The Last Chronicle of Barset (87 page)

‘In the case of his being found guilty,' continued the doctor, ‘there
will arise the question whether the punishment awarded to him by the judge should suffice for ecclesiastical purposes. Suppose, for instance, that he should be imprisoned for two months, should he be allowed to return to his living at the expiration of that term?'

‘I think he ought,' said Mr Robarts – ‘considering all things.'

‘I don't see why he shouldn't,' said Mr Quiverful.

Mr Oriel sat listening patiently, and Mr Thumble looked up to the doctor, expecting to hear some opinion expressed by him with which he might coincide.

‘There certainly are reasons why he should not,' said Dr Tempest; ‘though I by no means say that those reasons are conclusive in the present case. In the first place, a man who has stolen money can hardly be a fitting person to teach others not to steal.'

‘You must look to the circumstances,' said Robarts.

‘Yes, that is true; but just bear with me a moment. It cannot, at any rate, be thought that a clergyman should come out of prison and go to his living without any notice from his bishop, simply because he has already been punished under the common law. If this were so, a clergyman might be fined ten days running for being drunk in the street – five shillings each time – and at the end of that time might set his bishop at defiance. When a clergyman has shown himself to be utterly unfit for clerical duties, he must not be held to be protected from ecclesiastical censure or from deprivation by the action of the common law.'

‘But Mr Crawley has not shown himself to be unfit,' said Robarts.

‘That is begging the question, Robarts,' said the doctor.

‘Just so,' said Mr Thumble. Then Mr Robarts gave a look at Mr Thumble, and Mr Thumble retired into his shoes.

‘That is the question as to which we are called upon to advise the bishop,' continued Dr Tempest. ‘And I must say that I think the bishop is right. If he were to allow the matter to pass by without notice – that is to say, in the event of Mr Crawley being pronounced guilty by a jury – he would, I think, neglect his duty. Now, I have been informed that the bishop has recommended Mr Crawley to desist from his duties till the trial be over, and that Mr Crawley has declined to take the bishop's advice.'

‘That is true,' said Mr Thumble. ‘He altogether disregarded the bishop.'

‘I cannot say that I think he was wrong,' said Dr Tempest.

‘I think he was quite right,' said Mr Robarts.

‘A bishop in almost all cases is entitled to the obedience of his clergy,' said Mr Oriel.

‘I must say that I agree with you, sir,' said Mr Thumble.

‘The income is not large, and I suppose that it would have gone with the duties,' said Mr Quiverful. ‘It is very hard for a man with a family to live when his income has been stopped.'

‘Be that as it may,' continued the doctor, ‘the bishop feels that it may be his duty to oppose the return of Mr Crawley to his pulpit, and that he can oppose it in no other way than by proceeding against Mr Crawley under the Clerical Offences Act. I propose, therefore, that we should invite Mr Crawley to attend here –'

‘Mr Crawley is not coming here today, then?' said Mr Robarts.

‘I thought it useless to ask for his attendance until we had settled on our course of action,' said Dr Tempest. ‘If we are all agreed, I will beg him to come here on this day week, when we will meet again. And we will then ask him whether he will submit himself to the bishop's decision, in the event of the jury finding him guilty. If he should decline to do so, we can only then form our opinion as to what will be the bishop's duty by reference to the facts as they are elicited at the trial. If Mr Crawley should choose to make to us any statement as to his own case, of course we shall be willing to receive it. That is my idea of what had better be done; and now, if any gentleman has any other proposition to make, of course we shall be pleased to hear him.' Dr Tempest, as he said this, looked round upon his companions, as though his pleasure, under the circumstances suggested by himself, would be very doubtful.

‘I don't suppose we can do anything better,' said Mr Robarts. ‘I think it a pity, however, that steps should have been taken by the bishop before the trial.'

‘The bishop has been placed in a very delicate position,' said Mr Thumble, pleading for his patron.

‘I don't know the meaning of the word “delicate,”' said Robarts. ‘I
think his duty was very clear, to avoid interference whilst the matter is, so to say, before the judge.'

‘Nobody has anything else to propose?' said Dr Tempest. ‘Then I will write to Mr Crawley and you, gentlemen, will perhaps do me the honour of meeting me here at one o'clock on this day week.' Then the meeting was over, and the four clergymen having shaken hands with Dr Tempest in the hall, all promised that they would return on that day week. So far, Dr Tempest had carried his point exactly as he might have done had the four gentlemen been represented by the chairs on which they had sat.

‘I shan't come again, all the same, unless I know where I'm to get my expenses,' said Mr Quiverful, as he got into the gig.

‘I shall come,' said Mr Thumble, ‘because I think it a duty. Of course it is a hardship.' Mr Thumble liked the idea of being joined with such men as Dr Tempest, and Mr Oriel, and Mr Robarts, and would any day have paid the expense of a gig from Barchester to Silverbridge out of his own pocket, for the sake of sitting with such benchfellows on any clerical inquiry.

‘One's first duty is to one's own wife and family,' said Mr Quiverful.

‘Well, yes; in a way, of course, that is quite true, Mr Quiverful; and when we know how very inadequate are the incomes of the working clergy, we cannot but feel ourselves to be, if I may so say, put upon, when we have to defray the expenses incidental to special duties out of our own pockets. I think, you know – I don't mind saying this to you – that the palace should have provided us with a chaise and pair.' This was ungrateful on the part of Mr Thumble, who had been permitted to ride miles upon miles to various outlying clerical duties upon the bishop's worn-out cob. ‘You see,' continued Mr Thumble, ‘you and I go specially to represent the palace, and the palace ought to remember that. I think there ought to have been a chaise and pair; I do indeed.'

‘I don't care much what the conveyance is,' said Mr Quiverful; ‘but I certainly shall pay nothing more out of my own pocket – certainly I shall not.'

‘The result will be that the palace will be thrown over if they don't take care,' said Mr Thumble. ‘Tempest, however, seems to be pretty
steady. Tempest, I think, is steady. You see he is getting tired of parish work, and would like to go into the close. That's what he is looking out for. Did you ever see such a fellow as that Robarts – just look at him – quite indecent, wasn't he? He thinks he can have his own way in everything, just because his sister married a lord. I do hate to see all that meanness.'

Mark Robarts and Caleb Oriel left Silverbridge in another gig by the same road, and soon passed their brethren, as Mr Robarts was in the habit of driving a large, quick-stepping horse. The last remarks were being made as the dust from the vicar of Framley's wheels saluted the faces of the two slower clergymen. Mr Oriel had promised to dine and sleep at Framley, and therefore returned in Mr Robarts' gig.

‘Quite unnecessary, all this fuss; don't you think so?' said Mr Robarts.

‘I am not quite sure,' said Mr Oriel. ‘I can understand that the bishop may have found a difficulty.'

‘The bishop, indeed! The bishop doesn't care two straws about it. It's Mrs Proudie! She has put her finger on the poor man's neck because he has not put his neck beneath her feet; and now she thinks she can crush him – as she would crush you or me, if it were in her power. That's about the long and the short of the bishop's solicitude.'

‘You are very hard on him,' said Mr Oriel.

‘I know him – and am not at all hard on him. She is hard upon him if you like. Tempest is fair. He is very fair, and as long as no one meddles with him he won't do amiss. I can't hold my tongue always, but I often know that it is better that I should.'

Dr Tempest said not a word to anyone on the subject, not even in his own defence. And yet he was sorely tempted. On the very day of the meeting he dined at Mr Walker's in Silverbridge, and there submitted to be talked at by all the ladies and most of the gentlemen present, without saying a word in his own defence. And yet a word or two would have been so easy and so conclusive.

‘Oh, Dr Tempest,' said Mary Walker, ‘I am so sorry that you have joined the bishop.'

‘Are you, my dear?' said he. ‘It is generally thought well that a parish clergyman should agree with his bishop.'

‘But you know, Dr Tempest, that you don't agree with your bishop generally.'

‘Then it is the more fortunate that I shall be able to agree with him on this occasion.'

Major Grantly was present at the dinner, and ventured to ask the doctor in the course of the evening what he thought would be done. ‘I should not venture to ask such a question, Dr Tempest,' he said, ‘unless I had the strongest possible reason to justify my anxiety.'

‘I don't know that I can tell you anything, Major Grantly,' said the doctor. ‘We did not even see Mr Crawley today. But the real truth is that he must stand or fall as the jury shall find him guilty or not guilty. It would be the same in any profession. Could a captain in the army hold up his head in his regiment after he had been tried and found guilty of stealing twenty pounds?'

‘I don't think he could,' said the major.

‘Neither can a clergyman,' said the doctor. ‘The bishop can neither make him nor mar him. It is the jury that must do it.'

At this time Grace Crawley was at Framley Parsonage. Old Lady Lufton's strategy had been quite intelligible, but some people said that in point of etiquette and judgment and moral conduct, it was indefensible. Her vicar, Mr Robarts, had been selected to be one of the clergymen who was to sit in ecclesiastical judgment upon Mr Crawley, and while he was so sitting Mr Crawley's daughter was staying in Mr Robarts' house as a visitor with his wife! It might be that there was no harm in this. Lady Lufton, when the apparent impropriety was pointed out to her by no less a person than
Archdeacon Grantly, ridiculed the idea. ‘My dear archdeacon,' Lady Lufton had said, ‘we all know the bishop to be such a fool and the bishop's wife to be such a knave, that we cannot allow ourselves to be governed in this matter by ordinary rules. Do you not think that it is expedient to show how utterly we disregard his judgment and her malice?' The archdeacon had hesitated much before he spoke to Lady Lufton, whether he should address himself to her or to Mr Robarts – or indeed to Mrs Robarts. But he had become aware that the proposition as to the visit had originated with Lady Lufton, and he had therefore decided on speaking to her. He had not condescended to say a word as to his son, nor would he so condescend. Nor could he go from Lady Lufton to Mr Robarts, having once failed with her ladyship. Indeed, in giving him his due, we must acknowledge that his disapprobation of Lady Lufton's strategy arose rather from his true conviction as to its impropriety, than from any fear lest this attention paid to Miss Crawley should tend to bring about her marriage with his son. By this time he hated the very name of Crawley. He hated it the more because in hating it he had to put himself for the time on the same side with Mrs Proudie. But for all that he would not condescend to any unworthy mode of fighting. He thought it wrong that the young lady should be invited to Framley Parsonage at this moment, and he said so to the person who had, as he thought, in truth, given the invitation; but he would not allow his own personal motives to induce him to carry on the argument with Lady Lufton. ‘The bishop is a fool,' he said, ‘and the bishop's wife a knave. Nevertheless I would not have had the young lady over to Framley at this moment. If, however, you think it right and Robarts thinks it right, there is an end of it.'

‘Upon my word we do,' said Lady Lufton.

I am induced to think that Mr Robarts was not quite confident of the expediency of what he was doing by the way in which he mentioned to Mr Oriel the fact of Miss Crawley's presence at the parsonage as he drove that gentleman home in his gig. They had been talking about Mr Crawley when he suddenly turned himself round, so that he could look at his companion, and said, ‘Miss Crawley is staying with us at the parsonage at the present moment.'

‘What! Mr Crawley's daughter?' said Mr Oriel, showing plainly by his voice that the tidings had much surprised him.

‘Yes; Mr Crawley's daughter.'

‘Oh, indeed. I did not know that you were on those terms with the family.'

‘We have known them for the last seven or eight years,' said Mark; ‘and though I should be giving you a false notion if I were to say that I myself have known them intimately – for Crawley is a man whom it is quite impossible to know intimately – yet the womankind at Framley have known them. My sister stayed with them over at Hogglestock for some time.'

‘What; Lady Lufton?'

‘Yes; my sister Lucy. It was just before her marriage. There was a lot of trouble, and the Crawleys were all ill, and she went to nurse them. And then the old lady took them up, and altogether there came to be a sort of feeling that they were to be regarded as friends. They are always in trouble, and now in this special trouble the women between them have thought it best to have the girl over at Framley. Of course I had a kind of feeling about this commission; but as I knew that it would make no difference with me I did not think it necessary to put my veto upon the visit.' Mr Oriel said nothing further, but Mark Robarts was aware that Mr Oriel did not quite approve of the visit.