u warden here, sir?" And Crosbie, as he asked the question,
remembered that, in his very young days, he had heard of some
newspaper quarrel which had taken place about Hiram's hospital at
Barchester.

"Yes, sir. I was warden here for twelve years. Dear, dear, dear! If
they had put any gentleman here that was not on friendly terms with
me it would have made me very unhappy,--very. But, as it is, I go in
and out just as I like; almost as much as I did before they-- But
they didn't turn me out. There were reasons which made it best that
I should resign."

"And you live at the deanery now, Mr Harding?"

"Yes; I live at the deanery now. But I am not dean, you know. My
son-in-law, Dr Arabin, is the dean. I have another daughter married
in the neighbourhood, and can truly say that my lines have fallen to
me in pleasant places."

Then he took Crosbie in among the old men, into all of whose rooms
he went. It was an almshouse for aged men of the city, and before
Crosbie had left him Mr Harding had explained all the circumstances
of the hospital, and of the way in which he had left it. "I didn't
like going, you know; I thought it would break my heart. But I could
not stay when they said such things as that;--I couldn't stay. And,
what is more, I should have been wrong to stay. I see it all now. But
when I went out under that arch, Mr Crosbie, leaning on my daughter's
arm, I thought that my heart would have broken." And the tears even
now ran down the old man's cheeks as he spoke.

It was a long story, and it need not be repeated here. And there was
no reason why it should have been told to Mr Crosbie, other than
this,--that Mr Harding was a fond garrulous old man, who loved to
indulge his mind in reminiscences of the past. But this was remarked
by Crosbie; that, in telling his story, no word was said by Mr
Harding injurious to any one. And yet he had been injured,--injured
very deeply. "It was all for the best," he said at last; "especially
as the happiness has not been denied to me of making myself at home
at the old place. I would take you into the house, which is very
comfortable,--very, only it is not always convenient early in the
day, when there's a large family." In hearing which, Crosbie was
again made to think of his own future home and limited income.

He had told the old clergyman who he was, and that he was on his way
to Courcy. "Where, as I understand, I shall meet a granddaughter of
yours."

"Yes, yes; she