Bishop expressed his opinion that Dr. Wortle ought not to pay any further
visits to Mrs. Peacocke till she should have settled herself down with one
legitimate husband, let that legitimate husband be who it might. The
Bishop did not indeed, at first, make reference by name to 'Everybody's
Business,' but he stated that the "metropolitan press" had taken up the
matter, and that scandal would take place in the diocese if further cause
were given. "It is not enough to be innocent," said the Bishop, "but men
must know that we are so."

Then there came a sharp and pressing correspondence between the Bishop and
the Doctor, which lasted four or five days. The Doctor, without referring
to any other portion of the Bishop's letter, demanded to know to what
"metropolitan newspaper" the Bishop had alluded, as, if any such paper had
spread scandalous imputations as to him, the Doctor, respecting the lady
in question, it would be his, the Doctor's, duty to proceed against that
newspaper for libel. In answer to this the Bishop, in a note much shorter
and much less affectionate than his former letter, said that he did not
wish to name any metropolitan newspaper. But the Doctor would not, of
course, put up with such an answer as this. He wrote very solemnly now,
if not affectionately. "His lordship had spoken of 'scandal in the
diocese.' The words," said the Doctor, "contained a most grave charge. He
did not mean to say that any such accusation had been made by the Bishop
himself; but such accusation must have been made by some one at least of
the London newspapers or the Bishop would not have been justified in what
he has written. Under such circumstances he, Dr. Wortle, thought himself
entitled to demand from the Bishop the name of the newspaper in question,
and the date on which the article had appeared."

In answer to this there came no written reply, but a copy of the
'Everybody's Business' which the Doctor had already seen. He had, no
doubt, known from the first that it was the funny paragraph about
'_tupto_' and "amo" to which the Bishop had referred. But in the serious
steps which he now intended to take, he was determined to have positive
proof from the hands of the Bishop himself. The Bishop had not directed
the pernicious newspaper with his own hands, but if called upon, could not
deny that it had been sent from the palace by his orders. Having received
it, the Doctor wrote back at once as follows;--

"RIGHT RE