A Mere Accident | Page 5

little ostentatiously, the spiritual impulses in which he was so
deeply concerned: the subtle refinement of sacred places, from the
mystery of the great window with its mitres and croziers to the sunlit
path between the tombs where the children play, the curious and yet
natural charm that attendance in the sacristy had for him, the
arrangement of the large oak presses, wherein are stored the fine altar
linen and the chalices, the distributing of the wine and water that were
not for bodily need, and the wearing of the flowing surplices, the
murmuring of the Latin responses that helped so wonderfully to enforce
the impression of beautiful and refined life which was his, and which
he lived beyond the gross influences of the wholly temporal life which
he knew was raging almost but not quite out of hearing. But, however
marked may be the accidental variations of character, hereditary
instincts are irresistible, and in obedience to them John neglected
nothing that concerned his pecuniary instincts. He was in daily
communication with his agent, and the financial position of every
farmer, and the state of every farm on his property, were not only
known to him but were constantly borne in mind, and influenced him in
that progressive ordering of things which marked the administration of
his property. He was furnished quarterly with an account of all monies
paid, to which were joined descriptive notes of each farm, showing
what alterations the past three months had brought, and setting forth the
agricultural intentions and abilities of the occupier.
John Norton waited the arrival of these accounts with a keen interest:
they were a relish to his life; and without experiencing any revulsion of
feeling, he would lay down a portfolio filled with photographs of
drawings by Leonardo da Vinci--studies of drapery, studies of hands
and feet, realistic studies of thin-lipped women and ecstatic angels with
the light upon their high foreheads--and cheerfully, and even with a
sense of satisfaction, he would untie the bald, prosaic roll of paper, and

seating himself at his window overlooking the long terrace, he would
add up the figures submitted to him, detecting the smallest arithmetical
error, making note of the least delay in payment of any money due, and
questioning the slightest overpayment for work done. The morning
hours fled as he pursued his congenial task; and from time to time he
would let his thoughts wander from the teasing computation of the
money that would be required to make the repairs that a certain farmer
had demanded, to the unworldly quiet of the sacristy; he would think,
and his thoughts contained an evanescent sense of the paradox, of the
altar linen he would have to fold and put away, and of the altar breads
he would presently have to write to London for; and meanwhile his
eyes would follow in delight the black figures of the Jesuits, who, with
cassocks blowing and berrettas set firmly on their heads, walked up and
down the long gravel walks reading their breviaries.
And living thus, half in the persuasive charm of ceremonial, half in the
hard procession of account books, the last three years of John's life had
passed. On coming of age he had spent a few weeks at Thornby Place,
but the place, and especially the country, had appeared to him so
grossly protestant--so entirely occupied with the material
well-to-doness of life--that he declared he longed to breathe again the
breath of his beloved sacristy, that he must away from that close and
oppressive atmosphere of the flesh. Since then, with the exception of a
few visits of a few days he had lived at Stanton College, writing to his
mother not of the business which concerned his property, but of mental
problems and artistic impulses. On business matters he never consulted
her; but he thought it fortunate that she should choose to spend her
jointure on Thornby Place, and so save him a great deal of expense in
keeping up the house, which, although he disliked it with a dislike that
had grown inveterate, he was still unwilling to allow to fall to ruins.
Mrs Norton, as has been said, was capable of understanding much in
the abstract; so long as things, and ideas of things, did not come within
the circle of her practical life, they were judged from a liberal
standpoint, but so soon as they touched any personal consideration,
they were judged by a moral code that in no way corresponded to her
intellectual comprehension of the matter she so unhesitatingly

condemned. But by this it must by no means be understood that Mrs
Norton wore her conscience easily--that it was a garment that could be
shortened or lengthened to suit all weathers. Our diagnosis of Mrs
Norton's character involves no accusation