enough life, after all that was come and gone.

The election on Miss Dunstable's part was lost. She carried on the
contest nobly, fighting it to the last moment, and sparing neither
her own money nor that of her antagonist; but she carried it on
unsuccessfully. Many gentlemen did support Mr. Sowerby because
they were willing enough to emancipate their county from the
duke's thraldom; but Mr. Sowerby was felt to be a black sheep,
as Lady Lufton had called him, and at the close of the election
he found himself banished from the representation of West
Barsetshire;--banished for ever, after having held the county for
five-and-twenty years. Unfortunate Mr. Sowerby! I cannot take leave
of him here without some feeling of regret, knowing that there was
that within him which might, under better guidance, have produced
better things. There are men, even of high birth, who seem as though
they were born to be rogues; but Mr. Sowerby was, to my thinking,
born to be a gentleman. That he had not been a gentleman--that he had
bolted from his appointed course, going terribly on the wrong side
of the posts--let us all acknowledge. It is not a gentleman-like
deed, but a very blackguard action, to obtain a friend's acceptance
to a bill in an unguarded hour of social intercourse. That and
other similar doings have stamped his character too plainly. But,
nevertheless, I claim a tear for Mr. Sowerby, and lament that he has
failed to run his race discreetly, in accordance with the rules of
the Jockey Club, He attempted that plan of living as a tenant in his
old house at Chaldicotes, and of making a living out of the land
which he farmed; but he soon abandoned it. He had no aptitude for
such industry, and could not endure his altered position in the
county. He soon relinquished Chaldicotes of his own accord, and
has vanished away, as such men do vanish--not altogether without
necessary income; to which point in the final arrangement of their
joint affairs, Mrs. Thornes's man of business--if I may be allowed so
far to anticipate--paid special attention. And thus Lord Dumbello,
the duke's nominee, got in, as the duke's nominee had done for
very many years past. There was no Nemesis here--none as yet.
Nevertheless, she with the lame foot will assuredly catch him, the
duke, if it be that he deserve to be caught. With us his grace's
appearance has been so unfrequent that I think we may omit to make
any further inquiry as to his concerns.

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