accuse Manning of peculation to his face; after that it was clear
that his day was over; he was forced to slink snarling into the
background, while the Cardinal shuddered through all his
immensity, and wished many times that he were already dead.

Yet, he was not altogether without his consolations; Manning took
care to see to that. His piercing eye had detected the secret way
into the recesses of the Cardinal's heart--had discerned the core
of simple faith which underlay that jovial manner and that facile
talk. Others were content to laugh and chatter and transact their
business; Manning was more artistic. He watched his opportunity,
and then, when the moment came, touched with a deft finger the
chord of the Conversion of England. There was an immediate
response, and he struck the same chord again, and yet again. He
became the repository of the Cardinal's most intimate
aspirations. He alone sympathised and understood. 'If God gives
me strength to undertake a great wrestling-match with
infidelity,' Wiseman wrote, 'I shall owe it to him.'

But what he really found himself undertaking was a wrestling-
match with Dr. Errington. The struggle over St. Edmund's College
grew more and more acute. There were high words in the Chapter,
where Monsignor Searle led the assault against the Provost, and
carried a resolution declaring that the Oblates of St. Charles
had intruded themselves illegally into the Seminary. The Cardinal
quashed the proceedings of the Chapter; whereupon, the Chapter
appealed to Rome. Dr. Errington, carried away by the fury of the
controversy, then appeared as the avowed opponent of the Provost
and the Cardinal. With his own hand he drew up a document
justifying the appeal of the Chapter to Rome by Canon Law and the