The Pillars of the House, vol 1 | Page 3

the appointment. Mr. Bevan too, the Rector, was an
exceedingly courteous, kindly-mannered man, talking in a soft low
voice in the most affectionate and considerate manner, and with good
taste and judgment that exceedingly struck and pleased the new curate.
It was the more surprise to him to find the congregations thin, and a
general languor and indifference about the people who attended the
church. There was also a good deal of opposition in the parish, some
old sullen seceders who went to a neighbouring proprietary chapel,
many more of erratic tastes haunted the places of worship of the
numerous sects, who swarmed in the town, and many more were living
in a state of town heathenism.
It was not long before the perception of the cause began to grow upon
Mr. Underwood. The machinery was perfect, but the spring was failing;
the salt was there, but where was the savour? The discourses he heard
from his rector were in one point of view faultless, but the old Scottish
word 'fushionless' would rise into his thoughts whenever they ended,
and something of effect and point was sure to fail; they were bodies
without souls, and might well satisfy a certain excellent solicitor, who
always praised them as 'just the right medium, sober, moderate, and
unexciting.'
In the first pleasure of a strong, active, and enterprising man, at finding
his plans unopposed by authority, Mr. Underwood had been delighted

with his rectory ready consent to whatever he undertook, and was the
last person to perceive that Mr. Bevan, though objecting to nothing, let
all the rough and tough work lapse upon his curates, and took nothing
but the graceful representative part. Even then, Mr. Underwood had
something to say in his defence; Mr. Bevan was valetudinarian in his
habits, and besides--he was in the midst of a courtship--after his
marriage he would give his mind to his parish.
For Mr. Bevan, hitherto a confirmed and rather precise and luxurious
bachelor, to the general surprise, married a certain Lady Price, the
young widow of an old admiral, and with her began a new regime.
My Lady, as every one called her, since she retained her title and name,
was by no means desirous of altering the ornamental arrangements in
church, which she regarded with pride; but she was doubly anxious to
guard her husband's health, and she also had the sharpest eye to the
main chance. Hitherto, whatever had been the disappointments and
shortcomings at the Rectory, there had been free- handed expenditure,
and no stint either in charity or the expenses connected with the service;
but Lady Price had no notion of taking on her uncalled-for outlay. The
parish must do its part, and it was called on to do so in modes that did
not add to the Rector's popularity. Moreover, the arrangements were on
the principle of getting as much as possible out of everybody, and no
official failed to feel the pinch. The Rector was as bland, gentle, and
obliging as ever; but he seldom transacted any affairs that he could help;
and in the six years that had elapsed since the marriage, every person
connected with the church had changed, except Mr. Underwood.
Yet perhaps as senior curate, he had felt the alteration most heavily. He
had to be, or to refuse to be, my Lady's instrument in her various
appeals; he came in for her indignation at wastefulness, and at the
unauthorised demands on the Rector; he had to feel what it was to have
no longer unlimited resources of broth and wine to fall back upon at the
Rectory; he had to supply the shortcomings of the new staff brought in
on lower terms--and all this, moreover, when his own health and vigour
were beginning to fail.
Lady Price did not like him or his family. They were poor, and she
distrusted the poor; and what was worse, she knew they were better
born and better bred than herself, and had higher aims. Gentle Mrs.
Underwood, absorbed in household cares, no more thought of rivalry

with her than with the Queen; but the soft movement, the low voice, the
quiet sweep of the worn garments, were a constant vexation to my Lady,
who having once pronounced the curate's wife affected, held to her
opinion. With Mr. Underwood she had had a fight or two, and had not
conquered, and now they were on terms of perfect respect and civility
on his side, and of distance and politeness on hers. She might talk of
him half contemptuously, but she never durst show herself otherwise
than civil, though she was always longing to bring in some more
deferential person in his place, and, whenever illness interfered with his
duties, she spoke largely to her friends of the impropriety of