bmit, and he accordingly did so.

"About the hospital, Mr. Harding?" began Mr. Slope, speaking of it
as the head of a college at Cambridge might speak of some sizarship
which had to be disposed of.

Mr. Harding crossed one leg over another, and then one hand over the
other on the top of them, and looked Mr. Slope in the face; but he
said nothing.

"It's to be filled up again," said Mr. Slope. Mr. Harding said that
he had understood so.

"Of course, you know, the income will be very much reduced," continued
Mr. Slope. "The bishop wished to be liberal, and he therefore told the
government that he thought it ought to be put at not less than L450.
I think on the whole the bishop was right, for though the services
required will not be of a very onerous nature, they will be more
so than they were before. And it is, perhaps, well that the clergy
immediately attached to the cathedral town should be made as
comfortable as the extent of the ecclesiastical means at our disposal
will allow. Those are the bishop's ideas, and I must say mine also."

Mr. Harding sat rubbing one hand on the other, but said not a word.

"So much for the income, Mr. Harding. The house will, of course,
remain to the warden, as before. It should, however, I think, be
stipulated that he should paint inside every seven years, and outside
every three years, and be subject to dilapidations, in the event
of vacating, either by death or otherwise. But this is a matter on
which the bishop must yet be consulted."

Mr. Harding still rubbed his hands and still sat silent, gazing up
into Mr. Slope's unprepossessing face.

"Then, as to the duties," continued he, "I believe, if I am rightly
informed, there can hardly be said to have been any duties hitherto,"
and he gave a sort of half-laugh, as though to pass off the
accusation in the guise of a pleasantry.

Mr. Harding thought of the happy, easy years he had passed in his old
home; of the worn-out, aged men whom he had succoured; of his good
intentions; and of his work, which had certainly been of the lightest.
He thought of these things, doubting for a moment whether he did or did
not deserve the sarcasm. He gave his enemy the benefit of the doubt,
and did not rebuke him. He merely observed, very tranquilly, and
perhaps with too much humility, that the duties of the situation, such
as they were, had, he believed, been done to the satisfaction of the
late bishop.

Mr. Slope again smiled, and this time th