THE NEW DEAN TAKES POSSESSION OF THE DEANERY AND THE NEW WARDEN OF
THE HOSPITAL
Mr Harding and the archdeacon together made their way to Oxford,
and there, by dint of cunning argument, they induced the Master of
Lazarus also to ask himself this momentous question: 'Why should
not Mr Arabin be Dean of Barchester?' He of course, for a while
tried his hand at persuading Mr Harding that he was foolish,
over-scrupulous, self-willed, and weak-minded; but he tried in
vain. If Mr Harding would not give way to Dr Grantly, it was not
likely that he would give way to Dr Gwynne; more especially now
that so admirable a scheme as that of inducting Mr Arabin into the
deanery had been set on foot. When the master found that his
eloquence was vain, and heard also that Mr Arabin was about to
become Mr Harding's son-in-law, he confessed that he also would,
under such circumstances, be glad to see his old friend and
protege, the fellow of his college, placed in the comfortable
position that was going a-begging.
'It might be the means, you know, Master, of keeping Mr Slope out,'
said the archdeacon with grave caution.
'He has no more chance of it,' said the master, 'that our college
chaplain. I know about it than that.'
Mrs Grantly had been right in her surmise. It was the Master of
Lazarus who had been instrumental in representing in high places
the claims of Mr Harding had from the Government; and he now
consented to use his best endeavours towards getting the offer
transferred to Mr Arabin. The three of them went on to London
together, and there they remained a week, to the great disgust of
Mrs Grantly, and most probably also of Mrs Gwynne. The minister was
out of town in one direction, and his private secretary in another.
The clerks who remained could do nothing in such a matter as this,
and all was difficulty and confusion. The two doctors seemed to
have plenty to do; they bustled here and they bustled there, and
complained at their club in the evenings that they had been driven
off their legs; but Mr Harding had no occupation. Once or twice he
suggested that he might perhaps return to Barchester. His request,
however, was peremptorily refused, and had nothing for it but to
while away his time in Westminster Abbey.
At length an answer from the great man came. The Master of Lazarus
had made his proposition through the Bishop of Belgravia. Now the
bishop, tough but newly gifted with his diocesan honours, was a man
of much weight in the clerico-political world. He was, if not as
pious, at any rate as wise as St Paul, and had been with so much
effect all things to all men, that though he was great among the
dons of Oxford, he had been selected for the most favourite seat on
the bench by a Whig Prime Minister. To him Dr Gwynne had made known
his wishes and his arguments, and the bishop had made them known to
the Marquis of Kensington Gore. The marquis, who was Lord High
Steward of the Pantry Board, and who by most men was supposed to
hold the highest office out of the cabinet, trafficked much in
affairs of this kind. He not only suggested the arrangement to the
minister over a cup of coffee, standing on a drawing-room rug in
Windsor Castle, but he also favourably mentioned Mr Arabin's name
in the ear of a distinguished person.
And so the matter was arranged. The answer of the great man came,
and Mr Arabin was made Dean of Barchester. The three clergymen who
had come up to town on this important mission dined together with
great glee on the day on which the news reached them. In a silent
manner, they toasted Mr Arabin with full bumpers of claret. The
satisfaction of all of them was supreme. The Master of Lazarus had
been successful in his attempt, and success is dear to us all. The
archdeacon had trampled upon Mr Slope, and had lifted to high
honours the young clergyman whom he had induced to quit the
retirement and comfort of the university. So at least the
archdeacon thought; though, to speak sooth, not he, but
circumstances had trampled on Mr Slope. But the satisfaction of Mr
Harding was, of all perhaps, the most complete. He laid aside his
usual melancholy manner, and brought forth little quiet jokes from
the utmost mirth of his heart; he poked fun at the archdeacon about
Mr Slope's marriage, and quizzed him for his improper love for Mrs
Proudie. On the following day they all returned to Barchester.
It was arranged that Mr Arabin should know nothing of what had been
done till he received the minister's letter from the hands of his
embryo father-in-law. In order that no time be lost, a message had
been sent to him by the preceding night's post, begging him to be
at the deanery at the hour that the train from London arrived.
There was nothing in this which surprised Mr Arabin. It had somehow
got about through all bah that Mr Harding was the new dean, and all
Barchester was prepared to welcome him with pealing bells and full
hearts. Mr Slope had certainly had a party; there had certainly
been those in Barchester who were prepared to congratulate him on
his promotion with assumed sincerity, but even his own party were
not broken-hearted by his failure. The inhabitants of the city,
even the high-souled ecstatic young ladies of thirty-five, had
begun to comprehend that their welfare and the welfare of the
place, was connected in some mysterious manner with the daily
chants of the bi-weekly anthems. The expenditure of the palace had
not added greatly to the popularity of the bishop's side of the
question; and, on the whole, there was a strong reaction. When it
became known to all the world that Mr Harding was to be the new
dean, all the world rejoiced heartily.
Mr Arabin, as we have said, was not surprised at the summons which
called him to the deanery. He had not as yet seen Mr Harding since
Eleanor had accepted him, nor had he seen him since he had learnt
of his future father-in-law's preferment. There was nothing more
natural, more necessary, than that they should meet each other at
the earliest possible moment.
Mr Arabin was waiting at the deanery parlour when Mr Harding and Dr
Grantly were driven up from the station.
There was some excitement in the bosoms of them all, as they met
and shook hands; but far too much to enable either of them to begin
his story and tell it in a proper equable style of narrative. Mr
Harding was some minutes quite dumbfounded, and Mr Arabin could
only talk in short, spasmodic sentences about his love and good
fortune. He slipped in, as best he could, some sort of
congratulation about the deanship, and then went on with his hopes
and fears--hopes that he might be received as a son, and fears that
he hardly deserved such good fortune. Then he went back to the
dean; it was the most thoroughly satisfactory appointment, he said,
of which he had ever heard.
'But! But! But--' said Mr Harding; and then failing to get any
further, he looked imploringly at the archdeacon.
'The truth is, Arabin,' said the doctor, 'that, after all you are
not destined to be the son-in-law to a dean. Nor am I either: more's
the pity.'
Mr Arabin looked to him for explanation. 'Is not Mr Harding to be
the new dean?'
'It appears not,' said the archdeacon. Mr Arabin's face fell a
little, and he looked from one to the other. It was plainly to be
seen from them both that there was no cause for unhappiness in the
matter, at least not of an unhappiness to them; but there was as
yet no clarification of the mystery.
'Think how old I am,' said Mr Harding imploringly.
'Fiddlestick!' said the archdeacon.
'That's all very well, but it won't make a young man of me,' said
Mr Harding.
'And who is to be the dean?' asked Mr Arabin.
'Yes, that is the question,' said the archdeacon. 'Come, Mr
Precentor, since you obstinately refuse to be anything else, let us
know who is to be the man. He has got the nomination in his
pocket.'
With eyes brim full of tears, Mr Harding pulled out the letter and
handed it to his future son-in-law. He tried to make a little
speech, but failed altogether. Having given up the document, he
turned round to the wall, feigning to blow his nose, and then sat
himself down on the old dean's dingy horse-hair sofa. And here we
find it necessary to bring our account of the interview to an end.
Nor can we pretend to describe the rapture with which Mr Harding
was received by his daughter. She wept with grief and with joy;
with grief that her father should, in his old age, still be without
that rank and worldly position, which, according to her ideas, he
had so well earned; and with joy that he, her darling father,
should have bestowed on that other dear one the good things of
which he himself would not open his hand to take possession. And
her, Mr Harding again showed his weakness. In the melee of the
exposal of their loves and reciprocal affection, he found himself
unable to resist the entreaties of all parties that his lodgings in
the High Street should be given up. Eleanor would not live in the
deanery, she said, unless her father lived there also. Mr Arabin
would not be dean, unless Mr Harding would be co-dean with him. The
archdeacon declared that his father-in-law should not have his own
way in everything, and Mrs Grantly carried him off to Plumstead,
that he might remain there till Mr and Mrs Arabin were in a state
to receive him at their own mansion.
Pressed by such arguments as these, what could a weak man do but
yield?
But there was yet another task which it behoved Mr Harding to do
before he could allow himself to be at rest. Little has been said
in these pages of the state of those remaining old men who had
lived under his sway at the hospital. But not on this account must
it be presumed that he had forgotten them, or that in their state
of anarchy and in their want of government he had omitted to visit
them. He visited them constantly, and had latterly given them to
understand that they would soon be required to subscribe their
adherence to a new master. There were now but five of them, one of
them not having been but quite lately carried to his rest--but five
of the full number, which had hitherto been twelve, and which was
now to be raised to twenty-four, including women. Of these old
Bunce, who for many years, had been the favourite of the late
warden, was one; and Abel Handy, who had been the humble means from
driving that warden from his home, was another.
Mr Harding now resolved that he himself would introduce the new
warden to the hospital. He felt that many circumstances might
conspire to make the men receive Mr Quiverful with aversion and
disrespect; he felt also that Mr Quiverful might himself feel some
qualms of conscience if he entered the hospital with an idea that
he did so in hostility to his predecessor. Mr Harding therefore
determined to walk in, arm in arm, with Mr Quiverful, and to ask
from these men their respectful obedience to their new master.
On returning to Barchester, he found that Mr Quiverful had not yet
slept in the hospital house, or entered on his new duties. He
accordingly made known to that gentleman his wishes, and his
proposition was not rejected.
It was a bright clear morning, though in November, that Mr Harding
and Mr Quiverful, arm in arm, walked through the hospital gate. It
was one trait in our old friend's character that he did nothing
with parade. He omitted, even in the more important doings of his
life, that sort of parade by which most of us deem it necessary to
grace our important doings. We have housewarmings, christenings,
and gala days; we keep, if not our own birthdays, those of our
children; we are apt to fuss ourselves, if called upon to change
our residences, and have, almost all of us, our little state
occasions. Mr Harding, had no state occasions. When he left his old
house, he went forth from it with the same quiet composure as
though he were merely taking his daily walk; and now that he
re-entered it with another warden under his wing, he did so with
the same quiet step and calm demeanour. He was a little less
upright than he had been five years, nay, it was nearly six years
ago; he walked perhaps a little slower; his footfall was perhaps a
thought less firm; otherwise one might have same that he was merely
returning with a friend under his arm.
This friendliness was everything to Mr Quiverful. To him, even in
his poverty, the thought that he was supplanting a brother
clergyman so kind and courteous as Mr Harding, had been very
bitter. Under his circumstances it had been impossible for him to
refuse the proffered boon; he could not reject the bread that was
offered to his children, or refuse to ease the heavy burden that
had so long oppressed that poor wife of his; nevertheless, it had
been very grievous to him to think that in going to the hospital he
might encounter the ill will of his brethren in the diocese. All
this Mr Harding had fully comprehended. It was for such feelings as
these, for the nice comprehension of such motives, that his heart
and intellect were peculiarly fitted. In most matters of worldly
import the archdeacon set down his father-in-law as little better
than a fool. And perhaps he was right. But in some other matters,
equally important if they be rightly judged, Mr Harding, had he
been so minded, might with as much propriety have set down his
son-in-law for a fool. Few men, however, are constituted as was Mr
Harding. He had that nice appreciation of the feelings of others
which belongs of right exclusively to women.
Arm in arm they walked into the inner quadrangle of the building,
and there the five old men met them. Mr Harding shook hands with
them all, and then Mr Quiverful did the same. With Bunce Mr Harding
shook hands twice, and Mr Quiverful was about to repeat the
ceremony but the old man gave him no encouragement.
'I am very glad to know that at last you have a new warden,' said
Mr Harding in a very cheery voice.
'We be very old for any change,' said one of them; 'but we do
suppose it be all for the best.'
'Certainly--certainly, it is for the best,' said Mr Harding. 'You
will again have a clergyman of your own church under the same roof
with you, and a very excellent clergyman you will have. It is a
great satisfaction to me to know that so good a man is coming to
take care of you, and that it is no stranger, but a friend of my
own, who will allow me from time to time to come in and see you.'
'We be thankful to your reverence,' said another of them.
'I need not tell you, my good friends,' said Mr Quiverful, 'how
extremely grateful I am to Mr Harding for his kindness to me,--I
must say his uncalled for, his unexpected kindness.'
'He be always very kind,' said a third.
'What I can do to fill the void which he left here, I will do. For
your sake and my own I will do so, and especially for his sake. But
to you who have known him, I can never be the same well-loved
friend and father that he has been.'
'No, no, sir,' said old Bunce, who hitherto had held his peace; 'no
one can be that. Not if the new bishop sent a hangel to us from
heaven. We doesn't doubt you'll do your best, sir, but you'll not
be like the old master; not to us old ones.'
'Fie, Bunce, fie! how dare you talk in that way!' said Mr Harding;
but as he scolded the old man he still held him by his arm, and
pressed it with warm affection.
There was no getting any enthusiasm in the matter. How could five
old men tottering away to their final resting-place be enthusiastic
on the reception of a stranger? What could Mr Quiverful be to them,
or they to Mr Quiverful? Had Mr Harding indeed come back to them,
some last flicker of joyous light might have shone forth on their
aged cheeks; but it was in vain to bid them rejoice because Mr
Quiverful was about to move his fourteen children from Puddingdale
into the hospital house. In reality they did no doubt receive
advantage, spiritual as well as corporal; but this they could
neither anticipate nor acknowledge.
It was a dull affair enough, this introduction of Mr Quiverful; but
still it had its effect. The good which Mr Harding intended did not
fall to the ground. All the Barchester world, including the five
old bedesmen, treated Mr Quiverful with the more respect, because
Mr Harding had thus walked in arm in arm with him, on his first
entrance to his duties.
And here in their new abode we will leave Mr and Mrs Quiverful and
their fourteen children. May they enjoy the good things which
Providence has at length given to them!