Framley Parsonage Anthony Trollope (best english novels for beginners .TXT) 📖

on the sight of the ready money. Perhaps £750 or £800 may see you clear of the whole affair.”

“But I have not a quarter of that sum lying by me.”

“No, I suppose not; but what I would recommend is this: that you should borrow the money from the bank, on your own responsibility⁠—with the joint security of some friend who may be willing to assist you with his name. Lord Lufton probably would do it.”

“No, Mr. Forrest⁠—”

“Listen to me first, before you make up your mind. If you took this step, of course you would do so with the fixed intention of paying the money yourself⁠—without any further reliance on Sowerby or on anyone else.”

“I shall not rely on Mr. Sowerby again; you may be sure of that.”

“What I mean is that you must teach yourself to recognize the debt as your own. If you can do that, with your income you can surely pay it, with interest, in two years. If Lord Lufton will assist you with his name I will so arrange the bills that the payments shall be made to fall equally over that period. In that way the world will know nothing about it, and in two years’ time you will once more be a free man. Many men, Mr. Robarts, have bought their experience much dearer than that, I can assure you.”

“Mr. Forrest, it is quite out of the question.”

“You mean that Lord Lufton will not give you his name.”

“I certainly shall not ask him; but that is not all. In the first place my income will not be what you think it, for I shall probably give up the prebend at Barchester.”

“Give up the prebend! give up six hundred a year!”

“And, beyond this, I think I may say that nothing shall tempt me to put my name to another bill. I have learned a lesson which I hope I may never forget.”

“Then what do you intend to do?”

“Nothing!”

“Then those men will sell every stick of furniture about the place. They know that your property here is enough to secure all that they claim.”

“If they have the power, they must sell it.”

“And all the world will know the facts.”

“So it must be. Of the faults which a man commits he must bear the punishment. If it were only myself!”

“That’s where it is, Mr. Robarts. Think what your wife will have to suffer in going through such misery as that! You had better take my advice. Lord Lufton, I am sure⁠—”

But the very name of Lord Lufton, his sister’s lover, again gave him courage. He thought, too, of the accusations which Lord Lufton had brought against him on that night when he had come to him in the coffee-room of the hotel, and he felt that it was impossible that he should apply to him for such aid. It would be better to tell all to Lady Lufton! That she would relieve him, let the cost to herself be what it might, he was very sure. Only this;⁠—that in looking to her for assistance he would be forced to bite the dust in very deed.

“Thank you, Mr. Forrest, but I have made up my mind. Do not think that I am the less obliged to you for your disinterested kindness⁠—for I know that it is disinterested; but this I think I may confidently say, that not even to avert so terrible a calamity will I again put my name to any bill. Even if you could take my own promise to pay without the addition of any second name, I would not do it.”

There was nothing for Mr. Forrest to do under such circumstances but simply to drive back to Barchester. He had done the best for the young clergyman according to his lights, and perhaps, in a worldly view, his advice had not been bad. But Mark dreaded the very name of a bill. He was as a dog that had been terribly scorched, and nothing should again induce him to go near the fire.

“Was not that the man from the bank?” said Fanny, coming into the room when the sound of the wheels had died away.

“Yes; Mr. Forrest.”

“Well, dearest?”

“We must prepare ourselves for the worst.”

“You will not sign any more papers, eh, Mark?”

“No; I have just now positively refused to do so.”

“Then I can bear anything. But, dearest, dearest Mark, will you not let me tell Lady Lufton?”

Let them look at the matter in any way the punishment was very heavy.

XLIII Is She Not Insignificant?

And now a month went by at Framley without any increase of comfort to our friends there, and also without any absolute development of the ruin which had been daily expected at the parsonage. Sundry letters had reached Mr. Robarts from various personages acting in the Tozer interest, all of which he referred to Mr. Curling, of Barchester. Some of these letters contained prayers for the money, pointing out how an innocent widow lady had been induced to invest her all on the faith of Mr. Robarts’ name, and was now starving in a garret, with her three children, because Mr. Robarts would not make good his own undertakings. But the majority of them were filled with threats;⁠—only two days longer would be allowed and then the sheriff’s officers would be enjoined to do their work; then one day of grace would be added, at the expiration of which the dogs of war would be unloosed. These, as fast as they came, were sent to Mr. Curling, who took no notice of them individually, but continued his endeavour to prevent the evil day. The second bill Mr. Robarts would take up⁠—such was Mr. Curling’s proposition; and would pay by two instalments of £250 each, the first in two months, and the second in four. If this were acceptable to the Tozer interest⁠—well; if it were not, the sheriff’s officers must do their worst and the Tozer interest must look for what it could get. The Tozer interest would not declare itself satisfied with these terms, and so the matter