bought and not
paid for."

"I see him riding very splendid animals when he comes over for the
cathedral duties," said the minor canon.

"The sheriff's officers are in the house at present, I am told," said
Mrs. Proudie.

"And is not he in jail?" said Mrs. Tickler.

"If not, he ought to be," said Mrs. Tickler's mother.

"And no doubt soon will be," said the minor canon; "for I hear that
he is linked up with a most discreditable gang of persons."

This was what was said in the palace on that heading; and though,
no doubt, more spirit and poetry was displayed there than in the
houses of the less gifted clergy, this shows the manner in which the
misfortune of Mr. Robarts was generally discussed. Nor, indeed, had
he deserved any better treatment at their hands. But his name did
not run the gauntlet for the usual nine days; nor, indeed, did his
fame endure at its height for more than two. This sudden fall was
occasioned by other tidings of a still more distressing nature; by
a rumour which so affected Mrs. Proudie that it caused, as she said,
her blood to creep. And she was very careful that the blood of others
should creep also, if the blood of others was equally sensitive.
It was said that Lord Dumbello had jilted Miss Grantly. From what
adverse spot in the world these cruel tidings fell upon Barchester I
have never been able to discover. We know how quickly rumour flies,
making herself common through all the cities. That Mrs. Proudie
should have known more of the facts connected with the Hartletop
family than any one else in Barchester was not surprising, seeing
that she was so much more conversant with the great world in which
such people lived. She knew, and was therefore correct enough in
declaring, that Lord Dumbello had already jilted one other young
lady--the Lady Julia Mac Mull, to whom he had been engaged three
seasons back, and that therefore his character in such matters was
not to be trusted. That Lady Julia had been a terrible flirt and
greatly given to waltzing with a certain German count, with whom
she had since gone off--that, I suppose, Mrs. Proudie did not know,
much as she was conversant with the great world,--seeing that she
said nothing about it to any of her ecclesiastical listeners on the
present occasion.

"It will be a terrible warning, Mrs. Quiverful, to us all; a most
useful warning to us--not to trust to the things of this world. I
fear they made no inquiry about this young nobleman be