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Way of All Flesh, The
CHAPTER LXII
Samuel Butler
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       _ This advice, besides being obviously sensible, would end in saving
       Ernest both time and suspense of mind, so we had no hesitation in
       adopting it. The case was called on about eleven o'clock, but we
       got it adjourned till three, so as to give time for Ernest to set
       his affairs as straight as he could, and to execute a power of
       attorney enabling me to act for him as I should think fit while he
       was in prison.
       Then all came out about Pryer and the College of Spiritual
       Pathology. Ernest had even greater difficulty in making a clean
       breast of this than he had had in telling us about Miss Maitland,
       but he told us all, and the upshot was that he had actually handed
       over to Pryer every halfpenny that he then possessed with no other
       security than Pryer's I.O.U.'s for the amount. Ernest, though still
       declining to believe that Pryer could be guilty of dishonourable
       conduct, was becoming alive to the folly of what he had been doing;
       he still made sure, however, of recovering, at any rate, the greater
       part of his property as soon as Pryer should have had time to sell.
       Towneley and I were of a different opinion, but we did not say what
       we thought.
       It was dreary work waiting all the morning amid such unfamiliar and
       depressing surroundings. I thought how the Psalmist had exclaimed
       with quiet irony, "One day in thy courts is better than a thousand,"
       and I thought that I could utter a very similar sentiment in respect
       of the Courts in which Towneley and I were compelled to loiter. At
       last, about three o'clock the case was called on, and we went round
       to the part of the court which is reserved for the general public,
       while Ernest was taken into the prisoner's dock. As soon as he had
       collected himself sufficiently he recognised the magistrate as the
       old gentleman who had spoken to him in the train on the day he was
       leaving school, and saw, or thought he saw, to his great grief, that
       he too was recognised.
       Mr Ottery, for this was our attorney's name, took the line he had
       proposed. He called no other witnesses than the rector, Towneley
       and myself, and threw himself on the mercy of the magistrate. When
       he had concluded, the magistrate spoke as follows: "Ernest
       Pontifex, yours is one of the most painful cases that I have ever
       had to deal with. You have been singularly favoured in your
       parentage and education. You have had before you the example of
       blameless parents, who doubtless instilled into you from childhood
       the enormity of the offence which by your own confession you have
       committed. You were sent to one of the best public schools in
       England. It is not likely that in the healthy atmosphere of such a
       school as Roughborough you can have come across contaminating
       influences; you were probably, I may say certainly, impressed at
       school with the heinousness of any attempt to depart from the
       strictest chastity until such time as you had entered into a state
       of matrimony. At Cambridge you were shielded from impurity by every
       obstacle which virtuous and vigilant authorities could devise, and
       even had the obstacles been fewer, your parents probably took care
       that your means should not admit of your throwing money away upon
       abandoned characters. At night proctors patrolled the street and
       dogged your steps if you tried to go into any haunt where the
       presence of vice was suspected. By day the females who were
       admitted within the college walls were selected mainly on the score
       of age and ugliness. It is hard to see what more can be done for
       any young man than this. For the last four or five months you have
       been a clergyman, and if a single impure thought had still remained
       within your mind, ordination should have removed it: nevertheless,
       not only does it appear that your mind is as impure as though none
       of the influences to which I have referred had been brought to bear
       upon it, but it seems as though their only result had been this--
       that you have not even the common sense to be able to distinguish
       between a respectable girl and a prostitute.
       "If I were to take a strict view of my duty I should commit you for
       trial, but in consideration of this being your first offence, I
       shall deal leniently with you and sentence you to imprisonment with
       hard labour for six calendar months."
       Towneley and I both thought there was a touch of irony in the
       magistrate's speech, and that he could have given a lighter sentence
       if he would, but that was neither here nor there. We obtained leave
       to see Ernest for a few minutes before he was removed to Coldbath
       Fields, where he was to serve his term, and found him so thankful to
       have been summarily dealt with that he hardly seemed to care about
       the miserable plight in which he was to pass the next six months.
       When he came out, he said, he would take what remained of his money,
       go off to America or Australia and never be heard of more.
       We left him full of this resolve, I, to write to Theobald, and also
       to instruct my solicitor to get Ernest's money out of Pryer's hands,
       and Towneley to see the reporters and keep the case out of the
       newspapers. He was successful as regards all the higher-class
       papers. There was only one journal, and that of the lowest class,
       which was incorruptible. _