551 files changed, 57872 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/28006-8.txt b/28006-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6223f17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,18059 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Perpetual Curate
+
+Author: Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+Release Date: February 5, 2009 [EBook #28006]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERPETUAL CURATE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Chronicles of Carlingford.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+PERPETUAL CURATE
+
+MRS OLIPHANT
+
+
+_ALLA PADRONA MIA;
+ED A TE, SORELLA CARISSIMA!
+CONSOLATRICI GENTILLISSIME
+DELLA DESOLATA._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Carlingford is, as is well known, essentially a quiet place. There is
+no trade in the town, properly so called. To be sure, there are two or
+three small counting-houses at the other end of George Street, in that
+ambitious pile called Gresham Chambers; but the owners of these places
+of business live, as a general rule, in villas, either detached or
+semi-detached, in the North-end, the new quarter, which, as everybody
+knows, is a region totally unrepresented in society. In Carlingford
+proper there is no trade, no manufactures, no anything in particular,
+except very pleasant parties and a superior class of people--a very
+superior class of people, indeed, to anything one expects to meet
+with in a country town, which is not even a county town, nor the seat
+of any particular interest. It is the boast of the place that it has no
+particular interest--not even a public school: for no reason in the
+world but because they like it, have so many nice people collected
+together in those pretty houses in Grange Lane--which is, of course, a
+very much higher tribute to the town than if any special inducement had
+led them there. But in every community some centre of life is necessary.
+This point, round which everything circles, is, in Carlingford, found in
+the clergy. They are the administrators of the commonwealth, the only
+people who have defined and compulsory duties to give a sharp outline to
+life. Somehow this touch of necessity and business seems needful even
+in the most refined society: a man who is obliged to be somewhere at a
+certain hour, to do something at a certain time, and whose public duties
+are not volunteer proceedings, but indispensable work, has a certain
+position of command among a leisurely and unoccupied community, not to
+say that it is a public boon to have some one whom everybody knows and
+can talk of. The minister in Salem Chapel was everything in his little
+world. That respectable connection would not have hung together half so
+closely but for this perpetual subject of discussion, criticism, and
+patronage; and, to compare great things with small, society in Carlingford
+recognised in some degree the same human want. An enterprising or
+non-enterprising rector made all the difference in the world in Grange
+Lane; and in the absence of a rector that counted for anything (and poor
+Mr Proctor was of no earthly use, as everybody knows), it followed, as a
+natural consequence, that a great deal of the interest and influence of
+the position fell into the hands of the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+But that position was one full of difficulties, as any one acquainted
+with the real state of affairs must see in a moment. Mr Wentworth's
+circumstances were, on the whole, as delicate and critical as can be
+imagined, both as respected his standing in Carlingford and the place
+he held in his own family--not to speak of certain other personal
+matters which were still more troublesome and vexatious. These last of
+course were of his own bringing on; for if a young man chooses to fall
+in love when he has next to nothing to live upon, trouble is sure to
+follow. He had quite enough on his hands otherwise without that
+crowning complication. When Mr Wentworth first came to Carlingford,
+it was in the days of Mr Bury, the Evangelical rector--his last
+days, when he had no longer his old vigour, and was very glad of
+"assistance," as he said, in his public and parish work. Mr Bury had a
+friendship of old standing with the Miss Wentworths of Skelmersdale,
+Mr Francis Wentworth's aunts; and it was a long time before the old
+Rector's eyes were opened to the astounding fact, that the nephew of
+these precious and chosen women held "views" of the most dangerous
+complexion, and indeed was as near Rome as a strong and lofty
+conviction of the really superior catholicity of the Anglican Church
+would permit him to be. Before he found this out, Mr Bury, who had
+unlimited confidence in preaching and improving talk, had done all he
+could to get the young man to "work," as the good Rector called it,
+and had voluntarily placed all that difficult district about the canal
+under the charge of the Curate of St Roque's. It is said that the
+horror with which, after having just written to Miss Leonora Wentworth
+to inform her what "a great work" his young friend was doing among the
+bargemen, Mr Bury was seized upon entering St Roque's itself for the
+first time after the consecration, when the young priest had arranged
+everything his own way, had a very bad effect on his health, and
+hastened his end. And it is indeed a fact that he died soon after,
+before he had time to issue the interdict he intended against Mr
+Wentworth's further exertions in the parish of Carlingford. Then came
+Mr Proctor, who came into the town as if he had dropped from the
+skies, and knew no more about managing a parish than a baby; and
+under his exceptional incumbency Mr Wentworth became more than ever
+necessary to the peace of the community. Now a new _régime_ had been
+inaugurated. Mr Morgan, a man whom Miss Wodehouse described as "in the
+prime of life," newly married, with a wife also in the prime of life,
+who had waited for him ten years, and all that time had been under
+training for her future duties--two fresh, new, active, clergymanly
+intellects, entirely open to the affairs of the town, and intent
+upon general reformation and sound management--had just come into
+possession. The new Rector was making a great stir all about him, as
+was natural to a new man; and it seemed, on the whole, a highly
+doubtful business whether he and Mr Wentworth would find Carlingford
+big enough to hold them both.
+
+"We could not have expected to begin quite without difficulties," said
+Mrs Morgan, as she and her husband discussed the question in the
+drawing-room of the Rectory. It was a pretty drawing-room, though Mr
+Proctor's taste was not quite in accordance with the principles of
+the new incumbent's wife: however, as the furniture was all new, and as
+the former rector had no further need for it, it was of course, much the
+best and most economical arrangement to take it as it stood--though the
+bouquets on the carpet were a grievance which nothing but her high
+Christian principles could have carried Mrs Morgan through. She looked
+round as she spoke, and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head:
+she, too, had her share of disagreeables. "It would not look like
+Christ's work, dear," said the clergyman's wife, "if we had it all our
+own way."
+
+"My dear, I hope I am actuated by higher motives than a desire to have
+it all my own way," said the Rector. "I always felt sure that Proctor
+would make a mess of any parish he took in hand, but I did not imagine
+he would have left it to anybody who pleased to work it. You may
+imagine what my feelings were to-day, when I came upon a kind of
+impromptu chapel in that wretched district near the canal. I thought
+it a Little Bethel, you know, of course; but instead of that, I find
+young Wentworth goes there Wednesdays and Fridays to do duty, and that
+there is service on Sunday evening, and I can't tell what besides.
+It may be done from a good motive--but such a disregard of all
+constituted authority," said the Rector, with involuntary vehemence,
+"can never, in my opinion, be attended by good results."
+
+"Mr Wentworth, did you say?" said Mrs Morgan, upon whose female soul
+the Perpetual Curate's good looks and good manners had not been
+without a certain softening effect. "I am so sorry. I don't wonder you
+are vexed; but don't you think there must be some mistake, William? Mr
+Wentworth is so gentlemanly and nice--and of very good family, too.
+I don't think he would choose to set himself in opposition to the
+Rector. I think there must be some mistake." "It's a very aggravating
+mistake, at all events," said Mr Morgan, rising and going to the
+window. It was, as we have said, a very pretty drawing-room, and the
+windows opened upon as pretty a bit of lawn as you could see, with one
+handsome cedar sweeping its dark branches majestically over delicious
+greensward; but some people did think it was too near George Street
+and the railway. Just at that moment a puff of delicate white vapour
+appeared over the wall, and a sudden express-train, just released from
+the cover of the station, sprang with a snort and bound across the
+Rector's view, very imperfectly veiled by the lime-trees, which were
+thin in their foliage as yet. Mr Morgan groaned and retreated--out of
+his first exaltation he had descended all at once, as people will do
+after building all their hopes upon one grand event, into great
+depression and vexation, when he found that, after all, this event did
+not change the face of existence, but indeed brought new proofs of
+mortality in the shape of special annoyances belonging to itself in
+its train. "On the whole," said the Rector, who was subject to fits of
+disgust with things in general, "I am tempted to think it was a
+mistake coming to Carlingford; the drawbacks quite overbalance the
+advantages. I did hesitate, I remember--it must have been my better
+angel: that is, my dear," he continued, recollecting himself, "I would
+have hesitated had it not been for you."
+
+Here there ensued a little pause. Mrs Morgan was not so young as she
+had been ten years ago, all which time she had waited patiently for
+the Fellow of All-Souls, and naturally these ten years and the
+patience had not improved her looks. There was a redness on her
+countenance nowadays which was not exactly bloom; and it stretched
+across her cheeks, and over the point of her nose, as she was
+painfully aware, poor lady. She was silent when she heard this,
+wondering with a passing pang whether he was sorry? But being a
+thoroughly sensible woman, and above indulging in those little appeals
+by which foolish ones confuse the calm of matrimonial friendship, she
+did not express the momentary feeling. "Yes, William," she said,
+sympathetically, casting her eyes again on the objectionable carpet,
+and feeling that there _were_ drawbacks even to her happiness as the
+wife of the Rector of Carlingford; "but I suppose every place has its
+disadvantages; and then there is such good society; and a town like
+this is the very place for your talents; and when affairs are in your
+own hands--"
+
+"It is very easy talking," said the vexed Rector. "Society and
+everybody would turn upon me if I interfered with Wentworth--there's
+the vexation. The fellow goes about it as if he had a right. Why,
+there's a Provident Society and all sorts of things going on, exactly
+as if it were his own parish. What led me to the place was seeing
+some ladies in grey cloaks--exactly such frights as you used to make
+yourself, my dear--flickering about. He has got up a sisterhood, I
+have no doubt; and to find all this in full operation in one's own
+parish, without so much as being informed of it! and you know I don't
+approve of sisterhoods--never did; they are founded on a mistake."
+
+"Yes, dear. I know I gave up as soon as I knew your views on that
+subject," said Mrs Morgan. "I daresay so will the ladies here. Who
+were they? Did you speak to them? or perhaps they belonged to St
+Roque's."
+
+"Nobody belongs to St Roque's," said the Rector, contemptuously--"it
+has not even a district. They were the two Miss Wodehouses."
+
+Mrs Morgan was moved to utter a little cry. "And their father is
+churchwarden!" said the indignant woman. "Really, William, this is too
+much--without even consulting you! But it is easy to see how _that_
+comes about. Lucy Wodehouse and young Wentworth are--; well, I don't
+know if they are engaged--but they are always together, walking and
+talking, and consulting with each other, and so forth--a great deal
+more than I could approve of; but that poor elder sister, you know,
+has no authority--nor indeed any experience, poor thing," said the
+Rector's wife; "that's how it is, no doubt." "Engaged!" said the
+Rector. He gave a kindly glance at his wife, and melted a little.
+"Engaged, are they? Poor little thing! I hope she'll be as good as you
+have been, my dear; but a young man may be in love without interfering
+with another man's parish. I can't forgive that," said Mr Morgan,
+recovering himself; "he must be taught to know better; and it is very
+hard upon a clergyman," continued the spiritual ruler of Carlingford,
+"that he cannot move in a matter like this without incurring a storm
+of godless criticism. If I were sending Wentworth out of my parish, I
+shouldn't wonder if the 'Times' had an article upon it, denouncing me
+as an indolent priest and bigot, that would neither work myself nor
+let my betters work; that's how these fellows talk."
+
+"But nobody could say such things of you," said Mrs Morgan, firing up.
+
+"Of me! they'd say them of St Paul, if he had ever been in the
+circumstances," said the Rector; "and I should just like to know what
+he would have done in a parish like this, with the Dissenters on one
+side, and a Perpetual Curate without a district meddling on the other.
+Ah, my dear," continued Mr Morgan, "I daresay they had their troubles
+in those days; but facing a governor or so now and then, or even
+passing a night in the stocks, is a very different thing from a
+showing-up in the 'Times,' not to speak of the complications of duty.
+Let us go out and call at Folgate's, and see whether he thinks
+anything can be done to the church."
+
+"Dear, you wouldn't mind the 'Times' if it were your duty?" said the
+Rector's wife, getting up promptly to prepare for the walk.
+
+"No, I suppose not," said Mr Morgan, not without a thrill of importance;
+"nor the stake," he added, with a little laugh, for he was not without a
+sense of humour; and the two went out to the architect's to ascertain
+the result of his cogitations over the church. They passed that sacred
+edifice in their way, and went in to gaze at it with a disgust which
+only an unhappy priest of high culture and aesthetic tastes, doomed to
+officiate in a building of the eighteenth century, of the churchwarden
+period of architecture, could fully enter into. "Eugh!" said Mr Morgan,
+looking round upon the high pews and stifling galleries with an expressive
+contraction of his features--his wife looked on sympathetic; and it was
+at this unlucky moment that the subject of their late conference made
+his appearance cheerfully from behind the ugly pulpit, in close
+conference with Mr Folgate. The pulpit was a three-storeyed mass, with
+the reading-desk and the clerk's desk beneath--a terrible eyesore to the
+Rector and his wife.
+
+"I can fancy the expediency of keeping the place in repair," said the
+Curate of St Roque's, happy in the consciousness of possessing a
+church which, though not old, had been built by Gilbert Scott, and
+cheerfully unconscious of the presence of his listeners; "but to
+beautify a wretched old barn like this is beyond the imagination of
+man. Money can't do everything," said the heedless young man as he
+came lounging down the middle aisle, tapping contemptuously with his
+cane upon the high pew-doors. "I wonder where the people expected to
+go to who built Carlingford Church? Curious," continued the young
+Anglican, stopping in mid career, "to think of bestowing _consecration_
+upon anything so hideous. What a pass the world must have come to,
+Folgate, when this erection was counted worthy to be the house of God!
+After all, perhaps it is wrong to feel so strongly about it. The walls
+_are_ consecrated, though they are ugly; we can't revoke the blessing.
+But no wonder it was an unchristian age."
+
+"We have our treasure in earthen vessels," said Mr Morgan, somewhat
+sternly, from where he stood, under shelter of the heavy gallery. Mr
+Wentworth was shortsighted, like most people nowadays. He put up his
+glass hastily, and then hurried forward, perhaps just a little
+abashed. When he had made his salutations, however, he returned
+undismayed to the charge.
+
+"It's a great pity you have not something better to work upon," said
+the dauntless Curate; "but it is difficult to conceive what can be
+done with such an unhallowed type of construction. I was just saying
+to Folgate--"
+
+"There is a great deal of cant abroad on this subject," said Mr
+Morgan, interrupting the young oracle. "I like good architecture, but
+I don't relish attributing moral qualities to bricks and mortar. The
+hallowing influence ought to be within. Mr Folgate, we were going to
+call at your office. Have you thought of the little suggestions I
+ventured to make? Oh, the drawings are here. Mr Wentworth does not
+approve of them, I suppose?" said the Rector, turning sternly round
+upon the unlucky Curate of St Roque's.
+
+"I can only say I sympathise with you profoundly," said young
+Wentworth, with great seriousness. "Such a terrible church must be a
+great trial. I wish I had any advice worth offering; but it is my hour
+for a short service down at the canal, and I can't keep my poor
+bargees waiting. Good morning. I hope you'll come and give us your
+countenance, Mrs Morgan. There's no end of want and trouble at
+Wharfside."
+
+"Is Mr Wentworth aware, I wonder, that Wharfside is in the parish of
+Carlingford?" said the Rector, with involuntary severity, as the young
+priest withdrew calmly to go to his "duty." Mr Folgate, who supposed
+himself to be addressed, smiled, and said, "Oh yes, of course," and
+unfolded his drawings, to which the clerical pair before him lent a
+disturbed attention. They were both in a high state of indignation by
+this time. It seemed indispensable that something should be done to
+bring to his senses an intruder so perfectly composed and at his
+ease.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Meanwhile Mr Wentworth, without much thought of his sins, went down
+George Street, meaning to turn off at the first narrow turning which
+led down behind the shops and traffic, behind the comfort and beauty
+of the little town, to that inevitable land of shadow which always
+dogs the sunshine. Carlingford proper knew little about it, except
+that it increased the poor-rates, and now and then produced a fever.
+The minister of Salem Chapel was in a state of complete ignorance on
+the subject. The late Rector had been equally uninformed. Mr Bury, who
+was Evangelical, had the credit of disinterring the buried creatures
+there about thirty years ago. It was an office to be expected of that
+much-preaching man; but what was a great deal more extraordinary, was
+to find that the only people now in Carlingford who knew anything
+about Wharfside, except overseers of the poor and guardians of the
+public peace, were the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's--who had nothing
+particular to do with it, and who was regarded by many sober-minded
+persons with suspicion as a dilettante Anglican, given over to floral
+ornaments and ecclesiastical upholstery--and some half-dozen people of
+the very _élite_ of society, principally ladies residing in Grange
+Lane.
+
+Mr Wentworth came to a hesitating pause at the head of the turning
+which would have led him to Wharfside. He looked at his watch and saw
+there was half an hour to spare. He gave a wistful lingering look down
+the long line of garden-walls, pausing upon one point where the
+blossomed boughs of an apple-tree overlooked that enclosure. There
+was quite time to call and ask if the Miss Wodehouses were going down
+to the service this afternoon; but was it duty? or, indeed, putting
+that question aside, was it quite right to compound matters with his
+own heart's desire and the work he was engaged in, in this undeniable
+fashion? The young priest crossed the street very slowly, swinging his
+cane and knitting his brows as he debated the question. If it had been
+one of the bargemen bringing his sweetheart, walking with her along
+the side of the canal to which Spring and sweet Easter coming on, and
+Love, perhaps, always helpful of illusions, might convey a certain
+greenness and sentiment of nature--and echoing her soft responses to
+the afternoon prayers--perhaps the Curate might have felt that such
+devotion was not entirely pure and simple. But somehow, before he was
+aware of it, his slow footstep had crossed the line, and he found
+himself in Grange Lane, bending his steps towards Mr Wodehouse's door.
+For one thing, to be sure, the Canticles in the evening service could
+always be sung when Lucy's sweet clear voice was there to lead the
+uncertain melody; and it was good to see her singing the 'Magnificat'
+with that serious sweet face, "full of grace," like Mary's own.
+Thinking of that, Mr Wentworth made his way without any further
+hesitation to the green door over which hung the apple-blossoms,
+totally untroubled in his mind as to what the reverend pair were
+thinking whom he had left behind him in the ugly church; and
+unconscious that his impromptu chapel at Wharfside, with its little
+carved reading-desk, and the table behind, contrived so as to look
+suspiciously like an altar, was a thorn in anybody's side. Had his
+mind been in a fit condition at that moment to cogitate trouble, his
+thoughts would have travelled in a totally different direction, but in
+the mean time Mr Wentworth was very well able to put aside his
+perplexities. The green door opened just as he reached it, and Lucy
+and her elder sister came out in those grey cloaks which the Rector
+had slandered. They were just going to Wharfside to the service, and
+of course they were surprised to see Mr Wentworth, who did not knock
+at that green door more than a dozen times in a week, on the average.
+The Curate walked between the sisters on their way towards their
+favourite "district." Such a position would scarcely have been
+otherwise than agreeable to any young man. Dear old Miss Wodehouse was
+the gentlest of chaperones. Old Miss Wodehouse people called her, not
+knowing why--perhaps because that adjective was sweeter than the harsh
+one of middle age which belonged to her; and then there was such a
+difference between her and Lucy. Lucy was twenty, and in her sweetest
+bloom. Many people thought with Mr Wentworth that there were not other
+two such eyes in Carlingford. Not that they were brilliant or
+penetrating, but as blue as heaven, and as serene and pure. So many
+persons thought, and the Perpetual Curate among them. The grey cloak
+fell in pretty folds around that light elastic figure; and there was
+not an old woman in the town so tender, so helpful, so handy as Lucy
+where trouble was, as all the poor people knew. So the three went down
+Prickett's Lane, which leads from George Street towards the canal--not
+a pleasant part of the town by any means; and if Mr Wentworth was
+conscious of a certain haze of sunshine all round and about him,
+gliding over the poor pavement, and here and there transfiguring some
+baby bystander gazing open-mouthed at the pretty lady, could any
+reasonable man be surprised?
+
+"I hope your aunts were quite well, Mr Wentworth, when you heard from
+them last," said Miss Wodehouse, "and all your people at home. In such
+a small family as ours, we should go out of our wits if we did not
+hear every day; but I suppose it is different where there are so many.
+Lucy, when she goes from home," said the tender elder sister, glancing
+at her with a half-maternal admiration--"and she might always be
+visiting about if she liked--writes to me every day."
+
+"I have nobody who cares for me enough to write every week," said the
+Curate, with a look which was for Lucy's benefit. "I am not so lucky
+as you. My aunts are quite well, Miss Wodehouse, and they think I had
+better go up to town in May for the meetings," added Mr Wentworth,
+with a passing laugh; "and the rest of my people are very indignant
+that I am not of their way of thinking. There is Tom Burrows on the
+other side of the street; he is trying to catch _your_ eye," said the
+Curate, turning round upon Lucy; for the young man had come to such a
+pass that he could not address her in an ordinary and proper way like
+other people, but, because he dared not yet call her by her Christian
+name as if she belonged to him, had a strange rude way of indicating
+when he was speaking to her, by emphasis and action. It was singularly
+different from his usual good-breeding; but Lucy somehow rather liked
+it than otherwise. "He is not going to church for the sake of the
+service. He is going to please _you_. He has never forgotten what you
+did for that little boy of his; and, indeed, if you continue to go on
+so," said Mr Wentworth, lowering his voice, and more than ever bending
+his tall head to one side, "I shall have to put a stop to it somehow,
+for I am not prepared, whatever people say, to go in at once for
+_public_ worship of the saints."
+
+"I am going in here to call," said Lucy. She looked up very innocently
+in the Curate's face. "I promised the poor sick woman in the back room
+to see her every day, and I could not get out any sooner. I daresay I
+shall be at the schoolroom before you begin. Good-bye just now," said
+the young Sister of Mercy. She went off all at once on this provoking
+but unexceptionable errand, looking with calm eyes upon the dismay
+which overspread the expressive countenance of her spiritual guide. Mr
+Wentworth stood looking after her for a moment, stunned by the
+unexpected movement. When he went on, truth compels us to own that a
+thrill of disgust had taken the place of that vague general sense of
+beatitude which threw beauty even upon Prickett's Lane. The Curate
+gave but a sulky nod to the salutation of Tom Burrows, and walked on
+in a savage mood by the side of Miss Wodehouse, around whom no nimbus
+of ideal glory hovered.
+
+"I am always afraid of its being too much for her, Mr Wentworth," said
+the anxious elder sister; "it upsets me directly; but then I never was
+like Lucy--I can't tell where all you young people have learned it; we
+never used to be taught so in my day; and though I am twice as old as
+she is, I know I am not half so much good in the world," said the kind
+soul, with a gentle sigh. "I should like to see you in a parish of
+your own, where you would have it all your own way. I hope Mr Morgan
+won't be meddling when he comes to have time for everything. I should
+almost think he would--though it seems unkind to say it--by his face."
+
+"I am doing nothing more than my duty," said the Perpetual Curate, in
+morose tones. "This district was given into my hands by the late
+Rector. Mr Morgan's face does not matter to me."
+
+"But I should like to see you in a parish of your own," said Miss
+Wodehouse, meaning to please him. "You know papa always says so. St
+Roque's is very nice, but--"
+
+"If you wish me out of the way, Miss Wodehouse, I am sorry to say you
+are not likely to be gratified," said the Curate, "for I have no more
+expectation of any preferment than you have. Such chances don't come
+in everybody's way."
+
+"But I thought your aunts, Mr Wentworth--" said poor Miss Wodehouse,
+who unluckily did not always know when to stop.
+
+"My aunts don't approve of my principles," answered Mr Wentworth, who
+had his own reasons for speaking with a little asperity. "They are
+more likely to have me denounced at Exeter Hall. I will join you
+immediately. I must speak to these men across the street;" and the
+Curate accordingly walked into a knot of loungers opposite, with a
+decision of manner which Lucy's desertion had helped him to. Miss
+Wodehouse, thus left alone, went on with lingering and somewhat doubtful
+steps. She was not used to being in "the district" by herself. It
+disturbed her mild, middle-aged habits to be left straying about here
+alone among all these poor people, whom she looked at half wistfully,
+half alarmed, feeling for them in her kind heart, but not at all knowing
+how to get at them as the young people did. The unruly children and
+gossiping mothers at the poor doors discomposed her sadly, and she was
+not near so sure that her grey cloak defended her from all rudeness as
+she pretended to be when assenting to the enthusiasm of Mr Wentworth and
+Lucy. She made tremulous haste to get out of this scene, which she was
+not adapted for, to the shelter of the schoolroom, where, at least, she
+would be safe. "We never were taught so in my day," she said to herself,
+with an unexpressed wonder which was right; but when she had reached
+that haven of shelter, was seized with a little panic for Lucy, and went
+out again and watched for her at the corner of the street, feeling very
+uncomfortable. It was a great relief to see her young sister coming down
+alert and bright even before she was joined by Mr Wentworth, who had
+carried his point with the men he had been talking to. To see them
+coming down together, smiling to all those people at the doors who
+disturbed the gentle mind of Miss Wodehouse with mingled sentiments of
+sympathy and repulsion, bestowing nods of greeting here and there,
+pausing even to say a word to a few favoured clients, was a wonderful
+sight to the timid maiden lady at the corner of the street. Twenty years
+ago some such companion might have been by Miss Wodehouse's side, but
+never among the poor people in Prickett's Lane. Even with Lucy before
+her she did not understand it. As the two came towards her, other
+thoughts united with these in her kind soul. "I wonder whether anything
+will ever come of it?" she said to herself, and with that wandered into
+anxious reflections what this difference could be between Mr Wentworth
+and his aunts: which cogitations, indeed, occupied her till the service
+began, and perhaps disturbed her due appreciation of it; for if Lucy and
+Mr Wentworth got attached, as seemed likely, and Mr Wentworth did not
+get a living, what was to come of it? The thought made this
+tender-hearted spectator sigh: perhaps she had some experience of her
+own to enlighten her on such a point. At least it troubled, with
+sympathetic human cares, the gentle soul which had lost the confidence
+of youth.
+
+As for the two most immediately concerned, they thought nothing at all
+about aunts or livings. Whether it is the divine influence of youth,
+or whether the vague unacknowledged love which makes two people happy
+in each other's presence carries with it a certain inspiration, this
+at least is certain, that there is an absolute warmth of devotion
+arrived at in such moments, which many a soul, no longer happy, would
+give all the world to reach. Such crowds and heaps of blessings fall
+to these young souls! They said their prayers with all their hearts,
+not aware of deriving anything of that profound sweet trust and
+happiness from each other, but expanding over all the rude but
+reverend worshippers around them, with an unlimited faith in their
+improvement, almost in their perfection. This was what the wondering
+looker-on, scarcely able to keep her anxieties out of her prayers,
+could not understand, having forgotten, though she did not think so,
+the exaltation of that time of youth, as people do. She thought it all
+their goodness that they were able to put away their own thoughts; she
+did not know it was in the very nature of those unexpressed emotions
+to add the confidence of happiness to their prayers.
+
+And after a while they all separated and went away back into the world
+and the everyday hours. Young Wentworth and Lucy had not said a syllable
+to each other, except about the people in "the district," and the
+Provident Society; and how that sober and laudable conversation could be
+called love-making, it would be difficult for the most ardent imagination
+to conceive. He was to dine with them that evening; so it was for but a
+very brief time that they parted when the Perpetual Curate left the
+ladies at the green door, and went away to his room, to attend to some
+other duties, before he arrayed himself for the evening. As for the
+sisters, they went in quite comfortably, and had their cup of tea before
+they dressed for dinner. Lucy was manager indoors as well as out. She
+was good for a great deal more than Miss Wodehouse in every practical
+matter. It was she who was responsible for the dinner, and had all the
+cares of the house upon her head. Notwithstanding, the elder sister took
+up her prerogative as they sat together in two very cosy easy-chairs,
+in a little room which communicated with both their bed-chambers
+up-stairs--a very cosy little odd room, not a dressing-room nor a
+boudoir, but something between the two, where the sisters had their
+private talks upon occasion, and which was consecrated by many a
+libation of fragrant tea.
+
+"Lucy, my dear," said Miss Wodehouse, whose gentle forehead was
+puckered with care, "I want to speak to you. I have not been able to
+get you out of my mind since ever we met Mr Wentworth at the green
+door."
+
+"Was there any need for getting me out of your mind?" said smiling
+Lucy. "I was a safe enough inmate, surely. I wonder how often I am out
+of your mind, Mary dear, night or day."
+
+"That is true enough," said Miss Wodehouse, "but you know that is not
+what I meant either. Lucy, are you quite sure you're going on just as
+you ought--"
+
+Here she made a troubled pause, and looked in the laughing face
+opposite, intent upon her with its startled eyes. "What have I done?"
+cried the younger sister. Miss Wodehouse shook her head with a great
+deal of seriousness.
+
+"It always begins with laughing," said the experienced woman; "but if
+it ends without tears it will be something new to me. It's about Mr
+Wentworth, Lucy. You're always together, day after day; and, my dear,
+such things can't go on without coming to something--what is to come
+of it? I have looked at it from every point of view, and I am sure I
+don't know."
+
+Lucy flushed intensely red, of course, at the Curate's name; perhaps
+she had not expected it just at that moment; but she kept her
+composure like a sensible girl as she was.
+
+"I thought it was the other side that were questioned about their
+intentions," she said. "Am I doing anything amiss? Mr Wentworth is the
+Curate of St Roque's, and I am one of the district-visitors, and we
+can't help seeing a great deal of each other so long as this work goes
+on at Wharfside. You wouldn't like to stop a great work because we are
+obliged to see a good deal of--of one particular person?" said Lucy,
+with youthful virtue, looking at her sister's face; at which tone and
+look Miss Wodehouse immediately faltered, as the culprit knew she
+must.
+
+"No--oh no, no--to be sure not," said the disturbed monitor. "When you
+say that, I don't know how to answer you. It must be right, I suppose.
+I am quite sure it is wonderful to see such young creatures as you,
+and how you can tell the right way to set about it. But things did not
+use to be so in my young days. Girls dare not have done such things
+twenty years ago--not in Carlingford, Lucy," said Miss Wodehouse;
+"and, dear, I think you ought to be a little careful, for poor Mr
+Wentworth's sake."
+
+"I don't think Mr Wentworth is in any particular danger," said Lucy,
+putting down her cup, with a slight curve at the corners of her
+pretty mouth--"and it is quite time for you to begin dressing. You
+know you don't like to be hurried, dear;" with which speech the young
+housekeeper got up from her easy-chair, gave her sister a kiss as she
+passed, and went away, singing softly, to her toilette. Perhaps there
+was a little flutter in Lucy's heart as she bound it round with her
+favourite blue ribbons. Perhaps it was this that gave a certain
+startled gleam to her blue eyes, and made even her father remark them
+when she went down-stairs--"It seems to me as if this child were
+growing rather pretty, Molly, eh? I don't know what other people
+think," said Mr Wodehouse--and perhaps Mr Wentworth, who was just
+being ushered into the drawing-room at the moment, heard the speech,
+for he, too, looked as if he had never found it out before. Luckily
+there was a party, and no opportunity for sentiment. The party was in
+honour of the Rector and his wife; and Mr Wentworth could not but be
+conscious before the evening was over that he had done something to
+lose the favour of his clerical brother. There was a good deal of
+Church talk, as was natural, at the churchwarden's table, where three
+clergymen were dining--for Mr Morgan's curate was there as well; and
+the Curate of St Roque's, who was slightly hot-tempered, could not
+help feeling himself disapproved of. It was not, on the whole, a
+satisfactory evening. Mr Morgan talked rather big, when the ladies
+went away, of his plans for the reformation of Carlingford. He went
+into statistics about the poor, and the number of people who attended
+no church, without taking any notice of that "great work" which Mr
+Wentworth knew to be going on at Wharfside. The Rector even talked of
+Wharfside, and of the necessity of exertion on behalf of that wretched
+district, with a studious unconsciousness of Mr Wentworth; and all but
+declined to receive better information when Mr Wodehouse proffered it.
+Matters were scarcely better in the drawing-room, where Lucy was
+entertaining everybody, and had no leisure for the Perpetual Curate.
+He took his hat with a gloomy sentiment of satisfaction when it was
+time to go away; but when the green door was closed behind him, Mr
+Wentworth, with his first step into the dewy darkness, plunged
+headlong into a sea of thought. He had to walk down the whole length
+of Grange Lane to his lodging, which was in the last house of the row,
+a small house in a small garden, where Mrs Hadwin, the widow of a
+whilom curate, was permitted by public opinion, on the score of her
+own unexceptionable propriety,[A] to receive a lodger without loss of
+position thereby. It was moonlight, or rather it ought to have been
+moonlight, and no lamps were lighted in Grange Lane, according to the
+economical regulations of Carlingford; and as Mr Wentworth pursued his
+way down the dark line of garden-walls, in the face of a sudden April
+shower which happened to be falling, he had full scope and opportunity
+for his thoughts.
+
+These thoughts were not the most agreeable in the world. In the first
+place it must be remembered that for nearly a year past Mr Wentworth had
+had things his own way in Carlingford. He had been more than rector, he
+had been archdeacon, or rather bishop, in Mr Proctor's time; for that
+good man was humble, and thankful for the advice and assistance of his
+young brother, who knew so much better than he did. Now, to be looked
+upon as an unauthorised workman, a kind of meddling, Dissenterish,
+missionising individual, was rather hard upon the young man. And then he
+thought of his aunts. The connection, imperceptible to an ignorant
+observer, which existed between the Miss Wentworths and Mr Morgan, and
+Lucy, and many other matters interesting to their nephew, was a
+sufficiently real connection when you came to know it. That parish of
+his own which Miss Wodehouse had wished him--which would free the young
+clergyman from all trammels so far as his work was concerned; and would
+enable him to marry, and do everything for him--it was in the power of
+the Miss Wentworths to bestow; but they were Evangelical women, very
+public-spirited, and thinking nothing of their nephew in comparison with
+their duty; and he was at that time of life, and of that disposition,
+which, for fear of being supposed to wish to deceive them, would rather
+exaggerate and make a display of the difference of his own views. Not
+for freedom, not for Lucy, would the Perpetual Curate temporise and
+manage the matter; so the fact was that he stood at the present moment
+in a very perilous predicament. But for this family living, which was,
+with their mother's property, in the hands of her co-heiresses, the
+three Miss Wentworths, young Frank Wentworth had not a chance of
+preferment in the world; for the respectable Squire his father had
+indulged in three wives and three families, and such a regiment of sons
+that all his influence had been fully taxed to provide for them. Gerald,
+the clergyman of the first lot, held the family living--not a very large
+one--which belonged to the Wentworths; and Frank, who was of the second,
+had been educated expressly with an eye to Skelmersdale, which belonged
+to his aunts. How he came at the end to differ so completely from these
+excellent ladies in his religious views is not our business just at
+present; but in the mean time matters were in a very critical position.
+The old incumbent of Skelmersdale was eighty, and had been ill all
+winter; and if the Miss Wentworths were not satisfied somehow, it was
+all over with their nephew's hopes.
+
+Such were the thoughts that occupied his mind as he walked down Grange
+Lane in the dark, past the tedious, unsympathetic line of garden-walls,
+with the rain in his face. The evening's entertainment had stirred up a
+great many dormant sentiments. His influence in Carlingford had been
+ignored by this new-comer, who evidently thought he could do what he
+liked without paying any attention to the Curate of St Roque's; and,
+what was a great deal worse, he had found Lucy unapproachable, and had
+realised, if not for the first time, still with more distinctness than
+ever before, that she did not belong to him, and that he had no more
+right than any other acquaintance to monopolise her society. This last
+discovery was bitter to the young man--it was this that made him set his
+face to the rain, and his teeth, as if that could do any good. He had
+been happy in her mere society to-day, without entering into any of the
+terrible preliminaries of a closer connection. But now that was over.
+She did not belong to him, and he could not bear the thought. And how
+was she ever to belong to him? Not, certainly, if he was to be a Perpetual
+Curate of St Roque's, or anywhere else. He felt, in the misery of the
+moment, as if he could never go to that green door again, or walk by her
+sweet side to that service in which they had joined so lately. He
+wondered whether she cared, with a despairing pang of anxiety, through
+which for an instant a celestial gleam of consciousness leaped, making
+the darkness all the greater afterwards. And to think that three old
+ladies, of whom it was not in the nature of things that the young man
+could be profoundly reverent, should hold in their hands the absolute
+power of his life, and could determine whether it was to be sweet with
+hope and love, or stern, constrained, and impoverished, without Lucy or
+any other immediate light! What a strange anomaly this was which met him
+full in the face as he pursued his thoughts! If it had been his bishop,
+or his college, or any fitting tribunal--but his aunts! Mr Wentworth's
+ring at his own door was so much more hasty than usual that Mrs Hadwin
+paused in the hall, when she had lighted her candle, to see if anything
+was the matter. The little neat old lady held up her candle to look at
+him as he came in, glistening all over with rain-drops.
+
+"I hope you are not wet, Mr Wentworth," she said. "It is only an April
+shower, and we want it so much in the gardens. And I hope you have had
+a nice party and a pleasant evening."
+
+"Thank you--pretty well," said the Perpetual Curate, with less suavity
+than usual, and a sigh that nearly blew Mrs Hadwin's candle out. She
+saw he was discomposed, and therefore, with a feminine instinct, found
+more to say than usual before she made her peaceful way to bed. She
+waited while Mr Wentworth lighted his candle too. "Mr Wodehouse's
+parties are always pleasant," she said. "I never go out, you know; but
+I like to hear of people enjoying themselves. I insist upon you going
+up-stairs before me, Mr Wentworth. I have so little breath to spare,
+and I take such a long time going up, that you would be tired to death
+waiting for me. Now, don't be polite. I insist upon you going up
+first. Thank you. Now I can take my time."
+
+And she took her time accordingly, keeping Mr Wentworth waiting on the
+landing to say good-night to her, much to his silent exasperation. When
+he got into the shelter of his own sitting-room, he threw himself upon
+a sofa, and continued his thoughts with many a troubled addition. A
+young man, feeling in a great measure the world before him, conscious of
+considerable powers, standing on the very threshold of so much possible
+good and happiness,--it was hideous to look up, in his excited
+imagination, and see the figures of these three old ladies, worse than
+Fates, standing across the prospect and barring the way.
+
+And Lucy, meantime, was undoing her blue ribbons with a thrill of sweet
+agitation in her untroubled bosom. Perhaps Mary was right, and it was
+about coming to the time when this half-feared, half-hoped revelation
+could not be postponed much longer. For it will be perceived that Lucy
+was not in much doubt of young Wentworth's sentiments. And then she
+paused in the dark, after she had said her prayers, to give one timid
+thought to the sweet life that seemed to lie before her so close at
+hand--in which, perhaps, he and she were to go out together, she did not
+know where, for the help of the world and the comfort of the sorrowful;
+and not trusting herself to look much at that ideal, said another
+prayer, and went to sleep like one of God's beloved, with a tear too
+exquisite to be shed brimming under her long eyelashes. At this crisis
+of existence, perhaps for once in her life, the woman has the best of
+it; for very different from Lucy's were the thoughts with which the
+Curate sought his restless pillow, hearing the rain drip all the night,
+and trickle into Mrs Hadwin's reservoirs. The old lady had a passion for
+rain-water, and it was a gusty night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Next week was Passion Week, and full of occupation. Even if it had been
+consistent either with Mr Wentworth's principles or Lucy's to introduce
+secular affairs into so holy a season, they had not time or opportunity,
+as it happened, which was perhaps just as well; for otherwise the
+premonitory thrill of expectation which had disturbed Lucy's calm, and
+the bitter exasperation against himself and his fate with which Mr
+Wentworth had discovered that he dared not say anything, might have
+caused an estrangement between them. As it was, the air was thundery and
+ominous through all the solemn days of the Holy Week. A consciousness as
+of something about to happen overshadowed even the "district," and
+attracted the keen observation of the lively spectators at Wharfside.
+They were not greatly up in matters of doctrine, nor perhaps did they
+quite understand the eloquent little sermon which the Perpetual Curate
+gave them on Good Friday in the afternoon, between his own services, by
+way of impressing upon their minds the awful memories of the day; but
+they were as skilful in the variations of their young evangelist's
+looks, and as well qualified to decide upon the fact that there was "a
+something between" him and Miss Lucy Wodehouse, as any practised
+observer in the higher ranks of society. Whether the two had "'ad an
+unpleasantness," as, Wharfside was well aware, human creatures under
+such circumstances are liable to have, the interested community could
+not quite make out; but that something more than ordinary was going on,
+and that the prettiest of all the "Provident ladies" had a certain
+preoccupation in her blue eyes, was a fact perfectly apparent to
+that intelligent society. And, indeed, one of the kinder matrons in
+Prickett's Lane had even ventured so far as to wish Miss Lucy "a 'appy
+weddin' when the time comes." "And there's to be a sight o' weddings
+this Easter," had added another, who was somewhat scandalised by the
+flowers in the bonnet of one of the brides-elect, and proceeded to say
+so in some detail. "But Miss Lucy won't wear no bonnet; the quality goes
+in veils: and there never was as full a church as there will be to see
+it, wishing you your 'ealth and 'appiness, ma'am, as aint no more nor
+you deserve, and you so good to us poor folks." All which felicitations
+and inquiries had confused Lucy, though she made her way out of them
+with a self-possession which amazed her sister.
+
+"You see what everybody thinks, dear," said that gentle woman, when
+they had made their escape.
+
+"Oh, Mary, how can you talk of such things at such a time?" the young
+Sister of Mercy had answered once more, turning those severe eyes of
+youthful devotion upon her troubled elder sister, who, to tell the
+truth, not having been brought up to it, as she said, felt much the
+same on Easter Eve as at other times of her life; and thus once more
+the matter concluded. As for Mr Wentworth, he was much occupied on
+that last day of the Holy Week with a great many important matters on
+hand. He had not seen the Wodehouses since the Good Friday evening
+service, which was an interval of about twenty hours, and had just
+paused, before eating his bachelor's dinner, to ponder whether it
+would be correct on that most sacred of vigils to steal away for half
+an hour, just to ask Lucy if she thought it necessary that he should
+see the sick woman at No. 10 Prickett's Lane before the morning.
+It was while he was pondering this matter in his mind that Mr
+Wentworth's heart jumped to his throat upon receipt, quite suddenly,
+without preparation, of the following note:--
+
+
+ "MY DEAREST BOY,--Your aunts Cecilia, Leonora, and I have just arrived
+ at this excellent inn, the Blue Boar. Old Mr Shirley at Skelmersdale
+ is in a very bad way, poor man, and I thought the _very best_ thing I
+ could do in my dearest Frank's _best_ interests, was to persuade them
+ to make you _quite_ an _unexpected visit_, and see everything for
+ themselves. I am in a terrible fright now lest I should have done
+ wrong; but my dear, dear boy knows it is always his interest that I
+ have at heart; and Leonora is so intent on having a _real gospel
+ minister_ at Skelmersdale, that she _never_ would have been content
+ with anything less than hearing you with her own ears. I hope and
+ trust in Providence that you don't intone like poor Gerald. And oh,
+ Frank, my dear boy, come directly and dine with us, and don't fly in
+ your aunt Leonora's face, and tell me I haven't been imprudent. I
+ thought it would be best to take you unawares when you had everything
+ prepared, and when we should see you just as you always are; for I am
+ convinced Leonora and you only want to see more of each other to
+ understand each other perfectly. Come, my dearest boy, and give a
+ little comfort to your loving and anxious
+
+ "AUNT DORA."
+
+
+Mr Wentworth sat gazing blankly upon this horrible missive for some
+minutes after he had read it, quite unaware of the humble presence of
+the maid who stood asking, Please was she to bring up dinner? When he
+came to himself, the awful "No!" with which he answered that alarmed
+handmaiden almost drove her into hysterics as she escaped down-stairs.
+However, Mr Wentworth immediately put his head out at the door and
+called after her, "I can't wait for dinner, Sarah; I am suddenly called
+out, and shall dine where I am going. Tell Cook," said the young parson,
+suddenly recollecting Lucy's client, "to send what she has prepared for
+me, if it is very nice, to No. 10 Prickett's Lane. My boy will take it;
+and send him off directly, please," with which last commission the young
+man went up despairingly to his bedroom to prepare himself for this
+interview with his aunts. What was he to do? Already before him, in
+dreadful prophetic vision, he saw all three seated in one of the
+handsome open benches in St Roque's, looking indescribable horrors at
+the crown of spring lilies which Lucy's own fingers were to weave for
+the cross above the altar, and listening to the cadence of his own manly
+tenor as it rang through the perfect little church of which he was so
+proud. Yes, there was an end of Skelmersdale, without any doubt or
+question now; whatever hope there might have been, aunt Dora had settled
+the matter by this last move of hers--an end to Skelmersdale, and an end
+of Lucy. Perhaps he had better try not to see her any more; and the poor
+young priest saw that his own face looked ghastly as he looked at it in
+the glass. It gave him a little comfort to meet the boy with a bundle
+pinned up in snowy napkins, from which a grateful odour ascended,
+bending his steps to Prickett's Lane, as he himself went out to meet his
+fate. It was a last offering to that beloved "district" with which the
+image of his love was blended; but he would have given his dinner to
+Lucy's sick woman any day. To-night it was a greater sacrifice that was
+to be required of him. He went mournfully and slowly up Grange Lane,
+steeling himself for the encounter, and trying to forgive aunt Dora in
+his heart. It was not very easy. Things might have turned out just the
+same without any interference--that was true; but to have it all brought
+on in this wanton manner by a kind foolish woman, who would wring her
+hands and gaze in your face, and want to know, Oh! did you think it was
+her fault? after she had precipitated the calamity, was very hard; and
+it was with a very gloomy countenance, accordingly, that the Curate of
+St Roque's presented himself at the Blue Boar.
+
+The Miss Wentworths were in the very best sitting-room which the Blue
+Boar contained--the style in which they travelled, with a man and two
+maids, was enough to secure that; and the kitchen of that respectable
+establishment was doing its very best to send up a dinner worthy of "a
+party as had their own man to wait." The three ladies greeted their
+nephew with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The eldest, Miss Wentworth,
+from whom he took his second name Cecil, did not rise from her chair,
+but nevertheless kissed him in an affectionate dignified way when he
+was brought to her. As for aunt Dora, she ran into her dear Frank's
+arms, and in the very moment of that embrace whispered in his ear the
+expression of her anxiety, and the panic which always followed those
+rash steps which she was in the habit of taking. "Oh, my dear, I hope
+you don't think I'm to blame," she said, with her lips at his ear, and
+gained but cold comfort from the Curate's face. The alarming member of
+the party was Miss Leonora. She rose and made two steps forward to
+meet the unfortunate young man. She shook both his hands cordially,
+and said she was very glad to see him, and hoped he was well. She was
+the sensible sister of the three, and no doubt required all the sense
+she had to manage her companions. Miss Wentworth, who had been very
+pretty in her youth, was now a beautiful old lady, with snow-white
+hair and the most charming smile; and Miss Dora, who was only fifty,
+retained the natural colour of her own scanty light-brown locks, which
+wavered in weak-minded ringlets over her cheeks; but Miss Leonora was
+iron-grey, without any complexion in particular, and altogether a
+harder type of woman. It was she who held in her hands the fate of
+Skelmersdale and of Frank Wentworth. Her terrible glance it was which
+he had imagined gleaming fierce upon his lilies--Lucy's lilies, his
+Easter decorations. It was by her side the alarmed Curate was made to
+sit down. It was she who took the foot of the table, and was the
+gentleman of the house. Her voice was of that class of voice which may
+be politely called a powerful contralto. Every way she was as alarming
+a critic as ever was encountered by a Perpetual Curate, or any other
+young man in trouble. Mr Wentworth said feebly that this was a very
+unexpected pleasure, as he met his aunt Leonora's eye.
+
+"I hope it _is_ a pleasure," said that penetrating observer. "To tell
+the truth, I did not expect it would be; but your aunt Dora thought so,
+and you know, when she sets her heart on anything, nobody can get any
+peace. Not that your aunt Cecilia and I would have come on that account,
+if we had not wished, for many reasons, to have some conversation with
+you, and see how you are getting on."
+
+"Quite so, Leonora," said Miss Wentworth, smiling upon her nephew, and
+leaning back in her chair.
+
+Then there was a little pause; for, after such a terrible address, it
+was not to be expected that the poor man, who understood every word of
+it, could repeat his commonplace about the unlooked-for pleasure. Miss
+Dora of course seized the opportunity to rush in.
+
+"We have been hearing such delightful things about you, my dear, from
+the people of the house. Leonora is so pleased to hear how you are
+labouring among the people, and doing your Master's work. We take all
+the happiness to ourselves, because, you know, you are _our_ boy,
+Frank," said the anxious aunt, all her thin ringlets, poor lady,
+trembling with her eagerness to make everything comfortable for her
+favourite; "and we have come, you know, specially to hear you on Easter
+Sunday in your own church. I am looking forward to a great treat: to
+think I should never have heard you, though it is so long since you were
+ordained! None of us have ever heard you--not even Leonora; but it is
+such a pleasure to us all to know you are so much liked in Carlingford,"
+cried the troubled woman, growing nervous at sight of the unresponsive
+quiet around her. Miss Leonora by no means replied to the covert
+appeals thus made to her. She left her nephew and her sister to keep up
+the conversation unassisted; and as for Miss Wentworth, conversation was
+not her forte.
+
+"I'm afraid, aunt, you will not _hear_ anything worth such a long
+journey," said Mr Wentworth, moved, like a rash young man as he was, to
+display his colours at once, and cry no surrender. "I don't think an
+Easter Sunday is a time for much preaching; and the Church has made such
+ample provision for the expression of our sentiments. I am more of a
+humble priest than an ambitious preacher," said the young man, with
+characteristic youthful pretence of the most transparent kind. He looked
+in Miss Leonora's face as he spoke. He knew the very name of priest was
+an offence in its way to that highly Evangelical woman; and if they were
+to come to single combat, better immediately than after intolerable
+suspense and delay.
+
+"Perhaps, Dora, you will postpone your raptures about Frank's
+sermon--which may be a very indifferent sermon, as he says, for anything
+we can tell--till after dinner," said Miss Leonora. "We're all very glad
+to see him; and he need not think any little ill-tempered speeches he
+may make will disturb me. I daresay the poor boy would be glad to hear
+of some of the people belonging to him instead of all that nonsense.
+Come to dinner, Frank. Take the other side of the table, opposite Dora;
+and now that you've said grace, I give you full leave to forget that
+you're a clergyman for an hour at least. We were down at the old Hall a
+week ago, and saw your father and the rest. They are all well; and the
+last boy is rather like you, if you will think that any compliment. Mrs
+Wentworth is pleased, because you are one of the handsome ones, you
+know. Not much fear of the Wentworths dying out of the country yet
+awhile. Your father is getting at his wit's end, and does not know what
+to do with Cuthbert and Guy. Three sons are enough in the army, and two
+at sea; and I rather think it's as much as we can stand," continued Miss
+Leonora, not without a gleam of humour in her iron-grey eyes, "to have
+two in the Church
+."
+
+"That is as it may happen," said the Perpetual Curate, with a little
+spirit. "If the boys are of my way of thinking, they will consider the
+Church the highest of professions; but Guy and Cuthbert must go to
+Australia, I suppose, like most other people, and take their chance--no
+harm in that."
+
+"Not a bit of harm," said the rich aunt; "they're good boys enough,
+and I daresay they'll get on. As for Gerald, if you have any influence
+with your brother, I think he's in a bad way. I think he has a bad
+attack of Romishness coming on. If you are not in that way yourself,"
+said Miss Leonora, with a sharp glance, "I think you should go and see
+after Gerald. He is the sort of man who would do anything foolish, you
+know. He doesn't understand what prudence means. Remember, I believe
+he is a good Christian all the same. It's very incomprehensible; but
+the fact is, a man may be a very good Christian, and have the least
+quality of sense that is compatible with existence. I've seen it over
+and over again. Gerald's notions are idiocy to me," said the sensible
+but candid woman, shrugging her shoulders; "but I can't deny that he's
+a good man, for all that."
+
+"He is the best man I ever knew," said young Wentworth, with
+enthusiasm.
+
+"Quite so, Frank," echoed aunt Cecilia, with her sweet smile: it was
+almost the only conversational effort Miss Wentworth ever made.
+
+"But it is so sad to see how he's led away," said Miss Dora; "it is all
+owing to the bad advisers young men meet with at the universities; and
+how can it be otherwise as long as tutors and professors are chosen just
+for their learning, without any regard to their principles? What is
+Greek and Latin in comparison with a pious guide for the young? We
+would not have to feel frightened, as we do so often, about young
+men's principles," continued aunt Dora, fixing her eyes with warning
+significance on her nephew, and trying hard to open telegraphic
+communications with him, "if more attention was paid at the universities
+to give them sound guidance in their studies. So long as you are sound
+in your principles, there is no fear of you," said the timid diplomatist,
+trying to aid the warning look of her eyes by emphasis and inflection.
+Poor Miss Dora! it was her unlucky fate, by dint of her very exertions
+in smoothing matters, always to make things worse.
+
+"He would be a bold man who would call those principles unsound which
+have made my brother Gerald what he is," said, with an affectionate
+admiration that became him, the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+"It's a slavish system, notwithstanding Gerald," said Miss Leonora,
+with some heat; "and a false system, and leads to Antichrist at the
+end and nothing less. Eat your dinner, Frank--we are not going to
+argue just now. We expected to hear that another of the girls was
+engaged before we came away, but it has not occurred yet. I don't
+approve of young men dancing about a house for ever and ever, unless
+they mean something. Do you?"
+
+Mr Wentworth faltered at this question; it disturbed his composure
+more than anything that had preceded it. "I--really I don't know," he
+said, after a pause, with a sickly smile--of which all three of his
+aunts took private notes, forming their own conclusions. It was, as
+may well be supposed, a very severe ordeal which the poor young man
+had to go through. When he was permitted to say good-night, he went
+away with a sensation of fatigue more overpowering than if he had
+visited all the houses in Wharfside. When he passed the green door,
+over which the apple-tree rustled in the dark, it was a pang to his
+heart. How was he to continue to live--to come and go through that
+familiar road--to go through all the meetings and partings, when this
+last hopeless trial was over, and Lucy and he were swept apart as if
+by an earthquake? If his lips were sealed henceforward, and he never
+was at liberty to say what was in his heart, what would she think of
+him? He could not fly from his work because he lost Skelmersdale; and
+how was he to bear it? He went home with a dull bitterness in his
+mind, trying, when he thought of it, to quiet the aching pulses which
+throbbed all over him, with what ought to have been the hallowed
+associations of the last Lenten vigil. But it was difficult, throbbing
+as he was with wild life and trouble to the very finger-points, to get
+himself into the shadow of that rock-hewn grave, by which, according
+to his own theory, the Church should be watching on this Easter Eve.
+It was hard just then to be bound to that special remembrance. What he
+wanted at this moment was no memory of one hour, however memorable or
+glorious, not even though it contained the Redeemer's grave, but the
+sense of a living Friend standing by him in the great struggle, which
+is the essential and unfailing comfort of a Christian's life.
+
+Next morning he went to church with a half-conscious, youthful sense of
+martyrdom, of which in his heart he was half ashamed. St Roque's was
+very fair to see that Easter morning. Above the communion-table, with
+all its sacred vessels, the carved oaken cross of the reredos was
+wreathed tenderly with white fragrant festoons of spring lilies, sweet
+Narcissus of the poets; and Mr Wentworth's choristers made another white
+line, two deep, down each side of the chancel. The young Anglican took
+in all the details of the scene on his way to the reading-desk as the
+white procession ranged itself in the oaken stalls. At that moment--the
+worst moment for such a thought--it suddenly flashed over him that,
+after all, a wreath of spring flowers or a chorister's surplice was
+scarcely worth suffering martyrdom for. This horrible suggestion, true
+essence of an unheroic age, which will not suffer a man to be absolutely
+sure of anything, disturbed his prayer as he knelt down in silence to
+ask God's blessing. Easter, to be sure, was lovely enough of itself
+without the garland, and Mr Wentworth knew well enough that his
+white-robed singers were no immaculate angel-band. It was Satan himself,
+surely, and no inferior imp, who shot that sudden arrow into the young
+man's heart as he tried to say his private prayer; for the Curate of St
+Roque's was not only a fervent Anglican, but also a young Englishman
+_sans reproche_, with all the sensitive, almost fantastic, delicacy of
+honour which belongs to that development of humanity; and not for a
+dozen worlds would he have sacrificed a lily or a surplice on this
+particular Easter, when all his worldly hopes hung in the balance. But
+to think at this crowning moment that a villanous doubt of the benefit
+of these surplices and lilies should seize his troubled heart! for just
+then the strains of the organ died away in lengthened whispers, and Miss
+Leonora Wentworth, severe and awful, swept up through the middle aisle.
+It was under these terrible circumstances that the Perpetual Curate,
+with his heart throbbing and his head aching, began to intone the
+morning service on that Easter Sunday, ever after a day so memorable in
+the records of St Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth's sermon on Easter Sunday was one which he himself long
+remembered, though it is doubtful whether any of his congregation had
+memories as faithful. To tell the truth, the young man put a black cross
+upon it with his blackest ink, a memorial of meaning unknown to anybody
+but himself. It was a curious little sermon, such as may still be heard
+in some Anglican pulpits. Though he had heart and mind enough to
+conceive something of those natural depths of divine significance and
+human interest, which are the very essence of the Easter festival, it
+was not into these that Mr Wentworth entered in his sermon. He spoke, in
+very choice little sentences, of the beneficence of the Church in
+appointing such a feast, and of all the beautiful arrangements she had
+made for the keeping of it. But even in the speaking, in the excited
+state of mind he was in, it occurred to the young man to see, by a
+sudden flash of illumination, how much higher, how much more catholic,
+after all, his teaching would have been, could he but have once ignored
+the Church, and gone direct, as Nature bade, to that empty grave in
+which all the hopes of humanity had been entombed. He saw it by gleams
+of that perverse light which seemed more Satanic than heavenly in the
+moments it chose for shining, while he was preaching his little sermon
+about the Church and her beautiful institution of Easter, just as he had
+seen the non-importance of his lily-wreath and surplices as he was about
+to suffer martyrdom for them. All these circumstances were hard upon the
+young man. Looking down straight into the severe iron-grey eyes of his
+aunt Leonora, he could not of course so much as modify a single sentence
+of the discourse he was uttering, no more than he could permit himself
+to slur over a single monotone of the service; but that sudden bewildering
+perception that he could have done so much better--that the loftiest
+High-Churchism of all might have been consistent enough with
+Skelmersdale, had he but gone into the heart of the matter--gave a
+bitterness to the deeper, unseen current of the Curate's thoughts.
+
+Besides, it was terrible to feel that he could not abstract himself from
+personal concerns even in the most sacred duties. He was conscious that
+the two elder sisters went away, and that only poor aunt Dora, her
+weak-minded ringlets limp with tears, came tremulous to the altar rails.
+When the service was over, and the young priest was disrobing himself,
+she came to him and gave a spasmodic, sympathetic, half-reproachful
+pressure to his hand. "Oh, Frank, my dear, I did it for the best," said
+Miss Dora, with a doleful countenance; and the Perpetual Curate knew
+that his doom was sealed. He put the best face he could upon the matter,
+having sufficient doubts of his own wisdom to subdue the high temper of
+the Wentworths for that moment at least.
+
+"What was it you did for the best?" said the Curate of St Roque's. "I
+suppose, after all, it was no such great matter _hearing_ me as you
+thought; but I told you I was not an ambitious preacher. This is a day
+for worship, not for talk."
+
+"Ah! yes," said Miss Dora; "but oh, Frank, my dear, it is hard upon me,
+after all my expectations. It would have been so nice to have had you at
+Skelmersdale. I hoped you would marry Julia Trench, and we should all
+have been so happy; and perhaps if I had not begged Leonora to come just
+now, thinking it would be so nice to take you just in your usual
+way--but she must have known sooner or later," said poor aunt Dora,
+looking wistfully in his face. "Oh, Frank, I hope you don't think I'm to
+blame."
+
+"I never should have married Julia Trench," said the Curate, gloomily.
+He did not enter into the question of Miss Dora's guilt or innocence--he
+gave a glance at the lilies on the altar, and a sigh. The chances were
+he would never marry anybody, but loyalty to Lucy demanded instant
+repudiation of any other possible bride. "Where are you going, aunt
+Dora; back to the Blue Boar? or will you come with me?" he said, as they
+stood together at the door of St Roque's. Mr Wentworth felt as if he had
+caught the beginning threads of a good many different lines of thought,
+which he would be glad to be alone to work out.
+
+"You'll come back with me to the inn to lunch?" said Miss Dora. "Oh,
+Frank, my dear, remember your Christian feelings, and don't make a
+breach in the family. It will be bad enough to face your poor dear
+father, after he knows what Leonora means to do; and I do so want to
+talk to you," said the poor woman, eagerly clinging to his arm. "You
+always were fond of your poor aunt Dora, Frank; when you were quite a
+little trot you used always to like me best; and in the holiday times,
+when you came down from Harrow, I used always to hear all your
+troubles. If you would only have confidence in me now!"
+
+"But what if I have no troubles to confide?" said Mr Wentworth; "a man
+and a boy are very different things. Come, aunt Dora, I'll see you safe
+to your inn. What should I have to grumble about? I have plenty to do,
+and it is Easter; and few men can have everything their own way."
+
+"You won't acknowledge that you're vexed," said aunt Dora, almost crying
+under her veil, "but I can see it all the same. You always were such a
+true Wentworth; but if you only would give in and say that you are
+disappointed and angry with us all, I could bear it better, Frank. I
+would not feel then that you thought it my fault! And oh, Frank, dear,
+you don't consider how disappointed your poor dear aunt Leonora was!
+It's just as hard upon us," she continued, pressing his arm in her
+eagerness, "as it is upon you. We had all so set our hearts on having
+you at Skelmersdale. Don't you think, if you were giving your mind to
+it, you might see things in a different light?" with another pressure of
+his arm. "Oh, Frank, what does it matter, after all, if the heart is
+right, whether you read the service in your natural voice, or give that
+little quaver at the end? I am sure, for my part--"
+
+"My dear aunt," said Mr Wentworth, naturally incensed by this manner of
+description, "I must be allowed to say that my convictions are fixed,
+and not likely to be altered. I am a priest, and you are--a woman." He
+stopped short, with perhaps a little bitterness. It was very true she
+was a woman, unqualified to teach, but yet she and her sisters were
+absolute in Skelmersdale. He made a little gulp of his momentary
+irritation, and walked on in silence, with Miss Dora's kind wistful hand
+clinging to his arm.
+
+"But, dear Frank among us Protestants, you know, there is no sacerdotal
+caste," said Miss Dora, opportunely recollecting some scrap of an Exeter
+Hall speech. "We are all kings and priests to God. Oh, Frank, it is
+Gerald's example that has led you away. I am sure, before you went to
+Oxford you were never at all a ritualist--even Leonora thought you such
+a pious boy; and I am sure your good sense must teach you--" faltered
+aunt Dora, trying her sister's grand tone.
+
+"Hush, hush; I can't have you begin to argue with me; you are not my
+aunt Leonora," said the Curate, half amused in spite of himself. This
+encouraged the anxious woman, and, clasping his arm closer than ever,
+she poured out all her heart.
+
+"Oh, Frank, if you could only modify your views a little! It is not
+that there is any difference between your views and ours, except just
+in words, my dear. Flowers are very pretty decorations, and I know you
+look very nice in your surplice; and I am sure, for my part, I should
+not mind--but then that is not carrying the Word of God to the people,
+as Leonora says. If the heart is right, what does it matter about the
+altar?" said aunt Dora, unconsciously falling upon the very argument
+that had occurred to her nephew's perplexed mind in the pulpit. "Even
+though I was in such trouble, I can't tell you what a happiness it was
+to take the sacrament from your hands, my dear, dear boy; and but for
+these flowers and things that could do nobody any good, poor dear
+Leonora, who is very fond of you, though perhaps you don't think it,
+could have had that happiness too. Oh, Frank, don't you think you
+could give up these things that don't matter? If you were just to tell
+Leonora you have been thinking it over, and that you see you've made a
+mistake, and that in future--"
+
+"You don't mean to insult me?" said the young man. "Hush--hush; you
+don't know what you are saying. Not to be made Archbishop of
+Canterbury, instead of Vicar of Skelmersdale. I don't understand how
+you could suggest such a thing to me."
+
+Miss Dora's veil, which she had partly lifted, here fell over her face,
+as it had kept doing all the time she was speaking--but this time she
+did not put it back. She was no longer able to contain herself, but wept
+hot tears of distress and vexation, under the flimsy covering of lace.
+"No, of course, you will not do it--you will far rather be haughty, and
+say it is my fault," said poor Miss Dora. "We have all so much pride, we
+Wentworths--and you never think of our disappointment, and how we all
+calculated upon having you at Skelmersdale, and how happy we were to
+be, and that you were to marry Julia Trench--"
+
+It was just at this moment that the two reached the corner of
+Prickett's Lane. Lucy Wodehouse had been down there seeing the sick
+woman. She had, indeed, been carrying her dinner to that poor
+creature, and was just turning into Grange Lane, with her blue ribbons
+hidden under the grey cloak, and a little basket in her hand. They met
+full in the face at this corner, and Miss Dora's words reached Lucy's
+ears, and went through and through her with a little nervous thrill.
+She had not time to think whether it was pain or only surprise that
+moved her, and was not even self-possessed enough to observe the
+tremulous pressure of the Curate's hand, as he shook hands with her,
+and introduced his aunt. "I have just been to see the poor woman at
+No. 10," said Lucy. "She is very ill to-day. If you had time, it would
+be kind of you to see her. I think she has something on her mind."
+
+"I will go there before I go to Wharfside," said Mr Wentworth. "Are
+you coming down to the service this afternoon? I am afraid it will be
+a long service, for there are all these little Burrowses, you know--"
+
+"Yes, I am godmother," said Lucy, and smiled and gave him her hand
+again as she passed him while aunt Dora looked on with curious eyes.
+The poor Curate heaved a mighty sigh as he looked after the grey
+cloak. Not his the privilege now, to walk with her to the green door,
+to take her basket from the soft hand of the merciful Sister. On the
+contrary, he had to turn his back upon Lucy, and walk on with aunt
+Dora to the inn--at this moment a symbolical action which seemed to
+embody his fate.
+
+"Where is Wharfside? and who are the little Burrowses? and what does
+the young lady mean by being godmother?" said aunt Dora. "She looks
+very sweet and nice; but what is the meaning of that grey cloak? Oh,
+Frank, I hope you don't approve of nunneries, and that sort of thing.
+It is such foolishness. My dear, the Christian life is very hard, as
+your aunt Leonora always says. She says she can't bear to see people
+playing at Christianity--"
+
+"People should not speak of things they don't understand," said the
+Perpetual Curate. "Your Exeter-Hall men, aunt Dora, are like the old
+ascetics--they try to make a merit of Christianity by calling it hard
+and terrible; but there are some sweet souls in the world, to whom it
+comes natural as sunshine in May." And the young Anglican, with a glance
+behind him from the corner of his eye, followed the fair figure, which
+he believed he was never, with a clear conscience, to accompany any
+more. "Now, here is your inn," he said, after a little pause. "Wharfside
+is a district, where I am going presently to conduct service, and the
+little Burrowses are a set of little heathens, to whom I am to
+administer holy baptism this Easter Sunday. Good-bye just now."
+
+"Oh, Frank, my dear, just come in for a moment, and tell Leonora--it
+will show her how wrong she is," said poor aunt Dora, clinging to his
+arm.
+
+"Right or wrong, I am not going into any controversy. My aunt Leonora
+knows perfectly well what she is doing," said the Curate, with the best
+smile he could muster; and so shook hands with her resolutely, and
+walked back again all the way down Grange Lane, past the green door, to
+his own house. Nobody was about the green door at that particular moment
+to ask him in to luncheon, as sometimes happened. He walked down all the
+way to Mrs Hadwin's, with something of the sensations of a man who has
+just gone through a dreadful operation, and feels, with a kind of dull
+surprise after, that everything around him is just the same as before.
+He had come through a fiery trial, though nobody knew of it; and just at
+this moment, when he wanted all his strength, how strange to feel that
+haunting sense of an unnecessary sacrifice--that troubled new vein of
+thought which would be worked out, and which concerned matters more
+important than Skelmersdale, weighty as that was. He took his sermon out
+of his pocket when he got home, and marked a cross upon it, as we have
+already said; but, being still a young man, he was thankful to snatch a
+morsel of lunch, and hasten out again to his duty, instead of staying to
+argue the question with himself. He went to No. 10 Prickett's Lane, and
+was a long time with the sick woman, listening to all the woeful tale of
+a troubled life, which the poor sick creature had been contemplating for
+days and days, in her solitude, through those strange exaggerated
+death-gleams which Miss Leonora would have called "the light of
+eternity." She remembered all sorts of sins, great and small, which
+filled her with nervous terrors; and it was not till close upon the hour
+for the Wharfside service, that the Curate could leave his tremulous
+penitent. The schoolroom was particularly full that day. Easter,
+perhaps, had touched the hearts--it certainly had refreshed the
+toilettes--of the bargemen's wives and daughters. Some of them felt an
+inward conviction that their new ribbons were undoubtedly owing to the
+clergyman's influence, and that Tom and Jim would have bestowed the
+money otherwise before the Church planted her pickets in this corner of
+the enemy's camp; and the conviction, though not of an elevated
+description, was a great deal better than no conviction at all. Mr
+Wentworth's little sermon to them was a great improvement upon his
+sermon at St Roque's. He told them about the empty grave of Christ, and
+how He called the weeping woman by her name, and showed her the earnest
+of the end of all sorrows. There were some people who cried, thinking of
+the dead who were still waiting for Easter, which was more than anybody
+did when Mr Wentworth discoursed upon the beautiful institutions of the
+Church's year; and a great many of the congregation stayed to see Tom
+Burrows's six children come up for baptism, preceded by the new baby,
+whose infant claims to Christianity the Curate had so strongly insisted
+upon, to the wakening of a fatherly conscience in the honest bargeman.
+Lucy Wodehouse, without her grey cloak, stood at the font, holding that
+last tiny applicant for saving grace, while all the other little
+heathens were signed with the sacred cross. And strangely enough, when
+the young priest and the young woman stood so near each other, solemnly
+pledging, one after another, each little sun-browned, round-eyed pagan
+to be Christ's faithful servant and soldier, the cloud passed away
+from the firmament of both. Neither of them, perhaps, was of a very
+enlightened character of soul. They believed they were doing a great
+work for Tom Burrows's six children, calling God to His promise on their
+behalf, and setting the little feet straight for the gates of the
+eternal city; and in their young love and faith their hearts rose.
+Perhaps it was foolish of Mr Wentworth to suffer himself to walk home
+again thereafter, as of old, with the Miss Wodehouses--but it was so
+usual, and, after all, they were going the same way. But it was a very
+silent walk, to the wonder of the elder sister, who could not understand
+what it meant. "The Wharfside service always does me good," said Mr
+Wentworth, with a sigh. "And me, too," said Lucy; and then they talked a
+little about the poor woman in No. 10. But that Easter Sunday was not
+like other Sundays, though Miss Wodehouse could not tell why.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Next day the Miss Wentworths made a solemn call at the Rectory, having
+known an aunt of Mrs Morgan at some period of their history, and being
+much disposed, besides, with natural curiosity, to ascertain all about
+their nephew's circumstances. Their entrance interrupted a consultation
+between the Rector and his wife. Mr Morgan was slightly heated, and had
+evidently been talking about something that excited him; while she, poor
+lady, looked just sufficiently sympathetic and indignant to withdraw
+her mind from that first idea which usually suggested itself on the
+entrance of visitors--which was, what could they possibly think of her
+if they supposed the carpet, &c., to be her own choice? Mrs Morgan cast
+her eye with a troubled look upon the big card which had been brought to
+her--Miss Wentworth, Miss Leonora Wentworth, Miss Dora Wentworth.
+"Sisters of his, I suppose, William," she said in an undertone; "now
+_do_ be civil, dear." There was no time for anything more before the
+three ladies sailed in. Miss Leonora took the initiative, as was
+natural.
+
+"You don't remember us, I daresay," she said, taking Mrs Morgan's
+hand; "we used to know your aunt Sidney, when she lived at the
+Hermitage. Don't you recollect the Miss Wentworths of Skelmersdale?
+Charley Sidney spent part of his furlough with us last summer, and Ada
+writes about you often. We could not be in Carlingford without coming
+to see the relation of such a dear friend."
+
+"I am so glad to see anybody who knows my aunt Sidney," said Mrs
+Morgan, with modified enthusiasm. "Mr Morgan, Miss Wentworth. It was
+such a dear little house that Hermitage. I spent some very happy days
+there. Oh yes, I recollect Skelmersdale perfectly; but, to tell the
+truth, there is one of the clergy in Carlingford called Wentworth, and
+I thought it might be some relations of his coming to call."
+
+"Just so," said Miss Wentworth, settling herself in the nearest
+easy-chair.
+
+"And so it is," cried Miss Dora; "we are his aunts, dear boy--we are
+very fond of him. We came on purpose to see him. We are so glad to
+hear that he is liked in Carlingford."
+
+"Oh--yes," said the Rector's wife, and nobody else took any notice of
+Miss Dora's little outburst. As for Mr Morgan, he addressed Miss
+Leonora as if she had done something particularly naughty, and he had
+a great mind to give her an imposition. "You have not been very long
+in Carlingford, I suppose," said the Rector, as if that were a sin.
+
+"Only since Saturday," said Miss Leonora. "We came to see Mr Frank
+Wentworth, who is at St Roque's. I don't know what your bishop is
+about, to permit all those flowers and candlesticks. For my part, I
+never disguise my sentiments. I mean to tell my nephew plainly that
+his way of conducting the service is far from being to my mind."
+
+"Leonora, dear, perhaps Mr Morgan would speak to Frank about it,"
+interposed Miss Dora, anxiously; "he was always a dear boy, and advice
+was never lost upon him. From one that he respected so much as he must
+respect the Rector--"
+
+"I beg your pardon. I quite decline interfering with Mr Wentworth; he
+is not at all under my jurisdiction. Indeed," said the Rector, with a
+smile of anger, "I might be more truly said to be under his, for he is
+good enough to help in my parish without consulting me; but that is
+not to the purpose. I would not for the world attempt to interfere
+with St Roque's."
+
+"Dear, I am sure Mr Wentworth is very nice, and everything we have
+seen of him in private we have liked very much," said Mrs Morgan, with
+an anxious look at her husband. She was a good-natured woman, and the
+handsome Curate had impressed her favourably, notwithstanding his
+misdoings. "As for a little too much of the rubric, I think that is
+not a bad fault in a young man. It gets softened down with a little
+experience; and I do like proper solemnity in the services of the
+Church."
+
+"I don't call intoning proper solemnity," said Miss Leonora. "The
+Church is a missionary institution, that is my idea. Unless you are
+really bringing in the perishing and saving souls, what is the good?
+and souls will never be saved by Easter decorations. I don't know what
+my nephew may have done to offend you, Mr Morgan; but it is very sad
+to us, who have very strong convictions on the subject, to see him
+wasting his time so. I daresay there is plenty of heathenism in
+Carlingford which might be attacked in the first place."
+
+"I prefer not to discuss the subject," said the Rector. "So long as Mr
+Wentworth, or any other clergyman, keeps to his own sphere of duty, I
+should be the last in the world to interfere with him."
+
+"You are offended with Frank," said Miss Leonora, fixing her iron-grey
+eyes upon Mr Morgan. "So am I; but I should be glad if you would tell
+me all about it. I have particular reasons for wishing to know. After
+all, he is only a young man," she continued, with that instinct of
+kindred which dislikes to hear censure from any lips but its own. "I
+don't think there can be anything more than inadvertence in it. I
+should be glad if you would tell me what you object to in him. I think
+it is probable that he may remain a long time in Carlingford," said
+Miss Leonora, with charming candour, "and it would be pleasant if we
+could help to set him right. Your advice and experience might be of so
+much use to him." She was not aware of the covert sarcasm of her
+speech. She did not know that the Rector's actual experience, though
+he was half as old again as her nephew, bore no comparison to that of
+the Perpetual Curate. She spoke in good faith and good nature, not
+moved in her own convictions of what must be done in respect to
+Skelmersdale, but very willing, if that were possible, to do a good
+turn to Frank.
+
+"I am sure, dear, what we have seen of Mr Wentworth in private, we
+have liked very much," said the Rector's sensible wife, with a
+deprecating glance towards her husband. The Rector took no notice of
+the glance; he grew slightly red in his serious middle-aged face, and
+cleared his throat several times before he began to speak.
+
+"The fact is, I have reason to be dissatisfied with Mr Wentworth, as
+regards my own parish," said Mr Morgan: "personally I have nothing to
+say against him--quite the reverse; probably, as you say, it arises
+from inadvertence, as he is still a very young man; but--"
+
+"What has he done?" said Miss Leonora, pricking up her ears.
+
+Once more Mr Morgan cleared his throat, but this time it was to keep
+down the rising anger of which he was unpleasantly sensible. "I don't
+generally enter into such matters with people whom they don't concern,"
+he said, with a touch of his natural asperity; "but as you are Mr
+Wentworth's relation--. He has taken a step perfectly unjustifiable in
+every respect; he has at the present moment a mission going on in my
+parish, in entire independence, I will not say defiance, of me. My
+dear, it is unnecessary to look at me so deprecatingly. I am indignant
+at having such a liberty taken with me. I don't pretend not to be
+indignant. Mr Wentworth is a very young man, and may not know any
+better; but it is the most unwarrantable intrusion upon a clergyman's
+rights. I beg your pardon, Miss Wentworth: you have nothing to do with
+my grievances; but the fact is, my wife and I were discussing this very
+unpleasant matter when you came in."
+
+"A mission in your parish?" said Miss Leonora, her iron-grey eyes
+lighting up with a sparkle which did not look like indignation; at
+this point it was necessary that Miss Dora should throw herself into
+the breach.
+
+"Oh, Mr Morgan, I am sure my dear Frank does not mean it!" cried the
+unlucky peacemaker; "he would not for the world do anything to wound
+anybody's feelings--it must be a mistake."
+
+"Mr Morgan would not have mentioned it if we had not just been talking
+as you came in," said the Rector's wife, by way of smoothing down his
+ruffled temper and giving him time to recover. "I feel _sure_ it is a
+mistake, and that everything will come right as soon as they can talk
+it over by themselves. The last Rector was not at all a working
+clergyman--and perhaps Mr Wentworth felt it was his duty--and now I
+daresay he forgets that it is not his own parish. It will all come
+right after a time."
+
+"But the mission is effective, I suppose, or you would not object to
+it?" said Miss Leonora, who, though a very religious woman, was not a
+peacemaker; and the Rector, whose temper was hasty, swallowed the bait.
+He entered into his grievances more fully than his wife thought
+consistent with his dignity. She sat with her eyes fixed upon the floor,
+tracing the objectionable pattern on the carpet with her foot, but too
+much vexed for the moment to think of those bouquets which were so
+severe a cross to her on ordinary occasions. Perhaps she was thinking
+secretly to herself how much better one knows a man after being married
+to him three months than after being engaged to him ten years; but the
+discovery that he was merely a man after all, with very ordinary
+defects, did not lessen her loyalty. She sat with her eyes bent upon the
+carpet, feeling a little hot and uncomfortable as her husband disclosed
+his weakness, and watching her opportunities to rush in and say a
+softening word now and then. The chances were, perhaps, on the whole,
+that the wife grew _more_ loyal, if that were possible, as she perceived
+the necessity of standing by him and backing him out. The Rector went
+very fully into the subject, being drawn out by Miss Leonora's questions,
+and betrayed an extent of information strangely opposed to the utter
+ignorance which he had displayed at Mr Wodehouse's party. He knew the
+hours of Mr Wentworth's services, and the number of people who attended,
+and even about Tom Burrows's six children who had been baptised the day
+before. Somehow Mr Morgan took this last particular as a special
+offence; it was this which had roused him beyond his usual self-control.
+Six little heathens brought into the Christian fold in his own parish
+without the permission of the Rector! It was indeed enough to try any
+clergyman's temper. Through the entire narrative Miss Dora broke in now
+and then with a little wail expressive of her general dismay and grief,
+and certainty that her dear Frank did not mean it. Mrs Morgan repeated
+apart to Miss Wentworth with a troubled brow the fact that all they had
+seen of Mr Wentworth in private they had liked very much; to which aunt
+Cecilia answered, "Quite so," with her beautiful smile; while Miss
+Leonora sat and listened, putting artful questions, and fixing the
+heated Rector with that iron-grey eye, out of which the sparkle of
+incipient light had not faded. Mr Morgan naturally said a great deal
+more than he meant to say, and after it was said he was sorry; but he
+did not show the latter sentiment except by silence and an uneasy
+rustling about the room just before the Miss Wentworths rose to go--a
+sign apparent to his wife, though to nobody else. He gave Miss Wentworth
+his arm to the door with an embarrassed courtesy. "If you are going to
+stay any time at Carlingford, I trust we shall see more of you," said Mr
+Morgan: "I ought to beg your pardon for taking up so much time with my
+affairs;" and the Rector was much taken aback when Miss Wentworth
+answered, "Thank you, that is just what I was thinking." He went back to
+his troubled wife in great perplexity. What was it that was just what
+she was thinking?--that he would see more of them, or that he had spoken
+too much of his own affairs?
+
+"You think I have been angry and made an idiot of myself," said Mr
+Morgan to his wife, who was standing looking from a safe distance
+through the curtains at the three ladies, who were holding a consultation
+with their servant out of the window of the solemn chariot provided by
+the Blue Boar, as to where they were to go next.
+
+"Nonsense, dear; but I wish you had not said quite so much about Mr
+Wentworth," said the Rector's wife, seizing, with female art, on a cause
+for her annoyance which would not wound her Welshman's _amour propre_,
+"for I rather think he is dependent on his aunts. They have the living
+of Skelmersdale, I know; and I remember now that their nephew was to
+have had it. I hope this won't turn them against him, dear," said Mrs
+Morgan, who did not care the least in the world about Skelmersdale,
+looking anxiously in her husband's face.
+
+This was the climax of the Rector's trouble. "Why did not you tell me
+that before?" he said, with conjugal injustice, and went off to his
+study with a disturbed mind, thinking that perhaps he had injured his
+own chances of getting rid of the Perpetual Curate. If Mrs Morgan had
+permitted herself to soliloquise after he was gone, the matter of her
+thoughts might have been interesting; but as neither ladies nor
+gentlemen in the nineteenth century are given to that useful medium of
+disclosing their sentiments, the veil of privacy must remain over the
+mind of the Rector's wife. She got her gardening gloves and scissors,
+and went out immediately after, and had an animated discussion with the
+gardener about the best means of clothing that bit of wall, over which
+every railway train was visible which left or entered Carlingford. That
+functionary was of opinion that when the lime-trees "growed a bit" all
+would be right: but Mrs Morgan was reluctant to await the slow processes
+of nature. She forgot her vexations about Mr Wentworth in consideration
+of the still  more palpable inconvenience of the passing train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Miss Dora Wentworth relapsed into suppressed sobbing when the three
+ladies were once more on their way. Between each little access a few
+broken words fell from the poor lady's lips. "I am sure dear Frank did
+not mean it," she said; it was all the plea his champion could find
+for him.
+
+"He did not mean what? to do his duty and save souls?" said Miss
+Leonora--"is that what he didn't mean? It looks very much as if he
+did, though--as well as he knew how."
+
+"Quite so, Leonora," said Miss Wentworth.
+
+"But he could not mean to vex the Rector," said Miss Dora--"my poor
+dear Frank: of course he meant it for the very best. I wonder you
+don't think so, Leonora--you who are so fond of missions. I told you
+what I heard him saying to the young lady--all about the sick people
+he was going to visit, and the children. He is a faithful shepherd,
+though you won't think so; and I am sure he means nothing but--"
+
+"His duty, I think," said the iron-grey sister, resolutely indifferent
+to Miss Dora's little sniffs, and turning her gaze out of the window,
+unluckily just at the moment when the carriage was passing Masters's
+shop, where some engravings were hanging of a suspiciously devotional
+character. The name over the door, and the aspect of the shop-window,
+were terribly suggestive, and the fine profile of the Perpetual Curate
+was just visible within to the keen eyes of his aunt. Miss Dora, for
+her part, dried hers, and, beginning to see some daylight, addressed
+herself anxiously to the task of obscuring it, and damaging once more
+her favourite's chance.
+
+"Ah, Leonora, if he had but a sphere of his own," cried Miss Dora,
+"where he would have other things to think of than the rubric, and
+decorations, and sisterhoods! I don't wish any harm to poor dear old
+Mr Shirley, I am sure; but when Frank is in the Rectory--"
+
+"I thought you understood that Frank would not do for the Rectory,"
+said Miss Leonora. "Sisterhoods!--look here, there's a young lady in a
+grey cloak, and I think she's going into _that_ shop: if Frank carries
+on that sort of thing, I shall think him a greater fool than ever. Who
+is that girl?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, dear," said Miss Dora, with unexpected wisdom.
+And she comforted her conscience that she did not know, for she had
+forgotten Lucy's name. So there was no tangible evidence to confirm
+Miss Leonora's doubts, and the carriage from the Blue Boar rattled
+down Prickett's Lane to the much amazement of that locality. When they
+got to the grimy canal-banks, Miss Leonora stopped the vehicle and got
+out. She declined the attendance of her trembling sister, and marched
+along the black pavement, dispersing with the great waves of her
+drapery the wondering children about, who swarmed as children will
+swarm in such localities. Arrived at the schoolroom, Miss Leonora
+found sundry written notices hung up in a little wooden frame inside
+the open door. All sorts of charitable businesses were carried on
+about the basement of the house; and a curt little notice about the
+Provident Society diversified the list of services which was hung up
+for the advantage of the ignorant. Clearly the Curate of St Roque's
+meant it. "As well as he knows how," his aunt allowed to herself, with
+a softening sentiment; but, pushing her inquiries further, was shown
+up to the schoolroom, and stood pondering by the side of the
+reading-desk, looking at the table which was contrived to be so like
+an altar. The Curate, who could not have dreamed of such a visit, and
+whose mind had been much occupied and indifferent to externals on the
+day before, had left various things lying about, which were carefully
+collected for him upon a bench. Among them was a little pocket copy of
+Thomas à Kempis, from which, when the jealous aunt opened it, certain
+little German prints, such as were to be had by the score at Masters's,
+dropped out, some of them unobjectionable enough. But if the Good
+Shepherd could not be found fault with, the feelings of Miss Leonora may
+be imagined when the meek face of a monkish saint, inscribed with some
+villanous Latin inscription, a legend which began with the terrible
+words _Ora pro nobis_, became suddenly visible to her troubled eyes. She
+put away the book as if it had stung her, and made a precipitate
+retreat. She shook her head as she descended the stair--she re-entered
+the carriage in gloomy silence. When it returned up Prickett's Lane, the
+three ladies again saw their nephew, this time entering the door of No.
+10. He had his prayer-book under his arm, and Miss Leonora seized upon
+this professional symbol to wreak her wrath upon it. "I wonder if he
+can't pray by a sick woman without his prayer-book?" she cried. "I never
+was so provoked in my life. How is it he doesn't know better? His father
+is not pious, but he isn't a Puseyite, and old uncle Wentworth was very
+sound--he was brought up under the pure Gospel. How is that the boys are
+so foolish, Dora?" said Miss Leonora, sharply; "it must be your doing.
+You have told them tales and things, and put true piety out of their
+head."
+
+"My doing!" said Miss Dora, faintly; but she was too much startled by
+the suddenness of the attack to make any coherent remonstrance. Miss
+Leonora tossed back her angry head, and pursued that inspiration,
+finding it a relief in her perplexity.
+
+"It must be _all_ your doing," she said. "How can I tell that you are
+not a Jesuit in disguise? one has read of such a thing. The boys were
+as good, nice, pious boys as one could wish to see; and there's Gerald
+on the point of perversion, and Frank--I tell you, Dora, it must be
+your fault."
+
+"That was always my opinion," said Miss Cecilia; and the accused,
+after a feeble attempt at speech, could find nothing better to do than
+to drop her veil once more and cry under it. It was very hard, but she
+was not quite unaccustomed to it. However, the discoveries of the day
+were important enough to prevent the immediate departure which Miss
+Leonora had intended. She wrote a note with her own hands to her
+nephew, asking him to dinner. "We meant to have gone away to-day, but
+should like to see you first," she said in her note. "Come and
+dine--we mayn't have anything pleasant to say, but I don't suppose you
+expect that. It's a pity we don't see eye to eye." Such was the
+intimation received by Mr Wentworth when he got home, very tired, in
+the afternoon. He had been asking himself whether, under the
+circumstances, it would not be proper of him to return some books of
+Mr Wodehouse's which he had in his possession, of course by way of
+breaking off his too familiar, too frequent intercourse. He had been
+representing to himself that he would make this call after their
+dinner would be over, at the hour when Mr Wodehouse reposed in his
+easy-chair, and the two sisters were generally to be found alone in
+the drawing-room. Perhaps he might have an opportunity of intimating
+the partial farewell he meant to take of them. When he got Miss
+Leonora's note, the Curate's countenance clouded over. He said,
+"Another night lost," with indignant candour. It was hard enough to
+give up his worldly prospects, but he thought he had made up his mind
+to that. However, refusal was impossible. It was still daylight when
+he went up Grange Lane to the Blue Boar. He was early, and went
+languidly along the well-known road. Nobody was about at that hour. In
+those closed, embowered houses, people were preparing for dinner, the
+great event of the day, and Mr Wentworth was aware of that. Perhaps he
+had expected to see somebody--Mr Wodehouse going home, most likely, in
+order that he might mention his own engagement, and account for his
+failure in the chance evening call which had become so much a part of
+his life. But no one appeared to bear his message. He went lingering
+past the green door, and up the silent deserted road. At the end of
+Grange Lane, just in the little unsettled transition interval which
+interposed between its aristocratic calm and the bustle of George
+Street, on the side next Prickett's Lane, was a quaint little shop,
+into which Mr Wentworth strayed to occupy the time. This was
+Elsworthy's, who, as is well known, was then clerk at St Roque's.
+Elsworthy himself was in his shop that Easter Monday, and so was his
+wife and little Rosa, who was a little beauty. Rosa and her aunt had
+just returned from an excursion, and a prettier little apparition
+could not be seen than that dimpled rosy creature, with her radiant
+half-childish looks, her bright eyes, and soft curls of dark-brown
+hair. Even Mr Wentworth gave a second glance at her as he dropped
+languidly into a chair, and asked Elsworthy if there was any news. Mrs
+Elsworthy, who had been telling the adventures of the holiday to her
+goodman, gathered up her basket of eggs and her nosegay, and made the
+clergyman a little curtsy as she hurried away; for the clerk's wife
+was a highly respectable woman, and knew her own place. But Rosa, who
+was only a kind of kitten, and had privileges, stayed. Mr Wentworth
+was by far the most magnificent figure she had ever seen in her little
+life. She looked at him with awe out of her bright eyes, and thought
+he looked like the prince in the fairy tales.
+
+"Any news, sir? There aint much to call news, sir--not in a place like
+this," said Mr Elsworthy. "Your respected aunts, sir, 'as been down at
+the schoolroom. I haven't heard anything else as I could suppose you
+didn't know."
+
+"My aunts!" cried the Curate; "how do you know anything about my
+aunts?" Mr Elsworthy smiled a complacent and familiar smile.
+
+"There's so many a-coming and a-going here that I know most persons as
+comes into Carlingford," said he; "and them three respected ladies is
+as good as a pictur. I saw them a-driving past and down Prickett's
+Lane. They was as anxious to know all about it as--as was to be
+expected in the circumstances," said Mr Elsworthy, failing of a
+metaphor; "and I wish you your 'ealth and 'appiness, sir, if all as I
+hear is true."
+
+"It's a good wish," said the Curate; "thank you, Elsworthy; but what
+you heard might not be true."
+
+"Well, sir, it looks more than likely," said the clerk; "as far as
+I've seen in my experience, ladies don't go inquiring into a young
+gentleman's ways, not without some reason. If they was young ladies, and
+noways related, we know what we'd think, sir; but being old ladies, and
+aunts, it's equally as clear. For my part, Mr Wentworth, my worst wish
+is, that when you come into your fortune, it mayn't lead you away from
+St Roque's--not after everything is settled so beautiful, and not a
+thing wanted but some stained glass, as I hear a deal of people say, to
+make it as perfect a little church--"
+
+"Yes, it is very true; a painted window is very much wanted," said Mr
+Wentworth, thoughtfully.
+
+"Perhaps there's one o' the ladies, sir, as has some friend she'd like
+to put up a memorial to," said Mr Elsworthy, in insinuating tones. "A
+window is a deal cheerfuller a memorial than a tombstone, and it
+couldn't be described the improvement it would be to the church. I'm
+sorry to hear Mr Wodehouse aint quite so well as his usual to-night; a
+useful man like he is, would be a terrible loss to Carlingford; not as
+it's anything alarming, as far as I can hear, but being a stout man,
+it aint a safe thing his being took so sudden. I've heard the old
+doctor say, sir, as a man of a full 'abit might be took off at once,
+when a spare man would fight through. It would be a sad thing for his
+family, sir," said Mr Elsworthy, tying up a bundle of newspapers with
+a very serious face.
+
+"Good heavens, Elsworthy, how you talk!" said the alarmed Curate. "What
+do you mean?--is Mr Wodehouse ill?--seriously ill?"
+
+"Not serious, as I knows of," said the clerk, with solemnity; "but
+being a man of a full 'abit of body--I daresay as the town would enter
+into it by subscription if it was proposed as a memorial to _him_, for
+he's much respected in Carlingford is Mr Wodehouse. I see him a-going
+past, sir, at five o'clock, which is an hour earlier than common, and
+he was looking flabby, that's how he was looking. I don't know a man
+as would be a greater loss to his family; and they aint been without
+their troubles either, poor souls."
+
+"I should be sorry to think that it was necessary to sacrifice Mr
+Wodehouse for the sake of our painted window," said the Curate, "as
+that seems what you mean. Send over this note for me please, as I have
+not time to call. No, certainly, don't send Rosa; that child is too
+young and too--too pretty to be out by herself at night. Send a boy.
+Haven't you got a boy?--there is a very nice little fellow that I
+could recommend to you," said Mr Wentworth, as he hastily scribbled
+his note with a pencil, "whose mother lives in Prickett's Lane."
+
+"Thank _you_, sir, all the same; but I hope I don't need to go into
+that neighbourhood for good service," said Mr Elsworthy: "as for Rosa,
+I could trust her anywhere; and I have a boy, sir, as is the best boy
+that ever lived--a real English boy, that is. Sam, take this to Mr
+Wodehouse's directly, and wait for an answer. No answer?--very well,
+sir. You needn't wait for no answer, Sam. That's a boy, sir, I could
+trust with untold gold. His mother's a Dissenter, it is true, but the
+principles of that boy is beautiful. I hope you haven't mentioned,
+sir, as I said Mr Wodehouse was took bad? It was between ourselves, Mr
+Wentworth. Persons don't like, especially when they've got to that
+age, and are of a full 'abit of body, to have every little attack made
+a talk about. You'll excuse me mentioning it, sir, but it was as
+between ourselves."
+
+"Perhaps you'd like me to show you my note," said the Curate, with a
+smile; which, indeed, Elsworthy would have very much liked, could he
+have ventured to say so. Mr Wentworth was but too glad of an excuse to
+write and explain his absence. The note was not to Lucy, however,
+though various little epistles full of the business of the district
+had passed between the two:--
+
+
+ "DEAR MISS W.,--I hear your father is not quite well. I can't call
+ just now, as I am going to dine with my aunts, who are at the Blue
+ Boar; but, if you will pardon the lateness of the hour, I will call as
+ I return to ask for him.--Ever yours,
+
+ "F. C. WENTWORTH."
+
+
+Such was the Curate's note. While he scribbled it, little Rosa stood
+apart watching him with admiring eyes. He had said she was too pretty
+to be sent across Grange Lane by herself at this hour, though it was
+still no more than twilight; and he looked up at her for an instant as
+he said the words,--quite enough to set Rosa's poor little heart
+beating with childish romantical excitement. If she could but have
+peeped into the note to see what he said!--for perhaps, after all,
+there might not be anything "between" him and Miss Lucy--and perhaps--
+The poor little thing stood watching, deaf to her aunt's call, looking
+at the strange ease with which that small epistle was written, and
+thinking it half divine to have such mastery of words and pen. Mr
+Wentworth threw it to Sam as if it were a trifle; but Rosa's lively
+imagination could already conceive the possibility of living upon such
+trifles and making existence out of them; so the child stood with her
+pretty curls about her ears, and her bright eyes gleaming dewy over
+the fair, flushed, rosebud cheeks, in a flutter of roused and innocent
+imagination anticipating her fate. As for Mr Wentworth, it is doubtful
+whether he saw Rosa, as he swung himself round upon the stool he was
+seated on, and turned his face towards the door. Somehow he was
+comforted in his mind by the conviction that it was his duty to call
+at Mr Wodehouse's as he came back. The evening brightened up and
+looked less dismal. The illness of the respected father of the house
+did not oppress the young man. He thought not of the sick-room, but of
+the low chair in one corner, beside the work-table where Lucy had
+always basketfuls of sewing in hand. He could fancy he saw the work
+drop on her knee, and the blue eyes raised. It was a pretty picture
+that he framed for himself as he looked out with a half smile into the
+blue twilight through the open door of Elsworthy's shop. And it was
+clearly his duty to call. He grew almost jocular in the exhilaration
+of his spirits.
+
+"The Miss Wentworths don't approve of memorial windows, Elsworthy," he
+said; "and, indeed, if you think it necessary to cut off one of the
+chief people in Carlingford by way of supplying St Roque's with a
+little painted glass--"
+
+"No, sir--no, no, sir; you're too hard upon me--there wasn't no such
+meaning in my mind; but I don't make no question the ladies were
+pleased with the church," said Elsworthy, with the satisfaction of a
+man who had helped to produce an entirely triumphant effect. "I don't
+pretend to be a judge myself of what you call 'igh art, Mr Wentworth;
+but if I might venture an opinion, the altar was beautiful; and we
+won't say nothing about the service, considering, sir--if you won't be
+offended at putting them together, as one is so far inferior--that
+both you and me--"
+
+Mr Wentworth laughed and moved off his chair. "We were not appreciated
+in this instance," he said, with an odd comic look, and then went off
+into a burst of laughter, which Mr Elsworthy saw no particular
+occasion for. Then he took up his glove, which he had taken off to
+write the note, and, nodding a kindly good-night to little Rosa, who
+stood gazing after him with all her eyes, went away to the Blue Boar.
+The idea, however, of his own joint performance with Mr Elsworthy not
+only tickled the Curate, but gave him a half-ashamed sense of the
+aspect in which he might himself appear to the eyes of matter-of-fact
+people who differed with him. The joke had a slight sting, which
+brought his laughter to an end. He went up through the lighted street
+to the inn, wishing the dinner over, and himself on his way back again
+to call at Mr Wodehouse's. For, to tell the truth, by this time he had
+almost exhausted Skelmersdale, and, feeling in himself not much
+different now from what he was when his hopes were still green, had
+begun to look upon life itself with a less troubled eye, and to
+believe in other chances which might make Lucy's society practicable
+once more. It was in this altered state of mind that he presented
+himself before his aunts. He was less self-conscious, less watchful,
+more ready to amuse them, if that might happen to be possible, and in
+reality much more able to cope with Miss Leonora than when he had been
+more anxious about her opinion. He had not been two minutes in the
+room before all the three ladies perceived this revolution, and each
+in her own mind attempted to account for it. They were experienced
+women in their way, and found a variety of reasons; but as none of
+them were young, and as people _will_ forget how youth feels, not one
+of them divined the fact that there was no reason, but that this
+improvement of spirits arose solely from the fact that the Perpetual
+Curate had been for two whole days miserable about Skelmersdale, and
+had exhausted all his powers of misery--and that now youth had turned
+the tables, and he was still to see Lucy tonight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+"Your Rector is angry at some of your proceedings," said Miss Leonora.
+"I did not think a man of your views would have cared for missionary
+work. I should have supposed that you would think that vulgar, and
+Low-Church, and Evangelical. Indeed, I thought I heard you say you
+didn't believe in preaching, Frank?--neither do I, when a man preaches
+the Tracts for the Times. I was surprised to hear what you were doing
+at the place they call Wharfside."
+
+"First let me correct you in two little inaccuracies," said Mr Wentworth,
+blandly, as he peeled his orange. "The Rector of Carlingford is not _my_
+rector, and I don't preach the Tracts for the Times. Let us always be
+particular, my dear aunt, as to points of fact."
+
+"Exactly so," said Miss Leonora, grimly; "but, at the same time, as
+there seems no great likelihood of your leaving Carlingford, don't you
+think it would be wise to cultivate friendly relations with the Rector?"
+said the iron-grey inexorable aunt, looking full in his eyes as she
+spoke. So significant and plain a statement took for an instant the
+colour out of the Curate's cheeks--he pared his orange very carefully
+while he regained his composure, and it was at least half a minute
+before he found himself at leisure to reply. Miss Dora of course seized
+upon the opportunity, and, by way of softening matters, interposed in
+her unlucky person to make peace.
+
+"But, my dear boy, I said I was sure you did not mean it," said Miss
+Dora; "I told Mr Morgan I felt convinced it could be explained. Nobody
+knows you so well as I do. You were always high-spirited from a child,
+and never would give in; but I know very well you never could mean it,
+Frank."
+
+"Mean it?" said the Curate, with sparkling eyes: "what do you take me
+for, aunt Dora? Do you know what it is we are talking of? The question
+is, whether a whole lot of people, fathers and children, shall be left
+to live like beasts, without reverence for God or man, or shall be
+brought within the pale of the Church, and taught their duty? And you
+think I don't mean it? I mean it as much as my brother Charley meant it
+at the Redan," said young Wentworth, with a glow of suppressed enthusiasm,
+and that natural pride in Charley (who got the Cross for valour) which
+was common to all the Wentworths. But when he saw his aunt Leonora
+looking at him, the Perpetual Curate stood to his arms again. "I have
+still to learn that the Rector has anything to do with it," said the
+young Evangelist of Wharfside.
+
+"It is in his parish, and he thinks he has," said Miss Leonora. "I wish
+you could see your duty more clearly, Frank. You seem to me, you know,
+to have a kind of zeal, but not according to knowledge. If you were
+carrying the real Gospel to the poor people, I shouldn't be disposed to
+blame you; for the limits of a parish are but poor things to pause for
+when souls are perishing; but to break the law for the sake of diffusing
+the rubric and propagating Tractarianism--"
+
+"Oh, Leonora, how can you be so harsh and cruel?" cried Miss Dora;
+"only think what you are doing. I don't say anything about
+disappointing Frank, and perhaps injuring his prospects for life; for,
+to be sure, he is a true Wentworth, and won't acknowledge that; but
+think of my poor dear brother, with so many sons as he has to provide
+for, and so much on his mind; and think of ourselves and all that we
+have planned so often. Only think what you have talked of over and
+over; how nice it would be when he was old enough to take the Rectory,
+and marry Julia Trench--"
+
+"Aunt Dora," said the Curate, rising from the table. "I shall have to
+go away if you make such appeals on my behalf. And besides, it is only
+right to tell you that, whatever my circumstances were, I never could
+nor would marry Julia Trench. It is cruel and unjust to bring in her
+name. Don't let us hear any more of this, if you have any regard for
+me."
+
+"Quite so, Frank," said Miss Wentworth; "that is exactly what I was
+thinking." Miss Cecilia was not in the habit of making demonstrations,
+but she put out her delicate old hand to point her nephew to his seat
+again, and gave a soft slight pressure to his as she touched it. Old
+Miss Wentworth was a kind of dumb lovely idol to her nephews; she
+rarely said anything to them, but they worshipped her all the same for
+her beauty and those languid tendernesses which she showed them once
+in ten years or so. The Perpetual Curate was much touched by this
+manifestation. He kissed his old aunt's beautiful hand as reverently
+as if it had been a saint's. "I knew you would understand me," he
+said, looking gratefully at her lovely old face; which exclamation,
+however, was a simple utterance of gratitude, and would not have borne
+investigation. When he had resumed his seat and his orange, Miss
+Leonora cleared her throat for a grand address.
+
+"Frank might as well tell us he would not have Skelmersdale," she
+said. "Julia Trench has quite other prospects, I am glad to say,
+though Dora talks like a fool on this subject as well as on many
+others. Mr Shirley is not dead yet, and I don't think he means to die,
+for my part; and Julia would never leave her uncle. Besides, I don't
+think any inducement in the world would make her disguise herself like
+a Sister of Mercy. I hope she knows better. And it is a pity that
+Frank should learn to think of Skelmersdale as if it were a family
+living," continued Miss Leonora. "For my part, I think people
+detached from immediate ties as we are, are under all the greater
+responsibility. But as you are likely to stay in Carlingford, Frank,
+perhaps we could help you with the Rector," she concluded blandly, as
+she ate her biscuit. The Curate, who was also a Wentworth, had quite
+recovered himself ere this speech was over, and proved himself equal
+to the occasion.
+
+"If the Rector objects to what I am doing, I daresay he will tell me
+of it," said Mr Wentworth, with indescribable suavity. "I had the
+consent of the two former rectors to my mission in their parish, and I
+don't mean to give up such a work without a cause. But I am equally
+obliged to you, my dear aunt, and I hope Mr Shirley will live for ever.
+How long are you going to stay in Carlingford? Some of the people would
+like to call on you, if you remain longer. There are some great friends
+of mine here; and as I have every prospect of being perpetually the
+Curate, as you kindly observe, perhaps it might be good for me if I
+was seen to have such unexceptionable relationships--"
+
+"Satire is lost upon me," said Miss Leonora, "and we are going
+to-morrow. Here comes the coffee. I did not think it had been so late.
+We shall leave by an early train, and you can come and see us off, if
+you have time."
+
+"I shall certainly find time," said the nephew, with equal politeness;
+"and now you will permit me to say good-night, for I have a--one of my
+sick people to visit. I heard he was ill only as I came here, and had
+not time to call," added the Curate, with unnecessary explanitoriness,
+and took leave of his aunt Cecilia, who softly put something into his
+hand as she bade him good-night. Miss Dora, for her part, went with
+him to the door, and lingered leaning on his arm, down the long
+passage, all unaware, poor lady, that his heart was beating with
+impatience to get away, and that the disappointment for which she
+wanted to console him had at the present moment not the slightest real
+hold upon his perverse heart. "Oh, my dear boy, I hope you don't think
+it's my fault," said Miss Dora, with tears. "It must have come to
+this, dear, sooner or later: you see, poor Leonora has such a sense of
+responsibility; but it is very hard upon us, Frank, who love you so
+much, that she should always take her own way."
+
+"Then why don't you rebel?" said the Curate, who, in the thought of
+seeing Lucy, was exhilarated, and dared to jest even upon the awful
+power of his aunt. "You are two against one; why don't you take it
+into your own hands and rebel?"
+
+Miss Dora repeated the words with an alarmed quiver. "Rebel! oh,
+Frank, dear, do you think we could? To be sure, we are co-heiresses,
+and have just as good a right as she has; and for your sake, my dear
+boy," said the troubled woman, "oh, Frank, I wish you would tell me
+what to do! I never should dare to contradict Leonora with no one to
+stand by me; and then, if anything happened, you would all think I had
+been to blame," said poor aunt Dora, clinging to his arm. She made him
+walk back and back again through the long passage, which was sacred to
+the chief suite of apartments at the Blue Boar. "We have it all to
+ourselves, and nobody can see us here; and oh, my dear boy, if you
+would only tell me what I ought to do?" she repeated, with wistful
+looks of appeal. Mr Wentworth was too good-hearted to show the
+impatience with which he was struggling. He satisfied her as well as
+he could, and said good-night half-a-dozen times. When he made his
+escape at last, and emerged into the clear blue air of the spring
+night, the Perpetual Curate had no such sense of disappointment and
+failure in his mind as the three ladies supposed. Miss Leonora's
+distinct intimation that Skelmersdale had passed out of the region of
+probabilities, had indeed tingled through him at the moment it was
+uttered; but just now he was going to see Lucy, anticipating with
+impatience the moment of coming into her presence, and nothing in the
+world could have dismayed him utterly. He went down the road very
+rapidly, glad to find that it was still so early, that the shopkeepers
+in George Street were but just putting up their shutters, and that
+there was still time for an hour's talk in that bright drawing-room.
+Little Rosa was standing at the door of Elsworthy's shop, looking out
+into the dark street as he passed; and he said, "A lovely night,
+Rosa," as he went by. But the night was nothing particular in itself,
+only lovely to Mr Wentworth, as embellished with Lucy shining over it,
+like a distant star. Perhaps he had never in his life felt so glad
+that he was going to see her, so eager for her presence, as that night
+which was the beginning of the time when it would be no longer lawful
+for him to indulge in her society. He heaved a big sigh as that
+thought occurred to him, but it did not diminish the flush of
+conscious happiness; and in this mood he went down Grange Lane, with
+light resounding steps, to Mr Wodehouse's door.
+
+But Mr Wentworth started with a very strange sensation when the door
+was stealthily, noiselessly opened to him before he could ring. He
+could not see who it was that called him in the darkness; but he felt
+that he had been watched for, and that the door was thrown open very
+hurriedly to prevent him from making his usual summons at the bell.
+Such an incident was incomprehensible. He went into the dark garden
+like a man in a dream, with a horrible vision of Archimage and the
+false Una somehow stealing upon his mind, he could not tell how. It
+was quite dark inside, for the moon was late of rising that night, and
+the faint stars threw no effectual lustre down upon the trees. He had
+to grope before him to know where he was going, asking in a troubled
+voice, "Who is there? What is the matter?" and falling into more and
+more profound bewilderment and uneasiness.
+
+"Hush, hush, oh hush!--Oh, Mr Wentworth, it is I--I want to speak to
+you," said an agitated voice beside him. "Come this way--this way; I
+don't want any one to hear us." It was Miss Wodehouse who thus pitifully
+addressed the amazed Curate. She laid a tremulous hand on his arm, and
+drew him deeper into the shadows--into that walk where the limes and
+tall lilac-bushes grew so thickly. Here she came to a pause, and the
+sound of the terrified panting breath in the silence alarmed him more
+and more.
+
+"Is Mr Wodehouse ill? What has happened?" said the astonished young
+man. The windows of the house were gleaming hospitably over the dark
+garden, without any appearance of gloom--the drawing-room windows
+especially, which he knew so well, brightly lighted, one of them open,
+and the sound of the piano and Lucy's voice stealing out like a
+celestial reality into the darkness. By the time he had become fully
+sensible of all these particulars his agitated companion had found her
+breath.
+
+"Mr Wentworth, don't think me mad," said Miss Wodehouse; "I have come
+out to speak to you, for I am in great distress. I don't know what to
+do unless you will help me. Oh no, don't look at the house--nobody
+knows in the house; I would die rather than have them know. Hush,
+hush! don't make any noise. Is that some one looking out at the door?"
+
+And just then the door was opened, and Mr Wodehouse's sole male
+servant looked out, and round the garden, as if he had heard something
+to excite his curiosity or surprise. Miss Wodehouse grasped the arm of
+the Perpetual Curate, and held him with an energy which was almost
+violence. "Hush, hush, hush," she said, with her voice almost at his
+ear. The excitement of this mild woman, the perfectly inexplicable
+mystery of the meeting, overwhelmed young Wentworth. He could think of
+nothing less than that she had lost her senses, and in his turn he
+took her hands and held her fast.
+
+"What is the matter? I cannot tell you how anxious, how distressed I
+am. What has happened?" said the young man, under his breath.
+
+"My father has some suspicion," she answered, after a pause--"he came
+home early to-day looking ill. You heard of it, Mr Wentworth--it was
+your note that decided me. Oh, heaven help us! it is so hard to know
+what to do. I have never been used to act for myself, and I feel as
+helpless as a baby. The only comfort I have was that it happened on
+Easter Sunday," said the poor gentlewoman, incoherently; "and oh! if
+it should prove a rising from the dead! If you saw me, Mr Wentworth,
+you would see I look ten years older; and I can't tell you how it is,
+but I think my father has suspicions;--he looked so ill--oh, so
+ill--when he came home to-night. Hush! hush! did you hear anything? I
+daren't tell Lucy; not that I couldn't trust her, but it is cruel when
+a young creature is happy, to let her know such miseries. Oh, Mr
+Wentworth, I daresay I am not telling you what it is, after all. I
+don't know what I am saying--wait till I can think. It was on Easter
+Sunday, after we came home from Wharfside; you remember we all came
+home together, and both Lucy and you were so quiet. I could not
+understand how it was you were so quiet, but I was not thinking of any
+trouble--and then all at once there he was."
+
+"Who?" said the Curate, forgetting caution in his bewilderment.
+
+Once more the door opened, and John appeared on the steps, this time
+with a lantern and the watch-dog, a great brown mastiff, by his side,
+evidently with the intention of searching the garden for the owners of
+those furtive voices. Mr Wentworth drew the arm of his trembling
+companion within his own. "I don't know what you want of me, but
+whatever it is, trust to me like--like a brother," he said, with a sigh.
+"But now compose yourself; we must go into the house: it will not do for
+you to be found here." He led her up the gravel-walk into the light of
+the lantern, which the vigilant guardian of the house was flashing among
+the bushes as he set out upon his rounds. John fell back amazed but
+respectful when he saw his mistress and the familiar visitor. "Beg your
+pardon, ma'am, but I knew there was voices, and I didn't know as any of
+the family was in the garden," said the man, discomfited. It was all Mr
+Wentworth could do to hold up the trembling figure by his side. As John
+retreated, she gathered a little fortitude. Perhaps it was easier for
+her to tell her hurried tremulous story, as he guided _her_ back to the
+house, than it would have been in uninterrupted leisure and quiet. The
+family tragedy fell in broken sentences from her lips, as the Curate
+bent down his astonished ear to listen. He was totally unprepared for
+the secret which only her helplessness and weakness and anxiety to serve
+her father could have drawn from Miss Wodehouse's lips; and it had to be
+told so hurriedly that Mr Wentworth scarcely knew what it was, except a
+terrible unsuspected shadow overhanging the powerful house, until he had
+time to think it all over. There was no such time at this moment. His
+trembling companion left him as soon as they reached the house, to
+"compose herself," as she said. When he saw her face in the light of the
+hall lamp it was ghastly, and quivering with agitation, looking not ten
+years, as she said, but a hundred years older than when, in the sweet
+precision of her Sunday dress and looks, old Miss Wodehouse had bidden
+him good-bye at the green door. He went up to the drawing-room,
+notwithstanding, with as calm a countenance as he himself could collect,
+to pay the visit which, in this few minutes, had so entirely changed in
+character. Mr Wentworth felt as if he saw everything exactly as he had
+pictured it to himself half an hour ago. Lucy, who had left the piano,
+was seated in her low chair again, not working, but talking to Mr
+Wodehouse, who lay on the sofa, looking a trifle less rosy than usual,
+like a man who had had a fright, or been startled by some possible
+shadow of a ghost. To walk into the room, into the bright household
+glow, and smile and shake hands with them, feeling all the time that he
+knew more about them than they themselves did, was the strangest
+sensation to the young man. He asked how Mr Wodehouse did, with a voice
+which, to himself, sounded hollow and unnatural, and sat down beside the
+invalid, almost turning his back upon Lucy in his bewilderment. It was
+indeed with a great effort that Mr Wentworth mastered himself, and was
+able to listen to what his companion said.
+
+"We are all right," said Mr Wodehouse--"a trifle of a headache or
+so--nothing to make a talk about; but Molly has forsaken us, and we
+were just about getting bored with each other, Lucy and I; a third
+person was all we wanted to make us happy--eh? Well I thought you
+looked at the door very often--perhaps I was mistaken--but I could
+have sworn you were listening and looking for somebody. No wonder
+either--I don't think so. I should have done just the same at your
+age."
+
+"Indeed, papa, you are quite mistaken," said Lucy. "I suppose that means
+that I cannot amuse you by myself, though I have been trying all the
+evening. Perhaps Mr Wentworth will be more fortunate." And, either for
+shame of being supposed to look for him, or in a little innocent pique,
+she moved away from where she was sitting, and rang for tea, and left
+the two gentlemen to talk to each other. That is to say, Mr Wodehouse
+talked, and the Perpetual Curate sat looking vaguely at the fair figure
+which flitted about the room, and wondering if he were awake, or the
+world still in its usual place. After a while Miss Wodehouse came in,
+very tremulous and pale, and dropped into the first chair she could
+find, and pretended to occupy herself over her knitting. She had a
+headache, Lucy said; and Mr Wentworth sat watching while the younger
+sister tended the elder, bringing her tea, kissing her, persuading her
+to go and lie down, taking all kinds of affectionate trouble to cheer
+the pale woman, who looked over Lucy's fair head with eyes full of
+meaning to the bewildered visitor, who was the only one there who
+understood what her trouble meant. When he got up to go away, she wrung
+his hand with a pitiful gaze which went to his heart. "Let me know!" she
+said in a whisper; and, not satisfied still, went to the door with him,
+and lingered upon the stair, following slowly. "Oh, Mr Wentworth! be
+sure you let me know," she repeated, again looking wistfully after him
+as he disappeared into the dark garden, going out. The stars were still
+shining, the spring dews lying sweet upon the plants and turf. It was a
+lovelier night now than when Mr Wentworth had said so to little Rosa
+Elsworthy an hour ago; but mists were rising from the earth, and clouds
+creeping over the sky, to the startled imagination of the Perpetual
+Curate. He had found out by practical experiments, almost for the first
+time, that there were more things in earth and heaven than are dreamt of
+in the philosophy of youth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+It was the next morning after this when Mrs Hadwin's strange lodger
+first appeared in the astonished house. He was the strangest lodger to
+be taken into a house of such perfect respectability, a house in
+Grange Lane; and it came to be currently reported in Carlingford after
+a time, when people knew more about it, that even the servants could
+not tell when or how he arrived, but had woke up one morning to find a
+pair of boots standing outside the closed door of the green room,
+which the good old lady kept for company, with sensations which it
+would be impossible to describe. Such a pair of boots they were
+too--muddy beyond expression, with old mud which had not been brushed
+off for days--worn shapeless, and patched at the sides; the strangest
+contrast to a handsome pair of Mr Wentworth's, which he, contrary to
+his usual neat habits, had kicked off in his sitting-room, and which
+Sarah, the housemaid, had brought and set down on the landing, close
+by these mysterious and unaccountable articles. When the bell of the
+green room rang an hour or two later, Sarah and the cook, who happened
+to be standing together, jumped three yards apart and stared at each
+other; the sound gave them both "a turn." But they soon got perfectly
+well used to that bell from the green room. It rung very often in the
+day, for "the gentleman" chose to sit there more than half his time;
+and if other people were private about him, it was a great deal more
+than he was about himself. He even sent the boots to be mended, to
+Sarah's shame and confusion. For the credit of the house, the girl
+invented a story about them to calm the cobbler's suspicions. "They
+was the easiest boots the gentleman had, being troubled with tender
+feet; and he wasn't a-going to give them up because they was shabby,"
+said Sarah. He sent down his shabby clothes to be brushed, and wore Mr
+Wentworth's linen, to the indignation of the household. But he was not
+a man to be concealed in a corner. From where he sat in the green
+room, he whistled so beautifully that Mrs Hadwin's own pet canary
+paused astonished to listen, and the butcher's boy stole into the
+kitchen surreptitiously to try if he could learn the art; and while he
+whistled, he filled the tidy room with parings and cuttings of wood,
+and carved out all kinds of pretty articles with his knife. But though
+he rang his bell so often, and was so tiresome with his litter, and
+gave so much trouble, Sarah's heart, after a while, melted to "the
+gentleman." He made her a present of a needlecase, and was very
+civil-spoken--more so a great deal than the Curate of St Roque's; and
+such a subject of talk and curiosity had certainly not been in
+Carlingford for a hundred years.
+
+As for Mrs Hadwin, she never gave any explanation at all on the
+subject, but accepted the fact of a new inmate cheerfully, as if she
+knew all about it. Of course she could not ask any of her nieces to
+visit her while the green room was occupied; and as they were all
+rather large, interfering, managing women, perhaps the old lady was
+not very sorry. Mr Wentworth himself was still less explanatory. When
+Mr Wodehouse said to him, "What is this I hear about a brother of
+yours?--they tell me you've got a brother staying with you. Well,
+that's what I hear. Why don't you bring him up to dinner? Come
+to-morrow;" the Perpetual Curate calmly answered, "Thank you; but
+there's no brother of mine in Carlingford," and took no further
+notice. Naturally, however, this strange apparition was much discussed
+in Grange Lane; the servants first, and then the ladies, became
+curious about him. Sometimes, in the evenings, he might be seen coming
+out of Mrs Hadwin's garden-door--a shabby figure, walking softly in
+his patched boots. There never was light enough for any one to see
+him; but he had a great beard, and smoked a short little pipe, and had
+evidently no regard for appearances. It was a kind of thing which few
+people approved of. Mrs Hadwin ought not to permit it, some ladies
+said; and a still greater number were of the opinion that, rather than
+endure so strange a fellow-lodger, the Curate ought to withdraw, and
+find fresh lodgings. This was before the time when the public began to
+associate the stranger in a disagreeable way with Mr Wentworth. Before
+they came to that, the people in Grange Lane bethought themselves of
+all Mrs Hadwin's connections, to find out if there might not be some
+of them under hiding; and, of course, that excellent woman had a
+nephew or two whose conduct was not perfect; and then it came to
+be reported that it was Mr Wentworth's brother--that it was an
+unfortunate college chum of his--that it was somebody who had
+speculated, and whom the Curate had gone shares with: but, in the mean
+time, no real information could be obtained about this mysterious
+stranger. The butcher's boy, whose senses were quickened by mingled
+admiration and envy, heard him whistling all day long, sometimes
+hidden among the trees in the garden, sometimes from the open window
+of the green room, where, indeed, Lady Western's page was ready to
+take his oath he had once seen the audacious unknown leaning out in
+the twilight, smoking a pipe. But no trap of conversation, however
+ingenious--and many traps were laid for Mr Wentworth--ever elicited
+from the Perpetual Curate any acknowledgment of the other lodger's
+existence. The young Anglican opened his fine eyes a little wider than
+usual when he was asked sympathetically whether so many people in the
+house did not interfere with his quiet. "Mrs Hadwin's talk is very
+gentle," said the Curate; "she never disturbs me." And the mistress of
+the house was equally obtuse, and would not comprehend any allusion.
+The little household came to be very much talked of in Carlingford in
+consequence; and to meet that shabby figure in the evening, when one
+chanced to be out for a walk, made one's company sought after in the
+best circles of society: though the fact is, that people began to be
+remiss in calling upon Mrs Hadwin, and a great many only left their
+cards as soon as it became evident that she did not mean to give any
+explanation. To have the Curate to stay with her was possible, without
+infringing upon her position; but matters became very different when
+she showed herself willing to take "any one," even when in equivocal
+apparel and patched boots.
+
+Probably the Curate had his own troubles during this period of his
+history. He was noticed to be a little quick and short in his temper for
+some time after Easter. For one thing, his aunts did not go away; they
+stayed in the Blue Boar, and sent for him to dinner, till the Curate's
+impatience grew almost beyond bearing. It was a discipline upon which he
+had not calculated, and which exceeded the bounds of endurance,
+especially as Miss Leonora questioned him incessantly about his "work,"
+and still dangled before him, like an unattainable sweet-meat before a
+child, the comforts and advantages of Skelmersdale, where poor old Mr
+Shirley had rallied for the fiftieth time. The situation altogether was
+very tempting to Miss Leonora; she could not make up her mind to go away
+and leave such a very pretty quarrel in progress; and there can be no
+doubt that it would have been highly gratifying to her vanity as an
+Evangelical woman to have had her nephew brought to task for missionary
+work carried on in another man's parish, even though that work was not
+conducted entirely on her own principles. She lingered, accordingly,
+with a great hankering after Wharfside, to which Mr Wentworth steadily
+declined to afford her any access. She went to the afternoon service
+sometimes, it is true, but only to be afflicted in her soul by the sight
+of Miss Wodehouse and Lucy in their grey cloaks, not to speak of the
+rubric to which the Curate was so faithful. It was a trying experience
+to his Evangelical aunt; but at the same time it was a "great work;" and
+she could not give up the hope of being able one time or other to
+appropriate the credit of it, and win him over to her own "views." If
+that consummation could but be attained, everything would become simple;
+and Miss Leonora was a true Wentworth, and wanted to see her nephew in
+Skelmersdale: so it may easily be understood that, under present
+circumstances, there were great attractions for her in Carlingford.
+
+It was, accordingly, with a beating heart that Miss Dora, feeling a
+little as she might have been supposed to feel thirty years before,
+had she ever stolen forth from the well-protected enclosure of
+Skelmersdale Park to see a lover, put on her bonnet in the early
+twilight, and, escaping with difficulty the lively observations of her
+maid, went tremulously down Grange Lane to her nephew's house. She
+had never yet visited Frank, and this visit was unquestionably
+clandestine. But then the news with which her heart was beating was
+important enough to justify the step she was taking--at least so she
+whispered to herself; though whether dear Frank would be pleased, or
+whether he would still think it "my fault," poor Miss Dora could not
+make up her mind. Nothing happened in the quiet road, where there were
+scarcely any passengers, and the poor lady arrived with a trembling
+sense of escape from unknown perils at Mrs Hadwin's garden-door. For
+Miss Dora was of opinion, like some few other ladies, that to walk
+alone down the quietest of streets was to lay herself open to
+unheard-of dangers. She put out her trembling hand to ring the bell,
+thinking her perils over--for of course Frank would walk home with
+her--when the door suddenly opened, and a terrible apparition, quite
+unconscious of anybody standing there, marched straight out upon Miss
+Dora, who gave a little scream, and staggered backwards, thinking the
+worst horrors she had dreamed of were about to be realised. They were
+so close together that the terrified lady took in every detail of his
+appearance. She saw the patched boots and that shabby coat which Sarah
+the housemaid felt that she rather demeaned herself by brushing. It
+looked too small for him, as coats will do when they get shabby; and,
+to complete the alarming appearance of the man, he had no hat, but
+only a little travelling-cap surmounting the redundancy of hair,
+mustache, and beard, which were enough of themselves to strike any
+nervous woman with terror. "Oh, I beg your pardon," cried poor Miss
+Dora, hysterically; "I wanted to see Mr Wentworth;" and she stood
+trembling and panting for breath, holding by the wall, not quite sure
+that this apparition could be appeased by any amount of apologies. It
+was a great comfort to her when the monster took off its cap, and when
+she perceived, by the undulations of the beard, something like a smile
+upon its hidden lips. "I believe Mr Wentworth is at church," said the
+new lodger: "may I have the pleasure of seeing you safely across to St
+Roque's?" At which speech Miss Dora trembled more and more, and said,
+faintly, "No, thank you,"--for who could tell what the man's
+intentions might be? The result was, however, that he only put on his
+cap again, and went off like any other human creature in the other
+direction, and that slowly; with tremulous steps Miss Dora pursued her
+way to her nephew's pretty church. She could not have described, as
+she herself said, what a relief it was after all this, to take Frank's
+arm, as she met him at the door of St Roque's. He was coming out, and
+the young lady with the grey cloak had been one of the congregation;
+and, to tell the truth, Miss Dora was an unwelcome addition just then
+to the party. Lucy's coming had been accidental, and it was very sweet
+to Mr Wentworth to be able to conclude that he was obliged to walk
+home with her. They were both coming out from their evening devotions
+into the tranquil spring twilight, very glad of the charmed quiet, and
+happy somehow to find themselves alone together. That had happened but
+seldom of late; and a certain expectation of something that might
+happen hovered over the heads of Lucy and the Curate. It did not
+matter that he dared not say to her what was in his heart. Mr
+Wentworth was only a young man after all, and the thrill of a possible
+revelation was upon him in that half-hour upon which he was entering
+with so profound a sense of happiness. And then it was an accidental
+meeting, and if anything did happen, they could not blame themselves
+as if they had sought this opportunity of being together. The
+circumstances were such that they might call it providential, if
+anything came of it. But just as the two had made their first step out
+of the church, where the organ was still murmuring low in the
+darkness, and where the music of the last Amen, in which he had
+recognised Lucy's voice, had not quite died from the Curate's ears, to
+meet Miss Dora, pale and fluttered, full of news and distress, with no
+other thought in her mind but to appropriate her dear Frank, and take
+his arm and gain his ear! It was very hard upon the Perpetual Curate.
+As for Lucy, she, of course, did not say anything, but merely arranged
+her veil and greeted Miss Wentworth sweetly. Lucy walked on the other
+side of the Curate, saying little as Miss Dora's eager shower of
+questions and remarks ran on. Perhaps she had a little insight into Mr
+Wentworth's feelings, and no doubt it was rather tantalising. When
+they came to Mrs Hadwin's door, the young Anglican made a spasmodic
+effort, which in his heart he felt to be unprincipled, and which, had
+it been successful, would have totally taken away the accidental and
+unpremeditated character of this walk with Lucy, which he could not
+find it in his heart to relinquish. He proposed that his aunt should
+go in and rest while he saw Miss Wodehouse safely home--he was sure
+she was tired, he said, eagerly. "No, my dear, not at all," said Miss
+Dora; "it is such a pleasant evening, and I know Miss Wodehouse's is
+not very far off. I should like the walk, and, besides, it is too
+late, you know, to see Mrs Hadwin, and I should not like to go in
+without calling on her; and besides--"
+
+Mr Wentworth in his aggravation gave a momentary sudden glance at Lucy
+when she had no expectation of it. That glance of disappointment--of
+disgust--of love and longing, was no more intentional than their
+meeting; could he help it, if it revealed that heart which was in such
+a state of commotion and impatience? Anyhow, the look gave Lucy
+sufficient occupation to keep her very quiet on the other side while
+Miss Dora maundered on.
+
+"I met the strangest man coming out when I was going to ring your
+bell. You will think it very foolish, Frank, but he frightened me,"
+she said. "A man with a terrible beard, and a--a shabby man, my dear.
+Who could it be? Not a person to be seen coming out of a house where a
+clergyman lives. He could not be any friend of yours?"
+
+"The other lodger, I suppose," said the Curate, briefly. "When are you
+going away?"
+
+"Oh, my dear boy, we are not going away; I came to tell you. But,
+Frank, you don't mean to say that such a man as that lodges in Mrs
+Hadwin's house? I don't think it is safe for you--I don't think it is
+respectable. People might think he was a friend of yours. I wonder if
+Miss Wodehouse has ever seen him--a great man with a beard? To be
+sure, a man might have a beard and yet be respectable; but I am sure,
+if Miss Wodehouse saw him, she would agree with me in thinking--
+Frank, my dear boy, what is the matter? Have I said anything wrong?"
+
+"Nothing that I know of," said the Curate, who had given her arm a
+little angry pressure to stop the stream of utterance--"only that I am
+not interested in the other lodger. Tell me about your going away."
+
+"But I must appeal to Miss Wodehouse: it is for your own sake, my dear
+Frank," said aunt Dora--"a clergyman should be so careful. I don't
+know what your aunt Leonora would say. Don't you think to see a man
+like that coming out of Mr Wentworth's house is not as it should be? I
+assure you he frightened me."
+
+"I don't think I have seen him," said Lucy. "But shouldn't a clergyman's
+house be like the church, open to good and bad?--for it is to the wicked
+and the miserable you are sent," said the Sister of Mercy, lowering her
+voice and glancing up at the Perpetual Curate. They could have clasped
+each other's hands at that moment, almost without being aware that it
+was any personal feeling which made their agreement so sweet. As for
+Miss Dora, she went on leaning on her nephew's arm, totally unconscious
+of the suppressed rapture and elevation in which the two were moving at
+the other side.
+
+"That is very true. I am sure your aunt Leonora would approve of that,
+dear," said Miss Dora, with a little answering pressure on her
+nephew's arm--"but still I have a feeling that a clergyman should
+always take care to be respectable. Not that he should neglect the
+wicked," continued the poor aunt, apologetically, "for a poor sinner
+turning from the evil of his ways is the--the most interesting--sight
+in the world, even to the angels, you know; but to _live_ with them in
+the same house, my dear--I am sure that is what I never could advise,
+nor Leonora either; and Mrs Hadwin ought to know better, and have him
+away. Don't you know who he is, Frank? I could not be content without
+finding out, if it was me."
+
+"I have nothing to do with him," said the Curate, hurriedly: "it is a
+subject I don't want to discuss. Never mind him. What do you mean by
+saying you are not going away?"
+
+"My dear, Leonora has been thinking it all over," said Miss Dora, "and
+we are so anxious about you. Leonora is very fond of you, though she
+does not show it; and you know the Meritons have just come home from
+India, and have not a house to go to. So you see we thought, as you
+are not quite so comfortable as we could wish to see you, Frank--and
+perhaps we might be of some use--and Mr Shirley is better again, and
+no immediate settlement has to be made about Skelmersdale;--that on
+the whole, if Leonora and you were to see more of each other--oh, my
+dear boy, don't be so hasty; it was all her own doing--it was not my
+fault."
+
+"Fault! I am sorry to be the occasion of so many arrangements," said Mr
+Wentworth, with his stiff manner; "but, of course, if you like to stay
+in Carlingford I shall be very happy--though there is not much preaching
+here that will suit my aunt Leonora: as for Mr Shirley, I hope he'll
+live for ever. I was at No. 10 today," continued the Curate, turning his
+head to the other side, and changing his tone in a manner marvellous to
+Miss Dora. "I don't think she can live much longer. You have done a
+great deal to smooth her way in this last stage. Poor soul! she thinks
+she has been a great sinner," said the young man, with a kind of
+wondering pity. He had a great deal to vex him in his own person, and
+he knew of some skeletons very near at hand, but somehow at that moment
+it was hard to think of the extremities of mortal trouble, of death and
+anguish--those dark deeps of life by which Lucy and he sometimes stood
+together in their youth and happiness. A marvelling remorseful pity came
+to his heart. He could not believe in misery, with Lucy walking softly
+in the spring twilight by his side.
+
+"But, Frank, you are not taking any notice of what I say," said Miss
+Dora, with something like a suppressed sob. "I don't doubt your sick
+people are very important, but I thought you would take _some_
+interest. I came down to tell you, all the way by myself."
+
+"My sister would like to call on you, Miss Wentworth," said Lucy,
+interposing. "Gentlemen never understand what one says. Perhaps we
+could be of some use to you if you are going to settle in Carlingford.
+I think she has been a great deal better since she confessed,"
+continued the charitable Sister, looking up to the Curate, and, like
+him, dropping her voice. "The absolution was such a comfort. Now she
+seems to feel as if she could die. And she has so little to live for!"
+said Lucy, with a sigh of sympathetic feeling, remorseful too. Somehow
+it seemed cruel to feel so young, so hopeful, so capable of happiness,
+with such desolation close at hand.
+
+"Not even duty," said the Curate; "and to think that the Church should
+hesitate to remove the last barriers out of the way! I would not be a
+priest if I were debarred from the power of delivering such a poor
+soul."
+
+"Oh, Frank," said Miss Dora, with a long breath of fright and horror,
+"_what_ are you saying? Oh, my dear, don't say it over again, I don't
+want to hear it! I hope when we are dying we shall all feel what great
+great sinners we are," said the poor lady, who, between vexation and
+mortification, was ready to cry, "and not think that one is better
+than another. Oh, my dear, there is that man again! Do you think it is
+safe to meet him in such a lonely road? If he comes across and speaks
+to me any more I shall faint," cried poor Miss Dora, whose opinions
+were not quite in accordance with her feelings. Mr Wentworth did not
+say anything to soothe her, but with his unoccupied hand he made an
+involuntary movement towards Lucy's cloak, and plucked at it to bring
+her nearer, as the bearded stranger loomed dimly past, looking at the
+group. Lucy felt the touch, and wondered and looked up at him in the
+darkness. She could not comprehend the Curate's face.
+
+"Are _you_ afraid of him?" she said, with a slight smile; "if it is
+only his beard I am not alarmed; and here is papa coming to meet me. I
+thought you would have come for me sooner, papa. Has anything
+happened?" said Lucy, taking Mr Wodehouse's arm, who had suddenly
+appeared from underneath the lamp, still unlighted, at Dr
+Marjoribanks's door. She clung to her father with unusual eagerness,
+willing enough to escape from the darkness and the Curate's side, and
+all the tremulous sensations of the hour.
+
+"What could happen?" said Mr Wodehouse, who still looked "limp" from
+his recent illness, "though I hear there are doubtful people about; so
+they tell me--but you ought to know best, Wentworth. Who is that
+fellow in the beard that went by on the other side? Not little Lake
+the drawing-master? Fancied I had seen the build of the man
+before--eh?--a stranger? Well, it's a mistake, perhaps. Can't be sure
+of anything nowadays;--memory failing. Well, that's what the doctor
+says. Come in and rest and see Molly; as for me, I'm not good for
+much, but you won't get better company than the girls, or else that's
+what folks tell me. Who did you say that fellow was?" said the
+churchwarden, leaning across his daughter to see Mr Wentworth's face.
+
+"I don't know anything about him," said the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+And curiously enough silence fell upon the little party, nobody could
+tell how;--for two minutes, which looked like twenty, no one spoke.
+Then Lucy roused herself, apparently with a little effort. "We seem to
+talk of nothing but the man with the beard to-night," she said. "Mary
+knows everything that goes on in Carlingford--she will tell us about
+him; and if Miss Wentworth thinks it too late to come in, we will say
+good-night," she continued, with a little decision of tone, which was
+not incomprehensible to the Perpetual Curate. Perhaps she was a little
+provoked and troubled in her own person. To say so much in looks and
+so little in words, was a mode of procedure which puzzled Lucy. It
+fretted her, because it looked unworthy of her hero. She withdrew
+within the green door, holding her father's arm fast, and talking to
+him, while Mr Wentworth strained his ears after the voice, which he
+thought he could have singled out from a thousand voices. Perhaps Lucy
+talked to drown her thoughts; and the Curate went away dumb and
+abstracted, with his aunt leaning on his arm on the other side of the
+wall. He could not be interested, as Miss Dora expected him to be, in
+the Miss Wentworths' plans. He conducted her to the Blue Boar
+languidly, with an evident indifference to the fact that his aunt
+Leonora was about to become a permanent resident in Carlingford. He
+said "Good-night" kindly to little Rosa Elsworthy, looking out with
+bright eyes into the darkness at the door of her uncle's shop; but he
+said little to Miss Dora, who could not tell what to make of him, and
+swallowed her tears as quietly as possible under her veil. When he had
+deposited his aunt safely at the inn, the Perpetual Curate hastened
+down Grange Lane at a great pace. The first sound he heard on entering
+Mrs Hadwin's garden was the clear notes of the stranger's whistle
+among the trees; and with an impatient exclamation Mr Wentworth sought
+his fellow-lodger, who was smoking as usual, pacing up and down a
+shaded walk, where, even in daylight, he was pretty well concealed
+from observation. The Curate looked as if he had a little discontent
+and repugnance to get over before he could address the anonymous
+individual who whistled so cheerily under the trees. When he did speak
+it was an embarrassed and not very intelligible call.
+
+"I say--are you there? I want to speak to you," said Mr Wentworth.
+
+"Yes," said the stranger, turning sharply round. "I am here, a dog
+without a name. What have you got to say?"
+
+"Only that you must be more careful," said Mr Wentworth again, with a
+little stiffness. "You will be recognised if you don't mind. I have
+just been asked who you were by--somebody who thought he had seen you
+before."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"Well, by Mr Wodehouse," said the Curate. "I may as well tell you; if
+you mean to keep up this concealment you must take care."
+
+"By Jove!" said the stranger, and then he whistled a few bars of the
+air which Mr Wentworth's arrival had interrupted. "What is a fellow to
+do?" he said, after an interjection. "I sometimes think I had better
+risk it all--eh! don't you think so? I can't shut myself up for ever
+here."
+
+"That must be as you think best," said the Perpetual Curate, in whom
+there appeared no movement of sympathy; and he said no more, though the
+doubtful individual by his side lifted an undecided look to his face,
+and once more murmured in perplexed tones a troubled exclamation: "A man
+must have a little amusement somehow," the stranger said, with an
+aggrieved voice; and then abruptly left his unsociable companion, and
+went off to his room, where he summoned Sarah to bring lights, and tried
+to talk to her a little in utter dearth of society. Mr Wentworth stayed
+behind, pacing up and down the darkening walk. The Curate's thoughts
+were far from satisfactory. There was not much comfort anywhere, let him
+look where he pleased. When a man has no spot in all his horizon on
+which his eye can rest with comfort, there is something more discouraging
+in the prospect than a positive calamity. He could not take refuge even
+in the imaginations of his love, for it was clear enough that already a
+sentiment of surprise had risen in Lucy's mind, and her tranquillity was
+shaken. And perhaps he had done rashly to plunge into other people's
+troubles--he upon whom a curious committee of aunts were now to sit _en
+permanence_. He went in to write his sermon, far from being so assured
+of things in general as that discourse was when it was written, though
+it was a little relief to his mind to fall back upon an authority
+somewhere, and to refer, in terms which were perhaps too absolute to be
+altogether free of doubt, to the Church, which had arranged everything
+for her children in one department of their concerns at least. If it
+were only as easy to know what ought to be done in one's personal
+affairs as to decide what was the due state of mind expected by the
+Church on the second Sunday after Easter! But being under that guidance,
+at least he could not go wrong in his sermon, which was one point of
+ease amid the many tribulations of the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+"If they are going to stay in Carlingford, perhaps we could be of use
+to them? Yes, Lucy; and I am sure anything we could do for Mr
+Wentworth--" said Miss Wodehouse. "I wonder what house they will get.
+I am going to Elsworthy's about some paper, and we can ask him if he
+knows where they are going. That poor little Rosa should have some one
+to take care of her. I often wonder whether it would be kind to speak
+to Mrs Elsworthy about it, Lucy; she is a sensible woman. The little
+thing stands at the door in the evening, and talks to people who are
+passing, and I am afraid there are some people who are unprincipled,
+and tell her she is pretty, and say things to her," said Miss
+Wodehouse, shaking her head; "it is a great pity. Even Mr Wentworth is
+a great deal more civil to that little thing than he would be if she
+had not such a pretty face."
+
+"I said you knew everything that went on in Carlingford," said Lucy,
+as they went out together from the green door, not in their grey
+cloaks this time; "but I forgot to ask you about one thing that
+puzzled us last night--who is the man in the beard who lives at Mrs
+Hadwin's? Mr Wentworth will not tell anybody about him, and I think he
+knows."
+
+"Who is the man in the beard?" said Miss Wodehouse, with a gasp. She
+grew very pale, and turned away her head and shivered visibly. "How
+very cold it is!" she said, with her teeth chattering; "did you think
+it was so cold? I--I don't know any men with beards; and it is so
+strange of you to say I know everything that goes on in Carlingford.
+Don't stop to speak to that little girl just now. Did you say she came
+from Prickett's Lane? No. 10? It is very right to go to see the sick,
+but, indeed, I don't approve of your attendance upon that poor woman,
+Lucy. When I was a girl I dared not have gone away by myself as you
+do, and she might not be a proper person. There is a carriage that I
+don't know standing before Elsworthy's shop."
+
+"But you have not told me yet about the man with the beard," said
+Lucy, whose curiosity was excited. She looked at her sister keenly
+with an investigating look, and poor Miss Wodehouse was fain to draw
+her shawl close round her, and complain again of the cold.
+
+"I told you I did not know," she said, with a complaining tone in her
+voice. "It is strange you should think I knew; it looks as if you
+thought me a gossip, Lucy. I wonder who those people can be coming out
+of the carriage? My dear," said the elder sister, feeling within
+herself that an attack upon the enemy's country was the best means of
+meeting any sally--"I don't think you should go down to Prickett's
+Lane just now. I saw Mr Wentworth pass a little while ago, and people
+might say you went to meet each other. I can't keep people from
+talking, Lucy, and you are both so young; and you know I spoke to you
+before about your meeting so often. It will be a great deal better for
+you to come with me to call on his aunts."
+
+"Only that my poor patient wants me," said Lucy. "Must I not do my
+duty to a poor woman who is dying, because Mr Wentworth is in
+Prickett's Lane? There is no reason why I should be afraid of meeting
+Mr Wentworth," said the young district-visitor, severely; and the
+elder sister saw that Lucy spoke in a different tone from that in
+which she had answered her before. She did not extinguish Miss
+Wodehouse by a reference to the great work. She treated the matter
+more as a personal one to-day; and a shadow--a very ghost of
+irritation--was in Lucy's voice. The two crossed the street silently
+after that to Elsworthy's, where a group of ladies were visible, who
+had come out of the strange carriage. One of them was seated in a
+chair by the counter, another was reading a list which Mr Elsworthy
+had just presented to her, and the third, who was not so tall as her
+sister, was pressing up to it on tiptoe, trying to read it too. "That
+is Miss Dora Wentworth," said Lucy, "and the other, I suppose, is Miss
+Leonora, who is so very Low-Church. I think I can see the Miss
+Hemmings coming down George Street. If I were to go in I should be in
+a dreadful minority; but you are Low-Church in your heart too."
+
+"No, dear; only reasonable," said Miss Wodehouse, apologetically. "I
+don't go as far as you and Mr Wentworth do, but I like the service to
+be nicely done, and the--the authority of the Church respected too. As
+I have never met Miss Wentworth, you had better come in and introduce
+me. There is Rosa looking out of the front window, Lucy. I really must
+speak to Mrs Elsworthy about that child. What a lovely old lady that
+is sitting by the counter! Say I am your sister, and then if you are
+resolved upon Prickett's Lane, you can go away."
+
+"They are the two who wear the grey cloaks," said Miss Leonora
+Wentworth to herself, as the introduction was effected. "I am glad to
+make your acquaintance, Miss Wodehouse. We are going to stay in
+Carlingford for a time, and to know a few pious families will be a
+great advantage. We don't go much into society, in the usual sense of
+the word--but, I am sure, to make the acquaintance of ladies who help
+my nephew so much in his work, is sure to be an advantage. I should
+like so much to hear from you how he gets on, for he does not say a
+great deal about it himself."
+
+"He is so good and so nice," said kind Miss Wodehouse, "he never makes
+a fuss about anything he does. I am sure, to see such young creatures
+so pious and so devoted, always goes to my heart. When we were young
+it used to be so different--we took our own pleasure, and never
+thought of our fellow-creatures. And the young people are so good
+nowadays," said the gentle woman, falling instinctively into her
+favourite sentiment. Miss Leonora looked at her with critical eyes.
+
+"We are none of us good," said that iron-grey woman, whose neutral
+tints were so different from the soft dove-colour of her new
+acquaintance; "it does not become such sinful creatures to talk of
+anybody being good. Good works may only be beautiful sins, if they are
+not done in a true spirit," said Miss Leonora, turning to her list of
+furnished houses with a little contempt. But the Miss Hemmings had
+come in while she was speaking, and it was seldom that such edifying
+talk was heard in Carlingford.
+
+"That is such a beautiful sentiment--oh, if we only bore it always in
+mind!" murmured the eldest Miss Hemmings. "Mr Elsworthy, I hope you
+have got the tracts I ordered. They are so much wanted here. Poor dear
+Mr Bury would not believe his eyes if he could see Carlingford now,
+given up to Puseyism and Ritualism--but good men are taken away from
+the evil to come. I will pay for them now, please."
+
+"If you wish it, ma'am," said Mr Elsworthy. "The town _is_ changed; I
+don't say nothing different; but being in the ritual line as you say,
+you won't find no church as it's better done than in St Roque's. Mr
+Wentworth never spares no pains, ma'am, on anything as he takes up.
+I've heard a deal of clergymen in my day, but _his_ reading is
+beautiful; I can't say as I ever heard reading as could equal it;--and
+them choristers, though they're hawful to manage, is trained as I
+never see boys trained in _my_ life afore. There's one of them houses,
+ma'am," continued the optimist, turning to Miss Wentworth, "as is a
+beauty. Miss Wodehouse can tell you what it is; no lady in the land
+could desire a handsomer drawing-room; and as for the kitchings,--I
+don't pretend to be a judge up-stairs, but being brought up a
+blacksmith, I know what's what in a kitching-range. If you had all
+Grange Lane to dinner, there's a range as is equal to it," said Mr
+Elsworthy with enthusiasm--"and my wife will show you the 'ouse."
+
+"I knew Mr Bury," said Miss Leonora; "he was a precious man. Perhaps
+you have heard him mention the Miss Wentworths? I am very sorry to
+hear that there is no real work going on in the town. It is very sad
+that there should be nobody able to enter into the labours of such a
+saint."
+
+"Indeed," said Miss Wodehouse, who was excited, in spite of herself,
+by this conversation, "I think the Carlingford people go quite as much
+to church as in Mr Bury's days. I don't think there is less religion
+than there used to be: there are not so many prayer meetings, perhaps;
+but--"
+
+"There is nothing the carnal mind dislikes so much as prayer meetings,"
+said Miss Hemmings. "There is a house in Grove Street, if Miss Wentworth
+is looking for a house. I don't know much about the kitchen-range, but I
+know it belongs to a very pious family, and they wish so much to let
+it. My sister and I would be so glad to take you there. It is not in the
+gay world, like Grange Lane."
+
+"But you might want to ask people to dinner; and then we should be so
+near Frank," said Miss Dora, whispering at her sister's elbow. As for
+the second Miss Hemmings, she was dull of comprehension, and did not
+quite make out who the strangers were.
+
+"It is so sad to a feeling mind to see the mummeries that go on at St
+Roque's," said this obtuse sister; "and I am afraid poor Mr Wentworth
+must be in a bad way. They say there is the strangest man in his
+house--some relation of his--and he daren't be seen in the daylight;
+and people begin to think there must be something wrong, and that Mr
+Wentworth himself is involved; but what can you expect when there is
+no true Christian principle?" asked Miss Hemmings, triumphantly. It
+was a dreadful moment for the bystanders; for Miss Leonora turned
+round upon this new intelligence with keen eyes and attention; and
+Miss Dora interposed, weeping; and Miss Wodehouse grew so pale, that
+Mr Elsworthy rushed for cold water, and thought she was going to
+faint. "Tell me all about this," said Miss Leonora, with peremptory
+and commanding tones. "Oh, Leonora, I am sure my dear Frank has
+nothing to do with it, if there is anything wrong," cried Miss Dora.
+Even Miss Wentworth herself was moved out of her habitual smile. She
+said, "He is my nephew"--an observation which she had never been heard
+to make before, and which covered the second Miss Hemmings with
+confusion. As for Miss Wodehouse, she retreated very fast to a seat
+behind Miss Cecilia, and said nothing. The two who had arrived last
+slunk back upon each other with fiery glances of mutual reproach. The
+former three stood together in this emergency, full of curiosity, and
+perhaps a little anxiety. In this position of affairs, Mr Elsworthy,
+being the only impartial person present, took the management of
+matters into his own hands.
+
+"Miss Hemmings and ladies, if you'll allow _me_," said Mr Elsworthy,
+"it aint no more than a mistake. The new gentleman as is staying at
+Mrs Hadwin's may be an unfortunate gentleman for anything I can tell;
+but he aint no relation of our clergyman. There aint nobody belonging
+to Mr Wentworth," said the clerk of St Roque's, "but is a credit both
+to him and to Carlingford. There's his brother, the Rev. Mr Wentworth,
+as is the finest-spoken man, to be a clergyman, as I ever set eyes on;
+and there's respected ladies as needn't be named more particular. But
+the gentleman as is the subject of conversation is no more like Mr
+Wentworth than--asking pardon for the liberty--I am. I may say as I
+have opportunities for knowing more than most," said Mr Elsworthy,
+modestly, "me and Rosa; for if there's a thing Mr Wentworth is
+particular about, it's having his papers the first moment; and ladies
+as knows me knows I am one that never says more nor the truth. Not
+saying a word against the gentleman--as is a most respectable
+gentleman, for anything I know against him--he aint no connection of
+Mr Wentworth. He's Mrs Hadwin's lodger; and I wouldn't say as he isn't
+a relation there; but our clergyman has got no more to do with him
+than the babe unborn."
+
+Mr Elsworthy wiped his forehead after he had made this speech, and
+looked round for the approbation which he was aware he had deserved;
+and Miss Leonora Wentworth threw a glance of disdainful observation
+upon the unhappy lady who had caused this disturbance. "If your wife
+will come with us, we will go and look at the house," she said,
+graciously. "I daresay if it is in Grange Lane it will suit us very
+well. My nephew is a very young man, Miss Wodehouse," said Miss
+Leonora, who had not passed over the agitation of that gentle woman
+without some secret comments; "he does not take advice in his work,
+though it might be of great assistance to him; but I hope he'll grow
+older and wiser, as indeed he cannot help doing if he lives. I hope
+you and your pretty sister will come to see us when we're settled;--I
+don't see any sense, you know, in your grey cloaks--I'm old, and you
+won't mind me saying so; but I know what Frank Wentworth is," said the
+indignant aunt, making a severe curtsy, accompanied by lightning
+glances at the shrinking background of female figures, as she went out
+of the shop.
+
+"Oh, Leonora! I always said you were fond of him, though you never
+would show it," cried poor Miss Dora. "She is a great deal more
+affectionate than she will let anybody believe; and my dear Frank
+means nothing but good," cried the too zealous champion. Miss Leonora
+turned back upon the threshold of the shop.
+
+"You will please to let me know what Dissenting chapels there are in
+the town, and what are the hours of the services," she said. "There
+must surely be a Bethesda, or Zion, or something--Salem? yes, to be
+sure;--perhaps there's somebody there that preaches the gospel. Send
+me word," said the peremptory woman; and poor Miss Dora relapsed into
+her usual melancholy condition, and stole into the carriage in a
+broken-hearted manner, weeping under her veil.
+
+After which Miss Wodehouse went home, not having much heart for
+further visits. That is to say, she went all the way down Grange Lane,
+somewhat tremulous and uncertain in her steps, and went as far as Mrs
+Hadwin's, and hesitated at the door as if she meant to call there;
+but, thinking better of it, went on a little farther with very
+lingering steps, as if she did not know what she wanted. When she came
+back again, the door of Mrs Hadwin's garden was open, and the
+butcher's boy stood blocking up the way, listening with all his ears
+to the notes of the whistle, soft and high and clear like the notes of
+a bird which come audibly from among the trees. Miss Wodehouse gave a
+little start when she heard it: again she hesitated, and looked in
+with such a wistful face that Sarah, the housemaid, who had been about
+to slam the door hastily upon the too tender butcher, involuntarily
+held it wide open for the expected visitor. "No, not to-day thank
+you," said Miss Wodehouse. "I hope your mistress is quite well; give
+her my love, and say I meant to come in, but I have a bad headache.
+No, thank you; not to-day." She went away after that with a wonderful
+expression of face, and reached home long before Lucy had come back
+from Prickett's Lane. Miss Wodehouse was not good for much in the
+house. She went to the little boudoir up-stairs, and lay down on the
+sofa, and had some tea brought her by an anxious maid. She was very
+nervous, trembling she could not say why, and took up a novel which
+was lying on the sofa, and read the most affecting scene, and cried
+over it; and then her sweet old face cleared, and she felt better.
+When Lucy came in she kissed her sister, and drew down the blinds, and
+brought her the third volume, and then went away herself to arrange
+the dessert, and see that everything was in order for one of Mr
+Wodehouse's little parties. These were their respective parts in the
+house; and surely a more peaceful, and orderly, and affectionate
+house, was not to be found that spring evening, either in England or
+Grange Lane.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+It may be easily supposed after this that Mr Wentworth and his
+proceedings were sufficiently overlooked and commented upon in
+Carlingford. The Miss Wentworths took old Major Brown's house for six
+months, which, as everybody knows, is next door to Dr Marjoribanks. It
+was just after Letty Brown's marriage, and the poor old Major was very
+glad to go away and pay a round of visits, and try to forget that his
+last daughter had gone the way of all the rest. There was a
+summer-house built in the corner of the garden, with a window in the
+outer wall looking on to Grange Lane, from which everything that
+happened could be inspected; and there was always somebody at that
+window when the Perpetual Curate passed by. Then he began to have a
+strange painful feeling that Lucy watched too, and was observing all
+his looks and ways, and what he did and said in these changed times.
+It was a strange difference from the sweet half-conscious bond between
+them which existed of old, when they walked home together from
+Wharfside, talking of the district and the people, in the tender union
+of unspoken love and fellowship. Not that they were altogether parted
+now; but Lucy contrived to leave the schoolroom most days before the
+young priest could manage to disrobe himself, and was seldom to be
+seen on the road lingering on her errands of kindness as she used to
+do. But still she knew all he was about, and watched, standing in
+doubt and wonder of him, which was at least a great deal better than
+indifference. On the whole, however, it was a cloudy world through
+which the Perpetual Curate passed as he went from his lodgings, where
+the whistle of the new lodger had become a great nuisance to him, past
+the long range of garden-walls, the sentinel window where Miss Dora
+looked out watching for him, and Mr Wodehouse's green door which he no
+longer entered every day. Over the young man's mind, as he went out to
+his labours, there used to come that sensation of having nobody to
+fall back upon, which is of all feelings the most desolate. Amid all
+those people who were watching him, there was no one upon whom he
+could rest, secure of understanding and sympathy. They were all
+critical--examining, with more or less comprehension, what he did; and
+he could not think of anybody in the world just then who would be
+content with knowing that _he_ did it, and take that as warranty for
+the act, unless, perhaps, his poor aunt Dora, whose opinion was not
+important to the young man. It was not a pleasant state of mind into
+which these feelings threw him; and the natural result was, that he
+grew more and more careful about the rubric, and confined his sermons,
+with increasing precision, to the beautiful arrangements of the
+Church. They were very clever little sermons, even within these
+limitations, and an indifferent spectator would probably have been
+surprised to find how much he could make out of them; but still it is
+undeniable that a man has less scope, not only for oratory, but for
+all that is worthy of regard in human speech, when, instead of the
+ever-lasting reciprocations between heaven and earth, he occupies
+himself only with a set of ecclesiastical arrangements, however
+perfect. The people who went to St Roque's found this out, and so did
+Mr Wentworth; but it did not alter the system pursued by the troubled
+Curate. Perhaps he gave himself some half-conscious credit for it, as
+being against his own interests; for there was no mistaking the
+countenance of Miss Leonora, when now and then, on rare occasions, she
+came to hear her nephew preach.
+
+All this, however, was confined to St Roque's, where there was a
+somewhat select audience, people who agreed in Mr Wentworth's views;
+but things were entirely different at Wharfside, where the Perpetual
+Curate was not thinking about himself, but simply about his work, and
+how to do it best. The bargemen and their wives did not know much
+about the Christian year; but they understood the greater matters
+which lay beneath: and the women said to each other, sometimes with
+tears in their eyes, that there was nothing that the clergyman didn't
+make plain; and that if the men didn't do what was right, it was none
+o' Mr Wentworth's fault. The young priest indemnified himself in "the
+district" for much that vexed him elsewhere. There was no question of
+Skelmersdale, or of any moot point there, but only a quantity of
+primitive people under the original conditions of humanity, whose
+lives might be amended, and consoled, and elevated. That was a matter
+about which Mr Wentworth had no doubt. He put on his surplice with
+the conviction that in that white ephod the truest embodiment of
+Christian purity was brought within sight of the darkened world. He
+was not himself, but a Christian priest, with power to deliver and to
+bless, when he went to Wharfside.
+
+Easter had been early that year, and Ascension Day was in the
+beginning of May, one of those sweet days of early summer which still
+occur now and then to prove that the poets were right in all they say
+of the tenderest month of the year. Mr Wentworth had done duty at St
+Roque's, and afterwards at Wharfside. The sweet day and the sweet
+season had moved his heart. He was young, and it was hard to live shut
+up within himself without any sympathy either from man or woman. He
+had watched the grey cloak gliding out as his rude congregation
+dispersed, and went away quicker than was his wont, with a stronger
+longing than usual to overtake Lucy, and recover his place beside her.
+But she was not to be seen when he got into Prickett's Lane. He looked
+up the weary length of the street, and saw nothing but the children
+playing on the pavement, and some slovenly mothers at the doors. It
+was a very disenchanting prospect. He went on again in a kind of
+gloomy discontent, displeased with everything. What was the good of it
+all? he said to himself--weariness, and toil, and trouble, and nothing
+ever to come of it. As for the little good he was doing in Wharfside,
+God did not need his poor exertions; and, to tell the truth, going on
+at St Roque's, however perfect the rubric and pretty the church, was,
+without any personal stimulant of happiness, no great prospect for the
+Perpetual Curate. Such was the tenor of his thoughts, when he saw a
+black figure suddenly emerge out of one of the houses, and stand at
+the door, throwing a long shadow over the pavement. It was the Rector
+who was standing there in Mr Wentworth's favourite district, talking
+to a shopkeeper who had always been on the opposition side. The young
+Anglican raised his drooping head instantly, and recovered his
+interest in the general world.
+
+"Glad to see you, Mr Wentworth," said the Rector. "I have been
+speaking to this worthy man about the necessities of the district. The
+statistics are far from being satisfactory. Five thousand souls, and
+no provision for their spiritual wants; it is a very sad state of
+affairs. I mean to take steps immediately to remedy all that."
+
+"A bit of a Methody chapel, that's all," said the opposition shopkeeper;
+"and the schoolroom, as Mr Wentworth--"
+
+"Yes, I have heard of that," said the Rector, blandly;--somebody had
+advised Mr Morgan to change his tactics, and this was the first
+evidence of the new policy--"I hear you have been doing what little
+you could to mend matters. It is very laudable zeal in so young a man.
+But, of course, as you were without authority, and had so little in
+your power, it could only be a very temporary expedient. I am very
+much obliged to you for your good intentions."
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Perpetual Curate, rousing up as at the
+sound of the trumpet, "I don't care in the least about my good
+intentions; but you have been much deceived if you have not understood
+that there is a great work going on in Wharfside. I hope, Saunders, you
+have had no hand in deceiving Mr Morgan. I shall be glad to show you my
+statistics, which are more satisfactory than the town list," said Mr
+Wentworth. "The schoolroom is consecrated; and but that I thought we had
+better work slowly and steadily, there is many a district in worse
+condition which has its church and its incumbent. I shall be very happy
+to give you all possible information; it is best to go to the
+fountainhead."
+
+"The fountainhead!" said the Rector, who began not unnaturally to lose
+his temper. "Are you aware, sir, that Wharfside is in my parish?"
+
+"And so is St Roque's, I suppose," said the Curate, affably. "I have
+no district, but I have my cure of souls all the same. As for
+Wharfside, the Rector of Carlingford never had had anything to do with
+it. Mr Bury and Mr Proctor made it over to me. I act upon their
+authority; but I should like to prove to you it is something more than
+a temporary expedient," said the young Anglican, with a smile. Mr
+Morgan was gradually getting very hot and flushed. His temper got the
+better of him; he could not tolerate to be thus bearded on his own
+ground.
+
+"It appears to me the most extraordinary assumption," said the Rector.
+"I can't fancy that you are ignorant of the law. I repeat, Wharfside
+is in my parish; and on what ground you can possibly justify such an
+incredible intrusion--"
+
+"Perhaps we might find a fitter place to discuss the matter," said the
+Curate, with great suavity. "If you care to go to the schoolroom, we
+could be quiet there."
+
+"No, sir. I don't care to go to the schoolroom. I decline to have
+anything to do with such an unwarrantable attempt to interfere with my
+rights," said Mr Morgan. "I don't want to know what plausible arguments
+you may have to justify yourself. The fact remains, sir, that Wharfside
+is in my parish. If you have anything to say against that, I will listen
+to you," said the irascible Rector. His Welsh blood was up; he even
+raised his voice a little, with a kind of half-feminine excitement,
+common to the Celtic race; and the consequence was that Mr Wentworth,
+who stood perfectly calm to receive the storm, had all the advantage in
+the world over Mr Morgan. The Perpetual Curate bowed with immovable
+composure, and felt himself master of the field.
+
+"In that case, it will perhaps be better not to say anything," he
+said; "but I think you will find difficulties in the way. Wharfside
+has some curious privileges, and pays no rates; but I have never taken
+up that ground. The two previous rectors made it over to me, and the
+work is too important to be ignored. I have had thoughts of applying
+to have it made into an ecclesiastical district," said the Curate,
+with candour, "not thinking that the Rector of Carlingford, with so
+much to occupy him, would care to interfere with my labours; but at
+all events, to begin another mission here would be folly--it would be
+copying the tactics of the Dissenters, if you will forgive me for
+saying so," said Mr Wentworth, looking calmly in the Rector's face.
+
+It was all Mr Morgan could do to restrain himself. "I am not in the
+habit of being schooled by my--juniors," said the Rector, with
+suppressed fury. He meant to say inferiors, but the aspect of the
+Perpetual Curate checked him. Then the two stood gazing at each other
+for a minute in silence. "Anything further you may have to say, you
+will perhaps communicate to my solicitor," said the elder priest. "It
+is well known that some gentlemen of your views, Mr Wentworth, think
+it safe to do evil that good may come;--that is not my opinion; and I
+don't mean to permit any invasion of my rights. I have the pleasure of
+wishing you good morning."
+
+Mr Morgan took off his hat, and gave it a little angry flourish in the
+air before he put it on again. He had challenged his young brother to
+the only duel permitted by their cloth, and he turned to the
+opposition tradesman with vehemence, and went in again to the dusty
+little shop, where a humble assortment of groceries were displayed for
+the consumption of Prickett's Lane. Mr Wentworth remained standing
+outside in much amazement, not to say amusement, and a general sense
+of awakening and recovery. Next to happiness, perhaps enmity is the
+most healthful stimulant of the human mind. The Perpetual Curate woke
+up and realised his position with a sense of exhilaration, if the
+truth must be told. He muttered something to himself, uncomplimentary
+to Mr Morgan's good sense, as he turned away; but it was astonishing
+to find how much more lively and interesting Prickett's Lane had
+become since that encounter. He went along cheerily, saying a word now
+and then to the people at the doors, every one of whom knew and
+recognised him, and acknowledged, in a lesser or greater degree, the
+sway of his bishopric. The groups he addressed made remarks after he
+had passed, which showed their sense of the improvement in his looks.
+"He's more like himsel' than he's bin sin' Easter," said one woman,
+"and none o' that crossed look, as if things had gone contrairy;--Lord
+bless you, not cross--he's a deal too good a man for that--but
+crossed-looking; it might be crossed in love for what I can tell."
+"Them as is handsome like that seldom gets crossed in love," said
+another experienced observer; "but if it was fortin, or whatever it
+was, there's ne'er a one in Wharfside but wishes luck to the parson.
+It aint much matter for us women. Them as won't strive to keep their
+children decent out o' their own heads, they won't do much for a
+clergyman; but, bless you, he can do a deal with the men, and it's
+them as wants looking after." "I'd like to go to his wedding," said
+another. "I'd give a deal to hear it was all settled;" and amid these
+affectionate comments, Mr Wentworth issued out of Prickett's Lane. He
+went direct to Mr Wodehouse's green door, without making any excuses
+to himself. For the first time for some weeks he went in upon the
+sisters and told them all that had happened as of old. Lucy was still
+in her grey cloak as she had returned from the district, and it was
+with a feeling more distinct than sympathy that she heard of this
+threatened attack. "It is terrible to think that he could interfere
+with such a work out of jealousy of _us_," said the Sister of Charity,
+with a wonderful light in her blue eyes; and she drew her low chair
+nearer, and listened with eloquent looks, which were balm to the soul
+of the Perpetual Curate. "But we are not to give up?" she said, giving
+him her hand, when he rose to go away. "Never!" said Mr Wentworth; and
+if he held it more closely and longer than there was any particular
+occasion for, Lucy did not make any objection at that special moment.
+Then it turned out that he had business at the other end of the town, at
+the north end, where some trustee lived who had to do with the Orphan
+Schools, and whom the curate was obliged to see; and Miss Wodehouse
+gave him a timid invitation to come back to dinner. "But you are not to
+go home to dress; we shall be quite alone--and you must be so tired,"
+said the elder sister, who for some reason or other was shy of Mr
+Wentworth, and kept away from him whenever he called. So he went in on
+his way back, and dined in happiness and his morning coat, with a sweet
+conscious return to the familiar intercourse which these few disturbed
+weeks had interrupted. He was a different man when he went back again
+down Grange Lane. Once more the darkness was fragrant and musical about
+him. When he was tired thinking of his affairs, he fell back upon the
+memories of the evening, and Lucy's looks and the "us" and "we," which
+were so sweet to his ears. To have somebody behind whom one can fall
+back upon to fill up the interstices of thought--_that_ makes all the
+difference, as Mr Wentworth found out, between a bright and a heavy
+life.
+
+When he opened the garden-door with his key, and went softly in in the
+darkness, the Perpetual Curate was much surprised to hear voices among
+the trees. He waited a little, wondering, to see who it was; and
+profound was his amazement when a minute after little Rosa Elsworthy,
+hastily tying her hat over her curls, came rapidly along the walk from
+under the big walnut-tree, and essayed, with rather a tremulous hand,
+to open the door. Mr Wentworth stepped forward suddenly and laid his
+hand on her arm. He was very angry and indignant, and no longer the
+benign superior being to whom Rosa was accustomed. "Whom have you been
+talking to?" said the Curate. "Why are you here alone so late? What
+does this mean?" He held the door close, and looked down upon her
+severely while he spoke. She made a frightened attempt to defend
+herself.
+
+"Oh, please, I only came with the papers. I was talking to--Sarah,"
+said the little girl, with a sob of shame and terror. "I will never do
+it again. Oh, please, _please_, let me go! Please, Mr Wentworth, let
+me go!"
+
+"How long have you been talking to--Sarah?" said the Curate. "Did you
+ever do it before? No, Rosa; I am going to take you home. This must
+not happen any more."
+
+"I will run all the way. Oh, don't tell my aunt, Mr Wentworth. I didn't
+mean any harm," said the frightened creature. "You are not really
+coming? Oh, Mr Wentworth, if you tell my aunt I shall die!" cried poor
+little Rosa. But she was hushed into awe and silence when the curate
+stalked forth, a grand, half-distinguished figure by her side, keeping
+pace with her hasty, tremulous steps. She even stopped crying, in the
+whirlwind of her feelings. What did he mean? Was he going to say
+anything to her? Was it possible that he could like her, and be jealous
+of her talk with--Sarah? Poor little foolish Rosa did not know what to
+think. She had read a great many novels, and knew that it was quite
+usual for gentlemen to fall in love with pretty little girls who were
+not of their own station;--why not with her? So she went on, half
+running, keeping up with Mr Wentworth, and sometimes stealing sly
+glances at him to see what intention was in his looks. But his looks
+were beyond Rosa's reading. He walked by her side without speaking, and
+gave a glance up at the window of the summer-house as they passed. And
+strange enough, that evening of all others, Miss Dora, who had been the
+victim of some of Miss Leonora's caustic criticisms, had strayed forth,
+in melancholy mood, to repose herself at her favourite window, and look
+out at the faint stars, and comfort herself with a feeble repetition of
+her favourite plea, that it was not "my fault." The poor lady was
+startled out of her own troubles by the sight of her nephew's tall
+unmistakable figure; and, as bad luck would have it, Rosa's hat, tied
+insecurely by her agitated fingers, blew off at that moment, so that Mr
+Wentworth's aunt became aware, to her inexpressible horror and
+astonishment, who his companion was. The unhappy Curate divined all the
+thoughts that would arise in her perturbed bosom, when he saw the
+indistinct figure at the window, and said something to himself about
+_espionage_, which was barely civil to Miss Dora, as he hurried along on
+his charitable errand. He was out of one trouble into another, this
+unlucky young man. He knocked sharply at Elsworthy's closed door, and
+gave up his charge without speaking to Rosa. "I brought her home because
+I thought it wrong to let her go up Grange Lane by herself," said the
+Curate. "Don't thank me; but if you have any regard for the child, don't
+send her out at night again." He did not even bid Rosa good-night, or
+look back at her, as she stood blushing and sparkling in confused
+childish beauty, in the doorway; but turned his back like any savage,
+and hastened home again. Before he entered his own apartments, he
+knocked at the door of the green room, and said something to the inmate
+there which produced from that personage a growl of restrained defiance.
+And after all these fatigues, it was with a sense of relief that the
+Curate threw himself upon his sofa, to think over the events of the
+afternoon, and to take a little rest. He was very tired, and the
+consolation he had experienced during the evening made him more disposed
+to yield to his fatigue. He threw himself upon the sofa, and stretched
+out his hand lazily for his letters, which evidently did not excite any
+special expectations in his mind. There was one from his sister, and one
+from an old university friend, full of the news of the season. Last of
+all, there was a neat little note, directed in a neat little hand, which
+anybody who received it would naturally have left to the last, as Mr
+Wentworth did. He opened it quite deliberately, without any appearance
+of interest. But as he read the first lines, the Curate gradually
+gathered himself up off the sofa, and stretched out his hand for his
+boots, which he had just taken off; and before he had finished it, had
+walked across the room and laid hold of the railway book in use at
+Carlingford, all the time reading and re-reading the important little
+epistle. It was not so neat inside as out, and blurred and blotted, and
+slightly illegible; and this is what the letter said:--
+
+
+ "Oh, Frank, dear, I am so anxious and unhappy about Gerald. I can't
+ tell what is the matter with him. Come directly, for heaven's sake,
+ and tell me what you think, and try what you can do. Don't lose a
+ train after you get this, but come directly--oh, come if you ever
+ loved any of us. I don't know what he means, but he says the most
+ awful things; and if he is not _mad_, as I sometimes hope, he has
+ forgotten his duty to his family and to me, which is far worse. I
+ can't explain more; but if there is any chance of anybody doing him
+ good, it is you. I beg you, on my knees, come directly, dear Frank. I
+ never was in such a state in my life. I shall be left so that nobody
+ will be able to tell what I am; and my heart is bursting. Never mind
+ business or anything; but come, come directly, whether it is night or
+ day, to your broken-hearted sister,
+
+ "LOUISA."
+
+ "_P.S._--In great haste, and _so_ anxious to see you."
+
+Half an hour after, Mr Wentworth, with a travelling-bag in his hand, was
+once more hastening up Grange Lane towards the railway station. His face
+was somewhat grey, as the lamps shone on it. He did not exactly know
+what he was anxious about, nor what might have happened at Wentworth
+Rectory before he could get there; but the express train felt slow to
+his anxious thoughts as it flashed out of the station. Mr Morgan and his
+wife were in their garden, talking about the encounter in Prickett's
+Lane, when the train plunged past, waking all the echoes; and Mrs
+Morgan, by way of making a diversion, appealed to the Rector about those
+creepers, with which she hoped in a year or two to shut out the sight of
+the railway. "The Virginian creeper would be the best," said the
+Rector's wife; and they went in to calculate the expenses of bringing Mr
+Wentworth before Dr Lushington. Miss Dora, at very nearly the same
+moment, was confiding to her sister Cecilia, under vows of secrecy, the
+terrible sight she had seen from the summer-house window. They went to
+bed with very sad hearts in consequence, both these good women. In the
+mean time, leaving all these gathering clouds behind him, leaving his
+reputation and his work to be discussed and quarrelled over as they
+might, the Perpetual Curate rushed through the night, his heart aching
+with trouble and anxiety, to help, if he could--and if not, at least to
+stand by--Gerald, in this unknown crisis of his brother's life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Miss Dora Wentworth rose very unrefreshed next morning from her
+disturbed slumbers. It was hard to sit at breakfast with Leonora, and
+not betray to her the new anxiety; and the troubled sister ran into a
+countless number of digressions, which would have inevitably betrayed
+her had not Miss Leonora been at the moment otherwise occupied. She
+had her little budget of letters as usual, and some of them were more
+than ordinarily interesting. She too had a favourite district, which
+was in London, and where also a great work was going on; and her
+missionary, and her Scripture-readers, and her colporteur were all in
+a wonderful state of excitement about a new gin-palace which was being
+fitted out and decorated in the highest style of art on the borders of
+their especial domain. They were moving heaven and earth to prevent
+this temple of Satan from being licensed; and some of them were so
+very certain of the Divine acquiescence in their measures, that they
+announced the success of their exertions to be a test of the
+faithfulness of God; which Miss Leonora read out to her sisters as an
+instance of very touching and beautiful faith. Miss Wentworth,
+perhaps, was not so clear on that subject. During the course of her
+silent life, she had prayed for various things which it had not been
+God's pleasure to grant; and just now she, too, was very anxious about
+Frank, who seemed to be in a bad way; so she rather shook her head
+gently, though she did not contravene the statement, and concluded
+with sadness that the government of the earth might still go on as
+usual, and God's goodness remain as certain as ever, even though the
+public-house was licensed, or Frank did fall away. This was the
+teaching of experience; but aunt Cecilia did not utter it, for that
+was not her way. As for Miss Dora, she agreed in all the colporteur's
+sentiments, and thought them beautiful, as Leonora said, and was not
+much disturbed by any opinion of her own, expressed or unexpressed,
+but interspersed her breakfast with little sighing ejaculations of the
+temptations of the world, and how little one knew what was passing
+around one, and "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
+fall," which could not have failed to attract Miss Leonora's
+attention, and draw forth the whole story of her sister's suspicions,
+had not that quick-witted iron-grey woman been, as we have already
+mentioned, too deeply engaged. Perhaps her nephew's imaginary
+backsliding might have excited even Miss Leonora to an interest deeper
+than that which was awakened by the new gin-palace; but as it
+happened, it was the humbler intelligence alone which occupied itself
+with the supposed domestic calamity. Miss Dora's breakfast was
+affected by it in a way which did not appear in the morning meal of
+her sister; for somehow the most fervent love of souls seldom takes
+away the appetite, as the love of some unlucky individual occasionally
+does.
+
+When breakfast was over, Miss Dora made a very elaborate excuse for
+going out by herself. She wanted to match some wool for a blanket she
+was making, "For Louisa's baby," the devoted aunt said, with a little
+tremor. "Poor Louisa! if Gerald were to go any further, you know, it
+would be so sad for her; and one would like to help to keep up her
+heart, poor dear, as much as one could."
+
+"By means of a blanket for the bassinet in scarlet and white," said
+Miss Leonora; "but it's quite the kind of comfort for Louisa. I wonder
+if she ever had the smallest inkling what kind of a husband she has
+got. I don't think Frank is far wrong about Gerald, though I don't pin
+my faith to my nephew's judgment. I daresay he'll go mad or do worse
+with all those crotchets of his--but what he married Louisa for has
+always been a mystery to me."
+
+"I suppose because he was very fond of her," suggested Miss Dora, with
+humility.
+
+"But why was he fond of her?--a goose!" said the strong-minded sister,
+and so went about her letter-writing without further comment, leaving
+aunt Dora to pursue her independent career. It was with a feeling of
+relief, and yet of guilt, that this timid inquirer set forth on her
+mission, exchanging a sympathetic significant look with Miss Wentworth
+before she went out. If she should meet Frank at the door, looking
+dignified and virtuous, what could she possibly say to him? and yet,
+perhaps, he had only been imprudent, and did not mean anything. Miss
+Dora looked round her on both sides, up and down Grange Lane, as she
+went out into the lovely summer morning. Neither Frank nor any other
+soul, except some nurse-maids, was to be seen along the whole line of
+sunny road. She was relieved, yet she was disappointed at the same
+time, and went slowly up towards Elsworthy's shop, saying to herself
+that she was sure Frank could not mean anything. It must have been
+that forward little thing herself who had come up to him when he was
+out for his walk, or it must have been an accident. But then she
+remembered that she had heard the Curate call Rosa pretty; and Miss
+Dora wondered within herself what it mattered whether she was pretty
+or not, and what he had to do with it, and shook her head over the
+strange way men had of finding out such things. For her own part, she
+was sure she never looked whether the girl was pretty or not; and the
+anxious aunt had just come round again, by a very circuitous and
+perplexing course, to her original sentiment, and strengthened herself
+in the thought that her dear Frank could not mean anything, when she
+reached Elsworthy's door.
+
+That worthy trader was himself behind the counter, managing matters
+with his usual exactness. Berlin wool was one of the articles Mr
+Elsworthy dealt in, besides newspapers, and books when they were
+ordered. Miss Dora, who wore no crinoline, stumbled over her dress in
+her agitation as she went in, and saw, at the first glance, little
+Rosa, looking very blooming and pretty, tying up a parcel at the other
+end of the shop. The poor lady did not know how to enter upon so
+difficult a question. She offered her wool humbly to be matched, and
+listened to Mr Elsworthy's sentiments on the subject. He told her how
+he always had his wools from the best houses in London, and could
+match anything as was ever made in that line, and was proud to say as
+he always gave satisfaction. Miss Dora could not see any opening for
+the inquiries she hoped to make; for how was it possible to intimate
+the possibility of disapproval to an establishment so perfect in all
+its arrangements? The probabilities are, that she would have gone away
+without saying anything, had not Mr Elsworthy himself given her a
+chance.
+
+"Miss Wodehouse has been my great help," said the shopkeeper; "she is
+the nicest lady, is Miss Wodehouse, in all Carlingford. I do respect
+them people; they've had their troubles, like most families, but there
+aint many as can lay their finger on the skeleton as is in their
+cupboard: they've kept things close, and there aint a many as knows;
+but Miss Wodehouse has spoke up for me, ma'am, right and left, and
+most persons as count for anything in Carlingford gets their fancy
+articles out o' my shop. Mr Wentworth, ma'am, our respected clergyman,
+gets all his papers of me--and partickler he is to a degree--and
+likes to have 'em first thing afore they're opened out o' the parcel.
+It's the way with gentlemen when they're young. Mostly people aint so
+partickler later in life--not as I could tell the reason why, unless
+it may be that folks gets used to most things, and stop looking for
+anything new. But there aint a many young gentlemen like our
+clergyman, though I say it as shouldn't," continued Mr Elsworthy, with
+a little effusion, as he succeeded in finding an exact match for the
+scarlet wool.
+
+"And why shouldn't you say it, Mr Elsworthy?" said Miss Dora, a little
+tartly; "you are not in any way particularly connected with my
+nephew." Here she gave an angry glance at Rosa, who had drawn near to
+listen, having always in her vain little heart a certain palpitation
+at Mr Wentworth's name.
+
+"I ask your pardon, ma'am; I'm clerk at St Roque's. It aint often as
+we have the pleasure of seeing you there--more's the pity," said the
+church official, "though I may say there aint a church as perfect, or
+where the duty is performed more beautiful, in all the country; and
+there never was a clergyman as had the people's good at heart like Mr
+Wentworth--not in my time. It aint no matter whether you're rich or
+poor, young or old, if there's a service as can be done to ever a one
+in his way, our clergyman is the man to do it. Why, no further gone
+than last night, ma'am, if you'll believe me, that little girl
+there--"
+
+"Yes," said Miss Dora, eagerly, looking with what was intended to be a
+very stern and forbidding aspect in the little girl's face.
+
+"She was a-coming up Grange Lane in the dark," said Mr Elsworthy--"not
+as there was any need, and me keeping two boys, but she likes a run
+out of an evening--when Mr Wentworth see her, and come up to her. It
+aint what many men would have done," said the admiring but unlucky
+adherent of the suspected Curate: "he come up, seeing as she was by
+herself, and walked by her, and gave her a deal of good advice, and
+brought her home. Her aunt and me was struck all of a heap to see the
+clergyman a-standing at our door. 'I've brought Rosa home,' he said,
+making believe a bit sharp. 'Don't send her out no more so late at
+night,' and was off like a shot, not waiting for no thanks. It's my
+opinion as there aint many such gentlemen. I can't call to mind as I
+ever met with his fellow before."
+
+"But a young creature like that ought not to have been out so late,"
+said Miss Dora, trying to harden herself into severity. "I wonder very
+much that you like to walk up Grange Lane in the dark. I should think
+it very unpleasant, for my part; and I am sure I would not allow it,
+Mr Elsworthy," she said firmly, "if such a girl belonged to me."
+
+"But, please, I wasn't walking up Grange Lane," said Rosa, with some
+haste. "I was at Mrs Hadwin's, where Mr Wentworth lives. I am sure I
+did not want to trouble him," said the little beauty, recovering her
+natural spirit as she went on, "but he insisted on walking with me; it
+was all his own doing. I am sure I didn't want him;" and here Rosa
+broke off abruptly, with a consciousness in her heart that she was
+being lectured. She rushed to her defensive weapons by natural
+instinct, and grew crimson all over her pretty little face, and
+flashed lightning out of her eyes, which at the same time were not
+disinclined to tears. All this Miss Dora made note of with a sinking
+heart.
+
+"Do you mean to say that you went to Mrs Hadwin's to see Mr
+Wentworth?" asked that unlucky inquisitor, with a world of horror in
+her face.
+
+"I went with the papers," said Rosa, "and I--I met him in the garden.
+I am sure it wasn't my fault," said the girl, bursting into petulant
+tears. "Nobody has any occasion to scold me. It was Mr Wentworth as
+would come;" and Rosa sobbed, and lighted up gleams of defiance behind
+her tears. Miss Dora sat looking at her with a very troubled, pale
+face. She thought all her fears were true, and matters worse than she
+imagined; and being quite unused to private inquisitions, of course
+she took all possible steps to create the scandal for which she had
+come to look.
+
+"Did you ever meet him in the garden before?" asked Miss Dora,
+painfully, in a low voice. During this conversation Mr Elsworthy had
+been looking on, perplexed, not perceiving the drift of the
+examination. He roused himself up to answer now--a little alarmed, to
+tell the truth, by the new lights thrown on the subject, and vexed to
+see how unconsciously far both the women had gone.
+
+"It aint easy to go into a house in Grange Lane without meeting of
+some one in the garden," said Mr Elsworthy; "not as I mean to say it
+was the right thing for Rosa to be going them errands after dark. My
+orders is against that, as she knows; and what's the good of keeping
+two boys if things isn't to be done at the right time? Mr Wentworth
+himself was a-reproving of me for sending out Rosa, as it might be the
+last time he was here; for she's one of them as sits in the chancel
+and helps in the singing, and he feels an interest in her, natural,"
+said the apologetic clerk. Miss Dora gave him a troubled look, but
+took no further notice of his speech. She thought, with an instinctive
+contempt for the masculine spectator, that it was impossible he could
+know anything about it, and pursued her own wiser way.
+
+"It is very wrong of you--a girl in your position," said Miss Dora, as
+severely as she could in her soft old voice, "to be seen walking about
+with a gentleman, even when he is your clergyman, and, of course, has
+nothing else in his head. Young men don't think anything of it," said
+the rash but timid preacher; "of course it was only to take care of you,
+and keep you out of harm's way. But then you ought to think what a
+trouble it was to Mr Wentworth, taking him away from his studies--and it
+is not nice for a young girl like you." Miss Dora paused to take breath,
+not feeling quite sure in her own mind whether this was the right thing
+to say. Perhaps it would have been better to have disbelieved the fact
+altogether, and declared it impossible. She was much troubled about it,
+as she stood looking into the flushed tearful face, with all that light
+of defiance behind the tears, and felt instinctively that little Rosa,
+still only a pretty, obstinate, vain, uneducated little girl, was more
+than a match for herself, with all her dearly-won experiences. The
+little thing was bristling with a hundred natural weapons and defences,
+against which Miss Dora's weak assault had no chance.
+
+"If it was a trouble, he need not have come," said Rosa, more and more
+convinced that Mr Wentworth must certainly have meant something. "I am
+sure _I_ did not want him. He insisted on coming, though I begged him
+not. I don't know why I should be spoke to like this," cried the little
+coquette, with tears, "for I never was one as looked at a gentleman;
+it's them," with a sob, "as comes after me."
+
+"Rosa," said Mr Elsworthy, much alarmed, "your aunt is sure to be
+looking out for you, and I don't want you here, not now; nor I don't
+want you again for errands, and don't you forget. If it hadn't been that
+Mr Wentworth thought you a silly little thing, and had a kind feeling
+for my missis and me, you don't think he'd have took that charge of
+you?--and I won't have my clergyman, as has always been good to me and
+mine, made a talk of. You'll excuse me, ma'am," he said, in an under
+tone, as Rosa reluctantly went away--not to her aunt, however, but again
+to her parcel at the other end of the shop--"she aint used to being
+talked to. She's but a child, and don't know no better: and after all,"
+said Rosa's uncle, with a little pride, "she is a tender-hearted little
+thing--she don't know no better, ma'am; she's led away by a kind
+word--for nobody can say but she's wonderful pretty, as is very plain to
+see."
+
+"Is she?" said Miss Dora, following the little culprit to the
+back-counter with disenchanted eyes. "Then you had better take all the
+better care of her, Mr Elsworthy," she said, with again a little
+asperity. The fact was, that Miss Dora had behaved very injudiciously,
+and was partly aware of it; and then this prettiness of little Rosa's,
+even though it shone at the present moment before her, was not so plain
+to her old-maidenly eyes. She did not make out why everybody was so sure
+of it, nor what it mattered; and very probably, if she could have had
+her own way, would have liked to give the little insignificant thing a
+good shake, and asked her how she dared to attract the eye of the
+Perpetual Curate. As she could not do this, however, Miss Dora gathered
+up her wool, and refused to permit Mr Elsworthy to send it home for her.
+"I can carry it quite well myself," said the indignant little woman. "I
+am sure you must have a great deal too much for your boys to do, or you
+would not send your niece about with the things. But if you will take my
+advice, Mr Elsworthy," said Miss Dora, "you will take care of that poor
+little thing: she will be getting ridiculous notions into her head;" and
+aunt Dora went out of the shop with great solemnity, quite unaware that
+she had done more to put ridiculous notions into Rosa's head than could
+have got there by means of a dozen darkling walks by the side of the
+majestic Curate, who never paid her any compliments. Miss Dora went away
+more than ever convinced in her mind that Frank had forgotten himself
+and his position, and everything that was fit and seemly. She jumped to
+a hundred horrible conclusions as she went sadly across Grange Lane with
+her scarlet wool in her hand. What Leonora would say to such an
+irremediable folly?--and how the Squire would receive his son after such
+a _mésalliance_? "He might change his views," said poor Miss Dora to
+herself, "but he could not change his wife;" and it was poor comfort to
+call Rosa a designing little wretch, and to reflect that Frank at first
+could not have meant anything. The poor lady had a bad headache, and was
+in a terribly depressed condition all day. When she saw from the window
+of her summer-house the pretty figure of Lucy Wodehouse in her grey
+cloak pass by, she sank into tears and melancholy reflections. But then
+Lucy Wodehouse's views were highly objectionable, and she bethought
+herself of Julia Trench, who had long ago been selected by the sisters
+as the clergyman's wife of Skelmersdale. Miss Dora shook her head over
+the blanket she was knitting for Louisa's baby, thinking of clergymen's
+wives in general, and the way in which marriages came about. Who had the
+ordering of these inexplicable accidents? It was surely not Providence,
+but some tricky imp or other who loved confusion; and then Miss Dora
+paused with compunction, and hoped she would be forgiven for
+entertaining, even for one passing moment, such a wicked, wicked
+thought.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+On the afternoon of the same day Mr Morgan went home late, and
+frightened his wife out of her propriety by the excitement and trouble
+in his face. He could do nothing but groan as he sat down in the
+drawing-room, where she had just been gathering her work together, and
+putting stray matters in order, before she went up-stairs to make
+herself tidy for dinner. The Rector paid no attention to the fact that
+the dinner-hour was approaching, and only shook his head and repeated
+his groan when she asked him anxiously what was the matter. The good
+man was too much flushed and heated and put out, to be able at first
+to answer her questions.
+
+"Very bad, very bad," he said, when he had recovered sufficient
+composure--"far worse than I feared. My dear, I am afraid the
+beginning of my work in Carlingford will be for ever associated with
+pain to us both. I am discouraged and distressed beyond measure by
+what I have heard to-day."
+
+"Dear William, tell me what it is," said the Rector's wife.
+
+"I feared it was a bad business from the first," said the disturbed
+Rector. "I confess I feared, when I saw a young man so regardless of
+lawful authority, that his moral principles must be defective, but I
+was not prepared for what I have heard to-day. My dear, I am sorry to
+grieve you with such a story; but as you are sure to hear it, perhaps
+it is better that you should have the facts from me."
+
+"It must be about Mr Wentworth," said Mrs Morgan. She was sorry; for
+though she had given in to her husband's vehemence, she herself in her
+own person had always been prepossessed in favour of the Perpetual
+Curate; but she was also sensible of a feeling of relief to know that
+the misfortune concerned Mr Wentworth, and was not specially connected
+with themselves.
+
+"Yes, it's about Mr Wentworth," said the Rector. He wiped his face,
+which was red with haste and exhaustion, and shook his head. He was
+sincerely shocked and grieved, to do him justice; but underneath there
+was also a certain satisfaction in the thought that he had foreseen
+it, and that his suspicions were verified. "My dear, I am very glad he
+had not become intimate in our house," said Mr Morgan; "that would
+have complicated matters sadly. I rejoice that your womanly instincts
+prevented that inconvenience;" and as the Rector began to recover
+himself, he looked more severe than ever.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Morgan, with hesitation; for the truth was, that her
+womanly instincts had pronounced rather distinctly in favour of the
+Curate of St Roque's. "I hope he has not done anything very wrong,
+William. I should be very sorry; for I think he has very good
+qualities," said the Rector's wife. "We must not let our personal
+objections prejudice us in respect to his conduct otherwise. I am sure
+you are the last to do that."
+
+"I have never known an insubordinate man who was a perfect moral
+character," said the Rector. "It is very discouraging altogether; and
+you thought he was engaged to Wodehouse's pretty daughter, didn't you?
+I hope not--I sincerely hope not. That would make things doubly bad;
+but, to be sure, when a man is faithless to his most sacred
+engagements, there is very little dependence to be placed on him in
+other respects."
+
+"But you have not told me what it is," said the Rector's wife, with
+some anxiety; and she spoke the more hastily as she saw the shadow of
+a curate--Mr Morgan's own curate, who must inevitably be invited to
+stop to dinner--crossing the lawn as she spoke. She got up and went a
+little nearer the window to make sure. "There is Mr Leeson," she said,
+with some vexation. "I must run up-stairs and get ready for dinner.
+Tell me what it is!"
+
+Upon which the Rector, with some circumlocution, described the
+appalling occurrence of the previous night,--how Mr Wentworth had
+walked home with little Rosa Elsworthy from his own house to hers, as
+had, of course, been seen by various people. The tale had been told
+with variations, which did credit to the ingenuity of Carlingford; and
+Mr Morgan's version was that they had walked arm in arm, in the
+closest conversation, and at an hour which was quite unseemly for such
+a little person as Rosa to be abroad. The excellent Rector gave the
+story with strong expressions of disapproval; for he was aware of
+having raised his wife's expectations, and had a feeling, as he
+related them, that the circumstances, after all, were scarcely
+sufficiently horrifying to justify his preamble. Mrs Morgan listened
+with one ear towards the door, on the watch for Mr Leeson's knock.
+
+"Was that all?" said the sensible woman. "I think it very likely it
+might be explained. I suppose Mr Leeson must have stopped to look at
+my ferns; he is very tiresome with his botany. That was all! Dear, I
+think it might be explained. I can't fancy Mr Wentworth is a man to
+commit himself in that way--if that is all!" said Mrs Morgan; "but I
+must run up-stairs to change my dress."
+
+"That was not all," said the Rector, following her to the door. "It is
+said that this sort of thing has been habitual, my dear. He takes the
+'Evening Mail,' you know, all to himself, instead of having the
+'Times' like other people, and she carries it down to his house, and I
+hear of meetings in the garden, and a great deal that is very
+objectionable," said Mr Morgan, speaking very fast in order to deliver
+himself before the advent of Mr Leeson. "I'm afraid it is a very bad
+business. I don't know what to do about it. I suppose I must ask
+Leeson to stay to dinner? It is absurd of him to come at six o'clock."
+
+"Meetings in the garden?" said Mrs Morgan, aghast. "I don't feel as if
+I could believe it. There is that tiresome man at last. Do as you
+like, dear, about asking him to stay; but I must make my escape," and
+the Rector's wife hastened up-stairs, divided between vexation about
+Mr Leeson and regret at the news she had just heard. She put on her
+dress rather hastily, and was conscious of a little ill-temper, for
+which she was angry with herself; and the haste of her toilette, and
+the excitement under which she laboured, aggravated unbecomingly that
+redness of which Mrs Morgan was painfully sensible. She was not at all
+pleased with her own appearance as she looked in the glass. Perhaps
+that sense of looking not so well as usual brought back to her mind a
+troublesome and painful idea, which recurred to her not unfrequently
+when she was in any trouble. The real Rector to whom she was married
+was so different from the ideal one who courted her; could it be
+possible, if they had married in their youth instead of now, that her
+husband would have been less open to the ill-natured suggestions of
+the gossips in Carlingford, and less jealous of the interferences of
+his young neighbour? It was hard to think that all the self-denial and
+patience of the past had done more harm than good; but though she was
+conscious of his defects, she was very loyal to him, and resolute to
+stand by him whatever he might do or say; though Mrs Morgan's "womanly
+instincts," which the Rector had quoted, were all on Mr Wentworth's
+side, and convinced her of his innocence to start with. On the whole,
+she was annoyed and uncomfortable; what with Mr Leeson's intrusion
+(which had occurred three or four times before, and which Mrs Morgan
+felt it her duty to check) and the Rector's uncharitableness, and her
+own insufficient time to dress, and the disagreeable heightening of
+her complexion, the Rector's wife felt in rather an unchristian frame
+of mind. She did not look well, and she did not feel better. She was
+terribly civil to the Curate when she went down-stairs, and snubbed
+him in the most unqualified way when he too began to speak about Mr
+Wentworth. "It does not seem to me to be at all a likely story," she
+said, courageously, and took away Mr Leeson's breath.
+
+"But I hear a very unfavourable general account," said the Rector, who
+was almost equally surprised. "I hear he has been playing fast and loose
+with that very pretty person, Miss Wodehouse, and that her friends begin
+to be indignant. It is said that he has not been nearly so much there
+lately, but, on the contrary, always going to Elsworthy's, and has
+partly educated this little thing. My dear, one false step leads to
+another. I am not so incredulous as you are. Perhaps I have studied
+human nature a little more closely, and I know that error is always
+fruitful;--that is my experience," said Mr Morgan. His wife did not say
+anything in answer to this deliverance, but she lay in wait for the
+Curate, as was natural, and had her revenge upon him as soon as his ill
+fate prompted him to back the Rector out.
+
+"I am afraid Mr Wentworth had always too much confidence in himself,"
+said the unlucky individual who was destined to be scapegoat on this
+occasion; "and as you very justly observe, one wrong act leads to
+another. He has thrown himself among the bargemen on such an equal
+footing that I daresay he has got to like that kind of society. I
+shouldn't be surprised to find that Rosa Elsworthy suited him better
+than a lady with refined tastes."
+
+"Mr Wentworth is a gentleman," said the Rector's wife, with emphasis,
+coming down upon the unhappy Leeson in full battle array. "I don't think
+he would go into the poorest house, if it were even a bargeman's,
+without the same respect of the privacy of the family as is customary
+among--persons of our own class, Mr Leeson. I can't tell how wrong or
+how foolish he may have been, of course--but that he couldn't behave to
+anybody in a disrespectful manner, or show himself intrusive, or forget
+the usages of good society," said Mrs Morgan, who was looking all the
+time at the unfortunate Curate, "I am perfectly convinced."
+
+It was this speech which made Mr Morgan "speak seriously," as he
+called it, later the same night, to his wife, about her manner to poor
+Leeson, who was totally extinguished, as was to be expected. Mrs
+Morgan busied herself among her flowers all the evening, and could not
+be caught to be admonished until it was time for prayers: so that it
+was in the sacred retirement of her own chamber that the remonstrance
+was delivered at last. The Rector said he was very sorry to find that
+she still gave way to temper in a manner that was unbecoming in a
+clergyman's wife; he was surprised, after all her experience, and the
+way in which they had both been schooled in patience, to find she had
+still to learn that lesson: upon which Mrs Morgan, who had been
+thinking much on the subject, broke forth upon her husband in a manner
+totally unprecedented, and which took the amazed Rector altogether by
+surprise.
+
+"Oh, William, if we had only forestalled the lesson, and been _less_
+prudent!" she cried in a womanish way, which struck the Rector dumb
+with astonishment; "if we hadn't been afraid to marry ten years ago,
+but gone into life when we were young, and fought through it like so
+many people, don't you think it would have been better for us? Neither
+you nor I would have minded what gossips said, or listened to a pack
+of stories when we were five-and-twenty. I think I was better then
+than I am now," said the Rector's wife. Though she filled that
+elevated position, she was only a woman, subject to outbreaks of
+sudden passion, and liable to tears like the rest. Mr Morgan looked
+very blank at her as she sat there crying, sobbing with the force of a
+sentiment which was probably untranslatable to the surprised,
+middle-aged man. He thought it must be her nerves which were in fault
+somehow, and though much startled, did not inquire farther into it,
+having a secret feeling in his heart that the less that was said the
+better on that subject. So he did what his good angel suggested to
+him, kissed his wife, and said he was well aware what heavy calls he
+had made upon her patience, and soothed her the best way that occurred
+to him. "But you were very hard upon poor Leeson, my dear," said the
+Rector, with his puzzled look, when she had regained her composure.
+Perhaps she was disappointed that she had not been able to convey her
+real meaning to her husband's matter-of-fact bosom; at all events, Mrs
+Morgan recovered herself immediately, and flashed forth with all the
+lively freshness of a temper in its first youth.
+
+"He deserved a great deal more than I said to him," said the Rector's
+wife. "It might be an advantage to take the furniture, as it was all
+new, though it is a perpetual vexation to me, and worries me out of my
+life; but there was no need to take the curate, that I can see. What
+right has he to come day after day at your dinner-hour? he knows we
+dine at six as well as we do ourselves; and I do believe he knows what
+we have for dinner," exclaimed the incensed mistress of the house;
+"for he always makes his appearance when we have anything he likes. I
+hope I know my duty, and can put up with what cannot be mended,"
+continued Mrs Morgan, with a sigh, and a mental reference to the
+carpet in the drawing-room; "but there are some things really that
+would disturb the temper of an angel. I don't know anybody that could
+endure the sight of a man always coming unasked to dinner;--and he to
+speak of Mr Wentworth, who, if he were the greatest sinner in the
+world, is _always_ a gentleman!" Mrs Morgan broke off with a sparkle
+in her eye, which showed that she had neither exhausted the subject,
+nor was ashamed of herself; and the Rector wisely retired from the
+controversy. He went to bed, and slept, good man, and dreamt that Sir
+Charles Grandison had come to be his curate in place of Mr Leeson; and
+when he woke, concluded quietly that Mrs Morgan had "experienced a
+little attack on the nerves," as he explained afterwards to Dr
+Marjoribanks. Her compunctions, her longings after the lost life they
+might have lived together, her wistful womanish sense of the
+impoverished existence, deprived of so many experiences, on which they
+had entered in the dry maturity of their middle age, remained for ever
+a mystery to her faithful husband. He was very fond of her, and had a
+high respect for her character; but if she had spoken Sanscrit, he
+could not have had less understanding of the meaning her words were
+intended to convey.
+
+Notwithstanding, a vague idea that his wife was disposed to side with
+Mr Wentworth had penetrated the brain of the Rector, and was not
+without its results. He told her next morning, in his curt way, that
+he thought it would be best to wait a little before taking any steps
+in the Wharfside business. "If all I hear is true, we may have to
+proceed in a different way against the unhappy young man," said Mr
+Morgan, solemnly; and he took care to ascertain that Mr Leeson had an
+invitation somewhere else to dinner, which was doing the duty of a
+tender husband, as everybody will allow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+"I want to know what all this means about young Wentworth," said Mr
+Wodehouse. "He's gone off, it appears, in a hurry, nobody knows where.
+Well, so they say. To his brother's, is it? _I_ couldn't know that;
+but look here--that's not all, nor nearly all--they say he meets that
+little Rosa at Elsworthy's every night, and walks home with her, and
+all that sort of thing. I tell you I don't know--that's what people
+say. You ought to understand all the rights of it, you two girls. I
+confess I thought it was Lucy he was after, for my part--and a very
+bad match, too, and one I should never have given my consent to. And
+then there is another fine talk about some fellow he's got at his
+house. What's the matter, Molly?--she looks as if she was going to
+faint."
+
+"Oh no," said Miss Wodehouse, faintly; "and I don't believe a word
+about Rosa Elsworthy," she said, with sudden impetuosity, a minute
+after. "I am sure Mr Wentworth could vindicate himself whenever he
+likes. I daresay the one story is just as true as the other; but
+then," said the gentle elder sister, turning with anxious looks
+towards Lucy, "he is proud, as is natural; and I shouldn't think he
+would enter into explanations if he thought people did not trust him
+without them."
+
+"That is all stuff," said Mr Wodehouse; "why should people trust him? I
+don't understand trusting a man in all sorts of equivocal circumstances,
+because he's got dark eyes, &c., and a handsome face--which seems _your_
+code of morality; but I thought he was after Lucy--that was my
+belief--and I want to know if it's all off."
+
+"It never was on, papa," said Lucy, in her clearest voice. "I have been
+a great deal in the district, you know, and Mr Wentworth and I could not
+help meeting each other; that is all about it: but people must always
+have something to talk about in Carlingford. I hope you don't think I
+and Rosa Elsworthy could go together," she went on, turning round to him
+with a smile. "I don't think that would be much of a compliment;" and,
+saying this, Lucy went to get her work out of its usual corner, and sat
+down opposite to her father, with a wonderfully composed face. She was
+so composed, indeed, that any interested beholder might have been
+justified in thinking that the work suffered in consequence, for it
+seemed to take nearly all Lucy's strength and leisure to keep up that
+look.
+
+"Oh!" said Mr Wodehouse, "that's how it was? Then I wonder why that
+confounded puppy came here so constantly? I don't like that sort of
+behaviour. Don't you go into the district any more and meet
+him--that's all I've got to say."
+
+"Because of Rosa Elsworthy?" said Lucy, with a little smile, which did
+not flicker naturally, but was apt to get fixed at the corners of her
+pretty mouth. "That would never do, papa. Mr Wentworth's private
+concerns are nothing to us; but, you know, there is a great work going
+on in the district, and _that_ can't be interfered with," said the young
+Sister of Mercy, looking up at him with a decision which Mr Wodehouse
+was aware he could make no stand against. And when she stopped speaking,
+Lucy did a little work, which was for the district too. All this time
+she was admitting to herself that she had been much startled by this
+news about Rosa Elsworthy,--much startled. To be sure, it was not like
+Mr Wentworth, and very likely it would impair his influence; and it was
+natural that any friend taking an interest in him and the district,
+should be taken a little aback by such news. Accordingly, Lucy sat a
+little more upright than usual, and was conscious that when she smiled,
+as she had just done, the smile did not glide off again in a natural
+way, but settled down into the lines of her face with a kind of spasmodic
+tenacity. She could do a great deal in the way of self-control, but she
+could not quite command these refractory muscles. Mr Wodehouse, who was
+not particularly penetrating, could not quite make her out; he saw there
+was something a little different from her ordinary look about his
+favourite child, but he had not insight enough to enable him to
+comprehend what it was.
+
+"And about his man who is staying at Mrs Hadwin's?" said the perplexed
+churchwarden; "does any one know who the fellow is? I don't understand
+how Wentworth has got into all this hot water in a moment. Here's the
+Rector in a state of fury,--and his aunts,--and now here's this little
+bit of scandal to crown all;--and who is this fellow in his house?"
+
+"It must be somebody he has taken in out of charity," said Miss
+Wodehouse, with tears in her eyes; "I am sure it is somebody whom he
+has opened his doors to out of Christian charity and the goodness of
+his heart. I don't understand how you can all desert him at the first
+word. All the years he has been here, you know there never was a
+whisper against him; and is it in reason to think he would go so far
+wrong all in a moment?" cried the faithful advocate of the Perpetual
+Curate. Her words were addressed to Mr Wodehouse, but her eyes sought
+Lucy, who was sitting very upright doing her work, without any leisure
+to look round. Lucy had quite enough to occupy her within herself at
+that emergency, and the tearful appeal of her elder sister had no
+effect upon her. As for Mr Wodehouse, he was more and more puzzled how
+to interpret these tears in his daughter's eyes.
+
+"I don't make it out at all," said the perplexed father, getting up to
+leave the room. "I hope _you_ weren't in love with him, Molly? you
+ought to have too much sense for that. A pretty mess he'll find when
+he comes home; but he must get out of it the best way he can, for _I_
+can't help him, at least. I don't mean to have him asked here any
+more--you understand, Lucy," he said, turning round at the door, with
+an emphatic creak of his boots. But Lucy had no mind to be seduced
+into any such confession of weakness.
+
+"You are always having everybody in Carlingford to dinner," said the
+young housekeeper, "and all the clergymen, even _that_ Mr Leeson; and
+I don't see why you should except Mr Wentworth, papa; he has done
+nothing wicked, so far as we know. I daresay he won't want to bring
+Rosa Elsworthy with him; and why shouldn't he be asked here?" said
+Lucy, looking full in his face with her bright eyes. Mr Wodehouse was
+entirely discomfited, and did not know what to say. "I wonder if you
+know what you mean yourselves, you women," he muttered; and then, with
+a shrug of his shoulders, and a hasty "settle it as you please," the
+churchwarden's boots creaked hastily out of the room, and out of the
+house.
+
+After this a dead silence fell upon the drawing-room and its two
+occupants. They did not burst forth into mutual comment upon this last
+piece of Carlingford news, as they would have done under any other
+circumstances; on the contrary, they bent over their several occupations
+with quite an unusual devotion, not exchanging so much as a look. Lucy,
+over her needlework, was the steadiest of the two; she was still at the
+same point in her thoughts, owning to herself that she was startled, and
+indeed shocked, by what she had heard--that it was a great pity for Mr
+Wentworth; perhaps that it was not quite what might have been expected
+of him,--and then she checked herself, and went back again to her
+original acknowledgment. To tell the truth, though she assured herself
+that she had nothing to do with it, a strange sense of having just
+passed through an unexpected illness, lay underneath Lucy's composure.
+It was none of her business, to be sure, but she could not help feeling
+as if she had just had a fever, or some other sudden unlooked-for
+attack, and that nobody knew of it, and that she must get well as best
+she could, without any help from without.
+
+It was quite half an hour before Miss Wodehouse got up from the
+knitting which she had spoiled utterly, trying to take up the dropped
+stitches with her trembling fingers, and dropping others by every
+effort she made. The poor lady went wistfully about the room,
+wandering from corner to corner, as if in search of something; at last
+she took courage to speak, when she found herself behind her young
+sister. "Dear, I am sure it is not true," said Miss Wodehouse,
+suddenly, with a little sob; and then she came close to Lucy's chair,
+and put her hand timidly upon her sister's shoulder. "Think how many
+good things you two have done together, dear; and is it likely you are
+to be parted like this?" said the injudicious comforter. It felt
+rather like another attack of fever to Lucy, as unexpected as the
+last.
+
+"Don't speak so, please," said the poor girl, with a momentary shiver.
+"It is about Mr Wentworth you mean?" she went on, after a little,
+without turning her head. "I--am sorry, of course. I am afraid it will
+do him--harm," and then she made a pause, and stumbled over her sewing
+with fingers which felt feeble and powerless to the very tips--all on
+account of this fever she had had. "But I don't know any reason why
+you and I should discuss it, Mary," she said, getting up in her turn,
+not quite sure whether she could stand at this early period of her
+convalescence, but resolved to try. "We are both Mr Wentworth's
+friends--and we need not say any harm of him. I have to get something
+out of the storeroom for to-night."
+
+"But, Lucy," said the tender, trembling sister, who did not know how
+to be wise and silent, "_I_ trust him, and _you_ don't. Oh, my dear,
+it will break my heart. I know some part of it is not true. I know one
+thing in which he is quite--quite innocent. Oh, Lucy, my darling, if
+you distrust him it will be returning evil for good!" cried poor Miss
+Wodehouse, with tears. As for Lucy, she did not quite know what her
+sister said. She only felt that it was cruel to stop her, and look at
+her, and talk to her; and there woke up in her mind a fierce sudden
+spark of resistance to the intolerable.
+
+"Why do you hold me? I may have been ill, but I can stand well enough
+by myself," cried Lucy, to her sister's utter bewilderment. "That is,
+I--I mean, I have other things to attend to," she cried, breaking into
+a few hot tears of mortification over this self-betrayal; and so went
+away in a strange glow and tremble of sudden passion, such as had
+never been seen before in that quiet house. She went direct to the
+storeroom, as she had said, and got out what was wanted; and only
+after that was done permitted herself to go up to her own room, and
+turn the key in her door. Though she was a Sister of Mercy, and much
+beloved in Prickett's Lane, she was still but one of Eve's poor
+petulant women-children, and had it in her to fly at an intruder on
+her suffering, like any other wounded creature. But she did not make
+any wild demonstration of her pain, even when shut up thus in her
+fortress. She sat down on the sofa, in a kind of dull heaviness,
+looking into vacancy. She was not positively thinking of Mr Wentworth,
+or of any one thing in particular. She was only conscious of a
+terrible difference somehow in everything about her--in the air which
+choked her breathing, and the light which blinded her eyes. When she
+came to herself a little, she said over and over, half-aloud, that
+everything was just the same as it had always been, and that to her at
+least nothing had happened; but that declaration, though made with
+vehemence, did not alter matters. The world altogether had sustained a
+change. The light that was in it was darkened, and the heart stilled.
+All at once, instead of a sweet spontaneous career, providing for its
+own wants day by day, life came to look like something which required
+such an amount of courage and patience and endurance as Lucy had not
+at hand to support her in the way; and her heart failed her at the
+moment when she found this out.
+
+Notwithstanding, the people who dined at Mr Wodehouse's that night
+thought it a very agreeable little party, and more than once repeated
+the remark, so familiar to most persons in society in Carlingford--that
+Wodehouse's parties were the pleasantest going, though he himself was
+humdrum enough. Two or three of the people present had heard the
+gossip about Mr Wentworth, and discussed it, as was natural, taking
+different views of the subject; and poor Miss Wodehouse took up his
+defence so warmly, and with such tearful vehemence, that there were
+smiles to be seen on several faces. As for Lucy, she made only a very
+simple remark on the subject. She said: "Mr Wentworth is a great
+friend of ours, and I think I would rather not hear any gossip about
+him." Of course there were one or two keen observers who put a subtle
+meaning to this, and knew what was signified by her looks and her ways
+all the evening; but, most likely, they were altogether mistaken in
+their suppositions, for nobody could possibly watch her so closely as
+did Miss Wodehouse, who know no more than the man in the moon, at the
+close of the evening, whether her young sister was very wretched or
+totally indifferent. The truth was certainly not to be discovered, for
+that night at least, in Lucy's looks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+The next afternoon there were signs of a considerable commotion in Mr
+Elsworthy's shop. Rosa had disappeared altogether, and Mrs Elsworthy,
+with an ominous redness on her cheeks, had taken the place generally
+held by that more agreeable little figure. All the symptoms of having
+been engaged in an affray from which she had retired not altogether
+victorious were in Mrs Elsworthy's face, and the errand-boys vanished
+from her neighbourhood with inconceivable rapidity, and found out little
+parcels to deliver which would have eluded their most anxious search in
+other circumstances. Mr Elsworthy himself occupied his usual place in
+the foreground, without the usual marks of universal content and
+satisfaction with all his surroundings which generally distinguished
+him. An indescribable appearance of having been recently snubbed hung
+about the excellent man, and his glances towards the back-shop, and the
+glances directed from the back-shop to him, told with sufficient
+significance the quarter from which his humiliation had proceeded. It
+had done him good, as such painful discipline generally does; for he was
+clearing out some drawers in which sundry quires of paper had broken
+loose and run into confusion, with the air of a man who ought to have
+done it weeks ago. As for the partner of his bosom, she was standing in
+the obscure distance behind the counter knitting a blue stocking, which
+was evidently intended for no foot but his. There was a chair close by,
+but Mrs Elsworthy disdained to sit down. She stood with her knitting in
+conscious power, now and then suffering a confession of her faith to
+escape her. "There's nothing as don't go contrary in this world," said
+the discontented wife, "when a man's a fool." It was hard upon Mr
+Elsworthy that his ears were sharp, and that he knew exactly what this
+agreeable murmur was. But he was wise in his generation, and made no
+reply.
+
+Things were in this condition when, of all persons in Carlingford, it
+occurred to Miss Leonora Wentworth to enter Mr Elsworthy's shop. Not
+that she was alone, or bent upon any errand of inquiry; for Miss
+Leonora seldom moved about unattended by her sisters, whom she felt it
+her duty to take out for exercise; and wonderfully enough, she had not
+found out yet what was the source of Miss Dora's mysteries and
+depression, having been still occupied meantime by her own "great
+work" in her London district, and the affair of the gin-palace, which
+was still undecided. She had been talking a great deal about this
+gin-palace for the last twenty-four hours; and to hear Miss Leonora,
+you might have supposed that all the powers of heaven must fail and be
+discomfited before this potent instrument of evil, and that, after
+all, Bibles and missionaries were much less effective than the
+stoppage of the licence, upon which all her agents were bent. At all
+events, such an object of interest had swept out from her thoughts the
+vague figure of her nephew Frank, and aunt Dora's mysterious anxieties
+on his account. When the three ladies approached Elsworthy's, the
+first thing that attracted their attention was Rosa, the little Rosa
+who had been banished from the shop, and whom Mrs Elsworthy believed
+to be expiating her sins in a back room, in tears and darkness;
+instead of which the little girl was looking out of her favourite
+window, and amusing herself much with all that was going on in Grange
+Lane. Though she was fluttered by the scolding she had received, Rosa
+only looked prettier than usual with her flushed cheeks; and so many
+things had been put into her nonsensical little head during the last
+two days, especially by her aunt's denunciations, that her sense of
+self-importance was very much heightened in consequence. She looked at
+the Miss Wentworths with a throb of mingled pride and alarm, wondering
+whether perhaps she might know more of them some day, if Mr Wentworth
+was really fond of her, as people said--which thought gave Rosa a
+wonderful sensation of awe and delighted vanity. Meanwhile the three
+Miss Wentworths looked at her with very diverse feelings. "I must
+speak to these people about that little girl, if nobody else has sense
+enough to do it," said Miss Leonora; "she is evidently going wrong as
+fast as she can, the little fool;" and the iron-grey sister went into
+Mr Elsworthy's in this perfectly composed and ordinary frame of mind,
+with her head full of the application which was to be made to the
+licensing magistrates today, in the parish of St Michael, and totally
+unaware that anybody belonging to herself could ever be connected with
+the incautious little coquette at the window. Miss Dora's feelings
+were very different. It was much against her will that she was going
+at all into this obnoxious shop, and the eyes which she hastily
+uplifted to the window and withdrew again with lively disgust and
+dislike, were both angry and tearful; "Little forward shameless
+thing," Miss Dora said to herself, with a little toss of her head. As
+for Miss Wentworth, it was not her custom to say anything--but she,
+too, looked up, and saw the pretty face at the window, and secretly
+concluded that it might all be quite true, and that she had known a
+young man make a fool of himself before now for such another. So they
+all went in, unwitting that they came at the end of a domestic
+hurricane, and that the waters were still in a state of disturbance.
+Miss Wentworth took the only chair, as was natural, and sat down
+sweetly to wait for Leonora, and Miss Dora lingered behind while her
+sister made her purchases. Miss Leonora wanted some books--
+
+"And I came here," she said, with engaging candour, "because I see no
+other shop in this part of the town except Masters's, which, of
+course, I would not enter. It is easy enough to do without books, but
+I can't afford to compromise my principles, Mr Elsworthy;" to which Mr
+Elsworthy had replied, "No, ma'am, of course not--such a thing aint to
+be expected;" with one eye upon his customer, and one upon his
+belligerent wife.
+
+"And, by the by, if you will permit me to speak about what does not
+concern me," said Miss Leonora cheerfully, "I think you should look
+after that little girl of yours more carefully;--recollect I don't
+mean any offence; but she's very pretty, you know, and very young, and
+vain, as a matter of course. I saw her the other evening going down
+Grange Lane, a great deal too late for such a creature to be out; and
+though I don't doubt, you are very particular where she goes--"
+
+It was at this conjuncture that Mrs Elsworthy, who could not keep
+silence any longer, broke in ardently, with all her knitting-needles
+in front of her, disposed like a kind of porcupine mail--
+
+"I'm well known in Carlingford--better known than most," said Mrs
+Elsworthy, with a sob; "such a thing as not being particular was never
+named to me. I strive and I toil from morning to night, as all things
+should be respectable and kep' in good order; but what's the good?
+Here's my heart broken, that's all; and Elsworthy standing gaping like
+a gaby as he is. There aint nothing as don't go contrairy, when folks
+is tied to a set of fools!" cried the indignant matron. "As for
+pretty, I don't know nothing about it; I've got too much to do minding
+my own business. Them as has nothing to think of but stand in the shop
+and twiddle their thumbs, ought to look to that; but, ma'am, if you'll
+believe me, it aint no fault of mine. It aint my will to throw her in
+any young gentleman's way; not to say a clergyman as we're bound to
+respect. Whatever you does, ladies,--and I shouldn't wonder at your
+taking away your custom, nor nothing else as was a punishment--don't
+blame me!"
+
+"But you forget, Mrs Elsworthy, that we have nothing to do with
+it,--nothing at all; my nephew knows very well what he is about," said
+Miss Dora, in injudicious haste. "Mr Wentworth is not at all likely to
+forget himself," continued that poor lady, getting confused as her
+sister turned round and stared at her. "Of course it was all out of
+kindness;--I--I know Frank did not mean anything," cried the
+unfortunate aunt. Leonora's look, as she turned round and fixed her
+eyes upon her, took away what little breath Miss Dora had.
+
+"Mr Wentworth?" asked Miss Leonora; "I should be glad to know, if
+anybody would inform me, what Mr Wentworth can possibly have to do
+with it? I daresay you misunderstood me; I said you were to look after
+that little girl--your niece, or whatever she is; I did not say
+anything about Mr Wentworth," said the strong-minded sister, looking
+round upon them all. For the moment she forgot all about the licence,
+and turned upon Mr Elsworthy with an emphasis which almost drive that
+troubled citizen to his knees.
+
+"That was how I understood it," said the clerk of St Roque's, humbly;
+"there wasn't nothing said about Mr Wentworth--nor there couldn't be
+as I know of, but what was in his favour, for there aint many young
+men like our clergyman left in the Church. It aint because I'm
+speaking to respected ladies as is his relations; folks may talk,"
+said Mr Elsworthy, with a slight faltering, "but I never see his
+equal; and as for an act of kindness to an orphan child--"
+
+"The orphan child is neither here nor there," said his angry wife, who
+had taken up her post by his side; "a dozen fathers and mothers
+couldn't have done better by her than we've done; and to go and lay
+out her snares for them as is so far above her, if you'll believe me,
+ma'am, it's nigh broken my heart. She's neither flesh nor blood o'
+mine," cried the aggrieved woman; "there would have been a different
+tale to tell if she had belonged to me. I'd have--murdered her, ma'am,
+though it aint proper to say so, afore we'd have gone and raised a
+talk like this; it aint my blame, if it was my dying word," cried Mrs
+Elsworthy, relapsing into angry tears: "I'm one as has always shown
+her a good example, and never gone flirting about, nor cast my eyes to
+one side or another for the best man as ever walked; and to think as a
+respectable family should be brought to shame through her doings, and
+a gentleman as is a clergyman got himself talked about--it's gone nigh
+to kill me, that's what it's done," sobbed the virtuous matron; "and I
+don't see as nobody cares."
+
+Miss Leonora had been woke up suddenly out of her abstract
+occupations; she penetrated to the heart of the matter while all this
+talk was going on. She transfixed her sister Dora, who seemed much
+inclined to cry like Mrs Elsworthy, with a look which overwhelmed that
+trembling woman; then she addressed herself with great suavity to the
+matter in hand.
+
+"I suppose it is this poor little foolish child who has been getting
+herself talked about?" said Miss Leonora. "It's a pity, to be sure,
+but I daresay it's not so bad as you think. As for her laying snares
+for people above her, I wouldn't be afraid of that. Poor little thing!
+It's not so easy as you think laying snares. Perhaps it's the new
+minister at Salem Chapel who has been paying attention to her? I would
+not take any notice of it if I were you. Don't let her loll about at
+the window as she's doing, and don't let her go out so late, and give
+her plenty of work to do. My maid wants some one to help in her
+needlework. Perhaps this child would do, Cecilia?" said Miss Leonora.
+"As for her snares, poor thing, I don't feel much afraid of them. I
+daresay if Mr Wentworth had Sunday classes for the young people as I
+wished him to have, and took pains to give them proper instruction,
+such things would not happen. If you send her to my maid, I flatter
+myself she will soon come to her senses. Good morning; and you will
+please to send me the books--there are some others I want you to get
+for me next week," said Mr Elsworthy's patroness. "I will follow you,
+Dora, please," and Miss Leonora swept her sisters out before her, and
+went upon her way with indescribable grandeur. Even little Rosa felt
+the change, where she sat at the window looking out. The little vain
+creature no longer felt it possible to believe, as she looked after
+them, that she ever could be anything to the Miss Wentworths except a
+little girl in a shop. It shook her confidence in what people said;
+and it was as well for her that she withdrew from the window at that
+conjuncture, and so had an opportunity of hearing her aunt come
+up-stairs, and of darting back again to the penitential darkness of
+her own chamber at the back of the house--which saved Rosa some angry
+words at least.
+
+As for Miss Leonora Wentworth, she said nothing to her sisters on this
+new subject. She saw them safely home to their own apartments, and
+went out again without explaining her movements. When she was gone,
+Miss Wentworth listened to Miss Dora's doubts and tears with her
+usual patience, but did not go into the matter much. "It doesn't
+matter whether it is your fault or not," said aunt Cecilia, with a
+larger amount of words than usual, and a sharpness very uncommon with
+her; "but I daresay Leonora will set it all right." After all, the
+confidence which the elder sister had in Leonora was justified. She
+did not entirely agree with her about the "great work," nor was
+disposed to connect the non-licensing of the gin-palace in any way
+with the faithfulness of God: but she comprehended in her gentle heart
+that there were other matters of which Leonora was capable. As for
+Miss Dora, she went to the summer-house at last, and, seating herself
+at the window, cried under her breath till she had a very bad
+headache, and was of no use for any purpose under heaven. She thought
+nothing less than that Leonora had gone abroad to denounce poor Frank,
+and tell everybody how wicked he was; and she was so sure her poor
+dear boy did not mean anything! She sat with her head growing heavier
+and heavier, watching for her sister's return, and calculating within
+herself how many places Leonora must have called at, and how utterly
+gone by this time must be the character of the Perpetual Curate. At
+last, in utter despair, with her thin curls all limp about her poor
+cheeks, Miss Dora had to go to bed and have the room darkened, and
+swallow cups of green tea and other nauseous compounds, at the will
+and pleasure of her maid, who was learned in headache. The poor lady
+sobbed herself to sleep after a time, and saw, in a hideous dream, her
+sister Leonora marching from house to house of poor Frank's friends,
+and closing door after door with all sorts of clang and dash upon the
+returning prodigal. "But oh, it was not my fault--oh, my dear, she
+found it out herself. You do not think _I_ was to blame?" sobbed poor
+aunt Dora in her troubled slumber; and her headache did not get any
+better notwithstanding the green tea.
+
+Miss Dora's visions were partly realised, for it was quite true that
+her iron-grey sister was making a round of calls upon Frank's friends.
+Miss Leonora Wentworth went out in great state that day. She had her
+handsomest dress on, and the bonnet which her maid had calculated upon
+as her own property, because it was much too nice for Miss Leonora. In
+this impossible attire she went to see Mrs Hadwin, and was very gracious
+to that unsuspecting woman, and learned a few things of which she had
+not the least conception previously. Then she went to the Miss
+Wodehouses, and made the elder sister there mighty uncomfortable by her
+keen looks and questions; and what Miss Leonora did after that was not
+distinctly known to any one. She got into Prickett's Lane somehow, and
+stumbled upon No. 10, much to the surprise of the inhabitants; and
+before she returned home she had given Mrs Morgan her advice about the
+Virginian creeper which was intended to conceal the continual passage of
+the railway trains. "But I would not trust to trellis-work. I would
+build up the wall a few feet higher, and then you will have some
+satisfaction in your work," said Miss Leonora, and left the Rector's
+wife to consider the matter in rather an agreeable state of mind, for
+that had been Mrs Morgan's opinion all along. After this last visit the
+active aunt returned home, going leisurely along George Street, and down
+Grange Lane, with meditative steps. Miss Leonora, of course, would not
+for kingdoms have confessed that any new light had come into her mind,
+or that some very ordinary people in Carlingford, no one of whom she
+could have confidently affirmed to be a converted person, had left a
+certain vivid and novel impression upon her thoughts. She went along
+much more slowly than usual in this new mood of reflectiveness. She was
+not thinking of the licensing magistrates of St Michael's nor the
+beautiful faith of the colporteur. Other ideas filled her mind at the
+moment. Whether perhaps, after all, a man who did his duty by rich and
+poor, and could encounter all things for love and duty's sake, was not
+about the best man for a parish priest, even though he did have
+choristers in white surplices, and lilies on the Easter altar? Whether
+it might not be a comfort to know that in the pretty parsonage at
+Skelmersdale there was some one ready to start at a moment's notice for
+the help of a friend or the succour of a soul--brother to Charley who
+won the Cross for valour, and not unworthy of the race? Some strange
+moisture came into the corners of Miss Leonora's eyes. There was Gerald
+too, whom the Perpetual Curate had declared to be the best man he ever
+knew; and the Evangelical woman, with all her prejudices, could not in
+her heart deny it. Various other thoughts of a similar description, but
+too shadowy to bear expression, came in spite of herself through Miss
+Leonora's mind. "We know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be
+a worshipper of God and doeth His will, him He heareth;" and it occurred
+to her vaguely, for the first time, that she was harder to please than
+her Master. Not that such an idea could get possession of a mind so well
+fortified, at the first assault; but it was strange how often the
+thought came back to her that the man who had thrilled through all those
+people about Prickett's Lane a kind of vague sense that they were
+Christians, and not hopeless wretches, forgotten of God; and who had
+taken in the mysterious lodger at Mrs Hadwin's, bearing the penalty of
+suspicion without complaint, would be true at his post wherever he might
+be, and was a priest of God's appointing. Such were the strangely novel
+ideas which went flashing through Miss Leonora's mind as she went home
+to dinner, ejecting summarily the new gin-palaces and her favourite
+colporteur. If anybody had stated them in words, she would have
+indignantly scouted such latitudinarian stuff; but they kept flickering
+in the strangest fluctuations, coming and going, bringing in native
+Wentworth prejudices and natural affections to overcome all other
+prepossessions, in the most inveterate, unexplainable way. For it will
+be apparent that Miss Leonora, being a woman of sense, utterly scorned
+the Rosa Elsworthy hypothesis, and comprehended as nearly how it
+happened as it was possible for any one unaware of the facts to do.
+
+Such were the good and bad angels who fought over the Curate's fate
+while he was away. He might have been anxious if he had known anything
+about them, or had been capable of imagining any such clouds as those
+which overshadowed his good name in the lively imagination of
+Carlingford. But Rosa Elsworthy never could have occurred to the
+unconscious young man as a special danger, any more than the relenting
+in the heart of his aunt Leonora could have dawned upon him as a
+possible happiness. To tell the truth, he had left home, so far as he
+himself was concerned, in rather a happy state of mind than otherwise,
+with healthful impulses of opposition to the Rector, and confidence in
+the sympathy of Lucy. To hear that Lucy had given him up, and that
+Miss Leonora and Mrs Morgan were the only people who believed in him,
+would have gone pretty far at this moment to make an end of the
+Perpetual Curate. But fortunately he knew nothing about it; and while
+Lucy held her head high with pain, and walked over the burning coals a
+conscious martyr, and Miss Dora sobbed herself asleep in her darkened
+room, all on his account, there was plenty of trouble, perplexity, and
+distress in Wentworth Rectory to occupy to the full all the thoughts
+and powers of the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+It was mid-day, and more than twelve hours after he had left Carlingford,
+before Mr Wentworth reached the Rectory. He had snatched a few hours'
+sleep in London, where he was obliged to pause because of the trains,
+which did not correspond; and accordingly, though he was very anxious
+about Gerald, it was with a mien and gait very much like his usual
+appearance that he jumped out of the railway carriage at the little
+station which was on his father's property, and where everybody knew the
+Squire's son. Left in entire uncertainty as he was in respect to the
+trouble which had overtaken his brother, it was a little comfort to the
+Curate to find that everybody looked surprised to see him, and that
+nobody seemed to know of any cause demanding his presence. All was well
+at the Hall, so far as the station-master knew; and as for the Rector,
+he had no special place in the local report which the handiest porter
+supplied "Mr Frank"--a blessed neglect, which was very consolatory to
+the heart of the anxious brother, to whom it became evident that nothing
+had happened, and who began to hope that Gerald's wife, who never was
+very wise, had been seized with some merely fantastic terror. With this
+hope he walked on briskly upon the familiar road to his brother's house,
+recovering his courage, and falling back upon his own thoughts, and at
+last taking pleasure in the idea of telling all his troubles to Gerald,
+and getting strength and enlightenment from his advice. He had come
+quite into this view of the subject when he arrived at the Rectory, and
+saw the pretty old-fashioned house, with its high ivied garden-walls,
+and the famous cedar on the lawn, standing all secure and sweet in the
+early sunshine, like something too steadfast to be moved, as if sorrow
+or conflict could never enter there. Unconsciously to himself, the
+perfect tranquillity of everything altered the entire scope of Frank
+Wentworth's thoughts. He was no longer in anxiety about his brother. He
+was going to ask Gerald's advice upon his own troubles, and lay the
+difficulties and dangers of his position before the clear and lucid eyes
+of the best man he ever knew.
+
+It shook him a little out of his position, however, to find himself
+admitted with a kind of scared expectation by Mrs Gerald Wentworth's
+maid, who made no exclamation of wonder at the sight of him, but
+opened the door in a troubled, stealthy way, strangely unlike the
+usual customs of the place. "Is my brother at home?" said the Curate,
+going in with a step that rang on the hall, and a voice that sounded
+into the house. He would have proceeded straight, as usual, to
+Gerald's study after this question, which was one of form merely, but
+for the disturbed looks of the woman, who put up her hand imploringly.
+"Oh hush! Mr Frank; hush! My mistress wants to see you first. She
+said I was to show you into her sitting-room," said the maid, half
+in a whisper, and led him hastily down a side-passage to a little
+out-of-the-way room, which he knew was where Louisa was wont to retire
+when she had her headaches, as was well known to all the house of
+Wentworth. The Curate went in with some impatience and some alarm to
+this retired apartment. His eyes, dazzled by the sunshine, could not
+penetrate at first the shadowy greenness of the room, which, what with
+the trees without and the Venetian blind within, was lost in a kind of
+twilight, grateful enough after a while, but bewildering at the first
+moment. Out of this darkness somebody rose as he entered, and walked
+into his arms with trembling eagerness. "Oh Frank, I am so thankful
+you are come! now perhaps something may be done; for _you_ always
+understood," said his little sister-in-law, reaching up to kiss him.
+She was a tiny little woman, with soft eyes and a tender little
+blooming face, which he had never before seen obscured by any cloud,
+or indeed moved by any particular sentiment. Now the firmament was all
+overcast, and Louisa, it was evident, had been sitting in the shade of
+her drawn blinds, having a quiet cry, and going into all her grievances.
+To see such a serene creature all clouded over and full of tears, gave
+the Curate a distinct shock of alarm and anxiety. He led her back to her
+sofa, seeing clearer and clearer, as he watched her face, the plaintive
+lines of complaint, the heavy burden of trouble which she was about to
+cast on his shoulders. He grew more and more afraid as he looked at her.
+"Is Gerald ill?" he said, with a thrill of terror; but even this could
+scarcely account for the woeful look of all the accessories to the
+picture.
+
+"Oh, Frank, I am so glad you are come!" said Louisa through her tears.
+"I felt sure you would come when you got my letter. Your father thinks
+I make a fuss about nothing, and Cuthbert and Guy do nothing but laugh
+at me, as if they could possibly know; but you always understand me,
+Frank. I knew it was just as good as sending for a brother of my own;
+indeed better," said Mrs Wentworth, wiping her eyes; "for though
+Gerald is using me so badly, I would not expose him out of his own
+family, or have people making remarks--oh, not for the world!"
+
+"Expose him!" said the Curate, with unutterable astonishment. "You
+don't mean to say you have any complaint to make about Gerald?" The
+idea was so preposterous that Frank Wentworth laughed; but it was not
+a laugh pleasant to hear.
+
+"Oh, Frank, if you but knew all," said Louisa; "what I have had to put
+up with for months--all my best feelings outraged, and so many things
+to endure that were dreadful to think of. And I that was always
+brought up so differently; but now," cried the poor little woman,
+bursting into renewed tears, "it's come to such a pass that it can't
+be concealed any longer. I think it will break my heart; people will
+be sure to say I have been to blame; and how I am ever to hold up my
+head in society, and what is to be my name, and whether I am to be
+considered a widow--"
+
+"A widow!" cried the Perpetual Curate, in utter consternation.
+
+"Or worse," sobbed Gerald's poor little wife: "it feels like being
+divorced--as if one had done something wrong; and I am sure I never
+did anything to deserve it; but when your husband is a Romish priest,"
+cried the afflicted woman, pressing her handkerchief to her eyes, "I
+would just ask anybody what are you? You can't be his wife, because he
+is not allowed to have any wife; and you can't go back to your maiden
+name, because of the children; and how can you have any place in
+society? Oh, Frank, I think I shall go distracted," said poor Louisa;
+"it will feel as if one had done something wicked, and been put out of
+the pale. How can I be called Mrs Wentworth any more when my husband
+has left me? and even if he is a priest, and can't have any wife,
+still he will be alive, and I shall not have the satisfaction of being
+a widow even. I am sure I don't know what I say," she concluded, with
+a fresh outburst; "for to be a widow would be a poor satisfaction, and
+I don't know how I could ever, ever live without Gerald; but to feel
+as if you were an improper person, and all the children's prospects in
+life!--Oh, Frank!" cried the weeping Louisa, burying her face in her
+handkerchief, "I think I shall go distracted, and my heart will
+break."
+
+To all this strange and unexpected revelation the startled Curate
+listened like a man in a dream. Possibly his sister-in-law's
+representation of this danger, as seen entirely from her own point of
+view, had a more alarming effect upon him that any other statement of
+the case. He could have gone into Gerald's difficulties with so much
+sympathy and fellow-feeling that the shock would have been trifling in
+comparison; and between Rome and the highest level of Anglicanism
+there was no such difference as to frighten the accustomed mind of the
+Curate of St Roque's. But, seen from Louisa's side, matters appeared
+very different: here the foundations of the earth were shaking, and
+life itself going to pieces; even the absurdity of her distress made
+the whole business more real; and the poor little woman, whose trouble
+was that she herself would neither be a wife nor a widow, had enough
+of truth on her side to unfold a miserable picture to the eyes of the
+anxious spectator. He did not know what answer to make her; and
+perhaps it was a greater consolation to poor Louisa to be permitted to
+run on--
+
+"And you know it never needed to have come to this if Gerald had been
+like other people," she said, drying her tears, and with a tone of
+remonstrance. "Of course it is a family living, and it is not likely
+his own father would have made any disturbance; and there is no other
+family in the parish but the Skipwiths, and they are great friends,
+and never would have said a word. He might have preached in six
+surplices if he had liked," cried poor Louisa--"who would have minded?
+And as for confession, and all that, I don't believe there is anybody
+in the world who had done any wrong that could have helped confessing
+to Gerald; he is so good--oh, Frank, you know he is so good!" said the
+exasperated little wife, overcome with fondness and admiration and
+impatience, "and there is nobody in the parish that I ever heard of
+that does not worship him; but when I tell him so, he never pays the
+least attention. And then Edward Plumstead and he go on talking about
+subscription, and signing articles, and nonsense, till they make my
+head swim. Nobody, I am sure, wants Gerald to subscribe or sign
+articles. I am sure I would subscribe any amount," cried the poor
+little woman, once more falling into tears--"a thousand pounds if I
+had it, Frank--only to make him hear reason; for why should he leave
+Wentworth, where he can do what he likes, and nobody will interfere
+with him? The Bishop is an old friend of my father's, and I am sure
+he never would say anything; and as for candles and crosses
+and--anything he pleases, Frank--"
+
+Here poor Louisa paused, and put her hand on his arm, and looked up
+wistfully into his face. She wanted to convince herself that she was
+right, and that the faltering dread she had behind all this, of
+something more mysterious than candles or crosses--something which she
+did not attempt to understand--was no real spectre after all. "Oh,
+Frank, I am sure I never would oppose him, nor your father, nor
+anybody; and why should he go and take some dreadful step, and upset
+everything?" said Mrs Wentworth. "Oh, Frank! we will not even have
+enough to live upon; and as for me, if Gerald leaves me, how shall I
+ever hold up my head again, or how will anybody know how to behave to
+me? I can't call myself Miss Leighton again, after being married so
+long; and if I am not his wife, what shall I be?" Her crying became
+hysterical as she came back to this point; and Mr Wentworth sat by her
+trying to soothe her, as wretched as herself.
+
+"But I must see Gerald, Louisa," said the Curate; "he has never
+written to me about this. Perhaps things have not gone so far as you
+think; but as for the crosses and the candles, you know, and not being
+interfered with--"
+
+"I would promise to do anything he likes," cried the weeping woman. "I
+never would worry him any more about anything. After aunt Leonora was
+here, perhaps I said things I should not have said; but, oh Frank,
+whatever he likes to do I am sure I will give in to it. I don't
+_really_ mind seeing him preach in his surplice, only you know poor
+papa was so _very_ Low-Church; and as for the candles, what are they
+to pleasing one's husband? Oh, Frank, if you would only tell him--I
+can't argue about things like a man--tell him nobody will ever
+interfere, and he shall do whatever he pleases. I trust to you to say
+_everything_," said the poor wife. "You can reason with him and
+explain things. Nobody understands Gerald like you. You will not
+forsake me in my trouble, Frank? I thought immediately of you. I knew
+you could help us, if anybody could. You will tell him all I have
+said," she continued, rising as Mr Wentworth rose, and going after him
+to the door, to impress once more upon him the necessities of the
+case. "Oh, Frank, remember how much depends upon it!--everything in
+the world for me, and all the children's prospects in life; and he
+would be miserable himself if he were to leave us. You know he would?"
+said Louisa, looking anxiously into his face, and putting her hand on
+his arm. "Oh, Frank, you don't think Gerald could be happy without the
+children--and me?"
+
+The terrible thought silenced her. She stopped crying, and a kind of
+tearless horror and dread came over her face. She was not very wise,
+but her heart was tender and full of love in its way. What if perhaps
+this life, which had gone so smoothly over her unthinking head without
+any complications, should turn out to be a lie, and her happiness a
+mere delusion? She could not have put her thoughts into words, but the
+doubt suddenly came over her, putting a stop to all her lamentations.
+If perhaps Gerald _could_ be happy without the children and herself,
+what dreadful fiction had all her joy been built upon! Such an
+inarticulate terror seemed to stop the very beating of her heart. It
+was not a great calamity only but an overthrowal of all confidence in
+life; and she shivered before it like a dumb creature piteously
+beholding an approaching agony which it could not comprehend. The
+utterance of her distress was arrested upon her lips,--she looked up
+to her brother with an entreating look, so suddenly intensified and
+grown desperate that he was startled by it. It alarmed him so much
+that he turned again to lead her back to her sofa, wondering what
+momentary passion it could be which had woke such a sudden world of
+confused meaning in Louisa's eyes.
+
+"You may be sure he could not," said the Curate, warmly. "Not happy,
+certainly; but to men like Gerald there are things in the world
+dearer than happiness," he said, after a little pause, with a sigh,
+wondering to himself whether, if Lucy Wodehouse were his, his dearest
+duty could make him consent to part with her. "If he thinks of such a
+step, he must think of it as of martyrdom--is that a comfort to you?"
+he continued, bending, in his pity and wonder, over the trembling
+wife, who burst forth into fresh tears as he spoke, and forgot her
+momentary horror.
+
+"Oh, Frank, go and speak to him, and tell him how miserable I am, and
+what a dreadful thing it would be; tell him everything, Frank. Oh, don't
+leave him till you have persuaded him. Go, go; never mind me," cried Mrs
+Wentworth; and then she went to the door after him once more--"Don't say
+I sent for you. He--he might not be pleased," she said, in her
+faltering, eager voice; "and oh, Frank, consider how much hangs upon
+what you say." When he left her, Louisa stood at the door watching him
+as he went along the passage towards her husband's room. It was a
+forlorn-hope; but still the unreasoning, uncomprehending heart took a
+little comfort from it. She watched his figure disappearing along the
+narrow passage with a thrill of mingled anxiety and hope; arguing with
+Gerald, though it was so ineffectual when she tried it, might still be
+of some avail in stronger hands. His brother understood him, and could
+talk to him better than anybody else could; and though she had never
+convinced anybody of anything all her life, Mrs Wentworth had an
+inalienable confidence in the effect of "being talked to." In the
+momentary stimulus she went back to her darkened room and drew up the
+blind, and went to work in a tremulous way; but as the slow time went
+on, and Frank did not return, poor Louisa's courage failed her; her
+fingers refused their office, and she began to imagine all sorts of
+things that might be going on in Gerald's study. Perhaps the argument
+might be going the wrong way; perhaps Gerald might be angry at his
+brother's interference; perhaps they might come to words--they who had
+been such good friends--and it would be her fault. She jumped up with
+her heart beating loud when she heard a door opened somewhere; but when
+nobody came, grew sick and faint, and hid her face, in the impatience of
+her misery. Then the feeling grew upon her that those precious moments
+were decisive, and that she must make one last appeal, or her heart
+would burst. She tried to resist the impulse in a feeble way, but it was
+not her custom to resist impulses, and it got the better of her; and
+this was why poor Louisa rushed into the library, just as Frank thought
+he had made a little advance in his pleading, and scattered his
+eloquence to the winds with a set of dreadful arguments which were all
+her own.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+The Curate of St Roque's found his brother in his library, looking
+very much as he always looked at first glance. But Gerald was not
+reading nor writing nor doing anything. He was seated in his usual
+chair, by his usual table, with all the ordinary things around. Some
+manuscript--lying loosely about, and looking as if he had thrown down
+his pen in disgust, and pushed it away from him in the middle of a
+sentence--was on the table, and an open book in his other hand; but
+neither the book nor the manuscript occupied him; he was sitting
+leaning his head in his hands, gazing blankly out through the window,
+as it appeared, at the cedar, which flung its serene shadow over the
+lawn outside. He jumped up at the sound of his brother's voice, but
+seemed to recall himself with a little difficulty even for that, and
+did not look much surprised to see him. In short, Frank read in
+Gerald's eyes that he would not at that moment have been surprised to
+see any one, and that, in his own consciousness, the emergency was
+great enough to justify any unlooked-for appearance, though it might
+be from heaven or from the grave.
+
+"I am glad you have come," he said, after they had greeted each other,
+his mouth relaxing ever so slightly into the ghost of his old smile;
+"you and I always understood each other, and it appears I want
+interpretation now. And one interpretation supposes many," he said
+with a gleam, half of pathos half of amusement, lighting up his face
+for a moment; "there is no such thing as accepting a simple version
+even of one man's thoughts. You have come at a very fit time,
+Frank--that is, for me."
+
+"I am glad you think so," said the other brother; and then there was a
+pause, neither liking to enter upon the grand subject which stood
+between them.
+
+"Have you seen Louisa?" said Gerald. He spoke like a man who was ill,
+in a preoccupied interrupted way. Like a sick man, he was occupied
+with himself, with the train of thought which was always going on in
+his mind whatever he might be doing, whether he was working or
+resting, alone or in company. For months back he had carried it with
+him everywhere. The cedar-tree outside, upon which his thoughtful eyes
+fell as he looked straight before him out of the library window, was
+all garlanded with the reasonings and questionings of this painful
+spring. To Frank's eyes, Gerald's attention was fixed upon the
+fluttering of a certain twig at the extremity of one of those broad
+solemn immovable branches. Gerald, however, saw not the twig, but one
+of his hardest difficulties which was twined and twined in the most
+inextricable way round that little sombre cluster of spikes; and so
+kept looking out, not at the cedar, but at the whole confused yet
+distinct array of his own troubled thoughts.
+
+"If you have seen Louisa, she has been talking to you, no doubt," he
+said, after another little pause, with again the glimmer of a smile. "We
+have fallen upon troubles, and we don't understand each other, Frank.
+That's all very natural; she does not see things from my point of view:
+I could not expect she should. If I could see from hers, it might be
+easier for us all; but that is still less to be expected; and it is hard
+upon her, Frank--very hard," said Gerald, turning round in his old
+ingenuous way, with that faculty for seeing other people's difficulties
+which was so strong a point in his character. "She is called upon to
+make, after all, perhaps, the greater sacrifice of the two; and she does
+not see any duty in it--the reverse, indeed. She thinks it a sin. It is
+a strange view of life, to look at it from Louisa's point. Here will be
+an unwilling, unintentional martyrdom; and it is hard to think I should
+take all the merit, and leave my poor little wife the suffering without
+any compensation!" He began to walk up and down the room with uneasy
+steps, as if the thought was painful, and had to be got rid of by some
+sudden movement. "It must be that God reckons with women for what they
+have endured, as with men for what they have done," said Gerald. He
+spoke with a kind of grieved certainty, which made his brother feel, to
+start with, the hopelessness of all argument.
+
+"But must this be? Is it necessary to take such a final, such a
+terrible step?" said the Perpetual Curate.
+
+"I think so." Gerald went to the window, to resume his contemplation
+of the cedar, and stood there with his back turned to Frank, and his
+eyes going slowly over all the long processes of his self-argument,
+laid up as they were upon those solemn levels of shadow. "Yes--you
+have gone so far with me; but I don't want to take you any farther,
+Frank. Perhaps, when I have reached the perfect peace to which I am
+looking forward, I may try to induce you to share it, but at present
+there are so many pricks of the flesh. You did not come to argue with
+me, did you?" and again the half-humorous gleam of old came over
+Gerald's face as he looked round. "Louisa believes in arguing," he
+said, as he came back to the table and took his seat again; "not that
+she has ever gained much by it, so far as I am aware. Poor girl! she
+talks and talks, and fancies she is persuading me; and all the time my
+heart is bleeding for her. There it is!" he exclaimed, suddenly hiding
+his face in his hands. "This is what crushes one to think of. The rest
+is hard enough, Heaven knows--separation from my friends, giving up my
+own people, wounding and grieving, as I know I shall, everybody who
+loves me. I could bear that; but Louisa and her children--God help me,
+there's the sting!"
+
+They were both men, and strong men, not likely to fall into any
+sentimental weakness; but something between a groan and a sob, wrung
+out of the heart of the elder brother at the thought of the terrible
+sacrifice before him, echoed with a hard sound of anguish into the
+quiet. It was very different from his wife's trembling, weeping,
+hoping agony; but it reduced the Curate more than ever to that
+position of spectator which he felt was so very far from the active
+part which his poor sister expected of him.
+
+"I don't know by what steps you have reached this conclusion," said
+Frank Wentworth; "but even if you feel it your duty to give up the
+Anglican Church (in which, of course, I think you totally wrong,"
+added the High Churchman in a parenthesis), "I cannot see why you are
+bound to abandon all duties whatever. I have not come to argue with
+you; I daresay poor Louisa may expect it of me, but I can't, and you
+know very well I can't. I should like to know how it has come about
+all the same; but one thing only, Gerald--a man may be a Christian
+without being a priest. Louisa--"
+
+"Hush, I am a priest, or nothing. I can't relinquish my life!" cried the
+elder brother, lifting his hands suddenly, as if to thrust away
+something which threatened him. Then he rose up again and went towards
+the window and his cedar, which stood dark in the sunshine, slightly
+fluttered at its extremities by the light summer-wind, but throwing
+glorious level lines of shadow, which the wind could not disturb, upon
+the grass. The limes near, and that one delicate feathery birch which
+was Mrs Wentworth's pride, had all some interest of their own on hand,
+and went on waving, rustling, coquetting with the breezes and the
+sunshine in a way which precluded any arbitrary line of shade. But the
+cedar stood immovable, like a verdant monument, sweeping its long level
+branches over the lawn, passive under the light, and indifferent, except
+at its very tops and edges, to the breeze. If there had been any human
+sentiment in that spectator of the ways of man, how it must have groaned
+and trembled under the pitiless weight of thoughts, the sad lines of
+discussion and argument and doubt, which were entangled in its branches!
+Gerald Wentworth went to his window to refer to it, as if it were a book
+in which all his contests had been recorded. The thrill of the air in it
+tingled through him as he stood looking out; and there, without looking
+at Frank, except now and then for a moment when he got excited with his
+subject, he went into the history of his struggle--a history not
+unprecedented or unparalleled, such as has been told to the world before
+now by men who have gone through it, in various shapes, with various
+amounts of sophistry and simplicity. But it is a different thing reading
+of such a conflict in a book, and hearing it from lips pallid with the
+meaning of the words they uttered, and a heart which was about to prove
+its sincerity by voluntary pangs more hard than death. Frank Wentworth
+listened to his brother with a great deal of agreement in what he said,
+and again with an acute perception of mistakes on Gerald's part, and
+vehement impulses of contradiction, to which, at the same time, it was
+impossible to give utterance; for there was something very solemn in the
+account he was giving of himself, as he stood with his face half turned
+to the anxious listener, leaning on the window, looking into the cedar.
+Gerald did not leave any room for argument or remonstrance; he told his
+brother how he had been led from one step to another, without any
+lingering touch of possibility in the narrative that he might be
+induced to retrace again that painful way. It was a path, once trod,
+never to be returned upon; and already he stood steadfast at the end,
+looking back mournfully, yet with a strange composure. It would be
+impossible to describe the mixture of love, admiration, impatience--even
+intolerance--which swelled through the mind of the spectator as he
+looked on at this wonderful sight, nor how hard he found it to restrain
+the interruptions which rushed to his lips, the eager arguments which
+came upon him in a flood, all his own favourite fences against the
+overflow of the tide which ran in lawful bounds in his own mind, but
+which had inundated his brother's. But though it was next to impossible
+to keep silence, it was altogether impossible to break in upon Gerald's
+history of this great battle through which he had just come. He _had_
+come through it, it was plain; the warfare was accomplished, the weapons
+hung up, the conflict over; and nothing could be more apparent than that
+he had no intention of entering the battle-field again. When he had
+ended, there was another pause.
+
+"I am not going to argue with you," said Frank Wentworth; "I don't even
+need to tell you that I am grieved to the heart. It isn't so very many
+years ago," said the younger brother, almost too much touched by the
+recollection to preserve his composure, "since I took all my opinions
+from you; and since the time came for independent action, I too have
+gone over all this ground. My conclusions have been very different from
+yours, Gerald. I see you are convinced, and I can say nothing; but they
+do not convince me--you do not convince me, nor the sight of your faith,
+though that is the most touching of all arguments. Will you go back and
+go over it again?" said the Curate, spurred, by a thought of poor
+Louisa, to contradict himself, while the words were still on his lips.
+
+"No," said Gerald; "it would be of no use, Frank. We should only grieve
+each other more."
+
+"Then I give up that subject," said the younger brother: "but there
+is one matter which I must go back to. You may go to Rome, and cease
+to be a priest of the Anglican Church, but you cannot cease to be a
+man, to bear the weight of your natural duties. Don't turn away, but
+hear me. Gerald, Louisa--"
+
+"Don't say any more. Do you imagine I have not thought of that?" said
+Gerald, once more, with a gesture of pain, and something like terror;
+"I have put my hand to the plough and I cannot go back. If I am not a
+priest, I am nothing." But when he came to that point, his cedar-tree
+no longer gave him any assistance; he came back to his chair, and
+covered his face with his hands.
+
+"Louisa is your wife; you are not like a man free from the bonds of
+nature," said the Curate of St Roque's. "It is not for me to speak of
+the love between you; but I hold it, as the Scripture says, for a holy
+mystery, like the love of Christ for his Church--the most sacred of
+all bonds," said the young man, with a certain touch of awe and
+emotion, as became a young man and a true lover. He made a little
+pause to regain command of himself before he continued, "And she is
+dependent on you--outwardly, for all the comfort of her life--and in
+her heart, for everything, Gerald. I do not comprehend what that duty
+is which could make you leave her, all helpless and tender, as you
+know her to be, upon the mercies of the world. She herself says"--and
+poor Louisa's complaint grew into pathos under the subliming force of
+her advocate's sympathy--"that she would be like a widow, and worse
+than a widow. I am not the man to bid you suppress your convictions
+because they will be your ruin, in the common sense of the word; but,
+Gerald--your wife--"
+
+Gerald had bent his head down upon his clasped hands; sometimes a
+great heave of his frame showed the last struggle that was going on
+within him--a struggle more painful, more profound, than anything that
+had gone before. And the voice of the Curate, who, like his brother,
+was nothing if not a priest, was choked, and painful with the force
+of his emotion. He drew his breath hard between his words: it was not
+an argument, but an admonition; an appeal, not from a brother only,
+but from one who spoke with authority, as feeling himself accredited
+from God. He drew closer towards the voluntary martyr beside him, the
+humbleness of his reverential love for his elder brother mingling in
+that voice of the priest, which was natural to him, and which he did
+not scruple to adopt. "Gerald,--your wife," he said, in softened but
+firm tones, laying his hand on his brother's arm. And it was at this
+moment, when in his heart he felt that his influence might be of some
+avail, and when all the powers of his mind were gathering to bear upon
+this last experiment, that the door opened suddenly, and poor Louisa,
+all flushed and tearful, in womanish hot impatience and misery that
+knew no prudence, burst, without any warning, into the room.
+
+"I can't bear it any longer," cried the poor wife. "I knew you were
+talking it all over, and deciding what it was to be; and when one's
+life is hanging on a chance, how can one keep quiet and not interfere?
+Oh, Gerald, Gerald! I have been a true wife to you. I know I am not
+clever; but I would have died to do you any good. You are not going to
+forsake me!" cried poor Louisa, going up to him and putting her arms
+round him. "I said Frank was to tell you everything, but a man can
+never tell what is in a woman's heart. Oh, Gerald, why should you go
+and kill me! I will never oppose you any more; whatever you want, I
+will give in to it as freely as if it were my own way. I will make
+_that_ my own way, Gerald, if you will only listen to me. Whatever
+changes you please, oh Gerald, I will never say a word, nor your
+father, nor any one! If the Bishop should interfere, we would all
+stand up for you. There is not a soul in Wentworth to oppose--you know
+there is not. Put anything you please in the church--preach how you
+please--light the candles or anything. Gerald, you know it is true I
+am saying--I am not trying to deceive you!" cried the poor soul,
+bewildered in her folly and her grief.
+
+"No, Louisa, no--only you don't understand," said her husband, with a
+groan: he had raised his head, and was looking at her with a hopeless
+gleam of impatience in the pity and anguish of his eyes. He took her
+little hand and held it between his own, which were trembling with all
+this strain--her little tender helpless woman's hand, formed only for
+soft occupations and softer caresses; it was not a hand which could
+help a man in such an emergency; it was without any grasp in it to
+take hold upon him, or force of love to part--a clinging impotent
+hand, such as holds down, but cannot raise up. He held it in a close
+tremulous pressure, as she stood looking down upon him, questioning
+him with eager hopeful eyes, and taking comfort in her ignorance from
+his silence, and the way in which he held her. Poor Louisa concluded
+she was yet to win the day.
+
+"I will turn Puseyite too," she said with a strange little touch of
+attempted laughter. "I don't want to have any opinions different from
+my husband's; and you don't think your father is likely to do anything
+to drive you out of the church? You have only given us a terrible
+fright, dear," she continued, beginning to tremble again, as he shook
+his head and turned away from her. "You did not really mean such a
+dreadful thing as sending _me_ away. You could not do without me,
+Gerald--you know you could not." Her breath was getting short, her
+heart quickening in its throbs--the smile that was quivering on her
+face got no response from her husband's downcast eyes. And then poor
+Louisa lost all her courage; she threw herself down at his feet,
+kneeling to him. "Oh, Gerald, it is not because you want to get rid of
+me? You are not doing it for that? If you don't stay in the Rectory,
+we shall be ruined--we shall not have enough to eat! and the Rectory
+will go to Frank, and your children will be cast upon the world--and
+what, oh what is it for, unless it is to get rid of me?" cried Mrs
+Wentworth. "You could have as much freedom as you like here at your
+own living--nobody would ever interfere or say what are you doing?
+and the Bishop is papa's old friend. Oh, Gerald, be wise in time, and
+don't throw away all our happiness for a fancy. If it was anything
+that could not be arranged, I would not mind so much; but if we all
+promise to give in to you, and that you shall do what you please, and
+nobody will interfere, how can you have the heart to make us all so
+wretched? We will not even be respectable," said the weeping woman; "a
+family without any father, and a wife without her husband--and he
+living all the time! Oh, Gerald, though I think I surely might be
+considered as much as candles, have the altar covered with lights if
+you wish it; and if you never took off your surplice any more, I would
+never say a word. You can do all that and stay in the Rectory. You
+have not the heart--surely--surely you have not the heart--all for an
+idea of your own, to bring this terrible distress upon the children
+and me?"
+
+"God help us all!" said Gerald, with a sigh of despair, as he lifted
+her up sobbing in a hysterical fit, and laid her on the sofa. He had
+to stand by her side for a long time holding her hand, and soothing
+her, with deeper and deeper shadows growing over his face. As for
+Frank, after pacing the room in great agitation for some time, after
+trying to interpose, and failing, he went away in a fever of
+impatience and distress into the garden, wondering whether he could
+ever find means to take up the broken thread, and urge again upon his
+brother the argument which, but for this fatal interruption, he
+thought might have moved him. But gathering thoughts came thick upon
+the Perpetual Curate. He did not go back to make another attempt, even
+when he knew by the sounds through the open windows that Louisa had
+been led to her own room up-stairs. He stood outside and looked at the
+troubled house, which seemed to stand so serene and secure in the
+sunshine. Who could have supposed that it was torn asunder in such a
+hopeless fashion? And Louisa's suggestion came into his mind, and
+drove him wild with a sense of horror and involuntary guilt, as
+though he had been conspiring against them. "The Rectory will go to
+Frank." Was it his fault that at that moment a vision of Lucy
+Wodehouse, sweet and strong and steadfast--a delicate, firm figure, on
+which a man could lean in his trouble--suddenly rose up before the
+Curate's eyes? Fair as the vision was, he would have banished it if he
+could, and hated himself for being capable of conjuring it up at such
+a time. Was it for him to profit by the great calamity which would
+make his brother's house desolate? He could not endure the thought,
+nor himself for finding it possible; and he was ashamed to look in
+Gerald's face with even the shadow of such an imagination on his own.
+He tapped at the library window after a while, and told his brother
+that he was going up to the Hall. Louisa had gone up-stairs, and her
+husband sat once more, vacant yet occupied, by his writing-table. "I
+will follow you presently," said Gerald. "Speak to my father without
+any hesitation, Frank; it is better to have it over while we are all
+together--for it must be concluded now." And the Curate saw in the
+shadow of the dim apartment that his brother lifted from the table the
+grand emblem of all anguish and victory, and pressed upon it his pale
+lips. The young man turned away with the shadow of that cross standing
+black between him and the sunshine. His heart ached at the sight of
+the symbol most sacred and most dear in the world. In an agony of
+grief and impatience, he went away sadly through the familiar road to
+his father's house. Here had he to stand by and see this sacrifice
+accomplished. This was all that had come of his mission of consolation
+and help.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The Curate of St Roque's went sadly along the road he knew so well
+from Wentworth Rectory to the Hall. There was scarcely a tree nor the
+turning of a hedgerow which had not its own individual memories to the
+son of the soil. Here he had come to meet Gerald returning from
+Eton--coming back from the university in later days. Here he had
+rushed down to the old Rector, his childless uncle, with the copy of
+the prize-list when his brother took his first-class. Gerald, and the
+family pride in him, was interwoven with the very path, and now--The
+young man pressed on to the Hall with a certain bitter moisture
+stealing to the corner of his eye. He felt indignant and aggrieved in
+his love, not at Gerald, but at the causes which were conspiring to
+detach him from his natural sphere and duties. When he recollected how
+he had himself dallied with the same thoughts, he grew angry with his
+brother's nobleness and purity, which never could see less than its
+highest ideal soul in anything, and with a certain fierce fit of
+truth, glanced back at his own Easter lilies and choristers, feeling
+involuntarily that he would like to tear off the flowers and surplices
+and tread them under his feet. Why was it that he, an inferior man,
+should be able to confine himself to the mere accessories which
+pleased his fancy, and could judge and reject the dangerous principles
+beneath; while Gerald, the loftier, purer intelligence, should get so
+hopelessly lost in mazes of sophistry and false argument, to the peril
+of his work, his life, and all that he could ever know of happiness?
+Such were the thoughts that passed through the mind of the Perpetual
+Curate as he went rapidly through the winding country-road going
+"home." Perhaps he was wrong in thinking that Gerald was thus superior
+to himself; but the error was a generous one, and the Curate held it
+in simplicity and with all his heart.
+
+Before he reached the house he saw his father walking under the
+lime-trees, which formed a kind of lateral aisle to the great avenue,
+which was one of the boasts of the Wentworths. The Squire was like most
+squires of no particular character; a hale, ruddy, clear-complexioned,
+well-preserved man, looking his full age, but retaining all the vigour
+of his youth. He was not a man of any intellect to speak of, nor did he
+pretend to it; but he had that glimmering of sense which keeps many a
+stupid man straight, and a certain amount of natural sensibility and
+consideration for other people's feelings which made persons who knew no
+better give Mr Wentworth credit for tact, a quality unknown to him. He
+was walking slowly in a perplexed manner under the lime-trees. They were
+all in glorious blossom, filling the air with that mingling sense of
+fragrance and music which is the soul of the murmurous tree: but the
+short figure of the Squire, in his morning-coat, with his perplexed
+looks, was not at all an accessory in keeping with the scene. He was
+taking his walk in a subdued way, pondering something--and it puzzled
+him sorely in his straightforward, unprofound understanding. He shook
+his head sometimes as he went along, sad and perplexed and
+unsatisfactory, among his limes. He had got a note from Gerald that
+morning; and how his son could intend to give up living and station, and
+wife and children, for anything in heaven or earth, was more than the
+Squire could understand. He started very much when he heard Frank's
+voice calling to him. Frank, indeed, was said to be, if any one was, the
+Squire's weakness in the family; he was as clever as Gerald, and he had
+the practical sense which Mr Wentworth prized as knowing himself to
+possess it. If he could have wished for any one in the present
+emergency, it would have been Frank--and he turned round overjoyed.
+
+"Frank, my boy, you're heartily welcome home!" he said, holding out
+his hand to him as became a British parent--"always welcome, but
+particularly just now. Where did you come from? how did you come? have
+you eaten anything this morning? it's close upon lunch, and we'll go
+in directly; but, my dear boy, wait here a moment, if you're not
+particularly hungry; I can't tell you how glad I am you're come. I'd
+rather see you than a hundred pound!"
+
+When Frank had thanked him, and returned his greetings, and answered
+his questions (which the Squire had forgotten), and made his own
+inquiries, to which Mr Wentworth replied only by a hasty nod, and an
+"Oh yes, thank you, all well--all well," the two came to a momentary
+pause: they had nothing particular to add about their happiness in
+seeing each other; and as Frank wrote to his sisters pretty regularly,
+there was nothing to tell. They were quite free to plunge at once, as
+is to British relatives under the trying circumstances of a meeting a
+blessed possibility, into the first great subject which happened to be
+at hand.
+
+"Have you heard anything about Gerald?" said Mr Wentworth, abruptly;
+"perhaps you called there on your way from the station? Gerald has got
+into a nice mess. He wrote to tell me about it, and I can't make head
+nor tail of it. Do you think he's a little touched here?" and the
+Squire tapped his own round forehead, with a troubled look: "there's
+no other explanation possible that I can see: a good living, a nice
+house, a wife that just suits him (and it's not everybody that would
+suit Gerald), and a lot of fine children--and he talks to me of giving
+up everything; as if a man could give up everything! It's all very
+well talking of self-renunciation, and so forth; and if it meant
+simply considering other people, and doing anything disagreeable for
+anybody's sake, I don't know a man more likely than my son Gerald.
+Your brother's a fine fellow, Frank--a noble sort of fellow, though
+he has his crotchets," said the father, with a touch of involuntary
+pathos; "but you don't mean to tell me that my son, a man like Gerald
+Wentworth, has a mind to throw away his position, and give up all the
+duties of his life? He can't do it, sir! I tell you it's impossible,
+and I won't believe it." Mr Wentworth drew up his shirt-collar, and
+kicked away a fallen branch with his foot, and looked insulted and
+angry. It was a dereliction of which he would not suppose the
+possibility of a Wentworth being guilty. It did not strike him as a
+conflict between belief and non-belief; but on the question of a man
+abandoning his post, whatever it might be, the head of the house held
+strong views.
+
+"I agree it's impossible; but it looks as if it were true," said the
+Curate. "I don't understand it any more than you do; but I am afraid
+we shall have to address ourselves to the reality all the same. Gerald
+has made up his mind that the Church of Rome is the only true Church,
+and therefore he is in a false position in the Church of England: he
+can't remain a priest of the Anglican communion with such views, any
+more than a man could fight against his country, or in a wrong
+quarrel--"
+
+"But, good heavens, sir!" said the Squire, interrupting him, "is it a
+time to inquire into the quarrel when you're on the ground? Will you
+tell me, sir, that my son Charley should have gone into the question
+between Russia and England when he was before Sebastopol--and
+deserted," said Mr Wentworth, with a snort of infinite scorn, "if he
+found the Czar had right on his side? God bless my soul! that's
+striking at the root of everything. As for the Church of Rome, it's
+Antichrist--why, every child in the village school could tell you
+that; and if Gerald entertains any such absurd ideas, the thing for
+him to do is to read up all that's been written on the subject, and
+get rid of his doubts as soon as possible. The short and the long of
+it is," said the troubled Squire, who found it much the easiest way to
+be angry, "that you ask me to believe that your brother Gerald is a
+fool and a coward; and I won't believe it, Frank, if you should preach
+to me for a year."
+
+"And for my part, I would stake my life on his wisdom and his
+courage," said the Curate, with a little heat; "but that is not the
+question--he believes that truth and honour require him to leave his
+post. There is something more involved which we might yet prevent. I
+have been trying, but Louisa interrupted me--I don't know if you
+realise fully what he intends. Gerald cannot cease to be a priest--he
+will become a Catholic priest when he ceases to be Rector of
+Wentworth--and that implies--"
+
+"God bless my soul!" cried the bewildered Squire--he was silent for a
+long time after he had uttered that benediction. He took out Gerald's
+letter and read it over while the two walked on in silence under the
+lime-trees, and the paper shook in his hands, notwithstanding all his
+steadiness. When he spoke again, it was only after two or three
+efforts to clear his voice. "I can't make out that he says _that_,
+Frank--I don't see that _that's_ what he means," said Mr Wentworth, in
+a fainter tone than usual; and then he continued, with more agitation,
+"Louisa is a dear good soul, you know; but she's a bit of a fool, like
+most women. She always takes the worst view--if she can get a good cry
+out of anything, she will. It's she that's put this fancy into your
+head, eh? You don't say you had it from Gerald himself? You don't mean
+to tell me that? By Jove, sir!--by heaven, sir!" cried the excited
+Squire, blazing up suddenly in a burst of passion, "he can't be any
+son of mine--For any damnable Papistical madness to give up his wife!
+Why, God bless us, he was a man, wasn't he, before he became a priest?
+A priest! He's not a priest--he's a clergyman, and the Rector of
+Wentworth. I can't believe it--I won't believe it!" said the head of
+the house, with vehemence. "Tell me one of my sons is a sneak and a
+traitor!--and if you weren't another of my sons, sir, I'd knock you
+down for your pains." In the excitement of the moment Mr Wentworth
+came full force against a projecting branch which he did not see, as
+he spoke these words; but though the sudden blow half stunned him, he
+did not stop in his vehement contradiction. "It can't be. I tell you
+it can't--it shan't be, Frank!" cried the Squire. He would not pay any
+attention to the Curate's anxieties, or accept the arm Frank offered,
+though he could not deny feeling faint and giddy after the blow. It
+took away all the colour from his ruddy face, and left him pale, with
+a red welt across his forehead, and wonderfully unlike himself.
+"Confound it! I told Miles to look after that tree weeks ago. If he
+thinks I'll stand his carelessness, he's mistaken," said Mr Wentworth,
+by way of relieving himself. He was a man who always eased his mind by
+being angry with somebody when anything happened to put him out.
+
+"My dear father," said the Curate as soon as it was practicable, "I
+want you to listen to me and help me; there's only one thing to be
+done that I can see. Gerald is in a state of high excitement, fit for
+any martyrdom. We can't keep him back from one sacrifice, but by all
+the force we can gather we must detain him from the other. He must be
+shown that he can't abandon his natural duties. He was a man before he
+was a priest, as you say; he can no more give up his duty to Louisa
+than he can give up his own life. It is going on a false idea
+altogether; but falsehood in anything except in argument could never
+be named or dreamed of in connection with Gerald," said his brother,
+with some emotion; "we all know that."
+
+There was another pause of a few minutes, during which they walked on
+side by side without even the heart to look at each other. "If it had
+been Huxtable or Plumstead, or any other fool," burst forth the
+Squire, after that interval, "but Gerald!" Huxtable was the husband of
+the eldest Miss Wentworth, and Plumstead was the Squire's sister's
+son, so the comparison was all in the family. "I suppose your aunt
+Leonora would say such a thing was sent to bring down my pride and
+keep me low," said Mr Wentworth, bitterly. "Jack being what he is,
+was it anything but natural that I should be proud of Gerald? There
+never was any evil in him, that I could see, from a child; but
+crotchety, always crotchety, Frank. I can see it now. It must have
+been their mother," said the Squire, meditatively; "she died very
+young, poor girl! her character was not formed. As for _your_ dear
+mother, my boy, she was always equal to an emergency; she would have
+given us the best of advice, had she been spared to us this day. Mrs
+Wentworth is absorbed in her nursery, as is natural, and I should not
+care to consult her much on such a subject. But, Frank, whatever you
+can do or say, trust to me to back you out," said the anxious father
+of three families. "Your mother was the most sensible woman I ever
+knew," he continued, with a patriarchal composure. "Nobody could ever
+manage Jack and Gerald as she did. She'd have seen at a glance what to
+do now. As for Jack, he is not assistance to anybody; but I consider
+you very like your mother, Frank. If anybody can help Gerald, it will
+be you. He has got into some ridiculous complications, you know--that
+must be the explanation of it. You have only to talk to him, and clear
+up the whole affair," said the Squire, recovering himself a little. He
+believed in "talking to," like Louisa, and like most people who are
+utterly incapable of talking to any purpose. He took some courage from
+the thought, and recovered his colour a little. "There is the bell for
+luncheon, and I am very glad of it," he said; "a glass of sherry will
+set me all right. Don't say anything to alarm Mrs Wentworth. When
+Gerald comes we'll retire to the library, and go into the matter
+calmly, and between us we will surely be able to convince him. I'll
+humour him, for my part, as far as my conscience will allow me. We
+must not give in to him, Frank. He will give it up if we show a very
+firm front and yield nothing," said the Squire, looking with an
+unusually anxious eye in his son's face.
+
+"For my part, I will not enter into the controversy between the
+Churches," said the Curate; "it is mere waste of time. I must confine
+myself to the one point. If he must forsake us, he must, and I can't
+stop him: but he must not forsake his wife."
+
+"Tut--it's impossible!" said the Squire; "it's not to be thought of
+for a moment. You must have given undue importance to something that
+was said. Things will turn out better than you think." They were very
+nearly at the great entrance when these words were said, and Mr
+Wentworth took out his handkerchief and held it to his forehead to
+veil the mark, until he could explain it, from the anxious eye of his
+wife. "If the worst should come to the worst, as you seem to think,"
+he said, with a kind of sigh, "I should at least be able to provide
+for you, Frank. Of course, the Rectory would go to you; and you don't
+seem to have much chance of Skelmersdale, so far as I can learn.
+Leonora's a very difficult person to deal with. God bless my soul!"
+exclaimed the Squire--"depend upon it, she has had something to do
+with this business of Gerald's. She's goaded him into it, with her
+Low-Church ways. She's put poor Louisa up to worrying him; there's
+where it is. I did not see how your brother could possibly have fallen
+into such a blunder of his own accord. But come to luncheon; you must
+be hungry. You will think the boys grown, Frank; and I must ask you
+what you think, when you have a little leisure, of Cuthbert and Guy."
+
+So saying, the Squire led the way into the house; he had been much
+appalled by the first hint of this threatened calamity, and was
+seriously distressed and anxious still; but he was the father of many
+sons, and the misfortunes or blunders of one could not occupy all his
+heart. And even the Curate, as he followed his father into the house,
+felt that Louisa's words, so calmly repeated, "Of course, the Rectory
+will go to you," went tingling to his heart like an arrow, painfully
+recalling him, in the midst of his anxiety, to a sense of his own
+interests and cares. Gerald was coming up the avenue at the moment
+slowly, with all the feelings of a man going to the stake. He was
+looking at everything round as a dying man might, not knowing what
+terrible revolution of life might have happened before he saw them
+again--
+
+   "He looked on hill, and sea, and shore,
+    As he might never see them more."
+
+Life was darkened over to his preoccupied eyes, and the composure of
+nature jarred upon him, as though it were carelessness and indifference
+to the fate which he felt to be coming in the air. He thought nothing
+less than that his father and brother were discussing him with hearts as
+heavy and clouded as his own; for even he, in all his tolerance and
+impartiality, did not make due account of the fact, that every man has
+his own concerns next to him, close enough to ameliorate and lighten the
+weight of his anxieties for others. The prospect was all gloom to
+Gerald, who was the sufferer; but the others found gleams of comfort in
+their own horizon, which threw reflected lights upon his; for perfect
+sympathy is not, except in dreams. There was quite a joyful little
+commotion at the luncheon table when Frank's arrival was discovered; and
+his sisters were kissing him, and his young brothers shaking his hand
+off, while Gerald came slowly up, with preoccupied, lingering steps,
+underneath the murmurous limes. All kinds of strange miseries were
+appearing to him as he pursued his way. Glimpses of scenes to come--a
+dark phantasmagoria of anticipated pain. He saw his wife and his
+children going away out of their happy house; he saw himself severed
+from all human ties, among alien faces and customs, working out a hard
+novitiate. What could he do? His heart, so long on the rack, was aching
+with dull throbs of anguish, but he did not see any way of escape. He
+was a priest by all the training, all the habits of his life; how could
+he give up that service to which he was called before everything, the
+most momentous work on earth? For ease, for happiness, for even sacred
+love, could he defraud God of the service he had vowed, and go back to
+secular work just at the moment when the true meaning of ecclesiastical
+work seemed dawning upon him? He had decided that question before, but
+it came back and back. His eyes were heavy with thought and conflict as
+he went up to his father's house. All this was wearing out his strength,
+and sapping his very life. The sooner it was over the better would it be
+for all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+Very little came, as was natural, of the talk in the library, to which
+the entire afternoon was devoted. The Squire, in his way, was as great
+an interruption to the arguments of the Curate as was poor Louisa in
+hers; and Gerald sat patiently to listen to his father's indignant
+monologue, broken as it was by Frank's more serious attacks. He was
+prepared for all they could say to him, and listened to it, sometimes
+with a kind of wondering smile, knowing well how much more strongly,
+backed by all his prejudices and interests, he had put the same
+arguments to himself. All this time nobody discussed the practicability
+of the matter much, nor what steps he meant to take: what immediately
+occupied both his father and brother was his determination itself, and
+the reasons which had led him to it, which the Squire, like Louisa,
+could not understand.
+
+"If I had made myself disagreeable," said Mr Wentworth; "if I had
+remonstrated with him, as Leonora urged me to do; if I had put a stop to
+the surplice and so forth, and interfered with his decorations or his
+saints' days, or anything, it might have been comprehensible. But I
+never said a syllable on the subject. I give you my word, I never did.
+Why couldn't he have sent down for Louisa now, and dined at the Hall, as
+usual, when any of my sons come home? I suppose a man may change his
+religion, sir, without getting rid of his natural affections," said the
+Squire, gazing out with puzzled looks to watch Gerald going slowly down
+the avenue. "A man who talks of leaving his wife, and declines to dine
+at his father's house with his brothers and sisters, is a mystery I
+can't understand."
+
+"I don't suppose he cares for a lively party like ours at this moment,"
+said the Curate: "I don't take it as any sign of a want of affection for
+me."
+
+The Squire puffed forth a large sigh of trouble and vexation as he
+came from the window. "If _I_ were to give in to trouble when it
+appears, what would become of our lively party, I wonder?" he said.
+"I'm getting an old man, Frank; but there's not a young man in
+Christendom has more need to take care of himself, and preserve his
+health, than I have. I am very well, thank God, though I have had a
+touch of our Wentworth complaint--just one touch. My father had it ten
+years earlier in life, and lived to eighty, all the same; but that is
+an age I shall never see. Such worries as I have would kill any man.
+I've not spoken to anybody about it," said the Squire, hastily, "but
+Jack is going a terrible pace just now. I've had a good deal of bother
+about bills and things. He gets worse every year; and what would
+become of the girls and the little children if the estate were to come
+into Jack's hands, is a thought I don't like to dwell upon, Frank. I
+suppose he never writes to you?"
+
+"Not for years past," said the Curate--"not since I was at Oxford.
+Where is he now?"
+
+"Somewhere about town, I suppose," said the aggrieved father, "or
+wherever the greatest scamps collect when they go out of town--that's
+where he is. I could show you a little document or two, Frank--but
+now," said the Squire, shutting up a drawer which he had unlocked and
+partly opened, "I won't; you've enough on your mind with Gerald, and
+I told you I should be glad of your advice about Cuthbert and Guy."
+
+Upon which the father and son plunged into family affairs. Cuthbert
+and Guy were the youngest of the Squire's middle family--a "lot" which
+included Frank and Charley and the three sisters, one of whom was
+married. The domestic relations of the Wentworths were complicated in
+this generation. Jack and Gerald were of the first marriage, a period
+in his history which Mr Wentworth himself had partly forgotten; and
+the troop of children at present in the Hall nursery were quite beyond
+the powers of any grown-up brother to recognise or identify. It was
+vaguely understood that "the girls" knew all the small fry by head and
+name, but even the Squire himself was apt to get puzzled. With such a
+household, and with an heir impending over his head like Jack, it may
+be supposed that Mr Wentworth's anxiety to get his younger boys
+disposed of was great. Cuthbert and Guy were arrows in the hand of the
+giant, but he had his quiver so full that the best thing he could do
+was to draw his bow and shoot them away into as distant and as fresh a
+sphere as possible. They were sworn companions and allies, but they
+were not clever, Mr Wentworth believed, and he was very glad to
+consult over New Zealand and Australia, and which was best, with their
+brother Frank.
+
+"They are good boys," said their father, "but they have not any brains
+to speak of--not like Gerald and you;--though, after all, I begin to be
+doubtful what's the good of brains," added the Squire, disconsolately,
+"if this is all that comes of them. After building so much on Gerald for
+years, and feeling that one might live to see him a bishop--but,
+however, there's still _you_ left; you're all right, Frank?"
+
+"Oh yes, I am all right," said the Curate, with a sigh; "but neither
+Gerald nor I are the stuff that bishops are made of," he added,
+laughing. "I hope you don't dream of any such honour for me."
+
+But the Squire was too troubled in his mind for laughter. "Jack was
+always clever, too," he said, dolefully, "and little good has come of
+that. I hope he won't disgrace the family any more than he has done, in
+my time, Frank. You young fellows have all your life before you; but
+when a man comes to my age, and expects a little comfort, it's hard to
+be dragged into the mire after his children. I did my duty by Jack
+too--I can say that for myself. He had the same training as Gerald
+had--the same tutor at the university--everything just the same. How do
+you account for that, sir, you that are a philosopher?" said Mr
+Wentworth again, with a touch of irritation. "Own brothers both by
+father and mother; brought up in the same house, same school and college
+and everything; and all the time as different from each other as light
+and darkness. How do you account for that? Though, to be sure, here's
+Gerald taken to bad ways too. It must have been some weakness by their
+mother's side. Poor girl! she died too young to show it herself; but
+it's come out in her children," said the vexed Squire. "Though it's a
+poor sort of thing to blame them that are gone," he added, with
+penitence; and he got up and paced uneasily about the room. Who was
+there else to blame? Not himself, for he had done his duty by his boys.
+Mr Wentworth never was disturbed in mind, without, as his family were
+well aware, becoming excited in temper too; and the unexpected nature of
+the new trouble had somehow added a keener touch of exasperation to his
+perennial dissatisfaction with his heir. "If Jack had been the man he
+ought to have been, his advice might have done some good--for a
+clergyman naturally sees things in a different light from a man of the
+world," said the troubled father; and Frank perceived that he too shared
+in his father's displeasure, because he was not Jack, nor a man of the
+world; notwithstanding that, being Frank and a clergyman, he was
+acknowledged by public opinion to be the Squire's favourite in the
+family. Things continued in this uncomfortable state up to the
+dinner-hour, so that the Curate, even had his own feelings permitted it,
+had but little comfort in his home visit. At dinner Mr Wentworth did not
+eat, and awoke the anxiety of his wife, who drove the old gentleman into
+a state of desperation by inquiries after his health.
+
+"Indeed, I wish you would remonstrate with your papa, Frank," said his
+stepmother, who was not a great deal older than the Curate. "After his
+attack he ought to be more careful. But he never takes the least
+trouble about himself, no more than if he were five-and-twenty. After
+getting such a knock on the forehead too; and you see he eats nothing.
+I shall be miserable if the doctor is not sent for to-night."
+
+"Stuff!" cried the Squire, testily. "Perhaps you will speak to the cook
+about these messes she insists on sending up to disgust one, and leave
+me to take care of my own health. Don't touch that dish, Frank; it's
+poison. I am glad Gerald is not here: he'd think we never had a dinner
+without that confounded mixture. And then the wonder is that one can't
+eat!" said Mr Wentworth, in a tone which spread consternation round the
+table. Mrs Wentworth secretly put her handkerchief to her eyes behind
+the great cover, which had not yet been removed; and one of the girls
+dashed in violently to the rescue, of course making everything worse.
+
+"Why did not Gerald and Louisa come to dinner?" cried the ignorant
+sister. "Surely, when they knew Frank had come, they would have liked to
+be here. How very odd it was of you not to ask them, papa! they always
+do come when anybody has arrived. Why aren't they here to-night?"
+
+"Because they don't choose to come," said the Squire, abruptly. "If
+Gerald has reasons for staying away from his father's house, what is
+that to you? Butterflies," said Mr Wentworth, looking at them in their
+pretty dresses, as they sat regarding him with dismay, "that don't
+understand any reason for doing anything except liking it or not liking
+it. I daresay by this time your sister knows better."
+
+"My sister is married, papa," said Letty, with her saucy look.
+
+"I advise you to get married too, and learn what life is like," said the
+savage Squire; and conversation visibly flagged after this effort. When
+the ladies got safely into the drawing-room, they gathered into a corner
+to consult over it. They were all naturally anxious about him after his
+"attack."
+
+"Don't you remember he was just like this before it came on?" said Mrs
+Wentworth, nervously; "so cross, and finding fault with the made dishes.
+Don't you think I might send over a message to Dr Small--not to come on
+purpose, you know, but just as if it were a call in passing?"
+
+But the girls both agreed this would make matters worse.
+
+"It must be something about Jack," they both said in a breath, in a
+kind of awe of their elder brother, of whom they had a very imperfect
+knowledge. "And it seems we never are to have a chance of a word with
+Frank!" cried Letty, who was indignant and exasperated. But at least
+it was a consolation that "the boys" were no better off. All next day
+Cuthbert and Guy hung about in the vain hope of securing the company
+and attention of the visitor. He was at the Rectory the whole morning,
+sometimes with Gerald, sometimes with Louisa, as the scouts of the
+family, consisting of a variety of brothers, little and big, informed
+the anxious girls. And Louisa was seen to cry on one of these
+occasions; and Gerald looked cross, said one little spy, whereupon he
+had his ears boxed, and was dismissed from the service. "As if Gerald
+ever looked anything but a saint!" said the younger sister, who was an
+advanced Anglican. Letty, however, holding other views, confuted this
+opinion strongly: "When one thinks of a saint, it is aunt Leonora one
+thinks of," said this profane young woman. "I'll tell you what Gerald
+looks like--something just half-way between a conqueror and a martyr.
+I think, of all the men I ever saw, he is my hero," said Letty,
+meditatively. The youngest Miss Wentworth was not exactly of this
+latter opinion, but she did not contradict her sister. They were kept
+in a state of watchfulness all day, but Frank's mission remained a
+mystery which they could not penetrate; and in the evening Gerald
+alone made his appearance at the hall to dinner, explaining that
+Louisa had a headache. Now Louisa's headaches were not unfrequent, but
+they were known to improve in the prospect of going out to dinner. On
+the whole, the matter was wrapt in obscurity, and the Wentworth
+household could not explain it. The sisters sat up brushing their
+hair, and looking very pretty in their dressing-gowns, with their
+bright locks (for the Wentworth hair was golden-brown of a Titian hue)
+over their shoulders, discussing the matter till it was long past
+midnight; but they could make nothing of it, and the only conclusion
+they came to was, that their two clergymen brothers were occupied in
+negotiating with the Squire about some secret not known to the rest of
+the family, but most probably concerning Jack. Jack was almost unknown
+to his sisters, and awoke no very warm anxiety in their minds; so they
+went to sleep at last in tolerable quiet, concluding that whatever
+mystery there was concerned only the first-born and least loved of the
+house.
+
+While the girls pursued these innocent deliberations, and reasoned
+themselves into conviction, the Squire too sat late--much later than
+usual. He had gone with Frank to the library, and sat there in
+half-stupefied quietness, which the Curate could not see without
+alarm, and from which he roused himself up now and then to wander off
+into talk, which always began with Gerald, and always came back to his
+own anxieties and his disappointed hopes in his eldest son. "If Jack
+had been the man he ought to have been, I'd have telegraphed for him,
+and he'd have managed it all," said the Squire, and then relapsed
+once more into silence. "For neither you nor I are men of the world,
+Frank," he would resume again, after a pause of half an hour,
+revealing pitifully how his mind laboured under the weight of this
+absorbing thought. The Curate sat up with him in the dimly-lighted
+library, feeling the silence and the darkness to his heart. He could
+not assist his father in those dim ranges of painful meditation.
+Grieved as he was, he could not venture to compare his own distress
+with the bitterness of the Squire, disappointed in all his hopes and
+in the pride of his heart; and then the young man saw compensations
+and heroisms in Gerald's case which were invisible to the unheroic
+eyes of Mr Wentworth, who looked at it entirely from a practical point
+of view, and regarded with keen mortification an event which would lay
+all the affairs of the Wentworths open to general discussion, and
+invite the eye of the world to a renewed examination of his domestic
+skeletons. Everything had been hushed and shut up in the Hall for at
+least an hour, when the Squire got up at last and lighted his candle,
+and held out his hand to his son--"This isn't a very cheerful visit
+for you, Frank," he said; "but we'll try again to-morrow, and have one
+other talk with Gerald. Couldn't you read up some books on the
+subject, or think of something new to say to him? God bless my soul!
+if I were as young and as much accustomed to talking as you are, I'd
+surely find out some argument," said the Squire, with a momentary
+spark of temper, which made his son feel more comfortable about him.
+"It's your business to convince a man when he's wrong. We'll try
+Gerald once more, and perhaps something may come of it; and as for
+Jack--" Here the Squire paused, and shook his head, and let go his
+son's hand. "I suppose it's sitting up so late that makes one feel so
+cold and wretched, and as if one saw ghosts," said Mr Wentworth.
+"Don't stay here any longer, and take care of the candles. I ought to
+have been in bed two hours ago. Good-night."
+
+And as he walked away, the Curate could not but observe what an aged
+figure it looked, moving with a certain caution to the door. The great
+library was so dim that the light of the candle which the Squire
+carried in his hand was necessary to reveal his figure clearly, and
+there was no mistaking his air of age and feebleness. The Curate's
+thoughts were not very agreeable when he was left by himself in the
+half-lighted room. His imagination jumped to a picture very possible,
+but grievous to think of--Jack seated in his father's place, and "the
+girls" and the little children turned out upon the world. In such a
+case, who would be their protector and natural guardian? Not Gerald,
+who was about to divest himself of ties still closer and more sacred.
+The Curate lit his candle too, and went hastily to his room when that
+thought came upon him. There might be circumstances still more
+hopeless and appalling than the opposition of a rector or the want of
+a benefice. He preferred to return to his anxiety about Gerald, and to
+put away that thought, as he went hurriedly up-stairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+"The sum of it all is, that you won't hear any reason, Gerald," said
+the Squire. "What your brother says, and what I say, are nothing; your
+poor wife is nothing; and all a man's duties, sir, in life--all your
+responsibilities, everything that is considered most sacred--"
+
+"You may say what you will to me, father," said Gerald. "I can't
+expect you should speak differently. But you may imagine I have looked
+at it in every possible light before I came to this resolution. A man
+does not decide easily when everything he prizes on earth is at
+stake. I cannot see with Frank's eyes, or with yours; according to the
+light God has given me, I must see with my own."
+
+"But, God bless my soul! what do you mean by seeing with your own eyes?"
+said the Squire. "Don't you know that is a Protestant doctrine, sir? Do
+you think they'll let you see with any eyes but theirs when you get
+among a set of Papists? Instead of an easy-going bishop, and friendly
+fellows for brother clergymen, and parishioners that think everything
+that's good of you, how do you suppose you'll feel as an Englishman when
+you get into a dead Frenchified system, with everything going by rule
+and measure, and bound to believe just as you're told? It'll kill you,
+sir--that's what will be the end of it. If you are in your grave within
+the year, it will be no wonder to me."
+
+"Amen!" said Gerald, softly. "If that is to be all, we will not
+quarrel with the result;" and he got up and went to the window, as if
+to look for his cedar, which was not there. Perhaps the absence of his
+silent referee gave him a kind of comfort, though at the same time it
+disappointed him in some fantastical way, for he turned with a curious
+look of relief and vexation to his brother. "We need not be always
+thinking of it, even if this were to be the end," he said. "Come down
+the avenue with me, Frank, and let us talk of something else. The
+girls will grumble, but they can have you later: come, I want to hear
+about yourself."
+
+Unfortunately the Squire got up when his sons did, which was by no means
+their intention; but Mr Wentworth was vexed and restless, and was not
+willing to let Gerald off so easily. If he were mad, at least he ought
+to be made duly wretched in his madness, Mr Wentworth thought; and he
+went out with them, and arrested the words on their lips. Somehow
+everything seemed to concur in hindering any appeal on the part of the
+Curate. And Gerald, like most imaginative men, had a power of dismissing
+his troubles after they had taken their will of him. It was he who took
+the conversation on himself when they went out of doors. Finding Frank
+slow in his report, Gerald went into all the country news for the
+instruction of his brother. He had been down to the very depths during
+the two previous days, and now he had come aloft again; for a man cannot
+be miserable every moment of his life, however heavy his burden may be.
+The "girls," whose anxieties had been much stimulated by the renewed
+conference held with closed doors in the library, stood watching them
+from one of the drawing-room windows. The boldest of the two had,
+indeed, got her hat to follow them, not comprehending why Frank should
+be monopolised for days together by anybody but herself, his favourite
+sister; but something in the aspect of the three men, when they first
+appeared under the lime-trees, had awed even the lively Letty out of her
+usual courage. "But Gerald is talking and laughing just as usual," she
+said, as she stood at the window dangling her hat in her hand--"more
+than usual, for he has been very glum all this spring. Poor fellow! I
+daresay Louisa worries him out of his life;" and with this easy
+conclusion the elder brother was dismissed by the girls. "Perhaps Frank
+is going to be married," said the other sister, who, under the lively
+spur of this idea, came back to the window to gaze at him again, and
+find out whether any intimation of this alarming possibility could be
+gathered from the fit of his long clerical coat, or his manner of walk,
+as he sauntered along under the limes. "As if a Perpetual Curate could
+marry!" said Letty, with scorn, who knew the world. As for little Janet,
+who was a tender-hearted little soul, she folded her two hands together,
+and looked at her brother's back with a great increase of interest. "If
+one loved him, one would not mind what he was," said the little maiden,
+who had been in some trouble herself, and understood about such matters.
+So the girls talked at their window, Mrs Wentworth being, as usual,
+occupied with her nursery, and nobody else at hand to teach them wisdom,
+and soon branched off into speculations about the post-bag, which was
+"due," and which, perhaps, was almost more interesting, to one of them
+at least, than even a brother who was going to be married.
+
+In the mean time Gerald was talking of Huxtable and Plumstead, the
+brother-in-law and cousin, who were both clergymen in the same
+district, and about the people in the village whom they had known when
+they were boys, and who never grew any older. "There is old Kilweed,
+for example, who was Methuselah in those days--he's not eighty yet,"
+he said, with a smile and a sigh; "it is we who grow older and come
+nearer to the winter and the sunset. My father even has come down a
+long way off the awful eminence on which I used to behold him: every
+year that falls on my head seems to take one off his: if we both live
+long enough, we shall feel like contemporaries by-and-by," said
+Gerald: "just now the advantage of years is all on my side; and you
+are my junior, sir." He was switching down the weeds among the grass
+with his cane as he spoke, like any schoolboy; the air, and perhaps a
+little excitement, had roused the blood to his cheek. He did not look
+the same man as the pale martyr in the library--not that he had any
+reason for appearing different, but only that inalienable poetic
+waywardness which kept him up through his trouble. As for Mr
+Wentworth, he resented the momentary brightening, which he took for
+levity.
+
+"I thought we came out here to prolong our discussion," said the
+Squire. "I don't understand this light way of talking. If you mean
+what you have said, sir, I should never expect to see you smile more."
+
+"The smiling makes little difference," said Gerald; but he stopped
+short in his talk, and there was a pause among them till the postboy
+came up to them with his bag, which Mr Wentworth, with much
+importance, paused to open. The young men, who had no special interest
+in its contents, went on. Perhaps the absence of their father was a
+relief to them. They were nearer to each other, understood each other
+better than he could do; and they quickened their pace insensibly as
+they began to talk. It is easy to imagine what kind of talk it
+was--entire sympathy, yet disagreement wide as the poles--here for a
+few steps side by side, there darting off at the most opposite
+tangent; but they had begun to warm to it, and to forget everything
+else, when a succession of lusty hollos from the Squire brought them
+suddenly to themselves, and to a dead stop. When they looked round, he
+was making up to them with choleric strides. "What the deuce do you
+mean, sir, by having telegrams sent here?" cried Mr Wentworth,
+pitching at his son Frank an ominous ugly envelope, in blue and red,
+such as the unsophisticated mind naturally trembles at. "Beg your
+pardon, Gerald; but I never can keep my temper when I see a telegraph.
+I daresay it's something about Charley," said the old man, in a
+slightly husky voice--"to make up to us for inventing troubles." The
+Squire was a good deal disturbed by the sight of that ill-omened
+message; and it was the better way, as he knew by experience, to throw
+his excitement into the shape of anger rather than that of grief.
+
+"It's nothing about Charley," said Frank; and Mr Wentworth blew his
+nose violently and drew a long breath. "I don't understand it," said
+the Curate, who looked scared and pale; "it seems to be from Jack;
+though why _he_ is in Carlingford, or what he has to do--"
+
+"He's ill, sir, I suppose--dying; nothing else was to be looked for,"
+said the Squire, and held out his hand, which trembled, for the
+telegram. "Stuff! why shouldn't I be able to bear it? Has he been any
+comfort to me? Can't you read it, one of you?" cried the old man.
+
+"'John Wentworth to the Reverend--'"
+
+"God bless my soul! can't you come to what he says?"
+
+"'Come back directly--you are wanted here; I am in trouble, as usual;
+and T.W.--'"
+
+Here the Squire took a step backwards, and set himself against a tree.
+"The sun comes in one's eyes," he said, rather feebly. "There's
+something poisonous in the air today. Here's Gerald going out of the
+Church; and here's Frank in Jack's secrets. God forgive him! Lads, it
+seems you think I've had enough of this world's good. My heir's a
+swindling villain, and you know it; and here's Frank going the same
+road too."
+
+The Squire did not hear the words that both the brothers addressed to
+him; he was unconscious of the Curate's disclaimer and eager explanation
+that he knew nothing about Jack, and could not understand his presence
+in Carlingford. The blow he had got the previous day had confused his
+brain outside, and these accumulated vexations had bewildered it within.
+"And I could have sworn by Frank!" said the old man, piteously, to
+himself, as he put up his hand unawares and tugged at the dainty
+starched cravat which was his pride. If they had not held him in their
+arms, he would have slid down at the foot of the tree, against which he
+had instinctively propped himself. The attack was less alarming to
+Gerald, who had seen it before, than to Frank, who had only heard of it;
+but the postboy was still within call, by good fortune, and was sent off
+for assistance. They carried him to the Hall, gasping for breath, and in
+a state of partial unconsciousness, but still feebly repeating those
+words which went to the Curate's heart--"I could have sworn by Frank!"
+The house was in a great fright and tumult, naturally, before they
+reached it, Mrs Wentworth fainting, the girls looking on in dismay, and
+the whole household moved to awe and alarm, knowing that one time or
+other Death would come so. As for the Curate of St Roque's, he had
+already made up his mind, with unexpected anguish, not only that his
+father was dying, but that his father would die under a fatal
+misconception about himself; and between this overwhelming thought, and
+the anxiety which nobody understood or could sympathise with respecting
+Jack's message, the young man was almost beside himself. He went away in
+utter despair from the anxious consultations of the family after the
+doctor had come, and kept walking up and down before the house, waiting
+to hear the worst, as he thought; but yet unable, even while his father
+lay dying, to keep from thinking what miserable chance, what folly or
+crime, had taken Jack to Carlingford, and what his brother could have to
+do with the owner of the initials named in his telegram. He was lost in
+this twofold trouble when Gerald came out to him with brightened looks.
+
+"He is coming round, and the doctor says there is no immediate
+danger," said Gerald; "and it is only immediate danger one is afraid
+of. He was as well as ever last time in a day or two. It is the
+complaint of the Wentworths, you know--we all die of it; but, Frank,
+tell me what is this about Jack?"
+
+"I know no more than you do," said the Curate, when he had recovered
+himself a little. "I must go back, not having done much good here, to
+see."
+
+"And T.W.?" said Gerald. The elder brother looked at the younger
+suspiciously, as if he were afraid for him; and it was scarcely in
+human nature not to feel a momentary flash of resentment.
+
+"I tell you I know nothing about it," said Frank, "except what is
+evident to any one, that Jack has gone to Carlingford in my absence,
+being in trouble somehow. I suppose he always is in trouble. I have not
+heard from him since I went there; but as it don't seem I can be of any
+use here, as soon as my father is safe, I will go back. Louisa imagined,
+you know--; but she was wrong."
+
+"Yes," said Gerald, quietly. That subject was concluded, and there was
+no more to say.
+
+The same evening, as the Squire continued to improve, and had been able
+to understand his energetic explanation that he was entirely ignorant of
+Jack's secrets, Frank Wentworth went back again with a very disturbed
+mind. He went into the Rectory as he passed down to the station, to say
+good-bye to Louisa, who was sitting in the drawing-room with her
+children round her, and her trouble considerably lightened, though there
+was no particular cause for it. Dressing for dinner had of itself a
+beneficial effect upon Louisa: she could not understand how a life could
+ever be changed which was so clearly ordained of Heaven; for if Gerald
+was not with her, what inducement could she possibly have to dress for
+dinner? and then what would be the good of all the pretty wardrobe with
+which Providence had endowed her? Must not Providence take care that its
+gifts were not thus wasted? So the world was once more set fast on its
+foundations, and the pillars of earth remained unshaken, when Frank
+glanced in on his way to the station to say good-bye.
+
+"Don't be afraid, Louisa; I don't believe he would be allowed to do it,"
+said the Curate in her ear. "The Church of Rome does not go in the face
+of nature. She will not take him away from you. Keep your heart at ease
+as much as you can. Good-bye."
+
+"You mean about Gerald. Oh, you don't _really_ think he could ever
+have had the heart?" said Mrs Wentworth. "I am so sorry you are going
+away without any dinner or anything comfortable; and it was so good of
+you to come, and I feel so much better. I shall always be grateful to
+you, dear Frank, for showing Gerald his mistake; and tell dear aunt
+Dora I am so much obliged to her for thinking of the blanket for the
+bassinet. I am sure it will be lovely. Must you go? Good-bye. I am
+sure you have always been like my own brother--Frank, dear, good-bye.
+Come and kiss your dear uncle, children, and say good-bye."
+
+This was how Louisa dismissed him after all his efforts on her behalf.
+The girls were waiting for him on the road, still full of anxiety to
+know why he had come so suddenly, and was going away so soon. "We have
+not had half a peep of you," said Letty; "and it is wicked of you not
+to tell us; as if anybody could sympathise like your sisters--your
+very own sisters, Frank," said the young lady, with a pressure on his
+arm. In such a mixed family the words meant something.
+
+"We had made up our minds you had come to tell papa," said Janet,
+with her pretty shy look; "that was my guess--you might tell us her
+name, Frank."
+
+"Whose name?" said the unfortunate Curate; and the dazzling vision of
+Lucy Wodehouse's face, which came upon him at the moment, was such,
+that the reluctant blood rose high in his cheeks--which, of course,
+the girls were quick enough to perceive.
+
+"It _is_ about some girl, after all," said Letty; "oh me! I did not
+think you had been like all the rest. I thought you had other things
+to think of. Janet may say what she likes--but I do think it's
+contemptible always to find out, when a man, who can do lots of
+things, is in trouble, that it's about some girl or other like one's
+self! I did not expect it of you, Frank--but all the same, tell us who
+she is?" said the favourite sister, clasping his arm confidentially,
+and dropping her voice.
+
+"There is the train. Good-bye, girls, and be sure you write to me
+to-morrow how my father is," said the Curate. He had taken his seat
+before they could ask further questions, and in a minute or two more
+was dashing out of the little station, catching their smiles and
+adieus as he went, and turning back last of all for another look at
+Gerald, who stood leaning on his stick, looking after the train, with
+the mist of preoccupation gathering again over his smiling eyes. The
+Curate went back to his corner after that, and lost himself in
+thoughts and anxieties still more painful. What had Jack to do in
+Carlingford? what connection had he with those initials, or how did he
+know their owner? All sorts of horrible fears came over the Curate of
+St Roque's. He had not seen his elder brother for years, and Jack's
+career was not one for the family to be proud of. Had he done
+something too terrible to be hidden--too clamorous to let his name
+drop out of remembrance, as was to be desired for the credit of the
+Wentworths? This speculation whiled the night away but drearily, as the
+Perpetual Curate went back to the unknown tide of cares which had
+surged in his absence into his momentarily abandoned place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth got back to Carlingford by a happy concurrence of trains
+before the town had gone to sleep. It was summer, when the days are at
+the longest, and the twilight was just falling into night as he took
+his way through George Street. He went along the familiar street with
+a certain terror of looking into people's faces whom he met, and of
+asking questions, such as was natural to a man who did not know
+whether something of public note might not have happened in his
+absence to call attention to his name. He imagined, indeed, that he
+did see a strange expression in the looks of the townsfolk he
+encountered on his way. He thought they looked at him askance as they
+made their salutations, and said something to each other after they
+passed, which, indeed, in several cases was true enough, though the
+cause was totally different from anything suspected by Mr Wentworth.
+Anxious to know, and yet unwilling to ask, it was with a certain
+relief that the Curate saw the light gleaming out from the open door
+of Elsworthy's shop as he approached. He went in and tossed down his
+travelling-bag on the counter, and threw himself on the solitary chair
+which stood outside for the accommodation of customers, with a
+suppressed excitement, which made his question sound abrupt and
+significant to the ears of Elsworthy. "Has anything happened since I
+went away?" said Mr Wentworth, throwing a glance round the shop which
+alarmed his faithful retainer. Somehow, though nothing was farther
+from his mind than little Rosa, or any thought of her, the Curate
+missed the pretty little figure at the first glance.
+
+"Well--no, sir; not much as I've heard of," said Elsworthy, with a
+little confusion. He was tying up his newspapers as usual, but it did
+not require the touch of suspicion and anxiety which gave sharpness to
+the Curate's eyes to make it apparent that the cord was trembling in
+Mr Elsworthy's hand. "I hope you've had a pleasant journey, sir, and a
+comfortable visit--it's been but short--but we always miss you in
+Carlingford, Mr Wentworth, if it was only for a day."
+
+"I'll take my paper," said the young man, who was not satisfied--"so
+there's no news, isn't there?--all well, and everything going on as
+usual?" And the look which the suspicious Curate bent upon Mr
+Elsworthy made that virtuous individual, as he himself described it,
+"shake in his shoes."
+
+"Much as usual, sir," said the frightened clerk,--"nothing new as I
+hear of but gossip, and that aint a thing to interest a clergyman.
+There's always one report or another flying about, but them follies
+aint for your hearing. Nothing more," continued Mr Elsworthy,
+conscious of guilt, and presenting a very tremulous countenance to the
+inspection of his suspicious auditor, "not if it was my last
+word--nothing but gossip, as you wouldn't care to hear."
+
+"I might possibly care to hear if it concerned myself," said the
+Curate,--"or anybody I am interested in," he added, after a little
+pause, with rather a forced smile--which convinced Mr Elsworthy that
+his clergyman had heard all about Rosa, and that the days of his
+incumbency as clerk of St Roque's were numbered.
+
+"Well, sir, if you did hear, it aint no blame of mine," said the
+injured bookseller; "such a notion would never have come into my
+mind--no man, I make bold to say, is more particular about keeping to
+his own rank of life nor me. What you did, sir, you did out of the
+kindness of your heart, and I'd sooner sell up and go off to the end
+of the world than impose upon a gentleman. Her aunt's took her away,"
+continued Mr Elsworthy, lowering his voice, and cautiously pointing
+to the back of the shop--"She'll not bother you no more."
+
+"She!--who?" cried the Perpetual Curate, in sudden consternation. He
+was utterly bewildered by the introduction of a female actor into the
+little drama, and immediately ran over in his mind all the women he
+could think of who could, by any possibility, be involved in
+mysterious relations with his brother Jack.
+
+"She's but a child," said Elsworthy, pathetically; "she don't know
+nothing about the ways o' the world. If she was a bit proud o' being
+noticed, there wasn't no harm in that. But seeing as there's nothing
+in this world that folks won't make a talk of when they've started,
+her aunt, as is very partic'lar, has took her away. Not as I'm meaning
+no reproach to you, Mr Wentworth; but she's a loss to us, is Rosa. She
+was a cheerful little thing, say the worst of her," said Mr Elsworthy;
+"going a-singing and a-chirping out and in the shop; and I won't deny
+as the place looks desolate, now she's away. But that aint neither
+here nor there. It was for her good, as my missis says. Most things as
+is unpleasant _is_ sent for good, they tell me; and I wouldn't--not
+for any comfort to myself--have a talk got up about the clergyman--"
+
+By this time Mr Wentworth had awakened to a sense of the real meaning of
+Elsworthy's talk. He sat upright on his chair, and looked into the face
+of the worthy shopkeeper until the poor man trembled. "A talk about the
+clergyman?" said the Curate. "About me, do you mean? and what has little
+Rosa to do with me? Have you gone crazy in Carlingford--what is the
+meaning of it all?" He sat with his elbows on the counter, looking at
+his trembling adherent--looking through and through him, as Elsworthy
+said. "I should be glad of an explanation; what does it mean?" said Mr
+Wentworth, with a look which there was no evading; and the clerk of St
+Roque's cast an anxious glance round him for help. He would have
+accepted it from any quarter at that overwhelming moment; but there was
+not even an errand-boy to divert from him the Curate's terrible eyes.
+
+"I--I don't know--I--can't tell how it got up," said the unhappy man,
+who had not even his "missis" in the parlour as a moral support. "One
+thing as I know is, it wasn't no blame o' mine. I as good as went down
+on my knees to them three respected ladies when they come to inquire. I
+said as it was kindness in you a-seeing of the child home, and didn't
+mean nothing more. I ask you, sir, what could I do?" cried Mr Elsworthy.
+"Folks in Carlingford will talk o' two straws if they're a-seen
+a-blowing up Grange Lane on the same breath o' wind. I couldn't do no
+more nor contradict it," cried Rosa's guardian, getting excited in his
+self-defence; "and to save your feelings, Mr Wentworth, and put it out
+o' folks's power to talk, the missis has been and took her away."
+
+"To save my feelings!" said the Curate, with a laugh of contempt and
+vexation and impatience which it was not pleasant to hear. At another
+moment an accusation so ridiculous would have troubled him very little;
+but just now, with a sudden gleam of insight, he saw all the
+complications which might spring out of it to confuse further the path
+which he already felt to be so burdened. "I'll tell you what,
+Elsworthy," said Mr Wentworth; "if you don't want to make me your enemy
+instead of your friend, you'll send for this child instantly, without a
+day's delay. Tell your wife that my orders are that she should come back
+directly. _My_ feelings! do the people in Carlingford think me an idiot,
+I wonder?" said the Curate, walking up and down to relieve his mind.
+
+"I don't know, sir, I'm sure," said Elsworthy, who thought some answer
+was required of him. To tell the truth, Rosa's uncle felt a little
+spiteful. He did not see matters in exactly the same light as Mr
+Wentworth did. At the bottom of his heart, after all, lay a thrill of
+awakened ambition. Kings and princes had been known to marry far out
+of their degree for the sake of a beautiful face; and why a Perpetual
+Curate should be so much more lofty in his sentiments, puzzled and
+irritated the clerk of St Roque's. "There aint a worm but will turn
+when he's trod upon," said Mr Elsworthy to himself; and when his
+temper was roused, he became impertinent, according to the manner of
+his kind.
+
+Mr Wentworth gave him a quick look, struck by the changed tone, but
+unable to make out whether it might not be stupidity. "You understand
+what I mean, Elsworthy," he said, with his loftiest air. "If Rosa does
+not return instantly, I shall be seriously offended. How you and your
+friends could be such utter idiots as to get up this ridiculous
+fiction, I can't conceive; but the sooner it's over the better. I
+expect to see her back to-morrow," said the Curate, taking up his bag
+and looking with an absolute despotism, which exasperated the man, in
+Elsworthy's face.
+
+"You may be sure, sir, if she knows as you want to see her, she'll
+come," said the worm which had been trampled on; "and them as asks me
+why, am I to say it was the clergyman's orders?" said Elsworthy,
+looking up in his turn with a consciousness of power. "That means a
+deal, does that. I wouldn't take it upon me to say as much, not of
+myself; but if them's your orders, Mr Wentworth--"
+
+"It appears to me, Elsworthy," said the Curate, who was inwardly in a
+towering passion, though outwardly calm enough, "either that you've
+been drinking or that you mean to be impertinent--which is it?"
+
+"Me!--drinking, sir?" cried the shopkeeper. "If I had been one as was
+given that way, I wouldn't have attended to your interests not as I
+have done. There aint another man in Carlingford as has stood up for
+his clergyman as I have; and as for little Rosa, sir, most folks as
+had right notions would have inquired into that; but being as I
+trusted in you, I wasn't the one to make any talk. I've said to
+everybody as has asked me that there wasn't nothing in it but
+kindness. I don't say as I hadn't my own thoughts--for gentlemen don't
+go walking up Grange Lane with a pretty little creature like that all
+for nothing; but instead o' making anything of that, or leading of you
+on, or putting it in the child's head to give you encouragement, what
+was it I did but send her away afore you came home, that you mightn't
+be led into temptation! And instead of feelin' grateful, you say I've
+been drinking! It's a thing as I scorn to answer," said Mr Elsworthy;
+"there aint no need to make any reply--all Carlingford knows _me_; but
+as for Rosa, if it is understood plain between us that it's your wish,
+I aint the man to interfere," continued Rosa's guardian, with a smile
+which drove the Curate frantic; "but she hasn't got no father, poor
+thing, and it's my business to look after her; and I'll not bring her
+back, Mr Wentworth, unless it's understood between us plain."
+
+Strong language, forcible, but unclerical, was on the Curate's lips,
+and it was only with an effort that he restrained himself. "Look here,
+Elsworthy," he said; "it will be better for you not to exasperate me.
+You understand perfectly what I mean. I repeat, Rosa must come back,
+and that instantly. It is quite unnecessary to explain to you why I
+insist upon this, for you comprehend it. Pshaw! don't let us have any
+more of this absurdity," he exclaimed, impatiently. "No more, I tell
+you. Your wife is not such a fool. Let anybody who inquires about me
+understand that I have come back, and am quite able to account for all
+my actions," said the Curate, shouldering his bag. He was just about
+leaving the shop when Elsworthy rushed after him in an access of alarm
+and repentance.
+
+"One moment, sir," cried the shopkeeper; "there aint no offence, Mr
+Wentworth? I am sure there aint nobody in Carlingford as means better,
+or would do as much for his clergyman. One moment, sir; there was one
+thing I forgot to mention. Mr Wodehouse, sir, has been took bad. There
+was a message up a couple of hours ago to know when you was expected
+home. He's had a stroke, and they don't think as he'll get over
+it--being a man of a full 'abit of body," said Mr Elsworthy in haste,
+lest the Curate should break in on his unfinished speech, "makes it
+dangerous. I've had my fears this long time past."
+
+"A stroke," said the Curate--"a fit, do you mean? When, and how? and,
+good heavens! to think that you have been wasting my time with
+rubbish, and knew this!" Mr Wentworth tossed down his travelling-bag
+again, and wiped his forehead nervously. He had forgotten his real
+anxiety in the irritation of the moment. Now it returned upon him with
+double force. "How did it come on?" he asked, "and when?" and stood
+waiting for the answer, with a world of other questions, which he
+could not put to Elsworthy, hanging on his lips.
+
+"I have a deal of respect for that family, sir," said Elsworthy; "they
+have had troubles as few folks in Carlingford know of. How close they
+have kep' things, to be sure!--but not so close as them that has good
+memories, and can put two and two together, couldn't call to mind. My
+opinion, sir, if you believe me," said the clerk of St Roque's,
+approaching close to the Curate's ear, "is, that it's something
+concerning the son."
+
+"The son!" said Mr Wentworth, with a troubled look. Then, after a
+pause, he added, as if his exclamation had been an oversight, "What
+son? has Mr Wodehouse a son?"
+
+"To think as they should have been so close with the clergyman!" said
+Elsworthy, innocently; "though he aint no credit that they should talk
+of him. He's been gone out o' Carlingford nigh upon twenty year; but
+he aint dead for all that; and I'm told as he's been seen about Grange
+Lane this last spring. I am one as hears all the talk that's a-going
+on, being, as you might say, in a public position of life. Such a
+thing mightn't maybe come to your ears, sir?" he continued, looking
+inquisitively in Mr Wentworth's face; "but wherever he is, you may be
+sure it's something about him as has brought on this attack on the old
+man. It was last night as he was took so bad, and a couple of hours
+ago a message came up. Miss Wodehouse (as is the nicest lady in
+Grange Lane, and a great friend to me) had took a panic, and she was
+a-crying for you, the man said, and wouldn't take no denial. If I had
+known where you was to be found, I'd have sent word."
+
+"Send down my bag to my house," said the Curate, hastily interrupting
+him. "Good-night--don't forget what I said about the other matter." Mr
+Wentworth went out of the shop with a disagreeable impression that
+Elsworthy had been examining his face like an inquisitor, and was
+already forming conclusions from what he had seen there. He went away
+hurriedly, with a great many vague fears in his mind. Mr Wodehouse's
+sudden illness seemed to him a kind of repetition and echo of the
+Squire's, and in the troubled and uncertain state of his thoughts, he
+got to confusing them together in the centre of this whirl of unknown
+disaster and perplexity. Perhaps even thus it was not all bitterness to
+the young man to feel his family united with that of Lucy Wodehouse. He
+went down Grange Lane in the summer darkness under the faint stars, full
+of anxiety and alarm, yet not without a thrill in his heart, a sweeter
+under-current of conscious agitation in the knowledge that he was
+hastening to her presence. Sudden breaks in his thoughts revealed her,
+as if behind a curtain, rising to receive him, giving him her hand,
+meeting his look with a smile; so that, on the whole, neither Gerald's
+distress, nor Jack's alarming call, nor his father's attack, nor Mr
+Wodehouse's illness, nor the general atmosphere of vexation and trouble
+surrounding his way, could succeed in making the young man totally
+wretched. He had this little stronghold of his own to retire into. The
+world could not fall to pieces so long as he continued with eager steps
+to devour the road which led to Mr Wodehouse's garden-door.
+
+Before he had reached that goal, however, he met a group who were
+evidently returning from some little dinner in Grange Lane. Mr Wentworth
+took off his hat hastily in recognition of Mrs Morgan, who was walking
+by her husband's side, with a bright-coloured hood over her head
+instead of a bonnet. The Curate, who was a man of taste, could not help
+observing, even in the darkness, and amid all his preoccupations, how
+utterly the cherry-coloured trimmings of her head-dress were out of
+accordance with the serious countenance of the Rector's wife, who was a
+little heated with her walk. She was a good woman, but she was not fair
+to look upon; and it occurred to Mr Wentworth to wonder, if Lucy were to
+wait ten years for him, would the youthful grace dry and wither out of
+her like this! And then all at once another idea flashed upon his mind,
+without any wish of his. Like the unhappy lover in the ballad, he was
+suddenly aware of a temptation--
+
+"How there looked him in the face An angel beautiful and bright, And how
+he knew it was a fiend."
+
+"Of course the Rectory will go to Frank." He could not tell why at that
+moment the words rang into his ear with such a penetrating sound. That
+he hated himself for being able to think of such a possibility made no
+difference. It came darting and tingling into his mind like one of those
+suggestions of blasphemy which the devils whispered in Christian's ear
+as he went through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He went on faster
+than ever to escape from it, scarcely observing that Mrs Morgan, instead
+of simply acknowledging his bow as she passed, stopped to shake hands,
+and to say how glad she was he had come back again. He thought of it
+afterwards with wonder and a strange gratitude. The Rector's wife was
+not like the conventional type of a pitying angel; and even had she been
+so, he had not time to recognise her at that moment as he went
+struggling with his demons to Mr Wodehouse's green door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+When the green door was opened, Mr Wentworth saw at a glance that
+there was agitation and trouble in the house. Lights were twinkling
+irregularly in the windows here and there, but the family apartment,
+the cheerful drawing-room, which generally threw its steady, cheerful
+blaze over the dark garden, shone but faintly with half-extinguished
+lights and undrawn curtains. It was evident at a glance that the room
+was deserted, and its usual occupants engaged elsewhere. "Master's
+very bad, sir," said the servant who opened the door; "the young
+ladies is both with him, and a hired nurse come in besides. The doctor
+don't seem to have no great hopes, but it will be a comfort to know as
+you have come back. Miss Wodehouse wanted you very bad an hour or two
+ago, for they thought as master was reviving, and could understand.
+I'll go and let them know you are here."
+
+"Don't disturb them, unless I can be of use," said Mr Wentworth. The
+look of the house, and the atmosphere of distress and anxiety about
+it, chilled him suddenly. His visions and hopes seemed guilty and
+selfish as he went slowly up those familiar steps and into the house,
+over which the shadow of death seemed already lying. He went by
+himself into the forsaken drawing-room, where two neglected candles
+were burning feebly in a corner, and the wistful sky looking in as if
+to ask why the domestic temple was thus left open and uncared for.
+After the first moment he went hastily to the windows, and drew down
+the blinds in a kind of tender impatience. He could not bear that
+anything in the world, even her father's danger, should discompose the
+sweet, good order of the place where Lucy's image dwelt. There was a
+chair and her basket of work, and on the little table a book marked
+with pencil-marks, such as youthful readers love to make; and by
+degrees that breath of Lucy lingering in the silent room overcame its
+dreariness, and the painful sense of desertion which had struck him at
+first. He hovered about that corner where her usual place was, feeling
+in his heart that Lucy in trouble was dearer, if possible, than Lucy
+in happiness, and hung over her chair, with a mixture of reverence and
+tenderness and yearning, which could never be expressed in words. It
+was the divinest phase of love which was in his mind at the moment;
+for he was not thinking of himself, but of her, and of how he could
+succour and comfort her, and interpose his own true heart and life
+between her and all trouble. It was at this moment that Lucy herself
+entered the room; she came in softly, and surprised him in the
+overflowing of his heart. She held out her hand to him as usual, and
+smiled, perhaps less brightly, but that of course arose from the
+circumstances of the house; and her voice was very measured and steady
+when she spoke, less variable than of old. What was it she said? Mr
+Wentworth unconsciously left the neighbourhood of that chair over
+which he had been bending, which, to tell the truth, he had leaned his
+head upon, lover-like, and perhaps even kissed for her sake, five
+minutes before, and grew red and grew pale with a strange revulsion
+and tumult of feeling. He could not tell what the difference was, or
+what it meant. He only felt in an instant, with a sense of the change
+that chilled him to the heart, as if somehow a wall of ice had risen
+between them. He could see her through the transparent veil, and hear
+her speak, and perceive the smile which cast no warmth of reflection
+on him; but in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, everything in
+heaven and earth was changed. Lucy herself, to her own consciousness,
+trembled and faltered, and felt as if her voice and her looks must
+betray an amount of emotion which she would have died rather than
+show; but then Lucy had rehearsed this scene before, and knew all she
+intended by it; whereas upon the Curate, in his little flush and
+overflow of tenderness, it fell like a sudden earthquake, rending his
+fair edifice of happiness asunder, and casting him out into unexpected
+darkness. Sudden confusion, mortification, even a sense of injury and
+bitterness, came swelling over his heart as he set a chair for her as
+far away as possible from the corner in which he had been indulging
+such vain and unwarrantable dreams.
+
+"It happened yesterday," said Lucy; "we have not been quite able to
+make out what was the cause; at least _I_ have not been able to find
+it out. The clerks at the office say it was something about--but that
+does not matter," she went on, with her sweet politeness: "you don't
+care for the details. I sometimes fancy Mary knows more than she tells
+me, and I think you are in her confidence, Mr Wentworth. But I am not
+going to ask you any questions. The doctors say he is not suffering so
+much as he seems to be. It is terrible to see him lie there not
+knowing any of us," said Lucy, with a tremble in her voice.
+
+"But you thought him better some time ago?" said the Curate, whose
+words choked him, and who could not endure to speak.
+
+"Yes, about six o'clock," said Lucy, "he tried to speak, and put Mary
+in a great fright, I cannot tell why. Would you be good enough, Mr
+Wentworth," she went on hastily, with a strange mixture of earnestness
+and coldness, "if you know of anything she is keeping secret, to bid
+her tell me? I am able to bear anything there may be to bear--surely
+as well as she is, who has had no trouble," said Lucy, softly; and for
+a moment she wavered in her fixed composure, and the wall of ice moved
+as if it might fall.
+
+"Nor you?" said the Curate, bending anxiously forward to look into her
+eyes. He was inexpressibly moved and agitated by the inference, which
+perhaps no listener less intensely concerned would have drawn from
+what Lucy said. He could not bear that she should have any trouble
+which he might not do something to relieve her of.
+
+"Oh, no, nor I," said Lucy, quickly, and in that moment the softening
+of tone disappeared entirely. "Mary will be pleased to see you, Mr
+Wentworth. I will go and relieve her presently. Papa is asleep just
+now, and I was down-stairs giving some directions when you came in. I
+wanted to ask you to look after that poor woman at No. 10. She still
+keeps living on, and I have not been able to see her today. She misses
+me when I don't go," said Lucy, with a very little unconscious sigh.
+"Would you see her, please, to-morrow, if you have time?"
+
+"Yes, certainly," said the Curate; and then there was a pause. "Is
+there nothing but this that you will let me do for you?" he asked,
+trusting to his looks to show the heart, which at this moment he was
+so much tempted to disclose to her, but dared not. And even in all her
+trouble Lucy was too much of a woman to neglect an opportunity so
+tempting.
+
+"Thank you," she said. "Yes, there are those poor little Bertrams I
+was to have seen today--if you would be so very good as to send some
+one to them." Lucy lifted her eyes only as she ended this little
+speech. She had meant it cruelly, to be sure, and the arrow had gone
+home; but when she met the look that was fixed on her after her little
+shaft was fired, Lucy's resolution faltered. The tears came rushing to
+her eyes so hot and rapid that she could not restrain them. Some
+trouble of her own gave poignancy to that outbreak of filial grief.
+"Papa is so very ill!" she said, with a sob, as a scalding drop fell
+upon her hand; and then got up suddenly, afraid of the consequences.
+But the Curate, mortified, wounded, and disheartened as he was, had no
+comprehension either of the bitterness or the relenting that was in
+Lucy's thoughts. Rosa Elsworthy did not so much as occur to him in all
+his confused wonderings. He went after her to the door, too much
+perplexed and distressed to be indignant, as his first impulse was.
+She turned half round, with a tremulous little inclination of her
+head, which was all the good-night she could venture on. But the young
+man was too much disturbed to permit this.
+
+"You will give me your hand, surely," he said, taking it, and holding it
+fast--a hand so different from that weak woman's hand that clung to
+Gerald without any force to hold him, in Wentworth Rectory. Those
+reluctant fingers, so firm and so soft, which scorned any struggle to
+withdraw themselves, but remained passive in his with a more effectual
+protest still against his grasp, wrung the very heart of the Perpetual
+Curate. He let them go with a sigh of vexation and disappointment.
+"Since that is all I can do, I will do it," he said--"that or anything
+else." She had left him almost before the words were said; and it was in
+a very disconsolate mood that he turned back into the deserted
+drawing-room. To tell the truth, he forgot everything else for the
+moment, asking himself what it could mean; and walked about stumbling
+over the chairs, feeling all his little edifice of personal consolation
+falling to the winds, and not caring much though everything else should
+follow. He was in this state of mind when Miss Wodehouse came to him,
+moving with noiseless steps, as everybody did in the stricken house.
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, I am so glad you have come," said that mild woman,
+holding out both her hands to him. She was too much agitated to say
+anything more. She was not equal to the emergency, or any emergency,
+but sank down on a chair, and relieved herself by tears, while the
+Curate stood anxiously by, waiting for what she had to say to him. "My
+father is very ill," she said, like Lucy, through her crying; "I don't
+know what good anybody can do; but thank God you've come home--now I
+shall feel I have somebody to apply to, whatever happens," said poor
+Miss Wodehouse, drying the eyes that were suffused again the next
+moment. Her helpless distress did not overwhelm the spectator, like
+Lucy's restrained trouble, but that was natural enough.
+
+"Tell me about it," said Mr Wentworth; "the cause--can I guess at the
+cause? it is something about your--"
+
+"Oh hush! don't say his name," cried Miss Wodehouse. "Yes, yes, what
+else could it be? Oh, Mr Wentworth, will you close the door, please,
+and see that there's no one about. I dare not speak to you till I am
+sure there's no one listening; not that I suspect anybody of
+listening," said the distressed woman; "but one never knows. I am
+afraid it is all my fault," she continued, getting up suddenly to see
+that the windows were closed. "I ought to have sent him away, instead
+of putting my trouble upon you; and now he is in greater danger than
+ever. Oh, Mr Wentworth, I meant it for the best; and now, unless you
+can help us, I don't know what I am to do."
+
+"I cannot help you unless you tell me what is wrong," said the Curate,
+making her sit down, and drawing a chair close to her. He took her
+hand, by way of compelling her attention--a fair, soft hand, too, in
+its restless, anxious way. He held it in a brotherly grasp, trying to
+restore her to coherence, and induce her to speak.
+
+"I don't know enough about business to tell you," she said. "He was in
+danger when I threw him upon your charity; and oh, Mr Wentworth, thank
+you, thank you a thousand times, for taking him in like a brother. If
+Lucy only knew! But I don't feel as if I dared to tell her--and yet I
+sometimes think I ought, for your--I mean for all our sakes. Yes, I will
+try to explain it if I can; but I can't--indeed I don't understand,"
+cried the poor lady, in despair. "It is something about a bill--it was
+something about a bill before; and I thought I could soften papa, and
+persuade him to be merciful; but it has all turned to greater
+wretchedness and misery. The first one was paid, you know, and I thought
+papa might relent;--but--don't cast us off, Mr Wentworth--don't go and
+denounce him; you might, but you will not. It would be justice, I
+acknowledge," cried the weeping woman; "but there is something higher
+than justice even in this world. You are younger than I am, and so is
+Lucy; but you are better than me, you young people, and you must be more
+merciful too. I have seen you going among the poor people and among the
+sick, and I could not have done it; and you won't forsake me--oh, Mr
+Wentworth, you won't forsake me, when you know that my trouble is
+greater than I can bear!"
+
+"I will not forsake you," said the Curate; "but tell me what it is. I
+have been summoned to Carlingford by my brother, and I am bewildered
+and disturbed beyond what I can tell you--"
+
+"By your brother?" said Miss Wodehouse, with her unfailing instinct of
+interest in other people. "I hope there is no trouble in your own
+family, Mr Wentworth. One gets so selfish when one is in great
+distress. I hope he is not ill. It sounds as if there was comfort in
+the very name of a brother," said the gentle woman, drying her tears,
+"and I hope it is so with you; but it isn't always so. I hope you will
+find he is better when you get home. I am very, very sorry to hear
+that you are in trouble too."
+
+Mr Wentworth got up from his chair with a sigh of impatience. "Will
+nobody tell me what is the matter?" he said. "Mr Wodehouse is ill, and
+there is some mysterious cause for it; and you are miserable, and
+there is a cause for that too; and I am to do something to set things
+right without knowing what is wrong. Will you not tell me? What is it?
+Has your--"
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't say anybody's name--don't speak so loud.
+There may be a servant in the staircase or something," cried Miss
+Wodehouse. "I hear somebody coming now." She got up to listen, her
+face growing white with panic, and went a few steps towards the door,
+and then tottered into another chair, unable to command herself. A
+certain sick thrill of apprehension came over the Curate, too, as he
+hastened forward. He could not tell what he was afraid of, or whether
+it was only the accumulated agitation of the day that made him weak.
+Somebody was coming up the stairs, and towards the room, with a
+footstep more careless than those stealthy steps with which all the
+servants were stealing about the house. Whoever he was, he stopped at
+the door a moment, and then looked cautiously in. When he saw the
+figure of the Curate in the imperfect light, he withdrew his head
+again as if deliberating with himself, and then, with a sudden rush,
+came in, and shut the door after him. "Confound these servants,
+they're always prowling about the house," said the new-comer. He was
+an alarming apparition in his great beard and his shabbiness, and the
+fugitive look he had. "I couldn't help it," he broke forth, with a
+spontaneous burst of apology and self-defence. "I heard he was ill,
+and I couldn't keep quiet. How is he? You don't mean to say _that's_
+my fault. Molly, can't you speak to me? How could I tell I should find
+you and the parson alone here, and all safe? I might have been risking
+my--my--freedom--everything I care for; but when I heard he was ill, I
+couldn't stay quiet. Is he dying?--what's the matter? Molly, can't you
+speak?"
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, somebody will see him," cried Miss Wodehouse,
+wringing her hands. "Oh Tom, Tom, how could you do it? Suppose
+somebody was to come in--John or somebody. If you care for your own
+life, oh, go away, go away!"
+
+"They can't touch my life," said the stranger, sullenly. "I daresay
+she doesn't know that. Nor the parson need not look superior--there
+are more people concerned than I; but if I've risked everything to
+hear, you may surely tell me how the old man is."
+
+"If it was love that brought you," said poor Miss Wodehouse; "but oh,
+Tom, you know I can't believe that. He is very, very ill; and it is
+you that have done it," cried the mild woman, in a little gush of
+passion--"you whom he has forgiven and forgiven till his heart is
+sick. Go away, I tell you, go away from the house that you have
+shamed. Oh, Mr Wentworth, take him away," she cried, turning to the
+Curate with clasped hands--"tell him to hide--to fly--or he'll be
+taken: he will not be forgiven this time; and if my father--if my dear
+father dies--" But when she got so far her agitation interrupted her.
+She kept her eyes upon the door with a wild look of terror, and waved
+her helpless hands to warn the intruder away.
+
+"If he dies, matters will be altered," said the stranger: "you and I
+might change places then, for that matter. I'm going away from
+Carlingford. I can't stay in such a wretched hole any longer. It's
+gout or something?" said the man, with a tone of nature breaking
+through his bravado--"it's not anything that has happened? Say so, and
+I'll never trouble you more."
+
+"Oh, if Lucy were to see him!" said poor Miss Wodehouse. The words
+came unawares out of her heart without any thought; but the next thing
+of which she was conscious was that the Perpetual Curate had laid his
+hand on the stranger's arm, and was leading him reluctantly away. "I
+will tell you all you want to know," said Mr Wentworth, "but not
+here;" and with his hand upon the other's arm, moved him somehow with
+an irresistible command, half physical, half mental, to the door.
+Before Miss Wodehouse could say anything they were gone; before she
+could venture to draw that long sighing breath of relief, she heard
+the door below close, and the retreating footsteps in the garden. But
+the sound, thankful though she was, moved her to another burst of
+bitter tears. "To think I should have to tell a stranger to take him
+away," she sobbed, out of the anguish of her heart; and sat weeping
+over him with a relenting that wrung her tender spirit, without power
+to move till the servant came up with alarmed looks to ask if any one
+had come in in his absence. "Oh, no; it was only Mr Wentworth--and
+a--gentleman who came to fetch him," said Miss Wodehouse. And she got
+up, trembling as she was, and told John he had better shut up the
+house and go to bed. "For I hope papa will have a better night, and
+we must not waste our strength," she said, with a kind of woeful
+smile, which was a wonder to John. He said Miss Wodehouse was a
+tender-hearted one, to be sure, when he went down-stairs; but that was
+no very novel piece of information to anybody there.
+
+Meantime the Curate went down Grange Lane with that strange lodger of
+Mrs Hadwin's, who had broken thus into Miss Wodehouse's solitude. They
+did not say much to each other as they went sullenly side by side down
+the silent road; for the stranger, whose feelings were not complicated
+by any very lively sense of gratitude, looked upon his companion as a
+kind of jailer, and had an unspeakable grudge against the man who
+exercised so calm an ascendancy over him; though to be sure it might
+have been difficult to resist the moral force of the Curate of St
+Roque's, who was three inches taller than himself, and had the
+unbroken vigour of youth and health to back him. As for Mr Wentworth,
+he went on without speaking, with a bitterness in his heart not to be
+expressed. His own personal stronghold of happiness and consolation
+had shattered in pieces in that evening's interview; and as he went to
+his own house he asked himself what he should find in it? This
+wretched man, with whose sins he had been hitherto but partially
+acquainted; and Jack, with whom the other had heaven knew what
+horrible connection. Should he find a den of thieves where he had left
+only high thoughts and lofty intentions? It was thus, after his three
+days' absence, that he returned home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+When Mr Wentworth entered Mrs Hadwin's garden in the dark, his first
+glance up at the house showed him that a certain change had passed on
+it also. The decorous little house had been turned inside out. The
+windows of his own sitting-room were open, the blind drawn up to the
+top, and in addition to his usual lamp some candles were flaring
+wildly in the draught. He could see into the room as he paused at the
+garden-door, and was able to distinguish that the table was still
+covered as for dinner, and to catch the purple gleam of the light in
+the claret-jug which occupied the place of honour; but nobody was
+visible in the room. That wildly-illuminated and open apartment stood
+in strange contrast with the rest of the house, where everything was
+dark, save in Mrs Hadwin's own chamber. The Curate proceeded on his
+way, after that moment's pause, with hasty and impatient steps. On the
+way up he encountered Sarah the housemaid, who stopped in the middle
+of the stairs to make a frightened little curtsy, and utter an alarmed
+"La!" of recognition and surprise. But Sarah turned round as soon as
+she had recovered herself, to say that her missis wanted very bad to
+see Mr Wentworth as soon as he came home; but she was gone up to bed
+now, and didn't he think it would be a pity to wake her up? The Curate
+gave her only a little nod of general acquiescence, as he hurried on;
+but felt, notwithstanding, that this prompt request, ready prepared
+for his arrival, was a tacit protest against his guests, and
+expression of disapproval. Mrs Hadwin was only his landlady, an old
+woman, and not a particularly wise one, but her disapproval vexed the
+Perpetual Curate. It was a kind of sign of the times--those times in
+which it appeared that everybody was ready to turn upon him and
+embarrass his path. He had forgotten all about his companion as he
+hurried into the familiar room which was so little like itself, but
+yet was somehow conscious with annoyance that the stranger followed
+him through its half-shut door. The scene within was one which was
+never effaced from Mr Wentworth's memory. There were several bottles
+upon the table, which the poor Curate knew by sight, and which had
+been collected in his little cellar more for the benefit of Wharfside
+than of himself. Removed out of the current of air which was playing
+freely through the apartment, was some one lying on a sofa, with
+candles burning on a table beside him. He was in a dressing-gown, with
+his shirt open at the throat, and his languid frame extended in
+perfect repose to catch the refreshment of the breeze. Clouds of
+languid smoke, which were too far out of the way to feel the draught
+between the windows, curled over him: he had a cigar in one hand,
+which he had just taken from his lips, and with which he was faintly
+waving off a big night-moth which had been attracted by the lights;
+and a French novel, unmistakable in its paper cover, had closed upon
+the other. Altogether a more languid figure never lay at rest in
+undisturbed possession of the most legitimate retirement. He had the
+Wentworth hair, the golden-brown, which, like all their other family
+features, even down to their illnesses, the race was proud of, and a
+handsome silky beard. He had lived a hard life of pleasure and
+punishment; but though he had reached middle age, there was not a hair
+on the handsome reprobate's head which had changed out of its original
+colour. He looked languidly up when the door opened, but did not stop
+the delicate fence which he was carrying on against the moth, nor the
+polyglot oaths which he was swearing at it softly half under his
+breath.
+
+"Frank, I suppose," he said, calmly, as the Curate came hastily
+forward. "How d'ye do? I am very glad you've come back. The country
+was very charming the first day, but that's a charm that doesn't last.
+I suppose you've dined: or will you ring and order something?" he
+said, turning slowly round on his sofa. "Accidente! the thing will
+kill itself after all. Would you mind catching it in your handkerchief
+before you sit down? But don't take away the candles. It's too late to
+make any exertion," said the elegant prodigal, leaning back languidly
+on his sofa; "but I assure you that light is half my life."
+
+The Curate was tired, heated, and indignant. He lifted the candles
+away from the table, and then put them back again, too much excited to
+think of the moth. "Your arrival must have been very sudden," he said,
+throwing himself into the nearest chair. "I was very much surprised by
+your message. It looks inhospitable, but I see you make yourself quite
+at home--"
+
+"Perfectly," said the elder brother, resuming his cigar. "I always do.
+It is much more agreeable for all parties. But I don't know how it is
+that a man's younger brothers are always so rapid and unreasonable in
+their movements. Instead of saving that unhappy insect, you have
+precipitated its fate. Poor thing--and it had no soul," said the
+intruder, with a tone of pathos. The scene altogether was a curious
+one. Snugly sheltered from the draught, but enjoying the coolness of
+the atmosphere which it produced, lay the figure on the sofa at
+perfect ease and leisure, with the light shed brightly upon him, on
+his shining beard, the white cool expanse of linen at his breast, and
+the bright hues of his dressing-gown. Near him, fatigued, dusty,
+indignant, and perplexed, sat the Curate, with the night air playing
+upon him, and moving his disordered hair on his forehead; while at the
+other end of the room hovered the stranger who had followed Mr
+Wentworth--a broad, shabby, indistinct figure, who stood with his back
+to the others, looking vaguely out of the window into the darkness.
+Over these two the night air blew with no small force between the
+open windows, making the candles on the centre table flare wildly, and
+flapping the white tablecloth. An occasional puff from the cigar
+floated now and then across the room. It was a pause before the storm.
+
+"I was about to say," said the Perpetual Curate, "that though it might
+seem inhospitable, the first thing I had to ask was, What brought you
+here--and why did you send for me?"
+
+"Don't be abrupt, pray," said Jack, taking his cigar from his mouth,
+and slightly waving the hand that held it. "Don't let us plunge into
+business all at once. You bring a sense of fatigue into the room with
+you, and the atmosphere was delightful a little while ago. I flatter
+myself I know how to enjoy the cool of the evening. Suppose you were
+to--ah--refresh yourself a little," he said, with a disapproving
+glance at his brother's dusty boots, "before we begin to talk of our
+affairs."
+
+The Curate of St Roque's got up from his chair, feeling that he had an
+unchristian inclination to kick the heir of the Wentworths. As he
+could not do that, he shut the window behind him emphatically, and
+extinguished the flaring candles on the centre table. "I detest a
+draught," said the Perpetual Curate, which, unfortunately, was not a
+statement entirely founded on fact, though so far true in the present
+instance that he hated anything originated by the intruder. "I have
+hurried home in reply to your message, and I should be glad to know
+what it means, now that I am here--what you are in trouble about--and
+why you come to me--and what you have to do with him?"
+
+"But you need not have deranged the temperature," said Jack.
+"Impetuosity always distresses me. All these are questions which it
+will take some time to answer. Let me persuade you, in the first
+place, to make yourself comfortable. Don't mind me; I am at the crisis
+of my novel, which is very interesting. I have just been thinking how
+it might be adapted for the stage--there's a character that Fechter
+could make anything of. Now, my dear fellow, don't stand on ceremony.
+Take a bath and change your dress, and in the mean time there will be
+time to cook something--the cookery here is not bad for the country.
+After that we'll discuss all our news. I daresay our friend there is
+in no hurry," said the elder brother, opening his book and puffing
+slowly towards the Curate the languid smoke of his cigar.
+
+"But, by Jove, I _am_ in a hurry, though," said that nameless
+individual, coming forward. "It's all very well for you: you put a man
+up to everything that's dangerous, and then you leave him in the
+lurch, and say it don't matter. I daresay it don't matter to you. All
+that you've done has been to share the profit--you've nothing to do
+with the danger; but I'm savage to-night, and I don't mean to stand it
+any more," said the stranger, his great chest expanding with a panting
+breath. He, too, looked as if he would have liked to seize the languid
+spectator in his teeth and shake some human feeling into him. Jack
+Wentworth raised his eyebrows and looked at him, as he might have
+looked at a wild beast in a rage.
+
+"Sit down, savage, and be quiet," he said. "Why should I trouble
+myself about you?--any fool could get into your scrape. I am not in
+the habit of interfering in a case of common crime. What I do, I do
+out of pity," he continued, with an air of superiority, quite
+different from his tone to his brother. But this look, which had
+answered before, was not successful to-night.
+
+"By Jove, I _am_ savage!" said the other, setting his teeth, "and I
+know enough of your ways to teach you different behaviour. The parson
+has treated me like a gentleman--like what I used to be, though he
+don't like me; but you!--By Jove! It was only my own name I signed,
+after all," he continued, after a pause, lowering his voice; "but you,
+you blackleg--"
+
+"Stop a little," said the Curate, rising up. "Though you seem both to
+have forgotten it, this is my room. I don't mean to have any
+altercations here. I have taken you in for the sake of your--family,"
+said Mr Wentworth, with a momentary gasp, "and you have come because
+you are my brother. I don't deny any natural claims upon me; but I am
+master of my own house and my own leisure. Get up, Jack, and tell me
+what you want. When I understand what it is, you can lounge at your
+will; but in the mean time get up and explain: and as for you,
+Wodehouse--"
+
+Jack Wentworth faced round on his sofa, and then, with a kind of
+involuntary motion, slid his feet to the ground. He looked at his
+brother with extreme amazement as he closed his novel and tossed away
+the end of his cigar. "It's much better not to mention names," he
+said, in a half-apologetic way. "Our friend here is under a temporary
+cloud. His name, in fact, is--Smith, I think." But as he spoke he sat
+upright, a little startled to find that Frank, whom he remembered only
+as a lad, was no longer to be coerced and concussed. As for the other,
+he came forward with the alacrity of a man who began to see some hope.
+
+"By Jove, my name _is_ Wodehouse, though," he said, in the argumentative
+tone which seemed habitual to him; his voice came low and grumbling
+through his beard. He was not of the class of triumphant sinners,
+whatever wickedness he might be capable of. To tell the truth, he had
+long, long ago fallen out of the butterfly stage of dissipation, and had
+now to be the doer of dirty work, despised and hustled about by such men
+as Jack Wentworth. The wages of sin had long been bitter enough, though
+he had neither any hope of freeing himself, nor any wish to do so; but
+he took up a grumbling tone of self-assertion as soon as he had an
+opening. "The parson treats me like a gentleman--like what I used to
+be," he repeated, coming into the light, and drawing a chair towards the
+table. "My name is Wodehouse--it's my own name that I have signed after
+all, by Jove!" said the unlucky prodigal. It seemed to give him a little
+comfort to say that over again, as if to convince himself.
+
+"As for Wodehouse, I partly understand what he has done," said the
+Curate. "It appears likely that he has killed his father, by the way;
+but I suppose you don't count that. It is forgery in the mean time; I
+understand as much."
+
+"It's my name as well as his, by Jove!" interrupted, hastily, the
+stranger, under his breath.
+
+"Such strong terms are unnecessary," said Jack; "everybody knows that
+bills are drawn to be renewed, and nursed, and taken care of. We've
+had a great failure in luck as it happens, and these ones have come
+down to this deuced place; and the old fellow, instead of paying them
+like a gentleman, has made a row, and dropped down dead, or something.
+I suppose you don't know any more than the women have told you. The
+old man made a row in the office, and went off in fire and flame, and
+gave up our friend here to his partner's tender mercies. I sent for
+you, as you've taken charge of him. I suppose you have your reasons.
+This is an unlikely corner to find him in, and I suppose he couldn't
+be safer anywhere. That's about the state of the case. I came down to
+look after him, out of kind feeling," said the heir of the Wentworths.
+"If you don't mean to eat any dinner, have a cigar."
+
+"And what have you to do with each other? what is the connection
+between you?" said the Curate of St Roque's. "I have my reasons, as
+you say, for taking an interest in him--but you--"
+
+"I am only your elder brother," said Jack, shrugging his shoulders and
+resuming his place on the sofa. "We understand that difference.
+Business connection--that's all," he said, leisurely selecting another
+cigar from his case. When he had lighted it, he turned round and fixed
+his eyes upon the stranger. "We don't want any harm to happen to him,"
+he said, with a little emphasis. "I have come here to protect him. If
+he keeps quiet and doesn't show, it will blow over. The keenest spy in
+the place could scarcely suspect him to be here. I have come entirely
+on his account--much to my own disgust--and yours," said the
+exquisite, with another shrug. He laid back his head and looked up at
+the ceiling, contemplating the fragrant wreaths of smoke with the air
+of a man perfectly at his ease. "We don't mean him to come to any
+harm," said Jack Wentworth, and stretched out his elegant limbs on the
+sofa, like a potentate satisfied that his protection was enough to
+make any man secure.
+
+"I'm too much in their secrets, by Jove!" said poor Wodehouse, in his
+beard. "I _do_ know their secrets, though they talk so big. It's not
+any consideration for me. It's to save themselves, by Jove, that's
+what it is!" cried the indignant drudge, of whom his superior deigned
+to take no notice. As for Mr Wentworth, he rose from his seat in a
+state of suppressed indignation, which could not express itself merely
+in words.
+
+"May I ask what share I am expected to play in the drama?" he asked,
+pushing his chair aside in his excitement. The elder brother turned
+instinctively, and once more slid his feet to the ground. They looked
+at each other for a moment; the Curate, pale with a passion which he
+could not conceal, had something in his eyes which brought shame even
+to Jack Wentworth's face.
+
+"You can betray him if you like," he said, sulkily. "I have
+no--particular interest in the matter; but in that case he had
+better make the best of his time and get away. You hear?" said the
+master-spirit, making a sign to Wodehouse. He had roused himself up, and
+looked now like a feline creature preparing for a spring--his eyes were
+cast down, but under the eyelids he followed his brother's movements
+with vigilant observation. "If you like, you can betray him," he
+repeated, slowly, understanding, as bad men so often do, the
+generosities of the nature to which his own was so much opposed.
+
+And perhaps there was an undue degree of exasperation in the indignant
+feelings which moved Mr Wentworth. He kicked off his dusty boots with
+an indecorum quite unusual to him, and hunted up his slippers out of
+the adjoining room with perhaps an unnecessary amount of noise and
+haste. Then he went and looked out of the window into the serene
+summer darkness and the dewy garden, getting a little fresh air upon
+his heated face. Last of all he came back, peremptory and decided. "I
+shall not betray him," said the Perpetual Curate; "but I will have no
+further schemes concocted nor villany carried on in my house. If I
+consent to shield him, and, if possible, save him from the law, it is
+neither for his sake--nor yours," said the indignant young man. "I
+suppose it is no use saying anything about your life; but both of you
+have fathers very like to die of this--"
+
+"My dear fellow," said Jack Wentworth, "we have gone through that
+phase ages ago. Don't be so much after date. I have brought down my
+father's grey hairs, &c., a hundred times; and, I daresay, so has he.
+Don't treat us as if we were in the nursery--a parson of advanced
+views like you should have something a little more novel to say."
+
+"And so I have," said Mr Wentworth, with a heightened colour. "There
+are capital rooms at the Blue Boar, which you will find very
+comfortable, I am sure. I don't remember that we have ever been more
+than acquaintances; and to take possession of a man's house in his
+absence argues a high degree of friendship, as you are aware. It will
+be with difficulty that I shall find room for myself to-night; but
+to-morrow, I trust, if business requires you to remain in Carlingford,
+you will be able to find accommodation at the Blue Boar."
+
+The elder brother grew very red all over his face. "I will go at
+once," he said, with a little start; and then he took a second
+thought. "It is a poor sort of way of winning a victory," he said, in
+contemptuous tones, after he had overcome his first impulse; "but if
+you choose that, it is no matter to me. I'll go to-morrow, as you
+say--to pack up to-night is too much for my energies. In the mean time
+it won't disturb you, I hope, if I go on with my novel. I don't
+suppose any further civilities are necessary between you and me," said
+Jack, once more putting up his feet on the sofa. He arranged himself
+with an indifference which was too genuine for bravado, opening his
+book, and puffing his cigar with great coolness. He did all but turn
+his back upon the others, and drew the little table nearer to him, in
+utter disregard of the fact that the Curate was leaning his arm on it.
+In short, he retired from the contest with a kind of grandeur, with
+his cigar and his novel, and the candles which lighted him up
+placidly, and made him look like the master of the house and the
+situation. There was a pause for some minutes, during which the others
+looked on--Mr Wentworth with a perfectly unreasonable sense of defeat,
+and poor Wodehouse with that strange kind of admiration which an
+unsuccessful good-for-nothing naturally feels for a triumphant rascal.
+They were in the shade looking on, and he in the light enjoying
+himself calmly in his way. The sight put an end to various twinges of
+repentance in the bosom of the inferior sinner. Jack Wentworth, lying
+on the sofa in superb indifference, victorious over all sense of
+right, did more to confirm his humble admirer in the life which he had
+almost made up his mind to abandon, than even his own inclination
+towards forbidden pleasure. He was dazzled by the success of his
+principal; and in comparison with that instructive sight, his father's
+probable deathbed, his sisters' tears, and even his own present
+discomfort, faded into insignificance. What Jack Wentworth was, Tom
+Wodehouse could never be; but at least he could follow his great model
+humbly and afar off. These sentiments made him receive but sulkily the
+admonitions of the Curate, when he led the way out of the preoccupied
+sitting-room; for Mr Wentworth was certainly not the victor in this
+passage of arms.
+
+"I will do what I can to help you out of this," said the Curate,
+pausing within the door of Wodehouse's room, "for the sake of
+your--friends. But look here, Wodehouse; I have not preached to you
+hitherto, and I don't mean to do so now. When a man has done a crime,
+he is generally past preaching. The law will punish you for forging
+your father's name--"
+
+"It's _my_ name as well as his, by Jove!" interrupted the culprit,
+sullenly; "I've a right to sign it wherever I please."
+
+"But the law," said Mr Wentworth, with emphasis, "has nothing to do
+with the breaking of your father's heart. If he dies, think whether
+the recollection will be a comfortable one. I will save you, if I can,
+and there is time, though I am compromised already, and it may do me
+serious injury. If you get free and are cleared from this, will you go
+away and break off your connection with--yes, you are quite right--I
+mean with my brother, whatever the connection may be? I will only
+exert myself for you on condition that you promise. You will go away
+somehow, and break off your old habits, and try if it is possible to
+begin anew?"
+
+Wodehouse paused before he answered. The vision of Jack in the
+Curate's sitting-room still dazzled him. "You daren't say as much to
+your brother as you say to me," he replied, after a while, in his
+sulky way; "but I'm a gentleman, by Jove, as well as he is." And he
+threw himself down in a chair, and bit his nails, and grumbled into
+his beard. "It's hard to ask a fellow to give up his liberty," he
+said, without lifting his eyes. Mr Wentworth, perhaps, was a little
+contemptuous of the sullen wretch who already had involved him in so
+much annoyance and trouble.
+
+"You can take your choice," he said; "the law will respect your
+liberty less than I shall;" and all the Curate's self-control could
+not conceal a certain amount of disdain.
+
+"By Jove!" said Wodehouse, lifting up his eyes, "if the old man should
+die, you'd change your tone;" and then he stopped short and looked
+suspiciously at the Curate. "There's no will, and I'm the heir," he
+said, with sullen braggadocio. Mr Wentworth was still young, and this
+look made him sick with disgust and indignation.
+
+"Then you can take your chance," he said, impatiently, making a hasty
+step to the door. He would not return, though his ungrateful guest
+called him back, but went away, much excited and disgusted, to see if
+the fresh air outside would restore his composure. On his way
+down-stairs, he again met Sarah, who was hovering about in a restless
+state of curiosity. "I've made a bed for you, please, sir, in the little
+dressing-room," said Sarah; "and, please, Cook wants to know, wouldn't
+you have anything to eat?" The question reminded Mr Wentworth that he
+had eaten nothing since luncheon, which he took in his father's house.
+Human nature, which can bear great blows with elasticity so wonderful,
+is apt to be put out, as everybody knows, by their most trifling
+accessories, and a man naturally feels miserable when he had had no
+dinner, and has not a place to shelter him while he snatches a necessary
+mouthful. "Never mind; all the rooms are occupied to-night," said the
+Perpetual Curate, feeling thoroughly wretched. But Cook and Sarah had
+arranged all that, being naturally indignant that their favourite
+clergyman should be put "upon" by his disorderly and unexpected guests.
+
+"I have set your tray, sir, in missis's parlour," said Sarah, opening
+the door to that sanctuary; and it is impossible to describe the sense
+of relief with which the Perpetual Curate flung himself down on Mrs
+Hadwin's sofa, deranging a quantity of cushions and elaborate
+crochet-work draperies without knowing it. Here at least he was safe
+from intrusion. But his reflections were far from being agreeable as
+he ate his beef-steak. Here he was, without any fault of his own,
+plunged into the midst of a complication of disgrace and vice. Perhaps
+already the name of Lucy Wodehouse was branded with her brother's
+shame; perhaps still more overwhelming infamy might overtake, through
+that means, the heir and the name of the Wentworths. And for himself,
+what he had to do was to attempt with all his powers to defeat
+justice, and save from punishment a criminal for whom it was
+impossible to feel either sympathy or hope. When he thought of Jack
+up-stairs on the sofa over his French novel, the heart of the Curate
+burned within him with indignation and resentment; and his disgust at
+his other guest was, if less intense, an equally painful sensation. It
+was hard to waste his strength, and perhaps compromise his character,
+for such men as these; but on the other hand he saw his father, with
+that malady of the Wentworths hanging over his head, doing his best to
+live and last, like a courageous English gentleman as he was, for the
+sake of "the girls" and the little children, who had so little to
+expect from Jack; and poor stupid Mr Wodehouse dying of the crime
+which assailed his own credit as well as his son's safety. The Curate
+of St Roque's drew a long breath, and raised himself up unconsciously
+to his full height as he rose to go up-stairs. It was he against the
+world at the moment, as it appeared. He set himself to his uncongenial
+work with a heart that revolted against the evil cause of which he was
+about to constitute himself the champion. But for the Squire, who had
+misjudged him--for Lucy who had received him with such icy smiles, and
+closed up her heart against his entrance;--sometimes there is a kind
+of bitter sweetness in the thought of spending love and life in one
+lavish and prodigal outburst upon those to whom our hearts are bound,
+but whose affections make us no return.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+The Curate went to breakfast next morning with a little curiosity and
+a great deal of painful feeling. He had been inhospitable to his
+brother, and a revulsion had happened such as happens invariably when
+a generous man is forced by external circumstances to show himself
+churlish. Though his good sense and his pride alike prevented him
+from changing his resolution of the previous night, still his heart
+had relented toward Jack, and he felt sorry and half ashamed to meet
+the brother to whom he had shown so much temper and so little
+kindness. It was much later than usual when he came down-stairs, and
+Jack was just coming out of the comfortable chamber which belonged of
+right to his brother, when the Curate entered the sitting-room. Jack
+was in his dressing-gown, as on the previous night, and came forth
+humming an air out of the 'Trovatore,' and looking as wholesomely
+fresh and clean and dainty as the most honest gentleman in England. He
+gave his brother a good-humoured nod, and wished him good morning. "I
+am glad to see you don't keep distressingly early hours," he said,
+between the bars of the air he was humming. He was a man of perfect
+digestion, like all the Wentworths, and got up accordingly, in a good
+temper, not disposed to make too much of any little incivility that
+might have taken place. On the contrary, he helped himself to his
+brother's favourite omelet with the most engaging cheerfulness, and
+entered into such conversation as might be supposed to suit a
+Perpetual Curate in a little country town.
+
+"I daresay you have a good many nice people about here," said Jack.
+"I've done nothing but walk about since I came--and it does a man good
+to see those fresh little women with their pink cheeks. There's one, a
+sister of our friend's, I believe," he continued, with a nod towards
+the door to indicate Wodehouse--"an uncommonly pretty girl, I can tell
+you; and there's a little rosebud of a creature at that shop, whom,
+they tell me, you're interested in. Your living is not worth much, I
+suppose? It's unlucky having two clergymen in a family; but, to be
+sure, you're going in for Skelmersdale. By the way, that reminds
+me--how are the aunts? I have not heard anything of them for ages.
+Female relations of that description generally cling to the parsons of
+the race. I suppose they are all living--all three? Some people never
+seem to die."
+
+"They are here," said the Curate, succinctly, "living in Carlingford.
+I wonder nobody has told you."
+
+A sudden bright spark lighted in the prodigal's eyes. "Ah, they are
+here, are they?" he said, after a momentary pause; "so much the better
+for you; but in justice you ought to be content with the living. I say
+so as your elder brother. Gerald has the best right to what they've
+got to leave. By the by, how are Gerald and the rest? you've just been
+there. I suppose our respected parent goes on multiplying. To think of
+so many odious little wretches calling themselves Wentworth is enough
+to make one disgusted with the name."
+
+"My father was very ill when I left; he has had another attack," said
+the Curate. "He does not seem able to bear any agitation. Your telegram
+upset him altogether. I don't know what you've been about--he did not
+tell me," continued the younger brother, with a little emotion, "but he
+is very uneasy about you."
+
+"Ah, I daresay," said Jack; "that's natural; but he's wonderfully
+tough for such an old fellow. I should say it would take twenty
+attacks to finish him; and this is the second, isn't it? I wonder how
+long an interval there was between the two; it would be a pretty
+calculation for a _post-obit_. Wodehouse seems to have brought his
+ancestor down at the first shot almost; but then there's no entail in
+his case, and the old fellow may have made a will. I beg your pardon;
+you don't like this sort of talk. I forgot you were a clergyman. I
+rather like this town of yours, do you know. Sweet situation, and good
+for the health, I should say. I'll take your advice, I think, about
+the--how did you call it?--Black Boar. Unless, indeed, some charitable
+family would take me in," said the elder brother, with a glance from
+under his eyelids. His real meaning did not in the least degree
+suggest itself to the Curate, who was thinking more of what was past
+than of what was to come.
+
+"You seem to take a great interest in Wodehouse?" said Mr Wentworth.
+
+"Yes; and so do you," said Jack, with a keen glance of curiosity--"I
+can't tell why. My interest in him is easily explained. If the affair
+came to a trial, it might involve other people who are of retiring
+dispositions and dislike publicity. I don't mind saying," continued
+the heir of the Wentworths, laying down his knife and fork, and
+looking across at his brother with smiling candour, "that I might
+myself be brought before the world in a way which would wound my
+modesty; so it must not be permitted to go any further, you perceive.
+The partner has got a warrant out, but has not put it into execution
+as yet. That's why I sent for you. You are the only man, so far as I
+can see, that can be of any use."
+
+"I don't know what you mean," said the Curate, hastily, "nor what
+connection you can possibly have with Wodehouse; perhaps it is better
+not to inquire. I mean to do my best for him, independent of you."
+
+"Do," said Jack Wentworth, with a slight yawn; "it is much better not to
+inquire. A clergyman runs the risk of hearing things that may shock him
+when he enters into worldly business; but the position of mediator is
+thoroughly professional. Now for the Black Boar. I'll send for my traps
+when I get settled," he said, rising in his languid way. He had made a
+very good breakfast, and he was not at all disposed to make himself
+uncomfortable by quarrelling with his brother. Besides, he had a new
+idea in his mind. So he gave the Curate another little good-humoured
+nod, and disappeared into the sleeping-room, from which he emerged a few
+minutes after with a coat replacing the dressing-gown, ready to go out.
+"I daresay I shall see you again before I leave Carlingford," he said,
+and left the room with the utmost suavity. As for Mr Wentworth, it is
+probable that his brother's serenity had quite the reverse of a soothing
+effect upon his mind and temper. He rose from the table as soon as Jack
+was gone, and for a long time paced about the room composing himself,
+and planning what he was to do--so long, indeed, that Sarah, after
+coming up softly to inspect, had cleared the table and put everything
+straight in the room before the Curate discovered her presence. It was
+only when she came up to him at last, with her little rustical curtsy,
+to say that, please, her missis would like to see him for a moment in
+the parlour, that Mr Wentworth found out that she was there. This
+interruption roused him out of his manifold and complicated thoughts. "I
+am too busy just now, but I will see Mrs Hadwin to-night," he said; "and
+you can tell her that my brother has gone to get rooms at the Blue
+Boar." After he had thus satisfied the sympathetic handmaiden, the
+Curate crossed over to the closed door of Wodehouse's room and knocked.
+The inmate there was still in bed, as was his custom, and answered Mr
+Wentworth through his beard in a recumbent voice, less sulky and more
+uncertain than on the previous night. Poor Wodehouse had neither the
+nerve nor the digestion of his more splendid associate. He had no
+strength of evil in himself when he was out of the way of it; and the
+consequence of a restless night was a natural amount of penitence and
+shame in the morning. He met the Curate with a depressed countenance,
+and answered all his questions readily enough, even giving him the
+particulars of the forged bills, in respect to which Thomas Wodehouse
+the younger could not, somehow, feel so guilty as if it had been a name
+different from his own which he had affixed to those fatal bits of
+paper; and he did not hesitate much to promise that he would go abroad
+and try to make a new beginning if this matter could be settled. Mr
+Wentworth went out with some satisfaction after the interview, believing
+in his heart that his own remonstrances had had their due effect, as it
+is so natural to believe--for he did not know, having slept very
+soundly, that it had rained a good deal during the night, and that Mrs
+Hadwin's biggest tub (for the old lady had a passion for rain-water) was
+immediately under poor Wodehouse's window, and kept him awake as it
+filled and ran over all through the summer darkness. The recollection
+of Jack Wentworth, even in his hour of success, was insufficient to
+fortify the simple soul of his humble admirer against that ominous sound
+of the unseen rain, and against the flashes of sudden lightning that
+seemed to blaze into his heart. He could not help thinking of his
+father's sick-bed in those midnight hours, and of all the melancholy
+array of lost years which had made him no longer "a gentleman, as he
+used to be," but a skulking vagabond in his native place; and his
+penitence lasted till after he had had his breakfast and Mr Wentworth
+was gone. Then perhaps the other side of the question recurred to his
+mind, and he began to think that if his father died there might be no
+need for his banishment; but Mr Wentworth knew nothing of this change in
+his _protégé's_ sentiments, as he went quickly up Grange Lane. Wharfside
+and all the district had lain neglected for three long days, as the
+Curate was aware, and he had promised to call at No. 10 Prickett's Lane,
+and to look after the little orphan children whom Lucy had taken charge
+of. His occupations, in short, both public and private, were
+overpowering, and he could not tell how he was to get through them; for,
+in addition to everything else, it was Friday, and there was a litany
+service at twelve o'clock at St Roque's. So the young priest had little
+time to lose as he hurried up once again to Mr Wodehouse's green door.
+
+It was Miss Wodehouse who came to meet the Curate as soon as his
+presence was known in the house--Miss Wodehouse, and not Lucy, who
+made way for her sister to pass her, and took no notice of Mr
+Wentworth's name. The elder sister entered very hurriedly the little
+parlour down-stairs, and shut the door fast, and came up to him with
+an anxious inquiring face. She told him her father was just the same,
+in faltering tones. "And oh, Mr Wentworth, has anything happened?" she
+exclaimed, with endless unspeakable questions in her eyes. It was so
+hard for the gentle woman to keep her secret--the very sight of
+somebody who knew it was a relief to her heart.
+
+"I want you to give me full authority to act for you," said the
+Curate. "I must go to Mr Wodehouse's partner and discuss the whole
+matter."
+
+Here Miss Wodehouse gave a little cry, and stopped him suddenly. "Oh,
+Mr Wentworth, it would kill papa to know you had spoken to any one.
+You must send him away," she said, breathless with anxiety and terror.
+"To think of discussing it with any one when even Lucy does not
+know--!" She spoke with so much haste and fright that it was scarcely
+possible to make out her last words.
+
+"Nevertheless I must speak to Mr Waters," said the Curate; "I am going
+there now. He knows all about it already, and has a warrant for _his_
+apprehension; but we must stop that. I will undertake that it shall be
+paid, and you must give me full authority to act for you." When Miss
+Wodehouse met the steady look he gave her, she veered immediately from
+her fright at the thought of having it spoken of, to gratitude to him
+who was thus ready to take her burden into his hands.
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, it is so good of you--it is like a brother!" said
+the trembling woman; and then she made a pause. "I say a brother," she
+said, drawing an involuntary moral, "though we have never had any good
+of ours; and oh, if Lucy only knew--!"
+
+The Curate turned away hastily, and wrung her hand without being aware
+of it. "No," he said, with a touch of bitterness, "don't let her know.
+I don't want to appeal to her gratitude;" and with that he became
+silent, and fell to listening, standing in the middle of the room, if
+perhaps he might catch any sound of footsteps coming down-stairs.
+
+"She will know better some day," said Miss Wodehouse, wiping her eyes;
+"and oh, Mr Wentworth, if papa ever gets better--!" Here the poor lady
+broke down into inarticulate weeping. "But I know you will stand by
+us," she said, amid her tears; "it is all the comfort I have--and
+Lucy--"
+
+There was no sound of any footstep on the stair--nothing but the
+ticking of the timepiece on the mantelshelf, and the rustling of the
+curtains in the soft morning breeze which came through the open
+window, and Miss Wodehouse's crying. The Curate had not expected to
+see Lucy, and knew in his heart that it was better they should not
+meet just at this moment; but, notwithstanding this, it was strange
+how bitter and disappointed he felt, and what an impatient longing he
+had for one look of her, even though it should be a look which would
+drive him frantic with mortified love and disappointed expectation. To
+know that she was under the same roof, and that she knew he was here,
+but kept away, and did not care to see him, was gall to his excited
+mind. He went away hastily, pressing poor Miss Wodehouse's hand with a
+kind of silent rage. "Don't talk about Lucy," he said, half to
+himself, his heart swelling and throbbing at the sound of the name. It
+was the first time he had spoken it aloud to any ear but his own, and
+he left the house tingling with an indignation and mortification and
+bitter fondness which could not be expressed in words. What he was
+about to do was for her sake, and he thought to himself, with a
+forlorn pride, that she would never know it, and it did not matter. He
+could not tell that Lucy was glancing out furtively over the blind,
+ashamed of herself in her wounded heart for doing so, and wondering
+whether even now he was occupied with that unworthy love which had
+made an everlasting separation between them. If it had been any one
+worthy, it would have been different, poor Lucy thought, as she
+pressed back the tears into her eyes, and looked out wistfully at him
+over the blind. She above-stairs in the sick-room, and he in the fresh
+garden hastening out to his work, were both thinking in their hearts
+how perverse life was, and how hard it was not to be happy--as indeed
+they well might in a general way; though perhaps one glance of the
+Curate's eyes upward, one meeting of looks, might have resulted quite
+reasonably in a more felicitous train of thinking, at least for that
+day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+When Mr Wentworth arrived in the little vestry at St Roque's to robe
+himself for the approaching service, it was after a long and tough
+contest with Mr Wodehouse's partner, which had to a great extent
+exhausted his energies. Mr Wodehouse was the leading attorney in
+Carlingford, the chief family solicitor in the county, a man looked upon
+with favourable eyes even by the great people as being himself a cadet
+of a county family. His partner, Mr Waters, was altogether a different
+description of man. He was much more clever, and a good deal more like a
+gentleman, but he had not a connection in the world, and had fought his
+way up to prosperity through many a narrow, and perhaps, if people spoke
+true, many a dirty avenue to fortune. He was very glad of the chance
+which brought his partner's reputation and credit thus under his power,
+and he was by no means disposed to deal gently with the prodigal son.
+That is to say, he was quite disinclined to let the family out of his
+clutches easily, or to consent to be silent and "frustrate the ends of
+justice" for anything else than an important equivalent. Mr Wentworth
+had much ado to restrain his temper while the wily attorney talked about
+his conscience; for the Curate was clear-sighted enough to perceive at
+the first glance that Mr Waters had no real intention of proceeding to
+extremities. The lawyer would not pledge himself to anything,
+notwithstanding all Mr Wentworth's arguments. "Wodehouse himself was of
+the opinion that the law should take its course," he said; but out of
+respect for his partner he might wait a few days to see what turn his
+illness would take. "I confess that I am not adapted for my profession,
+Mr Wentworth. My feelings overcome me a great deal too often," said the
+sharp man of business, looking full into the Curate's eyes, "and while
+the father is dying I have not the heart to proceed against the son; but
+I pledge myself to nothing--recollect, to nothing." And with this and a
+very indignant mind Mr Wentworth had been forced to come away. His
+thoughts were occupied with the contrarieties of the world as he
+hastened along to St Roque's--how one man had to bear another's burdens
+in every station and capacity of life, and how another man triumphed and
+came to success by means of the misfortunes of his friends. It was hard
+to tell what made the difference, or how humankind got divided into
+these two great classes, for possibly enough the sharp attorney was as
+just in his way as the Curate; but Mr Wentworth got no more satisfaction
+in thinking of it than the speculatists generally have when they
+investigate this strange, wayward, fantastical humanity which is never
+to be calculated upon. He came into the little vestry of St Roque's,
+which was a stony little room with a groined roof and windows too
+severely English in their character to admit any great amount of light,
+with a sensation of fatigue and discouragement very natural to a man who
+had been interfering in other people's affairs. There was some comfort
+in the litany which he was just going to say, but not much comfort in
+any of the human individuals who would come into Mr Wentworth's mind as
+he paused in the midst of the suffrage for "sick persons" and for those
+who "had erred and were deceived," that the worshippers might whisper
+into God's ear the names for which their hearts were most concerned. The
+young priest sighed heavily as he put on his surplice, pondering all the
+obstinate selfishness and strange contradictions of men; and it was only
+when he heard a rather loud echo to his breath of weariness that he
+looked up and saw Elsworthy, who was contemplating him with a very
+curious expression of face. The clerk started a little on being
+discovered, and began to look over all the choristers' books and set
+them in readiness, though, indeed, there were no choristers on Fridays,
+but only the ladies, who chanted the responses a great deal more
+sweetly, and wore no surplices. Thinking of that, it occurred to Mr
+Wentworth how much he would miss the round full notes which always
+betrayed Lucy's presence to him even when he did not see her; and he
+forgot Elsworthy, and sighed again without thinking of any comment which
+might be made upon the sound.
+
+"I'm sorry to see, sir, as you aint in your usual good spirits?" said
+that observant spectator, coming closer up to "his clergyman."
+Elsworthy's eyes were full of meanings which Mr Wentworth could not,
+and had no wish to, decipher.
+
+"I am perfectly well, thank you," said the Perpetual Curate, with his
+coldest tone. He had become suspicious of the man, he could scarcely
+tell why.
+
+"There's a deal of people in church this morning," said the clerk; and
+then he came closer still, and spoke in a kind of whisper. "About that
+little matter as we was speaking of, Mr Wentworth--that's all
+straight, sir, and there aint no occasion to be vexed. She came back
+this morning," said Elsworthy, under his breath.
+
+"Who came back this morning?" asked the Curate, with a little
+surprise. His thoughts had been so much with Lucy that no one else
+occurred to him at the moment; and even while he asked the question,
+his busy fancy began to wonder where she could have been, and what
+motive could have taken her away?
+
+"I couldn't mean nobody but Rosa, as I talked to you about last
+night," said Elsworthy. "She's come back, sir, as you wished; and I
+_have_ heard as she was in Carlingford last night just afore you come,
+Mr Wentworth, when I thought as she was far enough off; which you'll
+allow, sir, whoever it was she come to see, it wasn't the right thing,
+nor what her aunt and me had reason to expect."
+
+The Curate of St Roque's said "Pshaw!" carelessly to himself. He was not
+at all interested in Rosa Elsworthy. Instead of making any answer, he
+drew on the scarlet band of his hood, and marched away gravely into the
+reading-desk, leaving the vestry-door open behind him for the clerk to
+follow. The little dangers that harassed his personal footsteps had not
+yet awakened so much as an anxiety in his mind. Things much more serious
+preoccupied his thoughts. He opened his prayer-book with a consciousness
+of the good of it which comes to men only now and then. At Oxford, in
+his day, Mr Wentworth had entertained his doubts like others, and like
+most people was aware that there were a great many things in heaven and
+earth totally unexplainable by any philosophy. But he had always been
+more of a man than a thinker, even before he became a high Anglican; and
+being still much in earnest about most things he had to do with, he
+found great comfort just at this moment, amid all his perplexities, in
+the litany he was saying. He was so absorbed in it, and so full of that
+appeal out of all troubles and miseries to the God who cannot be
+indifferent to His creatures, that he was almost at the last Amen before
+he distinguished that voice, which of all voices was most dear to him.
+The heart of the young man swelled, when he heard it, with a mingled
+thrill of sympathy and wounded feeling. She had not left her father's
+sick-bed to see _him_, but she _had_ found time to run down the sunny
+road to St Roque's to pray for the sick and the poor. When he knelt down
+in the reading-desk at the end of the service, was it wrong, instead of
+more abstract supplications, that the young priest said over and over,
+"God bless her," in an outburst of pity and tenderness? And he did not
+try to overtake her on the road, as he might have done had his heart
+been less deeply touched, but went off with abstracted looks to
+Wharfside, where all the poor people were very glad to see him, and
+where his absence was spoken of as if he had been three months instead
+of three days away. It was like going back a century or two into
+primitive life, to go into "the district," where civilisation did not
+prevail to any very distressing extent, and where people in general
+spoke their minds freely. But even when he came out of No. 10, where the
+poor woman still kept on living, Mr Wentworth was made aware of his
+private troubles; for on the opposite side of the way, where there was a
+little bit of vacant ground, the Rector was standing with some of the
+schismatics of Wharfside, planning how to place the iron church which,
+it was said, he meant to establish in the very heart of the "district."
+Mr Morgan took off his hat very stiffly to the Perpetual Curate, who
+returned up Prickett's Lane with a heightened colour and quickened
+pulse. A man must be an angel indeed who can see his work taken out of
+his hands and betray no human emotion. Mr Wentworth went into
+Elsworthy's, as he went back, to write a forcible little note to the
+Rector on the subject before he returned home. It was Rosa who handed
+him the paper he wanted, and he gave her a little nod without looking at
+her. But when he had closed his note, and laid it on the counter to be
+delivered, the Curate found her still standing near, and looked at the
+little blushing creature with some natural admiration. "So you have come
+back," he said; "but mind you don't go into Grange Lane any more after
+dark, little Rosa." When he had left the shop and finished this little
+matter, he bethought himself of his aunts, whom he had not seen since he
+returned. Aunt Dora was not at her usual sentinel window when he crossed
+Grange Lane towards their garden-door; and the door itself was open, and
+some one from the Blue Boar was carrying in a large portmanteau. Mr
+Wentworth's curiosity was strangely excited by the sight. He said, "Who
+has come, Lewis?" to Miss Wentworth's man, who stood in the hall
+superintending the arrival, but ran up-stairs without waiting for any
+answer. He felt by instinct that the visitor was some one likely to
+increase the confusion of affairs, and perplex matters more and more to
+himself.
+
+But even this presentiment did not prepare him for the astonishing sight
+which met his eyes when he entered the drawing-room. There the three
+ladies were all assembled, regarding with different developments of
+interest the new-comer, who had thrown himself, half-reclining, on a
+sofa. Aunt Dora was sitting by him with a bottle of eau-de-Cologne in
+her hand, for this meeting had evidently gone to the heart of the
+returned prodigal. Aunt Dora was ready to have sacrificed all the veal
+in the country in honour of Jack's repentance; and the Curate stood
+outside upon the threshold, looking at the scene with the strangest
+half-angry, half-comical realisation of the state of mind of the elder
+brother in the parable. He had himself been rather found fault with,
+excused, and tolerated, among his relations; but Jack had at once become
+master of the position, and taken possession of all their sympathies. Mr
+Wentworth stood gazing at them, half-amused, and yet more angry than
+amused--feeling, with a little indignation, as was natural, that the
+pretended penitence of the clever sinner was far more effective and
+interesting than his own spotless loyalty and truth. To be sure, they
+were only three old ladies--three old aunts--and he smiled at the sight;
+but though he smiled, he did not like it, and perhaps was more abrupt
+than usual in his salutations. Miss Leonora was seated at her
+writing-table, busy with her correspondence. The question of the new
+gin-palace was not yet decided, and she had been in the middle of a
+letter of encouragement to her agents on the subject, reminding them
+that, even though the licence was granted, the world would still go on
+all the same, and that the worst possibilities must be encountered,
+when Jack the prodigal made his appearance, with all the tokens of
+reformation and repentance about him, to throw himself upon the
+Christian charity of his relations. A penitent sinner was too tempting a
+bait for even Miss Leonora's good sense to withstand, and she had
+postponed her letter-writing to hear his explanations. But Jack had told
+his story by this time, and had explained how much he wanted to
+withdraw out of the world in which he had been led astray, and how sick
+he was of all its whirl of temptations and disappointment; and Miss
+Leonora had returned to her letter when her younger nephew arrived. As
+for Miss Wentworth, she was seated placidly in her usual easy-chair,
+smiling with equable smiles upon both the young men, and lifting her
+beautiful old cheek for Frank to kiss, just as she had lifted it to
+Jack. It was Miss Dora who was most shaken out of her allegiance; she
+who had always made Frank her special charge. Though she had wept
+herself into a day's headache on his behalf so short a time ago, aunt
+Dora for a moment had allowed the more effusive prodigal to supersede
+Frank. Instead of taking him into her arms as usual, and clinging to
+him, she only put the hand that held the eau-de-Cologne over his
+shoulder as she kissed him. Jack, who had been so dreadfully,
+inexpressibly wicked, and who had come back to his aunts to be converted
+and restored to his right mind, was more interesting than many curates.
+She sat down again by her penitent as soon as she had saluted his
+brother; and even Miss Leonora, when she paused in her letter, turned
+her eyes towards Jack.
+
+"So Gerald is actually going over to Rome," said the strong-minded
+aunt. "I never expected anything else. I had a letter from Louisa
+yesterday, asking me to use my influence: as if I had any influence
+over your brother! If a silly wife was any justification for a man
+making an idiot of himself, Gerald might be excused; but I suppose the
+next thing we shall hear of will be that you have followed him, Frank.
+Did you hear anything further about Janet and that lover of hers? In a
+large family like ours there is always something troublesome going
+on," said Miss Leonora. "I am not surprised to hear of your father's
+attack. _My_ father had a great many attacks, and lived to eighty; but
+he had few difficulties with the female part of his household," she
+continued, with a grim little smile--for Miss Leonora rather piqued
+herself upon her exemption from any known sentimental episode, even
+in her youth.
+
+"Dear Jack's return will make up for a great deal," said aunt Dora.
+"Oh, Frank, my dear, your brother has made us all so happy. He has
+just been telling us that he means to give up all his racing and
+betting and wickedness; and when he has been with us a little, and
+learned to appreciate a domestic circle--" said poor Miss Dora,
+putting her handkerchief to her eyes. She was so much overcome that
+she could not finish the sentence. But she put her disengaged hand
+upon Jack's arm and patted it, and in her heart concluded that as soon
+as the blanket was done for Louisa's bassinet, she would work him a
+pair of slippers, which should endear more and more to him the
+domestic circle, and stimulate the new-born virtue in his repentant
+heart.
+
+"I don't know what Jack's return may do," said Mr Wentworth, "but I
+hope you don't imagine it was Gerald who caused my father's illness.
+_You_ know better, at least," said the indignant Curate, looking at
+the hero on the sofa. That interesting reprobate lifted his eyes with
+a covert gleam of humour to the unresponsive countenance of his
+brother, and then he stroked his silky beard and sighed.
+
+"My dear aunt, Frank is right," said Jack, with a melancholy voice. "I
+have not concealed from you that my father has great reason to be
+offended with me. I have done very much the reverse of what I ought to
+have done. I see even Frank can't forgive me; and I don't wonder at
+it," said the prodigal, "though I have done him no harm that I know
+of;" and again the heir of the Wentworths sighed, and covered his face
+for a moment with his hand.
+
+"Oh, Frank," cried Miss Dora, with streaming eyes--"oh, my dear
+boy!--isn't there joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth? You're
+not going to be the wicked elder brother that grudged the prodigal his
+welcome--you're not going to give way to jealousy, Frank?"
+
+"Hold your tongue, Dora," said the iron-grey sister; "I daresay Frank
+knows a great deal better than you do; but I want to know about
+Gerald, and what is to be done. If he goes to Rome, of course you will
+take Wentworth Rectory; so it will not be an unmingled evil," said
+Miss Leonora, biting her pen, and throwing a keen glance at the Curate
+of St Roque's, "especially as you and we differ so entirely in our
+views. I could not consent to appoint anybody to Skelmersdale, even if
+poor Mr Shirley were to die, who did not preach the Gospel; and it
+would be sad for you to spend all your life in a Perpetual Curacy,
+where you could have no income, nor ever hope to be able to marry,"
+she continued steadily, with her eyes fixed upon her nephew. "Of
+course, if you had entered the Church for the love of the work, it
+would be a different matter," said the strong-minded aunt. "But that
+sort of thing seems to have gone out of fashion. I am sorry about
+Gerald--very sorry; but after what I saw of him, I am not surprised;
+and it is a comfort to one's mind to think that you will be provided
+for, Frank." Miss Leonora wrote a few words of the letter as she
+finished this speech. What she was saying in that epistle was (in
+reference to the gin-palace) that all discouragements were sent by
+God, and that, no doubt, His meaning was, that we should work all the
+harder to make way against them. After putting down which encouraging
+sentiment, she raised her eyes again, and planted her spear in her
+nephew's bosom with the greatest composure in the world.
+
+"My Perpetual Curacy suits me very well," said Mr Wentworth, with a
+little pride; "and there is a good deal to do in Carlingford. However,
+I did not come here to talk about that. The Rector is going to put up
+an iron church in my district," said the young man, who was rather
+glad of a subject which permitted a little of his indignation to
+escape. "It is very easy to interfere with other people's work." And
+then he paused, not choosing to grumble to an unsympathetic audience.
+To feel that nobody cares about your feelings, is better than all the
+rules of self-control. The Perpetual Curate stopped instinctively with
+a dignified restraint, which would have been impossible to him under
+other circumstances. It was no merit of his, but he reaped the
+advantage of it all the same.
+
+"But oh, my dear," said Miss Dora, "what a comfort to think of what St
+Paul says--'Whether it be for the right motive or not, Christ is still
+preached.' And one never knows what chance word may touch a heart,"
+said the poor little woman, shaking her limp curls away from her
+cheeks. "It was you being offended with him that made dear Jack think
+of coming to us; and what a happiness it is to think that he sees the
+error of his ways!" cried poor Miss Dora, drying her tears. "And oh,
+Frank, my dear boy, I trust you will take warning by your brother, and
+not run into temptation," continued the anxious aunt, remembering all
+her troubles. "If you were to go wrong, it would take away all the
+pleasure of life."
+
+"That is just what I was thinking," said aunt Cecilia from her
+easy-chair.
+
+"For, oh, Frank, my dear," said Miss Dora, much emboldened by this
+support, "you must consider that you are a clergyman, and there are a
+great many things that are wrong in a clergyman that would not matter in
+another man. Oh, Leonora, if you would speak to him, he would mind you,"
+cried the poor lady; "for you know a clergyman is quite different;" and
+Miss Dora again stopped short, and the three aunts looked at the
+bewildered Curate, who, for his part, sat gazing at them without an idea
+what they could mean.
+
+"What have I been doing that would be right in another man?" he said,
+with a smile which was slightly forced; and then he turned to Jack, who
+was laughing softly under his breath, and stroking his silky beard. The
+elder brother was highly amused by the situation altogether, but Frank,
+as was natural, did not see it in the same light. "What have you been
+saying?" said the indignant Curate; and his eyes gave forth a sudden
+light which frightened Miss Dora, and brought her in to the rescue.
+
+"Oh, Frank, he has not been saying anything," cried that troubled
+woman; "it is only what we have heard everywhere. Oh, my dear boy, it
+is only for your good I ever thought of speaking. There is nobody in
+the world to whom your welfare is so precious," said poor Miss Dora.
+"Oh, Frank, if you and your brother were to have any difference, I
+should think it all my fault--and I always said you did not mean
+anything," she said, putting herself and her eau-de-Cologne between
+the two, and looking as if she were about to throw herself into the
+Curate's arms. "Oh, Frank, dear, don't blame any one else--it is my
+fault!" cried aunt Dora, with tears; and the tender-hearted foolish
+creature kept between them, ready to rush in if any conflict should
+occur, which was a supposition much resented by the Curate of St
+Roque's.
+
+"Jack and I have no intention of fighting, I daresay," he said, drawing
+his chair away with some impatience; and Jack lay back on the sofa and
+stroked his beard, and looked on with the greatest composure while poor
+Miss Dora exhausted her alarm. "It is all my fault," sobbed aunt Dora;
+"but, oh, my dear boy, it was only for your good; and I always said you
+did not mean anything," said the discomfited peacemaker. All this,
+though it was highly amusing to the prodigal, was gall and bitterness to
+the Perpetual Curate. It moved him far more deeply than he could have
+imagined it possible for anything spoken by his aunt Dora to move him.
+Perhaps there is something in human nature which demands to be
+comprehended, even where it is aware that comprehension is impossible;
+and it wounded him in the most unreasonable way to have it supposed that
+he was likely to get into any quarrel with his brother, and to see Jack
+thus preferred to himself.
+
+"Don't be a fool," said Miss Leonora, sharply: "I wish you would
+confine yourself to Louisa's bassinet, and talk of things you can
+understand. I hope Frank knows what he is doing better than a set of
+old women. At the same time, Frank," said Miss Leonora, rising and
+leading the way to the door, "I want to say a word to you. Don't
+think you are above misconception. Most people believe a lie more
+readily than the truth. Dora is a fool," said the elder sister,
+pausing, when she had led her nephew outside the drawing-room door,
+"but so are most people; and I advise you to be careful, and not to
+give occasion for any gossip; otherwise, I don't say _I_ disapprove of
+your conduct." She had her pen in one hand, and held out the other to
+him, dismissing him; and even this added to the painful feeling in the
+Curate's heart.
+
+"I should hope not," he said, somewhat stiffly; "good-bye--my conduct is
+not likely to be affected by any gossip, and I don't see any need for
+taking precautions against imaginary danger." Miss Leonora thought her
+nephew looked very ungracious as he went away. She said to herself that
+Frank had a great deal of temper, and resembled his mother's family more
+than the Wentworths, as she went back to her writing-table; and though
+she could not disapprove of him, she felt vexed somehow at his rectitude
+and his impatience of advice; whereas, Jack, poor fellow! who had been a
+great sinner, was, according to all appearance, a great penitent also,
+and a true Wentworth, with all the family features. Such were Miss
+Leonora's thoughts as she went back to finish her letters, and to
+encourage her agents in her London district to carry on the good work.
+
+"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform," she wrote
+apropos of the gin-palace, and set very distinctly before her spiritual
+retainers all that Providence might intend by this unexpected hindrance;
+and so quite contented herself about her nephew, whose views on this and
+many other subjects were so different from her own.
+
+Meanwhile Mr Wentworth went about the rest of the day's work in a not
+unusual, but far from pleasant, frame of mind. When one suddenly feels
+that the sympathy upon which one calculated most surely has been
+withdrawn, the shock is naturally considerable. It might not be
+anything very great while it lasted, but still one feels the
+difference when it is taken away. Lucy had fallen off from him; and
+even aunt Dora had ceased to feel his concerns the first in the world.
+He smiled at himself for the wound he felt; but that did not remove
+the sting of it. After the occupations of the day were over, when at
+last he was going home, and when his work and the sense of fatigue
+which accompanied it had dulled his mind a little, the Curate felt
+himself still dwelling on the same matter, contemplating it in a
+half-comic point of view, as proud men are not unapt to contemplate
+anything that mortifies them. He began to realise, in a humorous way,
+his own sensations as he stood at the drawing-room door and recognised
+the prodigal on the sofa; and then a smile dawned upon his lip as he
+thought once more of the prodigal's elder brother, who regarded that
+business with unsympathetic eyes and grudged the supper. And from that
+he went into a half-professional line of thought, and imagined to
+himself, half smiling, how, if he had been Dr Cumming or the minister
+of Salem Chapel, he might have written a series of sermons on the
+unappreciated characters of Scripture, beginning with that virtuous
+uninteresting elder brother; from which suggestion, though he was not
+the minister of Salem nor Dr Cumming, it occurred to the Perpetual
+Curate to follow out the idea, and to think of such generous careless
+souls as Esau, and such noble unfortunates as the peasant-king, the
+mournful magnificent Saul--people not generally approved of, or
+enrolled among the martyrs or saints. He was pursuing this kind of
+half-reverie, half-thought, when he reached his own house. It was
+again late and dark, for he had dined in the mean time, and was going
+home now to write his sermon, in which, no doubt, some of these very
+ideas were destined to reappear. He opened the garden-gate with his
+latch-key, and paused, with an involuntary sense of the beauty and
+freshness of the night, as soon as he got within the sheltering walls.
+The stars were shining faint and sweet in the summer blue, and all
+the shrubs and the grass breathing forth that subdued breath of
+fragrance and conscious invisible life which gives so much sweetness
+to the night. He thought he heard whispering voices, as he paused
+glancing up at the sky; and then from the side-walk he saw a little
+figure run, and heard a light little footstep fluttering towards the
+door which he had just closed. Mr Wentworth started and went after
+this little flying figure with some anxiety. Two or three of his long
+strides brought him up with the escaping visitor, as she fumbled in
+her agitation over the handle of the door. "You have come again,
+notwithstanding what I said to you? but you must not repeat it, Rosa,"
+said the Curate; "no good can come of these meetings. I will tell your
+uncle, if I ever find you here again."
+
+"Oh no, no, please don't," cried the girl; "but, after all, I don't
+mind," she said, with more confidence: "he would think it was
+something very different;" and Rosa raised her eyes to the Curate's
+face with a coquettish inquiry. She could not divest herself of the
+thought that Mr Wentworth was jealous, and did not like to have her
+come there for anybody but himself.
+
+"If you were not such a child, I should be very angry," said the
+Curate; "as it is, I _am_ very angry with the person who deludes you
+into coming. Go home, child," he said, opening the door to her, "and
+remember I will not allow you on any pretext to come here again."
+
+His words were low, and perhaps Rosa did not care much to listen; but
+there was quite light enough to show them both very plainly, as he
+stood at the door and she went out. Just then the Miss Hemmings were
+going up Grange Lane from a little tea-party with their favourite
+maid, and all their eyes about them. They looked very full in Mr
+Wentworth's face, and said How d'ye do? as they passed the door; and
+when they had passed it, they looked at each other with eyes which
+spoke volumes. Mr Wentworth shut the door violently with irrepressible
+vexation and annoyance when he encountered that glance. He made no
+farewells, nor did he think of taking care of Rosa on the way home as
+he had done before. He was intensely annoyed and vexed, he could not
+tell how. And this was how it happened that the last time she was seen
+in Carlingford, Rosa Elsworthy was left standing by herself in the
+dark at Mr Wentworth's door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+The Curate got up very early next morning. He had his sermon to write
+and it was Saturday, and all the events of the week had naturally
+enough unsettled his mind, and indisposed him for sermon-writing. When
+the events of life come fast upon a man, it is seldom that he finds
+much pleasure in abstract literary composition, and the style of the
+Curate of St Roque's was not of that hortatory and impassioned
+character which sometimes gives as much relief to the speaker as
+excitement to the audience. So he got up in the early sweetness of the
+summer morning, when nobody but himself was astir in the house, with
+the sense of entering upon a task, and taking up work which was far
+from agreeable to him. When he came into the little room which he used
+as a study, and threw the window open, and breathed the delicious air
+of the morning, which was all thrilling and trembling with the songs
+of birds, Mr Wentworth's thoughts were far from being concentrated
+upon any one subject. He sat down at his writing-table and arranged
+his pens and paper, and wrote down the text he had selected; and when
+he had done so much, and could feel that he had made a beginning, he
+leaned back in his chair, and poised the idle pen on his finger, and
+abandoned himself to his thoughts. He had so much to think about.
+There was Wodehouse under the same roof, with whom he had felt himself
+constrained to remonstrate very sharply on the previous night. There
+was Jack, so near, and certainly come to Carlingford on no good
+errand. There was Gerald, in his great perplexity and distress, and
+the household at home in their anxiety; and last, but worst of all,
+his fancy would go fluttering about the doors of the sick chamber in
+Grange Lane, longing and wondering. He asked himself what it could be
+which had raised that impalpable wall between Lucy and himself--that
+barrier too strong to be overthrown, too ethereal to be complained of;
+and wondered over and over again what her thoughts were towards
+him--whether she thought of him at all, whether she was offended, or
+simply indifferent?--a question which any one else who had observed
+Lucy as closely could have solved without any difficulty, but which,
+to the modest and true love of the Perpetual Curate, was at present
+the grand doubt of all the doubts in the universe. With this matter to
+settle, and with the consciousness that it was still only five
+o'clock, and that he was at least one hour beforehand with the world,
+it is easy to understand why Mr Wentworth mused and loitered over his
+work, and how, when it was nearly six o'clock, and Sarah and the cook
+were beginning to stir from their sleep, there still remained only the
+text written upon the sermon-paper, which was so nicely arranged
+before him on the table. "When the wicked man turneth away from the
+evil of his ways, and doeth that which is lawful and right."--This was
+the text; but sitting at the open window, looking out into the garden,
+where the birds, exempt, as they seemed to think, for once from the
+vulgar scrutiny of man, were singing at the pitch of all their voices
+as they prepared for breakfast; and where the sweet air of the morning
+breathed into his mind a freshness and hopefulness which youth can
+never resist, and seduced his thoughts away from all the harder
+problems of his life to dwell upon the sweeter trouble of that doubt
+about Lucy,--was not the best means of getting on with his work. He
+sat thus leaning back--sometimes dipping his pen in the ink, and
+hovering over the paper for two or three seconds at a time, sometimes
+reading over the words, and making a faint effort to recall his own
+attention to them; for, on the whole, perhaps, it is not of much use
+getting up very early in the morning when the chief consequence of it
+is, that a man feels he has an hour to spare, and a little time to
+play before he begins.
+
+Mr Wentworth was still lingering in this peaceful pause, when he
+heard, in the stillness, hasty steps coming down Grange Lane. No doubt
+it was some workmen going to their work, and he felt it must be nearly
+six o'clock, and dipped his pen once more in the ink; but, the next
+moment, paused again to listen, feeling in his heart a strange
+conviction that the steps would stop at his door, and that something
+was going to happen. He was sure of it, and yet somehow the sound
+tingled upon his heart when he heard the bell ring, waking up echoes
+in the silent house. Cook and Sarah had not yet given any signs of
+coming down-stairs, and nobody stirred even at the sound of the bell.
+Mr Wentworth put down his pen altogether, and listened with an anxiety
+which he could scarcely account for--knowing, as he said to himself,
+that it must be the milk, or the baker, or somebody. But neither the
+milk nor the baker would have dared to knock, and shake, and kick the
+door as the new arrivals were doing. Mr Wentworth sat still as long as
+he could, then he added to the din they were making outside by an
+indignant ring of his own bell; and finally getting anxious, as was
+natural, and bethinking himself of his father's attack and Mr
+Wodehouse's illness, the Curate took the matter into his own hands,
+and hastened down-stairs to open the door. Mrs Hadwin called to him as
+he passed her room, thinking it was Sarah, and begging for goodness
+gracious sake to know directly what was the matter; and he felt
+himself growing agitated as he drew back the complicated bolts, and
+turned the key in the door, which was elaborately defenced, as was
+natural. When he hurried out into the garden, the songs of the birds
+and the morning air seemed to have changed their character. He
+thought he was about to be summoned to the deathbed of one or other of
+the old men upon whom their sons had brought such misery. He was but
+little acquainted with the fastenings of the garden-door, and fumbled
+a little over them in his anxiety. "Wait a moment and you shall be
+admitted," he called out to those outside, who still continued to
+knock; and he fancied, even in the haste and confusion of the moment,
+that his voice caused some little commotion among them. Mr Wentworth
+opened the door, looking anxiously out for some boy with a telegram,
+or other such mournful messenger; but to his utter amazement was
+nearly knocked down by the sudden plunge of Elsworthy, who entered
+with a spring like that of a wild animal, and whose face looked white
+and haggard as he rushed in. He came against the Curate so roughly as
+to drive him a step or two farther into the garden, and naturally
+aroused somewhat sharply the temper of the young man, who had already
+begun to regard him with disagreeable sensations as a kind of spy
+against himself.
+
+"What in the world do you want at such an early hour in the morning?"
+cried Mr Wentworth--"and what do you mean by making such a noise? Is
+Mr Wodehouse worse? or what has happened?" for, to tell the truth, he
+was a little relieved to find that the two people outside both
+belonged to Carlingford, and that nowhere was there any visible
+apparition of a telegraph boy.
+
+"Don't trifle with me, Mr Wentworth," said Elsworthy. "I'm a poor man;
+but a worm as is trodden on turns. I want my child, sir!--give me my
+child. I'll find her out if it was at the end of the world. I've only
+brought down my neighbour with me as I can trust," he continued,
+hoarsely--"to save both your characters. I don't want to make no talk;
+if you do what is right by Rosa, neither me or him will ever say a
+word. I want Rosa, Mr Wentworth. Where's Rosa? If I had known as it
+was for this you wanted her home! But I'll take my oath not to make no
+talk," cried the clerk, with passion and earnestness, which confounded
+Mr Wentworth--"if you'll promise to do what's right by her, and let
+me take her home."
+
+"Elsworthy, are you mad?" cried the Curate--"is he out of his senses?
+Has anything happened to Rosa? For heaven's sake, Hayles, don't stand
+there like a man of wood, but tell me if the man's crazy, or what he
+means."
+
+"I'll come in, sir, if you've no objection, and shut the door, not to
+make a talk," said Elsworthy's companion, Peter Hayles, the druggist.
+"If it can be managed without any gossip, it'll be best for all
+parties," said this worthy, shutting the door softly after him. "The
+thing is, where's Rosa, Mr Wentworth? I can't think as you've got her
+here."
+
+"She's all the same as my own child!" cried Elsworthy, who was greatly
+excited. "I've had her and loved her since she was a baby. I don't
+mean to say as I'd put myself forward to hurt her prospects if she was
+married in a superior line o' life; but them as harms Rosa has me to
+reckon with," he said, with a kind of fury which sat strangely on the
+man. "Mr Wentworth, where's the child? God forgive you both, you've
+given me a night o' weeping; but if you'll do what's right by Rosa,
+and send her home in the mean time--"
+
+"Be silent, sir!" cried the Curate. "I know nothing in the world about
+Rosa. How dare you venture to come on such an errand to me? I don't
+understand how it is," said the young man, growing red and angry,
+"that you try so persistently to connect this child with me. I have
+never had anything to do with her, and I will not submit to any such
+impertinent suspicion. Leave my house, sir, immediately, and don't
+insult me by making such inquiries here."
+
+Mr Wentworth was very angry in the first flush of his wrath. He did
+not think what misery was involved in the question which had been
+addressed to him, nor did he see for the moment the terrible calamity
+to Rosa which was suggested by this search for her. He thought only of
+himself, as was natural, at the first shock--of the injurious and
+insulting suspicion with which he seemed to be pursued, and of the
+annoyance which she and her friends were causing him. "What do you
+mean by rousing a whole household at this hour in the morning?" cried
+Mr Wentworth, as he saw with vexation, Sarah, very startled and
+sleepy, come stealing round by the kitchen door.
+
+"You don't look as if you had wanted any rousing," said Elsworthy, who
+was too much in earnest to own the Curate's authority. "She was seen
+at your door the last thing last night, and you're in your clothes, as
+bright as day, and a-waiting for us afore six o'clock in the morning.
+Do you think as I've shut my eyes because it's my clergyman?" cried
+the injured man, passionately. "I want my little girl--my little
+Rosa--as is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. If Mr Wentworth
+didn't know nothing about it, as he says," cried Elsworthy, with
+sudden insight, "he has a feelin' heart, and he'd be grieved about the
+child; but he aint grieved, nor concerned, nor nothing in the world
+but angry; and will you tell me there aint nothing to be drawn from
+that? But it's far from my intention to raise a talk," said the clerk,
+drawing closer and touching the arm of the Perpetual Curate; "let her
+come back, and if you're a man of your word, and behave honourable by
+her, there shan't be nothing said in Carlingford. I'll stand up for
+you, sir, against the world."
+
+Mr Wentworth shook off his assailant's hand with a mingled sense of
+exasperation and sympathy. "I tell you, upon my honour, I know nothing
+about her," he said. "But it is true enough I have been thinking only
+of myself," he continued, addressing the other. "How about the girl?
+When was she lost? and can't you think of any place she can have gone
+to? Elsworthy, hear reason," cried the Curate anxiously. "I assure
+you, on my word, that I have never seen her since I closed this
+garden-gate upon her last night."
+
+"And I would ask you, sir, what had Rosa to do at your garden-gate?"
+cried the clerk of St Roque's. "He aint denying it, Hayles; you can
+see as he aint a-denying of it. What was it as she came here for but
+you? Mr Wentworth, I've always had a great respect for you," said
+Elsworthy. "I've respected you as my clergyman, sir, as well as for
+other things; but you're a young man, and human nature is frail. I say
+again as you needn't have no fear of me. I aint one as likes to make a
+talk, and no more is Hayles. Give up the girl, and give me your
+promise, and there aint a man living as will be the wiser; Mr
+Wentworth--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, sir!" cried the Curate, furious with indignation
+and resentment. "Leave this place instantly! If you don't want me to
+pitch you into the middle of the road, hold your tongue and go away.
+The man is mad!" said Mr Wentworth, turning towards the spectator,
+Hayles, and pausing to take breath. But it was evident that this third
+person was by no means on the Curate's side.
+
+"I don't know, sir, I'm sure," said Hayles, with a blank countenance.
+"It appears to me, sir, as it's an awkward business for all parties.
+Here's the girl gone, and no one knows where. When a girl don't come
+back to her own 'ome all night, things look serious, sir; and it has
+been said as the last place she was seen was at your door."
+
+"Who says so?" cried Mr Wentworth.
+
+"Well--it was--a party, sir--a highly respectable party--as I have
+good reason to believe," said Hayles, "being a constant customer--one
+as there's every confidence to be put in. It's better not to name no
+names, being at this period of the affair."
+
+And at that moment, unluckily for Mr Wentworth, there suddenly floated
+across his mind the clearest recollection of the Miss Hemmings, and
+the look they gave him in passing. He felt a hot flush rush over his
+face as he recalled it. They, then, were his accusers in the first
+place; and for the first time he began to realise how the tide of
+accusation would surge through Carlingford, and how circumstances
+would be patched together, and very plausible evidence concocted out
+of the few facts which were capable of an inference totally opposed to
+the truth. The blood rushed to his face in an overpowering glow, and
+then he felt the warm tide going back upon his heart, and realised the
+position in which he stood for the first time in its true light.
+
+"And if you'll let me say it, sir," said the judicious Hayles, "though
+a man may be in a bit of a passion, and speak more strong that is
+called for, it aint unnatural in the circumstances; things may be
+better than they appear," said the druggist, mildly; "I don't say
+nothing against that; it may be as you've took her away, sir (if so be
+as you have took her away), for to give her a bit of education, or
+suchlike, before making her your wife; but folks in general aint
+expected to know that; and when a young girl is kep' out of her 'ome
+for a whole night, it aint wonderful if her friends take fright. It's
+a sad thing for Rosa whoever's taken her away, and wherever she is."
+
+Now, Mr Wentworth, notwithstanding the indignant state of mind which
+he was in, was emphatically of the tolerant temper which is so
+curiously characteristic of his generation. He could not be
+unreasonable even in his own cause; he was not partisan enough, even
+in his own behalf, to forget that there was another side to the
+question, nor to see how hard and how sad was that other side. He was
+moved in spite of himself to grieve over Rosa Elsworthy's great
+misfortune.
+
+"Poor little deluded child," he said, sadly; "I acknowledge it is very
+dreadful for her and for her friends. I can excuse a man who is mad
+with grief and wretchedness and anxiety, and doesn't know what he is
+saying. As for any man in his senses imagining," said the Curate
+again, with a flush of sudden colour, "that I could possibly be
+concerned in anything so base, that is simply absurd. When Elsworthy
+returns to reason, and acknowledges the folly of what he has said, I
+will do anything in the world to help him. It is unnecessary for you
+to wait," said Mr Wentworth, turning to Sarah, who had stolen up
+behind, and caught some of the conversation, and who was staring with
+round eyes of wonder, partly guessing, partly inquiring, what had
+happened--"these people want me; go indoors and never mind."
+
+"La, sir! Missis is a-ringing all the bells down to know what 'as
+'appened," said Sarah, holding her ground.
+
+This was how it was to be--the name of the Curate of St Roque's was to
+be linked to that of Rosa Elsworthy, let the truth be what it might,
+in the mouths of every maid and every mistress in Carlingford. He was
+seized with a sudden apprehension of this aspect of the matter, and it
+was not wonderful if Mr Wentworth drew his breath hard and set his
+teeth, as he ordered the woman away, in a tone which could not be
+disobeyed.
+
+"I don't want to make no talk," said Elsworthy, who during this time
+had made many efforts to speak; "I've sait it before, and I say it
+again--it's Mr Wentworth's fault if there's any talk. She was seen
+here last night," he went on rapidly, "and afore six o'clock this
+blessed morning, you, as are never known to be stirring early, meets
+us at the door, all shaved and dressed; and it aint very difficult to
+see, to them as watches the clergyman's countenance," said Elsworthy,
+turning from one to another, "as everything isn't as straight as it
+ought to be; but I aint going to make no talk, Mr Wentworth," he went
+on, drawing closer, and speaking with conciliatory softness; "me and
+her aunt, sir, loves her dearly, but we're not the folks to stand in
+her way, if a gentleman was to take a fancy to Rosa. If you'll give me
+your word to make her your wife honourable, and tell me where she is,
+tortures wouldn't draw no complaints from me. One moment, sir; it aint
+only that she's pretty, but she's good as well--she won't do you no
+discredit, Mr Wentworth. Put her to school, or what you please, sir,"
+said Rosa's uncle; "me and my wife will never interfere, so be as you
+make her your wife honourable; but I aint a worm to be trampled on,"
+cried Elsworthy, as the Curate, finding him approach very closely,
+thrust him away with vehement indignation; "I aint a slave to be
+pushed about. Them as brings Rosa to shame shall come to shame by me;
+I'll ruin the man as ruins that child. You may turn me out," he cried,
+as the Curate laid his powerful hand upon his shoulder and forced him
+towards the door, "but I'll come back, and I'll bring all Carlingford.
+There shan't be a soul in the town as doesn't know. Oh, you young
+viper, as I thought was a pious clergyman! you aint got rid of me. My
+child--where's my child?" cried the infuriated clerk, as he found
+himself ejected into the road outside, and the door suddenly closed
+upon him. He turned round to beat upon it in blind fury, and kept
+calling upon Rosa, and wasting his threats and arguments upon the calm
+air outside. Some of the maid-servants in the other houses came out,
+broom in hand, to the green doors, to see what was the matter, but
+they were not near enough to hear distinctly, and no early wayfarers
+had as yet invaded the morning quiet of Grange Lane.
+
+Mr Wentworth, white with excitement, and terribly calm and self-possessed,
+turned to the amazed and trembling druggist, who still stood inside.
+"Look here, Hayles," said the Curate; "I have never seen Rosa Elsworthy
+since I closed this door upon her last night. What had brought her here
+I don't know--at least she came with no intention of seeing me--and I
+reproved her sharply for being out so late. This is all I know about the
+affair, and all I intend to say to any one. If that idiot outside
+intends to make a disturbance, he must do it; I shall take no further
+trouble to clear myself of such an insane accusation. I think it right
+to say as much to you, because you seem to have your senses about you,"
+said the Curate, pausing, out of breath. He was perfectly calm, but it
+was impossible to ignore the effect of such a scene upon ordinary flesh
+and blood. His heart was beating loudly, and his breath came short and
+quick. He turned away and walked up to the house-door, and then came
+back again. "You understand me, I suppose?" he said; "and if Elsworthy
+is not mad, you had better suggest to him not to lose his only chance
+of recovering Rosa by vain bluster with me, who know nothing about her.
+I shan't be idle in the mean time," said Mr Wentworth. All this time
+Elsworthy was beating against the door, and shouting his threats into
+the quiet of the morning; and Mrs Hadwin had thrown up her window, and
+stood there visibly in her nightcap, trying to find out what the noise
+was about, and trembling for the respectability of her house--all which
+the Curate apprehended with that extraordinary swiftness and breadth of
+perception which comes to men at the eventful moments of life.
+
+"I'll do my best, sir," said Hayles, who felt that his honour was
+appealed to; "but it's an awkward business for all parties, that's
+what it is;" and the druggist backed out in a state of great
+bewilderment, having a little struggle at the door with Elsworthy to
+prevent his re-entrance. "There aint nothing to be got out of _him_,"
+said Mr Hayles, as he succeeded at last in leading his friend away.
+Such was the conclusion of Mr Wentworth's morning studies, and the
+sermon which was to have been half written before breakfast upon that
+eventful Saturday. He went back to the house, as was natural, with
+very different thoughts in his mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+The first thing Mr Wentworth did was to hasten up-stairs to
+Wodehouse's room. Sarah had gone before him, and was by this time
+talking to her mistress, who had left the window, and stood, still in
+her nightcap, at the door of her own chamber. "It's something about
+Rosa Elsworthy, ma'am," said Sarah; "she's gone off with some one,
+which nothing else was to be expected; and her uncle's been a-raving
+and a-raging at Mr Wentworth, which proves as a gentleman should never
+take no notice of them shop-girls. I always heard as she was a bad
+lot."
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth--if you would excuse my nightcap," said Mrs
+Hadwin--"I am so shaken and all of a tremble with that noise; I
+couldn't help thinking it must be a murder at the least," said the
+little old lady; "but I never could believe that there was anything
+between you and--Sarah, you may go away; I should like to talk to Mr
+Wentworth by himself," said Mrs Hadwin, suddenly remembering that Mr
+Wentworth's character must not be discussed in the presence of even
+her favourite maid.
+
+"Presently," said the unhappy Curate, with mingled impatience and
+resignation; and, after a hasty knock at the door, he went into
+Wodehouse's room, which was opposite, so full of a furious anxiety to
+question him that he had burst into speech before he perceived that
+the room was empty. "Answer me this instant," he had cried, "where is
+Rosa Elsworthy?" and then he paused, utterly taken aback. It had not
+occurred to him that the culprit would be gone. He had parted with him
+late on the previous night, leaving him, according to appearances, in
+a state of sulky half-penitence; and now the first impulse of his
+consternation was to look in all the corners for the fugitive. The
+room had evidently been occupied that night; part of the Curate's own
+wardrobe, which he had bestowed upon his guest, lay about on the
+chairs, and on a little table were his tools and the bits of wood with
+which he did his carving. The window was open, letting in the fresh
+air, and altogether the apartment looked so exactly like what it might
+have done had the occupant gone out for a virtuous morning walk, that
+Mr Wentworth stopped short in blank amazement. It was a relief to him
+to hear the curious Sarah still rustling in the passage outside. He
+came out upon her so hastily that Sarah was startled. Perhaps she had
+been so far excited out of her usual propriety as to think of the
+keyhole as a medium of information.
+
+"Where is Wode--Mr Smith?" cried the Curate; "he is not in his
+room--he does not generally get up so early. Where is he? Did he go
+out last night?"
+
+"Not as I knows of, sir," said Sarah, who grew a little pale, and gave
+a second glance at the open door. "Isn't the gentleman in his room? He
+do take a walk in the morning, now and again," and Sarah cast an
+alarmed look behind to see if her mistress was still within hearing;
+but Mrs Hadwin, intent on questioning Mr Wentworth himself, had
+fortunately retired to put on her cap, and closed her door.
+
+"Where is he?" said the Curate, firmly.
+
+"Oh, please sir, I don't know," said Sarah, who was very near crying.
+"He's gone out for a walk, that's all. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't look at
+me so dreadfully, and I'll tell you hall," cried the frightened girl,
+"_hall_--as true as if I was on my oath. He 'as a taking way with
+him," said poor Sarah, to whom the sulky and shabby rascal was radiant
+still with the fascinating though faded glory of "a gentleman"--"and
+he aint one as has been used to regular hours; and seeing as he was a
+friend of yours, I knew as hall was safe, Mr Wentworth; and oh, sir,
+if you'll not tell missis, as might be angry. I didn't mean no harm;
+and knowing as he was a friend of yours, I let him have the key of the
+little door."
+
+Here Sarah put her apron to her eyes; she did not cry much into it, or
+wet it with her tears--but under its cover she peeped at Mr Wentworth,
+and, encouraged by his looks, which did not seem to promise any
+immediate catastrophe, went on with her explanation.
+
+"He's been and took a walk often in the morning," said Sarah, with
+little gasps which interrupted her voice, "and come in as steady as
+steady, and nothing happened. He's gone for a walk now, poor
+gentleman. Them as goes out first thing in the morning, can't mean no
+harm, Mr Wentworth. If it was at night, it would be different," said
+the apologetic Sarah. "He'll be in afore we've done our breakfast in
+the kitchen; that's his hour, for I always brings him a cup of coffee.
+If you hadn't been up not till _your_ hour, sir, you'd never have
+known nothing about it;" and here even Mrs Hadwin's housemaid looked
+sharply in the Curate's face. "I never knew you so early, sir, not
+since I've been here," said Sarah; and though she was a partisan of Mr
+Wentworth, it occurred even to Sarah that perhaps, after all,
+Elsworthy might be right.
+
+"If he comes in let me know immediately," said the Curate; and he went
+to his study and shut himself in, to think it all over with a sense of
+being baited and baffled on every side. As for Sarah, she went off in
+great excitement to discuss the whole business with the cook, tossing
+her head as she went. "Rosa Elsworthy, indeed!" said Sarah to herself,
+thinking her own claims to admiration quite as well worth
+considering--and Mr Wentworth had already lost one humble follower in
+Grange Lane.
+
+The Curate sat down at his table as before, and gazed with a kind of
+exasperation at the paper and the text out of which his sermon was to
+have come. "When the wicked man turneth away from the evil of his
+ways"--he began to wonder bitterly whether that ever happened, or if it
+was any good trying to bring it about. If it were really the case that
+Wodehouse, whom he had been labouring to save from the consequences of
+one crime, had, at the very crisis of his fate, perpetrated another of
+the basest kind, what was the good of wasting strength in behalf of a
+wretch so abandoned? Why should such a man be permitted to live to bring
+shame and misery on everybody connected with him? and why, when noxious
+vermin of every other description were hunted down and exterminated,
+should the vile human creature be spared to suck the blood of his
+friends? Mr Wentworth grew sanguinary in his thoughts as he leaned back
+in his chair, and tried to return to the train of reflection which
+Elsworthy's arrival had banished. That was totally impossible, but
+another train of ideas came fast enough to fill up the vacant space. The
+Curate saw himself hemmed in on every side without any way of escape. If
+he could not extract any information from Wodehouse, or if Wodehouse
+denied any knowledge of Rosa, what could he do to clear himself from an
+imputation so terrible? and if, on the other hand, Wodehouse did not
+come back, and so pleaded guilty, how could he pursue and put the law
+upon the track of the man whom he had just been labouring to save from
+justice, and over whose head a criminal prosecution was impending? Mr
+Wentworth saw nothing but misery, let him turn where he would--nothing
+but disgrace, misapprehension, unjust blame. He divined with the
+instinct of a man in deadly peril, that Elsworthy, who was a mean enough
+man in common circumstances, had been inspired by the supposed injury he
+had sustained into a relentless demon; and he saw distinctly how strong
+the chain of evidence was against him, and how little he could do to
+clear himself. As his miseries grew upon him, he got up, as was natural,
+and began to walk about the room to walk down his impatience, if he
+could, and acquire sufficient composure to enable him to wait for the
+time when Wodehouse might be expected to arrive. Mr Wentworth had
+forgotten at the moment that Mrs Hadwin's room was next to his study,
+and that, as she stood putting on her cap, his footsteps vibrated along
+the flooring, which thrilled under her feet almost as much as under his
+own. Mrs Hadwin, as she stood before her glass smoothing her thin little
+braids of white hair, and putting on her cap, could not but wonder to
+herself what could make Mr Wentworth walk about the room in such an
+agitated way. It was not by any means the custom of the Perpetual
+Curate, who, up to the time of his aunts' arrival in Carlingford, had
+known no special disturbances in his individual career. And then the old
+lady thought of that report about little Rosa Elsworthy, which she had
+never believed, and grew troubled, as old ladies are not unapt to do
+under such circumstances, with all that lively faith in the seductions
+of "an artful girl," and all that contemptuous pity for a "poor young
+man," which seems to come natural to a woman. All the old ladies in
+Carlingford, male and female, were but too likely to entertain the same
+sentiments, which at least, if they did nothing else, showed a wonderful
+faith in the power of love and folly common to human nature. It did not
+occur to Mrs Hadwin any more than it did to Miss Dora, that Mr
+Wentworth's good sense and pride, and superior cultivation, were
+sufficient defences against little Rosa's dimpled cheeks and bright
+eyes; and with some few exceptions, such was likely to be the opinion of
+the little world of Carlingford. Mrs Hadwin grew more and more anxious
+about the business as she felt the boards thrill under her feet, and
+heard the impatient movements in the next room; and as soon as she had
+settled her cap to her satisfaction, she left her own chamber and went
+to knock, as was to be expected, at Mr Wentworth's door.
+
+It was just at this moment that Mr Wentworth saw Wodehouse's shabby
+figure entering at the garden-gate; he turned round suddenly without
+hearing Mrs Hadwin's knock, and all but ran over the old lady in his
+haste and eagerness--"Pardon me; I am in a great hurry," said the
+Curate, darting past her. Just at the moment when she expected her
+curiosity to be satisfied, it was rather hard upon Mrs Hadwin to be
+dismissed so summarily. She went down-stairs in a state of great
+dignity, with her lace mittens on, and her hands crossed before her.
+She felt she had more and more reason for doubting human nature in
+general, and for believing that the Curate of St Roque's in particular
+could not bear any close examination into his conduct. Mrs Hadwin sat
+down to her breakfast accordingly with a sense of pitying virtue which
+was sweet to her spirit, notwithstanding that she was, as she would
+have frankly acknowledged, very fond of Mr Wentworth; she said, "Poor
+young man," to herself, and shook her head over him as she poured out
+her solitary cup of tea. She had never been a beauty herself, nor had
+she exercised any overwhelming influence that she could remember over
+any one in the days of her distant youth: but being a true woman, Mrs
+Hadwin believed in Rosa Elsworthy, and pitied, not without a certain
+half-conscious female disdain, the weakness of the inevitable victim.
+He did not dare to stop to explain to _her_ what it meant. He rushed
+out of her way as soon as he saw she meant to question him. That
+designing girl had got him entirely under her sway, the poor young
+man!
+
+Meanwhile the Curate, without a single thought for his landlady, made
+a rush to Wodehouse's room. He did not wait for any answer to his
+knock, but went in, not as a matter of policy, but because his
+eagerness carried him on in spite of himself. To Mr Wentworth's great
+amazement Wodehouse was undressing, intending, apparently, to return
+to bed. The shabby fugitive, looking broad and brawny in his
+shirt-sleeves, turned round when he heard the voice with an angry
+exclamation. His face grew black as he saw the Curate at the door.
+"What the deuce have you to do in my room at this hour?" he growled
+into his beard. "Is a man never to have a little peace?" and with that
+threw down his coat, which he still had in his hand, and faced round
+towards the intruder with sullen looks. It was his nature to stand
+always on the defensive, and he had got so much accustomed to being
+regarded as a culprit, that he naturally took up the part, whether
+there might be just occasion or not.
+
+"Where have you been?" exclaimed the Curate; "answer me truly--I can't
+submit to any evasion. I know it all, Wodehouse. Where is she? where
+have you hid her? If you do not give her up, I must give you up to
+justice. Do you hear me? where is Rosa Elsworthy? This is a matter
+that touches my honour, and I must know the truth."
+
+Mr Wentworth was so full of the subject that it did not occur to him
+how much time he was giving his antagonist to prepare his answer.
+Though Wodehouse was not clever, he had the instinct of a baited
+animal driven to bay; and resistance and denial came natural to a man
+who had been accused and condemned all his life.
+
+"Rosa Elsworthy?" said the vagabond, "what have I to do with Rosa
+Elsworthy? A pretty man I should be to run away with a girl; all that
+I have in the world is a shilling or two, and, by Jove, it's an
+expensive business, that is. You should ask your brother," he
+continued, giving a furtive glance at the Curate--"it's more in his
+way, by Jove, than mine."
+
+Mr Wentworth was recalled to himself by this reply. "Where is she?" he
+said, sternly,--"no trifling. I did not ask if you had taken her away.
+I ask, where is she?" He had shut the door behind him, and stood in
+the middle of the room facing Wodehouse, and overawing him by his
+superior stature, force, and virtue. Before the Curate's look the eyes
+of the other fell; but he had fallen by chance on a reasonable defence
+enough, and so long as he held by that felt himself tolerably safe.
+
+"I don't know anything about her," he repeated; "how should I know
+anything about her? I aint a fool, by Jove, whatever I may be: a man
+may talk to a pretty girl without any harm. I mayn't be as good as a
+parson, but, by Jove, I aint a fool," he muttered through his beard.
+He had begun to speak with a kind of sulky self-confidence; but his
+voice sunk lower as he proceeded. Jack Wentworth's elegant levity was
+a terrible failure in the hands of the coarser rascal. He fell back by
+degrees upon the only natural quality which enabled him to offer any
+resistance. "By Jove, I aint an idiot," he repeated with dull
+obstinacy, and upon that statement made a stand in his dogged,
+argumentative way.
+
+"Would you like it better if I said you were a villain?" asked the
+exasperated Curate. "I don't want to discuss your character with you.
+Where is Rosa Elsworthy? She is scarcely more than a child," said Mr
+Wentworth, "and a fool, if you like. But where is she? I warn you
+that unless you tell me you shall have no more assistance from me."
+
+"And I tell you that I don't know," said Wodehouse; and the two men
+stood facing each other, one glowing with youthful indignation, the
+other enveloped in a cloud of sullen resistance. Just then there came
+a soft knock at the door, and Sarah peeped in with a coquettish air,
+which at no other time in her existence had been visible in the sedate
+demeanour of Mrs Hadwin's favourite handmaid. The stranger lodger was
+"a gentleman," notwithstanding his shabbiness, and he was a very
+civil-spoken gentleman, without a bit of pride; and Sarah was still a
+woman, though she was plain and a housemaid. "Please, sir, I've
+brought you your coffee," said Sarah, and she carried in her tray,
+which contained all the materials for a plentiful breakfast. When she
+saw Mr Wentworth standing in the room, and Wodehouse in his
+shirt-sleeves, Sarah said, "La!" and set down her tray hastily and
+vanished; but the episode, short as it was, had not been without its
+use to the culprit who was standing on his defence.
+
+"I'm not staying here on my own account," said Wodehouse,--"it's no
+pleasure to me to be here. I'm staying for your brother's sake
+and--other people's; it's no pleasure to me, by Jove! I'd go to-morrow
+if I had my way--but I aint a fool," continued the sulky defendant:
+"it's of no use asking me such questions. By Jove, I've other things to
+think of than girls; and you know pretty well how much money I've got,"
+he continued, taking out an old purse and emptying out the few shillings
+it contained into his hand. When he had thrown them about, out and in,
+for nearly a minute, he turned once more upon the Curate. "I'd like to
+have a little more pocket-money before I ran away with any one," said
+Wodehouse, and tossed the shillings back contemptuously. As for Mr
+Wentworth, his reasonableness once more came greatly in his way. He
+began to ask himself whether this penniless vagabond, who seemed to have
+no dash or daring in his character, could have been the man to carry
+little Rosa away; and, perplexed by this idea, Mr Wentworth put himself
+unawares into the position of his opponent, and in that character made
+an appeal to his imaginary generosity and truth.
+
+"Wodehouse," he said, seriously, "look here. I am likely to be much
+annoyed about this, and perhaps injured. I entreat you to tell me, if
+you know, where the girl is. I've been at some little trouble for you;
+be frank with me for once," said the Curate of St Roque's. Nothing in
+existence could have prevented himself from responding to such an
+appeal, and he made it with a kind of absurd confidence that there
+must be some kindred depths even in the meaner nature with which he
+had to deal, which would have been to Jack Wentworth, had he seen it,
+a source of inextinguishable laughter. Even Wodehouse was taken by
+surprise. He did not understand Mr Wentworth, but a certain vague idea
+that the Curate was addressing him as if he still were "a gentleman as
+he used to be"--though it did not alter his resolution in any
+way--brought a vague flush of shame to his unaccustomed cheek.
+
+"I aint a fool," he repeated rather hastily, and turned away not to meet
+the Curate's eyes. "I've got no money--how should _I_ know anything
+about her? If I had, do you think I should have been here?" he
+continued, with a sidelong look of inquiry: then he paused and put on
+his coat, and in that garb felt himself more of a match for his
+opponent. "I'll tell you one thing you'll thank me for," he said,--"the
+old man is dying, they think. They'll be sending for you presently.
+That's more important than a talk about a girl. I've been talked to till
+I'm sick," said Wodehouse, with a little burst of irrepressible nature,
+"but things may change before you all know where you are." When he had
+said so much, the fear in his heart awoke again, and he cast another
+look of inquiry and anxiety at the Curate's face. But Mr Wentworth was
+disgusted, and had no more to say.
+
+"Everything changes--except the heart of the churl, which can never be
+made bountiful," said the indignant young priest. It was not a fit
+sentiment, perhaps, for a preacher who had just written that text
+about the wicked man turning from the evil of his ways. Mr Wentworth
+went away in a glow of indignation and excitement, and left his guest
+to Sarah's bountiful provision of hot coffee and new-laid eggs, to
+which Wodehouse addressed himself with a perfectly good appetite,
+notwithstanding all the events of the morning, and all the mystery of
+the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth retired to his own quarters with enough to think about for
+one morning. He could not make up his mind about Wodehouse--whether he
+was guilty or not guilty. It seemed incredible that, penniless as he
+was, he could have succeeded in carrying off a girl so well known in
+Carlingford as Rosa Elsworthy; and, if he had taken her away, how did
+it happen that he himself had come back again? The Curate saw clearly
+enough that his only chance for exculpating himself in the sight of
+the multitude was by bringing home the guilt to somebody else; and in
+proportion to the utter scorn with which he had treated Elsworthy's
+insinuations at first, was his serious apprehension now of the danger
+which surrounded him. He divined all that slander would make of it
+with the quickened intelligence of a man whose entire life, and
+reputation dearer than life, were at stake. If it could not be cleared
+up--if even any investigation which he might be able to demand was not
+perfectly successful--Mr Wentworth was quite well aware that the
+character of a clergyman was almost as susceptible as that of a
+woman, and that the vague stigma might haunt and overshadow him all
+his life. The thought was overwhelming at this moment, when his first
+hopes of finding a speedy solution of the mystery had come to nothing.
+If he had but lived a century earlier, the chances are that no doubt
+of Wodehouse's guilt would have entered his mind; but Mr Wentworth was
+a man of the present age--reasonable to a fault, and apt to consider
+other people as much as possible from their own point of view. He did
+not see, looking at the circumstances, how Wodehouse _could_ be guilty;
+and the Curate would not permit the strong instinctive certainty that he
+_was_ guilty, to move his own mind from what he imagined to be its
+better judgment. He was thinking it over very gloomily when his
+breakfast was brought to him and his letters, feeling that he could be
+sure of nobody in such an emergency, and dreading more the doubt of his
+friends than the clamour of the general world. He could bear (he
+imagined) to be hooted at in the streets, if it ever came to that; but
+to see the faces of those who loved him troubled with a torturing doubt
+of his truth was a terrible thought to the Perpetual Curate. And Lucy?
+But here the young man got up indignant and threw off his fears. He
+doubted her regard with a doubt which threw darkness over the whole
+universe; but that she should be able for a moment to doubt his entire
+devotion to her, seemed a blindness incredible. No; let who would
+believe ill of him in this respect, to Lucy such an accusation must look
+as monstrous as it was untrue. _She_, at least, knew otherwise; and,
+taking this false comfort to his heart, Mr Wentworth took up his
+letters, and presently was deep in the anxieties of his brother Gerald,
+who wrote to him as to a man at leisure, and without any overwhelming
+perplexities of his own. It requires a very high amount of unselfishness
+in the person thus addressed to prevent a degree of irritation which is
+much opposed to sympathy; and Mr Wentworth, though he was very impartial
+and reasonable, was not, being still young and meaning to be happy,
+unselfish to any inhuman degree. He put down Gerald's letter, after he
+had read through half of it, with an exclamation of impatience which he
+could not restrain, and then poured out his coffee, which had got cold
+in the mean time, and gulped it down with a sense of half-comforting
+disgust--for there are moments when the mortification of the flesh
+is a relief to the spirit; and then it occurred to him to remember
+Wodehouse's tray, which was a kind of love-offering to the shabby
+vagabond, and the perfect good order in which _he_ had his breakfast;
+and Mr Wentworth laughed at himself with a whimsical perception of all
+that was absurd in his own position which did him good, and broke the
+spell of his solitary musings. When he took up Gerald's letter again, he
+read it through. A man more sympathetic, open-hearted, and unselfish
+than Gerald Wentworth did not exist in the world, as his brother well
+knew; but nevertheless, Gerald's mind was so entirely preoccupied that
+he passed over the Curate's cares with the lightest reference
+imaginable. "I hope you found all right when you got back, and nothing
+seriously amiss with Jack," the elder brother wrote, and then went on to
+his own affairs. All right! nothing seriously amiss! To a man who felt
+himself standing on the edge of possible ruin, such expressions seemed
+strange indeed.
+
+The Rector of Wentworth, however, had enough in his mind to excuse him
+for a momentary forgetfulness of others. Things had taken a different
+turn with him since his brother left. He had been so busy with his
+change of faith and sentiment, that the practical possibilities of the
+step which he contemplated had not disturbed Gerald. He had taken it
+calmly for granted that he _could_ do what he wanted to do. But a new
+light had burst upon him in that respect, and changed the character of
+his thoughts. Notwithstanding the conviction into which he had
+reasoned himself, the Rector of Wentworth had not contemplated the
+idea of becoming simply a Catholic layman. He was nothing if not a
+priest, he had said, passionately. He could have made a martyr of
+himself--have suffered tortures and deaths with the steadiest
+endurance; but he could not face the idea of taking all meaning and
+significance out of his life, by giving up the profession which he
+felt to be laid upon him by orders indelible, beyond the power of
+circumstances to revoke. Such was the new complication to which Gerald
+had come. He was terribly staggered in his previous resolution by this
+new doubt, and he wrote to pour his difficulties into the ear of his
+brother. It had been Frank's question which first awoke in his mind a
+doubt as to the practicability of the step he contemplated; and one of
+Louisa's relations, appealed to by her in her next access of terror,
+had brought this aspect of the matter still more distinctly before the
+Rector of Wentworth. Gerald had been studying Canon law, but his
+English intelligence did not make very much of it; and the bare idea
+of a dispensation making that right which in itself was wrong, touched
+the high-minded gentleman to the quick, and brought him to a sudden
+standstill. He who was nothing if not a priest, stood sorrowfully
+looking at his contemplated martyrdom--like Brother Domenico of St
+Mark's sighing on the edge of the fiery ordeal into which the Church
+herself would not let him plunge. If it was so, he no longer knew what
+to do. He would have wrapped the vestment of the new priesthood about
+him, though it was a garment of fire; but to stand aside in irksome
+leisure was a harder trial, at which he trembled. This was the new
+complication in which Gerald asked his brother's sympathy and counsel.
+It was a long letter, curiously introspective, and full of self-argument;
+and it was hard work, with a mind so occupied as was that of the
+Perpetual Curate, to give it due attention. He put it away when he had
+done with his cold breakfast, and deferred the consideration of the
+subject, with a kind of vague hope that the family firmament might
+possibly brighten in that quarter at least; but the far-off and
+indistinct interest with which he viewed, across his own gloomy
+surroundings, this matter which had engrossed him so completely a few
+days before, was wonderful to see.
+
+And then he paused to think what he was to do. To go out and face the
+slander which must already have crept forth on its way--to see
+Elsworthy and ascertain whether he had come to his senses, and try if
+anything could be done for Rosa's discovery--to exert himself somehow,
+in short, and get rid of the feverish activity which he felt consuming
+him,--that was what he longed to do. But, on the other hand, it was
+Saturday, and Mr Wentworth was conscious that it would be more
+dignified, and in better taste altogether, if he went on writing his
+sermon and took no notice of this occurrence, with which, in reality,
+he had nothing to do. It was difficult, but no doubt it was the best;
+and he tried it accordingly--putting down a great many sentences which
+had to be scratched out again, and spoiling altogether the appearance
+of the sermon-paper. When a message came from Mr Wodehouse's about
+eleven o'clock, bringing the news that he was much worse and not
+expected to live, and begging Mr Wentworth's immediate presence, the
+Curate was as nearly glad as it was possible for a man to be under the
+circumstances. He had "a feeling heart," as even Elsworthy allowed,
+but in such a moment of excitement any kind of great and terrible
+event seemed to come natural. He hastened out into the fresh morning
+sunshine, which still seemed thrilling with life and joy, and went up
+Grange Lane with a certain sense of curiosity, wondering whether
+everybody was already aware of what had happened. A long way off a
+figure which much resembled that of the Rector was visible crossing
+over to Dr Marjoribanks's door; and it occurred to the Curate that Mr
+Morgan was crossing to avoid him, which brought a smile of anger and
+involuntary dislike to his face, and nerved him for any other
+encounter. The green door at Mr Wodehouse's--a homely sign of the
+trouble in the house--had been left unlatched, and was swinging ajar
+with the wind when the Curate came up; and as he went in (closing it
+carefully after him, for that forlorn little touch of carelessness
+went to his heart), he encountered in the garden Dr Marjoribanks and
+Dr Rider, who were coming out together with very grave looks. They did
+not stop for much conversation, only pausing to tell him that the case
+was hopeless, and that the patient could not possibly live beyond a
+day or two at most; but even in the few words that were spoken Mr
+Wentworth perceived, or thought he perceived, that something had
+occurred to lessen him in the esteem of the shrewd old Scotch doctor,
+who contemplated him and his prayer-book with critical eyes. "I
+confess, after all, that there are cases in which written prayers are
+a kind of security," Dr Marjoribanks said in an irrelevant manner to
+Dr Rider when Mr Wentworth had passed them--an observation at which,
+in ordinary cases, the Curate would have smiled; but to-day the colour
+rose to his face, and he understood that Dr Marjoribanks did not think
+him qualified to carry comfort or instruction to a sick-bed. Perhaps
+the old doctor had no such idea in his mind--perhaps it was simply a
+relic of his national Presbyterianism, to which the old Scotchman kept
+up a kind of visionary allegiance. But whether he meant it or not, Mr
+Wentworth understood it as a reproach to himself, and went on with a
+bitter feeling of mortification to the sick-room. He had gone with his
+whole heart into his priestly office, and had been noted for his
+ministrations to the sick and poor; but now his feelings were much too
+personal for the atmosphere into which he was just about to enter. He
+stopped at the door to tell John that he would take a stroll round the
+garden before he came in, as he had a headache, and went on through
+the walks which were sacred to Lucy, not thinking of her, but
+wondering bitterly whether anybody would stand by him, or whether an
+utterly baseless slander would outweigh all the five years of his life
+which he had spent among the people of Carlingford. Meanwhile John
+stood at the door and watched him, and of course thought it was very
+"queer." "It aint as if he'd a-been sitting up all night, like our
+young ladies," said John to himself, and unconsciously noted the
+circumstance down in his memory against the Curate.
+
+When Mr Wentworth entered the sick-room, he found all very silent and
+still in that darkened chamber. Lucy was seated by the bedside,
+wrapped in a loose dressing-gown, and looked as if she had not slept
+for several nights; while Miss Wodehouse, who, notwithstanding all her
+anxiety to be of use, was far more helpless than Lucy, stood on the
+side next the door, with her eyes fixed on her sister, watching with
+pathetic unserviceableness for the moment when she could be of some
+use. As for the patient himself, he lay in a kind of stupor, from
+which he scarcely ever could be roused, and showed no tokens at the
+moment of hearing or seeing anybody. The scene was doubly sad, but it
+was without the excitement which so often breathes in the atmosphere
+of death. There was no eager listening for the last word, no last
+outbreaks of tenderness. The daughters were both hushed into utter
+silence; and Lucy, who was more reasonable than her sister, had even
+given up those wistful beseeching looks at the patient, with which
+Miss Wodehouse still regarded him, as if perhaps he might be thus
+persuaded to speak. The nurse whom Dr Marjoribanks had sent to assist
+them was visible through an open door, sleeping very comfortably in
+the adjoining room. Mr Wentworth came into the silent chamber with all
+his anxieties throbbing in his heart, bringing life at its very height
+of agitation and tumult into the presence of death. He went forward to
+the bed, and tried for an instant to call up any spark of intelligence
+that might yet exist within the mind of the dying man; but Mr
+Wodehouse was beyond the voice of any priest. The Curate said the
+prayers for the dying at the bedside, suddenly filled with a great
+pity for the man who was thus taking leave unawares of all this
+mournful splendid world. Though the young man knew many an ordinary
+sentiment about the vanity of life, and had given utterance to that
+effect freely in the way of his duty, he was still too fresh in his
+heart to conceive actually that any one could leave the world without
+poignant regrets; and when his prayer was finished, he stood looking
+at the patient with inexpressible compassion. Mr Wodehouse had scarcely
+reached old age; he was well off, and only a week ago seemed to have so
+much to enjoy; now, here he lay stupefied, on the edge of the grave,
+unable to respond even by a look to the love that surrounded him. Once
+more there rose in the heart of the young priest a natural impulse of
+resentment and indignation; and when he thought of the cause of this
+change, he remembered Wodehouse's threat, and roused himself from his
+contemplation of the dying to think of the probable fate of those who
+must live.
+
+"Has he made his will?" said Mr Wentworth, suddenly. He forgot that it
+was Lucy who was standing by him; and it was only when he caught a
+glance of reproach and horror from her eyes that he recollected how
+abrupt his question was. "Pardon me," he said; "you think me heartless
+to speak of it at such a time; but tell me, if you know: Miss
+Wodehouse, has he made his will?"
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, I don't know anything about business," said the
+elder sister. "He said he would; but we have had other things to think
+of--more important things," said poor Miss Wodehouse, wringing her
+hands, and looking at Mr Wentworth with eyes full of warning and
+meaning, beseeching him not to betray her secret. She came nearer to
+the side of the bed on which Lucy and the Curate were standing, and
+plucked at his sleeve in her anxiety. "We have had very different
+things to think of. Oh, Mr Wentworth, what does it matter?" said the
+poor lady, interposing her anxious looks, which suggested every kind
+of misfortune, between the two.
+
+"It matters everything in the world," said Mr Wentworth. "Pardon me if
+I wound you--I must speak; if it is possible to rouse him, an effort
+must be made. Send for Mr Waters. He must not be allowed to go out of
+the world and leave your interests in the hands of--"
+
+"Oh, hush, Mr Wentworth, hush!--oh, hush, hush! Don't say any more,"
+cried Miss Wodehouse, grasping his arm in her terror.
+
+Lucy rose from where she had been sitting at the bedside. She had
+grown paler than before, and looked almost stern in her youthful
+gravity. "I will not permit my father to be disturbed," she said. "I
+don't know what you mean, or what you are talking of; but he is not to
+be disturbed. Do you think I will let him be vexed in his last hours
+about money or anybody's interest?" she said, turning upon the Curate
+a momentary glance of scorn. Then she sat down again, with a pang of
+disappointment added to her grief. She could not keep her heart so
+much apart from him, as not to expect a little comfort from his
+presence. And there had been comfort in his prayers and his looks; but
+to hear him speak of wills and worldly affairs by her father's
+deathbed, as any man might have done, went to Lucy's heart. She sat
+down again, putting her hand softly upon the edge of the pillow, to
+guard the peace of those last moments which were ebbing away so
+rapidly. What if all the comfort of the world hung upon it? Could she
+let her kind father be troubled in his end for anything so miserable?
+Lucy turned her indignant eyes upon the others with silent resolution.
+It was she who was _his_ protector now.
+
+"But it must be done," said Mr Wentworth. "You will understand me
+hereafter. Miss Wodehouse, you must send for Mr Waters, and in the
+mean time I will do what I can to rouse him. It is no such cruelty as
+you think," said the Curate, with humility; "it is not for money or
+interest only--it concerns all the comfort of your life."
+
+This he said to Lucy, who sat defending her father. She, for her part,
+looked up at him with eyes that broke his heart. At that moment of all
+others, the unfortunate Curate perceived, by a sudden flash of
+insight, that nothing less than love could look at him with such
+force of disappointment and reproach and wounded feeling. He replied
+to the look by a gesture of mingled entreaty and despair.
+
+"What can I do?" he cried--"you have no one else to care for you. I
+cannot even explain to you all that is at stake. I must act as I
+ought, even though you hate me for it. Let us send for Mr Waters;--if
+there is a will--"
+
+Mr Wentworth had raised his voice a little in the excitement of the
+moment, and the word caught the dull ear of the dying man. The Curate
+saw instantly that there was comprehension in the flicker of the
+eyelash and the tremulous movement of the hand upon the bed. It was a
+new and unaccustomed part which he had now to play; he went hurriedly
+to the other side and leaned over the pillow to make out the
+stammering words which began to be audible. Lucy had risen up also and
+stood looking at her father still with her look of defence. As the
+feeble lips babbled forth unintelligible words, Lucy's face grew
+sterner and sterner. As for Miss Wodehouse, she stood behind, crying
+and trembling. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, do you think it is returning
+life--do you think he is better?" she cried, looking wistfully at the
+Curate; and between the two young people, who were leaning with looks
+and feelings so different over his bed, the patient lay struggling
+with those terrible bonds of weakness, labouring to find expression
+for something which wrought him into a fever of excitement. While Mr
+Wentworth bent his ear closer and closer, trying to make some sense of
+the inarticulate torrent of sound, Lucy, inspired by grief and horror
+and indignation, leaned over her father on the other side, doing
+everything possible to calm him. "Oh, papa, don't say any more--don't
+say any more; we understand you," she cried, and put her soft hands
+upon his flushed forehead, and her cheek to his. "No more, no more!"
+cried the girl in the dulled ear which could not hear. "We will do
+everything you wish--we understand all," said Lucy. Mr Wentworth
+withdrew vanquished in that strange struggle--he stood looking on
+while she caressed and calmed and subdued into silence the dying
+passion which he would have given anything in the world to stimulate
+into clearer utterance. She had baffled his efforts, made him helpless
+to serve her, perhaps injured herself cruelly; but all the more the
+Curate loved her for it, as she expanded over her dying father, with
+the white sleeves hanging loose about her arms like the white wings of
+an angel, as he thought. Gradually the agony of utterance got subdued,
+and then Lucy resumed her position by the bed. "He shall not be
+disturbed," she said again, through lips that were parched with
+emotion; and so sat watchful over him, a guardian immovable, ready to
+defy all the world in defence of his peace.
+
+Mr Wentworth turned away with his heart full. He would have liked to
+go and kiss her hand or her sleeve or anything belonging to her; and
+yet he was impatient beyond expression, and felt that she had baffled
+and vanquished him. Miss Wodehouse stood behind, still looking on with
+a half perception of what had happened; but the mind of the elder
+sister was occupied with vain hopes and fears, such as inexperienced
+people are subject to in the presence of death.
+
+"He heard what you said," said Miss Wodehouse; "don't you think that
+was a good sign? Oh, Mr Wentworth, sometimes I think he looks a little
+better," said the poor lady, looking wistfully into the Curate's face.
+Mr Wentworth could only shake his head as he hurried away.
+
+"I must go and consult Mr Waters," he said, as he passed her. "I shall
+come back presently;" and then Miss Wodehouse followed him to the door,
+to beg him not to speak to Mr Waters of _anything particular_--"For papa
+has no confidence in him," she said, anxiously. The Curate was nearly
+driven to his wits' end as he hastened out. He forgot the clouds that
+surrounded him in his anxiety about this sad household; for it seemed
+but too evident that Mr Wodehouse had made no special provision for his
+daughters; and to think of Lucy under the power of her unknown brother,
+made Mr Wentworth's blood boil.
+
+The shutters were all put up that afternoon in the prettiest house in
+Grange Lane. The event took Carlingford altogether by surprise; but
+other events just then were moving the town into the wildest
+excitement; for nothing could be heard, far or near, of poor little
+Rosa Elsworthy, and everybody was aware that the last time she was
+seen in Carlingford she was standing by herself in the dark, at Mr
+Wentworth's garden-door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+Mrs Morgan was in the garden watering her favourite ferns when her
+husband returned home to dinner on the day of Mr Wodehouse's death. The
+Rector was late, and she had already changed her dress, and was removing
+the withered leaves from her prettiest plant of maidenhair, and
+thinking, with some concern, of the fish, when she heard his step on the
+gravel; for the cook at the Rectory was rather hasty in her temper, and
+was apt to be provoking to her mistress next morning when the Rector
+chose to be late. It was a very hot day, and Mr Morgan was flushed and
+uncomfortable. To see his wife looking so cool and tranquil in her
+muslin dress rather aggravated him than otherwise, for she did not
+betray her anxiety about the trout, but welcomed him with a smile, as
+she felt it her duty to do, even when he was late for dinner. The Rector
+looked as if all the anxieties of the world were on his shoulders, as he
+came hurriedly along the gravel; and Mrs Morgan's curiosity was
+sufficiently excited by his looks to have overcome any consideration but
+that of the trout, which, however, was too serious to be trifled with;
+so, instead of asking questions, she thought it wiser simply to remind
+her husband that it was past six o'clock. "Dinner is waiting," she said,
+in her composed way; and the Rector went up-stairs to wash his hands,
+half disposed to be angry with his wife. He found her already seated at
+the head of the table when he came down after his rapid ablutions; and
+though he was not particularly quick of perception, Mr Morgan perceived,
+by the looks of the servant as well as the mistress, that he was
+generally disapproved of throughout the household for being half an hour
+too late. As for Thomas, he was at no pains to conceal his sentiments,
+but conducted himself with distant politeness towards his master,
+expressing the feelings of the household with all the greater freedom
+that he had been in possession of the Rectory since Mr Bury's time, and
+felt himself more secure in his tenure than any incumbent, as was
+natural to a man who had already outlived two of these temporary
+tenants. Mr Morgan was disposed to be conciliatory when he saw the
+strength of the opposite side.
+
+"I am a little late today," said the politic Rector. "Mr Leeson was
+with me, and I did not want to bring him home to dinner. It was only
+on Wednesday he dined with us, and I know you don't care for chance
+guests."
+
+"I think it shows a great want of sense in Mr Leeson to think of such
+a thing," said Mrs Morgan, responding by a little flush of anger to
+the unlucky Curate's name. "He might understand that people like to be
+by themselves now and then. I am surprised that you give in to him so
+much as you do, William. Good-nature must stop somewhere, and I think
+it is always best to draw a line."
+
+"I wish it were possible for everybody to draw a line," said the
+Rector, mysteriously, with a sigh. "I have heard something that has
+grieved me very much to-day. I will tell you about it afterwards."
+When he had said this, Mr Morgan addressed himself sadly to his
+dinner, sighing over it, as if that had something to do with his
+distress.
+
+"Perhaps, ma'am," suggested Thomas, who was scarcely on speaking terms
+with his master, "the Rector mayn't have heard as Mr Wodehouse has
+been took very bad again, and aint expected to see out the night."
+
+"I am very sorry," said the Rector. "Poor ladies! it will come very
+hard upon them. My dear, I think you should call and ask if you can do
+anything. Troubles never come singly, it is said. I am very sorry for
+that poor young creature; though, perhaps, things have not gone so far
+as one imagined." The Rector sighed again, and looked as though his
+secret, whatever it might be, was almost too much for him. The
+consequence, of course, was, that Thomas prolonged his services to the
+last possibility, by way of hearing what had happened; as for Mrs
+Morgan, she sat on thorns, though her sense of propriety was too great
+to permit her to hurry over the dinner. The pudding, though it was the
+Rector's favourite pudding, prepared from a receipt only known at
+All-Souls, in which the late respected Head of that learned community
+had concentrated all his genius, was eaten in uneasy silence, broken
+only by the most transparent attempts on both sides to make a little
+conversation. Thomas hovered sternly over his master and mistress all
+the time, exacting with inexorable severity every usage of the table.
+He would not let them off the very smallest detail, but insisted on
+handing round the peaches, notwithstanding Mrs Morgan's protest. "They
+are the first out of the new orchard-house," said the Rector's wife.
+"I want your opinion of them. That will do, Thomas; we have got
+everything now, I think." Mrs Morgan was a little anxious about the
+peaches, having made a great many changes on her own responsibility in
+the gardening department; but the Rector took the downy fruit as if it
+had been a turnip, and notwithstanding her interest in the
+long-delayed news, his wife could not but find it very provoking that
+he took so little notice of her exertions.
+
+"Roberts stood out against the new flue as long as he could," said
+Mrs Morgan. "Mr Proctor took no interest in the garden, and everything
+had gone to ruin; though I must say it was very odd that anybody from
+_your_ college, William, should be careless about such a vital
+matter," said the Rector's wife, with a little asperity. "I suppose
+there must be something in the air of Carlingford which makes people
+indifferent." Naturally, it was very provoking, after all the trouble
+she had taken, to see her husband slicing that juicy pulp as if it had
+been any ordinary market fruit.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear," said Mr Morgan; "I was thinking of this
+story about Mr Wentworth. One is always making new discoveries of the
+corruption of human nature. He had behaved very badly to me; but it is
+very sad to see a young man sacrifice all his prospects for the
+indulgence of his passions; though that is a very secular way of
+looking at the subject," said the Rector, shaking his head mournfully.
+"If it is bad in a worldly point of view, what is it in a spiritual?
+and in this age, too, when it is so important to keep up the character
+of the clergy!" Mr Morgan sighed again more heavily than ever as he
+poured out the single glass of port, in which his wife joined him
+after dinner. "Such an occurrence throws a stigma upon the whole
+Church, as Mr Leeson very justly remarked."
+
+"I thought Mr Leeson must have something to do with it," said the
+Rector's wife. "What has Mr Wentworth been doing? When you keep a
+Low-Church Curate, you never can tell what he may say. If he had known
+of the All-Souls pudding he would have come to dinner, and we should
+have had it at first-hand," said Mrs Morgan, severely. She put away
+her peach in her resentment, and went to a side-table for her work,
+which she always kept handy for emergencies. Like her husband, Mrs
+Morgan had acquired some little "ways" in the long ten years of their
+engagement, one of which was a confirmed habit of needlework at all
+kinds of unnecessary moments, which much disturbed the Rector when he
+had anything particular to say.
+
+"My dear, I am very sorry to see you so much the victim of prejudice,"
+said Mr Morgan. "I had hoped that all our long experiences--" and here
+the Rector stopped short, troubled to see the rising colour in his
+wife's face. "I don't mean to blame you, my dear," said the perplexed
+man; "I know you were always very patient;" and he paused, not knowing
+what more to say, comforting himself with the thought that women were
+incomprehensible creatures, as so many men have done before.
+
+"I am not patient," said the Rector's wife; "it never was my nature. I
+can't help thinking sometimes that our long experiences have done us
+more harm than good; but I hope nothing will ever make me put up with
+a Curate who tells tales about other people, and flatters one's self,
+and comes to dinner without being asked. Perhaps Mr Wentworth is very
+sinful, but at least he is a gentleman," said Mrs Morgan; and she bent
+her head over her work, and drove her needle so fast through the
+muslin she was at work upon, that it glimmered and sparkled like
+summer lightning before the spectator's dazzled eyes.
+
+"I am sorry you are so prejudiced," said the Rector. "It is a very
+unbecoming spirit, my dear, though I am grieved to say so much to you.
+Mr Leeson is a very good young man, and he has nothing to do with this
+terrible story about Mr Wentworth. I don't wish to shock your
+feelings--but there are a great many things in the world that one
+can't explain to ladies. He has got himself into a most distressing
+position, and a public inquiry will be necessary. One can't help
+seeing the hand of Providence in it," said the Rector, playing
+reflectively with the peach on his plate.
+
+It was at this moment that Thomas appeared at the door to announce Mr
+Leeson, who had come to talk over the topic of the day with the
+Rector--being comfortably obtuse in his perceptions, and quite
+disposed to ignore Mrs Morgan's general demeanour towards himself. "I
+am sure she has a bad temper," he would say to his confidants in the
+parish; "you can see it by the redness in her face: but I never take
+any notice when she says rude things to me." The redness was alarming
+in Mrs Morgan's face as the unlucky man became visible at the door.
+She said audibly, "I knew we should be interrupted!" and got up from
+her chair. "As Mr Leeson is here, you will not want me, William," she
+added, in her precisest tones. "If anything has happened since you
+came in, he will be able to tell you about it; and perhaps I had
+better send you your coffee here, for I have a great many things to
+do." Mr Morgan gave a little groan in his spirit as his wife went
+away. To do him justice, he had a great deal of confidence in her, and
+was unconsciously guided by her judgment in many matters. Talking it
+over with Mr Leeson was a totally different thing; for whatever might
+be said in his defence, there could not be any doubt that the Curate
+professed Low-Church principles, and had been known to drink tea with
+Mr Beecher, the new minister of Salem Chapel. "Not that I object to Mr
+Beecher because he is a Dissenter," Mr Morgan said, "but because, my
+dear, you know, it is a totally different class of society." When the
+Rector was left alone to discuss parish matters with this doubtful
+subordinate, instead of going into the subject with his wife, the good
+man felt a pang of disappointment; for though he professed to be
+reluctant to shock her, he had been longing all the time to enter into
+the story, which was certainly the most exciting which had occurred in
+Carlingford since the beginning of his incumbency. Mrs Morgan, for her
+part, went up-stairs to the drawing-room with so much indignation
+about this personal grievance that she almost forgot her curiosity. Mr
+Leeson hung like a cloud over all the advantages of Carlingford; he
+put out that new flue in the greenhouse, upon which she was rather
+disposed to pique herself, and withered her ferns, which everybody
+allowed to be the finest collection within a ten miles' circuit. This
+sense of disgust increased upon her as she went into the drawing-room,
+where her eye naturally caught that carpet which had been the first
+cross of her married life. When she had laid down her work, she began
+to plan how the offensive bouquets might be covered with a pinafore of
+linen, which looked very cool and nice in summer-time. And then the
+Rector's wife reflected that in winter a floor covered with white
+looked chilly, and that a woollen drugget of an appropriate small
+pattern would be better on the whole; but no such thing was to be had
+without going to London for it, which brought her mind back again to
+Mr Leeson and all the disadvantages of Carlingford. These subjects
+occupied Mrs Morgan to the exclusion of external matters, as was
+natural; and when she heard the gentlemen stir down-stairs as if with
+ideas of joining her in the drawing-room, the Rector's wife suddenly
+recollected that she had promised some tea to a poor woman in Grove
+Street, and that she could not do better this beautiful evening than
+take it in her own person. She was very active in her district at all
+times, and had proved herself an admirable clergywoman; but perhaps it
+would not have occurred to her to go out upon a charitable errand that
+particular evening had it not been for the presence of Mr Leeson
+down-stairs.
+
+It was such a very lovely night, that Mrs Morgan was tempted to go
+further than she intended. She called on two or three of her
+favourites in Grove Street, and was almost as friendly with them as
+Lucy Wodehouse was with the people in Prickett's Lane; but being
+neither pretty and young, like Lucy, nor yet a mother with a nursery,
+qualified to talk about the measles, her reception was not quite as
+enthusiastic as it might have been. Somehow it would appear as though
+our poor neighbours loved most the ministrations of youth, which is
+superior to all ranks in the matter of possibility and expectation,
+and inferior to all ranks in the matter of experience; and so holds a
+kind of balance and poise of nature between the small and the great.
+Mrs Morgan was vaguely sensible of her disadvantages in this respect
+as well as in others. She never could help imagining what she might
+have been had she married ten years before at the natural period.
+"And even then not a girl," she said to herself in her sensible way,
+as she carried this habitual thread of thought with her along the
+street, past the little front gardens, where there were so many
+mothers with their children. On the other side of the way the genteel
+houses frowned darkly with their staircase windows upon the humility
+of Grove Street; and Mrs Morgan began to think within herself of the
+Miss Hemmings and other spinsters, and how they got along upon this
+path of life, which, after all, is never lightsome to behold, except
+in the future or the past. It was dead present with the Rector's wife
+just then, and many speculations were in her mind, as was natural.
+"Not that I could not have lived unmarried," she continued within
+herself, with a woman's pride; "but things looked so different at
+five-and-twenty!" and in her heart she grudged the cares she had lost,
+and sighed over this wasting of her years.
+
+It was just then that the youngest Miss Hemmings saw Mrs Morgan, and
+crossed over to speak to her. Miss Hemmings had left five-and-thirty
+behind a long time ago, and thought the Rector's wife a happy woman in
+the bloom of youth. When she had discovered conclusively that Mrs
+Morgan would not go in to have a cup of tea, Miss Hemmings volunteered
+to walk with her to the corner; and it is not necessary to say that
+she immediately plunged into the topic which at that moment engaged
+all minds in Carlingford. "If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I
+should not have believed it," said Miss Hemmings. "I should have
+thought it a got-up story; not that I ever could have thought it
+_impossible_, as you say--for, alas! I know well that without grace
+every wickedness is more than possible--but I saw them with my own
+eyes, my dear Mrs Morgan; she standing outside, the bold little thing,
+and he at the door--as if it was right for a clergyman to open the
+door like a man-servant--and from that moment to this she has not been
+seen by any living creature in Carlingford: who can tell what may have
+been done with her?" cried the horrified eyewitness. "She has never
+been seen from that hour!"
+
+"But that was only twenty-four hours ago," said Mrs Morgan; "she may
+have gone off to visit some of her friends."
+
+"Ah, my dear Mrs Morgan, twenty-four hours is a long time for a girl
+to disappear out of her own home," said Miss Hemmings; "and all her
+friends have been sent to, and no word can be heard of her. I am
+afraid it will go very hard with Mr Wentworth; and I am sure it looks
+like a judgment upon him for all his candlesticks and flowers and
+things," she continued, out of breath with the impetuosity of her
+tale.
+
+"Do you think, then, that God makes people sin in order to punish
+them?" said Mrs Morgan, with some fire, which shocked Miss Hemmings,
+who did not quite know how to reply.
+
+"I do so wish you would come in for a few minutes and taste our tea;
+my sister Sophia was just making it when I came out. We get it from
+our brother in Assam, and we think a great deal of it," said Miss
+Hemmings; "it can't possibly be adulterated, you know, for it comes
+direct from his plantation. If you can't come in just now, I will send
+you some to the Rectory, and you shall tell us how you like it. We are
+quite proud of our tea. My brother has a large plantation, and he
+hopes--"
+
+"Thank you," said Mrs Morgan, "but the Rector will be waiting for me,
+and I must go. It must be very nice to have your tea direct from the
+plantation; and I hope you will change your mind about Mr Wentworth,"
+she continued, without much regard for punctuation, as she shook hands
+at the corner. Mrs Morgan went down a narrow street which led to
+Grange Lane, after this interview, with some commotion in her mind.
+She took Mr Wentworth's part instinctively, without asking any proofs
+of his innocence. The sun was just setting, and St Roque's stood out
+dark and picturesque against all the glory of the western sky as the
+Rector's wife went past. She could not help thinking of him, in his
+youth and the opening of his career, with a kind of wistful interest.
+If he had married Lucy Wodehouse, and confined himself to his own
+district (but then he had no district), Mrs Morgan would have
+contemplated the two, not, indeed, without a certain half-resentful
+self-reference and contrast, but with natural sympathy. And now, to
+think of this dark and ugly blot on his fair beginning disturbed her
+much. When Mrs Morgan recollected that she had left her husband and
+his Curate consulting over this matter, she grew very hot and angry,
+and felt humiliated by the thought. Was it her William, her hero, whom
+she had magnified for all these ten years, though not without
+occasional twinges of enlightenment, into something great, who was
+thus sitting upon his young brother with so little human feeling and
+so much middle-aged jealousy? It hurt her to think of it, though not
+for Mr Wentworth's sake. Poor Mrs Morgan, though not at all a
+sentimental person, had hoarded up her ideal so much after the
+ordinary date, that it came all the harder upon her when everything
+thus merged into the light of common day. She walked very fast up
+Grange Lane, which was another habit of her maidenhood not quite in
+accord with the habit of sauntering acquired during the same period by
+the Fellow of All-Souls. When Mrs Morgan was opposite Mr Wodehouse's,
+she looked across with some interest, thinking of Lucy; and it shocked
+her greatly to see the closed shutters, which told of the presence of
+death. Then, a little farther up, she could see Elsworthy in front of
+his shop, which was already closed, talking vehemently to a little
+group round the door. The Rector's wife crossed the street, to avoid
+coming into contact with this excited party; and, as she went swiftly
+along under the garden-walls, came direct, without perceiving it, upon
+Mr Wentworth, who was going the opposite way. They were both absorbed
+in their own thoughts, the Perpetual Curate only perceiving Mrs Morgan
+in time to take off his hat to her as he passed; and, to tell the
+truth, having no desire for any further intercourse. Mrs Morgan,
+however, was of a different mind. She stopped instantly, as soon as
+she perceived him. "Mr Wentworth, it is getting late--will you walk
+with me as far as the Rectory?" she said, to the Curate's great
+astonishment. He could not help looking at her with curiosity as he
+turned to accompany her. Mrs Morgan was still wearing her wedding
+things, which were not now in their first freshness--not to say that
+the redness, of which she was so painfully sensible, was rather out of
+accordance with the orange blossoms. Then she was rather flurried and
+disturbed in her mind; and, on the whole, Mr Wentworth ungratefully
+concluded the Rector's wife to be looking her plainest, as he turned
+with very languid interest to see her safely home.
+
+"A great many things seem to be happening just now," said Mrs Morgan,
+with a good deal of embarrassment; "I suppose the people in
+Carlingford are grateful to anybody who gives them something to talk
+about."
+
+"I don't know about the gratitude," said the Perpetual Curate; "it is
+a sentiment I don't believe in."
+
+"You ought to believe in everything as long as you are young," said
+Mrs Morgan. "I want very much to speak to you, Mr Wentworth; but then
+I don't know how you will receive what I am going to say."
+
+"I can't tell until I know what it is," said the Curate, shutting
+himself up. He had an expressive face generally, and Mrs Morgan saw
+the shutters put up, and the jealous blinds drawn over the young man's
+countenance as clearly as if they had been tangible articles. He did
+not look at her, but kept swinging his cane in his hand, and regarding
+the pavement with downcast eyes; and if the Rector's wife had formed
+any expectations of finding in the Perpetual Curate an ingenuous young
+heart, open to sympathy and criticism, she now discovered her mistake.
+
+"If I run the risk, perhaps you will forgive me," said Mrs Morgan. "I
+have just been hearing a dreadful story about you; and I don't believe
+it in the least, Mr Wentworth," she continued, with a little effusion;
+for though she was very sensible, she was only a woman, and did not
+realise the possibility of having her sympathy rejected, and her
+favourable judgment received with indifference.
+
+"I am much flattered by your good opinion. What was the dreadful
+story?" asked Mr Wentworth, looking at her with careless eyes. They
+were just opposite Elsworthy's shop, and could almost hear what he was
+saying, as he stood in the midst of his little group of listeners,
+talking loud and vehemently. The Perpetual Curate looked calmly at him
+across the road, and turned again to Mrs Morgan, repeating his
+question, "What was the dreadful story?--one gets used to romances,"
+he said, with a composure too elaborate to be real; but Mrs Morgan did
+not think of that.
+
+"If you don't care about it, I need not say anything," said the
+Rector's wife, who could not help feeling affronted. "But I am so
+sorry that Mr Morgan and you don't get on," she continued, after a
+little pause. "I have no right to speak; but I take an interest in
+everything that belongs to the parish. If you would put a little
+confidence in my husband, things might go on better; but, in the mean
+time, I thought I might say to you, on my own account, that I had
+heard this scandal, and that I don't believe in it. If you do not
+understand my motive I can't help it," said the Rector's wife, who was
+now equally ready for friendship or for battle.
+
+"Thanks; I understand what you mean," said Mr Wentworth, who had come
+to himself. "But will you tell me what it is you don't believe in?" he
+asked, with a smile which Mrs Morgan did not quite comprehend.
+
+"I will tell you," she said, with a little quiet exasperation. "I
+don't think you would risk your prospects, and get yourself into
+trouble, and damage your entire life, for the sake of any girl,
+however pretty she might be. Men don't do such things for women
+nowadays, even when it is a worthy object," said the disappointed
+optimist. "And I believe you are a great deal more sensible, Mr
+Wentworth." There was just that tone of mingled approval and contempt
+in this speech which a woman knows how to deliver herself of without
+any appearance of feeling; and which no young man, however _blasé_,
+can hear with composure.
+
+"Perhaps not," he said, with a little heat and a rising colour. "I am
+glad you think me so sensible." And then there ensued a pause, upon
+the issue of which depended the question of peace or war between these
+two. Mr Wentworth's good angel, perhaps, dropped softly through the
+dusky air at that moment, and jogged his perverse charge with the tip
+of a celestial wing. "And yet there might be women in the world for
+whom--" said the Curate; and stopped again. "I daresay you are not
+anxious to know my sentiments on the subject," he continued, with a
+little laugh. "I am sorry you think so badly--I mean so well of me."
+
+"I don't think badly of you," said Mrs Morgan, hastily. "Thank you for
+walking with me; and whatever happens, remember that I for one don't
+believe a word of it," she said, holding out her hand. After this little
+declaration of friendship, the Rector's wife returned to the Rectory,
+where her husband was waiting for her, more than ever prepared to stand
+up for Mr Wentworth. She went back to the drawing-room, forgetting all
+about the carpet, and poured out the tea with satisfaction, and made
+herself very agreeable to Mr Finial, the architect, who had come to talk
+over the restorations. In that moment of stimulation she forgot all her
+experience of her husband's puzzled looks, of the half-comprehension
+with which he looked at her, and the depths of stubborn determination
+which were far beyond the reach of her hastier and more generous spirit,
+and so went on with more satisfaction and gaiety than she had felt
+possible for a long time, beating her drums and blowing her trumpets, to
+the encounter in which her female forces were so confident of victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth went upon his way, after he had parted from Mrs Morgan,
+with a moment's gratitude; but he had not gone half-a-dozen steps
+before that amiable sentiment yielded to a sense of soreness and
+vexation. He had almost acknowledged that he was conscious of the
+slander against which he had made up his mind to present a blank front
+of unconsciousness and passive resistance, and he was angry with
+himself for his susceptibility to this unexpected voice of kindness.
+He was going home, but he did not care for going home. Poor Mrs
+Hadwin's anxious looks of suspicion had added to the distaste with
+which he thought of encountering again the sullen shabby rascal to
+whom he had given shelter. It was Saturday night, and he had still his
+sermon to prepare for the next day; but the young man was in a state
+of disgust with all the circumstances of his lot, and could not make
+up his mind to go in and address himself to his work as he ought to
+have done. Such a sense of injustice and cruelty as possessed him was
+not likely to promote composition, especially as the pulpit addresses
+of the Curate of St Roque's were not of a declamatory kind. To think
+that so many years' work could be neutralised in a day by a sudden
+breath of scandal, made him not humble or patient, but fierce and
+resentful. He had been in Wharfside that afternoon, and felt convinced
+that even the dying woman at No. 10 Prickett's Lane had heard of Rosa
+Elsworthy; and he saw, or imagined he saw, many a distrustful
+inquiring glance thrown at him by people to whom he had been a kind
+of secondary Providence. Naturally the mere thought of the failing
+allegiance of the "district" went to Mr Wentworth's heart. When he
+turned round suddenly from listening to a long account of one poor
+family's distresses, and saw Tom Burrows, the gigantic bargeman, whose
+six children the Curate had baptised in a lump, and whose baby had
+been held at the font by Lucy Wodehouse herself, looking at him
+wistfully with rude affection, and something that looked very much
+like pity, it is impossible to describe the bitterness that welled up
+in the mind of the Perpetual Curate. Instead of leaving Wharfside
+comforted as he usually did, he came away wounded and angry, feeling
+to its full extent the fickleness of popular sympathy. And when he
+came into Grange Lane and saw the shutters closed, and Mr Wodehouse's
+green door shut fast, as if never more to open, all sources of
+consolation seemed to be shut against him. Even the habit he had of
+going into Elsworthy's to get his newspaper, and to hear what talk
+might be current in Carlingford, contributed to the sense of utter
+discomfort and wretchedness which overwhelmed him. Men in other
+positions have generally to consult the opinion of their equals only;
+but all sorts of small people can plant thorns in the path of a priest
+who has given himself with fervour to the duties of his office. True
+enough, such clouds blow by, and sometimes leave behind a sky clearer
+than before; but that result is doubtful, and Mr Wentworth was not of
+the temper to comfort himself with philosophy. He felt ingratitude
+keenly, as men do at eight-and-twenty, even when they have made up
+their minds that gratitude is a delusion; and still more keenly, with
+deep resentment and indignation, he felt the horrible doubt which had
+diffused itself around him, and seemed to be looking at him out of
+everybody's eyes. In such a state of mind one bethinks one's self of
+one's relations--those friends not always congenial, but whom one
+looks to instinctively, when one is young, in the crisis of life. He
+knocked at his aunts' door almost without knowing it, as he went down
+Grange Lane, after leaving Mrs Morgan, with vague sentences of his
+sermon floating in his mind through all the imbroglio of other
+thoughts. Even aunt Dora's foolish affection might have been a little
+comfort at the moment, and he could not but be a little curious to
+know whether they had heard Elsworthy's story, and what the
+patronesses of Skelmersdale thought of the matter. Somehow, just then,
+in the midst of his distresses, a vision of Skelmersdale burst upon
+the Perpetual Curate like a glimpse of a better world. If he could but
+escape there out of all this sickening misconception and ingratitude--if
+he could but take Lucy into his protecting arms, and carry her away far
+from the clouds that were gathering over her path as well as his own.
+The thought found vent in an impatient long-drawn sigh, and was then
+expelled contemptuously from the young man's bosom. If a hundred
+Skelmersdales were in his power, here, where his honour had been
+attacked, it was necessary to remain, in the face of all obstacles, till
+it was cleared.
+
+The Miss Wentworths had just come up to the drawing-room after dinner
+when their nephew entered. As for Miss Dora, she had seated herself by
+the window, which was open, and, with her light little curls
+fluttering upon her cheek, was watching a tiny puff of smoke by the
+side of the great laurel, which indicated the spot occupied at this
+moment by Jack and his cigar. "Dear fellow, he does enjoy the quiet,"
+she said, with a suppressed little sniff of emotion. "To think we
+should be in such a misery about poor dear Frank, and have Jack, about
+whom we have all been so unbelieving, sent to us for a consolation. My
+poor brother will be so happy," said Miss Dora, almost crying at the
+thought. She was under the influence of this sentiment when the Curate
+entered. It was perhaps impossible for Mr Wentworth to present himself
+before his three aunts at the present crisis without a certain
+consciousness in his looks; and it was well that it was twilight, and
+he could not read distinctly all that was written in their
+countenances. Miss Cecilia held out her lovely old hand to him first
+of all. She said, "How do you do, Frank?" which was not very original,
+but yet counted for a good deal in the silence. When he came up to
+her, she offered him her sweet old cheek with a look of pity which
+touched, and yet affronted, the Perpetual Curate. He thought it was
+the wisest way to accept the challenge at once.
+
+"It is very good of you, but you need not be sorry for me," he said, as
+he sat down by her. And then there was a little pause--an awful pause;
+for Miss Wentworth had no further observations to offer, and Miss Dora,
+who had risen up hastily, dropped into her chair again in a disconsolate
+condition, when she saw that her nephew did not take any notice of her.
+The poor little woman sat down with miserable sensations, and did not
+find the comfort she hoped for in contemplation of the smoke of Jack's
+cigar. After all, it was Frank who was the original owner of Miss Dora's
+affections. When she saw him, as she thought, in a state of guilt and
+trouble, received with grim silence by the dreaded Leonora, the poor
+lady began to waver greatly, divided between a longing to return to her
+old allegiance, and a certain pride in the new bonds which bound her to
+so great a sinner as Jack. She could not help feeling the distinction of
+having such a reprobate in her hands. But the sight of Frank brought
+back old habits, and Miss Dora felt at her wits' end, and could not tell
+what to do.
+
+At length Miss Leonora's voice, which was decided contralto, broke the
+silence. "I am very glad to see you, Frank," said the strong-minded
+aunt. "From something we heard, I supposed you had gone away for a
+time, and we were rather anxious about your movements. There are so
+many things going on in the family just now, that one does not know
+what to think. I am glad to see you are still in Carlingford."
+
+"I never had the least intention of going away," said Mr Wentworth.
+"I can't imagine who could tell you so."
+
+"Nobody told us," said Miss Leonora; "we drew that conclusion from
+other things we heard. Dora, give Frank the newspaper with that
+paragraph about Gerald. I have prophesied from the very first which
+way Gerald was tending. It is very shocking of him, and I don't know
+what they are to do, for Louisa is an expensive little fool; and if he
+leaves the Rectory, they can't have enough to live on. If you knew
+what your brother was going to do, why didn't you advise him
+otherwise? Besides, he will be wretched," said the discriminating
+woman. "I never approved of his ways, but I could not say anything
+against his sincerity. I believe his heart was in his work; a man may
+be very zealous, and yet very erroneous," said Miss Leonora, like an
+oracle, out of the shadows.
+
+"I don't know if he is erroneous or not--but I know I should like to
+punch this man's head," said the Curate, who had taken the paper to
+the window, where there was just light enough to make out the
+paragraph. He stood looming over Miss Dora, a great black shadow
+against the fading light. "All the mischief in the world comes of
+these villanous papers," said Mr Wentworth. "Though I did not think
+anybody nowadays believed in the 'Chronicle.' Gerald has not gone over
+to Rome, and I don't think he means to go. I daresay you have agitated
+yourselves unnecessarily about more than one supposed event in the
+family," he continued, throwing the paper on the table. "I don't know
+anything very alarming that has happened as yet, except, perhaps, the
+prodigal's return," said the Perpetual Curate, with a slight touch of
+bitterness. His eye had just lighted on Jack sauntering through the
+garden with his cigar; and Mr Wentworth was human, and could not
+entirely refrain from the expression of his sentiments.
+
+"But oh, Frank, my dear, you are not angry about poor Jack?" said Miss
+Dora. "He has not known what it was to be at home for years and years.
+A stepmother is so different from an own mother, and he never has had
+any opportunities; and oh, Frank, don't you remember that there is
+joy in heaven?" cried the anxious aunt--"not to say that he is the
+eldest son. And it is such a thing for the family to see him changing
+his ways in such a beautiful spirit!" said Miss Dora. The room was
+almost dark by this time, and she did not see that her penitent had
+entered while she spoke.
+
+"It is very consoling to gain your approval, aunt Dora," said Jack. "My
+brother Frank doesn't know me. If the Squire _will_ make a nursery of
+his house, what can a man do? But a fellow can't be quite ruined as long
+as he has--" aunts, the reprobate was about to say, with an inflection
+of laughter intended for Frank's ear only in his voice; but he
+fortunately remembered in time that Miss Leonora had an acute
+intelligence, and was not to be trifled with--"As long as he has female
+relations," said Jack, in his most feeling tone. "Men never sympathise
+with men." He seemed to be apologising for Frank's indifference, as well
+as for his own sins. He had just had a very good dinner--for the Miss
+Wentworths' cook was the best in Carlingford--and Jack, whose digestion
+was perfect, was disposed to please everybody, and had, in particular,
+no disposition to quarrel with Frank.
+
+"Oh, my dear, you see how humble and forgiving he is," said Miss Dora,
+rising on tiptoe to whisper into the Curate's ear; "and always takes
+your part whenever you are mentioned," said the injudicious aunt.
+Meantime the other sisters were very silent, sitting each in the midst
+of her own group of shadows. Then Miss Leonora rose with a sudden
+rustling of all her draperies, and with her own energetic hand rang
+the bell.
+
+"Now the lamp is coming," said Jack, in a tone of despair, "a bright,
+blank, pitiless globe like the world; and instead of this delicious
+darkness, where one can see nothing distinctly, my heart will be torn
+asunder for the rest of the evening by the sight of suicide. Why do we
+ever have lights?" said the exquisite, laying himself down softly on
+a sofa. When the lamp was brought in, Jack became visible stretched
+out in an attitude of perfect repose and tranquillity, with a quiet
+conscience written in every fold of his scrupulous apparel. As for
+Frank, on the contrary, he was still in morning dress, and was biting
+his nails, and had a cloud upon his brow which the sudden light
+disclosed like a traitor before he was prepared for it. Between the
+two brothers such a contrast was visible that it was not surprising if
+Miss Dora, still wavering in her allegiance, went back with relief to
+the calm countenance of her penitent, and owned to herself with
+trembling that the Curate looked preoccupied and guilty. Perhaps Miss
+Leonora came to a similar conclusion. She seated herself at her
+writing-table with her usual air of business, and made a pen to a hard
+point by the light of the candles, which were sacred to her particular
+use.
+
+"I heard some news this morning which pleased me very much," said Miss
+Leonora. "I daresay you remember Julia Trench? You two used to be a
+great deal together at one time. She is going to be married to Mr
+Shirley's excellent curate, who is a young man of the highest
+character. He did very well at the university, I believe," said the
+patroness of Skelmersdale; "but I confess I don't care much for
+academical honours. He is an excellent clergyman, which is a great
+deal more to the purpose, and I thoroughly agree with his views. So,
+knowing the interest we take in Julia, you may think how pleased we
+were," said Miss Leonora, looking full into her nephew's face. He knew
+what she meant as distinctly as if she had put it in words.
+
+"When is old Shirley going to die?" said Jack from the sofa. "It's
+rather hard upon Frank, keeping him out of the living so long; and if
+I were you, I'd be jealous of this model curate," said the fine
+gentleman, with a slight civil yawn. "I don't approve of model curates
+upon family livings. People are apt to make comparisons," said Jack,
+and then he raised his head with a little energy--"Ah, there it is,"
+said the Sybarite, "the first moth. Don't be precipitate, my dear
+fellow. Aunt Dora, pray sit quietly where you are, and don't disturb
+our operations. It is only a moth, to be sure; but don't let us cut
+short the moments of a creature that has no hereafter," said Jack,
+solemnly. He disturbed them all by this eccentric manifestation of
+benevolence, and flapped his handkerchief round Miss Dora, upon whose
+white cap the unlucky moth, frightened by its benefactor's vehemence,
+was fluttering wildly. Jack even forgot himself so far as to swear
+softly in French at the frightened insect as it flew wildly off at a
+tangent, not to the open window, but to Miss Leonora's candles, where
+it came to an immediate end. Miss Leonora sat rather grimly looking on
+at all this byplay. When her elegant nephew threw himself back once
+more upon his sofa, she glanced from him to his brother with a
+comparison which perhaps was not so much to the disadvantage of the
+Perpetual Curate. But even Miss Leonora, though so sensible, had her
+weaknesses; and she was very evangelical, and could put up with a
+great deal from the sinner who had placed himself for conversion in
+her hands.
+
+"We have too great a sense of our responsibility to treat Skelmersdale
+simply as a family living," she said. "Besides, Frank of course is to
+have Wentworth Rectory. Gerald's perversion is a great blow; but
+still, if it _is_ to be, Frank will be provided for at least. As for
+our parish--"
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Curate; "I have not the least intention
+of leaving Carlingford. At the present moment neither Skelmersdale nor
+Wentworth would tempt me. I am in no doubt as to where my work lies,
+and there is enough of it to satisfy any man." He could not help
+thinking, as he spoke, of ungrateful Wharfside, for which he had done
+so much, and the recollection brought a little flush of indignant
+colour to his cheek.
+
+"Oh, Frank, my dear," said Miss Dora in a whisper, stealing up to him,
+"if it is not true, you must not mind. Oh, my dear boy, nobody will
+mind it if it is not true." She put her hand timidly upon his arm as
+she reached up to his ear, and at the same time the poor little woman,
+who was trying all she could to serve two masters, kept one eye upon
+Jack, lest her momentary return to his brother might have a disastrous
+effect upon the moral reformation which she was nursing with so much
+care. As for the Curate, he gave her a hasty glance, which very nearly
+made an end of Miss Dora. She retired to her seat with no more courage
+to say anything, unable to make out whether it was virtuous reproach
+or angry guilt which looked at her so sternly. She felt her headache
+coming on as she sank again upon her chair. If she could but have
+stolen away to her own room, and had a good comforting cry in the
+dark, it might have kept off the headache; but then she had to be
+faithful to her post, and to look after the reformation of Jack.
+
+"I have no doubt that a great work might be done in Carlingford," said
+Miss Leonora, "if you would take my advice and organise matters
+properly, and make due provision for the lay element. As for Sisters
+of Mercy, I never had any belief in them. They only get young
+clergymen into mischief," said the strong-minded aunt. "We are going
+to have tea, Frank, if you will have some. Poor Mr Shirley has got
+matters into very bad order at Skelmersdale, but things will be
+different under the new incumbent, I hope," said Miss Leonora,
+shooting a side-glance of keen inspection at the Curate, who bore it
+steadily.
+
+"I hope he will conduct himself to your satisfaction," said Mr
+Wentworth, with a bland but somewhat grim aspect, from the window;
+"but I can't wait for tea. I have still got some of my work to do for
+to-morrow; so good-night."
+
+"I'll walk with you, Frank," said his elder brother. "My dear aunts,
+don't look alarmed; nothing can happen to me. There are few
+temptations in Grange Lane; and, besides, I shall come back directly.
+_I_ cannot do without my tea," said Jack, by way of consoling poor
+Miss Dora, who had started with consternation at the proposal. And
+the two brothers went out into the fresh evening air together, their
+aunt Dora watching them from the window with inexpressible anxiety;
+for perhaps it was not quite right for a clergyman to saunter out of
+doors in the evening with such a doubtful member of society as Jack;
+and perhaps Frank, having himself fallen into evil ways, might hinder
+or throw obstacles in the way of his brother's re-establishment in the
+practice of all the virtues. Miss Dora, who had to carry them both
+upon her shoulders, and who got no sympathy in the present case from
+her hard-hearted sisters, was fain at last to throw a shawl over her
+head and steal out to that summer-house which was built into the
+garden-wall, and commanded Grange Lane from its little window. There
+she established herself in the darkness, an affectionate spy. There
+ought to have been a moon that night, and accordingly the lamps were
+not lighted at that end of Grange Lane, for the authorities in
+Carlingford bore a frugal mind. But the sky had become cloudy, and the
+moon shone only at intervals, which gave a certain character of
+mystery and secrecy to the night. Through this uncertain light the
+anxious woman saw her two nephews coming and going under the window,
+apparently in the most eager conversation. Miss Dora's anxiety grew to
+such a height that she opened softly a chink of the window in hopes of
+being able to hear as well as to see, but that attempt was altogether
+unsuccessful. Then, when they had walked about for half an hour, which
+looked like two hours to Miss Dora, who was rapidly taking one of her
+bad colds at the half-open window, they were joined by another figure
+which she did not think she had ever seen before. The excitement was
+growing tremendous, and the aspect of the three conspirators more and
+more alarming, when the poor lady started with a little scream at a
+noise behind her, and turning round, saw her maid, severe as a
+pursuing Fate, standing at the door. "After giving me your word as you
+wouldn't come no more?" said the reproachful despot who swayed Miss
+Dora's soul. After that she had to make the best of her way indoors,
+thankful not to be carried to her room and put into hot water, which
+was the original intention of Collins. But it would be impossible to
+describe the emotions of Miss Dora's mind after this glimpse into the
+heart of the volcano on which her innocent feet were standing. Unless
+it were murder or high treason, what could they have to plot about? or
+was the mysterious stranger a disguised Jesuit, and the whole business
+some terrible Papist conspiracy? Jack, who had been so much abroad,
+and Gerald, who was going over to Rome, and Frank, who was in trouble
+of every description, got entangled together in Miss Dora's disturbed
+imagination. No reality could be so frightful as the fancies with
+which she distracted herself after that peep from the summer-house;
+and it would be impossible to describe the indignation of Collins, who
+knew that her mistress would kill herself some day, and was aware that
+she, in her own person, would get little rest that night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+"I don't know what is the exact connection between tea and
+reformation," said Jack Wentworth, with a wonderful yawn. "When I
+consider that this is all on account of that stupid beast Wodehouse, I
+feel disposed to eat him. By the way, they have got a capital cook; I
+did not think such a _cuisine_ was the sort of thing to be found in
+the bosom of one's family, which has meant boiled mutton up to this
+moment, to my uninstructed imagination. But the old ladies are in a
+state of excitement which, I presume, is unusual to them. It appears
+you have been getting into scrapes like other people, though you are
+a parson. As your elder brother, my dear Frank--"
+
+"Look here," said the Perpetual Curate; "you want to ask about
+Wodehouse. I will answer your questions, since you seem to have some
+interest in him; but I don't speak of my private affairs to any but my
+intimate friends," said Mr Wentworth, who was not in a humour to be
+trifled with.
+
+The elder brother shrugged his shoulders. "It is curious to remark the
+progress of the younger members of one's family," he said,
+reflectively. "When you were a little boy, you took your drubbings
+dutifully; but never mind, we've another subject in hand. I take an
+interest in Wodehouse, and so do you--I can't tell for what reason.
+Perhaps he is one of the intimate friends with whom you discuss your
+private affairs? but that is a matter quite apart from the subject.
+The thing is that he has to be taken care of--not for his own sake, as
+I don't need to explain to you," said Jack. "I hear the old fellow
+died today, which was the best thing he could have done, upon the
+whole. Perhaps you can tell me how much he had, and how he has left
+it? We may have to take different sides, and the fellow himself is a
+snob; but I should like to understand exactly the state of affairs
+between you and me as gentlemen," said the heir of the Wentworths.
+Either a passing spasm of compunction passed over him as he said the
+word, or it was the moon, which had just flung aside the last fold of
+cloud and burst out upon them as they turned back facing her. "When we
+know how the affair stands, we can either negotiate or fight," he
+added, puffing a volume of smoke from his cigar. "Really a very fine
+effect--that little church of yours comes well against that bit of
+sky. It looks like a Constable, or rather it would look like a
+Constable, thrusting up that bit of spire into the blue, if it
+happened to be daylight," said Jack, making a tube of his hand, and
+regarding the picture with great interest. Miss Dora at her window
+beheld the movement with secret horror and apprehension, and took it
+for some mysterious sign.
+
+"I know nothing about Mr Wodehouse's property," said the Curate: "I
+wish I knew enough law to understand it. He has left no will, I
+believe;" and Mr Wentworth watched his brother's face with no small
+interest as he spoke.
+
+"Very like a Constable," said Jack, still with his hands to his eyes.
+"These clouds to the right are not a bad imitation of some effects of
+his. I beg your pardon, but Constable is my passion. And so old
+Wodehouse has left no will? What _has_ he left? some daughters? Excuse
+my curiosity," said the elder brother. "I am a man of the world, you
+know. If you like this other girl well enough to compromise yourself
+on her account (which, mind you, I think a great mistake), you can't
+mean to go in at the same time for that pretty sister, eh? It's a sort
+of sport I don't attempt myself--though it may be the correct thing
+for a clergyman, for anything I can tell to the contrary," said the
+tolerant critic.
+
+Mr Wentworth had swallowed down the interruptions that rushed to his
+lips, and heard his brother out with unusual patience. After all,
+perhaps Jack was the only man in the world whom he could ask to advise
+him in such an emergency. "I take it for granted that you don't mean
+to insult either me or my profession," he said, gravely; "and, to tell
+the truth, here is one point upon which I should be glad of your help.
+I am convinced that it is Wodehouse who has carried away this
+unfortunate girl. She is a little fool, and he has imposed upon her.
+If you can get him to confess this, and to restore her to her friends,
+you will lay me under the deepest obligation," said the Perpetual
+Curate, with unusual energy. "I don't mind telling you that such a
+slander disables me, and goes to my heart." When he had once begun to
+speak on the subject, he could not help expressing himself fully; and
+Jack, who had grown out of acquaintance with the nobler sentiments,
+woke up with a slight start through all his moral being to recognise
+the thrill of subdued passion and scorn and grief which was in his
+brother's voice. Innocent Miss Dora, who knew no evil, had scarcely a
+doubt in _her_ mind that Frank was guilty; but Jack, who scarcely knew
+what goodness was, acquitted his brother instantaneously, and required
+no other proof. Perhaps if he had been capable of any impression
+beyond an intellectual one, this little incident might, in Miss Dora's
+own language, have "done him good."
+
+"So you have nothing to do with it?" he said, with a smile. "Wodehouse!
+but then the fellow hasn't a penny. I see some one skulking along under
+the walls that looks like him. Hist! Smith--Tom--what do they call you?
+We want you here," said Jack, upon whom the moon was shining full. When
+he stood in his evening coat and spotless breadth of linen, the heir of
+the Wentworths was ready to meet the eye of all the world. His shabby
+subordinate stopped short, with a kind of sullen admiration, to look at
+him. Wodehouse knew the nature of Jack Wentworth's pursuits a great deal
+better than his brother did, and that some of them would not bear much
+investigation; but when he saw him stand triumphant in gorgeous apparel,
+fearing no man, the poor rascal, whom everybody kicked at, rose superior
+to his own misfortunes. He had not made much of it in his own person,
+but that life was not altogether a failure which had produced Jack
+Wentworth. He obeyed his superior's call with instinctive fidelity,
+proud, in spite of himself, to be living the same life and sharing the
+same perils. When he emerged into the moonlight, his shaggy countenance
+looked excited and haggard. Notwithstanding all his experiences, he was
+not of a constitution which could deny nature. He had inflicted every
+kind of torture upon his father while living; but, notwithstanding, the
+fact of the death affected him. His eyes looked wilder than usual, and
+his face older and more worn, and he looked round him with a kind of
+clandestine skulking instinct as he came out of the shadow into the
+light.
+
+This was the terrible conjunction which Miss Dora saw from her window.
+The anxious woman did not wait long enough to be aware that the Curate
+left the other two to such consultations as were inevitable between
+them, and went away very hastily to his own house, and to the work which
+still awaited him--"When the wicked man turneth away from the evil of
+his ways, and doeth that which is lawful and right." Mr Wentworth, when
+he came back to it, sat for about an hour over his text before he wrote
+a single syllable. His heart had been wrung that day by the sharpest
+pangs which can be inflicted upon a proud and generous spirit. He was
+disposed to be bitter against all the world--against the dull eyes that
+would not see, the dull ears that could shut themselves against all
+suggestions either of gratitude or justice. It appeared to him, on the
+whole, that the wicked man was every way the best off in this world,
+besides being wooed and besought to accept the blessings of the other.
+And the Curate was conscious of an irrepressible inclination to
+exterminate the human vermin who made the earth such an imbroglio of
+distress and misery; and was sore and wounded in his heart to feel how
+his own toils and honest purposes availed him nothing, and how all the
+interest and sympathy of bystanders went to the pretender. These
+sentiments naturally complicated his thoughts, and made composition
+difficult; not to say that they added a thrill of human feeling warmer
+than usual to the short and succinct sermon. It was not an emotional
+sermon, in the ordinary sense of the word; but it was so for Mr
+Wentworth, who carried to an extreme point the Anglican dislike for
+pulpit exaggeration in all forms. The Perpetual Curate was not a natural
+orator. He had very little of the eloquence which gave Mr Vincent so
+much success in the Dissenting connection during his short stay in
+Carlingford, which was a kind of popularity not much to the taste of the
+Churchman. But Mr Wentworth had a certain faculty of concentrating his
+thoughts into the tersest expression, and of uttering in a very few
+words, as if they did not mean anything particular, ideas which were
+always individual, and often of distinct originality--a kind of
+utterance which is very dear to the English mind. As was natural, there
+were but a limited amount of people able to find him out; but those who
+did so were rather fond of talking about the "restrained power" of the
+Curate of St Roque's.
+
+Next morning was a glorious summer Sunday--one of those days of peace
+on which this tired old earth takes back her look of innocence, and
+deludes herself with thoughts of Eden. To be sure, there were tumults
+enough going on over her surface--vulgar merry-makings and noises,
+French drums beating, all kinds of discordant sounds going on here and
+there, by land and sea, under that tranquil impartial sun. But the air
+was very still in Carlingford, where you could hear the bees in the
+lime-blossoms as you went to church in the sunshine. All that world of
+soft air in which the embowered houses of Grange Lane lay beatified,
+was breathing sweet of the limes; but notwithstanding the radiance of
+the day, people were talking of other subjects as they came down under
+the shadow of the garden-walls to St Roque's. There was a great stream
+of people--greater than usual; for Carlingford was naturally anxious
+to see how Mr Wentworth would conduct himself in such an emergency. On
+one side of the way Mr Wodehouse's hospitable house, shut up closely,
+and turning all its shuttered windows to the light, which shone
+serenely indifferent upon the blank frames, stood silent, dumbly
+contributing its great moral to the human holiday; and on the other,
+Elsworthy's closed shop, with the blinds drawn over the cheerful
+windows above, where little Rosa once amused herself watching the
+passengers, interposed a still more dreadful discordance. The
+Carlingford people talked of both occurrences with composure as they
+went to St Roque's. They were sorry, and shocked, and very curious;
+but that wonderful moral atmosphere of human indifference and
+self-regard which surrounds every individual soul, kept their feelings
+quite within bounds. Most people wondered much what Mr Wentworth
+would say; whether he would really venture to face the Carlingford
+world; whether he would take refuge in a funeral sermon for Mr
+Wodehouse; or how it was possible for him to conduct himself under
+such circumstances. When the greater part of the congregation was
+seated, Miss Leonora Wentworth, all by herself, in her iron-grey silk,
+which rustled like a breeze along the narrow passage, although she
+wore no crinoline, went up to a seat immediately in front, close to Mr
+Wentworth's choristers, who just then came trooping in in their white
+surplices, looking like angels of unequal height and equivocal
+reputation. Miss Leonora placed herself in the front row of a little
+group of benches arranged at the side, just where the Curate's wife
+would have been placed, had he possessed such an appendage. She looked
+down blandly upon the many lines of faces turned towards her,
+accepting their inspection with perfect composure. Though her
+principles were Evangelical, Miss Leonora was still a Wentworth, and a
+woman. She had not shown any sympathy for her nephew on the previous
+night; but she had made up her mind to stand by him, without saying
+anything about her determination. This incident made a great
+impression on the mind of Carlingford. Most likely it interfered with
+the private devotions, from which a few heads popped up abruptly as
+she passed; but she was very devout and exemplary in her own person,
+and set a good example, as became the clergyman's aunt.
+
+Excitement rose very high in St Roque's when Mr Wentworth came into the
+reading-desk, and Elsworthy, black as a cloud, became visible
+underneath. The clerk had not ventured to absent himself, nor to send a
+substitute in his place. Never, in the days when he was most devoted to
+Mr Wentworth, had Elsworthy been more determined to accompany him
+through every particular of the service. They had stood together in the
+little vestry, going through all the usual preliminaries, the Curate
+trying hard to talk as if nothing had happened, the clerk going through
+all his duties in total silence. Perhaps there never was a church
+service in Carlingford which was followed with such intense interest by
+all the eyes and ears of the congregation. When the sermon came, it took
+Mr Wentworth's admirers by surprise, though they could not at the moment
+make out what it was that puzzled them. Somehow the perverse manner in
+which for once the Curate treated that wicked man who is generally made
+so much of in sermons, made his hearers slightly ashamed of themselves.
+As for Miss Leonora, though she could not approve of his sentiments, the
+thought occurred to her that Frank was not nearly so like his mother's
+family as she had supposed him to be. When the service was over, she
+kept her place, steadily watching all the worshippers out, who thronged
+out a great deal more hastily than usual to compare notes, and ask each
+other what they thought. "I can't fancy he looks guilty," an eager voice
+here and there kept saying over and over. But on the whole, after they
+had got over the momentary impression made by his presence and aspect,
+the opinion of Carlingford remained unchanged; which was--that,
+notwithstanding all the evidence of his previous life, it was quite
+believable that Mr Wentworth was a seducer and a villain, and ought to
+be brought to condign punishment; but that in the mean time it was very
+interesting to watch the progress of this startling little drama; and
+that he himself, instead of merely being the Curate of St Roque's, had
+become a most captivating enigma, and had made church-going itself half
+as good as a play.
+
+As for Miss Leonora, she waited for her nephew, and, when he was ready,
+took his arm and walked with him up Grange Lane to her own door, where
+they encountered Miss Wentworth and Miss Dora returning from church, and
+overwhelmed them with astonishment. But it was not about his own affairs
+that they talked. Miss Leonora did not say a word to her nephew about
+himself. She was talking of Gerald most of the time, and inquiring into
+all the particulars of the Squire's late "attack." And she would very
+fain have found out what Jack's motive was in coming to Carlingford; but
+as for Rosa Elsworthy and her concerns, the strong-minded woman ignored
+them completely. Mr Wentworth even went with her to lunch, on her urgent
+invitation; and it was from his aunts' house that he took his way to
+Wharfside, pausing at the green door to ask after the Miss Wodehouses,
+who were, John said, with solemnity, as well as could be expected. They
+were alone, and they did not feel equal to seeing anybody--even Mr
+Wentworth; and the Perpetual Curate, who would have given all he had in
+the world for permission to soothe Lucy in her sorrow, went away sadly
+from the hospitable door, which was now for the first time closed to
+him. He could not go to Wharfside, to the "district" through which they
+had so often gone together, about which they had talked, when all the
+little details discussed were sweet with the love which they did not
+name, without going deeper and deeper into that sweet shadow of Lucy
+which was upon his way wherever he went. He could not help missing her
+voice when the little choir, which was so feeble without her, sang the
+'Magnificat,' which, somehow, Mr Wentworth always associated with her
+image. He read the same sermon to the Wharfside people which he had
+preached in St Roque's, and saw, with a little surprise, that it drew
+tears from the eyes of his more open-hearted hearers, who did not think
+of the proprieties. He could see their hands stealing up to their faces,
+and a great deal of persistent winking on the part of the stronger
+members of the congregation. At the close of the service Tom Burrows
+came up to the Curate with a downcast countenance. "Please, sir, if I've
+done ye injustice in my own mind, as went sore against the grain, and
+wouldn't have happened but for the women, I axes your pardon," said the
+honest bargeman, which was balm and consolation to Mr Wentworth. There
+was much talk in Prickett's Lane on the subject as he went to see the
+sick woman in No. 10. "There aint no doubt as he sets our duty before
+us clear," said one family mother; "he don't leave the men no excuse for
+their goings-on. He all but named the Bargeman's Arms out plain, as it
+was the place all mischief comes from." "If he'd have married Miss Lucy,
+like other folks, at Easter," said one of the brides whom Mr Wentworth
+had blessed, "such wicked stories couldn't never have been made up." "A
+story may be made up, or it mayn't be made up," said a more experienced
+matron; "but it can't be put out of the world unbeknowst no more nor a
+babby. I don't believe in stories getting up that aint true. I don't say
+as he don't do his duty; but things was different in Mr Bury's time, as
+was the real Rector; and, as I was a-saying, a tale's like a babby--it
+may come when it didn't ought to come, or when it aint wanted, but you
+can't do away with it, anyhow as you like to try." Mr Wentworth did not
+hear this dreary prediction as he went back again into the upper world.
+He was in much better spirits, on the whole. He had calmed his own mind
+and moved the hearts of others, which is to every man a gratification,
+even though nothing higher should be involved. And he had regained the
+moral countenance of Tom Burrows, which most of all was a comfort to
+him. More than ever he longed to go and tell Lucy as he passed by the
+green door. Tom Burrows's repentant face recalled Mr Wentworth's mind to
+the fact that a great work was doing in Wharfside, which, after all, was
+more worth thinking of than any tantalising vision of an impossible
+benefice. But this very thought, so consoling in itself, reminded him of
+all his vexations, of the public inquiry into his conduct which was
+hanging over him, and of his want of power to offer to Lucy the support
+and protection of which she might so soon stand in need; and having thus
+drawn upon his head once more his whole burden of troubles, Mr Wentworth
+went in to eat his dinner with what appetite he could.
+
+The Perpetual Curate sat up late that night, as indeed was his
+custom. He sat late, hearing, as everybody does who sits up alone in a
+hushed and sleeping household, a hundred fantastic creaks and sounds
+which did not mean anything, and of which he took no notice. Once,
+indeed, when it was nearly midnight, he fancied he heard the
+garden-gate close hurriedly, but explained it to himself as people do
+when they prefer not to give themselves trouble. About one o'clock in
+the morning, however, Mr Wentworth could no longer be in any doubt
+that some stealthy step was passing his door and moving about the
+house. He was not alarmed, for Mrs Hadwin had occasional "attacks,"
+like most people of her age; but he put down his pen and listened. No
+other sound was to be heard except this stealthy step, no opening of
+doors, nor whisper of voices, nor commotion of any kind; and after a
+while Mr Wentworth's curiosity was fully awakened. When he heard it
+again, he opened his door suddenly, and threw a light upon the
+staircase and little corridor into which his room opened. The figure
+he saw there startled him more than if it had been a midnight robber.
+It was only Sarah, the housemaid, white and shivering with terror, who
+fell down upon her knees before him. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, it aint my
+fault!" cried Sarah. The poor girl was only partially dressed, and
+trembled pitifully. "They'll say it was my fault; and oh, sir, it's my
+character I'm a-thinking of," said Sarah, with a sob; and the Curate
+saw behind her the door of Wodehouse's room standing open, and the
+moonlight streaming into the empty apartment. "I daren't go
+down-stairs to see if he's took anything," cried poor Sarah, under her
+breath; "there might be more of them about the place. But oh, Mr
+Wentworth, if Missis finds out as I gave him the key, what will become
+of me?" Naturally, it was her own danger which had most effect upon
+Sarah. Her full, good-humoured face was all wet and stained with
+crying, her lips quivering, her eyes dilated. Perhaps a thrill of
+private disappointment mingled with her dread of losing her character.
+"He used to tell me all as he was a-going to do," said Sarah; "but,
+oh, sir, he's been and gone away, and I daren't go down-stairs to look
+at the plate, and I'll never more sleep in quiet, if I was to live a
+century. It aint as I care for _him_, but it's the key and my
+character as I'm a-thinking of," cried the poor girl, bursting into
+audible sobs that could be restrained no longer. Mr Wentworth took a
+candle and went into Wodehouse's empty room, leaving her to recover
+her composure. Everything was cleared and packed up in that apartment.
+The little personal property he had, the shabby boots and worn
+habiliments, had disappeared totally; even the rubbish of wood-carving
+on his table was cleared away. Not a trace that he had been there a
+few hours ago remained in the place. The Curate came out of the room
+with an anxious countenance, not knowing what to make of it. And by
+this time Sarah's sobs had roused Mrs Hadwin, who stood, severe and
+indignant, at her own door in her nightcap, to know what was the
+matter. Mr Wentworth retired into his own apartments after a word of
+explanation, leaving the mistress and maid to fight it out. He himself
+was more disturbed and excited than he could have described. He could
+not tell what this new step meant, but felt instinctively that it
+denoted some new development in the tangled web of his own fortunes.
+Some hidden danger seemed to him to be gathering in the air over the
+house of mourning, of which he had constituted himself a kind of
+guardian. He could not sleep all night, but kept starting at every
+sound, thinking now that the skulking rascal, who was Lucy's brother,
+was coming back, and now that his departure was only a dream. Mr
+Wentworth's restlessness was not soothed by hearing all the night
+through, in the silence of the house, suppressed sobs and sounds of
+weeping proceeding from the attic overhead, which poor Sarah shared
+with her fellow-servant. Perhaps the civilities of "the gentleman" had
+dazzled Sarah, and been too much for her peace of mind; perhaps it was
+only her character, as the poor girl said. But as often as the Curate
+started from his uneasy and broken snatches of sleep, he heard the
+murmur of crying and consoling up-stairs. Outside the night was
+spreading forth those sweetest unseen glories of the starlight and the
+moonlight and the silence, which Nature reserves for her own
+enjoyment, when the weary human creatures are out of the way and at
+rest;--and Jack Wentworth slept the sleep of the righteous, uttering
+delicate little indications of the depth of his slumber, which it
+would have been profane to call by any vulgar name. _He_ slept sweetly
+while his brother watched and longed for daylight, impatient for the
+morrow which must bring forth something new. The moonlight streamed
+full into the empty room, and made mysterious combinations of the
+furniture, and chased the darkness into corners which each held their
+secret. This was how Mrs Hadwin's strange lodger, whom nobody could
+ever make out, disappeared as suddenly as he had come, without any
+explanations; and only a very few people could ever come to understand
+what he had to do with the after-events which struck Grange Lane dumb,
+and turned into utter confusion all the ideas and conclusions of
+society in Carlingford.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+
+"I will do what I can for you," said Mr Morgan; "yours is a very hard
+case, as you say. Of course it would not do for me to give any
+opinion--but such a thing shall not occur in Carlingford, while I am
+here, without being looked into," said the Rector, with dignity; "of
+that you may be sure."
+
+"I don't want no more nor justice," said Elsworthy--"no more nor
+justice. I'm a man as has always been respected, and never interfered
+with nobody as didn't interfere with me. The things I've stood from
+my clergyman, I wouldn't have stood from no man living. The way as
+he'd talk, sir, of them as was a deal better than himself! We was a
+happy family afore Mr Wentworth came nigh of us. Most folks in
+Carlingford knows me. There wasn't a more industrious family in
+Carlingford, though I say it as shouldn't, nor one as was more
+content, or took things more agreeable, afore Mr Wentworth come to put
+all wrong."
+
+"Mr Wentworth has been here for five years," said the Rector's wife,
+who was present at this interview; "have things been going wrong for
+all that time?"
+
+"I couldn't describe to nobody what I've put up with," said the clerk
+of St Roque's, evading the question. "He hadn't the ways of such
+clergymen as I've been used to. Twice the pay wouldn't have made up
+for what I've suffered in my feelings; and I ask you, sir, is this how
+it's all to end? My little girl's gone," cried Elsworthy, rising into
+hoarse earnestness--"my little girl as was so sweet, and as everybody
+took notice on. She's gone, and I don't know as I'll ever see her
+again; and I can't get no satisfaction one way or another; and I ask
+you, sir, is a villain as could do such a thing to hold up his head in
+the town, and go on the same as ever? I aint a man as is contrairy, or
+as goes agin' my superiors; but it's driving me mad, that's what it's
+doing," said Elsworthy, wiping the moisture from his forehead. The man
+was trembling and haggard, changed even in his looks--his eyes were
+red with passion and watching, and looked like the eyes of a wild
+beast lying in wait for its prey. "I can't say as I've ever slept an
+hour since it happened," he cried; "and as for my missis, it's
+a-killing of her. We aint shut up, because we've got to live all the
+same; and because, if the poor thing come back, there's always an open
+door. But I'll have justice, if I was to die for it!" cried Elsworthy.
+"I don't ask no more than justice. If it aint to be had one way, I'll
+have it another. I'll set the police on him--I will. When a man's
+drove wild, he aint answerable for what he's a-doing; and to see him
+a-walking about Carlingford, and a-holding up his head, is a thing as
+I won't stand no longer, not if it was to be my ruin. I'm as good as
+ruined now, and I don't care." He broke off short with these words,
+and sat down abruptly on the chair Thomas had placed for him in front
+of the Rector's table. Up to this moment he had been standing, in his
+vehemence and agitation, without taking advantage of the courtesy
+accorded to his misfortune; now the poor man sat down by way of
+emphasis, and began to polish his hat round and round with his
+trembling hands.
+
+As for Mr Morgan, he, on the contrary, got up and walked instinctively
+to the fireplace, and stood there with his back to the empty grate,
+contemplating the world in general with a troubled countenance, as was
+usual. Not to speak of his prejudice against Mr Wentworth, the Rector
+was moved by the sight of Elsworthy's distress; but then his wife, who
+unluckily had brought her needlework into the library on this particular
+morning, and who was in the interest of the Curate of St Roque's, was
+seated watchful by the window, occasionally looking up, and entirely
+cognisant, as Mr Morgan was aware, of everything that happened. The
+Rector was much embarrassed to feel himself thus standing between the
+two parties. "Yours is a very hard case--but it is necessary to proceed
+with caution, for, after all, there is not much proof," he said,
+faltering a little. "My dear, it is a pity to detain you from your
+walk," Mr Morgan continued, after a momentary pause, and looked with a
+flush of consciousness at his wife, whose absence would have been such a
+relief to him. Mrs Morgan looked up with a gracious smile.
+
+"You are not detaining me, William--I am very much interested," said
+the designing woman, and immediately began to arrange and put in order
+what the Rector knew by experience to be a long piece of work, likely
+to last her an hour at least. Mr Morgan uttered a long breath, which
+sounded like a little snort of despair.
+
+"It is very difficult to know what to do," said the Rector, shifting
+uneasily upon the hearthrug, and plunging his hands into the depths of
+his pockets. "If you could name anybody you would like to refer it
+to--but being a brother clergyman--"
+
+"A man as conducts himself like that, didn't ought to be a clergyman,
+sir," cried Elsworthy. "I'm one as listened to him preaching on Sunday,
+and could have jumped up and dragged him out of the pulpit, to hear him
+a-discoursing as if he wasn't a bigger sinner nor any there. I aint safe
+to stand it another Sunday. I'd do something as I should be sorry for
+after. I'm asking justice, and no more." With these words Elsworthy got
+up again, still turning round in his hands the unlucky hat, and turned
+his person, though not his eyes, towards Mrs Morgan. "No man could be
+more partial to his clergyman nor I was," he said hoarsely. "There was
+never a time as I wasn't glad to see him. He came in and out as if it
+belonged to him, and I had no more thought as he was meaning any harm
+than the babe unborn; but a man as meddles with an innocent girl aint
+nothing but a black-hearted villain!" cried Elsworthy, with a gleam out
+of his red eyes; "and I don't believe as anybody would take his part as
+knew all. I put my confidence in the Rector, as is responsible for the
+parish," he went on, facing round again: "not to say but what it's
+natural for them as are Mr Wentworth's friends to take his part--but
+I'll have justice, wherever it comes from. It's hard work to go again'
+any lady as I've a great respect for, and wouldn't cross for the world;
+but it aint in reason that I should be asked to bear it and not say
+nothing; and I'll have justice, if I should die for it," said Elsworthy.
+He turned from one to another as he spoke, but kept his eyes upon his
+hat, which he smoothed and smoothed as if his life depended on it. But
+for the reality of his excitement, his red eyes, and hoarse voice, he
+would have been a ludicrous figure, standing as he did in the middle of
+Mr Morgan's library, veering round, first to one side and then to the
+other, with his stooping head and ungainly person. As for the Rector, he
+too kept looking at his wife with a very troubled face.
+
+"It is difficult for me to act against a brother clergyman," said Mr
+Morgan; "but I am very sorry for you, Elsworthy--very sorry; if you
+could name, say, half-a-dozen gentlemen--"
+
+"But don't you think," said the Rector's wife, interposing, "that you
+should inquire first whether there is any evidence? It would make you
+all look very ridiculous if you got up an inquiry and found no proof
+against Mr Wentworth. Is it likely he would do such a thing all at
+once without showing any signs of wickedness beforehand--is it
+possible? To be sorry is quite a different thing, but I don't see--"
+
+"Ladies don't understand such matters," said the Rector, who had been
+kept at bay so long that he began to get desperate. "I beg your
+pardon, my dear, but it is not a matter for you to discuss. We shall
+take good care that there is plenty of evidence," said the perplexed
+man--"I mean, before we proceed to do anything," he added, growing
+very red and confused. When Mr Morgan caught his wife's eye, he got as
+nearly into a passion as was possible for so good a man. "You know
+what I mean," he said, in his peremptory way; "and, my dear, you will
+forgive me for saying this is not a matter to be discussed before a
+lady." When he had uttered this bold speech, the Rector took a few
+little walks up and down the room, not caring, however, to look at his
+wife. He was ashamed of the feeling he had that her absence would set
+him much more at ease with Elsworthy, but still could not help being
+conscious that it was so. He did not say anything more, but he walked
+up and down the room with sharp short steps, and betrayed his
+impatience very manifestly. As for Mrs Morgan, who was a sensible
+woman, she saw that the time had come for her to retire from the
+field.
+
+"I think the first thing to be done is to try every possible means of
+finding the girl," she said, getting up from her seat; "but I have no
+doubt what you decide upon will be the best. You will find me in the
+drawing-room when you want me, William." Perhaps her absence for the
+first moment was not such a relief to her husband as he had expected.
+The mildness of her parting words made it very apparent that she did
+not mean to take offence; and he perceived suddenly, at a glance, that
+he would have to tell her all he was going to do, and encounter her
+criticism single-handed, which was rather an appalling prospect to the
+Rector. Mrs Morgan, for her part, went up-stairs not without a little
+vexation, certainly, but with a comforting sense of the opportunity
+which awaited her. She felt that, in his unprotected position, as soon
+as she left him, the Rector would conduct himself rashly, and that her
+time was still to come.
+
+The Rector went back to the hearthrug when his wife left the room, but
+in the heat of his own personal reflections he did not say anything to
+Elsworthy, who still stood smoothing his hat in his hand. On the
+whole, Mr Morgan was rather aggravated for the moment by the unlucky
+cause of this little encounter, and was not half so well disposed
+towards Mr Wentworth's enemy as half an hour before, when he
+recognised his wife as the champion of the Curate, and felt controlled
+by her presence; for the human and even the clerical mind has its
+impulses of perversity. He began to get very impatient of Elsworthy's
+hat, and the persistent way in which he worked at it with his hands.
+
+"I suppose you would not be so certain about it if you had not
+satisfactory evidence?" he said, turning abruptly, and even a little
+angrily, upon the supplicant; for Mr Morgan naturally resented his own
+temper and the little semi-quarrel he had got into upon the third
+person who was the cause of all.
+
+"Sir," said Elsworthy, with eagerness, "it aint no wonder to me as the
+lady takes Mr Wentworth's part. A poor man don't stand no chance
+against a young gentleman as has had every advantage. It's a thing as
+I'm prepared for, and it don't have no effect upon me. A lady as is so
+respected and thought a deal of both in town and country--"
+
+"I was not speaking of my wife," said the Rector, hastily, "don't you
+think you had better put down your hat? I think you said it was on
+Friday it occurred. It will be necessary to take down the facts in a
+business-like way," said Mr Morgan, drawing his chair towards the table
+and taking up his pen. This was how the Rector was occupied when Thomas
+announced the most unexpected of all possible visitors, Mr Proctor, who
+had been Mr Morgan's predecessor in Carlingford. Thomas announced his
+old master with great solemnity as "the late Rector"--a title which
+struck the present incumbent with a sense of awe not unnatural in the
+circumstances. He jumped up from his chair and let his pen fall out of
+his startled fingers when his old friend came in. They had eaten many a
+good dinner together in the revered hall of All-Souls, and as the
+familiar countenance met his eyes, perhaps a regretful thought of that
+Elysium stole across the mind of the late Fellow, who had been so glad
+to leave the sacred brotherhood, and marry, and become as other men. He
+gave but a few hurried words of surprise and welcome to his visitor, and
+then, with a curious counterpoise of sentiment, sent him up-stairs to
+see "my wife," feeling, even while half envious of him, a kind of
+superiority and half contempt for the man who was not a Rector and
+married, but had given up both these possibilities. When he sent him
+up-stairs to see "my wife," Mr Morgan looked after the elderly celibate
+with a certain pity. One always feels more inclined to take the simple
+view of any matter--to stand up for injured innocence, and to right the
+wronged--when one feels one's self better off than one's neighbours. A
+reverse position is apt to detract from the simplicity of one's
+conceptions, and to suggest two sides to the picture. When Mr Proctor
+was gone, the Rector addressed himself with great devotion to Elsworthy
+and his evidence. It could not be doubted, at least, that the man was
+in earnest, and believed what he said; and things unquestionably looked
+rather ugly for Mr Wentworth. Mr Morgan took down all about the Curate's
+untimely visit to Elsworthy on the night when he took Rosa home; and
+when he came to the evidence of the Miss Hemmings, who had seen the
+Curate talking to the unfortunate little girl at his own door the last
+time she was seen in Carlingford, the Rector shook his head with a
+prolonged movement, half of satisfaction, half of regret; for, to be
+sure, he had made up his mind beforehand who the culprit was, and it was
+to a certain extent satisfactory to have his opinion confirmed.
+
+"This looks very bad, very bad, I am sorry to say," said Mr Morgan;
+"for the unhappy young man's own sake, an investigation is absolutely
+necessary. As for you, Elsworthy, everybody must be sorry for you.
+Have you no idea where he could have taken the poor girl?--that is,"
+said the uncautious Rector, "supposing that he is guilty--of which I
+am afraid there does not seem much doubt."
+
+"There aint no doubt," said Elsworthy; "there aint nobody else as
+could have done it. Just afore my little girl was took away, sir, Mr
+Wentworth went off of a sudden, and it was said as he was a-going home
+to the Hall. I was a-thinking of sending a letter anonymous, to ask if
+it was known what he was after. I read in the papers the other day as
+his brother was a-going over to Rome. There don't seem to be none o'
+them the right sort; which it's terrible for two clergymen. I was
+thinking of dropping a bit of a note anonymous--"
+
+"No--no--no," said the Rector, "that would never do; nothing of that
+sort, Elsworthy. If you thought it likely she was there, the proper
+thing would be to go and inquire; nothing anonymous--no, no; that is a
+thing I could not possibly countenance," said Mr Morgan. He pushed
+away his pen and paper, and got very red and uncomfortable. If either
+of the critics up-stairs, his wife, or his predecessor in the Rectory,
+could but know that he was having an anonymous letter suggested to
+him--that anybody ventured to think him capable of being an accomplice
+in such proceedings! The presence of these two in the house, though
+they were most probably at the moment engaged in the calmest abstract
+conversation, and totally unaware of what was going on in the library,
+had a great effect upon the Rector. He felt insulted that any man
+could venture to confide such an intention to him almost within the
+hearing of his wife. "If I am to take up your case, everything must be
+open and straightforward," said Mr Morgan; while Elsworthy, who saw
+that he had said something amiss, without precisely understanding
+what, took up his hat as a resource, and once more began to polish it
+round and round in his hands.
+
+"I didn't mean no harm, sir, I'm sure," he said; "I don't seem to see
+no other way o' finding out; for I aint like a rich man as can go and
+come as he pleases; but I won't say no more, since it's displeasing to
+you. If you'd give me the list of names, sir, as you have decided on
+to be the committee, I wouldn't trouble you no longer, seeing as
+you've got visitors. Perhaps, if the late Rector aint going away
+directly, he would take it kind to be put on the committee; and he's a
+gentleman as I've a great respect for, though he wasn't not to say the
+man for Carlingford," said Elsworthy, with a sidelong look. He began
+to feel the importance of his own position as the originator of a
+committee, and at the head of the most exciting movement which had
+been for a long time in Carlingford, and could not help being
+sensible, notwithstanding his affliction, that he had a distinction to
+offer which even the late Rector might be pleased to accept.
+
+"I don't think Mr Proctor will stay," said Mr Morgan; "and if he does
+stay, I believe he is a friend of Mr Wentworth's." It was only after
+he had said this that the Rector perceived the meaning of the words he
+had uttered; then, in his confusion and vexation, he got up hastily
+from the table, and upset the inkstand in all the embarrassment of
+the moment. "Of course that is all the greater reason for having his
+assistance," said Mr Morgan, in his perplexity; "we are all friends of
+Mr Wentworth. Will you have the goodness to ring the bell? There are
+few things more painful than to take steps against a brother
+clergyman, if one did not hope it would be for his benefit in the
+end. Oh, never mind the table. Be so good as to ring the bell
+again--louder, please."
+
+"There aint nothing equal to blotting-paper, sir," said Elsworthy,
+eagerly. "With a bit o' blotting-paper I'd undertake to rub out
+ink-stains out o' the finest carpet--if you'll permit me. It aint but a
+small speck, and it'll be gone afore you could look round. It's twenty
+times better nor lemon-juice, or them poisonous salts as you're always
+nervous of leaving about. Look you here, sir, if it aint a-sopping up
+beautiful. There aint no harm done as your respected lady could be put
+out about; and I'll take the list with me, if you please, to show to my
+wife, as is a-breaking her heart at home, and can't believe as we'll
+ever get justice. She says as how the quality always takes a gentleman's
+part against us poor folks, but that aint been my experience. Don't you
+touch the carpet, Thomas--there aint a speck to be seen when the
+blotting-paper's cleared away. I'll go home, not to detain you no more,
+sir, and cheer up the poor heart as is a-breaking," said Elsworthy,
+getting up from his knees where he had been operating upon the carpet.
+He had got in his hand the list of names which Mr Morgan had put down as
+referees in this painful business, and it dawned faintly upon the Rector
+for the moment that he himself was taking rather an undignified position
+as Elsworthy's partisan.
+
+"I have no objection to your showing it to your wife," said Mr Morgan;
+"but I shall be much displeased if I hear any talk about it, Elsworthy;
+and I hope it is not revenge you are thinking of, which is a very
+unchristian sentiment," said the Rector, severely, "and not likely to
+afford comfort either to her or to you."
+
+"No, sir, nothing but justice," said Elsworthy, hoarsely, as he backed
+out of the room. Notwithstanding this statement, it was with very
+unsatisfactory sensations that Mr Morgan went up-stairs. He felt somehow
+as if the justice which Elsworthy demanded, and which he himself had
+solemnly declared to be pursuing the Curate of St Roque's, was
+wonderfully like revenge. "All punishment must be more or less
+vindictive," he said to himself as he went up-stairs; but that fact did
+not make him more comfortable as he went into his wife's drawing-room,
+where he felt more like a conspirator and assassin than an English
+Rector in broad daylight, without a mystery near him, had any right to
+feel. This sensation confused Mr Morgan much, and made him more
+peremptory in his manner than ever. As for Mr Proctor, who was only a
+spectator, and felt himself on a certain critical eminence, the
+suggestion that occurred to his mind was, that he had come in at the end
+of a quarrel, and that the conjugal firmament was still in a state of
+disturbance: which idea acted upon some private projects in the hidden
+mind of the Fellow of All-Souls, and produced a state of feeling little
+more satisfactory than that of the Rector of Carlingford.
+
+"I hope Mr Proctor is going to stay with us for a day or two," said Mrs
+Morgan. "I was just saying it must look like coming home to come to the
+house he used to live in, and which was even furnished to his own
+taste," said the Rector's wife, shooting a little arrow at the late
+Rector, of which that good man was serenely unconscious. All this time,
+while they had been talking, Mrs Morgan had scarcely been able to keep
+from asking who could possibly have suggested such a carpet. Mr
+Proctor's chair was placed on the top of one of the big bouquets, which
+expanded its large foliage round him with more than Eastern
+prodigality--but he was so little conscious of any culpability of his
+own in the matter, that he had referred his indignant hostess to one of
+the leaves as an illustration of the kind of diaper introduced into the
+new window which had lately been put up in the chapel of All-Souls. "A
+naturalistic treatment, you know," said Mr Proctor, with the utmost
+serenity; "and some people objected to it," added the unsuspicious man.
+
+"I should have objected very strongly," said Mrs Morgan, with a little
+flush. "If you call that naturalistic treatment, I consider it
+perfectly out of place in decoration--of every kind--" Mr Proctor
+happened to be looking at her at the moment, and it suddenly occurred
+to him that Miss Wodehouse never got red in that uncomfortable way,
+which was the only conclusion he drew from the circumstance, having
+long ago forgotten that any connection had ever existed between
+himself and the carpet on the drawing-room in Carlingford Rectory. He
+addressed his next observation to Mr Morgan, who had just come in.
+
+"I saw Mr Wodehouse's death in the 'Times,'" said Mr Proctor, "and I
+thought the poor young ladies might feel--at least they might think it
+a respect--or, at all events, it would be a satisfaction to one's
+self," said the late Rector, who had got into a mire of explanation.
+"Though he was far from being a young man, yet having a young daughter
+like Miss Lucy--"
+
+"Poor Lucy!" said Mr Morgan. "I hope that wretched fellow, young
+Wentworth"--and here the Rector came to a dead stop, and felt that he
+had brought the subject most to be avoided head and shoulders into the
+conversation, as was natural to an embarrassed man. The consequence
+was that he got angry, as might have been expected. "My dear, you must
+not look at me as you do. I have just been hearing all the evidence.
+No unbiassed mind could possibly come to any other decision," said Mr
+Morgan, with exasperation. Now that he had committed himself, he
+thought it was much the best thing to go in for it wholly, without
+half measures, which was certainly the most straightforward way.
+
+"What has happened to Wentworth?" said Mr Proctor. "He is a young man
+for whom I have a great regard. Though he is so much younger than I
+am, he taught me some lessons while I was in Carlingford which I shall
+never forget. If he is in any trouble that I can help him in, I shall
+be very glad to do it, both for his sake and for--" Mr Proctor slurred
+over the end of his sentence a little, and the others were occupied
+with their own difficulties, and did not take very much notice--for it
+was difficult to state fully the nature and extent of Mr Wentworth's
+enormities after such a declaration of friendship. "I met him on my
+way here," said the Fellow of All-Souls, "not looking quite as he used
+to do. I supposed it might be Mr Wodehouse's death, perhaps." All Mr
+Proctor's thoughts ran in that channel of Mr Wodehouse's death, which,
+after all, though sad enough, was not so great an event to the
+community in general as the late Rector seemed to suppose.
+
+It was Mrs Morgan at length who took heart to explain to Mr Proctor
+the real state of affairs. "He has been a very good clergyman for five
+years," said Mrs Morgan; "he might behave foolishly, you know, about
+Wharfside, but then that was not his fault so much as the fault of the
+Rector's predecessors. I am sure I beg your pardon, Mr Proctor--I did
+not mean that you were to blame," said the Rector's wife; "but,
+notwithstanding all the work he has done, and the consistent life he
+has led, there is nobody in Carlingford who is not quite ready to
+believe that he has run away with Rosa Elsworthy--a common little girl
+without any education, or a single idea in her head. I suppose she is
+what you would call pretty," said the indignant woman. "Everybody is
+just as ready to believe that he is guilty as if he were a stranger or
+a bad character." Mrs Morgan stopped in an abrupt manner, because her
+quick eyes perceived a glance exchanged between the two gentlemen. Mr
+Proctor had seen a good deal of the world in his day, as he was fond
+of saying now and then to his intimate friends: and he had learned at
+the university and other places that a girl who is "what you would
+call pretty," counts for a great deal in the history of a young man,
+whether she has any ideas in her head or not. He did not, any more
+than the people of Carlingford, pronounce at once on _a priori_
+evidence that Mr Wentworth must be innocent. The Curate's "consistent
+life" did not go for much in the opinion of the middle-aged Fellow of
+All-Souls, any more than of the less dignified populace. He said,
+"Dear me, dear me!" in a most perplexed and distressed tone, while Mrs
+Morgan kept looking at him; and looked very much as if he were tempted
+to break forth into lamentations over human nature, as Mr Morgan
+himself had done.
+
+"I wonder what the Miss Wodehouses think of it," he said at last. "One
+would do a great deal to keep them from hearing such a thing; but I
+wonder how they are feeling about it," said Mr Proctor--and clearly
+declined to discuss the matter with Mrs Morgan, who was counsel for
+the defence. When the Rector's wife went to her own room to dress for
+dinner, it is very true that she had a good cry over her cup of tea.
+She was not only disappointed, but exasperated, in that impatient
+feminine nature of hers. Perhaps if she had been less sensitive, she
+would have had less of that redness in her face which was so great a
+trouble to Mrs Morgan. These two slow middle-aged men, without any
+intuitions, who were coming lumbering after her through all kind of
+muddles of evidence and argument, exasperated the more rapid woman. To
+be sure, they understood Greek plays a great deal better than she did;
+but she was penetrated with the liveliest impatience of their dulness
+all the same. Mrs Morgan, however, like most people who are in advance
+of their age, felt her utter impotence against that blank wall of dull
+resistance. She could not make them see into the heart of things as
+she did. She had to wait until they had attacked the question in the
+orthodox way of siege, and made gradual entrance by dint of hard
+labour. All she could do to console herself was, to shed certain hot
+tears of indignation and annoyance over her tea, which, however, was
+excellent tea, and did her good. Perhaps it was to show her sense of
+superiority, and that she did not feel herself vanquished, that, after
+that, she put on her new dress, which was very much too nice to be
+wasted upon Mr Proctor. As for Mr Leeson, who came in as usual just in
+time for dinner, having heard of Mr Proctor's arrival, she treated him
+with a blandness which alarmed the Curate. "I quite expected you, for
+we have the All-Souls pudding to-day," said the Rector's wife, and she
+smiled a smile which would have struck awe into the soul of any curate
+that ever was known in Carlingford.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+
+It was the afternoon of the same day on which Mr Proctor arrived in
+Carlingford that Mr Wentworth received the little note from Miss
+Wodehouse which was so great a consolation to the Perpetual Curate. By
+that time he had begun to experience humiliations more hard to bear than
+anything he had yet known. He had received constrained greetings from
+several of his most cordial friends; his people in the district, all but
+Tom Burrows, looked askance upon him; and Dr Marjoribanks, who had never
+taken kindly to the young Anglican, had met him with satirical remarks
+in his dry Scotch fashion, which were intolerable to the Curate. In
+these circumstances, it was balm to his soul to have his sympathy once
+more appealed to, and by those who were nearest to his heart. The next
+day was that appointed for Mr Wodehouse's funeral, to which Mr Wentworth
+had been looking forward with a little excitement--wondering, with
+indignant misery, whether the covert insults he was getting used to
+would be repeated even over his old friend's grave. It was while this
+was in his mind that he received Miss Wodehouse's little note. It was
+very hurriedly written, on the terrible black-edged paper which, to such
+a simple soul as Miss Wodehouse, it was a kind of comfort to use in the
+moment of calamity. "Dear Mr Wentworth," it said, "I am in great
+difficulty, and don't know what to do: come, I beg of you, and tell me
+what is best. My dear Lucy insists upon going to-morrow, and I can't
+cross her when her heart is breaking, and I don't know what to do.
+Please to come, if it were only for a moment. Dear, dear papa, and all
+of us, have always had such confidence in you!" Mr Wentworth was seated,
+very disconsolate, in his study when this appeal came to him: he was
+rather sick of the world and most things in it; a sense of wrong
+eclipsed the sunshine for the moment, and obscured the skies; but it was
+comforting to be appealed to--to have his assistance and his protection
+sought once more. He took his hat immediately and went up the sunny
+road, on which there was scarcely a passenger visible, to the closed-up
+house, which stood so gloomy and irresponsive in the sunshine. Mr
+Wodehouse had not been a man likely to attract any profound love in his
+lifetime, or sense of loss when he was gone; but yet it was possible to
+think, with the kindly, half-conscious delusion of nature, that had _he_
+been living, he would have known better; and the Curate went into the
+darkened drawing-room, where all the shutters were closed, except those
+of the little window in the corner, where Lucy's work-table stood, and
+where a little muffled sunshine stole in through the blind. Everything
+was in terribly good order in the room. The two sisters had been living
+in their own apartments, taking their forlorn meals in the little
+parlour which communicated with their sleeping chambers, during this
+week of darkness; and nobody had come into the drawing-room except the
+stealthy housemaid, who contemplated herself and her new mourning for an
+hour at a stretch in the great mirror without any interruption, while
+she made "tidy" the furniture which nobody now disturbed. Into this
+sombre apartment Miss Wodehouse came gliding, like a gentle ghost, in
+her black gown. She too, like John and the housemaid and everybody
+about, walked and talked under her breath. There was now no man in the
+house entitled to disturb those proprieties with which a female
+household naturally hedges round all the great incidents of life; and
+the affairs of the family were all carried on in a whisper, in
+accordance with the solemnity of the occasion--a circumstance which had
+naturally called the ghost of a smile to the Curate's countenance as he
+followed John up-stairs. Miss Wodehouse herself, though she was pale,
+and spent half her time, poor soul! in weeping, and had, besides, living
+encumbrances to trouble her helpless path, did not look amiss in her
+black gown. She came in gliding without any noise, but with a little
+expectation in her gentle countenance. She was one of the people whom
+experience never makes any wiser; and she could not help hoping to be
+delivered from her troubles this time, as so often before, as soon as
+she should have transferred them to somebody else's shoulders, and taken
+"advice."
+
+"Lucy has made up her mind that we are to go to-morrow," said Miss
+Wodehouse, drying her tears. "It was not the custom in my young days,
+Mr Wentworth, and I am sure I don't know what to say; but I can't bear
+to cross her, now that she has nobody but me. She was always the best
+child in the world," said the poor lady--"far more comfort to poor
+dear papa than I ever could be; but to hear her talk you would think
+that she had never done anything. And oh, Mr Wentworth, if that was
+all I should not mind; but we have always kept things a secret from
+her; and now I have had a letter, and I don't know what it is possible
+to do."
+
+"A letter from your brother?" asked Mr Wentworth, eagerly.
+
+"From Tom," said the elder sister; "poor, poor Tom! I am sure papa
+forgave him at the last, though he did not say anything. Oh, Mr
+Wentworth, he was such a nice boy once; and if Lucy only knew, and I
+could summon up the courage to tell her, and he would change his ways,
+as he promised--don't think me fickle or changeable, or look as if I
+didn't know my own mind," cried poor Miss Wodehouse, with a fresh flow
+of tears; "but oh, Mr Wentworth, if he only would change his ways, as
+he promised, think what a comfort it would be to us to have him at
+home!"
+
+"Yes," said the Curate, with a little bitterness. Here was another
+instance of the impunities of wickedness. "I think it very likely
+indeed that you will have him at home," said Mr Wentworth--"almost
+certain; the wonder is that he went away. Will you tell me where he
+dates his letter from? I have a curiosity to know."
+
+"You are angry," said the anxious sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, I know he
+does not deserve anything else, but you have always been so kind. I
+put his letter in my pocket to show you--at least, I am sure I
+intended to put it in my pocket. We have scarcely been in this room
+since--since--" and here Miss Wodehouse broke down, and had to take a
+little time to recover. "I will go and get the letter," she said, as
+at last she regained her voice, and hurried away through the partial
+darkness with her noiseless step, and the long black garments which
+swept noiselessly over the carpet. Mr Wentworth for his part went to
+the one window which was only veiled by a blind, and comforted himself
+a little in the sunshine. The death atmosphere weighed upon the young
+man and took away his courage. If he was only wanted to pave the way
+for the reception of the rascally brother for whose sins he felt
+convinced he was himself suffering, the consolation of being appealed
+to would be sensibly lessened, and it was hard to have no other way of
+clearing himself than by criminating Lucy's brother, and bringing
+dishonour upon her name. While he waited for Miss Wodehouse's return,
+he stood by Lucy's table, with very little of the feeling which had
+once prompted him to fold his arms so caressingly with an impulse of
+tenderness upon the chair which stood beside it. He was so much
+absorbed in his own thoughts that he did not hear at first the sound
+of a hesitating hand upon the door, which at length, when repeated,
+went to the Curate's heart. He turned round rapidly, and saw Lucy
+standing on the threshold in her profound mourning. She was very pale,
+and her blue eyes looked large and full beyond their natural
+appearance, dilated with tears and watching; and when they met those
+of Mr Wentworth, they filled full like flower-cups with dew; but
+besides this Lucy made no demonstration of her grief. After that
+momentary hesitation at the door, she came in and gave the Curate her
+hand. Perhaps it was a kind of defiance, perhaps a natural yearning,
+which drew her out of her chamber when she heard of his presence; both
+sentiments sprang out of the same feeling; and the Curate, when he
+looked at her, bethought himself of the only moment when he had been
+able to imagine that Lucy loved him; that moment by her father's
+bedside, of which the impression had been dulled since then by a crowd
+of events, when she looked with such reproach and disappointment and
+indignation into his face.
+
+"I heard you were here," said Lucy, "and I thought you might think it
+strange not to see us both." And then she paused, perhaps finding it
+less easy than she thought to explain why she had come. "We ought to
+thank you, Mr Wentworth, for your kindness, though I--"
+
+"You were angry with me," said the Curate. "I know you thought me
+heartless; but a man must bear to be misconceived when he has duty to
+do," the young clergyman added, with a swelling heart. Lucy did not
+know the fuller significance of his words; and there was a loftiness
+in them which partly affronted her, and set all her sensitive
+woman-pride in arms against him.
+
+"I beg your pardon," she said, faltering, and then the two stood
+beside each other in silence, with a sense of estrangement. As for
+Lucy, all the story about Rosa Elsworthy, of which she had not yet
+heard the last chapter, rushed back upon her mind. Was it to see
+little Rosa's lover that she had come out of the darkness of her room,
+with a natural longing for sympathy which it was impossible to
+restrain? The tenderness of the instinctive feeling which had moved
+her, went back upon her heart in bitterness. That he must have divined
+why she had come, and scorned her for it, was the mildest supposition
+in Lucy's mind. She could almost have imagined that he had come on
+purpose to elicit this vain exhibition of regard, and triumph over it;
+all this, too, when she was in such great trouble and sorrow, and
+wanted a little compassion, a little kindness, so much. This was the
+state of mind to which Lucy had come, in five minutes after she
+entered the room, when Miss Wodehouse came back with the letter. The
+elder sister was almost as much astonished at Lucy's presence as if
+she had been the dead inhabitant who kept such state in the darkened
+house. She was so startled that she went back a step or two when she
+perceived her, and hastily put the letter in her pocket, and exclaimed
+her sister's name in a tone most unlike Miss Wodehouse's natural
+voice.
+
+"I came down-stairs because--I mean they told me Mr Wentworth was
+here," said Lucy, who had never felt so weak and so miserable in her
+life, "and I wanted to thank him for all his kindness." It was here
+for the first time that Lucy broke down. Her sorrow was so great, her
+longing for a word of kindness had been so natural, and her shame and
+self-condemnation at the very thought that she was able to think of
+anything but her father, were so bitter, that the poor girl's forces,
+weakened by watching, were not able to withstand them. She sank into
+the chair that stood nearest, and covered her face with her hands, and
+cried as people cry only at twenty. And as for Mr Wentworth, he had no
+right to take her in his arms and comfort her, nor to throw himself at
+her feet and entreat her to take courage. All he could do was to stand
+half a yard, yet a whole world, apart looking at her, his heart
+beating with all the remorseful half-angry tenderness of love. Since
+it was not his to console her, he was almost impatient of her tears.
+
+"Dear, I have been telling Mr Wentworth about to-morrow," said Miss
+Wodehouse, weeping too, as was natural, "and he thinks--he thinks--oh,
+my darling! and so do I--that it will be too much for you. When I was
+young it never was the custom; and oh, Lucy, remember that ladies are
+not to be expected to have such command over their feelings," said poor
+Miss Wodehouse, dropping on her knees by Lucy's chair. Mr Wentworth
+stood looking on in a kind of despair. He had nothing to say, and no
+right to say anything; even his presence was a kind of intrusion. But to
+be referred to thus as an authority against Lucy's wishes, vexed him in
+the most unreasonable way.
+
+"Mr Wentworth does not know me," said Lucy, under her breath, wiping
+away her tears with a trembling, indignant hand. "If we had had a
+brother, it might have been different; but there must be somebody there
+that loves him," said the poor girl, with a sob, getting up hastily from
+her chair. She could not bear to stay any longer in the room, which she
+had entered with a vague sense of possible consolation. As for the
+Curate, he made haste to open the door for her, feeling the restraint of
+his position almost intolerable. "_I_ shall be there," he said, stopping
+at the door to look into the fair, pallid face which Lucy would scarcely
+raise to listen. "Could you not trust _me_?" It looked like giving him a
+pledge of something sacred and precious to put her hand into his, which
+was held out for it so eagerly. But Lucy could not resist the softening
+of nature; and not even Miss Wodehouse, looking anxiously after them,
+heard what further words they were that Mr Wentworth said in her ear. "I
+am for your service, however and wherever you want me," said the Curate,
+with a young man's absolutism. Heaven knows he had enough to do with his
+own troubles; but he remembered no obstacle which could prevent him from
+dedicating all his time and life to her as he spoke. When Lucy reached
+her own room, she threw herself upon the sofa, and wept like a woman
+inconsolable; but it was somehow because this consolation, subtle and
+secret, had stolen into her heart that her tears flowed so freely. And
+Mr Wentworth returned to her sister relieved, he could not have told
+why. At all events, come what might, the two had drawn together again in
+their mutual need.
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, how can I cross her?" said Miss Wodehouse, wringing
+her hands. "If we had a brother--did you hear what she said? Here is
+his letter, and I hope you will tell me candidly what you think. If we
+could trust him--if we could but trust him! I daresay you think me
+very changeable and foolish; but now we are alone," said the poor
+lady, "think what a comfort it would be if he only would change his
+ways as he promised! Lucy is a great deal more use than I am, and
+understands things; but still we are only two women," said the elder
+sister. "If you think we could put any dependence upon him, Mr
+Wentworth, I would never hesitate. He might live with us, and have his
+little allowance." Miss Wodehouse paused, and raised her anxious face
+to the Curate, pondering the particulars of the liberality she
+intended. "He is not a boy," she went on. "I daresay now he must feel
+the want of the little comforts he once was used to; and though he is
+not like what he used to be, neither in his looks nor his manners,
+people would be kind to him for our sakes. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't you
+think we might trust him?" said the anxious woman, looking in the
+Curate's face.
+
+All this time Mr Wentworth, with an impatience of her simplicity which
+it was difficult to restrain, was reading the letter, in which he
+perceived a very different intention from any divined by Miss Wodehouse.
+The billet was disreputable enough, written in pencil, and without any
+date.
+
+
+ "MARY,--I mean to come to my father's funeral," wrote Mr Wodehouse's
+ disowned son. "Things are changed now, as I said they would be. I and
+ a friend of mine have set everything straight with Waters, and I mean
+ to come in my own name, and take the place I have a right to. How it
+ is to be after this depends on how you behave; but things are changed
+ between you and me, as I told you they would be; and I expect you
+ won't do anything to make 'em worse by doing or saying what's
+ unpleasant. I add no more, because I hope you'll have sense to see
+ what I mean, and to act accordingly.--Your brother,
+
+ "THOMAS WODEHOUSE."
+
+
+"You see he thinks I will reproach him," said Miss Wodehouse,
+anxiously; perhaps it had just glanced across her own mind that
+something more important still might have dictated language so
+decided. "He has a great deal more feeling than you would suppose,
+poor fellow! It is very touching in him to say, 'the place he has a
+right to'--don't you think so, Mr Wentworth? Poor Tom! if we could but
+trust him, and he would change his ways as he promised! Oh, Mr
+Wentworth, don't you think I might speak of it to him to-morrow? If we
+could--bury--everything--in dear papa's grave," cried the poor lady,
+once more breaking down. Mr Wentworth took no notice of Miss
+Wodehouse's tears. They moved him with sentiments entirely different
+from those with which he regarded Lucy's. He read the note over again
+without any attempt to console her, till she had struggled back into
+composure; but even then there was nothing sympathetic in the Curate's
+voice.
+
+"And I think you told me you did not know anything about the will?" he
+said, with some abruptness, making no account whatever of the
+suggestion she had made.
+
+"No," said Miss Wodehouse; "but my dear father was a business man, Mr
+Wentworth, and I feel quite sure--quite--"
+
+"Yes," said the Perpetual Curate; "nor of the nature of his property,
+perhaps?" added the worldly-minded young man whom poor Miss Wodehouse
+had chosen for her adviser. It was more than the gentle woman could
+bear.
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, you know I am not one to understand," cried the
+poor lady. "You ask me questions, but you never tell me what you think
+I should do. If it were only for myself, I would not mind, but I have
+to act for Lucy," said the elder sister, suddenly sitting upright and
+drying her tears. "Papa, I am sure, did what was best for us," she
+said, with a little gentle dignity, which brought the Curate back to
+his senses; "but oh, Mr Wentworth, look at the letter, and tell me,
+for my sister's sake, what am I to do?"
+
+The Curate went to the window, from which the sunshine was stealing
+away, to consider the subject; but he did not seem to derive much
+additional wisdom from that sacred spot, where Lucy's work-table stood
+idle. "We must wait and see," he said to himself. When he came back to
+Miss Wodehouse, and saw the question still in her eyes, it only
+brought back his impatience. "My dear Miss Wodehouse, instead of
+speculating about what is to happen, it would be much better to
+prepare your sister for the discovery she must make to-morrow," said
+Mr Wentworth; "I cannot give any other advice, for my part. I think it
+is a great pity that you have kept it concealed so long. I beg your
+pardon for speaking so abruptly, but I am afraid you don't know all
+the trouble that is before you. We are all in a great deal of
+trouble," said the Perpetual Curate, with a little unconscious
+solemnity. "I can't say I see my way through it; but you ought to
+prepare her--to see--her brother." He said the words with a degree of
+repugnance which he could not conceal, and which wounded his
+companion's tender heart.
+
+"He was so different when he was young," said Miss Wodehouse, with a
+suppressed sob--"he was a favourite everywhere. You would not have
+looked so if you had known him then. Oh, Mr Wentworth, promise me that
+you will not turn your back upon him if he comes home, after all your
+kindness. I will tell Lucy how much you have done for him," said Miss
+Wodehouse. She was only half-conscious of her own gentle artifice. She
+took the Curate's hand in both her own before he left her, and said it
+was such a comfort to have his advice to rely upon; and she believed
+what she said, though Mr Wentworth himself knew better. The poor lady
+sat down in Lucy's chair, and had a cry at her ease after he went
+away. She was to tell Lucy--but how? and she sat pondering this hard
+question till all the light had faded out of the room, and the little
+window which was not shuttered dispersed only a grey twilight through
+the empty place. The lamp, meantime, had been lighted in the little
+parlour where Lucy sat, very sad, in her black dress, with 'In
+Memoriam' on the table by her, carrying on a similar strain in her
+heart. She was thinking of the past, so many broken scenes of which
+kept flashing up before her, all bright with indulgent love and
+tenderness--and she was thinking of the next day, when she was to see
+all that remained of her good father laid in his grave. He was not
+very wise nor remarkable among men, but he had been the tenderest
+father to the child of his old age; and in her heart she was praying
+for him still, pausing now and then to think whether it was right. The
+tears were heavy in her young eyes, but they were natural tears, and
+Lucy had no more thought that there was in the world anything sadder
+than sorrow, or that any complications lay in her individual lot, than
+the merest child in Prickett's Lane. She thought of going back to the
+district, all robed and invested in the sanctity of her grief--she
+thought it was to last for ever, as one has the privilege of thinking
+when one is young; and it was to this young saint, tender towards all
+the world, ready to pity everybody, and to save a whole race, if that
+had been possible, that Miss Wodehouse went in, heavy and burdened,
+with her tale of miserable vice, unkindness, estrangement. How was it
+possible to begin? Instead of beginning, poor Miss Wodehouse,
+overpowered by her anxieties and responsibilities, was taken ill and
+fainted, and had to be carried to bed. Lucy would not let her talk
+when she came to herself; and so the only moment of possible
+preparation passed away, and the event itself, which one of them knew
+nothing of, and the other did not understand, came in its own person,
+without any _avant-couriers_, to open Lucy's eyes once for all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth had to go into Carlingford on some business when he left
+Miss Wodehouse; and as he went home again, having his head full of so
+many matters, he forgot for the moment what most immediately concerned
+himself, and was close upon Elsworthy's shop, looking into the window,
+before he thought of it. Elsworthy himself was standing behind the
+counter, with a paper in his hand, from which he was expounding
+something to various people in the shop. It was getting late, and the
+gas was lighted, which threw the interior into very bright relief to Mr
+Wentworth outside. The Curate was still only a young man, though he was
+a clergyman, and his movements were not always guided by reason or sound
+sense. He walked into the shop, almost before he was aware what he was
+doing. The people were inconsiderable people enough--cronies of
+Elsworthy--but they were people who had been accustomed to look up very
+reverentially to the Curate of St Roque's and Mr Wentworth was far from
+being superior to their disapproval. There was a very visible stir among
+them as he entered, and Elsworthy came to an abrupt stop in his
+elucidations, and thrust the paper he had been reading into a drawer.
+Dead and sudden silence followed the entrance of the Curate. Peter
+Hayles, the druggist, who was one of the auditors, stole to the door
+with intentions of escape, and the women, of whom there were two or
+three, looked alarmed, not knowing what might come of it. As for Mr
+Wentworth, there was only one thing possible for him to say. "Have you
+heard anything of Rosa, Elsworthy?" he asked, with great gravity, fixing
+his eyes upon the man's face. The question seemed to ring into all the
+corners. Whether it was innocence or utter abandonment nobody could
+tell, and the spectators held their breath for the answer. Elsworthy,
+for his part, was as much taken by surprise as his neighbours. He grew
+very pale and livid in his sudden excitement, and lost his voice, and
+stood staring at the Curate like a man struck dumb. Perhaps Mr Wentworth
+got bolder when he saw the effect he had produced. He repeated the
+question, looking towards poor Mrs Elsworthy, who had jumped from her
+husband's side when he came in. The whole party looked like startled
+conspirators to Mr Wentworth's eyes, though he had not the least idea
+what they had been doing. "Have you heard anything of Rosa?" he asked
+again; and everybody looked at Elsworthy, as if he were the guilty man,
+and had suborned the rest; which, indeed, in one sense, was not far from
+being the case.
+
+When Elsworthy came to himself, he gave Mr Wentworth a sidelong
+dangerous look. "No, sir--nothing," said Rosa's uncle. "Them as has
+hidden her has hidden her well. I didn't expect to hear not yet," said
+Elsworthy. Though Mr Wentworth did not know what he meant, his little
+audience in the shop did, and showed, by the slightest murmur in the
+world, their conviction that the arrow had gone home, which naturally
+acted like a spur upon the Curate, who was not the wisest man in the
+world.
+
+"I am very sorry to see you in so much distress," said the young man,
+looking at Mrs Elsworthy's red eyes, "but I trust things will turn out
+much better than you imagine. If I can do anything to help you, let
+me know," said Mr Wentworth. Perhaps it was foolish to say so much,
+knowing what he did, but unfortunately prudence was not the ruling
+principle at that moment in the Curate's soul.
+
+"I was a-thinking of letting you know, sir," said the clerk of St
+Roque's, with deadly meaning; "leastways not me, but them as has taken
+me by the hand. There's every prospect as it'll all be known afore
+long," said Elsworthy, pushing his wife aside and following Mr
+Wentworth, with a ghastly caricature of his old obsequiousness, to the
+door. "There's inquiries a-being made as was never known to fail. For
+one thing, I've written to them as knows a deal about the movements of
+a party as is suspected--not to say as I've got good friends," said
+Rosa's guardian, standing upon the step of his own door, and watching
+the Curate out into the darkness. Mr Wentworth could not altogether
+restrain a slight thrill of unpleasant emotion, for Elsworthy,
+standing at his door with the light gleaming over him from behind, and
+his face invisible, had an unpleasant resemblance to a wild beast
+waiting for his prey.
+
+"I am glad to think you are likely to be so successful. Send me word
+as soon as you know," said the Curate, and he pursued his way home
+afterwards, with feelings far from pleasant. He saw something was
+about to come of this more than he had thought likely, and the crisis
+was approaching. As he walked rapidly home, he concluded within
+himself to have a conversation with the Rector next day after Mr
+Wodehouse's funeral, and to ask for an investigation into the whole
+matter. When he had come to this conclusion, he dismissed the subject
+from his mind as far as was possible, and took to thinking of the
+other matters which disturbed his repose, in which, indeed, it was
+very easy to get perplexed and bewildered to his heart's content.
+Anyhow, one way and another, the day of poor Mr Wodehouse's funeral
+must necessarily be an exciting and momentous day.
+
+Mr Wentworth had, however, no idea that its interest was to begin so
+early. When he was seated at breakfast reading his letters, a note was
+brought to him, which, coming in the midst of a lively chronicle of
+home news from his sister Letty, almost stopped for the moment the
+beating of the Curate's heart. It took him so utterly by surprise,
+that more violent sentiments were lost for the moment in mere wonder.
+He read it over twice before he could make it out. It was from the
+Rector, and notwithstanding his wife's remonstrances, and his own
+qualms of doubt and uncertainty, this was what Mr Morgan said:--
+
+
+ "DEAR SIR,--It is my painful duty to let you know that certain rumours
+ have reached my ears very prejudicial to your character as a
+ clergyman, and which I understand to be very generally current in
+ Carlingford. Such a scandal, if not properly dealt with, is certain to
+ have an unfavourable effect upon the popular mind, and injure the
+ clergy in the general estimation--while it is, as I need not point
+ out  to you, quite destructive of your own usefulness. Under the
+ circumstances, I have thought it my duty, as Rector of the parish,
+ to take steps for investigating these reports. Of course I do not
+ pretend to any authority over you, nor can I enforce in any way your
+ participation in the inquiry or consent to it; but I beg to urge upon
+ you strongly, as a friend, the advantage of assenting freely, that
+ your innocence (if possible) may be made apparent, and your character
+ cleared. I enclose the names of the gentlemen whose assistance I
+ intend to request for this painful duty, in case you should object to
+ any of them; and would again urge you, _for your own sake_, the
+ expediency of concurrence. I regret to say that, though I would not
+ willingly prejudge any man, much less a brother clergyman, I do not
+ feel that it would be seemly on my part, under the circumstances, to
+ avail myself of your assistance today in the burial-service for the
+ late Mr Wodehouse.--Believe me, very sincerely yours,
+
+ "W. MORGAN."
+
+
+When Mr Wentworth looked up from this letter, he caught sight of his
+face in the mirror opposite, and gazed into his own eyes like a man
+stupefied. He had not been without vexations in eight-and-twenty years
+of a not uneventful life, but he had never known anything like the
+misery of that moment. It was nearly four hours later when he walked
+slowly up Grange Lane to the house, which before night might own so
+different a master, but he had found as yet no time to spare for the
+Wodehouses--even for Lucy--in the thoughts which were all occupied by
+the unlooked-for blow. Nobody could tell, not even himself, the mental
+discipline he had gone through before he emerged, rather stern, but
+perfectly calm, in the sunshine in front of the closed-up house. If it
+was not his to meet the solemn passenger at the gates with words of
+hope, at least he could do a man's part to the helpless who had still
+to live; but the blow was cruel, and all the force of his nature was
+necessary to sustain it. All Carlingford knew, by the evidence of its
+senses, that Mr Wentworth had been a daily visitor of the dead, and
+one of his most intimate friends, and nobody had doubted for a moment
+that to him would be assigned as great a portion of the service as his
+feelings permitted him to undertake. When the bystanders saw him join
+the procession, a thrill of surprise ran through the crowd; but
+nobody--not even the man who walked beside him--ventured to trifle
+with the Curate's face so far as to ask why. The Grand Inquisitor
+himself, if such a mythical personage exists any longer, could not
+have invented a more delicate torture than that which the respectable
+and kind-hearted Rector of Carlingford inflicted calmly, without
+knowing it, upon the Curate of St Roque's. How was Mr Morgan to know
+that the sting would go to his heart? A Perpetual Curate without a
+district has nothing to do with a heart so sensitive. The Rector put
+on his own robes with a peaceful mind, feeling that he had done his
+duty, and, with Mr Leeson behind him, came to the church door with
+great solemnity to meet the procession. He read the words which are
+so sweet and so terrible with his usual reading-desk voice as he read
+the invitations every Sunday. He was a good man, but he was middle-aged,
+and not accessible to impression from the mere aspect of death; and he
+did not know Mr Wodehouse, nor care much for anything in the matter,
+except his own virtue in excluding the Perpetual Curate from any share
+in the service. Such was the Rector's feeling in respect to this
+funeral, which made so much commotion in Carlingford. He felt that he
+was vindicating the purity of his profession as he threaded his way
+through the pathetic hillocks, where the nameless people were lying, to
+poor Mr Wodehouse's grave.
+
+This, however, was not the only thing which aroused the wonder and
+interest of the townspeople when the two shrinking, hooded female
+figures, all black and unrecognisable, rose up trembling to follow their
+dead from the church to the grave. Everybody saw with wonder that their
+place was contested, and that somebody else, a man whom no one knew,
+thrust himself before them, and walked alone in the chief mourner's
+place. As for Lucy, who, through her veil and her tears, saw nothing
+distinctly, this figure, which she did not know, struck her only with a
+vague astonishment. If she thought of it at all, she thought it a
+mistake, simple enough, though a little startling, and went on, doing
+all she could to support her sister, saying broken prayers in her heart,
+and far too much absorbed in the duty she was performing to think who
+was looking on, or to be conscious of any of the attending
+circumstances, except Mr Morgan's voice, which was not the voice she had
+expected to hear. Miss Wodehouse was a great deal more agitated than
+Lucy. She knew very well who it was that placed himself before her,
+asserting his own right without offering any help to his sisters; and
+vague apprehensions, which she herself could not understand, came over
+her just at the moment when she required her strength most. As there
+were no other relations present, the place of honour next to the two
+ladies had been tacitly conceded to Mr Proctor and Mr Wentworth; and it
+was thus that the Curate rendered the last service to his old friend. It
+was a strange procession, and concentrated in itself all that was most
+exciting in Carlingford at the moment. Everybody observed and commented
+upon the strange man, who, all remarkable and unknown, with his great
+beard and sullen countenance, walked by himself as chief mourner. Who
+was he? and whispers arose and ran through the outskirts of the crowd of
+the most incredible description. Some said he was an illegitimate son
+whom Mr Wodehouse had left all his property to, but whom the ladies knew
+nothing of; some that it was a strange cousin, whom Lucy was to be
+compelled to marry or lose her share; and after a while people compared
+notes, and went back upon their recollections, and began to ask each
+other if it was true that Tom Wodehouse died twenty years ago in the
+West Indies? Then behind the two ladies--poor ladies, whose fate was
+hanging in the balance, though they did not know it--came Mr Wentworth
+in his cap and gown, pale and stern as nobody ever had seen him before
+in Carlingford, excluded from all share in the service, which Mr Leeson,
+in a flutter of surplice and solemnity, was giving his valuable
+assistance in. The churchyard at Carlingford had not lost its semi-rural
+air though the town had increased so much, for the district was very
+healthy, as everybody knows, and people did not die before their time,
+as in places less favoured. The townspeople, who knew Mr Wodehouse so
+well, lingered all about among the graves, looking with neighbourly,
+calm regret, but the liveliest curiosity. Most of the shopkeepers at
+that end of George Street had closed their shops on the mournful
+occasion, and felt themselves repaid. As for Elsworthy, he stood with a
+group of supporters round him, as near as possible to the funeral
+procession; and farther off in the distance, under the trees, was a much
+more elegant spectator--an unlikely man enough to assist at such a
+spectacle, being no less a person than Jack Wentworth, in the
+perfection of an English gentleman's morning apparel, perfectly at his
+ease and indifferent, yet listening with close attention to all the
+scraps of talk that came in his way. The centre of all this wondering,
+curious crowd, where so many passions and emotions and schemes and
+purposes were in full tide, and life was beating so strong and vehement,
+was the harmless dead, under the heavy pall which did not veil him so
+entirely from the living as did the hopes and fears and curious
+speculations which had already sprung up over him, filling up his place.
+Among the whole assembly there was not one heart really occupied by
+thoughts of him, except that of poor Lucy, who knew nothing of all the
+absorbing anxieties and terrors that occupied the others. She had still
+a moment's leisure for her natural grief. It was all she could do to
+keep upright and support her sister, who had burdens to bear which Lucy
+knew nothing of; but still, concealed under her hood and veil, seeing
+nothing but the grave before her, hearing nothing but the sacred words
+and the terrible sound of "dust to dust," the young creature stood
+steadfast, and gave the dead man who had loved her his due--last
+offering of nature and love, sweeter to anticipate than any honours.
+Nobody but his child offered to poor Mr Wodehouse that last right of
+humanity, or made his grave sacred with natural tears.
+
+When they went back sadly out of all that blinding sunshine into the
+darkened house, it was not all over, as poor Lucy had supposed. She
+had begun to come to herself and understand once more the looks of the
+people about her, when the old maid, who had been the attendant of the
+sisters during all Lucy's life, undid her wrappings, and in her
+agitation of the moment kissed her white cheek, and held her in her
+arms. "Oh, Miss Lucy, darling, don't take on no more than you can
+help. I'm sore, sore afeared that there's a deal of trouble afore you
+yet," said the weeping woman. Though Lucy had not the smallest
+possible clue to her meaning, and was almost too much worn out to be
+curious, she could not help a vague thrill of alarm. "What is it,
+Alland?" she said, rising up from the sofa on which she had thrown
+herself. But Alland could do nothing but cry over her nursling and
+console her. "Oh, my poor dear! oh, my darling! as he never would have
+let the wind of heaven to blow rough upon her!" cried the old servant.
+And it was just then that Miss Wodehouse, who was trembling all over
+hysterically, came into the room.
+
+"We have to go down-stairs," said the elder sister. "Oh Lucy, my
+darling, it was not my fault at first. I should have told you last
+night to prepare you, and I had not the heart. Mr Wentworth has told
+me so often--"
+
+"Mr Wentworth?" said Lucy. She rose up, not quite knowing where she
+was; aware of nothing, except that some sudden calamity, under which
+she was expected to faint altogether, was coming to her by means of Mr
+Wentworth. Her mind jumped at the only dim possibility that seemed to
+glimmer through the darkness. He must be married, she supposed, or
+about to be married; and it was this they insulted her by thinking
+that she could not bear. There was not a particle of colour in her
+face before, but the blood rushed into it with a bitterness of shame
+and rage which she had never known till now. "I will go down with you
+if it is necessary," said Lucy; "but surely this is a strange time to
+talk of Mr Wentworth's affairs." There was no time to explain anything
+farther, for just then old Mrs Western, who was a distant cousin,
+knocked at the door. "God help you, my poor dear children!" said the
+old lady; "they are all waiting for you down-stairs," and it was with
+this delusion in her mind, embittering every thought, that Lucy went
+into the drawing-room where they were all assembled. The madness of
+the idea did not strike her somehow, even when she saw the grave
+assembly, which it was strange to think could have been brought
+together to listen to any explanation from the Perpetual Curate. He
+was standing there prominent enough among them, with a certain air of
+suppressed passion in his face, which Lucy divined almost without
+seeing it. For her own part, she went in with perfect firmness,
+supporting her sister, whose trembling was painful to see. There was
+no other lady in the room except old Mrs Western, who would not sit
+down, but hovered behind the chairs which had been placed for the
+sisters near the table at which Mr Waters was standing. By the side of
+Mr Waters was the man who had been at the funeral, and whom nobody
+knew, and a few gentlemen who were friends of the family were in the
+room--the Rector, by virtue of his office, and Mr Proctor and Dr
+Marjoribanks; and any one whose attention was sufficiently disengaged
+to note the details of the scene might have perceived John, who had
+been fifteen years with Mr Wodehouse, and the old cook in her black
+gown, who was of older standing in the family than Alland herself,
+peeping in, whenever it was opened, through the door.
+
+"Now that the Miss Wodehouses are here, we may proceed to business,"
+said Mr Waters. "Some of the party are already aware that I have an
+important communication to make. I am very sorry if it comes abruptly
+upon anybody specially interested. My late partner, much respected
+though he has always been, was a man of peculiar views in many
+respects. Dr Marjoribanks will bear me out in what I say. I had been
+his partner for ten years before I found this out, highly important as
+it will be seen to be; and I believe Mr Wentworth, though an intimate
+friend of the family, obtained the information by a kind of
+accident--"
+
+The stranger muttered something in his beard which nobody could hear,
+and the Perpetual Curate interposed audibly. "Would it not be best to
+make the explanations afterwards?" said Mr Wentworth--and he changed
+his own position and went over beside old Mrs Western, who was leaning
+upon Lucy's chair. He put his own hand on the back of the chair with
+an involuntary impulse. As for Lucy, her first thrill of nervous
+strength had failed her: she began to get confused and bewildered; but
+whatever it was, no insult, no wound to her pride or affections, was
+coming to her from that hand which she knew was on her chair. She
+leaned back a little, with a long sigh. Her imagination could not
+conceive anything important enough for such a solemn intimation, and
+her attention began to flag in spite of herself. No doubt it was
+something about that money which people thought so interesting.
+Meanwhile Mr Waters went on steadily with what he had to say, not
+sparing them a word of the preamble; and it was not till ten minutes
+later that Lucy started up with a sudden cry of incredulity and
+wonder, and repeated his last words. "His son!--whose son?" cried
+Lucy. She looked all round her, not knowing whom to appeal to in her
+sudden consternation. "We never had a brother," said the child of Mr
+Wodehouse's old age; "it must be some mistake." There was a dead pause
+after these words. When she looked round again, a sickening conviction
+came to Lucy's heart that it was no mistake. She rose up without
+knowing it, and looked round upon all the people, who were watching
+her with various looks of pity and curiosity and spectator-interest.
+Mr Waters had stopped speaking, and the terrible stranger made a step
+forward with an air that identified him. It was at him that Mr Proctor
+was staring, who cleared his voice a great many times, and came
+forward to the middle of the room and looked as if he meant to speak;
+and upon him every eye was fixed except Mr Wentworth's, who was
+watching Lucy, and Miss Wodehouse's, which were hidden in her hands.
+"We never had a brother," she repeated, faltering; and then, in the
+extremity of her wonder and excitement, Lucy turned round, without
+knowing it, to the man whom her heart instinctively appealed to. "Is
+it true?" she said. She held out her hands to him with a kind of
+entreaty not to say so. Mr Wentworth made no reply to her question. He
+said only, "Let me take you away--it is too much for you," bending
+down over her, without thinking what he did, and drawing her hand
+through his arm. "She is not able for any more," said the Curate,
+hurriedly; "afterwards we can explain to her." If he could have
+remembered anything about himself at the moment, it is probable that
+he would have denied himself the comfort of supporting Lucy--he, a man
+under ban; but he was thinking only of her, as he stood facing them
+all with her arm drawn through his; upon which conjunction the Rector
+and the late Rector looked with a grim aspect, disposed to interfere,
+but not knowing how.
+
+"All this may be very interesting to you," said the stranger out of
+his beard; "if Lucy don't know her brother, it is no fault of mine. Mr
+Waters has only said half he has got to say; and as for the rest, to
+sum it up in half-a-dozen words, I'm very glad to see you in my house,
+gentlemen, and I hope you will make yourselves at home. Where nobody
+understands, a man has to speak plain. I've been turned out all my
+life and, by Jove! I don't mean to stand it any longer. The girls can
+have what their father's left them," said the vagabond, in his moment
+of triumph. "They aint my business no more than I was theirs. The
+property is freehold, and Waters is aware that I'm the heir."
+
+Saying this, Wodehouse drew a chair to the table, and sat down with
+emphasis. He was the only man seated in the room, and he kept his
+place in his sullen way amid the excited group which gathered round
+him. As for Miss Wodehouse, some sense of what had happened penetrated
+even her mind. She too rose up and wiped her tears from her face, and
+looked round, pale and scared, to the Curate. "I was thinking--of
+speaking to Lucy. I meant to ask her--to take you back, Tom," said the
+elder sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, tell me, for heaven's sake, what does
+it mean?"
+
+"If I had only been permitted to explain," said Mr Waters; "my worthy
+partner died intestate--his son is his natural heir. Perhaps we need not
+detain the ladies longer, now that they understand it. All the rest can
+be better arranged with their representative. I am very sorry to add to
+their sufferings today," said the polite lawyer, opening the door;
+"everything else can be made the subject of an arrangement." He held the
+door open with a kind of civil coercion compelling their departure. The
+familiar room they were in no longer belonged to the Miss Wodehouses.
+Lucy drew her arm out of Mr Wentworth's, and took her sister's hand.
+
+"You will be our representative," she said to him, out of the fulness
+of her heart. When the door closed, the Perpetual Curate took up his
+position, facing them all with looks more lofty than belonged even to
+his Wentworth blood. They had kept him from exercising his office at
+his friend's grave, but nobody could take from him the still nobler
+duty of defending the oppressed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+When the door closed upon Lucy and her sister, Mr Wentworth stood by
+himself, facing the other people assembled. The majority of them were
+more surprised, more shocked, than he was; but they were huddled
+together in their wonder at the opposite end of the table, and had
+somehow a confused, half-conscious air of being on the other side.
+
+"It's a very extraordinary revelation that has just been made to us,"
+said Dr Marjoribanks. "I am throwing no doubt upon it, for my part; but
+my conviction was, that Tom Wodehouse died in the West Indies. He was
+just the kind of man to die in the West Indies. If it's you," said the
+Doctor, with a growl of natural indignation, "you have the constitution
+of an elephant. You should have been dead ten years ago, at the very
+least; and it appears to me there would be some difficulty in proving
+identity, if anybody would take up that view of the question." As he
+spoke, Dr Marjoribanks walked round the new-comer, looking at him with
+medical criticism. The Doctor's eyes shot out fiery hazel gleams as he
+contemplated the heavy figure. "More appearance than reality," he
+muttered to himself, with a kind of grim satisfaction, poising a
+forefinger in air, as if to prove the unwholesome flesh; and then he
+went round to the other elbow of the unexpected heir. "The thing is now,
+what you mean to do for them, to repair your father's neglect," he said,
+tapping peremptorily on Wodehouse's arm.
+
+"There is something else to be said in the mean time," said Mr
+Wentworth. "I must know precisely how it is that a state of affairs so
+different from anything Mr Wodehouse could have intended has come about.
+The mere absence of a will does not seem to me to explain it. I should
+like to have Mr Brown's advice--for my own satisfaction, if nothing
+else."
+
+"The parson has got nothing to do with it, that I can see," said
+Wodehouse, "unless he was looking for a legacy, or that sort of thing.
+As for the girls, I don't see what right I have to be troubled; they
+took deuced little trouble with me. Perhaps they'd have taken me in as
+a sort of footman without pay--you heard what they said, Waters? By
+Jove! I'll serve Miss Mary out for that," said the vagabond. Then he
+paused a little, and, looking round him, moderated his tone. "I've
+been badly used all my life," said the prodigal son. "They would never
+give me a hearing. They say I did heaps of things I never dreamt of.
+Mary aint above thinking of her own interest--"
+
+Here Mr Proctor came forward from the middle of the room where he had
+been standing in a perplexed manner since the ladies went away.
+"Hold--hold your tongue, sir!" said the late Rector; "haven't you done
+enough injury already--" When he had said so much, he stopped as
+abruptly as he had begun, and seemed to recollect all at once that he
+had no title to interfere.
+
+"By Jove!" said Wodehouse, "you don't seem to think I know what
+belongs to me, or who belongs to me. Hold _your_ tongue, Waters; I can
+speak for myself. I've been long enough snubbed by everybody that had
+a mind. I don't mean to put up with this sort of thing any longer. Any
+man who pleases can consult John Brown. I recollect John Brown as well
+as anybody in Carlingford. It don't matter to me what he says, or what
+anybody says. The girls are a parcel of girls, and I am my father's
+son, as it happens. I should have thought the parson had enough on his
+hands for one while," said the new heir, in the insolence of triumph.
+"He tried patronising me, but that wouldn't answer. Why, there's his
+brother, Jack Wentworth, his elder brother, come down here purposely
+to manage matters for me. He's the eldest son, by Jove! and one of the
+greatest swells going. He has come down here on purpose to do the
+friendly thing by me. We're great friends, by Jove! Jack Wentworth and
+I; and yet here's a beggarly younger brother, that hasn't a penny--"
+
+"Wodehouse," said Mr Wentworth, with some contempt, "sit down and be
+quiet. You and I have some things to talk of which had better not be
+discussed in public. Leave Jack Wentworth's name alone, if you are
+wise, and don't imagine that I am going to bear your punishment. Be
+silent, sir!" cried the Curate, sternly; "do you suppose I ask any
+explanations from you? Mr Waters, I want to hear how this has come
+about? When I saw you in this man's interest some time ago, you were
+not so friendly to him. Tell me how it happens that he is now your
+client, and that you set him forth as the heir!"
+
+"By Jove, the parson has nothing to do with it! Let him find it out,"
+muttered Wodehouse in his beard; but the words were only half audible,
+and the vagabond's shabby soul was cowed in spite of himself. He gave
+the lawyer a furtive thrust in the arm as he spoke, and looked at him
+a little anxiously; for the position of a man standing lawfully on his
+natural rights was new to Wodehouse; and all his certainty of the
+facts did not save him from a sensation of habit which suggested that
+close examination was alarming, and that something might still be
+found out. As for Mr Waters, he looked with placid contempt at the
+man, who was not respectable, and still had the instincts of a
+vagabond in his heart.
+
+"I am perfectly ready to explain," said the irreproachable solicitor,
+who was quite secure in his position. "The tone of the request,
+however, might be modified a little; and as I don't, any more than Mr
+Wodehouse, see exactly what right Mr Wentworth has to demand--"
+
+"I ask an explanation, not on my own behalf, but for the Miss
+Wodehouses, who have made me their deputy," said the Curate, "for
+their satisfaction, and that I may consult Mr Brown. You seem to
+forget that all _he_ gains they lose; which surely justifies their
+representative in asking how did it come about?"
+
+It was at this point that all the other gentlemen present pressed
+closer, and evinced an intention to take part. Dr Marjoribanks was the
+first to speak. He took a pinch of snuff, and while he consumed it
+looked from under his grizzled sandy eyebrows with a perplexing
+mixture of doubt and respect at the Perpetual Curate. He was a man of
+some discrimination in his way, and the young man's lofty looks
+impressed him a little in spite of himself.
+
+"Not to interrupt the explanation," said Dr Marjoribanks, "which we'll
+all be glad to hear--but Mr Wentworth's a young man, not possessed, so
+far as I am aware, of any particular right;--except that he has been
+very generous and prompt in offering his services," said the Doctor,
+moved to the admission by a fiery glance from the Curate's eye, which
+somehow did not look like the eye of a guilty man. "I was thinking, an
+old man, and an old friend, like myself, might maybe be a better
+guardian for the ladies' interests--"
+
+Mr Proctor, who had been listening very anxiously, was seized with a
+cough at this moment, which drowned out the Doctor's words. It was a
+preparatory cough, and out of it the late Rector rushed into speech.
+"I have come from--from Oxford to be of use," said the new champion.
+"My time is entirely at my own--at Miss Wodehouse's--at the Miss
+Wodehouses' disposal. I am most desirous to be of use," said Mr
+Proctor, anxiously. And he advanced close to the table to prefer his
+claim.
+
+"Such a discussion seems quite unnecessary," said Mr Wentworth, with
+some haughtiness. "I shall certainly do in the mean time what has been
+intrusted to me. At present we are simply losing time."
+
+"But--" said the Rector. The word was not of importance nor uttered
+with much resolution, but it arrested Mr Wentworth more surely than
+the shout of a multitude. He turned sharp round upon his adversary,
+and said "Well?" with an air of exasperation; while Wodehouse, who had
+been lounging about the room in a discomfited condition, drew near to
+listen.
+
+"I am comparatively a stranger to the Miss Wodehouses," said Mr
+Morgan; "still I am their clergyman; and I think with Dr Marjoribanks,
+that a young man like Mr Wentworth, especially a man so seriously
+compromised--"
+
+"Oh, stop! I do think you are all a great deal too hard upon Mr
+Wentworth," said the lawyer, with a laugh of toleration, which
+Wodehouse echoed behind him with a sense of temerity that made his
+laughter all the louder. He was frightened, but he was glad to make
+himself offensive, according to his nature. Mr Wentworth stood alone,
+for his part, and had to put up with the laugh as he best could.
+
+"If any one here wishes to injure me with the Miss Wodehouses, an
+opportunity may easily be found," said the Curate, with as much
+composure as he could muster; "and I am ready to relinquish my charge
+when they call on me to do so. In the mean time, this is not the place
+to investigate my conduct. Sit down, sir, and let us be free of your
+interference for this moment at least," he said, fiercely, turning to
+the new heir. "I warn you again, you have nothing but justice to expect
+at my hands. Mr Waters, we wait your explanations." He was the tallest
+man in the room, which perhaps had something to do with it; the
+youngest, best born, and best endowed. That he would have carried the
+day triumphantly in the opinion of any popular audience, there could be
+no kind of doubt. Even in this middle-aged unimpressionable assembly,
+his indignant self-control had a certain influence. When he drew a chair
+towards the table and seated himself, the others sat down unawares, and
+the lawyer began his story without any further interruption. The
+explanation of all was, that Mr Wodehouse, like so many men, had an
+ambition to end his days as a country gentleman. He had set his heart
+for years on an estate in the neighbourhood of Carlingford, and had just
+completed his long-contemplated purchase at the moment of his last
+seizure. Nobody knew, except the Curate and the lawyer, what the cause
+of that seizure was. They exchanged looks without being aware of it, and
+Wodehouse, still more deeply conscious, uttered, poor wretch! a kind of
+gasp, which sounded like a laugh to the other horrified spectators.
+After all, it was his crime which had brought him his good fortune,
+for there had been an early will relating to property which existed
+no longer--property which had been altogether absorbed in the
+newly-acquired estate. "I have no doubt my late excellent partner would
+have made a settlement had the time been permitted him," said Mr Waters.
+"I have not the slightest doubt as to his intentions; but the end was
+very unexpected at the last. I suppose death always is unexpected when
+it comes," said the lawyer, with a little solemnity, recollecting that
+three of his auditors were clergymen. "The result is painful in many
+respects; but law is law, and such accidents cannot be entirely avoided.
+With the exception of a few trifling personal matters, and the
+furniture, and a little money at the bank, there is nothing but freehold
+property, and of course the son takes that. I can have no possible
+objection to your consulting Mr Brown; but Mr Brown can give you no
+further information." If there had been any little hope of possible
+redress lingering in the mind of the perplexed assembly, this brought it
+to a conclusion. The heir, who had been keeping behind with an impulse
+of natural shame, came back to the table when his rights were so clearly
+established. He did not know how to behave himself with a good grace,
+but he was disposed to be conciliatory, as far as he could, especially
+as it began to be disagreeably apparent that the possession of his
+father's property might not make any particular difference in the
+world's opinion of himself.
+
+"It aint my fault, gentlemen," said Wodehouse. "Of course, I expected
+the governor to take care of the girls. I've been kept out of it for
+twenty years, and that's a long time. By Jove! I've never known what
+it was to be a rich man's son since I was a lad. I don't say I won't
+do something for the girls if they behave to me as they ought; and as
+for you, gentlemen, who were friends of the family, I'll always be
+glad to see you in my house," he said, with an attempt at a friendly
+smile. But nobody took any notice of the overtures of the new heir.
+
+"Then they have nothing to depend upon," said Mr Proctor, whose agitated
+looks were the most inexplicable feature of the whole--"no shelter even;
+no near relations I ever heard of--and nobody to take care of Lucy if--"
+Here he stopped short and went to the window, and stood looking out in a
+state of great bewilderment. The late Rector was so buried in his own
+thoughts, whatever they might be, that he did not pay any attention to
+the further conversation which went on behind him--of which, however,
+there was very little--and only came to himself when he saw Mr Wentworth
+go rapidly through the garden. Mr Proctor rushed after the Perpetual
+Curate. He might be seriously compromised, as Mr Morgan said; but he
+was more sympathetic than anybody else in Carlingford under present
+circumstances; and Mr Proctor, in his middle-aged uncertainty, could not
+help having a certain confidence in the young man's promptitude and
+vigour. He made up to him out of breath when he was just entering George
+Street. Carlingford had paid what respect it could to Mr Wodehouse's
+memory; and now the shutters were being taken off the shop-windows, and
+people in general were very willing to reward themselves for their
+self-denial by taking what amusement they could out of the reports
+which already began to be circulated about the way in which the Miss
+Wodehouses were "left." When the late Rector came up with the Perpetual
+Curate opposite Masters's shop there was quite a group of people there
+who noted the conjunction. What could it mean? Was there going to be a
+compromise? Was Carlingford to be shamefully cheated out of the
+"investigation," and all the details about Rosa Elsworthy, for which it
+hungered? Mr Proctor put his arm through that of the Curate of St
+Roque's, and permitted himself to be swept along by the greater impetus
+of the young man's rapid steps, for at this moment, being occupied with
+more important matters, the late Rector had altogether forgotten Mr
+Wentworth's peculiar position, and the cloud that hung over him.
+
+"What a very extraordinary thing!" said Mr Proctor. "What could have
+betrayed old Wodehouse into such a blunder! He must have known well
+enough. This son--this fellow--has been living all the time, of
+course. It is quite inexplicable to me," said the aggrieved man. "Do
+you know if there are any aunts or uncles--any people whom poor little
+Lucy might live with, for instance, if--" And here Mr Proctor once
+more came to a dead stop. Mr Wentworth, for his part, was so far from
+thinking of her as "poor little Lucy," that he was much offended by
+the unnecessary commiseration.
+
+"The sisters will naturally remain together," he said; "and, of
+course, there are many people who would be but too glad to receive
+them. Miss Wodehouse is old enough to protect her sister--though, of
+course, the balance of character is on the other side," said the
+inconsiderate young man; at which Mr Proctor winced, but made no
+definite reply.
+
+"So you think there are people she could go to?" said the late Rector,
+after a pause. "The thing altogether is so unexpected, you know. My
+idea was--"
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Curate; "I must see Mr Brown, and this
+is about the best time to find him at home. Circumstances make it
+rather awkward for me to call at the Rectory just now," he continued,
+with a smile smile--"circumstances over which I have no control, as
+people say; but perhaps you will stay long enough to see me put on my
+trial. Good-bye now."
+
+"Stop a moment," said Mr Proctor; "about this trial. Don't be
+affronted--I have nothing to do with it, you know; and Morgan means
+very well, though he's stupid enough. I should like to stand your
+friend, Wentworth; you know I would. I wish you'd yield to tell me all
+about it. If I were to call on you to-night after dinner--for perhaps
+it would put Mrs Hadwin out to give me a chop?"
+
+The Curate laughed in spite of himself. "Fellows of All-Souls don't
+dine on chops," he said, unable to repress a gleam of amusement; "but
+come at six, and you shall have something to eat, as good as I can
+give you. As for telling you all about it," said Mr Wentworth, "all
+the world is welcome to know as much as I know."
+
+Mr Proctor laid his hand on the young man's arm, by way of soothing
+him. "We'll talk it all over," he said, confidentially; "both this
+affair, and--and the other. We have a good deal in common, if I am not
+much mistaken, and I trust we shall always be good friends," said the
+inexplicable man. His complexion heightened considerably after he had
+made this speech, which conveyed nothing but amazement to the mind of
+the Curate; and then he shook hands hastily, and hurried back again
+towards Grange Lane. If there had been either room or leisure in Frank
+Wentworth's mind for other thoughts, he might have laughed or puzzled
+over the palpable mystery; but as it was, he had dismissed the late
+Rector entirely from his mind before he reached the door of Mr Brown's
+room, where the lawyer was seated alone. John Brown, who was
+altogether a different type of man from Mr Waters, held out his hand to
+his visitor, and did not look at all surprised to see him. "I have
+expected a call from you," he said, "now that your old friend is gone,
+from whom you would naturally have sought advice in the circumstances.
+Tell me what I can do for you;" and it became apparent to Mr Wentworth
+that it was his own affairs which were supposed to be the cause of his
+application. It may be supposed after this that the Curate stated his
+real object very curtly and clearly without any unnecessary words, to
+the unbounded amazement of the lawyer, who, being a busy man, and not a
+friend of the Wodehouses, had as yet heard nothing of the matter. Mr
+Brown, however, could only confirm what had been already said. "If it is
+really freehold property, and no settlement made, there cannot be any
+question about it," he said; "but I will see Waters to-morrow and make
+all sure, if you wish it; though he dares not mislead you on such a
+point. I am very sorry for the ladies, but I don't see what can be done
+for them," said Mr Brown; "and about yourself, Mr Wentworth?" Perhaps it
+was because of a certain look of genuine confidence and solicitude in
+John Brown's honest face that the Curate's heart was moved. For the
+first time he condescended to discuss the matter--to tell the lawyer,
+with whom indeed he had but a very slight acquaintance (for John Brown
+lived at the other end of Carlingford, and could not be said to be in
+society), all he knew about Rosa Elsworthy, and something of his
+suspicions. Mr Brown, for his part, knew little of the Perpetual Curate
+in his social capacity, but he knew about Wharfside, which was more to
+the purpose; and having himself been truly in love once in his life,
+commonplace as he looked, this honest man did not believe it possible
+that Lucy Wodehouse's representative could be Rosa Elsworthy's
+seducer--the two things looked incompatible to the straightforward
+vision of John Brown.
+
+"I'll attend at their investigation," he said, with a smile, "which,
+if you were not particularly interested, you'd find not bad fun, Mr
+Wentworth. These private attempts at law are generally very amusing.
+I'll attend and look after your interests; but you had better see that
+this Tom Wodehouse,--I remember the scamp--he used to be bad enough
+for anything,--don't give you the slip and get out of the way. Find
+out if you can where he has been living these two days. I'll attend to
+the other matter, too," the lawyer said, cheerfully, shaking hands
+with his new client; and the Curate went away with a vague feeling
+that matters were about to come right somehow, at which he smiled when
+he came to think of it, and saw how little foundation he had for such
+a hope. But his hands were full of business, and he had no time to
+consider his own affairs at this particular moment. It seemed to him a
+kind of profanity to permit Lucy to remain under the same roof with
+Wodehouse, even though he was her brother; and Mr Proctor's inquiries
+had stimulated his own feeling. There was a certain pleasure, besides,
+in postponing himself and his own business, however important, to her
+and her concerns; and it was with this idea that he proceeded to the
+house of his aunts, and was conducted to a little private sitting-room
+appropriated to the sole use of Miss Leonora, for whom he had asked.
+As he passed the door of the drawing-room, which was ajar, he glanced
+in, and saw his aunt Dora bending over somebody who wept, and heard a
+familiar voice pouring out complaints, the general sound of which was
+equally familiar, though he could not make out a word of the special
+subject. Frank was startled, notwithstanding his preoccupations, for
+it was the same voice which had summoned him to Wentworth Rectory
+which now poured out its lamentations in the Miss Wentworths'
+drawing-room in Carlingford. Evidently some new complication had
+arisen in the affairs of the family. Miss Leonora was in her room,
+busy with the books of a Ladies' Association, of which she was
+treasurer. She had a letter before her from the missionary employed by
+the society, which was a very interesting letter, and likely to make a
+considerable sensation when read before the next meeting. Miss Leonora
+was taking the cream off this piece of correspondence, enjoying at
+once itself and the impression it would make. She was slightly annoyed
+when her nephew came in to disturb her. "The others are in the
+drawing-room, as usual," she said. "I can't imagine what Lewis could
+be thinking of, to bring you here. Louisa's coming can make no
+difference to you."
+
+"So Louisa has come? I thought I heard her voice. What has happened to
+bring Louisa here?" said the Curate, who was not sorry to begin with
+an indifferent subject. Miss Leonora shook her head and took up her
+letter.
+
+"She is in the drawing-room," said the strong-minded aunt. "If you
+have no particular business with me, Frank, you had better ask
+herself: of course, if you want me, I am at your service--but
+otherwise I am busy, you see."
+
+"And so am I," said Mr Wentworth, "as busy as a man can be whose
+character is at stake. Do you know I am to be tried to-morrow? But
+that is not what I came to ask you about."
+
+"I wish you would _tell_ me about it," said Miss Leonora. She got up
+from her writing-table and from the missionary's letter, and abandoned
+herself to the impulses of nature. "I have heard disagreeable rumours.
+I don't object to your reserve, Frank, but things seem to be getting
+serious. What does it mean?"
+
+The Curate had been much braced in his inner man by his short
+interview with John Brown; that, and the representative position he
+held, had made a wonderful change in his feelings: besides, a matter
+which was about to become so public could not be ignored. "It means
+only that a good many people in Carlingford think me a villain," said
+Mr Wentworth: "it is not a flattering idea; and it seems to me, I
+must say, an illogical induction from the facts of my life. Still it
+is true that some people think so--and I am to be tried to-morrow. But
+in the mean time, something else has happened. I know you are a good
+woman, aunt Leonora. We don't agree in many things, but that does not
+matter. There are two ladies in Carlingford who up to this day have
+been rich, well off, well cared for, and who have suddenly lost all
+their means, their protector, even their home. They have no relations
+that I know of. One of them is good for any exertion that may be
+necessary," said the Curate, his voice softening with a far-off
+masculine suggestion as of tears; "but she is young--too young to
+contend with the world--and she is now suffering her first grief. The
+other is old enough, but not good for much--"
+
+"You mean the two Miss Wodehouses?" said Miss Leonora. "Their father
+has turned out to be--bankrupt?--or something?--"
+
+"Worse than bankrupt," said the Curate: "there is a brother who takes
+everything. Will you stand by them--offer them shelter?--I mean for a
+time. I don't know anybody I should care to apply to but you."
+
+Miss Leonora paused and looked at her nephew. "First tell me what you
+have to do with them," she asked. "If there is a brother, he is their
+natural protector--certainly not you--unless there is something I
+don't know of. Frank, you know you can't marry," said Miss Leonora,
+with a little vehemence, once more looking in her nephew's face.
+
+"No," said Frank, with momentary bitterness; "I am not likely to make
+any mistake about that--at present, at least. The brother is a
+reprobate of whom they know nothing. I have no right to consider
+myself their protector--but I am their friend at least," said the
+Curate, breaking off with again that softening in his voice. "They may
+have a great many friends, for anything I know; but I have confidence
+in you, aunt Leonora: you are not perhaps particularly sympathetic,"
+he went on, with a laugh; "you don't condole with Louisa, for
+instance; but I could trust you with--"
+
+"Lucy Wodehouse!" said Miss Leonora; "I don't dislike her at all, if
+she would not wear that ridiculous grey cloak; but young men don't
+take such an interest in young women without some reason for it. What
+are we to do for you, Frank?" said the strong-minded woman, looking at
+him with a little softness. Miss Leonora, perhaps, was not used to be
+taken into anybody's confidence. It moved her more than might have
+been expected from so self-possessed a woman. Perhaps no other act on
+the part of her nephew could have had so much effect, had he been able
+to pursue his advantage, upon the still undecided fate of Skelmersdale.
+
+"Nothing," said the Curate. He met her eye very steadily, but she was
+too clear-sighted to believe that he felt as calmly as he looked.
+"Nothing," he repeated again--"I told you as much before. I have been
+slandered here, and here I must remain. There are no parsonages or
+paradises for me."
+
+With which speech Mr Wentworth shook hands with his aunt and
+went away. He left Miss Leonora as he had left her on various
+occasions--considerably confused in her ideas. She could not enjoy any
+longer the cream of the missionary's letter. When she tried to resume
+her reading, her attention flagged over it. After a while she put on her
+bonnet and went out, after a little consultation with her maid, who
+assisted her in the housekeeping department. The house was tolerably
+full at the present moment, but it was elastic. She was met at the green
+door of Mr Wodehouse's garden by the new proprietor, who stared
+excessively, and did not know what to make of such an apparition. "Jack
+Wentworth's aunt, by Jove!" he said to himself, and took off his hat,
+meaning to show her "a little civility." Miss Leonora thought him one of
+the attendants at the recent ceremonial, and passed him without any
+ceremony. She was quite intent upon her charitable mission. Mr
+Wentworth's confidence was justified.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth's day had been closely occupied up to this point. He had
+gone through a great many emotions, and transacted a good deal of
+business, and he went home with the comparative ease of a man whose
+anxieties are relieved, not by any real deliverance, but by the
+soothing influence of fatigue and the sense of something accomplished.
+He was not in reality in a better position than when he left his house
+in the morning, bitterly mortified, injured, and wounded at the
+tenderest point. Things were very much the same as they had been, but
+a change had come over the feelings of the Perpetual Curate. He
+remembered with a smile, as he went down Grange Lane, that Mr Proctor
+was to dine with him, and that he had rashly undertaken to have
+something better than a chop. It was a very foolish engagement under
+the circumstances. Mr Wentworth was cogitating within himself whether
+he could make an appeal to the sympathies of his aunt's cook for
+something worthy of the sensitive palate of a Fellow of All-Souls,
+when all such thoughts were suddenly driven out of his mind by the
+apparition of his brother Gerald--perhaps the last man in the world
+whom he could have expected to see in Carlingford. Gerald was coming
+up Grange Lane in his meditative way from Mrs Hadwin's door. To look
+at him was enough to reveal to any clear-sighted spectator the
+presence of some perpetual argument in his mind. Though he had come
+out to look for Frank, his eyes were continually forsaking his
+intention, catching spots of lichen on the wall and clumps of herbage
+on the roadside. The long discussion had become so familiar to him,
+that even now, when his mind was made up, he could not relinquish the
+habit which possessed him. When he perceived Frank, he quickened his
+steps. They met with only such a modified expression of surprise on
+the part of the younger brother as was natural to a meeting of English
+kinsfolk. "I heard Louisa's voice in my aunt's drawing-room," said
+Frank; "but, oddly enough, it never occurred to me that you might have
+come with her;" and then Gerald turned with the Curate. When the
+ordinary family questions were asked and answered, a silence ensued
+between the two. As for Frank, in the multiplicity of his own cares,
+he had all but forgotten his brother; and Gerald's mind, though full
+of anxiety, had something of the calm which might be supposed to
+subdue the senses of a dying man. He was on the eve of a change, which
+appeared to him almost as great as death; and the knowledge of that
+gave him a curious stillness of composure--almost a reluctance to
+speak. Strangely enough, each brother at this critical moment felt it
+necessary to occupy himself with the affairs of the other, and to
+postpone the consideration of his own.
+
+"I hope you have changed your mind a little since we last met," said
+Frank; "your last letter--"
+
+"We'll talk of that presently," said the elder brother; "in the mean
+time I want to know about _you_. What is all this? My father is in a
+great state of anxiety. He does not seem to have got rid of his fancy
+that you were somehow involved with Jack--and Jack is here," said
+Gerald, with a look which betokened some anxiety on his own part. "I
+wish you would give me your confidence. Right or wrong, I have come to
+stand by you, Frank," said the Rector of Wentworth, rather mournfully.
+He had been waiting at Mrs Hadwin's for the last two hours. He had
+seen that worthy woman's discomposed looks, and felt that she did not
+shake her head for nothing. Jack had been the bugbear of the family
+for a long time past. Gerald was conscious of adding heavily at the
+present moment to the Squire's troubles. Charley was at Malta, in
+indifferent health; all the others were boys. There was only Frank to
+give the father a little consolation; and now Frank, it appeared, was
+most deeply compromised of all; no wonder Gerald was sad. And then he
+drew forth the anonymous letter which had startled all the Wentworths
+on the previous night. "This is written by somebody who hates you,"
+said the elder brother; "but I suppose there must be some meaning in
+it. I wish you would be frank with me, and tell me what it is."
+
+This appeal had brought them to Mrs Hadwin's door, which the Curate
+opened with his key before he answered his brother. The old lady
+herself was walking in the garden in a state of great agitation, with
+a shawl thrown over the best cap, which she had put on in honour of
+the stranger. Mrs Hadwin's feelings were too much for her at that
+moment. Her head was nodding with the excitement of age, and injured
+virtue trembled in every line of her face. "Mr Wentworth, I cannot put
+up with it any longer; it is a thing I never was used to," she cried,
+as soon as the Curate came within hearing. "I have shut my eyes to a
+great deal, but I cannot bear it any longer. If I had been a common
+lodging-house keeper, I could not have been treated with less respect;
+but to be outraged--to be insulted--"
+
+"What is the matter, Mrs Hadwin?" said Mr Wentworth, in dismay.
+
+"Sir," said the old lady, who was trembling with passion, "you may
+think it no matter to turn a house upside down as mine has been since
+Easter; to bring all sorts of disreputable people about--persons whom
+a gentlewoman in my position ought never to have heard of. I received
+your brother into my house," cried Mrs Hadwin, turning to Gerald,
+"because he was a clergyman and I knew his family, and hoped to find
+him one whose principles I could approve of. I have put up with a
+great deal, Mr Wentworth, more than I could tell to anybody. I took
+in his friend when he asked me, and gave him the spare room, though it
+was against my judgment. I suffered a man with a beard to be seen
+stealing in and out of my house in the evening, as if he was afraid to
+be seen. You gentlemen may not think much of that, but it was a
+terrible thing for a lady in my position, unprotected, and not so well
+off as I once was. It made my house like a lodging-house, and so my
+friends told me; but I was so infatuated I put up with it all for Mr
+Frank's sake. But there _is_ a limit," said the aggrieved woman. "I
+would not have believed it--I _could_ not have believed it of you--not
+whatever people might say: to think of that abandoned disgraceful girl
+coming openly to my door--"
+
+"Good heavens!" cried the Curate: he seized Mrs Hadwin's hand,
+evidently forgetting everything else she had said. "What girl?--whom
+do you mean? For heaven's sake compose yourself and answer me. Who was
+it? Rosa Elsworthy? This is a matter of life and death for me," cried
+the young man. "Speak quickly: when was it?--where is she? For
+heaven's sake, Mrs Hadwin, speak--"
+
+"Let me go, sir!" cried the indignant old lady; "let me go this
+instant--this is insult upon insult. I appeal to you, Mr Gerald--to
+think I should ever be supposed capable of encouraging such a horrid
+shameless--! How dare you--how dare you name such a creature to me?"
+exclaimed Mrs Hadwin, with hysterical sobs. "If it were not for your
+family, you should never enter my house again. Oh, thank you, Mr
+Gerald Wentworth--indeed I am not able to walk. I am sure I don't want
+to grieve you about your brother--I tried not to believe it--I tried
+as long as I could not to believe it--but you hear how he speaks. Do
+you think, sir, I would for a moment permit such a creature to enter
+my door?" she cried again, turning to Frank Wentworth as she leaned
+upon his brother's arm.
+
+"I don't know what kind of a creature the poor girl is," said the
+Curate; "but I know that if you had taken her in, it would have saved
+me much pain and trouble. Tell me, at least, when she came, and who
+saw her--or if she left any message? Perhaps Sarah will tell me," he
+said, with a sigh of despair, as he saw that handmaiden hovering
+behind. Sarah had been a little shy of Mr Wentworth since the night
+Wodehouse disappeared. She had betrayed herself to the Curate, and did
+not like to remember the fact. Now she came up with a little toss of
+her head and a sense of equality, primed and ready with her reply.
+
+"I hope I think more of myself than to take notice of any sich," said
+Sarah; but her instincts were more vivid than those of her mistress,
+and she could not refrain from particulars. "Them as saw her now,
+wouldn't see much in her; I never see such a changed creature," said
+Sarah; "not as I ever thought anything of her looks! a bit of a shawl
+dragged around her, and her eyes as if they would jump out of her
+head. Laws! she didn't get no satisfaction here," said the housemaid,
+with a little triumph.
+
+"Silence, Sarah!" said Mrs Hadwin; "that is not a way to speak to your
+clergyman. I'll go in, Mr Wentworth, please--I am not equal to so much
+agitation. If Mr Frank will come indoors, I should be glad to have an
+explanation--for this sort of thing cannot go on," said the old lady.
+As for the Curate he did not pay the least attention either to the
+disapproval or the impertinence.
+
+"At what time did she come?--which way did she go?--did she leave any
+message?" he repeated; "a moment's common-sense will be of more use
+than all this indignation. It is of the greatest importance to me to
+see Rosa Elsworthy. Here's how it is, Gerald," said the Curate, driven
+to his wit's end; "a word from the girl is all I want to make an end
+of all this--this disgusting folly--and you see how I am thwarted.
+Perhaps they will answer _you_. When did she come?--did she say
+anything?" he cried, turning sharply upon Sarah, who, frightened by Mr
+Wentworth's look, and dismayed to see her mistress moving away, and to
+feel herself alone opposed to him, burst at last into an alarmed
+statement.
+
+"Please, sir, it aint no fault of mine," said Sarah; "it was Missis as
+saw her. She aint been gone not half an hour. It's all happened since
+your brother left. She come to the side-door; Missis wouldn't hear
+nothing she had got to say, nor let her speak. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't
+you go after her!" cried the girl, following him to the side-door, to
+which he rushed immediately. Not half an hour gone! Mr Wentworth burst
+into the lane which led up to Grove Street, and where there was not a
+soul to be seen. He went back to Grange Lane, and inspected every
+corner where she could have hid herself. Then, after a pause, he
+walked impetuously up the quiet road, and into Elsworthy's shop. Mrs
+Elsworthy was there alone, occupying her husband's place, who had gone
+as usual to the railway for the evening papers. She jumped up from the
+high stool she was seated on when the Curate entered. "Good gracious,
+Mr Wentworth!" cried the frightened woman, and instinctively called
+the errand-boy, who was the only other individual within hearing. She
+was unprotected, and quite unable to defend herself if he meant
+anything; and it was impossible to doubt that there was meaning of the
+most serious and energetic kind in Mr Wentworth's face.
+
+"Has Rosa come back?" he asked. "Is she here? Don't stare at me, but
+speak. Has she come back? I have just heard that she was at my house
+half an hour ago: have you got her safe?"
+
+It was at this moment that Wodehouse came lounging in, with his cigar
+appearing in the midst of his beard, and a curious look of
+self-exhibition and demonstration in his general aspect. When the
+Curate, hearing the steps, turned round upon him, he fell back for a
+moment, not expecting such an encounter. Then the vagabond recovered
+himself, and came forward with the swagger which was his only
+alternative.
+
+"I thought you weren't on good terms here," said Wodehouse; "who are you
+asking after? It's a fine evening, and they don't seem up to much in my
+house. I have asked Jack Wentworth to the Blue Boar at seven--will you
+come? I don't want to bear any grudge. I don't know if they can cook
+anything fit to be eaten in my house. It wasn't me you were asking
+after?" The fellow came and stood close, shoulder to shoulder, by the
+Perpetual Curate. "By Jove, sir! I've as good a right here as you--or
+anywhere," he muttered, as Mr Wentworth withdrew from him. He had to say
+it aloud to convince himself of the fact; for it was hard, after being
+clandestine for half a lifetime, to move about freely in the daylight.
+As for Mr Wentworth, he fixed his eyes full on the new-comer's face.
+
+"I want to know if Rosa has come home," he repeated, in the clearest
+tones of his clear voice. "I am told she called at Mrs Hadwin's half
+an hour ago. Has she come back?"
+
+He scarcely noticed Mrs Elsworthy's answer, for, in the mean time, the
+cigar dropped out of Wodehouse's beard, out of his fingers. He made an
+involuntary step back out of the Curate's way. "By Jove!" he exclaimed
+to himself--the news was more important to him than to either of the
+others. After a minute he turned his back upon them, and kicked the
+cigar which he had dropped out into the street with much blundering
+and unnecessary violence--but turned round and stopped short in this
+occupation as soon as he heard Mrs Elsworthy's voice.
+
+"She hasn't come here," said that virtuous woman, sharply. "I've give
+in to Elsworthy a deal, but I never said I'd give in to take her back.
+She's been and disgraced us all; and she's not a drop's blood to me,"
+said Mrs Elsworthy. "Them as has brought her to this pass had best
+look after her; I've washed my hands of Rosa, and all belonging to
+her. She knows better than to come here."
+
+"Who's speaking of Rosa?" said Elsworthy, who just then came in with
+his bundle of newspapers from the railway. "I might have know'd as it
+was Mr Wentworth. Matters is going to be cleared, sir, between me and
+you. If you was going to make a proposal, I aint revengeful; and I'm
+open to any arrangement as is honourable, to save things coming afore
+the public. I've been expecting of it. You may speak free, sir. You
+needn't be afraid of me."
+
+"Fool!" said the Curate, hotly, "your niece has been seen in
+Carlingford; she came to my door, I am told, about an hour ago. Give
+up this folly, and let us make an effort to find her. I tell you she
+came to my house--"
+
+"In course, sir," said Elsworthy; "it was the most naturalest place
+for her to go. Don't you stand upon it no longer, as if you could
+deceive folks. It will be your ruin, Mr Wentworth--you know that as
+well as I do. I aint no fool but I'm open to a honourable proposal, I
+am. It'll ruin you--ay, and I'll ruin you," cried Rosa's uncle,
+hoarsely--"if you don't change your mind afore to-morrow. It's your
+last chance, if you care for your character, is to-night."
+
+Mr Wentworth did not condescend to make any answer. He followed
+Wodehouse, who had shuffled out after his cigar, and stopped him on
+the step. "I wonder if it is any use appealing to your honour," he
+said. "I suppose you were a gentleman once, and had the feelings of--"
+
+"By Jove! I'm as good a gentleman as you are," cried the new heir. "I
+could buy you up--you and all that belongs to you, by Jove! I'm giving
+Jack Wentworth a dinner at the Blue Boar to-night. I'm not a man to be
+cross-questioned. It appears to me you have got enough to do if you
+mind your own business," said Wodehouse, with a sneer. "You're in a
+nice mess, though you are the parson. I told Jack Wentworth so last
+night."
+
+The Curate stood on the step of Elsworthy's shop with his enemy
+behind, and the ungrateful vagabond whom he had rescued and guarded,
+standing in front of him, with that sneer on his lips. It was hard to
+refrain from the natural impulse which prompted him to pitch the
+vagabond out of his way. "Look here," he said, sharply, "you have not
+much character to lose; but a scamp is a different thing from a
+criminal. I will make the principal people in Carlingford aware what
+were the precise circumstances under which you came here at Easter if
+you do not immediately restore this unhappy girl to her friends. Do
+you understand me? If it is not done at once I will make use of my
+information--and you know what that means. You can defy me if you
+please; but in that case you had better make up your mind to the
+consequences; you will have to take your place as a--"
+
+"Stop!" cried Wodehouse, with a shiver. "We're not by ourselves--we're
+in the public street. What do you mean by talking like that here? Come
+to my house, Wentworth--there's a good fellow--I've ordered a
+dinner--"
+
+"Be silent, sir!" said the Curate. "I give you till noon to-morrow;
+after that I will spare you no longer. You understand what I mean. I
+have been too merciful already. To-morrow, if everything is not
+arranged to my satisfaction here--"
+
+"It was my own name," said Wodehouse, sullenly; "nobody can say it
+wasn't my own name. You couldn't do me any harm--you know you
+wouldn't, either, for the sake of the girls; I'll--I'll give them a
+thousand pounds or so, if I find I can afford it. Come, you don't mean
+that sort of thing, you know," said the conscious criminal; "you
+wouldn't do me any harm."
+
+"If I have to fight for my own reputation I shall not spare you,"
+cried the Curate. "Mind what I say! You are safe till twelve o'clock
+to-morrow; but after that I will have no mercy--not for your sisters'
+sake, not for any inducement in the world. If you want to be known as
+a--"
+
+"Oh Lord, don't speak so loud!--what do you mean? Wentworth, I say,
+hist! Mr Wentworth! By Jove, he won't listen to me!" cried Wodehouse,
+in an agony. When he found that the Curate was already out of hearing,
+the vagabond looked round him on every side with his natural instinct
+of suspicion. If he had known that Mr Wentworth was thinking only of
+disgrace and the stern sentence of public opinion, Wodehouse could
+have put up with it; but he himself, in his guilty imagination, jumped
+at the bar and the prison which had haunted him for long. Somehow it
+felt natural that such a Nemesis should come to him after the
+morning's triumph. He stood looking after the Curate, guilty and
+horror-stricken, till it occurred to him that he might be remarked;
+and then he made a circuit past Elsworthy's shop-window as far as the
+end of Prickett's Lane, where he ventured to cross over so as to get
+to his own house. His own house!--the wretched thrill of terror that
+went through him was a very sufficient offset against his momentary
+triumph; and this was succeeded by a flush of rage as he thought of
+the Curate's other information. What was to be done? Every moment was
+precious; but he felt an instinctive horror of venturing out again in
+the daylight. When it approached the hour at which he had ordered that
+dinner at the Blue Boar, the humbled hero wrapped himself in an old
+overcoat which he found in the hall, and slunk into the inn like the
+clandestine wretch he was. He had no confidence in himself, but he had
+confidence in Jack Wentworth. He might still be able to help his
+unlucky associate out.
+
+When Mr Wentworth reached his rooms, he found that his guest had
+arrived before him, and consequently the threatened explanation with
+Mrs Hadwin was forestalled for that night. Mr Proctor and Gerald were
+sitting together, not at all knowing what to talk about; for the late
+Rector was aware that Frank Wentworth's brother was on the verge of
+Rome, and was confused, and could not help feeling that his position
+between a man on the point of perversion in an ecclesiastical point of
+view, and another whose morals were suspected and whose character was
+compromised, was, to say the least, a very odd position for a
+clergyman of unblemished orthodoxy and respectability; besides, it was
+embarrassing, when he had come for a very private consultation, to
+find a stranger there before him. The Curate went in very full of what
+had just occurred. The events of the last two or three hours had
+worked a total change in his feelings. He was no longer the injured,
+insulted, silent object of a petty but virulent persecution. The
+contemptuous silence with which he had treated the scandal at first,
+and the still more obstinate sense of wrong which latterly had shut
+his lips and his heart, had given way to-day to warmer and more
+generous emotions. What would have seemed to him in the morning only
+the indignant reserve of a man unjustly suspected, appeared now a
+foolish and unfriendly reticence. The only thing which restrained him
+was a still lingering inclination to screen Wodehouse, if possible,
+from a public exposure, which would throw shame upon his sisters as
+well as himself. If any generosity, if any gentlemanly feeling, were
+still left in the vagabond's soul, it was possible he might answer the
+Curate's appeal; and Mr Wentworth felt himself bound to offer no
+public explanation of the facts of the case until this last chance of
+escape had been left for the criminal. But, so far as regarded
+himself, his heart was opened, his wounded pride mollified, and he was
+ready enough to talk of what had just happened, and to explain the
+whole business to his anxious companions. When he joined them, indeed,
+he was so full of it as almost to forget that he himself was still
+believed the hero of the tale. "This unfortunate little girl has been
+here, and I have missed her," he said, without in the least concealing
+his vexation, and the excitement which his rapid walk had not subdued;
+to the great horror of Mr Proctor, who tried all he could, by
+telegraphic glances, to recall the young man to a sense of that fact
+that Sarah was in the room.
+
+"I must say I think it is imprudent--highly imprudent," said the late
+Rector: "they will call these women to prove that she has been here
+again; and what conclusion but one can possibly be drawn from such a
+fact? I am very sorry to see you so unguarded." He said this, seizing
+the moment after Sarah had removed the salmon, which was very good,
+and was served with a sauce which pleased Mr Proctor all the more that
+he had not expected much from an impromptu dinner furnished by a
+Perpetual Curate; but the fact was, that Gerald's arrival had
+awakened Mrs Hadwin to a proper regard for her own credit, which was
+at stake.
+
+When Sarah withdrew finally, and they were left alone, Frank Wentworth
+gave the fullest explanation he was able to his surprised auditors. He
+told them that it was Wodehouse, and not himself, whom Rosa had met in
+the garden, and whom she had no doubt come to seek at this crisis of
+their fortunes. There was not the least doubt in his own mind that
+Wodehouse had carried her away, and hidden her somewhere close at
+hand; and when he had given them all his reasons for thinking so, his
+hearers were of the same opinion; but Mr Proctor continued very
+doubtful and perplexed, clear though the story was. He sat silent,
+brooding over the new mystery, while the brothers discussed the
+original questions.
+
+"I cannot think why you did not go to the Rector at once and tell him
+all this," said Gerald. "It is always best to put a stop to gossip. At
+least you will see him to-morrow, or let me see him--"
+
+"The Rector is deeply prejudiced against me," said the Perpetual Curate,
+"for a very unworthy reason, if he has any reason at all. He has never
+asked me to explain. I shall not interfere with his investigation," said
+the young man, haughtily; "let it go on. I have been working here for
+five years, and the Carlingford people ought to know better. As for the
+Rector, I will make no explanations to him."
+
+"It is not for the Rector, it is for yourself," said Gerald; "and this
+fellow Wodehouse surely has no claim--"
+
+But at the sound of this name, Mr Proctor roused himself from his
+pause of bewilderment, and took the words out of Mr Wentworth's mouth.
+
+"He has been here since Easter; but why?" said the late Rector. "I
+cannot fancy why Mr Wodehouse's son should come to you when his
+father's house was so near. In hiding? why was he in hiding? He is
+evidently a scamp," said Mr Proctor, growing red; "but that is not so
+unusual. I don't understand--I am bound to say I don't understand it.
+He may be the culprit, as you say; but what was he doing here?"
+
+"I took him in at Miss Wodehouse's request. I cannot explain
+why--_she_ will tell you," said the Curate. "As for Wodehouse, I have
+given him another chance till twelve o'clock to-morrow: if he does not
+make his appearance then--"
+
+Mr Proctor had listened only to the first words; he kept moving
+uneasily in his seat while the Curate spoke. Then he broke in, "It
+appears I cannot see Miss Wodehouse," he said, with an injured tone;
+"she does not see any one. I cannot ask for any explanation; but it
+seems to me most extraordinary. It is three months since Easter. If he
+had been living with you all the time, there must have been some
+occasion for it. I don't know what to think, for my part; and yet I
+always imagined that I was considered a friend of the family," said
+the late Rector, with an aggrieved look. He took his glass of claret
+very slowly, looking at it as if expecting to see in the purple
+reflection some explanation of the mystery. As for Gerald Wentworth,
+he relapsed into silence when he found that his arguments did not
+alter Frank's decision; he too was disappointed not to find his
+brother alone. He sat with his eyes cast down, and a singular look of
+abstraction on his face. He had got into a new atmosphere--a different
+world. When his anxieties about Frank were satisfied, Gerald withdrew
+himself altogether from the little party. He sat there, it is true,
+not unaware of what was going on, and even from time to time joining
+in the conversation; but already a subtle change had come over Gerald.
+He might have been repeating an "office," or carrying on a course of
+private devotions, from his looks. Rome had established her dualism in
+his mind. He had no longer the unity of an Englishman trained to do
+one thing at a time, and to do it with his might. He sat in a kind of
+languor, carrying on within himself a thread of thought, to which his
+external occupation gave no clue; yet at the same time suffering no
+indication to escape him of the real condition of his mind. The three
+were consequently far from being good company. Mr Proctor, who was
+more puzzled than ever as to the true state of the case, could not
+unburden himself of his own intentions as he had hoped to do; and
+after a while the Curate, too, was silent, finding his statements
+received, as he thought, but coldly. It was a great relief to him when
+he was called out by Sarah to speak to some one, though his absence
+made conversation still more difficult for the two who were left
+behind. Mr Proctor, from the other side of the table, regarded Gerald
+with a mixture of wonder and pity. He did not feel quite sure that it
+was not his duty to speak to him--to expound the superior catholicity
+of the Church of England, and call his attention to the schismatic
+peculiarities of the Church of Rome. "It might do him good to read
+Burgon's book," Mr Proctor said to himself; and by way of introducing
+that subject, he began to talk of Italy, which was not a bad device,
+and did credit to his invention. Meanwhile the Curate had gone to his
+study, wondering a little who could want him, and, to his utter
+bewilderment, found his aunt Dora, veiled, and wrapped up in a great
+shawl.
+
+"Oh, Frank, my dear, don't be angry! I couldn't help coming," cried
+Miss Dora. "Come and sit down by me here. I slipped out and did not
+even put on my bonnet, that nobody might know. Oh, Frank, I don't know
+what to say. I am so afraid you have been wicked. I have just seen
+that--that girl. I saw her out of my window. Frank! don't jump up like
+that. I can't go on telling you if you don't stay quiet here."
+
+"Aunt, let me understand you," cried the Curate. "You saw whom? Rosa
+Elsworthy? Don't drive me desperate, as all the others do with their
+stupidity. You saw her? when?--where?"
+
+"Oh Frank, Frank! to think it should put you in such a way--such a
+girl as that! Oh, my dear boy, if I had thought you cared so much, I
+never would have come to tell you. It wasn't to encourage you--it
+wasn't. Oh, Frank, Frank! that it should come to this!" cried Miss
+Dora, shrinking back from him with fright and horror in her face.
+
+"Come, we have no time to lose," said the Curate, who was desperate.
+He picked up her shawl, which had fallen on the floor, and bundled her
+up in it in the most summary way. "Come, aunt Dora," said the
+impetuous young man; "you know you were always my kindest friend.
+Nobody else can help me at this moment. I feel that you are going to
+be my deliverer. Come, aunt Dora--we must go and find her, you and I.
+There is not a moment to lose."
+
+He had his arm round her, holding on her shawl. He raised her up from
+her chair, and supported her, looking at her as he had not done before
+since he was a boy at school, Miss Dora thought. She was too
+frightened, too excited, to cry, as she would have liked to do; but
+the proposal was so terrible and unprecedented that she leaned back
+trembling on her nephew's arm, and could not move either to obey or to
+resist him. "Oh, Frank, I never went after any improper person in my
+life," gasped aunt Dora. "Oh, my dear, don't make me do anything that
+is wrong; they will say it is my fault!" cried the poor lady,
+gradually feeling herself obliged to stand on her feet and collect her
+forces. The shawl fell back from her shoulders as the Curate withdrew
+his arm. "You have lost my large pin," cried aunt Dora, in despair;
+"and I have no bonnet. And oh! what will Leonora say? I never, never
+would have come to tell you if I had thought of this. I only came to
+warn you, Frank. I only intended--"
+
+"Yes," said the Curate. The emergency was momentous, and he dared not
+lose patience. He found her large pin even, while she stood trembling,
+and stuck it into her shawl as if it had been a skewer. "You never
+would have come if you had not been my guardian angel," said the
+deceitful young man, whose heart was beating high with anxiety and
+hope. "Nobody else would do for me what you are going to do--but I
+have always had confidence in my aunt Dora. Come, come! We have not a
+moment to lose."
+
+This was how he overcame Miss Dora's scruples. Before she knew what
+had happened she was being hurried through the clear summer night past
+the long garden-walls of Grange Lane. The stars were shining overhead,
+the leaves rustling on all sides in the soft wind--not a soul to be
+seen in the long line of darkling road. Miss Dora had no breath to
+speak, however much disposed she might have been. She could not
+remonstrate, having full occasion for all her forces to keep her feet
+and her breath. When Mr Wentworth paused for an instant to ask "which
+way did she go?" it was all Miss Dora could do to indicate with her
+finger the dark depths of Prickett's Lane. Thither she was immediately
+carried as by a whirlwind. With a shawl over her head, fastened
+together wildly by the big pin--with nothing but little satin
+slippers, quite unfit for the exertion required of them--with an
+agonised protest in her heart that she had never, never in her life
+gone after any improper person before--and, crowning misfortune of
+all, with a horrible consciousness that she had left the garden-door
+open, hoping to return in a few minutes, Miss Dora Wentworth, single
+woman as she was, and ignorant of evil, was whirled off in pursuit of
+the unfortunate Rosa into the dark abysses of Prickett's Lane.
+
+While this terrible Hegira was taking place, Mr Proctor sat opposite
+Gerald Wentworth, sipping his claret and talking of Italy. "Perhaps
+you have not read Burgon's book," said the late Rector. "There is a
+good deal of valuable information in it about the Catacombs, and he
+enters at some length into the question between the Roman Church and
+our own. If you are interested in that, you should read it," said Mr
+Proctor; "it is a very important question."
+
+"Yes," said Gerald; and then there followed a pause. Mr Proctor did
+not know what to make of the faint passing smile, the abstracted look,
+which he had vaguely observed all the evening; and he looked so
+inquiringly across the table that Gerald's new-born dualism came
+immediately into play, to the great amazement of his companion. Mr
+Wentworth talked, and talked well; but his eyes were still abstracted,
+his mind was still otherwise occupied; and Mr Proctor, whose own
+intelligence was in a state of unusual excitement, perceived the fact
+without being at all able to explain it. An hour passed, and both the
+gentlemen looked at their watches. The Curate had left them abruptly
+enough, with little apology; and as neither of them had much interest
+in the other, nor in the conversation, it was natural that the host's
+return should be looked for with some anxiety. When the two gentlemen
+had said all they could say about Italy--when Mr Proctor had given a
+little sketch of his own experiences in Rome, to which his companion
+did not make the usual response of narrating his--the two came to a
+dead pause. They had now been sitting for more than two hours over
+that bottle of Lafitte, many thoughts having in the mean time crossed
+Mr Proctor's mind concerning the coffee and the Curate. Where could he
+have gone? and why was there not somebody in the house with sense
+enough to clear away the remains of dessert, and refresh the wearied
+interlocutors with the black and fragrant cup which cheers all
+students? Both of the gentlemen had become seriously uneasy by this
+time; the late Rector got up from the table when he could bear it no
+longer. "Your brother must have been called away by something
+important," said Mr Proctor, stiffly. "Perhaps you will kindly make my
+excuses. Mr Morgan keeps very regular hours, and I should not like to
+be late--"
+
+"It is very extraordinary. I can't fancy what can be the reason--it
+must be somebody sick," said Gerald, rising too, but not looking by
+any means sure that Frank's absence had such a laudable excuse.
+
+"Very likely," said the late Rector, more stiffly than ever. "You are
+living here, I suppose?"
+
+"No; I am at Miss Wentworth's--my aunt's," said Gerald. "I will walk
+with you;" and they went out together with minds considerably excited.
+Both looked up and down the road when they got outside the garden-gate:
+both had a vague idea that the Curate might be visible somewhere in
+conversation with somebody disreputable; and one being his friend and
+the other his brother, they were almost equally disturbed about the
+unfortunate young man. Mr Proctor's thoughts, however, were mingled with
+a little offence. He had meant to be confidential and brotherly, and the
+occasion had been lost; and how was it possible to explain the rudeness
+with which Mr Wentworth had treated him? Gerald was still more seriously
+troubled. When Mr Proctor left him, he walked up and down Grange Lane in
+the quiet of the summer night, watching for his brother. Jack came home
+smoking his cigar, dropping Wodehouse, whom the heir of the Wentworths
+declined to call his friend, before he reached his aunts' door, and as
+much surprised as it was possible for him to be, to find Gerald
+lingering, meditating, along the silent road; but still Frank did
+not come. By-and-by a hurried light gleamed in the window of the
+summer-house, and sounds of commotion were audible in the orderly
+dwelling of the Miss Wentworths; and the next thing that happened was
+the appearance of Miss Leonora, also with a shawl over her head, at the
+garden-door. Just then, when they were all going to bed, Collins, Miss
+Dora's maid, had come to the drawing-room in search of her mistress. She
+was not to be found anywhere, though her bonnets and all her outdoor
+gear were safe in their place. For the first time in her life the entire
+family were startled into anxiety on Miss Dora's account. As for Mrs
+Gerald Wentworth, she jumped at once to the conclusion that the poor
+lady was murdered, and that Frank must have something to do with it, and
+filled the house with lamentations. Nobody went to bed, not even aunt
+Cecilia, who had not been out of her room at eleven o'clock for
+centuries. Collins had gone into the summer-house and was turning over
+everything there as if she expected to find her mistress's body in the
+cupboard or under the sofa; Lewis, the butler, was hunting through the
+garden with a lantern, looking under all the bushes. No incident so
+utterly unaccountable had occurred before in Miss Dora Wentworth's life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+The first investigation into the character of the Rev. F. C.
+Wentworth, Curate of St Roque's was fixed to take place in the vestry
+of the parish church, at eleven o'clock on the morning of the day
+which followed this anxious night. Most people in Carlingford were
+aware that the Perpetual Curate was to be put upon his trial on that
+sunny July morning; and there was naturally a good deal of curiosity
+among the intelligent townsfolk to see how he looked, and what was the
+aspect of the witnesses who were to bear testimony for or against him.
+It is always interesting to the crowd to see how a man looks at a
+great crisis of his life--or a woman either, for that matter; and if a
+human creature, at the height of joy, or in the depths of sorrow, is a
+spectacle to draw everybody's eyes, there is a still greater dramatic
+interest in the sight when hope and fear are both in action, and the
+alternative hangs between life or death. It was life or death to Mr
+Wentworth, though the tribunal was one which could inflict no
+penalties. If he should be found guilty, death would be a light doom
+to the downfall and moral extinction which would make an end of the
+unfaithful priest; and, consequently, Carlingford had reason for its
+curiosity. There was a crowd about the back entrance which led to the
+shabby little sacristy where Mr Morgan and Mr Leeson were accustomed
+to robe themselves; and scores of people strayed into the church
+itself, and hung about, pretending to look at the improvements which
+the Rector called restorations. Mrs Morgan herself, looking very pale,
+was in and out half-a-dozen times in the hour, talking with terrible
+science and technicalism to Mr Finial's clerk of works, who could not
+make her see that she was talking Gothic--a language which had nothing
+to do with Carlingford Church, that building being of the Revolution
+or churchwarden epoch. She was a great deal too much agitated at that
+moment to be aware of the distinction. As for Mr Wentworth, it was
+universally agreed that, though he looked a little flushed and
+excited, there was no particular discouragement visible in his face.
+He went in to the vestry with some eagerness, not much like a culprit
+on his trial. The Rector, indeed, who was heated and embarrassed and
+doubtful of himself, looked more like a criminal than the real hero.
+There were six of the amateur judges, of whom one had felt his heart
+fail him at the last moment. The five who were steadfast were Mr
+Morgan, Dr Marjoribanks, old Mr Western (who was a distant cousin of
+the Wodehouses, and brother-in-law, though old enough to be her
+grandfather, of the beautiful Lady Western, who once lived in Grange
+Lane), and with them Mr Centum, the banker, and old Colonel Chiley. Mr
+Proctor, who was very uneasy in his mind, and much afraid lest he
+should be called upon to give an account of the Curate's behaviour on
+the previous night, had added himself as a kind of auxiliary to this
+judicial bench. Mr Waters had volunteered his services as counsellor,
+perhaps with the intention of looking after the interests of a very
+different client; and to this imposing assembly John Brown had walked
+in, with his hands in his pockets, rather disturbing the composure of
+the company in general, who were aware what kind of criticism his
+was. While the bed of justice was being arranged, a very odd little
+group collected in the outer room, where Elsworthy, in a feverish
+state of excitement, was revolving about the place from the door to
+the window, and where the Miss Hemmings sat up against the wall, with
+their drapery drawn up about them, to show that they were of different
+clay from Mrs Elsworthy, who, respectful but sullen, sat on the same
+bench. The anxious public peered in at the door whenever it had a
+chance, and took peeps through the window when the other privilege was
+impossible. Besides the Miss Hemmings and the Elsworthys there was
+Peter Hayles, who also had seen something, and the wife of another
+shopkeeper at the end of George Street; and there was the Miss
+Hemmings' maid, who had escorted them on that eventful night of Rosa's
+disappearance. Not one of the witnesses had the smallest doubt as to
+the statement he or she was about to make; they were entirely
+convinced of the righteousness of their own cause, and the justice of
+the accusation, which naturally gave a wonderful moral force to their
+testimony. Besides--but that was quite a different matter--they all
+had their little grudges against Mr Wentworth, each in his secret
+heart.
+
+When Elsworthy was called in to the inner room it caused a little
+commotion amid this company outside. The Miss Hemmings looked at each
+other, not with an agreeable expression of face. "They might have had
+the politeness to call us first," Miss Sophia said to her sister; and
+Miss Hemmings shook her head and sighed, and said, "Dear Mr Bury!" an
+observation which meant a great deal, though it did not seem perfectly
+relevant. "Laws! I'll forget everything when I'm took in there," said
+the shopkeeper's wife to Miss Hemmings' maid; and the ladies drew
+still closer up, superior to curiosity, while the others stretched
+their necks to get a peep into the terrible inner room.
+
+It was indeed a formidable tribunal. The room was small, so that the
+unfortunate witness was within the closest range of six pairs of
+judicial eyes, not to speak of the vigilant orbs of the two lawyers,
+and those of the accused and his supporters. Mr Morgan, by right of
+his position, sat at the end of the table, and looked very severely at
+the first witness as he came in--which Elsworthy did, carrying his hat
+before him like a kind of shield, and polishing it carefully round and
+round. The Rector was far from having any intention of discouraging
+the witness, who was indeed his mainstay; but the anxiety of his
+peculiar position, as being at once counsel for the prosecution, and
+chief magistrate of the bed of justice, gave an unusual sternness to
+his face.
+
+"Your name is George Elsworthy," said the Rector, filling his pen with
+ink, and looking penetratingly in the witness's face.
+
+"George Appleby Elsworthy," said Rosa's uncle, a little alarmed; "not
+as I often signs in full; for you see, sir, it's a long name, and
+life's short, and it aint necessary in the way of business--"
+
+"Stationer and newsmonger in Carlingford," interrupted the Rector; "I
+should say in Upper Grange Lane, Carlingford; aged--?"
+
+"But it doesn't appear to me that newsmonger is a correct expression,"
+said old Mr Western, who was very conversational; "newsmonger means a
+gossip, not a tradesman; not that there is any reason why a tradesman
+should not be a gossip, but--"
+
+"Aged?" said Mr Morgan, holding his pen suspended in the air. "I will
+say newsvendor if that will be better--one cannot be too
+particular--Aged--?"
+
+"He is come to years of discretion," said Dr Marjoribanks, "that's all
+we need; don't keep us all day waiting, man, but tell your story about
+this elopement of your niece. When did it take place, and what are the
+facts? Never mind your hat, but say out what you have got to say."
+
+"You are much too summary, Doctor," said Mr Morgan, with a little
+offence; but the sense of the assembly was clearly with Dr
+Marjoribanks--so that the Rector dashed in 45 as the probable age of
+the witness, and waited his further statement.
+
+After this there was silence, and Elsworthy began his story. He
+narrated all the facts of Rosa's disappearance, with an intention and
+bias which made his true tale a wonderful tacit accusation. Rage,
+revenge, a sense of wrong, worked what in an indifferent narrator only
+the highest skill could have wrought. He did not mention the Curate's
+name, but arranged all his facts in lines like so many trains of
+artillery. How Rosa was in the habit of going to Mrs Hadwin's (it was
+contrary to Elsworthy's instinct to bring in at this moment any
+reference to Mr Wentworth) every night with the newspaper--"not as I
+sent her of errands for common--keeping two boys for the purpose,"
+said the injured man; "but, right or wrong, there's where she'd go as
+certain as the night come. I've seen her with my own eyes go into Mrs
+Hadwin's garden-door, which she hadn't no need to go in but for being
+encouraged; and it would be half an hour at the least afore she came
+out."
+
+"But, bless me! that was very imprudent of you," cried Mr Proctor, who
+up to this time had not uttered a word.
+
+"There was nobody there but the old lady and her maids--except the
+clergyman," said Elsworthy. "It wasn't my part to think as she could
+get any harm from the clergyman. She wouldn't hear no remonstrances
+from me; she _would_ go as regular as the evening come."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Mr Waters, who saw John Brown's humorous eye gleaming
+round upon the little assembly; "but let us come to the immediate
+matter in hand. Your niece disappeared from Carlingford on the--?"
+
+"Yes, yes," said Mr Western, "we must not sink into conversation;
+that's the danger of all unofficial investigations. It seems natural
+to let him tell his story as he likes: but here we have got somebody
+to keep us in order. It's natural, but it aint law--is it, Brown?"
+
+"I don't see that law has anything to do with it," said John Brown,
+with a smile.
+
+"Order! order!" said the Rector, who was much goaded and aggravated by
+this remark. "I request that there may be no conversation. The witness
+will proceed with what he has to say. Your niece disappeared on the
+15th. What were the circumstances of her going away?"
+
+"She went down as usual with the newspaper," said Elsworthy; "it had got
+to be a custom as regular as regular. She stopped out later nor common,
+and my wife and me was put out. I don't mind saying, gentlemen," said
+the witness, with candour, "as my missis and I wasn't altogether of the
+same mind about Rosa. She was late, but I can't say as I was anxious. It
+wasn't above a week afore that Mr Wentworth himself brought her home
+safe, and it was well known as he didn't like her to be out at night; so
+I was easy in my mind, like. But when eleven o'clock came, and there was
+no denying of its being past hours, I began to get a little fidgety. I
+stepped out to the door, and I looked up and down, and saw nobody; so I
+took up my hat and took a turn down the road--"
+
+At this moment there was a little disturbance outside. A voice at
+which the Curate started was audible, asking entrance. "I must see Mr
+Wentworth immediately," this voice said, as the door was partially
+opened; and then, while his sons both rose to their feet, the Squire
+himself suddenly entered the room. He looked round upon the assembled
+company with a glance of shame and grief that went to the Curate's
+heart. Then he bowed to the judges, who were looking at him with an
+uncomfortable sense of his identity, and walked across the room to the
+bench on which Gerald and Frank were seated together. "I beg your
+pardon, gentlemen," said the Squire, "if I interrupt your proceedings;
+but I have only this moment arrived in Carlingford, and heard what was
+going on, and I trust I may be allowed to remain, as my son's honour
+is concerned." Mr Wentworth scarcely waited for the assent which
+everybody united in murmuring, but seated himself heavily on the
+bench, as if glad to sit down anywhere. He suffered Frank to grasp his
+hand, but scarcely gave it; nor, indeed, did he look, except once,
+with a bitter momentary glance at the brothers. They were sons a
+father might well have been proud of, so far as external appearances
+went; but the Squire's soul was bitter within him. One was about to
+abandon all that made life valuable in the eyes of the sober-minded
+country gentleman. The other--"And I could have sworn by Frank," the
+mortified father was saying in his heart. He sat down with a dull
+dogged composure. He meant to hear it all, and have it proved to him
+that his favourite son was a villain. No wonder that he was
+disinclined to respond to any courtesies. He set himself down almost
+with impatience that the sound of his entrance should have interrupted
+the narrative, and looked straight in front of him, fixing his eyes on
+Elsworthy, and taking no notice of the anxious glances of the possible
+culprit at his side.
+
+"I hadn't gone above a step or two when I see Mr Hayles at his door. I
+said to him, 'It's a fine evening,'--as so it was, and the stars
+shining. 'My Rosa aint been about your place, has she?' I says; and he
+says, 'No.' But, gentlemen, I see by the look of his eye as he had
+more to say. 'Aint she come home yet?' says Mr Hayles--"
+
+"Stop a moment," said John Brown. "Peter Hayles is outside, I think.
+If the Rector wishes to preserve any sort of legal form in this
+inquiry, may I suggest that a conversation repeated is not evidence?
+Let Elsworthy tell what he knows, and the other can speak for
+himself."
+
+"It is essential we should hear the conversation," said the Rector,
+"since I believe it was of importance. I believe it is an important
+link in the evidence--I believe--"
+
+"Mr Morgan apparently has heard the evidence before," said the
+inexorable John Brown.
+
+Here a little commotion arose in the bed of justice. "Hush, hush,"
+said Dr Marjoribanks; "the question is, What has the witness got to
+say of his own knowledge? Go on, Elsworthy; we can't possibly spend
+the whole day here. Never mind what Hayles said, unless he
+communicated something about the girl."
+
+"He told me as the Miss Hemmings had seen Rosa," said Elsworthy,
+slowly; "had seen her at nine, or half after nine--I won't be sure
+which--at Mrs Hadwin's gate."
+
+"The Miss Hemmings are outside. Let the Miss Hemmings be called," said
+Mr Proctor, who had a great respect for Mr Brown's opinion.
+
+But here Mr Waters interposed. "The Miss Hemmings will be called
+presently," he said; "in the mean time let this witness be heard out;
+afterwards his evidence will be corroborated. Go on, Elsworthy."
+
+"The Miss Hemmings had seen my Rosa at Mrs Hadwin's gate," repeated
+Elsworthy, "a-standing outside, and Mr Wentworth a-standing inside;
+there aint more respectable parties in all Carlingford. It was them as
+saw it, not me. Gentlemen, I went back home. I went out again. I went
+over all the town a-looking for her. Six o'clock in the morning come,
+and I had never closed an eye, nor took off my clothes, nor even sat
+down upon a chair. When it was an hour as I could go to a gentleman's
+house and no offence, I went to the place as she was last seen. Me and
+Mr Hayles, we went together. The shutters was all shut but on one
+window, which was Mr Wentworth's study. We knocked at the garden-door,
+and I aint pretending that we didn't make a noise; and, gentlemen, it
+wasn't none of the servants--it was Mr Wentworth hisself as opened the
+door."
+
+There was here a visible sensation among the judges. It was a point
+that told. As for the Squire, he set his stick firmly before him, and
+leaned his clasped hands upon it to steady himself. His healthful,
+ruddy countenance was paling gradually. If it had been an apostle who
+spoke, he could not have taken in more entirely the bitter tale.
+
+"It was Mr Wentworth hisself, gentlemen," said the triumphant witness;
+"not like a man roused out of his sleep, but dressed and shaved, and
+his hair brushed, as if it had been ten instead o' six. It's well
+known in Carlingford as he aint an early man; and gentlemen here knows
+it as well as me. I don't pretend as I could keep my temper. I give
+him my mind, gentlemen, being an injured man; but I said as--if he do
+his duty by her--"
+
+"Softly a moment," said Mr Brown. "What had Mr Wentworth's aspect at
+six o'clock in the morning to do with Rosa Elsworthy's disappearance
+at nine on the previous night?"
+
+"I don't see that the question is called for at the present moment,"
+said Mr Waters. "Let us hear what reasons you have for attributing to
+Mr Wentworth an unusual degree of interest in your niece."
+
+"Sir," said Elsworthy, "he come into my shop as regular as the day; he
+never come but he asked after Rosa, or spoke to her if she was there.
+One night he walked all the way up Grange Lane and knocked at my door
+and brought her in all of a glow, and said I wasn't to send her out
+late no more. My missis, being a woman as is very particular, was
+struck, and thought as harm might come of it; and, not to be talked
+of, we sent Rosa away. And what does Mr Wentworth do, but the moment
+he hears of it comes right off to my shop! He had been at his own
+home, sir, a-visiting his respected family," said Elsworthy, turning
+slightly towards the side of the room where the father and sons sat
+together. "He came to my shop with his carpet-bag as he come off the
+railway, and he gave me my orders as I was to bring Rosa back. What he
+said was, 'Directly,' that very day. I never had no thought but what
+his meaning was honourable--being a clergyman," said the witness, with
+a heavy sigh; and then there ensued a little pause.
+
+"The Miss Hemmings had better be called now," said Mr Waters.
+"Elsworthy, you can retire; but we may require you again, so you had
+better not go away. Request Miss Hemmings to do us the favour of
+coming here."
+
+The Squire lifted his heavy eyes when the next witness entered. She
+made a very solemn curtsy to the gentlemen, and sat down on the chair
+which somebody placed for her. Being unsupported, a lady--not to say
+an unmarried lady profoundly conscious of the fact--among a number of
+men, Miss Hemmings was naturally much agitated. She was the eldest and
+the softest-hearted; and it occurred to her for the first time, as she
+gave a frightened look towards the Curate, that he was like her
+favourite younger brother, who had died ever so many years ago--a
+thought which, for the first time, made her doubtful of her testimony,
+and disposed to break down in her evidence.
+
+"You were in Grange Lane on the evening of the 15th ultimo," said Mr
+Morgan, after he had carefully written down her name, "about nine
+o'clock?"
+
+"Oh yes, Mr Morgan," said the poor lady; "we were at St Roque's
+Cottage drinking tea with Mrs Bland, who was lodging with Mrs Smith in
+the same rooms Mrs Rider used to have. I put the note of invitation in
+my pocket in case there should be any doubt; but, indeed, poor Mrs
+Bland was taken very ill on the 16th, and Dr Marjoribanks was called,
+and he knows it could not be any other evening--and besides--"
+
+"About nine o'clock," said Mr Waters; "did I understand you, it was
+about nine o'clock?"
+
+"She was such an invalid, poor dear," said Miss Hemmings,
+apologetically; "and it is such a privilege to have real Christian
+conversation. We dined early on purpose, and we were asked for
+half-past six. I think it must have been a little after nine; but Mary
+is here, and she knows what hour she came for us. Shall I call Mary,
+please?"
+
+"Presently," said the counsel for the prosecution. "Don't be
+agitated; one or two questions will do. You passed Mrs Hadwin's door
+coming up. Will you kindly tell the gentlemen what you saw there?"
+
+"Oh!" cried Miss Hemmings. She looked round at the Curate again, and
+he was more than ever like Willie who died. "I--I don't take much
+notice of what I see in the streets," she said, faltering; "and there
+are always so many poor people going to see Mr Wentworth." Here the
+poor lady stopped short. She had never considered before what harm her
+evidence might do. Now her heart smote her for the young man who was
+like Willie. "He is so very kind to all the poor people," continued
+the unwilling witness, looking doubtfully round into all the faces
+near her; "and he's such a young man," she added, in her tremulous
+way. It was Miss Sophia who was strong-minded; all the poor women in
+Back Grove Street were perfectly aware that their chances were doubled
+when they found Miss Jane.
+
+"But you must tell us what you saw all the same," said Dr Marjoribanks.
+"I daresay Mr Wentworth wishes it as much as we do."
+
+The Curate got up and came forward with one of his impulses. "I wish
+it a great deal more," he said. "My dear Miss Hemmings, thank you for
+your reluctance to say anything to harm me; but the truth can't
+possibly harm me: tell them exactly what you saw."
+
+Miss Hemmings looked from one to another, and trembled more and more. "I
+am sure I never meant to injure Mr Wentworth," she said; "I only said I
+thought it was imprudent of him--that was all I meant. Oh, I am sure, if
+I had thought of this, I would rather have done anything than say it.
+And whatever Sophia might have imagined, I assure you, gentlemen, _I_
+never, never for a moment thought Mr Wentworth meant any harm."
+
+"Never mind Mr Wentworth," said Mr Brown, who now took the matter in
+hand. "When you were passing Mrs Hadwin's house about nine o'clock on
+the evening of the 15th, you saw some one standing at the door. Mr
+Wentworth particularly wishes you to say who it was."
+
+"Oh, Mr Brown--oh, Mr Morgan," cried the poor lady; "it was little
+Rosa Elsworthy. She was a designing little artful thing. When she was
+in my Sunday class, she was always thinking of her vanities. Mr
+Wentworth was talking to her at the garden-door. I daresay he was
+giving her good advice; and oh, gentlemen, if you were to question me
+for ever and ever, that is all I have got to say."
+
+"Did you not hear what they were talking about?" said Mr Proctor. "If it
+was good advice--" The late Rector stopped short, and grew red, and felt
+that his supposition was that of a simpleton. "You heard what they were
+talking about? What did they say?" he concluded, peremptorily, in a tone
+which frightened the reluctant witness more and more.
+
+"I did not hear a single word," she cried--"not a word. That is all I
+know about it. Oh, please, let me go away. I feel very faint. I should
+like a little cold water, please. I did not hear a word--not a word. I
+have told you everything I have got to say."
+
+Everybody looked more serious when Miss Hemmings stumbled from her
+chair. She was so frightened at her own testimony, and so unwilling to
+give it, that its importance was doubled in the eyes of the
+inexperienced judges. The Squire gave a low groan under his breath,
+and turned his eyes, which had been fixed upon her, on the ground
+instead; but raised them immediately, with a gleam of anxiety as his
+son again rose from his side. All that the Curate meant to do was to
+give the trembling lady his arm, and lead her out; but the entire
+assembly, with the exception of John Brown, started and stared as if
+he had been about to take instant revenge upon the frightened woman.
+Miss Hemmings burst into tears when Mr Wentworth set a chair for her
+by the door, and brought her a glass of water, in the outer room; and
+just then somebody knocked and gave him a note, with which he returned
+to the presence of the awful tribunal. Miss Sophia Hemmings was
+corroborating her sister's statement when the Perpetual Curate
+re-entered. He stood behind her quite quietly, until she had finished,
+with a slight smile upon his lips, and the note in his hand. Dr
+Marjoribanks was not partial to Miss Sophia Hemmings. She was never
+ill herself, and rarely permitted even her sister to enjoy the gentle
+satisfaction of a day's sickness. The old Doctor looked instead at the
+Perpetual Curate. When Miss Hemmings withdrew, Dr Marjoribanks
+interposed. "It appears to me that Mr Wentworth has something to say,"
+said the Doctor. "It is quite necessary that he should have a hearing
+as well as the rest of us. Let Peter Hayles wait a moment, till we
+hear what Mr Wentworth has to say."
+
+"It is not yet time for us to receive Mr Wentworth's statement," said
+the Rector. "He shall certainly be heard in his own defence at the
+proper time. Mr Waters, call Peter Hayles."
+
+"One moment," said the Curate. "I have no statement to make, and I can
+wait till you have heard what everybody has to say, if the Rector
+wishes it; but it might save time and trouble to hear me. I have
+another witness whom, up to this moment, I have been reluctant to
+bring forward--a witness all-important for me, whom I cannot produce
+in so public a place, or at an hour when everybody is abroad. If you
+will do me the favour to adjourn this inquiry till the evening, and to
+meet then in a private house--in my own, or Miss Wentworth's, or
+wherever you may appoint--I think I can undertake to make this whole
+business perfectly clear."
+
+"Bless me!" said Mr Proctor, suddenly. This unexpected and irrelevant
+benediction was the first sound distinctly audible in the little stir
+of surprise, expectation, and excitement which followed the Curate's
+speech. The Squire let his stick fall out of his hands, and groped
+after it to pick it up again. Hope had suddenly all at once come into
+possession of the old man's breast. As for the Rector, he was too much
+annoyed at the moment to speak.
+
+"You should have thought of this before," said Dr Marjoribanks. "It
+would have been just as easy to fix this meeting for the evening, and
+in a private house, and would have saved time. You are very welcome to
+my dining-room, if you please; but I don't understand why it could not
+have been settled so at once, and saved our time," said the Doctor; to
+which sentiment there were several murmurs of assent.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Curate, whose eyes were sparkling with
+excitement, "you must all know in your hearts that this trial ought
+never to have taken place. I have lived among you for five years, and
+you ought to have known me by this time. I have never been asked for
+an explanation, neither could any explanation which it was possible
+for me to make have convinced a mind prejudiced against me," he said,
+after a moment's pause, with a meaning which everybody understood. "It
+is only now that I feel myself able to clear up the whole matter, and
+it is for this reason alone that I ask you to put off your inquiry
+till to-night."
+
+"I don't feel inclined to consent to any adjournment," said Mr Morgan;
+"it looks like an attempt to defeat the ends of justice." The Rector was
+very much annoyed--more than he dared confess to himself. He believed in
+his heart that young Wentworth was guilty, and he felt equally convinced
+that here was some unexpected loophole through which he would escape.
+But public opinion was strong in Grange Lane--stronger than a new
+Rector. The Banker and the Doctor and the Indian Colonel, not to speak
+of old Mr Western, were disposed to grant the request of the Curate; and
+when even Mr Proctor forsook his side, the Rector himself yielded.
+"Though it is against my judgment," he said, "and I see no advantage to
+be gained by it, the meeting had better be held in the Rectory, this
+evening at seven o'clock."
+
+"Most of us dine at seven o'clock," said Dr Marjoribanks.
+
+"This evening at eight o'clock," said the Rector, severely. "I will
+request all the witnesses to be in attendance, and we must hope to
+find Mr Wentworth's witness of sufficient importance to justify the
+change. At eight o'clock this evening, in my house, gentlemen," said
+the Rector. He collected his notes and went outside, and began talking
+to his witnesses, while the others collected together round the table
+to consult over this new phase of the affair. The three Mr Wentworths
+went out together, the father between his two tall sons. The Squire's
+strength was much shaken, both in mind and body. When they were out of
+the shadow of the church, he looked up in Frank's face.
+
+"I hope you consider me entitled to an immediate explanation," said Mr
+Wentworth. "When I read that anonymous letter, it went a long way
+towards breaking my heart, sir; I can tell you it did. Jack here too,
+and your brother making up his mind as he has done, Frank. I am not a
+man to complain. If it were all over with me to-morrow, I shouldn't be
+sorry, so far as I am concerned, if it weren't for the girls and the
+little children. But I always thought I could have sworn by Frank,"
+said the old man, mournfully. He was ever so much older since he had
+said these words before in the long lime avenue at Wentworth Hall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+The little assembly which met in the vestry of Carlingford Church to
+inquire into the conduct of the Perpetual Curate, had so many different
+interests in hands when it dispersed, and so much to do, that it is
+difficult for the narrator of this history to decide which thread should
+be taken up first. Of all the interlocutors, however, perhaps Mr Proctor
+was the one who had least succeeded in his efforts to explain himself,
+and accordingly demands in the first place the attention of an impartial
+historian. The excellent man was still labouring under much perplexity
+when the bed of justice was broken up. He began to recollect that Mr
+Wentworth's explanation on the previous night had convinced him of his
+innocence, and to see that it was indeed altogether inconceivable that
+the Curate should be guilty; but then, other matters still more
+disagreeable to contemplate than Mr Wentworth's guilt came in to darken
+the picture. This vagabond Wodehouse, whom the Curate had taken in at
+his sister's request--what was the meaning of that mystery? Mr Proctor
+had never been anyhow connected with mysteries; he was himself an only
+son, and had lived a straightforward peaceable life. Neither he nor his
+estimable parents, so far as the late Rector was aware, had ever done
+anything to be ashamed of; and he winced a little at the thought of
+connecting himself with concealment and secrecy. And then the Curate's
+sudden disappearance on the previous evening perplexed and troubled him.
+He imagined all kinds of reasons for it as he walked down Grange Lane.
+Perhaps Miss Wodehouse, who would not receive himself, had sent for Mr
+Wentworth; perhaps the vagabond brother was in some other scrape, out of
+which he had to be extricated by the Curate's assistance. Mr Proctor was
+perfectly honest, and indeed determined, in his "intentions;" but
+everybody will allow that for a middle-aged lover of fifty or
+thereabouts, contemplating a sensible match with a lady of suitable
+years and means, to find suddenly that the object of his affections was
+not only a penniless woman, but the natural guardian of an equally
+penniless sister, was startling, to say the least of it. He was a true
+man, and it did not occur to him to decline the responsibility
+altogether; on the contrary, he was perhaps more eager than he would
+have been otherwise, seeing that his elderly love had far more need of
+his devotion than he had ever expected her to have; but, notwithstanding,
+he was disturbed by such an unlooked-for change of circumstances, as was
+natural, and did not quite know what was to be done with Lucy. He was
+full of thoughts on this subject as he proceeded towards the house, to
+the interview which, to use sentimental language, was to decide his
+fate. But, to tell the truth, Mr Proctor was not in a state of very deep
+anxiety about his fate. The idea of being refused was too unreasonable
+an idea to gain much ground in his mind. He was going to offer his
+personal support, affection, and sympathy to Miss Wodehouse at the least
+fortunate moment in her life; and if there was anything consolatory in
+marriage at all, the late Rector sensibly concluded that it must be
+doubly comforting under such circumstances, and that the offer of an
+honest man's hand and house and income was not a likely thing to be
+rejected by a woman of Miss Wodehouse's experience and good sense--not
+to speak of his heart, which was very honest and true and affectionate,
+though it had outlived the fervours of youth. Such was Mr Proctor's view
+of the matter; and the chances were strong that Miss Wodehouse entirely
+agreed with him--so, but for a certain shyness which made him rather
+nervous, it would not be correct to say that the late Rector was in a
+state of special anxiety about the answer he was likely to receive. He
+was, however, anxious about Lucy. His bachelor mind was familiar with
+all the ordinary traditions about the inexpediency of being surrounded
+by a wife's family; and he had a little of the primitive male sentiment,
+shared one way or other by most husbands, that the old system of buying
+a woman right out, and carrying her off for his own sole and private
+satisfaction, was, after all, the correct way of managing such matters.
+To be sure, a pretty, young, unmarried sister, was perhaps the least
+objectionable encumbrance a woman could have; but, notwithstanding, Mr
+Proctor would have been glad could he have seen any feasible way of
+disposing of Lucy. It was utterly out of the question to think of her
+going out as a governess; and it was quite evident that Mr Wentworth,
+even were he perfectly cleared of every imputation, having himself
+nothing to live upon, could scarcely offer to share his poverty with
+poor Mr Wodehouse's cherished pet and darling. "I daresay she has been
+used to live expensively," Mr Proctor said to himself, wincing a little
+in his own mind at the thought. It was about one o'clock when he
+reached the green door--an hour at which, during the few months of
+his incumbency at Carlingford, he had often presented himself at that
+hospitable house. Poor Mr Wodehouse! Mr Proctor could not help wondering
+at that moment how he was getting on in a world where, according to
+ordinary ideas, there are no lunch nor dinner parties, no old port nor
+savoury side-dishes. Somehow it was impossible to realise Mr Wodehouse
+with other surroundings than those of good-living and creature-comfort.
+Mr Proctor sighed, half for the departed, half at thought of the
+strangeness of that unknown life for which he himself did not feel much
+more fitted than Mr Wodehouse. In the garden he saw the new heir sulkily
+marching about among the flower-beds smoking, and looking almost as much
+out of place in the sweet tranquillity of the English garden, as a
+churchwarden of Carlingford or a Fellow of All-Souls could look, to
+carry out Mr Proctor's previous imagination, in the vague beatitude of a
+disembodied heaven. Wodehouse was so sick of his own company that he
+came hastily forward at the sight of a visitor, but shrank a little when
+he saw who it was.
+
+"I suppose you have brought some news," he said, in his sullen way. "I
+suppose he has been making his statements, has he? Much I care! He may
+tell what lies he pleases; he can't do me any harm. I never did
+anything but sign my own name, by Jove! Jack Wentworth himself says
+so. I don't care _that_ for the parson and his threats," said
+Wodehouse, snapping his fingers in Mr Proctor's face. The late Rector
+drew back a little, with a shudder of disgust and resentment. He could
+not help thinking that this fellow would most likely be his
+brother-in-law presently, and the horror he felt made itself visible
+in his face.
+
+"I am quite unaware what you can mean," said Mr Proctor. "I am a
+parson, but I never made any threats that I know of. I wish to see
+Miss Wodehouse. I--I think she expects me at this hour," he said, with
+a little embarrassment, turning to John, who, for his part, had been
+standing by in a way which became his position as a respectable and
+faithful servant, waiting any opportunity that might come handy to
+show his disgust for the new _régime_.
+
+"Yes, sir," said John, promptly, and with emphasis. "My mistress
+expects you, sir. She's come down to the drawing-room for the first
+time. Miss Lucy keeps her room, sir, still; she's dreadfully cut up,
+poor dear young lady. My mistress will be glad to see you, sir," said
+John. This repetition of a title which Miss Wodehouse had not been in
+the habit of receiving was intended for the special advantage of the
+new master, whom John had no intention of recognising in that
+capacity. "If you should know of any one, sir, as is in want of a
+steady servant," the man continued, as he led the way into the house,
+with a shrewd glance at Mr Proctor, whose "intentions" were legible
+enough to John's experienced eyes--"not as I'm afeared of getting
+suited, being well known in Carlingford; but it would come natural to
+be with a friend of the family. There aint a servant in the house,
+sir, as will stay when the ladies go, and I think as Miss Wodehouse
+would speak for me," said John, with natural astuteness. This address
+made Mr Proctor a little uneasy. It recalled to him the unpleasant
+side of the important transaction in which he was about to engage. He
+was not rich, and did not see his way now to any near prospect of
+requiring the services of "a steady servant," and the thought made him
+sigh.
+
+"We'll see," he said, with a troubled look. To persevere honourably in
+his "intentions" was one thing, but to be insensible to the loss of much
+he had looked forward to was quite another. It was accordingly with a
+grave and somewhat disturbed expression that he went to the interview
+which was "to decide his fate." Miss Wodehouse was seated in the
+drawing-room, looking slightly flushed and excited. Though she knew it
+was very wrong to be thus roused into a new interest the day after her
+father's funeral, the events altogether had been of so startling a
+description that the usual decorum of an afflicted household had already
+been ruthlessly broken. And on the whole, notwithstanding her watching
+and grief, Mr Proctor thought he had never seen the object of his
+affections looking so well as she did now in the long black dress, which
+suited her better than the faint dove colours in which she arrayed
+herself by preference. She was not, it is true, quite sure what Mr
+Proctor wanted in this interview he had solicited, but a certain
+feminine instinct instructed her in its probable eventualities. So she
+sat in a subdued flutter, with a little colour fluctuating on her cheek,
+a tear in her eyes, and some wonder and expectation in her heart.
+Perhaps in her youth Miss Wodehouse might have come to such a feminine
+crisis before; but if so, it was long ago, and the gentle woman had
+never been given to matrimonial speculations, and was as fresh and
+inexperienced as any girl. The black frame in which she was set made her
+soft colour look fresher and less faded. Her plaintive voice, the
+general softness of her demeanour, looked harmonious and suitable to her
+circumstances. Mr Proctor, who had by no means fallen in love with her
+on account of any remnants of beauty she might possess, had never
+admired her so much as he did now; he felt confused, good man, as he
+stood before her, and, seeing her so much younger and fairer than his
+former idea, began to grow alarmed, and wonder at his serenity. What if
+she thought him an old fogey? what if she refused him? This supposition
+brought a crimson colour to Mr Proctor's middle-aged countenance, and
+was far from restoring his courage. It was a wonderful relief to him
+when she, with the instinct of a timid woman, rushed into hasty talk.
+
+"It was very kind of you to come yesterday," she said; "Lucy and I
+were very grateful. We have not many relatives, and my dear father--"
+
+"Yes," said the late Rector, again embarrassed by the tears which
+choked her voice, "he was very much respected: that must be a
+consolation to you. And he had a long life--and--and I suppose, on the
+whole, a happy one," said Mr Proctor, "with you and your sister--"
+
+"Oh, Mr Proctor, he had a great deal to put up with," said Miss
+Wentworth, through her tears. She had, like most simple people, an
+instinctive disinclination to admit that anybody was or had been
+happy. It looked like an admission of inferiority. "Mamma's death, and
+poor Tom," said the elder sister. As she wiped her eyes, she almost
+forgot her own little feminine flutter of expectancy in respect to Mr
+Proctor himself. Perhaps it was not going to happen this time, and as
+she was pretty well assured that it would happen one day or another,
+she was not anxious about it. "If I only knew what to do about Tom,"
+she continued, with a vague appeal in her voice.
+
+Mr Proctor got up from his chair and walked to the window. When he
+had looked out he came back, rather surprising Miss Wodehouse by
+his unlooked-for movements. "I wanted very much to have a little
+conversation with you," he said, growing again very red. "I daresay you
+will be surprised--but I have accepted another living, Miss Wodehouse;"
+and here the good man stopped short in a terrible state of
+embarrassment, not knowing what next to say.
+
+"Yes?" said Miss Wodehouse, interrogatively. Her heart began to beat
+quicker, but perhaps he was only going to tell her about the new work
+he had undertaken; and then she was a woman, and had some knowledge,
+which came by nature, how to conduct herself on an occasion such as
+this.
+
+"I don't know whether you recollect," said Mr Proctor--"I shall never
+forget it--one time when we all met in a house where a woman was
+dying,--I mean your sister and young Wentworth, and you and I;--and
+neither you nor I knew anything about it," said the late Rector, in a
+strange voice. It was not a complimentary way of opening his subject,
+and the occurrence had not made so strong an impression upon Miss
+Wodehouse as upon her companion. She looked a little puzzled, and, as
+he made a pause, gave only a murmur of something like assent, and
+waited to hear what more he might have to say.
+
+"We neither of us knew anything about it," said Mr Proctor--"neither
+you how to manage her, nor I what to say to her, though the young
+people did. I have always thought of you from that time. I have
+thought I should like to try whether I was good for anything now--if
+you would help me," said the middle-aged lover. When he had said this
+he walked to the window, and once more looked out, and came back
+redder than ever. "You see we are neither of us young," said Mr
+Proctor; and he stood by the table turning over the books nervously,
+without looking at her, which was certainly an odd commencement for a
+wooing.
+
+"That is quite true," said Miss Wodehouse, rather primly. She had
+never disputed that fact by word or deed, but still it was not
+pleasant to have the statement thus thrust upon her without any
+apparent provocation. It was not the sort of thing which a woman
+expects to have said to her under such circumstances. "I am sure I
+hope you will do better--I mean be more comfortable--this time," she
+continued, after a pause, sitting very erect on her seat.
+
+"If you will help me," said Mr Proctor, taking up one of the books and
+reading the name on it, which was lucky for him, for it was Miss
+Wodehouse's name, which he either had forgotten or never had known.
+
+And here they came to a dead stop. What was she to say? She was a
+little affronted, to tell the truth, that he should remember more
+distinctly than anything else her age, and her unlucky failure on that
+one occasion. "You have just said that I could not manage," said the
+mild woman, not without a little vigour of her own; "and how then
+could I help you, Mr Proctor? Lucy knows a great deal more about
+parish work than I do," she went on in a lower tone; and for one half
+of a second there arose in the mind of the elder sister a kind of
+wistful half envy of Lucy, who _was_ young, and knew how to manage--a
+feeling which died in unspeakable remorse and compunction as soon as
+it had birth.
+
+"But Lucy would not have me," said the late Rector; "and indeed I should
+not know what to do with her if she would have me;--but you--It is a
+small parish, but it's not a bad living. I should do all I could to make
+you comfortable. At least we might try," said Mr Proctor, in his most
+insinuating tone. "Don't you think we might try? at least it would do--"
+He was going to say "no harm," but on second thoughts rejected that
+expression. "At least I should be very glad if you would," said the
+excellent man, with renewed confusion. "It's a nice little rectory, with
+a pretty garden, and all that sort of thing; and--and perhaps--it might
+help you to settle about going away--and--and I daresay there would be
+room for Lucy. Don't you think you would try?" cried Mr Proctor,
+volunteering, in spite of himself, the very hospitality which he had
+thought it hard might be required of him; but somehow his suit seemed to
+want backing at the actual moment when it was being made.
+
+As for Miss Wodehouse, she sat and listened to him till he began to
+falter, and then her composure gave way all at once. "But as for
+trying," she gasped, in broken mouthfuls of speech, "that would
+never--never do, Mr Proctor. It has to be done--done for good and
+all--if--if it is done at all," sobbed the poor lady, whose voice came
+somewhat muffled through her handkerchief and her tears.
+
+"Then it shall be for good and all!" cried Mr Proctor, with a sudden
+impulse of energy. This was how it came about that Miss Wodehouse and
+the late Rector were engaged. He had an idea that he might be expected
+to kiss her, and certainly ought to call her Mary after this; and
+hovered for another minute near her seat, not at all disinclined for
+the former operation. But his courage failed him, and he only drew a
+chair a little closer and sat down, hoping she would soon stop crying.
+And indeed, by the time that he produced out of his pocket-book the
+little photograph of the new rectory, which he had had made for her by
+a rural artist, Miss Wodehouse had emerged out of her handkerchief,
+and was perhaps in her heart as happy in a quiet way as she had ever
+been in her life. She who had never been good for much, was now, in
+the time of their need, endowed with a home which she could offer
+Lucy. It was she, the helpless one of the family, who was to be her
+young sister's deliverer. Let it be forgiven to her if, in the tumult
+of the moment, this was the thought that came first.
+
+When Miss Wodehouse went up-stairs after this agitating but
+satisfactory interview, she found Lucy engaged in putting together
+some books and personal trifles of her own which were scattered about
+the little sitting-room. She had been reading 'In Memoriam' until it
+vexed her to feel how inevitably good sense came in and interfered
+with the enthusiasm of her grief, making her sensible that to apply to
+her fond old father all the lofty lauds which were appropriate to the
+poet's hero would be folly indeed. He had been a good tender father to
+her, but he was not "the sweetest soul that ever looked with human
+eyes;" and Lucy could not but stop in her reading with a kind of pang
+and self-reproach as this consciousness came upon her. Miss Wodehouse
+looked rather aghast when she found her sister thus occupied. "Did you
+think of accepting Miss Wentworth's invitation, after all?" said Miss
+Wodehouse; "but, dear, I am afraid it would be awkward; and oh, Lucy,
+my darling, I have so many things to tell you," said the anxious
+sister, who was shy of communicating her own particular news. Before
+many minutes had passed, Lucy had thrown aside all the books, and was
+sitting by her sister's side in half-pleased, disconcerted amazement
+to hear her story. Only half-pleased--for Lucy, like most other girls
+of her age, thought love and marriage were things which belonged only
+to her own level of existence, and was a little vexed and disappointed
+to find that her elder sister could condescend to such youthful
+matters. On the whole, she rather blushed for Mary, and felt sadly as
+if she had come down from an imaginary pedestal. And then Mr Proctor,
+so old and so ordinary, whom it was impossible to think of as a
+bridegroom, and still less as a brother. "I shall get used to it
+presently," said Lucy, with a burning flush on her cheek, and a half
+feeling that she had reason to be ashamed; "but it is so strange to
+think of you in that way, Mary. I always thought you were too--too
+sensible for that sort of thing," which was a reproach that went to
+Miss Wodehouse's heart.
+
+"Oh, Lucy, dear," said that mild woman, who in this view of the matter
+became as much ashamed of herself as Lucy could desire, "what could I
+do? I know what you mean, at my time of life; but I could not let you
+be dependent on Tom, my darling," said Miss Wodehouse, with a
+deprecating appealing look.
+
+"No indeed," said Lucy; "that would be impossible under any
+circumstances: nor on you either, Mary dear. I can do something to
+make a living, and I should like it. I have always been fond of work.
+I will not permit you to sacrifice yourself for me," said the younger
+sister, with some dignity. "I see how it has been. I felt sure it was
+not of your own accord."
+
+Miss Wodehouse wrung her hands with dismay and perplexity. What was
+she to do if Lucy stood out and refused her consent? She could not
+humble herself so far as to confess that she rather liked Mr Proctor,
+and was, on the whole, not displeased to be married; for the feeling
+that Lucy expected her to be too sensible for that sort of thing
+overawed the poor lady. "But, Lucy, I have given him my promise," said
+poor Miss Wodehouse. "It--it would make him very unhappy. I can't use
+him badly, Lucy dear."
+
+"I will speak to him, and explain if it is necessary. Whatever
+happens, I can't let you sacrifice yourself for me," said Lucy. All
+the answer Miss Wodehouse could make was expressed in the tears of
+vexation and mortification which rushed to her eyes. She repelled her
+young sister's ministrations for the first time in her life with hasty
+impatience. Her troubles had not been few for the last twenty-four
+hours. She had been questioned about Tom till she had altogether lost
+her head, and scarcely knew what she was saying; and Lucy had not
+applauded that notable expedient of throwing the shame of the family
+upon Mr Wentworth, to be concealed and taken care of, which had
+brought so many vexations to the Perpetual Curate. Miss Wodehouse at
+last was driven to bay. She had done all for the best, but nobody gave
+her any credit for it; and now this last step, by which she had meant
+to provide a home for Lucy, was about to be contradicted and put a
+stop to altogether. She put away Lucy's arm, and rejected her
+consolations. "What is the use of pretending to be fond of me if I am
+always to be wrong, and never to have my--my own way in anything?"
+cried the poor lady, who, beginning with steadiness, broke down before
+she reached the end of her little speech. The words made Lucy open her
+blue eyes with wonder; and after that there followed a fuller
+explanation, which greatly changed the ideas of the younger sister.
+After her "consent" had been at last extracted from her, and when Miss
+Wodehouse regained her composure, she reported to Lucy the greater
+part of the conversation which had taken place in the drawing-room, of
+which Mr Proctor's proposal constituted only a part, and which touched
+upon matters still more interesting to her hearer. The two sisters,
+preoccupied by their father's illness and death, had up to this time
+but a vague knowledge of the difficulties which surrounded the
+Perpetual Curate. His trial, which Mr Proctor had reported to his
+newly-betrothed, had been unsuspected by either of them; and they were
+not even aware of the event which had given rise to it--the
+disappearance of Rosa Elsworthy. Miss Wodehouse told the story with
+faltering lips, not being able to divest herself of the idea that,
+having been publicly accused, Mr Wentworth must be more or less
+guilty; while, at the same time, a sense that her brother must have
+had something to do with it, and a great reluctance to name his name,
+complicated the narrative. She had already got into trouble with Lucy
+about this unlucky brother, and unconsciously, in her story, she took
+an air of defence. "I should have thought better of Mr Wentworth if he
+had not tried to throw the guilt on another," said the perplexed
+woman. "Oh, Lucy dear, between two people it is so hard to know what
+to do."
+
+"I know what I shall do," said Lucy, promptly; but she would not
+further explain herself. She was, however, quite roused up out of 'In
+Memoriam.' She went to her desk and drew out some of the paper deeply
+edged with black, which announced before words its tale of grief to
+all her correspondents. It was with some alarm that Miss Wodehouse
+awaited this letter, which was placed before her as soon as finished.
+This was what, as soon as she knew the story, Lucy's prompt and
+generous spirit said:--
+
+
+ "DEAR MR WENTWORTH,--We have just heard of the vexations you have been
+ suffering, to our great indignation and distress. Some people may
+ think it is a matter with which I have no business to interfere; but I
+ cannot have you think for a moment, that we, to whom you have been so
+ kind, could put the slightest faith in any such accusations against
+ you. We are not of much consequence, but we are two women, to whom any
+ such evil would be a horror. If it is any one connected with us who
+ has brought you into this painful position, it gives us the more
+ reason to be indignant and angry. I know now what you meant about the
+ will. If it was to do over again, I should do just the same; but for
+ all that, I understand now what you meant. I understand, also, how
+ much we owe to you, of which, up to yesterday, I was totally unaware.
+ You ought never to have been asked to take our burden upon your
+ shoulders. I suppose you ought not to have done it; but all the same,
+ thank you with all my heart. I don't suppose we ever can do anything
+ for you to show our gratitude; and indeed I do not believe in paying
+ back. But in the mean time, thank you--and don't, from any
+ consideration for us, suffer a stain which belongs to another to rest
+ upon yourself. You are a clergyman, and your reputation must be clear.
+ Pardon me for saying so, as if I were qualified to advise you; but it
+ would be terrible to think that you were suffering such an injury out
+ of consideration for us.--Gratefully and truly yours,
+
+ "LUCY WODEHOUSE."
+
+
+The conclusion of this letter gave Lucy a good deal of trouble. Her
+honest heart was so moved with gratitude and admiration that she had
+nearly called herself "affectionately" Mr Wentworth's. Why should not
+she? "He has acted like a brother to us," Lucy said to herself; and
+then she paused to inquire whether his conduct had indeed arisen from
+brotherly motives solely. Then, when she had begun to write
+"faithfully" instead, a further difficulty occurred to her. Not thus
+lightly and unsolicited could she call herself "faithful," for did not
+the word mean everything that words could convey in any human
+relationship? When she had concluded it at last, and satisfied her
+scruples by the formula above, she laid the letter before her sister.
+This event terminated the active operations of the day in the dwelling
+of the Wodehouses. Their brother had not asked to see them, had not
+interrupted them as yet in their retreat up-stairs, where they were
+sedulously waited upon by the entire household. When Miss Wodehouse's
+agitation was over, she too began to collect together her books and
+personalities, and they ended by a long consultation where they were
+to go and what they were to do, during the course of which the elder
+sister exhibited with a certain shy pride that little photograph of
+the new rectory, in which there was one window embowered in foliage,
+which the bride had already concluded was to be Lucy's room. Lucy
+yielded during this sisterly conference to sympathetic thoughts even
+of Mr Proctor. The two women were alone in the world. They were still
+so near the grave and the deathbed that chance words spoken without
+thought from time to time awakened in both the ready tears. Now and
+then they each paused to consider with a sob what _he_ would have
+liked best. They knew very little of what was going on outside at the
+moment when they were occupied with those simple calculations. What
+was to become of them, as people say--what money they were to have, or
+means of living--neither was much occupied in thinking of. They had
+each other; they had, besides, one a novel and timid middle-aged
+confidence, the other an illimitable youthful faith in one man in the
+world. Even Lucy, whose mind and thoughts were more individual than
+her sister's, wanted little else at that moment to make her happy with
+a tender tremulous consolation in the midst of her grief.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+While matters were thus arranging themselves in the ideas at least of
+the two sisters whose prospects had been so suddenly changed,
+explanations of a very varied kind were going on in the house of the
+Miss Wentworths. It was a very full house by this time, having been
+invaded and taken possession of by the "family" in a way which entirely
+obliterated the calmer interests and occupations of the habitual
+inhabitants. The three ladies had reached the stage of life which knows
+no personal events except those of illness and death; and the presence
+of Jack Wentworth, of Frank and Gerald, and even of Louisa, reduced them
+altogether to the rank of spectators, the audience, or at the utmost the
+chorus, of the drama; though this was scarcely the case with Miss Dora,
+who kept her own room, where she lay on the sofa, and received visits,
+and told the story of her extraordinary adventure, the only adventure of
+her life. The interest of the household centred chiefly, however, in the
+dining-room, which, as being the least habitable apartment in the house,
+was considered to be most adapted for anything in the shape of business.
+On the way from the church to Miss Wentworth's house the Curate had
+given his father a brief account of all the events which had led to his
+present position; but though much eased in his mind, and partly
+satisfied, the Squire was not yet clear how it all came about. His
+countenance was far from having regained that composure, which indeed
+the recent course of events in the family had pretty nearly driven out
+of his life. His fresh light-coloured morning dress, with all its little
+niceties, and the fresh colour which even anxiety could not drive away
+from his cheeks, were somehow contradicted in their sentiment of
+cheerfulness by the puckers in his forehead and the harassed look of his
+face. He sat down in the big leathern chair by the fireplace, and looked
+round him with a sigh, and the air of a man who wonders what will be the
+next vexation. "I'd like to hear it over again, Frank," said the Squire.
+"My mind is not what it used to be; I don't say I ever was clever, like
+you young fellows, but I used to understand what was said to me. Now I
+seem to require to hear everything twice over; perhaps it is because I
+have had myself to say the same things over again a great many times
+lately," he added, with a sigh of weariness. Most likely his eye fell on
+Gerald as he said so; at all events, the Rector of Wentworth moved sadly
+from where he was standing and went to the window, where he was out of
+his father's range of vision. Gerald's looks, his movements, every
+action of his, seemed somehow to bear a symbolic meaning at this crisis
+in his life. He was no longer in any doubt; he had made up his mind. He
+looked like a martyr walking to his execution, as he crossed the room;
+and the Squire looked after him, and once more breathed out of his
+impatient breast a heavy short sigh. Louisa, who had placed herself in
+the other great chair at the other side of the forlorn fireplace, from
+which, this summer afternoon, there came no cheerful light, put up her
+handkerchief to her eyes and began to cry with half-audible sobs--which
+circumstances surrounding him were far from being encouraging to Frank
+as he entered anew into his own story--a story which he told with many
+interruptions. The Squire, who had once "sworn by Frank," had now a
+terrible shadow of distrust in his mind. Jack was here on the spot, of
+whom the unfortunate father knew more harm than he had ever told, and
+the secret dread that he had somehow corrupted his younger brother came
+like a cold shadow over Mr Wentworth's mind. He could not slur over any
+part of the narrative, but cross-examined his son to the extent of his
+ability, with an anxious inquisition into all the particulars. He was
+too deeply concerned to take anything for granted. He sat up in his
+chair with those puckers in his forehead, with that harassed look in his
+eyes, making an anxious, vigilant, suspicious investigation, which was
+pathetic to behold. If the defendant, who was thus being examined on his
+honour, had been guilty, the heart of the judge would have broken; but
+that was all the more reason for searching into it with jealous
+particularity, and with a suspicion which kept always gleaming out of
+his troubled eyes in sudden anxious glances, saying, "You are guilty?
+Are you guilty?" with mingled accusations and appeals. The accused,
+being innocent, felt this suspicion more hard to bear than if he had
+been a hundred times guilty.
+
+"I understand a little about this fellow Wodehouse," said the Squire;
+"but what I want to know is, why you took him in? What did you take
+him in for, sir, at first? Perhaps I could understand the rest if you
+would satisfy me of that."
+
+"I took him in," said the Curate, rather slowly, "because his sister
+asked me. She threw him upon my charity--she told me the danger he was
+in--"
+
+"What danger was he in?" asked the Squire.
+
+The Curate made a pause, and as he paused Mr Wentworth leaned forward
+in his chair, with another pucker in his forehead and a still sharper
+gleam of suspicion in his eyes. "His father had been offended time
+after time in the most serious way. This time he had threatened to
+give him up to justice. I can't tell you what he had done, because it
+would be breaking my trust--but he had made himself obnoxious to the
+law," said Frank Wentworth. "To save him from the chance of being
+arrested, his sister brought him to me."
+
+The Squire's hand shook a good deal as he took out his handkerchief
+and wiped his forehead. "Perhaps it would be the best way if one had
+not too much regard for the honour of the family," he said,
+tremulously, like a man under a sudden temptation; "but the sister,
+sir, why did she bring him to you?" he added, immediately after, with
+renewed energy. Mr Wentworth was not aware that, while he was
+speaking, his eldest son had come into the room. He had his back to
+the door, and he did not see Jack, who stood rather doubtfully on the
+threshold, with a certain shade of embarrassment upon his ordinary
+composure. "It is not everybody that a woman would confide her
+brother's life to," said the Squire. "Who is the sister? Is she--is
+there any--any entanglement that I don't know of? It will be better
+for all of us if you tell me plainly," said the old man, with a
+querulous sound in his voice. He forgot the relationship of his own
+girls to Jack, and groaned within himself at what appeared almost
+certain evidence that the sister of a criminal like Wodehouse had got
+possession of Frank.
+
+"Miss Wodehouse is about the same age as my aunt Dora," said the
+Curate. It was an exaggeration which would have gone to the poor
+lady's heart, but Frank Wentworth, in the unconscious insolence of his
+youth, was quite unaware and careless of the difference. Then he
+paused for a moment with an involuntary smile. "But I am a clergyman,
+sir," he continued, seriously. "If a man in my position is good for
+anything, it is his business to help the helpless. I could do no good
+in any other way--I took him into my house."
+
+"Frank," said the Squire, "I beg your pardon. I believe in my heart
+you're true and honest. If I were not driven out of my senses by one
+thing and another," said Mr Wentworth, with bitterness. "They make me
+unjust to you, sir--unjust to you! But never mind; go on. Why didn't
+you tell these fellows what you've told me? That would have settled
+the business at once, without any more ado."
+
+"Mr Morgan is a great deal too much prejudiced against me to believe
+anything I said. I thought it better to let him prove to himself his
+own injustice; and another still more powerful reason--" said the
+Curate.
+
+"Stop, sir, stop; I can't follow you to more than one thing at a time.
+Why is Mr Morgan prejudiced against you?" said the Squire, once more
+sitting upright and recommencing his examination.
+
+Frank Wentworth laughed in spite of himself, though he was far from
+being amused. "I know no reason, except that I have worked in his
+parish without his permission," he answered, briefly enough, "for
+which he threatened to have me up before somebody or other--Dr
+Lushington, I suppose, who is the new Council of Trent, and settles
+all our matters for us nowadays," said the Curate, not without a
+little natural scorn, at which, however, his father groaned.
+
+"There is nothing to laugh at in Dr Lushington," said the Squire. "He
+gives you justice, at all events, which you parsons never give each
+other, you know. You ought not to have worked in the Rector's parish,
+sir, without his permission. It's like shooting in another man's
+grounds. However, that's not my business;--and the other reason, sir?"
+said Mr Wentworth, with his anxious look.
+
+"My dear father," said the Curate, touched by the anxiety in the
+Squire's face, and sitting down by him with a sudden impulse, "I have
+done nothing which either you or I need be ashamed of. I am grieved
+that you should think it necessary to examine me so closely. Wodehouse
+is a rascal, but I had taken charge of him; and as long as it was
+possible to shield him, I felt bound to do so. I made an appeal to his
+honour, if he had any, and to his fears, which are more to be depended
+on, and gave him until noon to-day to consider it. Here is his note,
+which was given me in the vestry; and now you know the whole business,
+and how it is that I postponed the conclusion till to-night."
+
+The Squire put on his spectacles with a tremulous hand to read the note
+which his son gave him. The room was very still while he read it, no
+sound interrupting him except an occasional sniff from Louisa, who was
+in a permanent state of whimpering, and, besides, had ceased to be
+interested in Frank's affairs. Jack Wentworth, standing in the
+background behind the Squire's chair, had the whole party before him,
+and studied them keenly with thoughts which nobody guessed at. Gerald
+was still standing by the window, leaning on it with his face only half
+turned to the others. Was he thinking of the others? was he still one of
+them? or was he saying his office from some invisible breviary
+abstracted into another life? That supposition looked the most like
+truth. Near him was his wife, who had thrown herself, a heap of bright
+fluttering muslin, into the great chair, and kept her handkerchief to
+her red eyes. She had enough troubles of her own to occupy her, poor
+soul! Just at that moment it occurred to her to think of the laburnum
+berries in the shrubbery at the Rectory, which, it was suddenly borne in
+upon her, would prove fatal to one or other of the children in her
+absence;--the dear Rectory which she had to leave so soon! "And Frank
+will have it, of course," Louisa said to herself, "and marry somebody;"
+and then she thought of the laburnum berries in connection with his
+problematical children, not without a movement of satisfaction. Opposite
+to her was the Squire, holding Wodehouse's epistle in a hand which shook
+a little, and reading aloud slowly as he could make it out. The note was
+short and insolent enough. While it was being read, Jack Wentworth, who
+was not easily discomposed, grew red and restless. He had not dictated
+it certainly, nor even suggested the wording of the epistle; but it was
+he who, half in scorn and half in pity of the vagabond's terrors, had
+reassured Wodehouse, and convinced him that it was only the punishments
+of public opinion which the Curate could bring upon him. Hardened as
+Jack was, he could not but be conscious that thus to stand in his
+brother's way was a shabby business enough, and to feel that he himself
+and his protégé cut a very poor figure in presence of the manful old
+Squire with all his burdens, and of Frank, who had, after all, nothing
+to explain which was not to his honour. Notwithstanding that he was at
+the present moment his brother's adversary, actually working against him
+and prolonging his difficulties, an odd kind of contempt and indignation
+against the fools who could doubt Frank's honour possessed the prodigal
+at the moment. "A parcel of asses," he said to himself; and so stood and
+listened to Wodehouse's little note of defiance, which, but for his
+prompting, the sullen vagabond would never have dared to send to his
+former protector. The letter itself was as follows:--
+
+
+ "I have consulted my friends about what you said to-day, and they tell
+ me it is d----d nonsense. You can't do me any harm; and I don't mean
+ to get myself into any scrape for you. You can do what you like--I
+ shan't take any notice. Your love affairs are no business of
+ mine.--Yours truly,
+
+ "T. WODEHOUSE"
+
+
+Mr Wentworth threw the miserable scrawl on the table. "The fellow is a
+scoundrel," said the Squire; "he does not seem to have a spark of
+gratitude. You've done a deal too much for him already; and if the
+sister is as old as Dora--" he continued, after a long pause, with a
+half-humorous relaxation of his features. He was too much worn out to
+smile.
+
+"Yes," said the Curate. The young man was sensible of a sudden flush
+and heat, but did not feel any inclination to smile. Matters were very
+serious just then with Frank Wentworth. He was about to shake himself
+free of one vexation, no doubt; but at this moment, when Lucy
+Wodehouse was homeless and helpless, he had nothing to offer her, nor
+any prospects even which he dared ask her to share with him. This was
+no time to speak of the other sister, who was not as old as Miss Dora.
+He was more than ever the Perpetual Curate now. Perhaps, being a
+clergyman, he ought not to have been swayed by such merely human
+emotions; but honour and pride alike demanded that he should remain in
+Carlingford, and he had no shelter to offer Lucy in the time of her
+need.
+
+After this there followed a pause, which was far from being cheerful.
+Frank could not but be disconsolate enough over his prospects when the
+excitement died away; and there was another big, terrible event
+looming darkly in the midst of the family, which they had not courage
+to name to each other. The long, uneasy pause was at length broken by
+Louisa, whose voice sounded in the unnatural silence like the burst of
+impatient rain which precedes a thunderstorm.
+
+"Now that you have done with Frank's affairs, if you have done with
+them," said Louisa, "perhaps somebody will speak to Gerald. I don't
+mean in the way of arguing. If some one would only speak _sense_ to
+him. You all know as well as I do how many children we've got,
+and--and--an--other coming," sobbed the poor lady, "if something
+doesn't happen to me, which I am sure is more than likely, and might
+be expected. I don't blame dear grandpapa, for he has said everything,
+and so have I; but I do think his brothers ought to take a little more
+interest. Oh, Frank, you know it doesn't matter for you. You are a
+young man, you can go anywhere; but when there are five children
+and--and--an--other--And how are we to live? You know what a little
+bit of money I had when Gerald married me. Everybody knows Gerald
+never cared for money. If I had had a good fortune it would have been
+quite different," cried poor Louisa, with a little flow of tears and a
+querulous sob, as though that too was Gerald's fault. "He has not sent
+off his letter yet, Frank," said the injured wife; "if you would but
+speak to him. He does not mind me or grandpapa, but he might mind you.
+Tell him we shall have nothing to live on; tell him--"
+
+"Hush," said Gerald. He came forward to the table, very pale and
+patient, as became a man at the point of legal death. "I _have_ sent
+away my letter. By this time I am no longer Rector of Wentworth. Do
+not break my heart. Do you think there is any particular in the whole
+matter which I have not considered--the children, yourself,
+everything? Hush; there is nothing now to be said."
+
+The Squire rose, almost as pale as his son, from his chair. "I think
+I'll go out into the air a little," said Mr Wentworth. "There's always
+something new happening. Here is a son of my own," said the old man,
+rising into a flush of energy, "who has not only deserted his post,
+but deserted it secretly, Frank. God bless my soul! don't speak to me,
+sir; I tell you he's gone over to the enemy as much as Charley would
+have done if he had deserted at the Alma--and done it when nobody knew
+or was thinking. I used to be thought a man of honour in my day," said
+Mr Wentworth, bitterly; "and it's a mean thing to say it came by their
+mother's side. There's Jack--"
+
+The eldest son roused himself up at the mention of his own name.
+Notwithstanding all his faults, he was not a man to stand behind backs
+and listen to what was said of him. He came forward with his usual
+ease, though a close observer might have detected a flush on his face.
+"I am here, sir," said the heir. "I cannot flatter myself you will
+have much pleasure in seeing me; but I suppose I have still a right to
+be considered one of the family." The Squire, who had risen to his
+feet, and was standing leaning against the table when Jack advanced,
+returned to his chair and sat down as his eldest son confronted him.
+They had not met for years, and the shock was great. Mr Wentworth put
+his hand to his cravat and pulled at it with an instinctive movement.
+The old man was still feeble from his late illness, and apprehensive
+of a return of the disease of the Wentworths. He restrained himself,
+however, with force so passionate that Jack did not guess at the
+meaning of the gasp which, before the Squire was able to speak to him,
+convulsed his throat, and made Frank start forward to offer assistance
+which his father impatiently rejected. The Squire made, indeed, a
+great effort to speak with dignity. He looked from one to another of
+his tall sons as he propped himself up by the arms of his chair.
+
+"You are the most important member of the family," said Mr Wentworth;
+"it is long since you have been among us, but that is not our fault.
+If things had been different, I should have been glad of your advice
+as a man of the world. Anyhow, I can't wish you to be estranged from
+your brothers," said the Squire. It was all any one could say. The
+heir of Wentworth was not to be denounced or insulted among his
+kindred, but he could not be taken to their bosom. Perhaps the
+reception thus given him was more galling than any other could have
+been to Jack Wentworth's pride. He stood at the table by himself
+before his father, feeling that there existed no living relations
+between himself and any one present. He had keen intellectual
+perceptions, and could recognise the beauty of honour and worth as
+well as most people; and the contrast between himself and the others
+who surrounded him presented itself in a very forcible light to Jack.
+Instead of Gerald and Frank, Wodehouse was _his_ allotted companion.
+For that once he was bitter, notwithstanding his habitual good-humour.
+
+"Yes," he said; "it would be a pity to estrange me from my brothers.
+We are, on the whole, a lucky trio. I, whom my relations are civil to;
+and Frank, who is not acquitted yet, though he seems so confident; and
+Gerald, who has made the greatest mistake of all--"
+
+"Jack," said the Curate, "nobody wants to quarrel with you. You've
+dealt shabbily by me, but I do not mind. Only talk of things you
+understand--don't talk of Gerald."
+
+For a moment Jack Wentworth was roused almost to passion. "What is
+Gerald that I should not understand him?" said Jack; "he and I are the
+original brood. You are all a set of interlopers, the rest of you.
+What is Gerald that I should not talk of him? In the world, my dear
+Frank," continued the heir, superciliously, "as the Squire himself
+will testify, a man is not generally exempted from criticism because
+he is a parson. Gerald is--"
+
+"I am a simple Catholic layman, nothing more," said Gerald; "not worth
+criticism, having done nothing. I am aware I am as good as dead. There
+is no reason why Jack should not talk if it pleases him. It will make
+no difference to me."
+
+"And yet," said Frank, "it is only the other day that you told us you
+were nothing if not a priest."
+
+Gerald turned upon him with a look of melancholy reproach that went to
+the Curate's heart. "It is true I said so," he replied, and then he
+made a pause, and the light died out of his pale face. "Don't bring up
+the ghosts of my dead battles, Frank. I said so only the other day.
+But it is the glory of the true Church," said the convert, with a
+sudden glow which restored colour for a moment to his face, "to
+restrain and subdue the last enemy, the will of man. I am content to
+be nothing, as the saints were. The fight has been hard enough, but I
+am not ashamed of the victory. When the law of the Church and the
+obedience of the saints ordain me to be nothing, I consent to it.
+There is nothing more to say."
+
+"And this is how it is to be!" cried Louisa. "He knows what is coming,
+and he does not care--and none of you will interfere or speak to him!
+It is not as if he did not know what would happen. He tells you
+himself that he will be nothing; and even if _he_ can put up with it
+after being a man of such consideration in the county, how am _I_ to
+put up with it? We have always been used to the very best society,"
+said poor Louisa, with tears. "The Duke himself was not more thought
+of; and now he tells you he is to be nothing!" Mrs Wentworth stopped
+to dry her eyes with tremulous haste. "_He_ may not mind," said
+Louisa, "for at least he is having his own way. It is all very well
+for a man, who can do as he pleases; but it is his poor wife who will
+have to suffer. I don't know who will visit me after it's all over,
+and people will give over asking us if we don't ask them again; and
+how can we ever have anybody, with five children--or more--and only a
+few hundreds a-year? Oh, Frank, it kills me to think of it. Don't you
+think you might speak to him again?" she whispered, stretching up to
+his ear, when Gerald, with a sigh, had gone back to his window. The
+Squire, too, cast an appealing glance at his younger son.
+
+"It is all true enough that she says," said Mr Wentworth. "She mayn't
+understand _him_, Frank, but she's right enough in what she's saying.
+If things were different between your brother and me, I'd ask his
+advice," said the Squire, with a sigh. He gave a longing look at his
+eldest son, who stood with his usual ease before the fireplace.
+Matters had gone a great deal too far between the father and son to
+admit of the usual displeasure of an aggrieved parent--all that was
+over long ago; and Mr Wentworth could not restrain a certain melting
+of the heart towards his first-born. "He's not what I could wish, but
+he's a man of the world, and might give us some practical advice,"
+said the Squire, with his anxious looks. Of what possible advantage
+advice, practical or otherwise, could have been in the circumstances,
+it was difficult to see; but the Squire was a man of simple mind, and
+still believed in the suggestions of wisdom. He still sat in the
+easy-chair, looking wistfully at Jack, and with a certain faith that
+matters might even yet be mended, if the counsel of his eldest son, as
+a man of the world, could be had and could be trusted; when Frank, who
+had an afternoon service at Wharfside, had to leave the family
+committee. Gerald, who roused up when his younger brother mentioned
+the business he was going upon, looked at Frank almost as wistfully as
+his father looked at Jack. "It may be the last time," he said to
+himself; "if you'll let me, I'll go with you, Frank;" and so the
+little conclave was broken up. The people in Prickett's Lane were
+greatly impressed by the aspect of Gerald Wentworth, as he went,
+silent and pale, by his brother's side, down the crowded pavement.
+They thought it must be a bishop at least who accompanied the Curate
+of St Roque's; and the women gathered at a little distance and made
+their comments, as he stood waiting for his brother after the service.
+"He don't look weakly nor sickly no more nor the clergyman," said one;
+"but he smiles at the little uns for all the world like my man smiled
+the night he was took away." "Smilin' or not smilin'," said another,
+"I don't see as it makes no matter; but I'd give a deal to know what
+Elsworthy and them as stands by Elsworthy can say after that." "Maybe,
+then, he'd give the poor fatherless children a blessing afore he'd
+go," suggested a poor Irish widow, who, having been much under Mr
+Wentworth's hands "in her trouble," was not quite sure now what faith
+she professed, or at least which Church she belonged to. Such was the
+universal sentiment of Prickett's Lane. Meanwhile Gerald stood silent,
+and looked with pathetic, speechless eyes at the little crowd. He was
+no priest now--he was shorn of the profession which had been his life.
+His hope of being able to resign all things for Christ's sake had
+failed him. Too wary and politic to maintain in a critical age and
+country the old licence of the ages of Faith, even his wife's consent,
+could he have obtained it, would not have opened to the convert the
+way into the priesthood. A greater trial had been required of him; he
+was nothing, a man whose career was over. He stood idly, in a kind of
+languor, looking on while the Curate performed the duties of his
+office--feeling like a man whom sickness had reduced to the last stage
+of life, and for whom no earthly business remained; while, at the same
+time, his aspect struck awe, as that of a bishop at the least, to the
+imagination of Prickett's Lane.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+Mr Morgan did not go home direct from the investigation of the morning;
+on the contrary, he paid various visits, and got through a considerable
+amount of parish business, before he turned his face towards the
+Rectory. On the whole, his feelings were far from being comfortable. He
+did not know, certainly, who Mr Wentworth's witness was, but he had an
+unpleasant conviction that it was somebody who would clear the Curate.
+"Of course I shall be very glad," the Rector said to himself; but it is
+a fact, that in reality he was far from being glad, and that a secret
+conviction of this sentiment, stealing into his mind, made matters still
+more uncomfortable. This private sense of wishing evil to another man,
+of being unwilling and vexed to think well of his neighbour, was in
+itself enough to disturb the Rector's tranquillity; and when to this was
+added the aggravation that his wife had always been on the other side,
+and had warned him against proceeding, and might, if she pleased, say,
+"I told you so," it will be apparent that Mr Morgan's uneasiness was not
+without foundation. Instead of going home direct to acquaint his wife
+with the circumstances, about which he knew she must be curious, it was
+late in the afternoon before the Rector opened his own gate. Even then
+he went through the garden with a reluctant step, feeling it still more
+difficult to meet her now than it would have been at first, although his
+delay had arisen from the thought that it would be easier to encounter
+her keen looks after an interval. There was, however, no keen look to be
+dreaded at this moment. Mrs Morgan was busy with her ferns, and she did
+not look up as her husband approached. She went on with her occupation,
+examining carefully what withered fronds there might be about her
+favourite maidenhair, even when he stopped by her side. Though her
+husband's shadow fell across the plants she was tending, Mrs Morgan, for
+the first time in her married life, did not look up to welcome the
+Rector. She made no demonstration, said no word of displeasure, but only
+showed herself utterly absorbed in, and devoted to, her ferns. There
+was, to be sure, no such lover of ferns in the neighbourhood of
+Carlingford as the Rector's wife.
+
+As for Mr Morgan, he stood by her side in a state of great discomfort
+and discomfiture. The good man's perceptions were not very clear, but
+he saw that she had heard from some one the issue of the morning's
+inquiry, and that she was deeply offended by his delay, and that, in
+short, they had arrived at a serious difference, the first quarrel
+since their marriage. Feeling himself in the wrong, Mr Morgan
+naturally grew angry too.
+
+"I should like to have dinner earlier to-day," he said, with the usual
+indiscretion of an aggrieved husband. "Perhaps you will tell the cook,
+my dear. I think I should like to have it at five, if possible. It
+can't make much difference for one day."
+
+Mrs Morgan raised herself up from her ferns, and no doubt it was a
+relief to her to find herself provided with so just a cause of
+displeasure. "Much difference!" cried the Rector's wife; "it is
+half-past four now. I wonder how you could think of such a thing,
+William. There is some lamb, which of course is not put down to roast
+yet, and the ducks. If you wish the cook to give warning immediately,
+you may send such a message. It is just like a man to think it would
+make no difference! But I must say, to do them justice," said the
+Rector's wife, "it is not like a man of your college!" When she had
+fired this double arrow, she took off her gardening gloves and lifted
+her basket. "I suppose you told Mr Proctor that you wished to dine
+early?" said Mrs Morgan, with severity, pausing on the threshold. "Of
+course it is quite impossible to have dinner at five unless he knows."
+
+"Indeed I--I forgot all about Proctor," said the Rector, who now saw
+the inexpediency of his proposal. "On second thoughts, I see it does
+not matter much. But after dinner I expect some people about Mr
+Wentworth's business. It was not settled this morning, as I expected."
+
+"So I heard," said Mrs Morgan. "I will tell Thomas to show them into
+the library," and she went indoors, carrying her basket. As for the
+Rector, he stood silent, looking after her, and feeling wonderfully
+discomfited. Had she found fault with him for his delay--had she even
+said "I told you so!" it would have been less overwhelming than this
+indifference. They had never had a quarrel before, and the effect was
+proportionately increased. After standing bewildered at the door for a
+few minutes, he retired into his study, where the change in his wife's
+demeanour haunted him, and obscured Mr Wentworth. Mrs Morgan sat at
+the head of the table at dinner with an equal want of curiosity. Even
+when the subject was discussed between the Rector and Mr Proctor, she
+asked no questions--a course of procedure very puzzling and trying to
+Mr Morgan, who could not make it out.
+
+It was after eight o'clock before the tribunal of the morning was
+reconstituted at the Rectory. Most of the gentlemen came late, and the
+little assembly brought with it a flavour of port, which modified the
+serious atmosphere. When the bed of justice was again formed, Mr
+Wentworth entered with the bodyguard of Wentworths, which numbered
+half as many as his judges. Half from curiosity, half from a reluctant
+inclination to please his father, Jack had joined the others, and they
+came in together, all of them noticeable men, profoundly different,
+yet identified as belonging to each other by the touching bond of
+family resemblance. After the four gentlemen had taken possession of
+their corner, Mr Waters made a somewhat hurried entry, bringing after
+him the sullen reluctant figure of Wodehouse, who made an awkward bow
+to the assembled potentates, and looked ashamed and vigilant, and very
+ill at ease. Mr Waters made a hasty explanation to the Rector before
+he sat down by the side of his unlucky client. "I thought it possible
+there might be some attempt made to shift the blame upon him,
+therefore I thought it best to bring him," said the lawyer. Mr Morgan
+gave him a dry little nod without answering. To tell the truth, the
+Rector felt anything but comfortable; when he glanced up at the
+stranger, who was looking askance at the people in the room as if they
+had been so many policemen in disguise, a disagreeable sudden
+conviction that this sullen rascal looked a great deal more like the
+guilty man than Mr Wentworth did, came into Mr Morgan's mind, and made
+him sick with annoyance and embarrassment. If it should turn out so!
+if it should become apparent that he, for private prejudices of his
+own, had been persecuting his brother! This thought produced an actual
+physical effect for the moment upon the Rector, but its immediate
+visible consequence was simply to make him look more severe, almost
+spiteful, in a kind of unconscious self-vindication. Last of all,
+Elsworthy, who began to be frightened too, but whose fears were
+mingled with no compunction nor blame of himself, stole in and found
+an uncomfortable seat on a stool near the door, where scarcely any one
+saw him, by favour of Thomas, and screened by the high back of the
+Rector's easy-chair. When all were assembled Mr Morgan spoke.
+
+"We are met this evening, gentlemen, to complete, if there is sufficient
+time, the investigation we began this morning," said the Rector. "I have
+no doubt I express the sentiments of every one present when I say I
+shall be glad--_unfeignedly_ glad," said Mr Morgan, with a defiant
+emphasis, which was meant to convince himself, "to find that Mr
+Wentworth's witness is of sufficient importance to justify the delay. As
+we were interrupted this morning solely on his account, I presume it
+will be most satisfactory that this witness should be called at once."
+
+"I should like to say something in the first place," said the Curate.
+Mr Morgan made an abrupt nod indicative of his consent, and, instead
+of looking at the defendant, shaded his eyes with his hand, and made
+figures with his pen upon the blotting-paper. A conviction, against
+which it was impossible to strive, had taken possession of the
+Rector's soul. He listened to Frank Wentworth's address with a kind of
+impatient annoyance and resistance. "What is the good of saying any
+more about it?" Mr Morgan was saying in his soul. "For heaven's sake
+let us bury it and be done with it, and forget that we ever made such
+asses of ourselves." But at the same time the Rector knew this was
+quite impossible; and as he sat leaning over his blotting-book,
+writing down millions after millions with his unconscious pen, he
+looked a very model of an unwilling listener--a prejudiced judge--a
+man whom no arguments could convince; which was the aspect under which
+he appeared to the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+"I should like to say something first," said the Perpetual Curate. "I
+could not believe it possible that I, being tolerably well known in
+Carlingford as I have always supposed, could be suspected by any
+rational being of such an insane piece of wickedness as has been laid
+to my charge; and consequently it did not occur to me to vindicate
+myself, as I perhaps ought to have done, at the beginning. I have been
+careless all along of vindicating myself. I had an idea," said the
+young man, with involuntary disdain, "that I might trust, if not to
+the regard, at least to the common-sense of my friends--"
+
+Here John Brown, who was near his unwary client, plucked at the
+Curate's coat, and brought him to a momentary half-angry pause.
+"Softly, softly," said Dr Marjoribanks; "common-sense has nothing to
+do with facts; we're inquiring into facts at this moment; and,
+besides, it's a very foolish and unjustifiable confidence to trust to
+any man's common-sense," said the old Doctor, with a humorous glance
+from under his shaggy eyebrows at his fellow-judges; upon which there
+ensued a laugh, not very agreeable in its tone, which brought the
+Rector to a white heat of impatience and secret rage.
+
+"It appears to me that the witness ought to be called at once," said
+Mr Morgan, "if this is not a mere expedient to gain time, and if it is
+intended to make any progress to-night."
+
+"My explanations shall be very brief," said Frank Wentworth, facing
+instantly to his natural enemy. "I have suspected from the beginning
+of this business who was the culprit, and have made every possible
+attempt to induce him to confess, and, so far as he could, amend the
+wrong that he had done. I have failed; and now the confession, the
+_amende_, must be made in public. I will now call my witness," said
+the Curate. But this time a commotion rose in another part of the
+room. It was Wodehouse, who struggled to rise, and to get free from
+the detaining grasp of his companion.
+
+"By Jove! I aint going to sit here and listen to a parcel of lies!"
+cried the vagabond. "If I am to be tried, at least I'll have the real
+thing, by Jove!" He had risen up, and was endeavouring to pass Mr
+Waters and get out, casting a suspicious defiant look round the room.
+The noise he made turned all eyes upon him, and the scrutiny he had
+brought upon himself redoubled his anxiety to get away. "I'll not
+stand it, by Jove! Waters, let me go," said the craven, whose confused
+imagination had mixed up all his evil doings together, and who already
+felt himself being carried off to prison. It was at this moment that
+Jack Wentworth rose from his place in his easy careless way, and went
+forward to the table to adjust the lamp, which was flaring a little.
+Wodehouse dropped back into a chair as soon as he caught the eye of
+this master of his fate. His big beard moved with a subterranean gasp
+like the panting of a hunted creature, and all the colour that had
+remained died away out of his haggard, frightened face. As for Jack
+Wentworth, he took no apparent notice of the shabby rascal whom he
+held in awe. "Rather warm this room for a court of justice. I hope
+Frank's witness is not fat," said Jack, putting himself up against the
+wall, and lifting languidly his glass to his eye--which byplay was
+somewhat startling, but totally incomprehensible, to the amateur
+judges, who looked upon him with angry eyes.
+
+"I must request that the proceedings may not be interrupted," said Mr
+Morgan; and then everybody looked towards the open door: the sight they
+saw there was enough to startle the calmest spectator. Elsworthy, who
+was seated close by, sprang from his stool with a low resounding howl of
+amazement, upsetting his lowly seat, and staggering back against the
+wall, in the excess of his wonder and consternation. The judges
+themselves forgot their decorum, and crowded round upon each other to
+stare--old Mr Western putting his arm round the Rector's neck in his
+curiosity, as if they had been two boys at a peep-show. It was Miss
+Leonora Wentworth's erect iron-grey figure that appeared in the doorway,
+half leading in, half pushing before her, the unfortunate cause of all
+the commotion--Rosa Elsworthy herself. A change had passed upon the
+little girl's rosy, dewy, April beauty. Her pretty dark eyes were
+enlarged and anxious, and full of tears; her cheeks had paled out of
+their sweet colour, her red lips were pressed tightly together. Passion
+and shame had set their marks upon the child's forehead--lightly, it is
+true, but still the traces were there; but beyond all other sentiments,
+anxiety, restless, breathless, palpitating, had possession of Mr
+Wentworth's all-important witness. It was very clear that, whatever
+might be the opinion of her judges, Rosa's case was anything but
+hopeless in her own eyes. She came in drooping, shrinking, and abashed,
+as was natural; but her shame was secondary in Rosa's mind, even in the
+moment of her humiliation. She came to a dead stop when she had made a
+few steps into the room, and cast furtive glances at the dread
+tribunal, and began to cry. She was trembling with nervous eagerness,
+with petulance and impatience. Almost all her judges, except the Rector
+and Mr Proctor, had been known to Rosa from her earliest years. She was
+not afraid of them, nor cast down by any sense of overwhelming
+transgression--on the contrary, she cast an appealing look round her,
+which implied that they could still set everything right if they would
+exert themselves; and then she began to cry.
+
+"Gentlemen, before you ask any questions," said Miss Leonora
+Wentworth, "I should like to explain why I am here. I came not because
+I approve of _her_, but because it is right that my nephew should have
+a respectable woman to take charge of the witness. She was brought to
+my house last night, and has been in my charge ever since;--and I come
+with her now, not because I approve of her, but because she ought to
+be in charge of some woman," said Miss Leonora, sitting down abruptly
+in the chair some one had placed for her. The chair was placed close
+by the spot where Rosa stood crying. Poor, pretty, forsaken child!
+Perhaps Miss Leonora, who sat beside her, and occupied the position of
+her protector, was of all the people present the only one who had not
+already forgiven Rosa, the only one who would have still been disposed
+to punish her, and did not pardon the weeping creature in her heart.
+
+"Now that you're here, Rosa," said Dr Marjoribanks, "the only sensible
+thing you can do is to dry your eyes and answer the questions that
+have to be put to you. Nobody will harm you if you speak the truth.
+Don't be frightened, but dry your eyes, and let us hear what you have
+to say."
+
+"Poor little thing," said old Mr Western; "of course she has done very
+wrong. I don't mean to defend her--but, after all, she is but a child.
+Poor little thing! Her mother died, you know, when she was a baby. She
+had nobody to tell her how to behave.--I don't mean to defend her, for
+she has done very wrong, poor little--"
+
+"We are falling into mere conversation," said the Rector, severely.
+"Rosa Elsworthy, come to the table. The only thing you can do to make
+up for all the misery you have caused to your friends, is to tell the
+truth about everything. You are aged--how much? eighteen years?"
+
+"Please, sir, only seventeen," said Rosa; "and oh, please, sir, I
+didn't mean no harm. I wouldn't never have gone, no, not a step, if he
+hadn't a-promised that we was to be married. Oh, please, sir--"
+
+"Softly a little," said John Brown, interfering. "It is not you who
+are on your trial, Rosa. We are not going to question you about your
+foolishness; all that the Rector wants you to tell him is the name of
+the man who persuaded you to go away."
+
+At which question Rosa cried more and more. "I don't think he meant no
+harm either," cried the poor little girl. "Oh, if somebody would
+please speak to him! We couldn't be married then, but now if anybody
+would take a little trouble! I told him Mr Wentworth would, if I was
+to ask him; but then I thought perhaps as Mr Wentworth mightn't like
+to be the one as married me," said Rosa, with a momentary gleam of
+vanity through her tears. The little simper with which the girl spoke,
+the coquettish looks askance at the Perpetual Curate, who stood grave
+and unmoved at a distance, the movement of unconscious self-deception
+and girlish vanity which for a moment distracted Rosa, had a great
+effect upon the spectators. The judges looked at each other across the
+table, and Dr Marjoribanks made a commentary of meditative nods upon
+that little exhibition. "Just so," said the Doctor; "maybe Mr
+Wentworth might have objected. If you tell me the man's name, _I_'ll
+speak to him, Rosa," said the old Scotsman, grimly. As for the Rector,
+he had put down his pen altogether, and looked very much as if he were
+the culprit. Certainly his shame and confusion and self-disgust were
+greater than that of any one else in the room.
+
+"Oh, Doctor, please don't be angry. Oh, if somebody would only speak
+to him!" cried poor Rosa. "Oh, please, it wasn't my fault--I haven't
+got no--nobody to speak for me!" At this moment she got a glimpse of
+her uncle's face, dark and angry, looming behind the Rector's chair.
+Rosa shrank back with a frightened movement, and caught fast hold of
+Miss Leonora's dress. "Oh, please, don't let him kill me!" cried the
+terrified girl. She sank down at Miss Wentworth's feet, and held
+tightly by her unwilling protectress. She was a frightened child,
+afraid of being whipped and punished; she was not an outraged woman,
+forsaken and miserable. Nobody knew what to do with her as she
+crouched down, panting with fright and anxiety, by Miss Leonora's
+side.
+
+"We must know who this man is," said John Brown. "Look here, Rosa; if
+anybody is to do you good, it is necessary to know the man. Rise up
+and look round, and tell me if you can see him here."
+
+After a moment's interval Rosa obeyed. She stood up trembling, resting
+her hand to support herself on Miss Leonora's chair--almost, she
+trembled so, on Miss Leonora's shoulder. Up to this moment the ignorant
+little creature had scarcely felt the shame of her position; she had
+felt only the necessity of appealing to the kindness of people who knew
+her--people who were powerful enough to do very nearly what they pleased
+in Carlingford; for it was in this light that Rosa, who knew no better,
+regarded the Doctor and her other judges. This time her eye passed
+quickly over those protectors. The tears were still hanging on her
+eyelashes; her childish bosom was still palpitating with sobs. Beyond
+the little circle of light round the table, the room was comparatively
+in shadow. She stood by herself, her pretty face and anxious eyes
+appearing over Miss Wentworth's head, her fright and her anxiety both
+forgotten for the moment in the sudden hope of seeing her betrayer.
+There was not a sound in the room to disturb the impartiality of her
+search. Every man kept still, as if by chance he might be the offender.
+Rosa's eyes, bright with anxiety, with eagerness, with a feverish hope,
+went searching into the shadow, gleaming harmless over the Wentworth
+brothers, who were opposite. Then there was a start and a loud cry. She
+was not ashamed to be led before the old men, who were sorry for her,
+and who could protect her; but now at last the instinct of her womanhood
+seized upon the unfortunate creature. She had made an involuntary rush
+towards him when she saw him first. Then she stopped short, and looked
+all round her with a bewildered sudden consciousness. The blood rushed
+to her face, scorching and burning; she uttered a sudden cry of anguish
+and shame. "Oh, don't forsake me!--don't forsake me!--listen to the
+gentlemen!" cried poor Rosa, and fell down in a sudden agony of
+self-comprehension at Wodehouse's feet.
+
+For a few minutes after there was nothing but confusion in the room.
+Elsworthy had been standing behind backs, with a half-fiendish look of
+rage and disappointment on his commonplace features. "Let them help her
+as likes; I washes my hands of her," he cried bitterly, when he saw her
+fall; and then rushed into the midst of the room, thrusting the others
+out of his way. The man was beside himself with mortification, with
+disgust, and fury, and at the same time with a savage natural affection
+for the creature who had baffled and disgraced him, yet still was his
+own. "Let alone--let alone, I tell you! There's nobody as belongs to her
+but me!" cried Elsworthy, pushing up against the Doctor, who had lifted
+her from the ground. As for Wodehouse, he was standing scowling down
+upon the pretty figure at his feet: not that the vagabond was utterly
+heartless, or could look at his victim without emotion; on the contrary,
+he was pale with terror, thinking he had killed her, wondering in his
+miserable heart if they would secure him at once, and furtively watching
+the door to see if he had a chance of escape. When Mr Waters seized his
+arm, Wodehouse gave a hoarse outcry of horror. "I'll marry her--oh,
+Lord, I'll marry her! I never meant anything else," the wretched man
+cried, as he sank back again into his chair. He thought she was dead, as
+she lay with her upturned face on the carpet, and in his terror and
+remorse and cowardice his heart seemed to stop beating. If he could have
+had a chance of escaping, he would not have hesitated to dash the old
+Doctor out of his way, and rush over the body of the unhappy girl whom
+he thought he had murdered. But Waters held him fast; and he sank back,
+panting and horrified, on his seat. "I never touched her; nobody can say
+I touched her," muttered the poor wretch to himself; and watched with
+fascinated eyes and the distinct apprehension of terror every movement
+and change of position, calculating how he might dart out when the
+window was opened--having forgotten for the moment that Jack Wentworth,
+as well as the companion who kept immediate watch over him, was in the
+room.
+
+"She'll come to herself presently," said Dr Marjoribanks. "We'll carry
+her up-stairs. Yes, I know you don't approve of her, Miss Wentworth;
+nobody said you were to approve of her. Not that I think she's a
+responsible moral agent myself," said the Doctor, lifting her up in
+his vigorous arms; "but in the mean time she has to be brought to
+life. Keep out of my way, Elsworthy; you should have looked better
+after the little fool. If she's not accountable for her actions, _you_
+are," he went on with a growl, thrusting away with his vigorous
+shoulder the badly-hung frame of Rosa's uncle, who was no match for
+the Doctor. Thus the poor little girl was carried away in a kind of
+procession, Miss Leonora going first. "Not that I think her worth all
+this fuss, the vain little fool," said Miss Leonora; "she'll come to
+herself, no fear of her;" but, notwithstanding her protest, the
+strong-minded woman led the way. When the room was cleared, the
+gentlemen who remained took their seats mechanically, and stared at
+each other. In the shame and confusion of the moment nobody could find
+anything to say, and the Curate was magnanimous, and did not take
+advantage of his triumph. The silence was broken by the Rector, who
+rose up solemnly from his chair to speak. Probably no one in the room
+had suffered so acutely as Mr Morgan; his face was crimson, his eyes
+suffused and angry. Frank Wentworth rose involuntarily at the same
+moment, expecting, he could not tell why, to be addressed, but sat
+down again in a little confusion when he found that the Rector had
+turned his eyes in a totally different direction. Mr Morgan put the
+lamp out of the way, that he might be able to transfix with the full
+glow of his angry eyes the real offender, who sat only half conscious,
+absorbed with his own terror, by the lawyer's side.
+
+"Sir!" said the Rector, in a tone which, severe as his voice was by
+nature, nobody had ever heard from his lips before, "you have put us
+all in a most ridiculous and painful position to-night. I don't know
+whether you are capable of feeling the vileness of your own misconduct
+as regards the unhappy girl who has just been carried out of the room,
+but you certainly shall not leave the house without hearing--"
+
+Wodehouse gave such a start at these words that Mr Morgan paused a
+moment. The Rector was quite unaware of the relief, the sense of
+safety, which he had inadvertently conveyed to the mind of the shabby
+rascal whom he was addressing. He was then to be allowed to leave the
+house? "I'll leave the d----d place to-night, by Jove!" he muttered in
+his beard, and immediately sat up upon his chair, and turned round
+with a kind of sullen vivacity to listen to the remainder of Mr
+Morgan's speech.
+
+"You shall not leave this house," said the Rector, more peremptorily
+still, "without hearing what must be the opinion of every gentleman,
+of every honest man. You have been the occasion of bringing an utterly
+unfounded accusation against a--a young clergyman," said Mr Morgan,
+with a succession of gasps, "of--of the very highest character. You
+have, as I understand, sir, abused his hospitality, and--and done your
+utmost to injure him when you owed him gratitude. Not content with
+that, sir," continued the Rector, "you have kept your--your very
+existence concealed, until the moment when you could injure your
+sisters. You may perhaps be able to make a miserable amends for the
+wrong you have done to the unfortunate girl up-stairs, but you can
+never make amends to me, sir, for betraying me into a ridiculous
+position, and leading me to do--an--an absurd and--and incredible
+injustice--to a--to my--to Mr Frank Wentworth. Sir, you are a
+scoundrel!" cried Mr Morgan, breaking down abruptly in an access of
+sudden fury. When the Rector had recovered himself, he turned with
+great severity to the rest of the company: "Gentlemen, my wife will be
+glad to see you up-stairs," said Mr Morgan. The sound of this
+hospitable invitation was as if he had ordered the entire assembly to
+the door; but nevertheless most of the company followed him as he
+rose, and, without condescending to look round again, marched out of
+the library. The Squire rose with the rest, and took the hand of his
+son Frank and grasped it closely. Somehow, though he believed Frank
+before, Mr Wentworth was easier in his mind after the Rector's speech.
+
+"I think I will go up-stairs and shake hands with him," said the
+Squire, "and you had better come too, Frank. No doubt he will expect
+it. He spoke up very well at the last, and I entirely agree with the
+Rector," he said, looking sternly, but with a little curiosity, at the
+vagabond, who stood recovering himself, and ready to resume his
+hopeless swagger. It was well for Mr Wentworth that he left the room
+at once, and went cheerfully up-stairs to pay his respects to Mrs
+Morgan. The Squire said, "Thank God!" quietly to himself when he got
+out of the library. "Things are mending, surely--even Jack--even
+Jack," Mr Wentworth said, under his breath; and the simple gentleman
+said over a part of the general thanksgiving, as he went slowly, with
+an unusual gladness, up the stair. He might not have entered Mrs
+Morgan's drawing-room with such a relieved and brightened countenance
+had he stayed ten minutes longer in the library, and listened to the
+further conversation there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+"Now, Mr Wodehouse," said Jack Wentworth, "it appears that you and I
+have a word to say to each other." They had all risen when the other
+gentlemen followed Mr Morgan out of the room, and those who remained
+stood in a group surrounding the unhappy culprit, and renewing his
+impression of personal danger. When he heard himself thus addressed,
+he backed against the wall, and instinctively took one of the chairs
+and placed it before him. His furtive eye sought the door and the
+window, investigating the chances of escape. When he saw that there
+was none, he withdrew still a step further back, and stood at bay.
+
+"By Jove! I aint going to stand all this," said Wodehouse; "as if
+every fellow had a right to bully me--it's more than flesh and blood
+can put up with. I don't care for that old fogey that's gone
+up-stairs; but, by Jove! I won't stand any more from men that eat my
+dinners, and win my money, and--"
+
+Jack Wentworth made half a step forward with a superb smile--"My good
+fellow, you should never reproach a man with his good actions," he said;
+"but at the same time, having eaten your dinners, as you describe, I
+have a certain claim on your gratitude. We have had some--a--business
+connection--for some years. I don't say you have reason to be actually
+grateful for that; but, at least, it brought you now and then into the
+society of gentlemen. A man who robs a set of women, and leaves the poor
+creature he has ruined destitute, is a sort of cur we have nothing to
+say to," said the heir of the Wentworths, contemptuously. "We do not
+pretend to be saints, but we are not blackguards; that is to say," said
+Jack, with a perfectly calm and harmonious smile, "not in theory, nor in
+our own opinion. The fact accordingly is, my friend, that you must
+choose between _us_ and those respectable meannesses of yours. By Jove!
+the fellow ought to have been a shopkeeper, and as honest as--Diogenes,"
+said Jack. He stood looking at his wretched associate with the
+overwhelming impertinence of a perfectly well-bred man, no way
+concealing the contemptuous inspection with which his cool eyes
+travelled over the disconcerted figure from top to toe, seeing and
+exaggerating all its tremors and clumsy guiltiness. The chances are, had
+Jack Wentworth been in Wodehouse's place, he would have been master of
+the position as much as now. He was not shocked nor indignant like his
+brothers. He was simply contemptuous, disdainful, not so much of the
+wickedness as of the clumsy and shabby fashion in which it had been
+accomplished. As for the offender, who had been defiant in his sulky
+fashion up to this moment, his courage oozed out at his finger-ends
+under Jack Wentworth's eye.
+
+"I am my own master," he stammered, "nowadays. I aint to be dictated
+to--and I shan't be, by Jove! As for Jack Wentworth, he's well known
+to be neither more nor less--"
+
+"Than what, Mr Wodehouse?" said the serene and splendid Jack. "Don't
+interest yourself on my account, Frank. This is my business at
+present. If you have any prayer-meetings in hand, we can spare
+you--and don't forget our respectable friend in your supplications.
+Favour us with your definition of Jack Wentworth, Mr Wodehouse. He is
+neither more nor less--?"
+
+"By Jove! I aint going to stand it," cried Wodehouse; "if a fellow's
+to be driven mad, and insulted, and have his money won from him, and
+made game of--not to say tossed about as I've been among 'em, and made
+a drudge of, and set to do the dirty work," said the unfortunate
+subordinate, with a touch of pathos in his hoarse voice;--"I don't
+mean to say I've been what I ought; but, by Jove! to be put upon as
+I've been, and knocked about; and at the last they haven't the pluck
+to stand by a fellow, by Jove!" muttered Mr Wodehouse's unlucky heir.
+What further exasperation his smiling superior intended to heap upon
+him nobody could tell; for just as Jack Wentworth was about to speak,
+and just as Wodehouse had again faced towards him, half-cowed,
+half-resisting, Gerald, who had been looking on in silence, came
+forward out of the shadow. He had seen all and heard all, from that
+moral deathbed of his, where no personal cares could again disturb
+him; and though he had resigned his office, he could not belie his
+nature. He came in by instinct to cherish the dawn of compunction
+which appeared, as he thought, in the sinner's words.
+
+"The best thing that can happen to you," said Gerald, at the sound of
+whose voice everybody started, "is to find out that the wages of sin are
+bitter. Don't expect any sympathy or consolation from those who have
+helped you to do wrong. My brother tries to induce you to do a right act
+from an unworthy motive. He says your former associates will not
+acknowledge you. My advice to you is to forsake your former associates.
+My brother," said Gerald, turning aside to look at him, "would do
+himself honour if he forsook them also--but for you, here is your
+opportunity. You have no temptation of poverty now. Take the first step,
+and forsake them. I have no motive in advising you--except, indeed, that
+I am Jack Wentworth's brother. He and you are different," said Gerald,
+involuntarily glancing from one to the other. "And at present you have
+the means of escape. Go now and leave them," said the man who was a
+priest by nature. The light returned to his eye while he spoke; he was
+no longer passive, contemplating his own moral death; his natural office
+had come back to him unawares. He stretched his arm towards the door,
+thinking of nothing but the escape of the sinner. "Go," said Gerald.
+"Refuse their approbation; shun their society. For Christ's sake, and
+not for theirs, make amends to those you have wronged. Jack, I command
+you to let him go."
+
+Jack, who had been startled at first, had recovered himself long
+before his brother ceased to speak. "Let him go, by all means," he
+said, and stood superbly indifferent by Gerald's side, whistling under
+his breath a tripping lively air. "No occasion for solemnity. The
+sooner he goes the better," said Jack. "In short, I see no reason why
+any of us should stay, now the business is accomplished. I wonder
+would his reverence ever forgive me if I lighted my cigar?" He took
+out his case as he spoke, and began to look over its contents. There
+was one in the room, however, who was better acquainted with the
+indications of Jack Wentworth's face than either of his brothers. This
+unfortunate, who was hanging in an agony of uncertainty over the chair
+he had placed before him, watched every movement of his leader's face
+with the anxious gaze of a lover, hoping to see a little corresponding
+anxiety in it, but watched in vain. Wodehouse had been going through a
+fever of doubt and divided impulses. The shabby fellow was open to
+good impressions, though he was not much in the way of practising
+them; and Gerald's address, which, in the first place, filled him with
+awe, moved him afterwards with passing thrills of compunction, mingled
+with a kind of delight at the idea of getting free. When his admonitor
+said "Go," Wodehouse made a step towards the door, and for an instant
+felt the exhilaration of enfranchisement. But the next moment his eye
+sought Jack Wentworth's face, which was so superbly careless, so
+indifferent to him and his intentions, and the vagabond's soul
+succumbed with a canine fidelity to his master. Had Jack shown any
+interest, any excitement in the matter, his sway might have been
+doubtful; but in proportion to the sense of his own insignificance and
+unimportance Wodehouse's allegiance confirmed itself. He looked
+wistfully towards the hero of his imagination, as that skilful
+personage selected his cigar. He would rather have been kicked again
+than left alone, and left to himself. After all, it was very true what
+Jack Wentworth said. They might be a bad lot, but they were gentlemen
+(according to Wodehouse's understanding of the word) with whom he had
+been associated; and beatific visions of peers and baronets and
+honourables, amongst whom his own shabby person had figured, without
+feeling much below the common level, crossed his mind with all the
+sweetness which belongs to a past state of affairs. Yet it was still
+in his power to recall these vanishing glories. Now that he was rich,
+and could "cut a figure" among the objects of his admiration, was that
+brilliant world to be closed upon him for ever by his own obstinacy?
+As these thoughts rushed through his mind, little Rosa's beauty and
+natural grace came suddenly to his recollection. Nobody need know how
+he had got his pretty wife, and a pretty wife she would be--a creature
+whom nobody could help admiring. Wodehouse looked wistfully at Jack
+Wentworth, who took no notice of him as he chose his cigar. Jack was
+not only the ideal of the clumsy rogue, but he was the doorkeeper of
+that paradise of disreputable nobles and ruined gentlemen which was
+Wodehouse's idea of good society; and from all this was he about to be
+banished? Jack Wentworth selected his cigar with as much care as if
+his happiness depended on it, and took no notice of the stealthy
+glances thrown at him. "I'll get a light in the hall," said Jack;
+"good evening to you," and he was actually going away.
+
+"Look here," said Wodehouse, hastily, in his beard; "I aint a man to
+forsake old friends. If Jack Wentworth does not mean anything
+unreasonable, or against a fellow's honour--Hold your tongue, Waters;
+by Jove! I know my friends. I know you would never have been one of
+them but for Jack Wentworth. He's not the common sort, I can tell you.
+He's the greatest swell going, by Jove!" cried Jack's admiring
+follower, "and through thick and thin he's stood by me. I aint going
+to forsake him now--that is, if he don't want anything that goes
+against a fellow's honour," said the repentant prodigal, again sinking
+the voice which he had raised for a moment. As he spoke he looked more
+wistfully than ever towards his leader, who said "Pshaw!" with an
+impatient gesture, and put back his cigar.
+
+"This room is too hot for anything," said Jack; "but don't open the
+window, I entreat of you. I hate to assist at the suicide of a set of
+insane insects. For heaven's sake, Frank, mind what you're doing. As
+for Mr Wodehouse's remark," said Jack, lightly, "I trust I never could
+suggest anything which would wound his keen sense of honour. I advise
+you to marry and settle, as I am in the habit of advising young men;
+and if I were to add that it would be seemly to make some provision
+for your sisters--"
+
+"Stop there!" said the Curate, who had taken no part in the scene up
+to this moment. He had stood behind rather contemptuously, determined
+to have nothing to do with his ungrateful and ungenerous protégé. But
+now an unreasonable impulse forced him into the discussion. "The less
+that is said on that part of the subject the better," he said, with
+some natural heat. "I object to the mixing up of names which--which no
+one here has any right to bandy about--"
+
+"That is very true," said Mr Proctor; "but still they have their
+rights," the late Rector added after a pause. "We have no right to
+stand in the way of their--their interest, you know." It occurred to
+Mr Proctor, indeed, that the suggestion was on the whole a sensible
+one. "Even if they were to--to marry, you know, they might still be
+left unprovided for," said the late Rector. "I think it is quite just
+that some provision should be made for that."
+
+And then there was a pause. Frank Wentworth was sufficiently aware after
+his first start of indignation that he had no right to interfere, as Mr
+Proctor said, between the Miss Wodehouses and their interest. He had no
+means of providing for them, of setting them above the chances of
+fortune. He reflected bitterly that it was not in his power to offer a
+home to Lucy, and through her to her sister. What he had to do was to
+stand by silently, to suffer other people to discuss what was to be done
+for the woman whom he loved, and whose name was sacred to him. This was
+a stretch of patience of which he was not capable. "I can only say
+again," said the Curate, "that I think this discussion has gone far
+enough. Whatever matters of business there may be that require
+arrangement had better be settled between Mr Brown and Mr Waters. So far
+as private feeling goes--"
+
+"Never fear, I'll manage it," said Jack Wentworth, "as well as a dozen
+lawyers. Private feeling has nothing to do with it. Have a cigar,
+Wodehouse? We'll talk it over as we walk home," said the condescending
+potentate. These words dispersed the assembly, which no longer had any
+object. As Jack Wentworth sauntered out, his faithful follower pressed
+through the others to join him. Wodehouse was himself again. He gave a
+sulky nod to the Curate, and said, "Good-night, parson, I don't owe much
+to you," and hastened out close upon the heels of his patron and leader.
+All the authorities of Carlingford, the virtuous people who conferred
+station and respectability by a look, sank into utter insignificance in
+presence of Jack. His admiring follower went after him with a swell of
+pride. He was a poor enough rogue himself, hustled and abused by
+everybody, an unsuccessful and shabby vagabond, notwithstanding his new
+fortune; but Jack was the glorified impersonation of cleverness and
+wickedness and triumph to Wodehouse. He grew insolent when he was
+permitted to put his arm through that of his hero, and went off with him
+trying to copy, in swagger and insolence, his careless step and
+well-bred ease. Perhaps Jack Wentworth felt a little ashamed of himself
+as he emerged from the gate of the Rectory with his shabby and
+disreputable companion. He shrugged his shoulders slightly as he looked
+back and saw Gerald and Frank coming slowly out together. "_Coraggio!_"
+said Jack to himself, "it is I who am the true philanthropist. Let us do
+evil that good may come." Notwithstanding, he was very thankful not to
+be seen by his father, who had wished to consult him as a man of the
+world, and had shown certain yearnings towards him, which, to Jack's
+infinite surprise, awakened responsive feelings in his own unaccustomed
+bosom. He was half ashamed of this secret movement of natural affection,
+which, certainly, nobody else suspected; but it was with a sensation of
+relief that he closed the Rectory gate behind him, without having
+encountered the keen inquiring suspicious glances of the Squire. The
+others dispersed according to their pleasure--Mr Waters joining the
+party up-stairs, while Mr Proctor followed Jack Wentworth and Wodehouse
+to the door with naïve natural curiosity. When the excellent man
+recollected that he was listening to private conversation, and met
+Wodehouse's look of sulky insolence, he turned back again, much
+fluttered and disturbed. He had an interest in the matter, though the
+two in whose hands it now lay were the last whom he would have chosen as
+confidants; and to do him justice, he was thinking of Lucy only in his
+desire to hear what they decided upon. "Something might happen to me,"
+he said to himself; "and, even if all was well, she would be happier not
+to be wholly dependent upon her sister;" with which self-exculpatory
+reflection, Mr Proctor slowly followed the others into the drawing-room.
+Gerald and Frank, who were neither of them disposed for society, went
+away together. They had enough to think of, without much need of
+conversation, and they had walked half-way down Grange Lane before
+either spoke. Then it was Frank who broke the silence abruptly with a
+question which had nothing to do with the business in which they had
+been engaged.
+
+"And what do you mean to do?" said Frank, suddenly. It was just as
+they came in sight of the graceful spire of St Roque's; and perhaps it
+was the sight of his own church which roused the Perpetual Curate to
+think of the henceforth aimless life of his brother. "I don't
+understand how you are to give up your work. To-night even--"
+
+"I did not forget myself," said Gerald; "every man who can distinguish
+good from evil has a right to advise his fellow-creature. I have not
+given up that common privilege--don't hope it, Frank," said the
+martyr, with a momentary smile.
+
+"If I could but understand why it is that you make this terrible
+sacrifice!" said the Curate--"No, I don't want to argue--of course,
+you are convinced. I can understand the wish that our unfortunate
+division had never taken place; but I can't understand the sacrifice
+of a man's life and work. Nothing is perfect in this world; but at
+least to do something in it--to be good for something--and with your
+faculties, Gerald!" cried the admiring and regretful brother. "Can
+abstract right in an institution, if that is what you aim at, be worth
+the sacrifice of your existence--your power of influencing your
+fellow-creatures?" This Mr Wentworth said, being specially moved by
+the circumstances in which he found himself--for, under any other
+conditions, such sentiments would have produced the warmest opposition
+in his Anglican bosom. But he was so far sympathetic that he could be
+tolerant to his brother who had gone to Rome.
+
+"I know what you mean," said Gerald; "it is the prevailing theory in
+England that all human institutions are imperfect. My dear Frank, I
+want a Church which is not a human institution. In England it seems to
+be the rule of faith that every man may believe as he pleases. There
+is no authority either to decide or to punish. If you can foresee what
+that may lead us to, I cannot. I take refuge in the true Church, where
+alone there is certainty--where," said the convert, with a heightened
+colour and a long-drawn breath, "there is authority clear and
+decisive. In England you believe what you will, and the result will
+be one that I at least fear to contemplate; in Rome we believe
+what--we must," said Gerald. He said the words slowly, bowing his head
+more than once with determined submission, as if bending under the
+yoke. "Frank, it is salvation!" said the new Catholic, with the
+emphasis of a despairing hope. And for the first time Frank Wentworth
+perceived what it was which had driven his brother to Rome.
+
+"I understand you now," said the Perpetual Curate; "it is because
+there is no room for our conflicting doctrines and latitude of belief.
+Instead of a Church happily so far imperfect, that a man can put his
+life to the best account in it, without absolutely delivering up his
+intellect to a set of doctrines, you seek a perfect Church, in which,
+for a symmetrical system of doctrine, you lose the use of your
+existence!" Mr Wentworth uttered this opinion with all the more
+vehemence, that it was in direct opposition to his own habitual ideas;
+but even his veneration for his "Mother" yielded for the moment to his
+strong sense of his brother's mistake.
+
+"It is a hard thing to say," said Gerald, "but it is true. If you but
+knew the consolation, after years of struggling among the problems of
+faith, to find one's self at last upon a rock of authority, of
+certainty--one holds in one's hand at last the interpretation of the
+enigma," said Gerald. He looked up to the sky as he spoke, and
+breathed into the serene air a wistful lingering sigh. If it was
+certainty that echoed in that breath of unsatisfied nature, the sound
+was sadly out of concord with the sentiment. His soul, notwithstanding
+that expression of serenity, was still as wistful as the night.
+
+"Have you the interpretation?" said his brother; and Frank, too,
+looked up into the pure sky above, with its stars which stretched over
+them serene and silent, arching over the town that lay behind, and of
+which nobody knew better than he the human mysteries and wonderful
+unanswerable questions. The heart of the Curate ached to think how
+many problems lay in the darkness, over which that sky stretched
+silent, making no sign. There were the sorrowful of the earth,
+enduring their afflictions, lifting up pitiful hands, demanding of God
+in their bereavements and in their miseries the reason why. There were
+all the inequalities of life, side by side, evermore echoing dumbly
+the same awful question; and over all shone the calm sky which gave no
+answer. "Have you the interpretation?" he said. "Perhaps you can
+reconcile freewill and predestination--the need of a universal
+atonement and the existence of individual virtue? But these are not to
+me the most difficult questions. Can your Church explain why one man
+is happy and another miserable?--why one has everything and abounds,
+and the other loses all that is most precious in life? My sister Mary,
+for example," said the Curate, "she seems to bear the cross for our
+family. Her children die and yours live. Can you explain to her why? I
+have heard her cry out to God to know the reason, and He made no
+answer. Tell me, have you the interpretation?" cried the young man, on
+whom the hardness of his own position was pressing at the moment. They
+went on together in silence for a few minutes, without any attempt on
+Gerald's part to answer. "You accept the explanation of the Church in
+respect to doctrines," said the Curate, after that pause, "and consent
+that her authority is sufficient, and that your perplexity is
+over--that is well enough, so far as it goes: but outside lies a world
+in which every event is an enigma, where nothing that comes offers any
+explanation of itself; where God does not show Himself always kind,
+but by times awful, terrible--a God who smites and does not spare. It
+is easy to make a harmonious balance of doctrine; but where is the
+interpretation of life?" The young priest looked back on his memory,
+and recalled, as if they had been in a book, the daily problems with
+which he was so well acquainted. As for Gerald, he bowed his head a
+little, with a kind of reverence, as if he had been bowing before the
+shrine of a saint.
+
+"I have had a happy life," said the elder brother. "I have not been
+driven to ask such questions for myself. To these the Church has but
+one advice to offer: Trust God."
+
+"We say so in England," said Frank Wentworth; "it is the grand scope
+of our teaching. Trust God. He will not explain Himself, nor can we
+attempt it. When it is certain that I must be content with this answer
+for all the sorrows of life, I am content to take my doctrines on the
+same terms," said the Perpetual Curate; and by this time they had come
+to Miss Wentworth's door. After all, perhaps it was not Gerald, except
+so far as he was carried by a wonderful force of human sympathy and
+purity of soul, who was the predestined priest of the family. As he
+went up to his own room, a momentary spasm of doubt came upon the new
+convert--whether, perhaps, he was making a sacrifice of his life for a
+mistake. He hushed the thought forcibly as it rose; such impulses were
+no longer to be listened to. The same authority which made faith
+certain, decided every doubt to be sin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+Next morning the Curate got up with anticipations which were far from
+cheerful, and a weary sense of the monotony and dulness of life. He had
+won his little battle, it was true; but the very victory had removed
+that excitement which answered in the absence of happier stimulations to
+keep up his heart and courage. After a struggle like that in which he
+had been engaged, it was hard to come again into the peaceable routine
+without any particular hope to enliven or happiness to cheer it, which
+was all he had at present to look for in his life; and it was harder
+still to feel the necessity of being silent, of standing apart from Lucy
+in her need, of shutting up in his own heart the longing he had towards
+her, and refraining himself from the desperate thought of uniting his
+genteel beggary to hers. That was the one thing which must not be
+thought of, and he subdued himself with an impatient sigh, and could not
+but wonder, as he went down-stairs, whether, if Gerald had been less
+smoothly guided through the perplexing paths of life, he would have
+found time for all the difficulties which had driven him to take refuge
+in Rome. It was with this sense of hopeless restraint and incapacity,
+which is perhaps of all sensations the most humbling, that he went
+down-stairs, and found lying on his breakfast table, the first thing
+that met his eye, the note which Lucy Wodehouse had written to him on
+the previous night. As he read it, the earth somehow turned to the sun;
+the dubious light brightened in the skies. Unawares, he had been
+wondering never to receive any token of sympathy, any word of
+encouragement, from those for whom he had made so many exertions. When
+he had read Lucy's letter, the aspect of affairs changed considerably.
+To be sure, nothing that she had said or could say made any difference
+in the facts of the case; but the Curate was young, and still liable to
+those changes of atmosphere which do more for an imaginative mind than
+real revolutions. He read the letter several times over as he lingered
+through his breakfast, making on the whole an agreeable meal, and
+finding himself repossessed of his ordinary healthful appetite. He even
+canvassed the signature as much in reading as Lucy had done in writing
+it--balancing in his mind the maidenly "truly yours" of that
+subscription with as many ingenious renderings of its possible meaning
+as if Lucy's letter had been articles of faith. "Truly mine," he said to
+himself, with a smile; which indeed meant all a lover could require; and
+then paused, as if he had been Dr Lushington or Lord Westbury, to
+inquire into the real force of the phrase. For after all, it is not only
+when signing the Articles that the bond and pledge of subscription means
+more than is intended. When Mr Wentworth was able to tear himself from
+the agreeable casuistry of this self-discussion, he got up in much
+better spirits to go about his daily business. First of all, he had to
+see his father, and ascertain what were the Squire's intentions, and how
+long he meant to stay in Carlingford; and then--It occurred to the
+Perpetual Curate that after that, politeness demanded that he should
+call on the Miss Wodehouses, who had, or at least one of them, expressed
+so frankly their confidence in him. He could not but call to thank her,
+to inquire into their plans, perhaps to back aunt Leonora's invitation,
+which he was aware had been gratefully declined. With these ideas in his
+mind he went down-stairs, after brushing his hat very carefully and
+casting one solicitous glance in the mirror as he passed--which
+presented to him a very creditable reflection, an eidolon in perfect
+clerical apparel, without any rusty suggestions of a Perpetual Curacy.
+Yet a Perpetual Curacy it was which was his sole benefice or hope in his
+present circumstances, for he knew very well that, were all other
+objections at an end, neither Skelmersdale nor Wentworth could be kept
+open for him; and that beyond these two he had not a hope of
+advancement--and at the same time he was pledged to remain in
+Carlingford. All this, however, though discouraging enough, did not
+succeed in discouraging Mr Wentworth after he had read Lucy's letter. He
+went down-stairs so lightly that Mrs Hadwin, who was waiting in the
+parlour in her best cap, to ask if he would pardon her for making such a
+mistake, did not hear him pass, and sat waiting for an hour, forgetting,
+or rather neglecting to give any response, when the butcher came for
+orders--which was an unprecedented accident. Mr Wentworth went
+cheerfully up Grange Lane, meeting, by a singular chance, ever so many
+people, who stopped to shake hands with him, or at least bowed their
+good wishes and friendly acknowledgments. He smiled in himself at these
+evidences of popular penitence, but was not the less pleased to find
+himself reinstated in his place in the affections and respect of
+Carlingford. "After all, it was not an unnatural mistake," he said to
+himself, and smiled benignly upon the excellent people who had found out
+the error of their own ways. Carlingford, indeed, seemed altogether in a
+more cheerful state than usual, and Mr Wentworth could not but think
+that the community in general was glad to find that it had been
+deceived, and so went upon his way, pleasing himself with those maxims
+about the ultimate prevalence of justice and truth, which make it
+apparent that goodness is always victorious, and wickedness punished, in
+the end. Somehow even a popular fallacy has an aspect of truth when it
+suits one's own case. The Perpetual Curate went through his aunts'
+garden with a conscious smile, feeling once more master of himself and
+his concerns. There was, to tell the truth, even a slight shade of
+self-content and approbation upon his handsome countenance. In the
+present changed state of public opinion and private feeling, he began to
+take some pleasure in his sacrifice. To be sure, a Perpetual Curate
+could not marry; but perhaps Lucy--in short, there was no telling what
+might happen; and it was accordingly with that delicious sense of
+goodness which generally attends an act of self-sacrifice, mingled with
+an equally delicious feeling that the act, when accomplished, might turn
+out no such great sacrifice after all--which it is to be feared is the
+most usual way in which the sacrifices of youth are made--that the
+Curate walked into the hall, passing his aunt Dora's toy terrier without
+that violent inclination to give it a whack with his cane in passing
+which was his usual state of feeling. To tell the truth, Lucy's letter
+had made him at peace with all the world.
+
+When, however, he entered the dining-room, where the family were still
+at breakfast, Frank's serenity was unexpectedly disturbed. The first
+thing that met his eyes was his aunt Leonora, towering over her
+tea-urn at the upper end of the table, holding in her hand a letter
+which she had just opened. The envelope had fallen in the midst of the
+immaculate breakfast "things," and indeed lay, with its broad black
+edge on the top of the snow-white lumps, in Miss Leonora's own
+sugar-basin; and the news had been sufficiently interesting to suspend
+the operations of tea-making, and to bring the strong-minded woman to
+her feet. The first words which were audible to Frank revealed to him
+the nature of the intelligence which had produced such startling
+effects.
+
+"He was always a contradictory man," said Miss Leonora; "since the
+first hour he was in Skelmersdale, he has made a practice of doing
+things at the wrong time. I don't mean to reproach the poor man now
+he's gone; but when he has been so long of going, what good could it
+do him to choose this particular moment, for no other reason that I
+can see, except that it was specially uncomfortable to us? What my
+brother has just been saying makes it all the worse," said Miss
+Leonora, with a look of annoyance. She had turned her head away from
+the door, which was at the side of the room, and had not perceived the
+entrance of the Curate. "As long as we could imagine that Frank was to
+succeed to the Rectory, the thing looked comparatively easy. I beg
+your pardon, Gerald. Of course, you know how grieved I am--in short,
+that we all feel the deepest distress and vexation; but, to be sure,
+since you have given it up, somebody must succeed you--there can be no
+doubt of that."
+
+"Not the least, my dear aunt," said Gerald.
+
+"I am glad you grant so much. It is well to be sure of something," said
+the incisive and peremptory speaker. "It would have been a painful thing
+for us at any time to place another person in Skelmersdale while Frank
+was unprovided for; but, of course," said Miss Leonora, sitting down
+suddenly, "nobody who knows me could suppose for a minute that I would
+let my feelings stand in the way of my public duty. Still it is very
+awkward just at this moment when Frank, on the whole, has been behaving
+very properly, and one can't help so far approving of him--"
+
+"I am much obliged to you, aunt Leonora," said the Curate.
+
+"Oh, you are there, Frank," said his sensible aunt; and strong-minded
+though she was, a slight shade of additional colour appeared for a
+moment on Miss Leonora's face. She paused a little, evidently diverted
+from the line of discourse which she had contemplated, and wavered like
+a vessel disturbed in its course. "The fact is, I have just had a letter
+announcing Mr Shirley's death," she continued, facing round towards her
+nephew, and setting off abruptly, in face of all consequences, on the
+new tack.
+
+"I am very sorry," said Frank Wentworth; "though I have an old grudge
+at him on account of his long sermons; but as you have expected it for
+a year or two, I can't imagine your grief to be overwhelming," said
+the Curate, with a touch of natural impertinence to be expected under
+the circumstances. Skelmersdale had been so long thought interesting
+to him, that now, when it was not in the least interesting, he got
+impatient of the name.
+
+"I quite agree with you, Frank," said Miss Wentworth. Aunt Cecilia had
+not been able for a long time to agree with anybody. She had been, on
+the contrary, shaking her head and shedding a few gentle tears over
+Gerald's silent submission and Louisa's noisy lamentations. Everything
+was somehow going wrong; and she who had no power to mend, at least
+could not assent, and broke through her old use and wont to shake her
+head, which was a thing very alarming to the family. The entire party
+was moved by a sensation of pleasure to hear Miss Cecilia say, "I
+quite agree with you, Frank."
+
+"You are looking better this morning, my dear aunt," said Gerald. They
+had a great respect for each other these two; but when Miss Cecilia
+turned to hear what her elder nephew was saying, her face lost the
+momentary look of approval it had worn, and she again, though very
+softly, almost imperceptibly, began to shake her head.
+
+"We were not asking for your sympathy," said Miss Leonora, sharply.
+"Don't talk like a saucy boy. We were talking of our own
+embarrassment. There is a very excellent young man, the curate of the
+parish, whom Julia Trench is to be married to. By the way, of course,
+this must put it off; but I was about to say, when you interrupted me,
+that to give it away from you at this moment, just as you had been
+doing well--doing--your duty," said Miss Leonora, with unusual
+hesitation, "was certainly very uncomfortable, to say the least, to
+us."
+
+"Don't let that have the slightest influence on you, I beg," cried the
+Perpetual Curate, with all the pride of his years. "I hope I have been
+doing my duty all along," the young man added, more softly, a moment
+after; upon which the Squire gave a little nod, partly of satisfaction
+and encouragement to his son--partly of remonstrance and protest to
+his sister.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so--with the flowers at Easter, for example," said
+Miss Leonora, with a slight sneer. "I consider that I have stood by
+you through all this business, Frank--but, of course, in so important
+a matter as a cure of souls, neither relationship, nor, to a certain
+extent, approval," said Miss Leonora, with again some hesitation, "can
+be allowed to stand against public duty. We have the responsibility of
+providing a good gospel minister--"
+
+"I beg your pardon for interrupting you, Leonora," said the Squire,
+"but I can't help thinking that you make a mistake. I think it's a
+man's bounden duty, when there is a living in the family, to educate
+one of his sons for it. In my opinion, it's one of the duties of
+property. You have no right to live off your estate, and spend your
+money elsewhere; and no more have you any right to give less
+than--than your own flesh and blood to the people you have the charge
+of. You've got the charge of them to--to a certain extent--soul and
+body, sir," said the Squire, growing warm, as he put down his 'Times,'
+and forgetting that he addressed a lady. "I'd never have any peace of
+mind if I filled up a family living with a stranger--unless, of
+course," Mr Wentworth added in a parenthesis--an unlikely sort of
+contingency which had not occurred to him at first--"you should happen
+to have no second son.--The eldest the squire, the second the rector.
+That's my idea, Leonora, of Church and State."
+
+Miss Leonora smiled a little at her brother's semi-feudal, semi-pagan
+ideas. "I have long known that we were not of the same way of thinking,"
+said the strong-minded aunt, who, though cleverer than her brother, was
+too wise in her own conceit to perceive at the first glance the noble,
+simple conception of his own duties and position, which was implied in
+the honest gentleman's words. "Your second son might be either a fool or
+a knave, or even, although neither, might be quite unfit to be intrusted
+with the eternal interests of his fellow-creatures. In my opinion, the
+duty of choosing a clergyman is one not to be exercised without the
+gravest deliberation. A conscientious man would make his selection
+dependent, at least, upon the character of his second son--if he had
+one. We, however--"
+
+"But then his character is _so_ satisfactory, Leonora," cried Miss
+Dora, feeling emboldened by the shadow of visitors under whose shield
+she could always retire. "Everybody knows what a good clergyman he
+is--I am sure it would be like a new world in Skelmersdale if you were
+there, Frank, my dear--and he preaches such beautiful sermons!" said
+the unlucky little woman, upon whom her sister immediately descended,
+swift and sudden, like a storm at sea.
+
+"We are generally perfectly of accord in our conclusions," said Miss
+Leonora; "as for Dora, she comes to the same end by a roundabout way.
+After what my brother has been saying--"
+
+"Yes," said the Squire, with uncomfortable looks, "I was saying to
+your aunt, Frank, what I said to you about poor Mary. Since Gerald
+_will_ go, and since you don't want to come, the best thing to do
+would be to have Huxtable. He's a very good fellow on the whole, and
+it might cheer her up, poor soul, to be near her sisters. Life has
+been hard work to her, poor girl--very hard work, sir," said the
+Squire, with a sigh. The idea was troublesome and uncomfortable, and
+always disturbed his mind when it occurred to him. It was indeed a
+secret humiliation to the Squire, that his eldest daughter possessed
+so little the characteristic health and prosperity of the Wentworths.
+He was very sorry for her, but yet half angry and half ashamed, as if
+she could have helped it; but, however, he had been obliged to admit,
+in his private deliberations on the subject, that, failing Frank,
+Mary's husband had the next best right to Wentworth Rectory--an
+arrangement of which Miss Leonora did not approve.
+
+"I was about to say that we have no second son," she said, taking up the
+thread of her discourse where it had been interrupted. "Our duty is
+solely towards the Christian people. I do not pretend to be infallible,"
+said Miss Leonora, with a meek air of self-contradiction; "but I should
+be a very poor creature indeed, if, at my age, I did not know what I
+believed, and was not perfectly convinced that I am right. Consequently
+(though, I repeat, Mr Shirley has chosen the most inconvenient moment
+possible for dying), it can't be expected of me that I should appoint my
+nephew, whose opinions in most points are exactly the opposite of mine."
+
+"I wish, at least, you would believe what I say," interrupted the
+Curate, impatiently. "There might have been some sense in all this
+three months ago; but if Skelmersdale were the high-road to everything
+desirable in the Church, you are all quite aware that I could not
+accept it. Stop, Gerald; I am not so disinterested as you think," said
+Frank; "if I left Carlingford now, people would remember against me
+that my character had been called in question here. I can remain a
+perpetual curate," said the young man, with a smile, "but I can't
+tolerate any shadow upon my honour. I am sorry I came in at such an
+awkward moment. Good morning, aunt Leonora. I hope Julia Trench, when
+she has the Rectory, will always keep of your way of thinking. She
+used to incline a little to mine," he said, mischievously, as he went
+away.
+
+"Come back, Frank, presently," said the Squire, whose attention had
+been distracted from his 'Times.' Mr Wentworth began to be tired of
+such a succession of exciting discussions. He thought if he had Frank
+quietly to himself he could settle matters much more agreeably; but
+the 'Times' was certainly an accompaniment more tranquillising so far
+as a comfortable meal was concerned.
+
+"He can't come back presently," said aunt Leonora. "You speak as if he
+had nothing to do; when, on the contrary, he has everything to
+do--that is worth doing," said that contradictory authority. "Come
+back to lunch, Frank; and I wish you would eat your breakfast, Dora,
+and not stare at me."
+
+Miss Dora had come down to breakfast as an invalid, in a pretty little
+cap, with a shawl over her dressing-gown. She had not yet got over her
+adventure and the excitement of Rosa's capture. That unusual accident,
+and all the applauses of her courage which had been addressed to her
+since, had roused the timid woman. She did not withdraw her eyes from
+her sister, though commanded to do so; on the contrary, her look grew
+more and more emphatic. She meant to have made a solemn address,
+throwing off Leonora's yoke, and declaring her intention, in this grave
+crisis of her nephew's fortunes, of acting for herself; but her feelings
+were too much for Miss Dora. The tears came creeping to the corners of
+her eyes, and she could not keep them back; and her attempt at dignity
+broke down. "I am never consulted," she said, with a gasp. "I don't mean
+to pretend to know better than Leonora; but--but I think it is very
+hard that Frank should be disappointed about Skelmersdale. You may call
+me as foolish as you please," said Miss Dora, with rising tears, "I know
+everybody will say it is my fault; but I must say I think it is very
+hard that Frank should be disappointed. He was always brought up for it,
+as everybody knows; and to disappoint him, who is so good and so nice,
+for a fat young man, buttered all over like--like--a pudding-basin,"
+cried poor Miss Dora, severely adhering to the unity of her desperate
+metaphor. "I don't know what Julia Trench can be thinking of; I--I don't
+know what Leonora means."
+
+"I am of the same way of thinking," said aunt Cecilia, setting down,
+with a little gentle emphasis, her cup of tea.
+
+Here was rebellion, open and uncompromised. Miss Leonora was so much
+taken by surprise, that she lifted the tea-urn out of the way, and
+stared at her interlocutors with genuine amazement. But she proved
+herself, as usual, equal to the occasion.
+
+"It's unfortunate that we never see eye to eye just at once," she
+said, with a look which expressed more distinctly than words could
+have done the preliminary flourish of his whip by means of which a
+skilful charioteer gets his team under hand without touching them;
+"but it is very lucky that we always come to agree in the end," she
+added, more significantly still. It was well to crush insubordination
+in the bud. Not that she did not share the sentiment of her sisters;
+but then they were guided like ordinary women by their feelings;
+whereas Miss Leonora had the rights of property before her, and the
+approval of Exeter Hall.
+
+"And he wants to marry, poor dear boy," said Miss Dora, pale with
+fright, yet persevering; "and she is a dear good girl--the very person
+for a clergyman's wife; and what is he to do if he is always to be
+Curate of St Roque's? You may say it is my fault, but I cannot help it.
+He always used to come to me in all his little troubles; and when he
+wants anything very particular, he knows there is nothing I would not do
+for him," sobbed the proud aunt, who could not help recollecting how
+much use she had been to Frank. She wiped her eyes at the thought, and
+held up her head with a thrill of pride and satisfaction. Nobody could
+blame her in that particular at least. "He knew he had only to tell me
+what he wanted," said Miss Dora, swelling out her innocent plumes. Jack,
+who was sitting opposite, and who had been listening with admiration,
+thought it time to come in on his own part.
+
+"I hope you don't mean to forsake _me_, aunt Dora," he said. "If a
+poor fellow cannot have faith in his aunt, whom can he have faith in?
+I thought it was too good to last," said the neglected prodigal. "You
+have left the poor sheep in the wilderness and gone back to the
+ninety-and-nine righteous men who need no repentance." He put up his
+handkerchief to his eyes as he spoke, and so far forgot himself as to
+look with laughter in his face at his brother Gerald. As for the
+Squire, he was startled to hear his eldest son quoting Scripture, and
+laid aside his paper once more to know what it meant.
+
+"I am sure I beg your pardon, Jack," said aunt Dora, suddenly stopping
+short, and feeling guilty. "I never meant to neglect you. Poor dear
+boy, he never was properly tried with female society and the comforts
+of home; but then you were dining out that night," said the simple
+woman, eagerly. "I should have stayed with you, Jack, _of course_, had
+you been at home."
+
+From this little scene Miss Leonora turned away hastily, with an
+exclamation of impatience. She made an abrupt end of her tea-making,
+and went off to her little business-room with a grim smile upon her
+iron-grey countenance. She too had been taken in a little by Jack's
+pleasant farce of the Sinner Repentant; and it occurred to her to feel a
+little ashamed of herself as she went up-stairs. After all, the
+ninety-and-nine just men of Jack's irreverent quotation were worth
+considering now and then; and Miss Leonora could not but think with a
+little humiliation of the contrast between her nephew Frank and the
+comfortable young Curate who was going to marry Julia Trench. He _was_
+fat, it could not be denied; and she remembered his chubby looks, and
+his sermons about self-denial and mortification of the flesh, much as a
+pious Catholic might think of the Lenten oratory of a fat friar. But
+then he was perfectly sound in his doctrines, and it was undeniable that
+the people liked him, and that the appointment was one which even a
+Scotch ecclesiastical community full of popular rights could scarcely
+have objected to. According to her own principles, the strong-minded
+woman could not do otherwise. She threw herself into her arm-chair with
+unnecessary force, and read over the letter which Miss Trench herself
+had written. "It is difficult to think of any consolation in such a
+bereavement," wrote Mr Shirley's niece; "but still it is a little
+comfort to feel that I can throw myself on your sympathy, my dear and
+kind friend." "Little calculating thing!" Miss Leonora said to herself
+as she threw down the mournful epistle; and then she could not help
+thinking again of Frank. To be sure, he was not of her way of thinking;
+but when she remembered the "investigation" and its result, and the
+secret romance involved in it, her Wentworth blood sent a thrill of
+pride and pleasure through her veins. Miss Leonora, though she was
+strong-minded, was still woman enough to perceive her nephew's motives
+in his benevolence to Wodehouse; but these motives, which were strong
+enough to make him endure so much annoyance, were not strong enough to
+tempt him from Carlingford and his Perpetual Curacy, where his honour
+and reputation, in the face of love and ambition, demanded that he
+should remain. "It would be a pity to balk him in his self-sacrifice,"
+she said to herself, with again a somewhat grim smile, and a comparison
+not much to the advantage of Julia Trench and _her_ curate. She shut
+herself up among her papers till luncheon, and only emerged with a
+stormy front when that meal was on the table; during the progress of
+which she snubbed everybody who ventured to speak to her, and spoke to
+her nephew Frank as if he might have been suspected of designs upon the
+plate-chest. Such were the unpleasant consequences of the struggle
+between duty and inclination in the bosom of Miss Leonora; and, save for
+other unforeseen events which decided the matter for her, it is not by
+any means so certain as, judging from her character, it ought to have
+been, that duty would have won the day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+
+Frank Wentworth once more went up Grange Lane, a thoughtful and a sober
+man. Exhilaration comes but by moments in the happiest of lives--and
+already he began to remember how very little he had to be elated about,
+and how entirely things remained as before. Even Lucy; her letter very
+probably might be only an effusion of friendship; and at all events,
+what could he say to her--what did he dare in honour say? And then his
+mind went off to think of the two rectories, between which he had fallen
+as between two stools: though he had made up his mind to accept neither,
+he did not the less feel a certain mortification in seeing that his
+relations on both sides were so willing to bestow their gifts elsewhere.
+He could not tolerate the idea of succeeding Gerald in his own person,
+but still he found it very disagreeable to consent to the thought that
+Huxtable should replace him--Huxtable, who was a good fellow enough, but
+of whom Frank Wentworth thought, as men generally think of their
+brothers-in-law, with a half-impatient, half-contemptuous wonder what
+Mary could ever have seen in so commonplace a man. To think of him as
+rector of Wentworth inwardly chafed the spirit of the Perpetual Curate.
+As he was going along, absorbed in his own thoughts, he did not
+perceive how his approach was watched for from the other side of the way
+by Elsworthy, who stood with his bundle of newspapers under his arm and
+his hat in his hand, watching for "his clergyman" with submission and
+apology on the surface, and hidden rancour underneath. Elsworthy was not
+penitent; he was furious and disappointed. His mistake and its
+consequences were wholly humiliating, and had not in them a single
+saving feature to atone for the wounds of his self-esteem. The Curate
+had not only baffled and beaten him, but humbled him in his own eyes,
+which is perhaps, of all others, the injury least easy to forgive. It
+was, however, with an appearance of the profoundest submission that he
+stood awaiting the approach of the man he had tried so much to injure.
+
+"Mr Wentworth, sir," said Elsworthy, "if I was worth your while, I
+might think as you were offended with me; but seeing I'm one as is so
+far beneath you"--he went on with a kind of grin, intended to
+represent a deprecatory smile, but which would have been a snarl had
+he dared--"I can't think as you'll bear no malice. May I ask, sir, if
+there's a-going to be any difference made?"
+
+"In what respect, Elsworthy?" said the Curate, shortly.
+
+"Well, sir, I can't tell," said the clerk of St Roque's. "If a
+clergyman was to bear malice, it's in his power to make things very
+unpleasant. I don't speak of the place at church, which aint either
+here nor there--it's respectable, but it aint lucrative; but if you
+was to stretch a point, Mr Wentworth, by continuing the papers and
+suchlike--it aint that I value the money," said Elsworthy, "but I've
+been a faithful servant; and I might say, if you was to take it in a
+right spirit, an 'umble friend, Mr Wentworth," he continued, after a
+little pause, growing bolder. "And now, as I've that unfortunate
+creature to provide for, and no one knowing what's to become of her--"
+
+"I wonder that you venture to speak of her to me," said the Curate,
+with a little indignation, "after all the warnings I gave you. But
+you ought to consider that you are to blame a great deal more than she
+is. She is only a child; if you had taken better care of her--but you
+would not pay any attention to my warning;--you must bear the
+consequences as you best can."
+
+"Well, sir," said Elsworthy, "if you're a-going to bear malice, I
+haven't got nothing to say. But there aint ten men in Carlingford as
+wouldn't agree with me that when a young gentleman, even if he is a
+clergyman, takes particklar notice of a pretty young girl, it aint
+just for nothing as he does it--not to say watching over her paternal
+to see as she wasn't out late at night, and suchlike. But bygones is
+bygones, sir," said Elsworthy, "and is never more to be mentioned by
+me. I don't ask no more, if you'll but do the same--"
+
+"You won't ask no more?" said the Curate, angrily; "do you think I am
+afraid of you? I have nothing more to say, Elsworthy. Go and look
+after your business--I will attend to mine; and when we are not forced
+to meet, let us keep clear of each other. It will be better both for
+you and me."
+
+The Curate passed on with an impatient nod; but his assailant did not
+intend that he should escape so easily. "I shouldn't have thought,
+sir, as you'd have borne malice," said Elsworthy, hastening on after
+him, yet keeping half a step behind. "I'm a humbled man--different
+from what I ever thought to be. I could always keep up my head afore
+the world till now; and if it aint your fault, sir--as I humbly beg
+your pardon for ever being so far led away as to believe it was--all
+the same it's along of you."
+
+"What do you mean?" said the Curate, who, half amused and half
+indignant at the change of tone, had slackened his pace to listen to
+this new accusation.
+
+"What I mean, sir, is, that if you hadn't been so good and so
+kind-hearted as to take into your house the--the villain as has done
+it all, him and Rosa could never have known each other. I allow as it
+was nothing but your own goodness as did it; but it was a black day
+for me and mine," said the dramatist, with a pathetic turn of voice.
+"Not as I'm casting no blame on you, as is well known to be--"
+
+"Never mind what I'm well known to be," said the Curate; "the other day
+you thought _I_ was the villain. If you can tell me anything you want me
+to do, I will understand that--but I am not desirous to know your
+opinion of me," said the careless young man. As he stood listening
+impatiently, pausing a second time, Dr Marjoribanks came out to his door
+and stepped into his brougham to go off to his morning round of visits.
+The Doctor took off his hat when he saw the Curate, and waved it to him
+cheerfully with a gesture of congratulation. Dr Marjoribanks was quite
+stanch and honest, and would have manfully stood by his intimates in
+dangerous circumstances; but somehow he preferred success. It was
+pleasanter to be able to congratulate people than to condole with them.
+He preferred it, and nobody could object to so orthodox a sentiment.
+Most probably, if Mr Wentworth had still been in partial disgrace, the
+Doctor would not have seen him in his easy glance down the road; but
+though Mr Wentworth was aware of that, the mute congratulation had yet
+its effect upon him. He was moved by that delicate symptom of how the
+wind was blowing in Carlingford, and forgot all about Elsworthy, though
+the man was standing by his side.
+
+"As you're so good as to take it kind, sir," said the clerk of St
+Roque's--"and, as I was a-saying, it's well known as you're always
+ready to hear a poor man's tale--perhaps you'd let bygones be bygones,
+and not make no difference? That wasn't all, Mr Wentworth," he
+continued eagerly, as the Curate gave an impatient nod, and turned to
+go on. "I've heard as this villain is rich, sir, by means of robbing
+of his own flesh and blood;--but it aint for me to trust to what folks
+says, after the experience I've had, and never can forgive myself for
+being led away," said Elsworthy; "it's well known in Carlingford--"
+
+"For heaven's sake come to the point and be done with it," said the
+Curate. "What is it you want me to do?"
+
+"Sir," said Elsworthy, solemnly, "you're a real gentleman, and you
+don't bear no malice for what was a mistake--and you aint one to turn
+your back on an unfortunate family--and Mr Wentworth, sir, you aint
+a-going to stand by and see me and mine wronged, as have always wished
+you well. If we can't get justice of him, we can get damages," cried
+Elsworthy. "He aint to be let off as if he'd done no harm--and seeing
+as it was along of you--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, sir!" cried the Curate. "I have nothing to do with
+it. Keep out of my way, or at least learn to restrain your tongue. No
+more, not a word more," said the young man, indignantly. He went off
+with such a sweep and wind of anger and annoyance, that the slower and
+older complainant had no chance to follow him. Elsworthy accordingly
+went off to the shop, where his errand-boys were waiting for the
+newspapers, and where Rosa lay up-stairs, weeping, in a dark room, where
+her enraged aunt had shut her up. Mrs Elsworthy had shut up the poor
+little pretty wretch, who might have been penitent under better
+guidance, but who by this time had lost what sense of shame and wrong
+her childish conscience was capable of in the stronger present sense of
+injury and resentment and longing to escape; but the angry aunt, though
+she could turn the key on poor Rosa's unfortunate little person, could
+not shut in the piteous sobs which now and then sounded through and
+through the house, and which converted all the errand-boys without
+exception into indignant partisans of Rosa, and even moved the heart of
+Peter Hayles, who could hear them at the back window where he was making
+up Dr Marjoribanks's prescriptions. As the sense of injury waxed
+stronger and stronger in Rosa's bosom, she availed herself, like any
+other irrational, irresponsible creature, of such means of revenging
+herself and annoying her keepers as occurred to her. "Nobody ever took
+no care of me," sobbed Rosa. "I never had no father or mother. Oh, I
+wish I was dead!--and nobody wouldn't care!" These utterances, it may be
+imagined, went to the very heart of the errand-boys, who were collected
+in a circle, plotting how to release Rosa, when Elsworthy, mortified and
+furious, came back from his unsuccessful assault on the Curate. They
+scattered like a covey of little birds before the angry man, who tossed
+their papers at them, and then strode up the echoing stairs. "If you
+don't hold your d----d tongue," said Elsworthy, knocking furiously at
+Rosa's door, "I'll turn you to the door this instant, I will, by--."
+Nobody in Carlingford had ever before heard an oath issue from the
+respectable lips of the clerk of St Roque's. When he went down into the
+shop again, the outcries sank into frightened moans. Not much wonder
+that the entire neighbourhood became as indignant with Elsworthy as it
+ever had been with the Perpetual Curate. The husband and wife took up
+their positions in the shop after this, as far apart as was possible
+from each other, both resenting in silent fury the wrong which the world
+in general had done them. If Mrs Elsworthy had dared, she would have
+exhausted her passion in abuse of everybody--of the Curate for not being
+guilty, of her husband for supposing him to be so, and, to be sure, of
+Rosa herself, who was the cause of all. But Elsworthy was dangerous, not
+to be approached or spoken to. He went out about noon to see John Brown,
+and discuss with him the question of damages; but the occurrences which
+took place in his absence are not to be mixed up with the present
+narrative, which concerns Mr Frank Wentworth's visit to Lucy Wodehouse,
+and has nothing to do with ignoble hates or loves.
+
+The Curate went rapidly on to the green door, which once more looked
+like a gate of paradise. He did not know in the least what he was
+going to do or say--he was only conscious of a state of exaltation, a
+condition of mind which might precede great happiness or great misery,
+but had nothing in it of the common state of affairs in which people
+ask each other "How do you do?" Notwithstanding, the fact is, that
+when Lucy entered that dear familiar drawing-room, where every feature
+and individual expression of every piece of furniture was as well
+known to him as if they had been so many human faces, it was only "How
+do you do?" that the Curate found himself able to say. The two shook
+hands as demurely as if Lucy had indeed been, according to the
+deceptive representation of yesterday, as old as aunt Dora; and then
+she seated herself in her favourite chair, and tried to begin a little
+conversation about things in general. Even in these three days, nature
+and youth had done something for Lucy. She had slept and rested, and
+the unforeseen misfortune which had come in to distract her grief had
+roused all the natural strength that was in her. As she was a little
+nervous about this interview, not knowing what it might end in, Lucy
+thought it her duty to be as composed and self-commanding as possible,
+and, in order to avoid all dangerous and exciting subjects, began to
+talk of Wharfside.
+
+"I have not heard anything for three or four days about the poor woman
+at No. 10," she said; "I meant to have gone to see her to-day, but
+somehow one gets so selfish when--when one's mind is full of affairs
+of one's own."
+
+"Yes," said the Curate; "and speaking of that, I wanted to tell you
+how much comfort your letter had been to me. My head, too, has been
+very full of affairs of my own. I thought at one time that my friends
+were forsaking me. It was very good of you to write as you did."
+
+Upon which there followed another little pause. "Indeed the goodness
+was all on your side," said Lucy, faltering. "If I had ever dreamt how
+much you were doing for us! but it all came upon me so suddenly. It is
+impossible ever to express in words one-half of the gratitude we owe
+you," she said, with restrained enthusiasm. She looked up at him as
+she spoke with a little glow of natural fervour, which brought the
+colour to her cheek and the moisture to her eyes. She was not of the
+disposition to give either thanks or confidence by halves; and even
+the slight not unpleasant sense of danger which gave piquancy to this
+interview, made her resolute to express herself fully. She would not
+suffer herself to stint her gratitude because of the sweet suspicion
+which would not be quite silenced, that possibly Mr Wentworth looked
+for something better than gratitude. Not for any consequences, however
+much they might be to be avoided, could she be shabby enough to
+refrain from due acknowledgment of devotion so great. Therefore, while
+the Perpetual Curate was doing all he could to remind himself of his
+condition, and to persuade himself that it would be utterly wrong and
+mean of him to speak, Lucy looked up at him, looked him in the face,
+with her blue eyes shining dewy and sweet through tears of gratitude
+and a kind of generous admiration; for, like every other woman, she
+felt herself exalted and filled with a delicious pride in seeing that
+the man of her unconscious choice had proved himself the best.
+
+The Curate walked to the window, very much as Mr Proctor had done, in
+the tumult and confusion of his heart, and came back again with what
+he had to say written clear on his face, without any possibility of
+mistake. "I must speak," said the young man; "I have no right to
+speak, I know; if I had attained the height of self-sacrifice and
+self-denial, I might, I would be silent--but it is impossible now." He
+came to a break just then, looking at her to see what encouragement he
+had to go on; but as Lucy did nothing but listen and grow pale, he had
+to take his own way. "What I have to say is not anything new," said
+the Curate, labouring a little in his voice, as was inevitable when
+affairs had come to such a crisis, "if I were not in the cruelest
+position possible to a man. I have only an empty love to lay at your
+feet; I tell it to you only because I am obliged--because, after all,
+love is worth telling, even if it comes to nothing. I am not going to
+appeal to your generosity," continued the young man, kneeling down at
+the table, not by way of kneeling to Lucy, but by way of bringing
+himself on a level with her, where she sat with her head bent down on
+her low chair, "or to ask you to bind yourself to a man who has
+nothing in the world but love to offer you; but after what has been
+for years, after all the hours I have spent here, I cannot--part--I
+cannot let you go--without a word--"
+
+And here he stopped short. He had not asked anything, so that Lucy,
+even had she been able, had nothing to answer; and as for the young
+lover himself, he seemed to have come to the limit of his eloquence.
+He kept waiting for a moment, gazing at her in breathless expectation
+of a response for which his own words had left no room. Then he rose
+in an indescribable tumult of disappointment and mortification--unable
+to conclude that all was over, unable to keep silence, yet not knowing
+what to say.
+
+"I have been obliged to close all the doors of advancement upon
+myself," said the Curate, with a little bitterness; "I don't know if
+you understand me. At this moment I have to deny myself the dearest
+privilege of existence. Don't mistake me, Lucy," he said, after
+another pause, coming back to her with humility, "I don't venture to
+say that you would have accepted anything I had to offer; but this I
+mean, that to have a home for you now--to have a life for you ready to
+be laid at your feet, whether you would have had it or not;--what
+right have I to speak of such delights?" cried the young man. "It does
+not matter to you; and as for me, I have patience--patience to console
+myself with--"
+
+Poor Lucy, though she was on the verge of tears, which nothing but the
+most passionate self-restraint could have kept in, could not help a
+passing sensation of amusement at these words. "Not too much of that
+either," she said, softly, with a tremulous smile. "But patience
+carries the lilies of the saints," said Lucy, with a touch of the sweet
+asceticism which had once been so charming to the young Anglican. It
+brought him back like a spell to the common ground on which they used to
+meet; it brought him back also to his former position on his knee,
+which was embarrassing to Lucy, though she had not the heart to draw
+back, nor even to withdraw her hand, which somehow happened to be in Mr
+Wentworth's way.
+
+"I am but a man," said the young lover. "I would rather have the roses
+of life--but, Lucy, I am only a perpetual curate," he continued, with
+her hand in his. Her answer was made in the most heartless and
+indifferent words. She let two big drops--which fell like hail, though
+they were warmer than any summer rain--drop out of her eyes, and she
+said, with lips that had some difficulty in enunciating that heartless
+sentiment, "I don't see what it matters to me--"
+
+Which was true enough, though it did not sound encouraging; and it
+is dreadful to confess that, for a little while after, neither
+Skelmersdale, nor Wentworth, nor Mr Proctor's new rectory, nor the
+no-income of the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's, had the smallest place
+in the thoughts of either of these perfectly inconsiderate young people.
+For half an hour they were an Emperor and Empress seated upon two
+thrones, to which all the world was subject; and when at the end of that
+time they began to remember the world, it was but to laugh at it in
+their infinite youthful superiority. Then it became apparent that to
+remain in Carlingford, to work at "the district," to carry out all the
+ancient intentions of well-doing which had been the first bond between
+them, was, after all, the life of lives;--which was the state of mind
+they had both arrived at when Miss Wodehouse, who thought they had been
+too long together under the circumstances, and could not help wondering
+what Mr Wentworth could be saying, came into the room, rather flurried
+in her own person. She thought Lucy must have been telling the Curate
+about Mr Proctor and his hopes, and was, to tell the truth, a little
+curious how Mr Wentworth would take it, and a little--the very
+least--ashamed of encountering his critical looks. The condition of mind
+into which Miss Wodehouse was thrown when she perceived the real state
+of affairs would be difficult to describe. She was very glad and very
+sorry, and utterly puzzled how they were to live; and underneath all
+these varying emotions was a sudden, half-ludicrous, half-humiliating
+sense of being cast into the shade, which made Mr Proctor's _fiancée_
+laugh and made her cry, and brought her down altogether off the
+temporary pedestal upon which she had stepped, not without a little
+feminine satisfaction. When a woman is going to be married, especially
+if that marriage falls later than usual, it is natural that she should
+expect, for that time at least, to be the first and most prominent
+figure in her little circle. But, alas! what chance could there be for a
+mild, dove-coloured bride of forty beside a creature of half her age,
+endued with all the natural bloom and natural interest of youth?
+
+Miss Wodehouse could not quite make out her own feelings on the subject.
+"Don't you think if you had waited a little it would have been wiser?"
+she said, in her timid way; and then kissed her young sister, and said,
+"I am so glad, my darling--I am sure dear papa would have been pleased,"
+with a sob which brought back to Lucy the grief from which she had for
+the moment escaped. Under all the circumstances, however, it may well be
+supposed that it was rather hard upon Mr Wentworth to recollect that he
+had engaged to return to luncheon with the Squire, and to prepare
+himself after this momentous morning's work, to face all the
+complications of the family, where still Skelmersdale and Wentworth were
+hanging in the balance, and where the minds of his kith and kin were
+already too full of excitement to leave much room for another event. He
+went away reluctantly enough out of the momentary paradise where his
+Perpetual Curacy was a matter of utter indifference, if not a tender
+pleasantry, which rather increased than diminished the happiness of the
+moment--into the ordinary daylight world, where it was a very serious
+matter, and where what the young couple would have to live upon became
+the real question to be considered. Mr Wentworth met Wodehouse as he
+went out, which did not mend matters. The vagabond was loitering about
+in the garden, attended by one of Elsworthy's errand-boys, with whom he
+was in earnest conversation, and stopped in his talk to give a sulky nod
+and "Good morning," to which the Curate had no desire to respond more
+warmly than was necessary. Lucy was thinking of nothing but himself, and
+perhaps a little of the "great work" at Wharfside, which her father's
+illness and death had interrupted; but Mr Wentworth, who was only a man,
+remembered that Tom Wodehouse would be his brother-in-law with a
+distinct sensation of disgust, even in the moment of his triumph--which
+is one instance of the perennial inequality between the two halves of
+mankind. He had to brace himself up to the encounter of all his people,
+while she had to meet nothing less delightful than her own dreams. This
+was how matters came to an issue in respect of Frank Wentworth's
+personal happiness. His worldly affairs were all astray as yet, and he
+had not the most distant indication of any gleam of light dawning upon
+the horizon which could reconcile his duty and honour with good fortune
+and the delights of life. Meanwhile other discussions were going on in
+Carlingford, of vital importance to the two young people who had made up
+their minds to cast themselves upon Providence. And among the various
+conversations which were being carried on about the same moment in
+respect to Mr Wentworth--whose affairs, as was natural, were extensively
+canvassed in Grange Lane, as well as in other less exclusive
+quarters--it would be wrong to omit a remarkable consultation which took
+place in the Rectory, where Mrs Morgan sat in the midst of the great
+bouquets of the drawing-room carpet, making up her first matrimonial
+difficulty. It would be difficult to explain what influence the
+drawing-room carpet in the Rectory had on the fortunes of the Perpetual
+Curate; but when Mr Wentworth's friends come to hear the entire outs and
+ins of the business, it will be seen that it was not for nothing that
+Mr Proctor covered the floor of that pretty apartment with roses and
+lilies half a yard long.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+
+These were eventful days in Grange Lane, when gossip was not nearly
+rapid enough to follow the march of events. When Mr Wentworth went to
+lunch with his family, the two sisters kept together in the
+drawing-room, which seemed again re-consecrated to the purposes of
+life. Lucy had not much inclination just at that moment to move out of
+her chair; she was not sociable, to tell the truth, nor disposed to
+talk even about the new prospects which were brightening over both.
+She even took out her needlework, to the disgust of her sister. "When
+there are so many things to talk about, and so much to be considered,"
+Miss Wodehouse said, with a little indignation; and wondered within
+herself whether Lucy was really insensible to "what had happened," or
+whether the sense of duty was strong upon her little sister even in
+the height of her happiness. A woman of greater experience or
+discrimination might have perceived that Lucy had retired into that
+sacred silence, sweetest of all youthful privileges, in which she
+could dream over to herself the wonderful hour which had just come to
+an end, and the fair future of which it was the gateway. As for Miss
+Wodehouse herself, she was in a flutter, and could not get over the
+sense of haste and confusion which this last new incident had brought
+upon her. Things were going too fast around her, and the timid woman
+was out of breath. Lucy's composure at such a moment, and, above all,
+the production of her needlework, was beyond the comprehension of the
+elder sister.
+
+"My dear," said Miss Wodehouse, with an effort, "I don't doubt that
+these poor people are badly off, and I am sure it is very good of you
+to work for them; but if you will only think how many things there are
+to do! My darling, I am afraid you will have to--to make your own
+dresses in future, which is what I never thought to see," she said,
+putting her handkerchief to her eyes; "and we have not had any talk
+about anything, Lucy, and there are so many things to think of!" Miss
+Wodehouse, who was moving about the room as she spoke, began to lift
+her own books and special property off the centre table. The books
+were principally ancient Annuals in pretty bindings, which no
+representation on Lucy's part could induce her to think out of date;
+and among her other possessions was a little desk in Indian mosaic, of
+ivory, which had been an institution in the house from Lucy's earliest
+recollection. "And these are yours, Lucy dear," said Miss Wodehouse,
+standing up on a chair to take down from the wall two little pictures
+which hung side by side. They were copies both, and neither of great
+value; one representing the San Sisto Madonna, and the other a sweet
+St Agnes, whom Lucy had in her earlier days taken to her heart. Lucy's
+slumbering attention was roused by this sacrilegious act. She gave a
+little scream, and dropped her work out of her hands.
+
+"What do I mean?" said Miss Wodehouse; "indeed, Lucy dear, we must
+look it in the face. It is not our drawing-room any longer, you know."
+Here she made a pause, and sighed; but somehow a vision of the other
+drawing-room which was awaiting her in the new rectory, made the
+prospect less doleful than it might have been. She cleared up in a
+surprising way as she turned to look at her own property on the table.
+"My cousin Jack gave me this," said the gentle woman, brushing a
+little dust off her pretty desk. "When it came first, there was
+nothing like it in Carlingford, for that was before Colonel Chiley and
+those other Indian people had settled here. Jack was rather fond of
+me in those days, you know, though I never cared for him," the elder
+sister continued, with a smile. "Poor fellow! they said he was not
+very happy when he married." Though this was rather a sad fact, Miss
+Wodehouse announced it not without a certain gentle satisfaction.
+"And, Lucy dear, it is our duty to put aside our own things; they were
+all presents, you know," she said, standing up on the chair again to
+reach down the St Agnes, which, ever since Lucy had been confirmed,
+had hung opposite to her on the wall.
+
+"Oh, don't, don't!" cried Lucy. In that little bit of time, not more
+than five minutes as it appeared, the familiar room, which had just
+heard the romance of her youth, had come to have a dismantled and
+desolate look. The agent of this destruction, who saw in her mind's
+eye a new scene, altogether surpassing the old, looked complacently
+upon her work, and piled the abstracted articles on the top of each
+other, with a pleasant sense of property.
+
+"And your little chair and work-table are yours," said Miss Wodehouse;
+"they were always considered yours. You worked the chair yourself,
+though perhaps Miss Gibbons helped you a little; and the table you
+know, was sent home the day you were eighteen. It was--a present, you
+remember. Don't cry, my darling, don't cry; oh, I am sure I did not
+mean anything!" cried Miss Wodehouse, putting down the St Agnes and
+flying to her sister, about whom she threw her arms. "My hands are all
+dusty, dear," said the repentant woman; "but you know, Lucy, we must
+look it in the face, for it is not our drawing-room now. Tom may come
+in any day and say--oh, dear, dear, here is some one coming
+up-stairs!"
+
+Lucy extricated herself from her sister's arms when she heard
+footsteps outside. "If it is anybody who has a right to come, I
+suppose we are able to receive them," she said, and sat erect over her
+needlework, with a changed countenance, not condescending so much as
+to look towards the door.
+
+"But what if it should be Tom? Oh, Lucy dear, don't be uncivil to
+him," said the elder sister. Miss Wodehouse even made a furtive
+attempt to replace the things, in which she was indignantly stopped by
+Lucy. "But, my dear, perhaps it is Tom," said the alarmed woman, and
+sank trembling into a chair against the St Agnes, which had just been
+deposited there.
+
+"It does not matter who it is," said Lucy, with dignity. For her own
+part, she felt too much aggrieved to mention his name--aggrieved by
+her own ignorance, by the deception that had been practised upon her,
+by the character of the man whom she was obliged to call her brother,
+and chiefly by his existence, which was the principal grievance of
+all. Lucy's brief life had been embellished, almost ever since she had
+been capable of independent action, by deeds and thoughts of mercy.
+With her whole heart she was a disciple of Him who came to seek the
+lost; notwithstanding, a natural human sentiment in her heart
+protested against the existence of this man, who had brought shame and
+distress into the family without any act of theirs, and who injured
+everybody he came in contact with. When the thought of Rosa Elsworthy
+occurred to her, a burning blush came upon Lucy's cheek--why were such
+men permitted in God's world? To be sure, when she came to be aware of
+what she was thinking, Lucy felt guilty, and called herself a
+Pharisee, and said a prayer in her heart for the man who had upset all
+her cherished ideas of her family and home; but, after all, _that_ was
+an after-thought, and did not alter her instinctive sense of repulsion
+and indignation. All this swept rapidly through her mind while she sat
+awaiting the entrance of the person or persons who were approaching
+the door. "If it is the--owner of the house, it will be best to tell
+him what things you mean to remove," said Lucy; and before Miss
+Wodehouse could answer, the door was opened. They started, however, to
+perceive not Wodehouse, but a personage of very different appearance,
+who came in with an easy air of polite apology, and looked at them
+with eyes which recalled to Lucy the eyes which had been gazing into
+her own scarcely an hour ago. "Pardon me," said this unlooked-for
+visitor; "your brother, Miss Wodehouse, finds some difficulty in
+explaining himself to relations from whom he has been separated so
+long. Not to interfere with family privacy, will you let me assist at
+the conference?" said Jack Wentworth. "My brother, I understand, is a
+friend of yours, and your brother--is a--hem--friend of mine," the
+diplomatist added, scarcely able to avoid making a wry face over the
+statement. Wodehouse came in behind, looking an inch or two taller for
+that acknowledgment, and sat down, confronting his sisters, who were
+standing on the defensive. The heir, too, had a strong sense of
+property, as was natural, and the disarrangement of the room struck
+him in that point of view, especially as Miss Wodehouse continued to
+prop herself up against the St Agnes in the back of her chair.
+Wodehouse looked from the wall to the table, and saw what appeared to
+him a clear case of intended spoliation. "By Jove! they didn't mean to
+go empty-handed," said the vagabond, who naturally judged according to
+his own standard, and knew no better. Upon which Lucy, rising with
+youthful state and dignity, took the explanation upon herself.
+
+"I do not see why we should have the mortification of a spectator,"
+said Lucy, who already, having been engaged three-quarters of an hour,
+felt deeply disinclined to reveal the weak points of her own family to
+the inspection of the Wentworths. "All that there is to explain can be
+done very simply. Thank you, I will not sit down. Up to this time we
+may be allowed to imagine ourselves in our own--in our father's house.
+What we have to say is simple enough."
+
+"But pardon me, my dear Miss Wodehouse--" said Jack Wentworth.
+
+"My sister is Miss Wodehouse," said Lucy. "What there is to settle had
+better be arranged with our--our brother. If he will tell us precisely
+when he wishes us to go away, we shall be ready. Mary is going to be
+married," she went on, turning round so as to face Wodehouse, and
+addressing him pointedly, though she did not look at him--to the
+exclusion of Jack, who, experienced man as he was, felt disconcerted,
+and addressed himself with more precaution to a task which was less easy
+than he supposed.
+
+"Oh, Lucy!" cried Miss Wodehouse, with a blush worthy of eighteen. It
+was perhaps the first time that the fact had been so broadly stated,
+and the sudden announcement made before two men overwhelmed the timid
+woman. Then she was older than Lucy, and had picked up in the course
+of her career one or two inevitable scraps of experience, and she
+could not but wonder with a momentary qualm what Mr Proctor might
+think of his brother-in-law. Lucy, who thought Mr Proctor only too
+well off, went on without regarding her sister's exclamation.
+
+"I do not know when the marriage is to be--I don't suppose they have
+fixed it yet," said Lucy; "but it appears to me that it would save us
+all some trouble if we were allowed to remain until that time. I do
+not mean to ask any favour," she said, with a little more sharpness
+and less dignity. "We could pay rent for that matter, if--if it were
+desired. She is your sister," said Lucy, suddenly looking Wodehouse in
+the face, "as well as mine. I daresay she has done as much for you as
+she has for me. I don't ask any favour for her--but I would cut off my
+little finger if that would please her," cried the excited young
+woman, with a wildness of illustration so totally out of keeping with
+the matter referred to, that Miss Wodehouse, in the midst of her
+emotion, could scarcely restrain a scream of terror; "and you too
+might be willing to do something; you cannot have any kind of feeling
+for me," Lucy continued, recovering herself; "but you might perhaps
+have some feeling for Mary. If we can be permitted to remain until her
+marriage takes place, it may perhaps bring about--a feeling--more
+like--relations; and I shall be able to--"
+
+"Forgive you," Lucy was about to say, but fortunately stopped herself
+in time; for it was the fact of his existence that she had to forgive,
+and naturally such an amount of toleration was difficult to explain.
+As for Wodehouse himself, he listened to this appeal with very mingled
+feelings. Some natural admiration and liking woke in his dull mind as
+Lucy spoke. He was not destitute of good impulses, nor of the ordinary
+human affections. His little sister was pretty, and a lady, and clever
+enough to put Jack Wentworth much more in the background than usual.
+He said, "By Jove" to himself three or four times over in his beard,
+and showed a little emotion when she said he could have no feeling for
+her. At that point of Lucy's address he moved about uneasily in his
+chair, and plucked at his beard, and felt himself anything but
+comfortable. "By Jove! I never had a chance," the prodigal said, in
+his undertone. "I might have cared a deal for her if I had had a
+chance. She might have done a fellow good, by Jove!" mutterings of
+which Lucy took no manner of notice, but proceeded with her speech.
+When she had ended, and it became apparent that an answer was expected
+of him, Wodehouse flushed all over with the embarrassment of the
+position. He cleared his throat, he shifted his eyes, which were
+embarrassed by Lucy's gaze, he pushed his chair from the table, and
+made various attempts to collect himself, but at last ended by a
+pitiful appeal to Jack Wentworth, who had been looking seriously on.
+"You might come to a fellow's assistance!" cried Wodehouse. "By Jove!
+it was for that you came here."
+
+"The Miss Wodehouses evidently prefer to communicate with their brother
+direct," said Jack Wentworth, "which is a very natural sentiment. If I
+interfere, it is simply because I have had the advantage of talking the
+matter over, and understanding a little of what you mean. Miss
+Wodehouse, your brother is not disposed to act the part of a domestic
+tyrant. He has come here to offer you the house, which must have so many
+tender associations for you, not for a short period, as you wish, but
+for--"
+
+"I didn't know she was going to be married!" exclaimed Wodehouse--"that
+makes all the difference, by Jove! Lucy will marry fast enough; but as
+for Mary, I never thought she would hook any one at her time of life,"
+said the vagabond, with a rude laugh. He turned to Lucy, not knowing any
+better, and with some intention of pleasing her; but being met by a look
+of indignation under which he faltered, he went back to his natural rôle
+of sulky insolence. "By Jove! when I gave in to make such an offer, I
+never thought she had a chance of getting married," said the heir. "I
+aint going to give what belongs to me to another man--"
+
+"Your brother wishes," said Jack Wentworth, calmly, "to make over the
+house and furniture as it stands to you and your sister, Miss Wodehouse.
+Of course it is not to be expected that he should be sorry to get his
+father's property; but he is sorry that there should be no--no provision
+for you. He means that you should have the house--"
+
+"But I never thought she was going to be married, by Jove!" protested
+the rightful owner. "Look here, Molly; you shall have the furniture.
+The house would sell for a good bit of money. I tell you, Wentworth--"
+
+Jack Wentworth did not move from the mantlepiece where he was standing,
+but he cast a glance upon his unlucky follower which froze the words on
+his lips. "My good fellow, you are quite at liberty to decline my
+mediation in your affairs. Probably you can manage them better your own
+way," said Wodehouse's hero. "I can only beg the Miss Wodehouses to
+pardon my intrusion." Jack Wentworth's first step towards the door let
+loose a flood of nameless terrors upon the soul of his victim. If he
+were abandoned by his powerful protector, what would become of him? His
+very desire of money, and the avarice which prompted him to grudge
+making any provision for his sisters, was, after all, not real avarice,
+but the spendthrift's longing for more to spend. The house which he was
+sentenced to give up represented not so much gold and silver, but so
+many pleasures, fine dinners, and bad company. He could order the
+dinners by himself, it is true, and get men like himself to eat them;
+but the fine people--the men who had once been fine, and who still
+retained a certain tarnished glory--were, so far as Wodehouse was
+concerned, entirely in Jack Wentworth's keeping. He made a piteous
+appeal to his patron as the great man turned to go away.
+
+"I don't see what good it can do _you_ to rob a poor fellow!" cried
+Wodehouse. "But look here, I aint going to turn against your advice.
+I'll give it them, by Jove, for life--that is, for Mary's life," said
+the munificent brother. "She's twenty years older than Lucy--"
+
+"How do you dare to subject us to such insults?" cried the indignant
+Lucy, whose little hand clenched involuntarily in her passion. She had
+a great deal of self-control, but she was not quite equal to such an
+emergency; and it was all she could do to keep from stamping her foot,
+which was the only utterance of rage possible to a gentlewoman in her
+position. "I would rather see my father's house desecrated by you
+living in it," she cried, passionately, "than accept it as a gift from
+your hands. Mary, we are not obliged to submit to this. Let us rather
+go away at once. I will not remain in the same room with this man!"
+cried Lucy. She was so overwhelmed with her unwonted passion that she
+lost all command of the position, and even of herself, and was false
+for the moment to all her sweet codes of womanly behaviour. "How dare
+you, sir!" she cried in the sudden storm for which nobody was prepared.
+"We will remove the things belonging to us, with which nobody has any
+right to interfere, and we will leave immediately. Mary, come with me!"
+When she had said this, Lucy swept out of the room, pale as a little
+fury, and feeling in her heart a savage female inclination to strike
+Jack Wentworth, who opened the door for her, with her little white
+clenched hand. Too much excited to remark whether her sister had
+followed her, Lucy ran up-stairs to her room, and there gave way to the
+inevitable tears. Coming to herself after that was a terribly humbling
+process to the little Anglican. She had never fallen into a "passion"
+before that she knew of, certainly never since nursery times; and often
+enough her severe serene girlhood had looked reproving and surprised
+upon the tumults of Prickett's Lane, awing the belligerents into at
+least temporary silence. Now poor Lucy sat and cried over her downfall;
+she had forgotten herself; she had been conscious of an inclination to
+stamp, to scold, even to strike, in the vehemence of her indignation;
+and she was utterly overpowered by the thought of her guiltiness.
+"The very first temptation!" she said to herself; and made terrible
+reflections upon her own want of strength and endurance. To-day, too,
+of all days, when God had been so good to her! "If I yield to the first
+temptation like this, how shall I ever endure to the end?" cried Lucy,
+and in her heart thought, with a certain longing, of the sacrament of
+penance, and tried to think what she could do that would be most
+disagreeable, to the mortifying of the flesh. Perhaps if she had
+possessed a more lively sense of humour, another view of the subject
+might have struck Lucy; but humour, fortunately for the unity of human
+sentiment, is generally developed at a later period of life, and Lucy's
+fit of passion only made her think with greater tenderness and
+toleration of her termagants in Prickett's Lane.
+
+The three who were left down-stairs were in their different ways
+impressed by Lucy's passion. Jack Wentworth, being a man of humour and
+cultivation, was amused, but respectful, as having still a certain
+faculty of appreciating absolute purity when he saw it. As for
+Wodehouse, he gave another rude laugh, but was cowed, in spite of
+himself, and felt involuntarily what a shabby wretch he was,
+recognising that fact more impressively from the contempt of Lucy's
+pale face than he could have done through hours of argument. Miss
+Wodehouse, for her part, though very anxious and nervous, was not
+without an interest in the question under discussion. _She_ was not
+specially horrified by her brother, or anything he could say or do. He
+was Tom to her--a boy with whom she had once played, and whom she had
+shielded with all her sisterly might in his first transgressions. She
+had suffered a great deal more by his means than Lucy could ever
+suffer, and consequently was more tolerant of him. She kept her seat
+with the St Agnes in the chair behind, and watched the course of
+events with anxious steadiness. She did not care for money any more
+than Lucy did; but she could not help thinking it would be very
+pleasant if she could produce one good action on "poor Tom's" part to
+plead for him against any possible criticisms of the future. Miss
+Wodehouse was old enough to know that her Rector was not an ideal
+hero, but an ordinary man, and it was quite possible that he might
+point a future moral now and then with "that brother of yours, my
+dear." The elder sister waited accordingly, with her heart beating
+quick, to know the decision, very anxious that she might have at least
+one generous deed to record to the advantage of poor Tom.
+
+"I think we are quite decided on the point," said Jack Wentworth.
+"Knowing your sentiments, Wodehouse, I left directions with Waters
+about the papers. I think you will find him to be trusted, Miss
+Wodehouse, if you wish to consult him about letting or selling--"
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Wodehouse, under his breath.
+
+"Which, I suppose," continued the superb Jack, "you will wish to do
+under the pleasant circumstances, upon which I beg to offer you my
+congratulations. Now, Tom, my good fellow, I am at your service. I
+think we have done our business here."
+
+Wodehouse got up in his sulky reluctant way like a lazy dog. "I
+suppose you won't try to move the furniture now?" he said. These were
+the only adieux he intended to make, and perhaps they might have been
+expressed with still less civility, had not Jack Wentworth been
+standing waiting for him at the door.
+
+"Oh, Tom! I am so thankful you have done it!" cried Miss Wodehouse.
+"It is not that I care for the money; but oh, Tom, I am so glad to
+think nobody can say anything now." She followed them wistfully to the
+door, not giving up hopes of a kinder parting. "I think it is very
+kind and nice of you, and what dear papa would have wished," said the
+elder sister, forgetting how all her father's plans had been brought
+to nothing; "and of course you will live here all the same?" she said,
+with a little eagerness, "that is, till--till--as long as we are
+here--"
+
+"Good-bye, Miss Wodehouse," said Jack Wentworth. "I don't think either
+your brother or I will stay much longer in Carlingford. You must
+accept my best wishes for your happiness all the same."
+
+"You are very kind, I am sure," said the embarrassed bride; "and oh,
+Tom, you will surely say good-bye? Say good-bye once as if you meant
+it; don't go away as if you did not care. Tom, I always was very fond
+of you; and don't you feel a little different to us, now you've done
+us a kindness?" cried Miss Wodehouse, going out after him to the
+landing-place. But Wodehouse was in no humour to be gracious. Instead
+of paying any attention to her, he looked regretfully at the property
+he had lost.
+
+"Good-bye," he said, vaguely. "By Jove! I know better than Jack
+Wentworth does the value of property. We might have had a jolly month at
+Homburg out of that old place," said the prodigal, with regret, as he
+went down the old-fashioned oak stair. That was his farewell to the
+house which he had entered so disastrously on the day of his father's
+funeral. He followed his leader with a sulky aspect through the garden,
+not venturing to disobey, but yet feeling the weight of his chains. And
+this was how Wodehouse accomplished his personal share in the gift to
+his sisters, of which Miss Wodehouse told everybody that it was "so good
+of Tom!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+
+"Going to be married!" said the Squire; "and to a sister of--I thought
+you told me she was as old as Dora, Frank? I did not expect to meet with
+any further complications," the old man said, plaintively: "of course
+you know very well I don't object to your marrying; but why on earth did
+you let me speak of Wentworth Rectory to Huxtable?" cried Mr Wentworth.
+He was almost more impatient about this new variety in the family
+circumstances than he had been of more serious family distresses. "God
+bless me, sir," said the Squire, "what do you mean by it? You take means
+to affront your aunts and lose Skelmersdale; and then you put it into my
+head to have Mary at Wentworth; and then you quarrel with the Rector,
+and get into hot water in Carlingford; and, to make an end of all, you
+coolly propose to an innocent young woman, and tell me you are going to
+marry--what on earth do you mean?"
+
+"I am going to marry some time, sir, I hope," said the Perpetual
+Curate, with more cheerfulness than he felt; "but not at the present
+moment. Of course we both know that is impossible. I should like you
+to come with me and see her before you leave Carlingford. She would
+like it, and so should I."
+
+"Well, well," said the Squire. Naturally, having been married so often
+himself, he could not refuse a certain response to such a call upon his
+sympathy. "I hope you have made a wise choice," said the experienced
+father, not without a sigh; "a great deal depends upon that--not only
+your own comfort, sir, but very often the character of your children and
+the credit of the family. You may laugh," said Mr Wentworth, to whom it
+was no laughing matter; "but long before you are as old as I am, you
+will know the truth of what I say. Your mother, Frank, was a specimen of
+what a woman ought to be--not to speak of her own children, there was
+nobody else who ever knew how to manage Gerald and Jack. Of course I am
+not speaking of Mrs Wentworth, who has her nursery to occupy her," said
+the Squire, apologetically. "I hope you have made a judicious choice."
+
+"I hope so, too," said Frank, who was somewhat amused by this view of
+the question--"though I am not aware of having exercised any special
+choice in the matter," he added, with a laugh. "However, I want you to
+come with me and see her, and then you will be able to judge for
+yourself."
+
+The Squire shook his head, and looked as if he had travelled back into
+the heavy roll of family distresses. "I don't mean to upbraid you,
+Frank," he said--"I daresay you have done what you thought was your
+duty--but I think you might have taken a little pains to satisfy
+your aunt Leonora. You see what Gerald has made of it, with all
+his decorations and nonsense. That is a dreadful drawback with you
+clergymen. You fix your eyes so on one point that you get to think
+things important that are not in the least important. Could you imagine
+a man of the world like Jack--he is not what I could wish, but still he
+is a man of the world," said the Squire, who was capable of contradicting
+himself with perfect composure without knowing it. "Can you imagine
+_him_ risking his prospects for a bit of external decoration? I don't
+mind it myself," said Mr Wentworth, impartially--"I don't pretend to
+see, for my own part, why flowers at Easter should be considered more
+superstitious than holly at Christmas; but, bless my soul, sir, when
+your aunt thought so, what was the good of running right in her face for
+such a trifle? I never could understand you parsons," the Squire said,
+with an impatient sigh--"nobody, that I know of, ever considered me
+mercenary; but to ruin your own prospects, all for a trumpery bunch of
+flowers, and then to come and tell me you want to marry--"
+
+This was before luncheon, when Frank and his father were together in
+the dining-room waiting for the other members of the family, who began
+to arrive at this moment, and prevented any further discussion. After
+all, perhaps, it was a little ungenerous of the Squire to press his
+son so hard on the subject of those innocent Easter lilies, long ago
+withered, which certainly, looked at from this distance, did not
+appear important enough to sacrifice any prospects for. This was all
+the harder upon the unfortunate Curate, as even at the time his
+conviction of their necessity had not proved equal to the satisfactory
+settlement of the question. Miss Wentworth's cook was an _artiste_ so
+irreproachable that the luncheon provided was in itself perfect; but
+notwithstanding it was an uncomfortable meal. Miss Leonora, in
+consequence of the contest going on in her own mind, was in an
+explosive and highly dangerous condition, not safe to be spoken to;
+and as for the Squire, he could not restrain the chance utterances of
+his impatience. Frank, who did his best to make himself agreeable as
+magnanimity required, had the mortification of hearing himself
+discussed in different tones of disapprobation while he ate his cold
+beef; for Mr Wentworth's broken sentences were not long of putting the
+party in possession of the new event, and the Perpetual Curate found
+himself the object of many wondering and pitying glances, in none of
+which could he read pure sympathy, much less congratulation. Even
+Gerald looked at him with a little elevation of his eyebrows, as if
+wondering how anybody could take the trouble to occupy his mind with
+such trifling temporal affairs as love and marriage. It was a
+wonderful relief to the unfortunate Curate when Miss Leonora had
+finished her glass of madeira, and rose from the table. He had no
+inclination to go up-stairs, for his own part. "When you are ready,
+sir, you will find me in the garden," he said to his father, who was
+to leave Carlingford next morning, and whom he had set his heart on
+taking to see Lucy. But his walk in the garden was far from being
+delightful to Frank. It even occurred to him, for a moment, that it
+would be a very good thing if a man could cut himself adrift from his
+relations at such a crisis of his life. After all, it was his own
+business--the act most essentially personal of his entire existence;
+and then, with a little softening, he began to think of the girls at
+home--of the little sister, who had a love-story of her own; and of
+Letty, who was Frank's favourite, and had often confided to him the
+enthusiasm she would feel for his bride. "If she is nice," Letty was
+in the habit of adding, "and of course she will be nice,"--and at that
+thought the heart of the young lover escaped, and put forth its wings,
+and went off into that heaven of ideal excellence and beauty, more
+sweet, because more vague, than anything real, which stands instead of
+the old working-day skies and clouds at such a period of life. He had
+to drop down from a great height, and get rid in all haste of his
+celestial pinions, when he heard his aunt Dora calling him; and his
+self-command was not sufficient to conceal, as he obeyed that summons,
+a certain annoyed expression in his face.
+
+"Frank," said Miss Dora, coming softly after him with her handkerchief
+held over her head as a defence from the sun--"oh, Frank, I want to
+speak to you. I couldn't say anything at lunch because of everybody
+being there. If you would only stop a moment till I get my breath.
+Frank, my dear boy, I wish you joy. I do wish you joy with all my
+heart. I should so like just to go and kiss her, and tell her I shall
+love her for your sake."
+
+"You will soon love her for her own sake," said Frank, to whom even
+this simple-minded sympathy was very grateful; "she is a great deal
+better than I am."
+
+"There is just one thing," said Miss Dora. "Oh, Frank, my dear, you
+know I don't pretend to be clever, like Leonora, or able to give you
+advice; but there _is_ one thing. You know you have nothing to marry
+upon, and all has gone wrong. You are not to have Wentworth, and you
+are not to have Skelmersdale, and I think the family is going out of
+its senses not to see who is the most worthy. You have got nothing to
+live upon, my dear, dear boy!" said Miss Dora, withdrawing the
+handkerchief from her head in the excitement of the moment to apply it
+to her eyes.
+
+"That is true enough," said the Perpetual Curate; "but then we have
+not made up our minds that we must marry immediately--"
+
+"Frank," said aunt Dora, with solemnity, breaking into his speech,
+"there is just _one_ thing; and I can't hold my tongue, though it may
+be very foolish, and they will all say it is my fault." It was a very
+quiet summer-day, but still there was a faint rustle in the branches
+which alarmed the timid woman. She put her hand upon her nephew's arm,
+and hastened him on to the little summer-house in the wall, which was
+her special retirement. "Nobody ever comes here," said Miss Dora;
+"they will never think of looking for us here. I am sure I never
+interfere with Leonora's arrangements, nor take anything upon myself;
+but there is one thing, Frank--"
+
+"Yes," said the Curate, "I understand what you mean: you are going to
+warn me about love in a cottage, and how foolish it would be to marry
+upon nothing; but, my dear aunt, we are not going to do anything rash;
+there is no such dreadful haste; don't be agitated about it," said the
+young man, with a smile. He was half amused and half irritated by the
+earnestness which almost took away the poor lady's breath.
+
+"You _don't_ know what I mean," said aunt Dora. "Frank, you know very
+well I never interfere; but I can't help being agitated when I see
+you on the brink of such a precipice. Oh, my dear boy, don't be
+over-persuaded. There _is_ one thing, and I must say it if I should
+die." She had to pause a little to recover her voice, for haste and
+excitement had a tendency to make her inarticulate. "Frank," said
+Miss Dora again, more solemnly than ever, "whatever you may be obliged
+to do--though you were to write novels, or take pupils, or do
+translations--oh, Frank, don't look at me like that, as if I was going
+crazy. Whatever you may have to do, oh my dear, there is one
+thing--don't go and break people's hearts, and put it off, and put it
+off, till it never happens!" cried the trembling little woman, with a
+sudden burst of tears. "Don't say you can wait, for you can't wait, and
+you oughtn't to!" sobbed Miss Dora. She subsided altogether into her
+handkerchief and her chair as she uttered this startling and wholly
+unexpected piece of advice, and lay there in a little heap, all
+dissolving and floating away, overcome with her great effort, while her
+nephew stood looking at her from a height of astonishment almost too
+extreme for wondering. If the trees could have found a voice and
+counselled his immediate marriage, he could scarcely have been more
+surprised.
+
+"You think I am losing my senses too," said aunt Dora; "but that is
+because you don't understand me. Oh Frank, my dear boy, there was once
+a time!--perhaps everybody has forgotten it except me, but I have not
+forgotten it. They treated me like a baby, and Leonora had everything
+her own way. I don't mean to say it was not for the best," said the
+aggrieved woman. "I know everything is for the best, if we could but
+see it: and perhaps Leonora was right when she said I never could have
+struggled with--with a family, nor lived on a poor man's income. My
+dear, it was before your uncle Charley died; and when we became rich,
+it--didn't matter," said Miss Dora; "it was all over before then. Oh
+Frank! if I hadn't experience I wouldn't say a word. I don't interfere
+about your opinions, like Leonora. There is just _one_ thing," cried
+the poor lady through her tears. Perhaps it was the recollection of
+the past which overcame Miss Dora, perhaps the force of habit which
+had made it natural for her to cry when she was much moved; but the
+fact is certain, that the Squire, when he came to the door of the
+summer-house in search of Frank, found his sister weeping bitterly,
+and his son making efforts to console her, in which some sympathy was
+mingled with a certain half-amusement. Frank, like Lucy, felt tempted
+to laugh at the elderly romance; and yet his heart expanded warmly to
+his tender little foolish aunt, who, after all, might once have been
+young and in love like himself, though it was so odd to realise it. Mr
+Wentworth, for his part, saw no humour whatever in the scene. He
+thought nothing less than that some fresh complication had taken
+place. Jack had committed some new enormity, or there was bad news
+from Charley in Malta, or unpleasant letters had come from home.
+"Bless my soul, sir, something new has happened," said the Squire; and
+he was scarcely reassured, when Miss Dora stumbled up from her chair in
+great confusion, and wiped the tears from her eyes. He was suspicious of
+this meeting in the summer-house, which seemed a quite unnecessary
+proceeding to Mr Wentworth; and though he flattered himself he
+understood women, he could not give any reasonable explanation to
+himself of Dora's tears.
+
+"It is nothing--nothing at all," said Miss Dora: "it was not Frank's
+doing in the least; he is always so considerate, and such a dear
+fellow. Thank you, my dear boy; my head is a little better; I think I
+will go in and lie down," said the unlucky aunt. "You are not to mind
+me now, for I have quite got over my little attack; I always was so
+nervous," said Miss Dora; "and I sometimes wonder whether it isn't the
+Wentworth complaint coming on," she added, with a natural female
+artifice which was not without its effect.
+
+"I wish you would not talk nonsense," said the Squire. "The Wentworth
+complaint is nothing to laugh at, but you are perfectly aware that it
+never attacks women." Mr Wentworth spoke with a little natural
+irritation, displeased to have his prerogative interfered with. When a
+man has all the suffering attendant upon a special complaint, it is
+hard not to have all the dignity. He felt so much and so justly
+annoyed by Miss Dora's vain pretensions, that he forgot his anxiety
+about the secret conference in the summer-house. "Women take such
+fantastic ideas into their heads," he said to his son as they went
+away together. "Your aunt Dora is the kindest soul in the world; but
+now and then, sir, she is very absurd," said the Squire. He could not
+get this presumptuous notion out of his head, but returned to it again
+and again, even after they had got into Grange Lane. "It has been in
+our family for two hundred years," said Mr Wentworth; "and I don't
+think there is a single instance of its attacking a woman--not even
+slightly, sir," the Squire added, with irritation, as if Frank had
+taken the part of the female members of the family, which indeed the
+Curate had no thought of doing.
+
+Miss Dora, for her part, having made this very successful diversion,
+escaped to the house, and to her own room, where she indulged in a
+headache all the afternoon, and certain tender recollections which
+were a wonderful resource at all times to the soft-hearted woman. "Oh,
+my dear boy, don't be over-persuaded," she had whispered into Frank's
+ear as she left him; and her remonstrance, simple as it was, had no
+doubt produced a considerable effect upon the mind of the Perpetual
+Curate. He could not help thinking, as they emerged into the road,
+that it was chiefly the impatient and undutiful who secured their
+happiness. Those who were constant and patient, and able to deny
+themselves, instead of being rewarded for their higher qualities,
+were, on the contrary, put to the full test of the strength that was
+in them; while those who would not wait attained what they wanted, and
+on the whole, as to other matters, got on just as well as their
+stronger-minded neighbours. This germ of thought, it may be supposed,
+was stimulated into very warm life by the reflection that Lucy would
+have to leave Carlingford with her sister, without any definite
+prospect of returning again; and a certain flush of impatience came
+over the young man, not unnatural in the circumstances. It seemed to
+him that everybody else took their own way without waiting; and why
+should it be so certain that he alone, whose "way" implied harm to no
+one, should be the only man condemned to wait? Thus it will be seen
+that the "just one thing" insisted on by Miss Dora was far from being
+without effect on the mind of her nephew; upon whom, indeed, the
+events of the morning had wrought various changes of sentiment. When
+he walked up Grange Lane for the first time, it had been without any
+acknowledged intention of opening his mind to Lucy, and yet he had
+returned along the same prosaic and unsympathetic line of road her
+accepted lover; her accepted lover, triumphant in that fact, but
+without the least opening of any hope before him as to the conclusion
+of the engagement, which prudence had no hand in making. Now the
+footsteps of the Perpetual Curate fell firmly, not to say a little
+impatiently, upon the road over which he had carried so many varying
+thoughts. He was as penniless as ever, and as prospectless; but in the
+tossings of his natural impatience the young man had felt the reins
+hang loosely about his head, and knew that he was no more restrained
+than other men, but might, if he chose it, have his way like the rest
+of the world. It was true enough that he might have to pay for it
+after, as other people had done; but in the mean time the sense that
+he was his own master was sweet, and to have his will for once seemed
+no more than his right in the world. While these rebellious thoughts
+were going on in the Curate's mind, his father, who suspected nothing,
+went steadily by his side, not without a little reluctance at the
+thought of the errand on which he was bound. "But they can't marry for
+years, and nobody can tell what may happen in that time," Mr Wentworth
+said to himself, with the callousness of mature age, not suspecting
+the different ideas that were afloat in the mind of his son. Perhaps,
+on the whole, he was not sorry that Skelmersdale was destined
+otherwise, and that Huxtable had been spoken to about Wentworth
+Rectory; for, of course, Frank would have plunged into marriage at
+once if he had been possessed of anything to marry on; and it looked
+providential under the circumstances, as the Squire argued with
+himself privately, that at such a crisis the Perpetual Curate should
+have fallen between two stools of possible preferment, and should
+still be obliged to content himself with St Roque's. It was hard for
+Mr Wentworth to reconcile himself to the idea that the wife of his
+favourite son should be the sister of--; for the Squire forgot that
+his own girls were Jack Wentworth's sisters, and as such might be
+objected to in their turn by some other father. So the two gentlemen
+went to see Lucy, who was then in a very humble frame of mind, just
+recovered from her passion--one of them rather congratulating himself
+on the obstacles which lay before the young couple, the other tossing
+his youthful head a little in the first impulses of self-will, feeling
+the reins lie loose upon him, and making up his mind to have his own
+way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+
+While Mr Frank Wentworth's affairs were thus gathering to a crisis,
+other events likely to influence his fate were also taking place in
+Carlingford. Breakfast had been served a full half-hour later than
+usual in the Rectory, which had not improved the temper of the
+household. Everything was going on with the most wonderful quietness
+in that well-arranged house; but it was a quietness which would have
+made a sensitive visitor uncomfortable, and which woke horrible
+private qualms in the mind of the Rector. As for Mrs Morgan, she
+fulfilled all her duties with a precision which was terrible to
+behold: instead of taking part in the conversation as usual, and
+having her own opinion, she had suddenly become possessed of such a
+spirit of meekness and acquiescence as filled her husband with dismay.
+The Rector was fond of his wife, and proud of her good sense, and her
+judgment, and powers of conversation. If she had been angry and found
+fault with him, he might have understood that mode of procedure; but
+as she was not angry, but only silent, the excellent man was terribly
+disconcerted, and could not tell what to do. He had done all he could
+to be conciliatory, and had already entered upon a great many
+explanations which had come to nothing for want of any response; and
+now she sat at the head of the table making tea with an imperturbable
+countenance, sometimes making little observations about the news,
+perfectly calm and dignified, but taking no part in anything more
+interesting, and turning off any reference that was made to her in the
+most skilful manner. "Mr Morgan knows I never take any part in the
+gossip of Carlingford," she said to Mr Proctor, without any intention
+of wounding that good man; and he who had been in the midst of
+something about Mr Wentworth came to an abrupt stop with the sense of
+having shown himself as a gossip, which was very injurious to his
+dignity. The late Rector, indeed, occupied a very uncomfortable
+position between the married people thus engaged in the absorbing
+excitement of their first quarrel. The quiet little arrows, which Mrs
+Morgan intended only for her husband, grazed and stung him as they
+passed, without missing at the same time their intended aim; and he
+was the auditor, besides, of a great deal of information intended by
+the Rector for his wife's benefit, to which Mrs Morgan paid no manner
+of attention. Mr Proctor was not a man of very lively observation, but
+he could not quite shut his eyes to the position of affairs; and the
+natural effect upon his mind, in the circumstances, was to turn his
+thoughts towards his mild Mary, whom he did not quite recognise as yet
+under her Christian name. He called her Miss Wodehouse in his heart
+even while in the act of making comparisons very unfavourable to the
+Rector's wife, and then he introduced benevolently the subject of his
+new rectory, which surely must be safe ground.
+
+"It is a pretty little place," Mr Proctor said, with satisfaction: "of
+course it is but a small living compared to Carlingford. I hope you
+will come and see me, after--it is furnished," said the bashful
+bridegroom: "it is a nuisance to have all that to look after for one's
+self--"
+
+"I hope you will have somebody to help you," said Mrs Morgan, with a
+little earnestness; "gentlemen don't understand about such things.
+When you have one piece of furniture in bad taste, it spoils a whole
+room--carpets, for instance--" said the Rector's wife. She looked at
+Mr Proctor so severely that the good man faltered, though he was not
+aware of the full extent of his guiltiness.
+
+"I am sure I don't know," he said: "I told the man here to provide
+everything as it ought to be; and I think we were very successful,"
+continued Mr Proctor, with a little complacency: to be sure, they were
+in the dining-room at the moment, being still at the breakfast-table.
+"Buller knows a great deal about that sort of thing, but then he is too
+ecclesiological for my taste. I like things to look cheerful," said the
+unsuspicious man. "Buller is the only man that could be reckoned on if
+any living were to fall vacant. It is very odd nowadays how indifferent
+men are about the Church. I don't say that it is not very pleasant at
+All-Souls; but a house of one's own, you know--" said Mr Proctor,
+looking with a little awkward enthusiasm at his recently-married
+brother; "of course I mean a sphere--a career--"
+
+"Oh, ah, yes," said Mr Morgan, with momentary gruffness; "but
+everything has its drawbacks. I don't think Buller would take a
+living. He knows too well what's comfortable," said the suffering man.
+"The next living that falls will have to go to some one out of the
+college," said Mr Morgan. He spoke with a tone of importance and
+significance which moved Mr Proctor, though he was not rapid in his
+perceptions, to look across at him for further information.
+
+"Most people have some crotchet or other," said the Rector. "When a
+man's views are clear about subscription, and that sort of thing, he
+generally goes as far wrong the other way. Buller might go out to
+Central Africa, perhaps, if there was a bishopric of Wahuma--or what
+is the name, my dear, in that Nile book?"
+
+"I have not read it," said Mrs Morgan, and she made no further remark.
+
+Thus discouraged in his little attempt at amity, the Rector resumed
+after a moment, "Wentworth's brother has sent in his resignation to
+his bishop. There is no doubt about it any longer. I thought that
+delusion had been over, at all events; and I suppose now Wentworth
+will be provided for," said Mr Morgan, not without a little anxiety.
+
+"No; they are all equally crotchety, I think," said Mr Proctor. "I
+know about them, through my--my connection with the Wodehouses, you
+know. I should not wonder, for my own part, if he went after his
+brother, who is a very intelligent man, though mistaken," the late
+Rector added, with respect. "As for Frank Wentworth, he is a little
+hot-headed. I had a long conversation the other night with the elder
+brother. I tried to draw him out about Burgon's book, but he declined
+to enter into the question. Frank has made up his mind to stay in
+Carlingford. I understand he thinks it right on account of his
+character being called in question here; though, of course, no one in
+his senses could have had any doubt how _that_ would turn out," said
+Mr Proctor, forgetting that he himself had been very doubtful about
+the Curate. "From what I hear, they are all very crotchety," he
+continued, and finished his breakfast calmly, as if that settled the
+question. As for Mrs Morgan, even this interesting statement had no
+effect upon her. She looked up suddenly at one moment as if intending
+to dart a reproachful glance at her husband, but bethought herself in
+time, and remained passive as before; not the less, however, was she
+moved by what she had just heard. It was not Mr Wentworth she was
+thinking of, except in a very secondary degree. What occupied her, and
+made her reflections bitter, was the thought that her husband--the man
+to whom she had been faithful for ten weary years--had taken himself
+down off the pedestal on which she had placed him. "To make idols, and
+to find them clay," she said plaintively in her own mind. Women were
+all fools to spend their time and strength in constructing such
+pedestals, Mrs Morgan thought to herself with bitterness; and as to
+the men who were so perpetually dethroning themselves, how were they
+to be designated? To think of her William, of whom she had once made a
+hero, ruining thus, for a little petty malice and rivalry, the
+prospects of another man! While these painful reflections were going
+through her mind, she was putting away her tea-caddy, and preparing to
+leave the gentlemen to their own affairs. "We shall see you at dinner
+at six," she said, with a constrained little smile, to Mr Proctor, and
+went up-stairs with her key-basket in her hand without taking any
+special notice of the Rector. Mr Leeson was to come to dinner that day
+legitimately by invitation, and Mrs Morgan, who felt it would be a
+little consolation to disappoint the hungry Curate for once, was
+making up her mind, as she went up-stairs, not to have the All-Souls
+pudding, of which he showed so high an appreciation. It almost seemed
+to her as if this spark of ill-nature was receiving a summary
+chastisement, when she heard steps ascending behind her. Mrs Morgan
+objected to have men lounging about her drawing-room in the morning.
+She thought Mr Proctor was coming to bestow a little more of his
+confidence upon her, and perhaps to consult her about his furnishing;
+and being occupied by her own troubles, she had no patience for a
+tiresome, middle-aged lover, who no doubt was going to disappoint and
+disenchant another woman. She sat down, accordingly, with a sigh of
+impatience at her work-table, turning her back to the door. Perhaps,
+when he saw her inhospitable attitude, he might go away and not bother
+her. And Mrs Morgan took out some stockings to darn, as being a
+discontented occupation, and was considering within herself what
+simple preparation she could have instead of the All-Souls pudding,
+when, looking up suddenly, she saw, not Mr Proctor, but the Rector,
+standing looking down upon her within a few steps of her chair. When
+she perceived him, it was not in nature to refrain from certain
+symptoms of agitation. The thoughts she had been indulging in brought
+suddenly a rush of guilty colour to her face; but she commanded
+herself as well as she could, and went on darning her stockings, with
+her heart beating very loud in her breast.
+
+"My dear," said the Rector, taking a seat near her, "I don't know what
+it is that has risen between us. We look as if we had quarrelled; and
+I thought we had made up our minds never to quarrel." The words were
+rather soft in their signification, but Mr Morgan could not help
+speaking severely, as was natural to his voice; which was perhaps, in
+the present case, all the better for his wife.
+
+"I don't know what you may consider quarrelling, William," said Mrs
+Morgan, "but I am sure I have never made any complaint."
+
+"No," said the Rector; "I have seen women do that before. You don't
+make any complaint, but you look as if you disapproved of everything.
+I feel it all the more just now because I want to consult you; and,
+after all, the occasion was no such--"
+
+"I never said there was any occasion. I am sure I never made any
+complaint. You said you wanted to consult me, William?" Mrs Morgan
+went on darning her stockings while she was speaking, and the Rector,
+like most other men, objected to be spoken to by the lips only. He
+would have liked to toss the stocking out of the window, though it
+was his own, and the task of repairing it was one of a devoted wife's
+first duties, according to the code of female proprieties in which
+both the husband and wife had been brought up.
+
+"Yes," said the Rector, with a sigh. "The truth is, I have just got a
+letter from Harry Scarsfield, who was my pet pupil long ago. He tells
+me my father's old rectory is vacant, where we were all brought up.
+There used to be a constant intercourse between the Hall and the Rectory
+when I was a lad. They are very nice people the Scarsfields--at least
+they used to be very nice people; and Harry has his mother living with
+him, and the family has never been broken up, I believe. We used to
+know everybody about there," said Mr Morgan, abandoning himself to
+recollections in a manner most mysterious to his wife. "There is the
+letter, my dear," and he put it down upon her table, and began to play
+with the reels of cotton in her workbox unconsciously, as he had not
+done for a long time; which, unawares to herself, had a softening
+influence upon Mrs Morgan's heart.
+
+"I do not know anything about the Scarsfields," she said, without
+taking up the letter, "and I cannot see what you have to do with this.
+Does he wish you to recommend some one?" Mrs Morgan added, with a
+momentary interest; for she had, of course, like other people, a
+relation in a poor living, whom it would have been satisfactory to
+recommend.
+
+"He says I may have it if I have a mind," said the Rector curtly,
+betraying a little aggravation in his tone.
+
+"You, William?" said Mrs Morgan. She was so much surprised that she laid
+down her stocking and looked him straight in the face, which she had not
+done for many days; and it was wonderful how hard she found it to keep up
+her reserve, after having once looked her husband in the eyes. "But it is
+not much more than six months since you were settled in Carlingford,"
+she said, still lost in amazement. "You cannot possibly mean to make a
+change so soon? and then the difference of the position," said the
+Rector's wife. As she looked at him, she became more and more aware of
+some meaning in his face which she did not understand; and more and more,
+as it became necessary to understand him, the reserves and self-defences
+of the first quarrel gave way and dispersed. "I don't think I quite know
+what you mean," she said, faltering a little. "I don't understand why
+you should think of a change."
+
+"A good country living is a very good position," said the Rector; "it is
+not nearly so troublesome as a town like Carlingford. There is no
+Dissent that I know of, and no--" (here Mr Morgan paused for a moment,
+not knowing what word to use)--"no disturbing influences: of course I
+would not take such a step without your concurrence, my dear," the
+Rector continued; and then there followed a bewildering pause. Mrs
+Morgan's first sensation after the astonishment with which she heard
+this strange proposal was mortification--the vivid shame and vexation of
+a woman when she is obliged to own to herself that her husband has been
+worsted, and is retiring from the field.
+
+"If you think it right--if you think it best--of course I can have
+nothing to say," said the Rector's wife; and she took up her stocking
+with a stinging sense of discomfiture. She had meant that her husband
+should be the first man in Carlingford--that he should gain everybody's
+respect and veneration, and become the ideal parish-priest of that
+favourite and fortunate place. Every kind of good work and benevolent
+undertaking was to be connected with his name, according to the visions
+which Mrs Morgan had framed when she came first to Carlingford, not
+without such a participation on her own part as should entitle her to
+the milder glory appertaining to the good Rector's wife. All these hopes
+were now to be blotted out ignominiously. Defeat and retreat and failure
+were to be the conclusion of their first essay at life. "You are the
+best judge of what you ought to do," she said, with as much calmness as
+she could muster, but she could have dropped bitter tears upon the
+stocking she was mending if that would have done any good.
+
+"I will do nothing without your consent," said the Rector. "Young
+Wentworth is going to stay in Carlingford. You need not look up so
+sharply, as if you were vexed to think _that_ had anything to do with
+it. If he had not behaved like a fool, I never could have been led
+into such a mistake," said Mr Morgan, with indignation, taking a
+little walk to the other end of the room to refresh himself. "At the
+same time," said the Rector, severely, coming back after a pause, "to
+show any ill-feeling would be very unchristian either on your side or
+mine. If I were to accept Harry Scarsfield's offer, Proctor and I
+would do all we could to have young Wentworth appointed to
+Carlingford. There is nobody just now at All-Souls to take the living;
+and however much you may disapprove of him, my dear," said Mr Morgan,
+with increasing severity, "there is nothing that I know to be said
+against him as a clergyman. If you can make up your mind to consent to
+it, and can see affairs in the same light as they appear to me, that
+is what I intend to do--"
+
+Mrs Morgan's stocking had dropped on her knees as she listened; then it
+dropped on the floor, and she took no notice of it. When the Rector had
+finally delivered himself of his sentiments, which he did in the voice
+of a judge who was condemning some unfortunate to the utmost penalties
+of the law, his wife marked the conclusion of the sentence by a sob of
+strange excitement. She kept gazing at him for a few moments without
+feeling able to speak, and then she put down her face into her hands.
+Words were too feeble to give utterance to her feelings at such a
+supreme moment. "Oh, William, I wonder if you can ever forgive me,"
+sobbed the Rector's wife, with a depth of compunction which he, good
+man, was totally unprepared to meet, and knew no occasion for. He was
+even at the moment a little puzzled to have such a despairing petition
+addressed to him. "I hope so, my dear," he said, very sedately, as he
+came and sat down beside her, and could not refrain from uttering a
+little lecture upon temper, which fortunately Mrs Morgan was too much
+excited to pay any attention to. "It would be a great deal better if you
+did not give way to your feelings," said the Rector; "but in the mean
+time, my dear, it is your advice I want, for we must not take such a
+step unadvisedly," and he lifted up the stocking that had fallen, and
+contemplated, not without surprise, the emotion of his wife. The
+excellent man was as entirely unconscious that he was being put up again
+at that moment with acclamations upon his pedestal, as that he had at a
+former time been violently displaced from it, and thrown into the
+category of broken idols. All this would have been as Sanscrit to the
+Rector of Carlingford; and the only resource he had was to make in his
+own mind certain half-pitying, half-affectionate remarks upon the
+inexplicable weakness of women, and to pick up the stocking which his
+wife was darning, and finally to stroke her hair, which was still as
+pretty and soft and brown as it had been ten years ago. Under such
+circumstances a man does not object to feel himself on a platform of
+moral superiority. He even began to pet her a little, with a pleasant
+sense of forgiveness and forbearance. "You were perhaps a little cross,
+my love, but you don't think I am the man to be hard upon you," said the
+Rector. "Now you must dry your eyes and give me your advice--you know
+how much confidence I have always had in your advice--"
+
+"Forgive me, William. I don't think there is any one so good as you are;
+and as long as we are together it does not matter to me where we are,"
+said the repentant woman. But as she lifted up her head, her eye fell on
+the carpet, and a gleam of sudden delight passed through Mrs Morgan's
+mind. To be delivered from all her suspicions and injurious thoughts
+about her husband would have been a deliverance great enough for one
+day; but at the same happy moment to see a means of deliverance from the
+smaller as well as the greater cross of her existence seemed almost too
+good to be credible. She brightened up immediately when that thought
+occurred to her. "I think it is the very best thing you could do," she
+said. "We are both so fond of the country, and it is so much nicer to
+manage a country parish than a town one. We might have lived all our
+lives in Carlingford without knowing above half of the poor people,"
+said Mrs Morgan, growing in warmth as she went on; "it is so different
+in a country parish. I never liked to say anything," she continued, with
+subtle feminine policy, "but I never--much--cared for Carlingford." She
+gave a sigh as she spoke, for she thought of the Virginian creeper and
+the five feet of new wall at that side of the garden, which had just
+been completed, to shut out the view of the train. Life does not contain
+any perfect pleasure. But when Mrs Morgan stooped to lift up some stray
+reels of cotton which the Rector's clumsy fingers had dropped out of her
+workbox, her eye was again attracted by the gigantic roses and tulips on
+the carpet, and content and satisfaction filled her heart.
+
+"I have felt the same thing, my dear," said Mr Morgan. "I don't say
+anything against Mr Finial as an architect, but Scott himself could make
+nothing of such a hideous church. I don't suppose Wentworth will mind,"
+said the Rector, with a curious sense of superiority. He felt his own
+magnanimous conduct at the moment almost as much as his wife had done,
+and could not help regarding Carlingford Church as the gift-horse which
+was not to be examined too closely in the mouth.
+
+"No," said Mrs Morgan, not without a passing sensation of doubt on
+this point; "if he had only been frank and explained everything, there
+never could have been any mistake; but I am glad it has all happened,"
+said the Rector's wife, with a little enthusiasm. "Oh, William, I have
+been such a wretch--I have been thinking--but now you are heaping
+coals of fire on his head," she cried, with a hysterical sound in her
+throat. It was no matter to her that she herself scarcely knew what
+she meant, and that the good Rector had not the faintest understanding
+of it. She was so glad, that it was almost necessary to be guilty of
+some extravagance by way of relieving her mind. "After all Mr Proctor's
+care in fitting the furniture, you would not, of course, think of
+removing it," said Mrs Morgan; "Mr Wentworth will take it as we did; and
+as for Mrs Scarsfield, if you like her, William, you may be sure I
+shall," the penitent wife said softly, in the flutter and tremor of her
+agitation. As he saw himself reflected in her eyes, the Rector could not
+but feel himself a superior person, elevated over other men's shoulders.
+Such a sense of goodness promotes the amiability from which it springs.
+The Rector kissed his wife as he got up from his seat beside her, and
+once more smoothed down, with a touch which made her feel like a girl
+again, her pretty brown hair.
+
+"That is all settled satisfactorily," said Mr Morgan, "and now I must
+go to my work again. I thought, if you approved of it, I would write
+at once to Scarsfield, and also to Buller of All-Souls."
+
+"Do," said the Rector's wife--and she too bestowed, in her middle-aged
+way, a little caress, which was far from being unpleasant to the
+sober-minded man. He went down-stairs in a more agreeable frame of
+mind than he had known for a long time back. Not that he understood
+why she had cried about it when he laid his intentions before her. Had
+Mr Morgan been a Frenchman, he probably would have imagined his wife's
+heart to be touched by the graces of the Perpetual Curate; but, being
+an Englishman, and rather more certain, on the whole, of her than of
+himself, it did not occur to him to speculate on the subject. He was
+quite able to content himself with the thought that women were
+incomprehensible, as he went back to his study. To be sure, it was
+best to understand them, if you could; but if not, it did not so very
+much matter, Mr Morgan thought; could in this pleasant condition of
+mind he went down-stairs and wrote a little sermon, which ever after
+was a great favourite, preached upon all special occasions, and always
+listened to with satisfaction, especially by the Rector's wife.
+
+When Mrs Morgan was left alone she sat doing nothing for an entire
+half-hour, thinking of the strange and unhoped-for change that in a
+moment had occurred to her. Though she was not young, she had that
+sense of grievousness, the unbearableness of trouble, which belongs to
+youth; for, after all, whatever female moralists may say on the
+subject, the patience of an unmarried woman wearing out her youth in
+the harassments of a long engagement, is something very different from
+the hard and many-sided experience of actual life. She had been
+accustomed for years to think that her troubles would be over when the
+long-expected event arrived; and when new and more vexatious troubles
+still sprang up after that event, the woman of one idea was not much
+better fitted to meet them than if she had been a girl. Now that the
+momentary cloud had been driven off, Mrs Morgan's heart rose more
+warmly than ever. She changed her mind in a moment about the All-Souls
+pudding, and even added, in her imagination, another dish to the
+dinner, without pausing to think that _that_ also was much approved by
+Mr Leeson; and then her thoughts took another turn, and such a vision
+of a perfect carpet for a drawing-room--something softer and more
+exquisite than ever came out of mortal loom; full of repose and
+tranquillity, yet not without seducing beauties of design; a carpet
+which would never obtrude itself, but yet would catch the eye by
+dreamy moments in the summer twilight or over the winter fire--flashed
+upon the imagination of the Rector's wife. It would be sweet to have a
+house of one's own arranging, where everything would be in harmony;
+and though this sweetness was very secondary to the other satisfaction
+of having a husband who was not a clay idol, but really deserved his
+pedestal, it yet supplemented the larger delight, and rounded off all
+the corners of Mrs Morgan's present desires. She wished everybody as
+happy as herself, in the effusion of the moment, and thought of Lucy
+Wodehouse, with a little glow of friendliness in which there was still
+a tincture of admiring envy. All this that happy girl would have
+without the necessity of waiting for it; but then was it not the
+Rector, the rehabilitated husband, who would be the means of producing
+so much happiness? Mrs Morgan rose up as lightly as a girl when she
+had reached this stage, and opened her writing-desk, which was one of
+her wedding-presents, and too fine to be used on common occasions. She
+took out her prettiest paper, with her monogram in violet, which was
+her favourite colour. One of those kind impulses which are born of
+happiness moved her relieved spirit. To give to another the
+consolation of a brighter hope, seemed at the moment the most natural
+way of expressing her own thankful feelings. Instead of going
+down-stairs immediately to order dinner, she sat down instead at the
+table, and wrote the following note:--
+
+
+ "MY DEAR MR WENTWORTH,--I don't know whether you will think me a
+ fair-weather friend seeking you only when everybody else is seeking
+ you, and when you are no longer in want of support and sympathy.
+ Perhaps you will exculpate me when you remember the last conversation
+ we had; but what I write for at present is to ask if you would waive
+ ceremony and come to dinner with us to-night. I am aware that your
+ family are still in Carlingford, and of course I don't know what
+ engagements you may have; but if you are at liberty, pray come. If Mr
+ Morgan and you had but known each other a little better things could
+ never have happened which have been a great grief and vexation to me;
+ and I know the Rector _wishes very much_ to have a little conversation
+ with you, and has something to speak of in which you would be
+ interested. Perhaps my husband might feel a little strange in asking
+ you to overstep the barrier which somehow has been raised between you
+ two; but I am sure if you knew each other better you would understand
+ each other, and this is one of the things we women ought to be good
+ for. I will take it as a proof that you consider me a friend if you
+ accept my invitation. Our hour is half-past six.--Believe me, very
+ sincerely, yours,
+
+ "M. MORGAN."
+
+
+When she had written this note Mrs Morgan went down-stairs, stopping
+at the library door in passing. "I thought I might as well ask Mr
+Wentworth to come to us to-night, as we are to have some people to
+dinner," she said, looking in at the door. "I thought you might like
+to talk to him, William; and if his people are going away to-day, I
+daresay he will feel rather lonely to-night." Such was the Jesuitical
+aspect in which she represented the flag of truce she was sending. Mr
+Morgan was a little startled by action so prompt.
+
+"I should like to hear from Buller first," said the Rector; "he might
+like to come to Carlingford himself, for anything I can tell; but, to
+be sure, it can do no harm to have Wentworth to dinner," said Mr
+Morgan, doubtfully; "only Buller, you know, might wish--and in that
+case it might not be worth our trouble to make any change."
+
+In spite of herself, Mrs Morgan's countenance fell; her pretty scheme
+of poetic justice, her vision of tasteful and appropriate furniture,
+became obscured by a momentary mist. "At least it is only right to ask
+him to dinner," she said, in subdued tones, and went to speak to the
+cook in a frame of mind more like the common level of human
+satisfaction than the exultant and exalted strain to which she had
+risen at the first moment. Then she put on a black dress, and went to
+call on the Miss Wodehouses, who naturally came into her mind when she
+thought of the Perpetual Curate. As she went along Grange Lane she
+could not but observe a hackney cab, one of those which belong to the
+railway station, lounging--if a cab could ever be said to lounge--in
+the direction of Wharfside. Its appearance specially attracted Mrs
+Morgan's attention in consequence of the apparition of Elsworthy's
+favourite errand-boy, who now and then poked his head furtively
+through the window, and seemed to be sitting in state inside. When she
+had gone a little further she encountered Wodehouse and Jack
+Wentworth, who had just come from paying their visit to the sisters.
+The sight of these two revived her sympathies for the lonely women who
+had fallen so unexpectedly out of wealth into poverty; but yet she
+felt a little difficulty in framing her countenance to be partly
+sorrowful and partly congratulatory, as was necessary under these
+circumstances; for though she knew nothing of the accident which had
+happened that morning, when Lucy and the Perpetual Curate saw each
+other alone, she was aware of Miss Wodehouse's special position, and
+was sympathetic as became a woman who had "gone through" similar
+experiences. When she had got through her visit and was going home, it
+struck her with considerable surprise to see the cab still lingering
+about the corner of Prickett's Lane. Was Elsworthy's pet boy
+delivering his newspapers from that dignified elevation? or were they
+seizing the opportunity of conveying away the unfortunate little girl
+who had caused so much annoyance to everybody? When she went closer,
+with a little natural curiosity to see what else might be inside
+besides the furtive errand-boy, the cab made a little rush away from
+her, and the blinds were drawn down. Mrs Morgan smiled a little to
+herself with dignified calm. "As if it was anything to me!" she said
+to herself; and so went home to put out the dessert with her own
+hands. She even cut a few fronds of her favourite maidenhair to
+decorate the peaches, of which she could not help being a little
+proud. "I must speak to Mr Wentworth, if he comes, to keep on
+Thompson," she said to herself, and then gave a momentary sigh at the
+thought of the new flue, which was as good as her own invention, and
+which it had cost her both time and money to arrange to her
+satisfaction. The peaches were lovely, but who could tell what they
+might be next year if a new Rector came who took no interest in the
+garden?--for Thomson, though he was a very good servant, required to
+be looked after, as indeed most good servants do. Mrs Morgan sighed a
+little when she thought of all her past exertions and the pains, of
+which she was scarcely yet beginning to reap the fruit. One man
+labours, and another enters into his labours. One thing, however, was
+a little consolatory, that she could take her ferns with her. But on
+the whole, after the first outburst of feeling, the idea of change,
+notwithstanding all its advantages, was in itself, like most human
+things, a doubtful pleasure. To be sure, it was only through its
+products that her feelings were interested about the new flue, whereas
+the drawing-room carpet was a standing grievance. When it was time to
+dress for dinner, the Rector's wife was not nearly so sure as before
+that she had never liked Carlingford. She began to forget the thoughts
+she had entertained about broken idols, and to remember a number of
+inconveniences attending a removal. Who would guarantee the safe
+transit of the china, not to speak of the _old_ china, which was one
+of the most valuable decorations of the Rectory? This kind of
+breakage, if not more real, was at least likely to force itself more
+upon the senses than the other kind of fracture which this morning's
+explanation had happily averted; and altogether it was with mingled
+feelings that Mrs Morgan entered the drawing-room, and found it
+occupied by Mr Leeson, who always came too early, and who, on the
+present occasion, had some sufficiently strange news to tell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth did not accept Mrs Morgan's sudden invitation, partly
+because his "people" did not leave Carlingford that evening, and
+partly because, though quite amiably disposed towards the Rector, whom
+he had worsted in fair fight, he was not sufficiently interested in
+anything he was likely to hear or see in Mr Morgan's house to move him
+to spend his evening there. He returned a very civil answer to the
+invitation of the Rector's wife, thanking her warmly for her
+friendliness, and explaining that he could not leave his father on the
+last night of his stay in Carlingford; after which he went to dinner
+at his aunts', where the household was still much agitated. Not to
+speak of all the events which had happened and were happening, Jack,
+who had begun to tire of his new character of the repentant prodigal,
+had shown himself in a new light that evening, and was preparing to
+leave, to the relief of all parties. The prodigal, who no longer
+pretended to be penitent, had taken the conversation into his own
+hands at dinner. "I have had things my own way since I came here,"
+said Jack; "somehow it appears I have a great luck for having things
+my own way. It is you scrupulous people who think of others and of
+such antiquated stuff as duty, and so forth, that get yourselves into
+difficulties. My dear aunt, I am going away; if I were to remain an
+inmate of this house--I mean to say, could I look forward to the
+privilege of continuing a member of this Christian family--another
+day, I should know better how to conduct myself; but I am going back
+to my bad courses, aunt Dora; I am returning to the world--"
+
+"Oh! Jack, my dear, I hope not," said aunt Dora, who was much
+bewildered, and did not know what to say.
+
+"Too true," said the relapsed sinner; "and considering all the lessons
+you have taught me, don't you think it is the best thing I could do?
+There is my brother Frank, who has been carrying other people about on
+his shoulders, and doing his duty; but I don't see that you good
+people are at all moved in his behalf. You leave him to fight his way
+by himself, and confer your benefits elsewhere, which is an odd sort
+of lesson for a worldling like me. As for Gerald, you know he's a
+virtuous fool, as I have heard you all declare. There is nothing in
+the world that I can see to prevent him keeping his living and doing
+as he pleases, as most parsons do. However, that's his own business.
+It is Frank's case which is the edifying case to me. If my convictions
+of sin had gone just a step farther," said the pitiless critic, "if I
+had devoted myself to bringing others to repentance, as is the first
+duty of a reformed sinner, my aunt Leonora would not have hesitated to
+give Skelmersdale to me--"
+
+"Jack, hold your tongue," said Miss Leonora; but though her cheeks
+burned, her voice was not so firm as usual, and she actually failed in
+putting down the man who had determined to have his say.
+
+"Fact, my dear aunt," said Jack; "if I had been a greater rascal than
+I am, and gone a little farther, you and your people would have
+thought me quite fit for a cure of souls. I'd have come in for your
+good things that way as well as other ways; but here is Frank, who
+even I can see is a right sort of parson. I don't pretend to fixed
+theological opinions," said this unlooked-for oracle, with a comic
+glance aside at Gerald, the most unlikely person present to make any
+response; "but, so far as I can see, he's a kind of fellow most men
+would be glad to make a friend of when they were under a cloud--not
+that he was ever very civil to me. I tell you, so far from rewarding
+him for being of the true sort, you do nothing but snub him, that I
+can see. He looks to me as good for work as any man I know; but
+you'll give your livings to any kind of wretched make-believe before
+you'll give them to Frank. I am aware," said the heir of the
+Wentworths, with a momentary flush, "that I have never been considered
+much of a credit to the family; but if I were to announce my intention
+of marrying and settling, there is not one of the name that would not
+lend a hand to smooth matters. That is the reward of wickedness," said
+Jack, with a laugh; "as for Frank, he's a perpetual curate, and may
+marry perhaps fifty years hence; that's the way you good people treat
+a man who never did anything to be ashamed of in his life; and you
+expect me to give up my evil courses after such a lesson? I trust I am
+not such a fool," said the relapsed prodigal. He sat looking at them
+all in his easy way, enjoying the confusion, the indignation, and
+wrath with which his address was received. "The man who gets his own
+way is the man who takes it," he concluded, with his usual composure,
+pouring out Miss Leonora's glass of claret as he spoke.
+
+Nobody had ever before seen the strong-minded woman in so much
+agitation. "Frank knows what my feelings are," she said, abruptly. "I
+have a great respect for himself, but I have no confidence in his
+principles. I--I have explained my ideas about Church patronage--"
+
+But here the Squire broke in. "I always said, sir," said the old man,
+with an unsteady voice, "that if I ever lived to see a thing or two
+amended that was undoubtedly objectionable, your brother Jack's advice
+would be invaluable to the family as a--as a man of the world. I have
+nothing to say against clergymen, sir," continued the Squire, without
+it being apparent whom he was addressing, "but I have always expressed
+my conviction of--of the value of your brother Jack's advice as--as a
+man of the world."
+
+This speech had a wonderful effect upon the assembled family, but most
+of all upon the son thus commended, who lost all his ease and
+composure as his father spoke, and turned his head stiffly to one
+side, as if afraid to meet the Squire's eyes, which indeed were not
+seeking his, but were fixed upon the table, as was natural,
+considering the state of emotion in which Mr Wentworth was. As for
+Jack, when he had steadied himself a little, he got up from his seat
+and tried to laugh, though the effort was far from being a successful
+one.
+
+"Even my father applauds me, you see, because I am a scamp and don't
+deserve it," he said, with a voice which was partially choked.
+"Good-bye, sir; I am going away."
+
+The Squire rose too, with the hazy bewildered look of which his other
+children were afraid.
+
+"Good-bye, sir," said the old man, and then made a pause before he
+held out his hand. "You'll not forget what I've said, Jack," he added,
+with a little haste. "It's true enough, though I haven't that
+confidence in you that--that I might have had. I am getting old, and I
+have had two attacks, sir," said Mr Wentworth, with dignity; "and
+anyhow, I can't live for ever. Your brothers can make their own way in
+the world, but I haven't saved all that I could have wished. When I am
+gone, Jack, be just to the girls and the little children," said the
+Squire; and with that took his son's hand and grasped it hard, and
+looked his heir full in the face.
+
+Jack Wentworth was not prepared for any such appeal; he was still less
+prepared to discover the unexpected and inevitable sequence with which
+one good sentiment leads to another. He quite faltered and broke down
+in this unlooked-for emergency. "Father," he said unawares, for the
+first time for ten years, "if you wish it, I will join you in breaking
+the entail."
+
+"No such thing, sir," said the Squire, who, so far from being pleased,
+was irritated and disturbed by the proposal. "I ask you to do your
+duty, sir, and not to shirk it," the head of the house said, with
+natural vehemence, as he stood with that circle of Wentworths round
+him, giving forth his code of honour to his unworthy heir.
+
+While his father was speaking, Jack recovered a little from his
+momentary _attendrissement_. "Good-bye, sir; I hope you'll live a
+hundred years," he said, wringing his father's hand, "if you don't
+last out half-a-dozen of me, as you ought to do. But I'd rather not
+anticipate such a change. In that case," the prodigal went on with a
+certain huskiness in his voice, "I daresay I should not turn out so
+great a rascal as--as I ought to do. To-day and yesterday it has even
+occurred to me by moments that I was your son, sir," said Jack
+Wentworth; and then he made an abrupt stop and dropped the Squire's
+hand, and came to himself in a surprising way. When he turned towards
+the rest of the family, he was in perfect possession of his usual
+courtesy and good spirits. He nodded to them all round--with superb
+good-humour. "Good-bye, all of you; I wish you better luck, Frank, and
+not so much virtue. Perhaps you will have a better chance now the lost
+sheep has gone back to the wilderness. Good-bye to you all. I don't
+think I've any other last words to say." He lighted his cigar with his
+ordinary composure in the hall, and whistled one of his favourite airs
+as he went through the garden. "Oddly enough, however, our friend
+Wodehouse can beat me in that," he said, with a smile, to Frank, who
+had followed him out, "perhaps in other things too, who knows?
+Good-bye, and good-luck, old fellow." And thus the heir of the
+Wentworths disappeared into the darkness, which swallowed him up, and
+was seen no more.
+
+But naturally there was a good deal of commotion in the house. Miss
+Leonora, who never had known what it was to have nerves in the entire
+course of her existence, retired to her own room with a headache, to
+the entire consternation of the family. She had been a strong-minded
+woman all her life, and managed everybody's affairs without being
+distracted and hampered in her career by those doubts of her own
+wisdom, and questions as to her own motives, which will now and then
+afflict the minds of weaker people when they have to decide for
+others. But this time an utterly novel and unexpected accident had
+befallen Miss Leonora; a man of no principles at all had delivered his
+opinion upon her conduct--and so far from finding his criticism
+contemptible, or discovering in it the ordinary outcry of the wicked
+against the righteous, she had found it true, and by means of it had
+for perhaps the first time in her life seen herself as others saw her.
+Neither was the position in which she found herself one from which she
+could get extricated even by any daring arbitrary exertion of will,
+such as a woman in difficulties is sometimes capable of. To be sure,
+she might still have cut the knot in a summary feminine way; might
+have said "No" abruptly to Julia Trench and her curate, and, after
+all, have bestowed Skelmersdale, like any other prize or reward of
+virtue, upon her nephew Frank--a step which Miss Dora Wentworth would
+have concluded upon at once without any hesitation. The elder sister,
+however, was gifted with a truer perception of affairs. Miss Leonora
+knew that there were some things which could be done, and yet could
+not be done--a piece of knowledge difficult to a woman. She recognised
+the fact that she had committed herself, and got into a corner from
+which there was but one possible egress; and as she acknowledged this
+to herself, she saw at the same time that Julia Trench (for whom she
+had been used to entertain a good-humoured contempt as a clever sort
+of girl enough) had managed matters very cleverly, and that, instead of
+dispensing her piece of patronage like an optimist to the best, she had,
+in fact, given it up to the most skilful and persevering angler, as any
+other woman might have done. The blow was bitter, and Miss Leonora did
+not seek to hide it from herself, not to say that the unpleasant
+discovery was aggravated by having been thus pointed out by Jack, who in
+his own person had taken her in, and cheated his sensible aunt. She felt
+humbled, and wounded in the tenderest point, to think that her reprobate
+nephew had seen through her, but that she had not been able to see
+through him, and had been deceived by his professions of penitence. The
+more she turned it over in her mind, the more Miss Leonora's head ached;
+for was it not growing apparent that she, who prided herself so much on
+her impartial judgment, had been moved, not by heroic and stoical
+justice and the love of souls, but a good deal by prejudice and a good
+deal by skilful artifice, and very little indeed by that highest motive
+which she called the glory of God? And it was Jack who had set all this
+before her clear as daylight. No wonder the excellent woman was
+disconcerted. She went to bed gloomily with her headache, and would
+tolerate no ministrations, neither of sal-volatile nor eau-de-Cologne,
+nor even of green tea. "It always does Miss Dora a power of good," said
+the faithful domestic who made this last suggestion; but Miss Leonora
+answered only by turning the unlucky speaker out of the room, and
+locking the door against any fresh intrusion. Miss Dora's innocent
+headaches were articles of a very different kind from this, which
+proceeded neither from the heart nor the digestion, but from the
+conscience, as Miss Leonora thought--with, possibly, a little aid from
+the temper, though she was less conscious of that. It was indeed a long
+series of doubts and qualms, and much internal conflict, which resulted
+through the rapidly-maturing influences of mortification and humbled
+self-regard, in this ominous and awe-inspiring Headache which startled
+the entire assembled family, and added fresh importance to the general
+crisis of Wentworth affairs.
+
+"I should not wonder if it was the Wentworth complaint," said Miss
+Dora, with a sob of fright, to the renewed and increased indignation
+of the Squire.
+
+"I have already told you that the Wentworth complaint never attacks
+females," Mr Wentworth said emphatically, glad to employ what sounded
+like a contemptuous title for the inferior sex.
+
+"Yes, oh yes; but then Leonora is not exactly what you would call--a
+female," said poor Miss Dora, from whom an emergency so unexpected
+had taken all her little wits.
+
+While the house was in such an agitated condition, it is not to be
+supposed that it could be very comfortable for the gentlemen when they
+came up-stairs to the drawing-room, and found domestic sovereignty
+overthrown by a headache which nobody could comprehend, and chaos
+reigning in Miss Leonora's place. Naturally there was, for one of the
+party at least, a refuge sweet and close at hand, to which his
+thoughts had escaped already. Frank Wentworth did not hesitate to
+follow his thoughts. Against the long years when family bonds make up
+all that is happiest in life, there must always be reckoned those
+moments of agitation and revolution, during which the bosom of a
+family is the most unrestful and disturbing place in existence, from
+which it is well to have a personal refuge and means of escape. The
+Perpetual Curate gave himself a little shake, and drew a long breath,
+as he emerged from one green door in Grange Lane and betook himself to
+another. He shook himself clear of all the Wentworth perplexities, all
+the family difficulties and doubts, and betook himself into the
+paradise which was altogether his own, and where there were no
+conflicting interests or differences of opinion. He was in such a
+hurry to get there that he did not pay any attention to the general
+aspect of Grange Lane, or to the gossips who were gathered round
+Elsworthy's door: all that belonged to a previous stage of existence.
+At present he was full of the grand discovery, boldly stated by his
+brother Jack--"The man who gets his own way is the man who _takes_
+it." It was not an elevated doctrine, or one that had hitherto
+commended itself specially to the mind of the Perpetual Curate; but he
+could not help thinking of his father's pathetic reliance upon Jack's
+advice as a man of the world, as he laid up in his mind the prodigal's
+maxim, and felt, with a little thrill of excitement, that he was about
+to act on it; from which manner of stating the case Mr Wentworth's
+friends will perceive that self-will had seized upon him in the worst
+form; for he was not going boldly up to the new resolution with his
+eyes open, but had resigned himself to the tide, which was gradually
+rising in one united flux of love, pride, impatience, sophistry, and
+inclination; which he watched with a certain passive content, knowing
+that the stormy current would carry him away.
+
+Mr Wentworth, however, reckoned without his host, as is now and then
+the case with most men, Perpetual Curates included. He walked into the
+other drawing-room, which was occupied only by two ladies, where the
+lamp was burning softly on the little table in the corner, and the
+windows, half open, admitted the fragrant air, the perfumed breath and
+stillness and faint inarticulate noises of the night. Since the visit
+of Wodehouse in the morning, which had driven Lucy into her first fit
+of passion, an indescribable change had come over the house, which had
+now returned to the possession of its former owners, and looked again
+like home. It was very quiet in the familiar room which Mr Wentworth
+knew so well, for it was only when excited by events "beyond their
+control," as Miss Wodehouse said, that the sisters could forget what
+had happened so lately--the loss which had made a revolution in their
+world. Miss Wodehouse, who for the first time in her life was busy,
+and had in hand a quantity of mysterious calculations and lists to
+make out, sat at the table in the centre of the room, with her desk
+open, and covered with long slips of paper. Perhaps it was to save her
+Rector the trouble that the gentle woman gave herself so much labour;
+perhaps she liked putting down on paper all the things that were
+indispensable for the new establishment. At all events, she looked up
+only to give Mr Wentworth a smile and sisterly nod of welcome as he
+came in and made his way to the corner where Lucy sat, not
+unexpectant. Out of the disturbed atmosphere he had just left, the
+Perpetual Curate came softly into that familiar corner, feeling that
+he had suddenly reached his haven, and that Eden itself could not
+have possessed a sweeter peace. Lucy in her black dress, with traces
+of the exhaustion of nature in her face, which was the loveliest face
+in the world to Mr Wentworth, looked up and welcomed him with that
+look of satisfaction and content which is the highest compliment one
+human creature can pay to another. His presence rounded off all the
+corners of existence to Lucy for that moment at least, and made the
+world complete and full. He sat down beside her at her work-table with
+no further interruption to the _tête-à-tête_ than the presence of the
+kind elder sister at the table, who was absorbed in her lists, and
+who, even had that pleasant business been wanting, was dear and
+familiar enough to both to make her spectatorship just the sweet
+restraint which endears such intercourse all the more. Thus the
+Perpetual Curate seated himself, feeling in some degree master of the
+position; and surely here, if nowhere else in the world, the young man
+was justified in expecting to have his own way.
+
+"They have settled about their marriage," said Lucy, whose voice was
+sufficiently audible to be heard at the table, where Miss Wodehouse
+seized her pen hastily and plunged it into the ink, doing her best to
+appear unconscious, but failing sadly in the attempt. "Mr Proctor is
+going away directly to make everything ready, and the marriage is to
+be on the 15th of next month."
+
+"And ours?" said Mr Wentworth, who had not as yet approached that
+subject. Lucy knew that this event must be far off, and was not
+agitated about it as yet; on the contrary, she met his look
+sympathetically and with deprecation after the first natural blush,
+and soothed him in her feminine way, patting softly with her pretty
+hand the sleeve of his coat.
+
+"Nobody knows," said Lucy. "We must wait, and have patience. We have
+more time to spare than they have," she added, with a little laugh.
+"We must wait."
+
+"I don't see the _must_," said the Perpetual Curate. "I have been
+thinking it all over since the morning. I see no reason why I should
+always have to give in, and wait; self-sacrifice is well enough when
+it can't be helped, but I don't see any reason for postponing my
+happiness indefinitely. Look here, Lucy. It appears to me at present
+that there are only two classes of people in the world--those who will
+wait, and those who won't. I don't mean to enrol myself among the
+martyrs. The man who gets his own way is the man who takes it. I don't
+see any reason in the world for concluding that I _must_ wait."
+
+Lucy Wodehouse was a very good young woman, a devoted Anglican, and
+loyal to all her duties; but she had always been known to possess a
+spark of spirit, and this rebellious quality came to a sudden blaze at
+so unlooked-for a speech. "Mr Wentworth," said Lucy, looking the
+Curate in the face with a look which was equivalent to making him a
+low curtsy, "I understood there were two people to be consulted as to
+the must or must not;" and having entered this protest, she withdrew
+her chair a little farther off, and bestowed her attention absolutely
+upon the piece of needlework in her hand.
+
+If the ground had suddenly been cut away underneath Frank Wentworth's
+feet, he could not have been more surprised; for, to tell the truth,
+it had not occurred to him to doubt that he himself was the final
+authority on this point, though, to be sure, it was part of the
+conventional etiquette that the lady should "fix the day." He sat
+gazing at her with so much surprise that for a minute or two he could
+say nothing. "Lucy, I am not going to have you put yourself on the
+other side," he said at last; "there is not to be any opposition
+between you and me."
+
+"That is as it may be," said Lucy, who was not mollified. "You seem to
+have changed your sentiments altogether since the morning, and there
+is no change in the circumstances, at least that I can see."
+
+"Yes, there is a great change," said the young man. "If I could have
+sacrificed myself in earnest and said nothing--"
+
+"Which you were quite free to do," interrupted Lucy, who, having given
+way to temper once to-day, found in herself an alarming proclivity
+towards a repetition of the offence.
+
+"Which I was quite free to do," said the Perpetual Curate, with a
+smile, "but could not, and did not, all the same. Things are
+altogether changed. Now, be as cross as you please, you belong to me,
+_Lucia mia_. To be sure, I have no money--"
+
+"I was not thinking of that," said the young lady, under her breath.
+
+"Of course one has to think about it," said Mr Wentworth; "but the
+question is, whether we shall be happier and better going on separate
+in our usual way, or making up our minds to give up something for the
+comfort of being together. Perhaps you will forgive me for taking
+_that_ view of the question," said the Curate, with a little
+enthusiasm. "I have got tired of ascetic principles. I don't see why
+it must be best to deny myself and postpone myself to other things and
+other people. I begin to be of my brother Jack's opinion. The children
+of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of
+light. A man who will wait has to wait. Providence does not invariably
+reward him after he has been tried, as we used to suppose. I am
+willing to be a poor man because I can't help it; but I am not willing
+to wait and trust my happiness to the future when it is in my reach
+now," said the unreasonable young man, to whom it was of course as
+easy as it was to Lucy to change the position of his chair, and
+prevent the distance between them being increased. Perhaps he might
+have carried his point even at that moment, had not Miss Wodehouse,
+who had heard enough to alarm her, come forward hastily in a fright on
+the prudential side.
+
+"I could not help hearing what you were saying," said the elder
+sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, I hope you don't mean to say that you can't
+trust Providence? I am sure that is not Lucy's way of thinking. I
+would not mind, and I am sure she would not mind, beginning very
+quietly; but then you have nothing, next to nothing, neither of you.
+It might not matter, just at the first," said Miss Wodehouse, with
+serious looks; "but then--afterwards, you know," and a vision of a
+nursery flashed upon her mind as she spoke. "Clergymen always have
+such large families," she said half out before she was aware, and
+stopped, covered with confusion, not daring to look at Lucy to see
+what effect such a suggestion might have had upon her. "I mean," cried
+Miss Wodehouse, hurrying on to cover over her inadvertence if
+possible, "I have seen such cases; and a poor clergyman who has to
+think of the grocer's bill and the baker's bill instead of his parish
+and his duty--there are some things you young people know a great deal
+better than I do, but you don't know how dreadful it is to see that."
+
+Here Lucy, on her part, was touched on a tender point, and interposed.
+"For a man to be teased about bills," said the young housekeeper, with
+flushed cheeks and an averted countenance, "it must be not his
+poverty, but his--his wife's fault."
+
+"Oh, Lucy, don't say so," cried Miss Wodehouse; "what is a poor woman
+to do, especially when she has no money of her own, as you wouldn't
+have? and then the struggling, and getting old before your time, and
+all the burdens--"
+
+"Please don't say any more," said Lucy; "there was no intention on--on
+any side to drive things to a decision. As for me, I have not a high
+opinion of myself. I would not be the means of diminishing anyone's
+comforts," said the spiteful young woman. "How can I be sure that I
+might not turn out a very poor compensation? We settled this morning
+how all that was to be, and I for one have not changed my mind--as
+yet," said Lucy. That was all the encouragement Mr Wentworth got when
+he propounded his new views. Things looked easy enough when he was
+alone, and suffered himself to drift on pleasantly on the changed and
+heightened current of personal desires and wishes; but it became
+apparent to him, after that evening's discussion, that even in Eden
+itself, though the dew had not yet dried on the leaves, it would be
+highly incautious for any man to conclude that he was sure of having
+his own way. The Perpetual Curate returned a sadder and more doubtful
+man to Mrs Hadwin's, to his own apartments; possibly, as the two
+states of mind so often go together, a wiser individual too.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+
+The dinner-party at the Rectory, to which Mr Wentworth did not go, was
+much less interesting and agreeable than it might have been had he been
+present. As for the Rector and his wife, they could not but feel
+themselves in a somewhat strange position, having between them a secret
+unsuspected by the company. It was difficult to refrain from showing a
+certain flagging of interest in the question of the church's
+restoration, about which, to be sure, Mr Finial was just as much
+concerned as he had been yesterday; though Mr Morgan, and even Mrs
+Morgan, had suffered a great and unexplainable diminution of enthusiasm.
+And then Mr Leeson, who was quite unaware of the turn that things had
+taken, and who was much too obtuse to understand how the Rector could be
+anything but exasperated against the Perpetual Curate by the failure of
+the investigation, did all that he could to make himself disagreeable,
+which was saying a good deal. When Mrs Morgan came into the
+drawing-room, and found this obnoxious individual occupying the most
+comfortable easy-chair, and turning over at his ease the great book of
+ferns, nature-printed, which was the pet decoration of the table, her
+feelings may be conceived by any lady who has gone through a similar
+trial; for Mr Leeson's hands were not of the irreproachable purity which
+becomes the fingers of a gentleman when he goes out to dinner. "I know
+some people who always wear gloves when they turn over a portfolio of
+prints," Mrs Morgan said, coming to the Curate's side to protect her
+book if possible, "and these require quite as much care;" and she had to
+endure a discussion upon the subject, which was still more trying to her
+feelings, for Mr Leeson pretended to know about ferns on the score of
+having a Wardian case in his lodgings (which belonged to his landlady),
+though in reality he could scarcely tell the commonest spleenwort from a
+lycopodium. While Mrs Morgan went through this trial, it is not to be
+wondered at if she hugged to her heart the new idea of leaving
+Carlingford, and thought to herself that whatever might be the character
+of the curate (if there was one) at Scarsfield, any change from Mr
+Leeson must be for the better. And then the unfortunate man, as if he
+was not disagreeable enough already, began to entertain his unwilling
+hostess with the latest news.
+
+"There is quite a commotion in Grange Lane," said Mr Leeson. "Such
+constant disturbances must deteriorate the property, you know. Of
+course, whatever one's opinion may be, one must keep it to one's self,
+after the result of the investigation; though I can't say _I_ have
+unbounded confidence in trial by jury," said the disagreeable young
+man.
+
+"I am afraid I am very slow of comprehension," said the Rector's wife.
+"I don't know in the least what you mean about trial by jury. Perhaps
+it would be best to put the book back on the table; it is too heavy
+for you to hold."
+
+"Oh, it doesn't matter," said Mr Leeson--"I mean about Wentworth, of
+course. When a man is popular in society, people prefer to shut their
+eyes. I suppose the matter is settled for the present, but you and I
+know better than to believe--"
+
+"I beg you will speak for yourself, Mr Leeson," said Mrs Morgan, with
+dignity. "I have always had the highest respect for Mr Wentworth."
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon," said the disagreeable Curate. "I forgot;
+almost all the ladies are on Mr Wentworth's side. It appears that
+little girl of Elsworthy's has disappeared again; that was all I was
+going to say."
+
+And, fortunately for the Curate, Colonel Chiley, who entered the room
+at the moment, diverted from him the attention of the lady of the
+house; and after that there was no opportunity of broaching the
+subject again until dinner was almost over. Then it was perhaps the
+All-Souls pudding that warmed Mr Leeson's soul; perhaps he had taken a
+little more wine than usual. He took sudden advantage of that curious
+little pause which occurs at a well-conducted dinner-table, when the
+meal is concluded, and the fruit (considered apparently, in orthodox
+circles, a paradisiacal kind of food which needs no blessing) alone
+remains to be discussed. As soon as the manner of thanks from the foot
+of the table was over, the Curate incautiously rushed in before
+anybody else could break the silence, and delivered his latest
+information at a high pitch of voice.
+
+"Has anyone heard about the Elsworthys?" said Mr Leeson; "something
+fresh has happened there. I hope your verdict yesterday will not be
+called in question. The fact is, I believe that the girl has been
+taken away again. They say she has gone and left a letter saying that
+she is to be made a lady of. I don't know what we are to understand by
+that. There was some private service or other going on at St Roque's
+very early in the morning. Marriage is a sacrament, you know. Perhaps
+Mr Wentworth or his brother--"
+
+"They are a queer family, the Wentworths," said old Mr Western, "and
+such lots of them, sir--such lots of them. The old ladies seem to have
+settled down here. I am not of their way of thinking, you know, but
+they're very good to the poor."
+
+"Mr Frank Wentworth is going to succeed his brother, I suppose," said
+Mr Leeson; "it is very lucky for a man who gets himself talked of to
+have a family living to fall back upon--"
+
+"No such thing--no such thing," said Mr Proctor, hastily. "Mr Frank
+Wentworth means to stay here."
+
+"Dear me!" said the disagreeable Curate, with an elaborate pause of
+astonishment. "Things must be bad indeed," added that interesting
+youth, with solemnity, shaking the devoted head, upon which he did not
+know that Mrs Morgan had fixed her eyes, "if his own family give him
+up, and leave him to starve here. They would never give him up if they
+had not very good cause. Oh, come; I shouldn't like to believe that!
+_I_ know how much a curate has to live on," said Mr Leeson, with a
+smile of engaging candour. "Before they give him up like that, with
+two livings in the family, they must have very good cause."
+
+"Very good cause indeed," said Mrs Morgan, from the head of the table.
+The company in general had, to tell the truth, been a little taken
+aback by the Curate's observations; and there was almost the entire
+length of the table between the unhappy man and the Avenger. "So good
+a reason, that it is strange how it should not have occurred to a
+brother clergyman. That is the evil of a large parish," said the
+Rector's wife, with beautiful simplicity; "however hard one works, one
+never can know above half of the poor people; and I suppose you have
+been occupied in the other districts, and have not heard what a great
+work Mr Wentworth is doing. I have reason to know," said Mrs Morgan,
+with considerable state, "that he will remain in Carlingford, in a
+very different position from that which he has filled hitherto. Mr
+Leeson knows how much a curate has to live upon, but I am afraid that
+is all he does know of such a life as Mr Wentworth's." Mrs Morgan
+paused for a moment to get breath, for her excitement was
+considerable, and she had many wrongs to avenge. "There is a great
+deal of difference in curates as well as in other things," said the
+indignant woman. "I have reason to know that Mr Wentworth will remain
+in Carlingford in quite a different position. Now and then, even in
+this world, things come right like a fairy tale--that is, when the
+authority is in the right hands;" the Rector's wife went on, with a
+smile at her husband, which disarmed that astonished man. "Perhaps if
+Mr Leeson had the same inducement as Mr Wentworth, he too would make
+up his mind to remain in Carlingford." Mrs Morgan got up, as she made
+this speech, with a rustle and sweep of drapery which seemed all
+addressed to the unhappy Curate, who stumbled upon his feet like the
+other gentlemen, but dared not for his life have approached her to
+open the door. Mr Leeson felt that he had received his _congé_, as he
+sank back into his chair. He was much too stunned to speculate on the
+subject, or ask himself what was going to happen. Whatever was going
+to happen, there was an end of _him_. He had eaten the last All-Souls
+pudding that he ever would have presented to him under _that_ roof. He
+sank back in the depth of despair upon his seat, and suffered the
+claret to pass him in the agony of his feelings. Mr Wentworth and Mrs
+Morgan were avenged.
+
+This was how it came to be noised abroad in Carlingford that some great
+change of a highly favourable character was about to occur in the
+circumstances and position of the Curate of St Roque's. It was discussed
+next day throughout the town, as soon as people had taken breath after
+telling each other about Rosa Elsworthy, who had indisputably been
+carried off from her uncle's house on the previous night. When the
+Wentworth family were at dinner, and just as the board was being spread
+in the Rectory, where Mrs Morgan was half an hour later than usual,
+having company, it had been discovered in Elsworthy's that the prison
+was vacant, and the poor little bird had flown. Mr Wentworth was aware
+of a tumult about the shop when he went to the Miss Wodehouses, but
+was preoccupied, and paid no attention; but Mr Leeson, who was not
+preoccupied, had already heard all about it when he entered the Rectory.
+That day it was all over the town, as may be supposed. The poor, little,
+wicked, unfortunate creature had disappeared, no one knew how, at the
+moment, apparently, when Elsworthy went to the railway for the evening
+papers, a time when the errand-boys were generally rampant in the
+well-conducted shop. Mrs Elsworthy, for her part, had seized that moment
+to relieve her soul by confiding to Mrs Hayles next door how she was
+worrited to death with one thing and another, and did not expect to be
+alive to tell the tale if things went on like this for another month,
+but that Elsworthy was infatuated like, and wouldn't send the hussy
+away, his wife complained to her sympathetic neighbour. When Elsworthy
+came back, however, he was struck by the silence in the house, and sent
+the reluctant woman up-stairs--"To see if she's been and made away with
+herself, I suppose," the indignant wife said, as she obeyed, leaving Mrs
+Hayles full of curiosity on the steps of the door. Mrs Elsworthy,
+however uttered a shriek a moment after, and came down, with a
+frightened face, carrying a large pin-cushion, upon which, skewered
+through and through with the biggest pin she could find, Rosa had
+deposited her letter of leave-taking. This important document was read
+over in the shop by an ever-increasing group, as the news got
+abroad--for Elsworthy, like his wife, lost his head, and rushed about
+hither and thither, asking wild questions as to who had seen her last.
+Perhaps, at the bottom, he was not so desperate as he looked, but was
+rather grateful than angry with Rosa for solving the difficulty. This is
+what the poor little runaway said:--
+
+
+ "DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT,--I write a line to let you know that them as can
+ do better for me than any belonging to me has took me away for good.
+ Don't make no reflections, please, nor blame nobody; for I never could
+ have done no good nor had any 'appiness at Carlingford after all as
+ has happened. I don't bear no grudge, though aunt has been so unkind;
+ but I forgive her, and uncle also. My love to all friends; and you may
+ tell Bob Hayles as I won't forget him, but will order all my physic
+ regular at his father's shop.--Your affectionate niece,
+
+ "ROSA."
+
+ "_P.S._--Uncle has no occasion to mind, for them as has took charge of
+ me has promised to make a lady of me, as he always said I was worthy
+ of; and I leave all my things for aunt's relations, as I can't wear
+ such poor clothes in my new station of life."
+
+
+Such was the girl's letter, with its natural impertinences and natural
+touch of kindness; and it made a great commotion in the neighbourhood,
+where a few spasmodic search-parties were made up with no real
+intentions, and came to nothing, as was to be expected. It was a
+dreadful thing to be sure, to happen to a respectable family; but when
+things had gone so far, the neighbours, on the whole, were inclined to
+believe it was the best thing Rosa could have done; and the Elsworthys,
+husband and wife, were concluded to be of the same opinion. When
+Carlingford had exhausted this subject, and had duly discussed the
+probabilities as to where she had gone, and whether Rosa could be the
+lady in a veil who had been handed into the express night-train by two
+gentlemen, of whom a railway porter bore cautious testimony, the other
+mysterious rumour about Mr Wentworth had its share of popular attention.
+It was discussed in Masters's with a solemnity becoming the occasion,
+everybody being convinced of the fact, and nobody knowing how it was to
+be. One prevailing idea was, that Mr Wentworth's brother, who had
+succeeded to his mother's fortune (which was partly true, like most
+popular versions of family history, his mother's fortune being now
+Gerald's sole dependence), intended to establish a great brotherhood,
+upon the Claydon model, in Carlingford, of which the Perpetual Curate
+was to be the head. This idea pleased the imagination of the town, which
+already saw itself talked of in all the papers, and anticipated with
+excitement the sight of English brothers of St Benedict walking about in
+the streets, and people from the 'Illustrated News' making drawings of
+Grange Lane. To be sure, Gerald Wentworth had gone over to the Church of
+Rome, which was a step too far to be compatible with the English
+brotherhood; but popular imagination, when puzzled and in a hurry, does
+not take time to master all details. Then, again, opinion wavered, and
+it was supposed to be the Miss Wentworths who were the agents of the
+coming prosperity. They had made up their mind to endow St Roque's and
+apply to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to have it erected into a
+parochial district, rumour reported; and the senior assistant in
+Masters's, who was suspected of Low-Church tendencies, was known to be a
+supporter of this theory. Other ideas of a vague character floated
+through the town, of which no one could give any explanation; but
+Carlingford was unanimous in the conviction that good fortune was coming
+somehow to the popular favourite, who a week ago had occupied
+temporarily the position of the popular _bête noire_ and impersonation
+of evil. "But the real sort always triumphs at the last," was the
+verdict of Wharfside, which like every primitive community, believed
+in poetic justice; and among the bargemen and their wives much
+greater elevation than that of a district church or the headship of a
+brotherhood was expected "for the clergyman." If the Queen had sent
+for him immediately, and conferred upon him a bishopric, or at least
+appointed him her private chaplain, such a favour would have excited no
+surprise in Wharfside, where indeed the public mind was inclined to the
+opinion that the real use of queens and other such dignitaries was to
+find out and reward merit. Mr Wentworth himself laughed when the gossip
+reached his ears. "My people have given away all they had to give," he
+said to somebody who had asked the question; "and I know no prospect I
+have of being anything but a perpetual curate, unless the Queen sends
+for me and appoints me to a bishopric, as I understand is expected in
+Prickett's Lane. If I come to any advancement," said the Curate of St
+Roque's, "it must be in social estimation, and not in worldly wealth,
+which is out of my way;" and he went down to Wharfside rather cheerfully
+than otherwise, having begun to experience that pertinacity carries the
+day, and that it might be possible to goad Lucy into the experiment of
+how much her housekeeping talents were good for, and whether, with a
+good wife, even a Perpetual Curate might be able to live without any
+particular bother in respect to the grocer's bill. Mr Wentworth being at
+present warmly engaged in this business of persuasion, and as intent as
+ever on having his own way, was not much affected by the Carlingford
+gossip. He went his way to Wharfside all the same, where the service was
+conducted as of old, and where all the humble uncertain voices were
+buoyed up and carried on by the steady pure volume of liquid sound which
+issued from Lucy Wodehouse's lips into the utterance of such a
+'Magnificat' as filled Mr Wentworth's mind with exultation. It was the
+woman's part in the worship--independent, yet in a sweet subordination;
+and the two had come back--though with the difference that their love
+was now avowed and certain, and they were known to belong to each
+other--to much the same state of feeling in which they were before the
+Miss Wentworths came to Carlingford, or anything uncomfortable had
+happened. They had learned various little lessons, to be sure, in the
+interim, but experience had not done much more for them than it does for
+ordinary human creatures, and the chances are that Mr Wentworth would
+have conducted himself exactly in the same manner another time had he
+been placed in similar circumstances; for the lessons of experience,
+however valuable, are sometimes very slow of impressing themselves upon
+a generous and hasty temperament, which has high ideas of honour and
+consistency, and rather piques itself on a contempt for self-interest
+and external advantages--which was the weakness of the Curate of St
+Roque's. He returned to the "great work" in Wharfside with undiminished
+belief in it, and a sense of being able to serve his God and his
+fellow-creatures, which, though it may seem strange to some people, was
+a wonderful compensation to him for the loss of Skelmersdale. "After
+all, I doubt very much whether, under any circumstances, we could have
+left such a work as is going on here," he said to Lucy as they came up
+Prickett's Lane together, where the poor woman had just died peaceably
+in No. 10, and got done with it, poor soul; and the Sister of Mercy, in
+her grey cloak, lifted towards him the blue eyes which were full of
+tears, and answered with natural emphasis, "Impossible! it would have
+been deserting our post," and drew a step closer to him in the twilight
+with a sense of the sweetness of that plural pronoun which mingled so
+with the higher sense that it was impossible to disjoin them. And the
+two went on under the influence of these combined sentiments, taking
+comfort out of the very hardness of the world around them, in which
+their ministrations were so much needed, and feeling an exaltation in
+the "duty," which was not for one, but for both, and a belief in the
+possibility of mending matters, in which their love for each other bore
+a large share; for it was not in human nature thus to begin the ideal
+existence, without believing in its universal extension, and in the
+amelioration of life and the world.
+
+"That is all they think of," said poor Miss Wodehouse, who, between
+her wondering inspection of the two "young people" and her own
+moderate and sensible love-affairs, and the directions which it was
+necessary to give to her Rector about the furnishing of the new house,
+was more constantly occupied than she had ever been in her life; "but
+then, if they marry, what are they to live upon? and if they don't
+marry--"
+
+"Perhaps something will turn up my dear," said old Mrs Western, who had
+an idea that Providence was bound to provide for two good young people
+who wanted to marry; and thus the two ladies were forced to leave the
+matter, where, indeed, the historian of events in Carlingford would
+willingly leave it also, not having much faith in the rewards of virtue
+which come convenient in such an emergency. But it is only pure fiction
+which can keep true to nature, and weave its narrative in analogy with
+the ordinary course of life--whereas history demands exactness in
+matters of _fact_, which are seldom true to nature, or amenable to any
+general rule of existence.
+
+Before proceeding, however, to the narrative of the unexpected
+advancement and promotion which awaited the Perpetual Curate, it may be
+as well to notice that the Miss Wentworths, who during the summer had
+kindly given their house at Skelmersdale to some friends who had
+returned in the spring from India, found themselves now in a position to
+return to their own proper dwelling-place, and made preparations
+accordingly for leaving Carlingford, in which, indeed, they had no
+further occupation; for, to be sure, except to the extent of that
+respect which a man owes to his aunts, they had no special claim upon
+Frank Wentworth, or right to supervise his actions, save on account of
+Skelmersdale, which was now fully disposed of and given away. It cannot
+be said that Miss Leonora had ever fully recovered from the remarkable
+indisposition which her nephew Jack's final address had brought upon
+her. The very next morning she fulfilled her pledges as a woman of
+honour, and bestowed Skelmersdale positively and finally upon Julia
+Trench's curate, who indeed made a creditable enough rector in his way;
+but after she had accomplished this act, Miss Leonora relapsed into one
+unceasing watch upon her nephew Frank, which was far from dispelling the
+tendency to headache which she showed at this period for the first and
+only time in her life. She watched him with a certain feeling of
+expiation, as she might have resorted to self-flagellation had she lived
+a few hundred years before, and perhaps suffered more acute pangs in
+that act of discipline than could be inflicted by any physical scourge.
+The longer she studied the matter the more thoroughly was Miss Leonora
+convinced not only that the Perpetual Curate was bent on doing his duty,
+but that he _did_ it with all the force of high faculties, and a mind
+much more thoroughly trained, and of finer material than was possessed
+by the man whom she had made rector of Skelmersdale. The strong-minded
+woman bore quietly, with a kind of defiance, the sharp wounds with
+which her self-esteem was pierced by this sight. She followed up her
+discovery, and made herself more and more certain of the mistake she had
+made, not sparing herself any part of her punishment. As she pursued her
+investigations, too, Miss Leonora became increasingly sensible that it
+was not his mother's family whom he resembled, as she had once thought,
+but that he was out and out a Wentworth, possessed of all the family
+features; and this was the man whom by her own act she had disinherited
+of his natural share in the patronage of the family, substituting for
+her own flesh and blood an individual for whom, to tell the truth, she
+had little respect! Perhaps if she had been able to sustain herself with
+the thought that it was entirely a question of "principle," the
+retrospect might not have been so hard upon Miss Leonora; but being a
+woman of very distinct and uncompromising vision, she could not conceal
+from herself either Julia Trench's cleverness or her own mixed and
+doubtful motives. Having this sense of wrong and injustice, and general
+failure of the duty of kindred towards Frank, it might have been
+supposed a little comfort to Miss Leonora to perceive that he had
+entirely recovered from his disappointment, and was no longer in her
+power, if indeed he had ever been so. But the fact was, that if anything
+could have aggravated her personal smart, it would have been the fact
+of Frank's indifference and cheerfulness, and evident capability of
+contenting himself with his duty and his favourite district, and his
+Lucy--whom, to be sure, he could not marry, being only a perpetual
+curate. The spectacle came to have a certain fascination for Miss
+Wentworth. She kept watching him with a grim satisfaction, punishing
+herself, and at the same time comforting herself with the idea that,
+light as he made of it, he must be suffering too. She could not bear to
+think that he had escaped clean out of her hands, and that the decision
+she had come to, which produced so much pain to herself, was innoxious
+to Frank; and at the same time, though she could not tolerate his
+composure, and would have preferred to see him angry and revengeful, his
+evident recovery of spirits and general exhilaration increased Miss
+Leonora's respect for the man she had wronged. In this condition of mind
+the strong-minded aunt lingered over her preparations for removal,
+scorning much the rumour in Carlingford about her nephew's advancement,
+and feeling that she could never forgive him if by any chance promotion
+should come to him after all. "He will stay where he is. He will be a
+perpetual curate," Miss Leonora said, uttering what was in reality a
+hope under the shape of a taunt; and things were still in this position
+when Grange Lane in general and Miss Dora in particular (from the window
+of the summer-house) were startled much by the sight of the Rector, in
+terribly correct clerical costume, as if he were going to dine with the
+bishop, who walked slowly down the road like a man charged with a
+mission, and, knocking at Mrs Hadwin's door, was admitted immediately to
+a private conference with the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+
+It was the same afternoon that Mr Wentworth failed to attend, as he had
+never been known to fail before, at the afternoon's school which he had
+set up in Prickett's Lane for the young bargemen, who between the
+intervals of their voyages had a little leisure at that hour of the day.
+It is true there was a master provided, and the presence of the
+Perpetual Curate was not indispensable; but the lads, among whom,
+indeed, there were some men, were so much used to his presence as to get
+restless at their work on this unprecedented emergency. The master knew
+no other resource than to send for Miss Lucy Wodehouse, who was known to
+be on the other side of Prickett's Lane at the moment, superintending a
+similar educational undertaking for the benefit of the girls. It was, as
+may be supposed, embarrassing to Lucy to be called upon to render an
+account of Mr Wentworth's absence, and invited to take his place in this
+public and open manner; but then the conventional reticences were
+unknown in Wharfside, and nobody thought it necessary to conceal his
+certainty that the Curate's movements were better known to Lucy than to
+anybody else. She had to make answer with as much composure as possible
+in the full gaze of so many pairs of curious eyes, that she did not know
+why Mr Wentworth was absent--"Somebody is sick, perhaps," said Lucy,
+repeating an excuse which had been made before for the Perpetual Curate;
+"but I hope it does not make any difference," she went on, turning round
+upon all the upturned heads which were neglecting their work to stare at
+her. "Mr Wentworth would be grieved to think that his absence did his
+scholars any injury." Lucy looked one of the ringleaders in the eyes as
+she spoke, and brought him to his senses--all the more effectually, to
+be sure, because she knew all about him, and was a familiar figure to
+the boy, suggesting various little comforts, for which, in Prickett's
+Lane, people were not ungrateful. But when she went back again to her
+girls, the young lady found herself in a state of excitement which was
+half annoyance and half a kind of shy pleasure. To be sure, it was quite
+true that they did belong to each other; but at the same time, so long
+as she was Lucy Wodehouse, she had no right to be called upon to
+represent "the clergyman," even in "the district" which was so important
+to both. And then it occurred to her to remember that if she remained
+Lucy Wodehouse that was not the Curate's fault--from which thought she
+went on to reflect that going away with Mr and Mrs Proctor when they
+were married was not a charming prospect, not to say that it involved a
+renunciation of the district for the present at least, and possibly for
+ever; for if Mr Wentworth could not marry as long as he was a perpetual
+curate, it followed of necessity that he could not marry until he had left
+Carlingford--an idea which Lucy turned over in her mind very seriously
+as she walked home, for this once unattended. A new light seemed to be
+thrown upon the whole matter by this thought. To consent to be married
+simply for her own happiness, to the disadvantage in any respect of her
+husband, was an idea odious to this young woman, who, like most young
+women, preferred to represent even to herself that it was for _his_
+happiness that she permitted herself to be persuaded to marry; but if
+duty were involved, that was quite another affair. It was quite evident
+to Lucy, as she walked towards Grange Lane, that the Curate would not be
+able to find any one to take her place in the district; perhaps
+also--for she was honest even in her self-delusions--Lucy was aware that
+she might herself have objections to the finding of a substitute; and
+what then? Was the great work to be interrupted because she could not
+bear the idea of possibly diminishing some of his external comforts by
+allowing him to have his way, and to be what he considered happy? Such
+was the wonderful length to which her thoughts had come when she reached
+the garden-door, from which Mr Wentworth himself, flushed and eager,
+came hastily out as she approached. So far from explaining his
+unaccountable absence, or even greeting her with ordinary politeness,
+the young man seized her by the arm and brought her into the garden with
+a rapidity which made her giddy. "What is it--what do you mean?" Lucy
+cried with amazement as she found herself whirled through the sunshine
+and half carried up the stairs. Mr Wentworth made no answer until he had
+deposited her breathless in her own chair, in her own corner, and then
+got down on his knee beside her, as men in his crazy circumstances are
+not unapt to do.
+
+"Lucy, look here. I was a perpetual curate the other day when you said
+you would have me," said the energetic lover, who was certainly out of
+his wits, and did not know what he was saying--"and you said you did
+not mind?"
+
+"I said it did not matter," said Lucy, who was slightly piqued that he
+did not recollect exactly the form of so important a decision. "I knew
+well enough you were a perpetual curate. Has anything happened, or are
+you going out of your mind?"
+
+"I think it must be that," said Mr Wentworth. "Something so
+extraordinary has happened that I cannot believe it. Was I in Prickett's
+Lane this afternoon as usual, or was I at home in my own room talking to
+the Rector--or have I fallen asleep somewhere, and is the whole thing a
+dream?"
+
+"You were certainly not in Prickett's Lane," said Lucy. "I see what it
+is. Miss Leonora Wentworth has changed her mind, and you are going to
+have Skelmersdale after all. I did not think you could have made up
+your mind to leave the district. It is not news that gives me any
+pleasure," said the Sister of Mercy, as she loosed slowly off from her
+shoulders the grey cloak which was the uniform of the district. Her
+own thoughts had been so different that she felt intensely mortified
+to think of the unnecessary decision she had been so near making, and
+disappointed that the offer of a living could have moved her lover to
+such a pitch of pleasure. "All men are alike, it seems," she said to
+herself, with a little quiver in her lip--a mode of forestalling his
+communications which filled the Perpetual Curate with amazement and
+dismay.
+
+"What are you thinking of?" he said. "Miss Leonora Wentworth has not
+changed her mind. That would have been a natural accident enough, but
+this is incredible. If you like, Lucy," he added, with an unsteady
+laugh, "and will consent to my original proposition, you may marry on
+the 15th, not the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's, but the Rector of
+Carlingford. Don't look at me with such an unbelieving countenance. It
+is quite true."
+
+"I wonder how you can talk so," cried Lucy, indignantly; "it is all a
+made-up story; you know it is. I don't like practical jokes," she went
+on, trembling a little, and taking another furtive look at him--for
+somehow it was too wonderful not to be true.
+
+"If I had been making up a story, I should have kept to what was
+likely," said Mr Wentworth. "The Rector has been with me all the
+afternoon--he says he has been offered his father's rectory, where he
+was brought up, and that he has made up his mind to accept it, as he
+always was fond of the country;--and that he has recommended me to his
+College for the living of Carlingford."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Lucy, impatiently, "that is very good of Mr Morgan;
+but you know you are not a member of the College, and why should you
+have the living? I knew it could not be true."
+
+"They are all a set of old--Dons," said the Perpetual Curate; "that is,
+they are the most accomplished set of fellows in existence, Lucy--or at
+least they ought to be--but they are too superior to take an ordinary
+living, and condescend to ordinary existence. Here has Carlingford been
+twice vacant within a year--which is an unprecedented event--and Buller,
+the only man who would think of it, is hanging on for a colonial
+bishopric, where he can publish his book at his leisure. Buller is a
+great friend of Gerald's. It is incredible, _Lucia mia_, but it is
+true."
+
+"Is it true? are you _sure_ it is true?" cried Lucy; and in spite of
+herself she broke down and gave way, and let her head rest on the first
+convenient support it found, which turned out, naturally enough, to be
+Mr Wentworth's shoulder, and cried as if her heart was breaking. It is
+so seldom in this world that things come just when they are wanted; and
+this was not only an acceptable benefice, but implied the entire
+possession of the "district" and the most conclusive vindication of the
+Curate's honour. Lucy cried out of pride and happiness and glory in him.
+She said to herself, as Mrs Morgan had done at the beginning of her
+incumbency, "He will be such a Rector as Carlingford has never seen."
+Yet at the same time, apart from her glorying and her pride, a certain
+sense of pain, exquisite though shortlived, found expression in Lucy's
+tears. She had just been making up her mind to accept a share of his
+lowliness, and to show the world that even a Perpetual Curate, when his
+wife was equal to her position, might be poor without feeling any of the
+degradations of poverty; and now she was forestalled, and had nothing to
+do but accept his competence, which it would be no credit to manage
+well! Such were the thoughts to which she was reduced, though she had
+come home from Prickett's Lane persuading herself that it was duty only,
+and the wants of the district, which moved her. Lucy cried, although not
+much given to crying, chiefly because it was the only method she could
+find of giving expression to the feelings which were too varied and too
+complicated for words.
+
+All Carlingford knew the truth about Mr Wentworth's advancement that
+evening, and on the next day, which was Sunday, the Church of St
+Roque's was as full as if the plague had broken out in Carlingford,
+and the population had rushed out, as they might have done in medieval
+times, to implore the succour of the physician-saint. The first
+indication of the unusual throng was conveyed to Mr Wentworth in his
+little vestry after the choristers had filed into the church in their
+white surplices, about which, to tell the truth, the Perpetual Curate
+was less interested than he had once been. Elsworthy, who had been
+humbly assisting the young priest to robe himself, ventured to break
+the silence when they were alone.
+
+"The church is very full, sir," said Elsworthy; "there's a deal of
+people come, sir, after hearing the news. I don't say I've always been
+as good a servant as I ought to have been; but it was all through
+being led away, and not knowing no better, and putting my trust where
+I shouldn't have put it. I've had a hard lesson, sir, and I've learnt
+better," he continued, with a sidelong glance at the Curate's face;
+"it was all a mistake."
+
+"I was not finding fault with you, that I am aware of," said Mr
+Wentworth, with a little surprise.
+
+"No, sir," said Elsworthy, "I am aware as you wasn't finding no fault;
+but there's looks as speaks as strong as words, and I can feel as you
+haven't the confidence in me as you once had. I aint ashamed to say
+it, sir," continued the clerk of St Roque's. "I'm one as trusted in
+that girl's innocent looks, and didn't believe as she could do no
+harm. She's led me into ill-feeling with my clergyman, sir, and done
+me a deal o' damage in my trade, and now she's gone off without as
+much as saying 'Thank you for your kindness.' It's a hard blow upon a
+man as was fond of her, and I didn't make no difference, no more than
+if she had been my own child."
+
+"Well, well," said the Curate, "I daresay it was a trial to you; but
+you can't expect me to take much interest in it after all that has
+passed. Let bygones be bygones," said Mr Wentworth, with a smile, "as
+indeed you once proposed."
+
+"Ah! sir, that was my mistake," sighed the penitent. "I would have
+'umbled myself more becoming, if I had known all as I know now. You're
+a-going off to leave St Roque's, where we've all been so happy," said
+Mr Elsworthy, in pathetic tones. "I don't know as I ever was as 'appy,
+sir, as here, a-listening to them beautiful sermons, and a-giving my
+best attention to see as the responses was well spoke out, and things
+done proper. Afore our troubles began, sir, I don't know as I had a
+wish in the world, unless it was to see an 'andsome painted window in
+the chancel, which is all as is wanted to make the church perfect; and
+now you're a-going to leave, and nobody knows what kind of a gentleman
+may be sent. If you wouldn't think I was making too bold," said
+Elsworthy, "it aint my opinion as you'll ever put up with poor old
+Norris as is in the church. Men like Mr Morgan and Mr Proctor as had
+no cultivation doesn't mind; but for a gentleman as goes through the
+service as you does it, Mr Wentworth--"
+
+Mr Wentworth laughed, though he was fully robed and ready for the
+reading-desk, and knew that his congregation was waiting. He held his
+watch in his hand, though it already marked the half minute after
+eleven. "So you would like to be clerk in the parish church?" he said,
+with what seemed a quite unnecessary amount of amusement to the
+anxious functionary by his side.
+
+"I think as you could never put up with old Norris, sir," said
+Elsworthy; "as for leading of the responses, there aint such a thing
+done in Carlingford Church. I don't speak for myself," said the
+public-spirited clerk, "but it aint a right thing for the rising
+generation; and it aint everybody as would get into your way in a
+minute--for you have a way of your own, sir, in most things, and if
+you'll excuse me for saying of it, you're very particular. It aint
+every man, sir, as could carry on clear through the service along of
+you, Mr Wentworth; and you wouldn't put up with old Norris, not for a
+day."
+
+Such was the conversation which opened this memorable Sunday to Mr
+Wentworth. Opposite to him, again occupying the seat where his wife
+should have been, had he possessed one, were the three Miss Wentworths,
+his respected aunts, to whose opinion, however, the Curate did not feel
+himself bound to defer very greatly in present circumstances; and a
+large and curious congregation ranged behind them, almost as much
+concerned to see how Mr Wentworth would conduct himself in this moment
+of triumph, as they had been in the moment of his humiliation. It is,
+however, needless to inform the friends of the Perpetual Curate that the
+anxious community gained very little by their curiosity. It was not the
+custom of the young Anglican to carry his personal feelings, either of
+one kind or another, into the pulpit with him, much less into the
+reading-desk, where he was the interpreter not of his own sentiments or
+emotions, but of common prayer and universal worship. Mr Wentworth
+did not even throw a little additional warmth into his utterance of
+the general thanksgiving, as he might have done had he been a more
+effusive man; but, on the contrary, read it with a more than ordinary
+calmness, and preached to the excited people one of those terse little
+unimpassioned sermons of his, from which it was utterly impossible to
+divine whether he was in the depths of despair or at the summit and
+crown of happiness. People who had been used to discover a great many of
+old Mr Bury's personal peculiarities in his sermons, and who, of recent
+days, had found many allusions which it was easy to interpret in the
+discourses of Mr Morgan, retired altogether baffled from the clear and
+succinct brevity of the Curate of St Roque's. He was that day in
+particular so terse as to be almost epigrammatic, not using a word
+more than was necessary, and displaying that power of saying a great
+deal more than at the first moment he appeared to say, in which Mr
+Wentworth's admirers specially prided themselves. Perhaps a momentary
+human gratification in the consciousness of having utterly baffled
+curiosity, passed through the Curate's mind as he took off his robes
+when the service was over; but he was by no means prepared for the
+ordeal which awaited him when he stepped forth from the pretty porch of
+St Roque's. There his three aunts were awaiting him, eager to hear all
+about it, Miss Dora, for the first time in her life, holding the
+principal place. "We are going away to-morrow, Frank, and of course you
+are coming to lunch with us," said aunt Dora, clinging to his arm. "Oh,
+my dear boy, I am so happy, and so ashamed, to hear of it. To think you
+should be provided for, and nobody belonging to you have anything to do
+with it! I don't know what to say," said Miss Dora, who was half crying
+as usual; "and as for Leonora, one is frightened to speak to her. Oh, I
+wish you would say something to your aunt Leonora, Frank. I don't know
+whether she is angry with us or with you or with herself, or what it is;
+or if it is an attack on the nerves--though I never imagined she had any
+nerves; but, indeed, whatever my brother may say, it looks very
+like--dreadfully like--the coming-on of the Wentworth complaint. Poor
+papa was just like that when he used to have it coming on; and Leonora
+is not just--altogether--what you would call a female, Frank. Oh, my
+dear boy, if you would only speak to her!" cried Miss Dora, who was a
+great deal too much in earnest to perceive anything comical in what she
+had said.
+
+"I should think it must be an attack on the temper," said the Curate,
+who, now that it was all over, felt that it was but just his aunt
+Leonora should suffer a little for her treatment of him. "Perhaps some
+of her favourite colporteurs have fallen back into evil ways. There was
+one who had been a terrible blackguard, I remember. It is something that
+has happened among her mission people, you may be sure, and nothing
+about me."
+
+"You don't know Leonora, Frank. She is very fond of you, though she
+does not show it," said Miss Dora, as she led her victim in
+triumphantly through the garden-door, from which the reluctant young
+man could see Lucy and her sister in their black dresses just arriving
+at the other green door from the parish church, where they had
+occupied their usual places, according to the ideas of propriety which
+were common to both the Miss Wodehouses. Mr Wentworth had to content
+himself with taking off his hat to them, and followed his aunts to the
+table, where Miss Leonora took her seat much with the air of a judge
+about to deliver a sentence. She did not restrain herself even in the
+consideration of the presence of Lewis the butler, who, to be sure,
+had been long enough in the Wentworth family to know as much about its
+concerns as the members of the house themselves, or perhaps a little
+more. Miss Leonora sat down grim and formidable in her bonnet, which
+was in the style of a remote period, and did not soften the severity
+of her personal appearance. She pointed her nephew to a seat beside
+her, but she did not relax her features, nor condescend to any
+ordinary preliminaries of conversation. For that day even she took
+Lewis's business out of his astonished hands, and herself divided the
+chicken with a swift and steady knife and anatomical precision; and it
+was while occupied in this congenial business that she broke forth
+upon Frank in a manner so unexpected as almost to take away his
+breath.
+
+"I suppose this is what fools call poetic justice," said Miss Leonora,
+"which is just of a piece with everything else that is poetical--weak
+folly and nonsense that no sensible man would have anything to say to.
+How a young man like you, who know how to conduct yourself in some
+things, and have, I don't deny, many good qualities, can give in to
+come to an ending like a trashy novel, is more than I can understand.
+You are fit to be put in a book of the Good-child series, Frank, as an
+illustration of the reward of virtue," said the strong-minded woman,
+with a little snort of scorn; "and, of course, you are going to
+marry, and live happy ever after, like a fairy tale."
+
+"It is possible I may be guilty of that additional enormity," said the
+Curate, "which, at all events, will not be your doing, my dear aunt, if
+I might suggest a consolation. You cannot help such things happening,
+but, at least, it should be a comfort to feel you have done nothing to
+bring them about."
+
+To which Miss Leonora answered by another hard breath of mingled disdain
+and resentment. "Whatever I have brought about, I have tried to do what
+I thought my duty," she said. "It has always seemed to me a very poor
+sort of virtue that expects a reward for doing what it ought to do. I
+don't say you haven't behaved very well in this business, but you've
+done nothing extraordinary; and why I should have rushed out of my way
+to reward you for it--Oh, yes, I know you did not expect anything," said
+Miss Leonora; "you have told me as much on various occasions, Frank. You
+have, of course, always been perfectly independent, and scorned to
+flatter your old aunts by any deference to their convictions; and, to be
+sure, it is nothing to you any little pang they may feel at having to
+dispose otherwise of a living that has always been in the family. You
+are of the latest fashion of Anglicanism, and we are only a parcel of
+old women. It was not to be expected that our antiquated ideas could be
+worth as much to you as a parcel of flowers and trumpery--"
+
+These were actually tears which glittered in Miss Leonora's eyes of
+fiery hazel grey--tears of very diminutive size, totally unlike the
+big dewdrops which rained from Miss Dora's placid orbs and made them
+red, but did _her_ no harm--but still a real moisture, forced out of a
+fountain which lay very deep down and inaccessible to ordinary
+efforts. They made her eyes look rather fiercer than otherwise for the
+moment; but they all but impeded Miss Leonora's speech, and struck
+with the wildest consternation the entire party at the table,
+including even Lewis, who stood transfixed in the act of drawing a
+bottle of soda-water, and, letting the cork escape him in his
+amazement, brought affairs to an unlooked-for climax by hitting Miss
+Wentworth, who had been looking on with interest without taking any
+part in the proceedings. When the fright caused by this unintentional
+shot had subsided, Miss Leonora was found to have entirely recovered
+herself; but not so the Perpetual Curate, who had changed colour
+wonderfully, and no longer met his accuser with reciprocal disdain.
+
+"My dear aunt," said Frank Wentworth, "I wish you would not go back to
+that. I suppose we parsons are apt sometimes to exaggerate trifles
+into importance, as my father says. But, however, as things have
+turned out, I could not have left Carlingford," the Curate added, in a
+tone of conciliation; "and now, when good fortune has come to me
+unsought--"
+
+Miss Leonora finished her portion of chicken in one energetic gulp,
+and got up from the table. "Poetic justice!" she said, with a furious
+sneer. "I don't believe in that kind of rubbish. As long as you were
+getting on quietly with your work I felt disposed to be rather proud
+of you, Frank. But I don't approve of a man ending off neatly like a
+novel in this sort of ridiculous way. When you succeed to the Rectory
+I suppose you will begin fighting, like the other man, with the new
+curate, for working in your parish?"
+
+"When I succeed to the Rectory," said Mr Wentworth, getting up in his
+turn from the table, "I give you my word, aunt Leonora, no man shall
+work in _my_ parish unless I set him to do it. Now I must be off to my
+work. I don't suppose Carlingford Rectory will be the end of me," the
+Perpetual Curate added, as he went away, with a smile which his aunts
+could not interpret. As for Miss Leonora, she tied her bonnet-strings
+very tight, and went off to the afternoon service at Salem Chapel by
+way of expressing her sentiments more forcibly. "I daresay he's bold
+enough to take a bishopric," she said to herself; "but fortunately
+we've got _that_ in our own hands as long as Lord Shaftesbury lives;"
+and Miss Leonora smiled grimly over the prerogatives of her party. But
+though she went to the Salem Chapel that afternoon, and consoled herself
+that she could secure the bench of bishops from any audacious invasion
+of Frank Wentworth's hopes, it is true, notwithstanding, that Miss
+Leonora sent her maid next morning to London with certain obsolete
+ornaments, of which, though the fashion was hideous, the jewels were
+precious; and Lucy Wodehouse had never seen anything so brilliant as
+the appearance they presented when they returned shortly after
+reposing upon beds of white satin in cases of velvet--"Ridiculous
+things," as Miss Leonora informed her, "for a parson's wife."
+
+It was some time after this--for, not to speak of ecclesiastical
+matters, a removal, even when the furniture is left behind and there
+are only books, and rare ferns, and old china, to convey from one
+house to another, is a matter which involves delays--when Mr Wentworth
+went to the railway station with Mrs Morgan to see her off finally,
+her husband having gone to London with the intention of joining her in
+the new house. Naturally, it was not without serious thoughts that the
+Rector's wife left the place in which she had made the first beginning
+of her active life, not so successfully as she had hoped. She could
+not help recalling, as she went along the familiar road, the hopes so
+vivid as to be almost certainties with which she had come into
+Carlingford. The long waiting was then over, and the much-respected
+era had arrived and existence had seemed to be opening in all its
+fulness and strength before the two who had looked forward to it so
+long. It was not much more than six months ago; but Mrs Morgan had
+made a great many discoveries in the mean time. She had found out the
+wonderful difference between anticipation and reality; and that life,
+even to a happy woman married after long patience to the man of her
+choice, was not the smooth road it looked, but a rough path enough
+cut into dangerous ruts, through which generations of men and women
+followed each other without ever being able to mend the way. She was
+not so sure as she used to be of a great many important matters which
+it is a wonderful consolation to be certain of--but, notwithstanding,
+had to go on as if she had no doubts, though the clouds of a defeat,
+in which, certainly, no honour, though a good deal of the _prestige_
+of inexperience had been lost, were still looming behind. She gave a
+little sigh as she shook Mr Wentworth's hand at parting. "A great many
+things have happened in six months," she said--"one never could have
+anticipated so many changes in what looks so short a period of one's
+life"--and as the train which she had watched so often rushed past that
+new bit of wall on which the Virginian creeper was beginning to grow
+luxuriantly, which screened the railway from the Rectory windows, there
+were tears in Mrs Morgan's eyes. Only six months and so much had
+happened!--what might not happen in all those months, in all those years
+of life which scarcely looked so hopeful as of old? She preferred
+turning her back upon Carlingford, though it was the least comfortable
+side of the carriage, and put down her veil to shield her eyes from the
+dust, or perhaps from the inspection of her fellow-travellers: and once
+more the familiar thought returned to her of what a different woman she
+would have been had she come to her first experiences of life with the
+courage and confidence of twenty or even of five-and-twenty, which was
+the age Mrs Morgan dwelt upon most kindly. And then she thought with a
+thrill of vivid kindness and a touch of tender envy of Lucy Wodehouse,
+who would now have no possible occasion to wait those ten years.
+
+As for Mr Wentworth, he who was a priest, and knew more about
+Carlingford than any other man in the place, could not help thinking,
+as he turned back, of people there, to whom these six months had
+produced alterations far more terrible than any that had befallen the
+Rector's wife:--people from whom the light of life had died out, and
+to whom all the world was changed. He knew of men who had been
+cheerful enough when Mr Morgan came to Carlingford, who now did not
+care what became of them; and of women who would be glad to lay down
+their heads and hide them from the mocking light of day. He knew it,
+and it touched his heart with the tenderest pity of life, the
+compassion of happiness; and he knew too that the path upon which he
+was about to set out led through the same glooms, and was no ideal
+career. But perhaps because Mr Wentworth was young--perhaps because he
+was possessed by that delicate sprite more dainty than any Ariel who
+puts rosy girdles round the world while his time of triumph lasts--it
+is certain that the new Rector of Carlingford turned back into Grange
+Lane without the least shadow upon his mind or timidity in his
+thoughts. He was now in his own domains, an independent monarch, as
+little inclined to divide his power as any autocrat; and Mr Wentworth
+came into his kingdom without any doubts of his success in it, or of
+his capability for its government. He had first a little journey to
+make to bring back Lucy from that temporary and reluctant separation
+from the district which propriety had made needful; but, in the mean
+time, Mr Wentworth trode with firm foot the streets of his parish,
+secure that no parson nor priest should tithe or toll in his
+dominions, and a great deal more sure than even Mr Morgan had been,
+that henceforth no unauthorised evangelisation should take place in
+any portion of his territory. This sentiment, perhaps, was the
+principal difference perceptible by the community in general between
+the new Rector of Carlingford and the late Perpetual Curate of St
+Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTE
+
+[1] She was the daughter of old Sir Jasper Shelton, a poor family, but
+very respectable, and connected with the Westerns.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
+
+Contemporary spellings have been retained even when inconsistent. A
+small number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected and
+missing punctuation has been silently added.
+
+The following additional changes have been made to the text:
+
+ the news with which her heart was     the news with which her heart was
+ beating were                          beating was
+
+ neither here not there                neither here nor there
+
+ the trouble which has overtaken       the trouble which had overtaken
+
+ wiled the night away                  whiled the night away
+
+ his handkerchief to this eyes         his handkerchief to his eyes
+
+ Notwithstanding, that fact is, that   Notwithstanding, the fact is, that
+
+ than ever come out of mortal loom     than ever came out of mortal loom
+
+ Thomson                               Thompson
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERPETUAL CURATE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 28006-8.txt or 28006-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/0/28006/
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/28006-8.zip b/28006-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..205322c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-8.zip
diff --git a/28006-h.zip b/28006-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e88b542
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-h.zip
diff --git a/28006-h/28006-h.htm b/28006-h/28006-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80eab9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-h/28006-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,21738 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs (Margaret) Oliphant.</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+   body  {background:#fdfdfd;
+          color:black;
+          font-size: large;
+          margin-top:100px;
+          margin-left:15%;
+          margin-right:15%;
+          text-align:justify; }
+   h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {text-align: center; }
+   hr.narrow { width: 40%;
+               text-align: center; }
+   hr { width: 100%; }
+   hr.full  { width: 100%;
+              margin-top: 3em;
+              margin-bottom: 0em;
+              margin-left: auto;
+              margin-right: auto;
+              height: 3px;
+              border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+              border-style: solid;
+              border-color: #000000;
+              clear: both; }
+   blockquote   { font-size: large; margin-left: 4%; margin-right: 4% }
+   blockquote.small   { font-size: small; }
+   table   {font-size: large;
+            text-align: justify; }
+   td.j    {text-align: justify; }
+	 td.w50  { width: 50%; }
+   p {text-indent: 3%; }
+   p.noindent { text-indent: 0%; }
+	 p.noline   { margin-top: 0px;
+                margin-bottom: 1px; }
+   .center    { text-align: center; }
+	 .ind1      { margin-left: 1em; }
+	 .ind2      { margin-left: 2em; }
+	 .ind3      { margin-left: 3em; }
+	 .ind4      { margin-left: 4em; }
+	 .ind5      { margin-left: 5em; }
+	 .ind6      { margin-left: 6em; }
+	 .ind10     { margin-left: 10em; }
+	 .ind15     { margin-left: 15em; }
+	 ins {text-decoration:none;  border-bottom: thin dotted gray;}
+   .nowrap    { white-space: nowrap; }
+	 .poem      {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; }
+	 .poem2     {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; }
+	 .right     { text-align: right; }
+	 .small     { font-size: 85%; }
+   .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps; }
+	 .u         { text-decoration: underline; }
+   a:link {color:blue;
+         text-decoration:none}
+   link {color:blue;
+         text-decoration:none}
+   a:visited {color:blue;
+         text-decoration:none}
+   a:hover {color:red;
+            text-decoration: underline; }
+   pre      {font-size: 70%; }
+</style>
+</head>
+
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Perpetual Curate
+
+Author: Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+Release Date: February 5, 2009 [EBook #28006]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERPETUAL CURATE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+<h2><i>Chronicles of Carlingford.</i></h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>THE PERPETUAL CURATE</h1>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2>MRS OLIPHANT</h2>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="center">
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>ALLA PADRONA MIA;<br /><br />
+
+ED A TE, SORELLA CARISSIMA!<br /><br />
+
+CONSOLATRICI GENTILLISSIME<br /><br />
+
+DELLA DESOLATA.</i>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="narrow" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="0" summary="CONTENTS">
+
+<tr><td valign="top"></td> <td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">CHAPTER XLVI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">CHAPTER XLVII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top"></td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII">CHAPTER XLVIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="narrow" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Carlingford</span> is, as is well known, essentially a quiet
+place. There is no trade in the town, properly so called.
+To be sure, there are two or three small counting-houses
+at the other end of George Street, in that ambitious pile
+called Gresham Chambers; but the owners of these places
+of business live, as a general rule, in villas, either detached
+or semi-detached, in the North-end, the new
+quarter, which, as everybody knows, is a region totally
+unrepresented in society. In Carlingford proper there is
+no trade, no manufactures, no anything in particular,
+except very pleasant parties and a superior class of
+people&mdash;a very superior class of people, indeed, to anything
+one expects to meet with in a country town, which is
+not even a county town, nor the seat of any particular
+interest. It is the boast of the place that it has no particular
+interest&mdash;not even a public school: for no reason in the
+world but because they like it, have so many nice people
+collected together in those pretty houses in Grange Lane&mdash;which
+is, of course, a very much higher tribute to the town
+than if any special inducement had led them there. But in
+every community some centre of life is necessary. This
+point, round which everything circles, is, in Carlingford,
+found in the clergy. They are the administrators of the
+commonwealth, the only people who have defined and
+compulsory duties to give a sharp outline to life. Somehow
+this touch of necessity and business seems needful even
+in the most refined society: a man who is obliged to
+be somewhere at a certain hour, to do something at a
+certain time, and whose public duties are not volunteer
+proceedings, but indispensable work, has a certain position
+of command among a leisurely and unoccupied community,
+not to say that it is a public boon to have some
+one whom everybody knows and can talk of. The minister
+in Salem Chapel was everything in his little world. That
+respectable connection would not have hung together
+half so closely but for this perpetual subject of discussion,
+criticism, and patronage; and, to compare great things with
+small, society in Carlingford recognised in some degree
+the same human want. An enterprising or non-enterprising
+rector made all the difference in the world in Grange
+Lane; and in the absence of a rector that counted for
+anything (and poor Mr Proctor was of no earthly use, as
+everybody knows), it followed, as a natural consequence,
+that a great deal of the interest and influence of the
+position fell into the hands of the Curate of St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>But that position was one full of difficulties, as any one
+acquainted with the real state of affairs must see in a
+moment. Mr Wentworth's circumstances were, on the
+whole, as delicate and critical as can be imagined, both as
+respected his standing in Carlingford and the place he
+held in his own family&mdash;not to speak of certain other
+personal matters which were still more troublesome and
+vexatious. These last of course were of his own bringing
+on; for if a young man chooses to fall in love when he has
+next to nothing to live upon, trouble is sure to follow. He
+had quite enough on his hands otherwise without that
+crowning complication. When Mr Wentworth first came to
+Carlingford, it was in the days of Mr Bury, the Evangelical
+rector&mdash;his last days, when he had no longer his old
+vigour, and was very glad of "assistance," as he said, in
+his public and parish work. Mr Bury had a friendship of
+old standing with the Miss Wentworths of Skelmersdale,
+Mr Francis Wentworth's aunts; and it was a long time
+before the old Rector's eyes were opened to the astounding
+fact, that the nephew of these precious and chosen
+women held "views" of the most dangerous complexion,
+and indeed was as near Rome as a strong and lofty
+conviction of the really superior catholicity of the Anglican
+Church would permit him to be. Before he found this out,
+Mr Bury, who had unlimited confidence in preaching and
+improving talk, had done all he could to get the young
+man to "work," as the good Rector called it, and had
+voluntarily placed all that difficult district about the canal
+under the charge of the Curate of St Roque's. It is said
+that the horror with which, after having just written to
+Miss Leonora Wentworth to inform her what "a great
+work" his young friend was doing among the bargemen,
+Mr Bury was seized upon entering St Roque's itself for the
+first time after the consecration, when the young priest
+had arranged everything his own way, had a very bad
+effect on his health, and hastened his end. And it is indeed
+a fact that he died soon after, before he had time to issue
+the interdict he intended against Mr Wentworth's further
+exertions in the parish of Carlingford. Then came Mr
+Proctor, who came into the town as if he had dropped from
+the skies, and knew no more about managing a parish than
+a baby; and under his exceptional incumbency Mr Wentworth
+became more than ever necessary to the peace of
+the community. Now a new <i>r&eacute;gime</i> had been inaugurated.
+Mr Morgan, a man whom Miss Wodehouse described as
+"in the prime of life," newly married, with a wife also in
+the prime of life, who had waited for him ten years, and all
+that time had been under training for her future duties&mdash;two
+fresh, new, active, clergymanly intellects, entirely
+open to the affairs of the town, and intent upon general
+reformation and sound management&mdash;had just come into
+possession. The new Rector was making a great stir all
+about him, as was natural to a new man; and it seemed, on
+the whole, a highly doubtful business whether he and Mr
+Wentworth would find Carlingford big enough to hold
+them both.</p>
+
+<p>"We could not have expected to begin quite without
+difficulties," said Mrs Morgan, as she and her husband
+discussed the question in the drawing-room of the Rectory.
+It was a pretty drawing-room, though Mr Proctor's
+taste was not quite in accordance with the principles of the
+new incumbent's wife: however, as the furniture was all new,
+and as the former rector had no further need for it, it was
+of course, much the best and most economical arrangement
+to take it as it stood&mdash;though the bouquets on the
+carpet were a grievance which nothing but her high
+Christian principles could have carried Mrs Morgan
+through. She looked round as she spoke, and gave an
+almost imperceptible shake of her head: she, too, had her
+share of disagreeables. "It would not look like Christ's
+work, dear," said the clergyman's wife, "if we had it all
+our own way."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I hope I am actuated by higher motives than
+a desire to have it all my own way," said the Rector. "I
+always felt sure that Proctor would make a mess of any
+parish he took in hand, but I did not imagine he would
+have left it to anybody who pleased to work it. You may
+imagine what my feelings were to-day, when I came upon
+a kind of impromptu chapel in that wretched district near
+the canal. I thought it a Little Bethel, you know, of
+course; but instead of that, I find young Wentworth goes
+there Wednesdays and Fridays to do duty, and that there
+is service on Sunday evening, and I can't tell what besides.
+It may be done from a good motive&mdash;but such a
+disregard of all constituted authority," said the Rector,
+with involuntary vehemence, "can never, in my opinion,
+be attended by good results."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wentworth, did you say?" said Mrs Morgan, upon
+whose female soul the Perpetual Curate's good looks and
+good manners had not been without a certain softening
+effect. "I am so sorry. I don't wonder you are vexed; but
+don't you think there must be some mistake, William? Mr
+Wentworth is so gentlemanly and nice&mdash;and of very good
+family, too. I don't think he would choose to set himself in
+opposition to the Rector. I think there must be some mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a very aggravating mistake, at all events," said Mr
+Morgan, rising and going to the window. It was, as we
+have said, a very pretty drawing-room, and the windows
+opened upon as pretty a bit of lawn as you could see, with
+one handsome cedar sweeping its dark branches majestically
+over delicious greensward; but some people did think
+it was too near George Street and the railway. Just at that
+moment a puff of delicate white vapour appeared over the
+wall, and a sudden express-train, just released from the
+cover of the station, sprang with a snort and bound across
+the Rector's view, very imperfectly veiled by the lime-trees,
+which were thin in their foliage as yet. Mr Morgan
+groaned and retreated&mdash;out of his first exaltation he had
+descended all at once, as people will do after building all
+their hopes upon one grand event, into great depression
+and vexation, when he found that, after all, this event did
+not change the face of existence, but indeed brought new
+proofs of mortality in the shape of special annoyances
+belonging to itself in its train. "On the whole," said the
+Rector, who was subject to fits of disgust with things in
+general, "I am tempted to think it was a mistake coming to
+Carlingford; the drawbacks quite overbalance the advantages.
+I did hesitate, I remember&mdash;it must have been my
+better angel: that is, my dear," he continued, recollecting
+himself, "I would have hesitated had it not been for you."</p>
+
+<p>Here there ensued a little pause. Mrs Morgan was not
+so young as she had been ten years ago, all which time she
+had waited patiently for the Fellow of All-Souls, and
+naturally these ten years and the patience had not improved
+her looks. There was a redness on her countenance
+nowadays which was not exactly bloom; and it stretched
+across her cheeks, and over the point of her nose, as she
+was painfully aware, poor lady. She was silent when she
+heard this, wondering with a passing pang whether he was
+sorry? But being a thoroughly sensible woman, and above
+indulging in those little appeals by which foolish ones
+confuse the calm of matrimonial friendship, she did not
+express the momentary feeling. "Yes, William," she said,
+sympathetically, casting her eyes again on the objectionable
+carpet, and feeling that there <i>were</i> drawbacks even to her
+happiness as the wife of the Rector of Carlingford; "but I
+suppose every place has its disadvantages; and then there
+is such good society; and a town like this is the very place
+for your talents; and when affairs are in your own hands&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is very easy talking," said the vexed Rector. "Society
+and everybody would turn upon me if I interfered with
+Wentworth&mdash;there's the vexation. The fellow goes about
+it as if he had a right. Why, there's a Provident Society
+and all sorts of things going on, exactly as if it were his own
+parish. What led me to the place was seeing some ladies in
+grey cloaks&mdash;exactly such frights as you used to make
+yourself, my dear&mdash;flickering about. He has got up a
+sisterhood, I have no doubt; and to find all this in full
+operation in one's own parish, without so much as being
+informed of it! and you know I don't approve of sisterhoods&mdash;never
+did; they are founded on a mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear. I know I gave up as soon as I knew your
+views on that subject," said Mrs Morgan. "I daresay so
+will the ladies here. Who were they? Did you speak to
+them? or perhaps they belonged to St Roque's."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody belongs to St Roque's," said the Rector, contemptuously&mdash;"it
+has not even a district. They were the
+two Miss Wodehouses."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs Morgan was moved to utter a little cry. "And their
+father is churchwarden!" said the indignant woman.
+"Really, William, this is too much&mdash;without even consulting
+you! But it is easy to see how <i>that</i> comes about. Lucy
+Wodehouse and young Wentworth are&mdash;; well, I don't
+know if they are engaged&mdash;but they are always together,
+walking and talking, and consulting with each other, and
+so forth&mdash;a great deal more than I could approve of; but
+that poor elder sister, you know, has no authority&mdash;nor
+indeed any experience, poor thing," said the Rector's
+wife; "that's how it is, no doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"Engaged!" said the Rector. He gave a kindly glance at
+his wife, and melted a little. "Engaged, are they? Poor
+little thing! I hope she'll be as good as you have been, my
+dear; but a young man may be in love without interfering
+with another man's parish. I can't forgive that," said Mr
+Morgan, recovering himself; "he must be taught to know
+better; and it is very hard upon a clergyman," continued
+the spiritual ruler of Carlingford, "that he cannot move in
+a matter like this without incurring a storm of godless
+criticism. If I were sending Wentworth out of my parish, I
+shouldn't wonder if the 'Times' had an article upon it,
+denouncing me as an indolent priest and bigot, that would
+neither work myself nor let my betters work; that's how
+these fellows talk."</p>
+
+<p>"But nobody could say such things of you," said Mrs
+Morgan, firing up.</p>
+
+<p>"Of me! they'd say them of St Paul, if he had ever been
+in the circumstances," said the Rector; "and I should just
+like to know what he would have done in a parish like this,
+with the Dissenters on one side, and a Perpetual Curate
+without a district meddling on the other. Ah, my dear,"
+continued Mr Morgan, "I daresay they had their troubles
+in those days; but facing a governor or so now and then, or
+even passing a night in the stocks, is a very different thing
+from a showing-up in the 'Times,' not to speak of the
+complications of duty. Let us go out and call at Folgate's,
+and see whether he thinks anything can be done to the
+church."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, you wouldn't mind the 'Times' if it were your
+duty?" said the Rector's wife, getting up promptly to
+prepare for the walk.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I suppose not," said Mr Morgan, not without a
+thrill of importance; "nor the stake," he added, with a
+little laugh, for he was not without a sense of humour; and
+the two went out to the architect's to ascertain the result of
+his cogitations over the church. They passed that sacred
+edifice in their way, and went in to gaze at it with a disgust
+which only an unhappy priest of high culture and aesthetic
+tastes, doomed to officiate in a building of the eighteenth
+century, of the churchwarden period of architecture,
+could fully enter into. "Eugh!" said Mr Morgan, looking
+round upon the high pews and stifling galleries with an
+expressive contraction of his features&mdash;his wife looked on
+sympathetic; and it was at this unlucky moment that the
+subject of their late conference made his appearance
+cheerfully from behind the ugly pulpit, in close conference
+with Mr Folgate. The pulpit was a three-storeyed mass,
+with the reading-desk and the clerk's desk beneath&mdash;a
+terrible eyesore to the Rector and his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"I can fancy the expediency of keeping the place in
+repair," said the Curate of St Roque's, happy in the
+consciousness of possessing a church which, though not
+old, had been built by Gilbert Scott, and cheerfully unconscious
+of the presence of his listeners; "but to beautify
+a wretched old barn like this is beyond the imagination of
+man. Money can't do everything," said the heedless young
+man as he came lounging down the middle aisle, tapping
+contemptuously with his cane upon the high pew-doors. "I
+wonder where the people expected to go to who built
+Carlingford Church? Curious," continued the young
+Anglican, stopping in mid career, "to think of bestowing
+<i>consecration</i> upon anything so hideous. What a pass the
+world must have come to, Folgate, when this erection was
+counted worthy to be the house of God! After all, perhaps
+it is wrong to feel so strongly about it. The walls <i>are</i>
+consecrated, though they are ugly; we can't revoke the
+blessing. But no wonder it was an unchristian age."</p>
+
+<p>"We have our treasure in earthen vessels," said Mr
+Morgan, somewhat sternly, from where he stood, under
+shelter of the heavy gallery. Mr Wentworth was shortsighted,
+like most people nowadays. He put up his glass
+hastily, and then hurried forward, perhaps just a little
+abashed. When he had made his salutations, however, he
+returned undismayed to the charge.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a great pity you have not something better to work
+upon," said the dauntless Curate; "but it is difficult to
+conceive what can be done with such an unhallowed type
+of construction. I was just saying to Folgate&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There is a great deal of cant abroad on this subject,"
+said Mr Morgan, interrupting the young oracle. "I like
+good architecture, but I don't relish attributing moral
+qualities to bricks and mortar. The hallowing influence
+ought to be within. Mr Folgate, we were going to call at
+your office. Have you thought of the little suggestions I
+ventured to make? Oh, the drawings are here. Mr Wentworth
+does not approve of them, I suppose?" said the
+Rector, turning sternly round upon the unlucky Curate of
+St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>"I can only say I sympathise with you profoundly," said
+young Wentworth, with great seriousness. "Such a terrible
+church must be a great trial. I wish I had any advice worth
+offering; but it is my hour for a short service down at the
+canal, and I can't keep my poor bargees waiting. Good
+morning. I hope you'll come and give us your countenance,
+Mrs Morgan. There's no end of want and trouble at
+Wharfside."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Mr Wentworth aware, I wonder, that Wharfside is
+in the parish of Carlingford?" said the Rector, with involuntary
+severity, as the young priest withdrew calmly to go
+to his "duty." Mr Folgate, who supposed himself to be
+addressed, smiled, and said, "Oh yes, of course," and
+unfolded his drawings, to which the clerical pair before
+him lent a disturbed attention. They were both in a high
+state of indignation by this time. It seemed indispensable
+that something should be done to bring to his senses an
+intruder so perfectly composed and at his ease.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Meanwhile</span> Mr Wentworth, without much thought of
+his sins, went down George Street, meaning to turn off at
+the first narrow turning which led down behind the shops
+and traffic, behind the comfort and beauty of the little
+town, to that inevitable land of shadow which always dogs
+the sunshine. Carlingford proper knew little about it,
+except that it increased the poor-rates, and now and then
+produced a fever. The minister of Salem Chapel was in a
+state of complete ignorance on the subject. The late
+Rector had been equally uninformed. Mr Bury, who was
+Evangelical, had the credit of disinterring the buried
+creatures there about thirty years ago. It was an office to
+be expected of that much-preaching man; but what was a
+great deal more extraordinary, was to find that the only
+people now in Carlingford who knew anything about
+Wharfside, except overseers of the poor and guardians of
+the public peace, were the Perpetual Curate of St
+Roque's&mdash;who had nothing particular to do with it, and
+who was regarded by many sober-minded persons with
+suspicion as a dilettante Anglican, given over to floral
+ornaments and ecclesiastical upholstery&mdash;and some half-dozen
+people of the very <i>&eacute;lite</i> of society, principally ladies
+residing in Grange Lane.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth came to a hesitating pause at the head of
+the turning which would have led him to Wharfside. He
+looked at his watch and saw there was half an hour to
+spare. He gave a wistful lingering look down the long line
+of garden-walls, pausing upon one point where the blossomed
+boughs of an apple-tree overlooked that enclosure.</p>
+
+<p>There was quite time to call and ask if the Miss Wodehouses
+were going down to the service this afternoon; but
+was it duty? or, indeed, putting that question aside, was it
+quite right to compound matters with his own heart's
+desire and the work he was engaged in, in this undeniable
+fashion? The young priest crossed the street very slowly,
+swinging his cane and knitting his brows as he debated the
+question. If it had been one of the bargemen bringing his
+sweetheart, walking with her along the side of the canal to
+which Spring and sweet Easter coming on, and Love,
+perhaps, always helpful of illusions, might convey a certain
+greenness and sentiment of nature&mdash;and echoing her
+soft responses to the afternoon prayers&mdash;perhaps the
+Curate might have felt that such devotion was not entirely
+pure and simple. But somehow, before he was aware of it,
+his slow footstep had crossed the line, and he found
+himself in Grange Lane, bending his steps towards Mr
+Wodehouse's door. For one thing, to be sure, the Canticles
+in the evening service could always be sung when
+Lucy's sweet clear voice was there to lead the uncertain
+melody; and it was good to see her singing the 'Magnificat'
+with that serious sweet face, "full of grace," like Mary's
+own. Thinking of that, Mr Wentworth made his way
+without any further hesitation to the green door over
+which hung the apple-blossoms, totally untroubled in his
+mind as to what the reverend pair were thinking whom he
+had left behind him in the ugly church; and unconscious
+that his impromptu chapel at Wharfside, with its little
+carved reading-desk, and the table behind, contrived so as
+to look suspiciously like an altar, was a thorn in anybody's
+side. Had his mind been in a fit condition at that moment
+to cogitate trouble, his thoughts would have travelled in a
+totally different direction, but in the mean time Mr Wentworth
+was very well able to put aside his perplexities. The
+green door opened just as he reached it, and Lucy and her
+elder sister came out in those grey cloaks which the Rector
+had slandered. They were just going to Wharfside to the
+service, and of course they were surprised to see Mr
+Wentworth, who did not knock at that green door more
+than a dozen times in a week, on the average. The Curate
+walked between the sisters on their way towards their
+favourite "district." Such a position would scarcely have
+been otherwise than agreeable to any young man. Dear
+old Miss Wodehouse was the gentlest of chaperones. Old
+Miss Wodehouse people called her, not knowing why&mdash;perhaps
+because that adjective was sweeter than the harsh
+one of middle age which belonged to her; and then there
+was such a difference between her and Lucy. Lucy was
+twenty, and in her sweetest bloom. Many people thought
+with Mr Wentworth that there were not other two such
+eyes in Carlingford. Not that they were brilliant or penetrating,
+but as blue as heaven, and as serene and pure. So
+many persons thought, and the Perpetual Curate among
+them. The grey cloak fell in pretty folds around that light
+elastic figure; and there was not an old woman in the town
+so tender, so helpful, so handy as Lucy where trouble was,
+as all the poor people knew. So the three went down
+Prickett's Lane, which leads from George Street towards
+the canal&mdash;not a pleasant part of the town by any means;
+and if Mr Wentworth was conscious of a certain haze of
+sunshine all round and about him, gliding over the poor
+pavement, and here and there transfiguring some baby
+bystander gazing open-mouthed at the pretty lady, could
+any reasonable man be surprised?</p>
+
+<p>"I hope your aunts were quite well, Mr Wentworth,
+when you heard from them last," said Miss Wodehouse,
+"and all your people at home. In such a small family as
+ours, we should go out of our wits if we did not hear every
+day; but I suppose it is different where there are so many.
+Lucy, when she goes from home," said the tender elder
+sister, glancing at her with a half-maternal admiration&mdash;"and
+she might always be visiting about if she liked&mdash;writes
+to me every day."</p>
+
+<p>"I have nobody who cares for me enough to write every
+week," said the Curate, with a look which was for Lucy's
+benefit. "I am not so lucky as you. My aunts are quite
+well, Miss Wodehouse, and they think I had better go up
+to town in May for the meetings," added Mr Wentworth,
+with a passing laugh; "and the rest of my people are very
+indignant that I am not of their way of thinking. There is
+Tom Burrows on the other side of the street; he is trying to
+catch <i>your</i> eye," said the Curate, turning round upon
+Lucy; for the young man had come to such a pass that he
+could not address her in an ordinary and proper way like
+other people, but, because he dared not yet call her by her
+Christian name as if she belonged to him, had a strange
+rude way of indicating when he was speaking to her, by
+emphasis and action. It was singularly different from his
+usual good-breeding; but Lucy somehow rather liked it
+than otherwise. "He is not going to church for the sake of
+the service. He is going to please <i>you</i>. He has never
+forgotten what you did for that little boy of his; and,
+indeed, if you continue to go on so," said Mr Wentworth,
+lowering his voice, and more than ever bending his tall
+head to one side, "I shall have to put a stop to it somehow,
+for I am not prepared, whatever people say, to go in at
+once for <i>public</i> worship of the saints."</p>
+
+<p>"I am going in here to call," said Lucy. She looked up
+very innocently in the Curate's face. "I promised the poor
+sick woman in the back room to see her every day, and I
+could not get out any sooner. I daresay I shall be at the
+schoolroom before you begin. Good-bye just now," said
+the young Sister of Mercy. She went off all at once on this
+provoking but unexceptionable errand, looking with calm
+eyes upon the dismay which overspread the expressive
+countenance of her spiritual guide. Mr Wentworth stood
+looking after her for a moment, stunned by the unexpected
+movement. When he went on, truth compels us to own
+that a thrill of disgust had taken the place of that vague
+general sense of beatitude which threw beauty even upon
+Prickett's Lane. The Curate gave but a sulky nod to the
+salutation of Tom Burrows, and walked on in a savage
+mood by the side of Miss Wodehouse, around whom no
+nimbus of ideal glory hovered.</p>
+
+<p>"I am always afraid of its being too much for her, Mr
+Wentworth," said the anxious elder sister; "it upsets me
+directly; but then I never was like Lucy&mdash;I can't tell
+where all you young people have learned it; we never
+used to be taught so in my day; and though I am twice as
+old as she is, I know I am not half so much good in the
+world," said the kind soul, with a gentle sigh. "I should
+like to see you in a parish of your own, where you would
+have it all your own way. I hope Mr Morgan won't be
+meddling when he comes to have time for everything. I
+should almost think he would&mdash;though it seems unkind to
+say it&mdash;by his face."</p>
+
+<p>"I am doing nothing more than my duty," said the
+Perpetual Curate, in morose tones. "This district was
+given into my hands by the late Rector. Mr Morgan's face
+does not matter to me."</p>
+
+<p>"But I should like to see you in a parish of your own,"
+said Miss Wodehouse, meaning to please him. "You know
+papa always says so. St Roque's is very nice, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If you wish me out of the way, Miss Wodehouse, I am
+sorry to say you are not likely to be gratified," said the
+Curate, "for I have no more expectation of any preferment
+than you have. Such chances don't come in everybody's
+way."</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought your aunts, Mr Wentworth&mdash;" said poor
+Miss Wodehouse, who unluckily did not always know
+when to stop.</p>
+
+<p>"My aunts don't approve of my principles," answered
+Mr Wentworth, who had his own reasons for speaking
+with a little asperity. "They are more likely to have me
+denounced at Exeter Hall. I will join you immediately. I
+must speak to these men across the street;" and the Curate
+accordingly walked into a knot of loungers opposite, with a
+decision of manner which Lucy's desertion had helped
+him to. Miss Wodehouse, thus left alone, went on with
+lingering and somewhat doubtful steps. She was not used
+to being in "the district" by herself. It disturbed her mild,
+middle-aged habits to be left straying about here alone
+among all these poor people, whom she looked at half
+wistfully, half alarmed, feeling for them in her kind heart,
+but not at all knowing how to get at them as the young
+people did. The unruly children and gossiping mothers at
+the poor doors discomposed her sadly, and she was not
+near so sure that her grey cloak defended her from all
+rudeness as she pretended to be when assenting to the
+enthusiasm of Mr Wentworth and Lucy. She made tremulous
+haste to get out of this scene, which she was not
+adapted for, to the shelter of the schoolroom, where, at
+least, she would be safe. "We never were taught so in my
+day," she said to herself, with an unexpressed wonder
+which was right; but when she had reached that haven of
+shelter, was seized with a little panic for Lucy, and went
+out again and watched for her at the corner of the street,
+feeling very uncomfortable. It was a great relief to see her
+young sister coming down alert and bright even before she
+was joined by Mr Wentworth, who had carried his point
+with the men he had been talking to. To see them coming
+down together, smiling to all those people at the doors who
+disturbed the gentle mind of Miss Wodehouse with
+mingled sentiments of sympathy and repulsion, bestowing
+nods of greeting here and there, pausing even to say a
+word to a few favoured clients, was a wonderful sight to
+the timid maiden lady at the corner of the street. Twenty
+years ago some such companion might have been by Miss
+Wodehouse's side, but never among the poor people in
+Prickett's Lane. Even with Lucy before her she did not
+understand it. As the two came towards her, other
+thoughts united with these in her kind soul. "I wonder
+whether anything will ever come of it?" she said to herself,
+and with that wandered into anxious reflections what this
+difference could be between Mr Wentworth and his aunts:
+which cogitations, indeed, occupied her till the service
+began, and perhaps disturbed her due appreciation of it;
+for if Lucy and Mr Wentworth got attached, as seemed
+likely, and Mr Wentworth did not get a living, what was to
+come of it? The thought made this tender-hearted
+spectator sigh: perhaps she had some experience of her
+own to enlighten her on such a point. At least it troubled,
+with sympathetic human cares, the gentle soul which had
+lost the confidence of youth.</p>
+
+<p>As for the two most immediately concerned, they
+thought nothing at all about aunts or livings. Whether it is
+the divine influence of youth, or whether the vague unacknowledged
+love which makes two people happy in
+each other's presence carries with it a certain inspiration,
+this at least is certain, that there is an absolute warmth of
+devotion arrived at in such moments, which many a soul,
+no longer happy, would give all the world to reach. Such
+crowds and heaps of blessings fall to these young souls!
+They said their prayers with all their hearts, not aware of
+deriving anything of that profound sweet trust and happiness
+from each other, but expanding over all the rude but
+reverend worshippers around them, with an unlimited
+faith in their improvement, almost in their perfection.
+This was what the wondering looker-on, scarcely able to
+keep her anxieties out of her prayers, could not understand,
+having forgotten, though she did not think so, the
+exaltation of that time of youth, as people do. She thought
+it all their goodness that they were able to put away their
+own thoughts; she did not know it was in the very nature
+of those unexpressed emotions to add the confidence of
+happiness to their prayers.</p>
+
+<p>And after a while they all separated and went away
+back into the world and the everyday hours. Young
+Wentworth and Lucy had not said a syllable to each other,
+except about the people in "the district," and the
+Provident Society; and how that sober and laudable conversation
+could be called love-making, it would be difficult
+for the most ardent imagination to conceive. He was to
+dine with them that evening; so it was for but a very brief
+time that they parted when the Perpetual Curate left the
+ladies at the green door, and went away to his room, to
+attend to some other duties, before he arrayed himself for
+the evening. As for the sisters, they went in quite comfortably,
+and had their cup of tea before they dressed for
+dinner. Lucy was manager indoors as well as out. She was
+good for a great deal more than Miss Wodehouse in every
+practical matter. It was she who was responsible for the
+dinner, and had all the cares of the house upon her head.
+Notwithstanding, the elder sister took up her prerogative
+as they sat together in two very cosy easy-chairs, in a little
+room which communicated with both their bed-chambers
+up-stairs&mdash;a very cosy little odd room, not a dressing-room
+nor a boudoir, but something between the two, where the
+sisters had their private talks upon occasion, and which
+was consecrated by many a libation of fragrant tea.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy, my dear," said Miss Wodehouse, whose gentle
+forehead was puckered with care, "I want to speak to you.
+I have not been able to get you out of my mind since ever
+we met Mr Wentworth at the green door."</p>
+
+<p>"Was there any need for getting me out of your mind?"
+said smiling Lucy. "I was a safe enough inmate, surely. I
+wonder how often I am out of your mind, Mary dear,
+night or day."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true enough," said Miss Wodehouse, "but you
+know that is not what I meant either. Lucy, are you quite
+sure you're going on just as you ought&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here she made a troubled pause, and looked in the
+laughing face opposite, intent upon her with its startled
+eyes. "What have I done?" cried the younger sister. Miss
+Wodehouse shook her head with a great deal of seriousness.</p>
+
+<p>"It always begins with laughing," said the experienced
+woman; "but if it ends without tears it will be something
+new to me. It's about Mr Wentworth, Lucy. You're
+always together, day after day; and, my dear, such things
+can't go on without coming to something&mdash;what is to come
+of it? I have looked at it from every point of view, and I
+am sure I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>Lucy flushed intensely red, of course, at the Curate's
+name; perhaps she had not expected it just at that
+moment; but she kept her composure like a sensible girl as
+she was.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it was the other side that were questioned
+about their intentions," she said. "Am I doing anything
+amiss? Mr Wentworth is the Curate of St Roque's, and I
+am one of the district-visitors, and we can't help seeing a
+great deal of each other so long as this work goes on at
+Wharfside. You wouldn't like to stop a great work because
+we are obliged to see a good deal of&mdash;of one particular
+person?" said Lucy, with youthful virtue, looking at her
+sister's face; at which tone and look Miss Wodehouse
+immediately faltered, as the culprit knew she must.</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;oh no, no&mdash;to be sure not," said the disturbed
+monitor. "When you say that, I don't know how to answer
+you. It must be right, I suppose. I am quite sure it is
+wonderful to see such young creatures as you, and how
+you can tell the right way to set about it. But things did not
+use to be so in my young days. Girls dare not have done
+such things twenty years ago&mdash;not in Carlingford, Lucy,"
+said Miss Wodehouse; "and, dear, I think you ought to be
+a little careful, for poor Mr Wentworth's sake."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think Mr Wentworth is in any particular
+danger," said Lucy, putting down her cup, with a slight
+curve at the corners of her pretty mouth&mdash;"and it is quite
+time for you to begin dressing. You know you don't like to
+be hurried, dear;" with which speech the young housekeeper
+got up from her easy-chair, gave her sister a kiss as
+she passed, and went away, singing softly, to her toilette.
+Perhaps there was a little flutter in Lucy's heart as she
+bound it round with her favourite blue ribbons. Perhaps it
+was this that gave a certain startled gleam to her blue
+eyes, and made even her father remark them when she
+went down-stairs&mdash;"It seems to me as if this child were
+growing rather pretty, Molly, eh? I don't know what other
+people think," said Mr Wodehouse&mdash;and perhaps Mr
+Wentworth, who was just being ushered into the drawing-room
+at the moment, heard the speech, for he, too, looked
+as if he had never found it out before. Luckily there was a
+party, and no opportunity for sentiment. The party was in
+honour of the Rector and his wife; and Mr Wentworth
+could not but be conscious before the evening was over
+that he had done something to lose the favour of his
+clerical brother. There was a good deal of Church talk, as
+was natural, at the churchwarden's table, where three
+clergymen were dining&mdash;for Mr Morgan's curate was
+there as well; and the Curate of St Roque's, who was
+slightly hot-tempered, could not help feeling himself disapproved
+of. It was not, on the whole, a satisfactory
+evening. Mr Morgan talked rather big, when the ladies
+went away, of his plans for the reformation of Carlingford.
+He went into statistics about the poor, and the number of
+people who attended no church, without taking any notice
+of that "great work" which Mr Wentworth knew to be
+going on at Wharfside. The Rector even talked of Wharfside,
+and of the necessity of exertion on behalf of that
+wretched district, with a studious unconsciousness of Mr
+Wentworth; and all but declined to receive better information
+when Mr Wodehouse proffered it. Matters were
+scarcely better in the drawing-room, where Lucy was
+entertaining everybody, and had no leisure for the
+Perpetual Curate. He took his hat with a gloomy sentiment
+of satisfaction when it was time to go away; but when
+the green door was closed behind him, Mr Wentworth,
+with his first step into the dewy darkness, plunged headlong
+into a sea of thought. He had to walk down the whole length
+of Grange Lane to his lodging, which was in the last house
+of the row, a small house in a small garden, where Mrs
+Hadwin, the widow of a whilom curate, was permitted by
+public opinion, on the score of her own unexceptionable
+propriety,<a href="#Fn1"><small><sup>1</sup></small></a><a name="Fn1r" id="Fn1r"></a>
+to receive a lodger without loss of position
+thereby. It was moonlight, or rather it ought to have been
+moonlight, and no lamps were lighted in Grange Lane,
+according to the economical regulations of Carlingford;
+and as Mr Wentworth pursued his way down the dark line
+of garden-walls, in the face of a sudden April shower
+which happened to be falling, he had full scope and
+opportunity for his thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>These thoughts were not the most agreeable in the
+world. In the first place it must be remembered that for
+nearly a year past Mr Wentworth had had things his own
+way in Carlingford. He had been more than rector, he had
+been archdeacon, or rather bishop, in Mr Proctor's time;
+for that good man was humble, and thankful for the advice
+and assistance of his young brother, who knew so much
+better than he did. Now, to be looked upon as an unauthorised
+workman, a kind of meddling, Dissenterish,
+missionising individual, was rather hard upon the young
+man. And then he thought of his aunts. The connection,
+imperceptible to an ignorant observer, which existed
+between the Miss Wentworths and Mr Morgan, and Lucy,
+and many other matters interesting to their nephew, was a
+sufficiently real connection when you came to know it.
+That parish of his own which Miss Wodehouse had wished
+him&mdash;which would free the young clergyman from all
+trammels so far as his work was concerned; and would
+enable him to marry, and do everything for him&mdash;it was in
+the power of the Miss Wentworths to bestow; but they
+were Evangelical women, very public-spirited, and
+thinking nothing of their nephew in comparison with their
+duty; and he was at that time of life, and of that disposition,
+which, for fear of being supposed to wish to deceive
+them, would rather exaggerate and make a display of the
+difference of his own views. Not for freedom, not for
+Lucy, would the Perpetual Curate temporise and manage
+the matter; so the fact was that he stood at the present
+moment in a very perilous predicament. But for this
+family living, which was, with their mother's property, in
+the hands of her co-heiresses, the three Miss Wentworths,
+young Frank Wentworth had not a chance of preferment
+in the world; for the respectable Squire his father had
+indulged in three wives and three families, and such a
+regiment of sons that all his influence had been fully taxed
+to provide for them. Gerald, the clergyman of the first lot,
+held the family living&mdash;not a very large one&mdash;which
+belonged to the Wentworths; and Frank, who was of the
+second, had been educated expressly with an eye to
+Skelmersdale, which belonged to his aunts. How he came
+at the end to differ so completely from these excellent
+ladies in his religious views is not our business just at
+present; but in the mean time matters were in a very
+critical position. The old incumbent of Skelmersdale was
+eighty, and had been ill all winter; and if the Miss Wentworths
+were not satisfied somehow, it was all over with
+their nephew's hopes.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the thoughts that occupied his mind as he
+walked down Grange Lane in the dark, past the tedious,
+unsympathetic line of garden-walls, with the rain in his
+face. The evening's entertainment had stirred up a great
+many dormant sentiments. His influence in Carlingford
+had been ignored by this new-comer, who evidently
+thought he could do what he liked without paying any
+attention to the Curate of St Roque's; and, what was a
+great deal worse, he had found Lucy unapproachable, and
+had realised, if not for the first time, still with more
+distinctness than ever before, that she did not belong to
+him, and that he had no more right than any other
+acquaintance to monopolise her society. This last discovery
+was bitter to the young man&mdash;it was this that made
+him set his face to the rain, and his teeth, as if that could
+do any good. He had been happy in her mere society
+to-day, without entering into any of the terrible preliminaries
+of a closer connection. But now that was over. She
+did not belong to him, and he could not bear the thought.
+And how was she ever to belong to him? Not, certainly, if
+he was to be a Perpetual Curate of St Roque's, or anywhere
+else. He felt, in the misery of the moment, as if he
+could never go to that green door again, or walk by her
+sweet side to that service in which they had joined so
+lately. He wondered whether she cared, with a despairing
+pang of anxiety, through which for an instant a celestial
+gleam of consciousness leaped, making the darkness all
+the greater afterwards. And to think that three old ladies,
+of whom it was not in the nature of things that the young
+man could be profoundly reverent, should hold in their
+hands the absolute power of his life, and could determine
+whether it was to be sweet with hope and love, or stern,
+constrained, and impoverished, without Lucy or any other
+immediate light! What a strange anomaly this was which
+met him full in the face as he pursued his thoughts! If it
+had been his bishop, or his college, or any fitting tribunal&mdash;but
+his aunts! Mr Wentworth's ring at his own door was so
+much more hasty than usual that Mrs Hadwin paused in
+the hall, when she had lighted her candle, to see if
+anything was the matter. The little neat old lady held up
+her candle to look at him as he came in, glistening all over
+with rain-drops.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you are not wet, Mr Wentworth," she said. "It
+is only an April shower, and we want it so much in the
+gardens. And I hope you have had a nice party and a
+pleasant evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you&mdash;pretty well," said the Perpetual Curate,
+with less suavity than usual, and a sigh that nearly blew
+Mrs Hadwin's candle out. She saw he was discomposed,
+and therefore, with a feminine instinct, found more to say
+than usual before she made her peaceful way to bed. She
+waited while Mr Wentworth lighted his candle too.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wodehouse's parties are always pleasant," she
+said. "I never go out, you know; but I like to hear of
+people enjoying themselves. I insist upon you going up-stairs
+before me, Mr Wentworth. I have so little breath to
+spare, and I take such a long time going up, that you
+would be tired to death waiting for me. Now, don't be
+polite. I insist upon you going up first. Thank you. Now I
+can take my time."</p>
+
+<p>And she took her time accordingly, keeping Mr Wentworth
+waiting on the landing to say good-night to her,
+much to his silent exasperation. When he got into the
+shelter of his own sitting-room, he threw himself upon a
+sofa, and continued his thoughts with many a troubled
+addition. A young man, feeling in a great measure the
+world before him, conscious of considerable powers,
+standing on the very threshold of so much possible good
+and happiness,&mdash;it was hideous to look up, in his excited
+imagination, and see the figures of these three old ladies,
+worse than Fates, standing across the prospect and barring
+the way.</p>
+
+<p>And Lucy, meantime, was undoing her blue ribbons
+with a thrill of sweet agitation in her untroubled bosom.
+Perhaps Mary was right, and it was about coming to the
+time when this half-feared, half-hoped revelation could
+not be postponed much longer. For it will be perceived
+that Lucy was not in much doubt of young Wentworth's
+sentiments. And then she paused in the dark, after she
+had said her prayers, to give one timid thought to the
+sweet life that seemed to lie before her so close at hand&mdash;in
+which, perhaps, he and she were to go out together, she
+did not know where, for the help of the world and the
+comfort of the sorrowful; and not trusting herself to look
+much at that ideal, said another prayer, and went to sleep
+like one of God's beloved, with a tear too exquisite to be
+shed brimming under her long eyelashes. At this crisis of
+existence, perhaps for once in her life, the woman has the
+best of it; for very different from Lucy's were the thoughts
+with which the Curate sought his restless pillow, hearing
+the rain drip all the night, and trickle into Mrs Hadwin's
+reservoirs. The old lady had a passion for rain-water, and
+it was a gusty night.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Next</span> week was Passion Week, and full of occupation.
+Even if it had been consistent either with Mr Wentworth's
+principles or Lucy's to introduce secular affairs into so
+holy a season, they had not time or opportunity, as it
+happened, which was perhaps just as well; for otherwise
+the premonitory thrill of expectation which had disturbed
+Lucy's calm, and the bitter exasperation against himself
+and his fate with which Mr Wentworth had discovered
+that he dared not say anything, might have caused an
+estrangement between them. As it was, the air was
+thundery and ominous through all the solemn days of the
+Holy Week. A consciousness as of something about to
+happen overshadowed even the "district," and attracted
+the keen observation of the lively spectators at Wharfside.
+They were not greatly up in matters of doctrine, nor
+perhaps did they quite understand the eloquent little
+sermon which the Perpetual Curate gave them on Good
+Friday in the afternoon, between his own services, by way
+of impressing upon their minds the awful memories of the
+day; but they were as skilful in the variations of their
+young evangelist's looks, and as well qualified to decide
+upon the fact that there was "a something between" him
+and Miss Lucy Wodehouse, as any practised observer in
+the higher ranks of society. Whether the two had "'ad an
+unpleasantness," as, Wharfside was well aware, human
+creatures under such circumstances are liable to have, the
+interested community could not quite make out; but that
+something more than ordinary was going on, and that the
+prettiest of all the "Provident ladies" had a certain preoccupation
+in her blue eyes, was a fact perfectly apparent
+to that intelligent society. And, indeed, one of the kinder
+matrons in Prickett's Lane had even ventured so far as to
+wish Miss Lucy "a 'appy weddin' when the time comes."
+"And there's to be a sight o' weddings this Easter," had
+added another, who was somewhat scandalised by the
+flowers in the bonnet of one of the brides-elect, and
+proceeded to say so in some detail. "But Miss Lucy won't
+wear no bonnet; the quality goes in veils: and there never
+was as full a church as there will be to see it, wishing you
+your 'ealth and 'appiness, ma'am, as aint no more nor you
+deserve, and you so good to us poor folks." All which
+felicitations and inquiries had confused Lucy, though she
+made her way out of them with a self-possession which
+amazed her sister.</p>
+
+<p>"You see what everybody thinks, dear," said that
+gentle woman, when they had made their escape.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mary, how can you talk of such things at such a
+time?" the young Sister of Mercy had answered once
+more, turning those severe eyes of youthful devotion upon
+her troubled elder sister, who, to tell the truth, not having
+been brought up to it, as she said, felt much the same on
+Easter Eve as at other times of her life; and thus once
+more the matter concluded. As for Mr Wentworth, he was
+much occupied on that last day of the Holy Week with a
+great many important matters on hand. He had not seen
+the Wodehouses since the Good Friday evening service,
+which was an interval of about twenty hours, and had just
+paused, before eating his bachelor's dinner, to ponder
+whether it would be correct on that most sacred of vigils to
+steal away for half an hour, just to ask Lucy if she thought
+it necessary that he should see the sick woman at No. 10
+Prickett's Lane before the morning. It was while he was
+pondering this matter in his mind that Mr Wentworth's
+heart jumped to his throat upon receipt, quite suddenly,
+without preparation, of the following note:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+"<span class="smallcaps">My dearest boy</span>,&mdash;Your aunts Cecilia, Leonora, and
+I have just arrived at this excellent inn, the Blue Boar.
+Old Mr Shirley at Skelmersdale is in a very bad way, poor
+man, and I thought the <i>very best</i> thing I could do in my
+dearest Frank's <i>best</i> interests, was to persuade them to
+make you <i>quite</i> an <i>unexpected visit</i>, and see everything for
+themselves. I am in a terrible fright now lest I should have
+done wrong; but my dear, dear boy knows it is always his
+interest that I have at heart; and Leonora is so intent on
+having a <i>real gospel minister</i> at Skelmersdale, that she
+<i>never</i> would have been content with anything less than
+hearing you with her own ears. I hope and trust in
+Providence that you don't intone like poor Gerald. And
+oh, Frank, my dear boy, come directly and dine with us,
+and don't fly in your aunt Leonora's face, and tell me I
+haven't been imprudent. I thought it would be best to take
+you unawares when you had everything prepared, and
+when we should see you just as you always are; for I am
+convinced Leonora and you only want to see more of each
+other to understand each other perfectly. Come, my
+dearest boy, and give a little comfort to your loving and
+anxious </p>
+<p class="right">"<span class="smallcaps">Aunt Dora.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth sat gazing blankly upon this horrible
+missive for some minutes after he had read it, quite
+unaware of the humble presence of the maid who stood
+asking, Please was she to bring up dinner? When he came
+to himself, the awful "No!" with which he answered that
+alarmed handmaiden almost drove her into hysterics as
+she escaped down-stairs. However, Mr Wentworth
+immediately put his head out at the door and called after
+her, "I can't wait for dinner, Sarah; I am suddenly called
+out, and shall dine where I am going. Tell Cook," said the
+young parson, suddenly recollecting Lucy's client, "to
+send what she has prepared for me, if it is very nice, to
+No. 10 Prickett's Lane. My boy will take it; and send him
+off directly, please," with which last commission the
+young man went up despairingly to his bedroom to prepare
+himself for this interview with his aunts. What was he
+to do? Already before him, in dreadful prophetic vision,
+he saw all three seated in one of the handsome open
+benches in St Roque's, looking indescribable horrors at
+the crown of spring lilies which Lucy's own fingers were to
+weave for the cross above the altar, and listening to the
+cadence of his own manly tenor as it rang through the
+perfect little church of which he was so proud. Yes, there
+was an end of Skelmersdale, without any doubt or
+question now; whatever hope there might have been, aunt
+Dora had settled the matter by this last move of hers&mdash;an
+end to Skelmersdale, and an end of Lucy. Perhaps he had
+better try not to see her any more; and the poor young
+priest saw that his own face looked ghastly as he looked at
+it in the glass. It gave him a little comfort to meet the boy
+with a bundle pinned up in snowy napkins, from which a
+grateful odour ascended, bending his steps to Prickett's
+Lane, as he himself went out to meet his fate. It was a
+last offering to that beloved "district" with which the
+image of his love was blended; but he would have given
+his dinner to Lucy's sick woman any day. To-night it was a
+greater sacrifice that was to be required of him. He went
+mournfully and slowly up Grange Lane, steeling himself
+for the encounter, and trying to forgive aunt Dora in his
+heart. It was not very easy. Things might have turned out
+just the same without any interference&mdash;that was true; but
+to have it all brought on in this wanton manner by a kind
+foolish woman, who would wring her hands and gaze in
+your face, and want to know, Oh! did you think it was
+her fault? after she had precipitated the calamity, was
+very hard; and it was with a very gloomy countenance,
+accordingly, that the Curate of St Roque's presented
+himself at the Blue Boar.</p>
+
+<p>The Miss Wentworths were in the very best sitting-room
+which the Blue Boar contained&mdash;the style in which
+they travelled, with a man and two maids, was enough to
+secure that; and the kitchen of that respectable establishment
+was doing its very best to send up a dinner worthy of
+"a party as had their own man to wait." The three ladies
+greeted their nephew with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
+The eldest, Miss Wentworth, from whom he took his
+second name Cecil, did not rise from her chair, but nevertheless
+kissed him in an affectionate dignified way when
+he was brought to her. As for aunt Dora, she ran into her
+dear Frank's arms, and in the very moment of that
+embrace whispered in his ear the expression of her
+anxiety, and the panic which always followed those rash
+steps which she was in the habit of taking. "Oh, my dear, I
+hope you don't think I'm to blame," she said, with her lips
+at his ear, and gained but cold comfort from the Curate's
+face. The alarming member of the party was Miss
+Leonora. She rose and made two steps forward to meet the
+unfortunate young man. She shook both his hands cordially,
+and said she was very glad to see him, and hoped he
+was well. She was the sensible sister of the three, and no
+doubt required all the sense she had to manage her companions.
+Miss Wentworth, who had been very pretty in her
+youth, was now a beautiful old lady, with snow-white hair
+and the most charming smile; and Miss Dora, who was only
+fifty, retained the natural colour of her own scanty light-brown
+locks, which wavered in weak-minded ringlets over
+her cheeks; but Miss Leonora was iron-grey, without any
+complexion in particular, and altogether a harder type of
+woman. It was she who held in her hands the fate of
+Skelmersdale and of Frank Wentworth. Her terrible
+glance it was which he had imagined gleaming fierce upon
+his lilies&mdash;Lucy's lilies, his Easter decorations. It was by
+her side the alarmed Curate was made to sit down. It was
+she who took the foot of the table, and was the gentleman
+of the house. Her voice was of that class of voice which
+may be politely called a powerful contralto. Every way
+she was as alarming a critic as ever was encountered by a
+Perpetual Curate, or any other young man in trouble. Mr
+Wentworth said feebly that this was a very unexpected
+pleasure, as he met his aunt Leonora's eye.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope it <i>is</i> a pleasure," said that penetrating observer.
+"To tell the truth, I did not expect it would be; but your
+aunt Dora thought so, and you know, when she sets her
+heart on anything, nobody can get any peace. Not that
+your aunt Cecilia and I would have come on that account,
+if we had not wished, for many reasons, to have some
+conversation with you, and see how you are getting on."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so, Leonora," said Miss Wentworth, smiling
+upon her nephew, and leaning back in her chair.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was a little pause; for, after such a terrible
+address, it was not to be expected that the poor man, who
+understood every word of it, could repeat his commonplace
+about the unlooked-for pleasure. Miss Dora of
+course seized the opportunity to rush in.</p>
+
+<p>"We have been hearing such delightful things about
+you, my dear, from the people of the house. Leonora is so
+pleased to hear how you are labouring among the people,
+and doing your Master's work. We take all the happiness
+to ourselves, because, you know, you are <i>our</i> boy,
+Frank," said the anxious aunt, all her thin ringlets, poor
+lady, trembling with her eagerness to make everything
+comfortable for her favourite; "and we have come, you
+know, specially to hear you on Easter Sunday in your own
+church. I am looking forward to a great treat: to think I
+should never have heard you, though it is so long since
+you were ordained! None of us have ever heard you&mdash;not
+even Leonora; but it is such a pleasure to us all to know
+you are so much liked in Carlingford," cried the troubled
+woman, growing nervous at sight of the unresponsive
+quiet around her. Miss Leonora by no means replied to
+the covert appeals thus made to her. She left her nephew
+and her sister to keep up the conversation unassisted; and
+as for Miss Wentworth, conversation was not her forte.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid, aunt, you will not <i>hear</i> anything worth such a
+long journey," said Mr Wentworth, moved, like a rash
+young man as he was, to display his colours at once, and cry
+no surrender. "I don't think an Easter Sunday is a time for
+much preaching; and the Church has made such ample
+provision for the expression of our sentiments. I am more of
+a humble priest than an ambitious preacher," said the
+young man, with characteristic youthful pretence of the most
+transparent kind. He looked in Miss Leonora's face as he
+spoke. He knew the very name of priest was an offence in
+its way to that highly Evangelical woman; and if they were
+to come to single combat, better immediately than after
+intolerable suspense and delay.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, Dora, you will postpone your raptures about
+Frank's sermon&mdash;which may be a very indifferent sermon,
+as he says, for anything we can tell&mdash;till after
+dinner," said Miss Leonora. "We're all very glad to see
+him; and he need not think any little ill-tempered
+speeches he may make will disturb me. I daresay the poor
+boy would be glad to hear of some of the people belonging
+to him instead of all that nonsense. Come to dinner,
+Frank. Take the other side of the table, opposite Dora;
+and now that you've said grace, I give you full leave to
+forget that you're a clergyman for an hour at least. We
+were down at the old Hall a week ago, and saw your father
+and the rest. They are all well; and the last boy is rather
+like you, if you will think that any compliment. Mrs
+Wentworth is pleased, because you are one of the handsome
+ones, you know. Not much fear of the Wentworths
+dying out of the country yet awhile. Your father is getting
+at his wit's end, and does not know what to do with
+Cuthbert and Guy. Three sons are enough in the army,
+and two at sea; and I rather think it's as much as we can
+stand," continued Miss Leonora, not without a gleam of
+humour in her iron-grey eyes, "to have two in the Church."</p>
+
+<p>"That is as it may happen," said the Perpetual Curate,
+with a little spirit. "If the boys are of my way of thinking,
+they will consider the Church the highest of professions;
+but Guy and Cuthbert must go to Australia, I suppose, like
+most other people, and take their chance&mdash;no harm in that."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of harm," said the rich aunt; "they're good
+boys enough, and I daresay they'll get on. As for Gerald,
+if you have any influence with your brother, I think he's in
+a bad way. I think he has a bad attack of Romishness
+coming on. If you are not in that way yourself," said Miss
+Leonora, with a sharp glance, "I think you should go and
+see after Gerald. He is the sort of man who would do
+anything foolish, you know. He doesn't understand what
+prudence means. Remember, I believe he is a good
+Christian all the same. It's very incomprehensible; but the
+fact is, a man may be a very good Christian, and have the
+least quality of sense that is compatible with existence.
+I've seen it over and over again. Gerald's notions are
+idiocy to me," said the sensible but candid woman, shrugging
+her shoulders; "but I can't deny that he's a good man,
+for all that."</p>
+
+<p>"He is the best man I ever knew," said young Wentworth,
+with enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so, Frank," echoed aunt Cecilia, with her sweet
+smile: it was almost the only conversational effort Miss
+Wentworth ever made.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is so sad to see how he's led away," said Miss
+Dora; "it is all owing to the bad advisers young men meet
+with at the universities; and how can it be otherwise as
+long as tutors and professors are chosen just for their
+learning, without any regard to their principles? What is
+Greek and Latin in comparison with a pious guide for the
+young? We would not have to feel frightened, as we do so
+often, about young men's principles," continued aunt Dora,
+fixing her eyes with warning significance on her nephew,
+and trying hard to open telegraphic communications
+with him, "if more attention was paid at the universities
+to give them sound guidance in their studies. So long
+as you are sound in your principles, there is no fear of
+you," said the timid diplomatist, trying to aid the warning
+look of her eyes by emphasis and inflection. Poor Miss
+Dora! it was her unlucky fate, by dint of her very exertions
+in smoothing matters, always to make things worse.</p>
+
+<p>"He would be a bold man who would call those principles
+unsound which have made my brother Gerald what
+he is," said, with an affectionate admiration that became
+him, the Curate of St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a slavish system, notwithstanding Gerald," said
+Miss Leonora, with some heat; "and a false system, and
+leads to Antichrist at the end and nothing less. Eat your
+dinner, Frank&mdash;we are not going to argue just now. We
+expected to hear that another of the girls was engaged
+before we came away, but it has not occurred yet. I don't
+approve of young men dancing about a house for ever and
+ever, unless they mean something. Do you?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth faltered at this question; it disturbed his
+composure more than anything that had preceded it. "I&mdash;really
+I don't know," he said, after a pause, with a sickly
+smile&mdash;of which all three of his aunts took private notes,
+forming their own conclusions. It was, as may well be
+supposed, a very severe ordeal which the poor young man
+had to go through. When he was permitted to say good-night,
+he went away with a sensation of fatigue more
+overpowering than if he had visited all the houses in
+Wharfside. When he passed the green door, over which
+the apple-tree rustled in the dark, it was a pang to his
+heart. How was he to continue to live&mdash;to come and go
+through that familiar road&mdash;to go through all the meetings
+and partings, when this last hopeless trial was over, and
+Lucy and he were swept apart as if by an earthquake? If
+his lips were sealed henceforward, and he never was at
+liberty to say what was in his heart, what would she think
+of him? He could not fly from his work because he lost
+Skelmersdale; and how was he to bear it? He went home
+with a dull bitterness in his mind, trying, when he thought
+of it, to quiet the aching pulses which throbbed all over
+him, with what ought to have been the hallowed associations
+of the last Lenten vigil. But it was difficult, throbbing
+as he was with wild life and trouble to the very finger-points,
+to get himself into the shadow of that rock-hewn
+grave, by which, according to his own theory, the Church
+should be watching on this Easter Eve. It was hard just
+then to be bound to that special remembrance. What he
+wanted at this moment was no memory of one hour,
+however memorable or glorious, not even though it contained
+the Redeemer's grave, but the sense of a living
+Friend standing by him in the great struggle, which is the
+essential and unfailing comfort of a Christian's life.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning he went to church with a half-conscious,
+youthful sense of martyrdom, of which in his heart he was
+half ashamed. St Roque's was very fair to see that Easter
+morning. Above the communion-table, with all its sacred
+vessels, the carved oaken cross of the reredos was
+wreathed tenderly with white fragrant festoons of spring
+lilies, sweet Narcissus of the poets; and Mr Wentworth's
+choristers made another white line, two deep, down each
+side of the chancel. The young Anglican took in all the
+details of the scene on his way to the reading-desk as the
+white procession ranged itself in the oaken stalls. At that
+moment&mdash;the worst moment for such a thought&mdash;it
+suddenly flashed over him that, after all, a wreath of
+spring flowers or a chorister's surplice was scarcely worth
+suffering martyrdom for. This horrible suggestion, true
+essence of an unheroic age, which will not suffer a man to
+be absolutely sure of anything, disturbed his prayer as he
+knelt down in silence to ask God's blessing. Easter, to be
+sure, was lovely enough of itself without the garland, and
+Mr Wentworth knew well enough that his white-robed
+singers were no immaculate angel-band. It was Satan
+himself, surely, and no inferior imp, who shot that sudden
+arrow into the young man's heart as he tried to say his
+private prayer; for the Curate of St Roque's was not only a
+fervent Anglican, but also a young Englishman <i>sans
+reproche</i>, with all the sensitive, almost fantastic, delicacy
+of honour which belongs to that development of humanity;
+and not for a dozen worlds would he have sacrificed a lily
+or a surplice on this particular Easter, when all his worldly
+hopes hung in the balance. But to think at this crowning
+moment that a villanous doubt of the benefit of these
+surplices and lilies should seize his troubled heart! for just
+then the strains of the organ died away in lengthened
+whispers, and Miss Leonora Wentworth, severe and awful,
+swept up through the middle aisle. It was under these
+terrible circumstances that the Perpetual Curate, with his
+heart throbbing and his head aching, began to intone the
+morning service on that Easter Sunday, ever after a day
+so memorable in the records of St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mr Wentworth's</span> sermon on Easter Sunday was one
+which he himself long remembered, though it is doubtful
+whether any of his congregation had memories as faithful.
+To tell the truth, the young man put a black cross
+upon it with his blackest ink, a memorial of meaning
+unknown to anybody but himself. It was a curious little
+sermon, such as may still be heard in some Anglican
+pulpits. Though he had heart and mind enough to conceive
+something of those natural depths of divine significance
+and human interest, which are the very essence of
+the Easter festival, it was not into these that Mr Wentworth
+entered in his sermon. He spoke, in very choice
+little sentences, of the beneficence of the Church in
+appointing such a feast, and of all the beautiful arrangements
+she had made for the keeping of it. But even in the
+speaking, in the excited state of mind he was in, it
+occurred to the young man to see, by a sudden flash of
+illumination, how much higher, how much more catholic,
+after all, his teaching would have been, could he but have
+once ignored the Church, and gone direct, as Nature
+bade, to that empty grave in which all the hopes of
+humanity had been entombed. He saw it by gleams of that
+perverse light which seemed more Satanic than heavenly
+in the moments it chose for shining, while he was
+preaching his little sermon about the Church and her
+beautiful institution of Easter, just as he had seen the non-importance
+of his lily-wreath and surplices as he was about
+to suffer martyrdom for them. All these circumstances
+were hard upon the young man. Looking down straight
+into the severe iron-grey eyes of his aunt Leonora, he
+could not of course so much as modify a single sentence of
+the discourse he was uttering, no more than he could
+permit himself to slur over a single monotone of the
+service; but that sudden bewildering perception that he
+could have done so much better&mdash;that the loftiest High-Churchism
+of all might have been consistent enough with
+Skelmersdale, had he but gone into the heart of the matter&mdash;gave
+a bitterness to the deeper, unseen current of the
+Curate's thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, it was terrible to feel that he could not abstract
+himself from personal concerns even in the most sacred
+duties. He was conscious that the two elder sisters went
+away, and that only poor aunt Dora, her weak-minded
+ringlets limp with tears, came tremulous to the altar rails.
+When the service was over, and the young priest was
+disrobing himself, she came to him and gave a spasmodic,
+sympathetic, half-reproachful pressure to his hand. "Oh,
+Frank, my dear, I did it for the best," said Miss Dora, with
+a doleful countenance; and the Perpetual Curate knew
+that his doom was sealed. He put the best face he could
+upon the matter, having sufficient doubts of his own
+wisdom to subdue the high temper of the Wentworths for
+that moment at least.</p>
+
+<p>"What was it you did for the best?" said the Curate of St
+Roque's. "I suppose, after all, it was no such great matter
+<i>hearing</i> me as you thought; but I told you I was not an
+ambitious preacher. This is a day for worship, not for talk."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! yes," said Miss Dora; "but oh, Frank, my dear, it
+is hard upon me, after all my expectations. It would have
+been so nice to have had you at Skelmersdale. I hoped
+you would marry Julia Trench, and we should all have
+been so happy; and perhaps if I had not begged Leonora
+to come just now, thinking it would be so nice to take you
+just in your usual way&mdash;but she must have known sooner
+or later," said poor aunt Dora, looking wistfully in his
+face. "Oh, Frank, I hope you don't think I'm to blame."</p>
+
+<p>"I never should have married Julia Trench," said the
+Curate, gloomily. He did not enter into the question of
+Miss Dora's guilt or innocence&mdash;he gave a glance at the
+lilies on the altar, and a sigh. The chances were he would
+never marry anybody, but loyalty to Lucy demanded
+instant repudiation of any other possible bride. "Where
+are you going, aunt Dora; back to the Blue Boar? or will
+you come with me?" he said, as they stood together at the
+door of St Roque's. Mr Wentworth felt as if he had caught
+the beginning threads of a good many different lines of
+thought, which he would be glad to be alone to work out.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll come back with me to the inn to lunch?" said
+Miss Dora. "Oh, Frank, my dear, remember your
+Christian feelings, and don't make a breach in the family.
+It will be bad enough to face your poor dear father, after
+he knows what Leonora means to do; and I do so want to
+talk to you," said the poor woman, eagerly clinging to his
+arm. "You always were fond of your poor aunt Dora,
+Frank; when you were quite a little trot you used always
+to like me best; and in the holiday times, when you came
+down from Harrow, I used always to hear all your troubles.
+If you would only have confidence in me now!"</p>
+
+<p>"But what if I have no troubles to confide?" said Mr
+Wentworth; "a man and a boy are very different things.
+Come, aunt Dora, I'll see you safe to your inn. What
+should I have to grumble about? I have plenty to do, and
+it is Easter; and few men can have everything their own
+way."</p>
+
+<p>"You won't acknowledge that you're vexed," said aunt
+Dora, almost crying under her veil, "but I can see it all the
+same. You always were such a true Wentworth; but if you
+only would give in and say that you are disappointed and
+angry with us all, I could bear it better, Frank. I would
+not feel then that you thought it my fault! And oh, Frank,
+dear, you don't consider how disappointed your poor dear
+aunt Leonora was! It's just as hard upon us," she continued,
+pressing his arm in her eagerness, "as it is upon
+you. We had all so set our hearts on having you at
+Skelmersdale. Don't you think, if you were giving your
+mind to it, you might see things in a different light?" with
+another pressure of his arm. "Oh, Frank, what does it
+matter, after all, if the heart is right, whether you read the
+service in your natural voice, or give that little quaver at
+the end? I am sure, for my part&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear aunt," said Mr Wentworth, naturally incensed
+by this manner of description, "I must be allowed to
+say that my convictions are fixed, and not likely to be
+altered. I am a priest, and you are&mdash;a woman." He
+stopped short, with perhaps a little bitterness. It was very
+true she was a woman, unqualified to teach, but yet she
+and her sisters were absolute in Skelmersdale. He made a
+little gulp of his momentary irritation, and walked on in
+silence, with Miss Dora's kind wistful hand clinging to his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear Frank among us Protestants, you know,
+there is no sacerdotal caste," said Miss Dora, opportunely
+recollecting some scrap of an Exeter Hall speech. "We are
+all kings and priests to God. Oh, Frank, it is Gerald's
+example that has led you away. I am sure, before you
+went to Oxford you were never at all a ritualist&mdash;even
+Leonora thought you such a pious boy; and I am sure your
+good sense must teach you&mdash;" faltered aunt Dora, trying
+her sister's grand tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, hush; I can't have you begin to argue with me;
+you are not my aunt Leonora," said the Curate, half
+amused in spite of himself. This encouraged the anxious
+woman, and, clasping his arm closer than ever, she poured
+out all her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, if you could only modify your views a little!
+It is not that there is any difference between your views
+and ours, except just in words, my dear. Flowers are very
+pretty decorations, and I know you look very nice in your
+surplice; and I am sure, for my part, I should not mind&mdash;but
+then that is not carrying the Word of God to the
+people, as Leonora says. If the heart is right, what does it
+matter about the altar?" said aunt Dora, unconsciously
+falling upon the very argument that had occurred to her
+nephew's perplexed mind in the pulpit. "Even though I
+was in such trouble, I can't tell you what a happiness it was to
+take the sacrament from your hands, my dear, dear boy;
+and but for these flowers and things that could do nobody
+any good, poor dear Leonora, who is very fond of you,
+though perhaps you don't think it, could have had that
+happiness too. Oh, Frank, don't you think you could give
+up these things that don't matter? If you were just to tell
+Leonora you have been thinking it over, and that you see
+you've made a mistake, and that in future&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to insult me?" said the young man.
+"Hush&mdash;hush; you don't know what you are saying. Not to
+be made Archbishop of Canterbury, instead of Vicar of
+Skelmersdale. I don't understand how you could suggest
+such a thing to me."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Dora's veil, which she had partly lifted, here fell
+over her face, as it had kept doing all the time she was
+speaking&mdash;but this time she did not put it back. She was
+no longer able to contain herself, but wept hot tears of
+distress and vexation, under the flimsy covering of lace.
+"No, of course, you will not do it&mdash;you will far rather be
+haughty, and say it is my fault," said poor Miss Dora.
+"We have all so much pride, we Wentworths&mdash;and you
+never think of our disappointment, and how we all
+calculated upon having you at Skelmersdale, and how
+happy we were to be, and that you were to marry Julia
+Trench&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>It was just at this moment that the two reached the corner
+of Prickett's Lane. Lucy Wodehouse had been down there
+seeing the sick woman. She had, indeed, been carrying
+her dinner to that poor creature, and was just turning into
+Grange Lane, with her blue ribbons hidden under the
+grey cloak, and a little basket in her hand. They met full
+in the face at this corner, and Miss Dora's words reached
+Lucy's ears, and went through and through her with a
+little nervous thrill. She had not time to think whether it
+was pain or only surprise that moved her, and was not
+even self-possessed enough to observe the tremulous pressure
+of the Curate's hand, as he shook hands with her, and
+introduced his aunt. "I have just been to see the poor
+woman at No. 10," said Lucy. "She is very ill to-day. If
+you had time, it would be kind of you to see her. I think
+she has something on her mind."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go there before I go to Wharfside," said Mr
+Wentworth. "Are you coming down to the service this
+afternoon? I am afraid it will be a long service, for there
+are all these little Burrowses, you know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am godmother," said Lucy, and smiled and
+gave him her hand again as she passed him while aunt
+Dora looked on with curious eyes. The poor Curate
+heaved a mighty sigh as he looked after the grey cloak.
+Not his the privilege now, to walk with her to the green
+door, to take her basket from the soft hand of the merciful
+Sister. On the contrary, he had to turn his back upon
+Lucy, and walk on with aunt Dora to the inn&mdash;at this
+moment a symbolical action which seemed to embody his
+fate.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Wharfside? and who are the little Burrowses?
+and what does the young lady mean by being godmother?"
+said aunt Dora. "She looks very sweet and nice; but what is
+the meaning of that grey cloak? Oh, Frank, I hope you
+don't approve of nunneries, and that sort of thing. It is such
+foolishness. My dear, the Christian life is very hard, as
+your aunt Leonora always says. She says she can't bear to
+see people playing at Christianity&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"People should not speak of things they don't understand,"
+said the Perpetual Curate. "Your Exeter-Hall
+men, aunt Dora, are like the old ascetics&mdash;they try to
+make a merit of Christianity by calling it hard and terrible;
+but there are some sweet souls in the world, to whom
+it comes natural as sunshine in May." And the young
+Anglican, with a glance behind him from the corner of his
+eye, followed the fair figure, which he believed he was
+never, with a clear conscience, to accompany any more.
+"Now, here is your inn," he said, after a little pause.
+"Wharfside is a district, where I am going presently to
+conduct service, and the little Burrowses are a set of little
+heathens, to whom I am to administer holy baptism this
+Easter Sunday. Good-bye just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, my dear, just come in for a moment, and
+tell Leonora&mdash;it will show her how wrong she is," said poor
+aunt Dora, clinging to his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Right or wrong, I am not going into any controversy.
+My aunt Leonora knows perfectly well what she is doing,"
+said the Curate, with the best smile he could muster; and
+so shook hands with her resolutely, and walked back again
+all the way down Grange Lane, past the green door, to his
+own house. Nobody was about the green door at that
+particular moment to ask him in to luncheon, as sometimes
+happened. He walked down all the way to Mrs
+Hadwin's, with something of the sensations of a man who
+has just gone through a dreadful operation, and feels, with
+a kind of dull surprise after, that everything around him is
+just the same as before. He had come through a fiery trial,
+though nobody knew of it; and just at this moment, when
+he wanted all his strength, how strange to feel that haunting
+sense of an unnecessary sacrifice&mdash;that troubled new
+vein of thought which would be worked out, and which
+concerned matters more important than Skelmersdale,
+weighty as that was. He took his sermon out of his pocket
+when he got home, and marked a cross upon it, as we have
+already said; but, being still a young man, he was thankful
+to snatch a morsel of lunch, and hasten out again to his
+duty, instead of staying to argue the question with himself.
+He went to No. 10 Prickett's Lane, and was a long
+time with the sick woman, listening to all the woeful tale of
+a troubled life, which the poor sick creature had been
+contemplating for days and days, in her solitude, through
+those strange exaggerated death-gleams which Miss
+Leonora would have called "the light of eternity." She
+remembered all sorts of sins, great and small, which filled
+her with nervous terrors; and it was not till close upon the
+hour for the Wharfside service, that the Curate could leave
+his tremulous penitent. The schoolroom was particularly
+full that day. Easter, perhaps, had touched the hearts&mdash;it
+certainly had refreshed the toilettes&mdash;of the bargemen's
+wives and daughters. Some of them felt an inward conviction
+that their new ribbons were undoubtedly owing to the
+clergyman's influence, and that Tom and Jim would have
+bestowed the money otherwise before the Church planted
+her pickets in this corner of the enemy's camp; and the
+conviction, though not of an elevated description, was a
+great deal better than no conviction at all. Mr Wentworth's
+little sermon to them was a great improvement
+upon his sermon at St Roque's. He told them about the
+empty grave of Christ, and how He called the weeping
+woman by her name, and showed her the earnest of the
+end of all sorrows. There were some people who cried,
+thinking of the dead who were still waiting for Easter,
+which was more than anybody did when Mr Wentworth
+discoursed upon the beautiful institutions of the Church's
+year; and a great many of the congregation stayed to see
+Tom Burrows's six children come up for baptism, preceded
+by the new baby, whose infant claims to Christianity the
+Curate had so strongly insisted upon, to the wakening of a
+fatherly conscience in the honest bargeman. Lucy
+Wodehouse, without her grey cloak, stood at the font,
+holding that last tiny applicant for saving grace, while all
+the other little heathens were signed with the sacred cross.
+And strangely enough, when the young priest and the
+young woman stood so near each other, solemnly pledging,
+one after another, each little sun-browned, round-eyed
+pagan to be Christ's faithful servant and soldier, the cloud
+passed away from the firmament of both. Neither of them,
+perhaps, was of a very enlightened character of soul.
+They believed they were doing a great work for Tom
+Burrows's six children, calling God to His promise on their
+behalf, and setting the little feet straight for the gates of
+the eternal city; and in their young love and faith their
+hearts rose. Perhaps it was foolish of Mr Wentworth to
+suffer himself to walk home again thereafter, as of old,
+with the Miss Wodehouses&mdash;but it was so usual, and, after
+all, they were going the same way. But it was a very silent
+walk, to the wonder of the elder sister, who could not
+understand what it meant. "The Wharfside service always
+does me good," said Mr Wentworth, with a sigh. "And me,
+too," said Lucy; and then they talked a little about the poor
+woman in No. 10. But that Easter Sunday was not like
+other Sundays, though Miss Wodehouse could not tell why.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Next</span> day the Miss Wentworths made a solemn call at
+the Rectory, having known an aunt of Mrs Morgan at
+some period of their history, and being much disposed,
+besides, with natural curiosity, to ascertain all about their
+nephew's circumstances. Their entrance interrupted a
+consultation between the Rector and his wife. Mr Morgan
+was slightly heated, and had evidently been talking about
+something that excited him; while she, poor lady, looked
+just sufficiently sympathetic and indignant to withdraw her
+mind from that first idea which usually suggested itself on
+the entrance of visitors&mdash;which was, what could they
+possibly think of her if they supposed the carpet, &amp;c., to
+be her own choice? Mrs Morgan cast her eye with a
+troubled look upon the big card which had been brought to
+her&mdash;Miss Wentworth, Miss Leonora Wentworth, Miss
+Dora Wentworth. "Sisters of his, I suppose, William," she
+said in an undertone; "now <i>do</i> be civil, dear." There was no
+time for anything more before the three ladies sailed in.
+Miss Leonora took the initiative, as was natural.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't remember us, I daresay," she said, taking
+Mrs Morgan's hand; "we used to know your aunt Sidney,
+when she lived at the Hermitage. Don't you recollect the
+Miss Wentworths of Skelmersdale? Charley Sidney spent
+part of his furlough with us last summer, and Ada writes
+about you often. We could not be in Carlingford without
+coming to see the relation of such a dear friend."</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad to see anybody who knows my aunt
+Sidney," said Mrs Morgan, with modified enthusiasm.
+"Mr Morgan, Miss Wentworth. It was such a dear little
+house that Hermitage. I spent some very happy days
+there. Oh yes, I recollect Skelmersdale perfectly; but, to
+tell the truth, there is one of the clergy in Carlingford
+called Wentworth, and I thought it might be some relations
+of his coming to call."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," said Miss Wentworth, settling herself in the
+nearest easy-chair.</p>
+
+<p>"And so it is," cried Miss Dora; "we are his aunts, dear
+boy&mdash;we are very fond of him. We came on purpose to see
+him. We are so glad to hear that he is liked in Carlingford."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh&mdash;yes," said the Rector's wife, and nobody else took
+any notice of Miss Dora's little outburst. As for Mr
+Morgan, he addressed Miss Leonora as if she had done
+something particularly naughty, and he had a great mind
+to give her an imposition. "You have not been very long in
+Carlingford, I suppose," said the Rector, as if that were a sin.</p>
+
+<p>"Only since Saturday," said Miss Leonora. "We came
+to see Mr Frank Wentworth, who is at St Roque's. I don't
+know what your bishop is about, to permit all those flowers
+and candlesticks. For my part, I never disguise my sentiments.
+I mean to tell my nephew plainly that his way of
+conducting the service is far from being to my mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Leonora, dear, perhaps Mr Morgan would speak to
+Frank about it," interposed Miss Dora, anxiously; "he was
+always a dear boy, and advice was never lost upon him.
+From one that he respected so much as he must respect
+the Rector&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon. I quite decline interfering with Mr
+Wentworth; he is not at all under my jurisdiction. Indeed,"
+said the Rector, with a smile of anger, "I might be
+more truly said to be under his, for he is good enough to
+help in my parish without consulting me; but that is not to
+the purpose. I would not for the world attempt to interfere
+with St Roque's."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, I am sure Mr Wentworth is very nice, and
+everything we have seen of him in private we have liked
+very much," said Mrs Morgan, with an anxious look at her
+husband. She was a good-natured woman, and the handsome
+Curate had impressed her favourably, notwithstanding
+his misdoings. "As for a little too much of the rubric, I
+think that is not a bad fault in a young man. It gets
+softened down with a little experience; and I do like
+proper solemnity in the services of the Church."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't call intoning proper solemnity," said Miss
+Leonora. "The Church is a missionary institution, that is
+my idea. Unless you are really bringing in the perishing
+and saving souls, what is the good? and souls will never be
+saved by Easter decorations. I don't know what my
+nephew may have done to offend you, Mr Morgan; but it
+is very sad to us, who have very strong convictions on the
+subject, to see him wasting his time so. I daresay there is
+plenty of heathenism in Carlingford which might be
+attacked in the first place."</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer not to discuss the subject," said the Rector.
+"So long as Mr Wentworth, or any other clergyman, keeps
+to his own sphere of duty, I should be the last in the world
+to interfere with him."</p>
+
+<p>"You are offended with Frank," said Miss Leonora,
+fixing her iron-grey eyes upon Mr Morgan. "So am I; but I
+should be glad if you would tell me all about it. I have
+particular reasons for wishing to know. After all, he is only
+a young man," she continued, with that instinct of kindred
+which dislikes to hear censure from any lips but its own. "I
+don't think there can be anything more than inadvertence
+in it. I should be glad if you would tell me what you object to
+in him. I think it is probable that he may remain a long time
+in Carlingford," said Miss Leonora, with charming candour,
+"and it would be pleasant if we could help to set him right.
+Your advice and experience might be of so much use to
+him." She was not aware of the covert sarcasm of her
+speech. She did not know that the Rector's actual experience,
+though he was half as old again as her nephew, bore no
+comparison to that of the Perpetual Curate. She spoke in
+good faith and good nature, not moved in her own convictions
+of what must be done in respect to Skelmersdale, but
+very willing, if that were possible, to do a good turn to
+Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure, dear, what we have seen of Mr Wentworth
+in private, we have liked very much," said the Rector's
+sensible wife, with a deprecating glance towards her husband.
+The Rector took no notice of the glance; he grew
+slightly red in his serious middle-aged face, and cleared
+his throat several times before he began to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"The fact is, I have reason to be dissatisfied with Mr
+Wentworth, as regards my own parish," said Mr Morgan:
+"personally I have nothing to say against him&mdash;quite the
+reverse; probably, as you say, it arises from inadvertence,
+as he is still a very young man; but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What has he done?" said Miss Leonora, pricking up
+her ears.</p>
+
+<p>Once more Mr Morgan cleared his throat, but this time
+it was to keep down the rising anger of which he was
+unpleasantly sensible. "I don't generally enter into such
+matters with people whom they don't concern," he said,
+with a touch of his natural asperity; "but as you are Mr
+Wentworth's relation&mdash;. He has taken a step perfectly
+unjustifiable in every respect; he has at the present moment
+a mission going on in my parish, in entire independence, I
+will not say defiance, of me. My dear, it is unnecessary to
+look at me so deprecatingly. I am indignant at having such
+a liberty taken with me. I don't pretend not to be indignant.
+Mr Wentworth is a very young man, and may not know
+any better; but it is the most unwarrantable intrusion upon
+a clergyman's rights. I beg your pardon, Miss Wentworth:
+you have nothing to do with my grievances; but the fact is,
+my wife and I were discussing this very unpleasant matter
+when you came in."</p>
+
+<p>"A mission in your parish?" said Miss Leonora, her iron-grey
+eyes lighting up with a sparkle which did not look like
+indignation; at this point it was necessary that Miss Dora
+should throw herself into the breach.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Morgan, I am sure my dear Frank does not
+mean it!" cried the unlucky peacemaker; "he would not
+for the world do anything to wound anybody's feelings&mdash;it
+must be a mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Morgan would not have mentioned it if we had not
+just been talking as you came in," said the Rector's wife,
+by way of smoothing down his ruffled temper and giving
+him time to recover. "I feel <i>sure</i> it is a mistake, and that
+everything will come right as soon as they can talk it over
+by themselves. The last Rector was not at all a working
+clergyman&mdash;and perhaps Mr Wentworth felt it was his
+duty&mdash;and now I daresay he forgets that it is not his own
+parish. It will all come right after a time."</p>
+
+<p>"But the mission is effective, I suppose, or you would
+not object to it?" said Miss Leonora, who, though a very
+religious woman, was not a peacemaker; and the Rector,
+whose temper was hasty, swallowed the bait. He entered
+into his grievances more fully than his wife thought
+consistent with his dignity. She sat with her eyes fixed
+upon the floor, tracing the objectionable pattern on the
+carpet with her foot, but too much vexed for the moment
+to think of those bouquets which were so severe a
+cross to her on ordinary occasions. Perhaps she was
+thinking secretly to herself how much better one knows a
+man after being married to him three months than after
+being engaged to him ten years; but the discovery that he
+was merely a man after all, with very ordinary defects,
+did not lessen her loyalty. She sat with her eyes bent upon
+the carpet, feeling a little hot and uncomfortable as her
+husband disclosed his weakness, and watching her opportunities
+to rush in and say a softening word now and then.
+The chances were, perhaps, on the whole, that the wife
+grew <i>more</i> loyal, if that were possible, as she perceived the
+necessity of standing by him and backing him out. The
+Rector went very fully into the subject, being drawn out
+by Miss Leonora's questions, and betrayed an extent of
+information strangely opposed to the utter ignorance
+which he had displayed at Mr Wodehouse's party. He
+knew the hours of Mr Wentworth's services, and the
+number of people who attended, and even about Tom
+Burrows's six children who had been baptised the day
+before. Somehow Mr Morgan took this last particular as a
+special offence; it was this which had roused him beyond
+his usual self-control. Six little heathens brought into the
+Christian fold in his own parish without the permission of
+the Rector! It was indeed enough to try any clergyman's
+temper. Through the entire narrative Miss Dora broke in
+now and then with a little wail expressive of her general
+dismay and grief, and certainty that her dear Frank did
+not mean it. Mrs Morgan repeated apart to Miss Wentworth
+with a troubled brow the fact that all they had seen
+of Mr Wentworth in private they had liked very much; to
+which aunt Cecilia answered, "Quite so," with her beautiful
+smile; while Miss Leonora sat and listened, putting artful
+questions, and fixing the heated Rector with that iron-grey
+eye, out of which the sparkle of incipient light had not
+faded. Mr Morgan naturally said a great deal more than
+he meant to say, and after it was said he was sorry;
+but he did not show the latter sentiment except by silence
+and an uneasy rustling about the room just before the Miss
+Wentworths rose to go&mdash;a sign apparent to his wife,
+though to nobody else. He gave Miss Wentworth his arm
+to the door with an embarrassed courtesy. "If you are
+going to stay any time at Carlingford, I trust we shall see
+more of you," said Mr Morgan: "I ought to beg your
+pardon for taking up so much time with my affairs;" and
+the Rector was much taken aback when Miss Wentworth
+answered, "Thank you, that is just what I was thinking."
+He went back to his troubled wife in great perplexity.
+What was it that was just what she was thinking?&mdash;that he
+would see more of them, or that he had spoken too much of
+his own affairs?</p>
+
+<p>"You think I have been angry and made an idiot of
+myself," said Mr Morgan to his wife, who was standing
+looking from a safe distance through the curtains at the
+three ladies, who were holding a consultation with their
+servant out of the window of the solemn chariot provided
+by the Blue Boar, as to where they were to go next.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, dear; but I wish you had not said quite so
+much about Mr Wentworth," said the Rector's wife,
+seizing, with female art, on a cause for her annoyance
+which would not wound her Welshman's <i>amour propre</i>,
+"for I rather think he is dependent on his aunts. They
+have the living of Skelmersdale, I know; and I remember
+now that their nephew was to have had it. I hope this
+won't turn them against him, dear," said Mrs Morgan,
+who did not care the least in the world about Skelmersdale,
+looking anxiously in her husband's face.</p>
+
+<p>This was the climax of the Rector's trouble. "Why did
+not you tell me that before?" he said, with conjugal
+injustice, and went off to his study with a disturbed mind,
+thinking that perhaps he had injured his own chances of
+getting rid of the Perpetual Curate. If Mrs Morgan had
+permitted herself to soliloquise after he was gone, the
+matter of her thoughts might have been interesting; but as
+neither ladies nor gentlemen in the nineteenth century are
+given to that useful medium of disclosing their sentiments,
+the veil of privacy must remain over the mind of the
+Rector's wife. She got her gardening gloves and scissors,
+and went out immediately after, and had an animated
+discussion with the gardener about the best means of
+clothing that bit of wall, over which every railway train
+was visible which left or entered Carlingford. That
+functionary was of opinion that when the lime-trees
+"growed a bit" all would be right: but Mrs Morgan was
+reluctant to await the slow processes of nature. She forgot
+her vexations about Mr Wentworth in consideration of the
+still more palpable inconvenience of the passing train.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Miss Dora Wentworth</span> relapsed into suppressed
+sobbing when the three ladies were once more on their
+way. Between each little access a few broken words fell
+from the poor lady's lips. "I am sure dear Frank did not
+mean it," she said; it was all the plea his champion could
+find for him.</p>
+
+<p>"He did not mean what? to do his duty and save souls?"
+said Miss Leonora&mdash;"is that what he didn't mean? It looks
+very much as if he did, though&mdash;as well as he knew how."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so, Leonora," said Miss Wentworth.</p>
+
+<p>"But he could not mean to vex the Rector," said Miss
+Dora&mdash;"my poor dear Frank: of course he meant it for the
+very best. I wonder you don't think so, Leonora&mdash;you who
+are so fond of missions. I told you what I heard him saying to
+the young lady&mdash;all about the sick people he was going to
+visit, and the children. He is a faithful shepherd, though
+you won't think so; and I am sure he means nothing but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"His duty, I think," said the iron-grey sister, resolutely
+indifferent to Miss Dora's little sniffs, and turning her
+gaze out of the window, unluckily just at the moment
+when the carriage was passing Masters's shop, where some
+engravings were hanging of a suspiciously devotional
+character. The name over the door, and the aspect of the
+shop-window, were terribly suggestive, and the fine profile
+of the Perpetual Curate was just visible within to the keen
+eyes of his aunt. Miss Dora, for her part, dried hers, and,
+beginning to see some daylight, addressed herself
+anxiously to the task of obscuring it, and damaging once
+more her favourite's chance.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Leonora, if he had but a sphere of his own," cried
+Miss Dora, "where he would have other things to think of
+than the rubric, and decorations, and sisterhoods! I don't
+wish any harm to poor dear old Mr Shirley, I am sure; but
+when Frank is in the Rectory&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you understood that Frank would not do for
+the Rectory," said Miss Leonora. "Sisterhoods!&mdash;look here,
+there's a young lady in a grey cloak, and I think she's going
+into <i>that</i> shop: if Frank carries on that sort of thing, I shall
+think him a greater fool than ever. Who is that girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know, dear," said Miss Dora, with
+unexpected wisdom. And she comforted her conscience
+that she did not know, for she had forgotten Lucy's name.
+So there was no tangible evidence to confirm Miss
+Leonora's doubts, and the carriage from the Blue Boar
+rattled down Prickett's Lane to the much amazement of
+that locality. When they got to the grimy canal-banks,
+Miss Leonora stopped the vehicle and got out. She
+declined the attendance of her trembling sister, and
+marched along the black pavement, dispersing with the
+great waves of her drapery the wondering children about,
+who swarmed as children will swarm in such localities.
+Arrived at the schoolroom, Miss Leonora found sundry
+written notices hung up in a little wooden frame inside the
+open door. All sorts of charitable businesses were carried
+on about the basement of the house; and a curt little notice
+about the Provident Society diversified the list of services
+which was hung up for the advantage of the ignorant.
+Clearly the Curate of St Roque's meant it. "As well as he
+knows how," his aunt allowed to herself, with a softening
+sentiment; but, pushing her inquiries further, was shown
+up to the schoolroom, and stood pondering by the side of
+the reading-desk, looking at the table which was contrived
+to be so like an altar. The Curate, who could not have
+dreamed of such a visit, and whose mind had been much
+occupied and indifferent to externals on the day before,
+had left various things lying about, which were carefully
+collected for him upon a bench. Among them was a little
+pocket copy of Thomas &agrave; Kempis, from which, when the
+jealous aunt opened it, certain little German prints, such
+as were to be had by the score at Masters's, dropped out,
+some of them unobjectionable enough. But if the Good
+Shepherd could not be found fault with, the feelings of
+Miss Leonora may be imagined when the meek face of a
+monkish saint, inscribed with some villanous Latin inscription,
+a legend which began with the terrible words <i>Ora pro
+nobis</i>, became suddenly visible to her troubled eyes. She
+put away the book as if it had stung her, and made a
+precipitate retreat. She shook her head as she descended
+the stair&mdash;she re-entered the carriage in gloomy silence.
+When it returned up Prickett's Lane, the three ladies again
+saw their nephew, this time entering the door of No. 10.
+He had his prayer-book under his arm, and Miss Leonora
+seized upon this professional symbol to wreak her wrath
+upon it. "I wonder if he can't pray by a sick woman
+without his prayer-book?" she cried. "I never was so
+provoked in my life. How is it he doesn't know better? His
+father is not pious, but he isn't a Puseyite, and old uncle
+Wentworth was very sound&mdash;he was brought up under the
+pure Gospel. How is that the boys are so foolish, Dora?"
+said Miss Leonora, sharply; "it must be your doing. You
+have told them tales and things, and put true piety out of
+their head."</p>
+
+<p>"My doing!" said Miss Dora, faintly; but she was too
+much startled by the suddenness of the attack to make any
+coherent remonstrance. Miss Leonora tossed back her
+angry head, and pursued that inspiration, finding it a
+relief in her perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be <i>all</i> your doing," she said. "How can I tell
+that you are not a Jesuit in disguise? one has read of such a
+thing. The boys were as good, nice, pious boys as one
+could wish to see; and there's Gerald on the point of
+perversion, and Frank&mdash;I tell you, Dora, it must be your
+fault."</p>
+
+<p>"That was always my opinion," said Miss Cecilia; and
+the accused, after a feeble attempt at speech, could find
+nothing better to do than to drop her veil once more and
+cry under it. It was very hard, but she was not quite
+unaccustomed to it. However, the discoveries of the day
+were important enough to prevent the immediate departure
+which Miss Leonora had intended. She wrote a note
+with her own hands to her nephew, asking him to dinner.
+"We meant to have gone away to-day, but should like to
+see you first," she said in her note. "Come and dine&mdash;we
+mayn't have anything pleasant to say, but I don't suppose
+you expect that. It's a pity we don't see eye to eye." Such
+was the intimation received by Mr Wentworth when he
+got home, very tired, in the afternoon. He had been
+asking himself whether, under the circumstances, it would
+not be proper of him to return some books of Mr
+Wodehouse's which he had in his possession, of course by
+way of breaking off his too familiar, too frequent intercourse.
+He had been representing to himself that he would
+make this call after their dinner would be over, at the hour
+when Mr Wodehouse reposed in his easy-chair, and the
+two sisters were generally to be found alone in the
+drawing-room. Perhaps he might have an opportunity of
+intimating the partial farewell he meant to take of them.
+When he got Miss Leonora's note, the Curate's countenance
+clouded over. He said, "Another night lost," with
+indignant candour. It was hard enough to give up his
+worldly prospects, but he thought he had made up his
+mind to that. However, refusal was impossible. It was still
+daylight when he went up Grange Lane to the Blue Boar.
+He was early, and went languidly along the well-known
+road. Nobody was about at that hour. In those closed,
+embowered houses, people were preparing for dinner, the
+great event of the day, and Mr Wentworth was aware of
+that. Perhaps he had expected to see somebody&mdash;Mr
+Wodehouse going home, most likely, in order that he
+might mention his own engagement, and account for his
+failure in the chance evening call which had become so
+much a part of his life. But no one appeared to bear his
+message. He went lingering past the green door, and up
+the silent deserted road. At the end of Grange Lane, just
+in the little unsettled transition interval which interposed
+between its aristocratic calm and the bustle of George
+Street, on the side next Prickett's Lane, was a quaint little
+shop, into which Mr Wentworth strayed to occupy the
+time. This was Elsworthy's, who, as is well known, was
+then clerk at St Roque's. Elsworthy himself was in his
+shop that Easter Monday, and so was his wife and little
+Rosa, who was a little beauty. Rosa and her aunt had just
+returned from an excursion, and a prettier little apparition
+could not be seen than that dimpled rosy creature, with
+her radiant half-childish looks, her bright eyes, and soft
+curls of dark-brown hair. Even Mr Wentworth gave a
+second glance at her as he dropped languidly into a chair,
+and asked Elsworthy if there was any news. Mrs
+Elsworthy, who had been telling the adventures of the
+holiday to her goodman, gathered up her basket of eggs
+and her nosegay, and made the clergyman a little curtsy
+as she hurried away; for the clerk's wife was a highly
+respectable woman, and knew her own place. But Rosa,
+who was only a kind of kitten, and had privileges, stayed.
+Mr Wentworth was by far the most magnificent figure she
+had ever seen in her little life. She looked at him with awe
+out of her bright eyes, and thought he looked like the
+prince in the fairy tales.</p>
+
+<p>"Any news, sir? There aint much to call news, sir&mdash;not
+in a place like this," said Mr Elsworthy. "Your respected
+aunts, sir, 'as been down at the schoolroom. I haven't
+heard anything else as I could suppose you didn't know."</p>
+
+<p>"My aunts!" cried the Curate; "how do you know anything
+about my aunts?" Mr Elsworthy smiled a complacent
+and familiar smile.</p>
+
+<p>"There's so many a-coming and a-going here that I
+know most persons as comes into Carlingford," said he;
+"and them three respected ladies is as good as a pictur. I
+saw them a-driving past and down Prickett's Lane. They
+was as anxious to know all about it as&mdash;as was to be
+expected in the circumstances," said Mr Elsworthy, failing
+of a metaphor; "and I wish you your 'ealth and
+'appiness, sir, if all as I hear is true."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a good wish," said the Curate; "thank you,
+Elsworthy; but what you heard might not be true."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, it looks more than likely," said the clerk; "as
+far as I've seen in my experience, ladies don't go inquiring
+into a young gentleman's ways, not without some reason.
+If they was young ladies, and noways related, we know
+what we'd think, sir; but being old ladies, and aunts, it's
+equally as clear. For my part, Mr Wentworth, my worst
+wish is, that when you come into your fortune, it mayn't
+lead you away from St Roque's&mdash;not after everything is
+settled so beautiful, and not a thing wanted but some
+stained glass, as I hear a deal of people say, to make it as
+perfect a little church&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is very true; a painted window is very much
+wanted," said Mr Wentworth, thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps there's one o' the ladies, sir, as has some
+friend she'd like to put up a memorial to," said Mr
+Elsworthy, in insinuating tones. "A window is a deal
+cheerfuller a memorial than a tombstone, and it couldn't
+be described the improvement it would be to the church.
+I'm sorry to hear Mr Wodehouse aint quite so well as his
+usual to-night; a useful man like he is, would be a terrible
+loss to Carlingford; not as it's anything alarming, as far as
+I can hear, but being a stout man, it aint a safe thing his
+being took so sudden. I've heard the old doctor say, sir, as
+a man of a full 'abit might be took off at once, when a
+spare man would fight through. It would be a sad thing for
+his family, sir," said Mr Elsworthy, tying up a bundle of
+newspapers with a very serious face.</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens, Elsworthy, how you talk!" said the
+alarmed Curate. "What do you mean?&mdash;is Mr Wodehouse
+ill?&mdash;seriously ill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not serious, as I knows of," said the clerk, with
+solemnity; "but being a man of a full 'abit of body&mdash;I
+daresay as the town would enter into it by subscription if it
+was proposed as a memorial to <i>him</i>, for he's much respected
+in Carlingford is Mr Wodehouse. I see him a-going past,
+sir, at five o'clock, which is an hour earlier than common,
+and he was looking flabby, that's how he was looking. I
+don't know a man as would be a greater loss to his family;
+and they aint been without their troubles either, poor
+souls."</p>
+
+<p>"I should be sorry to think that it was necessary to
+sacrifice Mr Wodehouse for the sake of our painted
+window," said the Curate, "as that seems what you mean.
+Send over this note for me please, as I have not time to call.
+No, certainly, don't send Rosa; that child is too young and
+too&mdash;too pretty to be out by herself at night. Send a boy.
+Haven't you got a boy?&mdash;there is a very nice little fellow
+that I could recommend to you," said Mr Wentworth, as
+he hastily scribbled his note with a pencil, "whose mother
+lives in Prickett's Lane."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank <i>you</i>, sir, all the same; but I hope I don't need to
+go into that neighbourhood for good service," said Mr
+Elsworthy: "as for Rosa, I could trust her anywhere; and I
+have a boy, sir, as is the best boy that ever lived&mdash;a real
+English boy, that is. Sam, take this to Mr Wodehouse's
+directly, and wait for an answer. No answer?&mdash;very well,
+sir. You needn't wait for no answer, Sam. That's a boy,
+sir, I could trust with untold gold. His mother's a Dissenter,
+it is true, but the principles of that boy is beautiful. I hope
+you haven't mentioned, sir, as I said Mr Wodehouse was
+took bad? It was between ourselves, Mr Wentworth.
+Persons don't like, especially when they've got to that
+age, and are of a full 'abit of body, to have every little
+attack made a talk about. You'll excuse me mentioning it,
+sir, but it was as between ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you'd like me to show you my note," said the
+Curate, with a smile; which, indeed, Elsworthy would
+have very much liked, could he have ventured to say so.
+Mr Wentworth was but too glad of an excuse to write and
+explain his absence. The note was not to Lucy, however,
+though various little epistles full of the business of the
+district had passed between the two:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">Dear Miss W.</span>,&mdash;I hear your father is not quite well. I
+can't call just now, as I am going to dine with my aunts,
+who are at the Blue Boar; but, if you will pardon the
+lateness of the hour, I will call as I return to ask for him.&mdash;Ever
+yours,</p>
+<p class="right">"<span class="smallcaps">F. C. Wentworth.</span>"</p>
+
+
+<p>Such was the Curate's note. While he scribbled it, little
+Rosa stood apart watching him with admiring eyes. He
+had said she was too pretty to be sent across Grange Lane
+by herself at this hour, though it was still no more than
+twilight; and he looked up at her for an instant as he said
+the words,&mdash;quite enough to set Rosa's poor little heart
+beating with childish romantical excitement. If she could
+but have peeped into the note to see what he said!&mdash;for
+perhaps, after all, there might not be anything "between"
+him and Miss Lucy&mdash;and perhaps&mdash; The poor little thing
+stood watching, deaf to her aunt's call, looking at the
+strange ease with which that small epistle was written, and
+thinking it half divine to have such mastery of words and
+pen. Mr Wentworth threw it to Sam as if it were a trifle;
+but Rosa's lively imagination could already conceive the
+possibility of living upon such trifles and making existence
+out of them; so the child stood with her pretty curls about
+her ears, and her bright eyes gleaming dewy over the
+fair, flushed, rosebud cheeks, in a flutter of roused and
+innocent imagination anticipating her fate. As for Mr
+Wentworth, it is doubtful whether he saw Rosa, as he
+swung himself round upon the stool he was seated on, and
+turned his face towards the door. Somehow he was comforted
+in his mind by the conviction that it was his duty to
+call at Mr Wodehouse's as he came back. The evening
+brightened up and looked less dismal. The illness of the
+respected father of the house did not oppress the young
+man. He thought not of the sick-room, but of the low chair
+in one corner, beside the work-table where Lucy had
+always basketfuls of sewing in hand. He could fancy he saw
+the work drop on her knee, and the blue eyes raised. It was
+a pretty picture that he framed for himself as he looked out
+with a half smile into the blue twilight through the open
+door of Elsworthy's shop. And it was clearly his duty to call.
+He grew almost jocular in the exhilaration of his spirits.</p>
+
+<p>"The Miss Wentworths don't approve of memorial windows,
+Elsworthy," he said; "and, indeed, if you think it
+necessary to cut off one of the chief people in Carlingford
+by way of supplying St Roque's with a little painted glass&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir&mdash;no, no, sir; you're too hard upon me&mdash;there
+wasn't no such meaning in my mind; but I don't make no
+question the ladies were pleased with the church," said
+Elsworthy, with the satisfaction of a man who had helped to
+produce an entirely triumphant effect. "I don't pretend to
+be a judge myself of what you call 'igh art, Mr Wentworth;
+but if I might venture an opinion, the altar was beautiful;
+and we won't say nothing about the service, considering,
+sir&mdash;if you won't be offended at putting them together, as
+one is so far inferior&mdash;that both you and me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth laughed and moved off his chair. "We
+were not appreciated in this instance," he said, with an
+odd comic look, and then went off into a burst of laughter,
+which Mr Elsworthy saw no particular occasion for. Then
+he took up his glove, which he had taken off to write the
+note, and, nodding a kindly good-night to little Rosa, who
+stood gazing after him with all her eyes, went away to the
+Blue Boar. The idea, however, of his own joint performance
+with Mr Elsworthy not only tickled the Curate, but gave
+him a half-ashamed sense of the aspect in which he might
+himself appear to the eyes of matter-of-fact people who
+differed with him. The joke had a slight sting, which
+brought his laughter to an end. He went up through the
+lighted street to the inn, wishing the dinner over, and
+himself on his way back again to call at Mr Wodehouse's.
+For, to tell the truth, by this time he had almost exhausted
+Skelmersdale, and, feeling in himself not much different
+now from what he was when his hopes were still green,
+had begun to look upon life itself with a less troubled eye,
+and to believe in other chances which might make Lucy's
+society practicable once more. It was in this altered state
+of mind that he presented himself before his aunts. He
+was less self-conscious, less watchful, more ready to amuse
+them, if that might happen to be possible, and in reality
+much more able to cope with Miss Leonora than when he
+had been more anxious about her opinion. He had not
+been two minutes in the room before all the three ladies
+perceived this revolution, and each in her own mind
+attempted to account for it. They were experienced women
+in their way, and found a variety of reasons; but as none of
+them were young, and as people <i>will</i> forget how youth
+feels, not one of them divined the fact that there was no
+reason, but that this improvement of spirits arose solely
+from the fact that the Perpetual Curate had been for two
+whole days miserable about Skelmersdale, and had
+exhausted all his powers of misery&mdash;and that now youth
+had turned the tables, and he was still to see Lucy tonight.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">Your</span> Rector is angry at some of your proceedings,"
+said Miss Leonora. "I did not think a man of your views
+would have cared for missionary work. I should have
+supposed that you would think that vulgar, and Low-Church,
+and Evangelical. Indeed, I thought I heard you
+say you didn't believe in preaching, Frank?&mdash;neither do I,
+when a man preaches the Tracts for the Times. I was
+surprised to hear what you were doing at the place they
+call Wharfside."</p>
+
+<p>"First let me correct you in two little inaccuracies," said
+Mr Wentworth, blandly, as he peeled his orange. "The
+Rector of Carlingford is not <i>my</i> rector, and I don't preach
+the Tracts for the Times. Let us always be particular, my
+dear aunt, as to points of fact."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly so," said Miss Leonora, grimly; "but, at the
+same time, as there seems no great likelihood of your
+leaving Carlingford, don't you think it would be wise to
+cultivate friendly relations with the Rector?" said the iron-grey
+inexorable aunt, looking full in his eyes as she spoke.
+So significant and plain a statement took for an instant the
+colour out of the Curate's cheeks&mdash;he pared his orange
+very carefully while he regained his composure, and it was
+at least half a minute before he found himself at leisure to
+reply. Miss Dora of course seized upon the opportunity,
+and, by way of softening matters, interposed in her unlucky
+person to make peace.</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear boy, I said I was sure you did not mean
+it," said Miss Dora; "I told Mr Morgan I felt convinced it
+could be explained. Nobody knows you so well as I do.
+You were always high-spirited from a child, and never
+would give in; but I know very well you never could mean
+it, Frank."</p>
+
+<p>"Mean it?" said the Curate, with sparkling eyes: "what
+do you take me for, aunt Dora? Do you know what it is we
+are talking of? The question is, whether a whole lot of
+people, fathers and children, shall be left to live like
+beasts, without reverence for God or man, or shall be
+brought within the pale of the Church, and taught their
+duty? And you think I don't mean it? I mean it as much as
+my brother Charley meant it at the Redan," said young
+Wentworth, with a glow of suppressed enthusiasm, and
+that natural pride in Charley (who got the Cross for
+valour) which was common to all the Wentworths. But
+when he saw his aunt Leonora looking at him, the
+Perpetual Curate stood to his arms again. "I have still to
+learn that the Rector has anything to do with it," said the
+young Evangelist of Wharfside.</p>
+
+<p>"It is in his parish, and he thinks he has," said Miss
+Leonora. "I wish you could see your duty more clearly,
+Frank. You seem to me, you know, to have a kind of zeal,
+but not according to knowledge. If you were carrying the
+real Gospel to the poor people, I shouldn't be disposed to
+blame you; for the limits of a parish are but poor things to
+pause for when souls are perishing; but to break the law
+for the sake of diffusing the rubric and propagating
+Tractarianism&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Leonora, how can you be so harsh and cruel?"
+cried Miss Dora; "only think what you are doing. I don't
+say anything about disappointing Frank, and perhaps
+injuring his prospects for life; for, to be sure, he is a true
+Wentworth, and won't acknowledge that; but think of my
+poor dear brother, with so many sons as he has to provide
+for, and so much on his mind; and think of ourselves and
+all that we have planned so often. Only think what you
+have talked of over and over; how nice it would be when
+he was old enough to take the Rectory, and marry Julia
+Trench&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Dora," said the Curate, rising from the table. "I
+shall have to go away if you make such appeals on my
+behalf. And besides, it is only right to tell you that,
+whatever my circumstances were, I never could nor would
+marry Julia Trench. It is cruel and unjust to bring in her
+name. Don't let us hear any more of this, if you have any
+regard for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so, Frank," said Miss Wentworth; "that is exactly
+what I was thinking." Miss Cecilia was not in the habit of
+making demonstrations, but she put out her delicate old
+hand to point her nephew to his seat again, and gave a soft
+slight pressure to his as she touched it. Old Miss Wentworth
+was a kind of dumb lovely idol to her nephews; she rarely
+said anything to them, but they worshipped her all the
+same for her beauty and those languid tendernesses which
+she showed them once in ten years or so. The Perpetual
+Curate was much touched by this manifestation. He
+kissed his old aunt's beautiful hand as reverently as if it
+had been a saint's. "I knew you would understand me,"
+he said, looking gratefully at her lovely old face; which
+exclamation, however, was a simple utterance of gratitude,
+and would not have borne investigation. When he
+had resumed his seat and his orange, Miss Leonora cleared
+her throat for a grand address.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank might as well tell us he would not have
+Skelmersdale," she said. "Julia Trench has quite other
+prospects, I am glad to say, though Dora talks like a fool
+on this subject as well as on many others. Mr Shirley is not
+dead yet, and I don't think he means to die, for my part;
+and Julia would never leave her uncle. Besides, I don't
+think any inducement in the world would make her disguise
+herself like a Sister of Mercy. I hope she knows
+better. And it is a pity that Frank should learn to think of
+Skelmersdale as if it were a family living," continued Miss
+Leonora. "For my part, I think people detached from
+immediate ties as we are, are under all the greater responsibility.
+But as you are likely to stay in Carlingford,
+Frank, perhaps we could help you with the Rector," she
+concluded blandly, as she ate her biscuit. The Curate,
+who was also a Wentworth, had quite recovered himself
+ere this speech was over, and proved himself equal to the
+occasion.</p>
+
+<p>"If the Rector objects to what I am doing, I daresay he
+will tell me of it," said Mr Wentworth, with indescribable
+suavity. "I had the consent of the two former rectors to my
+mission in their parish, and I don't mean to give up such a
+work without a cause. But I am equally obliged to you, my
+dear aunt, and I hope Mr Shirley will live for ever. How
+long are you going to stay in Carlingford? Some of the
+people would like to call on you, if you remain longer.
+There are some great friends of mine here; and as I have
+every prospect of being perpetually the Curate, as you
+kindly observe, perhaps it might be good for me if I was
+seen to have such unexceptionable relationships&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Satire is lost upon me," said Miss Leonora, "and we
+are going to-morrow. Here comes the coffee. I did not
+think it had been so late. We shall leave by an early train,
+and you can come and see us off, if you have time."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall certainly find time," said the nephew, with
+equal politeness; "and now you will permit me to say
+good-night, for I have a&mdash;one of my sick people to visit. I
+heard he was ill only as I came here, and had not time to
+call," added the Curate, with unnecessary explanitoriness,
+and took leave of his aunt Cecilia, who softly put
+something into his hand as she bade him good-night. Miss
+Dora, for her part, went with him to the door, and
+lingered leaning on his arm, down the long passage, all
+unaware, poor lady, that his heart was beating with impatience
+to get away, and that the disappointment for
+which she wanted to console him had at the present
+moment not the slightest real hold upon his perverse
+heart. "Oh, my dear boy, I hope you don't think it's my
+fault," said Miss Dora, with tears. "It must have come to
+this, dear, sooner or later: you see, poor Leonora has such
+a sense of responsibility; but it is very hard upon us,
+Frank, who love you so much, that she should always take
+her own way."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why don't you rebel?" said the Curate, who, in
+the thought of seeing Lucy, was exhilarated, and dared to
+jest even upon the awful power of his aunt. "You are two
+against one; why don't you take it into your own hands
+and rebel?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Dora repeated the words with an alarmed quiver.
+"Rebel! oh, Frank, dear, do you think we could? To be
+sure, we are co-heiresses, and have just as good a right as
+she has; and for your sake, my dear boy," said the
+troubled woman, "oh, Frank, I wish you would tell me
+what to do! I never should dare to contradict Leonora with
+no one to stand by me; and then, if anything happened,
+you would all think I had been to blame," said poor aunt
+Dora, clinging to his arm. She made him walk back and
+back again through the long passage, which was sacred to
+the chief suite of apartments at the Blue Boar. "We have
+it all to ourselves, and nobody can see us here; and oh, my
+dear boy, if you would only tell me what I ought to do?"
+she repeated, with wistful looks of appeal. Mr Wentworth
+was too good-hearted to show the impatience with which
+he was struggling. He satisfied her as well as he could, and
+said good-night half-a-dozen times. When he made his
+escape at last, and emerged into the clear blue air of the
+spring night, the Perpetual Curate had no such sense of
+disappointment and failure in his mind as the three ladies
+supposed. Miss Leonora's distinct intimation that Skelmersdale
+had passed out of the region of probabilities, had
+indeed tingled through him at the moment it was uttered;
+but just now he was going to see Lucy, anticipating with
+impatience the moment of coming into her presence, and
+nothing in the world could have dismayed him utterly. He
+went down the road very rapidly, glad to find that it was
+still so early, that the shopkeepers in George Street were
+but just putting up their shutters, and that there was still
+time for an hour's talk in that bright drawing-room. Little
+Rosa was standing at the door of Elsworthy's shop, looking
+out into the dark street as he passed; and he said, "A
+lovely night, Rosa," as he went by. But the night was
+nothing particular in itself, only lovely to Mr Wentworth,
+as embellished with Lucy shining over it, like a distant
+star. Perhaps he had never in his life felt so glad that he
+was going to see her, so eager for her presence, as that
+night which was the beginning of the time when it would
+be no longer lawful for him to indulge in her society. He
+heaved a big sigh as that thought occurred to him, but it
+did not diminish the flush of conscious happiness; and in
+this mood he went down Grange Lane, with light
+resounding steps, to Mr Wodehouse's door.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr Wentworth started with a very strange sensation
+when the door was stealthily, noiselessly opened to
+him before he could ring. He could not see who it was that
+called him in the darkness; but he felt that he had been
+watched for, and that the door was thrown open very
+hurriedly to prevent him from making his usual summons
+at the bell. Such an incident was incomprehensible. He
+went into the dark garden like a man in a dream, with a
+horrible vision of Archimage and the false Una somehow
+stealing upon his mind, he could not tell how. It was quite
+dark inside, for the moon was late of rising that night, and
+the faint stars threw no effectual lustre down upon the
+trees. He had to grope before him to know where he was
+going, asking in a troubled voice, "Who is there? What is
+the matter?" and falling into more and more profound
+bewilderment and uneasiness.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, hush, oh hush!&mdash;Oh, Mr Wentworth, it is I&mdash;I
+want to speak to you," said an agitated voice beside him.
+"Come this way&mdash;this way; I don't want any one to hear
+us." It was Miss Wodehouse who thus pitifully addressed
+the amazed Curate. She laid a tremulous hand on his arm,
+and drew him deeper into the shadows&mdash;into that walk
+where the limes and tall lilac-bushes grew so thickly. Here
+she came to a pause, and the sound of the terrified panting
+breath in the silence alarmed him more and more.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Mr Wodehouse ill? What has happened?" said the
+astonished young man. The windows of the house were
+gleaming hospitably over the dark garden, without any
+appearance of gloom&mdash;the drawing-room windows
+especially, which he knew so well, brightly lighted, one of
+them open, and the sound of the piano and Lucy's voice
+stealing out like a celestial reality into the darkness. By
+the time he had become fully sensible of all these particulars
+his agitated companion had found her breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wentworth, don't think me mad," said Miss Wodehouse;
+"I have come out to speak to you, for I am in great
+distress. I don't know what to do unless you will help me.
+Oh no, don't look at the house&mdash;nobody knows in the
+house; I would die rather than have them know. Hush,
+hush! don't make any noise. Is that some one looking out
+at the door?"</p>
+
+<p>And just then the door was opened, and Mr Wodehouse's
+sole male servant looked out, and round the
+garden, as if he had heard something to excite his curiosity
+or surprise. Miss Wodehouse grasped the arm of the
+Perpetual Curate, and held him with an energy which was
+almost violence. "Hush, hush, hush," she said, with her
+voice almost at his ear. The excitement of this mild
+woman, the perfectly inexplicable mystery of the
+meeting, overwhelmed young Wentworth. He could think
+of nothing less than that she had lost her senses, and in his
+turn he took her hands and held her fast.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter? I cannot tell you how anxious, how
+distressed I am. What has happened?" said the young man,
+under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>"My father has some suspicion," she answered, after a
+pause&mdash;"he came home early to-day looking ill. You heard
+of it, Mr Wentworth&mdash;it was your note that decided me.
+Oh, heaven help us! it is so hard to know what to do. I
+have never been used to act for myself, and I feel as
+helpless as a baby. The only comfort I have was that it
+happened on Easter Sunday," said the poor gentlewoman,
+incoherently; "and oh! if it should prove a rising from the
+dead! If you saw me, Mr Wentworth, you would see I look
+ten years older; and I can't tell you how it is, but I think
+my father has suspicions;&mdash;he looked so ill&mdash;oh, so ill&mdash;when
+he came home to-night. Hush! hush! did you hear
+anything? I daren't tell Lucy; not that I couldn't trust her,
+but it is cruel when a young creature is happy, to let her
+know such miseries. Oh, Mr Wentworth, I daresay I am
+not telling you what it is, after all. I don't know what I am
+saying&mdash;wait till I can think. It was on Easter Sunday,
+after we came home from Wharfside; you remember we
+all came home together, and both Lucy and you were so
+quiet. I could not understand how it was you were so
+quiet, but I was not thinking of any trouble&mdash;and then all
+at once there he was."</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" said the Curate, forgetting caution in his bewilderment.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the door opened, and John appeared on the
+steps, this time with a lantern and the watch-dog, a great
+brown mastiff, by his side, evidently with the intention of
+searching the garden for the owners of those furtive voices.
+Mr Wentworth drew the arm of his trembling companion
+within his own. "I don't know what you want of me, but
+whatever it is, trust to me like&mdash;like a brother," he said,
+with a sigh. "But now compose yourself; we must go into
+the house: it will not do for you to be found here." He led
+her up the gravel-walk into the light of the lantern, which
+the vigilant guardian of the house was flashing among the
+bushes as he set out upon his rounds. John fell back
+amazed but respectful when he saw his mistress and the
+familiar visitor. "Beg your pardon, ma'am, but I knew
+there was voices, and I didn't know as any of the family
+was in the garden," said the man, discomfited. It was all
+Mr Wentworth could do to hold up the trembling figure by
+his side. As John retreated, she gathered a little fortitude.
+Perhaps it was easier for her to tell her hurried tremulous
+story, as he guided <i>her</i> back to the house, than it would
+have been in uninterrupted leisure and quiet. The family
+tragedy fell in broken sentences from her lips, as the
+Curate bent down his astonished ear to listen. He was
+totally unprepared for the secret which only her helplessness
+and weakness and anxiety to serve her father could
+have drawn from Miss Wodehouse's lips; and it had to be
+told so hurriedly that Mr Wentworth scarcely knew what
+it was, except a terrible unsuspected shadow overhanging
+the powerful house, until he had time to think it all over.
+There was no such time at this moment. His trembling
+companion left him as soon as they reached the house, to
+"compose herself," as she said. When he saw her face in
+the light of the hall lamp it was ghastly, and quivering
+with agitation, looking not ten years, as she said, but a
+hundred years older than when, in the sweet precision of
+her Sunday dress and looks, old Miss Wodehouse had
+bidden him good-bye at the green door. He went up to the
+drawing-room, notwithstanding, with as calm a countenance
+as he himself could collect, to pay the visit which,
+in this few minutes, had so entirely changed in character.
+Mr Wentworth felt as if he saw everything exactly as he
+had pictured it to himself half an hour ago. Lucy, who had
+left the piano, was seated in her low chair again, not
+working, but talking to Mr Wodehouse, who lay on the
+sofa, looking a trifle less rosy than usual, like a man who
+had had a fright, or been startled by some possible shadow
+of a ghost. To walk into the room, into the bright household
+glow, and smile and shake hands with them, feeling
+all the time that he knew more about them than they
+themselves did, was the strangest sensation to the young
+man. He asked how Mr Wodehouse did, with a voice
+which, to himself, sounded hollow and unnatural, and sat
+down beside the invalid, almost turning his back upon
+Lucy in his bewilderment. It was indeed with a great
+effort that Mr Wentworth mastered himself, and was able
+to listen to what his companion said.</p>
+
+<p>"We are all right," said Mr Wodehouse&mdash;"a trifle of a
+headache or so&mdash;nothing to make a talk about; but
+Molly has forsaken us, and we were just about getting
+bored with each other, Lucy and I; a third person was
+all we wanted to make us happy&mdash;eh? Well I thought
+you looked at the door very often&mdash;perhaps I was
+mistaken&mdash;but I could have sworn you were listening
+and looking for somebody. No wonder either&mdash;I don't
+think so. I should have done just the same at your age."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, papa, you are quite mistaken," said Lucy. "I
+suppose that means that I cannot amuse you by myself,
+though I have been trying all the evening. Perhaps Mr
+Wentworth will be more fortunate." And, either for
+shame of being supposed to look for him, or in a little
+innocent pique, she moved away from where she was
+sitting, and rang for tea, and left the two gentlemen to
+talk to each other. That is to say, Mr Wodehouse talked,
+and the Perpetual Curate sat looking vaguely at the fair
+figure which flitted about the room, and wondering if
+he were awake, or the world still in its usual place. After
+a while Miss Wodehouse came in, very tremulous and
+pale, and dropped into the first chair she could find,
+and pretended to occupy herself over her knitting. She
+had a headache, Lucy said; and Mr Wentworth sat
+watching while the younger sister tended the elder,
+bringing her tea, kissing her, persuading her to go and
+lie down, taking all kinds of affectionate trouble to
+cheer the pale woman, who looked over Lucy's fair head
+with eyes full of meaning to the bewildered visitor, who
+was the only one there who understood what her
+trouble meant. When he got up to go away, she wrung
+his hand with a pitiful gaze which went to his heart. "Let
+me know!" she said in a whisper; and, not satisfied still,
+went to the door with him, and lingered upon the stair,
+following slowly. "Oh, Mr Wentworth! be sure you let
+me know," she repeated, again looking wistfully after
+him as he disappeared into the dark garden, going out.
+The stars were still shining, the spring dews lying sweet
+upon the plants and turf. It was a lovelier night now
+than when Mr Wentworth had said so to little Rosa
+Elsworthy an hour ago; but mists were rising from the
+earth, and clouds creeping over the sky, to the startled
+imagination of the Perpetual Curate. He had found out
+by practical experiments, almost for the first time, that
+there were more things in earth and heaven than are
+dreamt of in the philosophy of youth.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">It</span> was the next morning after this when Mrs Hadwin's
+strange lodger first appeared in the astonished house. He
+was the strangest lodger to be taken into a house of such
+perfect respectability, a house in Grange Lane; and it
+came to be currently reported in Carlingford after a time,
+when people knew more about it, that even the servants
+could not tell when or how he arrived, but had woke up
+one morning to find a pair of boots standing outside the
+closed door of the green room, which the good old lady
+kept for company, with sensations which it would be
+impossible to describe. Such a pair of boots they were too&mdash;muddy
+beyond expression, with old mud which had not
+been brushed off for days&mdash;worn shapeless, and patched
+at the sides; the strangest contrast to a handsome pair of
+Mr Wentworth's, which he, contrary to his usual neat
+habits, had kicked off in his sitting-room, and which
+Sarah, the housemaid, had brought and set down on the
+landing, close by these mysterious and unaccountable
+articles. When the bell of the green room rang an hour or
+two later, Sarah and the cook, who happened to be standing
+together, jumped three yards apart and stared at each
+other; the sound gave them both "a turn." But they soon
+got perfectly well used to that bell from the green room. It
+rung very often in the day, for "the gentleman" chose to
+sit there more than half his time; and if other people were
+private about him, it was a great deal more than he was
+about himself. He even sent the boots to be mended, to
+Sarah's shame and confusion. For the credit of the house,
+the girl invented a story about them to calm the cobbler's
+suspicions. "They was the easiest boots the gentleman
+had, being troubled with tender feet; and he wasn't a-going
+to give them up because they was shabby," said
+Sarah. He sent down his shabby clothes to be brushed,
+and wore Mr Wentworth's linen, to the indignation of the
+household. But he was not a man to be concealed in a
+corner. From where he sat in the green room, he whistled
+so beautifully that Mrs Hadwin's own pet canary paused
+astonished to listen, and the butcher's boy stole into the
+kitchen surreptitiously to try if he could learn the art; and
+while he whistled, he filled the tidy room with parings and
+cuttings of wood, and carved out all kinds of pretty articles
+with his knife. But though he rang his bell so often, and
+was so tiresome with his litter, and gave so much trouble,
+Sarah's heart, after a while, melted to "the gentleman."
+He made her a present of a needlecase, and was very
+civil-spoken&mdash;more so a great deal than the Curate of St
+Roque's; and such a subject of talk and curiosity had
+certainly not been in Carlingford for a hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>As for Mrs Hadwin, she never gave any explanation at
+all on the subject, but accepted the fact of a new inmate
+cheerfully, as if she knew all about it. Of course she could
+not ask any of her nieces to visit her while the green room
+was occupied; and as they were all rather large, interfering,
+managing women, perhaps the old lady was not very sorry.
+Mr Wentworth himself was still less explanatory. When
+Mr Wodehouse said to him, "What is this I hear about a
+brother of yours?&mdash;they tell me you've got a brother staying
+with you. Well, that's what I hear. Why don't you bring him
+up to dinner? Come to-morrow;" the Perpetual Curate
+calmly answered, "Thank you; but there's no brother of
+mine in Carlingford," and took no further notice. Naturally,
+however, this strange apparition was much discussed in
+Grange Lane; the servants first, and then the ladies, became
+curious about him. Sometimes, in the evenings, he might be
+seen coming out of Mrs Hadwin's garden-door&mdash;a shabby
+figure, walking softly in his patched boots. There never was
+light enough for any one to see him; but he had a great
+beard, and smoked a short little pipe, and had evidently no
+regard for appearances. It was a kind of thing which few
+people approved of. Mrs Hadwin ought not to permit it,
+some ladies said; and a still greater number were of the
+opinion that, rather than endure so strange a fellow-lodger,
+the Curate ought to withdraw, and find fresh lodgings. This
+was before the time when the public began to associate the
+stranger in a disagreeable way with Mr Wentworth. Before
+they came to that, the people in Grange Lane bethought
+themselves of all Mrs Hadwin's connections, to find out if
+there might not be some of them under hiding; and, of
+course, that excellent woman had a nephew or two whose
+conduct was not perfect; and then it came to be reported that
+it was Mr Wentworth's brother&mdash;that it was an unfortunate
+college chum of his&mdash;that it was somebody who had speculated,
+and whom the Curate had gone shares with: but, in
+the mean time, no real information could be obtained about
+this mysterious stranger. The butcher's boy, whose senses
+were quickened by mingled admiration and envy, heard
+him whistling all day long, sometimes hidden among the
+trees in the garden, sometimes from the open window of the
+green room, where, indeed, Lady Western's page was ready
+to take his oath he had once seen the audacious unknown
+leaning out in the twilight, smoking a pipe. But no trap of
+conversation, however ingenious&mdash;and many traps were
+laid for Mr Wentworth&mdash;ever elicited from the Perpetual
+Curate any acknowledgment of the other lodger's existence.
+The young Anglican opened his fine eyes a little wider
+than usual when he was asked sympathetically whether so
+many people in the house did not interfere with his quiet.
+"Mrs Hadwin's talk is very gentle," said the Curate; "she
+never disturbs me." And the mistress of the house was
+equally obtuse, and would not comprehend any allusion.
+The little household came to be very much talked of in
+Carlingford in consequence; and to meet that shabby figure
+in the evening, when one chanced to be out for a walk, made
+one's company sought after in the best circles of society:
+though the fact is, that people began to be remiss in calling
+upon Mrs Hadwin, and a great many only left their cards as
+soon as it became evident that she did not mean to give any
+explanation. To have the Curate to stay with her was
+possible, without infringing upon her position; but matters
+became very different when she showed herself willing
+to take "any one," even when in equivocal apparel and
+patched boots.</p>
+
+<p>Probably the Curate had his own troubles during this
+period of his history. He was noticed to be a little quick
+and short in his temper for some time after Easter. For
+one thing, his aunts did not go away; they stayed in the
+Blue Boar, and sent for him to dinner, till the Curate's
+impatience grew almost beyond bearing. It was a discipline
+upon which he had not calculated, and which
+exceeded the bounds of endurance, especially as Miss
+Leonora questioned him incessantly about his "work,"
+and still dangled before him, like an unattainable sweet-meat
+before a child, the comforts and advantages of
+Skelmersdale, where poor old Mr Shirley had rallied
+for the fiftieth time. The situation altogether was very
+tempting to Miss Leonora; she could not make up her
+mind to go away and leave such a very pretty quarrel in
+progress; and there can be no doubt that it would have
+been highly gratifying to her vanity as an Evangelical
+woman to have had her nephew brought to task for
+missionary work carried on in another man's parish,
+even though that work was not conducted entirely on
+her own principles. She lingered, accordingly, with a
+great hankering after Wharfside, to which Mr Wentworth
+steadily declined to afford her any access. She
+went to the afternoon service sometimes, it is true, but
+only to be afflicted in her soul by the sight of Miss
+Wodehouse and Lucy in their grey cloaks, not to speak
+of the rubric to which the Curate was so faithful. It was a
+trying experience to his Evangelical aunt; but at the
+same time it was a "great work;" and she could not give
+up the hope of being able one time or other to appropriate
+the credit of it, and win him over to her own
+"views." If that consummation could but be attained,
+everything would become simple; and Miss Leonora was
+a true Wentworth, and wanted to see her nephew in
+Skelmersdale: so it may easily be understood that,
+under present circumstances, there were great attractions
+for her in Carlingford.</p>
+
+<p>It was, accordingly, with a beating heart that Miss
+Dora, feeling a little as she might have been supposed to
+feel thirty years before, had she ever stolen forth from
+the well-protected enclosure of Skelmersdale Park to
+see a lover, put on her bonnet in the early twilight, and,
+escaping with difficulty the lively observations of her
+maid, went tremulously down Grange Lane to her
+nephew's house. She had never yet visited Frank, and
+this visit was unquestionably clandestine. But then the
+news with which her heart was beating <ins title="original reads were">was</ins> important
+enough to justify the step she was taking&mdash;at least so
+she whispered to herself; though whether dear Frank
+would be pleased, or whether he would still think it "my
+fault," poor Miss Dora could not make up her mind.
+Nothing happened in the quiet road, where there were
+scarcely any passengers, and the poor lady arrived with
+a trembling sense of escape from unknown perils at Mrs
+Hadwin's garden-door. For Miss Dora was of opinion,
+like some few other ladies, that to walk alone down the
+quietest of streets was to lay herself open to unheard-of
+dangers. She put out her trembling hand to ring the
+bell, thinking her perils over&mdash;for of course Frank
+would walk home with her&mdash;when the door suddenly
+opened, and a terrible apparition, quite unconscious of
+anybody standing there, marched straight out upon
+Miss Dora, who gave a little scream, and staggered
+backwards, thinking the worst horrors she had dreamed
+of were about to be realised. They were so close
+together that the terrified lady took in every detail of his
+appearance. She saw the patched boots and that shabby
+coat which Sarah the housemaid felt that she rather
+demeaned herself by brushing. It looked too small for
+him, as coats will do when they get shabby; and, to
+complete the alarming appearance of the man, he had
+no hat, but only a little travelling-cap surmounting the
+redundancy of hair, mustache, and beard, which were
+enough of themselves to strike any nervous woman with
+terror. "Oh, I beg your pardon," cried poor Miss Dora,
+hysterically; "I wanted to see Mr Wentworth;" and she
+stood trembling and panting for breath, holding by the
+wall, not quite sure that this apparition could be
+appeased by any amount of apologies. It was a great
+comfort to her when the monster took off its cap, and
+when she perceived, by the undulations of the beard,
+something like a smile upon its hidden lips. "I believe
+Mr Wentworth is at church," said the new lodger: "may
+I have the pleasure of seeing you safely across to St
+Roque's?" At which speech Miss Dora trembled more
+and more, and said, faintly, "No, thank you,"&mdash;for who
+could tell what the man's intentions might be? The
+result was, however, that he only put on his cap again,
+and went off like any other human creature in the other
+direction, and that slowly; with tremulous steps Miss
+Dora pursued her way to her nephew's pretty church.
+She could not have described, as she herself said, what a
+relief it was after all this, to take Frank's arm, as she met
+him at the door of St Roque's. He was coming out, and
+the young lady with the grey cloak had been one of the
+congregation; and, to tell the truth, Miss Dora was an
+unwelcome addition just then to the party. Lucy's
+coming had been accidental, and it was very sweet to Mr
+Wentworth to be able to conclude that he was obliged to
+walk home with her. They were both coming out from
+their evening devotions into the tranquil spring twilight,
+very glad of the charmed quiet, and happy somehow to
+find themselves alone together. That had happened but
+seldom of late; and a certain expectation of something
+that might happen hovered over the heads of Lucy and
+the Curate. It did not matter that he dared not say to
+her what was in his heart. Mr Wentworth was only a
+young man after all, and the thrill of a possible revelation
+was upon him in that half-hour upon which he was
+entering with so profound a sense of happiness. And
+then it was an accidental meeting, and if anything did
+happen, they could not blame themselves as if they had
+sought this opportunity of being together. The circumstances
+were such that they might call it providential, if
+anything came of it. But just as the two had made their
+first step out of the church, where the organ was still
+murmuring low in the darkness, and where the music of
+the last Amen, in which he had recognised Lucy's voice,
+had not quite died from the Curate's ears, to meet Miss
+Dora, pale and fluttered, full of news and distress, with
+no other thought in her mind but to appropriate her
+dear Frank, and take his arm and gain his ear! It was
+very hard upon the Perpetual Curate. As for Lucy, she,
+of course, did not say anything, but merely arranged
+her veil and greeted Miss Wentworth sweetly. Lucy
+walked on the other side of the Curate, saying little as
+Miss Dora's eager shower of questions and remarks ran
+on. Perhaps she had a little insight into Mr Wentworth's
+feelings, and no doubt it was rather tantalising. When
+they came to Mrs Hadwin's door, the young Anglican
+made a spasmodic effort, which in his heart he felt to be
+unprincipled, and which, had it been successful, would
+have totally taken away the accidental and unpremeditated
+character of this walk with Lucy, which he could
+not find it in his heart to relinquish. He proposed that
+his aunt should go in and rest while he saw Miss Wodehouse
+safely home&mdash;he was sure she was tired, he said,
+eagerly. "No, my dear, not at all," said Miss Dora; "it is
+such a pleasant evening, and I know Miss Wodehouse's
+is not very far off. I should like the walk, and, besides,
+it is too late, you know, to see Mrs Hadwin, and I
+should not like to go in without calling on her; and
+besides&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth in his aggravation gave a momentary
+sudden glance at Lucy when she had no expectation of
+it. That glance of disappointment&mdash;of disgust&mdash;of love
+and longing, was no more intentional than their
+meeting; could he help it, if it revealed that heart which
+was in such a state of commotion and impatience?
+Anyhow, the look gave Lucy sufficient occupation to
+keep her very quiet on the other side while Miss Dora
+maundered on.</p>
+
+<p>"I met the strangest man coming out when I was
+going to ring your bell. You will think it very foolish,
+Frank, but he frightened me," she said. "A man with a
+terrible beard, and a&mdash;a shabby man, my dear. Who
+could it be? Not a person to be seen coming out of a
+house where a clergyman lives. He could not be any
+friend of yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"The other lodger, I suppose," said the Curate,
+briefly. "When are you going away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear boy, we are not going away; I came to
+tell you. But, Frank, you don't mean to say that such a
+man as that lodges in Mrs Hadwin's house? I don't think
+it is safe for you&mdash;I don't think it is respectable. People
+might think he was a friend of yours. I wonder if Miss
+Wodehouse has ever seen him&mdash;a great man with a
+beard? To be sure, a man might have a beard and yet be
+respectable; but I am sure, if Miss Wodehouse saw him,
+she would agree with me in thinking&mdash; Frank, my dear
+boy, what is the matter? Have I said anything wrong?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing that I know of," said the Curate, who had
+given her arm a little angry pressure to stop the stream
+of utterance&mdash;"only that I am not interested in the other
+lodger. Tell me about your going away."</p>
+
+<p>"But I must appeal to Miss Wodehouse: it is for your
+own sake, my dear Frank," said aunt Dora&mdash;"a clergyman
+should be so careful. I don't know what your aunt
+Leonora would say. Don't you think to see a man like that
+coming out of Mr Wentworth's house is not as it should
+be? I assure you he frightened me."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I have seen him," said Lucy. "But
+shouldn't a clergyman's house be like the church, open
+to good and bad?&mdash;for it is to the wicked and the miserable
+you are sent," said the Sister of Mercy, lowering
+her voice and glancing up at the Perpetual Curate. They
+could have clasped each other's hands at that moment,
+almost without being aware that it was any personal
+feeling which made their agreement so sweet. As for
+Miss Dora, she went on leaning on her nephew's arm,
+totally unconscious of the suppressed rapture and elevation
+in which the two were moving at the other side.</p>
+
+<p>"That is very true. I am sure your aunt Leonora would
+approve of that, dear," said Miss Dora, with a little
+answering pressure on her nephew's arm&mdash;"but still I
+have a feeling that a clergyman should always take care
+to be respectable. Not that he should neglect the
+wicked," continued the poor aunt, apologetically, "for a
+poor sinner turning from the evil of his ways is the&mdash;the
+most interesting&mdash;sight in the world, even to the angels,
+you know; but to <i>live</i> with them in the same house, my
+dear&mdash;I am sure that is what I never could advise, nor
+Leonora either; and Mrs Hadwin ought to know better,
+and have him away. Don't you know who he is, Frank? I
+could not be content without finding out, if it was me."</p>
+
+<p>"I have nothing to do with him," said the Curate,
+hurriedly: "it is a subject I don't want to discuss. Never
+mind him. What do you mean by saying you are not
+going away?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, Leonora has been thinking it all over," said
+Miss Dora, "and we are so anxious about you. Leonora is
+very fond of you, though she does not show it; and you
+know the Meritons have just come home from India, and
+have not a house to go to. So you see we thought, as you are
+not quite so comfortable as we could wish to see you, Frank&mdash;and
+perhaps we might be of some use&mdash;and Mr
+Shirley is better again, and no immediate settlement has
+to be made about Skelmersdale;&mdash;that on the whole, if
+Leonora and you were to see more of each other&mdash;oh,
+my dear boy, don't be so hasty; it was all her own doing&mdash;it
+was not my fault."</p>
+
+<p>"Fault! I am sorry to be the occasion of so many
+arrangements," said Mr Wentworth, with his stiff manner;
+"but, of course, if you like to stay in Carlingford I shall be
+very happy&mdash;though there is not much preaching here
+that will suit my aunt Leonora: as for Mr Shirley, I hope
+he'll live for ever. I was at No. 10 today," continued the
+Curate, turning his head to the other side, and changing
+his tone in a manner marvellous to Miss Dora. "I don't
+think she can live much longer. You have done a great
+deal to smooth her way in this last stage. Poor soul! she
+thinks she has been a great sinner," said the young man,
+with a kind of wondering pity. He had a great deal to vex
+him in his own person, and he knew of some skeletons
+very near at hand, but somehow at that moment it was
+hard to think of the extremities of mortal trouble, of death
+and anguish&mdash;those dark deeps of life by which Lucy and
+he sometimes stood together in their youth and happiness.
+A marvelling remorseful pity came to his heart. He could
+not believe in misery, with Lucy walking softly in the
+spring twilight by his side.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Frank, you are not taking any notice of what I
+say," said Miss Dora, with something like a suppressed
+sob. "I don't doubt your sick people are very important,
+but I thought you would take <i>some</i> interest. I came down
+to tell you, all the way by myself."</p>
+
+<p>"My sister would like to call on you, Miss Wentworth,"
+said Lucy, interposing. "Gentlemen never understand
+what one says. Perhaps we could be of some use to you if
+you are going to settle in Carlingford. I think she has been
+a great deal better since she confessed," continued the
+charitable Sister, looking up to the Curate, and, like him,
+dropping her voice. "The absolution was such a comfort.
+Now she seems to feel as if she could die. And she has so
+little to live for!" said Lucy, with a sigh of sympathetic
+feeling, remorseful too. Somehow it seemed cruel to feel
+so young, so hopeful, so capable of happiness, with such
+desolation close at hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Not even duty," said the Curate; "and to think that the
+Church should hesitate to remove the last barriers out of
+the way! I would not be a priest if I were debarred from
+the power of delivering such a poor soul."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank," said Miss Dora, with a long breath of
+fright and horror, "<i>what</i> are you saying? Oh, my dear,
+don't say it over again, I don't want to hear it! I hope
+when we are dying we shall all feel what great great
+sinners we are," said the poor lady, who, between vexation
+and mortification, was ready to cry, "and not think
+that one is better than another. Oh, my dear, there is that
+man again! Do you think it is safe to meet him in such a
+lonely road? If he comes across and speaks to me any
+more I shall faint," cried poor Miss Dora, whose opinions
+were not quite in accordance with her feelings. Mr Wentworth
+did not say anything to soothe her, but with his
+unoccupied hand he made an involuntary movement
+towards Lucy's cloak, and plucked at it to bring her
+nearer, as the bearded stranger loomed dimly past,
+looking at the group. Lucy felt the touch, and wondered
+and looked up at him in the darkness. She could not
+comprehend the Curate's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Are <i>you</i> afraid of him?" she said, with a slight smile; "if
+it is only his beard I am not alarmed; and here is papa
+coming to meet me. I thought you would have come for
+me sooner, papa. Has anything happened?" said Lucy,
+taking Mr Wodehouse's arm, who had suddenly appeared
+from underneath the lamp, still unlighted, at Dr
+Marjoribanks's door. She clung to her father with unusual
+eagerness, willing enough to escape from the darkness and
+the Curate's side, and all the tremulous sensations of the
+hour.</p>
+
+<p>"What could happen?" said Mr Wodehouse, who still
+looked "limp" from his recent illness, "though I hear there
+are doubtful people about; so they tell me&mdash;but you ought
+to know best, Wentworth. Who is that fellow in the beard
+that went by on the other side? Not little Lake the drawing-master?
+Fancied I had seen the build of the man before&mdash;eh?&mdash;a
+stranger? Well, it's a mistake, perhaps. Can't be
+sure of anything nowadays;&mdash;memory failing. Well, that's
+what the doctor says. Come in and rest and see Molly; as
+for me, I'm not good for much, but you won't get better
+company than the girls, or else that's what folks tell me.
+Who did you say that fellow was?" said the churchwarden,
+leaning across his daughter to see Mr Wentworth's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything about him," said the Curate of
+St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>And curiously enough silence fell upon the little party,
+nobody could tell how;&mdash;for two minutes, which looked
+like twenty, no one spoke. Then Lucy roused herself,
+apparently with a little effort. "We seem to talk of nothing
+but the man with the beard to-night," she said. "Mary
+knows everything that goes on in Carlingford&mdash;she will tell
+us about him; and if Miss Wentworth thinks it too late to
+come in, we will say good-night," she continued, with a
+little decision of tone, which was not incomprehensible to
+the Perpetual Curate. Perhaps she was a little provoked
+and troubled in her own person. To say so much in looks
+and so little in words, was a mode of procedure which
+puzzled Lucy. It fretted her, because it looked unworthy
+of her hero. She withdrew within the green door, holding
+her father's arm fast, and talking to him, while Mr Wentworth
+strained his ears after the voice, which he thought
+he could have singled out from a thousand voices. Perhaps
+Lucy talked to drown her thoughts; and the Curate went
+away dumb and abstracted, with his aunt leaning on his
+arm on the other side of the wall. He could not be
+interested, as Miss Dora expected him to be, in the Miss
+Wentworths' plans. He conducted her to the Blue Boar
+languidly, with an evident indifference to the fact that his
+aunt Leonora was about to become a permanent resident
+in Carlingford. He said "Good-night" kindly to little Rosa
+Elsworthy, looking out with bright eyes into the darkness
+at the door of her uncle's shop; but he said little to Miss
+Dora, who could not tell what to make of him, and
+swallowed her tears as quietly as possible under her veil.
+When he had deposited his aunt safely at the inn, the
+Perpetual Curate hastened down Grange Lane at a great
+pace. The first sound he heard on entering Mrs Hadwin's
+garden was the clear notes of the stranger's whistle among
+the trees; and with an impatient exclamation Mr Wentworth
+sought his fellow-lodger, who was smoking as usual,
+pacing up and down a shaded walk, where, even in
+daylight, he was pretty well concealed from observation.
+The Curate looked as if he had a little discontent and
+repugnance to get over before he could address the
+anonymous individual who whistled so cheerily under the
+trees. When he did speak it was an embarrassed and not
+very intelligible call.</p>
+
+<p>"I say&mdash;are you there? I want to speak to you," said Mr
+Wentworth.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the stranger, turning sharply round. "I am
+here, a dog without a name. What have you got to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only that you must be more careful," said Mr Wentworth
+again, with a little stiffness. "You will be recognised
+if you don't mind. I have just been asked who you were by&mdash;somebody
+who thought he had seen you before."</p>
+
+<p>"By whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, by Mr Wodehouse," said the Curate. "I may as
+well tell you; if you mean to keep up this concealment you
+must take care."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove!" said the stranger, and then he whistled a few
+bars of the air which Mr Wentworth's arrival had interrupted.
+"What is a fellow to do?" he said, after an interjection.
+"I sometimes think I had better risk it all&mdash;eh!
+don't you think so? I can't shut myself up for ever here."</p>
+
+<p>"That must be as you think best," said the Perpetual
+Curate, in whom there appeared no movement of sympathy;
+and he said no more, though the doubtful individual
+by his side lifted an undecided look to his face, and
+once more murmured in perplexed tones a troubled
+exclamation: "A man must have a little amusement
+somehow," the stranger said, with an aggrieved voice; and
+then abruptly left his unsociable companion, and went off
+to his room, where he summoned Sarah to bring lights,
+and tried to talk to her a little in utter dearth of society.
+Mr Wentworth stayed behind, pacing up and down the
+darkening walk. The Curate's thoughts were far from
+satisfactory. There was not much comfort anywhere, let
+him look where he pleased. When a man has no spot in all
+his horizon on which his eye can rest with comfort, there is
+something more discouraging in the prospect than a positive
+calamity. He could not take refuge even in the
+imaginations of his love, for it was clear enough that
+already a sentiment of surprise had risen in Lucy's mind,
+and her tranquillity was shaken. And perhaps he had done
+rashly to plunge into other people's troubles&mdash;he upon
+whom a curious committee of aunts were now to sit <i>en
+permanence</i>. He went in to write his sermon, far from being
+so assured of things in general as that discourse was when
+it was written, though it was a little relief to his mind to
+fall back upon an authority somewhere, and to refer, in
+terms which were perhaps too absolute to be altogether
+free of doubt, to the Church, which had arranged everything
+for her children in one department of their concerns
+at least. If it were only as easy to know what ought to be
+done in one's personal affairs as to decide what was the
+due state of mind expected by the Church on the second
+Sunday after Easter! But being under that guidance, at
+least he could not go wrong in his sermon, which was one
+point of ease amid the many tribulations of the Curate of
+St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">If</span> they are going to stay in Carlingford, perhaps we
+could be of use to them? Yes, Lucy; and I am sure
+anything we could do for Mr Wentworth&mdash;" said Miss
+Wodehouse. "I wonder what house they will get. I am
+going to Elsworthy's about some paper, and we can ask
+him if he knows where they are going. That poor little
+Rosa should have some one to take care of her. I often
+wonder whether it would be kind to speak to Mrs
+Elsworthy about it, Lucy; she is a sensible woman. The
+little thing stands at the door in the evening, and talks to
+people who are passing, and I am afraid there are some
+people who are unprincipled, and tell her she is pretty,
+and say things to her," said Miss Wodehouse, shaking her
+head; "it is a great pity. Even Mr Wentworth is a great
+deal more civil to that little thing than he would be if she
+had not such a pretty face."</p>
+
+<p>"I said you knew everything that went on in Carlingford,"
+said Lucy, as they went out together from the green
+door, not in their grey cloaks this time; "but I forgot to ask
+you about one thing that puzzled us last night&mdash;who is the
+man in the beard who lives at Mrs Hadwin's? Mr Wentworth
+will not tell anybody about him, and I think he
+knows."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the man in the beard?" said Miss Wodehouse,
+with a gasp. She grew very pale, and turned away her
+head and shivered visibly. "How very cold it is!" she said,
+with her teeth chattering; "did you think it was so cold? I&mdash;I
+don't know any men with beards; and it is so strange of
+you to say I know everything that goes on in Carlingford.
+Don't stop to speak to that little girl just now. Did you say
+she came from Prickett's Lane? No. 10? It is very right to
+go to see the sick, but, indeed, I don't approve of your
+attendance upon that poor woman, Lucy. When I was a
+girl I dared not have gone away by myself as you do, and
+she might not be a proper person. There is a carriage that
+I don't know standing before Elsworthy's shop."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have not told me yet about the man with the
+beard," said Lucy, whose curiosity was excited. She
+looked at her sister keenly with an investigating look, and
+poor Miss Wodehouse was fain to draw her shawl close
+round her, and complain again of the cold.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you I did not know," she said, with a complaining
+tone in her voice. "It is strange you should think I
+knew; it looks as if you thought me a gossip, Lucy. I
+wonder who those people can be coming out of the carriage?
+My dear," said the elder sister, feeling within
+herself that an attack upon the enemy's country was the
+best means of meeting any sally&mdash;"I don't think you
+should go down to Prickett's Lane just now. I saw Mr
+Wentworth pass a little while ago, and people might say
+you went to meet each other. I can't keep people from
+talking, Lucy, and you are both so young; and you know I
+spoke to you before about your meeting so often. It will be
+a great deal better for you to come with me to call on his
+aunts."</p>
+
+<p>"Only that my poor patient wants me," said Lucy.
+"Must I not do my duty to a poor woman who is dying,
+because Mr Wentworth is in Prickett's Lane? There is no
+reason why I should be afraid of meeting Mr Wentworth,"
+said the young district-visitor, severely; and the elder
+sister saw that Lucy spoke in a different tone from that in
+which she had answered her before. She did not extinguish
+Miss Wodehouse by a reference to the great work.
+She treated the matter more as a personal one to-day; and
+a shadow&mdash;a very ghost of irritation&mdash;was in Lucy's voice.
+The two crossed the street silently after that to
+Elsworthy's, where a group of ladies were visible, who
+had come out of the strange carriage. One of them was
+seated in a chair by the counter, another was reading a list
+which Mr Elsworthy had just presented to her, and the
+third, who was not so tall as her sister, was pressing up to it
+on tiptoe, trying to read it too. "That is Miss Dora Wentworth,"
+said Lucy, "and the other, I suppose, is Miss
+Leonora, who is so very Low-Church. I think I can see the
+Miss Hemmings coming down George Street. If I were to
+go in I should be in a dreadful minority; but you are Low-Church
+in your heart too."</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear; only reasonable," said Miss Wodehouse,
+apologetically. "I don't go as far as you and Mr Wentworth
+do, but I like the service to be nicely done, and the&mdash;the
+authority of the Church respected too. As I have
+never met Miss Wentworth, you had better come in and
+introduce me. There is Rosa looking out of the front
+window, Lucy. I really must speak to Mrs Elsworthy
+about that child. What a lovely old lady that is sitting by
+the counter! Say I am your sister, and then if you are
+resolved upon Prickett's Lane, you can go away."</p>
+
+<p>"They are the two who wear the grey cloaks," said Miss
+Leonora Wentworth to herself, as the introduction was
+effected. "I am glad to make your acquaintance, Miss
+Wodehouse. We are going to stay in Carlingford for a
+time, and to know a few pious families will be a great
+advantage. We don't go much into society, in the usual
+sense of the word&mdash;but, I am sure, to make the acquaintance
+of ladies who help my nephew so much in his work,
+is sure to be an advantage. I should like so much to hear
+from you how he gets on, for he does not say a great deal
+about it himself."</p>
+
+<p>"He is so good and so nice," said kind Miss Wodehouse,
+"he never makes a fuss about anything he does. I am sure,
+to see such young creatures so pious and so devoted,
+always goes to my heart. When we were young it used to
+be so different&mdash;we took our own pleasure, and never
+thought of our fellow-creatures. And the young people are
+so good nowadays," said the gentle woman, falling instinctively
+into her favourite sentiment. Miss Leonora looked
+at her with critical eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"We are none of us good," said that iron-grey woman,
+whose neutral tints were so different from the soft dove-colour
+of her new acquaintance; "it does not become such
+sinful creatures to talk of anybody being good. Good
+works may only be beautiful sins, if they are not done in a
+true spirit," said Miss Leonora, turning to her list of
+furnished houses with a little contempt. But the Miss
+Hemmings had come in while she was speaking, and it was
+seldom that such edifying talk was heard in Carlingford.</p>
+
+<p>"That is such a beautiful sentiment&mdash;oh, if we only bore
+it always in mind!" murmured the eldest Miss Hemmings.
+"Mr Elsworthy, I hope you have got the tracts I ordered.
+They are so much wanted here. Poor dear Mr Bury would
+not believe his eyes if he could see Carlingford now, given
+up to Puseyism and Ritualism&mdash;but good men are taken
+away from the evil to come. I will pay for them now,
+please."</p>
+
+<p>"If you wish it, ma'am," said Mr Elsworthy. "The town
+<i>is</i> changed; I don't say nothing different; but being in the
+ritual line as you say, you won't find no church as it's
+better done than in St Roque's. Mr Wentworth never
+spares no pains, ma'am, on anything as he takes up. I've
+heard a deal of clergymen in my day, but <i>his</i> reading is
+beautiful; I can't say as I ever heard reading as could
+equal it;&mdash;and them choristers, though they're hawful to
+manage, is trained as I never see boys trained in <i>my</i> life
+afore. There's one of them houses, ma'am," continued the
+optimist, turning to Miss Wentworth, "as is a beauty. Miss
+Wodehouse can tell you what it is; no lady in the land
+could desire a handsomer drawing-room; and as for the
+kitchings,&mdash;I don't pretend to be a judge up-stairs, but
+being brought up a blacksmith, I know what's what in a
+kitching-range. If you had all Grange Lane to dinner,
+there's a range as is equal to it," said Mr Elsworthy with
+enthusiasm&mdash;"and my wife will show you the 'ouse."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew Mr Bury," said Miss Leonora; "he was a
+precious man. Perhaps you have heard him mention the
+Miss Wentworths? I am very sorry to hear that there is no
+real work going on in the town. It is very sad that there
+should be nobody able to enter into the labours of such a
+saint."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," said Miss Wodehouse, who was excited, in
+spite of herself, by this conversation, "I think the Carlingford
+people go quite as much to church as in Mr Bury's
+days. I don't think there is less religion than there used to
+be: there are not so many prayer meetings, perhaps;
+but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing the carnal mind dislikes so much as
+prayer meetings," said Miss Hemmings. "There is a house
+in Grove Street, if Miss Wentworth is looking for a house.
+I don't know much about the kitchen-range, but I know it
+belongs to a very pious family, and they wish so much to
+let it. My sister and I would be so glad to take you there.
+It is not in the gay world, like Grange Lane."</p>
+
+<p>"But you might want to ask people to dinner; and then
+we should be so near Frank," said Miss Dora, whispering
+at her sister's elbow. As for the second Miss Hemmings,
+she was dull of comprehension, and did not quite make out
+who the strangers were.</p>
+
+<p>"It is so sad to a feeling mind to see the mummeries that
+go on at St Roque's," said this obtuse sister; "and I am
+afraid poor Mr Wentworth must be in a bad way. They
+say there is the strangest man in his house&mdash;some relation
+of his&mdash;and he daren't be seen in the daylight; and people
+begin to think there must be something wrong, and that
+Mr Wentworth himself is involved; but what can you
+expect when there is no true Christian principle?" asked
+Miss Hemmings, triumphantly. It was a dreadful moment
+for the bystanders; for Miss Leonora turned round upon
+this new intelligence with keen eyes and attention; and
+Miss Dora interposed, weeping; and Miss Wodehouse
+grew so pale, that Mr Elsworthy rushed for cold water,
+and thought she was going to faint. "Tell me all about
+this," said Miss Leonora, with peremptory and commanding
+tones. "Oh, Leonora, I am sure my dear Frank has
+nothing to do with it, if there is anything wrong," cried
+Miss Dora. Even Miss Wentworth herself was moved out
+of her habitual smile. She said, "He is my nephew"&mdash;an
+observation which she had never been heard to make
+before, and which covered the second Miss Hemmings
+with confusion. As for Miss Wodehouse, she retreated
+very fast to a seat behind Miss Cecilia, and said nothing.
+The two who had arrived last slunk back upon each other
+with fiery glances of mutual reproach. The former three
+stood together in this emergency, full of curiosity, and
+perhaps a little anxiety. In this position of affairs, Mr
+Elsworthy, being the only impartial person present, took
+the management of matters into his own hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hemmings and ladies, if you'll allow <i>me</i>," said Mr
+Elsworthy, "it aint no more than a mistake. The new
+gentleman as is staying at Mrs Hadwin's may be an
+unfortunate gentleman for anything I can tell; but he aint
+no relation of our clergyman. There aint nobody
+belonging to Mr Wentworth," said the clerk of St Roque's,
+"but is a credit both to him and to Carlingford. There's his
+brother, the Rev. Mr Wentworth, as is the finest-spoken
+man, to be a clergyman, as I ever set eyes on; and there's
+respected ladies as needn't be named more particular. But
+the gentleman as is the subject of conversation is no more
+like Mr Wentworth than&mdash;asking pardon for the liberty&mdash;I
+am. I may say as I have opportunities for knowing more
+than most," said Mr Elsworthy, modestly, "me and Rosa;
+for if there's a thing Mr Wentworth is particular about, it's
+having his papers the first moment; and ladies as knows
+me knows I am one that never says more nor the truth.
+Not saying a word against the gentleman&mdash;as is a most
+respectable gentleman, for anything I know against him&mdash;he
+aint no connection of Mr Wentworth. He's Mrs
+Hadwin's lodger; and I wouldn't say as he isn't a relation
+there; but our clergyman has got no more to do with him
+than the babe unborn."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Elsworthy wiped his forehead after he had made
+this speech, and looked round for the approbation which
+he was aware he had deserved; and Miss Leonora Wentworth
+threw a glance of disdainful observation upon the
+unhappy lady who had caused this disturbance. "If your
+wife will come with us, we will go and look at the house,"
+she said, graciously. "I daresay if it is in Grange Lane it
+will suit us very well. My nephew is a very young man,
+Miss Wodehouse," said Miss Leonora, who had not passed
+over the agitation of that gentle woman without some
+secret comments; "he does not take advice in his work,
+though it might be of great assistance to him; but I hope
+he'll grow older and wiser, as indeed he cannot help doing
+if he lives. I hope you and your pretty sister will come to
+see us when we're settled;&mdash;I don't see any sense, you
+know, in your grey cloaks&mdash;I'm old, and you won't mind
+me saying so; but I know what Frank Wentworth is," said
+the indignant aunt, making a severe curtsy, accompanied
+by lightning glances at the shrinking background of female
+figures, as she went out of the shop.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Leonora! I always said you were fond of him,
+though you never would show it," cried poor Miss Dora.
+"She is a great deal more affectionate than she will let
+anybody believe; and my dear Frank means nothing but
+good," cried the too zealous champion. Miss Leonora
+turned back upon the threshold of the shop.</p>
+
+<p>"You will please to let me know what Dissenting
+chapels there are in the town, and what are the hours of
+the services," she said. "There must surely be a Bethesda,
+or Zion, or something&mdash;Salem? yes, to be sure;&mdash;perhaps
+there's somebody there that preaches the gospel. Send me
+word," said the peremptory woman; and poor Miss Dora
+relapsed into her usual melancholy condition, and stole
+into the carriage in a broken-hearted manner, weeping
+under her veil.</p>
+
+<p>After which Miss Wodehouse went home, not having
+much heart for further visits. That is to say, she went all
+the way down Grange Lane, somewhat tremulous and
+uncertain in her steps, and went as far as Mrs Hadwin's,
+and hesitated at the door as if she meant to call there; but,
+thinking better of it, went on a little farther with very
+lingering steps, as if she did not know what she wanted.
+When she came back again, the door of Mrs Hadwin's
+garden was open, and the butcher's boy stood blocking up
+the way, listening with all his ears to the notes of the
+whistle, soft and high and clear like the notes of a bird
+which come audibly from among the trees. Miss Wodehouse
+gave a little start when she heard it: again she
+hesitated, and looked in with such a wistful face that
+Sarah, the housemaid, who had been about to slam the
+door hastily upon the too tender butcher, involuntarily
+held it wide open for the expected visitor. "No, not to-day
+thank you," said Miss Wodehouse. "I hope your mistress
+is quite well; give her my love, and say I meant to come
+in, but I have a bad headache. No, thank you; not to-day."
+She went away after that with a wonderful expression of
+face, and reached home long before Lucy had come back
+from Prickett's Lane. Miss Wodehouse was not good for
+much in the house. She went to the little boudoir up-stairs,
+and lay down on the sofa, and had some tea brought her
+by an anxious maid. She was very nervous, trembling she
+could not say why, and took up a novel which was lying on
+the sofa, and read the most affecting scene, and cried over
+it; and then her sweet old face cleared, and she felt better.
+When Lucy came in she kissed her sister, and drew down
+the blinds, and brought her the third volume, and then
+went away herself to arrange the dessert, and see that
+everything was in order for one of Mr Wodehouse's little
+parties. These were their respective parts in the house;
+and surely a more peaceful, and orderly, and affectionate
+house, was not to be found that spring evening, either in
+England or Grange Lane.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">It</span> may be easily supposed after this that Mr Wentworth
+and his proceedings were sufficiently overlooked and commented
+upon in Carlingford. The Miss Wentworths took
+old Major Brown's house for six months, which, as everybody
+knows, is next door to Dr Marjoribanks. It was just
+after Letty Brown's marriage, and the poor old Major was
+very glad to go away and pay a round of visits, and try to
+forget that his last daughter had gone the way of all the
+rest. There was a summer-house built in the corner of the
+garden, with a window in the outer wall looking on to
+Grange Lane, from which everything that happened could
+be inspected; and there was always somebody at that
+window when the Perpetual Curate passed by. Then he
+began to have a strange painful feeling that Lucy watched
+too, and was observing all his looks and ways, and what he
+did and said in these changed times. It was a strange
+difference from the sweet half-conscious bond between
+them which existed of old, when they walked home
+together from Wharfside, talking of the district and the
+people, in the tender union of unspoken love and fellowship.
+Not that they were altogether parted now; but Lucy
+contrived to leave the schoolroom most days before the
+young priest could manage to disrobe himself, and was
+seldom to be seen on the road lingering on her errands of
+kindness as she used to do. But still she knew all he was
+about, and watched, standing in doubt and wonder of him,
+which was at least a great deal better than indifference.
+On the whole, however, it was a cloudy world through
+which the Perpetual Curate passed as he went from his
+lodgings, where the whistle of the new lodger had become
+a great nuisance to him, past the long range of garden-walls,
+the sentinel window where Miss Dora looked out
+watching for him, and Mr Wodehouse's green door which
+he no longer entered every day. Over the young man's
+mind, as he went out to his labours, there used to come
+that sensation of having nobody to fall back upon, which is
+of all feelings the most desolate. Amid all those people
+who were watching him, there was no one upon whom he
+could rest, secure of understanding and sympathy. They
+were all critical&mdash;examining, with more or less comprehension,
+what he did; and he could not think of anybody in
+the world just then who would be content with knowing
+that <i>he</i> did it, and take that as warranty for the act, unless,
+perhaps, his poor aunt Dora, whose opinion was not
+important to the young man. It was not a pleasant state of
+mind into which these feelings threw him; and the natural
+result was, that he grew more and more careful about the
+rubric, and confined his sermons, with increasing precision,
+to the beautiful arrangements of the Church. They
+were very clever little sermons, even within these limitations,
+and an indifferent spectator would probably have
+been surprised to find how much he could make out of
+them; but still it is undeniable that a man has less scope,
+not only for oratory, but for all that is worthy of regard in
+human speech, when, instead of the ever-lasting reciprocations
+between heaven and earth, he occupies himself
+only with a set of ecclesiastical arrangements, however
+perfect. The people who went to St Roque's found this
+out, and so did Mr Wentworth; but it did not alter the
+system pursued by the troubled Curate. Perhaps he gave
+himself some half-conscious credit for it, as being against
+his own interests; for there was no mistaking the countenance
+of Miss Leonora, when now and then, on rare
+occasions, she came to hear her nephew preach.</p>
+
+<p>All this, however, was confined to St Roque's, where
+there was a somewhat select audience, people who agreed
+in Mr Wentworth's views; but things were entirely
+different at Wharfside, where the Perpetual Curate was
+not thinking about himself, but simply about his work, and
+how to do it best. The bargemen and their wives did not
+know much about the Christian year; but they understood
+the greater matters which lay beneath: and the women
+said to each other, sometimes with tears in their eyes, that
+there was nothing that the clergyman didn't make plain;
+and that if the men didn't do what was right, it was none o'
+Mr Wentworth's fault. The young priest indemnified himself
+in "the district" for much that vexed him elsewhere.
+There was no question of Skelmersdale, or of any moot
+point there, but only a quantity of primitive people under
+the original conditions of humanity, whose lives might be
+amended, and consoled, and elevated. That was a matter
+about which Mr Wentworth had no doubt. He put on his
+surplice with the conviction that in that white ephod the
+truest embodiment of Christian purity was brought within
+sight of the darkened world. He was not himself, but a
+Christian priest, with power to deliver and to bless, when
+he went to Wharfside.</p>
+
+<p>Easter had been early that year, and Ascension Day
+was in the beginning of May, one of those sweet days of
+early summer which still occur now and then to prove that
+the poets were right in all they say of the tenderest month
+of the year. Mr Wentworth had done duty at St Roque's,
+and afterwards at Wharfside. The sweet day and the
+sweet season had moved his heart. He was young, and it
+was hard to live shut up within himself without any
+sympathy either from man or woman. He had watched the
+grey cloak gliding out as his rude congregation dispersed,
+and went away quicker than was his wont, with a stronger
+longing than usual to overtake Lucy, and recover his place
+beside her. But she was not to be seen when he got into
+Prickett's Lane. He looked up the weary length of the
+street, and saw nothing but the children playing on the
+pavement, and some slovenly mothers at the doors. It was
+a very disenchanting prospect. He went on again in a kind
+of gloomy discontent, displeased with everything. What
+was the good of it all? he said to himself&mdash;weariness, and
+toil, and trouble, and nothing ever to come of it. As for the
+little good he was doing in Wharfside, God did not need his
+poor exertions; and, to tell the truth, going on at St
+Roque's, however perfect the rubric and pretty the
+church, was, without any personal stimulant of happiness,
+no great prospect for the Perpetual Curate. Such was the
+tenor of his thoughts, when he saw a black figure suddenly
+emerge out of one of the houses, and stand at the door,
+throwing a long shadow over the pavement. It was the
+Rector who was standing there in Mr Wentworth's favourite
+district, talking to a shopkeeper who had always been on the
+opposition side. The young Anglican raised his drooping head
+instantly, and recovered his interest in the general world.</p>
+
+<p>"Glad to see you, Mr Wentworth," said the Rector. "I
+have been speaking to this worthy man about the necessities
+of the district. The statistics are far from being
+satisfactory. Five thousand souls, and no provision for
+their spiritual wants; it is a very sad state of affairs. I mean
+to take steps immediately to remedy all that."</p>
+
+<p>"A bit of a Methody chapel, that's all," said the
+opposition shopkeeper; "and the schoolroom, as Mr Wentworth&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have heard of that," said the Rector, blandly;&mdash;somebody
+had advised Mr Morgan to change his tactics,
+and this was the first evidence of the new policy&mdash;"I hear
+you have been doing what little you could to mend
+matters. It is very laudable zeal in so young a man. But, of
+course, as you were without authority, and had so little in
+your power, it could only be a very temporary expedient.
+I am very much obliged to you for your good intentions."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," said the Perpetual Curate, rousing
+up as at the sound of the trumpet, "I don't care in the least
+about my good intentions; but you have been much
+deceived if you have not understood that there is a great
+work going on in Wharfside. I hope, Saunders, you have
+had no hand in deceiving Mr Morgan. I shall be glad to
+show you my statistics, which are more satisfactory than
+the town list," said Mr Wentworth. "The schoolroom is
+consecrated; and but that I thought we had better work
+slowly and steadily, there is many a district in worse
+condition which has its church and its incumbent. I shall
+be very happy to give you all possible information; it is
+best to go to the fountainhead."</p>
+
+<p>"The fountainhead!" said the Rector, who began not
+unnaturally to lose his temper. "Are you aware, sir, that
+Wharfside is in my parish?"</p>
+
+<p>"And so is St Roque's, I suppose," said the Curate,
+affably. "I have no district, but I have my cure of souls all
+the same. As for Wharfside, the Rector of Carlingford
+never had had anything to do with it. Mr Bury and Mr
+Proctor made it over to me. I act upon their authority; but
+I should like to prove to you it is something more than a
+temporary expedient," said the young Anglican, with a
+smile. Mr Morgan was gradually getting very hot and
+flushed. His temper got the better of him; he could not
+tolerate to be thus bearded on his own ground.</p>
+
+<p>"It appears to me the most extraordinary assumption,"
+said the Rector. "I can't fancy that you are ignorant of the
+law. I repeat, Wharfside is in my parish; and on what
+ground you can possibly justify such an incredible
+intrusion&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we might find a fitter place to discuss the
+matter," said the Curate, with great suavity. "If you care
+to go to the schoolroom, we could be quiet there."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. I don't care to go to the schoolroom. I decline
+to have anything to do with such an unwarrantable
+attempt to interfere with my rights," said Mr Morgan. "I
+don't want to know what plausible arguments you may
+have to justify yourself. The fact remains, sir, that Wharfside
+is in my parish. If you have anything to say against
+that, I will listen to you," said the irascible Rector. His
+Welsh blood was up; he even raised his voice a little, with
+a kind of half-feminine excitement, common to the Celtic
+race; and the consequence was that Mr Wentworth, who
+stood perfectly calm to receive the storm, had all the
+advantage in the world over Mr Morgan. The Perpetual
+Curate bowed with immovable composure, and felt himself
+master of the field.</p>
+
+<p>"In that case, it will perhaps be better not to say
+anything," he said; "but I think you will find difficulties in
+the way. Wharfside has some curious privileges, and pays
+no rates; but I have never taken up that ground. The two
+previous rectors made it over to me, and the work is too
+important to be ignored. I have had thoughts of applying
+to have it made into an ecclesiastical district," said the
+Curate, with candour, "not thinking that the Rector of
+Carlingford, with so much to occupy him, would care to
+interfere with my labours; but at all events, to begin
+another mission here would be folly&mdash;it would be copying
+the tactics of the Dissenters, if you will forgive me for
+saying so," said Mr Wentworth, looking calmly in the
+Rector's face.</p>
+
+<p>It was all Mr Morgan could do to restrain himself. "I am
+not in the habit of being schooled by my&mdash;juniors," said
+the Rector, with suppressed fury. He meant to say
+inferiors, but the aspect of the Perpetual Curate checked
+him. Then the two stood gazing at each other for a minute
+in silence. "Anything further you may have to say, you
+will perhaps communicate to my solicitor," said the elder
+priest. "It is well known that some gentlemen of your
+views, Mr Wentworth, think it safe to do evil that good
+may come;&mdash;that is not my opinion; and I don't mean to
+permit any invasion of my rights. I have the pleasure of
+wishing you good morning."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Morgan took off his hat, and gave it a little angry
+flourish in the air before he put it on again. He had
+challenged his young brother to the only duel permitted
+by their cloth, and he turned to the opposition tradesman
+with vehemence, and went in again to the dusty little
+shop, where a humble assortment of groceries were displayed
+for the consumption of Prickett's Lane. Mr Wentworth
+remained standing outside in much amazement, not
+to say amusement, and a general sense of awakening and
+recovery. Next to happiness, perhaps enmity is the most
+healthful stimulant of the human mind. The Perpetual
+Curate woke up and realised his position with a sense of
+exhilaration, if the truth must be told. He muttered something
+to himself, uncomplimentary to Mr Morgan's good
+sense, as he turned away; but it was astonishing to find
+how much more lively and interesting Prickett's Lane had
+become since that encounter. He went along cheerily,
+saying a word now and then to the people at the doors,
+every one of whom knew and recognised him, and acknowledged,
+in a lesser or greater degree, the sway of his
+bishopric. The groups he addressed made remarks after
+he had passed, which showed their sense of the improvement
+in his looks. "He's more like himsel' than he's bin
+sin' Easter," said one woman, "and none o' that crossed
+look, as if things had gone contrairy;&mdash;Lord bless you, not
+cross&mdash;he's a deal too good a man for that&mdash;but crossed-looking;
+it might be crossed in love for what I can tell."
+"Them as is handsome like that seldom gets crossed in
+love," said another experienced observer; "but if it was
+fortin, or whatever it was, there's ne'er a one in Wharfside
+but wishes luck to the parson. It aint much matter for us
+women. Them as won't strive to keep their children
+decent out o' their own heads, they won't do much for a
+clergyman; but, bless you, he can do a deal with the men,
+and it's them as wants looking after." "I'd like to go to his
+wedding," said another. "I'd give a deal to hear it was all
+settled;" and amid these affectionate comments, Mr
+Wentworth issued out of Prickett's Lane. He went direct
+to Mr Wodehouse's green door, without making any
+excuses to himself. For the first time for some weeks he
+went in upon the sisters and told them all that had
+happened as of old. Lucy was still in her grey cloak as she
+had returned from the district, and it was with a feeling
+more distinct than sympathy that she heard of this
+threatened attack. "It is terrible to think that he could
+interfere with such a work out of jealousy of <i>us</i>," said the
+Sister of Charity, with a wonderful light in her blue eyes;
+and she drew her low chair nearer, and listened with
+eloquent looks, which were balm to the soul of the Perpetual
+Curate. "But we are not to give up?" she said,
+giving him her hand, when he rose to go away. "Never!"
+said Mr Wentworth; and if he held it more closely and
+longer than there was any particular occasion for, Lucy
+did not make any objection at that special moment. Then
+it turned out that he had business at the other end of the
+town, at the north end, where some trustee lived who had
+to do with the Orphan Schools, and whom the curate was
+obliged to see; and Miss Wodehouse gave him a timid
+invitation to come back to dinner. "But you are not to go
+home to dress; we shall be quite alone&mdash;and you must be
+so tired," said the elder sister, who for some reason or
+other was shy of Mr Wentworth, and kept away from him
+whenever he called. So he went in on his way back, and
+dined in happiness and his morning coat, with a sweet
+conscious return to the familiar intercourse which these
+few disturbed weeks had interrupted. He was a different
+man when he went back again down Grange Lane. Once
+more the darkness was fragrant and musical about him.
+When he was tired thinking of his affairs, he fell back
+upon the memories of the evening, and Lucy's looks and
+the "us" and "we," which were so sweet to his ears. To have
+somebody behind whom one can fall back upon to fill up
+the interstices of thought&mdash;<i>that</i> makes all the difference, as
+Mr Wentworth found out, between a bright and a heavy life.</p>
+
+<p>When he opened the garden-door with his key, and
+went softly in in the darkness, the Perpetual Curate was
+much surprised to hear voices among the trees. He waited
+a little, wondering, to see who it was; and profound was his
+amazement when a minute after little Rosa Elsworthy,
+hastily tying her hat over her curls, came rapidly along
+the walk from under the big walnut-tree, and essayed,
+with rather a tremulous hand, to open the door. Mr
+Wentworth stepped forward suddenly and laid his hand on
+her arm. He was very angry and indignant, and no longer
+the benign superior being to whom Rosa was accustomed.
+"Whom have you been talking to?" said the Curate. "Why
+are you here alone so late? What does this mean?" He
+held the door close, and looked down upon her severely
+while he spoke. She made a frightened attempt to defend
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please, I only came with the papers. I was talking
+to&mdash;Sarah," said the little girl, with a sob of shame and
+terror. "I will never do it again. Oh, please, <i>please</i>, let me
+go! Please, Mr Wentworth, let me go!"</p>
+
+<p>"How long have you been talking to&mdash;Sarah?" said the
+Curate. "Did you ever do it before? No, Rosa; I am going
+to take you home. This must not happen any more."</p>
+
+<p>"I will run all the way. Oh, don't tell my aunt, Mr
+Wentworth. I didn't mean any harm," said the frightened
+creature. "You are not really coming? Oh, Mr Wentworth,
+if you tell my aunt I shall die!" cried poor little Rosa. But
+she was hushed into awe and silence when the curate
+stalked forth, a grand, half-distinguished figure by her
+side, keeping pace with her hasty, tremulous steps. She
+even stopped crying, in the whirlwind of her feelings.
+What did he mean? Was he going to say anything to her?
+Was it possible that he could like her, and be jealous of her
+talk with&mdash;Sarah? Poor little foolish Rosa did not know
+what to think. She had read a great many novels, and
+knew that it was quite usual for gentlemen to fall in love
+with pretty little girls who were not of their own station;&mdash;why
+not with her? So she went on, half running, keeping
+up with Mr Wentworth, and sometimes stealing sly glances
+at him to see what intention was in his looks. But his looks
+were beyond Rosa's reading. He walked by her side
+without speaking, and gave a glance up at the window of
+the summer-house as they passed. And strange enough,
+that evening of all others, Miss Dora, who had been the
+victim of some of Miss Leonora's caustic criticisms, had
+strayed forth, in melancholy mood, to repose herself at
+her favourite window, and look out at the faint stars, and
+comfort herself with a feeble repetition of her favourite
+plea, that it was not "my fault." The poor lady was
+startled out of her own troubles by the sight of her nephew's
+tall unmistakable figure; and, as bad luck would have it,
+Rosa's hat, tied insecurely by her agitated fingers, blew
+off at that moment, so that Mr Wentworth's aunt became
+aware, to her inexpressible horror and astonishment, who
+his companion was. The unhappy Curate divined all the
+thoughts that would arise in her perturbed bosom, when
+he saw the indistinct figure at the window, and said
+something to himself about <i>espionage</i>, which was barely
+civil to Miss Dora, as he hurried along on his charitable
+errand. He was out of one trouble into another, this
+unlucky young man. He knocked sharply at Elsworthy's
+closed door, and gave up his charge without speaking to
+Rosa. "I brought her home because I thought it wrong to
+let her go up Grange Lane by herself," said the Curate.
+"Don't thank me; but if you have any regard for the child,
+don't send her out at night again." He did not even bid
+Rosa good-night, or look back at her, as she stood blushing
+and sparkling in confused childish beauty, in the doorway;
+but turned his back like any savage, and hastened home
+again. Before he entered his own apartments, he knocked
+at the door of the green room, and said something to the
+inmate there which produced from that personage a growl
+of restrained defiance. And after all these fatigues, it was
+with a sense of relief that the Curate threw himself upon
+his sofa, to think over the events of the afternoon, and to
+take a little rest. He was very tired, and the consolation he
+had experienced during the evening made him more disposed
+to yield to his fatigue. He threw himself upon the
+sofa, and stretched out his hand lazily for his letters, which
+evidently did not excite any special expectations in his
+mind. There was one from his sister, and one from an old
+university friend, full of the news of the season. Last of
+all, there was a neat little note, directed in a neat little
+hand, which anybody who received it would naturally
+have left to the last, as Mr Wentworth did. He opened it
+quite deliberately, without any appearance of interest.
+But as he read the first lines, the Curate gradually gathered
+himself up off the sofa, and stretched out his hand for his
+boots, which he had just taken off; and before he had
+finished it, had walked across the room and laid hold of the
+railway book in use at Carlingford, all the time reading
+and re-reading the important little epistle. It was not so
+neat inside as out, and blurred and blotted, and slightly
+illegible; and this is what the letter said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, dear, I am so anxious and unhappy about
+Gerald. I can't tell what is the matter with him. Come
+directly, for heaven's sake, and tell me what you think,
+and try what you can do. Don't lose a train after you get
+this, but come directly&mdash;oh, come if you ever loved any of
+us. I don't know what he means, but he says the most
+awful things; and if he is not <i>mad</i>, as I sometimes hope, he
+has forgotten his duty to his family and to me, which is far
+worse. I can't explain more; but if there is any chance of
+anybody doing him good, it is you. I beg you, on my
+knees, come directly, dear Frank. I never was in such a
+state in my life. I shall be left so that nobody will be able
+to tell what I am; and my heart is bursting. Never mind
+business or anything; but come, come directly, whether it
+is night or day, to your broken-hearted sister,</p>
+
+<p class="right">"<span class="smallcaps">Louisa</span>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>P.S.</i>&mdash;In great haste, and <i>so</i> anxious to see you."</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour after, Mr Wentworth, with a travelling-bag
+in his hand, was once more hastening up Grange Lane
+towards the railway station. His face was somewhat grey,
+as the lamps shone on it. He did not exactly know what he
+was anxious about, nor what might have happened at
+Wentworth Rectory before he could get there; but the
+express train felt slow to his anxious thoughts as it flashed
+out of the station. Mr Morgan and his wife were in their
+garden, talking about the encounter in Prickett's Lane,
+when the train plunged past, waking all the echoes; and
+Mrs Morgan, by way of making a diversion, appealed to
+the Rector about those creepers, with which she hoped in
+a year or two to shut out the sight of the railway. "The
+Virginian creeper would be the best," said the Rector's
+wife; and they went in to calculate the expenses of bringing
+Mr Wentworth before Dr Lushington. Miss Dora, at very
+nearly the same moment, was confiding to her sister
+Cecilia, under vows of secrecy, the terrible sight she had
+seen from the summer-house window. They went to bed
+with very sad hearts in consequence, both these good
+women. In the mean time, leaving all these gathering
+clouds behind him, leaving his reputation and his work to
+be discussed and quarrelled over as they might, the
+Perpetual Curate rushed through the night, his heart
+aching with trouble and anxiety, to help, if he could&mdash;and
+if not, at least to stand by&mdash;Gerald, in this unknown crisis
+of his brother's life.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Miss Dora Wentworth</span> rose very unrefreshed
+next morning from her disturbed slumbers. It was hard to
+sit at breakfast with Leonora, and not betray to her the
+new anxiety; and the troubled sister ran into a countless
+number of digressions, which would have inevitably
+betrayed her had not Miss Leonora been at the moment
+otherwise occupied. She had her little budget of letters as
+usual, and some of them were more than ordinarily interesting.
+She too had a favourite district, which was in
+London, and where also a great work was going on; and
+her missionary, and her Scripture-readers, and her colporteur
+were all in a wonderful state of excitement about a
+new gin-palace which was being fitted out and decorated
+in the highest style of art on the borders of their especial
+domain. They were moving heaven and earth to prevent
+this temple of Satan from being licensed; and some of
+them were so very certain of the Divine acquiescence in
+their measures, that they announced the success of their
+exertions to be a test of the faithfulness of God; which Miss
+Leonora read out to her sisters as an instance of very
+touching and beautiful faith. Miss Wentworth, perhaps,
+was not so clear on that subject. During the course of her
+silent life, she had prayed for various things which it had
+not been God's pleasure to grant; and just now she, too,
+was very anxious about Frank, who seemed to be in a bad
+way; so she rather shook her head gently, though she did
+not contravene the statement, and concluded with sadness
+that the government of the earth might still go on as usual,
+and God's goodness remain as certain as ever, even
+though the public-house was licensed, or Frank did fall
+away. This was the teaching of experience; but aunt
+Cecilia did not utter it, for that was not her way. As for
+Miss Dora, she agreed in all the colporteur's sentiments,
+and thought them beautiful, as Leonora said, and was not
+much disturbed by any opinion of her own, expressed or
+unexpressed, but interspersed her breakfast with little
+sighing ejaculations of the temptations of the world, and
+how little one knew what was passing around one, and
+"let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall,"
+which could not have failed to attract Miss Leonora's
+attention, and draw forth the whole story of her sister's
+suspicions, had not that quick-witted iron-grey woman
+been, as we have already mentioned, too deeply engaged.
+Perhaps her nephew's imaginary backsliding might have
+excited even Miss Leonora to an interest deeper than that
+which was awakened by the new gin-palace; but as it
+happened, it was the humbler intelligence alone which
+occupied itself with the supposed domestic calamity. Miss
+Dora's breakfast was affected by it in a way which did not
+appear in the morning meal of her sister; for somehow the
+most fervent love of souls seldom takes away the appetite,
+as the love of some unlucky individual occasionally does.</p>
+
+<p>When breakfast was over, Miss Dora made a very
+elaborate excuse for going out by herself. She wanted to
+match some wool for a blanket she was making, "For
+Louisa's baby," the devoted aunt said, with a little
+tremor. "Poor Louisa! if Gerald were to go any further,
+you know, it would be so sad for her; and one would like to
+help to keep up her heart, poor dear, as much as one
+could."</p>
+
+<p>"By means of a blanket for the bassinet in scarlet and
+white," said Miss Leonora; "but it's quite the kind of
+comfort for Louisa. I wonder if she ever had the smallest
+inkling what kind of a husband she has got. I don't think
+Frank is far wrong about Gerald, though I don't pin my
+faith to my nephew's judgment. I daresay he'll go mad or
+do worse with all those crotchets of his&mdash;but what he
+married Louisa for has always been a mystery to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose because he was very fond of her," suggested
+Miss Dora, with humility.</p>
+
+<p>"But why was he fond of her?&mdash;a goose!" said the
+strong-minded sister, and so went about her letter-writing
+without further comment, leaving aunt Dora to pursue her
+independent career. It was with a feeling of relief, and yet
+of guilt, that this timid inquirer set forth on her mission,
+exchanging a sympathetic significant look with Miss
+Wentworth before she went out. If she should meet Frank
+at the door, looking dignified and virtuous, what could she
+possibly say to him? and yet, perhaps, he had only been
+imprudent, and did not mean anything. Miss Dora looked
+round her on both sides, up and down Grange Lane, as she
+went out into the lovely summer morning. Neither Frank
+nor any other soul, except some nurse-maids, was to be
+seen along the whole line of sunny road. She was relieved,
+yet she was disappointed at the same time, and went
+slowly up towards Elsworthy's shop, saying to herself that
+she was sure Frank could not mean anything. It must have
+been that forward little thing herself who had come up to
+him when he was out for his walk, or it must have been an
+accident. But then she remembered that she had heard
+the Curate call Rosa pretty; and Miss Dora wondered
+within herself what it mattered whether she was pretty or
+not, and what he had to do with it, and shook her head
+over the strange way men had of finding out such things.
+For her own part, she was sure she never looked whether
+the girl was pretty or not; and the anxious aunt had just
+come round again, by a very circuitous and perplexing
+course, to her original sentiment, and strengthened herself
+in the thought that her dear Frank could not mean anything,
+when she reached Elsworthy's door.</p>
+
+<p>That worthy trader was himself behind the counter,
+managing matters with his usual exactness. Berlin wool
+was one of the articles Mr Elsworthy dealt in, besides
+newspapers, and books when they were ordered. Miss
+Dora, who wore no crinoline, stumbled over her dress in
+her agitation as she went in, and saw, at the first glance,
+little Rosa, looking very blooming and pretty, tying up a
+parcel at the other end of the shop. The poor lady did not
+know how to enter upon so difficult a question. She offered
+her wool humbly to be matched, and listened to Mr
+Elsworthy's sentiments on the subject. He told her how he
+always had his wools from the best houses in London, and
+could match anything as was ever made in that line, and
+was proud to say as he always gave satisfaction. Miss Dora
+could not see any opening for the inquiries she hoped to
+make; for how was it possible to intimate the possibility of
+disapproval to an establishment so perfect in all its
+arrangements? The probabilities are, that she would have
+gone away without saying anything, had not Mr Elsworthy
+himself given her a chance.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wodehouse has been my great help," said the
+shopkeeper; "she is the nicest lady, is Miss Wodehouse, in
+all Carlingford. I do respect them people; they've had
+their troubles, like most families, but there aint many as
+can lay their finger on the skeleton as is in their cupboard:
+they've kept things close, and there aint a many as knows;
+but Miss Wodehouse has spoke up for me, ma'am, right
+and left, and most persons as count for anything in Carlingford
+gets their fancy articles out o' my shop. Mr
+Wentworth, ma'am, our respected clergyman, gets all his
+papers of me&mdash;and partickler he is to a degree&mdash;and likes
+to have 'em first thing afore they're opened out o' the
+parcel. It's the way with gentlemen when they're young.
+Mostly people aint so partickler later in life&mdash;not as I
+could tell the reason why, unless it may be that folks gets
+used to most things, and stop looking for anything new.
+But there aint a many young gentlemen like our clergyman,
+though I say it as shouldn't," continued Mr Elsworthy,
+with a little effusion, as he succeeded in finding an exact
+match for the scarlet wool.</p>
+
+<p>"And why shouldn't you say it, Mr Elsworthy?" said
+Miss Dora, a little tartly; "you are not in any way particularly
+connected with my nephew." Here she gave an
+angry glance at Rosa, who had drawn near to listen,
+having always in her vain little heart a certain palpitation
+at Mr Wentworth's name.</p>
+
+<p>"I ask your pardon, ma'am; I'm clerk at St Roque's. It
+aint often as we have the pleasure of seeing you there&mdash;more's
+the pity," said the church official, "though I may
+say there aint a church as perfect, or where the duty is
+performed more beautiful, in all the country; and there
+never was a clergyman as had the people's good at heart
+like Mr Wentworth&mdash;not in my time. It aint no matter
+whether you're rich or poor, young or old, if there's a
+service as can be done to ever a one in his way, our
+clergyman is the man to do it. Why, no further gone than
+last night, ma'am, if you'll believe me, that little girl
+there&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Miss Dora, eagerly, looking with what was
+intended to be a very stern and forbidding aspect in the
+little girl's face.</p>
+
+<p>"She was a-coming up Grange Lane in the dark," said
+Mr Elsworthy&mdash;"not as there was any need, and me
+keeping two boys, but she likes a run out of an evening&mdash;when
+Mr Wentworth see her, and come up to her. It aint
+what many men would have done," said the admiring but
+unlucky adherent of the suspected Curate: "he come up,
+seeing as she was by herself, and walked by her, and gave
+her a deal of good advice, and brought her home. Her
+aunt and me was struck all of a heap to see the clergyman
+a-standing at our door. 'I've brought Rosa home,' he said,
+making believe a bit sharp. 'Don't send her out no more so
+late at night,' and was off like a shot, not waiting for no
+thanks. It's my opinion as there aint many such gentlemen.
+I can't call to mind as I ever met with his fellow
+before."</p>
+
+<p>"But a young creature like that ought not to have been
+out so late," said Miss Dora, trying to harden herself into
+severity. "I wonder very much that you like to walk up
+Grange Lane in the dark. I should think it very unpleasant,
+for my part; and I am sure I would not allow it,
+Mr Elsworthy," she said firmly, "if such a girl belonged to
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"But, please, I wasn't walking up Grange Lane," said
+Rosa, with some haste. "I was at Mrs Hadwin's, where Mr
+Wentworth lives. I am sure I did not want to trouble him,"
+said the little beauty, recovering her natural spirit as she
+went on, "but he insisted on walking with me; it was all his
+own doing. I am sure I didn't want him;" and here Rosa
+broke off abruptly, with a consciousness in her heart that
+she was being lectured. She rushed to her defensive
+weapons by natural instinct, and grew crimson all over her
+pretty little face, and flashed lightning out of her eyes,
+which at the same time were not disinclined to tears. All
+this Miss Dora made note of with a sinking heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that you went to Mrs Hadwin's to
+see Mr Wentworth?" asked that unlucky inquisitor, with a
+world of horror in her face.</p>
+
+<p>"I went with the papers," said Rosa, "and I&mdash;I met him
+in the garden. I am sure it wasn't my fault," said the girl,
+bursting into petulant tears. "Nobody has any occasion to
+scold me. It was Mr Wentworth as would come;" and Rosa
+sobbed, and lighted up gleams of defiance behind her
+tears. Miss Dora sat looking at her with a very troubled,
+pale face. She thought all her fears were true, and matters
+worse than she imagined; and being quite unused to
+private inquisitions, of course she took all possible steps to
+create the scandal for which she had come to look.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever meet him in the garden before?" asked
+Miss Dora, painfully, in a low voice. During this conversation
+Mr Elsworthy had been looking on, perplexed, not
+perceiving the drift of the examination. He roused himself
+up to answer now&mdash;a little alarmed, to tell the truth, by
+the new lights thrown on the subject, and vexed to see how
+unconsciously far both the women had gone.</p>
+
+<p>"It aint easy to go into a house in Grange Lane without
+meeting of some one in the garden," said Mr Elsworthy;
+"not as I mean to say it was the right thing for Rosa to be
+going them errands after dark. My orders is against that,
+as she knows; and what's the good of keeping two boys if
+things isn't to be done at the right time? Mr Wentworth
+himself was a-reproving of me for sending out Rosa, as it
+might be the last time he was here; for she's one of them as
+sits in the chancel and helps in the singing, and he feels an
+interest in her, natural," said the apologetic clerk. Miss
+Dora gave him a troubled look, but took no further notice
+of his speech. She thought, with an instinctive contempt
+for the masculine spectator, that it was impossible he
+could know anything about it, and pursued her own wiser
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very wrong of you&mdash;a girl in your position," said
+Miss Dora, as severely as she could in her soft old voice,
+"to be seen walking about with a gentleman, even when
+he is your clergyman, and, of course, has nothing else in
+his head. Young men don't think anything of it," said the
+rash but timid preacher; "of course it was only to take care
+of you, and keep you out of harm's way. But then you
+ought to think what a trouble it was to Mr Wentworth,
+taking him away from his studies&mdash;and it is not nice for a
+young girl like you." Miss Dora paused to take breath, not
+feeling quite sure in her own mind whether this was the
+right thing to say. Perhaps it would have been better to
+have disbelieved the fact altogether, and declared it impossible.
+She was much troubled about it, as she stood
+looking into the flushed tearful face, with all that light of
+defiance behind the tears, and felt instinctively that little
+Rosa, still only a pretty, obstinate, vain, uneducated little
+girl, was more than a match for herself, with all her
+dearly-won experiences. The little thing was bristling with
+a hundred natural weapons and defences, against which
+Miss Dora's weak assault had no chance.</p>
+
+<p>"If it was a trouble, he need not have come," said Rosa,
+more and more convinced that Mr Wentworth must certainly
+have meant something. "I am sure <i>I</i> did not want
+him. He insisted on coming, though I begged him not. I
+don't know why I should be spoke to like this," cried the
+little coquette, with tears, "for I never was one as looked
+at a gentleman; it's them," with a sob, "as comes after
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"Rosa," said Mr Elsworthy, much alarmed, "your aunt
+is sure to be looking out for you, and I don't want you
+here, not now; nor I don't want you again for errands, and
+don't you forget. If it hadn't been that Mr Wentworth
+thought you a silly little thing, and had a kind feeling for
+my missis and me, you don't think he'd have took that
+charge of you?&mdash;and I won't have my clergyman, as has
+always been good to me and mine, made a talk of. You'll
+excuse me, ma'am," he said, in an under tone, as Rosa
+reluctantly went away&mdash;not to her aunt, however, but
+again to her parcel at the other end of the shop&mdash;"she aint
+used to being talked to. She's but a child, and don't know
+no better: and after all," said Rosa's uncle, with a little
+pride, "she is a tender-hearted little thing&mdash;she don't
+know no better, ma'am; she's led away by a kind word&mdash;for
+nobody can say but she's wonderful pretty, as is very
+plain to see."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she?" said Miss Dora, following the little culprit to
+the back-counter with disenchanted eyes. "Then you had
+better take all the better care of her, Mr Elsworthy," she
+said, with again a little asperity. The fact was, that Miss
+Dora had behaved very injudiciously, and was partly
+aware of it; and then this prettiness of little Rosa's, even
+though it shone at the present moment before her, was not
+so plain to her old-maidenly eyes. She did not make out
+why everybody was so sure of it, nor what it mattered; and
+very probably, if she could have had her own way, would
+have liked to give the little insignificant thing a good
+shake, and asked her how she dared to attract the eye of
+the Perpetual Curate. As she could not do this, however,
+Miss Dora gathered up her wool, and refused to permit Mr
+Elsworthy to send it home for her. "I can carry it quite
+well myself," said the indignant little woman. "I am sure
+you must have a great deal too much for your boys to do,
+or you would not send your niece about with the things.
+But if you will take my advice, Mr Elsworthy," said Miss
+Dora, "you will take care of that poor little thing: she will
+be getting ridiculous notions into her head;" and aunt
+Dora went out of the shop with great solemnity, quite
+unaware that she had done more to put ridiculous notions
+into Rosa's head than could have got there by means of a
+dozen darkling walks by the side of the majestic Curate,
+who never paid her any compliments. Miss Dora went
+away more than ever convinced in her mind that Frank
+had forgotten himself and his position, and everything
+that was fit and seemly. She jumped to a hundred horrible
+conclusions as she went sadly across Grange Lane with her
+scarlet wool in her hand. What Leonora would say to such
+an irremediable folly?&mdash;and how the Squire would receive
+his son after such a <i>m&eacute;salliance</i>? "He might change his
+views," said poor Miss Dora to herself, "but he could not
+change his wife;" and it was poor comfort to call Rosa a
+designing little wretch, and to reflect that Frank at first
+could not have meant anything. The poor lady had a bad
+headache, and was in a terribly depressed condition all
+day. When she saw from the window of her summer-house
+the pretty figure of Lucy Wodehouse in her grey cloak
+pass by, she sank into tears and melancholy reflections.
+But then Lucy Wodehouse's views were highly objectionable,
+and she bethought herself of Julia Trench, who
+had long ago been selected by the sisters as the clergyman's
+wife of Skelmersdale. Miss Dora shook her head
+over the blanket she was knitting for Louisa's baby,
+thinking of clergymen's wives in general, and the way in
+which marriages came about. Who had the ordering of
+these inexplicable accidents? It was surely not
+Providence, but some tricky imp or other who loved
+confusion; and then Miss Dora paused with compunction,
+and hoped she would be forgiven for entertaining, even
+for one passing moment, such a wicked, wicked thought.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">On</span> the afternoon of the same day Mr Morgan went home
+late, and frightened his wife out of her propriety by the
+excitement and trouble in his face. He could do nothing
+but groan as he sat down in the drawing-room, where she
+had just been gathering her work together, and putting
+stray matters in order, before she went up-stairs to make
+herself tidy for dinner. The Rector paid no attention to the
+fact that the dinner-hour was approaching, and only shook
+his head and repeated his groan when she asked him
+anxiously what was the matter. The good man was too
+much flushed and heated and put out, to be able at first to
+answer her questions.</p>
+
+<p>"Very bad, very bad," he said, when he had recovered
+sufficient composure&mdash;"far worse than I feared. My dear,
+I am afraid the beginning of my work in Carlingford will be
+for ever associated with pain to us both. I am discouraged
+and distressed beyond measure by what I have heard
+to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear William, tell me what it is," said the Rector's
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>"I feared it was a bad business from the first," said the
+disturbed Rector. "I confess I feared, when I saw a young
+man so regardless of lawful authority, that his moral
+principles must be defective, but I was not prepared for
+what I have heard to-day. My dear, I am sorry to grieve
+you with such a story; but as you are sure to hear it,
+perhaps it is better that you should have the facts from me."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be about Mr Wentworth," said Mrs Morgan.
+She was sorry; for though she had given in to her husband's
+vehemence, she herself in her own person had
+always been prepossessed in favour of the Perpetual
+Curate; but she was also sensible of a feeling of relief to
+know that the misfortune concerned Mr Wentworth, and
+was not specially connected with themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's about Mr Wentworth," said the Rector. He
+wiped his face, which was red with haste and exhaustion,
+and shook his head. He was sincerely shocked and grieved,
+to do him justice; but underneath there was also a certain
+satisfaction in the thought that he had foreseen it, and that
+his suspicions were verified. "My dear, I am very glad he
+had not become intimate in our house," said Mr Morgan;
+"that would have complicated matters sadly. I rejoice
+that your womanly instincts prevented that inconvenience;"
+and as the Rector began to recover himself, he
+looked more severe than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mrs Morgan, with hesitation; for the
+truth was, that her womanly instincts had pronounced
+rather distinctly in favour of the Curate of St Roque's. "I
+hope he has not done anything very wrong, William. I
+should be very sorry; for I think he has very good qualities,"
+said the Rector's wife. "We must not let our personal
+objections prejudice us in respect to his conduct otherwise.
+I am sure you are the last to do that."</p>
+
+<p>"I have never known an insubordinate man who was a
+perfect moral character," said the Rector. "It is very
+discouraging altogether; and you thought he was engaged
+to Wodehouse's pretty daughter, didn't you? I hope not&mdash;I
+sincerely hope not. That would make things doubly bad;
+but, to be sure, when a man is faithless to his most sacred
+engagements, there is very little dependence to be placed
+on him in other respects."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have not told me what it is," said the Rector's
+wife, with some anxiety; and she spoke the more hastily as
+she saw the shadow of a curate&mdash;Mr Morgan's own curate,
+who must inevitably be invited to stop to dinner&mdash;crossing
+the lawn as she spoke. She got up and went a little nearer
+the window to make sure. "There is Mr Leeson," she said,
+with some vexation. "I must run up-stairs and get ready for
+dinner. Tell me what it is!"</p>
+
+<p>Upon which the Rector, with some circumlocution,
+described the appalling occurrence of the previous night,&mdash;how
+Mr Wentworth had walked home with little Rosa
+Elsworthy from his own house to hers, as had, of course,
+been seen by various people. The tale had been told with
+variations, which did credit to the ingenuity of Carlingford;
+and Mr Morgan's version was that they had walked
+arm in arm, in the closest conversation, and at an hour
+which was quite unseemly for such a little person as Rosa
+to be abroad. The excellent Rector gave the story with
+strong expressions of disapproval; for he was aware of
+having raised his wife's expectations, and had a feeling, as
+he related them, that the circumstances, after all, were
+scarcely sufficiently horrifying to justify his preamble.
+Mrs Morgan listened with one ear towards the door, on the
+watch for Mr Leeson's knock.</p>
+
+<p>"Was that all?" said the sensible woman. "I think it
+very likely it might be explained. I suppose Mr Leeson
+must have stopped to look at my ferns; he is very tiresome
+with his botany. That was all! Dear, I think it might be
+explained. I can't fancy Mr Wentworth is a man to
+commit himself in that way&mdash;if that is all!" said Mrs
+Morgan; "but I must run up-stairs to change my dress."</p>
+
+<p>"That was not all," said the Rector, following her to the
+door. "It is said that this sort of thing has been habitual,
+my dear. He takes the 'Evening Mail,' you know, all to
+himself, instead of having the 'Times' like other people,
+and she carries it down to his house, and I hear of
+meetings in the garden, and a great deal that is very
+objectionable," said Mr Morgan, speaking very fast in
+order to deliver himself before the advent of Mr Leeson.
+"I'm afraid it is a very bad business. I don't know what to
+do about it. I suppose I must ask Leeson to stay to dinner?
+It is absurd of him to come at six o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Meetings in the garden?" said Mrs Morgan, aghast. "I
+don't feel as if I could believe it. There is that tiresome
+man at last. Do as you like, dear, about asking him to stay;
+but I must make my escape," and the Rector's wife
+hastened up-stairs, divided between vexation about Mr
+Leeson and regret at the news she had just heard. She put
+on her dress rather hastily, and was conscious of a little ill-temper,
+for which she was angry with herself; and the
+haste of her toilette, and the excitement under which she
+laboured, aggravated unbecomingly that redness of which
+Mrs Morgan was painfully sensible. She was not at all
+pleased with her own appearance as she looked in the
+glass. Perhaps that sense of looking not so well as usual
+brought back to her mind a troublesome and painful idea,
+which recurred to her not unfrequently when she was in
+any trouble. The real Rector to whom she was married
+was so different from the ideal one who courted her; could
+it be possible, if they had married in their youth instead of
+now, that her husband would have been less open to the
+ill-natured suggestions of the gossips in Carlingford, and
+less jealous of the interferences of his young neighbour? It
+was hard to think that all the self-denial and patience of
+the past had done more harm than good; but though she
+was conscious of his defects, she was very loyal to him,
+and resolute to stand by him whatever he might do or
+say; though Mrs Morgan's "womanly instincts," which the
+Rector had quoted, were all on Mr Wentworth's side, and
+convinced her of his innocence to start with. On the whole,
+she was annoyed and uncomfortable; what with Mr
+Leeson's intrusion (which had occurred three or four times
+before, and which Mrs Morgan felt it her duty to check)
+and the Rector's uncharitableness, and her own insufficient
+time to dress, and the disagreeable heightening of
+her complexion, the Rector's wife felt in rather an unchristian
+frame of mind. She did not look well, and she did
+not feel better. She was terribly civil to the Curate when
+she went down-stairs, and snubbed him in the most unqualified
+way when he too began to speak about Mr
+Wentworth. "It does not seem to me to be at all a likely
+story," she said, courageously, and took away Mr
+Leeson's breath.</p>
+
+<p>"But I hear a very unfavourable general account," said
+the Rector, who was almost equally surprised. "I hear he
+has been playing fast and loose with that very pretty
+person, Miss Wodehouse, and that her friends begin to be
+indignant. It is said that he has not been nearly so much
+there lately, but, on the contrary, always going to
+Elsworthy's, and has partly educated this little thing. My
+dear, one false step leads to another. I am not so incredulous
+as you are. Perhaps I have studied human nature a little
+more closely, and I know that error is always fruitful;&mdash;that
+is my experience," said Mr Morgan. His wife did not say
+anything in answer to this deliverance, but she lay in wait
+for the Curate, as was natural, and had her revenge upon
+him as soon as his ill fate prompted him to back the Rector
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid Mr Wentworth had always too much
+confidence in himself," said the unlucky individual who
+was destined to be scapegoat on this occasion; "and as you
+very justly observe, one wrong act leads to another. He
+has thrown himself among the bargemen on such an equal
+footing that I daresay he has got to like that kind of
+society. I shouldn't be surprised to find that Rosa
+Elsworthy suited him better than a lady with refined
+tastes."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wentworth is a gentleman," said the Rector's wife,
+with emphasis, coming down upon the unhappy Leeson in
+full battle array. "I don't think he would go into the
+poorest house, if it were even a bargeman's, without the
+same respect of the privacy of the family as is customary
+among&mdash;persons of our own class, Mr Leeson. I can't tell
+how wrong or how foolish he may have been, of course&mdash;but
+that he couldn't behave to anybody in a disrespectful
+manner, or show himself intrusive, or forget the usages of
+good society," said Mrs Morgan, who was looking all the
+time at the unfortunate Curate, "I am perfectly convinced."</p>
+
+<p>It was this speech which made Mr Morgan "speak
+seriously," as he called it, later the same night, to his wife,
+about her manner to poor Leeson, who was totally extinguished,
+as was to be expected. Mrs Morgan busied herself
+among her flowers all the evening, and could not be
+caught to be admonished until it was time for prayers: so
+that it was in the sacred retirement of her own chamber
+that the remonstrance was delivered at last. The Rector
+said he was very sorry to find that she still gave way to
+temper in a manner that was unbecoming in a clergyman's
+wife; he was surprised, after all her experience, and the
+way in which they had both been schooled in patience, to
+find she had still to learn that lesson: upon which Mrs
+Morgan, who had been thinking much on the subject,
+broke forth upon her husband in a manner totally
+unprecedented, and which took the amazed Rector
+altogether by surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, William, if we had only forestalled the lesson, and
+been <i>less</i> prudent!" she cried in a womanish way, which
+struck the Rector dumb with astonishment; "if we hadn't
+been afraid to marry ten years ago, but gone into life when
+we were young, and fought through it like so many
+people, don't you think it would have been better for us?
+Neither you nor I would have minded what gossips said, or
+listened to a pack of stories when we were five-and-twenty.
+I think I was better then than I am now," said the
+Rector's wife. Though she filled that elevated position,
+she was only a woman, subject to outbreaks of sudden
+passion, and liable to tears like the rest. Mr Morgan
+looked very blank at her as she sat there crying, sobbing
+with the force of a sentiment which was probably untranslatable
+to the surprised, middle-aged man. He thought it
+must be her nerves which were in fault somehow, and
+though much startled, did not inquire farther into it,
+having a secret feeling in his heart that the less that was
+said the better on that subject. So he did what his good
+angel suggested to him, kissed his wife, and said he was
+well aware what heavy calls he had made upon her
+patience, and soothed her the best way that occurred to
+him. "But you were very hard upon poor Leeson, my
+dear," said the Rector, with his puzzled look, when she
+had regained her composure. Perhaps she was disappointed
+that she had not been able to convey her real meaning
+to her husband's matter-of-fact bosom; at all events, Mrs
+Morgan recovered herself immediately, and flashed forth
+with all the lively freshness of a temper in its first youth.</p>
+
+<p>"He deserved a great deal more than I said to him,"
+said the Rector's wife. "It might be an advantage to take
+the furniture, as it was all new, though it is a perpetual
+vexation to me, and worries me out of my life; but there
+was no need to take the curate, that I can see. What right
+has he to come day after day at your dinner-hour? he
+knows we dine at six as well as we do ourselves; and I do
+believe he knows what we have for dinner," exclaimed the
+incensed mistress of the house; "for he always makes his
+appearance when we have anything he likes. I hope I
+know my duty, and can put up with what cannot be
+mended," continued Mrs Morgan, with a sigh, and a
+mental reference to the carpet in the drawing-room; "but
+there are some things really that would disturb the temper
+of an angel. I don't know anybody that could endure the
+sight of a man always coming unasked to dinner;&mdash;and he
+to speak of Mr Wentworth, who, if he were the greatest
+sinner in the world, is <i>always</i> a gentleman!" Mrs Morgan
+broke off with a sparkle in her eye, which showed that she
+had neither exhausted the subject, nor was ashamed of
+herself; and the Rector wisely retired from the controversy.
+He went to bed, and slept, good man, and
+dreamt that Sir Charles Grandison had come to be his
+curate in place of Mr Leeson; and when he woke, concluded
+quietly that Mrs Morgan had "experienced a little
+attack on the nerves," as he explained afterwards to Dr Marjoribanks.
+Her compunctions, her longings after the lost
+life they might have lived together, her wistful womanish
+sense of the impoverished existence, deprived of so many
+experiences, on which they had entered in the dry maturity
+of their middle age, remained for ever a mystery to her
+faithful husband. He was very fond of her, and had a high
+respect for her character; but if she had spoken Sanscrit, he
+could not have had less understanding of the meaning her
+words were intended to convey.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding, a vague idea that his wife was disposed
+to side with Mr Wentworth had penetrated the
+brain of the Rector, and was not without its results. He
+told her next morning, in his curt way, that he thought it
+would be best to wait a little before taking any steps in the
+Wharfside business. "If all I hear is true, we may have to
+proceed in a different way against the unhappy young
+man," said Mr Morgan, solemnly; and he took care to
+ascertain that Mr Leeson had an invitation somewhere else
+to dinner, which was doing the duty of a tender husband,
+as everybody will allow.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">I want</span> to know what all this means about young
+Wentworth," said Mr Wodehouse. "He's gone off, it
+appears, in a hurry, nobody knows where. Well, so they
+say. To his brother's, is it? <i>I</i> couldn't know that; but look
+here&mdash;that's not all, nor nearly all&mdash;they say he meets that
+little Rosa at Elsworthy's every night, and walks home
+with her, and all that sort of thing. I tell you I don't know&mdash;that's
+what people say. You ought to understand all the
+rights of it, you two girls. I confess I thought it was Lucy
+he was after, for my part&mdash;and a very bad match, too, and
+one I should never have given my consent to. And then
+there is another fine talk about some fellow he's got at his
+house. What's the matter, Molly?&mdash;she looks as if she was
+going to faint."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," said Miss Wodehouse, faintly; "and I don't
+believe a word about Rosa Elsworthy," she said, with
+sudden impetuosity, a minute after. "I am sure Mr Wentworth
+could vindicate himself whenever he likes. I daresay
+the one story is just as true as the other; but then,"
+said the gentle elder sister, turning with anxious looks
+towards Lucy, "he is proud, as is natural; and I shouldn't
+think he would enter into explanations if he thought
+people did not trust him without them."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all stuff," said Mr Wodehouse; "why should
+people trust him? I don't understand trusting a man in all
+sorts of equivocal circumstances, because he's got dark
+eyes, &amp;c., and a handsome face&mdash;which seems <i>your</i> code
+of morality; but I thought he was after Lucy&mdash;that was my
+belief&mdash;and I want to know if it's all off."</p>
+
+<p>"It never was on, papa," said Lucy, in her clearest
+voice. "I have been a great deal in the district, you know,
+and Mr Wentworth and I could not help meeting each
+other; that is all about it: but people must always have
+something to talk about in Carlingford. I hope you don't
+think I and Rosa Elsworthy could go together," she went
+on, turning round to him with a smile. "I don't think that
+would be much of a compliment;" and, saying this, Lucy
+went to get her work out of its usual corner, and sat down
+opposite to her father, with a wonderfully composed face.
+She was so composed, indeed, that any interested
+beholder might have been justified in thinking that the
+work suffered in consequence, for it seemed to take nearly
+all Lucy's strength and leisure to keep up that look.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Mr Wodehouse, "that's how it was? Then I
+wonder why that confounded puppy came here so constantly?
+I don't like that sort of behaviour. Don't you go
+into the district any more and meet him&mdash;that's all I've got
+to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Because of Rosa Elsworthy?" said Lucy, with a little
+smile, which did not flicker naturally, but was apt to get
+fixed at the corners of her pretty mouth. "That would
+never do, papa. Mr Wentworth's private concerns are
+nothing to us; but, you know, there is a great work going
+on in the district, and <i>that</i> can't be interfered with," said
+the young Sister of Mercy, looking up at him with a
+decision which Mr Wodehouse was aware he could make
+no stand against. And when she stopped speaking, Lucy
+did a little work, which was for the district too. All this
+time she was admitting to herself that she had been much
+startled by this news about Rosa Elsworthy,&mdash;much
+startled. To be sure, it was not like Mr Wentworth, and
+very likely it would impair his influence; and it was
+natural that any friend taking an interest in him and the
+district, should be taken a little aback by such news.
+Accordingly, Lucy sat a little more upright than usual, and
+was conscious that when she smiled, as she had just done,
+the smile did not glide off again in a natural way, but
+settled down into the lines of her face with a kind of
+spasmodic tenacity. She could do a great deal in the way
+of self-control, but she could not quite command these
+refractory muscles. Mr Wodehouse, who was not particularly
+penetrating, could not quite make her out; he saw
+there was something a little different from her ordinary
+look about his favourite child, but he had not insight
+enough to enable him to comprehend what it was.</p>
+
+<p>"And about his man who is staying at Mrs Hadwin's?"
+said the perplexed churchwarden; "does any one know
+who the fellow is? I don't understand how Wentworth has
+got into all this hot water in a moment. Here's the Rector
+in a state of fury,&mdash;and his aunts,&mdash;and now here's this
+little bit of scandal to crown all;&mdash;and who is this fellow in
+his house?"</p>
+
+<p>"It must be somebody he has taken in out of charity,"
+said Miss Wodehouse, with tears in her eyes; "I am sure it
+is somebody whom he has opened his doors to out of
+Christian charity and the goodness of his heart. I don't
+understand how you can all desert him at the first word.
+All the years he has been here, you know there never was
+a whisper against him; and is it in reason to think he would
+go so far wrong all in a moment?" cried the faithful
+advocate of the Perpetual Curate. Her words were
+addressed to Mr Wodehouse, but her eyes sought Lucy,
+who was sitting very upright doing her work, without any
+leisure to look round. Lucy had quite enough to occupy
+her within herself at that emergency, and the tearful
+appeal of her elder sister had no effect upon her. As for Mr
+Wodehouse, he was more and more puzzled how to interpret
+these tears in his daughter's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't make it out at all," said the perplexed father,
+getting up to leave the room. "I hope <i>you</i> weren't in love
+with him, Molly? you ought to have too much sense for
+that. A pretty mess he'll find when he comes home; but he
+must get out of it the best way he can, for <i>I</i> can't help him,
+at least. I don't mean to have him asked here any more&mdash;you
+understand, Lucy," he said, turning round at the
+door, with an emphatic creak of his boots. But Lucy had
+no mind to be seduced into any such confession of
+weakness.</p>
+
+<p>"You are always having everybody in Carlingford to
+dinner," said the young housekeeper, "and all the
+clergymen, even <i>that</i> Mr Leeson; and I don't see why you
+should except Mr Wentworth, papa; he has done nothing
+wicked, so far as we know. I daresay he won't want to
+bring Rosa Elsworthy with him; and why shouldn't he be
+asked here?" said Lucy, looking full in his face with her
+bright eyes. Mr Wodehouse was entirely discomfited, and
+did not know what to say. "I wonder if you know what you
+mean yourselves, you women," he muttered; and then,
+with a shrug of his shoulders, and a hasty "settle it as you
+please," the churchwarden's boots creaked hastily out of
+the room, and out of the house.</p>
+
+<p>After this a dead silence fell upon the drawing-room and
+its two occupants. They did not burst forth into mutual
+comment upon this last piece of Carlingford news, as they
+would have done under any other circumstances; on the
+contrary, they bent over their several occupations with
+quite an unusual devotion, not exchanging so much as a
+look. Lucy, over her needlework, was the steadiest of the
+two; she was still at the same point in her thoughts, owning
+to herself that she was startled, and indeed shocked, by
+what she had heard&mdash;that it was a great pity for Mr
+Wentworth; perhaps that it was not quite what might have
+been expected of him,&mdash;and then she checked herself, and
+went back again to her original acknowledgment. To tell
+the truth, though she assured herself that she had nothing
+to do with it, a strange sense of having just passed through
+an unexpected illness, lay underneath Lucy's composure.
+It was none of her business, to be sure, but she could not
+help feeling as if she had just had a fever, or some other
+sudden unlooked-for attack, and that nobody knew of it,
+and that she must get well as best she could, without any
+help from without.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite half an hour before Miss Wodehouse got up
+from the knitting which she had spoiled utterly, trying to
+take up the dropped stitches with her trembling fingers,
+and dropping others by every effort she made. The poor
+lady went wistfully about the room, wandering from
+corner to corner, as if in search of something; at last she
+took courage to speak, when she found herself behind her
+young sister. "Dear, I am sure it is not true," said Miss
+Wodehouse, suddenly, with a little sob; and then she came
+close to Lucy's chair, and put her hand timidly upon her
+sister's shoulder. "Think how many good things you two
+have done together, dear; and is it likely you are to be
+parted like this?" said the injudicious comforter. It felt
+rather like another attack of fever to Lucy, as unexpected
+as the last.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't speak so, please," said the poor girl, with a
+momentary shiver. "It is about Mr Wentworth you
+mean?" she went on, after a little, without turning her
+head. "I&mdash;am sorry, of course. I am afraid it will do him&mdash;harm,"
+and then she made a pause, and stumbled over her
+sewing with fingers which felt feeble and powerless to the
+very tips&mdash;all on account of this fever she had had. "But I
+don't know any reason why you and I should discuss it,
+Mary," she said, getting up in her turn, not quite sure
+whether she could stand at this early period of her convalescence,
+but resolved to try. "We are both Mr Wentworth's
+friends&mdash;and we need not say any harm of him. I
+have to get something out of the storeroom for to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Lucy," said the tender, trembling sister, who did
+not know how to be wise and silent, "<i>I</i> trust him, and <i>you</i>
+don't. Oh, my dear, it will break my heart. I know some
+part of it is not true. I know one thing in which he is quite&mdash;quite
+innocent. Oh, Lucy, my darling, if you distrust him
+it will be returning evil for good!" cried poor Miss Wodehouse,
+with tears. As for Lucy, she did not quite know what
+her sister said. She only felt that it was cruel to stop her, and
+look at her, and talk to her; and there woke up in her mind a
+fierce sudden spark of resistance to the intolerable.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you hold me? I may have been ill, but I can
+stand well enough by myself," cried Lucy, to her sister's
+utter bewilderment. "That is, I&mdash;I mean, I have other
+things to attend to," she cried, breaking into a few hot
+tears of mortification over this self-betrayal; and so went
+away in a strange glow and tremble of sudden passion,
+such as had never been seen before in that quiet house.
+She went direct to the storeroom, as she had said, and got
+out what was wanted; and only after that was done permitted
+herself to go up to her own room, and turn the key
+in her door. Though she was a Sister of Mercy, and much
+beloved in Prickett's Lane, she was still but one of Eve's
+poor petulant women-children, and had it in her to fly at
+an intruder on her suffering, like any other wounded
+creature. But she did not make any wild demonstration of
+her pain, even when shut up thus in her fortress. She sat
+down on the sofa, in a kind of dull heaviness, looking into
+vacancy. She was not positively thinking of Mr Wentworth,
+or of any one thing in particular. She was only
+conscious of a terrible difference somehow in everything
+about her&mdash;in the air which choked her breathing, and the
+light which blinded her eyes. When she came to herself a
+little, she said over and over, half-aloud, that everything
+was just the same as it had always been, and that to her at
+least nothing had happened; but that declaration, though
+made with vehemence, did not alter matters. The world
+altogether had sustained a change. The light that was in it
+was darkened, and the heart stilled. All at once, instead of
+a sweet spontaneous career, providing for its own wants
+day by day, life came to look like something which
+required such an amount of courage and patience and
+endurance as Lucy had not at hand to support her in the
+way; and her heart failed her at the moment when she
+found this out.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding, the people who dined at Mr Wodehouse's
+that night thought it a very agreeable little party,
+and more than once repeated the remark, so familiar to
+most persons in society in Carlingford&mdash;that Wodehouse's
+parties were the pleasantest going, though he himself was
+humdrum enough. Two or three of the people present had
+heard the gossip about Mr Wentworth, and discussed it, as
+was natural, taking different views of the subject; and
+poor Miss Wodehouse took up his defence so warmly, and
+with such tearful vehemence, that there were smiles to be
+seen on several faces. As for Lucy, she made only a very
+simple remark on the subject. She said: "Mr Wentworth is
+a great friend of ours, and I think I would rather not hear
+any gossip about him." Of course there were one or two
+keen observers who put a subtle meaning to this, and
+knew what was signified by her looks and her ways all the
+evening; but, most likely, they were altogether mistaken
+in their suppositions, for nobody could possibly watch her
+so closely as did Miss Wodehouse, who know no more than
+the man in the moon, at the close of the evening, whether
+her young sister was very wretched or totally indifferent.
+The truth was certainly not to be discovered, for that night
+at least, in Lucy's looks.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> next afternoon there were signs of a considerable
+commotion in Mr Elsworthy's shop. Rosa had disappeared
+altogether, and Mrs Elsworthy, with an ominous redness
+on her cheeks, had taken the place generally held by that
+more agreeable little figure. All the symptoms of having
+been engaged in an affray from which she had retired not
+altogether victorious were in Mrs Elsworthy's face, and
+the errand-boys vanished from her neighbourhood with
+inconceivable rapidity, and found out little parcels to
+deliver which would have eluded their most anxious
+search in other circumstances. Mr Elsworthy himself
+occupied his usual place in the foreground, without the
+usual marks of universal content and satisfaction with all
+his surroundings which generally distinguished him. An
+indescribable appearance of having been recently
+snubbed hung about the excellent man, and his glances
+towards the back-shop, and the glances directed from the
+back-shop to him, told with sufficient significance the
+quarter from which his humiliation had proceeded. It had
+done him good, as such painful discipline generally does;
+for he was clearing out some drawers in which sundry
+quires of paper had broken loose and run into confusion,
+with the air of a man who ought to have done it weeks ago.
+As for the partner of his bosom, she was standing in the
+obscure distance behind the counter knitting a blue
+stocking, which was evidently intended for no foot but his.
+There was a chair close by, but Mrs Elsworthy disdained
+to sit down. She stood with her knitting in conscious
+power, now and then suffering a confession of her faith to
+escape her. "There's nothing as don't go contrary in this
+world," said the discontented wife, "when a man's a fool."
+It was hard upon Mr Elsworthy that his ears were sharp,
+and that he knew exactly what this agreeable murmur
+was. But he was wise in his generation, and made no
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>Things were in this condition when, of all persons in
+Carlingford, it occurred to Miss Leonora Wentworth to
+enter Mr Elsworthy's shop. Not that she was alone, or
+bent upon any errand of inquiry; for Miss Leonora seldom
+moved about unattended by her sisters, whom she felt it
+her duty to take out for exercise; and wonderfully enough,
+she had not found out yet what was the source of Miss
+Dora's mysteries and depression, having been still
+occupied meantime by her own "great work" in her
+London district, and the affair of the gin-palace, which
+was still undecided. She had been talking a great deal
+about this gin-palace for the last twenty-four hours; and to
+hear Miss Leonora, you might have supposed that all the
+powers of heaven must fail and be discomfited before this
+potent instrument of evil, and that, after all, Bibles and
+missionaries were much less effective than the stoppage of
+the licence, upon which all her agents were bent. At all
+events, such an object of interest had swept out from her
+thoughts the vague figure of her nephew Frank, and aunt
+Dora's mysterious anxieties on his account. When the
+three ladies approached Elsworthy's, the first thing that
+attracted their attention was Rosa, the little Rosa who had
+been banished from the shop, and whom Mrs Elsworthy
+believed to be expiating her sins in a back room, in tears
+and darkness; instead of which the little girl was looking
+out of her favourite window, and amusing herself much
+with all that was going on in Grange Lane. Though she
+was fluttered by the scolding she had received, Rosa only
+looked prettier than usual with her flushed cheeks; and so
+many things had been put into her nonsensical little head
+during the last two days, especially by her aunt's denunciations,
+that her sense of self-importance was very much
+heightened in consequence. She looked at the Miss
+Wentworths with a throb of mingled pride and alarm,
+wondering whether perhaps she might know more of them
+some day, if Mr Wentworth was really fond of her, as
+people said&mdash;which thought gave Rosa a wonderful sensation
+of awe and delighted vanity. Meanwhile the three
+Miss Wentworths looked at her with very diverse feelings.
+"I must speak to these people about that little girl, if
+nobody else has sense enough to do it," said Miss Leonora;
+"she is evidently going wrong as fast as she can, the little
+fool;" and the iron-grey sister went into Mr Elsworthy's in
+this perfectly composed and ordinary frame of mind, with
+her head full of the application which was to be made to
+the licensing magistrates today, in the parish of St
+Michael, and totally unaware that anybody belonging to
+herself could ever be connected with the incautious little
+coquette at the window. Miss Dora's feelings were very
+different. It was much against her will that she was going
+at all into this obnoxious shop, and the eyes which she
+hastily uplifted to the window and withdrew again with
+lively disgust and dislike, were both angry and tearful;
+"Little forward shameless thing," Miss Dora said to herself,
+with a little toss of her head. As for Miss Wentworth, it
+was not her custom to say anything&mdash;but she, too, looked
+up, and saw the pretty face at the window, and secretly
+concluded that it might all be quite true, and that she had
+known a young man make a fool of himself before now for
+such another. So they all went in, unwitting that they came
+at the end of a domestic hurricane, and that the waters were
+still in a state of disturbance. Miss Wentworth took the only
+chair, as was natural, and sat down sweetly to wait for
+Leonora, and Miss Dora lingered behind while her sister
+made her purchases. Miss Leonora wanted some books&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And I came here," she said, with engaging candour,
+"because I see no other shop in this part of the town
+except Masters's, which, of course, I would not enter. It is
+easy enough to do without books, but I can't afford to
+compromise my principles, Mr Elsworthy;" to which Mr
+Elsworthy had replied, "No, ma'am, of course not&mdash;such a
+thing aint to be expected;" with one eye upon his customer,
+and one upon his belligerent wife.</p>
+
+<p>"And, by the by, if you will permit me to speak about
+what does not concern me," said Miss Leonora cheerfully,
+"I think you should look after that little girl of yours more
+carefully;&mdash;recollect I don't mean any offence; but she's
+very pretty, you know, and very young, and vain, as a
+matter of course. I saw her the other evening going down
+Grange Lane, a great deal too late for such a creature to
+be out; and though I don't doubt, you are very particular
+where she goes&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>It was at this conjuncture that Mrs Elsworthy, who
+could not keep silence any longer, broke in ardently, with
+all her knitting-needles in front of her, disposed like a kind
+of porcupine mail&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I'm well known in Carlingford&mdash;better known than
+most," said Mrs Elsworthy, with a sob; "such a thing as
+not being particular was never named to me. I strive and I
+toil from morning to night, as all things should be respectable
+and kep' in good order; but what's the good? Here's
+my heart broken, that's all; and Elsworthy standing gaping
+like a gaby as he is. There aint nothing as don't go contrairy,
+when folks is tied to a set of fools!" cried the indignant
+matron. "As for pretty, I don't know nothing about it; I've
+got too much to do minding my own business. Them as has
+nothing to think of but stand in the shop and twiddle their
+thumbs, ought to look to that; but, ma'am, if you'll believe
+me, it aint no fault of mine. It aint my will to throw her in
+any young gentleman's way; not to say a clergyman as
+we're bound to respect. Whatever you does, ladies,&mdash;and I
+shouldn't wonder at your taking away your custom, nor
+nothing else as was a punishment&mdash;don't blame me!"</p>
+
+<p>"But you forget, Mrs Elsworthy, that we have nothing
+to do with it,&mdash;nothing at all; my nephew knows very well
+what he is about," said Miss Dora, in injudicious haste.
+"Mr Wentworth is not at all likely to forget himself,"
+continued that poor lady, getting confused as her sister
+turned round and stared at her. "Of course it was all out of
+kindness;&mdash;I&mdash;I know Frank did not mean anything,"
+cried the unfortunate aunt. Leonora's look, as she turned
+round and fixed her eyes upon her, took away what little
+breath Miss Dora had.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wentworth?" asked Miss Leonora; "I should be glad
+to know, if anybody would inform me, what Mr Wentworth
+can possibly have to do with it? I daresay you misunderstood
+me; I said you were to look after that little girl&mdash;your niece,
+or whatever she is; I did not say anything about Mr
+Wentworth," said the strong-minded sister, looking round
+upon them all. For the moment she forgot all about the
+licence, and turned upon Mr Elsworthy with an emphasis
+which almost drive that troubled citizen to his knees.</p>
+
+<p>"That was how I understood it," said the clerk of St
+Roque's, humbly; "there wasn't nothing said about Mr
+Wentworth&mdash;nor there couldn't be as I know of, but what
+was in his favour, for there aint many young men like our
+clergyman left in the Church. It aint because I'm speaking
+to respected ladies as is his relations; folks may talk," said
+Mr Elsworthy, with a slight faltering, "but I never see his
+equal; and as for an act of kindness to an orphan child&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The orphan child is neither here <ins title="original reads not">nor</ins> there," said his
+angry wife, who had taken up her post by his side; "a
+dozen fathers and mothers couldn't have done better by
+her than we've done; and to go and lay out her snares for
+them as is so far above her, if you'll believe me, ma'am,
+it's nigh broken my heart. She's neither flesh nor blood o'
+mine," cried the aggrieved woman; "there would have
+been a different tale to tell if she had belonged to me. I'd
+have&mdash;murdered her, ma'am, though it aint proper to say
+so, afore we'd have gone and raised a talk like this; it aint
+my blame, if it was my dying word," cried Mrs Elsworthy,
+relapsing into angry tears: "I'm one as has always shown
+her a good example, and never gone flirting about, nor
+cast my eyes to one side or another for the best man as
+ever walked; and to think as a respectable family should
+be brought to shame through her doings, and a gentleman
+as is a clergyman got himself talked about&mdash;it's gone nigh
+to kill me, that's what it's done," sobbed the virtuous
+matron; "and I don't see as nobody cares."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Leonora had been woke up suddenly out of her
+abstract occupations; she penetrated to the heart of the
+matter while all this talk was going on. She transfixed her
+sister Dora, who seemed much inclined to cry like Mrs
+Elsworthy, with a look which overwhelmed that trembling
+woman; then she addressed herself with great suavity to
+the matter in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it is this poor little foolish child who has been
+getting herself talked about?" said Miss Leonora. "It's a
+pity, to be sure, but I daresay it's not so bad as you think.
+As for her laying snares for people above her, I wouldn't
+be afraid of that. Poor little thing! It's not so easy as you
+think laying snares. Perhaps it's the new minister at Salem
+Chapel who has been paying attention to her? I would not
+take any notice of it if I were you. Don't let her loll about
+at the window as she's doing, and don't let her go out so
+late, and give her plenty of work to do. My maid wants
+some one to help in her needlework. Perhaps this child
+would do, Cecilia?" said Miss Leonora. "As for her snares,
+poor thing, I don't feel much afraid of them. I daresay if
+Mr Wentworth had Sunday classes for the young people as
+I wished him to have, and took pains to give them proper
+instruction, such things would not happen. If you send her
+to my maid, I flatter myself she will soon come to her
+senses. Good morning; and you will please to send me the
+books&mdash;there are some others I want you to get for me
+next week," said Mr Elsworthy's patroness. "I will follow
+you, Dora, please," and Miss Leonora swept her sisters
+out before her, and went upon her way with indescribable
+grandeur. Even little Rosa felt the change, where she sat
+at the window looking out. The little vain creature no
+longer felt it possible to believe, as she looked after them,
+that she ever could be anything to the Miss Wentworths
+except a little girl in a shop. It shook her confidence in
+what people said; and it was as well for her that she
+withdrew from the window at that conjuncture, and so had
+an opportunity of hearing her aunt come up-stairs, and of
+darting back again to the penitential darkness of her own
+chamber at the back of the house&mdash;which saved Rosa
+some angry words at least.</p>
+
+<p>As for Miss Leonora Wentworth, she said nothing to her
+sisters on this new subject. She saw them safely home to
+their own apartments, and went out again without explaining
+her movements. When she was gone, Miss
+Wentworth listened to Miss Dora's doubts and tears with
+her usual patience, but did not go into the matter much.
+"It doesn't matter whether it is your fault or not," said
+aunt Cecilia, with a larger amount of words than usual,
+and a sharpness very uncommon with her; "but I daresay
+Leonora will set it all right." After all, the confidence
+which the elder sister had in Leonora was justified. She
+did not entirely agree with her about the "great work,"
+nor was disposed to connect the non-licensing of the gin-palace
+in any way with the faithfulness of God: but she
+comprehended in her gentle heart that there were other
+matters of which Leonora was capable. As for Miss Dora,
+she went to the summer-house at last, and, seating herself
+at the window, cried under her breath till she had a very
+bad headache, and was of no use for any purpose under
+heaven. She thought nothing less than that Leonora had
+gone abroad to denounce poor Frank, and tell everybody
+how wicked he was; and she was so sure her poor dear boy
+did not mean anything! She sat with her head growing
+heavier and heavier, watching for her sister's return, and
+calculating within herself how many places Leonora must
+have called at, and how utterly gone by this time must be
+the character of the Perpetual Curate. At last, in utter
+despair, with her thin curls all limp about her poor cheeks,
+Miss Dora had to go to bed and have the room darkened,
+and swallow cups of green tea and other nauseous compounds,
+at the will and pleasure of her maid, who was
+learned in headache. The poor lady sobbed herself to
+sleep after a time, and saw, in a hideous dream, her sister
+Leonora marching from house to house of poor Frank's
+friends, and closing door after door with all sorts of clang
+and dash upon the returning prodigal. "But oh, it was not
+my fault&mdash;oh, my dear, she found it out herself. You do
+not think <i>I</i> was to blame?" sobbed poor aunt Dora in her
+troubled slumber; and her headache did not get any better
+notwithstanding the green tea.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Dora's visions were partly realised, for it was quite
+true that her iron-grey sister was making a round of calls
+upon Frank's friends. Miss Leonora Wentworth went out
+in great state that day. She had her handsomest dress on,
+and the bonnet which her maid had calculated upon as her
+own property, because it was much too nice for Miss
+Leonora. In this impossible attire she went to see Mrs
+Hadwin, and was very gracious to that unsuspecting woman,
+and learned a few things of which she had not the least
+conception previously. Then she went to the Miss
+Wodehouses, and made the elder sister there mighty
+uncomfortable by her keen looks and questions; and what
+Miss Leonora did after that was not distinctly known to
+any one. She got into Prickett's Lane somehow, and
+stumbled upon No. 10, much to the surprise of the inhabitants;
+and before she returned home she had given Mrs
+Morgan her advice about the Virginian creeper which was
+intended to conceal the continual passage of the railway
+trains. "But I would not trust to trellis-work. I would build
+up the wall a few feet higher, and then you will have some
+satisfaction in your work," said Miss Leonora, and left the
+Rector's wife to consider the matter in rather an agreeable
+state of mind, for that had been Mrs Morgan's opinion all
+along. After this last visit the active aunt returned home,
+going leisurely along George Street, and down Grange
+Lane, with meditative steps. Miss Leonora, of course,
+would not for kingdoms have confessed that any new light
+had come into her mind, or that some very ordinary
+people in Carlingford, no one of whom she could have
+confidently affirmed to be a converted person, had left a
+certain vivid and novel impression upon her thoughts. She
+went along much more slowly than usual in this new mood
+of reflectiveness. She was not thinking of the licensing
+magistrates of St Michael's nor the beautiful faith of the
+colporteur. Other ideas filled her mind at the moment.
+Whether perhaps, after all, a man who did his duty by rich
+and poor, and could encounter all things for love and
+duty's sake, was not about the best man for a parish priest,
+even though he did have choristers in white surplices, and
+lilies on the Easter altar? Whether it might not be a
+comfort to know that in the pretty parsonage at Skelmersdale
+there was some one ready to start at a moment's
+notice for the help of a friend or the succour of a soul&mdash;brother
+to Charley who won the Cross for valour, and not
+unworthy of the race? Some strange moisture came into
+the corners of Miss Leonora's eyes. There was Gerald too,
+whom the Perpetual Curate had declared to be the best
+man he ever knew; and the Evangelical woman, with all
+her prejudices, could not in her heart deny it. Various
+other thoughts of a similar description, but too shadowy to
+bear expression, came in spite of herself through Miss
+Leonora's mind. "We know that God heareth not sinners;
+but if any man be a worshipper of God and doeth His will,
+him He heareth;" and it occurred to her vaguely, for the
+first time, that she was harder to please than her Master.
+Not that such an idea could get possession of a mind so
+well fortified, at the first assault; but it was strange how
+often the thought came back to her that the man who had
+thrilled through all those people about Prickett's Lane a
+kind of vague sense that they were Christians, and not
+hopeless wretches, forgotten of God; and who had taken
+in the mysterious lodger at Mrs Hadwin's, bearing the
+penalty of suspicion without complaint, would be true at
+his post wherever he might be, and was a priest of God's
+appointing. Such were the strangely novel ideas which
+went flashing through Miss Leonora's mind as she went
+home to dinner, ejecting summarily the new gin-palaces
+and her favourite colporteur. If anybody had stated them
+in words, she would have indignantly scouted such latitudinarian
+stuff; but they kept flickering in the strangest
+fluctuations, coming and going, bringing in native
+Wentworth prejudices and natural affections to overcome
+all other prepossessions, in the most inveterate, unexplainable
+way. For it will be apparent that Miss Leonora,
+being a woman of sense, utterly scorned the Rosa
+Elsworthy hypothesis, and comprehended as nearly how it
+happened as it was possible for any one unaware of the
+facts to do.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the good and bad angels who fought over the
+Curate's fate while he was away. He might have been
+anxious if he had known anything about them, or had
+been capable of imagining any such clouds as those which
+overshadowed his good name in the lively imagination of
+Carlingford. But Rosa Elsworthy never could have
+occurred to the unconscious young man as a special danger,
+any more than the relenting in the heart of his aunt
+Leonora could have dawned upon him as a possible
+happiness. To tell the truth, he had left home, so far as he
+himself was concerned, in rather a happy state of mind
+than otherwise, with healthful impulses of opposition to
+the Rector, and confidence in the sympathy of Lucy. To
+hear that Lucy had given him up, and that Miss Leonora
+and Mrs Morgan were the only people who believed in
+him, would have gone pretty far at this moment to make
+an end of the Perpetual Curate. But fortunately he knew
+nothing about it; and while Lucy held her head high with
+pain, and walked over the burning coals a conscious
+martyr, and Miss Dora sobbed herself asleep in her
+darkened room, all on his account, there was plenty of
+trouble, perplexity, and distress in Wentworth Rectory to
+occupy to the full all the thoughts and powers of the
+Curate of St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">It</span> was mid-day, and more than twelve hours after he had
+left Carlingford, before Mr Wentworth reached the
+Rectory. He had snatched a few hours' sleep in London,
+where he was obliged to pause because of the trains, which
+did not correspond; and accordingly, though he was very
+anxious about Gerald, it was with a mien and gait very
+much like his usual appearance that he jumped out of the
+railway carriage at the little station which was on his
+father's property, and where everybody knew the
+Squire's son. Left in entire uncertainty as he was in
+respect to the trouble which <ins title="original reads has">had</ins> overtaken his brother, it
+was a little comfort to the Curate to find that everybody
+looked surprised to see him, and that nobody seemed to
+know of any cause demanding his presence. All was well
+at the Hall, so far as the station-master knew; and as for
+the Rector, he had no special place in the local report
+which the handiest porter supplied "Mr Frank"&mdash;a blessed
+neglect, which was very consolatory to the heart of the
+anxious brother, to whom it became evident that nothing
+had happened, and who began to hope that Gerald's wife,
+who never was very wise, had been seized with some
+merely fantastic terror. With this hope he walked on
+briskly upon the familiar road to his brother's house,
+recovering his courage, and falling back upon his own
+thoughts, and at last taking pleasure in the idea of telling
+all his troubles to Gerald, and getting strength and enlightenment
+from his advice. He had come quite into this view
+of the subject when he arrived at the Rectory, and saw the
+pretty old-fashioned house, with its high ivied garden-walls,
+and the famous cedar on the lawn, standing all
+secure and sweet in the early sunshine, like something too
+steadfast to be moved, as if sorrow or conflict could never
+enter there. Unconsciously to himself, the perfect tranquillity
+of everything altered the entire scope of Frank
+Wentworth's thoughts. He was no longer in anxiety about
+his brother. He was going to ask Gerald's advice upon his
+own troubles, and lay the difficulties and dangers of his
+position before the clear and lucid eyes of the best man he
+ever knew.</p>
+
+<p>It shook him a little out of his position, however, to find
+himself admitted with a kind of scared expectation by Mrs
+Gerald Wentworth's maid, who made no exclamation of
+wonder at the sight of him, but opened the door in a
+troubled, stealthy way, strangely unlike the usual customs
+of the place. "Is my brother at home?" said the Curate,
+going in with a step that rang on the hall, and a voice that
+sounded into the house. He would have proceeded
+straight, as usual, to Gerald's study after this question,
+which was one of form merely, but for the disturbed looks
+of the woman, who put up her hand imploringly. "Oh
+hush! Mr Frank; hush! My mistress wants to see you first.
+She said I was to show you into her sitting-room," said the
+maid, half in a whisper, and led him hastily down a side-passage
+to a little out-of-the-way room, which he knew
+was where Louisa was wont to retire when she had her
+headaches, as was well known to all the house of Wentworth.
+The Curate went in with some impatience and
+some alarm to this retired apartment. His eyes, dazzled by
+the sunshine, could not penetrate at first the shadowy
+greenness of the room, which, what with the trees without
+and the Venetian blind within, was lost in a kind of
+twilight, grateful enough after a while, but bewildering at
+the first moment. Out of this darkness somebody rose as
+he entered, and walked into his arms with trembling
+eagerness. "Oh Frank, I am so thankful you are come!
+now perhaps something may be done; for <i>you</i> always
+understood," said his little sister-in-law, reaching up to
+kiss him. She was a tiny little woman, with soft eyes and a
+tender little blooming face, which he had never before
+seen obscured by any cloud, or indeed moved by any
+particular sentiment. Now the firmament was all overcast,
+and Louisa, it was evident, had been sitting in the shade of
+her drawn blinds, having a quiet cry, and going into all her
+grievances. To see such a serene creature all clouded over
+and full of tears, gave the Curate a distinct shock of alarm
+and anxiety. He led her back to her sofa, seeing clearer
+and clearer, as he watched her face, the plaintive lines of
+complaint, the heavy burden of trouble which she was
+about to cast on his shoulders. He grew more and more
+afraid as he looked at her. "Is Gerald ill?" he said, with a
+thrill of terror; but even this could scarcely account for the
+woeful look of all the accessories to the picture.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, I am so glad you are come!" said Louisa
+through her tears. "I felt sure you would come when you
+got my letter. Your father thinks I make a fuss about
+nothing, and Cuthbert and Guy do nothing but laugh at
+me, as if they could possibly know; but you always understand
+me, Frank. I knew it was just as good as sending for
+a brother of my own; indeed better," said Mrs Wentworth,
+wiping her eyes; "for though Gerald is using me so badly,
+I would not expose him out of his own family, or have
+people making remarks&mdash;oh, not for the world!"</p>
+
+<p>"Expose him!" said the Curate, with unutterable
+astonishment. "You don't mean to say you have any
+complaint to make about Gerald?" The idea was so preposterous
+that Frank Wentworth laughed; but it was not a
+laugh pleasant to hear.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, if you but knew all," said Louisa; "what I
+have had to put up with for months&mdash;all my best feelings
+outraged, and so many things to endure that were dreadful
+to think of. And I that was always brought up so
+differently; but now," cried the poor little woman,
+bursting into renewed tears, "it's come to such a pass that
+it can't be concealed any longer. I think it will break my
+heart; people will be sure to say I have been to blame; and
+how I am ever to hold up my head in society, and what is
+to be my name, and whether I am to be considered a
+widow&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A widow!" cried the Perpetual Curate, in utter consternation.</p>
+
+<p>"Or worse," sobbed Gerald's poor little wife: "it feels
+like being divorced&mdash;as if one had done something wrong;
+and I am sure I never did anything to deserve it; but when
+your husband is a Romish priest," cried the afflicted
+woman, pressing her handkerchief to her eyes, "I would
+just ask anybody what are you? You can't be his wife,
+because he is not allowed to have any wife; and you can't
+go back to your maiden name, because of the children;
+and how can you have any place in society? Oh, Frank, I
+think I shall go distracted," said poor Louisa; "it will feel
+as if one had done something wicked, and been put out of
+the pale. How can I be called Mrs Wentworth any more
+when my husband has left me? and even if he is a priest,
+and can't have any wife, still he will be alive, and I shall
+not have the satisfaction of being a widow even. I am sure
+I don't know what I say," she concluded, with a fresh
+outburst; "for to be a widow would be a poor satisfaction,
+and I don't know how I could ever, ever live without
+Gerald; but to feel as if you were an improper person, and
+all the children's prospects in life!&mdash;Oh, Frank!" cried the
+weeping Louisa, burying her face in her handkerchief, "I
+think I shall go distracted, and my heart will break."</p>
+
+<p>To all this strange and unexpected revelation the
+startled Curate listened like a man in a dream. Possibly
+his sister-in-law's representation of this danger, as seen
+entirely from her own point of view, had a more alarming
+effect upon him that any other statement of the case. He
+could have gone into Gerald's difficulties with so much
+sympathy and fellow-feeling that the shock would have
+been trifling in comparison; and between Rome and the
+highest level of Anglicanism there was no such difference
+as to frighten the accustomed mind of the Curate of St
+Roque's. But, seen from Louisa's side, matters appeared
+very different: here the foundations of the earth were
+shaking, and life itself going to pieces; even the absurdity
+of her distress made the whole business more real; and the
+poor little woman, whose trouble was that she herself
+would neither be a wife nor a widow, had enough of truth
+on her side to unfold a miserable picture to the eyes of the
+anxious spectator. He did not know what answer to make
+her; and perhaps it was a greater consolation to poor
+Louisa to be permitted to run on&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And you know it never needed to have come to this if
+Gerald had been like other people," she said, drying her
+tears, and with a tone of remonstrance. "Of course it is a
+family living, and it is not likely his own father would have
+made any disturbance; and there is no other family in the
+parish but the Skipwiths, and they are great friends, and
+never would have said a word. He might have preached in
+six surplices if he had liked," cried poor Louisa&mdash;"who
+would have minded? And as for confession, and all that, I
+don't believe there is anybody in the world who had done
+any wrong that could have helped confessing to Gerald; he
+is so good&mdash;oh, Frank, you know he is so good!" said the
+exasperated little wife, overcome with fondness and
+admiration and impatience, "and there is nobody in the
+parish that I ever heard of that does not worship him; but
+when I tell him so, he never pays the least attention. And
+then Edward Plumstead and he go on talking about subscription,
+and signing articles, and nonsense, till they
+make my head swim. Nobody, I am sure, wants Gerald to
+subscribe or sign articles. I am sure I would subscribe any
+amount," cried the poor little woman, once more falling
+into tears&mdash;"a thousand pounds if I had it, Frank&mdash;only to
+make him hear reason; for why should he leave Wentworth,
+where he can do what he likes, and nobody will
+interfere with him? The Bishop is an old friend of my
+father's, and I am sure he never would say anything; and
+as for candles and crosses and&mdash;anything he pleases,
+Frank&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here poor Louisa paused, and put her hand on his arm,
+and looked up wistfully into his face. She wanted to
+convince herself that she was right, and that the faltering
+dread she had behind all this, of something more mysterious
+than candles or crosses&mdash;something which she did
+not attempt to understand&mdash;was no real spectre after all.
+"Oh, Frank, I am sure I never would oppose him, nor
+your father, nor anybody; and why should he go and take
+some dreadful step, and upset everything?" said Mrs
+Wentworth. "Oh, Frank! we will not even have enough to
+live upon; and as for me, if Gerald leaves me, how shall I
+ever hold up my head again, or how will anybody know
+how to behave to me? I can't call myself Miss Leighton
+again, after being married so long; and if I am not his wife,
+what shall I be?" Her crying became hysterical as she
+came back to this point; and Mr Wentworth sat by her
+trying to soothe her, as wretched as herself.</p>
+
+<p>"But I must see Gerald, Louisa," said the Curate; "he
+has never written to me about this. Perhaps things have
+not gone so far as you think; but as for the crosses and the
+candles, you know, and not being interfered with&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I would promise to do anything he likes," cried the
+weeping woman. "I never would worry him any more
+about anything. After aunt Leonora was here, perhaps I
+said things I should not have said; but, oh Frank, whatever
+he likes to do I am sure I will give in to it. I don't
+<i>really</i> mind seeing him preach in his surplice, only you
+know poor papa was so <i>very</i> Low-Church; and as for the
+candles, what are they to pleasing one's husband? Oh,
+Frank, if you would only tell him&mdash;I can't argue about
+things like a man&mdash;tell him nobody will ever interfere, and
+he shall do whatever he pleases. I trust to you to say
+<i>everything</i>," said the poor wife. "You can reason with him
+and explain things. Nobody understands Gerald like you.
+You will not forsake me in my trouble, Frank? I thought
+immediately of you. I knew you could help us, if anybody
+could. You will tell him all I have said," she continued,
+rising as Mr Wentworth rose, and going after him to the
+door, to impress once more upon him the necessities of the
+case. "Oh, Frank, remember how much depends upon it!&mdash;everything
+in the world for me, and all the children's
+prospects in life; and he would be miserable himself if he
+were to leave us. You know he would?" said Louisa,
+looking anxiously into his face, and putting her hand on
+his arm. "Oh, Frank, you don't think Gerald could be
+happy without the children&mdash;and me?"</p>
+
+<p>The terrible thought silenced her. She stopped crying,
+and a kind of tearless horror and dread came over her
+face. She was not very wise, but her heart was tender and
+full of love in its way. What if perhaps this life, which had
+gone so smoothly over her unthinking head without any
+complications, should turn out to be a lie, and her happiness
+a mere delusion? She could not have put her thoughts
+into words, but the doubt suddenly came over her, putting
+a stop to all her lamentations. If perhaps Gerald <i>could</i> be
+happy without the children and herself, what dreadful
+fiction had all her joy been built upon! Such an inarticulate
+terror seemed to stop the very beating of her heart. It was
+not a great calamity only but an overthrowal of all confidence
+in life; and she shivered before it like a dumb
+creature piteously beholding an approaching agony which
+it could not comprehend. The utterance of her distress was
+arrested upon her lips,&mdash;she looked up to her brother with
+an entreating look, so suddenly intensified and grown
+desperate that he was startled by it. It alarmed him so
+much that he turned again to lead her back to her sofa,
+wondering what momentary passion it could be which had
+woke such a sudden world of confused meaning in Louisa's
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You may be sure he could not," said the Curate,
+warmly. "Not happy, certainly; but to men like Gerald
+there are things in the world dearer than happiness," he
+said, after a little pause, with a sigh, wondering to himself
+whether, if Lucy Wodehouse were his, his dearest duty
+could make him consent to part with her. "If he thinks of
+such a step, he must think of it as of martyrdom&mdash;is that a
+comfort to you?" he continued, bending, in his pity and
+wonder, over the trembling wife, who burst forth into
+fresh tears as he spoke, and forgot her momentary horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, go and speak to him, and tell him how
+miserable I am, and what a dreadful thing it would be; tell
+him everything, Frank. Oh, don't leave him till you have
+persuaded him. Go, go; never mind me," cried Mrs
+Wentworth; and then she went to the door after him once
+more&mdash;"Don't say I sent for you. He&mdash;he might not be
+pleased," she said, in her faltering, eager voice; "and oh,
+Frank, consider how much hangs upon what you say."
+When he left her, Louisa stood at the door watching him
+as he went along the passage towards her husband's room.
+It was a forlorn-hope; but still the unreasoning, uncomprehending
+heart took a little comfort from it. She
+watched his figure disappearing along the narrow passage
+with a thrill of mingled anxiety and hope; arguing with
+Gerald, though it was so ineffectual when she tried it,
+might still be of some avail in stronger hands. His brother
+understood him, and could talk to him better than anybody
+else could; and though she had never convinced
+anybody of anything all her life, Mrs Wentworth had an
+inalienable confidence in the effect of "being talked to."
+In the momentary stimulus she went back to her darkened
+room and drew up the blind, and went to work in a
+tremulous way; but as the slow time went on, and Frank
+did not return, poor Louisa's courage failed her; her
+fingers refused their office, and she began to imagine all
+sorts of things that might be going on in Gerald's study.
+Perhaps the argument might be going the wrong way;
+perhaps Gerald might be angry at his brother's interference;
+perhaps they might come to words&mdash;they who
+had been such good friends&mdash;and it would be her fault.
+She jumped up with her heart beating loud when she
+heard a door opened somewhere; but when nobody came,
+grew sick and faint, and hid her face, in the impatience of
+her misery. Then the feeling grew upon her that those
+precious moments were decisive, and that she must make
+one last appeal, or her heart would burst. She tried to
+resist the impulse in a feeble way, but it was not her
+custom to resist impulses, and it got the better of her; and
+this was why poor Louisa rushed into the library, just as
+Frank thought he had made a little advance in his
+pleading, and scattered his eloquence to the winds with a
+set of dreadful arguments which were all her own.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> Curate of St Roque's found his brother in his library,
+looking very much as he always looked at first glance. But
+Gerald was not reading nor writing nor doing anything. He
+was seated in his usual chair, by his usual table, with all
+the ordinary things around. Some manuscript&mdash;lying
+loosely about, and looking as if he had thrown down his
+pen in disgust, and pushed it away from him in the middle
+of a sentence&mdash;was on the table, and an open book in his
+other hand; but neither the book nor the manuscript
+occupied him; he was sitting leaning his head in his hands,
+gazing blankly out through the window, as it appeared, at
+the cedar, which flung its serene shadow over the lawn
+outside. He jumped up at the sound of his brother's voice,
+but seemed to recall himself with a little difficulty even for
+that, and did not look much surprised to see him. In short,
+Frank read in Gerald's eyes that he would not at that
+moment have been surprised to see any one, and that, in
+his own consciousness, the emergency was great enough to
+justify any unlooked-for appearance, though it might be
+from heaven or from the grave.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you have come," he said, after they had
+greeted each other, his mouth relaxing ever so slightly into
+the ghost of his old smile; "you and I always understood
+each other, and it appears I want interpretation now. And
+one interpretation supposes many," he said with a gleam,
+half of pathos half of amusement, lighting up his face for a
+moment; "there is no such thing as accepting a simple
+version even of one man's thoughts. You have come at a
+very fit time, Frank&mdash;that is, for me."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you think so," said the other brother; and
+then there was a pause, neither liking to enter upon the
+grand subject which stood between them.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen Louisa?" said Gerald. He spoke like a
+man who was ill, in a preoccupied interrupted way. Like a
+sick man, he was occupied with himself, with the train of
+thought which was always going on in his mind whatever
+he might be doing, whether he was working or resting,
+alone or in company. For months back he had carried it
+with him everywhere. The cedar-tree outside, upon which
+his thoughtful eyes fell as he looked straight before him
+out of the library window, was all garlanded with the
+reasonings and questionings of this painful spring. To
+Frank's eyes, Gerald's attention was fixed upon the fluttering
+of a certain twig at the extremity of one of those
+broad solemn immovable branches. Gerald, however, saw
+not the twig, but one of his hardest difficulties which was
+twined and twined in the most inextricable way round that
+little sombre cluster of spikes; and so kept looking out, not
+at the cedar, but at the whole confused yet distinct array
+of his own troubled thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"If you have seen Louisa, she has been talking to you,
+no doubt," he said, after another little pause, with again
+the glimmer of a smile. "We have fallen upon troubles,
+and we don't understand each other, Frank. That's all
+very natural; she does not see things from my point of view:
+I could not expect she should. If I could see from hers, it
+might be easier for us all; but that is still less to be
+expected; and it is hard upon her, Frank&mdash;very hard,"
+said Gerald, turning round in his old ingenuous way, with
+that faculty for seeing other people's difficulties which was
+so strong a point in his character. "She is called upon to
+make, after all, perhaps, the greater sacrifice of the two;
+and she does not see any duty in it&mdash;the reverse, indeed.
+She thinks it a sin. It is a strange view of life, to look at it
+from Louisa's point. Here will be an unwilling, unintentional
+martyrdom; and it is hard to think I should take all
+the merit, and leave my poor little wife the suffering
+without any compensation!" He began to walk up and
+down the room with uneasy steps, as if the thought was
+painful, and had to be got rid of by some sudden movement.
+"It must be that God reckons with women for what
+they have endured, as with men for what they have done,"
+said Gerald. He spoke with a kind of grieved certainty,
+which made his brother feel, to start with, the hopelessness
+of all argument.</p>
+
+<p>"But must this be? Is it necessary to take such a final,
+such a terrible step?" said the Perpetual Curate.</p>
+
+<p>"I think so." Gerald went to the window, to resume his
+contemplation of the cedar, and stood there with his back
+turned to Frank, and his eyes going slowly over all the
+long processes of his self-argument, laid up as they were
+upon those solemn levels of shadow. "Yes&mdash;you have gone
+so far with me; but I don't want to take you any farther,
+Frank. Perhaps, when I have reached the perfect peace to
+which I am looking forward, I may try to induce you to
+share it, but at present there are so many pricks of the
+flesh. You did not come to argue with me, did you?" and
+again the half-humorous gleam of old came over Gerald's
+face as he looked round. "Louisa believes in arguing," he
+said, as he came back to the table and took his seat again;
+"not that she has ever gained much by it, so far as I am
+aware. Poor girl! she talks and talks, and fancies she is
+persuading me; and all the time my heart is bleeding for
+her. There it is!" he exclaimed, suddenly hiding his face in
+his hands. "This is what crushes one to think of. The rest
+is hard enough, Heaven knows&mdash;separation from my
+friends, giving up my own people, wounding and grieving,
+as I know I shall, everybody who loves me. I could bear
+that; but Louisa and her children&mdash;God help me, there's
+the sting!"</p>
+
+<p>They were both men, and strong men, not likely to fall
+into any sentimental weakness; but something between a
+groan and a sob, wrung out of the heart of the elder
+brother at the thought of the terrible sacrifice before him,
+echoed with a hard sound of anguish into the quiet. It was
+very different from his wife's trembling, weeping, hoping
+agony; but it reduced the Curate more than ever to that
+position of spectator which he felt was so very far from the
+active part which his poor sister expected of him.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know by what steps you have reached this
+conclusion," said Frank Wentworth; "but even if you feel
+it your duty to give up the Anglican Church (in which, of
+course, I think you totally wrong," added the High
+Churchman in a parenthesis), "I cannot see why you are
+bound to abandon all duties whatever. I have not come to
+argue with you; I daresay poor Louisa may expect it of
+me, but I can't, and you know very well I can't. I should
+like to know how it has come about all the same; but one
+thing only, Gerald&mdash;a man may be a Christian without
+being a priest. Louisa&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, I am a priest, or nothing. I can't relinquish my
+life!" cried the elder brother, lifting his hands suddenly, as
+if to thrust away something which threatened him. Then
+he rose up again and went towards the window and his
+cedar, which stood dark in the sunshine, slightly fluttered
+at its extremities by the light summer-wind, but throwing
+glorious level lines of shadow, which the wind could not
+disturb, upon the grass. The limes near, and that one
+delicate feathery birch which was Mrs Wentworth's pride,
+had all some interest of their own on hand, and went
+on waving, rustling, coquetting with the breezes and the
+sunshine in a way which precluded any arbitrary line of
+shade. But the cedar stood immovable, like a verdant
+monument, sweeping its long level branches over the
+lawn, passive under the light, and indifferent, except at its
+very tops and edges, to the breeze. If there had been any
+human sentiment in that spectator of the ways of man,
+how it must have groaned and trembled under the pitiless
+weight of thoughts, the sad lines of discussion and argument
+and doubt, which were entangled in its branches!
+Gerald Wentworth went to his window to refer to it, as if it
+were a book in which all his contests had been recorded.
+The thrill of the air in it tingled through him as he stood
+looking out; and there, without looking at Frank, except
+now and then for a moment when he got excited with his
+subject, he went into the history of his struggle&mdash;a history
+not unprecedented or unparalleled, such as has been told
+to the world before now by men who have gone through it,
+in various shapes, with various amounts of sophistry and
+simplicity. But it is a different thing reading of such a
+conflict in a book, and hearing it from lips pallid with the
+meaning of the words they uttered, and a heart which was
+about to prove its sincerity by voluntary pangs more hard
+than death. Frank Wentworth listened to his brother with
+a great deal of agreement in what he said, and again with
+an acute perception of mistakes on Gerald's part, and
+vehement impulses of contradiction, to which, at the same
+time, it was impossible to give utterance; for there was
+something very solemn in the account he was giving of
+himself, as he stood with his face half turned to the
+anxious listener, leaning on the window, looking into the
+cedar. Gerald did not leave any room for argument or
+remonstrance; he told his brother how he had been led
+from one step to another, without any lingering touch of
+possibility in the narrative that he might be induced to
+retrace again that painful way. It was a path, once trod,
+never to be returned upon; and already he stood steadfast
+at the end, looking back mournfully, yet with a strange
+composure. It would be impossible to describe the mixture
+of love, admiration, impatience&mdash;even intolerance&mdash;which
+swelled through the mind of the spectator as he
+looked on at this wonderful sight, nor how hard he found it
+to restrain the interruptions which rushed to his lips, the
+eager arguments which came upon him in a flood, all his
+own favourite fences against the overflow of the tide which
+ran in lawful bounds in his own mind, but which had
+inundated his brother's. But though it was next to impossible
+to keep silence, it was altogether impossible to break
+in upon Gerald's history of this great battle through which
+he had just come. He <i>had</i> come through it, it was plain; the
+warfare was accomplished, the weapons hung up, the
+conflict over; and nothing could be more apparent than
+that he had no intention of entering the battle-field again.
+When he had ended, there was another pause.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going to argue with you," said Frank
+Wentworth; "I don't even need to tell you that I am
+grieved to the heart. It isn't so very many years ago," said
+the younger brother, almost too much touched by the
+recollection to preserve his composure, "since I took all
+my opinions from you; and since the time came for
+independent action, I too have gone over all this ground.
+My conclusions have been very different from yours,
+Gerald. I see you are convinced, and I can say nothing;
+but they do not convince me&mdash;you do not convince me,
+nor the sight of your faith, though that is the most touching
+of all arguments. Will you go back and go over it again?"
+said the Curate, spurred, by a thought of poor Louisa, to
+contradict himself, while the words were still on his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Gerald; "it would be of no use, Frank. We
+should only grieve each other more."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I give up that subject," said the younger brother:
+"but there is one matter which I must go back to. You may
+go to Rome, and cease to be a priest of the Anglican
+Church, but you cannot cease to be a man, to bear the
+weight of your natural duties. Don't turn away, but hear
+me. Gerald, Louisa&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't say any more. Do you imagine I have not
+thought of that?" said Gerald, once more, with a gesture of
+pain, and something like terror; "I have put my hand to
+the plough and I cannot go back. If I am not a priest, I am
+nothing." But when he came to that point, his cedar-tree
+no longer gave him any assistance; he came back to his
+chair, and covered his face with his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Louisa is your wife; you are not like a man free from
+the bonds of nature," said the Curate of St Roque's. "It is
+not for me to speak of the love between you; but I hold it,
+as the Scripture says, for a holy mystery, like the love of
+Christ for his Church&mdash;the most sacred of all bonds," said
+the young man, with a certain touch of awe and emotion,
+as became a young man and a true lover. He made a little
+pause to regain command of himself before he continued,
+"And she is dependent on you&mdash;outwardly, for all the
+comfort of her life&mdash;and in her heart, for everything,
+Gerald. I do not comprehend what that duty is which
+could make you leave her, all helpless and tender, as you
+know her to be, upon the mercies of the world. She herself
+says"&mdash;and poor Louisa's complaint grew into pathos
+under the subliming force of her advocate's sympathy&mdash;"that
+she would be like a widow, and worse than a widow.
+I am not the man to bid you suppress your convictions
+because they will be your ruin, in the common sense of the
+word; but, Gerald&mdash;your wife&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Gerald had bent his head down upon his clasped hands;
+sometimes a great heave of his frame showed the last
+struggle that was going on within him&mdash;a struggle more
+painful, more profound, than anything that had gone
+before. And the voice of the Curate, who, like his brother,
+was nothing if not a priest, was choked, and painful with
+the force of his emotion. He drew his breath hard between
+his words: it was not an argument, but an admonition; an
+appeal, not from a brother only, but from one who spoke
+with authority, as feeling himself accredited from God. He
+drew closer towards the voluntary martyr beside him,
+the humbleness of his reverential love for his elder brother
+mingling in that voice of the priest, which was natural to
+him, and which he did not scruple to adopt. "Gerald,&mdash;your
+wife," he said, in softened but firm tones, laying his
+hand on his brother's arm. And it was at this moment,
+when in his heart he felt that his influence might be of
+some avail, and when all the powers of his mind were
+gathering to bear upon this last experiment, that the door
+opened suddenly, and poor Louisa, all flushed and tearful,
+in womanish hot impatience and misery that knew no
+prudence, burst, without any warning, into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't bear it any longer," cried the poor wife. "I
+knew you were talking it all over, and deciding what it was
+to be; and when one's life is hanging on a chance, how can
+one keep quiet and not interfere? Oh, Gerald, Gerald! I
+have been a true wife to you. I know I am not clever; but I
+would have died to do you any good. You are not going to
+forsake me!" cried poor Louisa, going up to him and
+putting her arms round him. "I said Frank was to tell you
+everything, but a man can never tell what is in a woman's
+heart. Oh, Gerald, why should you go and kill me! I will
+never oppose you any more; whatever you want, I will
+give in to it as freely as if it were my own way. I will make
+<i>that</i> my own way, Gerald, if you will only listen to me.
+Whatever changes you please, oh Gerald, I will never say
+a word, nor your father, nor any one! If the Bishop should
+interfere, we would all stand up for you. There is not a
+soul in Wentworth to oppose&mdash;you know there is not. Put
+anything you please in the church&mdash;preach how you
+please&mdash;light the candles or anything. Gerald, you know it
+is true I am saying&mdash; I am not trying to deceive you!" cried
+the poor soul, bewildered in her folly and her grief.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Louisa, no&mdash;only you don't understand," said her
+husband, with a groan: he had raised his head, and was
+looking at her with a hopeless gleam of impatience in the
+pity and anguish of his eyes. He took her little hand and
+held it between his own, which were trembling with all
+this strain&mdash;her little tender helpless woman's hand,
+formed only for soft occupations and softer caresses; it was
+not a hand which could help a man in such an emergency;
+it was without any grasp in it to take hold upon him, or
+force of love to part&mdash;a clinging impotent hand, such as
+holds down, but cannot raise up. He held it in a close
+tremulous pressure, as she stood looking down upon him,
+questioning him with eager hopeful eyes, and taking comfort
+in her ignorance from his silence, and the way in
+which he held her. Poor Louisa concluded she was yet to
+win the day.</p>
+
+<p>"I will turn Puseyite too," she said with a strange little
+touch of attempted laughter. "I don't want to have any
+opinions different from my husband's; and you don't think
+your father is likely to do anything to drive you out of the
+church? You have only given us a terrible fright, dear,"
+she continued, beginning to tremble again, as he shook his
+head and turned away from her. "You did not really mean
+such a dreadful thing as sending <i>me</i> away. You could not
+do without me, Gerald&mdash;you know you could not." Her
+breath was getting short, her heart quickening in its throbs&mdash;the
+smile that was quivering on her face got no response
+from her husband's downcast eyes. And then poor Louisa
+lost all her courage; she threw herself down at his feet,
+kneeling to him. "Oh, Gerald, it is not because you want
+to get rid of me? You are not doing it for that? If you don't
+stay in the Rectory, we shall be ruined&mdash;we shall not have
+enough to eat! and the Rectory will go to Frank, and your
+children will be cast upon the world&mdash;and what, oh what is
+it for, unless it is to get rid of me?" cried Mrs Wentworth.
+"You could have as much freedom as you like here at your
+own living&mdash;nobody would ever interfere or say what are
+you doing? and the Bishop is papa's old friend. Oh,
+Gerald, be wise in time, and don't throw away all our
+happiness for a fancy. If it was anything that could not be
+arranged, I would not mind so much; but if we all promise
+to give in to you, and that you shall do what you please, and
+nobody will interfere, how can you have the heart to
+make us all so wretched? We will not even be respectable,"
+said the weeping woman; "a family without any
+father, and a wife without her husband&mdash;and he living all
+the time! Oh, Gerald, though I think I surely might be
+considered as much as candles, have the altar covered
+with lights if you wish it; and if you never took off your
+surplice any more, I would never say a word. You can do
+all that and stay in the Rectory. You have not the heart&mdash;surely&mdash;surely
+you have not the heart&mdash;all for an idea of
+your own, to bring this terrible distress upon the children
+and me?"</p>
+
+<p>"God help us all!" said Gerald, with a sigh of despair, as
+he lifted her up sobbing in a hysterical fit, and laid her on
+the sofa. He had to stand by her side for a long time
+holding her hand, and soothing her, with deeper and
+deeper shadows growing over his face. As for Frank, after
+pacing the room in great agitation for some time, after
+trying to interpose, and failing, he went away in a fever of
+impatience and distress into the garden, wondering
+whether he could ever find means to take up the broken
+thread, and urge again upon his brother the argument
+which, but for this fatal interruption, he thought might
+have moved him. But gathering thoughts came thick upon
+the Perpetual Curate. He did not go back to make another
+attempt, even when he knew by the sounds through the
+open windows that Louisa had been led to her own room
+up-stairs. He stood outside and looked at the troubled
+house, which seemed to stand so serene and secure in the
+sunshine. Who could have supposed that it was torn
+asunder in such a hopeless fashion? And Louisa's suggestion
+came into his mind, and drove him wild with a sense
+of horror and involuntary guilt, as though he had been
+conspiring against them. "The Rectory will go to Frank."
+Was it his fault that at that moment a vision of Lucy
+Wodehouse, sweet and strong and steadfast&mdash;a delicate,
+firm figure, on which a man could lean in his trouble&mdash;suddenly
+rose up before the Curate's eyes? Fair as the
+vision was, he would have banished it if he could, and
+hated himself for being capable of conjuring it up at such a
+time. Was it for him to profit by the great calamity which
+would make his brother's house desolate? He could not
+endure the thought, nor himself for finding it possible; and
+he was ashamed to look in Gerald's face with even the
+shadow of such an imagination on his own. He tapped at
+the library window after a while, and told his brother that
+he was going up to the Hall. Louisa had gone up-stairs, and
+her husband sat once more, vacant yet occupied, by his
+writing-table. "I will follow you presently," said Gerald.
+"Speak to my father without any hesitation, Frank; it is
+better to have it over while we are all together&mdash;for it must
+be concluded now." And the Curate saw in the shadow of
+the dim apartment that his brother lifted from the table the
+grand emblem of all anguish and victory, and pressed
+upon it his pale lips. The young man turned away with the
+shadow of that cross standing black between him and the
+sunshine. His heart ached at the sight of the symbol most
+sacred and most dear in the world. In an agony of grief
+and impatience, he went away sadly through the familiar
+road to his father's house. Here had he to stand by and see
+this sacrifice accomplished. This was all that had come of
+his mission of consolation and help.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> Curate of St Roque's went sadly along the road he
+knew so well from Wentworth Rectory to the Hall. There
+was scarcely a tree nor the turning of a hedgerow which
+had not its own individual memories to the son of the soil.
+Here he had come to meet Gerald returning from Eton&mdash;coming
+back from the university in later days. Here he
+had rushed down to the old Rector, his childless uncle,
+with the copy of the prize-list when his brother took his
+first-class. Gerald, and the family pride in him, was interwoven
+with the very path, and now&mdash; The young man
+pressed on to the Hall with a certain bitter moisture
+stealing to the corner of his eye. He felt indignant and
+aggrieved in his love, not at Gerald, but at the causes
+which were conspiring to detach him from his natural
+sphere and duties. When he recollected how he had
+himself dallied with the same thoughts, he grew angry
+with his brother's nobleness and purity, which never could
+see less than its highest ideal soul in anything, and with a
+certain fierce fit of truth, glanced back at his own Easter
+lilies and choristers, feeling involuntarily that he would
+like to tear off the flowers and surplices and tread them
+under his feet. Why was it that he, an inferior man, should
+be able to confine himself to the mere accessories which
+pleased his fancy, and could judge and reject the dangerous
+principles beneath; while Gerald, the loftier, purer
+intelligence, should get so hopelessly lost in mazes of
+sophistry and false argument, to the peril of his work, his
+life, and all that he could ever know of happiness? Such
+were the thoughts that passed through the mind of the
+Perpetual Curate as he went rapidly through the winding
+country-road going "home." Perhaps he was wrong in
+thinking that Gerald was thus superior to himself; but the
+error was a generous one, and the Curate held it in
+simplicity and with all his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Before he reached the house he saw his father walking
+under the lime-trees, which formed a kind of lateral aisle
+to the great avenue, which was one of the boasts of the
+Wentworths. The Squire was like most squires of no
+particular character; a hale, ruddy, clear-complexioned,
+well-preserved man, looking his full age, but retaining all
+the vigour of his youth. He was not a man of any intellect
+to speak of, nor did he pretend to it; but he had that
+glimmering of sense which keeps many a stupid man
+straight, and a certain amount of natural sensibility and
+consideration for other people's feelings which made
+persons who knew no better give Mr Wentworth credit
+for tact, a quality unknown to him. He was walking slowly
+in a perplexed manner under the lime-trees. They were
+all in glorious blossom, filling the air with that mingling
+sense of fragrance and music which is the soul of the
+murmurous tree: but the short figure of the Squire, in his
+morning-coat, with his perplexed looks, was not at all an
+accessory in keeping with the scene. He was taking his
+walk in a subdued way, pondering something&mdash;and it
+puzzled him sorely in his straightforward, unprofound
+understanding. He shook his head sometimes as he went
+along, sad and perplexed and unsatisfactory, among his
+limes. He had got a note from Gerald that morning; and
+how his son could intend to give up living and station, and
+wife and children, for anything in heaven or earth, was
+more than the Squire could understand. He started very
+much when he heard Frank's voice calling to him. Frank,
+indeed, was said to be, if any one was, the Squire's
+weakness in the family; he was as clever as Gerald, and he
+had the practical sense which Mr Wentworth prized as
+knowing himself to possess it. If he could have wished for
+any one in the present emergency, it would have been
+Frank&mdash;and he turned round overjoyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank, my boy, you're heartily welcome home!" he
+said, holding out his hand to him as became a British
+parent&mdash;"always welcome, but particularly just now.
+Where did you come from? how did you come? have you
+eaten anything this morning? it's close upon lunch, and
+we'll go in directly; but, my dear boy, wait here a moment,
+if you're not particularly hungry; I can't tell you how glad
+I am you're come. I'd rather see you than a hundred
+pound!"</p>
+
+<p>When Frank had thanked him, and returned his greetings,
+and answered his questions (which the Squire had
+forgotten), and made his own inquiries, to which Mr Wentworth
+replied only by a hasty nod, and an "Oh yes, thank
+you, all well&mdash;all well," the two came to a momentary pause:
+they had nothing particular to add about their happiness in
+seeing each other; and as Frank wrote to his sisters pretty
+regularly, there was nothing to tell. They were quite free to
+plunge at once, as is to British relatives under the trying
+circumstances of a meeting a blessed possibility, into the first
+great subject which happened to be at hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you heard anything about Gerald?" said Mr
+Wentworth, abruptly; "perhaps you called there on your
+way from the station? Gerald has got into a nice mess. He
+wrote to tell me about it, and I can't make head nor tail of
+it. Do you think he's a little touched here?" and the Squire
+tapped his own round forehead, with a troubled look:
+"there's no other explanation possible that I can see: a
+good living, a nice house, a wife that just suits him (and it's
+not everybody that would suit Gerald), and a lot of fine
+children&mdash;and he talks to me of giving up everything; as if
+a man could give up everything! It's all very well talking
+of self-renunciation, and so forth; and if it meant simply
+considering other people, and doing anything disagreeable
+for anybody's sake, I don't know a man more likely than
+my son Gerald. Your brother's a fine fellow, Frank&mdash;a
+noble sort of fellow, though he has his crotchets," said the
+father, with a touch of involuntary pathos; "but you don't
+mean to tell me that my son, a man like Gerald Wentworth,
+has a mind to throw away his position, and give up
+all the duties of his life? He can't do it, sir! I tell you it's
+impossible, and I won't believe it." Mr Wentworth drew
+up his shirt-collar, and kicked away a fallen branch with
+his foot, and looked insulted and angry. It was a dereliction
+of which he would not suppose the possibility of a
+Wentworth being guilty. It did not strike him as a conflict
+between belief and non-belief; but on the question of a
+man abandoning his post, whatever it might be, the head
+of the house held strong views.</p>
+
+<p>"I agree it's impossible; but it looks as if it were true,"
+said the Curate. "I don't understand it any more than you
+do; but I am afraid we shall have to address ourselves to
+the reality all the same. Gerald has made up his mind that
+the Church of Rome is the only true Church, and therefore
+he is in a false position in the Church of England: he
+can't remain a priest of the Anglican communion with such
+views, any more than a man could fight against his country,
+or in a wrong quarrel&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But, good heavens, sir!" said the Squire, interrupting
+him, "is it a time to inquire into the quarrel when you're
+on the ground? Will you tell me, sir, that my son Charley
+should have gone into the question between Russia and
+England when he was before Sebastopol&mdash;and deserted,"
+said Mr Wentworth, with a snort of infinite scorn, "if he
+found the Czar had right on his side? God bless my soul!
+that's striking at the root of everything. As for the Church
+of Rome, it's Antichrist&mdash;why, every child in the village
+school could tell you that; and if Gerald entertains any
+such absurd ideas, the thing for him to do is to read up all
+that's been written on the subject, and get rid of his doubts
+as soon as possible. The short and the long of it is," said
+the troubled Squire, who found it much the easiest way to
+be angry, "that you ask me to believe that your brother
+Gerald is a fool and a coward; and I won't believe it,
+Frank, if you should preach to me for a year."</p>
+
+<p>"And for my part, I would stake my life on his wisdom
+and his courage," said the Curate, with a little heat; "but
+that is not the question&mdash;he believes that truth and honour
+require him to leave his post. There is something more
+involved which we might yet prevent. I have been trying,
+but Louisa interrupted me&mdash;I don't know if you realise
+fully what he intends. Gerald cannot cease to be a priest&mdash;he
+will become a Catholic priest when he ceases to be
+Rector of Wentworth&mdash;and that implies&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"God bless my soul!" cried the bewildered Squire&mdash;he
+was silent for a long time after he had uttered that benediction.
+He took out Gerald's letter and read it over while
+the two walked on in silence under the lime-trees, and the
+paper shook in his hands, notwithstanding all his steadiness.
+When he spoke again, it was only after two or three efforts
+to clear his voice. "I can't make out that he says <i>that</i>,
+Frank&mdash;I don't see that <i>that's</i> what he means," said Mr
+Wentworth, in a fainter tone than usual; and then he
+continued, with more agitation, "Louisa is a dear good
+soul, you know; but she's a bit of a fool, like most women.
+She always takes the worst view&mdash;if she can get a good cry
+out of anything, she will. It's she that's put this fancy into
+your head, eh? You don't say you had it from Gerald
+himself? You don't mean to tell me that? By Jove, sir!&mdash;by
+heaven, sir!" cried the excited Squire, blazing up suddenly
+in a burst of passion, "he can't be any son of mine&mdash; For
+any damnable Papistical madness to give up his wife!
+Why, God bless us, he was a man, wasn't he, before he
+became a priest? A priest! He's not a priest&mdash;he's a
+clergyman, and the Rector of Wentworth. I can't believe
+it&mdash;I won't believe it!" said the head of the house, with
+vehemence. "Tell me one of my sons is a sneak and a
+traitor!&mdash;and if you weren't another of my sons, sir, I'd
+knock you down for your pains." In the excitement of the
+moment Mr Wentworth came full force against a projecting
+branch which he did not see, as he spoke these words; but
+though the sudden blow half stunned him, he did not stop
+in his vehement contradiction. "It can't be. I tell you it
+can't&mdash;it shan't be, Frank!" cried the Squire. He would
+not pay any attention to the Curate's anxieties, or accept
+the arm Frank offered, though he could not deny feeling
+faint and giddy after the blow. It took away all the colour
+from his ruddy face, and left him pale, with a red welt
+across his forehead, and wonderfully unlike himself.
+"Confound it! I told Miles to look after that tree weeks
+ago. If he thinks I'll stand his carelessness, he's mistaken,"
+said Mr Wentworth, by way of relieving himself. He was a
+man who always eased his mind by being angry with
+somebody when anything happened to put him out.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear father," said the Curate as soon as it was
+practicable, "I want you to listen to me and help me;
+there's only one thing to be done that I can see. Gerald is
+in a state of high excitement, fit for any martyrdom. We
+can't keep him back from one sacrifice, but by all the force
+we can gather we must detain him from the other. He must
+be shown that he can't abandon his natural duties. He was a
+man before he was a priest, as you say; he can no more give
+up his duty to Louisa than he can give up his own life. It is
+going on a false idea altogether; but falsehood in anything
+except in argument could never be named or dreamed of
+in connection with Gerald," said his brother, with some
+emotion; "we all know that."</p>
+
+<p>There was another pause of a few minutes, during
+which they walked on side by side without even the heart
+to look at each other. "If it had been Huxtable or
+Plumstead, or any other fool," burst forth the Squire,
+after that interval, "but Gerald!" Huxtable was the
+husband of the eldest Miss Wentworth, and Plumstead
+was the Squire's sister's son, so the comparison was all in
+the family. "I suppose your aunt Leonora would say such
+a thing was sent to bring down my pride and keep me
+low," said Mr Wentworth, bitterly. "Jack being what he
+is, was it anything but natural that I should be proud of
+Gerald? There never was any evil in him, that I could see,
+from a child; but crotchety, always crotchety, Frank. I can
+see it now. It must have been their mother," said the
+Squire, meditatively; "she died very young, poor girl! her
+character was not formed. As for <i>your</i> dear mother, my
+boy, she was always equal to an emergency; she would
+have given us the best of advice, had she been spared to
+us this day. Mrs Wentworth is absorbed in her nursery, as
+is natural, and I should not care to consult her much on
+such a subject. But, Frank, whatever you can do or say,
+trust to me to back you out," said the anxious father of
+three families. "Your mother was the most sensible woman I
+ever knew," he continued, with a patriarchal composure.
+"Nobody could ever manage Jack and Gerald as she did.
+She'd have seen at a glance what to do now. As for Jack,
+he is not assistance to anybody; but I consider you very
+like your mother, Frank. If anybody can help Gerald, it
+will be you. He has got into some ridiculous complications,
+you know&mdash;that must be the explanation of it. You have
+only to talk to him, and clear up the whole affair," said the
+Squire, recovering himself a little. He believed in "talking
+to," like Louisa, and like most people who are utterly
+incapable of talking to any purpose. He took some courage
+from the thought, and recovered his colour a little. "There
+is the bell for luncheon, and I am very glad of it," he said;
+"a glass of sherry will set me all right. Don't say anything
+to alarm Mrs Wentworth. When Gerald comes we'll retire
+to the library, and go into the matter calmly, and between
+us we will surely be able to convince him. I'll humour him,
+for my part, as far as my conscience will allow me. We
+must not give in to him, Frank. He will give it up if we
+show a very firm front and yield nothing," said the Squire,
+looking with an unusually anxious eye in his son's face.</p>
+
+<p>"For my part, I will not enter into the controversy
+between the Churches," said the Curate; "it is mere waste
+of time. I must confine myself to the one point. If he must
+forsake us, he must, and I can't stop him: but he must not
+forsake his wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Tut&mdash;it's impossible!" said the Squire; "it's not to be
+thought of for a moment. You must have given undue
+importance to something that was said. Things will turn
+out better than you think." They were very nearly at the
+great entrance when these words were said, and Mr
+Wentworth took out his handkerchief and held it to his
+forehead to veil the mark, until he could explain it, from
+the anxious eye of his wife. "If the worst should come to
+the worst, as you seem to think," he said, with a kind of
+sigh, "I should at least be able to provide for you, Frank.
+Of course, the Rectory would go to you; and you don't
+seem to have much chance of Skelmersdale, so far as I can
+learn. Leonora's a very difficult person to deal with. God
+bless my soul!" exclaimed the Squire&mdash;"depend upon it,
+she has had something to do with this business of Gerald's.
+She's goaded him into it, with her Low-Church ways.
+She's put poor Louisa up to worrying him; there's where it
+is. I did not see how your brother could possibly have
+fallen into such a blunder of his own accord. But come to
+luncheon; you must be hungry. You will think the boys
+grown, Frank; and I must ask you what you think, when
+you have a little leisure, of Cuthbert and Guy."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the Squire led the way into the house; he had
+been much appalled by the first hint of this threatened
+calamity, and was seriously distressed and anxious still;
+but he was the father of many sons, and the misfortunes or
+blunders of one could not occupy all his heart. And even
+the Curate, as he followed his father into the house, felt
+that Louisa's words, so calmly repeated, "Of course, the
+Rectory will go to you," went tingling to his heart like an
+arrow, painfully recalling him, in the midst of his anxiety,
+to a sense of his own interests and cares. Gerald was
+coming up the avenue at the moment slowly, with all the
+feelings of a man going to the stake. He was looking at
+everything round as a dying man might, not knowing what
+terrible revolution of life might have happened before he
+saw them again&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+ <p class="noindent">
+"He looked on hill, and sea, and shore,<br />
+&nbsp;As he might never see them more."
+ </p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Life was darkened over to his preoccupied eyes, and the
+composure of nature jarred upon him, as though it were
+carelessness and indifference to the fate which he felt to be
+coming in the air. He thought nothing less than that his
+father and brother were discussing him with hearts as
+heavy and clouded as his own; for even he, in all his
+tolerance and impartiality, did not make due account of the
+fact, that every man has his own concerns next to him,
+close enough to ameliorate and lighten the weight of his
+anxieties for others. The prospect was all gloom to Gerald,
+who was the sufferer; but the others found gleams of
+comfort in their own horizon, which threw reflected lights
+upon his; for perfect sympathy is not, except in dreams.
+There was quite a joyful little commotion at the luncheon
+table when Frank's arrival was discovered; and his sisters
+were kissing him, and his young brothers shaking his hand
+off, while Gerald came slowly up, with preoccupied,
+lingering steps, underneath the murmurous limes. All
+kinds of strange miseries were appearing to him as he
+pursued his way. Glimpses of scenes to come&mdash;a dark
+phantasmagoria of anticipated pain. He saw his wife and
+his children going away out of their happy house; he saw
+himself severed from all human ties, among alien faces
+and customs, working out a hard novitiate. What could he
+do? His heart, so long on the rack, was aching with dull
+throbs of anguish, but he did not see any way of escape.
+He was a priest by all the training, all the habits of his life;
+how could he give up that service to which he was called
+before everything, the most momentous work on earth?
+For ease, for happiness, for even sacred love, could he
+defraud God of the service he had vowed, and go back to
+secular work just at the moment when the true meaning of
+ecclesiastical work seemed dawning upon him? He had
+decided that question before, but it came back and back.
+His eyes were heavy with thought and conflict as he went
+up to his father's house. All this was wearing out his
+strength, and sapping his very life. The sooner it was over
+the better would it be for all.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Very</span> little came, as was natural, of the talk in the
+library, to which the entire afternoon was devoted. The
+Squire, in his way, was as great an interruption to the
+arguments of the Curate as was poor Louisa in hers; and
+Gerald sat patiently to listen to his father's indignant
+monologue, broken as it was by Frank's more serious
+attacks. He was prepared for all they could say to him,
+and listened to it, sometimes with a kind of wondering
+smile, knowing well how much more strongly, backed by
+all his prejudices and interests, he had put the same
+arguments to himself. All this time nobody discussed the
+practicability of the matter much, nor what steps he meant
+to take: what immediately occupied both his father and
+brother was his determination itself, and the reasons which
+had led him to it, which the Squire, like Louisa, could not
+understand.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had made myself disagreeable," said Mr
+Wentworth; "if I had remonstrated with him, as Leonora
+urged me to do; if I had put a stop to the surplice and so
+forth, and interfered with his decorations or his saints'
+days, or anything, it might have been comprehensible.
+But I never said a syllable on the subject. I give you my
+word, I never did. Why couldn't he have sent down for
+Louisa now, and dined at the Hall, as usual, when any of
+my sons come home? I suppose a man may change his
+religion, sir, without getting rid of his natural affections,"
+said the Squire, gazing out with puzzled looks to watch
+Gerald going slowly down the avenue. "A man who talks
+of leaving his wife, and declines to dine at his father's
+house with his brothers and sisters, is a mystery I can't
+understand."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose he cares for a lively party like ours at
+this moment," said the Curate: "I don't take it as any sign
+of a want of affection for me."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire puffed forth a large sigh of trouble and
+vexation as he came from the window. "If <i>I</i> were to give in
+to trouble when it appears, what would become of our
+lively party, I wonder?" he said. "I'm getting an old man,
+Frank; but there's not a young man in Christendom has
+more need to take care of himself, and preserve his
+health, than I have. I am very well, thank God, though I
+have had a touch of our Wentworth complaint&mdash;just one
+touch. My father had it ten years earlier in life, and lived
+to eighty, all the same; but that is an age I shall never see.
+Such worries as I have would kill any man. I've not
+spoken to anybody about it," said the Squire, hastily, "but
+Jack is going a terrible pace just now. I've had a good deal
+of bother about bills and things. He gets worse every year;
+and what would become of the girls and the little children
+if the estate were to come into Jack's hands, is a thought I
+don't like to dwell upon, Frank. I suppose he never writes
+to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not for years past," said the Curate&mdash;"not since I was
+at Oxford. Where is he now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somewhere about town, I suppose," said the aggrieved
+father, "or wherever the greatest scamps collect when
+they go out of town&mdash;that's where he is. I could show you a
+little document or two, Frank&mdash;but now," said the Squire,
+shutting up a drawer which he had unlocked and partly
+opened, "I won't; you've enough on your mind with
+Gerald, and I told you I should be glad of your advice
+about Cuthbert and Guy."</p>
+
+<p>Upon which the father and son plunged into family
+affairs. Cuthbert and Guy were the youngest of the
+Squire's middle family&mdash;a "lot" which included Frank and
+Charley and the three sisters, one of whom was married.
+The domestic relations of the Wentworths were complicated
+in this generation. Jack and Gerald were of the first
+marriage, a period in his history which Mr Wentworth
+himself had partly forgotten; and the troop of children at
+present in the Hall nursery were quite beyond the powers
+of any grown-up brother to recognise or identify. It was
+vaguely understood that "the girls" knew all the small fry
+by head and name, but even the Squire himself was apt to
+get puzzled. With such a household, and with an heir
+impending over his head like Jack, it may be supposed
+that Mr Wentworth's anxiety to get his younger boys
+disposed of was great. Cuthbert and Guy were arrows in
+the hand of the giant, but he had his quiver so full that the
+best thing he could do was to draw his bow and shoot them
+away into as distant and as fresh a sphere as possible.
+They were sworn companions and allies, but they were
+not clever, Mr Wentworth believed, and he was very glad
+to consult over New Zealand and Australia, and which was
+best, with their brother Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"They are good boys," said their father, "but they have
+not any brains to speak of&mdash;not like Gerald and you;&mdash;though,
+after all, I begin to be doubtful what's the good of
+brains," added the Squire, disconsolately, "if this is all
+that comes of them. After building so much on Gerald for
+years, and feeling that one might live to see him a bishop&mdash;but,
+however, there's still <i>you</i> left; you're all right, Frank?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, I am all right," said the Curate, with a sigh;
+"but neither Gerald nor I are the stuff that bishops are
+made of," he added, laughing. "I hope you don't dream of
+any such honour for me."</p>
+
+<p>But the Squire was too troubled in his mind for
+laughter. "Jack was always clever, too," he said, dolefully,
+"and little good has come of that. I hope he won't
+disgrace the family any more than he has done, in my
+time, Frank. You young fellows have all your life before
+you; but when a man comes to my age, and expects a little
+comfort, it's hard to be dragged into the mire after his
+children. I did my duty by Jack too&mdash;I can say that for
+myself. He had the same training as Gerald had&mdash;the
+same tutor at the university&mdash;everything just the same.
+How do you account for that, sir, you that are a philosopher?"
+said Mr Wentworth again, with a touch of irritation.
+"Own brothers both by father and mother; brought
+up in the same house, same school and college and everything;
+and all the time as different from each other as light
+and darkness. How do you account for that? Though, to be
+sure, here's Gerald taken to bad ways too. It must have
+been some weakness by their mother's side. Poor girl! she
+died too young to show it herself; but it's come out in her
+children," said the vexed Squire. "Though it's a poor sort
+of thing to blame them that are gone," he added, with
+penitence; and he got up and paced uneasily about the
+room. Who was there else to blame? Not himself, for he
+had done his duty by his boys. Mr Wentworth never was
+disturbed in mind, without, as his family were well aware,
+becoming excited in temper too; and the unexpected
+nature of the new trouble had somehow added a keener
+touch of exasperation to his perennial dissatisfaction with
+his heir. "If Jack had been the man he ought to have
+been, his advice might have done some good&mdash;for a
+clergyman naturally sees things in a different light from a
+man of the world," said the troubled father; and Frank
+perceived that he too shared in his father's displeasure,
+because he was not Jack, nor a man of the world; notwithstanding
+that, being Frank and a clergyman, he was
+acknowledged by public opinion to be the Squire's
+favourite in the family. Things continued in this uncomfortable
+state up to the dinner-hour, so that the Curate,
+even had his own feelings permitted it, had but little
+comfort in his home visit. At dinner Mr Wentworth did not
+eat, and awoke the anxiety of his wife, who drove the old
+gentleman into a state of desperation by inquiries after his
+health.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I wish you would remonstrate with your papa,
+Frank," said his stepmother, who was not a great deal
+older than the Curate. "After his attack he ought to be
+more careful. But he never takes the least trouble about
+himself, no more than if he were five-and-twenty. After
+getting such a knock on the forehead too; and you see he
+eats nothing. I shall be miserable if the doctor is not sent
+for to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Stuff!" cried the Squire, testily. "Perhaps you will
+speak to the cook about these messes she insists on
+sending up to disgust one, and leave me to take care of my
+own health. Don't touch that dish, Frank; it's poison. I am
+glad Gerald is not here: he'd think we never had a dinner
+without that confounded mixture. And then the wonder is
+that one can't eat!" said Mr Wentworth, in a tone which
+spread consternation round the table. Mrs Wentworth
+secretly put her handkerchief to her eyes behind the great
+cover, which had not yet been removed; and one of the
+girls dashed in violently to the rescue, of course making
+everything worse.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did not Gerald and Louisa come to dinner?" cried
+the ignorant sister. "Surely, when they knew Frank had
+come, they would have liked to be here. How very odd it
+was of you not to ask them, papa! they always do come
+when anybody has arrived. Why aren't they here
+to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because they don't choose to come," said the Squire,
+abruptly. "If Gerald has reasons for staying away from his
+father's house, what is that to you? Butterflies," said Mr
+Wentworth, looking at them in their pretty dresses, as
+they sat regarding him with dismay, "that don't
+understand any reason for doing anything except liking it or
+not liking it. I daresay by this time your sister knows
+better."</p>
+
+<p>"My sister is married, papa," said Letty, with her saucy
+look.</p>
+
+<p>"I advise you to get married too, and learn what life is
+like," said the savage Squire; and conversation visibly
+flagged after this effort. When the ladies got safely into
+the drawing-room, they gathered into a corner to consult
+over it. They were all naturally anxious about him after
+his "attack."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you remember he was just like this before it
+came on?" said Mrs Wentworth, nervously; "so cross, and
+finding fault with the made dishes. Don't you think I
+might send over a message to Dr Small&mdash;not to come on
+purpose, you know, but just as if it were a call in passing?"</p>
+
+<p>But the girls both agreed this would make matters
+worse.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be something about Jack," they both said in a
+breath, in a kind of awe of their elder brother, of whom
+they had a very imperfect knowledge. "And it seems we
+never are to have a chance of a word with Frank!" cried
+Letty, who was indignant and exasperated. But at least it
+was a consolation that "the boys" were no better off. All
+next day Cuthbert and Guy hung about in the vain hope of
+securing the company and attention of the visitor. He was
+at the Rectory the whole morning, sometimes with
+Gerald, sometimes with Louisa, as the scouts of the family,
+consisting of a variety of brothers, little and big, informed
+the anxious girls. And Louisa was seen to cry on one of
+these occasions; and Gerald looked cross, said one little
+spy, whereupon he had his ears boxed, and was dismissed
+from the service. "As if Gerald ever looked anything but a
+saint!" said the younger sister, who was an advanced
+Anglican. Letty, however, holding other views, confuted
+this opinion strongly: "When one thinks of a saint, it is
+aunt Leonora one thinks of," said this profane young
+woman. "I'll tell you what Gerald looks like&mdash;something
+just half-way between a conqueror and a martyr. I think,
+of all the men I ever saw, he is my hero," said Letty,
+meditatively. The youngest Miss Wentworth was not
+exactly of this latter opinion, but she did not contradict her
+sister. They were kept in a state of watchfulness all day,
+but Frank's mission remained a mystery which they could
+not penetrate; and in the evening Gerald alone made his
+appearance at the hall to dinner, explaining that Louisa
+had a headache. Now Louisa's headaches were not
+unfrequent, but they were known to improve in the prospect
+of going out to dinner. On the whole, the matter was
+wrapt in obscurity, and the Wentworth household could
+not explain it. The sisters sat up brushing their hair, and
+looking very pretty in their dressing-gowns, with their
+bright locks (for the Wentworth hair was golden-brown of
+a Titian hue) over their shoulders, discussing the matter
+till it was long past midnight; but they could make nothing
+of it, and the only conclusion they came to was, that their
+two clergymen brothers were occupied in negotiating with
+the Squire about some secret not known to the rest of the
+family, but most probably concerning Jack. Jack was
+almost unknown to his sisters, and awoke no very warm
+anxiety in their minds; so they went to sleep at last in
+tolerable quiet, concluding that whatever mystery there
+was concerned only the first-born and least loved of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>While the girls pursued these innocent deliberations,
+and reasoned themselves into conviction, the Squire too
+sat late&mdash;much later than usual. He had gone with Frank
+to the library, and sat there in half-stupefied quietness,
+which the Curate could not see without alarm, and from
+which he roused himself up now and then to wander off
+into talk, which always began with Gerald, and always
+came back to his own anxieties and his disappointed hopes
+in his eldest son. "If Jack had been the man he ought to
+have been, I'd have telegraphed for him, and he'd have
+managed it all," said the Squire, and then relapsed once
+more into silence. "For neither you nor I are men of the
+world, Frank," he would resume again, after a pause of
+half an hour, revealing pitifully how his mind laboured
+under the weight of this absorbing thought. The Curate
+sat up with him in the dimly-lighted library, feeling the
+silence and the darkness to his heart. He could not assist
+his father in those dim ranges of painful meditation.
+Grieved as he was, he could not venture to compare his
+own distress with the bitterness of the Squire, disappointed
+in all his hopes and in the pride of his heart; and
+then the young man saw compensations and heroisms in
+Gerald's case which were invisible to the unheroic eyes of
+Mr Wentworth, who looked at it entirely from a practical
+point of view, and regarded with keen mortification an
+event which would lay all the affairs of the Wentworths
+open to general discussion, and invite the eye of the world
+to a renewed examination of his domestic skeletons.
+Everything had been hushed and shut up in the Hall for at
+least an hour, when the Squire got up at last and lighted his
+candle, and held out his hand to his son&mdash;"This isn't a
+very cheerful visit for you, Frank," he said; "but we'll try
+again to-morrow, and have one other talk with Gerald.
+Couldn't you read up some books on the subject, or think
+of something new to say to him? God bless my soul! if I
+were as young and as much accustomed to talking as you
+are, I'd surely find out some argument," said the Squire,
+with a momentary spark of temper, which made his son
+feel more comfortable about him. "It's your business to
+convince a man when he's wrong. We'll try Gerald once
+more, and perhaps something may come of it; and as for
+Jack&mdash;" Here the Squire paused, and shook his head, and
+let go his son's hand. "I suppose it's sitting up so late that
+makes one feel so cold and wretched, and as if one saw
+ghosts," said Mr Wentworth. "Don't stay here any longer,
+and take care of the candles. I ought to have been in bed
+two hours ago. Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>And as he walked away, the Curate could not but
+observe what an aged figure it looked, moving with a
+certain caution to the door. The great library was so dim
+that the light of the candle which the Squire carried in his
+hand was necessary to reveal his figure clearly, and there
+was no mistaking his air of age and feebleness. The
+Curate's thoughts were not very agreeable when he was
+left by himself in the half-lighted room. His imagination
+jumped to a picture very possible, but grievous to think of&mdash;Jack
+seated in his father's place, and "the girls" and the
+little children turned out upon the world. In such a case,
+who would be their protector and natural guardian? Not
+Gerald, who was about to divest himself of ties still closer
+and more sacred. The Curate lit his candle too, and went
+hastily to his room when that thought came upon him.
+There might be circumstances still more hopeless and
+appalling than the opposition of a rector or the want of a
+benefice. He preferred to return to his anxiety about
+Gerald, and to put away that thought, as he went hurriedly
+up-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">The</span> sum of it all is, that you won't hear any reason,
+Gerald," said the Squire. "What your brother says, and
+what I say, are nothing; your poor wife is nothing; and all
+a man's duties, sir, in life&mdash;all your responsibilities,
+everything that is considered most sacred&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You may say what you will to me, father," said Gerald.
+"I can't expect you should speak differently. But you may
+imagine I have looked at it in every possible light before I
+came to this resolution. A man does not decide easily
+when everything he prizes on earth is at stake. I cannot
+see with Frank's eyes, or with yours; according to the light
+God has given me, I must see with my own."</p>
+
+<p>"But, God bless my soul! what do you mean by seeing
+with your own eyes?" said the Squire. "Don't you know
+that is a Protestant doctrine, sir? Do you think they'll let
+you see with any eyes but theirs when you get among a set
+of Papists? Instead of an easy-going bishop, and friendly
+fellows for brother clergymen, and parishioners that think
+everything that's good of you, how do you suppose you'll
+feel as an Englishman when you get into a dead Frenchified
+system, with everything going by rule and measure,
+and bound to believe just as you're told? It'll kill you, sir&mdash;that's
+what will be the end of it. If you are in your grave
+within the year, it will be no wonder to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Amen!" said Gerald, softly. "If that is to be all, we will
+not quarrel with the result;" and he got up and went to the
+window, as if to look for his cedar, which was not there.
+Perhaps the absence of his silent referee gave him a kind of
+comfort, though at the same time it disappointed him in
+some fantastical way, for he turned with a curious look of
+relief and vexation to his brother. "We need not be always
+thinking of it, even if this were to be the end," he said.
+"Come down the avenue with me, Frank, and let us talk
+of something else. The girls will grumble, but they can
+have you later: come, I want to hear about yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately the Squire got up when his sons did,
+which was by no means their intention; but Mr Wentworth
+was vexed and restless, and was not willing to let Gerald
+off so easily. If he were mad, at least he ought to be made
+duly wretched in his madness, Mr Wentworth thought;
+and he went out with them, and arrested the words on
+their lips. Somehow everything seemed to concur in hindering
+any appeal on the part of the Curate. And Gerald,
+like most imaginative men, had a power of dismissing his
+troubles after they had taken their will of him. It was he
+who took the conversation on himself when they went out
+of doors. Finding Frank slow in his report, Gerald went
+into all the country news for the instruction of his brother.
+He had been down to the very depths during the two
+previous days, and now he had come aloft again; for a man
+cannot be miserable every moment of his life, however
+heavy his burden may be. The "girls," whose anxieties
+had been much stimulated by the renewed conference
+held with closed doors in the library, stood watching them
+from one of the drawing-room windows. The boldest of the
+two had, indeed, got her hat to follow them, not comprehending
+why Frank should be monopolised for days
+together by anybody but herself, his favourite sister; but
+something in the aspect of the three men, when they first
+appeared under the lime-trees, had awed even the lively
+Letty out of her usual courage. "But Gerald is talking and
+laughing just as usual," she said, as she stood at the
+window dangling her hat in her hand&mdash;"more than usual,
+for he has been very glum all this spring. Poor fellow! I
+daresay Louisa worries him out of his life;" and with this
+easy conclusion the elder brother was dismissed by the
+girls. "Perhaps Frank is going to be married," said the
+other sister, who, under the lively spur of this idea, came
+back to the window to gaze at him again, and find out
+whether any intimation of this alarming possibility could
+be gathered from the fit of his long clerical coat, or his
+manner of walk, as he sauntered along under the limes.
+"As if a Perpetual Curate could marry!" said Letty, with
+scorn, who knew the world. As for little Janet, who was a
+tender-hearted little soul, she folded her two hands
+together, and looked at her brother's back with a great
+increase of interest. "If one loved him, one would not
+mind what he was," said the little maiden, who had been
+in some trouble herself, and understood about such matters.
+So the girls talked at their window, Mrs Wentworth being,
+as usual, occupied with her nursery, and nobody else at
+hand to teach them wisdom, and soon branched off into
+speculations about the post-bag, which was "due," and
+which, perhaps, was almost more interesting, to one of
+them at least, than even a brother who was going to be
+married.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean time Gerald was talking of Huxtable and
+Plumstead, the brother-in-law and cousin, who were both
+clergymen in the same district, and about the people in
+the village whom they had known when they were boys,
+and who never grew any older. "There is old Kilweed, for
+example, who was Methuselah in those days&mdash;he's not
+eighty yet," he said, with a smile and a sigh; "it is we who
+grow older and come nearer to the winter and the sunset.
+My father even has come down a long way off the awful
+eminence on which I used to behold him: every year that
+falls on my head seems to take one off his: if we both live
+long enough, we shall feel like contemporaries by-and-by,"
+said Gerald: "just now the advantage of years is all on
+my side; and you are my junior, sir." He was switching
+down the weeds among the grass with his cane as he
+spoke, like any schoolboy; the air, and perhaps a little
+excitement, had roused the blood to his cheek. He did
+not look the same man as the pale martyr in the library&mdash;not
+that he had any reason for appearing different, but
+only that inalienable poetic waywardness which kept him
+up through his trouble. As for Mr Wentworth, he resented
+the momentary brightening, which he took for levity.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought we came out here to prolong our discussion,"
+said the Squire. "I don't understand this light way of
+talking. If you mean what you have said, sir, I should
+never expect to see you smile more."</p>
+
+<p>"The smiling makes little difference," said Gerald; but
+he stopped short in his talk, and there was a pause among
+them till the postboy came up to them with his bag, which
+Mr Wentworth, with much importance, paused to open.
+The young men, who had no special interest in its contents,
+went on. Perhaps the absence of their father was a relief to
+them. They were nearer to each other, understood each
+other better than he could do; and they quickened their
+pace insensibly as they began to talk. It is easy to imagine
+what kind of talk it was&mdash;entire sympathy, yet disagreement
+wide as the poles&mdash;here for a few steps side by side,
+there darting off at the most opposite tangent; but they
+had begun to warm to it, and to forget everything else,
+when a succession of lusty hollos from the Squire brought
+them suddenly to themselves, and to a dead stop. When
+they looked round, he was making up to them with choleric
+strides. "What the deuce do you mean, sir, by having
+telegrams sent here?" cried Mr Wentworth, pitching at his
+son Frank an ominous ugly envelope, in blue and red,
+such as the unsophisticated mind naturally trembles at.
+"Beg your pardon, Gerald; but I never can keep my
+temper when I see a telegraph. I daresay it's something
+about Charley," said the old man, in a slightly husky voice&mdash;"to
+make up to us for inventing troubles." The Squire
+was a good deal disturbed by the sight of that ill-omened
+message; and it was the better way, as he knew by
+experience, to throw his excitement into the shape of
+anger rather than that of grief.</p>
+
+<p>"It's nothing about Charley," said Frank; and Mr
+Wentworth blew his nose violently and drew a long breath.
+"I don't understand it," said the Curate, who looked
+scared and pale; "it seems to be from Jack; though why <i>he</i>
+is in Carlingford, or what he has to do&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He's ill, sir, I suppose&mdash;dying; nothing else was to be
+looked for," said the Squire, and held out his hand, which
+trembled, for the telegram. "Stuff! why shouldn't I be
+able to bear it? Has he been any comfort to me? Can't you
+read it, one of you?" cried the old man.</p>
+
+<p>"'John Wentworth to the Reverend&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>"God bless my soul! can't you come to what he says?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Come back directly&mdash;you are wanted here; I am in
+trouble, as usual; and T.W.&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>Here the Squire took a step backwards, and set himself
+against a tree. "The sun comes in one's eyes," he said,
+rather feebly. "There's something poisonous in the air
+today. Here's Gerald going out of the Church; and here's
+Frank in Jack's secrets. God forgive him! Lads, it seems
+you think I've had enough of this world's good. My heir's
+a swindling villain, and you know it; and here's Frank
+going the same road too."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire did not hear the words that both the brothers
+addressed to him; he was unconscious of the Curate's
+disclaimer and eager explanation that he knew nothing
+about Jack, and could not understand his presence in
+Carlingford. The blow he had got the previous day had
+confused his brain outside, and these accumulated vexations
+had bewildered it within. "And I could have sworn by
+Frank!" said the old man, piteously, to himself, as he put
+up his hand unawares and tugged at the dainty starched
+cravat which was his pride. If they had not held him in
+their arms, he would have slid down at the foot of the tree,
+against which he had instinctively propped himself. The
+attack was less alarming to Gerald, who had seen it
+before, than to Frank, who had only heard of it; but the
+postboy was still within call, by good fortune, and was sent
+off for assistance. They carried him to the Hall, gasping
+for breath, and in a state of partial unconsciousness, but
+still feebly repeating those words which went to the
+Curate's heart&mdash;"I could have sworn by Frank!" The
+house was in a great fright and tumult, naturally, before
+they reached it, Mrs Wentworth fainting, the girls looking
+on in dismay, and the whole household moved to awe and
+alarm, knowing that one time or other Death would come
+so. As for the Curate of St Roque's, he had already made
+up his mind, with unexpected anguish, not only that his
+father was dying, but that his father would die under a
+fatal misconception about himself; and between this overwhelming
+thought, and the anxiety which nobody understood
+or could sympathise with respecting Jack's message,
+the young man was almost beside himself. He went away in
+utter despair from the anxious consultations of the family
+after the doctor had come, and kept walking up and down
+before the house, waiting to hear the worst, as he thought;
+but yet unable, even while his father lay dying, to keep
+from thinking what miserable chance, what folly or crime,
+had taken Jack to Carlingford, and what his brother could
+have to do with the owner of the initials named in his
+telegram. He was lost in this twofold trouble when Gerald
+came out to him with brightened looks.</p>
+
+<p>"He is coming round, and the doctor says there is no
+immediate danger," said Gerald; "and it is only immediate
+danger one is afraid of. He was as well as ever last time in
+a day or two. It is the complaint of the Wentworths, you
+know&mdash;we all die of it; but, Frank, tell me what is this
+about Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know no more than you do," said the Curate, when
+he had recovered himself a little. "I must go back, not
+having done much good here, to see."</p>
+
+<p>"And T.W.?" said Gerald. The elder brother looked at
+the younger suspiciously, as if he were afraid for him; and
+it was scarcely in human nature not to feel a momentary
+flash of resentment.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you I know nothing about it," said Frank, "except
+what is evident to any one, that Jack has gone to Carlingford
+in my absence, being in trouble somehow. I suppose
+he always is in trouble. I have not heard from him since I
+went there; but as it don't seem I can be of any use here,
+as soon as my father is safe, I will go back. Louisa
+imagined, you know&mdash;; but she was wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Gerald, quietly. That subject was concluded,
+and there was no more to say.</p>
+
+<p>The same evening, as the Squire continued to improve,
+and had been able to understand his energetic explanation
+that he was entirely ignorant of Jack's secrets, Frank
+Wentworth went back again with a very disturbed mind.
+He went into the Rectory as he passed down to the station,
+to say good-bye to Louisa, who was sitting in the drawing-room
+with her children round her, and her trouble considerably
+lightened, though there was no particular cause
+for it. Dressing for dinner had of itself a beneficial effect
+upon Louisa: she could not understand how a life could
+ever be changed which was so clearly ordained of Heaven;
+for if Gerald was not with her, what inducement could she
+possibly have to dress for dinner? and then what would be
+the good of all the pretty wardrobe with which Providence
+had endowed her? Must not Providence take care that its
+gifts were not thus wasted? So the world was once more set
+fast on its foundations, and the pillars of earth remained
+unshaken, when Frank glanced in on his way to the station
+to say good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be afraid, Louisa; I don't believe he would be
+allowed to do it," said the Curate in her ear. "The Church
+of Rome does not go in the face of nature. She will not
+take him away from you. Keep your heart at ease as much
+as you can. Good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean about Gerald. Oh, you don't <i>really</i> think he
+could ever have had the heart?" said Mrs Wentworth. "I
+am so sorry you are going away without any dinner or
+anything comfortable; and it was so good of you to come,
+and I feel so much better. I shall always be grateful to
+you, dear Frank, for showing Gerald his mistake; and tell
+dear aunt Dora I am so much obliged to her for thinking of
+the blanket for the bassinet. I am sure it will be lovely.
+Must you go? Good-bye. I am sure you have always been
+like my own brother&mdash;Frank, dear, good-bye. Come and
+kiss your dear uncle, children, and say good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>This was how Louisa dismissed him after all his efforts
+on her behalf. The girls were waiting for him on the road,
+still full of anxiety to know why he had come so suddenly,
+and was going away so soon. "We have not had half a peep
+of you," said Letty; "and it is wicked of you not to tell us;
+as if anybody could sympathise like your sisters&mdash;your
+very own sisters, Frank," said the young lady, with a
+pressure on his arm. In such a mixed family the words
+meant something.</p>
+
+<p>"We had made up our minds you had come to tell
+papa," said Janet, with her pretty shy look; "that was my
+guess&mdash;you might tell us her name, Frank."</p>
+
+<p>"Whose name?" said the unfortunate Curate; and the
+dazzling vision of Lucy Wodehouse's face, which came
+upon him at the moment, was such, that the reluctant
+blood rose high in his cheeks&mdash;which, of course, the girls
+were quick enough to perceive.</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>is</i> about some girl, after all," said Letty; "oh me! I did
+not think you had been like all the rest. I thought you had
+other things to think of. Janet may say what she likes&mdash;but I
+do think it's contemptible always to find out, when a man,
+who can do lots of things, is in trouble, that it's about some
+girl or other like one's self! I did not expect it of you, Frank&mdash;but
+all the same, tell us who she is?" said the favourite
+sister, clasping his arm confidentially, and dropping her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"There is the train. Good-bye, girls, and be sure you
+write to me to-morrow how my father is," said the Curate.
+He had taken his seat before they could ask further
+questions, and in a minute or two more was dashing out of
+the little station, catching their smiles and adieus as he
+went, and turning back last of all for another look at
+Gerald, who stood leaning on his stick, looking after the
+train, with the mist of preoccupation gathering again over
+his smiling eyes. The Curate went back to his corner after
+that, and lost himself in thoughts and anxieties still more
+painful. What had Jack to do in Carlingford? what connection
+had he with those initials, or how did he know their
+owner? All sorts of horrible fears came over the Curate of
+St Roque's. He had not seen his elder brother for years,
+and Jack's career was not one for the family to be proud
+of. Had he done something too terrible to be hidden&mdash;too
+clamorous to let his name drop out of remembrance, as
+was to be desired for the credit of the Wentworths? This
+speculation <ins title="original reads wiled">whiled</ins> the night away but drearily, as the
+Perpetual Curate went back to the unknown tide of cares
+which had surged in his absence into his momentarily
+abandoned place.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mr Wentworth</span> got back to Carlingford by a happy
+concurrence of trains before the town had gone to sleep. It
+was summer, when the days are at the longest, and the
+twilight was just falling into night as he took his way
+through George Street. He went along the familiar street
+with a certain terror of looking into people's faces whom
+he met, and of asking questions, such as was natural to a
+man who did not know whether something of public note
+might not have happened in his absence to call attention to
+his name. He imagined, indeed, that he did see a strange
+expression in the looks of the townsfolk he encountered on
+his way. He thought they looked at him askance as they
+made their salutations, and said something to each other
+after they passed, which, indeed, in several cases was true
+enough, though the cause was totally different from anything
+suspected by Mr Wentworth. Anxious to know, and
+yet unwilling to ask, it was with a certain relief that the
+Curate saw the light gleaming out from the open door of
+Elsworthy's shop as he approached. He went in and tossed
+down his travelling-bag on the counter, and threw himself
+on the solitary chair which stood outside for the accommodation
+of customers, with a suppressed excitement,
+which made his question sound abrupt and significant to
+the ears of Elsworthy. "Has anything happened since I
+went away?" said Mr Wentworth, throwing a glance round
+the shop which alarmed his faithful retainer. Somehow,
+though nothing was farther from his mind than little Rosa,
+or any thought of her, the Curate missed the pretty little
+figure at the first glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;no, sir; not much as I've heard of," said
+Elsworthy, with a little confusion. He was tying up his
+newspapers as usual, but it did not require the touch of
+suspicion and anxiety which gave sharpness to the Curate's
+eyes to make it apparent that the cord was trembling in Mr
+Elsworthy's hand. "I hope you've had a pleasant journey,
+sir, and a comfortable visit&mdash;it's been but short&mdash;but we
+always miss you in Carlingford, Mr Wentworth, if it was
+only for a day."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take my paper," said the young man, who was not
+satisfied&mdash;"so there's no news, isn't there?&mdash;all well, and
+everything going on as usual?" And the look which the
+suspicious Curate bent upon Mr Elsworthy made that
+virtuous individual, as he himself described it, "shake in
+his shoes."</p>
+
+<p>"Much as usual, sir," said the frightened clerk,&mdash;"nothing
+new as I hear of but gossip, and that aint a thing
+to interest a clergyman. There's always one report or
+another flying about, but them follies aint for your hearing.
+Nothing more," continued Mr Elsworthy, conscious of
+guilt, and presenting a very tremulous countenance to the
+inspection of his suspicious auditor, "not if it was my last
+word&mdash;nothing but gossip, as you wouldn't care to hear."</p>
+
+<p>"I might possibly care to hear if it concerned myself,"
+said the Curate,&mdash;"or anybody I am interested in," he
+added, after a little pause, with rather a forced smile&mdash;which
+convinced Mr Elsworthy that his clergyman had
+heard all about Rosa, and that the days of his incumbency
+as clerk of St Roque's were numbered.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, if you did hear, it aint no blame of mine,"
+said the injured bookseller; "such a notion would never
+have come into my mind&mdash;no man, I make bold to say, is
+more particular about keeping to his own rank of life nor
+me. What you did, sir, you did out of the kindness of your
+heart, and I'd sooner sell up and go off to the end of the
+world than impose upon a gentleman. Her aunt's took her
+away," continued Mr Elsworthy, lowering his voice, and
+cautiously pointing to the back of the shop&mdash;"She'll not
+bother you no more."</p>
+
+<p>"She!&mdash;who?" cried the Perpetual Curate, in sudden
+consternation. He was utterly bewildered by the introduction
+of a female actor into the little drama, and immediately
+ran over in his mind all the women he could think of who
+could, by any possibility, be involved in mysterious relations
+with his brother Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"She's but a child," said Elsworthy, pathetically; "she
+don't know nothing about the ways o' the world. If she was
+a bit proud o' being noticed, there wasn't no harm in that.
+But seeing as there's nothing in this world that folks won't
+make a talk of when they've started, her aunt, as is very
+partic'lar, has took her away. Not as I'm meaning no
+reproach to you, Mr Wentworth; but she's a loss to us, is
+Rosa. She was a cheerful little thing, say the worst of her,"
+said Mr Elsworthy; "going a-singing and a-chirping out and
+in the shop; and I won't deny as the place looks desolate,
+now she's away. But that aint neither here nor there. It
+was for her good, as my missis says. Most things as is
+unpleasant <i>is</i> sent for good, they tell me; and I wouldn't&mdash;not
+for any comfort to myself&mdash;have a talk got up about the
+clergyman&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>By this time Mr Wentworth had awakened to a sense of
+the real meaning of Elsworthy's talk. He sat upright on his
+chair, and looked into the face of the worthy shopkeeper
+until the poor man trembled. "A talk about the clergyman?"
+said the Curate. "About me, do you mean? and
+what has little Rosa to do with me? Have you gone crazy
+in Carlingford&mdash;what is the meaning of it all?" He sat with
+his elbows on the counter, looking at his trembling
+adherent&mdash;looking through and through him, as Elsworthy
+said. "I should be glad of an explanation; what does it
+mean?" said Mr Wentworth, with a look which there was
+no evading; and the clerk of St Roque's cast an anxious
+glance round him for help. He would have accepted it
+from any quarter at that overwhelming moment; but there
+was not even an errand-boy to divert from him the Curate's
+terrible eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I don't know&mdash;I&mdash;can't tell how it got up," said the
+unhappy man, who had not even his "missis" in the
+parlour as a moral support. "One thing as I know is, it
+wasn't no blame o' mine. I as good as went down on my
+knees to them three respected ladies when they come to
+inquire. I said as it was kindness in you a-seeing of the
+child home, and didn't mean nothing more. I ask you, sir,
+what could I do?" cried Mr Elsworthy. "Folks in Carlingford
+will talk o' two straws if they're a-seen a-blowing up
+Grange Lane on the same breath o' wind. I couldn't do no
+more nor contradict it," cried Rosa's guardian, getting
+excited in his self-defence; "and to save your feelings, Mr
+Wentworth, and put it out o' folks's power to talk, the
+missis has been and took her away."</p>
+
+<p>"To save my feelings!" said the Curate, with a laugh of
+contempt and vexation and impatience which it was not
+pleasant to hear. At another moment an accusation so
+ridiculous would have troubled him very little; but just now,
+with a sudden gleam of insight, he saw all the complications
+which might spring out of it to confuse further the
+path which he already felt to be so burdened. "I'll tell you
+what, Elsworthy," said Mr Wentworth; "if you don't want
+to make me your enemy instead of your friend, you'll send
+for this child instantly, without a day's delay. Tell your
+wife that my orders are that she should come back directly.
+<i>My</i> feelings! do the people in Carlingford think me an
+idiot, I wonder?" said the Curate, walking up and down to
+relieve his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir, I'm sure," said Elsworthy, who
+thought some answer was required of him. To tell the
+truth, Rosa's uncle felt a little spiteful. He did not see
+matters in exactly the same light as Mr Wentworth did. At
+the bottom of his heart, after all, lay a thrill of awakened
+ambition. Kings and princes had been known to marry far
+out of their degree for the sake of a beautiful face; and why
+a Perpetual Curate should be so much more lofty in his
+sentiments, puzzled and irritated the clerk of St Roque's.
+"There aint a worm but will turn when he's trod upon,"
+said Mr Elsworthy to himself; and when his temper was
+roused, he became impertinent, according to the manner
+of his kind.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth gave him a quick look, struck by the
+changed tone, but unable to make out whether it might
+not be stupidity. "You understand what I mean,
+Elsworthy," he said, with his loftiest air. "If Rosa does not
+return instantly, I shall be seriously offended. How you
+and your friends could be such utter idiots as to get up this
+ridiculous fiction, I can't conceive; but the sooner it's over
+the better. I expect to see her back to-morrow," said the
+Curate, taking up his bag and looking with an absolute
+despotism, which exasperated the man, in Elsworthy's
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"You may be sure, sir, if she knows as you want to see
+her, she'll come," said the worm which had been trampled
+on; "and them as asks me why, am I to say it was the
+clergyman's orders?" said Elsworthy, looking up in his
+turn with a consciousness of power. "That means a deal,
+does that. I wouldn't take it upon me to say as much, not
+of myself; but if them's your orders, Mr Wentworth&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It appears to me, Elsworthy," said the Curate, who
+was inwardly in a towering passion, though outwardly
+calm enough, "either that you've been drinking or that
+you mean to be impertinent&mdash;which is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Me!&mdash;drinking, sir?" cried the shopkeeper. "If I had
+been one as was given that way, I wouldn't have attended
+to your interests not as I have done. There aint another
+man in Carlingford as has stood up for his clergyman as I
+have; and as for little Rosa, sir, most folks as had right
+notions would have inquired into that; but being as I
+trusted in you, I wasn't the one to make any talk. I've said
+to everybody as has asked me that there wasn't nothing in
+it but kindness. I don't say as I hadn't my own thoughts&mdash;for
+gentlemen don't go walking up Grange Lane with a
+pretty little creature like that all for nothing; but instead o'
+making anything of that, or leading of you on, or putting it
+in the child's head to give you encouragement, what was it
+I did but send her away afore you came home, that you
+mightn't be led into temptation! And instead of feelin'
+grateful, you say I've been drinking! It's a thing as I scorn
+to answer," said Mr Elsworthy; "there aint no need to
+make any reply&mdash;all Carlingford knows <i>me</i>; but as for
+Rosa, if it is understood plain between us that it's your
+wish, I aint the man to interfere," continued Rosa's guardian,
+with a smile which drove the Curate frantic; "but she
+hasn't got no father, poor thing, and it's my business to
+look after her; and I'll not bring her back, Mr Wentworth,
+unless it's understood between us plain."</p>
+
+<p>Strong language, forcible, but unclerical, was on the
+Curate's lips, and it was only with an effort that he
+restrained himself. "Look here, Elsworthy," he said; "it
+will be better for you not to exasperate me. You understand
+perfectly what I mean. I repeat, Rosa must come
+back, and that instantly. It is quite unnecessary to explain
+to you why I insist upon this, for you comprehend it.
+Pshaw! don't let us have any more of this absurdity," he
+exclaimed, impatiently. "No more, I tell you. Your wife is
+not such a fool. Let anybody who inquires about me
+understand that I have come back, and am quite able to
+account for all my actions," said the Curate, shouldering
+his bag. He was just about leaving the shop when Elsworthy
+rushed after him in an access of alarm and repentance.</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, sir," cried the shopkeeper; "there aint
+no offence, Mr Wentworth? I am sure there aint nobody in
+Carlingford as means better, or would do as much for his
+clergyman. One moment, sir; there was one thing I forgot
+to mention. Mr Wodehouse, sir, has been took bad. There
+was a message up a couple of hours ago to know when you
+was expected home. He's had a stroke, and they don't
+think as he'll get over it&mdash;being a man of a full 'abit of
+body," said Mr Elsworthy in haste, lest the Curate should
+break in on his unfinished speech, "makes it dangerous.
+I've had my fears this long time past."</p>
+
+<p>"A stroke," said the Curate&mdash;"a fit, do you mean?
+When, and how? and, good heavens! to think that you
+have been wasting my time with rubbish, and knew this!"
+Mr Wentworth tossed down his travelling-bag again, and
+wiped his forehead nervously. He had forgotten his real
+anxiety in the irritation of the moment. Now it returned
+upon him with double force. "How did it come on?" he
+asked, "and when?" and stood waiting for the answer,
+with a world of other questions, which he could not put to
+Elsworthy, hanging on his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a deal of respect for that family, sir," said
+Elsworthy; "they have had troubles as few folks in Carlingford
+know of. How close they have kep' things, to be
+sure!&mdash;but not so close as them that has good memories,
+and can put two and two together, couldn't call to mind.
+My opinion, sir, if you believe me," said the clerk of St
+Roque's, approaching close to the Curate's ear, "is, that
+it's something concerning the son."</p>
+
+<p>"The son!" said Mr Wentworth, with a troubled look.
+Then, after a pause, he added, as if his exclamation had
+been an oversight, "What son? has Mr Wodehouse a son?"</p>
+
+<p>"To think as they should have been so close with the
+clergyman!" said Elsworthy, innocently; "though he aint
+no credit that they should talk of him. He's been gone out
+o' Carlingford nigh upon twenty year; but he aint dead for
+all that; and I'm told as he's been seen about Grange Lane
+this last spring. I am one as hears all the talk that's a-going
+on, being, as you might say, in a public position of life.
+Such a thing mightn't maybe come to your ears, sir?" he
+continued, looking inquisitively in Mr Wentworth's face;
+"but wherever he is, you may be sure it's something about
+him as has brought on this attack on the old man. It was
+last night as he was took so bad, and a couple of hours ago
+a message came up. Miss Wodehouse (as is the nicest lady
+in Grange Lane, and a great friend to me) had took a
+panic, and she was a-crying for you, the man said, and
+wouldn't take no denial. If I had known where you was to
+be found, I'd have sent word."</p>
+
+<p>"Send down my bag to my house," said the Curate,
+hastily interrupting him. "Good-night&mdash;don't forget what I
+said about the other matter." Mr Wentworth went out of
+the shop with a disagreeable impression that Elsworthy
+had been examining his face like an inquisitor, and was
+already forming conclusions from what he had seen there.
+He went away hurriedly, with a great many vague fears in
+his mind. Mr Wodehouse's sudden illness seemed to him a
+kind of repetition and echo of the Squire's, and in the
+troubled and uncertain state of his thoughts, he got to
+confusing them together in the centre of this whirl of
+unknown disaster and perplexity. Perhaps even thus it
+was not all bitterness to the young man to feel his family
+united with that of Lucy Wodehouse. He went down
+Grange Lane in the summer darkness under the faint
+stars, full of anxiety and alarm, yet not without a thrill in
+his heart, a sweeter under-current of conscious agitation in
+the knowledge that he was hastening to her presence.
+Sudden breaks in his thoughts revealed her, as if behind a
+curtain, rising to receive him, giving him her hand, meeting
+his look with a smile; so that, on the whole, neither Gerald's
+distress, nor Jack's alarming call, nor his father's attack,
+nor Mr Wodehouse's illness, nor the general atmosphere
+of vexation and trouble surrounding his way, could succeed
+in making the young man totally wretched. He had this
+little stronghold of his own to retire into. The world could
+not fall to pieces so long as he continued with eager steps
+to devour the road which led to Mr Wodehouse's garden-door.</p>
+
+<p>Before he had reached that goal, however, he met a
+group who were evidently returning from some little dinner
+in Grange Lane. Mr Wentworth took off his hat hastily in
+recognition of Mrs Morgan, who was walking by her
+husband's side, with a bright-coloured hood over her head
+instead of a bonnet. The Curate, who was a man of taste,
+could not help observing, even in the darkness, and amid
+all his preoccupations, how utterly the cherry-coloured
+trimmings of her head-dress were out of accordance with
+the serious countenance of the Rector's wife, who was a
+little heated with her walk. She was a good woman, but
+she was not fair to look upon; and it occurred to Mr
+Wentworth to wonder, if Lucy were to wait ten years for
+him, would the youthful grace dry and wither out of her
+like this! And then all at once another idea flashed upon
+his mind, without any wish of his. Like the unhappy lover
+in the ballad, he was suddenly aware of a temptation&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+ <p class="noindent">
+"How there looked him in the face<br />
+&nbsp;An angel beautiful and bright,<br />
+&nbsp;And how he knew it was a fiend."
+ </p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Of course the Rectory will go to Frank." He could not
+tell why at that moment the words rang into his ear with
+such a penetrating sound. That he hated himself for being
+able to think of such a possibility made no difference. It
+came darting and tingling into his mind like one of those
+suggestions of blasphemy which the devils whispered in
+Christian's ear as he went through the Valley of the
+Shadow of Death. He went on faster than ever to escape
+from it, scarcely observing that Mrs Morgan, instead of
+simply acknowledging his bow as she passed, stopped to
+shake hands, and to say how glad she was he had come
+back again. He thought of it afterwards with wonder and a
+strange gratitude. The Rector's wife was not like the
+conventional type of a pitying angel; and even had she
+been so, he had not time to recognise her at that moment
+as he went struggling with his demons to Mr Wodehouse's
+green door.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">When</span> the green door was opened, Mr Wentworth saw at a
+glance that there was agitation and trouble in the house.
+Lights were twinkling irregularly in the windows here and
+there, but the family apartment, the cheerful drawing-room,
+which generally threw its steady, cheerful blaze
+over the dark garden, shone but faintly with half-extinguished
+lights and undrawn curtains. It was evident at a
+glance that the room was deserted, and its usual occupants
+engaged elsewhere. "Master's very bad, sir," said the
+servant who opened the door; "the young ladies is both
+with him, and a hired nurse come in besides. The doctor
+don't seem to have no great hopes, but it will be a comfort
+to know as you have come back. Miss Wodehouse wanted
+you very bad an hour or two ago, for they thought as
+master was reviving, and could understand. I'll go and let
+them know you are here."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't disturb them, unless I can be of use," said Mr
+Wentworth. The look of the house, and the atmosphere of
+distress and anxiety about it, chilled him suddenly. His
+visions and hopes seemed guilty and selfish as he went
+slowly up those familiar steps and into the house, over
+which the shadow of death seemed already lying. He went
+by himself into the forsaken drawing-room, where two
+neglected candles were burning feebly in a corner, and the
+wistful sky looking in as if to ask why the domestic temple
+was thus left open and uncared for. After the first moment
+he went hastily to the windows, and drew down the blinds
+in a kind of tender impatience. He could not bear that
+anything in the world, even her father's danger, should
+discompose the sweet, good order of the place where
+Lucy's image dwelt. There was a chair and her basket of
+work, and on the little table a book marked with pencil-marks,
+such as youthful readers love to make; and by
+degrees that breath of Lucy lingering in the silent room
+overcame its dreariness, and the painful sense of desertion
+which had struck him at first. He hovered about that
+corner where her usual place was, feeling in his heart that
+Lucy in trouble was dearer, if possible, than Lucy in
+happiness, and hung over her chair, with a mixture of
+reverence and tenderness and yearning, which could
+never be expressed in words. It was the divinest phase of
+love which was in his mind at the moment; for he was not
+thinking of himself, but of her, and of how he could
+succour and comfort her, and interpose his own true heart
+and life between her and all trouble. It was at this moment
+that Lucy herself entered the room; she came in softly,
+and surprised him in the overflowing of his heart. She held
+out her hand to him as usual, and smiled, perhaps less
+brightly, but that of course arose from the circumstances
+of the house; and her voice was very measured and steady
+when she spoke, less variable than of old. What was it she
+said? Mr Wentworth unconsciously left the neighbourhood
+of that chair over which he had been bending, which, to
+tell the truth, he had leaned his head upon, lover-like, and
+perhaps even kissed for her sake, five minutes before, and
+grew red and grew pale with a strange revulsion and
+tumult of feeling. He could not tell what the difference
+was, or what it meant. He only felt in an instant, with a
+sense of the change that chilled him to the heart, as if
+somehow a wall of ice had risen between them. He could
+see her through the transparent veil, and hear her speak,
+and perceive the smile which cast no warmth of reflection
+on him; but in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
+everything in heaven and earth was changed. Lucy herself,
+to her own consciousness, trembled and faltered, and
+felt as if her voice and her looks must betray an amount of
+emotion which she would have died rather than show; but
+then Lucy had rehearsed this scene before, and knew all
+she intended by it; whereas upon the Curate, in his little
+flush and overflow of tenderness, it fell like a sudden
+earthquake, rending his fair edifice of happiness asunder,
+and casting him out into unexpected darkness. Sudden
+confusion, mortification, even a sense of injury and bitterness,
+came swelling over his heart as he set a chair for her
+as far away as possible from the corner in which he had
+been indulging such vain and unwarrantable dreams.</p>
+
+<p>"It happened yesterday," said Lucy; "we have not been
+quite able to make out what was the cause; at least <i>I</i> have
+not been able to find it out. The clerks at the office say it
+was something about&mdash;but that does not matter," she went
+on, with her sweet politeness: "you don't care for the
+details. I sometimes fancy Mary knows more than she tells
+me, and I think you are in her confidence, Mr Wentworth.
+But I am not going to ask you any questions. The doctors
+say he is not suffering so much as he seems to be. It is
+terrible to see him lie there not knowing any of us," said
+Lucy, with a tremble in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"But you thought him better some time ago?" said the
+Curate, whose words choked him, and who could not
+endure to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, about six o'clock," said Lucy, "he tried to speak,
+and put Mary in a great fright, I cannot tell why. Would
+you be good enough, Mr Wentworth," she went on hastily,
+with a strange mixture of earnestness and coldness, "if you
+know of anything she is keeping secret, to bid her tell me?
+I am able to bear anything there may be to bear&mdash;surely
+as well as she is, who has had no trouble," said Lucy,
+softly; and for a moment she wavered in her fixed composure,
+and the wall of ice moved as if it might fall.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor you?" said the Curate, bending anxiously forward
+to look into her eyes. He was inexpressibly moved and
+agitated by the inference, which perhaps no listener less
+intensely concerned would have drawn from what Lucy
+said. He could not bear that she should have any trouble
+which he might not do something to relieve her of.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, nor I," said Lucy, quickly, and in that moment
+the softening of tone disappeared entirely. "Mary will be
+pleased to see you, Mr Wentworth. I will go and relieve
+her presently. Papa is asleep just now, and I was down-stairs
+giving some directions when you came in. I wanted
+to ask you to look after that poor woman at No. 10. She
+still keeps living on, and I have not been able to see her
+today. She misses me when I don't go," said Lucy, with a
+very little unconscious sigh. "Would you see her, please,
+to-morrow, if you have time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly," said the Curate; and then there was a
+pause. "Is there nothing but this that you will let me do for
+you?" he asked, trusting to his looks to show the heart,
+which at this moment he was so much tempted to disclose
+to her, but dared not. And even in all her trouble Lucy
+was too much of a woman to neglect an opportunity so
+tempting.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," she said. "Yes, there are those poor little
+Bertrams I was to have seen today&mdash;if you would be so
+very good as to send some one to them." Lucy lifted her
+eyes only as she ended this little speech. She had meant it
+cruelly, to be sure, and the arrow had gone home; but
+when she met the look that was fixed on her after her little
+shaft was fired, Lucy's resolution faltered. The tears came
+rushing to her eyes so hot and rapid that she could not
+restrain them. Some trouble of her own gave poignancy to
+that outbreak of filial grief. "Papa is so very ill!" she said,
+with a sob, as a scalding drop fell upon her hand; and then
+got up suddenly, afraid of the consequences. But the
+Curate, mortified, wounded, and disheartened as he was,
+had no comprehension either of the bitterness or the
+relenting that was in Lucy's thoughts. Rosa Elsworthy did
+not so much as occur to him in all his confused wonderings.
+He went after her to the door, too much perplexed and
+distressed to be indignant, as his first impulse was. She
+turned half round, with a tremulous little inclination of her
+head, which was all the good-night she could venture on.
+But the young man was too much disturbed to permit this.</p>
+
+<p>"You will give me your hand, surely," he said, taking it,
+and holding it fast&mdash;a hand so different from that weak
+woman's hand that clung to Gerald without any force to
+hold him, in Wentworth Rectory. Those reluctant fingers,
+so firm and so soft, which scorned any struggle to withdraw
+themselves, but remained passive in his with a more
+effectual protest still against his grasp, wrung the very
+heart of the Perpetual Curate. He let them go with a sigh
+of vexation and disappointment. "Since that is all I can do,
+I will do it," he said&mdash;"that or anything else." She had left
+him almost before the words were said; and it was in a
+very disconsolate mood that he turned back into the
+deserted drawing-room. To tell the truth, he forgot everything
+else for the moment, asking himself what it could
+mean; and walked about stumbling over the chairs, feeling
+all his little edifice of personal consolation falling to the
+winds, and not caring much though everything else should
+follow. He was in this state of mind when Miss Wodehouse
+came to him, moving with noiseless steps, as everybody
+did in the stricken house.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Wentworth, I am so glad you have come," said
+that mild woman, holding out both her hands to him. She
+was too much agitated to say anything more. She was not
+equal to the emergency, or any emergency, but sank
+down on a chair, and relieved herself by tears, while the
+Curate stood anxiously by, waiting for what she had to say
+to him. "My father is very ill," she said, like Lucy,
+through her crying; "I don't know what good anybody can
+do; but thank God you've come home&mdash;now I shall feel I
+have somebody to apply to, whatever happens," said poor
+Miss Wodehouse, drying the eyes that were suffused
+again the next moment. Her helpless distress did not
+overwhelm the spectator, like Lucy's restrained trouble,
+but that was natural enough.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about it," said Mr Wentworth; "the cause&mdash;can
+I guess at the cause? it is something about your&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh hush! don't say his name," cried Miss Wodehouse.
+"Yes, yes, what else could it be? Oh, Mr Wentworth, will
+you close the door, please, and see that there's no one
+about. I dare not speak to you till I am sure there's no one
+listening; not that I suspect anybody of listening," said the
+distressed woman; "but one never knows. I am afraid it is
+all my fault," she continued, getting up suddenly to see
+that the windows were closed. "I ought to have sent him
+away, instead of putting my trouble upon you; and now he
+is in greater danger than ever. Oh, Mr Wentworth, I
+meant it for the best; and now, unless you can help us, I
+don't know what I am to do."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot help you unless you tell me what is wrong,"
+said the Curate, making her sit down, and drawing a chair
+close to her. He took her hand, by way of compelling her
+attention&mdash;a fair, soft hand, too, in its restless, anxious
+way. He held it in a brotherly grasp, trying to restore her
+to coherence, and induce her to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know enough about business to tell you," she
+said. "He was in danger when I threw him upon your
+charity; and oh, Mr Wentworth, thank you, thank you a
+thousand times, for taking him in like a brother. If Lucy
+only knew! But I don't feel as if I dared to tell her&mdash;and
+yet I sometimes think I ought, for your&mdash;I mean for all our
+sakes. Yes, I will try to explain it if I can; but I can't&mdash;indeed
+I don't understand," cried the poor lady, in despair.
+"It is something about a bill&mdash;it was something about
+a bill before; and I thought I could soften papa, and
+persuade him to be merciful; but it has all turned to
+greater wretchedness and misery. The first one was paid,
+you know, and I thought papa might relent;&mdash;but&mdash;don't cast
+us off, Mr Wentworth&mdash;don't go and denounce him; you
+might, but you will not. It would be justice, I acknowledge,"
+cried the weeping woman; "but there is something higher
+than justice even in this world. You are younger than I am,
+and so is Lucy; but you are better than me, you young
+people, and you must be more merciful too. I have seen you
+going among the poor people and among the sick, and I
+could not have done it; and you won't forsake me&mdash;oh, Mr
+Wentworth, you won't forsake me, when you know that my
+trouble is greater than I can bear!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not forsake you," said the Curate; "but tell me
+what it is. I have been summoned to Carlingford by my
+brother, and I am bewildered and disturbed beyond what
+I can tell you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"By your brother?" said Miss Wodehouse, with her
+unfailing instinct of interest in other people. "I hope there
+is no trouble in your own family, Mr Wentworth. One gets
+so selfish when one is in great distress. I hope he is not ill.
+It sounds as if there was comfort in the very name of a
+brother," said the gentle woman, drying her tears, "and I
+hope it is so with you; but it isn't always so. I hope you will
+find he is better when you get home. I am very, very sorry
+to hear that you are in trouble too."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth got up from his chair with a sigh of
+impatience. "Will nobody tell me what is the matter?" he
+said. "Mr Wodehouse is ill, and there is some mysterious
+cause for it; and you are miserable, and there is a cause for
+that too; and I am to do something to set things right
+without knowing what is wrong. Will you not tell me?
+What is it? Has your&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't say anybody's name&mdash;don't
+speak so loud. There may be a servant in the staircase or
+something," cried Miss Wodehouse. "I hear somebody
+coming now." She got up to listen, her face growing white
+with panic, and went a few steps towards the door, and
+then tottered into another chair, unable to command herself.
+A certain sick thrill of apprehension came over the Curate,
+too, as he hastened forward. He could not tell what he
+was afraid of, or whether it was only the accumulated
+agitation of the day that made him weak. Somebody
+was coming up the stairs, and towards the room, with
+a footstep more careless than those stealthy steps with
+which all the servants were stealing about the house.
+Whoever he was, he stopped at the door a moment, and
+then looked cautiously in. When he saw the figure of the
+Curate in the imperfect light, he withdrew his head again
+as if deliberating with himself, and then, with a sudden
+rush, came in, and shut the door after him. "Confound
+these servants, they're always prowling about the house,"
+said the new-comer. He was an alarming apparition in his
+great beard and his shabbiness, and the fugitive look he
+had. "I couldn't help it," he broke forth, with a spontaneous
+burst of apology and self-defence. "I heard he was
+ill, and I couldn't keep quiet. How is he? You don't mean
+to say <i>that's</i> my fault. Molly, can't you speak to me? How
+could I tell I should find you and the parson alone here,
+and all safe? I might have been risking my&mdash;my&mdash;freedom&mdash;everything
+I care for; but when I heard he was ill, I
+couldn't stay quiet. Is he dying?&mdash;what's the matter?
+Molly, can't you speak?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Wentworth, somebody will see him," cried
+Miss Wodehouse, wringing her hands. "Oh Tom, Tom,
+how could you do it? Suppose somebody was to come in&mdash;John
+or somebody. If you care for your own life, oh, go
+away, go away!"</p>
+
+<p>"They can't touch my life," said the stranger, sullenly.
+"I daresay she doesn't know that. Nor the parson need not
+look superior&mdash;there are more people concerned than I;
+but if I've risked everything to hear, you may surely tell
+me how the old man is."</p>
+
+<p>"If it was love that brought you," said poor Miss Wodehouse;
+"but oh, Tom, you know I can't believe that. He is
+very, very ill; and it is you that have done it," cried the
+mild woman, in a little gush of passion&mdash;"you whom he
+has forgiven and forgiven till his heart is sick. Go away, I
+tell you, go away from the house that you have shamed.
+Oh, Mr Wentworth, take him away," she cried, turning to
+the Curate with clasped hands&mdash;"tell him to hide&mdash;to fly&mdash;or
+he'll be taken: he will not be forgiven this time; and if
+my father&mdash;if my dear father dies&mdash;" But when she got so
+far her agitation interrupted her. She kept her eyes upon
+the door with a wild look of terror, and waved her helpless
+hands to warn the intruder away.</p>
+
+<p>"If he dies, matters will be altered," said the stranger:
+"you and I might change places then, for that matter. I'm
+going away from Carlingford. I can't stay in such a
+wretched hole any longer. It's gout or something?" said
+the man, with a tone of nature breaking through his
+bravado&mdash;"it's not anything that has happened? Say so,
+and I'll never trouble you more."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if Lucy were to see him!" said poor Miss Wodehouse.
+The words came unawares out of her heart without
+any thought; but the next thing of which she was conscious
+was that the Perpetual Curate had laid his hand on the
+stranger's arm, and was leading him reluctantly away. "I
+will tell you all you want to know," said Mr Wentworth,
+"but not here;" and with his hand upon the other's arm,
+moved him somehow with an irresistible command, half
+physical, half mental, to the door. Before Miss Wodehouse
+could say anything they were gone; before she could
+venture to draw that long sighing breath of relief, she
+heard the door below close, and the retreating footsteps in
+the garden. But the sound, thankful though she was,
+moved her to another burst of bitter tears. "To think I
+should have to tell a stranger to take him away," she
+sobbed, out of the anguish of her heart; and sat weeping
+over him with a relenting that wrung her tender spirit,
+without power to move till the servant came up with
+alarmed looks to ask if any one had come in in his absence.
+"Oh, no; it was only Mr Wentworth&mdash;and a&mdash;gentleman
+who came to fetch him," said Miss Wodehouse. And she
+got up, trembling as she was, and told John he had better
+shut up the house and go to bed. "For I hope papa will
+have a better night, and we must not waste our strength,"
+she said, with a kind of woeful smile, which was a wonder
+to John. He said Miss Wodehouse was a tender-hearted
+one, to be sure, when he went down-stairs; but that was no
+very novel piece of information to anybody there.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the Curate went down Grange Lane with that
+strange lodger of Mrs Hadwin's, who had broken thus into
+Miss Wodehouse's solitude. They did not say much to
+each other as they went sullenly side by side down the
+silent road; for the stranger, whose feelings were not
+complicated by any very lively sense of gratitude, looked
+upon his companion as a kind of jailer, and had an
+unspeakable grudge against the man who exercised so
+calm an ascendancy over him; though to be sure it might
+have been difficult to resist the moral force of the Curate
+of St Roque's, who was three inches taller than himself,
+and had the unbroken vigour of youth and health to back
+him. As for Mr Wentworth, he went on without speaking,
+with a bitterness in his heart not to be expressed. His own
+personal stronghold of happiness and consolation had shattered
+in pieces in that evening's interview; and as he went
+to his own house he asked himself what he should find in it?
+This wretched man, with whose sins he had been hitherto
+but partially acquainted; and Jack, with whom the other
+had heaven knew what horrible connection. Should he
+find a den of thieves where he had left only high thoughts
+and lofty intentions? It was thus, after his three days'
+absence, that he returned home.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">When</span> Mr Wentworth entered Mrs Hadwin's garden in
+the dark, his first glance up at the house showed him that a
+certain change had passed on it also. The decorous little
+house had been turned inside out. The windows of his own
+sitting-room were open, the blind drawn up to the top, and
+in addition to his usual lamp some candles were flaring
+wildly in the draught. He could see into the room as he
+paused at the garden-door, and was able to distinguish
+that the table was still covered as for dinner, and to catch
+the purple gleam of the light in the claret-jug which
+occupied the place of honour; but nobody was visible in
+the room. That wildly-illuminated and open apartment
+stood in strange contrast with the rest of the house, where
+everything was dark, save in Mrs Hadwin's own chamber.
+The Curate proceeded on his way, after that moment's
+pause, with hasty and impatient steps. On the way up he
+encountered Sarah the housemaid, who stopped in the
+middle of the stairs to make a frightened little curtsy, and
+utter an alarmed "La!" of recognition and surprise. But
+Sarah turned round as soon as she had recovered herself,
+to say that her missis wanted very bad to see Mr Wentworth
+as soon as he came home; but she was gone up to
+bed now, and didn't he think it would be a pity to wake
+her up? The Curate gave her only a little nod of general
+acquiescence, as he hurried on; but felt, notwithstanding,
+that this prompt request, ready prepared for his arrival,
+was a tacit protest against his guests, and expression of disapproval.
+Mrs Hadwin was only his landlady, an old woman,
+and not a particularly wise one, but her disapproval
+vexed the Perpetual Curate. It was a kind of sign of
+the times&mdash;those times in which it appeared that everybody
+was ready to turn upon him and embarrass his path.
+He had forgotten all about his companion as he hurried
+into the familiar room which was so little like itself, but yet
+was somehow conscious with annoyance that the stranger
+followed him through its half-shut door. The scene within
+was one which was never effaced from Mr Wentworth's
+memory. There were several bottles upon the table, which
+the poor Curate knew by sight, and which had been
+collected in his little cellar more for the benefit of Wharfside
+than of himself. Removed out of the current of air
+which was playing freely through the apartment, was
+some one lying on a sofa, with candles burning on a table
+beside him. He was in a dressing-gown, with his shirt open
+at the throat, and his languid frame extended in perfect
+repose to catch the refreshment of the breeze. Clouds of
+languid smoke, which were too far out of the way to feel
+the draught between the windows, curled over him: he
+had a cigar in one hand, which he had just taken from his
+lips, and with which he was faintly waving off a big night-moth
+which had been attracted by the lights; and a French
+novel, unmistakable in its paper cover, had closed upon
+the other. Altogether a more languid figure never lay at
+rest in undisturbed possession of the most legitimate
+retirement. He had the Wentworth hair, the golden-brown,
+which, like all their other family features, even
+down to their illnesses, the race was proud of, and a
+handsome silky beard. He had lived a hard life of pleasure
+and punishment; but though he had reached middle age,
+there was not a hair on the handsome reprobate's head
+which had changed out of its original colour. He looked
+languidly up when the door opened, but did not stop the
+delicate fence which he was carrying on against the moth,
+nor the polyglot oaths which he was swearing at it softly
+half under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank, I suppose," he said, calmly, as the Curate
+came hastily forward. "How d'ye do? I am very glad
+you've come back. The country was very charming the
+first day, but that's a charm that doesn't last. I suppose
+you've dined: or will you ring and order something?" he
+said, turning slowly round on his sofa. "Accidente! the
+thing will kill itself after all. Would you mind catching it in
+your handkerchief before you sit down? But don't take
+away the candles. It's too late to make any exertion," said
+the elegant prodigal, leaning back languidly on his sofa;
+"but I assure you that light is half my life."</p>
+
+<p>The Curate was tired, heated, and indignant. He lifted
+the candles away from the table, and then put them back
+again, too much excited to think of the moth. "Your
+arrival must have been very sudden," he said, throwing
+himself into the nearest chair. "I was very much surprised
+by your message. It looks inhospitable, but I see you
+make yourself quite at home&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly," said the elder brother, resuming his cigar.
+"I always do. It is much more agreeable for all parties.
+But I don't know how it is that a man's younger brothers
+are always so rapid and unreasonable in their movements.
+Instead of saving that unhappy insect, you have precipitated
+its fate. Poor thing&mdash;and it had no soul," said the
+intruder, with a tone of pathos. The scene altogether was a
+curious one. Snugly sheltered from the draught, but
+enjoying the coolness of the atmosphere which it produced,
+lay the figure on the sofa at perfect ease and leisure, with
+the light shed brightly upon him, on his shining beard, the
+white cool expanse of linen at his breast, and the bright
+hues of his dressing-gown. Near him, fatigued, dusty,
+indignant, and perplexed, sat the Curate, with the night
+air playing upon him, and moving his disordered hair on
+his forehead; while at the other end of the room hovered
+the stranger who had followed Mr Wentworth&mdash;a broad,
+shabby, indistinct figure, who stood with his back to the
+others, looking vaguely out of the window into the darkness.
+Over these two the night air blew with no small force
+between the open windows, making the candles on the
+centre table flare wildly, and flapping the white tablecloth.
+An occasional puff from the cigar floated now and then
+across the room. It was a pause before the storm.</p>
+
+<p>"I was about to say," said the Perpetual Curate, "that
+though it might seem inhospitable, the first thing I had to
+ask was, What brought you here&mdash;and why did you send
+for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be abrupt, pray," said Jack, taking his cigar
+from his mouth, and slightly waving the hand that held it.
+"Don't let us plunge into business all at once. You bring a
+sense of fatigue into the room with you, and the atmosphere
+was delightful a little while ago. I flatter myself I know
+how to enjoy the cool of the evening. Suppose you were to&mdash;ah&mdash;refresh
+yourself a little," he said, with a disapproving
+glance at his brother's dusty boots, "before we begin to
+talk of our affairs."</p>
+
+<p>The Curate of St Roque's got up from his chair, feeling
+that he had an unchristian inclination to kick the heir of
+the Wentworths. As he could not do that, he shut the
+window behind him emphatically, and extinguished the
+flaring candles on the centre table. "I detest a draught,"
+said the Perpetual Curate, which, unfortunately, was not
+a statement entirely founded on fact, though so far true in
+the present instance that he hated anything originated by
+the intruder. "I have hurried home in reply to your
+message, and I should be glad to know what it means, now
+that I am here&mdash;what you are in trouble about&mdash;and why
+you come to me&mdash;and what you have to do with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"But you need not have deranged the temperature,"
+said Jack. "Impetuosity always distresses me. All these
+are questions which it will take some time to answer. Let
+me persuade you, in the first place, to make yourself
+comfortable. Don't mind me; I am at the crisis of my
+novel, which is very interesting. I have just been thinking
+how it might be adapted for the stage&mdash;there's a character
+that Fechter could make anything of. Now, my dear
+fellow, don't stand on ceremony. Take a bath and change
+your dress, and in the mean time there will be time to cook
+something&mdash;the cookery here is not bad for the country.
+After that we'll discuss all our news. I daresay our friend
+there is in no hurry," said the elder brother, opening his
+book and puffing slowly towards the Curate the languid
+smoke of his cigar.</p>
+
+<p>"But, by Jove, I <i>am</i> in a hurry, though," said that
+nameless individual, coming forward. "It's all very well
+for you: you put a man up to everything that's dangerous,
+and then you leave him in the lurch, and say it don't
+matter. I daresay it don't matter to you. All that you've
+done has been to share the profit&mdash;you've nothing to do
+with the danger; but I'm savage to-night, and I don't mean
+to stand it any more," said the stranger, his great chest
+expanding with a panting breath. He, too, looked as if he
+would have liked to seize the languid spectator in his
+teeth and shake some human feeling into him. Jack
+Wentworth raised his eyebrows and looked at him, as he
+might have looked at a wild beast in a rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down, savage, and be quiet," he said. "Why should
+I trouble myself about you?&mdash;any fool could get into your
+scrape. I am not in the habit of interfering in a case of
+common crime. What I do, I do out of pity," he continued,
+with an air of superiority, quite different from his tone to
+his brother. But this look, which had answered before,
+was not successful to-night.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove, I <i>am</i> savage!" said the other, setting his
+teeth, "and I know enough of your ways to teach you
+different behaviour. The parson has treated me like a
+gentleman&mdash;like what I used to be, though he don't like
+me; but you!&mdash;By Jove! It was only my own name I signed,
+after all," he continued, after a pause, lowering his voice;
+"but you, you blackleg&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop a little," said the Curate, rising up. "Though you
+seem both to have forgotten it, this is my room. I don't
+mean to have any altercations here. I have taken you in
+for the sake of your&mdash;family," said Mr Wentworth, with a
+momentary gasp, "and you have come because you are
+my brother. I don't deny any natural claims upon me; but
+I am master of my own house and my own leisure. Get up,
+Jack, and tell me what you want. When I understand
+what it is, you can lounge at your will; but in the mean
+time get up and explain: and as for you, Wodehouse&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Jack Wentworth faced round on his sofa, and then, with
+a kind of involuntary motion, slid his feet to the ground.
+He looked at his brother with extreme amazement as he
+closed his novel and tossed away the end of his cigar. "It's
+much better not to mention names," he said, in a half-apologetic
+way. "Our friend here is under a temporary
+cloud. His name, in fact, is&mdash;Smith, I think." But as he
+spoke he sat upright, a little startled to find that Frank,
+whom he remembered only as a lad, was no longer to be
+coerced and concussed. As for the other, he came forward
+with the alacrity of a man who began to see some hope.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove, my name <i>is</i> Wodehouse, though," he said, in
+the argumentative tone which seemed habitual to him; his
+voice came low and grumbling through his beard. He was
+not of the class of triumphant sinners, whatever wickedness
+he might be capable of. To tell the truth, he had long,
+long ago fallen out of the butterfly stage of dissipation, and
+had now to be the doer of dirty work, despised and hustled
+about by such men as Jack Wentworth. The wages of sin
+had long been bitter enough, though he had neither any
+hope of freeing himself, nor any wish to do so; but he took
+up a grumbling tone of self-assertion as soon as he had an
+opening. "The parson treats me like a gentleman&mdash;like
+what I used to be," he repeated, coming into the light, and
+drawing a chair towards the table. "My name is Wodehouse&mdash;it's
+my own name that I have signed after all, by Jove!"
+said the unlucky prodigal. It seemed to give him a little
+comfort to say that over again, as if to convince himself.</p>
+
+<p>"As for Wodehouse, I partly understand what he has
+done," said the Curate. "It appears likely that he has killed
+his father, by the way; but I suppose you don't count that.
+It is forgery in the mean time; I understand as much."</p>
+
+<p>"It's my name as well as his, by Jove!" interrupted,
+hastily, the stranger, under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Such strong terms are unnecessary," said Jack;
+"everybody knows that bills are drawn to be renewed, and
+nursed, and taken care of. We've had a great failure in
+luck as it happens, and these ones have come down to this
+deuced place; and the old fellow, instead of paying them
+like a gentleman, has made a row, and dropped down
+dead, or something. I suppose you don't know any more
+than the women have told you. The old man made a row
+in the office, and went off in fire and flame, and gave up
+our friend here to his partner's tender mercies. I sent for
+you, as you've taken charge of him. I suppose you have
+your reasons. This is an unlikely corner to find him in, and
+I suppose he couldn't be safer anywhere. That's about the
+state of the case. I came down to look after him, out of
+kind feeling," said the heir of the Wentworths. "If you
+don't mean to eat any dinner, have a cigar."</p>
+
+<p>"And what have you to do with each other? what is the
+connection between you?" said the Curate of St Roque's.
+"I have my reasons, as you say, for taking an interest in him&mdash;but
+you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am only your elder brother," said Jack, shrugging his
+shoulders and resuming his place on the sofa. "We understand
+that difference. Business connection&mdash;that's all," he
+said, leisurely selecting another cigar from his case. When
+he had lighted it, he turned round and fixed his eyes upon
+the stranger. "We don't want any harm to happen to
+him," he said, with a little emphasis. "I have come here to
+protect him. If he keeps quiet and doesn't show, it will
+blow over. The keenest spy in the place could scarcely
+suspect him to be here. I have come entirely on his
+account&mdash;much to my own disgust&mdash;and yours," said the
+exquisite, with another shrug. He laid back his head and
+looked up at the ceiling, contemplating the fragrant
+wreaths of smoke with the air of a man perfectly at his
+ease. "We don't mean him to come to any harm," said
+Jack Wentworth, and stretched out his elegant limbs on
+the sofa, like a potentate satisfied that his protection was
+enough to make any man secure.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm too much in their secrets, by Jove!" said poor
+Wodehouse, in his beard. "I <i>do</i> know their secrets, though
+they talk so big. It's not any consideration for me. It's to
+save themselves, by Jove, that's what it is!" cried the
+indignant drudge, of whom his superior deigned to take no
+notice. As for Mr Wentworth, he rose from his seat in a
+state of suppressed indignation, which could not express
+itself merely in words.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask what share I am expected to play in the
+drama?" he asked, pushing his chair aside in his excitement.
+The elder brother turned instinctively, and once
+more slid his feet to the ground. They looked at each other
+for a moment; the Curate, pale with a passion which he
+could not conceal, had something in his eyes which brought
+shame even to Jack Wentworth's face.</p>
+
+<p>"You can betray him if you like," he said, sulkily. "I
+have no&mdash;particular interest in the matter; but in that case
+he had better make the best of his time and get away. You
+hear?" said the master-spirit, making a sign to Wodehouse.
+He had roused himself up, and looked now like a feline
+creature preparing for a spring&mdash;his eyes were cast down,
+but under the eyelids he followed his brother's movements
+with vigilant observation. "If you like, you can betray
+him," he repeated, slowly, understanding, as bad men so
+often do, the generosities of the nature to which his own
+was so much opposed.</p>
+
+<p>And perhaps there was an undue degree of exasperation
+in the indignant feelings which moved Mr Wentworth. He
+kicked off his dusty boots with an indecorum quite unusual
+to him, and hunted up his slippers out of the adjoining
+room with perhaps an unnecessary amount of noise and
+haste. Then he went and looked out of the window into the
+serene summer darkness and the dewy garden, getting a
+little fresh air upon his heated face. Last of all he came
+back, peremptory and decided. "I shall not betray him,"
+said the Perpetual Curate; "but I will have no further
+schemes concocted nor villany carried on in my house. If
+I consent to shield him, and, if possible, save him from the
+law, it is neither for his sake&mdash;nor yours," said the
+indignant young man. "I suppose it is no use saying
+anything about your life; but both of you have fathers
+very like to die of this&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," said Jack Wentworth, "we have gone
+through that phase ages ago. Don't be so much after date.
+I have brought down my father's grey hairs, &amp;c., a hundred
+times; and, I daresay, so has he. Don't treat us as if we
+were in the nursery&mdash;a parson of advanced views like you
+should have something a little more novel to say."</p>
+
+<p>"And so I have," said Mr Wentworth, with a heightened
+colour. "There are capital rooms at the Blue Boar, which
+you will find very comfortable, I am sure. I don't
+remember that we have ever been more than acquaintances;
+and to take possession of a man's house in his
+absence argues a high degree of friendship, as you are
+aware. It will be with difficulty that I shall find room for
+myself to-night; but to-morrow, I trust, if business requires
+you to remain in Carlingford, you will be able to find
+accommodation at the Blue Boar."</p>
+
+<p>The elder brother grew very red all over his face. "I will
+go at once," he said, with a little start; and then he took a
+second thought. "It is a poor sort of way of winning a
+victory," he said, in contemptuous tones, after he had
+overcome his first impulse; "but if you choose that, it is no
+matter to me. I'll go to-morrow, as you say&mdash;to pack up
+to-night is too much for my energies. In the mean time it
+won't disturb you, I hope, if I go on with my novel. I don't
+suppose any further civilities are necessary between you
+and me," said Jack, once more putting up his feet on the
+sofa. He arranged himself with an indifference which was
+too genuine for bravado, opening his book, and puffing his
+cigar with great coolness. He did all but turn his back upon
+the others, and drew the little table nearer to him, in utter
+disregard of the fact that the Curate was leaning his arm
+on it. In short, he retired from the contest with a kind of
+grandeur, with his cigar and his novel, and the candles
+which lighted him up placidly, and made him look like the
+master of the house and the situation. There was a pause
+for some minutes, during which the others looked on&mdash;Mr
+Wentworth with a perfectly unreasonable sense of defeat,
+and poor Wodehouse with that strange kind of admiration
+which an unsuccessful good-for-nothing naturally feels for
+a triumphant rascal. They were in the shade looking on,
+and he in the light enjoying himself calmly in his way. The
+sight put an end to various twinges of repentance in the
+bosom of the inferior sinner. Jack Wentworth, lying on the
+sofa in superb indifference, victorious over all sense of
+right, did more to confirm his humble admirer in the life
+which he had almost made up his mind to abandon, than
+even his own inclination towards forbidden pleasure. He
+was dazzled by the success of his principal; and in comparison
+with that instructive sight, his father's probable
+deathbed, his sisters' tears, and even his own present
+discomfort, faded into insignificance. What Jack
+Wentworth was, Tom Wodehouse could never be; but at
+least he could follow his great model humbly and afar off.
+These sentiments made him receive but sulkily the
+admonitions of the Curate, when he led the way out of the
+preoccupied sitting-room; for Mr Wentworth was certainly
+not the victor in this passage of arms.</p>
+
+<p>"I will do what I can to help you out of this," said the
+Curate, pausing within the door of Wodehouse's room,
+"for the sake of your&mdash;friends. But look here, Wodehouse;
+I have not preached to you hitherto, and I don't mean to
+do so now. When a man has done a crime, he is generally
+past preaching. The law will punish you for forging your
+father's name&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It's <i>my</i> name as well as his, by Jove!" interrupted the
+culprit, sullenly; "I've a right to sign it wherever I please."</p>
+
+<p>"But the law," said Mr Wentworth, with emphasis, "has
+nothing to do with the breaking of your father's heart. If
+he dies, think whether the recollection will be a comfortable
+one. I will save you, if I can, and there is time,
+though I am compromised already, and it may do me
+serious injury. If you get free and are cleared from this,
+will you go away and break off your connection with&mdash;yes,
+you are quite right&mdash;I mean with my brother, whatever
+the connection may be? I will only exert myself for you on
+condition that you promise. You will go away somehow,
+and break off your old habits, and try if it is possible to
+begin anew?"</p>
+
+<p>Wodehouse paused before he answered. The vision of
+Jack in the Curate's sitting-room still dazzled him. "You
+daren't say as much to your brother as you say to me," he
+replied, after a while, in his sulky way; "but I'm a
+gentleman, by Jove, as well as he is." And he threw
+himself down in a chair, and bit his nails, and grumbled
+into his beard. "It's hard to ask a fellow to give up his
+liberty," he said, without lifting his eyes. Mr Wentworth,
+perhaps, was a little contemptuous of the sullen wretch
+who already had involved him in so much annoyance and
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"You can take your choice," he said; "the law will
+respect your liberty less than I shall;" and all the Curate's
+self-control could not conceal a certain amount of disdain.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove!" said Wodehouse, lifting up his eyes, "if the
+old man should die, you'd change your tone;" and then he
+stopped short and looked suspiciously at the Curate.
+"There's no will, and I'm the heir," he said, with sullen
+braggadocio. Mr Wentworth was still young, and this look
+made him sick with disgust and indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you can take your chance," he said, impatiently,
+making a hasty step to the door. He would not return,
+though his ungrateful guest called him back, but went
+away, much excited and disgusted, to see if the fresh air
+outside would restore his composure. On his way down-stairs,
+he again met Sarah, who was hovering about in a
+restless state of curiosity. "I've made a bed for you,
+please, sir, in the little dressing-room," said Sarah; "and,
+please, Cook wants to know, wouldn't you have anything
+to eat?" The question reminded Mr Wentworth that he
+had eaten nothing since luncheon, which he took in his
+father's house. Human nature, which can bear great blows
+with elasticity so wonderful, is apt to be put out, as
+everybody knows, by their most trifling accessories, and a
+man naturally feels miserable when he had had no dinner,
+and has not a place to shelter him while he snatches a
+necessary mouthful. "Never mind; all the rooms are
+occupied to-night," said the Perpetual Curate, feeling
+thoroughly wretched. But Cook and Sarah had arranged
+all that, being naturally indignant that their favourite
+clergyman should be put "upon" by his disorderly and
+unexpected guests.</p>
+
+<p>"I have set your tray, sir, in missis's parlour," said
+Sarah, opening the door to that sanctuary; and it is
+impossible to describe the sense of relief with which the
+Perpetual Curate flung himself down on Mrs Hadwin's
+sofa, deranging a quantity of cushions and elaborate
+crochet-work draperies without knowing it. Here at least
+he was safe from intrusion. But his reflections were far
+from being agreeable as he ate his beef-steak. Here he
+was, without any fault of his own, plunged into the midst
+of a complication of disgrace and vice. Perhaps already
+the name of Lucy Wodehouse was branded with her
+brother's shame; perhaps still more overwhelming infamy
+might overtake, through that means, the heir and the
+name of the Wentworths. And for himself, what he had to
+do was to attempt with all his powers to defeat justice, and
+save from punishment a criminal for whom it was impossible
+to feel either sympathy or hope. When he thought of
+Jack up-stairs on the sofa over his French novel, the heart
+of the Curate burned within him with indignation and
+resentment; and his disgust at his other guest was, if less
+intense, an equally painful sensation. It was hard to
+waste his strength, and perhaps compromise his character,
+for such men as these; but on the other hand he saw his
+father, with that malady of the Wentworths hanging over
+his head, doing his best to live and last, like a courageous
+English gentleman as he was, for the sake of "the girls"
+and the little children, who had so little to expect from
+Jack; and poor stupid Mr Wodehouse dying of the crime
+which assailed his own credit as well as his son's safety.
+The Curate of St Roque's drew a long breath, and raised
+himself up unconsciously to his full height as he rose to go
+up-stairs. It was he against the world at the moment, as it
+appeared. He set himself to his uncongenial work with a
+heart that revolted against the evil cause of which he was
+about to constitute himself the champion. But for the
+Squire, who had misjudged him&mdash;for Lucy who had
+received him with such icy smiles, and closed up her heart
+against his entrance;&mdash;sometimes there is a kind of bitter
+sweetness in the thought of spending love and life in one
+lavish and prodigal outburst upon those to whom our
+hearts are bound, but whose affections make us no return.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> Curate went to breakfast next morning with a little
+curiosity and a great deal of painful feeling. He had been
+inhospitable to his brother, and a revulsion had happened
+such as happens invariably when a generous man is forced
+by external circumstances to show himself churlish.
+Though his good sense and his pride alike prevented him
+from changing his resolution of the previous night, still his
+heart had relented toward Jack, and he felt sorry and half
+ashamed to meet the brother to whom he had shown so
+much temper and so little kindness. It was much later than
+usual when he came down-stairs, and Jack was just coming
+out of the comfortable chamber which belonged of right to
+his brother, when the Curate entered the sitting-room.
+Jack was in his dressing-gown, as on the previous night,
+and came forth humming an air out of the 'Trovatore,' and
+looking as wholesomely fresh and clean and dainty as the
+most honest gentleman in England. He gave his brother a
+good-humoured nod, and wished him good morning. "I am
+glad to see you don't keep distressingly early hours," he
+said, between the bars of the air he was humming. He was
+a man of perfect digestion, like all the Wentworths, and
+got up accordingly, in a good temper, not disposed to
+make too much of any little incivility that might have
+taken place. On the contrary, he helped himself to his
+brother's favourite omelet with the most engaging cheerfulness,
+and entered into such conversation as might be
+supposed to suit a Perpetual Curate in a little country
+town.</p>
+
+<p>"I daresay you have a good many nice people about
+here," said Jack. "I've done nothing but walk about since
+I came&mdash;and it does a man good to see those fresh little
+women with their pink cheeks. There's one, a sister of our
+friend's, I believe," he continued, with a nod towards the
+door to indicate Wodehouse&mdash;"an uncommonly pretty
+girl, I can tell you; and there's a little rosebud of a
+creature at that shop, whom, they tell me, you're interested
+in. Your living is not worth much, I suppose? It's unlucky
+having two clergymen in a family; but, to be sure, you're
+going in for Skelmersdale. By the way, that reminds me&mdash;how
+are the aunts? I have not heard anything of them for
+ages. Female relations of that description generally cling
+to the parsons of the race. I suppose they are all living&mdash;all
+three? Some people never seem to die."</p>
+
+<p>"They are here," said the Curate, succinctly, "living in
+Carlingford. I wonder nobody has told you."</p>
+
+<p>A sudden bright spark lighted in the prodigal's eyes.
+"Ah, they are here, are they?" he said, after a momentary
+pause; "so much the better for you; but in justice you
+ought to be content with the living. I say so as your elder
+brother. Gerald has the best right to what they've got to
+leave. By the by, how are Gerald and the rest? you've just
+been there. I suppose our respected parent goes on multiplying.
+To think of so many odious little wretches calling
+themselves Wentworth is enough to make one disgusted
+with the name."</p>
+
+<p>"My father was very ill when I left; he has had another
+attack," said the Curate. "He does not seem able to bear
+any agitation. Your telegram upset him altogether. I don't
+know what you've been about&mdash;he did not tell me,"
+continued the younger brother, with a little emotion, "but
+he is very uneasy about you."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I daresay," said Jack; "that's natural; but he's
+wonderfully tough for such an old fellow. I should say it
+would take twenty attacks to finish him; and this is the
+second, isn't it? I wonder how long an interval there was
+between the two; it would be a pretty calculation for a
+<i>post-obit</i>. Wodehouse seems to have brought his ancestor
+down at the first shot almost; but then there's no entail in
+his case, and the old fellow may have made a will. I beg
+your pardon; you don't like this sort of talk. I forgot you
+were a clergyman. I rather like this town of yours, do you
+know. Sweet situation, and good for the health, I should
+say. I'll take your advice, I think, about the&mdash;how did you
+call it?&mdash;Black Boar. Unless, indeed, some charitable
+family would take me in," said the elder brother, with a
+glance from under his eyelids. His real meaning did not in
+the least degree suggest itself to the Curate, who was
+thinking more of what was past than of what was to come.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to take a great interest in Wodehouse?" said
+Mr Wentworth.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and so do you," said Jack, with a keen glance of
+curiosity&mdash;"I can't tell why. My interest in him is easily
+explained. If the affair came to a trial, it might involve
+other people who are of retiring dispositions and dislike
+publicity. I don't mind saying," continued the heir of the
+Wentworths, laying down his knife and fork, and looking
+across at his brother with smiling candour, "that I might
+myself be brought before the world in a way which would
+wound my modesty; so it must not be permitted to go any
+further, you perceive. The partner has got a warrant out,
+but has not put it into execution as yet. That's why I sent
+for you. You are the only man, so far as I can see, that can
+be of any use."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you mean," said the Curate,
+hastily, "nor what connection you can possibly have with
+Wodehouse; perhaps it is better not to inquire. I mean to
+do my best for him, independent of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do," said Jack Wentworth, with a slight yawn; "it is
+much better not to inquire. A clergyman runs the risk of
+hearing things that may shock him when he enters into
+worldly business; but the position of mediator is thoroughly
+professional. Now for the Black Boar. I'll send for my
+traps when I get settled," he said, rising in his languid
+way. He had made a very good breakfast, and he was not
+at all disposed to make himself uncomfortable by quarrelling
+with his brother. Besides, he had a new idea in his
+mind. So he gave the Curate another little good-humoured
+nod, and disappeared into the sleeping-room, from which
+he emerged a few minutes after with a coat replacing the
+dressing-gown, ready to go out. "I daresay I shall see you
+again before I leave Carlingford," he said, and left the
+room with the utmost suavity. As for Mr Wentworth, it is
+probable that his brother's serenity had quite the reverse
+of a soothing effect upon his mind and temper. He rose
+from the table as soon as Jack was gone, and for a long
+time paced about the room composing himself, and planning
+what he was to do&mdash;so long, indeed, that Sarah, after
+coming up softly to inspect, had cleared the table and put
+everything straight in the room before the Curate discovered
+her presence. It was only when she came up to
+him at last, with her little rustical curtsy, to say that,
+please, her missis would like to see him for a moment in
+the parlour, that Mr Wentworth found out that she was
+there. This interruption roused him out of his manifold
+and complicated thoughts. "I am too busy just now, but I
+will see Mrs Hadwin to-night," he said; "and you can tell
+her that my brother has gone to get rooms at the Blue
+Boar." After he had thus satisfied the sympathetic handmaiden,
+the Curate crossed over to the closed door of
+Wodehouse's room and knocked. The inmate there was
+still in bed, as was his custom, and answered Mr Wentworth
+through his beard in a recumbent voice, less sulky and
+more uncertain than on the previous night. Poor
+Wodehouse had neither the nerve nor the digestion of his
+more splendid associate. He had no strength of evil in
+himself when he was out of the way of it; and the consequence
+of a restless night was a natural amount of penitence
+and shame in the morning. He met the Curate with
+a depressed countenance, and answered all his questions
+readily enough, even giving him the particulars of the
+forged bills, in respect to which Thomas Wodehouse the
+younger could not, somehow, feel so guilty as if it had
+been a name different from his own which he had affixed
+to those fatal bits of paper; and he did not hesitate much to
+promise that he would go abroad and try to make a new
+beginning if this matter could be settled. Mr Wentworth
+went out with some satisfaction after the interview,
+believing in his heart that his own remonstrances had had
+their due effect, as it is so natural to believe&mdash;for he did
+not know, having slept very soundly, that it had rained a
+good deal during the night, and that Mrs Hadwin's biggest
+tub (for the old lady had a passion for rain-water) was
+immediately under poor Wodehouse's window, and kept
+him awake as it filled and ran over all through the summer
+darkness. The recollection of Jack Wentworth, even in his
+hour of success, was insufficient to fortify the simple soul
+of his humble admirer against that ominous sound of the
+unseen rain, and against the flashes of sudden lightning
+that seemed to blaze into his heart. He could not help
+thinking of his father's sick-bed in those midnight hours,
+and of all the melancholy array of lost years which had
+made him no longer "a gentleman, as he used to be," but a
+skulking vagabond in his native place; and his penitence
+lasted till after he had had his breakfast and Mr Wentworth
+was gone. Then perhaps the other side of the question
+recurred to his mind, and he began to think that if his
+father died there might be no need for his banishment; but
+Mr Wentworth knew nothing of this change in his <i>prot&eacute;g&eacute;'s</i>
+sentiments, as he went quickly up Grange Lane. Wharfside
+and all the district had lain neglected for three long days,
+as the Curate was aware, and he had promised to call at
+No. 10 Prickett's Lane, and to look after the little orphan
+children whom Lucy had taken charge of. His occupations,
+in short, both public and private, were overpowering, and
+he could not tell how he was to get through them; for, in
+addition to everything else, it was Friday, and there was a
+litany service at twelve o'clock at St Roque's. So the
+young priest had little time to lose as he hurried up once
+again to Mr Wodehouse's green door.</p>
+
+<p>It was Miss Wodehouse who came to meet the Curate as
+soon as his presence was known in the house&mdash;Miss
+Wodehouse, and not Lucy, who made way for her sister to
+pass her, and took no notice of Mr Wentworth's name.
+The elder sister entered very hurriedly the little parlour
+down-stairs, and shut the door fast, and came up to him
+with an anxious inquiring face. She told him her father
+was just the same, in faltering tones. "And oh, Mr
+Wentworth, has anything happened?" she exclaimed,
+with endless unspeakable questions in her eyes. It was so
+hard for the gentle woman to keep her secret&mdash;the very
+sight of somebody who knew it was a relief to her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to give me full authority to act for you,"
+said the Curate. "I must go to Mr Wodehouse's partner
+and discuss the whole matter."</p>
+
+<p>Here Miss Wodehouse gave a little cry, and stopped
+him suddenly. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, it would kill papa to
+know you had spoken to any one. You must send him
+away," she said, breathless with anxiety and terror. "To
+think of discussing it with any one when even Lucy does
+not know&mdash;!" She spoke with so much haste and fright that
+it was scarcely possible to make out her last words.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless I must speak to Mr Waters," said the
+Curate; "I am going there now. He knows all about it
+already, and has a warrant for <i>his</i> apprehension; but we
+must stop that. I will undertake that it shall be paid, and
+you must give me full authority to act for you." When
+Miss Wodehouse met the steady look he gave her, she
+veered immediately from her fright at the thought of
+having it spoken of, to gratitude to him who was thus
+ready to take her burden into his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Wentworth, it is so good of you&mdash;it is like a
+brother!" said the trembling woman; and then she made a
+pause. "I say a brother," she said, drawing an involuntary
+moral, "though we have never had any good of ours; and
+oh, if Lucy only knew&mdash;!"</p>
+
+<p>The Curate turned away hastily, and wrung her hand
+without being aware of it. "No," he said, with a touch of
+bitterness, "don't let her know. I don't want to appeal to
+her gratitude;" and with that he became silent, and fell to
+listening, standing in the middle of the room, if perhaps he
+might catch any sound of footsteps coming down-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"She will know better some day," said Miss Wodehouse,
+wiping her eyes; "and oh, Mr Wentworth, if papa ever
+gets better&mdash;!" Here the poor lady broke down into inarticulate
+weeping. "But I know you will stand by us," she
+said, amid her tears; "it is all the comfort I have&mdash;and
+Lucy&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>There was no sound of any footstep on the stair&mdash;nothing
+but the ticking of the timepiece on the mantelshelf,
+and the rustling of the curtains in the soft morning breeze
+which came through the open window, and Miss
+Wodehouse's crying. The Curate had not expected to see
+Lucy, and knew in his heart that it was better they should
+not meet just at this moment; but, notwithstanding this, it
+was strange how bitter and disappointed he felt, and what
+an impatient longing he had for one look of her, even
+though it should be a look which would drive him frantic
+with mortified love and disappointed expectation. To
+know that she was under the same roof, and that she knew
+he was here, but kept away, and did not care to see him,
+was gall to his excited mind. He went away hastily,
+pressing poor Miss Wodehouse's hand with a kind of silent
+rage. "Don't talk about Lucy," he said, half to himself, his
+heart swelling and throbbing at the sound of the name. It
+was the first time he had spoken it aloud to any ear but
+his own, and he left the house tingling with an indignation
+and mortification and bitter fondness which could not be
+expressed in words. What he was about to do was for her
+sake, and he thought to himself, with a forlorn pride, that
+she would never know it, and it did not matter. He could
+not tell that Lucy was glancing out furtively over the
+blind, ashamed of herself in her wounded heart for doing
+so, and wondering whether even now he was occupied
+with that unworthy love which had made an everlasting
+separation between them. If it had been any one worthy,
+it would have been different, poor Lucy thought, as she
+pressed back the tears into her eyes, and looked out
+wistfully at him over the blind. She above-stairs in the
+sick-room, and he in the fresh garden hastening out to his
+work, were both thinking in their hearts how perverse life
+was, and how hard it was not to be happy&mdash;as indeed they
+well might in a general way; though perhaps one glance of
+the Curate's eyes upward, one meeting of looks, might
+have resulted quite reasonably in a more felicitous train of
+thinking, at least for that day.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">When</span> Mr Wentworth arrived in the little vestry at St
+Roque's to robe himself for the approaching service, it was
+after a long and tough contest with Mr Wodehouse's
+partner, which had to a great extent exhausted his
+energies. Mr Wodehouse was the leading attorney in
+Carlingford, the chief family solicitor in the county, a man
+looked upon with favourable eyes even by the great
+people as being himself a cadet of a county family. His
+partner, Mr Waters, was altogether a different description
+of man. He was much more clever, and a good deal more
+like a gentleman, but he had not a connection in the
+world, and had fought his way up to prosperity through
+many a narrow, and perhaps, if people spoke true, many a
+dirty avenue to fortune. He was very glad of the chance
+which brought his partner's reputation and credit thus
+under his power, and he was by no means disposed to deal
+gently with the prodigal son. That is to say, he was quite
+disinclined to let the family out of his clutches easily, or to
+consent to be silent and "frustrate the ends of justice" for
+anything else than an important equivalent. Mr Wentworth
+had much ado to restrain his temper while the wily attorney
+talked about his conscience; for the Curate was clear-sighted
+enough to perceive at the first glance that Mr
+Waters had no real intention of proceeding to extremities.
+The lawyer would not pledge himself to anything, notwithstanding
+all Mr Wentworth's arguments. "Wodehouse
+himself was of the opinion that the law should take its
+course," he said; but out of respect for his partner he
+might wait a few days to see what turn his illness would
+take. "I confess that I am not adapted for my profession,
+Mr Wentworth. My feelings overcome me a great deal too
+often," said the sharp man of business, looking full into
+the Curate's eyes, "and while the father is dying I have
+not the heart to proceed against the son; but I pledge
+myself to nothing&mdash;recollect, to nothing." And with this
+and a very indignant mind Mr Wentworth had been
+forced to come away. His thoughts were occupied with the
+contrarieties of the world as he hastened along to St
+Roque's&mdash;how one man had to bear another's burdens in
+every station and capacity of life, and how another man
+triumphed and came to success by means of the misfortunes
+of his friends. It was hard to tell what made the
+difference, or how humankind got divided into these two
+great classes, for possibly enough the sharp attorney was
+as just in his way as the Curate; but Mr Wentworth got no
+more satisfaction in thinking of it than the speculatists
+generally have when they investigate this strange, wayward,
+fantastical humanity which is never to be calculated
+upon. He came into the little vestry of St Roque's, which
+was a stony little room with a groined roof and windows
+too severely English in their character to admit any great
+amount of light, with a sensation of fatigue and discouragement
+very natural to a man who had been interfering in
+other people's affairs. There was some comfort in the
+litany which he was just going to say, but not much
+comfort in any of the human individuals who would come
+into Mr Wentworth's mind as he paused in the midst of the
+suffrage for "sick persons" and for those who "had erred
+and were deceived," that the worshippers might whisper
+into God's ear the names for which their hearts were most
+concerned. The young priest sighed heavily as he put on
+his surplice, pondering all the obstinate selfishness and
+strange contradictions of men; and it was only when he
+heard a rather loud echo to his breath of weariness that he
+looked up and saw Elsworthy, who was contemplating him
+with a very curious expression of face. The clerk started a
+little on being discovered, and began to look over all the
+choristers' books and set them in readiness, though,
+indeed, there were no choristers on Fridays, but only the
+ladies, who chanted the responses a great deal more
+sweetly, and wore no surplices. Thinking of that, it
+occurred to Mr Wentworth how much he would miss the
+round full notes which always betrayed Lucy's presence to
+him even when he did not see her; and he forgot
+Elsworthy, and sighed again without thinking of any
+comment which might be made upon the sound.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry to see, sir, as you aint in your usual good
+spirits?" said that observant spectator, coming closer up to
+"his clergyman." Elsworthy's eyes were full of meanings
+which Mr Wentworth could not, and had no wish to,
+decipher.</p>
+
+<p>"I am perfectly well, thank you," said the Perpetual
+Curate, with his coldest tone. He had become suspicious
+of the man, he could scarcely tell why.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a deal of people in church this morning," said
+the clerk; and then he came closer still, and spoke in a
+kind of whisper. "About that little matter as we was
+speaking of, Mr Wentworth&mdash;that's all straight, sir, and
+there aint no occasion to be vexed. She came back this
+morning," said Elsworthy, under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Who came back this morning?" asked the Curate, with
+a little surprise. His thoughts had been so much with Lucy
+that no one else occurred to him at the moment; and even
+while he asked the question, his busy fancy began to
+wonder where she could have been, and what motive
+could have taken her away?</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't mean nobody but Rosa, as I talked to you
+about last night," said Elsworthy. "She's come back, sir,
+as you wished; and I <i>have</i> heard as she was in Carlingford
+last night just afore you come, Mr Wentworth, when I
+thought as she was far enough off; which you'll allow, sir,
+whoever it was she come to see, it wasn't the right thing,
+nor what her aunt and me had reason to expect."</p>
+
+<p>The Curate of St Roque's said "Pshaw!" carelessly to
+himself. He was not at all interested in Rosa Elsworthy.
+Instead of making any answer, he drew on the scarlet
+band of his hood, and marched away gravely into the
+reading-desk, leaving the vestry-door open behind him for
+the clerk to follow. The little dangers that harassed his
+personal footsteps had not yet awakened so much as an
+anxiety in his mind. Things much more serious preoccupied
+his thoughts. He opened his prayer-book with a consciousness
+of the good of it which comes to men only now and
+then. At Oxford, in his day, Mr Wentworth had entertained
+his doubts like others, and like most people was aware that
+there were a great many things in heaven and earth totally
+unexplainable by any philosophy. But he had always been
+more of a man than a thinker, even before he became a
+high Anglican; and being still much in earnest about most
+things he had to do with, he found great comfort just at
+this moment, amid all his perplexities, in the litany he was
+saying. He was so absorbed in it, and so full of that appeal
+out of all troubles and miseries to the God who cannot be
+indifferent to His creatures, that he was almost at the last
+Amen before he distinguished that voice, which of all
+voices was most dear to him. The heart of the young man
+swelled, when he heard it, with a mingled thrill of sympathy
+and wounded feeling. She had not left her father's
+sick-bed to see <i>him</i>, but she <i>had</i> found time to run down
+the sunny road to St Roque's to pray for the sick and the
+poor. When he knelt down in the reading-desk at the end
+of the service, was it wrong, instead of more abstract
+supplications, that the young priest said over and over,
+"God bless her," in an outburst of pity and tenderness?
+And he did not try to overtake her on the road, as he
+might have done had his heart been less deeply touched,
+but went off with abstracted looks to Wharfside, where all
+the poor people were very glad to see him, and where his
+absence was spoken of as if he had been three months
+instead of three days away. It was like going back a
+century or two into primitive life, to go into "the district,"
+where civilisation did not prevail to any very distressing
+extent, and where people in general spoke their minds
+freely. But even when he came out of No. 10, where the
+poor woman still kept on living, Mr Wentworth was made
+aware of his private troubles; for on the opposite side of
+the way, where there was a little bit of vacant ground, the
+Rector was standing with some of the schismatics of
+Wharfside, planning how to place the iron church which, it
+was said, he meant to establish in the very heart of the
+"district." Mr Morgan took off his hat very stiffly to the
+Perpetual Curate, who returned up Prickett's Lane with a
+heightened colour and quickened pulse. A man must be an
+angel indeed who can see his work taken out of his hands
+and betray no human emotion. Mr Wentworth went into
+Elsworthy's, as he went back, to write a forcible little note
+to the Rector on the subject before he returned home. It
+was Rosa who handed him the paper he wanted, and he
+gave her a little nod without looking at her. But when he
+had closed his note, and laid it on the counter to be
+delivered, the Curate found her still standing near, and
+looked at the little blushing creature with some natural
+admiration. "So you have come back," he said; "but mind
+you don't go into Grange Lane any more after dark, little
+Rosa." When he had left the shop and finished this little
+matter, he bethought himself of his aunts, whom he had
+not seen since he returned. Aunt Dora was not at her usual
+sentinel window when he crossed Grange Lane towards
+their garden-door; and the door itself was open, and some
+one from the Blue Boar was carrying in a large portmanteau.
+Mr Wentworth's curiosity was strangely excited
+by the sight. He said, "Who has come, Lewis?" to Miss
+Wentworth's man, who stood in the hall superintending
+the arrival, but ran up-stairs without waiting for any
+answer. He felt by instinct that the visitor was some one
+likely to increase the confusion of affairs, and perplex
+matters more and more to himself.</p>
+
+<p>But even this presentiment did not prepare him for the
+astonishing sight which met his eyes when he entered the
+drawing-room. There the three ladies were all assembled,
+regarding with different developments of interest the new-comer,
+who had thrown himself, half-reclining, on a sofa.
+Aunt Dora was sitting by him with a bottle of eau-de-Cologne
+in her hand, for this meeting had evidently gone
+to the heart of the returned prodigal. Aunt Dora was
+ready to have sacrificed all the veal in the country in
+honour of Jack's repentance; and the Curate stood outside
+upon the threshold, looking at the scene with the strangest
+half-angry, half-comical realisation of the state of mind of
+the elder brother in the parable. He had himself been
+rather found fault with, excused, and tolerated, among his
+relations; but Jack had at once become master of the
+position, and taken possession of all their sympathies. Mr
+Wentworth stood gazing at them, half-amused, and yet
+more angry than amused&mdash;feeling, with a little indignation,
+as was natural, that the pretended penitence of the clever
+sinner was far more effective and interesting than his own
+spotless loyalty and truth. To be sure, they were only
+three old ladies&mdash;three old aunts&mdash;and he smiled at the
+sight; but though he smiled, he did not like it, and perhaps
+was more abrupt than usual in his salutations. Miss
+Leonora was seated at her writing-table, busy with her
+correspondence. The question of the new gin-palace was
+not yet decided, and she had been in the middle of a letter
+of encouragement to her agents on the subject, reminding
+them that, even though the licence was granted, the world
+would still go on all the same, and that the worst possibilities
+must be encountered, when Jack the prodigal
+made his appearance, with all the tokens of reformation
+and repentance about him, to throw himself upon the
+Christian charity of his relations. A penitent sinner was
+too tempting a bait for even Miss Leonora's good sense to
+withstand, and she had postponed her letter-writing to
+hear his explanations. But Jack had told his story by this
+time, and had explained how much he wanted to withdraw
+out of the world in which he had been led astray, and how
+sick he was of all its whirl of temptations and disappointment;
+and Miss Leonora had returned to her letter when
+her younger nephew arrived. As for Miss Wentworth, she
+was seated placidly in her usual easy-chair, smiling with
+equable smiles upon both the young men, and lifting her
+beautiful old cheek for Frank to kiss, just as she had lifted
+it to Jack. It was Miss Dora who was most shaken out of
+her allegiance; she who had always made Frank her
+special charge. Though she had wept herself into a day's
+headache on his behalf so short a time ago, aunt Dora for a
+moment had allowed the more effusive prodigal to supersede
+Frank. Instead of taking him into her arms as usual,
+and clinging to him, she only put the hand that held the
+eau-de-Cologne over his shoulder as she kissed him. Jack,
+who had been so dreadfully, inexpressibly wicked, and
+who had come back to his aunts to be converted and
+restored to his right mind, was more interesting than many
+curates. She sat down again by her penitent as soon as she
+had saluted his brother; and even Miss Leonora, when she
+paused in her letter, turned her eyes towards Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"So Gerald is actually going over to Rome," said the
+strong-minded aunt. "I never expected anything else. I
+had a letter from Louisa yesterday, asking me to use my
+influence: as if I had any influence over your brother! If a
+silly wife was any justification for a man making an idiot of
+himself, Gerald might be excused; but I suppose the next
+thing we shall hear of will be that you have followed him,
+Frank. Did you hear anything further about Janet and
+that lover of hers? In a large family like ours there is
+always something troublesome going on," said Miss
+Leonora. "I am not surprised to hear of your father's
+attack. <i>My</i> father had a great many attacks, and lived to
+eighty; but he had few difficulties with the female part of
+his household," she continued, with a grim little smile&mdash;for
+Miss Leonora rather piqued herself upon her exemption
+from any known sentimental episode, even in her youth.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Jack's return will make up for a great deal," said
+aunt Dora. "Oh, Frank, my dear, your brother has made
+us all so happy. He has just been telling us that he means
+to give up all his racing and betting and wickedness; and
+when he has been with us a little, and learned to appreciate
+a domestic circle&mdash;" said poor Miss Dora, putting her
+handkerchief to her eyes. She was so much overcome that
+she could not finish the sentence. But she put her disengaged
+hand upon Jack's arm and patted it, and in her
+heart concluded that as soon as the blanket was done for
+Louisa's bassinet, she would work him a pair of slippers,
+which should endear more and more to him the domestic
+circle, and stimulate the new-born virtue in his repentant
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what Jack's return may do," said Mr
+Wentworth, "but I hope you don't imagine it was Gerald
+who caused my father's illness. <i>You</i> know better, at least,"
+said the indignant Curate, looking at the hero on the sofa.
+That interesting reprobate lifted his eyes with a covert
+gleam of humour to the unresponsive countenance of his
+brother, and then he stroked his silky beard and sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear aunt, Frank is right," said Jack, with a
+melancholy voice. "I have not concealed from you that
+my father has great reason to be offended with me. I have
+done very much the reverse of what I ought to have done.
+I see even Frank can't forgive me; and I don't wonder at
+it," said the prodigal, "though I have done him no harm
+that I know of;" and again the heir of the Wentworths
+sighed, and covered his face for a moment with his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank," cried Miss Dora, with streaming eyes&mdash;"oh,
+my dear boy!&mdash;isn't there joy in heaven over one
+sinner that repenteth? You're not going to be the wicked
+elder brother that grudged the prodigal his welcome&mdash;you're
+not going to give way to jealousy, Frank?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, Dora," said the iron-grey sister; "I
+daresay Frank knows a great deal better than you do; but
+I want to know about Gerald, and what is to be done. If he
+goes to Rome, of course you will take Wentworth Rectory;
+so it will not be an unmingled evil," said Miss Leonora,
+biting her pen, and throwing a keen glance at the Curate
+of St Roque's, "especially as you and we differ so entirely
+in our views. I could not consent to appoint anybody to
+Skelmersdale, even if poor Mr Shirley were to die, who
+did not preach the Gospel; and it would be sad for you to
+spend all your life in a Perpetual Curacy, where you could
+have no income, nor ever hope to be able to marry," she
+continued steadily, with her eyes fixed upon her nephew.
+"Of course, if you had entered the Church for the love of
+the work, it would be a different matter," said the strong-minded
+aunt. "But that sort of thing seems to have gone
+out of fashion. I am sorry about Gerald&mdash;very sorry; but
+after what I saw of him, I am not surprised; and it is a
+comfort to one's mind to think that you will be provided
+for, Frank." Miss Leonora wrote a few words of the letter
+as she finished this speech. What she was saying in that
+epistle was (in reference to the gin-palace) that all discouragements
+were sent by God, and that, no doubt, His
+meaning was, that we should work all the harder to make
+way against them. After putting down which encouraging
+sentiment, she raised her eyes again, and planted her
+spear in her nephew's bosom with the greatest composure
+in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"My Perpetual Curacy suits me very well," said Mr
+Wentworth, with a little pride; "and there is a good deal to
+do in Carlingford. However, I did not come here to talk
+about that. The Rector is going to put up an iron church in
+my district," said the young man, who was rather glad of a
+subject which permitted a little of his indignation to escape.
+"It is very easy to interfere with other people's work."
+And then he paused, not choosing to grumble to an
+unsympathetic audience. To feel that nobody cares about
+your feelings, is better than all the rules of self-control.
+The Perpetual Curate stopped instinctively with a dignified
+restraint, which would have been impossible to him under
+other circumstances. It was no merit of his, but he reaped
+the advantage of it all the same.</p>
+
+<p>"But oh, my dear," said Miss Dora, "what a comfort to
+think of what St Paul says&mdash;'Whether it be for the right
+motive or not, Christ is still preached.' And one never
+knows what chance word may touch a heart," said the
+poor little woman, shaking her limp curls away from her
+cheeks. "It was you being offended with him that made
+dear Jack think of coming to us; and what a happiness it is
+to think that he sees the error of his ways!" cried poor Miss
+Dora, drying her tears. "And oh, Frank, my dear boy, I
+trust you will take warning by your brother, and not run
+into temptation," continued the anxious aunt, remembering
+all her troubles. "If you were to go wrong, it would take
+away all the pleasure of life."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what I was thinking," said aunt Cecilia
+from her easy-chair.</p>
+
+<p>"For, oh, Frank, my dear," said Miss Dora, much
+emboldened by this support, "you must consider that you
+are a clergyman, and there are a great many things that are
+wrong in a clergyman that would not matter in another
+man. Oh, Leonora, if you would speak to him, he would
+mind you," cried the poor lady; "for you know a clergyman
+is quite different;" and Miss Dora again stopped short,
+and the three aunts looked at the bewildered Curate, who,
+for his part, sat gazing at them without an idea what they
+could mean.</p>
+
+<p>"What have I been doing that would be right in another
+man?" he said, with a smile which was slightly forced; and
+then he turned to Jack, who was laughing softly under his
+breath, and stroking his silky beard. The elder brother
+was highly amused by the situation altogether, but Frank,
+as was natural, did not see it in the same light. "What
+have you been saying?" said the indignant Curate; and his
+eyes gave forth a sudden light which frightened Miss
+Dora, and brought her in to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, he has not been saying anything," cried
+that troubled woman; "it is only what we have heard
+everywhere. Oh, my dear boy, it is only for your good I
+ever thought of speaking. There is nobody in the world to
+whom your welfare is so precious," said poor Miss Dora.
+"Oh, Frank, if you and your brother were to have any
+difference, I should think it all my fault&mdash;and I always
+said you did not mean anything," she said, putting herself
+and her eau-de-Cologne between the two, and looking as
+if she were about to throw herself into the Curate's arms.
+"Oh, Frank, dear, don't blame any one else&mdash;it is my
+fault!" cried aunt Dora, with tears; and the tender-hearted
+foolish creature kept between them, ready to rush in if
+any conflict should occur, which was a supposition much
+resented by the Curate of St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack and I have no intention of fighting, I daresay," he
+said, drawing his chair away with some impatience; and
+Jack lay back on the sofa and stroked his beard, and
+looked on with the greatest composure while poor Miss
+Dora exhausted her alarm. "It is all my fault," sobbed
+aunt Dora; "but, oh, my dear boy, it was only for your
+good; and I always said you did not mean anything," said
+the discomfited peacemaker. All this, though it was highly
+amusing to the prodigal, was gall and bitterness to the
+Perpetual Curate. It moved him far more deeply than he
+could have imagined it possible for anything spoken by his
+aunt Dora to move him. Perhaps there is something in
+human nature which demands to be comprehended, even
+where it is aware that comprehension is impossible; and it
+wounded him in the most unreasonable way to have it
+supposed that he was likely to get into any quarrel with his
+brother, and to see Jack thus preferred to himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be a fool," said Miss Leonora, sharply: "I wish
+you would confine yourself to Louisa's bassinet, and talk of
+things you can understand. I hope Frank knows what he is
+doing better than a set of old women. At the same time,
+Frank," said Miss Leonora, rising and leading the way to
+the door, "I want to say a word to you. Don't think you
+are above misconception. Most people believe a lie more
+readily than the truth. Dora is a fool," said the elder
+sister, pausing, when she had led her nephew outside the
+drawing-room door, "but so are most people; and I advise
+you to be careful, and not to give occasion for any gossip;
+otherwise, I don't say <i>I</i> disapprove of your conduct." She
+had her pen in one hand, and held out the other to him,
+dismissing him; and even this added to the painful feeling
+in the Curate's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I should hope not," he said, somewhat stiffly; "good-bye&mdash;my
+conduct is not likely to be affected by any gossip,
+and I don't see any need for taking precautions against
+imaginary danger." Miss Leonora thought her nephew
+looked very ungracious as he went away. She said to
+herself that Frank had a great deal of temper, and resembled
+his mother's family more than the Wentworths, as
+she went back to her writing-table; and though she could
+not disapprove of him, she felt vexed somehow at his
+rectitude and his impatience of advice; whereas, Jack,
+poor fellow! who had been a great sinner, was, according
+to all appearance, a great penitent also, and a true
+Wentworth, with all the family features. Such were Miss
+Leonora's thoughts as she went back to finish her letters,
+and to encourage her agents in her London district to carry
+on the good work.</p>
+
+<p>"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform,"
+she wrote apropos of the gin-palace, and set very
+distinctly before her spiritual retainers all that Providence
+might intend by this unexpected hindrance; and so quite
+contented herself about her nephew, whose views on this
+and many other subjects were so different from her own.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Mr Wentworth went about the rest of the
+day's work in a not unusual, but far from pleasant, frame
+of mind. When one suddenly feels that the sympathy upon
+which one calculated most surely has been withdrawn, the
+shock is naturally considerable. It might not be anything
+very great while it lasted, but still one feels the difference
+when it is taken away. Lucy had fallen off from him; and
+even aunt Dora had ceased to feel his concerns the first in the
+world. He smiled at himself for the wound he felt; but that
+did not remove the sting of it. After the occupations of the
+day were over, when at last he was going home, and when
+his work and the sense of fatigue which accompanied it
+had dulled his mind a little, the Curate felt himself still
+dwelling on the same matter, contemplating it in a half-comic
+point of view, as proud men are not unapt to
+contemplate anything that mortifies them. He began to
+realise, in a humorous way, his own sensations as he stood
+at the drawing-room door and recognised the prodigal on
+the sofa; and then a smile dawned upon his lip as he
+thought once more of the prodigal's elder brother, who
+regarded that business with unsympathetic eyes and
+grudged the supper. And from that he went into a half-professional
+line of thought, and imagined to himself, half
+smiling, how, if he had been Dr Cumming or the minister
+of Salem Chapel, he might have written a series of sermons
+on the unappreciated characters of Scripture, beginning
+with that virtuous uninteresting elder brother; from which
+suggestion, though he was not the minister of Salem nor
+Dr Cumming, it occurred to the Perpetual Curate to
+follow out the idea, and to think of such generous careless
+souls as Esau, and such noble unfortunates as the peasant-king,
+the mournful magnificent Saul&mdash;people not generally
+approved of, or enrolled among the martyrs or saints. He
+was pursuing this kind of half-reverie, half-thought, when
+he reached his own house. It was again late and dark, for
+he had dined in the mean time, and was going home now
+to write his sermon, in which, no doubt, some of these
+very ideas were destined to reappear. He opened the
+garden-gate with his latch-key, and paused, with an
+involuntary sense of the beauty and freshness of the night,
+as soon as he got within the sheltering walls. The stars
+were shining faint and sweet in the summer blue, and all
+the shrubs and the grass breathing forth that subdued
+breath of fragrance and conscious invisible life which gives
+so much sweetness to the night. He thought he heard
+whispering voices, as he paused glancing up at the sky;
+and then from the side-walk he saw a little figure run, and
+heard a light little footstep fluttering towards the door
+which he had just closed. Mr Wentworth started and went
+after this little flying figure with some anxiety. Two or
+three of his long strides brought him up with the escaping
+visitor, as she fumbled in her agitation over the handle of
+the door. "You have come again, notwithstanding what I
+said to you? but you must not repeat it, Rosa," said the
+Curate; "no good can come of these meetings. I will tell
+your uncle, if I ever find you here again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, no, please don't," cried the girl; "but, after all,
+I don't mind," she said, with more confidence: "he would
+think it was something very different;" and Rosa raised
+her eyes to the Curate's face with a coquettish inquiry.
+She could not divest herself of the thought that Mr
+Wentworth was jealous, and did not like to have her come
+there for anybody but himself.</p>
+
+<p>"If you were not such a child, I should be very angry,"
+said the Curate; "as it is, I <i>am</i> very angry with the person
+who deludes you into coming. Go home, child," he said,
+opening the door to her, "and remember I will not allow
+you on any pretext to come here again."</p>
+
+<p>His words were low, and perhaps Rosa did not care
+much to listen; but there was quite light enough to show
+them both very plainly, as he stood at the door and she
+went out. Just then the Miss Hemmings were going up
+Grange Lane from a little tea-party with their favourite
+maid, and all their eyes about them. They looked very full
+in Mr Wentworth's face, and said How d'ye do? as they
+passed the door; and when they had passed it, they looked
+at each other with eyes which spoke volumes. Mr
+Wentworth shut the door violently with irrepressible
+vexation and annoyance when he encountered that glance.
+He made no farewells, nor did he think of taking care of
+Rosa on the way home as he had done before. He was
+intensely annoyed and vexed, he could not tell how. And
+this was how it happened that the last time she was seen in
+Carlingford, Rosa Elsworthy was left standing by herself
+in the dark at Mr Wentworth's door.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> Curate got up very early next morning. He had his
+sermon to write and it was Saturday, and all the events of
+the week had naturally enough unsettled his mind, and
+indisposed him for sermon-writing. When the events of
+life come fast upon a man, it is seldom that he finds much
+pleasure in abstract literary composition, and the style of
+the Curate of St Roque's was not of that hortatory and
+impassioned character which sometimes gives as much
+relief to the speaker as excitement to the audience. So he
+got up in the early sweetness of the summer morning,
+when nobody but himself was astir in the house, with the
+sense of entering upon a task, and taking up work which
+was far from agreeable to him. When he came into the little
+room which he used as a study, and threw the window
+open, and breathed the delicious air of the morning, which
+was all thrilling and trembling with the songs of birds, Mr
+Wentworth's thoughts were far from being concentrated
+upon any one subject. He sat down at his writing-table and
+arranged his pens and paper, and wrote down the text he
+had selected; and when he had done so much, and could
+feel that he had made a beginning, he leaned back in his
+chair, and poised the idle pen on his finger, and abandoned
+himself to his thoughts. He had so much to think about.
+There was Wodehouse under the same roof, with whom
+he had felt himself constrained to remonstrate very sharply
+on the previous night. There was Jack, so near, and
+certainly come to Carlingford on no good errand. There
+was Gerald, in his great perplexity and distress, and the
+household at home in their anxiety; and last, but worst of
+all, his fancy would go fluttering about the doors of the
+sick chamber in Grange Lane, longing and wondering. He
+asked himself what it could be which had raised that
+impalpable wall between Lucy and himself&mdash;that barrier
+too strong to be overthrown, too ethereal to be complained
+of; and wondered over and over again what her thoughts
+were towards him&mdash;whether she thought of him at all,
+whether she was offended, or simply indifferent?&mdash;a
+question which any one else who had observed Lucy as
+closely could have solved without any difficulty, but which,
+to the modest and true love of the Perpetual Curate, was at
+present the grand doubt of all the doubts in the universe.
+With this matter to settle, and with the consciousness that it
+was still only five o'clock, and that he was at least one hour
+beforehand with the world, it is easy to understand why Mr
+Wentworth mused and loitered over his work, and how,
+when it was nearly six o'clock, and Sarah and the cook were
+beginning to stir from their sleep, there still remained only
+the text written upon the sermon-paper, which was so nicely
+arranged before him on the table. "When the wicked man
+turneth away from the evil of his ways, and doeth that which
+is lawful and right."&mdash;This was the text; but sitting at the
+open window, looking out into the garden, where the birds,
+exempt, as they seemed to think, for once from the vulgar
+scrutiny of man, were singing at the pitch of all their voices as
+they prepared for breakfast; and where the sweet air of the
+morning breathed into his mind a freshness and hopefulness
+which youth can never resist, and seduced his thoughts away
+from all the harder problems of his life to dwell upon the
+sweeter trouble of that doubt about Lucy,&mdash;was not the best
+means of getting on with his work. He sat thus leaning back&mdash;sometimes
+dipping his pen in the ink, and hovering over
+the paper for two or three seconds at a time, sometimes
+reading over the words, and making a faint effort to recall
+his own attention to them; for, on the whole, perhaps, it is
+not of much use getting up very early in the morning when
+the chief consequence of it is, that a man feels he has an hour
+to spare, and a little time to play before he begins.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth was still lingering in this peaceful pause,
+when he heard, in the stillness, hasty steps coming down
+Grange Lane. No doubt it was some workmen going to their
+work, and he felt it must be nearly six o'clock, and dipped
+his pen once more in the ink; but, the next moment, paused
+again to listen, feeling in his heart a strange conviction that
+the steps would stop at his door, and that something was
+going to happen. He was sure of it, and yet somehow the
+sound tingled upon his heart when he heard the bell ring,
+waking up echoes in the silent house. Cook and Sarah had
+not yet given any signs of coming down-stairs, and nobody
+stirred even at the sound of the bell. Mr Wentworth put
+down his pen altogether, and listened with an anxiety which
+he could scarcely account for&mdash;knowing, as he said to
+himself, that it must be the milk, or the baker, or somebody.
+But neither the milk nor the baker would have dared to
+knock, and shake, and kick the door as the new arrivals
+were doing. Mr Wentworth sat still as long as he could, then
+he added to the din they were making outside by an
+indignant ring of his own bell; and finally getting anxious, as
+was natural, and bethinking himself of his father's attack
+and Mr Wodehouse's illness, the Curate took the matter into
+his own hands, and hastened down-stairs to open the door.
+Mrs Hadwin called to him as he passed her room, thinking it
+was Sarah, and begging for goodness gracious sake to know
+directly what was the matter; and he felt himself growing
+agitated as he drew back the complicated bolts, and turned
+the key in the door, which was elaborately defenced, as was
+natural. When he hurried out into the garden, the songs of
+the birds and the morning air seemed to have changed their
+character. He thought he was about to be summoned to the
+deathbed of one or other of the old men upon whom their
+sons had brought such misery. He was but little acquainted
+with the fastenings of the garden-door, and fumbled a little
+over them in his anxiety. "Wait a moment and you shall be
+admitted," he called out to those outside, who still continued
+to knock; and he fancied, even in the haste and confusion of
+the moment, that his voice caused some little commotion
+among them. Mr Wentworth opened the door, looking
+anxiously out for some boy with a telegram, or other such
+mournful messenger; but to his utter amazement was nearly
+knocked down by the sudden plunge of Elsworthy, who
+entered with a spring like that of a wild animal, and whose
+face looked white and haggard as he rushed in. He came
+against the Curate so roughly as to drive him a step or two
+farther into the garden, and naturally aroused somewhat
+sharply the temper of the young man, who had already
+begun to regard him with disagreeable sensations as a kind
+of spy against himself.</p>
+
+<p>"What in the world do you want at such an early hour in
+the morning?" cried Mr Wentworth&mdash;"and what do you
+mean by making such a noise? Is Mr Wodehouse worse? or
+what has happened?" for, to tell the truth, he was a little
+relieved to find that the two people outside both belonged to
+Carlingford, and that nowhere was there any visible apparition
+of a telegraph boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't trifle with me, Mr Wentworth," said Elsworthy.
+"I'm a poor man; but a worm as is trodden on turns. I want
+my child, sir!&mdash;give me my child. I'll find her out if it was at
+the end of the world. I've only brought down my neighbour
+with me as I can trust," he continued, hoarsely&mdash;"to save
+both your characters. I don't want to make no talk; if you do
+what is right by Rosa, neither me or him will ever say a
+word. I want Rosa, Mr Wentworth. Where's Rosa? If I had
+known as it was for this you wanted her home! But I'll take
+my oath not to make no talk," cried the clerk, with passion
+and earnestness, which confounded Mr Wentworth&mdash;"if
+you'll promise to do what's right by her, and let me take her
+home."</p>
+
+<p>"Elsworthy, are you mad?" cried the Curate&mdash;"is he out
+of his senses? Has anything happened to Rosa? For heaven's
+sake, Hayles, don't stand there like a man of wood, but tell
+me if the man's crazy, or what he means."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come in, sir, if you've no objection, and shut the
+door, not to make a talk," said Elsworthy's companion,
+Peter Hayles, the druggist. "If it can be managed without
+any gossip, it'll be best for all parties," said this worthy,
+shutting the door softly after him. "The thing is, where's
+Rosa, Mr Wentworth? I can't think as you've got her here."</p>
+
+<p>"She's all the same as my own child!" cried Elsworthy,
+who was greatly excited. "I've had her and loved her since
+she was a baby. I don't mean to say as I'd put myself
+forward to hurt her prospects if she was married in a superior
+line o' life; but them as harms Rosa has me to reckon with,"
+he said, with a kind of fury which sat strangely on the man.
+"Mr Wentworth, where's the child? God forgive you both,
+you've given me a night o' weeping; but if you'll do what's
+right by Rosa, and send her home in the mean time&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Be silent, sir!" cried the Curate. "I know nothing in the
+world about Rosa. How dare you venture to come on such
+an errand to me? I don't understand how it is," said the
+young man, growing red and angry, "that you try so persistently
+to connect this child with me. I have never had
+anything to do with her, and I will not submit to any such
+impertinent suspicion. Leave my house, sir, immediately,
+and don't insult me by making such inquiries here."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth was very angry in the first flush of his
+wrath. He did not think what misery was involved in the
+question which had been addressed to him, nor did he see
+for the moment the terrible calamity to Rosa which was
+suggested by this search for her. He thought only of
+himself, as was natural, at the first shock&mdash;of the injurious
+and insulting suspicion with which he seemed to be
+pursued, and of the annoyance which she and her friends
+were causing him. "What do you mean by rousing a whole
+household at this hour in the morning?" cried Mr
+Wentworth, as he saw with vexation, Sarah, very startled
+and sleepy, come stealing round by the kitchen door.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't look as if you had wanted any rousing," said
+Elsworthy, who was too much in earnest to own the
+Curate's authority. "She was seen at your door the last
+thing last night, and you're in your clothes, as bright as
+day, and a-waiting for us afore six o'clock in the morning.
+Do you think as I've shut my eyes because it's my clergyman?"
+cried the injured man, passionately. "I want my
+little girl&mdash;my little Rosa&mdash;as is flesh of my flesh and bone
+of my bone. If Mr Wentworth didn't know nothing about it,
+as he says," cried Elsworthy, with sudden insight, "he has
+a feelin' heart, and he'd be grieved about the child; but he
+aint grieved, nor concerned, nor nothing in the world but
+angry; and will you tell me there aint nothing to be drawn
+from that? But it's far from my intention to raise a talk,"
+said the clerk, drawing closer and touching the arm of the
+Perpetual Curate; "let her come back, and if you're a man
+of your word, and behave honourable by her, there shan't
+be nothing said in Carlingford. I'll stand up for you, sir,
+against the world."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth shook off his assailant's hand with a
+mingled sense of exasperation and sympathy. "I tell you,
+upon my honour, I know nothing about her," he said.
+"But it is true enough I have been thinking only of
+myself," he continued, addressing the other. "How about
+the girl? When was she lost? and can't you think of any
+place she can have gone to? Elsworthy, hear reason,"
+cried the Curate anxiously. "I assure you, on my word,
+that I have never seen her since I closed this garden-gate
+upon her last night."</p>
+
+<p>"And I would ask you, sir, what had Rosa to do at your
+garden-gate?" cried the clerk of St Roque's. "He aint
+denying it, Hayles; you can see as he aint a-denying of it.
+What was it as she came here for but you? Mr Wentworth,
+I've always had a great respect for you," said Elsworthy.
+"I've respected you as my clergyman, sir, as well as for
+other things; but you're a young man, and human nature
+is frail. I say again as you needn't have no fear of me. I
+aint one as likes to make a talk, and no more is Hayles.
+Give up the girl, and give me your promise, and there aint
+a man living as will be the wiser; Mr Wentworth&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, sir!" cried the Curate, furious with
+indignation and resentment. "Leave this place instantly!
+If you don't want me to pitch you into the middle of the
+road, hold your tongue and go away. The man is mad!"
+said Mr Wentworth, turning towards the spectator, Hayles,
+and pausing to take breath. But it was evident that this
+third person was by no means on the Curate's side.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir, I'm sure," said Hayles, with a blank
+countenance. "It appears to me, sir, as it's an awkward
+business for all parties. Here's the girl gone, and no one
+knows where. When a girl don't come back to her own
+'ome all night, things look serious, sir; and it has been said
+as the last place she was seen was at your door."</p>
+
+<p>"Who says so?" cried Mr Wentworth.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;it was&mdash;a party, sir&mdash;a highly respectable party&mdash;as
+I have good reason to believe," said Hayles, "being a
+constant customer&mdash;one as there's every confidence to be
+put in. It's better not to name no names, being at this
+period of the affair."</p>
+
+<p>And at that moment, unluckily for Mr Wentworth,
+there suddenly floated across his mind the clearest recollection
+of the Miss Hemmings, and the look they gave him
+in passing. He felt a hot flush rush over his face as he
+recalled it. They, then, were his accusers in the first place;
+and for the first time he began to realise how the tide of
+accusation would surge through Carlingford, and how
+circumstances would be patched together, and very plausible
+evidence concocted out of the few facts which were
+capable of an inference totally opposed to the truth. The
+blood rushed to his face in an overpowering glow, and
+then he felt the warm tide going back upon his heart, and
+realised the position in which he stood for the first time in
+its true light.</p>
+
+<p>"And if you'll let me say it, sir," said the judicious
+Hayles, "though a man may be in a bit of a passion, and
+speak more strong that is called for, it aint unnatural in the
+circumstances; things may be better than they appear,"
+said the druggist, mildly; "I don't say nothing against that;
+it may be as you've took her away, sir (if so be as you have
+took her away), for to give her a bit of education, or
+suchlike, before making her your wife; but folks in general
+aint expected to know that; and when a young girl is kep'
+out of her 'ome for a whole night, it aint wonderful if her
+friends take fright. It's a sad thing for Rosa whoever's
+taken her away, and wherever she is."</p>
+
+<p>Now, Mr Wentworth, notwithstanding the indignant
+state of mind which he was in, was emphatically of the
+tolerant temper which is so curiously characteristic of his
+generation. He could not be unreasonable even in his own
+cause; he was not partisan enough, even in his own behalf,
+to forget that there was another side to the question, nor to
+see how hard and how sad was that other side. He was
+moved in spite of himself to grieve over Rosa Elsworthy's
+great misfortune.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little deluded child," he said, sadly; "I acknowledge
+it is very dreadful for her and for her friends. I can
+excuse a man who is mad with grief and wretchedness and
+anxiety, and doesn't know what he is saying. As for any
+man in his senses imagining," said the Curate again, with
+a flush of sudden colour, "that I could possibly be concerned
+in anything so base, that is simply absurd. When
+Elsworthy returns to reason, and acknowledges the folly
+of what he has said, I will do anything in the world to
+help him. It is unnecessary for you to wait," said Mr
+Wentworth, turning to Sarah, who had stolen up behind,
+and caught some of the conversation, and who was staring
+with round eyes of wonder, partly guessing, partly
+inquiring, what had happened&mdash;"these people want me;
+go indoors and never mind."</p>
+
+<p>"La, sir! Missis is a-ringing all the bells down to know
+what 'as 'appened," said Sarah, holding her ground.</p>
+
+<p>This was how it was to be&mdash;the name of the Curate of St
+Roque's was to be linked to that of Rosa Elsworthy, let the
+truth be what it might, in the mouths of every maid and
+every mistress in Carlingford. He was seized with a
+sudden apprehension of this aspect of the matter, and it
+was not wonderful if Mr Wentworth drew his breath hard
+and set his teeth, as he ordered the woman away, in a tone
+which could not be disobeyed.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to make no talk," said Elsworthy, who
+during this time had made many efforts to speak; "I've
+sait it before, and I say it again&mdash;it's Mr Wentworth's fault
+if there's any talk. She was seen here last night," he went
+on rapidly, "and afore six o'clock this blessed morning,
+you, as are never known to be stirring early, meets us at
+the door, all shaved and dressed; and it aint very difficult
+to see, to them as watches the clergyman's countenance,"
+said Elsworthy, turning from one to another, "as everything
+isn't as straight as it ought to be; but I aint going to
+make no talk, Mr Wentworth," he went on, drawing
+closer, and speaking with conciliatory softness; "me and
+her aunt, sir, loves her dearly, but we're not the folks to
+stand in her way, if a gentleman was to take a fancy to
+Rosa. If you'll give me your word to make her your wife
+honourable, and tell me where she is, tortures wouldn't
+draw no complaints from me. One moment, sir; it aint only
+that she's pretty, but she's good as well&mdash;she won't do you
+no discredit, Mr Wentworth. Put her to school, or what
+you please, sir," said Rosa's uncle; "me and my wife will
+never interfere, so be as you make her your wife honourable;
+but I aint a worm to be trampled on," cried
+Elsworthy, as the Curate, finding him approach very
+closely, thrust him away with vehement indignation; "I
+aint a slave to be pushed about. Them as brings Rosa to
+shame shall come to shame by me; I'll ruin the man as
+ruins that child. You may turn me out," he cried, as the
+Curate laid his powerful hand upon his shoulder and
+forced him towards the door, "but I'll come back, and I'll
+bring all Carlingford. There shan't be a soul in the town as
+doesn't know. Oh, you young viper, as I thought was a
+pious clergyman! you aint got rid of me. My child&mdash;where's
+my child?" cried the infuriated clerk, as he found
+himself ejected into the road outside, and the door suddenly
+closed upon him. He turned round to beat upon it in blind
+fury, and kept calling upon Rosa, and wasting his threats
+and arguments upon the calm air outside. Some of the
+maid-servants in the other houses came out, broom in
+hand, to the green doors, to see what was the matter, but
+they were not near enough to hear distinctly, and no early
+wayfarers had as yet invaded the morning quiet of Grange
+Lane.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth, white with excitement, and terribly
+calm and self-possessed, turned to the amazed and trembling
+druggist, who still stood inside. "Look here, Hayles,"
+said the Curate; "I have never seen Rosa Elsworthy since
+I closed this door upon her last night. What had brought
+her here I don't know&mdash;at least she came with no intention
+of seeing me&mdash;and I reproved her sharply for being out
+so late. This is all I know about the affair, and all I intend
+to say to any one. If that idiot outside intends to make a
+disturbance, he must do it; I shall take no further trouble
+to clear myself of such an insane accusation. I think it
+right to say as much to you, because you seem to have
+your senses about you," said the Curate, pausing, out of
+breath. He was perfectly calm, but it was impossible to
+ignore the effect of such a scene upon ordinary flesh and
+blood. His heart was beating loudly, and his breath came
+short and quick. He turned away and walked up to the
+house-door, and then came back again. "You understand
+me, I suppose?" he said; "and if Elsworthy is not mad, you
+had better suggest to him not to lose his only chance of
+recovering Rosa by vain bluster with me, who know
+nothing about her. I shan't be idle in the mean time," said
+Mr Wentworth. All this time Elsworthy was beating
+against the door, and shouting his threats into the quiet of
+the morning; and Mrs Hadwin had thrown up her window,
+and stood there visibly in her nightcap, trying to find out
+what the noise was about, and trembling for the respectability
+of her house&mdash;all which the Curate apprehended
+with that extraordinary swiftness and breadth of perception
+which comes to men at the eventful moments of life.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do my best, sir," said Hayles, who felt that his
+honour was appealed to; "but it's an awkward business for
+all parties, that's what it is;" and the druggist backed out
+in a state of great bewilderment, having a little struggle at
+the door with Elsworthy to prevent his re-entrance. "There
+aint nothing to be got out of <i>him</i>," said Mr Hayles, as he
+succeeded at last in leading his friend away. Such was the
+conclusion of Mr Wentworth's morning studies, and the
+sermon which was to have been half written before breakfast
+upon that eventful Saturday. He went back to the
+house, as was natural, with very different thoughts in his
+mind.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> first thing Mr Wentworth did was to hasten up-stairs
+to Wodehouse's room. Sarah had gone before him, and
+was by this time talking to her mistress, who had left the
+window, and stood, still in her nightcap, at the door of her
+own chamber. "It's something about Rosa Elsworthy,
+ma'am," said Sarah; "she's gone off with some one, which
+nothing else was to be expected; and her uncle's been a-raving
+and a-raging at Mr Wentworth, which proves as a
+gentleman should never take no notice of them shop-girls.
+I always heard as she was a bad lot."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Wentworth&mdash;if you would excuse my nightcap,"
+said Mrs Hadwin&mdash;"I am so shaken and all of a tremble
+with that noise; I couldn't help thinking it must be a
+murder at the least," said the little old lady; "but I never
+could believe that there was anything between you and&mdash;Sarah,
+you may go away; I should like to talk to Mr
+Wentworth by himself," said Mrs Hadwin, suddenly
+remembering that Mr Wentworth's character must not be
+discussed in the presence of even her favourite maid.</p>
+
+<p>"Presently," said the unhappy Curate, with mingled
+impatience and resignation; and, after a hasty knock at
+the door, he went into Wodehouse's room, which was
+opposite, so full of a furious anxiety to question him that
+he had burst into speech before he perceived that the
+room was empty. "Answer me this instant," he had cried,
+"where is Rosa Elsworthy?" and then he paused, utterly
+taken aback. It had not occurred to him that the culprit
+would be gone. He had parted with him late on the
+previous night, leaving him, according to appearances, in
+a state of sulky half-penitence; and now the first impulse
+of his consternation was to look in all the corners for the
+fugitive. The room had evidently been occupied that
+night; part of the Curate's own wardrobe, which he had
+bestowed upon his guest, lay about on the chairs, and on a
+little table were his tools and the bits of wood with which
+he did his carving. The window was open, letting in the
+fresh air, and altogether the apartment looked so exactly
+like what it might have done had the occupant gone out for
+a virtuous morning walk, that Mr Wentworth stopped
+short in blank amazement. It was a relief to him to hear
+the curious Sarah still rustling in the passage outside. He
+came out upon her so hastily that Sarah was startled.
+Perhaps she had been so far excited out of her usual
+propriety as to think of the keyhole as a medium of
+information.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Wode&mdash;Mr Smith?" cried the Curate; "he is
+not in his room&mdash;he does not generally get up so early.
+Where is he? Did he go out last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not as I knows of, sir," said Sarah, who grew a little
+pale, and gave a second glance at the open door. "Isn't the
+gentleman in his room? He do take a walk in the morning,
+now and again," and Sarah cast an alarmed look behind to
+see if her mistress was still within hearing; but Mrs
+Hadwin, intent on questioning Mr Wentworth himself,
+had fortunately retired to put on her cap, and closed her
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he?" said the Curate, firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please sir, I don't know," said Sarah, who was
+very near crying. "He's gone out for a walk, that's all. Oh,
+Mr Wentworth, don't look at me so dreadfully, and I'll tell
+you hall," cried the frightened girl, "<i>hall</i>&mdash;as true as if I
+was on my oath. He 'as a taking way with him," said poor
+Sarah, to whom the sulky and shabby rascal was radiant
+still with the fascinating though faded glory of "a gentleman"&mdash;"and
+he aint one as has been used to regular hours;
+and seeing as he was a friend of yours, I knew as hall was
+safe, Mr Wentworth; and oh, sir, if you'll not tell missis, as
+might be angry. I didn't mean no harm; and knowing as he
+was a friend of yours, I let him have the key of the little
+door."</p>
+
+<p>Here Sarah put her apron to her eyes; she did not cry
+much into it, or wet it with her tears&mdash;but under its cover
+she peeped at Mr Wentworth, and, encouraged by his
+looks, which did not seem to promise any immediate
+catastrophe, went on with her explanation.</p>
+
+<p>"He's been and took a walk often in the morning," said
+Sarah, with little gasps which interrupted her voice, "and
+come in as steady as steady, and nothing happened. He's
+gone for a walk now, poor gentleman. Them as goes out
+first thing in the morning, can't mean no harm, Mr
+Wentworth. If it was at night, it would be different," said
+the apologetic Sarah. "He'll be in afore we've done our
+breakfast in the kitchen; that's his hour, for I always
+brings him a cup of coffee. If you hadn't been up not till
+<i>your</i> hour, sir, you'd never have known nothing about it;"
+and here even Mrs Hadwin's housemaid looked sharply in
+the Curate's face. "I never knew you so early, sir, not
+since I've been here," said Sarah; and though she was a
+partisan of Mr Wentworth, it occurred even to Sarah that
+perhaps, after all, Elsworthy might be right.</p>
+
+<p>"If he comes in let me know immediately," said the
+Curate; and he went to his study and shut himself in, to
+think it all over with a sense of being baited and baffled on
+every side. As for Sarah, she went off in great excitement
+to discuss the whole business with the cook, tossing her
+head as she went. "Rosa Elsworthy, indeed!" said Sarah
+to herself, thinking her own claims to admiration quite as
+well worth considering&mdash;and Mr Wentworth had already
+lost one humble follower in Grange Lane.</p>
+
+<p>The Curate sat down at his table as before, and gazed
+with a kind of exasperation at the paper and the text out of
+which his sermon was to have come. "When the wicked
+man turneth away from the evil of his ways"&mdash;he began to
+wonder bitterly whether that ever happened, or if it was
+any good trying to bring it about. If it were really the case
+that Wodehouse, whom he had been labouring to save
+from the consequences of one crime, had, at the very crisis
+of his fate, perpetrated another of the basest kind, what
+was the good of wasting strength in behalf of a wretch so
+abandoned? Why should such a man be permitted to live
+to bring shame and misery on everybody connected with
+him? and why, when noxious vermin of every other description
+were hunted down and exterminated, should the
+vile human creature be spared to suck the blood of his
+friends? Mr Wentworth grew sanguinary in his thoughts as
+he leaned back in his chair, and tried to return to the train
+of reflection which Elsworthy's arrival had banished. That
+was totally impossible, but another train of ideas came fast
+enough to fill up the vacant space. The Curate saw himself
+hemmed in on every side without any way of escape. If he
+could not extract any information from Wodehouse, or if
+Wodehouse denied any knowledge of Rosa, what could he
+do to clear himself from an imputation so terrible? and if,
+on the other hand, Wodehouse did not come back, and so
+pleaded guilty, how could he pursue and put the law upon
+the track of the man whom he had just been labouring to
+save from justice, and over whose head a criminal prosecution
+was impending? Mr Wentworth saw nothing but
+misery, let him turn where he would&mdash;nothing but disgrace,
+misapprehension, unjust blame. He divined with
+the instinct of a man in deadly peril, that Elsworthy, who
+was a mean enough man in common circumstances, had
+been inspired by the supposed injury he had sustained
+into a relentless demon; and he saw distinctly how strong
+the chain of evidence was against him, and how little he
+could do to clear himself. As his miseries grew upon him,
+he got up, as was natural, and began to walk about the
+room to walk down his impatience, if he could, and
+acquire sufficient composure to enable him to wait for the
+time when Wodehouse might be expected to arrive. Mr
+Wentworth had forgotten at the moment that Mrs
+Hadwin's room was next to his study, and that, as she
+stood putting on her cap, his footsteps vibrated along the
+flooring, which thrilled under her feet almost as much as
+under his own. Mrs Hadwin, as she stood before her glass
+smoothing her thin little braids of white hair, and putting
+on her cap, could not but wonder to herself what could
+make Mr Wentworth walk about the room in such an
+agitated way. It was not by any means the custom of the
+Perpetual Curate, who, up to the time of his aunts' arrival
+in Carlingford, had known no special disturbances in his
+individual career. And then the old lady thought of that
+report about little Rosa Elsworthy, which she had never
+believed, and grew troubled, as old ladies are not unapt to
+do under such circumstances, with all that lively faith in
+the seductions of "an artful girl," and all that contemptuous
+pity for a "poor young man," which seems to come
+natural to a woman. All the old ladies in Carlingford, male
+and female, were but too likely to entertain the same
+sentiments, which at least, if they did nothing else,
+showed a wonderful faith in the power of love and folly
+common to human nature. It did not occur to Mrs Hadwin
+any more than it did to Miss Dora, that Mr Wentworth's
+good sense and pride, and superior cultivation, were sufficient
+defences against little Rosa's dimpled cheeks and
+bright eyes; and with some few exceptions, such was likely
+to be the opinion of the little world of Carlingford. Mrs
+Hadwin grew more and more anxious about the business
+as she felt the boards thrill under her feet, and heard the
+impatient movements in the next room; and as soon as she
+had settled her cap to her satisfaction, she left her own
+chamber and went to knock, as was to be expected, at Mr
+Wentworth's door.</p>
+
+<p>It was just at this moment that Mr Wentworth saw
+Wodehouse's shabby figure entering at the garden-gate;
+he turned round suddenly without hearing Mrs Hadwin's
+knock, and all but ran over the old lady in his haste and
+eagerness&mdash;"Pardon me; I am in a great hurry," said the
+Curate, darting past her. Just at the moment when she
+expected her curiosity to be satisfied, it was rather hard
+upon Mrs Hadwin to be dismissed so summarily. She went
+down-stairs in a state of great dignity, with her lace mittens
+on, and her hands crossed before her. She felt she had
+more and more reason for doubting human nature in
+general, and for believing that the Curate of St Roque's in
+particular could not bear any close examination into his
+conduct. Mrs Hadwin sat down to her breakfast accordingly
+with a sense of pitying virtue which was sweet to her
+spirit, notwithstanding that she was, as she would have
+frankly acknowledged, very fond of Mr Wentworth; she
+said, "Poor young man," to herself, and shook her head
+over him as she poured out her solitary cup of tea. She had
+never been a beauty herself, nor had she exercised any
+overwhelming influence that she could remember over
+any one in the days of her distant youth: but being a true
+woman, Mrs Hadwin believed in Rosa Elsworthy, and
+pitied, not without a certain half-conscious female disdain,
+the weakness of the inevitable victim. He did not dare to
+stop to explain to <i>her</i> what it meant. He rushed out of her
+way as soon as he saw she meant to question him. That
+designing girl had got him entirely under her sway, the
+poor young man!</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Curate, without a single thought for his
+landlady, made a rush to Wodehouse's room. He did not
+wait for any answer to his knock, but went in, not as a
+matter of policy, but because his eagerness carried him on
+in spite of himself. To Mr Wentworth's great amazement
+Wodehouse was undressing, intending, apparently, to
+return to bed. The shabby fugitive, looking broad and
+brawny in his shirt-sleeves, turned round when he heard
+the voice with an angry exclamation. His face grew black
+as he saw the Curate at the door. "What the deuce have
+you to do in my room at this hour?" he growled into his
+beard. "Is a man never to have a little peace?" and with
+that threw down his coat, which he still had in his hand,
+and faced round towards the intruder with sullen looks. It
+was his nature to stand always on the defensive, and he
+had got so much accustomed to being regarded as a
+culprit, that he naturally took up the part, whether there
+might be just occasion or not.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you been?" exclaimed the Curate; "answer
+me truly&mdash;I can't submit to any evasion. I know it all,
+Wodehouse. Where is she? where have you hid her? If
+you do not give her up, I must give you up to justice. Do
+you hear me? where is Rosa Elsworthy? This is a matter
+that touches my honour, and I must know the truth."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth was so full of the subject that it did not
+occur to him how much time he was giving his antagonist
+to prepare his answer. Though Wodehouse was not clever,
+he had the instinct of a baited animal driven to bay; and
+resistance and denial came natural to a man who had been
+accused and condemned all his life.</p>
+
+<p>"Rosa Elsworthy?" said the vagabond, "what have I to
+do with Rosa Elsworthy? A pretty man I should be to run
+away with a girl; all that I have in the world is a shilling or
+two, and, by Jove, it's an expensive business, that is. You
+should ask your brother," he continued, giving a furtive
+glance at the Curate&mdash;"it's more in his way, by Jove, than
+mine."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth was recalled to himself by this reply.
+"Where is she?" he said, sternly,&mdash;"no trifling. I did not
+ask if you had taken her away. I ask, where is she?" He
+had shut the door behind him, and stood in the middle of
+the room facing Wodehouse, and overawing him by his
+superior stature, force, and virtue. Before the Curate's
+look the eyes of the other fell; but he had fallen by chance
+on a reasonable defence enough, and so long as he held by
+that felt himself tolerably safe.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything about her," he repeated; "how
+should I know anything about her? I aint a fool, by Jove,
+whatever I may be: a man may talk to a pretty girl without
+any harm. I mayn't be as good as a parson, but, by Jove, I
+aint a fool," he muttered through his beard. He had begun
+to speak with a kind of sulky self-confidence; but his voice
+sunk lower as he proceeded. Jack Wentworth's elegant
+levity was a terrible failure in the hands of the coarser
+rascal. He fell back by degrees upon the only natural
+quality which enabled him to offer any resistance. "By
+Jove, I aint an idiot," he repeated with dull obstinacy, and
+upon that statement made a stand in his dogged, argumentative
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like it better if I said you were a villain?"
+asked the exasperated Curate. "I don't want to discuss
+your character with you. Where is Rosa Elsworthy? She is
+scarcely more than a child," said Mr Wentworth, "and a
+fool, if you like. But where is she? I warn you that unless
+you tell me you shall have no more assistance from me."</p>
+
+<p>"And I tell you that I don't know," said Wodehouse;
+and the two men stood facing each other, one glowing with
+youthful indignation, the other enveloped in a cloud of
+sullen resistance. Just then there came a soft knock at the
+door, and Sarah peeped in with a coquettish air, which at
+no other time in her existence had been visible in the
+sedate demeanour of Mrs Hadwin's favourite handmaid.
+The stranger lodger was "a gentleman," notwithstanding
+his shabbiness, and he was a very civil-spoken gentleman,
+without a bit of pride; and Sarah was still a woman, though
+she was plain and a housemaid. "Please, sir, I've brought
+you your coffee," said Sarah, and she carried in her tray,
+which contained all the materials for a plentiful breakfast.
+When she saw Mr Wentworth standing in the room, and
+Wodehouse in his shirt-sleeves, Sarah said, "La!" and set
+down her tray hastily and vanished; but the episode, short
+as it was, had not been without its use to the culprit who
+was standing on his defence.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not staying here on my own account," said Wodehouse,&mdash;"it's
+no pleasure to me to be here. I'm staying for
+your brother's sake and&mdash;other people's; it's no pleasure
+to me, by Jove! I'd go to-morrow if I had my way&mdash;but I
+aint a fool," continued the sulky defendant: "it's of no use
+asking me such questions. By Jove, I've other things to
+think of than girls; and you know pretty well how much
+money I've got," he continued, taking out an old purse
+and emptying out the few shillings it contained into his
+hand. When he had thrown them about, out and in, for
+nearly a minute, he turned once more upon the Curate.
+"I'd like to have a little more pocket-money before I ran
+away with any one," said Wodehouse, and tossed the
+shillings back contemptuously. As for Mr Wentworth, his
+reasonableness once more came greatly in his way. He
+began to ask himself whether this penniless vagabond,
+who seemed to have no dash or daring in his character,
+could have been the man to carry little Rosa away; and,
+perplexed by this idea, Mr Wentworth put himself unawares
+into the position of his opponent, and in that
+character made an appeal to his imaginary generosity and
+truth.</p>
+
+<p>"Wodehouse," he said, seriously, "look here. I am
+likely to be much annoyed about this, and perhaps injured. I
+entreat you to tell me, if you know, where the girl is. I've
+been at some little trouble for you; be frank with me for
+once," said the Curate of St Roque's. Nothing in existence
+could have prevented himself from responding to such an
+appeal, and he made it with a kind of absurd confidence
+that there must be some kindred depths even in the
+meaner nature with which he had to deal, which would
+have been to Jack Wentworth, had he seen it, a source of
+inextinguishable laughter. Even Wodehouse was taken by
+surprise. He did not understand Mr Wentworth, but a
+certain vague idea that the Curate was addressing him as
+if he still were "a gentleman as he used to be"&mdash;though it
+did not alter his resolution in any way&mdash;brought a vague
+flush of shame to his unaccustomed cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"I aint a fool," he repeated rather hastily, and turned
+away not to meet the Curate's eyes. "I've got no money&mdash;how
+should <i>I</i> know anything about her? If I had, do you
+think I should have been here?" he continued, with a
+sidelong look of inquiry: then he paused and put on his
+coat, and in that garb felt himself more of a match for his
+opponent. "I'll tell you one thing you'll thank me for," he
+said,&mdash;"the old man is dying, they think. They'll be
+sending for you presently. That's more important than a
+talk about a girl. I've been talked to till I'm sick," said
+Wodehouse, with a little burst of irrepressible nature,
+"but things may change before you all know where you
+are." When he had said so much, the fear in his heart
+awoke again, and he cast another look of inquiry and
+anxiety at the Curate's face. But Mr Wentworth was
+disgusted, and had no more to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything changes&mdash;except the heart of the churl,
+which can never be made bountiful," said the indignant
+young priest. It was not a fit sentiment, perhaps, for a
+preacher who had just written that text about the wicked
+man turning from the evil of his ways. Mr Wentworth
+went away in a glow of indignation and excitement, and
+left his guest to Sarah's bountiful provision of hot coffee
+and new-laid eggs, to which Wodehouse addressed himself
+with a perfectly good appetite, notwithstanding all the
+events of the morning, and all the mystery of the night.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mr Wentworth</span>
+retired to his own quarters with enough
+to think about for one morning. He could not make up his
+mind about Wodehouse&mdash;whether he was guilty or not
+guilty. It seemed incredible that, penniless as he was, he
+could have succeeded in carrying off a girl so well known
+in Carlingford as Rosa Elsworthy; and, if he had taken her
+away, how did it happen that he himself had come back
+again? The Curate saw clearly enough that his only
+chance for exculpating himself in the sight of the multitude
+was by bringing home the guilt to somebody else; and in
+proportion to the utter scorn with which he had treated
+Elsworthy's insinuations at first, was his serious apprehension
+now of the danger which surrounded him. He divined
+all that slander would make of it with the quickened
+intelligence of a man whose entire life, and reputation
+dearer than life, were at stake. If it could not be cleared
+up&mdash;if even any investigation which he might be able to
+demand was not perfectly successful&mdash;Mr Wentworth was
+quite well aware that the character of a clergyman was
+almost as susceptible as that of a woman, and that the
+vague stigma might haunt and overshadow him all his life.
+The thought was overwhelming at this moment, when his
+first hopes of finding a speedy solution of the mystery had
+come to nothing. If he had but lived a century earlier, the
+chances are that no doubt of Wodehouse's guilt would
+have entered his mind; but Mr Wentworth was a man of
+the present age&mdash;reasonable to a fault, and apt to consider
+other people as much as possible from their own point of
+view. He did not see, looking at the circumstances, how
+Wodehouse <i>could</i> be guilty; and the Curate would not
+permit the strong instinctive certainty that he <i>was</i> guilty,
+to move his own mind from what he imagined to be its
+better judgment. He was thinking it over very gloomily
+when his breakfast was brought to him and his letters,
+feeling that he could be sure of nobody in such an emergency,
+and dreading more the doubt of his friends than the
+clamour of the general world. He could bear (he imagined)
+to be hooted at in the streets, if it ever came to that; but to
+see the faces of those who loved him troubled with a
+torturing doubt of his truth was a terrible thought to the
+Perpetual Curate. And Lucy? But here the young man got
+up indignant and threw off his fears. He doubted her
+regard with a doubt which threw darkness over the whole
+universe; but that she should be able for a moment to
+doubt his entire devotion to her, seemed a blindness
+incredible. No; let who would believe ill of him in this
+respect, to Lucy such an accusation must look as monstrous
+as it was untrue. <i>She</i>, at least, knew otherwise; and, taking
+this false comfort to his heart, Mr Wentworth took up his
+letters, and presently was deep in the anxieties of his
+brother Gerald, who wrote to him as to a man at leisure,
+and without any overwhelming perplexities of his own. It
+requires a very high amount of unselfishness in the person
+thus addressed to prevent a degree of irritation which is
+much opposed to sympathy; and Mr Wentworth, though
+he was very impartial and reasonable, was not, being still
+young and meaning to be happy, unselfish to any inhuman
+degree. He put down Gerald's letter, after he had read
+through half of it, with an exclamation of impatience
+which he could not restrain, and then poured out his
+coffee, which had got cold in the mean time, and gulped it
+down with a sense of half-comforting disgust&mdash;for there
+are moments when the mortification of the flesh is a relief
+to the spirit; and then it occurred to him to remember
+Wodehouse's tray, which was a kind of love-offering to the
+shabby vagabond, and the perfect good order in which <i>he</i>
+had his breakfast; and Mr Wentworth laughed at himself
+with a whimsical perception of all that was absurd in his
+own position which did him good, and broke the spell of
+his solitary musings. When he took up Gerald's letter
+again, he read it through. A man more sympathetic, open-hearted,
+and unselfish than Gerald Wentworth did not
+exist in the world, as his brother well knew; but nevertheless,
+Gerald's mind was so entirely preoccupied that he
+passed over the Curate's cares with the lightest reference
+imaginable. "I hope you found all right when you got
+back, and nothing seriously amiss with Jack," the elder
+brother wrote, and then went on to his own affairs. All
+right! nothing seriously amiss! To a man who felt himself
+standing on the edge of possible ruin, such expressions
+seemed strange indeed.</p>
+
+<p>The Rector of Wentworth, however, had enough in his
+mind to excuse him for a momentary forgetfulness of
+others. Things had taken a different turn with him since
+his brother left. He had been so busy with his change of
+faith and sentiment, that the practical possibilities of the
+step which he contemplated had not disturbed Gerald. He
+had taken it calmly for granted that he <i>could</i> do what he
+wanted to do. But a new light had burst upon him in that
+respect, and changed the character of his thoughts.
+Notwithstanding the conviction into which he had reasoned
+himself, the Rector of Wentworth had not contemplated
+the idea of becoming simply a Catholic layman. He was
+nothing if not a priest, he had said, passionately. He could
+have made a martyr of himself&mdash;have suffered tortures
+and deaths with the steadiest endurance; but he could not
+face the idea of taking all meaning and significance out of
+his life, by giving up the profession which he felt to be laid
+upon him by orders indelible, beyond the power of
+circumstances to revoke. Such was the new complication
+to which Gerald had come. He was terribly staggered in
+his previous resolution by this new doubt, and he wrote to
+pour his difficulties into the ear of his brother. It had been
+Frank's question which first awoke in his mind a doubt as
+to the practicability of the step he contemplated; and one
+of Louisa's relations, appealed to by her in her next access
+of terror, had brought this aspect of the matter still more
+distinctly before the Rector of Wentworth. Gerald had
+been studying Canon law, but his English intelligence did
+not make very much of it; and the bare idea of a dispensation
+making that right which in itself was wrong, touched
+the high-minded gentleman to the quick, and brought him
+to a sudden standstill. He who was nothing if not a priest,
+stood sorrowfully looking at his contemplated martyrdom&mdash;like
+Brother Domenico of St Mark's sighing on the edge
+of the fiery ordeal into which the Church herself would not
+let him plunge. If it was so, he no longer knew what to do.
+He would have wrapped the vestment of the new priesthood
+about him, though it was a garment of fire; but to
+stand aside in irksome leisure was a harder trial, at which
+he trembled. This was the new complication in which
+Gerald asked his brother's sympathy and counsel. It was a
+long letter, curiously introspective, and full of self-argument;
+and it was hard work, with a mind so occupied as
+was that of the Perpetual Curate, to give it due attention.
+He put it away when he had done with his cold breakfast,
+and deferred the consideration of the subject, with a kind
+of vague hope that the family firmament might possibly
+brighten in that quarter at least; but the far-off and
+indistinct interest with which he viewed, across his own
+gloomy surroundings, this matter which had engrossed
+him so completely a few days before, was wonderful to
+see.</p>
+
+<p>And then he paused to think what he was to do. To go
+out and face the slander which must already have crept
+forth on its way&mdash;to see Elsworthy and ascertain whether
+he had come to his senses, and try if anything could be
+done for Rosa's discovery&mdash;to exert himself somehow, in
+short, and get rid of the feverish activity which he felt
+consuming him,&mdash;that was what he longed to do. But, on
+the other hand, it was Saturday, and Mr Wentworth was
+conscious that it would be more dignified, and in better
+taste altogether, if he went on writing his sermon and took
+no notice of this occurrence, with which, in reality, he had
+nothing to do. It was difficult, but no doubt it was the best;
+and he tried it accordingly&mdash;putting down a great many
+sentences which had to be scratched out again, and
+spoiling altogether the appearance of the sermon-paper.
+When a message came from Mr Wodehouse's about eleven
+o'clock, bringing the news that he was much worse and not
+expected to live, and begging Mr Wentworth's immediate
+presence, the Curate was as nearly glad as it was possible
+for a man to be under the circumstances. He had "a
+feeling heart," as even Elsworthy allowed, but in such a
+moment of excitement any kind of great and terrible event
+seemed to come natural. He hastened out into the fresh
+morning sunshine, which still seemed thrilling with life
+and joy, and went up Grange Lane with a certain sense of
+curiosity, wondering whether everybody was already
+aware of what had happened. A long way off a figure
+which much resembled that of the Rector was visible
+crossing over to Dr Marjoribanks's door; and it occurred to
+the Curate that Mr Morgan was crossing to avoid him,
+which brought a smile of anger and involuntary dislike to
+his face, and nerved him for any other encounter. The
+green door at Mr Wodehouse's&mdash;a homely sign of the
+trouble in the house&mdash;had been left unlatched, and was
+swinging ajar with the wind when the Curate came up; and
+as he went in (closing it carefully after him, for that forlorn
+little touch of carelessness went to his heart), he encountered
+in the garden Dr Marjoribanks and Dr Rider, who were
+coming out together with very grave looks. They did not
+stop for much conversation, only pausing to tell him that
+the case was hopeless, and that the patient could not
+possibly live beyond a day or two at most; but even in the
+few words that were spoken Mr Wentworth perceived, or
+thought he perceived, that something had occurred to
+lessen him in the esteem of the shrewd old Scotch doctor,
+who contemplated him and his prayer-book with critical
+eyes. "I confess, after all, that there are cases in which
+written prayers are a kind of security," Dr Marjoribanks
+said in an irrelevant manner to Dr Rider when Mr
+Wentworth had passed them&mdash;an observation at which, in
+ordinary cases, the Curate would have smiled; but to-day
+the colour rose to his face, and he understood that Dr
+Marjoribanks did not think him qualified to carry comfort
+or instruction to a sick-bed. Perhaps the old doctor had no
+such idea in his mind&mdash;perhaps it was simply a relic of his
+national Presbyterianism, to which the old Scotchman
+kept up a kind of visionary allegiance. But whether he
+meant it or not, Mr Wentworth understood it as a reproach
+to himself, and went on with a bitter feeling of mortification
+to the sick-room. He had gone with his whole heart into his
+priestly office, and had been noted for his ministrations to
+the sick and poor; but now his feelings were much too
+personal for the atmosphere into which he was just about
+to enter. He stopped at the door to tell John that he would
+take a stroll round the garden before he came in, as he had
+a headache, and went on through the walks which were
+sacred to Lucy, not thinking of her, but wondering bitterly
+whether anybody would stand by him, or whether an
+utterly baseless slander would outweigh all the five years
+of his life which he had spent among the people of Carlingford.
+Meanwhile John stood at the door and watched him,
+and of course thought it was very "queer." "It aint as if
+he'd a-been sitting up all night, like our young ladies,"
+said John to himself, and unconsciously noted the circumstance
+down in his memory against the Curate.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr Wentworth entered the sick-room, he found
+all very silent and still in that darkened chamber. Lucy
+was seated by the bedside, wrapped in a loose dressing-gown,
+and looked as if she had not slept for several nights;
+while Miss Wodehouse, who, notwithstanding all her
+anxiety to be of use, was far more helpless than Lucy,
+stood on the side next the door, with her eyes fixed on her
+sister, watching with pathetic unserviceableness for the
+moment when she could be of some use. As for the patient
+himself, he lay in a kind of stupor, from which he scarcely
+ever could be roused, and showed no tokens at the moment
+of hearing or seeing anybody. The scene was doubly sad,
+but it was without the excitement which so often breathes
+in the atmosphere of death. There was no eager listening
+for the last word, no last outbreaks of tenderness. The
+daughters were both hushed into utter silence; and Lucy,
+who was more reasonable than her sister, had even given
+up those wistful beseeching looks at the patient, with which
+Miss Wodehouse still regarded him, as if perhaps he might
+be thus persuaded to speak. The nurse whom Dr Marjoribanks
+had sent to assist them was visible through an open
+door, sleeping very comfortably in the adjoining room. Mr
+Wentworth came into the silent chamber with all his
+anxieties throbbing in his heart, bringing life at its very
+height of agitation and tumult into the presence of death.
+He went forward to the bed, and tried for an instant to call
+up any spark of intelligence that might yet exist within the
+mind of the dying man; but Mr Wodehouse was beyond
+the voice of any priest. The Curate said the prayers for
+the dying at the bedside, suddenly filled with a great pity
+for the man who was thus taking leave unawares of all this
+mournful splendid world. Though the young man knew
+many an ordinary sentiment about the vanity of life, and
+had given utterance to that effect freely in the way of his
+duty, he was still too fresh in his heart to conceive actually
+that any one could leave the world without poignant
+regrets; and when his prayer was finished, he stood looking
+at the patient with inexpressible compassion. Mr Wodehouse
+had scarcely reached old age; he was well off, and
+only a week ago seemed to have so much to enjoy; now,
+here he lay stupefied, on the edge of the grave, unable to
+respond even by a look to the love that surrounded him.
+Once more there rose in the heart of the young priest a
+natural impulse of resentment and indignation; and when
+he thought of the cause of this change, he remembered
+Wodehouse's threat, and roused himself from his contemplation
+of the dying to think of the probable fate of those
+who must live.</p>
+
+<p>"Has he made his will?" said Mr Wentworth, suddenly.
+He forgot that it was Lucy who was standing by him; and it
+was only when he caught a glance of reproach and horror
+from her eyes that he recollected how abrupt his question
+was. "Pardon me," he said; "you think me heartless to
+speak of it at such a time; but tell me, if you know: Miss
+Wodehouse, has he made his will?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Wentworth, I don't know anything about
+business," said the elder sister. "He said he would; but we
+have had other things to think of&mdash;more important things,"
+said poor Miss Wodehouse, wringing her hands, and
+looking at Mr Wentworth with eyes full of warning and
+meaning, beseeching him not to betray her secret. She
+came nearer to the side of the bed on which Lucy and the
+Curate were standing, and plucked at his sleeve in her
+anxiety. "We have had very different things to think of.
+Oh, Mr Wentworth, what does it matter?" said the poor
+lady, interposing her anxious looks, which suggested every
+kind of misfortune, between the two.</p>
+
+<p>"It matters everything in the world," said Mr Wentworth.
+"Pardon me if I wound you&mdash;I must speak; if it is possible
+to rouse him, an effort must be made. Send for Mr
+Waters. He must not be allowed to go out of the world and
+leave your interests in the hands of&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, hush, Mr Wentworth, hush!&mdash;oh, hush, hush!
+Don't say any more," cried Miss Wodehouse, grasping his
+arm in her terror.</p>
+
+<p>Lucy rose from where she had been sitting at the
+bedside. She had grown paler than before, and looked
+almost stern in her youthful gravity. "I will not permit my
+father to be disturbed," she said. "I don't know what you
+mean, or what you are talking of; but he is not to be
+disturbed. Do you think I will let him be vexed in his last
+hours about money or anybody's interest?" she said,
+turning upon the Curate a momentary glance of scorn.
+Then she sat down again, with a pang of disappointment
+added to her grief. She could not keep her heart so much
+apart from him, as not to expect a little comfort from his
+presence. And there had been comfort in his prayers and
+his looks; but to hear him speak of wills and worldly affairs
+by her father's deathbed, as any man might have done,
+went to Lucy's heart. She sat down again, putting her
+hand softly upon the edge of the pillow, to guard the peace
+of those last moments which were ebbing away so rapidly.
+What if all the comfort of the world hung upon it? Could
+she let her kind father be troubled in his end for anything
+so miserable? Lucy turned her indignant eyes upon the
+others with silent resolution. It was she who was <i>his</i>
+protector now.</p>
+
+<p>"But it must be done," said Mr Wentworth. "You will
+understand me hereafter. Miss Wodehouse, you must
+send for Mr Waters, and in the mean time I will do what I
+can to rouse him. It is no such cruelty as you think," said
+the Curate, with humility; "it is not for money or interest
+only&mdash;it concerns all the comfort of your life."</p>
+
+<p>This he said to Lucy, who sat defending her father. She,
+for her part, looked up at him with eyes that broke his
+heart. At that moment of all others, the unfortunate
+Curate perceived, by a sudden flash of insight, that nothing
+less than love could look at him with such force of disappointment
+and reproach and wounded feeling. He replied
+to the look by a gesture of mingled entreaty and despair.</p>
+
+<p>"What can I do?" he cried&mdash;"you have no one else to
+care for you. I cannot even explain to you all that is at
+stake. I must act as I ought, even though you hate me for
+it. Let us send for Mr Waters;&mdash;if there is a will&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth had raised his voice a little in the excitement
+of the moment, and the word caught the dull ear
+of the dying man. The Curate saw instantly that there was
+comprehension in the flicker of the eyelash and the
+tremulous movement of the hand upon the bed. It was a
+new and unaccustomed part which he had now to play; he
+went hurriedly to the other side and leaned over the pillow
+to make out the stammering words which began to be
+audible. Lucy had risen up also and stood looking at her
+father still with her look of defence. As the feeble lips
+babbled forth unintelligible words, Lucy's face grew
+sterner and sterner. As for Miss Wodehouse, she stood
+behind, crying and trembling. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, do
+you think it is returning life&mdash;do you think he is better?"
+she cried, looking wistfully at the Curate; and between the
+two young people, who were leaning with looks and
+feelings so different over his bed, the patient lay struggling
+with those terrible bonds of weakness, labouring to find
+expression for something which wrought him into a fever
+of excitement. While Mr Wentworth bent his ear closer
+and closer, trying to make some sense of the inarticulate
+torrent of sound, Lucy, inspired by grief and horror and
+indignation, leaned over her father on the other side, doing
+everything possible to calm him. "Oh, papa, don't say any
+more&mdash;don't say any more; we understand you," she
+cried, and put her soft hands upon his flushed forehead,
+and her cheek to his. "No more, no more!" cried the girl in
+the dulled ear which could not hear. "We will do everything
+you wish&mdash;we understand all," said Lucy. Mr
+Wentworth withdrew vanquished in that strange struggle&mdash;he
+stood looking on while she caressed and calmed and
+subdued into silence the dying passion which he would
+have given anything in the world to stimulate into clearer
+utterance. She had baffled his efforts, made him helpless
+to serve her, perhaps injured herself cruelly; but all the
+more the Curate loved her for it, as she expanded over her
+dying father, with the white sleeves hanging loose about
+her arms like the white wings of an angel, as he thought.
+Gradually the agony of utterance got subdued, and then
+Lucy resumed her position by the bed. "He shall not be
+disturbed," she said again, through lips that were parched
+with emotion; and so sat watchful over him, a guardian
+immovable, ready to defy all the world in defence of his
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth turned away with his heart full. He
+would have liked to go and kiss her hand or her sleeve or
+anything belonging to her; and yet he was impatient
+beyond expression, and felt that she had baffled and
+vanquished him. Miss Wodehouse stood behind, still
+looking on with a half perception of what had happened;
+but the mind of the elder sister was occupied with vain
+hopes and fears, such as inexperienced people are subject
+to in the presence of death.</p>
+
+<p>"He heard what you said," said Miss Wodehouse; "don't
+you think that was a good sign? Oh, Mr Wentworth,
+sometimes I think he looks a little better," said the poor
+lady, looking wistfully into the Curate's face. Mr Wentworth
+could only shake his head as he hurried away.</p>
+
+<p>"I must go and consult Mr Waters," he said, as he
+passed her. "I shall come back presently;" and then Miss
+Wodehouse followed him to the door, to beg him not to
+speak to Mr Waters of <i>anything particular</i>&mdash;"For papa has
+no confidence in him," she said, anxiously. The Curate
+was nearly driven to his wits' end as he hastened out. He
+forgot the clouds that surrounded him in his anxiety about
+this sad household; for it seemed but too evident that Mr
+Wodehouse had made no special provision for his
+daughters; and to think of Lucy under the power of her
+unknown brother, made Mr Wentworth's blood boil.</p>
+
+<p>The shutters were all put up that afternoon in the
+prettiest house in Grange Lane. The event took Carlingford
+altogether by surprise; but other events just then
+were moving the town into the wildest excitement; for
+nothing could be heard, far or near, of poor little Rosa
+Elsworthy, and everybody was aware that the last time
+she was seen in Carlingford she was standing by herself in
+the dark, at Mr Wentworth's garden-door.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mrs Morgan</span> was in the garden watering her favourite
+ferns when her husband returned home to dinner on the
+day of Mr Wodehouse's death. The Rector was late, and
+she had already changed her dress, and was removing the
+withered leaves from her prettiest plant of maidenhair,
+and thinking, with some concern, of the fish, when she
+heard his step on the gravel; for the cook at the Rectory
+was rather hasty in her temper, and was apt to be provoking
+to her mistress next morning when the Rector chose
+to be late. It was a very hot day, and Mr Morgan was
+flushed and uncomfortable. To see his wife looking so cool
+and tranquil in her muslin dress rather aggravated him
+than otherwise, for she did not betray her anxiety about
+the trout, but welcomed him with a smile, as she felt it her
+duty to do, even when he was late for dinner. The Rector
+looked as if all the anxieties of the world were on his
+shoulders, as he came hurriedly along the gravel; and Mrs
+Morgan's curiosity was sufficiently excited by his looks to
+have overcome any consideration but that of the trout,
+which, however, was too serious to be trifled with; so,
+instead of asking questions, she thought it wiser simply to
+remind her husband that it was past six o'clock. "Dinner is
+waiting," she said, in her composed way; and the Rector
+went up-stairs to wash his hands, half disposed to be angry
+with his wife. He found her already seated at the head of
+the table when he came down after his rapid ablutions;
+and though he was not particularly quick of perception, Mr
+Morgan perceived, by the looks of the servant as well as
+the mistress, that he was generally disapproved of
+throughout the household for being half an hour too late.
+As for Thomas, he was at no pains to conceal his sentiments,
+but conducted himself with distant politeness
+towards his master, expressing the feelings of the household
+with all the greater freedom that he had been in
+possession of the Rectory since Mr Bury's time, and felt
+himself more secure in his tenure than any incumbent, as
+was natural to a man who had already outlived two of
+these temporary tenants. Mr Morgan was disposed to be
+conciliatory when he saw the strength of the opposite side.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a little late today," said the politic Rector. "Mr
+Leeson was with me, and I did not want to bring him home
+to dinner. It was only on Wednesday he dined with us,
+and I know you don't care for chance guests."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it shows a great want of sense in Mr Leeson to
+think of such a thing," said Mrs Morgan, responding by a
+little flush of anger to the unlucky Curate's name. "He
+might understand that people like to be by themselves
+now and then. I am surprised that you give in to him so
+much as you do, William. Good-nature must stop somewhere,
+and I think it is always best to draw a line."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish it were possible for everybody to draw a line,"
+said the Rector, mysteriously, with a sigh. "I have heard
+something that has grieved me very much to-day. I will tell
+you about it afterwards." When he had said this, Mr
+Morgan addressed himself sadly to his dinner, sighing
+over it, as if that had something to do with his distress.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, ma'am," suggested Thomas, who was
+scarcely on speaking terms with his master, "the Rector
+mayn't have heard as Mr Wodehouse has been took very
+bad again, and aint expected to see out the night."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry," said the Rector. "Poor ladies! it will
+come very hard upon them. My dear, I think you should
+call and ask if you can do anything. Troubles never come
+singly, it is said. I am very sorry for that poor young
+creature; though, perhaps, things have not gone so far as
+one imagined." The Rector sighed again, and looked as
+though his secret, whatever it might be, was almost too
+much for him. The consequence, of course, was, that
+Thomas prolonged his services to the last possibility, by
+way of hearing what had happened; as for Mrs Morgan,
+she sat on thorns, though her sense of propriety was too
+great to permit her to hurry over the dinner. The pudding,
+though it was the Rector's favourite pudding, prepared
+from a receipt only known at All-Souls, in which the late
+respected Head of that learned community had concentrated
+all his genius, was eaten in uneasy silence, broken
+only by the most transparent attempts on both sides to
+make a little conversation. Thomas hovered sternly over
+his master and mistress all the time, exacting with inexorable
+severity every usage of the table. He would not let
+them off the very smallest detail, but insisted on handing
+round the peaches, notwithstanding Mrs Morgan's protest.
+"They are the first out of the new orchard-house," said the
+Rector's wife. "I want your opinion of them. That will do,
+Thomas; we have got everything now, I think." Mrs
+Morgan was a little anxious about the peaches, having
+made a great many changes on her own responsibility in
+the gardening department; but the Rector took the downy
+fruit as if it had been a turnip, and notwithstanding her
+interest in the long-delayed news, his wife could not but
+find it very provoking that he took so little notice of her
+exertions.</p>
+
+<p>"Roberts stood out against the new flue as long as he
+could," said Mrs Morgan. "Mr Proctor took no interest in
+the garden, and everything had gone to ruin; though I
+must say it was very odd that anybody from <i>your</i> college,
+William, should be careless about such a vital matter,"
+said the Rector's wife, with a little asperity. "I suppose
+there must be something in the air of Carlingford which
+makes people indifferent." Naturally, it was very provoking,
+after all the trouble she had taken, to see her
+husband slicing that juicy pulp as if it had been any
+ordinary market fruit.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, my dear," said Mr Morgan; "I was
+thinking of this story about Mr Wentworth. One is always
+making new discoveries of the corruption of human nature.
+He had behaved very badly to me; but it is very sad to see
+a young man sacrifice all his prospects for the indulgence
+of his passions; though that is a very secular way of looking
+at the subject," said the Rector, shaking his head mournfully.
+"If it is bad in a worldly point of view, what is it in a
+spiritual? and in this age, too, when it is so important to
+keep up the character of the clergy!" Mr Morgan sighed
+again more heavily than ever as he poured out the single
+glass of port, in which his wife joined him after dinner.
+"Such an occurrence throws a stigma upon the whole
+Church, as Mr Leeson very justly remarked."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought Mr Leeson must have something to do with
+it," said the Rector's wife. "What has Mr Wentworth been
+doing? When you keep a Low-Church Curate, you never
+can tell what he may say. If he had known of the All-Souls
+pudding he would have come to dinner, and we should
+have had it at first-hand," said Mrs Morgan, severely. She
+put away her peach in her resentment, and went to a side-table
+for her work, which she always kept handy for
+emergencies. Like her husband, Mrs Morgan had acquired
+some little "ways" in the long ten years of their engagement,
+one of which was a confirmed habit of needlework
+at all kinds of unnecessary moments, which much disturbed
+the Rector when he had anything particular to say.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, I am very sorry to see you so much the
+victim of prejudice," said Mr Morgan. "I had hoped that
+all our long experiences&mdash;" and here the Rector stopped
+short, troubled to see the rising colour in his wife's face. "I
+don't mean to blame you, my dear," said the perplexed
+man; "I know you were always very patient;" and he
+paused, not knowing what more to say, comforting himself
+with the thought that women were incomprehensible
+creatures, as so many men have done before.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not patient," said the Rector's wife; "it never was
+my nature. I can't help thinking sometimes that our long
+experiences have done us more harm than good; but I
+hope nothing will ever make me put up with a Curate who
+tells tales about other people, and flatters one's self, and
+comes to dinner without being asked. Perhaps Mr Wentworth
+is very sinful, but at least he is a gentleman," said
+Mrs Morgan; and she bent her head over her work, and
+drove her needle so fast through the muslin she was at
+work upon, that it glimmered and sparkled like summer
+lightning before the spectator's dazzled eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry you are so prejudiced," said the Rector. "It
+is a very unbecoming spirit, my dear, though I am grieved
+to say so much to you. Mr Leeson is a very good young
+man, and he has nothing to do with this terrible story
+about Mr Wentworth. I don't wish to shock your feelings&mdash;but
+there are a great many things in the world that one
+can't explain to ladies. He has got himself into a most
+distressing position, and a public inquiry will be necessary.
+One can't help seeing the hand of Providence in it," said
+the Rector, playing reflectively with the peach on his
+plate.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this moment that Thomas appeared at the door
+to announce Mr Leeson, who had come to talk over the
+topic of the day with the Rector&mdash;being comfortably
+obtuse in his perceptions, and quite disposed to ignore Mrs
+Morgan's general demeanour towards himself. "I am sure
+she has a bad temper," he would say to his confidants in
+the parish; "you can see it by the redness in her face: but I
+never take any notice when she says rude things to me."
+The redness was alarming in Mrs Morgan's face as the
+unlucky man became visible at the door. She said audibly,
+"I knew we should be interrupted!" and got up from her
+chair. "As Mr Leeson is here, you will not want me,
+William," she added, in her precisest tones. "If anything
+has happened since you came in, he will be able to tell you
+about it; and perhaps I had better send you your coffee
+here, for I have a great many things to do." Mr Morgan
+gave a little groan in his spirit as his wife went away. To
+do him justice, he had a great deal of confidence in her,
+and was unconsciously guided by her judgment in many
+matters. Talking it over with Mr Leeson was a totally
+different thing; for whatever might be said in his defence,
+there could not be any doubt that the Curate professed
+Low-Church principles, and had been known to drink tea
+with Mr Beecher, the new minister of Salem Chapel. "Not
+that I object to Mr Beecher because he is a Dissenter," Mr
+Morgan said, "but because, my dear, you know, it is a
+totally different class of society." When the Rector was
+left alone to discuss parish matters with this doubtful
+subordinate, instead of going into the subject with his
+wife, the good man felt a pang of disappointment; for
+though he professed to be reluctant to shock her, he had
+been longing all the time to enter into the story, which was
+certainly the most exciting which had occurred in Carlingford
+since the beginning of his incumbency. Mrs Morgan,
+for her part, went up-stairs to the drawing-room with so
+much indignation about this personal grievance that she
+almost forgot her curiosity. Mr Leeson hung like a cloud
+over all the advantages of Carlingford; he put out that new
+flue in the greenhouse, upon which she was rather disposed
+to pique herself, and withered her ferns, which everybody
+allowed to be the finest collection within a ten miles'
+circuit. This sense of disgust increased upon her as she
+went into the drawing-room, where her eye naturally
+caught that carpet which had been the first cross of her
+married life. When she had laid down her work, she began
+to plan how the offensive bouquets might be covered with
+a pinafore of linen, which looked very cool and nice in
+summer-time. And then the Rector's wife reflected that in
+winter a floor covered with white looked chilly, and that a
+woollen drugget of an appropriate small pattern would be
+better on the whole; but no such thing was to be had
+without going to London for it, which brought her mind
+back again to Mr Leeson and all the disadvantages of
+Carlingford. These subjects occupied Mrs Morgan to the
+exclusion of external matters, as was natural; and when
+she heard the gentlemen stir down-stairs as if with ideas of
+joining her in the drawing-room, the Rector's wife suddenly
+recollected that she had promised some tea to a poor
+woman in Grove Street, and that she could not do better
+this beautiful evening than take it in her own person. She
+was very active in her district at all times, and had proved
+herself an admirable clergywoman; but perhaps it would
+not have occurred to her to go out upon a charitable
+errand that particular evening had it not been for the
+presence of Mr Leeson down-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>It was such a very lovely night, that Mrs Morgan was
+tempted to go further than she intended. She called on two
+or three of her favourites in Grove Street, and was almost
+as friendly with them as Lucy Wodehouse was with the
+people in Prickett's Lane; but being neither pretty and
+young, like Lucy, nor yet a mother with a nursery, qualified
+to talk about the measles, her reception was not quite
+as enthusiastic as it might have been. Somehow it would
+appear as though our poor neighbours loved most the
+ministrations of youth, which is superior to all ranks in the
+matter of possibility and expectation, and inferior to all
+ranks in the matter of experience; and so holds a kind of
+balance and poise of nature between the small and the great.
+Mrs Morgan was vaguely sensible of her disadvantages in this
+respect as well as in others. She never could help imagining
+what she might have been had she married ten years
+before at the natural period. "And even then not a girl,"
+she said to herself in her sensible way, as she carried this
+habitual thread of thought with her along the street, past
+the little front gardens, where there were so many mothers
+with their children. On the other side of the way the
+genteel houses frowned darkly with their staircase windows
+upon the humility of Grove Street; and Mrs Morgan began
+to think within herself of the Miss Hemmings and other
+spinsters, and how they got along upon this path of life,
+which, after all, is never lightsome to behold, except in the
+future or the past. It was dead present with the Rector's
+wife just then, and many speculations were in her mind, as
+was natural. "Not that I could not have lived unmarried,"
+she continued within herself, with a woman's pride; "but
+things looked so different at five-and-twenty!" and in her
+heart she grudged the cares she had lost, and sighed over
+this wasting of her years.</p>
+
+<p>It was just then that the youngest Miss Hemmings saw
+Mrs Morgan, and crossed over to speak to her. Miss
+Hemmings had left five-and-thirty behind a long time ago,
+and thought the Rector's wife a happy woman in the
+bloom of youth. When she had discovered conclusively
+that Mrs Morgan would not go in to have a cup of tea, Miss
+Hemmings volunteered to walk with her to the corner; and
+it is not necessary to say that she immediately plunged
+into the topic which at that moment engaged all minds in
+Carlingford. "If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I
+should not have believed it," said Miss Hemmings. "I
+should have thought it a got-up story; not that I ever could
+have thought it <i>impossible</i>, as you say&mdash;for, alas! I know
+well that without grace every wickedness is more than
+possible&mdash;but I saw them with my own eyes, my dear Mrs
+Morgan; she standing outside, the bold little thing, and he at
+the door&mdash;as if it was right for a clergyman to open the door
+like a man-servant&mdash;and from that moment to this she has
+not been seen by any living creature in Carlingford: who can
+tell what may have been done with her?" cried the horrified
+eyewitness. "She has never been seen from that hour!"</p>
+
+<p>"But that was only twenty-four hours ago," said Mrs
+Morgan; "she may have gone off to visit some of her
+friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my dear Mrs Morgan, twenty-four hours is a long
+time for a girl to disappear out of her own home," said
+Miss Hemmings; "and all her friends have been sent to,
+and no word can be heard of her. I am afraid it will go
+very hard with Mr Wentworth; and I am sure it looks like
+a judgment upon him for all his candlesticks and flowers
+and things," she continued, out of breath with the impetuosity
+of her tale.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think, then, that God makes people sin in
+order to punish them?" said Mrs Morgan, with some fire,
+which shocked Miss Hemmings, who did not quite know
+how to reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I do so wish you would come in for a few minutes and
+taste our tea; my sister Sophia was just making it when I
+came out. We get it from our brother in Assam, and we
+think a great deal of it," said Miss Hemmings; "it can't
+possibly be adulterated, you know, for it comes direct
+from his plantation. If you can't come in just now, I will
+send you some to the Rectory, and you shall tell us how
+you like it. We are quite proud of our tea. My brother has
+a large plantation, and he hopes&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Mrs Morgan, "but the Rector will be
+waiting for me, and I must go. It must be very nice to
+have your tea direct from the plantation; and I hope you
+will change your mind about Mr Wentworth," she continued,
+without much regard for punctuation, as she shook
+hands at the corner. Mrs Morgan went down a narrow
+street which led to Grange Lane, after this interview, with
+some commotion in her mind. She took Mr Wentworth's
+part instinctively, without asking any proofs of his innocence.
+The sun was just setting, and St Roque's stood out
+dark and picturesque against all the glory of the western
+sky as the Rector's wife went past. She could not help
+thinking of him, in his youth and the opening of his career,
+with a kind of wistful interest. If he had married Lucy
+Wodehouse, and confined himself to his own district (but
+then he had no district), Mrs Morgan would have contemplated
+the two, not, indeed, without a certain half-resentful
+self-reference and contrast, but with natural sympathy.
+And now, to think of this dark and ugly blot on his fair
+beginning disturbed her much. When Mrs Morgan recollected
+that she had left her husband and his Curate
+consulting over this matter, she grew very hot and angry,
+and felt humiliated by the thought. Was it her William,
+her hero, whom she had magnified for all these ten years,
+though not without occasional twinges of enlightenment,
+into something great, who was thus sitting upon his young
+brother with so little human feeling and so much middle-aged
+jealousy? It hurt her to think of it, though not for Mr
+Wentworth's sake. Poor Mrs Morgan, though not at all a
+sentimental person, had hoarded up her ideal so much
+after the ordinary date, that it came all the harder upon
+her when everything thus merged into the light of common
+day. She walked very fast up Grange Lane, which was
+another habit of her maidenhood not quite in accord with
+the habit of sauntering acquired during the same period by
+the Fellow of All-Souls. When Mrs Morgan was opposite
+Mr Wodehouse's, she looked across with some interest,
+thinking of Lucy; and it shocked her greatly to see the
+closed shutters, which told of the presence of death. Then,
+a little farther up, she could see Elsworthy in front of his
+shop, which was already closed, talking vehemently to a
+little group round the door. The Rector's wife crossed the
+street, to avoid coming into contact with this excited party;
+and, as she went swiftly along under the garden-walls,
+came direct, without perceiving it, upon Mr Wentworth,
+who was going the opposite way. They were both absorbed
+in their own thoughts, the Perpetual Curate only perceiving
+Mrs Morgan in time to take off his hat to her as he
+passed; and, to tell the truth, having no desire for any
+further intercourse. Mrs Morgan, however, was of a
+different mind. She stopped instantly, as soon as she
+perceived him. "Mr Wentworth, it is getting late&mdash;will
+you walk with me as far as the Rectory?" she said, to the
+Curate's great astonishment. He could not help looking at
+her with curiosity as he turned to accompany her. Mrs
+Morgan was still wearing her wedding things, which were
+not now in their first freshness&mdash;not to say that the
+redness, of which she was so painfully sensible, was rather
+out of accordance with the orange blossoms. Then she was
+rather flurried and disturbed in her mind; and, on the
+whole, Mr Wentworth ungratefully concluded the Rector's
+wife to be looking her plainest, as he turned with very
+languid interest to see her safely home.</p>
+
+<p>"A great many things seem to be happening just now,"
+said Mrs Morgan, with a good deal of embarrassment; "I
+suppose the people in Carlingford are grateful to anybody
+who gives them something to talk about."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about the gratitude," said the Perpetual
+Curate; "it is a sentiment I don't believe in."</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to believe in everything as long as you are
+young," said Mrs Morgan. "I want very much to speak to
+you, Mr Wentworth; but then I don't know how you will
+receive what I am going to say."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell until I know what it is," said the Curate,
+shutting himself up. He had an expressive face generally,
+and Mrs Morgan saw the shutters put up, and the jealous
+blinds drawn over the young man's countenance as clearly
+as if they had been tangible articles. He did not look at
+her, but kept swinging his cane in his hand, and regarding
+the pavement with downcast eyes; and if the Rector's
+wife had formed any expectations of finding in the
+Perpetual Curate an ingenuous young heart, open to
+sympathy and criticism, she now discovered her mistake.</p>
+
+<p>"If I run the risk, perhaps you will forgive me," said
+Mrs Morgan. "I have just been hearing a dreadful story
+about you; and I don't believe it in the least, Mr Wentworth,"
+she continued, with a little effusion; for though
+she was very sensible, she was only a woman, and did not
+realise the possibility of having her sympathy rejected,
+and her favourable judgment received with indifference.</p>
+
+<p>"I am much flattered by your good opinion. What was
+the dreadful story?" asked Mr Wentworth, looking at her
+with careless eyes. They were just opposite Elsworthy's
+shop, and could almost hear what he was saying, as he
+stood in the midst of his little group of listeners, talking
+loud and vehemently. The Perpetual Curate looked calmly
+at him across the road, and turned again to Mrs Morgan,
+repeating his question, "What was the dreadful story?&mdash;one
+gets used to romances," he said, with a composure too
+elaborate to be real; but Mrs Morgan did not think of that.</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't care about it, I need not say anything,"
+said the Rector's wife, who could not help feeling affronted.
+"But I am so sorry that Mr Morgan and you don't get on,"
+she continued, after a little pause. "I have no right to
+speak; but I take an interest in everything that belongs to
+the parish. If you would put a little confidence in my
+husband, things might go on better; but, in the mean time,
+I thought I might say to you, on my own account, that I
+had heard this scandal, and that I don't believe in it. If
+you do not understand my motive I can't help it," said the
+Rector's wife, who was now equally ready for friendship
+or for battle.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks; I understand what you mean," said Mr
+Wentworth, who had come to himself. "But will you tell
+me what it is you don't believe in?" he asked, with a smile
+which Mrs Morgan did not quite comprehend.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you," she said, with a little quiet exasperation.
+"I don't think you would risk your prospects, and get
+yourself into trouble, and damage your entire life, for the
+sake of any girl, however pretty she might be. Men don't
+do such things for women nowadays, even when it is a
+worthy object," said the disappointed optimist. "And I
+believe you are a great deal more sensible, Mr Wentworth."
+There was just that tone of mingled approval and
+contempt in this speech which a woman knows how to
+deliver herself of without any appearance of feeling; and
+which no young man, however <i>blas&eacute;</i>, can hear with composure.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not," he said, with a little heat and a rising
+colour. "I am glad you think me so sensible." And then
+there ensued a pause, upon the issue of which depended
+the question of peace or war between these two. Mr
+Wentworth's good angel, perhaps, dropped softly through
+the dusky air at that moment, and jogged his perverse
+charge with the tip of a celestial wing. "And yet there
+might be women in the world for whom&mdash;" said the Curate;
+and stopped again. "I daresay you are not anxious to know
+my sentiments on the subject," he continued, with a little
+laugh. "I am sorry you think so badly&mdash;I mean so well of
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think badly of you," said Mrs Morgan, hastily.
+"Thank you for walking with me; and whatever happens,
+remember that I for one don't believe a word of it," she
+said, holding out her hand. After this little declaration of
+friendship, the Rector's wife returned to the Rectory,
+where her husband was waiting for her, more than ever
+prepared to stand up for Mr Wentworth. She went back to
+the drawing-room, forgetting all about the carpet, and
+poured out the tea with satisfaction, and made herself
+very agreeable to Mr Finial, the architect, who had come
+to talk over the restorations. In that moment of stimulation
+she forgot all her experience of her husband's puzzled
+looks, of the half-comprehension with which he looked at
+her, and the depths of stubborn determination which were
+far beyond the reach of her hastier and more generous
+spirit, and so went on with more satisfaction and gaiety
+than she had felt possible for a long time, beating her
+drums and blowing her trumpets, to the encounter in
+which her female forces were so confident of victory.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mr Wentworth</span> went upon his way, after he had parted
+from Mrs Morgan, with a moment's gratitude; but he had
+not gone half-a-dozen steps before that amiable sentiment
+yielded to a sense of soreness and vexation. He had almost
+acknowledged that he was conscious of the slander against
+which he had made up his mind to present a blank front of
+unconsciousness and passive resistance, and he was angry
+with himself for his susceptibility to this unexpected voice
+of kindness. He was going home, but he did not care for
+going home. Poor Mrs Hadwin's anxious looks of suspicion
+had added to the distaste with which he thought of
+encountering again the sullen shabby rascal to whom he
+had given shelter. It was Saturday night, and he had still
+his sermon to prepare for the next day; but the young man
+was in a state of disgust with all the circumstances of his
+lot, and could not make up his mind to go in and address
+himself to his work as he ought to have done. Such a sense
+of injustice and cruelty as possessed him was not likely to
+promote composition, especially as the pulpit addresses of
+the Curate of St Roque's were not of a declamatory kind.
+To think that so many years' work could be neutralised in
+a day by a sudden breath of scandal, made him not
+humble or patient, but fierce and resentful. He had been
+in Wharfside that afternoon, and felt convinced that even
+the dying woman at No. 10 Prickett's Lane had heard of
+Rosa Elsworthy; and he saw, or imagined he saw, many a
+distrustful inquiring glance thrown at him by people to
+whom he had been a kind of secondary Providence.
+Naturally the mere thought of the failing allegiance of the
+"district" went to Mr Wentworth's heart. When he turned
+round suddenly from listening to a long account of one
+poor family's distresses, and saw Tom Burrows, the gigantic
+bargeman, whose six children the Curate had baptised
+in a lump, and whose baby had been held at the font by
+Lucy Wodehouse herself, looking at him wistfully with
+rude affection, and something that looked very much like
+pity, it is impossible to describe the bitterness that welled
+up in the mind of the Perpetual Curate. Instead of leaving
+Wharfside comforted as he usually did, he came away
+wounded and angry, feeling to its full extent the fickleness
+of popular sympathy. And when he came into Grange
+Lane and saw the shutters closed, and Mr Wodehouse's
+green door shut fast, as if never more to open, all sources
+of consolation seemed to be shut against him. Even the
+habit he had of going into Elsworthy's to get his newspaper,
+and to hear what talk might be current in Carlingford,
+contributed to the sense of utter discomfort and
+wretchedness which overwhelmed him. Men in other positions
+have generally to consult the opinion of their equals
+only; but all sorts of small people can plant thorns in the
+path of a priest who has given himself with fervour to the
+duties of his office. True enough, such clouds blow by, and
+sometimes leave behind a sky clearer than before; but that
+result is doubtful, and Mr Wentworth was not of the
+temper to comfort himself with philosophy. He felt ingratitude
+keenly, as men do at eight-and-twenty, even when
+they have made up their minds that gratitude is a delusion;
+and still more keenly, with deep resentment and indignation,
+he felt the horrible doubt which had diffused itself
+around him, and seemed to be looking at him out of
+everybody's eyes. In such a state of mind one bethinks
+one's self of one's relations&mdash;those friends not always
+congenial, but whom one looks to instinctively, when one
+is young, in the crisis of life. He knocked at his aunts' door
+almost without knowing it, as he went down Grange Lane,
+after leaving Mrs Morgan, with vague sentences of his
+sermon floating in his mind through all the imbroglio of
+other thoughts. Even aunt Dora's foolish affection might
+have been a little comfort at the moment, and he could not
+but be a little curious to know whether they had heard
+Elsworthy's story, and what the patronesses of Skelmersdale
+thought of the matter. Somehow, just then, in the
+midst of his distresses, a vision of Skelmersdale burst upon
+the Perpetual Curate like a glimpse of a better world. If
+he could but escape there out of all this sickening misconception
+and ingratitude&mdash;if he could but take Lucy into his
+protecting arms, and carry her away far from the clouds
+that were gathering over her path as well as his own. The
+thought found vent in an impatient long-drawn sigh, and
+was then expelled contemptuously from the young man's
+bosom. If a hundred Skelmersdales were in his power,
+here, where his honour had been attacked, it was necessary
+to remain, in the face of all obstacles, till it was
+cleared.</p>
+
+<p>The Miss Wentworths had just come up to the drawing-room
+after dinner when their nephew entered. As for Miss
+Dora, she had seated herself by the window, which was
+open, and, with her light little curls fluttering upon her
+cheek, was watching a tiny puff of smoke by the side of
+the great laurel, which indicated the spot occupied at this
+moment by Jack and his cigar. "Dear fellow, he does
+enjoy the quiet," she said, with a suppressed little sniff of
+emotion. "To think we should be in such a misery about
+poor dear Frank, and have Jack, about whom we have all
+been so unbelieving, sent to us for a consolation. My poor
+brother will be so happy," said Miss Dora, almost crying
+at the thought. She was under the influence of this sentiment
+when the Curate entered. It was perhaps impossible
+for Mr Wentworth to present himself before his three
+aunts at the present crisis without a certain consciousness
+in his looks; and it was well that it was twilight, and he
+could not read distinctly all that was written in their
+countenances. Miss Cecilia held out her lovely old hand to
+him first of all. She said, "How do you do, Frank?" which
+was not very original, but yet counted for a good deal in
+the silence. When he came up to her, she offered him her
+sweet old cheek with a look of pity which touched, and yet
+affronted, the Perpetual Curate. He thought it was the
+wisest way to accept the challenge at once.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very good of you, but you need not be sorry for
+me," he said, as he sat down by her. And then there was a
+little pause&mdash;an awful pause; for Miss Wentworth had no
+further observations to offer, and Miss Dora, who had
+risen up hastily, dropped into her chair again in a disconsolate
+condition, when she saw that her nephew did not
+take any notice of her. The poor little woman sat down
+with miserable sensations, and did not find the comfort she
+hoped for in contemplation of the smoke of Jack's cigar.
+After all, it was Frank who was the original owner of Miss
+Dora's affections. When she saw him, as she thought, in a
+state of guilt and trouble, received with grim silence by
+the dreaded Leonora, the poor lady began to waver
+greatly, divided between a longing to return to her old
+allegiance, and a certain pride in the new bonds which
+bound her to so great a sinner as Jack. She could not help
+feeling the distinction of having such a reprobate in her
+hands. But the sight of Frank brought back old habits, and
+Miss Dora felt at her wits' end, and could not tell what to
+do.</p>
+
+<p>At length Miss Leonora's voice, which was decided
+contralto, broke the silence. "I am very glad to see you,
+Frank," said the strong-minded aunt. "From something
+we heard, I supposed you had gone away for a time, and
+we were rather anxious about your movements. There are
+so many things going on in the family just now, that one
+does not know what to think. I am glad to see you are still
+in Carlingford."</p>
+
+<p>"I never had the least intention of going away," said Mr
+Wentworth. "I can't imagine who could tell you so."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody told us," said Miss Leonora; "we drew that
+conclusion from other things we heard. Dora, give Frank
+the newspaper with that paragraph about Gerald. I have
+prophesied from the very first which way Gerald was
+tending. It is very shocking of him, and I don't know what
+they are to do, for Louisa is an expensive little fool; and if
+he leaves the Rectory, they can't have enough to live on.
+If you knew what your brother was going to do, why didn't
+you advise him otherwise? Besides, he will be wretched,"
+said the discriminating woman. "I never approved of his
+ways, but I could not say anything against his sincerity. I
+believe his heart was in his work; a man may be very
+zealous, and yet very erroneous," said Miss Leonora, like
+an oracle, out of the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know if he is erroneous or not&mdash;but I know I
+should like to punch this man's head," said the Curate,
+who had taken the paper to the window, where there was
+just light enough to make out the paragraph. He stood
+looming over Miss Dora, a great black shadow against the
+fading light. "All the mischief in the world comes of these
+villanous papers," said Mr Wentworth. "Though I did not
+think anybody nowadays believed in the 'Chronicle.'
+Gerald has not gone over to Rome, and I don't think he
+means to go. I daresay you have agitated yourselves
+unnecessarily about more than one supposed event in the
+family," he continued, throwing the paper on the table. "I
+don't know anything very alarming that has happened as
+yet, except, perhaps, the prodigal's return," said the
+Perpetual Curate, with a slight touch of bitterness. His eye
+had just lighted on Jack sauntering through the garden
+with his cigar; and Mr Wentworth was human, and could
+not entirely refrain from the expression of his sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>"But oh, Frank, my dear, you are not angry about poor
+Jack?" said Miss Dora. "He has not known what it was to
+be at home for years and years. A stepmother is so
+different from an own mother, and he never has had any
+opportunities; and oh, Frank, don't you remember that
+there is joy in heaven?" cried the anxious aunt&mdash;"not to
+say that he is the eldest son. And it is such a thing for the
+family to see him changing his ways in such a beautiful
+spirit!" said Miss Dora. The room was almost dark by this
+time, and she did not see that her penitent had entered
+while she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very consoling to gain your approval, aunt Dora,"
+said Jack. "My brother Frank doesn't know me. If the
+Squire <i>will</i> make a nursery of his house, what can a man
+do? But a fellow can't be quite ruined as long as he has&mdash;"
+aunts, the reprobate was about to say, with an inflection of
+laughter intended for Frank's ear only in his voice; but he
+fortunately remembered in time that Miss Leonora had an
+acute intelligence, and was not to be trifled with&mdash;"As long
+as he has female relations," said Jack, in his most feeling
+tone. "Men never sympathise with men." He seemed to
+be apologising for Frank's indifference, as well as for his
+own sins. He had just had a very good dinner&mdash;for the
+Miss Wentworths' cook was the best in Carlingford&mdash;and
+Jack, whose digestion was perfect, was disposed to please
+everybody, and had, in particular, no disposition to
+quarrel with Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dear, you see how humble and forgiving he
+is," said Miss Dora, rising on tiptoe to whisper into the
+Curate's ear; "and always takes your part whenever you
+are mentioned," said the injudicious aunt. Meantime the
+other sisters were very silent, sitting each in the midst of
+her own group of shadows. Then Miss Leonora rose with a
+sudden rustling of all her draperies, and with her own
+energetic hand rang the bell.</p>
+
+<p>"Now the lamp is coming," said Jack, in a tone of
+despair, "a bright, blank, pitiless globe like the world; and
+instead of this delicious darkness, where one can see
+nothing distinctly, my heart will be torn asunder for the
+rest of the evening by the sight of suicide. Why do we ever
+have lights?" said the exquisite, laying himself down softly
+on a sofa. When the lamp was brought in, Jack became
+visible stretched out in an attitude of perfect repose and
+tranquillity, with a quiet conscience written in every fold
+of his scrupulous apparel. As for Frank, on the contrary,
+he was still in morning dress, and was biting his nails, and
+had a cloud upon his brow which the sudden light disclosed
+like a traitor before he was prepared for it. Between the
+two brothers such a contrast was visible that it was not
+surprising if Miss Dora, still wavering in her allegiance,
+went back with relief to the calm countenance of her
+penitent, and owned to herself with trembling that the
+Curate looked preoccupied and guilty. Perhaps Miss
+Leonora came to a similar conclusion. She seated herself
+at her writing-table with her usual air of business, and
+made a pen to a hard point by the light of the candles,
+which were sacred to her particular use.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard some news this morning which pleased me
+very much," said Miss Leonora. "I daresay you remember
+Julia Trench? You two used to be a great deal together at
+one time. She is going to be married to Mr Shirley's
+excellent curate, who is a young man of the highest
+character. He did very well at the university, I believe,"
+said the patroness of Skelmersdale; "but I confess I don't
+care much for academical honours. He is an excellent
+clergyman, which is a great deal more to the purpose, and
+I thoroughly agree with his views. So, knowing the interest
+we take in Julia, you may think how pleased we were,"
+said Miss Leonora, looking full into her nephew's face. He
+knew what she meant as distinctly as if she had put it in
+words.</p>
+
+<p>"When is old Shirley going to die?" said Jack from the
+sofa. "It's rather hard upon Frank, keeping him out of the
+living so long; and if I were you, I'd be jealous of this
+model curate," said the fine gentleman, with a slight civil
+yawn. "I don't approve of model curates upon family
+livings. People are apt to make comparisons," said Jack,
+and then he raised his head with a little energy&mdash;"Ah,
+there it is," said the Sybarite, "the first moth. Don't be
+precipitate, my dear fellow. Aunt Dora, pray sit quietly
+where you are, and don't disturb our operations. It is only
+a moth, to be sure; but don't let us cut short the moments
+of a creature that has no hereafter," said Jack, solemnly.
+He disturbed them all by this eccentric manifestation of
+benevolence, and flapped his handkerchief round Miss
+Dora, upon whose white cap the unlucky moth, frightened
+by its benefactor's vehemence, was fluttering wildly. Jack
+even forgot himself so far as to swear softly in French at
+the frightened insect as it flew wildly off at a tangent, not
+to the open window, but to Miss Leonora's candles, where
+it came to an immediate end. Miss Leonora sat rather
+grimly looking on at all this byplay. When her elegant
+nephew threw himself back once more upon his sofa, she
+glanced from him to his brother with a comparison which
+perhaps was not so much to the disadvantage of the
+Perpetual Curate. But even Miss Leonora, though so
+sensible, had her weaknesses; and she was very evangelical,
+and could put up with a great deal from the sinner who had
+placed himself for conversion in her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"We have too great a sense of our responsibility to treat
+Skelmersdale simply as a family living," she said.
+"Besides, Frank of course is to have Wentworth Rectory.
+Gerald's perversion is a great blow; but still, if it <i>is</i> to be,
+Frank will be provided for at least. As for our parish&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," said the Curate; "I have not the
+least intention of leaving Carlingford. At the present
+moment neither Skelmersdale nor Wentworth would
+tempt me. I am in no doubt as to where my work lies, and
+there is enough of it to satisfy any man." He could not
+help thinking, as he spoke, of ungrateful Wharfside, for
+which he had done so much, and the recollection brought a
+little flush of indignant colour to his cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, my dear," said Miss Dora in a whisper,
+stealing up to him, "if it is not true, you must not mind.
+Oh, my dear boy, nobody will mind it if it is not true." She
+put her hand timidly upon his arm as she reached up to his
+ear, and at the same time the poor little woman, who was
+trying all she could to serve two masters, kept one eye
+upon Jack, lest her momentary return to his brother might
+have a disastrous effect upon the moral reformation which
+she was nursing with so much care. As for the Curate, he
+gave her a hasty glance, which very nearly made an end
+of Miss Dora. She retired to her seat with no more courage
+to say anything, unable to make out whether it was
+virtuous reproach or angry guilt which looked at her so
+sternly. She felt her headache coming on as she sank again
+upon her chair. If she could but have stolen away to her
+own room, and had a good comforting cry in the dark, it
+might have kept off the headache; but then she had to be
+faithful to her post, and to look after the reformation of
+Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt that a great work might be done in
+Carlingford," said Miss Leonora, "if you would take my
+advice and organise matters properly, and make due
+provision for the lay element. As for Sisters of Mercy, I
+never had any belief in them. They only get young clergymen
+into mischief," said the strong-minded aunt. "We are
+going to have tea, Frank, if you will have some. Poor Mr
+Shirley has got matters into very bad order at Skelmersdale,
+but things will be different under the new incumbent,
+I hope," said Miss Leonora, shooting a side-glance
+of keen inspection at the Curate, who bore it steadily.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he will conduct himself to your satisfaction,"
+said Mr Wentworth, with a bland but somewhat grim
+aspect, from the window; "but I can't wait for tea. I have
+still got some of my work to do for to-morrow; so good-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll walk with you, Frank," said his elder brother. "My
+dear aunts, don't look alarmed; nothing can happen to me.
+There are few temptations in Grange Lane; and, besides,
+I shall come back directly. <i>I</i> cannot do without my tea,"
+said Jack, by way of consoling poor Miss Dora, who had
+started with consternation at the proposal. And the two
+brothers went out into the fresh evening air together, their
+aunt Dora watching them from the window with
+inexpressible anxiety; for perhaps it was not quite right for
+a clergyman to saunter out of doors in the evening with
+such a doubtful member of society as Jack; and perhaps
+Frank, having himself fallen into evil ways, might hinder
+or throw obstacles in the way of his brother's re-establishment
+in the practice of all the virtues. Miss Dora, who had
+to carry them both upon her shoulders, and who got no
+sympathy in the present case from her hard-hearted
+sisters, was fain at last to throw a shawl over her head and
+steal out to that summer-house which was built into the
+garden-wall, and commanded Grange Lane from its little
+window. There she established herself in the darkness, an
+affectionate spy. There ought to have been a moon that
+night, and accordingly the lamps were not lighted at that
+end of Grange Lane, for the authorities in Carlingford
+bore a frugal mind. But the sky had become cloudy, and
+the moon shone only at intervals, which gave a certain
+character of mystery and secrecy to the night. Through
+this uncertain light the anxious woman saw her two
+nephews coming and going under the window, apparently
+in the most eager conversation. Miss Dora's anxiety grew
+to such a height that she opened softly a chink of the
+window in hopes of being able to hear as well as to see, but
+that attempt was altogether unsuccessful. Then, when
+they had walked about for half an hour, which looked like
+two hours to Miss Dora, who was rapidly taking one of her
+bad colds at the half-open window, they were joined by
+another figure which she did not think she had ever seen
+before. The excitement was growing tremendous, and the
+aspect of the three conspirators more and more alarming,
+when the poor lady started with a little scream at a noise
+behind her, and turning round, saw her maid, severe as a
+pursuing Fate, standing at the door. "After giving me your
+word as you wouldn't come no more?" said the reproachful
+despot who swayed Miss Dora's soul. After that she had to
+make the best of her way indoors, thankful not to be
+carried to her room and put into hot water, which was the
+original intention of Collins. But it would be impossible to
+describe the emotions of Miss Dora's mind after this
+glimpse into the heart of the volcano on which her innocent
+feet were standing. Unless it were murder or high treason,
+what could they have to plot about? or was the mysterious
+stranger a disguised Jesuit, and the whole business some
+terrible Papist conspiracy? Jack, who had been so much
+abroad, and Gerald, who was going over to Rome, and
+Frank, who was in trouble of every description, got
+entangled together in Miss Dora's disturbed imagination.
+No reality could be so frightful as the fancies with which
+she distracted herself after that peep from the summer-house;
+and it would be impossible to describe the indignation
+of Collins, who knew that her mistress would kill
+herself some day, and was aware that she, in her own
+person, would get little rest that night.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">I don't</span> know what is the exact connection between tea
+and reformation," said Jack Wentworth, with a wonderful
+yawn. "When I consider that this is all on account of that
+stupid beast Wodehouse, I feel disposed to eat him. By
+the way, they have got a capital cook; I did not think such
+a <i>cuisine</i> was the sort of thing to be found in the bosom of
+one's family, which has meant boiled mutton up to this
+moment, to my uninstructed imagination. But the old
+ladies are in a state of excitement which, I presume, is
+unusual to them. It appears you have been getting into
+scrapes like other people, though you are a parson. As your
+elder brother, my dear Frank&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Look here," said the Perpetual Curate; "you want to
+ask about Wodehouse. I will answer your questions, since
+you seem to have some interest in him; but I don't speak
+of my private affairs to any but my intimate friends," said
+Mr Wentworth, who was not in a humour to be trifled with.</p>
+
+<p>The elder brother shrugged his shoulders. "It is curious
+to remark the progress of the younger members of one's
+family," he said, reflectively. "When you were a little
+boy, you took your drubbings dutifully; but never mind,
+we've another subject in hand. I take an interest in
+Wodehouse, and so do you&mdash;I can't tell for what reason.
+Perhaps he is one of the intimate friends with whom you
+discuss your private affairs? but that is a matter quite
+apart from the subject. The thing is that he has to be taken
+care of&mdash;not for his own sake, as I don't need to explain to
+you," said Jack. "I hear the old fellow died today, which
+was the best thing he could have done, upon the whole.
+Perhaps you can tell me how much he had, and how he
+has left it? We may have to take different sides, and the
+fellow himself is a snob; but I should like to understand
+exactly the state of affairs between you and me as gentlemen,"
+said the heir of the Wentworths. Either a passing
+spasm of compunction passed over him as he said the
+word, or it was the moon, which had just flung aside the last
+fold of cloud and burst out upon them as they turned back
+facing her. "When we know how the affair stands, we can
+either negotiate or fight," he added, puffing a volume of
+smoke from his cigar. "Really a very fine effect&mdash;that
+little church of yours comes well against that bit of sky. It
+looks like a Constable, or rather it would look like a
+Constable, thrusting up that bit of spire into the blue, if it
+happened to be daylight," said Jack, making a tube of his
+hand, and regarding the picture with great interest. Miss
+Dora at her window beheld the movement with secret horror
+and apprehension, and took it for some mysterious sign.</p>
+
+<p>"I know nothing about Mr Wodehouse's property," said
+the Curate: "I wish I knew enough law to understand it.
+He has left no will, I believe;" and Mr Wentworth watched
+his brother's face with no small interest as he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Very like a Constable," said Jack, still with his hands
+to his eyes. "These clouds to the right are not a bad
+imitation of some effects of his. I beg your pardon, but
+Constable is my passion. And so old Wodehouse has left
+no will? What <i>has</i> he left? some daughters? Excuse my
+curiosity," said the elder brother. "I am a man of the
+world, you know. If you like this other girl well enough to
+compromise yourself on her account (which, mind you, I
+think a great mistake), you can't mean to go in at the same
+time for that pretty sister, eh? It's a sort of sport I don't
+attempt myself&mdash;though it may be the correct thing for a
+clergyman, for anything I can tell to the contrary," said
+the tolerant critic.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth had swallowed down the interruptions
+that rushed to his lips, and heard his brother out with
+unusual patience. After all, perhaps Jack was the only
+man in the world whom he could ask to advise him in such
+an emergency. "I take it for granted that you don't mean
+to insult either me or my profession," he said, gravely;
+"and, to tell the truth, here is one point upon which I
+should be glad of your help. I am convinced that it is
+Wodehouse who has carried away this unfortunate girl.
+She is a little fool, and he has imposed upon her. If you
+can get him to confess this, and to restore her to her
+friends, you will lay me under the deepest obligation,"
+said the Perpetual Curate, with unusual energy. "I don't
+mind telling you that such a slander disables me, and goes
+to my heart." When he had once begun to speak on the
+subject, he could not help expressing himself fully; and
+Jack, who had grown out of acquaintance with the nobler
+sentiments, woke up with a slight start through all his
+moral being to recognise the thrill of subdued passion and
+scorn and grief which was in his brother's voice. Innocent
+Miss Dora, who knew no evil, had scarcely a doubt in <i>her</i>
+mind that Frank was guilty; but Jack, who scarcely knew
+what goodness was, acquitted his brother instantaneously,
+and required no other proof. Perhaps if he had been
+capable of any impression beyond an intellectual one, this
+little incident might, in Miss Dora's own language, have
+"done him good."</p>
+
+<p>"So you have nothing to do with it?" he said, with a
+smile. "Wodehouse! but then the fellow hasn't a penny. I
+see some one skulking along under the walls that looks like
+him. Hist! Smith&mdash;Tom&mdash;what do they call you? We want
+you here," said Jack, upon whom the moon was shining
+full. When he stood in his evening coat and spotless
+breadth of linen, the heir of the Wentworths was ready to
+meet the eye of all the world. His shabby subordinate
+stopped short, with a kind of sullen admiration, to look at
+him. Wodehouse knew the nature of Jack Wentworth's
+pursuits a great deal better than his brother did, and that
+some of them would not bear much investigation; but
+when he saw him stand triumphant in gorgeous apparel,
+fearing no man, the poor rascal, whom everybody kicked
+at, rose superior to his own misfortunes. He had not made
+much of it in his own person, but that life was not
+altogether a failure which had produced Jack Wentworth.
+He obeyed his superior's call with instinctive fidelity,
+proud, in spite of himself, to be living the same life and
+sharing the same perils. When he emerged into the moonlight,
+his shaggy countenance looked excited and haggard.
+Notwithstanding all his experiences, he was not of a
+constitution which could deny nature. He had inflicted
+every kind of torture upon his father while living; but,
+notwithstanding, the fact of the death affected him. His
+eyes looked wilder than usual, and his face older and more
+worn, and he looked round him with a kind of clandestine
+skulking instinct as he came out of the shadow into the light.</p>
+
+<p>This was the terrible conjunction which Miss Dora saw
+from her window. The anxious woman did not wait long
+enough to be aware that the Curate left the other two to
+such consultations as were inevitable between them, and
+went away very hastily to his own house, and to the work
+which still awaited him&mdash;"When the wicked man turneth
+away from the evil of his ways, and doeth that which is
+lawful and right." Mr Wentworth, when he came back to
+it, sat for about an hour over his text before he wrote a
+single syllable. His heart had been wrung that day by the
+sharpest pangs which can be inflicted upon a proud and
+generous spirit. He was disposed to be bitter against all
+the world&mdash;against the dull eyes that would not see, the
+dull ears that could shut themselves against all suggestions
+either of gratitude or justice. It appeared to him, on the
+whole, that the wicked man was every way the best off in
+this world, besides being wooed and besought to accept
+the blessings of the other. And the Curate was conscious of
+an irrepressible inclination to exterminate the human
+vermin who made the earth such an imbroglio of distress
+and misery; and was sore and wounded in his heart to feel
+how his own toils and honest purposes availed him nothing,
+and how all the interest and sympathy of bystanders went
+to the pretender. These sentiments naturally complicated
+his thoughts, and made composition difficult; not to say
+that they added a thrill of human feeling warmer than
+usual to the short and succinct sermon. It was not an
+emotional sermon, in the ordinary sense of the word; but it
+was so for Mr Wentworth, who carried to an extreme point
+the Anglican dislike for pulpit exaggeration in all forms.
+The Perpetual Curate was not a natural orator. He had
+very little of the eloquence which gave Mr Vincent so
+much success in the Dissenting connection during his short
+stay in Carlingford, which was a kind of popularity not
+much to the taste of the Churchman. But Mr Wentworth
+had a certain faculty of concentrating his thoughts into the
+tersest expression, and of uttering in a very few words, as
+if they did not mean anything particular, ideas which were
+always individual, and often of distinct originality&mdash;a kind
+of utterance which is very dear to the English mind. As was
+natural, there were but a limited amount of people able
+to find him out; but those who did so were rather fond of
+talking about the "restrained power" of the Curate of St
+Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning was a glorious summer Sunday&mdash;one of
+those days of peace on which this tired old earth takes
+back her look of innocence, and deludes herself with
+thoughts of Eden. To be sure, there were tumults enough
+going on over her surface&mdash;vulgar merry-makings and
+noises, French drums beating, all kinds of discordant
+sounds going on here and there, by land and sea, under
+that tranquil impartial sun. But the air was very still in
+Carlingford, where you could hear the bees in the lime-blossoms
+as you went to church in the sunshine. All that
+world of soft air in which the embowered houses of Grange
+Lane lay beatified, was breathing sweet of the limes; but
+notwithstanding the radiance of the day, people were
+talking of other subjects as they came down under the
+shadow of the garden-walls to St Roque's. There was a
+great stream of people&mdash;greater than usual; for Carlingford
+was naturally anxious to see how Mr Wentworth would
+conduct himself in such an emergency. On one side of the
+way Mr Wodehouse's hospitable house, shut up closely,
+and turning all its shuttered windows to the light, which
+shone serenely indifferent upon the blank frames, stood
+silent, dumbly contributing its great moral to the human
+holiday; and on the other, Elsworthy's closed shop, with
+the blinds drawn over the cheerful windows above, where
+little Rosa once amused herself watching the passengers,
+interposed a still more dreadful discordance. The Carlingford
+people talked of both occurrences with composure as
+they went to St Roque's. They were sorry, and shocked,
+and very curious; but that wonderful moral atmosphere of
+human indifference and self-regard which surrounds every
+individual soul, kept their feelings quite within bounds.
+Most people wondered much what Mr Wentworth would
+say; whether he would really venture to face the Carlingford
+world; whether he would take refuge in a funeral
+sermon for Mr Wodehouse; or how it was possible for him
+to conduct himself under such circumstances. When the
+greater part of the congregation was seated, Miss Leonora
+Wentworth, all by herself, in her iron-grey silk, which
+rustled like a breeze along the narrow passage, although
+she wore no crinoline, went up to a seat immediately in
+front, close to Mr Wentworth's choristers, who just then
+came trooping in in their white surplices, looking like
+angels of unequal height and equivocal reputation. Miss
+Leonora placed herself in the front row of a little group of
+benches arranged at the side, just where the Curate's wife
+would have been placed, had he possessed such an
+appendage. She looked down blandly upon the many lines
+of faces turned towards her, accepting their inspection
+with perfect composure. Though her principles were
+Evangelical, Miss Leonora was still a Wentworth, and a
+woman. She had not shown any sympathy for her nephew
+on the previous night; but she had made up her mind to
+stand by him, without saying anything about her determination.
+This incident made a great impression on the
+mind of Carlingford. Most likely it interfered with the
+private devotions, from which a few heads popped up
+abruptly as she passed; but she was very devout and
+exemplary in her own person, and set a good example, as
+became the clergyman's aunt.</p>
+
+<p>Excitement rose very high in St Roque's when Mr
+Wentworth came into the reading-desk, and Elsworthy,
+black as a cloud, became visible underneath. The clerk
+had not ventured to absent himself, nor to send a substitute
+in his place. Never, in the days when he was most devoted
+to Mr Wentworth, had Elsworthy been more determined
+to accompany him through every particular of the service.
+They had stood together in the little vestry, going through
+all the usual preliminaries, the Curate trying hard to talk
+as if nothing had happened, the clerk going through all his
+duties in total silence. Perhaps there never was a church
+service in Carlingford which was followed with such intense
+interest by all the eyes and ears of the congregation.
+When the sermon came, it took Mr Wentworth's admirers
+by surprise, though they could not at the moment make
+out what it was that puzzled them. Somehow the perverse
+manner in which for once the Curate treated that wicked
+man who is generally made so much of in sermons, made
+his hearers slightly ashamed of themselves. As for Miss
+Leonora, though she could not approve of his sentiments,
+the thought occurred to her that Frank was not nearly so
+like his mother's family as she had supposed him to be.
+When the service was over, she kept her place, steadily
+watching all the worshippers out, who thronged out a great
+deal more hastily than usual to compare notes, and ask
+each other what they thought. "I can't fancy he looks
+guilty," an eager voice here and there kept saying over
+and over. But on the whole, after they had got over the
+momentary impression made by his presence and aspect,
+the opinion of Carlingford remained unchanged; which
+was&mdash;that, notwithstanding all the evidence of his previous
+life, it was quite believable that Mr Wentworth was a
+seducer and a villain, and ought to be brought to condign
+punishment; but that in the mean time it was very
+interesting to watch the progress of this startling little
+drama; and that he himself, instead of merely being the
+Curate of St Roque's, had become a most captivating
+enigma, and had made church-going itself half as good as a
+play.</p>
+
+<p>As for Miss Leonora, she waited for her nephew, and,
+when he was ready, took his arm and walked with him up
+Grange Lane to her own door, where they encountered
+Miss Wentworth and Miss Dora returning from church,
+and overwhelmed them with astonishment. But it was not
+about his own affairs that they talked. Miss Leonora did
+not say a word to her nephew about himself. She was
+talking of Gerald most of the time, and inquiring into all
+the particulars of the Squire's late "attack." And she
+would very fain have found out what Jack's motive was in
+coming to Carlingford; but as for Rosa Elsworthy and her
+concerns, the strong-minded woman ignored them completely.
+Mr Wentworth even went with her to lunch, on
+her urgent invitation; and it was from his aunts' house that
+he took his way to Wharfside, pausing at the green door to
+ask after the Miss Wodehouses, who were, John said,
+with solemnity, as well as could be expected. They were
+alone, and they did not feel equal to seeing anybody&mdash;even
+Mr Wentworth; and the Perpetual Curate, who
+would have given all he had in the world for permission to
+soothe Lucy in her sorrow, went away sadly from the
+hospitable door, which was now for the first time closed to
+him. He could not go to Wharfside, to the "district"
+through which they had so often gone together, about
+which they had talked, when all the little details discussed
+were sweet with the love which they did not name,
+without going deeper and deeper into that sweet shadow
+of Lucy which was upon his way wherever he went. He
+could not help missing her voice when the little choir,
+which was so feeble without her, sang the 'Magnificat,'
+which, somehow, Mr Wentworth always associated with
+her image. He read the same sermon to the Wharfside
+people which he had preached in St Roque's, and saw,
+with a little surprise, that it drew tears from the eyes of his
+more open-hearted hearers, who did not think of the
+proprieties. He could see their hands stealing up to their
+faces, and a great deal of persistent winking on the part of
+the stronger members of the congregation. At the close of
+the service Tom Burrows came up to the Curate with a
+downcast countenance. "Please, sir, if I've done ye
+injustice in my own mind, as went sore against the grain,
+and wouldn't have happened but for the women, I axes
+your pardon," said the honest bargeman, which was balm
+and consolation to Mr Wentworth. There was much talk in
+Prickett's Lane on the subject as he went to see the sick
+woman in No. 10. "There aint no doubt as he sets our duty
+before us clear," said one family mother; "he don't leave
+the men no excuse for their goings-on. He all but named
+the Bargeman's Arms out plain, as it was the place all
+mischief comes from." "If he'd have married Miss Lucy,
+like other folks, at Easter," said one of the brides whom
+Mr Wentworth had blessed, "such wicked stories couldn't
+never have been made up." "A story may be made up, or
+it mayn't be made up," said a more experienced matron;
+"but it can't be put out of the world unbeknowst no more
+nor a babby. I don't believe in stories getting up that aint
+true. I don't say as he don't do his duty; but things was
+different in Mr Bury's time, as was the real Rector; and,
+as I was a-saying, a tale's like a babby&mdash;it may come when
+it didn't ought to come, or when it aint wanted, but you
+can't do away with it, anyhow as you like to try." Mr
+Wentworth did not hear this dreary prediction as he went
+back again into the upper world. He was in much better
+spirits, on the whole. He had calmed his own mind and
+moved the hearts of others, which is to every man a
+gratification, even though nothing higher should be
+involved. And he had regained the moral countenance of
+Tom Burrows, which most of all was a comfort to him.
+More than ever he longed to go and tell Lucy as he passed
+by the green door. Tom Burrows's repentant face recalled
+Mr Wentworth's mind to the fact that a great work was
+doing in Wharfside, which, after all, was more worth
+thinking of than any tantalising vision of an impossible
+benefice. But this very thought, so consoling in itself,
+reminded him of all his vexations, of the public inquiry
+into his conduct which was hanging over him, and of his
+want of power to offer to Lucy the support and protection
+of which she might so soon stand in need; and having thus
+drawn upon his head once more his whole burden of
+troubles, Mr Wentworth went in to eat his dinner with
+what appetite he could.</p>
+
+<p>The Perpetual Curate sat up late that night, as indeed
+was his custom. He sat late, hearing, as everybody does
+who sits up alone in a hushed and sleeping household, a
+hundred fantastic creaks and sounds which did not mean
+anything, and of which he took no notice. Once, indeed,
+when it was nearly midnight, he fancied he heard the
+garden-gate close hurriedly, but explained it to himself as
+people do when they prefer not to give themselves trouble.
+About one o'clock in the morning, however, Mr Wentworth
+could no longer be in any doubt that some stealthy step
+was passing his door and moving about the house. He was
+not alarmed, for Mrs Hadwin had occasional "attacks,"
+like most people of her age; but he put down his pen and
+listened. No other sound was to be heard except this
+stealthy step, no opening of doors, nor whisper of voices,
+nor commotion of any kind; and after a while Mr Wentworth's
+curiosity was fully awakened. When he heard it
+again, he opened his door suddenly, and threw a light
+upon the staircase and little corridor into which his room
+opened. The figure he saw there startled him more than if
+it had been a midnight robber. It was only Sarah, the
+housemaid, white and shivering with terror, who fell down
+upon her knees before him. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, it aint
+my fault!" cried Sarah. The poor girl was only partially
+dressed, and trembled pitifully. "They'll say it was my
+fault; and oh, sir, it's my character I'm a-thinking of," said
+Sarah, with a sob; and the Curate saw behind her the door
+of Wodehouse's room standing open, and the moonlight
+streaming into the empty apartment. "I daren't go down-stairs
+to see if he's took anything," cried poor Sarah,
+under her breath; "there might be more of them about the
+place. But oh, Mr Wentworth, if Missis finds out as I gave
+him the key, what will become of me?" Naturally, it was
+her own danger which had most effect upon Sarah. Her full,
+good-humoured face was all wet and stained with crying,
+her lips quivering, her eyes dilated. Perhaps a thrill of
+private disappointment mingled with her dread of losing
+her character. "He used to tell me all as he was a-going to
+do," said Sarah; "but, oh, sir, he's been and gone away,
+and I daren't go down-stairs to look at the plate, and I'll
+never more sleep in quiet, if I was to live a century. It aint
+as I care for <i>him</i>, but it's the key and my character as I'm
+a-thinking of," cried the poor girl, bursting into audible
+sobs that could be restrained no longer. Mr Wentworth
+took a candle and went into Wodehouse's empty room,
+leaving her to recover her composure. Everything was
+cleared and packed up in that apartment. The little
+personal property he had, the shabby boots and worn
+habiliments, had disappeared totally; even the rubbish of
+wood-carving on his table was cleared away. Not a trace
+that he had been there a few hours ago remained in the
+place. The Curate came out of the room with an anxious
+countenance, not knowing what to make of it. And by this
+time Sarah's sobs had roused Mrs Hadwin, who stood,
+severe and indignant, at her own door in her nightcap, to
+know what was the matter. Mr Wentworth retired into his
+own apartments after a word of explanation, leaving the
+mistress and maid to fight it out. He himself was more
+disturbed and excited than he could have described. He
+could not tell what this new step meant, but felt instinctively
+that it denoted some new development in the
+tangled web of his own fortunes. Some hidden danger
+seemed to him to be gathering in the air over the house of
+mourning, of which he had constituted himself a kind of
+guardian. He could not sleep all night, but kept starting at
+every sound, thinking now that the skulking rascal, who
+was Lucy's brother, was coming back, and now that his
+departure was only a dream. Mr Wentworth's restlessness
+was not soothed by hearing all the night through, in the
+silence of the house, suppressed sobs and sounds of
+weeping proceeding from the attic overhead, which poor
+Sarah shared with her fellow-servant. Perhaps the civilities
+of "the gentleman" had dazzled Sarah, and been too much
+for her peace of mind; perhaps it was only her character,
+as the poor girl said. But as often as the Curate started
+from his uneasy and broken snatches of sleep, he heard
+the murmur of crying and consoling up-stairs. Outside the
+night was spreading forth those sweetest unseen glories of
+the starlight and the moonlight and the silence, which
+Nature reserves for her own enjoyment, when the weary
+human creatures are out of the way and at rest;&mdash;and Jack
+Wentworth slept the sleep of the righteous, uttering delicate
+little indications of the depth of his slumber, which it
+would have been profane to call by any vulgar name. <i>He</i>
+slept sweetly while his brother watched and longed for
+daylight, impatient for the morrow which must bring forth
+something new. The moonlight streamed full into the
+empty room, and made mysterious combinations of the
+furniture, and chased the darkness into corners which
+each held their secret. This was how Mrs Hadwin's strange
+lodger, whom nobody could ever make out, disappeared
+as suddenly as he had come, without any explanations;
+and only a very few people could ever come to understand
+what he had to do with the after-events which struck
+Grange Lane dumb, and turned into utter confusion all
+the ideas and conclusions of society in Carlingford.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">I will</span> do what I can for you," said Mr Morgan; "yours is
+a very hard case, as you say. Of course it would not do for
+me to give any opinion&mdash;but such a thing shall not occur in
+Carlingford, while I am here, without being looked into,"
+said the Rector, with dignity; "of that you may be sure."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want no more nor justice," said Elsworthy&mdash;"no
+more nor justice. I'm a man as has always been respected,
+and never interfered with nobody as didn't interfere with
+me. The things I've stood from my clergyman, I wouldn't
+have stood from no man living. The way as he'd talk, sir,
+of them as was a deal better than himself! We was a happy
+family afore Mr Wentworth came nigh of us. Most folks in
+Carlingford knows me. There wasn't a more industrious
+family in Carlingford, though I say it as shouldn't, nor one
+as was more content, or took things more agreeable, afore
+Mr Wentworth come to put all wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wentworth has been here for five years," said the
+Rector's wife, who was present at this interview; "have
+things been going wrong for all that time?"</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't describe to nobody what I've put up with,"
+said the clerk of St Roque's, evading the question. "He
+hadn't the ways of such clergymen as I've been used to.
+Twice the pay wouldn't have made up for what I've
+suffered in my feelings; and I ask you, sir, is this how it's
+all to end? My little girl's gone," cried Elsworthy, rising
+into hoarse earnestness&mdash;"my little girl as was so sweet,
+and as everybody took notice on. She's gone, and I don't
+know as I'll ever see her again; and I can't get no satisfaction
+one way or another; and I ask you, sir, is a villain
+as could do such a thing to hold up his head in the town,
+and go on the same as ever? I aint a man as is contrairy, or
+as goes agin' my superiors; but it's driving me mad, that's
+what it's doing," said Elsworthy, wiping the moisture from
+his forehead. The man was trembling and haggard,
+changed even in his looks&mdash;his eyes were red with passion
+and watching, and looked like the eyes of a wild beast
+lying in wait for its prey. "I can't say as I've ever slept an
+hour since it happened," he cried; "and as for my missis,
+it's a-killing of her. We aint shut up, because we've got to
+live all the same; and because, if the poor thing come back,
+there's always an open door. But I'll have justice, if I was
+to die for it!" cried Elsworthy. "I don't ask no more than
+justice. If it aint to be had one way, I'll have it another.
+I'll set the police on him&mdash;I will. When a man's drove
+wild, he aint answerable for what he's a-doing; and to see
+him a-walking about Carlingford, and a-holding up his
+head, is a thing as I won't stand no longer, not if it was to
+be my ruin. I'm as good as ruined now, and I don't care."
+He broke off short with these words, and sat down abruptly
+on the chair Thomas had placed for him in front of the
+Rector's table. Up to this moment he had been standing,
+in his vehemence and agitation, without taking advantage
+of the courtesy accorded to his misfortune; now the poor
+man sat down by way of emphasis, and began to polish his
+hat round and round with his trembling hands.</p>
+
+<p>As for Mr Morgan, he, on the contrary, got up and
+walked instinctively to the fireplace, and stood there with
+his back to the empty grate, contemplating the world in
+general with a troubled countenance, as was usual. Not to
+speak of his prejudice against Mr Wentworth, the Rector
+was moved by the sight of Elsworthy's distress; but then
+his wife, who unluckily had brought her needlework into
+the library on this particular morning, and who was in the
+interest of the Curate of St Roque's, was seated watchful
+by the window, occasionally looking up, and entirely
+cognisant, as Mr Morgan was aware, of everything that
+happened. The Rector was much embarrassed to feel
+himself thus standing between the two parties. "Yours is a
+very hard case&mdash;but it is necessary to proceed with
+caution, for, after all, there is not much proof," he said,
+faltering a little. "My dear, it is a pity to detain you from
+your walk," Mr Morgan continued, after a momentary
+pause, and looked with a flush of consciousness at his wife,
+whose absence would have been such a relief to him. Mrs
+Morgan looked up with a gracious smile.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not detaining me, William&mdash;I am very much
+interested," said the designing woman, and immediately
+began to arrange and put in order what the Rector knew
+by experience to be a long piece of work, likely to last her
+an hour at least. Mr Morgan uttered a long breath, which
+sounded like a little snort of despair.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very difficult to know what to do," said the
+Rector, shifting uneasily upon the hearthrug, and
+plunging his hands into the depths of his pockets. "If you
+could name anybody you would like to refer it to&mdash;but
+being a brother clergyman&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A man as conducts himself like that, didn't ought to be
+a clergyman, sir," cried Elsworthy. "I'm one as listened to
+him preaching on Sunday, and could have jumped up and
+dragged him out of the pulpit, to hear him a-discoursing as
+if he wasn't a bigger sinner nor any there. I aint safe to
+stand it another Sunday. I'd do something as I should be
+sorry for after. I'm asking justice, and no more." With
+these words Elsworthy got up again, still turning round in
+his hands the unlucky hat, and turned his person, though
+not his eyes, towards Mrs Morgan. "No man could be more
+partial to his clergyman nor I was," he said hoarsely.
+"There was never a time as I wasn't glad to see him. He
+came in and out as if it belonged to him, and I had no more
+thought as he was meaning any harm than the babe
+unborn; but a man as meddles with an innocent girl aint
+nothing but a black-hearted villain!" cried Elsworthy,
+with a gleam out of his red eyes; "and I don't believe as
+anybody would take his part as knew all. I put my
+confidence in the Rector, as is responsible for the parish,"
+he went on, facing round again: "not to say but what it's
+natural for them as are Mr Wentworth's friends to take his
+part&mdash;but I'll have justice, wherever it comes from. It's
+hard work to go again' any lady as I've a great respect for,
+and wouldn't cross for the world; but it aint in reason that I
+should be asked to bear it and not say nothing; and I'll
+have justice, if I should die for it," said Elsworthy. He
+turned from one to another as he spoke, but kept his eyes
+upon his hat, which he smoothed and smoothed as if his
+life depended on it. But for the reality of his excitement,
+his red eyes, and hoarse voice, he would have been a
+ludicrous figure, standing as he did in the middle of Mr
+Morgan's library, veering round, first to one side and then
+to the other, with his stooping head and ungainly person.
+As for the Rector, he too kept looking at his wife with a
+very troubled face.</p>
+
+<p>"It is difficult for me to act against a brother clergyman,"
+said Mr Morgan; "but I am very sorry for you,
+Elsworthy&mdash;very sorry; if you could name, say, half-a-dozen
+gentlemen&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But don't you think," said the Rector's wife, interposing,
+"that you should inquire first whether there is any
+evidence? It would make you all look very ridiculous if
+you got up an inquiry and found no proof against Mr
+Wentworth. Is it likely he would do such a thing all at once
+without showing any signs of wickedness beforehand&mdash;is it
+possible? To be sorry is quite a different thing, but I don't
+see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ladies don't understand such matters," said the
+Rector, who had been kept at bay so long that he began to
+get desperate. "I beg your pardon, my dear, but it is not a
+matter for you to discuss. We shall take good care that
+there is plenty of evidence," said the perplexed man&mdash;"I
+mean, before we proceed to do anything," he added,
+growing very red and confused. When Mr Morgan caught
+his wife's eye, he got as nearly into a passion as was
+possible for so good a man. "You know what I mean," he
+said, in his peremptory way; "and, my dear, you will
+forgive me for saying this is not a matter to be discussed
+before a lady." When he had uttered this bold speech, the
+Rector took a few little walks up and down the room, not
+caring, however, to look at his wife. He was ashamed of
+the feeling he had that her absence would set him much
+more at ease with Elsworthy, but still could not help being
+conscious that it was so. He did not say anything more, but
+he walked up and down the room with sharp short steps,
+and betrayed his impatience very manifestly. As for Mrs
+Morgan, who was a sensible woman, she saw that the time
+had come for her to retire from the field.</p>
+
+<p>"I think the first thing to be done is to try every possible
+means of finding the girl," she said, getting up from her
+seat; "but I have no doubt what you decide upon will be
+the best. You will find me in the drawing-room when you
+want me, William." Perhaps her absence for the first
+moment was not such a relief to her husband as he had
+expected. The mildness of her parting words made it very
+apparent that she did not mean to take offence; and he
+perceived suddenly, at a glance, that he would have to tell
+her all he was going to do, and encounter her criticism
+single-handed, which was rather an appalling prospect to
+the Rector. Mrs Morgan, for her part, went up-stairs not
+without a little vexation, certainly, but with a comforting
+sense of the opportunity which awaited her. She felt that,
+in his unprotected position, as soon as she left him, the
+Rector would conduct himself rashly, and that her time
+was still to come.</p>
+
+<p>The Rector went back to the hearthrug when his wife
+left the room, but in the heat of his own personal reflections
+he did not say anything to Elsworthy, who still stood
+smoothing his hat in his hand. On the whole, Mr Morgan
+was rather aggravated for the moment by the unlucky
+cause of this little encounter, and was not half so well
+disposed towards Mr Wentworth's enemy as half an hour
+before, when he recognised his wife as the champion of
+the Curate, and felt controlled by her presence; for the
+human and even the clerical mind has its impulses of
+perversity. He began to get very impatient of Elsworthy's
+hat, and the persistent way in which he worked at it with
+his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you would not be so certain about it if you
+had not satisfactory evidence?" he said, turning abruptly,
+and even a little angrily, upon the supplicant; for Mr
+Morgan naturally resented his own temper and the little
+semi-quarrel he had got into upon the third person who
+was the cause of all.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Elsworthy, with eagerness, "it aint no wonder
+to me as the lady takes Mr Wentworth's part. A poor man
+don't stand no chance against a young gentleman as has
+had every advantage. It's a thing as I'm prepared for, and
+it don't have no effect upon me. A lady as is so respected
+and thought a deal of both in town and country&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I was not speaking of my wife," said the Rector,
+hastily, "don't you think you had better put down your
+hat? I think you said it was on Friday it occurred. It will
+be necessary to take down the facts in a business-like
+way," said Mr Morgan, drawing his chair towards the
+table and taking up his pen. This was how the Rector was
+occupied when Thomas announced the most unexpected
+of all possible visitors, Mr Proctor, who had been Mr
+Morgan's predecessor in Carlingford. Thomas announced
+his old master with great solemnity as "the late Rector"&mdash;a
+title which struck the present incumbent with a sense of
+awe not unnatural in the circumstances. He jumped up
+from his chair and let his pen fall out of his startled fingers
+when his old friend came in. They had eaten many a good
+dinner together in the revered hall of All-Souls, and as
+the familiar countenance met his eyes, perhaps a regretful
+thought of that Elysium stole across the mind of the late
+Fellow, who had been so glad to leave the sacred brotherhood,
+and marry, and become as other men. He gave but
+a few hurried words of surprise and welcome to his visitor,
+and then, with a curious counterpoise of sentiment, sent
+him up-stairs to see "my wife," feeling, even while half
+envious of him, a kind of superiority and half contempt for
+the man who was not a Rector and married, but had given
+up both these possibilities. When he sent him up-stairs to
+see "my wife," Mr Morgan looked after the elderly celibate
+with a certain pity. One always feels more inclined to
+take the simple view of any matter&mdash;to stand up for
+injured innocence, and to right the wronged&mdash;when one
+feels one's self better off than one's neighbours. A reverse
+position is apt to detract from the simplicity of one's
+conceptions, and to suggest two sides to the picture. When
+Mr Proctor was gone, the Rector addressed himself with
+great devotion to Elsworthy and his evidence. It could not
+be doubted, at least, that the man was in earnest, and
+believed what he said; and things unquestionably looked
+rather ugly for Mr Wentworth. Mr Morgan took down all
+about the Curate's untimely visit to Elsworthy on the
+night when he took Rosa home; and when he came to the
+evidence of the Miss Hemmings, who had seen the Curate
+talking to the unfortunate little girl at his own door the last
+time she was seen in Carlingford, the Rector shook his
+head with a prolonged movement, half of satisfaction, half
+of regret; for, to be sure, he had made up his mind
+beforehand who the culprit was, and it was to a certain
+extent satisfactory to have his opinion confirmed.</p>
+
+<p>"This looks very bad, very bad, I am sorry to say," said
+Mr Morgan; "for the unhappy young man's own sake, an
+investigation is absolutely necessary. As for you,
+Elsworthy, everybody must be sorry for you. Have you no
+idea where he could have taken the poor girl?&mdash;that is,"
+said the uncautious Rector, "supposing that he is guilty&mdash;of
+which I am afraid there does not seem much doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"There aint no doubt," said Elsworthy; "there aint
+nobody else as could have done it. Just afore my little girl
+was took away, sir, Mr Wentworth went off of a sudden,
+and it was said as he was a-going home to the Hall. I was
+a-thinking of sending a letter anonymous, to ask if it was
+known what he was after. I read in the papers the other
+day as his brother was a-going over to Rome. There don't
+seem to be none o' them the right sort; which it's terrible
+for two clergymen. I was thinking of dropping a bit of a note
+anonymous&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;no&mdash;no," said the Rector, "that would never do;
+nothing of that sort, Elsworthy. If you thought it likely she
+was there, the proper thing would be to go and inquire;
+nothing anonymous&mdash;no, no; that is a thing I could not
+possibly countenance," said Mr Morgan. He pushed away
+his pen and paper, and got very red and uncomfortable. If
+either of the critics up-stairs, his wife, or his predecessor in
+the Rectory, could but know that he was having an
+anonymous letter suggested to him&mdash;that anybody ventured
+to think him capable of being an accomplice in such
+proceedings! The presence of these two in the house,
+though they were most probably at the moment engaged
+in the calmest abstract conversation, and totally unaware
+of what was going on in the library, had a great effect upon
+the Rector. He felt insulted that any man could venture to
+confide such an intention to him almost within the hearing
+of his wife. "If I am to take up your case, everything must
+be open and straightforward," said Mr Morgan; while
+Elsworthy, who saw that he had said something amiss,
+without precisely understanding what, took up his hat as a
+resource, and once more began to polish it round and
+round in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't mean no harm, sir, I'm sure," he said; "I don't
+seem to see no other way o' finding out; for I aint like a
+rich man as can go and come as he pleases; but I won't say
+no more, since it's displeasing to you. If you'd give me the
+list of names, sir, as you have decided on to be the
+committee, I wouldn't trouble you no longer, seeing as
+you've got visitors. Perhaps, if the late Rector aint going
+away directly, he would take it kind to be put on the
+committee; and he's a gentleman as I've a great respect
+for, though he wasn't not to say the man for Carlingford,"
+said Elsworthy, with a sidelong look. He began to feel the
+importance of his own position as the originator of a
+committee, and at the head of the most exciting movement
+which had been for a long time in Carlingford, and
+could not help being sensible, notwithstanding his affliction,
+that he had a distinction to offer which even the late
+Rector might be pleased to accept.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think Mr Proctor will stay," said Mr Morgan;
+"and if he does stay, I believe he is a friend of Mr
+Wentworth's." It was only after he had said this that the
+Rector perceived the meaning of the words he had
+uttered; then, in his confusion and vexation, he got up
+hastily from the table, and upset the inkstand in all the
+embarrassment of the moment. "Of course that is all the
+greater reason for having his assistance," said Mr Morgan,
+in his perplexity; "we are all friends of Mr Wentworth.
+Will you have the goodness to ring the bell? There are few
+things more painful than to take steps against a brother
+clergyman, if one did not hope it would be for his benefit
+in the end. Oh, never mind the table. Be so good as to ring
+the bell again&mdash;louder, please."</p>
+
+<p>"There aint nothing equal to blotting-paper, sir," said
+Elsworthy, eagerly. "With a bit o' blotting-paper I'd
+undertake to rub out ink-stains out o' the finest carpet&mdash;if
+you'll permit me. It aint but a small speck, and it'll be
+gone afore you could look round. It's twenty times better
+nor lemon-juice, or them poisonous salts as you're always
+nervous of leaving about. Look you here, sir, if it aint a-sopping
+up beautiful. There aint no harm done as your
+respected lady could be put out about; and I'll take the list
+with me, if you please, to show to my wife, as is a-breaking
+her heart at home, and can't believe as we'll
+ever get justice. She says as how the quality always takes
+a gentleman's part against us poor folks, but that aint been
+my experience. Don't you touch the carpet, Thomas&mdash;there
+aint a speck to be seen when the blotting-paper's
+cleared away. I'll go home, not to detain you no more, sir,
+and cheer up the poor heart as is a-breaking," said
+Elsworthy, getting up from his knees where he had been
+operating upon the carpet. He had got in his hand the list
+of names which Mr Morgan had put down as referees in
+this painful business, and it dawned faintly upon the
+Rector for the moment that he himself was taking rather
+an undignified position as Elsworthy's partisan.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no objection to your showing it to your wife,"
+said Mr Morgan; "but I shall be much displeased if I hear
+any talk about it, Elsworthy; and I hope it is not revenge
+you are thinking of, which is a very unchristian sentiment,"
+said the Rector, severely, "and not likely to afford comfort
+either to her or to you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, nothing but justice," said Elsworthy, hoarsely,
+as he backed out of the room. Notwithstanding this statement,
+it was with very unsatisfactory sensations that Mr
+Morgan went up-stairs. He felt somehow as if the justice
+which Elsworthy demanded, and which he himself had
+solemnly declared to be pursuing the Curate of St Roque's,
+was wonderfully like revenge. "All punishment must be
+more or less vindictive," he said to himself as he went
+up-stairs; but that fact did not make him more comfortable
+as he went into his wife's drawing-room, where he felt
+more like a conspirator and assassin than an English
+Rector in broad daylight, without a mystery near him, had
+any right to feel. This sensation confused Mr Morgan
+much, and made him more peremptory in his manner than
+ever. As for Mr Proctor, who was only a spectator, and felt
+himself on a certain critical eminence, the suggestion that
+occurred to his mind was, that he had come in at the end of
+a quarrel, and that the conjugal firmament was still in a
+state of disturbance: which idea acted upon some private
+projects in the hidden mind of the Fellow of All-Souls, and
+produced a state of feeling little more satisfactory than
+that of the Rector of Carlingford.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope Mr Proctor is going to stay with us for a day or
+two," said Mrs Morgan. "I was just saying it must look like
+coming home to come to the house he used to live in, and
+which was even furnished to his own taste," said the
+Rector's wife, shooting a little arrow at the late Rector, of
+which that good man was serenely unconscious. All this
+time, while they had been talking, Mrs Morgan had
+scarcely been able to keep from asking who could
+possibly have suggested such a carpet. Mr Proctor's chair
+was placed on the top of one of the big bouquets, which
+expanded its large foliage round him with more than
+Eastern prodigality&mdash;but he was so little conscious of any
+culpability of his own in the matter, that he had referred
+his indignant hostess to one of the leaves as an illustration
+of the kind of diaper introduced into the new window
+which had lately been put up in the chapel of All-Souls. "A
+naturalistic treatment, you know," said Mr Proctor, with
+the utmost serenity; "and some people objected to it,"
+added the unsuspicious man.</p>
+
+<p>"I should have objected very strongly," said Mrs
+Morgan, with a little flush. "If you call that naturalistic
+treatment, I consider it perfectly out of place in decoration&mdash;of
+every kind&mdash;" Mr Proctor happened to be looking at
+her at the moment, and it suddenly occurred to him that
+Miss Wodehouse never got red in that uncomfortable way,
+which was the only conclusion he drew from the circumstance,
+having long ago forgotten that any connection had
+ever existed between himself and the carpet on the
+drawing-room in Carlingford Rectory. He addressed his
+next observation to Mr Morgan, who had just come in.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw Mr Wodehouse's death in the 'Times,'" said Mr
+Proctor, "and I thought the poor young ladies might feel&mdash;at
+least they might think it a respect&mdash;or, at all events, it
+would be a satisfaction to one's self," said the late Rector,
+who had got into a mire of explanation. "Though he was
+far from being a young man, yet having a young daughter
+like Miss Lucy&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Lucy!" said Mr Morgan. "I hope that wretched
+fellow, young Wentworth"&mdash;and here the Rector came to
+a dead stop, and felt that he had brought the subject most
+to be avoided head and shoulders into the conversation, as
+was natural to an embarrassed man. The consequence was
+that he got angry, as might have been expected. "My
+dear, you must not look at me as you do. I have just been
+hearing all the evidence. No unbiassed mind could possibly
+come to any other decision," said Mr Morgan, with exasperation.
+Now that he had committed himself, he thought
+it was much the best thing to go in for it wholly, without
+half measures, which was certainly the most straightforward
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened to Wentworth?" said Mr Proctor.
+"He is a young man for whom I have a great regard.
+Though he is so much younger than I am, he taught me
+some lessons while I was in Carlingford which I shall
+never forget. If he is in any trouble that I can help him in, I
+shall be very glad to do it, both for his sake and for&mdash;" Mr
+Proctor slurred over the end of his sentence a little, and
+the others were occupied with their own difficulties, and
+did not take very much notice&mdash;for it was difficult to state
+fully the nature and extent of Mr Wentworth's enormities
+after such a declaration of friendship. "I met him on my
+way here," said the Fellow of All-Souls, "not looking quite
+as he used to do. I supposed it might be Mr Wodehouse's
+death, perhaps." All Mr Proctor's thoughts ran in that
+channel of Mr Wodehouse's death, which, after all,
+though sad enough, was not so great an event to the
+community in general as the late Rector seemed to suppose.</p>
+
+<p>It was Mrs Morgan at length who took heart to explain
+to Mr Proctor the real state of affairs. "He has been a very
+good clergyman for five years," said Mrs Morgan; "he
+might behave foolishly, you know, about Wharfside, but
+then that was not his fault so much as the fault of the
+Rector's predecessors. I am sure I beg your pardon, Mr
+Proctor&mdash;I did not mean that you were to blame," said the
+Rector's wife; "but, notwithstanding all the work he has
+done, and the consistent life he has led, there is nobody in
+Carlingford who is not quite ready to believe that he has
+run away with Rosa Elsworthy&mdash;a common little girl
+without any education, or a single idea in her head. I
+suppose she is what you would call pretty," said the
+indignant woman. "Everybody is just as ready to believe
+that he is guilty as if he were a stranger or a bad character."
+Mrs Morgan stopped in an abrupt manner, because her
+quick eyes perceived a glance exchanged between the two
+gentlemen. Mr Proctor had seen a good deal of the world
+in his day, as he was fond of saying now and then to his
+intimate friends: and he had learned at the university and
+other places that a girl who is "what you would call
+pretty," counts for a great deal in the history of a young
+man, whether she has any ideas in her head or not. He did
+not, any more than the people of Carlingford, pronounce
+at once on <i>a priori</i> evidence that Mr Wentworth must be
+innocent. The Curate's "consistent life" did not go for
+much in the opinion of the middle-aged Fellow of All-Souls,
+any more than of the less dignified populace. He
+said, "Dear me, dear me!" in a most perplexed and
+distressed tone, while Mrs Morgan kept looking at him;
+and looked very much as if he were tempted to break forth
+into lamentations over human nature, as Mr Morgan
+himself had done.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what the Miss Wodehouses think of it," he
+said at last. "One would do a great deal to keep them from
+hearing such a thing; but I wonder how they are feeling
+about it," said Mr Proctor&mdash;and clearly declined to discuss
+the matter with Mrs Morgan, who was counsel for the
+defence. When the Rector's wife went to her own room to
+dress for dinner, it is very true that she had a good cry
+over her cup of tea. She was not only disappointed, but
+exasperated, in that impatient feminine nature of hers.
+Perhaps if she had been less sensitive, she would have had
+less of that redness in her face which was so great a trouble
+to Mrs Morgan. These two slow middle-aged men, without
+any intuitions, who were coming lumbering after her
+through all kind of muddles of evidence and argument,
+exasperated the more rapid woman. To be sure, they
+understood Greek plays a great deal better than she did;
+but she was penetrated with the liveliest impatience of
+their dulness all the same. Mrs Morgan, however, like
+most people who are in advance of their age, felt her utter
+impotence against that blank wall of dull resistance. She
+could not make them see into the heart of things as she
+did. She had to wait until they had attacked the question
+in the orthodox way of siege, and made gradual entrance
+by dint of hard labour. All she could do to console herself
+was, to shed certain hot tears of indignation and annoyance
+over her tea, which, however, was excellent tea, and did
+her good. Perhaps it was to show her sense of superiority,
+and that she did not feel herself vanquished, that, after
+that, she put on her new dress, which was very much too
+nice to be wasted upon Mr Proctor. As for Mr Leeson, who
+came in as usual just in time for dinner, having heard of Mr
+Proctor's arrival, she treated him with a blandness which
+alarmed the Curate. "I quite expected you, for we have the
+All-Souls pudding to-day," said the Rector's wife, and she
+smiled a smile which would have struck awe into the soul of
+any curate that ever was known in Carlingford.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">It</span> was the afternoon of the same day on which Mr Proctor
+arrived in Carlingford that Mr Wentworth received the
+little note from Miss Wodehouse which was so great a
+consolation to the Perpetual Curate. By that time he had
+begun to experience humiliations more hard to bear than
+anything he had yet known. He had received constrained
+greetings from several of his most cordial friends; his
+people in the district, all but Tom Burrows, looked askance
+upon him; and Dr Marjoribanks, who had never taken
+kindly to the young Anglican, had met him with satirical
+remarks in his dry Scotch fashion, which were intolerable
+to the Curate. In these circumstances, it was balm to his
+soul to have his sympathy once more appealed to, and by
+those who were nearest to his heart. The next day was that
+appointed for Mr Wodehouse's funeral, to which Mr
+Wentworth had been looking forward with a little excitement&mdash;wondering,
+with indignant misery, whether the
+covert insults he was getting used to would be repeated
+even over his old friend's grave. It was while this was in
+his mind that he received Miss Wodehouse's little note. It
+was very hurriedly written, on the terrible black-edged
+paper which, to such a simple soul as Miss Wodehouse, it
+was a kind of comfort to use in the moment of calamity.
+"Dear Mr Wentworth," it said, "I am in great difficulty,
+and don't know what to do: come, I beg of you, and tell me
+what is best. My dear Lucy insists upon going to-morrow,
+and I can't cross her when her heart is breaking, and I
+don't know what to do. Please to come, if it were only for a
+moment. Dear, dear papa, and all of us, have always had
+such confidence in you!" Mr Wentworth was seated, very
+disconsolate, in his study when this appeal came to him:
+he was rather sick of the world and most things in it; a
+sense of wrong eclipsed the sunshine for the moment, and
+obscured the skies; but it was comforting to be appealed to&mdash;to
+have his assistance and his protection sought once
+more. He took his hat immediately and went up the sunny
+road, on which there was scarcely a passenger visible, to
+the closed-up house, which stood so gloomy and irresponsive
+in the sunshine. Mr Wodehouse had not been a man
+likely to attract any profound love in his lifetime, or sense
+of loss when he was gone; but yet it was possible to think,
+with the kindly, half-conscious delusion of nature, that
+had <i>he</i> been living, he would have known better; and the
+Curate went into the darkened drawing-room, where all
+the shutters were closed, except those of the little window
+in the corner, where Lucy's work-table stood, and where a
+little muffled sunshine stole in through the blind. Everything
+was in terribly good order in the room. The two
+sisters had been living in their own apartments, taking
+their forlorn meals in the little parlour which communicated
+with their sleeping chambers, during this week of darkness;
+and nobody had come into the drawing-room except the
+stealthy housemaid, who contemplated herself and her
+new mourning for an hour at a stretch in the great mirror
+without any interruption, while she made "tidy" the furniture
+which nobody now disturbed. Into this sombre apartment
+Miss Wodehouse came gliding, like a gentle ghost, in
+her black gown. She too, like John and the housemaid and
+everybody about, walked and talked under her breath.
+There was now no man in the house entitled to disturb
+those proprieties with which a female household naturally
+hedges round all the great incidents of life; and the affairs
+of the family were all carried on in a whisper, in accordance
+with the solemnity of the occasion&mdash;a circumstance
+which had naturally called the ghost of a smile to the
+Curate's countenance as he followed John up-stairs. Miss
+Wodehouse herself, though she was pale, and spent half
+her time, poor soul! in weeping, and had, besides, living
+encumbrances to trouble her helpless path, did not look
+amiss in her black gown. She came in gliding without any
+noise, but with a little expectation in her gentle countenance.
+She was one of the people whom experience
+never makes any wiser; and she could not help hoping to
+be delivered from her troubles this time, as so often
+before, as soon as she should have transferred them to
+somebody else's shoulders, and taken "advice."</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy has made up her mind that we are to go to-morrow,"
+said Miss Wodehouse, drying her tears. "It was
+not the custom in my young days, Mr Wentworth, and I
+am sure I don't know what to say; but I can't bear to cross
+her, now that she has nobody but me. She was always the
+best child in the world," said the poor lady&mdash;"far more
+comfort to poor dear papa than I ever could be; but to hear
+her talk you would think that she had never done anything.
+And oh, Mr Wentworth, if that was all I should not mind;
+but we have always kept things a secret from her; and now
+I have had a letter, and I don't know what it is possible to
+do."</p>
+
+<p>"A letter from your brother?" asked Mr Wentworth,
+eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"From Tom," said the elder sister; "poor, poor Tom! I
+am sure papa forgave him at the last, though he did not
+say anything. Oh, Mr Wentworth, he was such a nice boy
+once; and if Lucy only knew, and I could summon up the
+courage to tell her, and he would change his ways, as he
+promised&mdash;don't think me fickle or changeable, or look as
+if I didn't know my own mind," cried poor Miss Wodehouse,
+with a fresh flow of tears; "but oh, Mr Wentworth, if he
+only would change his ways, as he promised, think what a
+comfort it would be to us to have him at home!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Curate, with a little bitterness. Here
+was another instance of the impunities of wickedness. "I
+think it very likely indeed that you will have him at
+home," said Mr Wentworth&mdash;"almost certain; the wonder
+is that he went away. Will you tell me where he dates his
+letter from? I have a curiosity to know."</p>
+
+<p>"You are angry," said the anxious sister. "Oh, Mr
+Wentworth, I know he does not deserve anything else, but
+you have always been so kind. I put his letter in my
+pocket to show you&mdash;at least, I am sure I intended to put it
+in my pocket. We have scarcely been in this room since&mdash;since&mdash;"
+and here Miss Wodehouse broke down, and had
+to take a little time to recover. "I will go and get the
+letter," she said, as at last she regained her voice, and
+hurried away through the partial darkness with her noiseless
+step, and the long black garments which swept
+noiselessly over the carpet. Mr Wentworth for his part
+went to the one window which was only veiled by a blind,
+and comforted himself a little in the sunshine. The death
+atmosphere weighed upon the young man and took away
+his courage. If he was only wanted to pave the way for the
+reception of the rascally brother for whose sins he felt
+convinced he was himself suffering, the consolation of
+being appealed to would be sensibly lessened, and it was
+hard to have no other way of clearing himself than by
+criminating Lucy's brother, and bringing dishonour upon
+her name. While he waited for Miss Wodehouse's return,
+he stood by Lucy's table, with very little of the feeling
+which had once prompted him to fold his arms so caressingly
+with an impulse of tenderness upon the chair which stood
+beside it. He was so much absorbed in his own thoughts
+that he did not hear at first the sound of a hesitating hand
+upon the door, which at length, when repeated, went to
+the Curate's heart. He turned round rapidly, and saw
+Lucy standing on the threshold in her profound mourning.
+She was very pale, and her blue eyes looked large and full
+beyond their natural appearance, dilated with tears and
+watching; and when they met those of Mr Wentworth,
+they filled full like flower-cups with dew; but besides this
+Lucy made no demonstration of her grief. After that
+momentary hesitation at the door, she came in and gave
+the Curate her hand. Perhaps it was a kind of defiance,
+perhaps a natural yearning, which drew her out of her
+chamber when she heard of his presence; both sentiments
+sprang out of the same feeling; and the Curate, when he
+looked at her, bethought himself of the only moment when
+he had been able to imagine that Lucy loved him; that
+moment by her father's bedside, of which the impression
+had been dulled since then by a crowd of events, when she
+looked with such reproach and disappointment and indignation
+into his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard you were here," said Lucy, "and I thought you
+might think it strange not to see us both." And then she
+paused, perhaps finding it less easy than she thought to
+explain why she had come. "We ought to thank you, Mr
+Wentworth, for your kindness, though I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You were angry with me," said the Curate. "I know
+you thought me heartless; but a man must bear to be
+misconceived when he has duty to do," the young clergyman
+added, with a swelling heart. Lucy did not know the
+fuller significance of his words; and there was a loftiness in
+them which partly affronted her, and set all her sensitive
+woman-pride in arms against him.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," she said, faltering, and then the
+two stood beside each other in silence, with a sense of
+estrangement. As for Lucy, all the story about Rosa
+Elsworthy, of which she had not yet heard the last chapter,
+rushed back upon her mind. Was it to see little Rosa's
+lover that she had come out of the darkness of her room,
+with a natural longing for sympathy which it was impossible
+to restrain? The tenderness of the instinctive feeling which
+had moved her, went back upon her heart in bitterness.
+That he must have divined why she had come, and
+scorned her for it, was the mildest supposition in Lucy's
+mind. She could almost have imagined that he had come
+on purpose to elicit this vain exhibition of regard, and
+triumph over it; all this, too, when she was in such great
+trouble and sorrow, and wanted a little compassion, a little
+kindness, so much. This was the state of mind to which
+Lucy had come, in five minutes after she entered the
+room, when Miss Wodehouse came back with the letter.
+The elder sister was almost as much astonished at Lucy's
+presence as if she had been the dead inhabitant who kept
+such state in the darkened house. She was so startled that
+she went back a step or two when she perceived her, and
+hastily put the letter in her pocket, and exclaimed her
+sister's name in a tone most unlike Miss Wodehouse's
+natural voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I came down-stairs because&mdash;I mean they told me Mr
+Wentworth was here," said Lucy, who had never felt so
+weak and so miserable in her life, "and I wanted to thank
+him for all his kindness." It was here for the first time that
+Lucy broke down. Her sorrow was so great, her longing
+for a word of kindness had been so natural, and her shame
+and self-condemnation at the very thought that she was
+able to think of anything but her father, were so bitter,
+that the poor girl's forces, weakened by watching, were
+not able to withstand them. She sank into the chair that
+stood nearest, and covered her face with her hands, and
+cried as people cry only at twenty. And as for Mr
+Wentworth, he had no right to take her in his arms and
+comfort her, nor to throw himself at her feet and entreat
+her to take courage. All he could do was to stand half a
+yard, yet a whole world, apart looking at her, his heart
+beating with all the remorseful half-angry tenderness of
+love. Since it was not his to console her, he was almost
+impatient of her tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, I have been telling Mr Wentworth about to-morrow,"
+said Miss Wodehouse, weeping too, as was
+natural, "and he thinks&mdash;he thinks&mdash;oh, my darling! and
+so do I&mdash;that it will be too much for you. When I was
+young it never was the custom; and oh, Lucy, remember
+that ladies are not to be expected to have such command
+over their feelings," said poor Miss Wodehouse, dropping
+on her knees by Lucy's chair. Mr Wentworth stood looking
+on in a kind of despair. He had nothing to say, and no
+right to say anything; even his presence was a kind of
+intrusion. But to be referred to thus as an authority against
+Lucy's wishes, vexed him in the most unreasonable way.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wentworth does not know me," said Lucy, under
+her breath, wiping away her tears with a trembling,
+indignant hand. "If we had had a brother, it might have
+been different; but there must be somebody there that
+loves him," said the poor girl, with a sob, getting up hastily
+from her chair. She could not bear to stay any longer in the
+room, which she had entered with a vague sense of possible
+consolation. As for the Curate, he made haste to open the
+door for her, feeling the restraint of his position almost
+intolerable. "<i>I</i> shall be there," he said, stopping at the door
+to look into the fair, pallid face which Lucy would scarcely
+raise to listen. "Could you not trust <i>me</i>?" It looked like
+giving him a pledge of something sacred and precious to put
+her hand into his, which was held out for it so eagerly. But
+Lucy could not resist the softening of nature; and not even
+Miss Wodehouse, looking anxiously after them, heard what
+further words they were that Mr Wentworth said in her ear.
+"I am for your service, however and wherever you want
+me," said the Curate, with a young man's absolutism.
+Heaven knows he had enough to do with his own troubles;
+but he remembered no obstacle which could prevent him
+from dedicating all his time and life to her as he spoke.
+When Lucy reached her own room, she threw herself upon
+the sofa, and wept like a woman inconsolable; but it was
+somehow because this consolation, subtle and secret, had
+stolen into her heart that her tears flowed so freely. And Mr
+Wentworth returned to her sister relieved, he could not
+have told why. At all events, come what might, the two had
+drawn together again in their mutual need.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Wentworth, how can I cross her?" said Miss
+Wodehouse, wringing her hands. "If we had a brother&mdash;did
+you hear what she said? Here is his letter, and I hope you
+will tell me candidly what you think. If we could trust him&mdash;if
+we could but trust him! I daresay you think me very
+changeable and foolish; but now we are alone," said the
+poor lady, "think what a comfort it would be if he only
+would change his ways as he promised! Lucy is a great deal
+more use than I am, and understands things; but still we are
+only two women," said the elder sister. "If you think we
+could put any dependence upon him, Mr Wentworth, I
+would never hesitate. He might live with us, and have his
+little allowance." Miss Wodehouse paused, and raised her
+anxious face to the Curate, pondering the particulars of the
+liberality she intended. "He is not a boy," she went on. "I
+daresay now he must feel the want of the little comforts he
+once was used to; and though he is not like what he used to
+be, neither in his looks nor his manners, people would be
+kind to him for our sakes. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't you
+think we might trust him?" said the anxious woman,
+looking in the Curate's face.</p>
+
+<p>All this time Mr Wentworth, with an impatience of her
+simplicity which it was difficult to restrain, was reading
+the letter, in which he perceived a very different intention
+from any divined by Miss Wodehouse. The billet was
+disreputable enough, written in pencil, and without any
+date.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">Mary</span>,&mdash;
+I mean to come to my father's funeral," wrote
+Mr Wodehouse's disowned son. "Things are changed now,
+as I said they would be. I and a friend of mine have set
+everything straight with Waters, and I mean to come in
+my own name, and take the place I have a right to. How it
+is to be after this depends on how you behave; but things
+are changed between you and me, as I told you they
+would be; and I expect you won't do anything to make 'em
+worse by doing or saying what's unpleasant. I add no
+more, because I hope you'll have sense to see what I
+mean, and to act accordingly.&mdash;Your brother,</p>
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smallcaps">Thomas Wodehouse.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>"You see he thinks I will reproach him," said Miss
+Wodehouse, anxiously; perhaps it had just glanced across
+her own mind that something more important still might
+have dictated language so decided. "He has a great deal
+more feeling than you would suppose, poor fellow! It is
+very touching in him to say, 'the place he has a right to'&mdash;don't
+you think so, Mr Wentworth? Poor Tom! if we could
+but trust him, and he would change his ways as he
+promised! Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't you think I might
+speak of it to him to-morrow? If we could&mdash;bury&mdash;everything&mdash;in
+dear papa's grave," cried the poor lady, once
+more breaking down. Mr Wentworth took no notice of
+Miss Wodehouse's tears. They moved him with sentiments
+entirely different from those with which he regarded
+Lucy's. He read the note over again without any attempt
+to console her, till she had struggled back into composure;
+but even then there was nothing sympathetic in the
+Curate's voice.</p>
+
+<p>"And I think you told me you did not know anything
+about the will?" he said, with some abruptness, making no
+account whatever of the suggestion she had made.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Miss Wodehouse; "but my dear father was a
+business man, Mr Wentworth, and I feel quite sure&mdash;quite&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Perpetual Curate; "nor of the nature of
+his property, perhaps?" added the worldly-minded young
+man whom poor Miss Wodehouse had chosen for her
+adviser. It was more than the gentle woman could bear.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Wentworth, you know I am not one to understand,"
+cried the poor lady. "You ask me questions, but
+you never tell me what you think I should do. If it were
+only for myself, I would not mind, but I have to act for
+Lucy," said the elder sister, suddenly sitting upright and
+drying her tears. "Papa, I am sure, did what was best for
+us," she said, with a little gentle dignity, which brought
+the Curate back to his senses; "but oh, Mr Wentworth,
+look at the letter, and tell me, for my sister's sake, what
+am I to do?"</p>
+
+<p>The Curate went to the window, from which the sunshine
+was stealing away, to consider the subject; but he did not
+seem to derive much additional wisdom from that sacred
+spot, where Lucy's work-table stood idle. "We must wait
+and see," he said to himself. When he came back to Miss
+Wodehouse, and saw the question still in her eyes, it only
+brought back his impatience. "My dear Miss Wodehouse,
+instead of speculating about what is to happen, it would be
+much better to prepare your sister for the discovery she
+must make to-morrow," said Mr Wentworth; "I cannot
+give any other advice, for my part. I think it is a great pity
+that you have kept it concealed so long. I beg your pardon
+for speaking so abruptly, but I am afraid you don't know
+all the trouble that is before you. We are all in a great deal
+of trouble," said the Perpetual Curate, with a little
+unconscious solemnity. "I can't say I see my way through
+it; but you ought to prepare her&mdash;to see&mdash;her brother." He
+said the words with a degree of repugnance which he could
+not conceal, and which wounded his companion's tender
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>"He was so different when he was young," said Miss
+Wodehouse, with a suppressed sob&mdash;"he was a favourite
+everywhere. You would not have looked so if you had
+known him then. Oh, Mr Wentworth, promise me that
+you will not turn your back upon him if he comes home,
+after all your kindness. I will tell Lucy how much you
+have done for him," said Miss Wodehouse. She was only
+half-conscious of her own gentle artifice. She took the
+Curate's hand in both her own before he left her, and said
+it was such a comfort to have his advice to rely upon; and
+she believed what she said, though Mr Wentworth himself
+knew better. The poor lady sat down in Lucy's chair, and
+had a cry at her ease after he went away. She was to tell
+Lucy&mdash;but how? and she sat pondering this hard question
+till all the light had faded out of the room, and the little
+window which was not shuttered dispersed only a grey
+twilight through the empty place. The lamp, meantime,
+had been lighted in the little parlour where Lucy sat, very
+sad, in her black dress, with 'In Memoriam' on the table
+by her, carrying on a similar strain in her heart. She was
+thinking of the past, so many broken scenes of which kept
+flashing up before her, all bright with indulgent love and
+tenderness&mdash;and she was thinking of the next day, when
+she was to see all that remained of her good father laid in
+his grave. He was not very wise nor remarkable among
+men, but he had been the tenderest father to the child of
+his old age; and in her heart she was praying for him still,
+pausing now and then to think whether it was right. The
+tears were heavy in her young eyes, but they were natural
+tears, and Lucy had no more thought that there was in the
+world anything sadder than sorrow, or that any complications
+lay in her individual lot, than the merest child in
+Prickett's Lane. She thought of going back to the district,
+all robed and invested in the sanctity of her grief&mdash;she
+thought it was to last for ever, as one has the privilege of
+thinking when one is young; and it was to this young saint,
+tender towards all the world, ready to pity everybody, and
+to save a whole race, if that had been possible, that Miss
+Wodehouse went in, heavy and burdened, with her tale of
+miserable vice, unkindness, estrangement. How was it possible
+to begin? Instead of beginning, poor Miss Wodehouse,
+overpowered by her anxieties and responsibilities, was
+taken ill and fainted, and had to be carried to bed. Lucy
+would not let her talk when she came to herself; and so
+the only moment of possible preparation passed away,
+and the event itself, which one of them knew nothing
+of, and the other did not understand, came in its own
+person, without any <i>avant-couriers</i>, to open Lucy's eyes
+once for all.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mr Wentworth</span> had to go into Carlingford on some
+business when he left Miss Wodehouse; and as he went
+home again, having his head full of so many matters, he
+forgot for the moment what most immediately concerned
+himself, and was close upon Elsworthy's shop, looking into
+the window, before he thought of it. Elsworthy himself
+was standing behind the counter, with a paper in his hand,
+from which he was expounding something to various
+people in the shop. It was getting late, and the gas was
+lighted, which threw the interior into very bright relief
+to Mr Wentworth outside. The Curate was still only a
+young man, though he was a clergyman, and his movements
+were not always guided by reason or sound sense.
+He walked into the shop, almost before he was aware what
+he was doing. The people were inconsiderable people
+enough&mdash;cronies of Elsworthy&mdash;but they were people who
+had been accustomed to look up very reverentially to the
+Curate of St Roque's and Mr Wentworth was far from
+being superior to their disapproval. There was a very
+visible stir among them as he entered, and Elsworthy
+came to an abrupt stop in his elucidations, and thrust the
+paper he had been reading into a drawer. Dead and
+sudden silence followed the entrance of the Curate. Peter
+Hayles, the druggist, who was one of the auditors, stole to
+the door with intentions of escape, and the women, of
+whom there were two or three, looked alarmed, not
+knowing what might come of it. As for Mr Wentworth,
+there was only one thing possible for him to say. "Have
+you heard anything of Rosa, Elsworthy?" he asked, with
+great gravity, fixing his eyes upon the man's face. The
+question seemed to ring into all the corners. Whether it
+was innocence or utter abandonment nobody could tell,
+and the spectators held their breath for the answer.
+Elsworthy, for his part, was as much taken by surprise as
+his neighbours. He grew very pale and livid in his sudden
+excitement, and lost his voice, and stood staring at the
+Curate like a man struck dumb. Perhaps Mr Wentworth
+got bolder when he saw the effect he had produced. He
+repeated the question, looking towards poor Mrs
+Elsworthy, who had jumped from her husband's side
+when he came in. The whole party looked like startled
+conspirators to Mr Wentworth's eyes, though he had not
+the least idea what they had been doing. "Have you heard
+anything of Rosa?" he asked again; and everybody looked
+at Elsworthy, as if he were the guilty man, and had
+suborned the rest; which, indeed, in one sense, was not far
+from being the case.</p>
+
+<p>When Elsworthy came to himself, he gave Mr Wentworth
+a sidelong dangerous look. "No, sir&mdash;nothing," said
+Rosa's uncle. "Them as has hidden her has hidden her
+well. I didn't expect to hear not yet," said Elsworthy.
+Though Mr Wentworth did not know what he meant, his
+little audience in the shop did, and showed, by the
+slightest murmur in the world, their conviction that the
+arrow had gone home, which naturally acted like a spur
+upon the Curate, who was not the wisest man in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry to see you in so much distress," said
+the young man, looking at Mrs Elsworthy's red eyes, "but
+I trust things will turn out much better than you imagine.
+If I can do anything to help you, let me know," said Mr
+Wentworth. Perhaps it was foolish to say so much,
+knowing what he did, but unfortunately prudence was not
+the ruling principle at that moment in the Curate's soul.</p>
+
+<p>"I was a-thinking of letting you know, sir," said the
+clerk of St Roque's, with deadly meaning; "leastways not
+me, but them as has taken me by the hand. There's every
+prospect as it'll all be known afore long," said Elsworthy,
+pushing his wife aside and following Mr Wentworth, with
+a ghastly caricature of his old obsequiousness, to the door.
+"There's inquiries a-being made as was never known to
+fail. For one thing, I've written to them as knows a deal
+about the movements of a party as is suspected&mdash;not to
+say as I've got good friends," said Rosa's guardian,
+standing upon the step of his own door, and watching the
+Curate out into the darkness. Mr Wentworth could not
+altogether restrain a slight thrill of unpleasant emotion, for
+Elsworthy, standing at his door with the light gleaming
+over him from behind, and his face invisible, had an
+unpleasant resemblance to a wild beast waiting for his prey.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to think you are likely to be so successful.
+Send me word as soon as you know," said the Curate, and
+he pursued his way home afterwards, with feelings far
+from pleasant. He saw something was about to come of
+this more than he had thought likely, and the crisis was
+approaching. As he walked rapidly home, he concluded
+within himself to have a conversation with the Rector
+next day after Mr Wodehouse's funeral, and to ask for an
+investigation into the whole matter. When he had come to
+this conclusion, he dismissed the subject from his mind as
+far as was possible, and took to thinking of the other
+matters which disturbed his repose, in which, indeed, it
+was very easy to get perplexed and bewildered to his
+heart's content. Anyhow, one way and another, the day of
+poor Mr Wodehouse's funeral must necessarily be an
+exciting and momentous day.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth had, however, no idea that its interest
+was to begin so early. When he was seated at breakfast
+reading his letters, a note was brought to him, which,
+coming in the midst of a lively chronicle of home news
+from his sister Letty, almost stopped for the moment the
+beating of the Curate's heart. It took him so utterly by
+surprise, that more violent sentiments were lost for the
+moment in mere wonder. He read it over twice before he
+could make it out. It was from the Rector, and notwithstanding
+his wife's remonstrances, and his own qualms of
+doubt and uncertainty, this was what Mr Morgan said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">Dear Sir</span>,&mdash;
+It is my painful duty to let you know that
+certain rumours have reached my ears very prejudicial to
+your character as a clergyman, and which I understand to
+be very generally current in Carlingford. Such a scandal,
+if not properly dealt with, is certain to have an unfavourable
+effect upon the popular mind, and injure the clergy in
+the general estimation&mdash;while it is, as I need not point out
+to you, quite destructive of your own usefulness. Under
+the circumstances, I have thought it my duty, as Rector of
+the parish, to take steps for investigating these reports. Of
+course I do not pretend to any authority over you, nor can
+I enforce in any way your participation in the inquiry or
+consent to it; but I beg to urge upon you strongly, as a
+friend, the advantage of assenting freely, that your innocence
+(if possible) may be made apparent, and your
+character cleared. I enclose the names of the gentlemen
+whose assistance I intend to request for this painful duty,
+in case you should object to any of them; and would again
+urge you, <i>for your own sake</i>, the expediency of concurrence.
+I regret to say that, though I would not willingly
+prejudge any man, much less a brother clergyman, I do
+not feel that it would be seemly on my part, under the
+circumstances, to avail myself of your assistance today in
+the burial-service for the late Mr Wodehouse.&mdash;Believe
+me, very sincerely yours,</p>
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smallcaps">W. Morgan.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>When Mr Wentworth looked up from this letter, he
+caught sight of his face in the mirror opposite, and gazed
+into his own eyes like a man stupefied. He had not been
+without vexations in eight-and-twenty years of a not
+uneventful life, but he had never known anything like the
+misery of that moment. It was nearly four hours later
+when he walked slowly up Grange Lane to the house,
+which before night might own so different a master, but he
+had found as yet no time to spare for the Wodehouses&mdash;even
+for Lucy&mdash;in the thoughts which were all occupied
+by the unlooked-for blow. Nobody could tell, not even
+himself, the mental discipline he had gone through before
+he emerged, rather stern, but perfectly calm, in the
+sunshine in front of the closed-up house. If it was not his to
+meet the solemn passenger at the gates with words of
+hope, at least he could do a man's part to the helpless who
+had still to live; but the blow was cruel, and all the force of
+his nature was necessary to sustain it. All Carlingford
+knew, by the evidence of its senses, that Mr Wentworth
+had been a daily visitor of the dead, and one of his most
+intimate friends, and nobody had doubted for a moment
+that to him would be assigned as great a portion of the
+service as his feelings permitted him to undertake. When
+the bystanders saw him join the procession, a thrill of
+surprise ran through the crowd; but nobody&mdash;not even the
+man who walked beside him&mdash;ventured to trifle with the
+Curate's face so far as to ask why. The Grand Inquisitor
+himself, if such a mythical personage exists any longer,
+could not have invented a more delicate torture than that
+which the respectable and kind-hearted Rector of Carlingford
+inflicted calmly, without knowing it, upon the Curate
+of St Roque's. How was Mr Morgan to know that the sting
+would go to his heart? A Perpetual Curate without a
+district has nothing to do with a heart so sensitive. The
+Rector put on his own robes with a peaceful mind, feeling
+that he had done his duty, and, with Mr Leeson behind
+him, came to the church door with great solemnity to meet
+the procession. He read the words which are so sweet and
+so terrible with his usual reading-desk voice as he read the
+invitations every Sunday. He was a good man, but he was
+middle-aged, and not accessible to impression from the
+mere aspect of death; and he did not know Mr Wodehouse,
+nor care much for anything in the matter, except his own
+virtue in excluding the Perpetual Curate from any share
+in the service. Such was the Rector's feeling in respect to
+this funeral, which made so much commotion in Carlingford.
+He felt that he was vindicating the purity of his profession
+as he threaded his way through the pathetic hillocks,
+where the nameless people were lying, to poor Mr
+Wodehouse's grave.</p>
+
+<p>This, however, was not the only thing which aroused
+the wonder and interest of the townspeople when the two
+shrinking, hooded female figures, all black and unrecognisable,
+rose up trembling to follow their dead from the
+church to the grave. Everybody saw with wonder that
+their place was contested, and that somebody else, a man
+whom no one knew, thrust himself before them, and
+walked alone in the chief mourner's place. As for Lucy,
+who, through her veil and her tears, saw nothing distinctly,
+this figure, which she did not know, struck her only with a
+vague astonishment. If she thought of it at all, she thought
+it a mistake, simple enough, though a little startling, and
+went on, doing all she could to support her sister, saying
+broken prayers in her heart, and far too much absorbed in
+the duty she was performing to think who was looking on,
+or to be conscious of any of the attending circumstances,
+except Mr Morgan's voice, which was not the voice she
+had expected to hear. Miss Wodehouse was a great deal
+more agitated than Lucy. She knew very well who it was
+that placed himself before her, asserting his own right
+without offering any help to his sisters; and vague apprehensions,
+which she herself could not understand, came
+over her just at the moment when she required her strength
+most. As there were no other relations present, the place
+of honour next to the two ladies had been tacitly conceded
+to Mr Proctor and Mr Wentworth; and it was thus that the
+Curate rendered the last service to his old friend. It was a
+strange procession, and concentrated in itself all that was
+most exciting in Carlingford at the moment. Everybody
+observed and commented upon the strange man, who, all
+remarkable and unknown, with his great beard and sullen
+countenance, walked by himself as chief mourner. Who
+was he? and whispers arose and ran through the outskirts
+of the crowd of the most incredible description. Some said
+he was an illegitimate son whom Mr Wodehouse had left
+all his property to, but whom the ladies knew nothing of;
+some that it was a strange cousin, whom Lucy was to be
+compelled to marry or lose her share; and after a while
+people compared notes, and went back upon their recollections,
+and began to ask each other if it was true that
+Tom Wodehouse died twenty years ago in the West
+Indies? Then behind the two ladies&mdash;poor ladies, whose
+fate was hanging in the balance, though they did not know
+it&mdash;came Mr Wentworth in his cap and gown, pale and
+stern as nobody ever had seen him before in Carlingford,
+excluded from all share in the service, which Mr Leeson,
+in a flutter of surplice and solemnity, was giving his
+valuable assistance in. The churchyard at Carlingford had
+not lost its semi-rural air though the town had increased so
+much, for the district was very healthy, as everybody
+knows, and people did not die before their time, as in
+places less favoured. The townspeople, who knew Mr
+Wodehouse so well, lingered all about among the graves,
+looking with neighbourly, calm regret, but the liveliest
+curiosity. Most of the shopkeepers at that end of George
+Street had closed their shops on the mournful occasion,
+and felt themselves repaid. As for Elsworthy, he stood
+with a group of supporters round him, as near as possible
+to the funeral procession; and farther off in the distance,
+under the trees, was a much more elegant spectator&mdash;an
+unlikely man enough to assist at such a spectacle, being no
+less a person than Jack Wentworth, in the perfection of an
+English gentleman's morning apparel, perfectly at his ease
+and indifferent, yet listening with close attention to all the
+scraps of talk that came in his way. The centre of all this
+wondering, curious crowd, where so many passions and
+emotions and schemes and purposes were in full tide, and
+life was beating so strong and vehement, was the harmless
+dead, under the heavy pall which did not veil him so
+entirely from the living as did the hopes and fears and
+curious speculations which had already sprung up over
+him, filling up his place. Among the whole assembly there
+was not one heart really occupied by thoughts of him,
+except that of poor Lucy, who knew nothing of all the
+absorbing anxieties and terrors that occupied the others.
+She had still a moment's leisure for her natural grief. It
+was all she could do to keep upright and support her sister,
+who had burdens to bear which Lucy knew nothing of; but
+still, concealed under her hood and veil, seeing nothing
+but the grave before her, hearing nothing but the sacred
+words and the terrible sound of "dust to dust," the young
+creature stood steadfast, and gave the dead man who had
+loved her his due&mdash;last offering of nature and love,
+sweeter to anticipate than any honours. Nobody but his
+child offered to poor Mr Wodehouse that last right of
+humanity, or made his grave sacred with natural
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>When they went back sadly out of all that blinding
+sunshine into the darkened house, it was not all over, as
+poor Lucy had supposed. She had begun to come to
+herself and understand once more the looks of the people
+about her, when the old maid, who had been the attendant
+of the sisters during all Lucy's life, undid her wrappings,
+and in her agitation of the moment kissed her white cheek,
+and held her in her arms. "Oh, Miss Lucy, darling, don't
+take on no more than you can help. I'm sore, sore afeared
+that there's a deal of trouble afore you yet," said the
+weeping woman. Though Lucy had not the smallest
+possible clue to her meaning, and was almost too much worn
+out to be curious, she could not help a vague thrill of
+alarm. "What is it, Alland?" she said, rising up from the
+sofa on which she had thrown herself. But Alland could do
+nothing but cry over her nursling and console her. "Oh,
+my poor dear! oh, my darling! as he never would have let
+the wind of heaven to blow rough upon her!" cried the old
+servant. And it was just then that Miss Wodehouse, who
+was trembling all over hysterically, came into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"We have to go down-stairs," said the elder sister. "Oh
+Lucy, my darling, it was not my fault at first. I should
+have told you last night to prepare you, and I had not the
+heart. Mr Wentworth has told me so often&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wentworth?" said Lucy. She rose up, not quite
+knowing where she was; aware of nothing, except that
+some sudden calamity, under which she was expected to
+faint altogether, was coming to her by means of Mr
+Wentworth. Her mind jumped at the only dim possibility
+that seemed to glimmer through the darkness. He must be
+married, she supposed, or about to be married; and it was
+this they insulted her by thinking that she could not bear.
+There was not a particle of colour in her face before, but
+the blood rushed into it with a bitterness of shame and
+rage which she had never known till now. "I will go down
+with you if it is necessary," said Lucy; "but surely this is a
+strange time to talk of Mr Wentworth's affairs." There
+was no time to explain anything farther, for just then old
+Mrs Western, who was a distant cousin, knocked at the
+door. "God help you, my poor dear children!" said the old
+lady; "they are all waiting for you down-stairs," and it was
+with this delusion in her mind, embittering every thought,
+that Lucy went into the drawing-room where they were all
+assembled. The madness of the idea did not strike her
+somehow, even when she saw the grave assembly, which
+it was strange to think could have been brought together
+to listen to any explanation from the Perpetual Curate. He
+was standing there prominent enough among them, with a
+certain air of suppressed passion in his face, which Lucy
+divined almost without seeing it. For her own part, she
+went in with perfect firmness, supporting her sister, whose
+trembling was painful to see. There was no other lady in the
+room except old Mrs Western, who would not sit down,
+but hovered behind the chairs which had been placed for
+the sisters near the table at which Mr Waters was standing.
+By the side of Mr Waters was the man who had been at
+the funeral, and whom nobody knew, and a few gentlemen
+who were friends of the family were in the room&mdash;the
+Rector, by virtue of his office, and Mr Proctor and Dr
+Marjoribanks; and any one whose attention was sufficiently
+disengaged to note the details of the scene might have
+perceived John, who had been fifteen years with Mr
+Wodehouse, and the old cook in her black gown, who was
+of older standing in the family than Alland herself, peeping
+in, whenever it was opened, through the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that the Miss Wodehouses are here, we may
+proceed to business," said Mr Waters. "Some of the party
+are already aware that I have an important communication
+to make. I am very sorry if it comes abruptly upon
+anybody specially interested. My late partner, much respected
+though he has always been, was a man of peculiar
+views in many respects. Dr Marjoribanks will bear me out
+in what I say. I had been his partner for ten years before I
+found this out, highly important as it will be seen to be;
+and I believe Mr Wentworth, though an intimate friend of
+the family, obtained the information by a kind of accident&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger muttered something in his beard which
+nobody could hear, and the Perpetual Curate interposed
+audibly. "Would it not be best to make the explanations
+afterwards?" said Mr Wentworth&mdash;and he changed his
+own position and went over beside old Mrs Western, who
+was leaning upon Lucy's chair. He put his own hand on
+the back of the chair with an involuntary impulse. As for
+Lucy, her first thrill of nervous strength had failed her:
+she began to get confused and bewildered; but whatever it
+was, no insult, no wound to her pride or affections, was
+coming to her from that hand which she knew was on her
+chair. She leaned back a little, with a long sigh. Her
+imagination could not conceive anything important enough
+for such a solemn intimation, and her attention began to
+flag in spite of herself. No doubt it was something about
+that money which people thought so interesting. Meanwhile
+Mr Waters went on steadily with what he had to say,
+not sparing them a word of the preamble; and it was not
+till ten minutes later that Lucy started up with a sudden
+cry of incredulity and wonder, and repeated his last
+words. "His son!&mdash;whose son?" cried Lucy. She looked all
+round her, not knowing whom to appeal to in her sudden
+consternation. "We never had a brother," said the child of
+Mr Wodehouse's old age; "it must be some mistake."
+There was a dead pause after these words. When she
+looked round again, a sickening conviction came to Lucy's
+heart that it was no mistake. She rose up without knowing
+it, and looked round upon all the people, who were
+watching her with various looks of pity and curiosity and
+spectator-interest. Mr Waters had stopped speaking, and
+the terrible stranger made a step forward with an air that
+identified him. It was at him that Mr Proctor was staring,
+who cleared his voice a great many times, and came
+forward to the middle of the room and looked as if he
+meant to speak; and upon him every eye was fixed except
+Mr Wentworth's, who was watching Lucy, and Miss
+Wodehouse's, which were hidden in her hands. "We
+never had a brother," she repeated, faltering; and then, in
+the extremity of her wonder and excitement, Lucy turned
+round, without knowing it, to the man whom her heart
+instinctively appealed to. "Is it true?" she said. She held
+out her hands to him with a kind of entreaty not to say so.
+Mr Wentworth made no reply to her question. He said
+only, "Let me take you away&mdash;it is too much for you,"
+bending down over her, without thinking what he did, and
+drawing her hand through his arm. "She is not able for any
+more," said the Curate, hurriedly; "afterwards we can
+explain to her." If he could have remembered anything
+about himself at the moment, it is probable that he would
+have denied himself the comfort of supporting Lucy&mdash;he,
+a man under ban; but he was thinking only of her, as he
+stood facing them all with her arm drawn through his;
+upon which conjunction the Rector and the late Rector
+looked with a grim aspect, disposed to interfere, but not
+knowing how.</p>
+
+<p>"All this may be very interesting to you," said the
+stranger out of his beard; "if Lucy don't know her brother,
+it is no fault of mine. Mr Waters has only said half he has
+got to say; and as for the rest, to sum it up in half-a-dozen
+words, I'm very glad to see you in my house, gentlemen,
+and I hope you will make yourselves at home. Where
+nobody understands, a man has to speak plain. I've been
+turned out all my life and, by Jove! I don't mean to stand
+it any longer. The girls can have what their father's left
+them," said the vagabond, in his moment of triumph.
+"They aint my business no more than I was theirs. The
+property is freehold, and Waters is aware that I'm the
+heir."</p>
+
+<p>Saying this, Wodehouse drew a chair to the table, and
+sat down with emphasis. He was the only man seated in
+the room, and he kept his place in his sullen way amid the
+excited group which gathered round him. As for Miss
+Wodehouse, some sense of what had happened penetrated
+even her mind. She too rose up and wiped her tears from
+her face, and looked round, pale and scared, to the
+Curate. "I was thinking&mdash;of speaking to Lucy. I meant to
+ask her&mdash;to take you back, Tom," said the elder sister.
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, tell me, for heaven's sake, what
+does it mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I had only been permitted to explain," said Mr
+Waters; "my worthy partner died intestate&mdash;his son is his
+natural heir. Perhaps we need not detain the ladies longer,
+now that they understand it. All the rest can be better
+arranged with their representative. I am very sorry to add
+to their sufferings today," said the polite lawyer, opening
+the door; "everything else can be made the subject of an
+arrangement." He held the door open with a kind of civil
+coercion compelling their departure. The familiar room
+they were in no longer belonged to the Miss Wodehouses.
+Lucy drew her arm out of Mr Wentworth's, and took her
+sister's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You will be our representative," she said to him, out of
+the fulness of her heart. When the door closed, the
+Perpetual Curate took up his position, facing them all with
+looks more lofty than belonged even to his Wentworth
+blood. They had kept him from exercising his office at his
+friend's grave, but nobody could take from him the still
+nobler duty of defending the oppressed.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">When</span> the door closed upon Lucy and her sister, Mr
+Wentworth stood by himself, facing the other people
+assembled. The majority of them were more surprised,
+more shocked, than he was; but they were huddled
+together in their wonder at the opposite end of the table,
+and had somehow a confused, half-conscious air of being
+on the other side.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a very extraordinary revelation that has just been
+made to us," said Dr Marjoribanks. "I am throwing no
+doubt upon it, for my part; but my conviction was, that
+Tom Wodehouse died in the West Indies. He was just the
+kind of man to die in the West Indies. If it's you," said
+the Doctor, with a growl of natural indignation, "you have
+the constitution of an elephant. You should have been
+dead ten years ago, at the very least; and it appears to me
+there would be some difficulty in proving identity, if
+anybody would take up that view of the question." As he
+spoke, Dr Marjoribanks walked round the new-comer,
+looking at him with medical criticism. The Doctor's eyes
+shot out fiery hazel gleams as he contemplated the heavy
+figure. "More appearance than reality," he muttered to
+himself, with a kind of grim satisfaction, poising a forefinger
+in air, as if to prove the unwholesome flesh; and
+then he went round to the other elbow of the unexpected
+heir. "The thing is now, what you mean to do for them, to
+repair your father's neglect," he said, tapping peremptorily
+on Wodehouse's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something else to be said in the mean time,"
+said Mr Wentworth. "I must know precisely how it is that
+a state of affairs so different from anything Mr Wodehouse
+could have intended has come about. The mere absence of a
+will does not seem to me to explain it. I should like to have Mr
+Brown's advice&mdash;for my own satisfaction, if nothing else."</p>
+
+<p>"The parson has got nothing to do with it, that I can
+see," said Wodehouse, "unless he was looking for a legacy,
+or that sort of thing. As for the girls, I don't see what right
+I have to be troubled; they took deuced little trouble with
+me. Perhaps they'd have taken me in as a sort of footman
+without pay&mdash;you heard what they said, Waters? By Jove!
+I'll serve Miss Mary out for that," said the vagabond.
+Then he paused a little, and, looking round him, moderated
+his tone. "I've been badly used all my life," said the
+prodigal son. "They would never give me a hearing. They
+say I did heaps of things I never dreamt of. Mary aint
+above thinking of her own interest&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here Mr Proctor came forward from the middle of the
+room where he had been standing in a perplexed manner
+since the ladies went away. "Hold&mdash;hold your tongue,
+sir!" said the late Rector; "haven't you done enough injury
+already&mdash;" When he had said so much, he stopped as
+abruptly as he had begun, and seemed to recollect all at
+once that he had no title to interfere.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove!" said Wodehouse, "you don't seem to think I
+know what belongs to me, or who belongs to me. Hold
+<i>your</i> tongue, Waters; I can speak for myself. I've been
+long enough snubbed by everybody that had a mind. I
+don't mean to put up with this sort of thing any longer.
+Any man who pleases can consult John Brown. I recollect
+John Brown as well as anybody in Carlingford. It don't
+matter to me what he says, or what anybody says. The
+girls are a parcel of girls, and I am my father's son, as it
+happens. I should have thought the parson had enough on
+his hands for one while," said the new heir, in the insolence
+of triumph. "He tried patronising me, but that wouldn't
+answer. Why, there's his brother, Jack Wentworth, his
+elder brother, come down here purposely to manage
+matters for me. He's the eldest son, by Jove! and one of
+the greatest swells going. He has come down here on
+purpose to do the friendly thing by me. We're great
+friends, by Jove! Jack Wentworth and I; and yet here's a
+beggarly younger brother, that hasn't a penny&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Wodehouse," said Mr Wentworth, with some contempt,
+"sit down and be quiet. You and I have some things to talk
+of which had better not be discussed in public. Leave Jack
+Wentworth's name alone, if you are wise, and don't
+imagine that I am going to bear your punishment. Be
+silent, sir!" cried the Curate, sternly; "do you suppose I
+ask any explanations from you? Mr Waters, I want to hear
+how this has come about? When I saw you in this man's
+interest some time ago, you were not so friendly to him.
+Tell me how it happens that he is now your client, and that
+you set him forth as the heir!"</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove, the parson has nothing to do with it! Let him
+find it out," muttered Wodehouse in his beard; but the
+words were only half audible, and the vagabond's shabby
+soul was cowed in spite of himself. He gave the lawyer a
+furtive thrust in the arm as he spoke, and looked at him a
+little anxiously; for the position of a man standing lawfully
+on his natural rights was new to Wodehouse; and all his
+certainty of the facts did not save him from a sensation of
+habit which suggested that close examination was alarming,
+and that something might still be found out. As for Mr
+Waters, he looked with placid contempt at the man, who
+was not respectable, and still had the instincts of a
+vagabond in his heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I am perfectly ready to explain," said the irreproachable
+solicitor, who was quite secure in his position. "The
+tone of the request, however, might be modified a little;
+and as I don't, any more than Mr Wodehouse, see exactly
+what right Mr Wentworth has to demand&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I ask an explanation, not on my own behalf, but for the
+Miss Wodehouses, who have made me their deputy," said
+the Curate, "for their satisfaction, and that I may consult
+Mr Brown. You seem to forget that all <i>he</i> gains they lose;
+which surely justifies their representative in asking how
+did it come about?"</p>
+
+<p>It was at this point that all the other gentlemen present
+pressed closer, and evinced an intention to take part. Dr
+Marjoribanks was the first to speak. He took a pinch of
+snuff, and while he consumed it looked from under his
+grizzled sandy eyebrows with a perplexing mixture of
+doubt and respect at the Perpetual Curate. He was a man
+of some discrimination in his way, and the young man's
+lofty looks impressed him a little in spite of himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Not to interrupt the explanation," said Dr Marjoribanks,
+"which we'll all be glad to hear&mdash;but Mr
+Wentworth's a young man, not possessed, so far as I am
+aware, of any particular right;&mdash;except that he has been
+very generous and prompt in offering his services," said
+the Doctor, moved to the admission by a fiery glance from
+the Curate's eye, which somehow did not look like the eye
+of a guilty man. "I was thinking, an old man, and an old
+friend, like myself, might maybe be a better guardian for
+the ladies' interests&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mr Proctor, who had been listening very anxiously, was
+seized with a cough at this moment, which drowned out
+the Doctor's words. It was a preparatory cough, and out of
+it the late Rector rushed into speech. "I have come from&mdash;from
+Oxford to be of use," said the new champion. "My
+time is entirely at my own&mdash;at Miss Wodehouse's&mdash;at the
+Miss Wodehouses' disposal. I am most desirous to be of
+use," said Mr Proctor, anxiously. And he advanced close
+to the table to prefer his claim.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a discussion seems quite unnecessary," said Mr
+Wentworth, with some haughtiness. "I shall certainly do
+in the mean time what has been intrusted to me. At
+present we are simply losing time."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;" said the Rector. The word was not of importance
+nor uttered with much resolution, but it arrested Mr
+Wentworth more surely than the shout of a multitude. He
+turned sharp round upon his adversary, and said "Well?"
+with an air of exasperation; while Wodehouse, who had
+been lounging about the room in a discomfited condition,
+drew near to listen.</p>
+
+<p>"I am comparatively a stranger to the Miss Wodehouses,"
+said Mr Morgan; "still I am their clergyman; and I think
+with Dr Marjoribanks, that a young man like Mr Wentworth,
+especially a man so seriously compromised&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, stop! I do think you are all a great deal too hard
+upon Mr Wentworth," said the lawyer, with a laugh of
+toleration, which Wodehouse echoed behind him with a
+sense of temerity that made his laughter all the louder. He
+was frightened, but he was glad to make himself offensive,
+according to his nature. Mr Wentworth stood alone, for his
+part, and had to put up with the laugh as he best could.</p>
+
+<p>"If any one here wishes to injure me with the Miss
+Wodehouses, an opportunity may easily be found," said
+the Curate, with as much composure as he could muster;
+"and I am ready to relinquish my charge when they call
+on me to do so. In the mean time, this is not the place to
+investigate my conduct. Sit down, sir, and let us be free of
+your interference for this moment at least," he said,
+fiercely, turning to the new heir. "I warn you again, you
+have nothing but justice to expect at my hands. Mr
+Waters, we wait your explanations." He was the tallest
+man in the room, which perhaps had something to do with
+it; the youngest, best born, and best endowed. That he
+would have carried the day triumphantly in the opinion of
+any popular audience, there could be no kind of doubt.
+Even in this middle-aged unimpressionable assembly, his
+indignant self-control had a certain influence. When he
+drew a chair towards the table and seated himself, the
+others sat down unawares, and the lawyer began his story
+without any further interruption. The explanation of all
+was, that Mr Wodehouse, like so many men, had an
+ambition to end his days as a country gentleman. He had
+set his heart for years on an estate in the neighbourhood of
+Carlingford, and had just completed his long-contemplated
+purchase at the moment of his last seizure. Nobody knew,
+except the Curate and the lawyer, what the cause of that
+seizure was. They exchanged looks without being aware of
+it, and Wodehouse, still more deeply conscious, uttered,
+poor wretch! a kind of gasp, which sounded like a laugh to
+the other horrified spectators. After all, it was his crime
+which had brought him his good fortune, for there had
+been an early will relating to property which existed no
+longer&mdash;property which had been altogether absorbed in
+the newly-acquired estate. "I have no doubt my late
+excellent partner would have made a settlement had the
+time been permitted him," said Mr Waters. "I have not
+the slightest doubt as to his intentions; but the end was
+very unexpected at the last. I suppose death always is
+unexpected when it comes," said the lawyer, with a little
+solemnity, recollecting that three of his auditors were
+clergymen. "The result is painful in many respects; but
+law is law, and such accidents cannot be entirely avoided.
+With the exception of a few trifling personal matters, and
+the furniture, and a little money at the bank, there is
+nothing but freehold property, and of course the son takes
+that. I can have no possible objection to your consulting
+Mr Brown; but Mr Brown can give you no further information."
+If there had been any little hope of possible
+redress lingering in the mind of the perplexed assembly,
+this brought it to a conclusion. The heir, who had been
+keeping behind with an impulse of natural shame, came
+back to the table when his rights were so clearly established.
+He did not know how to behave himself with a good grace,
+but he was disposed to be conciliatory, as far as he could,
+especially as it began to be disagreeably apparent that the
+possession of his father's property might not make any
+particular difference in the world's opinion of himself.</p>
+
+<p>"It aint my fault, gentlemen," said Wodehouse. "Of
+course, I expected the governor to take care of the girls.
+I've been kept out of it for twenty years, and that's a long
+time. By Jove! I've never known what it was to be a rich
+man's son since I was a lad. I don't say I won't do
+something for the girls if they behave to me as they ought;
+and as for you, gentlemen, who were friends of the family,
+I'll always be glad to see you in my house," he said, with
+an attempt at a friendly smile. But nobody took any notice
+of the overtures of the new heir.</p>
+
+<p>"Then they have nothing to depend upon," said Mr
+Proctor, whose agitated looks were the most inexplicable
+feature of the whole&mdash;"no shelter even; no near relations I
+ever heard of&mdash;and nobody to take care of Lucy if&mdash;"
+Here he stopped short and went to the window, and stood
+looking out in a state of great bewilderment. The late
+Rector was so buried in his own thoughts, whatever they
+might be, that he did not pay any attention to the further
+conversation which went on behind him&mdash;of which, however,
+there was very little&mdash;and only came to himself
+when he saw Mr Wentworth go rapidly through the garden.
+Mr Proctor rushed after the Perpetual Curate. He might
+be seriously compromised, as Mr Morgan said; but he was
+more sympathetic than anybody else in Carlingford under
+present circumstances; and Mr Proctor, in his middle-aged
+uncertainty, could not help having a certain confidence in
+the young man's promptitude and vigour. He made up to
+him out of breath when he was just entering George
+Street. Carlingford had paid what respect it could to Mr
+Wodehouse's memory; and now the shutters were being
+taken off the shop-windows, and people in general were
+very willing to reward themselves for their self-denial by
+taking what amusement they could out of the reports
+which already began to be circulated about the way in
+which the Miss Wodehouses were "left." When the late
+Rector came up with the Perpetual Curate opposite
+Masters's shop there was quite a group of people there
+who noted the conjunction. What could it mean? Was
+there going to be a compromise? Was Carlingford to be
+shamefully cheated out of the "investigation," and all the
+details about Rosa Elsworthy, for which it hungered? Mr
+Proctor put his arm through that of the Curate of St
+Roque's, and permitted himself to be swept along by the
+greater impetus of the young man's rapid steps, for at this
+moment, being occupied with more important matters, the
+late Rector had altogether forgotten Mr Wentworth's
+peculiar position, and the cloud that hung over him.</p>
+
+<p>"What a very extraordinary thing!" said Mr Proctor.
+"What could have betrayed old Wodehouse into such a
+blunder! He must have known well enough. This son&mdash;this
+fellow&mdash;has been living all the time, of course. It is quite
+inexplicable to me," said the aggrieved man. "Do you
+know if there are any aunts or uncles&mdash;any people whom
+poor little Lucy might live with, for instance, if&mdash;" And
+here Mr Proctor once more came to a dead stop. Mr
+Wentworth, for his part, was so far from thinking of her as
+"poor little Lucy," that he was much offended by the
+unnecessary commiseration.</p>
+
+<p>"The sisters will naturally remain together," he said;
+"and, of course, there are many people who would be but
+too glad to receive them. Miss Wodehouse is old enough to
+protect her sister&mdash;though, of course, the balance of
+character is on the other side," said the inconsiderate
+young man; at which Mr Proctor winced, but made no
+definite reply.</p>
+
+<p>"So you think there are people she could go to?" said
+the late Rector, after a pause. "The thing altogether is so
+unexpected, you know. My idea was&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," said the Curate; "I must see Mr
+Brown, and this is about the best time to find him at home.
+Circumstances make it rather awkward for me to call at
+the Rectory just now," he continued, with a smile smile&mdash;"circumstances
+over which I have no control, as people
+say; but perhaps you will stay long enough to see me put
+on my trial. Good-bye now."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop a moment," said Mr Proctor; "about this trial.
+Don't be affronted&mdash;I have nothing to do with it, you
+know; and Morgan means very well, though he's stupid
+enough. I should like to stand your friend, Wentworth;
+you know I would. I wish you'd yield to tell me all about
+it. If I were to call on you to-night after dinner&mdash;for
+perhaps it would put Mrs Hadwin out to give me a chop?"</p>
+
+<p>The Curate laughed in spite of himself. "Fellows of All-Souls
+don't dine on chops," he said, unable to repress a
+gleam of amusement; "but come at six, and you shall have
+something to eat, as good as I can give you. As for telling
+you all about it," said Mr Wentworth, "all the world is
+welcome to know as much as I know."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Proctor laid his hand on the young man's arm, by
+way of soothing him. "We'll talk it all over," he said,
+confidentially; "both this affair, and&mdash;and the other. We
+have a good deal in common, if I am not much mistaken,
+and I trust we shall always be good friends," said the
+inexplicable man. His complexion heightened considerably
+after he had made this speech, which conveyed nothing
+but amazement to the mind of the Curate; and then he
+shook hands hastily, and hurried back again towards Grange
+Lane. If there had been either room or leisure in Frank
+Wentworth's mind for other thoughts, he might have
+laughed or puzzled over the palpable mystery; but as it
+was, he had dismissed the late Rector entirely from his
+mind before he reached the door of Mr Brown's room,
+where the lawyer was seated alone. John Brown, who was
+altogether a different type of man from Mr Waters, held
+out his hand to his visitor, and did not look at all surprised
+to see him. "I have expected a call from you," he said,
+"now that your old friend is gone, from whom you would
+naturally have sought advice in the circumstances. Tell
+me what I can do for you;" and it became apparent to Mr
+Wentworth that it was his own affairs which were
+supposed to be the cause of his application. It may be
+supposed after this that the Curate stated his real object
+very curtly and clearly without any unnecessary words, to
+the unbounded amazement of the lawyer, who, being a
+busy man, and not a friend of the Wodehouses, had as yet
+heard nothing of the matter. Mr Brown, however, could
+only confirm what had been already said. "If it is really
+freehold property, and no settlement made, there cannot
+be any question about it," he said; "but I will see Waters
+to-morrow and make all sure, if you wish it; though he
+dares not mislead you on such a point. I am very sorry for
+the ladies, but I don't see what can be done for them,"
+said Mr Brown; "and about yourself, Mr Wentworth?"
+Perhaps it was because of a certain look of genuine confidence
+and solicitude in John Brown's honest face that
+the Curate's heart was moved. For the first time he
+condescended to discuss the matter&mdash;to tell the lawyer,
+with whom indeed he had but a very slight acquaintance
+(for John Brown lived at the other end of Carlingford, and
+could not be said to be in society), all he knew about Rosa
+Elsworthy, and something of his suspicions. Mr Brown,
+for his part, knew little of the Perpetual Curate in his
+social capacity, but he knew about Wharfside, which was
+more to the purpose; and having himself been truly in love
+once in his life, commonplace as he looked, this honest
+man did not believe it possible that Lucy Wodehouse's
+representative could be Rosa Elsworthy's seducer&mdash;the
+two things looked incompatible to the straightforward
+vision of John Brown.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll attend at their investigation," he said, with a smile,
+"which, if you were not particularly interested, you'd find
+not bad fun, Mr Wentworth. These private attempts at
+law are generally very amusing. I'll attend and look after
+your interests; but you had better see that this Tom
+Wodehouse,&mdash;I remember the scamp&mdash;he used to be bad
+enough for anything,&mdash;don't give you the slip and get out
+of the way. Find out if you can where he has been living
+these two days. I'll attend to the other matter, too," the
+lawyer said, cheerfully, shaking hands with his new client;
+and the Curate went away with a vague feeling that
+matters were about to come right somehow, at which he
+smiled when he came to think of it, and saw how little
+foundation he had for such a hope. But his hands were full
+of business, and he had no time to consider his own affairs
+at this particular moment. It seemed to him a kind of
+profanity to permit Lucy to remain under the same roof
+with Wodehouse, even though he was her brother; and Mr
+Proctor's inquiries had stimulated his own feeling. There
+was a certain pleasure, besides, in postponing himself and
+his own business, however important, to her and her
+concerns; and it was with this idea that he proceeded to
+the house of his aunts, and was conducted to a little
+private sitting-room appropriated to the sole use of Miss
+Leonora, for whom he had asked. As he passed the door of
+the drawing-room, which was ajar, he glanced in, and saw
+his aunt Dora bending over somebody who wept, and
+heard a familiar voice pouring out complaints, the general
+sound of which was equally familiar, though he could not
+make out a word of the special subject. Frank was startled,
+notwithstanding his preoccupations, for it was the same
+voice which had summoned him to Wentworth Rectory
+which now poured out its lamentations in the Miss
+Wentworths' drawing-room in Carlingford. Evidently
+some new complication had arisen in the affairs of the
+family. Miss Leonora was in her room, busy with the
+books of a Ladies' Association, of which she was treasurer.
+She had a letter before her from the missionary employed
+by the society, which was a very interesting letter, and
+likely to make a considerable sensation when read before
+the next meeting. Miss Leonora was taking the cream off
+this piece of correspondence, enjoying at once itself and
+the impression it would make. She was slightly annoyed
+when her nephew came in to disturb her. "The others are
+in the drawing-room, as usual," she said. "I can't imagine
+what Lewis could be thinking of, to bring you here.
+Louisa's coming can make no difference to you."</p>
+
+<p>"So Louisa has come? I thought I heard her voice. What
+has happened to bring Louisa here?" said the Curate, who
+was not sorry to begin with an indifferent subject. Miss
+Leonora shook her head and took up her letter.</p>
+
+<p>"She is in the drawing-room," said the strong-minded
+aunt. "If you have no particular business with me, Frank,
+you had better ask herself: of course, if you want me, I am
+at your service&mdash;but otherwise I am busy, you see."</p>
+
+<p>"And so am I," said Mr Wentworth, "as busy as a man
+can be whose character is at stake. Do you know I am to
+be tried to-morrow? But that is not what I came to ask you
+about."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would <i>tell</i> me about it," said Miss Leonora.
+She got up from her writing-table and from the missionary's
+letter, and abandoned herself to the impulses of nature. "I
+have heard disagreeable rumours. I don't object to your
+reserve, Frank, but things seem to be getting serious.
+What does it mean?"</p>
+
+<p>The Curate had been much braced in his inner man by
+his short interview with John Brown; that, and the representative
+position he held, had made a wonderful change
+in his feelings: besides, a matter which was about to
+become so public could not be ignored. "It means only
+that a good many people in Carlingford think me a villain,"
+said Mr Wentworth: "it is not a flattering idea; and it
+seems to me, I must say, an illogical induction from the
+facts of my life. Still it is true that some people think so&mdash;and
+I am to be tried to-morrow. But in the mean time,
+something else has happened. I know you are a good
+woman, aunt Leonora. We don't agree in many things,
+but that does not matter. There are two ladies in Carlingford
+who up to this day have been rich, well off, well cared
+for, and who have suddenly lost all their means, their
+protector, even their home. They have no relations that I
+know of. One of them is good for any exertion that may be
+necessary," said the Curate, his voice softening with a far-off
+masculine suggestion as of tears; "but she is young&mdash;too
+young to contend with the world&mdash;and she is now
+suffering her first grief. The other is old enough, but not
+good for much&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean the two Miss Wodehouses?" said Miss
+Leonora. "Their father has turned out to be&mdash;bankrupt?&mdash;or
+something?&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Worse than bankrupt," said the Curate: "there is a
+brother who takes everything. Will you stand by them&mdash;offer
+them shelter?&mdash;I mean for a time. I don't know
+anybody I should care to apply to but you."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Leonora paused and looked at her nephew. "First
+tell me what you have to do with them," she asked. "If
+there is a brother, he is their natural protector&mdash;certainly
+not you&mdash;unless there is something I don't know of.
+Frank, you know you can't marry," said Miss Leonora, with
+a little vehemence, once more looking in her nephew's face.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Frank, with momentary bitterness; "I am
+not likely to make any mistake about that&mdash;at present, at
+least. The brother is a reprobate of whom they know
+nothing. I have no right to consider myself their protector&mdash;but
+I am their friend at least," said the Curate, breaking
+off with again that softening in his voice. "They may have
+a great many friends, for anything I know; but I have
+confidence in you, aunt Leonora: you are not perhaps
+particularly sympathetic," he went on, with a laugh; "you
+don't condole with Louisa, for instance; but I could trust
+you with&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy Wodehouse!" said Miss Leonora; "I don't dislike
+her at all, if she would not wear that ridiculous grey cloak;
+but young men don't take such an interest in young
+women without some reason for it. What are we to do for
+you, Frank?" said the strong-minded woman, looking at
+him with a little softness. Miss Leonora, perhaps, was not
+used to be taken into anybody's confidence. It moved her
+more than might have been expected from so self-possessed
+a woman. Perhaps no other act on the part of her nephew
+could have had so much effect, had he been able to pursue
+his advantage, upon the still undecided fate of Skelmersdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," said the Curate. He met her eye very
+steadily, but she was too clear-sighted to believe that he
+felt as calmly as he looked. "Nothing," he repeated again&mdash;"I
+told you as much before. I have been slandered here,
+and here I must remain. There are no parsonages or
+paradises for me."</p>
+
+<p>With which speech Mr Wentworth shook hands with his
+aunt and went away. He left Miss Leonora as he had left
+her on various occasions&mdash;considerably confused in her
+ideas. She could not enjoy any longer the cream of the
+missionary's letter. When she tried to resume her reading,
+her attention flagged over it. After a while she put on her
+bonnet and went out, after a little consultation with her
+maid, who assisted her in the housekeeping department.
+The house was tolerably full at the present moment, but it
+was elastic. She was met at the green door of Mr
+Wodehouse's garden by the new proprietor, who stared
+excessively, and did not know what to make of such an
+apparition. "Jack Wentworth's aunt, by Jove!" he said to
+himself, and took off his hat, meaning to show her "a little
+civility." Miss Leonora thought him one of the attendants
+at the recent ceremonial, and passed him without any
+ceremony. She was quite intent upon her charitable mission.
+Mr Wentworth's confidence was justified.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mr Wentworth's</span> day had been closely occupied up
+to this point. He had gone through a great many emotions,
+and transacted a good deal of business, and he went home
+with the comparative ease of a man whose anxieties are
+relieved, not by any real deliverance, but by the soothing
+influence of fatigue and the sense of something
+accomplished. He was not in reality in a better position
+than when he left his house in the morning, bitterly
+mortified, injured, and wounded at the tenderest point.
+Things were very much the same as they had been, but a
+change had come over the feelings of the Perpetual
+Curate. He remembered with a smile, as he went down
+Grange Lane, that Mr Proctor was to dine with him, and
+that he had rashly undertaken to have something better
+than a chop. It was a very foolish engagement under the
+circumstances. Mr Wentworth was cogitating within
+himself whether he could make an appeal to the
+sympathies of his aunt's cook for something worthy of the
+sensitive palate of a Fellow of All-Souls, when all such
+thoughts were suddenly driven out of his mind by the
+apparition of his brother Gerald&mdash;perhaps the last man in
+the world whom he could have expected to see in
+Carlingford. Gerald was coming up Grange Lane in his
+meditative way from Mrs Hadwin's door. To look at him
+was enough to reveal to any clear-sighted spectator the
+presence of some perpetual argument in his mind. Though
+he had come out to look for Frank, his eyes were
+continually forsaking his intention, catching spots of lichen
+on the wall and clumps of herbage on the roadside. The
+long discussion had become so familiar to him, that even
+now, when his mind was made up, he could not relinquish
+the habit which possessed him. When he perceived Frank,
+he quickened his steps. They met with only such a
+modified expression of surprise on the part of the younger
+brother as was natural to a meeting of English kinsfolk. "I
+heard Louisa's voice in my aunt's drawing-room," said
+Frank; "but, oddly enough, it never occurred to me that
+you might have come with her;" and then Gerald turned
+with the Curate. When the ordinary family questions
+were asked and answered, a silence ensued between the
+two. As for Frank, in the multiplicity of his own cares, he
+had all but forgotten his brother; and Gerald's mind,
+though full of anxiety, had something of the calm which
+might be supposed to subdue the senses of a dying man.
+He was on the eve of a change, which appeared to him
+almost as great as death; and the knowledge of that gave
+him a curious stillness of composure&mdash;almost a reluctance
+to speak. Strangely enough, each brother at this critical
+moment felt it necessary to occupy himself with the affairs
+of the other, and to postpone the consideration of his own.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you have changed your mind a little since we
+last met," said Frank; "your last letter&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll talk of that presently," said the elder brother;
+"in the mean time I want to know about <i>you</i>. What is all
+this? My father is in a great state of anxiety. He does not
+seem to have got rid of his fancy that you were somehow
+involved with Jack&mdash;and Jack is here," said Gerald, with
+a look which betokened some anxiety on his own part. "I
+wish you would give me your confidence. Right or wrong,
+I have come to stand by you, Frank," said the Rector of
+Wentworth, rather mournfully. He had been waiting at
+Mrs Hadwin's for the last two hours. He had seen that
+worthy woman's discomposed looks, and felt that she did
+not shake her head for nothing. Jack had been the
+bugbear of the family for a long time past. Gerald was
+conscious of adding heavily at the present moment to the
+Squire's troubles. Charley was at Malta, in indifferent
+health; all the others were boys. There was only Frank to
+give the father a little consolation; and now Frank, it
+appeared, was most deeply compromised of all; no wonder
+Gerald was sad. And then he drew forth the anonymous
+letter which had startled all the Wentworths on the
+previous night. "This is written by somebody who hates
+you," said the elder brother; "but I suppose there must be
+some meaning in it. I wish you would be frank with me,
+and tell me what it is."</p>
+
+<p>This appeal had brought them to Mrs Hadwin's door,
+which the Curate opened with his key before he answered
+his brother. The old lady herself was walking in the
+garden in a state of great agitation, with a shawl thrown
+over the best cap, which she had put on in honour of the
+stranger. Mrs Hadwin's feelings were too much for her at
+that moment. Her head was nodding with the excitement
+of age, and injured virtue trembled in every line of her
+face. "Mr Wentworth, I cannot put up with it any longer;
+it is a thing I never was used to," she cried, as soon as the
+Curate came within hearing. "I have shut my eyes to a
+great deal, but I cannot bear it any longer. If I had been a
+common lodging-house keeper, I could not have been
+treated with less respect; but to be outraged&mdash;to be
+insulted&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Mrs Hadwin?" said Mr
+Wentworth, in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said the old lady, who was trembling with
+passion, "you may think it no matter to turn a house
+upside down as mine has been since Easter; to bring all
+sorts of disreputable people about&mdash;persons whom a gentlewoman
+in my position ought never to have heard of. I
+received your brother into my house," cried Mrs Hadwin,
+turning to Gerald, "because he was a clergyman and I
+knew his family, and hoped to find him one whose principles
+I could approve of. I have put up with a great deal,
+Mr Wentworth, more than I could tell to anybody. I took
+in his friend when he asked me, and gave him the spare
+room, though it was against my judgment. I suffered a
+man with a beard to be seen stealing in and out of my
+house in the evening, as if he was afraid to be seen. You
+gentlemen may not think much of that, but it was a
+terrible thing for a lady in my position, unprotected, and
+not so well off as I once was. It made my house like a
+lodging-house, and so my friends told me; but I was so
+infatuated I put up with it all for Mr Frank's sake. But
+there <i>is</i> a limit," said the aggrieved woman. "I would not
+have believed it&mdash;I <i>could</i> not have believed it of you&mdash;not
+whatever people might say: to think of that abandoned
+disgraceful girl coming openly to my door&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens!" cried the Curate: he seized Mrs
+Hadwin's hand, evidently forgetting everything else she
+had said. "What girl?&mdash;whom do you mean? For heaven's
+sake compose yourself and answer me. Who was it? Rosa
+Elsworthy? This is a matter of life and death for me,"
+cried the young man. "Speak quickly: when was it?&mdash;where
+is she? For heaven's sake, Mrs Hadwin, speak&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go, sir!" cried the indignant old lady; "let me go
+this instant&mdash;this is insult upon insult. I appeal to you, Mr
+Gerald&mdash;to think I should ever be supposed capable of
+encouraging such a horrid shameless&mdash;! How dare you&mdash;how
+dare you name such a creature to me?" exclaimed
+Mrs Hadwin, with hysterical sobs. "If it were not for your
+family, you should never enter my house again. Oh, thank
+you, Mr Gerald Wentworth&mdash;indeed I am not able to
+walk. I am sure I don't want to grieve you about your
+brother&mdash;I tried not to believe it&mdash;I tried as long as I could
+not to believe it&mdash;but you hear how he speaks. Do you
+think, sir, I would for a moment permit such a creature to
+enter my door?" she cried again, turning to Frank
+Wentworth as she leaned upon his brother's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what kind of a creature the poor girl is,"
+said the Curate; "but I know that if you had taken her in,
+it would have saved me much pain and trouble. Tell me,
+at least, when she came, and who saw her&mdash;or if she left
+any message? Perhaps Sarah will tell me," he said, with a
+sigh of despair, as he saw that handmaiden hovering
+behind. Sarah had been a little shy of Mr Wentworth since
+the night Wodehouse disappeared. She had betrayed herself
+to the Curate, and did not like to remember the fact.
+Now she came up with a little toss of her head and a sense
+of equality, primed and ready with her reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I think more of myself than to take notice of any
+sich," said Sarah; but her instincts were more vivid than
+those of her mistress, and she could not refrain from
+particulars. "Them as saw her now, wouldn't see much in
+her; I never see such a changed creature," said Sarah;
+"not as I ever thought anything of her looks! a bit of a
+shawl dragged around her, and her eyes as if they would
+jump out of her head. Laws! she didn't get no satisfaction
+here," said the housemaid, with a little triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"Silence, Sarah!" said Mrs Hadwin; "that is not a way to
+speak to your clergyman. I'll go in, Mr Wentworth, please&mdash;I
+am not equal to so much agitation. If Mr Frank will
+come indoors, I should be glad to have an explanation&mdash;for
+this sort of thing cannot go on," said the old lady. As
+for the Curate he did not pay the least attention either to
+the disapproval or the impertinence.</p>
+
+<p>"At what time did she come?&mdash;which way did she go?&mdash;did
+she leave any message?" he repeated; "a moment's
+common-sense will be of more use than all this indignation.
+It is of the greatest importance to me to see Rosa
+Elsworthy. Here's how it is, Gerald," said the Curate,
+driven to his wit's end; "a word from the girl is all I want to
+make an end of all this&mdash;this disgusting folly&mdash;and you see
+how I am thwarted. Perhaps they will answer <i>you</i>. When
+did she come?&mdash;did she say anything?" he cried, turning
+sharply upon Sarah, who, frightened by Mr Wentworth's
+look, and dismayed to see her mistress moving away, and
+to feel herself alone opposed to him, burst at last into an
+alarmed statement.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir, it aint no fault of mine," said Sarah; "it was
+Missis as saw her. She aint been gone not half an hour. It's
+all happened since your brother left. She come to the
+side-door; Missis wouldn't hear nothing she had got to say,
+nor let her speak. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't you go after
+her!" cried the girl, following him to the side-door, to
+which he rushed immediately. Not half an hour gone! Mr
+Wentworth burst into the lane which led up to Grove
+Street, and where there was not a soul to be seen. He went
+back to Grange Lane, and inspected every corner where
+she could have hid herself. Then, after a pause, he walked
+impetuously up the quiet road, and into Elsworthy's shop.
+Mrs Elsworthy was there alone, occupying her husband's
+place, who had gone as usual to the railway for the
+evening papers. She jumped up from the high stool she
+was seated on when the Curate entered. "Good gracious,
+Mr Wentworth!" cried the frightened woman, and
+instinctively called the errand-boy, who was the only
+other individual within hearing. She was unprotected, and
+quite unable to defend herself if he meant anything; and it
+was impossible to doubt that there was meaning of the
+most serious and energetic kind in Mr Wentworth's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Has Rosa come back?" he asked. "Is she here? Don't
+stare at me, but speak. Has she come back? I have just
+heard that she was at my house half an hour ago: have you
+got her safe?"</p>
+
+<p>It was at this moment that Wodehouse came lounging
+in, with his cigar appearing in the midst of his beard, and a
+curious look of self-exhibition and demonstration in his
+general aspect. When the Curate, hearing the steps,
+turned round upon him, he fell back for a moment, not
+expecting such an encounter. Then the vagabond recovered
+himself, and came forward with the swagger which was his
+only alternative.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you weren't on good terms here," said
+Wodehouse; "who are you asking after? It's a fine evening,
+and they don't seem up to much in my house. I have
+asked Jack Wentworth to the Blue Boar at seven&mdash;will
+you come? I don't want to bear any grudge. I don't know
+if they can cook anything fit to be eaten in my house. It
+wasn't me you were asking after?" The fellow came and
+stood close, shoulder to shoulder, by the Perpetual
+Curate. "By Jove, sir! I've as good a right here as you&mdash;or
+anywhere," he muttered, as Mr Wentworth withdrew
+from him. He had to say it aloud to convince himself of the
+fact; for it was hard, after being clandestine for half a
+lifetime, to move about freely in the daylight. As for Mr
+Wentworth, he fixed his eyes full on the new-comer's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to know if Rosa has come home," he repeated,
+in the clearest tones of his clear voice. "I am told she
+called at Mrs Hadwin's half an hour ago. Has she come
+back?"</p>
+
+<p>He scarcely noticed Mrs Elsworthy's answer, for, in the
+mean time, the cigar dropped out of Wodehouse's beard,
+out of his fingers. He made an involuntary step back out of
+the Curate's way. "By Jove!" he exclaimed to himself&mdash;the
+news was more important to him than to either of the
+others. After a minute he turned his back upon them, and
+kicked the cigar which he had dropped out into the street
+with much blundering and unnecessary violence&mdash;but
+turned round and stopped short in this occupation as soon
+as he heard Mrs Elsworthy's voice.</p>
+
+<p>"She hasn't come here," said that virtuous woman,
+sharply. "I've give in to Elsworthy a deal, but I never said
+I'd give in to take her back. She's been and disgraced us
+all; and she's not a drop's blood to me," said Mrs
+Elsworthy. "Them as has brought her to this pass had best
+look after her; I've washed my hands of Rosa, and all
+belonging to her. She knows better than to come here."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's speaking of Rosa?" said Elsworthy, who just
+then came in with his bundle of newspapers from the
+railway. "I might have know'd as it was Mr Wentworth.
+Matters is going to be cleared, sir, between me and you. If
+you was going to make a proposal, I aint revengeful; and
+I'm open to any arrangement as is honourable, to save
+things coming afore the public. I've been expecting of it.
+You may speak free, sir. You needn't be afraid of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Fool!" said the Curate, hotly, "your niece has been
+seen in Carlingford; she came to my door, I am told, about
+an hour ago. Give up this folly, and let us make an effort
+to find her. I tell you she came to my house&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"In course, sir," said Elsworthy; "it was the most
+naturalest place for her to go. Don't you stand upon it no
+longer, as if you could deceive folks. It will be your ruin,
+Mr Wentworth&mdash;you know that as well as I do. I aint no
+fool but I'm open to a honourable proposal, I am. It'll ruin
+you&mdash;ay, and I'll ruin you," cried Rosa's uncle, hoarsely&mdash;"if
+you don't change your mind afore to-morrow. It's your
+last chance, if you care for your character, is to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth did not condescend to make any answer.
+He followed Wodehouse, who had shuffled out after his
+cigar, and stopped him on the step. "I wonder if it is any
+use appealing to your honour," he said. "I suppose you
+were a gentleman once, and had the feelings of&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I'm as good a gentleman as you are," cried the
+new heir. "I could buy you up&mdash;you and all that belongs to
+you, by Jove! I'm giving Jack Wentworth a dinner at the
+Blue Boar to-night. I'm not a man to be cross-questioned.
+It appears to me you have got enough to do if you mind
+your own business," said Wodehouse, with a sneer.
+"You're in a nice mess, though you are the parson. I told
+Jack Wentworth so last night."</p>
+
+<p>The Curate stood on the step of Elsworthy's shop with
+his enemy behind, and the ungrateful vagabond whom he
+had rescued and guarded, standing in front of him, with
+that sneer on his lips. It was hard to refrain from the
+natural impulse which prompted him to pitch the vagabond
+out of his way. "Look here," he said, sharply, "you have
+not much character to lose; but a scamp is a different thing
+from a criminal. I will make the principal people in
+Carlingford aware what were the precise circumstances
+under which you came here at Easter if you do not
+immediately restore this unhappy girl to her friends. Do
+you understand me? If it is not done at once I will make
+use of my information&mdash;and you know what that means.
+You can defy me if you please; but in that case you had
+better make up your mind to the consequences; you will
+have to take your place as a&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" cried Wodehouse, with a shiver. "We're not by
+ourselves&mdash;we're in the public street. What do you mean
+by talking like that here? Come to my house, Wentworth&mdash;there's
+a good fellow&mdash;I've ordered a dinner&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Be silent, sir!" said the Curate. "I give you till noon to-morrow;
+after that I will spare you no longer. You understand
+what I mean. I have been too merciful already. To-morrow,
+if everything is not arranged to my satisfaction
+here&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It was my own name," said Wodehouse, sullenly;
+"nobody can say it wasn't my own name. You couldn't do
+me any harm&mdash;you know you wouldn't, either, for the
+sake of the girls; I'll&mdash;I'll give them a thousand pounds or
+so, if I find I can afford it. Come, you don't mean that sort
+of thing, you know," said the conscious criminal; "you
+wouldn't do me any harm."</p>
+
+<p>"If I have to fight for my own reputation I shall not
+spare you," cried the Curate. "Mind what I say! You are
+safe till twelve o'clock to-morrow; but after that I will
+have no mercy&mdash;not for your sisters' sake, not for any
+inducement in the world. If you want to be known as a&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh Lord, don't speak so loud!&mdash;what do you mean?
+Wentworth, I say, hist! Mr Wentworth! By Jove, he won't
+listen to me!" cried Wodehouse, in an agony. When he
+found that the Curate was already out of hearing, the
+vagabond looked round him on every side with his natural
+instinct of suspicion. If he had known that Mr Wentworth
+was thinking only of disgrace and the stern sentence of
+public opinion, Wodehouse could have put up with it; but
+he himself, in his guilty imagination, jumped at the bar
+and the prison which had haunted him for long. Somehow
+it felt natural that such a Nemesis should come to him
+after the morning's triumph. He stood looking after the
+Curate, guilty and horror-stricken, till it occurred to him
+that he might be remarked; and then he made a circuit
+past Elsworthy's shop-window as far as the end of
+Prickett's Lane, where he ventured to cross over so as to
+get to his own house. His own house!&mdash;the wretched thrill
+of terror that went through him was a very sufficient offset
+against his momentary triumph; and this was succeeded
+by a flush of rage as he thought of the Curate's other
+information. What was to be done? Every moment was
+precious; but he felt an instinctive horror of venturing out
+again in the daylight. When it approached the hour at
+which he had ordered that dinner at the Blue Boar, the
+humbled hero wrapped himself in an old overcoat which
+he found in the hall, and slunk into the inn like the
+clandestine wretch he was. He had no confidence in
+himself, but he had confidence in Jack Wentworth. He
+might still be able to help his unlucky associate out.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr Wentworth reached his rooms, he found that
+his guest had arrived before him, and consequently the
+threatened explanation with Mrs Hadwin was forestalled
+for that night. Mr Proctor and Gerald were sitting together,
+not at all knowing what to talk about; for the late Rector
+was aware that Frank Wentworth's brother was on the
+verge of Rome, and was confused, and could not help
+feeling that his position between a man on the point of
+perversion in an ecclesiastical point of view, and another
+whose morals were suspected and whose character was
+compromised, was, to say the least, a very odd position for
+a clergyman of unblemished orthodoxy and respectability;
+besides, it was embarrassing, when he had come for a very
+private consultation, to find a stranger there before him.
+The Curate went in very full of what had just occurred.
+The events of the last two or three hours had worked a
+total change in his feelings. He was no longer the injured,
+insulted, silent object of a petty but virulent persecution.
+The contemptuous silence with which he had treated the
+scandal at first, and the still more obstinate sense of wrong
+which latterly had shut his lips and his heart, had given
+way to-day to warmer and more generous emotions. What
+would have seemed to him in the morning only the
+indignant reserve of a man unjustly suspected, appeared
+now a foolish and unfriendly reticence. The only thing
+which restrained him was a still lingering inclination to
+screen Wodehouse, if possible, from a public exposure,
+which would throw shame upon his sisters as well as
+himself. If any generosity, if any gentlemanly feeling,
+were still left in the vagabond's soul, it was possible he
+might answer the Curate's appeal; and Mr Wentworth felt
+himself bound to offer no public explanation of the facts of
+the case until this last chance of escape had been left for
+the criminal. But, so far as regarded himself, his heart was
+opened, his wounded pride mollified, and he was ready
+enough to talk of what had just happened, and to explain
+the whole business to his anxious companions. When he
+joined them, indeed, he was so full of it as almost to forget
+that he himself was still believed the hero of the tale.
+"This unfortunate little girl has been here, and I have
+missed her," he said, without in the least concealing his
+vexation, and the excitement which his rapid walk had not
+subdued; to the great horror of Mr Proctor, who tried all
+he could, by telegraphic glances, to recall the young man
+to a sense of that fact that Sarah was in the room.</p>
+
+<p>"I must say I think it is imprudent&mdash;highly imprudent,"
+said the late Rector: "they will call these women to prove
+that she has been here again; and what conclusion but one
+can possibly be drawn from such a fact? I am very sorry to
+see you so unguarded." He said this, seizing the moment
+after Sarah had removed the salmon, which was very
+good, and was served with a sauce which pleased Mr
+Proctor all the more that he had not expected much from
+an impromptu dinner furnished by a Perpetual Curate;
+but the fact was, that Gerald's arrival had awakened Mrs
+Hadwin to a proper regard for her own credit, which was
+at stake.</p>
+
+<p>When Sarah withdrew finally, and they were left alone,
+Frank Wentworth gave the fullest explanation he was able
+to his surprised auditors. He told them that it was
+Wodehouse, and not himself, whom Rosa had met in the
+garden, and whom she had no doubt come to seek at this
+crisis of their fortunes. There was not the least doubt in his
+own mind that Wodehouse had carried her away, and
+hidden her somewhere close at hand; and when he had
+given them all his reasons for thinking so, his hearers were
+of the same opinion; but Mr Proctor continued very doubtful
+and perplexed, clear though the story was. He sat
+silent, brooding over the new mystery, while the brothers
+discussed the original questions.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot think why you did not go to the Rector at once
+and tell him all this," said Gerald. "It is always best to put
+a stop to gossip. At least you will see him to-morrow, or let
+me see him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The Rector is deeply prejudiced against me," said the
+Perpetual Curate, "for a very unworthy reason, if he has
+any reason at all. He has never asked me to explain. I
+shall not interfere with his investigation," said the young
+man, haughtily; "let it go on. I have been working here for
+five years, and the Carlingford people ought to know
+better. As for the Rector, I will make no explanations to
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not for the Rector, it is for yourself," said Gerald;
+"and this fellow Wodehouse surely has no claim&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But at the sound of this name, Mr Proctor roused
+himself from his pause of bewilderment, and took the
+words out of Mr Wentworth's mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"He has been here since Easter; but why?" said the late
+Rector. "I cannot fancy why Mr Wodehouse's son should
+come to you when his father's house was so near. In
+hiding? why was he in hiding? He is evidently a scamp,"
+said Mr Proctor, growing red; "but that is not so unusual. I
+don't understand&mdash;I am bound to say I don't understand
+it. He may be the culprit, as you say; but what was he
+doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I took him in at Miss Wodehouse's request. I cannot
+explain why&mdash;<i>she</i> will tell you," said the Curate. "As for
+Wodehouse, I have given him another chance till twelve
+o'clock to-morrow: if he does not make his appearance
+then&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mr Proctor had listened only to the first words; he kept
+moving uneasily in his seat while the Curate spoke. Then
+he broke in, "It appears I cannot see Miss Wodehouse," he
+said, with an injured tone; "she does not see any one. I
+cannot ask for any explanation; but it seems to me most
+extraordinary. It is three months since Easter. If he had
+been living with you all the time, there must have been
+some occasion for it. I don't know what to think, for my
+part; and yet I always imagined that I was considered a
+friend of the family," said the late Rector, with an
+aggrieved look. He took his glass of claret very slowly,
+looking at it as if expecting to see in the purple reflection
+some explanation of the mystery. As for Gerald
+Wentworth, he relapsed into silence when he found that
+his arguments did not alter Frank's decision; he too was
+disappointed not to find his brother alone. He sat with his
+eyes cast down, and a singular look of abstraction on his
+face. He had got into a new atmosphere&mdash;a different world.
+When his anxieties about Frank were satisfied, Gerald
+withdrew himself altogether from the little party. He sat
+there, it is true, not unaware of what was going on, and
+even from time to time joining in the conversation; but
+already a subtle change had come over Gerald. He might
+have been repeating an "office," or carrying on a course of
+private devotions, from his looks. Rome had established
+her dualism in his mind. He had no longer the unity of an
+Englishman trained to do one thing at a time, and to do it
+with his might. He sat in a kind of languor, carrying on
+within himself a thread of thought, to which his external
+occupation gave no clue; yet at the same time suffering no
+indication to escape him of the real condition of his mind.
+The three were consequently far from being good
+company. Mr Proctor, who was more puzzled than ever as
+to the true state of the case, could not unburden himself of
+his own intentions as he had hoped to do; and after a while
+the Curate, too, was silent, finding his statements received,
+as he thought, but coldly. It was a great relief to
+him when he was called out by Sarah to speak to some
+one, though his absence made conversation still more
+difficult for the two who were left behind. Mr Proctor,
+from the other side of the table, regarded Gerald with a
+mixture of wonder and pity. He did not feel quite sure that
+it was not his duty to speak to him&mdash;to expound the
+superior catholicity of the Church of England, and call his
+attention to the schismatic peculiarities of the Church of
+Rome. "It might do him good to read Burgon's book," Mr
+Proctor said to himself; and by way of introducing that
+subject, he began to talk of Italy, which was not a bad
+device, and did credit to his invention. Meanwhile the
+Curate had gone to his study, wondering a little who could
+want him, and, to his utter bewilderment, found his aunt
+Dora, veiled, and wrapped up in a great shawl.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Frank, my dear, don't be angry! I couldn't help
+coming," cried Miss Dora. "Come and sit down by me
+here. I slipped out and did not even put on my bonnet,
+that nobody might know. Oh, Frank, I don't know what to
+say. I am so afraid you have been wicked. I have just seen
+that&mdash;that girl. I saw her out of my window. Frank! don't
+jump up like that. I can't go on telling you if you don't stay
+quiet here."</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt, let me understand you," cried the Curate. "You
+saw whom? Rosa Elsworthy? Don't drive me desperate, as
+all the others do with their stupidity. You saw her? when?&mdash;where?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh Frank, Frank! to think it should put you in such a
+way&mdash;such a girl as that! Oh, my dear boy, if I had thought
+you cared so much, I never would have come to tell you.
+It wasn't to encourage you&mdash;it wasn't. Oh, Frank, Frank!
+that it should come to this!" cried Miss Dora, shrinking
+back from him with fright and horror in her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, we have no time to lose," said the Curate, who
+was desperate. He picked up her shawl, which had fallen
+on the floor, and bundled her up in it in the most summary
+way. "Come, aunt Dora," said the impetuous young man;
+"you know you were always my kindest friend. Nobody
+else can help me at this moment. I feel that you are going
+to be my deliverer. Come, aunt Dora&mdash;we must go and
+find her, you and I. There is not a moment to lose."</p>
+
+<p>He had his arm round her, holding on her shawl. He
+raised her up from her chair, and supported her, looking
+at her as he had not done before since he was a boy at
+school, Miss Dora thought. She was too frightened, too
+excited, to cry, as she would have liked to do; but the
+proposal was so terrible and unprecedented that she
+leaned back trembling on her nephew's arm, and could
+not move either to obey or to resist him. "Oh, Frank, I
+never went after any improper person in my life," gasped
+aunt Dora. "Oh, my dear, don't make me do anything that
+is wrong; they will say it is my fault!" cried the poor lady,
+gradually feeling herself obliged to stand on her feet and
+collect her forces. The shawl fell back from her shoulders
+as the Curate withdrew his arm. "You have lost my large
+pin," cried aunt Dora, in despair; "and I have no bonnet.
+And oh! what will Leonora say? I never, never would have
+come to tell you if I had thought of this. I only came to
+warn you, Frank. I only intended&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Curate. The emergency was
+momentous, and he dared not lose patience. He found her
+large pin even, while she stood trembling, and stuck it into
+her shawl as if it had been a skewer. "You never would
+have come if you had not been my guardian angel," said the
+deceitful young man, whose heart was beating high with
+anxiety and hope. "Nobody else would do for me what
+you are going to do&mdash;but I have always had confidence in
+my aunt Dora. Come, come! We have not a moment to
+lose."</p>
+
+<p>This was how he overcame Miss Dora's scruples. Before
+she knew what had happened she was being hurried
+through the clear summer night past the long garden-walls
+of Grange Lane. The stars were shining overhead, the
+leaves rustling on all sides in the soft wind&mdash;not a soul to
+be seen in the long line of darkling road. Miss Dora had no
+breath to speak, however much disposed she might have
+been. She could not remonstrate, having full occasion for
+all her forces to keep her feet and her breath. When Mr
+Wentworth paused for an instant to ask "which way did
+she go?" it was all Miss Dora could do to indicate with her
+finger the dark depths of Prickett's Lane. Thither she was
+immediately carried as by a whirlwind. With a shawl over
+her head, fastened together wildly by the big pin&mdash;with
+nothing but little satin slippers, quite unfit for the exertion
+required of them&mdash;with an agonised protest in her heart
+that she had never, never in her life gone after any improper
+person before&mdash;and, crowning misfortune of all, with a
+horrible consciousness that she had left the garden-door
+open, hoping to return in a few minutes, Miss Dora
+Wentworth, single woman as she was, and ignorant of
+evil, was whirled off in pursuit of the unfortunate Rosa
+into the dark abysses of Prickett's Lane.</p>
+
+<p>While this terrible Hegira was taking place, Mr Proctor
+sat opposite Gerald Wentworth, sipping his claret and
+talking of Italy. "Perhaps you have not read Burgon's
+book," said the late Rector. "There is a good deal of
+valuable information in it about the Catacombs, and he
+enters at some length into the question between the
+Roman Church and our own. If you are interested in that,
+you should read it," said Mr Proctor; "it is a very important
+question."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Gerald; and then there followed a pause.
+Mr Proctor did not know what to make of the faint passing
+smile, the abstracted look, which he had vaguely observed
+all the evening; and he looked so inquiringly across the
+table that Gerald's new-born dualism came immediately
+into play, to the great amazement of his companion. Mr
+Wentworth talked, and talked well; but his eyes were still
+abstracted, his mind was still otherwise occupied; and Mr
+Proctor, whose own intelligence was in a state of unusual
+excitement, perceived the fact without being at all able to
+explain it. An hour passed, and both the gentlemen looked
+at their watches. The Curate had left them abruptly
+enough, with little apology; and as neither of them had
+much interest in the other, nor in the conversation, it was
+natural that the host's return should be looked for with
+some anxiety. When the two gentlemen had said all they
+could say about Italy&mdash;when Mr Proctor had given a little
+sketch of his own experiences in Rome, to which his
+companion did not make the usual response of narrating
+his&mdash;the two came to a dead pause. They had now been
+sitting for more than two hours over that bottle of Lafitte,
+many thoughts having in the mean time crossed Mr
+Proctor's mind concerning the coffee and the Curate.
+Where could he have gone? and why was there not somebody
+in the house with sense enough to clear away the
+remains of dessert, and refresh the wearied interlocutors
+with the black and fragrant cup which cheers all students?
+Both of the gentlemen had become seriously uneasy by
+this time; the late Rector got up from the table when he
+could bear it no longer. "Your brother must have been
+called away by something important," said Mr Proctor,
+stiffly. "Perhaps you will kindly make my excuses. Mr
+Morgan keeps very regular hours, and I should not like to
+be late&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is very extraordinary. I can't fancy what can be the
+reason&mdash;it must be somebody sick," said Gerald, rising
+too, but not looking by any means sure that Frank's
+absence had such a laudable excuse.</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely," said the late Rector, more stiffly than
+ever. "You are living here, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I am at Miss Wentworth's&mdash;my aunt's," said
+Gerald. "I will walk with you;" and they went out together
+with minds considerably excited. Both looked up and
+down the road when they got outside the garden-gate:
+both had a vague idea that the Curate might be visible
+somewhere in conversation with somebody disreputable;
+and one being his friend and the other his brother, they
+were almost equally disturbed about the unfortunate young
+man. Mr Proctor's thoughts, however, were mingled with
+a little offence. He had meant to be confidential and
+brotherly, and the occasion had been lost; and how was it
+possible to explain the rudeness with which Mr Wentworth
+had treated him? Gerald was still more seriously troubled.
+When Mr Proctor left him, he walked up and down
+Grange Lane in the quiet of the summer night, watching
+for his brother. Jack came home smoking his cigar,
+dropping Wodehouse, whom the heir of the Wentworths
+declined to call his friend, before he reached his aunts'
+door, and as much surprised as it was possible for him to
+be, to find Gerald lingering, meditating, along the silent
+road; but still Frank did not come. By-and-by a hurried
+light gleamed in the window of the summer-house, and
+sounds of commotion were audible in the orderly dwelling
+of the Miss Wentworths; and the next thing that happened
+was the appearance of Miss Leonora, also with a shawl
+over her head, at the garden-door. Just then, when they
+were all going to bed, Collins, Miss Dora's maid, had
+come to the drawing-room in search of her mistress. She
+was not to be found anywhere, though her bonnets and all
+her outdoor gear were safe in their place. For the first time
+in her life the entire family were startled into anxiety on
+Miss Dora's account. As for Mrs Gerald Wentworth, she
+jumped at once to the conclusion that the poor lady was
+murdered, and that Frank must have something to do with
+it, and filled the house with lamentations. Nobody went to
+bed, not even aunt Cecilia, who had not been out of her
+room at eleven o'clock for centuries. Collins had gone into
+the summer-house and was turning over everything there
+as if she expected to find her mistress's body in the
+cupboard or under the sofa; Lewis, the butler, was hunting
+through the garden with a lantern, looking under all the
+bushes. No incident so utterly unaccountable had
+occurred before in Miss Dora Wentworth's life.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> first investigation into the character of the Rev. F. C.
+Wentworth, Curate of St Roque's was fixed to take
+place in the vestry of the parish church, at eleven o'clock
+on the morning of the day which followed this anxious
+night. Most people in Carlingford were aware that the
+Perpetual Curate was to be put upon his trial on that
+sunny July morning; and there was naturally a good deal
+of curiosity among the intelligent townsfolk to see how he
+looked, and what was the aspect of the witnesses who were
+to bear testimony for or against him. It is always interesting
+to the crowd to see how a man looks at a great crisis of
+his life&mdash;or a woman either, for that matter; and if a
+human creature, at the height of joy, or in the depths of
+sorrow, is a spectacle to draw everybody's eyes, there is a
+still greater dramatic interest in the sight when hope and
+fear are both in action, and the alternative hangs between
+life or death. It was life or death to Mr Wentworth,
+though the tribunal was one which could inflict no
+penalties. If he should be found guilty, death would be a
+light doom to the downfall and moral extinction which
+would make an end of the unfaithful priest; and,
+consequently, Carlingford had reason for its curiosity.
+There was a crowd about the back entrance which led to
+the shabby little sacristy where Mr Morgan and Mr Leeson
+were accustomed to robe themselves; and scores of people
+strayed into the church itself, and hung about, pretending
+to look at the improvements which the Rector called
+restorations. Mrs Morgan herself, looking very pale, was
+in and out half-a-dozen times in the hour, talking with
+terrible science and technicalism to Mr Finial's clerk of
+works, who could not make her see that she was talking
+Gothic&mdash;a language which had nothing to do with
+Carlingford Church, that building being of the Revolution
+or churchwarden epoch. She was a great deal too much
+agitated at that moment to be aware of the distinction. As
+for Mr Wentworth, it was universally agreed that, though
+he looked a little flushed and excited, there was no
+particular discouragement visible in his face. He went in
+to the vestry with some eagerness, not much like a culprit
+on his trial. The Rector, indeed, who was heated and
+embarrassed and doubtful of himself, looked more like a
+criminal than the real hero. There were six of the amateur
+judges, of whom one had felt his heart fail him at the last
+moment. The five who were steadfast were Mr Morgan,
+Dr Marjoribanks, old Mr Western (who was a distant
+cousin of the Wodehouses, and brother-in-law, though old
+enough to be her grandfather, of the beautiful Lady
+Western, who once lived in Grange Lane), and with them
+Mr Centum, the banker, and old Colonel Chiley. Mr
+Proctor, who was very uneasy in his mind, and much
+afraid lest he should be called upon to give an account of
+the Curate's behaviour on the previous night, had added
+himself as a kind of auxiliary to this judicial bench. Mr
+Waters had volunteered his services as counsellor,
+perhaps with the intention of looking after the interests of
+a very different client; and to this imposing assembly John
+Brown had walked in, with his hands in his pockets, rather
+disturbing the composure of the company in general, who
+were aware what kind of criticism his was. While the bed
+of justice was being arranged, a very odd little group
+collected in the outer room, where Elsworthy, in a feverish
+state of excitement, was revolving about the place from
+the door to the window, and where the Miss Hemmings sat
+up against the wall, with their drapery drawn up about
+them, to show that they were of different clay from Mrs
+Elsworthy, who, respectful but sullen, sat on the same
+bench. The anxious public peered in at the door whenever
+it had a chance, and took peeps through the window
+when the other privilege was impossible. Besides the Miss
+Hemmings and the Elsworthys there was Peter Hayles,
+who also had seen something, and the wife of another
+shopkeeper at the end of George Street; and there was the
+Miss Hemmings' maid, who had escorted them on that
+eventful night of Rosa's disappearance. Not one of the
+witnesses had the smallest doubt as to the statement he or
+she was about to make; they were entirely convinced of
+the righteousness of their own cause, and the justice of the
+accusation, which naturally gave a wonderful moral force
+to their testimony. Besides&mdash;but that was quite a different
+matter&mdash;they all had their little grudges against Mr
+Wentworth, each in his secret heart.</p>
+
+<p>When Elsworthy was called in to the inner room it
+caused a little commotion amid this company outside. The
+Miss Hemmings looked at each other, not with an agreeable
+expression of face. "They might have had the politeness
+to call us first," Miss Sophia said to her sister; and
+Miss Hemmings shook her head and sighed, and said,
+"Dear Mr Bury!" an observation which meant a great
+deal, though it did not seem perfectly relevant. "Laws!
+I'll forget everything when I'm took in there," said the
+shopkeeper's wife to Miss Hemmings' maid; and the ladies
+drew still closer up, superior to curiosity, while the others
+stretched their necks to get a peep into the terrible inner
+room.</p>
+
+<p>It was indeed a formidable tribunal. The room was
+small, so that the unfortunate witness was within the
+closest range of six pairs of judicial eyes, not to speak of
+the vigilant orbs of the two lawyers, and those of the
+accused and his supporters. Mr Morgan, by right of his
+position, sat at the end of the table, and looked very
+severely at the first witness as he came in&mdash;which
+Elsworthy did, carrying his hat before him like a kind of
+shield, and polishing it carefully round and round. The
+Rector was far from having any intention of discouraging
+the witness, who was indeed his mainstay; but the anxiety
+of his peculiar position, as being at once counsel for the
+prosecution, and chief magistrate of the bed of justice,
+gave an unusual sternness to his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Your name is George Elsworthy," said the Rector,
+filling his pen with ink, and looking penetratingly in the
+witness's face.</p>
+
+<p>"George Appleby Elsworthy," said Rosa's uncle, a little
+alarmed; "not as I often signs in full; for you see, sir, it's a
+long name, and life's short, and it aint necessary in the
+way of business&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stationer and newsmonger in Carlingford," interrupted
+the Rector; "I should say in Upper Grange Lane,
+Carlingford; aged&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"But it doesn't appear to me that newsmonger is a
+correct expression," said old Mr Western, who was very
+conversational; "newsmonger means a gossip, not a
+tradesman; not that there is any reason why a tradesman
+should not be a gossip, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Aged?" said Mr Morgan, holding his pen suspended in
+the air. "I will say newsvendor if that will be better&mdash;one
+cannot be too particular&mdash;Aged&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is come to years of discretion," said Dr
+Marjoribanks, "that's all we need; don't keep us all day
+waiting, man, but tell your story about this elopement of
+your niece. When did it take place, and what are the
+facts? Never mind your hat, but say out what you have got
+to say."</p>
+
+<p>"You are much too summary, Doctor," said Mr Morgan,
+with a little offence; but the sense of the assembly was
+clearly with Dr Marjoribanks&mdash;so that the Rector dashed
+in 45 as the probable age of the witness, and waited his
+further statement.</p>
+
+<p>After this there was silence, and Elsworthy began his
+story. He narrated all the facts of Rosa's disappearance,
+with an intention and bias which made his true tale a
+wonderful tacit accusation. Rage, revenge, a sense of
+wrong, worked what in an indifferent narrator only the
+highest skill could have wrought. He did not mention the
+Curate's name, but arranged all his facts in lines like so
+many trains of artillery. How Rosa was in the habit of
+going to Mrs Hadwin's (it was contrary to Elsworthy's
+instinct to bring in at this moment any reference to Mr
+Wentworth) every night with the newspaper&mdash;"not as I
+sent her of errands for common&mdash;keeping two boys for the
+purpose," said the injured man; "but, right or wrong,
+there's where she'd go as certain as the night come. I've
+seen her with my own eyes go into Mrs Hadwin's garden-door,
+which she hadn't no need to go in but for being
+encouraged; and it would be half an hour at the least afore
+she came out."</p>
+
+<p>"But, bless me! that was very imprudent of you," cried
+Mr Proctor, who up to this time had not uttered a word.</p>
+
+<p>"There was nobody there but the old lady and her
+maids&mdash;except the clergyman," said Elsworthy. "It wasn't
+my part to think as she could get any harm from the
+clergyman. She wouldn't hear no remonstrances from me;
+she <i>would</i> go as regular as the evening come."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said Mr Waters, who saw John Brown's
+humorous eye gleaming round upon the little assembly;
+"but let us come to the immediate matter in hand. Your
+niece disappeared from Carlingford on the&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said Mr Western, "we must not sink into
+conversation; that's the danger of all unofficial investigations.
+It seems natural to let him tell his story as he
+likes: but here we have got somebody to keep us in order.
+It's natural, but it aint law&mdash;is it, Brown?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see that law has anything to do with it," said
+John Brown, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Order! order!" said the Rector, who was much goaded
+and aggravated by this remark. "I request that there may
+be no conversation. The witness will proceed with what he
+has to say. Your niece disappeared on the 15th. What
+were the circumstances of her going away?"</p>
+
+<p>"She went down as usual with the newspaper," said
+Elsworthy; "it had got to be a custom as regular as regular.
+She stopped out later nor common, and my wife and me
+was put out. I don't mind saying, gentlemen," said the
+witness, with candour, "as my missis and I wasn't
+altogether of the same mind about Rosa. She was late, but
+I can't say as I was anxious. It wasn't above a week afore
+that Mr Wentworth himself brought her home safe, and it
+was well known as he didn't like her to be out at night; so I
+was easy in my mind, like. But when eleven o'clock came,
+and there was no denying of its being past hours, I began
+to get a little fidgety. I stepped out to the door, and I
+looked up and down, and saw nobody; so I took up my hat
+and took a turn down the road&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>At this moment there was a little disturbance outside. A
+voice at which the Curate started was audible, asking
+entrance. "I must see Mr Wentworth immediately," this
+voice said, as the door was partially opened; and then,
+while his sons both rose to their feet, the Squire himself
+suddenly entered the room. He looked round upon the
+assembled company with a glance of shame and grief that
+went to the Curate's heart. Then he bowed to the judges,
+who were looking at him with an uncomfortable sense of
+his identity, and walked across the room to the bench on
+which Gerald and Frank were seated together. "I beg
+your pardon, gentlemen," said the Squire, "if I interrupt
+your proceedings; but I have only this moment arrived in
+Carlingford, and heard what was going on, and I trust I
+may be allowed to remain, as my son's honour is
+concerned." Mr Wentworth scarcely waited for the assent
+which everybody united in murmuring, but seated himself
+heavily on the bench, as if glad to sit down anywhere. He
+suffered Frank to grasp his hand, but scarcely gave it; nor,
+indeed, did he look, except once, with a bitter momentary
+glance at the brothers. They were sons a father might well
+have been proud of, so far as external appearances went;
+but the Squire's soul was bitter within him. One was about
+to abandon all that made life valuable in the eyes of the
+sober-minded country gentleman. The other&mdash;"And I
+could have sworn by Frank," the mortified father was
+saying in his heart. He sat down with a dull dogged
+composure. He meant to hear it all, and have it proved to
+him that his favourite son was a villain. No wonder that he
+was disinclined to respond to any courtesies. He set himself
+down almost with impatience that the sound of his
+entrance should have interrupted the narrative, and
+looked straight in front of him, fixing his eyes on
+Elsworthy, and taking no notice of the anxious glances of
+the possible culprit at his side.</p>
+
+<p>"I hadn't gone above a step or two when I see Mr
+Hayles at his door. I said to him, 'It's a fine evening,'&mdash;as
+so it was, and the stars shining. 'My Rosa aint been about
+your place, has she?' I says; and he says, 'No.' But,
+gentlemen, I see by the look of his eye as he had more to
+say. 'Aint she come home yet?' says Mr Hayles&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop a moment," said John Brown. "Peter Hayles is
+outside, I think. If the Rector wishes to preserve any sort
+of legal form in this inquiry, may I suggest that a conversation
+repeated is not evidence? Let Elsworthy tell what
+he knows, and the other can speak for himself."</p>
+
+<p>"It is essential we should hear the conversation," said
+the Rector, "since I believe it was of importance. I believe
+it is an important link in the evidence&mdash;I believe&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Morgan apparently has heard the evidence before,"
+said the inexorable John Brown.</p>
+
+<p>Here a little commotion arose in the bed of justice.
+"Hush, hush," said Dr Marjoribanks; "the question is,
+What has the witness got to say of his own knowledge? Go
+on, Elsworthy; we can't possibly spend the whole day
+here. Never mind what Hayles said, unless he
+communicated something about the girl."</p>
+
+<p>"He told me as the Miss Hemmings had seen Rosa," said
+Elsworthy, slowly; "had seen her at nine, or half after nine&mdash;I
+won't be sure which&mdash;at Mrs Hadwin's gate."</p>
+
+<p>"The Miss Hemmings are outside. Let the Miss
+Hemmings be called," said Mr Proctor, who had a great
+respect for Mr Brown's opinion.</p>
+
+<p>But here Mr Waters interposed. "The Miss Hemmings
+will be called presently," he said; "in the mean time let
+this witness be heard out; afterwards his evidence will be
+corroborated. Go on, Elsworthy."</p>
+
+<p>"The Miss Hemmings had seen my Rosa at Mrs
+Hadwin's gate," repeated Elsworthy, "a-standing outside,
+and Mr Wentworth a-standing inside; there aint more
+respectable parties in all Carlingford. It was them as saw
+it, not me. Gentlemen, I went back home. I went out
+again. I went over all the town a-looking for her. Six
+o'clock in the morning come, and I had never closed an
+eye, nor took off my clothes, nor even sat down upon a
+chair. When it was an hour as I could go to a gentleman's
+house and no offence, I went to the place as she was last
+seen. Me and Mr Hayles, we went together. The shutters
+was all shut but on one window, which was Mr
+Wentworth's study. We knocked at the garden-door, and
+I aint pretending that we didn't make a noise; and,
+gentlemen, it wasn't none of the servants&mdash;it was Mr
+Wentworth hisself as opened the door."</p>
+
+<p>There was here a visible sensation among the judges. It
+was a point that told. As for the Squire, he set his stick
+firmly before him, and leaned his clasped hands upon it to
+steady himself. His healthful, ruddy countenance was
+paling gradually. If it had been an apostle who spoke, he
+could not have taken in more entirely the bitter tale.</p>
+
+<p>"It was Mr Wentworth hisself, gentlemen," said the
+triumphant witness; "not like a man roused out of his
+sleep, but dressed and shaved, and his hair brushed,
+as if it had been ten instead o' six. It's well known
+in Carlingford as he aint an early man; and gentlemen
+here knows it as well as me. I don't pretend as I could
+keep my temper. I give him my mind, gentlemen, being
+an injured man; but I said as&mdash;if he do his duty by
+her&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Softly a moment," said Mr Brown. "What had Mr
+Wentworth's aspect at six o'clock in the morning to do
+with Rosa Elsworthy's disappearance at nine on the
+previous night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see that the question is called for at the present
+moment," said Mr Waters. "Let us hear what reasons you
+have for attributing to Mr Wentworth an unusual degree
+of interest in your niece."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Elsworthy, "he come into my shop as regular
+as the day; he never come but he asked after Rosa, or
+spoke to her if she was there. One night he walked all the
+way up Grange Lane and knocked at my door and brought
+her in all of a glow, and said I wasn't to send her out late
+no more. My missis, being a woman as is very particular,
+was struck, and thought as harm might come of it; and, not
+to be talked of, we sent Rosa away. And what does Mr
+Wentworth do, but the moment he hears of it comes right
+off to my shop! He had been at his own home, sir, a-visiting[
+his respected family," said Elsworthy, turning
+slightly towards the side of the room where the father and
+sons sat together. "He came to my shop with his carpet-bag
+as he come off the railway, and he gave me my orders
+as I was to bring Rosa back. What he said was, 'Directly,'
+that very day. I never had no thought but what his
+meaning was honourable&mdash;being a clergyman," said the
+witness, with a heavy sigh; and then there ensued a little
+pause.</p>
+
+<p>"The Miss Hemmings had better be called now," said
+Mr Waters. "Elsworthy, you can retire; but we may
+require you again, so you had better not go away. Request
+Miss Hemmings to do us the favour of coming here."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire lifted his heavy eyes when the next witness
+entered. She made a very solemn curtsy to the gentlemen,
+and sat down on the chair which somebody placed for her.
+Being unsupported, a lady&mdash;not to say an unmarried lady
+profoundly conscious of the fact&mdash;among a number of
+men, Miss Hemmings was naturally much agitated. She
+was the eldest and the softest-hearted; and it occurred to
+her for the first time, as she gave a frightened look
+towards the Curate, that he was like her favourite younger
+brother, who had died ever so many years ago&mdash;a thought
+which, for the first time, made her doubtful of her
+testimony, and disposed to break down in her evidence.</p>
+
+<p>"You were in Grange Lane on the evening of the 15th
+ultimo," said Mr Morgan, after he had carefully written
+down her name, "about nine o'clock?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Mr Morgan," said the poor lady; "we were at
+St Roque's Cottage drinking tea with Mrs Bland, who was
+lodging with Mrs Smith in the same rooms Mrs Rider used
+to have. I put the note of invitation in my pocket in case
+there should be any doubt; but, indeed, poor Mrs Bland
+was taken very ill on the 16th, and Dr Marjoribanks was
+called, and he knows it could not be any other evening&mdash;and
+besides&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"About nine o'clock," said Mr Waters; "did I understand
+you, it was about nine o'clock?"</p>
+
+<p>"She was such an invalid, poor dear," said Miss
+Hemmings, apologetically; "and it is such a privilege to
+have real Christian conversation. We dined early on purpose,
+and we were asked for half-past six. I think it must
+have been a little after nine; but Mary is here, and she
+knows what hour she came for us. Shall I call Mary,
+please?"</p>
+
+<p>"Presently," said the counsel for the prosecution. "Don't
+be agitated; one or two questions will do. You passed Mrs
+Hadwin's door coming up. Will you kindly tell the gentlemen
+what you saw there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" cried Miss Hemmings. She looked round at the
+Curate again, and he was more than ever like Willie who
+died. "I&mdash;I don't take much notice of what I see in the
+streets," she said, faltering; "and there are always so
+many poor people going to see Mr Wentworth." Here the
+poor lady stopped short. She had never considered before
+what harm her evidence might do. Now her heart smote
+her for the young man who was like Willie. "He is so very
+kind to all the poor people," continued the unwilling
+witness, looking doubtfully round into all the faces near
+her; "and he's such a young man," she added, in her
+tremulous way. It was Miss Sophia who was strong-minded;
+all the poor women in Back Grove Street were
+perfectly aware that their chances were doubled when
+they found Miss Jane.</p>
+
+<p>"But you must tell us what you saw all the same," said
+Dr Marjoribanks. "I daresay Mr Wentworth wishes it as
+much as we do."</p>
+
+<p>The Curate got up and came forward with one of his
+impulses. "I wish it a great deal more," he said. "My dear
+Miss Hemmings, thank you for your reluctance to say
+anything to harm me; but the truth can't possibly harm
+me: tell them exactly what you saw."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Hemmings looked from one to another, and
+trembled more and more. "I am sure I never meant to
+injure Mr Wentworth," she said; "I only said I thought it
+was imprudent of him&mdash;that was all I meant. Oh, I am
+sure, if I had thought of this, I would rather have done
+anything than say it. And whatever Sophia might have
+imagined, I assure you, gentlemen, <i>I</i> never, never for a
+moment thought Mr Wentworth meant any harm."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind Mr Wentworth," said Mr Brown, who
+now took the matter in hand. "When you were passing
+Mrs Hadwin's house about nine o'clock on the evening of
+the 15th, you saw some one standing at the door. Mr
+Wentworth particularly wishes you to say who it was."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Brown&mdash;oh, Mr Morgan," cried the poor lady;
+"it was little Rosa Elsworthy. She was a designing little
+artful thing. When she was in my Sunday class, she was
+always thinking of her vanities. Mr Wentworth was talking
+to her at the garden-door. I daresay he was giving her
+good advice; and oh, gentlemen, if you were to question
+me for ever and ever, that is all I have got to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you not hear what they were talking about?" said
+Mr Proctor. "If it was good advice&mdash;" The late Rector
+stopped short, and grew red, and felt that his supposition
+was that of a simpleton. "You heard what they were
+talking about? What did they say?" he concluded,
+peremptorily, in a tone which frightened the reluctant
+witness more and more.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not hear a single word," she cried&mdash;"not a word.
+That is all I know about it. Oh, please, let me go away. I
+feel very faint. I should like a little cold water, please. I
+did not hear a word&mdash;not a word. I have told you
+everything I have got to say."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody looked more serious when Miss Hemmings
+stumbled from her chair. She was so frightened at her own
+testimony, and so unwilling to give it, that its importance
+was doubled in the eyes of the inexperienced judges. The
+Squire gave a low groan under his breath, and turned his
+eyes, which had been fixed upon her, on the ground
+instead; but raised them immediately, with a gleam of
+anxiety as his son again rose from his side. All that the
+Curate meant to do was to give the trembling lady his
+arm, and lead her out; but the entire assembly, with the
+exception of John Brown, started and stared as if he had
+been about to take instant revenge upon the frightened
+woman. Miss Hemmings burst into tears when Mr Wentworth
+set a chair for her by the door, and brought her a
+glass of water, in the outer room; and just then somebody
+knocked and gave him a note, with which he returned to
+the presence of the awful tribunal. Miss Sophia Hemmings
+was corroborating her sister's statement when the
+Perpetual Curate re-entered. He stood behind her quite
+quietly, until she had finished, with a slight smile upon his
+lips, and the note in his hand. Dr Marjoribanks was not
+partial to Miss Sophia Hemmings. She was never ill
+herself, and rarely permitted even her sister to enjoy the
+gentle satisfaction of a day's sickness. The old Doctor
+looked instead at the Perpetual Curate. When Miss
+Hemmings withdrew, Dr Marjoribanks interposed. "It
+appears to me that Mr Wentworth has something to say,"
+said the Doctor. "It is quite necessary that he should
+have a hearing as well as the rest of us. Let Peter Hayles
+wait a moment, till we hear what Mr Wentworth has to
+say."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not yet time for us to receive Mr Wentworth's
+statement," said the Rector. "He shall certainly be heard
+in his own defence at the proper time. Mr Waters, call
+Peter Hayles."</p>
+
+<p>"One moment," said the Curate. "I have no statement
+to make, and I can wait till you have heard what everybody
+has to say, if the Rector wishes it; but it might save
+time and trouble to hear me. I have another witness
+whom, up to this moment, I have been reluctant to bring
+forward&mdash;a witness all-important for me, whom I cannot
+produce in so public a place, or at an hour when everybody
+is abroad. If you will do me the favour to adjourn
+this inquiry till the evening, and to meet then in a private
+house&mdash;in my own, or Miss Wentworth's, or wherever you
+may appoint&mdash;I think I can undertake to make this whole
+business perfectly clear."</p>
+
+<p>"Bless me!" said Mr Proctor, suddenly. This unexpected
+and irrelevant benediction was the first sound distinctly
+audible in the little stir of surprise, expectation, and
+excitement which followed the Curate's speech. The
+Squire let his stick fall out of his hands, and groped after it
+to pick it up again. Hope had suddenly all at once come
+into possession of the old man's breast. As for the Rector,
+he was too much annoyed at the moment to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"You should have thought of this before," said Dr
+Marjoribanks. "It would have been just as easy to fix this
+meeting for the evening, and in a private house, and
+would have saved time. You are very welcome to my
+dining-room, if you please; but I don't understand why it
+could not have been settled so at once, and saved our
+time," said the Doctor; to which sentiment there were
+several murmurs of assent.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," said the Curate, whose eyes were sparkling
+with excitement, "you must all know in your hearts
+that this trial ought never to have taken place. I have
+lived among you for five years, and you ought to have
+known me by this time. I have never been asked for an
+explanation, neither could any explanation which it was
+possible for me to make have convinced a mind prejudiced
+against me," he said, after a moment's pause, with a
+meaning which everybody understood. "It is only now
+that I feel myself able to clear up the whole matter, and it
+is for this reason alone that I ask you to put off your
+inquiry till to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't feel inclined to consent to any adjournment,"
+said Mr Morgan; "it looks like an attempt to defeat the
+ends of justice." The Rector was very much annoyed&mdash;more
+than he dared confess to himself. He believed in his
+heart that young Wentworth was guilty, and he felt equally
+convinced that here was some unexpected loophole
+through which he would escape. But public opinion was
+strong in Grange Lane&mdash;stronger than a new Rector. The
+Banker and the Doctor and the Indian Colonel, not to
+speak of old Mr Western, were disposed to grant the
+request of the Curate; and when even Mr Proctor forsook
+his side, the Rector himself yielded. "Though it is against
+my judgment," he said, "and I see no advantage to be
+gained by it, the meeting had better be held in the
+Rectory, this evening at seven o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Most of us dine at seven o'clock," said Dr Marjoribanks.</p>
+
+<p>"This evening at eight o'clock," said the Rector,
+severely. "I will request all the witnesses to be in attendance,
+and we must hope to find Mr Wentworth's witness
+of sufficient importance to justify the change. At eight
+o'clock this evening, in my house, gentlemen," said the
+Rector. He collected his notes and went outside, and
+began talking to his witnesses, while the others collected
+together round the table to consult over this new phase of
+the affair. The three Mr Wentworths went out together,
+the father between his two tall sons. The Squire's strength
+was much shaken, both in mind and body. When they
+were out of the shadow of the church, he looked up in
+Frank's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you consider me entitled to an immediate
+explanation," said Mr Wentworth. "When I read that
+anonymous letter, it went a long way towards breaking my
+heart, sir; I can tell you it did. Jack here too, and your
+brother making up his mind as he has done, Frank. I am
+not a man to complain. If it were all over with me to-morrow,
+I shouldn't be sorry, so far as I am concerned, if
+it weren't for the girls and the little children. But I always
+thought I could have sworn by Frank," said the old man,
+mournfully. He was ever so much older since he had said
+these words before in the long lime avenue at Wentworth
+Hall.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> little assembly which met in the vestry of Carlingford
+Church to inquire into the conduct of the Perpetual
+Curate, had so many different interests in hands when it
+dispersed, and so much to do, that it is difficult for the
+narrator of this history to decide which thread should be
+taken up first. Of all the interlocutors, however, perhaps
+Mr Proctor was the one who had least succeeded in his
+efforts to explain himself, and accordingly demands in the
+first place the attention of an impartial historian. The
+excellent man was still labouring under much perplexity
+when the bed of justice was broken up. He began to
+recollect that Mr Wentworth's explanation on the previous
+night had convinced him of his innocence, and to see that
+it was indeed altogether inconceivable that the Curate
+should be guilty; but then, other matters still more disagreeable
+to contemplate than Mr Wentworth's guilt came
+in to darken the picture. This vagabond Wodehouse,
+whom the Curate had taken in at his sister's request&mdash;what
+was the meaning of that mystery? Mr Proctor had
+never been anyhow connected with mysteries; he was
+himself an only son, and had lived a straightforward
+peaceable life. Neither he nor his estimable parents, so far
+as the late Rector was aware, had ever done anything to
+be ashamed of; and he winced a little at the thought of
+connecting himself with concealment and secrecy. And
+then the Curate's sudden disappearance on the previous
+evening perplexed and troubled him. He imagined all
+kinds of reasons for it as he walked down Grange Lane.
+Perhaps Miss Wodehouse, who would not receive himself,
+had sent for Mr Wentworth; perhaps the vagabond brother
+was in some other scrape, out of which he had to be
+extricated by the Curate's assistance. Mr Proctor was
+perfectly honest, and indeed determined, in his
+"intentions;" but everybody will allow that for a middle-aged
+lover of fifty or thereabouts, contemplating a
+sensible match with a lady of suitable years and means, to
+find suddenly that the object of his affections was not only
+a penniless woman, but the natural guardian of an equally
+penniless sister, was startling, to say the least of it. He was
+a true man, and it did not occur to him to decline the
+responsibility altogether; on the contrary, he was perhaps
+more eager than he would have been otherwise, seeing
+that his elderly love had far more need of his devotion
+than he had ever expected her to have; but, notwithstanding,
+he was disturbed by such an unlooked-for change
+of circumstances, as was natural, and did not quite know
+what was to be done with Lucy. He was full of thoughts on
+this subject as he proceeded towards the house, to the
+interview which, to use sentimental language, was to
+decide his fate. But, to tell the truth, Mr Proctor was not
+in a state of very deep anxiety about his fate. The idea of
+being refused was too unreasonable an idea to gain much
+ground in his mind. He was going to offer his personal
+support, affection, and sympathy to Miss Wodehouse at
+the least fortunate moment in her life; and if there was
+anything consolatory in marriage at all, the late Rector
+sensibly concluded that it must be doubly comforting
+under such circumstances, and that the offer of an honest
+man's hand and house and income was not a likely thing to
+be rejected by a woman of Miss Wodehouse's experience
+and good sense&mdash;not to speak of his heart, which was very
+honest and true and affectionate, though it had outlived
+the fervours of youth. Such was Mr Proctor's view of the
+matter; and the chances were strong that Miss Wodehouse
+entirely agreed with him&mdash;so, but for a certain shyness
+which made him rather nervous, it would not be correct to
+say that the late Rector was in a state of special anxiety
+about the answer he was likely to receive. He was,
+however, anxious about Lucy. His bachelor mind was
+familiar with all the ordinary traditions about the inexpediency
+of being surrounded by a wife's family; and he
+had a little of the primitive male sentiment, shared one
+way or other by most husbands, that the old system of
+buying a woman right out, and carrying her off for his own
+sole and private satisfaction, was, after all, the correct
+way of managing such matters. To be sure, a pretty,
+young, unmarried sister, was perhaps the least objectionable
+encumbrance a woman could have; but, notwithstanding,
+Mr Proctor would have been glad could he have seen any
+feasible way of disposing of Lucy. It was utterly out of the
+question to think of her going out as a governess; and it
+was quite evident that Mr Wentworth, even were he
+perfectly cleared of every imputation, having himself
+nothing to live upon, could scarcely offer to share his
+poverty with poor Mr Wodehouse's cherished pet and
+darling. "I daresay she has been used to live expensively,"
+Mr Proctor said to himself, wincing a little in his own mind
+at the thought. It was about one o'clock when he reached
+the green door&mdash;an hour at which, during the few months
+of his incumbency at Carlingford, he had often presented
+himself at that hospitable house. Poor Mr Wodehouse! Mr
+Proctor could not help wondering at that moment how he
+was getting on in a world where, according to ordinary
+ideas, there are no lunch nor dinner parties, no old port
+nor savoury side-dishes. Somehow it was impossible to
+realise Mr Wodehouse with other surroundings than those
+of good-living and creature-comfort. Mr Proctor sighed,
+half for the departed, half at thought of the strangeness of
+that unknown life for which he himself did not feel much
+more fitted than Mr Wodehouse. In the garden he saw the
+new heir sulkily marching about among the flower-beds
+smoking, and looking almost as much out of place in the
+sweet tranquillity of the English garden, as a churchwarden
+of Carlingford or a Fellow of All-Souls could look,
+to carry out Mr Proctor's previous imagination, in the
+vague beatitude of a disembodied heaven. Wodehouse
+was so sick of his own company that he came hastily
+forward at the sight of a visitor, but shrank a little when he
+saw who it was.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you have brought some news," he said, in
+his sullen way. "I suppose he has been making his statements,
+has he? Much I care! He may tell what lies he
+pleases; he can't do me any harm. I never did anything
+but sign my own name, by Jove! Jack Wentworth himself
+says so. I don't care <i>that</i> for the parson and his threats,"
+said Wodehouse, snapping his fingers in Mr Proctor's face.
+The late Rector drew back a little, with a shudder of
+disgust and resentment. He could not help thinking that
+this fellow would most likely be his brother-in-law presently,
+and the horror he felt made itself visible in his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite unaware what you can mean," said Mr
+Proctor. "I am a parson, but I never made any threats
+that I know of. I wish to see Miss Wodehouse. I&mdash;I think
+she expects me at this hour," he said, with a little
+embarrassment, turning to John, who, for his part, had been
+standing by in a way which became his position as a respectable
+and faithful servant, waiting any opportunity that
+might come handy to show his disgust for the new <i>r&eacute;gime</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," said John, promptly, and with emphasis.
+"My mistress expects you, sir. She's come down to the
+drawing-room for the first time. Miss Lucy keeps her
+room, sir, still; she's dreadfully cut up, poor dear young
+lady. My mistress will be glad to see you, sir," said John.
+This repetition of a title which Miss Wodehouse had not
+been in the habit of receiving was intended for the special
+advantage of the new master, whom John had no intention
+of recognising in that capacity. "If you should know of any
+one, sir, as is in want of a steady servant," the man
+continued, as he led the way into the house, with a shrewd
+glance at Mr Proctor, whose "intentions" were legible
+enough to John's experienced eyes&mdash;"not as I'm afeared
+of getting suited, being well known in Carlingford; but it
+would come natural to be with a friend of the family.
+There aint a servant in the house, sir, as will stay when
+the ladies go, and I think as Miss Wodehouse would speak
+for me," said John, with natural astuteness. This address
+made Mr Proctor a little uneasy. It recalled to him the
+unpleasant side of the important transaction in which he
+was about to engage. He was not rich, and did not see his
+way now to any near prospect of requiring the services of
+"a steady servant," and the thought made him sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll see," he said, with a troubled look. To persevere
+honourably in his "intentions" was one thing, but to be
+insensible to the loss of much he had looked forward to
+was quite another. It was accordingly with a grave and
+somewhat disturbed expression that he went to the interview
+which was "to decide his fate." Miss Wodehouse was
+seated in the drawing-room, looking slightly flushed and
+excited. Though she knew it was very wrong to be thus
+roused into a new interest the day after her father's
+funeral, the events altogether had been of so startling a
+description that the usual decorum of an afflicted household
+had already been ruthlessly broken. And on the
+whole, notwithstanding her watching and grief, Mr Proctor
+thought he had never seen the object of his affections
+looking so well as she did now in the long black dress,
+which suited her better than the faint dove colours in
+which she arrayed herself by preference. She was not, it is
+true, quite sure what Mr Proctor wanted in this interview
+he had solicited, but a certain feminine instinct instructed
+her in its probable eventualities. So she sat in a subdued
+flutter, with a little colour fluctuating on her cheek, a tear
+in her eyes, and some wonder and expectation in her
+heart. Perhaps in her youth Miss Wodehouse might have
+come to such a feminine crisis before; but if so, it was long
+ago, and the gentle woman had never been given to
+matrimonial speculations, and was as fresh and inexperienced
+as any girl. The black frame in which she was set
+made her soft colour look fresher and less faded. Her
+plaintive voice, the general softness of her demeanour,
+looked harmonious and suitable to her circumstances. Mr
+Proctor, who had by no means fallen in love with her on
+account of any remnants of beauty she might possess, had
+never admired her so much as he did now; he felt confused,
+good man, as he stood before her, and, seeing her
+so much younger and fairer than his former idea, began to
+grow alarmed, and wonder at his serenity. What if she
+thought him an old fogey? what if she refused him? This
+supposition brought a crimson colour to Mr Proctor's
+middle-aged countenance, and was far from restoring his
+courage. It was a wonderful relief to him when she, with
+the instinct of a timid woman, rushed into hasty talk.</p>
+
+<p>"It was very kind of you to come yesterday," she said;
+"Lucy and I were very grateful. We have not many
+relatives, and my dear father&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the late Rector, again embarrassed by the
+tears which choked her voice, "he was very much respected:
+that must be a consolation to you. And he had a long life&mdash;and&mdash;and
+I suppose, on the whole, a happy one," said Mr
+Proctor, "with you and your sister&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr Proctor, he had a great deal to put up with,"
+said Miss Wentworth, through her tears. She had, like most
+simple people, an instinctive disinclination to admit that
+anybody was or had been happy. It looked like an admission
+of inferiority. "Mamma's death, and poor Tom," said
+the elder sister. As she wiped her eyes, she almost forgot
+her own little feminine flutter of expectancy in respect to
+Mr Proctor himself. Perhaps it was not going to happen
+this time, and as she was pretty well assured that it would
+happen one day or another, she was not anxious about it.
+"If I only knew what to do about Tom," she continued,
+with a vague appeal in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Proctor got up from his chair and walked to the
+window. When he had looked out he came back, rather
+surprising Miss Wodehouse by his unlooked-for movements.
+"I wanted very much to have a little conversation
+with you," he said, growing again very red. "I daresay
+you will be surprised&mdash;but I have accepted another living,
+Miss Wodehouse;" and here the good man stopped short
+in a terrible state of embarrassment, not knowing what
+next to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" said Miss Wodehouse, interrogatively. Her heart
+began to beat quicker, but perhaps he was only going to
+tell her about the new work he had undertaken; and then
+she was a woman, and had some knowledge, which came
+by nature, how to conduct herself on an occasion such as
+this.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether you recollect," said Mr Proctor&mdash;"I
+shall never forget it&mdash;one time when we all met in a
+house where a woman was dying,&mdash;I mean your sister and
+young Wentworth, and you and I;&mdash;and neither you nor I
+knew anything about it," said the late Rector, in a strange
+voice. It was not a complimentary way of opening his
+subject, and the occurrence had not made so strong an
+impression upon Miss Wodehouse as upon her companion.
+She looked a little puzzled, and, as he made a pause, gave
+only a murmur of something like assent, and waited to
+hear what more he might have to say.</p>
+
+<p>"We neither of us knew anything about it," said Mr
+Proctor&mdash;"neither you how to manage her, nor I what to
+say to her, though the young people did. I have always
+thought of you from that time. I have thought I should like
+to try whether I was good for anything now&mdash;if you would
+help me," said the middle-aged lover. When he had said
+this he walked to the window, and once more looked out,
+and came back redder than ever. "You see we are neither
+of us young," said Mr Proctor; and he stood by the table
+turning over the books nervously, without looking at her,
+which was certainly an odd commencement for a wooing.</p>
+
+<p>"That is quite true," said Miss Wodehouse, rather
+primly. She had never disputed that fact by word or deed,
+but still it was not pleasant to have the statement thus
+thrust upon her without any apparent provocation. It was
+not the sort of thing which a woman expects to have said to
+her under such circumstances. "I am sure I hope you will
+do better&mdash;I mean be more comfortable&mdash;this time," she
+continued, after a pause, sitting very erect on her seat.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will help me," said Mr Proctor, taking up one of
+the books and reading the name on it, which was lucky for
+him, for it was Miss Wodehouse's name, which he either
+had forgotten or never had known.</p>
+
+<p>And here they came to a dead stop. What was she to
+say? She was a little affronted, to tell the truth, that he
+should remember more distinctly than anything else her
+age, and her unlucky failure on that one occasion. "You
+have just said that I could not manage," said the mild
+woman, not without a little vigour of her own; "and how
+then could I help you, Mr Proctor? Lucy knows a great
+deal more about parish work than I do," she went on in a
+lower tone; and for one half of a second there arose in the
+mind of the elder sister a kind of wistful half envy of Lucy,
+who <i>was</i> young, and knew how to manage&mdash;a feeling
+which died in unspeakable remorse and compunction as
+soon as it had birth.</p>
+
+<p>"But Lucy would not have me," said the late Rector;
+"and indeed I should not know what to do with her if she
+would have me;&mdash;but you&mdash;It is a small parish, but it's not
+a bad living. I should do all I could to make you comfortable.
+At least we might try," said Mr Proctor, in his most
+insinuating tone. "Don't you think we might try? at least it
+would do&mdash;" He was going to say "no harm," but on second
+thoughts rejected that expression. "At least I should be
+very glad if you would," said the excellent man, with
+renewed confusion. "It's a nice little rectory, with a pretty
+garden, and all that sort of thing; and&mdash;and perhaps&mdash;it
+might help you to settle about going away&mdash;and&mdash;and I
+daresay there would be room for Lucy. Don't you think
+you would try?" cried Mr Proctor, volunteering, in spite of
+himself, the very hospitality which he had thought it hard
+might be required of him; but somehow his suit seemed to
+want backing at the actual moment when it was being
+made.</p>
+
+<p>As for Miss Wodehouse, she sat and listened to him till
+he began to falter, and then her composure gave way all at
+once. "But as for trying," she gasped, in broken mouthfuls
+of speech, "that would never&mdash;never do, Mr Proctor. It
+has to be done&mdash;done for good and all&mdash;if&mdash;if it is done at
+all," sobbed the poor lady, whose voice came somewhat
+muffled through her handkerchief and her tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Then it shall be for good and all!" cried Mr Proctor,
+with a sudden impulse of energy. This was how it came
+about that Miss Wodehouse and the late Rector were
+engaged. He had an idea that he might be expected to kiss
+her, and certainly ought to call her Mary after this; and
+hovered for another minute near her seat, not at all
+disinclined for the former operation. But his courage
+failed him, and he only drew a chair a little closer and sat
+down, hoping she would soon stop crying. And indeed, by
+the time that he produced out of his pocket-book the little
+photograph of the new rectory, which he had had made for
+her by a rural artist, Miss Wodehouse had emerged out of
+her handkerchief, and was perhaps in her heart as happy
+in a quiet way as she had ever been in her life. She who had
+never been good for much, was now, in the time of their
+need, endowed with a home which she could offer Lucy. It
+was she, the helpless one of the family, who was to be her
+young sister's deliverer. Let it be forgiven to her if, in the
+tumult of the moment, this was the thought that came
+first.</p>
+
+<p>When Miss Wodehouse went up-stairs after this agitating
+but satisfactory interview, she found Lucy engaged in
+putting together some books and personal trifles of her
+own which were scattered about the little sitting-room.
+She had been reading 'In Memoriam' until it vexed her to
+feel how inevitably good sense came in and interfered
+with the enthusiasm of her grief, making her sensible that
+to apply to her fond old father all the lofty lauds which
+were appropriate to the poet's hero would be folly indeed.
+He had been a good tender father to her, but he was not
+"the sweetest soul that ever looked with human eyes;" and
+Lucy could not but stop in her reading with a kind of pang
+and self-reproach as this consciousness came upon her.
+Miss Wodehouse looked rather aghast when she found her
+sister thus occupied. "Did you think of accepting Miss
+Wentworth's invitation, after all?" said Miss Wodehouse;
+"but, dear, I am afraid it would be awkward; and oh,
+Lucy, my darling, I have so many things to tell you," said
+the anxious sister, who was shy of communicating her own
+particular news. Before many minutes had passed, Lucy
+had thrown aside all the books, and was sitting by her
+sister's side in half-pleased, disconcerted amazement to
+hear her story. Only half-pleased&mdash;for Lucy, like most
+other girls of her age, thought love and marriage were things
+which belonged only to her own level of existence, and
+was a little vexed and disappointed to find that her elder
+sister could condescend to such youthful matters. On the
+whole, she rather blushed for Mary, and felt sadly as if she
+had come down from an imaginary pedestal. And then Mr
+Proctor, so old and so ordinary, whom it was impossible to
+think of as a bridegroom, and still less as a brother. "I
+shall get used to it presently," said Lucy, with a burning
+flush on her cheek, and a half feeling that she had reason
+to be ashamed; "but it is so strange to think of you in that
+way, Mary. I always thought you were too&mdash;too sensible
+for that sort of thing," which was a reproach that went to
+Miss Wodehouse's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lucy, dear," said that mild woman, who in this
+view of the matter became as much ashamed of herself as
+Lucy could desire, "what could I do? I know what you
+mean, at my time of life; but I could not let you be
+dependent on Tom, my darling," said Miss Wodehouse,
+with a deprecating appealing look.</p>
+
+<p>"No indeed," said Lucy; "that would be impossible
+under any circumstances: nor on you either, Mary dear. I
+can do something to make a living, and I should like it. I
+have always been fond of work. I will not permit you to
+sacrifice yourself for me," said the younger sister, with
+some dignity. "I see how it has been. I felt sure it was not
+of your own accord."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Wodehouse wrung her hands with dismay and
+perplexity. What was she to do if Lucy stood out and
+refused her consent? She could not humble herself so far
+as to confess that she rather liked Mr Proctor, and was, on
+the whole, not displeased to be married; for the feeling
+that Lucy expected her to be too sensible for that sort of
+thing overawed the poor lady. "But, Lucy, I have given
+him my promise," said poor Miss Wodehouse. "It&mdash;it
+would make him very unhappy. I can't use him badly,
+Lucy dear."</p>
+
+<p>"I will speak to him, and explain if it is necessary.
+Whatever happens, I can't let you sacrifice yourself for
+me," said Lucy. All the answer Miss Wodehouse could
+make was expressed in the tears of vexation and
+mortification which rushed to her eyes. She repelled her
+young sister's ministrations for the first time in her life
+with hasty impatience. Her troubles had not been few for
+the last twenty-four hours. She had been questioned
+about Tom till she had altogether lost her head, and
+scarcely knew what she was saying; and Lucy had not
+applauded that notable expedient of throwing the shame
+of the family upon Mr Wentworth, to be concealed and
+taken care of, which had brought so many vexations to the
+Perpetual Curate. Miss Wodehouse at last was driven to
+bay. She had done all for the best, but nobody gave her
+any credit for it; and now this last step, by which she had
+meant to provide a home for Lucy, was about to be
+contradicted and put a stop to altogether. She put away
+Lucy's arm, and rejected her consolations. "What is the
+use of pretending to be fond of me if I am always to be
+wrong, and never to have my&mdash;my own way in anything?"
+cried the poor lady, who, beginning with steadiness, broke
+down before she reached the end of her little speech. The
+words made Lucy open her blue eyes with wonder; and
+after that there followed a fuller explanation, which greatly
+changed the ideas of the younger sister. After her
+"consent" had been at last extracted from her, and when
+Miss Wodehouse regained her composure, she reported to
+Lucy the greater part of the conversation which had taken
+place in the drawing-room, of which Mr Proctor's proposal
+constituted only a part, and which touched upon matters
+still more interesting to her hearer. The two sisters, preoccupied
+by their father's illness and death, had up to this
+time but a vague knowledge of the difficulties which
+surrounded the Perpetual Curate. His trial, which Mr
+Proctor had reported to his newly-betrothed, had been
+unsuspected by either of them; and they were not even
+aware of the event which had given rise to it&mdash;the
+disappearance of Rosa Elsworthy. Miss Wodehouse told
+the story with faltering lips, not being able to divest
+herself of the idea that, having been publicly accused, Mr
+Wentworth must be more or less guilty; while, at the same
+time, a sense that her brother must have had something to
+do with it, and a great reluctance to name his name,
+complicated the narrative. She had already got into trouble
+with Lucy about this unlucky brother, and unconsciously,
+in her story, she took an air of defence. "I should have
+thought better of Mr Wentworth if he had not tried to
+throw the guilt on another," said the perplexed woman.
+"Oh, Lucy dear, between two people it is so hard to know
+what to do."</p>
+
+<p>"I know what I shall do," said Lucy, promptly; but she
+would not further explain herself. She was, however,
+quite roused up out of 'In Memoriam.' She went to her desk
+and drew out some of the paper deeply edged with black,
+which announced before words its tale of grief to all her
+correspondents. It was with some alarm that Miss
+Wodehouse awaited this letter, which was placed before
+her as soon as finished. This was what, as soon as she knew
+the story, Lucy's prompt and generous spirit said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">Dear Mr Wentworth</span>,&mdash;
+We have just heard of the
+vexations you have been suffering, to our great indignation
+and distress. Some people may think it is a matter with
+which I have no business to interfere; but I cannot have
+you think for a moment, that we, to whom you have been
+so kind, could put the slightest faith in any such accusations
+against you. We are not of much consequence, but we are
+two women, to whom any such evil would be a horror. If it
+is any one connected with us who has brought you into this
+painful position, it gives us the more reason to be indignant
+and angry. I know now what you meant about the will. If
+it was to do over again, I should do just the same; but for
+all that, I understand now what you meant. I understand,
+also, how much we owe to you, of which, up to yesterday,
+I was totally unaware. You ought never to have been
+asked to take our burden upon your shoulders. I suppose
+you ought not to have done it; but all the same, thank you
+with all my heart. I don't suppose we ever can do anything
+for you to show our gratitude; and indeed I do not believe
+in paying back. But in the mean time, thank you&mdash;and
+don't, from any consideration for us, suffer a stain which
+belongs to another to rest upon yourself. You are a clergyman,
+and your reputation must be clear. Pardon me for
+saying so, as if I were qualified to advise you; but it would
+be terrible to think that you were suffering such an injury
+out of consideration for us.&mdash;Gratefully and truly yours,</p>
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smallcaps">Lucy Wodehouse</span>."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The conclusion of this letter gave Lucy a good deal of
+trouble. Her honest heart was so moved with gratitude
+and admiration that she had nearly called herself
+"affectionately" Mr Wentworth's. Why should not she?
+"He has acted like a brother to us," Lucy said to herself;
+and then she paused to inquire whether his conduct had
+indeed arisen from brotherly motives solely. Then, when
+she had begun to write "faithfully" instead, a further
+difficulty occurred to her. Not thus lightly and unsolicited
+could she call herself "faithful," for did not the word mean
+everything that words could convey in any human
+relationship? When she had concluded it at last, and
+satisfied her scruples by the formula above, she laid the
+letter before her sister. This event terminated the active
+operations of the day in the dwelling of the Wodehouses.
+Their brother had not asked to see them, had not
+interrupted them as yet in their retreat up-stairs, where
+they were sedulously waited upon by the entire household.
+When Miss Wodehouse's agitation was over, she too
+began to collect together her books and personalities, and
+they ended by a long consultation where they were to go
+and what they were to do, during the course of which the
+elder sister exhibited with a certain shy pride that little
+photograph of the new rectory, in which there was one
+window embowered in foliage, which the bride had
+already concluded was to be Lucy's room. Lucy yielded
+during this sisterly conference to sympathetic thoughts
+even of Mr Proctor. The two women were alone in the
+world. They were still so near the grave and the deathbed
+that chance words spoken without thought from time to
+time awakened in both the ready tears. Now and then
+they each paused to consider with a sob what <i>he</i> would
+have liked best. They knew very little of what was going
+on outside at the moment when they were occupied with
+those simple calculations. What was to become of them, as
+people say&mdash;what money they were to have, or means of
+living&mdash;neither was much occupied in thinking of. They
+had each other; they had, besides, one a novel and timid
+middle-aged confidence, the other an illimitable youthful
+faith in one man in the world. Even Lucy, whose mind
+and thoughts were more individual than her sister's,
+wanted little else at that moment to make her happy with
+a tender tremulous consolation in the midst of her grief.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">While</span> matters were thus arranging themselves in the
+ideas at least of the two sisters whose prospects had been
+so suddenly changed, explanations of a very varied kind
+were going on in the house of the Miss Wentworths. It was
+a very full house by this time, having been invaded and
+taken possession of by the "family" in a way which entirely
+obliterated the calmer interests and occupations of
+the habitual inhabitants. The three ladies had reached the
+stage of life which knows no personal events except those
+of illness and death; and the presence of Jack Wentworth,
+of Frank and Gerald, and even of Louisa, reduced them
+altogether to the rank of spectators, the audience, or at the
+utmost the chorus, of the drama; though this was scarcely
+the case with Miss Dora, who kept her own room, where
+she lay on the sofa, and received visits, and told the story
+of her extraordinary adventure, the only adventure of her
+life. The interest of the household centred chiefly, however,
+in the dining-room, which, as being the least
+habitable apartment in the house, was considered to be
+most adapted for anything in the shape of business. On the
+way from the church to Miss Wentworth's house the
+Curate had given his father a brief account of all the
+events which had led to his present position; but though
+much eased in his mind, and partly satisfied, the Squire
+was not yet clear how it all came about. His countenance
+was far from having regained that composure, which
+indeed the recent course of events in the family had pretty
+nearly driven out of his life. His fresh light-coloured
+morning dress, with all its little niceties, and the fresh
+colour which even anxiety could not drive away from his
+cheeks, were somehow contradicted in their sentiment of
+cheerfulness by the puckers in his forehead and the
+harassed look of his face. He sat down in the big leathern
+chair by the fireplace, and looked round him with a sigh,
+and the air of a man who wonders what will be the next
+vexation. "I'd like to hear it over again, Frank," said the
+Squire. "My mind is not what it used to be; I don't say I
+ever was clever, like you young fellows, but I used to
+understand what was said to me. Now I seem to require to
+hear everything twice over; perhaps it is because I have
+had myself to say the same things over again a great many
+times lately," he added, with a sigh of weariness. Most
+likely his eye fell on Gerald as he said so; at all events, the
+Rector of Wentworth moved sadly from where he was
+standing and went to the window, where he was out of his
+father's range of vision. Gerald's looks, his movements,
+every action of his, seemed somehow to bear a symbolic
+meaning at this crisis in his life. He was no longer in any
+doubt; he had made up his mind. He looked like a martyr
+walking to his execution, as he crossed the room; and the
+Squire looked after him, and once more breathed out of
+his impatient breast a heavy short sigh. Louisa, who had
+placed herself in the other great chair at the other side of
+the forlorn fireplace, from which, this summer afternoon,
+there came no cheerful light, put up her handkerchief to
+her eyes and began to cry with half-audible sobs&mdash;which
+circumstances surrounding him were far from being
+encouraging to Frank as he entered anew into his own
+story&mdash;a story which he told with many interruptions. The
+Squire, who had once "sworn by Frank," had now a
+terrible shadow of distrust in his mind. Jack was here on
+the spot, of whom the unfortunate father knew more harm
+than he had ever told, and the secret dread that he had
+somehow corrupted his younger brother came like a cold
+shadow over Mr Wentworth's mind. He could not slur
+over any part of the narrative, but cross-examined his son
+to the extent of his ability, with an anxious inquisition into
+all the particulars. He was too deeply concerned to take
+anything for granted. He sat up in his chair with those
+puckers in his forehead, with that harassed look in his
+eyes, making an anxious, vigilant, suspicious investigation,
+which was pathetic to behold. If the defendant, who was
+thus being examined on his honour, had been guilty, the
+heart of the judge would have broken; but that was all the
+more reason for searching into it with jealous particularity,
+and with a suspicion which kept always gleaming out of his
+troubled eyes in sudden anxious glances, saying, "You are
+guilty? Are you guilty?" with mingled accusations and
+appeals. The accused, being innocent, felt this suspicion
+more hard to bear than if he had been a hundred times
+guilty.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand a little about this fellow Wodehouse,"
+said the Squire; "but what I want to know is, why you took
+him in? What did you take him in for, sir, at first? Perhaps
+I could understand the rest if you would satisfy me of
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"I took him in," said the Curate, rather slowly,
+"because his sister asked me. She threw him upon my
+charity&mdash;she told me the danger he was in&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What danger was he in?" asked the Squire.</p>
+
+<p>The Curate made a pause, and as he paused Mr
+Wentworth leaned forward in his chair, with another
+pucker in his forehead and a still sharper gleam of suspicion
+in his eyes. "His father had been offended time
+after time in the most serious way. This time he had
+threatened to give him up to justice. I can't tell you what
+he had done, because it would be breaking my trust&mdash;but
+he had made himself obnoxious to the law," said Frank
+Wentworth. "To save him from the chance of being
+arrested, his sister brought him to me."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire's hand shook a good deal as he took out his
+handkerchief and wiped his forehead. "Perhaps it would
+be the best way if one had not too much regard for the
+honour of the family," he said, tremulously, like a man
+under a sudden temptation; "but the sister, sir, why did
+she bring him to you?" he added, immediately after, with
+renewed energy. Mr Wentworth was not aware that, while
+he was speaking, his eldest son had come into the room.
+He had his back to the door, and he did not see Jack, who
+stood rather doubtfully on the threshold, with a certain
+shade of embarrassment upon his ordinary composure. "It
+is not everybody that a woman would confide her brother's
+life to," said the Squire. "Who is the sister? Is she&mdash;is
+there any&mdash;any entanglement that I don't know of? It will
+be better for all of us if you tell me plainly," said the old
+man, with a querulous sound in his voice. He forgot the
+relationship of his own girls to Jack, and groaned within
+himself at what appeared almost certain evidence that the
+sister of a criminal like Wodehouse had got possession of
+Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wodehouse is about the same age as my aunt
+Dora," said the Curate. It was an exaggeration which
+would have gone to the poor lady's heart, but Frank
+Wentworth, in the unconscious insolence of his youth, was
+quite unaware and careless of the difference. Then he
+paused for a moment with an involuntary smile. "But I am
+a clergyman, sir," he continued, seriously. "If a man in
+my position is good for anything, it is his business to help
+the helpless. I could do no good in any other way&mdash;I took
+him into my house."</p>
+
+<p>"Frank," said the Squire, "I beg your pardon. I believe
+in my heart you're true and honest. If I were not driven
+out of my senses by one thing and another," said Mr
+Wentworth, with bitterness. "They make me unjust to
+you, sir&mdash;unjust to you! But never mind; go on. Why
+didn't you tell these fellows what you've told me? That
+would have settled the business at once, without any more
+ado."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Morgan is a great deal too much prejudiced against
+me to believe anything I said. I thought it better to let him
+prove to himself his own injustice; and another still more
+powerful reason&mdash;" said the Curate.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, sir, stop; I can't follow you to more than one
+thing at a time. Why is Mr Morgan prejudiced against
+you?" said the Squire, once more sitting upright and
+recommencing his examination.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Wentworth laughed in spite of himself, though he
+was far from being amused. "I know no reason, except
+that I have worked in his parish without his permission,"
+he answered, briefly enough, "for which he threatened to
+have me up before somebody or other&mdash;Dr Lushington, I
+suppose, who is the new Council of Trent, and settles all
+our matters for us nowadays," said the Curate, not without a
+little natural scorn, at which, however, his father groaned.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing to laugh at in Dr Lushington," said
+the Squire. "He gives you justice, at all events, which you
+parsons never give each other, you know. You ought not
+to have worked in the Rector's parish, sir, without his
+permission. It's like shooting in another man's grounds.
+However, that's not my business;&mdash;and the other reason,
+sir?" said Mr Wentworth, with his anxious look.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear father," said the Curate, touched by the
+anxiety in the Squire's face, and sitting down by him with
+a sudden impulse, "I have done nothing which either you
+or I need be ashamed of. I am grieved that you should
+think it necessary to examine me so closely. Wodehouse is
+a rascal, but I had taken charge of him; and as long as it
+was possible to shield him, I felt bound to do so. I made an
+appeal to his honour, if he had any, and to his fears, which
+are more to be depended on, and gave him until noon to-day
+to consider it. Here is his note, which was given me in
+the vestry; and now you know the whole business, and
+how it is that I postponed the conclusion till to-night."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire put on his spectacles with a tremulous hand
+to read the note which his son gave him. The room was
+very still while he read it, no sound interrupting him
+except an occasional sniff from Louisa, who was in a
+permanent state of whimpering, and, besides, had ceased
+to be interested in Frank's affairs. Jack Wentworth,
+standing in the background behind the Squire's chair, had
+the whole party before him, and studied them keenly with
+thoughts which nobody guessed at. Gerald was still
+standing by the window, leaning on it with his face only
+half turned to the others. Was he thinking of the others?
+was he still one of them? or was he saying his office from
+some invisible breviary abstracted into another life? That
+supposition looked the most like truth. Near him was his
+wife, who had thrown herself, a heap of bright fluttering
+muslin, into the great chair, and kept her handkerchief to
+her red eyes. She had enough troubles of her own to
+occupy her, poor soul! Just at that moment it occurred to
+her to think of the laburnum berries in the shrubbery at
+the Rectory, which, it was suddenly borne in upon her,
+would prove fatal to one or other of the children in her
+absence;&mdash;the dear Rectory which she had to leave so
+soon! "And Frank will have it, of course," Louisa said to
+herself, "and marry somebody;" and then she thought of
+the laburnum berries in connection with his problematical
+children, not without a movement of satisfaction. Opposite
+to her was the Squire, holding Wodehouse's epistle in a
+hand which shook a little, and reading aloud slowly as he
+could make it out. The note was short and insolent
+enough. While it was being read, Jack Wentworth, who
+was not easily discomposed, grew red and restless. He had
+not dictated it certainly, nor even suggested the wording
+of the epistle; but it was he who, half in scorn and half in
+pity of the vagabond's terrors, had reassured Wodehouse,
+and convinced him that it was only the punishments of
+public opinion which the Curate could bring upon him.
+Hardened as Jack was, he could not but be conscious that
+thus to stand in his brother's way was a shabby business
+enough, and to feel that he himself and his prot&eacute;g&eacute; cut a
+very poor figure in presence of the manful old Squire with
+all his burdens, and of Frank, who had, after all, nothing
+to explain which was not to his honour. Notwithstanding
+that he was at the present moment his brother's adversary,
+actually working against him and prolonging his difficulties,
+an odd kind of contempt and indignation against the fools
+who could doubt Frank's honour possessed the prodigal at
+the moment. "A parcel of asses," he said to himself; and so
+stood and listened to Wodehouse's little note of defiance,
+which, but for his prompting, the sullen vagabond would
+never have dared to send to his former protector. The
+letter itself was as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have consulted my friends about what you said to-day,
+and they tell me it is d&mdash;&mdash;d nonsense. You can't do me
+any harm; and I don't mean to get myself into any scrape
+for you. You can do what you like&mdash;I shan't take any
+notice. Your love affairs are no business of mine.&mdash;Yours
+truly,</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smallcaps">T. Wodehouse.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth threw the miserable scrawl on the table.
+"The fellow is a scoundrel," said the Squire; "he does not
+seem to have a spark of gratitude. You've done a deal too
+much for him already; and if the sister is as old as Dora&mdash;"
+he continued, after a long pause, with a half-humorous
+relaxation of his features. He was too much worn out to
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Curate. The young man was sensible of
+a sudden flush and heat, but did not feel any inclination to
+smile. Matters were very serious just then with Frank
+Wentworth. He was about to shake himself free of one
+vexation, no doubt; but at this moment, when Lucy
+Wodehouse was homeless and helpless, he had nothing to
+offer her, nor any prospects even which he dared ask her
+to share with him. This was no time to speak of the other
+sister, who was not as old as Miss Dora. He was more than
+ever the Perpetual Curate now. Perhaps, being a clergyman,
+he ought not to have been swayed by such merely
+human emotions; but honour and pride alike demanded
+that he should remain in Carlingford, and he had no
+shelter to offer Lucy in the time of her need.</p>
+
+<p>After this there followed a pause, which was far from
+being cheerful. Frank could not but be disconsolate enough
+over his prospects when the excitement died away; and
+there was another big, terrible event looming darkly in the
+midst of the family, which they had not courage to name
+to each other. The long, uneasy pause was at length
+broken by Louisa, whose voice sounded in the unnatural
+silence like the burst of impatient rain which precedes a
+thunderstorm.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that you have done with Frank's affairs, if you
+have done with them," said Louisa, "perhaps somebody
+will speak to Gerald. I don't mean in the way of arguing.
+If some one would only speak <i>sense</i> to him. You all know
+as well as I do how many children we've got, and&mdash;and&mdash;an&mdash;other
+coming," sobbed the poor lady, "if something
+doesn't happen to me, which I am sure is more than likely,
+and might be expected. I don't blame dear grandpapa, for
+he has said everything, and so have I; but I do think his
+brothers ought to take a little more interest. Oh, Frank,
+you know it doesn't matter for you. You are a young man,
+you can go anywhere; but when there are five children
+and&mdash;and&mdash;an&mdash;other&mdash; And how are we to live? You
+know what a little bit of money I had when Gerald
+married me. Everybody knows Gerald never cared for
+money. If I had had a good fortune it would have been
+quite different," cried poor Louisa, with a little flow of
+tears and a querulous sob, as though that too was Gerald's
+fault. "He has not sent off his letter yet, Frank," said the
+injured wife; "if you would but speak to him. He does not
+mind me or grandpapa, but he might mind you. Tell him
+we shall have nothing to live on; tell him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush," said Gerald. He came forward to the table,
+very pale and patient, as became a man at the point of
+legal death. "I <i>have</i> sent away my letter. By this time I
+am no longer Rector of Wentworth. Do not break my
+heart. Do you think there is any particular in the whole
+matter which I have not considered&mdash;the children,
+yourself, everything? Hush; there is nothing now to be
+said."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire rose, almost as pale as his son, from his
+chair. "I think I'll go out into the air a little," said Mr
+Wentworth. "There's always something new happening.
+Here is a son of my own," said the old man, rising into a
+flush of energy, "who has not only deserted his post, but
+deserted it secretly, Frank. God bless my soul! don't
+speak to me, sir; I tell you he's gone over to the enemy as
+much as Charley would have done if he had deserted at
+the Alma&mdash;and done it when nobody knew or was thinking.
+I used to be thought a man of honour in my day," said Mr
+Wentworth, bitterly; "and it's a mean thing to say it came
+by their mother's side. There's Jack&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The eldest son roused himself up at the mention of his
+own name. Notwithstanding all his faults, he was not
+a man to stand behind backs and listen to what was said of
+him. He came forward with his usual ease, though a
+close observer might have detected a flush on his face. "I
+am here, sir," said the heir. "I cannot flatter myself you
+will have much pleasure in seeing me; but I suppose I
+have still a right to be considered one of the family." The
+Squire, who had risen to his feet, and was standing leaning
+against the table when Jack advanced, returned to his
+chair and sat down as his eldest son confronted him. They
+had not met for years, and the shock was great. Mr
+Wentworth put his hand to his cravat and pulled at it with
+an instinctive movement. The old man was still feeble
+from his late illness, and apprehensive of a return of the
+disease of the Wentworths. He restrained himself, however,
+with force so passionate that Jack did not guess at
+the meaning of the gasp which, before the Squire was able
+to speak to him, convulsed his throat, and made Frank
+start forward to offer assistance which his father
+impatiently rejected. The Squire made, indeed, a great
+effort to speak with dignity. He looked from one to another
+of his tall sons as he propped himself up by the arms of his
+chair.</p>
+
+<p>"You are the most important member of the family,"
+said Mr Wentworth; "it is long since you have been among
+us, but that is not our fault. If things had been different, I
+should have been glad of your advice as a man of the
+world. Anyhow, I can't wish you to be estranged from
+your brothers," said the Squire. It was all any one could
+say. The heir of Wentworth was not to be denounced or
+insulted among his kindred, but he could not be taken to
+their bosom. Perhaps the reception thus given him was
+more galling than any other could have been to Jack
+Wentworth's pride. He stood at the table by himself
+before his father, feeling that there existed no living
+relations between himself and any one present. He had
+keen intellectual perceptions, and could recognise the
+beauty of honour and worth as well as most people; and
+the contrast between himself and the others who surrounded
+him presented itself in a very forcible light to
+Jack. Instead of Gerald and Frank, Wodehouse was <i>his</i>
+allotted companion. For that once he was bitter, notwithstanding
+his habitual good-humour.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said; "it would be a pity to estrange me from
+my brothers. We are, on the whole, a lucky trio. I, whom
+my relations are civil to; and Frank, who is not acquitted
+yet, though he seems so confident; and Gerald, who has
+made the greatest mistake of all&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Jack," said the Curate, "nobody wants to quarrel with
+you. You've dealt shabbily by me, but I do not mind.
+Only talk of things you understand&mdash;don't talk of Gerald."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Jack Wentworth was roused almost to
+passion. "What is Gerald that I should not understand
+him?" said Jack; "he and I are the original brood. You are
+all a set of interlopers, the rest of you. What is Gerald that
+I should not talk of him? In the world, my dear Frank,"
+continued the heir, superciliously, "as the Squire himself
+will testify, a man is not generally exempted from criticism
+because he is a parson. Gerald is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a simple Catholic layman, nothing more," said
+Gerald; "not worth criticism, having done nothing. I am
+aware I am as good as dead. There is no reason why Jack
+should not talk if it pleases him. It will make no difference
+to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet," said Frank, "it is only the other day that you
+told us you were nothing if not a priest."</p>
+
+<p>Gerald turned upon him with a look of melancholy
+reproach that went to the Curate's heart. "It is true I said
+so," he replied, and then he made a pause, and the light
+died out of his pale face. "Don't bring up the ghosts of my
+dead battles, Frank. I said so only the other day. But it is
+the glory of the true Church," said the convert, with a
+sudden glow which restored colour for a moment to his
+face, "to restrain and subdue the last enemy, the will of
+man. I am content to be nothing, as the saints were. The
+fight has been hard enough, but I am not ashamed of the
+victory. When the law of the Church and the obedience of
+the saints ordain me to be nothing, I consent to it. There is
+nothing more to say."</p>
+
+<p>"And this is how it is to be!" cried Louisa. "He knows
+what is coming, and he does not care&mdash;and none of you
+will interfere or speak to him! It is not as if he did not
+know what would happen. He tells you himself that he will
+be nothing; and even if <i>he</i> can put up with it after being a
+man of such consideration in the county, how am <i>I</i> to put
+up with it? We have always been used to the very best
+society," said poor Louisa, with tears. "The Duke himself
+was not more thought of; and now he tells you he is to be
+nothing!" Mrs Wentworth stopped to dry her eyes with
+tremulous haste. "<i>He</i> may not mind," said Louisa, "for at
+least he is having his own way. It is all very well for a
+man, who can do as he pleases; but it is his poor wife who
+will have to suffer. I don't know who will visit me after it's
+all over, and people will give over asking us if we don't ask
+them again; and how can we ever have anybody, with five
+children&mdash;or more&mdash;and only a few hundreds a-year? Oh,
+Frank, it kills me to think of it. Don't you think you might
+speak to him again?" she whispered, stretching up to his
+ear, when Gerald, with a sigh, had gone back to his
+window. The Squire, too, cast an appealing glance at his
+younger son.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all true enough that she says," said Mr Wentworth.
+"She mayn't understand <i>him</i>, Frank, but she's right
+enough in what she's saying. If things were different
+between your brother and me, I'd ask his advice," said
+the Squire, with a sigh. He gave a longing look at his
+eldest son, who stood with his usual ease before the
+fireplace. Matters had gone a great deal too far between
+the father and son to admit of the usual displeasure of an
+aggrieved parent&mdash;all that was over long ago; and Mr
+Wentworth could not restrain a certain melting of the
+heart towards his first-born. "He's not what I could wish,
+but he's a man of the world, and might give us some
+practical advice," said the Squire, with his anxious looks.
+Of what possible advantage advice, practical or otherwise,
+could have been in the circumstances, it was difficult to
+see; but the Squire was a man of simple mind, and still
+believed in the suggestions of wisdom. He still sat in the
+easy-chair, looking wistfully at Jack, and with a certain
+faith that matters might even yet be mended, if the
+counsel of his eldest son, as a man of the world, could be
+had and could be trusted; when Frank, who had an
+afternoon service at Wharfside, had to leave the family
+committee. Gerald, who roused up when his younger
+brother mentioned the business he was going upon, looked
+at Frank almost as wistfully as his father looked at Jack.
+"It may be the last time," he said to himself; "if you'll let
+me, I'll go with you, Frank;" and so the little conclave
+was broken up. The people in Prickett's Lane were greatly
+impressed by the aspect of Gerald Wentworth, as he
+went, silent and pale, by his brother's side, down the
+crowded pavement. They thought it must be a bishop at
+least who accompanied the Curate of St Roque's; and the
+women gathered at a little distance and made their
+comments, as he stood waiting for his brother after the
+service. "He don't look weakly nor sickly no more nor the
+clergyman," said one; "but he smiles at the little uns for all
+the world like my man smiled the night he was took
+away." "Smilin' or not smilin'," said another, "I don't see
+as it makes no matter; but I'd give a deal to know what
+Elsworthy and them as stands by Elsworthy can say after
+that." "Maybe, then, he'd give the poor fatherless children a
+blessing afore he'd go," suggested a poor Irish widow,
+who, having been much under Mr Wentworth's hands "in
+her trouble," was not quite sure now what faith she
+professed, or at least which Church she belonged to. Such
+was the universal sentiment of Prickett's Lane. Meanwhile
+Gerald stood silent, and looked with pathetic,
+speechless eyes at the little crowd. He was no priest now&mdash;he
+was shorn of the profession which had been his life. His
+hope of being able to resign all things for Christ's sake had
+failed him. Too wary and politic to maintain in a critical
+age and country the old licence of the ages of Faith, even
+his wife's consent, could he have obtained it, would not
+have opened to the convert the way into the priesthood. A
+greater trial had been required of him; he was nothing, a
+man whose career was over. He stood idly, in a kind of
+languor, looking on while the Curate performed the duties
+of his office&mdash;feeling like a man whom sickness had
+reduced to the last stage of life, and for whom no earthly
+business remained; while, at the same time, his aspect
+struck awe, as that of a bishop at the least, to the
+imagination of Prickett's Lane.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mr Morgan</span> did not go home direct from the investigation
+of the morning; on the contrary, he paid various visits, and
+got through a considerable amount of parish business,
+before he turned his face towards the Rectory. On the
+whole, his feelings were far from being comfortable. He
+did not know, certainly, who Mr Wentworth's witness
+was, but he had an unpleasant conviction that it was
+somebody who would clear the Curate. "Of course I shall
+be very glad," the Rector said to himself; but it is a fact,
+that in reality he was far from being glad, and that a secret
+conviction of this sentiment, stealing into his mind, made
+matters still more uncomfortable. This private sense of
+wishing evil to another man, of being unwilling and vexed
+to think well of his neighbour, was in itself enough to
+disturb the Rector's tranquillity; and when to this was
+added the aggravation that his wife had always been on
+the other side, and had warned him against proceeding,
+and might, if she pleased, say, "I told you so," it will be
+apparent that Mr Morgan's uneasiness was not without
+foundation. Instead of going home direct to acquaint his
+wife with the circumstances, about which he knew she
+must be curious, it was late in the afternoon before the
+Rector opened his own gate. Even then he went through
+the garden with a reluctant step, feeling it still more
+difficult to meet her now than it would have been at first,
+although his delay had arisen from the thought that it
+would be easier to encounter her keen looks after an
+interval. There was, however, no keen look to be dreaded
+at this moment. Mrs Morgan was busy with her ferns, and
+she did not look up as her husband approached. She went
+on with her occupation, examining carefully what withered
+fronds there might be about her favourite maidenhair,
+even when he stopped by her side. Though her husband's
+shadow fell across the plants she was tending, Mrs
+Morgan, for the first time in her married life, did not look
+up to welcome the Rector. She made no demonstration,
+said no word of displeasure, but only showed herself
+utterly absorbed in, and devoted to, her ferns. There was,
+to be sure, no such lover of ferns in the neighbourhood of
+Carlingford as the Rector's wife.</p>
+
+<p>As for Mr Morgan, he stood by her side in a state of
+great discomfort and discomfiture. The good man's perceptions
+were not very clear, but he saw that she had heard
+from some one the issue of the morning's inquiry, and that
+she was deeply offended by his delay, and that, in short,
+they had arrived at a serious difference, the first quarrel
+since their marriage. Feeling himself in the wrong, Mr
+Morgan naturally grew angry too.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to have dinner earlier to-day," he said,
+with the usual indiscretion of an aggrieved husband.
+"Perhaps you will tell the cook, my dear. I think I should
+like to have it at five, if possible. It can't make much
+difference for one day."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs Morgan raised herself up from her ferns, and no
+doubt it was a relief to her to find herself provided with so
+just a cause of displeasure. "Much difference!" cried the
+Rector's wife; "it is half-past four now. I wonder how you
+could think of such a thing, William. There is some lamb,
+which of course is not put down to roast yet, and the
+ducks. If you wish the cook to give warning immediately,
+you may send such a message. It is just like a man to think
+it would make no difference! But I must say, to do them
+justice," said the Rector's wife, "it is not like a man of
+your college!" When she had fired this double arrow, she
+took off her gardening gloves and lifted her basket. "I
+suppose you told Mr Proctor that you wished to dine
+early?" said Mrs Morgan, with severity, pausing on the
+threshold. "Of course it is quite impossible to have dinner
+at five unless he knows."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I&mdash;I forgot all about Proctor," said the Rector,
+who now saw the inexpediency of his proposal. "On second
+thoughts, I see it does not matter much. But after dinner I
+expect some people about Mr Wentworth's business. It
+was not settled this morning, as I expected."</p>
+
+<p>"So I heard," said Mrs Morgan. "I will tell Thomas to
+show them into the library," and she went indoors, carrying
+her basket. As for the Rector, he stood silent, looking after
+her, and feeling wonderfully discomfited. Had she found
+fault with him for his delay&mdash;had she even said "I told you
+so!" it would have been less overwhelming than this
+indifference. They had never had a quarrel before, and
+the effect was proportionately increased. After standing
+bewildered at the door for a few minutes, he retired into
+his study, where the change in his wife's demeanour
+haunted him, and obscured Mr Wentworth. Mrs Morgan
+sat at the head of the table at dinner with an equal want of
+curiosity. Even when the subject was discussed between
+the Rector and Mr Proctor, she asked no questions&mdash;a
+course of procedure very puzzling and trying to Mr
+Morgan, who could not make it out.</p>
+
+<p>It was after eight o'clock before the tribunal of the
+morning was reconstituted at the Rectory. Most of the
+gentlemen came late, and the little assembly brought with
+it a flavour of port, which modified the serious atmosphere.
+When the bed of justice was again formed, Mr Wentworth
+entered with the bodyguard of Wentworths, which
+numbered half as many as his judges. Half from curiosity,
+half from a reluctant inclination to please his father, Jack
+had joined the others, and they came in together, all of
+them noticeable men, profoundly different, yet identified
+as belonging to each other by the touching bond of family
+resemblance. After the four gentlemen had taken possession
+of their corner, Mr Waters made a somewhat hurried
+entry, bringing after him the sullen reluctant figure of
+Wodehouse, who made an awkward bow to the assembled
+potentates, and looked ashamed and vigilant, and very ill
+at ease. Mr Waters made a hasty explanation to the
+Rector before he sat down by the side of his unlucky
+client. "I thought it possible there might be some attempt
+made to shift the blame upon him, therefore I thought it
+best to bring him," said the lawyer. Mr Morgan gave him
+a dry little nod without answering. To tell the truth, the
+Rector felt anything but comfortable; when he glanced up
+at the stranger, who was looking askance at the people in
+the room as if they had been so many policemen in
+disguise, a disagreeable sudden conviction that this sullen
+rascal looked a great deal more like the guilty man than
+Mr Wentworth did, came into Mr Morgan's mind, and
+made him sick with annoyance and embarrassment. If it
+should turn out so! if it should become apparent that he,
+for private prejudices of his own, had been persecuting his
+brother! This thought produced an actual physical effect
+for the moment upon the Rector, but its immediate visible
+consequence was simply to make him look more severe,
+almost spiteful, in a kind of unconscious self-vindication.
+Last of all, Elsworthy, who began to be frightened too, but
+whose fears were mingled with no compunction nor blame
+of himself, stole in and found an uncomfortable seat on a
+stool near the door, where scarcely any one saw him, by
+favour of Thomas, and screened by the high back of the
+Rector's easy-chair. When all were assembled Mr Morgan
+spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"We are met this evening, gentlemen, to complete,
+if there is sufficient time, the investigation we began
+this morning," said the Rector. "I have no doubt I express
+the sentiments of every one present when I say I shall be
+glad&mdash;<i>unfeignedly</i> glad," said Mr Morgan, with a defiant
+emphasis, which was meant to convince himself, "to find
+that Mr Wentworth's witness is of sufficient importance to
+justify the delay. As we were interrupted this morning
+solely on his account, I presume it will be most satisfactory
+that this witness should be called at once."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to say something in the first place," said
+the Curate. Mr Morgan made an abrupt nod indicative of
+his consent, and, instead of looking at the defendant,
+shaded his eyes with his hand, and made figures with his
+pen upon the blotting-paper. A conviction, against which
+it was impossible to strive, had taken possession of the
+Rector's soul. He listened to Frank Wentworth's address
+with a kind of impatient annoyance and resistance. "What
+is the good of saying any more about it?" Mr Morgan was
+saying in his soul. "For heaven's sake let us bury it and be
+done with it, and forget that we ever made such asses of
+ourselves." But at the same time the Rector knew this was
+quite impossible; and as he sat leaning over his blotting-book,
+writing down millions after millions with his unconscious
+pen, he looked a very model of an unwilling
+listener&mdash;a prejudiced judge&mdash;a man whom no arguments
+could convince; which was the aspect under which he
+appeared to the Curate of St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to say something first," said the Perpetual
+Curate. "I could not believe it possible that I, being
+tolerably well known in Carlingford as I have always
+supposed, could be suspected by any rational being of
+such an insane piece of wickedness as has been laid to my
+charge; and consequently it did not occur to me to vindicate
+myself, as I perhaps ought to have done, at the beginning.
+I have been careless all along of vindicating myself. I had
+an idea," said the young man, with involuntary disdain,
+"that I might trust, if not to the regard, at least to the
+common-sense of my friends&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here John Brown, who was near his unwary client,
+plucked at the Curate's coat, and brought him to a
+momentary half-angry pause. "Softly, softly," said Dr
+Marjoribanks; "common-sense has nothing to do with
+facts; we're inquiring into facts at this moment; and,
+besides, it's a very foolish and unjustifiable confidence to
+trust to any man's common-sense," said the old Doctor,
+with a humorous glance from under his shaggy eyebrows
+at his fellow-judges; upon which there ensued a laugh, not
+very agreeable in its tone, which brought the Rector to a
+white heat of impatience and secret rage.</p>
+
+<p>"It appears to me that the witness ought to be called at
+once," said Mr Morgan, "if this is not a mere expedient
+to gain time, and if it is intended to make any progress to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"My explanations shall be very brief," said Frank
+Wentworth, facing instantly to his natural enemy. "I have
+suspected from the beginning of this business who was the
+culprit, and have made every possible attempt to induce
+him to confess, and, so far as he could, amend the wrong
+that he had done. I have failed; and now the confession,
+the <i>amende</i>, must be made in public. I will now call my
+witness," said the Curate. But this time a commotion rose
+in another part of the room. It was Wodehouse, who
+struggled to rise, and to get free from the detaining grasp
+of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I aint going to sit here and listen to a parcel of
+lies!" cried the vagabond. "If I am to be tried, at least I'll
+have the real thing, by Jove!" He had risen up, and was
+endeavouring to pass Mr Waters and get out, casting a
+suspicious defiant look round the room. The noise he
+made turned all eyes upon him, and the scrutiny he had
+brought upon himself redoubled his anxiety to get away.
+"I'll not stand it, by Jove! Waters, let me go," said the
+craven, whose confused imagination had mixed up all his
+evil doings together, and who already felt himself being
+carried off to prison. It was at this moment that Jack
+Wentworth rose from his place in his easy careless way,
+and went forward to the table to adjust the lamp, which
+was flaring a little. Wodehouse dropped back into a chair
+as soon as he caught the eye of this master of his fate. His
+big beard moved with a subterranean gasp like the
+panting of a hunted creature, and all the colour that had
+remained died away out of his haggard, frightened face.
+As for Jack Wentworth, he took no apparent notice of the
+shabby rascal whom he held in awe. "Rather warm this
+room for a court of justice. I hope Frank's witness is not
+fat," said Jack, putting himself up against the wall, and
+lifting languidly his glass to his eye&mdash;which byplay was
+somewhat startling, but totally incomprehensible, to the
+amateur judges, who looked upon him with angry eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I must request that the proceedings may not be
+interrupted," said Mr Morgan; and then everybody looked
+towards the open door: the sight they saw there was
+enough to startle the calmest spectator. Elsworthy, who
+was seated close by, sprang from his stool with a low
+resounding howl of amazement, upsetting his lowly seat,
+and staggering back against the wall, in the excess of his
+wonder and consternation. The judges themselves forgot
+their decorum, and crowded round upon each other to
+stare&mdash;old Mr Western putting his arm round the Rector's
+neck in his curiosity, as if they had been two boys at a
+peep-show. It was Miss Leonora Wentworth's erect iron-grey
+figure that appeared in the doorway, half leading in,
+half pushing before her, the unfortunate cause of all the
+commotion&mdash;Rosa Elsworthy herself. A change had passed
+upon the little girl's rosy, dewy, April beauty. Her pretty
+dark eyes were enlarged and anxious, and full of tears; her
+cheeks had paled out of their sweet colour, her red lips
+were pressed tightly together. Passion and shame had set
+their marks upon the child's forehead&mdash;lightly, it is true,
+but still the traces were there; but beyond all other sentiments,
+anxiety, restless, breathless, palpitating, had
+possession of Mr Wentworth's all-important witness. It
+was very clear that, whatever might be the opinion of her
+judges, Rosa's case was anything but hopeless in her own
+eyes. She came in drooping, shrinking, and abashed, as
+was natural; but her shame was secondary in Rosa's mind,
+even in the moment of her humiliation. She came to a
+dead stop when she had made a few steps into the room,
+and cast furtive glances at the dread tribunal, and began
+to cry. She was trembling with nervous eagerness, with
+petulance and impatience. Almost all her judges, except
+the Rector and Mr Proctor, had been known to Rosa from
+her earliest years. She was not afraid of them, nor cast
+down by any sense of overwhelming transgression&mdash;on the
+contrary, she cast an appealing look round her, which
+implied that they could still set everything right if they
+would exert themselves; and then she began to cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, before you ask any questions," said Miss
+Leonora Wentworth, "I should like to explain why I am
+here. I came not because I approve of <i>her</i>, but because it
+is right that my nephew should have a respectable woman
+to take charge of the witness. She was brought to my
+house last night, and has been in my charge ever since;&mdash;and
+I come with her now, not because I approve of her,
+but because she ought to be in charge of some woman,"
+said Miss Leonora, sitting down abruptly in the chair some
+one had placed for her. The chair was placed close by the
+spot where Rosa stood crying. Poor, pretty, forsaken
+child! Perhaps Miss Leonora, who sat beside her, and
+occupied the position of her protector, was of all the
+people present the only one who had not already forgiven
+Rosa, the only one who would have still been disposed to
+punish her, and did not pardon the weeping creature in
+her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that you're here, Rosa," said Dr Marjoribanks,
+"the only sensible thing you can do is to dry your eyes and
+answer the questions that have to be put to you. Nobody
+will harm you if you speak the truth. Don't be frightened,
+but dry your eyes, and let us hear what you have to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little thing," said old Mr Western; "of course she
+has done very wrong. I don't mean to defend her&mdash;but,
+after all, she is but a child. Poor little thing! Her mother
+died, you know, when she was a baby. She had nobody to
+tell her how to behave.&mdash;I don't mean to defend her, for
+she has done very wrong, poor little&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We are falling into mere conversation," said the
+Rector, severely. "Rosa Elsworthy, come to the table.
+The only thing you can do to make up for all the misery
+you have caused to your friends, is to tell the truth about
+everything. You are aged&mdash;how much? eighteen years?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir, only seventeen," said Rosa; "and oh,
+please, sir, I didn't mean no harm. I wouldn't never have
+gone, no, not a step, if he hadn't a-promised that we was
+to be married. Oh, please, sir&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Softly a little," said John Brown, interfering. "It is not
+you who are on your trial, Rosa. We are not going to
+question you about your foolishness; all that the Rector
+wants you to tell him is the name of the man who persuaded
+you to go away."</p>
+
+<p>At which question Rosa cried more and more. "I don't
+think he meant no harm either," cried the poor little girl.
+"Oh, if somebody would please speak to him! We couldn't
+be married then, but now if anybody would take a little
+trouble! I told him Mr Wentworth would, if I was to ask
+him; but then I thought perhaps as Mr Wentworth mightn't
+like to be the one as married me," said Rosa, with a
+momentary gleam of vanity through her tears. The little
+simper with which the girl spoke, the coquettish looks
+askance at the Perpetual Curate, who stood grave and
+unmoved at a distance, the movement of unconscious self-deception
+and girlish vanity which for a moment distracted
+Rosa, had a great effect upon the spectators. The judges
+looked at each other across the table, and Dr Marjoribanks
+made a commentary of meditative nods upon that little
+exhibition. "Just so," said the Doctor; "maybe Mr
+Wentworth might have objected. If you tell me the man's
+name, <i>I</i>'ll speak to him, Rosa," said the old Scotsman,
+grimly. As for the Rector, he had put down his pen
+altogether, and looked very much as if he were the culprit.
+Certainly his shame and confusion and self-disgust were
+greater than that of any one else in the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Doctor, please don't be angry. Oh, if somebody
+would only speak to him!" cried poor Rosa. "Oh, please, it
+wasn't my fault&mdash;I haven't got no&mdash;nobody to speak for
+me!" At this moment she got a glimpse of her uncle's face,
+dark and angry, looming behind the Rector's chair. Rosa
+shrank back with a frightened movement, and caught fast
+hold of Miss Leonora's dress. "Oh, please, don't let him
+kill me!" cried the terrified girl. She sank down at Miss
+Wentworth's feet, and held tightly by her unwilling
+protectress. She was a frightened child, afraid of being
+whipped and punished; she was not an outraged woman,
+forsaken and miserable. Nobody knew what to do with her
+as she crouched down, panting with fright and anxiety, by
+Miss Leonora's side.</p>
+
+<p>"We must know who this man is," said John Brown.
+"Look here, Rosa; if anybody is to do you good, it is
+necessary to know the man. Rise up and look round, and
+tell me if you can see him here."</p>
+
+<p>After a moment's interval Rosa obeyed. She stood up
+trembling, resting her hand to support herself on Miss
+Leonora's chair&mdash;almost, she trembled so, on Miss
+Leonora's shoulder. Up to this moment the ignorant little
+creature had scarcely felt the shame of her position; she
+had felt only the necessity of appealing to the kindness of
+people who knew her&mdash;people who were powerful enough
+to do very nearly what they pleased in Carlingford; for it
+was in this light that Rosa, who knew no better, regarded
+the Doctor and her other judges. This time her eye passed
+quickly over those protectors. The tears were still hanging
+on her eyelashes; her childish bosom was still palpitating
+with sobs. Beyond the little circle of light round the table,
+the room was comparatively in shadow. She stood by
+herself, her pretty face and anxious eyes appearing over
+Miss Wentworth's head, her fright and her anxiety both
+forgotten for the moment in the sudden hope of seeing her
+betrayer. There was not a sound in the room to disturb the
+impartiality of her search. Every man kept still, as if
+by chance he might be the offender. Rosa's eyes, bright
+with anxiety, with eagerness, with a feverish hope, went
+searching into the shadow, gleaming harmless over the
+Wentworth brothers, who were opposite. Then there was
+a start and a loud cry. She was not ashamed to be led
+before the old men, who were sorry for her, and who could
+protect her; but now at last the instinct of her womanhood
+seized upon the unfortunate creature. She had made an
+involuntary rush towards him when she saw him first.
+Then she stopped short, and looked all round her with a
+bewildered sudden consciousness. The blood rushed to
+her face, scorching and burning; she uttered a sudden cry
+of anguish and shame. "Oh, don't forsake me!&mdash;don't
+forsake me!&mdash;listen to the gentlemen!" cried poor Rosa,
+and fell down in a sudden agony of self-comprehension at
+Wodehouse's feet.</p>
+
+<p>For a few minutes after there was nothing but confusion
+in the room. Elsworthy had been standing behind backs,
+with a half-fiendish look of rage and disappointment on his
+commonplace features. "Let them help her as likes; I
+washes my hands of her," he cried bitterly, when he saw
+her fall; and then rushed into the midst of the room,
+thrusting the others out of his way. The man was beside
+himself with mortification, with disgust, and fury, and at
+the same time with a savage natural affection for the
+creature who had baffled and disgraced him, yet still was
+his own. "Let alone&mdash;let alone, I tell you! There's nobody
+as belongs to her but me!" cried Elsworthy, pushing up
+against the Doctor, who had lifted her from the ground. As
+for Wodehouse, he was standing scowling down upon the
+pretty figure at his feet: not that the vagabond was utterly
+heartless, or could look at his victim without emotion; on
+the contrary, he was pale with terror, thinking he had
+killed her, wondering in his miserable heart if they would
+secure him at once, and furtively watching the door to see
+if he had a chance of escape. When Mr Waters seized his
+arm, Wodehouse gave a hoarse outcry of horror. "I'll
+marry her&mdash;oh, Lord, I'll marry her! I never meant
+anything else," the wretched man cried, as he sank back
+again into his chair. He thought she was dead, as she lay
+with her upturned face on the carpet, and in his terror and
+remorse and cowardice his heart seemed to stop beating.
+If he could have had a chance of escaping, he would not
+have hesitated to dash the old Doctor out of his way, and
+rush over the body of the unhappy girl whom he thought
+he had murdered. But Waters held him fast; and he sank
+back, panting and horrified, on his seat. "I never touched
+her; nobody can say I touched her," muttered the poor
+wretch to himself; and watched with fascinated eyes and
+the distinct apprehension of terror every movement and
+change of position, calculating how he might dart out
+when the window was opened&mdash;having forgotten for the
+moment that Jack Wentworth, as well as the companion
+who kept immediate watch over him, was in the room.</p>
+
+<p>"She'll come to herself presently," said Dr Marjoribanks.
+"We'll carry her up-stairs. Yes, I know you don't approve
+of her, Miss Wentworth; nobody said you were to approve
+of her. Not that I think she's a responsible moral agent
+myself," said the Doctor, lifting her up in his vigorous
+arms; "but in the mean time she has to be brought to life.
+Keep out of my way, Elsworthy; you should have looked
+better after the little fool. If she's not accountable for her
+actions, <i>you</i> are," he went on with a growl, thrusting away
+with his vigorous shoulder the badly-hung frame of Rosa's
+uncle, who was no match for the Doctor. Thus the poor
+little girl was carried away in a kind of procession, Miss
+Leonora going first. "Not that I think her worth all this
+fuss, the vain little fool," said Miss Leonora; "she'll come
+to herself, no fear of her;" but, notwithstanding her
+protest, the strong-minded woman led the way. When the
+room was cleared, the gentlemen who remained took their
+seats mechanically, and stared at each other. In the shame
+and confusion of the moment nobody could find anything
+to say, and the Curate was magnanimous, and did not take
+advantage of his triumph. The silence was broken by the
+Rector, who rose up solemnly from his chair to speak.
+Probably no one in the room had suffered so acutely as Mr
+Morgan; his face was crimson, his eyes suffused and
+angry. Frank Wentworth rose involuntarily at the same
+moment, expecting, he could not tell why, to be addressed,
+but sat down again in a little confusion when he found that
+the Rector had turned his eyes in a totally different
+direction. Mr Morgan put the lamp out of the way, that he
+might be able to transfix with the full glow of his angry
+eyes the real offender, who sat only half conscious,
+absorbed with his own terror, by the lawyer's side.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir!" said the Rector, in a tone which, severe as his
+voice was by nature, nobody had ever heard from his lips
+before, "you have put us all in a most ridiculous and
+painful position to-night. I don't know whether you are
+capable of feeling the vileness of your own misconduct as
+regards the unhappy girl who has just been carried out of
+the room, but you certainly shall not leave the house
+without hearing&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Wodehouse gave such a start at these words that Mr
+Morgan paused a moment. The Rector was quite unaware
+of the relief, the sense of safety, which he had
+inadvertently conveyed to the mind of the shabby rascal
+whom he was addressing. He was then to be allowed to
+leave the house? "I'll leave the d&mdash;&mdash;d place to-night, by
+Jove!" he muttered in his beard, and immediately sat up
+upon his chair, and turned round with a kind of sullen
+vivacity to listen to the remainder of Mr Morgan's speech.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall not leave this house," said the Rector, more
+peremptorily still, "without hearing what must be the
+opinion of every gentleman, of every honest man. You
+have been the occasion of bringing an utterly unfounded
+accusation against a&mdash;a young clergyman," said Mr
+Morgan, with a succession of gasps, "of&mdash;of the very
+highest character. You have, as I understand, sir, abused
+his hospitality, and&mdash;and done your utmost to injure him
+when you owed him gratitude. Not content with that, sir,"
+continued the Rector, "you have kept your&mdash;your very
+existence concealed, until the moment when you could
+injure your sisters. You may perhaps be able to make a
+miserable amends for the wrong you have done to the
+unfortunate girl up-stairs, but you can never make amends
+to me, sir, for betraying me into a ridiculous position, and
+leading me to do&mdash;an&mdash;an absurd and&mdash;and incredible
+injustice&mdash;to a&mdash;to my&mdash;to Mr Frank Wentworth. Sir, you
+are a scoundrel!" cried Mr Morgan, breaking down
+abruptly in an access of sudden fury. When the Rector
+had recovered himself, he turned with great severity to
+the rest of the company: "Gentlemen, my wife will be glad
+to see you up-stairs," said Mr Morgan. The sound of this
+hospitable invitation was as if he had ordered the entire
+assembly to the door; but nevertheless most of the company
+followed him as he rose, and, without condescending to
+look round again, marched out of the library. The Squire
+rose with the rest, and took the hand of his son Frank and
+grasped it closely. Somehow, though he believed Frank
+before, Mr Wentworth was easier in his mind after the
+Rector's speech.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I will go up-stairs and shake hands with him,"
+said the Squire, "and you had better come too, Frank. No
+doubt he will expect it. He spoke up very well at the last,
+and I entirely agree with the Rector," he said, looking
+sternly, but with a little curiosity, at the vagabond, who
+stood recovering himself, and ready to resume his hopeless
+swagger. It was well for Mr Wentworth that he left the
+room at once, and went cheerfully up-stairs to pay his
+respects to Mrs Morgan. The Squire said, "Thank God!"
+quietly to himself when he got out of the library. "Things
+are mending, surely&mdash;even Jack&mdash;even Jack," Mr
+Wentworth said, under his breath; and the simple gentleman
+said over a part of the general thanksgiving, as he
+went slowly, with an unusual gladness, up the stair. He
+might not have entered Mrs Morgan's drawing-room with
+such a relieved and brightened countenance had he stayed
+ten minutes longer in the library, and listened to the
+further conversation there.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">Now</span>, Mr Wodehouse," said Jack Wentworth, "it appears
+that you and I have a word to say to each other." They
+had all risen when the other gentlemen followed Mr
+Morgan out of the room, and those who remained stood in
+a group surrounding the unhappy culprit, and renewing
+his impression of personal danger. When he heard himself
+thus addressed, he backed against the wall, and instinctively
+took one of the chairs and placed it before him. His
+furtive eye sought the door and the window, investigating
+the chances of escape. When he saw that there was none,
+he withdrew still a step further back, and stood at bay.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I aint going to stand all this," said
+Wodehouse; "as if every fellow had a right to bully me&mdash;it's
+more than flesh and blood can put up with. I don't care
+for that old fogey that's gone up-stairs; but, by Jove! I
+won't stand any more from men that eat my dinners, and
+win my money, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Jack Wentworth made half a step forward with a superb
+smile&mdash;"My good fellow, you should never reproach a
+man with his good actions," he said; "but at the same time,
+having eaten your dinners, as you describe, I have a
+certain claim on your gratitude. We have had some&mdash;a&mdash;business
+connection&mdash;for some years. I don't say you have
+reason to be actually grateful for that; but, at least, it
+brought you now and then into the society of gentlemen. A
+man who robs a set of women, and leaves the poor
+creature he has ruined destitute, is a sort of cur we have
+nothing to say to," said the heir of the Wentworths,
+contemptuously. "We do not pretend to be saints, but we
+are not blackguards; that is to say," said Jack, with a
+perfectly calm and harmonious smile, "not in theory, nor
+in our own opinion. The fact accordingly is, my friend,
+that you must choose between <i>us</i> and those respectable
+meannesses of yours. By Jove! the fellow ought to have
+been a shopkeeper, and as honest as&mdash;Diogenes," said
+Jack. He stood looking at his wretched associate with the
+overwhelming impertinence of a perfectly well-bred man,
+no way concealing the contemptuous inspection with which
+his cool eyes travelled over the disconcerted figure from
+top to toe, seeing and exaggerating all its tremors and
+clumsy guiltiness. The chances are, had Jack Wentworth
+been in Wodehouse's place, he would have been master of
+the position as much as now. He was not shocked nor
+indignant like his brothers. He was simply contemptuous,
+disdainful, not so much of the wickedness as of the clumsy
+and shabby fashion in which it had been accomplished. As
+for the offender, who had been defiant in his sulky fashion
+up to this moment, his courage oozed out at his finger-ends
+under Jack Wentworth's eye.</p>
+
+<p>"I am my own master," he stammered, "nowadays. I
+aint to be dictated to&mdash;and I shan't be, by Jove! As for
+Jack Wentworth, he's well known to be neither more nor
+less&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Than what, Mr Wodehouse?" said the serene and
+splendid Jack. "Don't interest yourself on my account,
+Frank. This is my business at present. If you have any
+prayer-meetings in hand, we can spare you&mdash;and don't
+forget our respectable friend in your supplications. Favour
+us with your definition of Jack Wentworth, Mr Wodehouse.
+He is neither more nor less&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! I aint going to stand it," cried Wodehouse; "if
+a fellow's to be driven mad, and insulted, and have his
+money won from him, and made game of&mdash;not to say
+tossed about as I've been among 'em, and made a drudge
+of, and set to do the dirty work," said the unfortunate
+subordinate, with a touch of pathos in his hoarse voice;&mdash;"I
+don't mean to say I've been what I ought; but, by Jove!
+to be put upon as I've been, and knocked about; and at
+the last they haven't the pluck to stand by a fellow, by
+Jove!" muttered Mr Wodehouse's unlucky heir. What
+further exasperation his smiling superior intended to heap
+upon him nobody could tell; for just as Jack Wentworth
+was about to speak, and just as Wodehouse had again
+faced towards him, half-cowed, half-resisting, Gerald,
+who had been looking on in silence, came forward out of
+the shadow. He had seen all and heard all, from that
+moral deathbed of his, where no personal cares could
+again disturb him; and though he had resigned his office,
+he could not belie his nature. He came in by instinct to
+cherish the dawn of compunction which appeared, as he
+thought, in the sinner's words.</p>
+
+<p>"The best thing that can happen to you," said Gerald,
+at the sound of whose voice everybody started, "is to find
+out that the wages of sin are bitter. Don't expect any
+sympathy or consolation from those who have helped you
+to do wrong. My brother tries to induce you to do a right
+act from an unworthy motive. He says your former
+associates will not acknowledge you. My advice to you is
+to forsake your former associates. My brother," said
+Gerald, turning aside to look at him, "would do himself
+honour if he forsook them also&mdash;but for you, here is your
+opportunity. You have no temptation of poverty now.
+Take the first step, and forsake them. I have no motive in
+advising you&mdash;except, indeed, that I am Jack Wentworth's
+brother. He and you are different," said Gerald, involuntarily
+glancing from one to the other. "And at present you
+have the means of escape. Go now and leave them," said
+the man who was a priest by nature. The light returned to
+his eye while he spoke; he was no longer passive, contemplating
+his own moral death; his natural office had come
+back to him unawares. He stretched his arm towards the
+door, thinking of nothing but the escape of the sinner.
+"Go," said Gerald. "Refuse their approbation; shun their
+society. For Christ's sake, and not for theirs, make amends
+to those you have wronged. Jack, I command you to let him
+go."</p>
+
+<p>Jack, who had been startled at first, had recovered
+himself long before his brother ceased to speak. "Let him
+go, by all means," he said, and stood superbly indifferent
+by Gerald's side, whistling under his breath a tripping
+lively air. "No occasion for solemnity. The sooner he goes
+the better," said Jack. "In short, I see no reason why any
+of us should stay, now the business is accomplished. I
+wonder would his reverence ever forgive me if I lighted
+my cigar?" He took out his case as he spoke, and began to
+look over its contents. There was one in the room, however,
+who was better acquainted with the indications of Jack
+Wentworth's face than either of his brothers. This
+unfortunate, who was hanging in an agony of uncertainty
+over the chair he had placed before him, watched every
+movement of his leader's face with the anxious gaze of a
+lover, hoping to see a little corresponding anxiety in it, but
+watched in vain. Wodehouse had been going through a
+fever of doubt and divided impulses. The shabby fellow
+was open to good impressions, though he was not much in
+the way of practising them; and Gerald's address, which,
+in the first place, filled him with awe, moved him afterwards
+with passing thrills of compunction, mingled with a
+kind of delight at the idea of getting free. When his
+admonitor said "Go," Wodehouse made a step towards
+the door, and for an instant felt the exhilaration of
+enfranchisement. But the next moment his eye sought
+Jack Wentworth's face, which was so superbly careless, so
+indifferent to him and his intentions, and the vagabond's
+soul succumbed with a canine fidelity to his master. Had
+Jack shown any interest, any excitement in the matter, his
+sway might have been doubtful; but in proportion to
+the sense of his own insignificance and unimportance
+Wodehouse's allegiance confirmed itself. He looked wistfully
+towards the hero of his imagination, as that skilful
+personage selected his cigar. He would rather have been
+kicked again than left alone, and left to himself. After all,
+it was very true what Jack Wentworth said. They might
+be a bad lot, but they were gentlemen (according to
+Wodehouse's understanding of the word) with whom he
+had been associated; and beatific visions of peers and
+baronets and honourables, amongst whom his own shabby
+person had figured, without feeling much below the common
+level, crossed his mind with all the sweetness which
+belongs to a past state of affairs. Yet it was still in his
+power to recall these vanishing glories. Now that he was
+rich, and could "cut a figure" among the objects of his
+admiration, was that brilliant world to be closed upon him
+for ever by his own obstinacy? As these thoughts rushed
+through his mind, little Rosa's beauty and natural grace
+came suddenly to his recollection. Nobody need know
+how he had got his pretty wife, and a pretty wife she
+would be&mdash;a creature whom nobody could help admiring.
+Wodehouse looked wistfully at Jack Wentworth, who took
+no notice of him as he chose his cigar. Jack was not only
+the ideal of the clumsy rogue, but he was the doorkeeper
+of that paradise of disreputable nobles and ruined gentlemen
+which was Wodehouse's idea of good society; and from all
+this was he about to be banished? Jack Wentworth selected
+his cigar with as much care as if his happiness depended
+on it, and took no notice of the stealthy glances thrown at
+him. "I'll get a light in the hall," said Jack; "good evening
+to you," and he was actually going away.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here," said Wodehouse, hastily, in his beard; "I
+aint a man to forsake old friends. If Jack Wentworth does
+not mean anything unreasonable, or against a fellow's honour&mdash;Hold
+your tongue, Waters; by Jove! I know my
+friends. I know you would never have been one of them
+but for Jack Wentworth. He's not the common sort, I can
+tell you. He's the greatest swell going, by Jove!" cried
+Jack's admiring follower, "and through thick and thin he's
+stood by me. I aint going to forsake him now&mdash;that is, if he
+don't want anything that goes against a fellow's honour,"
+said the repentant prodigal, again sinking the voice which
+he had raised for a moment. As he spoke he looked more
+wistfully than ever towards his leader, who said "Pshaw!"
+with an impatient gesture, and put back his cigar.</p>
+
+<p>"This room is too hot for anything," said Jack; "but
+don't open the window, I entreat of you. I hate to assist at
+the suicide of a set of insane insects. For heaven's sake,
+Frank, mind what you're doing. As for Mr Wodehouse's
+remark," said Jack, lightly, "I trust I never could suggest
+anything which would wound his keen sense of honour. I
+advise you to marry and settle, as I am in the habit of
+advising young men; and if I were to add that it would be
+seemly to make some provision for your sisters&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop there!" said the Curate, who had taken no part
+in the scene up to this moment. He had stood behind
+rather contemptuously, determined to have nothing to do
+with his ungrateful and ungenerous prot&eacute;g&eacute;. But now an
+unreasonable impulse forced him into the discussion. "The
+less that is said on that part of the subject the better," he
+said, with some natural heat. "I object to the mixing up of
+names which&mdash;which no one here has any right to bandy
+about&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That is very true," said Mr Proctor; "but still they
+have their rights," the late Rector added after a pause.
+"We have no right to stand in the way of their&mdash;their
+interest, you know." It occurred to Mr Proctor, indeed,
+that the suggestion was on the whole a sensible one.
+"Even if they were to&mdash;to marry, you know, they might
+still be left unprovided for," said the late Rector. "I think
+it is quite just that some provision should be made for
+that."</p>
+
+<p>And then there was a pause. Frank Wentworth was
+sufficiently aware after his first start of indignation that he
+had no right to interfere, as Mr Proctor said, between the
+Miss Wodehouses and their interest. He had no means of
+providing for them, of setting them above the chances of
+fortune. He reflected bitterly that it was not in his power
+to offer a home to Lucy, and through her to her sister.
+What he had to do was to stand by silently, to suffer other
+people to discuss what was to be done for the woman
+whom he loved, and whose name was sacred to him. This
+was a stretch of patience of which he was not capable. "I
+can only say again," said the Curate, "that I think this
+discussion has gone far enough. Whatever matters of
+business there may be that require arrangement had
+better be settled between Mr Brown and Mr Waters. So
+far as private feeling goes&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Never fear, I'll manage it," said Jack Wentworth, "as
+well as a dozen lawyers. Private feeling has nothing to do
+with it. Have a cigar, Wodehouse? We'll talk it over as we
+walk home," said the condescending potentate. These
+words dispersed the assembly, which no longer had any
+object. As Jack Wentworth sauntered out, his faithful
+follower pressed through the others to join him. Wodehouse
+was himself again. He gave a sulky nod to the Curate, and
+said, "Good-night, parson, I don't owe much to you," and
+hastened out close upon the heels of his patron and leader.
+All the authorities of Carlingford, the virtuous people who
+conferred station and respectability by a look, sank into
+utter insignificance in presence of Jack. His admiring
+follower went after him with a swell of pride. He was a
+poor enough rogue himself, hustled and abused by everybody,
+an unsuccessful and shabby vagabond, notwithstanding
+his new fortune; but Jack was the glorified
+impersonation of cleverness and wickedness and triumph
+to Wodehouse. He grew insolent when he was permitted
+to put his arm through that of his hero, and went off with
+him trying to copy, in swagger and insolence, his careless
+step and well-bred ease. Perhaps Jack Wentworth felt a
+little ashamed of himself as he emerged from the gate of
+the Rectory with his shabby and disreputable companion.
+He shrugged his shoulders slightly as he looked back and
+saw Gerald and Frank coming slowly out together.
+"<i>Coraggio!</i>" said Jack to himself, "it is I who am the true
+philanthropist. Let us do evil that good may come."
+Notwithstanding, he was very thankful not to be seen by
+his father, who had wished to consult him as a man of the
+world, and had shown certain yearnings towards him,
+which, to Jack's infinite surprise, awakened responsive
+feelings in his own unaccustomed bosom. He was half
+ashamed of this secret movement of natural affection,
+which, certainly, nobody else suspected; but it was with a
+sensation of relief that he closed the Rectory gate behind
+him, without having encountered the keen inquiring
+suspicious glances of the Squire. The others dispersed
+according to their pleasure&mdash;Mr Waters joining the party
+up-stairs, while Mr Proctor followed Jack Wentworth and
+Wodehouse to the door with na&iuml;ve natural curiosity. When
+the excellent man recollected that he was listening to
+private conversation, and met Wodehouse's look of sulky
+insolence, he turned back again, much fluttered and
+disturbed. He had an interest in the matter, though the
+two in whose hands it now lay were the last whom he
+would have chosen as confidants; and to do him justice, he
+was thinking of Lucy only in his desire to hear what they
+decided upon. "Something might happen to me," he said
+to himself; "and, even if all was well, she would be
+happier not to be wholly dependent upon her sister;" with
+which self-exculpatory reflection, Mr Proctor slowly
+followed the others into the drawing-room. Gerald and
+Frank, who were neither of them disposed for society,
+went away together. They had enough to think of, without
+much need of conversation, and they had walked half-way
+down Grange Lane before either spoke. Then it was
+Frank who broke the silence abruptly with a question
+which had nothing to do with the business in which they
+had been engaged.</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you mean to do?" said Frank, suddenly.
+It was just as they came in sight of the graceful spire of St
+Roque's; and perhaps it was the sight of his own church
+which roused the Perpetual Curate to think of the henceforth
+aimless life of his brother. "I don't understand how
+you are to give up your work. To-night even&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not forget myself," said Gerald; "every man who
+can distinguish good from evil has a right to advise his
+fellow-creature. I have not given up that common
+privilege&mdash;don't hope it, Frank," said the martyr, with a
+momentary smile.</p>
+
+<p>"If I could but understand why it is that you make this
+terrible sacrifice!" said the Curate&mdash;"No, I don't want to
+argue&mdash;of course, you are convinced. I can understand the
+wish that our unfortunate division had never taken place;
+but I can't understand the sacrifice of a man's life and
+work. Nothing is perfect in this world; but at least to do
+something in it&mdash;to be good for something&mdash;and with your
+faculties, Gerald!" cried the admiring and regretful brother.
+"Can abstract right in an institution, if that is what you
+aim at, be worth the sacrifice of your existence&mdash;your
+power of influencing your fellow-creatures?" This Mr
+Wentworth said, being specially moved by the circumstances
+in which he found himself&mdash;for, under any other
+conditions, such sentiments would have produced the
+warmest opposition in his Anglican bosom. But he was so
+far sympathetic that he could be tolerant to his brother
+who had gone to Rome.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what you mean," said Gerald; "it is the prevailing
+theory in England that all human institutions are
+imperfect. My dear Frank, I want a Church which is not a
+human institution. In England it seems to be the rule of
+faith that every man may believe as he pleases. There is
+no authority either to decide or to punish. If you can
+foresee what that may lead us to, I cannot. I take refuge in
+the true Church, where alone there is certainty&mdash;where,"
+said the convert, with a heightened colour and a long-drawn
+breath, "there is authority clear and decisive. In
+England you believe what you will, and the result will be
+one that I at least fear to contemplate; in Rome we believe
+what&mdash;we must," said Gerald. He said the words slowly,
+bowing his head more than once with determined
+submission, as if bending under the yoke. "Frank, it is
+salvation!" said the new Catholic, with the emphasis of a
+despairing hope. And for the first time Frank Wentworth
+perceived what it was which had driven his brother to
+Rome.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand you now," said the Perpetual Curate; "it
+is because there is no room for our conflicting doctrines
+and latitude of belief. Instead of a Church happily so far
+imperfect, that a man can put his life to the best account in
+it, without absolutely delivering up his intellect to a set of
+doctrines, you seek a perfect Church, in which, for a
+symmetrical system of doctrine, you lose the use of your
+existence!" Mr Wentworth uttered this opinion with all the
+more vehemence, that it was in direct opposition to his
+own habitual ideas; but even his veneration for his "Mother"
+yielded for the moment to his strong sense of his brother's
+mistake.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a hard thing to say," said Gerald, "but it is true. If
+you but knew the consolation, after years of struggling
+among the problems of faith, to find one's self at last upon
+a rock of authority, of certainty&mdash;one holds in one's hand
+at last the interpretation of the enigma," said Gerald. He
+looked up to the sky as he spoke, and breathed into the
+serene air a wistful lingering sigh. If it was certainty that
+echoed in that breath of unsatisfied nature, the sound was
+sadly out of concord with the sentiment. His soul, notwithstanding
+that expression of serenity, was still as wistful as
+the night.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you the interpretation?" said his brother; and
+Frank, too, looked up into the pure sky above, with its
+stars which stretched over them serene and silent, arching
+over the town that lay behind, and of which nobody
+knew better than he the human mysteries and wonderful
+unanswerable questions. The heart of the Curate ached to
+think how many problems lay in the darkness, over which
+that sky stretched silent, making no sign. There were the
+sorrowful of the earth, enduring their afflictions, lifting up
+pitiful hands, demanding of God in their bereavements
+and in their miseries the reason why. There were all the
+inequalities of life, side by side, evermore echoing dumbly
+the same awful question; and over all shone the calm sky
+which gave no answer. "Have you the interpretation?" he
+said. "Perhaps you can reconcile freewill and predestination&mdash;the
+need of a universal atonement and the existence
+of individual virtue? But these are not to me the most
+difficult questions. Can your Church explain why one man
+is happy and another miserable?&mdash;why one has everything
+and abounds, and the other loses all that is most precious
+in life? My sister Mary, for example," said the Curate,
+"she seems to bear the cross for our family. Her children
+die and yours live. Can you explain to her why? I have
+heard her cry out to God to know the reason, and He
+made no answer. Tell me, have you the interpretation?"
+cried the young man, on whom the hardness of his own
+position was pressing at the moment. They went on
+together in silence for a few minutes, without any attempt
+on Gerald's part to answer. "You accept the explanation
+of the Church in respect to doctrines," said the Curate,
+after that pause, "and consent that her authority is
+sufficient, and that your perplexity is over&mdash;that is well
+enough, so far as it goes: but outside lies a world in which
+every event is an enigma, where nothing that comes offers
+any explanation of itself; where God does not show Himself
+always kind, but by times awful, terrible&mdash;a God who
+smites and does not spare. It is easy to make a harmonious
+balance of doctrine; but where is the interpretation of
+life?" The young priest looked back on his memory, and
+recalled, as if they had been in a book, the daily problems
+with which he was so well acquainted. As for Gerald, he
+bowed his head a little, with a kind of reverence, as if he
+had been bowing before the shrine of a saint.</p>
+
+<p>"I have had a happy life," said the elder brother.
+"I have not been driven to ask such questions for myself.
+To these the Church has but one advice to offer: Trust
+God."</p>
+
+<p>"We say so in England," said Frank Wentworth; "it is
+the grand scope of our teaching. Trust God. He will not
+explain Himself, nor can we attempt it. When it is certain
+that I must be content with this answer for all the sorrows
+of life, I am content to take my doctrines on the same
+terms," said the Perpetual Curate; and by this time they
+had come to Miss Wentworth's door. After all, perhaps it
+was not Gerald, except so far as he was carried by a
+wonderful force of human sympathy and purity of soul,
+who was the predestined priest of the family. As he went
+up to his own room, a momentary spasm of doubt came
+upon the new convert&mdash;whether, perhaps, he was making
+a sacrifice of his life for a mistake. He hushed the thought
+forcibly as it rose; such impulses were no longer to be
+listened to. The same authority which made faith certain,
+decided every doubt to be sin.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Next</span> morning the Curate got up with anticipations which
+were far from cheerful, and a weary sense of the monotony
+and dulness of life. He had won his little battle, it was
+true; but the very victory had removed that excitement
+which answered in the absence of happier stimulations to
+keep up his heart and courage. After a struggle like that in
+which he had been engaged, it was hard to come again into
+the peaceable routine without any particular hope to
+enliven or happiness to cheer it, which was all he had at
+present to look for in his life; and it was harder still to feel
+the necessity of being silent, of standing apart from Lucy
+in her need, of shutting up in his own heart the longing he
+had towards her, and refraining himself from the desperate
+thought of uniting his genteel beggary to hers. That was
+the one thing which must not be thought of, and he
+subdued himself with an impatient sigh, and could not but
+wonder, as he went down-stairs, whether, if Gerald had
+been less smoothly guided through the perplexing paths of
+life, he would have found time for all the difficulties which
+had driven him to take refuge in Rome. It was with this
+sense of hopeless restraint and incapacity, which is perhaps
+of all sensations the most humbling, that he went down-stairs,
+and found lying on his breakfast table, the first
+thing that met his eye, the note which Lucy Wodehouse
+had written to him on the previous night. As he read it, the
+earth somehow turned to the sun; the dubious light brightened
+in the skies. Unawares, he had been wondering
+never to receive any token of sympathy, any word of
+encouragement, from those for whom he had made so
+many exertions. When he had read Lucy's letter, the
+aspect of affairs changed considerably. To be sure, nothing
+that she had said or could say made any difference in the
+facts of the case; but the Curate was young, and still liable
+to those changes of atmosphere which do more for an
+imaginative mind than real revolutions. He read the letter
+several times over as he lingered through his breakfast,
+making on the whole an agreeable meal, and finding
+himself repossessed of his ordinary healthful appetite. He
+even canvassed the signature as much in reading as Lucy
+had done in writing it&mdash;balancing in his mind the maidenly
+"truly yours" of that subscription with as many ingenious
+renderings of its possible meaning as if Lucy's letter had
+been articles of faith. "Truly mine," he said to himself,
+with a smile; which indeed meant all a lover could require;
+and then paused, as if he had been Dr Lushington or Lord
+Westbury, to inquire into the real force of the phrase. For
+after all, it is not only when signing the Articles that the
+bond and pledge of subscription means more than is
+intended. When Mr Wentworth was able to tear himself
+from the agreeable casuistry of this self-discussion, he got
+up in much better spirits to go about his daily business.
+First of all, he had to see his father, and ascertain what
+were the Squire's intentions, and how long he meant to
+stay in Carlingford; and then&mdash; It occurred to the
+Perpetual Curate that after that, politeness demanded
+that he should call on the Miss Wodehouses, who had, or
+at least one of them, expressed so frankly their confidence
+in him. He could not but call to thank her, to inquire into
+their plans, perhaps to back aunt Leonora's invitation,
+which he was aware had been gratefully declined. With
+these ideas in his mind he went down-stairs, after brushing
+his hat very carefully and casting one solicitous glance in
+the mirror as he passed&mdash;which presented to him a very
+creditable reflection, an eidolon in perfect clerical apparel,
+without any rusty suggestions of a Perpetual Curacy. Yet
+a Perpetual Curacy it was which was his sole benefice or
+hope in his present circumstances, for he knew very well
+that, were all other objections at an end, neither
+Skelmersdale nor Wentworth could be kept open for him;
+and that beyond these two he had not a hope of advancement&mdash;and
+at the same time he was pledged to remain in
+Carlingford. All this, however, though discouraging
+enough, did not succeed in discouraging Mr Wentworth
+after he had read Lucy's letter. He went down-stairs so
+lightly that Mrs Hadwin, who was waiting in the parlour in
+her best cap, to ask if he would pardon her for making
+such a mistake, did not hear him pass, and sat waiting for
+an hour, forgetting, or rather neglecting to give any
+response, when the butcher came for orders&mdash;which was
+an unprecedented accident. Mr Wentworth went cheerfully
+up Grange Lane, meeting, by a singular chance, ever so
+many people, who stopped to shake hands with him, or at
+least bowed their good wishes and friendly acknowledgments.
+He smiled in himself at these evidences of popular
+penitence, but was not the less pleased to find himself
+reinstated in his place in the affections and respect of
+Carlingford. "After all, it was not an unnatural mistake,"
+he said to himself, and smiled benignly upon the excellent
+people who had found out the error of their own ways.
+Carlingford, indeed, seemed altogether in a more cheerful
+state than usual, and Mr Wentworth could not but think
+that the community in general was glad to find that it had
+been deceived, and so went upon his way, pleasing himself
+with those maxims about the ultimate prevalence of
+justice and truth, which make it apparent that goodness is
+always victorious, and wickedness punished, in the end.
+Somehow even a popular fallacy has an aspect of truth
+when it suits one's own case. The Perpetual Curate went
+through his aunts' garden with a conscious smile, feeling
+once more master of himself and his concerns. There was,
+to tell the truth, even a slight shade of self-content and
+approbation upon his handsome countenance. In the
+present changed state of public opinion and private feeling,
+he began to take some pleasure in his sacrifice. To be sure,
+a Perpetual Curate could not marry; but perhaps Lucy&mdash;in
+short, there was no telling what might happen; and it
+was accordingly with that delicious sense of goodness
+which generally attends an act of self-sacrifice, mingled
+with an equally delicious feeling that the act, when
+accomplished, might turn out no such great sacrifice after
+all&mdash;which it is to be feared is the most usual way in which
+the sacrifices of youth are made&mdash;that the Curate walked
+into the hall, passing his aunt Dora's toy terrier without
+that violent inclination to give it a whack with his cane in
+passing which was his usual state of feeling. To tell the
+truth, Lucy's letter had made him at peace with all the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>When, however, he entered the dining-room, where
+the family were still at breakfast, Frank's serenity was
+unexpectedly disturbed. The first thing that met his eyes
+was his aunt Leonora, towering over her tea-urn at the upper
+end of the table, holding in her hand a letter which she
+had just opened. The envelope had fallen in the midst of
+the immaculate breakfast "things," and indeed lay, with
+its broad black edge on the top of the snow-white lumps, in
+Miss Leonora's own sugar-basin; and the news had been
+sufficiently interesting to suspend the operations of tea-making,
+and to bring the strong-minded woman to her
+feet. The first words which were audible to Frank revealed
+to him the nature of the intelligence which had produced
+such startling effects.</p>
+
+<p>"He was always a contradictory man," said Miss Leonora;
+"since the first hour he was in Skelmersdale, he has made
+a practice of doing things at the wrong time. I don't mean
+to reproach the poor man now he's gone; but when he has
+been so long of going, what good could it do him to choose
+this particular moment, for no other reason that I can see,
+except that it was specially uncomfortable to us? What my
+brother has just been saying makes it all the worse," said
+Miss Leonora, with a look of annoyance. She had turned
+her head away from the door, which was at the side of the
+room, and had not perceived the entrance of the Curate.
+"As long as we could imagine that Frank was to succeed to
+the Rectory, the thing looked comparatively easy. I beg
+your pardon, Gerald. Of course, you know how grieved I
+am&mdash;in short, that we all feel the deepest distress and
+vexation; but, to be sure, since you have given it up,
+somebody must succeed you&mdash;there can be no doubt of
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Not the least, my dear aunt," said Gerald.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you grant so much. It is well to be sure of
+something," said the incisive and peremptory speaker. "It
+would have been a painful thing for us at any time to place
+another person in Skelmersdale while Frank was
+unprovided for; but, of course," said Miss Leonora, sitting
+down suddenly, "nobody who knows me could suppose for
+a minute that I would let my feelings stand in the way of
+my public duty. Still it is very awkward just at this
+moment when Frank, on the whole, has been behaving
+very properly, and one can't help so far approving of
+him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am much obliged to you, aunt Leonora," said the
+Curate.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are there, Frank," said his sensible aunt; and
+strong-minded though she was, a slight shade of additional
+colour appeared for a moment on Miss Leonora's face. She
+paused a little, evidently diverted from the line of discourse
+which she had contemplated, and wavered like a vessel
+disturbed in its course. "The fact is, I have just had a
+letter announcing Mr Shirley's death," she continued,
+facing round towards her nephew, and setting off abruptly,
+in face of all consequences, on the new tack.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry," said Frank Wentworth; "though I
+have an old grudge at him on account of his long sermons;
+but as you have expected it for a year or two, I can't
+imagine your grief to be overwhelming," said the Curate,
+with a touch of natural impertinence to be expected under
+the circumstances. Skelmersdale had been so long thought
+interesting to him, that now, when it was not in the least
+interesting, he got impatient of the name.</p>
+
+<p>"I quite agree with you, Frank," said Miss Wentworth.
+Aunt Cecilia had not been able for a long time to agree
+with anybody. She had been, on the contrary, shaking her
+head and shedding a few gentle tears over Gerald's silent
+submission and Louisa's noisy lamentations. Everything
+was somehow going wrong; and she who had no power to
+mend, at least could not assent, and broke through her old
+use and wont to shake her head, which was a thing very
+alarming to the family. The entire party was moved by a
+sensation of pleasure to hear Miss Cecilia say, "I quite
+agree with you, Frank."</p>
+
+<p>"You are looking better this morning, my dear aunt,"
+said Gerald. They had a great respect for each other these
+two; but when Miss Cecilia turned to hear what her elder
+nephew was saying, her face lost the momentary look of
+approval it had worn, and she again, though very softly,
+almost imperceptibly, began to shake her head.</p>
+
+<p>"We were not asking for your sympathy," said Miss
+Leonora, sharply. "Don't talk like a saucy boy. We were
+talking of our own embarrassment. There is a very excellent
+young man, the curate of the parish, whom Julia Trench is
+to be married to. By the way, of course, this must put it
+off; but I was about to say, when you interrupted me, that
+to give it away from you at this moment, just as you had
+been doing well&mdash;doing&mdash;your duty," said Miss Leonora,
+with unusual hesitation, "was certainly very uncomfortable,
+to say the least, to us."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't let that have the slightest influence on you, I
+beg," cried the Perpetual Curate, with all the pride of his
+years. "I hope I have been doing my duty all along," the
+young man added, more softly, a moment after; upon
+which the Squire gave a little nod, partly of satisfaction
+and encouragement to his son&mdash;partly of remonstrance
+and protest to his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose so&mdash;with the flowers at Easter, for
+example," said Miss Leonora, with a slight sneer. "I
+consider that I have stood by you through all this business,
+Frank&mdash;but, of course, in so important a matter as a cure
+of souls, neither relationship, nor, to a certain extent,
+approval," said Miss Leonora, with again some hesitation,
+"can be allowed to stand against public duty. We have the
+responsibility of providing a good gospel minister&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon for interrupting you, Leonora," said
+the Squire, "but I can't help thinking that you make a
+mistake. I think it's a man's bounden duty, when there is
+a living in the family, to educate one of his sons for it. In
+my opinion, it's one of the duties of property. You have no
+right to live off your estate, and spend your money elsewhere;
+and no more have you any right to give less than&mdash;than
+your own flesh and blood to the people you have the
+charge of. You've got the charge of them to&mdash;to a certain
+extent&mdash;soul and body, sir," said the Squire, growing
+warm, as he put down his 'Times,' and forgetting that he
+addressed a lady. "I'd never have any peace of mind if I
+filled up a family living with a stranger&mdash;unless, of
+course," Mr Wentworth added in a parenthesis&mdash;an
+unlikely sort of contingency which had not occurred to him
+at first&mdash;"you should happen to have no second son.&mdash;The
+eldest the squire, the second the rector. That's my idea,
+Leonora, of Church and State."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Leonora smiled a little at her brother's semi-feudal,
+semi-pagan ideas. "I have long known that we were not of
+the same way of thinking," said the strong-minded aunt,
+who, though cleverer than her brother, was too wise in her
+own conceit to perceive at the first glance the noble,
+simple conception of his own duties and position, which
+was implied in the honest gentleman's words. "Your second
+son might be either a fool or a knave, or even, although
+neither, might be quite unfit to be intrusted with the
+eternal interests of his fellow-creatures. In my opinion,
+the duty of choosing a clergyman is one not to be exercised
+without the gravest deliberation. A conscientious man would
+make his selection dependent, at least, upon the character
+of his second son&mdash;if he had one. We, however&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But then his character is <i>so</i> satisfactory, Leonora,"
+cried Miss Dora, feeling emboldened by the shadow of
+visitors under whose shield she could always retire.
+"Everybody knows what a good clergyman he is&mdash;I am
+sure it would be like a new world in Skelmersdale if you
+were there, Frank, my dear&mdash;and he preaches such
+beautiful sermons!" said the unlucky little woman, upon
+whom her sister immediately descended, swift and sudden,
+like a storm at sea.</p>
+
+<p>"We are generally perfectly of accord in our conclusions,"
+said Miss Leonora; "as for Dora, she comes to the same
+end by a roundabout way. After what my brother has
+been saying&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Squire, with uncomfortable looks, "I
+was saying to your aunt, Frank, what I said to you about
+poor Mary. Since Gerald <i>will</i> go, and since you don't want
+to come, the best thing to do would be to have Huxtable.
+He's a very good fellow on the whole, and it might cheer
+her up, poor soul, to be near her sisters. Life has been
+hard work to her, poor girl&mdash;very hard work, sir," said the
+Squire, with a sigh. The idea was troublesome and uncomfortable,
+and always disturbed his mind when it occurred
+to him. It was indeed a secret humiliation to the Squire,
+that his eldest daughter possessed so little the characteristic
+health and prosperity of the Wentworths. He was very
+sorry for her, but yet half angry and half ashamed, as if
+she could have helped it; but, however, he had been
+obliged to admit, in his private deliberations on the subject,
+that, failing Frank, Mary's husband had the next best
+right to Wentworth Rectory&mdash;an arrangement of which
+Miss Leonora did not approve.</p>
+
+<p>"I was about to say that we have no second son," she
+said, taking up the thread of her discourse where it had
+been interrupted. "Our duty is solely towards the Christian
+people. I do not pretend to be infallible," said Miss
+Leonora, with a meek air of self-contradiction; "but I
+should be a very poor creature indeed, if, at my age, I did
+not know what I believed, and was not perfectly convinced
+that I am right. Consequently (though, I repeat, Mr
+Shirley has chosen the most inconvenient moment possible
+for dying), it can't be expected of me that I should appoint
+my nephew, whose opinions in most points are exactly the
+opposite of mine."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish, at least, you would believe what I say,"
+interrupted the Curate, impatiently. "There might have
+been some sense in all this three months ago; but if
+Skelmersdale were the high-road to everything desirable
+in the Church, you are all quite aware that I could not
+accept it. Stop, Gerald; I am not so disinterested as you
+think," said Frank; "if I left Carlingford now, people
+would remember against me that my character had been
+called in question here. I can remain a perpetual curate,"
+said the young man, with a smile, "but I can't tolerate any
+shadow upon my honour. I am sorry I came in at such an
+awkward moment. Good morning, aunt Leonora. I hope
+Julia Trench, when she has the Rectory, will always keep
+of your way of thinking. She used to incline a little to
+mine," he said, mischievously, as he went away.</p>
+
+<p>"Come back, Frank, presently," said the Squire, whose
+attention had been distracted from his 'Times.' Mr
+Wentworth began to be tired of such a succession of
+exciting discussions. He thought if he had Frank quietly to
+himself he could settle matters much more agreeably; but
+the 'Times' was certainly an accompaniment more tranquillising
+so far as a comfortable meal was concerned.</p>
+
+<p>"He can't come back presently," said aunt Leonora.
+"You speak as if he had nothing to do; when, on the
+contrary, he has everything to do&mdash;that is worth doing,"
+said that contradictory authority. "Come back to lunch,
+Frank; and I wish you would eat your breakfast, Dora,
+and not stare at me."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Dora had come down to breakfast as an invalid, in
+a pretty little cap, with a shawl over her dressing-gown.
+She had not yet got over her adventure and the excitement
+of Rosa's capture. That unusual accident, and all the
+applauses of her courage which had been addressed to her
+since, had roused the timid woman. She did not withdraw
+her eyes from her sister, though commanded to do so; on
+the contrary, her look grew more and more emphatic. She
+meant to have made a solemn address, throwing off
+Leonora's yoke, and declaring her intention, in this grave
+crisis of her nephew's fortunes, of acting for herself; but
+her feelings were too much for Miss Dora. The tears came
+creeping to the corners of her eyes, and she could not keep
+them back; and her attempt at dignity broke down. "I am
+never consulted," she said, with a gasp. "I don't mean to
+pretend to know better than Leonora; but&mdash;but I think it is
+very hard that Frank should be disappointed about
+Skelmersdale. You may call me as foolish as you please,"
+said Miss Dora, with rising tears, "I know everybody will
+say it is my fault; but I must say I think it is very hard that
+Frank should be disappointed. He was always brought up
+for it, as everybody knows; and to disappoint him, who is
+so good and so nice, for a fat young man, buttered all over
+like&mdash;like&mdash;a pudding-basin," cried poor Miss Dora,
+severely adhering to the unity of her desperate metaphor.
+"I don't know what Julia Trench can be thinking of; I&mdash;I
+don't know what Leonora means."</p>
+
+<p>"I am of the same way of thinking," said aunt Cecilia,
+setting down, with a little gentle emphasis, her cup of tea.</p>
+
+<p>Here was rebellion, open and uncompromised. Miss
+Leonora was so much taken by surprise, that she lifted the
+tea-urn out of the way, and stared at her interlocutors with
+genuine amazement. But she proved herself, as usual,
+equal to the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>"It's unfortunate that we never see eye to eye just at
+once," she said, with a look which expressed more distinctly
+than words could have done the preliminary flourish of his
+whip by means of which a skilful charioteer gets his team
+under hand without touching them; "but it is very lucky
+that we always come to agree in the end," she added,
+more significantly still. It was well to crush insubordination
+in the bud. Not that she did not share the sentiment of
+her sisters; but then they were guided like ordinary women
+by their feelings; whereas Miss Leonora had the rights of
+property before her, and the approval of Exeter Hall.</p>
+
+<p>"And he wants to marry, poor dear boy," said Miss
+Dora, pale with fright, yet persevering; "and she is a dear
+good girl&mdash;the very person for a clergyman's wife; and
+what is he to do if he is always to be Curate of St Roque's?
+You may say it is my fault, but I cannot help it. He always
+used to come to me in all his little troubles; and when he
+wants anything very particular, he knows there is nothing
+I would not do for him," sobbed the proud aunt, who could
+not help recollecting how much use she had been to
+Frank. She wiped her eyes at the thought, and held up her
+head with a thrill of pride and satisfaction. Nobody could
+blame her in that particular at least. "He knew he had
+only to tell me what he wanted," said Miss Dora, swelling
+out her innocent plumes. Jack, who was sitting opposite,
+and who had been listening with admiration, thought it
+time to come in on his own part.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you don't mean to forsake <i>me</i>, aunt Dora," he
+said. "If a poor fellow cannot have faith in his aunt, whom
+can he have faith in? I thought it was too good to last,"
+said the neglected prodigal. "You have left the poor sheep
+in the wilderness and gone back to the ninety-and-nine
+righteous men who need no repentance." He put up his
+handkerchief to <ins title="original reads this">his</ins> eyes as he spoke, and so far forgot
+himself as to look with laughter in his face at his brother
+Gerald. As for the Squire, he was startled to hear his
+eldest son quoting Scripture, and laid aside his paper once
+more to know what it meant.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I beg your pardon, Jack," said aunt Dora,
+suddenly stopping short, and feeling guilty. "I never
+meant to neglect you. Poor dear boy, he never was
+properly tried with female society and the comforts of
+home; but then you were dining out that night," said the
+simple woman, eagerly. "I should have stayed with you,
+Jack, <i>of course</i>, had you been at home."</p>
+
+<p>From this little scene Miss Leonora turned away hastily,
+with an exclamation of impatience. She made an abrupt
+end of her tea-making, and went off to her little business-room
+with a grim smile upon her iron-grey countenance.
+She too had been taken in a little by Jack's pleasant farce
+of the Sinner Repentant; and it occurred to her to feel a
+little ashamed of herself as she went up-stairs. After all,
+the ninety-and-nine just men of Jack's irreverent quotation
+were worth considering now and then; and Miss Leonora
+could not but think with a little humiliation of the contrast
+between her nephew Frank and the comfortable young
+Curate who was going to marry Julia Trench. He <i>was</i> fat,
+it could not be denied; and she remembered his chubby
+looks, and his sermons about self-denial and mortification
+of the flesh, much as a pious Catholic might think of the
+Lenten oratory of a fat friar. But then he was perfectly
+sound in his doctrines, and it was undeniable that the
+people liked him, and that the appointment was one which
+even a Scotch ecclesiastical community full of popular
+rights could scarcely have objected to. According to her
+own principles, the strong-minded woman could not do
+otherwise. She threw herself into her arm-chair with
+unnecessary force, and read over the letter which Miss
+Trench herself had written. "It is difficult to think of any
+consolation in such a bereavement," wrote Mr Shirley's
+niece; "but still it is a little comfort to feel that I can throw
+myself on your sympathy, my dear and kind friend."
+"Little calculating thing!" Miss Leonora said to herself as
+she threw down the mournful epistle; and then she could
+not help thinking again of Frank. To be sure, he was not of
+her way of thinking; but when she remembered the
+"investigation" and its result, and the secret romance
+involved in it, her Wentworth blood sent a thrill of pride
+and pleasure through her veins. Miss Leonora, though she
+was strong-minded, was still woman enough to perceive
+her nephew's motives in his benevolence to Wodehouse;
+but these motives, which were strong enough to make him
+endure so much annoyance, were not strong enough to
+tempt him from Carlingford and his Perpetual Curacy,
+where his honour and reputation, in the face of love and
+ambition, demanded that he should remain. "It would be
+a pity to balk him in his self-sacrifice," she said to herself,
+with again a somewhat grim smile, and a comparison not
+much to the advantage of Julia Trench and <i>her</i> curate. She
+shut herself up among her papers till luncheon, and only
+emerged with a stormy front when that meal was on the
+table; during the progress of which she snubbed everybody
+who ventured to speak to her, and spoke to her nephew
+Frank as if he might have been suspected of designs upon
+the plate-chest. Such were the unpleasant consequences of
+the struggle between duty and inclination in the bosom of
+Miss Leonora; and, save for other unforeseen events
+which decided the matter for her, it is not by any means so
+certain as, judging from her character, it ought to have
+been, that duty would have won the day.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Frank Wentworth</span> once more went up Grange Lane, a
+thoughtful and a sober man. Exhilaration comes but by
+moments in the happiest of lives&mdash;and already he began to
+remember how very little he had to be elated about, and
+how entirely things remained as before. Even Lucy; her
+letter very probably might be only an effusion of friendship;
+and at all events, what could he say to her&mdash;what did
+he dare in honour say? And then his mind went off to think
+of the two rectories, between which he had fallen as
+between two stools: though he had made up his mind to
+accept neither, he did not the less feel a certain mortification
+in seeing that his relations on both sides were so
+willing to bestow their gifts elsewhere. He could not
+tolerate the idea of succeeding Gerald in his own person,
+but still he found it very disagreeable to consent to the
+thought that Huxtable should replace him&mdash;Huxtable,
+who was a good fellow enough, but of whom Frank
+Wentworth thought, as men generally think of their
+brothers-in-law, with a half-impatient, half-contemptuous
+wonder what Mary could ever have seen in so commonplace
+a man. To think of him as rector of Wentworth
+inwardly chafed the spirit of the Perpetual Curate. As he
+was going along, absorbed in his own thoughts, he did not
+perceive how his approach was watched for from the other
+side of the way by Elsworthy, who stood with his bundle of
+newspapers under his arm and his hat in his hand, watching
+for "his clergyman" with submission and apology on the
+surface, and hidden rancour underneath. Elsworthy was
+not penitent; he was furious and disappointed. His
+mistake and its consequences were wholly humiliating,
+and had not in them a single saving feature to atone for the
+wounds of his self-esteem. The Curate had not only baffled
+and beaten him, but humbled him in his own eyes, which
+is perhaps, of all others, the injury least easy to forgive. It
+was, however, with an appearance of the profoundest
+submission that he stood awaiting the approach of the man
+he had tried so much to injure.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Wentworth, sir," said Elsworthy, "if I was worth
+your while, I might think as you were offended with me;
+but seeing I'm one as is so far beneath you"&mdash;he went on
+with a kind of grin, intended to represent a deprecatory
+smile, but which would have been a snarl had he dared&mdash;"I
+can't think as you'll bear no malice. May I ask, sir, if
+there's a-going to be any difference made?"</p>
+
+<p>"In what respect, Elsworthy?" said the Curate, shortly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, I can't tell," said the clerk of St Roque's. "If
+a clergyman was to bear malice, it's in his power to make
+things very unpleasant. I don't speak of the place at
+church, which aint either here nor there&mdash;it's respectable,
+but it aint lucrative; but if you was to stretch a point, Mr
+Wentworth, by continuing the papers and suchlike&mdash;it
+aint that I value the money," said Elsworthy, "but I've
+been a faithful servant; and I might say, if you was to take
+it in a right spirit, an 'umble friend, Mr Wentworth," he
+continued, after a little pause, growing bolder. "And now,
+as I've that unfortunate creature to provide for, and no
+one knowing what's to become of her&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder that you venture to speak of her to me," said
+the Curate, with a little indignation, "after all the warnings I
+gave you. But you ought to consider that you are to blame
+a great deal more than she is. She is only a child; if you
+had taken better care of her&mdash;but you would not pay any
+attention to my warning;&mdash;you must bear the consequences
+as you best can."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," said Elsworthy, "if you're a-going to bear
+malice, I haven't got nothing to say. But there aint ten
+men in Carlingford as wouldn't agree with me that when a
+young gentleman, even if he is a clergyman, takes particklar
+notice of a pretty young girl, it aint just for nothing as he
+does it&mdash;not to say watching over her paternal to see as
+she wasn't out late at night, and suchlike. But bygones is
+bygones, sir," said Elsworthy, "and is never more to be
+mentioned by me. I don't ask no more, if you'll but do the
+same&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You won't ask no more?" said the Curate, angrily; "do
+you think I am afraid of you? I have nothing more to say,
+Elsworthy. Go and look after your business&mdash;I will attend
+to mine; and when we are not forced to meet, let us keep
+clear of each other. It will be better both for you and me."</p>
+
+<p>The Curate passed on with an impatient nod; but his
+assailant did not intend that he should escape so easily. "I
+shouldn't have thought, sir, as you'd have borne malice,"
+said Elsworthy, hastening on after him, yet keeping half a
+step behind. "I'm a humbled man&mdash;different from what I
+ever thought to be. I could always keep up my head afore
+the world till now; and if it aint your fault, sir&mdash;as I
+humbly beg your pardon for ever being so far led away as
+to believe it was&mdash;all the same it's along of you."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" said the Curate, who, half amused
+and half indignant at the change of tone, had slackened his
+pace to listen to this new accusation.</p>
+
+<p>"What I mean, sir, is, that if you hadn't been so good
+and so kind-hearted as to take into your house the&mdash;the
+villain as has done it all, him and Rosa could never have
+known each other. I allow as it was nothing but your own
+goodness as did it; but it was a black day for me and
+mine," said the dramatist, with a pathetic turn of voice.
+"Not as I'm casting no blame on you, as is well known to
+be&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind what I'm well known to be," said the
+Curate; "the other day you thought <i>I</i> was the villain. If
+you can tell me anything you want me to do, I will
+understand that&mdash;but I am not desirous to know your
+opinion of me," said the careless young man. As he stood
+listening impatiently, pausing a second time, Dr
+Marjoribanks came out to his door and stepped into his
+brougham to go off to his morning round of visits. The
+Doctor took off his hat when he saw the Curate, and waved
+it to him cheerfully with a gesture of congratulation. Dr
+Marjoribanks was quite stanch and honest, and would
+have manfully stood by his intimates in dangerous circumstances;
+but somehow he preferred success. It was
+pleasanter to be able to congratulate people than to condole
+with them. He preferred it, and nobody could object to so
+orthodox a sentiment. Most probably, if Mr Wentworth
+had still been in partial disgrace, the Doctor would not
+have seen him in his easy glance down the road; but
+though Mr Wentworth was aware of that, the mute
+congratulation had yet its effect upon him. He was moved
+by that delicate symptom of how the wind was blowing in
+Carlingford, and forgot all about Elsworthy, though the
+man was standing by his side.</p>
+
+<p>"As you're so good as to take it kind, sir," said the clerk
+of St Roque's&mdash;"and, as I was a-saying, it's well known as
+you're always ready to hear a poor man's tale&mdash;perhaps
+you'd let bygones be bygones, and not make no difference?
+That wasn't all, Mr Wentworth," he continued eagerly, as
+the Curate gave an impatient nod, and turned to go on.
+"I've heard as this villain is rich, sir, by means of robbing
+of his own flesh and blood;&mdash;but it aint for me to trust to
+what folks says, after the experience I've had, and never
+can forgive myself for being led away," said Elsworthy;
+"it's well known in Carlingford&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"For heaven's sake come to the point and be done with
+it," said the Curate. "What is it you want me to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said Elsworthy, solemnly, "you're a real gentleman,
+and you don't bear no malice for what was a mistake&mdash;and
+you aint one to turn your back on an unfortunate
+family&mdash;and Mr Wentworth, sir, you aint a-going to stand
+by and see me and mine wronged, as have always wished
+you well. If we can't get justice of him, we can get
+damages," cried Elsworthy. "He aint to be let off as if he'd
+done no harm&mdash;and seeing as it was along of you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, sir!" cried the Curate. "I have
+nothing to do with it. Keep out of my way, or at least learn
+to restrain your tongue. No more, not a word more," said
+the young man, indignantly. He went off with such a
+sweep and wind of anger and annoyance, that the slower
+and older complainant had no chance to follow him.
+Elsworthy accordingly went off to the shop, where his
+errand-boys were waiting for the newspapers, and where
+Rosa lay up-stairs, weeping, in a dark room, where her
+enraged aunt had shut her up. Mrs Elsworthy had shut up
+the poor little pretty wretch, who might have been penitent
+under better guidance, but who by this time had lost what
+sense of shame and wrong her childish conscience was
+capable of in the stronger present sense of injury and
+resentment and longing to escape; but the angry aunt,
+though she could turn the key on poor Rosa's unfortunate
+little person, could not shut in the piteous sobs which now
+and then sounded through and through the house, and
+which converted all the errand-boys without exception into
+indignant partisans of Rosa, and even moved the heart of
+Peter Hayles, who could hear them at the back window
+where he was making up Dr Marjoribanks's prescriptions.
+As the sense of injury waxed stronger and stronger in
+Rosa's bosom, she availed herself, like any other irrational,
+irresponsible creature, of such means of revenging herself
+and annoying her keepers as occurred to her. "Nobody
+ever took no care of me," sobbed Rosa. "I never had no
+father or mother. Oh, I wish I was dead!&mdash;and nobody
+wouldn't care!" These utterances, it may be imagined,
+went to the very heart of the errand-boys, who were
+collected in a circle, plotting how to release Rosa, when
+Elsworthy, mortified and furious, came back from his
+unsuccessful assault on the Curate. They scattered like a
+covey of little birds before the angry man, who tossed
+their papers at them, and then strode up the echoing
+stairs. "If you don't hold your d&mdash;&mdash;d tongue," said Elsworthy,
+knocking furiously at Rosa's door, "I'll turn you to the
+door this instant, I will, by&mdash;." Nobody in Carlingford
+had ever before heard an oath issue from the respectable
+lips of the clerk of St Roque's. When he went down into
+the shop again, the outcries sank into frightened moans.
+Not much wonder that the entire neighbourhood became
+as indignant with Elsworthy as it ever had been with the
+Perpetual Curate. The husband and wife took up their
+positions in the shop after this, as far apart as was possible
+from each other, both resenting in silent fury the wrong
+which the world in general had done them. If Mrs
+Elsworthy had dared, she would have exhausted her
+passion in abuse of everybody&mdash;of the Curate for not
+being guilty, of her husband for supposing him to be so,
+and, to be sure, of Rosa herself, who was the cause of all.
+But Elsworthy was dangerous, not to be approached or
+spoken to. He went out about noon to see John Brown,
+and discuss with him the question of damages; but the
+occurrences which took place in his absence are not to be
+mixed up with the present narrative, which concerns Mr
+Frank Wentworth's visit to Lucy Wodehouse, and has
+nothing to do with ignoble hates or loves.</p>
+
+<p>The Curate went rapidly on to the green door, which
+once more looked like a gate of paradise. He did not know
+in the least what he was going to do or say&mdash;he was only
+conscious of a state of exaltation, a condition of mind
+which might precede great happiness or great misery, but
+had nothing in it of the common state of affairs in which
+people ask each other "How do you do?" Notwithstanding,
+<ins title="reads that">the</ins> fact is, that when Lucy entered that dear familiar
+drawing-room, where every feature and individual
+expression of every piece of furniture was as well known
+to him as if they had been so many human faces, it was
+only "How do you do?" that the Curate found himself able
+to say. The two shook hands as demurely as if Lucy had
+indeed been, according to the deceptive representation of
+yesterday, as old as aunt Dora; and then she seated
+herself in her favourite chair, and tried to begin a little
+conversation about things in general. Even in these three
+days, nature and youth had done something for Lucy. She
+had slept and rested, and the unforeseen misfortune which
+had come in to distract her grief had roused all the natural
+strength that was in her. As she was a little nervous about
+this interview, not knowing what it might end in, Lucy
+thought it her duty to be as composed and self-commanding
+as possible, and, in order to avoid all dangerous and
+exciting subjects, began to talk of Wharfside.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not heard anything for three or four days about
+the poor woman at No. 10," she said; "I meant to have
+gone to see her to-day, but somehow one gets so selfish
+when&mdash;when one's mind is full of affairs of one's own."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Curate; "and speaking of that, I wanted
+to tell you how much comfort your letter had been to me.
+My head, too, has been very full of affairs of my own. I
+thought at one time that my friends were forsaking me. It
+was very good of you to write as you did."</p>
+
+<p>Upon which there followed another little pause.
+"Indeed the goodness was all on your side," said Lucy,
+faltering. "If I had ever dreamt how much you were doing
+for us! but it all came upon me so suddenly. It is impossible
+ever to express in words one-half of the gratitude we owe
+you," she said, with restrained enthusiasm. She looked up
+at him as she spoke with a little glow of natural fervour,
+which brought the colour to her cheek and the moisture to
+her eyes. She was not of the disposition to give either
+thanks or confidence by halves; and even the slight not
+unpleasant sense of danger which gave piquancy to this
+interview, made her resolute to express herself fully. She
+would not suffer herself to stint her gratitude because of
+the sweet suspicion which would not be quite silenced,
+that possibly Mr Wentworth looked for something better
+than gratitude. Not for any consequences, however much
+they might be to be avoided, could she be shabby enough
+to refrain from due acknowledgment of devotion so great.
+Therefore, while the Perpetual Curate was doing all he
+could to remind himself of his condition, and to persuade
+himself that it would be utterly wrong and mean of him to
+speak, Lucy looked up at him, looked him in the face,
+with her blue eyes shining dewy and sweet through tears
+of gratitude and a kind of generous admiration; for, like
+every other woman, she felt herself exalted and filled with
+a delicious pride in seeing that the man of her unconscious
+choice had proved himself the best.</p>
+
+<p>The Curate walked to the window, very much as Mr
+Proctor had done, in the tumult and confusion of his heart,
+and came back again with what he had to say written clear
+on his face, without any possibility of mistake. "I must
+speak," said the young man; "I have no right to speak, I
+know; if I had attained the height of self-sacrifice and self-denial,
+I might, I would be silent&mdash;but it is impossible
+now." He came to a break just then, looking at her to see
+what encouragement he had to go on; but as Lucy did
+nothing but listen and grow pale, he had to take his own
+way. "What I have to say is not anything new," said the
+Curate, labouring a little in his voice, as was inevitable
+when affairs had come to such a crisis, "if I were not in the
+cruelest position possible to a man. I have only an empty
+love to lay at your feet; I tell it to you only because I am
+obliged&mdash;because, after all, love is worth telling, even if it
+comes to nothing. I am not going to appeal to your
+generosity," continued the young man, kneeling down at
+the table, not by way of kneeling to Lucy, but by way of
+bringing himself on a level with her, where she sat with
+her head bent down on her low chair, "or to ask you to
+bind yourself to a man who has nothing in the world but
+love to offer you; but after what has been for years, after
+all the hours I have spent here, I cannot&mdash;part&mdash;I cannot
+let you go&mdash;without a word&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>And here he stopped short. He had not asked anything,
+so that Lucy, even had she been able, had nothing to
+answer; and as for the young lover himself, he seemed to
+have come to the limit of his eloquence. He kept waiting
+for a moment, gazing at her in breathless expectation of a
+response for which his own words had left no room. Then
+he rose in an indescribable tumult of disappointment and
+mortification&mdash;unable to conclude that all was over,
+unable to keep silence, yet not knowing what to say.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been obliged to close all the doors of advancement
+upon myself," said the Curate, with a little bitterness;
+"I don't know if you understand me. At this moment
+I have to deny myself the dearest privilege of existence.
+Don't mistake me, Lucy," he said, after another pause,
+coming back to her with humility, "I don't venture to say
+that you would have accepted anything I had to offer; but
+this I mean, that to have a home for you now&mdash;to have a
+life for you ready to be laid at your feet, whether you
+would have had it or not;&mdash;what right have I to speak of
+such delights?" cried the young man. "It does not matter
+to you; and as for me, I have patience&mdash;patience to
+console myself with&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Poor Lucy, though she was on the verge of tears, which
+nothing but the most passionate self-restraint could have
+kept in, could not help a passing sensation of amusement
+at these words. "Not too much of that either," she said,
+softly, with a tremulous smile. "But patience carries the
+lilies of the saints," said Lucy, with a touch of the sweet
+asceticism which had once been so charming to the young
+Anglican. It brought him back like a spell to the common
+ground on which they used to meet; it brought him back
+also to his former position on his knee, which was embarrassing
+to Lucy, though she had not the heart to draw
+back, nor even to withdraw her hand, which somehow
+happened to be in Mr Wentworth's way.</p>
+
+<p>"I am but a man," said the young lover. "I would rather
+have the roses of life&mdash;but, Lucy, I am only a perpetual
+curate," he continued, with her hand in his. Her answer
+was made in the most heartless and indifferent words. She
+let two big drops&mdash;which fell like hail, though they were
+warmer than any summer rain&mdash;drop out of her eyes, and
+she said, with lips that had some difficulty in enunciating
+that heartless sentiment, "I don't see what it matters to
+me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Which was true enough, though it did not sound encouraging;
+and it is dreadful to confess that, for a little
+while after, neither Skelmersdale, nor Wentworth, nor Mr
+Proctor's new rectory, nor the no-income of the Perpetual
+Curate of St Roque's, had the smallest place in the
+thoughts of either of these perfectly inconsiderate young
+people. For half an hour they were an Emperor and
+Empress seated upon two thrones, to which all the world
+was subject; and when at the end of that time they began
+to remember the world, it was but to laugh at it in their
+infinite youthful superiority. Then it became apparent
+that to remain in Carlingford, to work at "the district," to
+carry out all the ancient intentions of well-doing which had
+been the first bond between them, was, after all, the life of
+lives;&mdash;which was the state of mind they had both arrived
+at when Miss Wodehouse, who thought they had been too
+long together under the circumstances, and could not help
+wondering what Mr Wentworth could be saying, came into
+the room, rather flurried in her own person. She thought
+Lucy must have been telling the Curate about Mr Proctor
+and his hopes, and was, to tell the truth, a little curious
+how Mr Wentworth would take it, and a little&mdash;the very
+least&mdash;ashamed of encountering his critical looks. The
+condition of mind into which Miss Wodehouse was thrown
+when she perceived the real state of affairs would be
+difficult to describe. She was very glad and very sorry,
+and utterly puzzled how they were to live; and underneath
+all these varying emotions was a sudden, half-ludicrous,
+half-humiliating sense of being cast into the shade, which
+made Mr Proctor's <i>fianc&eacute;e</i> laugh and made her cry, and
+brought her down altogether off the temporary pedestal
+upon which she had stepped, not without a little feminine
+satisfaction. When a woman is going to be married,
+especially if that marriage falls later than usual, it is
+natural that she should expect, for that time at least, to be
+the first and most prominent figure in her little circle. But,
+alas! what chance could there be for a mild, dove-coloured
+bride of forty beside a creature of half her age, endued
+with all the natural bloom and natural interest of youth?</p>
+
+<p>Miss Wodehouse could not quite make out her own
+feelings on the subject. "Don't you think if you had waited
+a little it would have been wiser?" she said, in her timid
+way; and then kissed her young sister, and said, "I am
+so glad, my darling&mdash;I am sure dear papa would have
+been pleased," with a sob which brought back to Lucy the
+grief from which she had for the moment escaped. Under
+all the circumstances, however, it may well be supposed
+that it was rather hard upon Mr Wentworth to recollect
+that he had engaged to return to luncheon with the Squire,
+and to prepare himself after this momentous morning's
+work, to face all the complications of the family, where
+still Skelmersdale and Wentworth were hanging in the
+balance, and where the minds of his kith and kin were
+already too full of excitement to leave much room for
+another event. He went away reluctantly enough out of
+the momentary paradise where his Perpetual Curacy was
+a matter of utter indifference, if not a tender pleasantry,
+which rather increased than diminished the happiness of
+the moment&mdash;into the ordinary daylight world, where it
+was a very serious matter, and where what the young
+couple would have to live upon became the real question
+to be considered. Mr Wentworth met Wodehouse as he
+went out, which did not mend matters. The vagabond was
+loitering about in the garden, attended by one of Elsworthy's
+errand-boys, with whom he was in earnest conversation,
+and stopped in his talk to give a sulky nod and
+"Good morning," to which the Curate had no desire to
+respond more warmly than was necessary. Lucy was
+thinking of nothing but himself, and perhaps a little of the
+"great work" at Wharfside, which her father's illness and
+death had interrupted; but Mr Wentworth, who was only a
+man, remembered that Tom Wodehouse would be his
+brother-in-law with a distinct sensation of disgust, even in
+the moment of his triumph&mdash;which is one instance of the
+perennial inequality between the two halves of mankind.
+He had to brace himself up to the encounter of all his
+people, while she had to meet nothing less delightful than
+her own dreams. This was how matters came to an issue in
+respect of Frank Wentworth's personal happiness. His
+worldly affairs were all astray as yet, and he had not the
+most distant indication of any gleam of light dawning upon
+the horizon which could reconcile his duty and honour
+with good fortune and the delights of life. Meanwhile
+other discussions were going on in Carlingford, of vital
+importance to the two young people who had made up
+their minds to cast themselves upon Providence. And
+among the various conversations which were being carried
+on about the same moment in respect to Mr Wentworth&mdash;whose
+affairs, as was natural, were extensively canvassed
+in Grange Lane, as well as in other less exclusive quarters&mdash;it
+would be wrong to omit a remarkable consultation
+which took place in the Rectory, where Mrs Morgan sat in
+the midst of the great bouquets of the drawing-room
+carpet, making up her first matrimonial difficulty. It
+would be difficult to explain what influence the drawing-room
+carpet in the Rectory had on the fortunes of the
+Perpetual Curate; but when Mr Wentworth's friends come
+to hear the entire outs and ins of the business, it will be
+seen that it was not for nothing that Mr Proctor covered
+the floor of that pretty apartment with roses and lilies half
+a yard long.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="smallcaps">These</span> were eventful days in Grange Lane, when gossip
+was not nearly rapid enough to follow the march of events.
+When Mr Wentworth went to lunch with his family, the
+two sisters kept together in the drawing-room, which
+seemed again re-consecrated to the purposes of life. Lucy
+had not much inclination just at that moment to move out
+of her chair; she was not sociable, to tell the truth, nor
+disposed to talk even about the new prospects which were
+brightening over both. She even took out her needlework,
+to the disgust of her sister. "When there are so many
+things to talk about, and so much to be considered," Miss
+Wodehouse said, with a little indignation; and wondered
+within herself whether Lucy was really insensible to "what
+had happened," or whether the sense of duty was strong
+upon her little sister even in the height of her happiness. A
+woman of greater experience or discrimination might have
+perceived that Lucy had retired into that sacred silence,
+sweetest of all youthful privileges, in which she could
+dream over to herself the wonderful hour which had just
+come to an end, and the fair future of which it was the
+gateway. As for Miss Wodehouse herself, she was in a
+flutter, and could not get over the sense of haste and
+confusion which this last new incident had brought upon
+her. Things were going too fast around her, and the timid
+woman was out of breath. Lucy's composure at such a
+moment, and, above all, the production of her needlework,
+was beyond the comprehension of the elder sister.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," said Miss Wodehouse, with an effort, "I
+don't doubt that these poor people are badly off, and I am
+sure it is very good of you to work for them; but if you will
+only think how many things there are to do! My darling, I
+am afraid you will have to&mdash;to make your own dresses in
+future, which is what I never thought to see," she said,
+putting her handkerchief to her eyes; "and we have not
+had any talk about anything, Lucy, and there are so many
+things to think of!" Miss Wodehouse, who was moving
+about the room as she spoke, began to lift her own books
+and special property off the centre table. The books were
+principally ancient Annuals in pretty bindings, which no
+representation on Lucy's part could induce her to think
+out of date; and among her other possessions was a little
+desk in Indian mosaic, of ivory, which had been an
+institution in the house from Lucy's earliest recollection.
+"And these are yours, Lucy dear," said Miss Wodehouse,
+standing up on a chair to take down from the wall two little
+pictures which hung side by side. They were copies both,
+and neither of great value; one representing the San Sisto
+Madonna, and the other a sweet St Agnes, whom Lucy
+had in her earlier days taken to her heart. Lucy's slumbering
+attention was roused by this sacrilegious act. She gave
+a little scream, and dropped her work out of her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What do I mean?" said Miss Wodehouse; "indeed,
+Lucy dear, we must look it in the face. It is not our
+drawing-room any longer, you know." Here she made a
+pause, and sighed; but somehow a vision of the other
+drawing-room which was awaiting her in the new rectory,
+made the prospect less doleful than it might have been.
+She cleared up in a surprising way as she turned to look at
+her own property on the table. "My cousin Jack gave me
+this," said the gentle woman, brushing a little dust off her
+pretty desk. "When it came first, there was nothing like it
+in Carlingford, for that was before Colonel Chiley and
+those other Indian people had settled here. Jack was
+rather fond of me in those days, you know, though I never
+cared for him," the elder sister continued, with a smile.
+"Poor fellow! they said he was not very happy when he
+married." Though this was rather a sad fact, Miss Wodehouse
+announced it not without a certain gentle satisfaction.
+"And, Lucy dear, it is our duty to put aside our own
+things; they were all presents, you know," she said, standing
+up on the chair again to reach down the St Agnes,
+which, ever since Lucy had been confirmed, had hung
+opposite to her on the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't, don't!" cried Lucy. In that little bit of time,
+not more than five minutes as it appeared, the familiar
+room, which had just heard the romance of her youth, had
+come to have a dismantled and desolate look. The agent of
+this destruction, who saw in her mind's eye a new scene,
+altogether surpassing the old, looked complacently upon
+her work, and piled the abstracted articles on the top of
+each other, with a pleasant sense of property.</p>
+
+<p>"And your little chair and work-table are yours," said
+Miss Wodehouse; "they were always considered yours.
+You worked the chair yourself, though perhaps Miss
+Gibbons helped you a little; and the table you know, was
+sent home the day you were eighteen. It was&mdash;a present,
+you remember. Don't cry, my darling, don't cry; oh, I am
+sure I did not mean anything!" cried Miss Wodehouse,
+putting down the St Agnes and flying to her sister, about
+whom she threw her arms. "My hands are all dusty,
+dear," said the repentant woman; "but you know, Lucy,
+we must look it in the face, for it is not our drawing-room
+now. Tom may come in any day and say&mdash;oh, dear, dear,
+here is some one coming up-stairs!"</p>
+
+<p>Lucy extricated herself from her sister's arms when
+she heard footsteps outside. "If it is anybody who has a
+right to come, I suppose we are able to receive them," she
+said, and sat erect over her needlework, with a changed
+countenance, not condescending so much as to look
+towards the door.</p>
+
+<p>"But what if it should be Tom? Oh, Lucy dear, don't be
+uncivil to him," said the elder sister. Miss Wodehouse
+even made a furtive attempt to replace the things, in
+which she was indignantly stopped by Lucy. "But, my
+dear, perhaps it is Tom," said the alarmed woman, and
+sank trembling into a chair against the St Agnes, which
+had just been deposited there.</p>
+
+<p>"It does not matter who it is," said Lucy, with dignity.
+For her own part, she felt too much aggrieved to mention
+his name&mdash;aggrieved by her own ignorance, by the
+deception that had been practised upon her, by the character
+of the man whom she was obliged to call her brother,
+and chiefly by his existence, which was the principal
+grievance of all. Lucy's brief life had been embellished,
+almost ever since she had been capable of independent
+action, by deeds and thoughts of mercy. With her whole
+heart she was a disciple of Him who came to seek the lost;
+notwithstanding, a natural human sentiment in her heart
+protested against the existence of this man, who had
+brought shame and distress into the family without any act
+of theirs, and who injured everybody he came in contact
+with. When the thought of Rosa Elsworthy occurred to her,
+a burning blush came upon Lucy's cheek&mdash;why were such
+men permitted in God's world? To be sure, when she
+came to be aware of what she was thinking, Lucy felt
+guilty, and called herself a Pharisee, and said a prayer in
+her heart for the man who had upset all her cherished
+ideas of her family and home; but, after all, <i>that</i> was an
+after-thought, and did not alter her instinctive sense of
+repulsion and indignation. All this swept rapidly through
+her mind while she sat awaiting the entrance of the person
+or persons who were approaching the door. "If it is the&mdash;owner
+of the house, it will be best to tell him what things
+you mean to remove," said Lucy; and before Miss Wodehouse
+could answer, the door was opened. They started,
+however, to perceive not Wodehouse, but a personage of
+very different appearance, who came in with an easy air
+of polite apology, and looked at them with eyes which
+recalled to Lucy the eyes which had been gazing into her
+own scarcely an hour ago. "Pardon me," said this
+unlooked-for visitor; "your brother, Miss Wodehouse,
+finds some difficulty in explaining himself to relations from
+whom he has been separated so long. Not to interfere with
+family privacy, will you let me assist at the conference?"
+said Jack Wentworth. "My brother, I understand, is a
+friend of yours, and your brother&mdash;is a&mdash;hem&mdash;friend of
+mine," the diplomatist added, scarcely able to avoid
+making a wry face over the statement. Wodehouse came
+in behind, looking an inch or two taller for that acknowledgment,
+and sat down, confronting his sisters, who
+were standing on the defensive. The heir, too, had a
+strong sense of property, as was natural, and the disarrangement
+of the room struck him in that point of view,
+especially as Miss Wodehouse continued to prop herself
+up against the St Agnes in the back of her chair. Wodehouse
+looked from the wall to the table, and saw what
+appeared to him a clear case of intended spoliation. "By
+Jove! they didn't mean to go empty-handed," said the
+vagabond, who naturally judged according to his own
+standard, and knew no better. Upon which Lucy, rising
+with youthful state and dignity, took the explanation upon
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not see why we should have the mortification of a
+spectator," said Lucy, who already, having been engaged
+three-quarters of an hour, felt deeply disinclined to reveal
+the weak points of her own family to the inspection of the
+Wentworths. "All that there is to explain can be done very
+simply. Thank you, I will not sit down. Up to this time we
+may be allowed to imagine ourselves in our own&mdash;in our
+father's house. What we have to say is simple enough."</p>
+
+<p>"But pardon me, my dear Miss Wodehouse&mdash;" said
+Jack Wentworth.</p>
+
+<p>"My sister is Miss Wodehouse," said Lucy. "What there
+is to settle had better be arranged with our&mdash;our brother.
+If he will tell us precisely when he wishes us to go away,
+we shall be ready. Mary is going to be married," she went
+on, turning round so as to face Wodehouse, and addressing
+him pointedly, though she did not look at him&mdash;to the
+exclusion of Jack, who, experienced man as he was, felt
+disconcerted, and addressed himself with more precaution
+to a task which was less easy than he supposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lucy!" cried Miss Wodehouse, with a blush
+worthy of eighteen. It was perhaps the first time that the
+fact had been so broadly stated, and the sudden
+announcement made before two men overwhelmed the
+timid woman. Then she was older than Lucy, and had
+picked up in the course of her career one or two inevitable
+scraps of experience, and she could not but wonder with a
+momentary qualm what Mr Proctor might think of his
+brother-in-law. Lucy, who thought Mr Proctor only too well
+off, went on without regarding her sister's exclamation.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know when the marriage is to be&mdash;I don't
+suppose they have fixed it yet," said Lucy; "but it appears
+to me that it would save us all some trouble if we were
+allowed to remain until that time. I do not mean to ask any
+favour," she said, with a little more sharpness and less
+dignity. "We could pay rent for that matter, if&mdash;if it were
+desired. She is your sister," said Lucy, suddenly looking
+Wodehouse in the face, "as well as mine. I daresay she
+has done as much for you as she has for me. I don't ask
+any favour for her&mdash;but I would cut off my little finger if
+that would please her," cried the excited young woman,
+with a wildness of illustration so totally out of keeping with
+the matter referred to, that Miss Wodehouse, in the midst
+of her emotion, could scarcely restrain a scream of terror;
+"and you too might be willing to do something; you cannot
+have any kind of feeling for me," Lucy continued, recovering
+herself; "but you might perhaps have some feeling
+for Mary. If we can be permitted to remain until her
+marriage takes place, it may perhaps bring about&mdash;a
+feeling&mdash;more like&mdash;relations; and I shall be able to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive you," Lucy was about to say, but fortunately
+stopped herself in time; for it was the fact of his existence
+that she had to forgive, and naturally such an amount of
+toleration was difficult to explain. As for Wodehouse himself,
+he listened to this appeal with very mingled feelings.
+Some natural admiration and liking woke in his dull mind
+as Lucy spoke. He was not destitute of good impulses, nor
+of the ordinary human affections. His little sister was
+pretty, and a lady, and clever enough to put Jack Wentworth
+much more in the background than usual. He said,
+"By Jove" to himself three or four times over in his beard,
+and showed a little emotion when she said he could have
+no feeling for her. At that point of Lucy's address he
+moved about uneasily in his chair, and plucked at his
+beard, and felt himself anything but comfortable. "By
+Jove! I never had a chance," the prodigal said, in his
+undertone. "I might have cared a deal for her if I had had
+a chance. She might have done a fellow good, by Jove!"
+mutterings of which Lucy took no manner of notice, but
+proceeded with her speech. When she had ended, and it
+became apparent that an answer was expected of him,
+Wodehouse flushed all over with the embarrassment of
+the position. He cleared his throat, he shifted his eyes,
+which were embarrassed by Lucy's gaze, he pushed his
+chair from the table, and made various attempts to collect
+himself, but at last ended by a pitiful appeal to Jack
+Wentworth, who had been looking seriously on. "You
+might come to a fellow's assistance!" cried Wodehouse.
+"By Jove! it was for that you came here."</p>
+
+<p>"The Miss Wodehouses evidently prefer to communicate
+with their brother direct," said Jack Wentworth,
+"which is a very natural sentiment. If I interfere, it is
+simply because I have had the advantage of talking the
+matter over, and understanding a little of what you mean.
+Miss Wodehouse, your brother is not disposed to act the
+part of a domestic tyrant. He has come here to offer you
+the house, which must have so many tender associations
+for you, not for a short period, as you wish, but for&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know she was going to be married!" exclaimed
+Wodehouse&mdash;"that makes all the difference, by Jove!
+Lucy will marry fast enough; but as for Mary, I never
+thought she would hook any one at her time of life," said
+the vagabond, with a rude laugh. He turned to Lucy, not
+knowing any better, and with some intention of pleasing
+her; but being met by a look of indignation under which he
+faltered, he went back to his natural r&ocirc;le of sulky insolence.
+"By Jove! when I gave in to make such an offer, I
+never thought she had a chance of getting married," said
+the heir. "I aint going to give what belongs to me to another
+man&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Your brother wishes," said Jack Wentworth, calmly,
+"to make over the house and furniture as it stands to you
+and your sister, Miss Wodehouse. Of course it is not to be
+expected that he should be sorry to get his father's
+property; but he is sorry that there should be no&mdash;no
+provision for you. He means that you should have the
+house&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But I never thought she was going to be married, by
+Jove!" protested the rightful owner. "Look here, Molly;
+you shall have the furniture. The house would sell for a
+good bit of money. I tell you, Wentworth&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Jack Wentworth did not move from the mantlepiece
+where he was standing, but he cast a glance upon his
+unlucky follower which froze the words on his lips. "My
+good fellow, you are quite at liberty to decline my
+mediation in your affairs. Probably you can manage them
+better your own way," said Wodehouse's hero. "I can only
+beg the Miss Wodehouses to pardon my intrusion." Jack
+Wentworth's first step towards the door let loose a flood of
+nameless terrors upon the soul of his victim. If he were
+abandoned by his powerful protector, what would become
+of him? His very desire of money, and the avarice which
+prompted him to grudge making any provision for his
+sisters, was, after all, not real avarice, but the spendthrift's
+longing for more to spend. The house which he was
+sentenced to give up represented not so much gold and
+silver, but so many pleasures, fine dinners, and bad
+company. He could order the dinners by himself, it is
+true, and get men like himself to eat them; but the fine
+people&mdash;the men who had once been fine, and who still
+retained a certain tarnished glory&mdash;were, so far as Wodehouse
+was concerned, entirely in Jack Wentworth's keeping.
+He made a piteous appeal to his patron as the great
+man turned to go away.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see what good it can do <i>you</i> to rob a poor
+fellow!" cried Wodehouse. "But look here, I aint going to
+turn against your advice. I'll give it them, by Jove, for life&mdash;that
+is, for Mary's life," said the munificent brother.
+"She's twenty years older than Lucy&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you dare to subject us to such insults?" cried
+the indignant Lucy, whose little hand clenched involuntarily
+in her passion. She had a great deal of self-control,
+but she was not quite equal to such an emergency; and it
+was all she could do to keep from stamping her foot, which
+was the only utterance of rage possible to a gentlewoman
+in her position. "I would rather see my father's house
+desecrated by you living in it," she cried, passionately,
+"than accept it as a gift from your hands. Mary, we are not
+obliged to submit to this. Let us rather go away at once. I
+will not remain in the same room with this man!" cried
+Lucy. She was so overwhelmed with her unwonted
+passion that she lost all command of the position, and even
+of herself, and was false for the moment to all her sweet
+codes of womanly behaviour. "How dare you, sir!" she
+cried in the sudden storm for which nobody was prepared.
+"We will remove the things belonging to us, with which
+nobody has any right to interfere, and we will leave
+immediately. Mary, come with me!" When she had said
+this, Lucy swept out of the room, pale as a little fury, and
+feeling in her heart a savage female inclination to strike
+Jack Wentworth, who opened the door for her, with her
+little white clenched hand. Too much excited to remark
+whether her sister had followed her, Lucy ran up-stairs to
+her room, and there gave way to the inevitable tears.
+Coming to herself after that was a terribly humbling
+process to the little Anglican. She had never fallen into a
+"passion" before that she knew of, certainly never since
+nursery times; and often enough her severe serene girlhood
+had looked reproving and surprised upon the tumults
+of Prickett's Lane, awing the belligerents into at least temporary
+silence. Now poor Lucy sat and cried over her
+downfall; she had forgotten herself; she had been conscious
+of an inclination to stamp, to scold, even to strike,
+in the vehemence of her indignation; and she was utterly
+overpowered by the thought of her guiltiness. "The very
+first temptation!" she said to herself; and made terrible
+reflections upon her own want of strength and endurance.
+To-day, too, of all days, when God had been so good to
+her! "If I yield to the first temptation like this, how shall I
+ever endure to the end?" cried Lucy, and in her heart
+thought, with a certain longing, of the sacrament of
+penance, and tried to think what she could do that would
+be most disagreeable, to the mortifying of the flesh. Perhaps
+if she had possessed a more lively sense of humour,
+another view of the subject might have struck Lucy; but
+humour, fortunately for the unity of human sentiment, is
+generally developed at a later period of life, and Lucy's fit
+of passion only made her think with greater tenderness
+and toleration of her termagants in Prickett's Lane.</p>
+
+<p>The three who were left down-stairs were in their
+different ways impressed by Lucy's passion. Jack Wentworth,
+being a man of humour and cultivation, was
+amused, but respectful, as having still a certain faculty of
+appreciating absolute purity when he saw it. As for Wodehouse,
+he gave another rude laugh, but was cowed, in
+spite of himself, and felt involuntarily what a shabby
+wretch he was, recognising that fact more impressively
+from the contempt of Lucy's pale face than he could have
+done through hours of argument. Miss Wodehouse, for her
+part, though very anxious and nervous, was not without
+an interest in the question under discussion. <i>She</i> was not
+specially horrified by her brother, or anything he could
+say or do. He was Tom to her&mdash;a boy with whom she had
+once played, and whom she had shielded with all her
+sisterly might in his first transgressions. She had suffered a
+great deal more by his means than Lucy could ever suffer,
+and consequently was more tolerant of him. She kept her
+seat with the St Agnes in the chair behind, and watched
+the course of events with anxious steadiness. She did not
+care for money any more than Lucy did; but she could not
+help thinking it would be very pleasant if she could
+produce one good action on "poor Tom's" part to plead for
+him against any possible criticisms of the future. Miss
+Wodehouse was old enough to know that her Rector was
+not an ideal hero, but an ordinary man, and it was quite
+possible that he might point a future moral now and then
+with "that brother of yours, my dear." The elder sister
+waited accordingly, with her heart beating quick, to know
+the decision, very anxious that she might have at least one
+generous deed to record to the advantage of poor Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we are quite decided on the point," said Jack
+Wentworth. "Knowing your sentiments, Wodehouse, I
+left directions with Waters about the papers. I think you
+will find him to be trusted, Miss Wodehouse, if you wish to
+consult him about letting or selling&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove!" exclaimed Wodehouse, under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Which, I suppose," continued the superb Jack, "you
+will wish to do under the pleasant circumstances, upon
+which I beg to offer you my congratulations. Now, Tom,
+my good fellow, I am at your service. I think we have
+done our business here."</p>
+
+<p>Wodehouse got up in his sulky reluctant way like a lazy
+dog. "I suppose you won't try to move the furniture now?"
+he said. These were the only adieux he intended to make,
+and perhaps they might have been expressed with still less
+civility, had not Jack Wentworth been standing waiting
+for him at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Tom! I am so thankful you have done it!" cried
+Miss Wodehouse. "It is not that I care for the money; but
+oh, Tom, I am so glad to think nobody can say anything
+now." She followed them wistfully to the door, not giving
+up hopes of a kinder parting. "I think it is very kind and
+nice of you, and what dear papa would have wished," said
+the elder sister, forgetting how all her father's plans had
+been brought to nothing; "and of course you will live here
+all the same?" she said, with a little eagerness, "that is, till&mdash;till&mdash;as
+long as we are here&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, Miss Wodehouse," said Jack Wentworth.
+"I don't think either your brother or I will stay much
+longer in Carlingford. You must accept my best wishes for
+your happiness all the same."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind, I am sure," said the embarrassed
+bride; "and oh, Tom, you will surely say good-bye? Say
+good-bye once as if you meant it; don't go away as if you
+did not care. Tom, I always was very fond of you; and
+don't you feel a little different to us, now you've done us a
+kindness?" cried Miss Wodehouse, going out after him to
+the landing-place. But Wodehouse was in no humour to be
+gracious. Instead of paying any attention to her, he looked
+regretfully at the property he had lost.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye," he said, vaguely. "By Jove! I know better
+than Jack Wentworth does the value of property. We
+might have had a jolly month at Homburg out of that old
+place," said the prodigal, with regret, as he went down the
+old-fashioned oak stair. That was his farewell to the house
+which he had entered so disastrously on the day of his
+father's funeral. He followed his leader with a sulky
+aspect through the garden, not venturing to disobey, but
+yet feeling the weight of his chains. And this was how
+Wodehouse accomplished his personal share in the gift to
+his sisters, of which Miss Wodehouse told everybody that
+it was "so good of Tom!"</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">Going</span> to be married!" said the Squire; "and to a sister of&mdash;I
+thought you told me she was as old as Dora, Frank? I
+did not expect to meet with any further complications,"
+the old man said, plaintively: "of course you know very
+well I don't object to your marrying; but why on earth did
+you let me speak of Wentworth Rectory to Huxtable?"
+cried Mr Wentworth. He was almost more impatient
+about this new variety in the family circumstances than he
+had been of more serious family distresses. "God bless
+me, sir," said the Squire, "what do you mean by it? You
+take means to affront your aunts and lose Skelmersdale;
+and then you put it into my head to have Mary at
+Wentworth; and then you quarrel with the Rector, and get
+into hot water in Carlingford; and, to make an end of all,
+you coolly propose to an innocent young woman, and tell
+me you are going to marry&mdash;what on earth do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to marry some time, sir, I hope," said the
+Perpetual Curate, with more cheerfulness than he felt;
+"but not at the present moment. Of course we both know
+that is impossible. I should like you to come with me and
+see her before you leave Carlingford. She would like it,
+and so should I."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," said the Squire. Naturally, having been
+married so often himself, he could not refuse a certain
+response to such a call upon his sympathy. "I hope you
+have made a wise choice," said the experienced father,
+not without a sigh; "a great deal depends upon that&mdash;not
+only your own comfort, sir, but very often the character of
+your children and the credit of the family. You may
+laugh," said Mr Wentworth, to whom it was no laughing
+matter; "but long before you are as old as I am, you will
+know the truth of what I say. Your mother, Frank, was a
+specimen of what a woman ought to be&mdash;not to speak of
+her own children, there was nobody else who ever knew
+how to manage Gerald and Jack. Of course I am not
+speaking of Mrs Wentworth, who has her nursery to
+occupy her," said the Squire, apologetically. "I hope you
+have made a judicious choice."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, too," said Frank, who was somewhat
+amused by this view of the question&mdash;"though I am not
+aware of having exercised any special choice in the
+matter," he added, with a laugh. "However, I want you to
+come with me and see her, and then you will be able to
+judge for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire shook his head, and looked as if he had
+travelled back into the heavy roll of family distresses. "I
+don't mean to upbraid you, Frank," he said&mdash;"I daresay
+you have done what you thought was your duty&mdash;but I
+think you might have taken a little pains to satisfy your
+aunt Leonora. You see what Gerald has made of it, with
+all his decorations and nonsense. That is a dreadful drawback
+with you clergymen. You fix your eyes so on one
+point that you get to think things important that are not in
+the least important. Could you imagine a man of the world
+like Jack&mdash;he is not what I could wish, but still he is a man
+of the world," said the Squire, who was capable of contradicting
+himself with perfect composure without knowing
+it. "Can you imagine <i>him</i> risking his prospects for a bit of
+external decoration? I don't mind it myself," said Mr
+Wentworth, impartially&mdash;"I don't pretend to see, for my
+own part, why flowers at Easter should be considered
+more superstitious than holly at Christmas; but, bless my
+soul, sir, when your aunt thought so, what was the good of
+running right in her face for such a trifle? I never could
+understand you parsons," the Squire said, with an
+impatient sigh&mdash;"nobody, that I know of, ever considered
+me mercenary; but to ruin your own prospects, all for a
+trumpery bunch of flowers, and then to come and tell me
+you want to marry&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>This was before luncheon, when Frank and his father
+were together in the dining-room waiting for the other
+members of the family, who began to arrive at this
+moment, and prevented any further discussion. After all,
+perhaps, it was a little ungenerous of the Squire to press
+his son so hard on the subject of those innocent Easter
+lilies, long ago withered, which certainly, looked at from
+this distance, did not appear important enough to sacrifice
+any prospects for. This was all the harder upon the unfortunate
+Curate, as even at the time his conviction of
+their necessity had not proved equal to the satisfactory
+settlement of the question. Miss Wentworth's cook was an
+<i>artiste</i> so irreproachable that the luncheon provided was in
+itself perfect; but notwithstanding it was an uncomfortable
+meal. Miss Leonora, in consequence of the contest going
+on in her own mind, was in an explosive and highly
+dangerous condition, not safe to be spoken to; and as for
+the Squire, he could not restrain the chance utterances of
+his impatience. Frank, who did his best to make himself
+agreeable as magnanimity required, had the mortification
+of hearing himself discussed in different tones of disapprobation
+while he ate his cold beef; for Mr Wentworth's
+broken sentences were not long of putting the
+party in possession of the new event, and the Perpetual
+Curate found himself the object of many wondering and
+pitying glances, in none of which could he read pure
+sympathy, much less congratulation. Even Gerald looked
+at him with a little elevation of his eyebrows, as if wondering
+how anybody could take the trouble to occupy his
+mind with such trifling temporal affairs as love and
+marriage. It was a wonderful relief to the unfortunate
+Curate when Miss Leonora had finished her glass of
+madeira, and rose from the table. He had no inclination to
+go up-stairs, for his own part. "When you are ready, sir,
+you will find me in the garden," he said to his father, who
+was to leave Carlingford next morning, and whom he had
+set his heart on taking to see Lucy. But his walk in the
+garden was far from being delightful to Frank. It even
+occurred to him, for a moment, that it would be a very
+good thing if a man could cut himself adrift from his
+relations at such a crisis of his life. After all, it was his own
+business&mdash;the act most essentially personal of his entire
+existence; and then, with a little softening, he began to
+think of the girls at home&mdash;of the little sister, who had a
+love-story of her own; and of Letty, who was Frank's
+favourite, and had often confided to him the enthusiasm
+she would feel for his bride. "If she is nice," Letty was in
+the habit of adding, "and of course she will be nice,"&mdash;and
+at that thought the heart of the young lover escaped, and
+put forth its wings, and went off into that heaven of ideal
+excellence and beauty, more sweet, because more vague,
+than anything real, which stands instead of the old
+working-day skies and clouds at such a period of life. He
+had to drop down from a great height, and get rid in all
+haste of his celestial pinions, when he heard his aunt Dora
+calling him; and his self-command was not sufficient to
+conceal, as he obeyed that summons, a certain annoyed
+expression in his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank," said Miss Dora, coming softly after him with
+her handkerchief held over her head as a defence from the
+sun&mdash;"oh, Frank, I want to speak to you. I couldn't say
+anything at lunch because of everybody being there. If
+you would only stop a moment till I get my breath. Frank,
+my dear boy, I wish you joy. I do wish you joy with all my
+heart. I should so like just to go and kiss her, and tell
+her I shall love her for your sake."</p>
+
+<p>"You will soon love her for her own sake," said Frank,
+to whom even this simple-minded sympathy was very
+grateful; "she is a great deal better than I am."</p>
+
+<p>"There is just one thing," said Miss Dora. "Oh, Frank,
+my dear, you know I don't pretend to be clever, like
+Leonora, or able to give you advice; but there <i>is</i> one thing.
+You know you have nothing to marry upon, and all has
+gone wrong. You are not to have Wentworth, and you are
+not to have Skelmersdale, and I think the family is going
+out of its senses not to see who is the most worthy. You
+have got nothing to live upon, my dear, dear boy!" said
+Miss Dora, withdrawing the handkerchief from her head
+in the excitement of the moment to apply it to her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"That is true enough," said the Perpetual Curate; "but
+then we have not made up our minds that we must marry
+immediately&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Frank," said aunt Dora, with solemnity, breaking into
+his speech, "there is just <i>one</i> thing; and I can't hold my
+tongue, though it may be very foolish, and they will all say
+it is my fault." It was a very quiet summer-day, but still
+there was a faint rustle in the branches which alarmed the
+timid woman. She put her hand upon her nephew's arm,
+and hastened him on to the little summer-house in the
+wall, which was her special retirement. "Nobody ever
+comes here," said Miss Dora; "they will never think of
+looking for us here. I am sure I never interfere with
+Leonora's arrangements, nor take anything upon myself;
+but there is one thing, Frank&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Curate, "I understand what you mean:
+you are going to warn me about love in a cottage, and how
+foolish it would be to marry upon nothing; but, my dear
+aunt, we are not going to do anything rash; there is no such
+dreadful haste; don't be agitated about it," said the young
+man, with a smile. He was half amused and half irritated
+by the earnestness which almost took away the poor lady's
+breath.</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>don't</i> know what I mean," said aunt Dora. "Frank,
+you know very well I never interfere; but I can't help
+being agitated when I see you on the brink of such a
+precipice. Oh, my dear boy, don't be over-persuaded.
+There <i>is</i> one thing, and I must say it if I should die." She
+had to pause a little to recover her voice, for haste and
+excitement had a tendency to make her inarticulate.
+"Frank," said Miss Dora again, more solemnly than ever,
+"whatever you may be obliged to do&mdash;though you were to
+write novels, or take pupils, or do translations&mdash;oh,
+Frank, don't look at me like that, as if I was going crazy.
+Whatever you may have to do, oh my dear, there is one
+thing&mdash;don't go and break people's hearts, and put it off,
+and put it off, till it never happens!" cried the trembling
+little woman, with a sudden burst of tears. "Don't say you
+can wait, for you can't wait, and you oughtn't to!" sobbed
+Miss Dora. She subsided altogether into her handkerchief
+and her chair as she uttered this startling and wholly
+unexpected piece of advice, and lay there in a little heap,
+all dissolving and floating away, overcome with her great
+effort, while her nephew stood looking at her from a
+height of astonishment almost too extreme for wondering.
+If the trees could have found a voice and counselled his
+immediate marriage, he could scarcely have been more
+surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"You think I am losing my senses too," said aunt Dora;
+"but that is because you don't understand me. Oh Frank,
+my dear boy, there was once a time!&mdash;perhaps everybody
+has forgotten it except me, but I have not forgotten it.
+They treated me like a baby, and Leonora had everything
+her own way. I don't mean to say it was not for the best,"
+said the aggrieved woman. "I know everything is for the
+best, if we could but see it: and perhaps Leonora was right
+when she said I never could have struggled with&mdash;with a
+family, nor lived on a poor man's income. My dear, it was
+before your uncle Charley died; and when we became
+rich, it&mdash;didn't matter," said Miss Dora; "it was all over
+before then. Oh Frank! if I hadn't experience I wouldn't
+say a word. I don't interfere about your opinions, like
+Leonora. There is just <i>one</i> thing," cried the poor lady
+through her tears. Perhaps it was the recollection of the
+past which overcame Miss Dora, perhaps the force of
+habit which had made it natural for her to cry when she
+was much moved; but the fact is certain, that the Squire,
+when he came to the door of the summer-house in search
+of Frank, found his sister weeping bitterly, and his son
+making efforts to console her, in which some sympathy
+was mingled with a certain half-amusement. Frank, like
+Lucy, felt tempted to laugh at the elderly romance; and
+yet his heart expanded warmly to his tender little foolish
+aunt, who, after all, might once have been young and in
+love like himself, though it was so odd to realise it. Mr
+Wentworth, for his part, saw no humour whatever in the
+scene. He thought nothing less than that some fresh
+complication had taken place. Jack had committed some
+new enormity, or there was bad news from Charley in
+Malta, or unpleasant letters had come from home. "Bless
+my soul, sir, something new has happened," said the
+Squire; and he was scarcely reassured, when Miss Dora
+stumbled up from her chair in great confusion, and wiped
+the tears from her eyes. He was suspicious of this meeting
+in the summer-house, which seemed a quite unnecessary
+proceeding to Mr Wentworth; and though he flattered
+himself he understood women, he could not give any
+reasonable explanation to himself of Dora's tears.</p>
+
+<p>"It is nothing&mdash;nothing at all," said Miss Dora: "it was
+not Frank's doing in the least; he is always so considerate,
+and such a dear fellow. Thank you, my dear boy; my head
+is a little better; I think I will go in and lie down," said the
+unlucky aunt. "You are not to mind me now, for I have
+quite got over my little attack; I always was so nervous,"
+said Miss Dora; "and I sometimes wonder whether it isn't
+the Wentworth complaint coming on," she added, with a
+natural female artifice which was not without its effect.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would not talk nonsense," said the Squire.
+"The Wentworth complaint is nothing to laugh at, but
+you are perfectly aware that it never attacks women."
+Mr Wentworth spoke with a little natural irritation,
+displeased to have his prerogative interfered with. When
+a man has all the suffering attendant upon a special
+complaint, it is hard not to have all the dignity. He felt so
+much and so justly annoyed by Miss Dora's vain pretensions,
+that he forgot his anxiety about the secret conference
+in the summer-house. "Women take such fantastic
+ideas into their heads," he said to his son as they went
+away together. "Your aunt Dora is the kindest soul in the
+world; but now and then, sir, she is very absurd," said the
+Squire. He could not get this presumptuous notion out of
+his head, but returned to it again and again, even after
+they had got into Grange Lane. "It has been in our family
+for two hundred years," said Mr Wentworth; "and I don't
+think there is a single instance of its attacking a woman&mdash;not
+even slightly, sir," the Squire added, with irritation, as
+if Frank had taken the part of the female members of the
+family, which indeed the Curate had no thought of
+doing.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Dora, for her part, having made this very successful
+diversion, escaped to the house, and to her own room,
+where she indulged in a headache all the afternoon, and
+certain tender recollections which were a wonderful resource
+at all times to the soft-hearted woman. "Oh, my
+dear boy, don't be over-persuaded," she had whispered
+into Frank's ear as she left him; and her remonstrance,
+simple as it was, had no doubt produced a considerable
+effect upon the mind of the Perpetual Curate. He could
+not help thinking, as they emerged into the road, that it
+was chiefly the impatient and undutiful who secured their
+happiness. Those who were constant and patient, and able
+to deny themselves, instead of being rewarded for their
+higher qualities, were, on the contrary, put to the full test
+of the strength that was in them; while those who would
+not wait attained what they wanted, and on the whole, as
+to other matters, got on just as well as their stronger-minded
+neighbours. This germ of thought, it may be
+supposed, was stimulated into very warm life by the
+reflection that Lucy would have to leave Carlingford with
+her sister, without any definite prospect of returning
+again; and a certain flush of impatience came over the
+young man, not unnatural in the circumstances. It seemed
+to him that everybody else took their own way without
+waiting; and why should it be so certain that he alone,
+whose "way" implied harm to no one, should be the only
+man condemned to wait? Thus it will be seen that the "just
+one thing" insisted on by Miss Dora was far from being
+without effect on the mind of her nephew; upon whom,
+indeed, the events of the morning had wrought various
+changes of sentiment. When he walked up Grange Lane
+for the first time, it had been without any acknowledged
+intention of opening his mind to Lucy, and yet he had
+returned along the same prosaic and unsympathetic line of
+road her accepted lover; her accepted lover, triumphant in
+that fact, but without the least opening of any hope before
+him as to the conclusion of the engagement, which prudence
+had no hand in making. Now the footsteps of the
+Perpetual Curate fell firmly, not to say a little
+impatiently, upon the road over which he had carried so
+many varying thoughts. He was as penniless as ever, and
+as prospectless; but in the tossings of his natural
+impatience the young man had felt the reins hang loosely
+about his head, and knew that he was no more restrained
+than other men, but might, if he chose it, have his way
+like the rest of the world. It was true enough that he might
+have to pay for it after, as other people had done; but in
+the mean time the sense that he was his own master was
+sweet, and to have his will for once seemed no more than
+his right in the world. While these rebellious thoughts
+were going on in the Curate's mind, his father, who
+suspected nothing, went steadily by his side, not without a
+little reluctance at the thought of the errand on which he
+was bound. "But they can't marry for years, and nobody
+can tell what may happen in that time," Mr Wentworth
+said to himself, with the callousness of mature age, not
+suspecting the different ideas that were afloat in the mind
+of his son. Perhaps, on the whole, he was not sorry that
+Skelmersdale was destined otherwise, and that Huxtable
+had been spoken to about Wentworth Rectory; for, of
+course, Frank would have plunged into marriage at once if
+he had been possessed of anything to marry on; and it
+looked providential under the circumstances, as the
+Squire argued with himself privately, that at such a crisis
+the Perpetual Curate should have fallen between two
+stools of possible preferment, and should still be obliged to
+content himself with St Roque's. It was hard for Mr
+Wentworth to reconcile himself to the idea that the wife of
+his favourite son should be the sister of&mdash;; for the Squire
+forgot that his own girls were Jack Wentworth's sisters,
+and as such might be objected to in their turn by some
+other father. So the two gentlemen went to see Lucy, who
+was then in a very humble frame of mind, just recovered
+from her passion&mdash;one of them rather congratulating himself
+on the obstacles which lay before the young couple, the
+other tossing his youthful head a little in the first impulses
+of self-will, feeling the reins lie loose upon him, and
+making up his mind to have his own way.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">While</span> Mr Frank Wentworth's affairs were thus gathering
+to a crisis, other events likely to influence his fate were
+also taking place in Carlingford. Breakfast had been
+served a full half-hour later than usual in the Rectory,
+which had not improved the temper of the household.
+Everything was going on with the most wonderful quietness
+in that well-arranged house; but it was a quietness
+which would have made a sensitive visitor uncomfortable,
+and which woke horrible private qualms in the mind of the
+Rector. As for Mrs Morgan, she fulfilled all her duties with
+a precision which was terrible to behold: instead of taking
+part in the conversation as usual, and having her own
+opinion, she had suddenly become possessed of such a
+spirit of meekness and acquiescence as filled her husband
+with dismay. The Rector was fond of his wife, and proud
+of her good sense, and her judgment, and powers of
+conversation. If she had been angry and found fault with
+him, he might have understood that mode of procedure;
+but as she was not angry, but only silent, the excellent
+man was terribly disconcerted, and could not tell what to
+do. He had done all he could to be conciliatory, and had
+already entered upon a great many explanations which
+had come to nothing for want of any response; and now
+she sat at the head of the table making tea with an
+imperturbable countenance, sometimes making little
+observations about the news, perfectly calm and dignified,
+but taking no part in anything more interesting, and
+turning off any reference that was made to her in the most
+skilful manner. "Mr Morgan knows I never take any part
+in the gossip of Carlingford," she said to Mr Proctor,
+without any intention of wounding that good man; and he
+who had been in the midst of something about Mr Wentworth
+came to an abrupt stop with the sense of having
+shown himself as a gossip, which was very injurious to his
+dignity. The late Rector, indeed, occupied a very uncomfortable
+position between the married people thus
+engaged in the absorbing excitement of their first quarrel.
+The quiet little arrows, which Mrs Morgan intended only
+for her husband, grazed and stung him as they passed,
+without missing at the same time their intended aim; and
+he was the auditor, besides, of a great deal of information
+intended by the Rector for his wife's benefit, to which Mrs
+Morgan paid no manner of attention. Mr Proctor was not a
+man of very lively observation, but he could not quite shut
+his eyes to the position of affairs; and the natural effect
+upon his mind, in the circumstances, was to turn his
+thoughts towards his mild Mary, whom he did not quite
+recognise as yet under her Christian name. He called her
+Miss Wodehouse in his heart even while in the act of
+making comparisons very unfavourable to the Rector's
+wife, and then he introduced benevolently the subject of
+his new rectory, which surely must be safe ground.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pretty little place," Mr Proctor said, with
+satisfaction: "of course it is but a small living compared to
+Carlingford. I hope you will come and see me, after&mdash;it is
+furnished," said the bashful bridegroom: "it is a nuisance
+to have all that to look after for one's self&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will have somebody to help you," said Mrs
+Morgan, with a little earnestness; "gentlemen don't
+understand about such things. When you have one piece
+of furniture in bad taste, it spoils a whole room&mdash;carpets,
+for instance&mdash;" said the Rector's wife. She looked at Mr
+Proctor so severely that the good man faltered, though he
+was not aware of the full extent of his guiltiness.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I don't know," he said: "I told the man here
+to provide everything as it ought to be; and I think we
+were very successful," continued Mr Proctor, with a little
+complacency: to be sure, they were in the dining-room at
+the moment, being still at the breakfast-table. "Buller
+knows a great deal about that sort of thing, but then he is
+too ecclesiological for my taste. I like things to look
+cheerful," said the unsuspicious man. "Buller is the only
+man that could be reckoned on if any living were to fall
+vacant. It is very odd nowadays how indifferent men are
+about the Church. I don't say that it is not very pleasant at
+All-Souls; but a house of one's own, you know&mdash;" said Mr
+Proctor, looking with a little awkward enthusiasm at his
+recently-married brother; "of course I mean a sphere&mdash;a
+career&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ah, yes," said Mr Morgan, with momentary gruffness;
+"but everything has its drawbacks. I don't think
+Buller would take a living. He knows too well what's
+comfortable," said the suffering man. "The next living
+that falls will have to go to some one out of the college,"
+said Mr Morgan. He spoke with a tone of importance and
+significance which moved Mr Proctor, though he was not
+rapid in his perceptions, to look across at him for further
+information.</p>
+
+<p>"Most people have some crotchet or other," said the
+Rector. "When a man's views are clear about subscription,
+and that sort of thing, he generally goes as far wrong
+the other way. Buller might go out to Central Africa,
+perhaps, if there was a bishopric of Wahuma&mdash;or what is
+the name, my dear, in that Nile book?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have not read it," said Mrs Morgan, and she made no
+further remark.</p>
+
+<p>Thus discouraged in his little attempt at amity, the
+Rector resumed after a moment, "Wentworth's brother
+has sent in his resignation to his bishop. There is no doubt
+about it any longer. I thought that delusion had been over,
+at all events; and I suppose now Wentworth will be
+provided for," said Mr Morgan, not without a little
+anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"No; they are all equally crotchety, I think," said Mr
+Proctor. "I know about them, through my&mdash;my connection
+with the Wodehouses, you know. I should not
+wonder, for my own part, if he went after his brother, who
+is a very intelligent man, though mistaken," the late
+Rector added, with respect. "As for Frank Wentworth, he
+is a little hot-headed. I had a long conversation the other
+night with the elder brother. I tried to draw him out about
+Burgon's book, but he declined to enter into the question.
+Frank has made up his mind to stay in Carlingford. I
+understand he thinks it right on account of his character
+being called in question here; though, of course, no one in
+his senses could have had any doubt how <i>that</i> would turn
+out," said Mr Proctor, forgetting that he himself had been
+very doubtful about the Curate. "From what I hear, they
+are all very crotchety," he continued, and finished his
+breakfast calmly, as if that settled the question. As for Mrs
+Morgan, even this interesting statement had no effect
+upon her. She looked up suddenly at one moment as if
+intending to dart a reproachful glance at her husband, but
+bethought herself in time, and remained passive as before;
+not the less, however, was she moved by what she had just
+heard. It was not Mr Wentworth she was thinking of,
+except in a very secondary degree. What occupied her,
+and made her reflections bitter, was the thought that her
+husband&mdash;the man to whom she had been faithful for ten
+weary years&mdash;had taken himself down off the pedestal on
+which she had placed him. "To make idols, and to find
+them clay," she said plaintively in her own mind. Women
+were all fools to spend their time and strength in constructing
+such pedestals, Mrs Morgan thought to herself with
+bitterness; and as to the men who were so perpetually
+dethroning themselves, how were they to be designated?
+To think of her William, of whom she had once made a
+hero, ruining thus, for a little petty malice and rivalry, the
+prospects of another man! While these painful reflections
+were going through her mind, she was putting away her
+tea-caddy, and preparing to leave the gentlemen to their
+own affairs. "We shall see you at dinner at six," she said,
+with a constrained little smile, to Mr Proctor, and went
+up-stairs with her key-basket in her hand without taking
+any special notice of the Rector. Mr Leeson was to come
+to dinner that day legitimately by invitation, and Mrs
+Morgan, who felt it would be a little consolation to disappoint
+the hungry Curate for once, was making up her
+mind, as she went up-stairs, not to have the All-Souls
+pudding, of which he showed so high an appreciation. It
+almost seemed to her as if this spark of ill-nature was
+receiving a summary chastisement, when she heard steps
+ascending behind her. Mrs Morgan objected to have men
+lounging about her drawing-room in the morning. She
+thought Mr Proctor was coming to bestow a little more of
+his confidence upon her, and perhaps to consult her about
+his furnishing; and being occupied by her own troubles,
+she had no patience for a tiresome, middle-aged lover,
+who no doubt was going to disappoint and disenchant
+another woman. She sat down, accordingly, with a sigh of
+impatience at her work-table, turning her back to the
+door. Perhaps, when he saw her inhospitable attitude, he
+might go away and not bother her. And Mrs Morgan took
+out some stockings to darn, as being a discontented
+occupation, and was considering within herself what
+simple preparation she could have instead of the All-Souls
+pudding, when, looking up suddenly, she saw, not Mr
+Proctor, but the Rector, standing looking down upon her
+within a few steps of her chair. When she perceived him,
+it was not in nature to refrain from certain symptoms of
+agitation. The thoughts she had been indulging in brought
+suddenly a rush of guilty colour to her face; but she
+commanded herself as well as she could, and went on
+darning her stockings, with her heart beating very loud in
+her breast.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," said the Rector, taking a seat near her, "I
+don't know what it is that has risen between us. We
+look as if we had quarrelled; and I thought we had made
+up our minds never to quarrel." The words were rather
+soft in their signification, but Mr Morgan could not help
+speaking severely, as was natural to his voice; which was
+perhaps, in the present case, all the better for his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you may consider quarrelling,
+William," said Mrs Morgan, "but I am sure I have never
+made any complaint."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the Rector; "I have seen women do that
+before. You don't make any complaint, but you look as if
+you disapproved of everything. I feel it all the more just
+now because I want to consult you; and, after all, the
+occasion was no such&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I never said there was any occasion. I am sure I never
+made any complaint. You said you wanted to consult me,
+William?" Mrs Morgan went on darning her stockings
+while she was speaking, and the Rector, like most other
+men, objected to be spoken to by the lips only. He would
+have liked to toss the stocking out of the window, though it
+was his own, and the task of repairing it was one of a
+devoted wife's first duties, according to the code of female
+proprieties in which both the husband and wife had been
+brought up.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Rector, with a sigh. "The truth is, I
+have just got a letter from Harry Scarsfield, who was my
+pet pupil long ago. He tells me my father's old rectory is
+vacant, where we were all brought up. There used to be a
+constant intercourse between the Hall and the Rectory
+when I was a lad. They are very nice people the Scarsfields&mdash;at
+least they used to be very nice people; and
+Harry has his mother living with him, and the family has
+never been broken up, I believe. We used to know
+everybody about there," said Mr Morgan, abandoning
+himself to recollections in a manner most mysterious to his
+wife. "There is the letter, my dear," and he put it down
+upon her table, and began to play with the reels of cotton
+in her workbox unconsciously, as he had not done for a
+long time; which, unawares to herself, had a softening
+influence upon Mrs Morgan's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know anything about the Scarsfields," she
+said, without taking up the letter, "and I cannot see what
+you have to do with this. Does he wish you to recommend
+some one?" Mrs Morgan added, with a momentary interest;
+for she had, of course, like other people, a relation in a
+poor living, whom it would have been satisfactory to
+recommend.</p>
+
+<p>"He says I may have it if I have a mind," said the
+Rector curtly, betraying a little aggravation in his tone.</p>
+
+<p>"You, William?" said Mrs Morgan. She was so much
+surprised that she laid down her stocking and looked him
+straight in the face, which she had not done for many
+days; and it was wonderful how hard she found it to keep
+up her reserve, after having once looked her husband in
+the eyes. "But it is not much more than six months since
+you were settled in Carlingford," she said, still lost in
+amazement. "You cannot possibly mean to make a change
+so soon? and then the difference of the position," said the
+Rector's wife. As she looked at him, she became more and
+more aware of some meaning in his face which she did not
+understand; and more and more, as it became necessary to
+understand him, the reserves and self-defences of the first
+quarrel gave way and dispersed. "I don't think I quite
+know what you mean," she said, faltering a little. "I don't
+understand why you should think of a change."</p>
+
+<p>"A good country living is a very good position," said the
+Rector; "it is not nearly so troublesome as a town like
+Carlingford. There is no Dissent that I know of, and no&mdash;"
+(here Mr Morgan paused for a moment, not knowing what
+word to use)&mdash;"no disturbing influences: of course I would
+not take such a step without your concurrence, my dear,"
+the Rector continued; and then there followed a bewildering
+pause. Mrs Morgan's first sensation after the astonishment
+with which she heard this strange proposal was
+mortification&mdash;the vivid shame and vexation of a woman
+when she is obliged to own to herself that her husband has
+been worsted, and is retiring from the field.</p>
+
+<p>"If you think it right&mdash;if you think it best&mdash;of course I
+can have nothing to say," said the Rector's wife; and she
+took up her stocking with a stinging sense of discomfiture.
+She had meant that her husband should be the first man in
+Carlingford&mdash;that he should gain everybody's respect and
+veneration, and become the ideal parish-priest of that
+favourite and fortunate place. Every kind of good work
+and benevolent undertaking was to be connected with his
+name, according to the visions which Mrs Morgan had
+framed when she came first to Carlingford, not without
+such a participation on her own part as should entitle her
+to the milder glory appertaining to the good Rector's wife.
+All these hopes were now to be blotted out ignominiously.
+Defeat and retreat and failure were to be the conclusion of
+their first essay at life. "You are the best judge of what
+you ought to do," she said, with as much calmness as she
+could muster, but she could have dropped bitter tears
+upon the stocking she was mending if that would have
+done any good.</p>
+
+<p>"I will do nothing without your consent," said the
+Rector. "Young Wentworth is going to stay in Carlingford.
+You need not look up so sharply, as if you were
+vexed to think <i>that</i> had anything to do with it. If he had
+not behaved like a fool, I never could have been led into
+such a mistake," said Mr Morgan, with indignation, taking
+a little walk to the other end of the room to refresh
+himself. "At the same time," said the Rector, severely,
+coming back after a pause, "to show any ill-feeling would
+be very unchristian either on your side or mine. If I were
+to accept Harry Scarsfield's offer, Proctor and I would do
+all we could to have young Wentworth appointed to
+Carlingford. There is nobody just now at All-Souls to take
+the living; and however much you may disapprove of him,
+my dear," said Mr Morgan, with increasing severity,
+"there is nothing that I know to be said against him as a
+clergyman. If you can make up your mind to consent to it,
+and can see affairs in the same light as they appear to me,
+that is what I intend to do&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs Morgan's stocking had dropped on her knees as she
+listened; then it dropped on the floor, and she took no
+notice of it. When the Rector had finally delivered himself
+of his sentiments, which he did in the voice of a judge who
+was condemning some unfortunate to the utmost penalties
+of the law, his wife marked the conclusion of the sentence
+by a sob of strange excitement. She kept gazing at him for
+a few moments without feeling able to speak, and then she
+put down her face into her hands. Words were too feeble
+to give utterance to her feelings at such a supreme
+moment. "Oh, William, I wonder if you can ever forgive
+me," sobbed the Rector's wife, with a depth of compunction
+which he, good man, was totally unprepared to
+meet, and knew no occasion for. He was even at the
+moment a little puzzled to have such a despairing petition
+addressed to him. "I hope so, my dear," he said, very
+sedately, as he came and sat down beside her, and could
+not refrain from uttering a little lecture upon temper,
+which fortunately Mrs Morgan was too much excited to
+pay any attention to. "It would be a great deal better if
+you did not give way to your feelings," said the Rector;
+"but in the mean time, my dear, it is your advice I want,
+for we must not take such a step unadvisedly," and he
+lifted up the stocking that had fallen, and contemplated,
+not without surprise, the emotion of his wife. The excellent
+man was as entirely unconscious that he was being put up
+again at that moment with acclamations upon his pedestal,
+as that he had at a former time been violently displaced
+from it, and thrown into the category of broken idols. All
+this would have been as Sanscrit to the Rector of Carlingford;
+and the only resource he had was to make in his own
+mind certain half-pitying, half-affectionate remarks upon
+the inexplicable weakness of women, and to pick up the
+stocking which his wife was darning, and finally to stroke
+her hair, which was still as pretty and soft and brown as it
+had been ten years ago. Under such circumstances a man
+does not object to feel himself on a platform of moral
+superiority. He even began to pet her a little, with a
+pleasant sense of forgiveness and forbearance. "You were
+perhaps a little cross, my love, but you don't think I am
+the man to be hard upon you," said the Rector. "Now you
+must dry your eyes and give me your advice&mdash;you know
+how much confidence I have always had in your advice&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me, William. I don't think there is any one so
+good as you are; and as long as we are together it does not
+matter to me where we are," said the repentant woman.
+But as she lifted up her head, her eye fell on the carpet,
+and a gleam of sudden delight passed through Mrs Morgan's
+mind. To be delivered from all her suspicions and injurious
+thoughts about her husband would have been a deliverance
+great enough for one day; but at the same happy moment
+to see a means of deliverance from the smaller as well as
+the greater cross of her existence seemed almost too good
+to be credible. She brightened up immediately when that
+thought occurred to her. "I think it is the very best thing
+you could do," she said. "We are both so fond of the
+country, and it is so much nicer to manage a country
+parish than a town one. We might have lived all our lives
+in Carlingford without knowing above half of the poor
+people," said Mrs Morgan, growing in warmth as she went
+on; "it is so different in a country parish. I never liked to
+say anything," she continued, with subtle feminine policy,
+"but I never&mdash;much&mdash;cared for Carlingford." She gave a
+sigh as she spoke, for she thought of the Virginian creeper
+and the five feet of new wall at that side of the garden,
+which had just been completed, to shut out the view of the
+train. Life does not contain any perfect pleasure. But
+when Mrs Morgan stooped to lift up some stray reels of
+cotton which the Rector's clumsy fingers had dropped out
+of her workbox, her eye was again attracted by the gigantic
+roses and tulips on the carpet, and content and satisfaction
+filled her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I have felt the same thing, my dear," said Mr Morgan.
+"I don't say anything against Mr Finial as an architect,
+but Scott himself could make nothing of such a hideous
+church. I don't suppose Wentworth will mind," said the
+Rector, with a curious sense of superiority. He felt his own
+magnanimous conduct at the moment almost as much as
+his wife had done, and could not help regarding Carlingford
+Church as the gift-horse which was not to be examined too
+closely in the mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Mrs Morgan, not without a passing sensation
+of doubt on this point; "if he had only been frank and
+explained everything, there never could have been any
+mistake; but I am glad it has all happened," said the
+Rector's wife, with a little enthusiasm. "Oh, William, I
+have been such a wretch&mdash;I have been thinking&mdash;but now
+you are heaping coals of fire on his head," she cried, with a
+hysterical sound in her throat. It was no matter to her that
+she herself scarcely knew what she meant, and that the
+good Rector had not the faintest understanding of it. She
+was so glad, that it was almost necessary to be guilty of
+some extravagance by way of relieving her mind. "After
+all Mr Proctor's care in fitting the furniture, you would
+not, of course, think of removing it," said Mrs Morgan;
+"Mr Wentworth will take it as we did; and as for Mrs
+Scarsfield, if you like her, William, you may be sure I
+shall," the penitent wife said softly, in the flutter and
+tremor of her agitation. As he saw himself reflected in her
+eyes, the Rector could not but feel himself a superior
+person, elevated over other men's shoulders. Such a sense
+of goodness promotes the amiability from which it springs.
+The Rector kissed his wife as he got up from his seat
+beside her, and once more smoothed down, with a touch
+which made her feel like a girl again, her pretty brown
+hair.</p>
+
+<p>"That is all settled satisfactorily," said Mr Morgan,
+"and now I must go to my work again. I thought, if you
+approved of it, I would write at once to Scarsfield, and also
+to Buller of All-Souls."</p>
+
+<p>"Do," said the Rector's wife&mdash;and she too bestowed, in
+her middle-aged way, a little caress, which was far from
+being unpleasant to the sober-minded man. He went
+down-stairs in a more agreeable frame of mind than he had
+known for a long time back. Not that he understood why
+she had cried about it when he laid his intentions before
+her. Had Mr Morgan been a Frenchman, he probably
+would have imagined his wife's heart to be touched by the
+graces of the Perpetual Curate; but, being an Englishman,
+and rather more certain, on the whole, of her than of
+himself, it did not occur to him to speculate on the subject.
+He was quite able to content himself with the thought that
+women were incomprehensible, as he went back to his
+study. To be sure, it was best to understand them, if you
+could; but if not, it did not so very much matter, Mr
+Morgan thought; could in this pleasant condition of mind he
+went down-stairs and wrote a little sermon, which ever
+after was a great favourite, preached upon all special
+occasions, and always listened to with satisfaction,
+especially by the Rector's wife.</p>
+
+<p>When Mrs Morgan was left alone she sat doing nothing
+for an entire half-hour, thinking of the strange and
+unhoped-for change that in a moment had occurred to her.
+Though she was not young, she had that sense of grievousness,
+the unbearableness of trouble, which belongs to
+youth; for, after all, whatever female moralists may say on
+the subject, the patience of an unmarried woman wearing
+out her youth in the harassments of a long engagement, is
+something very different from the hard and many-sided
+experience of actual life. She had been accustomed for
+years to think that her troubles would be over when the
+long-expected event arrived; and when new and more
+vexatious troubles still sprang up after that event, the
+woman of one idea was not much better fitted to meet
+them than if she had been a girl. Now that the momentary
+cloud had been driven off, Mrs Morgan's heart rose more
+warmly than ever. She changed her mind in a moment
+about the All-Souls pudding, and even added, in her
+imagination, another dish to the dinner, without pausing
+to think that <i>that</i> also was much approved by Mr Leeson;
+and then her thoughts took another turn, and such a vision
+of a perfect carpet for a drawing-room&mdash;something softer
+and more exquisite than ever <ins title="original reads come">came</ins> out of mortal loom; full
+of repose and tranquillity, yet not without seducing beauties
+of design; a carpet which would never obtrude itself, but
+yet would catch the eye by dreamy moments in the
+summer twilight or over the winter fire&mdash;flashed upon the
+imagination of the Rector's wife. It would be sweet to
+have a house of one's own arranging, where everything
+would be in harmony; and though this sweetness was very
+secondary to the other satisfaction of having a husband
+who was not a clay idol, but really deserved his pedestal,
+it yet supplemented the larger delight, and rounded off all
+the corners of Mrs Morgan's present desires. She wished
+everybody as happy as herself, in the effusion of the
+moment, and thought of Lucy Wodehouse, with a little
+glow of friendliness in which there was still a tincture of
+admiring envy. All this that happy girl would have without
+the necessity of waiting for it; but then was it not the
+Rector, the rehabilitated husband, who would be the
+means of producing so much happiness? Mrs Morgan rose
+up as lightly as a girl when she had reached this stage, and
+opened her writing-desk, which was one of her wedding-presents,
+and too fine to be used on common occasions.
+She took out her prettiest paper, with her monogram in
+violet, which was her favourite colour. One of those kind
+impulses which are born of happiness moved her relieved
+spirit. To give to another the consolation of a brighter
+hope, seemed at the moment the most natural way of
+expressing her own thankful feelings. Instead of going
+down-stairs immediately to order dinner, she sat down
+instead at the table, and wrote the following note:&mdash;</p>
+<p>
+"<span class="smallcaps">My dear Mr Wentworth</span>,&mdash;I don't know whether
+you will think me a fair-weather friend seeking you only
+when everybody else is seeking you, and when you are no
+longer in want of support and sympathy. Perhaps you will
+exculpate me when you remember the last conversation
+we had; but what I write for at present is to ask if you
+would waive ceremony and come to dinner with us
+to-night. I am aware that your family are still in Carlingford,
+and of course I don't know what engagements you may
+have; but if you are at liberty, pray come. If Mr Morgan
+and you had but known each other a little better things
+could never have happened which have been a great grief
+and vexation to me; and I know the Rector <i>wishes very
+much</i> to have a little conversation with you, and has
+something to speak of in which you would be interested.
+Perhaps my husband might feel a little strange in asking
+you to overstep the barrier which somehow has been
+raised between you two; but I am sure if you knew each
+other better you would understand each other, and this is
+one of the things we women ought to be good for. I will
+take it as a proof that you consider me a friend if you
+accept my invitation. Our hour is half-past six.&mdash;Believe
+me, very sincerely, yours,</p>
+
+<p class="right">"<span class="smallcaps">M. Morgan</span>."</p>
+
+<p>When she had written this note Mrs Morgan went
+down-stairs, stopping at the library door in passing. "I
+thought I might as well ask Mr Wentworth to come to us
+to-night, as we are to have some people to dinner," she
+said, looking in at the door. "I thought you might like to
+talk to him, William; and if his people are going away
+to-day, I daresay he will feel rather lonely to-night." Such
+was the Jesuitical aspect in which she represented the flag
+of truce she was sending. Mr Morgan was a little startled
+by action so prompt.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to hear from Buller first," said the Rector;
+"he might like to come to Carlingford himself, for anything
+I can tell; but, to be sure, it can do no harm to have
+Wentworth to dinner," said Mr Morgan, doubtfully; "only
+Buller, you know, might wish&mdash;and in that case it might not
+be worth our trouble to make any change."</p>
+
+<p>In spite of herself, Mrs Morgan's countenance fell; her
+pretty scheme of poetic justice, her vision of tasteful and
+appropriate furniture, became obscured by a momentary
+mist. "At least it is only right to ask him to dinner," she
+said, in subdued tones, and went to speak to the cook in a
+frame of mind more like the common level of human
+satisfaction than the exultant and exalted strain to which
+she had risen at the first moment. Then she put on a black
+dress, and went to call on the Miss Wodehouses, who
+naturally came into her mind when she thought of the
+Perpetual Curate. As she went along Grange Lane she
+could not but observe a hackney cab, one of those which
+belong to the railway station, lounging&mdash;if a cab could
+ever be said to lounge&mdash;in the direction of Wharfside. Its
+appearance specially attracted Mrs Morgan's attention
+in consequence of the apparition of Elsworthy's favourite
+errand-boy, who now and then poked his head furtively
+through the window, and seemed to be sitting in state
+inside. When she had gone a little further she encountered
+Wodehouse and Jack Wentworth, who had just come from
+paying their visit to the sisters. The sight of these two
+revived her sympathies for the lonely women who had
+fallen so unexpectedly out of wealth into poverty; but yet
+she felt a little difficulty in framing her countenance to be
+partly sorrowful and partly congratulatory, as was
+necessary under these circumstances; for though she knew
+nothing of the accident which had happened that morning,
+when Lucy and the Perpetual Curate saw each other
+alone, she was aware of Miss Wodehouse's special position,
+and was sympathetic as became a woman who had "gone
+through" similar experiences. When she had got through
+her visit and was going home, it struck her with considerable
+surprise to see the cab still lingering about the corner of
+Prickett's Lane. Was Elsworthy's pet boy delivering his
+newspapers from that dignified elevation? or were they
+seizing the opportunity of conveying away the unfortunate
+little girl who had caused so much annoyance to everybody?
+When she went closer, with a little natural curiosity to see
+what else might be inside besides the furtive errand-boy,
+the cab made a little rush away from her, and the blinds
+were drawn down. Mrs Morgan smiled a little to herself
+with dignified calm. "As if it was anything to me!" she said
+to herself; and so went home to put out the dessert with
+her own hands. She even cut a few fronds of her favourite
+maidenhair to decorate the peaches, of which she could
+not help being a little proud. "I must speak to Mr
+Wentworth, if he comes, to keep on Thompson," she said
+to herself, and then gave a momentary sigh at the thought
+of the new flue, which was as good as her own invention,
+and which it had cost her both time and money to arrange to
+her satisfaction. The peaches were lovely, but who could
+tell what they might be next year if a new Rector came
+who took no interest in the garden?&mdash;for <ins title="original reads Thomson">Thompson</ins>,
+though he was a very good servant, required to be looked
+after, as indeed most good servants do. Mrs Morgan
+sighed a little when she thought of all her past exertions
+and the pains, of which she was scarcely yet beginning to
+reap the fruit. One man labours, and another enters into
+his labours. One thing, however, was a little consolatory,
+that she could take her ferns with her. But on the whole,
+after the first outburst of feeling, the idea of change,
+notwithstanding all its advantages, was in itself, like most
+human things, a doubtful pleasure. To be sure, it was only
+through its products that her feelings were interested
+about the new flue, whereas the drawing-room carpet was
+a standing grievance. When it was time to dress for
+dinner, the Rector's wife was not nearly so sure as before
+that she had never liked Carlingford. She began to forget
+the thoughts she had entertained about broken idols, and
+to remember a number of inconveniences attending a
+removal. Who would guarantee the safe transit of the
+china, not to speak of the <i>old</i> china, which was one of the
+most valuable decorations of the Rectory? This kind of
+breakage, if not more real, was at least likely to force itself
+more upon the senses than the other kind of fracture
+which this morning's explanation had happily averted;
+and altogether it was with mingled feelings that Mrs
+Morgan entered the drawing-room, and found it occupied
+by Mr Leeson, who always came too early, and who, on the
+present occasion, had some sufficiently strange news to tell.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Mr Wentworth</span> did not accept Mrs Morgan's sudden
+invitation, partly because his "people" did not leave
+Carlingford that evening, and partly because, though
+quite amiably disposed towards the Rector, whom he had
+worsted in fair fight, he was not sufficiently interested in
+anything he was likely to hear or see in Mr Morgan's
+house to move him to spend his evening there. He returned
+a very civil answer to the invitation of the Rector's wife,
+thanking her warmly for her friendliness, and explaining
+that he could not leave his father on the last night of his
+stay in Carlingford; after which he went to dinner at his
+aunts', where the household was still much agitated. Not
+to speak of all the events which had happened and were
+happening, Jack, who had begun to tire of his new
+character of the repentant prodigal, had shown himself in
+a new light that evening, and was preparing to leave, to
+the relief of all parties. The prodigal, who no longer
+pretended to be penitent, had taken the conversation into
+his own hands at dinner. "I have had things my own way
+since I came here," said Jack; "somehow it appears I have
+a great luck for having things my own way. It is you
+scrupulous people who think of others and of such antiquated
+stuff as duty, and so forth, that get yourselves into
+difficulties. My dear aunt, I am going away; if I were to
+remain an inmate of this house&mdash;I mean to say, could I
+look forward to the privilege of continuing a member of
+this Christian family&mdash;another day, I should know better
+how to conduct myself; but I am going back to my bad
+courses, aunt Dora; I am returning to the world&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Jack, my dear, I hope not," said aunt Dora, who
+was much bewildered, and did not know what to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Too true," said the relapsed sinner; "and considering
+all the lessons you have taught me, don't you think it is the
+best thing I could do? There is my brother Frank, who has
+been carrying other people about on his shoulders, and
+doing his duty; but I don't see that you good people are at
+all moved in his behalf. You leave him to fight his way by
+himself, and confer your benefits elsewhere, which is an
+odd sort of lesson for a worldling like me. As for Gerald,
+you know he's a virtuous fool, as I have heard you all
+declare. There is nothing in the world that I can see to
+prevent him keeping his living and doing as he pleases, as
+most parsons do. However, that's his own business. It is
+Frank's case which is the edifying case to me. If my
+convictions of sin had gone just a step farther," said the
+pitiless critic, "if I had devoted myself to bringing others
+to repentance, as is the first duty of a reformed sinner, my
+aunt Leonora would not have hesitated to give
+Skelmersdale to me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Jack, hold your tongue," said Miss Leonora; but though
+her cheeks burned, her voice was not so firm as usual, and
+she actually failed in putting down the man who had
+determined to have his say.</p>
+
+<p>"Fact, my dear aunt," said Jack; "if I had been a
+greater rascal than I am, and gone a little farther, you and
+your people would have thought me quite fit for a cure of
+souls. I'd have come in for your good things that way as
+well as other ways; but here is Frank, who even I can see
+is a right sort of parson. I don't pretend to fixed theological
+opinions," said this unlooked-for oracle, with a comic
+glance aside at Gerald, the most unlikely person present
+to make any response; "but, so far as I can see, he's a kind
+of fellow most men would be glad to make a friend of when
+they were under a cloud&mdash;not that he was ever very civil
+to me. I tell you, so far from rewarding him for being of
+the true sort, you do nothing but snub him, that I can see.
+He looks to me as good for work as any man I know; but
+you'll give your livings to any kind of wretched make-believe
+before you'll give them to Frank. I am aware,"
+said the heir of the Wentworths, with a momentary flush,
+"that I have never been considered much of a credit to the
+family; but if I were to announce my intention of marrying
+and settling, there is not one of the name that would not
+lend a hand to smooth matters. That is the reward of
+wickedness," said Jack, with a laugh; "as for Frank, he's a
+perpetual curate, and may marry perhaps fifty years
+hence; that's the way you good people treat a man who
+never did anything to be ashamed of in his life; and you
+expect me to give up my evil courses after such a lesson? I
+trust I am not such a fool," said the relapsed prodigal. He
+sat looking at them all in his easy way, enjoying the
+confusion, the indignation, and wrath with which his
+address was received. "The man who gets his own way is
+the man who takes it," he concluded, with his usual
+composure, pouring out Miss Leonora's glass of claret as
+he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>Nobody had ever before seen the strong-minded
+woman in so much agitation. "Frank knows what my
+feelings are," she said, abruptly. "I have a great respect
+for himself, but I have no confidence in his principles. I&mdash;I
+have explained my ideas about Church patronage&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But here the Squire broke in. "I always said, sir," said
+the old man, with an unsteady voice, "that if I ever lived
+to see a thing or two amended that was undoubtedly
+objectionable, your brother Jack's advice would be invaluable
+to the family as a&mdash;as a man of the world. I have
+nothing to say against clergymen, sir," continued the Squire,
+without it being apparent whom he was addressing, "but I
+have always expressed my conviction of&mdash;of the value of
+your brother Jack's advice as&mdash;as a man of the world."</p>
+
+<p>This speech had a wonderful effect upon the assembled
+family, but most of all upon the son thus commended, who
+lost all his ease and composure as his father spoke, and
+turned his head stiffly to one side, as if afraid to meet the
+Squire's eyes, which indeed were not seeking his, but
+were fixed upon the table, as was natural, considering the
+state of emotion in which Mr Wentworth was. As for Jack,
+when he had steadied himself a little, he got up from his
+seat and tried to laugh, though the effort was far from
+being a successful one.</p>
+
+<p>"Even my father applauds me, you see, because I am a
+scamp and don't deserve it," he said, with a voice which
+was partially choked. "Good-bye, sir; I am going away."</p>
+
+<p>The Squire rose too, with the hazy bewildered look of
+which his other children were afraid.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, sir," said the old man, and then made a
+pause before he held out his hand. "You'll not forget what
+I've said, Jack," he added, with a little haste. "It's true
+enough, though I haven't that confidence in you that&mdash;that
+I might have had. I am getting old, and I have had
+two attacks, sir," said Mr Wentworth, with dignity; "and
+anyhow, I can't live for ever. Your brothers can make
+their own way in the world, but I haven't saved all that I
+could have wished. When I am gone, Jack, be just to the
+girls and the little children," said the Squire; and with that
+took his son's hand and grasped it hard, and looked his
+heir full in the face.</p>
+
+<p>Jack Wentworth was not prepared for any such appeal;
+he was still less prepared to discover the unexpected and
+inevitable sequence with which one good sentiment leads to
+another. He quite faltered and broke down in this
+unlooked-for emergency. "Father," he said unawares, for
+the first time for ten years, "if you wish it, I will join you
+in breaking the entail."</p>
+
+<p>"No such thing, sir," said the Squire, who, so far from
+being pleased, was irritated and disturbed by the proposal.
+"I ask you to do your duty, sir, and not to shirk it," the
+head of the house said, with natural vehemence, as he
+stood with that circle of Wentworths round him, giving
+forth his code of honour to his unworthy heir.</p>
+
+<p>While his father was speaking, Jack recovered a little
+from his momentary <i>attendrissement</i>. "Good-bye, sir; I
+hope you'll live a hundred years," he said, wringing his
+father's hand, "if you don't last out half-a-dozen of me, as
+you ought to do. But I'd rather not anticipate such a
+change. In that case," the prodigal went on with a certain
+huskiness in his voice, "I daresay I should not turn out so
+great a rascal as&mdash;as I ought to do. To-day and yesterday it
+has even occurred to me by moments that I was your son,
+sir," said Jack Wentworth; and then he made an abrupt
+stop and dropped the Squire's hand, and came to himself
+in a surprising way. When he turned towards the rest of
+the family, he was in perfect possession of his usual
+courtesy and good spirits. He nodded to them all round&mdash;with
+superb good-humour. "Good-bye, all of you; I wish
+you better luck, Frank, and not so much virtue. Perhaps
+you will have a better chance now the lost sheep has gone
+back to the wilderness. Good-bye to you all. I don't think
+I've any other last words to say." He lighted his cigar with
+his ordinary composure in the hall, and whistled one of his
+favourite airs as he went through the garden. "Oddly
+enough, however, our friend Wodehouse can beat me in
+that," he said, with a smile, to Frank, who had followed
+him out, "perhaps in other things too, who knows?
+Good-bye, and good-luck, old fellow." And thus the heir of
+the Wentworths disappeared into the darkness, which
+swallowed him up, and was seen no more.</p>
+
+<p>But naturally there was a good deal of commotion in the
+house. Miss Leonora, who never had known what it was to
+have nerves in the entire course of her existence, retired
+to her own room with a headache, to the entire consternation
+of the family. She had been a strong-minded woman
+all her life, and managed everybody's affairs without
+being distracted and hampered in her career by those
+doubts of her own wisdom, and questions as to her own
+motives, which will now and then afflict the minds of
+weaker people when they have to decide for others. But
+this time an utterly novel and unexpected accident had
+befallen Miss Leonora; a man of no principles at all had
+delivered his opinion upon her conduct&mdash;and so far from
+finding his criticism contemptible, or discovering in it the
+ordinary outcry of the wicked against the righteous, she
+had found it true, and by means of it had for perhaps the
+first time in her life seen herself as others saw her. Neither
+was the position in which she found herself one from which
+she could get extricated even by any daring arbitrary
+exertion of will, such as a woman in difficulties is sometimes
+capable of. To be sure, she might still have cut the
+knot in a summary feminine way; might have said "No"
+abruptly to Julia Trench and her curate, and, after all,
+have bestowed Skelmersdale, like any other prize or
+reward of virtue, upon her nephew Frank&mdash;a step which
+Miss Dora Wentworth would have concluded upon at once
+without any hesitation. The elder sister, however, was
+gifted with a truer perception of affairs. Miss Leonora
+knew that there were some things which could be done,
+and yet could not be done&mdash;a piece of knowledge difficult
+to a woman. She recognised the fact that she had committed
+herself, and got into a corner from which there was but
+one possible egress; and as she acknowledged this to
+herself, she saw at the same time that Julia Trench (for
+whom she had been used to entertain a good-humoured
+contempt as a clever sort of girl enough) had managed
+matters very cleverly, and that, instead of dispensing her
+piece of patronage like an optimist to the best, she had, in
+fact, given it up to the most skilful and persevering angler,
+as any other woman might have done. The blow was
+bitter, and Miss Leonora did not seek to hide it from
+herself, not to say that the unpleasant discovery was
+aggravated by having been thus pointed out by Jack, who
+in his own person had taken her in, and cheated his
+sensible aunt. She felt humbled, and wounded in the
+tenderest point, to think that her reprobate nephew had
+seen through her, but that she had not been able to see
+through him, and had been deceived by his professions of
+penitence. The more she turned it over in her mind, the
+more Miss Leonora's head ached; for was it not growing
+apparent that she, who prided herself so much on her
+impartial judgment, had been moved, not by heroic and
+stoical justice and the love of souls, but a good deal by
+prejudice and a good deal by skilful artifice, and very little
+indeed by that highest motive which she called the glory
+of God? And it was Jack who had set all this before her
+clear as daylight. No wonder the excellent woman was
+disconcerted. She went to bed gloomily with her headache,
+and would tolerate no ministrations, neither of sal-volatile
+nor eau-de-Cologne, nor even of green tea. "It always does
+Miss Dora a power of good," said the faithful domestic
+who made this last suggestion; but Miss Leonora answered
+only by turning the unlucky speaker out of the room, and
+locking the door against any fresh intrusion. Miss Dora's
+innocent headaches were articles of a very different kind
+from this, which proceeded neither from the heart nor the
+digestion, but from the conscience, as Miss Leonora
+thought&mdash;with, possibly, a little aid from the temper,
+though she was less conscious of that. It was indeed a long
+series of doubts and qualms, and much internal conflict,
+which resulted through the rapidly-maturing influences of
+mortification and humbled self-regard, in this ominous and
+awe-inspiring Headache which startled the entire
+assembled family, and added fresh importance to the
+general crisis of Wentworth affairs.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not wonder if it was the Wentworth complaint,"
+said Miss Dora, with a sob of fright, to the renewed and
+increased indignation of the Squire.</p>
+
+<p>"I have already told you that the Wentworth complaint
+never attacks females," Mr Wentworth said emphatically,
+glad to employ what sounded like a contemptuous title for
+the inferior sex.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, oh yes; but then Leonora is not exactly what
+you would call&mdash;a female," said poor Miss Dora, from
+whom an emergency so unexpected had taken all her little
+wits.</p>
+
+<p>While the house was in such an agitated condition, it is
+not to be supposed that it could be very comfortable for
+the gentlemen when they came up-stairs to the drawing-room,
+and found domestic sovereignty overthrown by a
+headache which nobody could comprehend, and chaos
+reigning in Miss Leonora's place. Naturally there was, for
+one of the party at least, a refuge sweet and close at hand,
+to which his thoughts had escaped already. Frank Wentworth
+did not hesitate to follow his thoughts. Against the
+long years when family bonds make up all that is happiest
+in life, there must always be reckoned those moments of
+agitation and revolution, during which the bosom of a
+family is the most unrestful and disturbing place in existence,
+from which it is well to have a personal refuge and
+means of escape. The Perpetual Curate gave himself a
+little shake, and drew a long breath, as he emerged from
+one green door in Grange Lane and betook himself to
+another. He shook himself clear of all the Wentworth
+perplexities, all the family difficulties and doubts, and
+betook himself into the paradise which was altogether his
+own, and where there were no conflicting interests or
+differences of opinion. He was in such a hurry to get there
+that he did not pay any attention to the general aspect of
+Grange Lane, or to the gossips who were gathered round
+Elsworthy's door: all that belonged to a previous stage of
+existence. At present he was full of the grand discovery,
+boldly stated by his brother Jack&mdash;"The man who gets his
+own way is the man who <i>takes</i> it." It was not an elevated
+doctrine, or one that had hitherto commended itself
+specially to the mind of the Perpetual Curate; but he could
+not help thinking of his father's pathetic reliance upon
+Jack's advice as a man of the world, as he laid up in his
+mind the prodigal's maxim, and felt, with a little thrill of
+excitement, that he was about to act on it; from which
+manner of stating the case Mr Wentworth's friends will
+perceive that self-will had seized upon him in the worst
+form; for he was not going boldly up to the new resolution
+with his eyes open, but had resigned himself to the tide,
+which was gradually rising in one united flux of love,
+pride, impatience, sophistry, and inclination; which he
+watched with a certain passive content, knowing that the
+stormy current would carry him away.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth, however, reckoned without his host, as
+is now and then the case with most men, Perpetual
+Curates included. He walked into the other drawing-room,
+which was occupied only by two ladies, where the
+lamp was burning softly on the little table in the corner,
+and the windows, half open, admitted the fragrant air, the
+perfumed breath and stillness and faint inarticulate noises
+of the night. Since the visit of Wodehouse in the morning,
+which had driven Lucy into her first fit of passion, an
+indescribable change had come over the house, which had
+now returned to the possession of its former owners, and
+looked again like home. It was very quiet in the familiar
+room which Mr Wentworth knew so well, for it was only
+when excited by events "beyond their control," as Miss
+Wodehouse said, that the sisters could forget what had
+happened so lately&mdash;the loss which had made a revolution
+in their world. Miss Wodehouse, who for the first time in
+her life was busy, and had in hand a quantity of mysterious
+calculations and lists to make out, sat at the table in
+the centre of the room, with her desk open, and covered
+with long slips of paper. Perhaps it was to save her Rector
+the trouble that the gentle woman gave herself so much
+labour; perhaps she liked putting down on paper all the
+things that were indispensable for the new establishment.
+At all events, she looked up only to give Mr Wentworth a
+smile and sisterly nod of welcome as he came in and made
+his way to the corner where Lucy sat, not unexpectant.
+Out of the disturbed atmosphere he had just left, the
+Perpetual Curate came softly into that familiar corner,
+feeling that he had suddenly reached his haven, and that
+Eden itself could not have possessed a sweeter peace.
+Lucy in her black dress, with traces of the exhaustion of
+nature in her face, which was the loveliest face in the
+world to Mr Wentworth, looked up and welcomed him
+with that look of satisfaction and content which is the
+highest compliment one human creature can pay to
+another. His presence rounded off all the corners of existence
+to Lucy for that moment at least, and made the world
+complete and full. He sat down beside her at her work-table
+with no further interruption to the <i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i> than the
+presence of the kind elder sister at the table, who was
+absorbed in her lists, and who, even had that pleasant
+business been wanting, was dear and familiar enough to
+both to make her spectatorship just the sweet restraint
+which endears such intercourse all the more. Thus the
+Perpetual Curate seated himself, feeling in some degree
+master of the position; and surely here, if nowhere else in
+the world, the young man was justified in expecting to
+have his own way.</p>
+
+<p>"They have settled about their marriage," said Lucy,
+whose voice was sufficiently audible to be heard at the
+table, where Miss Wodehouse seized her pen hastily and
+plunged it into the ink, doing her best to appear unconscious,
+but failing sadly in the attempt. "Mr Proctor is
+going away directly to make everything ready, and the
+marriage is to be on the 15th of next month."</p>
+
+<p>"And ours?" said Mr Wentworth, who had not as yet
+approached that subject. Lucy knew that this event must
+be far off, and was not agitated about it as yet; on the
+contrary, she met his look sympathetically and with
+deprecation after the first natural blush, and soothed him
+in her feminine way, patting softly with her pretty hand
+the sleeve of his coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody knows," said Lucy. "We must wait, and have
+patience. We have more time to spare than they have,"
+she added, with a little laugh. "We must wait."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see the <i>must</i>," said the Perpetual Curate. "I
+have been thinking it all over since the morning. I see no
+reason why I should always have to give in, and wait; self-sacrifice
+is well enough when it can't be helped, but I don't
+see any reason for postponing my happiness indefinitely.
+Look here, Lucy. It appears to me at present that there
+are only two classes of people in the world&mdash;those who will
+wait, and those who won't. I don't mean to enrol myself
+among the martyrs. The man who gets his own way is the
+man who takes it. I don't see any reason in the world for
+concluding that I <i>must</i> wait."</p>
+
+<p>Lucy Wodehouse was a very good young woman, a
+devoted Anglican, and loyal to all her duties; but she had
+always been known to possess a spark of spirit, and this
+rebellious quality came to a sudden blaze at so unlooked-for
+a speech. "Mr Wentworth," said Lucy, looking the
+Curate in the face with a look which was equivalent to
+making him a low curtsy, "I understood there were two
+people to be consulted as to the must or must not;" and
+having entered this protest, she withdrew her chair a little
+farther off, and bestowed her attention absolutely upon
+the piece of needlework in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>If the ground had suddenly been cut away underneath
+Frank Wentworth's feet, he could not have been more
+surprised; for, to tell the truth, it had not occurred to him
+to doubt that he himself was the final authority on this
+point, though, to be sure, it was part of the conventional
+etiquette that the lady should "fix the day." He sat
+gazing at her with so much surprise that for a minute or
+two he could say nothing. "Lucy, I am not going to have
+you put yourself on the other side," he said at last; "there
+is not to be any opposition between you and me."</p>
+
+<p>"That is as it may be," said Lucy, who was not mollified.
+"You seem to have changed your sentiments altogether
+since the morning, and there is no change in the
+circumstances, at least that I can see."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there is a great change," said the young man. "If I
+could have sacrificed myself in earnest and said nothing&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Which you were quite free to do," interrupted Lucy,
+who, having given way to temper once to-day, found in
+herself an alarming proclivity towards a repetition of the
+offence.</p>
+
+<p>"Which I was quite free to do," said the Perpetual
+Curate, with a smile, "but could not, and did not, all the
+same. Things are altogether changed. Now, be as cross as
+you please, you belong to me, <i>Lucia mia</i>. To be sure, I
+have no money&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I was not thinking of that," said the young lady, under
+her breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course one has to think about it," said Mr Wentworth;
+"but the question is, whether we shall be happier
+and better going on separate in our usual way, or making
+up our minds to give up something for the comfort of being
+together. Perhaps you will forgive me for taking <i>that</i> view
+of the question," said the Curate, with a little enthusiasm.
+"I have got tired of ascetic principles. I don't see why it
+must be best to deny myself and postpone myself to other
+things and other people. I begin to be of my brother Jack's
+opinion. The children of this world are wiser in their
+generation than the children of light. A man who will wait
+has to wait. Providence does not invariably reward him
+after he has been tried, as we used to suppose. I am
+willing to be a poor man because I can't help it; but I am
+not willing to wait and trust my happiness to the future
+when it is in my reach now," said the unreasonable young
+man, to whom it was of course as easy as it was to Lucy to
+change the position of his chair, and prevent the distance
+between them being increased. Perhaps he might have
+carried his point even at that moment, had not Miss
+Wodehouse, who had heard enough to alarm her, come
+forward hastily in a fright on the prudential side.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not help hearing what you were saying," said
+the elder sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, I hope you don't
+mean to say that you can't trust Providence? I am sure
+that is not Lucy's way of thinking. I would not mind, and I
+am sure she would not mind, beginning very quietly; but
+then you have nothing, next to nothing, neither of you. It
+might not matter, just at the first," said Miss Wodehouse,
+with serious looks; "but then&mdash;afterwards, you know,"
+and a vision of a nursery flashed upon her mind as she
+spoke. "Clergymen always have such large families," she
+said half out before she was aware, and stopped, covered
+with confusion, not daring to look at Lucy to see what
+effect such a suggestion might have had upon her. "I
+mean," cried Miss Wodehouse, hurrying on to cover over
+her inadvertence if possible, "I have seen such cases; and
+a poor clergyman who has to think of the grocer's bill and
+the baker's bill instead of his parish and his duty&mdash;there
+are some things you young people know a great deal
+better than I do, but you don't know how dreadful it is to
+see that."</p>
+
+<p>Here Lucy, on her part, was touched on a tender point,
+and interposed. "For a man to be teased about bills," said
+the young housekeeper, with flushed cheeks and an averted
+countenance, "it must be not his poverty, but his&mdash;his
+wife's fault."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lucy, don't say so," cried Miss Wodehouse; "what
+is a poor woman to do, especially when she has no money
+of her own, as you wouldn't have? and then the struggling,
+and getting old before your time, and all the burdens&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't say any more," said Lucy; "there was no
+intention on&mdash;on any side to drive things to a decision. As
+for me, I have not a high opinion of myself. I would not be
+the means of diminishing anyone's comforts," said the
+spiteful young woman. "How can I be sure that I might
+not turn out a very poor compensation? We settled this
+morning how all that was to be, and I for one have not
+changed my mind&mdash;as yet," said Lucy. That was all the
+encouragement Mr Wentworth got when he propounded
+his new views. Things looked easy enough when he was
+alone, and suffered himself to drift on pleasantly on the
+changed and heightened current of personal desires and
+wishes; but it became apparent to him, after that evening's
+discussion, that even in Eden itself, though the dew
+had not yet dried on the leaves, it would be highly
+incautious for any man to conclude that he was sure of
+having his own way. The Perpetual Curate returned a
+sadder and more doubtful man to Mrs Hadwin's, to his
+own apartments; possibly, as the two states of mind so
+often go together, a wiser individual too.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">The</span> dinner-party at the Rectory, to which Mr Wentworth
+did not go, was much less interesting and agreeable than it
+might have been had he been present. As for the Rector
+and his wife, they could not but feel themselves in a
+somewhat strange position, having between them a secret
+unsuspected by the company. It was difficult to refrain
+from showing a certain flagging of interest in the question
+of the church's restoration, about which, to be sure, Mr
+Finial was just as much concerned as he had been yesterday;
+though Mr Morgan, and even Mrs Morgan, had
+suffered a great and unexplainable diminution of enthusiasm.
+And then Mr Leeson, who was quite unaware of the
+turn that things had taken, and who was much too obtuse
+to understand how the Rector could be anything but
+exasperated against the Perpetual Curate by the failure of
+the investigation, did all that he could to make himself
+disagreeable, which was saying a good deal. When Mrs
+Morgan came into the drawing-room, and found this
+obnoxious individual occupying the most comfortable easy-chair,
+and turning over at his ease the great book of ferns,
+nature-printed, which was the pet decoration of the table,
+her feelings may be conceived by any lady who has gone
+through a similar trial; for Mr Leeson's hands were not of
+the irreproachable purity which becomes the fingers of a
+gentleman when he goes out to dinner. "I know some
+people who always wear gloves when they turn over a
+portfolio of prints," Mrs Morgan said, coming to the
+Curate's side to protect her book if possible, "and these
+require quite as much care;" and she had to endure a
+discussion upon the subject, which was still more trying to
+her feelings, for Mr Leeson pretended to know about ferns
+on the score of having a Wardian case in his lodgings
+(which belonged to his landlady), though in reality he
+could scarcely tell the commonest spleenwort from a lycopodium.
+While Mrs Morgan went through this trial, it is
+not to be wondered at if she hugged to her heart the new
+idea of leaving Carlingford, and thought to herself that
+whatever might be the character of the curate (if there was
+one) at Scarsfield, any change from Mr Leeson must be for
+the better. And then the unfortunate man, as if he was not
+disagreeable enough already, began to entertain his unwilling
+hostess with the latest news.</p>
+
+<p>"There is quite a commotion in Grange Lane," said Mr
+Leeson. "Such constant disturbances must deteriorate
+the property, you know. Of course, whatever one's opinion
+may be, one must keep it to one's self, after the result
+of the investigation; though I can't say <i>I</i> have unbounded
+confidence in trial by jury," said the disagreeable young
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I am very slow of comprehension," said the
+Rector's wife. "I don't know in the least what you mean
+about trial by jury. Perhaps it would be best to put the
+book back on the table; it is too heavy for you to hold."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it doesn't matter," said Mr Leeson&mdash;"I mean
+about Wentworth, of course. When a man is popular in
+society, people prefer to shut their eyes. I suppose the
+matter is settled for the present, but you and I know
+better than to believe&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg you will speak for yourself, Mr Leeson," said Mrs
+Morgan, with dignity. "I have always had the highest
+respect for Mr Wentworth."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I beg your pardon," said the disagreeable Curate.
+"I forgot; almost all the ladies are on Mr Wentworth's
+side. It appears that little girl of Elsworthy's has disappeared
+again; that was all I was going to say."</p>
+
+<p>And, fortunately for the Curate, Colonel Chiley, who
+entered the room at the moment, diverted from him the
+attention of the lady of the house; and after that there was
+no opportunity of broaching the subject again until dinner
+was almost over. Then it was perhaps the All-Souls pudding
+that warmed Mr Leeson's soul; perhaps he had taken
+a little more wine than usual. He took sudden advantage
+of that curious little pause which occurs at a well-conducted
+dinner-table, when the meal is concluded, and the
+fruit (considered apparently, in orthodox circles, a paradisiacal
+kind of food which needs no blessing) alone
+remains to be discussed. As soon as the manner of thanks
+from the foot of the table was over, the Curate incautiously
+rushed in before anybody else could break the silence, and
+delivered his latest information at a high pitch of voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Has anyone heard about the Elsworthys?" said Mr
+Leeson; "something fresh has happened there. I hope
+your verdict yesterday will not be called in question. The
+fact is, I believe that the girl has been taken away again.
+They say she has gone and left a letter saying that she is to
+be made a lady of. I don't know what we are to understand
+by that. There was some private service or other
+going on at St Roque's very early in the morning.
+Marriage is a sacrament, you know. Perhaps Mr Wentworth
+or his brother&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"They are a queer family, the Wentworths," said old
+Mr Western, "and such lots of them, sir&mdash;such lots of
+them. The old ladies seem to have settled down here. I am
+not of their way of thinking, you know, but they're very
+good to the poor."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Frank Wentworth is going to succeed his brother, I
+suppose," said Mr Leeson; "it is very lucky for a man who
+gets himself talked of to have a family living to fall back
+upon&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No such thing&mdash;no such thing," said Mr Proctor,
+hastily. "Mr Frank Wentworth means to stay here."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me!" said the disagreeable Curate, with an elaborate
+pause of astonishment. "Things must be bad indeed,"
+added that interesting youth, with solemnity,
+shaking the devoted head, upon which he did not know
+that Mrs Morgan had fixed her eyes, "if his own family
+give him up, and leave him to starve here. They would
+never give him up if they had not very good cause. Oh,
+come; I shouldn't like to believe that! <i>I</i> know how much a
+curate has to live on," said Mr Leeson, with a smile of
+engaging candour. "Before they give him up like that,
+with two livings in the family, they must have very good
+cause."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good cause indeed," said Mrs Morgan, from the
+head of the table. The company in general had, to tell the
+truth, been a little taken aback by the Curate's observations;
+and there was almost the entire length of the table
+between the unhappy man and the Avenger. "So good a
+reason, that it is strange how it should not have occurred
+to a brother clergyman. That is the evil of a large parish,"
+said the Rector's wife, with beautiful simplicity; "however
+hard one works, one never can know above half of the
+poor people; and I suppose you have been occupied in the
+other districts, and have not heard what a great work Mr
+Wentworth is doing. I have reason to know," said Mrs
+Morgan, with considerable state, "that he will remain in
+Carlingford, in a very different position from that which
+he has filled hitherto. Mr Leeson knows how much a
+curate has to live upon, but I am afraid that is all he does
+know of such a life as Mr Wentworth's." Mrs Morgan
+paused for a moment to get breath, for her excitement was
+considerable, and she had many wrongs to avenge.
+"There is a great deal of difference in curates as well as in
+other things," said the indignant woman. "I have reason
+to know that Mr Wentworth will remain in Carlingford in
+quite a different position. Now and then, even in this
+world, things come right like a fairy tale&mdash;that is, when
+the authority is in the right hands;" the Rector's wife went
+on, with a smile at her husband, which disarmed that
+astonished man. "Perhaps if Mr Leeson had the same
+inducement as Mr Wentworth, he too would make up his
+mind to remain in Carlingford." Mrs Morgan got up, as
+she made this speech, with a rustle and sweep of drapery
+which seemed all addressed to the unhappy Curate, who
+stumbled upon his feet like the other gentlemen, but
+dared not for his life have approached her to open the door.
+Mr Leeson felt that he had received his <i>cong&eacute;</i>, as he sank
+back into his chair. He was much too stunned to speculate
+on the subject, or ask himself what was going to happen.
+Whatever was going to happen, there was an end of <i>him</i>.
+He had eaten the last All-Souls pudding that he ever
+would have presented to him under <i>that</i> roof. He sank
+back in the depth of despair upon his seat, and suffered
+the claret to pass him in the agony of his feelings. Mr
+Wentworth and Mrs Morgan were avenged.</p>
+
+<p>This was how it came to be noised abroad in Carlingford
+that some great change of a highly favourable character
+was about to occur in the circumstances and position of the
+Curate of St Roque's. It was discussed next day throughout
+the town, as soon as people had taken breath after
+telling each other about Rosa Elsworthy, who had indisputably
+been carried off from her uncle's house on the
+previous night. When the Wentworth family were at
+dinner, and just as the board was being spread in the
+Rectory, where Mrs Morgan was half an hour later than
+usual, having company, it had been discovered in Elsworthy's
+that the prison was vacant, and the poor little
+bird had flown. Mr Wentworth was aware of a tumult
+about the shop when he went to the Miss Wodehouses, but
+was preoccupied, and paid no attention; but Mr Leeson,
+who was not preoccupied, had already heard all about it
+when he entered the Rectory. That day it was all over the
+town, as may be supposed. The poor, little, wicked,
+unfortunate creature had disappeared, no one knew how,
+at the moment, apparently, when Elsworthy went to the
+railway for the evening papers, a time when the errand-boys
+were generally rampant in the well-conducted shop.
+Mrs Elsworthy, for her part, had seized that moment to
+relieve her soul by confiding to Mrs Hayles next door how
+she was worrited to death with one thing and another, and
+did not expect to be alive to tell the tale if things went on
+like this for another month, but that Elsworthy was infatuated
+like, and wouldn't send the hussy away, his wife
+complained to her sympathetic neighbour. When
+Elsworthy came back, however, he was struck by the
+silence in the house, and sent the reluctant woman up-stairs&mdash;"To
+see if she's been and made away with herself,
+I suppose," the indignant wife said, as she obeyed,
+leaving Mrs Hayles full of curiosity on the steps of the
+door. Mrs Elsworthy, however uttered a shriek a moment
+after, and came down, with a frightened face, carrying a
+large pin-cushion, upon which, skewered through and
+through with the biggest pin she could find, Rosa had
+deposited her letter of leave-taking. This important
+document was read over in the shop by an ever-increasing
+group, as the news got abroad&mdash;for Elsworthy, like his
+wife, lost his head, and rushed about hither and thither,
+asking wild questions as to who had seen her last.
+Perhaps, at the bottom, he was not so desperate as he
+looked, but was rather grateful than angry with Rosa for
+solving the difficulty. This is what the poor little runaway
+said:&mdash;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smallcaps">Dear Uncle and Aunt</span>,&mdash;I write a line to let you know
+that them as can do better for me than any belonging to
+me has took me away for good. Don't make no reflections,
+please, nor blame nobody; for I never could have done no
+good nor had any 'appiness at Carlingford after all as has
+happened. I don't bear no grudge, though aunt has been
+so unkind; but I forgive her, and uncle also. My love to all
+friends; and you may tell Bob Hayles as I won't forget
+him, but will order all my physic regular at his father's
+shop.&mdash;Your affectionate niece,</p>
+<p class="right">
+"<span class="smallcaps">rosa</span>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>P.S.</i>&mdash;Uncle has no occasion to mind, for them as has
+took charge of me has promised to make a lady of me, as
+he always said I was worthy of; and I leave all my things
+for aunt's relations, as I can't wear such poor clothes in my
+new station of life."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Such was the girl's letter, with its natural impertinences
+and natural touch of kindness; and it made a great commotion
+in the neighbourhood, where a few spasmodic
+search-parties were made up with no real intentions, and
+came to nothing, as was to be expected. It was a dreadful
+thing to be sure, to happen to a respectable family; but
+when things had gone so far, the neighbours, on the
+whole, were inclined to believe it was the best thing Rosa
+could have done; and the Elsworthys, husband and wife,
+were concluded to be of the same opinion. When Carlingford
+had exhausted this subject, and had duly discussed
+the probabilities as to where she had gone, and whether
+Rosa could be the lady in a veil who had been handed into
+the express night-train by two gentlemen, of whom a
+railway porter bore cautious testimony, the other mysterious
+rumour about Mr Wentworth had its share of popular
+attention. It was discussed in Masters's with a solemnity
+becoming the occasion, everybody being convinced of the
+fact, and nobody knowing how it was to be. One prevailing
+idea was, that Mr Wentworth's brother, who had succeeded
+to his mother's fortune (which was partly true, like
+most popular versions of family history, his mother's
+fortune being now Gerald's sole dependence), intended to
+establish a great brotherhood, upon the Claydon model, in
+Carlingford, of which the Perpetual Curate was to be the
+head. This idea pleased the imagination of the town,
+which already saw itself talked of in all the papers, and
+anticipated with excitement the sight of English brothers
+of St Benedict walking about in the streets, and people
+from the 'Illustrated News' making drawings of Grange
+Lane. To be sure, Gerald Wentworth had gone over to the
+Church of Rome, which was a step too far to be compatible
+with the English brotherhood; but popular imagination,
+when puzzled and in a hurry, does not take time to
+master all details. Then, again, opinion wavered, and it
+was supposed to be the Miss Wentworths who were the
+agents of the coming prosperity. They had made up their
+mind to endow St Roque's and apply to the Ecclesiastical
+Commissioners to have it erected into a parochial district,
+rumour reported; and the senior assistant in Masters's,
+who was suspected of Low-Church tendencies, was known
+to be a supporter of this theory. Other ideas of a vague
+character floated through the town, of which no one could
+give any explanation; but Carlingford was unanimous in
+the conviction that good fortune was coming somehow to
+the popular favourite, who a week ago had occupied
+temporarily the position of the popular <i>b&ecirc;te noire</i> and
+impersonation of evil. "But the real sort always triumphs
+at the last," was the verdict of Wharfside, which like
+every primitive community, believed in poetic justice;
+and among the bargemen and their wives much greater
+elevation than that of a district church or the headship of a
+brotherhood was expected "for the clergyman." If the
+Queen had sent for him immediately, and conferred upon
+him a bishopric, or at least appointed him her private
+chaplain, such a favour would have excited no surprise in
+Wharfside, where indeed the public mind was inclined to
+the opinion that the real use of queens and other such
+dignitaries was to find out and reward merit. Mr Wentworth
+himself laughed when the gossip reached his ears.
+"My people have given away all they had to give," he said
+to somebody who had asked the question; "and I know no
+prospect I have of being anything but a perpetual curate,
+unless the Queen sends for me and appoints me to a
+bishopric, as I understand is expected in Prickett's Lane.
+If I come to any advancement," said the Curate of St
+Roque's, "it must be in social estimation, and not in
+worldly wealth, which is out of my way;" and he went
+down to Wharfside rather cheerfully than otherwise,
+having begun to experience that pertinacity carries the
+day, and that it might be possible to goad Lucy into the
+experiment of how much her housekeeping talents were
+good for, and whether, with a good wife, even a Perpetual
+Curate might be able to live without any particular bother
+in respect to the grocer's bill. Mr Wentworth being at
+present warmly engaged in this business of persuasion,
+and as intent as ever on having his own way, was not much
+affected by the Carlingford gossip. He went his way to
+Wharfside all the same, where the service was conducted
+as of old, and where all the humble uncertain voices were
+buoyed up and carried on by the steady pure volume of
+liquid sound which issued from Lucy Wodehouse's lips
+into the utterance of such a 'Magnificat' as filled Mr Wentworth's
+mind with exultation. It was the woman's part in
+the worship&mdash;independent, yet in a sweet subordination;
+and the two had come back&mdash;though with the difference
+that their love was now avowed and certain, and they
+were known to belong to each other&mdash;to much the same
+state of feeling in which they were before the Miss Wentworths
+came to Carlingford, or anything uncomfortable
+had happened. They had learned various little lessons, to
+be sure, in the interim, but experience had not done much
+more for them than it does for ordinary human creatures,
+and the chances are that Mr Wentworth would have
+conducted himself exactly in the same manner another
+time had he been placed in similar circumstances; for the
+lessons of experience, however valuable, are sometimes
+very slow of impressing themselves upon a generous and
+hasty temperament, which has high ideas of honour and
+consistency, and rather piques itself on a contempt for
+self-interest and external advantages&mdash;which was the
+weakness of the Curate of St Roque's. He returned to the
+"great work" in Wharfside with undiminished belief in it,
+and a sense of being able to serve his God and his fellow-creatures,
+which, though it may seem strange to some
+people, was a wonderful compensation to him for the
+loss of Skelmersdale. "After all, I doubt very much
+whether, under any circumstances, we could have left
+such a work as is going on here," he said to Lucy as they
+came up Prickett's Lane together, where the poor woman
+had just died peaceably in No. 10, and got done with it,
+poor soul; and the Sister of Mercy, in her grey cloak, lifted
+towards him the blue eyes which were full of tears, and
+answered with natural emphasis, "Impossible! it would
+have been deserting our post," and drew a step closer to
+him in the twilight with a sense of the sweetness of that
+plural pronoun which mingled so with the higher sense
+that it was impossible to disjoin them. And the two went
+on under the influence of these combined sentiments,
+taking comfort out of the very hardness of the world
+around them, in which their ministrations were so much
+needed, and feeling an exaltation in the "duty," which
+was not for one, but for both, and a belief in the possibility
+of mending matters, in which their love for each other
+bore a large share; for it was not in human nature thus to
+begin the ideal existence, without believing in its universal
+extension, and in the amelioration of life and the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>"That is all they think of," said poor Miss Wodehouse,
+who, between her wondering inspection of the two "young
+people" and her own moderate and sensible love-affairs,
+and the directions which it was necessary to give to her
+Rector about the furnishing of the new house, was more
+constantly occupied than she had ever been in her life;
+"but then, if they marry, what are they to live upon? and
+if they don't marry&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps something will turn up my dear," said old Mrs
+Western, who had an idea that Providence was bound to
+provide for two good young people who wanted to marry;
+and thus the two ladies were forced to leave the matter,
+where, indeed, the historian of events in Carlingford
+would willingly leave it also, not having much faith in the
+rewards of virtue which come convenient in such an
+emergency. But it is only pure fiction which can keep true
+to nature, and weave its narrative in analogy with
+the ordinary course of life&mdash;whereas history demands
+exactness in matters of <i>fact</i>, which are seldom true to
+nature, or amenable to any general rule of existence.</p>
+
+<p>Before proceeding, however, to the narrative of the
+unexpected advancement and promotion which awaited
+the Perpetual Curate, it may be as well to notice that the
+Miss Wentworths, who during the summer had kindly
+given their house at Skelmersdale to some friends who had
+returned in the spring from India, found themselves now
+in a position to return to their own proper dwelling-place,
+and made preparations accordingly for leaving Carlingford,
+in which, indeed, they had no further occupation;
+for, to be sure, except to the extent of that respect which a
+man owes to his aunts, they had no special claim upon
+Frank Wentworth, or right to supervise his actions, save
+on account of Skelmersdale, which was now fully disposed
+of and given away. It cannot be said that Miss Leonora
+had ever fully recovered from the remarkable indisposition
+which her nephew Jack's final address had brought upon
+her. The very next morning she fulfilled her pledges as a
+woman of honour, and bestowed Skelmersdale positively
+and finally upon Julia Trench's curate, who indeed made
+a creditable enough rector in his way; but after she had
+accomplished this act, Miss Leonora relapsed into one
+unceasing watch upon her nephew Frank, which was far
+from dispelling the tendency to headache which she showed
+at this period for the first and only time in her life. She
+watched him with a certain feeling of expiation, as she
+might have resorted to self-flagellation had she lived a few
+hundred years before, and perhaps suffered more acute
+pangs in that act of discipline than could be inflicted by
+any physical scourge. The longer she studied the matter
+the more thoroughly was Miss Leonora convinced not only
+that the Perpetual Curate was bent on doing his duty, but
+that he <i>did</i> it with all the force of high faculties, and a
+mind much more thoroughly trained, and of finer material
+than was possessed by the man whom she had made rector
+of Skelmersdale. The strong-minded woman bore quietly,
+with a kind of defiance, the sharp wounds with which her
+self-esteem was pierced by this sight. She followed up her
+discovery, and made herself more and more certain of the
+mistake she had made, not sparing herself any part of her
+punishment. As she pursued her investigations, too, Miss
+Leonora became increasingly sensible that it was not his
+mother's family whom he resembled, as she had once
+thought, but that he was out and out a Wentworth, possessed
+of all the family features; and this was the man
+whom by her own act she had disinherited of his natural
+share in the patronage of the family, substituting for her
+own flesh and blood an individual for whom, to tell the
+truth, she had little respect! Perhaps if she had been able
+to sustain herself with the thought that it was entirely a
+question of "principle," the retrospect might not have
+been so hard upon Miss Leonora; but being a woman of
+very distinct and uncompromising vision, she could not
+conceal from herself either Julia Trench's cleverness or
+her own mixed and doubtful motives. Having this sense of
+wrong and injustice, and general failure of the duty of
+kindred towards Frank, it might have been supposed a
+little comfort to Miss Leonora to perceive that he had
+entirely recovered from his disappointment, and was no
+longer in her power, if indeed he had ever been so. But
+the fact was, that if anything could have aggravated her
+personal smart, it would have been the fact of Frank's
+indifference and cheerfulness, and evident capability of
+contenting himself with his duty and his favourite district,
+and his Lucy&mdash;whom, to be sure, he could not marry,
+being only a perpetual curate. The spectacle came to have
+a certain fascination for Miss Wentworth. She kept
+watching him with a grim satisfaction, punishing herself,
+and at the same time comforting herself with the idea that,
+light as he made of it, he must be suffering too. She could
+not bear to think that he had escaped clean out of her
+hands, and that the decision she had come to, which
+produced so much pain to herself, was innoxious to Frank;
+and at the same time, though she could not tolerate his
+composure, and would have preferred to see him angry
+and revengeful, his evident recovery of spirits and general
+exhilaration increased Miss Leonora's respect for the man
+she had wronged. In this condition of mind the strong-minded
+aunt lingered over her preparations for removal,
+scorning much the rumour in Carlingford about her
+nephew's advancement, and feeling that she could never
+forgive him if by any chance promotion should come to
+him after all. "He will stay where he is. He will be a
+perpetual curate," Miss Leonora said, uttering what was
+in reality a hope under the shape of a taunt; and things
+were still in this position when Grange Lane in general
+and Miss Dora in particular (from the window of the
+summer-house) were startled much by the sight of the
+Rector, in terribly correct clerical costume, as if he were
+going to dine with the bishop, who walked slowly down the
+road like a man charged with a mission, and, knocking at
+Mrs Hadwin's door, was admitted immediately to a private
+conference with the Curate of St Roque's.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">It</span> was the same afternoon that Mr Wentworth failed to
+attend, as he had never been known to fail before, at the
+afternoon's school which he had set up in Prickett's Lane
+for the young bargemen, who between the intervals of
+their voyages had a little leisure at that hour of the day. It
+is true there was a master provided, and the presence of
+the Perpetual Curate was not indispensable; but the lads,
+among whom, indeed, there were some men, were so
+much used to his presence as to get restless at their work
+on this unprecedented emergency. The master knew no
+other resource than to send for Miss Lucy Wodehouse,
+who was known to be on the other side of Prickett's Lane
+at the moment, superintending a similar educational
+undertaking for the benefit of the girls. It was, as may be
+supposed, embarrassing to Lucy to be called upon to
+render an account of Mr Wentworth's absence, and invited
+to take his place in this public and open manner; but
+then the conventional reticences were unknown in Wharfside,
+and nobody thought it necessary to conceal his
+certainty that the Curate's movements were better known
+to Lucy than to anybody else. She had to make answer
+with as much composure as possible in the full gaze of so
+many pairs of curious eyes, that she did not know why Mr
+Wentworth was absent&mdash;"Somebody is sick, perhaps,"
+said Lucy, repeating an excuse which had been made
+before for the Perpetual Curate; "but I hope it does not
+make any difference," she went on, turning round upon
+all the upturned heads which were neglecting their work
+to stare at her. "Mr Wentworth would be grieved to think
+that his absence did his scholars any injury." Lucy looked
+one of the ringleaders in the eyes as she spoke, and
+brought him to his senses&mdash;all the more effectually, to be
+sure, because she knew all about him, and was a familiar
+figure to the boy, suggesting various little comforts, for
+which, in Prickett's Lane, people were not ungrateful. But
+when she went back again to her girls, the young lady
+found herself in a state of excitement which was half
+annoyance and half a kind of shy pleasure. To be sure, it
+was quite true that they did belong to each other; but at
+the same time, so long as she was Lucy Wodehouse, she
+had no right to be called upon to represent "the clergyman,"
+even in "the district" which was so important to both. And
+then it occurred to her to remember that if she remained
+Lucy Wodehouse that was not the Curate's fault&mdash;from
+which thought she went on to reflect that going away with
+Mr and Mrs Proctor when they were married was not a
+charming prospect, not to say that it involved a renunciation
+of the district for the present at least, and possibly
+for ever; for if Mr Wentworth could not marry as long as
+he was a perpetual curate, it followed of necessity that he
+could not marry until he had left Carlingford&mdash;an idea
+which Lucy turned over in her mind very seriously as she
+walked home, for this once unattended. A new light
+seemed to be thrown upon the whole matter by this
+thought. To consent to be married simply for her own
+happiness, to the disadvantage in any respect of her
+husband, was an idea odious to this young woman, who,
+like most young women, preferred to represent even to
+herself that it was for <i>his</i> happiness that she permitted
+herself to be persuaded to marry; but if duty were involved,
+that was quite another affair. It was quite evident to
+Lucy, as she walked towards Grange Lane, that the
+Curate would not be able to find any one to take her place
+in the district; perhaps also&mdash;for she was honest even in
+her self-delusions&mdash;Lucy was aware that she might herself
+have objections to the finding of a substitute; and what
+then? Was the great work to be interrupted because she
+could not bear the idea of possibly diminishing some of his
+external comforts by allowing him to have his way, and to
+be what he considered happy? Such was the wonderful
+length to which her thoughts had come when she reached
+the garden-door, from which Mr Wentworth himself,
+flushed and eager, came hastily out as she approached. So
+far from explaining his unaccountable absence, or even
+greeting her with ordinary politeness, the young man
+seized her by the arm and brought her into the garden
+with a rapidity which made her giddy. "What is it&mdash;what
+do you mean?" Lucy cried with amazement as she found
+herself whirled through the sunshine and half carried up
+the stairs. Mr Wentworth made no answer until he had
+deposited her breathless in her own chair, in her own
+corner, and then got down on his knee beside her, as men
+in his crazy circumstances are not unapt to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy, look here. I was a perpetual curate the other
+day when you said you would have me," said the energetic
+lover, who was certainly out of his wits, and did not
+know what he was saying&mdash;"and you said you did not
+mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"I said it did not matter," said Lucy, who was slightly
+piqued that he did not recollect exactly the form of so
+important a decision. "I knew well enough you were a
+perpetual curate. Has anything happened, or are you
+going out of your mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it must be that," said Mr Wentworth. "Something
+so extraordinary has happened that I cannot believe
+it. Was I in Prickett's Lane this afternoon as usual, or was
+I at home in my own room talking to the Rector&mdash;or have
+I fallen asleep somewhere, and is the whole thing a
+dream?"</p>
+
+<p>"You were certainly not in Prickett's Lane," said Lucy.
+"I see what it is. Miss Leonora Wentworth has changed
+her mind, and you are going to have Skelmersdale after
+all. I did not think you could have made up your mind to
+leave the district. It is not news that gives me any pleasure,"
+said the Sister of Mercy, as she loosed slowly off from her
+shoulders the grey cloak which was the uniform of the
+district. Her own thoughts had been so different that she
+felt intensely mortified to think of the unnecessary decision
+she had been so near making, and disappointed that
+the offer of a living could have moved her lover to such a
+pitch of pleasure. "All men are alike, it seems," she said to
+herself, with a little quiver in her lip&mdash;a mode of forestalling
+his communications which filled the Perpetual
+Curate with amazement and dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you thinking of?" he said. "Miss Leonora
+Wentworth has not changed her mind. That would have
+been a natural accident enough, but this is incredible. If
+you like, Lucy," he added, with an unsteady laugh, "and
+will consent to my original proposition, you may marry on
+the 15th, not the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's, but the
+Rector of Carlingford. Don't look at me with such an
+unbelieving countenance. It is quite true."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how you can talk so," cried Lucy, indignantly;
+"it is all a made-up story; you know it is. I don't like
+practical jokes," she went on, trembling a little, and
+taking another furtive look at him&mdash;for somehow it was too
+wonderful not to be true.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had been making up a story, I should have kept to
+what was likely," said Mr Wentworth. "The Rector has
+been with me all the afternoon&mdash;he says he has been offered
+his father's rectory, where he was brought up, and that he
+has made up his mind to accept it, as he always was fond
+of the country;&mdash;and that he has recommended me to his
+College for the living of Carlingford."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said Lucy, impatiently, "that is very good
+of Mr Morgan; but you know you are not a member of the
+College, and why should you have the living? I knew it
+could not be true."</p>
+
+<p>"They are all a set of old&mdash; Dons," said the Perpetual
+Curate; "that is, they are the most accomplished set of
+fellows in existence, Lucy&mdash;or at least they ought to be&mdash;but
+they are too superior to take an ordinary living, and
+condescend to ordinary existence. Here has Carlingford
+been twice vacant within a year&mdash;which is an unprecedented
+event&mdash;and Buller, the only man who would think
+of it, is hanging on for a colonial bishopric, where he can
+publish his book at his leisure. Buller is a great friend of
+Gerald's. It is incredible, <i>Lucia mia</i>, but it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it true? are you <i>sure</i> it is true?" cried Lucy; and in
+spite of herself she broke down and gave way, and let her
+head rest on the first convenient support it found, which
+turned out, naturally enough, to be Mr Wentworth's
+shoulder, and cried as if her heart was breaking. It is so
+seldom in this world that things come just when they are
+wanted; and this was not only an acceptable benefice, but
+implied the entire possession of the "district" and the most
+conclusive vindication of the Curate's honour. Lucy cried
+out of pride and happiness and glory in him. She said to
+herself, as Mrs Morgan had done at the beginning of her
+incumbency, "He will be such a Rector as Carlingford has
+never seen." Yet at the same time, apart from her glorying
+and her pride, a certain sense of pain, exquisite though
+shortlived, found expression in Lucy's tears. She had just
+been making up her mind to accept a share of his lowliness,
+and to show the world that even a Perpetual Curate,
+when his wife was equal to her position, might be poor
+without feeling any of the degradations of poverty; and
+now she was forestalled, and had nothing to do but accept
+his competence, which it would be no credit to manage
+well! Such were the thoughts to which she was reduced,
+though she had come home from Prickett's Lane persuading
+herself that it was duty only, and the wants of the
+district, which moved her. Lucy cried, although not much
+given to crying, chiefly because it was the only method she
+could find of giving expression to the feelings which were
+too varied and too complicated for words.</p>
+
+<p>All Carlingford knew the truth about Mr Wentworth's
+advancement that evening, and on the next day, which
+was Sunday, the Church of St Roque's was as full as if the
+plague had broken out in Carlingford, and the population
+had rushed out, as they might have done in medieval
+times, to implore the succour of the physician-saint. The
+first indication of the unusual throng was conveyed to Mr
+Wentworth in his little vestry after the choristers had filed
+into the church in their white surplices, about which, to
+tell the truth, the Perpetual Curate was less interested
+than he had once been. Elsworthy, who had been humbly
+assisting the young priest to robe himself, ventured to
+break the silence when they were alone.</p>
+
+<p>"The church is very full, sir," said Elsworthy; "there's a
+deal of people come, sir, after hearing the news. I don't
+say I've always been as good a servant as I ought to have
+been; but it was all through being led away, and not
+knowing no better, and putting my trust where I shouldn't
+have put it. I've had a hard lesson, sir, and I've learnt
+better," he continued, with a sidelong glance at the
+Curate's face; "it was all a mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"I was not finding fault with you, that I am aware of,"
+said Mr Wentworth, with a little surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," said Elsworthy, "I am aware as you wasn't
+finding no fault; but there's looks as speaks as strong as
+words, and I can feel as you haven't the confidence in me
+as you once had. I aint ashamed to say it, sir," continued
+the clerk of St Roque's. "I'm one as trusted in that girl's
+innocent looks, and didn't believe as she could do no
+harm. She's led me into ill-feeling with my clergyman, sir,
+and done me a deal o' damage in my trade, and now she's
+gone off without as much as saying 'Thank you for your
+kindness.' It's a hard blow upon a man as was fond of her,
+and I didn't make no difference, no more than if she had
+been my own child."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," said the Curate, "I daresay it was a trial to
+you; but you can't expect me to take much interest in it
+after all that has passed. Let bygones be bygones," said
+Mr Wentworth, with a smile, "as indeed you once
+proposed."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! sir, that was my mistake," sighed the penitent. "I
+would have 'umbled myself more becoming, if I had
+known all as I know now. You're a-going off to leave St
+Roque's, where we've all been so happy," said Mr Elsworthy,
+in pathetic tones. "I don't know as I ever was as
+'appy, sir, as here, a-listening to them beautiful sermons,
+and a-giving my best attention to see as the responses was
+well spoke out, and things done proper. Afore our troubles
+began, sir, I don't know as I had a wish in the world,
+unless it was to see an 'andsome painted window in the
+chancel, which is all as is wanted to make the church
+perfect; and now you're a-going to leave, and nobody
+knows what kind of a gentleman may be sent. If you
+wouldn't think I was making too bold," said Elsworthy, "it
+aint my opinion as you'll ever put up with poor old Norris
+as is in the church. Men like Mr Morgan and Mr
+Proctor as had no cultivation doesn't mind; but for a
+gentleman as goes through the service as you does it, Mr
+Wentworth&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mr Wentworth laughed, though he was fully robed and
+ready for the reading-desk, and knew that his congregation
+was waiting. He held his watch in his hand, though it
+already marked the half minute after eleven. "So you
+would like to be clerk in the parish church?" he said, with
+what seemed a quite unnecessary amount of amusement
+to the anxious functionary by his side.</p>
+
+<p>"I think as you could never put up with old Norris, sir,"
+said Elsworthy; "as for leading of the responses, there aint
+such a thing done in Carlingford Church. I don't speak for
+myself," said the public-spirited clerk, "but it aint a right
+thing for the rising generation; and it aint everybody as
+would get into your way in a minute&mdash;for you have a way
+of your own, sir, in most things, and if you'll excuse me
+for saying of it, you're very particular. It aint every man,
+sir, as could carry on clear through the service along of
+you, Mr Wentworth; and you wouldn't put up with old
+Norris, not for a day."</p>
+
+<p>Such was the conversation which opened this memorable
+Sunday to Mr Wentworth. Opposite to him, again
+occupying the seat where his wife should have been, had
+he possessed one, were the three Miss Wentworths, his
+respected aunts, to whose opinion, however, the Curate
+did not feel himself bound to defer very greatly in present
+circumstances; and a large and curious congregation
+ranged behind them, almost as much concerned to see
+how Mr Wentworth would conduct himself in this moment
+of triumph, as they had been in the moment of his humiliation.
+It is, however, needless to inform the friends of the
+Perpetual Curate that the anxious community gained very
+little by their curiosity. It was not the custom of the young
+Anglican to carry his personal feelings, either of one kind
+or another, into the pulpit with him, much less into the
+reading-desk, where he was the interpreter not of his own
+sentiments or emotions, but of common prayer and universal
+worship. Mr Wentworth did not even throw a little
+additional warmth into his utterance of the general
+thanksgiving, as he might have done had he been a more
+effusive man; but, on the contrary, read it with a more
+than ordinary calmness, and preached to the excited
+people one of those terse little unimpassioned sermons of
+his, from which it was utterly impossible to divine whether
+he was in the depths of despair or at the summit and crown
+of happiness. People who had been used to discover a
+great many of old Mr Bury's personal peculiarities in his
+sermons, and who, of recent days, had found many allusions
+which it was easy to interpret in the discourses of Mr
+Morgan, retired altogether baffled from the clear and
+succinct brevity of the Curate of St Roque's. He was that
+day in particular so terse as to be almost epigrammatic,
+not using a word more than was necessary, and displaying
+that power of saying a great deal more than at the first
+moment he appeared to say, in which Mr Wentworth's
+admirers specially prided themselves. Perhaps a momentary
+human gratification in the consciousness of having
+utterly baffled curiosity, passed through the Curate's
+mind as he took off his robes when the service was over;
+but he was by no means prepared for the ordeal which
+awaited him when he stepped forth from the pretty porch
+of St Roque's. There his three aunts were awaiting him,
+eager to hear all about it, Miss Dora, for the first time in
+her life, holding the principal place. "We are going away
+to-morrow, Frank, and of course you are coming to lunch
+with us," said aunt Dora, clinging to his arm. "Oh, my
+dear boy, I am so happy, and so ashamed, to hear of it. To
+think you should be provided for, and nobody belonging
+to you have anything to do with it! I don't know what to
+say," said Miss Dora, who was half crying as usual; "and
+as for Leonora, one is frightened to speak to her. Oh, I
+wish you would say something to your aunt Leonora,
+Frank. I don't know whether she is angry with us or with
+you or with herself, or what it is; or if it is an attack on the
+nerves&mdash;though I never imagined she had any nerves;
+but, indeed, whatever my brother may say, it looks very
+like&mdash;dreadfully like&mdash;the coming-on of the Wentworth
+complaint. Poor papa was just like that when he used to
+have it coming on; and Leonora is not just&mdash;altogether&mdash;what
+you would call a female, Frank. Oh, my dear boy, if
+you would only speak to her!" cried Miss Dora, who was a
+great deal too much in earnest to perceive anything comical
+in what she had said.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think it must be an attack on the temper,"
+said the Curate, who, now that it was all over, felt that it
+was but just his aunt Leonora should suffer a little for her
+treatment of him. "Perhaps some of her favourite colporteurs
+have fallen back into evil ways. There was one who
+had been a terrible blackguard, I remember. It is something
+that has happened among her mission people, you
+may be sure, and nothing about me."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know Leonora, Frank. She is very fond of
+you, though she does not show it," said Miss Dora, as she
+led her victim in triumphantly through the garden-door,
+from which the reluctant young man could see Lucy and
+her sister in their black dresses just arriving at the other
+green door from the parish church, where they had occupied
+their usual places, according to the ideas of propriety
+which were common to both the Miss Wodehouses. Mr
+Wentworth had to content himself with taking off his hat
+to them, and followed his aunts to the table, where Miss
+Leonora took her seat much with the air of a judge about
+to deliver a sentence. She did not restrain herself even in
+the consideration of the presence of Lewis the butler, who,
+to be sure, had been long enough in the Wentworth family
+to know as much about its concerns as the members of the
+house themselves, or perhaps a little more. Miss Leonora
+sat down grim and formidable in her bonnet, which was in
+the style of a remote period, and did not soften the
+severity of her personal appearance. She pointed her
+nephew to a seat beside her, but she did not relax her
+features, nor condescend to any ordinary preliminaries of
+conversation. For that day even she took Lewis's business
+out of his astonished hands, and herself divided the
+chicken with a swift and steady knife and anatomical
+precision; and it was while occupied in this congenial
+business that she broke forth upon Frank in a manner so
+unexpected as almost to take away his breath.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose this is what fools call poetic justice," said
+Miss Leonora, "which is just of a piece with everything
+else that is poetical&mdash;weak folly and nonsense that no
+sensible man would have anything to say to. How a young
+man like you, who know how to conduct yourself in some
+things, and have, I don't deny, many good qualities, can
+give in to come to an ending like a trashy novel, is more
+than I can understand. You are fit to be put in a book of
+the Good-child series, Frank, as an illustration of
+the reward of virtue," said the strong-minded woman,
+with a little snort of scorn; "and, of course, you are
+going to marry, and live happy ever after, like a fairy
+tale."</p>
+
+<p>"It is possible I may be guilty of that additional
+enormity," said the Curate, "which, at all events, will not
+be your doing, my dear aunt, if I might suggest a consolation.
+You cannot help such things happening, but, at
+least, it should be a comfort to feel you have done nothing
+to bring them about."</p>
+
+<p>To which Miss Leonora answered by another hard
+breath of mingled disdain and resentment. "Whatever I
+have brought about, I have tried to do what I thought my
+duty," she said. "It has always seemed to me a very poor
+sort of virtue that expects a reward for doing what it ought
+to do. I don't say you haven't behaved very well in this
+business, but you've done nothing extraordinary; and why
+I should have rushed out of my way to reward you for it&mdash;Oh,
+yes, I know you did not expect anything," said Miss
+Leonora; "you have told me as much on various occasions,
+Frank. You have, of course, always been perfectly independent,
+and scorned to flatter your old aunts by any
+deference to their convictions; and, to be sure, it is nothing
+to you any little pang they may feel at having to dispose
+otherwise of a living that has always been in the family.
+You are of the latest fashion of Anglicanism, and we are
+only a parcel of old women. It was not to be expected that
+our antiquated ideas could be worth as much to you as a
+parcel of flowers and trumpery&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>These were actually tears which glittered in Miss
+Leonora's eyes of fiery hazel grey&mdash;tears of very diminutive
+size, totally unlike the big dewdrops which rained
+from Miss Dora's placid orbs and made them red, but did
+<i>her</i> no harm&mdash;but still a real moisture, forced out of a
+fountain which lay very deep down and inaccessible to
+ordinary efforts. They made her eyes look rather fiercer
+than otherwise for the moment; but they all but impeded
+Miss Leonora's speech, and struck with the wildest consternation
+the entire party at the table, including even
+Lewis, who stood transfixed in the act of drawing a bottle
+of soda-water, and, letting the cork escape him in his
+amazement, brought affairs to an unlooked-for climax by
+hitting Miss Wentworth, who had been looking on with
+interest without taking any part in the proceedings. When
+the fright caused by this unintentional shot had subsided,
+Miss Leonora was found to have entirely recovered herself;
+but not so the Perpetual Curate, who had changed colour
+wonderfully, and no longer met his accuser with reciprocal
+disdain.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear aunt," said Frank Wentworth, "I wish you
+would not go back to that. I suppose we parsons are apt
+sometimes to exaggerate trifles into importance, as my
+father says. But, however, as things have turned out, I
+could not have left Carlingford," the Curate added, in a
+tone of conciliation; "and now, when good fortune has
+come to me unsought&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Leonora finished her portion of chicken in one
+energetic gulp, and got up from the table. "Poetic justice!"
+she said, with a furious sneer. "I don't believe in that kind
+of rubbish. As long as you were getting on quietly with
+your work I felt disposed to be rather proud of you,
+Frank. But I don't approve of a man ending off neatly like
+a novel in this sort of ridiculous way. When you succeed to
+the Rectory I suppose you will begin fighting, like the
+other man, with the new curate, for working in your
+parish?"</p>
+
+<p>"When I succeed to the Rectory," said Mr Wentworth,
+getting up in his turn from the table, "I give you my word,
+aunt Leonora, no man shall work in <i>my</i> parish unless I set
+him to do it. Now I must be off to my work. I don't
+suppose Carlingford Rectory will be the end of me," the
+Perpetual Curate added, as he went away, with a smile
+which his aunts could not interpret. As for Miss Leonora,
+she tied her bonnet-strings very tight, and went off to the
+afternoon service at Salem Chapel by way of expressing
+her sentiments more forcibly. "I daresay he's bold enough
+to take a bishopric," she said to herself; "but fortunately
+we've got <i>that</i> in our own hands as long as Lord Shaftesbury
+lives;" and Miss Leonora smiled grimly over the
+prerogatives of her party. But though she went to the
+Salem Chapel that afternoon, and consoled herself that
+she could secure the bench of bishops from any audacious
+invasion of Frank Wentworth's hopes, it is true, notwithstanding,
+that Miss Leonora sent her maid next morning to
+London with certain obsolete ornaments, of which, though
+the fashion was hideous, the jewels were precious; and
+Lucy Wodehouse had never seen anything so brilliant as
+the appearance they presented when they returned shortly
+after reposing upon beds of white satin in cases of velvet&mdash;"Ridiculous
+things," as Miss Leonora informed her, "for a
+parson's wife."</p>
+
+<p>It was some time after this&mdash;for, not to speak of
+ecclesiastical matters, a removal, even when the furniture
+is left behind and there are only books, and rare ferns, and
+old china, to convey from one house to another, is a matter
+which involves delays&mdash;when Mr Wentworth went to the
+railway station with Mrs Morgan to see her off finally, her
+husband having gone to London with the intention of
+joining her in the new house. Naturally, it was not without
+serious thoughts that the Rector's wife left the place in
+which she had made the first beginning of her active life,
+not so successfully as she had hoped. She could not help
+recalling, as she went along the familiar road, the hopes so
+vivid as to be almost certainties with which she had come
+into Carlingford. The long waiting was then over, and the
+much-respected era had arrived and existence had seemed
+to be opening in all its fulness and strength before the
+two who had looked forward to it so long. It was not much
+more than six months ago; but Mrs Morgan had made a
+great many discoveries in the mean time. She had found
+out the wonderful difference between anticipation and
+reality; and that life, even to a happy woman married
+after long patience to the man of her choice, was not the
+smooth road it looked, but a rough path enough cut into
+dangerous ruts, through which generations of men and
+women followed each other without ever being able to
+mend the way. She was not so sure as she used to be of a
+great many important matters which it is a wonderful
+consolation to be certain of&mdash;but, notwithstanding, had to
+go on as if she had no doubts, though the clouds of a
+defeat, in which, certainly, no honour, though a good deal
+of the <i>prestige</i> of inexperience had been lost, were still
+looming behind. She gave a little sigh as she shook Mr
+Wentworth's hand at parting. "A great many things have
+happened in six months," she said&mdash;"one never could have
+anticipated so many changes in what looks so short a period
+of one's life"&mdash;and as the train which she had watched so
+often rushed past that new bit of wall on which the
+Virginian creeper was beginning to grow luxuriantly, which
+screened the railway from the Rectory windows, there
+were tears in Mrs Morgan's eyes. Only six months and so
+much had happened!&mdash;what might not happen in all those
+months, in all those years of life which scarcely looked so
+hopeful as of old? She preferred turning her back upon
+Carlingford, though it was the least comfortable side of the
+carriage, and put down her veil to shield her eyes from the
+dust, or perhaps from the inspection of her fellow-travellers:
+and once more the familiar thought returned to
+her of what a different woman she would have been had she
+come to her first experiences of life with the courage and
+confidence of twenty or even of five-and-twenty, which was
+the age Mrs Morgan dwelt upon most kindly. And then she
+thought with a thrill of vivid kindness and a touch of tender
+envy of Lucy Wodehouse, who would now have no possible
+occasion to wait those ten years.</p>
+
+<p>As for Mr Wentworth, he who was a priest, and knew
+more about Carlingford than any other man in the place,
+could not help thinking, as he turned back, of people
+there, to whom these six months had produced alterations
+far more terrible than any that had befallen the Rector's
+wife:&mdash;people from whom the light of life had died out,
+and to whom all the world was changed. He knew of men
+who had been cheerful enough when Mr Morgan came to
+Carlingford, who now did not care what became of them;
+and of women who would be glad to lay down their heads
+and hide them from the mocking light of day. He knew it,
+and it touched his heart with the tenderest pity of life, the
+compassion of happiness; and he knew too that the path
+upon which he was about to set out led through the same
+glooms, and was no ideal career. But perhaps because Mr
+Wentworth was young&mdash;perhaps because he was possessed
+by that delicate sprite more dainty than any Ariel who
+puts rosy girdles round the world while his time of triumph
+lasts&mdash;it is certain that the new Rector of Carlingford
+turned back into Grange Lane without the least shadow
+upon his mind or timidity in his thoughts. He was now in
+his own domains, an independent monarch, as little
+inclined to divide his power as any autocrat; and Mr
+Wentworth came into his kingdom without any doubts of
+his success in it, or of his capability for its government. He
+had first a little journey to make to bring back Lucy from
+that temporary and reluctant separation from the district
+which propriety had made needful; but, in the mean time,
+Mr Wentworth trode with firm foot the streets of his
+parish, secure that no parson nor priest should tithe or toll
+in his dominions, and a great deal more sure than even Mr
+Morgan had been, that henceforth no unauthorised evangelisation
+should take place in any portion of his territory.
+This sentiment, perhaps, was the principal difference
+perceptible by the community in general between the new
+Rector of Carlingford and the late Perpetual Curate of St
+Roque's.</p>
+
+<hr class="narrow" />
+
+<h3>Footnotes</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent"><a name="Fn1" id="Fn1"></a><a href="#Fn1r">[1]</a>
+She was the daughter of old Sir Jasper Shelton, a poor family, but very
+respectable, and connected with the Westerns.</p>
+
+<hr class="narrow" />
+
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #E6E6FA; margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="10" summary="Amendments">
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2">
+		<div class="center">TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE</div>
+
+<p class="noindent" style="background-color: #E6E6FA">Contemporary spellings have been retained even
+when inconsistent. A small number of obvious typographical errors have been
+corrected and missing punctuation has been silently added.<br />
+<br />
+The following additional changes have been made; they can be identified
+in the body of the text by a grey dotted underline:</p>
+</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">news with which her heart was beating were</td>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">news with which her heart was beating was</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">neither here not there</td>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">neither here nor there</td>
+ </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">the trouble which has overtaken his brother</td>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">the trouble which had overtaken his brother</td>
+ </tr>
+
+   <tr>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">wiled the night away</td>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">whiled the night away</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">his handkerchief to this eyes</td>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">his handkerchief to his eyes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">Notwithstanding, that fact is, that</td>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">Notwithstanding, the fact is, that</td>
+ </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">than ever come out of mortal loom</td>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">than ever came out of mortal loom</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">keep on Thompson; (&#8230;) for Thomson&#8230;</td>
+	 <td align="left" valign="top">keep on Thompson; (&#8230;) for Thompson&#8230;</td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="narrow" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERPETUAL CURATE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 28006-h.htm or 28006-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/0/28006/
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/28006-page-images/f0001.png b/28006-page-images/f0001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3ca1da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/f0001.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/f0002.png b/28006-page-images/f0002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2c71e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/f0002.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0001.png b/28006-page-images/p0001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bbf8d5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0001.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0002.png b/28006-page-images/p0002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..604d200
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0002.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0003.png b/28006-page-images/p0003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..efa0b29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0003.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0004.png b/28006-page-images/p0004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a2902d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0004.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0005.png b/28006-page-images/p0005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73e919f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0005.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0006.png b/28006-page-images/p0006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dfdabc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0006.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0007.png b/28006-page-images/p0007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51185d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0007.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0008.png b/28006-page-images/p0008.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..028b4f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0008.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0009.png b/28006-page-images/p0009.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d1bd41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0009.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0010.png b/28006-page-images/p0010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..853e020
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0010.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0011.png b/28006-page-images/p0011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54a09dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0011.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0012.png b/28006-page-images/p0012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3e9381
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0012.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0013.png b/28006-page-images/p0013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43b10ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0013.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0014.png b/28006-page-images/p0014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f29ae6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0014.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0015.png b/28006-page-images/p0015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06e3929
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0015.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0016.png b/28006-page-images/p0016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c55ec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0016.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0017.png b/28006-page-images/p0017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e2a70b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0017.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0018.png b/28006-page-images/p0018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f115dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0018.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0019.png b/28006-page-images/p0019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3988094
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0019.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0020.png b/28006-page-images/p0020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91d6376
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0020.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0021.png b/28006-page-images/p0021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d47a271
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0021.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0022.png b/28006-page-images/p0022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3466f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0022.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0023.png b/28006-page-images/p0023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c698da4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0023.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0024.png b/28006-page-images/p0024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab6a474
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0024.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0025.png b/28006-page-images/p0025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..853479c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0025.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0026.png b/28006-page-images/p0026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c135a05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0026.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0027.png b/28006-page-images/p0027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fdcf03c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0027.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0028.png b/28006-page-images/p0028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65202c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0028.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0029.png b/28006-page-images/p0029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a8fa72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0029.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0030.png b/28006-page-images/p0030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fa761f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0030.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0031.png b/28006-page-images/p0031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44bf6b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0031.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0032.png b/28006-page-images/p0032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9301782
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0032.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0033.png b/28006-page-images/p0033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c23c81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0033.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0034.png b/28006-page-images/p0034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b7585d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0034.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0035.png b/28006-page-images/p0035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0acdd2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0035.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0036.png b/28006-page-images/p0036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97fa331
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0036.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0037.png b/28006-page-images/p0037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7532cb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0037.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0038.png b/28006-page-images/p0038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ddcefcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0038.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0039.png b/28006-page-images/p0039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc857de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0039.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0040.png b/28006-page-images/p0040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75a8145
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0040.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0041.png b/28006-page-images/p0041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a9ab7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0041.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0042.png b/28006-page-images/p0042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d86ff26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0042.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0043.png b/28006-page-images/p0043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef17e06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0043.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0044.png b/28006-page-images/p0044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7581f83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0044.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0045.png b/28006-page-images/p0045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5bc2717
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0045.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0046.png b/28006-page-images/p0046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae9cad3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0046.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0047.png b/28006-page-images/p0047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5d391a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0047.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0048.png b/28006-page-images/p0048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..580aded
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0048.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0049.png b/28006-page-images/p0049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..486009b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0049.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0050.png b/28006-page-images/p0050.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af55d62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0050.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0051.png b/28006-page-images/p0051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa63c1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0051.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0052.png b/28006-page-images/p0052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3b65a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0052.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0053.png b/28006-page-images/p0053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42df296
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0053.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0054.png b/28006-page-images/p0054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fa98f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0054.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0055.png b/28006-page-images/p0055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9b2b89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0055.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0056.png b/28006-page-images/p0056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a7b3e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0056.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0057.png b/28006-page-images/p0057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2dab1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0057.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0058.png b/28006-page-images/p0058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..245b064
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0058.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0059.png b/28006-page-images/p0059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abb18ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0059.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0060.png b/28006-page-images/p0060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5259875
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0060.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0061.png b/28006-page-images/p0061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4ef197
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0061.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0062.png b/28006-page-images/p0062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2dd0e27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0062.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0063.png b/28006-page-images/p0063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..139e854
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0063.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0064.png b/28006-page-images/p0064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a009448
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0064.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0065.png b/28006-page-images/p0065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ef9737
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0065.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0066.png b/28006-page-images/p0066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..165f6fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0066.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0067.png b/28006-page-images/p0067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d99870c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0067.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0068.png b/28006-page-images/p0068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ab340d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0068.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0069.png b/28006-page-images/p0069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f306a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0069.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0070.png b/28006-page-images/p0070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7309d86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0070.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0071.png b/28006-page-images/p0071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..556839e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0071.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0072.png b/28006-page-images/p0072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f62b703
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0072.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0073.png b/28006-page-images/p0073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c7f393
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0073.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0074.png b/28006-page-images/p0074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..896b1cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0074.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0075.png b/28006-page-images/p0075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af2567b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0075.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0076.png b/28006-page-images/p0076.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..446e86d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0076.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0077.png b/28006-page-images/p0077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97ab90e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0077.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0078.png b/28006-page-images/p0078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1d268c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0078.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0079.png b/28006-page-images/p0079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd45e18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0079.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0080.png b/28006-page-images/p0080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1dc7db1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0080.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0081.png b/28006-page-images/p0081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..031c4c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0081.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0082.png b/28006-page-images/p0082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15f3df2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0082.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0083.png b/28006-page-images/p0083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5f66d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0083.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0084.png b/28006-page-images/p0084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10e6488
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0084.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0085.png b/28006-page-images/p0085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce5a068
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0085.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0086.png b/28006-page-images/p0086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bfe9b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0086.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0087.png b/28006-page-images/p0087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c0bd19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0087.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0088.png b/28006-page-images/p0088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8695e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0088.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0089.png b/28006-page-images/p0089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7196dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0089.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0090.png b/28006-page-images/p0090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..edaed71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0090.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0091.png b/28006-page-images/p0091.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c0840ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0091.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0092.png b/28006-page-images/p0092.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff24808
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0092.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0093.png b/28006-page-images/p0093.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43ae08e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0093.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0094.png b/28006-page-images/p0094.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab71e57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0094.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0095.png b/28006-page-images/p0095.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bd44ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0095.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0096.png b/28006-page-images/p0096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ec9df0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0096.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0097.png b/28006-page-images/p0097.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..259b992
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0097.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0098.png b/28006-page-images/p0098.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e474a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0098.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0099.png b/28006-page-images/p0099.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cb1be6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0099.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0100.png b/28006-page-images/p0100.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..caced4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0100.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0101.png b/28006-page-images/p0101.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36338c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0101.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0102.png b/28006-page-images/p0102.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d536fd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0102.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0103.png b/28006-page-images/p0103.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bca895f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0103.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0104.png b/28006-page-images/p0104.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a53a935
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0104.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0105.png b/28006-page-images/p0105.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc58468
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0105.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0106.png b/28006-page-images/p0106.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da82c5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0106.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0107.png b/28006-page-images/p0107.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ac1bc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0107.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0108.png b/28006-page-images/p0108.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..497f07d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0108.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0109.png b/28006-page-images/p0109.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5adbd4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0109.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0110.png b/28006-page-images/p0110.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ddeffc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0110.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0111.png b/28006-page-images/p0111.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..789a2be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0111.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0112.png b/28006-page-images/p0112.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55461a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0112.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0113.png b/28006-page-images/p0113.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5b0ddf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0113.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0114.png b/28006-page-images/p0114.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40c1206
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0114.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0115.png b/28006-page-images/p0115.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d6b9ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0115.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0116.png b/28006-page-images/p0116.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2ec2bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0116.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0117.png b/28006-page-images/p0117.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3696dfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0117.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0118.png b/28006-page-images/p0118.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eae34e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0118.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0119.png b/28006-page-images/p0119.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7cbb93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0119.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0120.png b/28006-page-images/p0120.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e63afe8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0120.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0121.png b/28006-page-images/p0121.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fbe1ad5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0121.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0122.png b/28006-page-images/p0122.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d72e85e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0122.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0123.png b/28006-page-images/p0123.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c68d003
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0123.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0124.png b/28006-page-images/p0124.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1374f32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0124.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0125.png b/28006-page-images/p0125.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..364cc67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0125.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0126.png b/28006-page-images/p0126.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..824f1ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0126.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0127.png b/28006-page-images/p0127.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f78f784
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0127.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0128.png b/28006-page-images/p0128.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb0845a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0128.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0129.png b/28006-page-images/p0129.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38ddd39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0129.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0130.png b/28006-page-images/p0130.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a174abd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0130.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0131.png b/28006-page-images/p0131.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0da539a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0131.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0132.png b/28006-page-images/p0132.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3ff679
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0132.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0133.png b/28006-page-images/p0133.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9dc4cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0133.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0134.png b/28006-page-images/p0134.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..886e0cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0134.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0135.png b/28006-page-images/p0135.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ff9888
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0135.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0136.png b/28006-page-images/p0136.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b9ce9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0136.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0137.png b/28006-page-images/p0137.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8334d0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0137.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0138.png b/28006-page-images/p0138.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00fd13b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0138.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0139.png b/28006-page-images/p0139.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0579ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0139.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0140.png b/28006-page-images/p0140.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43cae54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0140.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0141.png b/28006-page-images/p0141.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..049e8b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0141.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0142.png b/28006-page-images/p0142.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5bebd8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0142.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0143.png b/28006-page-images/p0143.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43ce0a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0143.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0144.png b/28006-page-images/p0144.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05b6aee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0144.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0145.png b/28006-page-images/p0145.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41cb00c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0145.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0146.png b/28006-page-images/p0146.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1d6426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0146.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0147.png b/28006-page-images/p0147.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..176b55a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0147.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0148.png b/28006-page-images/p0148.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1a28be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0148.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0149.png b/28006-page-images/p0149.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba002f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0149.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0150.png b/28006-page-images/p0150.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b35aacb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0150.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0151.png b/28006-page-images/p0151.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72e9028
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0151.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0152.png b/28006-page-images/p0152.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74122f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0152.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0153.png b/28006-page-images/p0153.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e933f66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0153.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0154.png b/28006-page-images/p0154.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba18184
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0154.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0155.png b/28006-page-images/p0155.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ae2dae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0155.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0156.png b/28006-page-images/p0156.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15fde6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0156.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0157.png b/28006-page-images/p0157.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54af923
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0157.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0158.png b/28006-page-images/p0158.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0b1a53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0158.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0159.png b/28006-page-images/p0159.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..823cefd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0159.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0160.png b/28006-page-images/p0160.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..402f4e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0160.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0161.png b/28006-page-images/p0161.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9af1158
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0161.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0162.png b/28006-page-images/p0162.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..484a3be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0162.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0163.png b/28006-page-images/p0163.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afe32b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0163.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0164.png b/28006-page-images/p0164.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b0b5d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0164.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0165.png b/28006-page-images/p0165.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2b5ca1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0165.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0166.png b/28006-page-images/p0166.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d66a234
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0166.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0167.png b/28006-page-images/p0167.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bfb6184
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0167.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0168.png b/28006-page-images/p0168.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..adfb51a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0168.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0169.png b/28006-page-images/p0169.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..977a039
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0169.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0170.png b/28006-page-images/p0170.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45d11a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0170.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0171.png b/28006-page-images/p0171.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..083de66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0171.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0172.png b/28006-page-images/p0172.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6339efe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0172.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0173.png b/28006-page-images/p0173.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f61e6b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0173.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0174.png b/28006-page-images/p0174.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a16ef3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0174.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0175.png b/28006-page-images/p0175.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e811f2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0175.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0176.png b/28006-page-images/p0176.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fe2fe5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0176.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0177.png b/28006-page-images/p0177.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24f75ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0177.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0178.png b/28006-page-images/p0178.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..349b734
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0178.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0179.png b/28006-page-images/p0179.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64b8337
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0179.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0180.png b/28006-page-images/p0180.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52d8271
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0180.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0181.png b/28006-page-images/p0181.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..117dad8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0181.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0182.png b/28006-page-images/p0182.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ad1f17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0182.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0183.png b/28006-page-images/p0183.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..342994f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0183.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0184.png b/28006-page-images/p0184.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b8f351
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0184.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0185.png b/28006-page-images/p0185.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..410e477
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0185.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0186.png b/28006-page-images/p0186.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a62b68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0186.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0187.png b/28006-page-images/p0187.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a9a4077
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0187.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0188.png b/28006-page-images/p0188.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df34b24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0188.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0189.png b/28006-page-images/p0189.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d4475b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0189.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0190.png b/28006-page-images/p0190.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3725d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0190.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0191.png b/28006-page-images/p0191.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99d35fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0191.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0192.png b/28006-page-images/p0192.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df5b582
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0192.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0193.png b/28006-page-images/p0193.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..226317d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0193.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0194.png b/28006-page-images/p0194.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3149841
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0194.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0195.png b/28006-page-images/p0195.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48947df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0195.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0196.png b/28006-page-images/p0196.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..844e579
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0196.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0197.png b/28006-page-images/p0197.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..710208a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0197.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0198.png b/28006-page-images/p0198.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb2ca11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0198.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0199.png b/28006-page-images/p0199.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d67f8b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0199.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0200.png b/28006-page-images/p0200.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b622ca1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0200.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0201.png b/28006-page-images/p0201.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47f1bdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0201.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0202.png b/28006-page-images/p0202.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1edae1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0202.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0203.png b/28006-page-images/p0203.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03483c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0203.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0204.png b/28006-page-images/p0204.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1daac0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0204.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0205.png b/28006-page-images/p0205.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..654b9f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0205.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0206.png b/28006-page-images/p0206.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84ec7f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0206.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0207.png b/28006-page-images/p0207.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6eecf92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0207.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0208.png b/28006-page-images/p0208.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..566e8ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0208.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0209.png b/28006-page-images/p0209.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae66130
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0209.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0210.png b/28006-page-images/p0210.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3830a0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0210.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0211.png b/28006-page-images/p0211.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97383d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0211.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0212.png b/28006-page-images/p0212.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6db8831
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0212.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0213.png b/28006-page-images/p0213.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f77e1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0213.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0214.png b/28006-page-images/p0214.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c950ee9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0214.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0215.png b/28006-page-images/p0215.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..116a289
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0215.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0216.png b/28006-page-images/p0216.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5e57bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0216.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0217.png b/28006-page-images/p0217.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ad123b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0217.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0218.png b/28006-page-images/p0218.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8230e96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0218.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0219.png b/28006-page-images/p0219.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9defc17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0219.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0220.png b/28006-page-images/p0220.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1a9dab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0220.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0221.png b/28006-page-images/p0221.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..179ecba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0221.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0222.png b/28006-page-images/p0222.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5808d7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0222.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0223.png b/28006-page-images/p0223.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39a1bca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0223.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0224.png b/28006-page-images/p0224.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6b445a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0224.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0225.png b/28006-page-images/p0225.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93cba51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0225.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0226.png b/28006-page-images/p0226.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfbeb32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0226.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0227.png b/28006-page-images/p0227.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..246ff6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0227.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0228.png b/28006-page-images/p0228.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5184318
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0228.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0229.png b/28006-page-images/p0229.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e73783
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0229.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0230.png b/28006-page-images/p0230.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88746f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0230.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0231.png b/28006-page-images/p0231.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e08364
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0231.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0232.png b/28006-page-images/p0232.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7cef59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0232.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0233.png b/28006-page-images/p0233.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a7b872
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0233.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0234.png b/28006-page-images/p0234.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9666187
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0234.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0235.png b/28006-page-images/p0235.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90ec33f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0235.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0236.png b/28006-page-images/p0236.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd657b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0236.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0237.png b/28006-page-images/p0237.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85dc28d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0237.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0238.png b/28006-page-images/p0238.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b17ee7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0238.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0239.png b/28006-page-images/p0239.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df71954
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0239.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0240.png b/28006-page-images/p0240.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2373eae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0240.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0241.png b/28006-page-images/p0241.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c76302
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0241.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0242.png b/28006-page-images/p0242.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f2c058
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0242.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0243.png b/28006-page-images/p0243.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdcc625
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0243.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0244.png b/28006-page-images/p0244.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e22f704
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0244.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0245.png b/28006-page-images/p0245.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6338416
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0245.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0246.png b/28006-page-images/p0246.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d6b3bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0246.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0247.png b/28006-page-images/p0247.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc57bcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0247.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0248.png b/28006-page-images/p0248.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..935b955
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0248.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0249.png b/28006-page-images/p0249.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f55fcf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0249.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0250.png b/28006-page-images/p0250.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e81e60b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0250.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0251.png b/28006-page-images/p0251.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..11cf785
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0251.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0252.png b/28006-page-images/p0252.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1742a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0252.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0253.png b/28006-page-images/p0253.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebbc29e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0253.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0254.png b/28006-page-images/p0254.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45d1ad9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0254.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0255.png b/28006-page-images/p0255.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..32985bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0255.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0256.png b/28006-page-images/p0256.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87d29bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0256.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0257.png b/28006-page-images/p0257.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57601ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0257.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0258.png b/28006-page-images/p0258.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..932d984
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0258.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0259.png b/28006-page-images/p0259.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2432143
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0259.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0260.png b/28006-page-images/p0260.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c62402
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0260.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0261.png b/28006-page-images/p0261.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ed758a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0261.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0262.png b/28006-page-images/p0262.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ecdd6ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0262.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0263.png b/28006-page-images/p0263.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f4b48a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0263.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0264.png b/28006-page-images/p0264.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f5b030
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0264.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0265.png b/28006-page-images/p0265.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9835b20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0265.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0266.png b/28006-page-images/p0266.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f7e1bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0266.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0267.png b/28006-page-images/p0267.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57ac4ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0267.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0268.png b/28006-page-images/p0268.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51c46ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0268.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0269.png b/28006-page-images/p0269.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e35ecc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0269.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0270.png b/28006-page-images/p0270.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b66633
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0270.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0271.png b/28006-page-images/p0271.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f3773f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0271.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0272.png b/28006-page-images/p0272.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b61a815
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0272.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0273.png b/28006-page-images/p0273.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e85ad8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0273.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0274.png b/28006-page-images/p0274.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..471c8e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0274.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0275.png b/28006-page-images/p0275.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b9f4be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0275.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0276.png b/28006-page-images/p0276.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1151a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0276.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0277.png b/28006-page-images/p0277.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe6424a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0277.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0278.png b/28006-page-images/p0278.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b82e4ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0278.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0279.png b/28006-page-images/p0279.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b63e2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0279.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0280.png b/28006-page-images/p0280.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73945e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0280.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0281.png b/28006-page-images/p0281.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..992af35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0281.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0282.png b/28006-page-images/p0282.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bbd720
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0282.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0283.png b/28006-page-images/p0283.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6015f76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0283.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0284.png b/28006-page-images/p0284.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f8062c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0284.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0285.png b/28006-page-images/p0285.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4cc537
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0285.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0286.png b/28006-page-images/p0286.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2af492
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0286.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0287.png b/28006-page-images/p0287.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a097f11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0287.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0288.png b/28006-page-images/p0288.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..671b311
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0288.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0289.png b/28006-page-images/p0289.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b23d34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0289.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0290.png b/28006-page-images/p0290.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a304f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0290.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0291.png b/28006-page-images/p0291.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..add202b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0291.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0292.png b/28006-page-images/p0292.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4c623d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0292.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0293.png b/28006-page-images/p0293.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..536d6c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0293.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0294.png b/28006-page-images/p0294.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c4f849
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0294.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0295.png b/28006-page-images/p0295.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f70db2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0295.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0296.png b/28006-page-images/p0296.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6bcffd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0296.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0297.png b/28006-page-images/p0297.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0bc122b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0297.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0298.png b/28006-page-images/p0298.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5611e93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0298.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0299.png b/28006-page-images/p0299.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b5e9c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0299.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0300.png b/28006-page-images/p0300.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ebea2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0300.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0301.png b/28006-page-images/p0301.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9c6fca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0301.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0302.png b/28006-page-images/p0302.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..415a8c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0302.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0303.png b/28006-page-images/p0303.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ebcfbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0303.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0304.png b/28006-page-images/p0304.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8e4df1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0304.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0305.png b/28006-page-images/p0305.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96c02c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0305.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0306.png b/28006-page-images/p0306.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a316c76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0306.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0307.png b/28006-page-images/p0307.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e70aa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0307.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0308.png b/28006-page-images/p0308.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7b5c9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0308.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0309.png b/28006-page-images/p0309.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5261d31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0309.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0310.png b/28006-page-images/p0310.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3d33ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0310.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0311.png b/28006-page-images/p0311.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f96064
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0311.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0312.png b/28006-page-images/p0312.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8d0a48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0312.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0313.png b/28006-page-images/p0313.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afb6a44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0313.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0314.png b/28006-page-images/p0314.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b3b1bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0314.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0315.png b/28006-page-images/p0315.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b46a116
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0315.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0316.png b/28006-page-images/p0316.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8780c08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0316.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0317.png b/28006-page-images/p0317.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c2f10e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0317.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0318.png b/28006-page-images/p0318.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..70f2497
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0318.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0319.png b/28006-page-images/p0319.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..363c405
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0319.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0320.png b/28006-page-images/p0320.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab258b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0320.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0321.png b/28006-page-images/p0321.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cce67ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0321.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0322.png b/28006-page-images/p0322.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d432e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0322.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0323.png b/28006-page-images/p0323.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f82f1c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0323.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0324.png b/28006-page-images/p0324.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..166130e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0324.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0325.png b/28006-page-images/p0325.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b1e14f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0325.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0326.png b/28006-page-images/p0326.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b383bd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0326.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0327.png b/28006-page-images/p0327.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f144fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0327.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0328.png b/28006-page-images/p0328.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..243c2d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0328.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0329.png b/28006-page-images/p0329.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc2cf50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0329.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0330.png b/28006-page-images/p0330.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0aaf11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0330.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0331.png b/28006-page-images/p0331.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40462df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0331.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0332.png b/28006-page-images/p0332.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3093362
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0332.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0333.png b/28006-page-images/p0333.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b693ad9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0333.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0334.png b/28006-page-images/p0334.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3635586
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0334.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0335.png b/28006-page-images/p0335.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52a6028
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0335.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0336.png b/28006-page-images/p0336.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9bbf2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0336.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0337.png b/28006-page-images/p0337.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..add3e49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0337.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0338.png b/28006-page-images/p0338.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2d0396
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0338.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0339.png b/28006-page-images/p0339.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e33eaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0339.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0340.png b/28006-page-images/p0340.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9536f2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0340.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0341.png b/28006-page-images/p0341.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6066da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0341.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0342.png b/28006-page-images/p0342.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d945aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0342.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0343.png b/28006-page-images/p0343.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cdcf44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0343.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0344.png b/28006-page-images/p0344.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48f24f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0344.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0345.png b/28006-page-images/p0345.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f7f9eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0345.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0346.png b/28006-page-images/p0346.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e52942
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0346.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0347.png b/28006-page-images/p0347.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee97af5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0347.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0348.png b/28006-page-images/p0348.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f44ce48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0348.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0349.png b/28006-page-images/p0349.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2058c72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0349.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0350.png b/28006-page-images/p0350.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cac2703
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0350.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0351.png b/28006-page-images/p0351.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c6200e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0351.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0352.png b/28006-page-images/p0352.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2873e89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0352.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0353.png b/28006-page-images/p0353.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ae7e12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0353.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0354.png b/28006-page-images/p0354.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db4b637
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0354.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0355.png b/28006-page-images/p0355.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd9fbca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0355.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0356.png b/28006-page-images/p0356.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb492b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0356.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0357.png b/28006-page-images/p0357.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f82cb1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0357.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0358.png b/28006-page-images/p0358.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd27f38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0358.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0359.png b/28006-page-images/p0359.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e31073
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0359.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0360.png b/28006-page-images/p0360.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08c0fc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0360.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0361.png b/28006-page-images/p0361.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7298ce4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0361.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0362.png b/28006-page-images/p0362.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b5a63f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0362.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0363.png b/28006-page-images/p0363.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89c8beb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0363.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0364.png b/28006-page-images/p0364.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f58ee0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0364.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0365.png b/28006-page-images/p0365.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2838cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0365.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0366.png b/28006-page-images/p0366.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb655af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0366.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0367.png b/28006-page-images/p0367.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ef8cd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0367.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0368.png b/28006-page-images/p0368.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a141f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0368.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0369.png b/28006-page-images/p0369.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb8d38b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0369.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0370.png b/28006-page-images/p0370.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfe20ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0370.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0371.png b/28006-page-images/p0371.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..efaf428
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0371.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0372.png b/28006-page-images/p0372.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a73cf5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0372.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0373.png b/28006-page-images/p0373.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5022498
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0373.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0374.png b/28006-page-images/p0374.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d87849
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0374.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0375.png b/28006-page-images/p0375.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95152b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0375.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0376.png b/28006-page-images/p0376.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f9429a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0376.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0377.png b/28006-page-images/p0377.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..192bbac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0377.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0378.png b/28006-page-images/p0378.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ec2094
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0378.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0379.png b/28006-page-images/p0379.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..813078a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0379.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0380.png b/28006-page-images/p0380.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3bcae1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0380.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0381.png b/28006-page-images/p0381.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5a74ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0381.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0382.png b/28006-page-images/p0382.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..884de69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0382.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0383.png b/28006-page-images/p0383.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7baccbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0383.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0384.png b/28006-page-images/p0384.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0b0ae2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0384.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0385.png b/28006-page-images/p0385.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3245728
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0385.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0386.png b/28006-page-images/p0386.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..850c13f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0386.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0387.png b/28006-page-images/p0387.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e298a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0387.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0388.png b/28006-page-images/p0388.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2fcecda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0388.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0389.png b/28006-page-images/p0389.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..082ef8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0389.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0390.png b/28006-page-images/p0390.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aecb478
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0390.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0391.png b/28006-page-images/p0391.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d4e962
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0391.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0392.png b/28006-page-images/p0392.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee9a0f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0392.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0393.png b/28006-page-images/p0393.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..061d3f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0393.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0394.png b/28006-page-images/p0394.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a92fbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0394.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0395.png b/28006-page-images/p0395.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45c4634
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0395.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0396.png b/28006-page-images/p0396.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df399e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0396.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0397.png b/28006-page-images/p0397.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6491f67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0397.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0398.png b/28006-page-images/p0398.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c9a843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0398.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0399.png b/28006-page-images/p0399.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be6c71d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0399.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0400.png b/28006-page-images/p0400.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c1ef41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0400.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0401.png b/28006-page-images/p0401.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ff919b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0401.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0402.png b/28006-page-images/p0402.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90bb541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0402.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0403.png b/28006-page-images/p0403.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b14ea1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0403.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0404.png b/28006-page-images/p0404.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44c8294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0404.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0405.png b/28006-page-images/p0405.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14bbc64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0405.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0406.png b/28006-page-images/p0406.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59988cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0406.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0407.png b/28006-page-images/p0407.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf3b633
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0407.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0408.png b/28006-page-images/p0408.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3168c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0408.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0409.png b/28006-page-images/p0409.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce68d4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0409.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0410.png b/28006-page-images/p0410.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f32709
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0410.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0411.png b/28006-page-images/p0411.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bfba1f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0411.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0412.png b/28006-page-images/p0412.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40b66d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0412.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0413.png b/28006-page-images/p0413.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40c8a25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0413.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0414.png b/28006-page-images/p0414.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2010f74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0414.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0415.png b/28006-page-images/p0415.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0422a64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0415.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0416.png b/28006-page-images/p0416.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba711af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0416.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0417.png b/28006-page-images/p0417.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b08f95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0417.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0418.png b/28006-page-images/p0418.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..944be7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0418.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0419.png b/28006-page-images/p0419.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a962b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0419.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0420.png b/28006-page-images/p0420.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e4a866
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0420.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0421.png b/28006-page-images/p0421.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e196b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0421.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0422.png b/28006-page-images/p0422.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49d8797
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0422.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0423.png b/28006-page-images/p0423.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8f437c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0423.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0424.png b/28006-page-images/p0424.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93be44f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0424.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0425.png b/28006-page-images/p0425.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..491423c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0425.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0426.png b/28006-page-images/p0426.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5089a0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0426.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0427.png b/28006-page-images/p0427.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ff5856
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0427.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0428.png b/28006-page-images/p0428.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40ec461
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0428.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0429.png b/28006-page-images/p0429.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0371805
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0429.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0430.png b/28006-page-images/p0430.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94aae09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0430.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0431.png b/28006-page-images/p0431.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c753dcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0431.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0432.png b/28006-page-images/p0432.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22baddb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0432.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0433.png b/28006-page-images/p0433.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cfbcab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0433.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0434.png b/28006-page-images/p0434.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a256a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0434.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0435.png b/28006-page-images/p0435.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f8d1f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0435.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0436.png b/28006-page-images/p0436.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78a956d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0436.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0437.png b/28006-page-images/p0437.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd652e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0437.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0438.png b/28006-page-images/p0438.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..876d96a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0438.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0439.png b/28006-page-images/p0439.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92e140c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0439.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0440.png b/28006-page-images/p0440.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f458805
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0440.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0441.png b/28006-page-images/p0441.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..60882db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0441.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0442.png b/28006-page-images/p0442.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f85ada
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0442.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0443.png b/28006-page-images/p0443.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c80269
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0443.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0444.png b/28006-page-images/p0444.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f09514d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0444.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0445.png b/28006-page-images/p0445.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bda8430
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0445.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0446.png b/28006-page-images/p0446.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d1398e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0446.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0447.png b/28006-page-images/p0447.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78bd76a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0447.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0448.png b/28006-page-images/p0448.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eab1dd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0448.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0449.png b/28006-page-images/p0449.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..965aa25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0449.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0450.png b/28006-page-images/p0450.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e12016a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0450.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0451.png b/28006-page-images/p0451.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43de819
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0451.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0452.png b/28006-page-images/p0452.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1894540
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0452.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0453.png b/28006-page-images/p0453.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9017c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0453.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0454.png b/28006-page-images/p0454.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed2d25f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0454.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0455.png b/28006-page-images/p0455.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7c8b27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0455.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0456.png b/28006-page-images/p0456.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63f8c4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0456.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0457.png b/28006-page-images/p0457.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4af59c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0457.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0458.png b/28006-page-images/p0458.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb7551d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0458.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0459.png b/28006-page-images/p0459.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..21394e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0459.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0460.png b/28006-page-images/p0460.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84c72d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0460.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0461.png b/28006-page-images/p0461.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a22ac15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0461.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0462.png b/28006-page-images/p0462.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db8db44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0462.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0463.png b/28006-page-images/p0463.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..21edf7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0463.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0464.png b/28006-page-images/p0464.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0893144
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0464.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0465.png b/28006-page-images/p0465.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d67e26f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0465.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0466.png b/28006-page-images/p0466.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22e01e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0466.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0467.png b/28006-page-images/p0467.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df6aac0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0467.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0468.png b/28006-page-images/p0468.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..755c858
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0468.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0469.png b/28006-page-images/p0469.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..214f0d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0469.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0470.png b/28006-page-images/p0470.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b35a060
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0470.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0471.png b/28006-page-images/p0471.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8651f31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0471.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0472.png b/28006-page-images/p0472.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41e59f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0472.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0473.png b/28006-page-images/p0473.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acef962
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0473.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0474.png b/28006-page-images/p0474.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d77ec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0474.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0475.png b/28006-page-images/p0475.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f76b791
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0475.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0476.png b/28006-page-images/p0476.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fff45e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0476.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0477.png b/28006-page-images/p0477.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36871d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0477.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0478.png b/28006-page-images/p0478.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f9ef4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0478.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0479.png b/28006-page-images/p0479.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba6e7e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0479.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0480.png b/28006-page-images/p0480.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..98bd68a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0480.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0481.png b/28006-page-images/p0481.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3151331
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0481.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0482.png b/28006-page-images/p0482.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c5c00b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0482.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0483.png b/28006-page-images/p0483.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0bff0bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0483.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0484.png b/28006-page-images/p0484.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3773552
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0484.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0485.png b/28006-page-images/p0485.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e5a058
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0485.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0486.png b/28006-page-images/p0486.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..853fd1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0486.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0487.png b/28006-page-images/p0487.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d02609
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0487.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0488.png b/28006-page-images/p0488.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f257a6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0488.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0489.png b/28006-page-images/p0489.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..437ac53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0489.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0490.png b/28006-page-images/p0490.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ca99df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0490.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0491.png b/28006-page-images/p0491.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd438ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0491.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0492.png b/28006-page-images/p0492.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e06d62a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0492.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0493.png b/28006-page-images/p0493.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2165a0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0493.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0494.png b/28006-page-images/p0494.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41090d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0494.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0495.png b/28006-page-images/p0495.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c11526
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0495.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0496.png b/28006-page-images/p0496.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..941a8d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0496.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0497.png b/28006-page-images/p0497.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a3c03f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0497.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0498.png b/28006-page-images/p0498.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8efd9ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0498.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0499.png b/28006-page-images/p0499.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34792fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0499.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0500.png b/28006-page-images/p0500.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c9f160
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0500.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0501.png b/28006-page-images/p0501.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aeaadbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0501.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0502.png b/28006-page-images/p0502.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89cfa2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0502.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0503.png b/28006-page-images/p0503.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2cb9e3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0503.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0504.png b/28006-page-images/p0504.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86aa7f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0504.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0505.png b/28006-page-images/p0505.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f113236
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0505.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0506.png b/28006-page-images/p0506.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db6ef4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0506.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0507.png b/28006-page-images/p0507.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..428fb4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0507.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0508.png b/28006-page-images/p0508.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be9fa2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0508.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0509.png b/28006-page-images/p0509.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e00c60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0509.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0510.png b/28006-page-images/p0510.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..885d4a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0510.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0511.png b/28006-page-images/p0511.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf0f2c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0511.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0512.png b/28006-page-images/p0512.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac9ad5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0512.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0513.png b/28006-page-images/p0513.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8663879
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0513.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0514.png b/28006-page-images/p0514.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0726715
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0514.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0515.png b/28006-page-images/p0515.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f8f439
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0515.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0516.png b/28006-page-images/p0516.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c003f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0516.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0517.png b/28006-page-images/p0517.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e335458
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0517.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0518.png b/28006-page-images/p0518.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2f5e4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0518.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0519.png b/28006-page-images/p0519.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89aceac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0519.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0520.png b/28006-page-images/p0520.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8cc16f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0520.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0521.png b/28006-page-images/p0521.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aca2648
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0521.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0522.png b/28006-page-images/p0522.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b73a5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0522.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0523.png b/28006-page-images/p0523.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..963767c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0523.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0524.png b/28006-page-images/p0524.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b520de2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0524.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0525.png b/28006-page-images/p0525.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ffcde2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0525.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0526.png b/28006-page-images/p0526.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9419d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0526.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0527.png b/28006-page-images/p0527.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..084d13a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0527.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0528.png b/28006-page-images/p0528.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8a408d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0528.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0529.png b/28006-page-images/p0529.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..796d6c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0529.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0530.png b/28006-page-images/p0530.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ae8d57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0530.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0531.png b/28006-page-images/p0531.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4723dd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0531.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0532.png b/28006-page-images/p0532.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f69197b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0532.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0533.png b/28006-page-images/p0533.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46fb4f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0533.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0534.png b/28006-page-images/p0534.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..685d6ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0534.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0535.png b/28006-page-images/p0535.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3737069
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0535.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0536.png b/28006-page-images/p0536.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e4d114
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0536.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0537.png b/28006-page-images/p0537.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43bef18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0537.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0538.png b/28006-page-images/p0538.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d55e514
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0538.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0539.png b/28006-page-images/p0539.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46ca2b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0539.png
diff --git a/28006-page-images/p0540.png b/28006-page-images/p0540.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff98e60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006-page-images/p0540.png
diff --git a/28006.txt b/28006.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..854326e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,18059 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Perpetual Curate
+
+Author: Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+Release Date: February 5, 2009 [EBook #28006]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERPETUAL CURATE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Chronicles of Carlingford.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+PERPETUAL CURATE
+
+MRS OLIPHANT
+
+
+_ALLA PADRONA MIA;
+ED A TE, SORELLA CARISSIMA!
+CONSOLATRICI GENTILLISSIME
+DELLA DESOLATA._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Carlingford is, as is well known, essentially a quiet place. There is
+no trade in the town, properly so called. To be sure, there are two or
+three small counting-houses at the other end of George Street, in that
+ambitious pile called Gresham Chambers; but the owners of these places
+of business live, as a general rule, in villas, either detached or
+semi-detached, in the North-end, the new quarter, which, as everybody
+knows, is a region totally unrepresented in society. In Carlingford
+proper there is no trade, no manufactures, no anything in particular,
+except very pleasant parties and a superior class of people--a very
+superior class of people, indeed, to anything one expects to meet
+with in a country town, which is not even a county town, nor the seat
+of any particular interest. It is the boast of the place that it has no
+particular interest--not even a public school: for no reason in the
+world but because they like it, have so many nice people collected
+together in those pretty houses in Grange Lane--which is, of course, a
+very much higher tribute to the town than if any special inducement had
+led them there. But in every community some centre of life is necessary.
+This point, round which everything circles, is, in Carlingford, found in
+the clergy. They are the administrators of the commonwealth, the only
+people who have defined and compulsory duties to give a sharp outline to
+life. Somehow this touch of necessity and business seems needful even
+in the most refined society: a man who is obliged to be somewhere at a
+certain hour, to do something at a certain time, and whose public duties
+are not volunteer proceedings, but indispensable work, has a certain
+position of command among a leisurely and unoccupied community, not to
+say that it is a public boon to have some one whom everybody knows and
+can talk of. The minister in Salem Chapel was everything in his little
+world. That respectable connection would not have hung together half so
+closely but for this perpetual subject of discussion, criticism, and
+patronage; and, to compare great things with small, society in Carlingford
+recognised in some degree the same human want. An enterprising or
+non-enterprising rector made all the difference in the world in Grange
+Lane; and in the absence of a rector that counted for anything (and poor
+Mr Proctor was of no earthly use, as everybody knows), it followed, as a
+natural consequence, that a great deal of the interest and influence of
+the position fell into the hands of the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+But that position was one full of difficulties, as any one acquainted
+with the real state of affairs must see in a moment. Mr Wentworth's
+circumstances were, on the whole, as delicate and critical as can be
+imagined, both as respected his standing in Carlingford and the place
+he held in his own family--not to speak of certain other personal
+matters which were still more troublesome and vexatious. These last of
+course were of his own bringing on; for if a young man chooses to fall
+in love when he has next to nothing to live upon, trouble is sure to
+follow. He had quite enough on his hands otherwise without that
+crowning complication. When Mr Wentworth first came to Carlingford,
+it was in the days of Mr Bury, the Evangelical rector--his last
+days, when he had no longer his old vigour, and was very glad of
+"assistance," as he said, in his public and parish work. Mr Bury had a
+friendship of old standing with the Miss Wentworths of Skelmersdale,
+Mr Francis Wentworth's aunts; and it was a long time before the old
+Rector's eyes were opened to the astounding fact, that the nephew of
+these precious and chosen women held "views" of the most dangerous
+complexion, and indeed was as near Rome as a strong and lofty
+conviction of the really superior catholicity of the Anglican Church
+would permit him to be. Before he found this out, Mr Bury, who had
+unlimited confidence in preaching and improving talk, had done all he
+could to get the young man to "work," as the good Rector called it,
+and had voluntarily placed all that difficult district about the canal
+under the charge of the Curate of St Roque's. It is said that the
+horror with which, after having just written to Miss Leonora Wentworth
+to inform her what "a great work" his young friend was doing among the
+bargemen, Mr Bury was seized upon entering St Roque's itself for the
+first time after the consecration, when the young priest had arranged
+everything his own way, had a very bad effect on his health, and
+hastened his end. And it is indeed a fact that he died soon after,
+before he had time to issue the interdict he intended against Mr
+Wentworth's further exertions in the parish of Carlingford. Then came
+Mr Proctor, who came into the town as if he had dropped from the
+skies, and knew no more about managing a parish than a baby; and
+under his exceptional incumbency Mr Wentworth became more than ever
+necessary to the peace of the community. Now a new _regime_ had been
+inaugurated. Mr Morgan, a man whom Miss Wodehouse described as "in the
+prime of life," newly married, with a wife also in the prime of life,
+who had waited for him ten years, and all that time had been under
+training for her future duties--two fresh, new, active, clergymanly
+intellects, entirely open to the affairs of the town, and intent
+upon general reformation and sound management--had just come into
+possession. The new Rector was making a great stir all about him, as
+was natural to a new man; and it seemed, on the whole, a highly
+doubtful business whether he and Mr Wentworth would find Carlingford
+big enough to hold them both.
+
+"We could not have expected to begin quite without difficulties," said
+Mrs Morgan, as she and her husband discussed the question in the
+drawing-room of the Rectory. It was a pretty drawing-room, though Mr
+Proctor's taste was not quite in accordance with the principles of
+the new incumbent's wife: however, as the furniture was all new, and as
+the former rector had no further need for it, it was of course, much the
+best and most economical arrangement to take it as it stood--though the
+bouquets on the carpet were a grievance which nothing but her high
+Christian principles could have carried Mrs Morgan through. She looked
+round as she spoke, and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head:
+she, too, had her share of disagreeables. "It would not look like
+Christ's work, dear," said the clergyman's wife, "if we had it all our
+own way."
+
+"My dear, I hope I am actuated by higher motives than a desire to have
+it all my own way," said the Rector. "I always felt sure that Proctor
+would make a mess of any parish he took in hand, but I did not imagine
+he would have left it to anybody who pleased to work it. You may
+imagine what my feelings were to-day, when I came upon a kind of
+impromptu chapel in that wretched district near the canal. I thought
+it a Little Bethel, you know, of course; but instead of that, I find
+young Wentworth goes there Wednesdays and Fridays to do duty, and that
+there is service on Sunday evening, and I can't tell what besides.
+It may be done from a good motive--but such a disregard of all
+constituted authority," said the Rector, with involuntary vehemence,
+"can never, in my opinion, be attended by good results."
+
+"Mr Wentworth, did you say?" said Mrs Morgan, upon whose female soul
+the Perpetual Curate's good looks and good manners had not been
+without a certain softening effect. "I am so sorry. I don't wonder you
+are vexed; but don't you think there must be some mistake, William? Mr
+Wentworth is so gentlemanly and nice--and of very good family, too.
+I don't think he would choose to set himself in opposition to the
+Rector. I think there must be some mistake." "It's a very aggravating
+mistake, at all events," said Mr Morgan, rising and going to the
+window. It was, as we have said, a very pretty drawing-room, and the
+windows opened upon as pretty a bit of lawn as you could see, with one
+handsome cedar sweeping its dark branches majestically over delicious
+greensward; but some people did think it was too near George Street
+and the railway. Just at that moment a puff of delicate white vapour
+appeared over the wall, and a sudden express-train, just released from
+the cover of the station, sprang with a snort and bound across the
+Rector's view, very imperfectly veiled by the lime-trees, which were
+thin in their foliage as yet. Mr Morgan groaned and retreated--out of
+his first exaltation he had descended all at once, as people will do
+after building all their hopes upon one grand event, into great
+depression and vexation, when he found that, after all, this event did
+not change the face of existence, but indeed brought new proofs of
+mortality in the shape of special annoyances belonging to itself in
+its train. "On the whole," said the Rector, who was subject to fits of
+disgust with things in general, "I am tempted to think it was a
+mistake coming to Carlingford; the drawbacks quite overbalance the
+advantages. I did hesitate, I remember--it must have been my better
+angel: that is, my dear," he continued, recollecting himself, "I would
+have hesitated had it not been for you."
+
+Here there ensued a little pause. Mrs Morgan was not so young as she
+had been ten years ago, all which time she had waited patiently for
+the Fellow of All-Souls, and naturally these ten years and the
+patience had not improved her looks. There was a redness on her
+countenance nowadays which was not exactly bloom; and it stretched
+across her cheeks, and over the point of her nose, as she was
+painfully aware, poor lady. She was silent when she heard this,
+wondering with a passing pang whether he was sorry? But being a
+thoroughly sensible woman, and above indulging in those little appeals
+by which foolish ones confuse the calm of matrimonial friendship, she
+did not express the momentary feeling. "Yes, William," she said,
+sympathetically, casting her eyes again on the objectionable carpet,
+and feeling that there _were_ drawbacks even to her happiness as the
+wife of the Rector of Carlingford; "but I suppose every place has its
+disadvantages; and then there is such good society; and a town like
+this is the very place for your talents; and when affairs are in your
+own hands--"
+
+"It is very easy talking," said the vexed Rector. "Society and
+everybody would turn upon me if I interfered with Wentworth--there's
+the vexation. The fellow goes about it as if he had a right. Why,
+there's a Provident Society and all sorts of things going on, exactly
+as if it were his own parish. What led me to the place was seeing
+some ladies in grey cloaks--exactly such frights as you used to make
+yourself, my dear--flickering about. He has got up a sisterhood, I
+have no doubt; and to find all this in full operation in one's own
+parish, without so much as being informed of it! and you know I don't
+approve of sisterhoods--never did; they are founded on a mistake."
+
+"Yes, dear. I know I gave up as soon as I knew your views on that
+subject," said Mrs Morgan. "I daresay so will the ladies here. Who
+were they? Did you speak to them? or perhaps they belonged to St
+Roque's."
+
+"Nobody belongs to St Roque's," said the Rector, contemptuously--"it
+has not even a district. They were the two Miss Wodehouses."
+
+Mrs Morgan was moved to utter a little cry. "And their father is
+churchwarden!" said the indignant woman. "Really, William, this is too
+much--without even consulting you! But it is easy to see how _that_
+comes about. Lucy Wodehouse and young Wentworth are--; well, I don't
+know if they are engaged--but they are always together, walking and
+talking, and consulting with each other, and so forth--a great deal
+more than I could approve of; but that poor elder sister, you know,
+has no authority--nor indeed any experience, poor thing," said the
+Rector's wife; "that's how it is, no doubt." "Engaged!" said the
+Rector. He gave a kindly glance at his wife, and melted a little.
+"Engaged, are they? Poor little thing! I hope she'll be as good as you
+have been, my dear; but a young man may be in love without interfering
+with another man's parish. I can't forgive that," said Mr Morgan,
+recovering himself; "he must be taught to know better; and it is very
+hard upon a clergyman," continued the spiritual ruler of Carlingford,
+"that he cannot move in a matter like this without incurring a storm
+of godless criticism. If I were sending Wentworth out of my parish, I
+shouldn't wonder if the 'Times' had an article upon it, denouncing me
+as an indolent priest and bigot, that would neither work myself nor
+let my betters work; that's how these fellows talk."
+
+"But nobody could say such things of you," said Mrs Morgan, firing up.
+
+"Of me! they'd say them of St Paul, if he had ever been in the
+circumstances," said the Rector; "and I should just like to know what
+he would have done in a parish like this, with the Dissenters on one
+side, and a Perpetual Curate without a district meddling on the other.
+Ah, my dear," continued Mr Morgan, "I daresay they had their troubles
+in those days; but facing a governor or so now and then, or even
+passing a night in the stocks, is a very different thing from a
+showing-up in the 'Times,' not to speak of the complications of duty.
+Let us go out and call at Folgate's, and see whether he thinks
+anything can be done to the church."
+
+"Dear, you wouldn't mind the 'Times' if it were your duty?" said the
+Rector's wife, getting up promptly to prepare for the walk.
+
+"No, I suppose not," said Mr Morgan, not without a thrill of importance;
+"nor the stake," he added, with a little laugh, for he was not without a
+sense of humour; and the two went out to the architect's to ascertain
+the result of his cogitations over the church. They passed that sacred
+edifice in their way, and went in to gaze at it with a disgust which
+only an unhappy priest of high culture and aesthetic tastes, doomed to
+officiate in a building of the eighteenth century, of the churchwarden
+period of architecture, could fully enter into. "Eugh!" said Mr Morgan,
+looking round upon the high pews and stifling galleries with an expressive
+contraction of his features--his wife looked on sympathetic; and it was
+at this unlucky moment that the subject of their late conference made
+his appearance cheerfully from behind the ugly pulpit, in close
+conference with Mr Folgate. The pulpit was a three-storeyed mass, with
+the reading-desk and the clerk's desk beneath--a terrible eyesore to the
+Rector and his wife.
+
+"I can fancy the expediency of keeping the place in repair," said the
+Curate of St Roque's, happy in the consciousness of possessing a
+church which, though not old, had been built by Gilbert Scott, and
+cheerfully unconscious of the presence of his listeners; "but to
+beautify a wretched old barn like this is beyond the imagination of
+man. Money can't do everything," said the heedless young man as he
+came lounging down the middle aisle, tapping contemptuously with his
+cane upon the high pew-doors. "I wonder where the people expected to
+go to who built Carlingford Church? Curious," continued the young
+Anglican, stopping in mid career, "to think of bestowing _consecration_
+upon anything so hideous. What a pass the world must have come to,
+Folgate, when this erection was counted worthy to be the house of God!
+After all, perhaps it is wrong to feel so strongly about it. The walls
+_are_ consecrated, though they are ugly; we can't revoke the blessing.
+But no wonder it was an unchristian age."
+
+"We have our treasure in earthen vessels," said Mr Morgan, somewhat
+sternly, from where he stood, under shelter of the heavy gallery. Mr
+Wentworth was shortsighted, like most people nowadays. He put up his
+glass hastily, and then hurried forward, perhaps just a little
+abashed. When he had made his salutations, however, he returned
+undismayed to the charge.
+
+"It's a great pity you have not something better to work upon," said
+the dauntless Curate; "but it is difficult to conceive what can be
+done with such an unhallowed type of construction. I was just saying
+to Folgate--"
+
+"There is a great deal of cant abroad on this subject," said Mr
+Morgan, interrupting the young oracle. "I like good architecture, but
+I don't relish attributing moral qualities to bricks and mortar. The
+hallowing influence ought to be within. Mr Folgate, we were going to
+call at your office. Have you thought of the little suggestions I
+ventured to make? Oh, the drawings are here. Mr Wentworth does not
+approve of them, I suppose?" said the Rector, turning sternly round
+upon the unlucky Curate of St Roque's.
+
+"I can only say I sympathise with you profoundly," said young
+Wentworth, with great seriousness. "Such a terrible church must be a
+great trial. I wish I had any advice worth offering; but it is my hour
+for a short service down at the canal, and I can't keep my poor
+bargees waiting. Good morning. I hope you'll come and give us your
+countenance, Mrs Morgan. There's no end of want and trouble at
+Wharfside."
+
+"Is Mr Wentworth aware, I wonder, that Wharfside is in the parish of
+Carlingford?" said the Rector, with involuntary severity, as the young
+priest withdrew calmly to go to his "duty." Mr Folgate, who supposed
+himself to be addressed, smiled, and said, "Oh yes, of course," and
+unfolded his drawings, to which the clerical pair before him lent a
+disturbed attention. They were both in a high state of indignation by
+this time. It seemed indispensable that something should be done to
+bring to his senses an intruder so perfectly composed and at his
+ease.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Meanwhile Mr Wentworth, without much thought of his sins, went down
+George Street, meaning to turn off at the first narrow turning which
+led down behind the shops and traffic, behind the comfort and beauty
+of the little town, to that inevitable land of shadow which always
+dogs the sunshine. Carlingford proper knew little about it, except
+that it increased the poor-rates, and now and then produced a fever.
+The minister of Salem Chapel was in a state of complete ignorance on
+the subject. The late Rector had been equally uninformed. Mr Bury, who
+was Evangelical, had the credit of disinterring the buried creatures
+there about thirty years ago. It was an office to be expected of that
+much-preaching man; but what was a great deal more extraordinary, was
+to find that the only people now in Carlingford who knew anything
+about Wharfside, except overseers of the poor and guardians of the
+public peace, were the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's--who had nothing
+particular to do with it, and who was regarded by many sober-minded
+persons with suspicion as a dilettante Anglican, given over to floral
+ornaments and ecclesiastical upholstery--and some half-dozen people of
+the very _elite_ of society, principally ladies residing in Grange
+Lane.
+
+Mr Wentworth came to a hesitating pause at the head of the turning
+which would have led him to Wharfside. He looked at his watch and saw
+there was half an hour to spare. He gave a wistful lingering look down
+the long line of garden-walls, pausing upon one point where the
+blossomed boughs of an apple-tree overlooked that enclosure. There
+was quite time to call and ask if the Miss Wodehouses were going down
+to the service this afternoon; but was it duty? or, indeed, putting
+that question aside, was it quite right to compound matters with his
+own heart's desire and the work he was engaged in, in this undeniable
+fashion? The young priest crossed the street very slowly, swinging his
+cane and knitting his brows as he debated the question. If it had been
+one of the bargemen bringing his sweetheart, walking with her along
+the side of the canal to which Spring and sweet Easter coming on, and
+Love, perhaps, always helpful of illusions, might convey a certain
+greenness and sentiment of nature--and echoing her soft responses to
+the afternoon prayers--perhaps the Curate might have felt that such
+devotion was not entirely pure and simple. But somehow, before he was
+aware of it, his slow footstep had crossed the line, and he found
+himself in Grange Lane, bending his steps towards Mr Wodehouse's door.
+For one thing, to be sure, the Canticles in the evening service could
+always be sung when Lucy's sweet clear voice was there to lead the
+uncertain melody; and it was good to see her singing the 'Magnificat'
+with that serious sweet face, "full of grace," like Mary's own.
+Thinking of that, Mr Wentworth made his way without any further
+hesitation to the green door over which hung the apple-blossoms,
+totally untroubled in his mind as to what the reverend pair were
+thinking whom he had left behind him in the ugly church; and
+unconscious that his impromptu chapel at Wharfside, with its little
+carved reading-desk, and the table behind, contrived so as to look
+suspiciously like an altar, was a thorn in anybody's side. Had his
+mind been in a fit condition at that moment to cogitate trouble, his
+thoughts would have travelled in a totally different direction, but in
+the mean time Mr Wentworth was very well able to put aside his
+perplexities. The green door opened just as he reached it, and Lucy
+and her elder sister came out in those grey cloaks which the Rector
+had slandered. They were just going to Wharfside to the service, and
+of course they were surprised to see Mr Wentworth, who did not knock
+at that green door more than a dozen times in a week, on the average.
+The Curate walked between the sisters on their way towards their
+favourite "district." Such a position would scarcely have been
+otherwise than agreeable to any young man. Dear old Miss Wodehouse was
+the gentlest of chaperones. Old Miss Wodehouse people called her, not
+knowing why--perhaps because that adjective was sweeter than the harsh
+one of middle age which belonged to her; and then there was such a
+difference between her and Lucy. Lucy was twenty, and in her sweetest
+bloom. Many people thought with Mr Wentworth that there were not other
+two such eyes in Carlingford. Not that they were brilliant or
+penetrating, but as blue as heaven, and as serene and pure. So many
+persons thought, and the Perpetual Curate among them. The grey cloak
+fell in pretty folds around that light elastic figure; and there was
+not an old woman in the town so tender, so helpful, so handy as Lucy
+where trouble was, as all the poor people knew. So the three went down
+Prickett's Lane, which leads from George Street towards the canal--not
+a pleasant part of the town by any means; and if Mr Wentworth was
+conscious of a certain haze of sunshine all round and about him,
+gliding over the poor pavement, and here and there transfiguring some
+baby bystander gazing open-mouthed at the pretty lady, could any
+reasonable man be surprised?
+
+"I hope your aunts were quite well, Mr Wentworth, when you heard from
+them last," said Miss Wodehouse, "and all your people at home. In such
+a small family as ours, we should go out of our wits if we did not
+hear every day; but I suppose it is different where there are so many.
+Lucy, when she goes from home," said the tender elder sister, glancing
+at her with a half-maternal admiration--"and she might always be
+visiting about if she liked--writes to me every day."
+
+"I have nobody who cares for me enough to write every week," said the
+Curate, with a look which was for Lucy's benefit. "I am not so lucky
+as you. My aunts are quite well, Miss Wodehouse, and they think I had
+better go up to town in May for the meetings," added Mr Wentworth,
+with a passing laugh; "and the rest of my people are very indignant
+that I am not of their way of thinking. There is Tom Burrows on the
+other side of the street; he is trying to catch _your_ eye," said the
+Curate, turning round upon Lucy; for the young man had come to such a
+pass that he could not address her in an ordinary and proper way like
+other people, but, because he dared not yet call her by her Christian
+name as if she belonged to him, had a strange rude way of indicating
+when he was speaking to her, by emphasis and action. It was singularly
+different from his usual good-breeding; but Lucy somehow rather liked
+it than otherwise. "He is not going to church for the sake of the
+service. He is going to please _you_. He has never forgotten what you
+did for that little boy of his; and, indeed, if you continue to go on
+so," said Mr Wentworth, lowering his voice, and more than ever bending
+his tall head to one side, "I shall have to put a stop to it somehow,
+for I am not prepared, whatever people say, to go in at once for
+_public_ worship of the saints."
+
+"I am going in here to call," said Lucy. She looked up very innocently
+in the Curate's face. "I promised the poor sick woman in the back room
+to see her every day, and I could not get out any sooner. I daresay I
+shall be at the schoolroom before you begin. Good-bye just now," said
+the young Sister of Mercy. She went off all at once on this provoking
+but unexceptionable errand, looking with calm eyes upon the dismay
+which overspread the expressive countenance of her spiritual guide. Mr
+Wentworth stood looking after her for a moment, stunned by the
+unexpected movement. When he went on, truth compels us to own that a
+thrill of disgust had taken the place of that vague general sense of
+beatitude which threw beauty even upon Prickett's Lane. The Curate
+gave but a sulky nod to the salutation of Tom Burrows, and walked on
+in a savage mood by the side of Miss Wodehouse, around whom no nimbus
+of ideal glory hovered.
+
+"I am always afraid of its being too much for her, Mr Wentworth," said
+the anxious elder sister; "it upsets me directly; but then I never was
+like Lucy--I can't tell where all you young people have learned it; we
+never used to be taught so in my day; and though I am twice as old as
+she is, I know I am not half so much good in the world," said the kind
+soul, with a gentle sigh. "I should like to see you in a parish of
+your own, where you would have it all your own way. I hope Mr Morgan
+won't be meddling when he comes to have time for everything. I should
+almost think he would--though it seems unkind to say it--by his face."
+
+"I am doing nothing more than my duty," said the Perpetual Curate, in
+morose tones. "This district was given into my hands by the late
+Rector. Mr Morgan's face does not matter to me."
+
+"But I should like to see you in a parish of your own," said Miss
+Wodehouse, meaning to please him. "You know papa always says so. St
+Roque's is very nice, but--"
+
+"If you wish me out of the way, Miss Wodehouse, I am sorry to say you
+are not likely to be gratified," said the Curate, "for I have no more
+expectation of any preferment than you have. Such chances don't come
+in everybody's way."
+
+"But I thought your aunts, Mr Wentworth--" said poor Miss Wodehouse,
+who unluckily did not always know when to stop.
+
+"My aunts don't approve of my principles," answered Mr Wentworth, who
+had his own reasons for speaking with a little asperity. "They are
+more likely to have me denounced at Exeter Hall. I will join you
+immediately. I must speak to these men across the street;" and the
+Curate accordingly walked into a knot of loungers opposite, with a
+decision of manner which Lucy's desertion had helped him to. Miss
+Wodehouse, thus left alone, went on with lingering and somewhat doubtful
+steps. She was not used to being in "the district" by herself. It
+disturbed her mild, middle-aged habits to be left straying about here
+alone among all these poor people, whom she looked at half wistfully,
+half alarmed, feeling for them in her kind heart, but not at all knowing
+how to get at them as the young people did. The unruly children and
+gossiping mothers at the poor doors discomposed her sadly, and she was
+not near so sure that her grey cloak defended her from all rudeness as
+she pretended to be when assenting to the enthusiasm of Mr Wentworth and
+Lucy. She made tremulous haste to get out of this scene, which she was
+not adapted for, to the shelter of the schoolroom, where, at least, she
+would be safe. "We never were taught so in my day," she said to herself,
+with an unexpressed wonder which was right; but when she had reached
+that haven of shelter, was seized with a little panic for Lucy, and went
+out again and watched for her at the corner of the street, feeling very
+uncomfortable. It was a great relief to see her young sister coming down
+alert and bright even before she was joined by Mr Wentworth, who had
+carried his point with the men he had been talking to. To see them
+coming down together, smiling to all those people at the doors who
+disturbed the gentle mind of Miss Wodehouse with mingled sentiments of
+sympathy and repulsion, bestowing nods of greeting here and there,
+pausing even to say a word to a few favoured clients, was a wonderful
+sight to the timid maiden lady at the corner of the street. Twenty years
+ago some such companion might have been by Miss Wodehouse's side, but
+never among the poor people in Prickett's Lane. Even with Lucy before
+her she did not understand it. As the two came towards her, other
+thoughts united with these in her kind soul. "I wonder whether anything
+will ever come of it?" she said to herself, and with that wandered into
+anxious reflections what this difference could be between Mr Wentworth
+and his aunts: which cogitations, indeed, occupied her till the service
+began, and perhaps disturbed her due appreciation of it; for if Lucy and
+Mr Wentworth got attached, as seemed likely, and Mr Wentworth did not
+get a living, what was to come of it? The thought made this
+tender-hearted spectator sigh: perhaps she had some experience of her
+own to enlighten her on such a point. At least it troubled, with
+sympathetic human cares, the gentle soul which had lost the confidence
+of youth.
+
+As for the two most immediately concerned, they thought nothing at all
+about aunts or livings. Whether it is the divine influence of youth,
+or whether the vague unacknowledged love which makes two people happy
+in each other's presence carries with it a certain inspiration, this
+at least is certain, that there is an absolute warmth of devotion
+arrived at in such moments, which many a soul, no longer happy, would
+give all the world to reach. Such crowds and heaps of blessings fall
+to these young souls! They said their prayers with all their hearts,
+not aware of deriving anything of that profound sweet trust and
+happiness from each other, but expanding over all the rude but
+reverend worshippers around them, with an unlimited faith in their
+improvement, almost in their perfection. This was what the wondering
+looker-on, scarcely able to keep her anxieties out of her prayers,
+could not understand, having forgotten, though she did not think so,
+the exaltation of that time of youth, as people do. She thought it all
+their goodness that they were able to put away their own thoughts; she
+did not know it was in the very nature of those unexpressed emotions
+to add the confidence of happiness to their prayers.
+
+And after a while they all separated and went away back into the world
+and the everyday hours. Young Wentworth and Lucy had not said a syllable
+to each other, except about the people in "the district," and the
+Provident Society; and how that sober and laudable conversation could be
+called love-making, it would be difficult for the most ardent imagination
+to conceive. He was to dine with them that evening; so it was for but a
+very brief time that they parted when the Perpetual Curate left the
+ladies at the green door, and went away to his room, to attend to some
+other duties, before he arrayed himself for the evening. As for the
+sisters, they went in quite comfortably, and had their cup of tea before
+they dressed for dinner. Lucy was manager indoors as well as out. She
+was good for a great deal more than Miss Wodehouse in every practical
+matter. It was she who was responsible for the dinner, and had all the
+cares of the house upon her head. Notwithstanding, the elder sister took
+up her prerogative as they sat together in two very cosy easy-chairs,
+in a little room which communicated with both their bed-chambers
+up-stairs--a very cosy little odd room, not a dressing-room nor a
+boudoir, but something between the two, where the sisters had their
+private talks upon occasion, and which was consecrated by many a
+libation of fragrant tea.
+
+"Lucy, my dear," said Miss Wodehouse, whose gentle forehead was
+puckered with care, "I want to speak to you. I have not been able to
+get you out of my mind since ever we met Mr Wentworth at the green
+door."
+
+"Was there any need for getting me out of your mind?" said smiling
+Lucy. "I was a safe enough inmate, surely. I wonder how often I am out
+of your mind, Mary dear, night or day."
+
+"That is true enough," said Miss Wodehouse, "but you know that is not
+what I meant either. Lucy, are you quite sure you're going on just as
+you ought--"
+
+Here she made a troubled pause, and looked in the laughing face
+opposite, intent upon her with its startled eyes. "What have I done?"
+cried the younger sister. Miss Wodehouse shook her head with a great
+deal of seriousness.
+
+"It always begins with laughing," said the experienced woman; "but if
+it ends without tears it will be something new to me. It's about Mr
+Wentworth, Lucy. You're always together, day after day; and, my dear,
+such things can't go on without coming to something--what is to come
+of it? I have looked at it from every point of view, and I am sure I
+don't know."
+
+Lucy flushed intensely red, of course, at the Curate's name; perhaps
+she had not expected it just at that moment; but she kept her
+composure like a sensible girl as she was.
+
+"I thought it was the other side that were questioned about their
+intentions," she said. "Am I doing anything amiss? Mr Wentworth is the
+Curate of St Roque's, and I am one of the district-visitors, and we
+can't help seeing a great deal of each other so long as this work goes
+on at Wharfside. You wouldn't like to stop a great work because we are
+obliged to see a good deal of--of one particular person?" said Lucy,
+with youthful virtue, looking at her sister's face; at which tone and
+look Miss Wodehouse immediately faltered, as the culprit knew she
+must.
+
+"No--oh no, no--to be sure not," said the disturbed monitor. "When you
+say that, I don't know how to answer you. It must be right, I suppose.
+I am quite sure it is wonderful to see such young creatures as you,
+and how you can tell the right way to set about it. But things did not
+use to be so in my young days. Girls dare not have done such things
+twenty years ago--not in Carlingford, Lucy," said Miss Wodehouse;
+"and, dear, I think you ought to be a little careful, for poor Mr
+Wentworth's sake."
+
+"I don't think Mr Wentworth is in any particular danger," said Lucy,
+putting down her cup, with a slight curve at the corners of her
+pretty mouth--"and it is quite time for you to begin dressing. You
+know you don't like to be hurried, dear;" with which speech the young
+housekeeper got up from her easy-chair, gave her sister a kiss as she
+passed, and went away, singing softly, to her toilette. Perhaps there
+was a little flutter in Lucy's heart as she bound it round with her
+favourite blue ribbons. Perhaps it was this that gave a certain
+startled gleam to her blue eyes, and made even her father remark them
+when she went down-stairs--"It seems to me as if this child were
+growing rather pretty, Molly, eh? I don't know what other people
+think," said Mr Wodehouse--and perhaps Mr Wentworth, who was just
+being ushered into the drawing-room at the moment, heard the speech,
+for he, too, looked as if he had never found it out before. Luckily
+there was a party, and no opportunity for sentiment. The party was in
+honour of the Rector and his wife; and Mr Wentworth could not but be
+conscious before the evening was over that he had done something to
+lose the favour of his clerical brother. There was a good deal of
+Church talk, as was natural, at the churchwarden's table, where three
+clergymen were dining--for Mr Morgan's curate was there as well; and
+the Curate of St Roque's, who was slightly hot-tempered, could not
+help feeling himself disapproved of. It was not, on the whole, a
+satisfactory evening. Mr Morgan talked rather big, when the ladies
+went away, of his plans for the reformation of Carlingford. He went
+into statistics about the poor, and the number of people who attended
+no church, without taking any notice of that "great work" which Mr
+Wentworth knew to be going on at Wharfside. The Rector even talked of
+Wharfside, and of the necessity of exertion on behalf of that wretched
+district, with a studious unconsciousness of Mr Wentworth; and all but
+declined to receive better information when Mr Wodehouse proffered it.
+Matters were scarcely better in the drawing-room, where Lucy was
+entertaining everybody, and had no leisure for the Perpetual Curate.
+He took his hat with a gloomy sentiment of satisfaction when it was
+time to go away; but when the green door was closed behind him, Mr
+Wentworth, with his first step into the dewy darkness, plunged
+headlong into a sea of thought. He had to walk down the whole length
+of Grange Lane to his lodging, which was in the last house of the row,
+a small house in a small garden, where Mrs Hadwin, the widow of a
+whilom curate, was permitted by public opinion, on the score of her
+own unexceptionable propriety,[A] to receive a lodger without loss of
+position thereby. It was moonlight, or rather it ought to have been
+moonlight, and no lamps were lighted in Grange Lane, according to the
+economical regulations of Carlingford; and as Mr Wentworth pursued his
+way down the dark line of garden-walls, in the face of a sudden April
+shower which happened to be falling, he had full scope and opportunity
+for his thoughts.
+
+These thoughts were not the most agreeable in the world. In the first
+place it must be remembered that for nearly a year past Mr Wentworth had
+had things his own way in Carlingford. He had been more than rector, he
+had been archdeacon, or rather bishop, in Mr Proctor's time; for that
+good man was humble, and thankful for the advice and assistance of his
+young brother, who knew so much better than he did. Now, to be looked
+upon as an unauthorised workman, a kind of meddling, Dissenterish,
+missionising individual, was rather hard upon the young man. And then he
+thought of his aunts. The connection, imperceptible to an ignorant
+observer, which existed between the Miss Wentworths and Mr Morgan, and
+Lucy, and many other matters interesting to their nephew, was a
+sufficiently real connection when you came to know it. That parish of
+his own which Miss Wodehouse had wished him--which would free the young
+clergyman from all trammels so far as his work was concerned; and would
+enable him to marry, and do everything for him--it was in the power of
+the Miss Wentworths to bestow; but they were Evangelical women, very
+public-spirited, and thinking nothing of their nephew in comparison with
+their duty; and he was at that time of life, and of that disposition,
+which, for fear of being supposed to wish to deceive them, would rather
+exaggerate and make a display of the difference of his own views. Not
+for freedom, not for Lucy, would the Perpetual Curate temporise and
+manage the matter; so the fact was that he stood at the present moment
+in a very perilous predicament. But for this family living, which was,
+with their mother's property, in the hands of her co-heiresses, the
+three Miss Wentworths, young Frank Wentworth had not a chance of
+preferment in the world; for the respectable Squire his father had
+indulged in three wives and three families, and such a regiment of sons
+that all his influence had been fully taxed to provide for them. Gerald,
+the clergyman of the first lot, held the family living--not a very large
+one--which belonged to the Wentworths; and Frank, who was of the second,
+had been educated expressly with an eye to Skelmersdale, which belonged
+to his aunts. How he came at the end to differ so completely from these
+excellent ladies in his religious views is not our business just at
+present; but in the mean time matters were in a very critical position.
+The old incumbent of Skelmersdale was eighty, and had been ill all
+winter; and if the Miss Wentworths were not satisfied somehow, it was
+all over with their nephew's hopes.
+
+Such were the thoughts that occupied his mind as he walked down Grange
+Lane in the dark, past the tedious, unsympathetic line of garden-walls,
+with the rain in his face. The evening's entertainment had stirred up a
+great many dormant sentiments. His influence in Carlingford had been
+ignored by this new-comer, who evidently thought he could do what he
+liked without paying any attention to the Curate of St Roque's; and,
+what was a great deal worse, he had found Lucy unapproachable, and had
+realised, if not for the first time, still with more distinctness than
+ever before, that she did not belong to him, and that he had no more
+right than any other acquaintance to monopolise her society. This last
+discovery was bitter to the young man--it was this that made him set his
+face to the rain, and his teeth, as if that could do any good. He had
+been happy in her mere society to-day, without entering into any of the
+terrible preliminaries of a closer connection. But now that was over.
+She did not belong to him, and he could not bear the thought. And how
+was she ever to belong to him? Not, certainly, if he was to be a Perpetual
+Curate of St Roque's, or anywhere else. He felt, in the misery of the
+moment, as if he could never go to that green door again, or walk by her
+sweet side to that service in which they had joined so lately. He
+wondered whether she cared, with a despairing pang of anxiety, through
+which for an instant a celestial gleam of consciousness leaped, making
+the darkness all the greater afterwards. And to think that three old
+ladies, of whom it was not in the nature of things that the young man
+could be profoundly reverent, should hold in their hands the absolute
+power of his life, and could determine whether it was to be sweet with
+hope and love, or stern, constrained, and impoverished, without Lucy or
+any other immediate light! What a strange anomaly this was which met him
+full in the face as he pursued his thoughts! If it had been his bishop,
+or his college, or any fitting tribunal--but his aunts! Mr Wentworth's
+ring at his own door was so much more hasty than usual that Mrs Hadwin
+paused in the hall, when she had lighted her candle, to see if anything
+was the matter. The little neat old lady held up her candle to look at
+him as he came in, glistening all over with rain-drops.
+
+"I hope you are not wet, Mr Wentworth," she said. "It is only an April
+shower, and we want it so much in the gardens. And I hope you have had
+a nice party and a pleasant evening."
+
+"Thank you--pretty well," said the Perpetual Curate, with less suavity
+than usual, and a sigh that nearly blew Mrs Hadwin's candle out. She
+saw he was discomposed, and therefore, with a feminine instinct, found
+more to say than usual before she made her peaceful way to bed. She
+waited while Mr Wentworth lighted his candle too. "Mr Wodehouse's
+parties are always pleasant," she said. "I never go out, you know; but
+I like to hear of people enjoying themselves. I insist upon you going
+up-stairs before me, Mr Wentworth. I have so little breath to spare,
+and I take such a long time going up, that you would be tired to death
+waiting for me. Now, don't be polite. I insist upon you going up
+first. Thank you. Now I can take my time."
+
+And she took her time accordingly, keeping Mr Wentworth waiting on the
+landing to say good-night to her, much to his silent exasperation. When
+he got into the shelter of his own sitting-room, he threw himself upon
+a sofa, and continued his thoughts with many a troubled addition. A
+young man, feeling in a great measure the world before him, conscious of
+considerable powers, standing on the very threshold of so much possible
+good and happiness,--it was hideous to look up, in his excited
+imagination, and see the figures of these three old ladies, worse than
+Fates, standing across the prospect and barring the way.
+
+And Lucy, meantime, was undoing her blue ribbons with a thrill of sweet
+agitation in her untroubled bosom. Perhaps Mary was right, and it was
+about coming to the time when this half-feared, half-hoped revelation
+could not be postponed much longer. For it will be perceived that Lucy
+was not in much doubt of young Wentworth's sentiments. And then she
+paused in the dark, after she had said her prayers, to give one timid
+thought to the sweet life that seemed to lie before her so close at
+hand--in which, perhaps, he and she were to go out together, she did not
+know where, for the help of the world and the comfort of the sorrowful;
+and not trusting herself to look much at that ideal, said another
+prayer, and went to sleep like one of God's beloved, with a tear too
+exquisite to be shed brimming under her long eyelashes. At this crisis
+of existence, perhaps for once in her life, the woman has the best of
+it; for very different from Lucy's were the thoughts with which the
+Curate sought his restless pillow, hearing the rain drip all the night,
+and trickle into Mrs Hadwin's reservoirs. The old lady had a passion for
+rain-water, and it was a gusty night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Next week was Passion Week, and full of occupation. Even if it had been
+consistent either with Mr Wentworth's principles or Lucy's to introduce
+secular affairs into so holy a season, they had not time or opportunity,
+as it happened, which was perhaps just as well; for otherwise the
+premonitory thrill of expectation which had disturbed Lucy's calm, and
+the bitter exasperation against himself and his fate with which Mr
+Wentworth had discovered that he dared not say anything, might have
+caused an estrangement between them. As it was, the air was thundery and
+ominous through all the solemn days of the Holy Week. A consciousness as
+of something about to happen overshadowed even the "district," and
+attracted the keen observation of the lively spectators at Wharfside.
+They were not greatly up in matters of doctrine, nor perhaps did they
+quite understand the eloquent little sermon which the Perpetual Curate
+gave them on Good Friday in the afternoon, between his own services, by
+way of impressing upon their minds the awful memories of the day; but
+they were as skilful in the variations of their young evangelist's
+looks, and as well qualified to decide upon the fact that there was "a
+something between" him and Miss Lucy Wodehouse, as any practised
+observer in the higher ranks of society. Whether the two had "'ad an
+unpleasantness," as, Wharfside was well aware, human creatures under
+such circumstances are liable to have, the interested community could
+not quite make out; but that something more than ordinary was going on,
+and that the prettiest of all the "Provident ladies" had a certain
+preoccupation in her blue eyes, was a fact perfectly apparent to
+that intelligent society. And, indeed, one of the kinder matrons in
+Prickett's Lane had even ventured so far as to wish Miss Lucy "a 'appy
+weddin' when the time comes." "And there's to be a sight o' weddings
+this Easter," had added another, who was somewhat scandalised by the
+flowers in the bonnet of one of the brides-elect, and proceeded to say
+so in some detail. "But Miss Lucy won't wear no bonnet; the quality goes
+in veils: and there never was as full a church as there will be to see
+it, wishing you your 'ealth and 'appiness, ma'am, as aint no more nor
+you deserve, and you so good to us poor folks." All which felicitations
+and inquiries had confused Lucy, though she made her way out of them
+with a self-possession which amazed her sister.
+
+"You see what everybody thinks, dear," said that gentle woman, when
+they had made their escape.
+
+"Oh, Mary, how can you talk of such things at such a time?" the young
+Sister of Mercy had answered once more, turning those severe eyes of
+youthful devotion upon her troubled elder sister, who, to tell the
+truth, not having been brought up to it, as she said, felt much the
+same on Easter Eve as at other times of her life; and thus once more
+the matter concluded. As for Mr Wentworth, he was much occupied on
+that last day of the Holy Week with a great many important matters on
+hand. He had not seen the Wodehouses since the Good Friday evening
+service, which was an interval of about twenty hours, and had just
+paused, before eating his bachelor's dinner, to ponder whether it
+would be correct on that most sacred of vigils to steal away for half
+an hour, just to ask Lucy if she thought it necessary that he should
+see the sick woman at No. 10 Prickett's Lane before the morning.
+It was while he was pondering this matter in his mind that Mr
+Wentworth's heart jumped to his throat upon receipt, quite suddenly,
+without preparation, of the following note:--
+
+
+ "MY DEAREST BOY,--Your aunts Cecilia, Leonora, and I have just arrived
+ at this excellent inn, the Blue Boar. Old Mr Shirley at Skelmersdale
+ is in a very bad way, poor man, and I thought the _very best_ thing I
+ could do in my dearest Frank's _best_ interests, was to persuade them
+ to make you _quite_ an _unexpected visit_, and see everything for
+ themselves. I am in a terrible fright now lest I should have done
+ wrong; but my dear, dear boy knows it is always his interest that I
+ have at heart; and Leonora is so intent on having a _real gospel
+ minister_ at Skelmersdale, that she _never_ would have been content
+ with anything less than hearing you with her own ears. I hope and
+ trust in Providence that you don't intone like poor Gerald. And oh,
+ Frank, my dear boy, come directly and dine with us, and don't fly in
+ your aunt Leonora's face, and tell me I haven't been imprudent. I
+ thought it would be best to take you unawares when you had everything
+ prepared, and when we should see you just as you always are; for I am
+ convinced Leonora and you only want to see more of each other to
+ understand each other perfectly. Come, my dearest boy, and give a
+ little comfort to your loving and anxious
+
+ "AUNT DORA."
+
+
+Mr Wentworth sat gazing blankly upon this horrible missive for some
+minutes after he had read it, quite unaware of the humble presence of
+the maid who stood asking, Please was she to bring up dinner? When he
+came to himself, the awful "No!" with which he answered that alarmed
+handmaiden almost drove her into hysterics as she escaped down-stairs.
+However, Mr Wentworth immediately put his head out at the door and
+called after her, "I can't wait for dinner, Sarah; I am suddenly called
+out, and shall dine where I am going. Tell Cook," said the young parson,
+suddenly recollecting Lucy's client, "to send what she has prepared for
+me, if it is very nice, to No. 10 Prickett's Lane. My boy will take it;
+and send him off directly, please," with which last commission the young
+man went up despairingly to his bedroom to prepare himself for this
+interview with his aunts. What was he to do? Already before him, in
+dreadful prophetic vision, he saw all three seated in one of the
+handsome open benches in St Roque's, looking indescribable horrors at
+the crown of spring lilies which Lucy's own fingers were to weave for
+the cross above the altar, and listening to the cadence of his own manly
+tenor as it rang through the perfect little church of which he was so
+proud. Yes, there was an end of Skelmersdale, without any doubt or
+question now; whatever hope there might have been, aunt Dora had settled
+the matter by this last move of hers--an end to Skelmersdale, and an end
+of Lucy. Perhaps he had better try not to see her any more; and the poor
+young priest saw that his own face looked ghastly as he looked at it in
+the glass. It gave him a little comfort to meet the boy with a bundle
+pinned up in snowy napkins, from which a grateful odour ascended,
+bending his steps to Prickett's Lane, as he himself went out to meet his
+fate. It was a last offering to that beloved "district" with which the
+image of his love was blended; but he would have given his dinner to
+Lucy's sick woman any day. To-night it was a greater sacrifice that was
+to be required of him. He went mournfully and slowly up Grange Lane,
+steeling himself for the encounter, and trying to forgive aunt Dora in
+his heart. It was not very easy. Things might have turned out just the
+same without any interference--that was true; but to have it all brought
+on in this wanton manner by a kind foolish woman, who would wring her
+hands and gaze in your face, and want to know, Oh! did you think it was
+her fault? after she had precipitated the calamity, was very hard; and
+it was with a very gloomy countenance, accordingly, that the Curate of
+St Roque's presented himself at the Blue Boar.
+
+The Miss Wentworths were in the very best sitting-room which the Blue
+Boar contained--the style in which they travelled, with a man and two
+maids, was enough to secure that; and the kitchen of that respectable
+establishment was doing its very best to send up a dinner worthy of "a
+party as had their own man to wait." The three ladies greeted their
+nephew with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The eldest, Miss Wentworth,
+from whom he took his second name Cecil, did not rise from her chair,
+but nevertheless kissed him in an affectionate dignified way when he
+was brought to her. As for aunt Dora, she ran into her dear Frank's
+arms, and in the very moment of that embrace whispered in his ear the
+expression of her anxiety, and the panic which always followed those
+rash steps which she was in the habit of taking. "Oh, my dear, I hope
+you don't think I'm to blame," she said, with her lips at his ear, and
+gained but cold comfort from the Curate's face. The alarming member of
+the party was Miss Leonora. She rose and made two steps forward to
+meet the unfortunate young man. She shook both his hands cordially,
+and said she was very glad to see him, and hoped he was well. She was
+the sensible sister of the three, and no doubt required all the sense
+she had to manage her companions. Miss Wentworth, who had been very
+pretty in her youth, was now a beautiful old lady, with snow-white
+hair and the most charming smile; and Miss Dora, who was only fifty,
+retained the natural colour of her own scanty light-brown locks, which
+wavered in weak-minded ringlets over her cheeks; but Miss Leonora was
+iron-grey, without any complexion in particular, and altogether a
+harder type of woman. It was she who held in her hands the fate of
+Skelmersdale and of Frank Wentworth. Her terrible glance it was which
+he had imagined gleaming fierce upon his lilies--Lucy's lilies, his
+Easter decorations. It was by her side the alarmed Curate was made to
+sit down. It was she who took the foot of the table, and was the
+gentleman of the house. Her voice was of that class of voice which may
+be politely called a powerful contralto. Every way she was as alarming
+a critic as ever was encountered by a Perpetual Curate, or any other
+young man in trouble. Mr Wentworth said feebly that this was a very
+unexpected pleasure, as he met his aunt Leonora's eye.
+
+"I hope it _is_ a pleasure," said that penetrating observer. "To tell
+the truth, I did not expect it would be; but your aunt Dora thought so,
+and you know, when she sets her heart on anything, nobody can get any
+peace. Not that your aunt Cecilia and I would have come on that account,
+if we had not wished, for many reasons, to have some conversation with
+you, and see how you are getting on."
+
+"Quite so, Leonora," said Miss Wentworth, smiling upon her nephew, and
+leaning back in her chair.
+
+Then there was a little pause; for, after such a terrible address, it
+was not to be expected that the poor man, who understood every word of
+it, could repeat his commonplace about the unlooked-for pleasure. Miss
+Dora of course seized the opportunity to rush in.
+
+"We have been hearing such delightful things about you, my dear, from
+the people of the house. Leonora is so pleased to hear how you are
+labouring among the people, and doing your Master's work. We take all
+the happiness to ourselves, because, you know, you are _our_ boy,
+Frank," said the anxious aunt, all her thin ringlets, poor lady,
+trembling with her eagerness to make everything comfortable for her
+favourite; "and we have come, you know, specially to hear you on Easter
+Sunday in your own church. I am looking forward to a great treat: to
+think I should never have heard you, though it is so long since you were
+ordained! None of us have ever heard you--not even Leonora; but it is
+such a pleasure to us all to know you are so much liked in Carlingford,"
+cried the troubled woman, growing nervous at sight of the unresponsive
+quiet around her. Miss Leonora by no means replied to the covert
+appeals thus made to her. She left her nephew and her sister to keep up
+the conversation unassisted; and as for Miss Wentworth, conversation was
+not her forte.
+
+"I'm afraid, aunt, you will not _hear_ anything worth such a long
+journey," said Mr Wentworth, moved, like a rash young man as he was, to
+display his colours at once, and cry no surrender. "I don't think an
+Easter Sunday is a time for much preaching; and the Church has made such
+ample provision for the expression of our sentiments. I am more of a
+humble priest than an ambitious preacher," said the young man, with
+characteristic youthful pretence of the most transparent kind. He looked
+in Miss Leonora's face as he spoke. He knew the very name of priest was
+an offence in its way to that highly Evangelical woman; and if they were
+to come to single combat, better immediately than after intolerable
+suspense and delay.
+
+"Perhaps, Dora, you will postpone your raptures about Frank's
+sermon--which may be a very indifferent sermon, as he says, for anything
+we can tell--till after dinner," said Miss Leonora. "We're all very glad
+to see him; and he need not think any little ill-tempered speeches he
+may make will disturb me. I daresay the poor boy would be glad to hear
+of some of the people belonging to him instead of all that nonsense.
+Come to dinner, Frank. Take the other side of the table, opposite Dora;
+and now that you've said grace, I give you full leave to forget that
+you're a clergyman for an hour at least. We were down at the old Hall a
+week ago, and saw your father and the rest. They are all well; and the
+last boy is rather like you, if you will think that any compliment. Mrs
+Wentworth is pleased, because you are one of the handsome ones, you
+know. Not much fear of the Wentworths dying out of the country yet
+awhile. Your father is getting at his wit's end, and does not know what
+to do with Cuthbert and Guy. Three sons are enough in the army, and two
+at sea; and I rather think it's as much as we can stand," continued Miss
+Leonora, not without a gleam of humour in her iron-grey eyes, "to have
+two in the Church
+."
+
+"That is as it may happen," said the Perpetual Curate, with a little
+spirit. "If the boys are of my way of thinking, they will consider the
+Church the highest of professions; but Guy and Cuthbert must go to
+Australia, I suppose, like most other people, and take their chance--no
+harm in that."
+
+"Not a bit of harm," said the rich aunt; "they're good boys enough,
+and I daresay they'll get on. As for Gerald, if you have any influence
+with your brother, I think he's in a bad way. I think he has a bad
+attack of Romishness coming on. If you are not in that way yourself,"
+said Miss Leonora, with a sharp glance, "I think you should go and see
+after Gerald. He is the sort of man who would do anything foolish, you
+know. He doesn't understand what prudence means. Remember, I believe
+he is a good Christian all the same. It's very incomprehensible; but
+the fact is, a man may be a very good Christian, and have the least
+quality of sense that is compatible with existence. I've seen it over
+and over again. Gerald's notions are idiocy to me," said the sensible
+but candid woman, shrugging her shoulders; "but I can't deny that he's
+a good man, for all that."
+
+"He is the best man I ever knew," said young Wentworth, with
+enthusiasm.
+
+"Quite so, Frank," echoed aunt Cecilia, with her sweet smile: it was
+almost the only conversational effort Miss Wentworth ever made.
+
+"But it is so sad to see how he's led away," said Miss Dora; "it is all
+owing to the bad advisers young men meet with at the universities; and
+how can it be otherwise as long as tutors and professors are chosen just
+for their learning, without any regard to their principles? What is
+Greek and Latin in comparison with a pious guide for the young? We
+would not have to feel frightened, as we do so often, about young
+men's principles," continued aunt Dora, fixing her eyes with warning
+significance on her nephew, and trying hard to open telegraphic
+communications with him, "if more attention was paid at the universities
+to give them sound guidance in their studies. So long as you are sound
+in your principles, there is no fear of you," said the timid diplomatist,
+trying to aid the warning look of her eyes by emphasis and inflection.
+Poor Miss Dora! it was her unlucky fate, by dint of her very exertions
+in smoothing matters, always to make things worse.
+
+"He would be a bold man who would call those principles unsound which
+have made my brother Gerald what he is," said, with an affectionate
+admiration that became him, the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+"It's a slavish system, notwithstanding Gerald," said Miss Leonora,
+with some heat; "and a false system, and leads to Antichrist at the
+end and nothing less. Eat your dinner, Frank--we are not going to
+argue just now. We expected to hear that another of the girls was
+engaged before we came away, but it has not occurred yet. I don't
+approve of young men dancing about a house for ever and ever, unless
+they mean something. Do you?"
+
+Mr Wentworth faltered at this question; it disturbed his composure
+more than anything that had preceded it. "I--really I don't know," he
+said, after a pause, with a sickly smile--of which all three of his
+aunts took private notes, forming their own conclusions. It was, as
+may well be supposed, a very severe ordeal which the poor young man
+had to go through. When he was permitted to say good-night, he went
+away with a sensation of fatigue more overpowering than if he had
+visited all the houses in Wharfside. When he passed the green door,
+over which the apple-tree rustled in the dark, it was a pang to his
+heart. How was he to continue to live--to come and go through that
+familiar road--to go through all the meetings and partings, when this
+last hopeless trial was over, and Lucy and he were swept apart as if
+by an earthquake? If his lips were sealed henceforward, and he never
+was at liberty to say what was in his heart, what would she think of
+him? He could not fly from his work because he lost Skelmersdale; and
+how was he to bear it? He went home with a dull bitterness in his
+mind, trying, when he thought of it, to quiet the aching pulses which
+throbbed all over him, with what ought to have been the hallowed
+associations of the last Lenten vigil. But it was difficult, throbbing
+as he was with wild life and trouble to the very finger-points, to get
+himself into the shadow of that rock-hewn grave, by which, according
+to his own theory, the Church should be watching on this Easter Eve.
+It was hard just then to be bound to that special remembrance. What he
+wanted at this moment was no memory of one hour, however memorable or
+glorious, not even though it contained the Redeemer's grave, but the
+sense of a living Friend standing by him in the great struggle, which
+is the essential and unfailing comfort of a Christian's life.
+
+Next morning he went to church with a half-conscious, youthful sense of
+martyrdom, of which in his heart he was half ashamed. St Roque's was
+very fair to see that Easter morning. Above the communion-table, with
+all its sacred vessels, the carved oaken cross of the reredos was
+wreathed tenderly with white fragrant festoons of spring lilies, sweet
+Narcissus of the poets; and Mr Wentworth's choristers made another white
+line, two deep, down each side of the chancel. The young Anglican took
+in all the details of the scene on his way to the reading-desk as the
+white procession ranged itself in the oaken stalls. At that moment--the
+worst moment for such a thought--it suddenly flashed over him that,
+after all, a wreath of spring flowers or a chorister's surplice was
+scarcely worth suffering martyrdom for. This horrible suggestion, true
+essence of an unheroic age, which will not suffer a man to be absolutely
+sure of anything, disturbed his prayer as he knelt down in silence to
+ask God's blessing. Easter, to be sure, was lovely enough of itself
+without the garland, and Mr Wentworth knew well enough that his
+white-robed singers were no immaculate angel-band. It was Satan himself,
+surely, and no inferior imp, who shot that sudden arrow into the young
+man's heart as he tried to say his private prayer; for the Curate of St
+Roque's was not only a fervent Anglican, but also a young Englishman
+_sans reproche_, with all the sensitive, almost fantastic, delicacy of
+honour which belongs to that development of humanity; and not for a
+dozen worlds would he have sacrificed a lily or a surplice on this
+particular Easter, when all his worldly hopes hung in the balance. But
+to think at this crowning moment that a villanous doubt of the benefit
+of these surplices and lilies should seize his troubled heart! for just
+then the strains of the organ died away in lengthened whispers, and Miss
+Leonora Wentworth, severe and awful, swept up through the middle aisle.
+It was under these terrible circumstances that the Perpetual Curate,
+with his heart throbbing and his head aching, began to intone the
+morning service on that Easter Sunday, ever after a day so memorable in
+the records of St Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth's sermon on Easter Sunday was one which he himself long
+remembered, though it is doubtful whether any of his congregation had
+memories as faithful. To tell the truth, the young man put a black cross
+upon it with his blackest ink, a memorial of meaning unknown to anybody
+but himself. It was a curious little sermon, such as may still be heard
+in some Anglican pulpits. Though he had heart and mind enough to
+conceive something of those natural depths of divine significance and
+human interest, which are the very essence of the Easter festival, it
+was not into these that Mr Wentworth entered in his sermon. He spoke, in
+very choice little sentences, of the beneficence of the Church in
+appointing such a feast, and of all the beautiful arrangements she had
+made for the keeping of it. But even in the speaking, in the excited
+state of mind he was in, it occurred to the young man to see, by a
+sudden flash of illumination, how much higher, how much more catholic,
+after all, his teaching would have been, could he but have once ignored
+the Church, and gone direct, as Nature bade, to that empty grave in
+which all the hopes of humanity had been entombed. He saw it by gleams
+of that perverse light which seemed more Satanic than heavenly in the
+moments it chose for shining, while he was preaching his little sermon
+about the Church and her beautiful institution of Easter, just as he had
+seen the non-importance of his lily-wreath and surplices as he was about
+to suffer martyrdom for them. All these circumstances were hard upon the
+young man. Looking down straight into the severe iron-grey eyes of his
+aunt Leonora, he could not of course so much as modify a single sentence
+of the discourse he was uttering, no more than he could permit himself
+to slur over a single monotone of the service; but that sudden bewildering
+perception that he could have done so much better--that the loftiest
+High-Churchism of all might have been consistent enough with
+Skelmersdale, had he but gone into the heart of the matter--gave a
+bitterness to the deeper, unseen current of the Curate's thoughts.
+
+Besides, it was terrible to feel that he could not abstract himself from
+personal concerns even in the most sacred duties. He was conscious that
+the two elder sisters went away, and that only poor aunt Dora, her
+weak-minded ringlets limp with tears, came tremulous to the altar rails.
+When the service was over, and the young priest was disrobing himself,
+she came to him and gave a spasmodic, sympathetic, half-reproachful
+pressure to his hand. "Oh, Frank, my dear, I did it for the best," said
+Miss Dora, with a doleful countenance; and the Perpetual Curate knew
+that his doom was sealed. He put the best face he could upon the matter,
+having sufficient doubts of his own wisdom to subdue the high temper of
+the Wentworths for that moment at least.
+
+"What was it you did for the best?" said the Curate of St Roque's. "I
+suppose, after all, it was no such great matter _hearing_ me as you
+thought; but I told you I was not an ambitious preacher. This is a day
+for worship, not for talk."
+
+"Ah! yes," said Miss Dora; "but oh, Frank, my dear, it is hard upon me,
+after all my expectations. It would have been so nice to have had you at
+Skelmersdale. I hoped you would marry Julia Trench, and we should all
+have been so happy; and perhaps if I had not begged Leonora to come just
+now, thinking it would be so nice to take you just in your usual
+way--but she must have known sooner or later," said poor aunt Dora,
+looking wistfully in his face. "Oh, Frank, I hope you don't think I'm to
+blame."
+
+"I never should have married Julia Trench," said the Curate, gloomily.
+He did not enter into the question of Miss Dora's guilt or innocence--he
+gave a glance at the lilies on the altar, and a sigh. The chances were
+he would never marry anybody, but loyalty to Lucy demanded instant
+repudiation of any other possible bride. "Where are you going, aunt
+Dora; back to the Blue Boar? or will you come with me?" he said, as they
+stood together at the door of St Roque's. Mr Wentworth felt as if he had
+caught the beginning threads of a good many different lines of thought,
+which he would be glad to be alone to work out.
+
+"You'll come back with me to the inn to lunch?" said Miss Dora. "Oh,
+Frank, my dear, remember your Christian feelings, and don't make a
+breach in the family. It will be bad enough to face your poor dear
+father, after he knows what Leonora means to do; and I do so want to
+talk to you," said the poor woman, eagerly clinging to his arm. "You
+always were fond of your poor aunt Dora, Frank; when you were quite a
+little trot you used always to like me best; and in the holiday times,
+when you came down from Harrow, I used always to hear all your
+troubles. If you would only have confidence in me now!"
+
+"But what if I have no troubles to confide?" said Mr Wentworth; "a man
+and a boy are very different things. Come, aunt Dora, I'll see you safe
+to your inn. What should I have to grumble about? I have plenty to do,
+and it is Easter; and few men can have everything their own way."
+
+"You won't acknowledge that you're vexed," said aunt Dora, almost crying
+under her veil, "but I can see it all the same. You always were such a
+true Wentworth; but if you only would give in and say that you are
+disappointed and angry with us all, I could bear it better, Frank. I
+would not feel then that you thought it my fault! And oh, Frank, dear,
+you don't consider how disappointed your poor dear aunt Leonora was!
+It's just as hard upon us," she continued, pressing his arm in her
+eagerness, "as it is upon you. We had all so set our hearts on having
+you at Skelmersdale. Don't you think, if you were giving your mind to
+it, you might see things in a different light?" with another pressure of
+his arm. "Oh, Frank, what does it matter, after all, if the heart is
+right, whether you read the service in your natural voice, or give that
+little quaver at the end? I am sure, for my part--"
+
+"My dear aunt," said Mr Wentworth, naturally incensed by this manner of
+description, "I must be allowed to say that my convictions are fixed,
+and not likely to be altered. I am a priest, and you are--a woman." He
+stopped short, with perhaps a little bitterness. It was very true she
+was a woman, unqualified to teach, but yet she and her sisters were
+absolute in Skelmersdale. He made a little gulp of his momentary
+irritation, and walked on in silence, with Miss Dora's kind wistful hand
+clinging to his arm.
+
+"But, dear Frank among us Protestants, you know, there is no sacerdotal
+caste," said Miss Dora, opportunely recollecting some scrap of an Exeter
+Hall speech. "We are all kings and priests to God. Oh, Frank, it is
+Gerald's example that has led you away. I am sure, before you went to
+Oxford you were never at all a ritualist--even Leonora thought you such
+a pious boy; and I am sure your good sense must teach you--" faltered
+aunt Dora, trying her sister's grand tone.
+
+"Hush, hush; I can't have you begin to argue with me; you are not my
+aunt Leonora," said the Curate, half amused in spite of himself. This
+encouraged the anxious woman, and, clasping his arm closer than ever,
+she poured out all her heart.
+
+"Oh, Frank, if you could only modify your views a little! It is not
+that there is any difference between your views and ours, except just
+in words, my dear. Flowers are very pretty decorations, and I know you
+look very nice in your surplice; and I am sure, for my part, I should
+not mind--but then that is not carrying the Word of God to the people,
+as Leonora says. If the heart is right, what does it matter about the
+altar?" said aunt Dora, unconsciously falling upon the very argument
+that had occurred to her nephew's perplexed mind in the pulpit. "Even
+though I was in such trouble, I can't tell you what a happiness it was
+to take the sacrament from your hands, my dear, dear boy; and but for
+these flowers and things that could do nobody any good, poor dear
+Leonora, who is very fond of you, though perhaps you don't think it,
+could have had that happiness too. Oh, Frank, don't you think you
+could give up these things that don't matter? If you were just to tell
+Leonora you have been thinking it over, and that you see you've made a
+mistake, and that in future--"
+
+"You don't mean to insult me?" said the young man. "Hush--hush; you
+don't know what you are saying. Not to be made Archbishop of
+Canterbury, instead of Vicar of Skelmersdale. I don't understand how
+you could suggest such a thing to me."
+
+Miss Dora's veil, which she had partly lifted, here fell over her face,
+as it had kept doing all the time she was speaking--but this time she
+did not put it back. She was no longer able to contain herself, but wept
+hot tears of distress and vexation, under the flimsy covering of lace.
+"No, of course, you will not do it--you will far rather be haughty, and
+say it is my fault," said poor Miss Dora. "We have all so much pride, we
+Wentworths--and you never think of our disappointment, and how we all
+calculated upon having you at Skelmersdale, and how happy we were to
+be, and that you were to marry Julia Trench--"
+
+It was just at this moment that the two reached the corner of
+Prickett's Lane. Lucy Wodehouse had been down there seeing the sick
+woman. She had, indeed, been carrying her dinner to that poor
+creature, and was just turning into Grange Lane, with her blue ribbons
+hidden under the grey cloak, and a little basket in her hand. They met
+full in the face at this corner, and Miss Dora's words reached Lucy's
+ears, and went through and through her with a little nervous thrill.
+She had not time to think whether it was pain or only surprise that
+moved her, and was not even self-possessed enough to observe the
+tremulous pressure of the Curate's hand, as he shook hands with her,
+and introduced his aunt. "I have just been to see the poor woman at
+No. 10," said Lucy. "She is very ill to-day. If you had time, it would
+be kind of you to see her. I think she has something on her mind."
+
+"I will go there before I go to Wharfside," said Mr Wentworth. "Are
+you coming down to the service this afternoon? I am afraid it will be
+a long service, for there are all these little Burrowses, you know--"
+
+"Yes, I am godmother," said Lucy, and smiled and gave him her hand
+again as she passed him while aunt Dora looked on with curious eyes.
+The poor Curate heaved a mighty sigh as he looked after the grey
+cloak. Not his the privilege now, to walk with her to the green door,
+to take her basket from the soft hand of the merciful Sister. On the
+contrary, he had to turn his back upon Lucy, and walk on with aunt
+Dora to the inn--at this moment a symbolical action which seemed to
+embody his fate.
+
+"Where is Wharfside? and who are the little Burrowses? and what does
+the young lady mean by being godmother?" said aunt Dora. "She looks
+very sweet and nice; but what is the meaning of that grey cloak? Oh,
+Frank, I hope you don't approve of nunneries, and that sort of thing.
+It is such foolishness. My dear, the Christian life is very hard, as
+your aunt Leonora always says. She says she can't bear to see people
+playing at Christianity--"
+
+"People should not speak of things they don't understand," said the
+Perpetual Curate. "Your Exeter-Hall men, aunt Dora, are like the old
+ascetics--they try to make a merit of Christianity by calling it hard
+and terrible; but there are some sweet souls in the world, to whom it
+comes natural as sunshine in May." And the young Anglican, with a glance
+behind him from the corner of his eye, followed the fair figure, which
+he believed he was never, with a clear conscience, to accompany any
+more. "Now, here is your inn," he said, after a little pause. "Wharfside
+is a district, where I am going presently to conduct service, and the
+little Burrowses are a set of little heathens, to whom I am to
+administer holy baptism this Easter Sunday. Good-bye just now."
+
+"Oh, Frank, my dear, just come in for a moment, and tell Leonora--it
+will show her how wrong she is," said poor aunt Dora, clinging to his
+arm.
+
+"Right or wrong, I am not going into any controversy. My aunt Leonora
+knows perfectly well what she is doing," said the Curate, with the best
+smile he could muster; and so shook hands with her resolutely, and
+walked back again all the way down Grange Lane, past the green door, to
+his own house. Nobody was about the green door at that particular moment
+to ask him in to luncheon, as sometimes happened. He walked down all the
+way to Mrs Hadwin's, with something of the sensations of a man who has
+just gone through a dreadful operation, and feels, with a kind of dull
+surprise after, that everything around him is just the same as before.
+He had come through a fiery trial, though nobody knew of it; and just at
+this moment, when he wanted all his strength, how strange to feel that
+haunting sense of an unnecessary sacrifice--that troubled new vein of
+thought which would be worked out, and which concerned matters more
+important than Skelmersdale, weighty as that was. He took his sermon out
+of his pocket when he got home, and marked a cross upon it, as we have
+already said; but, being still a young man, he was thankful to snatch a
+morsel of lunch, and hasten out again to his duty, instead of staying to
+argue the question with himself. He went to No. 10 Prickett's Lane, and
+was a long time with the sick woman, listening to all the woeful tale of
+a troubled life, which the poor sick creature had been contemplating for
+days and days, in her solitude, through those strange exaggerated
+death-gleams which Miss Leonora would have called "the light of
+eternity." She remembered all sorts of sins, great and small, which
+filled her with nervous terrors; and it was not till close upon the hour
+for the Wharfside service, that the Curate could leave his tremulous
+penitent. The schoolroom was particularly full that day. Easter,
+perhaps, had touched the hearts--it certainly had refreshed the
+toilettes--of the bargemen's wives and daughters. Some of them felt an
+inward conviction that their new ribbons were undoubtedly owing to the
+clergyman's influence, and that Tom and Jim would have bestowed the
+money otherwise before the Church planted her pickets in this corner of
+the enemy's camp; and the conviction, though not of an elevated
+description, was a great deal better than no conviction at all. Mr
+Wentworth's little sermon to them was a great improvement upon his
+sermon at St Roque's. He told them about the empty grave of Christ, and
+how He called the weeping woman by her name, and showed her the earnest
+of the end of all sorrows. There were some people who cried, thinking of
+the dead who were still waiting for Easter, which was more than anybody
+did when Mr Wentworth discoursed upon the beautiful institutions of the
+Church's year; and a great many of the congregation stayed to see Tom
+Burrows's six children come up for baptism, preceded by the new baby,
+whose infant claims to Christianity the Curate had so strongly insisted
+upon, to the wakening of a fatherly conscience in the honest bargeman.
+Lucy Wodehouse, without her grey cloak, stood at the font, holding that
+last tiny applicant for saving grace, while all the other little
+heathens were signed with the sacred cross. And strangely enough, when
+the young priest and the young woman stood so near each other, solemnly
+pledging, one after another, each little sun-browned, round-eyed pagan
+to be Christ's faithful servant and soldier, the cloud passed away
+from the firmament of both. Neither of them, perhaps, was of a very
+enlightened character of soul. They believed they were doing a great
+work for Tom Burrows's six children, calling God to His promise on their
+behalf, and setting the little feet straight for the gates of the
+eternal city; and in their young love and faith their hearts rose.
+Perhaps it was foolish of Mr Wentworth to suffer himself to walk home
+again thereafter, as of old, with the Miss Wodehouses--but it was so
+usual, and, after all, they were going the same way. But it was a very
+silent walk, to the wonder of the elder sister, who could not understand
+what it meant. "The Wharfside service always does me good," said Mr
+Wentworth, with a sigh. "And me, too," said Lucy; and then they talked a
+little about the poor woman in No. 10. But that Easter Sunday was not
+like other Sundays, though Miss Wodehouse could not tell why.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Next day the Miss Wentworths made a solemn call at the Rectory, having
+known an aunt of Mrs Morgan at some period of their history, and being
+much disposed, besides, with natural curiosity, to ascertain all about
+their nephew's circumstances. Their entrance interrupted a consultation
+between the Rector and his wife. Mr Morgan was slightly heated, and had
+evidently been talking about something that excited him; while she, poor
+lady, looked just sufficiently sympathetic and indignant to withdraw
+her mind from that first idea which usually suggested itself on the
+entrance of visitors--which was, what could they possibly think of her
+if they supposed the carpet, &c., to be her own choice? Mrs Morgan cast
+her eye with a troubled look upon the big card which had been brought to
+her--Miss Wentworth, Miss Leonora Wentworth, Miss Dora Wentworth.
+"Sisters of his, I suppose, William," she said in an undertone; "now
+_do_ be civil, dear." There was no time for anything more before the
+three ladies sailed in. Miss Leonora took the initiative, as was
+natural.
+
+"You don't remember us, I daresay," she said, taking Mrs Morgan's
+hand; "we used to know your aunt Sidney, when she lived at the
+Hermitage. Don't you recollect the Miss Wentworths of Skelmersdale?
+Charley Sidney spent part of his furlough with us last summer, and Ada
+writes about you often. We could not be in Carlingford without coming
+to see the relation of such a dear friend."
+
+"I am so glad to see anybody who knows my aunt Sidney," said Mrs
+Morgan, with modified enthusiasm. "Mr Morgan, Miss Wentworth. It was
+such a dear little house that Hermitage. I spent some very happy days
+there. Oh yes, I recollect Skelmersdale perfectly; but, to tell the
+truth, there is one of the clergy in Carlingford called Wentworth, and
+I thought it might be some relations of his coming to call."
+
+"Just so," said Miss Wentworth, settling herself in the nearest
+easy-chair.
+
+"And so it is," cried Miss Dora; "we are his aunts, dear boy--we are
+very fond of him. We came on purpose to see him. We are so glad to
+hear that he is liked in Carlingford."
+
+"Oh--yes," said the Rector's wife, and nobody else took any notice of
+Miss Dora's little outburst. As for Mr Morgan, he addressed Miss
+Leonora as if she had done something particularly naughty, and he had
+a great mind to give her an imposition. "You have not been very long
+in Carlingford, I suppose," said the Rector, as if that were a sin.
+
+"Only since Saturday," said Miss Leonora. "We came to see Mr Frank
+Wentworth, who is at St Roque's. I don't know what your bishop is
+about, to permit all those flowers and candlesticks. For my part, I
+never disguise my sentiments. I mean to tell my nephew plainly that
+his way of conducting the service is far from being to my mind."
+
+"Leonora, dear, perhaps Mr Morgan would speak to Frank about it,"
+interposed Miss Dora, anxiously; "he was always a dear boy, and advice
+was never lost upon him. From one that he respected so much as he must
+respect the Rector--"
+
+"I beg your pardon. I quite decline interfering with Mr Wentworth; he
+is not at all under my jurisdiction. Indeed," said the Rector, with a
+smile of anger, "I might be more truly said to be under his, for he is
+good enough to help in my parish without consulting me; but that is
+not to the purpose. I would not for the world attempt to interfere
+with St Roque's."
+
+"Dear, I am sure Mr Wentworth is very nice, and everything we have
+seen of him in private we have liked very much," said Mrs Morgan, with
+an anxious look at her husband. She was a good-natured woman, and the
+handsome Curate had impressed her favourably, notwithstanding his
+misdoings. "As for a little too much of the rubric, I think that is
+not a bad fault in a young man. It gets softened down with a little
+experience; and I do like proper solemnity in the services of the
+Church."
+
+"I don't call intoning proper solemnity," said Miss Leonora. "The
+Church is a missionary institution, that is my idea. Unless you are
+really bringing in the perishing and saving souls, what is the good?
+and souls will never be saved by Easter decorations. I don't know what
+my nephew may have done to offend you, Mr Morgan; but it is very sad
+to us, who have very strong convictions on the subject, to see him
+wasting his time so. I daresay there is plenty of heathenism in
+Carlingford which might be attacked in the first place."
+
+"I prefer not to discuss the subject," said the Rector. "So long as Mr
+Wentworth, or any other clergyman, keeps to his own sphere of duty, I
+should be the last in the world to interfere with him."
+
+"You are offended with Frank," said Miss Leonora, fixing her iron-grey
+eyes upon Mr Morgan. "So am I; but I should be glad if you would tell
+me all about it. I have particular reasons for wishing to know. After
+all, he is only a young man," she continued, with that instinct of
+kindred which dislikes to hear censure from any lips but its own. "I
+don't think there can be anything more than inadvertence in it. I
+should be glad if you would tell me what you object to in him. I think
+it is probable that he may remain a long time in Carlingford," said
+Miss Leonora, with charming candour, "and it would be pleasant if we
+could help to set him right. Your advice and experience might be of so
+much use to him." She was not aware of the covert sarcasm of her
+speech. She did not know that the Rector's actual experience, though
+he was half as old again as her nephew, bore no comparison to that of
+the Perpetual Curate. She spoke in good faith and good nature, not
+moved in her own convictions of what must be done in respect to
+Skelmersdale, but very willing, if that were possible, to do a good
+turn to Frank.
+
+"I am sure, dear, what we have seen of Mr Wentworth in private, we
+have liked very much," said the Rector's sensible wife, with a
+deprecating glance towards her husband. The Rector took no notice of
+the glance; he grew slightly red in his serious middle-aged face, and
+cleared his throat several times before he began to speak.
+
+"The fact is, I have reason to be dissatisfied with Mr Wentworth, as
+regards my own parish," said Mr Morgan: "personally I have nothing to
+say against him--quite the reverse; probably, as you say, it arises
+from inadvertence, as he is still a very young man; but--"
+
+"What has he done?" said Miss Leonora, pricking up her ears.
+
+Once more Mr Morgan cleared his throat, but this time it was to keep
+down the rising anger of which he was unpleasantly sensible. "I don't
+generally enter into such matters with people whom they don't concern,"
+he said, with a touch of his natural asperity; "but as you are Mr
+Wentworth's relation--. He has taken a step perfectly unjustifiable in
+every respect; he has at the present moment a mission going on in my
+parish, in entire independence, I will not say defiance, of me. My
+dear, it is unnecessary to look at me so deprecatingly. I am indignant
+at having such a liberty taken with me. I don't pretend not to be
+indignant. Mr Wentworth is a very young man, and may not know any
+better; but it is the most unwarrantable intrusion upon a clergyman's
+rights. I beg your pardon, Miss Wentworth: you have nothing to do with
+my grievances; but the fact is, my wife and I were discussing this very
+unpleasant matter when you came in."
+
+"A mission in your parish?" said Miss Leonora, her iron-grey eyes
+lighting up with a sparkle which did not look like indignation; at
+this point it was necessary that Miss Dora should throw herself into
+the breach.
+
+"Oh, Mr Morgan, I am sure my dear Frank does not mean it!" cried the
+unlucky peacemaker; "he would not for the world do anything to wound
+anybody's feelings--it must be a mistake."
+
+"Mr Morgan would not have mentioned it if we had not just been talking
+as you came in," said the Rector's wife, by way of smoothing down his
+ruffled temper and giving him time to recover. "I feel _sure_ it is a
+mistake, and that everything will come right as soon as they can talk
+it over by themselves. The last Rector was not at all a working
+clergyman--and perhaps Mr Wentworth felt it was his duty--and now I
+daresay he forgets that it is not his own parish. It will all come
+right after a time."
+
+"But the mission is effective, I suppose, or you would not object to
+it?" said Miss Leonora, who, though a very religious woman, was not a
+peacemaker; and the Rector, whose temper was hasty, swallowed the bait.
+He entered into his grievances more fully than his wife thought
+consistent with his dignity. She sat with her eyes fixed upon the floor,
+tracing the objectionable pattern on the carpet with her foot, but too
+much vexed for the moment to think of those bouquets which were so
+severe a cross to her on ordinary occasions. Perhaps she was thinking
+secretly to herself how much better one knows a man after being married
+to him three months than after being engaged to him ten years; but the
+discovery that he was merely a man after all, with very ordinary
+defects, did not lessen her loyalty. She sat with her eyes bent upon the
+carpet, feeling a little hot and uncomfortable as her husband disclosed
+his weakness, and watching her opportunities to rush in and say a
+softening word now and then. The chances were, perhaps, on the whole,
+that the wife grew _more_ loyal, if that were possible, as she perceived
+the necessity of standing by him and backing him out. The Rector went
+very fully into the subject, being drawn out by Miss Leonora's questions,
+and betrayed an extent of information strangely opposed to the utter
+ignorance which he had displayed at Mr Wodehouse's party. He knew the
+hours of Mr Wentworth's services, and the number of people who attended,
+and even about Tom Burrows's six children who had been baptised the day
+before. Somehow Mr Morgan took this last particular as a special
+offence; it was this which had roused him beyond his usual self-control.
+Six little heathens brought into the Christian fold in his own parish
+without the permission of the Rector! It was indeed enough to try any
+clergyman's temper. Through the entire narrative Miss Dora broke in now
+and then with a little wail expressive of her general dismay and grief,
+and certainty that her dear Frank did not mean it. Mrs Morgan repeated
+apart to Miss Wentworth with a troubled brow the fact that all they had
+seen of Mr Wentworth in private they had liked very much; to which aunt
+Cecilia answered, "Quite so," with her beautiful smile; while Miss
+Leonora sat and listened, putting artful questions, and fixing the
+heated Rector with that iron-grey eye, out of which the sparkle of
+incipient light had not faded. Mr Morgan naturally said a great deal
+more than he meant to say, and after it was said he was sorry; but he
+did not show the latter sentiment except by silence and an uneasy
+rustling about the room just before the Miss Wentworths rose to go--a
+sign apparent to his wife, though to nobody else. He gave Miss Wentworth
+his arm to the door with an embarrassed courtesy. "If you are going to
+stay any time at Carlingford, I trust we shall see more of you," said Mr
+Morgan: "I ought to beg your pardon for taking up so much time with my
+affairs;" and the Rector was much taken aback when Miss Wentworth
+answered, "Thank you, that is just what I was thinking." He went back to
+his troubled wife in great perplexity. What was it that was just what
+she was thinking?--that he would see more of them, or that he had spoken
+too much of his own affairs?
+
+"You think I have been angry and made an idiot of myself," said Mr
+Morgan to his wife, who was standing looking from a safe distance
+through the curtains at the three ladies, who were holding a consultation
+with their servant out of the window of the solemn chariot provided by
+the Blue Boar, as to where they were to go next.
+
+"Nonsense, dear; but I wish you had not said quite so much about Mr
+Wentworth," said the Rector's wife, seizing, with female art, on a cause
+for her annoyance which would not wound her Welshman's _amour propre_,
+"for I rather think he is dependent on his aunts. They have the living
+of Skelmersdale, I know; and I remember now that their nephew was to
+have had it. I hope this won't turn them against him, dear," said Mrs
+Morgan, who did not care the least in the world about Skelmersdale,
+looking anxiously in her husband's face.
+
+This was the climax of the Rector's trouble. "Why did not you tell me
+that before?" he said, with conjugal injustice, and went off to his
+study with a disturbed mind, thinking that perhaps he had injured his
+own chances of getting rid of the Perpetual Curate. If Mrs Morgan had
+permitted herself to soliloquise after he was gone, the matter of her
+thoughts might have been interesting; but as neither ladies nor
+gentlemen in the nineteenth century are given to that useful medium of
+disclosing their sentiments, the veil of privacy must remain over the
+mind of the Rector's wife. She got her gardening gloves and scissors,
+and went out immediately after, and had an animated discussion with the
+gardener about the best means of clothing that bit of wall, over which
+every railway train was visible which left or entered Carlingford. That
+functionary was of opinion that when the lime-trees "growed a bit" all
+would be right: but Mrs Morgan was reluctant to await the slow processes
+of nature. She forgot her vexations about Mr Wentworth in consideration
+of the still  more palpable inconvenience of the passing train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Miss Dora Wentworth relapsed into suppressed sobbing when the three
+ladies were once more on their way. Between each little access a few
+broken words fell from the poor lady's lips. "I am sure dear Frank did
+not mean it," she said; it was all the plea his champion could find
+for him.
+
+"He did not mean what? to do his duty and save souls?" said Miss
+Leonora--"is that what he didn't mean? It looks very much as if he
+did, though--as well as he knew how."
+
+"Quite so, Leonora," said Miss Wentworth.
+
+"But he could not mean to vex the Rector," said Miss Dora--"my poor
+dear Frank: of course he meant it for the very best. I wonder you
+don't think so, Leonora--you who are so fond of missions. I told you
+what I heard him saying to the young lady--all about the sick people
+he was going to visit, and the children. He is a faithful shepherd,
+though you won't think so; and I am sure he means nothing but--"
+
+"His duty, I think," said the iron-grey sister, resolutely indifferent
+to Miss Dora's little sniffs, and turning her gaze out of the window,
+unluckily just at the moment when the carriage was passing Masters's
+shop, where some engravings were hanging of a suspiciously devotional
+character. The name over the door, and the aspect of the shop-window,
+were terribly suggestive, and the fine profile of the Perpetual Curate
+was just visible within to the keen eyes of his aunt. Miss Dora, for
+her part, dried hers, and, beginning to see some daylight, addressed
+herself anxiously to the task of obscuring it, and damaging once more
+her favourite's chance.
+
+"Ah, Leonora, if he had but a sphere of his own," cried Miss Dora,
+"where he would have other things to think of than the rubric, and
+decorations, and sisterhoods! I don't wish any harm to poor dear old
+Mr Shirley, I am sure; but when Frank is in the Rectory--"
+
+"I thought you understood that Frank would not do for the Rectory,"
+said Miss Leonora. "Sisterhoods!--look here, there's a young lady in a
+grey cloak, and I think she's going into _that_ shop: if Frank carries
+on that sort of thing, I shall think him a greater fool than ever. Who
+is that girl?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, dear," said Miss Dora, with unexpected wisdom.
+And she comforted her conscience that she did not know, for she had
+forgotten Lucy's name. So there was no tangible evidence to confirm
+Miss Leonora's doubts, and the carriage from the Blue Boar rattled
+down Prickett's Lane to the much amazement of that locality. When they
+got to the grimy canal-banks, Miss Leonora stopped the vehicle and got
+out. She declined the attendance of her trembling sister, and marched
+along the black pavement, dispersing with the great waves of her
+drapery the wondering children about, who swarmed as children will
+swarm in such localities. Arrived at the schoolroom, Miss Leonora
+found sundry written notices hung up in a little wooden frame inside
+the open door. All sorts of charitable businesses were carried on
+about the basement of the house; and a curt little notice about the
+Provident Society diversified the list of services which was hung up
+for the advantage of the ignorant. Clearly the Curate of St Roque's
+meant it. "As well as he knows how," his aunt allowed to herself, with
+a softening sentiment; but, pushing her inquiries further, was shown
+up to the schoolroom, and stood pondering by the side of the
+reading-desk, looking at the table which was contrived to be so like
+an altar. The Curate, who could not have dreamed of such a visit, and
+whose mind had been much occupied and indifferent to externals on the
+day before, had left various things lying about, which were carefully
+collected for him upon a bench. Among them was a little pocket copy of
+Thomas a Kempis, from which, when the jealous aunt opened it, certain
+little German prints, such as were to be had by the score at Masters's,
+dropped out, some of them unobjectionable enough. But if the Good
+Shepherd could not be found fault with, the feelings of Miss Leonora may
+be imagined when the meek face of a monkish saint, inscribed with some
+villanous Latin inscription, a legend which began with the terrible
+words _Ora pro nobis_, became suddenly visible to her troubled eyes. She
+put away the book as if it had stung her, and made a precipitate
+retreat. She shook her head as she descended the stair--she re-entered
+the carriage in gloomy silence. When it returned up Prickett's Lane, the
+three ladies again saw their nephew, this time entering the door of No.
+10. He had his prayer-book under his arm, and Miss Leonora seized upon
+this professional symbol to wreak her wrath upon it. "I wonder if he
+can't pray by a sick woman without his prayer-book?" she cried. "I never
+was so provoked in my life. How is it he doesn't know better? His father
+is not pious, but he isn't a Puseyite, and old uncle Wentworth was very
+sound--he was brought up under the pure Gospel. How is that the boys are
+so foolish, Dora?" said Miss Leonora, sharply; "it must be your doing.
+You have told them tales and things, and put true piety out of their
+head."
+
+"My doing!" said Miss Dora, faintly; but she was too much startled by
+the suddenness of the attack to make any coherent remonstrance. Miss
+Leonora tossed back her angry head, and pursued that inspiration,
+finding it a relief in her perplexity.
+
+"It must be _all_ your doing," she said. "How can I tell that you are
+not a Jesuit in disguise? one has read of such a thing. The boys were
+as good, nice, pious boys as one could wish to see; and there's Gerald
+on the point of perversion, and Frank--I tell you, Dora, it must be
+your fault."
+
+"That was always my opinion," said Miss Cecilia; and the accused,
+after a feeble attempt at speech, could find nothing better to do than
+to drop her veil once more and cry under it. It was very hard, but she
+was not quite unaccustomed to it. However, the discoveries of the day
+were important enough to prevent the immediate departure which Miss
+Leonora had intended. She wrote a note with her own hands to her
+nephew, asking him to dinner. "We meant to have gone away to-day, but
+should like to see you first," she said in her note. "Come and
+dine--we mayn't have anything pleasant to say, but I don't suppose you
+expect that. It's a pity we don't see eye to eye." Such was the
+intimation received by Mr Wentworth when he got home, very tired, in
+the afternoon. He had been asking himself whether, under the
+circumstances, it would not be proper of him to return some books of
+Mr Wodehouse's which he had in his possession, of course by way of
+breaking off his too familiar, too frequent intercourse. He had been
+representing to himself that he would make this call after their
+dinner would be over, at the hour when Mr Wodehouse reposed in his
+easy-chair, and the two sisters were generally to be found alone in
+the drawing-room. Perhaps he might have an opportunity of intimating
+the partial farewell he meant to take of them. When he got Miss
+Leonora's note, the Curate's countenance clouded over. He said,
+"Another night lost," with indignant candour. It was hard enough to
+give up his worldly prospects, but he thought he had made up his mind
+to that. However, refusal was impossible. It was still daylight when
+he went up Grange Lane to the Blue Boar. He was early, and went
+languidly along the well-known road. Nobody was about at that hour. In
+those closed, embowered houses, people were preparing for dinner, the
+great event of the day, and Mr Wentworth was aware of that. Perhaps he
+had expected to see somebody--Mr Wodehouse going home, most likely, in
+order that he might mention his own engagement, and account for his
+failure in the chance evening call which had become so much a part of
+his life. But no one appeared to bear his message. He went lingering
+past the green door, and up the silent deserted road. At the end of
+Grange Lane, just in the little unsettled transition interval which
+interposed between its aristocratic calm and the bustle of George
+Street, on the side next Prickett's Lane, was a quaint little shop,
+into which Mr Wentworth strayed to occupy the time. This was
+Elsworthy's, who, as is well known, was then clerk at St Roque's.
+Elsworthy himself was in his shop that Easter Monday, and so was his
+wife and little Rosa, who was a little beauty. Rosa and her aunt had
+just returned from an excursion, and a prettier little apparition
+could not be seen than that dimpled rosy creature, with her radiant
+half-childish looks, her bright eyes, and soft curls of dark-brown
+hair. Even Mr Wentworth gave a second glance at her as he dropped
+languidly into a chair, and asked Elsworthy if there was any news. Mrs
+Elsworthy, who had been telling the adventures of the holiday to her
+goodman, gathered up her basket of eggs and her nosegay, and made the
+clergyman a little curtsy as she hurried away; for the clerk's wife
+was a highly respectable woman, and knew her own place. But Rosa, who
+was only a kind of kitten, and had privileges, stayed. Mr Wentworth
+was by far the most magnificent figure she had ever seen in her little
+life. She looked at him with awe out of her bright eyes, and thought
+he looked like the prince in the fairy tales.
+
+"Any news, sir? There aint much to call news, sir--not in a place like
+this," said Mr Elsworthy. "Your respected aunts, sir, 'as been down at
+the schoolroom. I haven't heard anything else as I could suppose you
+didn't know."
+
+"My aunts!" cried the Curate; "how do you know anything about my
+aunts?" Mr Elsworthy smiled a complacent and familiar smile.
+
+"There's so many a-coming and a-going here that I know most persons as
+comes into Carlingford," said he; "and them three respected ladies is
+as good as a pictur. I saw them a-driving past and down Prickett's
+Lane. They was as anxious to know all about it as--as was to be
+expected in the circumstances," said Mr Elsworthy, failing of a
+metaphor; "and I wish you your 'ealth and 'appiness, sir, if all as I
+hear is true."
+
+"It's a good wish," said the Curate; "thank you, Elsworthy; but what
+you heard might not be true."
+
+"Well, sir, it looks more than likely," said the clerk; "as far as
+I've seen in my experience, ladies don't go inquiring into a young
+gentleman's ways, not without some reason. If they was young ladies, and
+noways related, we know what we'd think, sir; but being old ladies, and
+aunts, it's equally as clear. For my part, Mr Wentworth, my worst wish
+is, that when you come into your fortune, it mayn't lead you away from
+St Roque's--not after everything is settled so beautiful, and not a
+thing wanted but some stained glass, as I hear a deal of people say, to
+make it as perfect a little church--"
+
+"Yes, it is very true; a painted window is very much wanted," said Mr
+Wentworth, thoughtfully.
+
+"Perhaps there's one o' the ladies, sir, as has some friend she'd like
+to put up a memorial to," said Mr Elsworthy, in insinuating tones. "A
+window is a deal cheerfuller a memorial than a tombstone, and it
+couldn't be described the improvement it would be to the church. I'm
+sorry to hear Mr Wodehouse aint quite so well as his usual to-night; a
+useful man like he is, would be a terrible loss to Carlingford; not as
+it's anything alarming, as far as I can hear, but being a stout man,
+it aint a safe thing his being took so sudden. I've heard the old
+doctor say, sir, as a man of a full 'abit might be took off at once,
+when a spare man would fight through. It would be a sad thing for his
+family, sir," said Mr Elsworthy, tying up a bundle of newspapers with
+a very serious face.
+
+"Good heavens, Elsworthy, how you talk!" said the alarmed Curate. "What
+do you mean?--is Mr Wodehouse ill?--seriously ill?"
+
+"Not serious, as I knows of," said the clerk, with solemnity; "but
+being a man of a full 'abit of body--I daresay as the town would enter
+into it by subscription if it was proposed as a memorial to _him_, for
+he's much respected in Carlingford is Mr Wodehouse. I see him a-going
+past, sir, at five o'clock, which is an hour earlier than common, and
+he was looking flabby, that's how he was looking. I don't know a man
+as would be a greater loss to his family; and they aint been without
+their troubles either, poor souls."
+
+"I should be sorry to think that it was necessary to sacrifice Mr
+Wodehouse for the sake of our painted window," said the Curate, "as
+that seems what you mean. Send over this note for me please, as I have
+not time to call. No, certainly, don't send Rosa; that child is too
+young and too--too pretty to be out by herself at night. Send a boy.
+Haven't you got a boy?--there is a very nice little fellow that I
+could recommend to you," said Mr Wentworth, as he hastily scribbled
+his note with a pencil, "whose mother lives in Prickett's Lane."
+
+"Thank _you_, sir, all the same; but I hope I don't need to go into
+that neighbourhood for good service," said Mr Elsworthy: "as for Rosa,
+I could trust her anywhere; and I have a boy, sir, as is the best boy
+that ever lived--a real English boy, that is. Sam, take this to Mr
+Wodehouse's directly, and wait for an answer. No answer?--very well,
+sir. You needn't wait for no answer, Sam. That's a boy, sir, I could
+trust with untold gold. His mother's a Dissenter, it is true, but the
+principles of that boy is beautiful. I hope you haven't mentioned,
+sir, as I said Mr Wodehouse was took bad? It was between ourselves, Mr
+Wentworth. Persons don't like, especially when they've got to that
+age, and are of a full 'abit of body, to have every little attack made
+a talk about. You'll excuse me mentioning it, sir, but it was as
+between ourselves."
+
+"Perhaps you'd like me to show you my note," said the Curate, with a
+smile; which, indeed, Elsworthy would have very much liked, could he
+have ventured to say so. Mr Wentworth was but too glad of an excuse to
+write and explain his absence. The note was not to Lucy, however,
+though various little epistles full of the business of the district
+had passed between the two:--
+
+
+ "DEAR MISS W.,--I hear your father is not quite well. I can't call
+ just now, as I am going to dine with my aunts, who are at the Blue
+ Boar; but, if you will pardon the lateness of the hour, I will call as
+ I return to ask for him.--Ever yours,
+
+ "F. C. WENTWORTH."
+
+
+Such was the Curate's note. While he scribbled it, little Rosa stood
+apart watching him with admiring eyes. He had said she was too pretty
+to be sent across Grange Lane by herself at this hour, though it was
+still no more than twilight; and he looked up at her for an instant as
+he said the words,--quite enough to set Rosa's poor little heart
+beating with childish romantical excitement. If she could but have
+peeped into the note to see what he said!--for perhaps, after all,
+there might not be anything "between" him and Miss Lucy--and perhaps--
+The poor little thing stood watching, deaf to her aunt's call, looking
+at the strange ease with which that small epistle was written, and
+thinking it half divine to have such mastery of words and pen. Mr
+Wentworth threw it to Sam as if it were a trifle; but Rosa's lively
+imagination could already conceive the possibility of living upon such
+trifles and making existence out of them; so the child stood with her
+pretty curls about her ears, and her bright eyes gleaming dewy over
+the fair, flushed, rosebud cheeks, in a flutter of roused and innocent
+imagination anticipating her fate. As for Mr Wentworth, it is doubtful
+whether he saw Rosa, as he swung himself round upon the stool he was
+seated on, and turned his face towards the door. Somehow he was
+comforted in his mind by the conviction that it was his duty to call
+at Mr Wodehouse's as he came back. The evening brightened up and
+looked less dismal. The illness of the respected father of the house
+did not oppress the young man. He thought not of the sick-room, but of
+the low chair in one corner, beside the work-table where Lucy had
+always basketfuls of sewing in hand. He could fancy he saw the work
+drop on her knee, and the blue eyes raised. It was a pretty picture
+that he framed for himself as he looked out with a half smile into the
+blue twilight through the open door of Elsworthy's shop. And it was
+clearly his duty to call. He grew almost jocular in the exhilaration
+of his spirits.
+
+"The Miss Wentworths don't approve of memorial windows, Elsworthy," he
+said; "and, indeed, if you think it necessary to cut off one of the
+chief people in Carlingford by way of supplying St Roque's with a
+little painted glass--"
+
+"No, sir--no, no, sir; you're too hard upon me--there wasn't no such
+meaning in my mind; but I don't make no question the ladies were
+pleased with the church," said Elsworthy, with the satisfaction of a
+man who had helped to produce an entirely triumphant effect. "I don't
+pretend to be a judge myself of what you call 'igh art, Mr Wentworth;
+but if I might venture an opinion, the altar was beautiful; and we
+won't say nothing about the service, considering, sir--if you won't be
+offended at putting them together, as one is so far inferior--that
+both you and me--"
+
+Mr Wentworth laughed and moved off his chair. "We were not appreciated
+in this instance," he said, with an odd comic look, and then went off
+into a burst of laughter, which Mr Elsworthy saw no particular
+occasion for. Then he took up his glove, which he had taken off to
+write the note, and, nodding a kindly good-night to little Rosa, who
+stood gazing after him with all her eyes, went away to the Blue Boar.
+The idea, however, of his own joint performance with Mr Elsworthy not
+only tickled the Curate, but gave him a half-ashamed sense of the
+aspect in which he might himself appear to the eyes of matter-of-fact
+people who differed with him. The joke had a slight sting, which
+brought his laughter to an end. He went up through the lighted street
+to the inn, wishing the dinner over, and himself on his way back again
+to call at Mr Wodehouse's. For, to tell the truth, by this time he had
+almost exhausted Skelmersdale, and, feeling in himself not much
+different now from what he was when his hopes were still green, had
+begun to look upon life itself with a less troubled eye, and to
+believe in other chances which might make Lucy's society practicable
+once more. It was in this altered state of mind that he presented
+himself before his aunts. He was less self-conscious, less watchful,
+more ready to amuse them, if that might happen to be possible, and in
+reality much more able to cope with Miss Leonora than when he had been
+more anxious about her opinion. He had not been two minutes in the
+room before all the three ladies perceived this revolution, and each
+in her own mind attempted to account for it. They were experienced
+women in their way, and found a variety of reasons; but as none of
+them were young, and as people _will_ forget how youth feels, not one
+of them divined the fact that there was no reason, but that this
+improvement of spirits arose solely from the fact that the Perpetual
+Curate had been for two whole days miserable about Skelmersdale, and
+had exhausted all his powers of misery--and that now youth had turned
+the tables, and he was still to see Lucy tonight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+"Your Rector is angry at some of your proceedings," said Miss Leonora.
+"I did not think a man of your views would have cared for missionary
+work. I should have supposed that you would think that vulgar, and
+Low-Church, and Evangelical. Indeed, I thought I heard you say you
+didn't believe in preaching, Frank?--neither do I, when a man preaches
+the Tracts for the Times. I was surprised to hear what you were doing
+at the place they call Wharfside."
+
+"First let me correct you in two little inaccuracies," said Mr Wentworth,
+blandly, as he peeled his orange. "The Rector of Carlingford is not _my_
+rector, and I don't preach the Tracts for the Times. Let us always be
+particular, my dear aunt, as to points of fact."
+
+"Exactly so," said Miss Leonora, grimly; "but, at the same time, as
+there seems no great likelihood of your leaving Carlingford, don't you
+think it would be wise to cultivate friendly relations with the Rector?"
+said the iron-grey inexorable aunt, looking full in his eyes as she
+spoke. So significant and plain a statement took for an instant the
+colour out of the Curate's cheeks--he pared his orange very carefully
+while he regained his composure, and it was at least half a minute
+before he found himself at leisure to reply. Miss Dora of course seized
+upon the opportunity, and, by way of softening matters, interposed in
+her unlucky person to make peace.
+
+"But, my dear boy, I said I was sure you did not mean it," said Miss
+Dora; "I told Mr Morgan I felt convinced it could be explained. Nobody
+knows you so well as I do. You were always high-spirited from a child,
+and never would give in; but I know very well you never could mean it,
+Frank."
+
+"Mean it?" said the Curate, with sparkling eyes: "what do you take me
+for, aunt Dora? Do you know what it is we are talking of? The question
+is, whether a whole lot of people, fathers and children, shall be left
+to live like beasts, without reverence for God or man, or shall be
+brought within the pale of the Church, and taught their duty? And you
+think I don't mean it? I mean it as much as my brother Charley meant it
+at the Redan," said young Wentworth, with a glow of suppressed enthusiasm,
+and that natural pride in Charley (who got the Cross for valour) which
+was common to all the Wentworths. But when he saw his aunt Leonora
+looking at him, the Perpetual Curate stood to his arms again. "I have
+still to learn that the Rector has anything to do with it," said the
+young Evangelist of Wharfside.
+
+"It is in his parish, and he thinks he has," said Miss Leonora. "I wish
+you could see your duty more clearly, Frank. You seem to me, you know,
+to have a kind of zeal, but not according to knowledge. If you were
+carrying the real Gospel to the poor people, I shouldn't be disposed to
+blame you; for the limits of a parish are but poor things to pause for
+when souls are perishing; but to break the law for the sake of diffusing
+the rubric and propagating Tractarianism--"
+
+"Oh, Leonora, how can you be so harsh and cruel?" cried Miss Dora;
+"only think what you are doing. I don't say anything about
+disappointing Frank, and perhaps injuring his prospects for life; for,
+to be sure, he is a true Wentworth, and won't acknowledge that; but
+think of my poor dear brother, with so many sons as he has to provide
+for, and so much on his mind; and think of ourselves and all that we
+have planned so often. Only think what you have talked of over and
+over; how nice it would be when he was old enough to take the Rectory,
+and marry Julia Trench--"
+
+"Aunt Dora," said the Curate, rising from the table. "I shall have to
+go away if you make such appeals on my behalf. And besides, it is only
+right to tell you that, whatever my circumstances were, I never could
+nor would marry Julia Trench. It is cruel and unjust to bring in her
+name. Don't let us hear any more of this, if you have any regard for
+me."
+
+"Quite so, Frank," said Miss Wentworth; "that is exactly what I was
+thinking." Miss Cecilia was not in the habit of making demonstrations,
+but she put out her delicate old hand to point her nephew to his seat
+again, and gave a soft slight pressure to his as she touched it. Old
+Miss Wentworth was a kind of dumb lovely idol to her nephews; she
+rarely said anything to them, but they worshipped her all the same for
+her beauty and those languid tendernesses which she showed them once
+in ten years or so. The Perpetual Curate was much touched by this
+manifestation. He kissed his old aunt's beautiful hand as reverently
+as if it had been a saint's. "I knew you would understand me," he
+said, looking gratefully at her lovely old face; which exclamation,
+however, was a simple utterance of gratitude, and would not have borne
+investigation. When he had resumed his seat and his orange, Miss
+Leonora cleared her throat for a grand address.
+
+"Frank might as well tell us he would not have Skelmersdale," she
+said. "Julia Trench has quite other prospects, I am glad to say,
+though Dora talks like a fool on this subject as well as on many
+others. Mr Shirley is not dead yet, and I don't think he means to die,
+for my part; and Julia would never leave her uncle. Besides, I don't
+think any inducement in the world would make her disguise herself like
+a Sister of Mercy. I hope she knows better. And it is a pity that
+Frank should learn to think of Skelmersdale as if it were a family
+living," continued Miss Leonora. "For my part, I think people
+detached from immediate ties as we are, are under all the greater
+responsibility. But as you are likely to stay in Carlingford, Frank,
+perhaps we could help you with the Rector," she concluded blandly, as
+she ate her biscuit. The Curate, who was also a Wentworth, had quite
+recovered himself ere this speech was over, and proved himself equal
+to the occasion.
+
+"If the Rector objects to what I am doing, I daresay he will tell me
+of it," said Mr Wentworth, with indescribable suavity. "I had the
+consent of the two former rectors to my mission in their parish, and I
+don't mean to give up such a work without a cause. But I am equally
+obliged to you, my dear aunt, and I hope Mr Shirley will live for ever.
+How long are you going to stay in Carlingford? Some of the people would
+like to call on you, if you remain longer. There are some great friends
+of mine here; and as I have every prospect of being perpetually the
+Curate, as you kindly observe, perhaps it might be good for me if I
+was seen to have such unexceptionable relationships--"
+
+"Satire is lost upon me," said Miss Leonora, "and we are going
+to-morrow. Here comes the coffee. I did not think it had been so late.
+We shall leave by an early train, and you can come and see us off, if
+you have time."
+
+"I shall certainly find time," said the nephew, with equal politeness;
+"and now you will permit me to say good-night, for I have a--one of my
+sick people to visit. I heard he was ill only as I came here, and had
+not time to call," added the Curate, with unnecessary explanitoriness,
+and took leave of his aunt Cecilia, who softly put something into his
+hand as she bade him good-night. Miss Dora, for her part, went with
+him to the door, and lingered leaning on his arm, down the long
+passage, all unaware, poor lady, that his heart was beating with
+impatience to get away, and that the disappointment for which she
+wanted to console him had at the present moment not the slightest real
+hold upon his perverse heart. "Oh, my dear boy, I hope you don't think
+it's my fault," said Miss Dora, with tears. "It must have come to
+this, dear, sooner or later: you see, poor Leonora has such a sense of
+responsibility; but it is very hard upon us, Frank, who love you so
+much, that she should always take her own way."
+
+"Then why don't you rebel?" said the Curate, who, in the thought of
+seeing Lucy, was exhilarated, and dared to jest even upon the awful
+power of his aunt. "You are two against one; why don't you take it
+into your own hands and rebel?"
+
+Miss Dora repeated the words with an alarmed quiver. "Rebel! oh,
+Frank, dear, do you think we could? To be sure, we are co-heiresses,
+and have just as good a right as she has; and for your sake, my dear
+boy," said the troubled woman, "oh, Frank, I wish you would tell me
+what to do! I never should dare to contradict Leonora with no one to
+stand by me; and then, if anything happened, you would all think I had
+been to blame," said poor aunt Dora, clinging to his arm. She made him
+walk back and back again through the long passage, which was sacred to
+the chief suite of apartments at the Blue Boar. "We have it all to
+ourselves, and nobody can see us here; and oh, my dear boy, if you
+would only tell me what I ought to do?" she repeated, with wistful
+looks of appeal. Mr Wentworth was too good-hearted to show the
+impatience with which he was struggling. He satisfied her as well as
+he could, and said good-night half-a-dozen times. When he made his
+escape at last, and emerged into the clear blue air of the spring
+night, the Perpetual Curate had no such sense of disappointment and
+failure in his mind as the three ladies supposed. Miss Leonora's
+distinct intimation that Skelmersdale had passed out of the region of
+probabilities, had indeed tingled through him at the moment it was
+uttered; but just now he was going to see Lucy, anticipating with
+impatience the moment of coming into her presence, and nothing in the
+world could have dismayed him utterly. He went down the road very
+rapidly, glad to find that it was still so early, that the shopkeepers
+in George Street were but just putting up their shutters, and that
+there was still time for an hour's talk in that bright drawing-room.
+Little Rosa was standing at the door of Elsworthy's shop, looking out
+into the dark street as he passed; and he said, "A lovely night,
+Rosa," as he went by. But the night was nothing particular in itself,
+only lovely to Mr Wentworth, as embellished with Lucy shining over it,
+like a distant star. Perhaps he had never in his life felt so glad
+that he was going to see her, so eager for her presence, as that night
+which was the beginning of the time when it would be no longer lawful
+for him to indulge in her society. He heaved a big sigh as that
+thought occurred to him, but it did not diminish the flush of
+conscious happiness; and in this mood he went down Grange Lane, with
+light resounding steps, to Mr Wodehouse's door.
+
+But Mr Wentworth started with a very strange sensation when the door
+was stealthily, noiselessly opened to him before he could ring. He
+could not see who it was that called him in the darkness; but he felt
+that he had been watched for, and that the door was thrown open very
+hurriedly to prevent him from making his usual summons at the bell.
+Such an incident was incomprehensible. He went into the dark garden
+like a man in a dream, with a horrible vision of Archimage and the
+false Una somehow stealing upon his mind, he could not tell how. It
+was quite dark inside, for the moon was late of rising that night, and
+the faint stars threw no effectual lustre down upon the trees. He had
+to grope before him to know where he was going, asking in a troubled
+voice, "Who is there? What is the matter?" and falling into more and
+more profound bewilderment and uneasiness.
+
+"Hush, hush, oh hush!--Oh, Mr Wentworth, it is I--I want to speak to
+you," said an agitated voice beside him. "Come this way--this way; I
+don't want any one to hear us." It was Miss Wodehouse who thus pitifully
+addressed the amazed Curate. She laid a tremulous hand on his arm, and
+drew him deeper into the shadows--into that walk where the limes and
+tall lilac-bushes grew so thickly. Here she came to a pause, and the
+sound of the terrified panting breath in the silence alarmed him more
+and more.
+
+"Is Mr Wodehouse ill? What has happened?" said the astonished young
+man. The windows of the house were gleaming hospitably over the dark
+garden, without any appearance of gloom--the drawing-room windows
+especially, which he knew so well, brightly lighted, one of them open,
+and the sound of the piano and Lucy's voice stealing out like a
+celestial reality into the darkness. By the time he had become fully
+sensible of all these particulars his agitated companion had found her
+breath.
+
+"Mr Wentworth, don't think me mad," said Miss Wodehouse; "I have come
+out to speak to you, for I am in great distress. I don't know what to
+do unless you will help me. Oh no, don't look at the house--nobody
+knows in the house; I would die rather than have them know. Hush,
+hush! don't make any noise. Is that some one looking out at the door?"
+
+And just then the door was opened, and Mr Wodehouse's sole male
+servant looked out, and round the garden, as if he had heard something
+to excite his curiosity or surprise. Miss Wodehouse grasped the arm of
+the Perpetual Curate, and held him with an energy which was almost
+violence. "Hush, hush, hush," she said, with her voice almost at his
+ear. The excitement of this mild woman, the perfectly inexplicable
+mystery of the meeting, overwhelmed young Wentworth. He could think of
+nothing less than that she had lost her senses, and in his turn he
+took her hands and held her fast.
+
+"What is the matter? I cannot tell you how anxious, how distressed I
+am. What has happened?" said the young man, under his breath.
+
+"My father has some suspicion," she answered, after a pause--"he came
+home early to-day looking ill. You heard of it, Mr Wentworth--it was
+your note that decided me. Oh, heaven help us! it is so hard to know
+what to do. I have never been used to act for myself, and I feel as
+helpless as a baby. The only comfort I have was that it happened on
+Easter Sunday," said the poor gentlewoman, incoherently; "and oh! if
+it should prove a rising from the dead! If you saw me, Mr Wentworth,
+you would see I look ten years older; and I can't tell you how it is,
+but I think my father has suspicions;--he looked so ill--oh, so
+ill--when he came home to-night. Hush! hush! did you hear anything? I
+daren't tell Lucy; not that I couldn't trust her, but it is cruel when
+a young creature is happy, to let her know such miseries. Oh, Mr
+Wentworth, I daresay I am not telling you what it is, after all. I
+don't know what I am saying--wait till I can think. It was on Easter
+Sunday, after we came home from Wharfside; you remember we all came
+home together, and both Lucy and you were so quiet. I could not
+understand how it was you were so quiet, but I was not thinking of any
+trouble--and then all at once there he was."
+
+"Who?" said the Curate, forgetting caution in his bewilderment.
+
+Once more the door opened, and John appeared on the steps, this time
+with a lantern and the watch-dog, a great brown mastiff, by his side,
+evidently with the intention of searching the garden for the owners of
+those furtive voices. Mr Wentworth drew the arm of his trembling
+companion within his own. "I don't know what you want of me, but
+whatever it is, trust to me like--like a brother," he said, with a sigh.
+"But now compose yourself; we must go into the house: it will not do for
+you to be found here." He led her up the gravel-walk into the light of
+the lantern, which the vigilant guardian of the house was flashing among
+the bushes as he set out upon his rounds. John fell back amazed but
+respectful when he saw his mistress and the familiar visitor. "Beg your
+pardon, ma'am, but I knew there was voices, and I didn't know as any of
+the family was in the garden," said the man, discomfited. It was all Mr
+Wentworth could do to hold up the trembling figure by his side. As John
+retreated, she gathered a little fortitude. Perhaps it was easier for
+her to tell her hurried tremulous story, as he guided _her_ back to the
+house, than it would have been in uninterrupted leisure and quiet. The
+family tragedy fell in broken sentences from her lips, as the Curate
+bent down his astonished ear to listen. He was totally unprepared for
+the secret which only her helplessness and weakness and anxiety to serve
+her father could have drawn from Miss Wodehouse's lips; and it had to be
+told so hurriedly that Mr Wentworth scarcely knew what it was, except a
+terrible unsuspected shadow overhanging the powerful house, until he had
+time to think it all over. There was no such time at this moment. His
+trembling companion left him as soon as they reached the house, to
+"compose herself," as she said. When he saw her face in the light of the
+hall lamp it was ghastly, and quivering with agitation, looking not ten
+years, as she said, but a hundred years older than when, in the sweet
+precision of her Sunday dress and looks, old Miss Wodehouse had bidden
+him good-bye at the green door. He went up to the drawing-room,
+notwithstanding, with as calm a countenance as he himself could collect,
+to pay the visit which, in this few minutes, had so entirely changed in
+character. Mr Wentworth felt as if he saw everything exactly as he had
+pictured it to himself half an hour ago. Lucy, who had left the piano,
+was seated in her low chair again, not working, but talking to Mr
+Wodehouse, who lay on the sofa, looking a trifle less rosy than usual,
+like a man who had had a fright, or been startled by some possible
+shadow of a ghost. To walk into the room, into the bright household
+glow, and smile and shake hands with them, feeling all the time that he
+knew more about them than they themselves did, was the strangest
+sensation to the young man. He asked how Mr Wodehouse did, with a voice
+which, to himself, sounded hollow and unnatural, and sat down beside the
+invalid, almost turning his back upon Lucy in his bewilderment. It was
+indeed with a great effort that Mr Wentworth mastered himself, and was
+able to listen to what his companion said.
+
+"We are all right," said Mr Wodehouse--"a trifle of a headache or
+so--nothing to make a talk about; but Molly has forsaken us, and we
+were just about getting bored with each other, Lucy and I; a third
+person was all we wanted to make us happy--eh? Well I thought you
+looked at the door very often--perhaps I was mistaken--but I could
+have sworn you were listening and looking for somebody. No wonder
+either--I don't think so. I should have done just the same at your
+age."
+
+"Indeed, papa, you are quite mistaken," said Lucy. "I suppose that means
+that I cannot amuse you by myself, though I have been trying all the
+evening. Perhaps Mr Wentworth will be more fortunate." And, either for
+shame of being supposed to look for him, or in a little innocent pique,
+she moved away from where she was sitting, and rang for tea, and left
+the two gentlemen to talk to each other. That is to say, Mr Wodehouse
+talked, and the Perpetual Curate sat looking vaguely at the fair figure
+which flitted about the room, and wondering if he were awake, or the
+world still in its usual place. After a while Miss Wodehouse came in,
+very tremulous and pale, and dropped into the first chair she could
+find, and pretended to occupy herself over her knitting. She had a
+headache, Lucy said; and Mr Wentworth sat watching while the younger
+sister tended the elder, bringing her tea, kissing her, persuading her
+to go and lie down, taking all kinds of affectionate trouble to cheer
+the pale woman, who looked over Lucy's fair head with eyes full of
+meaning to the bewildered visitor, who was the only one there who
+understood what her trouble meant. When he got up to go away, she wrung
+his hand with a pitiful gaze which went to his heart. "Let me know!" she
+said in a whisper; and, not satisfied still, went to the door with him,
+and lingered upon the stair, following slowly. "Oh, Mr Wentworth! be
+sure you let me know," she repeated, again looking wistfully after him
+as he disappeared into the dark garden, going out. The stars were still
+shining, the spring dews lying sweet upon the plants and turf. It was a
+lovelier night now than when Mr Wentworth had said so to little Rosa
+Elsworthy an hour ago; but mists were rising from the earth, and clouds
+creeping over the sky, to the startled imagination of the Perpetual
+Curate. He had found out by practical experiments, almost for the first
+time, that there were more things in earth and heaven than are dreamt of
+in the philosophy of youth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+It was the next morning after this when Mrs Hadwin's strange lodger
+first appeared in the astonished house. He was the strangest lodger to
+be taken into a house of such perfect respectability, a house in
+Grange Lane; and it came to be currently reported in Carlingford after
+a time, when people knew more about it, that even the servants could
+not tell when or how he arrived, but had woke up one morning to find a
+pair of boots standing outside the closed door of the green room,
+which the good old lady kept for company, with sensations which it
+would be impossible to describe. Such a pair of boots they were
+too--muddy beyond expression, with old mud which had not been brushed
+off for days--worn shapeless, and patched at the sides; the strangest
+contrast to a handsome pair of Mr Wentworth's, which he, contrary to
+his usual neat habits, had kicked off in his sitting-room, and which
+Sarah, the housemaid, had brought and set down on the landing, close
+by these mysterious and unaccountable articles. When the bell of the
+green room rang an hour or two later, Sarah and the cook, who happened
+to be standing together, jumped three yards apart and stared at each
+other; the sound gave them both "a turn." But they soon got perfectly
+well used to that bell from the green room. It rung very often in the
+day, for "the gentleman" chose to sit there more than half his time;
+and if other people were private about him, it was a great deal more
+than he was about himself. He even sent the boots to be mended, to
+Sarah's shame and confusion. For the credit of the house, the girl
+invented a story about them to calm the cobbler's suspicions. "They
+was the easiest boots the gentleman had, being troubled with tender
+feet; and he wasn't a-going to give them up because they was shabby,"
+said Sarah. He sent down his shabby clothes to be brushed, and wore Mr
+Wentworth's linen, to the indignation of the household. But he was not
+a man to be concealed in a corner. From where he sat in the green
+room, he whistled so beautifully that Mrs Hadwin's own pet canary
+paused astonished to listen, and the butcher's boy stole into the
+kitchen surreptitiously to try if he could learn the art; and while he
+whistled, he filled the tidy room with parings and cuttings of wood,
+and carved out all kinds of pretty articles with his knife. But though
+he rang his bell so often, and was so tiresome with his litter, and
+gave so much trouble, Sarah's heart, after a while, melted to "the
+gentleman." He made her a present of a needlecase, and was very
+civil-spoken--more so a great deal than the Curate of St Roque's; and
+such a subject of talk and curiosity had certainly not been in
+Carlingford for a hundred years.
+
+As for Mrs Hadwin, she never gave any explanation at all on the
+subject, but accepted the fact of a new inmate cheerfully, as if she
+knew all about it. Of course she could not ask any of her nieces to
+visit her while the green room was occupied; and as they were all
+rather large, interfering, managing women, perhaps the old lady was
+not very sorry. Mr Wentworth himself was still less explanatory. When
+Mr Wodehouse said to him, "What is this I hear about a brother of
+yours?--they tell me you've got a brother staying with you. Well,
+that's what I hear. Why don't you bring him up to dinner? Come
+to-morrow;" the Perpetual Curate calmly answered, "Thank you; but
+there's no brother of mine in Carlingford," and took no further
+notice. Naturally, however, this strange apparition was much discussed
+in Grange Lane; the servants first, and then the ladies, became
+curious about him. Sometimes, in the evenings, he might be seen coming
+out of Mrs Hadwin's garden-door--a shabby figure, walking softly in
+his patched boots. There never was light enough for any one to see
+him; but he had a great beard, and smoked a short little pipe, and had
+evidently no regard for appearances. It was a kind of thing which few
+people approved of. Mrs Hadwin ought not to permit it, some ladies
+said; and a still greater number were of the opinion that, rather than
+endure so strange a fellow-lodger, the Curate ought to withdraw, and
+find fresh lodgings. This was before the time when the public began to
+associate the stranger in a disagreeable way with Mr Wentworth. Before
+they came to that, the people in Grange Lane bethought themselves of
+all Mrs Hadwin's connections, to find out if there might not be some
+of them under hiding; and, of course, that excellent woman had a
+nephew or two whose conduct was not perfect; and then it came to
+be reported that it was Mr Wentworth's brother--that it was an
+unfortunate college chum of his--that it was somebody who had
+speculated, and whom the Curate had gone shares with: but, in the mean
+time, no real information could be obtained about this mysterious
+stranger. The butcher's boy, whose senses were quickened by mingled
+admiration and envy, heard him whistling all day long, sometimes
+hidden among the trees in the garden, sometimes from the open window
+of the green room, where, indeed, Lady Western's page was ready to
+take his oath he had once seen the audacious unknown leaning out in
+the twilight, smoking a pipe. But no trap of conversation, however
+ingenious--and many traps were laid for Mr Wentworth--ever elicited
+from the Perpetual Curate any acknowledgment of the other lodger's
+existence. The young Anglican opened his fine eyes a little wider than
+usual when he was asked sympathetically whether so many people in the
+house did not interfere with his quiet. "Mrs Hadwin's talk is very
+gentle," said the Curate; "she never disturbs me." And the mistress of
+the house was equally obtuse, and would not comprehend any allusion.
+The little household came to be very much talked of in Carlingford in
+consequence; and to meet that shabby figure in the evening, when one
+chanced to be out for a walk, made one's company sought after in the
+best circles of society: though the fact is, that people began to be
+remiss in calling upon Mrs Hadwin, and a great many only left their
+cards as soon as it became evident that she did not mean to give any
+explanation. To have the Curate to stay with her was possible, without
+infringing upon her position; but matters became very different when
+she showed herself willing to take "any one," even when in equivocal
+apparel and patched boots.
+
+Probably the Curate had his own troubles during this period of his
+history. He was noticed to be a little quick and short in his temper for
+some time after Easter. For one thing, his aunts did not go away; they
+stayed in the Blue Boar, and sent for him to dinner, till the Curate's
+impatience grew almost beyond bearing. It was a discipline upon which he
+had not calculated, and which exceeded the bounds of endurance,
+especially as Miss Leonora questioned him incessantly about his "work,"
+and still dangled before him, like an unattainable sweet-meat before a
+child, the comforts and advantages of Skelmersdale, where poor old Mr
+Shirley had rallied for the fiftieth time. The situation altogether was
+very tempting to Miss Leonora; she could not make up her mind to go away
+and leave such a very pretty quarrel in progress; and there can be no
+doubt that it would have been highly gratifying to her vanity as an
+Evangelical woman to have had her nephew brought to task for missionary
+work carried on in another man's parish, even though that work was not
+conducted entirely on her own principles. She lingered, accordingly,
+with a great hankering after Wharfside, to which Mr Wentworth steadily
+declined to afford her any access. She went to the afternoon service
+sometimes, it is true, but only to be afflicted in her soul by the sight
+of Miss Wodehouse and Lucy in their grey cloaks, not to speak of the
+rubric to which the Curate was so faithful. It was a trying experience
+to his Evangelical aunt; but at the same time it was a "great work;" and
+she could not give up the hope of being able one time or other to
+appropriate the credit of it, and win him over to her own "views." If
+that consummation could but be attained, everything would become simple;
+and Miss Leonora was a true Wentworth, and wanted to see her nephew in
+Skelmersdale: so it may easily be understood that, under present
+circumstances, there were great attractions for her in Carlingford.
+
+It was, accordingly, with a beating heart that Miss Dora, feeling a
+little as she might have been supposed to feel thirty years before,
+had she ever stolen forth from the well-protected enclosure of
+Skelmersdale Park to see a lover, put on her bonnet in the early
+twilight, and, escaping with difficulty the lively observations of her
+maid, went tremulously down Grange Lane to her nephew's house. She
+had never yet visited Frank, and this visit was unquestionably
+clandestine. But then the news with which her heart was beating was
+important enough to justify the step she was taking--at least so she
+whispered to herself; though whether dear Frank would be pleased, or
+whether he would still think it "my fault," poor Miss Dora could not
+make up her mind. Nothing happened in the quiet road, where there were
+scarcely any passengers, and the poor lady arrived with a trembling
+sense of escape from unknown perils at Mrs Hadwin's garden-door. For
+Miss Dora was of opinion, like some few other ladies, that to walk
+alone down the quietest of streets was to lay herself open to
+unheard-of dangers. She put out her trembling hand to ring the bell,
+thinking her perils over--for of course Frank would walk home with
+her--when the door suddenly opened, and a terrible apparition, quite
+unconscious of anybody standing there, marched straight out upon Miss
+Dora, who gave a little scream, and staggered backwards, thinking the
+worst horrors she had dreamed of were about to be realised. They were
+so close together that the terrified lady took in every detail of his
+appearance. She saw the patched boots and that shabby coat which Sarah
+the housemaid felt that she rather demeaned herself by brushing. It
+looked too small for him, as coats will do when they get shabby; and,
+to complete the alarming appearance of the man, he had no hat, but
+only a little travelling-cap surmounting the redundancy of hair,
+mustache, and beard, which were enough of themselves to strike any
+nervous woman with terror. "Oh, I beg your pardon," cried poor Miss
+Dora, hysterically; "I wanted to see Mr Wentworth;" and she stood
+trembling and panting for breath, holding by the wall, not quite sure
+that this apparition could be appeased by any amount of apologies. It
+was a great comfort to her when the monster took off its cap, and when
+she perceived, by the undulations of the beard, something like a smile
+upon its hidden lips. "I believe Mr Wentworth is at church," said the
+new lodger: "may I have the pleasure of seeing you safely across to St
+Roque's?" At which speech Miss Dora trembled more and more, and said,
+faintly, "No, thank you,"--for who could tell what the man's
+intentions might be? The result was, however, that he only put on his
+cap again, and went off like any other human creature in the other
+direction, and that slowly; with tremulous steps Miss Dora pursued her
+way to her nephew's pretty church. She could not have described, as
+she herself said, what a relief it was after all this, to take Frank's
+arm, as she met him at the door of St Roque's. He was coming out, and
+the young lady with the grey cloak had been one of the congregation;
+and, to tell the truth, Miss Dora was an unwelcome addition just then
+to the party. Lucy's coming had been accidental, and it was very sweet
+to Mr Wentworth to be able to conclude that he was obliged to walk
+home with her. They were both coming out from their evening devotions
+into the tranquil spring twilight, very glad of the charmed quiet, and
+happy somehow to find themselves alone together. That had happened but
+seldom of late; and a certain expectation of something that might
+happen hovered over the heads of Lucy and the Curate. It did not
+matter that he dared not say to her what was in his heart. Mr
+Wentworth was only a young man after all, and the thrill of a possible
+revelation was upon him in that half-hour upon which he was entering
+with so profound a sense of happiness. And then it was an accidental
+meeting, and if anything did happen, they could not blame themselves
+as if they had sought this opportunity of being together. The
+circumstances were such that they might call it providential, if
+anything came of it. But just as the two had made their first step out
+of the church, where the organ was still murmuring low in the
+darkness, and where the music of the last Amen, in which he had
+recognised Lucy's voice, had not quite died from the Curate's ears, to
+meet Miss Dora, pale and fluttered, full of news and distress, with no
+other thought in her mind but to appropriate her dear Frank, and take
+his arm and gain his ear! It was very hard upon the Perpetual Curate.
+As for Lucy, she, of course, did not say anything, but merely arranged
+her veil and greeted Miss Wentworth sweetly. Lucy walked on the other
+side of the Curate, saying little as Miss Dora's eager shower of
+questions and remarks ran on. Perhaps she had a little insight into Mr
+Wentworth's feelings, and no doubt it was rather tantalising. When
+they came to Mrs Hadwin's door, the young Anglican made a spasmodic
+effort, which in his heart he felt to be unprincipled, and which, had
+it been successful, would have totally taken away the accidental and
+unpremeditated character of this walk with Lucy, which he could not
+find it in his heart to relinquish. He proposed that his aunt should
+go in and rest while he saw Miss Wodehouse safely home--he was sure
+she was tired, he said, eagerly. "No, my dear, not at all," said Miss
+Dora; "it is such a pleasant evening, and I know Miss Wodehouse's is
+not very far off. I should like the walk, and, besides, it is too
+late, you know, to see Mrs Hadwin, and I should not like to go in
+without calling on her; and besides--"
+
+Mr Wentworth in his aggravation gave a momentary sudden glance at Lucy
+when she had no expectation of it. That glance of disappointment--of
+disgust--of love and longing, was no more intentional than their
+meeting; could he help it, if it revealed that heart which was in such
+a state of commotion and impatience? Anyhow, the look gave Lucy
+sufficient occupation to keep her very quiet on the other side while
+Miss Dora maundered on.
+
+"I met the strangest man coming out when I was going to ring your
+bell. You will think it very foolish, Frank, but he frightened me,"
+she said. "A man with a terrible beard, and a--a shabby man, my dear.
+Who could it be? Not a person to be seen coming out of a house where a
+clergyman lives. He could not be any friend of yours?"
+
+"The other lodger, I suppose," said the Curate, briefly. "When are you
+going away?"
+
+"Oh, my dear boy, we are not going away; I came to tell you. But,
+Frank, you don't mean to say that such a man as that lodges in Mrs
+Hadwin's house? I don't think it is safe for you--I don't think it is
+respectable. People might think he was a friend of yours. I wonder if
+Miss Wodehouse has ever seen him--a great man with a beard? To be
+sure, a man might have a beard and yet be respectable; but I am sure,
+if Miss Wodehouse saw him, she would agree with me in thinking--
+Frank, my dear boy, what is the matter? Have I said anything wrong?"
+
+"Nothing that I know of," said the Curate, who had given her arm a
+little angry pressure to stop the stream of utterance--"only that I am
+not interested in the other lodger. Tell me about your going away."
+
+"But I must appeal to Miss Wodehouse: it is for your own sake, my dear
+Frank," said aunt Dora--"a clergyman should be so careful. I don't
+know what your aunt Leonora would say. Don't you think to see a man
+like that coming out of Mr Wentworth's house is not as it should be? I
+assure you he frightened me."
+
+"I don't think I have seen him," said Lucy. "But shouldn't a clergyman's
+house be like the church, open to good and bad?--for it is to the wicked
+and the miserable you are sent," said the Sister of Mercy, lowering her
+voice and glancing up at the Perpetual Curate. They could have clasped
+each other's hands at that moment, almost without being aware that it
+was any personal feeling which made their agreement so sweet. As for
+Miss Dora, she went on leaning on her nephew's arm, totally unconscious
+of the suppressed rapture and elevation in which the two were moving at
+the other side.
+
+"That is very true. I am sure your aunt Leonora would approve of that,
+dear," said Miss Dora, with a little answering pressure on her
+nephew's arm--"but still I have a feeling that a clergyman should
+always take care to be respectable. Not that he should neglect the
+wicked," continued the poor aunt, apologetically, "for a poor sinner
+turning from the evil of his ways is the--the most interesting--sight
+in the world, even to the angels, you know; but to _live_ with them in
+the same house, my dear--I am sure that is what I never could advise,
+nor Leonora either; and Mrs Hadwin ought to know better, and have him
+away. Don't you know who he is, Frank? I could not be content without
+finding out, if it was me."
+
+"I have nothing to do with him," said the Curate, hurriedly: "it is a
+subject I don't want to discuss. Never mind him. What do you mean by
+saying you are not going away?"
+
+"My dear, Leonora has been thinking it all over," said Miss Dora, "and
+we are so anxious about you. Leonora is very fond of you, though she
+does not show it; and you know the Meritons have just come home from
+India, and have not a house to go to. So you see we thought, as you
+are not quite so comfortable as we could wish to see you, Frank--and
+perhaps we might be of some use--and Mr Shirley is better again, and
+no immediate settlement has to be made about Skelmersdale;--that on
+the whole, if Leonora and you were to see more of each other--oh, my
+dear boy, don't be so hasty; it was all her own doing--it was not my
+fault."
+
+"Fault! I am sorry to be the occasion of so many arrangements," said Mr
+Wentworth, with his stiff manner; "but, of course, if you like to stay
+in Carlingford I shall be very happy--though there is not much preaching
+here that will suit my aunt Leonora: as for Mr Shirley, I hope he'll
+live for ever. I was at No. 10 today," continued the Curate, turning his
+head to the other side, and changing his tone in a manner marvellous to
+Miss Dora. "I don't think she can live much longer. You have done a
+great deal to smooth her way in this last stage. Poor soul! she thinks
+she has been a great sinner," said the young man, with a kind of
+wondering pity. He had a great deal to vex him in his own person, and
+he knew of some skeletons very near at hand, but somehow at that moment
+it was hard to think of the extremities of mortal trouble, of death and
+anguish--those dark deeps of life by which Lucy and he sometimes stood
+together in their youth and happiness. A marvelling remorseful pity came
+to his heart. He could not believe in misery, with Lucy walking softly
+in the spring twilight by his side.
+
+"But, Frank, you are not taking any notice of what I say," said Miss
+Dora, with something like a suppressed sob. "I don't doubt your sick
+people are very important, but I thought you would take _some_
+interest. I came down to tell you, all the way by myself."
+
+"My sister would like to call on you, Miss Wentworth," said Lucy,
+interposing. "Gentlemen never understand what one says. Perhaps we
+could be of some use to you if you are going to settle in Carlingford.
+I think she has been a great deal better since she confessed,"
+continued the charitable Sister, looking up to the Curate, and, like
+him, dropping her voice. "The absolution was such a comfort. Now she
+seems to feel as if she could die. And she has so little to live for!"
+said Lucy, with a sigh of sympathetic feeling, remorseful too. Somehow
+it seemed cruel to feel so young, so hopeful, so capable of happiness,
+with such desolation close at hand.
+
+"Not even duty," said the Curate; "and to think that the Church should
+hesitate to remove the last barriers out of the way! I would not be a
+priest if I were debarred from the power of delivering such a poor
+soul."
+
+"Oh, Frank," said Miss Dora, with a long breath of fright and horror,
+"_what_ are you saying? Oh, my dear, don't say it over again, I don't
+want to hear it! I hope when we are dying we shall all feel what great
+great sinners we are," said the poor lady, who, between vexation and
+mortification, was ready to cry, "and not think that one is better
+than another. Oh, my dear, there is that man again! Do you think it is
+safe to meet him in such a lonely road? If he comes across and speaks
+to me any more I shall faint," cried poor Miss Dora, whose opinions
+were not quite in accordance with her feelings. Mr Wentworth did not
+say anything to soothe her, but with his unoccupied hand he made an
+involuntary movement towards Lucy's cloak, and plucked at it to bring
+her nearer, as the bearded stranger loomed dimly past, looking at the
+group. Lucy felt the touch, and wondered and looked up at him in the
+darkness. She could not comprehend the Curate's face.
+
+"Are _you_ afraid of him?" she said, with a slight smile; "if it is
+only his beard I am not alarmed; and here is papa coming to meet me. I
+thought you would have come for me sooner, papa. Has anything
+happened?" said Lucy, taking Mr Wodehouse's arm, who had suddenly
+appeared from underneath the lamp, still unlighted, at Dr
+Marjoribanks's door. She clung to her father with unusual eagerness,
+willing enough to escape from the darkness and the Curate's side, and
+all the tremulous sensations of the hour.
+
+"What could happen?" said Mr Wodehouse, who still looked "limp" from
+his recent illness, "though I hear there are doubtful people about; so
+they tell me--but you ought to know best, Wentworth. Who is that
+fellow in the beard that went by on the other side? Not little Lake
+the drawing-master? Fancied I had seen the build of the man
+before--eh?--a stranger? Well, it's a mistake, perhaps. Can't be sure
+of anything nowadays;--memory failing. Well, that's what the doctor
+says. Come in and rest and see Molly; as for me, I'm not good for
+much, but you won't get better company than the girls, or else that's
+what folks tell me. Who did you say that fellow was?" said the
+churchwarden, leaning across his daughter to see Mr Wentworth's face.
+
+"I don't know anything about him," said the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+And curiously enough silence fell upon the little party, nobody could
+tell how;--for two minutes, which looked like twenty, no one spoke.
+Then Lucy roused herself, apparently with a little effort. "We seem to
+talk of nothing but the man with the beard to-night," she said. "Mary
+knows everything that goes on in Carlingford--she will tell us about
+him; and if Miss Wentworth thinks it too late to come in, we will say
+good-night," she continued, with a little decision of tone, which was
+not incomprehensible to the Perpetual Curate. Perhaps she was a little
+provoked and troubled in her own person. To say so much in looks and
+so little in words, was a mode of procedure which puzzled Lucy. It
+fretted her, because it looked unworthy of her hero. She withdrew
+within the green door, holding her father's arm fast, and talking to
+him, while Mr Wentworth strained his ears after the voice, which he
+thought he could have singled out from a thousand voices. Perhaps Lucy
+talked to drown her thoughts; and the Curate went away dumb and
+abstracted, with his aunt leaning on his arm on the other side of the
+wall. He could not be interested, as Miss Dora expected him to be, in
+the Miss Wentworths' plans. He conducted her to the Blue Boar
+languidly, with an evident indifference to the fact that his aunt
+Leonora was about to become a permanent resident in Carlingford. He
+said "Good-night" kindly to little Rosa Elsworthy, looking out with
+bright eyes into the darkness at the door of her uncle's shop; but he
+said little to Miss Dora, who could not tell what to make of him, and
+swallowed her tears as quietly as possible under her veil. When he had
+deposited his aunt safely at the inn, the Perpetual Curate hastened
+down Grange Lane at a great pace. The first sound he heard on entering
+Mrs Hadwin's garden was the clear notes of the stranger's whistle
+among the trees; and with an impatient exclamation Mr Wentworth sought
+his fellow-lodger, who was smoking as usual, pacing up and down a
+shaded walk, where, even in daylight, he was pretty well concealed
+from observation. The Curate looked as if he had a little discontent
+and repugnance to get over before he could address the anonymous
+individual who whistled so cheerily under the trees. When he did speak
+it was an embarrassed and not very intelligible call.
+
+"I say--are you there? I want to speak to you," said Mr Wentworth.
+
+"Yes," said the stranger, turning sharply round. "I am here, a dog
+without a name. What have you got to say?"
+
+"Only that you must be more careful," said Mr Wentworth again, with a
+little stiffness. "You will be recognised if you don't mind. I have
+just been asked who you were by--somebody who thought he had seen you
+before."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"Well, by Mr Wodehouse," said the Curate. "I may as well tell you; if
+you mean to keep up this concealment you must take care."
+
+"By Jove!" said the stranger, and then he whistled a few bars of the
+air which Mr Wentworth's arrival had interrupted. "What is a fellow to
+do?" he said, after an interjection. "I sometimes think I had better
+risk it all--eh! don't you think so? I can't shut myself up for ever
+here."
+
+"That must be as you think best," said the Perpetual Curate, in whom
+there appeared no movement of sympathy; and he said no more, though the
+doubtful individual by his side lifted an undecided look to his face,
+and once more murmured in perplexed tones a troubled exclamation: "A man
+must have a little amusement somehow," the stranger said, with an
+aggrieved voice; and then abruptly left his unsociable companion, and
+went off to his room, where he summoned Sarah to bring lights, and tried
+to talk to her a little in utter dearth of society. Mr Wentworth stayed
+behind, pacing up and down the darkening walk. The Curate's thoughts
+were far from satisfactory. There was not much comfort anywhere, let him
+look where he pleased. When a man has no spot in all his horizon on
+which his eye can rest with comfort, there is something more discouraging
+in the prospect than a positive calamity. He could not take refuge even
+in the imaginations of his love, for it was clear enough that already a
+sentiment of surprise had risen in Lucy's mind, and her tranquillity was
+shaken. And perhaps he had done rashly to plunge into other people's
+troubles--he upon whom a curious committee of aunts were now to sit _en
+permanence_. He went in to write his sermon, far from being so assured
+of things in general as that discourse was when it was written, though
+it was a little relief to his mind to fall back upon an authority
+somewhere, and to refer, in terms which were perhaps too absolute to be
+altogether free of doubt, to the Church, which had arranged everything
+for her children in one department of their concerns at least. If it
+were only as easy to know what ought to be done in one's personal
+affairs as to decide what was the due state of mind expected by the
+Church on the second Sunday after Easter! But being under that guidance,
+at least he could not go wrong in his sermon, which was one point of
+ease amid the many tribulations of the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+"If they are going to stay in Carlingford, perhaps we could be of use
+to them? Yes, Lucy; and I am sure anything we could do for Mr
+Wentworth--" said Miss Wodehouse. "I wonder what house they will get.
+I am going to Elsworthy's about some paper, and we can ask him if he
+knows where they are going. That poor little Rosa should have some one
+to take care of her. I often wonder whether it would be kind to speak
+to Mrs Elsworthy about it, Lucy; she is a sensible woman. The little
+thing stands at the door in the evening, and talks to people who are
+passing, and I am afraid there are some people who are unprincipled,
+and tell her she is pretty, and say things to her," said Miss
+Wodehouse, shaking her head; "it is a great pity. Even Mr Wentworth is
+a great deal more civil to that little thing than he would be if she
+had not such a pretty face."
+
+"I said you knew everything that went on in Carlingford," said Lucy,
+as they went out together from the green door, not in their grey
+cloaks this time; "but I forgot to ask you about one thing that
+puzzled us last night--who is the man in the beard who lives at Mrs
+Hadwin's? Mr Wentworth will not tell anybody about him, and I think he
+knows."
+
+"Who is the man in the beard?" said Miss Wodehouse, with a gasp. She
+grew very pale, and turned away her head and shivered visibly. "How
+very cold it is!" she said, with her teeth chattering; "did you think
+it was so cold? I--I don't know any men with beards; and it is so
+strange of you to say I know everything that goes on in Carlingford.
+Don't stop to speak to that little girl just now. Did you say she came
+from Prickett's Lane? No. 10? It is very right to go to see the sick,
+but, indeed, I don't approve of your attendance upon that poor woman,
+Lucy. When I was a girl I dared not have gone away by myself as you
+do, and she might not be a proper person. There is a carriage that I
+don't know standing before Elsworthy's shop."
+
+"But you have not told me yet about the man with the beard," said
+Lucy, whose curiosity was excited. She looked at her sister keenly
+with an investigating look, and poor Miss Wodehouse was fain to draw
+her shawl close round her, and complain again of the cold.
+
+"I told you I did not know," she said, with a complaining tone in her
+voice. "It is strange you should think I knew; it looks as if you
+thought me a gossip, Lucy. I wonder who those people can be coming out
+of the carriage? My dear," said the elder sister, feeling within
+herself that an attack upon the enemy's country was the best means of
+meeting any sally--"I don't think you should go down to Prickett's
+Lane just now. I saw Mr Wentworth pass a little while ago, and people
+might say you went to meet each other. I can't keep people from
+talking, Lucy, and you are both so young; and you know I spoke to you
+before about your meeting so often. It will be a great deal better for
+you to come with me to call on his aunts."
+
+"Only that my poor patient wants me," said Lucy. "Must I not do my
+duty to a poor woman who is dying, because Mr Wentworth is in
+Prickett's Lane? There is no reason why I should be afraid of meeting
+Mr Wentworth," said the young district-visitor, severely; and the
+elder sister saw that Lucy spoke in a different tone from that in
+which she had answered her before. She did not extinguish Miss
+Wodehouse by a reference to the great work. She treated the matter
+more as a personal one to-day; and a shadow--a very ghost of
+irritation--was in Lucy's voice. The two crossed the street silently
+after that to Elsworthy's, where a group of ladies were visible, who
+had come out of the strange carriage. One of them was seated in a
+chair by the counter, another was reading a list which Mr Elsworthy
+had just presented to her, and the third, who was not so tall as her
+sister, was pressing up to it on tiptoe, trying to read it too. "That
+is Miss Dora Wentworth," said Lucy, "and the other, I suppose, is Miss
+Leonora, who is so very Low-Church. I think I can see the Miss
+Hemmings coming down George Street. If I were to go in I should be in
+a dreadful minority; but you are Low-Church in your heart too."
+
+"No, dear; only reasonable," said Miss Wodehouse, apologetically. "I
+don't go as far as you and Mr Wentworth do, but I like the service to
+be nicely done, and the--the authority of the Church respected too. As
+I have never met Miss Wentworth, you had better come in and introduce
+me. There is Rosa looking out of the front window, Lucy. I really must
+speak to Mrs Elsworthy about that child. What a lovely old lady that
+is sitting by the counter! Say I am your sister, and then if you are
+resolved upon Prickett's Lane, you can go away."
+
+"They are the two who wear the grey cloaks," said Miss Leonora
+Wentworth to herself, as the introduction was effected. "I am glad to
+make your acquaintance, Miss Wodehouse. We are going to stay in
+Carlingford for a time, and to know a few pious families will be a
+great advantage. We don't go much into society, in the usual sense of
+the word--but, I am sure, to make the acquaintance of ladies who help
+my nephew so much in his work, is sure to be an advantage. I should
+like so much to hear from you how he gets on, for he does not say a
+great deal about it himself."
+
+"He is so good and so nice," said kind Miss Wodehouse, "he never makes
+a fuss about anything he does. I am sure, to see such young creatures
+so pious and so devoted, always goes to my heart. When we were young
+it used to be so different--we took our own pleasure, and never
+thought of our fellow-creatures. And the young people are so good
+nowadays," said the gentle woman, falling instinctively into her
+favourite sentiment. Miss Leonora looked at her with critical eyes.
+
+"We are none of us good," said that iron-grey woman, whose neutral
+tints were so different from the soft dove-colour of her new
+acquaintance; "it does not become such sinful creatures to talk of
+anybody being good. Good works may only be beautiful sins, if they are
+not done in a true spirit," said Miss Leonora, turning to her list of
+furnished houses with a little contempt. But the Miss Hemmings had
+come in while she was speaking, and it was seldom that such edifying
+talk was heard in Carlingford.
+
+"That is such a beautiful sentiment--oh, if we only bore it always in
+mind!" murmured the eldest Miss Hemmings. "Mr Elsworthy, I hope you
+have got the tracts I ordered. They are so much wanted here. Poor dear
+Mr Bury would not believe his eyes if he could see Carlingford now,
+given up to Puseyism and Ritualism--but good men are taken away from
+the evil to come. I will pay for them now, please."
+
+"If you wish it, ma'am," said Mr Elsworthy. "The town _is_ changed; I
+don't say nothing different; but being in the ritual line as you say,
+you won't find no church as it's better done than in St Roque's. Mr
+Wentworth never spares no pains, ma'am, on anything as he takes up.
+I've heard a deal of clergymen in my day, but _his_ reading is
+beautiful; I can't say as I ever heard reading as could equal it;--and
+them choristers, though they're hawful to manage, is trained as I
+never see boys trained in _my_ life afore. There's one of them houses,
+ma'am," continued the optimist, turning to Miss Wentworth, "as is a
+beauty. Miss Wodehouse can tell you what it is; no lady in the land
+could desire a handsomer drawing-room; and as for the kitchings,--I
+don't pretend to be a judge up-stairs, but being brought up a
+blacksmith, I know what's what in a kitching-range. If you had all
+Grange Lane to dinner, there's a range as is equal to it," said Mr
+Elsworthy with enthusiasm--"and my wife will show you the 'ouse."
+
+"I knew Mr Bury," said Miss Leonora; "he was a precious man. Perhaps
+you have heard him mention the Miss Wentworths? I am very sorry to
+hear that there is no real work going on in the town. It is very sad
+that there should be nobody able to enter into the labours of such a
+saint."
+
+"Indeed," said Miss Wodehouse, who was excited, in spite of herself,
+by this conversation, "I think the Carlingford people go quite as much
+to church as in Mr Bury's days. I don't think there is less religion
+than there used to be: there are not so many prayer meetings, perhaps;
+but--"
+
+"There is nothing the carnal mind dislikes so much as prayer meetings,"
+said Miss Hemmings. "There is a house in Grove Street, if Miss Wentworth
+is looking for a house. I don't know much about the kitchen-range, but I
+know it belongs to a very pious family, and they wish so much to let
+it. My sister and I would be so glad to take you there. It is not in the
+gay world, like Grange Lane."
+
+"But you might want to ask people to dinner; and then we should be so
+near Frank," said Miss Dora, whispering at her sister's elbow. As for
+the second Miss Hemmings, she was dull of comprehension, and did not
+quite make out who the strangers were.
+
+"It is so sad to a feeling mind to see the mummeries that go on at St
+Roque's," said this obtuse sister; "and I am afraid poor Mr Wentworth
+must be in a bad way. They say there is the strangest man in his
+house--some relation of his--and he daren't be seen in the daylight;
+and people begin to think there must be something wrong, and that Mr
+Wentworth himself is involved; but what can you expect when there is
+no true Christian principle?" asked Miss Hemmings, triumphantly. It
+was a dreadful moment for the bystanders; for Miss Leonora turned
+round upon this new intelligence with keen eyes and attention; and
+Miss Dora interposed, weeping; and Miss Wodehouse grew so pale, that
+Mr Elsworthy rushed for cold water, and thought she was going to
+faint. "Tell me all about this," said Miss Leonora, with peremptory
+and commanding tones. "Oh, Leonora, I am sure my dear Frank has
+nothing to do with it, if there is anything wrong," cried Miss Dora.
+Even Miss Wentworth herself was moved out of her habitual smile. She
+said, "He is my nephew"--an observation which she had never been heard
+to make before, and which covered the second Miss Hemmings with
+confusion. As for Miss Wodehouse, she retreated very fast to a seat
+behind Miss Cecilia, and said nothing. The two who had arrived last
+slunk back upon each other with fiery glances of mutual reproach. The
+former three stood together in this emergency, full of curiosity, and
+perhaps a little anxiety. In this position of affairs, Mr Elsworthy,
+being the only impartial person present, took the management of
+matters into his own hands.
+
+"Miss Hemmings and ladies, if you'll allow _me_," said Mr Elsworthy,
+"it aint no more than a mistake. The new gentleman as is staying at
+Mrs Hadwin's may be an unfortunate gentleman for anything I can tell;
+but he aint no relation of our clergyman. There aint nobody belonging
+to Mr Wentworth," said the clerk of St Roque's, "but is a credit both
+to him and to Carlingford. There's his brother, the Rev. Mr Wentworth,
+as is the finest-spoken man, to be a clergyman, as I ever set eyes on;
+and there's respected ladies as needn't be named more particular. But
+the gentleman as is the subject of conversation is no more like Mr
+Wentworth than--asking pardon for the liberty--I am. I may say as I
+have opportunities for knowing more than most," said Mr Elsworthy,
+modestly, "me and Rosa; for if there's a thing Mr Wentworth is
+particular about, it's having his papers the first moment; and ladies
+as knows me knows I am one that never says more nor the truth. Not
+saying a word against the gentleman--as is a most respectable
+gentleman, for anything I know against him--he aint no connection of
+Mr Wentworth. He's Mrs Hadwin's lodger; and I wouldn't say as he isn't
+a relation there; but our clergyman has got no more to do with him
+than the babe unborn."
+
+Mr Elsworthy wiped his forehead after he had made this speech, and
+looked round for the approbation which he was aware he had deserved;
+and Miss Leonora Wentworth threw a glance of disdainful observation
+upon the unhappy lady who had caused this disturbance. "If your wife
+will come with us, we will go and look at the house," she said,
+graciously. "I daresay if it is in Grange Lane it will suit us very
+well. My nephew is a very young man, Miss Wodehouse," said Miss
+Leonora, who had not passed over the agitation of that gentle woman
+without some secret comments; "he does not take advice in his work,
+though it might be of great assistance to him; but I hope he'll grow
+older and wiser, as indeed he cannot help doing if he lives. I hope
+you and your pretty sister will come to see us when we're settled;--I
+don't see any sense, you know, in your grey cloaks--I'm old, and you
+won't mind me saying so; but I know what Frank Wentworth is," said the
+indignant aunt, making a severe curtsy, accompanied by lightning
+glances at the shrinking background of female figures, as she went out
+of the shop.
+
+"Oh, Leonora! I always said you were fond of him, though you never
+would show it," cried poor Miss Dora. "She is a great deal more
+affectionate than she will let anybody believe; and my dear Frank
+means nothing but good," cried the too zealous champion. Miss Leonora
+turned back upon the threshold of the shop.
+
+"You will please to let me know what Dissenting chapels there are in
+the town, and what are the hours of the services," she said. "There
+must surely be a Bethesda, or Zion, or something--Salem? yes, to be
+sure;--perhaps there's somebody there that preaches the gospel. Send
+me word," said the peremptory woman; and poor Miss Dora relapsed into
+her usual melancholy condition, and stole into the carriage in a
+broken-hearted manner, weeping under her veil.
+
+After which Miss Wodehouse went home, not having much heart for
+further visits. That is to say, she went all the way down Grange Lane,
+somewhat tremulous and uncertain in her steps, and went as far as Mrs
+Hadwin's, and hesitated at the door as if she meant to call there;
+but, thinking better of it, went on a little farther with very
+lingering steps, as if she did not know what she wanted. When she came
+back again, the door of Mrs Hadwin's garden was open, and the
+butcher's boy stood blocking up the way, listening with all his ears
+to the notes of the whistle, soft and high and clear like the notes of
+a bird which come audibly from among the trees. Miss Wodehouse gave a
+little start when she heard it: again she hesitated, and looked in
+with such a wistful face that Sarah, the housemaid, who had been about
+to slam the door hastily upon the too tender butcher, involuntarily
+held it wide open for the expected visitor. "No, not to-day thank
+you," said Miss Wodehouse. "I hope your mistress is quite well; give
+her my love, and say I meant to come in, but I have a bad headache.
+No, thank you; not to-day." She went away after that with a wonderful
+expression of face, and reached home long before Lucy had come back
+from Prickett's Lane. Miss Wodehouse was not good for much in the
+house. She went to the little boudoir up-stairs, and lay down on the
+sofa, and had some tea brought her by an anxious maid. She was very
+nervous, trembling she could not say why, and took up a novel which
+was lying on the sofa, and read the most affecting scene, and cried
+over it; and then her sweet old face cleared, and she felt better.
+When Lucy came in she kissed her sister, and drew down the blinds, and
+brought her the third volume, and then went away herself to arrange
+the dessert, and see that everything was in order for one of Mr
+Wodehouse's little parties. These were their respective parts in the
+house; and surely a more peaceful, and orderly, and affectionate
+house, was not to be found that spring evening, either in England or
+Grange Lane.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+It may be easily supposed after this that Mr Wentworth and his
+proceedings were sufficiently overlooked and commented upon in
+Carlingford. The Miss Wentworths took old Major Brown's house for six
+months, which, as everybody knows, is next door to Dr Marjoribanks. It
+was just after Letty Brown's marriage, and the poor old Major was very
+glad to go away and pay a round of visits, and try to forget that his
+last daughter had gone the way of all the rest. There was a
+summer-house built in the corner of the garden, with a window in the
+outer wall looking on to Grange Lane, from which everything that
+happened could be inspected; and there was always somebody at that
+window when the Perpetual Curate passed by. Then he began to have a
+strange painful feeling that Lucy watched too, and was observing all
+his looks and ways, and what he did and said in these changed times.
+It was a strange difference from the sweet half-conscious bond between
+them which existed of old, when they walked home together from
+Wharfside, talking of the district and the people, in the tender union
+of unspoken love and fellowship. Not that they were altogether parted
+now; but Lucy contrived to leave the schoolroom most days before the
+young priest could manage to disrobe himself, and was seldom to be
+seen on the road lingering on her errands of kindness as she used to
+do. But still she knew all he was about, and watched, standing in
+doubt and wonder of him, which was at least a great deal better than
+indifference. On the whole, however, it was a cloudy world through
+which the Perpetual Curate passed as he went from his lodgings, where
+the whistle of the new lodger had become a great nuisance to him, past
+the long range of garden-walls, the sentinel window where Miss Dora
+looked out watching for him, and Mr Wodehouse's green door which he no
+longer entered every day. Over the young man's mind, as he went out to
+his labours, there used to come that sensation of having nobody to
+fall back upon, which is of all feelings the most desolate. Amid all
+those people who were watching him, there was no one upon whom he
+could rest, secure of understanding and sympathy. They were all
+critical--examining, with more or less comprehension, what he did; and
+he could not think of anybody in the world just then who would be
+content with knowing that _he_ did it, and take that as warranty for
+the act, unless, perhaps, his poor aunt Dora, whose opinion was not
+important to the young man. It was not a pleasant state of mind into
+which these feelings threw him; and the natural result was, that he
+grew more and more careful about the rubric, and confined his sermons,
+with increasing precision, to the beautiful arrangements of the
+Church. They were very clever little sermons, even within these
+limitations, and an indifferent spectator would probably have been
+surprised to find how much he could make out of them; but still it is
+undeniable that a man has less scope, not only for oratory, but for
+all that is worthy of regard in human speech, when, instead of the
+ever-lasting reciprocations between heaven and earth, he occupies
+himself only with a set of ecclesiastical arrangements, however
+perfect. The people who went to St Roque's found this out, and so did
+Mr Wentworth; but it did not alter the system pursued by the troubled
+Curate. Perhaps he gave himself some half-conscious credit for it, as
+being against his own interests; for there was no mistaking the
+countenance of Miss Leonora, when now and then, on rare occasions, she
+came to hear her nephew preach.
+
+All this, however, was confined to St Roque's, where there was a
+somewhat select audience, people who agreed in Mr Wentworth's views;
+but things were entirely different at Wharfside, where the Perpetual
+Curate was not thinking about himself, but simply about his work, and
+how to do it best. The bargemen and their wives did not know much
+about the Christian year; but they understood the greater matters
+which lay beneath: and the women said to each other, sometimes with
+tears in their eyes, that there was nothing that the clergyman didn't
+make plain; and that if the men didn't do what was right, it was none
+o' Mr Wentworth's fault. The young priest indemnified himself in "the
+district" for much that vexed him elsewhere. There was no question of
+Skelmersdale, or of any moot point there, but only a quantity of
+primitive people under the original conditions of humanity, whose
+lives might be amended, and consoled, and elevated. That was a matter
+about which Mr Wentworth had no doubt. He put on his surplice with
+the conviction that in that white ephod the truest embodiment of
+Christian purity was brought within sight of the darkened world. He
+was not himself, but a Christian priest, with power to deliver and to
+bless, when he went to Wharfside.
+
+Easter had been early that year, and Ascension Day was in the
+beginning of May, one of those sweet days of early summer which still
+occur now and then to prove that the poets were right in all they say
+of the tenderest month of the year. Mr Wentworth had done duty at St
+Roque's, and afterwards at Wharfside. The sweet day and the sweet
+season had moved his heart. He was young, and it was hard to live shut
+up within himself without any sympathy either from man or woman. He
+had watched the grey cloak gliding out as his rude congregation
+dispersed, and went away quicker than was his wont, with a stronger
+longing than usual to overtake Lucy, and recover his place beside her.
+But she was not to be seen when he got into Prickett's Lane. He looked
+up the weary length of the street, and saw nothing but the children
+playing on the pavement, and some slovenly mothers at the doors. It
+was a very disenchanting prospect. He went on again in a kind of
+gloomy discontent, displeased with everything. What was the good of it
+all? he said to himself--weariness, and toil, and trouble, and nothing
+ever to come of it. As for the little good he was doing in Wharfside,
+God did not need his poor exertions; and, to tell the truth, going on
+at St Roque's, however perfect the rubric and pretty the church, was,
+without any personal stimulant of happiness, no great prospect for the
+Perpetual Curate. Such was the tenor of his thoughts, when he saw a
+black figure suddenly emerge out of one of the houses, and stand at
+the door, throwing a long shadow over the pavement. It was the Rector
+who was standing there in Mr Wentworth's favourite district, talking
+to a shopkeeper who had always been on the opposition side. The young
+Anglican raised his drooping head instantly, and recovered his
+interest in the general world.
+
+"Glad to see you, Mr Wentworth," said the Rector. "I have been
+speaking to this worthy man about the necessities of the district. The
+statistics are far from being satisfactory. Five thousand souls, and
+no provision for their spiritual wants; it is a very sad state of
+affairs. I mean to take steps immediately to remedy all that."
+
+"A bit of a Methody chapel, that's all," said the opposition shopkeeper;
+"and the schoolroom, as Mr Wentworth--"
+
+"Yes, I have heard of that," said the Rector, blandly;--somebody had
+advised Mr Morgan to change his tactics, and this was the first
+evidence of the new policy--"I hear you have been doing what little
+you could to mend matters. It is very laudable zeal in so young a man.
+But, of course, as you were without authority, and had so little in
+your power, it could only be a very temporary expedient. I am very
+much obliged to you for your good intentions."
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Perpetual Curate, rousing up as at the
+sound of the trumpet, "I don't care in the least about my good
+intentions; but you have been much deceived if you have not understood
+that there is a great work going on in Wharfside. I hope, Saunders, you
+have had no hand in deceiving Mr Morgan. I shall be glad to show you my
+statistics, which are more satisfactory than the town list," said Mr
+Wentworth. "The schoolroom is consecrated; and but that I thought we had
+better work slowly and steadily, there is many a district in worse
+condition which has its church and its incumbent. I shall be very happy
+to give you all possible information; it is best to go to the
+fountainhead."
+
+"The fountainhead!" said the Rector, who began not unnaturally to lose
+his temper. "Are you aware, sir, that Wharfside is in my parish?"
+
+"And so is St Roque's, I suppose," said the Curate, affably. "I have
+no district, but I have my cure of souls all the same. As for
+Wharfside, the Rector of Carlingford never had had anything to do with
+it. Mr Bury and Mr Proctor made it over to me. I act upon their
+authority; but I should like to prove to you it is something more than
+a temporary expedient," said the young Anglican, with a smile. Mr
+Morgan was gradually getting very hot and flushed. His temper got the
+better of him; he could not tolerate to be thus bearded on his own
+ground.
+
+"It appears to me the most extraordinary assumption," said the Rector.
+"I can't fancy that you are ignorant of the law. I repeat, Wharfside
+is in my parish; and on what ground you can possibly justify such an
+incredible intrusion--"
+
+"Perhaps we might find a fitter place to discuss the matter," said the
+Curate, with great suavity. "If you care to go to the schoolroom, we
+could be quiet there."
+
+"No, sir. I don't care to go to the schoolroom. I decline to have
+anything to do with such an unwarrantable attempt to interfere with my
+rights," said Mr Morgan. "I don't want to know what plausible arguments
+you may have to justify yourself. The fact remains, sir, that Wharfside
+is in my parish. If you have anything to say against that, I will listen
+to you," said the irascible Rector. His Welsh blood was up; he even
+raised his voice a little, with a kind of half-feminine excitement,
+common to the Celtic race; and the consequence was that Mr Wentworth,
+who stood perfectly calm to receive the storm, had all the advantage in
+the world over Mr Morgan. The Perpetual Curate bowed with immovable
+composure, and felt himself master of the field.
+
+"In that case, it will perhaps be better not to say anything," he
+said; "but I think you will find difficulties in the way. Wharfside
+has some curious privileges, and pays no rates; but I have never taken
+up that ground. The two previous rectors made it over to me, and the
+work is too important to be ignored. I have had thoughts of applying
+to have it made into an ecclesiastical district," said the Curate,
+with candour, "not thinking that the Rector of Carlingford, with so
+much to occupy him, would care to interfere with my labours; but at
+all events, to begin another mission here would be folly--it would be
+copying the tactics of the Dissenters, if you will forgive me for
+saying so," said Mr Wentworth, looking calmly in the Rector's face.
+
+It was all Mr Morgan could do to restrain himself. "I am not in the
+habit of being schooled by my--juniors," said the Rector, with
+suppressed fury. He meant to say inferiors, but the aspect of the
+Perpetual Curate checked him. Then the two stood gazing at each other
+for a minute in silence. "Anything further you may have to say, you
+will perhaps communicate to my solicitor," said the elder priest. "It
+is well known that some gentlemen of your views, Mr Wentworth, think
+it safe to do evil that good may come;--that is not my opinion; and I
+don't mean to permit any invasion of my rights. I have the pleasure of
+wishing you good morning."
+
+Mr Morgan took off his hat, and gave it a little angry flourish in the
+air before he put it on again. He had challenged his young brother to
+the only duel permitted by their cloth, and he turned to the
+opposition tradesman with vehemence, and went in again to the dusty
+little shop, where a humble assortment of groceries were displayed for
+the consumption of Prickett's Lane. Mr Wentworth remained standing
+outside in much amazement, not to say amusement, and a general sense
+of awakening and recovery. Next to happiness, perhaps enmity is the
+most healthful stimulant of the human mind. The Perpetual Curate woke
+up and realised his position with a sense of exhilaration, if the
+truth must be told. He muttered something to himself, uncomplimentary
+to Mr Morgan's good sense, as he turned away; but it was astonishing
+to find how much more lively and interesting Prickett's Lane had
+become since that encounter. He went along cheerily, saying a word now
+and then to the people at the doors, every one of whom knew and
+recognised him, and acknowledged, in a lesser or greater degree, the
+sway of his bishopric. The groups he addressed made remarks after he
+had passed, which showed their sense of the improvement in his looks.
+"He's more like himsel' than he's bin sin' Easter," said one woman,
+"and none o' that crossed look, as if things had gone contrairy;--Lord
+bless you, not cross--he's a deal too good a man for that--but
+crossed-looking; it might be crossed in love for what I can tell."
+"Them as is handsome like that seldom gets crossed in love," said
+another experienced observer; "but if it was fortin, or whatever it
+was, there's ne'er a one in Wharfside but wishes luck to the parson.
+It aint much matter for us women. Them as won't strive to keep their
+children decent out o' their own heads, they won't do much for a
+clergyman; but, bless you, he can do a deal with the men, and it's
+them as wants looking after." "I'd like to go to his wedding," said
+another. "I'd give a deal to hear it was all settled;" and amid these
+affectionate comments, Mr Wentworth issued out of Prickett's Lane. He
+went direct to Mr Wodehouse's green door, without making any excuses
+to himself. For the first time for some weeks he went in upon the
+sisters and told them all that had happened as of old. Lucy was still
+in her grey cloak as she had returned from the district, and it was
+with a feeling more distinct than sympathy that she heard of this
+threatened attack. "It is terrible to think that he could interfere
+with such a work out of jealousy of _us_," said the Sister of Charity,
+with a wonderful light in her blue eyes; and she drew her low chair
+nearer, and listened with eloquent looks, which were balm to the soul
+of the Perpetual Curate. "But we are not to give up?" she said, giving
+him her hand, when he rose to go away. "Never!" said Mr Wentworth; and
+if he held it more closely and longer than there was any particular
+occasion for, Lucy did not make any objection at that special moment.
+Then it turned out that he had business at the other end of the town, at
+the north end, where some trustee lived who had to do with the Orphan
+Schools, and whom the curate was obliged to see; and Miss Wodehouse
+gave him a timid invitation to come back to dinner. "But you are not to
+go home to dress; we shall be quite alone--and you must be so tired,"
+said the elder sister, who for some reason or other was shy of Mr
+Wentworth, and kept away from him whenever he called. So he went in on
+his way back, and dined in happiness and his morning coat, with a sweet
+conscious return to the familiar intercourse which these few disturbed
+weeks had interrupted. He was a different man when he went back again
+down Grange Lane. Once more the darkness was fragrant and musical about
+him. When he was tired thinking of his affairs, he fell back upon the
+memories of the evening, and Lucy's looks and the "us" and "we," which
+were so sweet to his ears. To have somebody behind whom one can fall
+back upon to fill up the interstices of thought--_that_ makes all the
+difference, as Mr Wentworth found out, between a bright and a heavy
+life.
+
+When he opened the garden-door with his key, and went softly in in the
+darkness, the Perpetual Curate was much surprised to hear voices among
+the trees. He waited a little, wondering, to see who it was; and
+profound was his amazement when a minute after little Rosa Elsworthy,
+hastily tying her hat over her curls, came rapidly along the walk from
+under the big walnut-tree, and essayed, with rather a tremulous hand,
+to open the door. Mr Wentworth stepped forward suddenly and laid his
+hand on her arm. He was very angry and indignant, and no longer the
+benign superior being to whom Rosa was accustomed. "Whom have you been
+talking to?" said the Curate. "Why are you here alone so late? What
+does this mean?" He held the door close, and looked down upon her
+severely while he spoke. She made a frightened attempt to defend
+herself.
+
+"Oh, please, I only came with the papers. I was talking to--Sarah,"
+said the little girl, with a sob of shame and terror. "I will never do
+it again. Oh, please, _please_, let me go! Please, Mr Wentworth, let
+me go!"
+
+"How long have you been talking to--Sarah?" said the Curate. "Did you
+ever do it before? No, Rosa; I am going to take you home. This must
+not happen any more."
+
+"I will run all the way. Oh, don't tell my aunt, Mr Wentworth. I didn't
+mean any harm," said the frightened creature. "You are not really
+coming? Oh, Mr Wentworth, if you tell my aunt I shall die!" cried poor
+little Rosa. But she was hushed into awe and silence when the curate
+stalked forth, a grand, half-distinguished figure by her side, keeping
+pace with her hasty, tremulous steps. She even stopped crying, in the
+whirlwind of her feelings. What did he mean? Was he going to say
+anything to her? Was it possible that he could like her, and be jealous
+of her talk with--Sarah? Poor little foolish Rosa did not know what to
+think. She had read a great many novels, and knew that it was quite
+usual for gentlemen to fall in love with pretty little girls who were
+not of their own station;--why not with her? So she went on, half
+running, keeping up with Mr Wentworth, and sometimes stealing sly
+glances at him to see what intention was in his looks. But his looks
+were beyond Rosa's reading. He walked by her side without speaking, and
+gave a glance up at the window of the summer-house as they passed. And
+strange enough, that evening of all others, Miss Dora, who had been the
+victim of some of Miss Leonora's caustic criticisms, had strayed forth,
+in melancholy mood, to repose herself at her favourite window, and look
+out at the faint stars, and comfort herself with a feeble repetition of
+her favourite plea, that it was not "my fault." The poor lady was
+startled out of her own troubles by the sight of her nephew's tall
+unmistakable figure; and, as bad luck would have it, Rosa's hat, tied
+insecurely by her agitated fingers, blew off at that moment, so that Mr
+Wentworth's aunt became aware, to her inexpressible horror and
+astonishment, who his companion was. The unhappy Curate divined all the
+thoughts that would arise in her perturbed bosom, when he saw the
+indistinct figure at the window, and said something to himself about
+_espionage_, which was barely civil to Miss Dora, as he hurried along on
+his charitable errand. He was out of one trouble into another, this
+unlucky young man. He knocked sharply at Elsworthy's closed door, and
+gave up his charge without speaking to Rosa. "I brought her home because
+I thought it wrong to let her go up Grange Lane by herself," said the
+Curate. "Don't thank me; but if you have any regard for the child, don't
+send her out at night again." He did not even bid Rosa good-night, or
+look back at her, as she stood blushing and sparkling in confused
+childish beauty, in the doorway; but turned his back like any savage,
+and hastened home again. Before he entered his own apartments, he
+knocked at the door of the green room, and said something to the inmate
+there which produced from that personage a growl of restrained defiance.
+And after all these fatigues, it was with a sense of relief that the
+Curate threw himself upon his sofa, to think over the events of the
+afternoon, and to take a little rest. He was very tired, and the
+consolation he had experienced during the evening made him more disposed
+to yield to his fatigue. He threw himself upon the sofa, and stretched
+out his hand lazily for his letters, which evidently did not excite any
+special expectations in his mind. There was one from his sister, and one
+from an old university friend, full of the news of the season. Last of
+all, there was a neat little note, directed in a neat little hand, which
+anybody who received it would naturally have left to the last, as Mr
+Wentworth did. He opened it quite deliberately, without any appearance
+of interest. But as he read the first lines, the Curate gradually
+gathered himself up off the sofa, and stretched out his hand for his
+boots, which he had just taken off; and before he had finished it, had
+walked across the room and laid hold of the railway book in use at
+Carlingford, all the time reading and re-reading the important little
+epistle. It was not so neat inside as out, and blurred and blotted, and
+slightly illegible; and this is what the letter said:--
+
+
+ "Oh, Frank, dear, I am so anxious and unhappy about Gerald. I can't
+ tell what is the matter with him. Come directly, for heaven's sake,
+ and tell me what you think, and try what you can do. Don't lose a
+ train after you get this, but come directly--oh, come if you ever
+ loved any of us. I don't know what he means, but he says the most
+ awful things; and if he is not _mad_, as I sometimes hope, he has
+ forgotten his duty to his family and to me, which is far worse. I
+ can't explain more; but if there is any chance of anybody doing him
+ good, it is you. I beg you, on my knees, come directly, dear Frank. I
+ never was in such a state in my life. I shall be left so that nobody
+ will be able to tell what I am; and my heart is bursting. Never mind
+ business or anything; but come, come directly, whether it is night or
+ day, to your broken-hearted sister,
+
+ "LOUISA."
+
+ "_P.S._--In great haste, and _so_ anxious to see you."
+
+Half an hour after, Mr Wentworth, with a travelling-bag in his hand, was
+once more hastening up Grange Lane towards the railway station. His face
+was somewhat grey, as the lamps shone on it. He did not exactly know
+what he was anxious about, nor what might have happened at Wentworth
+Rectory before he could get there; but the express train felt slow to
+his anxious thoughts as it flashed out of the station. Mr Morgan and his
+wife were in their garden, talking about the encounter in Prickett's
+Lane, when the train plunged past, waking all the echoes; and Mrs
+Morgan, by way of making a diversion, appealed to the Rector about those
+creepers, with which she hoped in a year or two to shut out the sight of
+the railway. "The Virginian creeper would be the best," said the
+Rector's wife; and they went in to calculate the expenses of bringing Mr
+Wentworth before Dr Lushington. Miss Dora, at very nearly the same
+moment, was confiding to her sister Cecilia, under vows of secrecy, the
+terrible sight she had seen from the summer-house window. They went to
+bed with very sad hearts in consequence, both these good women. In the
+mean time, leaving all these gathering clouds behind him, leaving his
+reputation and his work to be discussed and quarrelled over as they
+might, the Perpetual Curate rushed through the night, his heart aching
+with trouble and anxiety, to help, if he could--and if not, at least to
+stand by--Gerald, in this unknown crisis of his brother's life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Miss Dora Wentworth rose very unrefreshed next morning from her
+disturbed slumbers. It was hard to sit at breakfast with Leonora, and
+not betray to her the new anxiety; and the troubled sister ran into a
+countless number of digressions, which would have inevitably betrayed
+her had not Miss Leonora been at the moment otherwise occupied. She
+had her little budget of letters as usual, and some of them were more
+than ordinarily interesting. She too had a favourite district, which
+was in London, and where also a great work was going on; and her
+missionary, and her Scripture-readers, and her colporteur were all in
+a wonderful state of excitement about a new gin-palace which was being
+fitted out and decorated in the highest style of art on the borders of
+their especial domain. They were moving heaven and earth to prevent
+this temple of Satan from being licensed; and some of them were so
+very certain of the Divine acquiescence in their measures, that they
+announced the success of their exertions to be a test of the
+faithfulness of God; which Miss Leonora read out to her sisters as an
+instance of very touching and beautiful faith. Miss Wentworth,
+perhaps, was not so clear on that subject. During the course of her
+silent life, she had prayed for various things which it had not been
+God's pleasure to grant; and just now she, too, was very anxious about
+Frank, who seemed to be in a bad way; so she rather shook her head
+gently, though she did not contravene the statement, and concluded
+with sadness that the government of the earth might still go on as
+usual, and God's goodness remain as certain as ever, even though the
+public-house was licensed, or Frank did fall away. This was the
+teaching of experience; but aunt Cecilia did not utter it, for that
+was not her way. As for Miss Dora, she agreed in all the colporteur's
+sentiments, and thought them beautiful, as Leonora said, and was not
+much disturbed by any opinion of her own, expressed or unexpressed,
+but interspersed her breakfast with little sighing ejaculations of the
+temptations of the world, and how little one knew what was passing
+around one, and "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
+fall," which could not have failed to attract Miss Leonora's
+attention, and draw forth the whole story of her sister's suspicions,
+had not that quick-witted iron-grey woman been, as we have already
+mentioned, too deeply engaged. Perhaps her nephew's imaginary
+backsliding might have excited even Miss Leonora to an interest deeper
+than that which was awakened by the new gin-palace; but as it
+happened, it was the humbler intelligence alone which occupied itself
+with the supposed domestic calamity. Miss Dora's breakfast was
+affected by it in a way which did not appear in the morning meal of
+her sister; for somehow the most fervent love of souls seldom takes
+away the appetite, as the love of some unlucky individual occasionally
+does.
+
+When breakfast was over, Miss Dora made a very elaborate excuse for
+going out by herself. She wanted to match some wool for a blanket she
+was making, "For Louisa's baby," the devoted aunt said, with a little
+tremor. "Poor Louisa! if Gerald were to go any further, you know, it
+would be so sad for her; and one would like to help to keep up her
+heart, poor dear, as much as one could."
+
+"By means of a blanket for the bassinet in scarlet and white," said
+Miss Leonora; "but it's quite the kind of comfort for Louisa. I wonder
+if she ever had the smallest inkling what kind of a husband she has
+got. I don't think Frank is far wrong about Gerald, though I don't pin
+my faith to my nephew's judgment. I daresay he'll go mad or do worse
+with all those crotchets of his--but what he married Louisa for has
+always been a mystery to me."
+
+"I suppose because he was very fond of her," suggested Miss Dora, with
+humility.
+
+"But why was he fond of her?--a goose!" said the strong-minded sister,
+and so went about her letter-writing without further comment, leaving
+aunt Dora to pursue her independent career. It was with a feeling of
+relief, and yet of guilt, that this timid inquirer set forth on her
+mission, exchanging a sympathetic significant look with Miss Wentworth
+before she went out. If she should meet Frank at the door, looking
+dignified and virtuous, what could she possibly say to him? and yet,
+perhaps, he had only been imprudent, and did not mean anything. Miss
+Dora looked round her on both sides, up and down Grange Lane, as she
+went out into the lovely summer morning. Neither Frank nor any other
+soul, except some nurse-maids, was to be seen along the whole line of
+sunny road. She was relieved, yet she was disappointed at the same
+time, and went slowly up towards Elsworthy's shop, saying to herself
+that she was sure Frank could not mean anything. It must have been
+that forward little thing herself who had come up to him when he was
+out for his walk, or it must have been an accident. But then she
+remembered that she had heard the Curate call Rosa pretty; and Miss
+Dora wondered within herself what it mattered whether she was pretty
+or not, and what he had to do with it, and shook her head over the
+strange way men had of finding out such things. For her own part, she
+was sure she never looked whether the girl was pretty or not; and the
+anxious aunt had just come round again, by a very circuitous and
+perplexing course, to her original sentiment, and strengthened herself
+in the thought that her dear Frank could not mean anything, when she
+reached Elsworthy's door.
+
+That worthy trader was himself behind the counter, managing matters
+with his usual exactness. Berlin wool was one of the articles Mr
+Elsworthy dealt in, besides newspapers, and books when they were
+ordered. Miss Dora, who wore no crinoline, stumbled over her dress in
+her agitation as she went in, and saw, at the first glance, little
+Rosa, looking very blooming and pretty, tying up a parcel at the other
+end of the shop. The poor lady did not know how to enter upon so
+difficult a question. She offered her wool humbly to be matched, and
+listened to Mr Elsworthy's sentiments on the subject. He told her how
+he always had his wools from the best houses in London, and could
+match anything as was ever made in that line, and was proud to say as
+he always gave satisfaction. Miss Dora could not see any opening for
+the inquiries she hoped to make; for how was it possible to intimate
+the possibility of disapproval to an establishment so perfect in all
+its arrangements? The probabilities are, that she would have gone away
+without saying anything, had not Mr Elsworthy himself given her a
+chance.
+
+"Miss Wodehouse has been my great help," said the shopkeeper; "she is
+the nicest lady, is Miss Wodehouse, in all Carlingford. I do respect
+them people; they've had their troubles, like most families, but there
+aint many as can lay their finger on the skeleton as is in their
+cupboard: they've kept things close, and there aint a many as knows;
+but Miss Wodehouse has spoke up for me, ma'am, right and left, and
+most persons as count for anything in Carlingford gets their fancy
+articles out o' my shop. Mr Wentworth, ma'am, our respected clergyman,
+gets all his papers of me--and partickler he is to a degree--and
+likes to have 'em first thing afore they're opened out o' the parcel.
+It's the way with gentlemen when they're young. Mostly people aint so
+partickler later in life--not as I could tell the reason why, unless
+it may be that folks gets used to most things, and stop looking for
+anything new. But there aint a many young gentlemen like our
+clergyman, though I say it as shouldn't," continued Mr Elsworthy, with
+a little effusion, as he succeeded in finding an exact match for the
+scarlet wool.
+
+"And why shouldn't you say it, Mr Elsworthy?" said Miss Dora, a little
+tartly; "you are not in any way particularly connected with my
+nephew." Here she gave an angry glance at Rosa, who had drawn near to
+listen, having always in her vain little heart a certain palpitation
+at Mr Wentworth's name.
+
+"I ask your pardon, ma'am; I'm clerk at St Roque's. It aint often as
+we have the pleasure of seeing you there--more's the pity," said the
+church official, "though I may say there aint a church as perfect, or
+where the duty is performed more beautiful, in all the country; and
+there never was a clergyman as had the people's good at heart like Mr
+Wentworth--not in my time. It aint no matter whether you're rich or
+poor, young or old, if there's a service as can be done to ever a one
+in his way, our clergyman is the man to do it. Why, no further gone
+than last night, ma'am, if you'll believe me, that little girl
+there--"
+
+"Yes," said Miss Dora, eagerly, looking with what was intended to be a
+very stern and forbidding aspect in the little girl's face.
+
+"She was a-coming up Grange Lane in the dark," said Mr Elsworthy--"not
+as there was any need, and me keeping two boys, but she likes a run
+out of an evening--when Mr Wentworth see her, and come up to her. It
+aint what many men would have done," said the admiring but unlucky
+adherent of the suspected Curate: "he come up, seeing as she was by
+herself, and walked by her, and gave her a deal of good advice, and
+brought her home. Her aunt and me was struck all of a heap to see the
+clergyman a-standing at our door. 'I've brought Rosa home,' he said,
+making believe a bit sharp. 'Don't send her out no more so late at
+night,' and was off like a shot, not waiting for no thanks. It's my
+opinion as there aint many such gentlemen. I can't call to mind as I
+ever met with his fellow before."
+
+"But a young creature like that ought not to have been out so late,"
+said Miss Dora, trying to harden herself into severity. "I wonder very
+much that you like to walk up Grange Lane in the dark. I should think
+it very unpleasant, for my part; and I am sure I would not allow it,
+Mr Elsworthy," she said firmly, "if such a girl belonged to me."
+
+"But, please, I wasn't walking up Grange Lane," said Rosa, with some
+haste. "I was at Mrs Hadwin's, where Mr Wentworth lives. I am sure I
+did not want to trouble him," said the little beauty, recovering her
+natural spirit as she went on, "but he insisted on walking with me; it
+was all his own doing. I am sure I didn't want him;" and here Rosa
+broke off abruptly, with a consciousness in her heart that she was
+being lectured. She rushed to her defensive weapons by natural
+instinct, and grew crimson all over her pretty little face, and
+flashed lightning out of her eyes, which at the same time were not
+disinclined to tears. All this Miss Dora made note of with a sinking
+heart.
+
+"Do you mean to say that you went to Mrs Hadwin's to see Mr
+Wentworth?" asked that unlucky inquisitor, with a world of horror in
+her face.
+
+"I went with the papers," said Rosa, "and I--I met him in the garden.
+I am sure it wasn't my fault," said the girl, bursting into petulant
+tears. "Nobody has any occasion to scold me. It was Mr Wentworth as
+would come;" and Rosa sobbed, and lighted up gleams of defiance behind
+her tears. Miss Dora sat looking at her with a very troubled, pale
+face. She thought all her fears were true, and matters worse than she
+imagined; and being quite unused to private inquisitions, of course
+she took all possible steps to create the scandal for which she had
+come to look.
+
+"Did you ever meet him in the garden before?" asked Miss Dora,
+painfully, in a low voice. During this conversation Mr Elsworthy had
+been looking on, perplexed, not perceiving the drift of the
+examination. He roused himself up to answer now--a little alarmed, to
+tell the truth, by the new lights thrown on the subject, and vexed to
+see how unconsciously far both the women had gone.
+
+"It aint easy to go into a house in Grange Lane without meeting of
+some one in the garden," said Mr Elsworthy; "not as I mean to say it
+was the right thing for Rosa to be going them errands after dark. My
+orders is against that, as she knows; and what's the good of keeping
+two boys if things isn't to be done at the right time? Mr Wentworth
+himself was a-reproving of me for sending out Rosa, as it might be the
+last time he was here; for she's one of them as sits in the chancel
+and helps in the singing, and he feels an interest in her, natural,"
+said the apologetic clerk. Miss Dora gave him a troubled look, but
+took no further notice of his speech. She thought, with an instinctive
+contempt for the masculine spectator, that it was impossible he could
+know anything about it, and pursued her own wiser way.
+
+"It is very wrong of you--a girl in your position," said Miss Dora, as
+severely as she could in her soft old voice, "to be seen walking about
+with a gentleman, even when he is your clergyman, and, of course, has
+nothing else in his head. Young men don't think anything of it," said
+the rash but timid preacher; "of course it was only to take care of you,
+and keep you out of harm's way. But then you ought to think what a
+trouble it was to Mr Wentworth, taking him away from his studies--and it
+is not nice for a young girl like you." Miss Dora paused to take breath,
+not feeling quite sure in her own mind whether this was the right thing
+to say. Perhaps it would have been better to have disbelieved the fact
+altogether, and declared it impossible. She was much troubled about it,
+as she stood looking into the flushed tearful face, with all that light
+of defiance behind the tears, and felt instinctively that little Rosa,
+still only a pretty, obstinate, vain, uneducated little girl, was more
+than a match for herself, with all her dearly-won experiences. The
+little thing was bristling with a hundred natural weapons and defences,
+against which Miss Dora's weak assault had no chance.
+
+"If it was a trouble, he need not have come," said Rosa, more and more
+convinced that Mr Wentworth must certainly have meant something. "I am
+sure _I_ did not want him. He insisted on coming, though I begged him
+not. I don't know why I should be spoke to like this," cried the little
+coquette, with tears, "for I never was one as looked at a gentleman;
+it's them," with a sob, "as comes after me."
+
+"Rosa," said Mr Elsworthy, much alarmed, "your aunt is sure to be
+looking out for you, and I don't want you here, not now; nor I don't
+want you again for errands, and don't you forget. If it hadn't been that
+Mr Wentworth thought you a silly little thing, and had a kind feeling
+for my missis and me, you don't think he'd have took that charge of
+you?--and I won't have my clergyman, as has always been good to me and
+mine, made a talk of. You'll excuse me, ma'am," he said, in an under
+tone, as Rosa reluctantly went away--not to her aunt, however, but again
+to her parcel at the other end of the shop--"she aint used to being
+talked to. She's but a child, and don't know no better: and after all,"
+said Rosa's uncle, with a little pride, "she is a tender-hearted little
+thing--she don't know no better, ma'am; she's led away by a kind
+word--for nobody can say but she's wonderful pretty, as is very plain to
+see."
+
+"Is she?" said Miss Dora, following the little culprit to the
+back-counter with disenchanted eyes. "Then you had better take all the
+better care of her, Mr Elsworthy," she said, with again a little
+asperity. The fact was, that Miss Dora had behaved very injudiciously,
+and was partly aware of it; and then this prettiness of little Rosa's,
+even though it shone at the present moment before her, was not so plain
+to her old-maidenly eyes. She did not make out why everybody was so sure
+of it, nor what it mattered; and very probably, if she could have had
+her own way, would have liked to give the little insignificant thing a
+good shake, and asked her how she dared to attract the eye of the
+Perpetual Curate. As she could not do this, however, Miss Dora gathered
+up her wool, and refused to permit Mr Elsworthy to send it home for her.
+"I can carry it quite well myself," said the indignant little woman. "I
+am sure you must have a great deal too much for your boys to do, or you
+would not send your niece about with the things. But if you will take my
+advice, Mr Elsworthy," said Miss Dora, "you will take care of that poor
+little thing: she will be getting ridiculous notions into her head;" and
+aunt Dora went out of the shop with great solemnity, quite unaware that
+she had done more to put ridiculous notions into Rosa's head than could
+have got there by means of a dozen darkling walks by the side of the
+majestic Curate, who never paid her any compliments. Miss Dora went away
+more than ever convinced in her mind that Frank had forgotten himself
+and his position, and everything that was fit and seemly. She jumped to
+a hundred horrible conclusions as she went sadly across Grange Lane with
+her scarlet wool in her hand. What Leonora would say to such an
+irremediable folly?--and how the Squire would receive his son after such
+a _mesalliance_? "He might change his views," said poor Miss Dora to
+herself, "but he could not change his wife;" and it was poor comfort to
+call Rosa a designing little wretch, and to reflect that Frank at first
+could not have meant anything. The poor lady had a bad headache, and was
+in a terribly depressed condition all day. When she saw from the window
+of her summer-house the pretty figure of Lucy Wodehouse in her grey
+cloak pass by, she sank into tears and melancholy reflections. But then
+Lucy Wodehouse's views were highly objectionable, and she bethought
+herself of Julia Trench, who had long ago been selected by the sisters
+as the clergyman's wife of Skelmersdale. Miss Dora shook her head over
+the blanket she was knitting for Louisa's baby, thinking of clergymen's
+wives in general, and the way in which marriages came about. Who had the
+ordering of these inexplicable accidents? It was surely not Providence,
+but some tricky imp or other who loved confusion; and then Miss Dora
+paused with compunction, and hoped she would be forgiven for
+entertaining, even for one passing moment, such a wicked, wicked
+thought.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+On the afternoon of the same day Mr Morgan went home late, and
+frightened his wife out of her propriety by the excitement and trouble
+in his face. He could do nothing but groan as he sat down in the
+drawing-room, where she had just been gathering her work together, and
+putting stray matters in order, before she went up-stairs to make
+herself tidy for dinner. The Rector paid no attention to the fact that
+the dinner-hour was approaching, and only shook his head and repeated
+his groan when she asked him anxiously what was the matter. The good
+man was too much flushed and heated and put out, to be able at first
+to answer her questions.
+
+"Very bad, very bad," he said, when he had recovered sufficient
+composure--"far worse than I feared. My dear, I am afraid the
+beginning of my work in Carlingford will be for ever associated with
+pain to us both. I am discouraged and distressed beyond measure by
+what I have heard to-day."
+
+"Dear William, tell me what it is," said the Rector's wife.
+
+"I feared it was a bad business from the first," said the disturbed
+Rector. "I confess I feared, when I saw a young man so regardless of
+lawful authority, that his moral principles must be defective, but I
+was not prepared for what I have heard to-day. My dear, I am sorry to
+grieve you with such a story; but as you are sure to hear it, perhaps
+it is better that you should have the facts from me."
+
+"It must be about Mr Wentworth," said Mrs Morgan. She was sorry; for
+though she had given in to her husband's vehemence, she herself in her
+own person had always been prepossessed in favour of the Perpetual
+Curate; but she was also sensible of a feeling of relief to know that
+the misfortune concerned Mr Wentworth, and was not specially connected
+with themselves.
+
+"Yes, it's about Mr Wentworth," said the Rector. He wiped his face,
+which was red with haste and exhaustion, and shook his head. He was
+sincerely shocked and grieved, to do him justice; but underneath there
+was also a certain satisfaction in the thought that he had foreseen
+it, and that his suspicions were verified. "My dear, I am very glad he
+had not become intimate in our house," said Mr Morgan; "that would
+have complicated matters sadly. I rejoice that your womanly instincts
+prevented that inconvenience;" and as the Rector began to recover
+himself, he looked more severe than ever.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Morgan, with hesitation; for the truth was, that her
+womanly instincts had pronounced rather distinctly in favour of the
+Curate of St Roque's. "I hope he has not done anything very wrong,
+William. I should be very sorry; for I think he has very good
+qualities," said the Rector's wife. "We must not let our personal
+objections prejudice us in respect to his conduct otherwise. I am sure
+you are the last to do that."
+
+"I have never known an insubordinate man who was a perfect moral
+character," said the Rector. "It is very discouraging altogether; and
+you thought he was engaged to Wodehouse's pretty daughter, didn't you?
+I hope not--I sincerely hope not. That would make things doubly bad;
+but, to be sure, when a man is faithless to his most sacred
+engagements, there is very little dependence to be placed on him in
+other respects."
+
+"But you have not told me what it is," said the Rector's wife, with
+some anxiety; and she spoke the more hastily as she saw the shadow of
+a curate--Mr Morgan's own curate, who must inevitably be invited to
+stop to dinner--crossing the lawn as she spoke. She got up and went a
+little nearer the window to make sure. "There is Mr Leeson," she said,
+with some vexation. "I must run up-stairs and get ready for dinner.
+Tell me what it is!"
+
+Upon which the Rector, with some circumlocution, described the
+appalling occurrence of the previous night,--how Mr Wentworth had
+walked home with little Rosa Elsworthy from his own house to hers, as
+had, of course, been seen by various people. The tale had been told
+with variations, which did credit to the ingenuity of Carlingford; and
+Mr Morgan's version was that they had walked arm in arm, in the
+closest conversation, and at an hour which was quite unseemly for such
+a little person as Rosa to be abroad. The excellent Rector gave the
+story with strong expressions of disapproval; for he was aware of
+having raised his wife's expectations, and had a feeling, as he
+related them, that the circumstances, after all, were scarcely
+sufficiently horrifying to justify his preamble. Mrs Morgan listened
+with one ear towards the door, on the watch for Mr Leeson's knock.
+
+"Was that all?" said the sensible woman. "I think it very likely it
+might be explained. I suppose Mr Leeson must have stopped to look at
+my ferns; he is very tiresome with his botany. That was all! Dear, I
+think it might be explained. I can't fancy Mr Wentworth is a man to
+commit himself in that way--if that is all!" said Mrs Morgan; "but I
+must run up-stairs to change my dress."
+
+"That was not all," said the Rector, following her to the door. "It is
+said that this sort of thing has been habitual, my dear. He takes the
+'Evening Mail,' you know, all to himself, instead of having the
+'Times' like other people, and she carries it down to his house, and I
+hear of meetings in the garden, and a great deal that is very
+objectionable," said Mr Morgan, speaking very fast in order to deliver
+himself before the advent of Mr Leeson. "I'm afraid it is a very bad
+business. I don't know what to do about it. I suppose I must ask
+Leeson to stay to dinner? It is absurd of him to come at six o'clock."
+
+"Meetings in the garden?" said Mrs Morgan, aghast. "I don't feel as if
+I could believe it. There is that tiresome man at last. Do as you
+like, dear, about asking him to stay; but I must make my escape," and
+the Rector's wife hastened up-stairs, divided between vexation about
+Mr Leeson and regret at the news she had just heard. She put on her
+dress rather hastily, and was conscious of a little ill-temper, for
+which she was angry with herself; and the haste of her toilette, and
+the excitement under which she laboured, aggravated unbecomingly that
+redness of which Mrs Morgan was painfully sensible. She was not at all
+pleased with her own appearance as she looked in the glass. Perhaps
+that sense of looking not so well as usual brought back to her mind a
+troublesome and painful idea, which recurred to her not unfrequently
+when she was in any trouble. The real Rector to whom she was married
+was so different from the ideal one who courted her; could it be
+possible, if they had married in their youth instead of now, that her
+husband would have been less open to the ill-natured suggestions of
+the gossips in Carlingford, and less jealous of the interferences of
+his young neighbour? It was hard to think that all the self-denial and
+patience of the past had done more harm than good; but though she was
+conscious of his defects, she was very loyal to him, and resolute to
+stand by him whatever he might do or say; though Mrs Morgan's "womanly
+instincts," which the Rector had quoted, were all on Mr Wentworth's
+side, and convinced her of his innocence to start with. On the whole,
+she was annoyed and uncomfortable; what with Mr Leeson's intrusion
+(which had occurred three or four times before, and which Mrs Morgan
+felt it her duty to check) and the Rector's uncharitableness, and her
+own insufficient time to dress, and the disagreeable heightening of
+her complexion, the Rector's wife felt in rather an unchristian frame
+of mind. She did not look well, and she did not feel better. She was
+terribly civil to the Curate when she went down-stairs, and snubbed
+him in the most unqualified way when he too began to speak about Mr
+Wentworth. "It does not seem to me to be at all a likely story," she
+said, courageously, and took away Mr Leeson's breath.
+
+"But I hear a very unfavourable general account," said the Rector, who
+was almost equally surprised. "I hear he has been playing fast and loose
+with that very pretty person, Miss Wodehouse, and that her friends begin
+to be indignant. It is said that he has not been nearly so much there
+lately, but, on the contrary, always going to Elsworthy's, and has
+partly educated this little thing. My dear, one false step leads to
+another. I am not so incredulous as you are. Perhaps I have studied
+human nature a little more closely, and I know that error is always
+fruitful;--that is my experience," said Mr Morgan. His wife did not say
+anything in answer to this deliverance, but she lay in wait for the
+Curate, as was natural, and had her revenge upon him as soon as his ill
+fate prompted him to back the Rector out.
+
+"I am afraid Mr Wentworth had always too much confidence in himself,"
+said the unlucky individual who was destined to be scapegoat on this
+occasion; "and as you very justly observe, one wrong act leads to
+another. He has thrown himself among the bargemen on such an equal
+footing that I daresay he has got to like that kind of society. I
+shouldn't be surprised to find that Rosa Elsworthy suited him better
+than a lady with refined tastes."
+
+"Mr Wentworth is a gentleman," said the Rector's wife, with emphasis,
+coming down upon the unhappy Leeson in full battle array. "I don't think
+he would go into the poorest house, if it were even a bargeman's,
+without the same respect of the privacy of the family as is customary
+among--persons of our own class, Mr Leeson. I can't tell how wrong or
+how foolish he may have been, of course--but that he couldn't behave to
+anybody in a disrespectful manner, or show himself intrusive, or forget
+the usages of good society," said Mrs Morgan, who was looking all the
+time at the unfortunate Curate, "I am perfectly convinced."
+
+It was this speech which made Mr Morgan "speak seriously," as he
+called it, later the same night, to his wife, about her manner to poor
+Leeson, who was totally extinguished, as was to be expected. Mrs
+Morgan busied herself among her flowers all the evening, and could not
+be caught to be admonished until it was time for prayers: so that it
+was in the sacred retirement of her own chamber that the remonstrance
+was delivered at last. The Rector said he was very sorry to find that
+she still gave way to temper in a manner that was unbecoming in a
+clergyman's wife; he was surprised, after all her experience, and the
+way in which they had both been schooled in patience, to find she had
+still to learn that lesson: upon which Mrs Morgan, who had been
+thinking much on the subject, broke forth upon her husband in a manner
+totally unprecedented, and which took the amazed Rector altogether by
+surprise.
+
+"Oh, William, if we had only forestalled the lesson, and been _less_
+prudent!" she cried in a womanish way, which struck the Rector dumb
+with astonishment; "if we hadn't been afraid to marry ten years ago,
+but gone into life when we were young, and fought through it like so
+many people, don't you think it would have been better for us? Neither
+you nor I would have minded what gossips said, or listened to a pack
+of stories when we were five-and-twenty. I think I was better then
+than I am now," said the Rector's wife. Though she filled that
+elevated position, she was only a woman, subject to outbreaks of
+sudden passion, and liable to tears like the rest. Mr Morgan looked
+very blank at her as she sat there crying, sobbing with the force of a
+sentiment which was probably untranslatable to the surprised,
+middle-aged man. He thought it must be her nerves which were in fault
+somehow, and though much startled, did not inquire farther into it,
+having a secret feeling in his heart that the less that was said the
+better on that subject. So he did what his good angel suggested to
+him, kissed his wife, and said he was well aware what heavy calls he
+had made upon her patience, and soothed her the best way that occurred
+to him. "But you were very hard upon poor Leeson, my dear," said the
+Rector, with his puzzled look, when she had regained her composure.
+Perhaps she was disappointed that she had not been able to convey her
+real meaning to her husband's matter-of-fact bosom; at all events, Mrs
+Morgan recovered herself immediately, and flashed forth with all the
+lively freshness of a temper in its first youth.
+
+"He deserved a great deal more than I said to him," said the Rector's
+wife. "It might be an advantage to take the furniture, as it was all
+new, though it is a perpetual vexation to me, and worries me out of my
+life; but there was no need to take the curate, that I can see. What
+right has he to come day after day at your dinner-hour? he knows we
+dine at six as well as we do ourselves; and I do believe he knows what
+we have for dinner," exclaimed the incensed mistress of the house;
+"for he always makes his appearance when we have anything he likes. I
+hope I know my duty, and can put up with what cannot be mended,"
+continued Mrs Morgan, with a sigh, and a mental reference to the
+carpet in the drawing-room; "but there are some things really that
+would disturb the temper of an angel. I don't know anybody that could
+endure the sight of a man always coming unasked to dinner;--and he to
+speak of Mr Wentworth, who, if he were the greatest sinner in the
+world, is _always_ a gentleman!" Mrs Morgan broke off with a sparkle
+in her eye, which showed that she had neither exhausted the subject,
+nor was ashamed of herself; and the Rector wisely retired from the
+controversy. He went to bed, and slept, good man, and dreamt that Sir
+Charles Grandison had come to be his curate in place of Mr Leeson; and
+when he woke, concluded quietly that Mrs Morgan had "experienced a
+little attack on the nerves," as he explained afterwards to Dr
+Marjoribanks. Her compunctions, her longings after the lost life they
+might have lived together, her wistful womanish sense of the
+impoverished existence, deprived of so many experiences, on which they
+had entered in the dry maturity of their middle age, remained for ever
+a mystery to her faithful husband. He was very fond of her, and had a
+high respect for her character; but if she had spoken Sanscrit, he
+could not have had less understanding of the meaning her words were
+intended to convey.
+
+Notwithstanding, a vague idea that his wife was disposed to side with
+Mr Wentworth had penetrated the brain of the Rector, and was not
+without its results. He told her next morning, in his curt way, that
+he thought it would be best to wait a little before taking any steps
+in the Wharfside business. "If all I hear is true, we may have to
+proceed in a different way against the unhappy young man," said Mr
+Morgan, solemnly; and he took care to ascertain that Mr Leeson had an
+invitation somewhere else to dinner, which was doing the duty of a
+tender husband, as everybody will allow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+"I want to know what all this means about young Wentworth," said Mr
+Wodehouse. "He's gone off, it appears, in a hurry, nobody knows where.
+Well, so they say. To his brother's, is it? _I_ couldn't know that;
+but look here--that's not all, nor nearly all--they say he meets that
+little Rosa at Elsworthy's every night, and walks home with her, and
+all that sort of thing. I tell you I don't know--that's what people
+say. You ought to understand all the rights of it, you two girls. I
+confess I thought it was Lucy he was after, for my part--and a very
+bad match, too, and one I should never have given my consent to. And
+then there is another fine talk about some fellow he's got at his
+house. What's the matter, Molly?--she looks as if she was going to
+faint."
+
+"Oh no," said Miss Wodehouse, faintly; "and I don't believe a word
+about Rosa Elsworthy," she said, with sudden impetuosity, a minute
+after. "I am sure Mr Wentworth could vindicate himself whenever he
+likes. I daresay the one story is just as true as the other; but
+then," said the gentle elder sister, turning with anxious looks
+towards Lucy, "he is proud, as is natural; and I shouldn't think he
+would enter into explanations if he thought people did not trust him
+without them."
+
+"That is all stuff," said Mr Wodehouse; "why should people trust him? I
+don't understand trusting a man in all sorts of equivocal circumstances,
+because he's got dark eyes, &c., and a handsome face--which seems _your_
+code of morality; but I thought he was after Lucy--that was my
+belief--and I want to know if it's all off."
+
+"It never was on, papa," said Lucy, in her clearest voice. "I have been
+a great deal in the district, you know, and Mr Wentworth and I could not
+help meeting each other; that is all about it: but people must always
+have something to talk about in Carlingford. I hope you don't think I
+and Rosa Elsworthy could go together," she went on, turning round to him
+with a smile. "I don't think that would be much of a compliment;" and,
+saying this, Lucy went to get her work out of its usual corner, and sat
+down opposite to her father, with a wonderfully composed face. She was
+so composed, indeed, that any interested beholder might have been
+justified in thinking that the work suffered in consequence, for it
+seemed to take nearly all Lucy's strength and leisure to keep up that
+look.
+
+"Oh!" said Mr Wodehouse, "that's how it was? Then I wonder why that
+confounded puppy came here so constantly? I don't like that sort of
+behaviour. Don't you go into the district any more and meet
+him--that's all I've got to say."
+
+"Because of Rosa Elsworthy?" said Lucy, with a little smile, which did
+not flicker naturally, but was apt to get fixed at the corners of her
+pretty mouth. "That would never do, papa. Mr Wentworth's private
+concerns are nothing to us; but, you know, there is a great work going
+on in the district, and _that_ can't be interfered with," said the young
+Sister of Mercy, looking up at him with a decision which Mr Wodehouse
+was aware he could make no stand against. And when she stopped speaking,
+Lucy did a little work, which was for the district too. All this time
+she was admitting to herself that she had been much startled by this
+news about Rosa Elsworthy,--much startled. To be sure, it was not like
+Mr Wentworth, and very likely it would impair his influence; and it was
+natural that any friend taking an interest in him and the district,
+should be taken a little aback by such news. Accordingly, Lucy sat a
+little more upright than usual, and was conscious that when she smiled,
+as she had just done, the smile did not glide off again in a natural
+way, but settled down into the lines of her face with a kind of spasmodic
+tenacity. She could do a great deal in the way of self-control, but she
+could not quite command these refractory muscles. Mr Wodehouse, who was
+not particularly penetrating, could not quite make her out; he saw there
+was something a little different from her ordinary look about his
+favourite child, but he had not insight enough to enable him to
+comprehend what it was.
+
+"And about his man who is staying at Mrs Hadwin's?" said the perplexed
+churchwarden; "does any one know who the fellow is? I don't understand
+how Wentworth has got into all this hot water in a moment. Here's the
+Rector in a state of fury,--and his aunts,--and now here's this little
+bit of scandal to crown all;--and who is this fellow in his house?"
+
+"It must be somebody he has taken in out of charity," said Miss
+Wodehouse, with tears in her eyes; "I am sure it is somebody whom he
+has opened his doors to out of Christian charity and the goodness of
+his heart. I don't understand how you can all desert him at the first
+word. All the years he has been here, you know there never was a
+whisper against him; and is it in reason to think he would go so far
+wrong all in a moment?" cried the faithful advocate of the Perpetual
+Curate. Her words were addressed to Mr Wodehouse, but her eyes sought
+Lucy, who was sitting very upright doing her work, without any leisure
+to look round. Lucy had quite enough to occupy her within herself at
+that emergency, and the tearful appeal of her elder sister had no
+effect upon her. As for Mr Wodehouse, he was more and more puzzled how
+to interpret these tears in his daughter's eyes.
+
+"I don't make it out at all," said the perplexed father, getting up to
+leave the room. "I hope _you_ weren't in love with him, Molly? you
+ought to have too much sense for that. A pretty mess he'll find when
+he comes home; but he must get out of it the best way he can, for _I_
+can't help him, at least. I don't mean to have him asked here any
+more--you understand, Lucy," he said, turning round at the door, with
+an emphatic creak of his boots. But Lucy had no mind to be seduced
+into any such confession of weakness.
+
+"You are always having everybody in Carlingford to dinner," said the
+young housekeeper, "and all the clergymen, even _that_ Mr Leeson; and
+I don't see why you should except Mr Wentworth, papa; he has done
+nothing wicked, so far as we know. I daresay he won't want to bring
+Rosa Elsworthy with him; and why shouldn't he be asked here?" said
+Lucy, looking full in his face with her bright eyes. Mr Wodehouse was
+entirely discomfited, and did not know what to say. "I wonder if you
+know what you mean yourselves, you women," he muttered; and then, with
+a shrug of his shoulders, and a hasty "settle it as you please," the
+churchwarden's boots creaked hastily out of the room, and out of the
+house.
+
+After this a dead silence fell upon the drawing-room and its two
+occupants. They did not burst forth into mutual comment upon this last
+piece of Carlingford news, as they would have done under any other
+circumstances; on the contrary, they bent over their several occupations
+with quite an unusual devotion, not exchanging so much as a look. Lucy,
+over her needlework, was the steadiest of the two; she was still at the
+same point in her thoughts, owning to herself that she was startled, and
+indeed shocked, by what she had heard--that it was a great pity for Mr
+Wentworth; perhaps that it was not quite what might have been expected
+of him,--and then she checked herself, and went back again to her
+original acknowledgment. To tell the truth, though she assured herself
+that she had nothing to do with it, a strange sense of having just
+passed through an unexpected illness, lay underneath Lucy's composure.
+It was none of her business, to be sure, but she could not help feeling
+as if she had just had a fever, or some other sudden unlooked-for
+attack, and that nobody knew of it, and that she must get well as best
+she could, without any help from without.
+
+It was quite half an hour before Miss Wodehouse got up from the
+knitting which she had spoiled utterly, trying to take up the dropped
+stitches with her trembling fingers, and dropping others by every
+effort she made. The poor lady went wistfully about the room,
+wandering from corner to corner, as if in search of something; at last
+she took courage to speak, when she found herself behind her young
+sister. "Dear, I am sure it is not true," said Miss Wodehouse,
+suddenly, with a little sob; and then she came close to Lucy's chair,
+and put her hand timidly upon her sister's shoulder. "Think how many
+good things you two have done together, dear; and is it likely you are
+to be parted like this?" said the injudicious comforter. It felt
+rather like another attack of fever to Lucy, as unexpected as the
+last.
+
+"Don't speak so, please," said the poor girl, with a momentary shiver.
+"It is about Mr Wentworth you mean?" she went on, after a little,
+without turning her head. "I--am sorry, of course. I am afraid it will
+do him--harm," and then she made a pause, and stumbled over her sewing
+with fingers which felt feeble and powerless to the very tips--all on
+account of this fever she had had. "But I don't know any reason why
+you and I should discuss it, Mary," she said, getting up in her turn,
+not quite sure whether she could stand at this early period of her
+convalescence, but resolved to try. "We are both Mr Wentworth's
+friends--and we need not say any harm of him. I have to get something
+out of the storeroom for to-night."
+
+"But, Lucy," said the tender, trembling sister, who did not know how
+to be wise and silent, "_I_ trust him, and _you_ don't. Oh, my dear,
+it will break my heart. I know some part of it is not true. I know one
+thing in which he is quite--quite innocent. Oh, Lucy, my darling, if
+you distrust him it will be returning evil for good!" cried poor Miss
+Wodehouse, with tears. As for Lucy, she did not quite know what her
+sister said. She only felt that it was cruel to stop her, and look at
+her, and talk to her; and there woke up in her mind a fierce sudden
+spark of resistance to the intolerable.
+
+"Why do you hold me? I may have been ill, but I can stand well enough
+by myself," cried Lucy, to her sister's utter bewilderment. "That is,
+I--I mean, I have other things to attend to," she cried, breaking into
+a few hot tears of mortification over this self-betrayal; and so went
+away in a strange glow and tremble of sudden passion, such as had
+never been seen before in that quiet house. She went direct to the
+storeroom, as she had said, and got out what was wanted; and only
+after that was done permitted herself to go up to her own room, and
+turn the key in her door. Though she was a Sister of Mercy, and much
+beloved in Prickett's Lane, she was still but one of Eve's poor
+petulant women-children, and had it in her to fly at an intruder on
+her suffering, like any other wounded creature. But she did not make
+any wild demonstration of her pain, even when shut up thus in her
+fortress. She sat down on the sofa, in a kind of dull heaviness,
+looking into vacancy. She was not positively thinking of Mr Wentworth,
+or of any one thing in particular. She was only conscious of a
+terrible difference somehow in everything about her--in the air which
+choked her breathing, and the light which blinded her eyes. When she
+came to herself a little, she said over and over, half-aloud, that
+everything was just the same as it had always been, and that to her at
+least nothing had happened; but that declaration, though made with
+vehemence, did not alter matters. The world altogether had sustained a
+change. The light that was in it was darkened, and the heart stilled.
+All at once, instead of a sweet spontaneous career, providing for its
+own wants day by day, life came to look like something which required
+such an amount of courage and patience and endurance as Lucy had not
+at hand to support her in the way; and her heart failed her at the
+moment when she found this out.
+
+Notwithstanding, the people who dined at Mr Wodehouse's that night
+thought it a very agreeable little party, and more than once repeated
+the remark, so familiar to most persons in society in Carlingford--that
+Wodehouse's parties were the pleasantest going, though he himself was
+humdrum enough. Two or three of the people present had heard the
+gossip about Mr Wentworth, and discussed it, as was natural, taking
+different views of the subject; and poor Miss Wodehouse took up his
+defence so warmly, and with such tearful vehemence, that there were
+smiles to be seen on several faces. As for Lucy, she made only a very
+simple remark on the subject. She said: "Mr Wentworth is a great
+friend of ours, and I think I would rather not hear any gossip about
+him." Of course there were one or two keen observers who put a subtle
+meaning to this, and knew what was signified by her looks and her ways
+all the evening; but, most likely, they were altogether mistaken in
+their suppositions, for nobody could possibly watch her so closely as
+did Miss Wodehouse, who know no more than the man in the moon, at the
+close of the evening, whether her young sister was very wretched or
+totally indifferent. The truth was certainly not to be discovered, for
+that night at least, in Lucy's looks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+The next afternoon there were signs of a considerable commotion in Mr
+Elsworthy's shop. Rosa had disappeared altogether, and Mrs Elsworthy,
+with an ominous redness on her cheeks, had taken the place generally
+held by that more agreeable little figure. All the symptoms of having
+been engaged in an affray from which she had retired not altogether
+victorious were in Mrs Elsworthy's face, and the errand-boys vanished
+from her neighbourhood with inconceivable rapidity, and found out little
+parcels to deliver which would have eluded their most anxious search in
+other circumstances. Mr Elsworthy himself occupied his usual place in
+the foreground, without the usual marks of universal content and
+satisfaction with all his surroundings which generally distinguished
+him. An indescribable appearance of having been recently snubbed hung
+about the excellent man, and his glances towards the back-shop, and the
+glances directed from the back-shop to him, told with sufficient
+significance the quarter from which his humiliation had proceeded. It
+had done him good, as such painful discipline generally does; for he was
+clearing out some drawers in which sundry quires of paper had broken
+loose and run into confusion, with the air of a man who ought to have
+done it weeks ago. As for the partner of his bosom, she was standing in
+the obscure distance behind the counter knitting a blue stocking, which
+was evidently intended for no foot but his. There was a chair close by,
+but Mrs Elsworthy disdained to sit down. She stood with her knitting in
+conscious power, now and then suffering a confession of her faith to
+escape her. "There's nothing as don't go contrary in this world," said
+the discontented wife, "when a man's a fool." It was hard upon Mr
+Elsworthy that his ears were sharp, and that he knew exactly what this
+agreeable murmur was. But he was wise in his generation, and made no
+reply.
+
+Things were in this condition when, of all persons in Carlingford, it
+occurred to Miss Leonora Wentworth to enter Mr Elsworthy's shop. Not
+that she was alone, or bent upon any errand of inquiry; for Miss
+Leonora seldom moved about unattended by her sisters, whom she felt it
+her duty to take out for exercise; and wonderfully enough, she had not
+found out yet what was the source of Miss Dora's mysteries and
+depression, having been still occupied meantime by her own "great
+work" in her London district, and the affair of the gin-palace, which
+was still undecided. She had been talking a great deal about this
+gin-palace for the last twenty-four hours; and to hear Miss Leonora,
+you might have supposed that all the powers of heaven must fail and be
+discomfited before this potent instrument of evil, and that, after
+all, Bibles and missionaries were much less effective than the
+stoppage of the licence, upon which all her agents were bent. At all
+events, such an object of interest had swept out from her thoughts the
+vague figure of her nephew Frank, and aunt Dora's mysterious anxieties
+on his account. When the three ladies approached Elsworthy's, the
+first thing that attracted their attention was Rosa, the little Rosa
+who had been banished from the shop, and whom Mrs Elsworthy believed
+to be expiating her sins in a back room, in tears and darkness;
+instead of which the little girl was looking out of her favourite
+window, and amusing herself much with all that was going on in Grange
+Lane. Though she was fluttered by the scolding she had received, Rosa
+only looked prettier than usual with her flushed cheeks; and so many
+things had been put into her nonsensical little head during the last
+two days, especially by her aunt's denunciations, that her sense of
+self-importance was very much heightened in consequence. She looked at
+the Miss Wentworths with a throb of mingled pride and alarm, wondering
+whether perhaps she might know more of them some day, if Mr Wentworth
+was really fond of her, as people said--which thought gave Rosa a
+wonderful sensation of awe and delighted vanity. Meanwhile the three
+Miss Wentworths looked at her with very diverse feelings. "I must
+speak to these people about that little girl, if nobody else has sense
+enough to do it," said Miss Leonora; "she is evidently going wrong as
+fast as she can, the little fool;" and the iron-grey sister went into
+Mr Elsworthy's in this perfectly composed and ordinary frame of mind,
+with her head full of the application which was to be made to the
+licensing magistrates today, in the parish of St Michael, and totally
+unaware that anybody belonging to herself could ever be connected with
+the incautious little coquette at the window. Miss Dora's feelings
+were very different. It was much against her will that she was going
+at all into this obnoxious shop, and the eyes which she hastily
+uplifted to the window and withdrew again with lively disgust and
+dislike, were both angry and tearful; "Little forward shameless
+thing," Miss Dora said to herself, with a little toss of her head. As
+for Miss Wentworth, it was not her custom to say anything--but she,
+too, looked up, and saw the pretty face at the window, and secretly
+concluded that it might all be quite true, and that she had known a
+young man make a fool of himself before now for such another. So they
+all went in, unwitting that they came at the end of a domestic
+hurricane, and that the waters were still in a state of disturbance.
+Miss Wentworth took the only chair, as was natural, and sat down
+sweetly to wait for Leonora, and Miss Dora lingered behind while her
+sister made her purchases. Miss Leonora wanted some books--
+
+"And I came here," she said, with engaging candour, "because I see no
+other shop in this part of the town except Masters's, which, of
+course, I would not enter. It is easy enough to do without books, but
+I can't afford to compromise my principles, Mr Elsworthy;" to which Mr
+Elsworthy had replied, "No, ma'am, of course not--such a thing aint to
+be expected;" with one eye upon his customer, and one upon his
+belligerent wife.
+
+"And, by the by, if you will permit me to speak about what does not
+concern me," said Miss Leonora cheerfully, "I think you should look
+after that little girl of yours more carefully;--recollect I don't
+mean any offence; but she's very pretty, you know, and very young, and
+vain, as a matter of course. I saw her the other evening going down
+Grange Lane, a great deal too late for such a creature to be out; and
+though I don't doubt, you are very particular where she goes--"
+
+It was at this conjuncture that Mrs Elsworthy, who could not keep
+silence any longer, broke in ardently, with all her knitting-needles
+in front of her, disposed like a kind of porcupine mail--
+
+"I'm well known in Carlingford--better known than most," said Mrs
+Elsworthy, with a sob; "such a thing as not being particular was never
+named to me. I strive and I toil from morning to night, as all things
+should be respectable and kep' in good order; but what's the good?
+Here's my heart broken, that's all; and Elsworthy standing gaping like
+a gaby as he is. There aint nothing as don't go contrairy, when folks
+is tied to a set of fools!" cried the indignant matron. "As for
+pretty, I don't know nothing about it; I've got too much to do minding
+my own business. Them as has nothing to think of but stand in the shop
+and twiddle their thumbs, ought to look to that; but, ma'am, if you'll
+believe me, it aint no fault of mine. It aint my will to throw her in
+any young gentleman's way; not to say a clergyman as we're bound to
+respect. Whatever you does, ladies,--and I shouldn't wonder at your
+taking away your custom, nor nothing else as was a punishment--don't
+blame me!"
+
+"But you forget, Mrs Elsworthy, that we have nothing to do with
+it,--nothing at all; my nephew knows very well what he is about," said
+Miss Dora, in injudicious haste. "Mr Wentworth is not at all likely to
+forget himself," continued that poor lady, getting confused as her
+sister turned round and stared at her. "Of course it was all out of
+kindness;--I--I know Frank did not mean anything," cried the
+unfortunate aunt. Leonora's look, as she turned round and fixed her
+eyes upon her, took away what little breath Miss Dora had.
+
+"Mr Wentworth?" asked Miss Leonora; "I should be glad to know, if
+anybody would inform me, what Mr Wentworth can possibly have to do
+with it? I daresay you misunderstood me; I said you were to look after
+that little girl--your niece, or whatever she is; I did not say
+anything about Mr Wentworth," said the strong-minded sister, looking
+round upon them all. For the moment she forgot all about the licence,
+and turned upon Mr Elsworthy with an emphasis which almost drive that
+troubled citizen to his knees.
+
+"That was how I understood it," said the clerk of St Roque's, humbly;
+"there wasn't nothing said about Mr Wentworth--nor there couldn't be
+as I know of, but what was in his favour, for there aint many young
+men like our clergyman left in the Church. It aint because I'm
+speaking to respected ladies as is his relations; folks may talk,"
+said Mr Elsworthy, with a slight faltering, "but I never see his
+equal; and as for an act of kindness to an orphan child--"
+
+"The orphan child is neither here nor there," said his angry wife, who
+had taken up her post by his side; "a dozen fathers and mothers
+couldn't have done better by her than we've done; and to go and lay
+out her snares for them as is so far above her, if you'll believe me,
+ma'am, it's nigh broken my heart. She's neither flesh nor blood o'
+mine," cried the aggrieved woman; "there would have been a different
+tale to tell if she had belonged to me. I'd have--murdered her, ma'am,
+though it aint proper to say so, afore we'd have gone and raised a
+talk like this; it aint my blame, if it was my dying word," cried Mrs
+Elsworthy, relapsing into angry tears: "I'm one as has always shown
+her a good example, and never gone flirting about, nor cast my eyes to
+one side or another for the best man as ever walked; and to think as a
+respectable family should be brought to shame through her doings, and
+a gentleman as is a clergyman got himself talked about--it's gone nigh
+to kill me, that's what it's done," sobbed the virtuous matron; "and I
+don't see as nobody cares."
+
+Miss Leonora had been woke up suddenly out of her abstract
+occupations; she penetrated to the heart of the matter while all this
+talk was going on. She transfixed her sister Dora, who seemed much
+inclined to cry like Mrs Elsworthy, with a look which overwhelmed that
+trembling woman; then she addressed herself with great suavity to the
+matter in hand.
+
+"I suppose it is this poor little foolish child who has been getting
+herself talked about?" said Miss Leonora. "It's a pity, to be sure,
+but I daresay it's not so bad as you think. As for her laying snares
+for people above her, I wouldn't be afraid of that. Poor little thing!
+It's not so easy as you think laying snares. Perhaps it's the new
+minister at Salem Chapel who has been paying attention to her? I would
+not take any notice of it if I were you. Don't let her loll about at
+the window as she's doing, and don't let her go out so late, and give
+her plenty of work to do. My maid wants some one to help in her
+needlework. Perhaps this child would do, Cecilia?" said Miss Leonora.
+"As for her snares, poor thing, I don't feel much afraid of them. I
+daresay if Mr Wentworth had Sunday classes for the young people as I
+wished him to have, and took pains to give them proper instruction,
+such things would not happen. If you send her to my maid, I flatter
+myself she will soon come to her senses. Good morning; and you will
+please to send me the books--there are some others I want you to get
+for me next week," said Mr Elsworthy's patroness. "I will follow you,
+Dora, please," and Miss Leonora swept her sisters out before her, and
+went upon her way with indescribable grandeur. Even little Rosa felt
+the change, where she sat at the window looking out. The little vain
+creature no longer felt it possible to believe, as she looked after
+them, that she ever could be anything to the Miss Wentworths except a
+little girl in a shop. It shook her confidence in what people said;
+and it was as well for her that she withdrew from the window at that
+conjuncture, and so had an opportunity of hearing her aunt come
+up-stairs, and of darting back again to the penitential darkness of
+her own chamber at the back of the house--which saved Rosa some angry
+words at least.
+
+As for Miss Leonora Wentworth, she said nothing to her sisters on this
+new subject. She saw them safely home to their own apartments, and
+went out again without explaining her movements. When she was gone,
+Miss Wentworth listened to Miss Dora's doubts and tears with her
+usual patience, but did not go into the matter much. "It doesn't
+matter whether it is your fault or not," said aunt Cecilia, with a
+larger amount of words than usual, and a sharpness very uncommon with
+her; "but I daresay Leonora will set it all right." After all, the
+confidence which the elder sister had in Leonora was justified. She
+did not entirely agree with her about the "great work," nor was
+disposed to connect the non-licensing of the gin-palace in any way
+with the faithfulness of God: but she comprehended in her gentle heart
+that there were other matters of which Leonora was capable. As for
+Miss Dora, she went to the summer-house at last, and, seating herself
+at the window, cried under her breath till she had a very bad
+headache, and was of no use for any purpose under heaven. She thought
+nothing less than that Leonora had gone abroad to denounce poor Frank,
+and tell everybody how wicked he was; and she was so sure her poor
+dear boy did not mean anything! She sat with her head growing heavier
+and heavier, watching for her sister's return, and calculating within
+herself how many places Leonora must have called at, and how utterly
+gone by this time must be the character of the Perpetual Curate. At
+last, in utter despair, with her thin curls all limp about her poor
+cheeks, Miss Dora had to go to bed and have the room darkened, and
+swallow cups of green tea and other nauseous compounds, at the will
+and pleasure of her maid, who was learned in headache. The poor lady
+sobbed herself to sleep after a time, and saw, in a hideous dream, her
+sister Leonora marching from house to house of poor Frank's friends,
+and closing door after door with all sorts of clang and dash upon the
+returning prodigal. "But oh, it was not my fault--oh, my dear, she
+found it out herself. You do not think _I_ was to blame?" sobbed poor
+aunt Dora in her troubled slumber; and her headache did not get any
+better notwithstanding the green tea.
+
+Miss Dora's visions were partly realised, for it was quite true that
+her iron-grey sister was making a round of calls upon Frank's friends.
+Miss Leonora Wentworth went out in great state that day. She had her
+handsomest dress on, and the bonnet which her maid had calculated upon
+as her own property, because it was much too nice for Miss Leonora. In
+this impossible attire she went to see Mrs Hadwin, and was very gracious
+to that unsuspecting woman, and learned a few things of which she had
+not the least conception previously. Then she went to the Miss
+Wodehouses, and made the elder sister there mighty uncomfortable by her
+keen looks and questions; and what Miss Leonora did after that was not
+distinctly known to any one. She got into Prickett's Lane somehow, and
+stumbled upon No. 10, much to the surprise of the inhabitants; and
+before she returned home she had given Mrs Morgan her advice about the
+Virginian creeper which was intended to conceal the continual passage of
+the railway trains. "But I would not trust to trellis-work. I would
+build up the wall a few feet higher, and then you will have some
+satisfaction in your work," said Miss Leonora, and left the Rector's
+wife to consider the matter in rather an agreeable state of mind, for
+that had been Mrs Morgan's opinion all along. After this last visit the
+active aunt returned home, going leisurely along George Street, and down
+Grange Lane, with meditative steps. Miss Leonora, of course, would not
+for kingdoms have confessed that any new light had come into her mind,
+or that some very ordinary people in Carlingford, no one of whom she
+could have confidently affirmed to be a converted person, had left a
+certain vivid and novel impression upon her thoughts. She went along
+much more slowly than usual in this new mood of reflectiveness. She was
+not thinking of the licensing magistrates of St Michael's nor the
+beautiful faith of the colporteur. Other ideas filled her mind at the
+moment. Whether perhaps, after all, a man who did his duty by rich and
+poor, and could encounter all things for love and duty's sake, was not
+about the best man for a parish priest, even though he did have
+choristers in white surplices, and lilies on the Easter altar? Whether
+it might not be a comfort to know that in the pretty parsonage at
+Skelmersdale there was some one ready to start at a moment's notice for
+the help of a friend or the succour of a soul--brother to Charley who
+won the Cross for valour, and not unworthy of the race? Some strange
+moisture came into the corners of Miss Leonora's eyes. There was Gerald
+too, whom the Perpetual Curate had declared to be the best man he ever
+knew; and the Evangelical woman, with all her prejudices, could not in
+her heart deny it. Various other thoughts of a similar description, but
+too shadowy to bear expression, came in spite of herself through Miss
+Leonora's mind. "We know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be
+a worshipper of God and doeth His will, him He heareth;" and it occurred
+to her vaguely, for the first time, that she was harder to please than
+her Master. Not that such an idea could get possession of a mind so well
+fortified, at the first assault; but it was strange how often the
+thought came back to her that the man who had thrilled through all those
+people about Prickett's Lane a kind of vague sense that they were
+Christians, and not hopeless wretches, forgotten of God; and who had
+taken in the mysterious lodger at Mrs Hadwin's, bearing the penalty of
+suspicion without complaint, would be true at his post wherever he might
+be, and was a priest of God's appointing. Such were the strangely novel
+ideas which went flashing through Miss Leonora's mind as she went home
+to dinner, ejecting summarily the new gin-palaces and her favourite
+colporteur. If anybody had stated them in words, she would have
+indignantly scouted such latitudinarian stuff; but they kept flickering
+in the strangest fluctuations, coming and going, bringing in native
+Wentworth prejudices and natural affections to overcome all other
+prepossessions, in the most inveterate, unexplainable way. For it will
+be apparent that Miss Leonora, being a woman of sense, utterly scorned
+the Rosa Elsworthy hypothesis, and comprehended as nearly how it
+happened as it was possible for any one unaware of the facts to do.
+
+Such were the good and bad angels who fought over the Curate's fate
+while he was away. He might have been anxious if he had known anything
+about them, or had been capable of imagining any such clouds as those
+which overshadowed his good name in the lively imagination of
+Carlingford. But Rosa Elsworthy never could have occurred to the
+unconscious young man as a special danger, any more than the relenting
+in the heart of his aunt Leonora could have dawned upon him as a
+possible happiness. To tell the truth, he had left home, so far as he
+himself was concerned, in rather a happy state of mind than otherwise,
+with healthful impulses of opposition to the Rector, and confidence in
+the sympathy of Lucy. To hear that Lucy had given him up, and that
+Miss Leonora and Mrs Morgan were the only people who believed in him,
+would have gone pretty far at this moment to make an end of the
+Perpetual Curate. But fortunately he knew nothing about it; and while
+Lucy held her head high with pain, and walked over the burning coals a
+conscious martyr, and Miss Dora sobbed herself asleep in her darkened
+room, all on his account, there was plenty of trouble, perplexity, and
+distress in Wentworth Rectory to occupy to the full all the thoughts
+and powers of the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+It was mid-day, and more than twelve hours after he had left Carlingford,
+before Mr Wentworth reached the Rectory. He had snatched a few hours'
+sleep in London, where he was obliged to pause because of the trains,
+which did not correspond; and accordingly, though he was very anxious
+about Gerald, it was with a mien and gait very much like his usual
+appearance that he jumped out of the railway carriage at the little
+station which was on his father's property, and where everybody knew the
+Squire's son. Left in entire uncertainty as he was in respect to the
+trouble which had overtaken his brother, it was a little comfort to the
+Curate to find that everybody looked surprised to see him, and that
+nobody seemed to know of any cause demanding his presence. All was well
+at the Hall, so far as the station-master knew; and as for the Rector,
+he had no special place in the local report which the handiest porter
+supplied "Mr Frank"--a blessed neglect, which was very consolatory to
+the heart of the anxious brother, to whom it became evident that nothing
+had happened, and who began to hope that Gerald's wife, who never was
+very wise, had been seized with some merely fantastic terror. With this
+hope he walked on briskly upon the familiar road to his brother's house,
+recovering his courage, and falling back upon his own thoughts, and at
+last taking pleasure in the idea of telling all his troubles to Gerald,
+and getting strength and enlightenment from his advice. He had come
+quite into this view of the subject when he arrived at the Rectory, and
+saw the pretty old-fashioned house, with its high ivied garden-walls,
+and the famous cedar on the lawn, standing all secure and sweet in the
+early sunshine, like something too steadfast to be moved, as if sorrow
+or conflict could never enter there. Unconsciously to himself, the
+perfect tranquillity of everything altered the entire scope of Frank
+Wentworth's thoughts. He was no longer in anxiety about his brother. He
+was going to ask Gerald's advice upon his own troubles, and lay the
+difficulties and dangers of his position before the clear and lucid eyes
+of the best man he ever knew.
+
+It shook him a little out of his position, however, to find himself
+admitted with a kind of scared expectation by Mrs Gerald Wentworth's
+maid, who made no exclamation of wonder at the sight of him, but
+opened the door in a troubled, stealthy way, strangely unlike the
+usual customs of the place. "Is my brother at home?" said the Curate,
+going in with a step that rang on the hall, and a voice that sounded
+into the house. He would have proceeded straight, as usual, to
+Gerald's study after this question, which was one of form merely, but
+for the disturbed looks of the woman, who put up her hand imploringly.
+"Oh hush! Mr Frank; hush! My mistress wants to see you first. She
+said I was to show you into her sitting-room," said the maid, half
+in a whisper, and led him hastily down a side-passage to a little
+out-of-the-way room, which he knew was where Louisa was wont to retire
+when she had her headaches, as was well known to all the house of
+Wentworth. The Curate went in with some impatience and some alarm to
+this retired apartment. His eyes, dazzled by the sunshine, could not
+penetrate at first the shadowy greenness of the room, which, what with
+the trees without and the Venetian blind within, was lost in a kind of
+twilight, grateful enough after a while, but bewildering at the first
+moment. Out of this darkness somebody rose as he entered, and walked
+into his arms with trembling eagerness. "Oh Frank, I am so thankful
+you are come! now perhaps something may be done; for _you_ always
+understood," said his little sister-in-law, reaching up to kiss him.
+She was a tiny little woman, with soft eyes and a tender little
+blooming face, which he had never before seen obscured by any cloud,
+or indeed moved by any particular sentiment. Now the firmament was all
+overcast, and Louisa, it was evident, had been sitting in the shade of
+her drawn blinds, having a quiet cry, and going into all her grievances.
+To see such a serene creature all clouded over and full of tears, gave
+the Curate a distinct shock of alarm and anxiety. He led her back to her
+sofa, seeing clearer and clearer, as he watched her face, the plaintive
+lines of complaint, the heavy burden of trouble which she was about to
+cast on his shoulders. He grew more and more afraid as he looked at her.
+"Is Gerald ill?" he said, with a thrill of terror; but even this could
+scarcely account for the woeful look of all the accessories to the
+picture.
+
+"Oh, Frank, I am so glad you are come!" said Louisa through her tears.
+"I felt sure you would come when you got my letter. Your father thinks
+I make a fuss about nothing, and Cuthbert and Guy do nothing but laugh
+at me, as if they could possibly know; but you always understand me,
+Frank. I knew it was just as good as sending for a brother of my own;
+indeed better," said Mrs Wentworth, wiping her eyes; "for though
+Gerald is using me so badly, I would not expose him out of his own
+family, or have people making remarks--oh, not for the world!"
+
+"Expose him!" said the Curate, with unutterable astonishment. "You
+don't mean to say you have any complaint to make about Gerald?" The
+idea was so preposterous that Frank Wentworth laughed; but it was not
+a laugh pleasant to hear.
+
+"Oh, Frank, if you but knew all," said Louisa; "what I have had to put
+up with for months--all my best feelings outraged, and so many things
+to endure that were dreadful to think of. And I that was always
+brought up so differently; but now," cried the poor little woman,
+bursting into renewed tears, "it's come to such a pass that it can't
+be concealed any longer. I think it will break my heart; people will
+be sure to say I have been to blame; and how I am ever to hold up my
+head in society, and what is to be my name, and whether I am to be
+considered a widow--"
+
+"A widow!" cried the Perpetual Curate, in utter consternation.
+
+"Or worse," sobbed Gerald's poor little wife: "it feels like being
+divorced--as if one had done something wrong; and I am sure I never
+did anything to deserve it; but when your husband is a Romish priest,"
+cried the afflicted woman, pressing her handkerchief to her eyes, "I
+would just ask anybody what are you? You can't be his wife, because he
+is not allowed to have any wife; and you can't go back to your maiden
+name, because of the children; and how can you have any place in
+society? Oh, Frank, I think I shall go distracted," said poor Louisa;
+"it will feel as if one had done something wicked, and been put out of
+the pale. How can I be called Mrs Wentworth any more when my husband
+has left me? and even if he is a priest, and can't have any wife,
+still he will be alive, and I shall not have the satisfaction of being
+a widow even. I am sure I don't know what I say," she concluded, with
+a fresh outburst; "for to be a widow would be a poor satisfaction, and
+I don't know how I could ever, ever live without Gerald; but to feel
+as if you were an improper person, and all the children's prospects in
+life!--Oh, Frank!" cried the weeping Louisa, burying her face in her
+handkerchief, "I think I shall go distracted, and my heart will
+break."
+
+To all this strange and unexpected revelation the startled Curate
+listened like a man in a dream. Possibly his sister-in-law's
+representation of this danger, as seen entirely from her own point of
+view, had a more alarming effect upon him that any other statement of
+the case. He could have gone into Gerald's difficulties with so much
+sympathy and fellow-feeling that the shock would have been trifling in
+comparison; and between Rome and the highest level of Anglicanism
+there was no such difference as to frighten the accustomed mind of the
+Curate of St Roque's. But, seen from Louisa's side, matters appeared
+very different: here the foundations of the earth were shaking, and
+life itself going to pieces; even the absurdity of her distress made
+the whole business more real; and the poor little woman, whose trouble
+was that she herself would neither be a wife nor a widow, had enough
+of truth on her side to unfold a miserable picture to the eyes of the
+anxious spectator. He did not know what answer to make her; and
+perhaps it was a greater consolation to poor Louisa to be permitted to
+run on--
+
+"And you know it never needed to have come to this if Gerald had been
+like other people," she said, drying her tears, and with a tone of
+remonstrance. "Of course it is a family living, and it is not likely
+his own father would have made any disturbance; and there is no other
+family in the parish but the Skipwiths, and they are great friends,
+and never would have said a word. He might have preached in six
+surplices if he had liked," cried poor Louisa--"who would have minded?
+And as for confession, and all that, I don't believe there is anybody
+in the world who had done any wrong that could have helped confessing
+to Gerald; he is so good--oh, Frank, you know he is so good!" said the
+exasperated little wife, overcome with fondness and admiration and
+impatience, "and there is nobody in the parish that I ever heard of
+that does not worship him; but when I tell him so, he never pays the
+least attention. And then Edward Plumstead and he go on talking about
+subscription, and signing articles, and nonsense, till they make my
+head swim. Nobody, I am sure, wants Gerald to subscribe or sign
+articles. I am sure I would subscribe any amount," cried the poor
+little woman, once more falling into tears--"a thousand pounds if I
+had it, Frank--only to make him hear reason; for why should he leave
+Wentworth, where he can do what he likes, and nobody will interfere
+with him? The Bishop is an old friend of my father's, and I am sure
+he never would say anything; and as for candles and crosses
+and--anything he pleases, Frank--"
+
+Here poor Louisa paused, and put her hand on his arm, and looked up
+wistfully into his face. She wanted to convince herself that she was
+right, and that the faltering dread she had behind all this, of
+something more mysterious than candles or crosses--something which she
+did not attempt to understand--was no real spectre after all. "Oh,
+Frank, I am sure I never would oppose him, nor your father, nor
+anybody; and why should he go and take some dreadful step, and upset
+everything?" said Mrs Wentworth. "Oh, Frank! we will not even have
+enough to live upon; and as for me, if Gerald leaves me, how shall I
+ever hold up my head again, or how will anybody know how to behave to
+me? I can't call myself Miss Leighton again, after being married so
+long; and if I am not his wife, what shall I be?" Her crying became
+hysterical as she came back to this point; and Mr Wentworth sat by her
+trying to soothe her, as wretched as herself.
+
+"But I must see Gerald, Louisa," said the Curate; "he has never
+written to me about this. Perhaps things have not gone so far as you
+think; but as for the crosses and the candles, you know, and not being
+interfered with--"
+
+"I would promise to do anything he likes," cried the weeping woman. "I
+never would worry him any more about anything. After aunt Leonora was
+here, perhaps I said things I should not have said; but, oh Frank,
+whatever he likes to do I am sure I will give in to it. I don't
+_really_ mind seeing him preach in his surplice, only you know poor
+papa was so _very_ Low-Church; and as for the candles, what are they
+to pleasing one's husband? Oh, Frank, if you would only tell him--I
+can't argue about things like a man--tell him nobody will ever
+interfere, and he shall do whatever he pleases. I trust to you to say
+_everything_," said the poor wife. "You can reason with him and
+explain things. Nobody understands Gerald like you. You will not
+forsake me in my trouble, Frank? I thought immediately of you. I knew
+you could help us, if anybody could. You will tell him all I have
+said," she continued, rising as Mr Wentworth rose, and going after him
+to the door, to impress once more upon him the necessities of the
+case. "Oh, Frank, remember how much depends upon it!--everything in
+the world for me, and all the children's prospects in life; and he
+would be miserable himself if he were to leave us. You know he would?"
+said Louisa, looking anxiously into his face, and putting her hand on
+his arm. "Oh, Frank, you don't think Gerald could be happy without the
+children--and me?"
+
+The terrible thought silenced her. She stopped crying, and a kind of
+tearless horror and dread came over her face. She was not very wise,
+but her heart was tender and full of love in its way. What if perhaps
+this life, which had gone so smoothly over her unthinking head without
+any complications, should turn out to be a lie, and her happiness a
+mere delusion? She could not have put her thoughts into words, but the
+doubt suddenly came over her, putting a stop to all her lamentations.
+If perhaps Gerald _could_ be happy without the children and herself,
+what dreadful fiction had all her joy been built upon! Such an
+inarticulate terror seemed to stop the very beating of her heart. It
+was not a great calamity only but an overthrowal of all confidence in
+life; and she shivered before it like a dumb creature piteously
+beholding an approaching agony which it could not comprehend. The
+utterance of her distress was arrested upon her lips,--she looked up
+to her brother with an entreating look, so suddenly intensified and
+grown desperate that he was startled by it. It alarmed him so much
+that he turned again to lead her back to her sofa, wondering what
+momentary passion it could be which had woke such a sudden world of
+confused meaning in Louisa's eyes.
+
+"You may be sure he could not," said the Curate, warmly. "Not happy,
+certainly; but to men like Gerald there are things in the world
+dearer than happiness," he said, after a little pause, with a sigh,
+wondering to himself whether, if Lucy Wodehouse were his, his dearest
+duty could make him consent to part with her. "If he thinks of such a
+step, he must think of it as of martyrdom--is that a comfort to you?"
+he continued, bending, in his pity and wonder, over the trembling
+wife, who burst forth into fresh tears as he spoke, and forgot her
+momentary horror.
+
+"Oh, Frank, go and speak to him, and tell him how miserable I am, and
+what a dreadful thing it would be; tell him everything, Frank. Oh, don't
+leave him till you have persuaded him. Go, go; never mind me," cried Mrs
+Wentworth; and then she went to the door after him once more--"Don't say
+I sent for you. He--he might not be pleased," she said, in her
+faltering, eager voice; "and oh, Frank, consider how much hangs upon
+what you say." When he left her, Louisa stood at the door watching him
+as he went along the passage towards her husband's room. It was a
+forlorn-hope; but still the unreasoning, uncomprehending heart took a
+little comfort from it. She watched his figure disappearing along the
+narrow passage with a thrill of mingled anxiety and hope; arguing with
+Gerald, though it was so ineffectual when she tried it, might still be
+of some avail in stronger hands. His brother understood him, and could
+talk to him better than anybody else could; and though she had never
+convinced anybody of anything all her life, Mrs Wentworth had an
+inalienable confidence in the effect of "being talked to." In the
+momentary stimulus she went back to her darkened room and drew up the
+blind, and went to work in a tremulous way; but as the slow time went
+on, and Frank did not return, poor Louisa's courage failed her; her
+fingers refused their office, and she began to imagine all sorts of
+things that might be going on in Gerald's study. Perhaps the argument
+might be going the wrong way; perhaps Gerald might be angry at his
+brother's interference; perhaps they might come to words--they who had
+been such good friends--and it would be her fault. She jumped up with
+her heart beating loud when she heard a door opened somewhere; but when
+nobody came, grew sick and faint, and hid her face, in the impatience of
+her misery. Then the feeling grew upon her that those precious moments
+were decisive, and that she must make one last appeal, or her heart
+would burst. She tried to resist the impulse in a feeble way, but it was
+not her custom to resist impulses, and it got the better of her; and
+this was why poor Louisa rushed into the library, just as Frank thought
+he had made a little advance in his pleading, and scattered his
+eloquence to the winds with a set of dreadful arguments which were all
+her own.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+The Curate of St Roque's found his brother in his library, looking
+very much as he always looked at first glance. But Gerald was not
+reading nor writing nor doing anything. He was seated in his usual
+chair, by his usual table, with all the ordinary things around. Some
+manuscript--lying loosely about, and looking as if he had thrown down
+his pen in disgust, and pushed it away from him in the middle of a
+sentence--was on the table, and an open book in his other hand; but
+neither the book nor the manuscript occupied him; he was sitting
+leaning his head in his hands, gazing blankly out through the window,
+as it appeared, at the cedar, which flung its serene shadow over the
+lawn outside. He jumped up at the sound of his brother's voice, but
+seemed to recall himself with a little difficulty even for that, and
+did not look much surprised to see him. In short, Frank read in
+Gerald's eyes that he would not at that moment have been surprised to
+see any one, and that, in his own consciousness, the emergency was
+great enough to justify any unlooked-for appearance, though it might
+be from heaven or from the grave.
+
+"I am glad you have come," he said, after they had greeted each other,
+his mouth relaxing ever so slightly into the ghost of his old smile;
+"you and I always understood each other, and it appears I want
+interpretation now. And one interpretation supposes many," he said
+with a gleam, half of pathos half of amusement, lighting up his face
+for a moment; "there is no such thing as accepting a simple version
+even of one man's thoughts. You have come at a very fit time,
+Frank--that is, for me."
+
+"I am glad you think so," said the other brother; and then there was a
+pause, neither liking to enter upon the grand subject which stood
+between them.
+
+"Have you seen Louisa?" said Gerald. He spoke like a man who was ill,
+in a preoccupied interrupted way. Like a sick man, he was occupied
+with himself, with the train of thought which was always going on in
+his mind whatever he might be doing, whether he was working or
+resting, alone or in company. For months back he had carried it with
+him everywhere. The cedar-tree outside, upon which his thoughtful eyes
+fell as he looked straight before him out of the library window, was
+all garlanded with the reasonings and questionings of this painful
+spring. To Frank's eyes, Gerald's attention was fixed upon the
+fluttering of a certain twig at the extremity of one of those broad
+solemn immovable branches. Gerald, however, saw not the twig, but one
+of his hardest difficulties which was twined and twined in the most
+inextricable way round that little sombre cluster of spikes; and so
+kept looking out, not at the cedar, but at the whole confused yet
+distinct array of his own troubled thoughts.
+
+"If you have seen Louisa, she has been talking to you, no doubt," he
+said, after another little pause, with again the glimmer of a smile. "We
+have fallen upon troubles, and we don't understand each other, Frank.
+That's all very natural; she does not see things from my point of view:
+I could not expect she should. If I could see from hers, it might be
+easier for us all; but that is still less to be expected; and it is hard
+upon her, Frank--very hard," said Gerald, turning round in his old
+ingenuous way, with that faculty for seeing other people's difficulties
+which was so strong a point in his character. "She is called upon to
+make, after all, perhaps, the greater sacrifice of the two; and she does
+not see any duty in it--the reverse, indeed. She thinks it a sin. It is
+a strange view of life, to look at it from Louisa's point. Here will be
+an unwilling, unintentional martyrdom; and it is hard to think I should
+take all the merit, and leave my poor little wife the suffering without
+any compensation!" He began to walk up and down the room with uneasy
+steps, as if the thought was painful, and had to be got rid of by some
+sudden movement. "It must be that God reckons with women for what they
+have endured, as with men for what they have done," said Gerald. He
+spoke with a kind of grieved certainty, which made his brother feel, to
+start with, the hopelessness of all argument.
+
+"But must this be? Is it necessary to take such a final, such a
+terrible step?" said the Perpetual Curate.
+
+"I think so." Gerald went to the window, to resume his contemplation
+of the cedar, and stood there with his back turned to Frank, and his
+eyes going slowly over all the long processes of his self-argument,
+laid up as they were upon those solemn levels of shadow. "Yes--you
+have gone so far with me; but I don't want to take you any farther,
+Frank. Perhaps, when I have reached the perfect peace to which I am
+looking forward, I may try to induce you to share it, but at present
+there are so many pricks of the flesh. You did not come to argue with
+me, did you?" and again the half-humorous gleam of old came over
+Gerald's face as he looked round. "Louisa believes in arguing," he
+said, as he came back to the table and took his seat again; "not that
+she has ever gained much by it, so far as I am aware. Poor girl! she
+talks and talks, and fancies she is persuading me; and all the time my
+heart is bleeding for her. There it is!" he exclaimed, suddenly hiding
+his face in his hands. "This is what crushes one to think of. The rest
+is hard enough, Heaven knows--separation from my friends, giving up my
+own people, wounding and grieving, as I know I shall, everybody who
+loves me. I could bear that; but Louisa and her children--God help me,
+there's the sting!"
+
+They were both men, and strong men, not likely to fall into any
+sentimental weakness; but something between a groan and a sob, wrung
+out of the heart of the elder brother at the thought of the terrible
+sacrifice before him, echoed with a hard sound of anguish into the
+quiet. It was very different from his wife's trembling, weeping,
+hoping agony; but it reduced the Curate more than ever to that
+position of spectator which he felt was so very far from the active
+part which his poor sister expected of him.
+
+"I don't know by what steps you have reached this conclusion," said
+Frank Wentworth; "but even if you feel it your duty to give up the
+Anglican Church (in which, of course, I think you totally wrong,"
+added the High Churchman in a parenthesis), "I cannot see why you are
+bound to abandon all duties whatever. I have not come to argue with
+you; I daresay poor Louisa may expect it of me, but I can't, and you
+know very well I can't. I should like to know how it has come about
+all the same; but one thing only, Gerald--a man may be a Christian
+without being a priest. Louisa--"
+
+"Hush, I am a priest, or nothing. I can't relinquish my life!" cried the
+elder brother, lifting his hands suddenly, as if to thrust away
+something which threatened him. Then he rose up again and went towards
+the window and his cedar, which stood dark in the sunshine, slightly
+fluttered at its extremities by the light summer-wind, but throwing
+glorious level lines of shadow, which the wind could not disturb, upon
+the grass. The limes near, and that one delicate feathery birch which
+was Mrs Wentworth's pride, had all some interest of their own on hand,
+and went on waving, rustling, coquetting with the breezes and the
+sunshine in a way which precluded any arbitrary line of shade. But the
+cedar stood immovable, like a verdant monument, sweeping its long level
+branches over the lawn, passive under the light, and indifferent, except
+at its very tops and edges, to the breeze. If there had been any human
+sentiment in that spectator of the ways of man, how it must have groaned
+and trembled under the pitiless weight of thoughts, the sad lines of
+discussion and argument and doubt, which were entangled in its branches!
+Gerald Wentworth went to his window to refer to it, as if it were a book
+in which all his contests had been recorded. The thrill of the air in it
+tingled through him as he stood looking out; and there, without looking
+at Frank, except now and then for a moment when he got excited with his
+subject, he went into the history of his struggle--a history not
+unprecedented or unparalleled, such as has been told to the world before
+now by men who have gone through it, in various shapes, with various
+amounts of sophistry and simplicity. But it is a different thing reading
+of such a conflict in a book, and hearing it from lips pallid with the
+meaning of the words they uttered, and a heart which was about to prove
+its sincerity by voluntary pangs more hard than death. Frank Wentworth
+listened to his brother with a great deal of agreement in what he said,
+and again with an acute perception of mistakes on Gerald's part, and
+vehement impulses of contradiction, to which, at the same time, it was
+impossible to give utterance; for there was something very solemn in the
+account he was giving of himself, as he stood with his face half turned
+to the anxious listener, leaning on the window, looking into the cedar.
+Gerald did not leave any room for argument or remonstrance; he told his
+brother how he had been led from one step to another, without any
+lingering touch of possibility in the narrative that he might be
+induced to retrace again that painful way. It was a path, once trod,
+never to be returned upon; and already he stood steadfast at the end,
+looking back mournfully, yet with a strange composure. It would be
+impossible to describe the mixture of love, admiration, impatience--even
+intolerance--which swelled through the mind of the spectator as he
+looked on at this wonderful sight, nor how hard he found it to restrain
+the interruptions which rushed to his lips, the eager arguments which
+came upon him in a flood, all his own favourite fences against the
+overflow of the tide which ran in lawful bounds in his own mind, but
+which had inundated his brother's. But though it was next to impossible
+to keep silence, it was altogether impossible to break in upon Gerald's
+history of this great battle through which he had just come. He _had_
+come through it, it was plain; the warfare was accomplished, the weapons
+hung up, the conflict over; and nothing could be more apparent than that
+he had no intention of entering the battle-field again. When he had
+ended, there was another pause.
+
+"I am not going to argue with you," said Frank Wentworth; "I don't even
+need to tell you that I am grieved to the heart. It isn't so very many
+years ago," said the younger brother, almost too much touched by the
+recollection to preserve his composure, "since I took all my opinions
+from you; and since the time came for independent action, I too have
+gone over all this ground. My conclusions have been very different from
+yours, Gerald. I see you are convinced, and I can say nothing; but they
+do not convince me--you do not convince me, nor the sight of your faith,
+though that is the most touching of all arguments. Will you go back and
+go over it again?" said the Curate, spurred, by a thought of poor
+Louisa, to contradict himself, while the words were still on his lips.
+
+"No," said Gerald; "it would be of no use, Frank. We should only grieve
+each other more."
+
+"Then I give up that subject," said the younger brother: "but there
+is one matter which I must go back to. You may go to Rome, and cease
+to be a priest of the Anglican Church, but you cannot cease to be a
+man, to bear the weight of your natural duties. Don't turn away, but
+hear me. Gerald, Louisa--"
+
+"Don't say any more. Do you imagine I have not thought of that?" said
+Gerald, once more, with a gesture of pain, and something like terror;
+"I have put my hand to the plough and I cannot go back. If I am not a
+priest, I am nothing." But when he came to that point, his cedar-tree
+no longer gave him any assistance; he came back to his chair, and
+covered his face with his hands.
+
+"Louisa is your wife; you are not like a man free from the bonds of
+nature," said the Curate of St Roque's. "It is not for me to speak of
+the love between you; but I hold it, as the Scripture says, for a holy
+mystery, like the love of Christ for his Church--the most sacred of
+all bonds," said the young man, with a certain touch of awe and
+emotion, as became a young man and a true lover. He made a little
+pause to regain command of himself before he continued, "And she is
+dependent on you--outwardly, for all the comfort of her life--and in
+her heart, for everything, Gerald. I do not comprehend what that duty
+is which could make you leave her, all helpless and tender, as you
+know her to be, upon the mercies of the world. She herself says"--and
+poor Louisa's complaint grew into pathos under the subliming force of
+her advocate's sympathy--"that she would be like a widow, and worse
+than a widow. I am not the man to bid you suppress your convictions
+because they will be your ruin, in the common sense of the word; but,
+Gerald--your wife--"
+
+Gerald had bent his head down upon his clasped hands; sometimes a
+great heave of his frame showed the last struggle that was going on
+within him--a struggle more painful, more profound, than anything that
+had gone before. And the voice of the Curate, who, like his brother,
+was nothing if not a priest, was choked, and painful with the force
+of his emotion. He drew his breath hard between his words: it was not
+an argument, but an admonition; an appeal, not from a brother only,
+but from one who spoke with authority, as feeling himself accredited
+from God. He drew closer towards the voluntary martyr beside him, the
+humbleness of his reverential love for his elder brother mingling in
+that voice of the priest, which was natural to him, and which he did
+not scruple to adopt. "Gerald,--your wife," he said, in softened but
+firm tones, laying his hand on his brother's arm. And it was at this
+moment, when in his heart he felt that his influence might be of some
+avail, and when all the powers of his mind were gathering to bear upon
+this last experiment, that the door opened suddenly, and poor Louisa,
+all flushed and tearful, in womanish hot impatience and misery that
+knew no prudence, burst, without any warning, into the room.
+
+"I can't bear it any longer," cried the poor wife. "I knew you were
+talking it all over, and deciding what it was to be; and when one's
+life is hanging on a chance, how can one keep quiet and not interfere?
+Oh, Gerald, Gerald! I have been a true wife to you. I know I am not
+clever; but I would have died to do you any good. You are not going to
+forsake me!" cried poor Louisa, going up to him and putting her arms
+round him. "I said Frank was to tell you everything, but a man can
+never tell what is in a woman's heart. Oh, Gerald, why should you go
+and kill me! I will never oppose you any more; whatever you want, I
+will give in to it as freely as if it were my own way. I will make
+_that_ my own way, Gerald, if you will only listen to me. Whatever
+changes you please, oh Gerald, I will never say a word, nor your
+father, nor any one! If the Bishop should interfere, we would all
+stand up for you. There is not a soul in Wentworth to oppose--you know
+there is not. Put anything you please in the church--preach how you
+please--light the candles or anything. Gerald, you know it is true I
+am saying--I am not trying to deceive you!" cried the poor soul,
+bewildered in her folly and her grief.
+
+"No, Louisa, no--only you don't understand," said her husband, with a
+groan: he had raised his head, and was looking at her with a hopeless
+gleam of impatience in the pity and anguish of his eyes. He took her
+little hand and held it between his own, which were trembling with all
+this strain--her little tender helpless woman's hand, formed only for
+soft occupations and softer caresses; it was not a hand which could
+help a man in such an emergency; it was without any grasp in it to
+take hold upon him, or force of love to part--a clinging impotent
+hand, such as holds down, but cannot raise up. He held it in a close
+tremulous pressure, as she stood looking down upon him, questioning
+him with eager hopeful eyes, and taking comfort in her ignorance from
+his silence, and the way in which he held her. Poor Louisa concluded
+she was yet to win the day.
+
+"I will turn Puseyite too," she said with a strange little touch of
+attempted laughter. "I don't want to have any opinions different from
+my husband's; and you don't think your father is likely to do anything
+to drive you out of the church? You have only given us a terrible
+fright, dear," she continued, beginning to tremble again, as he shook
+his head and turned away from her. "You did not really mean such a
+dreadful thing as sending _me_ away. You could not do without me,
+Gerald--you know you could not." Her breath was getting short, her
+heart quickening in its throbs--the smile that was quivering on her
+face got no response from her husband's downcast eyes. And then poor
+Louisa lost all her courage; she threw herself down at his feet,
+kneeling to him. "Oh, Gerald, it is not because you want to get rid of
+me? You are not doing it for that? If you don't stay in the Rectory,
+we shall be ruined--we shall not have enough to eat! and the Rectory
+will go to Frank, and your children will be cast upon the world--and
+what, oh what is it for, unless it is to get rid of me?" cried Mrs
+Wentworth. "You could have as much freedom as you like here at your
+own living--nobody would ever interfere or say what are you doing?
+and the Bishop is papa's old friend. Oh, Gerald, be wise in time, and
+don't throw away all our happiness for a fancy. If it was anything
+that could not be arranged, I would not mind so much; but if we all
+promise to give in to you, and that you shall do what you please, and
+nobody will interfere, how can you have the heart to make us all so
+wretched? We will not even be respectable," said the weeping woman; "a
+family without any father, and a wife without her husband--and he
+living all the time! Oh, Gerald, though I think I surely might be
+considered as much as candles, have the altar covered with lights if
+you wish it; and if you never took off your surplice any more, I would
+never say a word. You can do all that and stay in the Rectory. You
+have not the heart--surely--surely you have not the heart--all for an
+idea of your own, to bring this terrible distress upon the children
+and me?"
+
+"God help us all!" said Gerald, with a sigh of despair, as he lifted
+her up sobbing in a hysterical fit, and laid her on the sofa. He had
+to stand by her side for a long time holding her hand, and soothing
+her, with deeper and deeper shadows growing over his face. As for
+Frank, after pacing the room in great agitation for some time, after
+trying to interpose, and failing, he went away in a fever of
+impatience and distress into the garden, wondering whether he could
+ever find means to take up the broken thread, and urge again upon his
+brother the argument which, but for this fatal interruption, he
+thought might have moved him. But gathering thoughts came thick upon
+the Perpetual Curate. He did not go back to make another attempt, even
+when he knew by the sounds through the open windows that Louisa had
+been led to her own room up-stairs. He stood outside and looked at the
+troubled house, which seemed to stand so serene and secure in the
+sunshine. Who could have supposed that it was torn asunder in such a
+hopeless fashion? And Louisa's suggestion came into his mind, and
+drove him wild with a sense of horror and involuntary guilt, as
+though he had been conspiring against them. "The Rectory will go to
+Frank." Was it his fault that at that moment a vision of Lucy
+Wodehouse, sweet and strong and steadfast--a delicate, firm figure, on
+which a man could lean in his trouble--suddenly rose up before the
+Curate's eyes? Fair as the vision was, he would have banished it if he
+could, and hated himself for being capable of conjuring it up at such
+a time. Was it for him to profit by the great calamity which would
+make his brother's house desolate? He could not endure the thought,
+nor himself for finding it possible; and he was ashamed to look in
+Gerald's face with even the shadow of such an imagination on his own.
+He tapped at the library window after a while, and told his brother
+that he was going up to the Hall. Louisa had gone up-stairs, and her
+husband sat once more, vacant yet occupied, by his writing-table. "I
+will follow you presently," said Gerald. "Speak to my father without
+any hesitation, Frank; it is better to have it over while we are all
+together--for it must be concluded now." And the Curate saw in the
+shadow of the dim apartment that his brother lifted from the table the
+grand emblem of all anguish and victory, and pressed upon it his pale
+lips. The young man turned away with the shadow of that cross standing
+black between him and the sunshine. His heart ached at the sight of
+the symbol most sacred and most dear in the world. In an agony of
+grief and impatience, he went away sadly through the familiar road to
+his father's house. Here had he to stand by and see this sacrifice
+accomplished. This was all that had come of his mission of consolation
+and help.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The Curate of St Roque's went sadly along the road he knew so well
+from Wentworth Rectory to the Hall. There was scarcely a tree nor the
+turning of a hedgerow which had not its own individual memories to the
+son of the soil. Here he had come to meet Gerald returning from
+Eton--coming back from the university in later days. Here he had
+rushed down to the old Rector, his childless uncle, with the copy of
+the prize-list when his brother took his first-class. Gerald, and the
+family pride in him, was interwoven with the very path, and now--The
+young man pressed on to the Hall with a certain bitter moisture
+stealing to the corner of his eye. He felt indignant and aggrieved in
+his love, not at Gerald, but at the causes which were conspiring to
+detach him from his natural sphere and duties. When he recollected how
+he had himself dallied with the same thoughts, he grew angry with his
+brother's nobleness and purity, which never could see less than its
+highest ideal soul in anything, and with a certain fierce fit of
+truth, glanced back at his own Easter lilies and choristers, feeling
+involuntarily that he would like to tear off the flowers and surplices
+and tread them under his feet. Why was it that he, an inferior man,
+should be able to confine himself to the mere accessories which
+pleased his fancy, and could judge and reject the dangerous principles
+beneath; while Gerald, the loftier, purer intelligence, should get so
+hopelessly lost in mazes of sophistry and false argument, to the peril
+of his work, his life, and all that he could ever know of happiness?
+Such were the thoughts that passed through the mind of the Perpetual
+Curate as he went rapidly through the winding country-road going
+"home." Perhaps he was wrong in thinking that Gerald was thus superior
+to himself; but the error was a generous one, and the Curate held it
+in simplicity and with all his heart.
+
+Before he reached the house he saw his father walking under the
+lime-trees, which formed a kind of lateral aisle to the great avenue,
+which was one of the boasts of the Wentworths. The Squire was like most
+squires of no particular character; a hale, ruddy, clear-complexioned,
+well-preserved man, looking his full age, but retaining all the vigour
+of his youth. He was not a man of any intellect to speak of, nor did he
+pretend to it; but he had that glimmering of sense which keeps many a
+stupid man straight, and a certain amount of natural sensibility and
+consideration for other people's feelings which made persons who knew no
+better give Mr Wentworth credit for tact, a quality unknown to him. He
+was walking slowly in a perplexed manner under the lime-trees. They were
+all in glorious blossom, filling the air with that mingling sense of
+fragrance and music which is the soul of the murmurous tree: but the
+short figure of the Squire, in his morning-coat, with his perplexed
+looks, was not at all an accessory in keeping with the scene. He was
+taking his walk in a subdued way, pondering something--and it puzzled
+him sorely in his straightforward, unprofound understanding. He shook
+his head sometimes as he went along, sad and perplexed and
+unsatisfactory, among his limes. He had got a note from Gerald that
+morning; and how his son could intend to give up living and station, and
+wife and children, for anything in heaven or earth, was more than the
+Squire could understand. He started very much when he heard Frank's
+voice calling to him. Frank, indeed, was said to be, if any one was, the
+Squire's weakness in the family; he was as clever as Gerald, and he had
+the practical sense which Mr Wentworth prized as knowing himself to
+possess it. If he could have wished for any one in the present
+emergency, it would have been Frank--and he turned round overjoyed.
+
+"Frank, my boy, you're heartily welcome home!" he said, holding out
+his hand to him as became a British parent--"always welcome, but
+particularly just now. Where did you come from? how did you come? have
+you eaten anything this morning? it's close upon lunch, and we'll go
+in directly; but, my dear boy, wait here a moment, if you're not
+particularly hungry; I can't tell you how glad I am you're come. I'd
+rather see you than a hundred pound!"
+
+When Frank had thanked him, and returned his greetings, and answered
+his questions (which the Squire had forgotten), and made his own
+inquiries, to which Mr Wentworth replied only by a hasty nod, and an
+"Oh yes, thank you, all well--all well," the two came to a momentary
+pause: they had nothing particular to add about their happiness in
+seeing each other; and as Frank wrote to his sisters pretty regularly,
+there was nothing to tell. They were quite free to plunge at once, as
+is to British relatives under the trying circumstances of a meeting a
+blessed possibility, into the first great subject which happened to be
+at hand.
+
+"Have you heard anything about Gerald?" said Mr Wentworth, abruptly;
+"perhaps you called there on your way from the station? Gerald has got
+into a nice mess. He wrote to tell me about it, and I can't make head
+nor tail of it. Do you think he's a little touched here?" and the
+Squire tapped his own round forehead, with a troubled look: "there's
+no other explanation possible that I can see: a good living, a nice
+house, a wife that just suits him (and it's not everybody that would
+suit Gerald), and a lot of fine children--and he talks to me of giving
+up everything; as if a man could give up everything! It's all very
+well talking of self-renunciation, and so forth; and if it meant
+simply considering other people, and doing anything disagreeable for
+anybody's sake, I don't know a man more likely than my son Gerald.
+Your brother's a fine fellow, Frank--a noble sort of fellow, though
+he has his crotchets," said the father, with a touch of involuntary
+pathos; "but you don't mean to tell me that my son, a man like Gerald
+Wentworth, has a mind to throw away his position, and give up all the
+duties of his life? He can't do it, sir! I tell you it's impossible,
+and I won't believe it." Mr Wentworth drew up his shirt-collar, and
+kicked away a fallen branch with his foot, and looked insulted and
+angry. It was a dereliction of which he would not suppose the
+possibility of a Wentworth being guilty. It did not strike him as a
+conflict between belief and non-belief; but on the question of a man
+abandoning his post, whatever it might be, the head of the house held
+strong views.
+
+"I agree it's impossible; but it looks as if it were true," said the
+Curate. "I don't understand it any more than you do; but I am afraid
+we shall have to address ourselves to the reality all the same. Gerald
+has made up his mind that the Church of Rome is the only true Church,
+and therefore he is in a false position in the Church of England: he
+can't remain a priest of the Anglican communion with such views, any
+more than a man could fight against his country, or in a wrong
+quarrel--"
+
+"But, good heavens, sir!" said the Squire, interrupting him, "is it a
+time to inquire into the quarrel when you're on the ground? Will you
+tell me, sir, that my son Charley should have gone into the question
+between Russia and England when he was before Sebastopol--and
+deserted," said Mr Wentworth, with a snort of infinite scorn, "if he
+found the Czar had right on his side? God bless my soul! that's
+striking at the root of everything. As for the Church of Rome, it's
+Antichrist--why, every child in the village school could tell you
+that; and if Gerald entertains any such absurd ideas, the thing for
+him to do is to read up all that's been written on the subject, and
+get rid of his doubts as soon as possible. The short and the long of
+it is," said the troubled Squire, who found it much the easiest way to
+be angry, "that you ask me to believe that your brother Gerald is a
+fool and a coward; and I won't believe it, Frank, if you should preach
+to me for a year."
+
+"And for my part, I would stake my life on his wisdom and his
+courage," said the Curate, with a little heat; "but that is not the
+question--he believes that truth and honour require him to leave his
+post. There is something more involved which we might yet prevent. I
+have been trying, but Louisa interrupted me--I don't know if you
+realise fully what he intends. Gerald cannot cease to be a priest--he
+will become a Catholic priest when he ceases to be Rector of
+Wentworth--and that implies--"
+
+"God bless my soul!" cried the bewildered Squire--he was silent for a
+long time after he had uttered that benediction. He took out Gerald's
+letter and read it over while the two walked on in silence under the
+lime-trees, and the paper shook in his hands, notwithstanding all his
+steadiness. When he spoke again, it was only after two or three
+efforts to clear his voice. "I can't make out that he says _that_,
+Frank--I don't see that _that's_ what he means," said Mr Wentworth, in
+a fainter tone than usual; and then he continued, with more agitation,
+"Louisa is a dear good soul, you know; but she's a bit of a fool, like
+most women. She always takes the worst view--if she can get a good cry
+out of anything, she will. It's she that's put this fancy into your
+head, eh? You don't say you had it from Gerald himself? You don't mean
+to tell me that? By Jove, sir!--by heaven, sir!" cried the excited
+Squire, blazing up suddenly in a burst of passion, "he can't be any
+son of mine--For any damnable Papistical madness to give up his wife!
+Why, God bless us, he was a man, wasn't he, before he became a priest?
+A priest! He's not a priest--he's a clergyman, and the Rector of
+Wentworth. I can't believe it--I won't believe it!" said the head of
+the house, with vehemence. "Tell me one of my sons is a sneak and a
+traitor!--and if you weren't another of my sons, sir, I'd knock you
+down for your pains." In the excitement of the moment Mr Wentworth
+came full force against a projecting branch which he did not see, as
+he spoke these words; but though the sudden blow half stunned him, he
+did not stop in his vehement contradiction. "It can't be. I tell you
+it can't--it shan't be, Frank!" cried the Squire. He would not pay any
+attention to the Curate's anxieties, or accept the arm Frank offered,
+though he could not deny feeling faint and giddy after the blow. It
+took away all the colour from his ruddy face, and left him pale, with
+a red welt across his forehead, and wonderfully unlike himself.
+"Confound it! I told Miles to look after that tree weeks ago. If he
+thinks I'll stand his carelessness, he's mistaken," said Mr Wentworth,
+by way of relieving himself. He was a man who always eased his mind by
+being angry with somebody when anything happened to put him out.
+
+"My dear father," said the Curate as soon as it was practicable, "I
+want you to listen to me and help me; there's only one thing to be
+done that I can see. Gerald is in a state of high excitement, fit for
+any martyrdom. We can't keep him back from one sacrifice, but by all
+the force we can gather we must detain him from the other. He must be
+shown that he can't abandon his natural duties. He was a man before he
+was a priest, as you say; he can no more give up his duty to Louisa
+than he can give up his own life. It is going on a false idea
+altogether; but falsehood in anything except in argument could never
+be named or dreamed of in connection with Gerald," said his brother,
+with some emotion; "we all know that."
+
+There was another pause of a few minutes, during which they walked on
+side by side without even the heart to look at each other. "If it had
+been Huxtable or Plumstead, or any other fool," burst forth the
+Squire, after that interval, "but Gerald!" Huxtable was the husband of
+the eldest Miss Wentworth, and Plumstead was the Squire's sister's
+son, so the comparison was all in the family. "I suppose your aunt
+Leonora would say such a thing was sent to bring down my pride and
+keep me low," said Mr Wentworth, bitterly. "Jack being what he is,
+was it anything but natural that I should be proud of Gerald? There
+never was any evil in him, that I could see, from a child; but
+crotchety, always crotchety, Frank. I can see it now. It must have
+been their mother," said the Squire, meditatively; "she died very
+young, poor girl! her character was not formed. As for _your_ dear
+mother, my boy, she was always equal to an emergency; she would have
+given us the best of advice, had she been spared to us this day. Mrs
+Wentworth is absorbed in her nursery, as is natural, and I should not
+care to consult her much on such a subject. But, Frank, whatever you
+can do or say, trust to me to back you out," said the anxious father
+of three families. "Your mother was the most sensible woman I ever
+knew," he continued, with a patriarchal composure. "Nobody could ever
+manage Jack and Gerald as she did. She'd have seen at a glance what to
+do now. As for Jack, he is not assistance to anybody; but I consider
+you very like your mother, Frank. If anybody can help Gerald, it will
+be you. He has got into some ridiculous complications, you know--that
+must be the explanation of it. You have only to talk to him, and clear
+up the whole affair," said the Squire, recovering himself a little. He
+believed in "talking to," like Louisa, and like most people who are
+utterly incapable of talking to any purpose. He took some courage from
+the thought, and recovered his colour a little. "There is the bell for
+luncheon, and I am very glad of it," he said; "a glass of sherry will
+set me all right. Don't say anything to alarm Mrs Wentworth. When
+Gerald comes we'll retire to the library, and go into the matter
+calmly, and between us we will surely be able to convince him. I'll
+humour him, for my part, as far as my conscience will allow me. We
+must not give in to him, Frank. He will give it up if we show a very
+firm front and yield nothing," said the Squire, looking with an
+unusually anxious eye in his son's face.
+
+"For my part, I will not enter into the controversy between the
+Churches," said the Curate; "it is mere waste of time. I must confine
+myself to the one point. If he must forsake us, he must, and I can't
+stop him: but he must not forsake his wife."
+
+"Tut--it's impossible!" said the Squire; "it's not to be thought of
+for a moment. You must have given undue importance to something that
+was said. Things will turn out better than you think." They were very
+nearly at the great entrance when these words were said, and Mr
+Wentworth took out his handkerchief and held it to his forehead to
+veil the mark, until he could explain it, from the anxious eye of his
+wife. "If the worst should come to the worst, as you seem to think,"
+he said, with a kind of sigh, "I should at least be able to provide
+for you, Frank. Of course, the Rectory would go to you; and you don't
+seem to have much chance of Skelmersdale, so far as I can learn.
+Leonora's a very difficult person to deal with. God bless my soul!"
+exclaimed the Squire--"depend upon it, she has had something to do
+with this business of Gerald's. She's goaded him into it, with her
+Low-Church ways. She's put poor Louisa up to worrying him; there's
+where it is. I did not see how your brother could possibly have fallen
+into such a blunder of his own accord. But come to luncheon; you must
+be hungry. You will think the boys grown, Frank; and I must ask you
+what you think, when you have a little leisure, of Cuthbert and Guy."
+
+So saying, the Squire led the way into the house; he had been much
+appalled by the first hint of this threatened calamity, and was
+seriously distressed and anxious still; but he was the father of many
+sons, and the misfortunes or blunders of one could not occupy all his
+heart. And even the Curate, as he followed his father into the house,
+felt that Louisa's words, so calmly repeated, "Of course, the Rectory
+will go to you," went tingling to his heart like an arrow, painfully
+recalling him, in the midst of his anxiety, to a sense of his own
+interests and cares. Gerald was coming up the avenue at the moment
+slowly, with all the feelings of a man going to the stake. He was
+looking at everything round as a dying man might, not knowing what
+terrible revolution of life might have happened before he saw them
+again--
+
+   "He looked on hill, and sea, and shore,
+    As he might never see them more."
+
+Life was darkened over to his preoccupied eyes, and the composure of
+nature jarred upon him, as though it were carelessness and indifference
+to the fate which he felt to be coming in the air. He thought nothing
+less than that his father and brother were discussing him with hearts as
+heavy and clouded as his own; for even he, in all his tolerance and
+impartiality, did not make due account of the fact, that every man has
+his own concerns next to him, close enough to ameliorate and lighten the
+weight of his anxieties for others. The prospect was all gloom to
+Gerald, who was the sufferer; but the others found gleams of comfort in
+their own horizon, which threw reflected lights upon his; for perfect
+sympathy is not, except in dreams. There was quite a joyful little
+commotion at the luncheon table when Frank's arrival was discovered; and
+his sisters were kissing him, and his young brothers shaking his hand
+off, while Gerald came slowly up, with preoccupied, lingering steps,
+underneath the murmurous limes. All kinds of strange miseries were
+appearing to him as he pursued his way. Glimpses of scenes to come--a
+dark phantasmagoria of anticipated pain. He saw his wife and his
+children going away out of their happy house; he saw himself severed
+from all human ties, among alien faces and customs, working out a hard
+novitiate. What could he do? His heart, so long on the rack, was aching
+with dull throbs of anguish, but he did not see any way of escape. He
+was a priest by all the training, all the habits of his life; how could
+he give up that service to which he was called before everything, the
+most momentous work on earth? For ease, for happiness, for even sacred
+love, could he defraud God of the service he had vowed, and go back to
+secular work just at the moment when the true meaning of ecclesiastical
+work seemed dawning upon him? He had decided that question before, but
+it came back and back. His eyes were heavy with thought and conflict as
+he went up to his father's house. All this was wearing out his strength,
+and sapping his very life. The sooner it was over the better would it be
+for all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+Very little came, as was natural, of the talk in the library, to which
+the entire afternoon was devoted. The Squire, in his way, was as great
+an interruption to the arguments of the Curate as was poor Louisa in
+hers; and Gerald sat patiently to listen to his father's indignant
+monologue, broken as it was by Frank's more serious attacks. He was
+prepared for all they could say to him, and listened to it, sometimes
+with a kind of wondering smile, knowing well how much more strongly,
+backed by all his prejudices and interests, he had put the same
+arguments to himself. All this time nobody discussed the practicability
+of the matter much, nor what steps he meant to take: what immediately
+occupied both his father and brother was his determination itself, and
+the reasons which had led him to it, which the Squire, like Louisa,
+could not understand.
+
+"If I had made myself disagreeable," said Mr Wentworth; "if I had
+remonstrated with him, as Leonora urged me to do; if I had put a stop to
+the surplice and so forth, and interfered with his decorations or his
+saints' days, or anything, it might have been comprehensible. But I
+never said a syllable on the subject. I give you my word, I never did.
+Why couldn't he have sent down for Louisa now, and dined at the Hall, as
+usual, when any of my sons come home? I suppose a man may change his
+religion, sir, without getting rid of his natural affections," said the
+Squire, gazing out with puzzled looks to watch Gerald going slowly down
+the avenue. "A man who talks of leaving his wife, and declines to dine
+at his father's house with his brothers and sisters, is a mystery I
+can't understand."
+
+"I don't suppose he cares for a lively party like ours at this moment,"
+said the Curate: "I don't take it as any sign of a want of affection for
+me."
+
+The Squire puffed forth a large sigh of trouble and vexation as he
+came from the window. "If _I_ were to give in to trouble when it
+appears, what would become of our lively party, I wonder?" he said.
+"I'm getting an old man, Frank; but there's not a young man in
+Christendom has more need to take care of himself, and preserve his
+health, than I have. I am very well, thank God, though I have had a
+touch of our Wentworth complaint--just one touch. My father had it ten
+years earlier in life, and lived to eighty, all the same; but that is
+an age I shall never see. Such worries as I have would kill any man.
+I've not spoken to anybody about it," said the Squire, hastily, "but
+Jack is going a terrible pace just now. I've had a good deal of bother
+about bills and things. He gets worse every year; and what would
+become of the girls and the little children if the estate were to come
+into Jack's hands, is a thought I don't like to dwell upon, Frank. I
+suppose he never writes to you?"
+
+"Not for years past," said the Curate--"not since I was at Oxford.
+Where is he now?"
+
+"Somewhere about town, I suppose," said the aggrieved father, "or
+wherever the greatest scamps collect when they go out of town--that's
+where he is. I could show you a little document or two, Frank--but
+now," said the Squire, shutting up a drawer which he had unlocked and
+partly opened, "I won't; you've enough on your mind with Gerald, and
+I told you I should be glad of your advice about Cuthbert and Guy."
+
+Upon which the father and son plunged into family affairs. Cuthbert
+and Guy were the youngest of the Squire's middle family--a "lot" which
+included Frank and Charley and the three sisters, one of whom was
+married. The domestic relations of the Wentworths were complicated in
+this generation. Jack and Gerald were of the first marriage, a period
+in his history which Mr Wentworth himself had partly forgotten; and
+the troop of children at present in the Hall nursery were quite beyond
+the powers of any grown-up brother to recognise or identify. It was
+vaguely understood that "the girls" knew all the small fry by head and
+name, but even the Squire himself was apt to get puzzled. With such a
+household, and with an heir impending over his head like Jack, it may
+be supposed that Mr Wentworth's anxiety to get his younger boys
+disposed of was great. Cuthbert and Guy were arrows in the hand of the
+giant, but he had his quiver so full that the best thing he could do
+was to draw his bow and shoot them away into as distant and as fresh a
+sphere as possible. They were sworn companions and allies, but they
+were not clever, Mr Wentworth believed, and he was very glad to
+consult over New Zealand and Australia, and which was best, with their
+brother Frank.
+
+"They are good boys," said their father, "but they have not any brains
+to speak of--not like Gerald and you;--though, after all, I begin to be
+doubtful what's the good of brains," added the Squire, disconsolately,
+"if this is all that comes of them. After building so much on Gerald for
+years, and feeling that one might live to see him a bishop--but,
+however, there's still _you_ left; you're all right, Frank?"
+
+"Oh yes, I am all right," said the Curate, with a sigh; "but neither
+Gerald nor I are the stuff that bishops are made of," he added,
+laughing. "I hope you don't dream of any such honour for me."
+
+But the Squire was too troubled in his mind for laughter. "Jack was
+always clever, too," he said, dolefully, "and little good has come of
+that. I hope he won't disgrace the family any more than he has done, in
+my time, Frank. You young fellows have all your life before you; but
+when a man comes to my age, and expects a little comfort, it's hard to
+be dragged into the mire after his children. I did my duty by Jack
+too--I can say that for myself. He had the same training as Gerald
+had--the same tutor at the university--everything just the same. How do
+you account for that, sir, you that are a philosopher?" said Mr
+Wentworth again, with a touch of irritation. "Own brothers both by
+father and mother; brought up in the same house, same school and college
+and everything; and all the time as different from each other as light
+and darkness. How do you account for that? Though, to be sure, here's
+Gerald taken to bad ways too. It must have been some weakness by their
+mother's side. Poor girl! she died too young to show it herself; but
+it's come out in her children," said the vexed Squire. "Though it's a
+poor sort of thing to blame them that are gone," he added, with
+penitence; and he got up and paced uneasily about the room. Who was
+there else to blame? Not himself, for he had done his duty by his boys.
+Mr Wentworth never was disturbed in mind, without, as his family were
+well aware, becoming excited in temper too; and the unexpected nature of
+the new trouble had somehow added a keener touch of exasperation to his
+perennial dissatisfaction with his heir. "If Jack had been the man he
+ought to have been, his advice might have done some good--for a
+clergyman naturally sees things in a different light from a man of the
+world," said the troubled father; and Frank perceived that he too shared
+in his father's displeasure, because he was not Jack, nor a man of the
+world; notwithstanding that, being Frank and a clergyman, he was
+acknowledged by public opinion to be the Squire's favourite in the
+family. Things continued in this uncomfortable state up to the
+dinner-hour, so that the Curate, even had his own feelings permitted it,
+had but little comfort in his home visit. At dinner Mr Wentworth did not
+eat, and awoke the anxiety of his wife, who drove the old gentleman into
+a state of desperation by inquiries after his health.
+
+"Indeed, I wish you would remonstrate with your papa, Frank," said his
+stepmother, who was not a great deal older than the Curate. "After his
+attack he ought to be more careful. But he never takes the least
+trouble about himself, no more than if he were five-and-twenty. After
+getting such a knock on the forehead too; and you see he eats nothing.
+I shall be miserable if the doctor is not sent for to-night."
+
+"Stuff!" cried the Squire, testily. "Perhaps you will speak to the cook
+about these messes she insists on sending up to disgust one, and leave
+me to take care of my own health. Don't touch that dish, Frank; it's
+poison. I am glad Gerald is not here: he'd think we never had a dinner
+without that confounded mixture. And then the wonder is that one can't
+eat!" said Mr Wentworth, in a tone which spread consternation round the
+table. Mrs Wentworth secretly put her handkerchief to her eyes behind
+the great cover, which had not yet been removed; and one of the girls
+dashed in violently to the rescue, of course making everything worse.
+
+"Why did not Gerald and Louisa come to dinner?" cried the ignorant
+sister. "Surely, when they knew Frank had come, they would have liked to
+be here. How very odd it was of you not to ask them, papa! they always
+do come when anybody has arrived. Why aren't they here to-night?"
+
+"Because they don't choose to come," said the Squire, abruptly. "If
+Gerald has reasons for staying away from his father's house, what is
+that to you? Butterflies," said Mr Wentworth, looking at them in their
+pretty dresses, as they sat regarding him with dismay, "that don't
+understand any reason for doing anything except liking it or not liking
+it. I daresay by this time your sister knows better."
+
+"My sister is married, papa," said Letty, with her saucy look.
+
+"I advise you to get married too, and learn what life is like," said the
+savage Squire; and conversation visibly flagged after this effort. When
+the ladies got safely into the drawing-room, they gathered into a corner
+to consult over it. They were all naturally anxious about him after his
+"attack."
+
+"Don't you remember he was just like this before it came on?" said Mrs
+Wentworth, nervously; "so cross, and finding fault with the made dishes.
+Don't you think I might send over a message to Dr Small--not to come on
+purpose, you know, but just as if it were a call in passing?"
+
+But the girls both agreed this would make matters worse.
+
+"It must be something about Jack," they both said in a breath, in a
+kind of awe of their elder brother, of whom they had a very imperfect
+knowledge. "And it seems we never are to have a chance of a word with
+Frank!" cried Letty, who was indignant and exasperated. But at least
+it was a consolation that "the boys" were no better off. All next day
+Cuthbert and Guy hung about in the vain hope of securing the company
+and attention of the visitor. He was at the Rectory the whole morning,
+sometimes with Gerald, sometimes with Louisa, as the scouts of the
+family, consisting of a variety of brothers, little and big, informed
+the anxious girls. And Louisa was seen to cry on one of these
+occasions; and Gerald looked cross, said one little spy, whereupon he
+had his ears boxed, and was dismissed from the service. "As if Gerald
+ever looked anything but a saint!" said the younger sister, who was an
+advanced Anglican. Letty, however, holding other views, confuted this
+opinion strongly: "When one thinks of a saint, it is aunt Leonora one
+thinks of," said this profane young woman. "I'll tell you what Gerald
+looks like--something just half-way between a conqueror and a martyr.
+I think, of all the men I ever saw, he is my hero," said Letty,
+meditatively. The youngest Miss Wentworth was not exactly of this
+latter opinion, but she did not contradict her sister. They were kept
+in a state of watchfulness all day, but Frank's mission remained a
+mystery which they could not penetrate; and in the evening Gerald
+alone made his appearance at the hall to dinner, explaining that
+Louisa had a headache. Now Louisa's headaches were not unfrequent, but
+they were known to improve in the prospect of going out to dinner. On
+the whole, the matter was wrapt in obscurity, and the Wentworth
+household could not explain it. The sisters sat up brushing their
+hair, and looking very pretty in their dressing-gowns, with their
+bright locks (for the Wentworth hair was golden-brown of a Titian hue)
+over their shoulders, discussing the matter till it was long past
+midnight; but they could make nothing of it, and the only conclusion
+they came to was, that their two clergymen brothers were occupied in
+negotiating with the Squire about some secret not known to the rest of
+the family, but most probably concerning Jack. Jack was almost unknown
+to his sisters, and awoke no very warm anxiety in their minds; so they
+went to sleep at last in tolerable quiet, concluding that whatever
+mystery there was concerned only the first-born and least loved of the
+house.
+
+While the girls pursued these innocent deliberations, and reasoned
+themselves into conviction, the Squire too sat late--much later than
+usual. He had gone with Frank to the library, and sat there in
+half-stupefied quietness, which the Curate could not see without
+alarm, and from which he roused himself up now and then to wander off
+into talk, which always began with Gerald, and always came back to his
+own anxieties and his disappointed hopes in his eldest son. "If Jack
+had been the man he ought to have been, I'd have telegraphed for him,
+and he'd have managed it all," said the Squire, and then relapsed
+once more into silence. "For neither you nor I are men of the world,
+Frank," he would resume again, after a pause of half an hour,
+revealing pitifully how his mind laboured under the weight of this
+absorbing thought. The Curate sat up with him in the dimly-lighted
+library, feeling the silence and the darkness to his heart. He could
+not assist his father in those dim ranges of painful meditation.
+Grieved as he was, he could not venture to compare his own distress
+with the bitterness of the Squire, disappointed in all his hopes and
+in the pride of his heart; and then the young man saw compensations
+and heroisms in Gerald's case which were invisible to the unheroic
+eyes of Mr Wentworth, who looked at it entirely from a practical point
+of view, and regarded with keen mortification an event which would lay
+all the affairs of the Wentworths open to general discussion, and
+invite the eye of the world to a renewed examination of his domestic
+skeletons. Everything had been hushed and shut up in the Hall for at
+least an hour, when the Squire got up at last and lighted his candle,
+and held out his hand to his son--"This isn't a very cheerful visit
+for you, Frank," he said; "but we'll try again to-morrow, and have one
+other talk with Gerald. Couldn't you read up some books on the
+subject, or think of something new to say to him? God bless my soul!
+if I were as young and as much accustomed to talking as you are, I'd
+surely find out some argument," said the Squire, with a momentary
+spark of temper, which made his son feel more comfortable about him.
+"It's your business to convince a man when he's wrong. We'll try
+Gerald once more, and perhaps something may come of it; and as for
+Jack--" Here the Squire paused, and shook his head, and let go his
+son's hand. "I suppose it's sitting up so late that makes one feel so
+cold and wretched, and as if one saw ghosts," said Mr Wentworth.
+"Don't stay here any longer, and take care of the candles. I ought to
+have been in bed two hours ago. Good-night."
+
+And as he walked away, the Curate could not but observe what an aged
+figure it looked, moving with a certain caution to the door. The great
+library was so dim that the light of the candle which the Squire
+carried in his hand was necessary to reveal his figure clearly, and
+there was no mistaking his air of age and feebleness. The Curate's
+thoughts were not very agreeable when he was left by himself in the
+half-lighted room. His imagination jumped to a picture very possible,
+but grievous to think of--Jack seated in his father's place, and "the
+girls" and the little children turned out upon the world. In such a
+case, who would be their protector and natural guardian? Not Gerald,
+who was about to divest himself of ties still closer and more sacred.
+The Curate lit his candle too, and went hastily to his room when that
+thought came upon him. There might be circumstances still more
+hopeless and appalling than the opposition of a rector or the want of
+a benefice. He preferred to return to his anxiety about Gerald, and to
+put away that thought, as he went hurriedly up-stairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+"The sum of it all is, that you won't hear any reason, Gerald," said
+the Squire. "What your brother says, and what I say, are nothing; your
+poor wife is nothing; and all a man's duties, sir, in life--all your
+responsibilities, everything that is considered most sacred--"
+
+"You may say what you will to me, father," said Gerald. "I can't
+expect you should speak differently. But you may imagine I have looked
+at it in every possible light before I came to this resolution. A man
+does not decide easily when everything he prizes on earth is at
+stake. I cannot see with Frank's eyes, or with yours; according to the
+light God has given me, I must see with my own."
+
+"But, God bless my soul! what do you mean by seeing with your own eyes?"
+said the Squire. "Don't you know that is a Protestant doctrine, sir? Do
+you think they'll let you see with any eyes but theirs when you get
+among a set of Papists? Instead of an easy-going bishop, and friendly
+fellows for brother clergymen, and parishioners that think everything
+that's good of you, how do you suppose you'll feel as an Englishman when
+you get into a dead Frenchified system, with everything going by rule
+and measure, and bound to believe just as you're told? It'll kill you,
+sir--that's what will be the end of it. If you are in your grave within
+the year, it will be no wonder to me."
+
+"Amen!" said Gerald, softly. "If that is to be all, we will not
+quarrel with the result;" and he got up and went to the window, as if
+to look for his cedar, which was not there. Perhaps the absence of his
+silent referee gave him a kind of comfort, though at the same time it
+disappointed him in some fantastical way, for he turned with a curious
+look of relief and vexation to his brother. "We need not be always
+thinking of it, even if this were to be the end," he said. "Come down
+the avenue with me, Frank, and let us talk of something else. The
+girls will grumble, but they can have you later: come, I want to hear
+about yourself."
+
+Unfortunately the Squire got up when his sons did, which was by no means
+their intention; but Mr Wentworth was vexed and restless, and was not
+willing to let Gerald off so easily. If he were mad, at least he ought
+to be made duly wretched in his madness, Mr Wentworth thought; and he
+went out with them, and arrested the words on their lips. Somehow
+everything seemed to concur in hindering any appeal on the part of the
+Curate. And Gerald, like most imaginative men, had a power of dismissing
+his troubles after they had taken their will of him. It was he who took
+the conversation on himself when they went out of doors. Finding Frank
+slow in his report, Gerald went into all the country news for the
+instruction of his brother. He had been down to the very depths during
+the two previous days, and now he had come aloft again; for a man cannot
+be miserable every moment of his life, however heavy his burden may be.
+The "girls," whose anxieties had been much stimulated by the renewed
+conference held with closed doors in the library, stood watching them
+from one of the drawing-room windows. The boldest of the two had,
+indeed, got her hat to follow them, not comprehending why Frank should
+be monopolised for days together by anybody but herself, his favourite
+sister; but something in the aspect of the three men, when they first
+appeared under the lime-trees, had awed even the lively Letty out of her
+usual courage. "But Gerald is talking and laughing just as usual," she
+said, as she stood at the window dangling her hat in her hand--"more
+than usual, for he has been very glum all this spring. Poor fellow! I
+daresay Louisa worries him out of his life;" and with this easy
+conclusion the elder brother was dismissed by the girls. "Perhaps Frank
+is going to be married," said the other sister, who, under the lively
+spur of this idea, came back to the window to gaze at him again, and
+find out whether any intimation of this alarming possibility could be
+gathered from the fit of his long clerical coat, or his manner of walk,
+as he sauntered along under the limes. "As if a Perpetual Curate could
+marry!" said Letty, with scorn, who knew the world. As for little Janet,
+who was a tender-hearted little soul, she folded her two hands together,
+and looked at her brother's back with a great increase of interest. "If
+one loved him, one would not mind what he was," said the little maiden,
+who had been in some trouble herself, and understood about such matters.
+So the girls talked at their window, Mrs Wentworth being, as usual,
+occupied with her nursery, and nobody else at hand to teach them wisdom,
+and soon branched off into speculations about the post-bag, which was
+"due," and which, perhaps, was almost more interesting, to one of them
+at least, than even a brother who was going to be married.
+
+In the mean time Gerald was talking of Huxtable and Plumstead, the
+brother-in-law and cousin, who were both clergymen in the same
+district, and about the people in the village whom they had known when
+they were boys, and who never grew any older. "There is old Kilweed,
+for example, who was Methuselah in those days--he's not eighty yet,"
+he said, with a smile and a sigh; "it is we who grow older and come
+nearer to the winter and the sunset. My father even has come down a
+long way off the awful eminence on which I used to behold him: every
+year that falls on my head seems to take one off his: if we both live
+long enough, we shall feel like contemporaries by-and-by," said
+Gerald: "just now the advantage of years is all on my side; and you
+are my junior, sir." He was switching down the weeds among the grass
+with his cane as he spoke, like any schoolboy; the air, and perhaps a
+little excitement, had roused the blood to his cheek. He did not look
+the same man as the pale martyr in the library--not that he had any
+reason for appearing different, but only that inalienable poetic
+waywardness which kept him up through his trouble. As for Mr
+Wentworth, he resented the momentary brightening, which he took for
+levity.
+
+"I thought we came out here to prolong our discussion," said the
+Squire. "I don't understand this light way of talking. If you mean
+what you have said, sir, I should never expect to see you smile more."
+
+"The smiling makes little difference," said Gerald; but he stopped
+short in his talk, and there was a pause among them till the postboy
+came up to them with his bag, which Mr Wentworth, with much
+importance, paused to open. The young men, who had no special interest
+in its contents, went on. Perhaps the absence of their father was a
+relief to them. They were nearer to each other, understood each other
+better than he could do; and they quickened their pace insensibly as
+they began to talk. It is easy to imagine what kind of talk it
+was--entire sympathy, yet disagreement wide as the poles--here for a
+few steps side by side, there darting off at the most opposite
+tangent; but they had begun to warm to it, and to forget everything
+else, when a succession of lusty hollos from the Squire brought them
+suddenly to themselves, and to a dead stop. When they looked round, he
+was making up to them with choleric strides. "What the deuce do you
+mean, sir, by having telegrams sent here?" cried Mr Wentworth,
+pitching at his son Frank an ominous ugly envelope, in blue and red,
+such as the unsophisticated mind naturally trembles at. "Beg your
+pardon, Gerald; but I never can keep my temper when I see a telegraph.
+I daresay it's something about Charley," said the old man, in a
+slightly husky voice--"to make up to us for inventing troubles." The
+Squire was a good deal disturbed by the sight of that ill-omened
+message; and it was the better way, as he knew by experience, to throw
+his excitement into the shape of anger rather than that of grief.
+
+"It's nothing about Charley," said Frank; and Mr Wentworth blew his
+nose violently and drew a long breath. "I don't understand it," said
+the Curate, who looked scared and pale; "it seems to be from Jack;
+though why _he_ is in Carlingford, or what he has to do--"
+
+"He's ill, sir, I suppose--dying; nothing else was to be looked for,"
+said the Squire, and held out his hand, which trembled, for the
+telegram. "Stuff! why shouldn't I be able to bear it? Has he been any
+comfort to me? Can't you read it, one of you?" cried the old man.
+
+"'John Wentworth to the Reverend--'"
+
+"God bless my soul! can't you come to what he says?"
+
+"'Come back directly--you are wanted here; I am in trouble, as usual;
+and T.W.--'"
+
+Here the Squire took a step backwards, and set himself against a tree.
+"The sun comes in one's eyes," he said, rather feebly. "There's
+something poisonous in the air today. Here's Gerald going out of the
+Church; and here's Frank in Jack's secrets. God forgive him! Lads, it
+seems you think I've had enough of this world's good. My heir's a
+swindling villain, and you know it; and here's Frank going the same
+road too."
+
+The Squire did not hear the words that both the brothers addressed to
+him; he was unconscious of the Curate's disclaimer and eager explanation
+that he knew nothing about Jack, and could not understand his presence
+in Carlingford. The blow he had got the previous day had confused his
+brain outside, and these accumulated vexations had bewildered it within.
+"And I could have sworn by Frank!" said the old man, piteously, to
+himself, as he put up his hand unawares and tugged at the dainty
+starched cravat which was his pride. If they had not held him in their
+arms, he would have slid down at the foot of the tree, against which he
+had instinctively propped himself. The attack was less alarming to
+Gerald, who had seen it before, than to Frank, who had only heard of it;
+but the postboy was still within call, by good fortune, and was sent off
+for assistance. They carried him to the Hall, gasping for breath, and in
+a state of partial unconsciousness, but still feebly repeating those
+words which went to the Curate's heart--"I could have sworn by Frank!"
+The house was in a great fright and tumult, naturally, before they
+reached it, Mrs Wentworth fainting, the girls looking on in dismay, and
+the whole household moved to awe and alarm, knowing that one time or
+other Death would come so. As for the Curate of St Roque's, he had
+already made up his mind, with unexpected anguish, not only that his
+father was dying, but that his father would die under a fatal
+misconception about himself; and between this overwhelming thought, and
+the anxiety which nobody understood or could sympathise with respecting
+Jack's message, the young man was almost beside himself. He went away in
+utter despair from the anxious consultations of the family after the
+doctor had come, and kept walking up and down before the house, waiting
+to hear the worst, as he thought; but yet unable, even while his father
+lay dying, to keep from thinking what miserable chance, what folly or
+crime, had taken Jack to Carlingford, and what his brother could have to
+do with the owner of the initials named in his telegram. He was lost in
+this twofold trouble when Gerald came out to him with brightened looks.
+
+"He is coming round, and the doctor says there is no immediate
+danger," said Gerald; "and it is only immediate danger one is afraid
+of. He was as well as ever last time in a day or two. It is the
+complaint of the Wentworths, you know--we all die of it; but, Frank,
+tell me what is this about Jack?"
+
+"I know no more than you do," said the Curate, when he had recovered
+himself a little. "I must go back, not having done much good here, to
+see."
+
+"And T.W.?" said Gerald. The elder brother looked at the younger
+suspiciously, as if he were afraid for him; and it was scarcely in
+human nature not to feel a momentary flash of resentment.
+
+"I tell you I know nothing about it," said Frank, "except what is
+evident to any one, that Jack has gone to Carlingford in my absence,
+being in trouble somehow. I suppose he always is in trouble. I have not
+heard from him since I went there; but as it don't seem I can be of any
+use here, as soon as my father is safe, I will go back. Louisa imagined,
+you know--; but she was wrong."
+
+"Yes," said Gerald, quietly. That subject was concluded, and there was
+no more to say.
+
+The same evening, as the Squire continued to improve, and had been able
+to understand his energetic explanation that he was entirely ignorant of
+Jack's secrets, Frank Wentworth went back again with a very disturbed
+mind. He went into the Rectory as he passed down to the station, to say
+good-bye to Louisa, who was sitting in the drawing-room with her
+children round her, and her trouble considerably lightened, though there
+was no particular cause for it. Dressing for dinner had of itself a
+beneficial effect upon Louisa: she could not understand how a life could
+ever be changed which was so clearly ordained of Heaven; for if Gerald
+was not with her, what inducement could she possibly have to dress for
+dinner? and then what would be the good of all the pretty wardrobe with
+which Providence had endowed her? Must not Providence take care that its
+gifts were not thus wasted? So the world was once more set fast on its
+foundations, and the pillars of earth remained unshaken, when Frank
+glanced in on his way to the station to say good-bye.
+
+"Don't be afraid, Louisa; I don't believe he would be allowed to do it,"
+said the Curate in her ear. "The Church of Rome does not go in the face
+of nature. She will not take him away from you. Keep your heart at ease
+as much as you can. Good-bye."
+
+"You mean about Gerald. Oh, you don't _really_ think he could ever
+have had the heart?" said Mrs Wentworth. "I am so sorry you are going
+away without any dinner or anything comfortable; and it was so good of
+you to come, and I feel so much better. I shall always be grateful to
+you, dear Frank, for showing Gerald his mistake; and tell dear aunt
+Dora I am so much obliged to her for thinking of the blanket for the
+bassinet. I am sure it will be lovely. Must you go? Good-bye. I am
+sure you have always been like my own brother--Frank, dear, good-bye.
+Come and kiss your dear uncle, children, and say good-bye."
+
+This was how Louisa dismissed him after all his efforts on her behalf.
+The girls were waiting for him on the road, still full of anxiety to
+know why he had come so suddenly, and was going away so soon. "We have
+not had half a peep of you," said Letty; "and it is wicked of you not
+to tell us; as if anybody could sympathise like your sisters--your
+very own sisters, Frank," said the young lady, with a pressure on his
+arm. In such a mixed family the words meant something.
+
+"We had made up our minds you had come to tell papa," said Janet,
+with her pretty shy look; "that was my guess--you might tell us her
+name, Frank."
+
+"Whose name?" said the unfortunate Curate; and the dazzling vision of
+Lucy Wodehouse's face, which came upon him at the moment, was such,
+that the reluctant blood rose high in his cheeks--which, of course,
+the girls were quick enough to perceive.
+
+"It _is_ about some girl, after all," said Letty; "oh me! I did not
+think you had been like all the rest. I thought you had other things
+to think of. Janet may say what she likes--but I do think it's
+contemptible always to find out, when a man, who can do lots of
+things, is in trouble, that it's about some girl or other like one's
+self! I did not expect it of you, Frank--but all the same, tell us who
+she is?" said the favourite sister, clasping his arm confidentially,
+and dropping her voice.
+
+"There is the train. Good-bye, girls, and be sure you write to me
+to-morrow how my father is," said the Curate. He had taken his seat
+before they could ask further questions, and in a minute or two more
+was dashing out of the little station, catching their smiles and
+adieus as he went, and turning back last of all for another look at
+Gerald, who stood leaning on his stick, looking after the train, with
+the mist of preoccupation gathering again over his smiling eyes. The
+Curate went back to his corner after that, and lost himself in
+thoughts and anxieties still more painful. What had Jack to do in
+Carlingford? what connection had he with those initials, or how did he
+know their owner? All sorts of horrible fears came over the Curate of
+St Roque's. He had not seen his elder brother for years, and Jack's
+career was not one for the family to be proud of. Had he done
+something too terrible to be hidden--too clamorous to let his name
+drop out of remembrance, as was to be desired for the credit of the
+Wentworths? This speculation whiled the night away but drearily, as the
+Perpetual Curate went back to the unknown tide of cares which had
+surged in his absence into his momentarily abandoned place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth got back to Carlingford by a happy concurrence of trains
+before the town had gone to sleep. It was summer, when the days are at
+the longest, and the twilight was just falling into night as he took
+his way through George Street. He went along the familiar street with
+a certain terror of looking into people's faces whom he met, and of
+asking questions, such as was natural to a man who did not know
+whether something of public note might not have happened in his
+absence to call attention to his name. He imagined, indeed, that he
+did see a strange expression in the looks of the townsfolk he
+encountered on his way. He thought they looked at him askance as they
+made their salutations, and said something to each other after they
+passed, which, indeed, in several cases was true enough, though the
+cause was totally different from anything suspected by Mr Wentworth.
+Anxious to know, and yet unwilling to ask, it was with a certain
+relief that the Curate saw the light gleaming out from the open door
+of Elsworthy's shop as he approached. He went in and tossed down his
+travelling-bag on the counter, and threw himself on the solitary chair
+which stood outside for the accommodation of customers, with a
+suppressed excitement, which made his question sound abrupt and
+significant to the ears of Elsworthy. "Has anything happened since I
+went away?" said Mr Wentworth, throwing a glance round the shop which
+alarmed his faithful retainer. Somehow, though nothing was farther
+from his mind than little Rosa, or any thought of her, the Curate
+missed the pretty little figure at the first glance.
+
+"Well--no, sir; not much as I've heard of," said Elsworthy, with a
+little confusion. He was tying up his newspapers as usual, but it did
+not require the touch of suspicion and anxiety which gave sharpness to
+the Curate's eyes to make it apparent that the cord was trembling in
+Mr Elsworthy's hand. "I hope you've had a pleasant journey, sir, and a
+comfortable visit--it's been but short--but we always miss you in
+Carlingford, Mr Wentworth, if it was only for a day."
+
+"I'll take my paper," said the young man, who was not satisfied--"so
+there's no news, isn't there?--all well, and everything going on as
+usual?" And the look which the suspicious Curate bent upon Mr
+Elsworthy made that virtuous individual, as he himself described it,
+"shake in his shoes."
+
+"Much as usual, sir," said the frightened clerk,--"nothing new as I
+hear of but gossip, and that aint a thing to interest a clergyman.
+There's always one report or another flying about, but them follies
+aint for your hearing. Nothing more," continued Mr Elsworthy,
+conscious of guilt, and presenting a very tremulous countenance to the
+inspection of his suspicious auditor, "not if it was my last
+word--nothing but gossip, as you wouldn't care to hear."
+
+"I might possibly care to hear if it concerned myself," said the
+Curate,--"or anybody I am interested in," he added, after a little
+pause, with rather a forced smile--which convinced Mr Elsworthy that
+his clergyman had heard all about Rosa, and that the days of his
+incumbency as clerk of St Roque's were numbered.
+
+"Well, sir, if you did hear, it aint no blame of mine," said the
+injured bookseller; "such a notion would never have come into my
+mind--no man, I make bold to say, is more particular about keeping to
+his own rank of life nor me. What you did, sir, you did out of the
+kindness of your heart, and I'd sooner sell up and go off to the end
+of the world than impose upon a gentleman. Her aunt's took her away,"
+continued Mr Elsworthy, lowering his voice, and cautiously pointing
+to the back of the shop--"She'll not bother you no more."
+
+"She!--who?" cried the Perpetual Curate, in sudden consternation. He
+was utterly bewildered by the introduction of a female actor into the
+little drama, and immediately ran over in his mind all the women he
+could think of who could, by any possibility, be involved in
+mysterious relations with his brother Jack.
+
+"She's but a child," said Elsworthy, pathetically; "she don't know
+nothing about the ways o' the world. If she was a bit proud o' being
+noticed, there wasn't no harm in that. But seeing as there's nothing
+in this world that folks won't make a talk of when they've started,
+her aunt, as is very partic'lar, has took her away. Not as I'm meaning
+no reproach to you, Mr Wentworth; but she's a loss to us, is Rosa. She
+was a cheerful little thing, say the worst of her," said Mr Elsworthy;
+"going a-singing and a-chirping out and in the shop; and I won't deny
+as the place looks desolate, now she's away. But that aint neither
+here nor there. It was for her good, as my missis says. Most things as
+is unpleasant _is_ sent for good, they tell me; and I wouldn't--not
+for any comfort to myself--have a talk got up about the clergyman--"
+
+By this time Mr Wentworth had awakened to a sense of the real meaning of
+Elsworthy's talk. He sat upright on his chair, and looked into the face
+of the worthy shopkeeper until the poor man trembled. "A talk about the
+clergyman?" said the Curate. "About me, do you mean? and what has little
+Rosa to do with me? Have you gone crazy in Carlingford--what is the
+meaning of it all?" He sat with his elbows on the counter, looking at
+his trembling adherent--looking through and through him, as Elsworthy
+said. "I should be glad of an explanation; what does it mean?" said Mr
+Wentworth, with a look which there was no evading; and the clerk of St
+Roque's cast an anxious glance round him for help. He would have
+accepted it from any quarter at that overwhelming moment; but there was
+not even an errand-boy to divert from him the Curate's terrible eyes.
+
+"I--I don't know--I--can't tell how it got up," said the unhappy man,
+who had not even his "missis" in the parlour as a moral support. "One
+thing as I know is, it wasn't no blame o' mine. I as good as went down
+on my knees to them three respected ladies when they come to inquire. I
+said as it was kindness in you a-seeing of the child home, and didn't
+mean nothing more. I ask you, sir, what could I do?" cried Mr Elsworthy.
+"Folks in Carlingford will talk o' two straws if they're a-seen
+a-blowing up Grange Lane on the same breath o' wind. I couldn't do no
+more nor contradict it," cried Rosa's guardian, getting excited in his
+self-defence; "and to save your feelings, Mr Wentworth, and put it out
+o' folks's power to talk, the missis has been and took her away."
+
+"To save my feelings!" said the Curate, with a laugh of contempt and
+vexation and impatience which it was not pleasant to hear. At another
+moment an accusation so ridiculous would have troubled him very little;
+but just now, with a sudden gleam of insight, he saw all the
+complications which might spring out of it to confuse further the path
+which he already felt to be so burdened. "I'll tell you what,
+Elsworthy," said Mr Wentworth; "if you don't want to make me your enemy
+instead of your friend, you'll send for this child instantly, without a
+day's delay. Tell your wife that my orders are that she should come back
+directly. _My_ feelings! do the people in Carlingford think me an idiot,
+I wonder?" said the Curate, walking up and down to relieve his mind.
+
+"I don't know, sir, I'm sure," said Elsworthy, who thought some answer
+was required of him. To tell the truth, Rosa's uncle felt a little
+spiteful. He did not see matters in exactly the same light as Mr
+Wentworth did. At the bottom of his heart, after all, lay a thrill of
+awakened ambition. Kings and princes had been known to marry far out
+of their degree for the sake of a beautiful face; and why a Perpetual
+Curate should be so much more lofty in his sentiments, puzzled and
+irritated the clerk of St Roque's. "There aint a worm but will turn
+when he's trod upon," said Mr Elsworthy to himself; and when his
+temper was roused, he became impertinent, according to the manner of
+his kind.
+
+Mr Wentworth gave him a quick look, struck by the changed tone, but
+unable to make out whether it might not be stupidity. "You understand
+what I mean, Elsworthy," he said, with his loftiest air. "If Rosa does
+not return instantly, I shall be seriously offended. How you and your
+friends could be such utter idiots as to get up this ridiculous
+fiction, I can't conceive; but the sooner it's over the better. I
+expect to see her back to-morrow," said the Curate, taking up his bag
+and looking with an absolute despotism, which exasperated the man, in
+Elsworthy's face.
+
+"You may be sure, sir, if she knows as you want to see her, she'll
+come," said the worm which had been trampled on; "and them as asks me
+why, am I to say it was the clergyman's orders?" said Elsworthy,
+looking up in his turn with a consciousness of power. "That means a
+deal, does that. I wouldn't take it upon me to say as much, not of
+myself; but if them's your orders, Mr Wentworth--"
+
+"It appears to me, Elsworthy," said the Curate, who was inwardly in a
+towering passion, though outwardly calm enough, "either that you've
+been drinking or that you mean to be impertinent--which is it?"
+
+"Me!--drinking, sir?" cried the shopkeeper. "If I had been one as was
+given that way, I wouldn't have attended to your interests not as I
+have done. There aint another man in Carlingford as has stood up for
+his clergyman as I have; and as for little Rosa, sir, most folks as
+had right notions would have inquired into that; but being as I
+trusted in you, I wasn't the one to make any talk. I've said to
+everybody as has asked me that there wasn't nothing in it but
+kindness. I don't say as I hadn't my own thoughts--for gentlemen don't
+go walking up Grange Lane with a pretty little creature like that all
+for nothing; but instead o' making anything of that, or leading of you
+on, or putting it in the child's head to give you encouragement, what
+was it I did but send her away afore you came home, that you mightn't
+be led into temptation! And instead of feelin' grateful, you say I've
+been drinking! It's a thing as I scorn to answer," said Mr Elsworthy;
+"there aint no need to make any reply--all Carlingford knows _me_; but
+as for Rosa, if it is understood plain between us that it's your wish,
+I aint the man to interfere," continued Rosa's guardian, with a smile
+which drove the Curate frantic; "but she hasn't got no father, poor
+thing, and it's my business to look after her; and I'll not bring her
+back, Mr Wentworth, unless it's understood between us plain."
+
+Strong language, forcible, but unclerical, was on the Curate's lips,
+and it was only with an effort that he restrained himself. "Look here,
+Elsworthy," he said; "it will be better for you not to exasperate me.
+You understand perfectly what I mean. I repeat, Rosa must come back,
+and that instantly. It is quite unnecessary to explain to you why I
+insist upon this, for you comprehend it. Pshaw! don't let us have any
+more of this absurdity," he exclaimed, impatiently. "No more, I tell
+you. Your wife is not such a fool. Let anybody who inquires about me
+understand that I have come back, and am quite able to account for all
+my actions," said the Curate, shouldering his bag. He was just about
+leaving the shop when Elsworthy rushed after him in an access of alarm
+and repentance.
+
+"One moment, sir," cried the shopkeeper; "there aint no offence, Mr
+Wentworth? I am sure there aint nobody in Carlingford as means better,
+or would do as much for his clergyman. One moment, sir; there was one
+thing I forgot to mention. Mr Wodehouse, sir, has been took bad. There
+was a message up a couple of hours ago to know when you was expected
+home. He's had a stroke, and they don't think as he'll get over
+it--being a man of a full 'abit of body," said Mr Elsworthy in haste,
+lest the Curate should break in on his unfinished speech, "makes it
+dangerous. I've had my fears this long time past."
+
+"A stroke," said the Curate--"a fit, do you mean? When, and how? and,
+good heavens! to think that you have been wasting my time with
+rubbish, and knew this!" Mr Wentworth tossed down his travelling-bag
+again, and wiped his forehead nervously. He had forgotten his real
+anxiety in the irritation of the moment. Now it returned upon him with
+double force. "How did it come on?" he asked, "and when?" and stood
+waiting for the answer, with a world of other questions, which he
+could not put to Elsworthy, hanging on his lips.
+
+"I have a deal of respect for that family, sir," said Elsworthy; "they
+have had troubles as few folks in Carlingford know of. How close they
+have kep' things, to be sure!--but not so close as them that has good
+memories, and can put two and two together, couldn't call to mind. My
+opinion, sir, if you believe me," said the clerk of St Roque's,
+approaching close to the Curate's ear, "is, that it's something
+concerning the son."
+
+"The son!" said Mr Wentworth, with a troubled look. Then, after a
+pause, he added, as if his exclamation had been an oversight, "What
+son? has Mr Wodehouse a son?"
+
+"To think as they should have been so close with the clergyman!" said
+Elsworthy, innocently; "though he aint no credit that they should talk
+of him. He's been gone out o' Carlingford nigh upon twenty year; but
+he aint dead for all that; and I'm told as he's been seen about Grange
+Lane this last spring. I am one as hears all the talk that's a-going
+on, being, as you might say, in a public position of life. Such a
+thing mightn't maybe come to your ears, sir?" he continued, looking
+inquisitively in Mr Wentworth's face; "but wherever he is, you may be
+sure it's something about him as has brought on this attack on the old
+man. It was last night as he was took so bad, and a couple of hours
+ago a message came up. Miss Wodehouse (as is the nicest lady in
+Grange Lane, and a great friend to me) had took a panic, and she was
+a-crying for you, the man said, and wouldn't take no denial. If I had
+known where you was to be found, I'd have sent word."
+
+"Send down my bag to my house," said the Curate, hastily interrupting
+him. "Good-night--don't forget what I said about the other matter." Mr
+Wentworth went out of the shop with a disagreeable impression that
+Elsworthy had been examining his face like an inquisitor, and was
+already forming conclusions from what he had seen there. He went away
+hurriedly, with a great many vague fears in his mind. Mr Wodehouse's
+sudden illness seemed to him a kind of repetition and echo of the
+Squire's, and in the troubled and uncertain state of his thoughts, he
+got to confusing them together in the centre of this whirl of unknown
+disaster and perplexity. Perhaps even thus it was not all bitterness to
+the young man to feel his family united with that of Lucy Wodehouse. He
+went down Grange Lane in the summer darkness under the faint stars, full
+of anxiety and alarm, yet not without a thrill in his heart, a sweeter
+under-current of conscious agitation in the knowledge that he was
+hastening to her presence. Sudden breaks in his thoughts revealed her,
+as if behind a curtain, rising to receive him, giving him her hand,
+meeting his look with a smile; so that, on the whole, neither Gerald's
+distress, nor Jack's alarming call, nor his father's attack, nor Mr
+Wodehouse's illness, nor the general atmosphere of vexation and trouble
+surrounding his way, could succeed in making the young man totally
+wretched. He had this little stronghold of his own to retire into. The
+world could not fall to pieces so long as he continued with eager steps
+to devour the road which led to Mr Wodehouse's garden-door.
+
+Before he had reached that goal, however, he met a group who were
+evidently returning from some little dinner in Grange Lane. Mr Wentworth
+took off his hat hastily in recognition of Mrs Morgan, who was walking
+by her husband's side, with a bright-coloured hood over her head
+instead of a bonnet. The Curate, who was a man of taste, could not help
+observing, even in the darkness, and amid all his preoccupations, how
+utterly the cherry-coloured trimmings of her head-dress were out of
+accordance with the serious countenance of the Rector's wife, who was a
+little heated with her walk. She was a good woman, but she was not fair
+to look upon; and it occurred to Mr Wentworth to wonder, if Lucy were to
+wait ten years for him, would the youthful grace dry and wither out of
+her like this! And then all at once another idea flashed upon his mind,
+without any wish of his. Like the unhappy lover in the ballad, he was
+suddenly aware of a temptation--
+
+"How there looked him in the face An angel beautiful and bright, And how
+he knew it was a fiend."
+
+"Of course the Rectory will go to Frank." He could not tell why at that
+moment the words rang into his ear with such a penetrating sound. That
+he hated himself for being able to think of such a possibility made no
+difference. It came darting and tingling into his mind like one of those
+suggestions of blasphemy which the devils whispered in Christian's ear
+as he went through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He went on faster
+than ever to escape from it, scarcely observing that Mrs Morgan, instead
+of simply acknowledging his bow as she passed, stopped to shake hands,
+and to say how glad she was he had come back again. He thought of it
+afterwards with wonder and a strange gratitude. The Rector's wife was
+not like the conventional type of a pitying angel; and even had she been
+so, he had not time to recognise her at that moment as he went
+struggling with his demons to Mr Wodehouse's green door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+When the green door was opened, Mr Wentworth saw at a glance that
+there was agitation and trouble in the house. Lights were twinkling
+irregularly in the windows here and there, but the family apartment,
+the cheerful drawing-room, which generally threw its steady, cheerful
+blaze over the dark garden, shone but faintly with half-extinguished
+lights and undrawn curtains. It was evident at a glance that the room
+was deserted, and its usual occupants engaged elsewhere. "Master's
+very bad, sir," said the servant who opened the door; "the young
+ladies is both with him, and a hired nurse come in besides. The doctor
+don't seem to have no great hopes, but it will be a comfort to know as
+you have come back. Miss Wodehouse wanted you very bad an hour or two
+ago, for they thought as master was reviving, and could understand.
+I'll go and let them know you are here."
+
+"Don't disturb them, unless I can be of use," said Mr Wentworth. The
+look of the house, and the atmosphere of distress and anxiety about
+it, chilled him suddenly. His visions and hopes seemed guilty and
+selfish as he went slowly up those familiar steps and into the house,
+over which the shadow of death seemed already lying. He went by
+himself into the forsaken drawing-room, where two neglected candles
+were burning feebly in a corner, and the wistful sky looking in as if
+to ask why the domestic temple was thus left open and uncared for.
+After the first moment he went hastily to the windows, and drew down
+the blinds in a kind of tender impatience. He could not bear that
+anything in the world, even her father's danger, should discompose the
+sweet, good order of the place where Lucy's image dwelt. There was a
+chair and her basket of work, and on the little table a book marked
+with pencil-marks, such as youthful readers love to make; and by
+degrees that breath of Lucy lingering in the silent room overcame its
+dreariness, and the painful sense of desertion which had struck him at
+first. He hovered about that corner where her usual place was, feeling
+in his heart that Lucy in trouble was dearer, if possible, than Lucy
+in happiness, and hung over her chair, with a mixture of reverence and
+tenderness and yearning, which could never be expressed in words. It
+was the divinest phase of love which was in his mind at the moment;
+for he was not thinking of himself, but of her, and of how he could
+succour and comfort her, and interpose his own true heart and life
+between her and all trouble. It was at this moment that Lucy herself
+entered the room; she came in softly, and surprised him in the
+overflowing of his heart. She held out her hand to him as usual, and
+smiled, perhaps less brightly, but that of course arose from the
+circumstances of the house; and her voice was very measured and steady
+when she spoke, less variable than of old. What was it she said? Mr
+Wentworth unconsciously left the neighbourhood of that chair over
+which he had been bending, which, to tell the truth, he had leaned his
+head upon, lover-like, and perhaps even kissed for her sake, five
+minutes before, and grew red and grew pale with a strange revulsion
+and tumult of feeling. He could not tell what the difference was, or
+what it meant. He only felt in an instant, with a sense of the change
+that chilled him to the heart, as if somehow a wall of ice had risen
+between them. He could see her through the transparent veil, and hear
+her speak, and perceive the smile which cast no warmth of reflection
+on him; but in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, everything in
+heaven and earth was changed. Lucy herself, to her own consciousness,
+trembled and faltered, and felt as if her voice and her looks must
+betray an amount of emotion which she would have died rather than
+show; but then Lucy had rehearsed this scene before, and knew all she
+intended by it; whereas upon the Curate, in his little flush and
+overflow of tenderness, it fell like a sudden earthquake, rending his
+fair edifice of happiness asunder, and casting him out into unexpected
+darkness. Sudden confusion, mortification, even a sense of injury and
+bitterness, came swelling over his heart as he set a chair for her as
+far away as possible from the corner in which he had been indulging
+such vain and unwarrantable dreams.
+
+"It happened yesterday," said Lucy; "we have not been quite able to
+make out what was the cause; at least _I_ have not been able to find
+it out. The clerks at the office say it was something about--but that
+does not matter," she went on, with her sweet politeness: "you don't
+care for the details. I sometimes fancy Mary knows more than she tells
+me, and I think you are in her confidence, Mr Wentworth. But I am not
+going to ask you any questions. The doctors say he is not suffering so
+much as he seems to be. It is terrible to see him lie there not
+knowing any of us," said Lucy, with a tremble in her voice.
+
+"But you thought him better some time ago?" said the Curate, whose
+words choked him, and who could not endure to speak.
+
+"Yes, about six o'clock," said Lucy, "he tried to speak, and put Mary
+in a great fright, I cannot tell why. Would you be good enough, Mr
+Wentworth," she went on hastily, with a strange mixture of earnestness
+and coldness, "if you know of anything she is keeping secret, to bid
+her tell me? I am able to bear anything there may be to bear--surely
+as well as she is, who has had no trouble," said Lucy, softly; and for
+a moment she wavered in her fixed composure, and the wall of ice moved
+as if it might fall.
+
+"Nor you?" said the Curate, bending anxiously forward to look into her
+eyes. He was inexpressibly moved and agitated by the inference, which
+perhaps no listener less intensely concerned would have drawn from
+what Lucy said. He could not bear that she should have any trouble
+which he might not do something to relieve her of.
+
+"Oh, no, nor I," said Lucy, quickly, and in that moment the softening
+of tone disappeared entirely. "Mary will be pleased to see you, Mr
+Wentworth. I will go and relieve her presently. Papa is asleep just
+now, and I was down-stairs giving some directions when you came in. I
+wanted to ask you to look after that poor woman at No. 10. She still
+keeps living on, and I have not been able to see her today. She misses
+me when I don't go," said Lucy, with a very little unconscious sigh.
+"Would you see her, please, to-morrow, if you have time?"
+
+"Yes, certainly," said the Curate; and then there was a pause. "Is
+there nothing but this that you will let me do for you?" he asked,
+trusting to his looks to show the heart, which at this moment he was
+so much tempted to disclose to her, but dared not. And even in all her
+trouble Lucy was too much of a woman to neglect an opportunity so
+tempting.
+
+"Thank you," she said. "Yes, there are those poor little Bertrams I
+was to have seen today--if you would be so very good as to send some
+one to them." Lucy lifted her eyes only as she ended this little
+speech. She had meant it cruelly, to be sure, and the arrow had gone
+home; but when she met the look that was fixed on her after her little
+shaft was fired, Lucy's resolution faltered. The tears came rushing to
+her eyes so hot and rapid that she could not restrain them. Some
+trouble of her own gave poignancy to that outbreak of filial grief.
+"Papa is so very ill!" she said, with a sob, as a scalding drop fell
+upon her hand; and then got up suddenly, afraid of the consequences.
+But the Curate, mortified, wounded, and disheartened as he was, had no
+comprehension either of the bitterness or the relenting that was in
+Lucy's thoughts. Rosa Elsworthy did not so much as occur to him in all
+his confused wonderings. He went after her to the door, too much
+perplexed and distressed to be indignant, as his first impulse was.
+She turned half round, with a tremulous little inclination of her
+head, which was all the good-night she could venture on. But the young
+man was too much disturbed to permit this.
+
+"You will give me your hand, surely," he said, taking it, and holding it
+fast--a hand so different from that weak woman's hand that clung to
+Gerald without any force to hold him, in Wentworth Rectory. Those
+reluctant fingers, so firm and so soft, which scorned any struggle to
+withdraw themselves, but remained passive in his with a more effectual
+protest still against his grasp, wrung the very heart of the Perpetual
+Curate. He let them go with a sigh of vexation and disappointment.
+"Since that is all I can do, I will do it," he said--"that or anything
+else." She had left him almost before the words were said; and it was in
+a very disconsolate mood that he turned back into the deserted
+drawing-room. To tell the truth, he forgot everything else for the
+moment, asking himself what it could mean; and walked about stumbling
+over the chairs, feeling all his little edifice of personal consolation
+falling to the winds, and not caring much though everything else should
+follow. He was in this state of mind when Miss Wodehouse came to him,
+moving with noiseless steps, as everybody did in the stricken house.
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, I am so glad you have come," said that mild woman,
+holding out both her hands to him. She was too much agitated to say
+anything more. She was not equal to the emergency, or any emergency,
+but sank down on a chair, and relieved herself by tears, while the
+Curate stood anxiously by, waiting for what she had to say to him. "My
+father is very ill," she said, like Lucy, through her crying; "I don't
+know what good anybody can do; but thank God you've come home--now I
+shall feel I have somebody to apply to, whatever happens," said poor
+Miss Wodehouse, drying the eyes that were suffused again the next
+moment. Her helpless distress did not overwhelm the spectator, like
+Lucy's restrained trouble, but that was natural enough.
+
+"Tell me about it," said Mr Wentworth; "the cause--can I guess at the
+cause? it is something about your--"
+
+"Oh hush! don't say his name," cried Miss Wodehouse. "Yes, yes, what
+else could it be? Oh, Mr Wentworth, will you close the door, please,
+and see that there's no one about. I dare not speak to you till I am
+sure there's no one listening; not that I suspect anybody of
+listening," said the distressed woman; "but one never knows. I am
+afraid it is all my fault," she continued, getting up suddenly to see
+that the windows were closed. "I ought to have sent him away, instead
+of putting my trouble upon you; and now he is in greater danger than
+ever. Oh, Mr Wentworth, I meant it for the best; and now, unless you
+can help us, I don't know what I am to do."
+
+"I cannot help you unless you tell me what is wrong," said the Curate,
+making her sit down, and drawing a chair close to her. He took her
+hand, by way of compelling her attention--a fair, soft hand, too, in
+its restless, anxious way. He held it in a brotherly grasp, trying to
+restore her to coherence, and induce her to speak.
+
+"I don't know enough about business to tell you," she said. "He was in
+danger when I threw him upon your charity; and oh, Mr Wentworth, thank
+you, thank you a thousand times, for taking him in like a brother. If
+Lucy only knew! But I don't feel as if I dared to tell her--and yet I
+sometimes think I ought, for your--I mean for all our sakes. Yes, I will
+try to explain it if I can; but I can't--indeed I don't understand,"
+cried the poor lady, in despair. "It is something about a bill--it was
+something about a bill before; and I thought I could soften papa, and
+persuade him to be merciful; but it has all turned to greater
+wretchedness and misery. The first one was paid, you know, and I thought
+papa might relent;--but--don't cast us off, Mr Wentworth--don't go and
+denounce him; you might, but you will not. It would be justice, I
+acknowledge," cried the weeping woman; "but there is something higher
+than justice even in this world. You are younger than I am, and so is
+Lucy; but you are better than me, you young people, and you must be more
+merciful too. I have seen you going among the poor people and among the
+sick, and I could not have done it; and you won't forsake me--oh, Mr
+Wentworth, you won't forsake me, when you know that my trouble is
+greater than I can bear!"
+
+"I will not forsake you," said the Curate; "but tell me what it is. I
+have been summoned to Carlingford by my brother, and I am bewildered
+and disturbed beyond what I can tell you--"
+
+"By your brother?" said Miss Wodehouse, with her unfailing instinct of
+interest in other people. "I hope there is no trouble in your own
+family, Mr Wentworth. One gets so selfish when one is in great
+distress. I hope he is not ill. It sounds as if there was comfort in
+the very name of a brother," said the gentle woman, drying her tears,
+"and I hope it is so with you; but it isn't always so. I hope you will
+find he is better when you get home. I am very, very sorry to hear
+that you are in trouble too."
+
+Mr Wentworth got up from his chair with a sigh of impatience. "Will
+nobody tell me what is the matter?" he said. "Mr Wodehouse is ill, and
+there is some mysterious cause for it; and you are miserable, and
+there is a cause for that too; and I am to do something to set things
+right without knowing what is wrong. Will you not tell me? What is it?
+Has your--"
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't say anybody's name--don't speak so loud.
+There may be a servant in the staircase or something," cried Miss
+Wodehouse. "I hear somebody coming now." She got up to listen, her
+face growing white with panic, and went a few steps towards the door,
+and then tottered into another chair, unable to command herself. A
+certain sick thrill of apprehension came over the Curate, too, as he
+hastened forward. He could not tell what he was afraid of, or whether
+it was only the accumulated agitation of the day that made him weak.
+Somebody was coming up the stairs, and towards the room, with a
+footstep more careless than those stealthy steps with which all the
+servants were stealing about the house. Whoever he was, he stopped at
+the door a moment, and then looked cautiously in. When he saw the
+figure of the Curate in the imperfect light, he withdrew his head
+again as if deliberating with himself, and then, with a sudden rush,
+came in, and shut the door after him. "Confound these servants,
+they're always prowling about the house," said the new-comer. He was
+an alarming apparition in his great beard and his shabbiness, and the
+fugitive look he had. "I couldn't help it," he broke forth, with a
+spontaneous burst of apology and self-defence. "I heard he was ill,
+and I couldn't keep quiet. How is he? You don't mean to say _that's_
+my fault. Molly, can't you speak to me? How could I tell I should find
+you and the parson alone here, and all safe? I might have been risking
+my--my--freedom--everything I care for; but when I heard he was ill, I
+couldn't stay quiet. Is he dying?--what's the matter? Molly, can't you
+speak?"
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, somebody will see him," cried Miss Wodehouse,
+wringing her hands. "Oh Tom, Tom, how could you do it? Suppose
+somebody was to come in--John or somebody. If you care for your own
+life, oh, go away, go away!"
+
+"They can't touch my life," said the stranger, sullenly. "I daresay
+she doesn't know that. Nor the parson need not look superior--there
+are more people concerned than I; but if I've risked everything to
+hear, you may surely tell me how the old man is."
+
+"If it was love that brought you," said poor Miss Wodehouse; "but oh,
+Tom, you know I can't believe that. He is very, very ill; and it is
+you that have done it," cried the mild woman, in a little gush of
+passion--"you whom he has forgiven and forgiven till his heart is
+sick. Go away, I tell you, go away from the house that you have
+shamed. Oh, Mr Wentworth, take him away," she cried, turning to the
+Curate with clasped hands--"tell him to hide--to fly--or he'll be
+taken: he will not be forgiven this time; and if my father--if my dear
+father dies--" But when she got so far her agitation interrupted her.
+She kept her eyes upon the door with a wild look of terror, and waved
+her helpless hands to warn the intruder away.
+
+"If he dies, matters will be altered," said the stranger: "you and I
+might change places then, for that matter. I'm going away from
+Carlingford. I can't stay in such a wretched hole any longer. It's
+gout or something?" said the man, with a tone of nature breaking
+through his bravado--"it's not anything that has happened? Say so, and
+I'll never trouble you more."
+
+"Oh, if Lucy were to see him!" said poor Miss Wodehouse. The words
+came unawares out of her heart without any thought; but the next thing
+of which she was conscious was that the Perpetual Curate had laid his
+hand on the stranger's arm, and was leading him reluctantly away. "I
+will tell you all you want to know," said Mr Wentworth, "but not
+here;" and with his hand upon the other's arm, moved him somehow with
+an irresistible command, half physical, half mental, to the door.
+Before Miss Wodehouse could say anything they were gone; before she
+could venture to draw that long sighing breath of relief, she heard
+the door below close, and the retreating footsteps in the garden. But
+the sound, thankful though she was, moved her to another burst of
+bitter tears. "To think I should have to tell a stranger to take him
+away," she sobbed, out of the anguish of her heart; and sat weeping
+over him with a relenting that wrung her tender spirit, without power
+to move till the servant came up with alarmed looks to ask if any one
+had come in in his absence. "Oh, no; it was only Mr Wentworth--and
+a--gentleman who came to fetch him," said Miss Wodehouse. And she got
+up, trembling as she was, and told John he had better shut up the
+house and go to bed. "For I hope papa will have a better night, and
+we must not waste our strength," she said, with a kind of woeful
+smile, which was a wonder to John. He said Miss Wodehouse was a
+tender-hearted one, to be sure, when he went down-stairs; but that was
+no very novel piece of information to anybody there.
+
+Meantime the Curate went down Grange Lane with that strange lodger of
+Mrs Hadwin's, who had broken thus into Miss Wodehouse's solitude. They
+did not say much to each other as they went sullenly side by side down
+the silent road; for the stranger, whose feelings were not complicated
+by any very lively sense of gratitude, looked upon his companion as a
+kind of jailer, and had an unspeakable grudge against the man who
+exercised so calm an ascendancy over him; though to be sure it might
+have been difficult to resist the moral force of the Curate of St
+Roque's, who was three inches taller than himself, and had the
+unbroken vigour of youth and health to back him. As for Mr Wentworth,
+he went on without speaking, with a bitterness in his heart not to be
+expressed. His own personal stronghold of happiness and consolation
+had shattered in pieces in that evening's interview; and as he went to
+his own house he asked himself what he should find in it? This
+wretched man, with whose sins he had been hitherto but partially
+acquainted; and Jack, with whom the other had heaven knew what
+horrible connection. Should he find a den of thieves where he had left
+only high thoughts and lofty intentions? It was thus, after his three
+days' absence, that he returned home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+When Mr Wentworth entered Mrs Hadwin's garden in the dark, his first
+glance up at the house showed him that a certain change had passed on
+it also. The decorous little house had been turned inside out. The
+windows of his own sitting-room were open, the blind drawn up to the
+top, and in addition to his usual lamp some candles were flaring
+wildly in the draught. He could see into the room as he paused at the
+garden-door, and was able to distinguish that the table was still
+covered as for dinner, and to catch the purple gleam of the light in
+the claret-jug which occupied the place of honour; but nobody was
+visible in the room. That wildly-illuminated and open apartment stood
+in strange contrast with the rest of the house, where everything was
+dark, save in Mrs Hadwin's own chamber. The Curate proceeded on his
+way, after that moment's pause, with hasty and impatient steps. On the
+way up he encountered Sarah the housemaid, who stopped in the middle
+of the stairs to make a frightened little curtsy, and utter an alarmed
+"La!" of recognition and surprise. But Sarah turned round as soon as
+she had recovered herself, to say that her missis wanted very bad to
+see Mr Wentworth as soon as he came home; but she was gone up to bed
+now, and didn't he think it would be a pity to wake her up? The Curate
+gave her only a little nod of general acquiescence, as he hurried on;
+but felt, notwithstanding, that this prompt request, ready prepared
+for his arrival, was a tacit protest against his guests, and
+expression of disapproval. Mrs Hadwin was only his landlady, an old
+woman, and not a particularly wise one, but her disapproval vexed the
+Perpetual Curate. It was a kind of sign of the times--those times in
+which it appeared that everybody was ready to turn upon him and
+embarrass his path. He had forgotten all about his companion as he
+hurried into the familiar room which was so little like itself, but
+yet was somehow conscious with annoyance that the stranger followed
+him through its half-shut door. The scene within was one which was
+never effaced from Mr Wentworth's memory. There were several bottles
+upon the table, which the poor Curate knew by sight, and which had
+been collected in his little cellar more for the benefit of Wharfside
+than of himself. Removed out of the current of air which was playing
+freely through the apartment, was some one lying on a sofa, with
+candles burning on a table beside him. He was in a dressing-gown, with
+his shirt open at the throat, and his languid frame extended in
+perfect repose to catch the refreshment of the breeze. Clouds of
+languid smoke, which were too far out of the way to feel the draught
+between the windows, curled over him: he had a cigar in one hand,
+which he had just taken from his lips, and with which he was faintly
+waving off a big night-moth which had been attracted by the lights;
+and a French novel, unmistakable in its paper cover, had closed upon
+the other. Altogether a more languid figure never lay at rest in
+undisturbed possession of the most legitimate retirement. He had the
+Wentworth hair, the golden-brown, which, like all their other family
+features, even down to their illnesses, the race was proud of, and a
+handsome silky beard. He had lived a hard life of pleasure and
+punishment; but though he had reached middle age, there was not a hair
+on the handsome reprobate's head which had changed out of its original
+colour. He looked languidly up when the door opened, but did not stop
+the delicate fence which he was carrying on against the moth, nor the
+polyglot oaths which he was swearing at it softly half under his
+breath.
+
+"Frank, I suppose," he said, calmly, as the Curate came hastily
+forward. "How d'ye do? I am very glad you've come back. The country
+was very charming the first day, but that's a charm that doesn't last.
+I suppose you've dined: or will you ring and order something?" he
+said, turning slowly round on his sofa. "Accidente! the thing will
+kill itself after all. Would you mind catching it in your handkerchief
+before you sit down? But don't take away the candles. It's too late to
+make any exertion," said the elegant prodigal, leaning back languidly
+on his sofa; "but I assure you that light is half my life."
+
+The Curate was tired, heated, and indignant. He lifted the candles
+away from the table, and then put them back again, too much excited to
+think of the moth. "Your arrival must have been very sudden," he said,
+throwing himself into the nearest chair. "I was very much surprised by
+your message. It looks inhospitable, but I see you make yourself quite
+at home--"
+
+"Perfectly," said the elder brother, resuming his cigar. "I always do.
+It is much more agreeable for all parties. But I don't know how it is
+that a man's younger brothers are always so rapid and unreasonable in
+their movements. Instead of saving that unhappy insect, you have
+precipitated its fate. Poor thing--and it had no soul," said the
+intruder, with a tone of pathos. The scene altogether was a curious
+one. Snugly sheltered from the draught, but enjoying the coolness of
+the atmosphere which it produced, lay the figure on the sofa at
+perfect ease and leisure, with the light shed brightly upon him, on
+his shining beard, the white cool expanse of linen at his breast, and
+the bright hues of his dressing-gown. Near him, fatigued, dusty,
+indignant, and perplexed, sat the Curate, with the night air playing
+upon him, and moving his disordered hair on his forehead; while at the
+other end of the room hovered the stranger who had followed Mr
+Wentworth--a broad, shabby, indistinct figure, who stood with his back
+to the others, looking vaguely out of the window into the darkness.
+Over these two the night air blew with no small force between the
+open windows, making the candles on the centre table flare wildly, and
+flapping the white tablecloth. An occasional puff from the cigar
+floated now and then across the room. It was a pause before the storm.
+
+"I was about to say," said the Perpetual Curate, "that though it might
+seem inhospitable, the first thing I had to ask was, What brought you
+here--and why did you send for me?"
+
+"Don't be abrupt, pray," said Jack, taking his cigar from his mouth,
+and slightly waving the hand that held it. "Don't let us plunge into
+business all at once. You bring a sense of fatigue into the room with
+you, and the atmosphere was delightful a little while ago. I flatter
+myself I know how to enjoy the cool of the evening. Suppose you were
+to--ah--refresh yourself a little," he said, with a disapproving
+glance at his brother's dusty boots, "before we begin to talk of our
+affairs."
+
+The Curate of St Roque's got up from his chair, feeling that he had an
+unchristian inclination to kick the heir of the Wentworths. As he
+could not do that, he shut the window behind him emphatically, and
+extinguished the flaring candles on the centre table. "I detest a
+draught," said the Perpetual Curate, which, unfortunately, was not a
+statement entirely founded on fact, though so far true in the present
+instance that he hated anything originated by the intruder. "I have
+hurried home in reply to your message, and I should be glad to know
+what it means, now that I am here--what you are in trouble about--and
+why you come to me--and what you have to do with him?"
+
+"But you need not have deranged the temperature," said Jack.
+"Impetuosity always distresses me. All these are questions which it
+will take some time to answer. Let me persuade you, in the first
+place, to make yourself comfortable. Don't mind me; I am at the crisis
+of my novel, which is very interesting. I have just been thinking how
+it might be adapted for the stage--there's a character that Fechter
+could make anything of. Now, my dear fellow, don't stand on ceremony.
+Take a bath and change your dress, and in the mean time there will be
+time to cook something--the cookery here is not bad for the country.
+After that we'll discuss all our news. I daresay our friend there is
+in no hurry," said the elder brother, opening his book and puffing
+slowly towards the Curate the languid smoke of his cigar.
+
+"But, by Jove, I _am_ in a hurry, though," said that nameless
+individual, coming forward. "It's all very well for you: you put a man
+up to everything that's dangerous, and then you leave him in the
+lurch, and say it don't matter. I daresay it don't matter to you. All
+that you've done has been to share the profit--you've nothing to do
+with the danger; but I'm savage to-night, and I don't mean to stand it
+any more," said the stranger, his great chest expanding with a panting
+breath. He, too, looked as if he would have liked to seize the languid
+spectator in his teeth and shake some human feeling into him. Jack
+Wentworth raised his eyebrows and looked at him, as he might have
+looked at a wild beast in a rage.
+
+"Sit down, savage, and be quiet," he said. "Why should I trouble
+myself about you?--any fool could get into your scrape. I am not in
+the habit of interfering in a case of common crime. What I do, I do
+out of pity," he continued, with an air of superiority, quite
+different from his tone to his brother. But this look, which had
+answered before, was not successful to-night.
+
+"By Jove, I _am_ savage!" said the other, setting his teeth, "and I
+know enough of your ways to teach you different behaviour. The parson
+has treated me like a gentleman--like what I used to be, though he
+don't like me; but you!--By Jove! It was only my own name I signed,
+after all," he continued, after a pause, lowering his voice; "but you,
+you blackleg--"
+
+"Stop a little," said the Curate, rising up. "Though you seem both to
+have forgotten it, this is my room. I don't mean to have any
+altercations here. I have taken you in for the sake of your--family,"
+said Mr Wentworth, with a momentary gasp, "and you have come because
+you are my brother. I don't deny any natural claims upon me; but I am
+master of my own house and my own leisure. Get up, Jack, and tell me
+what you want. When I understand what it is, you can lounge at your
+will; but in the mean time get up and explain: and as for you,
+Wodehouse--"
+
+Jack Wentworth faced round on his sofa, and then, with a kind of
+involuntary motion, slid his feet to the ground. He looked at his
+brother with extreme amazement as he closed his novel and tossed away
+the end of his cigar. "It's much better not to mention names," he
+said, in a half-apologetic way. "Our friend here is under a temporary
+cloud. His name, in fact, is--Smith, I think." But as he spoke he sat
+upright, a little startled to find that Frank, whom he remembered only
+as a lad, was no longer to be coerced and concussed. As for the other,
+he came forward with the alacrity of a man who began to see some hope.
+
+"By Jove, my name _is_ Wodehouse, though," he said, in the argumentative
+tone which seemed habitual to him; his voice came low and grumbling
+through his beard. He was not of the class of triumphant sinners,
+whatever wickedness he might be capable of. To tell the truth, he had
+long, long ago fallen out of the butterfly stage of dissipation, and had
+now to be the doer of dirty work, despised and hustled about by such men
+as Jack Wentworth. The wages of sin had long been bitter enough, though
+he had neither any hope of freeing himself, nor any wish to do so; but
+he took up a grumbling tone of self-assertion as soon as he had an
+opening. "The parson treats me like a gentleman--like what I used to
+be," he repeated, coming into the light, and drawing a chair towards the
+table. "My name is Wodehouse--it's my own name that I have signed after
+all, by Jove!" said the unlucky prodigal. It seemed to give him a little
+comfort to say that over again, as if to convince himself.
+
+"As for Wodehouse, I partly understand what he has done," said the
+Curate. "It appears likely that he has killed his father, by the way;
+but I suppose you don't count that. It is forgery in the mean time; I
+understand as much."
+
+"It's my name as well as his, by Jove!" interrupted, hastily, the
+stranger, under his breath.
+
+"Such strong terms are unnecessary," said Jack; "everybody knows that
+bills are drawn to be renewed, and nursed, and taken care of. We've
+had a great failure in luck as it happens, and these ones have come
+down to this deuced place; and the old fellow, instead of paying them
+like a gentleman, has made a row, and dropped down dead, or something.
+I suppose you don't know any more than the women have told you. The
+old man made a row in the office, and went off in fire and flame, and
+gave up our friend here to his partner's tender mercies. I sent for
+you, as you've taken charge of him. I suppose you have your reasons.
+This is an unlikely corner to find him in, and I suppose he couldn't
+be safer anywhere. That's about the state of the case. I came down to
+look after him, out of kind feeling," said the heir of the Wentworths.
+"If you don't mean to eat any dinner, have a cigar."
+
+"And what have you to do with each other? what is the connection
+between you?" said the Curate of St Roque's. "I have my reasons, as
+you say, for taking an interest in him--but you--"
+
+"I am only your elder brother," said Jack, shrugging his shoulders and
+resuming his place on the sofa. "We understand that difference.
+Business connection--that's all," he said, leisurely selecting another
+cigar from his case. When he had lighted it, he turned round and fixed
+his eyes upon the stranger. "We don't want any harm to happen to him,"
+he said, with a little emphasis. "I have come here to protect him. If
+he keeps quiet and doesn't show, it will blow over. The keenest spy in
+the place could scarcely suspect him to be here. I have come entirely
+on his account--much to my own disgust--and yours," said the
+exquisite, with another shrug. He laid back his head and looked up at
+the ceiling, contemplating the fragrant wreaths of smoke with the air
+of a man perfectly at his ease. "We don't mean him to come to any
+harm," said Jack Wentworth, and stretched out his elegant limbs on the
+sofa, like a potentate satisfied that his protection was enough to
+make any man secure.
+
+"I'm too much in their secrets, by Jove!" said poor Wodehouse, in his
+beard. "I _do_ know their secrets, though they talk so big. It's not
+any consideration for me. It's to save themselves, by Jove, that's
+what it is!" cried the indignant drudge, of whom his superior deigned
+to take no notice. As for Mr Wentworth, he rose from his seat in a
+state of suppressed indignation, which could not express itself merely
+in words.
+
+"May I ask what share I am expected to play in the drama?" he asked,
+pushing his chair aside in his excitement. The elder brother turned
+instinctively, and once more slid his feet to the ground. They looked
+at each other for a moment; the Curate, pale with a passion which he
+could not conceal, had something in his eyes which brought shame even
+to Jack Wentworth's face.
+
+"You can betray him if you like," he said, sulkily. "I have
+no--particular interest in the matter; but in that case he had
+better make the best of his time and get away. You hear?" said the
+master-spirit, making a sign to Wodehouse. He had roused himself up, and
+looked now like a feline creature preparing for a spring--his eyes were
+cast down, but under the eyelids he followed his brother's movements
+with vigilant observation. "If you like, you can betray him," he
+repeated, slowly, understanding, as bad men so often do, the
+generosities of the nature to which his own was so much opposed.
+
+And perhaps there was an undue degree of exasperation in the indignant
+feelings which moved Mr Wentworth. He kicked off his dusty boots with
+an indecorum quite unusual to him, and hunted up his slippers out of
+the adjoining room with perhaps an unnecessary amount of noise and
+haste. Then he went and looked out of the window into the serene
+summer darkness and the dewy garden, getting a little fresh air upon
+his heated face. Last of all he came back, peremptory and decided. "I
+shall not betray him," said the Perpetual Curate; "but I will have no
+further schemes concocted nor villany carried on in my house. If I
+consent to shield him, and, if possible, save him from the law, it is
+neither for his sake--nor yours," said the indignant young man. "I
+suppose it is no use saying anything about your life; but both of you
+have fathers very like to die of this--"
+
+"My dear fellow," said Jack Wentworth, "we have gone through that
+phase ages ago. Don't be so much after date. I have brought down my
+father's grey hairs, &c., a hundred times; and, I daresay, so has he.
+Don't treat us as if we were in the nursery--a parson of advanced
+views like you should have something a little more novel to say."
+
+"And so I have," said Mr Wentworth, with a heightened colour. "There
+are capital rooms at the Blue Boar, which you will find very
+comfortable, I am sure. I don't remember that we have ever been more
+than acquaintances; and to take possession of a man's house in his
+absence argues a high degree of friendship, as you are aware. It will
+be with difficulty that I shall find room for myself to-night; but
+to-morrow, I trust, if business requires you to remain in Carlingford,
+you will be able to find accommodation at the Blue Boar."
+
+The elder brother grew very red all over his face. "I will go at
+once," he said, with a little start; and then he took a second
+thought. "It is a poor sort of way of winning a victory," he said, in
+contemptuous tones, after he had overcome his first impulse; "but if
+you choose that, it is no matter to me. I'll go to-morrow, as you
+say--to pack up to-night is too much for my energies. In the mean time
+it won't disturb you, I hope, if I go on with my novel. I don't
+suppose any further civilities are necessary between you and me," said
+Jack, once more putting up his feet on the sofa. He arranged himself
+with an indifference which was too genuine for bravado, opening his
+book, and puffing his cigar with great coolness. He did all but turn
+his back upon the others, and drew the little table nearer to him, in
+utter disregard of the fact that the Curate was leaning his arm on it.
+In short, he retired from the contest with a kind of grandeur, with
+his cigar and his novel, and the candles which lighted him up
+placidly, and made him look like the master of the house and the
+situation. There was a pause for some minutes, during which the others
+looked on--Mr Wentworth with a perfectly unreasonable sense of defeat,
+and poor Wodehouse with that strange kind of admiration which an
+unsuccessful good-for-nothing naturally feels for a triumphant rascal.
+They were in the shade looking on, and he in the light enjoying
+himself calmly in his way. The sight put an end to various twinges of
+repentance in the bosom of the inferior sinner. Jack Wentworth, lying
+on the sofa in superb indifference, victorious over all sense of
+right, did more to confirm his humble admirer in the life which he had
+almost made up his mind to abandon, than even his own inclination
+towards forbidden pleasure. He was dazzled by the success of his
+principal; and in comparison with that instructive sight, his father's
+probable deathbed, his sisters' tears, and even his own present
+discomfort, faded into insignificance. What Jack Wentworth was, Tom
+Wodehouse could never be; but at least he could follow his great model
+humbly and afar off. These sentiments made him receive but sulkily the
+admonitions of the Curate, when he led the way out of the preoccupied
+sitting-room; for Mr Wentworth was certainly not the victor in this
+passage of arms.
+
+"I will do what I can to help you out of this," said the Curate,
+pausing within the door of Wodehouse's room, "for the sake of
+your--friends. But look here, Wodehouse; I have not preached to you
+hitherto, and I don't mean to do so now. When a man has done a crime,
+he is generally past preaching. The law will punish you for forging
+your father's name--"
+
+"It's _my_ name as well as his, by Jove!" interrupted the culprit,
+sullenly; "I've a right to sign it wherever I please."
+
+"But the law," said Mr Wentworth, with emphasis, "has nothing to do
+with the breaking of your father's heart. If he dies, think whether
+the recollection will be a comfortable one. I will save you, if I can,
+and there is time, though I am compromised already, and it may do me
+serious injury. If you get free and are cleared from this, will you go
+away and break off your connection with--yes, you are quite right--I
+mean with my brother, whatever the connection may be? I will only
+exert myself for you on condition that you promise. You will go away
+somehow, and break off your old habits, and try if it is possible to
+begin anew?"
+
+Wodehouse paused before he answered. The vision of Jack in the
+Curate's sitting-room still dazzled him. "You daren't say as much to
+your brother as you say to me," he replied, after a while, in his
+sulky way; "but I'm a gentleman, by Jove, as well as he is." And he
+threw himself down in a chair, and bit his nails, and grumbled into
+his beard. "It's hard to ask a fellow to give up his liberty," he
+said, without lifting his eyes. Mr Wentworth, perhaps, was a little
+contemptuous of the sullen wretch who already had involved him in so
+much annoyance and trouble.
+
+"You can take your choice," he said; "the law will respect your
+liberty less than I shall;" and all the Curate's self-control could
+not conceal a certain amount of disdain.
+
+"By Jove!" said Wodehouse, lifting up his eyes, "if the old man should
+die, you'd change your tone;" and then he stopped short and looked
+suspiciously at the Curate. "There's no will, and I'm the heir," he
+said, with sullen braggadocio. Mr Wentworth was still young, and this
+look made him sick with disgust and indignation.
+
+"Then you can take your chance," he said, impatiently, making a hasty
+step to the door. He would not return, though his ungrateful guest
+called him back, but went away, much excited and disgusted, to see if
+the fresh air outside would restore his composure. On his way
+down-stairs, he again met Sarah, who was hovering about in a restless
+state of curiosity. "I've made a bed for you, please, sir, in the little
+dressing-room," said Sarah; "and, please, Cook wants to know, wouldn't
+you have anything to eat?" The question reminded Mr Wentworth that he
+had eaten nothing since luncheon, which he took in his father's house.
+Human nature, which can bear great blows with elasticity so wonderful,
+is apt to be put out, as everybody knows, by their most trifling
+accessories, and a man naturally feels miserable when he had had no
+dinner, and has not a place to shelter him while he snatches a necessary
+mouthful. "Never mind; all the rooms are occupied to-night," said the
+Perpetual Curate, feeling thoroughly wretched. But Cook and Sarah had
+arranged all that, being naturally indignant that their favourite
+clergyman should be put "upon" by his disorderly and unexpected guests.
+
+"I have set your tray, sir, in missis's parlour," said Sarah, opening
+the door to that sanctuary; and it is impossible to describe the sense
+of relief with which the Perpetual Curate flung himself down on Mrs
+Hadwin's sofa, deranging a quantity of cushions and elaborate
+crochet-work draperies without knowing it. Here at least he was safe
+from intrusion. But his reflections were far from being agreeable as
+he ate his beef-steak. Here he was, without any fault of his own,
+plunged into the midst of a complication of disgrace and vice. Perhaps
+already the name of Lucy Wodehouse was branded with her brother's
+shame; perhaps still more overwhelming infamy might overtake, through
+that means, the heir and the name of the Wentworths. And for himself,
+what he had to do was to attempt with all his powers to defeat
+justice, and save from punishment a criminal for whom it was
+impossible to feel either sympathy or hope. When he thought of Jack
+up-stairs on the sofa over his French novel, the heart of the Curate
+burned within him with indignation and resentment; and his disgust at
+his other guest was, if less intense, an equally painful sensation. It
+was hard to waste his strength, and perhaps compromise his character,
+for such men as these; but on the other hand he saw his father, with
+that malady of the Wentworths hanging over his head, doing his best to
+live and last, like a courageous English gentleman as he was, for the
+sake of "the girls" and the little children, who had so little to
+expect from Jack; and poor stupid Mr Wodehouse dying of the crime
+which assailed his own credit as well as his son's safety. The Curate
+of St Roque's drew a long breath, and raised himself up unconsciously
+to his full height as he rose to go up-stairs. It was he against the
+world at the moment, as it appeared. He set himself to his uncongenial
+work with a heart that revolted against the evil cause of which he was
+about to constitute himself the champion. But for the Squire, who had
+misjudged him--for Lucy who had received him with such icy smiles, and
+closed up her heart against his entrance;--sometimes there is a kind
+of bitter sweetness in the thought of spending love and life in one
+lavish and prodigal outburst upon those to whom our hearts are bound,
+but whose affections make us no return.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+The Curate went to breakfast next morning with a little curiosity and
+a great deal of painful feeling. He had been inhospitable to his
+brother, and a revulsion had happened such as happens invariably when
+a generous man is forced by external circumstances to show himself
+churlish. Though his good sense and his pride alike prevented him
+from changing his resolution of the previous night, still his heart
+had relented toward Jack, and he felt sorry and half ashamed to meet
+the brother to whom he had shown so much temper and so little
+kindness. It was much later than usual when he came down-stairs, and
+Jack was just coming out of the comfortable chamber which belonged of
+right to his brother, when the Curate entered the sitting-room. Jack
+was in his dressing-gown, as on the previous night, and came forth
+humming an air out of the 'Trovatore,' and looking as wholesomely
+fresh and clean and dainty as the most honest gentleman in England. He
+gave his brother a good-humoured nod, and wished him good morning. "I
+am glad to see you don't keep distressingly early hours," he said,
+between the bars of the air he was humming. He was a man of perfect
+digestion, like all the Wentworths, and got up accordingly, in a good
+temper, not disposed to make too much of any little incivility that
+might have taken place. On the contrary, he helped himself to his
+brother's favourite omelet with the most engaging cheerfulness, and
+entered into such conversation as might be supposed to suit a
+Perpetual Curate in a little country town.
+
+"I daresay you have a good many nice people about here," said Jack.
+"I've done nothing but walk about since I came--and it does a man good
+to see those fresh little women with their pink cheeks. There's one, a
+sister of our friend's, I believe," he continued, with a nod towards
+the door to indicate Wodehouse--"an uncommonly pretty girl, I can tell
+you; and there's a little rosebud of a creature at that shop, whom,
+they tell me, you're interested in. Your living is not worth much, I
+suppose? It's unlucky having two clergymen in a family; but, to be
+sure, you're going in for Skelmersdale. By the way, that reminds
+me--how are the aunts? I have not heard anything of them for ages.
+Female relations of that description generally cling to the parsons of
+the race. I suppose they are all living--all three? Some people never
+seem to die."
+
+"They are here," said the Curate, succinctly, "living in Carlingford.
+I wonder nobody has told you."
+
+A sudden bright spark lighted in the prodigal's eyes. "Ah, they are
+here, are they?" he said, after a momentary pause; "so much the better
+for you; but in justice you ought to be content with the living. I say
+so as your elder brother. Gerald has the best right to what they've
+got to leave. By the by, how are Gerald and the rest? you've just been
+there. I suppose our respected parent goes on multiplying. To think of
+so many odious little wretches calling themselves Wentworth is enough
+to make one disgusted with the name."
+
+"My father was very ill when I left; he has had another attack," said
+the Curate. "He does not seem able to bear any agitation. Your telegram
+upset him altogether. I don't know what you've been about--he did not
+tell me," continued the younger brother, with a little emotion, "but he
+is very uneasy about you."
+
+"Ah, I daresay," said Jack; "that's natural; but he's wonderfully
+tough for such an old fellow. I should say it would take twenty
+attacks to finish him; and this is the second, isn't it? I wonder how
+long an interval there was between the two; it would be a pretty
+calculation for a _post-obit_. Wodehouse seems to have brought his
+ancestor down at the first shot almost; but then there's no entail in
+his case, and the old fellow may have made a will. I beg your pardon;
+you don't like this sort of talk. I forgot you were a clergyman. I
+rather like this town of yours, do you know. Sweet situation, and good
+for the health, I should say. I'll take your advice, I think, about
+the--how did you call it?--Black Boar. Unless, indeed, some charitable
+family would take me in," said the elder brother, with a glance from
+under his eyelids. His real meaning did not in the least degree
+suggest itself to the Curate, who was thinking more of what was past
+than of what was to come.
+
+"You seem to take a great interest in Wodehouse?" said Mr Wentworth.
+
+"Yes; and so do you," said Jack, with a keen glance of curiosity--"I
+can't tell why. My interest in him is easily explained. If the affair
+came to a trial, it might involve other people who are of retiring
+dispositions and dislike publicity. I don't mind saying," continued
+the heir of the Wentworths, laying down his knife and fork, and
+looking across at his brother with smiling candour, "that I might
+myself be brought before the world in a way which would wound my
+modesty; so it must not be permitted to go any further, you perceive.
+The partner has got a warrant out, but has not put it into execution
+as yet. That's why I sent for you. You are the only man, so far as I
+can see, that can be of any use."
+
+"I don't know what you mean," said the Curate, hastily, "nor what
+connection you can possibly have with Wodehouse; perhaps it is better
+not to inquire. I mean to do my best for him, independent of you."
+
+"Do," said Jack Wentworth, with a slight yawn; "it is much better not to
+inquire. A clergyman runs the risk of hearing things that may shock him
+when he enters into worldly business; but the position of mediator is
+thoroughly professional. Now for the Black Boar. I'll send for my traps
+when I get settled," he said, rising in his languid way. He had made a
+very good breakfast, and he was not at all disposed to make himself
+uncomfortable by quarrelling with his brother. Besides, he had a new
+idea in his mind. So he gave the Curate another little good-humoured
+nod, and disappeared into the sleeping-room, from which he emerged a few
+minutes after with a coat replacing the dressing-gown, ready to go out.
+"I daresay I shall see you again before I leave Carlingford," he said,
+and left the room with the utmost suavity. As for Mr Wentworth, it is
+probable that his brother's serenity had quite the reverse of a soothing
+effect upon his mind and temper. He rose from the table as soon as Jack
+was gone, and for a long time paced about the room composing himself,
+and planning what he was to do--so long, indeed, that Sarah, after
+coming up softly to inspect, had cleared the table and put everything
+straight in the room before the Curate discovered her presence. It was
+only when she came up to him at last, with her little rustical curtsy,
+to say that, please, her missis would like to see him for a moment in
+the parlour, that Mr Wentworth found out that she was there. This
+interruption roused him out of his manifold and complicated thoughts. "I
+am too busy just now, but I will see Mrs Hadwin to-night," he said; "and
+you can tell her that my brother has gone to get rooms at the Blue
+Boar." After he had thus satisfied the sympathetic handmaiden, the
+Curate crossed over to the closed door of Wodehouse's room and knocked.
+The inmate there was still in bed, as was his custom, and answered Mr
+Wentworth through his beard in a recumbent voice, less sulky and more
+uncertain than on the previous night. Poor Wodehouse had neither the
+nerve nor the digestion of his more splendid associate. He had no
+strength of evil in himself when he was out of the way of it; and the
+consequence of a restless night was a natural amount of penitence and
+shame in the morning. He met the Curate with a depressed countenance,
+and answered all his questions readily enough, even giving him the
+particulars of the forged bills, in respect to which Thomas Wodehouse
+the younger could not, somehow, feel so guilty as if it had been a name
+different from his own which he had affixed to those fatal bits of
+paper; and he did not hesitate much to promise that he would go abroad
+and try to make a new beginning if this matter could be settled. Mr
+Wentworth went out with some satisfaction after the interview, believing
+in his heart that his own remonstrances had had their due effect, as it
+is so natural to believe--for he did not know, having slept very
+soundly, that it had rained a good deal during the night, and that Mrs
+Hadwin's biggest tub (for the old lady had a passion for rain-water) was
+immediately under poor Wodehouse's window, and kept him awake as it
+filled and ran over all through the summer darkness. The recollection
+of Jack Wentworth, even in his hour of success, was insufficient to
+fortify the simple soul of his humble admirer against that ominous sound
+of the unseen rain, and against the flashes of sudden lightning that
+seemed to blaze into his heart. He could not help thinking of his
+father's sick-bed in those midnight hours, and of all the melancholy
+array of lost years which had made him no longer "a gentleman, as he
+used to be," but a skulking vagabond in his native place; and his
+penitence lasted till after he had had his breakfast and Mr Wentworth
+was gone. Then perhaps the other side of the question recurred to his
+mind, and he began to think that if his father died there might be no
+need for his banishment; but Mr Wentworth knew nothing of this change in
+his _protege's_ sentiments, as he went quickly up Grange Lane. Wharfside
+and all the district had lain neglected for three long days, as the
+Curate was aware, and he had promised to call at No. 10 Prickett's Lane,
+and to look after the little orphan children whom Lucy had taken charge
+of. His occupations, in short, both public and private, were
+overpowering, and he could not tell how he was to get through them; for,
+in addition to everything else, it was Friday, and there was a litany
+service at twelve o'clock at St Roque's. So the young priest had little
+time to lose as he hurried up once again to Mr Wodehouse's green door.
+
+It was Miss Wodehouse who came to meet the Curate as soon as his
+presence was known in the house--Miss Wodehouse, and not Lucy, who
+made way for her sister to pass her, and took no notice of Mr
+Wentworth's name. The elder sister entered very hurriedly the little
+parlour down-stairs, and shut the door fast, and came up to him with
+an anxious inquiring face. She told him her father was just the same,
+in faltering tones. "And oh, Mr Wentworth, has anything happened?" she
+exclaimed, with endless unspeakable questions in her eyes. It was so
+hard for the gentle woman to keep her secret--the very sight of
+somebody who knew it was a relief to her heart.
+
+"I want you to give me full authority to act for you," said the
+Curate. "I must go to Mr Wodehouse's partner and discuss the whole
+matter."
+
+Here Miss Wodehouse gave a little cry, and stopped him suddenly. "Oh,
+Mr Wentworth, it would kill papa to know you had spoken to any one.
+You must send him away," she said, breathless with anxiety and terror.
+"To think of discussing it with any one when even Lucy does not
+know--!" She spoke with so much haste and fright that it was scarcely
+possible to make out her last words.
+
+"Nevertheless I must speak to Mr Waters," said the Curate; "I am going
+there now. He knows all about it already, and has a warrant for _his_
+apprehension; but we must stop that. I will undertake that it shall be
+paid, and you must give me full authority to act for you." When Miss
+Wodehouse met the steady look he gave her, she veered immediately from
+her fright at the thought of having it spoken of, to gratitude to him
+who was thus ready to take her burden into his hands.
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, it is so good of you--it is like a brother!" said
+the trembling woman; and then she made a pause. "I say a brother," she
+said, drawing an involuntary moral, "though we have never had any good
+of ours; and oh, if Lucy only knew--!"
+
+The Curate turned away hastily, and wrung her hand without being aware
+of it. "No," he said, with a touch of bitterness, "don't let her know.
+I don't want to appeal to her gratitude;" and with that he became
+silent, and fell to listening, standing in the middle of the room, if
+perhaps he might catch any sound of footsteps coming down-stairs.
+
+"She will know better some day," said Miss Wodehouse, wiping her eyes;
+"and oh, Mr Wentworth, if papa ever gets better--!" Here the poor lady
+broke down into inarticulate weeping. "But I know you will stand by
+us," she said, amid her tears; "it is all the comfort I have--and
+Lucy--"
+
+There was no sound of any footstep on the stair--nothing but the
+ticking of the timepiece on the mantelshelf, and the rustling of the
+curtains in the soft morning breeze which came through the open
+window, and Miss Wodehouse's crying. The Curate had not expected to
+see Lucy, and knew in his heart that it was better they should not
+meet just at this moment; but, notwithstanding this, it was strange
+how bitter and disappointed he felt, and what an impatient longing he
+had for one look of her, even though it should be a look which would
+drive him frantic with mortified love and disappointed expectation. To
+know that she was under the same roof, and that she knew he was here,
+but kept away, and did not care to see him, was gall to his excited
+mind. He went away hastily, pressing poor Miss Wodehouse's hand with a
+kind of silent rage. "Don't talk about Lucy," he said, half to
+himself, his heart swelling and throbbing at the sound of the name. It
+was the first time he had spoken it aloud to any ear but his own, and
+he left the house tingling with an indignation and mortification and
+bitter fondness which could not be expressed in words. What he was
+about to do was for her sake, and he thought to himself, with a
+forlorn pride, that she would never know it, and it did not matter. He
+could not tell that Lucy was glancing out furtively over the blind,
+ashamed of herself in her wounded heart for doing so, and wondering
+whether even now he was occupied with that unworthy love which had
+made an everlasting separation between them. If it had been any one
+worthy, it would have been different, poor Lucy thought, as she
+pressed back the tears into her eyes, and looked out wistfully at him
+over the blind. She above-stairs in the sick-room, and he in the fresh
+garden hastening out to his work, were both thinking in their hearts
+how perverse life was, and how hard it was not to be happy--as indeed
+they well might in a general way; though perhaps one glance of the
+Curate's eyes upward, one meeting of looks, might have resulted quite
+reasonably in a more felicitous train of thinking, at least for that
+day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+When Mr Wentworth arrived in the little vestry at St Roque's to robe
+himself for the approaching service, it was after a long and tough
+contest with Mr Wodehouse's partner, which had to a great extent
+exhausted his energies. Mr Wodehouse was the leading attorney in
+Carlingford, the chief family solicitor in the county, a man looked upon
+with favourable eyes even by the great people as being himself a cadet
+of a county family. His partner, Mr Waters, was altogether a different
+description of man. He was much more clever, and a good deal more like a
+gentleman, but he had not a connection in the world, and had fought his
+way up to prosperity through many a narrow, and perhaps, if people spoke
+true, many a dirty avenue to fortune. He was very glad of the chance
+which brought his partner's reputation and credit thus under his power,
+and he was by no means disposed to deal gently with the prodigal son.
+That is to say, he was quite disinclined to let the family out of his
+clutches easily, or to consent to be silent and "frustrate the ends of
+justice" for anything else than an important equivalent. Mr Wentworth
+had much ado to restrain his temper while the wily attorney talked about
+his conscience; for the Curate was clear-sighted enough to perceive at
+the first glance that Mr Waters had no real intention of proceeding to
+extremities. The lawyer would not pledge himself to anything,
+notwithstanding all Mr Wentworth's arguments. "Wodehouse himself was of
+the opinion that the law should take its course," he said; but out of
+respect for his partner he might wait a few days to see what turn his
+illness would take. "I confess that I am not adapted for my profession,
+Mr Wentworth. My feelings overcome me a great deal too often," said the
+sharp man of business, looking full into the Curate's eyes, "and while
+the father is dying I have not the heart to proceed against the son; but
+I pledge myself to nothing--recollect, to nothing." And with this and a
+very indignant mind Mr Wentworth had been forced to come away. His
+thoughts were occupied with the contrarieties of the world as he
+hastened along to St Roque's--how one man had to bear another's burdens
+in every station and capacity of life, and how another man triumphed and
+came to success by means of the misfortunes of his friends. It was hard
+to tell what made the difference, or how humankind got divided into
+these two great classes, for possibly enough the sharp attorney was as
+just in his way as the Curate; but Mr Wentworth got no more satisfaction
+in thinking of it than the speculatists generally have when they
+investigate this strange, wayward, fantastical humanity which is never
+to be calculated upon. He came into the little vestry of St Roque's,
+which was a stony little room with a groined roof and windows too
+severely English in their character to admit any great amount of light,
+with a sensation of fatigue and discouragement very natural to a man who
+had been interfering in other people's affairs. There was some comfort
+in the litany which he was just going to say, but not much comfort in
+any of the human individuals who would come into Mr Wentworth's mind as
+he paused in the midst of the suffrage for "sick persons" and for those
+who "had erred and were deceived," that the worshippers might whisper
+into God's ear the names for which their hearts were most concerned. The
+young priest sighed heavily as he put on his surplice, pondering all the
+obstinate selfishness and strange contradictions of men; and it was only
+when he heard a rather loud echo to his breath of weariness that he
+looked up and saw Elsworthy, who was contemplating him with a very
+curious expression of face. The clerk started a little on being
+discovered, and began to look over all the choristers' books and set
+them in readiness, though, indeed, there were no choristers on Fridays,
+but only the ladies, who chanted the responses a great deal more
+sweetly, and wore no surplices. Thinking of that, it occurred to Mr
+Wentworth how much he would miss the round full notes which always
+betrayed Lucy's presence to him even when he did not see her; and he
+forgot Elsworthy, and sighed again without thinking of any comment which
+might be made upon the sound.
+
+"I'm sorry to see, sir, as you aint in your usual good spirits?" said
+that observant spectator, coming closer up to "his clergyman."
+Elsworthy's eyes were full of meanings which Mr Wentworth could not,
+and had no wish to, decipher.
+
+"I am perfectly well, thank you," said the Perpetual Curate, with his
+coldest tone. He had become suspicious of the man, he could scarcely
+tell why.
+
+"There's a deal of people in church this morning," said the clerk; and
+then he came closer still, and spoke in a kind of whisper. "About that
+little matter as we was speaking of, Mr Wentworth--that's all
+straight, sir, and there aint no occasion to be vexed. She came back
+this morning," said Elsworthy, under his breath.
+
+"Who came back this morning?" asked the Curate, with a little
+surprise. His thoughts had been so much with Lucy that no one else
+occurred to him at the moment; and even while he asked the question,
+his busy fancy began to wonder where she could have been, and what
+motive could have taken her away?
+
+"I couldn't mean nobody but Rosa, as I talked to you about last
+night," said Elsworthy. "She's come back, sir, as you wished; and I
+_have_ heard as she was in Carlingford last night just afore you come,
+Mr Wentworth, when I thought as she was far enough off; which you'll
+allow, sir, whoever it was she come to see, it wasn't the right thing,
+nor what her aunt and me had reason to expect."
+
+The Curate of St Roque's said "Pshaw!" carelessly to himself. He was not
+at all interested in Rosa Elsworthy. Instead of making any answer, he
+drew on the scarlet band of his hood, and marched away gravely into the
+reading-desk, leaving the vestry-door open behind him for the clerk to
+follow. The little dangers that harassed his personal footsteps had not
+yet awakened so much as an anxiety in his mind. Things much more serious
+preoccupied his thoughts. He opened his prayer-book with a consciousness
+of the good of it which comes to men only now and then. At Oxford, in
+his day, Mr Wentworth had entertained his doubts like others, and like
+most people was aware that there were a great many things in heaven and
+earth totally unexplainable by any philosophy. But he had always been
+more of a man than a thinker, even before he became a high Anglican; and
+being still much in earnest about most things he had to do with, he
+found great comfort just at this moment, amid all his perplexities, in
+the litany he was saying. He was so absorbed in it, and so full of that
+appeal out of all troubles and miseries to the God who cannot be
+indifferent to His creatures, that he was almost at the last Amen before
+he distinguished that voice, which of all voices was most dear to him.
+The heart of the young man swelled, when he heard it, with a mingled
+thrill of sympathy and wounded feeling. She had not left her father's
+sick-bed to see _him_, but she _had_ found time to run down the sunny
+road to St Roque's to pray for the sick and the poor. When he knelt down
+in the reading-desk at the end of the service, was it wrong, instead of
+more abstract supplications, that the young priest said over and over,
+"God bless her," in an outburst of pity and tenderness? And he did not
+try to overtake her on the road, as he might have done had his heart
+been less deeply touched, but went off with abstracted looks to
+Wharfside, where all the poor people were very glad to see him, and
+where his absence was spoken of as if he had been three months instead
+of three days away. It was like going back a century or two into
+primitive life, to go into "the district," where civilisation did not
+prevail to any very distressing extent, and where people in general
+spoke their minds freely. But even when he came out of No. 10, where the
+poor woman still kept on living, Mr Wentworth was made aware of his
+private troubles; for on the opposite side of the way, where there was a
+little bit of vacant ground, the Rector was standing with some of the
+schismatics of Wharfside, planning how to place the iron church which,
+it was said, he meant to establish in the very heart of the "district."
+Mr Morgan took off his hat very stiffly to the Perpetual Curate, who
+returned up Prickett's Lane with a heightened colour and quickened
+pulse. A man must be an angel indeed who can see his work taken out of
+his hands and betray no human emotion. Mr Wentworth went into
+Elsworthy's, as he went back, to write a forcible little note to the
+Rector on the subject before he returned home. It was Rosa who handed
+him the paper he wanted, and he gave her a little nod without looking at
+her. But when he had closed his note, and laid it on the counter to be
+delivered, the Curate found her still standing near, and looked at the
+little blushing creature with some natural admiration. "So you have come
+back," he said; "but mind you don't go into Grange Lane any more after
+dark, little Rosa." When he had left the shop and finished this little
+matter, he bethought himself of his aunts, whom he had not seen since he
+returned. Aunt Dora was not at her usual sentinel window when he crossed
+Grange Lane towards their garden-door; and the door itself was open, and
+some one from the Blue Boar was carrying in a large portmanteau. Mr
+Wentworth's curiosity was strangely excited by the sight. He said, "Who
+has come, Lewis?" to Miss Wentworth's man, who stood in the hall
+superintending the arrival, but ran up-stairs without waiting for any
+answer. He felt by instinct that the visitor was some one likely to
+increase the confusion of affairs, and perplex matters more and more to
+himself.
+
+But even this presentiment did not prepare him for the astonishing sight
+which met his eyes when he entered the drawing-room. There the three
+ladies were all assembled, regarding with different developments of
+interest the new-comer, who had thrown himself, half-reclining, on a
+sofa. Aunt Dora was sitting by him with a bottle of eau-de-Cologne in
+her hand, for this meeting had evidently gone to the heart of the
+returned prodigal. Aunt Dora was ready to have sacrificed all the veal
+in the country in honour of Jack's repentance; and the Curate stood
+outside upon the threshold, looking at the scene with the strangest
+half-angry, half-comical realisation of the state of mind of the elder
+brother in the parable. He had himself been rather found fault with,
+excused, and tolerated, among his relations; but Jack had at once become
+master of the position, and taken possession of all their sympathies. Mr
+Wentworth stood gazing at them, half-amused, and yet more angry than
+amused--feeling, with a little indignation, as was natural, that the
+pretended penitence of the clever sinner was far more effective and
+interesting than his own spotless loyalty and truth. To be sure, they
+were only three old ladies--three old aunts--and he smiled at the sight;
+but though he smiled, he did not like it, and perhaps was more abrupt
+than usual in his salutations. Miss Leonora was seated at her
+writing-table, busy with her correspondence. The question of the new
+gin-palace was not yet decided, and she had been in the middle of a
+letter of encouragement to her agents on the subject, reminding them
+that, even though the licence was granted, the world would still go on
+all the same, and that the worst possibilities must be encountered,
+when Jack the prodigal made his appearance, with all the tokens of
+reformation and repentance about him, to throw himself upon the
+Christian charity of his relations. A penitent sinner was too tempting a
+bait for even Miss Leonora's good sense to withstand, and she had
+postponed her letter-writing to hear his explanations. But Jack had told
+his story by this time, and had explained how much he wanted to
+withdraw out of the world in which he had been led astray, and how sick
+he was of all its whirl of temptations and disappointment; and Miss
+Leonora had returned to her letter when her younger nephew arrived. As
+for Miss Wentworth, she was seated placidly in her usual easy-chair,
+smiling with equable smiles upon both the young men, and lifting her
+beautiful old cheek for Frank to kiss, just as she had lifted it to
+Jack. It was Miss Dora who was most shaken out of her allegiance; she
+who had always made Frank her special charge. Though she had wept
+herself into a day's headache on his behalf so short a time ago, aunt
+Dora for a moment had allowed the more effusive prodigal to supersede
+Frank. Instead of taking him into her arms as usual, and clinging to
+him, she only put the hand that held the eau-de-Cologne over his
+shoulder as she kissed him. Jack, who had been so dreadfully,
+inexpressibly wicked, and who had come back to his aunts to be converted
+and restored to his right mind, was more interesting than many curates.
+She sat down again by her penitent as soon as she had saluted his
+brother; and even Miss Leonora, when she paused in her letter, turned
+her eyes towards Jack.
+
+"So Gerald is actually going over to Rome," said the strong-minded
+aunt. "I never expected anything else. I had a letter from Louisa
+yesterday, asking me to use my influence: as if I had any influence
+over your brother! If a silly wife was any justification for a man
+making an idiot of himself, Gerald might be excused; but I suppose the
+next thing we shall hear of will be that you have followed him, Frank.
+Did you hear anything further about Janet and that lover of hers? In a
+large family like ours there is always something troublesome going
+on," said Miss Leonora. "I am not surprised to hear of your father's
+attack. _My_ father had a great many attacks, and lived to eighty; but
+he had few difficulties with the female part of his household," she
+continued, with a grim little smile--for Miss Leonora rather piqued
+herself upon her exemption from any known sentimental episode, even
+in her youth.
+
+"Dear Jack's return will make up for a great deal," said aunt Dora.
+"Oh, Frank, my dear, your brother has made us all so happy. He has
+just been telling us that he means to give up all his racing and
+betting and wickedness; and when he has been with us a little, and
+learned to appreciate a domestic circle--" said poor Miss Dora,
+putting her handkerchief to her eyes. She was so much overcome that
+she could not finish the sentence. But she put her disengaged hand
+upon Jack's arm and patted it, and in her heart concluded that as soon
+as the blanket was done for Louisa's bassinet, she would work him a
+pair of slippers, which should endear more and more to him the
+domestic circle, and stimulate the new-born virtue in his repentant
+heart.
+
+"I don't know what Jack's return may do," said Mr Wentworth, "but I
+hope you don't imagine it was Gerald who caused my father's illness.
+_You_ know better, at least," said the indignant Curate, looking at
+the hero on the sofa. That interesting reprobate lifted his eyes with
+a covert gleam of humour to the unresponsive countenance of his
+brother, and then he stroked his silky beard and sighed.
+
+"My dear aunt, Frank is right," said Jack, with a melancholy voice. "I
+have not concealed from you that my father has great reason to be
+offended with me. I have done very much the reverse of what I ought to
+have done. I see even Frank can't forgive me; and I don't wonder at
+it," said the prodigal, "though I have done him no harm that I know
+of;" and again the heir of the Wentworths sighed, and covered his face
+for a moment with his hand.
+
+"Oh, Frank," cried Miss Dora, with streaming eyes--"oh, my dear
+boy!--isn't there joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth? You're
+not going to be the wicked elder brother that grudged the prodigal his
+welcome--you're not going to give way to jealousy, Frank?"
+
+"Hold your tongue, Dora," said the iron-grey sister; "I daresay Frank
+knows a great deal better than you do; but I want to know about
+Gerald, and what is to be done. If he goes to Rome, of course you will
+take Wentworth Rectory; so it will not be an unmingled evil," said
+Miss Leonora, biting her pen, and throwing a keen glance at the Curate
+of St Roque's, "especially as you and we differ so entirely in our
+views. I could not consent to appoint anybody to Skelmersdale, even if
+poor Mr Shirley were to die, who did not preach the Gospel; and it
+would be sad for you to spend all your life in a Perpetual Curacy,
+where you could have no income, nor ever hope to be able to marry,"
+she continued steadily, with her eyes fixed upon her nephew. "Of
+course, if you had entered the Church for the love of the work, it
+would be a different matter," said the strong-minded aunt. "But that
+sort of thing seems to have gone out of fashion. I am sorry about
+Gerald--very sorry; but after what I saw of him, I am not surprised;
+and it is a comfort to one's mind to think that you will be provided
+for, Frank." Miss Leonora wrote a few words of the letter as she
+finished this speech. What she was saying in that epistle was (in
+reference to the gin-palace) that all discouragements were sent by
+God, and that, no doubt, His meaning was, that we should work all the
+harder to make way against them. After putting down which encouraging
+sentiment, she raised her eyes again, and planted her spear in her
+nephew's bosom with the greatest composure in the world.
+
+"My Perpetual Curacy suits me very well," said Mr Wentworth, with a
+little pride; "and there is a good deal to do in Carlingford. However,
+I did not come here to talk about that. The Rector is going to put up
+an iron church in my district," said the young man, who was rather
+glad of a subject which permitted a little of his indignation to
+escape. "It is very easy to interfere with other people's work." And
+then he paused, not choosing to grumble to an unsympathetic audience.
+To feel that nobody cares about your feelings, is better than all the
+rules of self-control. The Perpetual Curate stopped instinctively with
+a dignified restraint, which would have been impossible to him under
+other circumstances. It was no merit of his, but he reaped the
+advantage of it all the same.
+
+"But oh, my dear," said Miss Dora, "what a comfort to think of what St
+Paul says--'Whether it be for the right motive or not, Christ is still
+preached.' And one never knows what chance word may touch a heart,"
+said the poor little woman, shaking her limp curls away from her
+cheeks. "It was you being offended with him that made dear Jack think
+of coming to us; and what a happiness it is to think that he sees the
+error of his ways!" cried poor Miss Dora, drying her tears. "And oh,
+Frank, my dear boy, I trust you will take warning by your brother, and
+not run into temptation," continued the anxious aunt, remembering all
+her troubles. "If you were to go wrong, it would take away all the
+pleasure of life."
+
+"That is just what I was thinking," said aunt Cecilia from her
+easy-chair.
+
+"For, oh, Frank, my dear," said Miss Dora, much emboldened by this
+support, "you must consider that you are a clergyman, and there are a
+great many things that are wrong in a clergyman that would not matter in
+another man. Oh, Leonora, if you would speak to him, he would mind you,"
+cried the poor lady; "for you know a clergyman is quite different;" and
+Miss Dora again stopped short, and the three aunts looked at the
+bewildered Curate, who, for his part, sat gazing at them without an idea
+what they could mean.
+
+"What have I been doing that would be right in another man?" he said,
+with a smile which was slightly forced; and then he turned to Jack, who
+was laughing softly under his breath, and stroking his silky beard. The
+elder brother was highly amused by the situation altogether, but Frank,
+as was natural, did not see it in the same light. "What have you been
+saying?" said the indignant Curate; and his eyes gave forth a sudden
+light which frightened Miss Dora, and brought her in to the rescue.
+
+"Oh, Frank, he has not been saying anything," cried that troubled
+woman; "it is only what we have heard everywhere. Oh, my dear boy, it
+is only for your good I ever thought of speaking. There is nobody in
+the world to whom your welfare is so precious," said poor Miss Dora.
+"Oh, Frank, if you and your brother were to have any difference, I
+should think it all my fault--and I always said you did not mean
+anything," she said, putting herself and her eau-de-Cologne between
+the two, and looking as if she were about to throw herself into the
+Curate's arms. "Oh, Frank, dear, don't blame any one else--it is my
+fault!" cried aunt Dora, with tears; and the tender-hearted foolish
+creature kept between them, ready to rush in if any conflict should
+occur, which was a supposition much resented by the Curate of St
+Roque's.
+
+"Jack and I have no intention of fighting, I daresay," he said, drawing
+his chair away with some impatience; and Jack lay back on the sofa and
+stroked his beard, and looked on with the greatest composure while poor
+Miss Dora exhausted her alarm. "It is all my fault," sobbed aunt Dora;
+"but, oh, my dear boy, it was only for your good; and I always said you
+did not mean anything," said the discomfited peacemaker. All this,
+though it was highly amusing to the prodigal, was gall and bitterness to
+the Perpetual Curate. It moved him far more deeply than he could have
+imagined it possible for anything spoken by his aunt Dora to move him.
+Perhaps there is something in human nature which demands to be
+comprehended, even where it is aware that comprehension is impossible;
+and it wounded him in the most unreasonable way to have it supposed that
+he was likely to get into any quarrel with his brother, and to see Jack
+thus preferred to himself.
+
+"Don't be a fool," said Miss Leonora, sharply: "I wish you would
+confine yourself to Louisa's bassinet, and talk of things you can
+understand. I hope Frank knows what he is doing better than a set of
+old women. At the same time, Frank," said Miss Leonora, rising and
+leading the way to the door, "I want to say a word to you. Don't
+think you are above misconception. Most people believe a lie more
+readily than the truth. Dora is a fool," said the elder sister,
+pausing, when she had led her nephew outside the drawing-room door,
+"but so are most people; and I advise you to be careful, and not to
+give occasion for any gossip; otherwise, I don't say _I_ disapprove of
+your conduct." She had her pen in one hand, and held out the other to
+him, dismissing him; and even this added to the painful feeling in the
+Curate's heart.
+
+"I should hope not," he said, somewhat stiffly; "good-bye--my conduct is
+not likely to be affected by any gossip, and I don't see any need for
+taking precautions against imaginary danger." Miss Leonora thought her
+nephew looked very ungracious as he went away. She said to herself that
+Frank had a great deal of temper, and resembled his mother's family more
+than the Wentworths, as she went back to her writing-table; and though
+she could not disapprove of him, she felt vexed somehow at his rectitude
+and his impatience of advice; whereas, Jack, poor fellow! who had been a
+great sinner, was, according to all appearance, a great penitent also,
+and a true Wentworth, with all the family features. Such were Miss
+Leonora's thoughts as she went back to finish her letters, and to
+encourage her agents in her London district to carry on the good work.
+
+"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform," she wrote
+apropos of the gin-palace, and set very distinctly before her spiritual
+retainers all that Providence might intend by this unexpected hindrance;
+and so quite contented herself about her nephew, whose views on this and
+many other subjects were so different from her own.
+
+Meanwhile Mr Wentworth went about the rest of the day's work in a not
+unusual, but far from pleasant, frame of mind. When one suddenly feels
+that the sympathy upon which one calculated most surely has been
+withdrawn, the shock is naturally considerable. It might not be
+anything very great while it lasted, but still one feels the
+difference when it is taken away. Lucy had fallen off from him; and
+even aunt Dora had ceased to feel his concerns the first in the world.
+He smiled at himself for the wound he felt; but that did not remove
+the sting of it. After the occupations of the day were over, when at
+last he was going home, and when his work and the sense of fatigue
+which accompanied it had dulled his mind a little, the Curate felt
+himself still dwelling on the same matter, contemplating it in a
+half-comic point of view, as proud men are not unapt to contemplate
+anything that mortifies them. He began to realise, in a humorous way,
+his own sensations as he stood at the drawing-room door and recognised
+the prodigal on the sofa; and then a smile dawned upon his lip as he
+thought once more of the prodigal's elder brother, who regarded that
+business with unsympathetic eyes and grudged the supper. And from that
+he went into a half-professional line of thought, and imagined to
+himself, half smiling, how, if he had been Dr Cumming or the minister
+of Salem Chapel, he might have written a series of sermons on the
+unappreciated characters of Scripture, beginning with that virtuous
+uninteresting elder brother; from which suggestion, though he was not
+the minister of Salem nor Dr Cumming, it occurred to the Perpetual
+Curate to follow out the idea, and to think of such generous careless
+souls as Esau, and such noble unfortunates as the peasant-king, the
+mournful magnificent Saul--people not generally approved of, or
+enrolled among the martyrs or saints. He was pursuing this kind of
+half-reverie, half-thought, when he reached his own house. It was
+again late and dark, for he had dined in the mean time, and was going
+home now to write his sermon, in which, no doubt, some of these very
+ideas were destined to reappear. He opened the garden-gate with his
+latch-key, and paused, with an involuntary sense of the beauty and
+freshness of the night, as soon as he got within the sheltering walls.
+The stars were shining faint and sweet in the summer blue, and all
+the shrubs and the grass breathing forth that subdued breath of
+fragrance and conscious invisible life which gives so much sweetness
+to the night. He thought he heard whispering voices, as he paused
+glancing up at the sky; and then from the side-walk he saw a little
+figure run, and heard a light little footstep fluttering towards the
+door which he had just closed. Mr Wentworth started and went after
+this little flying figure with some anxiety. Two or three of his long
+strides brought him up with the escaping visitor, as she fumbled in
+her agitation over the handle of the door. "You have come again,
+notwithstanding what I said to you? but you must not repeat it, Rosa,"
+said the Curate; "no good can come of these meetings. I will tell your
+uncle, if I ever find you here again."
+
+"Oh no, no, please don't," cried the girl; "but, after all, I don't
+mind," she said, with more confidence: "he would think it was
+something very different;" and Rosa raised her eyes to the Curate's
+face with a coquettish inquiry. She could not divest herself of the
+thought that Mr Wentworth was jealous, and did not like to have her
+come there for anybody but himself.
+
+"If you were not such a child, I should be very angry," said the
+Curate; "as it is, I _am_ very angry with the person who deludes you
+into coming. Go home, child," he said, opening the door to her, "and
+remember I will not allow you on any pretext to come here again."
+
+His words were low, and perhaps Rosa did not care much to listen; but
+there was quite light enough to show them both very plainly, as he
+stood at the door and she went out. Just then the Miss Hemmings were
+going up Grange Lane from a little tea-party with their favourite
+maid, and all their eyes about them. They looked very full in Mr
+Wentworth's face, and said How d'ye do? as they passed the door; and
+when they had passed it, they looked at each other with eyes which
+spoke volumes. Mr Wentworth shut the door violently with irrepressible
+vexation and annoyance when he encountered that glance. He made no
+farewells, nor did he think of taking care of Rosa on the way home as
+he had done before. He was intensely annoyed and vexed, he could not
+tell how. And this was how it happened that the last time she was seen
+in Carlingford, Rosa Elsworthy was left standing by herself in the
+dark at Mr Wentworth's door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+The Curate got up very early next morning. He had his sermon to write
+and it was Saturday, and all the events of the week had naturally
+enough unsettled his mind, and indisposed him for sermon-writing. When
+the events of life come fast upon a man, it is seldom that he finds
+much pleasure in abstract literary composition, and the style of the
+Curate of St Roque's was not of that hortatory and impassioned
+character which sometimes gives as much relief to the speaker as
+excitement to the audience. So he got up in the early sweetness of the
+summer morning, when nobody but himself was astir in the house, with
+the sense of entering upon a task, and taking up work which was far
+from agreeable to him. When he came into the little room which he used
+as a study, and threw the window open, and breathed the delicious air
+of the morning, which was all thrilling and trembling with the songs
+of birds, Mr Wentworth's thoughts were far from being concentrated
+upon any one subject. He sat down at his writing-table and arranged
+his pens and paper, and wrote down the text he had selected; and when
+he had done so much, and could feel that he had made a beginning, he
+leaned back in his chair, and poised the idle pen on his finger, and
+abandoned himself to his thoughts. He had so much to think about.
+There was Wodehouse under the same roof, with whom he had felt himself
+constrained to remonstrate very sharply on the previous night. There
+was Jack, so near, and certainly come to Carlingford on no good
+errand. There was Gerald, in his great perplexity and distress, and
+the household at home in their anxiety; and last, but worst of all,
+his fancy would go fluttering about the doors of the sick chamber in
+Grange Lane, longing and wondering. He asked himself what it could be
+which had raised that impalpable wall between Lucy and himself--that
+barrier too strong to be overthrown, too ethereal to be complained of;
+and wondered over and over again what her thoughts were towards
+him--whether she thought of him at all, whether she was offended, or
+simply indifferent?--a question which any one else who had observed
+Lucy as closely could have solved without any difficulty, but which,
+to the modest and true love of the Perpetual Curate, was at present
+the grand doubt of all the doubts in the universe. With this matter to
+settle, and with the consciousness that it was still only five
+o'clock, and that he was at least one hour beforehand with the world,
+it is easy to understand why Mr Wentworth mused and loitered over his
+work, and how, when it was nearly six o'clock, and Sarah and the cook
+were beginning to stir from their sleep, there still remained only the
+text written upon the sermon-paper, which was so nicely arranged
+before him on the table. "When the wicked man turneth away from the
+evil of his ways, and doeth that which is lawful and right."--This was
+the text; but sitting at the open window, looking out into the garden,
+where the birds, exempt, as they seemed to think, for once from the
+vulgar scrutiny of man, were singing at the pitch of all their voices
+as they prepared for breakfast; and where the sweet air of the morning
+breathed into his mind a freshness and hopefulness which youth can
+never resist, and seduced his thoughts away from all the harder
+problems of his life to dwell upon the sweeter trouble of that doubt
+about Lucy,--was not the best means of getting on with his work. He
+sat thus leaning back--sometimes dipping his pen in the ink, and
+hovering over the paper for two or three seconds at a time, sometimes
+reading over the words, and making a faint effort to recall his own
+attention to them; for, on the whole, perhaps, it is not of much use
+getting up very early in the morning when the chief consequence of it
+is, that a man feels he has an hour to spare, and a little time to
+play before he begins.
+
+Mr Wentworth was still lingering in this peaceful pause, when he
+heard, in the stillness, hasty steps coming down Grange Lane. No doubt
+it was some workmen going to their work, and he felt it must be nearly
+six o'clock, and dipped his pen once more in the ink; but, the next
+moment, paused again to listen, feeling in his heart a strange
+conviction that the steps would stop at his door, and that something
+was going to happen. He was sure of it, and yet somehow the sound
+tingled upon his heart when he heard the bell ring, waking up echoes
+in the silent house. Cook and Sarah had not yet given any signs of
+coming down-stairs, and nobody stirred even at the sound of the bell.
+Mr Wentworth put down his pen altogether, and listened with an anxiety
+which he could scarcely account for--knowing, as he said to himself,
+that it must be the milk, or the baker, or somebody. But neither the
+milk nor the baker would have dared to knock, and shake, and kick the
+door as the new arrivals were doing. Mr Wentworth sat still as long as
+he could, then he added to the din they were making outside by an
+indignant ring of his own bell; and finally getting anxious, as was
+natural, and bethinking himself of his father's attack and Mr
+Wodehouse's illness, the Curate took the matter into his own hands,
+and hastened down-stairs to open the door. Mrs Hadwin called to him as
+he passed her room, thinking it was Sarah, and begging for goodness
+gracious sake to know directly what was the matter; and he felt
+himself growing agitated as he drew back the complicated bolts, and
+turned the key in the door, which was elaborately defenced, as was
+natural. When he hurried out into the garden, the songs of the birds
+and the morning air seemed to have changed their character. He
+thought he was about to be summoned to the deathbed of one or other of
+the old men upon whom their sons had brought such misery. He was but
+little acquainted with the fastenings of the garden-door, and fumbled
+a little over them in his anxiety. "Wait a moment and you shall be
+admitted," he called out to those outside, who still continued to
+knock; and he fancied, even in the haste and confusion of the moment,
+that his voice caused some little commotion among them. Mr Wentworth
+opened the door, looking anxiously out for some boy with a telegram,
+or other such mournful messenger; but to his utter amazement was
+nearly knocked down by the sudden plunge of Elsworthy, who entered
+with a spring like that of a wild animal, and whose face looked white
+and haggard as he rushed in. He came against the Curate so roughly as
+to drive him a step or two farther into the garden, and naturally
+aroused somewhat sharply the temper of the young man, who had already
+begun to regard him with disagreeable sensations as a kind of spy
+against himself.
+
+"What in the world do you want at such an early hour in the morning?"
+cried Mr Wentworth--"and what do you mean by making such a noise? Is
+Mr Wodehouse worse? or what has happened?" for, to tell the truth, he
+was a little relieved to find that the two people outside both
+belonged to Carlingford, and that nowhere was there any visible
+apparition of a telegraph boy.
+
+"Don't trifle with me, Mr Wentworth," said Elsworthy. "I'm a poor man;
+but a worm as is trodden on turns. I want my child, sir!--give me my
+child. I'll find her out if it was at the end of the world. I've only
+brought down my neighbour with me as I can trust," he continued,
+hoarsely--"to save both your characters. I don't want to make no talk;
+if you do what is right by Rosa, neither me or him will ever say a
+word. I want Rosa, Mr Wentworth. Where's Rosa? If I had known as it
+was for this you wanted her home! But I'll take my oath not to make no
+talk," cried the clerk, with passion and earnestness, which confounded
+Mr Wentworth--"if you'll promise to do what's right by her, and let
+me take her home."
+
+"Elsworthy, are you mad?" cried the Curate--"is he out of his senses?
+Has anything happened to Rosa? For heaven's sake, Hayles, don't stand
+there like a man of wood, but tell me if the man's crazy, or what he
+means."
+
+"I'll come in, sir, if you've no objection, and shut the door, not to
+make a talk," said Elsworthy's companion, Peter Hayles, the druggist.
+"If it can be managed without any gossip, it'll be best for all
+parties," said this worthy, shutting the door softly after him. "The
+thing is, where's Rosa, Mr Wentworth? I can't think as you've got her
+here."
+
+"She's all the same as my own child!" cried Elsworthy, who was greatly
+excited. "I've had her and loved her since she was a baby. I don't
+mean to say as I'd put myself forward to hurt her prospects if she was
+married in a superior line o' life; but them as harms Rosa has me to
+reckon with," he said, with a kind of fury which sat strangely on the
+man. "Mr Wentworth, where's the child? God forgive you both, you've
+given me a night o' weeping; but if you'll do what's right by Rosa,
+and send her home in the mean time--"
+
+"Be silent, sir!" cried the Curate. "I know nothing in the world about
+Rosa. How dare you venture to come on such an errand to me? I don't
+understand how it is," said the young man, growing red and angry,
+"that you try so persistently to connect this child with me. I have
+never had anything to do with her, and I will not submit to any such
+impertinent suspicion. Leave my house, sir, immediately, and don't
+insult me by making such inquiries here."
+
+Mr Wentworth was very angry in the first flush of his wrath. He did
+not think what misery was involved in the question which had been
+addressed to him, nor did he see for the moment the terrible calamity
+to Rosa which was suggested by this search for her. He thought only of
+himself, as was natural, at the first shock--of the injurious and
+insulting suspicion with which he seemed to be pursued, and of the
+annoyance which she and her friends were causing him. "What do you
+mean by rousing a whole household at this hour in the morning?" cried
+Mr Wentworth, as he saw with vexation, Sarah, very startled and
+sleepy, come stealing round by the kitchen door.
+
+"You don't look as if you had wanted any rousing," said Elsworthy, who
+was too much in earnest to own the Curate's authority. "She was seen
+at your door the last thing last night, and you're in your clothes, as
+bright as day, and a-waiting for us afore six o'clock in the morning.
+Do you think as I've shut my eyes because it's my clergyman?" cried
+the injured man, passionately. "I want my little girl--my little
+Rosa--as is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. If Mr Wentworth
+didn't know nothing about it, as he says," cried Elsworthy, with
+sudden insight, "he has a feelin' heart, and he'd be grieved about the
+child; but he aint grieved, nor concerned, nor nothing in the world
+but angry; and will you tell me there aint nothing to be drawn from
+that? But it's far from my intention to raise a talk," said the clerk,
+drawing closer and touching the arm of the Perpetual Curate; "let her
+come back, and if you're a man of your word, and behave honourable by
+her, there shan't be nothing said in Carlingford. I'll stand up for
+you, sir, against the world."
+
+Mr Wentworth shook off his assailant's hand with a mingled sense of
+exasperation and sympathy. "I tell you, upon my honour, I know nothing
+about her," he said. "But it is true enough I have been thinking only
+of myself," he continued, addressing the other. "How about the girl?
+When was she lost? and can't you think of any place she can have gone
+to? Elsworthy, hear reason," cried the Curate anxiously. "I assure
+you, on my word, that I have never seen her since I closed this
+garden-gate upon her last night."
+
+"And I would ask you, sir, what had Rosa to do at your garden-gate?"
+cried the clerk of St Roque's. "He aint denying it, Hayles; you can
+see as he aint a-denying of it. What was it as she came here for but
+you? Mr Wentworth, I've always had a great respect for you," said
+Elsworthy. "I've respected you as my clergyman, sir, as well as for
+other things; but you're a young man, and human nature is frail. I say
+again as you needn't have no fear of me. I aint one as likes to make a
+talk, and no more is Hayles. Give up the girl, and give me your
+promise, and there aint a man living as will be the wiser; Mr
+Wentworth--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, sir!" cried the Curate, furious with indignation
+and resentment. "Leave this place instantly! If you don't want me to
+pitch you into the middle of the road, hold your tongue and go away.
+The man is mad!" said Mr Wentworth, turning towards the spectator,
+Hayles, and pausing to take breath. But it was evident that this third
+person was by no means on the Curate's side.
+
+"I don't know, sir, I'm sure," said Hayles, with a blank countenance.
+"It appears to me, sir, as it's an awkward business for all parties.
+Here's the girl gone, and no one knows where. When a girl don't come
+back to her own 'ome all night, things look serious, sir; and it has
+been said as the last place she was seen was at your door."
+
+"Who says so?" cried Mr Wentworth.
+
+"Well--it was--a party, sir--a highly respectable party--as I have
+good reason to believe," said Hayles, "being a constant customer--one
+as there's every confidence to be put in. It's better not to name no
+names, being at this period of the affair."
+
+And at that moment, unluckily for Mr Wentworth, there suddenly floated
+across his mind the clearest recollection of the Miss Hemmings, and
+the look they gave him in passing. He felt a hot flush rush over his
+face as he recalled it. They, then, were his accusers in the first
+place; and for the first time he began to realise how the tide of
+accusation would surge through Carlingford, and how circumstances
+would be patched together, and very plausible evidence concocted out
+of the few facts which were capable of an inference totally opposed to
+the truth. The blood rushed to his face in an overpowering glow, and
+then he felt the warm tide going back upon his heart, and realised the
+position in which he stood for the first time in its true light.
+
+"And if you'll let me say it, sir," said the judicious Hayles, "though
+a man may be in a bit of a passion, and speak more strong that is
+called for, it aint unnatural in the circumstances; things may be
+better than they appear," said the druggist, mildly; "I don't say
+nothing against that; it may be as you've took her away, sir (if so be
+as you have took her away), for to give her a bit of education, or
+suchlike, before making her your wife; but folks in general aint
+expected to know that; and when a young girl is kep' out of her 'ome
+for a whole night, it aint wonderful if her friends take fright. It's
+a sad thing for Rosa whoever's taken her away, and wherever she is."
+
+Now, Mr Wentworth, notwithstanding the indignant state of mind which
+he was in, was emphatically of the tolerant temper which is so
+curiously characteristic of his generation. He could not be
+unreasonable even in his own cause; he was not partisan enough, even
+in his own behalf, to forget that there was another side to the
+question, nor to see how hard and how sad was that other side. He was
+moved in spite of himself to grieve over Rosa Elsworthy's great
+misfortune.
+
+"Poor little deluded child," he said, sadly; "I acknowledge it is very
+dreadful for her and for her friends. I can excuse a man who is mad
+with grief and wretchedness and anxiety, and doesn't know what he is
+saying. As for any man in his senses imagining," said the Curate
+again, with a flush of sudden colour, "that I could possibly be
+concerned in anything so base, that is simply absurd. When Elsworthy
+returns to reason, and acknowledges the folly of what he has said, I
+will do anything in the world to help him. It is unnecessary for you
+to wait," said Mr Wentworth, turning to Sarah, who had stolen up
+behind, and caught some of the conversation, and who was staring with
+round eyes of wonder, partly guessing, partly inquiring, what had
+happened--"these people want me; go indoors and never mind."
+
+"La, sir! Missis is a-ringing all the bells down to know what 'as
+'appened," said Sarah, holding her ground.
+
+This was how it was to be--the name of the Curate of St Roque's was to
+be linked to that of Rosa Elsworthy, let the truth be what it might,
+in the mouths of every maid and every mistress in Carlingford. He was
+seized with a sudden apprehension of this aspect of the matter, and it
+was not wonderful if Mr Wentworth drew his breath hard and set his
+teeth, as he ordered the woman away, in a tone which could not be
+disobeyed.
+
+"I don't want to make no talk," said Elsworthy, who during this time
+had made many efforts to speak; "I've sait it before, and I say it
+again--it's Mr Wentworth's fault if there's any talk. She was seen
+here last night," he went on rapidly, "and afore six o'clock this
+blessed morning, you, as are never known to be stirring early, meets
+us at the door, all shaved and dressed; and it aint very difficult to
+see, to them as watches the clergyman's countenance," said Elsworthy,
+turning from one to another, "as everything isn't as straight as it
+ought to be; but I aint going to make no talk, Mr Wentworth," he went
+on, drawing closer, and speaking with conciliatory softness; "me and
+her aunt, sir, loves her dearly, but we're not the folks to stand in
+her way, if a gentleman was to take a fancy to Rosa. If you'll give me
+your word to make her your wife honourable, and tell me where she is,
+tortures wouldn't draw no complaints from me. One moment, sir; it aint
+only that she's pretty, but she's good as well--she won't do you no
+discredit, Mr Wentworth. Put her to school, or what you please, sir,"
+said Rosa's uncle; "me and my wife will never interfere, so be as you
+make her your wife honourable; but I aint a worm to be trampled on,"
+cried Elsworthy, as the Curate, finding him approach very closely,
+thrust him away with vehement indignation; "I aint a slave to be
+pushed about. Them as brings Rosa to shame shall come to shame by me;
+I'll ruin the man as ruins that child. You may turn me out," he cried,
+as the Curate laid his powerful hand upon his shoulder and forced him
+towards the door, "but I'll come back, and I'll bring all Carlingford.
+There shan't be a soul in the town as doesn't know. Oh, you young
+viper, as I thought was a pious clergyman! you aint got rid of me. My
+child--where's my child?" cried the infuriated clerk, as he found
+himself ejected into the road outside, and the door suddenly closed
+upon him. He turned round to beat upon it in blind fury, and kept
+calling upon Rosa, and wasting his threats and arguments upon the calm
+air outside. Some of the maid-servants in the other houses came out,
+broom in hand, to the green doors, to see what was the matter, but
+they were not near enough to hear distinctly, and no early wayfarers
+had as yet invaded the morning quiet of Grange Lane.
+
+Mr Wentworth, white with excitement, and terribly calm and self-possessed,
+turned to the amazed and trembling druggist, who still stood inside.
+"Look here, Hayles," said the Curate; "I have never seen Rosa Elsworthy
+since I closed this door upon her last night. What had brought her here
+I don't know--at least she came with no intention of seeing me--and I
+reproved her sharply for being out so late. This is all I know about the
+affair, and all I intend to say to any one. If that idiot outside
+intends to make a disturbance, he must do it; I shall take no further
+trouble to clear myself of such an insane accusation. I think it right
+to say as much to you, because you seem to have your senses about you,"
+said the Curate, pausing, out of breath. He was perfectly calm, but it
+was impossible to ignore the effect of such a scene upon ordinary flesh
+and blood. His heart was beating loudly, and his breath came short and
+quick. He turned away and walked up to the house-door, and then came
+back again. "You understand me, I suppose?" he said; "and if Elsworthy
+is not mad, you had better suggest to him not to lose his only chance
+of recovering Rosa by vain bluster with me, who know nothing about her.
+I shan't be idle in the mean time," said Mr Wentworth. All this time
+Elsworthy was beating against the door, and shouting his threats into
+the quiet of the morning; and Mrs Hadwin had thrown up her window, and
+stood there visibly in her nightcap, trying to find out what the noise
+was about, and trembling for the respectability of her house--all which
+the Curate apprehended with that extraordinary swiftness and breadth of
+perception which comes to men at the eventful moments of life.
+
+"I'll do my best, sir," said Hayles, who felt that his honour was
+appealed to; "but it's an awkward business for all parties, that's
+what it is;" and the druggist backed out in a state of great
+bewilderment, having a little struggle at the door with Elsworthy to
+prevent his re-entrance. "There aint nothing to be got out of _him_,"
+said Mr Hayles, as he succeeded at last in leading his friend away.
+Such was the conclusion of Mr Wentworth's morning studies, and the
+sermon which was to have been half written before breakfast upon that
+eventful Saturday. He went back to the house, as was natural, with
+very different thoughts in his mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+The first thing Mr Wentworth did was to hasten up-stairs to
+Wodehouse's room. Sarah had gone before him, and was by this time
+talking to her mistress, who had left the window, and stood, still in
+her nightcap, at the door of her own chamber. "It's something about
+Rosa Elsworthy, ma'am," said Sarah; "she's gone off with some one,
+which nothing else was to be expected; and her uncle's been a-raving
+and a-raging at Mr Wentworth, which proves as a gentleman should never
+take no notice of them shop-girls. I always heard as she was a bad
+lot."
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth--if you would excuse my nightcap," said Mrs
+Hadwin--"I am so shaken and all of a tremble with that noise; I
+couldn't help thinking it must be a murder at the least," said the
+little old lady; "but I never could believe that there was anything
+between you and--Sarah, you may go away; I should like to talk to Mr
+Wentworth by himself," said Mrs Hadwin, suddenly remembering that Mr
+Wentworth's character must not be discussed in the presence of even
+her favourite maid.
+
+"Presently," said the unhappy Curate, with mingled impatience and
+resignation; and, after a hasty knock at the door, he went into
+Wodehouse's room, which was opposite, so full of a furious anxiety to
+question him that he had burst into speech before he perceived that
+the room was empty. "Answer me this instant," he had cried, "where is
+Rosa Elsworthy?" and then he paused, utterly taken aback. It had not
+occurred to him that the culprit would be gone. He had parted with him
+late on the previous night, leaving him, according to appearances, in
+a state of sulky half-penitence; and now the first impulse of his
+consternation was to look in all the corners for the fugitive. The
+room had evidently been occupied that night; part of the Curate's own
+wardrobe, which he had bestowed upon his guest, lay about on the
+chairs, and on a little table were his tools and the bits of wood with
+which he did his carving. The window was open, letting in the fresh
+air, and altogether the apartment looked so exactly like what it might
+have done had the occupant gone out for a virtuous morning walk, that
+Mr Wentworth stopped short in blank amazement. It was a relief to him
+to hear the curious Sarah still rustling in the passage outside. He
+came out upon her so hastily that Sarah was startled. Perhaps she had
+been so far excited out of her usual propriety as to think of the
+keyhole as a medium of information.
+
+"Where is Wode--Mr Smith?" cried the Curate; "he is not in his
+room--he does not generally get up so early. Where is he? Did he go
+out last night?"
+
+"Not as I knows of, sir," said Sarah, who grew a little pale, and gave
+a second glance at the open door. "Isn't the gentleman in his room? He
+do take a walk in the morning, now and again," and Sarah cast an
+alarmed look behind to see if her mistress was still within hearing;
+but Mrs Hadwin, intent on questioning Mr Wentworth himself, had
+fortunately retired to put on her cap, and closed her door.
+
+"Where is he?" said the Curate, firmly.
+
+"Oh, please sir, I don't know," said Sarah, who was very near crying.
+"He's gone out for a walk, that's all. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't look at
+me so dreadfully, and I'll tell you hall," cried the frightened girl,
+"_hall_--as true as if I was on my oath. He 'as a taking way with
+him," said poor Sarah, to whom the sulky and shabby rascal was radiant
+still with the fascinating though faded glory of "a gentleman"--"and
+he aint one as has been used to regular hours; and seeing as he was a
+friend of yours, I knew as hall was safe, Mr Wentworth; and oh, sir,
+if you'll not tell missis, as might be angry. I didn't mean no harm;
+and knowing as he was a friend of yours, I let him have the key of the
+little door."
+
+Here Sarah put her apron to her eyes; she did not cry much into it, or
+wet it with her tears--but under its cover she peeped at Mr Wentworth,
+and, encouraged by his looks, which did not seem to promise any
+immediate catastrophe, went on with her explanation.
+
+"He's been and took a walk often in the morning," said Sarah, with
+little gasps which interrupted her voice, "and come in as steady as
+steady, and nothing happened. He's gone for a walk now, poor
+gentleman. Them as goes out first thing in the morning, can't mean no
+harm, Mr Wentworth. If it was at night, it would be different," said
+the apologetic Sarah. "He'll be in afore we've done our breakfast in
+the kitchen; that's his hour, for I always brings him a cup of coffee.
+If you hadn't been up not till _your_ hour, sir, you'd never have
+known nothing about it;" and here even Mrs Hadwin's housemaid looked
+sharply in the Curate's face. "I never knew you so early, sir, not
+since I've been here," said Sarah; and though she was a partisan of Mr
+Wentworth, it occurred even to Sarah that perhaps, after all,
+Elsworthy might be right.
+
+"If he comes in let me know immediately," said the Curate; and he went
+to his study and shut himself in, to think it all over with a sense of
+being baited and baffled on every side. As for Sarah, she went off in
+great excitement to discuss the whole business with the cook, tossing
+her head as she went. "Rosa Elsworthy, indeed!" said Sarah to herself,
+thinking her own claims to admiration quite as well worth
+considering--and Mr Wentworth had already lost one humble follower in
+Grange Lane.
+
+The Curate sat down at his table as before, and gazed with a kind of
+exasperation at the paper and the text out of which his sermon was to
+have come. "When the wicked man turneth away from the evil of his
+ways"--he began to wonder bitterly whether that ever happened, or if it
+was any good trying to bring it about. If it were really the case that
+Wodehouse, whom he had been labouring to save from the consequences of
+one crime, had, at the very crisis of his fate, perpetrated another of
+the basest kind, what was the good of wasting strength in behalf of a
+wretch so abandoned? Why should such a man be permitted to live to bring
+shame and misery on everybody connected with him? and why, when noxious
+vermin of every other description were hunted down and exterminated,
+should the vile human creature be spared to suck the blood of his
+friends? Mr Wentworth grew sanguinary in his thoughts as he leaned back
+in his chair, and tried to return to the train of reflection which
+Elsworthy's arrival had banished. That was totally impossible, but
+another train of ideas came fast enough to fill up the vacant space. The
+Curate saw himself hemmed in on every side without any way of escape. If
+he could not extract any information from Wodehouse, or if Wodehouse
+denied any knowledge of Rosa, what could he do to clear himself from an
+imputation so terrible? and if, on the other hand, Wodehouse did not
+come back, and so pleaded guilty, how could he pursue and put the law
+upon the track of the man whom he had just been labouring to save from
+justice, and over whose head a criminal prosecution was impending? Mr
+Wentworth saw nothing but misery, let him turn where he would--nothing
+but disgrace, misapprehension, unjust blame. He divined with the
+instinct of a man in deadly peril, that Elsworthy, who was a mean enough
+man in common circumstances, had been inspired by the supposed injury he
+had sustained into a relentless demon; and he saw distinctly how strong
+the chain of evidence was against him, and how little he could do to
+clear himself. As his miseries grew upon him, he got up, as was natural,
+and began to walk about the room to walk down his impatience, if he
+could, and acquire sufficient composure to enable him to wait for the
+time when Wodehouse might be expected to arrive. Mr Wentworth had
+forgotten at the moment that Mrs Hadwin's room was next to his study,
+and that, as she stood putting on her cap, his footsteps vibrated along
+the flooring, which thrilled under her feet almost as much as under his
+own. Mrs Hadwin, as she stood before her glass smoothing her thin little
+braids of white hair, and putting on her cap, could not but wonder to
+herself what could make Mr Wentworth walk about the room in such an
+agitated way. It was not by any means the custom of the Perpetual
+Curate, who, up to the time of his aunts' arrival in Carlingford, had
+known no special disturbances in his individual career. And then the old
+lady thought of that report about little Rosa Elsworthy, which she had
+never believed, and grew troubled, as old ladies are not unapt to do
+under such circumstances, with all that lively faith in the seductions
+of "an artful girl," and all that contemptuous pity for a "poor young
+man," which seems to come natural to a woman. All the old ladies in
+Carlingford, male and female, were but too likely to entertain the same
+sentiments, which at least, if they did nothing else, showed a wonderful
+faith in the power of love and folly common to human nature. It did not
+occur to Mrs Hadwin any more than it did to Miss Dora, that Mr
+Wentworth's good sense and pride, and superior cultivation, were
+sufficient defences against little Rosa's dimpled cheeks and bright
+eyes; and with some few exceptions, such was likely to be the opinion of
+the little world of Carlingford. Mrs Hadwin grew more and more anxious
+about the business as she felt the boards thrill under her feet, and
+heard the impatient movements in the next room; and as soon as she had
+settled her cap to her satisfaction, she left her own chamber and went
+to knock, as was to be expected, at Mr Wentworth's door.
+
+It was just at this moment that Mr Wentworth saw Wodehouse's shabby
+figure entering at the garden-gate; he turned round suddenly without
+hearing Mrs Hadwin's knock, and all but ran over the old lady in his
+haste and eagerness--"Pardon me; I am in a great hurry," said the
+Curate, darting past her. Just at the moment when she expected her
+curiosity to be satisfied, it was rather hard upon Mrs Hadwin to be
+dismissed so summarily. She went down-stairs in a state of great
+dignity, with her lace mittens on, and her hands crossed before her.
+She felt she had more and more reason for doubting human nature in
+general, and for believing that the Curate of St Roque's in particular
+could not bear any close examination into his conduct. Mrs Hadwin sat
+down to her breakfast accordingly with a sense of pitying virtue which
+was sweet to her spirit, notwithstanding that she was, as she would
+have frankly acknowledged, very fond of Mr Wentworth; she said, "Poor
+young man," to herself, and shook her head over him as she poured out
+her solitary cup of tea. She had never been a beauty herself, nor had
+she exercised any overwhelming influence that she could remember over
+any one in the days of her distant youth: but being a true woman, Mrs
+Hadwin believed in Rosa Elsworthy, and pitied, not without a certain
+half-conscious female disdain, the weakness of the inevitable victim.
+He did not dare to stop to explain to _her_ what it meant. He rushed
+out of her way as soon as he saw she meant to question him. That
+designing girl had got him entirely under her sway, the poor young
+man!
+
+Meanwhile the Curate, without a single thought for his landlady, made
+a rush to Wodehouse's room. He did not wait for any answer to his
+knock, but went in, not as a matter of policy, but because his
+eagerness carried him on in spite of himself. To Mr Wentworth's great
+amazement Wodehouse was undressing, intending, apparently, to return
+to bed. The shabby fugitive, looking broad and brawny in his
+shirt-sleeves, turned round when he heard the voice with an angry
+exclamation. His face grew black as he saw the Curate at the door.
+"What the deuce have you to do in my room at this hour?" he growled
+into his beard. "Is a man never to have a little peace?" and with that
+threw down his coat, which he still had in his hand, and faced round
+towards the intruder with sullen looks. It was his nature to stand
+always on the defensive, and he had got so much accustomed to being
+regarded as a culprit, that he naturally took up the part, whether
+there might be just occasion or not.
+
+"Where have you been?" exclaimed the Curate; "answer me truly--I can't
+submit to any evasion. I know it all, Wodehouse. Where is she? where
+have you hid her? If you do not give her up, I must give you up to
+justice. Do you hear me? where is Rosa Elsworthy? This is a matter
+that touches my honour, and I must know the truth."
+
+Mr Wentworth was so full of the subject that it did not occur to him
+how much time he was giving his antagonist to prepare his answer.
+Though Wodehouse was not clever, he had the instinct of a baited
+animal driven to bay; and resistance and denial came natural to a man
+who had been accused and condemned all his life.
+
+"Rosa Elsworthy?" said the vagabond, "what have I to do with Rosa
+Elsworthy? A pretty man I should be to run away with a girl; all that
+I have in the world is a shilling or two, and, by Jove, it's an
+expensive business, that is. You should ask your brother," he
+continued, giving a furtive glance at the Curate--"it's more in his
+way, by Jove, than mine."
+
+Mr Wentworth was recalled to himself by this reply. "Where is she?" he
+said, sternly,--"no trifling. I did not ask if you had taken her away.
+I ask, where is she?" He had shut the door behind him, and stood in
+the middle of the room facing Wodehouse, and overawing him by his
+superior stature, force, and virtue. Before the Curate's look the eyes
+of the other fell; but he had fallen by chance on a reasonable defence
+enough, and so long as he held by that felt himself tolerably safe.
+
+"I don't know anything about her," he repeated; "how should I know
+anything about her? I aint a fool, by Jove, whatever I may be: a man
+may talk to a pretty girl without any harm. I mayn't be as good as a
+parson, but, by Jove, I aint a fool," he muttered through his beard.
+He had begun to speak with a kind of sulky self-confidence; but his
+voice sunk lower as he proceeded. Jack Wentworth's elegant levity was
+a terrible failure in the hands of the coarser rascal. He fell back by
+degrees upon the only natural quality which enabled him to offer any
+resistance. "By Jove, I aint an idiot," he repeated with dull
+obstinacy, and upon that statement made a stand in his dogged,
+argumentative way.
+
+"Would you like it better if I said you were a villain?" asked the
+exasperated Curate. "I don't want to discuss your character with you.
+Where is Rosa Elsworthy? She is scarcely more than a child," said Mr
+Wentworth, "and a fool, if you like. But where is she? I warn you
+that unless you tell me you shall have no more assistance from me."
+
+"And I tell you that I don't know," said Wodehouse; and the two men
+stood facing each other, one glowing with youthful indignation, the
+other enveloped in a cloud of sullen resistance. Just then there came
+a soft knock at the door, and Sarah peeped in with a coquettish air,
+which at no other time in her existence had been visible in the sedate
+demeanour of Mrs Hadwin's favourite handmaid. The stranger lodger was
+"a gentleman," notwithstanding his shabbiness, and he was a very
+civil-spoken gentleman, without a bit of pride; and Sarah was still a
+woman, though she was plain and a housemaid. "Please, sir, I've
+brought you your coffee," said Sarah, and she carried in her tray,
+which contained all the materials for a plentiful breakfast. When she
+saw Mr Wentworth standing in the room, and Wodehouse in his
+shirt-sleeves, Sarah said, "La!" and set down her tray hastily and
+vanished; but the episode, short as it was, had not been without its
+use to the culprit who was standing on his defence.
+
+"I'm not staying here on my own account," said Wodehouse,--"it's no
+pleasure to me to be here. I'm staying for your brother's sake
+and--other people's; it's no pleasure to me, by Jove! I'd go to-morrow
+if I had my way--but I aint a fool," continued the sulky defendant:
+"it's of no use asking me such questions. By Jove, I've other things to
+think of than girls; and you know pretty well how much money I've got,"
+he continued, taking out an old purse and emptying out the few shillings
+it contained into his hand. When he had thrown them about, out and in,
+for nearly a minute, he turned once more upon the Curate. "I'd like to
+have a little more pocket-money before I ran away with any one," said
+Wodehouse, and tossed the shillings back contemptuously. As for Mr
+Wentworth, his reasonableness once more came greatly in his way. He
+began to ask himself whether this penniless vagabond, who seemed to have
+no dash or daring in his character, could have been the man to carry
+little Rosa away; and, perplexed by this idea, Mr Wentworth put himself
+unawares into the position of his opponent, and in that character made
+an appeal to his imaginary generosity and truth.
+
+"Wodehouse," he said, seriously, "look here. I am likely to be much
+annoyed about this, and perhaps injured. I entreat you to tell me, if
+you know, where the girl is. I've been at some little trouble for you;
+be frank with me for once," said the Curate of St Roque's. Nothing in
+existence could have prevented himself from responding to such an
+appeal, and he made it with a kind of absurd confidence that there
+must be some kindred depths even in the meaner nature with which he
+had to deal, which would have been to Jack Wentworth, had he seen it,
+a source of inextinguishable laughter. Even Wodehouse was taken by
+surprise. He did not understand Mr Wentworth, but a certain vague idea
+that the Curate was addressing him as if he still were "a gentleman as
+he used to be"--though it did not alter his resolution in any
+way--brought a vague flush of shame to his unaccustomed cheek.
+
+"I aint a fool," he repeated rather hastily, and turned away not to meet
+the Curate's eyes. "I've got no money--how should _I_ know anything
+about her? If I had, do you think I should have been here?" he
+continued, with a sidelong look of inquiry: then he paused and put on
+his coat, and in that garb felt himself more of a match for his
+opponent. "I'll tell you one thing you'll thank me for," he said,--"the
+old man is dying, they think. They'll be sending for you presently.
+That's more important than a talk about a girl. I've been talked to till
+I'm sick," said Wodehouse, with a little burst of irrepressible nature,
+"but things may change before you all know where you are." When he had
+said so much, the fear in his heart awoke again, and he cast another
+look of inquiry and anxiety at the Curate's face. But Mr Wentworth was
+disgusted, and had no more to say.
+
+"Everything changes--except the heart of the churl, which can never be
+made bountiful," said the indignant young priest. It was not a fit
+sentiment, perhaps, for a preacher who had just written that text
+about the wicked man turning from the evil of his ways. Mr Wentworth
+went away in a glow of indignation and excitement, and left his guest
+to Sarah's bountiful provision of hot coffee and new-laid eggs, to
+which Wodehouse addressed himself with a perfectly good appetite,
+notwithstanding all the events of the morning, and all the mystery of
+the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth retired to his own quarters with enough to think about for
+one morning. He could not make up his mind about Wodehouse--whether he
+was guilty or not guilty. It seemed incredible that, penniless as he
+was, he could have succeeded in carrying off a girl so well known in
+Carlingford as Rosa Elsworthy; and, if he had taken her away, how did
+it happen that he himself had come back again? The Curate saw clearly
+enough that his only chance for exculpating himself in the sight of
+the multitude was by bringing home the guilt to somebody else; and in
+proportion to the utter scorn with which he had treated Elsworthy's
+insinuations at first, was his serious apprehension now of the danger
+which surrounded him. He divined all that slander would make of it
+with the quickened intelligence of a man whose entire life, and
+reputation dearer than life, were at stake. If it could not be cleared
+up--if even any investigation which he might be able to demand was not
+perfectly successful--Mr Wentworth was quite well aware that the
+character of a clergyman was almost as susceptible as that of a
+woman, and that the vague stigma might haunt and overshadow him all
+his life. The thought was overwhelming at this moment, when his first
+hopes of finding a speedy solution of the mystery had come to nothing.
+If he had but lived a century earlier, the chances are that no doubt
+of Wodehouse's guilt would have entered his mind; but Mr Wentworth was
+a man of the present age--reasonable to a fault, and apt to consider
+other people as much as possible from their own point of view. He did
+not see, looking at the circumstances, how Wodehouse _could_ be guilty;
+and the Curate would not permit the strong instinctive certainty that he
+_was_ guilty, to move his own mind from what he imagined to be its
+better judgment. He was thinking it over very gloomily when his
+breakfast was brought to him and his letters, feeling that he could be
+sure of nobody in such an emergency, and dreading more the doubt of his
+friends than the clamour of the general world. He could bear (he
+imagined) to be hooted at in the streets, if it ever came to that; but
+to see the faces of those who loved him troubled with a torturing doubt
+of his truth was a terrible thought to the Perpetual Curate. And Lucy?
+But here the young man got up indignant and threw off his fears. He
+doubted her regard with a doubt which threw darkness over the whole
+universe; but that she should be able for a moment to doubt his entire
+devotion to her, seemed a blindness incredible. No; let who would
+believe ill of him in this respect, to Lucy such an accusation must look
+as monstrous as it was untrue. _She_, at least, knew otherwise; and,
+taking this false comfort to his heart, Mr Wentworth took up his
+letters, and presently was deep in the anxieties of his brother Gerald,
+who wrote to him as to a man at leisure, and without any overwhelming
+perplexities of his own. It requires a very high amount of unselfishness
+in the person thus addressed to prevent a degree of irritation which is
+much opposed to sympathy; and Mr Wentworth, though he was very impartial
+and reasonable, was not, being still young and meaning to be happy,
+unselfish to any inhuman degree. He put down Gerald's letter, after he
+had read through half of it, with an exclamation of impatience which he
+could not restrain, and then poured out his coffee, which had got cold
+in the mean time, and gulped it down with a sense of half-comforting
+disgust--for there are moments when the mortification of the flesh
+is a relief to the spirit; and then it occurred to him to remember
+Wodehouse's tray, which was a kind of love-offering to the shabby
+vagabond, and the perfect good order in which _he_ had his breakfast;
+and Mr Wentworth laughed at himself with a whimsical perception of all
+that was absurd in his own position which did him good, and broke the
+spell of his solitary musings. When he took up Gerald's letter again, he
+read it through. A man more sympathetic, open-hearted, and unselfish
+than Gerald Wentworth did not exist in the world, as his brother well
+knew; but nevertheless, Gerald's mind was so entirely preoccupied that
+he passed over the Curate's cares with the lightest reference
+imaginable. "I hope you found all right when you got back, and nothing
+seriously amiss with Jack," the elder brother wrote, and then went on to
+his own affairs. All right! nothing seriously amiss! To a man who felt
+himself standing on the edge of possible ruin, such expressions seemed
+strange indeed.
+
+The Rector of Wentworth, however, had enough in his mind to excuse him
+for a momentary forgetfulness of others. Things had taken a different
+turn with him since his brother left. He had been so busy with his
+change of faith and sentiment, that the practical possibilities of the
+step which he contemplated had not disturbed Gerald. He had taken it
+calmly for granted that he _could_ do what he wanted to do. But a new
+light had burst upon him in that respect, and changed the character of
+his thoughts. Notwithstanding the conviction into which he had
+reasoned himself, the Rector of Wentworth had not contemplated the
+idea of becoming simply a Catholic layman. He was nothing if not a
+priest, he had said, passionately. He could have made a martyr of
+himself--have suffered tortures and deaths with the steadiest
+endurance; but he could not face the idea of taking all meaning and
+significance out of his life, by giving up the profession which he
+felt to be laid upon him by orders indelible, beyond the power of
+circumstances to revoke. Such was the new complication to which Gerald
+had come. He was terribly staggered in his previous resolution by this
+new doubt, and he wrote to pour his difficulties into the ear of his
+brother. It had been Frank's question which first awoke in his mind a
+doubt as to the practicability of the step he contemplated; and one of
+Louisa's relations, appealed to by her in her next access of terror,
+had brought this aspect of the matter still more distinctly before the
+Rector of Wentworth. Gerald had been studying Canon law, but his
+English intelligence did not make very much of it; and the bare idea
+of a dispensation making that right which in itself was wrong, touched
+the high-minded gentleman to the quick, and brought him to a sudden
+standstill. He who was nothing if not a priest, stood sorrowfully
+looking at his contemplated martyrdom--like Brother Domenico of St
+Mark's sighing on the edge of the fiery ordeal into which the Church
+herself would not let him plunge. If it was so, he no longer knew what
+to do. He would have wrapped the vestment of the new priesthood about
+him, though it was a garment of fire; but to stand aside in irksome
+leisure was a harder trial, at which he trembled. This was the new
+complication in which Gerald asked his brother's sympathy and counsel.
+It was a long letter, curiously introspective, and full of self-argument;
+and it was hard work, with a mind so occupied as was that of the
+Perpetual Curate, to give it due attention. He put it away when he had
+done with his cold breakfast, and deferred the consideration of the
+subject, with a kind of vague hope that the family firmament might
+possibly brighten in that quarter at least; but the far-off and
+indistinct interest with which he viewed, across his own gloomy
+surroundings, this matter which had engrossed him so completely a few
+days before, was wonderful to see.
+
+And then he paused to think what he was to do. To go out and face the
+slander which must already have crept forth on its way--to see
+Elsworthy and ascertain whether he had come to his senses, and try if
+anything could be done for Rosa's discovery--to exert himself somehow,
+in short, and get rid of the feverish activity which he felt consuming
+him,--that was what he longed to do. But, on the other hand, it was
+Saturday, and Mr Wentworth was conscious that it would be more
+dignified, and in better taste altogether, if he went on writing his
+sermon and took no notice of this occurrence, with which, in reality,
+he had nothing to do. It was difficult, but no doubt it was the best;
+and he tried it accordingly--putting down a great many sentences which
+had to be scratched out again, and spoiling altogether the appearance
+of the sermon-paper. When a message came from Mr Wodehouse's about
+eleven o'clock, bringing the news that he was much worse and not
+expected to live, and begging Mr Wentworth's immediate presence, the
+Curate was as nearly glad as it was possible for a man to be under the
+circumstances. He had "a feeling heart," as even Elsworthy allowed,
+but in such a moment of excitement any kind of great and terrible
+event seemed to come natural. He hastened out into the fresh morning
+sunshine, which still seemed thrilling with life and joy, and went up
+Grange Lane with a certain sense of curiosity, wondering whether
+everybody was already aware of what had happened. A long way off a
+figure which much resembled that of the Rector was visible crossing
+over to Dr Marjoribanks's door; and it occurred to the Curate that Mr
+Morgan was crossing to avoid him, which brought a smile of anger and
+involuntary dislike to his face, and nerved him for any other
+encounter. The green door at Mr Wodehouse's--a homely sign of the
+trouble in the house--had been left unlatched, and was swinging ajar
+with the wind when the Curate came up; and as he went in (closing it
+carefully after him, for that forlorn little touch of carelessness
+went to his heart), he encountered in the garden Dr Marjoribanks and
+Dr Rider, who were coming out together with very grave looks. They did
+not stop for much conversation, only pausing to tell him that the case
+was hopeless, and that the patient could not possibly live beyond a
+day or two at most; but even in the few words that were spoken Mr
+Wentworth perceived, or thought he perceived, that something had
+occurred to lessen him in the esteem of the shrewd old Scotch doctor,
+who contemplated him and his prayer-book with critical eyes. "I
+confess, after all, that there are cases in which written prayers are
+a kind of security," Dr Marjoribanks said in an irrelevant manner to
+Dr Rider when Mr Wentworth had passed them--an observation at which,
+in ordinary cases, the Curate would have smiled; but to-day the colour
+rose to his face, and he understood that Dr Marjoribanks did not think
+him qualified to carry comfort or instruction to a sick-bed. Perhaps
+the old doctor had no such idea in his mind--perhaps it was simply a
+relic of his national Presbyterianism, to which the old Scotchman kept
+up a kind of visionary allegiance. But whether he meant it or not, Mr
+Wentworth understood it as a reproach to himself, and went on with a
+bitter feeling of mortification to the sick-room. He had gone with his
+whole heart into his priestly office, and had been noted for his
+ministrations to the sick and poor; but now his feelings were much too
+personal for the atmosphere into which he was just about to enter. He
+stopped at the door to tell John that he would take a stroll round the
+garden before he came in, as he had a headache, and went on through
+the walks which were sacred to Lucy, not thinking of her, but
+wondering bitterly whether anybody would stand by him, or whether an
+utterly baseless slander would outweigh all the five years of his life
+which he had spent among the people of Carlingford. Meanwhile John
+stood at the door and watched him, and of course thought it was very
+"queer." "It aint as if he'd a-been sitting up all night, like our
+young ladies," said John to himself, and unconsciously noted the
+circumstance down in his memory against the Curate.
+
+When Mr Wentworth entered the sick-room, he found all very silent and
+still in that darkened chamber. Lucy was seated by the bedside,
+wrapped in a loose dressing-gown, and looked as if she had not slept
+for several nights; while Miss Wodehouse, who, notwithstanding all her
+anxiety to be of use, was far more helpless than Lucy, stood on the
+side next the door, with her eyes fixed on her sister, watching with
+pathetic unserviceableness for the moment when she could be of some
+use. As for the patient himself, he lay in a kind of stupor, from
+which he scarcely ever could be roused, and showed no tokens at the
+moment of hearing or seeing anybody. The scene was doubly sad, but it
+was without the excitement which so often breathes in the atmosphere
+of death. There was no eager listening for the last word, no last
+outbreaks of tenderness. The daughters were both hushed into utter
+silence; and Lucy, who was more reasonable than her sister, had even
+given up those wistful beseeching looks at the patient, with which
+Miss Wodehouse still regarded him, as if perhaps he might be thus
+persuaded to speak. The nurse whom Dr Marjoribanks had sent to assist
+them was visible through an open door, sleeping very comfortably in
+the adjoining room. Mr Wentworth came into the silent chamber with all
+his anxieties throbbing in his heart, bringing life at its very height
+of agitation and tumult into the presence of death. He went forward to
+the bed, and tried for an instant to call up any spark of intelligence
+that might yet exist within the mind of the dying man; but Mr
+Wodehouse was beyond the voice of any priest. The Curate said the
+prayers for the dying at the bedside, suddenly filled with a great
+pity for the man who was thus taking leave unawares of all this
+mournful splendid world. Though the young man knew many an ordinary
+sentiment about the vanity of life, and had given utterance to that
+effect freely in the way of his duty, he was still too fresh in his
+heart to conceive actually that any one could leave the world without
+poignant regrets; and when his prayer was finished, he stood looking
+at the patient with inexpressible compassion. Mr Wodehouse had scarcely
+reached old age; he was well off, and only a week ago seemed to have so
+much to enjoy; now, here he lay stupefied, on the edge of the grave,
+unable to respond even by a look to the love that surrounded him. Once
+more there rose in the heart of the young priest a natural impulse of
+resentment and indignation; and when he thought of the cause of this
+change, he remembered Wodehouse's threat, and roused himself from his
+contemplation of the dying to think of the probable fate of those who
+must live.
+
+"Has he made his will?" said Mr Wentworth, suddenly. He forgot that it
+was Lucy who was standing by him; and it was only when he caught a
+glance of reproach and horror from her eyes that he recollected how
+abrupt his question was. "Pardon me," he said; "you think me heartless
+to speak of it at such a time; but tell me, if you know: Miss
+Wodehouse, has he made his will?"
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, I don't know anything about business," said the
+elder sister. "He said he would; but we have had other things to think
+of--more important things," said poor Miss Wodehouse, wringing her
+hands, and looking at Mr Wentworth with eyes full of warning and
+meaning, beseeching him not to betray her secret. She came nearer to
+the side of the bed on which Lucy and the Curate were standing, and
+plucked at his sleeve in her anxiety. "We have had very different
+things to think of. Oh, Mr Wentworth, what does it matter?" said the
+poor lady, interposing her anxious looks, which suggested every kind
+of misfortune, between the two.
+
+"It matters everything in the world," said Mr Wentworth. "Pardon me if
+I wound you--I must speak; if it is possible to rouse him, an effort
+must be made. Send for Mr Waters. He must not be allowed to go out of
+the world and leave your interests in the hands of--"
+
+"Oh, hush, Mr Wentworth, hush!--oh, hush, hush! Don't say any more,"
+cried Miss Wodehouse, grasping his arm in her terror.
+
+Lucy rose from where she had been sitting at the bedside. She had
+grown paler than before, and looked almost stern in her youthful
+gravity. "I will not permit my father to be disturbed," she said. "I
+don't know what you mean, or what you are talking of; but he is not to
+be disturbed. Do you think I will let him be vexed in his last hours
+about money or anybody's interest?" she said, turning upon the Curate
+a momentary glance of scorn. Then she sat down again, with a pang of
+disappointment added to her grief. She could not keep her heart so
+much apart from him, as not to expect a little comfort from his
+presence. And there had been comfort in his prayers and his looks; but
+to hear him speak of wills and worldly affairs by her father's
+deathbed, as any man might have done, went to Lucy's heart. She sat
+down again, putting her hand softly upon the edge of the pillow, to
+guard the peace of those last moments which were ebbing away so
+rapidly. What if all the comfort of the world hung upon it? Could she
+let her kind father be troubled in his end for anything so miserable?
+Lucy turned her indignant eyes upon the others with silent resolution.
+It was she who was _his_ protector now.
+
+"But it must be done," said Mr Wentworth. "You will understand me
+hereafter. Miss Wodehouse, you must send for Mr Waters, and in the
+mean time I will do what I can to rouse him. It is no such cruelty as
+you think," said the Curate, with humility; "it is not for money or
+interest only--it concerns all the comfort of your life."
+
+This he said to Lucy, who sat defending her father. She, for her part,
+looked up at him with eyes that broke his heart. At that moment of all
+others, the unfortunate Curate perceived, by a sudden flash of
+insight, that nothing less than love could look at him with such
+force of disappointment and reproach and wounded feeling. He replied
+to the look by a gesture of mingled entreaty and despair.
+
+"What can I do?" he cried--"you have no one else to care for you. I
+cannot even explain to you all that is at stake. I must act as I
+ought, even though you hate me for it. Let us send for Mr Waters;--if
+there is a will--"
+
+Mr Wentworth had raised his voice a little in the excitement of the
+moment, and the word caught the dull ear of the dying man. The Curate
+saw instantly that there was comprehension in the flicker of the
+eyelash and the tremulous movement of the hand upon the bed. It was a
+new and unaccustomed part which he had now to play; he went hurriedly
+to the other side and leaned over the pillow to make out the
+stammering words which began to be audible. Lucy had risen up also and
+stood looking at her father still with her look of defence. As the
+feeble lips babbled forth unintelligible words, Lucy's face grew
+sterner and sterner. As for Miss Wodehouse, she stood behind, crying
+and trembling. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, do you think it is returning
+life--do you think he is better?" she cried, looking wistfully at the
+Curate; and between the two young people, who were leaning with looks
+and feelings so different over his bed, the patient lay struggling
+with those terrible bonds of weakness, labouring to find expression
+for something which wrought him into a fever of excitement. While Mr
+Wentworth bent his ear closer and closer, trying to make some sense of
+the inarticulate torrent of sound, Lucy, inspired by grief and horror
+and indignation, leaned over her father on the other side, doing
+everything possible to calm him. "Oh, papa, don't say any more--don't
+say any more; we understand you," she cried, and put her soft hands
+upon his flushed forehead, and her cheek to his. "No more, no more!"
+cried the girl in the dulled ear which could not hear. "We will do
+everything you wish--we understand all," said Lucy. Mr Wentworth
+withdrew vanquished in that strange struggle--he stood looking on
+while she caressed and calmed and subdued into silence the dying
+passion which he would have given anything in the world to stimulate
+into clearer utterance. She had baffled his efforts, made him helpless
+to serve her, perhaps injured herself cruelly; but all the more the
+Curate loved her for it, as she expanded over her dying father, with
+the white sleeves hanging loose about her arms like the white wings of
+an angel, as he thought. Gradually the agony of utterance got subdued,
+and then Lucy resumed her position by the bed. "He shall not be
+disturbed," she said again, through lips that were parched with
+emotion; and so sat watchful over him, a guardian immovable, ready to
+defy all the world in defence of his peace.
+
+Mr Wentworth turned away with his heart full. He would have liked to
+go and kiss her hand or her sleeve or anything belonging to her; and
+yet he was impatient beyond expression, and felt that she had baffled
+and vanquished him. Miss Wodehouse stood behind, still looking on with
+a half perception of what had happened; but the mind of the elder
+sister was occupied with vain hopes and fears, such as inexperienced
+people are subject to in the presence of death.
+
+"He heard what you said," said Miss Wodehouse; "don't you think that
+was a good sign? Oh, Mr Wentworth, sometimes I think he looks a little
+better," said the poor lady, looking wistfully into the Curate's face.
+Mr Wentworth could only shake his head as he hurried away.
+
+"I must go and consult Mr Waters," he said, as he passed her. "I shall
+come back presently;" and then Miss Wodehouse followed him to the door,
+to beg him not to speak to Mr Waters of _anything particular_--"For papa
+has no confidence in him," she said, anxiously. The Curate was nearly
+driven to his wits' end as he hastened out. He forgot the clouds that
+surrounded him in his anxiety about this sad household; for it seemed
+but too evident that Mr Wodehouse had made no special provision for his
+daughters; and to think of Lucy under the power of her unknown brother,
+made Mr Wentworth's blood boil.
+
+The shutters were all put up that afternoon in the prettiest house in
+Grange Lane. The event took Carlingford altogether by surprise; but
+other events just then were moving the town into the wildest
+excitement; for nothing could be heard, far or near, of poor little
+Rosa Elsworthy, and everybody was aware that the last time she was
+seen in Carlingford she was standing by herself in the dark, at Mr
+Wentworth's garden-door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+Mrs Morgan was in the garden watering her favourite ferns when her
+husband returned home to dinner on the day of Mr Wodehouse's death. The
+Rector was late, and she had already changed her dress, and was removing
+the withered leaves from her prettiest plant of maidenhair, and
+thinking, with some concern, of the fish, when she heard his step on the
+gravel; for the cook at the Rectory was rather hasty in her temper, and
+was apt to be provoking to her mistress next morning when the Rector
+chose to be late. It was a very hot day, and Mr Morgan was flushed and
+uncomfortable. To see his wife looking so cool and tranquil in her
+muslin dress rather aggravated him than otherwise, for she did not
+betray her anxiety about the trout, but welcomed him with a smile, as
+she felt it her duty to do, even when he was late for dinner. The Rector
+looked as if all the anxieties of the world were on his shoulders, as he
+came hurriedly along the gravel; and Mrs Morgan's curiosity was
+sufficiently excited by his looks to have overcome any consideration but
+that of the trout, which, however, was too serious to be trifled with;
+so, instead of asking questions, she thought it wiser simply to remind
+her husband that it was past six o'clock. "Dinner is waiting," she said,
+in her composed way; and the Rector went up-stairs to wash his hands,
+half disposed to be angry with his wife. He found her already seated at
+the head of the table when he came down after his rapid ablutions; and
+though he was not particularly quick of perception, Mr Morgan perceived,
+by the looks of the servant as well as the mistress, that he was
+generally disapproved of throughout the household for being half an hour
+too late. As for Thomas, he was at no pains to conceal his sentiments,
+but conducted himself with distant politeness towards his master,
+expressing the feelings of the household with all the greater freedom
+that he had been in possession of the Rectory since Mr Bury's time, and
+felt himself more secure in his tenure than any incumbent, as was
+natural to a man who had already outlived two of these temporary
+tenants. Mr Morgan was disposed to be conciliatory when he saw the
+strength of the opposite side.
+
+"I am a little late today," said the politic Rector. "Mr Leeson was
+with me, and I did not want to bring him home to dinner. It was only
+on Wednesday he dined with us, and I know you don't care for chance
+guests."
+
+"I think it shows a great want of sense in Mr Leeson to think of such
+a thing," said Mrs Morgan, responding by a little flush of anger to
+the unlucky Curate's name. "He might understand that people like to be
+by themselves now and then. I am surprised that you give in to him so
+much as you do, William. Good-nature must stop somewhere, and I think
+it is always best to draw a line."
+
+"I wish it were possible for everybody to draw a line," said the
+Rector, mysteriously, with a sigh. "I have heard something that has
+grieved me very much to-day. I will tell you about it afterwards."
+When he had said this, Mr Morgan addressed himself sadly to his
+dinner, sighing over it, as if that had something to do with his
+distress.
+
+"Perhaps, ma'am," suggested Thomas, who was scarcely on speaking terms
+with his master, "the Rector mayn't have heard as Mr Wodehouse has
+been took very bad again, and aint expected to see out the night."
+
+"I am very sorry," said the Rector. "Poor ladies! it will come very
+hard upon them. My dear, I think you should call and ask if you can do
+anything. Troubles never come singly, it is said. I am very sorry for
+that poor young creature; though, perhaps, things have not gone so far
+as one imagined." The Rector sighed again, and looked as though his
+secret, whatever it might be, was almost too much for him. The
+consequence, of course, was, that Thomas prolonged his services to the
+last possibility, by way of hearing what had happened; as for Mrs
+Morgan, she sat on thorns, though her sense of propriety was too great
+to permit her to hurry over the dinner. The pudding, though it was the
+Rector's favourite pudding, prepared from a receipt only known at
+All-Souls, in which the late respected Head of that learned community
+had concentrated all his genius, was eaten in uneasy silence, broken
+only by the most transparent attempts on both sides to make a little
+conversation. Thomas hovered sternly over his master and mistress all
+the time, exacting with inexorable severity every usage of the table.
+He would not let them off the very smallest detail, but insisted on
+handing round the peaches, notwithstanding Mrs Morgan's protest. "They
+are the first out of the new orchard-house," said the Rector's wife.
+"I want your opinion of them. That will do, Thomas; we have got
+everything now, I think." Mrs Morgan was a little anxious about the
+peaches, having made a great many changes on her own responsibility in
+the gardening department; but the Rector took the downy fruit as if it
+had been a turnip, and notwithstanding her interest in the
+long-delayed news, his wife could not but find it very provoking that
+he took so little notice of her exertions.
+
+"Roberts stood out against the new flue as long as he could," said
+Mrs Morgan. "Mr Proctor took no interest in the garden, and everything
+had gone to ruin; though I must say it was very odd that anybody from
+_your_ college, William, should be careless about such a vital
+matter," said the Rector's wife, with a little asperity. "I suppose
+there must be something in the air of Carlingford which makes people
+indifferent." Naturally, it was very provoking, after all the trouble
+she had taken, to see her husband slicing that juicy pulp as if it had
+been any ordinary market fruit.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear," said Mr Morgan; "I was thinking of this
+story about Mr Wentworth. One is always making new discoveries of the
+corruption of human nature. He had behaved very badly to me; but it is
+very sad to see a young man sacrifice all his prospects for the
+indulgence of his passions; though that is a very secular way of
+looking at the subject," said the Rector, shaking his head mournfully.
+"If it is bad in a worldly point of view, what is it in a spiritual?
+and in this age, too, when it is so important to keep up the character
+of the clergy!" Mr Morgan sighed again more heavily than ever as he
+poured out the single glass of port, in which his wife joined him
+after dinner. "Such an occurrence throws a stigma upon the whole
+Church, as Mr Leeson very justly remarked."
+
+"I thought Mr Leeson must have something to do with it," said the
+Rector's wife. "What has Mr Wentworth been doing? When you keep a
+Low-Church Curate, you never can tell what he may say. If he had known
+of the All-Souls pudding he would have come to dinner, and we should
+have had it at first-hand," said Mrs Morgan, severely. She put away
+her peach in her resentment, and went to a side-table for her work,
+which she always kept handy for emergencies. Like her husband, Mrs
+Morgan had acquired some little "ways" in the long ten years of their
+engagement, one of which was a confirmed habit of needlework at all
+kinds of unnecessary moments, which much disturbed the Rector when he
+had anything particular to say.
+
+"My dear, I am very sorry to see you so much the victim of prejudice,"
+said Mr Morgan. "I had hoped that all our long experiences--" and here
+the Rector stopped short, troubled to see the rising colour in his
+wife's face. "I don't mean to blame you, my dear," said the perplexed
+man; "I know you were always very patient;" and he paused, not knowing
+what more to say, comforting himself with the thought that women were
+incomprehensible creatures, as so many men have done before.
+
+"I am not patient," said the Rector's wife; "it never was my nature. I
+can't help thinking sometimes that our long experiences have done us
+more harm than good; but I hope nothing will ever make me put up with
+a Curate who tells tales about other people, and flatters one's self,
+and comes to dinner without being asked. Perhaps Mr Wentworth is very
+sinful, but at least he is a gentleman," said Mrs Morgan; and she bent
+her head over her work, and drove her needle so fast through the
+muslin she was at work upon, that it glimmered and sparkled like
+summer lightning before the spectator's dazzled eyes.
+
+"I am sorry you are so prejudiced," said the Rector. "It is a very
+unbecoming spirit, my dear, though I am grieved to say so much to you.
+Mr Leeson is a very good young man, and he has nothing to do with this
+terrible story about Mr Wentworth. I don't wish to shock your
+feelings--but there are a great many things in the world that one
+can't explain to ladies. He has got himself into a most distressing
+position, and a public inquiry will be necessary. One can't help
+seeing the hand of Providence in it," said the Rector, playing
+reflectively with the peach on his plate.
+
+It was at this moment that Thomas appeared at the door to announce Mr
+Leeson, who had come to talk over the topic of the day with the
+Rector--being comfortably obtuse in his perceptions, and quite
+disposed to ignore Mrs Morgan's general demeanour towards himself. "I
+am sure she has a bad temper," he would say to his confidants in the
+parish; "you can see it by the redness in her face: but I never take
+any notice when she says rude things to me." The redness was alarming
+in Mrs Morgan's face as the unlucky man became visible at the door.
+She said audibly, "I knew we should be interrupted!" and got up from
+her chair. "As Mr Leeson is here, you will not want me, William," she
+added, in her precisest tones. "If anything has happened since you
+came in, he will be able to tell you about it; and perhaps I had
+better send you your coffee here, for I have a great many things to
+do." Mr Morgan gave a little groan in his spirit as his wife went
+away. To do him justice, he had a great deal of confidence in her, and
+was unconsciously guided by her judgment in many matters. Talking it
+over with Mr Leeson was a totally different thing; for whatever might
+be said in his defence, there could not be any doubt that the Curate
+professed Low-Church principles, and had been known to drink tea with
+Mr Beecher, the new minister of Salem Chapel. "Not that I object to Mr
+Beecher because he is a Dissenter," Mr Morgan said, "but because, my
+dear, you know, it is a totally different class of society." When the
+Rector was left alone to discuss parish matters with this doubtful
+subordinate, instead of going into the subject with his wife, the good
+man felt a pang of disappointment; for though he professed to be
+reluctant to shock her, he had been longing all the time to enter into
+the story, which was certainly the most exciting which had occurred in
+Carlingford since the beginning of his incumbency. Mrs Morgan, for her
+part, went up-stairs to the drawing-room with so much indignation
+about this personal grievance that she almost forgot her curiosity. Mr
+Leeson hung like a cloud over all the advantages of Carlingford; he
+put out that new flue in the greenhouse, upon which she was rather
+disposed to pique herself, and withered her ferns, which everybody
+allowed to be the finest collection within a ten miles' circuit. This
+sense of disgust increased upon her as she went into the drawing-room,
+where her eye naturally caught that carpet which had been the first
+cross of her married life. When she had laid down her work, she began
+to plan how the offensive bouquets might be covered with a pinafore of
+linen, which looked very cool and nice in summer-time. And then the
+Rector's wife reflected that in winter a floor covered with white
+looked chilly, and that a woollen drugget of an appropriate small
+pattern would be better on the whole; but no such thing was to be had
+without going to London for it, which brought her mind back again to
+Mr Leeson and all the disadvantages of Carlingford. These subjects
+occupied Mrs Morgan to the exclusion of external matters, as was
+natural; and when she heard the gentlemen stir down-stairs as if with
+ideas of joining her in the drawing-room, the Rector's wife suddenly
+recollected that she had promised some tea to a poor woman in Grove
+Street, and that she could not do better this beautiful evening than
+take it in her own person. She was very active in her district at all
+times, and had proved herself an admirable clergywoman; but perhaps it
+would not have occurred to her to go out upon a charitable errand that
+particular evening had it not been for the presence of Mr Leeson
+down-stairs.
+
+It was such a very lovely night, that Mrs Morgan was tempted to go
+further than she intended. She called on two or three of her
+favourites in Grove Street, and was almost as friendly with them as
+Lucy Wodehouse was with the people in Prickett's Lane; but being
+neither pretty and young, like Lucy, nor yet a mother with a nursery,
+qualified to talk about the measles, her reception was not quite as
+enthusiastic as it might have been. Somehow it would appear as though
+our poor neighbours loved most the ministrations of youth, which is
+superior to all ranks in the matter of possibility and expectation,
+and inferior to all ranks in the matter of experience; and so holds a
+kind of balance and poise of nature between the small and the great.
+Mrs Morgan was vaguely sensible of her disadvantages in this respect
+as well as in others. She never could help imagining what she might
+have been had she married ten years before at the natural period.
+"And even then not a girl," she said to herself in her sensible way,
+as she carried this habitual thread of thought with her along the
+street, past the little front gardens, where there were so many
+mothers with their children. On the other side of the way the genteel
+houses frowned darkly with their staircase windows upon the humility
+of Grove Street; and Mrs Morgan began to think within herself of the
+Miss Hemmings and other spinsters, and how they got along upon this
+path of life, which, after all, is never lightsome to behold, except
+in the future or the past. It was dead present with the Rector's wife
+just then, and many speculations were in her mind, as was natural.
+"Not that I could not have lived unmarried," she continued within
+herself, with a woman's pride; "but things looked so different at
+five-and-twenty!" and in her heart she grudged the cares she had lost,
+and sighed over this wasting of her years.
+
+It was just then that the youngest Miss Hemmings saw Mrs Morgan, and
+crossed over to speak to her. Miss Hemmings had left five-and-thirty
+behind a long time ago, and thought the Rector's wife a happy woman in
+the bloom of youth. When she had discovered conclusively that Mrs
+Morgan would not go in to have a cup of tea, Miss Hemmings volunteered
+to walk with her to the corner; and it is not necessary to say that
+she immediately plunged into the topic which at that moment engaged
+all minds in Carlingford. "If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I
+should not have believed it," said Miss Hemmings. "I should have
+thought it a got-up story; not that I ever could have thought it
+_impossible_, as you say--for, alas! I know well that without grace
+every wickedness is more than possible--but I saw them with my own
+eyes, my dear Mrs Morgan; she standing outside, the bold little thing,
+and he at the door--as if it was right for a clergyman to open the
+door like a man-servant--and from that moment to this she has not been
+seen by any living creature in Carlingford: who can tell what may have
+been done with her?" cried the horrified eyewitness. "She has never
+been seen from that hour!"
+
+"But that was only twenty-four hours ago," said Mrs Morgan; "she may
+have gone off to visit some of her friends."
+
+"Ah, my dear Mrs Morgan, twenty-four hours is a long time for a girl
+to disappear out of her own home," said Miss Hemmings; "and all her
+friends have been sent to, and no word can be heard of her. I am
+afraid it will go very hard with Mr Wentworth; and I am sure it looks
+like a judgment upon him for all his candlesticks and flowers and
+things," she continued, out of breath with the impetuosity of her
+tale.
+
+"Do you think, then, that God makes people sin in order to punish
+them?" said Mrs Morgan, with some fire, which shocked Miss Hemmings,
+who did not quite know how to reply.
+
+"I do so wish you would come in for a few minutes and taste our tea;
+my sister Sophia was just making it when I came out. We get it from
+our brother in Assam, and we think a great deal of it," said Miss
+Hemmings; "it can't possibly be adulterated, you know, for it comes
+direct from his plantation. If you can't come in just now, I will send
+you some to the Rectory, and you shall tell us how you like it. We are
+quite proud of our tea. My brother has a large plantation, and he
+hopes--"
+
+"Thank you," said Mrs Morgan, "but the Rector will be waiting for me,
+and I must go. It must be very nice to have your tea direct from the
+plantation; and I hope you will change your mind about Mr Wentworth,"
+she continued, without much regard for punctuation, as she shook hands
+at the corner. Mrs Morgan went down a narrow street which led to
+Grange Lane, after this interview, with some commotion in her mind.
+She took Mr Wentworth's part instinctively, without asking any proofs
+of his innocence. The sun was just setting, and St Roque's stood out
+dark and picturesque against all the glory of the western sky as the
+Rector's wife went past. She could not help thinking of him, in his
+youth and the opening of his career, with a kind of wistful interest.
+If he had married Lucy Wodehouse, and confined himself to his own
+district (but then he had no district), Mrs Morgan would have
+contemplated the two, not, indeed, without a certain half-resentful
+self-reference and contrast, but with natural sympathy. And now, to
+think of this dark and ugly blot on his fair beginning disturbed her
+much. When Mrs Morgan recollected that she had left her husband and
+his Curate consulting over this matter, she grew very hot and angry,
+and felt humiliated by the thought. Was it her William, her hero, whom
+she had magnified for all these ten years, though not without
+occasional twinges of enlightenment, into something great, who was
+thus sitting upon his young brother with so little human feeling and
+so much middle-aged jealousy? It hurt her to think of it, though not
+for Mr Wentworth's sake. Poor Mrs Morgan, though not at all a
+sentimental person, had hoarded up her ideal so much after the
+ordinary date, that it came all the harder upon her when everything
+thus merged into the light of common day. She walked very fast up
+Grange Lane, which was another habit of her maidenhood not quite in
+accord with the habit of sauntering acquired during the same period by
+the Fellow of All-Souls. When Mrs Morgan was opposite Mr Wodehouse's,
+she looked across with some interest, thinking of Lucy; and it shocked
+her greatly to see the closed shutters, which told of the presence of
+death. Then, a little farther up, she could see Elsworthy in front of
+his shop, which was already closed, talking vehemently to a little
+group round the door. The Rector's wife crossed the street, to avoid
+coming into contact with this excited party; and, as she went swiftly
+along under the garden-walls, came direct, without perceiving it, upon
+Mr Wentworth, who was going the opposite way. They were both absorbed
+in their own thoughts, the Perpetual Curate only perceiving Mrs Morgan
+in time to take off his hat to her as he passed; and, to tell the
+truth, having no desire for any further intercourse. Mrs Morgan,
+however, was of a different mind. She stopped instantly, as soon as
+she perceived him. "Mr Wentworth, it is getting late--will you walk
+with me as far as the Rectory?" she said, to the Curate's great
+astonishment. He could not help looking at her with curiosity as he
+turned to accompany her. Mrs Morgan was still wearing her wedding
+things, which were not now in their first freshness--not to say that
+the redness, of which she was so painfully sensible, was rather out of
+accordance with the orange blossoms. Then she was rather flurried and
+disturbed in her mind; and, on the whole, Mr Wentworth ungratefully
+concluded the Rector's wife to be looking her plainest, as he turned
+with very languid interest to see her safely home.
+
+"A great many things seem to be happening just now," said Mrs Morgan,
+with a good deal of embarrassment; "I suppose the people in
+Carlingford are grateful to anybody who gives them something to talk
+about."
+
+"I don't know about the gratitude," said the Perpetual Curate; "it is
+a sentiment I don't believe in."
+
+"You ought to believe in everything as long as you are young," said
+Mrs Morgan. "I want very much to speak to you, Mr Wentworth; but then
+I don't know how you will receive what I am going to say."
+
+"I can't tell until I know what it is," said the Curate, shutting
+himself up. He had an expressive face generally, and Mrs Morgan saw
+the shutters put up, and the jealous blinds drawn over the young man's
+countenance as clearly as if they had been tangible articles. He did
+not look at her, but kept swinging his cane in his hand, and regarding
+the pavement with downcast eyes; and if the Rector's wife had formed
+any expectations of finding in the Perpetual Curate an ingenuous young
+heart, open to sympathy and criticism, she now discovered her mistake.
+
+"If I run the risk, perhaps you will forgive me," said Mrs Morgan. "I
+have just been hearing a dreadful story about you; and I don't believe
+it in the least, Mr Wentworth," she continued, with a little effusion;
+for though she was very sensible, she was only a woman, and did not
+realise the possibility of having her sympathy rejected, and her
+favourable judgment received with indifference.
+
+"I am much flattered by your good opinion. What was the dreadful
+story?" asked Mr Wentworth, looking at her with careless eyes. They
+were just opposite Elsworthy's shop, and could almost hear what he was
+saying, as he stood in the midst of his little group of listeners,
+talking loud and vehemently. The Perpetual Curate looked calmly at him
+across the road, and turned again to Mrs Morgan, repeating his
+question, "What was the dreadful story?--one gets used to romances,"
+he said, with a composure too elaborate to be real; but Mrs Morgan did
+not think of that.
+
+"If you don't care about it, I need not say anything," said the
+Rector's wife, who could not help feeling affronted. "But I am so
+sorry that Mr Morgan and you don't get on," she continued, after a
+little pause. "I have no right to speak; but I take an interest in
+everything that belongs to the parish. If you would put a little
+confidence in my husband, things might go on better; but, in the mean
+time, I thought I might say to you, on my own account, that I had
+heard this scandal, and that I don't believe in it. If you do not
+understand my motive I can't help it," said the Rector's wife, who was
+now equally ready for friendship or for battle.
+
+"Thanks; I understand what you mean," said Mr Wentworth, who had come
+to himself. "But will you tell me what it is you don't believe in?" he
+asked, with a smile which Mrs Morgan did not quite comprehend.
+
+"I will tell you," she said, with a little quiet exasperation. "I
+don't think you would risk your prospects, and get yourself into
+trouble, and damage your entire life, for the sake of any girl,
+however pretty she might be. Men don't do such things for women
+nowadays, even when it is a worthy object," said the disappointed
+optimist. "And I believe you are a great deal more sensible, Mr
+Wentworth." There was just that tone of mingled approval and contempt
+in this speech which a woman knows how to deliver herself of without
+any appearance of feeling; and which no young man, however _blase_,
+can hear with composure.
+
+"Perhaps not," he said, with a little heat and a rising colour. "I am
+glad you think me so sensible." And then there ensued a pause, upon
+the issue of which depended the question of peace or war between these
+two. Mr Wentworth's good angel, perhaps, dropped softly through the
+dusky air at that moment, and jogged his perverse charge with the tip
+of a celestial wing. "And yet there might be women in the world for
+whom--" said the Curate; and stopped again. "I daresay you are not
+anxious to know my sentiments on the subject," he continued, with a
+little laugh. "I am sorry you think so badly--I mean so well of me."
+
+"I don't think badly of you," said Mrs Morgan, hastily. "Thank you for
+walking with me; and whatever happens, remember that I for one don't
+believe a word of it," she said, holding out her hand. After this little
+declaration of friendship, the Rector's wife returned to the Rectory,
+where her husband was waiting for her, more than ever prepared to stand
+up for Mr Wentworth. She went back to the drawing-room, forgetting all
+about the carpet, and poured out the tea with satisfaction, and made
+herself very agreeable to Mr Finial, the architect, who had come to talk
+over the restorations. In that moment of stimulation she forgot all her
+experience of her husband's puzzled looks, of the half-comprehension
+with which he looked at her, and the depths of stubborn determination
+which were far beyond the reach of her hastier and more generous spirit,
+and so went on with more satisfaction and gaiety than she had felt
+possible for a long time, beating her drums and blowing her trumpets, to
+the encounter in which her female forces were so confident of victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth went upon his way, after he had parted from Mrs Morgan,
+with a moment's gratitude; but he had not gone half-a-dozen steps
+before that amiable sentiment yielded to a sense of soreness and
+vexation. He had almost acknowledged that he was conscious of the
+slander against which he had made up his mind to present a blank front
+of unconsciousness and passive resistance, and he was angry with
+himself for his susceptibility to this unexpected voice of kindness.
+He was going home, but he did not care for going home. Poor Mrs
+Hadwin's anxious looks of suspicion had added to the distaste with
+which he thought of encountering again the sullen shabby rascal to
+whom he had given shelter. It was Saturday night, and he had still his
+sermon to prepare for the next day; but the young man was in a state
+of disgust with all the circumstances of his lot, and could not make
+up his mind to go in and address himself to his work as he ought to
+have done. Such a sense of injustice and cruelty as possessed him was
+not likely to promote composition, especially as the pulpit addresses
+of the Curate of St Roque's were not of a declamatory kind. To think
+that so many years' work could be neutralised in a day by a sudden
+breath of scandal, made him not humble or patient, but fierce and
+resentful. He had been in Wharfside that afternoon, and felt convinced
+that even the dying woman at No. 10 Prickett's Lane had heard of Rosa
+Elsworthy; and he saw, or imagined he saw, many a distrustful
+inquiring glance thrown at him by people to whom he had been a kind
+of secondary Providence. Naturally the mere thought of the failing
+allegiance of the "district" went to Mr Wentworth's heart. When he
+turned round suddenly from listening to a long account of one poor
+family's distresses, and saw Tom Burrows, the gigantic bargeman, whose
+six children the Curate had baptised in a lump, and whose baby had
+been held at the font by Lucy Wodehouse herself, looking at him
+wistfully with rude affection, and something that looked very much
+like pity, it is impossible to describe the bitterness that welled up
+in the mind of the Perpetual Curate. Instead of leaving Wharfside
+comforted as he usually did, he came away wounded and angry, feeling
+to its full extent the fickleness of popular sympathy. And when he
+came into Grange Lane and saw the shutters closed, and Mr Wodehouse's
+green door shut fast, as if never more to open, all sources of
+consolation seemed to be shut against him. Even the habit he had of
+going into Elsworthy's to get his newspaper, and to hear what talk
+might be current in Carlingford, contributed to the sense of utter
+discomfort and wretchedness which overwhelmed him. Men in other
+positions have generally to consult the opinion of their equals only;
+but all sorts of small people can plant thorns in the path of a priest
+who has given himself with fervour to the duties of his office. True
+enough, such clouds blow by, and sometimes leave behind a sky clearer
+than before; but that result is doubtful, and Mr Wentworth was not of
+the temper to comfort himself with philosophy. He felt ingratitude
+keenly, as men do at eight-and-twenty, even when they have made up
+their minds that gratitude is a delusion; and still more keenly, with
+deep resentment and indignation, he felt the horrible doubt which had
+diffused itself around him, and seemed to be looking at him out of
+everybody's eyes. In such a state of mind one bethinks one's self of
+one's relations--those friends not always congenial, but whom one
+looks to instinctively, when one is young, in the crisis of life. He
+knocked at his aunts' door almost without knowing it, as he went down
+Grange Lane, after leaving Mrs Morgan, with vague sentences of his
+sermon floating in his mind through all the imbroglio of other
+thoughts. Even aunt Dora's foolish affection might have been a little
+comfort at the moment, and he could not but be a little curious to
+know whether they had heard Elsworthy's story, and what the
+patronesses of Skelmersdale thought of the matter. Somehow, just then,
+in the midst of his distresses, a vision of Skelmersdale burst upon
+the Perpetual Curate like a glimpse of a better world. If he could but
+escape there out of all this sickening misconception and ingratitude--if
+he could but take Lucy into his protecting arms, and carry her away far
+from the clouds that were gathering over her path as well as his own.
+The thought found vent in an impatient long-drawn sigh, and was then
+expelled contemptuously from the young man's bosom. If a hundred
+Skelmersdales were in his power, here, where his honour had been
+attacked, it was necessary to remain, in the face of all obstacles, till
+it was cleared.
+
+The Miss Wentworths had just come up to the drawing-room after dinner
+when their nephew entered. As for Miss Dora, she had seated herself by
+the window, which was open, and, with her light little curls
+fluttering upon her cheek, was watching a tiny puff of smoke by the
+side of the great laurel, which indicated the spot occupied at this
+moment by Jack and his cigar. "Dear fellow, he does enjoy the quiet,"
+she said, with a suppressed little sniff of emotion. "To think we
+should be in such a misery about poor dear Frank, and have Jack, about
+whom we have all been so unbelieving, sent to us for a consolation. My
+poor brother will be so happy," said Miss Dora, almost crying at the
+thought. She was under the influence of this sentiment when the Curate
+entered. It was perhaps impossible for Mr Wentworth to present himself
+before his three aunts at the present crisis without a certain
+consciousness in his looks; and it was well that it was twilight, and
+he could not read distinctly all that was written in their
+countenances. Miss Cecilia held out her lovely old hand to him first
+of all. She said, "How do you do, Frank?" which was not very original,
+but yet counted for a good deal in the silence. When he came up to
+her, she offered him her sweet old cheek with a look of pity which
+touched, and yet affronted, the Perpetual Curate. He thought it was
+the wisest way to accept the challenge at once.
+
+"It is very good of you, but you need not be sorry for me," he said, as
+he sat down by her. And then there was a little pause--an awful pause;
+for Miss Wentworth had no further observations to offer, and Miss Dora,
+who had risen up hastily, dropped into her chair again in a disconsolate
+condition, when she saw that her nephew did not take any notice of her.
+The poor little woman sat down with miserable sensations, and did not
+find the comfort she hoped for in contemplation of the smoke of Jack's
+cigar. After all, it was Frank who was the original owner of Miss Dora's
+affections. When she saw him, as she thought, in a state of guilt and
+trouble, received with grim silence by the dreaded Leonora, the poor
+lady began to waver greatly, divided between a longing to return to her
+old allegiance, and a certain pride in the new bonds which bound her to
+so great a sinner as Jack. She could not help feeling the distinction of
+having such a reprobate in her hands. But the sight of Frank brought
+back old habits, and Miss Dora felt at her wits' end, and could not tell
+what to do.
+
+At length Miss Leonora's voice, which was decided contralto, broke the
+silence. "I am very glad to see you, Frank," said the strong-minded
+aunt. "From something we heard, I supposed you had gone away for a
+time, and we were rather anxious about your movements. There are so
+many things going on in the family just now, that one does not know
+what to think. I am glad to see you are still in Carlingford."
+
+"I never had the least intention of going away," said Mr Wentworth.
+"I can't imagine who could tell you so."
+
+"Nobody told us," said Miss Leonora; "we drew that conclusion from
+other things we heard. Dora, give Frank the newspaper with that
+paragraph about Gerald. I have prophesied from the very first which
+way Gerald was tending. It is very shocking of him, and I don't know
+what they are to do, for Louisa is an expensive little fool; and if he
+leaves the Rectory, they can't have enough to live on. If you knew
+what your brother was going to do, why didn't you advise him
+otherwise? Besides, he will be wretched," said the discriminating
+woman. "I never approved of his ways, but I could not say anything
+against his sincerity. I believe his heart was in his work; a man may
+be very zealous, and yet very erroneous," said Miss Leonora, like an
+oracle, out of the shadows.
+
+"I don't know if he is erroneous or not--but I know I should like to
+punch this man's head," said the Curate, who had taken the paper to
+the window, where there was just light enough to make out the
+paragraph. He stood looming over Miss Dora, a great black shadow
+against the fading light. "All the mischief in the world comes of
+these villanous papers," said Mr Wentworth. "Though I did not think
+anybody nowadays believed in the 'Chronicle.' Gerald has not gone over
+to Rome, and I don't think he means to go. I daresay you have agitated
+yourselves unnecessarily about more than one supposed event in the
+family," he continued, throwing the paper on the table. "I don't know
+anything very alarming that has happened as yet, except, perhaps, the
+prodigal's return," said the Perpetual Curate, with a slight touch of
+bitterness. His eye had just lighted on Jack sauntering through the
+garden with his cigar; and Mr Wentworth was human, and could not
+entirely refrain from the expression of his sentiments.
+
+"But oh, Frank, my dear, you are not angry about poor Jack?" said Miss
+Dora. "He has not known what it was to be at home for years and years.
+A stepmother is so different from an own mother, and he never has had
+any opportunities; and oh, Frank, don't you remember that there is
+joy in heaven?" cried the anxious aunt--"not to say that he is the
+eldest son. And it is such a thing for the family to see him changing
+his ways in such a beautiful spirit!" said Miss Dora. The room was
+almost dark by this time, and she did not see that her penitent had
+entered while she spoke.
+
+"It is very consoling to gain your approval, aunt Dora," said Jack. "My
+brother Frank doesn't know me. If the Squire _will_ make a nursery of
+his house, what can a man do? But a fellow can't be quite ruined as long
+as he has--" aunts, the reprobate was about to say, with an inflection
+of laughter intended for Frank's ear only in his voice; but he
+fortunately remembered in time that Miss Leonora had an acute
+intelligence, and was not to be trifled with--"As long as he has female
+relations," said Jack, in his most feeling tone. "Men never sympathise
+with men." He seemed to be apologising for Frank's indifference, as well
+as for his own sins. He had just had a very good dinner--for the Miss
+Wentworths' cook was the best in Carlingford--and Jack, whose digestion
+was perfect, was disposed to please everybody, and had, in particular,
+no disposition to quarrel with Frank.
+
+"Oh, my dear, you see how humble and forgiving he is," said Miss Dora,
+rising on tiptoe to whisper into the Curate's ear; "and always takes
+your part whenever you are mentioned," said the injudicious aunt.
+Meantime the other sisters were very silent, sitting each in the midst
+of her own group of shadows. Then Miss Leonora rose with a sudden
+rustling of all her draperies, and with her own energetic hand rang
+the bell.
+
+"Now the lamp is coming," said Jack, in a tone of despair, "a bright,
+blank, pitiless globe like the world; and instead of this delicious
+darkness, where one can see nothing distinctly, my heart will be torn
+asunder for the rest of the evening by the sight of suicide. Why do we
+ever have lights?" said the exquisite, laying himself down softly on
+a sofa. When the lamp was brought in, Jack became visible stretched
+out in an attitude of perfect repose and tranquillity, with a quiet
+conscience written in every fold of his scrupulous apparel. As for
+Frank, on the contrary, he was still in morning dress, and was biting
+his nails, and had a cloud upon his brow which the sudden light
+disclosed like a traitor before he was prepared for it. Between the
+two brothers such a contrast was visible that it was not surprising if
+Miss Dora, still wavering in her allegiance, went back with relief to
+the calm countenance of her penitent, and owned to herself with
+trembling that the Curate looked preoccupied and guilty. Perhaps Miss
+Leonora came to a similar conclusion. She seated herself at her
+writing-table with her usual air of business, and made a pen to a hard
+point by the light of the candles, which were sacred to her particular
+use.
+
+"I heard some news this morning which pleased me very much," said Miss
+Leonora. "I daresay you remember Julia Trench? You two used to be a
+great deal together at one time. She is going to be married to Mr
+Shirley's excellent curate, who is a young man of the highest
+character. He did very well at the university, I believe," said the
+patroness of Skelmersdale; "but I confess I don't care much for
+academical honours. He is an excellent clergyman, which is a great
+deal more to the purpose, and I thoroughly agree with his views. So,
+knowing the interest we take in Julia, you may think how pleased we
+were," said Miss Leonora, looking full into her nephew's face. He knew
+what she meant as distinctly as if she had put it in words.
+
+"When is old Shirley going to die?" said Jack from the sofa. "It's
+rather hard upon Frank, keeping him out of the living so long; and if
+I were you, I'd be jealous of this model curate," said the fine
+gentleman, with a slight civil yawn. "I don't approve of model curates
+upon family livings. People are apt to make comparisons," said Jack,
+and then he raised his head with a little energy--"Ah, there it is,"
+said the Sybarite, "the first moth. Don't be precipitate, my dear
+fellow. Aunt Dora, pray sit quietly where you are, and don't disturb
+our operations. It is only a moth, to be sure; but don't let us cut
+short the moments of a creature that has no hereafter," said Jack,
+solemnly. He disturbed them all by this eccentric manifestation of
+benevolence, and flapped his handkerchief round Miss Dora, upon whose
+white cap the unlucky moth, frightened by its benefactor's vehemence,
+was fluttering wildly. Jack even forgot himself so far as to swear
+softly in French at the frightened insect as it flew wildly off at a
+tangent, not to the open window, but to Miss Leonora's candles, where
+it came to an immediate end. Miss Leonora sat rather grimly looking on
+at all this byplay. When her elegant nephew threw himself back once
+more upon his sofa, she glanced from him to his brother with a
+comparison which perhaps was not so much to the disadvantage of the
+Perpetual Curate. But even Miss Leonora, though so sensible, had her
+weaknesses; and she was very evangelical, and could put up with a
+great deal from the sinner who had placed himself for conversion in
+her hands.
+
+"We have too great a sense of our responsibility to treat Skelmersdale
+simply as a family living," she said. "Besides, Frank of course is to
+have Wentworth Rectory. Gerald's perversion is a great blow; but
+still, if it _is_ to be, Frank will be provided for at least. As for
+our parish--"
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Curate; "I have not the least intention
+of leaving Carlingford. At the present moment neither Skelmersdale nor
+Wentworth would tempt me. I am in no doubt as to where my work lies,
+and there is enough of it to satisfy any man." He could not help
+thinking, as he spoke, of ungrateful Wharfside, for which he had done
+so much, and the recollection brought a little flush of indignant
+colour to his cheek.
+
+"Oh, Frank, my dear," said Miss Dora in a whisper, stealing up to him,
+"if it is not true, you must not mind. Oh, my dear boy, nobody will
+mind it if it is not true." She put her hand timidly upon his arm as
+she reached up to his ear, and at the same time the poor little woman,
+who was trying all she could to serve two masters, kept one eye upon
+Jack, lest her momentary return to his brother might have a disastrous
+effect upon the moral reformation which she was nursing with so much
+care. As for the Curate, he gave her a hasty glance, which very nearly
+made an end of Miss Dora. She retired to her seat with no more courage
+to say anything, unable to make out whether it was virtuous reproach
+or angry guilt which looked at her so sternly. She felt her headache
+coming on as she sank again upon her chair. If she could but have
+stolen away to her own room, and had a good comforting cry in the
+dark, it might have kept off the headache; but then she had to be
+faithful to her post, and to look after the reformation of Jack.
+
+"I have no doubt that a great work might be done in Carlingford," said
+Miss Leonora, "if you would take my advice and organise matters
+properly, and make due provision for the lay element. As for Sisters
+of Mercy, I never had any belief in them. They only get young
+clergymen into mischief," said the strong-minded aunt. "We are going
+to have tea, Frank, if you will have some. Poor Mr Shirley has got
+matters into very bad order at Skelmersdale, but things will be
+different under the new incumbent, I hope," said Miss Leonora,
+shooting a side-glance of keen inspection at the Curate, who bore it
+steadily.
+
+"I hope he will conduct himself to your satisfaction," said Mr
+Wentworth, with a bland but somewhat grim aspect, from the window;
+"but I can't wait for tea. I have still got some of my work to do for
+to-morrow; so good-night."
+
+"I'll walk with you, Frank," said his elder brother. "My dear aunts,
+don't look alarmed; nothing can happen to me. There are few
+temptations in Grange Lane; and, besides, I shall come back directly.
+_I_ cannot do without my tea," said Jack, by way of consoling poor
+Miss Dora, who had started with consternation at the proposal. And
+the two brothers went out into the fresh evening air together, their
+aunt Dora watching them from the window with inexpressible anxiety;
+for perhaps it was not quite right for a clergyman to saunter out of
+doors in the evening with such a doubtful member of society as Jack;
+and perhaps Frank, having himself fallen into evil ways, might hinder
+or throw obstacles in the way of his brother's re-establishment in the
+practice of all the virtues. Miss Dora, who had to carry them both
+upon her shoulders, and who got no sympathy in the present case from
+her hard-hearted sisters, was fain at last to throw a shawl over her
+head and steal out to that summer-house which was built into the
+garden-wall, and commanded Grange Lane from its little window. There
+she established herself in the darkness, an affectionate spy. There
+ought to have been a moon that night, and accordingly the lamps were
+not lighted at that end of Grange Lane, for the authorities in
+Carlingford bore a frugal mind. But the sky had become cloudy, and the
+moon shone only at intervals, which gave a certain character of
+mystery and secrecy to the night. Through this uncertain light the
+anxious woman saw her two nephews coming and going under the window,
+apparently in the most eager conversation. Miss Dora's anxiety grew to
+such a height that she opened softly a chink of the window in hopes of
+being able to hear as well as to see, but that attempt was altogether
+unsuccessful. Then, when they had walked about for half an hour, which
+looked like two hours to Miss Dora, who was rapidly taking one of her
+bad colds at the half-open window, they were joined by another figure
+which she did not think she had ever seen before. The excitement was
+growing tremendous, and the aspect of the three conspirators more and
+more alarming, when the poor lady started with a little scream at a
+noise behind her, and turning round, saw her maid, severe as a
+pursuing Fate, standing at the door. "After giving me your word as you
+wouldn't come no more?" said the reproachful despot who swayed Miss
+Dora's soul. After that she had to make the best of her way indoors,
+thankful not to be carried to her room and put into hot water, which
+was the original intention of Collins. But it would be impossible to
+describe the emotions of Miss Dora's mind after this glimpse into the
+heart of the volcano on which her innocent feet were standing. Unless
+it were murder or high treason, what could they have to plot about? or
+was the mysterious stranger a disguised Jesuit, and the whole business
+some terrible Papist conspiracy? Jack, who had been so much abroad,
+and Gerald, who was going over to Rome, and Frank, who was in trouble
+of every description, got entangled together in Miss Dora's disturbed
+imagination. No reality could be so frightful as the fancies with
+which she distracted herself after that peep from the summer-house;
+and it would be impossible to describe the indignation of Collins, who
+knew that her mistress would kill herself some day, and was aware that
+she, in her own person, would get little rest that night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+"I don't know what is the exact connection between tea and
+reformation," said Jack Wentworth, with a wonderful yawn. "When I
+consider that this is all on account of that stupid beast Wodehouse, I
+feel disposed to eat him. By the way, they have got a capital cook; I
+did not think such a _cuisine_ was the sort of thing to be found in
+the bosom of one's family, which has meant boiled mutton up to this
+moment, to my uninstructed imagination. But the old ladies are in a
+state of excitement which, I presume, is unusual to them. It appears
+you have been getting into scrapes like other people, though you are
+a parson. As your elder brother, my dear Frank--"
+
+"Look here," said the Perpetual Curate; "you want to ask about
+Wodehouse. I will answer your questions, since you seem to have some
+interest in him; but I don't speak of my private affairs to any but my
+intimate friends," said Mr Wentworth, who was not in a humour to be
+trifled with.
+
+The elder brother shrugged his shoulders. "It is curious to remark the
+progress of the younger members of one's family," he said,
+reflectively. "When you were a little boy, you took your drubbings
+dutifully; but never mind, we've another subject in hand. I take an
+interest in Wodehouse, and so do you--I can't tell for what reason.
+Perhaps he is one of the intimate friends with whom you discuss your
+private affairs? but that is a matter quite apart from the subject.
+The thing is that he has to be taken care of--not for his own sake, as
+I don't need to explain to you," said Jack. "I hear the old fellow
+died today, which was the best thing he could have done, upon the
+whole. Perhaps you can tell me how much he had, and how he has left
+it? We may have to take different sides, and the fellow himself is a
+snob; but I should like to understand exactly the state of affairs
+between you and me as gentlemen," said the heir of the Wentworths.
+Either a passing spasm of compunction passed over him as he said the
+word, or it was the moon, which had just flung aside the last fold of
+cloud and burst out upon them as they turned back facing her. "When we
+know how the affair stands, we can either negotiate or fight," he
+added, puffing a volume of smoke from his cigar. "Really a very fine
+effect--that little church of yours comes well against that bit of
+sky. It looks like a Constable, or rather it would look like a
+Constable, thrusting up that bit of spire into the blue, if it
+happened to be daylight," said Jack, making a tube of his hand, and
+regarding the picture with great interest. Miss Dora at her window
+beheld the movement with secret horror and apprehension, and took it
+for some mysterious sign.
+
+"I know nothing about Mr Wodehouse's property," said the Curate: "I
+wish I knew enough law to understand it. He has left no will, I
+believe;" and Mr Wentworth watched his brother's face with no small
+interest as he spoke.
+
+"Very like a Constable," said Jack, still with his hands to his eyes.
+"These clouds to the right are not a bad imitation of some effects of
+his. I beg your pardon, but Constable is my passion. And so old
+Wodehouse has left no will? What _has_ he left? some daughters? Excuse
+my curiosity," said the elder brother. "I am a man of the world, you
+know. If you like this other girl well enough to compromise yourself
+on her account (which, mind you, I think a great mistake), you can't
+mean to go in at the same time for that pretty sister, eh? It's a sort
+of sport I don't attempt myself--though it may be the correct thing
+for a clergyman, for anything I can tell to the contrary," said the
+tolerant critic.
+
+Mr Wentworth had swallowed down the interruptions that rushed to his
+lips, and heard his brother out with unusual patience. After all,
+perhaps Jack was the only man in the world whom he could ask to advise
+him in such an emergency. "I take it for granted that you don't mean
+to insult either me or my profession," he said, gravely; "and, to tell
+the truth, here is one point upon which I should be glad of your help.
+I am convinced that it is Wodehouse who has carried away this
+unfortunate girl. She is a little fool, and he has imposed upon her.
+If you can get him to confess this, and to restore her to her friends,
+you will lay me under the deepest obligation," said the Perpetual
+Curate, with unusual energy. "I don't mind telling you that such a
+slander disables me, and goes to my heart." When he had once begun to
+speak on the subject, he could not help expressing himself fully; and
+Jack, who had grown out of acquaintance with the nobler sentiments,
+woke up with a slight start through all his moral being to recognise
+the thrill of subdued passion and scorn and grief which was in his
+brother's voice. Innocent Miss Dora, who knew no evil, had scarcely a
+doubt in _her_ mind that Frank was guilty; but Jack, who scarcely knew
+what goodness was, acquitted his brother instantaneously, and required
+no other proof. Perhaps if he had been capable of any impression
+beyond an intellectual one, this little incident might, in Miss Dora's
+own language, have "done him good."
+
+"So you have nothing to do with it?" he said, with a smile. "Wodehouse!
+but then the fellow hasn't a penny. I see some one skulking along under
+the walls that looks like him. Hist! Smith--Tom--what do they call you?
+We want you here," said Jack, upon whom the moon was shining full. When
+he stood in his evening coat and spotless breadth of linen, the heir of
+the Wentworths was ready to meet the eye of all the world. His shabby
+subordinate stopped short, with a kind of sullen admiration, to look at
+him. Wodehouse knew the nature of Jack Wentworth's pursuits a great deal
+better than his brother did, and that some of them would not bear much
+investigation; but when he saw him stand triumphant in gorgeous apparel,
+fearing no man, the poor rascal, whom everybody kicked at, rose superior
+to his own misfortunes. He had not made much of it in his own person,
+but that life was not altogether a failure which had produced Jack
+Wentworth. He obeyed his superior's call with instinctive fidelity,
+proud, in spite of himself, to be living the same life and sharing the
+same perils. When he emerged into the moonlight, his shaggy countenance
+looked excited and haggard. Notwithstanding all his experiences, he was
+not of a constitution which could deny nature. He had inflicted every
+kind of torture upon his father while living; but, notwithstanding, the
+fact of the death affected him. His eyes looked wilder than usual, and
+his face older and more worn, and he looked round him with a kind of
+clandestine skulking instinct as he came out of the shadow into the
+light.
+
+This was the terrible conjunction which Miss Dora saw from her window.
+The anxious woman did not wait long enough to be aware that the Curate
+left the other two to such consultations as were inevitable between
+them, and went away very hastily to his own house, and to the work which
+still awaited him--"When the wicked man turneth away from the evil of
+his ways, and doeth that which is lawful and right." Mr Wentworth, when
+he came back to it, sat for about an hour over his text before he wrote
+a single syllable. His heart had been wrung that day by the sharpest
+pangs which can be inflicted upon a proud and generous spirit. He was
+disposed to be bitter against all the world--against the dull eyes that
+would not see, the dull ears that could shut themselves against all
+suggestions either of gratitude or justice. It appeared to him, on the
+whole, that the wicked man was every way the best off in this world,
+besides being wooed and besought to accept the blessings of the other.
+And the Curate was conscious of an irrepressible inclination to
+exterminate the human vermin who made the earth such an imbroglio of
+distress and misery; and was sore and wounded in his heart to feel how
+his own toils and honest purposes availed him nothing, and how all the
+interest and sympathy of bystanders went to the pretender. These
+sentiments naturally complicated his thoughts, and made composition
+difficult; not to say that they added a thrill of human feeling warmer
+than usual to the short and succinct sermon. It was not an emotional
+sermon, in the ordinary sense of the word; but it was so for Mr
+Wentworth, who carried to an extreme point the Anglican dislike for
+pulpit exaggeration in all forms. The Perpetual Curate was not a natural
+orator. He had very little of the eloquence which gave Mr Vincent so
+much success in the Dissenting connection during his short stay in
+Carlingford, which was a kind of popularity not much to the taste of the
+Churchman. But Mr Wentworth had a certain faculty of concentrating his
+thoughts into the tersest expression, and of uttering in a very few
+words, as if they did not mean anything particular, ideas which were
+always individual, and often of distinct originality--a kind of
+utterance which is very dear to the English mind. As was natural, there
+were but a limited amount of people able to find him out; but those who
+did so were rather fond of talking about the "restrained power" of the
+Curate of St Roque's.
+
+Next morning was a glorious summer Sunday--one of those days of peace
+on which this tired old earth takes back her look of innocence, and
+deludes herself with thoughts of Eden. To be sure, there were tumults
+enough going on over her surface--vulgar merry-makings and noises,
+French drums beating, all kinds of discordant sounds going on here and
+there, by land and sea, under that tranquil impartial sun. But the air
+was very still in Carlingford, where you could hear the bees in the
+lime-blossoms as you went to church in the sunshine. All that world of
+soft air in which the embowered houses of Grange Lane lay beatified,
+was breathing sweet of the limes; but notwithstanding the radiance of
+the day, people were talking of other subjects as they came down under
+the shadow of the garden-walls to St Roque's. There was a great stream
+of people--greater than usual; for Carlingford was naturally anxious
+to see how Mr Wentworth would conduct himself in such an emergency. On
+one side of the way Mr Wodehouse's hospitable house, shut up closely,
+and turning all its shuttered windows to the light, which shone
+serenely indifferent upon the blank frames, stood silent, dumbly
+contributing its great moral to the human holiday; and on the other,
+Elsworthy's closed shop, with the blinds drawn over the cheerful
+windows above, where little Rosa once amused herself watching the
+passengers, interposed a still more dreadful discordance. The
+Carlingford people talked of both occurrences with composure as they
+went to St Roque's. They were sorry, and shocked, and very curious;
+but that wonderful moral atmosphere of human indifference and
+self-regard which surrounds every individual soul, kept their feelings
+quite within bounds. Most people wondered much what Mr Wentworth
+would say; whether he would really venture to face the Carlingford
+world; whether he would take refuge in a funeral sermon for Mr
+Wodehouse; or how it was possible for him to conduct himself under
+such circumstances. When the greater part of the congregation was
+seated, Miss Leonora Wentworth, all by herself, in her iron-grey silk,
+which rustled like a breeze along the narrow passage, although she
+wore no crinoline, went up to a seat immediately in front, close to Mr
+Wentworth's choristers, who just then came trooping in in their white
+surplices, looking like angels of unequal height and equivocal
+reputation. Miss Leonora placed herself in the front row of a little
+group of benches arranged at the side, just where the Curate's wife
+would have been placed, had he possessed such an appendage. She looked
+down blandly upon the many lines of faces turned towards her,
+accepting their inspection with perfect composure. Though her
+principles were Evangelical, Miss Leonora was still a Wentworth, and a
+woman. She had not shown any sympathy for her nephew on the previous
+night; but she had made up her mind to stand by him, without saying
+anything about her determination. This incident made a great
+impression on the mind of Carlingford. Most likely it interfered with
+the private devotions, from which a few heads popped up abruptly as
+she passed; but she was very devout and exemplary in her own person,
+and set a good example, as became the clergyman's aunt.
+
+Excitement rose very high in St Roque's when Mr Wentworth came into the
+reading-desk, and Elsworthy, black as a cloud, became visible
+underneath. The clerk had not ventured to absent himself, nor to send a
+substitute in his place. Never, in the days when he was most devoted to
+Mr Wentworth, had Elsworthy been more determined to accompany him
+through every particular of the service. They had stood together in the
+little vestry, going through all the usual preliminaries, the Curate
+trying hard to talk as if nothing had happened, the clerk going through
+all his duties in total silence. Perhaps there never was a church
+service in Carlingford which was followed with such intense interest by
+all the eyes and ears of the congregation. When the sermon came, it took
+Mr Wentworth's admirers by surprise, though they could not at the moment
+make out what it was that puzzled them. Somehow the perverse manner in
+which for once the Curate treated that wicked man who is generally made
+so much of in sermons, made his hearers slightly ashamed of themselves.
+As for Miss Leonora, though she could not approve of his sentiments, the
+thought occurred to her that Frank was not nearly so like his mother's
+family as she had supposed him to be. When the service was over, she
+kept her place, steadily watching all the worshippers out, who thronged
+out a great deal more hastily than usual to compare notes, and ask each
+other what they thought. "I can't fancy he looks guilty," an eager voice
+here and there kept saying over and over. But on the whole, after they
+had got over the momentary impression made by his presence and aspect,
+the opinion of Carlingford remained unchanged; which was--that,
+notwithstanding all the evidence of his previous life, it was quite
+believable that Mr Wentworth was a seducer and a villain, and ought to
+be brought to condign punishment; but that in the mean time it was very
+interesting to watch the progress of this startling little drama; and
+that he himself, instead of merely being the Curate of St Roque's, had
+become a most captivating enigma, and had made church-going itself half
+as good as a play.
+
+As for Miss Leonora, she waited for her nephew, and, when he was ready,
+took his arm and walked with him up Grange Lane to her own door, where
+they encountered Miss Wentworth and Miss Dora returning from church, and
+overwhelmed them with astonishment. But it was not about his own affairs
+that they talked. Miss Leonora did not say a word to her nephew about
+himself. She was talking of Gerald most of the time, and inquiring into
+all the particulars of the Squire's late "attack." And she would very
+fain have found out what Jack's motive was in coming to Carlingford; but
+as for Rosa Elsworthy and her concerns, the strong-minded woman ignored
+them completely. Mr Wentworth even went with her to lunch, on her urgent
+invitation; and it was from his aunts' house that he took his way to
+Wharfside, pausing at the green door to ask after the Miss Wodehouses,
+who were, John said, with solemnity, as well as could be expected. They
+were alone, and they did not feel equal to seeing anybody--even Mr
+Wentworth; and the Perpetual Curate, who would have given all he had in
+the world for permission to soothe Lucy in her sorrow, went away sadly
+from the hospitable door, which was now for the first time closed to
+him. He could not go to Wharfside, to the "district" through which they
+had so often gone together, about which they had talked, when all the
+little details discussed were sweet with the love which they did not
+name, without going deeper and deeper into that sweet shadow of Lucy
+which was upon his way wherever he went. He could not help missing her
+voice when the little choir, which was so feeble without her, sang the
+'Magnificat,' which, somehow, Mr Wentworth always associated with her
+image. He read the same sermon to the Wharfside people which he had
+preached in St Roque's, and saw, with a little surprise, that it drew
+tears from the eyes of his more open-hearted hearers, who did not think
+of the proprieties. He could see their hands stealing up to their faces,
+and a great deal of persistent winking on the part of the stronger
+members of the congregation. At the close of the service Tom Burrows
+came up to the Curate with a downcast countenance. "Please, sir, if I've
+done ye injustice in my own mind, as went sore against the grain, and
+wouldn't have happened but for the women, I axes your pardon," said the
+honest bargeman, which was balm and consolation to Mr Wentworth. There
+was much talk in Prickett's Lane on the subject as he went to see the
+sick woman in No. 10. "There aint no doubt as he sets our duty before
+us clear," said one family mother; "he don't leave the men no excuse for
+their goings-on. He all but named the Bargeman's Arms out plain, as it
+was the place all mischief comes from." "If he'd have married Miss Lucy,
+like other folks, at Easter," said one of the brides whom Mr Wentworth
+had blessed, "such wicked stories couldn't never have been made up." "A
+story may be made up, or it mayn't be made up," said a more experienced
+matron; "but it can't be put out of the world unbeknowst no more nor a
+babby. I don't believe in stories getting up that aint true. I don't say
+as he don't do his duty; but things was different in Mr Bury's time, as
+was the real Rector; and, as I was a-saying, a tale's like a babby--it
+may come when it didn't ought to come, or when it aint wanted, but you
+can't do away with it, anyhow as you like to try." Mr Wentworth did not
+hear this dreary prediction as he went back again into the upper world.
+He was in much better spirits, on the whole. He had calmed his own mind
+and moved the hearts of others, which is to every man a gratification,
+even though nothing higher should be involved. And he had regained the
+moral countenance of Tom Burrows, which most of all was a comfort to
+him. More than ever he longed to go and tell Lucy as he passed by the
+green door. Tom Burrows's repentant face recalled Mr Wentworth's mind to
+the fact that a great work was doing in Wharfside, which, after all, was
+more worth thinking of than any tantalising vision of an impossible
+benefice. But this very thought, so consoling in itself, reminded him of
+all his vexations, of the public inquiry into his conduct which was
+hanging over him, and of his want of power to offer to Lucy the support
+and protection of which she might so soon stand in need; and having thus
+drawn upon his head once more his whole burden of troubles, Mr Wentworth
+went in to eat his dinner with what appetite he could.
+
+The Perpetual Curate sat up late that night, as indeed was his
+custom. He sat late, hearing, as everybody does who sits up alone in a
+hushed and sleeping household, a hundred fantastic creaks and sounds
+which did not mean anything, and of which he took no notice. Once,
+indeed, when it was nearly midnight, he fancied he heard the
+garden-gate close hurriedly, but explained it to himself as people do
+when they prefer not to give themselves trouble. About one o'clock in
+the morning, however, Mr Wentworth could no longer be in any doubt
+that some stealthy step was passing his door and moving about the
+house. He was not alarmed, for Mrs Hadwin had occasional "attacks,"
+like most people of her age; but he put down his pen and listened. No
+other sound was to be heard except this stealthy step, no opening of
+doors, nor whisper of voices, nor commotion of any kind; and after a
+while Mr Wentworth's curiosity was fully awakened. When he heard it
+again, he opened his door suddenly, and threw a light upon the
+staircase and little corridor into which his room opened. The figure
+he saw there startled him more than if it had been a midnight robber.
+It was only Sarah, the housemaid, white and shivering with terror, who
+fell down upon her knees before him. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, it aint my
+fault!" cried Sarah. The poor girl was only partially dressed, and
+trembled pitifully. "They'll say it was my fault; and oh, sir, it's my
+character I'm a-thinking of," said Sarah, with a sob; and the Curate
+saw behind her the door of Wodehouse's room standing open, and the
+moonlight streaming into the empty apartment. "I daren't go
+down-stairs to see if he's took anything," cried poor Sarah, under her
+breath; "there might be more of them about the place. But oh, Mr
+Wentworth, if Missis finds out as I gave him the key, what will become
+of me?" Naturally, it was her own danger which had most effect upon
+Sarah. Her full, good-humoured face was all wet and stained with
+crying, her lips quivering, her eyes dilated. Perhaps a thrill of
+private disappointment mingled with her dread of losing her character.
+"He used to tell me all as he was a-going to do," said Sarah; "but,
+oh, sir, he's been and gone away, and I daren't go down-stairs to look
+at the plate, and I'll never more sleep in quiet, if I was to live a
+century. It aint as I care for _him_, but it's the key and my
+character as I'm a-thinking of," cried the poor girl, bursting into
+audible sobs that could be restrained no longer. Mr Wentworth took a
+candle and went into Wodehouse's empty room, leaving her to recover
+her composure. Everything was cleared and packed up in that apartment.
+The little personal property he had, the shabby boots and worn
+habiliments, had disappeared totally; even the rubbish of wood-carving
+on his table was cleared away. Not a trace that he had been there a
+few hours ago remained in the place. The Curate came out of the room
+with an anxious countenance, not knowing what to make of it. And by
+this time Sarah's sobs had roused Mrs Hadwin, who stood, severe and
+indignant, at her own door in her nightcap, to know what was the
+matter. Mr Wentworth retired into his own apartments after a word of
+explanation, leaving the mistress and maid to fight it out. He himself
+was more disturbed and excited than he could have described. He could
+not tell what this new step meant, but felt instinctively that it
+denoted some new development in the tangled web of his own fortunes.
+Some hidden danger seemed to him to be gathering in the air over the
+house of mourning, of which he had constituted himself a kind of
+guardian. He could not sleep all night, but kept starting at every
+sound, thinking now that the skulking rascal, who was Lucy's brother,
+was coming back, and now that his departure was only a dream. Mr
+Wentworth's restlessness was not soothed by hearing all the night
+through, in the silence of the house, suppressed sobs and sounds of
+weeping proceeding from the attic overhead, which poor Sarah shared
+with her fellow-servant. Perhaps the civilities of "the gentleman" had
+dazzled Sarah, and been too much for her peace of mind; perhaps it was
+only her character, as the poor girl said. But as often as the Curate
+started from his uneasy and broken snatches of sleep, he heard the
+murmur of crying and consoling up-stairs. Outside the night was
+spreading forth those sweetest unseen glories of the starlight and the
+moonlight and the silence, which Nature reserves for her own
+enjoyment, when the weary human creatures are out of the way and at
+rest;--and Jack Wentworth slept the sleep of the righteous, uttering
+delicate little indications of the depth of his slumber, which it
+would have been profane to call by any vulgar name. _He_ slept sweetly
+while his brother watched and longed for daylight, impatient for the
+morrow which must bring forth something new. The moonlight streamed
+full into the empty room, and made mysterious combinations of the
+furniture, and chased the darkness into corners which each held their
+secret. This was how Mrs Hadwin's strange lodger, whom nobody could
+ever make out, disappeared as suddenly as he had come, without any
+explanations; and only a very few people could ever come to understand
+what he had to do with the after-events which struck Grange Lane dumb,
+and turned into utter confusion all the ideas and conclusions of
+society in Carlingford.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+
+"I will do what I can for you," said Mr Morgan; "yours is a very hard
+case, as you say. Of course it would not do for me to give any
+opinion--but such a thing shall not occur in Carlingford, while I am
+here, without being looked into," said the Rector, with dignity; "of
+that you may be sure."
+
+"I don't want no more nor justice," said Elsworthy--"no more nor
+justice. I'm a man as has always been respected, and never interfered
+with nobody as didn't interfere with me. The things I've stood from
+my clergyman, I wouldn't have stood from no man living. The way as
+he'd talk, sir, of them as was a deal better than himself! We was a
+happy family afore Mr Wentworth came nigh of us. Most folks in
+Carlingford knows me. There wasn't a more industrious family in
+Carlingford, though I say it as shouldn't, nor one as was more
+content, or took things more agreeable, afore Mr Wentworth come to put
+all wrong."
+
+"Mr Wentworth has been here for five years," said the Rector's wife,
+who was present at this interview; "have things been going wrong for
+all that time?"
+
+"I couldn't describe to nobody what I've put up with," said the clerk
+of St Roque's, evading the question. "He hadn't the ways of such
+clergymen as I've been used to. Twice the pay wouldn't have made up
+for what I've suffered in my feelings; and I ask you, sir, is this how
+it's all to end? My little girl's gone," cried Elsworthy, rising into
+hoarse earnestness--"my little girl as was so sweet, and as everybody
+took notice on. She's gone, and I don't know as I'll ever see her
+again; and I can't get no satisfaction one way or another; and I ask
+you, sir, is a villain as could do such a thing to hold up his head in
+the town, and go on the same as ever? I aint a man as is contrairy, or
+as goes agin' my superiors; but it's driving me mad, that's what it's
+doing," said Elsworthy, wiping the moisture from his forehead. The man
+was trembling and haggard, changed even in his looks--his eyes were
+red with passion and watching, and looked like the eyes of a wild
+beast lying in wait for its prey. "I can't say as I've ever slept an
+hour since it happened," he cried; "and as for my missis, it's
+a-killing of her. We aint shut up, because we've got to live all the
+same; and because, if the poor thing come back, there's always an open
+door. But I'll have justice, if I was to die for it!" cried Elsworthy.
+"I don't ask no more than justice. If it aint to be had one way, I'll
+have it another. I'll set the police on him--I will. When a man's
+drove wild, he aint answerable for what he's a-doing; and to see him
+a-walking about Carlingford, and a-holding up his head, is a thing as
+I won't stand no longer, not if it was to be my ruin. I'm as good as
+ruined now, and I don't care." He broke off short with these words,
+and sat down abruptly on the chair Thomas had placed for him in front
+of the Rector's table. Up to this moment he had been standing, in his
+vehemence and agitation, without taking advantage of the courtesy
+accorded to his misfortune; now the poor man sat down by way of
+emphasis, and began to polish his hat round and round with his
+trembling hands.
+
+As for Mr Morgan, he, on the contrary, got up and walked instinctively
+to the fireplace, and stood there with his back to the empty grate,
+contemplating the world in general with a troubled countenance, as was
+usual. Not to speak of his prejudice against Mr Wentworth, the Rector
+was moved by the sight of Elsworthy's distress; but then his wife, who
+unluckily had brought her needlework into the library on this particular
+morning, and who was in the interest of the Curate of St Roque's, was
+seated watchful by the window, occasionally looking up, and entirely
+cognisant, as Mr Morgan was aware, of everything that happened. The
+Rector was much embarrassed to feel himself thus standing between the
+two parties. "Yours is a very hard case--but it is necessary to proceed
+with caution, for, after all, there is not much proof," he said,
+faltering a little. "My dear, it is a pity to detain you from your
+walk," Mr Morgan continued, after a momentary pause, and looked with a
+flush of consciousness at his wife, whose absence would have been such a
+relief to him. Mrs Morgan looked up with a gracious smile.
+
+"You are not detaining me, William--I am very much interested," said
+the designing woman, and immediately began to arrange and put in order
+what the Rector knew by experience to be a long piece of work, likely
+to last her an hour at least. Mr Morgan uttered a long breath, which
+sounded like a little snort of despair.
+
+"It is very difficult to know what to do," said the Rector, shifting
+uneasily upon the hearthrug, and plunging his hands into the depths of
+his pockets. "If you could name anybody you would like to refer it
+to--but being a brother clergyman--"
+
+"A man as conducts himself like that, didn't ought to be a clergyman,
+sir," cried Elsworthy. "I'm one as listened to him preaching on Sunday,
+and could have jumped up and dragged him out of the pulpit, to hear him
+a-discoursing as if he wasn't a bigger sinner nor any there. I aint safe
+to stand it another Sunday. I'd do something as I should be sorry for
+after. I'm asking justice, and no more." With these words Elsworthy got
+up again, still turning round in his hands the unlucky hat, and turned
+his person, though not his eyes, towards Mrs Morgan. "No man could be
+more partial to his clergyman nor I was," he said hoarsely. "There was
+never a time as I wasn't glad to see him. He came in and out as if it
+belonged to him, and I had no more thought as he was meaning any harm
+than the babe unborn; but a man as meddles with an innocent girl aint
+nothing but a black-hearted villain!" cried Elsworthy, with a gleam out
+of his red eyes; "and I don't believe as anybody would take his part as
+knew all. I put my confidence in the Rector, as is responsible for the
+parish," he went on, facing round again: "not to say but what it's
+natural for them as are Mr Wentworth's friends to take his part--but
+I'll have justice, wherever it comes from. It's hard work to go again'
+any lady as I've a great respect for, and wouldn't cross for the world;
+but it aint in reason that I should be asked to bear it and not say
+nothing; and I'll have justice, if I should die for it," said Elsworthy.
+He turned from one to another as he spoke, but kept his eyes upon his
+hat, which he smoothed and smoothed as if his life depended on it. But
+for the reality of his excitement, his red eyes, and hoarse voice, he
+would have been a ludicrous figure, standing as he did in the middle of
+Mr Morgan's library, veering round, first to one side and then to the
+other, with his stooping head and ungainly person. As for the Rector, he
+too kept looking at his wife with a very troubled face.
+
+"It is difficult for me to act against a brother clergyman," said Mr
+Morgan; "but I am very sorry for you, Elsworthy--very sorry; if you
+could name, say, half-a-dozen gentlemen--"
+
+"But don't you think," said the Rector's wife, interposing, "that you
+should inquire first whether there is any evidence? It would make you
+all look very ridiculous if you got up an inquiry and found no proof
+against Mr Wentworth. Is it likely he would do such a thing all at
+once without showing any signs of wickedness beforehand--is it
+possible? To be sorry is quite a different thing, but I don't see--"
+
+"Ladies don't understand such matters," said the Rector, who had been
+kept at bay so long that he began to get desperate. "I beg your
+pardon, my dear, but it is not a matter for you to discuss. We shall
+take good care that there is plenty of evidence," said the perplexed
+man--"I mean, before we proceed to do anything," he added, growing
+very red and confused. When Mr Morgan caught his wife's eye, he got as
+nearly into a passion as was possible for so good a man. "You know
+what I mean," he said, in his peremptory way; "and, my dear, you will
+forgive me for saying this is not a matter to be discussed before a
+lady." When he had uttered this bold speech, the Rector took a few
+little walks up and down the room, not caring, however, to look at his
+wife. He was ashamed of the feeling he had that her absence would set
+him much more at ease with Elsworthy, but still could not help being
+conscious that it was so. He did not say anything more, but he walked
+up and down the room with sharp short steps, and betrayed his
+impatience very manifestly. As for Mrs Morgan, who was a sensible
+woman, she saw that the time had come for her to retire from the
+field.
+
+"I think the first thing to be done is to try every possible means of
+finding the girl," she said, getting up from her seat; "but I have no
+doubt what you decide upon will be the best. You will find me in the
+drawing-room when you want me, William." Perhaps her absence for the
+first moment was not such a relief to her husband as he had expected.
+The mildness of her parting words made it very apparent that she did
+not mean to take offence; and he perceived suddenly, at a glance, that
+he would have to tell her all he was going to do, and encounter her
+criticism single-handed, which was rather an appalling prospect to the
+Rector. Mrs Morgan, for her part, went up-stairs not without a little
+vexation, certainly, but with a comforting sense of the opportunity
+which awaited her. She felt that, in his unprotected position, as soon
+as she left him, the Rector would conduct himself rashly, and that her
+time was still to come.
+
+The Rector went back to the hearthrug when his wife left the room, but
+in the heat of his own personal reflections he did not say anything to
+Elsworthy, who still stood smoothing his hat in his hand. On the
+whole, Mr Morgan was rather aggravated for the moment by the unlucky
+cause of this little encounter, and was not half so well disposed
+towards Mr Wentworth's enemy as half an hour before, when he
+recognised his wife as the champion of the Curate, and felt controlled
+by her presence; for the human and even the clerical mind has its
+impulses of perversity. He began to get very impatient of Elsworthy's
+hat, and the persistent way in which he worked at it with his hands.
+
+"I suppose you would not be so certain about it if you had not
+satisfactory evidence?" he said, turning abruptly, and even a little
+angrily, upon the supplicant; for Mr Morgan naturally resented his own
+temper and the little semi-quarrel he had got into upon the third
+person who was the cause of all.
+
+"Sir," said Elsworthy, with eagerness, "it aint no wonder to me as the
+lady takes Mr Wentworth's part. A poor man don't stand no chance
+against a young gentleman as has had every advantage. It's a thing as
+I'm prepared for, and it don't have no effect upon me. A lady as is so
+respected and thought a deal of both in town and country--"
+
+"I was not speaking of my wife," said the Rector, hastily, "don't you
+think you had better put down your hat? I think you said it was on
+Friday it occurred. It will be necessary to take down the facts in a
+business-like way," said Mr Morgan, drawing his chair towards the table
+and taking up his pen. This was how the Rector was occupied when Thomas
+announced the most unexpected of all possible visitors, Mr Proctor, who
+had been Mr Morgan's predecessor in Carlingford. Thomas announced his
+old master with great solemnity as "the late Rector"--a title which
+struck the present incumbent with a sense of awe not unnatural in the
+circumstances. He jumped up from his chair and let his pen fall out of
+his startled fingers when his old friend came in. They had eaten many a
+good dinner together in the revered hall of All-Souls, and as the
+familiar countenance met his eyes, perhaps a regretful thought of that
+Elysium stole across the mind of the late Fellow, who had been so glad
+to leave the sacred brotherhood, and marry, and become as other men. He
+gave but a few hurried words of surprise and welcome to his visitor, and
+then, with a curious counterpoise of sentiment, sent him up-stairs to
+see "my wife," feeling, even while half envious of him, a kind of
+superiority and half contempt for the man who was not a Rector and
+married, but had given up both these possibilities. When he sent him
+up-stairs to see "my wife," Mr Morgan looked after the elderly celibate
+with a certain pity. One always feels more inclined to take the simple
+view of any matter--to stand up for injured innocence, and to right the
+wronged--when one feels one's self better off than one's neighbours. A
+reverse position is apt to detract from the simplicity of one's
+conceptions, and to suggest two sides to the picture. When Mr Proctor
+was gone, the Rector addressed himself with great devotion to Elsworthy
+and his evidence. It could not be doubted, at least, that the man was
+in earnest, and believed what he said; and things unquestionably looked
+rather ugly for Mr Wentworth. Mr Morgan took down all about the Curate's
+untimely visit to Elsworthy on the night when he took Rosa home; and
+when he came to the evidence of the Miss Hemmings, who had seen the
+Curate talking to the unfortunate little girl at his own door the last
+time she was seen in Carlingford, the Rector shook his head with a
+prolonged movement, half of satisfaction, half of regret; for, to be
+sure, he had made up his mind beforehand who the culprit was, and it was
+to a certain extent satisfactory to have his opinion confirmed.
+
+"This looks very bad, very bad, I am sorry to say," said Mr Morgan;
+"for the unhappy young man's own sake, an investigation is absolutely
+necessary. As for you, Elsworthy, everybody must be sorry for you.
+Have you no idea where he could have taken the poor girl?--that is,"
+said the uncautious Rector, "supposing that he is guilty--of which I
+am afraid there does not seem much doubt."
+
+"There aint no doubt," said Elsworthy; "there aint nobody else as
+could have done it. Just afore my little girl was took away, sir, Mr
+Wentworth went off of a sudden, and it was said as he was a-going home
+to the Hall. I was a-thinking of sending a letter anonymous, to ask if
+it was known what he was after. I read in the papers the other day as
+his brother was a-going over to Rome. There don't seem to be none o'
+them the right sort; which it's terrible for two clergymen. I was
+thinking of dropping a bit of a note anonymous--"
+
+"No--no--no," said the Rector, "that would never do; nothing of that
+sort, Elsworthy. If you thought it likely she was there, the proper
+thing would be to go and inquire; nothing anonymous--no, no; that is a
+thing I could not possibly countenance," said Mr Morgan. He pushed
+away his pen and paper, and got very red and uncomfortable. If either
+of the critics up-stairs, his wife, or his predecessor in the Rectory,
+could but know that he was having an anonymous letter suggested to
+him--that anybody ventured to think him capable of being an accomplice
+in such proceedings! The presence of these two in the house, though
+they were most probably at the moment engaged in the calmest abstract
+conversation, and totally unaware of what was going on in the library,
+had a great effect upon the Rector. He felt insulted that any man
+could venture to confide such an intention to him almost within the
+hearing of his wife. "If I am to take up your case, everything must be
+open and straightforward," said Mr Morgan; while Elsworthy, who saw
+that he had said something amiss, without precisely understanding
+what, took up his hat as a resource, and once more began to polish it
+round and round in his hands.
+
+"I didn't mean no harm, sir, I'm sure," he said; "I don't seem to see
+no other way o' finding out; for I aint like a rich man as can go and
+come as he pleases; but I won't say no more, since it's displeasing to
+you. If you'd give me the list of names, sir, as you have decided on
+to be the committee, I wouldn't trouble you no longer, seeing as
+you've got visitors. Perhaps, if the late Rector aint going away
+directly, he would take it kind to be put on the committee; and he's a
+gentleman as I've a great respect for, though he wasn't not to say the
+man for Carlingford," said Elsworthy, with a sidelong look. He began
+to feel the importance of his own position as the originator of a
+committee, and at the head of the most exciting movement which had
+been for a long time in Carlingford, and could not help being
+sensible, notwithstanding his affliction, that he had a distinction to
+offer which even the late Rector might be pleased to accept.
+
+"I don't think Mr Proctor will stay," said Mr Morgan; "and if he does
+stay, I believe he is a friend of Mr Wentworth's." It was only after
+he had said this that the Rector perceived the meaning of the words he
+had uttered; then, in his confusion and vexation, he got up hastily
+from the table, and upset the inkstand in all the embarrassment of
+the moment. "Of course that is all the greater reason for having his
+assistance," said Mr Morgan, in his perplexity; "we are all friends of
+Mr Wentworth. Will you have the goodness to ring the bell? There are
+few things more painful than to take steps against a brother
+clergyman, if one did not hope it would be for his benefit in the
+end. Oh, never mind the table. Be so good as to ring the bell
+again--louder, please."
+
+"There aint nothing equal to blotting-paper, sir," said Elsworthy,
+eagerly. "With a bit o' blotting-paper I'd undertake to rub out
+ink-stains out o' the finest carpet--if you'll permit me. It aint but a
+small speck, and it'll be gone afore you could look round. It's twenty
+times better nor lemon-juice, or them poisonous salts as you're always
+nervous of leaving about. Look you here, sir, if it aint a-sopping up
+beautiful. There aint no harm done as your respected lady could be put
+out about; and I'll take the list with me, if you please, to show to my
+wife, as is a-breaking her heart at home, and can't believe as we'll
+ever get justice. She says as how the quality always takes a gentleman's
+part against us poor folks, but that aint been my experience. Don't you
+touch the carpet, Thomas--there aint a speck to be seen when the
+blotting-paper's cleared away. I'll go home, not to detain you no more,
+sir, and cheer up the poor heart as is a-breaking," said Elsworthy,
+getting up from his knees where he had been operating upon the carpet.
+He had got in his hand the list of names which Mr Morgan had put down as
+referees in this painful business, and it dawned faintly upon the Rector
+for the moment that he himself was taking rather an undignified position
+as Elsworthy's partisan.
+
+"I have no objection to your showing it to your wife," said Mr Morgan;
+"but I shall be much displeased if I hear any talk about it, Elsworthy;
+and I hope it is not revenge you are thinking of, which is a very
+unchristian sentiment," said the Rector, severely, "and not likely to
+afford comfort either to her or to you."
+
+"No, sir, nothing but justice," said Elsworthy, hoarsely, as he backed
+out of the room. Notwithstanding this statement, it was with very
+unsatisfactory sensations that Mr Morgan went up-stairs. He felt somehow
+as if the justice which Elsworthy demanded, and which he himself had
+solemnly declared to be pursuing the Curate of St Roque's, was
+wonderfully like revenge. "All punishment must be more or less
+vindictive," he said to himself as he went up-stairs; but that fact did
+not make him more comfortable as he went into his wife's drawing-room,
+where he felt more like a conspirator and assassin than an English
+Rector in broad daylight, without a mystery near him, had any right to
+feel. This sensation confused Mr Morgan much, and made him more
+peremptory in his manner than ever. As for Mr Proctor, who was only a
+spectator, and felt himself on a certain critical eminence, the
+suggestion that occurred to his mind was, that he had come in at the end
+of a quarrel, and that the conjugal firmament was still in a state of
+disturbance: which idea acted upon some private projects in the hidden
+mind of the Fellow of All-Souls, and produced a state of feeling little
+more satisfactory than that of the Rector of Carlingford.
+
+"I hope Mr Proctor is going to stay with us for a day or two," said Mrs
+Morgan. "I was just saying it must look like coming home to come to the
+house he used to live in, and which was even furnished to his own
+taste," said the Rector's wife, shooting a little arrow at the late
+Rector, of which that good man was serenely unconscious. All this time,
+while they had been talking, Mrs Morgan had scarcely been able to keep
+from asking who could possibly have suggested such a carpet. Mr
+Proctor's chair was placed on the top of one of the big bouquets, which
+expanded its large foliage round him with more than Eastern
+prodigality--but he was so little conscious of any culpability of his
+own in the matter, that he had referred his indignant hostess to one of
+the leaves as an illustration of the kind of diaper introduced into the
+new window which had lately been put up in the chapel of All-Souls. "A
+naturalistic treatment, you know," said Mr Proctor, with the utmost
+serenity; "and some people objected to it," added the unsuspicious man.
+
+"I should have objected very strongly," said Mrs Morgan, with a little
+flush. "If you call that naturalistic treatment, I consider it
+perfectly out of place in decoration--of every kind--" Mr Proctor
+happened to be looking at her at the moment, and it suddenly occurred
+to him that Miss Wodehouse never got red in that uncomfortable way,
+which was the only conclusion he drew from the circumstance, having
+long ago forgotten that any connection had ever existed between
+himself and the carpet on the drawing-room in Carlingford Rectory. He
+addressed his next observation to Mr Morgan, who had just come in.
+
+"I saw Mr Wodehouse's death in the 'Times,'" said Mr Proctor, "and I
+thought the poor young ladies might feel--at least they might think it
+a respect--or, at all events, it would be a satisfaction to one's
+self," said the late Rector, who had got into a mire of explanation.
+"Though he was far from being a young man, yet having a young daughter
+like Miss Lucy--"
+
+"Poor Lucy!" said Mr Morgan. "I hope that wretched fellow, young
+Wentworth"--and here the Rector came to a dead stop, and felt that he
+had brought the subject most to be avoided head and shoulders into the
+conversation, as was natural to an embarrassed man. The consequence
+was that he got angry, as might have been expected. "My dear, you must
+not look at me as you do. I have just been hearing all the evidence.
+No unbiassed mind could possibly come to any other decision," said Mr
+Morgan, with exasperation. Now that he had committed himself, he
+thought it was much the best thing to go in for it wholly, without
+half measures, which was certainly the most straightforward way.
+
+"What has happened to Wentworth?" said Mr Proctor. "He is a young man
+for whom I have a great regard. Though he is so much younger than I
+am, he taught me some lessons while I was in Carlingford which I shall
+never forget. If he is in any trouble that I can help him in, I shall
+be very glad to do it, both for his sake and for--" Mr Proctor slurred
+over the end of his sentence a little, and the others were occupied
+with their own difficulties, and did not take very much notice--for it
+was difficult to state fully the nature and extent of Mr Wentworth's
+enormities after such a declaration of friendship. "I met him on my
+way here," said the Fellow of All-Souls, "not looking quite as he used
+to do. I supposed it might be Mr Wodehouse's death, perhaps." All Mr
+Proctor's thoughts ran in that channel of Mr Wodehouse's death, which,
+after all, though sad enough, was not so great an event to the
+community in general as the late Rector seemed to suppose.
+
+It was Mrs Morgan at length who took heart to explain to Mr Proctor
+the real state of affairs. "He has been a very good clergyman for five
+years," said Mrs Morgan; "he might behave foolishly, you know, about
+Wharfside, but then that was not his fault so much as the fault of the
+Rector's predecessors. I am sure I beg your pardon, Mr Proctor--I did
+not mean that you were to blame," said the Rector's wife; "but,
+notwithstanding all the work he has done, and the consistent life he
+has led, there is nobody in Carlingford who is not quite ready to
+believe that he has run away with Rosa Elsworthy--a common little girl
+without any education, or a single idea in her head. I suppose she is
+what you would call pretty," said the indignant woman. "Everybody is
+just as ready to believe that he is guilty as if he were a stranger or
+a bad character." Mrs Morgan stopped in an abrupt manner, because her
+quick eyes perceived a glance exchanged between the two gentlemen. Mr
+Proctor had seen a good deal of the world in his day, as he was fond
+of saying now and then to his intimate friends: and he had learned at
+the university and other places that a girl who is "what you would
+call pretty," counts for a great deal in the history of a young man,
+whether she has any ideas in her head or not. He did not, any more
+than the people of Carlingford, pronounce at once on _a priori_
+evidence that Mr Wentworth must be innocent. The Curate's "consistent
+life" did not go for much in the opinion of the middle-aged Fellow of
+All-Souls, any more than of the less dignified populace. He said,
+"Dear me, dear me!" in a most perplexed and distressed tone, while Mrs
+Morgan kept looking at him; and looked very much as if he were tempted
+to break forth into lamentations over human nature, as Mr Morgan
+himself had done.
+
+"I wonder what the Miss Wodehouses think of it," he said at last. "One
+would do a great deal to keep them from hearing such a thing; but I
+wonder how they are feeling about it," said Mr Proctor--and clearly
+declined to discuss the matter with Mrs Morgan, who was counsel for
+the defence. When the Rector's wife went to her own room to dress for
+dinner, it is very true that she had a good cry over her cup of tea.
+She was not only disappointed, but exasperated, in that impatient
+feminine nature of hers. Perhaps if she had been less sensitive, she
+would have had less of that redness in her face which was so great a
+trouble to Mrs Morgan. These two slow middle-aged men, without any
+intuitions, who were coming lumbering after her through all kind of
+muddles of evidence and argument, exasperated the more rapid woman. To
+be sure, they understood Greek plays a great deal better than she did;
+but she was penetrated with the liveliest impatience of their dulness
+all the same. Mrs Morgan, however, like most people who are in advance
+of their age, felt her utter impotence against that blank wall of dull
+resistance. She could not make them see into the heart of things as
+she did. She had to wait until they had attacked the question in the
+orthodox way of siege, and made gradual entrance by dint of hard
+labour. All she could do to console herself was, to shed certain hot
+tears of indignation and annoyance over her tea, which, however, was
+excellent tea, and did her good. Perhaps it was to show her sense of
+superiority, and that she did not feel herself vanquished, that, after
+that, she put on her new dress, which was very much too nice to be
+wasted upon Mr Proctor. As for Mr Leeson, who came in as usual just in
+time for dinner, having heard of Mr Proctor's arrival, she treated him
+with a blandness which alarmed the Curate. "I quite expected you, for
+we have the All-Souls pudding to-day," said the Rector's wife, and she
+smiled a smile which would have struck awe into the soul of any curate
+that ever was known in Carlingford.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+
+It was the afternoon of the same day on which Mr Proctor arrived in
+Carlingford that Mr Wentworth received the little note from Miss
+Wodehouse which was so great a consolation to the Perpetual Curate. By
+that time he had begun to experience humiliations more hard to bear than
+anything he had yet known. He had received constrained greetings from
+several of his most cordial friends; his people in the district, all but
+Tom Burrows, looked askance upon him; and Dr Marjoribanks, who had never
+taken kindly to the young Anglican, had met him with satirical remarks
+in his dry Scotch fashion, which were intolerable to the Curate. In
+these circumstances, it was balm to his soul to have his sympathy once
+more appealed to, and by those who were nearest to his heart. The next
+day was that appointed for Mr Wodehouse's funeral, to which Mr Wentworth
+had been looking forward with a little excitement--wondering, with
+indignant misery, whether the covert insults he was getting used to
+would be repeated even over his old friend's grave. It was while this
+was in his mind that he received Miss Wodehouse's little note. It was
+very hurriedly written, on the terrible black-edged paper which, to such
+a simple soul as Miss Wodehouse, it was a kind of comfort to use in the
+moment of calamity. "Dear Mr Wentworth," it said, "I am in great
+difficulty, and don't know what to do: come, I beg of you, and tell me
+what is best. My dear Lucy insists upon going to-morrow, and I can't
+cross her when her heart is breaking, and I don't know what to do.
+Please to come, if it were only for a moment. Dear, dear papa, and all
+of us, have always had such confidence in you!" Mr Wentworth was seated,
+very disconsolate, in his study when this appeal came to him: he was
+rather sick of the world and most things in it; a sense of wrong
+eclipsed the sunshine for the moment, and obscured the skies; but it was
+comforting to be appealed to--to have his assistance and his protection
+sought once more. He took his hat immediately and went up the sunny
+road, on which there was scarcely a passenger visible, to the closed-up
+house, which stood so gloomy and irresponsive in the sunshine. Mr
+Wodehouse had not been a man likely to attract any profound love in his
+lifetime, or sense of loss when he was gone; but yet it was possible to
+think, with the kindly, half-conscious delusion of nature, that had _he_
+been living, he would have known better; and the Curate went into the
+darkened drawing-room, where all the shutters were closed, except those
+of the little window in the corner, where Lucy's work-table stood, and
+where a little muffled sunshine stole in through the blind. Everything
+was in terribly good order in the room. The two sisters had been living
+in their own apartments, taking their forlorn meals in the little
+parlour which communicated with their sleeping chambers, during this
+week of darkness; and nobody had come into the drawing-room except the
+stealthy housemaid, who contemplated herself and her new mourning for an
+hour at a stretch in the great mirror without any interruption, while
+she made "tidy" the furniture which nobody now disturbed. Into this
+sombre apartment Miss Wodehouse came gliding, like a gentle ghost, in
+her black gown. She too, like John and the housemaid and everybody
+about, walked and talked under her breath. There was now no man in the
+house entitled to disturb those proprieties with which a female
+household naturally hedges round all the great incidents of life; and
+the affairs of the family were all carried on in a whisper, in
+accordance with the solemnity of the occasion--a circumstance which had
+naturally called the ghost of a smile to the Curate's countenance as he
+followed John up-stairs. Miss Wodehouse herself, though she was pale,
+and spent half her time, poor soul! in weeping, and had, besides, living
+encumbrances to trouble her helpless path, did not look amiss in her
+black gown. She came in gliding without any noise, but with a little
+expectation in her gentle countenance. She was one of the people whom
+experience never makes any wiser; and she could not help hoping to be
+delivered from her troubles this time, as so often before, as soon as
+she should have transferred them to somebody else's shoulders, and taken
+"advice."
+
+"Lucy has made up her mind that we are to go to-morrow," said Miss
+Wodehouse, drying her tears. "It was not the custom in my young days,
+Mr Wentworth, and I am sure I don't know what to say; but I can't bear
+to cross her, now that she has nobody but me. She was always the best
+child in the world," said the poor lady--"far more comfort to poor
+dear papa than I ever could be; but to hear her talk you would think
+that she had never done anything. And oh, Mr Wentworth, if that was
+all I should not mind; but we have always kept things a secret from
+her; and now I have had a letter, and I don't know what it is possible
+to do."
+
+"A letter from your brother?" asked Mr Wentworth, eagerly.
+
+"From Tom," said the elder sister; "poor, poor Tom! I am sure papa
+forgave him at the last, though he did not say anything. Oh, Mr
+Wentworth, he was such a nice boy once; and if Lucy only knew, and I
+could summon up the courage to tell her, and he would change his ways,
+as he promised--don't think me fickle or changeable, or look as if I
+didn't know my own mind," cried poor Miss Wodehouse, with a fresh flow
+of tears; "but oh, Mr Wentworth, if he only would change his ways, as
+he promised, think what a comfort it would be to us to have him at
+home!"
+
+"Yes," said the Curate, with a little bitterness. Here was another
+instance of the impunities of wickedness. "I think it very likely
+indeed that you will have him at home," said Mr Wentworth--"almost
+certain; the wonder is that he went away. Will you tell me where he
+dates his letter from? I have a curiosity to know."
+
+"You are angry," said the anxious sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, I know he
+does not deserve anything else, but you have always been so kind. I
+put his letter in my pocket to show you--at least, I am sure I
+intended to put it in my pocket. We have scarcely been in this room
+since--since--" and here Miss Wodehouse broke down, and had to take a
+little time to recover. "I will go and get the letter," she said, as
+at last she regained her voice, and hurried away through the partial
+darkness with her noiseless step, and the long black garments which
+swept noiselessly over the carpet. Mr Wentworth for his part went to
+the one window which was only veiled by a blind, and comforted himself
+a little in the sunshine. The death atmosphere weighed upon the young
+man and took away his courage. If he was only wanted to pave the way
+for the reception of the rascally brother for whose sins he felt
+convinced he was himself suffering, the consolation of being appealed
+to would be sensibly lessened, and it was hard to have no other way of
+clearing himself than by criminating Lucy's brother, and bringing
+dishonour upon her name. While he waited for Miss Wodehouse's return,
+he stood by Lucy's table, with very little of the feeling which had
+once prompted him to fold his arms so caressingly with an impulse of
+tenderness upon the chair which stood beside it. He was so much
+absorbed in his own thoughts that he did not hear at first the sound
+of a hesitating hand upon the door, which at length, when repeated,
+went to the Curate's heart. He turned round rapidly, and saw Lucy
+standing on the threshold in her profound mourning. She was very pale,
+and her blue eyes looked large and full beyond their natural
+appearance, dilated with tears and watching; and when they met those
+of Mr Wentworth, they filled full like flower-cups with dew; but
+besides this Lucy made no demonstration of her grief. After that
+momentary hesitation at the door, she came in and gave the Curate her
+hand. Perhaps it was a kind of defiance, perhaps a natural yearning,
+which drew her out of her chamber when she heard of his presence; both
+sentiments sprang out of the same feeling; and the Curate, when he
+looked at her, bethought himself of the only moment when he had been
+able to imagine that Lucy loved him; that moment by her father's
+bedside, of which the impression had been dulled since then by a crowd
+of events, when she looked with such reproach and disappointment and
+indignation into his face.
+
+"I heard you were here," said Lucy, "and I thought you might think it
+strange not to see us both." And then she paused, perhaps finding it
+less easy than she thought to explain why she had come. "We ought to
+thank you, Mr Wentworth, for your kindness, though I--"
+
+"You were angry with me," said the Curate. "I know you thought me
+heartless; but a man must bear to be misconceived when he has duty to
+do," the young clergyman added, with a swelling heart. Lucy did not
+know the fuller significance of his words; and there was a loftiness
+in them which partly affronted her, and set all her sensitive
+woman-pride in arms against him.
+
+"I beg your pardon," she said, faltering, and then the two stood
+beside each other in silence, with a sense of estrangement. As for
+Lucy, all the story about Rosa Elsworthy, of which she had not yet
+heard the last chapter, rushed back upon her mind. Was it to see
+little Rosa's lover that she had come out of the darkness of her room,
+with a natural longing for sympathy which it was impossible to
+restrain? The tenderness of the instinctive feeling which had moved
+her, went back upon her heart in bitterness. That he must have divined
+why she had come, and scorned her for it, was the mildest supposition
+in Lucy's mind. She could almost have imagined that he had come on
+purpose to elicit this vain exhibition of regard, and triumph over it;
+all this, too, when she was in such great trouble and sorrow, and
+wanted a little compassion, a little kindness, so much. This was the
+state of mind to which Lucy had come, in five minutes after she
+entered the room, when Miss Wodehouse came back with the letter. The
+elder sister was almost as much astonished at Lucy's presence as if
+she had been the dead inhabitant who kept such state in the darkened
+house. She was so startled that she went back a step or two when she
+perceived her, and hastily put the letter in her pocket, and exclaimed
+her sister's name in a tone most unlike Miss Wodehouse's natural
+voice.
+
+"I came down-stairs because--I mean they told me Mr Wentworth was
+here," said Lucy, who had never felt so weak and so miserable in her
+life, "and I wanted to thank him for all his kindness." It was here
+for the first time that Lucy broke down. Her sorrow was so great, her
+longing for a word of kindness had been so natural, and her shame and
+self-condemnation at the very thought that she was able to think of
+anything but her father, were so bitter, that the poor girl's forces,
+weakened by watching, were not able to withstand them. She sank into
+the chair that stood nearest, and covered her face with her hands, and
+cried as people cry only at twenty. And as for Mr Wentworth, he had no
+right to take her in his arms and comfort her, nor to throw himself at
+her feet and entreat her to take courage. All he could do was to stand
+half a yard, yet a whole world, apart looking at her, his heart
+beating with all the remorseful half-angry tenderness of love. Since
+it was not his to console her, he was almost impatient of her tears.
+
+"Dear, I have been telling Mr Wentworth about to-morrow," said Miss
+Wodehouse, weeping too, as was natural, "and he thinks--he thinks--oh,
+my darling! and so do I--that it will be too much for you. When I was
+young it never was the custom; and oh, Lucy, remember that ladies are
+not to be expected to have such command over their feelings," said poor
+Miss Wodehouse, dropping on her knees by Lucy's chair. Mr Wentworth
+stood looking on in a kind of despair. He had nothing to say, and no
+right to say anything; even his presence was a kind of intrusion. But to
+be referred to thus as an authority against Lucy's wishes, vexed him in
+the most unreasonable way.
+
+"Mr Wentworth does not know me," said Lucy, under her breath, wiping
+away her tears with a trembling, indignant hand. "If we had had a
+brother, it might have been different; but there must be somebody there
+that loves him," said the poor girl, with a sob, getting up hastily from
+her chair. She could not bear to stay any longer in the room, which she
+had entered with a vague sense of possible consolation. As for the
+Curate, he made haste to open the door for her, feeling the restraint of
+his position almost intolerable. "_I_ shall be there," he said, stopping
+at the door to look into the fair, pallid face which Lucy would scarcely
+raise to listen. "Could you not trust _me_?" It looked like giving him a
+pledge of something sacred and precious to put her hand into his, which
+was held out for it so eagerly. But Lucy could not resist the softening
+of nature; and not even Miss Wodehouse, looking anxiously after them,
+heard what further words they were that Mr Wentworth said in her ear. "I
+am for your service, however and wherever you want me," said the Curate,
+with a young man's absolutism. Heaven knows he had enough to do with his
+own troubles; but he remembered no obstacle which could prevent him from
+dedicating all his time and life to her as he spoke. When Lucy reached
+her own room, she threw herself upon the sofa, and wept like a woman
+inconsolable; but it was somehow because this consolation, subtle and
+secret, had stolen into her heart that her tears flowed so freely. And
+Mr Wentworth returned to her sister relieved, he could not have told
+why. At all events, come what might, the two had drawn together again in
+their mutual need.
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, how can I cross her?" said Miss Wodehouse, wringing
+her hands. "If we had a brother--did you hear what she said? Here is
+his letter, and I hope you will tell me candidly what you think. If we
+could trust him--if we could but trust him! I daresay you think me
+very changeable and foolish; but now we are alone," said the poor
+lady, "think what a comfort it would be if he only would change his
+ways as he promised! Lucy is a great deal more use than I am, and
+understands things; but still we are only two women," said the elder
+sister. "If you think we could put any dependence upon him, Mr
+Wentworth, I would never hesitate. He might live with us, and have his
+little allowance." Miss Wodehouse paused, and raised her anxious face
+to the Curate, pondering the particulars of the liberality she
+intended. "He is not a boy," she went on. "I daresay now he must feel
+the want of the little comforts he once was used to; and though he is
+not like what he used to be, neither in his looks nor his manners,
+people would be kind to him for our sakes. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't you
+think we might trust him?" said the anxious woman, looking in the
+Curate's face.
+
+All this time Mr Wentworth, with an impatience of her simplicity which
+it was difficult to restrain, was reading the letter, in which he
+perceived a very different intention from any divined by Miss Wodehouse.
+The billet was disreputable enough, written in pencil, and without any
+date.
+
+
+ "MARY,--I mean to come to my father's funeral," wrote Mr Wodehouse's
+ disowned son. "Things are changed now, as I said they would be. I and
+ a friend of mine have set everything straight with Waters, and I mean
+ to come in my own name, and take the place I have a right to. How it
+ is to be after this depends on how you behave; but things are changed
+ between you and me, as I told you they would be; and I expect you
+ won't do anything to make 'em worse by doing or saying what's
+ unpleasant. I add no more, because I hope you'll have sense to see
+ what I mean, and to act accordingly.--Your brother,
+
+ "THOMAS WODEHOUSE."
+
+
+"You see he thinks I will reproach him," said Miss Wodehouse,
+anxiously; perhaps it had just glanced across her own mind that
+something more important still might have dictated language so
+decided. "He has a great deal more feeling than you would suppose,
+poor fellow! It is very touching in him to say, 'the place he has a
+right to'--don't you think so, Mr Wentworth? Poor Tom! if we could but
+trust him, and he would change his ways as he promised! Oh, Mr
+Wentworth, don't you think I might speak of it to him to-morrow? If we
+could--bury--everything--in dear papa's grave," cried the poor lady,
+once more breaking down. Mr Wentworth took no notice of Miss
+Wodehouse's tears. They moved him with sentiments entirely different
+from those with which he regarded Lucy's. He read the note over again
+without any attempt to console her, till she had struggled back into
+composure; but even then there was nothing sympathetic in the Curate's
+voice.
+
+"And I think you told me you did not know anything about the will?" he
+said, with some abruptness, making no account whatever of the
+suggestion she had made.
+
+"No," said Miss Wodehouse; "but my dear father was a business man, Mr
+Wentworth, and I feel quite sure--quite--"
+
+"Yes," said the Perpetual Curate; "nor of the nature of his property,
+perhaps?" added the worldly-minded young man whom poor Miss Wodehouse
+had chosen for her adviser. It was more than the gentle woman could
+bear.
+
+"Oh, Mr Wentworth, you know I am not one to understand," cried the
+poor lady. "You ask me questions, but you never tell me what you think
+I should do. If it were only for myself, I would not mind, but I have
+to act for Lucy," said the elder sister, suddenly sitting upright and
+drying her tears. "Papa, I am sure, did what was best for us," she
+said, with a little gentle dignity, which brought the Curate back to
+his senses; "but oh, Mr Wentworth, look at the letter, and tell me,
+for my sister's sake, what am I to do?"
+
+The Curate went to the window, from which the sunshine was stealing
+away, to consider the subject; but he did not seem to derive much
+additional wisdom from that sacred spot, where Lucy's work-table stood
+idle. "We must wait and see," he said to himself. When he came back to
+Miss Wodehouse, and saw the question still in her eyes, it only
+brought back his impatience. "My dear Miss Wodehouse, instead of
+speculating about what is to happen, it would be much better to
+prepare your sister for the discovery she must make to-morrow," said
+Mr Wentworth; "I cannot give any other advice, for my part. I think it
+is a great pity that you have kept it concealed so long. I beg your
+pardon for speaking so abruptly, but I am afraid you don't know all
+the trouble that is before you. We are all in a great deal of
+trouble," said the Perpetual Curate, with a little unconscious
+solemnity. "I can't say I see my way through it; but you ought to
+prepare her--to see--her brother." He said the words with a degree of
+repugnance which he could not conceal, and which wounded his
+companion's tender heart.
+
+"He was so different when he was young," said Miss Wodehouse, with a
+suppressed sob--"he was a favourite everywhere. You would not have
+looked so if you had known him then. Oh, Mr Wentworth, promise me that
+you will not turn your back upon him if he comes home, after all your
+kindness. I will tell Lucy how much you have done for him," said Miss
+Wodehouse. She was only half-conscious of her own gentle artifice. She
+took the Curate's hand in both her own before he left her, and said it
+was such a comfort to have his advice to rely upon; and she believed
+what she said, though Mr Wentworth himself knew better. The poor lady
+sat down in Lucy's chair, and had a cry at her ease after he went
+away. She was to tell Lucy--but how? and she sat pondering this hard
+question till all the light had faded out of the room, and the little
+window which was not shuttered dispersed only a grey twilight through
+the empty place. The lamp, meantime, had been lighted in the little
+parlour where Lucy sat, very sad, in her black dress, with 'In
+Memoriam' on the table by her, carrying on a similar strain in her
+heart. She was thinking of the past, so many broken scenes of which
+kept flashing up before her, all bright with indulgent love and
+tenderness--and she was thinking of the next day, when she was to see
+all that remained of her good father laid in his grave. He was not
+very wise nor remarkable among men, but he had been the tenderest
+father to the child of his old age; and in her heart she was praying
+for him still, pausing now and then to think whether it was right. The
+tears were heavy in her young eyes, but they were natural tears, and
+Lucy had no more thought that there was in the world anything sadder
+than sorrow, or that any complications lay in her individual lot, than
+the merest child in Prickett's Lane. She thought of going back to the
+district, all robed and invested in the sanctity of her grief--she
+thought it was to last for ever, as one has the privilege of thinking
+when one is young; and it was to this young saint, tender towards all
+the world, ready to pity everybody, and to save a whole race, if that
+had been possible, that Miss Wodehouse went in, heavy and burdened,
+with her tale of miserable vice, unkindness, estrangement. How was it
+possible to begin? Instead of beginning, poor Miss Wodehouse,
+overpowered by her anxieties and responsibilities, was taken ill and
+fainted, and had to be carried to bed. Lucy would not let her talk
+when she came to herself; and so the only moment of possible
+preparation passed away, and the event itself, which one of them knew
+nothing of, and the other did not understand, came in its own person,
+without any _avant-couriers_, to open Lucy's eyes once for all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth had to go into Carlingford on some business when he left
+Miss Wodehouse; and as he went home again, having his head full of so
+many matters, he forgot for the moment what most immediately concerned
+himself, and was close upon Elsworthy's shop, looking into the window,
+before he thought of it. Elsworthy himself was standing behind the
+counter, with a paper in his hand, from which he was expounding
+something to various people in the shop. It was getting late, and the
+gas was lighted, which threw the interior into very bright relief to Mr
+Wentworth outside. The Curate was still only a young man, though he was
+a clergyman, and his movements were not always guided by reason or sound
+sense. He walked into the shop, almost before he was aware what he was
+doing. The people were inconsiderable people enough--cronies of
+Elsworthy--but they were people who had been accustomed to look up very
+reverentially to the Curate of St Roque's and Mr Wentworth was far from
+being superior to their disapproval. There was a very visible stir among
+them as he entered, and Elsworthy came to an abrupt stop in his
+elucidations, and thrust the paper he had been reading into a drawer.
+Dead and sudden silence followed the entrance of the Curate. Peter
+Hayles, the druggist, who was one of the auditors, stole to the door
+with intentions of escape, and the women, of whom there were two or
+three, looked alarmed, not knowing what might come of it. As for Mr
+Wentworth, there was only one thing possible for him to say. "Have you
+heard anything of Rosa, Elsworthy?" he asked, with great gravity, fixing
+his eyes upon the man's face. The question seemed to ring into all the
+corners. Whether it was innocence or utter abandonment nobody could
+tell, and the spectators held their breath for the answer. Elsworthy,
+for his part, was as much taken by surprise as his neighbours. He grew
+very pale and livid in his sudden excitement, and lost his voice, and
+stood staring at the Curate like a man struck dumb. Perhaps Mr Wentworth
+got bolder when he saw the effect he had produced. He repeated the
+question, looking towards poor Mrs Elsworthy, who had jumped from her
+husband's side when he came in. The whole party looked like startled
+conspirators to Mr Wentworth's eyes, though he had not the least idea
+what they had been doing. "Have you heard anything of Rosa?" he asked
+again; and everybody looked at Elsworthy, as if he were the guilty man,
+and had suborned the rest; which, indeed, in one sense, was not far from
+being the case.
+
+When Elsworthy came to himself, he gave Mr Wentworth a sidelong
+dangerous look. "No, sir--nothing," said Rosa's uncle. "Them as has
+hidden her has hidden her well. I didn't expect to hear not yet," said
+Elsworthy. Though Mr Wentworth did not know what he meant, his little
+audience in the shop did, and showed, by the slightest murmur in the
+world, their conviction that the arrow had gone home, which naturally
+acted like a spur upon the Curate, who was not the wisest man in the
+world.
+
+"I am very sorry to see you in so much distress," said the young man,
+looking at Mrs Elsworthy's red eyes, "but I trust things will turn out
+much better than you imagine. If I can do anything to help you, let
+me know," said Mr Wentworth. Perhaps it was foolish to say so much,
+knowing what he did, but unfortunately prudence was not the ruling
+principle at that moment in the Curate's soul.
+
+"I was a-thinking of letting you know, sir," said the clerk of St
+Roque's, with deadly meaning; "leastways not me, but them as has taken
+me by the hand. There's every prospect as it'll all be known afore
+long," said Elsworthy, pushing his wife aside and following Mr
+Wentworth, with a ghastly caricature of his old obsequiousness, to the
+door. "There's inquiries a-being made as was never known to fail. For
+one thing, I've written to them as knows a deal about the movements of
+a party as is suspected--not to say as I've got good friends," said
+Rosa's guardian, standing upon the step of his own door, and watching
+the Curate out into the darkness. Mr Wentworth could not altogether
+restrain a slight thrill of unpleasant emotion, for Elsworthy,
+standing at his door with the light gleaming over him from behind, and
+his face invisible, had an unpleasant resemblance to a wild beast
+waiting for his prey.
+
+"I am glad to think you are likely to be so successful. Send me word
+as soon as you know," said the Curate, and he pursued his way home
+afterwards, with feelings far from pleasant. He saw something was
+about to come of this more than he had thought likely, and the crisis
+was approaching. As he walked rapidly home, he concluded within
+himself to have a conversation with the Rector next day after Mr
+Wodehouse's funeral, and to ask for an investigation into the whole
+matter. When he had come to this conclusion, he dismissed the subject
+from his mind as far as was possible, and took to thinking of the
+other matters which disturbed his repose, in which, indeed, it was
+very easy to get perplexed and bewildered to his heart's content.
+Anyhow, one way and another, the day of poor Mr Wodehouse's funeral
+must necessarily be an exciting and momentous day.
+
+Mr Wentworth had, however, no idea that its interest was to begin so
+early. When he was seated at breakfast reading his letters, a note was
+brought to him, which, coming in the midst of a lively chronicle of
+home news from his sister Letty, almost stopped for the moment the
+beating of the Curate's heart. It took him so utterly by surprise,
+that more violent sentiments were lost for the moment in mere wonder.
+He read it over twice before he could make it out. It was from the
+Rector, and notwithstanding his wife's remonstrances, and his own
+qualms of doubt and uncertainty, this was what Mr Morgan said:--
+
+
+ "DEAR SIR,--It is my painful duty to let you know that certain rumours
+ have reached my ears very prejudicial to your character as a
+ clergyman, and which I understand to be very generally current in
+ Carlingford. Such a scandal, if not properly dealt with, is certain to
+ have an unfavourable effect upon the popular mind, and injure the
+ clergy in the general estimation--while it is, as I need not point
+ out  to you, quite destructive of your own usefulness. Under the
+ circumstances, I have thought it my duty, as Rector of the parish,
+ to take steps for investigating these reports. Of course I do not
+ pretend to any authority over you, nor can I enforce in any way your
+ participation in the inquiry or consent to it; but I beg to urge upon
+ you strongly, as a friend, the advantage of assenting freely, that
+ your innocence (if possible) may be made apparent, and your character
+ cleared. I enclose the names of the gentlemen whose assistance I
+ intend to request for this painful duty, in case you should object to
+ any of them; and would again urge you, _for your own sake_, the
+ expediency of concurrence. I regret to say that, though I would not
+ willingly prejudge any man, much less a brother clergyman, I do not
+ feel that it would be seemly on my part, under the circumstances, to
+ avail myself of your assistance today in the burial-service for the
+ late Mr Wodehouse.--Believe me, very sincerely yours,
+
+ "W. MORGAN."
+
+
+When Mr Wentworth looked up from this letter, he caught sight of his
+face in the mirror opposite, and gazed into his own eyes like a man
+stupefied. He had not been without vexations in eight-and-twenty years
+of a not uneventful life, but he had never known anything like the
+misery of that moment. It was nearly four hours later when he walked
+slowly up Grange Lane to the house, which before night might own so
+different a master, but he had found as yet no time to spare for the
+Wodehouses--even for Lucy--in the thoughts which were all occupied by
+the unlooked-for blow. Nobody could tell, not even himself, the mental
+discipline he had gone through before he emerged, rather stern, but
+perfectly calm, in the sunshine in front of the closed-up house. If it
+was not his to meet the solemn passenger at the gates with words of
+hope, at least he could do a man's part to the helpless who had still
+to live; but the blow was cruel, and all the force of his nature was
+necessary to sustain it. All Carlingford knew, by the evidence of its
+senses, that Mr Wentworth had been a daily visitor of the dead, and
+one of his most intimate friends, and nobody had doubted for a moment
+that to him would be assigned as great a portion of the service as his
+feelings permitted him to undertake. When the bystanders saw him join
+the procession, a thrill of surprise ran through the crowd; but
+nobody--not even the man who walked beside him--ventured to trifle
+with the Curate's face so far as to ask why. The Grand Inquisitor
+himself, if such a mythical personage exists any longer, could not
+have invented a more delicate torture than that which the respectable
+and kind-hearted Rector of Carlingford inflicted calmly, without
+knowing it, upon the Curate of St Roque's. How was Mr Morgan to know
+that the sting would go to his heart? A Perpetual Curate without a
+district has nothing to do with a heart so sensitive. The Rector put
+on his own robes with a peaceful mind, feeling that he had done his
+duty, and, with Mr Leeson behind him, came to the church door with
+great solemnity to meet the procession. He read the words which are
+so sweet and so terrible with his usual reading-desk voice as he read
+the invitations every Sunday. He was a good man, but he was middle-aged,
+and not accessible to impression from the mere aspect of death; and he
+did not know Mr Wodehouse, nor care much for anything in the matter,
+except his own virtue in excluding the Perpetual Curate from any share
+in the service. Such was the Rector's feeling in respect to this
+funeral, which made so much commotion in Carlingford. He felt that he
+was vindicating the purity of his profession as he threaded his way
+through the pathetic hillocks, where the nameless people were lying, to
+poor Mr Wodehouse's grave.
+
+This, however, was not the only thing which aroused the wonder and
+interest of the townspeople when the two shrinking, hooded female
+figures, all black and unrecognisable, rose up trembling to follow their
+dead from the church to the grave. Everybody saw with wonder that their
+place was contested, and that somebody else, a man whom no one knew,
+thrust himself before them, and walked alone in the chief mourner's
+place. As for Lucy, who, through her veil and her tears, saw nothing
+distinctly, this figure, which she did not know, struck her only with a
+vague astonishment. If she thought of it at all, she thought it a
+mistake, simple enough, though a little startling, and went on, doing
+all she could to support her sister, saying broken prayers in her heart,
+and far too much absorbed in the duty she was performing to think who
+was looking on, or to be conscious of any of the attending
+circumstances, except Mr Morgan's voice, which was not the voice she had
+expected to hear. Miss Wodehouse was a great deal more agitated than
+Lucy. She knew very well who it was that placed himself before her,
+asserting his own right without offering any help to his sisters; and
+vague apprehensions, which she herself could not understand, came over
+her just at the moment when she required her strength most. As there
+were no other relations present, the place of honour next to the two
+ladies had been tacitly conceded to Mr Proctor and Mr Wentworth; and it
+was thus that the Curate rendered the last service to his old friend. It
+was a strange procession, and concentrated in itself all that was most
+exciting in Carlingford at the moment. Everybody observed and commented
+upon the strange man, who, all remarkable and unknown, with his great
+beard and sullen countenance, walked by himself as chief mourner. Who
+was he? and whispers arose and ran through the outskirts of the crowd of
+the most incredible description. Some said he was an illegitimate son
+whom Mr Wodehouse had left all his property to, but whom the ladies knew
+nothing of; some that it was a strange cousin, whom Lucy was to be
+compelled to marry or lose her share; and after a while people compared
+notes, and went back upon their recollections, and began to ask each
+other if it was true that Tom Wodehouse died twenty years ago in the
+West Indies? Then behind the two ladies--poor ladies, whose fate was
+hanging in the balance, though they did not know it--came Mr Wentworth
+in his cap and gown, pale and stern as nobody ever had seen him before
+in Carlingford, excluded from all share in the service, which Mr Leeson,
+in a flutter of surplice and solemnity, was giving his valuable
+assistance in. The churchyard at Carlingford had not lost its semi-rural
+air though the town had increased so much, for the district was very
+healthy, as everybody knows, and people did not die before their time,
+as in places less favoured. The townspeople, who knew Mr Wodehouse so
+well, lingered all about among the graves, looking with neighbourly,
+calm regret, but the liveliest curiosity. Most of the shopkeepers at
+that end of George Street had closed their shops on the mournful
+occasion, and felt themselves repaid. As for Elsworthy, he stood with a
+group of supporters round him, as near as possible to the funeral
+procession; and farther off in the distance, under the trees, was a much
+more elegant spectator--an unlikely man enough to assist at such a
+spectacle, being no less a person than Jack Wentworth, in the
+perfection of an English gentleman's morning apparel, perfectly at his
+ease and indifferent, yet listening with close attention to all the
+scraps of talk that came in his way. The centre of all this wondering,
+curious crowd, where so many passions and emotions and schemes and
+purposes were in full tide, and life was beating so strong and vehement,
+was the harmless dead, under the heavy pall which did not veil him so
+entirely from the living as did the hopes and fears and curious
+speculations which had already sprung up over him, filling up his place.
+Among the whole assembly there was not one heart really occupied by
+thoughts of him, except that of poor Lucy, who knew nothing of all the
+absorbing anxieties and terrors that occupied the others. She had still
+a moment's leisure for her natural grief. It was all she could do to
+keep upright and support her sister, who had burdens to bear which Lucy
+knew nothing of; but still, concealed under her hood and veil, seeing
+nothing but the grave before her, hearing nothing but the sacred words
+and the terrible sound of "dust to dust," the young creature stood
+steadfast, and gave the dead man who had loved her his due--last
+offering of nature and love, sweeter to anticipate than any honours.
+Nobody but his child offered to poor Mr Wodehouse that last right of
+humanity, or made his grave sacred with natural tears.
+
+When they went back sadly out of all that blinding sunshine into the
+darkened house, it was not all over, as poor Lucy had supposed. She
+had begun to come to herself and understand once more the looks of the
+people about her, when the old maid, who had been the attendant of the
+sisters during all Lucy's life, undid her wrappings, and in her
+agitation of the moment kissed her white cheek, and held her in her
+arms. "Oh, Miss Lucy, darling, don't take on no more than you can
+help. I'm sore, sore afeared that there's a deal of trouble afore you
+yet," said the weeping woman. Though Lucy had not the smallest
+possible clue to her meaning, and was almost too much worn out to be
+curious, she could not help a vague thrill of alarm. "What is it,
+Alland?" she said, rising up from the sofa on which she had thrown
+herself. But Alland could do nothing but cry over her nursling and
+console her. "Oh, my poor dear! oh, my darling! as he never would have
+let the wind of heaven to blow rough upon her!" cried the old servant.
+And it was just then that Miss Wodehouse, who was trembling all over
+hysterically, came into the room.
+
+"We have to go down-stairs," said the elder sister. "Oh Lucy, my
+darling, it was not my fault at first. I should have told you last
+night to prepare you, and I had not the heart. Mr Wentworth has told
+me so often--"
+
+"Mr Wentworth?" said Lucy. She rose up, not quite knowing where she
+was; aware of nothing, except that some sudden calamity, under which
+she was expected to faint altogether, was coming to her by means of Mr
+Wentworth. Her mind jumped at the only dim possibility that seemed to
+glimmer through the darkness. He must be married, she supposed, or
+about to be married; and it was this they insulted her by thinking
+that she could not bear. There was not a particle of colour in her
+face before, but the blood rushed into it with a bitterness of shame
+and rage which she had never known till now. "I will go down with you
+if it is necessary," said Lucy; "but surely this is a strange time to
+talk of Mr Wentworth's affairs." There was no time to explain anything
+farther, for just then old Mrs Western, who was a distant cousin,
+knocked at the door. "God help you, my poor dear children!" said the
+old lady; "they are all waiting for you down-stairs," and it was with
+this delusion in her mind, embittering every thought, that Lucy went
+into the drawing-room where they were all assembled. The madness of
+the idea did not strike her somehow, even when she saw the grave
+assembly, which it was strange to think could have been brought
+together to listen to any explanation from the Perpetual Curate. He
+was standing there prominent enough among them, with a certain air of
+suppressed passion in his face, which Lucy divined almost without
+seeing it. For her own part, she went in with perfect firmness,
+supporting her sister, whose trembling was painful to see. There was
+no other lady in the room except old Mrs Western, who would not sit
+down, but hovered behind the chairs which had been placed for the
+sisters near the table at which Mr Waters was standing. By the side of
+Mr Waters was the man who had been at the funeral, and whom nobody
+knew, and a few gentlemen who were friends of the family were in the
+room--the Rector, by virtue of his office, and Mr Proctor and Dr
+Marjoribanks; and any one whose attention was sufficiently disengaged
+to note the details of the scene might have perceived John, who had
+been fifteen years with Mr Wodehouse, and the old cook in her black
+gown, who was of older standing in the family than Alland herself,
+peeping in, whenever it was opened, through the door.
+
+"Now that the Miss Wodehouses are here, we may proceed to business,"
+said Mr Waters. "Some of the party are already aware that I have an
+important communication to make. I am very sorry if it comes abruptly
+upon anybody specially interested. My late partner, much respected
+though he has always been, was a man of peculiar views in many
+respects. Dr Marjoribanks will bear me out in what I say. I had been
+his partner for ten years before I found this out, highly important as
+it will be seen to be; and I believe Mr Wentworth, though an intimate
+friend of the family, obtained the information by a kind of
+accident--"
+
+The stranger muttered something in his beard which nobody could hear,
+and the Perpetual Curate interposed audibly. "Would it not be best to
+make the explanations afterwards?" said Mr Wentworth--and he changed
+his own position and went over beside old Mrs Western, who was leaning
+upon Lucy's chair. He put his own hand on the back of the chair with
+an involuntary impulse. As for Lucy, her first thrill of nervous
+strength had failed her: she began to get confused and bewildered; but
+whatever it was, no insult, no wound to her pride or affections, was
+coming to her from that hand which she knew was on her chair. She
+leaned back a little, with a long sigh. Her imagination could not
+conceive anything important enough for such a solemn intimation, and
+her attention began to flag in spite of herself. No doubt it was
+something about that money which people thought so interesting.
+Meanwhile Mr Waters went on steadily with what he had to say, not
+sparing them a word of the preamble; and it was not till ten minutes
+later that Lucy started up with a sudden cry of incredulity and
+wonder, and repeated his last words. "His son!--whose son?" cried
+Lucy. She looked all round her, not knowing whom to appeal to in her
+sudden consternation. "We never had a brother," said the child of Mr
+Wodehouse's old age; "it must be some mistake." There was a dead pause
+after these words. When she looked round again, a sickening conviction
+came to Lucy's heart that it was no mistake. She rose up without
+knowing it, and looked round upon all the people, who were watching
+her with various looks of pity and curiosity and spectator-interest.
+Mr Waters had stopped speaking, and the terrible stranger made a step
+forward with an air that identified him. It was at him that Mr Proctor
+was staring, who cleared his voice a great many times, and came
+forward to the middle of the room and looked as if he meant to speak;
+and upon him every eye was fixed except Mr Wentworth's, who was
+watching Lucy, and Miss Wodehouse's, which were hidden in her hands.
+"We never had a brother," she repeated, faltering; and then, in the
+extremity of her wonder and excitement, Lucy turned round, without
+knowing it, to the man whom her heart instinctively appealed to. "Is
+it true?" she said. She held out her hands to him with a kind of
+entreaty not to say so. Mr Wentworth made no reply to her question. He
+said only, "Let me take you away--it is too much for you," bending
+down over her, without thinking what he did, and drawing her hand
+through his arm. "She is not able for any more," said the Curate,
+hurriedly; "afterwards we can explain to her." If he could have
+remembered anything about himself at the moment, it is probable that
+he would have denied himself the comfort of supporting Lucy--he, a man
+under ban; but he was thinking only of her, as he stood facing them
+all with her arm drawn through his; upon which conjunction the Rector
+and the late Rector looked with a grim aspect, disposed to interfere,
+but not knowing how.
+
+"All this may be very interesting to you," said the stranger out of
+his beard; "if Lucy don't know her brother, it is no fault of mine. Mr
+Waters has only said half he has got to say; and as for the rest, to
+sum it up in half-a-dozen words, I'm very glad to see you in my house,
+gentlemen, and I hope you will make yourselves at home. Where nobody
+understands, a man has to speak plain. I've been turned out all my
+life and, by Jove! I don't mean to stand it any longer. The girls can
+have what their father's left them," said the vagabond, in his moment
+of triumph. "They aint my business no more than I was theirs. The
+property is freehold, and Waters is aware that I'm the heir."
+
+Saying this, Wodehouse drew a chair to the table, and sat down with
+emphasis. He was the only man seated in the room, and he kept his
+place in his sullen way amid the excited group which gathered round
+him. As for Miss Wodehouse, some sense of what had happened penetrated
+even her mind. She too rose up and wiped her tears from her face, and
+looked round, pale and scared, to the Curate. "I was thinking--of
+speaking to Lucy. I meant to ask her--to take you back, Tom," said the
+elder sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, tell me, for heaven's sake, what does
+it mean?"
+
+"If I had only been permitted to explain," said Mr Waters; "my worthy
+partner died intestate--his son is his natural heir. Perhaps we need not
+detain the ladies longer, now that they understand it. All the rest can
+be better arranged with their representative. I am very sorry to add to
+their sufferings today," said the polite lawyer, opening the door;
+"everything else can be made the subject of an arrangement." He held the
+door open with a kind of civil coercion compelling their departure. The
+familiar room they were in no longer belonged to the Miss Wodehouses.
+Lucy drew her arm out of Mr Wentworth's, and took her sister's hand.
+
+"You will be our representative," she said to him, out of the fulness
+of her heart. When the door closed, the Perpetual Curate took up his
+position, facing them all with looks more lofty than belonged even to
+his Wentworth blood. They had kept him from exercising his office at
+his friend's grave, but nobody could take from him the still nobler
+duty of defending the oppressed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+When the door closed upon Lucy and her sister, Mr Wentworth stood by
+himself, facing the other people assembled. The majority of them were
+more surprised, more shocked, than he was; but they were huddled
+together in their wonder at the opposite end of the table, and had
+somehow a confused, half-conscious air of being on the other side.
+
+"It's a very extraordinary revelation that has just been made to us,"
+said Dr Marjoribanks. "I am throwing no doubt upon it, for my part; but
+my conviction was, that Tom Wodehouse died in the West Indies. He was
+just the kind of man to die in the West Indies. If it's you," said the
+Doctor, with a growl of natural indignation, "you have the constitution
+of an elephant. You should have been dead ten years ago, at the very
+least; and it appears to me there would be some difficulty in proving
+identity, if anybody would take up that view of the question." As he
+spoke, Dr Marjoribanks walked round the new-comer, looking at him with
+medical criticism. The Doctor's eyes shot out fiery hazel gleams as he
+contemplated the heavy figure. "More appearance than reality," he
+muttered to himself, with a kind of grim satisfaction, poising a
+forefinger in air, as if to prove the unwholesome flesh; and then he
+went round to the other elbow of the unexpected heir. "The thing is now,
+what you mean to do for them, to repair your father's neglect," he said,
+tapping peremptorily on Wodehouse's arm.
+
+"There is something else to be said in the mean time," said Mr
+Wentworth. "I must know precisely how it is that a state of affairs so
+different from anything Mr Wodehouse could have intended has come about.
+The mere absence of a will does not seem to me to explain it. I should
+like to have Mr Brown's advice--for my own satisfaction, if nothing
+else."
+
+"The parson has got nothing to do with it, that I can see," said
+Wodehouse, "unless he was looking for a legacy, or that sort of thing.
+As for the girls, I don't see what right I have to be troubled; they
+took deuced little trouble with me. Perhaps they'd have taken me in as
+a sort of footman without pay--you heard what they said, Waters? By
+Jove! I'll serve Miss Mary out for that," said the vagabond. Then he
+paused a little, and, looking round him, moderated his tone. "I've
+been badly used all my life," said the prodigal son. "They would never
+give me a hearing. They say I did heaps of things I never dreamt of.
+Mary aint above thinking of her own interest--"
+
+Here Mr Proctor came forward from the middle of the room where he had
+been standing in a perplexed manner since the ladies went away.
+"Hold--hold your tongue, sir!" said the late Rector; "haven't you done
+enough injury already--" When he had said so much, he stopped as
+abruptly as he had begun, and seemed to recollect all at once that he
+had no title to interfere.
+
+"By Jove!" said Wodehouse, "you don't seem to think I know what
+belongs to me, or who belongs to me. Hold _your_ tongue, Waters; I can
+speak for myself. I've been long enough snubbed by everybody that had
+a mind. I don't mean to put up with this sort of thing any longer. Any
+man who pleases can consult John Brown. I recollect John Brown as well
+as anybody in Carlingford. It don't matter to me what he says, or what
+anybody says. The girls are a parcel of girls, and I am my father's
+son, as it happens. I should have thought the parson had enough on his
+hands for one while," said the new heir, in the insolence of triumph.
+"He tried patronising me, but that wouldn't answer. Why, there's his
+brother, Jack Wentworth, his elder brother, come down here purposely
+to manage matters for me. He's the eldest son, by Jove! and one of the
+greatest swells going. He has come down here on purpose to do the
+friendly thing by me. We're great friends, by Jove! Jack Wentworth and
+I; and yet here's a beggarly younger brother, that hasn't a penny--"
+
+"Wodehouse," said Mr Wentworth, with some contempt, "sit down and be
+quiet. You and I have some things to talk of which had better not be
+discussed in public. Leave Jack Wentworth's name alone, if you are
+wise, and don't imagine that I am going to bear your punishment. Be
+silent, sir!" cried the Curate, sternly; "do you suppose I ask any
+explanations from you? Mr Waters, I want to hear how this has come
+about? When I saw you in this man's interest some time ago, you were
+not so friendly to him. Tell me how it happens that he is now your
+client, and that you set him forth as the heir!"
+
+"By Jove, the parson has nothing to do with it! Let him find it out,"
+muttered Wodehouse in his beard; but the words were only half audible,
+and the vagabond's shabby soul was cowed in spite of himself. He gave
+the lawyer a furtive thrust in the arm as he spoke, and looked at him
+a little anxiously; for the position of a man standing lawfully on his
+natural rights was new to Wodehouse; and all his certainty of the
+facts did not save him from a sensation of habit which suggested that
+close examination was alarming, and that something might still be
+found out. As for Mr Waters, he looked with placid contempt at the
+man, who was not respectable, and still had the instincts of a
+vagabond in his heart.
+
+"I am perfectly ready to explain," said the irreproachable solicitor,
+who was quite secure in his position. "The tone of the request,
+however, might be modified a little; and as I don't, any more than Mr
+Wodehouse, see exactly what right Mr Wentworth has to demand--"
+
+"I ask an explanation, not on my own behalf, but for the Miss
+Wodehouses, who have made me their deputy," said the Curate, "for
+their satisfaction, and that I may consult Mr Brown. You seem to
+forget that all _he_ gains they lose; which surely justifies their
+representative in asking how did it come about?"
+
+It was at this point that all the other gentlemen present pressed
+closer, and evinced an intention to take part. Dr Marjoribanks was the
+first to speak. He took a pinch of snuff, and while he consumed it
+looked from under his grizzled sandy eyebrows with a perplexing
+mixture of doubt and respect at the Perpetual Curate. He was a man of
+some discrimination in his way, and the young man's lofty looks
+impressed him a little in spite of himself.
+
+"Not to interrupt the explanation," said Dr Marjoribanks, "which we'll
+all be glad to hear--but Mr Wentworth's a young man, not possessed, so
+far as I am aware, of any particular right;--except that he has been
+very generous and prompt in offering his services," said the Doctor,
+moved to the admission by a fiery glance from the Curate's eye, which
+somehow did not look like the eye of a guilty man. "I was thinking, an
+old man, and an old friend, like myself, might maybe be a better
+guardian for the ladies' interests--"
+
+Mr Proctor, who had been listening very anxiously, was seized with a
+cough at this moment, which drowned out the Doctor's words. It was a
+preparatory cough, and out of it the late Rector rushed into speech.
+"I have come from--from Oxford to be of use," said the new champion.
+"My time is entirely at my own--at Miss Wodehouse's--at the Miss
+Wodehouses' disposal. I am most desirous to be of use," said Mr
+Proctor, anxiously. And he advanced close to the table to prefer his
+claim.
+
+"Such a discussion seems quite unnecessary," said Mr Wentworth, with
+some haughtiness. "I shall certainly do in the mean time what has been
+intrusted to me. At present we are simply losing time."
+
+"But--" said the Rector. The word was not of importance nor uttered
+with much resolution, but it arrested Mr Wentworth more surely than
+the shout of a multitude. He turned sharp round upon his adversary,
+and said "Well?" with an air of exasperation; while Wodehouse, who had
+been lounging about the room in a discomfited condition, drew near to
+listen.
+
+"I am comparatively a stranger to the Miss Wodehouses," said Mr
+Morgan; "still I am their clergyman; and I think with Dr Marjoribanks,
+that a young man like Mr Wentworth, especially a man so seriously
+compromised--"
+
+"Oh, stop! I do think you are all a great deal too hard upon Mr
+Wentworth," said the lawyer, with a laugh of toleration, which
+Wodehouse echoed behind him with a sense of temerity that made his
+laughter all the louder. He was frightened, but he was glad to make
+himself offensive, according to his nature. Mr Wentworth stood alone,
+for his part, and had to put up with the laugh as he best could.
+
+"If any one here wishes to injure me with the Miss Wodehouses, an
+opportunity may easily be found," said the Curate, with as much
+composure as he could muster; "and I am ready to relinquish my charge
+when they call on me to do so. In the mean time, this is not the place
+to investigate my conduct. Sit down, sir, and let us be free of your
+interference for this moment at least," he said, fiercely, turning to
+the new heir. "I warn you again, you have nothing but justice to expect
+at my hands. Mr Waters, we wait your explanations." He was the tallest
+man in the room, which perhaps had something to do with it; the
+youngest, best born, and best endowed. That he would have carried the
+day triumphantly in the opinion of any popular audience, there could be
+no kind of doubt. Even in this middle-aged unimpressionable assembly,
+his indignant self-control had a certain influence. When he drew a chair
+towards the table and seated himself, the others sat down unawares, and
+the lawyer began his story without any further interruption. The
+explanation of all was, that Mr Wodehouse, like so many men, had an
+ambition to end his days as a country gentleman. He had set his heart
+for years on an estate in the neighbourhood of Carlingford, and had just
+completed his long-contemplated purchase at the moment of his last
+seizure. Nobody knew, except the Curate and the lawyer, what the cause
+of that seizure was. They exchanged looks without being aware of it, and
+Wodehouse, still more deeply conscious, uttered, poor wretch! a kind of
+gasp, which sounded like a laugh to the other horrified spectators.
+After all, it was his crime which had brought him his good fortune,
+for there had been an early will relating to property which existed
+no longer--property which had been altogether absorbed in the
+newly-acquired estate. "I have no doubt my late excellent partner would
+have made a settlement had the time been permitted him," said Mr Waters.
+"I have not the slightest doubt as to his intentions; but the end was
+very unexpected at the last. I suppose death always is unexpected when
+it comes," said the lawyer, with a little solemnity, recollecting that
+three of his auditors were clergymen. "The result is painful in many
+respects; but law is law, and such accidents cannot be entirely avoided.
+With the exception of a few trifling personal matters, and the
+furniture, and a little money at the bank, there is nothing but freehold
+property, and of course the son takes that. I can have no possible
+objection to your consulting Mr Brown; but Mr Brown can give you no
+further information." If there had been any little hope of possible
+redress lingering in the mind of the perplexed assembly, this brought it
+to a conclusion. The heir, who had been keeping behind with an impulse
+of natural shame, came back to the table when his rights were so clearly
+established. He did not know how to behave himself with a good grace,
+but he was disposed to be conciliatory, as far as he could, especially
+as it began to be disagreeably apparent that the possession of his
+father's property might not make any particular difference in the
+world's opinion of himself.
+
+"It aint my fault, gentlemen," said Wodehouse. "Of course, I expected
+the governor to take care of the girls. I've been kept out of it for
+twenty years, and that's a long time. By Jove! I've never known what
+it was to be a rich man's son since I was a lad. I don't say I won't
+do something for the girls if they behave to me as they ought; and as
+for you, gentlemen, who were friends of the family, I'll always be
+glad to see you in my house," he said, with an attempt at a friendly
+smile. But nobody took any notice of the overtures of the new heir.
+
+"Then they have nothing to depend upon," said Mr Proctor, whose agitated
+looks were the most inexplicable feature of the whole--"no shelter even;
+no near relations I ever heard of--and nobody to take care of Lucy if--"
+Here he stopped short and went to the window, and stood looking out in a
+state of great bewilderment. The late Rector was so buried in his own
+thoughts, whatever they might be, that he did not pay any attention to
+the further conversation which went on behind him--of which, however,
+there was very little--and only came to himself when he saw Mr Wentworth
+go rapidly through the garden. Mr Proctor rushed after the Perpetual
+Curate. He might be seriously compromised, as Mr Morgan said; but he
+was more sympathetic than anybody else in Carlingford under present
+circumstances; and Mr Proctor, in his middle-aged uncertainty, could not
+help having a certain confidence in the young man's promptitude and
+vigour. He made up to him out of breath when he was just entering George
+Street. Carlingford had paid what respect it could to Mr Wodehouse's
+memory; and now the shutters were being taken off the shop-windows, and
+people in general were very willing to reward themselves for their
+self-denial by taking what amusement they could out of the reports
+which already began to be circulated about the way in which the Miss
+Wodehouses were "left." When the late Rector came up with the Perpetual
+Curate opposite Masters's shop there was quite a group of people there
+who noted the conjunction. What could it mean? Was there going to be a
+compromise? Was Carlingford to be shamefully cheated out of the
+"investigation," and all the details about Rosa Elsworthy, for which it
+hungered? Mr Proctor put his arm through that of the Curate of St
+Roque's, and permitted himself to be swept along by the greater impetus
+of the young man's rapid steps, for at this moment, being occupied with
+more important matters, the late Rector had altogether forgotten Mr
+Wentworth's peculiar position, and the cloud that hung over him.
+
+"What a very extraordinary thing!" said Mr Proctor. "What could have
+betrayed old Wodehouse into such a blunder! He must have known well
+enough. This son--this fellow--has been living all the time, of
+course. It is quite inexplicable to me," said the aggrieved man. "Do
+you know if there are any aunts or uncles--any people whom poor little
+Lucy might live with, for instance, if--" And here Mr Proctor once
+more came to a dead stop. Mr Wentworth, for his part, was so far from
+thinking of her as "poor little Lucy," that he was much offended by
+the unnecessary commiseration.
+
+"The sisters will naturally remain together," he said; "and, of
+course, there are many people who would be but too glad to receive
+them. Miss Wodehouse is old enough to protect her sister--though, of
+course, the balance of character is on the other side," said the
+inconsiderate young man; at which Mr Proctor winced, but made no
+definite reply.
+
+"So you think there are people she could go to?" said the late Rector,
+after a pause. "The thing altogether is so unexpected, you know. My
+idea was--"
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Curate; "I must see Mr Brown, and this
+is about the best time to find him at home. Circumstances make it
+rather awkward for me to call at the Rectory just now," he continued,
+with a smile smile--"circumstances over which I have no control, as
+people say; but perhaps you will stay long enough to see me put on my
+trial. Good-bye now."
+
+"Stop a moment," said Mr Proctor; "about this trial. Don't be
+affronted--I have nothing to do with it, you know; and Morgan means
+very well, though he's stupid enough. I should like to stand your
+friend, Wentworth; you know I would. I wish you'd yield to tell me all
+about it. If I were to call on you to-night after dinner--for perhaps
+it would put Mrs Hadwin out to give me a chop?"
+
+The Curate laughed in spite of himself. "Fellows of All-Souls don't
+dine on chops," he said, unable to repress a gleam of amusement; "but
+come at six, and you shall have something to eat, as good as I can
+give you. As for telling you all about it," said Mr Wentworth, "all
+the world is welcome to know as much as I know."
+
+Mr Proctor laid his hand on the young man's arm, by way of soothing
+him. "We'll talk it all over," he said, confidentially; "both this
+affair, and--and the other. We have a good deal in common, if I am not
+much mistaken, and I trust we shall always be good friends," said the
+inexplicable man. His complexion heightened considerably after he had
+made this speech, which conveyed nothing but amazement to the mind of
+the Curate; and then he shook hands hastily, and hurried back again
+towards Grange Lane. If there had been either room or leisure in Frank
+Wentworth's mind for other thoughts, he might have laughed or puzzled
+over the palpable mystery; but as it was, he had dismissed the late
+Rector entirely from his mind before he reached the door of Mr Brown's
+room, where the lawyer was seated alone. John Brown, who was
+altogether a different type of man from Mr Waters, held out his hand to
+his visitor, and did not look at all surprised to see him. "I have
+expected a call from you," he said, "now that your old friend is gone,
+from whom you would naturally have sought advice in the circumstances.
+Tell me what I can do for you;" and it became apparent to Mr Wentworth
+that it was his own affairs which were supposed to be the cause of his
+application. It may be supposed after this that the Curate stated his
+real object very curtly and clearly without any unnecessary words, to
+the unbounded amazement of the lawyer, who, being a busy man, and not a
+friend of the Wodehouses, had as yet heard nothing of the matter. Mr
+Brown, however, could only confirm what had been already said. "If it is
+really freehold property, and no settlement made, there cannot be any
+question about it," he said; "but I will see Waters to-morrow and make
+all sure, if you wish it; though he dares not mislead you on such a
+point. I am very sorry for the ladies, but I don't see what can be done
+for them," said Mr Brown; "and about yourself, Mr Wentworth?" Perhaps it
+was because of a certain look of genuine confidence and solicitude in
+John Brown's honest face that the Curate's heart was moved. For the
+first time he condescended to discuss the matter--to tell the lawyer,
+with whom indeed he had but a very slight acquaintance (for John Brown
+lived at the other end of Carlingford, and could not be said to be in
+society), all he knew about Rosa Elsworthy, and something of his
+suspicions. Mr Brown, for his part, knew little of the Perpetual Curate
+in his social capacity, but he knew about Wharfside, which was more to
+the purpose; and having himself been truly in love once in his life,
+commonplace as he looked, this honest man did not believe it possible
+that Lucy Wodehouse's representative could be Rosa Elsworthy's
+seducer--the two things looked incompatible to the straightforward
+vision of John Brown.
+
+"I'll attend at their investigation," he said, with a smile, "which,
+if you were not particularly interested, you'd find not bad fun, Mr
+Wentworth. These private attempts at law are generally very amusing.
+I'll attend and look after your interests; but you had better see that
+this Tom Wodehouse,--I remember the scamp--he used to be bad enough
+for anything,--don't give you the slip and get out of the way. Find
+out if you can where he has been living these two days. I'll attend to
+the other matter, too," the lawyer said, cheerfully, shaking hands
+with his new client; and the Curate went away with a vague feeling
+that matters were about to come right somehow, at which he smiled when
+he came to think of it, and saw how little foundation he had for such
+a hope. But his hands were full of business, and he had no time to
+consider his own affairs at this particular moment. It seemed to him a
+kind of profanity to permit Lucy to remain under the same roof with
+Wodehouse, even though he was her brother; and Mr Proctor's inquiries
+had stimulated his own feeling. There was a certain pleasure, besides,
+in postponing himself and his own business, however important, to her
+and her concerns; and it was with this idea that he proceeded to the
+house of his aunts, and was conducted to a little private sitting-room
+appropriated to the sole use of Miss Leonora, for whom he had asked.
+As he passed the door of the drawing-room, which was ajar, he glanced
+in, and saw his aunt Dora bending over somebody who wept, and heard a
+familiar voice pouring out complaints, the general sound of which was
+equally familiar, though he could not make out a word of the special
+subject. Frank was startled, notwithstanding his preoccupations, for
+it was the same voice which had summoned him to Wentworth Rectory
+which now poured out its lamentations in the Miss Wentworths'
+drawing-room in Carlingford. Evidently some new complication had
+arisen in the affairs of the family. Miss Leonora was in her room,
+busy with the books of a Ladies' Association, of which she was
+treasurer. She had a letter before her from the missionary employed by
+the society, which was a very interesting letter, and likely to make a
+considerable sensation when read before the next meeting. Miss Leonora
+was taking the cream off this piece of correspondence, enjoying at
+once itself and the impression it would make. She was slightly annoyed
+when her nephew came in to disturb her. "The others are in the
+drawing-room, as usual," she said. "I can't imagine what Lewis could
+be thinking of, to bring you here. Louisa's coming can make no
+difference to you."
+
+"So Louisa has come? I thought I heard her voice. What has happened to
+bring Louisa here?" said the Curate, who was not sorry to begin with
+an indifferent subject. Miss Leonora shook her head and took up her
+letter.
+
+"She is in the drawing-room," said the strong-minded aunt. "If you
+have no particular business with me, Frank, you had better ask
+herself: of course, if you want me, I am at your service--but
+otherwise I am busy, you see."
+
+"And so am I," said Mr Wentworth, "as busy as a man can be whose
+character is at stake. Do you know I am to be tried to-morrow? But
+that is not what I came to ask you about."
+
+"I wish you would _tell_ me about it," said Miss Leonora. She got up
+from her writing-table and from the missionary's letter, and abandoned
+herself to the impulses of nature. "I have heard disagreeable rumours.
+I don't object to your reserve, Frank, but things seem to be getting
+serious. What does it mean?"
+
+The Curate had been much braced in his inner man by his short
+interview with John Brown; that, and the representative position he
+held, had made a wonderful change in his feelings: besides, a matter
+which was about to become so public could not be ignored. "It means
+only that a good many people in Carlingford think me a villain," said
+Mr Wentworth: "it is not a flattering idea; and it seems to me, I
+must say, an illogical induction from the facts of my life. Still it
+is true that some people think so--and I am to be tried to-morrow. But
+in the mean time, something else has happened. I know you are a good
+woman, aunt Leonora. We don't agree in many things, but that does not
+matter. There are two ladies in Carlingford who up to this day have
+been rich, well off, well cared for, and who have suddenly lost all
+their means, their protector, even their home. They have no relations
+that I know of. One of them is good for any exertion that may be
+necessary," said the Curate, his voice softening with a far-off
+masculine suggestion as of tears; "but she is young--too young to
+contend with the world--and she is now suffering her first grief. The
+other is old enough, but not good for much--"
+
+"You mean the two Miss Wodehouses?" said Miss Leonora. "Their father
+has turned out to be--bankrupt?--or something?--"
+
+"Worse than bankrupt," said the Curate: "there is a brother who takes
+everything. Will you stand by them--offer them shelter?--I mean for a
+time. I don't know anybody I should care to apply to but you."
+
+Miss Leonora paused and looked at her nephew. "First tell me what you
+have to do with them," she asked. "If there is a brother, he is their
+natural protector--certainly not you--unless there is something I
+don't know of. Frank, you know you can't marry," said Miss Leonora,
+with a little vehemence, once more looking in her nephew's face.
+
+"No," said Frank, with momentary bitterness; "I am not likely to make
+any mistake about that--at present, at least. The brother is a
+reprobate of whom they know nothing. I have no right to consider
+myself their protector--but I am their friend at least," said the
+Curate, breaking off with again that softening in his voice. "They may
+have a great many friends, for anything I know; but I have confidence
+in you, aunt Leonora: you are not perhaps particularly sympathetic,"
+he went on, with a laugh; "you don't condole with Louisa, for
+instance; but I could trust you with--"
+
+"Lucy Wodehouse!" said Miss Leonora; "I don't dislike her at all, if
+she would not wear that ridiculous grey cloak; but young men don't
+take such an interest in young women without some reason for it. What
+are we to do for you, Frank?" said the strong-minded woman, looking at
+him with a little softness. Miss Leonora, perhaps, was not used to be
+taken into anybody's confidence. It moved her more than might have
+been expected from so self-possessed a woman. Perhaps no other act on
+the part of her nephew could have had so much effect, had he been able
+to pursue his advantage, upon the still undecided fate of Skelmersdale.
+
+"Nothing," said the Curate. He met her eye very steadily, but she was
+too clear-sighted to believe that he felt as calmly as he looked.
+"Nothing," he repeated again--"I told you as much before. I have been
+slandered here, and here I must remain. There are no parsonages or
+paradises for me."
+
+With which speech Mr Wentworth shook hands with his aunt and
+went away. He left Miss Leonora as he had left her on various
+occasions--considerably confused in her ideas. She could not enjoy any
+longer the cream of the missionary's letter. When she tried to resume
+her reading, her attention flagged over it. After a while she put on her
+bonnet and went out, after a little consultation with her maid, who
+assisted her in the housekeeping department. The house was tolerably
+full at the present moment, but it was elastic. She was met at the green
+door of Mr Wodehouse's garden by the new proprietor, who stared
+excessively, and did not know what to make of such an apparition. "Jack
+Wentworth's aunt, by Jove!" he said to himself, and took off his hat,
+meaning to show her "a little civility." Miss Leonora thought him one of
+the attendants at the recent ceremonial, and passed him without any
+ceremony. She was quite intent upon her charitable mission. Mr
+Wentworth's confidence was justified.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth's day had been closely occupied up to this point. He had
+gone through a great many emotions, and transacted a good deal of
+business, and he went home with the comparative ease of a man whose
+anxieties are relieved, not by any real deliverance, but by the
+soothing influence of fatigue and the sense of something accomplished.
+He was not in reality in a better position than when he left his house
+in the morning, bitterly mortified, injured, and wounded at the
+tenderest point. Things were very much the same as they had been, but
+a change had come over the feelings of the Perpetual Curate. He
+remembered with a smile, as he went down Grange Lane, that Mr Proctor
+was to dine with him, and that he had rashly undertaken to have
+something better than a chop. It was a very foolish engagement under
+the circumstances. Mr Wentworth was cogitating within himself whether
+he could make an appeal to the sympathies of his aunt's cook for
+something worthy of the sensitive palate of a Fellow of All-Souls,
+when all such thoughts were suddenly driven out of his mind by the
+apparition of his brother Gerald--perhaps the last man in the world
+whom he could have expected to see in Carlingford. Gerald was coming
+up Grange Lane in his meditative way from Mrs Hadwin's door. To look
+at him was enough to reveal to any clear-sighted spectator the
+presence of some perpetual argument in his mind. Though he had come
+out to look for Frank, his eyes were continually forsaking his
+intention, catching spots of lichen on the wall and clumps of herbage
+on the roadside. The long discussion had become so familiar to him,
+that even now, when his mind was made up, he could not relinquish the
+habit which possessed him. When he perceived Frank, he quickened his
+steps. They met with only such a modified expression of surprise on
+the part of the younger brother as was natural to a meeting of English
+kinsfolk. "I heard Louisa's voice in my aunt's drawing-room," said
+Frank; "but, oddly enough, it never occurred to me that you might have
+come with her;" and then Gerald turned with the Curate. When the
+ordinary family questions were asked and answered, a silence ensued
+between the two. As for Frank, in the multiplicity of his own cares,
+he had all but forgotten his brother; and Gerald's mind, though full
+of anxiety, had something of the calm which might be supposed to
+subdue the senses of a dying man. He was on the eve of a change, which
+appeared to him almost as great as death; and the knowledge of that
+gave him a curious stillness of composure--almost a reluctance to
+speak. Strangely enough, each brother at this critical moment felt it
+necessary to occupy himself with the affairs of the other, and to
+postpone the consideration of his own.
+
+"I hope you have changed your mind a little since we last met," said
+Frank; "your last letter--"
+
+"We'll talk of that presently," said the elder brother; "in the mean
+time I want to know about _you_. What is all this? My father is in a
+great state of anxiety. He does not seem to have got rid of his fancy
+that you were somehow involved with Jack--and Jack is here," said
+Gerald, with a look which betokened some anxiety on his own part. "I
+wish you would give me your confidence. Right or wrong, I have come to
+stand by you, Frank," said the Rector of Wentworth, rather mournfully.
+He had been waiting at Mrs Hadwin's for the last two hours. He had
+seen that worthy woman's discomposed looks, and felt that she did not
+shake her head for nothing. Jack had been the bugbear of the family
+for a long time past. Gerald was conscious of adding heavily at the
+present moment to the Squire's troubles. Charley was at Malta, in
+indifferent health; all the others were boys. There was only Frank to
+give the father a little consolation; and now Frank, it appeared, was
+most deeply compromised of all; no wonder Gerald was sad. And then he
+drew forth the anonymous letter which had startled all the Wentworths
+on the previous night. "This is written by somebody who hates you,"
+said the elder brother; "but I suppose there must be some meaning in
+it. I wish you would be frank with me, and tell me what it is."
+
+This appeal had brought them to Mrs Hadwin's door, which the Curate
+opened with his key before he answered his brother. The old lady
+herself was walking in the garden in a state of great agitation, with
+a shawl thrown over the best cap, which she had put on in honour of
+the stranger. Mrs Hadwin's feelings were too much for her at that
+moment. Her head was nodding with the excitement of age, and injured
+virtue trembled in every line of her face. "Mr Wentworth, I cannot put
+up with it any longer; it is a thing I never was used to," she cried,
+as soon as the Curate came within hearing. "I have shut my eyes to a
+great deal, but I cannot bear it any longer. If I had been a common
+lodging-house keeper, I could not have been treated with less respect;
+but to be outraged--to be insulted--"
+
+"What is the matter, Mrs Hadwin?" said Mr Wentworth, in dismay.
+
+"Sir," said the old lady, who was trembling with passion, "you may
+think it no matter to turn a house upside down as mine has been since
+Easter; to bring all sorts of disreputable people about--persons whom
+a gentlewoman in my position ought never to have heard of. I received
+your brother into my house," cried Mrs Hadwin, turning to Gerald,
+"because he was a clergyman and I knew his family, and hoped to find
+him one whose principles I could approve of. I have put up with a
+great deal, Mr Wentworth, more than I could tell to anybody. I took
+in his friend when he asked me, and gave him the spare room, though it
+was against my judgment. I suffered a man with a beard to be seen
+stealing in and out of my house in the evening, as if he was afraid to
+be seen. You gentlemen may not think much of that, but it was a
+terrible thing for a lady in my position, unprotected, and not so well
+off as I once was. It made my house like a lodging-house, and so my
+friends told me; but I was so infatuated I put up with it all for Mr
+Frank's sake. But there _is_ a limit," said the aggrieved woman. "I
+would not have believed it--I _could_ not have believed it of you--not
+whatever people might say: to think of that abandoned disgraceful girl
+coming openly to my door--"
+
+"Good heavens!" cried the Curate: he seized Mrs Hadwin's hand,
+evidently forgetting everything else she had said. "What girl?--whom
+do you mean? For heaven's sake compose yourself and answer me. Who was
+it? Rosa Elsworthy? This is a matter of life and death for me," cried
+the young man. "Speak quickly: when was it?--where is she? For
+heaven's sake, Mrs Hadwin, speak--"
+
+"Let me go, sir!" cried the indignant old lady; "let me go this
+instant--this is insult upon insult. I appeal to you, Mr Gerald--to
+think I should ever be supposed capable of encouraging such a horrid
+shameless--! How dare you--how dare you name such a creature to me?"
+exclaimed Mrs Hadwin, with hysterical sobs. "If it were not for your
+family, you should never enter my house again. Oh, thank you, Mr
+Gerald Wentworth--indeed I am not able to walk. I am sure I don't want
+to grieve you about your brother--I tried not to believe it--I tried
+as long as I could not to believe it--but you hear how he speaks. Do
+you think, sir, I would for a moment permit such a creature to enter
+my door?" she cried again, turning to Frank Wentworth as she leaned
+upon his brother's arm.
+
+"I don't know what kind of a creature the poor girl is," said the
+Curate; "but I know that if you had taken her in, it would have saved
+me much pain and trouble. Tell me, at least, when she came, and who
+saw her--or if she left any message? Perhaps Sarah will tell me," he
+said, with a sigh of despair, as he saw that handmaiden hovering
+behind. Sarah had been a little shy of Mr Wentworth since the night
+Wodehouse disappeared. She had betrayed herself to the Curate, and did
+not like to remember the fact. Now she came up with a little toss of
+her head and a sense of equality, primed and ready with her reply.
+
+"I hope I think more of myself than to take notice of any sich," said
+Sarah; but her instincts were more vivid than those of her mistress,
+and she could not refrain from particulars. "Them as saw her now,
+wouldn't see much in her; I never see such a changed creature," said
+Sarah; "not as I ever thought anything of her looks! a bit of a shawl
+dragged around her, and her eyes as if they would jump out of her
+head. Laws! she didn't get no satisfaction here," said the housemaid,
+with a little triumph.
+
+"Silence, Sarah!" said Mrs Hadwin; "that is not a way to speak to your
+clergyman. I'll go in, Mr Wentworth, please--I am not equal to so much
+agitation. If Mr Frank will come indoors, I should be glad to have an
+explanation--for this sort of thing cannot go on," said the old lady.
+As for the Curate he did not pay the least attention either to the
+disapproval or the impertinence.
+
+"At what time did she come?--which way did she go?--did she leave any
+message?" he repeated; "a moment's common-sense will be of more use
+than all this indignation. It is of the greatest importance to me to
+see Rosa Elsworthy. Here's how it is, Gerald," said the Curate, driven
+to his wit's end; "a word from the girl is all I want to make an end
+of all this--this disgusting folly--and you see how I am thwarted.
+Perhaps they will answer _you_. When did she come?--did she say
+anything?" he cried, turning sharply upon Sarah, who, frightened by Mr
+Wentworth's look, and dismayed to see her mistress moving away, and to
+feel herself alone opposed to him, burst at last into an alarmed
+statement.
+
+"Please, sir, it aint no fault of mine," said Sarah; "it was Missis as
+saw her. She aint been gone not half an hour. It's all happened since
+your brother left. She come to the side-door; Missis wouldn't hear
+nothing she had got to say, nor let her speak. Oh, Mr Wentworth, don't
+you go after her!" cried the girl, following him to the side-door, to
+which he rushed immediately. Not half an hour gone! Mr Wentworth burst
+into the lane which led up to Grove Street, and where there was not a
+soul to be seen. He went back to Grange Lane, and inspected every
+corner where she could have hid herself. Then, after a pause, he
+walked impetuously up the quiet road, and into Elsworthy's shop. Mrs
+Elsworthy was there alone, occupying her husband's place, who had gone
+as usual to the railway for the evening papers. She jumped up from the
+high stool she was seated on when the Curate entered. "Good gracious,
+Mr Wentworth!" cried the frightened woman, and instinctively called
+the errand-boy, who was the only other individual within hearing. She
+was unprotected, and quite unable to defend herself if he meant
+anything; and it was impossible to doubt that there was meaning of the
+most serious and energetic kind in Mr Wentworth's face.
+
+"Has Rosa come back?" he asked. "Is she here? Don't stare at me, but
+speak. Has she come back? I have just heard that she was at my house
+half an hour ago: have you got her safe?"
+
+It was at this moment that Wodehouse came lounging in, with his cigar
+appearing in the midst of his beard, and a curious look of
+self-exhibition and demonstration in his general aspect. When the
+Curate, hearing the steps, turned round upon him, he fell back for a
+moment, not expecting such an encounter. Then the vagabond recovered
+himself, and came forward with the swagger which was his only
+alternative.
+
+"I thought you weren't on good terms here," said Wodehouse; "who are you
+asking after? It's a fine evening, and they don't seem up to much in my
+house. I have asked Jack Wentworth to the Blue Boar at seven--will you
+come? I don't want to bear any grudge. I don't know if they can cook
+anything fit to be eaten in my house. It wasn't me you were asking
+after?" The fellow came and stood close, shoulder to shoulder, by the
+Perpetual Curate. "By Jove, sir! I've as good a right here as you--or
+anywhere," he muttered, as Mr Wentworth withdrew from him. He had to say
+it aloud to convince himself of the fact; for it was hard, after being
+clandestine for half a lifetime, to move about freely in the daylight.
+As for Mr Wentworth, he fixed his eyes full on the new-comer's face.
+
+"I want to know if Rosa has come home," he repeated, in the clearest
+tones of his clear voice. "I am told she called at Mrs Hadwin's half
+an hour ago. Has she come back?"
+
+He scarcely noticed Mrs Elsworthy's answer, for, in the mean time, the
+cigar dropped out of Wodehouse's beard, out of his fingers. He made an
+involuntary step back out of the Curate's way. "By Jove!" he exclaimed
+to himself--the news was more important to him than to either of the
+others. After a minute he turned his back upon them, and kicked the
+cigar which he had dropped out into the street with much blundering
+and unnecessary violence--but turned round and stopped short in this
+occupation as soon as he heard Mrs Elsworthy's voice.
+
+"She hasn't come here," said that virtuous woman, sharply. "I've give
+in to Elsworthy a deal, but I never said I'd give in to take her back.
+She's been and disgraced us all; and she's not a drop's blood to me,"
+said Mrs Elsworthy. "Them as has brought her to this pass had best
+look after her; I've washed my hands of Rosa, and all belonging to
+her. She knows better than to come here."
+
+"Who's speaking of Rosa?" said Elsworthy, who just then came in with
+his bundle of newspapers from the railway. "I might have know'd as it
+was Mr Wentworth. Matters is going to be cleared, sir, between me and
+you. If you was going to make a proposal, I aint revengeful; and I'm
+open to any arrangement as is honourable, to save things coming afore
+the public. I've been expecting of it. You may speak free, sir. You
+needn't be afraid of me."
+
+"Fool!" said the Curate, hotly, "your niece has been seen in
+Carlingford; she came to my door, I am told, about an hour ago. Give
+up this folly, and let us make an effort to find her. I tell you she
+came to my house--"
+
+"In course, sir," said Elsworthy; "it was the most naturalest place
+for her to go. Don't you stand upon it no longer, as if you could
+deceive folks. It will be your ruin, Mr Wentworth--you know that as
+well as I do. I aint no fool but I'm open to a honourable proposal, I
+am. It'll ruin you--ay, and I'll ruin you," cried Rosa's uncle,
+hoarsely--"if you don't change your mind afore to-morrow. It's your
+last chance, if you care for your character, is to-night."
+
+Mr Wentworth did not condescend to make any answer. He followed
+Wodehouse, who had shuffled out after his cigar, and stopped him on
+the step. "I wonder if it is any use appealing to your honour," he
+said. "I suppose you were a gentleman once, and had the feelings of--"
+
+"By Jove! I'm as good a gentleman as you are," cried the new heir. "I
+could buy you up--you and all that belongs to you, by Jove! I'm giving
+Jack Wentworth a dinner at the Blue Boar to-night. I'm not a man to be
+cross-questioned. It appears to me you have got enough to do if you
+mind your own business," said Wodehouse, with a sneer. "You're in a
+nice mess, though you are the parson. I told Jack Wentworth so last
+night."
+
+The Curate stood on the step of Elsworthy's shop with his enemy
+behind, and the ungrateful vagabond whom he had rescued and guarded,
+standing in front of him, with that sneer on his lips. It was hard to
+refrain from the natural impulse which prompted him to pitch the
+vagabond out of his way. "Look here," he said, sharply, "you have not
+much character to lose; but a scamp is a different thing from a
+criminal. I will make the principal people in Carlingford aware what
+were the precise circumstances under which you came here at Easter if
+you do not immediately restore this unhappy girl to her friends. Do
+you understand me? If it is not done at once I will make use of my
+information--and you know what that means. You can defy me if you
+please; but in that case you had better make up your mind to the
+consequences; you will have to take your place as a--"
+
+"Stop!" cried Wodehouse, with a shiver. "We're not by ourselves--we're
+in the public street. What do you mean by talking like that here? Come
+to my house, Wentworth--there's a good fellow--I've ordered a
+dinner--"
+
+"Be silent, sir!" said the Curate. "I give you till noon to-morrow;
+after that I will spare you no longer. You understand what I mean. I
+have been too merciful already. To-morrow, if everything is not
+arranged to my satisfaction here--"
+
+"It was my own name," said Wodehouse, sullenly; "nobody can say it
+wasn't my own name. You couldn't do me any harm--you know you
+wouldn't, either, for the sake of the girls; I'll--I'll give them a
+thousand pounds or so, if I find I can afford it. Come, you don't mean
+that sort of thing, you know," said the conscious criminal; "you
+wouldn't do me any harm."
+
+"If I have to fight for my own reputation I shall not spare you,"
+cried the Curate. "Mind what I say! You are safe till twelve o'clock
+to-morrow; but after that I will have no mercy--not for your sisters'
+sake, not for any inducement in the world. If you want to be known as
+a--"
+
+"Oh Lord, don't speak so loud!--what do you mean? Wentworth, I say,
+hist! Mr Wentworth! By Jove, he won't listen to me!" cried Wodehouse,
+in an agony. When he found that the Curate was already out of hearing,
+the vagabond looked round him on every side with his natural instinct
+of suspicion. If he had known that Mr Wentworth was thinking only of
+disgrace and the stern sentence of public opinion, Wodehouse could
+have put up with it; but he himself, in his guilty imagination, jumped
+at the bar and the prison which had haunted him for long. Somehow it
+felt natural that such a Nemesis should come to him after the
+morning's triumph. He stood looking after the Curate, guilty and
+horror-stricken, till it occurred to him that he might be remarked;
+and then he made a circuit past Elsworthy's shop-window as far as the
+end of Prickett's Lane, where he ventured to cross over so as to get
+to his own house. His own house!--the wretched thrill of terror that
+went through him was a very sufficient offset against his momentary
+triumph; and this was succeeded by a flush of rage as he thought of
+the Curate's other information. What was to be done? Every moment was
+precious; but he felt an instinctive horror of venturing out again in
+the daylight. When it approached the hour at which he had ordered that
+dinner at the Blue Boar, the humbled hero wrapped himself in an old
+overcoat which he found in the hall, and slunk into the inn like the
+clandestine wretch he was. He had no confidence in himself, but he had
+confidence in Jack Wentworth. He might still be able to help his
+unlucky associate out.
+
+When Mr Wentworth reached his rooms, he found that his guest had
+arrived before him, and consequently the threatened explanation with
+Mrs Hadwin was forestalled for that night. Mr Proctor and Gerald were
+sitting together, not at all knowing what to talk about; for the late
+Rector was aware that Frank Wentworth's brother was on the verge of
+Rome, and was confused, and could not help feeling that his position
+between a man on the point of perversion in an ecclesiastical point of
+view, and another whose morals were suspected and whose character was
+compromised, was, to say the least, a very odd position for a
+clergyman of unblemished orthodoxy and respectability; besides, it was
+embarrassing, when he had come for a very private consultation, to
+find a stranger there before him. The Curate went in very full of what
+had just occurred. The events of the last two or three hours had
+worked a total change in his feelings. He was no longer the injured,
+insulted, silent object of a petty but virulent persecution. The
+contemptuous silence with which he had treated the scandal at first,
+and the still more obstinate sense of wrong which latterly had shut
+his lips and his heart, had given way to-day to warmer and more
+generous emotions. What would have seemed to him in the morning only
+the indignant reserve of a man unjustly suspected, appeared now a
+foolish and unfriendly reticence. The only thing which restrained him
+was a still lingering inclination to screen Wodehouse, if possible,
+from a public exposure, which would throw shame upon his sisters as
+well as himself. If any generosity, if any gentlemanly feeling, were
+still left in the vagabond's soul, it was possible he might answer the
+Curate's appeal; and Mr Wentworth felt himself bound to offer no
+public explanation of the facts of the case until this last chance of
+escape had been left for the criminal. But, so far as regarded
+himself, his heart was opened, his wounded pride mollified, and he was
+ready enough to talk of what had just happened, and to explain the
+whole business to his anxious companions. When he joined them, indeed,
+he was so full of it as almost to forget that he himself was still
+believed the hero of the tale. "This unfortunate little girl has been
+here, and I have missed her," he said, without in the least concealing
+his vexation, and the excitement which his rapid walk had not subdued;
+to the great horror of Mr Proctor, who tried all he could, by
+telegraphic glances, to recall the young man to a sense of that fact
+that Sarah was in the room.
+
+"I must say I think it is imprudent--highly imprudent," said the late
+Rector: "they will call these women to prove that she has been here
+again; and what conclusion but one can possibly be drawn from such a
+fact? I am very sorry to see you so unguarded." He said this, seizing
+the moment after Sarah had removed the salmon, which was very good,
+and was served with a sauce which pleased Mr Proctor all the more that
+he had not expected much from an impromptu dinner furnished by a
+Perpetual Curate; but the fact was, that Gerald's arrival had
+awakened Mrs Hadwin to a proper regard for her own credit, which was
+at stake.
+
+When Sarah withdrew finally, and they were left alone, Frank Wentworth
+gave the fullest explanation he was able to his surprised auditors. He
+told them that it was Wodehouse, and not himself, whom Rosa had met in
+the garden, and whom she had no doubt come to seek at this crisis of
+their fortunes. There was not the least doubt in his own mind that
+Wodehouse had carried her away, and hidden her somewhere close at
+hand; and when he had given them all his reasons for thinking so, his
+hearers were of the same opinion; but Mr Proctor continued very
+doubtful and perplexed, clear though the story was. He sat silent,
+brooding over the new mystery, while the brothers discussed the
+original questions.
+
+"I cannot think why you did not go to the Rector at once and tell him
+all this," said Gerald. "It is always best to put a stop to gossip. At
+least you will see him to-morrow, or let me see him--"
+
+"The Rector is deeply prejudiced against me," said the Perpetual Curate,
+"for a very unworthy reason, if he has any reason at all. He has never
+asked me to explain. I shall not interfere with his investigation," said
+the young man, haughtily; "let it go on. I have been working here for
+five years, and the Carlingford people ought to know better. As for the
+Rector, I will make no explanations to him."
+
+"It is not for the Rector, it is for yourself," said Gerald; "and this
+fellow Wodehouse surely has no claim--"
+
+But at the sound of this name, Mr Proctor roused himself from his
+pause of bewilderment, and took the words out of Mr Wentworth's mouth.
+
+"He has been here since Easter; but why?" said the late Rector. "I
+cannot fancy why Mr Wodehouse's son should come to you when his
+father's house was so near. In hiding? why was he in hiding? He is
+evidently a scamp," said Mr Proctor, growing red; "but that is not so
+unusual. I don't understand--I am bound to say I don't understand it.
+He may be the culprit, as you say; but what was he doing here?"
+
+"I took him in at Miss Wodehouse's request. I cannot explain
+why--_she_ will tell you," said the Curate. "As for Wodehouse, I have
+given him another chance till twelve o'clock to-morrow: if he does not
+make his appearance then--"
+
+Mr Proctor had listened only to the first words; he kept moving
+uneasily in his seat while the Curate spoke. Then he broke in, "It
+appears I cannot see Miss Wodehouse," he said, with an injured tone;
+"she does not see any one. I cannot ask for any explanation; but it
+seems to me most extraordinary. It is three months since Easter. If he
+had been living with you all the time, there must have been some
+occasion for it. I don't know what to think, for my part; and yet I
+always imagined that I was considered a friend of the family," said
+the late Rector, with an aggrieved look. He took his glass of claret
+very slowly, looking at it as if expecting to see in the purple
+reflection some explanation of the mystery. As for Gerald Wentworth,
+he relapsed into silence when he found that his arguments did not
+alter Frank's decision; he too was disappointed not to find his
+brother alone. He sat with his eyes cast down, and a singular look of
+abstraction on his face. He had got into a new atmosphere--a different
+world. When his anxieties about Frank were satisfied, Gerald withdrew
+himself altogether from the little party. He sat there, it is true,
+not unaware of what was going on, and even from time to time joining
+in the conversation; but already a subtle change had come over Gerald.
+He might have been repeating an "office," or carrying on a course of
+private devotions, from his looks. Rome had established her dualism in
+his mind. He had no longer the unity of an Englishman trained to do
+one thing at a time, and to do it with his might. He sat in a kind of
+languor, carrying on within himself a thread of thought, to which his
+external occupation gave no clue; yet at the same time suffering no
+indication to escape him of the real condition of his mind. The three
+were consequently far from being good company. Mr Proctor, who was
+more puzzled than ever as to the true state of the case, could not
+unburden himself of his own intentions as he had hoped to do; and
+after a while the Curate, too, was silent, finding his statements
+received, as he thought, but coldly. It was a great relief to him when
+he was called out by Sarah to speak to some one, though his absence
+made conversation still more difficult for the two who were left
+behind. Mr Proctor, from the other side of the table, regarded Gerald
+with a mixture of wonder and pity. He did not feel quite sure that it
+was not his duty to speak to him--to expound the superior catholicity
+of the Church of England, and call his attention to the schismatic
+peculiarities of the Church of Rome. "It might do him good to read
+Burgon's book," Mr Proctor said to himself; and by way of introducing
+that subject, he began to talk of Italy, which was not a bad device,
+and did credit to his invention. Meanwhile the Curate had gone to his
+study, wondering a little who could want him, and, to his utter
+bewilderment, found his aunt Dora, veiled, and wrapped up in a great
+shawl.
+
+"Oh, Frank, my dear, don't be angry! I couldn't help coming," cried
+Miss Dora. "Come and sit down by me here. I slipped out and did not
+even put on my bonnet, that nobody might know. Oh, Frank, I don't know
+what to say. I am so afraid you have been wicked. I have just seen
+that--that girl. I saw her out of my window. Frank! don't jump up like
+that. I can't go on telling you if you don't stay quiet here."
+
+"Aunt, let me understand you," cried the Curate. "You saw whom? Rosa
+Elsworthy? Don't drive me desperate, as all the others do with their
+stupidity. You saw her? when?--where?"
+
+"Oh Frank, Frank! to think it should put you in such a way--such a
+girl as that! Oh, my dear boy, if I had thought you cared so much, I
+never would have come to tell you. It wasn't to encourage you--it
+wasn't. Oh, Frank, Frank! that it should come to this!" cried Miss
+Dora, shrinking back from him with fright and horror in her face.
+
+"Come, we have no time to lose," said the Curate, who was desperate.
+He picked up her shawl, which had fallen on the floor, and bundled her
+up in it in the most summary way. "Come, aunt Dora," said the
+impetuous young man; "you know you were always my kindest friend.
+Nobody else can help me at this moment. I feel that you are going to
+be my deliverer. Come, aunt Dora--we must go and find her, you and I.
+There is not a moment to lose."
+
+He had his arm round her, holding on her shawl. He raised her up from
+her chair, and supported her, looking at her as he had not done before
+since he was a boy at school, Miss Dora thought. She was too
+frightened, too excited, to cry, as she would have liked to do; but
+the proposal was so terrible and unprecedented that she leaned back
+trembling on her nephew's arm, and could not move either to obey or to
+resist him. "Oh, Frank, I never went after any improper person in my
+life," gasped aunt Dora. "Oh, my dear, don't make me do anything that
+is wrong; they will say it is my fault!" cried the poor lady,
+gradually feeling herself obliged to stand on her feet and collect her
+forces. The shawl fell back from her shoulders as the Curate withdrew
+his arm. "You have lost my large pin," cried aunt Dora, in despair;
+"and I have no bonnet. And oh! what will Leonora say? I never, never
+would have come to tell you if I had thought of this. I only came to
+warn you, Frank. I only intended--"
+
+"Yes," said the Curate. The emergency was momentous, and he dared not
+lose patience. He found her large pin even, while she stood trembling,
+and stuck it into her shawl as if it had been a skewer. "You never
+would have come if you had not been my guardian angel," said the
+deceitful young man, whose heart was beating high with anxiety and
+hope. "Nobody else would do for me what you are going to do--but I
+have always had confidence in my aunt Dora. Come, come! We have not a
+moment to lose."
+
+This was how he overcame Miss Dora's scruples. Before she knew what
+had happened she was being hurried through the clear summer night past
+the long garden-walls of Grange Lane. The stars were shining overhead,
+the leaves rustling on all sides in the soft wind--not a soul to be
+seen in the long line of darkling road. Miss Dora had no breath to
+speak, however much disposed she might have been. She could not
+remonstrate, having full occasion for all her forces to keep her feet
+and her breath. When Mr Wentworth paused for an instant to ask "which
+way did she go?" it was all Miss Dora could do to indicate with her
+finger the dark depths of Prickett's Lane. Thither she was immediately
+carried as by a whirlwind. With a shawl over her head, fastened
+together wildly by the big pin--with nothing but little satin
+slippers, quite unfit for the exertion required of them--with an
+agonised protest in her heart that she had never, never in her life
+gone after any improper person before--and, crowning misfortune of
+all, with a horrible consciousness that she had left the garden-door
+open, hoping to return in a few minutes, Miss Dora Wentworth, single
+woman as she was, and ignorant of evil, was whirled off in pursuit of
+the unfortunate Rosa into the dark abysses of Prickett's Lane.
+
+While this terrible Hegira was taking place, Mr Proctor sat opposite
+Gerald Wentworth, sipping his claret and talking of Italy. "Perhaps
+you have not read Burgon's book," said the late Rector. "There is a
+good deal of valuable information in it about the Catacombs, and he
+enters at some length into the question between the Roman Church and
+our own. If you are interested in that, you should read it," said Mr
+Proctor; "it is a very important question."
+
+"Yes," said Gerald; and then there followed a pause. Mr Proctor did
+not know what to make of the faint passing smile, the abstracted look,
+which he had vaguely observed all the evening; and he looked so
+inquiringly across the table that Gerald's new-born dualism came
+immediately into play, to the great amazement of his companion. Mr
+Wentworth talked, and talked well; but his eyes were still abstracted,
+his mind was still otherwise occupied; and Mr Proctor, whose own
+intelligence was in a state of unusual excitement, perceived the fact
+without being at all able to explain it. An hour passed, and both the
+gentlemen looked at their watches. The Curate had left them abruptly
+enough, with little apology; and as neither of them had much interest
+in the other, nor in the conversation, it was natural that the host's
+return should be looked for with some anxiety. When the two gentlemen
+had said all they could say about Italy--when Mr Proctor had given a
+little sketch of his own experiences in Rome, to which his companion
+did not make the usual response of narrating his--the two came to a
+dead pause. They had now been sitting for more than two hours over
+that bottle of Lafitte, many thoughts having in the mean time crossed
+Mr Proctor's mind concerning the coffee and the Curate. Where could he
+have gone? and why was there not somebody in the house with sense
+enough to clear away the remains of dessert, and refresh the wearied
+interlocutors with the black and fragrant cup which cheers all
+students? Both of the gentlemen had become seriously uneasy by this
+time; the late Rector got up from the table when he could bear it no
+longer. "Your brother must have been called away by something
+important," said Mr Proctor, stiffly. "Perhaps you will kindly make my
+excuses. Mr Morgan keeps very regular hours, and I should not like to
+be late--"
+
+"It is very extraordinary. I can't fancy what can be the reason--it
+must be somebody sick," said Gerald, rising too, but not looking by
+any means sure that Frank's absence had such a laudable excuse.
+
+"Very likely," said the late Rector, more stiffly than ever. "You are
+living here, I suppose?"
+
+"No; I am at Miss Wentworth's--my aunt's," said Gerald. "I will walk
+with you;" and they went out together with minds considerably excited.
+Both looked up and down the road when they got outside the garden-gate:
+both had a vague idea that the Curate might be visible somewhere in
+conversation with somebody disreputable; and one being his friend and
+the other his brother, they were almost equally disturbed about the
+unfortunate young man. Mr Proctor's thoughts, however, were mingled with
+a little offence. He had meant to be confidential and brotherly, and the
+occasion had been lost; and how was it possible to explain the rudeness
+with which Mr Wentworth had treated him? Gerald was still more seriously
+troubled. When Mr Proctor left him, he walked up and down Grange Lane in
+the quiet of the summer night, watching for his brother. Jack came home
+smoking his cigar, dropping Wodehouse, whom the heir of the Wentworths
+declined to call his friend, before he reached his aunts' door, and as
+much surprised as it was possible for him to be, to find Gerald
+lingering, meditating, along the silent road; but still Frank did
+not come. By-and-by a hurried light gleamed in the window of the
+summer-house, and sounds of commotion were audible in the orderly
+dwelling of the Miss Wentworths; and the next thing that happened was
+the appearance of Miss Leonora, also with a shawl over her head, at the
+garden-door. Just then, when they were all going to bed, Collins, Miss
+Dora's maid, had come to the drawing-room in search of her mistress. She
+was not to be found anywhere, though her bonnets and all her outdoor
+gear were safe in their place. For the first time in her life the entire
+family were startled into anxiety on Miss Dora's account. As for Mrs
+Gerald Wentworth, she jumped at once to the conclusion that the poor
+lady was murdered, and that Frank must have something to do with it, and
+filled the house with lamentations. Nobody went to bed, not even aunt
+Cecilia, who had not been out of her room at eleven o'clock for
+centuries. Collins had gone into the summer-house and was turning over
+everything there as if she expected to find her mistress's body in the
+cupboard or under the sofa; Lewis, the butler, was hunting through the
+garden with a lantern, looking under all the bushes. No incident so
+utterly unaccountable had occurred before in Miss Dora Wentworth's life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+The first investigation into the character of the Rev. F. C.
+Wentworth, Curate of St Roque's was fixed to take place in the vestry
+of the parish church, at eleven o'clock on the morning of the day
+which followed this anxious night. Most people in Carlingford were
+aware that the Perpetual Curate was to be put upon his trial on that
+sunny July morning; and there was naturally a good deal of curiosity
+among the intelligent townsfolk to see how he looked, and what was the
+aspect of the witnesses who were to bear testimony for or against him.
+It is always interesting to the crowd to see how a man looks at a
+great crisis of his life--or a woman either, for that matter; and if a
+human creature, at the height of joy, or in the depths of sorrow, is a
+spectacle to draw everybody's eyes, there is a still greater dramatic
+interest in the sight when hope and fear are both in action, and the
+alternative hangs between life or death. It was life or death to Mr
+Wentworth, though the tribunal was one which could inflict no
+penalties. If he should be found guilty, death would be a light doom
+to the downfall and moral extinction which would make an end of the
+unfaithful priest; and, consequently, Carlingford had reason for its
+curiosity. There was a crowd about the back entrance which led to the
+shabby little sacristy where Mr Morgan and Mr Leeson were accustomed
+to robe themselves; and scores of people strayed into the church
+itself, and hung about, pretending to look at the improvements which
+the Rector called restorations. Mrs Morgan herself, looking very pale,
+was in and out half-a-dozen times in the hour, talking with terrible
+science and technicalism to Mr Finial's clerk of works, who could not
+make her see that she was talking Gothic--a language which had nothing
+to do with Carlingford Church, that building being of the Revolution
+or churchwarden epoch. She was a great deal too much agitated at that
+moment to be aware of the distinction. As for Mr Wentworth, it was
+universally agreed that, though he looked a little flushed and
+excited, there was no particular discouragement visible in his face.
+He went in to the vestry with some eagerness, not much like a culprit
+on his trial. The Rector, indeed, who was heated and embarrassed and
+doubtful of himself, looked more like a criminal than the real hero.
+There were six of the amateur judges, of whom one had felt his heart
+fail him at the last moment. The five who were steadfast were Mr
+Morgan, Dr Marjoribanks, old Mr Western (who was a distant cousin of
+the Wodehouses, and brother-in-law, though old enough to be her
+grandfather, of the beautiful Lady Western, who once lived in Grange
+Lane), and with them Mr Centum, the banker, and old Colonel Chiley. Mr
+Proctor, who was very uneasy in his mind, and much afraid lest he
+should be called upon to give an account of the Curate's behaviour on
+the previous night, had added himself as a kind of auxiliary to this
+judicial bench. Mr Waters had volunteered his services as counsellor,
+perhaps with the intention of looking after the interests of a very
+different client; and to this imposing assembly John Brown had walked
+in, with his hands in his pockets, rather disturbing the composure of
+the company in general, who were aware what kind of criticism his
+was. While the bed of justice was being arranged, a very odd little
+group collected in the outer room, where Elsworthy, in a feverish
+state of excitement, was revolving about the place from the door to
+the window, and where the Miss Hemmings sat up against the wall, with
+their drapery drawn up about them, to show that they were of different
+clay from Mrs Elsworthy, who, respectful but sullen, sat on the same
+bench. The anxious public peered in at the door whenever it had a
+chance, and took peeps through the window when the other privilege was
+impossible. Besides the Miss Hemmings and the Elsworthys there was
+Peter Hayles, who also had seen something, and the wife of another
+shopkeeper at the end of George Street; and there was the Miss
+Hemmings' maid, who had escorted them on that eventful night of Rosa's
+disappearance. Not one of the witnesses had the smallest doubt as to
+the statement he or she was about to make; they were entirely
+convinced of the righteousness of their own cause, and the justice of
+the accusation, which naturally gave a wonderful moral force to their
+testimony. Besides--but that was quite a different matter--they all
+had their little grudges against Mr Wentworth, each in his secret
+heart.
+
+When Elsworthy was called in to the inner room it caused a little
+commotion amid this company outside. The Miss Hemmings looked at each
+other, not with an agreeable expression of face. "They might have had
+the politeness to call us first," Miss Sophia said to her sister; and
+Miss Hemmings shook her head and sighed, and said, "Dear Mr Bury!" an
+observation which meant a great deal, though it did not seem perfectly
+relevant. "Laws! I'll forget everything when I'm took in there," said
+the shopkeeper's wife to Miss Hemmings' maid; and the ladies drew
+still closer up, superior to curiosity, while the others stretched
+their necks to get a peep into the terrible inner room.
+
+It was indeed a formidable tribunal. The room was small, so that the
+unfortunate witness was within the closest range of six pairs of
+judicial eyes, not to speak of the vigilant orbs of the two lawyers,
+and those of the accused and his supporters. Mr Morgan, by right of
+his position, sat at the end of the table, and looked very severely at
+the first witness as he came in--which Elsworthy did, carrying his hat
+before him like a kind of shield, and polishing it carefully round and
+round. The Rector was far from having any intention of discouraging
+the witness, who was indeed his mainstay; but the anxiety of his
+peculiar position, as being at once counsel for the prosecution, and
+chief magistrate of the bed of justice, gave an unusual sternness to
+his face.
+
+"Your name is George Elsworthy," said the Rector, filling his pen with
+ink, and looking penetratingly in the witness's face.
+
+"George Appleby Elsworthy," said Rosa's uncle, a little alarmed; "not
+as I often signs in full; for you see, sir, it's a long name, and
+life's short, and it aint necessary in the way of business--"
+
+"Stationer and newsmonger in Carlingford," interrupted the Rector; "I
+should say in Upper Grange Lane, Carlingford; aged--?"
+
+"But it doesn't appear to me that newsmonger is a correct expression,"
+said old Mr Western, who was very conversational; "newsmonger means a
+gossip, not a tradesman; not that there is any reason why a tradesman
+should not be a gossip, but--"
+
+"Aged?" said Mr Morgan, holding his pen suspended in the air. "I will
+say newsvendor if that will be better--one cannot be too
+particular--Aged--?"
+
+"He is come to years of discretion," said Dr Marjoribanks, "that's all
+we need; don't keep us all day waiting, man, but tell your story about
+this elopement of your niece. When did it take place, and what are the
+facts? Never mind your hat, but say out what you have got to say."
+
+"You are much too summary, Doctor," said Mr Morgan, with a little
+offence; but the sense of the assembly was clearly with Dr
+Marjoribanks--so that the Rector dashed in 45 as the probable age of
+the witness, and waited his further statement.
+
+After this there was silence, and Elsworthy began his story. He
+narrated all the facts of Rosa's disappearance, with an intention and
+bias which made his true tale a wonderful tacit accusation. Rage,
+revenge, a sense of wrong, worked what in an indifferent narrator only
+the highest skill could have wrought. He did not mention the Curate's
+name, but arranged all his facts in lines like so many trains of
+artillery. How Rosa was in the habit of going to Mrs Hadwin's (it was
+contrary to Elsworthy's instinct to bring in at this moment any
+reference to Mr Wentworth) every night with the newspaper--"not as I
+sent her of errands for common--keeping two boys for the purpose,"
+said the injured man; "but, right or wrong, there's where she'd go as
+certain as the night come. I've seen her with my own eyes go into Mrs
+Hadwin's garden-door, which she hadn't no need to go in but for being
+encouraged; and it would be half an hour at the least afore she came
+out."
+
+"But, bless me! that was very imprudent of you," cried Mr Proctor, who
+up to this time had not uttered a word.
+
+"There was nobody there but the old lady and her maids--except the
+clergyman," said Elsworthy. "It wasn't my part to think as she could
+get any harm from the clergyman. She wouldn't hear no remonstrances
+from me; she _would_ go as regular as the evening come."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Mr Waters, who saw John Brown's humorous eye gleaming
+round upon the little assembly; "but let us come to the immediate
+matter in hand. Your niece disappeared from Carlingford on the--?"
+
+"Yes, yes," said Mr Western, "we must not sink into conversation;
+that's the danger of all unofficial investigations. It seems natural
+to let him tell his story as he likes: but here we have got somebody
+to keep us in order. It's natural, but it aint law--is it, Brown?"
+
+"I don't see that law has anything to do with it," said John Brown,
+with a smile.
+
+"Order! order!" said the Rector, who was much goaded and aggravated by
+this remark. "I request that there may be no conversation. The witness
+will proceed with what he has to say. Your niece disappeared on the
+15th. What were the circumstances of her going away?"
+
+"She went down as usual with the newspaper," said Elsworthy; "it had got
+to be a custom as regular as regular. She stopped out later nor common,
+and my wife and me was put out. I don't mind saying, gentlemen," said
+the witness, with candour, "as my missis and I wasn't altogether of the
+same mind about Rosa. She was late, but I can't say as I was anxious. It
+wasn't above a week afore that Mr Wentworth himself brought her home
+safe, and it was well known as he didn't like her to be out at night; so
+I was easy in my mind, like. But when eleven o'clock came, and there was
+no denying of its being past hours, I began to get a little fidgety. I
+stepped out to the door, and I looked up and down, and saw nobody; so I
+took up my hat and took a turn down the road--"
+
+At this moment there was a little disturbance outside. A voice at
+which the Curate started was audible, asking entrance. "I must see Mr
+Wentworth immediately," this voice said, as the door was partially
+opened; and then, while his sons both rose to their feet, the Squire
+himself suddenly entered the room. He looked round upon the assembled
+company with a glance of shame and grief that went to the Curate's
+heart. Then he bowed to the judges, who were looking at him with an
+uncomfortable sense of his identity, and walked across the room to the
+bench on which Gerald and Frank were seated together. "I beg your
+pardon, gentlemen," said the Squire, "if I interrupt your proceedings;
+but I have only this moment arrived in Carlingford, and heard what was
+going on, and I trust I may be allowed to remain, as my son's honour
+is concerned." Mr Wentworth scarcely waited for the assent which
+everybody united in murmuring, but seated himself heavily on the
+bench, as if glad to sit down anywhere. He suffered Frank to grasp his
+hand, but scarcely gave it; nor, indeed, did he look, except once,
+with a bitter momentary glance at the brothers. They were sons a
+father might well have been proud of, so far as external appearances
+went; but the Squire's soul was bitter within him. One was about to
+abandon all that made life valuable in the eyes of the sober-minded
+country gentleman. The other--"And I could have sworn by Frank," the
+mortified father was saying in his heart. He sat down with a dull
+dogged composure. He meant to hear it all, and have it proved to him
+that his favourite son was a villain. No wonder that he was
+disinclined to respond to any courtesies. He set himself down almost
+with impatience that the sound of his entrance should have interrupted
+the narrative, and looked straight in front of him, fixing his eyes on
+Elsworthy, and taking no notice of the anxious glances of the possible
+culprit at his side.
+
+"I hadn't gone above a step or two when I see Mr Hayles at his door. I
+said to him, 'It's a fine evening,'--as so it was, and the stars
+shining. 'My Rosa aint been about your place, has she?' I says; and he
+says, 'No.' But, gentlemen, I see by the look of his eye as he had
+more to say. 'Aint she come home yet?' says Mr Hayles--"
+
+"Stop a moment," said John Brown. "Peter Hayles is outside, I think.
+If the Rector wishes to preserve any sort of legal form in this
+inquiry, may I suggest that a conversation repeated is not evidence?
+Let Elsworthy tell what he knows, and the other can speak for
+himself."
+
+"It is essential we should hear the conversation," said the Rector,
+"since I believe it was of importance. I believe it is an important
+link in the evidence--I believe--"
+
+"Mr Morgan apparently has heard the evidence before," said the
+inexorable John Brown.
+
+Here a little commotion arose in the bed of justice. "Hush, hush,"
+said Dr Marjoribanks; "the question is, What has the witness got to
+say of his own knowledge? Go on, Elsworthy; we can't possibly spend
+the whole day here. Never mind what Hayles said, unless he
+communicated something about the girl."
+
+"He told me as the Miss Hemmings had seen Rosa," said Elsworthy,
+slowly; "had seen her at nine, or half after nine--I won't be sure
+which--at Mrs Hadwin's gate."
+
+"The Miss Hemmings are outside. Let the Miss Hemmings be called," said
+Mr Proctor, who had a great respect for Mr Brown's opinion.
+
+But here Mr Waters interposed. "The Miss Hemmings will be called
+presently," he said; "in the mean time let this witness be heard out;
+afterwards his evidence will be corroborated. Go on, Elsworthy."
+
+"The Miss Hemmings had seen my Rosa at Mrs Hadwin's gate," repeated
+Elsworthy, "a-standing outside, and Mr Wentworth a-standing inside;
+there aint more respectable parties in all Carlingford. It was them as
+saw it, not me. Gentlemen, I went back home. I went out again. I went
+over all the town a-looking for her. Six o'clock in the morning come,
+and I had never closed an eye, nor took off my clothes, nor even sat
+down upon a chair. When it was an hour as I could go to a gentleman's
+house and no offence, I went to the place as she was last seen. Me and
+Mr Hayles, we went together. The shutters was all shut but on one
+window, which was Mr Wentworth's study. We knocked at the garden-door,
+and I aint pretending that we didn't make a noise; and, gentlemen, it
+wasn't none of the servants--it was Mr Wentworth hisself as opened the
+door."
+
+There was here a visible sensation among the judges. It was a point
+that told. As for the Squire, he set his stick firmly before him, and
+leaned his clasped hands upon it to steady himself. His healthful,
+ruddy countenance was paling gradually. If it had been an apostle who
+spoke, he could not have taken in more entirely the bitter tale.
+
+"It was Mr Wentworth hisself, gentlemen," said the triumphant witness;
+"not like a man roused out of his sleep, but dressed and shaved, and
+his hair brushed, as if it had been ten instead o' six. It's well
+known in Carlingford as he aint an early man; and gentlemen here knows
+it as well as me. I don't pretend as I could keep my temper. I give
+him my mind, gentlemen, being an injured man; but I said as--if he do
+his duty by her--"
+
+"Softly a moment," said Mr Brown. "What had Mr Wentworth's aspect at
+six o'clock in the morning to do with Rosa Elsworthy's disappearance
+at nine on the previous night?"
+
+"I don't see that the question is called for at the present moment,"
+said Mr Waters. "Let us hear what reasons you have for attributing to
+Mr Wentworth an unusual degree of interest in your niece."
+
+"Sir," said Elsworthy, "he come into my shop as regular as the day; he
+never come but he asked after Rosa, or spoke to her if she was there.
+One night he walked all the way up Grange Lane and knocked at my door
+and brought her in all of a glow, and said I wasn't to send her out
+late no more. My missis, being a woman as is very particular, was
+struck, and thought as harm might come of it; and, not to be talked
+of, we sent Rosa away. And what does Mr Wentworth do, but the moment
+he hears of it comes right off to my shop! He had been at his own
+home, sir, a-visiting his respected family," said Elsworthy, turning
+slightly towards the side of the room where the father and sons sat
+together. "He came to my shop with his carpet-bag as he come off the
+railway, and he gave me my orders as I was to bring Rosa back. What he
+said was, 'Directly,' that very day. I never had no thought but what
+his meaning was honourable--being a clergyman," said the witness, with
+a heavy sigh; and then there ensued a little pause.
+
+"The Miss Hemmings had better be called now," said Mr Waters.
+"Elsworthy, you can retire; but we may require you again, so you had
+better not go away. Request Miss Hemmings to do us the favour of
+coming here."
+
+The Squire lifted his heavy eyes when the next witness entered. She
+made a very solemn curtsy to the gentlemen, and sat down on the chair
+which somebody placed for her. Being unsupported, a lady--not to say
+an unmarried lady profoundly conscious of the fact--among a number of
+men, Miss Hemmings was naturally much agitated. She was the eldest and
+the softest-hearted; and it occurred to her for the first time, as she
+gave a frightened look towards the Curate, that he was like her
+favourite younger brother, who had died ever so many years ago--a
+thought which, for the first time, made her doubtful of her testimony,
+and disposed to break down in her evidence.
+
+"You were in Grange Lane on the evening of the 15th ultimo," said Mr
+Morgan, after he had carefully written down her name, "about nine
+o'clock?"
+
+"Oh yes, Mr Morgan," said the poor lady; "we were at St Roque's
+Cottage drinking tea with Mrs Bland, who was lodging with Mrs Smith in
+the same rooms Mrs Rider used to have. I put the note of invitation in
+my pocket in case there should be any doubt; but, indeed, poor Mrs
+Bland was taken very ill on the 16th, and Dr Marjoribanks was called,
+and he knows it could not be any other evening--and besides--"
+
+"About nine o'clock," said Mr Waters; "did I understand you, it was
+about nine o'clock?"
+
+"She was such an invalid, poor dear," said Miss Hemmings,
+apologetically; "and it is such a privilege to have real Christian
+conversation. We dined early on purpose, and we were asked for
+half-past six. I think it must have been a little after nine; but Mary
+is here, and she knows what hour she came for us. Shall I call Mary,
+please?"
+
+"Presently," said the counsel for the prosecution. "Don't be
+agitated; one or two questions will do. You passed Mrs Hadwin's door
+coming up. Will you kindly tell the gentlemen what you saw there?"
+
+"Oh!" cried Miss Hemmings. She looked round at the Curate again, and
+he was more than ever like Willie who died. "I--I don't take much
+notice of what I see in the streets," she said, faltering; "and there
+are always so many poor people going to see Mr Wentworth." Here the
+poor lady stopped short. She had never considered before what harm her
+evidence might do. Now her heart smote her for the young man who was
+like Willie. "He is so very kind to all the poor people," continued
+the unwilling witness, looking doubtfully round into all the faces
+near her; "and he's such a young man," she added, in her tremulous
+way. It was Miss Sophia who was strong-minded; all the poor women in
+Back Grove Street were perfectly aware that their chances were doubled
+when they found Miss Jane.
+
+"But you must tell us what you saw all the same," said Dr Marjoribanks.
+"I daresay Mr Wentworth wishes it as much as we do."
+
+The Curate got up and came forward with one of his impulses. "I wish
+it a great deal more," he said. "My dear Miss Hemmings, thank you for
+your reluctance to say anything to harm me; but the truth can't
+possibly harm me: tell them exactly what you saw."
+
+Miss Hemmings looked from one to another, and trembled more and more. "I
+am sure I never meant to injure Mr Wentworth," she said; "I only said I
+thought it was imprudent of him--that was all I meant. Oh, I am sure, if
+I had thought of this, I would rather have done anything than say it.
+And whatever Sophia might have imagined, I assure you, gentlemen, _I_
+never, never for a moment thought Mr Wentworth meant any harm."
+
+"Never mind Mr Wentworth," said Mr Brown, who now took the matter in
+hand. "When you were passing Mrs Hadwin's house about nine o'clock on
+the evening of the 15th, you saw some one standing at the door. Mr
+Wentworth particularly wishes you to say who it was."
+
+"Oh, Mr Brown--oh, Mr Morgan," cried the poor lady; "it was little
+Rosa Elsworthy. She was a designing little artful thing. When she was
+in my Sunday class, she was always thinking of her vanities. Mr
+Wentworth was talking to her at the garden-door. I daresay he was
+giving her good advice; and oh, gentlemen, if you were to question me
+for ever and ever, that is all I have got to say."
+
+"Did you not hear what they were talking about?" said Mr Proctor. "If it
+was good advice--" The late Rector stopped short, and grew red, and felt
+that his supposition was that of a simpleton. "You heard what they were
+talking about? What did they say?" he concluded, peremptorily, in a tone
+which frightened the reluctant witness more and more.
+
+"I did not hear a single word," she cried--"not a word. That is all I
+know about it. Oh, please, let me go away. I feel very faint. I should
+like a little cold water, please. I did not hear a word--not a word. I
+have told you everything I have got to say."
+
+Everybody looked more serious when Miss Hemmings stumbled from her
+chair. She was so frightened at her own testimony, and so unwilling to
+give it, that its importance was doubled in the eyes of the
+inexperienced judges. The Squire gave a low groan under his breath,
+and turned his eyes, which had been fixed upon her, on the ground
+instead; but raised them immediately, with a gleam of anxiety as his
+son again rose from his side. All that the Curate meant to do was to
+give the trembling lady his arm, and lead her out; but the entire
+assembly, with the exception of John Brown, started and stared as if
+he had been about to take instant revenge upon the frightened woman.
+Miss Hemmings burst into tears when Mr Wentworth set a chair for her
+by the door, and brought her a glass of water, in the outer room; and
+just then somebody knocked and gave him a note, with which he returned
+to the presence of the awful tribunal. Miss Sophia Hemmings was
+corroborating her sister's statement when the Perpetual Curate
+re-entered. He stood behind her quite quietly, until she had finished,
+with a slight smile upon his lips, and the note in his hand. Dr
+Marjoribanks was not partial to Miss Sophia Hemmings. She was never
+ill herself, and rarely permitted even her sister to enjoy the gentle
+satisfaction of a day's sickness. The old Doctor looked instead at the
+Perpetual Curate. When Miss Hemmings withdrew, Dr Marjoribanks
+interposed. "It appears to me that Mr Wentworth has something to say,"
+said the Doctor. "It is quite necessary that he should have a hearing
+as well as the rest of us. Let Peter Hayles wait a moment, till we
+hear what Mr Wentworth has to say."
+
+"It is not yet time for us to receive Mr Wentworth's statement," said
+the Rector. "He shall certainly be heard in his own defence at the
+proper time. Mr Waters, call Peter Hayles."
+
+"One moment," said the Curate. "I have no statement to make, and I can
+wait till you have heard what everybody has to say, if the Rector
+wishes it; but it might save time and trouble to hear me. I have
+another witness whom, up to this moment, I have been reluctant to
+bring forward--a witness all-important for me, whom I cannot produce
+in so public a place, or at an hour when everybody is abroad. If you
+will do me the favour to adjourn this inquiry till the evening, and to
+meet then in a private house--in my own, or Miss Wentworth's, or
+wherever you may appoint--I think I can undertake to make this whole
+business perfectly clear."
+
+"Bless me!" said Mr Proctor, suddenly. This unexpected and irrelevant
+benediction was the first sound distinctly audible in the little stir
+of surprise, expectation, and excitement which followed the Curate's
+speech. The Squire let his stick fall out of his hands, and groped
+after it to pick it up again. Hope had suddenly all at once come into
+possession of the old man's breast. As for the Rector, he was too much
+annoyed at the moment to speak.
+
+"You should have thought of this before," said Dr Marjoribanks. "It
+would have been just as easy to fix this meeting for the evening, and
+in a private house, and would have saved time. You are very welcome to
+my dining-room, if you please; but I don't understand why it could not
+have been settled so at once, and saved our time," said the Doctor; to
+which sentiment there were several murmurs of assent.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Curate, whose eyes were sparkling with
+excitement, "you must all know in your hearts that this trial ought
+never to have taken place. I have lived among you for five years, and
+you ought to have known me by this time. I have never been asked for
+an explanation, neither could any explanation which it was possible
+for me to make have convinced a mind prejudiced against me," he said,
+after a moment's pause, with a meaning which everybody understood. "It
+is only now that I feel myself able to clear up the whole matter, and
+it is for this reason alone that I ask you to put off your inquiry
+till to-night."
+
+"I don't feel inclined to consent to any adjournment," said Mr Morgan;
+"it looks like an attempt to defeat the ends of justice." The Rector was
+very much annoyed--more than he dared confess to himself. He believed in
+his heart that young Wentworth was guilty, and he felt equally convinced
+that here was some unexpected loophole through which he would escape.
+But public opinion was strong in Grange Lane--stronger than a new
+Rector. The Banker and the Doctor and the Indian Colonel, not to speak
+of old Mr Western, were disposed to grant the request of the Curate; and
+when even Mr Proctor forsook his side, the Rector himself yielded.
+"Though it is against my judgment," he said, "and I see no advantage to
+be gained by it, the meeting had better be held in the Rectory, this
+evening at seven o'clock."
+
+"Most of us dine at seven o'clock," said Dr Marjoribanks.
+
+"This evening at eight o'clock," said the Rector, severely. "I will
+request all the witnesses to be in attendance, and we must hope to
+find Mr Wentworth's witness of sufficient importance to justify the
+change. At eight o'clock this evening, in my house, gentlemen," said
+the Rector. He collected his notes and went outside, and began talking
+to his witnesses, while the others collected together round the table
+to consult over this new phase of the affair. The three Mr Wentworths
+went out together, the father between his two tall sons. The Squire's
+strength was much shaken, both in mind and body. When they were out of
+the shadow of the church, he looked up in Frank's face.
+
+"I hope you consider me entitled to an immediate explanation," said Mr
+Wentworth. "When I read that anonymous letter, it went a long way
+towards breaking my heart, sir; I can tell you it did. Jack here too,
+and your brother making up his mind as he has done, Frank. I am not a
+man to complain. If it were all over with me to-morrow, I shouldn't be
+sorry, so far as I am concerned, if it weren't for the girls and the
+little children. But I always thought I could have sworn by Frank,"
+said the old man, mournfully. He was ever so much older since he had
+said these words before in the long lime avenue at Wentworth Hall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+The little assembly which met in the vestry of Carlingford Church to
+inquire into the conduct of the Perpetual Curate, had so many different
+interests in hands when it dispersed, and so much to do, that it is
+difficult for the narrator of this history to decide which thread should
+be taken up first. Of all the interlocutors, however, perhaps Mr Proctor
+was the one who had least succeeded in his efforts to explain himself,
+and accordingly demands in the first place the attention of an impartial
+historian. The excellent man was still labouring under much perplexity
+when the bed of justice was broken up. He began to recollect that Mr
+Wentworth's explanation on the previous night had convinced him of his
+innocence, and to see that it was indeed altogether inconceivable that
+the Curate should be guilty; but then, other matters still more
+disagreeable to contemplate than Mr Wentworth's guilt came in to darken
+the picture. This vagabond Wodehouse, whom the Curate had taken in at
+his sister's request--what was the meaning of that mystery? Mr Proctor
+had never been anyhow connected with mysteries; he was himself an only
+son, and had lived a straightforward peaceable life. Neither he nor his
+estimable parents, so far as the late Rector was aware, had ever done
+anything to be ashamed of; and he winced a little at the thought of
+connecting himself with concealment and secrecy. And then the Curate's
+sudden disappearance on the previous evening perplexed and troubled him.
+He imagined all kinds of reasons for it as he walked down Grange Lane.
+Perhaps Miss Wodehouse, who would not receive himself, had sent for Mr
+Wentworth; perhaps the vagabond brother was in some other scrape, out of
+which he had to be extricated by the Curate's assistance. Mr Proctor was
+perfectly honest, and indeed determined, in his "intentions;" but
+everybody will allow that for a middle-aged lover of fifty or
+thereabouts, contemplating a sensible match with a lady of suitable
+years and means, to find suddenly that the object of his affections was
+not only a penniless woman, but the natural guardian of an equally
+penniless sister, was startling, to say the least of it. He was a true
+man, and it did not occur to him to decline the responsibility
+altogether; on the contrary, he was perhaps more eager than he would
+have been otherwise, seeing that his elderly love had far more need of
+his devotion than he had ever expected her to have; but, notwithstanding,
+he was disturbed by such an unlooked-for change of circumstances, as was
+natural, and did not quite know what was to be done with Lucy. He was
+full of thoughts on this subject as he proceeded towards the house, to
+the interview which, to use sentimental language, was to decide his
+fate. But, to tell the truth, Mr Proctor was not in a state of very deep
+anxiety about his fate. The idea of being refused was too unreasonable
+an idea to gain much ground in his mind. He was going to offer his
+personal support, affection, and sympathy to Miss Wodehouse at the least
+fortunate moment in her life; and if there was anything consolatory in
+marriage at all, the late Rector sensibly concluded that it must be
+doubly comforting under such circumstances, and that the offer of an
+honest man's hand and house and income was not a likely thing to be
+rejected by a woman of Miss Wodehouse's experience and good sense--not
+to speak of his heart, which was very honest and true and affectionate,
+though it had outlived the fervours of youth. Such was Mr Proctor's view
+of the matter; and the chances were strong that Miss Wodehouse entirely
+agreed with him--so, but for a certain shyness which made him rather
+nervous, it would not be correct to say that the late Rector was in a
+state of special anxiety about the answer he was likely to receive. He
+was, however, anxious about Lucy. His bachelor mind was familiar with
+all the ordinary traditions about the inexpediency of being surrounded
+by a wife's family; and he had a little of the primitive male sentiment,
+shared one way or other by most husbands, that the old system of buying
+a woman right out, and carrying her off for his own sole and private
+satisfaction, was, after all, the correct way of managing such matters.
+To be sure, a pretty, young, unmarried sister, was perhaps the least
+objectionable encumbrance a woman could have; but, notwithstanding, Mr
+Proctor would have been glad could he have seen any feasible way of
+disposing of Lucy. It was utterly out of the question to think of her
+going out as a governess; and it was quite evident that Mr Wentworth,
+even were he perfectly cleared of every imputation, having himself
+nothing to live upon, could scarcely offer to share his poverty with
+poor Mr Wodehouse's cherished pet and darling. "I daresay she has been
+used to live expensively," Mr Proctor said to himself, wincing a little
+in his own mind at the thought. It was about one o'clock when he
+reached the green door--an hour at which, during the few months of
+his incumbency at Carlingford, he had often presented himself at that
+hospitable house. Poor Mr Wodehouse! Mr Proctor could not help wondering
+at that moment how he was getting on in a world where, according to
+ordinary ideas, there are no lunch nor dinner parties, no old port nor
+savoury side-dishes. Somehow it was impossible to realise Mr Wodehouse
+with other surroundings than those of good-living and creature-comfort.
+Mr Proctor sighed, half for the departed, half at thought of the
+strangeness of that unknown life for which he himself did not feel much
+more fitted than Mr Wodehouse. In the garden he saw the new heir sulkily
+marching about among the flower-beds smoking, and looking almost as much
+out of place in the sweet tranquillity of the English garden, as a
+churchwarden of Carlingford or a Fellow of All-Souls could look, to
+carry out Mr Proctor's previous imagination, in the vague beatitude of a
+disembodied heaven. Wodehouse was so sick of his own company that he
+came hastily forward at the sight of a visitor, but shrank a little when
+he saw who it was.
+
+"I suppose you have brought some news," he said, in his sullen way. "I
+suppose he has been making his statements, has he? Much I care! He may
+tell what lies he pleases; he can't do me any harm. I never did
+anything but sign my own name, by Jove! Jack Wentworth himself says
+so. I don't care _that_ for the parson and his threats," said
+Wodehouse, snapping his fingers in Mr Proctor's face. The late Rector
+drew back a little, with a shudder of disgust and resentment. He could
+not help thinking that this fellow would most likely be his
+brother-in-law presently, and the horror he felt made itself visible
+in his face.
+
+"I am quite unaware what you can mean," said Mr Proctor. "I am a
+parson, but I never made any threats that I know of. I wish to see
+Miss Wodehouse. I--I think she expects me at this hour," he said, with
+a little embarrassment, turning to John, who, for his part, had been
+standing by in a way which became his position as a respectable and
+faithful servant, waiting any opportunity that might come handy to
+show his disgust for the new _regime_.
+
+"Yes, sir," said John, promptly, and with emphasis. "My mistress
+expects you, sir. She's come down to the drawing-room for the first
+time. Miss Lucy keeps her room, sir, still; she's dreadfully cut up,
+poor dear young lady. My mistress will be glad to see you, sir," said
+John. This repetition of a title which Miss Wodehouse had not been in
+the habit of receiving was intended for the special advantage of the
+new master, whom John had no intention of recognising in that
+capacity. "If you should know of any one, sir, as is in want of a
+steady servant," the man continued, as he led the way into the house,
+with a shrewd glance at Mr Proctor, whose "intentions" were legible
+enough to John's experienced eyes--"not as I'm afeared of getting
+suited, being well known in Carlingford; but it would come natural to
+be with a friend of the family. There aint a servant in the house,
+sir, as will stay when the ladies go, and I think as Miss Wodehouse
+would speak for me," said John, with natural astuteness. This address
+made Mr Proctor a little uneasy. It recalled to him the unpleasant
+side of the important transaction in which he was about to engage. He
+was not rich, and did not see his way now to any near prospect of
+requiring the services of "a steady servant," and the thought made him
+sigh.
+
+"We'll see," he said, with a troubled look. To persevere honourably in
+his "intentions" was one thing, but to be insensible to the loss of much
+he had looked forward to was quite another. It was accordingly with a
+grave and somewhat disturbed expression that he went to the interview
+which was "to decide his fate." Miss Wodehouse was seated in the
+drawing-room, looking slightly flushed and excited. Though she knew it
+was very wrong to be thus roused into a new interest the day after her
+father's funeral, the events altogether had been of so startling a
+description that the usual decorum of an afflicted household had already
+been ruthlessly broken. And on the whole, notwithstanding her watching
+and grief, Mr Proctor thought he had never seen the object of his
+affections looking so well as she did now in the long black dress, which
+suited her better than the faint dove colours in which she arrayed
+herself by preference. She was not, it is true, quite sure what Mr
+Proctor wanted in this interview he had solicited, but a certain
+feminine instinct instructed her in its probable eventualities. So she
+sat in a subdued flutter, with a little colour fluctuating on her cheek,
+a tear in her eyes, and some wonder and expectation in her heart.
+Perhaps in her youth Miss Wodehouse might have come to such a feminine
+crisis before; but if so, it was long ago, and the gentle woman had
+never been given to matrimonial speculations, and was as fresh and
+inexperienced as any girl. The black frame in which she was set made her
+soft colour look fresher and less faded. Her plaintive voice, the
+general softness of her demeanour, looked harmonious and suitable to her
+circumstances. Mr Proctor, who had by no means fallen in love with her
+on account of any remnants of beauty she might possess, had never
+admired her so much as he did now; he felt confused, good man, as he
+stood before her, and, seeing her so much younger and fairer than his
+former idea, began to grow alarmed, and wonder at his serenity. What if
+she thought him an old fogey? what if she refused him? This supposition
+brought a crimson colour to Mr Proctor's middle-aged countenance, and
+was far from restoring his courage. It was a wonderful relief to him
+when she, with the instinct of a timid woman, rushed into hasty talk.
+
+"It was very kind of you to come yesterday," she said; "Lucy and I
+were very grateful. We have not many relatives, and my dear father--"
+
+"Yes," said the late Rector, again embarrassed by the tears which
+choked her voice, "he was very much respected: that must be a
+consolation to you. And he had a long life--and--and I suppose, on the
+whole, a happy one," said Mr Proctor, "with you and your sister--"
+
+"Oh, Mr Proctor, he had a great deal to put up with," said Miss
+Wentworth, through her tears. She had, like most simple people, an
+instinctive disinclination to admit that anybody was or had been
+happy. It looked like an admission of inferiority. "Mamma's death, and
+poor Tom," said the elder sister. As she wiped her eyes, she almost
+forgot her own little feminine flutter of expectancy in respect to Mr
+Proctor himself. Perhaps it was not going to happen this time, and as
+she was pretty well assured that it would happen one day or another,
+she was not anxious about it. "If I only knew what to do about Tom,"
+she continued, with a vague appeal in her voice.
+
+Mr Proctor got up from his chair and walked to the window. When he
+had looked out he came back, rather surprising Miss Wodehouse by
+his unlooked-for movements. "I wanted very much to have a little
+conversation with you," he said, growing again very red. "I daresay you
+will be surprised--but I have accepted another living, Miss Wodehouse;"
+and here the good man stopped short in a terrible state of
+embarrassment, not knowing what next to say.
+
+"Yes?" said Miss Wodehouse, interrogatively. Her heart began to beat
+quicker, but perhaps he was only going to tell her about the new work
+he had undertaken; and then she was a woman, and had some knowledge,
+which came by nature, how to conduct herself on an occasion such as
+this.
+
+"I don't know whether you recollect," said Mr Proctor--"I shall never
+forget it--one time when we all met in a house where a woman was
+dying,--I mean your sister and young Wentworth, and you and I;--and
+neither you nor I knew anything about it," said the late Rector, in a
+strange voice. It was not a complimentary way of opening his subject,
+and the occurrence had not made so strong an impression upon Miss
+Wodehouse as upon her companion. She looked a little puzzled, and, as
+he made a pause, gave only a murmur of something like assent, and
+waited to hear what more he might have to say.
+
+"We neither of us knew anything about it," said Mr Proctor--"neither
+you how to manage her, nor I what to say to her, though the young
+people did. I have always thought of you from that time. I have
+thought I should like to try whether I was good for anything now--if
+you would help me," said the middle-aged lover. When he had said this
+he walked to the window, and once more looked out, and came back
+redder than ever. "You see we are neither of us young," said Mr
+Proctor; and he stood by the table turning over the books nervously,
+without looking at her, which was certainly an odd commencement for a
+wooing.
+
+"That is quite true," said Miss Wodehouse, rather primly. She had
+never disputed that fact by word or deed, but still it was not
+pleasant to have the statement thus thrust upon her without any
+apparent provocation. It was not the sort of thing which a woman
+expects to have said to her under such circumstances. "I am sure I
+hope you will do better--I mean be more comfortable--this time," she
+continued, after a pause, sitting very erect on her seat.
+
+"If you will help me," said Mr Proctor, taking up one of the books and
+reading the name on it, which was lucky for him, for it was Miss
+Wodehouse's name, which he either had forgotten or never had known.
+
+And here they came to a dead stop. What was she to say? She was a
+little affronted, to tell the truth, that he should remember more
+distinctly than anything else her age, and her unlucky failure on that
+one occasion. "You have just said that I could not manage," said the
+mild woman, not without a little vigour of her own; "and how then
+could I help you, Mr Proctor? Lucy knows a great deal more about
+parish work than I do," she went on in a lower tone; and for one half
+of a second there arose in the mind of the elder sister a kind of
+wistful half envy of Lucy, who _was_ young, and knew how to manage--a
+feeling which died in unspeakable remorse and compunction as soon as
+it had birth.
+
+"But Lucy would not have me," said the late Rector; "and indeed I should
+not know what to do with her if she would have me;--but you--It is a
+small parish, but it's not a bad living. I should do all I could to make
+you comfortable. At least we might try," said Mr Proctor, in his most
+insinuating tone. "Don't you think we might try? at least it would do--"
+He was going to say "no harm," but on second thoughts rejected that
+expression. "At least I should be very glad if you would," said the
+excellent man, with renewed confusion. "It's a nice little rectory, with
+a pretty garden, and all that sort of thing; and--and perhaps--it might
+help you to settle about going away--and--and I daresay there would be
+room for Lucy. Don't you think you would try?" cried Mr Proctor,
+volunteering, in spite of himself, the very hospitality which he had
+thought it hard might be required of him; but somehow his suit seemed to
+want backing at the actual moment when it was being made.
+
+As for Miss Wodehouse, she sat and listened to him till he began to
+falter, and then her composure gave way all at once. "But as for
+trying," she gasped, in broken mouthfuls of speech, "that would
+never--never do, Mr Proctor. It has to be done--done for good and
+all--if--if it is done at all," sobbed the poor lady, whose voice came
+somewhat muffled through her handkerchief and her tears.
+
+"Then it shall be for good and all!" cried Mr Proctor, with a sudden
+impulse of energy. This was how it came about that Miss Wodehouse and
+the late Rector were engaged. He had an idea that he might be expected
+to kiss her, and certainly ought to call her Mary after this; and
+hovered for another minute near her seat, not at all disinclined for
+the former operation. But his courage failed him, and he only drew a
+chair a little closer and sat down, hoping she would soon stop crying.
+And indeed, by the time that he produced out of his pocket-book the
+little photograph of the new rectory, which he had had made for her by
+a rural artist, Miss Wodehouse had emerged out of her handkerchief,
+and was perhaps in her heart as happy in a quiet way as she had ever
+been in her life. She who had never been good for much, was now, in
+the time of their need, endowed with a home which she could offer
+Lucy. It was she, the helpless one of the family, who was to be her
+young sister's deliverer. Let it be forgiven to her if, in the tumult
+of the moment, this was the thought that came first.
+
+When Miss Wodehouse went up-stairs after this agitating but
+satisfactory interview, she found Lucy engaged in putting together
+some books and personal trifles of her own which were scattered about
+the little sitting-room. She had been reading 'In Memoriam' until it
+vexed her to feel how inevitably good sense came in and interfered
+with the enthusiasm of her grief, making her sensible that to apply to
+her fond old father all the lofty lauds which were appropriate to the
+poet's hero would be folly indeed. He had been a good tender father to
+her, but he was not "the sweetest soul that ever looked with human
+eyes;" and Lucy could not but stop in her reading with a kind of pang
+and self-reproach as this consciousness came upon her. Miss Wodehouse
+looked rather aghast when she found her sister thus occupied. "Did you
+think of accepting Miss Wentworth's invitation, after all?" said Miss
+Wodehouse; "but, dear, I am afraid it would be awkward; and oh, Lucy,
+my darling, I have so many things to tell you," said the anxious
+sister, who was shy of communicating her own particular news. Before
+many minutes had passed, Lucy had thrown aside all the books, and was
+sitting by her sister's side in half-pleased, disconcerted amazement
+to hear her story. Only half-pleased--for Lucy, like most other girls
+of her age, thought love and marriage were things which belonged only
+to her own level of existence, and was a little vexed and disappointed
+to find that her elder sister could condescend to such youthful
+matters. On the whole, she rather blushed for Mary, and felt sadly as
+if she had come down from an imaginary pedestal. And then Mr Proctor,
+so old and so ordinary, whom it was impossible to think of as a
+bridegroom, and still less as a brother. "I shall get used to it
+presently," said Lucy, with a burning flush on her cheek, and a half
+feeling that she had reason to be ashamed; "but it is so strange to
+think of you in that way, Mary. I always thought you were too--too
+sensible for that sort of thing," which was a reproach that went to
+Miss Wodehouse's heart.
+
+"Oh, Lucy, dear," said that mild woman, who in this view of the matter
+became as much ashamed of herself as Lucy could desire, "what could I
+do? I know what you mean, at my time of life; but I could not let you
+be dependent on Tom, my darling," said Miss Wodehouse, with a
+deprecating appealing look.
+
+"No indeed," said Lucy; "that would be impossible under any
+circumstances: nor on you either, Mary dear. I can do something to
+make a living, and I should like it. I have always been fond of work.
+I will not permit you to sacrifice yourself for me," said the younger
+sister, with some dignity. "I see how it has been. I felt sure it was
+not of your own accord."
+
+Miss Wodehouse wrung her hands with dismay and perplexity. What was
+she to do if Lucy stood out and refused her consent? She could not
+humble herself so far as to confess that she rather liked Mr Proctor,
+and was, on the whole, not displeased to be married; for the feeling
+that Lucy expected her to be too sensible for that sort of thing
+overawed the poor lady. "But, Lucy, I have given him my promise," said
+poor Miss Wodehouse. "It--it would make him very unhappy. I can't use
+him badly, Lucy dear."
+
+"I will speak to him, and explain if it is necessary. Whatever
+happens, I can't let you sacrifice yourself for me," said Lucy. All
+the answer Miss Wodehouse could make was expressed in the tears of
+vexation and mortification which rushed to her eyes. She repelled her
+young sister's ministrations for the first time in her life with hasty
+impatience. Her troubles had not been few for the last twenty-four
+hours. She had been questioned about Tom till she had altogether lost
+her head, and scarcely knew what she was saying; and Lucy had not
+applauded that notable expedient of throwing the shame of the family
+upon Mr Wentworth, to be concealed and taken care of, which had
+brought so many vexations to the Perpetual Curate. Miss Wodehouse at
+last was driven to bay. She had done all for the best, but nobody gave
+her any credit for it; and now this last step, by which she had meant
+to provide a home for Lucy, was about to be contradicted and put a
+stop to altogether. She put away Lucy's arm, and rejected her
+consolations. "What is the use of pretending to be fond of me if I am
+always to be wrong, and never to have my--my own way in anything?"
+cried the poor lady, who, beginning with steadiness, broke down before
+she reached the end of her little speech. The words made Lucy open her
+blue eyes with wonder; and after that there followed a fuller
+explanation, which greatly changed the ideas of the younger sister.
+After her "consent" had been at last extracted from her, and when Miss
+Wodehouse regained her composure, she reported to Lucy the greater
+part of the conversation which had taken place in the drawing-room, of
+which Mr Proctor's proposal constituted only a part, and which touched
+upon matters still more interesting to her hearer. The two sisters,
+preoccupied by their father's illness and death, had up to this time
+but a vague knowledge of the difficulties which surrounded the
+Perpetual Curate. His trial, which Mr Proctor had reported to his
+newly-betrothed, had been unsuspected by either of them; and they were
+not even aware of the event which had given rise to it--the
+disappearance of Rosa Elsworthy. Miss Wodehouse told the story with
+faltering lips, not being able to divest herself of the idea that,
+having been publicly accused, Mr Wentworth must be more or less
+guilty; while, at the same time, a sense that her brother must have
+had something to do with it, and a great reluctance to name his name,
+complicated the narrative. She had already got into trouble with Lucy
+about this unlucky brother, and unconsciously, in her story, she took
+an air of defence. "I should have thought better of Mr Wentworth if he
+had not tried to throw the guilt on another," said the perplexed
+woman. "Oh, Lucy dear, between two people it is so hard to know what
+to do."
+
+"I know what I shall do," said Lucy, promptly; but she would not
+further explain herself. She was, however, quite roused up out of 'In
+Memoriam.' She went to her desk and drew out some of the paper deeply
+edged with black, which announced before words its tale of grief to
+all her correspondents. It was with some alarm that Miss Wodehouse
+awaited this letter, which was placed before her as soon as finished.
+This was what, as soon as she knew the story, Lucy's prompt and
+generous spirit said:--
+
+
+ "DEAR MR WENTWORTH,--We have just heard of the vexations you have been
+ suffering, to our great indignation and distress. Some people may
+ think it is a matter with which I have no business to interfere; but I
+ cannot have you think for a moment, that we, to whom you have been so
+ kind, could put the slightest faith in any such accusations against
+ you. We are not of much consequence, but we are two women, to whom any
+ such evil would be a horror. If it is any one connected with us who
+ has brought you into this painful position, it gives us the more
+ reason to be indignant and angry. I know now what you meant about the
+ will. If it was to do over again, I should do just the same; but for
+ all that, I understand now what you meant. I understand, also, how
+ much we owe to you, of which, up to yesterday, I was totally unaware.
+ You ought never to have been asked to take our burden upon your
+ shoulders. I suppose you ought not to have done it; but all the same,
+ thank you with all my heart. I don't suppose we ever can do anything
+ for you to show our gratitude; and indeed I do not believe in paying
+ back. But in the mean time, thank you--and don't, from any
+ consideration for us, suffer a stain which belongs to another to rest
+ upon yourself. You are a clergyman, and your reputation must be clear.
+ Pardon me for saying so, as if I were qualified to advise you; but it
+ would be terrible to think that you were suffering such an injury out
+ of consideration for us.--Gratefully and truly yours,
+
+ "LUCY WODEHOUSE."
+
+
+The conclusion of this letter gave Lucy a good deal of trouble. Her
+honest heart was so moved with gratitude and admiration that she had
+nearly called herself "affectionately" Mr Wentworth's. Why should not
+she? "He has acted like a brother to us," Lucy said to herself; and
+then she paused to inquire whether his conduct had indeed arisen from
+brotherly motives solely. Then, when she had begun to write
+"faithfully" instead, a further difficulty occurred to her. Not thus
+lightly and unsolicited could she call herself "faithful," for did not
+the word mean everything that words could convey in any human
+relationship? When she had concluded it at last, and satisfied her
+scruples by the formula above, she laid the letter before her sister.
+This event terminated the active operations of the day in the dwelling
+of the Wodehouses. Their brother had not asked to see them, had not
+interrupted them as yet in their retreat up-stairs, where they were
+sedulously waited upon by the entire household. When Miss Wodehouse's
+agitation was over, she too began to collect together her books and
+personalities, and they ended by a long consultation where they were
+to go and what they were to do, during the course of which the elder
+sister exhibited with a certain shy pride that little photograph of
+the new rectory, in which there was one window embowered in foliage,
+which the bride had already concluded was to be Lucy's room. Lucy
+yielded during this sisterly conference to sympathetic thoughts even
+of Mr Proctor. The two women were alone in the world. They were still
+so near the grave and the deathbed that chance words spoken without
+thought from time to time awakened in both the ready tears. Now and
+then they each paused to consider with a sob what _he_ would have
+liked best. They knew very little of what was going on outside at the
+moment when they were occupied with those simple calculations. What
+was to become of them, as people say--what money they were to have, or
+means of living--neither was much occupied in thinking of. They had
+each other; they had, besides, one a novel and timid middle-aged
+confidence, the other an illimitable youthful faith in one man in the
+world. Even Lucy, whose mind and thoughts were more individual than
+her sister's, wanted little else at that moment to make her happy with
+a tender tremulous consolation in the midst of her grief.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+While matters were thus arranging themselves in the ideas at least of
+the two sisters whose prospects had been so suddenly changed,
+explanations of a very varied kind were going on in the house of the
+Miss Wentworths. It was a very full house by this time, having been
+invaded and taken possession of by the "family" in a way which entirely
+obliterated the calmer interests and occupations of the habitual
+inhabitants. The three ladies had reached the stage of life which knows
+no personal events except those of illness and death; and the presence
+of Jack Wentworth, of Frank and Gerald, and even of Louisa, reduced them
+altogether to the rank of spectators, the audience, or at the utmost the
+chorus, of the drama; though this was scarcely the case with Miss Dora,
+who kept her own room, where she lay on the sofa, and received visits,
+and told the story of her extraordinary adventure, the only adventure of
+her life. The interest of the household centred chiefly, however, in the
+dining-room, which, as being the least habitable apartment in the house,
+was considered to be most adapted for anything in the shape of business.
+On the way from the church to Miss Wentworth's house the Curate had
+given his father a brief account of all the events which had led to his
+present position; but though much eased in his mind, and partly
+satisfied, the Squire was not yet clear how it all came about. His
+countenance was far from having regained that composure, which indeed
+the recent course of events in the family had pretty nearly driven out
+of his life. His fresh light-coloured morning dress, with all its little
+niceties, and the fresh colour which even anxiety could not drive away
+from his cheeks, were somehow contradicted in their sentiment of
+cheerfulness by the puckers in his forehead and the harassed look of his
+face. He sat down in the big leathern chair by the fireplace, and looked
+round him with a sigh, and the air of a man who wonders what will be the
+next vexation. "I'd like to hear it over again, Frank," said the Squire.
+"My mind is not what it used to be; I don't say I ever was clever, like
+you young fellows, but I used to understand what was said to me. Now I
+seem to require to hear everything twice over; perhaps it is because I
+have had myself to say the same things over again a great many times
+lately," he added, with a sigh of weariness. Most likely his eye fell on
+Gerald as he said so; at all events, the Rector of Wentworth moved sadly
+from where he was standing and went to the window, where he was out of
+his father's range of vision. Gerald's looks, his movements, every
+action of his, seemed somehow to bear a symbolic meaning at this crisis
+in his life. He was no longer in any doubt; he had made up his mind. He
+looked like a martyr walking to his execution, as he crossed the room;
+and the Squire looked after him, and once more breathed out of his
+impatient breast a heavy short sigh. Louisa, who had placed herself in
+the other great chair at the other side of the forlorn fireplace, from
+which, this summer afternoon, there came no cheerful light, put up her
+handkerchief to her eyes and began to cry with half-audible sobs--which
+circumstances surrounding him were far from being encouraging to Frank
+as he entered anew into his own story--a story which he told with many
+interruptions. The Squire, who had once "sworn by Frank," had now a
+terrible shadow of distrust in his mind. Jack was here on the spot, of
+whom the unfortunate father knew more harm than he had ever told, and
+the secret dread that he had somehow corrupted his younger brother came
+like a cold shadow over Mr Wentworth's mind. He could not slur over any
+part of the narrative, but cross-examined his son to the extent of his
+ability, with an anxious inquisition into all the particulars. He was
+too deeply concerned to take anything for granted. He sat up in his
+chair with those puckers in his forehead, with that harassed look in his
+eyes, making an anxious, vigilant, suspicious investigation, which was
+pathetic to behold. If the defendant, who was thus being examined on his
+honour, had been guilty, the heart of the judge would have broken; but
+that was all the more reason for searching into it with jealous
+particularity, and with a suspicion which kept always gleaming out of
+his troubled eyes in sudden anxious glances, saying, "You are guilty?
+Are you guilty?" with mingled accusations and appeals. The accused,
+being innocent, felt this suspicion more hard to bear than if he had
+been a hundred times guilty.
+
+"I understand a little about this fellow Wodehouse," said the Squire;
+"but what I want to know is, why you took him in? What did you take
+him in for, sir, at first? Perhaps I could understand the rest if you
+would satisfy me of that."
+
+"I took him in," said the Curate, rather slowly, "because his sister
+asked me. She threw him upon my charity--she told me the danger he was
+in--"
+
+"What danger was he in?" asked the Squire.
+
+The Curate made a pause, and as he paused Mr Wentworth leaned forward
+in his chair, with another pucker in his forehead and a still sharper
+gleam of suspicion in his eyes. "His father had been offended time
+after time in the most serious way. This time he had threatened to
+give him up to justice. I can't tell you what he had done, because it
+would be breaking my trust--but he had made himself obnoxious to the
+law," said Frank Wentworth. "To save him from the chance of being
+arrested, his sister brought him to me."
+
+The Squire's hand shook a good deal as he took out his handkerchief
+and wiped his forehead. "Perhaps it would be the best way if one had
+not too much regard for the honour of the family," he said,
+tremulously, like a man under a sudden temptation; "but the sister,
+sir, why did she bring him to you?" he added, immediately after, with
+renewed energy. Mr Wentworth was not aware that, while he was
+speaking, his eldest son had come into the room. He had his back to
+the door, and he did not see Jack, who stood rather doubtfully on the
+threshold, with a certain shade of embarrassment upon his ordinary
+composure. "It is not everybody that a woman would confide her
+brother's life to," said the Squire. "Who is the sister? Is she--is
+there any--any entanglement that I don't know of? It will be better
+for all of us if you tell me plainly," said the old man, with a
+querulous sound in his voice. He forgot the relationship of his own
+girls to Jack, and groaned within himself at what appeared almost
+certain evidence that the sister of a criminal like Wodehouse had got
+possession of Frank.
+
+"Miss Wodehouse is about the same age as my aunt Dora," said the
+Curate. It was an exaggeration which would have gone to the poor
+lady's heart, but Frank Wentworth, in the unconscious insolence of his
+youth, was quite unaware and careless of the difference. Then he
+paused for a moment with an involuntary smile. "But I am a clergyman,
+sir," he continued, seriously. "If a man in my position is good for
+anything, it is his business to help the helpless. I could do no good
+in any other way--I took him into my house."
+
+"Frank," said the Squire, "I beg your pardon. I believe in my heart
+you're true and honest. If I were not driven out of my senses by one
+thing and another," said Mr Wentworth, with bitterness. "They make me
+unjust to you, sir--unjust to you! But never mind; go on. Why didn't
+you tell these fellows what you've told me? That would have settled
+the business at once, without any more ado."
+
+"Mr Morgan is a great deal too much prejudiced against me to believe
+anything I said. I thought it better to let him prove to himself his
+own injustice; and another still more powerful reason--" said the
+Curate.
+
+"Stop, sir, stop; I can't follow you to more than one thing at a time.
+Why is Mr Morgan prejudiced against you?" said the Squire, once more
+sitting upright and recommencing his examination.
+
+Frank Wentworth laughed in spite of himself, though he was far from
+being amused. "I know no reason, except that I have worked in his
+parish without his permission," he answered, briefly enough, "for
+which he threatened to have me up before somebody or other--Dr
+Lushington, I suppose, who is the new Council of Trent, and settles
+all our matters for us nowadays," said the Curate, not without a
+little natural scorn, at which, however, his father groaned.
+
+"There is nothing to laugh at in Dr Lushington," said the Squire. "He
+gives you justice, at all events, which you parsons never give each
+other, you know. You ought not to have worked in the Rector's parish,
+sir, without his permission. It's like shooting in another man's
+grounds. However, that's not my business;--and the other reason, sir?"
+said Mr Wentworth, with his anxious look.
+
+"My dear father," said the Curate, touched by the anxiety in the
+Squire's face, and sitting down by him with a sudden impulse, "I have
+done nothing which either you or I need be ashamed of. I am grieved
+that you should think it necessary to examine me so closely. Wodehouse
+is a rascal, but I had taken charge of him; and as long as it was
+possible to shield him, I felt bound to do so. I made an appeal to his
+honour, if he had any, and to his fears, which are more to be depended
+on, and gave him until noon to-day to consider it. Here is his note,
+which was given me in the vestry; and now you know the whole business,
+and how it is that I postponed the conclusion till to-night."
+
+The Squire put on his spectacles with a tremulous hand to read the note
+which his son gave him. The room was very still while he read it, no
+sound interrupting him except an occasional sniff from Louisa, who was
+in a permanent state of whimpering, and, besides, had ceased to be
+interested in Frank's affairs. Jack Wentworth, standing in the
+background behind the Squire's chair, had the whole party before him,
+and studied them keenly with thoughts which nobody guessed at. Gerald
+was still standing by the window, leaning on it with his face only half
+turned to the others. Was he thinking of the others? was he still one of
+them? or was he saying his office from some invisible breviary
+abstracted into another life? That supposition looked the most like
+truth. Near him was his wife, who had thrown herself, a heap of bright
+fluttering muslin, into the great chair, and kept her handkerchief to
+her red eyes. She had enough troubles of her own to occupy her, poor
+soul! Just at that moment it occurred to her to think of the laburnum
+berries in the shrubbery at the Rectory, which, it was suddenly borne in
+upon her, would prove fatal to one or other of the children in her
+absence;--the dear Rectory which she had to leave so soon! "And Frank
+will have it, of course," Louisa said to herself, "and marry somebody;"
+and then she thought of the laburnum berries in connection with his
+problematical children, not without a movement of satisfaction. Opposite
+to her was the Squire, holding Wodehouse's epistle in a hand which shook
+a little, and reading aloud slowly as he could make it out. The note was
+short and insolent enough. While it was being read, Jack Wentworth, who
+was not easily discomposed, grew red and restless. He had not dictated
+it certainly, nor even suggested the wording of the epistle; but it was
+he who, half in scorn and half in pity of the vagabond's terrors, had
+reassured Wodehouse, and convinced him that it was only the punishments
+of public opinion which the Curate could bring upon him. Hardened as
+Jack was, he could not but be conscious that thus to stand in his
+brother's way was a shabby business enough, and to feel that he himself
+and his protege cut a very poor figure in presence of the manful old
+Squire with all his burdens, and of Frank, who had, after all, nothing
+to explain which was not to his honour. Notwithstanding that he was at
+the present moment his brother's adversary, actually working against him
+and prolonging his difficulties, an odd kind of contempt and indignation
+against the fools who could doubt Frank's honour possessed the prodigal
+at the moment. "A parcel of asses," he said to himself; and so stood and
+listened to Wodehouse's little note of defiance, which, but for his
+prompting, the sullen vagabond would never have dared to send to his
+former protector. The letter itself was as follows:--
+
+
+ "I have consulted my friends about what you said to-day, and they tell
+ me it is d----d nonsense. You can't do me any harm; and I don't mean
+ to get myself into any scrape for you. You can do what you like--I
+ shan't take any notice. Your love affairs are no business of
+ mine.--Yours truly,
+
+ "T. WODEHOUSE"
+
+
+Mr Wentworth threw the miserable scrawl on the table. "The fellow is a
+scoundrel," said the Squire; "he does not seem to have a spark of
+gratitude. You've done a deal too much for him already; and if the
+sister is as old as Dora--" he continued, after a long pause, with a
+half-humorous relaxation of his features. He was too much worn out to
+smile.
+
+"Yes," said the Curate. The young man was sensible of a sudden flush
+and heat, but did not feel any inclination to smile. Matters were very
+serious just then with Frank Wentworth. He was about to shake himself
+free of one vexation, no doubt; but at this moment, when Lucy
+Wodehouse was homeless and helpless, he had nothing to offer her, nor
+any prospects even which he dared ask her to share with him. This was
+no time to speak of the other sister, who was not as old as Miss Dora.
+He was more than ever the Perpetual Curate now. Perhaps, being a
+clergyman, he ought not to have been swayed by such merely human
+emotions; but honour and pride alike demanded that he should remain in
+Carlingford, and he had no shelter to offer Lucy in the time of her
+need.
+
+After this there followed a pause, which was far from being cheerful.
+Frank could not but be disconsolate enough over his prospects when the
+excitement died away; and there was another big, terrible event
+looming darkly in the midst of the family, which they had not courage
+to name to each other. The long, uneasy pause was at length broken by
+Louisa, whose voice sounded in the unnatural silence like the burst of
+impatient rain which precedes a thunderstorm.
+
+"Now that you have done with Frank's affairs, if you have done with
+them," said Louisa, "perhaps somebody will speak to Gerald. I don't
+mean in the way of arguing. If some one would only speak _sense_ to
+him. You all know as well as I do how many children we've got,
+and--and--an--other coming," sobbed the poor lady, "if something
+doesn't happen to me, which I am sure is more than likely, and might
+be expected. I don't blame dear grandpapa, for he has said everything,
+and so have I; but I do think his brothers ought to take a little more
+interest. Oh, Frank, you know it doesn't matter for you. You are a
+young man, you can go anywhere; but when there are five children
+and--and--an--other--And how are we to live? You know what a little
+bit of money I had when Gerald married me. Everybody knows Gerald
+never cared for money. If I had had a good fortune it would have been
+quite different," cried poor Louisa, with a little flow of tears and a
+querulous sob, as though that too was Gerald's fault. "He has not sent
+off his letter yet, Frank," said the injured wife; "if you would but
+speak to him. He does not mind me or grandpapa, but he might mind you.
+Tell him we shall have nothing to live on; tell him--"
+
+"Hush," said Gerald. He came forward to the table, very pale and
+patient, as became a man at the point of legal death. "I _have_ sent
+away my letter. By this time I am no longer Rector of Wentworth. Do
+not break my heart. Do you think there is any particular in the whole
+matter which I have not considered--the children, yourself,
+everything? Hush; there is nothing now to be said."
+
+The Squire rose, almost as pale as his son, from his chair. "I think
+I'll go out into the air a little," said Mr Wentworth. "There's always
+something new happening. Here is a son of my own," said the old man,
+rising into a flush of energy, "who has not only deserted his post,
+but deserted it secretly, Frank. God bless my soul! don't speak to me,
+sir; I tell you he's gone over to the enemy as much as Charley would
+have done if he had deserted at the Alma--and done it when nobody knew
+or was thinking. I used to be thought a man of honour in my day," said
+Mr Wentworth, bitterly; "and it's a mean thing to say it came by their
+mother's side. There's Jack--"
+
+The eldest son roused himself up at the mention of his own name.
+Notwithstanding all his faults, he was not a man to stand behind backs
+and listen to what was said of him. He came forward with his usual
+ease, though a close observer might have detected a flush on his face.
+"I am here, sir," said the heir. "I cannot flatter myself you will
+have much pleasure in seeing me; but I suppose I have still a right to
+be considered one of the family." The Squire, who had risen to his
+feet, and was standing leaning against the table when Jack advanced,
+returned to his chair and sat down as his eldest son confronted him.
+They had not met for years, and the shock was great. Mr Wentworth put
+his hand to his cravat and pulled at it with an instinctive movement.
+The old man was still feeble from his late illness, and apprehensive
+of a return of the disease of the Wentworths. He restrained himself,
+however, with force so passionate that Jack did not guess at the
+meaning of the gasp which, before the Squire was able to speak to him,
+convulsed his throat, and made Frank start forward to offer assistance
+which his father impatiently rejected. The Squire made, indeed, a
+great effort to speak with dignity. He looked from one to another of
+his tall sons as he propped himself up by the arms of his chair.
+
+"You are the most important member of the family," said Mr Wentworth;
+"it is long since you have been among us, but that is not our fault.
+If things had been different, I should have been glad of your advice
+as a man of the world. Anyhow, I can't wish you to be estranged from
+your brothers," said the Squire. It was all any one could say. The
+heir of Wentworth was not to be denounced or insulted among his
+kindred, but he could not be taken to their bosom. Perhaps the
+reception thus given him was more galling than any other could have
+been to Jack Wentworth's pride. He stood at the table by himself
+before his father, feeling that there existed no living relations
+between himself and any one present. He had keen intellectual
+perceptions, and could recognise the beauty of honour and worth as
+well as most people; and the contrast between himself and the others
+who surrounded him presented itself in a very forcible light to Jack.
+Instead of Gerald and Frank, Wodehouse was _his_ allotted companion.
+For that once he was bitter, notwithstanding his habitual good-humour.
+
+"Yes," he said; "it would be a pity to estrange me from my brothers.
+We are, on the whole, a lucky trio. I, whom my relations are civil to;
+and Frank, who is not acquitted yet, though he seems so confident; and
+Gerald, who has made the greatest mistake of all--"
+
+"Jack," said the Curate, "nobody wants to quarrel with you. You've
+dealt shabbily by me, but I do not mind. Only talk of things you
+understand--don't talk of Gerald."
+
+For a moment Jack Wentworth was roused almost to passion. "What is
+Gerald that I should not understand him?" said Jack; "he and I are the
+original brood. You are all a set of interlopers, the rest of you.
+What is Gerald that I should not talk of him? In the world, my dear
+Frank," continued the heir, superciliously, "as the Squire himself
+will testify, a man is not generally exempted from criticism because
+he is a parson. Gerald is--"
+
+"I am a simple Catholic layman, nothing more," said Gerald; "not worth
+criticism, having done nothing. I am aware I am as good as dead. There
+is no reason why Jack should not talk if it pleases him. It will make
+no difference to me."
+
+"And yet," said Frank, "it is only the other day that you told us you
+were nothing if not a priest."
+
+Gerald turned upon him with a look of melancholy reproach that went to
+the Curate's heart. "It is true I said so," he replied, and then he
+made a pause, and the light died out of his pale face. "Don't bring up
+the ghosts of my dead battles, Frank. I said so only the other day.
+But it is the glory of the true Church," said the convert, with a
+sudden glow which restored colour for a moment to his face, "to
+restrain and subdue the last enemy, the will of man. I am content to
+be nothing, as the saints were. The fight has been hard enough, but I
+am not ashamed of the victory. When the law of the Church and the
+obedience of the saints ordain me to be nothing, I consent to it.
+There is nothing more to say."
+
+"And this is how it is to be!" cried Louisa. "He knows what is coming,
+and he does not care--and none of you will interfere or speak to him!
+It is not as if he did not know what would happen. He tells you
+himself that he will be nothing; and even if _he_ can put up with it
+after being a man of such consideration in the county, how am _I_ to
+put up with it? We have always been used to the very best society,"
+said poor Louisa, with tears. "The Duke himself was not more thought
+of; and now he tells you he is to be nothing!" Mrs Wentworth stopped
+to dry her eyes with tremulous haste. "_He_ may not mind," said
+Louisa, "for at least he is having his own way. It is all very well
+for a man, who can do as he pleases; but it is his poor wife who will
+have to suffer. I don't know who will visit me after it's all over,
+and people will give over asking us if we don't ask them again; and
+how can we ever have anybody, with five children--or more--and only a
+few hundreds a-year? Oh, Frank, it kills me to think of it. Don't you
+think you might speak to him again?" she whispered, stretching up to
+his ear, when Gerald, with a sigh, had gone back to his window. The
+Squire, too, cast an appealing glance at his younger son.
+
+"It is all true enough that she says," said Mr Wentworth. "She mayn't
+understand _him_, Frank, but she's right enough in what she's saying.
+If things were different between your brother and me, I'd ask his
+advice," said the Squire, with a sigh. He gave a longing look at his
+eldest son, who stood with his usual ease before the fireplace.
+Matters had gone a great deal too far between the father and son to
+admit of the usual displeasure of an aggrieved parent--all that was
+over long ago; and Mr Wentworth could not restrain a certain melting
+of the heart towards his first-born. "He's not what I could wish, but
+he's a man of the world, and might give us some practical advice,"
+said the Squire, with his anxious looks. Of what possible advantage
+advice, practical or otherwise, could have been in the circumstances,
+it was difficult to see; but the Squire was a man of simple mind, and
+still believed in the suggestions of wisdom. He still sat in the
+easy-chair, looking wistfully at Jack, and with a certain faith that
+matters might even yet be mended, if the counsel of his eldest son, as
+a man of the world, could be had and could be trusted; when Frank, who
+had an afternoon service at Wharfside, had to leave the family
+committee. Gerald, who roused up when his younger brother mentioned
+the business he was going upon, looked at Frank almost as wistfully as
+his father looked at Jack. "It may be the last time," he said to
+himself; "if you'll let me, I'll go with you, Frank;" and so the
+little conclave was broken up. The people in Prickett's Lane were
+greatly impressed by the aspect of Gerald Wentworth, as he went,
+silent and pale, by his brother's side, down the crowded pavement.
+They thought it must be a bishop at least who accompanied the Curate
+of St Roque's; and the women gathered at a little distance and made
+their comments, as he stood waiting for his brother after the service.
+"He don't look weakly nor sickly no more nor the clergyman," said one;
+"but he smiles at the little uns for all the world like my man smiled
+the night he was took away." "Smilin' or not smilin'," said another,
+"I don't see as it makes no matter; but I'd give a deal to know what
+Elsworthy and them as stands by Elsworthy can say after that." "Maybe,
+then, he'd give the poor fatherless children a blessing afore he'd
+go," suggested a poor Irish widow, who, having been much under Mr
+Wentworth's hands "in her trouble," was not quite sure now what faith
+she professed, or at least which Church she belonged to. Such was the
+universal sentiment of Prickett's Lane. Meanwhile Gerald stood silent,
+and looked with pathetic, speechless eyes at the little crowd. He was
+no priest now--he was shorn of the profession which had been his life.
+His hope of being able to resign all things for Christ's sake had
+failed him. Too wary and politic to maintain in a critical age and
+country the old licence of the ages of Faith, even his wife's consent,
+could he have obtained it, would not have opened to the convert the
+way into the priesthood. A greater trial had been required of him; he
+was nothing, a man whose career was over. He stood idly, in a kind of
+languor, looking on while the Curate performed the duties of his
+office--feeling like a man whom sickness had reduced to the last stage
+of life, and for whom no earthly business remained; while, at the same
+time, his aspect struck awe, as that of a bishop at the least, to the
+imagination of Prickett's Lane.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+Mr Morgan did not go home direct from the investigation of the morning;
+on the contrary, he paid various visits, and got through a considerable
+amount of parish business, before he turned his face towards the
+Rectory. On the whole, his feelings were far from being comfortable. He
+did not know, certainly, who Mr Wentworth's witness was, but he had an
+unpleasant conviction that it was somebody who would clear the Curate.
+"Of course I shall be very glad," the Rector said to himself; but it is
+a fact, that in reality he was far from being glad, and that a secret
+conviction of this sentiment, stealing into his mind, made matters still
+more uncomfortable. This private sense of wishing evil to another man,
+of being unwilling and vexed to think well of his neighbour, was in
+itself enough to disturb the Rector's tranquillity; and when to this was
+added the aggravation that his wife had always been on the other side,
+and had warned him against proceeding, and might, if she pleased, say,
+"I told you so," it will be apparent that Mr Morgan's uneasiness was not
+without foundation. Instead of going home direct to acquaint his wife
+with the circumstances, about which he knew she must be curious, it was
+late in the afternoon before the Rector opened his own gate. Even then
+he went through the garden with a reluctant step, feeling it still more
+difficult to meet her now than it would have been at first, although his
+delay had arisen from the thought that it would be easier to encounter
+her keen looks after an interval. There was, however, no keen look to be
+dreaded at this moment. Mrs Morgan was busy with her ferns, and she did
+not look up as her husband approached. She went on with her occupation,
+examining carefully what withered fronds there might be about her
+favourite maidenhair, even when he stopped by her side. Though her
+husband's shadow fell across the plants she was tending, Mrs Morgan, for
+the first time in her married life, did not look up to welcome the
+Rector. She made no demonstration, said no word of displeasure, but only
+showed herself utterly absorbed in, and devoted to, her ferns. There
+was, to be sure, no such lover of ferns in the neighbourhood of
+Carlingford as the Rector's wife.
+
+As for Mr Morgan, he stood by her side in a state of great discomfort
+and discomfiture. The good man's perceptions were not very clear, but
+he saw that she had heard from some one the issue of the morning's
+inquiry, and that she was deeply offended by his delay, and that, in
+short, they had arrived at a serious difference, the first quarrel
+since their marriage. Feeling himself in the wrong, Mr Morgan
+naturally grew angry too.
+
+"I should like to have dinner earlier to-day," he said, with the usual
+indiscretion of an aggrieved husband. "Perhaps you will tell the cook,
+my dear. I think I should like to have it at five, if possible. It
+can't make much difference for one day."
+
+Mrs Morgan raised herself up from her ferns, and no doubt it was a
+relief to her to find herself provided with so just a cause of
+displeasure. "Much difference!" cried the Rector's wife; "it is
+half-past four now. I wonder how you could think of such a thing,
+William. There is some lamb, which of course is not put down to roast
+yet, and the ducks. If you wish the cook to give warning immediately,
+you may send such a message. It is just like a man to think it would
+make no difference! But I must say, to do them justice," said the
+Rector's wife, "it is not like a man of your college!" When she had
+fired this double arrow, she took off her gardening gloves and lifted
+her basket. "I suppose you told Mr Proctor that you wished to dine
+early?" said Mrs Morgan, with severity, pausing on the threshold. "Of
+course it is quite impossible to have dinner at five unless he knows."
+
+"Indeed I--I forgot all about Proctor," said the Rector, who now saw
+the inexpediency of his proposal. "On second thoughts, I see it does
+not matter much. But after dinner I expect some people about Mr
+Wentworth's business. It was not settled this morning, as I expected."
+
+"So I heard," said Mrs Morgan. "I will tell Thomas to show them into
+the library," and she went indoors, carrying her basket. As for the
+Rector, he stood silent, looking after her, and feeling wonderfully
+discomfited. Had she found fault with him for his delay--had she even
+said "I told you so!" it would have been less overwhelming than this
+indifference. They had never had a quarrel before, and the effect was
+proportionately increased. After standing bewildered at the door for a
+few minutes, he retired into his study, where the change in his wife's
+demeanour haunted him, and obscured Mr Wentworth. Mrs Morgan sat at
+the head of the table at dinner with an equal want of curiosity. Even
+when the subject was discussed between the Rector and Mr Proctor, she
+asked no questions--a course of procedure very puzzling and trying to
+Mr Morgan, who could not make it out.
+
+It was after eight o'clock before the tribunal of the morning was
+reconstituted at the Rectory. Most of the gentlemen came late, and the
+little assembly brought with it a flavour of port, which modified the
+serious atmosphere. When the bed of justice was again formed, Mr
+Wentworth entered with the bodyguard of Wentworths, which numbered
+half as many as his judges. Half from curiosity, half from a reluctant
+inclination to please his father, Jack had joined the others, and they
+came in together, all of them noticeable men, profoundly different,
+yet identified as belonging to each other by the touching bond of
+family resemblance. After the four gentlemen had taken possession of
+their corner, Mr Waters made a somewhat hurried entry, bringing after
+him the sullen reluctant figure of Wodehouse, who made an awkward bow
+to the assembled potentates, and looked ashamed and vigilant, and very
+ill at ease. Mr Waters made a hasty explanation to the Rector before
+he sat down by the side of his unlucky client. "I thought it possible
+there might be some attempt made to shift the blame upon him,
+therefore I thought it best to bring him," said the lawyer. Mr Morgan
+gave him a dry little nod without answering. To tell the truth, the
+Rector felt anything but comfortable; when he glanced up at the
+stranger, who was looking askance at the people in the room as if they
+had been so many policemen in disguise, a disagreeable sudden
+conviction that this sullen rascal looked a great deal more like the
+guilty man than Mr Wentworth did, came into Mr Morgan's mind, and made
+him sick with annoyance and embarrassment. If it should turn out so!
+if it should become apparent that he, for private prejudices of his
+own, had been persecuting his brother! This thought produced an actual
+physical effect for the moment upon the Rector, but its immediate
+visible consequence was simply to make him look more severe, almost
+spiteful, in a kind of unconscious self-vindication. Last of all,
+Elsworthy, who began to be frightened too, but whose fears were
+mingled with no compunction nor blame of himself, stole in and found
+an uncomfortable seat on a stool near the door, where scarcely any one
+saw him, by favour of Thomas, and screened by the high back of the
+Rector's easy-chair. When all were assembled Mr Morgan spoke.
+
+"We are met this evening, gentlemen, to complete, if there is sufficient
+time, the investigation we began this morning," said the Rector. "I have
+no doubt I express the sentiments of every one present when I say I
+shall be glad--_unfeignedly_ glad," said Mr Morgan, with a defiant
+emphasis, which was meant to convince himself, "to find that Mr
+Wentworth's witness is of sufficient importance to justify the delay. As
+we were interrupted this morning solely on his account, I presume it
+will be most satisfactory that this witness should be called at once."
+
+"I should like to say something in the first place," said the Curate.
+Mr Morgan made an abrupt nod indicative of his consent, and, instead
+of looking at the defendant, shaded his eyes with his hand, and made
+figures with his pen upon the blotting-paper. A conviction, against
+which it was impossible to strive, had taken possession of the
+Rector's soul. He listened to Frank Wentworth's address with a kind of
+impatient annoyance and resistance. "What is the good of saying any
+more about it?" Mr Morgan was saying in his soul. "For heaven's sake
+let us bury it and be done with it, and forget that we ever made such
+asses of ourselves." But at the same time the Rector knew this was
+quite impossible; and as he sat leaning over his blotting-book,
+writing down millions after millions with his unconscious pen, he
+looked a very model of an unwilling listener--a prejudiced judge--a
+man whom no arguments could convince; which was the aspect under which
+he appeared to the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+"I should like to say something first," said the Perpetual Curate. "I
+could not believe it possible that I, being tolerably well known in
+Carlingford as I have always supposed, could be suspected by any
+rational being of such an insane piece of wickedness as has been laid
+to my charge; and consequently it did not occur to me to vindicate
+myself, as I perhaps ought to have done, at the beginning. I have been
+careless all along of vindicating myself. I had an idea," said the
+young man, with involuntary disdain, "that I might trust, if not to
+the regard, at least to the common-sense of my friends--"
+
+Here John Brown, who was near his unwary client, plucked at the
+Curate's coat, and brought him to a momentary half-angry pause.
+"Softly, softly," said Dr Marjoribanks; "common-sense has nothing to
+do with facts; we're inquiring into facts at this moment; and,
+besides, it's a very foolish and unjustifiable confidence to trust to
+any man's common-sense," said the old Doctor, with a humorous glance
+from under his shaggy eyebrows at his fellow-judges; upon which there
+ensued a laugh, not very agreeable in its tone, which brought the
+Rector to a white heat of impatience and secret rage.
+
+"It appears to me that the witness ought to be called at once," said
+Mr Morgan, "if this is not a mere expedient to gain time, and if it is
+intended to make any progress to-night."
+
+"My explanations shall be very brief," said Frank Wentworth, facing
+instantly to his natural enemy. "I have suspected from the beginning
+of this business who was the culprit, and have made every possible
+attempt to induce him to confess, and, so far as he could, amend the
+wrong that he had done. I have failed; and now the confession, the
+_amende_, must be made in public. I will now call my witness," said
+the Curate. But this time a commotion rose in another part of the
+room. It was Wodehouse, who struggled to rise, and to get free from
+the detaining grasp of his companion.
+
+"By Jove! I aint going to sit here and listen to a parcel of lies!"
+cried the vagabond. "If I am to be tried, at least I'll have the real
+thing, by Jove!" He had risen up, and was endeavouring to pass Mr
+Waters and get out, casting a suspicious defiant look round the room.
+The noise he made turned all eyes upon him, and the scrutiny he had
+brought upon himself redoubled his anxiety to get away. "I'll not
+stand it, by Jove! Waters, let me go," said the craven, whose confused
+imagination had mixed up all his evil doings together, and who already
+felt himself being carried off to prison. It was at this moment that
+Jack Wentworth rose from his place in his easy careless way, and went
+forward to the table to adjust the lamp, which was flaring a little.
+Wodehouse dropped back into a chair as soon as he caught the eye of
+this master of his fate. His big beard moved with a subterranean gasp
+like the panting of a hunted creature, and all the colour that had
+remained died away out of his haggard, frightened face. As for Jack
+Wentworth, he took no apparent notice of the shabby rascal whom he
+held in awe. "Rather warm this room for a court of justice. I hope
+Frank's witness is not fat," said Jack, putting himself up against the
+wall, and lifting languidly his glass to his eye--which byplay was
+somewhat startling, but totally incomprehensible, to the amateur
+judges, who looked upon him with angry eyes.
+
+"I must request that the proceedings may not be interrupted," said Mr
+Morgan; and then everybody looked towards the open door: the sight they
+saw there was enough to startle the calmest spectator. Elsworthy, who
+was seated close by, sprang from his stool with a low resounding howl of
+amazement, upsetting his lowly seat, and staggering back against the
+wall, in the excess of his wonder and consternation. The judges
+themselves forgot their decorum, and crowded round upon each other to
+stare--old Mr Western putting his arm round the Rector's neck in his
+curiosity, as if they had been two boys at a peep-show. It was Miss
+Leonora Wentworth's erect iron-grey figure that appeared in the doorway,
+half leading in, half pushing before her, the unfortunate cause of all
+the commotion--Rosa Elsworthy herself. A change had passed upon the
+little girl's rosy, dewy, April beauty. Her pretty dark eyes were
+enlarged and anxious, and full of tears; her cheeks had paled out of
+their sweet colour, her red lips were pressed tightly together. Passion
+and shame had set their marks upon the child's forehead--lightly, it is
+true, but still the traces were there; but beyond all other sentiments,
+anxiety, restless, breathless, palpitating, had possession of Mr
+Wentworth's all-important witness. It was very clear that, whatever
+might be the opinion of her judges, Rosa's case was anything but
+hopeless in her own eyes. She came in drooping, shrinking, and abashed,
+as was natural; but her shame was secondary in Rosa's mind, even in the
+moment of her humiliation. She came to a dead stop when she had made a
+few steps into the room, and cast furtive glances at the dread
+tribunal, and began to cry. She was trembling with nervous eagerness,
+with petulance and impatience. Almost all her judges, except the Rector
+and Mr Proctor, had been known to Rosa from her earliest years. She was
+not afraid of them, nor cast down by any sense of overwhelming
+transgression--on the contrary, she cast an appealing look round her,
+which implied that they could still set everything right if they would
+exert themselves; and then she began to cry.
+
+"Gentlemen, before you ask any questions," said Miss Leonora
+Wentworth, "I should like to explain why I am here. I came not because
+I approve of _her_, but because it is right that my nephew should have
+a respectable woman to take charge of the witness. She was brought to
+my house last night, and has been in my charge ever since;--and I come
+with her now, not because I approve of her, but because she ought to
+be in charge of some woman," said Miss Leonora, sitting down abruptly
+in the chair some one had placed for her. The chair was placed close
+by the spot where Rosa stood crying. Poor, pretty, forsaken child!
+Perhaps Miss Leonora, who sat beside her, and occupied the position of
+her protector, was of all the people present the only one who had not
+already forgiven Rosa, the only one who would have still been disposed
+to punish her, and did not pardon the weeping creature in her heart.
+
+"Now that you're here, Rosa," said Dr Marjoribanks, "the only sensible
+thing you can do is to dry your eyes and answer the questions that
+have to be put to you. Nobody will harm you if you speak the truth.
+Don't be frightened, but dry your eyes, and let us hear what you have
+to say."
+
+"Poor little thing," said old Mr Western; "of course she has done very
+wrong. I don't mean to defend her--but, after all, she is but a child.
+Poor little thing! Her mother died, you know, when she was a baby. She
+had nobody to tell her how to behave.--I don't mean to defend her, for
+she has done very wrong, poor little--"
+
+"We are falling into mere conversation," said the Rector, severely.
+"Rosa Elsworthy, come to the table. The only thing you can do to make
+up for all the misery you have caused to your friends, is to tell the
+truth about everything. You are aged--how much? eighteen years?"
+
+"Please, sir, only seventeen," said Rosa; "and oh, please, sir, I
+didn't mean no harm. I wouldn't never have gone, no, not a step, if he
+hadn't a-promised that we was to be married. Oh, please, sir--"
+
+"Softly a little," said John Brown, interfering. "It is not you who
+are on your trial, Rosa. We are not going to question you about your
+foolishness; all that the Rector wants you to tell him is the name of
+the man who persuaded you to go away."
+
+At which question Rosa cried more and more. "I don't think he meant no
+harm either," cried the poor little girl. "Oh, if somebody would
+please speak to him! We couldn't be married then, but now if anybody
+would take a little trouble! I told him Mr Wentworth would, if I was
+to ask him; but then I thought perhaps as Mr Wentworth mightn't like
+to be the one as married me," said Rosa, with a momentary gleam of
+vanity through her tears. The little simper with which the girl spoke,
+the coquettish looks askance at the Perpetual Curate, who stood grave
+and unmoved at a distance, the movement of unconscious self-deception
+and girlish vanity which for a moment distracted Rosa, had a great
+effect upon the spectators. The judges looked at each other across the
+table, and Dr Marjoribanks made a commentary of meditative nods upon
+that little exhibition. "Just so," said the Doctor; "maybe Mr
+Wentworth might have objected. If you tell me the man's name, _I_'ll
+speak to him, Rosa," said the old Scotsman, grimly. As for the Rector,
+he had put down his pen altogether, and looked very much as if he were
+the culprit. Certainly his shame and confusion and self-disgust were
+greater than that of any one else in the room.
+
+"Oh, Doctor, please don't be angry. Oh, if somebody would only speak
+to him!" cried poor Rosa. "Oh, please, it wasn't my fault--I haven't
+got no--nobody to speak for me!" At this moment she got a glimpse of
+her uncle's face, dark and angry, looming behind the Rector's chair.
+Rosa shrank back with a frightened movement, and caught fast hold of
+Miss Leonora's dress. "Oh, please, don't let him kill me!" cried the
+terrified girl. She sank down at Miss Wentworth's feet, and held
+tightly by her unwilling protectress. She was a frightened child,
+afraid of being whipped and punished; she was not an outraged woman,
+forsaken and miserable. Nobody knew what to do with her as she
+crouched down, panting with fright and anxiety, by Miss Leonora's
+side.
+
+"We must know who this man is," said John Brown. "Look here, Rosa; if
+anybody is to do you good, it is necessary to know the man. Rise up
+and look round, and tell me if you can see him here."
+
+After a moment's interval Rosa obeyed. She stood up trembling, resting
+her hand to support herself on Miss Leonora's chair--almost, she
+trembled so, on Miss Leonora's shoulder. Up to this moment the ignorant
+little creature had scarcely felt the shame of her position; she had
+felt only the necessity of appealing to the kindness of people who knew
+her--people who were powerful enough to do very nearly what they pleased
+in Carlingford; for it was in this light that Rosa, who knew no better,
+regarded the Doctor and her other judges. This time her eye passed
+quickly over those protectors. The tears were still hanging on her
+eyelashes; her childish bosom was still palpitating with sobs. Beyond
+the little circle of light round the table, the room was comparatively
+in shadow. She stood by herself, her pretty face and anxious eyes
+appearing over Miss Wentworth's head, her fright and her anxiety both
+forgotten for the moment in the sudden hope of seeing her betrayer.
+There was not a sound in the room to disturb the impartiality of her
+search. Every man kept still, as if by chance he might be the offender.
+Rosa's eyes, bright with anxiety, with eagerness, with a feverish hope,
+went searching into the shadow, gleaming harmless over the Wentworth
+brothers, who were opposite. Then there was a start and a loud cry. She
+was not ashamed to be led before the old men, who were sorry for her,
+and who could protect her; but now at last the instinct of her womanhood
+seized upon the unfortunate creature. She had made an involuntary rush
+towards him when she saw him first. Then she stopped short, and looked
+all round her with a bewildered sudden consciousness. The blood rushed
+to her face, scorching and burning; she uttered a sudden cry of anguish
+and shame. "Oh, don't forsake me!--don't forsake me!--listen to the
+gentlemen!" cried poor Rosa, and fell down in a sudden agony of
+self-comprehension at Wodehouse's feet.
+
+For a few minutes after there was nothing but confusion in the room.
+Elsworthy had been standing behind backs, with a half-fiendish look of
+rage and disappointment on his commonplace features. "Let them help her
+as likes; I washes my hands of her," he cried bitterly, when he saw her
+fall; and then rushed into the midst of the room, thrusting the others
+out of his way. The man was beside himself with mortification, with
+disgust, and fury, and at the same time with a savage natural affection
+for the creature who had baffled and disgraced him, yet still was his
+own. "Let alone--let alone, I tell you! There's nobody as belongs to her
+but me!" cried Elsworthy, pushing up against the Doctor, who had lifted
+her from the ground. As for Wodehouse, he was standing scowling down
+upon the pretty figure at his feet: not that the vagabond was utterly
+heartless, or could look at his victim without emotion; on the contrary,
+he was pale with terror, thinking he had killed her, wondering in his
+miserable heart if they would secure him at once, and furtively watching
+the door to see if he had a chance of escape. When Mr Waters seized his
+arm, Wodehouse gave a hoarse outcry of horror. "I'll marry her--oh,
+Lord, I'll marry her! I never meant anything else," the wretched man
+cried, as he sank back again into his chair. He thought she was dead, as
+she lay with her upturned face on the carpet, and in his terror and
+remorse and cowardice his heart seemed to stop beating. If he could have
+had a chance of escaping, he would not have hesitated to dash the old
+Doctor out of his way, and rush over the body of the unhappy girl whom
+he thought he had murdered. But Waters held him fast; and he sank back,
+panting and horrified, on his seat. "I never touched her; nobody can say
+I touched her," muttered the poor wretch to himself; and watched with
+fascinated eyes and the distinct apprehension of terror every movement
+and change of position, calculating how he might dart out when the
+window was opened--having forgotten for the moment that Jack Wentworth,
+as well as the companion who kept immediate watch over him, was in the
+room.
+
+"She'll come to herself presently," said Dr Marjoribanks. "We'll carry
+her up-stairs. Yes, I know you don't approve of her, Miss Wentworth;
+nobody said you were to approve of her. Not that I think she's a
+responsible moral agent myself," said the Doctor, lifting her up in
+his vigorous arms; "but in the mean time she has to be brought to
+life. Keep out of my way, Elsworthy; you should have looked better
+after the little fool. If she's not accountable for her actions, _you_
+are," he went on with a growl, thrusting away with his vigorous
+shoulder the badly-hung frame of Rosa's uncle, who was no match for
+the Doctor. Thus the poor little girl was carried away in a kind of
+procession, Miss Leonora going first. "Not that I think her worth all
+this fuss, the vain little fool," said Miss Leonora; "she'll come to
+herself, no fear of her;" but, notwithstanding her protest, the
+strong-minded woman led the way. When the room was cleared, the
+gentlemen who remained took their seats mechanically, and stared at
+each other. In the shame and confusion of the moment nobody could find
+anything to say, and the Curate was magnanimous, and did not take
+advantage of his triumph. The silence was broken by the Rector, who
+rose up solemnly from his chair to speak. Probably no one in the room
+had suffered so acutely as Mr Morgan; his face was crimson, his eyes
+suffused and angry. Frank Wentworth rose involuntarily at the same
+moment, expecting, he could not tell why, to be addressed, but sat
+down again in a little confusion when he found that the Rector had
+turned his eyes in a totally different direction. Mr Morgan put the
+lamp out of the way, that he might be able to transfix with the full
+glow of his angry eyes the real offender, who sat only half conscious,
+absorbed with his own terror, by the lawyer's side.
+
+"Sir!" said the Rector, in a tone which, severe as his voice was by
+nature, nobody had ever heard from his lips before, "you have put us
+all in a most ridiculous and painful position to-night. I don't know
+whether you are capable of feeling the vileness of your own misconduct
+as regards the unhappy girl who has just been carried out of the room,
+but you certainly shall not leave the house without hearing--"
+
+Wodehouse gave such a start at these words that Mr Morgan paused a
+moment. The Rector was quite unaware of the relief, the sense of
+safety, which he had inadvertently conveyed to the mind of the shabby
+rascal whom he was addressing. He was then to be allowed to leave the
+house? "I'll leave the d----d place to-night, by Jove!" he muttered in
+his beard, and immediately sat up upon his chair, and turned round
+with a kind of sullen vivacity to listen to the remainder of Mr
+Morgan's speech.
+
+"You shall not leave this house," said the Rector, more peremptorily
+still, "without hearing what must be the opinion of every gentleman,
+of every honest man. You have been the occasion of bringing an utterly
+unfounded accusation against a--a young clergyman," said Mr Morgan,
+with a succession of gasps, "of--of the very highest character. You
+have, as I understand, sir, abused his hospitality, and--and done your
+utmost to injure him when you owed him gratitude. Not content with
+that, sir," continued the Rector, "you have kept your--your very
+existence concealed, until the moment when you could injure your
+sisters. You may perhaps be able to make a miserable amends for the
+wrong you have done to the unfortunate girl up-stairs, but you can
+never make amends to me, sir, for betraying me into a ridiculous
+position, and leading me to do--an--an absurd and--and incredible
+injustice--to a--to my--to Mr Frank Wentworth. Sir, you are a
+scoundrel!" cried Mr Morgan, breaking down abruptly in an access of
+sudden fury. When the Rector had recovered himself, he turned with
+great severity to the rest of the company: "Gentlemen, my wife will be
+glad to see you up-stairs," said Mr Morgan. The sound of this
+hospitable invitation was as if he had ordered the entire assembly to
+the door; but nevertheless most of the company followed him as he
+rose, and, without condescending to look round again, marched out of
+the library. The Squire rose with the rest, and took the hand of his
+son Frank and grasped it closely. Somehow, though he believed Frank
+before, Mr Wentworth was easier in his mind after the Rector's speech.
+
+"I think I will go up-stairs and shake hands with him," said the
+Squire, "and you had better come too, Frank. No doubt he will expect
+it. He spoke up very well at the last, and I entirely agree with the
+Rector," he said, looking sternly, but with a little curiosity, at the
+vagabond, who stood recovering himself, and ready to resume his
+hopeless swagger. It was well for Mr Wentworth that he left the room
+at once, and went cheerfully up-stairs to pay his respects to Mrs
+Morgan. The Squire said, "Thank God!" quietly to himself when he got
+out of the library. "Things are mending, surely--even Jack--even
+Jack," Mr Wentworth said, under his breath; and the simple gentleman
+said over a part of the general thanksgiving, as he went slowly, with
+an unusual gladness, up the stair. He might not have entered Mrs
+Morgan's drawing-room with such a relieved and brightened countenance
+had he stayed ten minutes longer in the library, and listened to the
+further conversation there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+"Now, Mr Wodehouse," said Jack Wentworth, "it appears that you and I
+have a word to say to each other." They had all risen when the other
+gentlemen followed Mr Morgan out of the room, and those who remained
+stood in a group surrounding the unhappy culprit, and renewing his
+impression of personal danger. When he heard himself thus addressed,
+he backed against the wall, and instinctively took one of the chairs
+and placed it before him. His furtive eye sought the door and the
+window, investigating the chances of escape. When he saw that there
+was none, he withdrew still a step further back, and stood at bay.
+
+"By Jove! I aint going to stand all this," said Wodehouse; "as if
+every fellow had a right to bully me--it's more than flesh and blood
+can put up with. I don't care for that old fogey that's gone
+up-stairs; but, by Jove! I won't stand any more from men that eat my
+dinners, and win my money, and--"
+
+Jack Wentworth made half a step forward with a superb smile--"My good
+fellow, you should never reproach a man with his good actions," he said;
+"but at the same time, having eaten your dinners, as you describe, I
+have a certain claim on your gratitude. We have had some--a--business
+connection--for some years. I don't say you have reason to be actually
+grateful for that; but, at least, it brought you now and then into the
+society of gentlemen. A man who robs a set of women, and leaves the poor
+creature he has ruined destitute, is a sort of cur we have nothing to
+say to," said the heir of the Wentworths, contemptuously. "We do not
+pretend to be saints, but we are not blackguards; that is to say," said
+Jack, with a perfectly calm and harmonious smile, "not in theory, nor in
+our own opinion. The fact accordingly is, my friend, that you must
+choose between _us_ and those respectable meannesses of yours. By Jove!
+the fellow ought to have been a shopkeeper, and as honest as--Diogenes,"
+said Jack. He stood looking at his wretched associate with the
+overwhelming impertinence of a perfectly well-bred man, no way
+concealing the contemptuous inspection with which his cool eyes
+travelled over the disconcerted figure from top to toe, seeing and
+exaggerating all its tremors and clumsy guiltiness. The chances are, had
+Jack Wentworth been in Wodehouse's place, he would have been master of
+the position as much as now. He was not shocked nor indignant like his
+brothers. He was simply contemptuous, disdainful, not so much of the
+wickedness as of the clumsy and shabby fashion in which it had been
+accomplished. As for the offender, who had been defiant in his sulky
+fashion up to this moment, his courage oozed out at his finger-ends
+under Jack Wentworth's eye.
+
+"I am my own master," he stammered, "nowadays. I aint to be dictated
+to--and I shan't be, by Jove! As for Jack Wentworth, he's well known
+to be neither more nor less--"
+
+"Than what, Mr Wodehouse?" said the serene and splendid Jack. "Don't
+interest yourself on my account, Frank. This is my business at
+present. If you have any prayer-meetings in hand, we can spare
+you--and don't forget our respectable friend in your supplications.
+Favour us with your definition of Jack Wentworth, Mr Wodehouse. He is
+neither more nor less--?"
+
+"By Jove! I aint going to stand it," cried Wodehouse; "if a fellow's
+to be driven mad, and insulted, and have his money won from him, and
+made game of--not to say tossed about as I've been among 'em, and made
+a drudge of, and set to do the dirty work," said the unfortunate
+subordinate, with a touch of pathos in his hoarse voice;--"I don't
+mean to say I've been what I ought; but, by Jove! to be put upon as
+I've been, and knocked about; and at the last they haven't the pluck
+to stand by a fellow, by Jove!" muttered Mr Wodehouse's unlucky heir.
+What further exasperation his smiling superior intended to heap upon
+him nobody could tell; for just as Jack Wentworth was about to speak,
+and just as Wodehouse had again faced towards him, half-cowed,
+half-resisting, Gerald, who had been looking on in silence, came
+forward out of the shadow. He had seen all and heard all, from that
+moral deathbed of his, where no personal cares could again disturb
+him; and though he had resigned his office, he could not belie his
+nature. He came in by instinct to cherish the dawn of compunction
+which appeared, as he thought, in the sinner's words.
+
+"The best thing that can happen to you," said Gerald, at the sound of
+whose voice everybody started, "is to find out that the wages of sin are
+bitter. Don't expect any sympathy or consolation from those who have
+helped you to do wrong. My brother tries to induce you to do a right act
+from an unworthy motive. He says your former associates will not
+acknowledge you. My advice to you is to forsake your former associates.
+My brother," said Gerald, turning aside to look at him, "would do
+himself honour if he forsook them also--but for you, here is your
+opportunity. You have no temptation of poverty now. Take the first step,
+and forsake them. I have no motive in advising you--except, indeed, that
+I am Jack Wentworth's brother. He and you are different," said Gerald,
+involuntarily glancing from one to the other. "And at present you have
+the means of escape. Go now and leave them," said the man who was a
+priest by nature. The light returned to his eye while he spoke; he was
+no longer passive, contemplating his own moral death; his natural office
+had come back to him unawares. He stretched his arm towards the door,
+thinking of nothing but the escape of the sinner. "Go," said Gerald.
+"Refuse their approbation; shun their society. For Christ's sake, and
+not for theirs, make amends to those you have wronged. Jack, I command
+you to let him go."
+
+Jack, who had been startled at first, had recovered himself long
+before his brother ceased to speak. "Let him go, by all means," he
+said, and stood superbly indifferent by Gerald's side, whistling under
+his breath a tripping lively air. "No occasion for solemnity. The
+sooner he goes the better," said Jack. "In short, I see no reason why
+any of us should stay, now the business is accomplished. I wonder
+would his reverence ever forgive me if I lighted my cigar?" He took
+out his case as he spoke, and began to look over its contents. There
+was one in the room, however, who was better acquainted with the
+indications of Jack Wentworth's face than either of his brothers. This
+unfortunate, who was hanging in an agony of uncertainty over the chair
+he had placed before him, watched every movement of his leader's face
+with the anxious gaze of a lover, hoping to see a little corresponding
+anxiety in it, but watched in vain. Wodehouse had been going through a
+fever of doubt and divided impulses. The shabby fellow was open to
+good impressions, though he was not much in the way of practising
+them; and Gerald's address, which, in the first place, filled him with
+awe, moved him afterwards with passing thrills of compunction, mingled
+with a kind of delight at the idea of getting free. When his admonitor
+said "Go," Wodehouse made a step towards the door, and for an instant
+felt the exhilaration of enfranchisement. But the next moment his eye
+sought Jack Wentworth's face, which was so superbly careless, so
+indifferent to him and his intentions, and the vagabond's soul
+succumbed with a canine fidelity to his master. Had Jack shown any
+interest, any excitement in the matter, his sway might have been
+doubtful; but in proportion to the sense of his own insignificance and
+unimportance Wodehouse's allegiance confirmed itself. He looked
+wistfully towards the hero of his imagination, as that skilful
+personage selected his cigar. He would rather have been kicked again
+than left alone, and left to himself. After all, it was very true what
+Jack Wentworth said. They might be a bad lot, but they were gentlemen
+(according to Wodehouse's understanding of the word) with whom he had
+been associated; and beatific visions of peers and baronets and
+honourables, amongst whom his own shabby person had figured, without
+feeling much below the common level, crossed his mind with all the
+sweetness which belongs to a past state of affairs. Yet it was still
+in his power to recall these vanishing glories. Now that he was rich,
+and could "cut a figure" among the objects of his admiration, was that
+brilliant world to be closed upon him for ever by his own obstinacy?
+As these thoughts rushed through his mind, little Rosa's beauty and
+natural grace came suddenly to his recollection. Nobody need know how
+he had got his pretty wife, and a pretty wife she would be--a creature
+whom nobody could help admiring. Wodehouse looked wistfully at Jack
+Wentworth, who took no notice of him as he chose his cigar. Jack was
+not only the ideal of the clumsy rogue, but he was the doorkeeper of
+that paradise of disreputable nobles and ruined gentlemen which was
+Wodehouse's idea of good society; and from all this was he about to be
+banished? Jack Wentworth selected his cigar with as much care as if
+his happiness depended on it, and took no notice of the stealthy
+glances thrown at him. "I'll get a light in the hall," said Jack;
+"good evening to you," and he was actually going away.
+
+"Look here," said Wodehouse, hastily, in his beard; "I aint a man to
+forsake old friends. If Jack Wentworth does not mean anything
+unreasonable, or against a fellow's honour--Hold your tongue, Waters;
+by Jove! I know my friends. I know you would never have been one of
+them but for Jack Wentworth. He's not the common sort, I can tell you.
+He's the greatest swell going, by Jove!" cried Jack's admiring
+follower, "and through thick and thin he's stood by me. I aint going
+to forsake him now--that is, if he don't want anything that goes
+against a fellow's honour," said the repentant prodigal, again sinking
+the voice which he had raised for a moment. As he spoke he looked more
+wistfully than ever towards his leader, who said "Pshaw!" with an
+impatient gesture, and put back his cigar.
+
+"This room is too hot for anything," said Jack; "but don't open the
+window, I entreat of you. I hate to assist at the suicide of a set of
+insane insects. For heaven's sake, Frank, mind what you're doing. As
+for Mr Wodehouse's remark," said Jack, lightly, "I trust I never could
+suggest anything which would wound his keen sense of honour. I advise
+you to marry and settle, as I am in the habit of advising young men;
+and if I were to add that it would be seemly to make some provision
+for your sisters--"
+
+"Stop there!" said the Curate, who had taken no part in the scene up
+to this moment. He had stood behind rather contemptuously, determined
+to have nothing to do with his ungrateful and ungenerous protege. But
+now an unreasonable impulse forced him into the discussion. "The less
+that is said on that part of the subject the better," he said, with
+some natural heat. "I object to the mixing up of names which--which no
+one here has any right to bandy about--"
+
+"That is very true," said Mr Proctor; "but still they have their
+rights," the late Rector added after a pause. "We have no right to
+stand in the way of their--their interest, you know." It occurred to
+Mr Proctor, indeed, that the suggestion was on the whole a sensible
+one. "Even if they were to--to marry, you know, they might still be
+left unprovided for," said the late Rector. "I think it is quite just
+that some provision should be made for that."
+
+And then there was a pause. Frank Wentworth was sufficiently aware after
+his first start of indignation that he had no right to interfere, as Mr
+Proctor said, between the Miss Wodehouses and their interest. He had no
+means of providing for them, of setting them above the chances of
+fortune. He reflected bitterly that it was not in his power to offer a
+home to Lucy, and through her to her sister. What he had to do was to
+stand by silently, to suffer other people to discuss what was to be done
+for the woman whom he loved, and whose name was sacred to him. This was
+a stretch of patience of which he was not capable. "I can only say
+again," said the Curate, "that I think this discussion has gone far
+enough. Whatever matters of business there may be that require
+arrangement had better be settled between Mr Brown and Mr Waters. So far
+as private feeling goes--"
+
+"Never fear, I'll manage it," said Jack Wentworth, "as well as a dozen
+lawyers. Private feeling has nothing to do with it. Have a cigar,
+Wodehouse? We'll talk it over as we walk home," said the condescending
+potentate. These words dispersed the assembly, which no longer had any
+object. As Jack Wentworth sauntered out, his faithful follower pressed
+through the others to join him. Wodehouse was himself again. He gave a
+sulky nod to the Curate, and said, "Good-night, parson, I don't owe much
+to you," and hastened out close upon the heels of his patron and leader.
+All the authorities of Carlingford, the virtuous people who conferred
+station and respectability by a look, sank into utter insignificance in
+presence of Jack. His admiring follower went after him with a swell of
+pride. He was a poor enough rogue himself, hustled and abused by
+everybody, an unsuccessful and shabby vagabond, notwithstanding his new
+fortune; but Jack was the glorified impersonation of cleverness and
+wickedness and triumph to Wodehouse. He grew insolent when he was
+permitted to put his arm through that of his hero, and went off with him
+trying to copy, in swagger and insolence, his careless step and
+well-bred ease. Perhaps Jack Wentworth felt a little ashamed of himself
+as he emerged from the gate of the Rectory with his shabby and
+disreputable companion. He shrugged his shoulders slightly as he looked
+back and saw Gerald and Frank coming slowly out together. "_Coraggio!_"
+said Jack to himself, "it is I who am the true philanthropist. Let us do
+evil that good may come." Notwithstanding, he was very thankful not to
+be seen by his father, who had wished to consult him as a man of the
+world, and had shown certain yearnings towards him, which, to Jack's
+infinite surprise, awakened responsive feelings in his own unaccustomed
+bosom. He was half ashamed of this secret movement of natural affection,
+which, certainly, nobody else suspected; but it was with a sensation of
+relief that he closed the Rectory gate behind him, without having
+encountered the keen inquiring suspicious glances of the Squire. The
+others dispersed according to their pleasure--Mr Waters joining the
+party up-stairs, while Mr Proctor followed Jack Wentworth and Wodehouse
+to the door with naive natural curiosity. When the excellent man
+recollected that he was listening to private conversation, and met
+Wodehouse's look of sulky insolence, he turned back again, much
+fluttered and disturbed. He had an interest in the matter, though the
+two in whose hands it now lay were the last whom he would have chosen as
+confidants; and to do him justice, he was thinking of Lucy only in his
+desire to hear what they decided upon. "Something might happen to me,"
+he said to himself; "and, even if all was well, she would be happier not
+to be wholly dependent upon her sister;" with which self-exculpatory
+reflection, Mr Proctor slowly followed the others into the drawing-room.
+Gerald and Frank, who were neither of them disposed for society, went
+away together. They had enough to think of, without much need of
+conversation, and they had walked half-way down Grange Lane before
+either spoke. Then it was Frank who broke the silence abruptly with a
+question which had nothing to do with the business in which they had
+been engaged.
+
+"And what do you mean to do?" said Frank, suddenly. It was just as
+they came in sight of the graceful spire of St Roque's; and perhaps it
+was the sight of his own church which roused the Perpetual Curate to
+think of the henceforth aimless life of his brother. "I don't
+understand how you are to give up your work. To-night even--"
+
+"I did not forget myself," said Gerald; "every man who can distinguish
+good from evil has a right to advise his fellow-creature. I have not
+given up that common privilege--don't hope it, Frank," said the
+martyr, with a momentary smile.
+
+"If I could but understand why it is that you make this terrible
+sacrifice!" said the Curate--"No, I don't want to argue--of course,
+you are convinced. I can understand the wish that our unfortunate
+division had never taken place; but I can't understand the sacrifice
+of a man's life and work. Nothing is perfect in this world; but at
+least to do something in it--to be good for something--and with your
+faculties, Gerald!" cried the admiring and regretful brother. "Can
+abstract right in an institution, if that is what you aim at, be worth
+the sacrifice of your existence--your power of influencing your
+fellow-creatures?" This Mr Wentworth said, being specially moved by
+the circumstances in which he found himself--for, under any other
+conditions, such sentiments would have produced the warmest opposition
+in his Anglican bosom. But he was so far sympathetic that he could be
+tolerant to his brother who had gone to Rome.
+
+"I know what you mean," said Gerald; "it is the prevailing theory in
+England that all human institutions are imperfect. My dear Frank, I
+want a Church which is not a human institution. In England it seems to
+be the rule of faith that every man may believe as he pleases. There
+is no authority either to decide or to punish. If you can foresee what
+that may lead us to, I cannot. I take refuge in the true Church, where
+alone there is certainty--where," said the convert, with a heightened
+colour and a long-drawn breath, "there is authority clear and
+decisive. In England you believe what you will, and the result will
+be one that I at least fear to contemplate; in Rome we believe
+what--we must," said Gerald. He said the words slowly, bowing his head
+more than once with determined submission, as if bending under the
+yoke. "Frank, it is salvation!" said the new Catholic, with the
+emphasis of a despairing hope. And for the first time Frank Wentworth
+perceived what it was which had driven his brother to Rome.
+
+"I understand you now," said the Perpetual Curate; "it is because
+there is no room for our conflicting doctrines and latitude of belief.
+Instead of a Church happily so far imperfect, that a man can put his
+life to the best account in it, without absolutely delivering up his
+intellect to a set of doctrines, you seek a perfect Church, in which,
+for a symmetrical system of doctrine, you lose the use of your
+existence!" Mr Wentworth uttered this opinion with all the more
+vehemence, that it was in direct opposition to his own habitual ideas;
+but even his veneration for his "Mother" yielded for the moment to his
+strong sense of his brother's mistake.
+
+"It is a hard thing to say," said Gerald, "but it is true. If you but
+knew the consolation, after years of struggling among the problems of
+faith, to find one's self at last upon a rock of authority, of
+certainty--one holds in one's hand at last the interpretation of the
+enigma," said Gerald. He looked up to the sky as he spoke, and
+breathed into the serene air a wistful lingering sigh. If it was
+certainty that echoed in that breath of unsatisfied nature, the sound
+was sadly out of concord with the sentiment. His soul, notwithstanding
+that expression of serenity, was still as wistful as the night.
+
+"Have you the interpretation?" said his brother; and Frank, too,
+looked up into the pure sky above, with its stars which stretched over
+them serene and silent, arching over the town that lay behind, and of
+which nobody knew better than he the human mysteries and wonderful
+unanswerable questions. The heart of the Curate ached to think how
+many problems lay in the darkness, over which that sky stretched
+silent, making no sign. There were the sorrowful of the earth,
+enduring their afflictions, lifting up pitiful hands, demanding of God
+in their bereavements and in their miseries the reason why. There were
+all the inequalities of life, side by side, evermore echoing dumbly
+the same awful question; and over all shone the calm sky which gave no
+answer. "Have you the interpretation?" he said. "Perhaps you can
+reconcile freewill and predestination--the need of a universal
+atonement and the existence of individual virtue? But these are not to
+me the most difficult questions. Can your Church explain why one man
+is happy and another miserable?--why one has everything and abounds,
+and the other loses all that is most precious in life? My sister Mary,
+for example," said the Curate, "she seems to bear the cross for our
+family. Her children die and yours live. Can you explain to her why? I
+have heard her cry out to God to know the reason, and He made no
+answer. Tell me, have you the interpretation?" cried the young man, on
+whom the hardness of his own position was pressing at the moment. They
+went on together in silence for a few minutes, without any attempt on
+Gerald's part to answer. "You accept the explanation of the Church in
+respect to doctrines," said the Curate, after that pause, "and consent
+that her authority is sufficient, and that your perplexity is
+over--that is well enough, so far as it goes: but outside lies a world
+in which every event is an enigma, where nothing that comes offers any
+explanation of itself; where God does not show Himself always kind,
+but by times awful, terrible--a God who smites and does not spare. It
+is easy to make a harmonious balance of doctrine; but where is the
+interpretation of life?" The young priest looked back on his memory,
+and recalled, as if they had been in a book, the daily problems with
+which he was so well acquainted. As for Gerald, he bowed his head a
+little, with a kind of reverence, as if he had been bowing before the
+shrine of a saint.
+
+"I have had a happy life," said the elder brother. "I have not been
+driven to ask such questions for myself. To these the Church has but
+one advice to offer: Trust God."
+
+"We say so in England," said Frank Wentworth; "it is the grand scope
+of our teaching. Trust God. He will not explain Himself, nor can we
+attempt it. When it is certain that I must be content with this answer
+for all the sorrows of life, I am content to take my doctrines on the
+same terms," said the Perpetual Curate; and by this time they had come
+to Miss Wentworth's door. After all, perhaps it was not Gerald, except
+so far as he was carried by a wonderful force of human sympathy and
+purity of soul, who was the predestined priest of the family. As he
+went up to his own room, a momentary spasm of doubt came upon the new
+convert--whether, perhaps, he was making a sacrifice of his life for a
+mistake. He hushed the thought forcibly as it rose; such impulses were
+no longer to be listened to. The same authority which made faith
+certain, decided every doubt to be sin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+Next morning the Curate got up with anticipations which were far from
+cheerful, and a weary sense of the monotony and dulness of life. He had
+won his little battle, it was true; but the very victory had removed
+that excitement which answered in the absence of happier stimulations to
+keep up his heart and courage. After a struggle like that in which he
+had been engaged, it was hard to come again into the peaceable routine
+without any particular hope to enliven or happiness to cheer it, which
+was all he had at present to look for in his life; and it was harder
+still to feel the necessity of being silent, of standing apart from Lucy
+in her need, of shutting up in his own heart the longing he had towards
+her, and refraining himself from the desperate thought of uniting his
+genteel beggary to hers. That was the one thing which must not be
+thought of, and he subdued himself with an impatient sigh, and could not
+but wonder, as he went down-stairs, whether, if Gerald had been less
+smoothly guided through the perplexing paths of life, he would have
+found time for all the difficulties which had driven him to take refuge
+in Rome. It was with this sense of hopeless restraint and incapacity,
+which is perhaps of all sensations the most humbling, that he went
+down-stairs, and found lying on his breakfast table, the first thing
+that met his eye, the note which Lucy Wodehouse had written to him on
+the previous night. As he read it, the earth somehow turned to the sun;
+the dubious light brightened in the skies. Unawares, he had been
+wondering never to receive any token of sympathy, any word of
+encouragement, from those for whom he had made so many exertions. When
+he had read Lucy's letter, the aspect of affairs changed considerably.
+To be sure, nothing that she had said or could say made any difference
+in the facts of the case; but the Curate was young, and still liable to
+those changes of atmosphere which do more for an imaginative mind than
+real revolutions. He read the letter several times over as he lingered
+through his breakfast, making on the whole an agreeable meal, and
+finding himself repossessed of his ordinary healthful appetite. He even
+canvassed the signature as much in reading as Lucy had done in writing
+it--balancing in his mind the maidenly "truly yours" of that
+subscription with as many ingenious renderings of its possible meaning
+as if Lucy's letter had been articles of faith. "Truly mine," he said to
+himself, with a smile; which indeed meant all a lover could require; and
+then paused, as if he had been Dr Lushington or Lord Westbury, to
+inquire into the real force of the phrase. For after all, it is not only
+when signing the Articles that the bond and pledge of subscription means
+more than is intended. When Mr Wentworth was able to tear himself from
+the agreeable casuistry of this self-discussion, he got up in much
+better spirits to go about his daily business. First of all, he had to
+see his father, and ascertain what were the Squire's intentions, and how
+long he meant to stay in Carlingford; and then--It occurred to the
+Perpetual Curate that after that, politeness demanded that he should
+call on the Miss Wodehouses, who had, or at least one of them, expressed
+so frankly their confidence in him. He could not but call to thank her,
+to inquire into their plans, perhaps to back aunt Leonora's invitation,
+which he was aware had been gratefully declined. With these ideas in his
+mind he went down-stairs, after brushing his hat very carefully and
+casting one solicitous glance in the mirror as he passed--which
+presented to him a very creditable reflection, an eidolon in perfect
+clerical apparel, without any rusty suggestions of a Perpetual Curacy.
+Yet a Perpetual Curacy it was which was his sole benefice or hope in his
+present circumstances, for he knew very well that, were all other
+objections at an end, neither Skelmersdale nor Wentworth could be kept
+open for him; and that beyond these two he had not a hope of
+advancement--and at the same time he was pledged to remain in
+Carlingford. All this, however, though discouraging enough, did not
+succeed in discouraging Mr Wentworth after he had read Lucy's letter. He
+went down-stairs so lightly that Mrs Hadwin, who was waiting in the
+parlour in her best cap, to ask if he would pardon her for making such a
+mistake, did not hear him pass, and sat waiting for an hour, forgetting,
+or rather neglecting to give any response, when the butcher came for
+orders--which was an unprecedented accident. Mr Wentworth went
+cheerfully up Grange Lane, meeting, by a singular chance, ever so many
+people, who stopped to shake hands with him, or at least bowed their
+good wishes and friendly acknowledgments. He smiled in himself at these
+evidences of popular penitence, but was not the less pleased to find
+himself reinstated in his place in the affections and respect of
+Carlingford. "After all, it was not an unnatural mistake," he said to
+himself, and smiled benignly upon the excellent people who had found out
+the error of their own ways. Carlingford, indeed, seemed altogether in a
+more cheerful state than usual, and Mr Wentworth could not but think
+that the community in general was glad to find that it had been
+deceived, and so went upon his way, pleasing himself with those maxims
+about the ultimate prevalence of justice and truth, which make it
+apparent that goodness is always victorious, and wickedness punished, in
+the end. Somehow even a popular fallacy has an aspect of truth when it
+suits one's own case. The Perpetual Curate went through his aunts'
+garden with a conscious smile, feeling once more master of himself and
+his concerns. There was, to tell the truth, even a slight shade of
+self-content and approbation upon his handsome countenance. In the
+present changed state of public opinion and private feeling, he began to
+take some pleasure in his sacrifice. To be sure, a Perpetual Curate
+could not marry; but perhaps Lucy--in short, there was no telling what
+might happen; and it was accordingly with that delicious sense of
+goodness which generally attends an act of self-sacrifice, mingled with
+an equally delicious feeling that the act, when accomplished, might turn
+out no such great sacrifice after all--which it is to be feared is the
+most usual way in which the sacrifices of youth are made--that the
+Curate walked into the hall, passing his aunt Dora's toy terrier without
+that violent inclination to give it a whack with his cane in passing
+which was his usual state of feeling. To tell the truth, Lucy's letter
+had made him at peace with all the world.
+
+When, however, he entered the dining-room, where the family were still
+at breakfast, Frank's serenity was unexpectedly disturbed. The first
+thing that met his eyes was his aunt Leonora, towering over her
+tea-urn at the upper end of the table, holding in her hand a letter
+which she had just opened. The envelope had fallen in the midst of the
+immaculate breakfast "things," and indeed lay, with its broad black
+edge on the top of the snow-white lumps, in Miss Leonora's own
+sugar-basin; and the news had been sufficiently interesting to suspend
+the operations of tea-making, and to bring the strong-minded woman to
+her feet. The first words which were audible to Frank revealed to him
+the nature of the intelligence which had produced such startling
+effects.
+
+"He was always a contradictory man," said Miss Leonora; "since the
+first hour he was in Skelmersdale, he has made a practice of doing
+things at the wrong time. I don't mean to reproach the poor man now
+he's gone; but when he has been so long of going, what good could it
+do him to choose this particular moment, for no other reason that I
+can see, except that it was specially uncomfortable to us? What my
+brother has just been saying makes it all the worse," said Miss
+Leonora, with a look of annoyance. She had turned her head away from
+the door, which was at the side of the room, and had not perceived the
+entrance of the Curate. "As long as we could imagine that Frank was to
+succeed to the Rectory, the thing looked comparatively easy. I beg
+your pardon, Gerald. Of course, you know how grieved I am--in short,
+that we all feel the deepest distress and vexation; but, to be sure,
+since you have given it up, somebody must succeed you--there can be no
+doubt of that."
+
+"Not the least, my dear aunt," said Gerald.
+
+"I am glad you grant so much. It is well to be sure of something," said
+the incisive and peremptory speaker. "It would have been a painful thing
+for us at any time to place another person in Skelmersdale while Frank
+was unprovided for; but, of course," said Miss Leonora, sitting down
+suddenly, "nobody who knows me could suppose for a minute that I would
+let my feelings stand in the way of my public duty. Still it is very
+awkward just at this moment when Frank, on the whole, has been behaving
+very properly, and one can't help so far approving of him--"
+
+"I am much obliged to you, aunt Leonora," said the Curate.
+
+"Oh, you are there, Frank," said his sensible aunt; and strong-minded
+though she was, a slight shade of additional colour appeared for a
+moment on Miss Leonora's face. She paused a little, evidently diverted
+from the line of discourse which she had contemplated, and wavered like
+a vessel disturbed in its course. "The fact is, I have just had a letter
+announcing Mr Shirley's death," she continued, facing round towards her
+nephew, and setting off abruptly, in face of all consequences, on the
+new tack.
+
+"I am very sorry," said Frank Wentworth; "though I have an old grudge
+at him on account of his long sermons; but as you have expected it for
+a year or two, I can't imagine your grief to be overwhelming," said
+the Curate, with a touch of natural impertinence to be expected under
+the circumstances. Skelmersdale had been so long thought interesting
+to him, that now, when it was not in the least interesting, he got
+impatient of the name.
+
+"I quite agree with you, Frank," said Miss Wentworth. Aunt Cecilia had
+not been able for a long time to agree with anybody. She had been, on
+the contrary, shaking her head and shedding a few gentle tears over
+Gerald's silent submission and Louisa's noisy lamentations. Everything
+was somehow going wrong; and she who had no power to mend, at least
+could not assent, and broke through her old use and wont to shake her
+head, which was a thing very alarming to the family. The entire party
+was moved by a sensation of pleasure to hear Miss Cecilia say, "I
+quite agree with you, Frank."
+
+"You are looking better this morning, my dear aunt," said Gerald. They
+had a great respect for each other these two; but when Miss Cecilia
+turned to hear what her elder nephew was saying, her face lost the
+momentary look of approval it had worn, and she again, though very
+softly, almost imperceptibly, began to shake her head.
+
+"We were not asking for your sympathy," said Miss Leonora, sharply.
+"Don't talk like a saucy boy. We were talking of our own
+embarrassment. There is a very excellent young man, the curate of the
+parish, whom Julia Trench is to be married to. By the way, of course,
+this must put it off; but I was about to say, when you interrupted me,
+that to give it away from you at this moment, just as you had been
+doing well--doing--your duty," said Miss Leonora, with unusual
+hesitation, "was certainly very uncomfortable, to say the least, to
+us."
+
+"Don't let that have the slightest influence on you, I beg," cried the
+Perpetual Curate, with all the pride of his years. "I hope I have been
+doing my duty all along," the young man added, more softly, a moment
+after; upon which the Squire gave a little nod, partly of satisfaction
+and encouragement to his son--partly of remonstrance and protest to
+his sister.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so--with the flowers at Easter, for example," said
+Miss Leonora, with a slight sneer. "I consider that I have stood by
+you through all this business, Frank--but, of course, in so important
+a matter as a cure of souls, neither relationship, nor, to a certain
+extent, approval," said Miss Leonora, with again some hesitation, "can
+be allowed to stand against public duty. We have the responsibility of
+providing a good gospel minister--"
+
+"I beg your pardon for interrupting you, Leonora," said the Squire,
+"but I can't help thinking that you make a mistake. I think it's a
+man's bounden duty, when there is a living in the family, to educate
+one of his sons for it. In my opinion, it's one of the duties of
+property. You have no right to live off your estate, and spend your
+money elsewhere; and no more have you any right to give less
+than--than your own flesh and blood to the people you have the charge
+of. You've got the charge of them to--to a certain extent--soul and
+body, sir," said the Squire, growing warm, as he put down his 'Times,'
+and forgetting that he addressed a lady. "I'd never have any peace of
+mind if I filled up a family living with a stranger--unless, of
+course," Mr Wentworth added in a parenthesis--an unlikely sort of
+contingency which had not occurred to him at first--"you should happen
+to have no second son.--The eldest the squire, the second the rector.
+That's my idea, Leonora, of Church and State."
+
+Miss Leonora smiled a little at her brother's semi-feudal, semi-pagan
+ideas. "I have long known that we were not of the same way of thinking,"
+said the strong-minded aunt, who, though cleverer than her brother, was
+too wise in her own conceit to perceive at the first glance the noble,
+simple conception of his own duties and position, which was implied in
+the honest gentleman's words. "Your second son might be either a fool or
+a knave, or even, although neither, might be quite unfit to be intrusted
+with the eternal interests of his fellow-creatures. In my opinion, the
+duty of choosing a clergyman is one not to be exercised without the
+gravest deliberation. A conscientious man would make his selection
+dependent, at least, upon the character of his second son--if he had
+one. We, however--"
+
+"But then his character is _so_ satisfactory, Leonora," cried Miss
+Dora, feeling emboldened by the shadow of visitors under whose shield
+she could always retire. "Everybody knows what a good clergyman he
+is--I am sure it would be like a new world in Skelmersdale if you were
+there, Frank, my dear--and he preaches such beautiful sermons!" said
+the unlucky little woman, upon whom her sister immediately descended,
+swift and sudden, like a storm at sea.
+
+"We are generally perfectly of accord in our conclusions," said Miss
+Leonora; "as for Dora, she comes to the same end by a roundabout way.
+After what my brother has been saying--"
+
+"Yes," said the Squire, with uncomfortable looks, "I was saying to
+your aunt, Frank, what I said to you about poor Mary. Since Gerald
+_will_ go, and since you don't want to come, the best thing to do
+would be to have Huxtable. He's a very good fellow on the whole, and
+it might cheer her up, poor soul, to be near her sisters. Life has
+been hard work to her, poor girl--very hard work, sir," said the
+Squire, with a sigh. The idea was troublesome and uncomfortable, and
+always disturbed his mind when it occurred to him. It was indeed a
+secret humiliation to the Squire, that his eldest daughter possessed
+so little the characteristic health and prosperity of the Wentworths.
+He was very sorry for her, but yet half angry and half ashamed, as if
+she could have helped it; but, however, he had been obliged to admit,
+in his private deliberations on the subject, that, failing Frank,
+Mary's husband had the next best right to Wentworth Rectory--an
+arrangement of which Miss Leonora did not approve.
+
+"I was about to say that we have no second son," she said, taking up the
+thread of her discourse where it had been interrupted. "Our duty is
+solely towards the Christian people. I do not pretend to be infallible,"
+said Miss Leonora, with a meek air of self-contradiction; "but I should
+be a very poor creature indeed, if, at my age, I did not know what I
+believed, and was not perfectly convinced that I am right. Consequently
+(though, I repeat, Mr Shirley has chosen the most inconvenient moment
+possible for dying), it can't be expected of me that I should appoint my
+nephew, whose opinions in most points are exactly the opposite of mine."
+
+"I wish, at least, you would believe what I say," interrupted the
+Curate, impatiently. "There might have been some sense in all this
+three months ago; but if Skelmersdale were the high-road to everything
+desirable in the Church, you are all quite aware that I could not
+accept it. Stop, Gerald; I am not so disinterested as you think," said
+Frank; "if I left Carlingford now, people would remember against me
+that my character had been called in question here. I can remain a
+perpetual curate," said the young man, with a smile, "but I can't
+tolerate any shadow upon my honour. I am sorry I came in at such an
+awkward moment. Good morning, aunt Leonora. I hope Julia Trench, when
+she has the Rectory, will always keep of your way of thinking. She
+used to incline a little to mine," he said, mischievously, as he went
+away.
+
+"Come back, Frank, presently," said the Squire, whose attention had
+been distracted from his 'Times.' Mr Wentworth began to be tired of
+such a succession of exciting discussions. He thought if he had Frank
+quietly to himself he could settle matters much more agreeably; but
+the 'Times' was certainly an accompaniment more tranquillising so far
+as a comfortable meal was concerned.
+
+"He can't come back presently," said aunt Leonora. "You speak as if he
+had nothing to do; when, on the contrary, he has everything to
+do--that is worth doing," said that contradictory authority. "Come
+back to lunch, Frank; and I wish you would eat your breakfast, Dora,
+and not stare at me."
+
+Miss Dora had come down to breakfast as an invalid, in a pretty little
+cap, with a shawl over her dressing-gown. She had not yet got over her
+adventure and the excitement of Rosa's capture. That unusual accident,
+and all the applauses of her courage which had been addressed to her
+since, had roused the timid woman. She did not withdraw her eyes from
+her sister, though commanded to do so; on the contrary, her look grew
+more and more emphatic. She meant to have made a solemn address,
+throwing off Leonora's yoke, and declaring her intention, in this grave
+crisis of her nephew's fortunes, of acting for herself; but her feelings
+were too much for Miss Dora. The tears came creeping to the corners of
+her eyes, and she could not keep them back; and her attempt at dignity
+broke down. "I am never consulted," she said, with a gasp. "I don't mean
+to pretend to know better than Leonora; but--but I think it is very
+hard that Frank should be disappointed about Skelmersdale. You may call
+me as foolish as you please," said Miss Dora, with rising tears, "I know
+everybody will say it is my fault; but I must say I think it is very
+hard that Frank should be disappointed. He was always brought up for it,
+as everybody knows; and to disappoint him, who is so good and so nice,
+for a fat young man, buttered all over like--like--a pudding-basin,"
+cried poor Miss Dora, severely adhering to the unity of her desperate
+metaphor. "I don't know what Julia Trench can be thinking of; I--I don't
+know what Leonora means."
+
+"I am of the same way of thinking," said aunt Cecilia, setting down,
+with a little gentle emphasis, her cup of tea.
+
+Here was rebellion, open and uncompromised. Miss Leonora was so much
+taken by surprise, that she lifted the tea-urn out of the way, and
+stared at her interlocutors with genuine amazement. But she proved
+herself, as usual, equal to the occasion.
+
+"It's unfortunate that we never see eye to eye just at once," she
+said, with a look which expressed more distinctly than words could
+have done the preliminary flourish of his whip by means of which a
+skilful charioteer gets his team under hand without touching them;
+"but it is very lucky that we always come to agree in the end," she
+added, more significantly still. It was well to crush insubordination
+in the bud. Not that she did not share the sentiment of her sisters;
+but then they were guided like ordinary women by their feelings;
+whereas Miss Leonora had the rights of property before her, and the
+approval of Exeter Hall.
+
+"And he wants to marry, poor dear boy," said Miss Dora, pale with
+fright, yet persevering; "and she is a dear good girl--the very person
+for a clergyman's wife; and what is he to do if he is always to be
+Curate of St Roque's? You may say it is my fault, but I cannot help it.
+He always used to come to me in all his little troubles; and when he
+wants anything very particular, he knows there is nothing I would not do
+for him," sobbed the proud aunt, who could not help recollecting how
+much use she had been to Frank. She wiped her eyes at the thought, and
+held up her head with a thrill of pride and satisfaction. Nobody could
+blame her in that particular at least. "He knew he had only to tell me
+what he wanted," said Miss Dora, swelling out her innocent plumes. Jack,
+who was sitting opposite, and who had been listening with admiration,
+thought it time to come in on his own part.
+
+"I hope you don't mean to forsake _me_, aunt Dora," he said. "If a
+poor fellow cannot have faith in his aunt, whom can he have faith in?
+I thought it was too good to last," said the neglected prodigal. "You
+have left the poor sheep in the wilderness and gone back to the
+ninety-and-nine righteous men who need no repentance." He put up his
+handkerchief to his eyes as he spoke, and so far forgot himself as to
+look with laughter in his face at his brother Gerald. As for the
+Squire, he was startled to hear his eldest son quoting Scripture, and
+laid aside his paper once more to know what it meant.
+
+"I am sure I beg your pardon, Jack," said aunt Dora, suddenly stopping
+short, and feeling guilty. "I never meant to neglect you. Poor dear
+boy, he never was properly tried with female society and the comforts
+of home; but then you were dining out that night," said the simple
+woman, eagerly. "I should have stayed with you, Jack, _of course_, had
+you been at home."
+
+From this little scene Miss Leonora turned away hastily, with an
+exclamation of impatience. She made an abrupt end of her tea-making,
+and went off to her little business-room with a grim smile upon her
+iron-grey countenance. She too had been taken in a little by Jack's
+pleasant farce of the Sinner Repentant; and it occurred to her to feel a
+little ashamed of herself as she went up-stairs. After all, the
+ninety-and-nine just men of Jack's irreverent quotation were worth
+considering now and then; and Miss Leonora could not but think with a
+little humiliation of the contrast between her nephew Frank and the
+comfortable young Curate who was going to marry Julia Trench. He _was_
+fat, it could not be denied; and she remembered his chubby looks, and
+his sermons about self-denial and mortification of the flesh, much as a
+pious Catholic might think of the Lenten oratory of a fat friar. But
+then he was perfectly sound in his doctrines, and it was undeniable that
+the people liked him, and that the appointment was one which even a
+Scotch ecclesiastical community full of popular rights could scarcely
+have objected to. According to her own principles, the strong-minded
+woman could not do otherwise. She threw herself into her arm-chair with
+unnecessary force, and read over the letter which Miss Trench herself
+had written. "It is difficult to think of any consolation in such a
+bereavement," wrote Mr Shirley's niece; "but still it is a little
+comfort to feel that I can throw myself on your sympathy, my dear and
+kind friend." "Little calculating thing!" Miss Leonora said to herself
+as she threw down the mournful epistle; and then she could not help
+thinking again of Frank. To be sure, he was not of her way of thinking;
+but when she remembered the "investigation" and its result, and the
+secret romance involved in it, her Wentworth blood sent a thrill of
+pride and pleasure through her veins. Miss Leonora, though she was
+strong-minded, was still woman enough to perceive her nephew's motives
+in his benevolence to Wodehouse; but these motives, which were strong
+enough to make him endure so much annoyance, were not strong enough to
+tempt him from Carlingford and his Perpetual Curacy, where his honour
+and reputation, in the face of love and ambition, demanded that he
+should remain. "It would be a pity to balk him in his self-sacrifice,"
+she said to herself, with again a somewhat grim smile, and a comparison
+not much to the advantage of Julia Trench and _her_ curate. She shut
+herself up among her papers till luncheon, and only emerged with a
+stormy front when that meal was on the table; during the progress of
+which she snubbed everybody who ventured to speak to her, and spoke to
+her nephew Frank as if he might have been suspected of designs upon the
+plate-chest. Such were the unpleasant consequences of the struggle
+between duty and inclination in the bosom of Miss Leonora; and, save for
+other unforeseen events which decided the matter for her, it is not by
+any means so certain as, judging from her character, it ought to have
+been, that duty would have won the day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+
+Frank Wentworth once more went up Grange Lane, a thoughtful and a sober
+man. Exhilaration comes but by moments in the happiest of lives--and
+already he began to remember how very little he had to be elated about,
+and how entirely things remained as before. Even Lucy; her letter very
+probably might be only an effusion of friendship; and at all events,
+what could he say to her--what did he dare in honour say? And then his
+mind went off to think of the two rectories, between which he had fallen
+as between two stools: though he had made up his mind to accept neither,
+he did not the less feel a certain mortification in seeing that his
+relations on both sides were so willing to bestow their gifts elsewhere.
+He could not tolerate the idea of succeeding Gerald in his own person,
+but still he found it very disagreeable to consent to the thought that
+Huxtable should replace him--Huxtable, who was a good fellow enough, but
+of whom Frank Wentworth thought, as men generally think of their
+brothers-in-law, with a half-impatient, half-contemptuous wonder what
+Mary could ever have seen in so commonplace a man. To think of him as
+rector of Wentworth inwardly chafed the spirit of the Perpetual Curate.
+As he was going along, absorbed in his own thoughts, he did not
+perceive how his approach was watched for from the other side of the way
+by Elsworthy, who stood with his bundle of newspapers under his arm and
+his hat in his hand, watching for "his clergyman" with submission and
+apology on the surface, and hidden rancour underneath. Elsworthy was not
+penitent; he was furious and disappointed. His mistake and its
+consequences were wholly humiliating, and had not in them a single
+saving feature to atone for the wounds of his self-esteem. The Curate
+had not only baffled and beaten him, but humbled him in his own eyes,
+which is perhaps, of all others, the injury least easy to forgive. It
+was, however, with an appearance of the profoundest submission that he
+stood awaiting the approach of the man he had tried so much to injure.
+
+"Mr Wentworth, sir," said Elsworthy, "if I was worth your while, I
+might think as you were offended with me; but seeing I'm one as is so
+far beneath you"--he went on with a kind of grin, intended to
+represent a deprecatory smile, but which would have been a snarl had
+he dared--"I can't think as you'll bear no malice. May I ask, sir, if
+there's a-going to be any difference made?"
+
+"In what respect, Elsworthy?" said the Curate, shortly.
+
+"Well, sir, I can't tell," said the clerk of St Roque's. "If a
+clergyman was to bear malice, it's in his power to make things very
+unpleasant. I don't speak of the place at church, which aint either
+here nor there--it's respectable, but it aint lucrative; but if you
+was to stretch a point, Mr Wentworth, by continuing the papers and
+suchlike--it aint that I value the money," said Elsworthy, "but I've
+been a faithful servant; and I might say, if you was to take it in a
+right spirit, an 'umble friend, Mr Wentworth," he continued, after a
+little pause, growing bolder. "And now, as I've that unfortunate
+creature to provide for, and no one knowing what's to become of her--"
+
+"I wonder that you venture to speak of her to me," said the Curate,
+with a little indignation, "after all the warnings I gave you. But
+you ought to consider that you are to blame a great deal more than she
+is. She is only a child; if you had taken better care of her--but you
+would not pay any attention to my warning;--you must bear the
+consequences as you best can."
+
+"Well, sir," said Elsworthy, "if you're a-going to bear malice, I
+haven't got nothing to say. But there aint ten men in Carlingford as
+wouldn't agree with me that when a young gentleman, even if he is a
+clergyman, takes particklar notice of a pretty young girl, it aint
+just for nothing as he does it--not to say watching over her paternal
+to see as she wasn't out late at night, and suchlike. But bygones is
+bygones, sir," said Elsworthy, "and is never more to be mentioned by
+me. I don't ask no more, if you'll but do the same--"
+
+"You won't ask no more?" said the Curate, angrily; "do you think I am
+afraid of you? I have nothing more to say, Elsworthy. Go and look
+after your business--I will attend to mine; and when we are not forced
+to meet, let us keep clear of each other. It will be better both for
+you and me."
+
+The Curate passed on with an impatient nod; but his assailant did not
+intend that he should escape so easily. "I shouldn't have thought,
+sir, as you'd have borne malice," said Elsworthy, hastening on after
+him, yet keeping half a step behind. "I'm a humbled man--different
+from what I ever thought to be. I could always keep up my head afore
+the world till now; and if it aint your fault, sir--as I humbly beg
+your pardon for ever being so far led away as to believe it was--all
+the same it's along of you."
+
+"What do you mean?" said the Curate, who, half amused and half
+indignant at the change of tone, had slackened his pace to listen to
+this new accusation.
+
+"What I mean, sir, is, that if you hadn't been so good and so
+kind-hearted as to take into your house the--the villain as has done
+it all, him and Rosa could never have known each other. I allow as it
+was nothing but your own goodness as did it; but it was a black day
+for me and mine," said the dramatist, with a pathetic turn of voice.
+"Not as I'm casting no blame on you, as is well known to be--"
+
+"Never mind what I'm well known to be," said the Curate; "the other day
+you thought _I_ was the villain. If you can tell me anything you want me
+to do, I will understand that--but I am not desirous to know your
+opinion of me," said the careless young man. As he stood listening
+impatiently, pausing a second time, Dr Marjoribanks came out to his door
+and stepped into his brougham to go off to his morning round of visits.
+The Doctor took off his hat when he saw the Curate, and waved it to him
+cheerfully with a gesture of congratulation. Dr Marjoribanks was quite
+stanch and honest, and would have manfully stood by his intimates in
+dangerous circumstances; but somehow he preferred success. It was
+pleasanter to be able to congratulate people than to condole with them.
+He preferred it, and nobody could object to so orthodox a sentiment.
+Most probably, if Mr Wentworth had still been in partial disgrace, the
+Doctor would not have seen him in his easy glance down the road; but
+though Mr Wentworth was aware of that, the mute congratulation had yet
+its effect upon him. He was moved by that delicate symptom of how the
+wind was blowing in Carlingford, and forgot all about Elsworthy, though
+the man was standing by his side.
+
+"As you're so good as to take it kind, sir," said the clerk of St
+Roque's--"and, as I was a-saying, it's well known as you're always
+ready to hear a poor man's tale--perhaps you'd let bygones be bygones,
+and not make no difference? That wasn't all, Mr Wentworth," he
+continued eagerly, as the Curate gave an impatient nod, and turned to
+go on. "I've heard as this villain is rich, sir, by means of robbing
+of his own flesh and blood;--but it aint for me to trust to what folks
+says, after the experience I've had, and never can forgive myself for
+being led away," said Elsworthy; "it's well known in Carlingford--"
+
+"For heaven's sake come to the point and be done with it," said the
+Curate. "What is it you want me to do?"
+
+"Sir," said Elsworthy, solemnly, "you're a real gentleman, and you
+don't bear no malice for what was a mistake--and you aint one to turn
+your back on an unfortunate family--and Mr Wentworth, sir, you aint
+a-going to stand by and see me and mine wronged, as have always wished
+you well. If we can't get justice of him, we can get damages," cried
+Elsworthy. "He aint to be let off as if he'd done no harm--and seeing
+as it was along of you--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, sir!" cried the Curate. "I have nothing to do with
+it. Keep out of my way, or at least learn to restrain your tongue. No
+more, not a word more," said the young man, indignantly. He went off
+with such a sweep and wind of anger and annoyance, that the slower and
+older complainant had no chance to follow him. Elsworthy accordingly
+went off to the shop, where his errand-boys were waiting for the
+newspapers, and where Rosa lay up-stairs, weeping, in a dark room, where
+her enraged aunt had shut her up. Mrs Elsworthy had shut up the poor
+little pretty wretch, who might have been penitent under better
+guidance, but who by this time had lost what sense of shame and wrong
+her childish conscience was capable of in the stronger present sense of
+injury and resentment and longing to escape; but the angry aunt, though
+she could turn the key on poor Rosa's unfortunate little person, could
+not shut in the piteous sobs which now and then sounded through and
+through the house, and which converted all the errand-boys without
+exception into indignant partisans of Rosa, and even moved the heart of
+Peter Hayles, who could hear them at the back window where he was making
+up Dr Marjoribanks's prescriptions. As the sense of injury waxed
+stronger and stronger in Rosa's bosom, she availed herself, like any
+other irrational, irresponsible creature, of such means of revenging
+herself and annoying her keepers as occurred to her. "Nobody ever took
+no care of me," sobbed Rosa. "I never had no father or mother. Oh, I
+wish I was dead!--and nobody wouldn't care!" These utterances, it may be
+imagined, went to the very heart of the errand-boys, who were collected
+in a circle, plotting how to release Rosa, when Elsworthy, mortified and
+furious, came back from his unsuccessful assault on the Curate. They
+scattered like a covey of little birds before the angry man, who tossed
+their papers at them, and then strode up the echoing stairs. "If you
+don't hold your d----d tongue," said Elsworthy, knocking furiously at
+Rosa's door, "I'll turn you to the door this instant, I will, by--."
+Nobody in Carlingford had ever before heard an oath issue from the
+respectable lips of the clerk of St Roque's. When he went down into the
+shop again, the outcries sank into frightened moans. Not much wonder
+that the entire neighbourhood became as indignant with Elsworthy as it
+ever had been with the Perpetual Curate. The husband and wife took up
+their positions in the shop after this, as far apart as was possible
+from each other, both resenting in silent fury the wrong which the world
+in general had done them. If Mrs Elsworthy had dared, she would have
+exhausted her passion in abuse of everybody--of the Curate for not being
+guilty, of her husband for supposing him to be so, and, to be sure, of
+Rosa herself, who was the cause of all. But Elsworthy was dangerous, not
+to be approached or spoken to. He went out about noon to see John Brown,
+and discuss with him the question of damages; but the occurrences which
+took place in his absence are not to be mixed up with the present
+narrative, which concerns Mr Frank Wentworth's visit to Lucy Wodehouse,
+and has nothing to do with ignoble hates or loves.
+
+The Curate went rapidly on to the green door, which once more looked
+like a gate of paradise. He did not know in the least what he was
+going to do or say--he was only conscious of a state of exaltation, a
+condition of mind which might precede great happiness or great misery,
+but had nothing in it of the common state of affairs in which people
+ask each other "How do you do?" Notwithstanding, the fact is, that
+when Lucy entered that dear familiar drawing-room, where every feature
+and individual expression of every piece of furniture was as well
+known to him as if they had been so many human faces, it was only "How
+do you do?" that the Curate found himself able to say. The two shook
+hands as demurely as if Lucy had indeed been, according to the
+deceptive representation of yesterday, as old as aunt Dora; and then
+she seated herself in her favourite chair, and tried to begin a little
+conversation about things in general. Even in these three days, nature
+and youth had done something for Lucy. She had slept and rested, and
+the unforeseen misfortune which had come in to distract her grief had
+roused all the natural strength that was in her. As she was a little
+nervous about this interview, not knowing what it might end in, Lucy
+thought it her duty to be as composed and self-commanding as possible,
+and, in order to avoid all dangerous and exciting subjects, began to
+talk of Wharfside.
+
+"I have not heard anything for three or four days about the poor woman
+at No. 10," she said; "I meant to have gone to see her to-day, but
+somehow one gets so selfish when--when one's mind is full of affairs
+of one's own."
+
+"Yes," said the Curate; "and speaking of that, I wanted to tell you
+how much comfort your letter had been to me. My head, too, has been
+very full of affairs of my own. I thought at one time that my friends
+were forsaking me. It was very good of you to write as you did."
+
+Upon which there followed another little pause. "Indeed the goodness
+was all on your side," said Lucy, faltering. "If I had ever dreamt how
+much you were doing for us! but it all came upon me so suddenly. It is
+impossible ever to express in words one-half of the gratitude we owe
+you," she said, with restrained enthusiasm. She looked up at him as
+she spoke with a little glow of natural fervour, which brought the
+colour to her cheek and the moisture to her eyes. She was not of the
+disposition to give either thanks or confidence by halves; and even
+the slight not unpleasant sense of danger which gave piquancy to this
+interview, made her resolute to express herself fully. She would not
+suffer herself to stint her gratitude because of the sweet suspicion
+which would not be quite silenced, that possibly Mr Wentworth looked
+for something better than gratitude. Not for any consequences, however
+much they might be to be avoided, could she be shabby enough to
+refrain from due acknowledgment of devotion so great. Therefore, while
+the Perpetual Curate was doing all he could to remind himself of his
+condition, and to persuade himself that it would be utterly wrong and
+mean of him to speak, Lucy looked up at him, looked him in the face,
+with her blue eyes shining dewy and sweet through tears of gratitude
+and a kind of generous admiration; for, like every other woman, she
+felt herself exalted and filled with a delicious pride in seeing that
+the man of her unconscious choice had proved himself the best.
+
+The Curate walked to the window, very much as Mr Proctor had done, in
+the tumult and confusion of his heart, and came back again with what
+he had to say written clear on his face, without any possibility of
+mistake. "I must speak," said the young man; "I have no right to
+speak, I know; if I had attained the height of self-sacrifice and
+self-denial, I might, I would be silent--but it is impossible now." He
+came to a break just then, looking at her to see what encouragement he
+had to go on; but as Lucy did nothing but listen and grow pale, he had
+to take his own way. "What I have to say is not anything new," said
+the Curate, labouring a little in his voice, as was inevitable when
+affairs had come to such a crisis, "if I were not in the cruelest
+position possible to a man. I have only an empty love to lay at your
+feet; I tell it to you only because I am obliged--because, after all,
+love is worth telling, even if it comes to nothing. I am not going to
+appeal to your generosity," continued the young man, kneeling down at
+the table, not by way of kneeling to Lucy, but by way of bringing
+himself on a level with her, where she sat with her head bent down on
+her low chair, "or to ask you to bind yourself to a man who has
+nothing in the world but love to offer you; but after what has been
+for years, after all the hours I have spent here, I cannot--part--I
+cannot let you go--without a word--"
+
+And here he stopped short. He had not asked anything, so that Lucy,
+even had she been able, had nothing to answer; and as for the young
+lover himself, he seemed to have come to the limit of his eloquence.
+He kept waiting for a moment, gazing at her in breathless expectation
+of a response for which his own words had left no room. Then he rose
+in an indescribable tumult of disappointment and mortification--unable
+to conclude that all was over, unable to keep silence, yet not knowing
+what to say.
+
+"I have been obliged to close all the doors of advancement upon
+myself," said the Curate, with a little bitterness; "I don't know if
+you understand me. At this moment I have to deny myself the dearest
+privilege of existence. Don't mistake me, Lucy," he said, after
+another pause, coming back to her with humility, "I don't venture to
+say that you would have accepted anything I had to offer; but this I
+mean, that to have a home for you now--to have a life for you ready to
+be laid at your feet, whether you would have had it or not;--what
+right have I to speak of such delights?" cried the young man. "It does
+not matter to you; and as for me, I have patience--patience to console
+myself with--"
+
+Poor Lucy, though she was on the verge of tears, which nothing but the
+most passionate self-restraint could have kept in, could not help a
+passing sensation of amusement at these words. "Not too much of that
+either," she said, softly, with a tremulous smile. "But patience
+carries the lilies of the saints," said Lucy, with a touch of the sweet
+asceticism which had once been so charming to the young Anglican. It
+brought him back like a spell to the common ground on which they used to
+meet; it brought him back also to his former position on his knee,
+which was embarrassing to Lucy, though she had not the heart to draw
+back, nor even to withdraw her hand, which somehow happened to be in Mr
+Wentworth's way.
+
+"I am but a man," said the young lover. "I would rather have the roses
+of life--but, Lucy, I am only a perpetual curate," he continued, with
+her hand in his. Her answer was made in the most heartless and
+indifferent words. She let two big drops--which fell like hail, though
+they were warmer than any summer rain--drop out of her eyes, and she
+said, with lips that had some difficulty in enunciating that heartless
+sentiment, "I don't see what it matters to me--"
+
+Which was true enough, though it did not sound encouraging; and it
+is dreadful to confess that, for a little while after, neither
+Skelmersdale, nor Wentworth, nor Mr Proctor's new rectory, nor the
+no-income of the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's, had the smallest place
+in the thoughts of either of these perfectly inconsiderate young people.
+For half an hour they were an Emperor and Empress seated upon two
+thrones, to which all the world was subject; and when at the end of that
+time they began to remember the world, it was but to laugh at it in
+their infinite youthful superiority. Then it became apparent that to
+remain in Carlingford, to work at "the district," to carry out all the
+ancient intentions of well-doing which had been the first bond between
+them, was, after all, the life of lives;--which was the state of mind
+they had both arrived at when Miss Wodehouse, who thought they had been
+too long together under the circumstances, and could not help wondering
+what Mr Wentworth could be saying, came into the room, rather flurried
+in her own person. She thought Lucy must have been telling the Curate
+about Mr Proctor and his hopes, and was, to tell the truth, a little
+curious how Mr Wentworth would take it, and a little--the very
+least--ashamed of encountering his critical looks. The condition of mind
+into which Miss Wodehouse was thrown when she perceived the real state
+of affairs would be difficult to describe. She was very glad and very
+sorry, and utterly puzzled how they were to live; and underneath all
+these varying emotions was a sudden, half-ludicrous, half-humiliating
+sense of being cast into the shade, which made Mr Proctor's _fiancee_
+laugh and made her cry, and brought her down altogether off the
+temporary pedestal upon which she had stepped, not without a little
+feminine satisfaction. When a woman is going to be married, especially
+if that marriage falls later than usual, it is natural that she should
+expect, for that time at least, to be the first and most prominent
+figure in her little circle. But, alas! what chance could there be for a
+mild, dove-coloured bride of forty beside a creature of half her age,
+endued with all the natural bloom and natural interest of youth?
+
+Miss Wodehouse could not quite make out her own feelings on the subject.
+"Don't you think if you had waited a little it would have been wiser?"
+she said, in her timid way; and then kissed her young sister, and said,
+"I am so glad, my darling--I am sure dear papa would have been pleased,"
+with a sob which brought back to Lucy the grief from which she had for
+the moment escaped. Under all the circumstances, however, it may well be
+supposed that it was rather hard upon Mr Wentworth to recollect that he
+had engaged to return to luncheon with the Squire, and to prepare
+himself after this momentous morning's work, to face all the
+complications of the family, where still Skelmersdale and Wentworth were
+hanging in the balance, and where the minds of his kith and kin were
+already too full of excitement to leave much room for another event. He
+went away reluctantly enough out of the momentary paradise where his
+Perpetual Curacy was a matter of utter indifference, if not a tender
+pleasantry, which rather increased than diminished the happiness of the
+moment--into the ordinary daylight world, where it was a very serious
+matter, and where what the young couple would have to live upon became
+the real question to be considered. Mr Wentworth met Wodehouse as he
+went out, which did not mend matters. The vagabond was loitering about
+in the garden, attended by one of Elsworthy's errand-boys, with whom he
+was in earnest conversation, and stopped in his talk to give a sulky nod
+and "Good morning," to which the Curate had no desire to respond more
+warmly than was necessary. Lucy was thinking of nothing but himself, and
+perhaps a little of the "great work" at Wharfside, which her father's
+illness and death had interrupted; but Mr Wentworth, who was only a man,
+remembered that Tom Wodehouse would be his brother-in-law with a
+distinct sensation of disgust, even in the moment of his triumph--which
+is one instance of the perennial inequality between the two halves of
+mankind. He had to brace himself up to the encounter of all his people,
+while she had to meet nothing less delightful than her own dreams. This
+was how matters came to an issue in respect of Frank Wentworth's
+personal happiness. His worldly affairs were all astray as yet, and he
+had not the most distant indication of any gleam of light dawning upon
+the horizon which could reconcile his duty and honour with good fortune
+and the delights of life. Meanwhile other discussions were going on in
+Carlingford, of vital importance to the two young people who had made up
+their minds to cast themselves upon Providence. And among the various
+conversations which were being carried on about the same moment in
+respect to Mr Wentworth--whose affairs, as was natural, were extensively
+canvassed in Grange Lane, as well as in other less exclusive
+quarters--it would be wrong to omit a remarkable consultation which took
+place in the Rectory, where Mrs Morgan sat in the midst of the great
+bouquets of the drawing-room carpet, making up her first matrimonial
+difficulty. It would be difficult to explain what influence the
+drawing-room carpet in the Rectory had on the fortunes of the Perpetual
+Curate; but when Mr Wentworth's friends come to hear the entire outs and
+ins of the business, it will be seen that it was not for nothing that
+Mr Proctor covered the floor of that pretty apartment with roses and
+lilies half a yard long.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+
+These were eventful days in Grange Lane, when gossip was not nearly
+rapid enough to follow the march of events. When Mr Wentworth went to
+lunch with his family, the two sisters kept together in the
+drawing-room, which seemed again re-consecrated to the purposes of
+life. Lucy had not much inclination just at that moment to move out of
+her chair; she was not sociable, to tell the truth, nor disposed to
+talk even about the new prospects which were brightening over both.
+She even took out her needlework, to the disgust of her sister. "When
+there are so many things to talk about, and so much to be considered,"
+Miss Wodehouse said, with a little indignation; and wondered within
+herself whether Lucy was really insensible to "what had happened," or
+whether the sense of duty was strong upon her little sister even in
+the height of her happiness. A woman of greater experience or
+discrimination might have perceived that Lucy had retired into that
+sacred silence, sweetest of all youthful privileges, in which she
+could dream over to herself the wonderful hour which had just come to
+an end, and the fair future of which it was the gateway. As for Miss
+Wodehouse herself, she was in a flutter, and could not get over the
+sense of haste and confusion which this last new incident had brought
+upon her. Things were going too fast around her, and the timid woman
+was out of breath. Lucy's composure at such a moment, and, above all,
+the production of her needlework, was beyond the comprehension of the
+elder sister.
+
+"My dear," said Miss Wodehouse, with an effort, "I don't doubt that
+these poor people are badly off, and I am sure it is very good of you
+to work for them; but if you will only think how many things there are
+to do! My darling, I am afraid you will have to--to make your own
+dresses in future, which is what I never thought to see," she said,
+putting her handkerchief to her eyes; "and we have not had any talk
+about anything, Lucy, and there are so many things to think of!" Miss
+Wodehouse, who was moving about the room as she spoke, began to lift
+her own books and special property off the centre table. The books
+were principally ancient Annuals in pretty bindings, which no
+representation on Lucy's part could induce her to think out of date;
+and among her other possessions was a little desk in Indian mosaic, of
+ivory, which had been an institution in the house from Lucy's earliest
+recollection. "And these are yours, Lucy dear," said Miss Wodehouse,
+standing up on a chair to take down from the wall two little pictures
+which hung side by side. They were copies both, and neither of great
+value; one representing the San Sisto Madonna, and the other a sweet
+St Agnes, whom Lucy had in her earlier days taken to her heart. Lucy's
+slumbering attention was roused by this sacrilegious act. She gave a
+little scream, and dropped her work out of her hands.
+
+"What do I mean?" said Miss Wodehouse; "indeed, Lucy dear, we must
+look it in the face. It is not our drawing-room any longer, you know."
+Here she made a pause, and sighed; but somehow a vision of the other
+drawing-room which was awaiting her in the new rectory, made the
+prospect less doleful than it might have been. She cleared up in a
+surprising way as she turned to look at her own property on the table.
+"My cousin Jack gave me this," said the gentle woman, brushing a
+little dust off her pretty desk. "When it came first, there was
+nothing like it in Carlingford, for that was before Colonel Chiley and
+those other Indian people had settled here. Jack was rather fond of
+me in those days, you know, though I never cared for him," the elder
+sister continued, with a smile. "Poor fellow! they said he was not
+very happy when he married." Though this was rather a sad fact, Miss
+Wodehouse announced it not without a certain gentle satisfaction.
+"And, Lucy dear, it is our duty to put aside our own things; they were
+all presents, you know," she said, standing up on the chair again to
+reach down the St Agnes, which, ever since Lucy had been confirmed,
+had hung opposite to her on the wall.
+
+"Oh, don't, don't!" cried Lucy. In that little bit of time, not more
+than five minutes as it appeared, the familiar room, which had just
+heard the romance of her youth, had come to have a dismantled and
+desolate look. The agent of this destruction, who saw in her mind's
+eye a new scene, altogether surpassing the old, looked complacently
+upon her work, and piled the abstracted articles on the top of each
+other, with a pleasant sense of property.
+
+"And your little chair and work-table are yours," said Miss Wodehouse;
+"they were always considered yours. You worked the chair yourself,
+though perhaps Miss Gibbons helped you a little; and the table you
+know, was sent home the day you were eighteen. It was--a present, you
+remember. Don't cry, my darling, don't cry; oh, I am sure I did not
+mean anything!" cried Miss Wodehouse, putting down the St Agnes and
+flying to her sister, about whom she threw her arms. "My hands are all
+dusty, dear," said the repentant woman; "but you know, Lucy, we must
+look it in the face, for it is not our drawing-room now. Tom may come
+in any day and say--oh, dear, dear, here is some one coming
+up-stairs!"
+
+Lucy extricated herself from her sister's arms when she heard
+footsteps outside. "If it is anybody who has a right to come, I
+suppose we are able to receive them," she said, and sat erect over her
+needlework, with a changed countenance, not condescending so much as
+to look towards the door.
+
+"But what if it should be Tom? Oh, Lucy dear, don't be uncivil to
+him," said the elder sister. Miss Wodehouse even made a furtive
+attempt to replace the things, in which she was indignantly stopped by
+Lucy. "But, my dear, perhaps it is Tom," said the alarmed woman, and
+sank trembling into a chair against the St Agnes, which had just been
+deposited there.
+
+"It does not matter who it is," said Lucy, with dignity. For her own
+part, she felt too much aggrieved to mention his name--aggrieved by
+her own ignorance, by the deception that had been practised upon her,
+by the character of the man whom she was obliged to call her brother,
+and chiefly by his existence, which was the principal grievance of
+all. Lucy's brief life had been embellished, almost ever since she had
+been capable of independent action, by deeds and thoughts of mercy.
+With her whole heart she was a disciple of Him who came to seek the
+lost; notwithstanding, a natural human sentiment in her heart
+protested against the existence of this man, who had brought shame and
+distress into the family without any act of theirs, and who injured
+everybody he came in contact with. When the thought of Rosa Elsworthy
+occurred to her, a burning blush came upon Lucy's cheek--why were such
+men permitted in God's world? To be sure, when she came to be aware of
+what she was thinking, Lucy felt guilty, and called herself a
+Pharisee, and said a prayer in her heart for the man who had upset all
+her cherished ideas of her family and home; but, after all, _that_ was
+an after-thought, and did not alter her instinctive sense of repulsion
+and indignation. All this swept rapidly through her mind while she sat
+awaiting the entrance of the person or persons who were approaching
+the door. "If it is the--owner of the house, it will be best to tell
+him what things you mean to remove," said Lucy; and before Miss
+Wodehouse could answer, the door was opened. They started, however, to
+perceive not Wodehouse, but a personage of very different appearance,
+who came in with an easy air of polite apology, and looked at them
+with eyes which recalled to Lucy the eyes which had been gazing into
+her own scarcely an hour ago. "Pardon me," said this unlooked-for
+visitor; "your brother, Miss Wodehouse, finds some difficulty in
+explaining himself to relations from whom he has been separated so
+long. Not to interfere with family privacy, will you let me assist at
+the conference?" said Jack Wentworth. "My brother, I understand, is a
+friend of yours, and your brother--is a--hem--friend of mine," the
+diplomatist added, scarcely able to avoid making a wry face over the
+statement. Wodehouse came in behind, looking an inch or two taller for
+that acknowledgment, and sat down, confronting his sisters, who were
+standing on the defensive. The heir, too, had a strong sense of
+property, as was natural, and the disarrangement of the room struck
+him in that point of view, especially as Miss Wodehouse continued to
+prop herself up against the St Agnes in the back of her chair.
+Wodehouse looked from the wall to the table, and saw what appeared to
+him a clear case of intended spoliation. "By Jove! they didn't mean to
+go empty-handed," said the vagabond, who naturally judged according to
+his own standard, and knew no better. Upon which Lucy, rising with
+youthful state and dignity, took the explanation upon herself.
+
+"I do not see why we should have the mortification of a spectator,"
+said Lucy, who already, having been engaged three-quarters of an hour,
+felt deeply disinclined to reveal the weak points of her own family to
+the inspection of the Wentworths. "All that there is to explain can be
+done very simply. Thank you, I will not sit down. Up to this time we
+may be allowed to imagine ourselves in our own--in our father's house.
+What we have to say is simple enough."
+
+"But pardon me, my dear Miss Wodehouse--" said Jack Wentworth.
+
+"My sister is Miss Wodehouse," said Lucy. "What there is to settle had
+better be arranged with our--our brother. If he will tell us precisely
+when he wishes us to go away, we shall be ready. Mary is going to be
+married," she went on, turning round so as to face Wodehouse, and
+addressing him pointedly, though she did not look at him--to the
+exclusion of Jack, who, experienced man as he was, felt disconcerted,
+and addressed himself with more precaution to a task which was less easy
+than he supposed.
+
+"Oh, Lucy!" cried Miss Wodehouse, with a blush worthy of eighteen. It
+was perhaps the first time that the fact had been so broadly stated,
+and the sudden announcement made before two men overwhelmed the timid
+woman. Then she was older than Lucy, and had picked up in the course
+of her career one or two inevitable scraps of experience, and she
+could not but wonder with a momentary qualm what Mr Proctor might
+think of his brother-in-law. Lucy, who thought Mr Proctor only too
+well off, went on without regarding her sister's exclamation.
+
+"I do not know when the marriage is to be--I don't suppose they have
+fixed it yet," said Lucy; "but it appears to me that it would save us
+all some trouble if we were allowed to remain until that time. I do
+not mean to ask any favour," she said, with a little more sharpness
+and less dignity. "We could pay rent for that matter, if--if it were
+desired. She is your sister," said Lucy, suddenly looking Wodehouse in
+the face, "as well as mine. I daresay she has done as much for you as
+she has for me. I don't ask any favour for her--but I would cut off my
+little finger if that would please her," cried the excited young
+woman, with a wildness of illustration so totally out of keeping with
+the matter referred to, that Miss Wodehouse, in the midst of her
+emotion, could scarcely restrain a scream of terror; "and you too
+might be willing to do something; you cannot have any kind of feeling
+for me," Lucy continued, recovering herself; "but you might perhaps
+have some feeling for Mary. If we can be permitted to remain until her
+marriage takes place, it may perhaps bring about--a feeling--more
+like--relations; and I shall be able to--"
+
+"Forgive you," Lucy was about to say, but fortunately stopped herself
+in time; for it was the fact of his existence that she had to forgive,
+and naturally such an amount of toleration was difficult to explain.
+As for Wodehouse himself, he listened to this appeal with very mingled
+feelings. Some natural admiration and liking woke in his dull mind as
+Lucy spoke. He was not destitute of good impulses, nor of the ordinary
+human affections. His little sister was pretty, and a lady, and clever
+enough to put Jack Wentworth much more in the background than usual.
+He said, "By Jove" to himself three or four times over in his beard,
+and showed a little emotion when she said he could have no feeling for
+her. At that point of Lucy's address he moved about uneasily in his
+chair, and plucked at his beard, and felt himself anything but
+comfortable. "By Jove! I never had a chance," the prodigal said, in
+his undertone. "I might have cared a deal for her if I had had a
+chance. She might have done a fellow good, by Jove!" mutterings of
+which Lucy took no manner of notice, but proceeded with her speech.
+When she had ended, and it became apparent that an answer was expected
+of him, Wodehouse flushed all over with the embarrassment of the
+position. He cleared his throat, he shifted his eyes, which were
+embarrassed by Lucy's gaze, he pushed his chair from the table, and
+made various attempts to collect himself, but at last ended by a
+pitiful appeal to Jack Wentworth, who had been looking seriously on.
+"You might come to a fellow's assistance!" cried Wodehouse. "By Jove!
+it was for that you came here."
+
+"The Miss Wodehouses evidently prefer to communicate with their brother
+direct," said Jack Wentworth, "which is a very natural sentiment. If I
+interfere, it is simply because I have had the advantage of talking the
+matter over, and understanding a little of what you mean. Miss
+Wodehouse, your brother is not disposed to act the part of a domestic
+tyrant. He has come here to offer you the house, which must have so many
+tender associations for you, not for a short period, as you wish, but
+for--"
+
+"I didn't know she was going to be married!" exclaimed Wodehouse--"that
+makes all the difference, by Jove! Lucy will marry fast enough; but as
+for Mary, I never thought she would hook any one at her time of life,"
+said the vagabond, with a rude laugh. He turned to Lucy, not knowing any
+better, and with some intention of pleasing her; but being met by a look
+of indignation under which he faltered, he went back to his natural role
+of sulky insolence. "By Jove! when I gave in to make such an offer, I
+never thought she had a chance of getting married," said the heir. "I
+aint going to give what belongs to me to another man--"
+
+"Your brother wishes," said Jack Wentworth, calmly, "to make over the
+house and furniture as it stands to you and your sister, Miss Wodehouse.
+Of course it is not to be expected that he should be sorry to get his
+father's property; but he is sorry that there should be no--no provision
+for you. He means that you should have the house--"
+
+"But I never thought she was going to be married, by Jove!" protested
+the rightful owner. "Look here, Molly; you shall have the furniture.
+The house would sell for a good bit of money. I tell you, Wentworth--"
+
+Jack Wentworth did not move from the mantlepiece where he was standing,
+but he cast a glance upon his unlucky follower which froze the words on
+his lips. "My good fellow, you are quite at liberty to decline my
+mediation in your affairs. Probably you can manage them better your own
+way," said Wodehouse's hero. "I can only beg the Miss Wodehouses to
+pardon my intrusion." Jack Wentworth's first step towards the door let
+loose a flood of nameless terrors upon the soul of his victim. If he
+were abandoned by his powerful protector, what would become of him? His
+very desire of money, and the avarice which prompted him to grudge
+making any provision for his sisters, was, after all, not real avarice,
+but the spendthrift's longing for more to spend. The house which he was
+sentenced to give up represented not so much gold and silver, but so
+many pleasures, fine dinners, and bad company. He could order the
+dinners by himself, it is true, and get men like himself to eat them;
+but the fine people--the men who had once been fine, and who still
+retained a certain tarnished glory--were, so far as Wodehouse was
+concerned, entirely in Jack Wentworth's keeping. He made a piteous
+appeal to his patron as the great man turned to go away.
+
+"I don't see what good it can do _you_ to rob a poor fellow!" cried
+Wodehouse. "But look here, I aint going to turn against your advice.
+I'll give it them, by Jove, for life--that is, for Mary's life," said
+the munificent brother. "She's twenty years older than Lucy--"
+
+"How do you dare to subject us to such insults?" cried the indignant
+Lucy, whose little hand clenched involuntarily in her passion. She had
+a great deal of self-control, but she was not quite equal to such an
+emergency; and it was all she could do to keep from stamping her foot,
+which was the only utterance of rage possible to a gentlewoman in her
+position. "I would rather see my father's house desecrated by you
+living in it," she cried, passionately, "than accept it as a gift from
+your hands. Mary, we are not obliged to submit to this. Let us rather
+go away at once. I will not remain in the same room with this man!"
+cried Lucy. She was so overwhelmed with her unwonted passion that she
+lost all command of the position, and even of herself, and was false
+for the moment to all her sweet codes of womanly behaviour. "How dare
+you, sir!" she cried in the sudden storm for which nobody was prepared.
+"We will remove the things belonging to us, with which nobody has any
+right to interfere, and we will leave immediately. Mary, come with me!"
+When she had said this, Lucy swept out of the room, pale as a little
+fury, and feeling in her heart a savage female inclination to strike
+Jack Wentworth, who opened the door for her, with her little white
+clenched hand. Too much excited to remark whether her sister had
+followed her, Lucy ran up-stairs to her room, and there gave way to the
+inevitable tears. Coming to herself after that was a terribly humbling
+process to the little Anglican. She had never fallen into a "passion"
+before that she knew of, certainly never since nursery times; and often
+enough her severe serene girlhood had looked reproving and surprised
+upon the tumults of Prickett's Lane, awing the belligerents into at
+least temporary silence. Now poor Lucy sat and cried over her downfall;
+she had forgotten herself; she had been conscious of an inclination to
+stamp, to scold, even to strike, in the vehemence of her indignation;
+and she was utterly overpowered by the thought of her guiltiness.
+"The very first temptation!" she said to herself; and made terrible
+reflections upon her own want of strength and endurance. To-day, too,
+of all days, when God had been so good to her! "If I yield to the first
+temptation like this, how shall I ever endure to the end?" cried Lucy,
+and in her heart thought, with a certain longing, of the sacrament of
+penance, and tried to think what she could do that would be most
+disagreeable, to the mortifying of the flesh. Perhaps if she had
+possessed a more lively sense of humour, another view of the subject
+might have struck Lucy; but humour, fortunately for the unity of human
+sentiment, is generally developed at a later period of life, and Lucy's
+fit of passion only made her think with greater tenderness and
+toleration of her termagants in Prickett's Lane.
+
+The three who were left down-stairs were in their different ways
+impressed by Lucy's passion. Jack Wentworth, being a man of humour and
+cultivation, was amused, but respectful, as having still a certain
+faculty of appreciating absolute purity when he saw it. As for
+Wodehouse, he gave another rude laugh, but was cowed, in spite of
+himself, and felt involuntarily what a shabby wretch he was,
+recognising that fact more impressively from the contempt of Lucy's
+pale face than he could have done through hours of argument. Miss
+Wodehouse, for her part, though very anxious and nervous, was not
+without an interest in the question under discussion. _She_ was not
+specially horrified by her brother, or anything he could say or do. He
+was Tom to her--a boy with whom she had once played, and whom she had
+shielded with all her sisterly might in his first transgressions. She
+had suffered a great deal more by his means than Lucy could ever
+suffer, and consequently was more tolerant of him. She kept her seat
+with the St Agnes in the chair behind, and watched the course of
+events with anxious steadiness. She did not care for money any more
+than Lucy did; but she could not help thinking it would be very
+pleasant if she could produce one good action on "poor Tom's" part to
+plead for him against any possible criticisms of the future. Miss
+Wodehouse was old enough to know that her Rector was not an ideal
+hero, but an ordinary man, and it was quite possible that he might
+point a future moral now and then with "that brother of yours, my
+dear." The elder sister waited accordingly, with her heart beating
+quick, to know the decision, very anxious that she might have at least
+one generous deed to record to the advantage of poor Tom.
+
+"I think we are quite decided on the point," said Jack Wentworth.
+"Knowing your sentiments, Wodehouse, I left directions with Waters
+about the papers. I think you will find him to be trusted, Miss
+Wodehouse, if you wish to consult him about letting or selling--"
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed Wodehouse, under his breath.
+
+"Which, I suppose," continued the superb Jack, "you will wish to do
+under the pleasant circumstances, upon which I beg to offer you my
+congratulations. Now, Tom, my good fellow, I am at your service. I
+think we have done our business here."
+
+Wodehouse got up in his sulky reluctant way like a lazy dog. "I
+suppose you won't try to move the furniture now?" he said. These were
+the only adieux he intended to make, and perhaps they might have been
+expressed with still less civility, had not Jack Wentworth been
+standing waiting for him at the door.
+
+"Oh, Tom! I am so thankful you have done it!" cried Miss Wodehouse.
+"It is not that I care for the money; but oh, Tom, I am so glad to
+think nobody can say anything now." She followed them wistfully to the
+door, not giving up hopes of a kinder parting. "I think it is very
+kind and nice of you, and what dear papa would have wished," said the
+elder sister, forgetting how all her father's plans had been brought
+to nothing; "and of course you will live here all the same?" she said,
+with a little eagerness, "that is, till--till--as long as we are
+here--"
+
+"Good-bye, Miss Wodehouse," said Jack Wentworth. "I don't think either
+your brother or I will stay much longer in Carlingford. You must
+accept my best wishes for your happiness all the same."
+
+"You are very kind, I am sure," said the embarrassed bride; "and oh,
+Tom, you will surely say good-bye? Say good-bye once as if you meant
+it; don't go away as if you did not care. Tom, I always was very fond
+of you; and don't you feel a little different to us, now you've done
+us a kindness?" cried Miss Wodehouse, going out after him to the
+landing-place. But Wodehouse was in no humour to be gracious. Instead
+of paying any attention to her, he looked regretfully at the property
+he had lost.
+
+"Good-bye," he said, vaguely. "By Jove! I know better than Jack
+Wentworth does the value of property. We might have had a jolly month at
+Homburg out of that old place," said the prodigal, with regret, as he
+went down the old-fashioned oak stair. That was his farewell to the
+house which he had entered so disastrously on the day of his father's
+funeral. He followed his leader with a sulky aspect through the garden,
+not venturing to disobey, but yet feeling the weight of his chains. And
+this was how Wodehouse accomplished his personal share in the gift to
+his sisters, of which Miss Wodehouse told everybody that it was "so good
+of Tom!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+
+"Going to be married!" said the Squire; "and to a sister of--I thought
+you told me she was as old as Dora, Frank? I did not expect to meet with
+any further complications," the old man said, plaintively: "of course
+you know very well I don't object to your marrying; but why on earth did
+you let me speak of Wentworth Rectory to Huxtable?" cried Mr Wentworth.
+He was almost more impatient about this new variety in the family
+circumstances than he had been of more serious family distresses. "God
+bless me, sir," said the Squire, "what do you mean by it? You take means
+to affront your aunts and lose Skelmersdale; and then you put it into my
+head to have Mary at Wentworth; and then you quarrel with the Rector,
+and get into hot water in Carlingford; and, to make an end of all, you
+coolly propose to an innocent young woman, and tell me you are going to
+marry--what on earth do you mean?"
+
+"I am going to marry some time, sir, I hope," said the Perpetual
+Curate, with more cheerfulness than he felt; "but not at the present
+moment. Of course we both know that is impossible. I should like you
+to come with me and see her before you leave Carlingford. She would
+like it, and so should I."
+
+"Well, well," said the Squire. Naturally, having been married so often
+himself, he could not refuse a certain response to such a call upon his
+sympathy. "I hope you have made a wise choice," said the experienced
+father, not without a sigh; "a great deal depends upon that--not only
+your own comfort, sir, but very often the character of your children and
+the credit of the family. You may laugh," said Mr Wentworth, to whom it
+was no laughing matter; "but long before you are as old as I am, you
+will know the truth of what I say. Your mother, Frank, was a specimen of
+what a woman ought to be--not to speak of her own children, there was
+nobody else who ever knew how to manage Gerald and Jack. Of course I am
+not speaking of Mrs Wentworth, who has her nursery to occupy her," said
+the Squire, apologetically. "I hope you have made a judicious choice."
+
+"I hope so, too," said Frank, who was somewhat amused by this view of
+the question--"though I am not aware of having exercised any special
+choice in the matter," he added, with a laugh. "However, I want you to
+come with me and see her, and then you will be able to judge for
+yourself."
+
+The Squire shook his head, and looked as if he had travelled back into
+the heavy roll of family distresses. "I don't mean to upbraid you,
+Frank," he said--"I daresay you have done what you thought was your
+duty--but I think you might have taken a little pains to satisfy
+your aunt Leonora. You see what Gerald has made of it, with all
+his decorations and nonsense. That is a dreadful drawback with you
+clergymen. You fix your eyes so on one point that you get to think
+things important that are not in the least important. Could you imagine
+a man of the world like Jack--he is not what I could wish, but still he
+is a man of the world," said the Squire, who was capable of contradicting
+himself with perfect composure without knowing it. "Can you imagine
+_him_ risking his prospects for a bit of external decoration? I don't
+mind it myself," said Mr Wentworth, impartially--"I don't pretend to
+see, for my own part, why flowers at Easter should be considered more
+superstitious than holly at Christmas; but, bless my soul, sir, when
+your aunt thought so, what was the good of running right in her face for
+such a trifle? I never could understand you parsons," the Squire said,
+with an impatient sigh--"nobody, that I know of, ever considered me
+mercenary; but to ruin your own prospects, all for a trumpery bunch of
+flowers, and then to come and tell me you want to marry--"
+
+This was before luncheon, when Frank and his father were together in
+the dining-room waiting for the other members of the family, who began
+to arrive at this moment, and prevented any further discussion. After
+all, perhaps, it was a little ungenerous of the Squire to press his
+son so hard on the subject of those innocent Easter lilies, long ago
+withered, which certainly, looked at from this distance, did not
+appear important enough to sacrifice any prospects for. This was all
+the harder upon the unfortunate Curate, as even at the time his
+conviction of their necessity had not proved equal to the satisfactory
+settlement of the question. Miss Wentworth's cook was an _artiste_ so
+irreproachable that the luncheon provided was in itself perfect; but
+notwithstanding it was an uncomfortable meal. Miss Leonora, in
+consequence of the contest going on in her own mind, was in an
+explosive and highly dangerous condition, not safe to be spoken to;
+and as for the Squire, he could not restrain the chance utterances of
+his impatience. Frank, who did his best to make himself agreeable as
+magnanimity required, had the mortification of hearing himself
+discussed in different tones of disapprobation while he ate his cold
+beef; for Mr Wentworth's broken sentences were not long of putting the
+party in possession of the new event, and the Perpetual Curate found
+himself the object of many wondering and pitying glances, in none of
+which could he read pure sympathy, much less congratulation. Even
+Gerald looked at him with a little elevation of his eyebrows, as if
+wondering how anybody could take the trouble to occupy his mind with
+such trifling temporal affairs as love and marriage. It was a
+wonderful relief to the unfortunate Curate when Miss Leonora had
+finished her glass of madeira, and rose from the table. He had no
+inclination to go up-stairs, for his own part. "When you are ready,
+sir, you will find me in the garden," he said to his father, who was
+to leave Carlingford next morning, and whom he had set his heart on
+taking to see Lucy. But his walk in the garden was far from being
+delightful to Frank. It even occurred to him, for a moment, that it
+would be a very good thing if a man could cut himself adrift from his
+relations at such a crisis of his life. After all, it was his own
+business--the act most essentially personal of his entire existence;
+and then, with a little softening, he began to think of the girls at
+home--of the little sister, who had a love-story of her own; and of
+Letty, who was Frank's favourite, and had often confided to him the
+enthusiasm she would feel for his bride. "If she is nice," Letty was
+in the habit of adding, "and of course she will be nice,"--and at that
+thought the heart of the young lover escaped, and put forth its wings,
+and went off into that heaven of ideal excellence and beauty, more
+sweet, because more vague, than anything real, which stands instead of
+the old working-day skies and clouds at such a period of life. He had
+to drop down from a great height, and get rid in all haste of his
+celestial pinions, when he heard his aunt Dora calling him; and his
+self-command was not sufficient to conceal, as he obeyed that summons,
+a certain annoyed expression in his face.
+
+"Frank," said Miss Dora, coming softly after him with her handkerchief
+held over her head as a defence from the sun--"oh, Frank, I want to
+speak to you. I couldn't say anything at lunch because of everybody
+being there. If you would only stop a moment till I get my breath.
+Frank, my dear boy, I wish you joy. I do wish you joy with all my
+heart. I should so like just to go and kiss her, and tell her I shall
+love her for your sake."
+
+"You will soon love her for her own sake," said Frank, to whom even
+this simple-minded sympathy was very grateful; "she is a great deal
+better than I am."
+
+"There is just one thing," said Miss Dora. "Oh, Frank, my dear, you
+know I don't pretend to be clever, like Leonora, or able to give you
+advice; but there _is_ one thing. You know you have nothing to marry
+upon, and all has gone wrong. You are not to have Wentworth, and you
+are not to have Skelmersdale, and I think the family is going out of
+its senses not to see who is the most worthy. You have got nothing to
+live upon, my dear, dear boy!" said Miss Dora, withdrawing the
+handkerchief from her head in the excitement of the moment to apply it
+to her eyes.
+
+"That is true enough," said the Perpetual Curate; "but then we have
+not made up our minds that we must marry immediately--"
+
+"Frank," said aunt Dora, with solemnity, breaking into his speech,
+"there is just _one_ thing; and I can't hold my tongue, though it may
+be very foolish, and they will all say it is my fault." It was a very
+quiet summer-day, but still there was a faint rustle in the branches
+which alarmed the timid woman. She put her hand upon her nephew's arm,
+and hastened him on to the little summer-house in the wall, which was
+her special retirement. "Nobody ever comes here," said Miss Dora;
+"they will never think of looking for us here. I am sure I never
+interfere with Leonora's arrangements, nor take anything upon myself;
+but there is one thing, Frank--"
+
+"Yes," said the Curate, "I understand what you mean: you are going to
+warn me about love in a cottage, and how foolish it would be to marry
+upon nothing; but, my dear aunt, we are not going to do anything rash;
+there is no such dreadful haste; don't be agitated about it," said the
+young man, with a smile. He was half amused and half irritated by the
+earnestness which almost took away the poor lady's breath.
+
+"You _don't_ know what I mean," said aunt Dora. "Frank, you know very
+well I never interfere; but I can't help being agitated when I see
+you on the brink of such a precipice. Oh, my dear boy, don't be
+over-persuaded. There _is_ one thing, and I must say it if I should
+die." She had to pause a little to recover her voice, for haste and
+excitement had a tendency to make her inarticulate. "Frank," said
+Miss Dora again, more solemnly than ever, "whatever you may be obliged
+to do--though you were to write novels, or take pupils, or do
+translations--oh, Frank, don't look at me like that, as if I was going
+crazy. Whatever you may have to do, oh my dear, there is one
+thing--don't go and break people's hearts, and put it off, and put it
+off, till it never happens!" cried the trembling little woman, with a
+sudden burst of tears. "Don't say you can wait, for you can't wait, and
+you oughtn't to!" sobbed Miss Dora. She subsided altogether into her
+handkerchief and her chair as she uttered this startling and wholly
+unexpected piece of advice, and lay there in a little heap, all
+dissolving and floating away, overcome with her great effort, while her
+nephew stood looking at her from a height of astonishment almost too
+extreme for wondering. If the trees could have found a voice and
+counselled his immediate marriage, he could scarcely have been more
+surprised.
+
+"You think I am losing my senses too," said aunt Dora; "but that is
+because you don't understand me. Oh Frank, my dear boy, there was once
+a time!--perhaps everybody has forgotten it except me, but I have not
+forgotten it. They treated me like a baby, and Leonora had everything
+her own way. I don't mean to say it was not for the best," said the
+aggrieved woman. "I know everything is for the best, if we could but
+see it: and perhaps Leonora was right when she said I never could have
+struggled with--with a family, nor lived on a poor man's income. My
+dear, it was before your uncle Charley died; and when we became rich,
+it--didn't matter," said Miss Dora; "it was all over before then. Oh
+Frank! if I hadn't experience I wouldn't say a word. I don't interfere
+about your opinions, like Leonora. There is just _one_ thing," cried
+the poor lady through her tears. Perhaps it was the recollection of
+the past which overcame Miss Dora, perhaps the force of habit which
+had made it natural for her to cry when she was much moved; but the
+fact is certain, that the Squire, when he came to the door of the
+summer-house in search of Frank, found his sister weeping bitterly,
+and his son making efforts to console her, in which some sympathy was
+mingled with a certain half-amusement. Frank, like Lucy, felt tempted
+to laugh at the elderly romance; and yet his heart expanded warmly to
+his tender little foolish aunt, who, after all, might once have been
+young and in love like himself, though it was so odd to realise it. Mr
+Wentworth, for his part, saw no humour whatever in the scene. He
+thought nothing less than that some fresh complication had taken
+place. Jack had committed some new enormity, or there was bad news
+from Charley in Malta, or unpleasant letters had come from home.
+"Bless my soul, sir, something new has happened," said the Squire; and
+he was scarcely reassured, when Miss Dora stumbled up from her chair in
+great confusion, and wiped the tears from her eyes. He was suspicious of
+this meeting in the summer-house, which seemed a quite unnecessary
+proceeding to Mr Wentworth; and though he flattered himself he
+understood women, he could not give any reasonable explanation to
+himself of Dora's tears.
+
+"It is nothing--nothing at all," said Miss Dora: "it was not Frank's
+doing in the least; he is always so considerate, and such a dear
+fellow. Thank you, my dear boy; my head is a little better; I think I
+will go in and lie down," said the unlucky aunt. "You are not to mind
+me now, for I have quite got over my little attack; I always was so
+nervous," said Miss Dora; "and I sometimes wonder whether it isn't the
+Wentworth complaint coming on," she added, with a natural female
+artifice which was not without its effect.
+
+"I wish you would not talk nonsense," said the Squire. "The Wentworth
+complaint is nothing to laugh at, but you are perfectly aware that it
+never attacks women." Mr Wentworth spoke with a little natural
+irritation, displeased to have his prerogative interfered with. When a
+man has all the suffering attendant upon a special complaint, it is
+hard not to have all the dignity. He felt so much and so justly
+annoyed by Miss Dora's vain pretensions, that he forgot his anxiety
+about the secret conference in the summer-house. "Women take such
+fantastic ideas into their heads," he said to his son as they went
+away together. "Your aunt Dora is the kindest soul in the world; but
+now and then, sir, she is very absurd," said the Squire. He could not
+get this presumptuous notion out of his head, but returned to it again
+and again, even after they had got into Grange Lane. "It has been in
+our family for two hundred years," said Mr Wentworth; "and I don't
+think there is a single instance of its attacking a woman--not even
+slightly, sir," the Squire added, with irritation, as if Frank had
+taken the part of the female members of the family, which indeed the
+Curate had no thought of doing.
+
+Miss Dora, for her part, having made this very successful diversion,
+escaped to the house, and to her own room, where she indulged in a
+headache all the afternoon, and certain tender recollections which
+were a wonderful resource at all times to the soft-hearted woman. "Oh,
+my dear boy, don't be over-persuaded," she had whispered into Frank's
+ear as she left him; and her remonstrance, simple as it was, had no
+doubt produced a considerable effect upon the mind of the Perpetual
+Curate. He could not help thinking, as they emerged into the road,
+that it was chiefly the impatient and undutiful who secured their
+happiness. Those who were constant and patient, and able to deny
+themselves, instead of being rewarded for their higher qualities,
+were, on the contrary, put to the full test of the strength that was
+in them; while those who would not wait attained what they wanted, and
+on the whole, as to other matters, got on just as well as their
+stronger-minded neighbours. This germ of thought, it may be supposed,
+was stimulated into very warm life by the reflection that Lucy would
+have to leave Carlingford with her sister, without any definite
+prospect of returning again; and a certain flush of impatience came
+over the young man, not unnatural in the circumstances. It seemed to
+him that everybody else took their own way without waiting; and why
+should it be so certain that he alone, whose "way" implied harm to no
+one, should be the only man condemned to wait? Thus it will be seen
+that the "just one thing" insisted on by Miss Dora was far from being
+without effect on the mind of her nephew; upon whom, indeed, the
+events of the morning had wrought various changes of sentiment. When
+he walked up Grange Lane for the first time, it had been without any
+acknowledged intention of opening his mind to Lucy, and yet he had
+returned along the same prosaic and unsympathetic line of road her
+accepted lover; her accepted lover, triumphant in that fact, but
+without the least opening of any hope before him as to the conclusion
+of the engagement, which prudence had no hand in making. Now the
+footsteps of the Perpetual Curate fell firmly, not to say a little
+impatiently, upon the road over which he had carried so many varying
+thoughts. He was as penniless as ever, and as prospectless; but in the
+tossings of his natural impatience the young man had felt the reins
+hang loosely about his head, and knew that he was no more restrained
+than other men, but might, if he chose it, have his way like the rest
+of the world. It was true enough that he might have to pay for it
+after, as other people had done; but in the mean time the sense that
+he was his own master was sweet, and to have his will for once seemed
+no more than his right in the world. While these rebellious thoughts
+were going on in the Curate's mind, his father, who suspected nothing,
+went steadily by his side, not without a little reluctance at the
+thought of the errand on which he was bound. "But they can't marry for
+years, and nobody can tell what may happen in that time," Mr Wentworth
+said to himself, with the callousness of mature age, not suspecting
+the different ideas that were afloat in the mind of his son. Perhaps,
+on the whole, he was not sorry that Skelmersdale was destined
+otherwise, and that Huxtable had been spoken to about Wentworth
+Rectory; for, of course, Frank would have plunged into marriage at
+once if he had been possessed of anything to marry on; and it looked
+providential under the circumstances, as the Squire argued with
+himself privately, that at such a crisis the Perpetual Curate should
+have fallen between two stools of possible preferment, and should
+still be obliged to content himself with St Roque's. It was hard for
+Mr Wentworth to reconcile himself to the idea that the wife of his
+favourite son should be the sister of--; for the Squire forgot that
+his own girls were Jack Wentworth's sisters, and as such might be
+objected to in their turn by some other father. So the two gentlemen
+went to see Lucy, who was then in a very humble frame of mind, just
+recovered from her passion--one of them rather congratulating himself
+on the obstacles which lay before the young couple, the other tossing
+his youthful head a little in the first impulses of self-will, feeling
+the reins lie loose upon him, and making up his mind to have his own
+way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+
+While Mr Frank Wentworth's affairs were thus gathering to a crisis,
+other events likely to influence his fate were also taking place in
+Carlingford. Breakfast had been served a full half-hour later than
+usual in the Rectory, which had not improved the temper of the
+household. Everything was going on with the most wonderful quietness
+in that well-arranged house; but it was a quietness which would have
+made a sensitive visitor uncomfortable, and which woke horrible
+private qualms in the mind of the Rector. As for Mrs Morgan, she
+fulfilled all her duties with a precision which was terrible to
+behold: instead of taking part in the conversation as usual, and
+having her own opinion, she had suddenly become possessed of such a
+spirit of meekness and acquiescence as filled her husband with dismay.
+The Rector was fond of his wife, and proud of her good sense, and her
+judgment, and powers of conversation. If she had been angry and found
+fault with him, he might have understood that mode of procedure; but
+as she was not angry, but only silent, the excellent man was terribly
+disconcerted, and could not tell what to do. He had done all he could
+to be conciliatory, and had already entered upon a great many
+explanations which had come to nothing for want of any response; and
+now she sat at the head of the table making tea with an imperturbable
+countenance, sometimes making little observations about the news,
+perfectly calm and dignified, but taking no part in anything more
+interesting, and turning off any reference that was made to her in the
+most skilful manner. "Mr Morgan knows I never take any part in the
+gossip of Carlingford," she said to Mr Proctor, without any intention
+of wounding that good man; and he who had been in the midst of
+something about Mr Wentworth came to an abrupt stop with the sense of
+having shown himself as a gossip, which was very injurious to his
+dignity. The late Rector, indeed, occupied a very uncomfortable
+position between the married people thus engaged in the absorbing
+excitement of their first quarrel. The quiet little arrows, which Mrs
+Morgan intended only for her husband, grazed and stung him as they
+passed, without missing at the same time their intended aim; and he
+was the auditor, besides, of a great deal of information intended by
+the Rector for his wife's benefit, to which Mrs Morgan paid no manner
+of attention. Mr Proctor was not a man of very lively observation, but
+he could not quite shut his eyes to the position of affairs; and the
+natural effect upon his mind, in the circumstances, was to turn his
+thoughts towards his mild Mary, whom he did not quite recognise as yet
+under her Christian name. He called her Miss Wodehouse in his heart
+even while in the act of making comparisons very unfavourable to the
+Rector's wife, and then he introduced benevolently the subject of his
+new rectory, which surely must be safe ground.
+
+"It is a pretty little place," Mr Proctor said, with satisfaction: "of
+course it is but a small living compared to Carlingford. I hope you
+will come and see me, after--it is furnished," said the bashful
+bridegroom: "it is a nuisance to have all that to look after for one's
+self--"
+
+"I hope you will have somebody to help you," said Mrs Morgan, with a
+little earnestness; "gentlemen don't understand about such things.
+When you have one piece of furniture in bad taste, it spoils a whole
+room--carpets, for instance--" said the Rector's wife. She looked at
+Mr Proctor so severely that the good man faltered, though he was not
+aware of the full extent of his guiltiness.
+
+"I am sure I don't know," he said: "I told the man here to provide
+everything as it ought to be; and I think we were very successful,"
+continued Mr Proctor, with a little complacency: to be sure, they were
+in the dining-room at the moment, being still at the breakfast-table.
+"Buller knows a great deal about that sort of thing, but then he is too
+ecclesiological for my taste. I like things to look cheerful," said the
+unsuspicious man. "Buller is the only man that could be reckoned on if
+any living were to fall vacant. It is very odd nowadays how indifferent
+men are about the Church. I don't say that it is not very pleasant at
+All-Souls; but a house of one's own, you know--" said Mr Proctor,
+looking with a little awkward enthusiasm at his recently-married
+brother; "of course I mean a sphere--a career--"
+
+"Oh, ah, yes," said Mr Morgan, with momentary gruffness; "but
+everything has its drawbacks. I don't think Buller would take a
+living. He knows too well what's comfortable," said the suffering man.
+"The next living that falls will have to go to some one out of the
+college," said Mr Morgan. He spoke with a tone of importance and
+significance which moved Mr Proctor, though he was not rapid in his
+perceptions, to look across at him for further information.
+
+"Most people have some crotchet or other," said the Rector. "When a
+man's views are clear about subscription, and that sort of thing, he
+generally goes as far wrong the other way. Buller might go out to
+Central Africa, perhaps, if there was a bishopric of Wahuma--or what
+is the name, my dear, in that Nile book?"
+
+"I have not read it," said Mrs Morgan, and she made no further remark.
+
+Thus discouraged in his little attempt at amity, the Rector resumed
+after a moment, "Wentworth's brother has sent in his resignation to
+his bishop. There is no doubt about it any longer. I thought that
+delusion had been over, at all events; and I suppose now Wentworth
+will be provided for," said Mr Morgan, not without a little anxiety.
+
+"No; they are all equally crotchety, I think," said Mr Proctor. "I
+know about them, through my--my connection with the Wodehouses, you
+know. I should not wonder, for my own part, if he went after his
+brother, who is a very intelligent man, though mistaken," the late
+Rector added, with respect. "As for Frank Wentworth, he is a little
+hot-headed. I had a long conversation the other night with the elder
+brother. I tried to draw him out about Burgon's book, but he declined
+to enter into the question. Frank has made up his mind to stay in
+Carlingford. I understand he thinks it right on account of his
+character being called in question here; though, of course, no one in
+his senses could have had any doubt how _that_ would turn out," said
+Mr Proctor, forgetting that he himself had been very doubtful about
+the Curate. "From what I hear, they are all very crotchety," he
+continued, and finished his breakfast calmly, as if that settled the
+question. As for Mrs Morgan, even this interesting statement had no
+effect upon her. She looked up suddenly at one moment as if intending
+to dart a reproachful glance at her husband, but bethought herself in
+time, and remained passive as before; not the less, however, was she
+moved by what she had just heard. It was not Mr Wentworth she was
+thinking of, except in a very secondary degree. What occupied her, and
+made her reflections bitter, was the thought that her husband--the man
+to whom she had been faithful for ten weary years--had taken himself
+down off the pedestal on which she had placed him. "To make idols, and
+to find them clay," she said plaintively in her own mind. Women were
+all fools to spend their time and strength in constructing such
+pedestals, Mrs Morgan thought to herself with bitterness; and as to
+the men who were so perpetually dethroning themselves, how were they
+to be designated? To think of her William, of whom she had once made a
+hero, ruining thus, for a little petty malice and rivalry, the
+prospects of another man! While these painful reflections were going
+through her mind, she was putting away her tea-caddy, and preparing to
+leave the gentlemen to their own affairs. "We shall see you at dinner
+at six," she said, with a constrained little smile, to Mr Proctor, and
+went up-stairs with her key-basket in her hand without taking any
+special notice of the Rector. Mr Leeson was to come to dinner that day
+legitimately by invitation, and Mrs Morgan, who felt it would be a
+little consolation to disappoint the hungry Curate for once, was
+making up her mind, as she went up-stairs, not to have the All-Souls
+pudding, of which he showed so high an appreciation. It almost seemed
+to her as if this spark of ill-nature was receiving a summary
+chastisement, when she heard steps ascending behind her. Mrs Morgan
+objected to have men lounging about her drawing-room in the morning.
+She thought Mr Proctor was coming to bestow a little more of his
+confidence upon her, and perhaps to consult her about his furnishing;
+and being occupied by her own troubles, she had no patience for a
+tiresome, middle-aged lover, who no doubt was going to disappoint and
+disenchant another woman. She sat down, accordingly, with a sigh of
+impatience at her work-table, turning her back to the door. Perhaps,
+when he saw her inhospitable attitude, he might go away and not bother
+her. And Mrs Morgan took out some stockings to darn, as being a
+discontented occupation, and was considering within herself what
+simple preparation she could have instead of the All-Souls pudding,
+when, looking up suddenly, she saw, not Mr Proctor, but the Rector,
+standing looking down upon her within a few steps of her chair. When
+she perceived him, it was not in nature to refrain from certain
+symptoms of agitation. The thoughts she had been indulging in brought
+suddenly a rush of guilty colour to her face; but she commanded
+herself as well as she could, and went on darning her stockings, with
+her heart beating very loud in her breast.
+
+"My dear," said the Rector, taking a seat near her, "I don't know what
+it is that has risen between us. We look as if we had quarrelled; and
+I thought we had made up our minds never to quarrel." The words were
+rather soft in their signification, but Mr Morgan could not help
+speaking severely, as was natural to his voice; which was perhaps, in
+the present case, all the better for his wife.
+
+"I don't know what you may consider quarrelling, William," said Mrs
+Morgan, "but I am sure I have never made any complaint."
+
+"No," said the Rector; "I have seen women do that before. You don't
+make any complaint, but you look as if you disapproved of everything.
+I feel it all the more just now because I want to consult you; and,
+after all, the occasion was no such--"
+
+"I never said there was any occasion. I am sure I never made any
+complaint. You said you wanted to consult me, William?" Mrs Morgan
+went on darning her stockings while she was speaking, and the Rector,
+like most other men, objected to be spoken to by the lips only. He
+would have liked to toss the stocking out of the window, though it
+was his own, and the task of repairing it was one of a devoted wife's
+first duties, according to the code of female proprieties in which
+both the husband and wife had been brought up.
+
+"Yes," said the Rector, with a sigh. "The truth is, I have just got a
+letter from Harry Scarsfield, who was my pet pupil long ago. He tells
+me my father's old rectory is vacant, where we were all brought up.
+There used to be a constant intercourse between the Hall and the Rectory
+when I was a lad. They are very nice people the Scarsfields--at least
+they used to be very nice people; and Harry has his mother living with
+him, and the family has never been broken up, I believe. We used to
+know everybody about there," said Mr Morgan, abandoning himself to
+recollections in a manner most mysterious to his wife. "There is the
+letter, my dear," and he put it down upon her table, and began to play
+with the reels of cotton in her workbox unconsciously, as he had not
+done for a long time; which, unawares to herself, had a softening
+influence upon Mrs Morgan's heart.
+
+"I do not know anything about the Scarsfields," she said, without
+taking up the letter, "and I cannot see what you have to do with this.
+Does he wish you to recommend some one?" Mrs Morgan added, with a
+momentary interest; for she had, of course, like other people, a
+relation in a poor living, whom it would have been satisfactory to
+recommend.
+
+"He says I may have it if I have a mind," said the Rector curtly,
+betraying a little aggravation in his tone.
+
+"You, William?" said Mrs Morgan. She was so much surprised that she laid
+down her stocking and looked him straight in the face, which she had not
+done for many days; and it was wonderful how hard she found it to keep up
+her reserve, after having once looked her husband in the eyes. "But it is
+not much more than six months since you were settled in Carlingford,"
+she said, still lost in amazement. "You cannot possibly mean to make a
+change so soon? and then the difference of the position," said the
+Rector's wife. As she looked at him, she became more and more aware of
+some meaning in his face which she did not understand; and more and more,
+as it became necessary to understand him, the reserves and self-defences
+of the first quarrel gave way and dispersed. "I don't think I quite know
+what you mean," she said, faltering a little. "I don't understand why
+you should think of a change."
+
+"A good country living is a very good position," said the Rector; "it is
+not nearly so troublesome as a town like Carlingford. There is no
+Dissent that I know of, and no--" (here Mr Morgan paused for a moment,
+not knowing what word to use)--"no disturbing influences: of course I
+would not take such a step without your concurrence, my dear," the
+Rector continued; and then there followed a bewildering pause. Mrs
+Morgan's first sensation after the astonishment with which she heard
+this strange proposal was mortification--the vivid shame and vexation of
+a woman when she is obliged to own to herself that her husband has been
+worsted, and is retiring from the field.
+
+"If you think it right--if you think it best--of course I can have
+nothing to say," said the Rector's wife; and she took up her stocking
+with a stinging sense of discomfiture. She had meant that her husband
+should be the first man in Carlingford--that he should gain everybody's
+respect and veneration, and become the ideal parish-priest of that
+favourite and fortunate place. Every kind of good work and benevolent
+undertaking was to be connected with his name, according to the visions
+which Mrs Morgan had framed when she came first to Carlingford, not
+without such a participation on her own part as should entitle her to
+the milder glory appertaining to the good Rector's wife. All these hopes
+were now to be blotted out ignominiously. Defeat and retreat and failure
+were to be the conclusion of their first essay at life. "You are the
+best judge of what you ought to do," she said, with as much calmness as
+she could muster, but she could have dropped bitter tears upon the
+stocking she was mending if that would have done any good.
+
+"I will do nothing without your consent," said the Rector. "Young
+Wentworth is going to stay in Carlingford. You need not look up so
+sharply, as if you were vexed to think _that_ had anything to do with
+it. If he had not behaved like a fool, I never could have been led
+into such a mistake," said Mr Morgan, with indignation, taking a
+little walk to the other end of the room to refresh himself. "At the
+same time," said the Rector, severely, coming back after a pause, "to
+show any ill-feeling would be very unchristian either on your side or
+mine. If I were to accept Harry Scarsfield's offer, Proctor and I
+would do all we could to have young Wentworth appointed to
+Carlingford. There is nobody just now at All-Souls to take the living;
+and however much you may disapprove of him, my dear," said Mr Morgan,
+with increasing severity, "there is nothing that I know to be said
+against him as a clergyman. If you can make up your mind to consent to
+it, and can see affairs in the same light as they appear to me, that
+is what I intend to do--"
+
+Mrs Morgan's stocking had dropped on her knees as she listened; then it
+dropped on the floor, and she took no notice of it. When the Rector had
+finally delivered himself of his sentiments, which he did in the voice
+of a judge who was condemning some unfortunate to the utmost penalties
+of the law, his wife marked the conclusion of the sentence by a sob of
+strange excitement. She kept gazing at him for a few moments without
+feeling able to speak, and then she put down her face into her hands.
+Words were too feeble to give utterance to her feelings at such a
+supreme moment. "Oh, William, I wonder if you can ever forgive me,"
+sobbed the Rector's wife, with a depth of compunction which he, good
+man, was totally unprepared to meet, and knew no occasion for. He was
+even at the moment a little puzzled to have such a despairing petition
+addressed to him. "I hope so, my dear," he said, very sedately, as he
+came and sat down beside her, and could not refrain from uttering a
+little lecture upon temper, which fortunately Mrs Morgan was too much
+excited to pay any attention to. "It would be a great deal better if you
+did not give way to your feelings," said the Rector; "but in the mean
+time, my dear, it is your advice I want, for we must not take such a
+step unadvisedly," and he lifted up the stocking that had fallen, and
+contemplated, not without surprise, the emotion of his wife. The
+excellent man was as entirely unconscious that he was being put up again
+at that moment with acclamations upon his pedestal, as that he had at a
+former time been violently displaced from it, and thrown into the
+category of broken idols. All this would have been as Sanscrit to the
+Rector of Carlingford; and the only resource he had was to make in his
+own mind certain half-pitying, half-affectionate remarks upon the
+inexplicable weakness of women, and to pick up the stocking which his
+wife was darning, and finally to stroke her hair, which was still as
+pretty and soft and brown as it had been ten years ago. Under such
+circumstances a man does not object to feel himself on a platform of
+moral superiority. He even began to pet her a little, with a pleasant
+sense of forgiveness and forbearance. "You were perhaps a little cross,
+my love, but you don't think I am the man to be hard upon you," said the
+Rector. "Now you must dry your eyes and give me your advice--you know
+how much confidence I have always had in your advice--"
+
+"Forgive me, William. I don't think there is any one so good as you are;
+and as long as we are together it does not matter to me where we are,"
+said the repentant woman. But as she lifted up her head, her eye fell on
+the carpet, and a gleam of sudden delight passed through Mrs Morgan's
+mind. To be delivered from all her suspicions and injurious thoughts
+about her husband would have been a deliverance great enough for one
+day; but at the same happy moment to see a means of deliverance from the
+smaller as well as the greater cross of her existence seemed almost too
+good to be credible. She brightened up immediately when that thought
+occurred to her. "I think it is the very best thing you could do," she
+said. "We are both so fond of the country, and it is so much nicer to
+manage a country parish than a town one. We might have lived all our
+lives in Carlingford without knowing above half of the poor people,"
+said Mrs Morgan, growing in warmth as she went on; "it is so different
+in a country parish. I never liked to say anything," she continued, with
+subtle feminine policy, "but I never--much--cared for Carlingford." She
+gave a sigh as she spoke, for she thought of the Virginian creeper and
+the five feet of new wall at that side of the garden, which had just
+been completed, to shut out the view of the train. Life does not contain
+any perfect pleasure. But when Mrs Morgan stooped to lift up some stray
+reels of cotton which the Rector's clumsy fingers had dropped out of her
+workbox, her eye was again attracted by the gigantic roses and tulips on
+the carpet, and content and satisfaction filled her heart.
+
+"I have felt the same thing, my dear," said Mr Morgan. "I don't say
+anything against Mr Finial as an architect, but Scott himself could make
+nothing of such a hideous church. I don't suppose Wentworth will mind,"
+said the Rector, with a curious sense of superiority. He felt his own
+magnanimous conduct at the moment almost as much as his wife had done,
+and could not help regarding Carlingford Church as the gift-horse which
+was not to be examined too closely in the mouth.
+
+"No," said Mrs Morgan, not without a passing sensation of doubt on
+this point; "if he had only been frank and explained everything, there
+never could have been any mistake; but I am glad it has all happened,"
+said the Rector's wife, with a little enthusiasm. "Oh, William, I have
+been such a wretch--I have been thinking--but now you are heaping
+coals of fire on his head," she cried, with a hysterical sound in her
+throat. It was no matter to her that she herself scarcely knew what
+she meant, and that the good Rector had not the faintest understanding
+of it. She was so glad, that it was almost necessary to be guilty of
+some extravagance by way of relieving her mind. "After all Mr Proctor's
+care in fitting the furniture, you would not, of course, think of
+removing it," said Mrs Morgan; "Mr Wentworth will take it as we did; and
+as for Mrs Scarsfield, if you like her, William, you may be sure I
+shall," the penitent wife said softly, in the flutter and tremor of her
+agitation. As he saw himself reflected in her eyes, the Rector could not
+but feel himself a superior person, elevated over other men's shoulders.
+Such a sense of goodness promotes the amiability from which it springs.
+The Rector kissed his wife as he got up from his seat beside her, and
+once more smoothed down, with a touch which made her feel like a girl
+again, her pretty brown hair.
+
+"That is all settled satisfactorily," said Mr Morgan, "and now I must
+go to my work again. I thought, if you approved of it, I would write
+at once to Scarsfield, and also to Buller of All-Souls."
+
+"Do," said the Rector's wife--and she too bestowed, in her middle-aged
+way, a little caress, which was far from being unpleasant to the
+sober-minded man. He went down-stairs in a more agreeable frame of
+mind than he had known for a long time back. Not that he understood
+why she had cried about it when he laid his intentions before her. Had
+Mr Morgan been a Frenchman, he probably would have imagined his wife's
+heart to be touched by the graces of the Perpetual Curate; but, being
+an Englishman, and rather more certain, on the whole, of her than of
+himself, it did not occur to him to speculate on the subject. He was
+quite able to content himself with the thought that women were
+incomprehensible, as he went back to his study. To be sure, it was
+best to understand them, if you could; but if not, it did not so very
+much matter, Mr Morgan thought; could in this pleasant condition of
+mind he went down-stairs and wrote a little sermon, which ever after
+was a great favourite, preached upon all special occasions, and always
+listened to with satisfaction, especially by the Rector's wife.
+
+When Mrs Morgan was left alone she sat doing nothing for an entire
+half-hour, thinking of the strange and unhoped-for change that in a
+moment had occurred to her. Though she was not young, she had that
+sense of grievousness, the unbearableness of trouble, which belongs to
+youth; for, after all, whatever female moralists may say on the
+subject, the patience of an unmarried woman wearing out her youth in
+the harassments of a long engagement, is something very different from
+the hard and many-sided experience of actual life. She had been
+accustomed for years to think that her troubles would be over when the
+long-expected event arrived; and when new and more vexatious troubles
+still sprang up after that event, the woman of one idea was not much
+better fitted to meet them than if she had been a girl. Now that the
+momentary cloud had been driven off, Mrs Morgan's heart rose more
+warmly than ever. She changed her mind in a moment about the All-Souls
+pudding, and even added, in her imagination, another dish to the
+dinner, without pausing to think that _that_ also was much approved by
+Mr Leeson; and then her thoughts took another turn, and such a vision
+of a perfect carpet for a drawing-room--something softer and more
+exquisite than ever came out of mortal loom; full of repose and
+tranquillity, yet not without seducing beauties of design; a carpet
+which would never obtrude itself, but yet would catch the eye by
+dreamy moments in the summer twilight or over the winter fire--flashed
+upon the imagination of the Rector's wife. It would be sweet to have a
+house of one's own arranging, where everything would be in harmony;
+and though this sweetness was very secondary to the other satisfaction
+of having a husband who was not a clay idol, but really deserved his
+pedestal, it yet supplemented the larger delight, and rounded off all
+the corners of Mrs Morgan's present desires. She wished everybody as
+happy as herself, in the effusion of the moment, and thought of Lucy
+Wodehouse, with a little glow of friendliness in which there was still
+a tincture of admiring envy. All this that happy girl would have
+without the necessity of waiting for it; but then was it not the
+Rector, the rehabilitated husband, who would be the means of producing
+so much happiness? Mrs Morgan rose up as lightly as a girl when she
+had reached this stage, and opened her writing-desk, which was one of
+her wedding-presents, and too fine to be used on common occasions. She
+took out her prettiest paper, with her monogram in violet, which was
+her favourite colour. One of those kind impulses which are born of
+happiness moved her relieved spirit. To give to another the
+consolation of a brighter hope, seemed at the moment the most natural
+way of expressing her own thankful feelings. Instead of going
+down-stairs immediately to order dinner, she sat down instead at the
+table, and wrote the following note:--
+
+
+ "MY DEAR MR WENTWORTH,--I don't know whether you will think me a
+ fair-weather friend seeking you only when everybody else is seeking
+ you, and when you are no longer in want of support and sympathy.
+ Perhaps you will exculpate me when you remember the last conversation
+ we had; but what I write for at present is to ask if you would waive
+ ceremony and come to dinner with us to-night. I am aware that your
+ family are still in Carlingford, and of course I don't know what
+ engagements you may have; but if you are at liberty, pray come. If Mr
+ Morgan and you had but known each other a little better things could
+ never have happened which have been a great grief and vexation to me;
+ and I know the Rector _wishes very much_ to have a little conversation
+ with you, and has something to speak of in which you would be
+ interested. Perhaps my husband might feel a little strange in asking
+ you to overstep the barrier which somehow has been raised between you
+ two; but I am sure if you knew each other better you would understand
+ each other, and this is one of the things we women ought to be good
+ for. I will take it as a proof that you consider me a friend if you
+ accept my invitation. Our hour is half-past six.--Believe me, very
+ sincerely, yours,
+
+ "M. MORGAN."
+
+
+When she had written this note Mrs Morgan went down-stairs, stopping
+at the library door in passing. "I thought I might as well ask Mr
+Wentworth to come to us to-night, as we are to have some people to
+dinner," she said, looking in at the door. "I thought you might like
+to talk to him, William; and if his people are going away to-day, I
+daresay he will feel rather lonely to-night." Such was the Jesuitical
+aspect in which she represented the flag of truce she was sending. Mr
+Morgan was a little startled by action so prompt.
+
+"I should like to hear from Buller first," said the Rector; "he might
+like to come to Carlingford himself, for anything I can tell; but, to
+be sure, it can do no harm to have Wentworth to dinner," said Mr
+Morgan, doubtfully; "only Buller, you know, might wish--and in that
+case it might not be worth our trouble to make any change."
+
+In spite of herself, Mrs Morgan's countenance fell; her pretty scheme
+of poetic justice, her vision of tasteful and appropriate furniture,
+became obscured by a momentary mist. "At least it is only right to ask
+him to dinner," she said, in subdued tones, and went to speak to the
+cook in a frame of mind more like the common level of human
+satisfaction than the exultant and exalted strain to which she had
+risen at the first moment. Then she put on a black dress, and went to
+call on the Miss Wodehouses, who naturally came into her mind when she
+thought of the Perpetual Curate. As she went along Grange Lane she
+could not but observe a hackney cab, one of those which belong to the
+railway station, lounging--if a cab could ever be said to lounge--in
+the direction of Wharfside. Its appearance specially attracted Mrs
+Morgan's attention in consequence of the apparition of Elsworthy's
+favourite errand-boy, who now and then poked his head furtively
+through the window, and seemed to be sitting in state inside. When she
+had gone a little further she encountered Wodehouse and Jack
+Wentworth, who had just come from paying their visit to the sisters.
+The sight of these two revived her sympathies for the lonely women who
+had fallen so unexpectedly out of wealth into poverty; but yet she
+felt a little difficulty in framing her countenance to be partly
+sorrowful and partly congratulatory, as was necessary under these
+circumstances; for though she knew nothing of the accident which had
+happened that morning, when Lucy and the Perpetual Curate saw each
+other alone, she was aware of Miss Wodehouse's special position, and
+was sympathetic as became a woman who had "gone through" similar
+experiences. When she had got through her visit and was going home, it
+struck her with considerable surprise to see the cab still lingering
+about the corner of Prickett's Lane. Was Elsworthy's pet boy
+delivering his newspapers from that dignified elevation? or were they
+seizing the opportunity of conveying away the unfortunate little girl
+who had caused so much annoyance to everybody? When she went closer,
+with a little natural curiosity to see what else might be inside
+besides the furtive errand-boy, the cab made a little rush away from
+her, and the blinds were drawn down. Mrs Morgan smiled a little to
+herself with dignified calm. "As if it was anything to me!" she said
+to herself; and so went home to put out the dessert with her own
+hands. She even cut a few fronds of her favourite maidenhair to
+decorate the peaches, of which she could not help being a little
+proud. "I must speak to Mr Wentworth, if he comes, to keep on
+Thompson," she said to herself, and then gave a momentary sigh at the
+thought of the new flue, which was as good as her own invention, and
+which it had cost her both time and money to arrange to her
+satisfaction. The peaches were lovely, but who could tell what they
+might be next year if a new Rector came who took no interest in the
+garden?--for Thomson, though he was a very good servant, required to
+be looked after, as indeed most good servants do. Mrs Morgan sighed a
+little when she thought of all her past exertions and the pains, of
+which she was scarcely yet beginning to reap the fruit. One man
+labours, and another enters into his labours. One thing, however, was
+a little consolatory, that she could take her ferns with her. But on
+the whole, after the first outburst of feeling, the idea of change,
+notwithstanding all its advantages, was in itself, like most human
+things, a doubtful pleasure. To be sure, it was only through its
+products that her feelings were interested about the new flue, whereas
+the drawing-room carpet was a standing grievance. When it was time to
+dress for dinner, the Rector's wife was not nearly so sure as before
+that she had never liked Carlingford. She began to forget the thoughts
+she had entertained about broken idols, and to remember a number of
+inconveniences attending a removal. Who would guarantee the safe
+transit of the china, not to speak of the _old_ china, which was one
+of the most valuable decorations of the Rectory? This kind of
+breakage, if not more real, was at least likely to force itself more
+upon the senses than the other kind of fracture which this morning's
+explanation had happily averted; and altogether it was with mingled
+feelings that Mrs Morgan entered the drawing-room, and found it
+occupied by Mr Leeson, who always came too early, and who, on the
+present occasion, had some sufficiently strange news to tell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+
+Mr Wentworth did not accept Mrs Morgan's sudden invitation, partly
+because his "people" did not leave Carlingford that evening, and
+partly because, though quite amiably disposed towards the Rector, whom
+he had worsted in fair fight, he was not sufficiently interested in
+anything he was likely to hear or see in Mr Morgan's house to move him
+to spend his evening there. He returned a very civil answer to the
+invitation of the Rector's wife, thanking her warmly for her
+friendliness, and explaining that he could not leave his father on the
+last night of his stay in Carlingford; after which he went to dinner
+at his aunts', where the household was still much agitated. Not to
+speak of all the events which had happened and were happening, Jack,
+who had begun to tire of his new character of the repentant prodigal,
+had shown himself in a new light that evening, and was preparing to
+leave, to the relief of all parties. The prodigal, who no longer
+pretended to be penitent, had taken the conversation into his own
+hands at dinner. "I have had things my own way since I came here,"
+said Jack; "somehow it appears I have a great luck for having things
+my own way. It is you scrupulous people who think of others and of
+such antiquated stuff as duty, and so forth, that get yourselves into
+difficulties. My dear aunt, I am going away; if I were to remain an
+inmate of this house--I mean to say, could I look forward to the
+privilege of continuing a member of this Christian family--another
+day, I should know better how to conduct myself; but I am going back
+to my bad courses, aunt Dora; I am returning to the world--"
+
+"Oh! Jack, my dear, I hope not," said aunt Dora, who was much
+bewildered, and did not know what to say.
+
+"Too true," said the relapsed sinner; "and considering all the lessons
+you have taught me, don't you think it is the best thing I could do?
+There is my brother Frank, who has been carrying other people about on
+his shoulders, and doing his duty; but I don't see that you good
+people are at all moved in his behalf. You leave him to fight his way
+by himself, and confer your benefits elsewhere, which is an odd sort
+of lesson for a worldling like me. As for Gerald, you know he's a
+virtuous fool, as I have heard you all declare. There is nothing in
+the world that I can see to prevent him keeping his living and doing
+as he pleases, as most parsons do. However, that's his own business.
+It is Frank's case which is the edifying case to me. If my convictions
+of sin had gone just a step farther," said the pitiless critic, "if I
+had devoted myself to bringing others to repentance, as is the first
+duty of a reformed sinner, my aunt Leonora would not have hesitated to
+give Skelmersdale to me--"
+
+"Jack, hold your tongue," said Miss Leonora; but though her cheeks
+burned, her voice was not so firm as usual, and she actually failed in
+putting down the man who had determined to have his say.
+
+"Fact, my dear aunt," said Jack; "if I had been a greater rascal than
+I am, and gone a little farther, you and your people would have
+thought me quite fit for a cure of souls. I'd have come in for your
+good things that way as well as other ways; but here is Frank, who
+even I can see is a right sort of parson. I don't pretend to fixed
+theological opinions," said this unlooked-for oracle, with a comic
+glance aside at Gerald, the most unlikely person present to make any
+response; "but, so far as I can see, he's a kind of fellow most men
+would be glad to make a friend of when they were under a cloud--not
+that he was ever very civil to me. I tell you, so far from rewarding
+him for being of the true sort, you do nothing but snub him, that I
+can see. He looks to me as good for work as any man I know; but
+you'll give your livings to any kind of wretched make-believe before
+you'll give them to Frank. I am aware," said the heir of the
+Wentworths, with a momentary flush, "that I have never been considered
+much of a credit to the family; but if I were to announce my intention
+of marrying and settling, there is not one of the name that would not
+lend a hand to smooth matters. That is the reward of wickedness," said
+Jack, with a laugh; "as for Frank, he's a perpetual curate, and may
+marry perhaps fifty years hence; that's the way you good people treat
+a man who never did anything to be ashamed of in his life; and you
+expect me to give up my evil courses after such a lesson? I trust I am
+not such a fool," said the relapsed prodigal. He sat looking at them
+all in his easy way, enjoying the confusion, the indignation, and
+wrath with which his address was received. "The man who gets his own
+way is the man who takes it," he concluded, with his usual composure,
+pouring out Miss Leonora's glass of claret as he spoke.
+
+Nobody had ever before seen the strong-minded woman in so much
+agitation. "Frank knows what my feelings are," she said, abruptly. "I
+have a great respect for himself, but I have no confidence in his
+principles. I--I have explained my ideas about Church patronage--"
+
+But here the Squire broke in. "I always said, sir," said the old man,
+with an unsteady voice, "that if I ever lived to see a thing or two
+amended that was undoubtedly objectionable, your brother Jack's advice
+would be invaluable to the family as a--as a man of the world. I have
+nothing to say against clergymen, sir," continued the Squire, without
+it being apparent whom he was addressing, "but I have always expressed
+my conviction of--of the value of your brother Jack's advice as--as a
+man of the world."
+
+This speech had a wonderful effect upon the assembled family, but most
+of all upon the son thus commended, who lost all his ease and
+composure as his father spoke, and turned his head stiffly to one
+side, as if afraid to meet the Squire's eyes, which indeed were not
+seeking his, but were fixed upon the table, as was natural,
+considering the state of emotion in which Mr Wentworth was. As for
+Jack, when he had steadied himself a little, he got up from his seat
+and tried to laugh, though the effort was far from being a successful
+one.
+
+"Even my father applauds me, you see, because I am a scamp and don't
+deserve it," he said, with a voice which was partially choked.
+"Good-bye, sir; I am going away."
+
+The Squire rose too, with the hazy bewildered look of which his other
+children were afraid.
+
+"Good-bye, sir," said the old man, and then made a pause before he
+held out his hand. "You'll not forget what I've said, Jack," he added,
+with a little haste. "It's true enough, though I haven't that
+confidence in you that--that I might have had. I am getting old, and I
+have had two attacks, sir," said Mr Wentworth, with dignity; "and
+anyhow, I can't live for ever. Your brothers can make their own way in
+the world, but I haven't saved all that I could have wished. When I am
+gone, Jack, be just to the girls and the little children," said the
+Squire; and with that took his son's hand and grasped it hard, and
+looked his heir full in the face.
+
+Jack Wentworth was not prepared for any such appeal; he was still less
+prepared to discover the unexpected and inevitable sequence with which
+one good sentiment leads to another. He quite faltered and broke down
+in this unlooked-for emergency. "Father," he said unawares, for the
+first time for ten years, "if you wish it, I will join you in breaking
+the entail."
+
+"No such thing, sir," said the Squire, who, so far from being pleased,
+was irritated and disturbed by the proposal. "I ask you to do your
+duty, sir, and not to shirk it," the head of the house said, with
+natural vehemence, as he stood with that circle of Wentworths round
+him, giving forth his code of honour to his unworthy heir.
+
+While his father was speaking, Jack recovered a little from his
+momentary _attendrissement_. "Good-bye, sir; I hope you'll live a
+hundred years," he said, wringing his father's hand, "if you don't
+last out half-a-dozen of me, as you ought to do. But I'd rather not
+anticipate such a change. In that case," the prodigal went on with a
+certain huskiness in his voice, "I daresay I should not turn out so
+great a rascal as--as I ought to do. To-day and yesterday it has even
+occurred to me by moments that I was your son, sir," said Jack
+Wentworth; and then he made an abrupt stop and dropped the Squire's
+hand, and came to himself in a surprising way. When he turned towards
+the rest of the family, he was in perfect possession of his usual
+courtesy and good spirits. He nodded to them all round--with superb
+good-humour. "Good-bye, all of you; I wish you better luck, Frank, and
+not so much virtue. Perhaps you will have a better chance now the lost
+sheep has gone back to the wilderness. Good-bye to you all. I don't
+think I've any other last words to say." He lighted his cigar with his
+ordinary composure in the hall, and whistled one of his favourite airs
+as he went through the garden. "Oddly enough, however, our friend
+Wodehouse can beat me in that," he said, with a smile, to Frank, who
+had followed him out, "perhaps in other things too, who knows?
+Good-bye, and good-luck, old fellow." And thus the heir of the
+Wentworths disappeared into the darkness, which swallowed him up, and
+was seen no more.
+
+But naturally there was a good deal of commotion in the house. Miss
+Leonora, who never had known what it was to have nerves in the entire
+course of her existence, retired to her own room with a headache, to
+the entire consternation of the family. She had been a strong-minded
+woman all her life, and managed everybody's affairs without being
+distracted and hampered in her career by those doubts of her own
+wisdom, and questions as to her own motives, which will now and then
+afflict the minds of weaker people when they have to decide for
+others. But this time an utterly novel and unexpected accident had
+befallen Miss Leonora; a man of no principles at all had delivered his
+opinion upon her conduct--and so far from finding his criticism
+contemptible, or discovering in it the ordinary outcry of the wicked
+against the righteous, she had found it true, and by means of it had
+for perhaps the first time in her life seen herself as others saw her.
+Neither was the position in which she found herself one from which she
+could get extricated even by any daring arbitrary exertion of will,
+such as a woman in difficulties is sometimes capable of. To be sure,
+she might still have cut the knot in a summary feminine way; might
+have said "No" abruptly to Julia Trench and her curate, and, after
+all, have bestowed Skelmersdale, like any other prize or reward of
+virtue, upon her nephew Frank--a step which Miss Dora Wentworth would
+have concluded upon at once without any hesitation. The elder sister,
+however, was gifted with a truer perception of affairs. Miss Leonora
+knew that there were some things which could be done, and yet could
+not be done--a piece of knowledge difficult to a woman. She recognised
+the fact that she had committed herself, and got into a corner from
+which there was but one possible egress; and as she acknowledged this
+to herself, she saw at the same time that Julia Trench (for whom she
+had been used to entertain a good-humoured contempt as a clever sort
+of girl enough) had managed matters very cleverly, and that, instead of
+dispensing her piece of patronage like an optimist to the best, she had,
+in fact, given it up to the most skilful and persevering angler, as any
+other woman might have done. The blow was bitter, and Miss Leonora did
+not seek to hide it from herself, not to say that the unpleasant
+discovery was aggravated by having been thus pointed out by Jack, who in
+his own person had taken her in, and cheated his sensible aunt. She felt
+humbled, and wounded in the tenderest point, to think that her reprobate
+nephew had seen through her, but that she had not been able to see
+through him, and had been deceived by his professions of penitence. The
+more she turned it over in her mind, the more Miss Leonora's head ached;
+for was it not growing apparent that she, who prided herself so much on
+her impartial judgment, had been moved, not by heroic and stoical
+justice and the love of souls, but a good deal by prejudice and a good
+deal by skilful artifice, and very little indeed by that highest motive
+which she called the glory of God? And it was Jack who had set all this
+before her clear as daylight. No wonder the excellent woman was
+disconcerted. She went to bed gloomily with her headache, and would
+tolerate no ministrations, neither of sal-volatile nor eau-de-Cologne,
+nor even of green tea. "It always does Miss Dora a power of good," said
+the faithful domestic who made this last suggestion; but Miss Leonora
+answered only by turning the unlucky speaker out of the room, and
+locking the door against any fresh intrusion. Miss Dora's innocent
+headaches were articles of a very different kind from this, which
+proceeded neither from the heart nor the digestion, but from the
+conscience, as Miss Leonora thought--with, possibly, a little aid from
+the temper, though she was less conscious of that. It was indeed a long
+series of doubts and qualms, and much internal conflict, which resulted
+through the rapidly-maturing influences of mortification and humbled
+self-regard, in this ominous and awe-inspiring Headache which startled
+the entire assembled family, and added fresh importance to the general
+crisis of Wentworth affairs.
+
+"I should not wonder if it was the Wentworth complaint," said Miss
+Dora, with a sob of fright, to the renewed and increased indignation
+of the Squire.
+
+"I have already told you that the Wentworth complaint never attacks
+females," Mr Wentworth said emphatically, glad to employ what sounded
+like a contemptuous title for the inferior sex.
+
+"Yes, oh yes; but then Leonora is not exactly what you would call--a
+female," said poor Miss Dora, from whom an emergency so unexpected
+had taken all her little wits.
+
+While the house was in such an agitated condition, it is not to be
+supposed that it could be very comfortable for the gentlemen when they
+came up-stairs to the drawing-room, and found domestic sovereignty
+overthrown by a headache which nobody could comprehend, and chaos
+reigning in Miss Leonora's place. Naturally there was, for one of the
+party at least, a refuge sweet and close at hand, to which his
+thoughts had escaped already. Frank Wentworth did not hesitate to
+follow his thoughts. Against the long years when family bonds make up
+all that is happiest in life, there must always be reckoned those
+moments of agitation and revolution, during which the bosom of a
+family is the most unrestful and disturbing place in existence, from
+which it is well to have a personal refuge and means of escape. The
+Perpetual Curate gave himself a little shake, and drew a long breath,
+as he emerged from one green door in Grange Lane and betook himself to
+another. He shook himself clear of all the Wentworth perplexities, all
+the family difficulties and doubts, and betook himself into the
+paradise which was altogether his own, and where there were no
+conflicting interests or differences of opinion. He was in such a
+hurry to get there that he did not pay any attention to the general
+aspect of Grange Lane, or to the gossips who were gathered round
+Elsworthy's door: all that belonged to a previous stage of existence.
+At present he was full of the grand discovery, boldly stated by his
+brother Jack--"The man who gets his own way is the man who _takes_
+it." It was not an elevated doctrine, or one that had hitherto
+commended itself specially to the mind of the Perpetual Curate; but he
+could not help thinking of his father's pathetic reliance upon Jack's
+advice as a man of the world, as he laid up in his mind the prodigal's
+maxim, and felt, with a little thrill of excitement, that he was about
+to act on it; from which manner of stating the case Mr Wentworth's
+friends will perceive that self-will had seized upon him in the worst
+form; for he was not going boldly up to the new resolution with his
+eyes open, but had resigned himself to the tide, which was gradually
+rising in one united flux of love, pride, impatience, sophistry, and
+inclination; which he watched with a certain passive content, knowing
+that the stormy current would carry him away.
+
+Mr Wentworth, however, reckoned without his host, as is now and then
+the case with most men, Perpetual Curates included. He walked into the
+other drawing-room, which was occupied only by two ladies, where the
+lamp was burning softly on the little table in the corner, and the
+windows, half open, admitted the fragrant air, the perfumed breath and
+stillness and faint inarticulate noises of the night. Since the visit
+of Wodehouse in the morning, which had driven Lucy into her first fit
+of passion, an indescribable change had come over the house, which had
+now returned to the possession of its former owners, and looked again
+like home. It was very quiet in the familiar room which Mr Wentworth
+knew so well, for it was only when excited by events "beyond their
+control," as Miss Wodehouse said, that the sisters could forget what
+had happened so lately--the loss which had made a revolution in their
+world. Miss Wodehouse, who for the first time in her life was busy,
+and had in hand a quantity of mysterious calculations and lists to
+make out, sat at the table in the centre of the room, with her desk
+open, and covered with long slips of paper. Perhaps it was to save her
+Rector the trouble that the gentle woman gave herself so much labour;
+perhaps she liked putting down on paper all the things that were
+indispensable for the new establishment. At all events, she looked up
+only to give Mr Wentworth a smile and sisterly nod of welcome as he
+came in and made his way to the corner where Lucy sat, not
+unexpectant. Out of the disturbed atmosphere he had just left, the
+Perpetual Curate came softly into that familiar corner, feeling that
+he had suddenly reached his haven, and that Eden itself could not
+have possessed a sweeter peace. Lucy in her black dress, with traces
+of the exhaustion of nature in her face, which was the loveliest face
+in the world to Mr Wentworth, looked up and welcomed him with that
+look of satisfaction and content which is the highest compliment one
+human creature can pay to another. His presence rounded off all the
+corners of existence to Lucy for that moment at least, and made the
+world complete and full. He sat down beside her at her work-table with
+no further interruption to the _tete-a-tete_ than the presence of the
+kind elder sister at the table, who was absorbed in her lists, and
+who, even had that pleasant business been wanting, was dear and
+familiar enough to both to make her spectatorship just the sweet
+restraint which endears such intercourse all the more. Thus the
+Perpetual Curate seated himself, feeling in some degree master of the
+position; and surely here, if nowhere else in the world, the young man
+was justified in expecting to have his own way.
+
+"They have settled about their marriage," said Lucy, whose voice was
+sufficiently audible to be heard at the table, where Miss Wodehouse
+seized her pen hastily and plunged it into the ink, doing her best to
+appear unconscious, but failing sadly in the attempt. "Mr Proctor is
+going away directly to make everything ready, and the marriage is to
+be on the 15th of next month."
+
+"And ours?" said Mr Wentworth, who had not as yet approached that
+subject. Lucy knew that this event must be far off, and was not
+agitated about it as yet; on the contrary, she met his look
+sympathetically and with deprecation after the first natural blush,
+and soothed him in her feminine way, patting softly with her pretty
+hand the sleeve of his coat.
+
+"Nobody knows," said Lucy. "We must wait, and have patience. We have
+more time to spare than they have," she added, with a little laugh.
+"We must wait."
+
+"I don't see the _must_," said the Perpetual Curate. "I have been
+thinking it all over since the morning. I see no reason why I should
+always have to give in, and wait; self-sacrifice is well enough when
+it can't be helped, but I don't see any reason for postponing my
+happiness indefinitely. Look here, Lucy. It appears to me at present
+that there are only two classes of people in the world--those who will
+wait, and those who won't. I don't mean to enrol myself among the
+martyrs. The man who gets his own way is the man who takes it. I don't
+see any reason in the world for concluding that I _must_ wait."
+
+Lucy Wodehouse was a very good young woman, a devoted Anglican, and
+loyal to all her duties; but she had always been known to possess a
+spark of spirit, and this rebellious quality came to a sudden blaze at
+so unlooked-for a speech. "Mr Wentworth," said Lucy, looking the
+Curate in the face with a look which was equivalent to making him a
+low curtsy, "I understood there were two people to be consulted as to
+the must or must not;" and having entered this protest, she withdrew
+her chair a little farther off, and bestowed her attention absolutely
+upon the piece of needlework in her hand.
+
+If the ground had suddenly been cut away underneath Frank Wentworth's
+feet, he could not have been more surprised; for, to tell the truth,
+it had not occurred to him to doubt that he himself was the final
+authority on this point, though, to be sure, it was part of the
+conventional etiquette that the lady should "fix the day." He sat
+gazing at her with so much surprise that for a minute or two he could
+say nothing. "Lucy, I am not going to have you put yourself on the
+other side," he said at last; "there is not to be any opposition
+between you and me."
+
+"That is as it may be," said Lucy, who was not mollified. "You seem to
+have changed your sentiments altogether since the morning, and there
+is no change in the circumstances, at least that I can see."
+
+"Yes, there is a great change," said the young man. "If I could have
+sacrificed myself in earnest and said nothing--"
+
+"Which you were quite free to do," interrupted Lucy, who, having given
+way to temper once to-day, found in herself an alarming proclivity
+towards a repetition of the offence.
+
+"Which I was quite free to do," said the Perpetual Curate, with a
+smile, "but could not, and did not, all the same. Things are
+altogether changed. Now, be as cross as you please, you belong to me,
+_Lucia mia_. To be sure, I have no money--"
+
+"I was not thinking of that," said the young lady, under her breath.
+
+"Of course one has to think about it," said Mr Wentworth; "but the
+question is, whether we shall be happier and better going on separate
+in our usual way, or making up our minds to give up something for the
+comfort of being together. Perhaps you will forgive me for taking
+_that_ view of the question," said the Curate, with a little
+enthusiasm. "I have got tired of ascetic principles. I don't see why
+it must be best to deny myself and postpone myself to other things and
+other people. I begin to be of my brother Jack's opinion. The children
+of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of
+light. A man who will wait has to wait. Providence does not invariably
+reward him after he has been tried, as we used to suppose. I am
+willing to be a poor man because I can't help it; but I am not willing
+to wait and trust my happiness to the future when it is in my reach
+now," said the unreasonable young man, to whom it was of course as
+easy as it was to Lucy to change the position of his chair, and
+prevent the distance between them being increased. Perhaps he might
+have carried his point even at that moment, had not Miss Wodehouse,
+who had heard enough to alarm her, come forward hastily in a fright on
+the prudential side.
+
+"I could not help hearing what you were saying," said the elder
+sister. "Oh, Mr Wentworth, I hope you don't mean to say that you can't
+trust Providence? I am sure that is not Lucy's way of thinking. I
+would not mind, and I am sure she would not mind, beginning very
+quietly; but then you have nothing, next to nothing, neither of you.
+It might not matter, just at the first," said Miss Wodehouse, with
+serious looks; "but then--afterwards, you know," and a vision of a
+nursery flashed upon her mind as she spoke. "Clergymen always have
+such large families," she said half out before she was aware, and
+stopped, covered with confusion, not daring to look at Lucy to see
+what effect such a suggestion might have had upon her. "I mean," cried
+Miss Wodehouse, hurrying on to cover over her inadvertence if
+possible, "I have seen such cases; and a poor clergyman who has to
+think of the grocer's bill and the baker's bill instead of his parish
+and his duty--there are some things you young people know a great deal
+better than I do, but you don't know how dreadful it is to see that."
+
+Here Lucy, on her part, was touched on a tender point, and interposed.
+"For a man to be teased about bills," said the young housekeeper, with
+flushed cheeks and an averted countenance, "it must be not his
+poverty, but his--his wife's fault."
+
+"Oh, Lucy, don't say so," cried Miss Wodehouse; "what is a poor woman
+to do, especially when she has no money of her own, as you wouldn't
+have? and then the struggling, and getting old before your time, and
+all the burdens--"
+
+"Please don't say any more," said Lucy; "there was no intention on--on
+any side to drive things to a decision. As for me, I have not a high
+opinion of myself. I would not be the means of diminishing anyone's
+comforts," said the spiteful young woman. "How can I be sure that I
+might not turn out a very poor compensation? We settled this morning
+how all that was to be, and I for one have not changed my mind--as
+yet," said Lucy. That was all the encouragement Mr Wentworth got when
+he propounded his new views. Things looked easy enough when he was
+alone, and suffered himself to drift on pleasantly on the changed and
+heightened current of personal desires and wishes; but it became
+apparent to him, after that evening's discussion, that even in Eden
+itself, though the dew had not yet dried on the leaves, it would be
+highly incautious for any man to conclude that he was sure of having
+his own way. The Perpetual Curate returned a sadder and more doubtful
+man to Mrs Hadwin's, to his own apartments; possibly, as the two
+states of mind so often go together, a wiser individual too.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+
+The dinner-party at the Rectory, to which Mr Wentworth did not go, was
+much less interesting and agreeable than it might have been had he been
+present. As for the Rector and his wife, they could not but feel
+themselves in a somewhat strange position, having between them a secret
+unsuspected by the company. It was difficult to refrain from showing a
+certain flagging of interest in the question of the church's
+restoration, about which, to be sure, Mr Finial was just as much
+concerned as he had been yesterday; though Mr Morgan, and even Mrs
+Morgan, had suffered a great and unexplainable diminution of enthusiasm.
+And then Mr Leeson, who was quite unaware of the turn that things had
+taken, and who was much too obtuse to understand how the Rector could be
+anything but exasperated against the Perpetual Curate by the failure of
+the investigation, did all that he could to make himself disagreeable,
+which was saying a good deal. When Mrs Morgan came into the
+drawing-room, and found this obnoxious individual occupying the most
+comfortable easy-chair, and turning over at his ease the great book of
+ferns, nature-printed, which was the pet decoration of the table, her
+feelings may be conceived by any lady who has gone through a similar
+trial; for Mr Leeson's hands were not of the irreproachable purity which
+becomes the fingers of a gentleman when he goes out to dinner. "I know
+some people who always wear gloves when they turn over a portfolio of
+prints," Mrs Morgan said, coming to the Curate's side to protect her
+book if possible, "and these require quite as much care;" and she had to
+endure a discussion upon the subject, which was still more trying to her
+feelings, for Mr Leeson pretended to know about ferns on the score of
+having a Wardian case in his lodgings (which belonged to his landlady),
+though in reality he could scarcely tell the commonest spleenwort from a
+lycopodium. While Mrs Morgan went through this trial, it is not to be
+wondered at if she hugged to her heart the new idea of leaving
+Carlingford, and thought to herself that whatever might be the character
+of the curate (if there was one) at Scarsfield, any change from Mr
+Leeson must be for the better. And then the unfortunate man, as if he
+was not disagreeable enough already, began to entertain his unwilling
+hostess with the latest news.
+
+"There is quite a commotion in Grange Lane," said Mr Leeson. "Such
+constant disturbances must deteriorate the property, you know. Of
+course, whatever one's opinion may be, one must keep it to one's self,
+after the result of the investigation; though I can't say _I_ have
+unbounded confidence in trial by jury," said the disagreeable young
+man.
+
+"I am afraid I am very slow of comprehension," said the Rector's wife.
+"I don't know in the least what you mean about trial by jury. Perhaps
+it would be best to put the book back on the table; it is too heavy
+for you to hold."
+
+"Oh, it doesn't matter," said Mr Leeson--"I mean about Wentworth, of
+course. When a man is popular in society, people prefer to shut their
+eyes. I suppose the matter is settled for the present, but you and I
+know better than to believe--"
+
+"I beg you will speak for yourself, Mr Leeson," said Mrs Morgan, with
+dignity. "I have always had the highest respect for Mr Wentworth."
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon," said the disagreeable Curate. "I forgot;
+almost all the ladies are on Mr Wentworth's side. It appears that
+little girl of Elsworthy's has disappeared again; that was all I was
+going to say."
+
+And, fortunately for the Curate, Colonel Chiley, who entered the room
+at the moment, diverted from him the attention of the lady of the
+house; and after that there was no opportunity of broaching the
+subject again until dinner was almost over. Then it was perhaps the
+All-Souls pudding that warmed Mr Leeson's soul; perhaps he had taken a
+little more wine than usual. He took sudden advantage of that curious
+little pause which occurs at a well-conducted dinner-table, when the
+meal is concluded, and the fruit (considered apparently, in orthodox
+circles, a paradisiacal kind of food which needs no blessing) alone
+remains to be discussed. As soon as the manner of thanks from the foot
+of the table was over, the Curate incautiously rushed in before
+anybody else could break the silence, and delivered his latest
+information at a high pitch of voice.
+
+"Has anyone heard about the Elsworthys?" said Mr Leeson; "something
+fresh has happened there. I hope your verdict yesterday will not be
+called in question. The fact is, I believe that the girl has been
+taken away again. They say she has gone and left a letter saying that
+she is to be made a lady of. I don't know what we are to understand by
+that. There was some private service or other going on at St Roque's
+very early in the morning. Marriage is a sacrament, you know. Perhaps
+Mr Wentworth or his brother--"
+
+"They are a queer family, the Wentworths," said old Mr Western, "and
+such lots of them, sir--such lots of them. The old ladies seem to have
+settled down here. I am not of their way of thinking, you know, but
+they're very good to the poor."
+
+"Mr Frank Wentworth is going to succeed his brother, I suppose," said
+Mr Leeson; "it is very lucky for a man who gets himself talked of to
+have a family living to fall back upon--"
+
+"No such thing--no such thing," said Mr Proctor, hastily. "Mr Frank
+Wentworth means to stay here."
+
+"Dear me!" said the disagreeable Curate, with an elaborate pause of
+astonishment. "Things must be bad indeed," added that interesting
+youth, with solemnity, shaking the devoted head, upon which he did not
+know that Mrs Morgan had fixed her eyes, "if his own family give him
+up, and leave him to starve here. They would never give him up if they
+had not very good cause. Oh, come; I shouldn't like to believe that!
+_I_ know how much a curate has to live on," said Mr Leeson, with a
+smile of engaging candour. "Before they give him up like that, with
+two livings in the family, they must have very good cause."
+
+"Very good cause indeed," said Mrs Morgan, from the head of the table.
+The company in general had, to tell the truth, been a little taken
+aback by the Curate's observations; and there was almost the entire
+length of the table between the unhappy man and the Avenger. "So good
+a reason, that it is strange how it should not have occurred to a
+brother clergyman. That is the evil of a large parish," said the
+Rector's wife, with beautiful simplicity; "however hard one works, one
+never can know above half of the poor people; and I suppose you have
+been occupied in the other districts, and have not heard what a great
+work Mr Wentworth is doing. I have reason to know," said Mrs Morgan,
+with considerable state, "that he will remain in Carlingford, in a
+very different position from that which he has filled hitherto. Mr
+Leeson knows how much a curate has to live upon, but I am afraid that
+is all he does know of such a life as Mr Wentworth's." Mrs Morgan
+paused for a moment to get breath, for her excitement was
+considerable, and she had many wrongs to avenge. "There is a great
+deal of difference in curates as well as in other things," said the
+indignant woman. "I have reason to know that Mr Wentworth will remain
+in Carlingford in quite a different position. Now and then, even in
+this world, things come right like a fairy tale--that is, when the
+authority is in the right hands;" the Rector's wife went on, with a
+smile at her husband, which disarmed that astonished man. "Perhaps if
+Mr Leeson had the same inducement as Mr Wentworth, he too would make
+up his mind to remain in Carlingford." Mrs Morgan got up, as she made
+this speech, with a rustle and sweep of drapery which seemed all
+addressed to the unhappy Curate, who stumbled upon his feet like the
+other gentlemen, but dared not for his life have approached her to
+open the door. Mr Leeson felt that he had received his _conge_, as he
+sank back into his chair. He was much too stunned to speculate on the
+subject, or ask himself what was going to happen. Whatever was going
+to happen, there was an end of _him_. He had eaten the last All-Souls
+pudding that he ever would have presented to him under _that_ roof. He
+sank back in the depth of despair upon his seat, and suffered the
+claret to pass him in the agony of his feelings. Mr Wentworth and Mrs
+Morgan were avenged.
+
+This was how it came to be noised abroad in Carlingford that some great
+change of a highly favourable character was about to occur in the
+circumstances and position of the Curate of St Roque's. It was discussed
+next day throughout the town, as soon as people had taken breath after
+telling each other about Rosa Elsworthy, who had indisputably been
+carried off from her uncle's house on the previous night. When the
+Wentworth family were at dinner, and just as the board was being spread
+in the Rectory, where Mrs Morgan was half an hour later than usual,
+having company, it had been discovered in Elsworthy's that the prison
+was vacant, and the poor little bird had flown. Mr Wentworth was aware
+of a tumult about the shop when he went to the Miss Wodehouses, but
+was preoccupied, and paid no attention; but Mr Leeson, who was not
+preoccupied, had already heard all about it when he entered the Rectory.
+That day it was all over the town, as may be supposed. The poor, little,
+wicked, unfortunate creature had disappeared, no one knew how, at the
+moment, apparently, when Elsworthy went to the railway for the evening
+papers, a time when the errand-boys were generally rampant in the
+well-conducted shop. Mrs Elsworthy, for her part, had seized that moment
+to relieve her soul by confiding to Mrs Hayles next door how she was
+worrited to death with one thing and another, and did not expect to be
+alive to tell the tale if things went on like this for another month,
+but that Elsworthy was infatuated like, and wouldn't send the hussy
+away, his wife complained to her sympathetic neighbour. When Elsworthy
+came back, however, he was struck by the silence in the house, and sent
+the reluctant woman up-stairs--"To see if she's been and made away with
+herself, I suppose," the indignant wife said, as she obeyed, leaving Mrs
+Hayles full of curiosity on the steps of the door. Mrs Elsworthy,
+however uttered a shriek a moment after, and came down, with a
+frightened face, carrying a large pin-cushion, upon which, skewered
+through and through with the biggest pin she could find, Rosa had
+deposited her letter of leave-taking. This important document was read
+over in the shop by an ever-increasing group, as the news got
+abroad--for Elsworthy, like his wife, lost his head, and rushed about
+hither and thither, asking wild questions as to who had seen her last.
+Perhaps, at the bottom, he was not so desperate as he looked, but was
+rather grateful than angry with Rosa for solving the difficulty. This is
+what the poor little runaway said:--
+
+
+ "DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT,--I write a line to let you know that them as can
+ do better for me than any belonging to me has took me away for good.
+ Don't make no reflections, please, nor blame nobody; for I never could
+ have done no good nor had any 'appiness at Carlingford after all as
+ has happened. I don't bear no grudge, though aunt has been so unkind;
+ but I forgive her, and uncle also. My love to all friends; and you may
+ tell Bob Hayles as I won't forget him, but will order all my physic
+ regular at his father's shop.--Your affectionate niece,
+
+ "ROSA."
+
+ "_P.S._--Uncle has no occasion to mind, for them as has took charge of
+ me has promised to make a lady of me, as he always said I was worthy
+ of; and I leave all my things for aunt's relations, as I can't wear
+ such poor clothes in my new station of life."
+
+
+Such was the girl's letter, with its natural impertinences and natural
+touch of kindness; and it made a great commotion in the neighbourhood,
+where a few spasmodic search-parties were made up with no real
+intentions, and came to nothing, as was to be expected. It was a
+dreadful thing to be sure, to happen to a respectable family; but when
+things had gone so far, the neighbours, on the whole, were inclined to
+believe it was the best thing Rosa could have done; and the Elsworthys,
+husband and wife, were concluded to be of the same opinion. When
+Carlingford had exhausted this subject, and had duly discussed the
+probabilities as to where she had gone, and whether Rosa could be the
+lady in a veil who had been handed into the express night-train by two
+gentlemen, of whom a railway porter bore cautious testimony, the other
+mysterious rumour about Mr Wentworth had its share of popular attention.
+It was discussed in Masters's with a solemnity becoming the occasion,
+everybody being convinced of the fact, and nobody knowing how it was to
+be. One prevailing idea was, that Mr Wentworth's brother, who had
+succeeded to his mother's fortune (which was partly true, like most
+popular versions of family history, his mother's fortune being now
+Gerald's sole dependence), intended to establish a great brotherhood,
+upon the Claydon model, in Carlingford, of which the Perpetual Curate
+was to be the head. This idea pleased the imagination of the town, which
+already saw itself talked of in all the papers, and anticipated with
+excitement the sight of English brothers of St Benedict walking about in
+the streets, and people from the 'Illustrated News' making drawings of
+Grange Lane. To be sure, Gerald Wentworth had gone over to the Church of
+Rome, which was a step too far to be compatible with the English
+brotherhood; but popular imagination, when puzzled and in a hurry, does
+not take time to master all details. Then, again, opinion wavered, and
+it was supposed to be the Miss Wentworths who were the agents of the
+coming prosperity. They had made up their mind to endow St Roque's and
+apply to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to have it erected into a
+parochial district, rumour reported; and the senior assistant in
+Masters's, who was suspected of Low-Church tendencies, was known to be a
+supporter of this theory. Other ideas of a vague character floated
+through the town, of which no one could give any explanation; but
+Carlingford was unanimous in the conviction that good fortune was coming
+somehow to the popular favourite, who a week ago had occupied
+temporarily the position of the popular _bete noire_ and impersonation
+of evil. "But the real sort always triumphs at the last," was the
+verdict of Wharfside, which like every primitive community, believed
+in poetic justice; and among the bargemen and their wives much
+greater elevation than that of a district church or the headship of a
+brotherhood was expected "for the clergyman." If the Queen had sent
+for him immediately, and conferred upon him a bishopric, or at least
+appointed him her private chaplain, such a favour would have excited no
+surprise in Wharfside, where indeed the public mind was inclined to the
+opinion that the real use of queens and other such dignitaries was to
+find out and reward merit. Mr Wentworth himself laughed when the gossip
+reached his ears. "My people have given away all they had to give," he
+said to somebody who had asked the question; "and I know no prospect I
+have of being anything but a perpetual curate, unless the Queen sends
+for me and appoints me to a bishopric, as I understand is expected in
+Prickett's Lane. If I come to any advancement," said the Curate of St
+Roque's, "it must be in social estimation, and not in worldly wealth,
+which is out of my way;" and he went down to Wharfside rather cheerfully
+than otherwise, having begun to experience that pertinacity carries the
+day, and that it might be possible to goad Lucy into the experiment of
+how much her housekeeping talents were good for, and whether, with a
+good wife, even a Perpetual Curate might be able to live without any
+particular bother in respect to the grocer's bill. Mr Wentworth being at
+present warmly engaged in this business of persuasion, and as intent as
+ever on having his own way, was not much affected by the Carlingford
+gossip. He went his way to Wharfside all the same, where the service was
+conducted as of old, and where all the humble uncertain voices were
+buoyed up and carried on by the steady pure volume of liquid sound which
+issued from Lucy Wodehouse's lips into the utterance of such a
+'Magnificat' as filled Mr Wentworth's mind with exultation. It was the
+woman's part in the worship--independent, yet in a sweet subordination;
+and the two had come back--though with the difference that their love
+was now avowed and certain, and they were known to belong to each
+other--to much the same state of feeling in which they were before the
+Miss Wentworths came to Carlingford, or anything uncomfortable had
+happened. They had learned various little lessons, to be sure, in the
+interim, but experience had not done much more for them than it does for
+ordinary human creatures, and the chances are that Mr Wentworth would
+have conducted himself exactly in the same manner another time had he
+been placed in similar circumstances; for the lessons of experience,
+however valuable, are sometimes very slow of impressing themselves upon
+a generous and hasty temperament, which has high ideas of honour and
+consistency, and rather piques itself on a contempt for self-interest
+and external advantages--which was the weakness of the Curate of St
+Roque's. He returned to the "great work" in Wharfside with undiminished
+belief in it, and a sense of being able to serve his God and his
+fellow-creatures, which, though it may seem strange to some people, was
+a wonderful compensation to him for the loss of Skelmersdale. "After
+all, I doubt very much whether, under any circumstances, we could have
+left such a work as is going on here," he said to Lucy as they came up
+Prickett's Lane together, where the poor woman had just died peaceably
+in No. 10, and got done with it, poor soul; and the Sister of Mercy, in
+her grey cloak, lifted towards him the blue eyes which were full of
+tears, and answered with natural emphasis, "Impossible! it would have
+been deserting our post," and drew a step closer to him in the twilight
+with a sense of the sweetness of that plural pronoun which mingled so
+with the higher sense that it was impossible to disjoin them. And the
+two went on under the influence of these combined sentiments, taking
+comfort out of the very hardness of the world around them, in which
+their ministrations were so much needed, and feeling an exaltation in
+the "duty," which was not for one, but for both, and a belief in the
+possibility of mending matters, in which their love for each other bore
+a large share; for it was not in human nature thus to begin the ideal
+existence, without believing in its universal extension, and in the
+amelioration of life and the world.
+
+"That is all they think of," said poor Miss Wodehouse, who, between
+her wondering inspection of the two "young people" and her own
+moderate and sensible love-affairs, and the directions which it was
+necessary to give to her Rector about the furnishing of the new house,
+was more constantly occupied than she had ever been in her life; "but
+then, if they marry, what are they to live upon? and if they don't
+marry--"
+
+"Perhaps something will turn up my dear," said old Mrs Western, who had
+an idea that Providence was bound to provide for two good young people
+who wanted to marry; and thus the two ladies were forced to leave the
+matter, where, indeed, the historian of events in Carlingford would
+willingly leave it also, not having much faith in the rewards of virtue
+which come convenient in such an emergency. But it is only pure fiction
+which can keep true to nature, and weave its narrative in analogy with
+the ordinary course of life--whereas history demands exactness in
+matters of _fact_, which are seldom true to nature, or amenable to any
+general rule of existence.
+
+Before proceeding, however, to the narrative of the unexpected
+advancement and promotion which awaited the Perpetual Curate, it may be
+as well to notice that the Miss Wentworths, who during the summer had
+kindly given their house at Skelmersdale to some friends who had
+returned in the spring from India, found themselves now in a position to
+return to their own proper dwelling-place, and made preparations
+accordingly for leaving Carlingford, in which, indeed, they had no
+further occupation; for, to be sure, except to the extent of that
+respect which a man owes to his aunts, they had no special claim upon
+Frank Wentworth, or right to supervise his actions, save on account of
+Skelmersdale, which was now fully disposed of and given away. It cannot
+be said that Miss Leonora had ever fully recovered from the remarkable
+indisposition which her nephew Jack's final address had brought upon
+her. The very next morning she fulfilled her pledges as a woman of
+honour, and bestowed Skelmersdale positively and finally upon Julia
+Trench's curate, who indeed made a creditable enough rector in his way;
+but after she had accomplished this act, Miss Leonora relapsed into one
+unceasing watch upon her nephew Frank, which was far from dispelling the
+tendency to headache which she showed at this period for the first and
+only time in her life. She watched him with a certain feeling of
+expiation, as she might have resorted to self-flagellation had she lived
+a few hundred years before, and perhaps suffered more acute pangs in
+that act of discipline than could be inflicted by any physical scourge.
+The longer she studied the matter the more thoroughly was Miss Leonora
+convinced not only that the Perpetual Curate was bent on doing his duty,
+but that he _did_ it with all the force of high faculties, and a mind
+much more thoroughly trained, and of finer material than was possessed
+by the man whom she had made rector of Skelmersdale. The strong-minded
+woman bore quietly, with a kind of defiance, the sharp wounds with
+which her self-esteem was pierced by this sight. She followed up her
+discovery, and made herself more and more certain of the mistake she had
+made, not sparing herself any part of her punishment. As she pursued her
+investigations, too, Miss Leonora became increasingly sensible that it
+was not his mother's family whom he resembled, as she had once thought,
+but that he was out and out a Wentworth, possessed of all the family
+features; and this was the man whom by her own act she had disinherited
+of his natural share in the patronage of the family, substituting for
+her own flesh and blood an individual for whom, to tell the truth, she
+had little respect! Perhaps if she had been able to sustain herself with
+the thought that it was entirely a question of "principle," the
+retrospect might not have been so hard upon Miss Leonora; but being a
+woman of very distinct and uncompromising vision, she could not conceal
+from herself either Julia Trench's cleverness or her own mixed and
+doubtful motives. Having this sense of wrong and injustice, and general
+failure of the duty of kindred towards Frank, it might have been
+supposed a little comfort to Miss Leonora to perceive that he had
+entirely recovered from his disappointment, and was no longer in her
+power, if indeed he had ever been so. But the fact was, that if anything
+could have aggravated her personal smart, it would have been the fact
+of Frank's indifference and cheerfulness, and evident capability of
+contenting himself with his duty and his favourite district, and his
+Lucy--whom, to be sure, he could not marry, being only a perpetual
+curate. The spectacle came to have a certain fascination for Miss
+Wentworth. She kept watching him with a grim satisfaction, punishing
+herself, and at the same time comforting herself with the idea that,
+light as he made of it, he must be suffering too. She could not bear to
+think that he had escaped clean out of her hands, and that the decision
+she had come to, which produced so much pain to herself, was innoxious
+to Frank; and at the same time, though she could not tolerate his
+composure, and would have preferred to see him angry and revengeful, his
+evident recovery of spirits and general exhilaration increased Miss
+Leonora's respect for the man she had wronged. In this condition of mind
+the strong-minded aunt lingered over her preparations for removal,
+scorning much the rumour in Carlingford about her nephew's advancement,
+and feeling that she could never forgive him if by any chance promotion
+should come to him after all. "He will stay where he is. He will be a
+perpetual curate," Miss Leonora said, uttering what was in reality a
+hope under the shape of a taunt; and things were still in this position
+when Grange Lane in general and Miss Dora in particular (from the window
+of the summer-house) were startled much by the sight of the Rector, in
+terribly correct clerical costume, as if he were going to dine with the
+bishop, who walked slowly down the road like a man charged with a
+mission, and, knocking at Mrs Hadwin's door, was admitted immediately to
+a private conference with the Curate of St Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+
+It was the same afternoon that Mr Wentworth failed to attend, as he had
+never been known to fail before, at the afternoon's school which he had
+set up in Prickett's Lane for the young bargemen, who between the
+intervals of their voyages had a little leisure at that hour of the day.
+It is true there was a master provided, and the presence of the
+Perpetual Curate was not indispensable; but the lads, among whom,
+indeed, there were some men, were so much used to his presence as to get
+restless at their work on this unprecedented emergency. The master knew
+no other resource than to send for Miss Lucy Wodehouse, who was known to
+be on the other side of Prickett's Lane at the moment, superintending a
+similar educational undertaking for the benefit of the girls. It was, as
+may be supposed, embarrassing to Lucy to be called upon to render an
+account of Mr Wentworth's absence, and invited to take his place in this
+public and open manner; but then the conventional reticences were
+unknown in Wharfside, and nobody thought it necessary to conceal his
+certainty that the Curate's movements were better known to Lucy than to
+anybody else. She had to make answer with as much composure as possible
+in the full gaze of so many pairs of curious eyes, that she did not know
+why Mr Wentworth was absent--"Somebody is sick, perhaps," said Lucy,
+repeating an excuse which had been made before for the Perpetual Curate;
+"but I hope it does not make any difference," she went on, turning round
+upon all the upturned heads which were neglecting their work to stare at
+her. "Mr Wentworth would be grieved to think that his absence did his
+scholars any injury." Lucy looked one of the ringleaders in the eyes as
+she spoke, and brought him to his senses--all the more effectually, to
+be sure, because she knew all about him, and was a familiar figure to
+the boy, suggesting various little comforts, for which, in Prickett's
+Lane, people were not ungrateful. But when she went back again to her
+girls, the young lady found herself in a state of excitement which was
+half annoyance and half a kind of shy pleasure. To be sure, it was quite
+true that they did belong to each other; but at the same time, so long
+as she was Lucy Wodehouse, she had no right to be called upon to
+represent "the clergyman," even in "the district" which was so important
+to both. And then it occurred to her to remember that if she remained
+Lucy Wodehouse that was not the Curate's fault--from which thought she
+went on to reflect that going away with Mr and Mrs Proctor when they
+were married was not a charming prospect, not to say that it involved a
+renunciation of the district for the present at least, and possibly for
+ever; for if Mr Wentworth could not marry as long as he was a perpetual
+curate, it followed of necessity that he could not marry until he had left
+Carlingford--an idea which Lucy turned over in her mind very seriously
+as she walked home, for this once unattended. A new light seemed to be
+thrown upon the whole matter by this thought. To consent to be married
+simply for her own happiness, to the disadvantage in any respect of her
+husband, was an idea odious to this young woman, who, like most young
+women, preferred to represent even to herself that it was for _his_
+happiness that she permitted herself to be persuaded to marry; but if
+duty were involved, that was quite another affair. It was quite evident
+to Lucy, as she walked towards Grange Lane, that the Curate would not be
+able to find any one to take her place in the district; perhaps
+also--for she was honest even in her self-delusions--Lucy was aware that
+she might herself have objections to the finding of a substitute; and
+what then? Was the great work to be interrupted because she could not
+bear the idea of possibly diminishing some of his external comforts by
+allowing him to have his way, and to be what he considered happy? Such
+was the wonderful length to which her thoughts had come when she reached
+the garden-door, from which Mr Wentworth himself, flushed and eager,
+came hastily out as she approached. So far from explaining his
+unaccountable absence, or even greeting her with ordinary politeness,
+the young man seized her by the arm and brought her into the garden with
+a rapidity which made her giddy. "What is it--what do you mean?" Lucy
+cried with amazement as she found herself whirled through the sunshine
+and half carried up the stairs. Mr Wentworth made no answer until he had
+deposited her breathless in her own chair, in her own corner, and then
+got down on his knee beside her, as men in his crazy circumstances are
+not unapt to do.
+
+"Lucy, look here. I was a perpetual curate the other day when you said
+you would have me," said the energetic lover, who was certainly out of
+his wits, and did not know what he was saying--"and you said you did
+not mind?"
+
+"I said it did not matter," said Lucy, who was slightly piqued that he
+did not recollect exactly the form of so important a decision. "I knew
+well enough you were a perpetual curate. Has anything happened, or are
+you going out of your mind?"
+
+"I think it must be that," said Mr Wentworth. "Something so
+extraordinary has happened that I cannot believe it. Was I in Prickett's
+Lane this afternoon as usual, or was I at home in my own room talking to
+the Rector--or have I fallen asleep somewhere, and is the whole thing a
+dream?"
+
+"You were certainly not in Prickett's Lane," said Lucy. "I see what it
+is. Miss Leonora Wentworth has changed her mind, and you are going to
+have Skelmersdale after all. I did not think you could have made up
+your mind to leave the district. It is not news that gives me any
+pleasure," said the Sister of Mercy, as she loosed slowly off from her
+shoulders the grey cloak which was the uniform of the district. Her
+own thoughts had been so different that she felt intensely mortified
+to think of the unnecessary decision she had been so near making, and
+disappointed that the offer of a living could have moved her lover to
+such a pitch of pleasure. "All men are alike, it seems," she said to
+herself, with a little quiver in her lip--a mode of forestalling his
+communications which filled the Perpetual Curate with amazement and
+dismay.
+
+"What are you thinking of?" he said. "Miss Leonora Wentworth has not
+changed her mind. That would have been a natural accident enough, but
+this is incredible. If you like, Lucy," he added, with an unsteady
+laugh, "and will consent to my original proposition, you may marry on
+the 15th, not the Perpetual Curate of St Roque's, but the Rector of
+Carlingford. Don't look at me with such an unbelieving countenance. It
+is quite true."
+
+"I wonder how you can talk so," cried Lucy, indignantly; "it is all a
+made-up story; you know it is. I don't like practical jokes," she went
+on, trembling a little, and taking another furtive look at him--for
+somehow it was too wonderful not to be true.
+
+"If I had been making up a story, I should have kept to what was
+likely," said Mr Wentworth. "The Rector has been with me all the
+afternoon--he says he has been offered his father's rectory, where he
+was brought up, and that he has made up his mind to accept it, as he
+always was fond of the country;--and that he has recommended me to his
+College for the living of Carlingford."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Lucy, impatiently, "that is very good of Mr Morgan;
+but you know you are not a member of the College, and why should you
+have the living? I knew it could not be true."
+
+"They are all a set of old--Dons," said the Perpetual Curate; "that is,
+they are the most accomplished set of fellows in existence, Lucy--or at
+least they ought to be--but they are too superior to take an ordinary
+living, and condescend to ordinary existence. Here has Carlingford been
+twice vacant within a year--which is an unprecedented event--and Buller,
+the only man who would think of it, is hanging on for a colonial
+bishopric, where he can publish his book at his leisure. Buller is a
+great friend of Gerald's. It is incredible, _Lucia mia_, but it is
+true."
+
+"Is it true? are you _sure_ it is true?" cried Lucy; and in spite of
+herself she broke down and gave way, and let her head rest on the first
+convenient support it found, which turned out, naturally enough, to be
+Mr Wentworth's shoulder, and cried as if her heart was breaking. It is
+so seldom in this world that things come just when they are wanted; and
+this was not only an acceptable benefice, but implied the entire
+possession of the "district" and the most conclusive vindication of the
+Curate's honour. Lucy cried out of pride and happiness and glory in him.
+She said to herself, as Mrs Morgan had done at the beginning of her
+incumbency, "He will be such a Rector as Carlingford has never seen."
+Yet at the same time, apart from her glorying and her pride, a certain
+sense of pain, exquisite though shortlived, found expression in Lucy's
+tears. She had just been making up her mind to accept a share of his
+lowliness, and to show the world that even a Perpetual Curate, when his
+wife was equal to her position, might be poor without feeling any of the
+degradations of poverty; and now she was forestalled, and had nothing to
+do but accept his competence, which it would be no credit to manage
+well! Such were the thoughts to which she was reduced, though she had
+come home from Prickett's Lane persuading herself that it was duty only,
+and the wants of the district, which moved her. Lucy cried, although not
+much given to crying, chiefly because it was the only method she could
+find of giving expression to the feelings which were too varied and too
+complicated for words.
+
+All Carlingford knew the truth about Mr Wentworth's advancement that
+evening, and on the next day, which was Sunday, the Church of St
+Roque's was as full as if the plague had broken out in Carlingford,
+and the population had rushed out, as they might have done in medieval
+times, to implore the succour of the physician-saint. The first
+indication of the unusual throng was conveyed to Mr Wentworth in his
+little vestry after the choristers had filed into the church in their
+white surplices, about which, to tell the truth, the Perpetual Curate
+was less interested than he had once been. Elsworthy, who had been
+humbly assisting the young priest to robe himself, ventured to break
+the silence when they were alone.
+
+"The church is very full, sir," said Elsworthy; "there's a deal of
+people come, sir, after hearing the news. I don't say I've always been
+as good a servant as I ought to have been; but it was all through
+being led away, and not knowing no better, and putting my trust where
+I shouldn't have put it. I've had a hard lesson, sir, and I've learnt
+better," he continued, with a sidelong glance at the Curate's face;
+"it was all a mistake."
+
+"I was not finding fault with you, that I am aware of," said Mr
+Wentworth, with a little surprise.
+
+"No, sir," said Elsworthy, "I am aware as you wasn't finding no fault;
+but there's looks as speaks as strong as words, and I can feel as you
+haven't the confidence in me as you once had. I aint ashamed to say
+it, sir," continued the clerk of St Roque's. "I'm one as trusted in
+that girl's innocent looks, and didn't believe as she could do no
+harm. She's led me into ill-feeling with my clergyman, sir, and done
+me a deal o' damage in my trade, and now she's gone off without as
+much as saying 'Thank you for your kindness.' It's a hard blow upon a
+man as was fond of her, and I didn't make no difference, no more than
+if she had been my own child."
+
+"Well, well," said the Curate, "I daresay it was a trial to you; but
+you can't expect me to take much interest in it after all that has
+passed. Let bygones be bygones," said Mr Wentworth, with a smile, "as
+indeed you once proposed."
+
+"Ah! sir, that was my mistake," sighed the penitent. "I would have
+'umbled myself more becoming, if I had known all as I know now. You're
+a-going off to leave St Roque's, where we've all been so happy," said
+Mr Elsworthy, in pathetic tones. "I don't know as I ever was as 'appy,
+sir, as here, a-listening to them beautiful sermons, and a-giving my
+best attention to see as the responses was well spoke out, and things
+done proper. Afore our troubles began, sir, I don't know as I had a
+wish in the world, unless it was to see an 'andsome painted window in
+the chancel, which is all as is wanted to make the church perfect; and
+now you're a-going to leave, and nobody knows what kind of a gentleman
+may be sent. If you wouldn't think I was making too bold," said
+Elsworthy, "it aint my opinion as you'll ever put up with poor old
+Norris as is in the church. Men like Mr Morgan and Mr Proctor as had
+no cultivation doesn't mind; but for a gentleman as goes through the
+service as you does it, Mr Wentworth--"
+
+Mr Wentworth laughed, though he was fully robed and ready for the
+reading-desk, and knew that his congregation was waiting. He held his
+watch in his hand, though it already marked the half minute after
+eleven. "So you would like to be clerk in the parish church?" he said,
+with what seemed a quite unnecessary amount of amusement to the
+anxious functionary by his side.
+
+"I think as you could never put up with old Norris, sir," said
+Elsworthy; "as for leading of the responses, there aint such a thing
+done in Carlingford Church. I don't speak for myself," said the
+public-spirited clerk, "but it aint a right thing for the rising
+generation; and it aint everybody as would get into your way in a
+minute--for you have a way of your own, sir, in most things, and if
+you'll excuse me for saying of it, you're very particular. It aint
+every man, sir, as could carry on clear through the service along of
+you, Mr Wentworth; and you wouldn't put up with old Norris, not for a
+day."
+
+Such was the conversation which opened this memorable Sunday to Mr
+Wentworth. Opposite to him, again occupying the seat where his wife
+should have been, had he possessed one, were the three Miss Wentworths,
+his respected aunts, to whose opinion, however, the Curate did not feel
+himself bound to defer very greatly in present circumstances; and a
+large and curious congregation ranged behind them, almost as much
+concerned to see how Mr Wentworth would conduct himself in this moment
+of triumph, as they had been in the moment of his humiliation. It is,
+however, needless to inform the friends of the Perpetual Curate that the
+anxious community gained very little by their curiosity. It was not the
+custom of the young Anglican to carry his personal feelings, either of
+one kind or another, into the pulpit with him, much less into the
+reading-desk, where he was the interpreter not of his own sentiments or
+emotions, but of common prayer and universal worship. Mr Wentworth
+did not even throw a little additional warmth into his utterance of
+the general thanksgiving, as he might have done had he been a more
+effusive man; but, on the contrary, read it with a more than ordinary
+calmness, and preached to the excited people one of those terse little
+unimpassioned sermons of his, from which it was utterly impossible to
+divine whether he was in the depths of despair or at the summit and
+crown of happiness. People who had been used to discover a great many of
+old Mr Bury's personal peculiarities in his sermons, and who, of recent
+days, had found many allusions which it was easy to interpret in the
+discourses of Mr Morgan, retired altogether baffled from the clear and
+succinct brevity of the Curate of St Roque's. He was that day in
+particular so terse as to be almost epigrammatic, not using a word
+more than was necessary, and displaying that power of saying a great
+deal more than at the first moment he appeared to say, in which Mr
+Wentworth's admirers specially prided themselves. Perhaps a momentary
+human gratification in the consciousness of having utterly baffled
+curiosity, passed through the Curate's mind as he took off his robes
+when the service was over; but he was by no means prepared for the
+ordeal which awaited him when he stepped forth from the pretty porch of
+St Roque's. There his three aunts were awaiting him, eager to hear all
+about it, Miss Dora, for the first time in her life, holding the
+principal place. "We are going away to-morrow, Frank, and of course you
+are coming to lunch with us," said aunt Dora, clinging to his arm. "Oh,
+my dear boy, I am so happy, and so ashamed, to hear of it. To think you
+should be provided for, and nobody belonging to you have anything to do
+with it! I don't know what to say," said Miss Dora, who was half crying
+as usual; "and as for Leonora, one is frightened to speak to her. Oh, I
+wish you would say something to your aunt Leonora, Frank. I don't know
+whether she is angry with us or with you or with herself, or what it is;
+or if it is an attack on the nerves--though I never imagined she had any
+nerves; but, indeed, whatever my brother may say, it looks very
+like--dreadfully like--the coming-on of the Wentworth complaint. Poor
+papa was just like that when he used to have it coming on; and Leonora
+is not just--altogether--what you would call a female, Frank. Oh, my
+dear boy, if you would only speak to her!" cried Miss Dora, who was a
+great deal too much in earnest to perceive anything comical in what she
+had said.
+
+"I should think it must be an attack on the temper," said the Curate,
+who, now that it was all over, felt that it was but just his aunt
+Leonora should suffer a little for her treatment of him. "Perhaps some
+of her favourite colporteurs have fallen back into evil ways. There was
+one who had been a terrible blackguard, I remember. It is something that
+has happened among her mission people, you may be sure, and nothing
+about me."
+
+"You don't know Leonora, Frank. She is very fond of you, though she
+does not show it," said Miss Dora, as she led her victim in
+triumphantly through the garden-door, from which the reluctant young
+man could see Lucy and her sister in their black dresses just arriving
+at the other green door from the parish church, where they had
+occupied their usual places, according to the ideas of propriety which
+were common to both the Miss Wodehouses. Mr Wentworth had to content
+himself with taking off his hat to them, and followed his aunts to the
+table, where Miss Leonora took her seat much with the air of a judge
+about to deliver a sentence. She did not restrain herself even in the
+consideration of the presence of Lewis the butler, who, to be sure,
+had been long enough in the Wentworth family to know as much about its
+concerns as the members of the house themselves, or perhaps a little
+more. Miss Leonora sat down grim and formidable in her bonnet, which
+was in the style of a remote period, and did not soften the severity
+of her personal appearance. She pointed her nephew to a seat beside
+her, but she did not relax her features, nor condescend to any
+ordinary preliminaries of conversation. For that day even she took
+Lewis's business out of his astonished hands, and herself divided the
+chicken with a swift and steady knife and anatomical precision; and it
+was while occupied in this congenial business that she broke forth
+upon Frank in a manner so unexpected as almost to take away his
+breath.
+
+"I suppose this is what fools call poetic justice," said Miss Leonora,
+"which is just of a piece with everything else that is poetical--weak
+folly and nonsense that no sensible man would have anything to say to.
+How a young man like you, who know how to conduct yourself in some
+things, and have, I don't deny, many good qualities, can give in to
+come to an ending like a trashy novel, is more than I can understand.
+You are fit to be put in a book of the Good-child series, Frank, as an
+illustration of the reward of virtue," said the strong-minded woman,
+with a little snort of scorn; "and, of course, you are going to
+marry, and live happy ever after, like a fairy tale."
+
+"It is possible I may be guilty of that additional enormity," said the
+Curate, "which, at all events, will not be your doing, my dear aunt, if
+I might suggest a consolation. You cannot help such things happening,
+but, at least, it should be a comfort to feel you have done nothing to
+bring them about."
+
+To which Miss Leonora answered by another hard breath of mingled disdain
+and resentment. "Whatever I have brought about, I have tried to do what
+I thought my duty," she said. "It has always seemed to me a very poor
+sort of virtue that expects a reward for doing what it ought to do. I
+don't say you haven't behaved very well in this business, but you've
+done nothing extraordinary; and why I should have rushed out of my way
+to reward you for it--Oh, yes, I know you did not expect anything," said
+Miss Leonora; "you have told me as much on various occasions, Frank. You
+have, of course, always been perfectly independent, and scorned to
+flatter your old aunts by any deference to their convictions; and, to be
+sure, it is nothing to you any little pang they may feel at having to
+dispose otherwise of a living that has always been in the family. You
+are of the latest fashion of Anglicanism, and we are only a parcel of
+old women. It was not to be expected that our antiquated ideas could be
+worth as much to you as a parcel of flowers and trumpery--"
+
+These were actually tears which glittered in Miss Leonora's eyes of
+fiery hazel grey--tears of very diminutive size, totally unlike the
+big dewdrops which rained from Miss Dora's placid orbs and made them
+red, but did _her_ no harm--but still a real moisture, forced out of a
+fountain which lay very deep down and inaccessible to ordinary
+efforts. They made her eyes look rather fiercer than otherwise for the
+moment; but they all but impeded Miss Leonora's speech, and struck
+with the wildest consternation the entire party at the table,
+including even Lewis, who stood transfixed in the act of drawing a
+bottle of soda-water, and, letting the cork escape him in his
+amazement, brought affairs to an unlooked-for climax by hitting Miss
+Wentworth, who had been looking on with interest without taking any
+part in the proceedings. When the fright caused by this unintentional
+shot had subsided, Miss Leonora was found to have entirely recovered
+herself; but not so the Perpetual Curate, who had changed colour
+wonderfully, and no longer met his accuser with reciprocal disdain.
+
+"My dear aunt," said Frank Wentworth, "I wish you would not go back to
+that. I suppose we parsons are apt sometimes to exaggerate trifles
+into importance, as my father says. But, however, as things have
+turned out, I could not have left Carlingford," the Curate added, in a
+tone of conciliation; "and now, when good fortune has come to me
+unsought--"
+
+Miss Leonora finished her portion of chicken in one energetic gulp,
+and got up from the table. "Poetic justice!" she said, with a furious
+sneer. "I don't believe in that kind of rubbish. As long as you were
+getting on quietly with your work I felt disposed to be rather proud
+of you, Frank. But I don't approve of a man ending off neatly like a
+novel in this sort of ridiculous way. When you succeed to the Rectory
+I suppose you will begin fighting, like the other man, with the new
+curate, for working in your parish?"
+
+"When I succeed to the Rectory," said Mr Wentworth, getting up in his
+turn from the table, "I give you my word, aunt Leonora, no man shall
+work in _my_ parish unless I set him to do it. Now I must be off to my
+work. I don't suppose Carlingford Rectory will be the end of me," the
+Perpetual Curate added, as he went away, with a smile which his aunts
+could not interpret. As for Miss Leonora, she tied her bonnet-strings
+very tight, and went off to the afternoon service at Salem Chapel by
+way of expressing her sentiments more forcibly. "I daresay he's bold
+enough to take a bishopric," she said to herself; "but fortunately
+we've got _that_ in our own hands as long as Lord Shaftesbury lives;"
+and Miss Leonora smiled grimly over the prerogatives of her party. But
+though she went to the Salem Chapel that afternoon, and consoled herself
+that she could secure the bench of bishops from any audacious invasion
+of Frank Wentworth's hopes, it is true, notwithstanding, that Miss
+Leonora sent her maid next morning to London with certain obsolete
+ornaments, of which, though the fashion was hideous, the jewels were
+precious; and Lucy Wodehouse had never seen anything so brilliant as
+the appearance they presented when they returned shortly after
+reposing upon beds of white satin in cases of velvet--"Ridiculous
+things," as Miss Leonora informed her, "for a parson's wife."
+
+It was some time after this--for, not to speak of ecclesiastical
+matters, a removal, even when the furniture is left behind and there
+are only books, and rare ferns, and old china, to convey from one
+house to another, is a matter which involves delays--when Mr Wentworth
+went to the railway station with Mrs Morgan to see her off finally,
+her husband having gone to London with the intention of joining her in
+the new house. Naturally, it was not without serious thoughts that the
+Rector's wife left the place in which she had made the first beginning
+of her active life, not so successfully as she had hoped. She could
+not help recalling, as she went along the familiar road, the hopes so
+vivid as to be almost certainties with which she had come into
+Carlingford. The long waiting was then over, and the much-respected
+era had arrived and existence had seemed to be opening in all its
+fulness and strength before the two who had looked forward to it so
+long. It was not much more than six months ago; but Mrs Morgan had
+made a great many discoveries in the mean time. She had found out the
+wonderful difference between anticipation and reality; and that life,
+even to a happy woman married after long patience to the man of her
+choice, was not the smooth road it looked, but a rough path enough
+cut into dangerous ruts, through which generations of men and women
+followed each other without ever being able to mend the way. She was
+not so sure as she used to be of a great many important matters which
+it is a wonderful consolation to be certain of--but, notwithstanding,
+had to go on as if she had no doubts, though the clouds of a defeat,
+in which, certainly, no honour, though a good deal of the _prestige_
+of inexperience had been lost, were still looming behind. She gave a
+little sigh as she shook Mr Wentworth's hand at parting. "A great many
+things have happened in six months," she said--"one never could have
+anticipated so many changes in what looks so short a period of one's
+life"--and as the train which she had watched so often rushed past that
+new bit of wall on which the Virginian creeper was beginning to grow
+luxuriantly, which screened the railway from the Rectory windows, there
+were tears in Mrs Morgan's eyes. Only six months and so much had
+happened!--what might not happen in all those months, in all those years
+of life which scarcely looked so hopeful as of old? She preferred
+turning her back upon Carlingford, though it was the least comfortable
+side of the carriage, and put down her veil to shield her eyes from the
+dust, or perhaps from the inspection of her fellow-travellers: and once
+more the familiar thought returned to her of what a different woman she
+would have been had she come to her first experiences of life with the
+courage and confidence of twenty or even of five-and-twenty, which was
+the age Mrs Morgan dwelt upon most kindly. And then she thought with a
+thrill of vivid kindness and a touch of tender envy of Lucy Wodehouse,
+who would now have no possible occasion to wait those ten years.
+
+As for Mr Wentworth, he who was a priest, and knew more about
+Carlingford than any other man in the place, could not help thinking,
+as he turned back, of people there, to whom these six months had
+produced alterations far more terrible than any that had befallen the
+Rector's wife:--people from whom the light of life had died out, and
+to whom all the world was changed. He knew of men who had been
+cheerful enough when Mr Morgan came to Carlingford, who now did not
+care what became of them; and of women who would be glad to lay down
+their heads and hide them from the mocking light of day. He knew it,
+and it touched his heart with the tenderest pity of life, the
+compassion of happiness; and he knew too that the path upon which he
+was about to set out led through the same glooms, and was no ideal
+career. But perhaps because Mr Wentworth was young--perhaps because he
+was possessed by that delicate sprite more dainty than any Ariel who
+puts rosy girdles round the world while his time of triumph lasts--it
+is certain that the new Rector of Carlingford turned back into Grange
+Lane without the least shadow upon his mind or timidity in his
+thoughts. He was now in his own domains, an independent monarch, as
+little inclined to divide his power as any autocrat; and Mr Wentworth
+came into his kingdom without any doubts of his success in it, or of
+his capability for its government. He had first a little journey to
+make to bring back Lucy from that temporary and reluctant separation
+from the district which propriety had made needful; but, in the mean
+time, Mr Wentworth trode with firm foot the streets of his parish,
+secure that no parson nor priest should tithe or toll in his
+dominions, and a great deal more sure than even Mr Morgan had been,
+that henceforth no unauthorised evangelisation should take place in
+any portion of his territory. This sentiment, perhaps, was the
+principal difference perceptible by the community in general between
+the new Rector of Carlingford and the late Perpetual Curate of St
+Roque's.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTE
+
+[1] She was the daughter of old Sir Jasper Shelton, a poor family, but
+very respectable, and connected with the Westerns.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
+
+Contemporary spellings have been retained even when inconsistent. A
+small number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected and
+missing punctuation has been silently added.
+
+The following additional changes have been made to the text:
+
+ the news with which her heart was     the news with which her heart was
+ beating were                          beating was
+
+ neither here not there                neither here nor there
+
+ the trouble which has overtaken       the trouble which had overtaken
+
+ wiled the night away                  whiled the night away
+
+ his handkerchief to this eyes         his handkerchief to his eyes
+
+ Notwithstanding, that fact is, that   Notwithstanding, the fact is, that
+
+ than ever come out of mortal loom     than ever came out of mortal loom
+
+ Thomson                               Thompson
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Perpetual Curate, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERPETUAL CURATE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 28006.txt or 28006.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/0/28006/
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/28006.zip b/28006.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d81b320
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28006.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4af062
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #28006 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28006)