The Last Chronicle of Barset (54 page)

‘H – m – ha. How d've 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 within the reach of his eye than that of his wife. So the bishop pointed to an arm-chair opposite himself and near the fire, and Mr Chadwick seated himself accordingly.

‘This is a very sad affair about Mr Crawley,' said the bishop.

‘Very sad 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 believe that 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, 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 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 that 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.

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 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?' said his mother.

‘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 – simply 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 with 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 frittering 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 in 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 or 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 his telling such a tale of love at that time? When he told it, he knew that 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.