am the Duke of Omnium." He was unmarried, and, if report
said true, a great debauchee; but if so he had always kept his
debaucheries decently away from the eyes of the world, and was not,
therefore, open to that loud condemnation which should fall like a
hailstorm round the ears of some more open sinners.

Why these two mighty nobles put their heads together in order that
the tailor's son should represent Barchester in Parliament, I cannot
explain. Mr Moffat, was, as has been said, Lord de Courcy's friend;
and it may be that Lord de Courcy was able to repay the duke for his
kindness, as touching Barchester, with some little assistance in the
county representation.

The next arrival was that of the Bishop of Barchester; a meek, good,
worthy man, much attached to his wife, and somewhat addicted to his
ease. She, apparently, was made in a different mould, and by her
energy and diligence atoned for any want in those qualities which
might be observed in the bishop himself. When asked his opinion, his
lordship would generally reply by saying--"Mrs Proudie and I think so
and so." But before that opinion was given, Mrs Proudie would take
up the tale, and she, in her more concise manner, was not wont to
quote the bishop as having at all assisted in the consideration of
the subject. It was well known in Barsetshire that no married pair
consorted more closely or more tenderly together; and the example of
such conjugal affection among persons in the upper classes is worth
mentioning, as it is believed by those below them, and too often with
truth, that the sweet bliss of connubial reciprocity is not so common
as it should be among the magnates of the earth.

But the arrival even of the bishop and his wife did not make the
place cheerful to Frank Gresham, and he began to long for Miss
Dunstable, in order that he might have something to do. He could not
get on at all with Mr Moffat. He had expected that the man would at
once have called him Frank, and that he would have called the man
Gustavus; but they did not even get beyond Mr Moffat and Mr Gresham.
"Very hot in Barchester to-day, very," was the nearest approach to
conversation which Frank could attain with him; and as far as he,
Frank, could see, Augusta never got much beyond it. There might be
_tete-a-tete_ meetings between them, but, if so, Frank could not
detect when they took place; and so, opening his heart at last to the
Honourable George, for the want of a better confi