d to
disobey, or seemed even to wish for autocratic diocesan authority. If
ever he thought of freedom, he did so as men think of the millennium,
as of a good time which may be coming, but which nobody expects to
come in their day. Mrs. Proudie might be said still to bloom, and was,
at any rate, strong, and the bishop had no reason to apprehend that he
would be speedily visited with the sorrows of a widower's life.

He is still Bishop of Barchester. He has so graced that throne that
the Government has been averse to translate him, even to higher
dignities. There may he remain, under safe pupilage, till the
newfangled manners of the age have discovered him to be superannuated
and bestowed on him a pension. As for Mrs. Proudie, our prayers for
her are that she may live forever.

CHAPTER LII

The New Dean Takes Possession of the Deanery,
and the New Warden of the Hospital

Mr. Harding and the archdeacon together made their way to Oxford, and
there, by dint of cunning argument, they induced the Master of Lazarus
also to ask himself this momentous question: "Why should not Mr.
Arabin be Dean of Barchester?" He, of course, for awhile tried his
hand at persuading Mr. Harding that he was foolish, overscrupulous,
self-willed, and weak-minded; but he tried in vain. If Mr. Harding
would not give way to Dr. Grantly, it was not likely that he would
give way to Dr. Gwynne, more especially now that so admirable a scheme
as that of inducting Mr. Arabin into the deanery had been set on foot.
When the master found that his eloquence was vain, and heard also that
Mr. Arabin was about to become Mr. Harding's son-in-law, he confessed
that he also would, under such circumstances, be glad to see his
old friend and protege, the fellow of his college, placed in the
comfortable position that was going a-begging.

"It might be the means you know, Master, of keeping Mr. Slope out,"
said the archdeacon with grave caution.

"He has no more chance of it," said the master, "than our college
chaplain. I know more about it than that."

Mrs. Grantly had been right in her surmise. It was the Master of
Lazarus who had been instrumental in representing in high places the
claims which Mr. Harding had upon the Government, and he now consented
to use his best endeavours towards getting the offer transferred to
Mr. Arabin. The three of them went on to London together, and there
they remained a week, to the great disgust of Mrs. Grantly, and most