The Last Chronicle of Barset

by Anthony Trollope

  CHAPTER X.

  DINNER AT FRAMLEY COURT.

  Lord Lufton, as he drove home to Framley after the meeting ofthe magistrates at Silverbridge, discussed the matter with hisbrother-in-law, Mark Robarts, the clergyman. Lord Lufton was drivinga dog-cart, and went along the road at the rate of twelve milesan hour. "I'll tell you what it is, Mark," he said, "that man isinnocent; but if he won't employ lawyers at his trial, the jury willfind him guilty."

  "I don't know what to think about it," said the clergyman.

  "Were you in the room when he protested so vehemently that he didn'tknow where he got the money?"

  "I was in the room all the time."

  "And did you not believe him when he said that?"

  "Yes,--I think I did."

  "Anybody must have believed him,--except old Tempest, who neverbelieves anybody, and Fothergill, who always suspects everybody. Thetruth is, that he had found the cheque and put it by, and did notremember anything about it."

  "But, Lufton, surely that would amount to stealing it."

  "Yes, if it wasn't that he is such a poor, cracked, crazy creature,with his mind all abroad. I think Soames did drop his book inhis house. I'm sure Soames would not say so unless he was quiteconfident. Somebody has picked it up, and in some way the cheque hasgot into Crawley's hand. Then he has locked it up and has forgottenall about it; and when that butcher threatened him, he has put hishand upon it, and he has thought, or believed, that it had come fromSoames or from the dean, or from heaven, if you will. When a man isso crazy as that, you can't judge of him as you do of others."

  "But a jury must judge of him as it would of others."

  "And therefore there should be a lawyer to tell the jury what to do.They should have somebody up out of the parish to show that he isbeside himself half his time. His wife would be the best person, onlyit would be hard lines on her."

  "Very hard. And after all he would only escape by being shown to bemad."

  "And he is mad."

  "Mrs. Proudie would come upon him in such a case as that, andsequester his living."

  "And what will Mrs. Proudie do when he's a convicted thief? Simplyunfrock him, and take away his living altogether. Nothing on earthshould induce me to find him guilty if I were on a jury."

  "But you have committed him."

  "Yes,--I've been one, at least, in doing so. I simply did that whichWalker told us we must do. A magistrate is not left to himself as ajuryman is. I'd eat the biggest pair of boots in Barchester before Ifound him guilty. I say, Mark, you must talk it over with the women,and see what can be done for them. Lucy tells me that they're sopoor, that if they have bread to eat, it's as much as they have."

  On this evening Archdeacon Grantly and his wife dined and slept atFramley Court, there having been a very long family friendshipbetween old Lady Lufton and the Grantlys, and Dr. Thorne with hiswife, from Chaldicotes, also dined at Framley. There was also thereanother clergyman from Barchester, Mr. Champion, one of the prebendsof the cathedral. There were only three now who had houses in thecity since the retrenchments of the ecclesiastical commission hadcome into full force. And this Mr. Champion was dear to the DowagerLady Lufton, because he carried on worthily the clerical war againstthe bishop which had raged in Barsetshire ever since Dr. Proudie hadcome there,--which war old Lady Lufton, good and pious and charitableas she was, considered that she was bound to keep up, even to theknife, till Dr. Proudie and all his satellites should have beenbanished into outer darkness. As the light of the Proudies stillshone brightly, it was probable that poor old Lady Lufton might diebefore her battle was accomplished. She often said that it would beso, but when so saying, always expressed a wish that the fight mightbe carried on after her death. "I shall never, never rest in mygrave," she had once said to the archdeacon, "while that woman sitsin your father's palace." For the archdeacon's father had been Bishopof Barchester before Dr. Proudie. What mode of getting rid of thebishop or his wife Lady Lufton proposed to herself, I am unable tosay; but I think she lived in hopes that in some way it might bedone. If only the bishop could have been found to have stolen acheque for twenty pounds instead of poor Mr. Crawley, Lady Luftonwould, I think, have been satisfied.

  In the course of these battles Framley Court would sometimes assume aclerical aspect,--have a prevailing hue, as it were, of black coats,which was not altogether to the taste of Lord Lufton, and as to whichhe would make complaint to his wife, and to Mark Robarts, himself aclergyman. "There's more of this than I can stand," he'd say to thelatter. "There's a deuced deal more of it than you like yourself, Iknow."

  "It's not for me to like or dislike. It's a great thing having yourmother in the parish."

  "That's all very well; and of course she'll do as she likes. She mayask whom she pleases here, and I shan't interfere. It's the same asthough it was her own house. But I shall take Lucy to Lufton." NowLord Lufton had been building his house at Lufton for the last sevenyears, and it was not yet finished,--or nearly finished, if all thathis wife and mother said was true. And if they could have theirway, it never would be finished. And so, in order that Lord Luftonmight not be actually driven away by the turmoils of ecclesiasticalcontest, the younger Lady Lufton would endeavour to moderate both thewrath and the zeal of the elder one, and would struggle against thecoming clergymen. On this day, however, three sat at the board atFramley, and Lady Lufton, in her justification to her son, swore thatthe invitation had been given by her daughter-in-law. "You know, mydear," the dowager said to Lord Lufton, "something must be done forthese poor Crawleys; and as the dean is away, Lucy wants to speak tothe archdeacon about them."

  "And the archdeacon could not subscribe his ten-pound note withouthaving Mr. Champion to back him?"

  "My dear Ludovic, you do put it in such a way."

  "Never mind, mother. I've no special dislike to Champion only as youare not paid five thousand a year for your trouble, it is rather hardthat you should have to do all the work of opposition bishop in thediocese."

  It was felt by them all,--including Lord Lufton himself, who becameso interested in the matter as to forgive the black coats before theevening was over,--that this matter of Mr. Crawley's committal wasvery serious, and demanded the full energies of their party. It wasknown to them all that the feeling at the palace was inimical to Mr.Crawley. "That she-Beelzebub hates him for his poverty, and becauseArabin brought him into the diocese," said the archdeacon, permittinghimself to use very strong language in his allusion to the bishop'swife. It must be recorded on his behalf that he used the phrase inthe presence only of the gentlemen of the party. I think he mighthave whispered the word into the ear of his confidential friend oldLady Lufton, and perhaps have given no offence; but he would not haveventured to use such words aloud in the presence of ladies.

  "You forget, archdeacon," said Dr. Thorne, laughing, "that theshe-Beelzebub is my wife's particular friend."

  "Not a bit of it," said the archdeacon. "Your wife knows better thanthat. You tell her what I call her, and if she complains of the name,I'll unsay it." It may therefore be supposed that Dr. Thorne, andMrs. Thorne, and the archdeacon, knew each other intimately, andunderstood each other's feelings on these matters.

  It was quite true that the palace party was inimical to Mr. Crawley.Mr. Crawley undoubtedly was poor, and had not been so submissive toepiscopal authority as it behoves any clergyman to be whose loavesand fishes are scanty. He had raised his back more than once againstorders emanating from the palace in a manner that had made the hairson the head of the bishop's wife to stand almost on end, and hadtaken as much upon himself as though his living had been worth twelvehundred a year. Mrs. Proudie, almost as energetic in her language asthe archdeacon, had called him a beggarly perpetual curate. "We musthave perpetual curates, my dear," the bishop had said. "They shouldknow their places then. But what can you expect of a creature fromthe deanery? All that ought to be altered. The dean should have nopatronage in the diocese. No dean should have any patronage. It isan abuse from the beginning
to the end. Dean Arabin, if he had anyconscience, would be doing the duty at Hogglestock himself." How thebishop strove to teach his wife, with mildest words, what reallyought to be a dean's duty, and how the wife rejoined by teaching herhusband, not in the mildest words, what ought to be a bishop's duty,we will not further inquire here. The fact that such dialogues tookplace at the palace is recorded simply to show that the palatialfeeling in Barchester ran counter to Mr. Crawley.

  And this was cause enough, if no other cause existed, for partialityto Mr. Crawley at Framley Court. But, as has been partly explained,there existed, if possible, even stronger ground than this foradherence to the Crawley cause. The younger Lady Lufton had knownthe Crawleys intimately, and the elder Lady Lufton had reckoned themamong the neighbouring clerical families of her acquaintance. Boththese ladies were therefore staunch in their defence of Mr. Crawley.The archdeacon himself had his own reasons,--reasons which for thepresent he kept altogether within his own bosom,--for wishing thatMr. Crawley had never entered the diocese. Whether the perpetualcurate should or should not be declared to be a thief, it would beterrible to him to have to call the child of that perpetual curatehis daughter-in-law. But not the less on this occasion was he true tohis order, true to his side in the diocese, true to his hatred of thepalace.

  "I don't believe it for a moment," he said, as he took his place onthe rug before the fire in the drawing-room when the gentlemen camein from their wine. The ladies understood at once what it was thathe couldn't believe. Mr. Crawley had for the moment so usurped thecounty that nobody thought of talking of anything else.

  "How is it, then," said Mrs. Thorne, "that Lord Lufton, and myhusband, and the other wiseacres at Silverbridge, have committed himfor trial?"

  "Because we were told to do so by the lawyer," said Dr. Thorne.

  "Ladies will never understand that magistrates must act in accordancewith the law," said Lord Lufton.

  "But you all say he's not guilty," said Mrs. Robarts.

  "The fact is, that the magistrates cannot try the question," saidthe archdeacon "they only hear the primary evidence. In this caseI don't believe Crawley would ever have been committed if he hademployed an attorney, instead of speaking for himself."

  "Why didn't somebody make him have an attorney?" said Lady Lufton.

  "I don't think any attorney in the world could have spoken for himbetter than he spoke for himself," said Dr. Thorne.

  "And yet you committed him," said his wife. "What can we do for him?Can't we pay the bail, and send him off to America?"

  "A jury will never find him guilty," said Lord Lufton.

  "And what is the truth of it?" asked the younger Lady Lufton.

  Then the whole matter was discussed again, and it was settled amongthem all that Mr. Crawley had undoubtedly appropriated the chequethrough temporary obliquity of judgment,--obliquity of judgment andforgetfulness as to the source from whence the cheque had come tohim. "He has picked it up about the house, and then has thought thatit was his own," said Lord Lufton. Had they come to the conclusionthat such an appropriation of money had been made by one of theclergy of the palace, by one of the Proudeian party, they woulddoubtless have been very loud and very bitter as to the iniquityof the offender. They would have said much as to the weakness ofthe bishop and the wickedness of the bishop's wife, and would havedeclared the appropriator to have been as very a thief as everpicked a pocket or opened a till;--but they were unanimous in theiracquittal of Mr. Crawley. It had not been his intention, they said,to be a thief, and a man should be judged only by his intention. Itmust now be their object to induce a Barchester jury to look at thematter in the same light.

  "When they come to understand how the land lies," said thearchdeacon, "they will be all right. There's not a tradesman in thecity who does not hate that woman as though she were--"

  "Archdeacon," said his wife, cautioning him to repress his energy.

  "Their bills are all paid by this new chaplain they've got, and he ismade to claim discount on every leg of mutton," said the archdeacon.Arguing from which fact,--or from which assertion, he came to theconclusion that no Barchester jury would find Mr. Crawley guilty.

  But it was agreed on all sides that it would not be well to trust tothe unassisted friendship of the Barchester tradesmen. Mr. Crawleymust be provided with legal assistance, and this must be furnishedto him whether he should be willing or unwilling to receive it. Thatthere would be a difficulty was acknowledged. Mr. Crawley was knownto be a man not easy of persuasion, with a will of his own, witha great energy of obstinacy on points which he chose to take upas being of importance to his calling, or to his own professionalstatus. He had pleaded his own cause before the magistrates, and itmight be that he would insist on doing the same thing before thejudge. At last Mr. Robarts, the clergyman of Framley, was deputedfrom the knot of Crawleian advocates assembled in Lady Lufton'sdrawing-room, to undertake the duty of seeing Mr. Crawley, and ofexplaining to him that his proper defence was regarded as a matterappertaining to the clergy and gentry generally of that part of thecountry, and that for the sake of the clergy and gentry the defencemust of course be properly conducted. In such circumstances theexpense of the defence would of course be borne by the clergy andgentry concerned. It was thought that Mr. Robarts could put thematter to Mr. Crawley with such a mixture of the strength of manlyfriendship and the softness of clerical persuasion, as to overcomethe recognized difficulties of the task.