‘I shall stay till after the trial,’ he said.  ’If she will then go with me, well and good; but whether she will or not, I shall not remain here.’  All this seemed to Mrs Grantly to be peculiarly unfortunate, for had he not resolved to go, things might even yet have righted themselves.  From what she could now understand of the character of Miss Crawley, whom she did not know personally, she thought it probable that Grace, in the event of her father being found guilty by the jury, would absolutely and persistently refuse the offer made to her.  She would be too good, as Mrs Grantly put it to herself, to bring misery and disgrace into another family.  But should Mr Crawley be acquitted, and should the marriage then take place, the archdeacon himself might probably be got to forgive it.  In either case there would be no necessity for breaking up the house at Cosby Lodge.  But her dear son Henry, her best beloved, was obstinate and stiff-necked and would take no advice.  ’He is even worse than his father,’ she said, in her short-lived anger, to her own father to whom alone at this time she could unburden her griefs, seeking consolation and encouragement.

It was her habit to go over to the deanery at any rate twice a week at this time, and on the occasion of one of the visits so made, she expressed very strongly her distress at the family quarrel which had come among them.  The old man took his grandson’s part through and through.  ’I do not at all see why he should not marry the young lady if he likes her.  As for money, there ought to be enough without his having to look for a wife with a fortune.’

‘It is not a question of money, papa.’

‘And as to rank,’ continued Mr Harding, ’Henry will not at any rate be going lower than his father did when he married you;—­not so low indeed, for at that time I was only a minor canon, and Mr Crawley is in possession of a benefice.’

‘Papa, all this is nonsense.  It is indeed.’

‘Very likely, my dear.’

’It is not because Mr Crawley is only perpetual curate of Hogglestock that the archdeacon objects to the marriage.  It has nothing to do with that at all.  At the present moment he is in disgrace.’

’Under a cloud, my dear.  Let us pray that it may only be a passing cloud.’

’All the world thinks that he is guilty.  And then he is such a man;—­so singular, so unlike anybody else!  You know, papa, that I don’t think very much of money, merely as money.’

’I hope not, my dear.  Money is worth thinking of, but it is not worth very much thought.’

’But it does give advantages, and the absence of advantages must be very much felt in the education of a girl.  You would hardly wish Henry to marry a young woman who, from the want of money, had not been brought up among ladies.  It is not Miss Crawley’s fault, but such has been her lot.  We cannot ignore these deficiencies, papa.’

‘Certainly not, my dear.’