etween the
dean and his wife, and it had been agreed between them that a sum
of fifty pounds should be given. It should be given by Mrs. Arabin,
but it was thought that the gift would come with more comfort to
the recipient from the hands of his old friend than from those of
his wife. There had been much discussion between them as to the
mode in which this might be done with least offence to the man's
feelings,--for they knew Mr. Crawley and his peculiarities well. At
last it was agreed that the notes should be put into an envelope,
which envelope the dean should have ready with him. But when the
moment came the dean did not have the envelope ready, and was obliged
to leave the room to seek his wife. And Mrs. Arabin explained to John
Eames that even she had not had it ready, and had been forced to
go to her own desk to fetch it. Then, at the last moment, with the
desire of increasing the good to be done to people who were so
terribly in want, she put the cheque for twenty pounds, which was in
her possession as money of her own, along with the notes, and in this
way the cheque had been given by the dean to Mr. Crawley. "I shall
never forgive myself for not telling the dean," she said. "Had I done
that all this trouble would have been saved."

"But where did you get the cheque?" Eames asked with natural
curiosity.

"Exactly," said Mrs. Arabin. "I have got to show now that I did not
steal it,--have I not? Mr. Soames will indict me now. And, indeed, I
have had some trouble to refresh my memory as to all the particulars,
for you see it is more than a year past." But Mrs. Arabin's mind
was clearer on such matters than Mr. Crawley's, and she was able to
explain that she had taken the cheque as part of the rent due to
her from the landlord of "The Dragon of Wantly", which inn was her
property, having been the property of her first husband. For some
years past there had been a difficulty about the rent, things not
having gone at "The Dragon of Wantly" as smoothly as they had
used to go. At once time the money had been paid half-yearly by
the landlord's cheque on the bank of Barchester. For the last
year-and-a-half this had not been done, and the money had come into
Mrs. Arabin's hands at irregular periods and in irregular sums. There
was at this moment rent due for twelve months, and Mrs. Arabin
expressed her doubt whether she would get it on her return to
Barchester. On the occasion to which she was now alluding, the money