"Not even if Dr. Barham...?"
"Dr. Barham can do nothing. He can only remonstrate. What was it he said to Lady Arkroyd?"
"That if the Bill passed it would be his duty to point out to you that your relations ... well!—your relation with Bessy had altogether changed since the Act; and that for a clerk in holy orders to keep house with any single lady not his sister by parentage would be ... well!—would not do at all."
"And what did Lady Arkroyd say to the Bishop?"
"Not herself; it was the Duchess. Only she told me. What the Duchess said was, 'I hope if you do, the Reverend Athelstan will bring a suit against you for libel, and make you smart for it.' Dr. Barham won't speak to her Grace now."
"Dr. Barham would be quite within his rights. No action for libel could possibly lie. Any remonstrance on a matter of morality within his diocese must be a Bishop's privilege. Besides, a written letter would hardly constitute publication...."
"Dear old Yorick! I wonder why men are so fond of talking law to women, as if they knew by nature and women didn't. Never mind the law! It isn't that.... Don't you see how disagreeable it would be for Bessy?"
"No—I don't know that I do. I don't see why Bess need bother herself about it...."
"Hm...!"
"Oh—well—yes! Yes, I do—of course I do! It would be detestable for Bess."