’Butthearchdeacon，papa？’
’Ican’thelpit，mydear；therearesomethingswhichamancannotbear——Icannotbearthat’；andheputhishanduponthenewspaper。
’Butwillthearchdeacongowithyou？’
Totellthetruth，MrHardinghadmadeuphismindtostealamarchuponthearchdeacon。Hewasawarethathecouldtakenostepswithoutinforminghisdreadson-in-law，buthehadresolvedthathewouldsendoutanotetoPlumsteadEpiscopidetailinghisplans，butthatthemessengershouldnotleaveBarchestertillhehimselfhadstartedforLondon；
sothathemightbeadaybeforethedoctor，who，hehadnodoubt，wouldfollowhim。Inthatday，ifhehadluck，hemightarrangeitall；hemightexplaintoSirAbrahamthathe，aswarden，wouldhavenothingfurthertodowiththedefenceabouttobesetup；hemightsendinhisofficialresignationtohisfriendthebishop，andsomakepublicthewholetransaction，thateventhedoctorwouldnotbeabletoundowhathehaddone。Heknewtoowellthedoctor’sstrengthandhisownweaknesstosupposehecoulddothis，iftheybothreachedLondontogether；indeed，hewouldneverbeabletogettoLondon，ifthedoctorknewofhisintendedjourneyintimetopreventit。