"Well, at any rate, I've done it now.

Sir Abraham didn't seem to think it so very strange." The archdeacon gave a sigh that would have moved a man-of-war.
"But, papa, what did you say to Sir Abraham ?" asked the lady.
"I asked him, my dear, to explain John Hiram's will to me.

He couldn't explain it in the only way which would have satisfied me, and so I resigned the wardenship." "Resigned it!" said the archdeacon, in a solemn voice, sad and low, but yet sufficiently audible,--a sort of whisper that Macready would have envied, and the galleries have applauded with a couple of rounds.
"Resigned it! Good heavens!" And the dignitary of the church sank back horrified into a horsehair arm-chair.
"At least I told Sir Abraham that I would resign; and of course I must now do so." "Not at all," said the archdeacon, catching a ray of hope.

"Nothing that you say in such a way to your own counsel can be in any way binding on you; of course you were there to ask his advice.

I'm sure Sir Abraham did not advise any such step." Mr Harding could not say that he had.
"I am sure he disadvised you from it," continued the reverend cross-examiner.
Mr Harding could not deny this.
"I'm sure Sir Abraham must have advised you to consult your friends." To this proposition also Mr Harding was obliged to assent.
"Then your threat of resignation amounts to nothing, and we are just where we were before." Mr Harding was now standing on the rug, moving uneasily from one foot to the other.