Lord Lufton's face,
but now it seemed to him as though he had but little more to do with
Lord Lufton. Lord Lufton and Lord Lufton's mother were neither now to
be counted among those who wished him well. Upon whom indeed could he
now count, except that wife of his bosom upon whom he was bringing
all this wretchedness? In that moment of agony ideas ran quickly
through his brain. He would immediately abandon this preferment at
Barchester, of which it might be said with so much colour that he had
bought it. He would go to Harold Smith, and say positively that he
declined it. Then he would return home and tell his wife all that had
occurred;--tell the whole also to Lady Lufton, if that might still
be of any service. He would make arrangement for the payment of both
those bills as they might be presented, asking no questions as to the
justice of the claim, making no complaint to any one, not even to
Sowerby. He would put half his income, if half were necessary, into
the hands of Forrest the banker, till all was paid. He would sell
every horse he had. He would part with his footman and groom, and
at any rate strive like a man to get again a firm footing on good
ground. Then, at that moment, he loathed with his whole soul the
position in which he found himself placed, and his own folly which
had placed him there. How could he reconcile it to his conscience
that he was there in London with Sowerby and Harold Smith,
petitioning for Church preferment to a man who should have been
altogether powerless in such a matter, buying horses, and arranging
about past due bills? He did not reconcile it to his conscience. Mr.
Crawley had been right when he told him that he was a castaway.

Lord Lufton, whose anger during the whole interview had been extreme,
and who had become more angry the more he talked, had now walked once
or twice up and down the room; and as he so walked the idea did occur
to him that he had been unjust. He had come there with the intention
of exclaiming against Sowerby, and of inducing Robarts to convey to
that gentleman, that if he, Lord Lufton, were made to undergo any
further annoyance about this bill, the whole affair should be thrown
into the lawyer's hands; but instead of doing this, he had brought
an accusation against Robarts. That Robarts had latterly become
Sowerby's friend rather than his own in all these horrid money
dealings, had galled him; and now he had expressed himself in terms
much stronger than he