Mrs. Proudie declares
that during the few days of his absence from Barsetshire he himself
crossed to France and hunted down Lord Dumbello at Paris. As to this
I am not prepared to say anything; but I am quite sure, as will be
all those who knew the archdeacon, that he was not a man to see his
daughter wronged as long as any measure remained by which such wrong
might be avoided. But, be that as it may--that mooted question as to
the archdeacon's journey to Paris--Lord Dumbello was forthcoming at
Plumstead on the 5th of August, and went through his work like a man.
The Hartletop family, when the alliance was found to be unavoidable,
endeavoured to arrange that the wedding should be held at Hartletop
Priory, in order that the clerical dust and dinginess of Barchester
Close might not soil the splendour of the marriage gala doings; for,
to tell the truth, the Hartletopians, as a rule, were not proud of
their new clerical connexions. But on this subject Mrs. Grantly
was very properly inexorable; nor when an attempt was made on the
bride to induce her to throw over her mamma at the last moment and
pronounce for herself that she would be married at the priory, was
it attended with any success. The Hartletopians knew nothing of the
Grantly fibre and calibre, or they would have made no such attempt.
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