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Chapter 10 Mrs. Proudie's Reception - Commenced

Word Count: 4009    |    Released on: 11/11/2017

emeanour there, into which it had been his intention to infuse much hierarchal dignity, had been a good deal disarranged by the audacity of his chaplain’s sermon. He had hardly dar

be left at home.”Papa was told, and felt that he could do nothing but yield. He also felt that it was useless for him now to be ashamed of his children. Such as they were, they had become such under his auspices; as he had made his bed, so he must lie upon it; as he had sown his seed, so must he reap his corn. He did not indeed utter such reflexions in such language, but such was the gist of his thought. It was not because Madeline was a cripple that he shrank from seeing her made one of the bishop’s guests, but because he knew that she would practise her accustomed lures and behave herself in a way that could not fail of being distasteful to the propriety of Englishwomen. These things had annoyed but not shocked him in Italy. There they had shocked no one, but here in Barchester, here among his fellow parsons, he was ashamed that they should be seen. Such had been his feelings, but he repressed them. What if his brother clergymen were shocked! They could not take from him his preferment because the manners of his married daughter were too free.La Signora Neroni had, at any rate, no fear that she would shock anybody. Her ambition was to create a sensation, to have parsons at her feet, seeing that the manhood of Barchester consisted mainly of parsons, and to send, if possible, every parson’s wife home with a green fit of jealousy. None could be too old for her, and hardly any too young. None too sanctified, and none too worldly. She was quite prepared to entrap the bishop himself and then to turn up her nose at the bishop’s wife. She did not doubt of success, for she had always succeeded; but one thing was absolutely necessary; she must secure the entire use of a sofa.The card sent to Dr. and Mrs. Stanhope and family had been so sent in an envelope having on the cover Mr. Slope’s name. The signora soon learnt that Mrs. Proudie was not yet at the palace and that the chaplain was managing everything. It was much more in her line to apply to him than to the lady, and she accordingly wrote him the prettiest little billet in the world. In five lines she explained everything, declared how impossible it was for her not to be desirous to make the acquaintance of such persons as the Bishop of Barchester and his wife, and she might add also of Mr. Slope, depicted her own grievous state, and concluded by being assured that Mrs. Proudie would forgive her extreme hardihood in petitioning to be allowed to be carried to a sofa. She then enclosed one of her beautiful cards. In return she received as polite an answer from Mr. Slope — a sofa should be kept in the large drawing-room, immediately at the top of the grand stairs, especially for her use.And now the day of the party had arrived. The bishop and his wife came down from town only on the morning of the eventful day, as behoved such great people to do, but Mr. Slope had toiled day and night to see that everything should be in right order. There had been much to do. No company had been seen in the palace since heaven knows when. New furniture had been required, new pots and pans, new cups and saucers, new dishes and plates. Mrs. Proudie had at first declared that she would condescend to nothing so vulgar as eating and drinking, but Mr. Slope had talked, or rather written her out of economy. Bishops should be given to hospitality, and hospitality meant eating and drinking. So the supper was conceded; the guests, however, were to stand as they consumed it.There were four rooms opening into each other on the first floor of the house, which were denominated the drawing-rooms, the reception-room, and Mrs. Proudie’s boudoir. In olden days one of these had been Bishop Grantly’s bedroom, and another his common sitting-room and study. The present bishop, however, had been moved down into a back parlour and had been given to understand that he could very well receive his clergy in the dining-room, should they arrive in too large a flock to be admitted into his small sanctum. He had been unwilling to yield, but after a short debate had yielded.Mrs. Proudie’s heart beat high as she inspected her suite of rooms. They were really very magnificent, or at least would be so by candlelight, and they had nevertheless been got up with commendable economy. Large rooms when full of people and full of light look well, because they are large, and are full, and are light. Small rooms are those which require costly fittings and rich furniture. Mrs. Proudie knew this and made the most of it; she had therefore a huge gas lamp with a dozen burners hanging from each of the ceilings.People were to arrive at ten, supper was to last from twelve till one, and at half-past one everybody was to be gone. Carriages were to come in at the gate in the town and depart at the gate outside. They were desired to take up at a quarter before one. It was managed excellently, and Mr. Slope was invaluable.At half-past nine the bishop and his wife and their three daughters entered the great reception-room, and very grand and very solemn they were. Mr. Slope was downstairs giving the last orders about the wine. He well understood that curates and country vicars with their belongings did not require so generous an article as the dignitaries of the close. There is a useful gradation in such things, and Marsala at 20s. a dozen did very well for the exterior supplementary tables in the corner.“Bishop,” said the lady, as his lordship sat himself down, “don’t sit on that sofa, if you please; it is to be kept separate for a lady.”The bishop jumped up and seated himself on a cane-bottomed chair. “A lady?” he inquired meekly; “do you mean one particular lady, my dear?”“Yes, Bishop, one particular lady,” said his wife, disdaining to explain.“She has got no legs, Papa,” said the youngest daughter, tittering.“No legs!” said the bishop, opening his eyes.“Nonsense, Netta, what stuff you talk,” said Olivia. “She has got legs, but she can’t use them. She has always to be kept lying down, and three or four men carry her about everywhere.”“Laws, how odd!” said Augusta. “Always carried about by four men! I’m sure I shouldn’t like it. Am I right behind, Mamma? I feel as if I was open;” and she turned her back to her anxious parent.“Open! To be sure you are,” said she, “and a yard of petticoat strings hanging out. I don’t know why I pay such high wages to Mrs. Richards if she can’t take the trouble to see whether or no you are fit to be looked at,” and Mrs. Proudie poked the strings here, and twitched the dress there, and gave her daughter a shove and a shake, and then pronounced it all right.“But,” rejoined the bishop, who was dying with curiosity about the mysterious lady and her legs, “who is it that is to have the sofa? What’s her name, Netta?”A thundering rap at the front door interrupted the conversation. Mrs. Proudie stood up and shook herself gently and touched her cap on each side as she

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Contents

Chapter 1 Who Will Be the New Bishop Chapter 2 Hiram's Hospital According to Act of Parliament Chapter 3 Dr. and Mrs. Proudie Chapter 4 The Bishop's Chaplain Chapter 5 A Morning Visit Chapter 6 War Chapter 7 The Dean and Chapter Take Counsel Chapter 8 The Ex-warden Rejoices in His Probable Return to th Chapter 9 The Stanhope Family Chapter 10 Mrs. Proudie's Reception - Commenced Chapter 11 Mrs. Proudie's Reception - Concluded
Chapter 12 Slope Versus Harding
Chapter 13 The Rubbish Cart
Chapter 14 The New Champion
Chapter 15 The Widow's Suitors
Chapter 16 Baby Worship
Chapter 17 Who Shall be Cock of the Walk
Chapter 18 The Widow's Persecution
Chapter 19 Barchester by Moonlight
Chapter 20 Mr. Arabin
Chapter 21 St. Ewold's Parsonage
Chapter 22 The Thornes of Ullathorne
Chapter 23 Mr. Arabin Reads Himself in at St. Ewold's
Chapter 24 Mr. Slope Manages Matters very Cleverly at Pudding
Chapter 25 Fourteen Arguments in Favour of Mr. Quiverful's
Chapter 26 Mrs. Proudie Wrestles and Gets a Fall
Chapter 27 A Love Scene
Chapter 28 Mrs. Bold is Entertained by Dr. and Mrs. Grantly a
Chapter 29 A Serious Interview
Chapter 30 Another Love Scene
Chapter 31 The Bishop's Library
Chapter 32 A New Candidate for Ecclesiastical Honours
Chapter 33 Mrs. Proudie Victrix
Chapter 34 Oxford - The Master and Tutor of Lazarus
Chapter 35 Miss Thorne's Fête Champêtre
Chapter 36 Ullathorne Sports - Act I
Chapter 37 The Signora Neroni, the Countess De Courcy, and Mr
Chapter 38 The Bishop Breakfasts, and the Dean Dies
Chapter 39 The Lookalofts and the Greenacres
Chapter 40 Ullathorne Sports - Act II
Chapter 41 Mrs. Bold Confides Her Sorrow to Her Friend Miss S
Chapter 42 Ullathorne Sports - Act III
Chapter 43 Mr. and Mrs. Quiverful Are Made Happy Mr. Slope is
Chapter 44 Mrs. Bold at Home
Chapter 45 The Stanhopes at Home
Chapter 49 Mr. Slope's Parting Interview with the Signora
Chapter 42 The Dean Elect
Chapter 43 Miss Thorne Shows Her Talent at Match-Making
Chapter 49 The Beelzebub Colt
Chapter 50 The Archdeacon is Satisfied with the State of Affa
Chapter 51 Mr. Slope Bids Farewell to the Palace and Its Inha
Chapter 52 The New Dean Takes Possession of the Deanery, and
Chapter 53 Conclusion
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