
solicitor, »I have never had anything to do with - nor one more punctual in the
discharge of every business obligation. We shall miss him sadly.« The bishop
wrote to Joey in the very warmest terms. The poor were in consternation; »The
well's never missed,« said one old woman, »till it's dry,« and she had said what
everyone else felt. Ernest knew that the general regret was unaffected as for a
loss which could not be easily repaired. He felt that there were only three
people in the world who joined insincerely in the tribute of applause, and these
were the very three who could least show their want of sympathy - I mean Joey,
Charlotte, and himself. He felt bitter against himself for being of a mind with
either Joey or Charlotte upon any subject and thankful that he must conceal his
being so as far as possible. He felt bitter not because of anything his father
had done to him - these grievances were too old to be remembered now - but
because he would never allow him to feel towards him as he was always trying to
feel. As long as communication was confined to the merest commonplaces all went
well, but if these were departed from ever such a little he invariably felt that
his father's instincts showed themselves in immediate opposition to his own.
When he was attacked his father laid whatever stress was possible on everything
which his opponents said. If he met with any check his father was clearly
pleased. What the old doctor had said about Theobald's speaking ill of no man
was perfectly true as regards others than himself, but he knew very well that no
one had injured his reputation in a quiet way, so far as he dared to do, more
than his own father. This is a very common case and a very natural one. It often
happens that if the son is right, the father is wrong, and the father is not
going to have this if he can help it.
    It was very hard however to say what was the true root of the mischief in
the present case. It was not Ernest's having been imprisoned - Theobald forgot
all about that much sooner than nine fathers out of ten would have done. Partly,
no doubt, it was due to incompatibility of temperament, but I believe the main
ground of complaint lay in the fact that he had become so independent and so
rich while still very young, and that thus the old gentleman had been robbed of
his power to tease and scratch in the way which he felt he was entitled to do.
