“Are they indeed?”
“He preaches there you know, sir, on Sunday afternoons at the market cross.”
The vicar was shocked and scandalized. “I hope,” he said, “that he doesn’t give vent to the sort of opinions he does here.”
“Yes, sir,” said Field, with respectful perplexity. “I know you parsons think him a bit of a freethinker, but I’m sure he means well. And begging your pardon, sir, he knows a lot about the Bible too.”
“I take leave to doubt that, Field,” said the vicar, who had suddenly grown so deeply annoyed that he felt unable to continue the conversation. He left the shop abruptly. A little more light had been thrown on the subject, but somehow it increased his sense of worry and discomfort. He had not thought well to enlighten Field as to the gravamen of the charge, yet it was hard to repress a feeling of irritation that so sensible a man should hold such a heterodox view of his employee.
True to his appointment, Dr. Parker arrived at one o’clock. Before he came Mr. Perry-Hennington told Edith in a casual way the reason of his coming to Penfold. To her father’s consternation, something in the nature of a scene had followed.
“Then you intend to have him removed to an asylum!” she exclaimed in a tone of horror.
“Undoubtedly. The public interest demands nothing less.”
The girl was greatly upset. And nothing her father could say had any effect upon her distress. She felt herself responsible for this tragic pass. Her unhappy intervention in the first place had brought the thing about, and now she rued it bitterly. She implored her father to let the matter drop. But her prayer was vain. At all times a singularly obstinate man, upon a question of conscience and duty he was not likely to be moved by mere words.
Out of respect for his daughter’s feelings, and also out of regard for the ears of Prince, the parlor maid, Mr. Perry-Hennington did not refer to the matter in the course of the meal. But as soon as it was over he discussed it at length with his visitor. And he presented his view of the matter with such a cogent energy that, for such a mind as Dr. Parker’s, whose main concern was “things as they are,” the case of John Smith was greatly prejudiced. He did not say as much to the vicar, indeed he did his best to keep an open and impartial mind on the subject, but he would have been more or less than himself had he not felt that only the strongest possible justification could have moved such a man as Mr. Perry-Hennington to his present course of action.