nger since I was twenty-two, and I don't yet know whether that
means cutting down."

"Not only cutting down, but rooting up," said Mr. Fothergill.

"It's a murderous shame," said Frank Gresham; "and I will say one
thing, I don't think any but a Whig government would do it."

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed his grace. "At any rate, I'm sure of this," he
said, "that if a Conservative government did do so, the Whigs would
be just as indignant as you are now."

"I'll tell you what you ought to do, Mr. Gresham," said Sowerby: "put
in an offer for the whole of the West Barsetshire Crown property;
they will be very glad to sell it."

"And we should be delighted to welcome you on this side of the
border," said the duke. Young Gresham did feel rather flattered.
There were not many men in the county to whom such an offer could
be made without an absurdity. It might be doubted whether the duke
himself could purchase the Chace of Chaldicotes with ready money; but
that he, Gresham, could do so--he and his wife between them--no man
did doubt. And then Mr. Gresham thought of a former day when he had
once been at Gatherum Castle. He had been poor enough then, and the
duke had not treated him in the most courteous manner in the world.
How hard it is for a rich man not to lean upon his riches! harder,
indeed, than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

All Barsetshire knew--at any rate all West Barsetshire--that Miss
Dunstable had been brought down in those parts in order that Mr.
Sowerby might marry her. It was not surmised that Miss Dunstable
herself had had any previous notice of this arrangement, but it was
supposed that the thing would turn out as a matter of course. Mr.
Sowerby had no money, but then he was witty, clever, good-looking,
and a member of Parliament. He lived before the world, represented an
old family, and had an old place. How could Miss Dunstable possibly
do better? She was not so young now, and it was time that she
should look about her. The suggestion, as regarded Mr. Sowerby, was
certainly true, and was not the less so as regarded some of Mr.
Sowerby's friends. His sister, Mrs. Harold Smith, had devoted herself
to the work, and with this view had run up a dear friendship with
Miss Dunstable. The bishop had intimated, nodding his head knowingly,
that it would be a very good thing. Mrs. Proudie had given in her
adherence. Mr. Supplehouse had been made to understand that it must
be a case of "Paws off" with hi