had not been his intention, they said, to
be a thief, and a man should be judged only by his intention. It must
now be their object to induce a Barchester jury to look at the matter
in the same light.

"When they come to understand how the land lies," said the
archdeacon, "they will be all right. There's not a tradesman in the
city who does not hate that woman as though she were--"

"Archdeacon," said his wife, cautioning him to repress his energy.

"Their bills are all paid by this new chaplain they've got, and he is
made to claim discount on every leg of mutton," said the archdeacon.
Arguing from which fact,--or from which assertion, he came to the
conclusion that no Barchester jury would find Mr. Crawley guilty.

But it was agreed on all sides that it would not be well to trust to
the unassisted friendship of the Barchester tradesmen. Mr. Crawley
must be provided with legal assistance, and this must be furnished
to him whether he should be willing or unwilling to receive it. That
there would be a difficulty was acknowledged. Mr. Crawley was known to
be a man not easy of persuasion, with a will of his own, with a great
energy of obstinacy on points which he chose to take up as being of
importance to his calling, or to his own professional status. He had
pleaded his own cause before the magistrates, and it might be that
he would insist on doing the same thing before the judge. At last
Mr. Robarts, the clergyman of Framley, was deputed from the knot of
Crawleian advocates assembled in Lady Lufton's drawing-room, to
undertake the duty of seeing Mr. Crawley, and of explaining to him
that his proper defence was regarded as a matter appertaining to the
clergy and gentry generally of that part of the country, and that
for the sake of the clergy and gentry the defence must of course be
properly conducted. In such circumstances the expense of the defence
would of course be borne by the clergy and gentry concerned. It was
thought that Mr. Robarts could put the matter to Mr. Crawley with such
a mixture of the strength of manly friendship and the softness of
clerical persuasion, as to overcome the recognised difficulties of
the task.

CHAPTER XI

The Bishop Sends His Inhibition

Tidings of Mr. Crawley's fate reached the palace at Barchester on the
afternoon of the day on which the magistrates had committed him. All
such tidings travel very quickly, conveyed by imperceptible wires,
and distributed by indefatigable