I shall ask her for nothing for myself now,' said Grantly. 'It would +be ungenerous. But hereafter--in a few days--when she shall be more at +ease, may I then use your permission--?' + +'Major Grantly,' said Mr Crawley solemnly. 'I respect you so highly, +and esteem you so thoroughly, that I give willingly that which you ask. +If my daughter can bring herself to regard you, as a woman should regard +her husband, with the love that can worship and cling and be constant, +she will, I think, have a fair promise of worldly happiness. And for +you, sir, in giving you my girl--if so be it that she is given to you--I +shall bestow upon you a great treasure.' Had Grace been a king's +daughter, with a queen's dowry, the permission to address her could not +have been imparted to her lover with a more thorough appreciation of the +value of privilege conferred. + +'He's a rum one,' said Mr Toogood, as they got into the carriage +together; 'but they say he's a very good 'un to go.' + +After their departure Jane was sent for, that she might hear the family +news; and when she expressed some feeling not altogether in favour of Mr +Toogood, Mr Crawley thus strove to correct her views. 'He is a man, my +dear, who conceals a warm heart, and an active spirit, and healthy +sympathies, under an affected jocularity of manner, and almost with a +touch of vulgarity. But when the jewel itself is good, any fault in the +casket may be forgiven.' + +'Then, papa, the next time I see him I'll like him--if I can,' said +Jane. + +The village of Framley lies slightly off the road from Hogglestock to +Barchester--so much so as to add perhaps a mile to the journey if the +traveller goes by the parsonage gate. On their route to Hogglestock our +two travellers had passed Framley without visiting the village, but on +the return journey the major asked Mr Toogood's permission to make the +deviation. 'I'm not in a hurry,' said Toogood. 'I never was more +comfortable in my life. I'll just light a cigar while you go in and see +your friends.' Toogood lit his cigar, and the major, getting down from +the carriage, entered the parsonage. It was his fortune to find Grace +alone. Robarts was in Barchester, and Mrs Robarts was across the road, +at Lufton Court. 'Miss Crawley is certainly in,' the servant told him, +and he soon found himself in Miss Crawley's presence. + +'I have only called to tell you the news about your father,' said he. + +'What news?' + +'We have just come from Hogglestock--your cousin Mr Toogood, that is, +and myself. They have found out all about the cheque. My aunt, Mrs +Arabin, the dean's wife, you know--she gave it to your father.' + +'Oh, Major Grantly!' + +'It seems so easily settled, does it not?' + +'And is it settled?' + +'Yes; everything. Everything about that.' Now he had hold of her hand +as if he were going. 'Good-bye. I told your father that I would just +call and tell you.' + +'It seems almost more than I can believe.' + +'You may believe it; indeed you may.' He still held her hand. 'You will +write to your mother I daresay tonight. Tell her I was here. Good-bye +now.' + +'Good-bye,' she said. Her hand was still in his, as she looked up into +his face. + +'Dear, dear, Grace! My darling Grace!' Then he took her into his arms +and kissed her, and went his way without another word, feeling that he +had kept his word to her father like a gentleman. Grace, when she was +left alone, thought that she was the happiest girl in Christendom. If +she could only get to her mother, and tell everything, and be told +everything! She had no idea of any promise that her lover may have made +to her father, nor did she make inquiry of her own thoughts as to the +reasons for staying with her so short a time; but looking back at it all +she thought his conduct had been perfect. + +In the meantime, the major, with Mr Toogood, was driven home to dinner +at Barchester. + + + +CHAPTER LXXV + +MADALINA'S HEART IS BLEEDING + +John Eames, as soon as he had left Mrs Arabin at the hotel and had taken +his travelling-bag to his own lodgings, started off for his uncle +Toogood's house. There he found Mrs Toogood, not in the most serene +state of mind as to her husband's absence. Mr Toogood had now been at +Barchester for the best part of a week--spending a good deal of money +at the inn. Mrs Toogood was quite sure that he must be doing that. +Indeed, how could he help himself? Johnny remarked that he did not see +how in such circumstances his uncle was to help himself. And then Mr +Toogood had only written one short scrap of a letter--just three words, +and they were written in triumph. 'Crawley is all right, and I think +I've got the real Simon Pure by the heels.' 'It's all very well, John,' +Mrs Toogood said; 'and of course it would be a terrible thing of the +family if anybody connected with it were made out to be a thief.' 'It +would be quite dreadful,' said Johnny. 'Not that I ever looked upon the +Crawleys as connections of ours. But, however, let that pass. I'm sure +I'm very glad that your uncle should have been able to be of service to +them. But there's reason in the roasting of eggs, and I can tell you +that money is not so plenty in this house that your uncle can afford to +throw it in the Barchester gutters. Think what twelve children are, +John. It might be all very well if Toogood were a bachelor, and if some +lord had left him a fortune.' John Eames did not stay very long in +Tavistock Square. His cousins Polly and Lucy were gone to the play with +Mr Summerkin, and his aunt was not in one of her best humours. He took +his uncle's part as well as he could, and then left Mrs Toogood. The +little allusion to Lord De Guest's generosity had not been pleasant to +him. It seemed to rob him of all his own merit. He had been rather proud +of his journey to Italy, having contrived to spend nearly forty pounds +in ten days. He had done everything in the most expensive way, feeling +that every napoleon wasted had been laid out on behalf Mr Crawley. But, +as Mrs Toogood had just told him, all this was nothing to what Toogood +was doing. Toogood with twelve children was living at his own charges at +Barchester and was neglecting his business besides. 'There's Mr Crump,' +said Mrs Toogood. 'Of course he doesn't like it, and what can I say when +he comes to me?' This was not quite fair on the part of Mrs Toogood, as +Mr Crump had not troubled her even once as yet since her husband's +departure. + +What was Johnny to do, when he left Tavistock Square? His club was open +to him. Should he go to his club, play a game of billiards, and have +some supper? When he asked himself the question he knew that he would +not go to his club, and yet he pretended to doubt about it, as he made +his way to a cabstand in Tottenham Court Road. It would be slow, he told +himself, to go to his club. He would have gone to Lily Dale, only that +his intimacy with Mrs Thorne was not sufficient to justify his calling +at her house between nine and ten o'clock at night. But, as he must go +somewhere--and as his intimacy with Lady Demolines was, he thought, +sufficient to justify almost anything--he would go to Bayswater. I +regret to say that he had written a mysterious not from Paris to +Madalina Demolines, saying that he should be in London on this very +night, and that it was just on the cards that he might make his way up +to Porchester Terrace before he went to bed. The note was mysterious, +because it had neither beginning nor ending. It did not contain even +initials. It was written like a telegraph message, and was about as +long. It was the kind of thing Miss Demolines liked, Johnny thought; and +there could be no reason why he should not gratify her. It was her +favourite game. Some people like whist, some like croquet, and some like +intrigue. Madalina probably would have called it romance--because she +was by nature romantic. John, who was made of sterner stuff, laughed at +this. He knew that there was no romance in it. He knew that he was only +amusing himself, and gratifying her at the same time, by a little +innocent pretence. He told himself that it was his nature to prefer the +society of women to that of men. He would have liked the society of Lily +Dale, no doubt, much better than that of Miss Demolines; but as the +society of Lily Dale was not to be had at that moment, the society of +Miss Demolines was the best substitute within his reach. So he got into +a cab and had himself driven to Porchester Terrace. 'Is Lady Demolines +at home?' he said to the servant. He always asked for Lady Demolines. +But the page who was accustomed to open the door for him was less false, +being young, and would now tell him, without any further fiction, that +Miss Madalina was in the drawing-room. Such was the answer he got from +the page on this evening. What Madalina did with her mother on these +occasions he had never yet discovered. There used to be some little +excuses given about Lady Demolines' state of health, but latterly +Madalina had discontinued her references to her mother's headaches. She +was standing in the centre of the drawing-room when he entered it, with +both her hands raised, and an almost terrible expression of mystery in +her face. Her hair, however, had been very carefully arranged so as to +fall with copious carelessness down her shoulders, and altogether she +was looking her best. 'Oh, John,' she said. She called him John by +accident in the tumult of the moment. 'Have you heard what has happened? +But of course you have heard it.' + +'Heard what? I have heard nothing,' said Johnny, arrested almost in the +doorway by the nature of the question--and partly also, no doubt, by the +tumult of the moment. He had no idea how terrible a tragedy was in truth +in store for him; but he perceived that the moment was to be tumultuous, +and that he must carry himself accordingly. + +'Come in and close the door,' she said. He came in and closed the door. +'Do you mean to say that you haven't heard what has happened in Hook +Court?' + +'No;--what has happened in Hook Court?' Miss Demolines threw herself +back into an arm-chair, closed her eyes, and clasped both her hands upon +her forehead. 'What has happened in Hook Court?' said Johnny, walking up +to her. + +'I do not think I can bring myself to tell you.' + +Then he took one of her hands down from her forehead and held it in +his--which she allowed passively. She was thinking, no doubt, of +something far different from that. + +'I never saw you looking better in your life,' said Johnny. + +'Don't,' said she. 'How can you talk in that way, when my heart is +bleeding--bleeding.' Then she pulled away her hand, and again clasped it +with the other upon her forehead. + +'But why is your heart bleeding? What has happened in Hook Court?' +Still she answered nothing, but she sobbed violently and the heaving of +her bosom showed how tumultuous was the tumult within it. 'You don't +mean to say that Dobbs Broughton has come to grief--that he's to be sold +out?' + +'Man,' said Madalina, jumping up from her chair, standing at her full +height, and stretching out both her arms, 'he has destroyed himself!' +The revelation was at last made with so much tragic propriety, in so +excellent a tone, and with such an absence of all the customary +redundancies of commonplace relation, that I think that she must have +rehearsed the scene--either with her mother or with the page. Then there +was a minute's silence, during which she did not move even an eyelid. +She held her outstretched hands without dropping a finger half an inch. +Her face was thrust forward, her chin projecting, with tragic horror; +but there was no vacillation even in her chin. She did not wink an eye, +or alter to the breadth of a hair the aperture of her lips. Surely she +was a great genius if she did it all without previous rehearsal. Then, +before he had thought of words in which to answer her, she let her hands +fall to her side, she closed her eyes, and shook her head, and fell back +again into her chair. 'It's too horrible to be spoken of--or to be +thought about,' she said. 'I could not have brought myself to tell the +tale to a living being--except to you.' + +This would naturally have been flattering to Johnny had it not been that +he was in truth absorbed by the story which he had heard. + +'Do you mean to tell me,' he said, 'that Broughton has--committed +suicide?' She could not speak of it again, but nodded her head at him +thrice, while her eyes were still closed. 'And how was the manner of +it?' said he, asking the question in a low voice. He could not even as +yet bring himself to believe it. Madalina was so fond of a little +playful intrigue, that even this story might have something in the +nature of fiction. He was not quite sure of the facts, and yet he was +shocked by what he had heard. + +'Would you have me repeat to you all the bloody details of that terrible +scene?' she said. 'It is impossible. Go to your friend Dalrymple. He +will tell you. He knows it all. He has been with Maria all through. I +wish--I wish it had not been so.' But nevertheless she did bring herself +to narrate all the details with something more of circumstance than +Eames desired. She soon succeeded in making him understand the tragedy +of Hook Court was a reality, and that poor Dobbs Broughton had brought +his career to an untimely end. She had heard everything--having indeed +gone to Musselboro in the City, and having penetrated even to the +sanctum of Mr Bangles--the reader may remember him, Burton and Bangles, +who kept the stores for Himalaya wines at 22 shillings and 6 pence the +dozen, in Hook Court--was a bachelor, and rather liked the visit, and +told Miss Demolines very freely all he had seen. And when she suggested +that it might be expedient for the sake of the family that she should +come back to Mr Bangles for further information at a subsequent period, +he very politely assured her that she would 'do him proud', whenever she +might please to call at Hook Court. And then he saw her in Lombard +Street, and put her into an omnibus. She was therefore well qualified to +tell Johnny all the particulars of the tragedy--and she did so far +overcome her horror as to tell them all. She told her tale somewhat +after the manner of Aeneas, not forgetting the 'quorum pars magna fui.' +'I feel that it almost makes an old woman of me,' she said, when she had +finished. + +'No,' said Johnny, remonstrating, 'not that.' + +'But it does. To have been concerned in so terrible a tragedy takes +more of life out of one than ten years of tranquil existence.' As she +had told him nothing of her intercourse with Bangles--with Bangles who +had literally picked the poor wretch up--he did not see how she herself +had been concerned in the matter; but he said nothing about that, +knowing the character of Madalina. 'I shall see--that--body, floating +before my eyes while I live,' she said, 'and the gory wound, and--and--' +'Don't,' said Johnny, recoiling in truth from the picture by which he +was revolted. 'Never again,' she said, 'never again! But you forced it +from me, and now I shall not close my eyes for a week.' + +She then became very comfortably confidential, and discussed the affairs +of poor Mrs Dobbs Broughton with a great deal of satisfaction. 'I went +to see her, of course, but she sent me down word to say that the shock +would be too much for her. I do not wonder that she should not see me. +Poor Maria! She came to me for advice, you know, when Dobbs Broughton +first proposed to her; and I was obliged to tell her what I really +thought. I knew her character well? "Dear Maria," I said, "if you think +that you can love him, take him!" "I think I can," she replied. "But," +said I, "make yourself quite sure about the business." And how has it +turned out? She never loved him. What heart she has she has given to +that wretched Dalrymple.' + +'I don't see that he is particularly wretched,' said Johnny, pleading +for his friend. + +'He is wretched, and so you'll find. She gave him her heart after +giving her hand to poor Dobbs; and as for the business, there isn't as +much left as will pay for her mourning. I don't wonder that she could +not bring herself to see me.' + +'And what has become of the business?' + +'It belongs to Mrs Van Siever--to her and Musselboro. Poor Broughton +had some little money, and it has gone among them. Musselboro, who never +had a penny, will be a rich man. Of course you know that he is going to +marry Clara?' + +'Nonsense!' + +'I always told you that it would be so. And now you may perhaps +acknowledge that Conway Dalrymple's prospects are not very brilliant. I +hope he likes being cut out by Mr Musselboro! Of course he will have to +marry Maria. I do not see how he can escape. Indeed, she is too good for +him;--only after such a marriage as that, there would be an end to all +his prospects as an artist. The best thing for them would be to go to +New Zealand.' + +John Eames certainly liked these evenings with Miss Demolines. He sat at +his ease in a comfortable chair, and amused himself by watching her +different little plots. And then she had bright eyes, and she flattered +him, and allowed him to scold her occasionally. And now and again there +might be some more attraction, when she would admit him to take her +hand--or the like. It was better than to sit smoking with men at his +club. But he could not sit up all night even with Madalina Demolines, +and at eleven he got up to take his leave. 'When shall you see Miss +Dale?' she asked him suddenly. + +'I do not know,' he answered, frowning at her. He always frowned at her +when she spoke to him of Miss Dale. + +'I do not in the least care for your frowns,' she said playfully, +putting up her hands to smooth his brows. 'I think I know you intimately +enough to name your goddess to you.' + +'She isn't my goddess.' + +'A very cold goddess, I should think, from what I hear. I wish to ask +you for a promise respecting her.' + +'What promise?' + +'Will you grant it to me?' + +'How can I tell till I hear?' + +'You must promise me not to speak of me when you see her.' + +'But why must I promise that?' + +'Promise me.' + +'Not unless you tell me why.' Johnny had already assured himself that +nothing could be more improbable than that he should mention the name of +Miss Demolines to Lily Dale. + +'Very well, sir. Then you may go. And I must say that unless you can +comply with so slight a request as that, I shall not care to see you +here again. Mr Eames, why should you want to speak evil of me to Miss +Dale?' + +'I do not want to speak evil of you.' + +'I know that you could not speak of me to her without at least ridicule. +Come, promise me. You shall come here Thursday evening, and I will tell +you why I have asked you.' + +'Tell me now.' + +She hesitated a moment, and then shook her head. 'No. I cannot tell +you now. My heart is still bleeding with the memory of that poor man's +face. I will not tell you now. And yet is not that you must give me the +promise. Will you not trust me so far as that?' + +'I will not speak of you to Miss Dale.' + +'There is my own friend! And now, John, mind you are here at half-past +eight on Thursday. Punctually at half-past eight. There is a thing I +have to tell you, which I will tell you then if you will come. I had +thought to have told you today.' + +'And why not now?' + +'I cannot. My feelings are too many for me. I should never go through +with it after all that has between us about poor Broughton. I should +break down; indeed I should. Go now, for I am tired.' Then having +probably taken a momentary advantage of that more potent attraction to +which we have before alluded, he left the room very suddenly. + +He left the room very suddenly because Madalina's movements had been so +sudden, and her words so full of impulse. He had become aware that in +this little game in which he was playing in Porchester Terrace +everything ought to be done after some unaccustomed and special fashion. +So--having clasped Madalina for one moment in his arms--he made a rush +at the room door, and was out on the landing in a second. He was a +little too quick for old Lady Demolines. The skirt of whose +night-dress--as it seemed to Johnny--he saw whisking away, in at another +door. It was nothing, however, to him if old Lady Demolines, who was +always too ill to be seen, chose to roam about her own house in her +night-dress. + +When he found himself alone in the street, his mind reverted to Dobbs +Broughton and the fate of the wretched man, and he sauntered slowly down +Paris Gardens, that he might look at the house in which he had dined +with a man who had destroyed himself by his own hands. He stood for a +moment looking up at the windows, in which there was now no light, +thinking of the poor woman whom he had seen in the midst of luxury, and +who was now left a widow in such miserable circumstances! As for the +suggestion that his friend Conway would marry her, he did not believe it +for a moment. He knew too well what the suggestions of his Madalina were +worth, and the motives from which they sprung. But he thought it might +be true that Mrs Van Siever had absorbed all there was of the property, +and possibly, also, that Musselboro was to marry her daughter. At any +rate, he would go to Dalrymple's rooms, and if he could find him, would +learn the truth. He knew enough of Dalrymple's ways of life, and of the +ways of his friend's chambers and studio, to care nothing for the +lateness of the hour, and in a very few minutes he was sitting in +Dalrymple's arm-chair. He found Siph Dunn there, smoking in unperturbed +tranquillity, and as long as that lasted he could ask no questions about +Mrs Broughton. He told them, therefore, of his adventures abroad, and of +Crawley's escape. But at last, having finished his third pipe, Siph Dunn +took his leave. + +'Tell me,' said John, as soon as Dunn had closed the door, 'what is this +I hear about Dobbs Broughton?' + +'He has blown his brains out. That is all.' + +'How terribly shocking!' + +'Yes; it shocked us all at first. We are used to it now.' + +'And the business?' + +'That has gone to the dogs. They say at least that his share of it had +done so.' + +'And he was ruined?' + +'They say so. That is, Musselboro says so, and Mrs Van Siever.' + +'And what do you say, Conway?' + +'The less I say the better. I have my hopes--only you're such a +talkative fellow, one can't trust you.' + +'I never told any secret of yours, old fellow.' + +'Well--that fact is, I have an idea that something may be saved for the +poor woman. I think that they are wronging her. Of course all I can do +is put the matter into lawyer's hands and pay the lawyer's bill. So I +went to your cousin, and he has taken the case up. I hope he won't ruin +me.' + +'Then I suppose you are quarrelling with Mrs Van?' + +'That doesn't matter. She has quarrelled with me.' + +'And what about Jael, Conway? They tell me Jael is going to become Mrs +Musselboro.' + +'Who told you that?' + +'A bird.' + +'Yes; I know who the bird is. I don't think that Jael will become Mrs +Musselboro. I don't think Jael would become Mrs Musselboro, if Jael were +the only woman, and Musselboro the only man in London. To tell you a +little bit of a secret, Johnny, I think that Jael will become the wife +of Conway Dalrymple. That is my opinion; and as far as I can judge, it +is the opinion of Jael also.' + +'But not the opinion of Mrs Van. The bird told me another thing, +Conway.' + +'What other thing?' + +'The bird hinted that all this would end in your marrying the widow of +that poor wretch who destroyed himself.' + +'Johnny, my boy,' said the artist after a moment's silence, 'if I give +you a bit of advice, will you profit by it?' + +'I'll try, if it's not disagreeable.' + +'Whether you profit by it, or whether not, keep it to yourself. I know +the bird better than you do, and I strongly caution you to beware of the +bird. The bird is a bird of prey, and altogether an unclean bird. The +bird wants a mate, and doesn't much care how she gets it. And the bird +wants money, and doesn't care how she gets it. The bird is a decidedly +bad bird, and not at all fit to take the place of domestic hen in a +decent farmyard. In plain English, Johnny, you'll find some day, if you +go over to often to Porchester Terrace, either that you are going to +marry the bird, or else that you are employing your cousin Toogood for +you defence in an action for breach of promise, brought against you by +that venerable old bird, the bird's mamma.' + +'If it's to be either, it will be the latter,' said Johnny, as he took +up his hat to go away. + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI + +I THINK HE IS LIGHT OF HEART + +Mrs Arabin remained one day in town. Mr Toogood in spite of his +asseveration that he would not budge from Barchester till he had seen Mr +Crawley through all his troubles, did run up to London as soon as the +news reached him that John Eames had returned. He came up and took Mrs +Arabin's deposition, which he sent down to Mr Walker. It might still be +necessary, Mrs Arabin was told, that she should go into court, and there +state on oath that she had given the cheque to Mr Crawley; but Mr Walker +was of the opinion that the circumstances would enable the judge to call +upon the grand jury not to find a true bill against Mr Crawley, and that +the whole affair, as far as Mr Crawley was concerned, would thus be +brought to an end. Toogood was still very anxious to place Dan Stringer +in the dock, but Mr Walker declared that they would fail if they made +the attempt. Dan had been examined before the magistrates at Barchester, +and having persisted in his statement that he had heard nothing about Mr +Crawley and the cheque. This he said in the teeth of the words which had +fallen from him unawares in the presence of Mr Toogood. But they could +not punish him for a lie--not even for such a lie as that! He was not +upon oath, and they could not make him responsible to the law because he +had held his tongue upon a matter as to which it was manifest to them +all that he had known the whole history during the entire period of Mr +Crawley's persecution. They could only call upon him to account for his +possession of the cheque, and this he did by saying that it had been +paid to him by Jem Scuttle, who received all moneys appertaining to the +hotel stables, and accounted for them once a week. Jem Scuttle had +simply told him that he had taken the cheque from Mr Soames, and Jem had +since gone to New Zealand. It was quite true that Jem's departure had +followed suspiciously close upon the payment of the rent to Mrs Arabin, +and that Jem had been in close amity with Dan Stringer up to the moment +of his departure. That Dan Stringer had not become honestly possessed of +the cheque, everybody knew; but, nevertheless, the magistrates were of +the opinion, Mr Walker coinciding with them, that there was no evidence +against him sufficient to secure a conviction. The story, however, of Mr +Crawley's injuries was so well known in Barchester, and the feeling +against the man who had permitted him to be thus injured was so strong, +that Dan Stringer did not altogether escape without punishment. Some +rough spirits in Barchester called one night at 'The Dragon of Wantly' +and begged Mr Dan Stringer would be kind enough to come and take a walk +with them that evening; and when it was intimated to them that Dan +Stringer had not just then any desire for exercise, they requested to be +allowed to go into the back parlour and make an evening with Dan +Stringer in that recess. There was a terrible row at 'The Dragon of +Wantly' that night, and Dan with difficulty was rescued by the police. +On the following morning he was smuggled out of Barchester by an early +train, and has never more been seen in that city. Rumours of him, +however, were soon heard, from which it appeared that he had made +himself acquainted with the casual ward of more than one workhouse in +London. His cousin John left the inn almost immediately--as, indeed, he +must have done had there been no question of Mr Soames's cheque--and +then there was nothing more heard of the Stringers in Barchester. + +Mrs Arabin remained in town one day, and would have remained longer, +waiting for her husband, had not a letter from her sister impressed upon +her that it might be well that she should be with her father as soon as +possible. 'I don't mean to make you think that there is any immediate +danger,' Mrs Grantly said, 'and, indeed, we cannot say that he is ill; +but it seems that the extremity of old age has come upon him almost +suddenly, and that he is as weak as a child. His only delight is with +children, especially with Posy, whose gravity in her management of him +is wonderful. He has not left his room now for more than a week, and he +eats very little. It may be that he will live for years; but I should be +deceiving you if I did not let you know that both the archdeacon and I +think that the time of his departure from us is near at hand.' After +reading this letter, Mrs Arabin could not wait in town for her husband, +even though he was expected in two days and though she had been told +that her presence in Barchester was not immediately required on behalf +of Mr Crawley. + +But during that one day she kept her promise to John Eames by going to +Lily Dale. Mrs Arabin had become very fond of Johnny, and felt that he +deserved the prize which he had been so long trying to win. The reader, +perhaps, may not agree with Mrs Arabin. The reader, who may have caught +a closer insight into Johnny's character than Mrs Arabin had obtained, +may, perhaps, think that a young man who could amuse himself with Miss +Demolines was unworthy of Lily Dale. If so, I may declare for myself +that I and the reader are in accord about John Eames. It is hard to +measure worth and worthlessness in such matters, as there is no standard +for such measurement. My old friend John as certainly no hero--was very +unheroic in many phases of his life; but then, if all the girls are to +wait for heroes, I fear that the difficulties in the way of matrimonial +arrangements, great as they are at present, will be very seriously +enhanced. Johnny was not ecstatic, nor heroic, nor transcendental, nor +very beautiful in his manliness; he was not a man to break his heart for +love or to have his story written in epic; but he was an affectionate, +kindly, honest young man; and I think most girls might have done worse +than take him. Whether he was wise to ask assistance in his love-making +so often as he had done, that may be another question. + +Mrs Arabin was intimately acquainted with Mrs Thorne, and therefore +there was nothing odd in her going to Mrs Thorne's house. Mrs Thorne was +very glad to see her, and told her all the Barsetshire news--much more +than Mrs Arabin would have learned in a week at the deanery; for Mrs +Thorne had a marvellous gift of picking up news. She had already heard +the whole story of Mr Soames's cheque, and expressed her conviction that +the least that could be done in amends to Mr Crawley was to make him a +bishop. 'And you see the palace is vacant,' said Mrs Thorne. + +'The palace vacant!' said Mrs Arabin. + +'It is just as good. Now that Mrs Proudie has gone, I don't suppose the +bishop will account for much. I can assure you, Mrs Arabin, I felt that +poor woman's death so much! She used to regard me as one of the +staunchest of the Proudieites! She once whispered to me such a +delightfully wicked story about the dean and the archdeacon. When I told +her that they were my particular friends, she put on a look of horror. +But I don't think she believed me.' Then Emily Dunstable entered the +room, and with her came Lily Dale. Mrs Arabin had never before seen +Lily, and course they were introduced. 'I am sorry to say that Miss Dale +is going home to Allington tomorrow,' said Emily. 'But she is coming to +Chaldicotes in May,' said Mrs Thorne. 'Of course, Mrs Arabin, you know +what gala doings we are going to have in May?' Then there were various +civil little speeches made on each side, and Mrs Arabin expressed a wish +that she might meet Miss Dale in Barsetshire. But all this did not bring +her nearer to her object. + +'I particularly wish to say a word to Miss Dale--here today, if she will +allow me,' said Mrs Arabin. + +'I'm sure she will--twenty words; won't you, Lily?' said Mrs Thorne, +preparing to leave the room. Then Mrs Arabin apologised, and Mrs Thorne, +bustling up, said that it did not signify, and Lily, remaining quite +still on the sofa, wondered what it was all about--and in two minutes +Lily and Mrs Arabin were alone together. Lily had just time to surmised +that Mrs Arabin's visit must have some reference to Mr +Crosbie--remembering that Crosbie had married his wife out of +Barsetshire, and forgetting altogether that Mrs Arabin had been just +brought home from Italy by John Eames. + +'I am afraid, Miss Dale, you will think me very impertinent,' said Mrs +Arabin. + +'I am sure I shall not think that,' said Lily. + +'I believe you knew, before Mr Eames started, that he was going to Italy +to find me and my husband?' said Mrs Arabin. Then Lily put Mr Crosbie +altogether out of her head, and became aware that he was not to be the +subject of the coming conversation. She was almost sorry that it was not +so. There was no doubt in her mind as to what she would have said to +anyone who might have taken up Crosbie's cause. On that matter she could +now have given a very decisive answer in a few words. But on that other +matter she was much more in doubt. She remembered, however, every word +of the note she had received from M D. She remembered also the words of +John's note to that young woman. And her heart was still hard against +him. 'Yes,' she said; 'Mr Eames came here one night and told us why he +was going. I was very glad that he was going, because I thought it was +right.' + +'You know, of course, how successful he has been? It was I who gave the +cheque to Mr Crawley.' + +'So Mrs Thorne has heard. Dr Thorne has written to tell her the whole +story.' + +'And now I have come to look for Mr Eames's reward.' + +'His reward, Mrs Arabin?' + +'Yes; or rather to plead for him. You will not, I hope, be angry with +him because he has told me much of his life story while we were +travelling home together.' + +'Oh, no,' said Lily, smiling. 'How could he have chosen a better friend +in whom to trust?' + +'He could certainly have chosen none who would take his part more +sincerely. He is so good and amiable! He is so pleasant in his ways, and +so fitted to make a woman happy! And then, Miss Dale, he is also so +devoted!' + +'He is an old friend, Mrs Arabin.' + +'So he has told me.' + +'And we all of us love him dearly. Mamma is very much attached to him.' + +'Unless he flatters himself, there is no one belonging to you who would +not wish that he should be nearer and dearer still.' + +'It may be so. I do not say that it is not so. Mamma and my uncle are +both fond of him.' + +'And does that not go a long way?' said Mrs Arabin. + +'It ought not to do so,' said Lily. 'It ought not to go any way at +all.' + +'Ought it not? It seems to me that I could never have brought myself to +marry anyone whom my friends had not liked.' + +'Ah! that is another thing.' + +'But is it not a recommendation to a man that has been so successful +with your friends as to make them all feel that you might trust yourself +to him with perfect safety?' To this Lily made no answer, and Mrs Arabin +went on to plead her friend's cause with all the eloquence she could +use, insisting on all his virtues, his good temper, his kindness, his +constancy--and not forgetting the fact that the world was inclined to +use him very well. Still Lily made no answer. She had promised Mrs +Arabin that she would not regard her interference as impertinent, and +therefore she refrained from any word that might seem to show offence. +Nor did she feel offence. It was something gained by John Eames in +Lily's estimation that he should have such a friend as Mrs Arabin to +take an interest in his welfare. But there was a self-dependence, +perhaps one may call it an obstinacy about Lily Dale, which made her +determined that she would not be driven hither or thither by any +pressure from without. Why had John Eames, at the very moment when he +should have been doing his best to drive from her breast the memory of +past follies--when he would have striven to do so had he really been +earnest in his suit--why at such a moment had he allowed himself to +correspond in terms of affection with such a woman as M D? While Mrs +Arabin was pleading for John Eames, Lily was repeating to herself +certain words which John had written to that woman--'Ever and always +yours unalterably'. Such were not the exact words, but such was the form +in which Lily, dishonestly, chose to repeat them to herself. And why was +it so with her? In the old days she would have forgiven Crosbie any +offence at a word or a look--any possible letter to any M D, let her +have been ever so abominable! Nay--had she not even forgiven him the +offence of deserting herself altogether on behalf of a woman as +detestable as could be any M D of Johnny's choosing--a woman whose only +recommendation had been her title? And yet she would not forgive John +Eames, though the evidence against him was of so flimsy a nature--but +rather strove to turn the flimsiness of that evidence into strength! Why +was it so? Unheroic as he might be, John Eames was surely a better man +and a bigger man that Adolphus Crosbie. It was simply this: she had +fallen in love with the one, and had never fallen in love with the +other! She had fallen in love with the one man, though in her simple way +she had made a struggle against such feeling; and she had not come to +love the other man, though she had told herself that it would be well +that she should do so if it were possible. Again and again she had half +declared to herself that she would take him as her husband and leave the +love to come afterwards; but when the moment came for doing so, she +could not do it. + +'May I not say a word of comfort to him?' said Mrs Arabin. + +'He will be very comfortable without any such word,' said Lily, +laughing. + +'But he is not comfortable; of that you may be very sure.' + +'Yours ever and unalterably, J E,' said Lily to herself. 'You do not +doubt his affection?' continued Mrs Arabin. + +'I neither doubt it nor credit it.' + +'Then I think you wrong him. And the reason why I have ventured to come +to you is that you may know the impression which he has made upon one +who was but the other day a stranger to him. I am sure that he loves +you.' + +'I think he is light of heart.' + +'Oh, no, Miss Dale.' + +'And how am I to become his wife unless I love him well enough myself? +Mrs Arabin, I have made up my mind about it. I shall never become any +man's wife. Mamma and I are all in all together, and we shall remain +together.' And as soon as these words were out of her mouth, she hated +herself for having spoken them. There was a maudlin, missish, +namby-pamby sentimentality about them which disgusted her. She specially +desired to be straightforward, resolute of purpose, honest-spoken, and +free from all touch of affectation. And yet she had excused herself from +marrying John Eames after the fashion of a sick schoolgirl. 'It is not +good talking about it any more,' she said, getting up from her chair +quickly. + +'You are not angry with me;--or at any rate you will forgive me?' + +'I'm quite sure you have meant to be very good, and I am not a bit +angry.' + +'And you will see him before you go?' + +'Oh, yes; that is if he likes to come today, or early tomorrow. I go +home tomorrow. I cannot refuse him, because he is such an old +friend--almost like a brother. But it is of no use, Mrs Arabin.' Then +Mrs Arabin kissed her and left her, telling her that Mr Eames would come +to her that afternoon at half-past five. Lily promised that she would be +at home to receive him. + +'Won't you ride with us for the last time?' said Emily Dunstable when +Lily gave notice that she would not want the horse on that afternoon. + +'No; not today.' + +'You'll never have another opportunity of riding with Emily Dunstable,' +said the bride elect; 'at least I hope not.' + +'Even under those circumstances I must refuse, though I would give a +guinea to be with you. John Eames is coming here to say good-bye.' + +'Oh; then indeed you must not come with us. Lily, what will you say to +him?' + +'Nothing.' + +'Oh, Lily, think of it.' + +'I have thought of it. I have thought of nothing else. I am tired of +thinking of it. It is no good to think of anything so much. What does it +matter?' + +'It is very good to have someone to love better than all the world +besides.' + +'I have someone,' said Lily, thinking of her mother, but not caring to +descend to the mawkish weakness of talking about her. + +'Yes; but someone who will always be with you, to do everything for you; +to be your very own.' + +'It is all very well for you,' said Lily, 'and I think that Bernard is +the luckiest fellow in the world; but it will not do for me. I know in +what college I'll take my degree, and I wish they'd let me write the +letters after my name as the men do.' + +'What letters, Lily?' + +'O M, for Old Maid. I don't see why it shouldn't be as good as BA for +Bachelor of Arts. It would mean a great deal more.' + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII + +THE SHATTERED TREE + +When Mrs Arabin saw Johnny in the middle of the day, she could hardly +give him much encouragement. And yet she felt by no means sure that he +might not succeed even yet. Lily had been very positive in her answers, +and yet there had been something either in her words or in the tone of +her voice, which had made Mrs Arabin feel that even Lily was not quite +sure of herself. There was still room for relenting. Nothing, however, +had been said which could justify her in bidding John Eames simply to +'go and win'. 'I think he is light of heart,' Lily had said. Those were +the words which, of all that had been spoken, most impressed themselves +on Mrs Arabin's memory. She would not repeat them to her friend, but she +would graft upon them such advice as she had to give him. + +And this she did, telling him that she thought perhaps Lily doubted his +actual earnestness. 'I would marry her this moment,' said Johnny. But +that was not enough, as Mrs Arabin knew, to prove his earnestness. Many +men, fickle as weathercocks, are ready to marry at the moment--are ready +to marry at the moment, because they are fickle, and think so little +about it. 'But she hears, perhaps, of your liking other people,' said +Mrs Arabin. 'I don't care a straw for any other person,' said Johnny. 'I +wonder whether if I was to shut myself up in a cage for six months, it +would do any good?' 'If she had the keeping of the cage, perhaps it +might,' said Mrs Arabin. She had nothing more to say on that subject, +but to tell him that Miss Dale would expect him that afternoon at +half-past five. 'I told her that you would come to wish her good-bye, +and she promised to see you.' + +'I wish she'd say she wouldn't see me. Then there would be some +chance.' + +Between him and Mrs Arabin, the parting was very affectionate. She told +him how thankful she was for the kindness in coming to her, and how +grateful she would ever be--and the dean also--for his attention to her. +'Remember, Mr Eames, that you will always be most welcome at the Deanery +of Barchester. And I do hope that before long you may be there with your +wife.' And so they parted. + +He left her at about two, and went to Mr Toogood's office in Bedford +Row. He found his uncle, and the two went out to lunch together in +Holborn. Between them there was no word said about Lily Dale, and John +was glad to have some other subject in his mind for half an hour. +Toogood was full of his triumph about Mr Crawley and of his successes in +Barsetshire. He gave John a long account of his visit to Plumstead, and +expressed his opinion that if all clergymen were like the archdeacon +there would not be much room for Dissenters. 'I've seen a good many +parsons in my time,' said Toogood; 'but I don't think I ever saw such a +one as him. You know he is a clergyman somehow, and he never lets you +forget it; but that's about all. Most of 'em are never contented without +choking you with their white cravats all the time you're with 'em. As +for Crawley himself,' Mr Toogood continued, 'he's not like anybody that +ever was born, saint or sinner, parson or layman. I never heard of such +a man in all my experience. Though he knew where he got the cheque as +well I know it now, he wouldn't say so, because the dean had said it +wasn't so. Somebody ought to write a book about it--indeed they ought.' +Then he told the whole story of Dan Stringer, and how he had found Dan +out, looking at the tope of Dan's hat through the little aperture in the +wall of the inn parlour. 'When I saw the twitch in his hand, John, I +knew he had handled the cheque himself. I don't mean to say that I'm +sharper than another man, and I don't think so; but I do mean to say +that when you are in any difficulty of that sort, you ought to go to a +lawyer. It's his business, and a man does what is his business with +patience and perseverance. It's a pity, though, that the scoundrel +should get off.' Then Eames gave his uncle an account of his Italian +trip, to and fro, and was congratulated also upon his success. John's +great triumph lay in the fact that he had been only two nights in bed, +and that he would not have so far condescended on those occasions but +for the feminine weakness of his fellow-traveller. 'We shan't forget it +all in a hurry--shall we, John?' said Mr Toogood, in a pleasant voice, +as they parted at the door of the luncheon-house in Holborn. Toogood was +returning to his office, and John Eames was to prepare himself for his +last attempt. + +He went back to his lodgings, intending at first to change his dress to +make himself smarter for the work before him--but after standing for a +moment or two leaning on the chest of drawers in his bedroom, he gave up +this idea. 'After all that's come and gone,' he said to himself, 'if I +cannot win her as I am now, I cannot win her at all.' And then he swore +to himself a solemn oath, resolving that he would repeat the purport of +it to Lily herself--that this should be the last attempt. 'What's the +use of it? Everybody ridicules me. And I am ridiculous. I am an ass. +It's all very well wanting to be the prime minister; but if you can't be +prime minister, you must do without being prime minister.' Then he +attempted to sing the old song--'Shall I, sighing in despair, die +because a woman's fair? If she be not fair to me, what care I how fair +she be?' But he did care, and he told himself that the song did him no +good. As it was not time for him as yet to go to Lily, he threw himself +on the sofa, and strove to read a book. Then all the weary nights of his +journey prevailed over him, and he fell asleep. + +When he woke it wanted quarter to six. He sprang up, and rushing out, +jumped into a cab. 'Berkeley Square--as hard as you can go,' he said. +'Number--.' He thought of Rosalind, and her counsels to lovers as to +the keeping of time, and reflected that in such an emergency as this, he +might really have ruined himself by that unfortunate slumber. When he +got to Mrs Thorne's door he knocked hurriedly, and bustled up to the +drawing-room as though everything depended on his saving a minute. 'I'm +afraid I'm ever so much behind my time,' he said. + +'It does not matter in the least,' said Lily. 'As Mrs Arabin said that +perhaps you might call, I would not be out of the way. I suppose that +Sir Raffle was keeping you and that you wouldn't come.' + +'Sir Raffle was not keeping me. I fell asleep. That's the truth of +it.' + +'I am so sorry that you should have been disturbed!' + +'Do not laugh at me, Lily--today. I had been travelling a good deal, +and I suppose I was tired.' + +'I won't laugh at you,' she said, and her eyes became full of tears--she +did not know why. But there they were, and she was ashamed to put up her +handkerchief, and she could not bring herself to turn away her face, and +she had no resource but that he should see them. + +'Lily!' he said. + +'What a paladin you have been, John, rushing all about Europe on your +friend's behalf!' + +'Don't talk about that.' + +'And such a successful paladin too! Why am I not to talk about it? I am +going home tomorrow, and I mean to talk about nothing else for a week. I +am so very, very, glad that you have saved your cousin.' Then she did +put up her handkerchief, making believe that her tears had been due to +Mr Crawley. But John Eames knew better than that. + +'Lily,' he said, 'I've come for the last time. It sounds as though I +meant to threaten you; but you won't take it in that way. I think you +will know what I mean. I have come for the last time--to ask you to be +my wife.' She got up to greet him when he entered, and they were both +still standing. She did not answer him at once, but turning away from +him walked towards the window. 'You knew why I was coming today, Lily?' + +'Mrs Arabin told me. I could not be away when you were coming, but +perhaps it would have been better.' + +'It is so? Must it be so? Must you say that to me, Lily? Think of it +for a moment, dear.' + +'I have thought about it.' + +'One word from you, yes or no, spoken is to be everything to me for +always. Lily, cannot you say yes?' She did not answer him, but walked +further away from him to another window. 'Try to say yes. Look round at +me with one look that may only half mean it; that may tell me that it +shall not positively be no for ever.' I think that she almost tried to +turn her face to him; but be that as it may, she kept her eyes steadily +fixed upon the window-pane. 'Lily,' he said, 'it is not that you are +hard-hearted--perhaps not altogether that you do not like me. I think +that you believe things against me that are not true.' As she said this +she moved her foot angrily upon the carpet. She had almost forgotten M +D, but now he had reminded her of the note. She assured herself that she +had never believed anything against him except on evidence that was +incontrovertible. But she was not going to speak to him on such a matter +as that! It would not become her to accuse him. 'Mrs Arabin tells me +that you doubt whether I am earnest,' he said. + +Upon hearing this she flashed round upon him almost angrily. 'I never +said that.' + +'If you will ask me for any token of earnestness, I will give it to +you.' + +'I want no token.' + +'The best sign of earnestness a man can give generally in such a matter, +is to show how ready he is to be married.' + +'I never said anything about earnestness.' + +'At the risk of making you angry I will go on, Lily. Of course when you +tell me that you will have nothing to say to me, I try to amuse +myself'--'Yes; by writing love-letters to M D,' Lily said to +herself--'What is a poor fellow to do? I tell you fairly that when I +leave you I swear to myself that I make love to the first girl I can see +who will listen to me--to twenty, if twenty will let me. I feel I have +failed, and it is so I punish myself for my failure.' There was +something in this which softened her brow, though she did not intend +that it should be so; and she turned away again, that he might not see +that her brow was softened. 'But, Lily, the hope ever comes back again, +and then neither the one nor the twenty are of avail--even to punish me. +When I look forward and see what it might be if you were with me, how +green it all looks and how lovely, in spite of all the vows I have made, +I cannot help coming back again.' She was now again near the window, and +he had not followed her. As she neither turned towards him nor answered +him, he moved from the table near which he was standing on to the rug +before the fire, and leaned with both his elbows on the mantelpiece. He +could still watch her in the mirror above the fireplace, and could see +that she was still seeming to gaze out upon the street. And had he not +moved her? I think he had so far moved her now, that she had ceased to +think of the woman who had written to her--that she had ceased to +reject him in her heart on the score of such levities as that! If there +were M Ds, like sunken rocks, in his course, whose fault was it? He was +ready enough to steer his bark into the tranquil blue waters if only she +would aid him. I think that all his sins on this score were at this +moment forgiven him. He had told her now what to him would be green and +beautiful, and she did not find herself able to disbelieve him. She had +banished M D out of her mind, but in doing so she admitted other +reminiscences into it. And then--was she in a moment to be talked out of +the resolution of years; and was she to give up herself, not because she +loved, but because the man who talked to her talked so well that he +deserved a reward? Was she now to be as light, as foolish, as easy, as +in those former days from which she had learned her wisdom? A picture of +green lovely things could be delicious to her eyes as to his; but even +for such a picture as that the price might be too dear! Of all living +men--of all men living in their present lives--she loved best this man +who was now waiting for some word of answer to his words, and she did +love him dearly; she would have tended him if sick, have supplied him if +in want; have mourned for him if dead, with the bitter grief of true +affection;--but she could not say to herself that he should be her lord +and master, the head of her house, the owner of herself, the ruler of +her life. The shipwreck to which she had once come, and the fierce +regrets which had thence arisen, had forced her to think too much of +these things. 'Lily,' he said, still facing towards the mirror, 'will +you not come to me and speak to me?' She turned round, and stood a +moment looking at him, and then, having again resolved that it could not +be as he wished, she drew near to him. 'Certainly I will speak to you, +John. Here I am.' And she came close to him. + +He took both her hands, and looked into her eyes. 'Lily, will you be +mine?' + +'No; dear; it cannot be so.' + +'Why not, Lily?' + +'Because of that other man.' + +'And is that to be a bar for ever?' + +'Yes; for ever.' + +'Do you still love him?' + +'No; no, no!' + +'Then why should this be so?' + +'I cannot tell, dear. It is so. If you take a young tree and split it, +it still lives, perhaps. But it isn't a tree. It is only a fragment.' + +'Then be my fragment.' + +'So I will, if I can serve you to give standing ground to such a +fragment in some corner of your garden. But I will not have myself +planted out in the middle, for people to look at. What there is left +would die soon.' He still held her hands, and she did not attempt to +draw them away. 'John,' she said, 'next to mamma, I love you better than +all the world. Indeed I do. I can't be your wife, but you need never be +afraid that I shall be more to another than I am to you.' + +'That will not serve me,' he said, grasping both her hands till he +almost hurt them, but not knowing that he did so. 'That is no good.' + +'It is all the good that I can do you. Indeed I can do you--can do no +one any good. The trees that the storms have splintered are never of +use.' + +'And is this to be the end of it, Lily?' + +'Not of our loving friendship.' + +'Friendship! I hate the word. I hear someone's step, and I had better +leave you. Good-bye.' + +'Good-bye, John. Be kinder than that to me as you are going.' He turned +back for a moment, took her hand, and held it tight against his heart, +and then he left her. In the hall he met Mrs Thorne, but, as she said +afterwards, he had been too much knocked about to be able to throw a +word to a dog. + +To Mrs Thorne Lily said hardly a word about John Eames, and when her +cousin Bernard questioned her about him she was dumb. And in these days +she could assume a manner, and express herself with her eyes as well as +with her voice, after a fashion, which was apt to silence unwelcome +questions, even though they were intimate with her as was her cousin +Bernard. She had described her feelings more plainly to her lover than +she had ever done to anyone--even to her mother; and having done so she +meant to be silent on that subject for evermore. But of her settled +purpose, she did say some word to Emily Dunstable that night. 'I do +feel,' she said, 'that I have got the thing settled at last.' + +'And have you settled it, as you call it, in opposition to the wishes of +all your friends?' + +'That is true; and yet I have settled it rightly, and I would not for +worlds have it unsettled again. There are matters on which friends +should not have wishes, or at any rate should not express them.' + +'Is that meant to be severe to me?' + +'No; not to you. I was thinking about mamma, and Bell, and my uncle, +and Bernard, who all seem to think that I am to be looked upon as a +regular castaway because I am not likely to have a husband of my own. Of +course you, in your position, must think a girl a castaway who isn't +going to be married?' + +'I think that a girl who is going to be married has the best of it.' + +'And I think a girl who isn't going to be married has the best of +it;--that's all. But I feel that the thing is done now, and I am +contented. For the last six or eight months there has come up, I know +not how, a state of doubt which as made me so wretched that I have done +literally nothing. I haven't been able to finish old Mrs Heard's tippet, +literally because people would talk to me about that dearest of all dear +fellows, John Eames. And yet all along I have known how it would be--as +well as I do now.' + +'I cannot understand you, Lily; I can't indeed.' + +'I can understand myself. I love him so well--with that intimate, +close, familiar affection--that I could wash his clothes for him +tomorrow, out of pure personal regard, and think it no shame. He could +not ask me to do a single thing for him--except one thing--that I would +refuse. And I'll go further. I would sooner marry him than any other man +I ever saw, or, as I believe, that I ever shall see. And yet I am glad +that it is settled.' + +On the next day Lily Dale went down to the Small House of Allington, and +so she passes out of sight. I can only ask the reader to believe that +she was in earnest, and express my opinion, in this last word, that I +shall ever write respecting her, that she will live and die as Lily +Dale. + + + +CHAPTER LXXVIII + +THE ARABINS RETURN TO BARCHESTER + +In these days Mr Harding was keeping his bed at the deanery, and most of +those who saw him declared that he would never again leave it. The +archdeacon had been slow to believe so, because he had still found his +father-in-law able to talk to him; not indeed with energy--but then Mr +Harding had never been energetic on ordinary matters--but with the same +soft cordial interest in things which had ever been customary with him. +He had latterly been much interested about Mr Crawley, and would make +both the archdeacon and Mrs Grantly tell him all that they had heard, +and what they thought of the case. This of course had been before the +all-important news had been received from Mrs Arabin. Mr Harding was +very anxious. 'Firstly,' he said, 'for the welfare of the poor man, of +whom I cannot bring myself to think ill; and then for the honour of the +cloth in Barchester.' 'We are as liable to have black sheep here as +anywhere,' the archdeacon had replied. 'But, my dear, I do not think the +sheep is black; and we never have had black sheep in Barchester.' +'Haven't we, though?' said the archdeacon, thinking, however, of sheep +who were black of a different kind of blackness from this which was now +attributed to Mr Crawley--of a blackness which was not absolute +blackness to Mr Harding's milder eyes. The archdeacon, when he heard his +father-in-law talk after this fashion, expressed his opinion that he +might live for years. He was just the man to linger on, living in +bed--as indeed he had lingered all his life out of bed. But the doctor +who attended him thought otherwise, as did also Mrs Grantly, and as did +Mrs Baxter, and as also did Posy. 'Grandpa won't get up any more, will +he?' Posy said to Mrs Baxter. 'I hope he will, my dear; and that very +soon.' 'I don't think he will,' said Posy, 'because he said he would +never see the big fiddle again.' 'That comes of being a little +melancholy like, my dear,' said Mrs Baxter. + +Mrs Grantly at this time went into Barchester almost every day, and the +archdeacon, who was very often in the city, never went there without +passing half-an-hour with the old man. These two clergymen, essentially +different in their characters and in every detail of conduct, had been +so much thrown together by circumstances that the life of each almost +became part of the life of the other. Although the fact of Mr Harding's +residence at the deanery had of late years thrown him oftener into the +society of the dean than that of his other son-in-law, yet his intimacy +with the archdeacon had been so much earlier, and his memories of the +archdeacon were so much clearer, that he depended almost more upon the +rector of Plumstead, who was absent, than he did upon the dean, whom he +customarily saw every day. It was not so with the daughters. His Nelly, +as he used to call her, had ever been his favourite, and the +circumstances of their joint lives had ever been such, that they had +never been further separated than from one street of Barchester to +another--and that only for a very short period of the married life of +Mrs Arabin's first husband. For all that was soft and tender +therefore--which with Mr Harding was all in the world that was charming +to him--he looked to his youngest daughter; but for authority and +guidance and wisdom, and for information as to what was going on in the +world, he had still turned to his son-in-law the archdeacon--as he had +done for almost forty years. For so long had the archdeacon been potent +as a clergyman in the diocese, and throughout the whole duration of such +potency his word had been law to Mr Harding in most of the affairs of +life--a law generally to be obeyed, and if sometimes broken, still a +law. And now, when all was so nearly over, he would become unhappy if +the archdeacon's visits were far between. Dr Grantly, when he found that +this was so, would not allow that they should be far between. + +'He puts me so much in mind of my father,' the archdeacon said to his +wife one day. + +'He is not so old as your father was when he died, by many years,' said +Mrs Grantly, 'and I think one sees that difference.' + +'Yes; and therefore I say that he may still live for years. My father, +when he took to his bed at last, was manifestly near his death. The +wonder with him was that he continued to live so long. Do you not +remember how the London doctor was put out because his prophecies were +not fulfilled?' + +'I remember it well--as if it were yesterday.' + +'And in that way there is a great difference. My father, who was +physically a much stronger man, did not succumb so easily. But the +likeness is in their characters. There is the same mild sweetness, +becoming milder and sweeter as they increased in age--a sweetness that +never could believe much evil, but that could believe less, and still +less, as the weakness of age came upon them. No amount of evidence would +induce your father to think that Mr Crawley stole that money.' This was +said of course before the telegram had come from Venice. + +'As far as that goes, I agree with him,' said Mrs Grantly, who had her +own reasons for choosing to believe Mr Crawley to be innocent. 'If your +son, my dear, is to marry the man's daughter, it will be as well that +you should at least be able to say that you do not believe that man to +be a thief.' + +'That is neither here nor there,' said the archdeacon. 'A jury must +decide it.' + +'No jury in Barsetshire shall decide it for me,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'I'm sick of Mr Crawley, and I'm sorry I spoke of him,' said the +archdeacon. 'But look at Mrs Proudie. You'll agree that she was not the +most charming woman in the world.' + +'She certainly was not,' said Mrs Grantly, who was anxious to encourage +her husband, if she could do so without admitting anything which might +injure herself afterwards. + +'And she was at one time violently insolent to your father. And even +the bishop thought to trample on him. Do you remember the bishop's +preaching against your father's chanting? If I ever forget it!' And the +archdeacon slapped his closed fist against his open hand. + +'Don't, dear, don't. What is the good of being violent now?' + +'Paltry little fool! It will be long enough before such a chaunt as +that is heard in and English cathedral again.' Then Mrs Grantly got up +and kissed her husband, but he, somewhat negligent of the kiss, went on +with his speech. 'But your father remembers nothing of it, and if there +was a single human being who shed a tear in Barchester for that woman, I +believe it was your father. And it was the same with mine. It came to +that at last, that I could not bear to speak to him of any shortcomings +as to one of his own clergymen. I might as well have pricked him with a +penknife. And yet they say men become heartless and unfeeling as they +grow old.' + +'Some do, I suppose.' + +'Yes; the heartless and unfeeling do. As the bodily strength fails and +the power of control becomes lessened, the natural aptitude of the man +pronounces itself more clearly. I take it that that is it. Had Mrs +Proudie lived to be and hundred and fifty, she would have spoken +spiteful lies on her deathbed.' Then Mrs Grantly told herself that her +husband, should he live to be hundred and fifty, would still be +expressing his horror of Mrs Proudie--even on his deathbed. + +As soon as the letter from Mrs Arabin had reached Plumstead, the +archdeacon and his wife arranged that they would both go together to the +deanery. There were the double tidings to be told--those of Mr Crawley's +assured innocence, and those also of Mrs Arabin's instant return. And as +they went together various ideas were passing through their minds in +reference to the marriage of their son with Grace Crawley. They were +both now reconciled to it. Mrs Grantly had long ceased to feel any +opposition to it, even though she had not seen Grace; and the archdeacon +was prepared to give way. Had he not promised that in a certain case he +would give way, and had not that case come to pass? He had no wish to go +back from his word. But he had a difficulty in this--that he liked to +make all the affairs of his life matter for enjoyment, almost for +triumph; but how was he to be triumphant over this marriage, or how even +was he to enjoy it, seeing that he had opposed it so bitterly? Those +posters, though they were now pulled down, had been up on a barn ends +and walls patent--alas, too patent--to all the world of Barsetshire! + +'What will Mr Crawley do now, do you suppose?' said Mrs Grantly. + +'What will he do?' + +'Yes; must he go on at Hogglestock?' + +'What else?' said the archdeacon. + +'It is a pity something could not be done for him after all he has +undergone. How on earth can he be expected to live there with a wife and +family, and no private means?' To this the archdeacon made no answer. +Mrs Grantly had spoken almost immediately upon their quitting Plumstead, +and the silence was continued till the carriage had entered the suburbs +of the city. Then Mrs Grantly spoke again, asking a question, with some +internal trepidation which, however, she managed to hide from her +husband. 'When poor papa does go, what shall you do about St Ewold's?' +Now, St Ewold's was a rural parish lying about two miles out of +Barchester, the living of which was in the gift of the archdeacon, and +to which the archdeacon had presented to his father-in-law, under +certain circumstances, which need not be repeated in this last chronicle +of Barsetshire. Have they not been written in other chronicles? 'When +poor papa does go, what will you do about St Ewold's?' said Mrs Grantly, +trembling inwardly. A word too much might, as she well knew, settle the +question against Mr Crawley for ever. But were she to postpone the word +till too late, the question would be settled as fatally. + +'I haven't thought about it,' he said sharply. 'I don't like thinking +of such things while the incumbent is still living.' Oh, archdeacon, +archdeacon! Unless that other chronicle be a false chronicle, how hast +thou forgotten thyself and thy past life! 'Particularly not, when that +incumbent is your father,' said the archdeacon. Mrs Grantly said nothing +more about St Ewold's. She would have said as much as she had intended +to say if she had succeeded in making the archdeacon understand that St +Ewold's would be a very nice refuge for Mr Crawley after all the +miseries which he had endured at Hogglestock. + +They learned as they entered the deanery that Mrs Baxter had already +heard of Mrs Arabin's return. 'Oh yes, ma'am. Mr Harding got a letter +hisself, and I got another--separate; both from Venice, ma'am. But when +master come nobody seems to know.' Mrs Baxter knew that the dean had +gone to Jerusalem, and was inclined to think that from such distant +bournes there was not return to any traveller. The East is always +further than the West in the estimation of the Mrs Baxters of the world. +Had the dean gone to Canada, she would have thought that he might come +back tomorrow. But still there was the news to be told of Mr Crawley, +and there was also joy to be expressed at the sudden coming back of the +much-wished-for mistress of the deanery. + +'It's so good of you to come both together,' said Mr Harding. + +'We thought that we should be too many for you,' said the archdeacon. + +'Too many! Oh dear no. I like to have people by me; and as for voices +and noise, and all that, the more the better. But I am weak. I'm weak in +my legs. I don't think I shall ever stand again.' + +'Yes, you will,' said the archdeacon. + +'We have brought good news,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'It is not good news that Nelly will be home this week? You can't +understand what a joy it is to me. I used to think sometimes, at night, +that I should never see her again. That she would come back in time was +all I have wished for.' He was lying on his back, and as he spoke he +pressed his withered hands together above the bed-clothes. They could +not begin immediately to tell him of Mr Crawley, but as soon as his mind +had turned itself away from the thoughts of his absent daughter, Mrs +Grantly again reverted to the news.' + +'We have come to tell you about Mr Crawley, papa.' + +'What about him?' + +'He is quite innocent.' + +'I knew it, my dear. I always said so. Did I not always say so, +archdeacon?' + +'Indeed you did. I'll give you that credit.' + +'And is it all found out?' asked Mr Harding. + +'As far as he is concerned, everything is found out,' said Mrs Grantly. +'Eleanor gave him the cheque herself.' + +'Nelly gave it to him?' + +'Yes, papa. The dean meant her to give him fifty pounds. But it seems +she got to be soft of heart and made it seventy. She had the cheque by +her, and put it into the envelope with the notes.' + +'Some of Stringer's people seem to have stolen the cheque from Mr +Soames,' said the archdeacon. + +'Oh dear, I hope not.' + +'Somebody must have stolen it, papa.' + +'I had hoped not, Susan,' said Mr Harding. Both the archdeacon and Mrs +Grantly knew that it was useless to argue with him on such a point, and +so they let that go. + +Then they came to discuss Mr Crawley's present position, and Mr Harding +ventured to ask a question or two as to Grace's chance of marriage. He +did not often interfere in the family arrangements of his son-in-law and +never did so when those family arrangements were concerned with high +matters. He had hardly opened his mouth in reference to the marriage of +that august lady who was now the Marchioness of Hartletop. And of the +Lady Anne, the wife of the Rev Charles Grantly, who was always +prodigiously civil to him, speaking to him very loud, as though he were +deaf because he was old, and bringing cheap presents from London of +which he did not take much heed--of her he rarely said a word, or of her +children, to either of his daughters. But now his grandson, Henry +Grantly, was going to marry a girl of whom he felt that he might speak +without impropriety. 'I suppose it will be a match; won't it, my dears?' + +'Not a doubt about it,' said Mrs Grantly. Mr Harding looked at his +son-in-law, but his son-in-law said nothing. The archdeacon did not even +frown--but only moved a little uneasily in his chair. + +'Dear, dear! What a comfort it must be,' said the old man. + +'I have not seen yet,' said Mrs Grantly; 'but the archdeacon declares +that she is all the graces rolled into one.' + +'I never said anything half so absurd,' said the archdeacon. + +'But he is really in love with her, papa,' said Mrs Grantly. 'He +confessed to me that he gave her a kiss, and he only saw her once for +five minutes.' + +'I should like to give her a kiss,' said Mr Harding. + +'So you shall, papa, and I'll bring her here on purpose. As soon as +ever the thing is settled, we mean to ask her to Plumstead.' + +'Do you, though? How nice! How happy Henry will be.' + +'And if she comes--and of course she will--I'll lose no time in bringing +her over to you. Nelly must see her, of course.' + +As they were leaving the room Mr Harding called the archdeacon back, and +taking him by the hand, spoke one word to him in a whisper. 'I don't +like to interfere,' he said; 'but might not Mr Crawley have St Ewold's?' +The archdeacon took up the old man's hand and kissed it. Then he +followed his wife out of the room, without making any answer to Mr +Harding's question. + +Three days after this Mrs Arabin reached the deanery, and the joy at her +return was very great. 'My dear, I have been sick for you,' said Mr +Harding. + +'Oh, papa, I ought not to have gone.' + +'Nay, my dear; do not say that. Would it make my happy that you should +be a prisoner here for ever? It was only when I seemed to get so weak +that I thought about it. I felt that it must be near when they bade me +not to go to the cathedral any more.' + +'If I had been here, I could have gone with you, papa.' + +'It is better as it is. I know now that I was not fit for it. When your +sister came to me, I never thought of remonstrating. I knew then that I +had seen it for the last time.' + +'We need not say that yet, papa.' + +'I did think that when you came home we might crawl there together some +warm morning. I did think of that for a time. But it will never be so, +dear. I shall never see anything now that I do not see from here--and +that not for long. Do not cry, Nelly. I have nothing to regret, nothing +to make me unhappy. I know how poor and weak has been my life; but I +know how rich and strong is that other life. Do not cry, Nelly--not till +I am gone; and then not beyond measure. Why should anyone weep for those +who go away full of years--and full of hope?' + +On the day but one following the dean reached his home. The final +arrangements of his tour, as well as those of his wife, had been made to +depend on Mr Crawley's trial; for he also had been hurried back by John +Eames's visit to Florence. 'I should have come back at once,' he said to +his wife, 'when they wrote to ask me whether Crawley had taken the +cheque from me, had anybody told me that he was in actual trouble; but I +had no idea that they were charging him with the theft.' + +'As far as I can learn, they never really suspected him until after your +answer had come. They had been quite sure that your answer would be in +the affirmative.' + +'What he must have endured it is impossible to conceive. I shall go out +to him tomorrow.' + +'Would he not come to us?' said Mrs Arabin. + +'I doubt it. I will ask him, of course. I will ask them all here. This +about Henry and the girl may make a difference. He has resigned the +living, and some of the palace people are doing the duty.' + +'But he can have it again?' + +'Oh, yes; he can have it again. For the matter of that, I need simply +to give him back his letter. Only he is so odd--so unlike other people! +And he has tried to live there, and has failed; and is now in debt. I +wonder whether Grantly will give him St Ewold's?' + +'I wish he would. But you must ask him. I should not dare.' + +As to the matter of the cheque, the dean acknowledged to his wife at +last that he had some recollection of her having told him that she had +made the sum of money up to seventy pounds. 'I don't feel certain of it +now; but I think you must have done so.' 'I am quite sure I could have +done it without telling you,' she replied. 'At any rate you said nothing +of the cheque,' pleaded the dean. 'I don't suppose I did,' said Mrs +Arabin. 'I thought that cheques were like any other money; but I shall +know better for the future.' + +On the following morning the dean rode over to Hogglestock, and as he +drew near to the house of his old friend, his spirits flagged--for to +tell the truth, he dreaded the meeting. Since the day on which he had +brought Mr Crawley from a curacy in Cornwall into the diocese of +Barchester, his friend had been a trouble to him rather than a joy. The +trouble had been a trouble of spirit altogether--not all of pocket. He +would willingly have picked the Crawleys out from the pecuniary mud into +which they were for ever falling, time after time, had it been possible. +For, though the dean was hardly to be called a rich man, his lines had +fallen to him not only in pleasant places, but in easy +circumstances--and Mr Crawley's embarrassments, though overwhelming to +him, were not so great as to have been heavy to the dean. But in +striving to do this he had always failed, had always suffered, and had +generally been rebuked. Crawley would attempt to argue with him as to +the improper allotment of Church endowments--declaring that he did not +do so with any reference to his own circumstances, but simply because +the subject was one naturally interesting to clergymen. And this he +would do, as he was waving off with his hand offers of immediate +assistance which were indispensable. Then there had been scenes between +the dean and Mrs Crawley--terribly painful--and which had taken place in +direct disobedience to the husband's positive injunctions. 'Sir,' he had +once said to the dean, 'I request that nothing may pass from your hands +to the hands of my wife.' 'Tush, tush,' the dean had answered. 'I will +have no tushing or pshawing on such a matter. A man's wife is his very +own, the breath of his nostril, the blood of his heart, the rib from his +body. It is for me to rule my wife, and I tell you that I will not have +it.' After that the gifts had come from the hand of Mrs Arabin; and then +again, after that, in the direst hour of his need, Crawley had himself +come and taken money from the dean's hands! The interview had been so +painful that Arabin would hardly have been able to count the money or to +know of what it had consisted, had he taken the notes and cheque out of +the envelope in which his wife had put them. Since that day the two had +not met each other, and since that day these new troubles had come. +Arabin as yet knew but little of the manner in which they had been +borne, except that Crawley had felt himself compelled to resign the +living of Hogglestock. He knew nothing of Mrs Proudie's persecution, +except what he gathered from the fact of the clerical commission of +which he had been informed; but he could imagine that Mrs Proudie would +not lie easy in her bed while a clergyman was doing duty almost under +her nose, who was guilty of the double offence of being accused of +theft, and of having been put into his living by the dean. The dean, +therefore, as he rode on, pictured to himself his old friend in a +terrible condition. And it might be that even now that condition would +hardly have been improved. He was no longer suspected of being a thief; +but he could have no money in his pocket; and it might well be that his +sufferings would have made him almost mad. + +The dean also got down and left his horse at a farmyard, as Grantly had +done with his carriage; and walked on first to the school. He had voices +inside, but could not distinguish from them whether Mr Crawley was there +or not. Slowly he opened the door, and looking round saw that Jane +Crawley was in the ascendant. Jane did not know him at once, but told +him when he had introduced himself that her father had gone down to +Hoggle End. He had started two hours ago, but it was impossible to say +when he might be back. 'He sometimes stays all day long with the +brickmakers,' said Jane. Her mother was at home, and she would take the +dean into the house. As she said this she told him that her father was +sometimes better and sometimes worse. 'But he has never been so very, +very bad, since Henry Grantly and mamma's cousin came and told us about +the cheque.' Those words Henry Grantly made the dean understand that +there might yet be a ray of sunshine among the Crawleys. + +'There is papa,' said Jane, as they got to the gate. Then they waited +for a few minutes till Mr Crawley came up, very hot, wiping the sweat +from his forehead. + +'Crawley,' said the dean, 'I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you, +and how rejoiced I am that this accusation has fallen from you.' + +'Verily the news came in time, Arabin,' said the other, 'but it was a +narrow pinch--a narrow pinch. Will you enter, and see my wife?' + + + +CHAPTER LXXIX + +MR CRAWLEY SPEAKS OF HIS COAT + +At this time Grace had returned from Framley. As long as the terrible +tragedy of the forthcoming trial was dragging itself on she had been +content to stay away, at her mother's bidding. It has not been possible +in these pages to tell of all the advice that had been given to the +ladies of the Crawley family in their great difficulty, and of all the +assistance that had been offered. The elder Lady Lufton and the younger, +and Mrs Robarts had continually been in consultation on the subject; Mrs +Grantly's opinion had been asked and given; and even the Miss Prettymans +and Mrs Walker had found means of expressing themselves. The +communications to Mrs Crawley had been very frequent--though they had +not of course been allowed to reach the ears of Mr Crawley. What was to +be done when the living should be gone and Mr Crawley should be in +prison? Some said that he might be there for six weeks, and some for two +years. Old Lady Lufton made anxious inquiries about Judge Medlicote, +before whom it was said that the trial would be taken. Judge Medlicote +was a Dissenter, and old Lady Lufton was in despair. When she was +assured by some liberally-disposed friend that this would certainly make +no difference, she shook her head woefully. 'I don't know why we are to +have Dissenteres at all,' she said, 'to try people who belong to the +Established Church.' When she heard that Judge Medlicote would certainly +be the judge, she made up her mind that two years would be the least of +it. She would not have minded, she said, if he had been a Roman +Catholic. And whether the punishment might be for six weeks or for two +years, what should be done with the family? Where should they be housed? +How should they be fed? What should be done with the poor man when he +came out of prison? It was a case in which the generous, soft-hearted +old Lady Lufton was almost beside herself. 'As for Grace,' said young +Lady Lufton, 'it will be a great deal better that we should keep her +amongst us. Of course she will become Mrs Grantly, and it will be nicer +for her that it should be so.' In those days the posters had been seen, +and the flitting to Pau had been talked of, and the Framley opinion was +that Grace had better remain at Framley till she should be carried off +to Pau. There were schemes, too, about Jane, but what was to be done for +the wife? And what was to be done for Mr Crawley? Then came the news +from Mrs Arabin, and all interest in Judge Medlicote was at an end. + +But even now, after this great escape, what was to be done? As to +Grace, she had felt the absolute necessity of being obedient to her +friends--with the consent of course of her mother--during the great +tribulation of her family. Things were so bad that she had not the heart +to make them worse by giving any unnecessary trouble as to herself. +Having resolved--and having made her mother so understand--that on one +point she would guide herself by her own feelings, she was contented to +go hither and thither as she was told, and to do as she was bid. Her +hope was that Miss Prettyman would allow her to go back to her teaching, +but it had come to be understood among them all that nothing was to be +said on that subject till the trial should be over. Till that time she +would be passive. But then, as I have said, had come the news from Mrs +Arabin, and Grace, with all the others, understood that there would be +no trial. When this was known and acknowledged, she declared her purpose +of going back to Hogglestock. She would go back at once. When asked both +by Lady Lufton and Mrs Robarts why she was in so great a haste, she +merely said that it must be so. She was, as it were, absolved from her +passive obedience to Framley authorities by the diminution of the family +misfortunes. + +Mrs Robarts understood the feeling by which Grace was hurried away. 'Do +you know why she is so obstinate?' Lady Lufton asked. + +'I think I do,' said Mrs Robarts. + +'And what is it?' + +'Should Major Grantly renew his offer to her she is under a pledge to +accept him now.' + +'Of course he will renew it, and of course she will accept him.' + +'Just so. But she prefers that he should come for her to her own +house--because of the poverty. If he chooses to seek her there, I don't +think she will make much difficulty.' Lady Lufton demurred at this, not +however with anger, and expressed a certain amount of mild displeasure. +She did not quite see why Major Grantly should not be allowed to come +and do his love-making comfortably, where there was a decent dinner for +him to eat, and chairs and tables and sofas and carpets. She said that +she thought that something was due to Major Grantly. She was in truth a +little disappointed that she was not allowed to have her own way, and to +arrange the marriage at Framley under her own eye. But, through it all, +she appreciated Grace; and they who knew her well and heard what she +said upon the occasion, understood that her favour was not to be +withdrawn. All young women were divided by the old Lady Lufton into +sheep and goats--very white sheep and very black goats--and Grace was +to be a sheep. Thus it came to pass that Grace Crawley was at home when +the dean visited Hogglestock. 'Mamma,' she said, looking out of the +window, 'there is the dean with papa at the gate.' + +'It was a narrow squeak--a very narrow squeak,' Mr Crawley had said when +his friend had congratulated him on his escape. The dean felt at the +moment that not for many years had he heard the incumbent of Hogglestock +speak either of himself or of anything else with so manifest an attempt +at jocularity. Arabin had expected to find the man broken down by the +weight of his sorrows, and lo! at the first moment of their first +interview he himself began to ridicule them! Crawley having thus alluded +to the narrow squeak had asked his visitor to enter the house and see +his wife. + +'Of course I will,' said Arabin, 'but I will speak just a word to you +first.' Jane who had accompanied the dean from the school, now left +them, and went into the house to her mother. 'My wife cannot forgive +herself about the cheque,' continued he. + +'There is nothing to be forgiven,' said Mr Crawley; 'nothing.' + +'She feels that what she did was awkward and foolish. She ought never +to have paid the cheque away in such a manner. She knows that now.' + +'It was given--not paid,' said Crawley; and as he spoke something of the +black cloud came back on his face. 'And I am well aware hard Mrs Arabin +strove to take away from the alms she bestowed the bitterness of the +sting of eleemosynary aid. If you please, Arabin, we will not talk any +more of that. I can never forget that I have been a beggar, but I need +not make my beggary the matter of conversation. I hope the Holy Land has +fulfilled your expectation?' + +'It has more than done so,' said the dean, bewildered by the sudden +change. + +'For myself, it is, of course, impossible that I should ever visit any +scenes except those to which my immediate work may call me--never in +this world. The new Jerusalem is still within my reach--if it be not +forfeited by pride and obstinacy; but the old Jerusalem I can never +behold. Methinks, because it is so, I would sooner stand with my foot on +Mount Olivet, or drink a cup of water in the village of Bethany, than +visit any other spot within the traveller's compass. The sources of the +Nile, of which men talk so much--I see it in the papers and reviews +which the ladies at Framley are so good as to send to my wife--do not +interest me much. I have no ambition to climb Mont Blanc or the +Matterhorn; Rome makes my mouth water but little, nor even Athens much. +I can realise without seeing all that Athens could show me, and can +fancy that the existing truth would destroy more than it would build up. +But to have stood on Calvary!' + +'We don't know where Calvary was,' said the dean. + +'I fancy that I should know--should know enough,' said the illogical and +unreasonable Mr Crawley. 'Is it true that you can look over from the +spot on which He stood as He came across the brow of the hill, and see +the huge stones of the temple placed there by Solomon's men--as He saw +them--right across the brook Cedron, is it not?' + +'It's all there, Crawley--just as your knowledge of it tells you.' + +'In the privilege of seeing those places I can almost envy a man +his--money.' The last words he uttered after a pause. He had been about +to say that underneath temptation he could almost envy a man his +promotion; but he bethought himself that on such an occasion as this it +would be better that he should spare the dean. 'And now, if you wish it, +we will go in. I fancy that I see my wife at the window, as though she +were waiting for us.' So saying, he strode on along the little path, and +the dean was fain to follow him, even though he had said so little of +all that he had intended to say. + +As soon as he was in with Mrs Crawley he repeated his apology about the +cheque, and found himself better able to explain himself than he could +do when he was alone with the husband. 'Of course, it has been our +fault,' he said. + +'Oh, no,' said Mrs Crawley, 'how can you have been at fault when your +only object was to do us good?' But, nevertheless, the dean took the +blame upon his own shoulders, or, rather, upon those of his wife, and +declared himself to be responsible for all the trouble about the cheque. + +'Let it go,' said Crawley, after sitting awhile in silence; 'let it +pass.' + +'You cannot wonder, Crawley,' said the dean, 'that I should have felt +myself obliged to speak of it.' + +'For the future it will be well that it should be forgotten,' said +Crawley; 'or, if not forgotten, treated as though forgotten. And now, +dean, what must I do about the living?' + +'Just resume it, as though nothing happened.' + +'But that may hardly be done without the bishop's authority. I speak, +of course, with deference to your higher and better information on such +subjects. My experience in the taking up and laying down of livings has +not been extended. But it seemeth to me that though it may certainly be +in your power to nominate me again to the perpetual curacy of the +parish--presuming your patronage to be unlimited and not to reach you in +rotation only--yet the bishop may demand to institute again, and must +so demand, unless he pleases to permit that my letter to him shall be +revoked and cancelled.' + +'Of course he will do anything of that kind. He must know the +circumstances as well as you and I do.' + +'At present they tell me he is much afflicted by the death of his wife, +and, therefore, can hardly be expected to take immediate action. There +came on the last Sunday one Mr Snapper, his chaplain.' + +'We all know Snapper,' said the dean. 'Snapper is not a bad little +fellow.' + +'I say nothing of his being bad, my friend, but merely mention the fact +that on Sunday morning last he performed the service in our church. On +the Sunday previous Mr Thumble was here.' + +'We all know Thumble, too,' said the dean; 'or, at least, we know +something about him.' + +'He has been a thorn in our sides,' said Mrs Crawley, unable to restrain +the expression of her dislike when Mr Thumble's name was mentioned. + +'Nay, my dear, nay;--do not allow yourself the use of language so strong +against a brother. Our flesh at that time was somewhat prone to fester, +and little thorns made us very sore.' + +'He is a horrible man,' said Jane, almost in a whisper; but the words +were distinctly audible to the dean. + +'They need not come any more,' said Arabin. + +'That is where I fear we differ. I think they must come--or some others +in their place--till the bishop shall have expressed his pleasure to the +contrary. I have submitted myself to his lordship, and, having done so, +I feel that I cannot again go up into my pulpit till he shall have +authorised me to do so. For a time, Arabin, I combatted the bishop, +believing--then as now--that he put forth his hand against me after a +fashion which the law had not sanctioned. And I made bold to stand in +his presence and tell him that I would not obey him, except in things +legal. But afterwards, when he proceeded formally, through the action of +a commission, I submitted myself. And I regard myself still as being +under his submission.' + +It was impossible to shake him. Arabin remained there for more than an +hour, trying to pass on to another subject, but being constantly brought +back by Mr Crawley himself to the fact of his own dependent position. +Nor would he condescend to supplicate the bishop. It was, he surmised, +the duty of Dr Tempest, together with the other four clergymen, to +report to the bishop on the question of the alleged theft; and then +doubtless the bishop, when he had duly considered the report, and--as Mr +Crawley seemed to think was essentially necessary--had sufficiently +recovered from the grief of his wife's death, would, at his leisure, +communicate his decision to Mr Crawley. Nothing could be more complete +than Mr Crawley's humility with respect to the bishop; and he never +seemed to be tired of declaring that he had submitted himself! + +And then the dean, finding it to be vain to expect to be left alone with +Mr Crawley for a moment--in vain also to wait for a proper opening for +that which he had to say--rushed violently at his other subject. 'And +now, Mrs Crawley,' he said. 'Mrs Arabin wishes you all to come over to +the deanery for a while and stay with us.' + +'Mrs Arabin is too kind,' said Mrs Crawley, looking across at her +husband. + +'We should like of all things,' said the dean, with perhaps more of good +nature than of truth. 'Of course you must have been knocked about a good +deal.' + +'Indeed we have,' said Mrs Crawley. + +'And till you are somewhat settled again, I think that the change of +scene would be good for all of you. Come, Crawley, I'll talk to you +every evening about Jerusalem for as long as you please; and then there +will perhaps come back to us something of the pleasantness of old days.' +As she heard this Mrs Crawley's eyes became full of tears, and she could +not altogether hide them. What she had endured during the last four +months had almost broken her spirit. The burden had at last been too +heavy for her strength. 'You cannot fancy, Crawley, how often I have +thought of the old days and wished that they might return. I have found +it very hard to get an opportunity of saying so much to you; but I will +say it now.' + +'It may hardly be as you say,' said Crawley, grimly. + +'You mean that the old days can never be brought back?' + +'Assuredly they cannot. But it was not that I meant. It may not be +that I and mine should transfer ourselves to your roof and sojourn +there.' + +'Why should you not?' + +'The reasons are many, and on the face of things. The reason, perhaps, +the most on the face of it is to be found in my wife's gown, and in my +coat.' This Mr Crawley said very gravely, looking neither to the right +nor to the left nor at the face of any of them, nor at his own garment, +nor hers, but straight before him; and when he had so spoken he said not +a word further--not going on to dilate on his poverty as the dean +expected that he would do. + +'At such a time such reasons should stand for nothing,' said the dean. + +'And why not now as they always do, and always must till the power of +tailors shall have waned, and the daughters of Eve shall toil and spin +no more? Like to like is true, and should be held to be true, of all +societies and of all compacts for co-operation and mutual living. Here, +where, if I may venture to say so, you and I are like to like;--for the +new gloss of your coat;--the dean, as it happened, had on at the moment +a very old coat, his oldest coat, selected perhaps with some view to +this special visit--'does not obtrude itself in my household, as would +be the threadbare texture of mine in yours;--I can open my mouth to you +and converse with you at my ease; you are now to me that Frank Arabin +who has so comforted me and so often confuted me; whom I may perhaps on +occasion have confuted--and perhaps have comforted. But were I sitting +with you in your library in Barchester, my threadbare coat would be too +much for me. I should be silent, if not sullen. I should feel the weight +of all my poverty, and the greater weight of all your wealth. For my +children let them go. I have come to know that they will be better from +me.' + +'Papa!' said Jane. + +'Papa does not mean it,' said Grace, coming up to him and standing close +to him. + +There was silence amongst them for a few moments, and then the master of +the house shook himself--literally shook himself, till he had shaken off +the cloud. He had taken Grace by the hand, and thrusting out the other +arm had got it round Jane's waist. 'When a man has girls, Arabin,' he +said, 'as you have, but not big girls yet like Grace here, of course he +knows that they will fly away.' + +'I shall not fly away,' said Jane. + +'I don't know what papa means,' said Grace. + +Upon the whole the dean thought it the pleasantest visit he had ever +made to Hogglestock, and when he got home he told his wife that he +believed that the accusation made against Mr Crawley had done him good. +'I could not say a word in private to her,' he said, 'but I did promise +that you would go over and see her. On the very next day, Mrs Arabin +went over, and I think that the visit was a comfort to Mrs Crawley. + + + +CHAPTER LXXX + +MISS DEMOLINES DESIRES TO BE A FINGER-POST + +John Eames had passed Mrs Thorne in the hall of her own house almost +without noticing her as he took his departure from Lily Dale. She had +told him as plainly as words could speak that she could not bring +herself to be his wife--and he had believed her. He had sworn to himself +that if he did not succeed he would never ask again. 'It would be +foolish and unmanly to do so,' he said to himself as he rushed along the +street towards his club. No! That romance was over. At last there had +come an end to it! 'It has taken a good bit out of me,' he said, +arresting his steps suddenly that he might stand still and think of it +all. 'By George, yes! A man doesn't go through that kind of thing +without losing some of the caloric. I couldn't do it again if an angel +came in my way.' he went to his club, and tried to be jolly. But as he +walked home at night, and gave himself time to think over what had taken +place with deliberation, he stopped in the gloom of a deserted street +and leaning against the rails burst into tears. He had really loved her +and she was never to be his. He had wanted her--and it is so painful a +thing to miss what you want when you have done your very best to obtain +it! To struggle in vain always hurts the pride; but the wound made by +the vain struggle for a woman is sorer than any wound so made. He +gnashed his teeth, and struck the railings with his stick; and then he +hurried home, swearing that he would never give another thought to Lily +Dale. In the dead of the night, thinking of it still, he asked himself +whether it would not be a fine thing to wait another ten years, and then +go to her again. In such a way would he not make himself immortal as a +lover beyond any Jacob or Leander? + +The next day he went to his office and was very grave. When Sir Raffle +complimented him on being back before his time, he simply said that when +he had accomplished that for which he had gone, he had, of course, come +back. Sir Raffle could not get a word out from him about Mr Crawley. He +was very grave, and intent upon his work. Indeed he was so serious that +he quite afflicted Sir Raffle--whose mock activity felt itself to be +confounded by the official zeal of his private secretary. During the +whole of that day, Johnny was resolving that there could be no cure for +his malady but hard work. He would not only work hard at the office if +he remained there, but he would take to heavy reading. He rather thought +that he would go deep into Greek and do a translation, or take up the +exact sciences and make a name for himself in that way. But as he had +enough for the life of a secluded literary man without his salary, he +rather thought he would give up his office altogether. He had a mutton +chop at home that evening, and spent his time in endeavouring to read +out aloud to himself certain passages from the Iliad--for he had bought +a Homer as he returned from his office. At nine o'clock he went, +half-price, to the Strand Theatre. How he met there his old friend +Boulger and went afterwards to 'The Cock' and had a supper need not here +be told with more accurate detail. + +On the evening of the next day he was bound by his appointment to go to +Porchester Terrace. In the moments of his enthusiasm about Homer he had +declared to himself that he would never go near Miss Demolines again. +Why should he? All that kind of thing was nothing to him now. He would +simply send her his compliments and say that he was prevented by +business from keeping his engagement. She, of course, would go on +writing to him for a time, but he would simply leave her letters +unanswered, and the thing, of course, would come to an end at last. He +afterwards said something to Boulger about Miss Demolines--but that was +during the jollity of their supper--and he then declared that he would +follow out that little game. 'I don't see why a fellow isn't to amuse +himself, eh, Boulger, old boy?' Boulger winked and grinned, and said +some amusements were dangerous. 'I don't think that there is any danger +there,' said Johnny. 'I don't believe she is thinking of that kind of +thing herself;--not with me at least. What she likes is the pretence of +mystery; and as it is amusing I don't see why a fellow shouldn't indulge +her.' But that determination was pronounced after two mutton chops at +'The Cock', between one and two o'clock in the morning. On the next day +he was cooler and wiser. Greek he thought might be tedious as he +discovered that he would have to begin again from the very alphabet. He +would therefore abandon that idea. Greek was not the thing for him, but +he would take up the sanitary condition of the poor in London. A fellow +could be of some use in that way. In the meantime he would keep his +appointment with Miss Demolines, simply because it was an appointment. A +gentleman should always his word to a lady! + +He did keep his appointment with Miss Demolines, and was with her almost +precisely at the hour she had named. She received him with a mysterious +tranquillity which almost perplexed him. He remembered, however, that +the way to enjoy the society of Miss Demolines was to take her in all +her moods with perfect seriousness, and was therefore very tranquil +himself. On the present occasion she did not rise as she entered the +room, and hardly spoke as she tendered to him the tips of her fingers to +be touched. As she said almost nothing, he said nothing at all, but sank +into a chair and stretched his legs out comfortably before him. It had +been always understood between them that she was to bear the burden of +the conversation. + +'You'll have a cup of tea?' she said. + +'Yes;--if you do.' Then the page brought the tea, and John Eames amused +himself by swallowing three slices of very thin bread and butter. + +'Non for me--thanks,' said Madalina. 'I rarely eat after dinner, and +not often much then. I fancy that I should best like a world in which +there was no eating.' + +'A good dinner is a very good thing,' said John. And then there was +again silence. He was aware that some great secret was to be told to him +this evening, but he was much too discreet to show any curiosity upon +that subject. He sipped his tea to the end, and then, having got up to +put his cup down, stood on the rug with his back to the fire. 'Have you +been out today?' he asked. + +'Indeed I have.' + +'And you are tired.' + +'Very tired.' + +'Then perhaps I had better not keep you up.' + +'Your remaining will make no difference in that respect. I don't +suppose that I shall be in bed for the next four hours. But do as you +like about going.' + +'I am in no hurry,' said Johnny. Then he sat down again, stretched out +his legs and made himself comfortable. + +'I have been to see that woman,' said Madalina after a pause. + +'What woman?' + +'Maria Clutterbuck--as I must always call her; for I cannot bring myself +to pronounce the name of that poor wretch who was done to death.' + +'He blew his brains out in delirium tremens,' said Johnny. + +'And what made him drink?' said Madalina with emphasis. 'Never mind. I +decline altogether to speak of it. Such a scene as I have had! I was +driven at last to tell her what I thought of her. Anything so callous, +so heartless, so selfish, so stone-cold, and so childish, I never saw +before! That Maria was childish and selfish I always knew;--but I +thought there was some heart--a vestige of heart. I found today that +there was none--none. If you please we won't speak of her any more.' + +'Certainly not,' said Johnny. + +'You need not wonder that I am tired and feverish.' + +'That sort of thing is fatiguing, I daresay. I don't know whether we do +not lose more than we gain by those strong emotions.' + +'I would rather die and go beneath the sod at once, than live without +them,' said Madalina. + +'It's a matter of taste,' said Johnny. + +'It is there that the poor wretch is so deficient. She is thinking now, +this moment, of nothing but her creature comforts. That tragedy has not +even stirred her pulses.' + +'If her pulses were stirred ever so, that would not make her happy.' + +'Happy! Who is happy? Are you happy?' + +Johnny thought of Lily Dale and paused before he answered. No; +certainly he was not happy. But he was not going to talk about his +unhappiness with Miss Demolines! 'Of course I am;--as jolly as a +sandboy,' he said. + +'Mr Eames,' said Madalina raising herself on her sofa, 'if you can not +express yourself in language more suitable to the occasion and to the +scene than that, I think that you had better--' + +'Hold my tongue.' + +'Just so;--though I should not have chosen myself to use words so +abruptly discourteous.' + +'What did I say:--jolly as a sandboy? There is nothing wrong in that. +What I meant was that I think that the world is a very good sort of +world, and that a man can get along in it very well if he minds his p's +and q's.' + +'But suppose it's a woman?' + +'Easier still.' + +'And suppose she does not mind her p's and q's?' + +'Women always do.' + +'Do they? Your knowledge of women goes as far as that, does it? Tell me +fairly;--do you think you know anything about women?' Madalina as she +asked the question, looked full into his face, and shook her locks and +smiled. When she shook her locks and smiled, there was a certain +attraction about her of which John Eames was fully sensible. She could +throw a special brightness into her eyes, which, though it probably +betokened nothing beyond ill-natured mischief, seemed to convey a +promise of wit and intellect. + +'I don't mean to make any boast about it,' said Johnny. + +'I doubt whether you know anything. The pretty simplicity of your +excellent Lily Dale has sufficed for you.' + +'Never mind about her,' said Johnny impatiently. + +'I do not mind about her in the least. But an insight into that sort of +simplicity will not teach the character of a real woman. You cannot +learn the flavour of wines by sipping sherry and water. For myself I do +not think that I am simple. I own it fairly. If you must have +simplicity, I cannot be to your taste.' + +'Nobody likes partridge always,' said Johnny, laughing. + +'I understand you, sir. And though what you say is not complimentary, I +am willing to forgive that fault for its truth. I don't consider myself +to be always a partridge, I can assure you. I am as changeable as the +moon.' + +'And as fickle?' + +'I say nothing about that, sir. I leave you to find that out. It is a +man's business to discover that for himself. If you really do know aught +of women--' + +'I did not say that I did.' + +'But if you do, you will perhaps have discovered that a woman may be as +changeable as the moon, and yet as true as the sun;--that she may flit +from flower to flower, quite unheeding while no passion exists, but that +a passion fixes her at once. Do you believe me?' Now she looked into his +eyes again, but did not smile and did not shake her locks. + +'Oh, yes;--that's true enough. And when they have a lot of children, +then they become steady as milestones.' + +'Children!' said Madalina, getting up and walking about the room. + +'They do have them, you know,' said Johnny. + +'Do you mean to say, sir, that I should be a milestone?' + +'A finger-post,' said Johnny, 'to show a fellow the way he ought to go.' + +She walked twice across the room without speaking. Then she came and +stood opposite him, still without speaking--and then she walked about +again. 'What could a woman better be, than a finger-post, as you call +it, with such a purpose?' + +'Nothing better, of course;--though a milestone to tell a fellow his +distances, is very good.' + +'Psha!' + +'You don't like the idea of being a milestone?' + +'No!' + +'Then you can make up your mind to be a finger-post.' + +'John, shall I be finger-post for you?' She stood and looked at him for +a moment or two, with her eyes full of love, as though she were going to +throw herself into his arms. And she would have done so, no doubt, +instantly, had he risen to his legs. As it was, after having gazed at +him for the moment with her love-laden eyes, she flung herself on the +sofa, and hid her face among the cushions. + +He had felt that it was coming for the last quarter of an hour--and he +had felt also, that he was quite unable to help himself. He did not +believe that he should ever be reduced to marrying Miss Demolines, but +he did see plainly enough that he was getting into trouble; and yet, for +his life, he could not help himself. The moth who flutters round the +light knows that he is being burned, and yet he cannot fly away from it. +When Madalina had begun to talk to him about woman in general, and then +about herself, and had told him that such a woman as herself--even one +so liable to the disturbance of violent emotions--might yet be as true +and honest as the sun, he knew he ought to get up and make his escape. +He did not exactly know how the catastrophe would come, but he was quite +sure that if he remained there he would be called in some way for a +declaration of his sentiments--and that the call would be one which all +his wit would not enable him to answer with any comfort. It was very +well jesting about milestones, but every jest brought him nearer to the +precipice. He perceived that however ludicrous might be the image which +his words produced, she was clever enough in some way to turn that image +to her own purpose. He had called a woman a finger-post, and forthwith +she had offered to come to him and be a finger-post to him for life! +What was he to say to her? It was clear that he must say something. As +at this moment she was sobbing violently, he could not pass the offer by +as a joke. Women will say that his answer should have been very simple, +and his escape very easy. But men will understand that it is not easy to +reject even a Miss Demolines when she offers herself for matrimony. And, +moreover--as Johnny bethought himself at this crisis of his fate--Lady +Demolines was no doubt at the other side of the drawing-room door, ready +to stop him, should he attempt to run away. In the meantime the sobs on +the sofa became violent, and still more violent. He had not even yet +made up his mind what to do, when Madalina, springing to her feet, stood +before him, with her curls wildly waving and her arms extended. 'Let it +be as though it were unsaid,' she exclaimed. John Eames had not the +slightest objection; but, nevertheless, there was a difficulty even in +this. Were he simply to assent to this latter proposition, it could not +be that the feminine nature of Miss Demolines would be outraged by so +uncomplimentary an acquiescence. He felt that he ought at least to +hesitate a little--to make some pretence at closing upon the rich offer +that had been made to him; only that were he to show any such pretence +the rich offer would, no doubt, be repeated. His Madalina had twitted +him in the earlier part of their interview with knowing nothing of the +nature of women. He did know enough to feel assured that any false step +on his part now would lead him into very serious difficulties. 'Let it +be as though it were unsaid! Why, oh why, have I betrayed myself?' +exclaimed Madalina. + +John had now risen from his chair, and coming up to her took her by the +arm and spoke a word. 'Compose yourself,' he said. He spoke in his most +affectionate voice, and he stood very close to her. + +'How easy it is to bid me to do that,' said Madalina. 'Tell the sea to +compose itself when it rages.' + +'Madalina!' said he. + +'Well--what of Madalina? Madalina has lost her own respect--for ever.' + +'Do not say that.' + +'Oh, John--why did you ever come here? Why? Why did we meet at that +fatal woman's house? Or, meeting so, why did we not part as strangers? +Sir, why have you come here to my mother's house day after day, evening +after evening, if--Oh, heavens, what am I saying? I wonder whether you +will scorn me always?' + +'I will never scorn you.' + +'And you will pardon me?' + +'There is nothing to pardon.' + +'And--you will love me?' Then, without waiting for any more encouraging +reply--unable, probably, to wait a moment longer, she sunk upon his +bosom. He caught her of course--and at that moment the drawing-room door +was opened, and Lady Demolines entered the chamber. John Eames detected +a glance at the skirt of the old white dressing gown which he had seen +whisking away on the occasion of his last visit to Porchester Terrace. +But on the present occasion Lady Demolines wore over it a short red +opera cloak, and the cap on her head was ornamented with coloured +ribbons. 'What is this,' she said, 'and why am I thus disturbed?' +Madalina lay motionless in Johnny's arms, while the old woman glowered +at him from under the coloured ribbons. 'Mr Eames, what is that I +behold?' she said. + +'Your daughter, madam, seems to be a little unwell,' said Johnny. +Madalina kept her feet firm on the ground, but did not for a moment lose +her purchase against Johnny's waistcoat. Her respiration came very +strong, but they came a good deal stronger when he mentioned the fact +that she was not so well as she might be. + +'Unwell!' said Lady Demolines. And John was stricken at the moment with +a conviction that her ladyship must have passed the early part of her +life upon the stage. 'You would trifle with me, sir. Beware that you do +not trifle with her--with Madalina.' + +'My mother,' said Madalina; but still she did not give up her purchase, +and the voice seemed to come half from her and half from Johnny. 'Come +to me, my mother.' Then Lady Demolines hastened to her daughter, and +Madalina between them was gradually laid at her length upon the sofa. +The work of laying her out, however, was left almost entirely to the +strong arm of Mr John Eames. 'Thanks, mother,' said Madalina; but she +had not as yet opened her eyes, even for an instant. 'Perhaps I had +better go now,' said Johnny. The old woman looked at him with eyes which +asked whether 'he didn't wish he might get it' as plainly as though the +words had been pronounced. 'Of course I'll wait if I can be of any +service,' said Johnny. + +'I must know more of this, sir, before you leave the house,' said Lady +Demolines. He saw that between them both there might probably be a very +bad quarter of an hour in store for him; but he swore to himself that no +union of dragon and tigress should extract from him a word that could be +taken as a promise of marriage. + +The old woman was now kneeling by the head of the sofa, and Johnny was +standing close by her side. Suddenly Madalina opened her eyes--opened +them very wide, and gazed around her. Then slowly she raised herself on +the sofa, and turned her face first upon her mother and then upon +Johnny. 'You here, mamma!' she said. + +'Dearest one, I am near you. Be not afraid,' said her ladyship. + +'Afraid! Why should I be afraid? John! My own John! Mamma, he is my +own.' And she put out her arms to him, as though calling to him to come +to her. Things were now very bad with John Eames--so bad that he would +have given a very considerable lump out of Lord De Guest's legacy to be +able to escape at once into the street. The power of a woman, when she +chooses to use it recklessly, is, for the moment, almost unbounded. + +'I hope you find yourself a little better,' said John, struggling to +speak, as though he were not utterly crushed by the occasion. + +Lady Demolines slowly raised herself from her knees, helping herself +with her hands against the shoulder of the sofa--for though still very +clever, she was old and stiff--and then offered both her hands to +Johnny. Johnny cautiously took one of them, finding himself unable to +decline them both. 'My son!' she exclaimed; and before he knew where he +was the old woman had succeeded in kissing his nose and whiskers. 'My +son!' she said again. + +Now that the time had come for facing the dragon and the tigress in +their wrath. If they were to be faced at all, the time for facing them +had certainly arrived. 'I don't quite understand,' he said, almost in a +whisper. Madalina put out one arm towards him, and the fingers trembled. +Her lips were opened, and the white row of interior ivory might be seen +plainly; but at the present conjuncture of affairs she spoke not a word. +She spoke not a word; but her arm remained stretched towards him, and +her fingers did not cease to tremble. + +'You do not understand!' said Lady Demolines, drawing herself back and +looking, in her short open cloak, like a knight who has donned his +cuirass, but has forgotten to put on his leg-gear. And she shook the +bright ribbons of her cap, as a knight in his wrath shakes the crest of +his helmet. 'You do not understand, Mr Eames! What is it, sir, that you +do not understand?' + +'There is some misconception, I mean,' said Johnny. + +'Mother!' said Madalina, turning her eyes from her recent lover to her +tender parent; trembling all over, but still keeping her hand extended. +'Mother!' + +'My darling! But leave him to me, dearest. Compose yourself.' + +''Twas the word that he said--this moment; before he pressed me to his +heart.' + +'I thought you were fainting,' said Johnny. + +'Sir!' said Lady Demolines, as she spoke, shook her crest, and glared at +him, and almost flew at him in her armour. + +'It may be that nature has given way with me, and that I have been in a +dream,' said Madalina. + +'That which mine eyes saw was no dream,' said Lady Demolines. 'Mr +Eames, I have given you the sweetest name that can fall from an old +woman's lips. I have called you my son.' + +'Yes, you did, I know. But, as I said before, there is some mistake. I +know how proud I ought to be, and how happy, and all that kind of thing. +But--' Then there came a screech from Madalina, which would have +awakened the dead, had there been any dead in that house. The page and +cook, however, took no notice of it, whether they were awakened or not. +And having screeched, Madalina stood erect upon the floor, and she also +glared at her recreant lover. The dragon and the tiger were there before +him now, and he knew that it behoved him to look to himself. As he had a +battle to fight, might it not be best to put a bold face upon it? 'The +truth is,' said he, 'that I don't understand this kind of thing.' + +'Not understand it, sir?' said the dragon. + +'Leave him to me, mother,' said the tigress, shaking her head again, but +with a kind of shake differing from that which she had used before. +'This is my business, and I'll have it out for myself. If he thinks I am +going to put up with this kind of nonsense he's mistaken. I've been +straightforward and above board with you, Mr Eames, and I expect to be +treated in the same way in return. Do you mean to tell my mother that +you deny that we are engaged?' + +'Well; yes; I do. I'm very sorry, you know, if I seem to be uncivil--' + +'It's because I've no brother,' said the tigress. 'He thinks that I +have no man near me to protect me. But he shall find that I can protect +myself. John Eames, why are you treating me like this?' + +'I shall consult my cousin the serjeant tomorrow,' said the dragon. 'In +the meantime he must remain in this house. I shall not allow the front +door to be unlocked for him.' + +This, I think, was the bitterest moment of all for Johnny. To be +confined all night in Lady Demolines's drawing-room would, of itself, be +an intolerable nuisance. And then the absurdity of the thing, and the +story that would go abroad! And what would he say to the dragon's cousin +the serjeant, if the serjeant should be brought upon the field before he +was able to escape from it? He did not know what a serjeant might not do +to him in such circumstances. There was one thing no serjeant should do, +and no dragon! Between them all they should never force him to marry the +tigress. At this moment Johnny heard a tramp along the pavement, and he +rushed to the window. Before the dragon or even the tigress could arrest +him, he had thrown open the sash, and had appealed in his difficulty to +the guardian of the night. 'I say, old fellow,' said Johnny, 'don't you +stir from that till I tell you.' The policeman turned his bull's-eye +upon the window, and stood perfectly motionless. 'Now, if you please, +I'll say good-night,' said Johnny. But, as he spoke he still held the +open window in his hand. + +'What means this violence in my house?' said the dragon. + +'Mamma, you had better let him go,' said the tigress. 'We shall know +where to find him.' + +'You will certainly be able to find me,' said Johnny. + +'Go,' said the dragon, shaking her crest--shaking all her armour at +him--'dastard, go!' + +'Policeman,' shouted Johnny, while he still held the open window in his +hand, 'mind you don't stir till I come out.' The bull's-eye was shifted +a little, but the policeman never said a word. + +'I wish you a good-night, Lady Demolines,' said Johnny. 'Good-night, +Miss Demolines.' Then he left the window and made a run for the door. +But the dragon was there before him. + +'Let him go, mamma,' said the tigress as she closed the window. 'We +shall only have a rumpus.' + +'That will be all,' said Johnny. 'There isn't the slightest use in your +trying to keep me here.' + +'And are we never to see you again?' said the tigress, almost +languishing again with one eye. + +'Well; no. What would be the use? No man likes to be shut in, you +know.' + +'Go, then,' said the tigress; 'but if you think that this is to be the +end of it you'll find yourself wonderfully mistaken. You poor false, +drivelling creature! Lily Dale won't touch you with a pair of tongs. +It's no use your going to her.' + +'Go away, sir, this moment, and don't contaminate my room an instant +longer by your presence,' said the dragon, who had observed through the +window the bull's-eye was still in full force before the house. Then +John Eames withdrew, and descending into the hall made his way in the +dark to the front door. For aught he knew there might still be treachery +in regard to the lock; but his heart was comforted as he heard the +footfall of the policeman on the door-step. With much fumbling he +succeeded at last in turning the key and drawing the bolt, and then he +found himself at liberty in the street. Before he even spoke a word to +the policeman he went out into the road and looked up at the window. He +could just see the figure of the dragon's helmet as she was closing the +shutters. It was the last he ever saw of Lady Demolines or her daughter. + +'What was it all about?' said the policeman. + +'I don't know that I can just tell you,' said Johnny, searching in his +pocket-book for half a sovereign which he tendered to the man. 'There +was a little difficulty, and I'm obliged to you for waiting.' + +'There ain't nothing wrong?' said the man suspiciously, hesitating for a +moment before he accepted the coin. + +'Nothing on earth. I'll wait with you, while you have the house opened +and inquire, if you wish it. The truth is somebody inside refused to +have the door opened, and I didn't want to stay there all night.' + +'They're a rummy couple, if what I hear is true.' + +'They are a rummy couple,' said Johnny. + +'I suppose it's all right,' said the policeman, taking the money. And +then John walked off home by himself, turning his mind all the +circumstances of his connection with Miss Demolines. Taking his own +conduct as a whole, he was rather proud of it; but he acknowledged to +himself that it would be well that he should keep himself free from the +society of Madalinas for the future. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXI + +BARCHESTER CLOISTERS + +On the morning of the Sunday after the dean's return, Mr Harding was +lying in his bed, and Posy was sitting on the bed beside him. It was +manifest to all now that he became feebler and feebler from day to day, +and that he would never leave his bed again. Even the archdeacon had +shaken his head, and had acknowledged to his wife that the last day for +her father was near at hand. It would very soon be necessary that he +should elect another vicar for St Ewold's. + +'Grandpa won't play cat's-cradle,' said Posy, as Mrs Arabin entered the +room. + +'No, darling--not this morning,' said the old man. He himself well knew +that he would never play cat's-cradle again. Even that was over for him +how. + +'She teases you, papa,' said Mrs Arabin. + +'No, indeed,' said he. 'Posy never teases me;' and he slowly moved his +withered hand down outside the bed, so as to hold the child by her +frock. 'Let her stay with me, my dear.' + +'Dr Filgrave is downstairs, papa. You will see him, if he comes up?' +Now Dr Filgrave was the leading physician of Barchester, and nobody of +note in the city--or for that matter of that in the eastern division of +the county--was allowed to start upon the last great journey without +some assistance from him as the hour of going drew nigh. I do not know +that he had much reputation for prolonging life, but he was supposed to +add a grace to the hour of departure. Mr Harding expressed no wish to +see the doctor--had rather declared his conviction that Dr Filgrave +could be of no possible service to him. But he was not a man to +persevere in his objection in opposition to the wishes of his friends +around him; and as soon as the archdeacon had spoken a word on the +subject he assented. + +'Of course, my dear, I will see him.' + +'And Posy shall come back when he has gone,' said Mrs Arabin. + +'Posy will do me more good than Dr Filgrave, I'm quite sure;--but Posy +shall go now.' So Posy scrambled off the bed, and the doctor was ushered +into the room. + +'A day or two will see the end of it, archdeacon; I should say a day or +two,' said the doctor, as he met Dr Grantly in the hall. 'I should say +that a day or two will see the end of it. Indeed I will not undertake +that twenty-four hours may not see the close of his earthly troubles. He +has no suffering, no pain, no disturbing cause. Nature simply retires to +rest.' Dr Filgrave, as he said this, made a slow falling motion with his +hands, which alone on various occasions had been thought to be worth all +the money paid for his attendance. 'Perhaps you would wish that I should +step in this evening, Mr Dean? As it happens, I shall be at liberty.' +The dean of course said that he would take it as an additional favour. +Neither the dean nor the archdeacon had the slightest belief in Dr +Filgrave, and yet they would hardly have been contented that their +father-in-law should have departed without him. + +'Look at that man, now,' said the archdeacon, when the doctor had gone, +'who talks so glibly about nature going to rest. I've known him all my +life. He's an older man by some months than our dear old friend +upstairs. And he looks as if he were going to attend death-beds in +Barchester for ever.' + +'I suppose he is right in what he tells us now?' said the dean. + +'No doubt he is; but my belief doesn't come from his saying it.' Then +there was a pause as the two church dignitaries sat together, doing +nothing, feeling that the solemnity of the moment was such that it would +be hardly becoming that they should even attempt to read. 'His going +will make an old man of me,' said the archdeacon. 'It will be different +with you.' + +'It will make an old woman of Eleanor, I fear.' + +'I seem to have known him all my life,' said the archdeacon. 'I have +known him ever since I left college; and I have known him as one man +seldom does know another. There is nothing that he has done--as I +believe nothing that he has thought--with which I have not been +cognisant. I feel sure that he never had an impure fancy in his mind, or +a faulty wish in his heart. His tenderness has surpassed the tenderness +of a woman; and yet, when occasion came for showing it, he had all the +spirit of a hero. I shall never forget his resignation of the hospital, +and all that I did and said to make him keep it.' + +'But he was right?' + +'As Septimus Harding he was, I think, right; but it would have been +wrong in any other man. And he was right, too, about the deanery.' For +promotion had come in Mr Harding's way, and he, too, might have been +Dean of Barchester. 'The fact is, he never was wrong. He couldn't go +wrong. He lacked guile, and he feared God--and a man who does both will +never go far astray. I don't think he ever coveted aught in his +life--except a new case for his violoncello and somebody to listen to +him when he played it.' Then the archdeacon got up, and walked about the +room in his enthusiasm; and, perhaps, as he walked some thoughts as to +the sterner ambition of his own life passed through his mind. What +things had he coveted? Had he lacked guile? He told himself that had +feared God--but he was not sure that he was telling himself true even in +that. + +During the whole of the morning Mrs Arabin and Mrs Grantly were with +their father, and during the greater part of the day there was absolute +silence in the room. He seemed to sleep; and they, though they knew in +truth that he was not sleeping, feared to disturb him by a word. About +two Mrs Baxter brought him his dinner, and he did rouse himself and +swallowed a spoonful of soup, and half a glass of wine. At this time +Posy came to him, and stood at the bedside, looking at him with her +great wide eyes. She seemed to be aware that life had gone so far with +her dear old friend that she must not be allowed on his bed again. But +he put his hand out to her, and she held it, standing quite still and +silent. When Mrs Baxter came to take away the tray, Posy's mother got +up, and whispered a word to the child. Then Posy went away, and her eyes +never beheld the old man again. That was a day which Posy never +forgot--not though she should live to be much older than her grandfather +was when she thus left him. + +'It is so sweet to have you both here,' he said, when he had been lying +silent for nearly an hour after the child had gone. Then they got up, +and came and stood close to him. 'There is nothing left for me to wish, +my dears;--nothing.' Not long afterwards he expressed a desire that the +two husbands--his two sons-in-law--should come to him; and Mrs Arabin +went to them, and brought them into the room. As he took their hands he +merely repeated the same words again. 'There is nothing left for me to +wish, my dears;--nothing.' He never spoke again above his breath; but +ever and anon his daughters, who watched him, could see that he was +praying. The two men did not stay with him long, but returned to the +gloom of the library. The gloom had almost become the darkness of the +night, and they were still sitting there without any light, when Mrs +Baxter entered the room. 'The dear gentleman is no more,' said Mrs +Baxter; and it seemed to the archdeacon that the very moment of his +father's death had repeated itself. When Dr Filgrave called he was told +that his services would be of no further use. 'Dear, dear!' said the +doctor. 'We are all dust, Mrs Baxter; are we not?' There were people in +Barchester who pretended to know how often the doctor had repeated this +little formula during the last thirty years. + +There was no violence of sorrow in the house that night; but there were +aching hearts, and one heart so sore that it seemed that no cure for its +anguish could ever reach it. 'He has always been with me,' Mrs Arabin +said to her husband, as he strove to console her. 'It was not that I +loved him better than Susan, but I have felt so much more of his loving +tenderness. The sweetness of his voice has been in my ears almost daily +since I was born.' + +They buried him in the cathedral which he had loved so well, and in +which nearly all the work of his life had been done; and all Barchester +was there to see him laid in his grave within the cloisters. There was +no procession of coaches, no hearse, nor was there any attempt at +funereal pomp. From the dean's side door, across the vaulted passage, +and into the transept--over the little step upon which he had so nearly +fallen when last he made his way out of the building--the coffin was +carried on men's shoulders. It was but a short journey from his bedroom +to his grave. But the bell had been tolling sadly all morning, and the +nave and the aisles and the transepts, close up to the door leading from +the transept into the cloister, were crowded with those who had known +the name and the figure and the voice of Mr Harding as long as they had +known anything. Up to this day no one would have said specially that Mr +Harding was a favourite of the town. He had never been forward enough in +anything to become the acknowledged possessor of popularity. But, now +that he was gone, men and women told each other how good he had been. +They remembered the sweetness of his smile, and talked of loving little +words which he had spoken to them--either years ago or the other day, +for his words had always been loving. The dean and the archdeacon came +first, shoulder to shoulder, and after them came their wives. I do not +know that it was the proper order for mourning, but it was a touching +sight to be seen, and was long remembered in Barchester. Painful as it +was for them, the two women would be there, and the two sisters would +walk together;--nor would they go before their husbands. Then there were +the archdeacon's two sons--for the Rev Charles Grantly had come to +Plumstead for the occasion. And in the vaulted passage which runs +between the deanery and the end of the transept all the chapter, with +the choir, the prebendaries, with the fat old chancellor, the precentor, +and the minor canons down to the little choristers--they were all there, +and followed in at the transept door, two by two. And in the transept +they were joined by another clergyman who no one had expected to see +that day. The bishop was there, looking old and worn--almost as though +he were unconscious of what he was doing. Since his wife's death no one +had seen him out of the palace or the palace grounds till that day. But +there he was--and they made way for him into the procession behind the +two ladies--and the archdeacon, when he saw it, resolved that there +should be peace in his heart, if peace were possible. + +They made their way into the cloisters where the grave had been dug--as +many as might be allowed to follow. The place indeed was open to all who +chose to come; but they who had only slightly known the man refrained +from pressing upon those who had a right to stand around his coffin. But +there was one other there whom the faithful chronicler of Barchester +should mention. Before any other one had reached the spot, the sexton +and the verger between them had led in between them, among the graves +beneath the cloisters, a blind old man, very old, with a wondrous stoop, +but who must have owned a grand stature before extreme old age had bent +him, and they placed him sitting on a stone in the corner of the +archway. But as soon as the shuffling of steps reached his ears, he +raised himself with the aid of his stick, and stood during the service +leaning against the pillar. The blind man was so old that he might +almost have been Mr Harding's father. This was John Bunce, bedesman from +Hiram's Hospital--and none perhaps there had known Mr Harding better +than he had known him. When the earth had been thrown on to the coffin, +and the service was over, and they were about to disperse, Mrs Arabin +went up to the old man, and taking his hand between hers whispered a +word into his ear. 'Oh, Miss Eleanor!', he said. 'Oh, Miss Eleanor!' +Within a fortnight he also was lying within the cathedral precincts. + +And so they buried Mr Septimus Harding, formerly Warden of Hiram's +Hospital in the city of Barchester, of whom the chronicler may say that +that city never knew a sweeter gentleman or a better Christian. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXII + +THE LAST SCENE AT HOGGLESTOCK + +The fortnight following Mr Harding's death was passed very quietly at +Hogglestock, for during that time no visitor made an appearance in the +parish except Mr Snapper on the Sundays. Mr Snapper, when he had +completed the service on the first of these Sundays, intimated to Mr +Crawley his opinion that probably that gentleman might himself wish to +resume his duties on the following Sabbath. Mr Crawley, however, +courteously declined to do anything of the kind. He said that it was +quite out of the question that he should do so without a direct +communication made to him from the bishop, or by the bishop's order. The +assizes had, of course, gone by, and all question of the trial was over. +Nevertheless--as Mr Snapper said--the bishop had not, as yet, given any +order. Mr Snapper was of the opinion that the bishop in these days was +not quite himself. He had spoken to the bishop about it, and the bishop +had told him peevishly--'I must say quite peevishly,' Mr Snapper had +said--that nothing was to be done at present. Mr Snapper was not the +less clearly of the opinion that Mr Crawley might resume his duties. To +this, however, Mr Crawley would not assent. + +But even during this fortnight Mr Crawley had not remained altogether +neglected. Two days after Mr Harding's death he had received a note from +the dean in which he was advised not to resume the duties at Hogglestock +for the present. 'Of course you can understand that we have a sad house +here for the present,' the dean had said. 'But as soon as ever we are +able to move in the matter we will arrange things for you as comfortably +as we can. I will see the bishop myself.' Mr Crawley had no ambitious +idea of any comfort which might accrue to him beyond that of an +honourable return to his humble preferment at Hogglestock; but, +nevertheless, he was in this case minded to do as the dean counselled +him. He had submitted himself to the bishop, and he would wait till the +bishop absolved him from his submission. + +On the day after the funeral, the bishop had sent his compliments to the +dean with an expression of a wish that the dean would call upon him on +any early day that might be convenient with reference to the position of +Mr Crawley of Hogglestock. The note was in the bishop's own handwriting +and was as mild and civil as a bishop's note could be. Of course the +dean named an early day for the interview; but it was necessary before +he went to the bishop that he should discuss the matter with the +archdeacon. If St Ewold's might be given to Mr Crawley, the Hogglestock +difficulties would all be brought to an end. The archdeacon, after the +funeral, had returned to Plumstead, and thither the dean went to him +before he was the bishop. He did succeed--he and Mrs Grantly between +them--but with very great difficulty, in obtaining a conditional +promise. They had both thought that when the archdeacon became fully +aware that Grace was to be his daughter-in-law, he would at once have +been delighted to have an opportunity of extricating from his poverty a +clergyman with whom it was his fate to be closely connected. But he +fought the matter on twenty different points. He declared at first that +as it was his primary duty to give the people of St Ewold's the best +clergyman he could select for them he could not give the preference to +Mr Crawley, because Mr Crawley, in spite of all his zeal and piety, was +a man so quaint in his manners and so eccentric in his mode of speech as +not to be the best clergyman whom he could select. 'What is my old +friend Thorne to do with a man in the parish who won't drink a glass of +wine with him?'. For Ullathorne, the seat of that Mr Wilfred Thorne who +had been so guilty in the matter of the foxes, was situated in the +parish of St Ewold's. When Mrs Grantly proposed that Mr Thorne's consent +should be asked, the archdeacon became very angry. It was his special +duty to the best he could for Mr Thorne, but it was specially his duty +to do so without consulting Mr Thorne about it. As the archdeacon's +objection had been argued simply on the point of a glass of wine, both +the dean and Mrs Grantly thought that he was unreasonable. But they had +their point to gain, and therefore only flattered him. They were quite +sure that Mr Thorne would like to have a clergyman in the parish who +would himself be closely connected with the archdeacon. Then Dr Grantly +alleged that he might find himself in a trap. What if he conferred the +living of St Ewold's on Mr Crawley and after all there should be no +marriage between his son and Grace? 'Of course they'll be married,' said +Mrs Grantly. 'It's all very well for you to say that, my dear; but the +whole family are so queer that there is no knowing what the girl may do. +She may take up some other fad now, and refuse him point blank.' 'She +has never taken up any fad,' said Mrs Grantly, who now mounted almost to +wrath in defence of her future daughter-in-law, 'and you are wrong to +say that she has. She has behaved beautifully:--as nobody knows better +than you do.' Then the archdeacon gave way so far as to promise that St +Ewold's should be offered to Mr Crawley as soon as Grace Crawley was in +truth engaged to Henry Grantly. + +After that, the dean went to the palace. There had never been any +quarrelling between the bishop and the dean, either direct or +indirect;--nor, indeed, had the dean every quarrelled even with Mrs +Proudie. But he had belonged the anti-Proudie faction. He had been +brought into the diocese by the Grantly interest; and therefore, during +Mrs Proudie's lifetime, he had always been accounted among the enemies. +There had never been any real intimacy between the houses. Each house +had always been asked to dine with the other house once a year; but it +had been understood that such dinings were ecclesiastico-official, and +not friendly. There had been the same outside diocesan civility between +even the palace and Plumstead. But now, when the great chieftain of the +palace was no more, and the strength of the palace faction was gone, +peace, or perhaps something more than peace--amity, perhaps, might be +more easily arranged with the dean than with the archdeacon. In +preparation for such arrangements the bishop had gone to Mr Harding's +funeral. + +And now the dean went to the palace at the bishop's behest. He found +his lordship alone, and was received with almost reverential courtesy. +He thought that the bishop was looking wonderfully aged since he last +saw him, but did not perhaps take into account the absence of clerical +sleekness which was incidental to the bishop's private life in his +private room, and perhaps in a certain measure to his recent affliction. +The dean had been in the habit of regarding Dr Proudie as a man almost +young for his age--having been in the habit of seeing him at his best, +clothed in authority, redolent of the throne, conspicuous as regarded +his apron and outward signs of episcopality. Much of this was now +absent. The bishop, as he rose to greet the dean, shuffled with his old +slippers, and his hair was not brushed so becomingly as used to be the +case when Mrs Proudie was always near him. + +It was necessary that a word should be said by each as to the loss which +the other had suffered. 'Mr Dean,' said his lordship, 'allow me to offer +you my condolements in regard to the death of that very excellent +clergyman and most worthy gentleman, your father-in-law.' + +'Thank you, my lord. He was excellent and worthy. I do not suppose +that I shall live to see any man who was more so. You also have a +great--a terrible loss.' + +'Oh, Mr Dean, yes; yes, indeed, Mr Dean. That was a loss.' + +'And hardly past the prime of life!' + +'Ah, yes;--just fifty-six--and so strong! Was she not? At least +everybody thought so. And yet she was gone in a minute;--gone in a +minute. I haven't held my head up since, Mr Dean.' + +'It was a great loss, my lord; but you must struggle to bear it.' + +'I do struggle. I am struggling. But it makes one feel so lonely in +this great house. Ah me! I often wish, Mr Dean, that it had pleased +Providence to have left me in some humble parsonage, where duty would +have been easier than it is here. But I will not trouble you with all +that. What are we to do, Mr Dean, about this poor Mr Crawley.' + +'Mr Crawley is a very old friend of mine, and a very dear friend.' + +'Is he? Ah! A very worthy man, I am sure, and one who has been much +tried by undeserved adversities.' + +'Most severely, my lord.' + +'Sitting among the potsherds, like Job; has he not, Mr Dean? Well; let +us hope that is all over. When this accusation about the robbery was +brought against him, I found myself bound to interfere.' + +'He has no complaint on that score.' + +'I hope not. I have not wished to be harsh, but what could I do, Mr +Dean? They told me that the civil authorities found the evidence so +strong against him that it could not be withstood.' + +'It was very strong.' + +'And we thought that he should at least be relieved, and we sent for Dr +Tempest, who is his rural dean.' Then the bishop remembering all the +circumstances of that interview with the Dr Tempest--as to which he had +ever felt assured that one of the results was the death of his wife, +whereby there was no longer any 'we' left in the palace of +Barchester--sighed piteously, looking at the dean with a hopeless face. + +'Nobody doubts, my lord, that you acted for the best.' + +'I hope we did. I think we did. And now what will we do? He has +resigned his living, both to you and to me, as I hear--you being the +patron. It will simply be necessary, I think, that he should ask to have +the letters cancelled. Then, as I take it, there need be no restitution. +You cannot think, Mr Dean, how much I have thought about it all.' + +Then the dean unfolded his budget, and explained to the bishop how he +hoped that the living of St Ewold's, which was, after some +ecclesiastical fashion, attached to the rectory of Plumstead, and which +was now vacant by the demise of Mr Harding, might be conferred by the +archdeacon upon Mr Crawley. It was necessary to explain also that this +could not be done quite immediately, and in doing this the dean +encountered some little difficulty. The archdeacon, he said, wished to +be allowed another week to think about it; and therefore perhaps +provision for the duties of Hogglestock might yet be made for a few +Sundays. The bishop, the dean said, might easily understand that, after +what has occurred, Mr Crawley would hardly wish to go again into that +pulpit, unless he did so as resuming duties, which would necessarily be +permanent with him. To all this the bishop assented, but he was +apparently struck with much wonder at the choice made by the archdeacon. +'I should have thought, Mr Dean,' he said, 'that Mr Crawley was the last +man to have suited the archdeacon's choice.' + +'The archdeacon and I married sisters, my lord.' + +'Oh, ah! yes. And he puts the nomination of St Ewold's at your +disposition. I am sure I shall be delighted to institute so worthy a +gentleman as Mr Crawley.' Then the dean took his leave of the bishop--as +we will also. Poor dear bishop! I am inclined to think that he was right +in his regrets as to the little parsonage. Not that his failure at +Barchester, and his present consciousness of lonely incompetence, were +mainly due to any positive inefficiency on his own part. He might have +been a sufficiently good bishop, had it not been that Mrs Proudie was so +much more a sufficiently good bishop's wife. We will now say farewell to +him, with a hope that the lopped tree may yet become green again, and to +some extent fruitful, although all its beautiful head and richness of +waving foliage have been taken from it. + +About a week after this Henry Grantly rode over from Cosby Lodge to +Hogglestock. It has just been said that though the assizes had passed by +and though all question of Mr Crawley's guilt was now set aside, no +visitor had of late made his way over to Hogglestock. I fancy that Grace +Crawley forgot, in the fullness of her memory as to other things, that +Mr Harding, of whose death she heard, had been her lover's +grandfather--and that therefore there might possibly be some delay. Had +there been much said between the mother and the daughter about the +lover, no doubt all this would have been explained; but Grace was very +reticent, and there were other matters in the Hogglestock household +which in those days occupied Mrs Crawley's mind. How were they again to +begin life? for, in very truth, life as it had existed with them before, +had been brought to an end. But Grace remembered well the sort of +compact which existed between her and her lover;--the compact which had +been made in very words between herself and her lover's father. Complete +in her estimation as had been the heaven opened to her by Henry +Grantly's offer, she had refused it all--lest she should bring disgrace +upon him. But the disgrace was not certain; and if her father should be +made free from it, then--then--then Henry Grantly ought to come to her +and be at her feet with all the expedition possible to him. That was her +reading of the compact. She had once declared, when speaking of the +possible disgrace which might attach itself to her family and to her +name, that her poverty did not 'signify a bit'. She was not ashamed of +her father--only of the accusation against her father. Therefore she had +hurried home when that accusation was withdrawn, desirous that her lover +should tell her of his love--if he chose to repeat such telling--amidst +all the poor things of Hogglestock, and not among the chairs, and tables +and good dinners of luxurious Framley. Mrs Robarts had given a true +interpretation to Lady Lufton of the haste which Grace had displayed. +But she need not have been in so great a hurry. She had been at home +already above a fortnight, and as yet he had made no sign. At last she +said a word to her mother. 'Might I not ask to go back to Miss +Prettyman's now, mamma?' 'I think, dear, you had better wait till things +are a little settled. Papa is to hear again from the dean very soon. You +see they are all in great sorrow at Barchester about poor Mr Harding's +death.' 'Grace!' said Jane, rushing into the house almost speechless, at +that moment, 'here he is!--on horseback.' I do not know why Jane should +have talked about Major Grantly as simply 'he'. There had been no +conversation among the sisters to justify her in such a mode of speech. +Grace had not a moment to put two and two together, so that she might +realise the meaning of what her mother had said; but, nevertheless, she +felt at the moment that the man, coming as he had done now, had come +with all commendable speed. How foolish she had been with her wretched +impatience! + +There he was certainly, tying his horse to the railing. 'Mamma, what am +I to say to him?' + +'Nay, dear; he is your own friend--of your own making. You must say +what you think fit.' + +'You are not going?' + +'I think we had better, dear. Then she went, and Jane with her, and +Jane opened the door for Major Grantly. Mr Crawley himself was away, at +Hoggle End, and did not return till after Major Grantly had left the +parsonage. Jane, as she greeted the grand gentleman, whom she had seen +and no more than seen, hardly knew what to say to him. When, after a +minute's hesitation, she told him that Grace was in there--pointing to +the sitting-room door, she felt that she had been very awkward. Henry +Grantly, however, did not, I think, feel her awkwardness, being +conscious of some small difficulties of his own. When, however, he found +that Grace was alone, the task before him at once lost half its +difficulties. 'Grace,' he said, 'am I right to come to you now?' + +'I do not know,' she said. 'I cannot tell.' + +'Dearest Grace, there is no reason on earth now why you should not be my +wife.' + +'Is there not?' + +'I know of none--if you can love me. You saw my father?' + +'Yes, I saw him.' + +'And you heard what he said?' + +'I hardly remember what he said;--but he kissed me, and I thought he was +very kind.' + +What little attempt Henry Grantly then made, thinking that he could do +no better than follow closely the example of so excellent a father, need +not be explained with minuteness. But I think that his first effort was +not successful. Grace was embarrassed and retreated, and it was not till +she had been compelled to give a direct answer to a direct question that +she submitted to allow his arm round her waist. But when she had +answered that question she was almost more humble than becomes a maiden +who has just been wooed and won. A maiden who has been wooed and won, +generally thinks that it is she who has conquered, and chooses to be +triumphant accordingly. But Grace was even mean enough to thank her +lover. 'I do not know why you should be so good to me,' she said. + +'Because I love you,' said he, 'better than all the world.' + +'By why should you be so good to me as that? Why should you love me? I +am such a poor thing for a man like you to love.' + +'I have had the wit to see that you are not a poor thing, Grace; and it +is thus that I have earned my treasure. Some girls are poor things, and +some are rich treasures.' + +'If love can make me a treasure, I will be your treasure. And if love +can make me rich, I will be rich for you.' After that I think he had no +difficulty in following in his father's footsteps. + +After a while Mrs Crawley came in, and there was much pleasant talking +among them, while Henry Grantly sat happily with his love, as though +waiting for Mr Crawley's return. But though he was there nearly all +morning Mr Crawley did not return. 'I think he likes the brickmakers +better than anybody in the world, except ourselves,' said Grace. 'I +don't know how he will manage to get on without his friends.' Before +Grace has said this, Major Grantly had told all his story, and had +produced a letter from his father, addressed to Mr Crawley, of which the +reader shall have a copy, although at this time the letter had not been +opened. The letter was as follows:- + +'PLUMSTEAD RECTORY, May, 186- +'MY DEAR SIR, + +'You will no doubt have heard that Mr Harding, the vicar of +St Ewold's, who was the father of my wife and of Mrs Arabin, +has been taken from us. The loss to us of so excellent and +so dear a man has been very great. I have conferred with my +friend the Dean of Barchester as to a new nomination, and I +venture to request your acceptance of the preferment; if it +should suit you to move from Hogglestock to St Ewold's. It +may be as well that I should state plainly my reasons for +making this offer to a gentleman with whom I am not +personally acquainted. Mr Harding, on his death-bed, himself +suggested it, moved thereto by what he had heard of the +cruel and undeserved persecution to which you had been +subjected; as also--on which point he was very urgent in +what he said--by the character which you bear in the diocese +for zeal and piety. I may also add, that the close +connection which, as I understand, is likely to take place +between your family and mine has been an additional reason +for my taking this step, and the long friendship which has +existed between you and my wife's brother-in-law, the Dean +of Barchester, is a third. + +'St Ewold's is worth 350 pounds per annum, besides the +house, which is sufficiently commodious for a moderate +family. The population is about twelve hundred, of which +more than a half consists of persons dwelling in an outskirt +of the city--for the parish runs almost into Barchester. + +'I shall be glad to hear your reply with as little delay as +may suit your convenience, and in the event of your +accepting the offer--which I sincerely trust that you may be +enable to do--I shall hope to have an early opportunity of +seeing you, with reference to your institution to the +parish. + +'Allow me also to say to you and Mrs Crawley that, if we +have been correctly informed as to that other event to which +I have alluded, we both hope that we may have an early +opportunity of making ourselves personally acquainted with +the parents of a young lady who is to be so dear to us. As I +have met your daughter, I may perhaps be allowed to send her +my kindest love. If, as my daughter-in-law, she comes up to +the impression which she gave me at our first meeting, I, at +any rate, shall be satisfied.--I have the honour to be, my +dear sir, you most faithful servant, + +'THEOPHILUS GRANTLY' + +This letter the archdeacon had shown to his wife, by whom it had not +been very warmly approved. Nothing, Mrs Grantly had said, could be +prettier than what the archdeacon had said about Grace. Mrs Crawley, no +doubt, would be satisfied with that. But Mr Crawley was such a strange +man! 'He will be stranger than I take him to be if he does not accept St +Ewold's,' said the archdeacon. 'But in offering it,' said Mrs Grantly, +'you have not a said a word of your own high opinion of his merits.' 'I +have not a very high opinion of them,' said the archdeacon. 'Your father +had, and I have said so. And as I have the most profound respect for +your father's opinion in such a matter, I have permitted that to +overcome my own hesitation.' This was pretty from the husband to the +wife as it regarded her father, who had now gone from them; and, +therefore, Mrs Grantly accepted it without further argument. The reader +may probably feel assured that the archdeacon had never, during their +joint lives, acted in any church matter upon the advice given to him by +Mr Harding; and it was probably the case also that the living would have +been offered to Mr Crawley, if nothing had been said by Mr Harding on +the subject; but it did not become Mrs Grantly even to think of all +this. The archdeacon, having made his gracious speech about her father, +was not again asked to alter his letter. 'I suppose he will accept it,' +said Mrs Grantly. 'I should think that he probably may,' said the +archdeacon. + +So Grace, knowing what was the purport of the letter, sat with it +between her fingers, while her lover sat beside her, full of various +plans for the future. This was his first lover's present to her;--and +what a present it was! Comfort, and happiness, and a pleasant home for +all her family. 'St Ewold's isn't the best house in the world,' said the +major, 'because it is old, and what I call piecemeal; but it is very +pretty, and certainly nice.' 'That is just the sort of parsonage that I +dream about,' said Jane. 'And the garden is pleasant with old trees,' +said the major. 'I always dream about old trees,' said Jane, 'only I'm +afraid I'm too old myself to be let to climb up them now.' Mrs Crawley +said very little, but sat with her eyes full of tears. Was it possible +that, at last, before the world had closed upon her, she was to enjoy +something again of the comforts which she had known in her early years, +and to again surrounded by those decencies of life which of late had +been almost banished from her home of poverty! + +Their various plans for the future--for the immediate future--were very +startling. Grace was to go over at once to Plumstead, whither Edith had +been already transferred from Cosby Lodge. That was all very well; there +was nothing very startling or impracticable in that. The Framley ladies, +having none of those doubts as to what was coming which had for a while +perplexed Grace herself, had taken little liberties with her wardrobe, +which enabled such a visit to be made without overwhelming difficulties. +But the major was equally eager--or at any rate imperious--in his +requisition for a visit from Mr and Mrs Crawley themselves to Plumstead +rectory. Mrs Crawley did not dare to put forward the plain unadorned +reasons against it, as Mr Crawley had done when discussing the subject +of a visit to the deanery. Nor could she quite venture to explain that +she feared the archdeacon and her husband would hardly mix well together +in society. With whom, indeed, was it possible that her husband should +mix well, after his long and hardly-tried seclusion? She could only +plead that both her husband and herself were so little used to going out +that she feared--she feared--she feared she knew not what. 'We'll get +over all that,' said the major, almost contemptuously. 'It is only the +first plunge that is disagreeable.' Perhaps the major did not know how +very disagreeable a first plunge may be! + +At two o'clock Henry Grantly got up to go. 'I should very much like to +have seen him, but I fear I cannot wait any longer. As it is, the +patience of my horse has been surprising.' Then Grace walked out with +him to the gate and put her hand upon his bridle as he mounted, and +though how wonderful was the power of Fortune, that the goddess should +have sent so gallant a gentleman to be her lord and her lover. 'I +declare I don't quite believe it even yet,' she said, in the letter +which she wrote to Lily Dale that night. + +It was four before Mr Crawley returned to his house, and then he was +very weary. There were many sick in these days at Hoggle End, and he had +gone from cottage to cottage through the day. Giles Hoggett was almost +unable to work from rheumatism, but still was of the opinion that +doggedness might carry him on. 'It's been a deal o' service to you, +Muster Crawley,' he said. 'We hears about it all. If you hadn't a been +dogged, where'd you a been now?' With Giles Hoggett and others he had +remained all the day, and now he came home weary and beaten. 'You'll +tell him first,' Grace had said, 'and then I'll give him the letter.' +The wife was the first to tell him of the good fortune that was coming. + +He flung himself into the old chair as soon as he entered, and asked for +some bread and tea. 'Jane has already gone for it, dear,' said his wife. +'We have had a visitor here, Josiah.' + +'A visitor--what visitor?' + +'Grace's own friend--Henry Grantly.' + +'Grace, come here, that I may kiss you and bless you,' he said very +solemnly. 'It would seem that the world is going to be very good to +you.' + +'Papa, you must read this letter first.' + +'Before I kiss my own darling?' Then she knelt at his feet. 'I see,' +he said, taking the letter; 'it is from your lover's father. +Peradventure he signifies his consent, which would surely be needful +before such a marriage would be seemly.' + +'It isn't about me, papa, at all.' + +'Not about you? If so, that would be most unpromising. But, in any +case, you are my best darling.' Then he kissed her and blessed her, and +slowly opened the letter. His wife had now come close to him, and was +standing over him, touching him, so that she also could read the +archdeacon's letter. Grace, who was still in front of him, could see the +working of his face as he read it; but even she could not tell whether +he was gratified, or offended, or dismayed. When he had got as far as +the first offer of the presentation, he ceased reading it for a while, +and looked round about the room as though lost in thought. 'Let me see +what further he writes to me,' he then said; and after that he continued +the letter slowly to the end. 'Nay, my child, you were in error in +saying that he wrote not about you. 'Tis the writing of you that he has +put some real heart into his words. He writes as though his home would +be welcome to you.' + +'And does he not make St Ewold's welcome to you, papa?' + +'He makes me welcome to accept it--if I may use the word after the +ordinary and somewhat faulty parlance of mankind.' + +'And you will accept it--of course?' + +'I know not that, my dear. The acceptance of a cure of souls is a thing +not to be decided on in a moment--as is the colour of a garment or the +shape of a toy. Nor would I condescend to take this thing from the +archdeacon's hands, if I thought that he bestowed it simply that the +father of his daughter-in-law might no longer be accounted poor.' + +'Does he say that, papa?' + +'He gives it as a collateral reason, basing his offer first on the +kindly expressed judgment of one who is no more. Then he refers to the +friendship of the dean. If he believed that the judgment of his late +father-in-law in so weighty a matter were the best to be relied upon of +all that were at his command, then he would have done well to trust to +it. But in such a case he should have bolstered up a good ground for +action with no collateral supports which are weak--and worse than weak. +However, it shall have my best consideration, whereunto I hope that +wisdom will be given to me where only such wisdom can be had.' + +'Josiah,' said his wife to him, when they were alone, 'you will not +refuse it?' + +'Not willingly--not if it may be accepted. Alas! you need not urge me, +when the temptation is so strong!' + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIII + +MR CRAWLEY IS CONQUERED + +It was more than a week before the archdeacon received a reply from Mr +Crawley, during which time the dean had been over to Hogglestock more +than once, as had also Mrs Arabin and Lady Lufton the younger--and there +had been letters written without end, and the archdeacon had been nearly +beside himself. 'A man who pretends to conscientious scruples of that +kind is not fit to have a parish,' he had said to his wife. His wife +understood what he meant, and I trust that the reader may also +understand it. In the ordinary cutting of blocks a very fine razor is +not an appropriate instrument. The archdeacon, moreover, loved the +temporalities of the Church as temporalities. The Church was beautiful +to him because one man by interest might have a thousand a year, while +another man equally good, but without interest, could only have a +hundred. And he liked the men who had the interest a great deal better +than the men who had it not. He had been willing to admit the poor +perpetual curate, who had so long been kept out in the cold, within the +pleasant circle which was warm with ecclesiastical good things, and the +man hesitated--because of scruples, as the dean told him! 'I always +button up my pocket when I hear of scruples,' the archdeacon said. + +But at last Mr Crawley condescended to accept St Ewold's. + +'Reverend and dear sir,' he said in his letter: 'For the +personal benevolence of the offer made to me in your letter +of the -- instant, I beg to tender you my most grateful +thanks; as also for you generous kindness to me, in telling +me of the high praise bestowed upon me by a gentleman who is +now no more--whose character I have esteemed and whose good +opinion I value. There is, methinks, something inexpressibly +dear to me in the recorded praise of the dead. For the +further instance of the friendship of the Dean of +Barchester, I am also thankful. + +'Since the receipt of your letter I have doubted much as to +my fitness for the work you have proposed to entrust to +me--not from any feeling that the parish of St Ewold's may +be beyond my intellectual power, but because the latter +circumstances of my life have been of a nature so strange +and perplexing that they have left me somewhat in doubt as +to my own aptitude for going about among men without giving +offence and becoming a stumbling block. + +'Nevertheless, reverend and dear sir, if after this +confession on my part of a certain faulty demeanour with +which I know well that I am afflicted, you are still willing +to put the parish into my hands, I will accept the +charge--instigated to do so by the advice of all whom I have +consulted on the subject; and, in thus accepting it, I +hereby pledge myself to vacate it at a month's warning, +should I be called upon by you to do so at any period within +the next two years. Should I be so far successful during +those twenty-four months as to have satisfied both yourself +and myself, I may then perhaps venture to regard the +preferment as my own in perpetuity for life;--I have the +honour to be, reverend and dear sir, you most humble and +faithful servant, +'JOSIAH CRAWLEY' + +'Psha!' said the archdeacon, who professed that he did not at all like +the letter. 'I wonder what he would say if I sent him a month's notice +at next Michaelmas?' + +'I'm sure he would go,' said Mrs Grantly. + +'The more fool he,' said the archdeacon. + +At this time Grace was at the parsonage in a seventh heaven of +happiness. The archdeacon was never rough to her, nor did he make any of +his harsh remarks about her father in her presence. Before her St +Ewold's was spoken of as the home that was to belong to the Crawleys for +the next twenty years. Mrs Grantly was very loving with her, lavishing +upon her pretty presents, and words that were prettier than presents. +Grace's life had hitherto been so destitute of those prettinesses and +softnesses which can hardly be had without money though money alone will +not purchase them, that it seemed to her now that the heavens rained +graciousness upon her. It was not that the archdeacon's watch or her +lover's chain, or Mrs Grantly's locket, or the little toy from Italy +which Mrs Arabin brought to her from the treasures of the deanery, +filled her heart with undue exaltation. It was not that she revelled in +her new delights of silver and gold and shining gems; but that the +silver and gold and shining gems were constant indications to her that +things had changed, not only for her, but for her father and mother, and +brother and sister. She felt now more sure than ever that she could not +have enjoyed her love had she accepted her lover while the disgrace of +the accusation against her father remained. But now--having waited till +that had passed away, everything was a new happiness to her. + +At last it was settled that Mr and Mrs Crawley were to come to +Plumstead--and they came. it would be too long to tell now how gradually +had come about that changed state of things which made such a visit +possible. Mr Crawley had at first declared that such a thing was out of +the question. If St Ewold's was to depend upon it St Ewold's must be +given up. And I think that it would have been impossible for him to go +direct from Hogglestock to Plumstead. But it fell out after this wise. + +Mr Harding's curate at St Ewold's was nominated to Hogglestock, and the +dean urged upon his friend Crawley the expediency of giving up the house +as quickly as he could do so. Gradually at this time Mr Crawley had been +forced into a certain amount of intimacy with the haunts of men. He had +been twice or thrice at Barchester, and had lunched with the dean. He +had been at Framley for an hour or two, and had been forced into some +communication with old Mr Thorne, the squire of his new parish. The end +of this had been that he had at last consented to transfer himself and +wife and daughter to the deanery for a fortnight. He had preached one +farewell sermon at Hogglestock--not, as he told his audience, as their +pastor, which he had ceased to be now for some two or three months--but +as their old and loving friend, to whom the use of his former pulpit had +been lent, that he might express himself thus among them for the last +time. His sermon was very short, and was preached without book or +notes--but he never once paused for a word or halted in the string or +rhythm of his discourse. The dean was there and declared afterwards that +he had not given him credit for such powers of utterance. 'Any man can +utter out of a full heart,' Crawley had answered. 'In this trumpery +affair about myself, my heart is full! If we could only have our hearts +full in other matters, our utterances thereanent would receive more +attention.' To all of this the dean made no reply. + +On the day after this the Crawleys took their final departure from +Hogglestock, all the brickmakers from Hoggle End having assembled on the +occasion, with a purse containing seventeen pounds seven shillings and +sixpence, which they insisted on presenting to Mr Crawley, and as to +which there was a little difficulty. And at the deanery they remained +for a fortnight. How Mrs Crawley, under the guidance of Mrs Arabin, had +there so far trenched upon the revenues of St Ewold's as to provide for +her husband and herself raiment fitting for the worldly splendour of +Plumstead, need not here be told in detail. Suffice to say, the raiment +was forthcoming, and Mr Crawley found himself to be the perplexed +possessor of a black dress coat, in addition to the long frock, coming +nearly to his feet, which was provided for his daily wear. Touching this +garment, there had been some discussion between the dean and the new +vicar. The dean had desired that it should be curtailed in length. The +vicar had remonstrated--but still with something of the weakness of +compliance in his eye. Then the dean had persisted. 'Surely the price of +the cloth wanted to perfect the comeliness of the garment cannot be +much,' said the vicar, almost woefully. After that, the dean relented, +and the comeliness of the coat was made perfect. The new black long +frock, I think, Mr Crawley liked; but the dress coat, with the suit +complete, perplexed him sorely. + +With his new coat, and something also, of new manners, he and his wife +went over to Plumstead, leaving Jane at the deanery with Mrs Arabin. The +dean also went to Plumstead. They arrived there not much before dinner, +and as Grace was there before them the first moments were not so bad. +Before Mr Crawley had had time to feel himself lost in the drawing-room, +he was summoned away to prepare himself for dinner--for dinner, and for +the coat, which at the deanery he had been allowed to leave unworn. 'I +would with all my heart that I might retire to rest,' he said to his +wife, when the ceremony had been perfected. + +'Do not say so. Go down and take your place with them, and speak your +mind with them--as you so well know how. Who among them can do it so +well?' + +'I have been told,' said Mr Crawley, 'that you shall take a cock which +is lord of the farmyard--the cock of all that walk--and when you have +daubed his feathers with mud, he shall be thrashed by every dunghill +coward. I say not that I was ever the cock of the walk, but I know that +they have daubed my feathers.' Then he went down among the other poultry +in the farmyard. + +At dinner he was very silent, answering, however, with a sort of +graceful stateliness any word that Mrs Grantly addressed to him. Mr +Thorne, of Ullathorne, was there also to meet his new vicar, as was also +Mr Thorne's very old sister, Miss Monica Thorne. And Lady Anne Grantly +was there--she having come with the expressed intention that the wives +of the two brothers should know each other--but with a warmer desire, I +think, of seeing Mr Crawley, of whom the clerical world had been talking +since some notice of the accusations against him had become general. +There were, therefore, ten or twelve at the dinner-table, and Mr Crawley +had not made one at such a board certainly since his marriage. All went +fairly smooth with him till the ladies left the room; for though Lady +Anne, who sat at his left hand, had perplexed him somewhat with clerical +questions, he had found that he was not called upon for much more than +monosyllabic responses. But in his heart he feared the archdeacon and he +felt that when the ladies were gone the archdeacon would not leave him +alone in his silence. + +As soon as the door was closed, the first subject mooted was that of the +Plumstead fox, which had been so basely murdered on Mr Thorne's ground. +Mr Thorne had confessed the iniquity, had dismissed the murderous +gamekeeper, and all was serene. But the greater on that account was the +feasibility of discussing the question, and the archdeacon had a good +deal to say about it. Then Mr Thorne turned to the new vicar, and asked +him whether foxes abounded in Hogglestock. Had he been asked as to the +rats or moles, he would have known more about it. + +'Indeed, sir, I know not whether or no there be any foxes in the parish +of Hogglestock. I do not remember me that I ever saw one. It is an +animal whose habits I have not watched.' + +'There is an earth at Hoggle Bushes,' said the major; 'and I never knew +it without a litter.' + +'I think I know the domestic whereabouts of every fox in Plumstead,' +said the archdeacon, with an ill-natured intention of astonishing Mr +Crawley. + +'Of foxes with two legs our friend is speaking, without doubt,' said the +vicar of St Ewold's, with an attempt at grim pleasantry. + +'Of them we have none at Plumstead. No--I was speaking of the dear old +fellow with the brush. Pass the bottle, Mr Crawley. Won't you fill your +glass?' Mr Crawley passed the bottle, but would not fill the glass. Then +the dean, looking up slyly, saw the vexation written in the archdeacon's +face. The parson whom the archdeacon feared most of all was the parson +who wouldn't fill his glass. + +Then the subject was changed. 'I'm told that the bishop has at last +made his reappearance on his throne,' said the archdeacon. + +'He was in the cathedral last Sunday,' said the dean. + +'Does he ever mean to preach again?' 'He never did preach very often,' +said the dean. + +'A great deal too often, from all people say,' said the archdeacon. 'I +never heard him myself, and never shall, I daresay. You have heard him, +Mr Crawley?' + +'I have never had that good fortune, Mr Archdeacon. But living as I +shall now do, so near to the city, I may perhaps be enabled to attend +the cathedral service on some holy-day of the Church, which may not +require prayers in my own rural parish. I think that the clergy of the +diocese should be acquainted with the opinions, and with the voice, and +with the very manner and words of their bishop. As things are now done, +this is not possible. I could wish that there were occasions on which a +bishop might assemble his clergy, and preach to them sermons adapted to +their use.' + +'What do you call a bishop's charge, then?' + +'It is usually in the printed form that I have received it,' said Mr +Crawley. + +'I think we have had quite enough of that kind of thing,' said the +archdeacon. + +'He is a man whose conversation is not pleasing to me,' Mr Crawley said +to his wife that night. + +'Do not judge him too quickly, Josiah,' his wife said. 'There is so +much of good in him! He is kind, and generous, and I think +affectionate.' + +'But he is of the earth, earthy. When you and the other ladies had +retired, the conversation at first fell on the habits and value +of--foxes. I have been informed that in these parts the fox is greatly +prized, as without a fox to run before the dogs, that scampering over +the country which is called hunting, and which delights by the quickness +and perhaps the peril of the exercise, is not relished by the riders. Of +the wisdom or taste herein displayed by the hunters of the day I say +nothing. But it seemed to me that in talking of foxes Dr Grantly was +master of his subject. Thence the topic glided to the duties of a bishop +and to questions of preaching, as to which Dr Grantly was not slow in +offering his opinion. But I thought that I would rather have heard him +talk about the foxes for a week together.' She said nothing more to him, +knowing well how useless it was to attempt to turn him by any argument. +To her thinking the kindness of the archdeacon to them personally +demanded some indulgence in the expression, and even in the formation, +of an opinion, respecting his clerical peculiarities. + +On the next day, however, Mr Crawley, having been summoned by the +archdeacon into the library for a little private conversation, found +that he got on better with him. How the archdeacon conquered him may +perhaps be best described by a further narration of what Mr Crawley told +his wife. 'I told him that in regard to money matters, as he called +them, I had nothing to say. I only trusted that his son was aware that +my daughter had no money, and never would have any. "My dear Crawley," +the archdeacon said--for of late there seems to have grown up in the +world a habit of greater familiarity than that which I think did prevail +when last I moved much among men--"my dear Crawley, I have enough for +both." "I would we stood on more equal ground," I said. Then as he +answered me, he rose from his chair. "We stand," said he, "on the +perfect level on which men can meet each other. We are both gentlemen." +"Sir," I said, rising also, "from the bottom of the heart I agree with +you. I could not have spoken such words; but coming from you who are +rich to me am poor, they are honourable to the one and comfortable to +the other."' + +'And after that?' + +'He took down from the shelves a volume of some sermons which his father +published many years ago, and presented to me. I have it now under my +arm. It hath the old bishop's manuscript notes, which I will study +carefully.' And thus the archdeacon had hit his bird on both wings. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIV + +CONCLUSION + +It now only remains for me to gather together a few loose strings, and +tie them together in a knot, so that my work may not become untwisted. +Early in July, Henry Grantly and Grace Crawley were married in the +parish church of Plumstead--a great impropriety, as to which neither +Archdeacon Grantly nor Mr Crawley could be got to assent for a long +time, but which was at last carried, not simply by a union of Mrs +Grantly and Mrs Crawley, nor even by the assistance of Mrs Arabin, but +by the strong intervention of Lady Lufton herself. 'Of course Miss +Crawley ought to be married from St Ewold's vicarage; but when the +furniture has only been half got in, how is it possible?' When Lady +Lufton thus spoke, the archdeacon gave way, and Mr Crawley hadn't a leg +to stand on. Henry Grantly had not an opinion on the matter. He told his +father that he expected that they would marry him among them, and that +that had been enough for him. As for Grace, nobody even thought of +asking her; and I doubt whether she would have heard anything about the +contest, had not some tidings of it reached her from her lover. Married +they were at Plumstead--and the breakfast was given with all that +luxuriance of plenty which was so dear to the archdeacon's mind. Mr +Crawley was the officiating priest. With his hands dropping before him, +folded humbly, he told the archdeacon--when that Plumstead question had +been finally settled in opposition to his wishes--that he would fain +himself perform the ceremony by which his dearest daughter would be +bound to her marriage duties. 'And who else should?' said the +archdeacon. Mr Crawley muttered that he had not known how far his +reverend brother might have been willing to waive his rights. But the +archdeacon, who was in high good-humour--having just bestowed a little +pony carriage on his new daughter-in-law--only laughed at him; and, if +the rumour which was handed about the families be true, the archdeacon, +before the interview was over, had poked Mr Crawley in the ribs. Mr +Crawley married them; but the archdeacon assisted--and the dean gave the +bride away. The Rev Charles Grantly was there also; and as there was, as +a matter of course, a cloud of curates floating in the distance, Henry +Grantly was perhaps to be excused for declaring to his wife, when the +pair had escaped, that surely no couple had ever been so tightly buckled +since marriage had first become a Church ceremony. + +Soon after that, Mr and Mrs Crawley became quiet at St Ewold's, and, as +I think, contented. Her happiness began very quickly. Though she had +been greatly broken by her troubles, the first sight she had of her +husband in his new long frock-coat went far to restore her, and while he +was declaring himself to be a cock so daubed with mud as to be incapable +of crowing, she was congratulating herself on seeing her husband once +more clothed as became his position. And they were lucky, too, as +regarded the squire's house; for Mr Thorne was old, and quiet, and old- +fashioned; and Miss Thorne was older, and though she was not exactly +quiet, she was very old-fashioned indeed. So that there grew to be a +pleasant friendship between Miss Thorne and Mrs Crawley. + +Johnny Eames, when last I heard of him, was still a bachelor, and, as I +think, likely to remain so. At last he had utterly thrown over Sir +Raffle Buffle, declaring to his friends that the special duties of +private secretaryship were not exactly to his taste. 'You get so sick at +the thirteenth private note,' he said, 'that you find yourself unable to +carry on the humbug any farther.' But he did not leave his office. 'I'm +the head of a room, you know,' he told Lady Julia De Guest; 'and there's +nothing to trouble me--and a fellow, you know, ought to have something +to do.' Lady Julia told him, with a great deal of energy, that she would +never forgive him if he gave up his office. After that eventful night +when he escaped ignominiously from the house of Lady Demolines under the +protection of the policeman's lantern, he did hear more than once from +Porchester Terrace, and from allies employed by the enemy who was there +resident. 'My cousin the serjeant' proved to be a myth. Johnny found out +all about that Serjeant Runter, who was distantly connected, indeed, +with the late husband of Lady Demolines, but had always persistently +declined to have any intercourse whatever with her ladyship. For the +serjeant was a rising man, and Lady Demolines was not exactly +progressing in the world. Johnny heard nothing from the serjeant; but +from Madalina he got letter after letter. In the first she asked him not +to think too much of the little joke that had occurred. In her second, +she described the vehemence of her love. In her third the bitterness of +her wrath. Her fourth simply invited him to come and dine in Porchester +Terrace. Her fifth was the outpouring of injured innocence. And then +came letters from an attorney. Johnny answered not a word to any of +them, and gradually the letters were discontinued. Within six months of +the receipt of the last, he was delighted by reading among the marriages +in the newspapers, a notice that Peter Bangles, Esq., of the firm Burton +and Bangles, wine merchants, of Hook Court, had been united to Madalina, +daughter of the late Sir Confucius Demolines, at the church of Peter the +Martyr. 'Most appropriate,' said Johnny, as he read the notice to Conway +Dalrymple, who was then back from his wedding tour; 'for most assuredly +there will now be another Peter the Martyr.' + +'I'm not so sure of that,' said Conway, who had heard something of Mr +Peter Bangles. 'There are men who have strong wills of their own and +strong hands of their own.' + +'Poor Madalina!' said Johnny. 'If he does beat her, I hope he will do +it tenderly. It may be that a little of it will suit her fevered +temperament.' + +Before the summer was over Conway Dalrymple had been married to Clara +Van Siever, and by a singular arrangement of circumstances had married +her with the full approval of old Mrs Van. Mr Musselboro--whose name I +hope has not been altogether forgotten, though the part played by him +has been subordinate--had opposed Dalrymple in the efforts made by the +artist to get something out of Broughton's estate for the benefit of the +widow. From circumstances of which Dalrymple learned the particulars +with the aid of an attorney, it seemed to him that certain facts were +wilfully kept in the dark by Musselboro, and he went with his complaint +to Mrs Van Siever, declaring that he would bring the whole affair into +court, unless all the workings of the firm were made clear to him. Mrs +Van was very insolent to him--and even turned him out of the house. But, +nevertheless, she did not allow Mr Musselboro to escape. Whoever was to +be left in the dark she did not wish it to be herself;--and it began to +dawn upon her that her dear Mr Musselboro was deceiving her. Then she +sent for Dalrymple, and without a word of apology for her former +conduct, put him upon the right track. As he was pushing his inquiries +and working heaven and earth for the unfortunate widow--as to whom he +swore daily that when this matter was settled he would never see her +again, so terrible was she to him with her mock affection and pretended +hysterics, and false moralities--he was told one day that she had gone +off with Mr Musselboro! Mr Musselboro, finding that this was the surest +plain of obtaining for himself the little business in Hook Court, +married the widow of his late partner, and is at this moment probably +carrying a law-suit with Mrs Van. For the law-suit Conway Dalrymple +cared nothing. When the quarrel had become hot between Mrs Van and her +late myrmidon, Clara fell into Conway's hands without opposition; and, +let the law-suit go as it may, there will be enough left of Mrs Van's +money to make the house of Mr and Mrs Conway Dalrymple very comfortable. +The picture of Jael and Sisera was stitched up without any difficulty, +and I daresay most of my readers will remember it hanging on the walls +of the exhibition. + +Before I take my leave of the diocese of Barchester for ever, which I +purpose to do in the succeeding paragraph, I desire to be allowed to say +one word of apology for myself, in answer to those who have accused +me--always without bitterness, and generally with tenderness--of having +forgotten, in writing of clergymen, the first and most prominent +characteristic of the ordinary English clergyman's life. I have +described many clergymen, they say, but have spoken of them all as +though their professional duties, their high calling, their daily +workings for the good of those around them, were matters of no moment, +either to me, or in my opinion, to themselves. I would plead, in answer +to this, that my object has been to paint the social and not the +professional lives of clergymen; and that I have been led to do so, +firstly, by a feeling that as no men affect more strongly, by their own +character, the society of those around than do country clergymen, so, +therefore, their social habits have been worth the labour necessary for +painting them; and secondly, by a feeling that though I, as a novelist, +may feel myself entitled to write of clergymen out of their pulpits, as +I may also write of lawyers and doctors, I have no such liberty to write +of them in their pulpits. When I have done so, if I have done so, I have +so far transgressed. There are those who have told me that I have made +all my clergymen bad, and none good. I must venture to hint to such +judges that they have taught their eyes to love a colouring higher than +nature justifies. We are, most of us, apt to love Raphael's madonnas +better than Rembrandt's matrons. But, though we do so, we know that +Rembrandt's matrons existed; but we have a strong belief that no such +woman as Raphael painted ever did exist. In that he painted, as he may +be surmised to have done, for pious purposes--at least for Church +purposes--Raphael was justified; but had he painted so for family +portraiture he would have been false. Had I written an epic about +clergymen, I would have taken St Paul for my model; but describing, as I +have endeavoured to do, such clergymen as I see around me, I could not +venture to be transcendental. For myself I can only say that I shall +always be happy to sit, when allowed to do so, at the table of +Archdeacon Grantly, to walk through the High Street of Barchester arm in +arm with Mr Robarts of Framley, and to stand alone and shed a tear +beneath the modest black stone in the north transept of the cathedral on +which is inscribed the name of Septimus Harding. + +And now, if the reader will allow me to seize him affectionately by the +arm, we will together take our last farewell of Barset and of the towers +of Barchester. I may not venture to say to him that, in this country, he +and I together have wandered often through the country lanes, and have +ridden together over the too well-wooded fields, or have stood together +in the cathedral nave listening to the peals of the organ, or have +together sat at good men's tables, or have confronted together the angry +pride of men who were not good. I may not boast that any beside myself +have so realised the place, and the people, and the facts, as to make +such reminiscences possible as those which I should attempt to evoke by +an appeal to perfect fellowship. But to me Barset has been a real +county, and its city a real city, and the spires and towers have been +before my eyes, and the voices of the people are known to my ears, and +the pavement of the city ways are familiar to my footsteps. To them all +I now say farewell. That I have been induced to wander among them too +long by my love for old friendships, and by the sweetness of old faces, +is a fault for which I may perhaps be more readily forgiven, when I +repeat, with solemnity of assurance, that promise made in my title, that +this shall be the last chronicle of Barset. + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Last Chronicle of Barset, by Anthony Trollope + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET *** + +This file should be named lacob11.txt or lacob11.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, lacob11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lacob10a.txt + +This etext was prepared by KENNETH DAVID COOPER <cooper.kd@bigpond.com> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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