As regards the mere eating and drinking,
the amounts of butcher's meat and tea and butter, they of course
were used in quantities which any artisan would have regarded as
compatible only with demi-starvation. Better clothing for her
children was necessary, and better clothing for him. As for her own
raiment, the wives of few artisans would have been content to put up
with Mrs. Crawley's best gown. The stuff of which it was made had
been paid for by her mother when she with much difficulty bestowed
upon her daughter her modest wedding _trousseau_.
Lucy had never seen Mrs. Crawley. These visits to Hogglestock were
not frequent, and had generally been made by Lady Lufton and Mrs.
Robarts together. It was known that they were distasteful to Mr.
Crawley, who felt a savage satisfaction in being left to himself.
It may almost be said of him that he felt angry with those who
relieved him, and he had certainly never as yet forgiven the Dean
of Barchester for paying his debts. The dean had also given him his
present living; and consequently his old friend was not now so dear
to him as when in old days he would come down to that farm-house,
almost as penniless as the curate himself. Then they would walk
together for hours along the rock-bound shore, listening to the
waves, discussing deep polemical mysteries, sometimes with hot fury,
then again with tender, loving charity, but always with a mutual
acknowledgement of each other's truth.
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