Mrs.
Robarts would never have confessed that she laboured under a sense
of thraldom; but perhaps she was mouse enough to enjoy the temporary
absence of her kind-hearted cat. When Lady Lufton was away Mrs.
Robarts herself had more play in the parish. And Mark also was not
unhappy, though he did not find it practicable immediately to turn
Dandy into money. Indeed, just at this moment, when he was a good
deal over at Barchester, going through those deep mysteries and rigid
ecclesiastical examinations which are necessary before a clergyman
can become one of a chapter, Dandy was rather a thorn in his side.
Those wretched bills were to come due early in May, and before the
end of April Sowerby wrote to him saying that he was doing his utmost
to provide for the evil day; but that if the price of Dandy could
be remitted to him at once, it would greatly facilitate his object.
Nothing could be more different than Mr. Sowerby's tone about money
at different times. When he wanted to raise the wind, everything was
so important; haste and superhuman efforts, and men running to and
fro with blank acceptances in their hands, could alone stave off the
crack of doom; but at other times, when retaliatory applications were
made to him, he could prove with the easiest voice and most jaunty
manner that everything was quite serene.
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