CHAPTER XLIII

Mr. and Mrs. Quiverful Are Made Happy.

Mr. Slope is Encouraged by the Press

Before she started for Ullathorne, Mrs. Proudie, careful soul, caused

two letters to be written, one by herself and one by her lord, to the

inhabitants of Puddingdale vicarage, which made happy the hearth of

those within it.

As soon as the departure of the horses left the bishop's stable-groom

free for other services, that humble denizen of the diocese started

on the bishop's own pony with the two dispatches. We have had so

many letters lately that we will spare ourselves these. That from

the bishop was simply a request that Mr. Quiverful would wait upon

his lordship the next morning at 11 A.M.; that from the lady was as

simply a request that Mrs. Quiverful would do the same by her, though

it was couched in somewhat longer and more grandiloquent phraseology.

It had become a point of conscience with Mrs. Proudie to urge the

settlement of this great hospital question. She was resolved that

Mr. Quiverful should have it. She was resolved that there should be

no more doubt or delay, no more refusals and resignations, no more

secret negotiations carried on by Mr. Slope on his own account in

opposition to her behests.

"Bishop," she said immediately after breakfast on the morning of that

eventful day, "have you signed the appointment yet?"

"No, my dear, not yet; it is not exactly signed as yet."

"Then do it," said the lady.

The bishop did it, and a very pleasant day indeed he spent at

Ullathorne. And when he got home, he had a glass of hot negus in his

wife's sitting-room, and read the last number of the Little Dorrit of

the day with great inward satisfaction. Oh, husbands, oh, my marital

friends, what great comfort is there to be derived from a wife well

obeyed!

Much perturbation and flutter, high expectation and renewed hopes,

were occasioned at Puddingdale, by the receipt of these episcopal

dispatches. Mrs. Quiverful, whose careful ear caught the sound of

the pony's feet as he trotted up to the vicarage kitchen door,

brought them in hurriedly to her husband. She was at the moment

concocting the Irish stew destined to satisfy the noonday wants of

fourteen young birds, let alone the parent couple. She had taken the

letters from the man's hands between the folds of her capacious apron

so as to save them from the contamination of the stew, and in this

guise she brought them to her husband's desk.

They at once divided the spoil, each taking that addressed to the

other. "Quiverful," said she with impressive voice, "you are to be

at the palace at eleven to-morrow."

"And so are you, my dear," said he, almost gasping with the

importance of the tidings--and then they exchanged letters.

"She'd never have sent for me again," said the lady, "if it wasn't

all right."

"Oh, my dear, don't be too certain," said the gentleman, "Only think

if it should be wrong."

"She'd never have sent for me, Q., if it wasn't all right," again

argued the lady. "She's stiff and hard and proud as piecrust, but I

think she's right at bottom." Such was Mrs. Quiverful's verdict about

Mrs. Proudie, to which in after times she always adhered. People

when they get their income doubled usually think that those through

whose instrumentality this little ceremony is performed are right at

bottom.

"Oh, Letty!" said Mr. Quiverful, rising from his well-worn seat.

"Oh, Q.!" said Mrs. Quiverful, and then the two, unmindful of the

kitchen apron, the greasy fingers, and the adherent Irish stew, threw

themselves warmly into each other's arms.

"For heaven's sake, don't let anyone cajole you out of it again,"

said the wife.

"Let me alone for that," said the husband with a look of almost

fierce determination, pressing his fist as he spoke rigidly on his

desk, as though he had Mr. Slope's head below his knuckles and meant

to keep it there.

"I wonder how soon it will be?" said she.

"I wonder whether it will be at all?" said he, still doubtful.

"Well, I won't say too much," said the lady. "The cup has slipped

twice before, and it may fall altogether this time, but I'll not

believe it. He'll give you the appointment to-morrow. You'll find

he will."

"Heaven send he may," said Mr. Quiverful solemnly. And who that

considers the weight of the burden on this man's back will say that

the prayer was an improper one? There were fourteen of them--fourteen

of them living--as Mrs. Quiverful had so powerfully urged in the

presence of the bishop's wife. As long as promotion cometh from any

human source, whether north or south, east or west, will not such a

claim as this hold good, in spite of all our examination tests, _detur

digniori's_, and optimist tendencies? It is fervently to be hoped that

it may. Till we can become divine, we must be content to be human,

lest in our hurry for a change we sink to something lower.

And then the pair, sitting down lovingly together, talked over all

their difficulties, as they so often did, and all their hopes, as they

so seldom were enabled to do.

"You had better call on that man, Q., as you come away from the

palace," said Mrs. Quiverful, pointing to an angry call for money

from the Barchester draper, which the postman had left at the

vicarage that morning. Cormorant that he was, unjust, hungry

cormorant! When rumour first got abroad that the Quiverfuls were to

go to the hospital, this fellow with fawning eagerness had pressed

his goods upon the wants of the poor clergyman. He had done so,

feeling that he should be paid from the hospital funds, and

flattering himself that a man with fourteen children, and money

wherewithal to clothe them, could not but be an excellent customer.

As soon as the second rumour reached him, he applied for his money

angrily.

And "the fourteen"--or such of them as were old enough to hope and

discuss their hopes--talked over their golden future. The tall grown

girls whispered to each other of possible Barchester parties, of

possible allowances for dress, of a possible piano--the one they had

in the vicarage was so weather-beaten with the storms of years and

children as to be no longer worthy of the name--of the pretty garden,

and the pretty house. 'Twas of such things it most behoved them to

whisper.

And the younger fry, they did not content themselves with whispers,

but shouted to each other of their new playground beneath our dear

ex-warden's well-loved elms, of their future own gardens, of marbles

to be procured in the wished-for city, and of the rumour which had

reached them of a Barchester school.

'Twas in vain that their cautious mother tried to instil into their

breasts the very feeling she had striven to banish from that of their

father; 'twas in vain that she repeated to the girls that "there's

many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip;" 'twas in vain she attempted

to make the children believe that they were to live at Puddingdale

all their lives. Hopes mounted high, and would not have themselves

quelled. The neighbouring farmers heard the news and came in to

congratulate them. 'Twas Mrs. Quiverful herself who had kindled the

fire, and in the first outbreak of her renewed expectations she did

it so thoroughly that it was quite past her power to put it out

again.

Poor matron! Good, honest matron, doing thy duty in the state to

which thou hast been called, heartily if not contentedly; let the

fire burn on; on this occasion the flames will not scorch; they shall

warm thee and thine. 'Tis ordained that that husband of thine, that

Q. of thy bosom, shall reign supreme for years to come over the

bedesmen of Hiram's Hospital.

And the last in all Barchester to mar their hopes, had he heard and

seen all that passed at Puddingdale that day, would have been Mr.

Harding. What wants had he to set in opposition to those of such a

regiment of young ravens? There are fourteen of them living! With

him, at any rate, let us say that that argument would have been

sufficient for the appointment of Mr. Quiverful.

In the morning Q. and his wife kept their appointments with that

punctuality which bespeaks an expectant mind. The friendly farmer's

gig was borrowed, and in that they went, discussing many things by

the way. They had instructed the household to expect them back by

one, and injunctions were given to the eldest pledge to have ready

by that accustomed hour the remainder of the huge stew which the

provident mother had prepared on the previous day. The hands of the

kitchen clock came round to two, three, four, before the farmer's gig

wheels were again heard at the vicarage gate. With what palpitating

hearts were the returning wanderers greeted!

"I suppose, children, you all thought we were never coming back any

more?" said the mother as she slowly let down her solid foot till it

rested on the step of the gig. "Well, such a day as we've had!" and

then leaning heavily on a big boy's shoulder, she stepped once more

on terra firma.

There was no need for more than the tone of her voice to tell them

that all was right. The Irish stew might burn itself to cinders now.

Then there was such kissing and hugging, such crying and laughing.

Mr. Quiverful could not sit still at all, but kept walking from room

to room, then out into the garden, then down the avenue into the

road, and then back again to his wife. She, however, lost no time so

idly.

"We must go to work at once, girls, and that in earnest. Mrs.

Proudie expects us to be in the hospital house on the 15th of

October."

Had Mrs. Proudie expressed a wish that they should all be there on

the next morning, the girls would have had nothing to say against it.

"And when will the pay begin?" asked the eldest boy.

"To-day, my dear," said the gratified mother.

"Oh, that is jolly," said the boy.

"Mrs. Proudie insisted on our going down to the house," continued

the mother, "and when there, I thought I might save a journey by

measuring some of the rooms and windows; so I got a knot of tape from

Bobbins. Bobbins is as civil as you please, now."

"I wouldn't thank him," said Letty the younger.

"Oh, it's the way of the world, my dear. They all do just the same.

You might just as well be angry with the turkey cock for gobbling at

you. It's the bird's nature." And as she enunciated to her bairns

the upshot of her practical experience, she pulled from her pocket

the portions of tape which showed the length and breadth of the

various rooms at the hospital house.

And so we will leave her happy in her toils.

The Quiverfuls had hardly left the palace, and Mrs. Proudie was still

holding forth on the matter to her husband, when another visitor was

announced in the person of Dr. Gwynne. The Master of Lazarus had

asked for the bishop and not for Mrs. Proudie, and therefore when he

was shown into the study, he was surprised rather than rejoiced to

find the lady there.

But we must go back a little, and it shall be but a little, for

a difficulty begins to make itself manifest in the necessity of

disposing of all our friends in the small remainder of this one

volume. Oh, that Mr. Longman would allow me a fourth! It should

transcend the other three as the seventh heaven transcends all the

lower stages of celestial bliss.

Going home in the carriage that evening from Ullathorne, Dr. Gwynne

had not without difficulty brought round his friend the archdeacon to

a line of tactics much less bellicose than that which his own taste

would have preferred. "It will be unseemly in us to show ourselves

in a bad humour; moreover, we have no power in this matter, and it

will therefore be bad policy to act as though we had." 'Twas thus

the Master of Lazarus argued. "If," he continued, "the bishop be

determined to appoint another to the hospital, threats will not

prevent him, and threats should not be lightly used by an archdeacon

to his bishop. If he will place a stranger in the hospital, we can

only leave him to the indignation of others. It is probable that

such a step may not eventually injure your father-in-law. I will see

the bishop, if you will allow me--alone." At this the archdeacon

winced visibly. "Yes, alone; for so I shall be calmer; and then I

shall at any rate learn what he does mean to do in the matter."

The archdeacon puffed and blew, put up the carriage window and then

put it down again, argued the matter up to his own gate, and at last

gave way. Everybody was against him, his own wife, Mr. Harding, and

Dr. Gwynne.

"Pray keep him out of hot water, Dr. Gwynne," Mrs. Grantly had said

to her guest.

"My dearest madam, I'll do my best," the courteous master had

replied. 'Twas thus he did it and earned for himself the gratitude

of Mrs. Grantly.

And now we may return to the bishop's study.

Dr. Gwynne had certainly not foreseen the difficulty which here

presented itself. He--together with all the clerical world of

England--had heard it rumoured about that Mrs. Proudie did not

confine herself to her wardrobes, still-rooms, and laundries; but yet

it had never occurred to him that if he called on a bishop at one

o'clock in the day, he could by any possibility find him closeted

with his wife; or that if he did so, the wife would remain longer

than necessary to make her curtsey. It appeared, however, as though

in the present case Mrs. Proudie had no idea of retreating.

The bishop had been very much pleased with Dr. Gwynne on the

preceding day, and of course thought that Dr. Gwynne had been as much

pleased with him. He attributed the visit solely to compliment, and

thought it an extremely gracious and proper thing for the Master of

Lazarus to drive over from Plumstead specially to call at the palace

so soon after his arrival in the country. The fact that they were

not on the same side either in politics or doctrines made the

compliment the greater. The bishop, therefore, was all smiles. And

Mrs. Proudie, who liked people with good handles to their names, was

also very well disposed to welcome the Master of Lazarus.

"We had a charming party at Ullathorne, Master, had we not?" said

she. "I hope Mrs. Grantly got home without fatigue."

Dr. Gwynne said that they had all been a little tired, but were none

the worse this morning.

"An excellent person, Miss Thorne," suggested the bishop.

"And an exemplary Christian, I am told," said Mrs. Proudie.

Dr. Gwynne declared that he was very glad to hear it.

"I have not seen her Sabbath-day schools yet," continued the lady,

"but I shall make a point of doing so before long."

Dr. Gwynne merely bowed at this intimation. He had heard something

of Mrs. Proudie and her Sunday-schools, both from Dr. Grantly and

Mr. Harding.

"By the by, Master," continued the lady, "I wonder whether Mrs.

Grantly would like me to drive over and inspect her Sabbath-day

school. I hear that it is most excellently kept."

Dr. Gwynne really could not say. He had no doubt Mrs. Grantly would

be most happy to see Mrs. Proudie any day Mrs. Proudie would do her

the honour of calling: that was, of course, if Mrs. Grantly should

happen to be at home.

A slight cloud darkened the lady's brow. She saw that her offer was

not taken in good part. This generation of unregenerated vipers

was still perverse, stiff-necked, and hardened in their iniquity.

"The archdeacon, I know," said she, "sets his face against these

institutions."

At this Dr. Gwynne laughed slightly. It was but a smile. Had he

given his cap for it he could not have helped it.

Mrs. Proudie frowned again. "'Suffer little children, and forbid

them not,'" she said. "Are we not to remember that, Dr. Gwynne?

'Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.' Are we not

to remember that, Dr. Gwynne?" And at each of these questions she

raised at him her menacing forefinger.

"Certainly, madam, certainly," said the master, "and so does the

archdeacon, I am sure, on weekdays as well as on Sundays."

"On weekdays you can't take heed not to despise them," said Mrs.

Proudie, "because then they are out in the fields. On weekdays they

belong to their parents, but on Sundays they ought to belong to the

clergyman." And the finger was again raised.

The master began to understand and to share the intense disgust

which the archdeacon always expressed when Mrs. Proudie's name was

mentioned. What was he to do with such a woman as this? To take his

hat and go would have been his natural resource, but then he did not

wish to be foiled in his object.

"My lord," said he, "I wanted to ask you a question on business, if

you could spare me one moment's leisure. I know I must apologize for

so disturbing you, but in truth I will not detain you five minutes."

"Certainly, Master, certainly," said the bishop; "my time is quite

yours--pray make no apology, pray make no apology."

"You have a great deal to do just at the present moment, Bishop. Do

not forget how extremely busy you are at present," said Mrs. Proudie,

whose spirit was now up, for she was angry with her visitor.

"I will not delay his lordship much above a minute," said the Master

of Lazarus, rising from his chair and expecting that Mrs. Proudie

would now go, or else that the bishop would lead the way into another

room.

But neither event seemed likely to occur, and Dr. Gwynne stood for a

moment silent in the middle of the room.

"Perhaps it's about Hiram's Hospital?" suggested Mrs. Proudie.

Dr. Gwynne, lost in astonishment, and not knowing what else on earth

to do, confessed that his business with the bishop was connected with

Hiram's Hospital.

"His lordship has finally conferred the appointment on Mr. Quiverful

this morning," said the lady.

Dr. Gwynne made a simple reference to the bishop, and finding that

the lady's statement was formally confirmed, he took his leave.

"That comes of the reform bill," he said to himself as he walked down

the bishop's avenue. "Well, at any rate the Greek play bishops were

not so bad as that."

It has been said that Mr. Slope, as he started for Ullathorne,

received a dispatch from his friend Mr. Towers, which had the effect

of putting him in that high good humour which subsequent events

somewhat untowardly damped. It ran as follows. Its shortness will

be its sufficient apology.

MY DEAR SIR,

I wish you every success. I don't know that I can help you,

but if I can, I will.

Yours ever,

T. T.

30/9/185--

There was more in this than in all Sir Nicholas Fitzwhiggin's

flummery; more than in all the bishop's promises, even had they been

ever so sincere; more than in any archbishop's good word, even had

it been possible to obtain it. Tom Towers would do for him what he

could.

Mr. Slope had from his youth upwards been a firm believer in the

public press. He had dabbled in it himself ever since he had taken

his degree, and he regarded it as the great arranger and distributor

of all future British terrestrial affairs whatever. He had not yet

arrived at the age, an age which sooner or later comes to most of

us, which dissipates the golden dreams of youth. He delighted in the

idea of wresting power from the hands of his country's magnates and

placing it in a custody which was at any rate nearer to his own

reach. Sixty thousand broadsheets dispersing themselves daily among

his reading fellow citizens formed in his eyes a better depot for

supremacy than a throne at Windsor, a cabinet in Downing Street, or

even an assembly at Westminster. And on this subject we must not

quarrel with Mr. Slope, for the feeling is too general to be met with

disrespect.

Tom Towers was as good, if not better, than his promise. On the

following morning "The Jupiter," spouting forth public opinion with

sixty thousand loud clarions, did proclaim to the world that Mr.

Slope was the fitting man for the vacant post. It was pleasant for

Mr. Slope to read the following lines in the Barchester news-room,

which he did within thirty minutes after the morning train from

London had reached the city.

It is just now five years since we called the attention

of our readers to the quiet city of Barchester. From that

day to this, we have in no way meddled with the affairs

of that happy ecclesiastical community. Since then, an

old bishop has died there, and a young bishop has been

installed; but we believe we did not do more than give

some customary record of the interesting event. Nor are

we now about to meddle very deeply in the affairs of the

diocese. If any of the chapter feel a qualm of conscience

on reading thus far, let it be quieted. Above all, let the

mind of the new bishop be at rest. We are now not armed

for war, but approach the reverend towers of the old

cathedral with an olive branch in our hands.

It will be remembered that at the time alluded to, now

five years past, we had occasion to remark on the state

of a charity in Barchester called Hiram's Hospital. We

thought that it was maladministered, and that the very

estimable and reverend gentleman who held the office of

warden was somewhat too highly paid for duties which were

somewhat too easily performed. This gentleman--and we say

it in all sincerity and with no touch of sarcasm--had

never looked on the matter in this light before. We do not

wish to take praise to ourselves whether praise be due to

us or not. But the consequence of our remark was that the

warden did look into the matter, and finding on so doing

that he himself could come to no other opinion than

that expressed by us, he very creditably threw up the

appointment. The then bishop as creditably declined to

fill the vacancy till the affair was put on a better

footing. Parliament then took it up, and we have now

the satisfaction of informing our readers that Hiram's

Hospital will be immediately reopened under new auspices.

Heretofore, provision was made for the maintenance of

twelve old men. This will now be extended to the fair sex,

and twelve elderly women, if any such can be found in

Barchester, will be added to the establishment. There will

be a matron; there will, it is hoped, be schools attached

for the poorest of the children of the poor, and there

will be a steward. The warden, for there will still be a

warden, will receive an income more in keeping with the

extent of the charity than that heretofore paid. The

stipend we believe will be £450. We may add that the

excellent house which the former warden inhabited will

still be attached to the situation.

Barchester Hospital cannot perhaps boast a world-wide

reputation, but as we adverted to its state of decadence,

we think it right also to advert to its renaissance. May

it go on and prosper. Whether the salutary reform which

has been introduced within its walls has been carried

as far as could have been desired may be doubtful. The

important question of the school appears to be somewhat

left to the discretion of the new warden. This might have

been made the most important part of the establishment,

and the new warden, whom we trust we shall not offend by

the freedom of our remarks, might have been selected with

some view to his fitness as schoolmaster. But we will not

now look a gift-horse in the mouth. May the hospital go on

and prosper! The situation of warden has of course been

offered to the gentleman who so honourably vacated it five

years since, but we are given to understand that he has

declined it. Whether the ladies who have been introduced

be in his estimation too much for his powers of control,

whether it be that the diminished income does not offer to

him sufficient temptation to resume his old place, or that

he has in the meantime assumed other clerical duties, we

do not know. We are, however, informed that he has refused

the offer and that the situation has been accepted by Mr.

Quiverful, the vicar of Puddingdale.

So much we think is due to Hiram redivivus. But while we

are on the subject of Barchester, we will venture with

all respectful humility to express our opinion on another

matter connected with the ecclesiastical polity of that

ancient city. Dr. Trefoil, the dean, died yesterday. A

short record of his death, giving his age and the various

pieces of preferment which he has at different times held,

will be found in another column of this paper. The only

fault we knew in him was his age, and as that is a crime

of which we all hope to be guilty, we will not bear

heavily on it. May he rest in peace! But though the great

age of an expiring dean cannot be made matter of reproach,

we are not inclined to look on such a fault as at all

pardonable in a dean just brought to the birth. We do hope

that the days of sexagenarian appointments are past. If

we want deans, we must want them for some purpose. That

purpose will necessarily be better fulfilled by a man of

forty than by a man of sixty. If we are to pay deans at

all, we are to pay them for some sort of work. That work,

be it what it may, will be best performed by a workman in

the prime of life. Dr. Trefoil, we see, was eighty when he

died. As we have as yet completed no plan for pensioning

superannuated clergymen, we do not wish to get rid of any

existing deans of that age. But we prefer having as few

such as possible. If a man of seventy be now appointed, we

beg to point out to Lord ---- that he will be past all use

in a year or two, if indeed he be not so at the present

moment. His lordship will allow us to remind him that all

men are not evergreens like himself.

We hear that Mr. Slope's name has been mentioned for

this preferment. Mr. Slope is at present chaplain to the

bishop. A better man could hardly be selected. He is a man

of talent, young, active, and conversant with the affairs

of the cathedral; he is moreover, we conscientiously

believe, a truly pious clergyman. We know that his

services in the city of Barchester have been highly

appreciated. He is an eloquent preacher and a ripe

scholar. Such a selection as this would go far to raise

the confidence of the public in the present administration

of church patronage and would teach men to believe that

from henceforth the establishment of our church will not

afford easy couches to worn-out clerical voluptuaries.

Standing at a reading-desk in the Barchester news-room, Mr. Slope

digested this article with considerable satisfaction. What was

therein said as to the hospital was now comparatively a matter of

indifference to him. He was certainly glad that he had not succeeded

in restoring to the place the father of that virago who had so

audaciously outraged all decency in his person, and was so far

satisfied. But Mrs. Proudie's nominee was appointed, and he was so

far dissatisfied. His mind, however, was now soaring above Mrs. Bold

or Mrs. Proudie. He was sufficiently conversant with the tactics

of "The Jupiter" to know that the pith of the article would lie in

the last paragraph. The place of honour was given to him, and it

was indeed as honourable as even he could have wished. He was very

grateful to his friend Mr. Towers, and with full heart looked forward

to the day when he might entertain him in princely style at his own

full-spread board in the deanery dining-room.

It had been well for Mr. Slope that Dr. Trefoil had died in the

autumn. Those caterers for our morning repast, the staff of "The

Jupiter," had been sorely put to it for the last month to find a

sufficiency of proper pabulum. Just then there was no talk of a new

American president. No wonderful tragedies had occurred on railway

trains in Georgia, or elsewhere. There was a dearth of broken banks,

and a dead dean with the necessity for a live one was a godsend. Had

Dr. Trefoil died in June, Mr. Towers would probably not have known so

much about the piety of Mr. Slope.

And here we will leave Mr. Slope for awhile in his triumph,

explaining, however, that his feelings were not altogether of

a triumphant nature. His rejection by the widow, or rather the

method of his rejection, galled him terribly. For days to come he

positively felt the sting upon his cheek whenever he thought of what

had been done to him. He could not refrain from calling her by harsh

names, speaking to himself as he walked through the streets of

Barchester. When he said his prayers, he could not bring himself to

forgive her. When he strove to do so, his mind recoiled from the

attempt, and in lieu of forgiving ran off in a double spirit of

vindictiveness, dwelling on the extent of the injury he had received.

And so his prayers dropped senseless from his lips.

And then the signora--what would he not have given to be able to hate

her also? As it was, he worshipped the very sofa on which she was

ever lying.

And thus it was not all rose colour with Mr. Slope, although his

hopes ran high.