"The thing would be to let the house furnished every summer," said
Lucy.

"But I must take my residence as the terms come," said the vicar;
"and I certainly should not like to be away from Framley all the
winter; I should never see anything of Lufton." And perhaps he
thought of his hunting, and then thought again of that cleansing of
his hands.

"I should not a bit mind being away during the winter," said Lucy,
thinking of what the last winter had done for her.

"But where on earth should we find money to furnish one of those
large, old-fashioned houses? Pray, Mark, do not do anything rash."
And the wife laid her hand affectionately on her husband's arm. In
this manner the question of the prebend was discussed between them
on the evening before he started for London. Success had at last
crowned the earnest effort with which Harold Smith had carried on the
political battle of his life for the last ten years. The late Lord
Petty Bag had resigned in disgust, having been unable to digest the
Prime Minister's ideas on Indian Reform, and Mr. Harold Smith, after
sundry hitches in the business, was installed in his place. It was
said that Harold Smith was not exactly the man whom the Premier would
himself have chosen for that high office; but the Premier's hands
were a good deal tied by circumstances. The last great appointment he
had made had been terribly unpopular,--so much so as to subject him,
popular as he undoubtedly was himself, to a screech from the whole
nation. The _Jupiter_, with withering scorn, had asked whether vice
of every kind was to be considered, in these days of Queen Victoria,
as a passport to the Cabinet. Adverse members of both Houses had
arrayed themselves in a pure panoply of morality, and thundered forth
their sarcasms with the indignant virtue and keen discontent of
political Juvenals; and even his own friends had held up their hands
in dismay. Under those circumstances he had thought himself obliged
in the present instance to select a man who would not be especially
objectionable to any party. Now Harold Smith lived with his wife, and
his circumstances were not more than ordinarily embarrassed. He kept
no race-horses; and, as Lord Brock now heard for the first time,
gave lectures in provincial towns on popular subjects. He had a seat
which was tolerably secure, and could talk to the House by the yard
if required to do so. Moreover, Lord Brock had a great idea that
the whole machinery of his