Framley Parsonage | Page 5

the diocese of Barchester; and, seeing what
were Mark's hopes with reference to that diocese, it was by no means
difficult to get him a curacy within it. But this curacy he was not
allowed long to fill. He had not been in it above a twelvemonth, when
poor old Dr Stopford, the then vicar of Framley, was gathered to his
fathers, and the full fruition of his rich hopes fell upon his shoulders.
But even yet more must be told of his good fortune before we can come
to the actual incidents of our story. Lady Lufton, who, as I have said,
thought much of clerical matters, did not carry her High Church
principles so far as to advocate celibacy for the clergy. On the contrary,
she had an idea that a man could not be a good parish parson without a
wife. So, having given to her favourite a position in the world, and an
income sufficient for a gentleman's wants, she set herself to work to
find him a partner in those blessings. And here also, as in other matters,
he fell in with the views of his patroness--not, however, that they were
declared to him in that marked manner in which the affair of the living
had been broached. Lady Lufton was much too highly gifted with
woman's craft for that. She never told the young vicar that Miss
Monsell accompanied her ladyship's married daughter to Framley Court
expressly that he, Mark, might fall in love with her; but such was in
truth the case.
Lady Lufton had but two children. The eldest, a daughter, had been
married some four or five years to Sir George Meredith, and this Miss
Monsell was a dear friend of hers. And now looms before me the
novelist's great difficulty. Miss Monsell--or rather, Mrs Mark
Robarts--must be described. As Miss Monsell, our tale will have to take

no prolonged note of her. And yet we will call her Fanny Monsell,
when we declare that she was one of the most pleasant companions that
could be brought near to a man, as the future partner of his home, and
owner of his heart. And if high principles without asperity, female
gentleness without weakness, a love of laughter without malice, and a
true loving heart, can qualify a woman to be a parson's wife, then
Fanny Monsell qualified to fill that station. In person she was
somewhat larger than common. Her face would have been beautiful but
that her mouth was large. Her hair, which was copious, was of a bright
brown; her eyes also were brown, and, being so, were the distinctive
feature of her face, for brown eyes are not common. They were liquid,
large, and full either of tenderness or of mirth. Mark Robarts still had
his accustomed luck, when such a girl as this was brought to Framley
for his wooing. And he did woo her--and won her. For Mark himself
was a handsome fellow. At this time the vicar was about twenty-five
years of age, and the future Mrs Robarts was two or three years
younger. Nor did she come quite empty-handed to the vicarage. It
cannot be said that Fanny Monsell was an heiress, but she had been left
with a provision of some few thousand pounds. This was so settled, that
the interest of his wife's money paid the heavy insurance on his life
which young Robarts effected, and there was left to him, over and
above, sufficient to furnish his parsonage in the very best style of
clerical comfort, and to start him on the road of life rejoicing.
So much did Lady Lufton do for her protege, and it may well be
imagined that the Devonshire physician, sitting meditative over his
parlour fire, looking back, as men will look back on the upshot of their
life, was well contented with that upshot, as regarded his eldest
offshoot, the Rev. Mark Robarts, the vicar of Framley.
But little has been said, personally, as to our hero himself, and perhaps
it may not be necessary to say much. Let us hope that by degrees he
may come forth upon the canvas, showing to the beholder the nature of
the man inwardly and outwardly. Here it may suffice to say that he was
not born heaven's cherub, neither was he born a fallen devil's spirit.
Such as his training made him, such he was. He had large capabilities
for good--and aptitude also for evil, quite enough; quite enough to

make it needful that he should repel temptations as temptation only can
be repelled. Much had been done to spoil him, but in the ordinary
acceptation of the word he was not spoiled. He had too much tact, too
much common sense, to believe himself to be the paragon