Mr Crawley, when he got home after his walk to Silverbridge, denied that he was at all tired. 'The man at Silverbridge, whom I went to see administered refreshment to me;--nay, he administered it with salutary violence,' he said, affecting even to laugh. 'And I am bound to speak well of him on behalf of mercies over and beyond that exhibited by the persistent tender of some wine. That I should find him judicious I had expected. What little I have known of him taught me so to think of him.
But I found with him also a softness of heart for which I had not looked.'
'And you will not give up the living, Josiah?'
'Most certainly I will. A duty, when it is clear before a man, should never be made less so by any tenderness in others.' He was still thinking of Giles Hoggett. 'It's dogged as does it.' The poor woman could not answer him. She knew well that it was vain to argue with him.
She could only hope that in the event of his being acquitted at the trial, the dean, whose friendship she did not doubt, might re-endow him with the small benefice which was their only source of bread.
On the following morning there came by post a short note from Dr Tempest. 'My dear Mr Crawley,' the note ran, 'I implore you, if there be yet time, to do nothing rashly. And even though you should have written to the bishop or to the dean, your letters need have no effect, if you will allow me to make them inoperative. Permit me to say that I am a man much older than you, and one who has mixed much both with clergymen and with the world at large. I tell you with absolute confidence, that it is not your duty in your present position to give up your living. Should your conduct ever be called in question on this matter you will be at perfect liberty to say that you were guided by my advice.
You should take no step till after the trial. Then, if the verdict be against you, you should submit to the bishop's judgment. If the verdict be in your favour, the bishop's interference will be over.'
'And you must remember that if it is not your duty as a clergyman to give up your living, you can have no right, seeing that you have a wife and family, to throw it away as an indulgence to your pride. Consult any other friend you please--Mr Robarts, or the dean himself. I am quite sure that any friend who knows many of the circumstances as Iknow will advise you to hold the living, at any rate till after the trial. You can refer any such friend to me.--Believe me, to be yours very truly, MORTIMER TEMPEST' Mr Crawley walked about again with this letter in his pocket, but on this occasion he did not go in the direction of Hoggle End. From Hoggle End he could hardly hope to pick up further lessons of wisdom. What could any Giles Hoggett say to him beyond what he had said to him already? If he were to read the doctor's letter to Hoggett, and to succeed in making Hoggett understand it, Hoggett could only caution him to be dogged. But it seemed to him that Hoggett and his new friend at Silverbridge did not agree in their doctrines, and it might be well that he should endeavour to find out which of them had most of justice on his side. He was quite sure that Hoggett would advise him to adhere to his project of giving up the living--if only Hoggett could me made to understand the circumstances.
'He had written, but had not as yet sent away his letter to the dean.
His letter to the bishop would be but a note, and he had postponed the writing of that till the other should be copied and made complete.
He had sat up late into the night composing and altering his letter to his old friend, and now that the composition was finished he was loth to throw it away. Early in this morning, before the postman had brought to him Dr Tempest's urgent remonstrance, he had shown to his wife the draft of his letter to the dean. 'I cannot say that it is not true,' she had said.
'It is certainly true.'
'But I wish, my dear, you would not send it. Why should you take any step till the trial be over?'
'I shall assuredly send it,' he had replied. 'If you will peruse it again, you will see that the epistle would be futile were it kept till Ishall have been proved to be a thief.'
'Oh, Josiah, such words kill me.'
'They are not pleasant, but it will be well that you should become used to them. As for the letter, I have taken some trouble to express myself with perspicuity, and I trust that I may have succeeded.' At that time Hoggett was altogether in the ascendant; but now, as he started on his walk, his mind was somewhat perturbed by the contrary advice of one, who after all, might be as wise as Hoggett. There would be nothing dogged in the conduct recommended to him by Dr Tempest. Were he to follow the doctor's advice, he would be trimming his sails, so as to catch any slant of a breeze that might be favourable to him. There could be no doggedness in a character that would submit to such trimming.
The postman came to Hogglestock but once a day, so that he could not despatch his letter till the next morning--unless, indeed, he chose to send it a distance of four miles to the nearest post-office. As there was nothing to justify this, there was another night for the copying of his letter--should he at last determine to send it. He had sworn to his wife that it should go. He had taken much trouble with it. He believed in Hoggett. But, nevertheless, this incumbency of Hogglestock was his all in the world. It might be that he could still hold it, and have bread at least for his wife to eat. Dr Tempest had told him that he would be probably acquitted. Dr Tempest knew as much of all the circumstances as he did himself, and had told him that he was not guilty. After all, Dr Tempest knew more about it that Hoggett knew.
