lso to the table, so that from thence she
might confront her opponent; and as she stood opposite to Dr. Tempest
she also put both her hands upon the table.

"My dear, perhaps you will leave us for a few moments," said the
bishop. Poor bishop! Poor weak bishop! As the words came from his
mouth he knew that they would be spoken in vain, and that, if so, it
would have been better for him to have left them unspoken.

"Why should I be dismissed from your room without a reason?" said
Mrs. Proudie. "Cannot Dr. Tempest understand that a wife may share her
husband's counsels,--as she must share his troubles? If he cannot, I
pity him very much as to his own household."

"Dr. Tempest," said the bishop, "Mrs. Proudie takes the greatest
possible interest in everything concerning the diocese."

"I am sure, my lord," said the doctor, "that you will see how
unseemly it would be that I should interfere in any way between you
and Mrs. Proudie. I certainly will not do so. I can only say again
that if you will communicate to me your wishes in writing, I will
attend to them,--if it be possible."

"You mean to be stubborn," said Mrs. Proudie, whose prudence was
beginning to give way under the great provocation to which her temper
was being subjected.

"Yes, madam; if it is to be called stubbornness, I must be
stubborn. My lord, Mrs. Proudie spoke to me on this subject in the
breakfast-room after you had left it, and I then ventured to explain
to her that in accordance with such light as I have on the matter, I
could not discuss it in her presence. I greatly grieve that I failed
to make myself understood by her,--as, otherwise, this unpleasantness
might have been spared."

"I understood you very well, Dr. Tempest, and I think you to be a most
unreasonable man. Indeed, I might use a much harsher word."

"You may use any word you please, Mrs. Proudie," said the doctor.

"My dear, I really think you had better leave us for a few minutes,"
said the bishop.

"No, my lord,--no," said Mrs. Proudie, turning round upon her husband.
"Not so. It would be most unbecoming that I should be turned out of a
room in this palace by an uncourteous word from a parish clergyman.
It would be unseemly. If Dr. Tempest forgets his duty, I will not
forget mine. There are other clergymen in the diocese besides Dr
Tempest who can undertake the very easy task of this commission. As
for his having been appointed rural dean I don't know how many years
ago, it