ing. At last he resolved that he would write to the doctor; and
before he had again seen his wife, he did write his letter, and
he sent it off. In this letter he made no direct allusion to the
occurrence of the morning, but wrote as though there had not been any
fixed intention of a personal discussion between them. "I think it
will be better that there should be a commission," he said, "and I
would suggest that you should have four other clergymen with you.
Perhaps you will select two yourself out of your rural deanery; and,
if you do not object, I will name as the other two Mr. Thumble and Mr
Quiverful, who are both resident in the city." As he wrote these two
names he felt ashamed of himself, knowing that he had chosen the two
men as being special friends of his wife, and feeling that he should
have been brave enough to throw aside all considerations of his
wife's favour,--especially at this moment, in which he was putting
on his armour to do battle against her. "It is not probable," he
continued to say in his letter, "that you will be able to make your
report until after the trial of this unfortunate gentleman shall
have taken place, and a verdict shall have been given. Should he be
acquitted, that, I imagine, should end the matter. There can be no
reason why we should attempt to go beyond the verdict of a jury. But
should he be found guilty, I think we ought to be ready with such
steps as it will be becoming for us to take at the expiration of
any sentence which may be pronounced. It will be, at any rate,
expedient that in such a case the matter should be brought before an
ecclesiastical court." he knew well as he wrote this, that he was
proposing something much milder than the course intended by his wife
when she had instigated him to take proceedings in the matter; but
he did not much regard that now. Though he had been weak enough to
name certain clergymen as assessors with the rural dean, because he
thought that by doing so he would to a certain degree conciliate his
wife,--though he had been so far a coward, yet he was resolved that
he would not sacrifice to her his own judgment and his own conscience
in his manner of proceeding. He kept no copy of his letter, so that
he might be unable to show her his very words when she should ask
to see them. Of course he would tell her what he had done; but in
telling her he would keep to himself what he had said as to the
result of an acquittal in a civil court. She need n