But the mother and the heir consented to give a joint promise to Dr.
Robarts.

Now, as the present incumbent was over seventy, and as the living was worth L900 a year, there could be no doubt as to the eligibility of the clerical profession.

And I must further say, that the dowager and the doctor were justified in their choice by the life and principles of the young man--as far as any father can be justified in choosing such a profession for his son, and as far as any lay impropriator can be justified in making such a promise.

Had Lady Lufton had a second son, that second son would probably have had the living, and no one would have thought it wrong;--certainly not if that second son had been such a one as Mark Robarts.
Lady Lufton herself was a woman who thought much on religious matters, and would by no means have been disposed to place any one in a living, merely because such a one had been her son's friend.

Her tendencies were High Church, and she was enabled to perceive that those of young Mark Robarts ran in the same direction.