" And so they parted.

He left her at about two, and went to Mr. Toogood's office in Bedford
Row. He found his uncle, and the two went out to lunch together in
Holborn. Between them there was no word said about Lily Dale, and
John was glad to have some other subject in his mind for half an
hour. Toogood was full of his triumph about Mr. Crawley and of his
successes in Barsetshire. He gave John a long account of his visit
to Plumstead, and expressed his opinion that if all clergymen were
like the archdeacon there would not be so much room for Dissenters.
"I've seen a good many parsons in my time," said Toogood; "but I
don't think I ever saw such a one as him. You know he is a clergyman
somehow, and he never lets you forget it; but that's about all. Most
of 'em are never contented without choking you with their white
cravats all the time you're with 'em. As for Crawley himself," Mr
Toogood continued, "he's not like anybody else that ever was born,
saint or sinner, parson or layman. I never heard of such a man in all
my experience. Though he knew where he got the cheque as well I know
it now, he wouldn't say so, because the dean had said it wasn't so.
Somebody ought to write a book about it,--indeed they ought." Then he
told the whole story of Dan Stringer, and how he had found Dan out,
looking at the top of Dan's hat through the little aperture in the
wall of the inn parlour. "When I saw the twitch in his hat, John, I
knew he had handled the cheque himself. I don't mean to say that I'm
sharper than another man, and I don't think so; but I do mean to say
that when you are in any difficulty of that sort, you ought to go to
a lawyer. It's his business, and a man does what is his business with
patience and perseverance. It's a pity, though, that the scoundrel
should get off." Then Eames gave his uncle an account of his Italian
trip, to and fro, and was congratulated also upon his success. John's
great triumph lay in the fact that he had been only two nights
in bed, and that he would not have so far condescended on those
occasions but for the feminine weakness of his fellow-traveller. "We
shan't forget it all in a hurry,--shall we, John?" said Mr. Toogood,
in a pleasant voice, as they parted at the door of the luncheon-house
in Holborn. Toogood was returning to his office, and John Eames was
to prepare himself for his last attempt.

He went home to his lodgings, intending at first to change his
dress,--to make himself smart