The Last Chronicle of Barset | Page 6

by another, saying
that no pocket-book had been found in his house. All this had happened
in March.
In October, Mrs Crawley paid twenty pounds to Fletcher, the butcher,
and in November Lord Lufton's cheque was traced back through the
Barchester bank to Mr Crawley's hands. A brickmaker of Hoggle End,
much favoured by Mr Crawley, had asked for change over the counter
of this Barchester bank--not, as will be understood, the bank on which
the cheque was drawn--and had received it. The accommodation had
been refused to the man at first, but when he presented the cheque the
second day, bearing Mr Crawley' name on the back of it, together with
a note from Mr Crawley himself, the money had been given for it; and
the identical notes so paid had been given to Fletcher, the butcher on
the next day by Mrs Crawley. When inquiry was made, Mr Crawley
stated that the cheque had been paid to him by Mr Soames, on behalf of
the rentcharge due to him by Lord Lufton. But the error of this
statement was at once made manifest. There was the cheque, signed by
Mr Soames himself, for the exact amount--twenty pounds four shillings.
As he himself declared, he had never in his life paid money on behalf

of Lord Lufton by a cheque drawn on his lordship. The cheque given
by Lord Lufton, and which had been lost, had been a private matter
between them. His lordship had simply wanted change in his pocket,
and his agent had given it to him. Mr Crawley was speedily shown to
be altogether wrong in the statement made to account for the
possession of the cheque.
Then he became very moody and would say nothing further. But his
wife, who had known nothing of his first statement when made, came
forward and declared that she believed the cheque for twenty pounds to
be part of a present given by Dean Arabin to her husband in April last.
There had been, she said, great heart-burnings about this gift, and she
hardly dared to speak to her husband on the subject. An execution had
been threatened in the house by Grobury, the baker, of which the dean
had heard. Then there had been some scenes at the deanery between her
husband and the dean and Mrs Arabin, as to which she had
subsequently heard much from Mrs Arabin. Mrs Arabin had told her
that money had been given--and at last taken. Indeed, so much had
been very apparent, as bills had been paid to the amount of at least fifty
pounds. When the threat made by the butcher had reached her
husband's ears, the effect upon him had been very grievous. All this
was the story told by Mrs Crawley to Mr Walker, the lawyer, when he
was pushing his inquiries. She, poor woman, at any rate told all she
knew. Her husband had told her one morning, when the butcher's threat
was weighing heavily on his mind, speaking to her in such a humour
that she found it impossible to cross- question him, that he had still
money left, though it was money which he had hoped that he would not
be driven to use; and he had given her four five pound notes and had
told her to go to Silverbridge and satisfy the man who was so eager for
his money. She had done so, and had felt no doubt that the money so
forthcoming had been given by the dean. That was the story told by
Mrs Crawley.
But how could she explain her husband's statements as to the cheque,
which had been shown to be altogether false? All this passed between
Mr Walker and Mrs Crawley, and the lawyer was very gentle with her.
In the first stages of the inquiry he had simply desired to learn the truth,

and place the clergyman above suspicion. Latterly, being bound as he
was to follow up officially, he would not have seen Mrs Crawley, had
he been able to escape that lady's importunity. 'Mr Walker,' she had
said, at last, 'you do not know my husband. No one knows him but I. It
is hard to have to tell you all of our troubles.' 'If I can lessen them, trust
me that I will do so,' said the lawyer. 'No one, I think, can lessen them
in this world,' said the lady. 'The truth is, sir, that my husband often
knows not what he says. When he declared that the money had been
paid to him by Mr Soames, most certainly he thought so. There are
times when in his misery he knows not what he says--when he forgets
everything.'
Up to this period Mr Walker had not suspected Mr Crawley of anything
dishonest, nor did