The Last Chronicle of Barset [239]
she will be glad to see you.'
'But I was speaking of yourself, you know?' and Johnny permitted himself for a moment to look tenderly at her.
'Then from myself pray understand that I will say nothing to flatter your self-love.'
'I thought you would be kinder just when I was going away.'
'I think I have been quite kind enough. As you observed yourself just now, it is nearly eleven o'clock, and I must ask you to go away. Bon voyage, and a happy return to you.'
'And you will be glad to see me when I am back? Tell that you will be glad to see me.'
'I will tell you nothing of the kind. Mr Eames, if you do, I will be very angry with you.' And then he went.
On his way back to his own lodgings he did call on Conway Dalrymple, and in spite of his need for early rising, sat smoking with the artist for an hour. 'If you don't take care, young man,' said his friend, 'you will find yourself in a scrape with your Madalina.'
'What sort of scrape?'
'As you walk away from Porchester Terrace some fine day, you will have to congratulate yourself on having made a successful overture towards matrimony.'
'You don't think I am such a fool as that comes to?'
'Other men as wise as you have done the same sought of thing. Miss Demolines is very clever, and I daresay you find it amusing.'
'It isn't so much that she's clever, and I can hardly say that it is amusing. One gets awfully tired of it, you know. But a fellow must have something to do, and that is as good as anything else.'
'I suppose you have not heard that one young man levanted last year to save himself from a breach of promise case?'
'I wonder whether he had any money in Indian securities?'
'What makes you ask that?'
'Nothing in particular.'
'Whatever little he chose to save, and I think that I heard that he went to Canada. His name was Shorter; and they say that, on the eve of his going, Madalina sent him word that she had no objection to the colonies, and that, under the pressing emergency of his expatriation, she was willing to become Mrs Shorter with more expedition than usually attends fashionable weddings. Shorter, however, escaped, and has never been seen back again.'
Eames declared that he did not believe a word of it. Nevertheless, as he walked home he came to the conclusion that if Mr Shorter must have been the handsome gentleman with Indian securities, to whom 'no' had been said once too often.
While sitting with Conway Dalrymple, he had forgotten to say a word about Jael and Sisera.
CHAPTER XLVII
DR TEMPEST AT THE PALACE.
Intimation had been sent from the palace to Dr Tempest of Silverbridge of the bishop's intention that a commission should be held by him, as rural dean, with other neighbouring clergymen, as assessors with him, that inquiry might be made on the part of the Church into the question of Mr Crawley's guilt. It must be understood that by this time the opinion had become very general that Mr Crawley had been guilty--that he had found the cheque in his house, and that he had, after holding it for many months, succumbed to temptation, and applied it to his own purposes. But various excuses were made for him by those who so believed. In the first place it was felt by all who really knew anything of the man's character, that the very fact of his committing such a crime proved him to be hardly responsible for his actions. He must have known, had not all judgment in such matters been taken from him, that the cheque would certainly be traced back to his hands. No attempt had been made in the disposing of it to dispose of it in such a way that the trace should be obliterated. He had simply given it to a neighbour with a direction to have it cashed, and had written his own name on the back of it. And therefore, though there could be no doubt as to the theft in the mind of those who supposed that he had found the cheque in his own house, yet the guilt of the theft seemed to be almost annihilated by the folly of the thief. And then his poverty, and his struggles, and the sufferings of his wife, were remembered;
'But I was speaking of yourself, you know?' and Johnny permitted himself for a moment to look tenderly at her.
'Then from myself pray understand that I will say nothing to flatter your self-love.'
'I thought you would be kinder just when I was going away.'
'I think I have been quite kind enough. As you observed yourself just now, it is nearly eleven o'clock, and I must ask you to go away. Bon voyage, and a happy return to you.'
'And you will be glad to see me when I am back? Tell that you will be glad to see me.'
'I will tell you nothing of the kind. Mr Eames, if you do, I will be very angry with you.' And then he went.
On his way back to his own lodgings he did call on Conway Dalrymple, and in spite of his need for early rising, sat smoking with the artist for an hour. 'If you don't take care, young man,' said his friend, 'you will find yourself in a scrape with your Madalina.'
'What sort of scrape?'
'As you walk away from Porchester Terrace some fine day, you will have to congratulate yourself on having made a successful overture towards matrimony.'
'You don't think I am such a fool as that comes to?'
'Other men as wise as you have done the same sought of thing. Miss Demolines is very clever, and I daresay you find it amusing.'
'It isn't so much that she's clever, and I can hardly say that it is amusing. One gets awfully tired of it, you know. But a fellow must have something to do, and that is as good as anything else.'
'I suppose you have not heard that one young man levanted last year to save himself from a breach of promise case?'
'I wonder whether he had any money in Indian securities?'
'What makes you ask that?'
'Nothing in particular.'
'Whatever little he chose to save, and I think that I heard that he went to Canada. His name was Shorter; and they say that, on the eve of his going, Madalina sent him word that she had no objection to the colonies, and that, under the pressing emergency of his expatriation, she was willing to become Mrs Shorter with more expedition than usually attends fashionable weddings. Shorter, however, escaped, and has never been seen back again.'
Eames declared that he did not believe a word of it. Nevertheless, as he walked home he came to the conclusion that if Mr Shorter must have been the handsome gentleman with Indian securities, to whom 'no' had been said once too often.
While sitting with Conway Dalrymple, he had forgotten to say a word about Jael and Sisera.
CHAPTER XLVII
DR TEMPEST AT THE PALACE.
Intimation had been sent from the palace to Dr Tempest of Silverbridge of the bishop's intention that a commission should be held by him, as rural dean, with other neighbouring clergymen, as assessors with him, that inquiry might be made on the part of the Church into the question of Mr Crawley's guilt. It must be understood that by this time the opinion had become very general that Mr Crawley had been guilty--that he had found the cheque in his house, and that he had, after holding it for many months, succumbed to temptation, and applied it to his own purposes. But various excuses were made for him by those who so believed. In the first place it was felt by all who really knew anything of the man's character, that the very fact of his committing such a crime proved him to be hardly responsible for his actions. He must have known, had not all judgment in such matters been taken from him, that the cheque would certainly be traced back to his hands. No attempt had been made in the disposing of it to dispose of it in such a way that the trace should be obliterated. He had simply given it to a neighbour with a direction to have it cashed, and had written his own name on the back of it. And therefore, though there could be no doubt as to the theft in the mind of those who supposed that he had found the cheque in his own house, yet the guilt of the theft seemed to be almost annihilated by the folly of the thief. And then his poverty, and his struggles, and the sufferings of his wife, were remembered;