ficulty in the choice of words which should be tender enough
in regard to the feelings of the poor lady, and yet strong enough to
convey to her the very facts as they stood. Would Mr. Crawley come, or
must a policeman be sent to fetch him? The magistrates had already
issued a warrant for his apprehension. Such in truth was the fact,
but they had agreed with Mr. Walker, that as there was no reasonable
ground for anticipating any attempt at escape on the part of the
reverend gentleman, the lawyer might use what gentle means he could
for ensuring the clergyman's attendance. Could Mrs. Crawley undertake
to say that he would appear? Mrs. Crawley did undertake either that
her husband should appear on the Thursday, or else that she would
send over in the early part of the week and declare her inability to
ensure his appearance. In that case it was understood the policeman
must come. Then Mr. Walker had suggested that Mr. Crawley had better
employ a lawyer. Upon this Mrs. Crawley had looked beseechingly up
into Mr. Walker's face, and had asked him to undertake the duty. He
was of course obliged to explain that he was already employed on the
other side. Mr. Soames had secured his services, and though he was
willing to do all in his power to mitigate the sufferings of the
family, he could not abandon the duty he had undertaken. He named
another attorney, however, and then sent the poor woman home in his
wife's carriage. "I fear that unfortunate man is guilty. I fear
he is," Mr. Walker had said to his wife within ten minutes of the
departure of the visitor.

Mrs. Crawley would not allow herself to be driven up to the garden
gate before her own house, but had left the carriage some three
hundred yards off down the road, and from thence she walked home.
It was now quite dark. It was nearly six in the evening on a wet
December night, and although cloaks and shawls had been supplied to
her, she was wet and cold when she reached her home. But at such a
moment, anxious as she was to prevent the additional evil which would
come to them all from illness to herself, she could not pass through
to her room till she had spoken to her husband. He was sitting in
the one sitting-room on the left side of the passage as the house
was entered, and with him was their daughter Jane, a girl now nearly
sixteen years of age. There was no light in the room, and hardly more
than a spark of fire showed in the grate. The father was sitting on
one side of t