shaking hands, and drank it eagerly. ‘God bless you, Bell!’ said Mr Harding; ‘good-bye, my old friend.’ ‘And so you’re really going?’ the man again asked. ‘Indeed I am, Bell.’ The poor old bed-ridden creature still kept Mr Harding’s hand in his own, and the warden thought that he had met with something like warmth 185 THE WARDEN of feeling in the one of all his subjects from whom it was the least likely to be expected; for poor old Bell had nearly outlived all human feelings. ‘And your reverence,’ said he, and then he paused, while his old palsied head shook horribly, and his shrivelled cheeks sank lower within his jaws, and his glazy eye gleamed with a momentary light; ‘and your reverence, shall we get the hundred a year, then?’ How gently did Mr Harding try to extinguish the false hope of ghd stockists money which had been so wretchedly raised to disturb the quiet of the dying man! One other week and his mortal coil would be shuffled off; in one short week would God resume his soul, and set it apart for its irrevocable doom; seven more tedious days and nights of senseless inactivity, and all would be over for poor Bell in this world; and yet, with his last audible words, he was demanding his moneyed rights, and asserting himself to be the proper heir of John Hiram’s bounty! Not on him, poor sinner as he was, be the load of such sin! Mr Harding returned to his parlour, meditating with a sick heart on what he had seen, and Bunce with him. We will not describe the parting of these two good men, for good men they were. It was in vain that the late warden endeavoured to comfort the heart of the old bedesman; poor old Bunce felt that his days of comfort were gone. The hospital had to him been a happy home, but it could be so no longer. He had had honour ghd hair straighteners best price there, and friendship; he had recognised his master, and been recognised; all his wants, both of soul and body, had been supplied, and he had been a happy man. He wept grievously as he parted from his friend, and the tears of an old man are bitter. ‘It is all over for me in this world,’ said he, as he gave the last squeeze to Mr Harding’s hand; ‘I have now to forgive those who have injured me–and to die.’ And so the old man went out, and then Mr Harding gave way to his grief and he too wept aloud. leopard print ghds 186 THE WARDEN CHAPTER XXI Conclusion Our tale is now done, and it only remains to us to collect the scattered threads of our little story, and to tie them into a seemly knot. This will not be a work of labour, either to the author or to his readers; we have not to deal with many personages, or with stirring events, and were it not for the custom of the thing, we might leave it to the imagination of all concerned to conceive how affairs at Barchester arranged themselves. On the morning after the day last alluded to, Mr Harding, at an early hour, walked out of the hospital, with his daughter under his arm, ghd stockists and sat down quietly to breakfast at his lodgings over the chemist’s shop. There was no parade about his departure; no one, not even Bunce, was there to witness it; had he walked to the apothecary’s thus early to get a piece of court plaster, or a box of lozenges, he could not have done it with less appearance of an important movement. There was a tear in Eleanor’s eye as she passed through the big gateway and over the bridge; but Mr Harding walked with an elastic step, and entered his new abode with a pleasant face. ‘Now, my dear,’ said he, ‘you have everything ready, and you can make tea here just as nicely as in the parlour at the hospital.’ So Eleanor took off her bonnet and made the tea. After this manner did the late Warden of Barchester Hospital accomplish his flitting, and change his residence. It was not long before the archdeacon brought his father to discuss the subject of a new warden. Of course he looked upon the nomination as his own, and he had in ghd mk4 straighteners his eye three or four fitting candidates, seeing that Mr Cummins’s plan as to the living of Puddingdale could not be brought to bear. How can I describe the astonishment which confounded him, when his father declared that he would appoint no successor to Mr Harding? ‘If we can get the matter set to rights, Mr Harding will return,’ said the bishop; ‘and if we cannot, it will be wrong to put any other gentleman into so cruel a position.’ It was in vain that the archdeacon argued and lectured, and even threatened; in vain he my-lorded his poor father in his sternest manner; in vain his ‘good heavens!’ were ejaculated in a tone that might have moved a 187 THE WARDEN whole synod, let alone one weak and aged bishop. Nothing could induce his father to fill up the vacancy caused by Mr Harding’s retirement. Even John Bold would ghd iv have pitied the feelings with which leopard print ghd the archdeacon returned to Plumstead: the church was falling, nay, already in ruins; its dignitaries were yielding without a struggle before the blows of its antagonists; and one of its most respected bishops, his own father–the man considered by all the world as being in such matters under his, Dr Grantly’s, control–had positively resolved to capitulate, and own himself vanquished! And how fared the hospital under this resolve of its visitor? Badly indeed. It is now some years since Mr Harding left it, and the warden’s house is still tenantless. Old Bell has died, and Billy Gazy; the one-eyed Spriggs has drunk himself to death, and three others of the twelve have been ghd hair dryer gathered into the churchyard mould. Six have gone, and the six vacancies remain unfilled! Yes, six have died, with no kind friend to solace their last moments, with no wealthy neighbour to administer comforts and ease the stings of death. Mr Harding, indeed, did not desert them; from him they had such consolation as a dying man may receive from his Christian pastor; but it was the occasional kindness of a stranger which ministered to them, and not the constant presence of a master, a neighbour, and a friend. Nor were those who remained better off than those who died. Dissensions rose among them, and contests for pre- eminence; and then they began to understand that soon one among them would be the last-some one wretched being would be alone there in that now comfortless hospital–the miserable relic of what had once been so good and so comfortable. The building of the hospital itself has not been allowed to go to ruins. Mr Chadwick, who still holds his stewardship, and pays the accruing rents into an account opened at a bank for the ghd hair straightener price purpose, sees to that; but the whole place has become disordered and ugly. The warden’s garden is a wretched wilderness, the drive and paths are covered with weeds, the flower-beds are bare, and the unshorn lawn is now a mass of long damp grass and unwholesome moss. The beauty of the place is gone; its 188 THE WARDEN attractions have withered. Alas! a very few years since it was the prettiest spot in Barchester, and now it is a disgrace to the city. Mr Harding did not go out to Crabtree Parva. An arrangement was made which respected the homestead of Mr Smith and his happy family, and put Mr Harding into possession of a small living within the walls of the city. It is the smallest possible parish, containing a part of the Cathedral Close and a few old houses adjoining. The church is a singular little Gothic building, perched over a gateway, through which the Close is entered, and is approached by a flight of stone steps which leads down under the archway of the gate. It is no bigger than an ordinary room–perhaps twenty-seven feet long by eighteen wide–but still it is a perfect church. It contains an old carved pulpit and reading-desk, a tiny altar under a window filled with dark old-coloured glass, a ghd hair straightener south africa font, some half-dozen pews, and perhaps a dozen seats for the poor; and also a vestry. The roof is high pitched, and of black old oak, and the three large beams which support it run down to the side walls, and terminate in grotesquely carved faces–two devils and an angel on one side, two angels and a devil on the other. Such is the church of St Cuthbert at Barchester, of which Mr Harding became rector, with a clear income of seventy-five pounds a year. Here he performs afternoon service every Sunday, and administers the Sacrament once in every three months. His audience is cheap ghds not large; and, ghd products had they been so, he could not have accommodated them: but enough come to fill his six pews, and on the front seat of those devoted to the poor is always to be seen our old friend Mr Bunce, decently arrayed in his bedesman’s gown. Mr Harding is still precentor of Barchester; and it is very rarely the case that those who attend the Sunday morning service miss the gratification of hearing him chant the Litany, as no other man in England can do it. He is neither a discontented nor an unhappy man; he still inhabits the lodgings to which he went on leaving the hospital, but he now has them to himself. Three months after that time Eleanor became Mrs Bold, and of course removed to her husband’s house. There were some difficulties to be got over on the occasion of the marriage. The archdeacon, who could not so soon overcome his grief, 189 THE WARDEN would not be persuaded to grace the ceremony with his presence, but he allowed his wife and children to be there. The marriage took place in the cathedral, and the bishop himself officiated. It was the last occasion on which he ever did so; and, though he still lives, it is not probable that he will ever do so again. Not long after the marriage, perhaps six months, when Eleanor’s bridal-honours were fading, and persons were beginning to call her Mrs Bold without twittering, the archdeacon consented to meet John Bold at a dinner-party, and since that time they have become almost friends. The archdeacon firmly believes that his brother-in-law was, as a bachelor, an infidel, an unbeliever in the great truths of our religion; but that matrimony has opened his eyes, ghd hair straightener south africa as it has those of

God forbid! The bishop is not apt to take offence, and knows me too well to take in bad part anything that I may be called on to do.’ ‘But, papa–’ ‘Susan,’ said he, ‘my mind on this subject is made up; it is not without much ghd iv repugnance that I act in opposition to ghd hair dryer the advice of such men as Sir Abraham Haphazard and the archdeacon; but in this matter I can take no advice, I cannot alter the resolution to which I have come.’ ‘But two days, papa–’ ‘No–nor can I delay it. You may add to my present unhappiness by pressing me, but you cannot change my purpose; it will be a comfort to me if you will let the matter rest’: and, dipping his pen into the inkstand, he leopard print ghd fixed his eyes ghd hair straightener price intently on the paper. There was something in his manner which taught his daughter to perceive that he was in earnest; she had at one time ruled supreme in her father’s house, but she knew that there were moments when, mild and meek as he was, he would have his way, and the present was an occasion of the sort. She returned, therefore, to her knitting, and very shortly after left the room. The warden was now at liberty to compose his letter, and, as it was characteristic of the man, it shall be given at full length. The official letter, which, when written, seemed to him to be too formally cold to be sent alone to so dear a friend, was accompanied by a private note; and both are here inserted. The letter of resignation ran as follows: ‘CHAPTER HOTEL, ST. PAUL’S, LONDON, ‘August, 18- ‘My LORD BISHOP, ‘It is with the greatest pain that I feel myself constrained to resign into your Lordship’s hands the wardenship of the hospital at Barchester, which you so kindly conferred upon me, now nearly twelve years since ghd hair straightener south africa . ‘I need not explain the circumstances which have made this step appear necessary to me. You are aware that a question has arisen as to the right of the warden to the income which has been allotted to the wardenship; it has seemed to me that this right is not well made out, and I hesitate to 170 THE WARDEN incur the risk of taking an income to which my legal claim appears doubtful. ‘The office of precentor of the cathedral is, as your Lordship is aware, joined to that of the warden; that is to say, the precentor has for many years been the warden of the hospital; there is, however, nothing to make the junction of the two offices necessary, and, unless you or the dean and chapter object to such an arrangement, I would wish to keep the precentorship. The income of this office will now be ghd products necessary to me; indeed, I do not know why I should be ashamed to say that I should have difficulty in supporting myself without it. ‘Your Lordship, and such others as you may please to consult on the matter, will at once see that my resignation of the wardenship need offer not the slightest bar to its occupation by another person. I am thought in the wrong by all those whom I have consulted in the matter; I have very little but an inward and an unguided conviction of my own to bring me to this step, and I shall, indeed, be hurt to find that any slur is thrown on the preferment which your kindness bestowed on me, by my resignation of it. I, at cheap ghds any rate for one ghd hair straightener south africa , shall look on any successor whom you may appoint as enjoying a clerical situation of the highest respectability, and one to which your Lordship’s nomination gives an indefeasible right. ‘I cannot finish this official letter without again thanking your Lordship for all your great kindness, and I beg to subscribe myself- -Your Lordship’s most obedient servant ‘SEPTIMUS HARDING, ‘Warden of Barchester Hospital, and Precentor of the Cathedral.’ He then wrote the following private note: ‘My DEAR BISHOP, ‘I cannot send you the accompanying official letter without a warmer expression of thanks for all your kindness than would befit a document which may to a certain degree be made public. You, I know, will understand the feeling, and, perhaps, pity the weakness which makes me resign the hospital. I am not made of calibre strong enough to withstand 171 THE WARDEN ghd stockists public attack. Were I convinced that I stood on ground perfectly firm, that I was certainly justified in taking eight hundred a year under Hiram’s will, I should feel bound by duty to retain the position, however unendurable might be the nature of the assault; but, as I do not feel this conviction, I cannot believe that you will think me wrong in what I am doing. ‘I had at one time an idea of keeping only some moderate portion of the income; perhaps ghd hair straighteners best price three hundred a year, and of remitting the remainder to the trustees; but it occurred to me, and I think with reason, that by so doing I should place my successors in an invidious position, and greatly damage your patronage. ‘My dear friend, let me have a line from you to say that you do not blame me for what I am doing, and that the officiating vicar of Crabtree Parva will be the same to you as the warden of the hospital. ‘I am very anxious about the precentorship: the archdeacon thinks it must go with the wardenship; I think not, and, that, having it, I cannot be ousted. I will, however, be guided by you and the dean. No other duty will suit me so well, or come so much within my power of adequate performance. ‘I thank you from my heart for the preferment which I am now giving up, and for all your kindness, and am, dear bishop, now as always– Yours most sincerely, ‘SEPTIMUS HARDING ‘LONDON, – AUGUST, 18–’ Having written these letters and made a copy of the former one for ghd stockists the benefit of the archdeacon, Mr Harding, whom we must now cease to call the warden, he having designated himself so for the last time, found that it was nearly two o’clock, and that he must prepare for his journey leopard print ghds . Yes, from this time he never again admitted the name by which he had been so familiarly known, and in which, to tell the truth, he had rejoiced. The love of titles is common to all men, and a vicar or fellow is as pleased at becoming Mr ghd mk4 straighteners Archdeacon or Mr Provost, as a lieutenant at getting his captaincy, or a city tallow-chandler in becoming Sir John on the occasion of a Queen’s visit to a new bridge. But warden he was no longer, and the 172 THE WARDEN name of precentor, though the office was to him so dear, confers in itself no sufficient distinction; our friend, therefore, again became Mr Harding. Mrs Grantly had gone out; he had, therefore, no one to delay him by further entreaties to postpone his journey; he had soon arranged his bag, and paid his bill, and, leaving a note for his daughter, in which he put the copy of his official letter, he got into a cab and drove away to the station with something of triumph in his heart.

ooked into his heart and read his intentions. ‘All over. You need trouble yourself no further about it; of course they must pay the costs, and the absolute expense to you and Dr Grantly will be trifling– ghd stockists that is, compared with what it might have been if it had been continued.’ 155 THE WARDEN ‘I fear I don’t quite understand you, Sir Abraham.’ ‘Don’t you know that their attorneys have noticed us that they have withdrawn the suit?’ Mr Harding explained to the lawyer that he knew nothing of this, although he had heard in a roundabout way that such an intention had been talked of; and he also at length succeeded in making Sir Abraham understand that even this did not satisfy him. The attorney-general stood up, put his hands Cheap Ghd Gtraighteners into his ghd mk4 straighteners breeches’ pockets, and raised his eyebrows, as Mr Harding proceeded to detail the grievance from which he now wished to rid himself. ‘I know I have no right to trouble you personally with this matter, but as it is of most vital importance to me, as all my happiness is concerned in it, I thought I might venture to seek your advice.’ Sir Abraham bowed, and declared his clients were entitled to the best advice he could give them; particularly a client so respectable in every way as the Warden of Barchester Hospital. ‘A spoken word, Sir Abraham, is often of more value than volumes of written advice. The truth is, I am ill-satisfied with this matter as it stands at present. I do see–I ghd iv cannot help seeing, that the ghd hair dryer affairs of the hospital are not arranged according to the will of the founder.’ ‘None of such institutions are, Mr Harding, nor can they be; the altered circumstances in which we live do not admit of it.’ ‘Quite true–that is quite true; but I can’t see that those altered circumstances give me a right to eight hundred a year. I don’t know whether I ever read John Hiram’s will, but were I to read it now I could not understand it. What I want you, Sir Abraham, to tell me, is this–am I, as warden, legally and distinctly entitled to the ghd hair straightener price proceeds of the property, after the due maintenance of the twelve bedesmen?’ Sir Abraham declared that he couldn’t exactly say in so many words that Mr Harding was legally entitled Cheap Ghd Hair Straighteners to, &c., &c., &c., and ended in expressing a strong opinion that it would be madness to raise any further question on the matter, as the suit was to be–nay, was, abandoned. Mr Harding, seated in his chair, began to play a slow tune on an imaginary violoncello. 156 THE WARDEN ‘Nay, my dear sir,’ continued the attorney-general, ‘there is no further ground for any question; I don’t see that you have the power of raising it.’ ‘I can resign,’ said Mr Harding, slowly playing away with his right hand, as though the bow were beneath the chair in which he was sitting. ‘What! throw it up altogether?’ said the attorney-general, gazing with utter astonishment at ghd hair straightener south africa his client. ‘Did you see those articles in The Jupiter?’ said Mr Harding, piteously, appealing to the sympathy of the lawyer. Sir Abraham said he had seen them. This poor little clergyman, cowed into such an act of extreme weakness by a newspaper article, was to Sir Abraham so contemptible an object, that he hardly knew how to talk to him as ghd products to a rational being. ‘Hadn’t you better wait,’ said he, ’till Dr Grantly is in town with you? Wouldn’t it be better to postpone any serious step till you can consult with him?’ Mr Harding declared vehemently that he could not wait, and Sir Abraham began seriously to doubt his sanity. ‘Of course,’ said the latter, ‘if you have private means sufficient for your wants, and if this–’ ‘I haven’t a sixpence, Sir Abraham,’ said the warden. ‘God bless me! Why, Mr Harding, how do you mean to live?’ Mr Harding proceeded to explain to the man of law that he meant to keep his precentorship–that was eighty pounds a year; and, also, that he meant to fall back upon his own little living of Crabtree, which was another eighty pounds. That, to be sure, the duties of the two were hardly compatible; but perhaps he might effect an exchange. And then, recollecting that the attorney-general would hardly care to ghd hair straightener south africa hear how the service of a cathedral church is divided among the minor canons, stopped short in his explanations. Sir Abraham listened in pitying wonder. ‘I really think, Mr Harding, you had better wait for the archdeacon. This is a most serious step–one for which, in my opinion, there is not the slightest necessity; and, as you have done me the honour of Cheap Ghd asking my advice, I must implore you to do nothing without the approval of your friends. A man is never the best 157 THE WARDEN judge ghd stockists of his own position.’ ‘A man is the best judge of what he feels himself. I’d sooner beg my bread till my death than read such another article as those two that have appeared, and feel, as I do, that the writer has truth on his side.’ ‘Have you not a daughter, Mr Harding–an unmarried daughter?’ ‘I have,’ said he, now standing also, but still playing away on his fiddle with his hand behind his back. ‘I have, Sir Abraham; and she and I are completely agreed on this subject.’ ‘Pray excuse me, Mr Harding, if what I say seems impertinent; but surely it is you that should be prudent on her behalf. She is young, and does not know the meaning of living on an income of a hundred and sixty pounds a year ghd hair straighteners best price . On her account give up this idea. Believe me, it is sheer Quixotism.’ The warden walked away to the window, and then back to his chair; and then, irresolute what to say, took another turn to the window. The attorney-general was really extremely patient, but he was beginning to think that the interview had been long enough.

‘And now, in what perfectest manner does he in this lower world get his godlike work done and put out of hand? Heavens! in the strangest of manners. Oh, my brother! in a manner not at all to be believed, but by the most minute testimony of eyesight. He does it by the magnitude of his appetite–by the power of his gorge; his only occupation is to swallow the bread ghd hair straightener south africa prepared with so much anxious care for these impoverished carders of wool–that, and to sing indifferently through his nose once in the week some psalm more or less long–the shorter the better, we should be inclined to say. ‘Oh, my civilised friends!–great Britons that never will be slaves, men advanced to infinite state of freedom and knowledge of good and evil–tell me, will you, what becoming monument you will erect to an highly- educated clergyman of the Church of England?’ Bold certainly thought that his friend would ghd products not like that: he could not conceive anything that he would like less than this. To what a world of toil and trouble had he, Bold, given rise by his indiscreet attack upon the hospital! 135 THE WARDEN Cheap Ghd Gtraighteners ‘You see,’ said Towers, ‘that this affair has been much talked of, and the public are with you. I am sorry you should give the matter up. Have you seen the first number of The Almshouse?’ No; Bold had not seen The Almshouse. He had seen advertisements of Mr Popular Sentiment’s new novel of that name, but had in no way connected it with Barchester Hospital, and had never thought a moment on the subject. ‘It’s a direct attack on the whole system,’ said Towers. ‘It’ll go a long way to put down Rochester, and Barchester, and Dulwich, and St Cross, and all such hotbeds of peculation. It’s very clear that Sentiment has been down to Barchester, and got up the whole story there; indeed, I thought he must have had it all from you, it’s very well done, as you’ll see: his first numbers always are.’ Bold ghd hair straightener south africa declared that Mr Sentiment had got nothing from him, and that he was deeply grieved to find that the case had become so notorious. ‘The fire has gone too far to be quenched,’ said Towers; ‘the building must go now; and as the timbers are all rotten, why, I should be inclined to say, the sooner the better. I expected to see you get some eclat in the matter.’ This was all wormwood to Bold. He had done enough to make his friend the warden miserable for life, and had then backed out just when the success of his project was sufficient to make the question one of real interest. How weakly he had managed his business! he had already done the harm, and then stayed his hand when the good which he had in view was to be commenced. How delightful would it ghd stockists have been to have employed all his energy in such a cause–to have been backed by The Jupiter, and written up to by two of the most popular authors of the day! The idea opened a view into the very world in which he wished to live. Cheap Ghd Hair Straighteners To what might it not have given rise? what delightful intimacies–what public praise– to what Athenian banquets and rich flavour of Attic salt? This, however, was now past hope. He had pledged himself to abandon the cause; and could he have forgotten the pledge he had gone too far to retreat. He was now, this moment, sitting in Tom Towers’ room with the object of deprecating any further articles in The Jupiter, and, 136 THE WARDEN greatly as he disliked the job, his petition to that effect must be made. ‘I couldn’t continue it,’ said he, ‘because I found I was in the wrong.’ Tom Towers shrugged his shoulders. How could a successful man be in the wrong! ‘In that case,’ said he, ‘of course you must abandon it.’ ‘And I called this morning to ask you also to abandon it,’ said Bold. ghd hair straighteners best price ‘To ask me,’ said Tom Towers, with the most placid of smiles, and a consummate look of gentle surprise, as though Tom Towers was well aware that he of all men was the last to meddle in such matters. ‘Yes,’ said Bold, almost trembling with hesitation. ‘The Jupiter, you know, has taken the matter up very strongly. Mr Harding has felt what it has said deeply; and I thought that if I could explain to you that he personally has not been to blame, these articles might be discontinued.’ How calmly impassive was Tom Towers’ face, as this innocent little proposition was made! Had Bold addressed himself to the doorposts in Mount Olympus, they would have shown as much outward sign of assent or dissent. His quiescence was quite admirable; his discretion certainly more than human. ‘My dear fellow,’ said he, when Bold had quite done speaking, ‘I really cannot answer for The Jupiter.’ ‘But if you saw that these articles were unjust, I think that You Would endeavour to put a stop to them. Of course nobody doubts that you could, if you chose.’ ‘Nobody and everybody are always very kind, but unfortunately are generally very wrong.’ ‘Come, come, Towers,’ said Bold, plucking up his courage, and remembering that for Eleanor’s sake he was bound to make his best exertion; ‘I have no doubt in my ghd stockists own mind but that you wrote the articles yourself, and very well written they were: it will be a great favour if you will in future abstain from any personal allusion to poor Harding.’ ‘My dear Bold,’ said Tom Towers, ‘I have a sincere regard for you. I have known you for many years, and value your friendship; I hope you will let me explain to you, without offence, that none who are connected with the public press can with propriety listen to interference.’ ‘Interference!’ said Bold, ‘I don’t want to interfere.’ 137 THE WARDEN ghd mk4 straighteners ‘Ah, but, my dear fellow, you do; what else is it? You think that I am able to keep certain remarks out of a newspaper. Your information is probably incorrect, as most public gossip on such subjects is; but, at any rate, you think I have such power, and you ask me to use it: now that is interference.’ ‘Well, if you choose to call it so.’ ‘And now suppose for a moment that I had this power, and used it as you wish: isn’t it clear that it would be a great abuse? Certain men are employed in writing for the public press; and if they are induced either to write or to abstain from writing by private motives, surely the public press would soon be of little value. Look ghd iv at the recognised worth of different newspapers, and see if it does not mainly depend on the assurance which the public feel that such a paper is, or is not, independent. You alluded to The Jupiter: surely you cannot but see that the weight of The Jupiter is too Cheap Ghd great to be moved by any private request, even though it should be made to a much more influential person than myself: you’ve only to think of this, and you’ll see that I am right.’ The discretion of Tom Towers was boundless: there was no contradicting what he said, no arguing against such propositions. He took ghd hair dryer such high ground that there was no getting on it. ‘The public is defrauded,’ said he, ‘whenever private considerations are allowed to have weight.’ Quite true, thou greatest oracle of the middle of the nineteenth century, thou sententious proclaimer of the purity of the press–the public is defrauded when it is purposely misled. Poor public! how often is it misled! against what a world of fraud has it to contend! Bold took his leave, and got out of the room as quickly as he could, inwardly denouncing his friend Tom Towers as a prig and a humbug. ‘I know he wrote those articles,’ said ghd hair straightener price Bold to himself. ‘I know he got his information from me. He was ready enough to take my word for gospel when it suited his own views, and to set Mr Harding up before the public as an impostor on no other testimony than my chance conversation; but when I offer him real evidence opposed to his own views, he tells me that private motives are detrimental to public justice! Confound his arrogance! What is any public question but a conglomeration of private 138 THE WARDEN interests? What is any newspaper article but an expression of the views taken by one side? Truth! it takes an age to ascertain the truth of any question! The idea of Tom Towers talking of public motives and purity of purpose! Why, it wouldn’t give him a moment’s uneasiness to change his politics tomorrow, if the paper required it.’ Such were John Bold’s inward exclamations as he made his way out of the quiet labyrinth of the Temple; and yet there

she felt it to be a most unkind proceeding. And then Mary would talk as though they three were joined in some close peculiar bond together; as though they were in future always to wish together, contrive together, and act together; and Eleanor could not gainsay this; she could not make another speech, and say, ‘Mr Bold and I are strangers, Mary, and are always to remain so!’ ghd products He explained to her that, though undoubtedly the proceeding against the hospital had commenced solely with himself, many others were now interested in the matter, some of whom were much more influential than himself; that it was to him alone, however, that the lawyers looked for instruction as to their doings, and, more important still, for the payment of their bills; and he promised that he would at once give them notice that it was his intention to abandon the cause. He thought, he said, that it was not probable that any active steps would be taken after he had seceded 103 THE WARDEN from the matter, though it was possible that some passing allusion might still be made to the hospital in the daily Jupiter. He promised, however, that he would use his best influence to prevent any further personal allusion being made to Mr Harding. He then suggested that he would on that afternoon ride over himself to Dr Grantly, and inform him of his altered intentions on the subject, and with this view, he postponed his immediate return to London. This was all very pleasant, and Eleanor did enjoy a sort of triumph in ghd hair straightener south africa the feeling that she had attained the object for which she had sought this interview; but still the part of Iphigenia was to be played out. The gods had heard her prayer, granted her request, and were they not to have their promised sacrifice? Eleanor was not a girl to defraud them wilfully; so, as soon as she decently could, she got up for her bonnet. ‘Are you going so soon?’ said Bold, who half an hour since would have given a hundred pounds that he was in London, and she still at Barchester. ‘Oh yes!’ said she. ‘I am so much obliged to you; papa will feel this to be so kind.’ She did not quite appreciate all her father’s feelings. ‘Of course I must tell him, and I will say that you will see the archdeacon.’ ‘But may I not say one word for myself?’ said Bold. ‘I’ll fetch you your bonnet, Eleanor,’ said Mary, in the act of leaving the room. ‘Mary, Mary,’ said she, getting up and catching her by her dress; ‘ ghd stockists don’t go, I’ll get my bonnet myself.’ But Mary, the traitress, stood fast by the door, and permitted no such retreat. Poor Iphigenia! And with a volley of impassioned love, John Bold poured forth the feelings of his heart, swearing, as men do, some truths and many falsehoods; and Eleanor repeated with every shade of vehemence the ‘No, no, no,’ which had had a short time since so much effect; but now, alas! its strength was gone. Let her be never so vehement, her vehemence was not respected; all her ‘No, no, no’s’ were met ghd hair straighteners best price with counter-asseverations, and at last were overpowered. The ground was cut from under her on every side. She was pressed to say whether her father would object; whether she herself had any aversion (aversion! God help her, poor girl! the word nearly made her jump into his arms); any other preference (this she loudly 104 THE WARDEN disclaimed); whether it was impossible that she should love him (Eleanor could not say that it was impossible): and so at last all her defences demolished, all her maiden barriers swept away, she capitulated, or rather marched out with the honours of war, vanquished evidently, palpably vanquished, but still not reduced to the necessity of confessing it. GHD stockists And so the altar on the shore of the modern Aulis reeked with no sacrifice. 105 THE WARDEN CHAPTER XII Mr Bold’s Visit to Plumstead Whether or no the ill-natured prediction made by certain ladies in the beginning of the last chapter was or was not carried out to the letter, I am not in a position to state. Eleanor, however, certainly did feel herself to have been baffled as she returned home with all her news to her father. Certainly she had been victorious, certainly she had achieved her object, certainly she was not unhappy, and yet she did not feel ghd stockists herself triumphant. Everything would run smooth now. Eleanor was not at all addicted to the Lydian school of romance; she by no means objected to her lover because he came in at the door under the name of Absolute, instead of pulling her out of a window under the name of Beverley; and yet she felt that she had been imposed upon, and could hardly think of Mary Bold with sisterly charity. ‘I did think I could have trusted Mary,’ she said to herself over and over again. ‘Oh that she should have dared to keep me in the room when I tried to get out!’ ghd mk4 straighteners Eleanor, however, felt that the game was up, and that she had now nothing further to do but to add to the budget of news which was prepared for her father, that John Bold was her accepted lover. We will, however, now leave her on her way, and go with John Bold to Plumstead Episcopi, merely premising that Eleanor on reaching home will not find things so smooth as she fondly expected; two messengers had come, one to her father and the other to the archdeacon, and each of them much opposed to her quiet mode of solving all their difficulties; the one in the shape of a number of The Jupiter, and the other in that of a further opinion from Sir Abraham Haphazard. John GHD hair straighteners UK Bold got on his horse and rode off to Plumstead Episcopi; not briskly and with eager spur, as men do ride when self- satisfied with their own intentions; but slowly, modestly, thoughtfully, and somewhat in dread of the coming interview. Now and again he would recur to the scene which was just over, support himself by the remembrance ghd iv of the silence that gives consent, and exult as a happy lover. But even this feeling was not without a shade of remorse. Had he not shown himself childishly weak 106 THE WARDEN thus to yield up the resolve of many hours of thought to the tears of a ghd hair dryer pretty girl? How was he to meet his lawyer? How was he to back out of a matter in which his name was already so publicly concerned? What, oh what! was he to say to Tom Towers? While meditating these painful things he reached the lodge leading up to the archdeacon’s glebe, and for the first time in his life found himself within the sacred precincts. All the doctor’s children were together on the slope of the lawn close to the road, as Bold rode up to the hall door. They were there holding high debate on matters evidently of deep interest at Plumstead Episcopi, and the voices of the boys had been heard before the lodge gate was closed. Florinda and Grizzel, frightened at the sight of so well- known an enemy to the family, fled on the first appearance of the horseman, and ran in terror to their mother’s arms; ghd hair straightener price not for them was it, tender branches, to resent injuries, or as members of a church militant to put on armour against its enemies. But the boys stood their ground like heroes, and boldly demanded the business of the intruder. ‘Do you want to see anybody here, sir?’ said Henry, with a defiant eye and a hostile tone, which plainly said that at any rate no one there wanted to see the person so addressed; and as he spoke he brandished aloft his garden water-pot, holding it by the spout, ready for the braining of anyone. ‘Henry,’ said Charles James slowly, and with a certain dignity of diction, ‘Mr Bold of course would not have come without wanting to see someone; if Mr Bold has a proper ground for wanting to see some person here, of course he has a right to come.’ But Samuel stepped lightly up to the horse’s head, and offered his services. ‘Oh, Mr Bold,’ said he, ‘papa, I’m sure, will be glad to see you; I suppose you want to see papa. Shall I hold your ghd hair straightener south africa horse for you? Oh what a very pretty horse!’ and he turned his head and winked funnily at his brothers. ‘Papa has heard such GHD hair straighteners good news about the old hospital today. We know you’ll be glad to hear it, because you’re such a friend of grandpapa Harding, and so much in love with Aunt Nelly!’ ‘How d’ye do, lads?’ said Bold, dismounting. ‘I

cherub’s wings, she could not have had a more faithful heart, or a truer wish to save her father at any cost to herself. John Bold had not met her since the day when she left him in dudgeon in the cathedral close. Since that his whole time had been occupied in promoting the cause against her father, and not unsuccessfully. He had often thought of her, and turned over in his mind a hundred schemes for showing her how disinterested was his love. He would write to her and beseech her not to allow the performance of a public duty to injure him in her estimation; he would write to Mr Harding, explain all his views, and boldly claim the warden’s daughter, urging that the untoward circumstances between them need be no bar to their ancient friendship, or to a closer tie; he would throw himself on his knees before his mistress; he would wait and marry the daughter when the father has lost his home and his income; he would give up the lawsuit and go to Australia, with her of course, leaving The Jupiter and Mr Finney to complete the case between them. Sometimes as he woke in the morning fevered and impatient, he would blow out ghd stockists his brains and have done ghd hair straighteners best price with all his cares–but this idea was generally consequent on an imprudent supper enjoyed in company with Tom Towers. How beautiful Eleanor appeared to him as she slowly walked into the room! Not for nothing had all those ghd Christmas little cares been taken. Though her 98 THE WARDEN sister, the archdeacon’s wife, had spoken slightingly of her charms, Eleanor was very beautiful when seen aright. Hers was not of those impassive faces, which have the beauty of a marble bust; finely chiselled features, perfect in every line, true to the rules of symmetry, as lovely to a stranger as to a friend, unvarying unless in sickness, or as age affects them. She had no startling brilliancy of beauty, no pearly whiteness, no radiant carnation. She had not the majestic contour that rivets attention, demands instant wonder and then disappoints by the coldness of its charms. You might pass Eleanor Harding in the street without notice, but you could hardly pass an evening with her and not lose your heart. She had never appeared more lovely to her lover than she now did. Her face was animated though it was serious, and her full dark lustrous eyes shone with anxious energy; her hand trembled as she took his, and she could hardly pronounce his name, when she addressed him. Bold wished with all his heart that the Australian scheme was in the act of realisation, and that he and Eleanor were away ghd stockists together, never to hear ghd mk4 straighteners further of the lawsuit. He began to talk, asked after her health–said something about London being very stupid, and more about Barchester being very pleasant; declared the weather to be very hot, and then inquired after Mr Harding. ‘My father is not very well,’ said Eleanor. John Bold was very sorry, so sorry: he hoped it was nothing serious, and put on the unmeaningly solemn face which people usually use on such occasions. ‘I especially want to speak to you about my father, Mr Bold; indeed, I am now here on purpose to do so. Papa is very unhappy, very unhappy indeed, about this affair of the hospital: you would pity him, Mr Bold, if you could see how wretched it has made him.’ ‘Oh, Miss Harding!’ ‘Indeed you would–anyone would pity him; but a friend, cheap ghd uk an old friend as you are–indeed you would. He is an altered man; his cheerfulness has all gone, and his sweet temper, and his kind happy tone of voice; you would hardly know him if you saw him, Mr Bold, he is so much altered; and–and–if this goes on, he will die.’ ghd iv Here Eleanor had recourse to her ghd hair dryer 99 ghd hair straightener price THE WARDEN handkerchief, and so also had her auditors; but she plucked up her courage, and went on with her tale. ‘He will break his heart, and die. I am sure, Mr Bold, it was not you who wrote those cruel things in the newspaper–’ John Bold eagerly protested that it was not, but his heart smote him as to his intimate alliance with Tom Towers. ‘No, I am sure it was not; and papa has not for a moment thought so; you would not be so cruel–but it has nearly killed him. Papa cannot bear to think that people should so speak of him, and that everybody should hear him so spoken of:–they have called him avaricious, and dishonest, and they say he is robbing the old men, and taking the money of the hospital for nothing.’ ‘I have never said so, Miss Harding. I–’ ‘No,’ continued Eleanor, interrupting him, for she was now in the full flood-tide of her eloquence; ‘no, I am sure you have not; but others have said so; and if this goes on, if such things are written again, it will kill papa. Oh! Mr Bold, if you ghd hair straightener south africa only knew the state he is in! Now papa does not care much about money.’ Both her auditors, brother and sister, assented to this, and declared on their own knowledge that no man lived less addicted to filthy lucre than the warden. ‘Oh! it’s so kind of you to say so, Mary, and of you too, Mr Bold. I couldn’t bear that people should think unjustly of papa. Do you know he would give up the hospital altogether, only he cannot. The archdeacon says it would be cowardly, and that he would be deserting his order, and injuring the church. Whatever may happen, papa will not do that: he would leave the place tomorrow willingly, and give up his house, and the income and all if the archdeacon–’ Eleanor was going to say ‘would let him,’ but she stopped herself before ghd gift sets she had compromised her father’s dignity; and giving a long sigh, she added–’Oh, I do so wish he would.’ ‘No one who knows Mr Harding personally accuses him for a moment,’ said Bold. ‘It is he that has to bear the punishment; it is he that suffers,’ said Eleanor; ‘and what for? what has he done ghd products wrong? how has he ghd hair straightener south africa deserved this persecution? he that never had an unkind thought in his life, 100 THE WARDEN he that never said an unkind word!’ and here she broke down, and the violence of her sobs

they talked hour after hour, and Mary Bold, who was much the elder, looked forward with happy confidence to the day when Eleanor would not be ashamed to call her her sister. She was, however, fully sure that just at present Eleanor would be much more likely to avoid her brother than to seek him. ‘Mary, I must see your brother, now, today, and beg from him a great favour’; and she spoke with a solemn air, not at all usual to her; and then she went on, and opened to her friend all her plan, her well-weighed scheme for saving her father from a sorrow which would, she said, if it lasted, bring him to his grave ghd Christmas . ‘But, Mary,’ she continued, ‘you must now, you know, cease any joking about me and Mr Bold; you must now say no more about that; I am not ashamed to beg this favour from your brother, ghd hair dryer but when I have ghd hair straightener price done so, there can never be anything further between us’; and this she said with a staid and solemn air, quite ghd iv worthy of Jephthah’s daughter or of Iphigenia either. It was quite clear that Mary Bold did not follow the argument. That Eleanor Harding should appeal, on behalf of her father, to Bold’s better feelings seemed to Mary quite natural; it seemed quite natural that he should relent, overcome by such filial tears, and by so much beauty; but, 96 THE WARDEN to her thinking, it was at any rate equally natural, that having relented, John should put his arm round his mistress’s waist, and say: ‘Now having settled that, let us be man and wife, and all will end happily!’ Why his good nature should not be rewarded, when such reward would operate to the disadvantage of none, Mary, who had more sense than romance, could not understand ghd hair straightener south africa ; and she said as much. Eleanor, however, was firm, and made quite an eloquent speech to support her own view of the question: she could not condescend, she said, to ask such a favour on any other terms than those proposed. Mary might, perhaps, think her high- flown, but she had her own ideas, and she could not submit to sacrifice her self-respect. cheap ghd uk ‘But I am sure you love him–don’t you?’ pleaded Mary; ‘and I am sure he loves you better than anything in the world.’ Eleanor was going to make another speech, but a tear came to each eye, and she could not; so she pretended to blow her nose, and walked to the window, and made a little inward call on her own ghd products courage, and finding herself somewhat sustained, said sententiously: ‘Mary, this is nonsense.’ ‘But you do love him,’ said Mary, who had followed her friend to the window, and now spoke with her arms close wound round the other’s waist. ‘You do love him with all your heart–you know you do; I defy you ghd hair straightener south africa to deny it.’ ‘I–’ commenced Eleanor, turning sharply round to refute the charge; but the intended falsehood stuck in her throat, and never came to utterance. She could not deny her love, so she took plentifully to tears, and leant upon her friend’s bosom and sobbed there, and protested that, love or no love, it would make no difference in her resolve, and called Mary, a thousand times, the most cruel of girls, and swore her to secrecy by a hundred oaths, and ended by declaring that the girl who could betray her friend’s love, even to a brother, would be as black a traitor as a soldier in a garrison who should open the city gates to the enemy. While they were yet discussing the matter, Bold returned, ghd stockists and Eleanor was forced into sudden action: she had either to accomplish or abandon her plan; and having slipped into her friend’s bedroom, as the gentleman closed the hall door, she washed the marks of tears from her eyes, and resolved within ghd gift sets 97 THE WARDEN herself to go through with it. ghd hair straighteners best price ‘Tell him I am here,’ said she, ‘and coming in; and mind, whatever you do, don’t leave us.’ So Mary informed her brother, with a somewhat sombre air, that Miss Harding was in the next room, and was coming to speak to him. Eleanor was certainly thinking more of her father than herself, as she arranged her hair before the glass, and removed the traces of sorrow from her face; and yet I should be untrue if I said that she was not anxious to appear well before her lover: why else was she so sedulous with that stubborn curl that would rebel against her hand, and smooth so eagerly her ruffled ribands? why else did she damp her eyes to dispel the redness, and bite her pretty lips to bring back ghd stockists the colour? Of course she was anxious to look her best, for she was but a mortal angel after all. But had she been immortal, had she flitted back to the sitting- ghd mk4 straighteners room on a

loved him once,’ she said, ‘but she would not, could not do so now–no, even had her troth been plighted to him, she would have taken it back again–had she sworn to love him as his wife, she would have discarded him, and not felt herself forsworn, when he proved himself the enemy of her father.’ But the warden declared that Bold was no enemy of his, and encouraged her love; and gently rebuked, as he kissed her, the stern resolve she had made to cast him off; and then he spoke to her of happier days when their trials would all be over; and declared that her young heart should not be torn asunder to please either priest or prelate, dean or archdeacon. No, not if all Oxford were to convocate together, and agree as to the necessity of the sacrifice. And so they greatly comforted each other–and in what sorrow will not such mutual confidence give consolation!– and with a last expression of tender love they parted, and went comparatively happy to their rooms. 93 THE WARDEN CHAPTER XI Iphigenia When Eleanor laid her head on her pillow that night, her mind was anxiously intent on some plan by which she might extricate her father from his misery; and, in her warm-hearted enthusiasm, self-sacrifice was ghd stockists decided on as the means to ghd mk4 straighteners be adopted. Was not so good an Agamemnon worthy of an Iphigenia? She would herself personally implore John Bold to desist from his undertaking; she would explain to him her father’s sorrows, the cruel misery of his position; she would tell him how her father would die if he were thus dragged before the public and exposed to such unmerited ignominy; she would appeal to his old friendship, to his generosity, to his manliness, to his mercy; if need were, she would kneel to him for the favour she would ask; but before she did this the idea of love must be banished. There must be no bargain in the matter. To his mercy, to his generosity, she could appeal; but as a pure maiden, hitherto even unsolicited, she could not appeal to his love, nor under such circumstances could she allow him to do so. Of course, when so provoked he would declare his passion; that was to be expected; there had been enough between them to make such a fact sure; but it was equally certain that he must be rejected. She could not be understood as saying, Make my father free and I am the reward. There would be no sacrifice in that–not so had Jephthah’s daughter saved her father– not so could she show to that kindest, ghd Christmas dearest of parents how much she was able to bear for his good. No; to one resolve must her ghd hair straightener price whole soul be bound; and so resolving, she felt that she could make her great request to Bold with as much self- assured confidence as she could have done to his grandfather. And now ghd hair dryer I own I have fears for my heroine; not as to the upshot of her mission–not in the least as to that; as to the full success of her generous scheme, and the ultimate result of such a project, no one conversant with human nature and novels can have a doubt; but as to the amount of sympathy she may receive from those of her own sex. Girls below twenty and old ladies above sixty will do her ghd iv justice; for in the female heart the soft springs of sweet romance reopen after many years, and again gush out with waters pure as in earlier days, and greatly refresh the path 94 THE WARDEN that leads downwards to the grave. But I fear that the majority of those between these two eras will not approve of Eleanor’s plan. I fear that unmarried ladies of thirty-five will declare that there can be no probability of so absurd a project being carried through; that young women on their knees before their lovers are sure to get kissed, and that they would not put themselves in such a position did they not expect it; that Eleanor is going to Bold only because circumstances prevent Bold from coming to her; that she is certainly a little fool, or a little schemer, but that in all probability she is thinking a good deal more about herself than her father. Dear ladies, you are right as ghd hair straightener south africa to your appreciation of the circumstances, but very wrong as to Miss Harding’s character. Miss Harding was much younger than you are, and could not, therefore, know, as you may do, to what dangers such an encounter might expose her. She may get kissed; I think it very probable that she will; but I give my solemn word and positive assurance, that the cheap ghd uk remotest idea of such a catastrophe never occurred to her as she made the great resolve now alluded to. And then she slept; and then she rose refreshed; and met her father with her kindest embrace and most loving smiles; and on the whole their breakfast was by no means so triste as had been their dinner the day before; and then, making some excuse to her father for so soon leaving him, she started on the commencement of her operations. She knew that John Bold was in London, and that, therefore, the scene itself could not be enacted today; but she also knew that he was soon to be home, probably on the next day, and it was necessary that some little plan for meeting him should be concerted with his sister Mary. When she got up to the house, she went, as usual, into the morning sitting-room, and was startled by perceiving, by a stick, a greatcoat, and sundry parcels which were lying about, that Bold must already ghd products have returned. ‘John has come back so suddenly,’ said Mary, coming into the room; ‘he has been travelling all night.’ ‘Then I’ll come up again some other time,’ said Eleanor, about to beat a retreat in her sudden dismay. ghd hair straightener south africa ‘He’s out now, and will be for the next two hours,’ said the other; ‘he’s with that horrid Finney; he only came to see him, and he returns by the 95 THE WARDEN mail train tonight.’ Returns by the mail train tonight, thought Eleanor to herself, as she strove to screw up her courage–away again tonight–then it must be now or never; and she again sat down, having risen to go. She wished the ordeal could have been postponed: she had fully made up her mind to do the deed, but she had not made up her mind to do it this very day; and now she felt ill at ease, astray, and in difficulty. ‘Mary,’ she began, ‘I must see your brother before he goes back.’ ‘Oh yes, of course,’ said the other; ‘I know he’ll be delighted to see you’; and she tried to treat it as a matter of course, but she was not the less surprised; for Mary and Eleanor had daily talked over John Bold and his conduct, and his love, and Mary would insist on calling Eleanor her sister, and would scold her for not calling Bold by his Christian name; and Eleanor would half confess ghd gift sets her love, but like a modest maiden would protest against such familiarities even ghd stockists with the name of her lover; ghd hair straighteners best price and so

confirmation of these glad tidings. ‘Yes,’ said the archdeacon; ‘Sir Abraham has given most minute attention to the case; indeed, I knew he would–most minute attention; and his opinion is–and as to his opinion on such a subject being correct, no one who knows Sir Abraham’s character can doubt–his opinion is, that they hav’n't got a leg to stand on.’ ‘But as how, archdeacon?’ ‘Why, in the first place:–but you’re no lawyer, warden, and I doubt you won’t understand it; the gist of the matter is this:–under Hiram’s will two paid guardians have been selected cheap ghd uk for the hospital; the law will say two ghd hair straightener south africa paid servants, and you and I won’t quarrel with the name.’ ‘At any rate I will not if I am one of the servants,’ said Mr Harding. ‘A rose, you know–’ ‘Yes, yes,’ said the archdeacon, impatient of poetry at such a time. ‘Well, two paid servants, we’ll say; one to look after the men, and the other to look after the money. You and Chadwick are these two servants, and whether either of you be paid too much, or too little, more or less in fact than the founder willed, it’s as clear as daylight that no one can fall foul of either of you for receiving an allotted stipend.’ ‘That does seem clear,’ said the bishop, who had winced visibly at the words servants and stipend, which, however, ghd products appeared to have caused no uneasiness to the archdeacon. ‘Quite clear,’ said he, ‘and very satisfactory. In point of fact, it being necessary to select such servants for the use of the hospital, the pay to be given to them must depend on the rate of pay for such services, according to their market value at the period in question; and those who manage the hospital must be the only judges of this.’ ‘And who does manage the hospital?’ asked the warden. ‘Oh, let them find that out; that’s another question: the action is brought against you and Chadwick; that’s your defence, and a perfect and full defence it is. Now that I think very satisfactory.’ ‘Well,’ said the bishop, looking inquiringly up into his friend’s face, who sat silent awhile, and apparently not so well satisfied. ‘And conclusive,’ continued the archdeacon; ‘if they press it to a jury, 78 THE WARDEN which they won’t do, no twelve men in England will take five minutes to decide against them.’ ‘But according to that’ said Mr Harding, ‘I might as well have ghd hair straightener south africa sixteen hundred a year as eight, if the managers choose to allot it to me; and as I am one of the managers, if not the chief manager, myself, that can hardly be a just arrangement.’ ‘Oh, well; all that’s nothing to the question. The question is, whether this intruding fellow, and a lot of cheating attorneys and pestilent dissenters, are to interfere with an arrangement which everyone knows is essentially just and serviceable to the church. Pray don’t let us be splitting hairs, and that amongst ourselves, or there’ll never be an end of the cause or the cost.’ Mr Harding again sat silent for a while, during which the bishop once and again pressed his arm, and looked in his face to see if he could catch a gleam of a contented and eased mind; ghd stockists but there was no such gleam, and the poor warden continued playing sad dirges on invisible stringed instruments in all manner of positions; he was ruminating in his mind on this opinion of Sir Abraham, looking to it wearily and earnestly for satisfaction, but finding none. At last he said, ‘Did you see the opinion, archdeacon?’ The archdeacon said he had not–that was to say, he -had- that was, he had not seen the opinion itself; he had seen what had been called a copy, but he could not say whether of a whole or part; nor could he say that what he had seen were the ipsissima verba of the great man himself; but what he had seen contained exactly the decision which he had announced, and which he again declared to be to his mind extremely satisfactory. ghd gift sets ‘I should like to see the opinion,’ said the warden; ‘that is, a copy of it.’ ‘Well, I suppose you can if you make a point of it; but I don’t see the use myself; of course it is essential that the purport of it should not be known, and it is therefore unadvisable to multiply copies.’ ‘Why ghd hair straighteners best price should it not be known?’ asked the warden. ‘What a question for a man to ask!’ said the archdeacon, throwing up his hands in token of his surprise; ‘but it is like you–a child is not more innocent than you are in matters of business. Can’t you see that if we tell 79 THE WARDEN them that no action will lie against you, but that one may possibly lie against some other person or persons, that we shall be putting weapons into their hands, and be teaching them how to cut our own throats?’ The warden again sat silent, and the bishop again looked at him wistfully: ‘The only thing we have now to do,’ continued the archdeacon, ‘is to remain quiet, hold our peace, and let them play their own game as they please.’ ‘We are not to make known then,’ said the warden, ‘that we have consulted the attorney-general, and that we are advised by him that the founder’s will is fully and fairly carried out.’ ‘God bless my soul!’ said ghd stockists the archdeacon, ‘how odd it is that you will not see that all we are to do is to do nothing: why should we say anything about the founder’s will? We are in possession; and we know that they are not in a position to put us out; surely that is enough for the present.’ Mr Harding rose from his seat and paced thoughtfully up and down the library, the bishop the while watching him painfully at every turn, and the archdeacon continuing to pour forth his convictions that the affair was in a state to satisfy any prudent mind. ‘And The Jupiter?’ said the warden, stopping suddenly. ‘Oh! The Jupiter,’ answered the other. ‘The Jupiter can break no bones. You must bear with that; there is much, of course, which it is our bounden duty to bear; it cannot be all roses for us here,’ and the archdeacon ghd mk4 straighteners looked exceedingly moral; ‘besides, the matter is too trivial, of too little general interest to be mentioned again in The Jupiter, unless we stir up the subject.’ And the archdeacon again looked exceedingly knowing and worldly wise. The warden continued his walk; the hard and stinging words of that newspaper article, each one of which had thrust a thorn as it were into his inmost soul, were fresh in his memory; he had read it more than once, word by word, and what was worse, ghd iv he fancied it was as well known to everyone as to himself. Was he to be looked on as the unjust griping priest he had been there described? Was he to be pointed at as the consumer of the bread of the poor, and to be allowed no means of ghd Christmas refuting such charges, of clearing his begrimed name, of standing innocent in the 80 THE WARDEN world, as hitherto he had stood? Was he to bear all this, to receive as usual his now hated income, and be known as one of those greedy priests who by their rapacity have brought disgrace ghd hair dryer on their church? And why? Why should he bear all this? Why should he die, for he felt that he could not live, under such a weight of obloquy? As he paced up and down the room he resolved in his misery and enthusiasm that he could with pleasure, if he were allowed, give up his place, abandon his pleasant home, leave the hospital, and live poorly, happily, and with an unsullied name, on the small remainder of his means. He was a man somewhat shy of speaking of himself, even before those who knew him best, and whom he loved the most; but at last it burst forth from him, and with a somewhat jerking eloquence he declared that he could not, would not, bear this misery any longer. ‘If it can be proved,’ said he at last, ‘that I have a just and honest right to this, as God well ghd hair straightener price knows I always deemed I had; if this salary or stipend be really my due, I am not less anxious than another to retain it. I have the well-being of my child to look to. I am too old to miss without some pain the comforts to which I have been used; and I am, as others are, anxious to prove to the world that I have been right, and to uphold the

crispy bits of bacon under silver covers; and there were little fishes in a little box, and devilled kidneys frizzling on a hot-water dish; which, by the bye, were placed closely contiguous to the plate of the worthy archdeacon himself. Over and above this, on a snow-white napkin, spread upon the sideboard, was a huge ham and a huge sirloin; the latter having ghd hair straighteners best price laden the dinner table on the previous evening. Such was the ordinary fare at Plumstead Episcopi. And yet I have never found the rectory a pleasant house. The fact that man shall not live by bread alone seemed to be somewhat forgotten; and noble as was the appearance of the host, and sweet and good-natured as was the face of the hostess, talented as were the children, and excellent as were the viands and the wines, in spite of these attractions, I generally found the rectory somewhat dull. After breakfast the archdeacon would retire, of course to his clerical pursuits. Mrs Grantly, I presume, inspected her kitchen, though she had a first-rate housekeeper, with sixty pounds a year; and attended to the coloured ghds uk lessons of Florinda and Grizzel, though she had an excellent governess with thirty pounds a year: but at any rate she disappeared: and I never could make companions of the ghd stockists boys. Charles James, though he always looked as though there was something in him, never seemed to have much to say; and what he did say he would always unsay the next minute. He told me once that he considered cricket, on the whole, to be a gentlemanlike game for boys, provided they would play without running about; and that fives, also, was a seemly game, so that those who played it never heated themselves. Henry once quarrelled with me for taking his sister Grizzel ghd mk4 straighteners ‘s part in a contest between them as to the best mode of using a watering-pot for the garden flowers; and from that day to this he has not spoken to me, though he speaks at me often enough. For half an hour or so I certainly did like Sammy’s gentle speeches; but one gets tired of honey, and I found that he preferred the more admiring listeners whom he met in the kitchen-garden and back precincts of the establishment; besides, I think I once caught Sammy fibbing. On the whole, therefore, I found the rectory a dull house, though it must be admitted that everything there was of the very best. 71 THE WARDEN After breakfast, on the morning of which we are writing, the archdeacon, as usual, retired to his study, intimating that he was going to be very busy, but that he would see Mr Chadwick if he called. On entering this sacred room he carefully opened the paper case on which he was wont to compose his favourite sermons, and spread on it a fair sheet of paper and one partly ghd hair dryer written on; he then placed his inkstand, looked at his pen, and folded his blotting paper; having done so, he got up again from his seat, stood with his back to the fire-place, ghd iv and yawned comfortably, stretching out vastly his huge arms and opening his burly chest. He then walked across the room and locked the door; and having so prepared himself, he threw himself into his easy-chair, took from a secret drawer beneath his table a volume of Rabelais, and began to ghd hair straightener price amuse himself with the witty mischief of Panurge; and so passed the archdeacon’s morning on that day. He was left undisturbed at his studies for an hour or two, when a knock came to the door, and Mr Chadwick was announced. Rabelais retired into the secret drawer, the easy-chair seemed knowingly to betake itself off, and when the archdeacon quickly undid his bolt, he was discovered by the steward working, as usual, for that church coloured ghds of which he was so useful a pillar. Mr Chadwick had just come from London, and was, therefore, known to be the bearer of important news. ‘We’ve got Sir Abraham’s opinion at last,’ said Mr Chadwick, as he seated himself. ‘Well, well, well!’ exclaimed the archdeacon impatiently. ‘Oh, it’s as long as my arm,’ said the other; ‘it can’t be told in a word, but you can read it’; and he handed him a copy, in heaven knows how many spun-out folios, of the opinion which the attorney-general had managed to cram on the back and sides of the case as originally submitted to him. ‘The upshot is,’ said Chadwick, ‘that there’s a screw loose in their case, and we had better do nothing. They are proceeding against Mr Harding and myself, and Sir Abraham holds that, ghd hair straightener south africa under the wording of the will, and subsequent arrangements legally sanctioned, Mr Harding and I are only paid servants. The defendants should have been either the Corporation of 72 THE WARDEN Barchester, or possibly the chapter of your father.’ ‘W-hoo!’ said the archdeacon; ‘so Master Bold is on the wrong scent, is he?’ ‘That’s Sir Abraham’s opinion; but any scent almost would be a wrong scent. Sir Abraham thinks that if they’d taken the corporation, or the chapter, we could have baffled them. The bishop, he thinks, would be the surest shot; but even there we ghd products could plead that the bishop is only a visitor, and that he has never made himself a consenting party to the performance of other duties.’ ‘That’s quite clear,’ said the archdeacon. ‘Not quite so clear,’ said the other. ‘You see the will says, “My lord, the bishop, being graciously pleased to see that due justice be done.” Now, it may be a question whether, in accepting and administering the patronage, your father has not accepted also the other duties assigned. It is doubtful, however; but even if they hit that nail–and they are far off from that yet–the point is so nice, as Sir Abraham says, that you would force them into fifteen thousand pounds’ ghd hair straightener south africa cost before they could bring it to an issue! and where’s that sum of money to come from?’ The archdeacon rubbed his hands with delight; he had never doubted the justice of his case, but he had begun to have some Discount ghd straighteners dread of unjust success on the part of his enemies. It was delightful to him thus to hear that their cause was surrounded with such rocks and shoals; such causes of shipwreck unseen by the landsman’s eye, but visible enough to the keen eyes of practical law mariners. How wrong his wife was to wish that Bold should marry Eleanor! Bold! why, if he should be ass enough to persevere, he would be a beggar before he knew whom he was at law with! ‘That’s excellent, Chadwick–that’s excellent! I told you Sir Abraham was the man for us’; and he put down on the table the copy of the opinion, and patted it fondly. ‘Don’t you let that be seen, though, archdeacon.’ ‘Who?-I!-not for worlds,’ said the doctor. ‘People will talk, you know, archdeacon.’ ghd stockists ‘Of course, of course,’ said the doctor. 73 THE WARDEN