himthen
—
he
slipped
through
my
fingers
—
was
after
Bulstrode
,
no
doubt
.
He
tells
me
he
can
tap
Bulstrode
to
any
amount
,
knows
all
his
secrets
.
However
,
he
blabbed
to
me
at
Bilkley
:
he
takes
a
stiff
glass
.
Damme
if
I
think
he
meant
to
turn
king
's
evidence
;
but
he
's
that
sort
of
bragging
fellow
,
the
bragging
runs
over
hedge
and
ditch
with
him
,
till
he
'd
brag
of
a
spavin
as
if
it
'
ud
fetch
money
.
A
man
should
know
when
to
pull
up
.
"
Mr.
Bambridge
made
this
remark
with
an
air
of
disgust
,
satisfied
that
his
own
bragging
showed
a
fine
sense
of
the
marketable
.
"
What
's
the
man
's
name
?
Where
can
he
be
found
?
"
said
Mr.
Hawley
.
"
As
to
where
he
is
to
be
found
,
I
left
him
to
it
at
the
Saracen
's
Head
;
but
his
name
is
Raffles
.
"
"
Raffles
!
"
exclaimed
Mr.
Hopkins
.
"
I
furnished
his
funeral
yesterday
.
He
was
buried
at
Lowick
.
Mr.
Bulstrode
followed
him
.
A
very
decent
funeral
.
"
There
was
a
strong
sensation
among
the
listeners
.
Mr.
Bambridge
gave
an
ejaculation
in
which
"
brimstone
"
was
the
mildest
word
,
and
Mr.
Hawley
,
knitting
his
brows
and
bending
his
head
forward
,
exclaimed
,
"
What
?
—
where
did
the
man
die
?
"
"
At
Stone
Court
,
"
said
the
draper
.
"
The
housekeeper
said
he
was
a
relation
of
the
master
's
.
He
came
there
ill
on
Friday
.
"
"
Why
,
it
was
on
Wednesday
I
took
a
glass
with
him
,
"
interposed
Bambridge
.
"
Did
any
doctor
attend
him
?
"
said
Mr.
Hawley
"
Yes
.
Mr.
Lydgate
.
Mr.
Bulstrode
sat
up
with
him
one
night
.
He
died
the
third
morning
.
"
"
Go
on
,
Bambridge
,
"
said
Mr.
Hawley
,
insistently
.
"
What
did
this
fellow
say
about
Bulstrode
?
"
The
group
had
already
become
larger
,
the
town-clerk
's
presence
being
a
guarantee
that
something
worth
listening
to
was
going
on
there
;
and
Mr.
Bambridge
delivered
his
narrative
in
the
hearing
of
seven
.
It
was
mainly
what
we
know
,
including
the
fact
about
Will
Ladislaw
,
with
some
local
colour
and
circumstance
added
:
it
was
what
Bulstrode
had
dreaded
the
betrayal
of
—
and
hoped
to
have
buried
forever
with
the
corpse
of
Raffles
—
it
was
that
haunting
ghost
of
his
earlier
life
which
as
he
rode
past
the
archway
of
the
Green
Dragon
he
was
trusting
that
Providence
had
delivered
him
from
.
Yes
,
Providence
.
He
had
not
confessed
to
himself
yet
that
he
had
done
anything
in
the
way
of
contrivance
to
this
end
;
he
had
accepted
what
seemed
to
have
been
offered
.
It
was
impossible
to
prove
that
he
had
done
anything
which
hastened
the
departure
of
that
man
's
soul
.
But
this
gossip
about
Bulstrode
spread
through
Middlemarch
like
the
smell
of
fire
.
Mr.
Frank
Hawley
followed
up
his
information
by
sending
a
clerk
whom
he
could
trust
to
Stone
Court
on
a
pretext
of
inquiring
about
hay
,
but
really
to
gather
all
that
could
be
learned
about
Raffles
and
his
illness
from
Mrs.
Abel
.
In
this
way
it
came
to
his
knowledge
that
Mr.
Garth
had
carried
the
man
to
Stone
Court
in
his
gig
;
and
Mr.
Hawley
in
consequence
took
an
opportunity
of
seeing
Caleb
,
calling
at
his
office
to
ask
whether
he
had
time
to
undertake
an
arbitration
if
it
were
required
,
and
then
asking
him
incidentally
about
Raffles
.
Caleb
was
betrayed
into
no
word
injurious
to
Bulstrode
beyond
the
fact
which
he
was
forced
to
admit
,
that
he
had
given
up
acting
for
him
within
the
last
week
.
Mr
Hawley
drew
his
inferences
,
and
feeling
convinced
that
Raffles
had
told
his
story
to
Garth
,
and
that
Garth
had
given
up
Bulstrode
's
affairs
in
consequence
,
said
so
a
few
hours
later
to
Mr.
Toller
.
The
statement
was
passed
on
until
it
had
quite
lost
the
stamp
of
an
inference
,
and
was
taken
as
information
coming
straight
from
Garth
,
so
that
even
a
diligent
historian
might
have
concluded
Caleb
to
be
the
chief
publisher
of
Bulstrode
's
misdemeanors
.
Mr.
Hawley
was
not
slow
to
perceive
that
there
was
no
handle
for
the
law
either
in
the
revelations
made
by
Raffles
or
in
the
circumstances
of
his
death
.
He
had
himself
ridden
to
Lowick
village
that
he
might
look
at
the
register
and
talk
over
the
whole
matter
with
Mr.
Farebrother
,
who
was
not
more
surprised
than
the
lawyer
that
an
ugly
secret
should
have
come
to
light
about
Bulstrode
,
though
he
had
always
had
justice
enough
in
him
to
hinder
his
antipathy
from
turning
into
conclusions
.
But
while
they
were
talking
another
combination
was
silently
going
forward
in
Mr.
Farebrother
's
mind
,
which
foreshadowed
what
was
soon
to
be
loudly
spoken
of
in
Middlemarch
as
a
necessary
"
putting
of
two
and
two
together
.
"
With
the
reasons
which
kept
Bulstrode
in
dread
of
Raffles
there
flashed
the
thought
that
the
dread
might
have
something
to
do
with
his
munificence
towards
his
medical
man
;
and
though
he
resisted
the
suggestion
that
it
had
been
consciously
accepted
in
any
way
as
a
bribe
,
he
had
a
foreboding
that
this
complication
of
things
might
be
of
malignant
effect
on
Lydgate
's
reputation
.
He
perceived
that
Mr.
Hawley
knew
nothing
at
present
of
the
sudden
relief
from
debt
,
and
he
himself
was
careful
to
glide
away
from
all
approaches
towards
the
subject
.
"
Well
,
"
he
said
,
with
a
deep
breath
,
wanting
to
wind
up
the
illimitable
discussion
of
what
might
have
been
,
though
nothing
could
be
legally
proven
,
"
it
is
a
strange
story
.
So
our
mercurial
Ladislaw
has
a
queer
genealogy
!
A
high-spirited
young
lady
and
a
musical
Polish
patriot
made
a
likely
enough
stock
for
him
to
spring
from
,
but
I
should
never
have
suspected
a
grafting
of
the
Jew
pawnbroker
.
However
,
there
's
no
knowing
what
a
mixture
will
turn
out
beforehand
.
Some
sorts
of
dirt
serve
to
clarify
.
"
"
It
's
just
what
I
should
have
expected
,
"
said
Mr.
Hawley
,
mounting
his
horse
.
"
Any
cursed
alien
blood
,
Jew
,
Corsican
,
or
Gypsy
.
"
"
I
know
he
's
one
of
your
black
sheep
,
Hawley
.
But
he
is
really
a
disinterested
,
unworldly
fellow
,
"
said
Mr.
Farebrother
,
smiling
.
"
Ay
,
ay
,
that
is
your
Whiggish
twist
,
"
said
Mr.
Hawley
,
who
had
been
in
the
habit
of
saying
apologetically
that
Farebrother
was
such
a
damned
pleasant
good-hearted
fellow
you
would
mistake
him
for
a
Tory
.
Mr.
Hawley
rode
home
without
thinking
of
Lydgate
's
attendance
on
Raffles
in
any
other
light
than
as
a
piece
of
evidence
on
the
side
of
Bulstrode
.
But
the
news
that
Lydgate
had
all
at
once
become
able
not
only
to
get
rid
of
the
execution
in
his
house
but
to
pay
all
his
debts
in
Middlemarch
was
spreading
fast
,
gathering
round
it
conjectures
and
comments
which
gave
it
new
body
and
impetus
,
and
soon
filling
the
ears
of
other
persons
besides
Mr.
Hawley
,
who
were
not
slow
to
see
a
significant
relation
between
this
sudden
command
of
money
and
Bulstrode
's
desire
to
stifle
the
scandal
of
Raffles
.
That
the
money
came
from
Bulstrode
would
infallibly
have
been
guessed
even
if
there
had
been
no
direct
evidence
of
it
;
for
it
had
beforehand
entered
into
the
gossip
about
Lydgate
's
affairs
,
that
neither
his
father-in-law
nor
his
own
family
would
do
anything
for
him
,
and
direct
evidence
was
furnished
not
only
by
a
clerk
at
the
Bank
,
but
by
innocent
Mrs.
Bulstrode
herself
,
who
mentioned
the
loan
to
Mrs.
Plymdale
,
who
mentioned
it
to
her
daughter-in-law
of
the
house
of
Toller
,
who
mentioned
it
generally
.
The
business
was
felt
to
be
so
public
and
important
that
it
required
dinners
to
feed
it
,
and
many
invitations
were
just
then
issued
and
accepted
on
the
strength
of
this
scandal
concerning
Bulstrode
and
Lydgate
;
wives
,
widows
,
and
single
ladies
took
their
work
and
went
out
to
tea
oftener
than
usual
;
and
all
public
conviviality
,
from
the
Green
Dragon
to
Dollop
's
,
gathered
a
zest
which
could
not
be
won
from
the
question
whether
the
Lords
would
throw
out
the
Reform
Bill
.
For
hardly
anybody
doubted
that
some
scandalous
reason
or
other
was
at
the
bottom
of
Bulstrode
's
liberality
to
Lydgate
.
Mr.
Hawley
indeed
,
in
the
first
instance
,
invited
a
select
party
,
including
the
two
physicians
,
with
Mr
Toller
and
Mr.
Wrench
,
expressly
to
hold
a
close
discussion
as
to
the
probabilities
of
Raffles
's
illness
,
reciting
to
them
all
the
particulars
which
had
been
gathered
from
Mrs.
Abel
in
connection
with
Lydgate
's
certificate
,
that
the
death
was
due
to
delirium
tremens
;
and
the
medical
gentlemen
,
who
all
stood
undisturbedly
on
the
old
paths
in
relation
to
this
disease
,
declared
that
they
could
see
nothing
in
these
particulars
which
could
be
transformed
into
a
positive
ground
of
suspicion
.
But
the
moral
grounds
of
suspicion
remained
:
the
strong
motives
Bulstrode
clearly
had
for
wishing
to
be
rid
of
Raffles
,
and
the
fact
that
at
this
critical
moment
he
had
given
Lydgate
the
help
which
he
must
for
some
time
have
known
the
need
for
;
the
disposition
,
moreover
,
to
believe
that
Bulstrode
would
be
unscrupulous
,
and
the
absence
of
any
indisposition
to
believe
that
Lydgate
might
be
as
easily
bribed
as
other
haughty-minded
men
when
they
have
found
themselves
in
want
of
money
.
Even
if
the
money
had
been
given
merely
to
make
him
hold
his
tongue
about
the
scandal
of
Bulstrode
's
earlier
life
,
the
fact
threw
an
odious
light
on
Lydgate
,
who
had
long
been
sneered
at
as
making
himself
subservient
to
the
banker
for
the
sake
of
working
himself
into
predominance
,
and
discrediting
the
elder
members
of
his
profession
.
Hence
,
in
spite
of
the
negative
as
to
any
direct
sign
of
guilt
in
relation
to
the
death
at
Stone
Court
,
Mr.
Hawley
's
select
party
broke
up
with
the
sense
that
the
affair
had
"
an
ugly
look
.
"
But
this
vague
conviction
of
indeterminable
guilt
,
which
was
enough
to
keep
up
much
head-shaking
and
biting
innuendo
even
among
substantial
professional
seniors
,
had
for
the
general
mind
all
the
superior
power
of
mystery
over
fact
.
Everybody
liked
better
to
conjecture
how
the
thing
was
,
than
simply
to
know
it
;
for
conjecture
soon
became
more
confident
than
knowledge
,
and
had
a
more
liberal
allowance
for
the
incompatible
.
Even
the
more
definite
scandal
concerning
Bulstrode
's
earlier
life
was
,
for
some
minds
,
melted
into
the
mass
of
mystery
,
as
so
much
lively
metal
to
be
poured
out
in
dialogue
,
and
to
take
such
fantastic
shapes
as
heaven
pleased
.
This
was
the
tone
of
thought
chiefly
sanctioned
by
Mrs.
Dollop
,
the
spirited
landlady
of
the
Tankard
in
Slaughter
Lane
,
who
had
often
to
resist
the
shallow
pragmatism
of
customers
disposed
to
think
that
their
reports
from
the
outer
world
were
of
equal
force
with
what
had
"
come
up
"
in
her
mind
.
How
it
had
been
brought
to
her
she
did
n't
know
,
but
it
was
there
before
her
as
if
it
had
been
"
scored
with
the
chalk
on
the
chimney-board
—
"
as
Bulstrode
should
say
,
"
his
inside
was
that
black
as
if
the
hairs
of
his
head
knowed
the
thoughts
of
his
heart
,
he
'd
tear
'
em
up
by
the
roots
.
"
"
That
's
odd
,
"
said
Mr.
Limp
,
a
meditative
shoemaker
,
with
weak
eyes
and
a
piping
voice
.
"
Why
,
I
read
in
the
'
Trumpet
'
that
was
what
the
Duke
of
Wellington
said
when
he
turned
his
coat
and
went
over
to
the
Romans
.
"
"
Very
like
,
"
said
Mrs.
Dollop
.
"
If
one
raskill
said
it
,
it
's
more
reason
why
another
should
.
But
hypo
crite
as
he
's
been
,
and
holding
things
with
that
high
hand
,
as
there
was
no
parson
i
'
the
country
good
enough
for
him
,
he
was
forced
to
take
Old
Harry
into
his
counsel
,
and
Old
Harry
's
been
too
many
for
him
.
"
"
Ay
,
ay
,
he
's
a
'
complice
you
ca
n't
send
out
o
'
the
country
,
"
said
Mr.
Crabbe
,
the
glazier
,
who
gathered
much
news
and
groped
among
it
dimly
.
"
But
by
what
I
can
make
out
,
there
's
them
says
Bulstrode
was
for
running
away
,
for
fear
o
'
being
found
out
,
before
now
.
"
"
He
'll
be
drove
away
,
whether
or
no
,
"
said
Mr.
Dill
,
the
barber
,
who
had
just
dropped
in
.
"
I
shaved
Fletcher
,
Hawley
's
clerk
,
this
morning
—
he
's
got
a
bad
finger
—
and
he
says
they
're
all
of
one
mind
to
get
rid
of
Bulstrode
.
Mr.
Thesiger
is
turned
against
him
,
and
wants
him
out
o
'
the
parish
.
And
there
's
gentlemen
in
this
town
says
they
'd
as
soon
dine
with
a
fellow
from
the
hulks
.
'
And
a
deal
sooner
I
would
,
'
says
Fletcher
;
'
for
what
's
more
against
one
's
stomach
than
a
man
coming
and
making
himself
bad
company
with
his
religion
,
and
giving
out
as
the
Ten
Commandments
are
not
enough
for
him
,
and
all
the
while
he
's
worse
than
half
the
men
at
the
tread-mill
?
'
Fletcher
said
so
himself
.
"
"
It
'll
be
a
bad
thing
for
the
town
though
,
if
Bulstrode
's
money
goes
out
of
it
,
"
said
Mr.
Limp
,
quaveringly
.
"
Ah
,
there
's
better
folks
spend
their
money
worse
,
"
said
a
firm-voiced
dyer
,
whose
crimson
hands
looked
out
of
keeping
with
his
good-natured
face
.
"
But
he
wo
n't
keep
his
money
,
by
what
I
can
make
out
,
"
said
the
glazier
.
"
Do
n't
they
say
as
there
's
somebody
can
strip
it
off
him
?
By
what
I
can
understan
'
,
they
could
take
every
penny
off
him
,
if
they
went
to
lawing
.
"
"
No
such
thing
!
"
said
the
barber
,
who
felt
himself
a
little
above
his
company
at
Dollop
's
,
but
liked
it
none
the
worse
.
"
Fletcher
says
it
's
no
such
thing
.
He
says
they
might
prove
over
and
over
again
whose
child
this
young
Ladislaw
was
,
and
they
'd
do
no
more
than
if
they
proved
I
came
out
of
the
Fens
—
he
could
n't
touch
a
penny
.
"
"
Look
you
there
now
!
"
said
Mrs.
Dollop
,
indignantly
.
"
I
thank
the
Lord
he
took
my
children
to
Himself
,
if
that
's
all
the
law
can
do
for
the
motherless
.
Then
by
that
,
it
's
o
'
no
use
who
your
father
and
mother
is
.
But
as
to
listening
to
what
one
lawyer
says
without
asking
another
—
I
wonder
at
a
man
o
'
your
cleverness
,
Mr.
Dill
.
It
's
well
known
there
's
always
two
sides
,
if
no
more
;
else
who
'd
go
to
law
,
I
should
like
to
know
?
It
's
a
poor
tale
,
with
all
the
law
as
there
is
up
and
down
,
if
it
's
no
use
proving
whose
child
you
are
.
Fletcher
may
say
that
if
he
likes
,
but
I
say
,
do
n't
Fletcher
me
!
"
Mr.
Dill
affected
to
laugh
in
a
complimentary
way
at
Mrs.
Dollop
,
as
a
woman
who
was
more
than
a
match
for
the
lawyers
;
being
disposed
to
submit
to
much
twitting
from
a
landlady
who
had
a
long
score
against
him
.
"
If
they
come
to
lawing
,
and
it
's
all
true
as
folks
say
,
there
's
more
to
be
looked
to
nor
money
,
"
said
the
glazier
.
"
There
's
this
poor
creetur
as
is
dead
and
gone
;
by
what
I
can
make
out
,
he
'd
seen
the
day
when
he
was
a
deal
finer
gentleman
nor
Bulstrode
.
"
"
Finer
gentleman
!
I
'll
warrant
him
,
"
said
Mrs.
Dollop
;
"
and
a
far
personabler
man
,
by
what
I
can
hear
.
As
I
said
when
Mr.
Baldwin
,
the
tax-gatherer
,
comes
in
,
a-standing
where
you
sit
,
and
says
,
'
Bulstrode
got
all
his
money
as
he
brought
into
this
town
by
thieving
and
swindling
,
'
—
I
said
,
'
You
do
n't
make
me
no
wiser
,
Mr.
Baldwin
:
it
's
set
my
blood
a-creeping
to
look
at
him
ever
sin
'
here
he
came
into
Slaughter
Lane
a-wanting
to
buy
the
house
over
my
head
:
folks
do
n't
look
the
colour
o
'
the
dough-tub
and
stare
at
you
as
if
they
wanted
to
see
into
your
backbone
for
nothingk
.
'
That
was
what
I
said
,
and
Mr.
Baldwin
can
bear
me
witness
.
"
"
And
in
the
rights
of
it
too
,
"
said
Mr.
Crabbe
.
"
For
by
what
I
can
make
out
,
this
Raffles
,
as
they
call
him
,
was
a
lusty
,
fresh-coloured
man
as
you
'd
wish
to
see
,
and
the
best
o
'
company
—
though
dead
he
lies
in
Lowick
churchyard
sure
enough
;
and
by
what
I
can
understan
'
,
there
's
them
knows
more
than
they
should
know
about
how
he
got
there
.
"
"
I
'll
believe
you
!
"
said
Mrs.
Dollop
,
with
a
touch
of
scorn
at
Mr.
Crabbe
's
apparent
dimness
.
"
When
a
man
's
been
'
ticed
to
a
lone
house
,
and
there
's
them
can
pay
for
hospitals
and
nurses
for
half
the
country-side
choose
to
be
sitters-up
night
and
day
,
and
nobody
to
come
near
but
a
doctor
as
is
known
to
stick
at
nothingk
,
and
as
poor
as
he
can
hang
together
,
and
after
that
so
flush
o
'
money
as
he
can
pay
off
Mr.
Byles
the
butcher
as
his
bill
has
been
running
on
for
the
best
o
'
joints
since
last
Michaelmas
was
a
twelvemonth
—
I
do
n't
want
anybody
to
come
and
tell
me
as
there
's
been
more
going
on
nor
the
Prayer-book
's
got
a
service
for
—
I
do
n't
want
to
stand
winking
and
blinking
and
thinking
.
"
Mrs.
Dollop
looked
round
with
the
air
of
a
landlady
accustomed
to
dominate
her
company
.
There
was
a
chorus
of
adhesion
from
the
more
courageous
;
but
Mr.
Limp
,
after
taking
a
draught
,
placed
his
flat
hands
together
and
pressed
them
hard
between
his
knees
,
looking
down
at
them
with
blear-eyed
contemplation
,
as
if
the
scorching
power
of
Mrs.
Dollop
's
speech
had
quite
dried
up
and
nullified
his
wits
until
they
could
be
brought
round
again
by
further
moisture
.
"
Why
should
n't
they
dig
the
man
up
and
have
the
Crowner
?
"
said
the
dyer
.
"
It
's
been
done
many
and
many
's
the
time
.
If
there
's
been
foul
play
they
might
find
it
out
.
"
"
Not
they
,
Mr.
Jonas
!
"
said
Mrs
Dollop
,
emphatically
.
"
I
know
what
doctors
are
.
They
're
a
deal
too
cunning
to
be
found
out
.
And
this
Doctor
Lydgate
that
's
been
for
cutting
up
everybody
before
the
breath
was
well
out
o
'
their
body
—
it
's
plain
enough
what
use
he
wanted
to
make
o
'
looking
into
respectable
people
's
insides
.
He
knows
drugs
,
you
may
be
sure
,
as
you
can
neither
smell
nor
see
,
neither
before
they
're
swallowed
nor
after
.
Why
,
I
've
seen
drops
myself
ordered
by
Doctor
Gambit
,
as
is
our
club
doctor
and
a
good
charikter
,
and
has
brought
more
live
children
into
the
world
nor
ever
another
i
'
Middlemarch
—
I
say
I
've
seen
drops
myself
as
made
no
difference
whether
they
was
in
the
glass
or
out
,
and
yet
have
griped
you
the
next
day
.
So
I
'll
leave
your
own
sense
to
judge
.
Do
n't
tell
me
!
All
I
say
is
,
it
's
a
mercy
they
did
n't
take
this
Doctor
Lydgate
on
to
our
club
.
There
's
many
a
mother
's
child
might
ha
'
rued
it
.
"
The
heads
of
this
discussion
at
"
Dollop
's
"
had
been
the
common
theme
among
all
classes
in
the
town
,
had
been
carried
to
Lowick
Parsonage
on
one
side
and
to
Tipton
Grange
on
the
other
,
had
come
fully
to
the
ears
of
the
Vincy
family
,
and
had
been
discussed
with
sad
reference
to
"
poor
Harriet
"
by
all
Mrs.
Bulstrode
's
friends
,
before
Lydgate
knew
distinctly
why
people
were
looking
strangely
at
him
,
and
before
Bulstrode
himself
suspected
the
betrayal
of
his
secrets
.
He
had
not
been
accustomed
to
very
cordial
relations
with
his
neighbors
,
and
hence
he
could
not
miss
the
signs
of
cordiality
;
moreover
,
he
had
been
taking
journeys
on
business
of
various
kinds
,
having
now
made
up
his
mind
that
he
need
not
quit
Middlemarch
,
and
feeling
able
consequently
to
determine
on
matters
which
he
had
before
left
in
suspense
.
"
We
will
make
a
journey
to
Cheltenham
in
the
course
of
a
month
or
two
,
"
he
had
said
to
his
wife
.
"
There
are
great
spiritual
advantages
to
be
had
in
that
town
along
with
the
air
and
the
waters
,
and
six
weeks
there
will
be
eminently
refreshing
to
us
.
"
He
really
believed
in
the
spiritual
advantages
,
and
meant
that
his
life
henceforth
should
be
the
more
devoted
because
of
those
later
sins
which
he
represented
to
himself
as
hypothetic
,
praying
hypothetically
for
their
pardon
:
—
"
if
I
have
herein
transgressed
.
"
As
to
the
Hospital
,
he
avoided
saying
anything
further
to
Lydgate
,
fearing
to
manifest
a
too
sudden
change
of
plans
immediately
on
the
death
of
Raffles
.
In
his
secret
soul
he
believed
that
Lydgate
suspected
his
orders
to
have
been
intentionally
disobeyed
,
and
suspecting
this
he
must
also
suspect
a
motive
.
But
nothing
had
been
betrayed
to
him
as
to
the
history
of
Raffles
,
and
Bulstrode
was
anxious
not
to
do
anything
which
would
give
emphasis
to
his
undefined
suspicions
.
As
to
any
certainty
that
a
particular
method
of
treatment
would
either
save
or
kill
,
Lydgate
himself
was
constantly
arguing
against
such
dogmatism
;
he
had
no
right
to
speak
,
and
he
had
every
motive
for
being
silent
.
Hence
Bulstrode
felt
himself
providentially
secured
.
The
only
incident
he
had
strongly
winced
under
had
been
an
occasional
encounter
with
Caleb
Garth
,
who
,
however
,
had
raised
his
hat
with
mild
gravity
.
Meanwhile
,
on
the
part
of
the
principal
townsmen
a
strong
determination
was
growing
against
him
.
A
meeting
was
to
be
held
in
the
Town-Hall
on
a
sanitary
question
which
had
risen
into
pressing
importance
by
the
occurrence
of
a
cholera
case
in
the
town
.
Since
the
Act
of
Parliament
,
which
had
been
hurriedly
passed
,
authorizing
assessments
for
sanitary
measures
,
there
had
been
a
Board
for
the
superintendence
of
such
measures
appointed
in
Middlemarch
,
and
much
cleansing
and
preparation
had
been
concurred
in
by
Whigs
and
Tories
.
The
question
now
was
,
whether
a
piece
of
ground
outside
the
town
should
be
secured
as
a
burial-ground
by
means
of
assessment
or
by
private
subscription
.
The
meeting
was
to
be
open
,
and
almost
everybody
of
importance
in
the
town
was
expected
to
be
there
.
Mr.
Bulstrode
was
a
member
of
the
Board
,
and
just
before
twelve
o'clock
he
started
from
the
Bank
with
the
intention
of
urging
the
plan
of
private
subscription
.
Under
the
hesitation
of
his
projects
,
he
had
for
some
time
kept
himself
in
the
background
,
and
he
felt
that
he
should
this
morning
resume
his
old
position
as
a
man
of
action
and
influence
in
the
public
affairs
of
the
town
where
he
expected
to
end
his
days
.
Among
the
various
persons
going
in
the
same
direction
,
he
saw
Lydgate
;
they
joined
,
talked
over
the
object
of
the
meeting
,
and
entered
it
together
.
It
seemed
that
everybody
of
mark
had
been
earlier
than
they
.
But
there
were
still
spaces
left
near
the
head
of
the
large
central
table
,
and
they
made
their
way
thither
.
Mr.
Farebrother
sat
opposite
,
not
far
from
Mr.
Hawley
;
all
the
medical
men
were
there
;
Mr.
Thesiger
was
in
the
chair
,
and
Mr.
Brooke
of
Tipton
was
on
his
right
hand
.
Lydgate
noticed
a
peculiar
interchange
of
glances
when
he
and
Bulstrode
took
their
seats
.
After
the
business
had
been
fully
opened
by
the
chairman
,
who
pointed
out
the
advantages
of
purchasing
by
subscription
a
piece
of
ground
large
enough
to
be
ultimately
used
as
a
general
cemetery
,
Mr.
Bulstrode
,
whose
rather
high-pitched
but
subdued
and
fluent
voice
the
town
was
used
to
at
meetings
of
this
sort
,
rose
and
asked
leave
to
deliver
his
opinion
.
Lydgate
could
see
again
the
peculiar
interchange
of
glances
before
Mr.
Hawley
started
up
,
and
said
in
his
firm
resonant
voice
,
"
Mr.
Chairman
,
I
request
that
before
any
one
delivers
his
opinion
on
this
point
I
may
be
permitted
to
speak
on
a
question
of
public
feeling
,
which
not
only
by
myself
,
but
by
many
gentlemen
present
,
is
regarded
as
preliminary
.
"
Mr.
Hawley
's
mode
of
speech
,
even
when
public
decorum
repressed
his
"
awful
language
,
"
was
formidable
in
its
curtness
and
self-possession
.
Mr.
Thesiger
sanctioned
the
request
,
Mr.
Bulstrode
sat
down
,
and
Mr.
Hawley
continued
.
"
In
what
I
have
to
say
,
Mr.
Chairman
,
I
am
not
speaking
simply
on
my
own
behalf
:
I
am
speaking
with
the
concurrence
and
at
the
express
request
of
no
fewer
than
eight
of
my
fellow-townsmen
,
who
are
immediately
around
us
.
It
is
our
united
sentiment
that
Mr.
Bulstrode
should
be
called
upon
—
and
I
do
now
call
upon
him
—
to
resign
public
positions
which
he
holds
not
simply
as
a
tax-payer
,
but
as
a
gentleman
among
gentlemen
.
There
are
practices
and
there
are
acts
which
,
owing
to
circumstances
,
the
law
cannot
visit
,
though
they
may
be
worse
than
many
things
which
are
legally
punishable
.
Honest
men
and
gentlemen
,
if
they
do
n't
want
the
company
of
people
who
perpetrate
such
acts
,
have
got
to
defend
themselves
as
they
best
can
,
and
that
is
what
I
and
the
friends
whom
I
may
call
my
clients
in
this
affair
are
determined
to
do
.
I
do
n't
say
that
Mr.
Bulstrode
has
been
guilty
of
shameful
acts
,
but
I
call
upon
him
either
publicly
to
deny
and
confute
the
scandalous
statements
made
against
him
by
a
man
now
dead
,
and
who
died
in
his
house
—
the
statement
that
he
was
for
many
years
engaged
in
nefarious
practices
,
and
that
he
won
his
fortune
by
dishonest
procedures
—
or
else
to
withdraw
from
positions
which
could
only
have
been
allowed
him
as
a
gentleman
among
gentlemen
.
"
All
eyes
in
the
room
were
turned
on
Mr.
Bulstrode
,
who
,
since
the
first
mention
of
his
name
,
had
been
going
through
a
crisis
of
feeling
almost
too
violent
for
his
delicate
frame
to
support
.
Lydgate
,
who
himself
was
undergoing
a
shock
as
from
the
terrible
practical
interpretation
of
some
faint
augury
,
felt
,
nevertheless
,
that
his
own
movement
of
resentful
hatred
was
checked
by
that
instinct
of
the
Healer
which
thinks
first
of
bringing
rescue
or
relief
to
the
sufferer
,
when
he
looked
at
the
shrunken
misery
of
Bulstrode
's
livid
face
.
The
quick
vision
that
his
life
was
after
all
a
failure
,
that
he
was
a
dishonoured
man
,
and
must
quail
before
the
glance
of
those
towards
whom
he
had
habitually
assumed
the
attitude
of
a
reprover
—
that
God
had
disowned
him
before
men
and
left
him
unscreened
to
the
triumphant
scorn
of
those
who
were
glad
to
have
their
hatred
justified
—
the
sense
of
utter
futility
in
that
equivocation
with
his
conscience
in
dealing
with
the
life
of
his
accomplice
,
an
equivocation
which
now
turned
venomously
upon
him
with
the
full-grown
fang
of
a
discovered
lie
:
—
all
this
rushed
through
him
like
the
agony
of
terror
which
fails
to
kill
,
and
leaves
the
ears
still
open
to
the
returning
wave
of
execration
.
The
sudden
sense
of
exposure
after
the
re-established
sense
of
safety
came
—
not
to
the
coarse
organization
of
a
criminal
,
but
to
the
susceptible
nerve
of
a
man
whose
intensest
being
lay
in
such
mastery
and
predominance
as
the
conditions
of
his
life
had
shaped
for
him
.
But
in
that
intense
being
lay
the
strength
of
reaction
.
Through
all
his
bodily
infirmity
there
ran
a
tenacious
nerve
of
ambitious
self-preserving
will
,
which
had
continually
leaped
out
like
a
flame
,
scattering
all
doctrinal
fears
,
and
which
,
even
while
he
sat
an
object
of
compassion
for
the
merciful
,
was
beginning
to
stir
and
glow
under
his
ashy
paleness
.
Before
the
last
words
were
out
of
Mr.
Hawley
's
mouth
,
Bulstrode
felt
that
he
should
answer
,
and
that
his
answer
would
be
a
retort
.
He
dared
not
get
up
and
say
,
"
I
am
not
guilty
,
the
whole
story
is
false
"
—
even
if
he
had
dared
this
,
it
would
have
seemed
to
him
,
under
his
present
keen
sense
of
betrayal
,
as
vain
as
to
pull
,
for
covering
to
his
nakedness
,
a
frail
rag
which
would
rend
at
every
little
strain
.
For
a
few
moments
there
was
total
silence
,
while
every
man
in
the
room
was
looking
at
Bulstrode
.
He
sat
perfectly
still
,
leaning
hard
against
the
back
of
his
chair
;
he
could
not
venture
to
rise
,
and
when
he
began
to
speak
he
pressed
his
hands
upon
the
seat
on
each
side
of
him
.
But
his
voice
was
perfectly
audible
,
though
hoarser
than
usual
,
and
his
words
were
distinctly
pronounced
,
though
he
paused
between
sentence
as
if
short
of
breath
.
He
said
,
turning
first
toward
Mr.
Thesiger
,
and
then
looking
at
Mr.
Hawley
—
"
I
protest
before
you
,
sir
,
as
a
Christian
minister
,
against
the
sanction
of
proceedings
towards
me
which
are
dictated
by
virulent
hatred
.
Those
who
are
hostile
to
me
are
glad
to
believe
any
libel
uttered
by
a
loose
tongue
against
me
.
And
their
consciences
become
strict
against
me
.
Say
that
the
evil-speaking
of
which
I
am
to
be
made
the
victim
accuses
me
of
malpractices
—
"
here
Bulstrode
's
voice
rose
and
took
on
a
more
biting
accent
,
till
it
seemed
a
low
cry
—
"
who
shall
be
my
accuser
?
Not
men
whose
own
lives
are
unchristian
,
nay
,
scandalous
—
not
men
who
themselves
use
low
instruments
to
carry
out
their
ends
—
whose
profession
is
a
tissue
of
chicanery
—
who
have
been
spending
their
income
on
their
own
sensual
enjoyments
,
while
I
have
been
devoting
mine
to
advance
the
best
objects
with
regard
to
this
life
and
the
next
.
"
After
the
word
chicanery
there
was
a
growing
noise
,
half
of
murmurs
and
half
of
hisses
,
while
four
persons
started
up
at
once
—
Mr.
Hawley
,
Mr.
Toller
,
Mr.
Chichely
,
and
Mr.
Hackbutt
;
but
Mr.
Hawley
's
outburst
was
instantaneous
,
and
left
the
others
behind
in
silence
.
"
If
you
mean
me
,
sir
,
I
call
you
and
every
one
else
to
the
inspection
of
my
professional
life
.
As
to
Christian
or
unchristian
,
I
repudiate
your
canting
palavering
Christianity
;
and
as
to
the
way
in
which
I
spend
my
income
,
it
is
not
my
principle
to
maintain
thieves
and
cheat
offspring
of
their
due
inheritance
in
order
to
support
religion
and
set
myself
up
as
a
saintly
Killjoy
.
I
affect
no
niceness
of
conscience
—
I
have
not
found
any
nice
standards
necessary
yet
to
measure
your
actions
by
,
sir
.
And
I
again
call
upon
you
to
enter
into
satisfactory
explanations
concerning
the
scandals
against
you
,
or
else
to
withdraw
from
posts
in
which
we
at
any
rate
decline
you
as
a
colleague
.
I
say
,
sir
,
we
decline
to
co-operate
with
a
man
whose
character
is
not
cleared
from
infamous
lights
cast
upon
it
,
not
only
by
reports
but
by
recent
actions
.
"
"
Allow
me
,
Mr.
Hawley
,
"
said
the
chairman
;
and
Mr.
Hawley
,
still
fuming
,
bowed
half
impatiently
,
and
sat
down
with
his
hands
thrust
deep
in
his
pockets
.
"
Mr.
Bulstrode
,
it
is
not
desirable
,
I
think
,
to
prolong
the
present
discussion
,
"
said
Mr.
Thesiger
,
turning
to
the
pallid
trembling
man
;
"
I
must
so
far
concur
with
what
has
fallen
from
Mr.
Hawley
in
expression
of
a
general
feeling
,
as
to
think
it
due
to
your
Christian
profession
that
you
should
clear
yourself
,
if
possible
,
from
unhappy
aspersions
.
I
for
my
part
should
be
willing
to
give
you
full
opportunity
and
hearing
.
But
I
must
say
that
your
present
attitude
is
painfully
inconsistent
with
those
principles
which
you
have
sought
to
identify
yourself
with
,
and
for
the
honour
of
which
I
am
bound
to
care
.
I
recommend
you
at
present
,
as
your
clergyman
,
and
one
who
hopes
for
your
reinstatement
in
respect
,
to
quit
the
room
,
and
avoid
further
hindrance
to
business
.
"
Bulstrode
,
after
a
moment
's
hesitation
,
took
his
hat
from
the
floor
and
slowly
rose
,
but
he
grasped
the
corner
of
the
chair
so
totteringly
that
Lydgate
felt
sure
there
was
not
strength
enough
in
him
to
walk
away
without
support
.
What
could
he
do
?
He
could
not
see
a
man
sink
close
to
him
for
want
of
help
.
He
rose
and
gave
his
arm
to
Bulstrode
,
and
in
that
way
led
him
out
of
the
room
;
yet
this
act
,
which
might
have
been
one
of
gentle
duty
and
pure
compassion
,
was
at
this
moment
unspeakably
bitter
to
him
.
It
seemed
as
if
he
were
putting
his
sign-manual
to
that
association
of
himself
with
Bulstrode
,
of
which
he
now
saw
the
full
meaning
as
it
must
have
presented
itself
to
other
minds
.
He
now
felt
the
conviction
that
this
man
who
was
leaning
tremblingly
on
his
arm
,
had
given
him
the
thousand
pounds
as
a
bribe
,
and
that
somehow
the
treatment
of
Raffles
had
been
tampered
with
from
an
evil
motive
.
The
inferences
were
closely
linked
enough
;
the
town
knew
of
the
loan
,
believed
it
to
be
a
bribe
,
and
believed
that
he
took
it
as
a
bribe
.
Poor
Lydgate
,
his
mind
struggling
under
the
terrible
clutch
of
this
revelation
,
was
all
the
while
morally
forced
to
take
Mr.
Bulstrode
to
the
Bank
,
send
a
man
off
for
his
carriage
,
and
wait
to
accompany
him
home
.
Meanwhile
the
business
of
the
meeting
was
despatched
,
and
fringed
off
into
eager
discussion
among
various
groups
concerning
this
affair
of
Bulstrode
—
and
Lydgate
.
Mr.
Brooke
,
who
had
before
heard
only
imperfect
hints
of
it
,
and
was
very
uneasy
that
he
had
"
gone
a
little
too
far
"
in
countenancing
Bulstrode
,
now
got
himself
fully
informed
,
and
felt
some
benevolent
sadness
in
talking
to
Mr.
Farebrother
about
the
ugly
light
in
which
Lydgate
had
come
to
be
regarded
.
Mr.
Farebrother
was
going
to
walk
back
to
Lowick
.
"
Step
into
my
carriage
,
"
said
Mr.
Brooke
.
"
I
am
going
round
to
see
Mrs.
Casaubon
.
She
was
to
come
back
from
Yorkshire
last
night
.
She
will
like
to
see
me
,
you
know
.
"
So
they
drove
along
,
Mr.
Brooke
chatting
with
good-natured
hope
that
there
had
not
really
been
anything
black
in
Lydgate
's
behavior
—
a
young
fellow
whom
he
had
seen
to
be
quite
above
the
common
mark
,
when
he
brought
a
letter
from
his
uncle
Sir
Godwin
.
Mr.
Farebrother
said
little
:
he
was
deeply
mournful
:
with
a
keen
perception
of
human
weakness
,
he
could
not
be
confident
that
under
the
pressure
of
humiliating
needs
Lydgate
had
not
fallen
below
himself
.
When
the
carriage
drove
up
to
the
gate
of
the
Manor
,
Dorothea
was
out
on
the
gravel
,
and
came
to
greet
them
.
"
Well
,
my
dear
,
"
said
Mr.
Brooke
,
"
we
have
just
come
from
a
meeting
—
a
sanitary
meeting
,
you
know
.
"
"
Was
Mr.
Lydgate
there
?
"
said
Dorothea
,
who
looked
full
of
health
and
animation
,
and
stood
with
her
head
bare
under
the
gleaming
April
lights
.
"
I
want
to
see
him
and
have
a
great
consultation
with
him
about
the
Hospital
.
I
have
engaged
with
Mr.
Bulstrode
to
do
so
.
"
"
Oh
,
my
dear
,
"
said
Mr.
Brooke
,
"
we
have
been
hearing
bad
news
—
bad
news
,
you
know
.
"
They
walked
through
the
garden
towards
the
churchyard
gate
,
Mr.
Farebrother
wanting
to
go
on
to
the
parsonage
;
and
Dorothea
heard
the
whole
sad
story
.
She
listened
with
deep
interest
,
and
begged
to
hear
twice
over
the
facts
and
impressions
concerning
Lydgate
.
After
a
short
silence
,
pausing
at
the
churchyard
gate
,
and
addressing
Mr.
Farebrother
,
she
said
energetically
—
"
You
do
n't
believe
that
Mr.
Lydgate
is
guilty
of
anything
base
?
I
will
not
believe
it
.
Let
us
find
out
the
truth
and
clear
him
!
"
BOOK
VIII
.
SUNSET
AND
SUNRISE
.
CHAPTER
LXXII
.
Full
souls
are
double
mirrors
,
making
still
An
endless
vista
of
fair
things
before
,
Repeating
things
behind
.
Dorothea
's
impetuous
generosity
,
which
would
have
leaped
at
once
to
the
vindication
of
Lydgate
from
the
suspicion
of
having
accepted
money
as
a
bribe
,
underwent
a
melancholy
check
when
she
came
to
consider
all
the
circumstances
of
the
case
by
the
light
of
Mr.
Farebrother
's
experience
.
"
It
is
a
delicate
matter
to
touch
,
"
he
said
.
"
How
can
we
begin
to
inquire
into
it
?
It
must
be
either
publicly
by
setting
the
magistrate
and
coroner
to
work
,
or
privately
by
questioning
Lydgate
.
As
to
the
first
proceeding
there
is
no
solid
ground
to
go
upon
,
else
Hawley
would
have
adopted
it
;
and
as
to
opening
the
subject
with
Lydgate
,
I
confess
I
should
shrink
from
it
.
He
would
probably
take
it
as
a
deadly
insult
.
I
have
more
than
once
experienced
the
difficulty
of
speaking
to
him
on
personal
matters
.
And
—
one
should
know
the
truth
about
his
conduct
beforehand
,
to
feel
very
confident
of
a
good
result
.
"
"
I
feel
convinced
that
his
conduct
has
not
been
guilty
:
I
believe
that
people
are
almost
always
better
than
their
neighbors
think
they
are
,
"
said
Dorothea
.
Some
of
her
intensest
experience
in
the
last
two
years
had
set
her
mind
strongly
in
opposition
to
any
unfavourable
construction
of
others
;
and
for
the
first
time
she
felt
rather
discontented
with
Mr.
Farebrother
.
She
disliked
this
cautious
weighing
of
consequences
,
instead
of
an
ardent
faith
in
efforts
of
justice
and
mercy
,
which
would
conquer
by
their
emotional
force
.
Two
days
afterwards
,
he
was
dining
at
the
Manor
with
her
uncle
and
the
Chettams
,
and
when
the
dessert
was
standing
uneaten
,
the
servants
were
out
of
the
room
,
and
Mr.
Brooke
was
nodding
in
a
nap
,
she
returned
to
the
subject
with
renewed
vivacity
.
"
Mr.
Lydgate
would
understand
that
if
his
friends
hear
a
calumny
about
him
their
first
wish
must
be
to
justify
him
.
What
do
we
live
for
,
if
it
is
not
to
make
life
less
difficult
to
each
other
?
I
cannot
be
indifferent
to
the
troubles
of
a
man
who
advised
me
in
my
trouble
,
and
attended
me
in
my
illness
.
"
Dorothea
's
tone
and
manner
were
not
more
energetic
than
they
had
been
when
she
was
at
the
head
of
her
uncle
's
table
nearly
three
years
before
,
and
her
experience
since
had
given
her
more
right
to
express
a
decided
opinion
.
But
Sir
James
Chettam
was
no
longer
the
diffident
and
acquiescent
suitor
:
he
was
the
anxious
brother-in-law
,
with
a
devout
admiration
for
his
sister
,
but
with
a
constant
alarm
lest
she
should
fall
under
some
new
illusion
almost
as
bad
as
marrying
Casaubon
.
He
smiled
much
less
;
when
he
said
"
Exactly
"
it
was
more
often
an
introduction
to
a
dissentient
opinion
than
in
those
submissive
bachelor
days
;
and
Dorothea
found
to
her
surprise
that
she
had
to
resolve
not
to
be
afraid
of
him
—
all
the
more
because
he
was
really
her
best
friend
.
He
disagreed
with
her
now
.
"
But
,
Dorothea
,
"
he
said
,
remonstrantly
,
"
you
ca
n't
undertake
to
manage
a
man
's
life
for
him
in
that
way
.
Lydgate
must
know
—
at
least
he
will
soon
come
to
know
how
he
stands
.
If
he
can
clear
himself
,
he
will
.
He
must
act
for
himself
.
"
"
I
think
his
friends
must
wait
till
they
find
an
opportunity
,
"
added
Mr.
Farebrother
.
"
It
is
possible
—
I
have
often
felt
so
much
weakness
in
myself
that
I
can
conceive
even
a
man
of
honourable
disposition
,
such
as
I
have
always
believed
Lydgate
to
be
,
succumbing
to
such
a
temptation
as
that
of
accepting
money
which
was
offered
more
or
less
indirectly
as
a
bribe
to
insure
his
silence
about
scandalous
facts
long
gone
by
.
I
say
,
I
can
conceive
this
,
if
he
were
under
the
pressure
of
hard
circumstances
—
if
he
had
been
harassed
as
I
feel
sure
Lydgate
has
been
.
I
would
not
believe
anything
worse
of
him
except
under
stringent
proof
.
But
there
is
the
terrible
Nemesis
following
on
some
errors
,
that
it
is
always
possible
for
those
who
like
it
to
interpret
them
into
a
crime
:
there
is
no
proof
in
favour
of
the
man
outside
his
own
consciousness
and
assertion
.
"
"
Oh
,
how
cruel
!
"
said
Dorothea
,
clasping
her
hands
.
"
And
would
you
not
like
to
be
the
one
person
who
believed
in
that
man
's
innocence
,
if
the
rest
of
the
world
belied
him
?
Besides
,
there
is
a
man
's
character
beforehand
to
speak
for
him
.
"
"
But
,
my
dear
Mrs.
Casaubon
,
"
said
Mr.
Farebrother
,
smiling
gently
at
her
ardor
,
"
character
is
not
cut
in
marble
—
it
is
not
something
solid
and
unalterable
.
It
is
something
living
and
changing
,
and
may
become
diseased
as
our
bodies
do
.
"
"
Then
it
may
be
rescued
and
healed
,
"
said
Dorothea
"
I
should
not
be
afraid
of
asking
Mr.
Lydgate
to
tell
me
the
truth
,
that
I
might
help
him
.
Why
should
I
be
afraid
?
Now
that
I
am
not
to
have
the
land
,
James
,
I
might
do
as
Mr.
Bulstrode
proposed
,
and
take
his
place
in
providing
for
the
Hospital
;
and
I
have
to
consult
Mr.
Lydgate
,
to
know
thoroughly
what
are
the
prospects
of
doing
good
by
keeping
up
the
present
plans
.
There
is
the
best
opportunity
in
the
world
for
me
to
ask
for
his
confidence
;
and
he
would
be
able
to
tell
me
things
which
might
make
all
the
circumstances
clear
.
Then
we
would
all
stand
by
him
and
bring
him
out
of
his
trouble
.
People
glorify
all
sorts
of
bravery
except
the
bravery
they
might
show
on
behalf
of
their
nearest
neighbors
.
"
Dorothea
's
eyes
had
a
moist
brightness
in
them
,
and
the
changed
tones
of
her
voice
roused
her
uncle
,
who
began
to
listen
.
"
It
is
true
that
a
woman
may
venture
on
some
efforts
of
sympathy
which
would
hardly
succeed
if
we
men
undertook
them
,
"
said
Mr.
Farebrother
,
almost
converted
by
Dorothea
's
ardor
.
"
Surely
,
a
woman
is
bound
to
be
cautious
and
listen
to
those
who
know
the
world
better
than
she
does
.
"
said
Sir
James
,
with
his
little
frown
.
"
Whatever
you
do
in
the
end
,
Dorothea
,
you
should
really
keep
back
at
present
,
and
not
volunteer
any
meddling
with
this
Bulstrode
business
.
We
do
n't
know
yet
what
may
turn
up
.
You
must
agree
with
me
?
"
he
ended
,
looking
at
Mr.
Farebrother
.
"
I
do
think
it
would
be
better
to
wait
,
"
said
the
latter
.
"
Yes
,
yes
,
my
dear
,
"
said
Mr.
Brooke
,
not
quite
knowing
at
what
point
the
discussion
had
arrived
,
but
coming
up
to
it
with
a
contribution
which
was
generally
appropriate
.
"
It
is
easy
to
go
too
far
,
you
know
.
You
must
not
let
your
ideas
run
away
with
you
.
And
as
to
being
in
a
hurry
to
put
money
into
schemes
—
it
wo
n't
do
,
you
know
.
Garth
has
drawn
me
in
uncommonly
with
repairs
,
draining
,
that
sort
of
thing
:
I
'm
uncommonly
out
of
pocket
with
one
thing
or
another
.
I
must
pull
up
.
As
for
you
,
Chettam
,
you
are
spending
a
fortune
on
those
oak
fences
round
your
demesne
.
"
Dorothea
,
submitting
uneasily
to
this
discouragement
,
went
with
Celia
into
the
library
,
which
was
her
usual
drawing-room
.
"
Now
,
Dodo
,
do
listen
to
what
James
says
,
"
said
Celia
,
"
else
you
will
be
getting
into
a
scrape
.
You
always
did
,
and
you
always
will
,
when
you
set
about
doing
as
you
please
.
And
I
think
it
is
a
mercy
now
after
all
that
you
have
got
James
to
think
for
you
.
He
lets
you
have
your
plans
,
only
he
hinders
you
from
being
taken
in
.
And
that
is
the
good
of
having
a
brother
instead
of
a
husband
.
A
husband
would
not
let
you
have
your
plans
.
"
"
As
if
I
wanted
a
husband
!
"
said
Dorothea
.
"
I
only
want
not
to
have
my
feelings
checked
at
every
turn
.
"
Mrs.
Casaubon
was
still
undisciplined
enough
to
burst
into
angry
tears
.
"
Now
,
really
,
Dodo
,
"
said
Celia
,
with
rather
a
deeper
guttural
than
usual
,
"
you
are
contradictory
:
first
one
thing
and
then
another
.
You
used
to
submit
to
Mr.
Casaubon
quite
shamefully
:
I
think
you
would
have
given
up
ever
coming
to
see
me
if
he
had
asked
you
.
"
"
Of
course
I
submitted
to
him
,
because
it
was
my
duty
;
it
was
my
feeling
for
him
,
"
said
Dorothea
,
looking
through
the
prism
of
her
tears
.
"
Then
why
ca
n't
you
think
it
your
duty
to
submit
a
little
to
what
James
wishes
?
"
said
Celia
,
with
a
sense
of
stringency
in
her
argument
.
"
Because
he
only
wishes
what
is
for
your
own
good
.
And
,
of
course
,
men
know
best
about
everything
,
except
what
women
know
better
.
"
Dorothea
laughed
and
forgot
her
tears
.
"
Well
,
I
mean
about
babies
and
those
things
,
"
explained
Celia
.
"
I
should
not
give
up
to
James
when
I
knew
he
was
wrong
,
as
you
used
to
do
to
Mr.
Casaubon
.
"
CHAPTER
LXXIII
.
Pity
the
laden
one
;
this
wandering
woe
May
visit
you
and
me
.
When
Lydgate
had
allayed
Mrs.
Bulstrode
's
anxiety
by
telling
her
that
her
husband
had
been
seized
with
faintness
at
the
meeting
,
but
that
he
trusted
soon
to
see
him
better
and
would
call
again
the
next
day
,
unless
she
sent
for
him
earlier
,
he
went
directly
home
,
got
on
his
horse
,
and
rode
three
miles
out
of
the
town
for
the
sake
of
being
out
of
reach
.
He
felt
himself
becoming
violent
and
unreasonable
as
if
raging
under
the
pain
of
stings
:
he
was
ready
to
curse
the
day
on
which
he
had
come
to
Middlemarch
.
Everything
that
bad
happened
to
him
there
seemed
a
mere
preparation
for
this
hateful
fatality
,
which
had
come
as
a
blight
on
his
honourable
ambition
,
and
must
make
even
people
who
had
only
vulgar
standards
regard
his
reputation
as
irrevocably
damaged
.
In
such
moments
a
man
can
hardly
escape
being
unloving
.
Lydgate
thought
of
himself
as
the
sufferer
,
and
of
others
as
the
agents
who
had
injured
his
lot
.
He
had
meant
everything
to
turn
out
differently
;
and
others
had
thrust
themselves
into
his
life
and
thwarted
his
purposes
.
His
marriage
seemed
an
unmitigated
calamity
;
and
he
was
afraid
of
going
to
Rosamond
before
he
had
vented
himself
in
this
solitary
rage
,
lest
the
mere
sight
of
her
should
exasperate
him
and
make
him
behave
unwarrantably
.
There
are
episodes
in
most
men
's
lives
in
which
their
highest
qualities
can
only
cast
a
deterring
shadow
over
the
objects
that
fill
their
inward
vision
:
Lydgate
's
tenderheartedness
was
present
just
then
only
as
a
dread
lest
he
should
offend
against
it
,
not
as
an
emotion
that
swayed
him
to
tenderness
.
For
he
was
very
miserable
.
Only
those
who
know
the
supremacy
of
the
intellectual
life
—
the
life
which
has
a
seed
of
ennobling
thought
and
purpose
within
it
—
can
understand
the
grief
of
one
who
falls
from
that
serene
activity
into
the
absorbing
soul-wasting
struggle
with
worldly
annoyances
.
How
was
he
to
live
on
without
vindicating
himself
among
people
who
suspected
him
of
baseness
?
How
could
he
go
silently
away
from
Middlemarch
as
if
he
were
retreating
before
a
just
condemnation
?
And
yet
how
was
he
to
set
about
vindicating
himself
?
For
that
scene
at
the
meeting
,
which
he
had
just
witnessed
,
although
it
had
told
him
no
particulars
,
had
been
enough
to
make
his
own
situation
thoroughly
clear
to
him
.
Bulstrode
had
been
in
dread
of
scandalous
disclosures
on
the
part
of
Raffles
.
Lydgate
could
now
construct
all
the
probabilities
of
the
case
.
"
He
was
afraid
of
some
betrayal
in
my
hearing
:
all
he
wanted
was
to
bind
me
to
him
by
a
strong
obligation
:
that
was
why
he
passed
on
a
sudden
from
hardness
to
liberality
.
And
he
may
have
tampered
with
the
patient
—
he
may
have
disobeyed
my
orders
.
I
fear
he
did
.
But
whether
he
did
or
not
,
the
world
believes
that
he
somehow
or
other
poisoned
the
man
and
that
I
winked
at
the
crime
,
if
I
did
n't
help
in
it
.
And
yet
—
and
yet
he
may
not
be
guilty
of
the
last
offence
;
and
it
is
just
possible
that
the
change
towards
me
may
have
been
a
genuine
relenting
—
the
effect
of
second
thoughts
such
as
he
alleged
.
What
we
call
the
'
just
possible
'
is
sometimes
true
and
the
thing
we
find
it
easier
to
believe
is
grossly
false
.
In
his
last
dealings
with
this
man
Bulstrode
may
have
kept
his
hands
pure
,
in
spite
of
my
suspicion
to
the
contrary
.
"
There
was
a
benumbing
cruelty
in
his
position
.
Even
if
he
renounced
every
other
consideration
than
that
of
justifying
himself
—
if
he
met
shrugs
,
cold
glances
,
and
avoidance
as
an
accusation
,
and
made
a
public
statement
of
all
the
facts
as
he
knew
them
,
who
would
be
convinced
?
It
would
be
playing
the
part
of
a
fool
to
offer
his
own
testimony
on
behalf
of
himself
,
and
say
,
"
I
did
not
take
the
money
as
a
bribe
.
"
The
circumstances
would
always
be
stronger
than
his
assertion
.
And
besides
,
to
come
forward
and
tell
everything
about
himself
must
include
declarations
about
Bulstrode
which
would
darken
the
suspicions
of
others
against
him
.
He
must
tell
that
he
had
not
known
of
Raffles
's
existence
when
he
first
mentioned
his
pressing
need
of
money
to
Bulstrode
,
and
that
he
took
the
money
innocently
as
a
result
of
that
communication
,
not
knowing
that
a
new
motive
for
the
loan
might
have
arisen
on
his
being
called
in
to
this
man
.
And
after
all
,
the
suspicion
of
Bulstrode
's
motives
might
be
unjust
.
But
then
came
the
question
whether
he
should
have
acted
in
precisely
the
same
way
if
he
had
not
taken
the
money
?
Certainly
,
if
Raffles
had
continued
alive
and
susceptible
of
further
treatment
when
he
arrived
,
and
he
had
then
imagined
any
disobedience
to
his
orders
on
the
part
of
Bulstrode
,
he
would
have
made
a
strict
inquiry
,
and
if
his
conjecture
had
been
verified
he
would
have
thrown
up
the
case
,
in
spite
of
his
recent
heavy
obligation
.
But
if
he
had
not
received
any
money
—
if
Bulstrode
had
never
revoked
his
cold
recommendation
of
bankruptcy
—
would
he
,
Lydgate
,
have
abstained
from
all
inquiry
even
on
finding
the
man
dead
?
—
would
the
shrinking
from
an
insult
to
Bulstrode
—
would
the
dubiousness
of
all
medical
treatment
and
the
argument
that
his
own
treatment
would
pass
for
the
wrong
with
most
members
of
his
profession
—
have
had
just
the
same
force
or
significance
with
him
?
That
was
the
uneasy
corner
of
Lydgate
's
consciousness
while
he
was
reviewing
the
facts
and
resisting
all
reproach
.
If
he
had
been
independent
,
this
matter
of
a
patient
's
treatment
and
the
distinct
rule
that
he
must
do
or
see
done
that
which
he
believed
best
for
the
life
committed
to
him
,
would
have
been
the
point
on
which
he
would
have
been
the
sturdiest
.
As
it
was
,
he
had
rested
in
the
consideration
that
disobedience
to
his
orders
,
however
it
might
have
arisen
,
could
not
be
considered
a
crime
,
that
in
the
dominant
opinion
obedience
to
his
orders
was
just
as
likely
to
be
fatal
,
and
that
the
affair
was
simply
one
of
etiquette
.
Whereas
,
again
and
again
,
in
his
time
of
freedom
,
he
had
denounced
the
perversion
of
pathological
doubt
into
moral
doubt
and
had
said
—
"
the
purest
experiment
in
treatment
may
still
be
conscientious
:
my
business
is
to
take
care
of
life
,
and
to
do
the
best
I
can
think
of
for
it
.
Science
is
properly
more
scrupulous
than
dogma
.
Dogma
gives
a
charter
to
mistake
,
but
the
very
breath
of
science
is
a
contest
with
mistake
,
and
must
keep
the
conscience
alive
.
"
Alas
!
the
scientific
conscience
had
got
into
the
debasing
company
of
money
obligation
and
selfish
respects
.
"
Is
there
a
medical
man
of
them
all
in
Middlemarch
who
would
question
himself
as
I
do
?
"
said
poor
Lydgate
,
with
a
renewed
outburst
of
rebellion
against
the
oppression
of
his
lot
.
"
And
yet
they
will
all
feel
warranted
in
making
a
wide
space
between
me
and
them
,
as
if
I
were
a
leper
!
My
practice
and
my
reputation
are
utterly
damned
—
I
can
see
that
.
Even
if
I
could
be
cleared
by
valid
evidence
,
it
would
make
little
difference
to
the
blessed
world
here
.
I
have
been
set
down
as
tainted
and
should
be
cheapened
to
them
all
the
same
.
"
Already
there
had
been
abundant
signs
which
had
hitherto
puzzled
him
,
that
just
when
he
had
been
paying
off
his
debts
and
getting
cheerfully
on
his
feet
,
the
townsmen
were
avoiding
him
or
looking
strangely
at
him
,
and
in
two
instances
it
came
to
his
knowledge
that
patients
of
his
had
called
in
another
practitioner
.
The
reasons
were
too
plain
now
.
The
general
black-balling
had
begun
.
No
wonder
that
in
Lydgate
's
energetic
nature
the
sense
of
a
hopeless
misconstruction
easily
turned
into
a
dogged
resistance
.
The
scowl
which
occasionally
showed
itself
on
his
square
brow
was
not
a
meaningless
accident
.
Already
when
he
was
re-entering
the
town
after
that
ride
taken
in
the
first
hours
of
stinging
pain
,
he
was
setting
his
mind
on
remaining
in
Middlemarch
in
spite
of
the
worst
that
could
be
done
against
him
.
He
would
not
retreat
before
calumny
,
as
if
he
submitted
to
it
.
He
would
face
it
to
the
utmost
,
and
no
act
of
his
should
show
that
he
was
afraid
.
It
belonged
to
