Sowerby, promising to join the party at Chaldicotes. He had been so
eager then to have his own way, that he would not permit himself to
go home and talk the matter over with his wife. He thought also of
the manner in which he had been tempted to the house of the Duke of
Omnium, and the conviction on his mind at the time that his giving
way to that temptation would surely bring him to evil. And then he
remembered the evening in Sowerby's bedroom, when the bill had been
brought out, and he had allowed himself to be persuaded to put his
name upon it--not because he was willing in this way to assist his
friend, but because he was unable to refuse. He had lacked the
courage to say, "No," though he knew at the time how gross was the
error which he was committing. He had lacked the courage to say,
"No," and hence had come upon him and on his household all this
misery and cause for bitter repentance.
I have written much of clergymen, but in doing so I have endeavoured
to portray them as they bear on our social life rather than to
describe the mode and working of their professional careers. Had I
done the latter I could hardly have steered clear of subjects on
which it has not been my intention to pronounce an opinion, and I
should either have laden my fiction with sermons or I should have
degraded my sermons into fiction.
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