He made the common mistake of attributing to the government, which in such matters is powerless, the doings of Parliament, which in such matters is omnipotent.
But though he felt that the glory and honour of the situation of warden of Barchester Hospital were indeed curtailed by the new arrangement; that the whole establishment had to a certain degree been made vile by the touch of Whig commissioners; that the place, with its lessened income, its old women, and other innovations, was very different from the hospital of former days; still the archdeacon was too practical a man of the world to wish that his father-in-law, who had at present little more than L200 per annum for all his wants, should refuse the situation, defiled, undignified, and commission-ridden as it was.
Mr.Harding had, accordingly, made up his mind that he would return to his old home at the hospital, and, to tell the truth, had experienced almost a childish pleasure in the idea of doing so.

The diminished income was to him not even the source of momentary regret.
The matron and the old women did rather go against the grain, but he was able to console himself with the reflection that, after all, such an arrangement might be of real service to the poor of the city.

The thought that he must receive his reappointment as the gift of the new bishop, and probably through the hands of Mr.Slope, annoyed him a little, but his mind was set at rest by the assurance of the archdeacon that there would be no favour in such a presentation.

The reappointment of the old warden would be regarded by all the world as a matter of course.

Mr.Harding, therefore, felt no hesitation in telling his daughter that they might look upon his return to his old quarters as a settled matter.
"And you won't have to ask for it, Papa ?" "Certainly not, my dear.