Eames declared that he did not believe a word of it.
Nevertheless, as he walked home he came to the conclusion
that if Mr Shorter must have been the handsome gentleman
with Indian securities, to whom ‘no’ had
been said once too often.
While sitting with Conway Dalrymple, he had forgotten
to say a word about Jael and Sisera.
Dr Tempest at the palace.
Intimation had been sent from the palace to Dr Tempest
of Silverbridge of the bishop’s intention that
a commission should be held by him, as rural dean,
with other neighbouring clergymen, as assessors with
him, that inquiry might be made on the part of the
Church into the question of Mr Crawley’s guilt.
It must be understood that by this time the opinion
had become very general that Mr Crawley had been guilty—that
he had found the cheque in his house, and that he
had, after holding it for many months, succumbed to
temptation, and applied it to his own purposes.
But various excuses were made for him by those who
so believed. In the first place it was felt by
all who really knew anything of the man’s character,
that the very fact of his committing such a crime
proved him to be hardly responsible for his actions.
He must have known, had not all judgment in such matters
been taken from him, that the cheque would certainly
be traced back to his hands. No attempt had been
made in the disposing of it to dispose of it in such
a way that the trace should be obliterated. He
had simply given it to a neighbour with a direction
to have it cashed, and had written his own name on
the back of it. And therefore, though there could
be no doubt as to the theft in the mind of those who
supposed that he had found the cheque in his own house,
yet the guilt of the theft seemed to be almost annihilated
by the folly of the thief. And then his poverty,
and his struggles, and the sufferings of his wife,
were remembered; and stories were told from mouth
to mouth of his industry in his profession, of his
great zeal among the brickmakers of Hoggle End, of
acts of charity done by him which startled the people
of the district into admiration:—how he
had worked with his own hands for the sick poor to
whom he could not give relief in money, turning a
woman’s mangle for a couple of hours, and carrying
a boy’s load along the lanes. Dr Tempest
and others declared that he had derogated from the
dignity of his position as an English parish clergyman
by such acts; but, nevertheless, the stories of these
deeds acted strongly on the minds of both men and women,
creating an admiration for Mr Crawley which was much
stronger than the condemnation of his guilt.
