all day in anxious discussion; but what might be said there was no longer matter of interest to him, who was so soon to lay aside the name of warden of Barchester Hospital.
The archdeacon took up his shining new clerical hat, and put on his black new clerical gloves, and looked heavy, respectable, decorous, and opulent, a decided clergyman of the Church of England, every inch of him. ‘I suppose I shall see you at Barchester the day after tomorrow,’ said he.
The warden supposed he would.
‘I must once more beseech you to take no further steps till you see my father; if you owe me nothing,’ and the archdeacon looked as though he thought a great deal were due to him, ‘at least you owe so much to my father’; and, without waiting for a reply, Dr Grantly wended his way to Cox and Cummins.
Mrs Grantly waited till the last fall of her husband’s foot was heard, as he turned out of the court into St Paul’s Churchyard, and then commenced her task of talking her father over.
‘Papa,’ she began, ‘this is a most serious business.’
‘Indeed it is,’ said the warden, ringing the bell.
‘I greatly feel the distress of mind you must have endured.’
‘I am sure you do, my dear’; and he ordered the waiter to bring him pen, ink, and paper.
‘Are you going to write, papa?’
‘Yes, my dear — I am going to write my resignation to the bishop.’
‘Pray, pray, papa, put it off till our return — pray put it off till you have seen the bishop — dear papa! for my sake, for Eleanor’s!—’
‘It is for your sake and Eleanor’s that I do this. I hope, at least, that my children may never have to be ashamed of their father.’
‘How can you talk about shame, papa?’ and she stopped while the waiter creaked in with the paper, and then slowly creaked out again; ‘how can you talk about shame? you know what all your friends think about this question.’ The warden spread his paper on the table, placing it on the meagre blotting-book which the hotel afforded, and sat himself down to write.
‘You won’t refuse me one request, papa?’ continued his daughter; ‘you won’t refuse to delay your letter for two short days? Two days can make no possible difference.’
‘My dear,’ said he naively, ‘if I waited till I got to Barchester, I might, perhaps, be prevented.’
‘But surely you would not wish to offend the bishop?’ said she.
‘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 repugnance that I act in opposition to 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 fixed his eyes 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.
‘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 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 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 any rate for one, 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 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 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