terms laid down by the lay impropriator? At
one time he thought of calling on the old clergyman of the parish and
asking him; but then he remembered what the marquis had said of the
neighbouring parsons, and felt that he could not well consult one of
them on any matter in which his lordship was concerned.

In the evening he considered the matter long and painfully, sitting
over a cup of some exquisitely detestable concoction called tea by
the Bowesian landlady. "If he had only left me to myself," thought
Arthur, "I should do at least as much as that for them. It is for
them that I want it; as for myself, I should be more comfortable at
Oxford." And then he thought of West Putford, and Adela Gauntlet.
This arrangement of Lord Stapledean's would entirely prevent the
possibility of his marrying; but then, the burden of his mother and
sisters would prevent that equally under any circumstances.

It would be a great thing for his mother to be left in her old house,
among her old friends, in possession of her old income. As regarded
money, they would all be sufficiently well provided for. For himself,
his fellowship and his prescribed stipend would be more than enough.
But there was something in the proposition that was very distasteful
to him. He did not begrudge the money to his mother; but he did
begrudge her the right of having it from any one but himself.

But yet the matter was of such vital moment. Where else was he to
look for a living? From his college in the course of years he might
get one; but he could get none that would be equal in value to this
of Hurst Staple, and to his fellowship combined. If he should refuse
it, all those whom he loved would in truth suffer great privation;
and that privation would not be rendered more endurable by the
knowledge that such an offer had been refused.

Thus turning the matter over painfully in his mind, he resolved at
last to accept the offer of the marquis. The payment after all was
to be made to his own mother. The funds of the living were not to be
alienated--were not, in truth, to be appropriated otherwise than they
would have been had no such conditions as these been insisted on.
And how would he be able to endure his mother's poverty if he should
throw away on her behalf so comfortable a provision? He determined,
therefore, to accept the goods the gods had provided him, clogged
though they were with alloy, like so many other gifts of fortune;
and accordingly he wrote