rnest and half jocose, that though Mr. Toogood was an
attorney, like himself, and was at this moment engaged in a noble
way on behalf of his cousin's husband, without any idea of receiving
back even the money which he would be out of pocket, still he wasn't
quite,--not quite, you know--"not quite so much of a gentleman as I
am,"--Mr. Walker would have said, had he spoken out freely that which
he insinuated. But he contented himself with the emphasis he put upon
the "not quite," which expressed his meaning fully. And Mr. Walker was
correct in his opinion of Mr. Toogood. As regards the two attorneys
I will not venture to say that either of them was not a "perfect
gentleman". A perfect gentleman is a thing which I cannot define. But
undoubtedly Mr. Walker was a bigger man in his way than was Mr. Toogood
in his, and did habitually consort in the county of Barsetshire with
men of higher standing than those with whom Mr. Toogood associated in
London.

It seemed to be understood that Mr. Crawley was to be the general
subject of conversation, and no one attempted to talk about anything
else. Indeed, at this time, very little else was talked about in
that part of the county;--not only because of the interest naturally
attaching to the question of the suspected guilt of a parish
clergyman, but because much had become lately known of Mr. Crawley's
character, and because it was known also that an internecine feud
had arisen between him and the bishop. It had undoubtedly become the
general opinion that Mr. Crawley had picked up and used a cheque which
was not his own;--that he had, in fact, stolen it; but there was, in
spite of that belief, a general wish that he might be acquitted and
left in his living. And when the tidings of Mr. Crawley's victory over
the bishop at the palace had become bruited about, popular sympathy
went with the victor. The theft was, as it were, condoned, and people
made excuses which were not always rational, but which were founded
on the instincts of true humanity. And now the tidings of another
stage in the battle, as fought against Mr. Crawley by the bishop, had
gone forth through the county, and men had heard that the rural dean
was to be instructed to make inquiries which should be preliminary
to proceedings against Mr. Crawley in an ecclesiastical court. Dr
Tempest, who was now about to meet Mr. Toogood at Mr. Walker's, was the
rural dean to whom Mr. Crawley would have to submit himself in any
such i