he said this was remembering the fact that he was a clergyman of the
Church of England, and that he had a rank of his own in the country,
which, did he ever do such a thing as go out for dinner in company,
would establish for him a certain right of precedence; whereas this
attorney, of whom he was speaking, was, so to say, nobody in the eyes
of the world.

"There need be no humbling, Josiah, other than that which is due from
man to man in all circumstances. But never mind; we will not talk
about that. If it seems good to you, go to Mr. Toogood. I think that
it is good. May I write to him and say that you will go?"

"I will write myself; it will be more seemly."

Then the wife paused before she asked the next question,--paused for
some minute or two, and than asked it with anxious doubt,--"And may I
go with you, Josiah?"

"Why should two go when one can do the work?" he answered sharply.
"Have we money so much at command?"

"Indeed, no."

"You should go and do it all, for you are wiser in these things than
I am, were it not that I may not dare to show--that I submit myself
to my wife."

"Nay, my dear!"

"But it is ay, my dear. It is so. This is a thing such as men do; not
such as women do, unless they be forlorn and unaided of men. I know
that I am weak where you are strong; that I am crazed where you are
clear-witted."

"I meant not that, Josiah. It was of your health that I thought."

"Nevertheless it is as I say; but, for all that, it may not be that
you should do my work. There are those watching me who would say,
'Lo! He confesses himself incapable.' And then some one would whisper
something of a madhouse. Mary, I fear that worse than a prison."

"May God in His mercy forbid such cruelty!"

"But I must look to it, my dear. Do you think that that woman, who
sits there at Barchester in high places, disgracing herself and that
puny ecclesiastical lord who is her husband,--do you think that she
would not immure me if she could? She is a she-wolf,--only less
reasonable than the dumb brute as she sharpens her teeth in malice
coming from anger, and not in malice coming from hunger as do the
outer wolves of the forest. I tell you, Mary, that if she had a
colourable ground for her action, she would swear to-morrow that I am
mad."

"You shall go alone to London."

"Yes, I will go alone. They shall not say that I cannot yet do my own
work as a man should do it. I stood up before him, the puny man who
is ca