The Last Chronicle of Barset

by Anthony Trollope

  CHAPTER XX.

  WHAT MR. WALKER THOUGHT ABOUT IT.

  It had been suggested to Mr. Robarts, the parson of Framley, thathe should endeavour to induce his old acquaintance, Mr. Crawley, toemploy a lawyer to defend him at his trial, and Mr. Robarts had notforgotten the commission which he had undertaken. But there weredifficulties in the matter of which he was well aware. In the firstplace Mr. Crawley was a man whom it had not at any time been easyto advise on matters private to himself; and, in the next place,this was a matter on which it was very hard to speak to the manimplicated, let him be who he would. Mr. Robarts had come round tothe generally accepted idea that Mr. Crawley had obtained possessionof the cheque illegally,--acquitting his friend in his own mindof theft, simply by supposing that he was wool-gathering when thecheque came in his way. But in speaking to Mr. Crawley, it would benecessary,--so he thought,--to pretend a conviction that Mr. Crawleywas as innocent in fact as in intention.

  He had almost made up his mind to dash at the subject when he met Mr.Crawley walking through Framley to Barchester, but he had abstained,chiefly because Mr. Crawley had been too quick for him, and had gotaway. After that he resolved that it would be almost useless forhim to go to work unless he should be provided with a lawyer readyand willing to undertake the task; and as he was not so providedat present, he made up his mind that he would go into Silverbridge,and see Mr. Walker, the attorney there. Mr. Walker always advisedeverybody in those parts about everything, and would be sure toknow what would be the proper thing to be done in this case. SoMr. Robarts got into his gig, and drove himself into Silverbridge,passing very close to Mr. Crawley's house on his road. He drove atonce to Mr. Walker's office, and on arriving there found that theattorney was not at that moment within. But Mr. Winthrop was within.Would Mr. Robarts see Mr. Winthrop? Now, seeing Mr. Winthrop wasa very different thing from seeing Mr. Walker, although the twogentlemen were partners. But still Mr. Robarts said that he would seeMr. Winthrop. Perhaps Mr. Walker might return while he was there.

  "Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Robarts?" asked Mr.Winthrop. Mr. Robarts said that he had wished to see Mr. Walkerabout that poor fellow Crawley. "Ah, yes; very sad case! So muchsadder being a clergyman, Mr. Robarts. We are really quite sorry forhim;--we are indeed. We wouldn't have touched the case ourselvesif we could have helped ourselves. We wouldn't indeed. But we areobliged to take all that business here. At any rate he'll get nothingbut fair usage from us."

  "I am sure of that. You don't know whether he has employed any lawyeras yet to defend him?"

  "I can't say. We don't know, you know. I should say he had,--probablysome Barchester attorney. Borleys and Bonstock in Barchester are verygood people,--very good people indeed;--for that sort of business Imean, Mr. Robarts. I don't suppose they have much county property intheir hands."

  Mr. Robarts knew that Mr. Winthrop was a fool, and that he could getno useful advice from him. So he suggested that he would take his gigdown to the inn, and call back again before long. "You'll find thatWalker knows no more than I do about it," said Mr. Winthrop, "butof course he'll be glad to see you if he happens to come in." So Mr.Robarts went to the inn, put up his horse, and then, as he saunteredback up the street, met Mr. Walker coming out of the private door ofhis house.

  "I've been at home all the morning," he said, "but I've had a stiffjob of work on hand, and told them to say in the office that I wasnot in. Seen Winthrop, have you? I don't suppose he did know thatI was here. The clerks often know more than the partners. About Mr.Crawley is it? Come into my dining-room, Mr. Robarts, where we shallbe alone. Yes;--it is a bad case; a very bad case. The pity is thatanybody should ever have said anything about it. Lord bless me, ifI'd been Soames I'd have let him have the twenty pounds. Lord Luftonwould never have allowed Soames to lose it."

  "But Soames wanted to find out the truth."

  "Yes;--that was just it. Soames couldn't bear to think that he shouldbe left in the dark, and then, when the poor man said that Soames hadpaid the cheque to him in the way of business,--it was not odd thatSoames' back should have been up, was it? But, Mr. Robarts, I shouldhave thought a deal about it before I should have brought such a manas Mr. Crawley before a bench of magistrates on that charge."

  "But between you and me, Mr. Walker, did he steal the money?"

  "Well, Mr. Robarts, you know how I'm placed."

  "Mr. Crawley is my friend, and of course I want to assist him. I wasunder a great obligation to Mr. Crawley once, and I wish to befriendhim, whether he took the money or not. But I could act so much betterif I felt sure one way or the other."

  "If you ask me, I think he did take it."

  "What!--stole it?"

  "I think he knew it was not his own when he took it. You see I don'tthink he meant to use it when he took it. He perhaps had some queeridea that Soames had been hard on him, or his lordship, and that themoney was fairly his due. Then he kept the cheque by him till he wasabsolutely badgered out of his life by the butcher up the streetthere. That was about the long and the short of it, Mr. Robarts."

  "I suppose so. And now what had he better do?"

  "Well; if you ask me,-- He is in very bad health, isn't he?"

  "No; I should say not. He walked to Barchester and back the otherday."

  "Did he? But he's very queer, isn't he?"

  "Very odd-mannered indeed."

  "And does and says all manner of odd things?"

  "I think you'd find the bishop would say so after that interview."

  "Well; if it would do any good, you might have the bishop examined."

  "Examined for what, Mr. Walker?"

  "If you could show, you know, that Crawley has got a bee in hisbonnet; that the mens sana is not there, in short;--I think you mightmanage to have the trial postponed."

  "But then somebody must take charge of his living."

  "You parsons could manage that among you;--you and the dean and thearchdeacon. The archdeacon has always got half-a-dozen curates aboutsomewhere. And then,--after the assizes, Mr. Crawley might come tohis senses; and I think,--mind it's only an idea,--but I think thecommittal might be quashed. It would have been temporary insanity,and, though mind I don't give my word for it, I think he might go onand keep his living. I think so, Mr. Robarts."

  "That has never occurred to me."

  "No;--I daresay not. You see the difficulty is this. He's sostiff-necked,--will do nothing himself. Well, that will do for oneproof of temporary insanity. The real truth is, Mr. Robarts, he is asmad as a hatter."

  "Upon my word I've often thought so."

  "And you wouldn't mind saying so in evidence,--would you? Well, yousee, there is no helping such a man in any other way. He won't evenemploy a lawyer to defend him."

  "That was what I had come to you about."

  "I'm told he won't. Now a man must be mad who won't employ a lawyerwhen he wants one. You see, the point we should gain would bethis,--if we tried to get him through as being a little touched inthe upper story,--whatever we could do for him, we could do againsthis own will. The more he opposed us the stronger our case would be.He would swear he was not mad at all, and we should say that that wasthe greatest sign of his madness. But when I say we, of course I meanyou. I must not appear in it."

  "I wish you could, Mr. Walker."

  "Of course I can't; but that won't make any difference."

  "I suppose he must have a lawyer?"

  "Yes, he must have a lawyer;--or rather his friends must."

  "And who should employ him, ostensibly?"

  "Ah;--there's the difficulty. His wife wouldn't do it, I suppose? Shecouldn't do him a better turn."

  "He would never forgive her. And she would never consent to actagainst him."

  "Could you interfere?"

  "If necessary, I will;--but I hardly know him well enough."

  "Has he no father or mother, or uncles or aunts? He must havesomebody belonging to him," said Mr. Walker.

  Then it occurred to Mr. Robarts that Dean Arab
in would be the properperson to interfere. Dean Arabin and Mr. Crawley had been intimatefriends in early life, and Dean Arabin knew more of him than did anyman, at least in those parts. All this Mr. Robarts explained to Mr.Walker, and Mr. Walker agreed with him that the services of DeanArabin should if possible be obtained. Mr. Robarts would at oncewrite to Dean Arabin and explain at length all the circumstances ofthe case. "The worst of it is, he will hardly be home in time," saidMr. Walker. "Perhaps he would come a little sooner if you were topress it?"

  "But we could act in his name in his absence, I suppose?--of coursewith his authority?"

  "I wish he could be here a month before the assizes, Mr. Robarts. Itwould be better."

  "And in the meantime shall I say anything to Mr. Crawley, myself,about employing a lawyer?"

  "I think I would. If he turns upon you, as like enough he may, andabuses you, that will help us in one way. If he should consent, andperhaps he may, that would help us in the other way. I'm told he'sbeen over and upset the whole coach at the palace."

  "I shouldn't think the bishop got much out of him," said the parson.

  "I don't like Crawley the less for speaking his mind free to thebishop," said the attorney, laughing. "And he'll speak it free to youtoo, Mr. Robarts."

  "He won't break any of my bones. Tell me, Mr. Walker, what lawyershall I name to him?"

  "You can't have a better man than Mr. Mason, up the street there."

  "Winthrop proposed Borleys at Barchester."

  "No, no, no. Borleys and Bonstock are capital people to push a fellowthrough on a charge of horse-stealing, or to squeeze a man for alittle money; but they are not the people for Mr. Crawley in such acase as this. Mason is a better man; and then Mason and I know eachother." In saying which Mr. Walker winked.

  There was then a discussion between them whether Mr. Robarts shouldgo at once to Mr. Mason but it was decided at last that he shouldsee Mr. Crawley and also write to the dean before he did so. The deanmight wish to employ his own lawyer, and if so the double expenseshould be avoided. "Always remember, Mr. Robarts, that when you gointo an attorney's office door, you will have to pay for it, first orlast. In here, you see, the dingy old mahogany, bare as it is, makesyou safe. Or else it's the salt-cellar, which will not allow itselfto be polluted by six-and-eightpenny considerations. But there is theother kind of tax to be paid. You must go up and see Mrs. Walker, oryou won't have her help in this matter."

  Mr. Walker returned to his work, either to some private den withinhis house, or to his office, and Mr. Robarts was taken upstairs tothe drawing-room. There he found Mrs. Walker and her daughter, andMiss Anne Prettyman, who had just looked in, full of the story ofMr. Crawley's walk to Barchester. Mr. Thumble had seen one of Dr.Tempest's curates, and had told the whole story--he, Mr. Thumble,having heard Mrs. Proudie's version of what had occurred, and having,of course, drawn his own deductions from her premises. And it seemedthat Mr. Crawley had been watched as he passed through the closeout of Barchester. A minor canon had seen him, and had declaredthat he was going at the rate of a hunt, swinging his arms on highand speaking very loud, though,--as the minor canon said withregret,--the words were hardly audible. But there had been no doubtas to the man. Mr. Crawley's old hat, and short rusty cloak, anddirty boots, had been duly observed and chronicled by the minorcanon and Mr. Thumble had been enabled to put together a notaltogether false picture of what had occurred. As soon as thegreetings between Mr. Robarts and the ladies had been made, MissAnne Prettyman broke out again, just where she had left off when Mr.Robarts came in. "They say that Mrs. Proudie declared that she willhave him sent to Botany Bay!"

  "Luckily Mrs. Proudie won't have much to do in the matter," said MissWalker, who ranged herself, as to church matters, in ranks altogetheropposed to those commanded by Mrs. Proudie.

  "She will have nothing to do with it, my dear," said Mrs. Walker;"and I daresay Mrs. Proudie was not foolish enough to say anything ofthe kind."

  "Mamma, she would be fool enough to say anything. Would she not, Mr.Robarts?"

  "You forget, Miss Walker, that Mrs. Proudie is in authority over me."

  "So she is, for the matter of that," said the young lady; "but I knowvery well what you all think of her, and say of her too, at Framley.Your friend, Lady Lufton, loves her dearly. I wish I could have beenhidden behind a curtain in the palace, to hear what Mr. Crawley saidto her."

  "Mr. Smillie declares," said Miss Anne Prettyman, "that the bishophas been ill ever since. Mr. Smillie went over to his mother's atBarchester for Christmas, and took part of the cathedral duty, andwe had Mr. Spooner over here in his place. So Mr. Smillie of courseheard all about it. Only fancy, poor Mr. Crawley walking all the wayfrom Hogglestock to Barchester and back;--and I am told he hardly hada shoe to his foot! Is it not a shame, Mr. Robarts?"

  "I don't think it was quite so bad as you say, Miss Prettyman; but,upon the whole, I do think it is a shame. But what can we do?"

  "I suppose there are tithes at Hogglestock. Why are they not given upto the church, as they ought to be?"

  "My dear Miss Prettyman, that is a very large subject, and I amafraid it cannot be settled in time to relieve our poor friendfrom his distress." Then Mr. Robarts escaped from the ladies inMr. Walker's house, who, as it seemed to him, were touching upondangerous ground, and went back to the yard of the George Inn forhis gig,--the George and Vulture it was properly called, and wasthe house in which the magistrates had sat when they committed Mr.Crawley for trial.

  "Footed it every inch of the way, blowed if he didn't," the ostlerwas saying to a gentleman's groom, whom Mr. Robarts recognized to bethe servant of his friend, Major Grantly; and Mr. Robarts knew thatthey also were talking about Mr. Crawley. Everybody in the county wastalking about Mr. Crawley. At home, at Framley, there was no othersubject of discourse. Lady Lufton, the dowager, was full of it, beingfirmly convinced that Mr. Crawley was innocent, because the bishopwas supposed to regard him as guilty. There had been a familyconclave held at Framley Court over that basket of provisions whichhad been sent for the Christmas cheer of the Hogglestock parsonage,each of the three ladies, the two Lady Luftons and Mrs. Robarts,having special views of their own. How the pork had been substitutedfor the beef by old Lady Lufton, young Lady Lufton thinking thatafter all the beef would be less dangerous, and how a small turkeyhad been rashly suggested by Mrs. Robarts, and how certain smallarticles had been inserted in the bottom of the basket which Mrs.Crawley had never shewn to her husband, need not here be told atlength. But Mr. Robarts, as he heard the two grooms talking aboutMr. Crawley, began to feel that Mr. Crawley had achieved at leastcelebrity.

  The groom touched his hat as Mr. Robarts walked up. "Has the majorreturned home yet?" Mr. Robarts asked. The groom said that his masterwas still at Plumstead, and that he was to go over to Plumstead tofetch the major and Miss Edith in a day or two. Then Mr. Robarts gotinto his gig, and as he drove out of the yard he heard the words ofthe men as they returned to the same subject. "Footed it all theway," said one. "And yet he's a gen'leman, too," said the other.Mr. Robarts thought of this as he drove on, intending to call atHogglestock on that very day on his way home. It was undoubtedly thefact that Mr. Crawley was recognized to be a gentleman by all whoknew him, high or low, rich or poor, by those who thought well ofhim and by those who thought ill. These grooms, who had been tellingeach other that this parson, who was to be tried as a thief, had beenconstrained to walk from Hogglestock to Barchester and back, becausehe could not afford to travel in any other way, and that his bootswere cracked and his clothes ragged, had still known him to be agentleman! Nobody doubted it; not even they who thought he had stolenthe money. Mr. Robarts himself was certain of it, and told himselfthat he knew it by evidences which his own education made clear tohim. But how was it that the grooms knew it? For my part I think thatthere are no better judges of the article than the grooms.

  Thinking still of all which he had heard, Mr. Robarts found himselfat Mr. Crawley's gate at Hogglestock.