not, Mrs. Proudie," said Mr. Thumble.

"The bishop and I therefore are most anxious that you should make Mr
Crawley understand at once,--at once," and the lady, as she spoke,
lifted up her left hand with an eloquent violence which had its
effect upon Mr. Thumble, "that he is inhibited,"--the bishop shook
in his shoes,--"inhibited from the performance of any of his sacred
duties." Thereupon, Mr. Thumble promised obedience and went his way.

CHAPTER XII

Mr. Crawley Seeks for Sympathy

[Illustration]

Matters went very badly indeed in the parsonage house at Hogglestock.
On the Friday morning, the morning of the day after his committal,
Mr. Crawley got up very early, long before the daylight, and dressing
himself in the dark, groped his way downstairs. His wife having
vainly striven to persuade him to remain where he was, followed
him into the cold room below with a lighted candle. She found him
standing with his hat on and with his old cloak, as though he were
prepared to go out. "Why do you do this?" she said. "You will make
yourself ill with the cold and the night air; and then you, and I
too, will be worse than we now are."

"We cannot be worse. You cannot be worse, and for me it does not
signify. Let it pass."

"I will not let you pass, Josiah. Be a man and bear it. Ask God for
strength, instead of seeking it in an over-indulgence of your own
sorrow."

"Indulgence!"

"Yes, love;--indulgence. It is indulgence. You will allow your mind
to dwell on nothing for a moment but your own wrongs."

"What else have I that I can think of? Is not all the world against
me?"

"Am I against you?"

"Sometimes I think you are. When you accuse me of self-indulgence you
are against me,--me, who for myself have desired nothing but to be
allowed to do my duty, and to have bread enough to keep me alive, and
clothes enough to make me decent."

"Is it not self-indulgence, this giving way to grief? Who would know
so well as you how to teach the lesson of endurance to others? Come,
love. Lay down your hat. It cannot be fitting that you should go out
into the wet and cold of the raw morning."

For a moment he hesitated, but as she raised her hand to take his
cloak from him he drew back from her, and would not permit it. "I
shall find those up whom I want to see," he said. "I must visit my
flock, and I dare not go through the parish by daylight lest they
hoot after me as a thief."

"Not one in Hogglestock would say