The Graftons: A Novel

by Archibald Marshall

"I didn't tell you," he said, "because I didn't think there was any chance of the offer being made to me, and I wanted to avoid this sort of discussion."

Dinner was announced at that moment, and further discussion had to be put off until the parlour-maid had left them to themselves and their food for a time. The interval had been spent in almost complete silence, all three of them nerving themselves for what was to come.

All three began to speak at the same time, when the maid had shut the door behind her; but it was Denis who continued his speech, his sisters relinquishing theirs to listen to him.

"You ought not to make this difficult for me," he said. "I made up my mind long ago, and I'm sure I was right to do it. I didn't want to tell our dear father, because his ideas on these things were old-fashioned, and I don't think he could have seen it in its true light. But you ought to be able to. I'm very sorry for your own disappointment, but you ought to be able to judge a matter like this on higher grounds."

This speech gave them plenty of material, and the sharp attack was renewed. How could he say such a wicked thing about their dear father! And the idea of accusing them of thinking about themselves in that worldly way! He must know very well that all their thoughts had been for him, and for the good of the parish in which they had worked nearly all their lives. Please drop that unworthy charge, if he could not see it all in its proper light yet.

There was plenty more of it, and he sat silent and flushed under the attack. But so far it had only stiffened him.

It is difficult for a domineering woman to relinquish the weapons which temperament thrusts into her hands, but they came to see that they could not move him by censure, and they descended to argument, as a half-way house to reasoning, but not without showing annoyance that they were forced to do so.

Surely the Bishop must know better than he what was the right thing to do in a matter like this! Wouldn't it be almost an impertinence to throw the offer back in his face? He could see that, couldn't he? And it was not only the Bishop; it was the dying wish of their dear father, which really it was preposterous to set aside as merely old-fashioned. And they had no doubt about its being the right thing to accept, whatever their opinion might be worth. Did he really feel justified in going against the opinions of people so much older and wiser than himself?

This was rather more difficult to meet. They were considerations that he had spent much anxious thought over, during the long hour that he had spent by himself. And he could not yet be quite certain that he had solved them in the right way, though he had conscientiously followed the light that was in him. Also, his sisters had established a considerable authority over him, and he was uncomfortable in withstanding them.

But he won through this stage, the contest being occasionally broken into by the intrusions of the maid, and the intervals being spent in bringing up more ammunition for the guns of argument.