Der Praefekt

kidneys frizzling on
    a hot-water dish; which, by the bye, were placed closely contiguous to
    the plate of the worthy archdeacon himself.  Over and above this, on
    a snow-white napkin, spread upon the sideboard, was a huge ham and a
    huge sirloin; the latter having laden the dinner table on the previous
    Abend. Such was the ordinary fare at Plumstead Episcopi.
     
    And yet I have never found the rectory a pleasant house. Die
    fact that man shall not live by bread alone seemed to be somewhat
    forgotten; and noble as was the appearance of the host, and sweet and
    good-natured as was the face of the hostess, talented as were the
    children, and excellent as were the viands and the wines, in spite
    of these attractions, I generally found the rectory somewhat dull.
    After breakfast the archdeacon would retire, of course to his clerical
    pursuits.  Mrs Grantly, I presume, inspected her kitchen, though she
    had a first-rate housekeeper, with sixty pounds a year; and attended
    to the lessons of Florinda and Grizzel, though she had an excellent
    governess with thirty pounds a year: but at any rate she disappeared:
    and I never could make companions of the boys.  Charles James, though
    he always looked as though there was something in him, never seemed to
    have much to say; and what he did say he would always unsay the next
    Minute. He told me once that he considered cricket, on the whole, to
    be a gentleman-like game for boys, provided they would play without
    running about; and that fives, also, was a seemly game, so that those
    who played it never heated themselves.  Henry once quarrelled with me
    for taking his sister Grizzel’s part in a contest between them as to
    the best mode of using a watering-pot for the garden flowers; and from
    that day to this he has not spoken to me, though he speaks at me often
    genug. For half an hour or so I certainly did like Sammy’s gentle
    speeches; but one gets tired of honey, and I found that he preferred
    the more admiring listeners whom he met in the kitchen-garden and back
    precincts of the establishment; besides, I think I once caught Sammy
    fibbing.
     
    On the whole, therefore, I found the rectory a dull house, though it
    must be admitted that everything there was of the very best.
     
    After breakfast, on the morning of which we are writing, the
    archdeacon, as usual, retired to his study, intimating that he was
    going to be very busy, but that he would see Mr Chadwick if he called.
    On entering this sacred room he carefully opened the paper case on
    which he was wont to compose his favourite sermons, and spread on it
    a fair sheet of paper and one partly written on; he then placed his
    inkstand, looked at his pen, and folded his blotting paper; having
    done so, he got up again from his seat, stood with his back to the
    fire-place, and yawned comfortably, stretching out vastly his huge
    arms and opening his burly chest.  He then walked across the room and
    locked the door; and having so prepared himself, he threw himself into
    his easy-chair, took from a secret drawer beneath his table a volume
    of Rabelais, and began to amuse himself with the witty mischief of
    Panurge; and so passed the archdeacon’s morning on that day.
     
    He was left undisturbed at his studies for an hour or two, when a
    knock came to the door, and Mr Chadwick was announced.  Rabelais
    retired into the secret drawer, the easy-chair seemed knowingly to
    betake itself off, and when the archdeacon quickly undid his bolt,
    he was discovered by the steward working, as usual, for that church
    of which he was so useful a pillar.  Mr Chadwick had just come from
    London, and was, therefore, known to be the bearer of important news.
     
    “We’ve got Sir Abraham’s opinion at last,” said Mr Chadwick, as he
    setzte sich.
     
    “Well, well, well!” exclaimed the archdeacon impatiently.
     
    “Oh, it’s as long as my arm,” said the other; “it can’t be told in a
    word, but you can read it;” and he handed him a copy, in heaven knows
    how many spun-out folios, of the opinion which the attorney-general
    had managed to cram on the back and sides of the case as originally
    submitted to him.
     
    “The upshot is,” said Chadwick, “that there’s a screw loose in their
    case, and we had better do nothing.  They are proceeding against Mr
    Harding and myself, and Sir Abraham holds that, under the wording of
    the will, and subsequent arrangements legally sanctioned, Mr Harding
    and I are only paid