ould not do exactly what his wife required of
him; but if it should so turn out that poor Crawley was found to be
guilty, then the matter would be comparatively easy.

"It should be an example to us, that we should look to our own steps,
my dear," said the bishop.

"That's all very well," said Mrs. Proudie, "but it has become your
duty, and mine too, to look to the steps of other people; and that
duty we must do."

"Of course, my dear; of course." That was the tone in which the
question of Mr. Crawley's alleged guilt was discussed at the palace.

We have already heard what was said on the subject at the house of
Archdeacon Grantly. As the days passed by, and as other tidings
came in, confirmatory of those which had before reached him, the
archdeacon felt himself unable not to believe in the man's guilt.
And the fear which he entertained as to his son's intended marriage
with Grace Crawley, tended to increase the strength of his belief.
Dr. Grantly had been a very successful man in the world, and on all
ordinary occasions had been able to show that bold front with which
success endows a man. But he still had his moments of weakness, and
feared greatly lest anything of misfortune should touch him, and mar
the comely roundness of his prosperity. He was very wealthy. The
wife of his bosom had been to him all that a wife should be. His
reputation in the clerical world stood very high. He had lived all
his life on terms of equality with the best of the gentry around
him. His only daughter had made a splendid marriage. His two sons
had hitherto done well in the world, not only as regarded their
happiness, but as to marriage also, and as to social standing. But
how great would be the fall if his son should at last marry the
daughter of a convicted thief! How would the Proudies rejoice over
him,--the Proudies who had been crushed to the ground by the success
of the Hartletop alliance; and how would the low-church curates, who
swarmed in Barsetshire, gather together and scream in delight over
his dismay! "But why should we say that he is guilty?" said Mrs
Grantly.

"It hardly matters as far as we are concerned, whether they find him
guilty or not," said the archdeacon; "if Henry marries that girl my
heart will be broken."

But perhaps to no one except the Crawleys themselves had the matter
caused so much terrible anxiety as to the archdeacon's son. He had
told his father that he had made no offer of marriage to Grace
Cra