Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 10 be quite above the common mark, when he brought a let-
ter from his uncle Sir Godwin. Mr. Farebrother said little:
he was deeply mournful: with a keen perception of human
weakness, he could not be confident that under the pressure
of humiliating needs Lydgate had not fallen below himself.
When the carriage drove up to the gate of the Manor,
Dorothea was out on the gravel, and came to greet them.
‘Well, my dear,’ said Mr. Brooke, ‘we have just come from
a meeting— a sanitary meeting, you know.’
‘Was Mr. Lydgate there?’ said Dorothea, who looked full
of health and animation, and stood with her head bare un-
der the gleaming April lights. ‘I want to see him and have a
great consultation with him about the Hospital. I have en-
gaged with Mr. Bulstrode to do so.’
‘Oh, my dear,’ said Mr. Brooke, ‘we have been hearing
bad news— bad news, you know.’
They walked through the garden towards the churchyard
gate, Mr. Farebrother wanting to go on to the parsonage;
and Dorothea heard the whole sad story.
She listened with deep interest, and begged to hear
twice over the facts and impressions concerning Lydgate.
After a short silence, pausing at the churchyard gate, and
addressing Mr. Farebrother, she said energetically—
‘You don’t believe that Mr. Lydgate is guilty of anything
base? I will not believe it. Let us find out the truth and clear
him!’