he might sleep at night without pangs of conscience,
that he was no robber, no spoiler of the poor; that
he and all the world might be openly convinced that
he was not the man which The Jupiter had described
him to be; of such longings on the part of Mr Harding,
Sir Abraham was entirely ignorant; nor, indeed, could
it be looked on as part of his business to gratify
such desires. Such was not the system on which
his battles were fought, and victories gained.
Success was his object, and he was generally successful.
He conquered his enemies by their weakness rather than
by his own strength, and it had been found almost
impossible to make up a case in which Sir Abraham,
as an antagonist, would not find a flaw.
The archdeacon was delighted with the closeness of
the reasoning. To do him justice, it was not
a selfish triumph that he desired; he would personally
lose nothing by defeat, or at least what he might lose
did not actuate him; but neither was it love of justice
which made him so anxious, nor even mainly solicitude
for his father-in-law. He was fighting a part
of a never-ending battle against a never-conquered
foe—that of the church against its enemies.
He knew Mr Harding could not pay all the expense of
these doings: for these long opinions of Sir
Abraham’s, these causes to be pleaded, these
speeches to be made, these various courts through which
the case was, he presumed, to be dragged. He
knew that he and his father must at least bear the
heavier portion of this tremendous cost; but to do
the archdeacon justice, he did not recoil from this.
He was a man fond of obtaining money, greedy of a
large income, but open-handed enough in expending
it, and it was a triumph to him to foresee the success
of this measure, although he might be called on to
pay so dearly for it himself.
Chapter IX
THE CONFERENCE
On the following morning the archdeacon was with his
father betimes, and a note was sent down to the warden
begging his attendance at the palace. Dr Grantly,
as he cogitated on the matter, leaning back in his
brougham as he journeyed into Barchester, felt that
it would be difficult to communicate his own satisfaction
either to his father or his father-in-law. He
wanted success on his own side and discomfiture on
that of his enemies. The bishop wanted peace
on the subject; a settled peace if possible, but peace
at any rate till the short remainder of his own days
had spun itself out. Mr Harding required not
only success and peace, but he also demanded that he
might stand justified before the world.
The bishop, however, was comparatively easy to deal
with; and before the arrival of the other, the dutiful
son had persuaded his father that all was going on
well, and then the warden arrived.
It was Mr Harding’s wont, whenever he spent
a morning at the palace, to seat himself immediately
at the bishop’s elbow, the bishop occupying
a huge arm-chair fitted up with candle-sticks, a reading
table, a drawer, and other paraphernalia, the position
of which chair was never moved, summer or winter;
and when, as was usual, the archdeacon was there also,
he confronted the two elders, who thus were enabled
to fight the battle against him together;—and
together submit to defeat, for such was their constant
fate.
