DR. TEMPEST AT THE PALACE.
[Illustration]
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 those 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 now 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
ministrations 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 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 him to mercy. The judge will have heard his character,
and will have been made acquainted with his manner of 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 always had 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
upon 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 have been 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 any 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 is 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 of 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 the 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 about 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 a 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 so sorry the Luftons 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
could not 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.
Tempest 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 almost
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 his 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 the 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 of 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 matter of discord on church
matters,--the archdeacon professing an opinion that the Southerners
were Christian gentlemen, and the Northerners infidel 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 social
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 had 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 the 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 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 their 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 some 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 at the palace 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 be not done the
whole diocese will be disgraced." Then she waited 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 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 now 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 that I shall 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 nearly 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 that 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 to fight 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 upon the field of battle as
though she had never been even 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 the 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 his country may award to
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 his 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 to take any part in 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 to 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 a 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
any one 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 you will agree with me in a matter that
is of so 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 this 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 to 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
his 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 allusion 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. Quiverful, 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 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 that 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 virtues
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 any
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.