mined that
all the weight of the palace should be used. As for the bishop,
though he was not as angry as his wife, he was quite unhappy, and
therefore quite as hostile to Mr. Crawley; and was fully conscious
that there could be no peace for him now until Mr. Crawley should
be crushed. If only the assizes would come at once, and get him
condemned out of the way, what a blessed thing it would be! But
unluckily it still wanted three months to the assizes, and during
those three months Mr. Crawley would be at large and subject only to
episcopal authority. During that time he could not be silenced by the
arm of the civil law. His wife was not long in expressing her opinion
after Mr. Crawley had left the palace. "You must proceed against him
in the Court of Arches,--and that at once," said Mrs. Proudie. "You
can do that, of course? I know that it will be expensive. Of course
it will be expensive. I suppose it may cost us some hundreds of
pounds; but duty is duty, my lord, and in such a case as this your
duty as a bishop is paramount."

The poor bishop knew that it was useless to explain to her the
various mistakes which she made,--which she was ever making,--as to
the extent of his powers and the modes of procedure which were open
to him. When he would do so she would only rail at him for being
lukewarm in his office, poor in spirit, and afraid of dealing roundly
with those below him. On the present occasion he did say a word, but
she would not even hear him to the end. "Don't tell me about rural
deans, as if I didn't know. The rural dean has nothing to do with
such a case. The man has been committed for trial. Send for Mr
Chadwick at once, and let steps be taken before you are an hour
older."

"But, my dear, Mr. Chadwick can do nothing."

"Then I will see Mr. Chadwick." And in her anger she did sit down and
write a note to Mr. Chadwick, begging him to come over to her at the
palace.

Mr. Chadwick was a lawyer, living in Barchester, who earned his bread
from ecclesiastical business. His father, and his uncle, and his
grandfather and granduncles, had all been concerned in the affairs
of the diocese of Barchester. His uncle had been bailiff to the
episcopal estates, or steward as he had been called, in Bishop
Grantly's time, and still contrived to draw his income in some shape
from the property of the see. The nephew had also been the legal
assistant of the bishop in his latter days, and had been continued in
that positi