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Page 73
"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 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 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
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 asking my advice, I
must implore you to do nothing without the approval of your friends.
A man is never the best judge 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. 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.
"But if this income be not justly mine, what if she and I have both to
beg?" said the warden at last, sharply, and in a voice so different
from that he had hitherto used, that Sir Abraham was startled. "If
so, it would be better to beg."
"My dear sir, nobody now questions its justness."
"Yes, Sir Abraham, one does question it,--the most important of all
witnesses against me;--I question it myself. My God knows whether or
no I love my daughter; but I would sooner that she and I should both
beg, than that she should live in comfort on money which is truly the
property of the poor. It may seem strange to you, Sir Abraham, it is
strange to myself, that I should have been ten years in that happy
home, and not have thought of these things till they were so roughly
dinned into my ears. I cannot boast of my conscience, when it
required the violence of a public newspaper to awaken it; but, now
that it is awake, I must obey it. When I came here, I did not know
that the suit was withdrawn by Mr Bold, and my object was to beg
you to abandon my defence. As there is no action, there can be no
defence; but it is, at any rate, as well that you should know that
from to-morrow I shall cease to be the warden of the hospital. My
friends and I differ on this subject, Sir Abraham, and that adds much
to my sorrow; but it cannot be helped." And, as he finished what he
had to say, he played up such a tune as never before had graced the
chambers of any attorney-general. He was standing up, gallantly
fronting Sir Abraham, and his right arm passed with bold and rapid
sweeps before him, as though he were embracing some huge instrument,
which allowed him to stand thus erect; and with the fingers of his
left hand he stopped, with preternatural velocity, a multitude of
strings, which ranged from the top of his collar to the bottom of
the lappet of his coat. Sir Abraham listened and looked in wonder.
As he had never before seen Mr Harding, the meaning of these wild
gesticulations was lost upon him; but he perceived that the gentleman
who had a few minutes since been so subdued as to be unable to speak
without hesitation, was now impassioned,--nay, almost violent.
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