The Last Chronicle of Barset

e news within five minutes of the execution of the bail-bond, and had rushed to her sister with information as to the event. "They have found him guilty; they have, indeed. The

ng in her power to save Grace Crawley, or even to save her father. And it must be explained that Miss Anne Prettyman was supposed to be specially efficient in teaching Roman history to her pupils, although she was so manifestly ignorant of the course of law in the country in which she lived. "Committed him," said Miss Prettyman, correcting her sister with scorn. "They have not convicted him. Had they convicted him, there could be no question of bail." "I don't know how all that

ible while her husband was in her charge. The father would of course have gone to his child, had the visit been suggested to him; but that would have caused another terrible scene; and the mother, considering it all in her mind, thought it better to a

ntime what will

e some one to advise him. I dare say it would have bee

rd that an attorney

things in this

arks intended to be wise and kind at the same time. Grace, whose eyes were laden with tears, made no immediate reply t

e more happ

ar it bet

m twelve jurymen who would be shopkeepers out of Barchester. It would kill her father, and then it would kill her mother; and after that it would kill her also. And there was no money in the house at home. She knew it well. She had been paid three pounds a month for her services at the school, and the money for the last two months had been sent to her mother. Yet, badly as she wanted anything that she might be able to earn, she knew that she could not go on teaching. It had come to be acknowledged by both the Miss Prettymans that any teaching on her part

nything or nothing! Ten pounds would hardly clear the account. "Nobody owes me anything; but if you'll lend me five shillings!" said Grace, in her agony. Miss Prettyman, as she made her way through this difficulty, thought of Major Grantly and his love. It would have been of no use, she knew. Had she brought them together on that Monday, Grace would have said nothing to him. Indeed such a meeting at such a time would have been improper. But, regarding Major Grantly, as she did, in the light of a millionaire,-for the wealth of the archdeacon was notorious,-she co

y be told; but they were troubles in which Grace could give no assistance to her mother, and which, indeed, though they were in truth troubles, as will be seen, were so far beneficent that they stirred her father up to a certain action which was in itself salutary. "I think it will be better that you shoul

on Lord Lufton's part. Lord Lufton had offered assistance, pecuniary assistance, to Mr. Crawley, which Mr. Crawley had rejected with outspoken anger. What was Lord Lufton to him that his lordship should dare to come to him with his paltry money in his hand? But after a while, Lady Lufton, exercising some cunning in the operations of her friendship, had persuaded her sister-in-law at the Framley parsonage to have Grace Crawley over there as a visitor,-and there she had been during the summer holidays previous to the commencement of our story. And there, at Framley, she had become acquainted wi

s on business,"

it was not o

you tel

it was-to ask after me. Oh, mamma, I

say so to y

, ma

did you

im nothin

ask to see y

ink he understood it all too well, for

hich seemed to fall, one after another, almost as a matter of course, upon her husband, upon her, and upon her family; if so great good fortune were in store for her Grace as such a marriage as this which seemed to be so nearly offered to her, it might probably be well that Grace should be as littl

als to which humanity is subjected. They threaten life,-or, if not life, then liberty,-reducing the abject one to a choice between captivity and starvation. By hook or crook, the poor gentleman or poor lady,-let the one or the other be ever so poor,-does not often come to the last extremity of the workhouse. There are such cases, but they are exceptional. Mrs. Crawley, through all her sufferings, had never yet found her cupboard to be absolutely bare, or the bread-pan to be actually empty. But there are pangs to which, at the time, starvation itself would seem to be preferable. The angry eyes of unpaid tradesmen, savage with an anger which one knows to be justifiable; the taunt of the poor servant who wants her wages; the gradual relinquishment of habits which the soft nurture of earlier, kinder years had made second nature; the

ut my being shabby at Allington

ss Dale is so very n

nd her so much as her mother, because she

ven me all your

hoolmistress, which at once had gone into her mother's pocket, and into household purposes. "She said I sho

atching, of the weary wearing midnight hours of needlework which were accomplished before the poor girl went, so that she might not reach her friend's house in actual rags? And when the work was ended, what was there to show for it? I do not think that the idea of the bare bodkin, as regarded he

stiny. Although, as has been said, she understood no more than she ought to have understood from Miss Prettyman's account of the conversation with Major Grantly, still, innocent as she was, she had understood much. She knew that the man loved her,

g out visiting. Law, my dear; they take them, many of them, from us old maids, almost as if we were only paying our debts in giving them." And then Miss Anne gave her a cloth cloak, very warm, with pretty buttons and gimp trimmings,-just such a cloak as any girl might like to wear who thought that she would be seen out walking by her Major Grantly on a Christmas morning. Grace Crawley did not expect to be seen out walking by her Major Grantly, but nevertheless she liked the clo

. I think she will be excused in having put on her new cloak, not so much because of the cold as with a view of making the best of herself before Mrs. Dale. And yet she knew that

are very good

ked ourselves into eagerness about it,-while I was writ

ll be a great tro

trouble to no one but me. I will have all the trouble m

Mrs. Dale would have heard it. Her own mind was full of it, and though she dreaded to speak of it, yet she could not be silent. Miss Dale, who understood much of this, endeavoured to talk her friend into easiness; but she feared to begin upon the one subject, and before the drive was over they were, both of them, too cold for much conversation. "There's mamma," said Miss Dale as they drove up, turning out of the street of the village to the

er some tea,"

Bernard and Mr. Green for the next week at least. It is freezing as hard

emselves with skati

amusement gentlemen require, and how imperative it is tha

cularly,"

t game of the day never goes off properly. In partridge time, the partridges are wild, and won't come to be killed. In hunting time the foxes won't run straight,-the wretches. They show no spirit, and will take to ground to save their brushes. Then comes a nipping frost, and skating is proclaimed; but the ice is always rough, and the

about it than

h top-boots and all the rest of it. And yet they whisper to me that he doesn't ride always to hounds. And to see him play billiards is

billiard-table

other one. Only you must be very careful about saying that you like anything before him, as he'll be sure to have it for you the next day. Mamma h

"He was going to Guestwick, and was very good-natured

. Dale, because he has left the army, and has set up as junior squire of the parish. Uncle Christopher is the real squire; only Berna

en live here?

icular. But he's Bernard's friend, and like most men, as one sees them, he never has much to do. Does Major Grantly ever go forth to fight his country's ba

ajor Grantly ha

Lily Dale to her mother that night. "I'm sure it will

se too much fo

ood to make her accustomed to speak of Major Grantly. From what Mary Walker tells

ready for what

r own powers. She should be made to understand that it is possible that eve

at to Nature, if I wer