But he had a much stronger feeling with regard to the bishop. Had there been any question of silencing the bishop--could it have been possible to take steps in that direction--he would have been very active. It may therefore be understood that in spite of his defence of the bishop's present proceedings as to the commission, he was anxious that the bishop should fail, and anxious to put impediments in the bishop's way, should it appear to him that he could do so with justice. Dr Tempest was well known among his parishioners to be hard and unsympathetic, some said unfeeling also, and cruel; but it was admitted by those who disliked him the most that he was both practical and just, and that he cared for the welfare of many, though he was rarely touched by the misery of one. Such was the man who was rector of Silverbridge and rural dean in the district, and who was now called upon by the bishop to assist him in ****** further inquiry as to this wretched cheque for twenty pounds.
Once at this period Archdeacon Grantly and Dr Tempest met each other and discussed the question of Mr Crawley's guilt. Both these men were inimical to the present bishop of the diocese, and both had perhaps respected the old bishop beyond all other men. But they were different in this, that the archdeacon hated Dr Proudie as a partisan--whereas Dr Tempest opposed the bishop on certain principles which he endeavoured to make clear, at any rate to himself. 'Wrong!' said the archdeacon, speaking of the bishop's intention of issuing a commission--'of course he's wrong. How could anything right come from him or from her? I should be sorry to have to do his bidding.'
'I think you are a little hard upon Bishop Proudie,' said Dr Tempest.
'One cannot be hard upon him,' said the archdeacon. 'He is so scandalously weak, and she is so radically vicious, that they cannot but be wrong together. The very fact that such a man should be a bishop among us is to me terribly strong evidence of evil days coming.'
'You are more impulsive than I am,' said Dr Tempest. 'In this case I am sorry for the poor man, who, I am sure, honest in the main. But Ibelieve that in such a case your father would have done just what the present bishop is doing;--that he could have done nothing else; and as Ithink that Dr Proudie is right I shall do all that I can to assist him in the commission.'
The bishop's secretary had written to Dr Tempest, telling him of the bishop's purpose; and now, in one of the last days in March, the bishop himself wrote to Dr Tempest, asking him to come over to the palace. The letter was worded most courteously, and expressed very feelingly the great regret which the writer felt at being obliged to take these proceedings against a clergyman in his diocese. Bishop Proudie knew how to write such a letter. By the writing of such letters, and by the ****** of speeches in the same strain, he had become Bishop of Barchester. Now, in this letter, he begged Dr Tempest to come over to him, saying how delighted Mrs Proudie would be to see him at the palace.
Then he went on to explain the great difficulty which he felt, and great sorrow also, in dealing with this matter of Mr Crawley. He looked, therefore, confidently for Dr Tempest's assistance. Thinking to do the best for Mr Crawley, and anxious to enable Mr Crawley to remain in quiet retirement till the trial should be over, he had sent a clergyman over to Hogglestock, who would have relieved Mr Crawley from the burden of the church-services;--but Mr Crawley would have none of this relief. Mr Crawley had been obstinate and overbearing, and had persisted in claiming his right to his own pulpit. Therefore was the bishop obliged to interfere legally, and therefore was he under the necessity of asking Dr Tempest to assist him. Would Dr Tempest come over on the Monday, and stay till Wednesday?
The letter was a very good letter, and Dr Tempest was obliged to do as he was asked. He so far modified the bishop's proposition that he reduced the sojourn at the palace by one night. He wrote to say that he would have the pleasure of dining with the bishop and Mrs Proudie on the Monday, but would return home on the Tuesday, as soon as the business in hand would permit him. 'I shall get on very well with him,' he said to his wife, before he started; 'but I am afraid of the woman. If she interferes there will be a row.' 'Then, my dear,' said his wife, 'there will be a row, for I am told that she always interferes.' On reaching the palace half-an-hour before dinner-time, Dr Tempest found that other guests were expected, and on descending to the great yellow drawing-room, which was used only on state occasions, he encountered Mrs Proudie, and two of her daughters arrayed in full panoply of female armour. She received him with her sweetest smiles, and if there had been any former enmity between Silverbridge and the palace, it was now all forgotten. She regretted greatly that Mrs Tempest had not accompanied the doctor;--for Mrs Tempest also had been invited. But Mrs Tempest was not quite as well as she might have been, the doctor had said, and very rarely slept away from home. And then the bishop came in and greeted his guest with his pleasantest good humour. It was quite a sorrow to him that Silverbridge was so distant, and that he saw so little of Dr Tempest; but he hoped that that might be somewhat mended now, and that leisure might be found for social delights;--to all which Dr Tempest said but little, bowing to the bishop at each separate expression of his lordship's kindness.
There were guests there that evening who did not often sit at the bishop's table. The archdeacon and Mrs Grantly had been summoned from Plumstead, and had obeyed the summons. Great as was the enmity between the bishop and the archdeacon, it had never quite taken the form of open palpable hostility. Each, therefore, asked the other to dinner perhaps once every year; and each went to the other, perhaps, once in two years.